Inspiration Elevator- Facing Your Greatest Life Challenge

Hello!

So I've blogged plenty about my greatest life challenge.
It wasn't moving to Utah.
Now that it's getting closer to spring I could ALMOST like it here.

My greatest life challenge was seeing my little girl look like this:

Lola was born 6 weeks early with a condition called Chylothorax where
liquid normally recycled though the heart and out the body drained into her lung
cavities. Luckily her actual lungs had developed just enough to allow normal breathing so
she spent three weeks in the NICU with tubes inserted into her sides to drain the liquid.
She was in constant pain and I couldn't hold her for the first 4 days for fear of dislodging the tubes.

Miss Lola- hyper active, able walk at 10 months old, curly headed and sleepy eyed, currently refusing to eat anything for breakfast- is perfectly fine these days.

In 2009 I found out I was having a baby and lost my job job all in the same day.
To say I was shocked and awed doesn't explain the half of it.
And life has been crazy ever since.

Jobs we thought stable are now gone.
Neighborhoods that were affordable suddenly became the center of the cooliverse and filled with grocery stores selling exotic fruit vinegar for 20 dollars a bottle.
Moved to find new opportunities but found our backgrounds were still lacking.

 "Starting over" isn't fun- it's excruciating.
The hardest part is letting go of your expectations and your past.

So this is my page for the month:

For my page I chose to add the story to several tags behind the photo for a cleaner layout. 
I recently showed Lola the hospital photos because she asked about the small holes under each arm.
I told her those marks make her very special as only 1 in 10,000 children are afflicted and survive birth.
I used Jenni Bowlin stamps, Basic Grey alphas. The wood alphas are from Recollections
and the little wood hearts from Cocoa Daisy's January kit.

Here is the group challenge:

You may recall that the purpose of this challenge group is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and extend ourselves. 
You can view all of the challenges our Inspiration Elevator Blog, here. 

We are thrilled to welcome back Audrey Yeager this month as a guest designer. Audrey recently came into ownership of My Scraps & More online store, and has graciously offered a prize this month! Read on to find out how you could win!

Our challenge this month comes from the very talented Michelle Hernandez. Here's how she expressed this month's challenge:

"Inspiration Elevator Challenge February- Phoenix Rising.
I'm going through one of the toughest times of my life right now. Huge changes, dashed expectations, embarrassing set backs- it's all overwhelming, all the time. I have the love and support of my family and my health- so it could be worst but still - it sucks.
My challenge for February:
Tell a story visually or through your journaling that speaks to your greatest challenge and most importantly how you dug yourself out. This should be a celebration of your faith, personal resilience and/or creativity. A story you'd like to tell your kids, grandkids or yourself when things get rough. "

Michelle Hernandez

Ann Jobes 

Laura Whitaker 

Lisa Moen 

Cathy Harper 

Lisa Spiegel 

 Joanne Burton

Jodi Wilton 

Guest designer: Audrey Yeager 

We would LOVE to see you take up the challenge this month, so if you do, please share it at our linkup on the Inspiration Elevator blog. 

Extra incentive? There is a great RAK this month!

So, how do you win Audrey's prize? It's simple - leave a comment! 
Audrey will choose one random comment from one random blog to win the $15 gift certificate to My Scraps & More. 
Thanks so much, Audrey!

Swing by their blogs and check out how they met and beat their greatest monster.

Princess hair flipping lessons. 2/14/14

Have a great weekend- even in 2 feet of snow NYC. (LOL- it's 60 degrees and sunny here in SLC- how's THAT for silver lining?)


Michelle

Inspiration Elevator Challenge- Christmas photo memories

Hello hello!

Perhaps you've been wondering where I disappeared to for a month.

I started a new full time job with a schedule I haven't been able to squeeze spare time from.

I've wanted to get back to blogging and creating but this hobby sucks up time like no other.
Or maybe that's just my process- I knew what I wanted to do with this page- I just needed 4 hours to do it in- lol!

One of my all-time favorite Christmas spot is Macy's Department store in 34th street.
We won't  be in New York until Thanksgiving so I used a photo from last year.

That's Lola scribbling a "Letter to Santa" from our visit to the store last year.
She's literally just making lines but I LOVE the look of intense concentration on her face!!!

For this page I used some Studio Calico paper I got at TJ Maxx, wood star buttons from Prima,
red tag from Cocoa Daisy and a star flair from A Flair For Buttons.

You may recall that the purpose of the Inspiration Elevator challenge group is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to mature as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. You can view all of the challenges at the Inspiration Elevator Blog.

I have a very odd ideas about proper/good parenting.
One of my biggest quirks is the tell no lies rule.
It's absolute and can land me in plenty of social hot water.
Lola has no idea who Santa is- funny how this doesn't seem to interfere with the magic
and meaning of the holiday.
Here she's writing "Santa" a letter.
She has no idea why but that doesn't take away from the fun.

We are thrilled to welcome guest artist Misty Russell and her eclectic, artistic style to Inspiration Elevator this month.

 November's challenge comes from the very talented Joanne Burton. Here's the challenge she posed:

"November's Challenge: Back in Time.  I love looking through old photos (or not so old photos!) and remembering the great memories that go along with them. Some pictures evoke a strong emotional response while others just bring a sweet smile to our face as we recall the details of when it was taken. With that in mind, I would like each of you to pick a favourite photo and go back in time! I want you to take your photo and actually revisit the place where the photo was taken. Then take a 'picture of the picture' in it's original setting and scrapbook your new photo. **If you are absolutely not able to revisit the place where the photo was first taken, then pick a favorite picture with lots of memories attached to it and scrapbook that. 

In either case, I want you to journal the story behind your photo. Make your journaling and photo come together in such a way that we feel like we are back in time with you!"

 I hope you will stop by and see what the rest of the incredible Inspiration Elevator designers have created:

Joanne Burton 

Jodi Wilton 

Michelle Hernandez 

Ann Jobes 

 Laura Whitaker 
Cathy Harper

Lisa Moen 

Lisa Spiegel 

Guest Designer Misty Russell 

If you feel inspired to play along with our challenge this month, please share it using the linky tool on our Inspiration Elevator blog and/or our Inspiration Elevator Facebook page. We'd LOVE to see what you made!

Have a great weekend!
Michelle

On creativity and the impulse to "make something"

"I just want to make pretty things even if nobody cares".
Many of us have pinned that pictogram onto our boards or put them on our Facebook page.
It captures how we feel when people question our paper crafts hobby.

I've always felt this saying was a tad on the defensive side.
I make things that are pretty and I make things that are... complicated.
I'm proud of both.
I'm also proud to say I am creative- even if no one cares. Laughing!

When fellow scrapper Laura swung by my blog on Moday and commented she wished she could think outside the box more often I wanted to think about my reply.
Mostly I wanted to give encouragement.
And I wanted to say something that would help us both because many times I feel like I lack the creativity gene that so many scrap happy women seem to share.

This page marked a huge departure from the "norm" for me. I'm using pink.
I'm trying to keep things simple and the page thin enough to fit in my 12x12 scrapbook album
I haven't used since 2009. (!!!)  So while this isn' going to win any innovative design awards I love
 it and it's actually hanging over my desk as a reminder that I can and should stop using brown
and black in my pages so much! Plus? HELLO GREEN RIBBON! LOVE!
Materials: Cocoa Daisy September Kit, May arts Ribbon, Pink Paislee wood letters,
October Afternoon and Echo Park papers.

As I told Laura- the act of waking up in the morning and breathing can seem like a crazy out of the box act of pure creativity some days- especially when everything is going pear shape.
So the question is this:
Are you ready to own it?
Your creative talent and unique voice, I mean.
Can you, will you, stand by your impulses when everyone else is insisting "NOPE! That's not how you do that!"
It's a hard road to take.
If you have a lot of friends who also scrap or sew or share your creative pursuit, it can be even harder to stick to your very specific and interesting story.
But I happen to think it's the road you take- the trip- the adventure-
THE RIDE
that actually matters.
So here is the advice I have Laura (who's blog: Who's This Chick? is CRAZY FULL of gorgeous scrapbook pages! Laura you OOZE creativity!)
I changed some parts up because I wrote it so fast I made a bunch of grammatical errors but it's basically the same thing.

I believe everyone is creative! Living life is a series of problems posed and overcome- how you solve that problem and how happy you are with your solution? THAT'S creativity!
I believe the key to personal creative development is being committed to your story. 
That doesn't mean spending thousands of dollars on scrap stuff. 
It doesn't mean taking tons of classes (although education is key).
It means constantly looking at the visual problems your pages pose and saying to yourself- how can I do this differently? 
How can I tell my unique story? 
Stick to scrapping exactly what you know, feel and love and TRUST me- you'll start seeing how creative you actually are.
I'm by no means an expert but I feel like I've come pretty far considering I stared scrapping in late 2009. I've never taken a class. I have no scrappy local friends- everything I do I learned from reading blogs online and thinking "What if I do THIS instead?"
I think my "creativity" isn't a talent but simply not being satisfied with my work and trying out new things.
What I try to do- even when I use sketches- is tell an authentically "me" story and try to do at least 2 things differently with each page- placing the elements of the sketch in different places, using colors I normally wouldn't use or materials I love that the sketch artist omitted.
Lastly, I think you could improve your feelings of creativity by just keeping a running journal of things you tried that you loved. Just noticing things like "I love this ribbon" or "I love pink and light blue together."  can lead to further exploration and a development of a unique style.
Do the same for things you love in other people's pages and you'll see how you'll develop your own "visual language" and start getting all kinds of ideas about what you want to do in your own work.
Swing back and lemme know if it worked!

So with that I'll share this weeks "Photo Inspiration":

A pattern on an "Old Navy" t-shirt- LOVE! Actually scrapping this now!

This is someone's front door! It's welded iron! LOVE the layering!
Will be trying this  (on paper) soon!

Magazines are a great source of inspiration!
Subscribe to at least 1 that isn't scrap or craft related. You don't  have to read it-
just look at the pretty pretty layouts!

I got in some trouble for taking this photo of the Muccia Prada exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum- don't care- those colors and pattern combos are FABULOUS!
There are museums in your state- visit them!

What do you think makes for a creative person?
What do you do to spark your creativity?
Write it up below- I can always use more tips!!!

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

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

A lesson on teaching- A Flair For Buttons post with a story

Happy Monday!
A rare day off for this girl.
I'm such a mess.
Yesterday I showed up to work at 10am.
The store doesn't open till NOON.
I thought it was saturday.
FUN.
TIMES.
Today I will share a page I made for A Flair For Buttons and a story about my first adult crafty teaching experience using the Zutter Bind It All to make a mini book.

Materials: A Flair For Buttons pins, Scrap FX hexagon Insta frame chipboard, Echo Park Take Note papers, Studio Calico doily rub-ons, stamps from Cocoa Daisy.

I've taught unruly 3rd graders in Detroit. In July. There was no air conditioning.
I've tutored english as a second language to sleepy 6th graders in Littleton, Colorado.
NOTHING prepared me for the trouncing I would receive at the hands of an adult student with a determination to leave with a perfect project.

Here's the thing (and I've said it a MILLION times before) perfection is a false pursuit.
At least on the first try.
I'm not trying to avoid blame here.
I gave the wrong directions on making covers using the Zutter Bind It All.
You have to insert the cover board into a "notch" when punching to get that perfect 3/16ths of an inch overage.
You bet your booty I won't be forgetting THAT again.
I was so freaked out by how angry my student was, I passed up a chance to teach the GOLDEN RULE.

Michelle's golden rule is:

If you MUCK it up

EMBELLISH.

I muck up entirely too often.
When I do,  I move on to the next step.
If I let myself get caught up in mistakes I would NEVER get anything done or learn anything new.

LOVING July's Cocoa Daisy stamp sets! So GLAD I have a sub!
The ampersand is a fave from the June kit.

But this tough customer wasn't having ANY of it.
She paid for this class and it "wasn't her fault".
Never mind she was holding everyone else up and spreading some major bad mojo.

"Did Michelle put the kibosh on this situation?" you may ask.
NOPE!!!!
My brain was buzzing with all kinds of evil judgements on my failure.
I actually had a flashback to failures of the past and re-lived the range of emotions I felt then.
Isn't it awful how we savage ourselves in our heads?
It's totally counter productive.
While you are busy kicking yourself and feeling awful, life goes on.
Instead of you being the "hero" of your story, you become your own victim.

Hipster Braniac flair button- FUN!

In my case, two students figured out how to make the cover correctly and offered to help Toughie McMuffin punch out a new spine.
And Toughie says:
"They should pay YOU to run this class. You are the expert."
DOH!
I never said I was an expert.
Plus?

Later, when I was going over the disaster with a co-worker (who was there for training and wasn't allowed extra materials) we realized we could have cut a 2 inch strip of card stock in a matching color, added it to the edge and punched through that to get the correct alignment.
DOUBLE DOH!!!!

Everyone liked the the mistakes cover better- it was more "creative" and looked like an actual book.

If I had just kept calm I would have hit on that solution but you need to keep your head from getting into a self-flagellating rut in order to have the flexibility to think creatively.

Lesson learned.

Smiling. It's good.

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

Scrap FX Blog Hop Winner and a page for Cocoa Daisy

Hello!
The winner for the Scrap FX goodies is Paula of My Creative Ramblings.

UPDATE- May 8th! Paula DID follow my blog but for some reason I didn't get a notice so disregard yesterday's note. Sorry Paula- you got back to me right away- thank you!

It sure was a crazy weekend. International  Scrapbooking Day had me jumping from Cocoa Daisy to Scrapbooks and Cards Today (a Canadian Magazine) trying to finish challenges on time.

Here is a page for the graffiti challenge over at Cocoa Daisy- have you SEEN the Graffiti Bridge kit?
It's SO AWESOME!!!

I made this for for the Cocoa Daisy Kite Strings challenge in which you had to use more than 12 inches
of string. The chipboard is from Scrap FX.  The washi tape is from Gauche Alchemy which has some fantastic color and print themed combos- check the out HERE.  

Naturally the kit already sold out. I am a stamp subscriber so I at least got my hands on their FABULOUS stamps!

Some detail shots!

The photo is printed on the back of the paper

by mistake giving it a painterly look. 

It took 4 days to dry so I couldn't touch it much...

which is why it's wonky on the page.

I used watered down cream colored acrylic paint and washi tape to alter
this chipboard title- one of my all time favorites from Scrap FX.

Gauche Alchemy washi tape- get some!
The black staples are from Making Memories
love how rock and roll they look!

Side note!
This:

Miss Lola does ATTITUDE in the BEST way!

Much love mi gente!
Michelle

Cliques suck- a rant

When I was in High School I was not popular. I was an invisible. This was sad because the school had maybe 300 people in it- it was a Science and Arts start up and I was in the third graduating class. The odds shoulda been for me but alas... alak... it was not meant to be.

In my junior year I became a summer program counselor for the incoming freshman class. I though this would mitigate some of my nobody status since I could make friends in the summer before everyone hit  school walls and spied me over at the "nerd table".

Only the nerds were too cool for me as well. They read comic books and talked computer games but I read different books and my family was too poor to own a PC.

I was at the Michelle table. Alone. Reading. Listening to Def Leopard and wishing Ralph Macchio would come take me away like the chick in the Calgon ad.

So as soon as school started I became invisible to the frosh kids too. Everyone was struggling to be in The Group and quickly noted who was "in" and who was merely eating lunch.
Anyway that is my psycho-babble reason for having a very strong anti-clique streak. And an even stronger contrarian one.

I CANNOT STAND when people exclude others to make themselves feel better. The only thing worst is when it's done for financial profit.
Yuck!

I've been quiet for months because I didn't want to make any waves. I do not want to annoy anyone- especially YOU dear reader.

And I don't especially want to get a big scarlet B for BEOTCH on my forehead forever and ever or get blocked from DTs in the distant future when I'm actually good at this scrap and art thing.

I am going to say this and get spanked- I KNOW IT.
Or maybe it'll be like high school again and go totally unnoticed.

Studio Calico is a clique.
And I'm over it.
I love their products. I love their DT. I love the pages made by their members and the fun contests they run.
But I cannot abide the exclusive mentality.
In the past exclusive meant colored folk had to drink from the other fountain.
WHAT? OH NO SHE DI'NT!
Did Michelle really just "pull the race card"?
Not quite.
I'm not saying I've been excluded because of my race or that Studio Calico is racist in any shape or form.
I'm saying "exclusivity" or the seeking of said status is highly problematic for me, a woman of color who values fairness and openness to everyone equally.
Exclusivity reminds me of segregation- financial and status segregation- the cool ones go here and everyone else over there.
Is that crazy?

Michelle it's just PAPER!! DAAAAAAUUUUM!
Yes and No.
It's just paper. I get it.
I have enough paper already to last a lifetime.
It's also a business and a brand with a certain set of values I'm buying into and thusly agreeing with. Increasingly the Studio Calico brand is one that gets more expensive with time while the actual amount product you buy is dwindling.
Not to mention the uncreative choices being made. Basic Grey brads- AGAIN? I fully expect the Basic Grey "partnership" announcement coming- or is it just a back door thing?

Studio Calico is a brand that uses the threat of product "sell out" to make you stay up till midnight or tune in at noon and HOPE to get the item you want. And I happen to know this is standard marketing 101 so please don't deny it.
If you want the aura of exclusivity you can't have kits hanging around for months and going on sale all the time- that would make you boringly normal.
But I was ok with that because I have the time and I sincerely LOVE the items.
What I could not understand was WHY an item I bought at the set time was suddenly "sold out" when I got my order and some crap product I would never buy was sent in it's place.  Yes you gave me a refund- you HAD TO- it's not a GIFT- it's money to pay for a product you didn't have- you ain't doing me no FAVORS.
What I wanted was THE ITEM. Why else would I stay up till midnight? HELLO? Anyone in there?
And why not just give me a percentage off my next order since it was Studio Calico's inventory mistake? A mistake made 3 times in the last 7 months- including the very first kit I ordered!
Oh- is that unreasonable?
Guess what? That bait and switch "product sold out" practice ain't gonna cut it anymore. Studio Calico you have too many competitors. And lots of discount retain lines I can buy everywhere.

Studio Calico is also a business with a very loyal following who will NOT let you air critique openly (and politely) without slapping you back into place- whatever place they deem that to be.
Well let me say this- this scrappy Latina does not have a place you can assign.
And NO ONE shuts me up.

Have we become so enamored of the cool glow we get from that box of paper that we can't listen to dissident voices? Not angry, cursing voices- voices of people who have genuine concerns or disagreements? This is a problem. A problem with the "exclusivity" mystique.
And I'm done.
Thanks!

I'll go get Midnight Rooster, Noel Mignon, Cocoa Daisy, Scarlett Lime, JBS Mercantile or Kreatorville Kraft sub. Actually- there are many kit clubs that are amazing. And many Etsy stores too. And even more Artfire stores.

My Cocoa Daisy stamp subscription is in! WOO HOO!

Chells OUT!