An appropriate nightmare on Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody. We got some snow here in Brooklyn but it's all gone now so I think the witches, spooks and goblins will come out and play tonight. We are going to a party at The American Museum of Natural History.
But that's not what I want to share. I had a crazy SCARY dream last night!!!!

Ok several things:
1: I LOVE this easel from 7 Gypsies!  2: I found a pack Bazzill black card stock at TJ Maxx for 6 dollars along with AC Mix Tape for 3 bucks- shelf raiding time! 3: That FABULOUS brain stamp is from Dragonfly Laser on Ebay- they have FANTASTIC rubber stamps- all handmade in New Jersey. It's crystal clear- I used a mist to ink it.

It started normally. I was hanging around with Lola in a busy wide street- perhaps 42nd and Broadway. We stopped at a cafe table (they are everywhere now- part of a "traffic calming" program the mayor dreamed up).
Suddenly this chic comes out of nowhere saying she's a long lost relative and asking to hold Lola. I say no but she takes Lola off my arms anyway.
I am watching her walk away with my baby. I see them cross the street. I am thinking- WHY am I letting this happen? DO SOMETHING!!
And the the sun goes out.
Everything goes black for a few seconds.
People scream. Cars crash.
The sun FLICKERS back on.
I start to run after the woman who has now turned around and is looking at me from across the street. Lola is holding her arms out for me. No one moves.
I distinctly hear someone say: "What's going on? What's happening?"
I start to go through all the scientific causes in my head- eclipse, stroke, falling space stations- wouldn't an eclipse be on the news for weeks??? my brain babbled.
Wouldn't it get incredibly cold?
The sun flickers back off.
Pandemonium breaks out. People stampede past me and I am taken away from Lola and the sun FLICKERS back but much weaker- redder, dimmer.

Adorn-it thought bubbles, Basic Grey Obscure line rub-ons I had to activate using double sided tape.
Tip- don't bother with the heat gun- it just curls up the plastic they come in.

That's when I woke up. I "heard" myself yelling WAKE UP! WAKE  UP! I literally could not stand it another minute.
First I checked to see if Miss Thing was ok- she was. Then I looked out the window- it was dark- 3am dark in a snowy too cold to hang out night. And it was quiet.
Ooooo creepy not really awake brain filled in all KINDS of terrors I had to actively choose to ignore... didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

Halftone app

GRATUITOUS BABY SHOTS!!!!!!

This year's outfit- Candy Corn Witch. She refuses to wear the hat.

She also refuses to pose while looking at the camera.

Happy Halloween!
Michelle and Family

Cardtastic Friday!!! Two hand made cards.

Lola's been sick all week and hasn't been sleeping. I've had little creative time but I've really felt a NEED to make stuff. Rather than drive myself crazy trying to schedule pages in 20 minute intervals I've started making cards.
A master crafter can easily spend hours on a card using advanced techniques, check out Polka Cabana to see what that looks like, but I like to create a card in 30 minutes flat. Especially since I suspect many amy end up in the garbage anyway. But not best friend Gia- she's a keeper.

Gia's Birthday Card- I tried a new way of shooting this and really liked the result.
I placed the card directly in front of the light coming in the window and used a bounce card to light the front a bit more. I also over exposed this shot by 2 stops using my manual setting.
Materials: Gauche Alchemy ouchless corrugated board, Webster's Pages flower, Prima roses,
Elle's Studio banner, Canvas Corp burlap, Maya Road pins.

I made this card minutes before I met Gia for the first of 3 lectures on website design at Noble Desktop. Yup- I'm going pro people- blogging is awesome and I want to do it for bucks- maybe I'll finally land a paying gig too.

This shot shows more detail but it's flat.
I really need to invest in some photo staging material. 

Remember a million and  half years ago when I started my "Happy Mail" project and gathered all the real world addresses of my facebook friends? I haven't sent a single post card since!
I was talking to Cheryl the other day when she very politely pointed out she was still waiting for her card. OOOOOPS!
Here ya go sweets!

MATERIALS: Gauche Alchemy Scarlet Fever Red, Wedding Night White and Black Out color mixed
media kits , red punchinella, Fancy Pants filter doily, Paper Trunk Rockabilly paper (rose), Bazzill
Phoenix Swiss Dotted paper, Mister Huey in Plum and Schoolhouse, DCWV houndstooth paper.

This card will get mailed today- promise.
Cheryl got married recently. Swing by her blog, And Handmade Too, to check out her fabulous Rockabilly themed wedding. The wedding colors were red, black and cream which make for fantastic design.

Couple more scraps for the interior and we're done.
Hmmm- I need to fill in that receipt at some point...

I predict Cheryl will love the record shaped button on this card. I got it at a local thrift store here in Brooklyn called JUNK. It was the only one I saw that day but I'm going to go again to see if maybe I can dig a few more out of the huge bowls they are kept in.

How does Junk get away with charging 25 cents a button when
 they're displayed like this? Dave thinks I'm bananas for pointing this out as I wait
 in line to pay.  I stopped at 3 bucks- that's all the cash I had. 

It's now Midnight on the 28th of the month. I go check out Studio Calico as a regular schmo (dropped my subscription like I said I would)- you know what? I like this month's kit but I already have 90% of the products offered up and once again the only thing I wanted- AC woodgrain Thickers- are sold out 3 minutes into the game. NO regrets here!

Isn't this TOTAL awesomeness??? It's the Halftone app and I'm in LOOOVE!
I'm a  reformed comic book geek so this is reaching all KINDS of sweet spots!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

Fade to black- shooting an all black layout.

The November True Xoxo Girls challenge is.... (dramatic music) BLACK.
You've been duly warned.
Tune in November first to see the varied and FANTASTIC projects created by the DT.
Meanwhile here's a tutorial on photographing monochrome layouts.

I had a LOT of fun avoiding this challenge. I bitched and moaned to fellow DT members.
I sat down several dozen times and played with my iPod instead.
I read a book- a 400 page book- "Peter and The Star Catchers"- It's awesome- pick it up when you have a moment.
I watched several movies, taught Lola to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider in Spanish and produced 3 other pages.
Then I made this- finally.

"Good Magic" or  "Happy"- take your pick.
MATERIALS: Canvas Corp chalkboard paper and burlap, Basic Grey and Crate Paper buttons,
Ki Memories title, Webster's Pages die cuts, large paper clip, "good" card and slide mount from
cyber-friend Amy Baldwin (Thanks Amy!!), felt floral by Anna Griffin, Amy Tan chevron fabric paper  

This isn't the page you'll see on the True Xoxo blog. The challenge won't be up till November 1st. I have a very special post scheduled for that day. I'll be celebrating the fabulous Mexican holiday Day of the Dead with not one but 2 projects. Try to swing by- if you aren't completely pooped from FINALLY getting your kids to sleep after their dinner of chocolate covered sugar bombs that is.

Mini Tute time!
Shooting black isn't as hard as you think as long as you keep the following rules in mind:

1. Rake light across the project. That just means add a side light of some sort.
I did this by placing the page directly in front of a window. It was raining so the light was already indirect. On a sunny day, make sure to place your project in a way that avoids direct light. I then added a side light by taping some aluminum foil of a piece or cardboard and bouncing light from the window onto the project- you can sort of see that here- my hand is holding the board.

OOO! DoD page Sneak Peek!!!

2. Make sure to include both "light" blacks and "dark" blacks in your project. 
The Canvas Corp paper I used for this project is great because the paint it uses literally eats light- black buttons added on top still showed. The Ki Memories "happy" title" is also light chomping but the stcky backing acts as a highlight.

This is a more traditional photo of "raked" light. The sun is hitting the page directly. That's great for this detail shot but the shadows obscured many of the details in the overall project photo so I didn't use that shot. Face palm on that out of focus journaling.

3. Add contrast with textures, patterns and if you must- colors.  I added some contrast to this page by using some green and beige elements- I love the final look but and that's mainly why it didn't become my final Xoxo Page- I wanted to explore using only black elements.
Here's what an "all black" page can contain:

True Xoxo Day of the Dead page sneek peek!

I still "cheated" by using some grey chipboard but I just couldn't bring myself to paint those fabulous Cosmo Cricket hearts. The flowers all started out annoyingly pink but got painted black with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam.
Did this make sense?
Albie says:

GRATUITOUS BABY SHOT!

Now reaching the Brooklyn stop of the Hogwart's Express. All ABOARD!

MuChoS SmOoChEs!
Michelle

1 year later...

Hello there!

Can you believe it's been 1 year of blogging for this crazy chick from Brooklyn? I can't. Well actually I can. What amazes me is how far I've come- how much I've learned, the friends I've made and how fulfilled I am by making pretty things just because they make me HAPPY!

It's Gonna Be A Half Glass Full Kind Day
Materials: Sassafras Lass grid pattern paper and alphas, Basic Grey Life of the party star paper and mini brads, American Crafts Amy Tan fabric paper and mustard Zing, Maya Road star pins, buttons from Reasonable Ribbon.com, stars from Ebay- been in my stash over 2 years!

To celebrate a few friends and I are doing a mini hop.

After you are done here swing by

Dawn aka Mojo Mayhem 

Christina aka The Twisted Muse

Both started the same road last year and are now off to a rip roaring success. I am glad to call them my friends.

There are no rules just stop by each blog and leave some love. I have a mini give away to celebrate hitting 10,000 blog views. I was supposed to celebrate hitting 100 followers but that milestone came and went without me noticing! So I will celebrate hitting 131- YAY!!!

I love all of these things but my love did not extend to my memory.
I ordered 2 of each and will not use them even if I tried- current bananas button stash is proof.
So why not share? Post this hop in some other forum or social media website and leave a comment to be entered an extra time for each.

I started blogging because I was lonely. I was making some cool scrapbook projects but that particular craft isn't very highly valued here in NYC so when I brought the subject up I would get strange looks. One friend even said- "I don't even know what that MEANS!" I wanted to reply- do you speak english? Scrap. Book. What's so hard to understand? But that's obnoxious so I kept the yap shut.

Current pattern faves

Arby's motto!

I want to show some work from when I first started that I never posted here - Uhhh- this is making me cringe but it goes right along with my show it all and let the readers decide for themselves mentality.

Lola's Scrapbook cover- inside- the only part I actually finished.

One long forgotten fact- I stared scrapbooking right after I got a green scrapbook from
my best friend, Gia, as a wedding shower present.  Page made in August 2009.

Color blocking? My page to record Lola's naming. Made in July 2009.
Why so many birds? Lola is named after a bird- Alondra- Meadowlark.

I am glad and very grateful to be on the design teams for Gauche Alchemy , Punky Scraps, True Xoxo Girls Challenges and Paper Issues.

The feedback and camaraderie I get from being part of these fantastic groups is invaluable. I've learned  how to create on deadline, how to communicate effectively, how to run a proper blog hop, tips on getting published and how to make a good looking page others will want to swing by your blog to check out.

OH! Before I forget- Paper Issues is also celebrating one year! Why not swing by and play along their October Halloween themed link party? Because I'm always late to the party I just realized I loved Pink Paislee's Phantom line- you can swing by the Paper Issues Etsy Store to check it out as well.

This page is from when I first started posting on Scrapbook.com.
I found Etsy and these wonderful inventions called Border punches.
Page from October 2010- 1 year later I'm still proud of this page.

And thank YOU for sticking around! I learn a lot from your comments and from your links as well. You've taught me what works design wise as well as what confuses you and what inspires you. 

Here's to many more years of creating and a growing list of "followers" or as I think of you- friends.

Ira Glass rocks my world.
I regularly listen to This American Life on NPR while scrapping- it's awesome.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

Fall colors, beautiful light

Ok I can dig this Fall season- 78 degree weather and rain at night? It's perfect! We went into tree country last weekend to pick apples but the fall colors are not showing fully yet so I decided to get warmly cheerful in my current Punky Scraps layout:

Be
MATERIALS: Gauche Alchemy woodgrain punchinella (that's right WOODGRAIN) and Lady Marmelade orange mixed media color kit, Dusty Attic chipboard, Hambly Studio tranny, Studio Calico paper and tag, Mister Huey Hot Dog, Making Memories metal letters, Basic Grey brads, Mesh origami paper (!!!) and black acrylic paint.

The prompts were many and diverse for this "Get Picky" challenge so I procrastinated LOVELY the entire week. Finally, last night, after 2 bottles of Pacifico beer and a bag of Blue Cheese Kettle Chips I was ready- who cares if it was 1am?

The Mighty List:

Tamara - Hessian/Mesh

Kat - A Tag

Cheryl - steam punk imagery

Kerry - your own handwriting

Marie - black mist

Jolanda - a picture of your eye(s). what do they say/mean to you?

Celina - lace of any kind

Ashley - Doodling

Misty - metal

I was supposed to go deep with my journaling but what I really needed was a page I could hang on the wall and use as a touchstone while I worked- it reads: Do what you want- people will decide they don't like you anyway.
Not to sound like Michael Jackson who I thought spent entirely too much time being defensive (and dangling babies off hotel balconies) instead of concentrating on HIS WORK.

Thank you Shelley J for the beautiful Studio Calico paper!

I took a photo of an image I had opened on my computer desktop using the Hipstamatic app on my iTouch and my favorite lens filter- Watts. 

I then changed the contrast, color and added a round blur using Instagr.am. 

The paint splatters were made by watering down some acrylic paint and using a mascara brush to sprinkle tiny dots all over the page- I don't trust the spray nozzle on those bottles one bit.

                                                               *************************

'I also wanted to repost these tags that I linked over at Flashback Fridays. Amy sent me a nice email reminding me I'm not supposed to backlink an older post since the whole point is to show how much you have improved- yikes- sorry about that. I love these so I'm glad to have a chance to show them off again.

I made these for a tag swap over at Kreatorville Krafts using some old office folders, some scraps of
favorite prints from Sassafras Lass and Girl's Paperie, Making Memories metal tag rims and some buttons-
it took over a week because I kept over thinking the process but I loved the final product.

You can check out the original post here: Going Tag Crazy

Please swing by Punky Scraps and join the challenge- there are 2 prize packs available this month and only 1 person in the running for both- does that sound fair to you? Go up in there and give her some competition!

This year she actually rode the pony AND I managed to get an
eating apples shot where she didn't look like a zombie.
I can't believe that beanie still fits- It's 2 years old!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle