Cocoa Daisy Guest Designer- REVEAL

In my normal muddle through things to do and things done I lost track of some major milestones.

1. My 4 year anniversary came and went and neither my husband or I realized it for Three. Weeks.
The penny finally dropped when I spoke to my sister and she started talking about about HER 1 year anniversary. DOUBLE DOH!
I had forgotten to call and congratulate them as well!
Applying palm to forehead BRISKLY... now. Now. Now. Now.

2. My daughter's third birthday is days away!
HOW did I let the date get so close without planning something?
Granted- she's three.
Hoots? She gives none.
But it would have been nice to send out cards and maybe learn to bake a cake?
Right.
It's the pizza parlor and huge pink cupcake in the park across the street for us.
Let's save the drama for her Quinceanero.

WHAT has been distracting me so much (other than breathing, walking upright and eating the occasional daily bag of potato chips?)

I'm the September Guest Designer at Cocoa Daisy Kit Club!
I know I already said so in my last post but today I will show you 2 (of 5 projects) I made.

A page made with the Cocoa Daisy Main kit for September and embellishments from the "His" Add-on.
Those itty bitty bathroom people veneer shapes? I ignored them for a while now.
SO GLAD they came in this kit! They are THE COOLEST!
I tried writing directly on a photo for the first time. DUDE! White gel pens are kicking my butt!
Any suggestions? This one was new but completely non-functional!

I had a LOT of fun combining the prints in this kit. I would never think to get the October Afternoon Woodland Park page (the green floral) on my own. It would have been my loss because it's beautiful! Also? Basic Gray is KILLING it lately with their collections!!! I LOVE the Paper Clippings line so much I used the packaging in this page.

The idea that my face was going out on their mid-september newsletter freaked me out just a tad.
So I put-off getting a professional headshot till I ran out time.
And sent my usual crazed Muppet Instagram.
I'll be instantly recognizable!

Darned if I can't get this photo to load up as my avatar!
I've sized it down 10 different times yet the website insists it's too big.
It's 30 dpi! Sorry guys! I'll keep trying.

If you want to see the rest, pretty please swing by the Cocoa Daisy gallery.
And while you are there check out the September Kit- it's a perfect blend of feminine and masculine colors and prints.
And like any good marriage- there's plenty of neutral ground in between.

Thank you so much to Christine and Emily and the rest of the Cocoa Daisy team for hosting me this month.
I'm hoping I lived up to the challenge!
I had a lot of fun and I learned even more.

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Cocoa Daisy Kit Club and me? We're like this! (besties!!)

So there you have it- the news I've been trying to hold back for weeks
I'm the September Cocoa Daisy Guest Designer!
Woo hoo!!!

FOR REALZ!!! Cocoa Daisy kit madness was the most fun I've had in weeks. Visiting
the Zoo with a toddler in 90 degree weather is NOT fun- no really- it's not.

When I got the email from Emily Pitts a few weeks ago let's just say I was... surprised.
With equal parts ecstatic and scared.
I actually questioned whether they had the right Michelle.
After all- THIS Michelle is known for her blabbering, bumbling and being completely overwhelmed.

GRINNING!

Well not THIS month!
I scheduled everything down to the last minute.
Zoo visit? Done! 3 hours!
Work? I handed in a list of all the days I needed off for the entire month of August.
Family? They were warned NO UNPLANNED VISITS!
I got all my work for other DTs done early.
I said "no" to anything that would interfere- family movie night? NO!
Mall visit? NOOOO!
But I said yes to Lola's walks because nothing hurts more than looking back and thinking I should have said yes to this face.

GAH! Look at the CHEEKS! And the SWEET LITTLE NOSE!
Who can say no?

And then I got my kit.

GOTCHA! Can't show the kit- sorry! Tune in the 28th. Cocoa Daisy Kits.

I locked myself up in my scrap room for 2 entire days.
I was gonna kill my first kit!

I'm usually really freaked out by patterns but this October Afternoon
Woodland Park prints was BEGGING to be mixed with the Echo Park bracket print.
And the May Arts diagonal stripe ribbon? Who would have thought I would love green so much?
That's the great thing about this kit- the unexpected details.

And I'm very happy to say I did it!
4 pages and 1 great card I gave to my husband for our anniversary.
Woo hooo!
I've been part of several kit clubs and received many"color co-ordinated" kits.
My first move was always to pick the kits apart and use only the embellishments.
But not this time.
I would have never thought the serene blues and greens of this kit would fit my style so well- they really really do.
I also got the "His" add on as well- you're gonna love these combos PROMISE!

These Pink Paislee alphas- I've passed them up several times as "too large".
WRONG AGAIN! They are AWESOME!

Needless to say I think you should swing by and check out the kit.
I particularly like this month's kit stamp- it's freaking awesome.

See? So simple! INGENIUS!!!

To those of you who told the folks at Cocoa Daisy to swing by this lonely corner of the scrapiverse- thank you!!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Using Your Smash Book to kick start your scrap Mojo.

Hallo scrappy people!

I've wanted to start an "art journal" forever but it seemed like double effort since I tend to experiment with color combos and materials on most of my projects.

Some pages work out. Most fail the awesomeness test.

Michelle's Page Awesomeness Test

• Are the colors, patterns and item sizes vibe-ing with (or BETTER yet- against) each other? 
• Does this page make me wanna do a karate chop while yelling "DAUM! That's HAWT!"
• Does this page do something different from the ones I've done before?
• Do I feel like I used up all my energy and ideas making this?

If the answers are yes- we are good to go.
If not, I redo the pages at a later time.
But, while educational, that way of working is getting incredibly inefficient.
A solution was needed.

Enter K & Co's Smash line.
I've actually had 2 of these books in my stash for over a year without ever opening them up!

Then I got the "Eco" Smash book as homework.

My assignment:
Fill 5 pages using only products available in the store.
The book was to be displayed to hopefully entice shoppers to get their own.

What I came up with:

Sorry for the crappy iTouch photos.
These were meant to record the page as a sketch for my next project.

All stamps, papers and embellishments are available at Paper Source.

The book on display:

So how did this help my with my scrapbooking?

1. I made a page made in about 2 hours (a third my usual time).

2. The Smash pages helped define color combos, embellishment placement and photo sizes.

A Flair For Buttons Sunburst White/Color and Woodgrain Days of The Week pins. LOOOOOVE!!!

3. It helped me define what I actually wanted to say. 

I had 3 theme ideas and 6 photos all jumbled up in my mind. This is actually a huge sticking point for me in a lot of pages and I avoided it entirely this time. 

Scrap FX Kraft journaling notes item #2012191k

I'm also glad I finally got to use some of that Basic Grey Wander paper.
When I first got this in a kit a year ago I really hated the colors. Not anymore!

I also found some graph pattern vellum online. I did a little jig for joy when I saw the listing! You'll be seeing a lot of it in all my pages.

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!

Salome at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sound off!
How do you kick start your creativity?

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Deconstructed Edge- A Punky Scraps Sketch challenge

Good Friday Morning happy people!

The latest Punky Scraps Challenge is all about deconstructed design.
By "deconstructed" I don't mean that I took a hammer to it.
Deconstruction as a style, plays with design norms and assumptions.
Here is a GREAT blog article on how it relates to fashion- major food for thought and written in a very clear and concise manner- Fashion Medium.

Needless to say trying to tackle this challenge was a lot harder than I thought.

It would help to have a really good handle on graphic design principles.

I'm still on a learning curve for those.

Here's the page:

Lots of "thought" went into this design. Can you tell? Needless to say there are much better practitioners of this style but I love it so I'll keep trying to get a full handle on it.  

I'm currently reading "Graphic Design for Non-Designers" by Tony Seddon.
It's kind of a hard read since he's talking about visual issues with minimal illustrations and examples.
If you have a better design basics book or website let me know ok?
Some detail shots:

A Flair for Buttons on Etsy "Moments" pin
Cocoa Daisy "You Are Here" stamp
Honey comb Flower stamps from Paper Source 

Can you even SEE the clear arow from Fancy Pants here?
Yeah I thought so- will have to think of ways to make that more visible.

I had some help in the fantastic sketch Nat provided but I'm not happy with the final result.
I wanted to redo the page for this entry- yeah no- I barely have time to write this very post!
Here's the sketch- why not join in?
Punky Scraps Challenge Blog

A fashion related sketch if I ever saw one.

I'm in NYC tour leader mode for this entire month which is why I barely have time to think.
Lots of family outings to random places which can be exhausting but so fun.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Let the sunshine in! A Scrap FX stencils post

It was only a matter of time. 

Stencils are finally en vogue for all scrapbooking styles.

Scrap FX has some beautiful stencils and today I'll share a a clean and modern page scrapbook page I made with their "Pow Spots Stencil".

I love This photo of Lola with her two cousins- I've scrapped it at least 4 times so far. I added cream colored mist to give the "Bokeh" effect without the digital enhancement.
Materials: Scrap FX "So Happy Together" chipboard, Scrap FX "Pow Spots Stencil",  A Flair For Buttons  "Photos" pin, American Crafts "Shoreline" papers and gold glitter brads, Martha Stewart punch around the page pinked circle punch, Jenni Bowlin Blue Ribbon squeeze punch, Little Yellow Bicycle star pin, Maya Road star pin, Pop Dots, Grafix shirk film. Liquid Pearls in yellow, Kaiserkraft pearls in pink. Mister Huey in gold and cream

I love this stencil and thought I could use it to make a fun Super hero page but I realized I could also make some cool solar flare effects with it so I got to work on that instead.

Here's a close up of the shrink film pow spot- that looks like an
AWESOME "Gem" style earring to me!!!!

These could probably be made faster with a digital cutter but I like working with stencils to add gesso and paint accents to my pages so this was actually a departure from my usual technique.

I finished the wordlet (item number 2012060) with Diamond Stickles and Liquid Pearls in yellow-
the effect is subtle and really pretty.

If you swing by the blogs of my fellow Scrap FX design team members (or click on that link to go to the company blog and see work by the entire team) you'll see how they use different stencil products to their best advantage.

Clouds & Raindrops stencil. LOVE these out of the ordinary shapes!

Right now I'm loving:

• Michelle Logan's pages using the Chevron stencil
• Agnieszka Bellaidea's use of the palm frond stencil
• And I love the whimsy in all of Scarlett's pages lately- she uses templates in all her work

Swing by their blogs and check them out.

The entire team is making amazing stenciled pages so there will be more links coming your way in my next post. ;)

Gotta have those!!!!
 I'm SO GONNA MAKE THIS MY NEXT PROJECT! 

It's Friday mi gente!

Get out the August sun and get creative!

Scrapping in Yellow- a color crush

My last 6 pages have all been yellow.
Not sure why but I'm a go with the flow, don't ignore your gut instincts kind of gal

So I went with it.

Here are 2 of my current favorites:

MATERIALS: American Crafts "Shoreline" paper, A Flair For Buttons "Loving Life" pin from the "Word Flair" set,  Amy Tangerine Muse Thickers, Sassafras Lass paper and stickers, Foam pop dots by AC, K and Co Smash date stamp, My Favorite Things star die, Stickles in Diamond (barely visible on the pop stars), Pucnh Around The Page by Martha Stewart, Fiskars Jenni Bowlin ribbon punch

MATERIALS: Scrap FX Iris Flower circle, #2012153, Flourish V #20121181 (I LOVE these new flourish designs!!!),
ampersand set #2007329 and Itty Bitty Bets “Groovy” #2005104, Sassafras Lass layered flowers and paper,
Amy Tangerine fabric paper by American Crafts. acrylic paint set from Ikea (!!)

So there you are- some happy on a Monday morning.

I am struggling through yet ANOTHER period of waning mojo.

It's been more than a week since I created anything new.

It gets a little scary to deal with these "WHAT TO DO?" moments when I have so many projects due.

If you have any great ways to kick start your creative process post them in the comments section.

This video from Dina Wakely is AWESOME!!!

Creative Jumpstart -- Dina Wakley from Dina Wakley on Vimeo.

I will be trying this later tonight (if Lola lets me).

Michelle Logan (Scrap FX DT Co-ordinator) visited NYC and stopped by my
workplace earlier this summer.
It was all yellow. :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle

A challenge of Olympic Proportions! True Xoxo Girls Scrapbooking

Hello!
If you're here for the Punky Scraps Blog hop please scroll to the post right under this one!
Or swing by http://www.njmacs.blogspot.com/2012/07/punky-punky-back.html for a chance to get on the team for 2012-13!

The True Xoxo Girls Olympic challenge is here!
Perhaps you would like to use the colors of the Olympic flag in your layout.
Or maybe you'd like to make a heritage page about a sports event your family was inspired by.
The possibilities are endless!
Swing by the True Xoxo blog and pick a page to scraplift.
You can also vote for your favorite page from the June and July entries.

Here's my page for the August challenge:

Materials: A Flair For Buttons arrow pin, Studio Calico paper, Crate Paper border, Fiskars Jenni Bowlin
ribbon punch, American Crafts glitter Thickers, American Crafts "Alex" Delights, Pebbles flag, Fiskars
corner rounder, gold gel pen from Sakura, gold mini brads from American Crafts and Mister Huey Gold mist.

That's my sister Melissa.
She's a pro boxer.
She changes weight divisions once in a while but mostly she's a Bantam weight fighter (and now a world title belt holder- WOOT!).

I rarely talk to Melissa about "the boxing thing".
It REALLY bothers me that she risks permanent injury every time she does her job but she loves what she's doing and she's good at it so I've learned to keep my reservations to myself.

I kept the page simple to focus on the spectacular photos (that I DID NOT TAKE-  I promise to track the name down of this photographer- he did a fantastic job)

I used my favorite Studio Calico print, cut some 1/2 inch strips from a Crate print for the border and tried to use Diamond Stickles on vellum.
The water-based Stickles glue crinkled the vellum but I liked the wonky effect so I kept it in.

A whole bunch of fun new flair pin sets are up over at the
A Flair For Buttons Etsy page!

Now you!
Join the Xoxo crew and show us your Olympics inspired page!
Swing by to check out the other DT work- lots of great pages this month (as always!)
True Xoxo Girls Challenge Blog.

OH! Before I forget!

3 pages of mine are in this issue! German Art Scrap Magazine
http://www.diescrapperin.de An online preview will be coming your way soon!

I have a page in the August issue if Scrapbook Trends as well.
I would show it to ya but I need to go to Joann's to pick up a copy!

Have a scrappy day mi gente!
Michelle