Today our apartment is green.

Not literally green.

Management decided it was time to cut costs be more environmentally friendly and change out all the light fixtures and bulbs in every unit to a more energy efficient solution. We are now the pretty horrified owners of some very white, unnecessarily bright Compact Fluorescent lighting.

I’m all for saving the earth blah, blah, blah…but these lights give my apartment the same white empty glow of your friendly neighbourhood Wal-Mart. You do NOT want that kind of lighting in your bathroom.

Suddenly everything looks dirty. What was once cream and/or ivory is now white. What was once white is now YELLOW and I am SO ugly.

Mr.M and I spent about 10 minutes side by side leaning into the bathroom mirror:

Him: I don’t think I like this.

Me: No this is not good.

Him: I can see all my pores.

Me: I look OLD.

Him: This is why they don’t have this kind of lighting in strip clubs. You can see EVERYTHING.

Me: Good to know <insert dirty look>.

It’s like someone adjusted the white balance of my life from warm daylight to scary white. And the longer it’s on the brighter it gets. I’m hoping there are some more yellow/natural coloured alternatives I can switch out because this cannot be good for one’s self-esteem.

With only the bathroom light on, the glow spilling out into the hallway looks like the light beaming from a portal to another dimension.

BEAM ME UP SCOTTIE.

Back again (on Monday this time) with a look at the piles of Pepperminty inspiration that has piled into the gallery this week. Oh man – it’s going to be a BIGGIE. Lots of delicious pages and projects!

XO Takeout
by: Gabby

Gabby really ROCKED the heck out of hybrids this week with 5 stunning projects. If I didn’t recognize my own ‘xox’ paper I don’t think I would have believed that this was handmade. I love the added embellishment on the front and the extra effort she made to put eyelets in the side with ribbon.

Hearts Takeout
by: Gabby

Here’s Gabby’s second takeout box – just as cute as the first and LOOK! Its printed on the inside too! WOWIE. Talk about attention to detail.

Want Hugs With That
by: Gabby

As if the takeout boxes weren’t enough to declare Gabby the ‘Peppermint Hybrid Goddess of the Month’ (a title I just made up) she out does herself with these delicious and adorable Valentines fry boxes. I LOVE all the details like the printed inside, the cellophane wrap and the heart shaped tag. Perfection!

Valentines Candy
by: joscie

YUM, YUM, gimme some! One of my favourite hybrid projects is and always has been (since my middle school days of paper & markers) custom candy wrappers. I love Joscie’s design and her drop shadows are so amazing that it really looks like each piece was cut from paper.

Valentines Candy
by: joscie

All this candy is–a-makin’ me hungry. I’m sure its a safe bet that the kids luckily enough to get one of these will think that Jordan and Jalen have the COOLEST mom on the planet. And they would be correct.
 

Butterfly Bingo Card
by: joscie

Ahhh how DELISH is this? Love this creative card and the brilliant use of the bingo card. Beautiful inked edges and great shapes make this one a real stand out!

my girl
by:nina81

A+ for Nina. Just look at those SWEET pictures. Love the overall design and her use of negative space. It really pulls your eye right to the heavily designed area. And oooh how cute is the zippered border she created with the zipped edge! Great idea.

FEBRUARY DESKTOP
by: Mrs Lack

Can you say ADORABLE? LOL. I love the idea of creating a custom desktop. Look at those pics with the upside down glasses. Totally CUTE. Great design!

Celebrate Everyday
by: ingridfasquelle

Here’s a winner from Mint Chick Ingrid. With a little help from Cindy’s Template #17 this page is perfect. Ingrid has a great eye for color and I love how she’s pulled the colors from her photos and selected only coordinating papers and elements. Lovely layering and a great series of photos to boot really puts this one over the top.

Panda from America
by: Aemilius

This page is a stand out for me because I love how Aemilius gave this page an Asian feel to work with AND coordinate with her photos by selecting papers and elements from different kits to essentially create a completely original look. Don’t be limited by the kits and products you own – try and think of new and different ways to use what you have. Holiday papers don’t have to only be used for the holidays and boy kits can be used for girls etc. Think outside the box!

Geeky Pencil Holder
by: Gabby

I couldn’t resist featuring this awesome little hybrid. Gabby turned an ordinary tin can from the pantry into a super COOL and totally custom pencil holder. Her hubby has already placed an order for one…

Training with the Titans Page 1
by: rjcjme

I love the original color combination of this page. What a fantastic job rjcjme did by mixing and matching odds and ends from various kits to create something brand new. With a little creative re-coloring she was able to build a page to match her photos perfectly. Don’t be afraid to re-color! Experiment on your next page.

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle
by: jdrain86

The RICH jewel tones in the night shots of the castle is what first caught my eye. LOVE the great coordination between the pictures and the papers. Great use of elements too!

I’ll Cherish Thee
by:glumirk

Last but certainly not least is glumirk’s beautiful page. I love the vintage look of the photo and the creative use and placement of the elements. This is such an elegant page!

Thanks for looking ladies – hope you’ve gathered some new ideas and a fresh batch of inspiration! Check out the REST of gallery here.

See you next week for another exciting edition of Mint-spirational Monday!

SOUND THE ALARM, watch out for FLYING pigs! I scrapped!
I wish I had more time to do it because I really enjoy the challenge of putting a page together. It’s like a puzzle that has to be solved. This one was especially fun because I got to take the new 10 Things Template out for a spin. I’m anxious to do another page with it already! I was going to do a ‘10 Things I LOVE about Me You’ page but got sidetracked by snow and did a winter page instead. Cute right? (say yes.)

Look at my wittle PUPPY all covered in snow. It was pretty easy – given that I used a template. If you haven’t tried them yet or just haven’t used one recently you should give it a go. It really speeds up the process but you still have all the flexibility you want to add your own ‘style’ and really (as Paula Abdul would say) ‘make it your own’.

I added both the horizontal and vertical version of this page in here (because I love you so much and don’t want to see you waste your time flipping it around).

New to Templates? Check out our current FREEBIE from Cindy Schneider or jump in and join our ‘Pimp My Page’ Challenge in the forum. Grab your free template for February and dress it up in mostly PC goodies and post for your chance to win a $5 Peppermint Creative Gift Card.

You can check out my step by step TUTORIAL: Using Layered Templates in Photoshop if you’ve never tried it before.

Template Veteran? Don’t miss our incredible selection of templates from super template designer Cindy Schneider as well as our talented guest PMP template designers. We offer single and double page templates as well as sizes 12×12” and 8.5×11”. View our template section for more!

Hope everyone is gathering their Valentines goodies for tomorrow. YUM! My tongue is sore from too many cinnamon hearts.

Ciao for now.

Lots of love themed digital scrapbook and hybrid scrapbook products in store for you today my crafty friends. If you haven’t picked up this kit yet you are certainly missing out. After seeing what my design team has created using it, it’s quickly become one of my ALL TIME favourite kits.

The delicious shades of pink and purple are enough to make your mouth water – just imagine the adorable valentine’s treats you can create with this stuff!

Everyone loves a little GLITTER right? These sweet and sparkly letters make a great accessory to any page. I love how the chipboard edge gives these letters dimension.

B-I-N-G-0! These nostalgic Bingo Cards are perfect for hybrid projects, scrapbook page accents, ATC’s or whatever you dream up! Includes 6 different card designs, each available worn and grunged and also fresh and clean.

Who wouldn’t want to find this adorable little goodie bag hanging on their bedroom door in the morning or after school? Add your own papers and just print, cut, assemble and embellish. A quick and easy project that will make your little ones smile with glee! Fill with treats or toys. Great for any occasion – a perfect way to celebrate those small accomplishments too! Re-decorate and re-use all year long!

Celebrate your top 10 list with this easy to use template. Add your favourite photos, embellish and journal! Or create a custom keepsake page of one special moment, trip, adventure or period of time. Just change the papers and photos and use this template over again. Includes both a horizontal and vertical version!

Some sample projects from the team:

by: Keela Fox  

by: MJ Johnston

by: Cindy Schneider

by: MJ Johnston

by: Trisha Burton

by: Joscie Cutchens

by: Miss Mint

by: MJ Johnston

by: Joscie Cutchens

by: Joscie Cutchens  

by: Kirstie Ibrahim    

by: MJ Johnston

DELISH right? Only a few days left to make those Valentines treats but luckily you can make love themed pages and gifts all YEAR long!! Ok I’m off to work on a page with the new ‘10 THINGS’ template – so excited to play!!

Every Monday for quite some time we’ve been highlighting and celebrating the most Mint-spirational layouts in the gallery posted from the previous week in a special thread in the community forum. This week Mint-spirational Monday makes a major move from the depths of the forum to the top of the ‘ol blog.

Why?

Because these layouts deserve to be SEEN damn it.

And if I’m going to go through the trouble of fishing them out – you’re going to look at them! Them’s the rules little lady so put down that mouse and have yourself a gander at the overwhelming display of creativity that is about to be bestowed upon you.

Now technically….TECHNICALLY speaking it’s 51 minutes past midnight (as I type this) meaning that it is no longer Monday but y’know what I had a busy day and nobody’s perfect so we’re going to pretend that it is still Monday. Okie doke?

Now let’s see what was going on this week…

Pie Tin Gloves | by: computermom
I’m not sure what’s more fabulous – the layout itself or the pie tin gloves. Hello? how clever is that. I want a pair. Stunning use of color – perfect for the seasonal shots and a great use of this month’s PMP template. Can you tell that both pages are actually the same template?

Tea Party | by: shutterspeed
Oh so CUTE. The gorgeous photography and perfect tea party set up make this page perfect! I love the use of color and elements to really bring this page to life. I’m just sorry that I didn’t get an invitation to attend.

PMP #20 | by: Mrs Lack
Mrs Lack breathed new life into some old more ‘mature’ products with this STUNNING layout dedicated to her new puppy Charlie…(all together) AWWWWWWW. Love the monochromatic color scheme. The use of different shades, patterns and textures gives this page great visual interest. Well done!

I have a sneaking suspicion that next week’s batch of Mintspiration will blow your mind. With a brand new Valentines kit set to launch verrryyyyy soon I know we’ll see some fantastic stuff this week.