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

Scraping In Spanish

Rice Luv
MATERIALS: Bella Blvd Family Dynamix roots paper, uniball pen in white and black, Studio Calico State Fair sticker, Maya Road yellow ribbon, American Crafts alphas, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy- scallops

I am a native spanish speaker... who NEVER utters a word in spanish! Mostly because Spanish speakers can get MAD snobbish about my sad Nuyorican accent. I'm ashamed of my unrolled Rs and M.I.A Ss.

Sketch By Lizzie Wurmann

I wish I had the lolling, relaxed accent of an island Boriqua but alas- it's a cross between my college professor's Castillian spanish and my parent's Puerto Rican-but-not-quite-because-we've-lived-here-26 years-of-our-adult-lives accent which I currently mangle. Hey! At least I don't transpose a U sound for an A sound in my words- that's like- SO GHETTO (or as they say "back home" in PR "PURO caserio")!

WHY is this chick TALKING about this????? Oh because an artist I have admired for many moons now, Lizzie Wurman, put up a SWANK sketch on Pasion Por El Scrap.

I happened by, tried it and LOVED IT! And I LOVE that I will now be practicing my spanish reading 'cause Pasion is an AWESOME website! I didn't give my page a spanish title- spanish can get wordy and I like short movie marquee titles to try to grab the viewer's attention. This page could have been called "Amadora de arroz" or "Ella ama el arroz" which is AWKWARD. So "rice luv" it is and the journaling is in spanish- or directly translated from english spanish- cause let's be real- that ain't proper spanish grammar. 

Translation: Rice was your first "real" food. You made me laugh
when you picked it up 1 grain at a time.
Excuse me- isn't that Bella Blvd woodgrain paper TO. DIE. FOR?
 OMG I have a new company to drool over!!!!

Now all spanish speaking folks who read Pasion will laugh their booties off saying "That silly Americana couldn't find and use an accent if it landed on her nose and did the Cha cha cha." Actually they wouldn't reference the cha cha- that's just me 'cause I'm currently laughing at Dancing With The Stars- or Moving Disasters as I like to call it. If you think I sound bad- rent a Jennifer Lopez movie where she tries to impersonate an actual spanish speaker- THAT is embarrassing!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

La Chella

My Little Shoebox Goodies!!!

Kaine says NUM NUM NUUUUM!

Materials: My Little Shoebox paper and alphas, Magic Mesh- blue, red/white twine, Maya Road heart pins,

SC Mister Huey mist- sunshine, cream, Ranger's Glossy Accents, Pop dots.
February 2 Peas MLS Challenge winner!

Pencil Lines sketch 225 by Anthea Peterson

Being part of the Paper Issues design team is SO AMAZING! I have wonderful friends I can share my scrap madness with (since my husband's eyes start to roll into his head the second I utter "scrap"). I learn new things every day and once in a while someone on the team has scrap goodies they are willing to share.
I was lucky to receive a huge box of My Little Shoebox papers, alphas and journaling squares from Gretchen who's website you need to visit and follow immediately as girlfriend is fabulous.

That Smile. This wass my first good photo of Lola's smile- I LOVE this photo!!
Materials: MLS alphas, papers, magic mesh, Glossy Accents & Martha Stewart fancy loops punch

Pencil Lines sketch 226 by Lexi Bridges

Gretchen selflessly offered up some free stash when she found out I had not heard of this brand before.  I now realize that claim was blatantly FALSE! I obsessively buy their mini alpha stickers as they come in fabulously bright colors and actually stick to the paper.  I also have some of their paper I just don't use it because I am "saving it for a better project idea" which never comes!

Frankly I like the first project more- it seems more my style. I think I didn't get creative enough with the second page and relied on the paper to shine- great but when you get a gander at what others are creating (click here) PENCIL LINES you'll see why I'm conflicted!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

On fighting Ennui

It's been a very challenging week. January is generally the suckiest month of the year for me- the holidays are over, the sun sets early and it's cold. I HATE cold. In the past I fought the ennui with a good bike ride through Manhattan traffic- an extreme sport to get the ol' adrenaline going. But I had to put the bike away because Lola needs a Mom who can walk... So I'm sulkier than usual and it affects my ability to feel creative. My pages are taking longer to produce and the process goes something like this:

Denial- I'm NEVER gonna pull this off! This idea SUCKS!

Anger- I never get time to think!!!! OR I need to be ALONE! 

Bargaining- Dave PLEASE give Lola her bath and her bottle? PLEEEEASE?

Acceptance- OOOO this looks good- I'm almost done...

I've had the Lola's Toys idea rolling around my head for a while. My Mom is always saying how she wished she had saved some toys from when we were kids so I thought I should try to document some of the Lolster's fave toys for her while they were still shiny. 

Toys
Materials used: K & Co "daydream" pad rainbow paper, Sassafras Lass Full Bloom paper cut outs,  Citronella journaling card, Sassy Turkish Turquoise blooms, blue grid tape from Kate's Paperie, Sassy "Sweet Treats" stickers. EK circle deep edge punch, Basic Grey Eskimo kisses alphas with Glossy Accents on top.

Isn't that doodly paper cute??? It's a TJ MAXX find! 6 bucks for the K and Co Daydream 12x12 pad! So how to beat back ennui? Using paper with rainbows in it helps. I really like this pad- it's got mermaids, smily suns, bowling pins, submarines and grids- lots and lots of doodly grids.

Pencil Lines sketch 220

And yet trying to come up with fresh layouts was stressing me out. So I used this week's Pencil Lines sketch by Jennifer Pebbles. Can you believe I had a hard time with this sketch? The simplicity was killing me- I love the idea of multiple square photos but then what? I fiddled with this page for days and finally I just started gluing stuff down. The finality of that made me focus and Ta DAAA- I finished the page- and I really like it. Funny how that works.

These doodlely flowers are cut out from a Sassafrass Lass Anthem paper- they are SO GORGEOUS!!!! I used the BG Eskimo Kisses alphas again. I bought those because they were a buck at my local scrap store and now I'm putting them everywhere. They are the perfect size for tight spaces. A little Glossy Accents makes them pop. I also took apart some Sassy Turkish Turquoise flowers and spread them out over the page. 

Another ennui fighter? ATCs! They are tiny and take less "think" time so you can spend more time "doing".

Materials: Art-C Love ATC kit, Me and My Big Ideas postal paper (edges), EK Abstract flower edge punch, EK Deep edge circle punch, EK scalloped heart punch, German gold foil border from Etsy, buttetfly from RedLead.com packaging, Ranger Acrylic pain dabber, tiny bird is NEW Studio Calico paper I cut from a card they sent with an order

Yet this ATC took 3 days just for the stitching!!! Why did I bother???? I really need to practice my stitching and I wanted to see if I could make it work like the Toys page. Alas it was not to be.
Not every project can be a home run (or even a base drive). I'm telling myself that this was a practice run. I used a photo as the template for the word "love" thinking that would be easy. It was exceedingly difficult. I kept getting lost in all the little holes- can you tell the "E" was the hardest part? I had to go back and fill in the empty spaces in between stitches because the word was barely visible otherwise but I got through it- the heck with ennui!

Lola visits Planet Hoth. She's lost her Tauntaun.

I'm SO over writing this- Aaaa! ENNUI!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

M.

CHoMP!!! My husband is a HAM.

My husband Dave has a great sense of humor- he HAS to. It's a defensive strategy for my morning self. WAAAAY back in 2006 we visited family in Salt Lake City. We got lost trying to find a mountain bike rental and happened upon The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.   YO WHAAAAT??? We simply HAD to go in. Best. idea. ever! 

My Mom works in the Museum of Natural History so I practically grew up in a science museum that takes it's exhibits seriously- it's not "entertainment",  it's HISTORY, it's SCIENCE- note the capital letters. 

TMAL had no such limitations!! They had dino bones you could walk under and touch but, MOST EXCELLENTLY, there was this totally awesome giant prehistoric shark model popping out a corner. 

CHoMP!!!!!

Pencil Lines Sketch 211

TMAL claims to be the largest Dino Museum in the world. Uhmmm no you aren't!!!  But I'll forgive you for that particular bit of hyperole because you gave me... MEGALODON!!!!!!!!

Approximately 67 FEET in length, MEGALODON (or Big Tooth), is thought to be the largest predatory fish in history.  It fed mainly on large WHALES. GOTTA LOVE SCIENCE! Especially the kind that allows you to build large models and stick 'em onto a wall.

I tried and TRIED to get a good "AHHH!! MEGALODON!!" shot but failed. Dave walks up, strikes a  pose and NAILS IT. I took two shots and fell on the floor laughing. I love that man!

Anyhooo... I'm submitting this page for the Pencil Lines sketch 211 by Rhonda Palazzari- one of my favorite artists. Check out the Pencil Lines website- her page is amazing!!!

Muchos SmOoChEs!
M