Hey Girl

Hello!  Yes, I am still alive and yes, I am still scrapping away! My poor blog. Despite my best intentions, my blogging has slowed way down as I have attempted to compensate for a fuller schedule. Since school resumed mid-August my kiddos' extra-curricular activities have increased and, I am happy to say, I am routinely exercising! These things have cut my free time down a bit and by the end of the day I am usually too exhausted to do any sort of activity that requires my brain! Ha ha.

So with that being said, I am attempting to get back into a blogging routine because I like it and with the return to shorter, colder days and more time being spent inside this is definitely a good time to get back into a somewhat regular blog schedule and with that goal in mind, here is a fun layout that I have really been wanting to share:

This layout was a complete joy to put together. First off, the picture is just so great-Maleia was incredibly happy to be walking in the Halloween Parade at school dressed as Mal from the Descendents and I caught this with my camera. Second, I just loved this cut file from The Cut Shoppe and could not wait to layer it over a misted background. Third, I used a crazy mix of paper here-I used both Doodlebug's Halloween Line and Cute Girl from Crate Paper-and had a fun time mixing the two together to come up with a fun color combination. Finally, it felt so great to reach into my stash of supplies and use some of it up.

One of the challenges that I face when creating layouts for a very themed photo, is creating a layout that is not very themed. I know that might not make sense, but unless it's a Christmas photo, I really feel uncomfortable using themed products. For this layout I felt like I found a good balance between Halloween and non-Halloween product.

Thanks for stopping by today and I am absolutely looking forward to sharing more here on my blog as the year winds down!

Michelle

Right Now

Hello! Today I am sharing a layout that I created with the October "Waverly" Scrapbook Kit from Citrus Twist Kits that documents a knee injury from when I tripped on a baby gate. Yes, I trip on things pretty routinely, but this was the first time I really hurt myself. My husband warned me pretty frequently not to step over the gate, but I obviously did not listen! Ha ha.

This fall actually hurt really bad. I tripped on the gate that goes into the garage from the backyard and the garage floor is cement.  I have fallen once before (slipped on the kitchen counter) and thought I was going to die, but I was able to get up after a few moments and move on with my day. And in full disclosure, I often trip, fall, and run into things-according to my husband I am a walking danger to all those I am around and I can't entirely deny that! This one though, was different. Instead of getting up and walking it off, the tightness/pain just got worse and when I woke up the next morning I couldn't bend my knee or walk. Pretty pathetic. 

Luckily after all was said and done, I only had a badly bruised bone and fluid in my knee. It all healed with time and patience and I am so incredibly thankful that I didn't tear anything. I think the worse wound though was the fact that I did this to myself. It was totally preventable. Do not step over baby gates, they are dangerous ;).

Wishing you a great day!

Michelle a.k.a. "The Klutzy One"

Elle's Studio: October Reveal

Hello!  The 10th of the month always means one thing--Reveal Day at Elle's Studio!  The new exclusive kit and coordinating extras are absolutely perfect for recording your fall memories whether you take a Project Life approach to documenting your memories or you create traditional layouts.  Whatever your approach, I am sure the October Exclusive Kit can work for you.

October Extras

October Printables and Digital Cut Files

Here are the two projects I created:

In The Scrap: October

Happy October! You know, in August right before the kids were getting ready to head back to school, I was so excited to be getting back into a routine and looking forward to life slowing down a bit after a crazy and fun summer. I must have been delusional when I thought that. Life sped up as opposed to slowed down and here we are in October and my brain is a whirlwind (aka mess) of lists, places to be, things to do.....Let's just say I am soooo ready for winter break!  Ha ha.

My blogging has been one of the victims in all this and well, I made a *list* and have plans to get back to a semi-regular posting schedule, and I thought I would start off the month sharing my take on the most recent scrappy challenge at In The Scrap!

October's challenge is to create a handmade background and the beautiful pictures on the inspiration board are just so, well...inspiring :).  I have long been a big fan of handmade backgrounds, especially those created by artists such as Wilna Furstenberg and Missy Whidden, so I found this challenge to be quite fun. This is what I came up with:

To create my background I used the packaging technique with Heidi Swapp's Color Shine in Coral. It may appear that I went a little heavy with the amount of color I put on, but that is not the case. One of my hangups about applying mixed media is that I can't stand my paper being warped and this technique where I spray the mist onto the packaging and then apply it to my cardstock keeps the warping at a level that I can tolerate. 

I REALLY liked how this layout turned out. From the colors to the papers to all the fun embellishments....it's one of those projects where I keep going back to look at it. 

If you have the time, make sure and head on over to In the Scrap to see what the rest of the design team came up with.  One of the things I really like about "challenges" is that they get you to push your limits or try something new. And it doesn't matter at all whether you go all in or keep it simple like I did. If you do decide to give creating a background a go, tag me on Instagram @michellewedertz. I would LOVE, LOVE to see what you make!

Michelle

P.S. Don't you love the the colors in Maggie Holme's latest collection??  Man, I can't get over the beautiful coral and blue and all the great embellishments!

Elle's Studio: September Reveal

Hi all and happy Saturday! Today is the 10th of the month and that means it's Reveal Day at Elle's Studio! Let's get right to the fun stuff and see what's in the exclusive kit for September!

September Kit

Printables and Cutfiles

September Extras

I couldn't possibly pick a favorite this month and ended up using a little bit of everything from this release along with bits and pieces from the Sunny Days collection.

Also, this past week Elle's Studio revealed their brand new website which has been redesigned with you in mind, so I urge you to please head on over and check it out! **Please note though, all your account information has been carried over to this new site, but you will have to reset your password. I did this myself recently and had no problems at all :).

Michelle

Elle's Studio: August

It's the 10th of the month and that means it's time for the reveal of the exclusive August Kit from Elle's Studio!

August Kit

August Extras

August Printables and Cut Files

This month, I felt a renewed energy to tackle my personal album and documented some of what I have read this past spring using a combination of the August products as well as the new Read Mini-Collection that Elle's Studio recently made available. Here are my projects:

For this first layout, I pulled the color scheme from the cards included in the Read Collection-red, pink, turquoise, and navy blue-and found complimenting pieces from both the August Kit and the Sunny Days colleciton.  My favorite piece on the project is definitely the wood veneer books. 

Next, I made a pocket page that could showcase some more of what I have read.  I relied heavily on the Read Collection, but was able able to work in the "Happy Mind Happy Life" journaling card from the kit because it really fit my book themed page. 

Remember, a new gallery is also live at Elle's Studio and I encourage you to head on over and take a look to see what the rest of the DT created!

Michelle

Elle's Studio: July

July 10th means it is time for a new kit and and co-ordinating goodies from Elle's Studio! This month when I opened up my box, I was pretty darn happy. The colors and products for July are amazing and colorful, as usual!

Pretty great, right??  I think so! The fun and bright cards from the kit were where I drew most of my inspiration from and with thoughts of summertime in my head. Here is what I made:

I really fell in love with the both the camera and lemon journaling cards from the kit. I also could not resist adding the wood veneeer "Good Times" tab.

For my second project, I did a quick pocket page for my daughter's album that documented a few, everyday moments:

Part of the reason I really like kits from Elle's Studio, is that they are so incredibly colorful and pair nicely with my photos.  Occasionally though, things get a little too colorful for my liking and to fix this I will often print one or two photos in black and white. 

Well, what do you think?? Are you digging the fun colors like I am?? I don't know about you, but these colors pretty much represent my life--a big, happy rainbow:).

Remember, a new gallery is also live at Elle's Studio and I encourage you to head on over and take a look!

Michelle

Gossamer Blue: Swim Style

One of my favorite pieces of paper in the June Main Kit from Gossamer Blue, is the hearts and graph paper combo from Pink Fresh Studios. I really like the rainbow colors on the bright white background along with how the graph paper creates a natural spot for photos and embellishments. When I cut this paper down to 9x12, I decided I didn't want to go for my usual paper layering. Instead, I wanted to fill the blank space with the cute frames and square stickers from Simple Stories using a grid design.

As I was working on the grid using my photos and frames, I did not like the weight of the classic 2x2 grid and how it was "overfilling" my page. My solution was to modify my grid and only include 3 squares. After making this change, I felt much better about my layout and it reminded me that it's okay to let go of ideas that just aren't working for you.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Michelle

The Cut Shoppe: Crazy Hair Day

Hello! Michelle back with you again and today I am showcasing the super fun background cut file Quirky Quads from The Cut Shoppe!

Recently I have been playing around with more mixed media, spray inks to be more exact, and when I went searching through the cut files I was looking specifically for something that would allow for the color from my inks to peak through. The Quirky Quads cut file, which is avaialbe in both and 12x12 and 8.5x11, was just perfect!

For my layout I didn't need the entire background, so I cut just a few rows out to layer underneath the photos. To adhere the quads to the cardstock I used just a little bit of glue and then machine stitched through them.

Wishing you the best day!

Michelle

Elle's Studio: June

June 10th means it is time for a new kit and and co-ordinating goodies from Elle's Studio! This month when I opened up my box, I was in scrappy heaven. Not only are the colors and products for June amazing and colorful, I also had the bright and happy Sunny Days collection in my possession! Yes!

Yep, the Sunny Days collection is now available to purchase right along side the June Kit which looks like this:

And don't forget all the co-ordinating goodies:

Pretty great, right??  I think so! The fun and bright cards from the kit were where I drew most of my inspiration from and with thoughts of summertime in my head, I reached back to a year ago and documented a quick day trip to Santa Monica with my family:

This PL style page was created with mostly the kit plus a few pieces from the Sunny Day's collection--the two really go well together. (And just an FYI, I had visions of creating Fourth of July pages with the June Kit and acrylic stars, but I did not have any past photos to do this.)

My style for this type of memory keeping is pretty simple and you can see that also in my next project:

What I really love about the journaling cards in the kit, is that there is a good balance of cards that require no extra embellishment and cards that give you room to embellish. One of the reasons for my failed attempt at a full on Project Life album, was that I simply did not know how to create beautiful cards with lots of details for EVERY pocket. Having fun cards that are ready to slip right into a pocket really takes the pressure off! Instead of stressing over every single journaling card, I can have fun jazzing up one or two.

Well, what do you think?? Are you digging the fun colors like I am?? I don't know about you, but these colors pretty much represent my summers--a big, happy mess of red, blue, yellow, and green :).

Remember, a new gallery is also live at Elle's Studio and I encourage you to head on over and take a look!

Michelle