August 19th - Photography Day

Today is Photography Day - a day to "embrace your love of photography, whether you see yourself as an Amateur, Hobbyist or Professional, it’s the day to show off what you can do. Photography has the ability to tell stories and inspire people and with the dawn of digital photography we can share memories across the world in seconds with the use of online galleries. Photography has changed the way we see the world and gives you the ability to share your perception on the world around you, so why not share it!"



My favorite thing about mosaics is they way they allow us to "focus" on the photographs.  While I love die cuts and stamping and all the other fabulous scrapbooking layout concepts, something about mosaics just really makes my photos pop and I LOVE THAT.

What are you favorite photography subjects and styles?  Portraits of Family or pets?  close-ups? Landscapes?  Whatever it is, show your love with mosaic-style layouts!

Technique Tuesday - Adding Dimension

Over on the Mosaic Moments Blog today, Paije Rodriguez has shared a cool technique about how to use dimension and silhouettes to add depth to your layouts.

Here is her completed layout:

I did something somewhat similar a couple years ago for a design team challenge.  The challenge was to doodle on your photographs and in the "margins" of your grid paper.  I found this great brain image on the cover of a magazine that coordinated exactly with an exhibit at the COSI Museum in Columbus, Ohio so I popped the brain up in the middle of my layout and left it "off the grid."  The exhibit was crazy busy so I felt like the layout conveyed the activity and creativity of the experience.

Have you ever worked over or around the defined edges of the grid paper?  Please feel to share your samples on my FB Page!  Minerva Mosaics Scrapbooking with Tami Potter's Mosaic Moments

SALE SALE SALE!!! STAYVENTION SALE

Today through Sunday, Tami Potter / Mosaic Moments are offering their once-a-year STAYVENTION sale.  They are offering the same prices as convention, but from the comfort of your own home!  NOW IS THE TIME TO STOCK UP.

As always, please use the snapncrop link on the right side of my blog to place your orders so I will receive credit as your consultant!

July 25th - Needle and Thread Day

In celebration of needle and thread, I thought it would be fun to share some mosaic pages with stitching on them.  Whether you do your stitching with a sewing machine or by hand, this Stitch It Up Technique Tutorial on the Mosaic Moments page should be of some guidance.

Here are a couple of layouts I made with stitching:

In the layout above, I used the We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy tool to punch the patterned holes and then I used red DMC floss to create the baseball stitching effect.

In the layout below, I took 2 1/8" scraps of the fabric from the aprons I made and sewed them into the grid paper using my sewing machine.

Shark Awareness Day!!!

July 14th is Shark Awareness Day!

Here is a mosaic about my nephew's first visit to the Newport Aquarium in honor of this special day!

 P.S. Don't go near the water!

BASEBALL ALL-STARS!!!!

Tuesday, July 14th is the All-Star Game and Cincinnati has been celebrating for a week with a great assortment of grand-scale decorations, Fan Fest, and sooo much more.

This past weekend, I offered a Mosaic class with a baseball theme and we had an absolute blast!

The layout above was my class sample.

The layout above was a variation I had done at another time with some different reds paper (no longer available.)  And below are the layouts created in class by my creative and inspiring students!

If you are interested in taking this class in a make-up session on Sunday, July 26th, please let me know ASAP so I can order sufficient supplies!

Fridays with Friends - Summer Fun!

This is a continuation of my post from a couple weeks ago where I mentioned that I have a collection of photographs of mosaics made by my students.  The students approached me at various crops and granted me permission to post their layouts.  Unfortunately, I have since misplaced the paper where I noted to whom these layouts belong!  If they are yours, PLEASE contact me so that I can give you credit for your amazing layouts!

The first one is a spectacular example of using the strips on the left side page and using 1" square mosaic pieces along the bottom of the right side page.  I love all of the vibrant colors and they way you can just feel the action going on across the page.

The second one uses strips, in both horizontal and vertical arrangements and also incorporates some pops of color with pieces like the tiles sold by Mosaic Moments.  (If you've never used them, tiles are a product that is a package of colored cardstock pieces that have been laser-cut to exactly fit on the Mosaic Moments grid.  You can purchase them on the SnapNCrop link to the right on this blog.)   One of my favorite things about this layout, and mosaics in general, is the sheer volume of photos that the artist was able to get on the page.