1 year later...

Hello there!

Can you believe it's been 1 year of blogging for this crazy chick from Brooklyn? I can't. Well actually I can. What amazes me is how far I've come- how much I've learned, the friends I've made and how fulfilled I am by making pretty things just because they make me HAPPY!

It's Gonna Be A Half Glass Full Kind Day
Materials: Sassafras Lass grid pattern paper and alphas, Basic Grey Life of the party star paper and mini brads, American Crafts Amy Tan fabric paper and mustard Zing, Maya Road star pins, buttons from Reasonable Ribbon.com, stars from Ebay- been in my stash over 2 years!

To celebrate a few friends and I are doing a mini hop.

After you are done here swing by

Dawn aka Mojo Mayhem 

Christina aka The Twisted Muse

Both started the same road last year and are now off to a rip roaring success. I am glad to call them my friends.

There are no rules just stop by each blog and leave some love. I have a mini give away to celebrate hitting 10,000 blog views. I was supposed to celebrate hitting 100 followers but that milestone came and went without me noticing! So I will celebrate hitting 131- YAY!!!

I love all of these things but my love did not extend to my memory.
I ordered 2 of each and will not use them even if I tried- current bananas button stash is proof.
So why not share? Post this hop in some other forum or social media website and leave a comment to be entered an extra time for each.

I started blogging because I was lonely. I was making some cool scrapbook projects but that particular craft isn't very highly valued here in NYC so when I brought the subject up I would get strange looks. One friend even said- "I don't even know what that MEANS!" I wanted to reply- do you speak english? Scrap. Book. What's so hard to understand? But that's obnoxious so I kept the yap shut.

Current pattern faves

Arby's motto!

I want to show some work from when I first started that I never posted here - Uhhh- this is making me cringe but it goes right along with my show it all and let the readers decide for themselves mentality.

Lola's Scrapbook cover- inside- the only part I actually finished.

One long forgotten fact- I stared scrapbooking right after I got a green scrapbook from
my best friend, Gia, as a wedding shower present.  Page made in August 2009.

Color blocking? My page to record Lola's naming. Made in July 2009.
Why so many birds? Lola is named after a bird- Alondra- Meadowlark.

I am glad and very grateful to be on the design teams for Gauche Alchemy , Punky Scraps, True Xoxo Girls Challenges and Paper Issues.

The feedback and camaraderie I get from being part of these fantastic groups is invaluable. I've learned  how to create on deadline, how to communicate effectively, how to run a proper blog hop, tips on getting published and how to make a good looking page others will want to swing by your blog to check out.

OH! Before I forget- Paper Issues is also celebrating one year! Why not swing by and play along their October Halloween themed link party? Because I'm always late to the party I just realized I loved Pink Paislee's Phantom line- you can swing by the Paper Issues Etsy Store to check it out as well.

This page is from when I first started posting on Scrapbook.com.
I found Etsy and these wonderful inventions called Border punches.
Page from October 2010- 1 year later I'm still proud of this page.

And thank YOU for sticking around! I learn a lot from your comments and from your links as well. You've taught me what works design wise as well as what confuses you and what inspires you. 

Here's to many more years of creating and a growing list of "followers" or as I think of you- friends.

Ira Glass rocks my world.
I regularly listen to This American Life on NPR while scrapping- it's awesome.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle