Christmas gift tag love- A scrap FX design team post

Hi everyone!

I'm having SUCH a hard time creatively!
I haven't made anything in well over a week except for THIS:

Those clear acrylic beads are from Joanns and they rock my scrappy universe.
 The chipboard is from Scrap FX out of Australia.
A little bird tells me they are having a design team call soon!

I am very proud of it.
It's proof that I can make multiple mistakes,
mistakes UPON mistakes,
and still come out with a tolerably good looking Christmas tag.

I had this whole long Instagram post ready but deleted it.
Who wants to read about that?
Exactly- NO ONE.
Most people have decided to stay, including little old complaining me.
This is what I have decided:
I love IG.
I need IG to stay on top of scrap trends- it's the most immediate social media platform out there.

And if I want to get on ANY design teams I need to STAY on IG because that is the future of craft media and marketing.

So my compromise is that I will only post scrapbook related photos.
This is probably better in the long-run anyway.
Who wants to see each and every "cute" Lola shot I take?
Other than my Mom...
Who doesn't have Instagram.
I'll keep posting more family oriented images here.

Rockefeller Center.
There were a billion people here at this time- LUCKY SHOT!!!!

NYC street food. Roasted Chestnuts! SOOOOOO delicious!

Ferrara Chocolate and pastries at Central Park.

Off to see The Hobbit next- WHIRLWIND I tell you!
Chells out!!

A day for honoring the dead

True Xoxo Girls November Challenge Page- swing by and participate!
MATERIALS: Ikea plastic cake doily (I know!), Core'Dinations Jenny Bowlin paper, Cosmo Cricket blackboard and naked chipboard, Prima flowers and leaves (painted black with acrylic paint), EK Success slim line border punch, Petallo velvet roses and Dahlia value packs (black and red), Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Oil Slick, Smooch Spritz in black and Silver

The Mexican holiday known as Dia De Los Muertos has always fascinated me. The tradition is a hybrid of long established rituals in Pre-Columbian Mexico and the Catholic religion brought in by Spanish invaders- oops- I mean- "Conquistadors". The celebration actually lasts 3 days and takes place during what is also known as "All Saints Day" and "All Souls Day"- a change brought by the Spanish when they found they could not destroy the practice outright.

Calaberas are the focus for Dod.
TIP- that's found fishing line in that circle-
guess where I'm off to scrap shop next?

I burned right through my black Prima and
Petaloo stash... LOVE the black velvet!!!

The colors, the pageantry, the flowers- Day of the Dead is wonderful!!!  Best of all- it's a time to remember those you loved and lost- to tell their stories and carry on their name.

I envy the cultural strength it takes to carry this tradition 500 hundred years into the present. I admire the joy it brings to what could be a sorrowful occasion. Perhaps you remember your Mother or your Abuelita today. Maybe you make an altar for Celia Cruz or Frieda Kahlo- Madame Curie or Helen Keller.

Untitled Day of the Dead page 2
MATERIALS: Gauche Alchemy Wedding Night White Mixed Media Kit, Bazzill Kraft paper, Mister Huey in Plum Thumb, Overdue and Hot Dog, Crate Random mini paper, Daisy D's rub on stitches (which have dried out and can't heat them up since they are on a roller- darn!)

These are my first Dia De Los Muertos projects and not remotely authentic as they don't commemorate anyone. I wanted to keep these light and showy since they are meant to grab your attention and hopefully draw you into this AWESOME Latin American tradition.

Gauche Alchemy Scarlet Fever Red Mixed Media Color Kit, some dollar store roses.

Traditional activities include

• visiting family graves and decorating them with beautiful floral and paper displays 
• making mini "altars" for your home and decorating them with colorful fruits and flowers 
• gathering with friends and family and serving heaps of food 
• making papier-mache, papel picado (cut tissue paper) or sugar sculptures

Photos came from a street art poster.
The Skull and crossbones cameo was found on Etsy.

Whatever you do, tell the tales of those who have passed on- do not weep- rather, weep and laugh and shout out with joy- your loved ones are now in a better place!

Results of a sugar skull workshop. Getting
those sequins to stick using only spit was
harder than it looked.

Today I commemorate
Leo the caretaker and bike rider.
Nakia who left us so young.
Neco and Maneca my great grand parents.
And Juan and Mita my grand parents.
Whom do you celebrate?
Whose memory do you sing praises to?

Hugs mi gente- pass it on.

Michelle

Welcome to the Xoxo Blog Hop!

Hiya!!!

True Xoxo is a great team- welcome to our blog hop!!
It was ALL I COULD DO to keep this under wraps for this long!
Lisa Murphy Watson (a wonderful scrapper if I may say so) threw the challenge down LOVELY!
My challenge? Channel master scrapper Ingvild Bolme. WOOOOHAA!
And here it is:

Wonder Wheel- New Year's Day 2011
MATERIALS: American Crafts white cardstock, Tattered Angeles Mermaid Glimmer Glam and Patina Mist, buttons fro m Basic Grey and My Mind's Eye, Chipboard from Dusty Attic, metal gear brads from Oriental Trading

This page is very different from what I normally do and I proved to myself that I can still rock the shabby chic/romantic vibe without getting overly prettified. Still, when I saw Lisa's challenge I WIGGED OUT.
Ingvild's design style is incredibly complex and uses lots of advanced technique.
Click here to check out her blog. But come back here ok? please? :)

Ingvild's a perfect choice for this challenge. She's got a very distinctive style that isn't easily imitated but can be used as a "jumping off point" for your own ideas and style.

First I made a list of themes I loved about her work.

• White background paper- negative space
• Turquoise paint- splatters and swishes
• Transparencies and sewn details
• Lots of texture with gesso, netting and edge distressing
• Black and white photos with blown out highlights
• Flowers, lace and other Prima products

I tried random swishes of a paint across the page but HATED IT!
I dabbed the page with the brush but hated that too.
Then, instead of throwing the page out, I stuck it to the wall and dabbed it more "confidently"with dripping paint- that's how I got that "tree" look.

My only problem with this photo is that it appears to be out of focus.

The photo looks fine in real life but when I take a picture of it WHAM!- no faces!

I then misted it with Tattered angels "Patina" and used my heat gun to dry it off- this lessened the warp I got from using Glimmer Glam.
The Dusty Attic gears were too thick to allow for direct to the page sewing so I referenced the effect by winding some floss around them.

The big blue rose actually started out pink but some misting and glimmer glamming whipped it into shape. I also tried to stay away from edge distressing which can get really ugly in the hands of the inexperienced.

Ingvild's stark white portraits are an inspiration but I decided to take it easy on myself. Rather than start a whole new shoot, I used images from the Polar Bear Club New Year's Dip my husband and I participated in January this year. He jumped in the freezing water and I got my boots wet trying to take photos- it was a truly fantabulous day.

So cozy in the 2 feet of snow...

Did you enjoy the hop? I sure hope so- thank you so much for joining us! Your next stop is back at Xoxo headquarters- thank you for commenting and following each blog- we really appreciate it and remember- it's the best way to win the grand prize- a True Xoxo Guest Designer spot!
But WAIT there's MORE!!!!!
I have a little give away of my own for new followers (and old ones as well- just leave a comment with your email or blog addy)

These lovely flowers are all yours- just swing back to this blog to find out
 who won October 20th!

CLICK HERE for your next stop- the Xoxo home page!

My pant cuffs and feet were completely soaked here- so is the sacrifice I make for me "art".

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Punky Scraps Team Choice Challenge

The nefarious minds in Punky Scraps' Team A have conspired and come up with this list of items:

Tamara - Use Paint

Kat - Use sequins

Cheryl - Use a transparency (branded or homemade)

Kerry - white space

Marie - something you found in your bag

Jolanda - Use something orange

Can I work it? What do you think?

Altitude Adjustment
MATERIALS- Crate Paper woodgrain paper and buttons, Studio Calico stickers and Fab Rip, Pink Paislee Mistables ribbon, Making Memories Paper Reverie butterflies and glitter alphas, Cosmo Cricket black chipboard flowers, Divine twine from Reasonable Ribbon.com, Smashbook pocket, frame tranny from Hambly Studios, Ranger Glossy Accents

Left-over Euro and a card from the church where Letty got married go in the Smash pocket.

I finished this page in about two hours and felt really proud of myself- don't I rock? Yeah- no. I forgot that I was supposed to leave lots of negative space. This works perfect as a journal page though so I don't feel too bad about it.

Oh- second reveal- those orange sequins are TOTALY digi! I only had 1 so I just copy pasted the others using Photo Shop- aren't I clever? No, please don't answer that.
Go on and try your own Punky page now- time is awasting!


MuChos SmOoChEs!


Michelle

ARTastic Blog Guestie! YAY!

She Tried- ARTastic Challenge Blog July Guest Designer
Materials- Core-dinations Jeni Bowling collection, GCD Studios Brave Soul paper,  Glitz  Love games floral (fussy cut flowers), Maya Road heart pins, roses from dollars store, velvet posies from Making Memories

Upper floral cluster with fussy cut details

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great 4th of July. We stayed home as the fireworks can be easily seen from our fire escape even if they are on the West side on Manhattan- again. Why doesn't Macy's alternate Manhattan island sides?? Whatever- nothing would induce me to join the crowds at the bay this year. I love me a fireworks party but the train ride home is HECTIC.

Used a hand die cut from K & Co as a template and some clear
 film to make this "glove". I didn't use the die cut because it's pink and felt- the
 transparency also allowed the paper to show through.

I know you are all busy so here's a quick post with some fun news- I'm guest designing for ARTastic Challenge blog out of Australia this month. Yay! ARTastic uses paintings as the jump off point for scrapbook pages and the projects for this month are AMAZING (as is always the case).

This page is me talking to myself- sometimes you just gotta
keep on keeping on.

Please check them out and join the fun. ARTastic Challenges.

Fun 4th of July window display.

MuChOs SmoOcHeS!
Michelle

Happy Scrappin'!!!

How did I manage to squeeze some time to write this? Well I barely slept last night! Funny how Mother's Day is not a day off but a day ON- everyone wants to see you and you still have to change the baby and wash the dishes so National Scrapbooking Day will be short for me. Needless to say I was SUPPOSED to be working on some cards- Hallmark it is- again. Sorry Mom.

BUT NO! I have edited this now to say that CHERYL has inspired me to MAKE my cards!! I will stay up again! I WILL participate in the Studio Calico challenges- oo FUN! Thanks Cheryl! Ya'll visit her blog please! http://craft-thing.blogspot.com

Here is my NSD page:

In this page I harken back to my scrappy beginnings where I bought Prima flowers by the pound, threw half pearls at a page as if they were free and collected vintage lace trims. I missed the romantic shabby chicness of it all. This was a fun and fast page. I finally broke out my Tim Holtz "Lost and Found" paper pad and finished of the package of handmade flowers by Precocious Paper- a great Etsy store.

Precocious Paper on Etsy- be there or be square!

Pink Paislee wood alphas- best EVER!

Lola's profile and the shinning sun- poetic.

Cheryl, if you are reading this, I need your addy so I can send some scrappy goodies your way. Just because you rock and because it's National Scrapbook Day- and yes the Fascinator is HUUUUGE- but my sister insists it will look fabulous and she's got better taste than I do. :) Readers!! Keep the items I had to use guesses coming on THIS page- a scrappy winner will be chosen on May 10th!

Happy Scrappin'!
MUUAH to all you mommies too!
Michelle