Oh happy day!!!

I am sick as a dog and a pathetic mess. I have NEVER been the type of woman who can put her big girl pants on when she's got the flu. This time I called Momma T so she could pick up Lola and take her away for a couple of hours while I slept.

Why? The damage:

• 2 chewed on "Portrait" collection flowers 
• 2 Maya Road resin flowers I will now have to search for in her pamper (UCK!) Not to use- to make sure she passes them

That is my life right now. So for every Mom who can roll her sleeves up, cook, clean and keep the multiple children from wrecking house while she's sick- you are my hero- you ROCK! When I grow up I wanna be just like you.

I got a nice little piece of news yesterday in the middle of my snotty drama- my Earth Day project has been featured over at 2 Peas. Here's the link: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/gallery/member/464560-hernandm1/1729627-a-greener-world/

This was based on a beautiful Studio Calico sketch so I can't call it original but I'm glad it's getting some attention because it's a message I care very deeply about- doing little things to help reduce your carbon footprint.

I also want to show you an EXPERIMENT. This page will make no sense because it mixes really grungy dark techniques with bright and sunny photos but I'm planning a card project that needs practice so I whipped this up:

MATERIALS: Colorbok grid paper, Hambly Studio clear border stickers, Cosmo Cricket
Paul Bunyan alphas with  Glossy Accents
Flowers- Martha Stewart Clear Camelia stamps, StazOn in Blazing Red and Cherry Pink,
ColorBox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus, American Crafts Zing! in black and clear, Maya Road leaf pins

Weird right? Please give me your honest feedback- I am NOT the chick who asks if she looks fat in these jeans and expects a no. I want to know if I look like a hippo in heat if that's what's real. :)

Zing TIPS:
1. Double stamping to get the black zing border then the clear zing on the inside is not a good idea- overheating (or double heating) Zing! makes it turn white so be careful.
2. Heating the Zing! powder from UNDER the paper is better- got that from the AC post on youtube and went DUH! Of course!!!
3. ColorBox chalk ink takes a little time to dry up so it's perfect for embossing- I would have never know if I hadn't made a mistake while stamping.
But ya'll know this already! You are all embossing divas making this world spin while I just live in it. :)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Having TOO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I kiss my husband everyday- mostly 'cause he's so darn cute but also because he's given me the single most wonderful gift ever- not including Lola- a human.

I

LOVE

My

iTouch

Here's a layout using my new fave thing- Hipstamatic prints:

Materials: Lawn Fawn "Say Cheese" stamp set, Maya Road star pin
Black/white twine from "Such Sweet Tierney" on Etsy, Ideaology Tiny Attacher,
American Crafts Zing in Aqua, Mustard,  Black, Clear,  Ranger Glossy Accents

I don't even bother to walk out the door with my Leica anymore- that was 2009's best gift ever. The Leica is amazing but it has so many nooks and crannies I often get lost and use "auto" which means I usually HATE the resulting photo.

I have one of these 70's era Polaroids too- but no FILM!

Zing dust gets everywhere- FREAKY how I don't mind when it's black!

I am NOT a gearhead.
I want to point and shoot- no wait- I want to control the focus, the depth of field and the exposure while basically pointing and shooting. This puts me at a quandary with today's insane multi tasking cameras. I don't have the brain capacity to store all that icon and button info. I don't want to buy the 250 page booklet explaining all the things my camera can do. My husband- sweet thing- simplified my life by getting me the new iTouch so I could download 1 app- the Hipstamatic.
I haven't looked back since.

Hipstamatic prints using John S Lens, Blanco film 

There is nothing else on my iTouch except for 1 Hipstamatic app, 1 Tetris app and 1 home made video showing Lola looking at the other video: Beyonce's "Single Ladies". Beyonce and her fabulous back-ups are the only thing that shuts Miss Thang up mid cry- it goes something like like this:

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! 

AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!    AA-- (music ALL The Single Ladies!) 

*** silence***

My favorite camera ever was also my first- a Pentax K 1000. It set the standard. K and I- we went everywhere. Then I lent it to my sister who took it to the beach and gunked up the gears with sand-
THE HORROR!!!
So I used a Nikon N80 till I got my first digi- the Leica. The Leica scares me because it cost several paychecks worth of savings and I'm the type of person who drops her camera to catch her baby so it's an iTouch- now if they would ONLY GET A FLASH ON IT- I would be a VERY HAPPY LADY.

Is she BLOGGING????

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Queen For A Day

Queen For a Day- Lola's first birthday cupcake 9/12/10
Materials: American Crafts Confetti glitter paper, Bella Blvd Family Dynamix Quadrants,
American Crafts glitter alphas,  Recollections rhinestone "day" and squares,
Anna Griffin crown brad, Teal stripe alphas from CardBlanc on Etsy

Holy Canoli! I missed my Punky Scraps weekly challenge deadline! OH NOOOO! I'm really sorry Nat and team! I'll get started on my canvas project right away. And YOU- gets to creating! STAT!
Here's the creative prompt:

Punky Scraps Challenge 14- CANVAS

Fun huh?  Why did I think this was due next week? ARGH!

American Crafts "Confetti" line is so CUTE!!!! I wish I had more items but a girl can only spend so much on crafty goodies. Dude when did cheese get so expensive? A pound of grapes, some Heluva Good extra sharp cheddar cheese and a loaf of bread= 12 bucks! I almost fell over! Lola cannot LIVE without her mac and cheese and broccoli lunch so I am one broke Momma.

In scrap related "news"- I have an entire BOX of bling that I've never used! I have bling words, bling shapes, bling animals, bling EVERYTHING- how did I not use my stash on every page? A mystery!
I really love how it brightens up a page but it's super hard to get it to shine on camera- a simple bounce card next to the camera lens to reflect light back onto the page fixes that right up.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter! It will be raining here in NYC so we will spend the day watching movies and playing inside. No eggs this year- Miss Lola is too young and thinks throwing them is more fun.

Miss Lola walks in Alphabet City- that FACE!!! 

Special thanks to Amy- Curly Q Mosaics! she sent me a beautiful package of home made buttons and a gorgeous Easter Themed ATC. I plan to use those buttons on my pages- one even reads:

MUcHoS SmOoChEs!
Loves it!

Earth Day 2011

Materials: Studio Calico Stamps, Basic Grey gas rub-on and recycle stamp. Maya Road
Sun chipboard, Ki Memories calendar page, My Mind's Eye woodgrain paper,
American Crafts Zing- mustard, apricot, aqua, white and grapefruit and alphas

When I first started scrapping I promised myself I would make a project for Earth Day every year. It's a newish holiday so it tends to get ignored. This year I waited too long so I had to check my ambition and simply make a page.

4/17/11 Studio Calico Sketch Challenge

I want to take a moment think about those who've been hurt or made homeless due to environmental or weather related events in the last few months. Perhaps it's time to stop the politics and start the creative solutions- our children need it and we will have a cleaner world for it. Hmmmm, I bet even our economy would  improve if we could devote more time to new technology and leave those old and dangerous energy ideas behind.

I used my new Rollagraph city stamp from Scarlet
Lime but you can barely tell because I  also
combined Aqua Zing with a light green
polka dot paper- looks great in real life but
doesn't photograph too well.

I had a lot of fun using my new heat gun and American Crafts Zing. I don't have the technique down and think the bubbling is due to my heating the dust too quickly but I don't care- it was exciting to try something new. Feel free to leave a comment on how you get that perfectly smooth zing  texture!

Journaling close up- as usual I ran out of space...

As I put this page together, I ruminated on the irony of using non-recycled paper, solvent glue and Ozone depleting foam pop dots on it. I meant to make this year's page all "green" but at this point I have so much stuff in my stash I would rather just use it and keep the lights off for the whole day- it's one of those little bargains I made with my paper  addiction...

I am so proud of that silly mini paper bag-
it's just a piece of  paper shopping bag folded over.

Pop dots- so awesome but made from fluoro carbons- Ozone killers... waaah!

Transportation and energy- 2 big green dilemmas.
I just realized I didn't include eat less meat or buying local produce.
Going veggie at least a few times a week would help tons-
plus it trims the waistline-
that's what we are trying here in the Martinez house!

Am I willing to change the way I scrap to be more in line with my "green" ideals? So far the answer is "Trying but it's too tempting to shop non green with all the pretty pretty paper out there".
But there's a silver lining- the industry itself is taking notice and trying green products... Cosmo Cricket has some really beautiful "green"ish papers... And I guess I could always go digital... But then this blog wouldn't be "My Analog Life" would it?

This photo is WAY literal but how else to represent why going green is important to me?
That's Lola's Easter Hat from last year-
she was a HUGE hit at the 2010 NYC Easter Hat Parade.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Michelle gets PUNKY!!!

Woo HOOOO! I want to announce that I've been chosen as a 2011 Design Team Member for Punky Scraps!!! YEAH BABY! I love this challenge blog! It encourages you to be precious OR bitchy- which is what most people are- variable, changeable and sometimes inexplicable but always TRUE.

What's THIS???

I wish I had a Punky project to share but I've been concentrating on a much delayed wedding invite project for my sister, Leticia, whos' getting married July 30th in Minori, Italy.  AAAHH I just LOVE SAYING THAT!!

I promised Letty I would have everything together before she got here for her annual April visit. Letty works in London as a sports and health educator for a private school (her title is very British and I constantly forget it so I call her "Coach") I love my sister- she's awesome- she's also a true free woman- do NOT tell that chick what to do OR ELSE.

Original design concept. I look at this now and go- meh!
I like Letty's crazy butterfly parade more.

I dilly dallied on the invites. It's my first big card project. It's a WEDDING. The groom comes from a TRADITIONAL Italian family. One word-BASILICA. 

I got... skeered.

I waffled like a mid-term presidential candidate on the paper order. 

I delayed putting together the final design. 

I ordered and re-ordered ribbon samples. 

I FREAKED over the printing of the actual invite. 

I set my self up for many a neurotic break down and spasm away I did. 

Way to over-think it right?

Here are my two faves of the design fest:

On the left is my original color scheme.
On the right is Letty's color improvisation.
We made 88 of these babies! WHOOP WHOOP!

I ran my poor open-minded sister ragged over the placement of butterflies and length of ribbon. I yelled over what I called "Glue Glops".  

I actually said to my sister- THE BRIDE- as SHE HELPED ME instead of enjoying her week off in NYC: "NO Pink! You must follow PROCEDURE!!!! If you're gonna help YOU GOTTA DO WHAT I SAY!"

Oh yes I did! Told you I went completely mental!

I like the final outcome- no card is the same.

More photos, vendor details and a complete list of evil things I said will be coming next week. Right now I'm celebrating my PUNKY SCRAPS acceptance!! I will also be their  one of the DT Coordinators. Promise I will not tell you guys to FOLLOW PROCEDURE. :)

YAY!!!!! So gonna rock out on these pages!!!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

A first Mother's Day for Stacey!

Stacey R. is one of the coolest chicks I've had the pleasure to know since college. She writes poetry, she designs and maintains a major Fortune 500 company's website, she knows how to do the "Reike"- whatever that means- she's uber cool. She's also PREGGO! 

Materials: Emma's Shoppe chipboard, paper and letter sticks, EK Success open
scallop border punch and Making Memories  Dilly Dally banner stamp

Happy First Mother's Day Stacey! You really do look wonderfully radiant!!! Baby girl will becoming along soon so I hope you get all your novel reading and long brunches in NOW 'cause soon you'll have a lil mama of your own and those brunch places don't have changing tables. You'll RUE THE DAY you walked into a joint with just your mini back pack, your Ergo and your hubs- well maybe that's just me.

We had a WONDERFUL brunch in Stacey's honor over at B Smith's on 46 between 8th & 9th. B's place is amazing! The appetizers, entrees and salads were all tantalizing. The house Chardonnay went perfectly with my Salmon and the bread pudding desert was perfection. Stacey teared up at the surprise party, got some loot and went home assured her baby would be born within a week.

Arrival- SURPRISE!!!

Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe line is so gorgeous you can slap a card together in 30 minutes flat and come out looking golden. Stacey liked that I said this is her first Mother's Day- many people don't count the one you spend pregnant... this is PURE NONSENSE! Your back constantly tells you that yes you are very much the multi tasking momma right NOW.

Here's the interior of the card I made for her:

Lots of laughter- LOVE that bonnet girl!
We got some Baby Shower MacGyvers in our bunch.

Daddy-to-be gets a handy baby tool belt.
My fave? The diaper tongs.

Happy family. I told that young man he needed to smile!

Paper Issues is hosting it's first Mother's Day link party- hop on over and post all your wonderful Momma's Day projects!

These ladies paid for the whole thing- Stacey is awesome so she's got GREAT friends. :)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Hello New Zealand!!! Happy Autumn!

The best part of joining the online scrap community is that you meet people from all over the world. I would've never met Lowri if it wasn't for Paper Issues. I would never get this FANTASTIC opportunity to share my work with peeps in New Zealand (and beyond) if it wasn't for ArtfulCrafts. I am so happy to be their latest Sunday Guest Designer! I thank you warmly for this opportunity.

This is an exclusive for Artful Crafts using the sketch posted for their Travel and Treats party. I've had these photos on my "scrap list" for 2 entire years. Why? Because they were taken with a crappy Kodak digi camera with bad flash and worst focus. Many photos are fussy or pixelated. But enough with the apologies- I just wanted to acknowledge that I am aware the photos STIIIINK but it's my first trip to EUROPE for goodness sake! I love these shots!

The Travel and Treats sketch called for a 4 photo layout but I wilded-out (as usual) and added as many small photos as I could get away with. All of these photos are high rez but so badly mangled by the cheap lens they would have been better as Fuji Instax or iPod Hipstamatic prints- at least those cameras take cool out of focus shots ON PURPOSE.


On our trip my sister and I hit up London AND Barcelona.  Barcelona was a wonderful surprize my sister sprung on me last minute- I'm usually not good with surprises but this one was GREAT.

d

Required red phone booth shot.
Botanocal Gardens at Kew will get their own page.
I wish I could live in one of those Victorian green houses!
Bridge to Tate Modern designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava-  his work is so EXCITING.

On my London MUST LIST: 

1. The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew- CHECK!!! Thanks Letty- you kept your cool all through my compulsive fern shooting. Ya'll don't know this but I LOVE ferns- Victorian style! (That means I collect them and kill them and mourn my evil need to have them)

2. Tate Modern- CHECK! OMG not only is the building a wonderful example of Modern architecture-  it's also filled with zany modern art that Letty and I had the pleasure to "EEEEHH???" over FOR FREE! Yes!!! I almost died of glee!!!

3. London phone booth- CHECK! Get THIS- the architect for the Tate Modern, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is also the designer of the british red phone booth!

4. Royal Crown Jewels- check!! Plus a guard gave me the willies by telling me NO PHOTOS or it's THE CLINK for you! He said THE CLINK! I was WAS afraid.
5. Eat cheap and cheerful asian fare! This was great- we had a tight budget but it wasn't a problem as long as we stuck to noodles or curry take away. The dollar was 2 to 1 to the pound. I had never felt so poor in my LIFE.

On my Barcelona MUST LIST:

1. Gaudi Architecture- everything and anything. Sagrada Familia was as amazing as I imagined!!! I n addition to my inveterate Fern love I am also an architecture groupie. 

2. Zara Home store- I love the Zara clothing boutiques but their clothes are for tall thin chicks. I'm a short, plump chick so I splurged on home goods and came back with bed clothes in Turquoise, Royal Purple and Hot Pink- why there's nothing like that available stateside I do NOT know.

3. Tapas bar and Flamenco Show- we got tickets super cheap from the Gaudi Hotel (where else would I stay??? Certainly NOT the unisex rooms Youth Hostel Letty booked- Oh HELL NO! I unbooked that with THE QUICKNESS!)

4. Barcelona Botanical Gardens- OH. MY. GREENESS!!! This Mediteranian garden with modern design is THE BOMB!!!! I couldn't stop staring at the gorgeous avenues, the beautiful desert flora, the lines- the WONDERFUL MODERN LINES!!!!! You simply MUST go! No ferns though- minor bummer.

If you are ever in Barcelona and need a good but inexpensive local white wine try Chardonnay El Sol- delicious!

Best of the crappy bunch flamenco shot.
Also- fave artist Jackson Pollock- those splatters look like African art.
 Dude I was STARING! This painting made me want to DANCE!

So this is a wordy post!!! Thanks for stopping by!! Go to Artful Crafts and enter your own Travel and Treats page!


MuChOs SmOoChEs!!
Michelle

Get PUNKY! Week 2 sketch

This is my second week as a Guest Designer for Punky Scraps and I'm having insane amounts of fun. Need evidence?

Beautiful Girls
MATERIALS: American Crafts papers, AC Thickers alphas, Crafter's workshop Cosmic swirl template, floral fabric, die cuts and words from K & Co,  Maya Road satin pleated ribbon. My Mind's Eye velvet ribbon and ball fringe. 

Whoop! Whoop! Slam dunk. I am seriously loving all the American Crafts color here. Here's the sketch for week 2:

Punky sketch for April week 2 

Punky sets your design bug free. Paint splattered incorrectly on my page? So what? It's Punky! Edges of machine stitch frayed? It's all good- it's PUNKY. I'm telling you it's a license to experiment and that's just what I needed at this point. I was getting way too self conscious and loosing sight of why I scrap- to HAVE FUN.

Nieces Noe and Emi. These pix popped up on their facebook profile one day and  I simply HAD to scrap them.

The sponsor for this month is Crafter's Workshop whose templates I've been collecting for a while now. I wanted to get a little more paint crazy here but I only had 1 sheet of this gorgeous Dear Lizzy paper and I've been known to ruin entire layouts with too much spritz so I added just a touch of SC Mister Huey in white over the Crafter's Workshop Cosmic Swirls 12 x 12 template and loved the subtle swirls I got.

Minor twist- photos hanging where banners should be.
"Journaling" where photos would normally be placed.

I have an entire box of "bling" which I rarely use
because I rarely remember it's there. No more!

Now please run to Punky and make a page of your own- you might win a wonderful prize from Crafter's Workshop!


Second (larger) look:

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Michelle

My Girl Hugs!

Studio Calico Sketch challenge due April 18th.
Materials: Singing in the Rain kit and Tap Dance Add on. Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe papers and chipboard. Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly and Monarch punches.

Lola has learned to hug. She's hugging her plush toys, her Aunts, her Daddy, her grandma and occasionally even me. Spontaneous baby hugs. 

Best medicine ever.

This really happened. 

Lola was playing with some bright colored blocks when this taller (but younger) kid pushed her down to take it away. I looked over at his caretaker but she's on the phone. 

I was ANNOYED.

Here was this kid pushing my lil' bit around! Lola is confused- she looks like she may cry! OOO I'm starting to get my Hulk on!! What should I do? I can't yell at a baby! He's not  my baby! 

Besides- he's a BABY!

Before I open my mouth to firmly tell him to share and not push, Lola gets up- goes towards him- looks him in the eye AND GIVES HIM A HUG. !!!!!!!!  

Whaaaa? 

Oh!

Wish I had the photo! 

That little boy ran away crying. He was tired and cranky and needed a nap. I don't know what Lola was thinking but she blithely skipped any of my expected reactions. I gleefully noted- she got revenge AND played nice. Not that she meant to. I'm the evil person who's glad she confused him right back. So Lola is 19 months and already a better person than her Mom.

My face, it's beaming.

Magnolia on a 80 degree day- I'm in heaven.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Punky Rebel Challenge!!! Tangerines, Limes and Lemons

Hiya!
I am SO EXCITED to show my first Guest Design Team piece for Punky Scraps
BOOYAH!

She's Got The Look
Materials: American Crafts Travel paper, Sassafras Lass banner sticker, Cosmo Cricket
Just Keep Swimming shells, Elmer's glue color glue sticks (FUUUN),
Basic Grey Green at Heart chip stickers, Glossy Accents, Prima acrylic rose,
Uni-ball gel pen- white and fluorescent yellow. MLS tiny alphas- tangerine

I just went bananas when I saw this palette. I LOVE these colors together- they scream Goldie Hawn in the 60s- with white go-go boots and lots of eye liner. This palette is SO MOD!!!
Some close ups!!!

Crafter's Workshop Flower Shower and Flower Frenzy
templates are AWESOOOOOOME!

My Mind's Eye yellow ball ribbon and
Jillibean Soup journaling spot.
Button- Crate Paper Neighborhood 

More Crafter's Workshop template madness.
I had so much fun stenciling with the acrylic paint!
Got that wonderfully fuzzy outline you can't get with mist. 

I don't particularly love my layout. I feel it's a bit too flat but I love that I finally experimented with my Kaiser Craft acrylics- they have been sitting around waiting for me to WAKE UP and experiment. Which is why I love Punky- it's not traditional- it's not precious- it's funky and messy and just plain FUN!

So please come join the fun! Slap some paint and newspaper on a sheet of paper with a cute photo and call it a layout- no one will think twice about your use of electrical tape AND you just might win! That's just fabulous.

AAA!!! Tangerine baker's twine!!! I'M IN LOVE!!!
Reasonableribbon.com

I will be trying to MAKE THIS for Letty's July Italian wedding!!!
 Yes It's official- I AM BANANAS!
(photo Courtesy of Martha Stewart Magazine)

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle