Brown, black and Red- a love story

I don't know about you guys but I spotted a definite "trend" in my scrapbook pages for the last 10 years.
I love Red.
And I definitely prefer Kraft over white.
Black, Brown and Red make for striking imagery.

I have a whole socio-political theory for this preference.
There is a time and space for those ramblings but this ain't it.
I have no real way to articulate them properly.

I'll just show you my pages.

I love this Pink Paisley clear acetate alphabet so much I managed to buy it THREE times without noticing. Luckily it was 3 bucks a pop at Tuesday Morning my new favorite scrap haunt. I'd love to keep up with the latest lines but I simply can't justify the expense anymore. The background paper is another holdover from 2016 Crate Paper. 

I ended up stitching the danged letters into the page- a process that took TWO whole assed hours because this clear plastic alphabet doesn't like any glue that I had on hand- it either popped out of showed through- a big no no.

When we moved to Utah I didn't bring any furniture. I didn't pack much clothing. I didn't bring my Mac- something I deeply regret. 
I put my favorite paper bits, my negatives, photos and home decorations into 4x4 boxes and sent them over via railroad.
The stuff stayed boxed up for 4 years. 
We left everything behind. 
It took 4 years just to come back to a spot that felt familiar. We lived in a basement. Then the world's awfullest rental. 
Then we FINALLY bought a home.

I cannot put into words just how amazing it is to become a home owner.

Yes the taxes and the neighbors and the plumbing issue which is now your problem not the "Super's" - these are all hella stressful.
But I am an advocate for moving the HELL outta of cities. 
Find a place that speaks to you- a place with nature. A place with DIVERSITY- something Salt Lake deeply lacks but which can be found if you look. 
West ValleyCity is where it's my gente.
I have Temples to at least 5 different religions just blocks away from my home.
I found a Puerto Rican Plena group. We plan to learn. In Salt Lake City y'all.
Seek and find the "other".
We take up space everywhere.

Another page:

When living in a basement apartment you need to seek light or you WILL go crazy. We took road trips.
We saw many things and took up space in areas we were told we would meet with prejudice. Not so.
This is on the way to Great Basin National Park on one of the loneliest roads in America. Make sure your gas tank is full. Bring plenty of water and food. Watch for Butterflies. We spooked a flock of thousands and watched them take off in a cloud of yellow. Everyday magic.

The circles came from a Gauche Alchemy kit. The store is
 gone but I love the focus on using things that are already found.
Pretty sure the window privacy film is "non archival" but hey so is the color photo. 

I have no real answers. I'm not sure why I stick to this instead of expanding to Painting or Crochet or a dozen other cooler crafts.
Some people just love paper.
Some people just like to be outliers.
Join us or let us be.

Truly beautiful things are wild and free- a watercolor page

Somewhere in Greenpoint, Brooklyn a storefront bears that title across it's window
I will seek out find this store.
I will stand in front of this window and take an ironically posed photo.
I love the poetry of it.

It's freaking 100 degrees out here- hold on- it's been 100 degrees across most of the US this week!  l
Let's all take a collective chill pill.
chillin,' chillin', chilliiiiiin'

I want to go to the newly opened McCarren pool but apparently there was a huge brawl between a bunch of teenagers and the entire lifeguard staff? Like ALL of the life guards.
So yeah, a pass on THAT idea.

A quick page:

Loving those Studio AE stamps. I also used Gauche Alchemy washi tape and rectangle grid punchinella here.
The polka dot border is unnecessary- I was trying to distract you from the uneven borders caused by warping.
I really need to find a way to use water color without having the page that looks like a wet rag!
Plus I love this page. A lot. One of the few I can say that with ZERO caveats.

Some detail shots:

Those Pink Paislee celebration banners are finally used.
I was having a hard time incorporating them- hello- random!
I would like 4 more of the sunburst pieces please- they are so cute!

Awesome handwriting- wish I had it. Apparently copying a page out my
favorite book over and over again will help me develop it.

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!

On the way to the park- new walls went up on Wythe and North 3rd- if you are into street art
I would suggest you take the L train and check it out. Lemme know so we can meet up at my
fave Thai restaurant and chat- I promise I am SO NOT an internet killer.

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Working Moms and scrapbooking: A space and time dilemma

HIYA!
The last friday of June! Aeeee!
Where did my favorite month go?
It's been so CRAZY here!
I'm working 10 hour days and on my days off I have to do the laundry, the grocery shopping, the last minute scrapbook assignment finishing(not a good way to work AT ALL) and squeeze in Mom and wife time as well.

A page I made for the Gauche Alchemy newletter.
New washi prints are in at the Gauche shop! Thereare also new individual rolls available.
Swing by and check out the offerings! Gauche Alchemy on ArtFire.

I had NO IDEA how organized and truly amazing some of my favorite bloggers where till I tried working full time myself.

WAIT! Before I annoy a lot of people- being a Mom is full time but my two year old naps twice a day. I used nap times to do the chores so my evenings and weekends were free.
Well no more!

I'm on my feet most of the day- when I get home all I want to do is lie down and feel sorry for my poor exploded feet.

THANK YOU Aerosoles! I found shoes I can stand on for hours.  Soft soled, comfortable leather
and the color is awesome- yes they still look sort of grandma like but WHATEVER!
I need my feet TILL I am a grandma! :)

I'm having so much fun it's hard to admit I'm letting people down. The work I'm making could be better, the family wants me to PAY ATTENTION, my friends are all wondering where the heck I went.
Something has to give.
I salute the women who "play this game" every day- you are AWESOME! You are MORE than AWESOME!
You are heros.

AAAA!!! LOVE!!!! From gifbin.com

I'm currently working on a schedule of ALL my time and how I spend it.
I can't believe how much awful tv I watch and how much time internet shopping eats up!
The click through time and the waiting for photos to load is also telling me I need update my computer.
And my shopping was already a problem so it's getting cut off from the schedule entirely! (Except for Two Peas newsletters. I need to keep up somehow!)

I'm a hard worker but even scrapbooking can turn into a chore if you have to schedule it in.

Chevron paper is from my LLS- I believe it's intended for invitations.
I used my Smash tape for the first time- the machine is kinda flimsy but I love it anyway.

Is that the world's smallest violin playing JUST for me?
I take that jammy and SMASH it on the floor! Like THIS: SMASH SMASH!!!
No. self. pity!
I'm gonna WIN at this working Mom stuff!
All I need is a better schedule and I must admit- a strict routine.
Instead of seeing that as a bad thing I will remember I don't HAVE to scrapbook- that I love it and that  routine will enable me to keep doing it and getting better at it (which was my goal with this blog and with joining DTs in the first place)

So wonderful friday readers- what do YOU do to ensure you create consistently? Any hints on scheduling or organizing your space for most efficiency? Let's chat!!

So this is why I got myself into the busy mess I'm currently in.
Family.
The number 1 priority.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Cheer up- it's wednesday- water color day!

It's wednesday.
I have a list of 8 things I HAVE to do today.
It's 4pm.
Will I be able to pull it off?

Happy place! Happy place! HAPPY PLAAAACE!

If you look up the term AWESOME (sauce) in the dictionary you will see a large photo of my
niece Noemi taking up most of the page. It's SO encouraging to see a happy, virtuous, INTELLIGENT
and FUN (not to mention popular!) 16 year old!!! MTV how about a reality show? I would watch it! 

Gauche Alchemy Punchinella and washi tape, Sassafras Lass layered flowers, water color paper and cheap 99 cent store water color paints were used for this late night experiment.

I used some loose leaf reinforcers as stencils and colored the actual stickers with Prima chalk ink- which by the way is the BEST THING EVER!

Some quick close up shots:

I'm adding that Gauche black loops washi to EVERYTHING!!! 
The magenta lace scallops is another fave.

Caption and can you spot a favorite item of mine as of late?
A Flair for Buttons typed words flair.

So now I'm hurrying off to the NEXT item on the to do list- the A Flair For Buttons Blog post I should have written oh 2 weeks go. YIPES!

Can I just show you two things?

Triangles Kraft and color flair

Colored Stars Flair

Aren't they luscious??? LOVE!

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!!

I finally found a Bokeh filter app- PicFX- cool as all GET!

Onto the next "To Do List" item.
LET'S DO THIS SCRAP HAPPY FOLKS!!! :)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Having fun with Gauche cards and loving every minute of it!

Happy Monday everyone!

 

Just a quick post to promote my latest project over at Gauche Alchemy.

A few weeks ago I got so bored with my scrapbook pages so I moved onto cards for a while and I really loved it. Gauche Alchemy writer Marilyn did a great job writing the post and I'm hoping you'll swing by and check it out.

Gauche Alchemy- Let's hear it for cards!

These are just two of the four cards featured- more details over at Gauche. 

Gauche Alchemy's Nearly Nekkid (kraft paper themed) kit, Gauche Alchemy
gold washi tape, "Hello" wood banner from Jillibean Soup, Mister Huey cream
mist cooking twine and flower from Petaloo.

Gauche Alchemy corrugated board, vellum and american Crafts paper (from the
 Nearly Nekkid kraft paper themed kit), flower from Prima and sentiment from
Glitz Designs paper.

By the way- the Gauche Alchemy blog has moved! 

Our website address is now www.gauchealchemy.com

Have you signed up to get updates on the new blog? It's an easy way to keep up with all the creative play going on. 

The team is putting some GREAT work together. 

Case in point?

This amazing post on art dolls which Gauche gals Jenn (Scraps), Jo, Maggi, Misty and Mary contributed to.

Just a teeny tiny sneak- please swing by and check out the whole post. 

http://www.gauchealchemy.com/2012/06/08/mixed-media-art-dolls/

Jo's department store dressmaker doll is rescued and made Gauche fabulous.

I was SERIOUSLY blown away by the sheer creative talent of my fellow team mates. 

If you like the materials used in these projects swing by the Artfire shop and pick up a few things:

 http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/gauchealchemy

GRATUITOUS "remake" of Madonna's "Borderline" video:

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Michelle

Vellum confetti- A paper crush (and a True Scrap Challenge)

Hello there!
Today I am sharing my latest inspiration page for True Xoxo Girls July Challenge.
The prompt for June is Scrap Your Closet!
I know- BANANAS!
But totally fun!

Here's my page:

Scrap FX June challenge- Scrap Your closet
Materials: Sassafras Lass paper and stickers, Gauche Alchemy doily washi tape, Scrap FX "Adorable" wordlett,
A Flair For Buttons "Believe" button, Viva Decor pearl pen, American Crafts Dear Lizzy mini doiles,
Ek Success bird punch, Martha Stewart heart confetti punch, brads from Basic Grey

So what does "scrap your closet" mean to you?
Some ideas the True Scrapbooking DT came up with:

• choose the most frequent colors in your wardrobe for your page
• make your closet layout into a sketch (GENIUS!)
• cheat (like I did) and scrap about your TODDLER'S closet since yours is full of grey and black duds.

Here is a fuzzy Instagram of Miss Lola's closet:

It's all about the turquoise, magenta and yellow this year.
I wish this was MY wardrobe!

Some project detail shots:

Vellum confetti! I added water droplets and bling to give it a bit of sparkle.  I layered
2 punches for each bird and bent the wings up for first layer of each so that they
cast a shadow. 

Scrap FX Adorable wordlet 2012126.
I used a Viva Decor pearl pen in Ice White to give the title that pearl finish.
I LOVE this product! I've had a couple of these pens for a while now but I haven't used them- MISTAKE!
They dry incredibly fast (beating Stickles glitter glue by miles), add perfectly formed pearls to your paper projects
(check it out here) and the color is great for covering darker colored alterables like chipboard.

Swing by the challenge and give it a try! It's FUN!
The challenge closes July 31st so you have plenty of time to shop for more clothes (ha!- we all know it's PAPER you spend your cash on!))

Parting shot!

My Mom went to Pennsylvania and all I got was this LUSCIOUS collection
of vintage buttons!!! THANKS MOOOOM!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

The flyness of flair (buttons)

Guess how long I've been dying to add the word "fly" (as in AWESOME) to a post title?
Forever!
WOOOOT!
Today I want to share a couple of pages that will be going up over at the A Flair For Buttons blog.
I. LOVE. Flair Buttons.
Thankfully mine come with no strings attached.
Unlike:

How NOT to use flair. Jennifer Anniston in Office Space. 

Guuurl I KNOW how you feel- work place MADNESS!
But that was then- this is NOW. (Now is ALL the awesome AND some sauce on the side).

First page up:

Sunday Sunshine Baby- that's my nephew Kaine when he was just a year old.
Materials: A Flair for Buttons woodgrain Days of the Week, Gauche Alchemy corrugated board, woodgrain punchinella and sequins, Sassafras Lass paper, stickers and die cuts, Crate Paper alphas and a Prima newsprint vine- oh and chevron and mini banner dies from "My Favorite Stamps".

How about this one?:

Capture Happy.
This was  a page I made for Gauche Alchemy last year and I remember thinking how I wish I had some plain white
word buttons- funny how life works out huh?
Materials: Gauche alchemy White mixed media color kit and clear punchinella, A Flair For Buttons Cameras flair pin and Word flair button, Happy pin from Joann's, Maya Road corrugated clouds and straight pins. 

I think you should swing by A Flair for Buttons blog and check out what the new Design Team (me included!) has come up with.
There is something for everyone- clean and simple scrappers, retro or altered item makers, romantic style scrappers, graphic designers of all types- Shelley has something for everyone.

Some project detail shots:

Mono chrome pages- I need to make more! They are FABULOUS.

I liked the plain wood print on the back of the letter "K" so I flipped it over but had to cut
parts off. It looks wonky but the color works. Sassafras!!! I MISS YOU! Come back! 

Brown cream and yellow together- it was by pure chance but I LOVE how the
girlie flower stuff got layered on there and the page is still pretty gender neutral.
Those A Flair For Buttons woodgrain days of the week? TOO AWESOME!

You go on and have a great weekend you hear?
My sister is in town- YAAAY!
We are gonna paint the town several shades of sunny yellow! I will take ALL the photos! And make ALL the happy sisters together pages. (woot!)

Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. This was my favorite piece. Someone
ripped the black subway poster backing right off the wall and took it home- smart cookie!

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Gauche Alchemy Goodness- color, pages, messy fun-ness

Once again I am struggling with lack of mojo.
Not because the ideas aren't there but because when I approach the table, my mind goes completely blank!
How could this be?

In bed? GENIUS IDEA! OMG can't wait to wake up tomorrow and get started!
In the park with Miss Lola? AWESOME motif and journaling ideas! Can't wait to get home and KICK PAPER BOOTY!
In the shower. woo hooo paper pattern combo to die for!!! Lemme just finish washing my hair...
While I'm walking. Oooo! PHOTO! PHOTO!!! layering technique madness!
IDEAS! Flow! Excitement!
Step up to the plate?
blankness
seas of white
tv static- brain ones

The secret to get over it (I've heard and have started putting into practice) is to work through it.
NO! Don't throw away that perfectly hideous piece!
Stop
Look at it.
Why did you feel the need to add that color?
Why did you choose that photo?
The papers or embellishments?
If you find your temples thrumming take a step back.
Ok walk away entirely and do something else for a while.
But try to come back, ok?
There is a reason for everything.
You may not find out why you made that first version of your project but you may dig up a kernel of something you can work on next time.
So here are 2 "first drafts" (which I really like)

Why is this a first draft?
 I love the color and that I used a photo that was printed on the wrong side of the paper by mistake (hence the title) but the design is lacking (or frankly, non-existent). I thought I should paint a window in the Hambly transparency but soon realized I would have to use a craft knife to make a blank space for the photo but my hand cutting skills are severely lacking so I chickened out. Next time I'll take this to the next level and cut that window out.

A page using the Gauche Alchemy Monstrous Mutant Robots from Outer Space Kit and some blue punchinella.
This is up over at the Gauche blog today. I've used washi tape on both these pages to make random lines- I love that design element. I also love triangles and arrows so they go in. This is actually a SECOND draft. The first one was too strange looking. Here I ignored the crowded print and decided to just flow with the robots and add as much color to the page as I could. There is a more effective design solution for this- I haven't found it yet.

WHOA! Now that I see the pages together I see I've scrap lifted myself! That happens a lot lately- I really need to start making sketches in advance.
Also? LOVING the strips of circles or arrows!! Will be doing that more!
See? Already winning!

And you?
What are some mojo kick starters or pages you think are "almost there"?
Leave a comment!
 I can swing by and help you out (or most likely- leave raving love all over your blog)

Street poster- so cool!!!

Thanks for spending time here!
Michelle

Funny story. WHY HAMBLY??? WHY? And also, SWAG!

A card made with Gauche Alchemy's Neon Color Kit.

Happy Monday folks!
The plan was to get all emo with my latest dramz but all that has to be pushed aside because frankly- who the heck wants to hear all that nonsense, right?
We ALL have trials and tribulations.
I was in the subway yesterday and this dude was asking for money and his story reached "The Iliad"proportions so I gave him a dollar and a smile.

I usually avoid the smiles when I had over the duckets (that's a link to the Urban dictionary- read definition number 5 and laugh yer tail right off)
Smiling signifies an approachable nature and before you know it, you are listening to a smelly dude talk about space aliens zapping people to make them compliant.
TRUE. STORY.

By the way- were you one of the lucky ones who got to see the partial solar eclipse yesterday?
LUCKY YOU!!!!!!
Am I gonna get to see a photo?
LINK IT UUUUP, YO!

Nasa' s "projection" of what you got to see if you lived in
the western part of the US. I won't hate on you TOO much.

Anyway, back to my story...
So about a year ago, this smelly homeless guy sits next to me as Lola and I rode the subway to Central Park. He talks very closely and  intensely about aliens and their culinary particulars for 4 entire stations. (The equivalent of an eternity in terms of nasal comfort).
All because MISS LOLA was all cute and cuddly and smiled at him and said "GOOO!"
BETRAYED by my toddler!
I managed a hasty: excusemeIgottagothanksfortheveryinterestinginformationbutthisismystop...
as I got up and rammed our cheap 35 dollar Chicco stroller into a random pair of ankles in my NEED to expeditiously extricate myself from said conversation.
BING BONG! Slam! went the subway car doors behind me.
Whew! SAFE!
MISS LOLA! NO MORE STARING AT DUDES ON THE SUBWAY!

The smile that attracts thousands- not MINE! Hers!

So I don't smile.
I wear the dog face.
Luckily, the new and improved terrible Twos Lola (or LOLZ 2.0) is more interested in screaming at the top of her lungs that she MUST walk around the subway car and impersonate a human pin ball right this very SECOND! NOW! NOW!! NOW!!!
Which does WONDERS for magically rendering subway seats empty and cancels out the yammering of alien tale-tellers (but not the smell- alas).

So I give up the goods if someone impresses me with their personal version of Paul Bunyan's flap jacks.
Some people would say I'm a fool to encourage that behavior.
Well, I love me a good story and this guy had a major brain disease, Iraq War veteran status, 3 hungry kids (WHY always 3? ALWAYS!) and an electric bill to pay. (electric bill? POINTS FOR RANDOM!)
But WAIT that's NOT all!
He had gotten stabbed several times and was showing the wounds to anyone interested.
HELLO! Positively Homer-rific!
So I paid up.
It's what you do when you live in the city.

By now you are all "I've lost 10 minutes of my scrap blog reading time! WTG MICHELLE!"
Sorry guys.
Maybe you are all: "Why all the emo, Chellster?"
(You can call me that- it would make me happy)

Hambly has decided to call it quits.
If I can't get emo about that I don't know WHAT is worth a good cry.
I've heard rumors that Art Director Allison Kreft Abad is now teaming up with Echo Park so it's not ALL ruin and devastation.
If you can confirm this piece of news for me I would GREATLY appreciate it.
AS IF Echo Park could possibly get MORE awesome!

Also this (which cancels most of the regularly scheduled emo):

I KNOW! Right?
Totes SWAGADOCIOUS!
(NOPE! I did NOT make that up- you can look it up in the Urban Dictionary- my source of choice)

I went to the Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum last weekend.
If you have the chance you should go. 

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Tuesdays are better! A Scrap FX Post

HALLO!
I hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend!
I will be celebrating next saturday since this weekend was don't disturb The Hubs who's studying for  finals week.

I've been struggling mightily with staying creative while also chasing a very active 2 and a half year old around a very small apartment.
It seems every time I turn around she's got a pair of scissors or some glue in her hands- not the friendly versions.
The ones that make me squeal in motherly terror.

I made this for Scrap FX but feel it's due for a make over so here's version one and you'll see version 2 there in a week or so.

Materials: Scrap FX Dinosaur mixed pack (2007287), Itsy Bitsy Bets "Typewriter" 2005103,
I altered several frames to make the "instant" ones here. Decorative frame "artsy" 2012044,
Simple frame A rectangle 2012047. I also used Studio Calico paper, Gauche Alchemy washi tape and
punchinella, A Flair for Buttons "Love You" button and regular staples I colored black using a marker.

Detail shots:

A Flair for Buttons "Love You" and Scrap FX Simple frame

Love this Tyranosaurus chipboard! I couldn't help
adding some stacked buttons left over from my shadow
box project. I love that look now.

I had a "brain wave" to use vellum for my journaling
to soften the look but it was see through so I had to back it
up with white paper. I nixed this project after using
watered down acrylic paint and warping the paper so badly I had
to cut it down to 8 by 11 size.

This week I sat down and started doing research on Mommy and Me craft projects because Miss Thang gets really crazy when it's raining and she can't go on her usual 4 hour walk.
NOPE! I'm not EVEN kidding.
It's walk her till she literally falls asleep or deal with mini Hulk.

So if you see I'm posting less or not getting around to your blogs and leaving much deserved love it's because I'm conserving time for the kiddo.

She's only 2 for so long.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Scrapping with unusual colors and funnies from the blogging front

I'm Googling like a mad woman trying to figure out why some of my teamies over at Scrap FX have new blog formats they can't "follow" people on.
Do you know what I mean?
Have you updated your Blogger blog lately and found your "follow" button now reads "share"?
What's THAT all about???
If you know, share please!
Google is NO HELP.
I can't  find articles no matter how many search terms I put into the search bar.
Which made me wonder- what search terms are landing people here?
These:

• 3 people found me by using: "fly story with stencil": That. Right there. Is awesome! FLY story? YES PLEASE! I luuurv me some FLY stories! 
• 3 with: "Puerto Rican Pride":  Ok. I got the pride. I have a digi Puerto Rican Flag permanently flying in my Pinterest account and it only gets pinned by other Puerto Ricans. Abrazos a todos! This is a scrapbook blog- if you can roll with that, we are main buds. Hey, do you mind sharing your flan recipe? Please?
• 3 with: "Scrap FX": WHAT? ONLY 3? MUST correct that! ASAP!
• 3 with: "stencil of Puerto Rican flag for": FOR WHAT? Guys, you've totally left me hanging! For baking? For rinsing beets with? What already?
• 2 with: "Billy drinking pop + red fern"- HUH? How are Billy's pop drinking habits connected to scrapbooking? RAAAANDOM! Red Fern? That's a book. I know from my searching Ebay for live ferns to buy. Yes I used to buy ferns, ON EBAY.
• 2 with "EK Success punches with settings": So cool! Now what are these settings you are looking for? You KNOW I'm going to be looking that up! I'll be finding myself next!

DOH!!!
I never posted my May True Xoxo Scrapbooking challenge page!!!
Swing by and play along!
Here it is:

I used Gauche Alchemy's limited edition Neon color kit to make this page.
You'll also spot some embossed lines I made with a score board and bone folder-
thanks to Melissa Mann for that idea. The chipboard alphas and flourish are from Scrap FX.
I used gel pens and neon pastel crayons to finish them.

And this? Apparently, I forgot I submitted a page a month in advance

Cosmo Cricket Heart in The Dark alphas and blackboard chippies, bling from Kaiser Kraft
Crafter's Workshop basket weave stencil, Tattered Angels Mermaid Glimmer glam, Smash tape and
some AWESOME EK Success stamps.

So swing by True Xoxo Girls are get to scraplifting!
I fully give you permission to STEAL THESE PAGES!
(Can I get a small mention though? Come on- you love me! Admit it!!!! )

Well hello there, gorgeous! (summer 2010)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
And a digi PR flag waving! I'm a PROUD Boricua!