Custom Engagement Scrapbook- Getting Hitched in New York City

Hello there!

I can now reveal the pages I made for a client's engagement scrapbook last November.

I wanted to give plenty of time for Dan to pop the question to his girlfriend, Jess.

You are going to LOVE this story!

Dan had saved bits and bobs from dates and trips abroad with Jess for over 9 years.

Now he wanted to pop the question by putting them in a custom scrapbook of their lives together.

Opening page- I used some Crate Paper Valentine's paper I had for a while.
I tried to keep things simple as possible since I knew many
eyes with different points of view would be looking at this book.

Dan met Jess on a band camp (BAND CAMP!!!!) trip in 2003 when they were both in High School.

They then attended George Washington University together (where they had great spots to see President Obama's first inauguration), and moved to New York City upon graduation.

Jess is a great photographer so Dan and I had plenty of material to choose from.
We decided 2 page spreads built around specific themes would be the best way to incorporate
everything. For this high school themed layout, I used the pops of red and blue in the photos
 to guide my journaling sticker choices and picked a dark color to match the next page.

High School Prom was very important to Dan. He saved the tickets all these years.
I built a page around the ticket colors and used silver alphabet stickers to give the page some pop.
Fussy cut roses from defunct manufacturer Paper Truck made their way into the page.
 I loved the look so much I made myself a page using the left over flowers.

 When I think of college my brain immediately goes to blue jeans and notebooks
so I used those prints as the main elements for this part of the spread. The blue
jeans paper is Bo Bunny and the notebook paper from a Me and My Big Ideas print.

This page went over HUGE with Dan. I was so excited because I really loved it too.
Prints from My Mind's Eye and Studio Calico were used to make the rays.
The stars were made with EK Success squeeze punches.
 Basic Grey chipboard alphas finished the page.

The book also had to have several pages detailing their favorite activities together and a special spread for their families who would naturally want to share the book.

The 2 page family spread turned into my favorite. I love the bright pops of red and you can't fail with tile letter stickers and grid patterns.

I really hadn't used my collection of stickers before this project.
Now that I had a specific audience I suddenly understood how to use them properly.
So there's a tip: if you're out of ideas, choose someone specific to design for  and make the page
in a way you think would please them. You'll be surprised how much you'll love the page.

I stuck to high quality materials for this project- Crate Paper pagers, letter stickers from American
Crafts, Elle Studio and Ormolu mini journaling cards, October Afternoon journaling stickers and
embellishments from Studio Calico. I also reinforced everything with Zip Dry glue since
I've had letter stickers fall right off the page just as I hand over a page more than once.
When in doubt- double the amount of glue in a project.

I had so much material to sort through I was actually worried I wouldn't be able to fit it all into 10 pages so the project expanded to 15, then, 17, pages. 

Next up are the rest of the themes Dan wanted covered: travel, city life, friends, sports and one page I love above all....

Dan saved 9 years of movie and broadway show tickets which we decided to make into a background for a page containing a tiny photo of the couple.

I've seen scrapbook paper with ticket themes before but never one made with actual tickets.

I matched pages in most of the 2 pages spreads but I associate travel with freedom and fun so
I just used a tiny amount of the green stripe paper on the orange page and brought orange to the green page with some My Mind's Eye enamel dots. 

These two have been EVERYWHERE! That map washi tape is AWESOME!
It brings to very different pages together perfectly. I wanted this book to look like
it had been put together over time so I didn't pick one collection or color scheme for it.
I love the look of matching books but I think they can look rather static and dated if they have
too many pages. Then again, sticking to a color palette and single pack of paper is more
economical- something to think about if you are putting a book together for someone. 

This city life page also worried me since the photos where from all over the place.
When I realized many of the photos had water in them a title popped right up and
the rest was easy. Journaling spots from Ormolu did most of the design work here.

Jess has a HUGE collection of Instagram photos- it was hard to pick just 6 for this layout but
I wanted to give the page some breathing room.  This was actually the first page I made and it still looks unfinished to me.

I showed Dan a stack of papers and his eyes crossed- too many choices! But he thought Jess
would really love this rainbow chevron print from Pebbles. I cut out a frame for the outside layer,
flipped to the b-side and layered navy flower print in between to get this super simple and fun page.

Personalized Baseball cards!!! HOW COOL! I love this page! Light blue
looks AMAZING with bright red and yellow. An arrow badge from A Flair For
Buttons on Etsy and actual baseball tickets finish this page.

Dan had football tickets, photos of baseball games and specifically mentioned the Dodgeball team
he joined with Jess. I was stumped! Do I make three additional pages? I decided to put
them all in one page and leave plenty of white space for  journal specifics like names,
dates and memories from each event.  

Awesome right? My husband and I are now saving all our tickets so I can do this
for my own book!

 I think I scared Dan a bit by tearing up and repeatedly expressing my enthusiasm and gratitude for being asked to be part of this project.

Designing for someone else can be risky- especially since design work can be so style specific- but I quickly got over any reservations by keeping things simple and choosing prints and colors almost everyone loves.

I recently got an email from Dan, Jen said yes (YAAAYYY!!) and was thrilled with the book.
I was so happy to hear they (and their extended family) liked the book.

They had so many cute couple shots! I saved them all up for this page and imagined Dan popping the question.
Jess you are one lucky lady to have such a thoughtful and romantic fella!
 Congratulations to the both of you!!!

Thank you SO MUCH Dan (and you too Jess!) for trusting me with your memorabilia and telling me your personal love story- that alone was worth the meeting!

MucHoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

This New York City Area Scrapbook crafter wants to capture your personal stories and memories

Hello!

I recently realized that New York City may be in need of a creative and enterprising paper crafter/ scrapbooker to help capture and illustrate it's many weddings, birthdays and other special events.

I can help!

What I can do:

• Help conceptualize and organize photos and memorabilia into a cohesive story.
• Design modern and colorful scrapbooks, photo montages or shadow boxes that fit your personal style.
• Create single pages or whole books to fit a specific need such as a birthday, anniversary, wedding or other special occasion.
• Create paper based gifts or keepsakes that will be cherished by you and your family.

Why have I decided to offer my services?

When I talk about my hobby (obsession!) to others here in New York City, I hear that they would like to do the same but don't have the time or "the creativity" to do so. 

I believe everyone has the creativity and "the eye" to make their own scrapbooks or pages but even I must admit it's intimidating and overwhelming to get started. 

Then I realized I could blend my past experience as a photo editor and current paper crafts hobby to help you stage and preserve your personal stories.

It was literally my AHA! moment and it made me really happy and grateful, because it's joining two things I do well into one.

Some samples of my work:

Travel and Adventure

Family life and every day moments 

Sports and Entertainment

Engagements, Proms and Bar /Bat Mitzvahs 

Family portrait displays for home or office

Weddings and other special events

Fun cards for any occasion

Family or holiday themed mini photo books

Shadow boxes and birth announcements

Please feel free to contact me at hernandm1@yahoo.com.

I'm ready to help and would love to make some real world scrappy friends to meet up with as well!

Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Views from the Renegade Craft Fair- 2012

Hello! Wow Wednesday! I'll have to get better at writing my posts ahead of time because this was supposed to be my Monday morning post- oops! Still adjusting to my new life/work/art schedule so I just have a project sneak and some photos of the Renegade Craft Fair.

No kittens! No 5 socks for the price of 1 packs! No sweet floral prints or hand painted flower pots!
This is a craft fair for those who like neon, typography and ironic t-shirts. LOVE IT!

A was most awesome event. Not a cheesy project in sight.

One thing I noticed right away is that the vendors seemed a little... underwhelmed by the crowd?
I personally went 3 times on sunday and I saw a lot of people looking but few actually buying.
I think many of the price points where high even for NYC.
That may have been an issue for the usually broke Brooklyn Hipster crowd.
I'd like to think it's because "we" spend our money on sky high rent but every day I pass crowded bars selling 10 dollar pints of "craft beer" so lets be real.
Most Brooklyn Hipsters have other priorities.

This pair had me pulling out my wallet- $275 for him $250 for her so I had to leave them at
their stall- so very sorry nonetheless.
The Art & Craft of Mimi Kirchner

This was one of my favorite stalls. I really wish I had just sprung for something.
This Chicago based artisan made beautifully rendered NYC photos transfered onto wood blocks.

blandonconner.com

One thing I gladly paid up for was the chance to work my own silk screen machine to make my very first ironic t-shirt.

HA! Thanks Gowanusprintlab.com! I even signed up for a class. (woo hoo!)
I've wanted to make my own Brooklyn themed pillows for years!

The weather was gorgeous but the sun was so bright it felt great to be inside the
booth messing with paint. I am positively hooked!!!

Here are a couple other things we did that day:

Free photo booth (from Magnolia photobooth Co.) I guess you can rent these for parties?
 They had a super friendly attendant, lots of fun props you could use and great color photos.
One thing we needed was a flash. Since the day was so sunny the flash was disabled and
we had no idea when the camera was taking the photos.

Peebeo was there with lots of paint, Ed Roth Stencils (LOVE!) and ceramic squares
 for you to make your own wall decoration.
Mine broke on the concrete floor- and I can't even blame Ms.Lola for it. (waaaah!!!)

So I didn't get the name of this artist- those are hand cut modern paper lace designs making up a map of Brooklyn. TOO FABULOUS!! I didn't do anything but DROOL after her gorgeous creations.

I stopped taking photos- I just felt so BAD for the vendors!
I don't think Williamsburg, Brooklyn is a good place for this type of event right now.
A lot of the people here are young and struggling through the economic downturn.
Or maybe everyone just needed more time to learn the fair was being held inside the park?
I wanted to run and buy something from each stall- not a healthy mindset for someone so broke.

This page is coming up over at True Xoxo Girls in July!

A sneak of the July True Xoxo Girls challenge- we had 1 hour to make a page.
I took exactly 1 hour and 14 minutes (I lost my SC mini stars halfway through the process)
Can you saw AWKWARD pose???
 I blame the lack of a flash to let me know when the last photo is taken and the next one is up.
(yeah ok Michelle)

A parting shot:

Love you BK! MUAH!!!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Michelle gets PUNKY!!!

Woo HOOOO! I want to announce that I've been chosen as a 2011 Design Team Member for Punky Scraps!!! YEAH BABY! I love this challenge blog! It encourages you to be precious OR bitchy- which is what most people are- variable, changeable and sometimes inexplicable but always TRUE.

What's THIS???

I wish I had a Punky project to share but I've been concentrating on a much delayed wedding invite project for my sister, Leticia, whos' getting married July 30th in Minori, Italy.  AAAHH I just LOVE SAYING THAT!!

I promised Letty I would have everything together before she got here for her annual April visit. Letty works in London as a sports and health educator for a private school (her title is very British and I constantly forget it so I call her "Coach") I love my sister- she's awesome- she's also a true free woman- do NOT tell that chick what to do OR ELSE.

Original design concept. I look at this now and go- meh!
I like Letty's crazy butterfly parade more.

I dilly dallied on the invites. It's my first big card project. It's a WEDDING. The groom comes from a TRADITIONAL Italian family. One word-BASILICA. 

I got... skeered.

I waffled like a mid-term presidential candidate on the paper order. 

I delayed putting together the final design. 

I ordered and re-ordered ribbon samples. 

I FREAKED over the printing of the actual invite. 

I set my self up for many a neurotic break down and spasm away I did. 

Way to over-think it right?

Here are my two faves of the design fest:

On the left is my original color scheme.
On the right is Letty's color improvisation.
We made 88 of these babies! WHOOP WHOOP!

I ran my poor open-minded sister ragged over the placement of butterflies and length of ribbon. I yelled over what I called "Glue Glops".  

I actually said to my sister- THE BRIDE- as SHE HELPED ME instead of enjoying her week off in NYC: "NO Pink! You must follow PROCEDURE!!!! If you're gonna help YOU GOTTA DO WHAT I SAY!"

Oh yes I did! Told you I went completely mental!

I like the final outcome- no card is the same.

More photos, vendor details and a complete list of evil things I said will be coming next week. Right now I'm celebrating my PUNKY SCRAPS acceptance!! I will also be their  one of the DT Coordinators. Promise I will not tell you guys to FOLLOW PROCEDURE. :)

YAY!!!!! So gonna rock out on these pages!!!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle