Becoming More Beautiful.......

I instantly fell in love with this paper from Echo Park's A Beautiful Day collection when I first saw it.  It was with GREAT restraint that I did not pop it into my shopping cart.  You see, everything that I buy, usually ends up in a kit.  I did that after CHA Winter with the Dear Lizzy and Amy Tan lines.  I allowed myself pieces of those two collections as my splurge and they showed up over and over again in kits.  I learned my lesson with that and have been buying extra goodies in limited quantities.  So you could imagine my relief when that beautiful sheet of butterfly paper showed up.  I was sweating it!  (Seriously, I sometimes need to remind myself that this is just paper! LOL.)

Here's the first layout I used my pretty paper on.......

 

Check out the close-up of this awesome cork arrow.......

 

 

The new cork arrows from Fancy Pants are, as my daughter Maleia would put it, fabulous!  They come in two arrow shapes and they are fun and funky.  Really the perfect arrows.  My only slightly anal complaint is that that are bit too thick.  I like to keep my embellies pretty flat because my pages stay better in my albums, so I get a little ansty if I think my pages are bulky.  The arrows are borderline, I think they will be okay, but I would love if they were a bit thinner. 

 

Wishing you a great weekend!

 

Michelle



Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Cones....

Ice cream from the Jolly Cone is a Wedertz Family Tradition.  Every summer when we spend a week in Bridgeport we hit the Jolly Cone.  Several times.  Sometimes twice a day.  Ha ha ha.

The Jolly Cone has GREAT food.  Just flat out tasty.  However, the star of the show is the ice cream and of course, I have to scrap it.......

 

Instagram photos are so easy to scrap.  The filters (this one is Earlybird) tend to mute the colors a bit which really open up the possibilities when it comes to choosing colors to scrap with.  

 

 

I decided, in my quest to use up my twine, to loop the twine across the bottom of the pics.  I actually did this after I adhered the photos which was no problem because I always leave the edges of my photos and papers adhesive free to let me tuck in pieces as I go. 

 

Wishing you a super sweet day!

 

Michelle

 

Distracted....

Have found myself a little distracted by this.....

Meet Rincon, our brand new Belgian Malinois puppy.  He's totally adorable and ruling our household for the moment.  Be back soon with more scrappy goodness......

Michelle

More Like You.....

Good morning!  Wanted to get a post up this morning before I wake my son up for his first day of 7th grade and go for a run, so here goes....

I recently purchased a new class at 2Peas.  It is called "Scrapbooking from the Soul" and it is taught by Jill Sprott.  Now usually, I will ponder taking a class for awhile, but this time I purchased it quickly.  You see, my journaling which has usually been a strong point, has sort of dwindled down to just getting the details in, nothing below the surface.  Which is wrong for me because I consider my memory keeping as more of letter writing/journal keeping.  When I am on top of my game, my journaling goes beyond the basic, hopefully capturing the back stories, the small details, my feeling, ect.  But lately, I have been suffering from writer's block or more bluntly, I have been lazy.  LOL. 

Well, I was super stoked to see this class become available and here is my first project, More Like You. 

My journaling reads:

When I see you swimming with confidence in the pool, I am full of admiration.  Your fearlessness is a trait I have very little of and to watch you navigate in the water with ease and without any inhibition absolutely inspires me.  To be a little bit more like you would be a great thing.

I started this layout with planning my journaling first. The obvious road to take would be to talk about how much fun she had, but ignoring that I started to think about how she just jumped in the water like it was nothing and took off, not afraid or nervous.  And that is what I wanted to reflect on in my journaling.  To say my daughter is very outgoing would be an understatement. She is bright, happy, bold, courageous,and she shares it will all. I, on the other hand, am very introverted which is sort of a handicap sometimes. This is what I chose to journal and I am so happy that I did.  Am looking so forward to diving deeper into the class to see what else I can come up with! 

Michelle

Reveal Day at Citrus Twist Kit Club.......

Today is reveal day at Citrus Twist Kits!  As a mid-month release kit club, reveal happens monthly on the 12th and kits begin shipping on the 15th.  This month Citrus Twist has a new subscriber special:  sign up for a Main or Pocket Life (PL) subscription and get an embellie grab bag ($20 retail value) thrown in.  For those newcomers to Citrus Twist, when you subscribe for 12 consecutive months, you get your 13th kit free, just pay shipping.

Here is the reveal of the August Main Scrapbooking "On the Go."  This kit is very versatile.  While there is a definite travel theme to some of the patterned papers, if you flip them over to their B sides, you will be treated to some non-travel awesomeness.

 

Also, new for the month of August are the new wood veneers that are being exclusively designed for Citrus Twist.  This month they are found in both the Main and PL kits. 

So, without further adoo, here are the two kits that I worked with this month: the Main Kit "On the Go" and the Embellishment Kit "Orange Crush."

 

 

 

To see the rest of the kits as well as a video filmed by Melissa Stinson featuring them go here.

Michelle

Guest Designer at Citrus Twist Kit Club........

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm just popping in quickly this morning to let you know that my first guest design project for Citrus Twist Kit club is up this morning, I have a new layout using both their August kit and the Sunday Sketch on their blog!

I was super excited to be using their August Main and Embellishment kits this month and below I have just a tiny peek of what you'll find over on the Citrus Twist Kit club blog.

 

 

Michelle 

 

Big Virginia and Catch of the Day......

In late July I became a little obsessed with a few scrappy things......white thread, white thread tied in bow, minimal patterned paper, gold accents, and doilies.  That's right, I brought the doilies back to my pages! 

Here's my first layout......

 

This layout was inspired by Magda Mizera--you can see some of her work here--and her simplicity in her layout designs.  She uses small amounts of paper with lots of white space.  Her layouts also often go light on color giving them a "washed out" look to the page.  This is a quality I also find in lots of work by Janna Werner, but its something I find difficult to recreate because I am always drawn to lots of color when it comes to laying out my designs.  I cannot go minimal and light no matter how hard I try! 

 

 

Loved the combination of the wood grain thickers with the Pebbles tree paper from Lakeside.  Seriously perfect for all my pics we took during our vacation in the Sierras.

 

 

And here's a second layout...

 

 

Same sort of thought process in mind when I created this one.  Simple.  Bits and pieces. 

 

When it comes to creating, sometimes it's nice to try out someone elses scrapping perspective. And the best part, is that the end product is always totally me. 

 

Michelle 

 

 

 

Poolside....

My littlest did not like swimming in the pool this year.  She gets in.  She wants out.  And will NOT go back in.  Makes me laugh, because her brother and sister are the exact opposites, I can't get them out!  Luckily when we were visiting my parents, my mom was more than willing to sit poolside with her, so that I too could get in.

 

I had recently decided lately that I have been neglecting my twine stash and added a bit to the top of the page which made me think that I really have not been seeing a lot twine around the galleries lately.  Maybe I am missing it, but I am wondering if the time for twine has come and gone??  Or maybe it has just taken a break?   Either way I am determined to use my stash up and will be doing my best to add some twine here and there.

 

Michelle



 

 

A Lunch Date with You...

I absolutely adore Chipoltes.  It is my absolute favorite place to eat and I am not too shy to bust out the camera and take a pic......and send it to my brother to make him jealous!  Unfortunately, he does not live as close to one as I do, so in sisterely fashion, I very kindly remind him of what he is missing out on.  At every opportunity. LOL. 

 

Used a very simple grid design here, but I think I went a little too simple.  The background is too.....blah.  Maybe should of mucked it up a bit more with mist or gesso.

 

 



LOVE this tiny bow!! Not so in love with my crooked sewing lines.  I even had guidelines for this with the grid background!!  They are just barely off, but seriously, how hard is to sew straight for five tiny letters??  Oh well, I think it's because of my not so serious attitude when it comes to scrapping.  I like to keep it fun and light when I am working.

Michelle



Michelle

Guest Designer......

Guest Designing here, for the lovely month of August.....

I totally squealed when I found the awesome email in my inbox from Trina, owner of Citrus Twist Kit Club!  When she asked if I would guest design for August, I did not have to think twice!! 

I have been a member the CT Kit Club since last November and Trina's kits are super fun to work with and August's kit is no exception.  I have been working with it for the past week and my layouts have been falling together like they are no work at all!  Love it!

Okay, so enough with all the exclamation marks!!  LOL.  Check out the sneaks of August's kits now at the Citrus Twist Blog.

Michelle