The NEON Challenge!!

2012 is the year neon came back!
I'm seeing it everywhere.

Even on the lace bows of expensive french lingerie! 

Who wears neutral underwear with blindingly bright pink bows that cost 200 just for the bra?

MATERIALS: Bazzill grey card stock, Cocoa Daisy stamp, Cosmo Cricket’s DeLovely paper,
Crafter’s Workshop 6x6 chevron stencil, SC Mister Huey in white and chipboard from
Crate Paper, Sakura Gelly Roll pen outlines in fluorescent yellow,  neon pink twine,
Cosmo Cricket Heart In The Dark alphas and Jenni Bowlin flying bird punch.

To celebrate, I'm hosting a challenge over at DO MORE WITH LESS.
Yvonne Yam's awesome scrap style is both clean, modern and full of messy techniques such as paint, upcycled items and glitter.
How does she manage to pull it all off with nary a finger print or stray pencil mark on the page???
I aspire to that kind of control over technique.

This project was shaping up so well! Those finger prints are
UNINTENTIONAL and decidedly UNHAPPY accidents!

Perhaps you have some generic price stickers or neon pink twine lying around?  Most of Hambly's entire inventory qualifies. I've also found lots of great neon in Basic Grey (Out of Print) and Crate Paper's Random line.
Cosmo Cricket totally saw the trend coming because the entire DeLovely line is neon and it came out last winter.

Martha Stewart NEON GLITTER! EEEE!
25 dollars for the pack! Coupon time!

If nothing else Sakura makes neon gellyroll pens. (EEEEE!)
I tend to buy these every time I go to the scrap store because I use them on everything.
And there's always the 89 cent bottles of craft acrylic paint from the kids section at the arts and craft store.

Price stickers, 89 cent paints and thread.
At 5 bucks a pop perhaps thread is the purchase you want to save till
you've decided you love neon.

Swing by Do More With Less- you probably are already a follower- she's that awesome.
Thank you so much for the opportunity Yvonne!

My second project-you can do better I'm SURE! I do like the border. REDO TIME!
Materials: Basic Grey Life of the Party, Ki Memories NYC puffy, woodgrain fabric circles, Hambly
woodgrain washi tape,  EK Success peg alpha stamps, Scrap FX flying bird chip board, American
Crafts Zing embossing powder, K & Co Smash tape, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Mermaid.

Ah bribery- the BEST way to drive traffic.
Here's what you get if you win the challenge:

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

GOT COLLAGE SKILLZ?

My goal for today is to make you laugh. That would be the only reason to share the two hideous projects I made before I finally got to my Punky Scraps collage project for this week's challenge.

First is the final design which I like a lot and will be trying again as the resulting color is really exciting:

Failure is key
MATERIALS: WRMK card stock, tissue paper from Natalie Malik on Etsy, Alphas from Cosmo Cricket, coffee stain stamp from Cocoa Daisy, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and paint from Kaiser Craft.

Thank you so much Natalie Malik! I recently won her grand prize give-away which totally came at the right time.
Mostly because I got this:

Hand made "How To" zine from Natalie that totally saved my life last night.
Buy it if you'd like some great tips on collage with tissue paper.
Photo courtesy Natalie Malik.

A great handmade "zine" that taught me how to actually glue tissue paper without ruining my project. I also won two beautiful hand made bookmarks and a great pack of ephemera that included the tissue paper I used above.

If you want to see someone make modern and lovely collages with real technical mastery please visit Natalie's blog Awkward and Beautiful.

This is the first time I ever try collage. I avoid anything truly artsy- not because I don't like artsy stuff (I LOVE artsy) but because it requires a level of knowledge and control over technique I have not reached yet.

Before you think this is me beating myself up again please wait till you see what I did before Natalie saved my scrappy butt.

And NOW... The FIASCOS.

AAAAA! This is me trying to use some scraps left over from a cool previous project and having "fun" with textures and shapes. I like the colors and the repeated straight lines but this is a HOT summer mess.
Ok now for the real hum-digger.
Please block your children from seeing this.

This horribly BIOLOGICAL piece sprung from two thoughts:
Though number 1: I want to make a commentary on the images of women in fashion- I will sew the outlines, fill in the photos with paint and write "Not me, not now, not ever.. and that's ok" on it.

Before I could fully execute thought number 1- this happened:
Though number 2: OOO this glue would make for great texture!

EEEEEEEEWWW! Never should the two meet! I'm embarrassed to share it except this is supposed to be a real deal blog right? Hideous craft failures and all.

I would like to point out I'm not a complete hack. I recognize when something is too awful to show- except as entertainment here in this blog.

Now that I've either shocked you into silence or made you laugh derisively please head on over to Punky Scraps and join the October challenges. This week's is all about collage. I'm hoping you will learn as much as I did.

Current Favorite Toy- this is a family blog after all.

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Holy Canoli!!! 28 followers! THANK YOU!!!

I want to thank all of you who have dropped by and left tracks- it's awesome to have such supportive and talented eyes looking at my over-cooked "creations". I get inspired by your blogs and TRY really hard to keep up. :)
Here's something I've been ruminating:

The back of  my project's page. AWESOME!!!!!

I find the backs of my stitched projects fascinating- they look so abstract! There's a prolonged project in this- I FEEL it!

Someone recently asked me where I got my ideas from. I couldn't answer. I know I work in spurts and then I need "rest" which used to mean reread some of my Terry Pratchett novels but I had to give them away to make room for my scrap boxes- now you know how much I love this hobby.

Ideas & Inspirations notes

If I complete a page I move right onto another while I'm still "buzzing". This drives my husband mad as he can't really talk to me. I tend to ignore everything when I'm "working". So I write ideas down- sometimes it takes me months because new ideas tend to get made first. 

Mostly I've been shopping the sales this week:

@Home Goods- AC paper pads for 7 bucks!! Flat stickers
for 4 bucks- 490 sticks per package!

@Michael's- 40% off everything- Sassy paper pads for 6 bucks! AC glitter paper 90
cents per page. T!m Holtz on sale!!!

It's amazing what you find as soon as you LEAVE NYC. Home Goods is my fave place to find DCWV & American Crafts cardstock and Martha Stewart brand products for 60 to 75 % off sticker price. But you have to be lucky and travels miles to Yonkers, Long Island- or YIKES- Jersey.

Last plug- Claudia over at Die Cuts R US has a great store name change SALE going on. I don't know Claudia- I just like that she is selling Tim Holtz paper tape for $3.50 so I wanted to tell ya'll- cause I LIKE you!!!! January 1st the store will become Claudia & Co so go now and pick up some QEEUUUUTE stuff for CHEAP.

HUGS AND SMOOOOOCHES mis amigas!!!
M.