Light molding paste fun with Scrap FX stencils.

Hello!

It's been raining everyday here in sunny Utah. 

I'm loving it!

Rainy humid 100 degree days remind me of New York which I miss terribly.

Want to know something weird?
Lightning scares the bejesus out of me!

I'm not used to seeing actual ray strikes.
How weird is it to see multiple rays lighting up the sky!
And cloud to cloud lightning?
FREAKY!!!!
I'm used to seeing lights and maybe the occasional zig-zag in the sky directly over head- seeing the whole thing from sky to land makes me jump and scream every single time.

AND? ALSO???
I saw a dust devil!
Wait- no- I saw THREE!

We were on the highway heading home after the Yellowstone camping initiation/ hazing ceremony
(98 degrees during the day- 30 degrees at night- wooooot!- Also- bears.)

FIRST my sister in law's car was almost pushed off the highway by a flying tire fragment from a truck's tire blow out.
Just as we got over it, I look out the window to the fields and hello
MINI TORNADO!!
TWO!!!
LOOK! THREE!
AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Oh no worries I was assured- those are just caused by dust and wind currents.
WHATEVER!!!
GET. ME. HOOOOOME!

So anyway it's been awesome- nature is so amazing
especially when you witness all it's glory while sitting nice and warm at HOME.

Here is a page I made despite serious lack of spark, mojo, focus, IDEAS

Water color paper is awesome. I messed the back up so I just turned it over and started again on the back. I painted a sunny circle and then pushed bits of paper around for hours till I got this configuration.
Materials: Scrap FX urban stencil, Crate Paper The Pier paper, American Crafts Thickers Glits gold alphabet stickers, flair from A Flair For Buttons, canvas hexagons by Studio Calico, Martha Stewart gold and turquoise paint, Paper Studio ATC pack. Flowers by Making Memories- stashed since 2009- glad to be rid of them finally.
Photo by Saidy Lopez.

I was casing Pinterest (yet again- I spend so much time pinning I leave no time for blogging- exactly ass backwards.)

I saw two pages by Denise Morrison which blew. me. away.
Check out her bloggity blog- Life Is Yummy

Denise was using light modeling paste on transparency material to add texture and see through stencil patterns to her scrapbooking.
ZOMG! GENIUS!!!
SO. MANY. IDEAS!

One of the reasons I rarely use modeling paste on my pages is because it takes a while to dry and it's so expensive I really don't want to "make a mistake".

One note- find a glue that works on plastic or get ready to be annoyed.

HELLO genius technique!
Using it on a transparency means I get to layer it wherever and if I make a "mistake" I can scrape it off and start again or move the piece somewhere else on the page.
Before you ask- yes it sticks- and no it doesn't crack even if you staple over it.
It's really a great solution!

Here I am trying it out with the Scrap FX roses stencil- LUSCIOUS!!

What's more- molding paste takes color mediums beautifully- that's what it's meant for after all. (Sorry my no art practice just history background means I just stumble on this stuff randomly through other blogs- you probably know more than I do)

I'm in looooove!

July snow and shorts. Yes. it's Utah. Cottonwood Canyon- Cecret Lake Trail.
I wonder why it's spelled "Cecret".
I'm thinking some gold miner got it wrong and no one bothered to correct it in 200 years.

Chells out!

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

Inspiration Friday- Brooklyn Botanical Garden (and an art journal page)

Hello!

This week has run right past me laughing!
I barely had time to notice all the beautiful things so I could share them with you here.

Last night I was trolling Pinterest again.
I'm trying to figure out how to organize my boards since I have so many.
How do you pin?
How do you categorize it?

Here is a very quick page I came up with on the theme "summer heat/ summer sun"
Can you tell I'm SO over this lingering winter weather?

Don't ask my why I combined Tattered Angels "Frozen Lake" with Cosmo Crickets Twenty Three
collection paper and grey water color paper- it just "felt" right.

 The stencil set is from Michael's- 5 bucks and AWESOME!
I also scored on metallic Faber-Castell gelatos at TJ Maxx.
5 dollars for mixed media packs that included water color pencils and PITT pens.

We also visited the Brooklyn Botanical Garden which I put on my "flower watch" every year.
This year the trees have budded but none have flowered,
It will be a few more weeks before I get good Sakura photos.

I did take a couple of shots:

The Magnolias are still budding but the Chinese Camellia tree is in full bloom.

Many of our favorite trees have survived Hurricane Sandy. 

Tiny pine cones from the Japanese Pavilion.

Japanese Pavilion, Brooklyn Botanical Garden
First "winter" type shot I've ever taken.
I think I'm going to swing by and get a snow shot next year. 

Bonsai. It's amazing this tree is alive and thriving on a plate.
SO inspiring!

Sorry I cut the top off. 

Have a great weekend!
Michelle

Truly beautiful things are wild and free- a watercolor page

Somewhere in Greenpoint, Brooklyn a storefront bears that title across it's window
I will seek out find this store.
I will stand in front of this window and take an ironically posed photo.
I love the poetry of it.

It's freaking 100 degrees out here- hold on- it's been 100 degrees across most of the US this week!  l
Let's all take a collective chill pill.
chillin,' chillin', chilliiiiiin'

I want to go to the newly opened McCarren pool but apparently there was a huge brawl between a bunch of teenagers and the entire lifeguard staff? Like ALL of the life guards.
So yeah, a pass on THAT idea.

A quick page:

Loving those Studio AE stamps. I also used Gauche Alchemy washi tape and rectangle grid punchinella here.
The polka dot border is unnecessary- I was trying to distract you from the uneven borders caused by warping.
I really need to find a way to use water color without having the page that looks like a wet rag!
Plus I love this page. A lot. One of the few I can say that with ZERO caveats.

Some detail shots:

Those Pink Paislee celebration banners are finally used.
I was having a hard time incorporating them- hello- random!
I would like 4 more of the sunburst pieces please- they are so cute!

Awesome handwriting- wish I had it. Apparently copying a page out my
favorite book over and over again will help me develop it.

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!

On the way to the park- new walls went up on Wythe and North 3rd- if you are into street art
I would suggest you take the L train and check it out. Lemme know so we can meet up at my
fave Thai restaurant and chat- I promise I am SO NOT an internet killer.

MuChOS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Cheer up- it's wednesday- water color day!

It's wednesday.
I have a list of 8 things I HAVE to do today.
It's 4pm.
Will I be able to pull it off?

Happy place! Happy place! HAPPY PLAAAACE!

If you look up the term AWESOME (sauce) in the dictionary you will see a large photo of my
niece Noemi taking up most of the page. It's SO encouraging to see a happy, virtuous, INTELLIGENT
and FUN (not to mention popular!) 16 year old!!! MTV how about a reality show? I would watch it! 

Gauche Alchemy Punchinella and washi tape, Sassafras Lass layered flowers, water color paper and cheap 99 cent store water color paints were used for this late night experiment.

I used some loose leaf reinforcers as stencils and colored the actual stickers with Prima chalk ink- which by the way is the BEST THING EVER!

Some quick close up shots:

I'm adding that Gauche black loops washi to EVERYTHING!!! 
The magenta lace scallops is another fave.

Caption and can you spot a favorite item of mine as of late?
A Flair for Buttons typed words flair.

So now I'm hurrying off to the NEXT item on the to do list- the A Flair For Buttons Blog post I should have written oh 2 weeks go. YIPES!

Can I just show you two things?

Triangles Kraft and color flair

Colored Stars Flair

Aren't they luscious??? LOVE!

GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!!

I finally found a Bokeh filter app- PicFX- cool as all GET!

Onto the next "To Do List" item.
LET'S DO THIS SCRAP HAPPY FOLKS!!! :)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle