30 minute scrapbook page- maple wood veneer, stickers and plastic doilies.

Hiya!
I wanted to share this super quick page today because it's gotten lots of positive feedback in my instagram feed and via Twitter. (yay!)

I made this page in 20 to 30 minutes- more than half the time was spent putting the little white gel pen dots
 on that Scrap FX scribble frame! I used some Maple wood veneer and I must admit I was scared
 to paint it like I was planning- I love the idea of putting neon on these but without any experience
 I was worried about bleeding. The bottom doily is actually covering a stamp that went completely awry.

I've been talking to a lot of folks lately and hearing the same thing
"I don't read blogs."
These are young hip people who sited Reddit and Tumblr as their primary sources for info.
Neither are very good for my purposes so I am at a loss.

I love writing but most people don't have the time or inclination to read.
Have you found the same happening over at yours?

Materials: Glitz design film strip, A Flair For Buttons flat back pin,  frame from Scrap FX,
star clip from American Crafts for Studio Calico, stright pins from Maya Road. Plastic doilies from
The Chip Chop shop- a favorite Etsy store that is currently closed- sorry guys.

I love and really appreciate the lurkers, the commenters and the true believers who constantly cheer on my work and my constant blather- thank you so much!!!

Michelle

Fun with Maya Road!

Hello and happy wednesday folks!

It's been a pretty sombre week.
I took monday off in deference to the horrific events in Boston.
I will be making a page and showing it here on friday but basically this is a moment to pause and reflect-
to be introspective and respectful-
to cherish your loved ones and give whatever you can-
a moment to spread the light.

Talking scrap, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me.

I was trying to come up with two SPECTACULAR scrapbook pages for my Maya Road Guest designer application.

By "spectacular" I mean pages that do the product justice and showcase my ability to use MR products especially straight pins, stamps, mist droplets and woodgrain.

Without further ado here are the pages I came up with:

I found this print from my senior year in college- 1997! I spent my last semester in California and I remember how self conscious I was about my body. This was the only time I wore a two piece swim suit while there! Now I look at those photos and marvel at how thin and FABULOUS I was. I intended to use my Maya Road ledger stamps but when I saw the pure white rosettes I decided to go with a monochrome arrangement. I will be making another page for SURE!

Rosettes- I love them. I make mine using the Martha Stewart scoring board,
zip dry and mini paper clips to secure the ends while the glue dries.
Stapling also works but it's hard to staple smaller ones like these.

I could photograph the Empire State Building every day for a year and never get the same photo twice. This is one of my favorite things about living in Brooklyn hands down.
Here I was having fun with the indigo color trend and my Maya Road straight pins and wood buttons- can't have enough of either.

Once I stamped the background everything else just fell right into place- I LOVE it when that happens!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The calibre of talent that is out there is amazing.
Good luck everyone!
I hope to join you in a week or so. (toes are now crossed as well!!)

Michelle

What I learned this week: Postal rates, Dubstep and Indigo color madness!

Hiya and happy HAPPY monday folks.

WHY is it happy?
'Cause it's FINALLY SPRING, yo!
Sweet!!!!

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK:

Postal rates. (ARE BANANAS!)
I recently posted a package to the UK.
UPS wanted 115 dollars (not a typo) to send it "express".
Never mind I didn't NEED express service.

The US Postal Service wanted 16 dollars for 10 day delivery.
Ok! I can swing 16 dollars.
But there is no tracking on the package.
ie: they can dunk the box in the Thames.

I'm all for paying fair price for services but, dude, you have to do your job.
If I send something I expect it oh I don't know.. ARRIVE.
It WOULD be nice if it arrived without it looking like someone went Dubstep on it.

What? Never heard of Dead Mau5?
Yeah me neither, but this Dubstep gif is AWESOME!
I first heard of "Dubstep" from my nephew who loves this music so
much he write status poems about it on Facebook.
Not EVEN kidding.

ANYWAY.
I did manage to get some pages done.

Indigo blue is IN.
Here's a great reference story Design Sponge: Current Obsession 

What I started with Bockingford 140 lb water color paper  in grey.
The paint splatters went completely wrong and I loved it.
Dave thinks this looks like Jimi Hendrix looking up into the sky.

I bought the Liqitex on clearance this week at Michael's for 99 cents.
I've had the Tattered Angels in my stash for over 2 years.
They are on clearance in a lot of stores.
I resisted to urge to buy more even thought I love it.

1. Crate Paper's "On Trend" collection has a lot of indigo, emerald and grey- all are "hot" right now. Try not to kill me for combining trends and mixed media art- it's the scrapbooker in me.
2. Tattered Angels mist in Sapphire is really watery so it starts wonderfully dark and gets nice and sparkly towards the end of a drip. I used the tip of my paint brush to spread the paint out when it splattered in the "wrong" area.
3. Liquitex soft body paint is great for mixing and it goes on real smooth on chipboard.
4. Tattered Angels "Glimmer Glam" in Blue Suede Shoes. The cap has a brush built-in so you can paint, splatter and wash with abandon. The glitter gets a little annoying- wish it were smaller grained.

Now I'm seeing Indigo everywhere!
This is a neighbor's front door.

Have a great week!
Michelle

Neon Love- the color dipping trend and scrapbooking

Happy Fourth of July!
Today I want to buck the trending topic and share a page I made for Scrap FX featuring a design element I have seen all over the place lately- dye color dipping.
"What is 'dye dipping', crazy lady?" You might say.

It's literally dipping the legs, arms or other part of an object in neon or metallic paint (or dye) for some added color without the blinding rays a whole neon green couch would let off.

So this woodgrain embossed paper- I must find bulk packs of it because it's my favorite stash item right now.
I found the 8 by 11 size at my LSS but SC has it 12 by 12. GET SOME- it's freaking GORG!
MATERIALS: vellum, Fiskars XL star squeeze punch, Scrap FX telegraph wire chipboard, Hambly trannys, MT washi tape, Maya Road ledger trannys, Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type alphas, American Crafts mini glitter brads, Staedtler water color paint

Check out Etsy to see what I mean (don't want to use photos here without permission):
Dipped neon
I thought I would give it a whirl in a scrapbook page.
Here's the thing- I'm kinda nuts about wasting my expensive magenta water color paint so I didn't just fill up a bowl and dip away.

I painted the paper and tried my best to make it look "dipped".
This was hella fun!
I suggest you run out to Benjamin Moore and get one of their 4 dollar "sample" paints and try "dipping" your own house wares- you just might LOVE IT!

lovely delicate layers- vellum is DA BOMB!

I'm coveting a set of neon pink hand thrown porcelain bowls- they are so SO pretty but Lola would use them for floor target practice so I will just stare at the photos and dream.

Scrap Fx telegraph poles- delightfully RANDOM-
who needs matchy-matchy themey pages? "Not I!" said the cat!

Have a SAFE 4th of July holiday folks!
PLEASE don't get your drink on and take to the wheel!
And PLEASE don't dare each other to hold the fireworks.
Your local ER staff would appreciate one less client and I like my readers to be happy and whole.

GRATUITOUS FLAG RELATED PHOTO!!!!

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Sketchy Thursdays and Sassafras Lass

I got my last Sassafras order last week. It's a bittersweet experience to open a box full of beautiful color and happy prints knowing you will never get another one like it again. I got some beautiful Sunshine Broadcast loveliness so I made this page AND tried to shoot it in a similarly appropriate manner.

Sketchy Thursdays Guest DT Grateful page
MATERIALS: Sassafras Lass Sunshine Broadcast paper and stickers,  Smooch Spritz Sun kissed, Tattered Angels Sand mist, Mister Huey in Lemonade, buttons from Crate, pearl beads from Art-C, hearcleare heart buttob from Epiphany crafts, gold beads from Michael's

This page will be submitted to the Sketchy Thursdays December Guest DT challenge. I really love this sketch- the simplicity allows for a lot of creative play and I'm always a sucker for square format images.

A quick detail shot of the journaling:

I also made a second page for a sketchy Thursdays challenge sponsored by Paper Issues. Paper Issues teamed up with Pink Paislee to promote the release of their Snow Day line and the projects are GORGEOUS- please swing by to see the fantastic projects submitted so far!

Planet Hoth- Sketchy Thursdays 11/3/11 challenge sponsored by Paper Issues
MATERIALS: Bazzill white paper, Tattered Angels Patina mist. Smooch Sea Green mist, Mister Huey in Cream and White, Maya Road snowflake transparencies, Melissa Frances starburst and water bling brads, Crate,  Jenni Bowlin and Basic Grey buttons, alphas by Sassafrass Lass and Basic Grey, Sakura gelly pen in gold, Stickels in Diamond, star punchinella and white corrugated board from Gauche Alchemy

An apology- these were supposed to be ready on Monday but now that my husband is back in school weekends are a crazed mass of laundry, cooking and taking Lola to the park before the 4:30- sun deadline- did I mention I hated Fall? Sun rationing kills it for me. But I won't complain it was 68 (!!!) degrees here yesterday- I KNOW!!!

I'm struggling a bit on my Grace Project photos- mostly finding shots varied enough to include. May I submit that I am grateful for the "push" I'm getting to up my photo game? I'm trying all KINDS of crazy things to shoot my projects these day- can I show you on failed experiment?

Dave's architect's table makes for a really fun "stage".
Aluminum Foil is a dark apartment dweller's best friend!

This is a beautiful "staging" set up but without full sunlight or a tripod to steady the camera for the long exposure time it's just too dark in this room. I will FORCE myself to work with my cheapo tripod- it literally takes just as long to set it up as to shoot, edit and write a blog entry- very annoying.
A couple of detail shots:

The latest entry to the Daily Grace project:

11/7/11- Grateful for some time alone

11/8/11 Grateful for the PERFECT hamburger from Fanny on Graham St.

11/9/11 Grateful for THE BEST PRESENT EVER! Thank you Dave!!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Michelle

I am a Gauche Grrrl!

GAUCHE- adjective. lacking social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkward; crude; tactless.

Oh MY GOSH!!! That's ME!!!  Someone to say exactly the wrong thing at the right time? ME ME MEEEE! Blurting embarrassing medical details in the exact moment the crowded room goes quiet? OH I can do THAT!
Involuntary cries of "WHO? HIM/HER?" when your were telling me some juicy gossip near the target? Long boring stories that have everyone's eyes rolling? Angry rants about politics when things were supposed to be "light" at the family dinner table? Inappropriate Halloween costumes for work? All me. yay.


You can walk away shaking your head and muttering "FOOL!" but I have to live with me so I am SO HAPPY that I found Gauche Alchemy. I am now a writer for their blog and can use all my awkward quirks for entertainment purposes. My latest page for their newsletter (run along now and sign up!)

You are
Materials: Gauche Alchemy mixed puchinella kit, coffee filter, silver slide holder and stud brads from Gauche Alchemy Wedding Night White kit, Pink Paislee Office Lingo Cublicle paper,  Maya Road Calendar tranny and star pins, MMBI "You" and circles die cuts, Smash tape.

I got my kit the day before we were to leave Salt Lake City and managed to bang together this page in about 45 minutes. I was thrilled I got a spark of mojo but mostly it's the great funky stuff I find in their kits- swing by and check them out- they are DEFINITELY not the usual cup of cutesy paper tea (which is FANTASTIC!!!).

I'm so tired from my red eye flight with a fussy baby I will now fall asleep but I want to post something as I feel completely out of the loop. Our last minute unplanned visit to Salt Lake City was AMAZING! I never saw so many fantastic scrapbook stores together in one place! My favorite so far was Archivers over in Orem but I also scored MAJOR at Tuesday Morning with entire collection kits from Girl's Paperie going for 20 bucks! FABULOUS! I'm back now and plan to post like crazy so keep coming back! Thanks for your support!!!

Open Road!

MuChos SmOoChEs!
Michelle

On the concept Beauty

Conversation and Reaction
Materials: Pink Paislee Hometown Summer borders,  Studio Calico Design/Create stamps, Maya Road Lightbulb stamps, American Crafts Zing in black, Prima chicken wire background stamp, Bazzill paper- white. Studio Calico crickets card that came in the kit (LOVE that print!)

Last night I had a great conversation with my Aunt Cuca. She's recently discovered scrapbooking. (YAY! New partner in crime!)  To encourage a raging habit I sent her a box of "things I love but will not use"- i.e- pretty paper. She was so happy! One thing I did not send was most of my flower and butterfly stash. I'm hoarding those even though I’ve changed my style.

I've actually started scrapping differently to use them up. Here's a sneaky sneak of a page I made for ARTastic Challenges. I was honored to be their July 2011 guest designer and let me tell you I agonized over this page:

ARTastic Challenge Blog July Guest Designer sneak.
ARTastic uses paintings as inspiration for scrapbook pages- you can be literal and lift the whole design or concentrate on specific elements such as the color palette. There are lots of RAK opportunities- swing by and check them out.

My Aunt went bananas over the flowers and ribbon I sent. We got into a convo about what we like and I swear I felt like I was talking another language. I told her I like grids and fonts and woodgrain- she was like- well everyone's light shines different. Amen to THAT sister!

But WHY give away my flower stash? Am I CRAZY??? I don't use the large 3D flowers anymore because they are too precious, too widely used, too... MUCH! (And on a practical note, 3D pages take up crazy amounts of storage space.) My idea of "beauty" has shifted. 

The Child's Bath (The Bath) by Mary Cassatt, 1893, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago 

It's like this painting. Beautiful and something I would have aspired to a year ago. Lately I have tended to admire work that makes me think and see the world differently.  Cassatt was a ground breaker. She made the personal public by focusing on intimate family moments before it was considered ok for women to do that. She was a female painter in an era where only men were considered artists- women were mere hobbyists. Hmm... that's still the case! The  “high art” versus “hobby/craft” value system is especially apparent in the scrapbooking community. Say “I am a Scrapbooker” here in Brooklyn (ironic Hipster central) and watch the smirks. “Oh NO girl! You sit for hours playing with PAPER?  For fun? There are babies in your "art"????”

And so begins the struggle for someone like me. I love complicated, brainy or modern art. But I also love beauty for beauty's sake and traditional ideas of representation. So how do I be "me" in a field where traditional is the ideal? Where, if it isn't a baby or a cute pet or a positive feeling, it's a hard to grab attention? 

Well get ready for the uphill battle. 

Hey- I'm loosing you- here's a CUTE DOG to get you to read some more :)

 The scrapbook community is one that values the positive because the focus is on preserving memories- who wants to preserve the memory of their commuting to work frustrations? Who wants to spend hours trying to figure out what a page “means”?

The balance needs to be struck between the beautiful and the real.  Between the traditional and the cutting edge. After all- adding a bunch of beautiful Prima flowers to a page will not make an unfocused design suddenly come to life.  The opposite is also true- if the subject matter is not cute or beautiful then you have to spruce up those design skills because the work will depend on the eye loving what the heart rejects.   

One of my all time favorite shots of Miss Thang.
You can't see her face and  she's slightly off center-
a photo who's meaning can change according to mood.

I had an experience recently where someone lifted one of my Xoxo Girl designs and posted on their blog that my page "was not her style- let's leave it at that". I was so conflicted! I was flattered because the effort showed that there was something worth exploring in my page but what did "let's leave it at that" mean? I'd like to know!  

True Xoxo Girls April Challenge page

One of the biggest blocks I'm facing right now is lack of critical feedback. I know most of it is the "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" ethic. Plus everyone is updating their blogs or their galleries and making and photographing their work- these are BUSY people! So the page needs to speak and speak LOUDLY in seconds. But without going to art school or having graphic designer friends it's very hard to learn about design. Everyone can teach you a new technique but that DOESN'T mean it will be used effectively.

You can see the lifted page here: http://truexoxogirls.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-18-sponsored-by-candy-shoppe.html

I see some major improvements. Her design has focal points and symmetry- the color palette is more cohesive. I have photos on my page but they are tiny and get lost in the over all mess- hers are easier to see. Considering this is a scrapbook project- her page did it’s job- mine was an experiment. So my "take away" (that's corporate lingo for what I learned) is this: Keep looking. Take notes. Notice- what do those pages or projects or paintings have in common that you like? And most of all- DO NOT look for outside approval. Happiness needs to come from within and if it's flowers and butterflies or graffiti and grid lines that does it for you- it's up to YOU to develop your eye and your artistic voice.

Love this photo too.  It's in a page for my July True Xoxo Girls challenge page.
Have you uploaded your scraplifted creation yet? You have plenty of time so swing on by!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Get PUNKY! Week 2 sketch

This is my second week as a Guest Designer for Punky Scraps and I'm having insane amounts of fun. Need evidence?

Beautiful Girls
MATERIALS: American Crafts papers, AC Thickers alphas, Crafter's workshop Cosmic swirl template, floral fabric, die cuts and words from K & Co,  Maya Road satin pleated ribbon. My Mind's Eye velvet ribbon and ball fringe. 

Whoop! Whoop! Slam dunk. I am seriously loving all the American Crafts color here. Here's the sketch for week 2:

Punky sketch for April week 2 

Punky sets your design bug free. Paint splattered incorrectly on my page? So what? It's Punky! Edges of machine stitch frayed? It's all good- it's PUNKY. I'm telling you it's a license to experiment and that's just what I needed at this point. I was getting way too self conscious and loosing sight of why I scrap- to HAVE FUN.

Nieces Noe and Emi. These pix popped up on their facebook profile one day and  I simply HAD to scrap them.

The sponsor for this month is Crafter's Workshop whose templates I've been collecting for a while now. I wanted to get a little more paint crazy here but I only had 1 sheet of this gorgeous Dear Lizzy paper and I've been known to ruin entire layouts with too much spritz so I added just a touch of SC Mister Huey in white over the Crafter's Workshop Cosmic Swirls 12 x 12 template and loved the subtle swirls I got.

Minor twist- photos hanging where banners should be.
"Journaling" where photos would normally be placed.

I have an entire box of "bling" which I rarely use
because I rarely remember it's there. No more!

Now please run to Punky and make a page of your own- you might win a wonderful prize from Crafter's Workshop!


Second (larger) look:

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Michelle

Shameless free product plea! MAYA ROAD

Ok so Maya Road is revealing it's 2011 CHA products on it's blog and giving them away if you comment, post on your blog, post an entry in your fave forum, join their newsletter or FB page. Naturally I'm joining in so I can try to get some SCRUMPTIOUS Kraftalicious MR candy.
This is NO JOKE my 2011 shopping list. TRUST I WILL go broke.
Here are some drool worthy shots:
1. Die cut craft doilies- YO WHAAAA? They read my mind!!!

2. Wood buttons! AAAA THE CUTENESS!! IT BUUUURNS!

3. Chipboard!! MADNESS- MUST.HAVE.ALL!

Garden shapes!

Teeny shape cuteness!

Semi-circle banners!

Doily backings!

Suns and rainbows!

4. Star pins! DUUUH! Naturally! MR I love you!

5. Scroll Frame Journaling Tags!!! Just too cute to leave all lonely in the MR warehouse.

There you have it- my shameless plug for MR.

And this WONDERFUL photo from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WHO OWNS THE COPYRIGHT!!!! I'm just letting you see it. Click on the caption- it's a link to their website.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/animals/

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
M.