my mind's eye sketch

hello all! we had a stunning day last Saturday with The Wholesaler's sponsored Valentine's Day class. it was really alot of fun! (if you want to see all the wonderful layouts and the photos of the day, just click here and you can see it all!) i was, however, a bit drained - it was really hard work putting together an original double page layout that focused on the photos, used Valentine paper, and yet was not limited to Valentine's day, incorporating some, but not too many, techniques. the techniques also had to be interesting enough for the ladies who loved learning new techniques, but not too complicated so that it put the ladies who are not crazy about techniques off! sjoe! it was a tall order! but, i think it went well! it was kind of interesting, though - i used distress stains ( with a few twists) and when i opened the Scrapping and Kie there was also a feature on using Distress Stains this month! (get yours if you don't have it already!!!!) anyway, when i was bloghopping yesterday, i came across the above sketch on the MME blog.

and i immediately knew i wanted to make a layout - quick, simple and NOT THINKING too much!!

i used REALLY old MME papers that i had in my stash ( yes, a whole shop filled with brand new MME papers less than 2km from me, and i only have ancient ones!!) BUT just because they are a bit old, does not mean that they are any less beautiful! i used a tres jolie handsome stripe and play paisley, as well as bohemia french flea market and backyard dream big . i stamped the flag border with a lost and found 1 clear stamp set ( i created the border by placing 5 of the 6 flag stamps in a row on a block, and jsut repeated them) the swirl was cut using a Tim Holtz Sizzix die, and i dressed it up with stickles ( my non-MME products used - oh, and i also used a glimmer mist on the background MME paper)

i made my own custom embellishments by stamping the circle thingy that is in the same lost and found 1 stampset, and adding a lush brad to each one. the alphas are also from the 2010 lush collection. they are flocked and super luxurious................... it was really great to just make a quick page! it took me less than 30 minutes to complete the page. i am thinking i need to do this more often!!