Let the sunshine in! A Scrap FX stencils post

It was only a matter of time. 

Stencils are finally en vogue for all scrapbooking styles.

Scrap FX has some beautiful stencils and today I'll share a a clean and modern page scrapbook page I made with their "Pow Spots Stencil".

I love This photo of Lola with her two cousins- I've scrapped it at least 4 times so far. I added cream colored mist to give the "Bokeh" effect without the digital enhancement.
Materials: Scrap FX "So Happy Together" chipboard, Scrap FX "Pow Spots Stencil",  A Flair For Buttons  "Photos" pin, American Crafts "Shoreline" papers and gold glitter brads, Martha Stewart punch around the page pinked circle punch, Jenni Bowlin Blue Ribbon squeeze punch, Little Yellow Bicycle star pin, Maya Road star pin, Pop Dots, Grafix shirk film. Liquid Pearls in yellow, Kaiserkraft pearls in pink. Mister Huey in gold and cream

I love this stencil and thought I could use it to make a fun Super hero page but I realized I could also make some cool solar flare effects with it so I got to work on that instead.

Here's a close up of the shrink film pow spot- that looks like an
AWESOME "Gem" style earring to me!!!!

These could probably be made faster with a digital cutter but I like working with stencils to add gesso and paint accents to my pages so this was actually a departure from my usual technique.

I finished the wordlet (item number 2012060) with Diamond Stickles and Liquid Pearls in yellow-
the effect is subtle and really pretty.

If you swing by the blogs of my fellow Scrap FX design team members (or click on that link to go to the company blog and see work by the entire team) you'll see how they use different stencil products to their best advantage.

Clouds & Raindrops stencil. LOVE these out of the ordinary shapes!

Right now I'm loving:

• Michelle Logan's pages using the Chevron stencil
• Agnieszka Bellaidea's use of the palm frond stencil
• And I love the whimsy in all of Scarlett's pages lately- she uses templates in all her work

Swing by their blogs and check them out.

The entire team is making amazing stenciled pages so there will be more links coming your way in my next post. ;)

Gotta have those!!!!
 I'm SO GONNA MAKE THIS MY NEXT PROJECT! 

It's Friday mi gente!

Get out the August sun and get creative!

The Butterfly Effect- Pinterest & True Xoxo Girls Challenge

The Butterfly Effect
According to Wikipedia it's the sensitive dependence on initial conditions. 
How a small change in one place in a non linear system can result in a large differences in a later state.
It's Chaos Theory- unpredictable, unstable- highly complex.

The True Xoxo Girls Challenge for March is Pinterest Inspiration.
Use those lovely boards to make something and show us what you come up with! The prize is a GDT for April!
My piece has been scrap lifted from a beautiful digital design by almadr on Flickr. Click here to see the original.
Materials: Scrap FX butterfly chipboard, My Mind's Eye paper and stickers, Sassafras Lass border and photo corner stickers, Gauche Alchemy Wedding Night white mixed media color kit, Liquid Pearls in yellow, Studio Calico alphas and Mister Huey in Calico Cream and White

For this Month's True Xoxo Girls Challenge I found myself knee deep in an ethical dilemma.
I love Pinterest. I think it's the Beez Kneez- the ultimate fun time inpiration tool for artists of all stripes.
I use Pinterest every day. Or rather, I used to.
I am now considering deleting all my boards.

Here is why: (direct from the Pinterest User's Agreement)
By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.
Putting aside all worries about potential lawsuits from disgruntled artists, designers, photographers, architects, fashionistas- basically- anyone who has a digital presence. That clause in the User Agreement hasn't been proven in court yet so there's no reason to panic- YET.

Don't FEAR it. BE IT.

How do I feel about participating in the wholesale high-jacking of individual copy right? 
That is what the legal booty covering above does. 
If you come on this site and pin one of my scrapbook pages, Pinterest now has the right to sublicence, use, copy, adapt, modify, SELL, LICENCE, and OTHERWISE EXPLOIT my image as they see fit in perpetuity. 
It's Non exclusive! Woot! I guess I should be happy about that? 


Pinterest- you can take the scrapbook page- it's made with other people's designs anyway. 
The photos are MINE. 


Here is a code that allows you, me or ANYONE to opt out of the Pinterest madness- 


Just add that bit of HTML code to the top of each and every blog post you don't want pinned. It will disappear when you add it .. right here...  no here...
Let me make a photo- the code really did disappear into this post. 

If you don't block Pinterest assumes you are ok with them acting as a royalty free imaging super store where YOU- your family, your pet, your life's work are the product. By the way- Facebook has a similar clause but here's the difference- I can upload images and control my story on Facebook. I decide what family photos might end up for possible sale. Not so with Pinterest. 


Flickr has implemented a simple YES/ NO button on their site to prevent pinning: 
This is great for those who would prefer their personal websites get the traffic (We all know it's rare for people to visit the actual website- for many, it's just pin and get on with your life)
Read about it here: http://mashable.com/2012/02/25/flickr-pinterest-opt-out/


Let me just say- I don't mind being pinned. I get immediate feedback on what people like which helps me design more effectively AND I feel appreciated and influential- what's not to love? I don't judge people who disagree with me or don't care about this issue and just want to look at pretty things. I understand and feel pretty much the same. I love my boards! I spend time looking and thinking and learning to cook. I love the idea behind Pinterest! But it's good to inform yourself so you can protect yourself.

My beef is with is the Pinterest User Agreement that allows Cold Brew Labs to sell my photos IF and WHEN THEY DECIDE.

Scrap FX chipboard and vellum.  The "photo" is an Instax print that came out blank 
because I loaded the camera wrong. Those babies are a dollar a pop. I'm using them!

I might annoy a lot of people who will deflect my arguments with FAIR USE! FAIR USE!
Here is a link to FAIR USE as defined by the US copyright office.


If you are taken to court in the near future, you have already lost. 
You will have to hire a lawyer and pay them to defend yourself. 
It will be easier to "settle"out of court which means you will PAY for those pretty pretty pins.
Why are you fighting Cold Brew Labs' battle? Are you getting affiliate link kick backs from pinned item sales? According to a recent New York Times article you aren't. OOPS! 

Pinterest works the code (on the DL) so they also get affiliate sales!!! 
Aren't they just SO AWESOME?

Innocently swimming through shark infested waters.

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
LA PELEONA

To redo or not, that is the question

If you are a frequent reader here you know two things
1. I talk too much. (Sorry)
2. I redo my work all the time.

I redo because I frequently get blank brain syndrome (made that up- Web MD can't help on that one) and have trouble coming up with new concepts but I'm REALLY good at spotting what's wrong with an older page.
So the redo is really an entry point for the next original project.

It's also a way to escape from the "I can't mess this up" loop.
If you frequently find yourself saying "I just have to get this right. I can't let these beautiful materials go to waste!"
Stop. You can always change things around. Use repositionable tape and let go.

Case in point:

Even lighting, more red to add contrast, a heart from the absolutely GORGEOUS  Prima wood veneer
collection and the addition of Jillibean Soup stickers- suddenly the page makes more sense.

You've seen me post this page at least 2 times before but only this time is it good enough to post.
I'm using Gauche Alchemy's Nearly Nekkid Mixed Media Paper Art.
I really liked the Jillibean Soup kraft cardstock alphas but I will admit to being a somewhat lazy scrapper. The amount of effort required to get these to look neat on a page is just too much for me sometimes so I scrawled my journaling in the nearest blank spot and called it a day.

I tried ignoring my mistake but when I hung the page up on my wall recently, I got a daily eyefull of personal scrap sloth and decided the evidence needed to go.

Easy-peasy redo. Ok not so easy- those darned itty bitty stickers
are nearly impossible to pull out their packaging without taking half
the other stickers out too so I use tweezers. EXCRUCIATING!!! But worth it.
Also- commas- I need one. 

Don't ignore the problem. Rise above it.
I'm speaking to myself most of all here.
another long week of no photos- a brief pause on my Project Life album but no worries, I will return for week 9.

What I'm working on RIGHT NOW:

Gauche Alchemy Knick Knack Paddy Whack kit.
I'll let you in on a secret: paint SCARES ME.
So this is killing me!!
Talk about WHAT IF I MESS IT UP? syndrome

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Studio Calico multiple pattern challenge

It's Dave's birthday so I don't have too much time but I wanted to share a quick layout I made for the Studio Calico 4th Anniversary challenge involving using multiple patterns.

21 Months
Materials- Studio Calico "Mind The Gap" kit exclusive papers, American Crafts card stock, Studio Calico and Basic Grey alphas, Red Lead Paperworks Honey Comb statement rubber stamp,  Dusty Attic chicken wire chipboard, Martha Stewart Punch All Over The Page punch" Pinking circle", Studio Calico heart veneers, Tiny Attacher, SC Mister Huey in Calico White, Tattered Angels in Suede (favorite color ever!), SMASH date stamp

I love the paper patterns in SC kits but I am often intimidated by them- the paper is so gorgeous and complex I want to try to do it justice and end up with "scrapper block".

Here I loosened up a bit, let the page keep the mistakes I made (the cut out footprint, the brown paint drips) and finally "finished". I was trying to incorporate Lola's footprint using tissue paper for the Punky Scraps tissue paper challenge but my mixed media art skills are so basic I kept creating scary mottled cloud things that looked like mold growing on the page so I gave up on the tissue paper- for now.

The chicken wire mask is actually a piece of Dusty Attic chipboard I've wanted for months and have FINALLY been able to acquire through Paper Candy Crafts. I really wanted to use an SC stamp but their hexagon border stamp sold out so quickly I go whiplash. LOVE the honey comb stamp from Red Lead. I misted tattered Angels "Suede" on it and used it just on the edges.  Yes I know it's super messy and deconstructed- this is on purpose I promise.

Hope you are having a great weekend. I'm off to finally see Transformers 3- hope I am not as annoyed by this one as I was by the last.

Fooling around with what we believe is ad for an art show...

MuChOS SmoOcHeS!
Michelle

Swimmin' wid Da Polar Bears! BROoKLYN STYLE

My friend Gia has been swimming with the Polar Bear Club in Coney Island every year since 2001 when she saw a PBS documentary. I highly recommend joining in... if you are insane. This year was the first time I felt motivated to go along. It was relatively warm (45 degrees ambient) but really I blame PAPER ISSUES for putting the fire in my butt. I simply HAD to scrap such a wacked out subject! Plus Dave has been itching to do something crazy and sky diving is OUT.

Jumpin' The Drink- Coney Island 1.1.11
Materials: Recollections glitter paper in aqua, EK Sucess waves punch, Bazzill Just The edge in red (waves), Martha Stewart sea star, crab and anchor punches, American Crafts Thickers in giggle painted with ColorBox Cat's Eye ink in brown, K & Co emphemera die cuts and note book paper (THANKS MOJO DAWNY!!!)

Dave chomped this up too.

I got my feet wet trying to take photos in the HUGE crowd. I spent the rest of the day squishing around Little Odessa in search for authentic Russian food. We found the Ocean View Restaurant and I tried my first Beef Stroganov. It was good but I prefer Carne Mechada or Ropa Vieja- they include sason.

Sorry G- I had to throw out the socks you lent me- they STANK! The air temps were good but the water temp was 27- wait- isn't that below the freezing point??? I was told the "worst part" is stepping on the ocean floor on bare feet. For me it was watching the hipsters in "Euro style" (ie TOO SMALL) ironic bathing wear running around cheering and dumping photographers- in full gear- into the drink.

Brave cool peeps- G, Tom and Dave

Dave is SO AWESOME- he went in all the way AND dunked his head under the water. I'm telling you I LOVE THAT MAN!!!!!!!!! Miss Lola stayed with Abuela who quesioned our intelligence. We had so obviously lost our minds eons ago.

HELLA COLD!!!! 

Thank you Paper Issues- you are my first DT and I am forever loyal to you- plus you helped drive traffic into my teeny corner of the net. This page is going on the "All Things New" challenge- the realization that my husband is WAYYY cooler than I am being new to me.

The snow was BANANAS!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
M.