Favorite Project of 2011!

I love these posts!!! I like reading other people's posts and I like trying to choose just 10 projects for mine. This year I went for 12- 1 for each month.

This made me feel so much better about my "talent". My love of graph prints is in full effect and obviously I will NEVER be a clean and simple scrapper- even though I strive to be so.

And so, in no particular order:

Sketchy Thursdays January  GDT application page- I was so sad to see I had missed the deadline to vote!
Voting challenges are hard for me because I hate asking people to vote- it seems so conceited- not that I
mind voting for my friends when asked which is kinda two faced right? ;)

This page came outta NOWHERE and firmly established Sunshine Broadcast as my favorite collection
ever- how I'll miss Sassy! It got picked up by several websites- it's time for me to start submitting for pub calls- if I can keep the due dates straight!

This is also from a Sketchy Thursdays sketch- love the radioactive quality the colors took on when
I shot the page in blue tinged shadow.

From a sketch provided by a website I no longer remember- this was so FUN and I really love that
I finally used my apple picking shots from 2010.

This was made way back in January of 2010- it's messy and much more genuine than some of the forced stuff I do now.

Favorite photo of my Mom- she looks so beautiful here. I'm excited about her next step- her upcoming retirement- wish I could buy her a trip to Australia as a present.

Studio Calico winner for second week of June- Vee left a comment and I almost died-
she's one of my FAVE artists ever along with Emily Pitts and Sasha Farina. FANGIRL!

This was for my DT application for Elle Studio- naturally I got nowhere as it's a little naive but
I love the girlie colors and the photo- my Lola was so vulnerable at this point.

I made this for this year's Paper Issues Blog hop- it's about the culling of Canada Geese in NYC parks- something I deeply disagree with. I made this page in 30 minutes!!!! I STILL can't believe it.
By the way- there's a great Numbers challenge up this week- swing by and check it out: http://paperissues.blogspot.com/2011/12/weve-got-your-number.html

A page for the True Xoxo Girls November challenge- love the clean design of this and Ormolu is SO AWESOME! When they have a DT call I am SO applying! Check us out! http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/

This was a page for Punky Scraps- I used a roller to get the mist to spread evenly- this was the first time I actually made a PUNKY page for them. Swing by and check out this month's latest challenge: http://punkyscraps.blogspot.com

This is my first Gauche Alchemy project. I write for their website so I no longer have much scrapping time but I love their funky products check out the BLOG and ARTFIRE STORE.

Before I forget- Carmina of PasigMom fame has asked that I tell you 10 THINGS ABOUT ME.
Here goes:
1. I used to be eat cherries by the pound but I'm now allergic to whatever they put in them to keep the bugs away- WAAAH!
2. I like writing this blog as much as I like actual crafting.
3. No white hair yet but I see the frown lines and wish I had the moolah to pull a Nicole Kidman.
4. I love Terry Pratchett, zombie novels and Batman comic books.
5. I can be annoying. I am aware of the problem and work on it constantly.
6. I love the colors red and pink together.
7. I'm a paper hoarder- wish I could say I wasn't- really.
8. I use scrapbooking as a way to develop my photo skills and technological knowledge.
9. I've made more friends and had more fun doing this than any other hobby I have ever taken up.
10. I like plants. (smiling)


MuChOs SmOoChEs!

December Daily- Playin' Catch Up

So you are now officially "over" Christmas. Perhaps you would rather gnaw your foot off than see one more post boasting (OOPS! I meant "sharing") innovative handmade presents, wonderfully close family moments or cooking exploits.
Can't say I blames ya!
But I am finishing my danged December Daily and posting it if it's the last scrappy thing I do!!! I didn't shoot my presents which consist of one Sizzix machine (still "enroute") and one book "Snuff" by Terry Pratchett which I have already devoured and LOVE. We ordered (note I did not say MADE- as in that way lies madness) some traditional Puerto Rican pasteles and ate till it hurt- overall a fantastic holiday if you ask me.

Oh LOOK ornaments! I didn't buy those. And see the photo taken on the 22nd?  The photo I wanted to add here was too big to fit in a 2 inch circle so off to another day it goes.

December Daily albums are a hard project- you have to fight your own bad habits to get finished. Mine are procrastination, an inability to stick to a unified theme or color scheme, tendency to get overwhelmed during family moments and forgetting to actually SHOOT A PHOTO and posing people when I miss out on a moment. My family grew very tired of me saying "STOP! Let's do that AGAIN."

Day 22- you are only as old as your parents let you feel. I was not allowed to "restage" this.

Let's be real- anything with Lola is likely posed 'cause girlfriend REFUSES to look at the camera. This is what I figure- your brain will rewrite the memory later anyway so why not provide a pretty picture and start the historical rewriting right now? But I didn't make stuff up just to have it in the album.
When Lola is older though I will revisit the 31 NYC holiday hotspots in 31 days idea and use it as a way to keep from just sitting around at home all the time.

Day 17 is an iTouch photo of a regular photo. Lola was staring at the giant Christmas tree in absolute wonder. Day 18 is about how Lola got a new pair of pants from a nice old lady who FORCED me to hand them over so she could buy them- NY style generosity- let me treat you OR ELSE. ;)

Reality check number two? I take Instagr.am pix of 35mm images I shoot with my Leica using a real flash- cheating? YOU BETCHA!!!!
Why? Because otherwise my pix would all be muddy pixelated pieces of digi crap. I really hope Apple comes out with a better camera in the next iTouch iteration- I'm NOT paying for an iPhone data plan.

Day 23- Merry Christmas from the Hernandez (and company) clan!!

Reality check number three- I also choose moments that happen in a day I have already covered for my next page- am I REALLY going to remember the pants thing happened on the 20th and not the 18th when I open this book later on? NOPE! So why worry?

I love that stupid plastic snowman. I wish I had a yard so I could light it up with one (or a 20). Day 20 is about how it's been raining cats and dogs here. December has been freakishly warm- except for the day Letty, Robby Rob (her husband) and I decided to walk to Rockerfeller Center- it was 15 degrees that night and I tasted roasted chestnuts for the first time- DOH! I didn't take a PHOTO!!!

I'm working on the final few pages- I'll probably stop at day 30 and take down the tree- or just stage it and leave the actual tree up till early February as usual. I haven't decided yet. GRIN. So there you have it- a direct order to just let go of the rules and get crafty- it's just paper after all!

December 24th- Do you know how many of these I had to shoot (and repose- ha ha) before Lola looked anything but annoyed to be "opening presents" at MIDNIGHT? That's the Latin American custom and let's just say- it doesn't mix well with the under 10 crowd. PS- I also have the annoyed shot- you'll see it in my next post.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Wreath Alchemy! Christmas goes Gauche

I have been remiss.
Did you know I write for the Gauche Alchemy design team blog?
Probably not, I never mention it.
Can I offer up a crap excuse?
I have an incredibly hard time writing about other people's projects!
Not because the projects aren't fabulous but because they always are!
It takes me a while to come up with different ways to say- "This is beyond awesome! Look what my fellow team member did- OMG she's the CHEESE!"
(That last part because I really, really love cheese)
But I will change my ways as of now.
Yesterday I posted my 2011 wreath.
This one.

Which came from this Martha Stewart kit:

I tried SO HARD to make mine look like Martha's!!!
EK Success holiday craft kits do not come with detailed step by step instructions (their instructions are just like Ikea ones- all drawings and NO SENSE) so I used up a lot of the large grain glitter on a few leaves and the result was quite fug.
After much raving over my ineptness, I broke out the corrugated board, my fave mists and the music paper from the Gauche Alchemy Bare Nekkid paper kit (FAVE KIT EVER!) and went to town.
The Martha floral tape also killed my joy for a few days. The leaves kept falling off the freaking form! I was ready to drop kick the entire thing out the window.  So I declared a truce, used red punchinella, some hot glue and thusly preserved what was left of my sanity.

Glitter floral items all came from the Michael's clearance table (20 cents each- woohoo!). I used an ancient Marvy Uchida corrugator to alter some very shiny Anna Griffin paper from the Carmen collection and Mister Huey mists in School House and Plumb Thumb.

It is December 15th. I haven't started a single "hand made" Christmas gift, cooked a single holiday recipe or made the cards I was going to send. I am not Martha Stewart. I will never be Martha Stewart- please give me a moment to grieve for my broken delusions of grandeur.
pausing
pausing

Chrissy's Victorian rosette wreath.

Fellow Gauche gals Cheryl and Christina have made some GORGEOUS wreaths. I would post them here but then what incentive would you have to go there? Ok 1 sneak!!!

• Cheryl made a beautiful wreath using chocolates (I KNOW!!), an old book, some twine and some Gauche alchemy woodgrain punchinella. She also has a fantastic step y step video.

• Christina's gorgeous wreath using an old romance novel, some floral items from Hobby Lobby and hundreds of hand cut and rolled florettes will blow you away. Check it out here on the 23rd- don't worry- I will post a reminder- it really is that good!

Lola helped us wrap the front door in kraft paper- she got a kick out of the wreath and it was all I could do to keep her from destroying it entirely.

Gnarly ribbon!

Adding the last flower to the wreath- she was so happy to help!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

December Daily- getting into the ZONE!!!

So I'm groovin' along the December Daily project- it's been great at keeping me in the spirit of the holiday even though I'm not actually making any Christmas presents (like I said I would).
I have to keep in mind that:
1. This is totally voluntary.
2. I don't have to break literary ground with my journaling or take a splendiferous image every single time.
3. I don't have to work in sequence! Just break the rules.

Day 5and 6- I'm finally using some American Crafts glitter paper I loved but was too thick for punching stars from. The small alphas are from Lily Bee- I should have bought 3 pages of the Memorandum ones! Slowly using up my Studio Calico woodgrain Thickers- I really need to get those from the shop before they sell out forever.

Here's my goal- capture the emotion of each day and be present in the moment. I'm usually the kind of Mom who's like "WHAT? Lola can count to 10? Who taught her THAT????" (The answer is ME- I taught her that- but not on purpose)
Yup- disconnected.
So these days I'm paying more attention- not just reading the book aloud but pointing to the pictures and asking "What's that?" Wouldn't you know it- she has all the answers!

Day 7 & 8- you seen page 7 already. I added page 8 and I'm STILL loving those Ormolu tags!!! The 8 is a 99 cent store yellow kraft paper stencil set I LOVE.

Lola is counting to 20 on her own- it's easy to learn when you have 3 flights of stairs to climb each day.
She also knows the basic colors and has favorite shapes! (red square- blue circle- she's not loving hexagons... YET)
She's finally understood the concept of "me". Now it's all "ME ME MEE!!!" when she wants something or "I'm tired!" when she wants attention.
I'm trying to get her to say "I'm hungry" or "I'm thirsty" but she just yells "Me CHICKEN!" or "Me JUICE!" at random moments- it makes for some seriously funny pauses while my brain plays catch up.

Love page 11 where I CHEATED and used a photo from day 5. I hated the whole lot of day 11 photos! Also page 12 is blank because I messed up and made 13 first- oops!

Page 13 and journaling envelope. I haven't written anything in the journaling page yet. I want to come up with something meaningful. Page 13 is my reaction to the current meme on real versus manufactured trees.

The other day Dave and I took her to the park. Out of nowhere Lola says "DID YOU SEE THAT?" Nope! We missed whatever it was.
She says "COOL!"
We say "AWESOME!"
Then I try to get funny and say "RADICAL!" and Lola responds with "BITCHIN'!!!"
Dave and I (and half of the park goers that day) all GASP in unison.
Where did she learn to say "bitchin"??? I've never said that- ever! Plus how did she know it goes with awesome and radical???
A mystery!!!
Then it hit me- what happens at Grandma's STAYS at Grandma's. I KNOW Mom has a copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!! I've seen it!!!
No wonder she's been jumping on the couch so much- she better not try to use my cooking spoons as nunchucks!

Some photos for a Light Challenge over at One Story Down:

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

December Daily Monday! Do you "redo"?

Ok December Daily friends- how many of you switch photos around to fit your story or redo pages when you find out they don't quite flow with a new entry? I guess that's why it's smart to choose a kit or a specific set of papers and make pages ahead. But then how do you get to play? I kinda like the improvisation.

This is my latest version of page 1:

Page 1 was supposed to be cool with the scallop hanging in the air but when I added a second binder ring (also over the weekend) I realized that the page was hanging away from the rest and it rally started to bug me.  Those are Lola scribbles on the bottom half of Day 1.

Day 2 got some washi tape, a duck ornament photo too small to go anywhere else. I redid my "photo list" with some tea stained typewritten notes that I think I will use on all my pages- I really like how much info can be squeezed onto the page without bothering with individual stickers, I only have 1 photo off this list! YIPES!

ACK! Light mismatch! The sun is hitting the pages directly here- better for color. I really love that photo of Lola with her fave toy- a plastic shopping cart she wants to take everywhere- added it even though it's not from December.  Page on the right has been redone 4 times- I want it to look effortless but so far it just looks messy.

Now for some unfinished pages:

That's a Pink Paislee frame from their Hocus Pocus Halloween collection. I love these frames! Just pop the middle out and you have a winter blue frame. THANK YOU JEANNIE for the fun mail!!!
Why is there a white paper there? I'm trying to go hybrid and not print photos anymore as each cartridge costs me 31 dollars. Guess what? I need to learn how to mask and layer properly in Photoshop- the edge of the frame did me in.

Imagine this photo is in that white piece of paper please:

Day 6- letting her play in the puddles

Lyrics to a favorite Christmas carol from when I was a child- Arbolito. Right side? Who knows! Day 7 or 8 maybe.

So that's it for now- I realize I've showed much of this content before so it's back to the drawing board to get current. How are your December Daily minis coming along?
I think I prefer a white background (and the black frame- need to learn to make my own in Photoshop!

iPod Instagram photo- nice but the fuzziness is REALLY apparent here.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!

Root Canal!!! A Punky Scraps Christmas page

To explain this admittedly SCARY page:

Shattered- an unChristmas page
MATERIALS: Lily Bee Memorandum paper and alpha stickers, American Crafts sunrise Thickers, Studio Calico wood asterisks, green striped washi tape from Giftwrap So Pretty on Etsy, Crafter's Worskshop template, Maya Road mists Green apple and Lime Metallic, MIster Huey in Schoolhouse

Growing up, my Dad was constantly admonishing me to BRUSH YOUR TEETH!!! YOU DON'T WANT A ROOT CANAL!!
According to Dad, root canals are the most awful thing ever. I took him at his word and brushed, flossed and rinsed away regularly.
My dentists always said "You've got BEAUTIFUL teeth!" ...
But I ended up needing a root canal anyway.
Not 1 but TWO- the second one a complete surprise.
A deep cavity was discovered under a filling that had come loose- no evidence showed in the xray- the dentist found it after digging away and finding a "soft spot" that just kept growing.
Excruciating!

So I'm preoccupied with my mouth right now. And with a second torture session scheduled for late December it's enough to completely distract me from the joy of the holiday.
But I won't let it!!!
December Daily photo not yet entered into my book:

Day 8- 65 degrees!!!! Brooklyn Bridge Park is awesome.
I love my custom made "scarf"!

Day 9: Wrapping the door and hanging the wreath.
Watch for my punchinella wreath project over at Gauche Alchemy on the 12th!

I loved this month's Punky Scraps sketch.

I think perhaps you'll want to mosey on over and check out the more bright and cheerful pages on the blog. PUNKY SCRAPS
The page should also use one of the following:

* corrugated cardboard*

*stamping*

*paint*

*misting*

*stars* 

*ribbon*

Get creative people! And keep those December Daily albums going!!!

Day 7- I know she looks uber bored but she really loved visiting the
empty lot turned Christmas Tree wonderland.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

December Daily- Central Park and FAO Schwartz

So after all my whining in yesterday's post about the crowds over at the Christmas Market in Union Square guess where I'm going to day?
Well you don't have to guess- you saw the title.

Day 1 with journaling.
Materials: Crate Paper peppermint collection journaling square from Paper Issues on Etsy,  Jillibean Soup corrugated flower and summer journaling spot. December pin from Ormolu

I love Christmas- yes, really!
I love the smell of special holiday food cooking.
I love that I get to see my sister Leticia and her hubby Robby Rob.
I love my crazy Aunts coming over from Pennsylvania.
I love that you finally see RED clothes in stores- my fave color- although this year it seems everyone is crazy about BORING silver and beige palettes.

Random unfinished page and Day 3.
Materials: American Crafts paper from Paper Issues, Cosmo Cricket market collection paper, stickers from Cosmo and Crate. Ki Memories snowflake from one of their lace papers.

I bought Lola's holiday outfit yesterday at a local high end thrift shop called The Flying Squirrel. It's great place to find boutique kid items super cheap. I would consider a visit if you are in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, love "brands" and have kiddos. I just really wanted to find something red and made from good fabric- dressing Lola in beige or black for Christmas is so NOT my bag. And WHAT is up with all the awful cheap fabric clothing in stores lately????

I have my photo for today!

Day 5- Christmas outfit found!
Satin Polka Dot Dress for 10 bucks and real cotton sweater 4 dollars, The Flying Squirrel. Leather shoes from TJ Maxx.
Where did the camera hating kid go? I couldn't get her off the floor! It's nice to see her be positive about photos. She looks like a 30's gangster with that lollipop in her mouth. Where she found it is a mystery as I did not give it to her.

Inside cover materials: Basic Grey Luscious paper, Fancy Pants filter paper, Studio Calico and Maya Road mists,
Martha Stewart gifts punch. alphas from Girl's Paperie and Cosmo Cricket

I am packing for today's photo expedition-
Juice boxes? CHECK!
Extra carriage blanket? Check!
Tranquilizer gun for frustrated tourists who try to sit on Lola? CHECK!

There's this really cool elevated doorway on the same street as Flying Squirrel.
No need to crouch to get face level shots! I will be using it again.
Materials: Crate Peppermint Collection paper and stickers from Paper Issues on Etsy, red corrugated alphas from Little Yellow Bicycle, Corrugated flower from Little Yellow Bicycle, glitter paper from American Crafts, Arrow flower punch from EK Success.

We decided to hold off until after the morning rush hour. We believe FAO Schwartz might be passable and their large windows mean lots of wonderful natural light inside the store. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I've noticed that my iTouch takes really fussy blown out high light photos compared to the new iPhone 4- can't be helped as I refuse to buy a 500 dollar phone I will only use as a camera.

The story behind this photo. I spotted this GORGEOUS gold light bouncing off the Empire State Building right before this shot- by the time I got here with Lola in tow it was almost gone. And by the time I reached the empty park table in the photo the sky was dark. Difference in time? 1 minute! Great photography is half technical prowess, half waiting for the right light moment.

Where there's a will- there's a way!
MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle