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

A story- How I got started

Lift from a painting on Etsy. Used paint sample chips and tissue paper.

I'm still away having fun in Salt Lake City but I refuse to leave ya'll hanging for 2 weeks. Please feel free to leave love as I am still reading my email.
Below- a story.

I was watching "Shaun The Sheep" today for like the 80th time this week- if you have some time and a Netflix account you need to check it out- it's so clever!!

Anyway, so I was watching this show and something triggered my memory on how I got started scraping. I have a heart rending story about Lola's troubled first nine months and how I needed a distraction from the emotional turmoil- it's a great story- but it's not the WHOLE story.

Botanical Garden- sweaty but having fun

I got started scrapbooking because I was bored and I couldn't draw to save my life. I wish I had a photo of my first DIY project for Lola's room. It was supposed to be a flying bird but it wasn't remotely recognizable. That's when I started looking for "help".

Favorite strawberry outfit

Lola is named after a bird- a Puerto Rican bird- or so I was told by my Mom who insisted an "Alondra" was the national bird of Puerto Rico and a very brave, strong and resourceful bird at that.
It's not- on all points.

An Alondra is a Meadow Lark and they are common to North and South America. There are many varieties within the genus but mostly it's a brown bird with hints of yellow. They are not known for anything specific but the National Audobon society has recorded the call of the North American Meadow Lark which is actually rather beautiful. Maybe this is why Lola can wail for hours on end?

Honking at Geese

She could have been Isabel but it's too common in NYC. If you yell out "ISABEL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" 30 little girls will suddenly freeze, turn and give you THE LOOK. I could have named her Diana (after the Goddess), Aurora as she is my new beginning or even Malia (you KNOW why!!!) but I chose Alondra because it RANG in my head. Frankly, my Mom had already ran through about 2000 names and was frustrated that I hadn't picked one of "her names". I was obviously mentally deficient. Everyone KNOWS Abuela gets to name the child.

So this is why Lola's room is full of birds- some made by me (sad SAD things) and some made by what appears to be American Craft's Silhouette or Provo Craft's Cricut- both which can apparently cut adhesive vinyl. I don't have either machine as both cost at least a leg and take up the exact same amount of room.

Second painting lift- I used paint chips and Target dollar bin embellies on this.

I also have some early paper piecing "lifts" from Etsy paintings I felt I could not "afford". Looking at how much money I've spent the last 2 years on scrap crap I should have gone ahead and sprung for those original paintings. Who knew I would embark on a journey and enjoy it so much?

I've always wanted to "be a writer"- here I am writing! I always wanted to use my photo degree- here I am learning new photo techniques every day and going places just to get a great photo- this didn't happen when I was single and "had more time". How grateful I am to Lola- to Miss Alondra- for allowing me to be her Mom but also develop as an "artist". It's been a great ride and when I see her smile- I know I'm in for loads more fun.

Sunset from K-Mart parking lot in Queens.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

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

Westward HOOOOO!

Dear cousin Evelyn (and hubby Sandy) have just offered to let us ride along in their 3 day road trip to Salt Lake City!! YAAY! This was SO last minute! Four days till THE BIG DAY when the moving company called to say they couldn't find a driver who was willing to go that far BUT for a mere 300 hundred dollars extra they would GUARANTEE one. Can you believe it?? The nerve!!!!

So they asked for their money back. The moving company said they would loose their deposit, Evelyn, a true Brooklynite, promised legal bloody murder. They got their money back. Since we are literally hitching a ride and staying with family this is going to be a very affordable adventure.  All we have to do is try to keep Lola from screaming us silly and and we should be ok.

Needless to say, the grandmothers are very VERY annoyed and think we are "crazy". This is our reasoning: We're bored. We don't have jobs for the first time since we were both 16. We have paid the rent. We have a camera and several new babies in SLC we both REALLY want to see. So I know it's irresponsible but heck with it- we are OFF. Plus Jet Blue had SLC to NYC flights for 150 bucks!!! You can't pass that up!!!

Totally unrelated but remember how I threatened a totally embarrassing layout? I would say "Poor kid" but I know she's gonna run me ragged so I have no regrets!

Embarrassing
MATERIALS: Sassafras Lass Sunshine Broadcast paper and mustard alphas, My Little Shoebox mini alphas, Crate Paper Emma's Box stickers, Mister Huey in Schoolhouse Red and Sunshine, Pink Paislee Mistables ribbon, Crate Paper woodgrain paper.

I won't be able to blog while on the road- we don't have smart phones but maybe the motels will have wi-fi? Yeah, I didn't think so either. So if you have any business or want to second my Mom who wants to kill me or want to enable me with reasonable arguments for undertaking road trips with toddlers in tow please leave a comment below. Au Revoir!!!!

PS- don't forget to join the Punky Scraps challenge this saturday- it's gonna be AWESOME!!!!

The idea for today is: have the adventure NOW. Tomorrow may never come.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Happy!

Summer is quickly waning and I already miss it. August is usually a slow month in the crafting world- families are taking long planned vacations or preparing for back to school. Almost everyone is too busy to skulk boards and troll blogs so thank you for visiting this lonely corner of the blogosphere- I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Happy
MATERIALS: Woodgrain embossed paper, white acrylic paint, fabric doily, Crate paper button, Pink Paisley journaling tags, silver circle tag and punchinella from GAUCHE ALCHEMY, Jillibean Soup corrugated clouds, Maya Road heart and acrylic pins,  Happy word Pin from Joann's, silver mini clip from Staples.

I was saving this page for publication submissions but I finally decided it should go to Paper Issues for their current link party: "Let's Ride". Lola is the embodiment of "Let's Ride". She has zero tolerance for waiting once she hears the words "out" or "park". The words can be uttered as part of an unrelated subject like this: "Dave we need to take the shoes out the front hallway". OOOPS! Then it's "LET'S GO!" "GO, GO, GOOOOO!" and very insistent finger pointing at the door.

AAA! Love that face!!!!

I remember when I was young and single (read- clueless), I would look at parents with pity in my eyes. They were dealing with fit throwing, punching, kicking, screaming, table cloth pulling little monsters and I would think them FOOLS for letting their children run wild. Well guess who gets the pity looks now? Miss Lola is fairly well behaved. I would never allow running, screaming or table wrecking but she does insist on sitting on Daddy's lap the entire time we are at a restaurant. Considering how hard the wood seats are for the high chairs we let her have her way- it's a small price to pay for peace and David has gotten very good at eating with one arm. We still get the pity looks, especially when I have to cut David's entree for him and Lola snatches up all the best pieces for herself but I always answer those with a knowing smile that says you'll see soon enough.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle