Movie Night Bingo Cards
Project & Tutorial by: Mary Jo Johnston

Have you seen Miss Mint’s latest FREE Digi Kit? If you haven’t, go HERE immediately (if not sooner!).

If you haven’t downloaded Movie Night, you must have been under a rock or buried under holiday decorations for the last couple of weeks. Hurry, it’s only FREE for a limited time!

And, I have an added bonus for you – a cute, new, FREE hybrid project that you can make (after you’ve unburied yourself from the holiday decorations!).

Go Grab:
- Movie Night Kit, of course! (*note: a few elements are from the Christmas Flicks Kit, but you could use Movie Night for the entire project)
– A Circle Punch
- Scissors or Trimmer

Wow! That’s it. Besides your creative skills, computer and printer, you only need 3 tools.

How to do it:
I started with a simple 5” x 5” grid design, in Photoshop. (I later shrunk the entire design to 5” x 7”). From there, I selected my favorite elements and placed them in the each square. Don’t forget the FREE star in the middle!

After the grid design was complete, I flattened the image and placed it on top of my favorite patterned paper, in a new canvas. I added the MOVIE title and embellishment across the top, as well as, the instructions at the bottom. I printed the cards two to a page.

Next, I created my Bingo Markers and Calling Tags.
These are very simple circles (use a size that matches the size circle punch you own).

Your Calling Tags will vary depending on the elements you chose for each row on your Bingo Card. Be sure to create a Calling Tag for every element, under every letter. You’ll do this for each Bingo Card, as each one should be different. I created a total of four Bingo Cards, in four different patterns.

Create and punch as many Bingo Markers as you like. You’ll use these to cover the spaces on your card as each letter and picture are called.

Doesn’t that make you want to pop some popcorn, throw in your favorite movie and play a little Bingo?!

Happy creating and Happy New Year!

Mary Jo =)

Hilarious and sad…”Maybe she’s born with it; maybe it’s Fotoshop by Adobé.” – a must see by filmmaker Jesse Rosten.

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Tay Silver here with a super simple vinyl craft that is not only easy for beginners to complete but it is useful, too! Create your own resuable ‘Days Until’ Chalkboard Countdown Block for any event or occasion.

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

• 1 inch thick by 4 inch tall (1×4) wood board cut to 11 inches long

• Black Chalkboard paint (craft supply store)

• Days Until Handlettering cut in White Vinyl (we used Oracal 631)

• Paintbrush

• White chalk for writing

How to do it:

1. Measure your board. Our 1×4 inch board was actually 3.5 inches tall so we sized our vinyl design 3 inches tall in the Silhouette software before cutting it in Oracal 631 matte white vinyl.
2. Paint the wood board with two coats of black chalkboard paint.
3. While the wood piece is drying, weed your vinyl and apply application tape.
4. Once the paint is dry, apply the vinyl, placing it slightly off-center towards the left side. This allows plenty of room to write 2 numbers in the blank area on the left while giving ample room on the right to write the name of an event such as “vacation” or “birthday”.
5. Write in your event name and countdown days with white chalk.

Hint: Dampen the end tip of your chalk stick before writing to lay down a thicker, more visible chalk line. Wet chalk will lighten and brighten as it dries and will not harm your chalkboard paint.

Happy Crafting! xo

It’s the time of year when all minds turn towards improving and yet again vinyl shows its staying-power as an easy and inexpensive way to help organize. As children head back to school most households will find the time for a bit of updating. Here are some ideas of how you can organize yourself and then sell the same vinyl cuts to clients:

Calendars: Every family needs one and the dry-erase kind, made by mounting vinyl behind framed glass, have been a popular trend for several years. Glass cleaner will remove just about any marker and application directions are simple – you only need to instruct your client to order the correct size vinyl cut to fit their frame. Even trendier is mounting our Weekly Calendar to the fridge which allows both dry erase markers and magnets to be used. For busy families juggling homework, event tickets, birthday invites and permission slips we created the Clip-Up Calendar pictured above so important little items don’t get lost in the shuffle.

Labels: Cabinets, cupboards, offices, kitchens and pantries are in constant need of functional organization. More and more people are discovering that the pantry doesn’t have to be a catch-all mess of groceries and are replacing hodge-podge piled shelves with well-organized displays of dry goods that boast an apothecary feel. Pantry staples such as flour, sugar, oats, pasta and rice now find themselves in transparent canisters waiting to be decoratively embellished. Our Pantry Label Shapes feature curvy, chic labels that are trend-forward with a thoughtfully drawn design, making them longer than other available shapes and allowing generous room for whatever custom text your client desires.

Clutter Busters: Young children bring home mounds of artwork, older teens struggle to contain their masses of returned homework papers and somehow the pile of mail, magazines and messages keeps growing. A bit of time spent organizing on your part – and then providing clients with example pictures of how you used your vinyl to help do it – is all that is needed to break into this niche market. If you need to designate a space for your little artist’s work you can use our adorable hand lettered vectors and for containing the general mayhem you can browse our collection of double-duty mats, frames, plaques and label vector graphics.

Have a particularly creative organizing solution you’re proud of?
Post a picture of it in our gallery and view the vinyl projects others have completed!

*Business Building Tip: Include a free sample label that reads something useful like “snacks”, “treats” or “supplies” with every paid order you ship. Your clients will gladly use the freebie, which will be in plain view everyday, making them more likely to order more labels to organize the neighboring clutter. Even if they don’t, their friends are likely to notice and inquire about the vinyl, giving your business enormous opportunity for word-of-mouth sales.

This year was packed with fantastic hybrid projects. I LOVE seeing my digital designs being printed and used to create something tangible. It is so exciting to see them come to life! My talented team took some of my most favorite products and turned them into the most gorgeous cards, layouts, and gifts ever! A big HUGE thanks to Mary Jo who pretty much owns this post thanks to all her INCREDIBLE cards and projects. I bow in awe and envy! ;)

Click on any image to view credits/products used.
Check out the Hybrid Gallery for even more inspiration!

Amazing right? Makes me want to get up and make something!
Well…don’t just sit there – get CRAFTING!!

Also check out: The Best Digital Scrapbook Layouts of 2011

xo.

Thank god for my team. Like an overpriced pair of lululemon yoga pants, they make me look GOO-OOOD. Without them, my creativity would have shriveled up and died alone in a corner eating a Twinkie a long, long time ago.Their enthusiasm, imagination and occasional last minute demands (“oooohh, we like these, can you make them in 20 more colors?”) has inspired me to create some of my most favorite products to date. And I hope they have inspired you too and given you some interesting, new and creative ideas for your pages and projects.

I started a minty tradition two years ago of showcasing the BEST pages and projects of the year from my super talented creative team – and it’s been another great year, creatively speaking. Of course by ‘best’ I really mean ‘my personal favorite’ as what truly qualifies as ‘the best’ is all a matter of opinion. However what won’t be disputed is the fact that I definitely have a talented group of girls on my hands! I hope you find some inspiration for the pages you plan to create this year!

So without further ado, may I present you with..

THE BEST LAYOUTS OF 2011 AS CREATED BY ME  & THE MINT CHICKS!

That kind of sounds like the name of a bubble-gum tween pop group.

Now playing…’Me & the Mint Chicks’.

[INSERT THEME SONG HERE]

Who’s going to do the cheesy dance moves? Anyone?

Who’s going to be the cutie break-out star that leaves the group for a  lucrative solo career at the height of our success leaving the rest of us clinging to the hope that we can score stints on Dancing with the Stars or Celebrity Rehab?

But I digress…

You can find even more fabulousness in our Design Team Gallery which is definitely worthy of space on your list of bookmarks.

Click on any page to view it full size in the gallery where you can see full credits (and leave some love, if you want).

There are SOOOOO many more amazing pages in the gallery so don’t forget to check them out.
Tune in tomorrow for the Best HYBRID PROJECTS of 2011.

Happy Crafting! xo