XoXo- I heart U!

Have you not tried a scraplift challenge over at True Xoxo Girls? Really? No way! 

The prizes are always AHHMAYZIN'! 

The design team is wonderfully diverse so you are sure to find a style you can "lift" each and every month. I encourage you to head on over and try it out.

Here is April's lil ditty from moi:

BUSY BUSY BEE
MATERIALS: MLS City by the bay paper, SC cloud rub-ons, airplane and yellow alphas,
Bee and circles from DCWV Artful Life pad.

 It was late. Miss Lola was giving us hell. I was worried about MIL in hospital recuperating from operation (Get well Reyna!). Anxiety attack! So I started putting strips of paper on this LUSCIOUS piece of buttery yellow MLS paper (which I got for the brick pattern on back). I added a salvaged piece from previous night's MAJOR PAPER DRAMZ- 

(an SC Schoolhouse red bottle that I spilled onto my fave grid print- THE HORROR- seriously- I wigged out) and a cut out bee from a FABULOUS DCWV Artsy Life pad and... Whaaaaaaa?... 

Something happened- 

MAGIC!!!!!!!! 

A page I LOOOOVE. 

Red/white/blue twine? HEART U!!! Got it at reallyreasonablereason.com

How much do I covet that yellow fabric print from MLS?
MUCHO MIS AMIGOS!

First handmade embellie- K and Co handmade fabric

New avatar I'm trying out still love the old one.

Quick enlarged look- I need to rethink my 3 column blog design. ;)

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
MICHELLE

Scraping In Spanish

Rice Luv
MATERIALS: Bella Blvd Family Dynamix roots paper, uniball pen in white and black, Studio Calico State Fair sticker, Maya Road yellow ribbon, American Crafts alphas, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy- scallops

I am a native spanish speaker... who NEVER utters a word in spanish! Mostly because Spanish speakers can get MAD snobbish about my sad Nuyorican accent. I'm ashamed of my unrolled Rs and M.I.A Ss.

Sketch By Lizzie Wurmann

I wish I had the lolling, relaxed accent of an island Boriqua but alas- it's a cross between my college professor's Castillian spanish and my parent's Puerto Rican-but-not-quite-because-we've-lived-here-26 years-of-our-adult-lives accent which I currently mangle. Hey! At least I don't transpose a U sound for an A sound in my words- that's like- SO GHETTO (or as they say "back home" in PR "PURO caserio")!

WHY is this chick TALKING about this????? Oh because an artist I have admired for many moons now, Lizzie Wurman, put up a SWANK sketch on Pasion Por El Scrap.

I happened by, tried it and LOVED IT! And I LOVE that I will now be practicing my spanish reading 'cause Pasion is an AWESOME website! I didn't give my page a spanish title- spanish can get wordy and I like short movie marquee titles to try to grab the viewer's attention. This page could have been called "Amadora de arroz" or "Ella ama el arroz" which is AWKWARD. So "rice luv" it is and the journaling is in spanish- or directly translated from english spanish- cause let's be real- that ain't proper spanish grammar. 

Translation: Rice was your first "real" food. You made me laugh
when you picked it up 1 grain at a time.
Excuse me- isn't that Bella Blvd woodgrain paper TO. DIE. FOR?
 OMG I have a new company to drool over!!!!

Now all spanish speaking folks who read Pasion will laugh their booties off saying "That silly Americana couldn't find and use an accent if it landed on her nose and did the Cha cha cha." Actually they wouldn't reference the cha cha- that's just me 'cause I'm currently laughing at Dancing With The Stars- or Moving Disasters as I like to call it. If you think I sound bad- rent a Jennifer Lopez movie where she tries to impersonate an actual spanish speaker- THAT is embarrassing!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!

La Chella

Blog Hop WINNERS- yes there's TWO

Last week's winner did not contact me and has a private blogger account so I can't contact her so I will do a redraw. Sorry about that- not sure how else to go about it!

The 2 winners are:
Jacque4u2c

aaand

Khristen

YAAAYY!
Ladies please send your addys to: hernandm 1 at yahoo dotcom. If you have trouble contacting me just leave me a comment- I'm also on facebook so you can send me a message if you'd like. You can look me up: Michelle Hernandez

Wish I had a project to show off but I spilled my bottle of Mister Huey Schoolhouse red all over my page last night and was so annoyed I went to bed early.

Thanks for everyone who made the first Paper Issues blog hop such a great success. We had a lot of fun discovering new crafters as we also visited your blogs- it's all about connections people!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

My soul shines blue- World Autism Awareness Day 2011

Autism Affects 1 in 70 boys.
MATERIALS: MLS backdrop paper, Crate Paper Toy Box- everything else

My nephew Marcus is a beautiful being. Unaware of the complexities of human interaction, he moves through life interested in Star Wars, Lego and Godzilla... and chicken nuggets- can't forget those!

Today I will pause and try to imagine what it must be like for him to live in a world too full of sound, of light and strange rules he doesn't follow not because he chooses but because they are invisible to him- out of access.

Marky Mark and Daddy.

Such Goofballs!

I want to ask all of you to pause as well- let's make a little room. For Marcus who will thrive with our encouragement and tolerance. For his Mom and Dad who work with him every day and shoulder the burden of a thousand judgmental stares. For his grand parents who love him deeply and worry just as much- and for you and me- we who perhaps aren't living with Autism directly but who are affected anyway because we love someone who is.

Love you!!!

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle

My Little Shoebox projects

First things first- CONGRATULATIONS fellow Paper Issues team mate Mandy Starner for making the design team over at My Little Shoebox!! YAAAY! Please go by her blog and ogle the paper eye candy!   MLS + Mandy = Fabulosity

I've been ITCHING to post my entries for the DT application. I didn't make the team but now that I see who's in and how fantastic their work is I COMPLETELY understand I need more seasoning.

For what it's worth- here they are:

Monster Box altered project. I used a baby shoebox for the base and just cut out the great details from the Imaginary Friends line:

Back view- spring garden

I was proud I made some furniture for them in their little house-
now I wish I had taken some additional shots...

 Now for the card using the "Just Add Butter" line (Thanks Gretchen)

Gave this card to a family friend- love those cupcakes!

Inside view

Page Number 1:

Uh Oh
Love the colors on this page- turquoise and fuchsia are a fave combo.

And Page Number 2:

Thrilled to the MAX!
Fiskars cloud punch and all MLS paper.
This is my first pregnancy page. Now that I look at this I think I needed a larger font for the title.

MuChoS SmOoChEs!

Michelle