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!

In The Scrap: June Challenge

Hello! This past month I officially joined the design team at In the Scrap--a challenge blog based in Spain!

This invitation came to me at a really good time-you see, I had been feeling a little lackluster creativity-wise. I wanted to scrap, but my brain felt a little dried up.  What I had been doing just wasn't working anymore for me. Surely, I am not alone with this feeling?? This little slump really had me thinking that maybe I needed to revisit some of the things I used to do, such as participate in online scrapbooking challenges--something that I used to do on a regular basis. I Then along came the invitation....Funny how things work out sometimes!

Like I said earlier, In the Scrap is a great place to find lots of scrappy inspiration. For example, on the first of the month a new challenge is issued and the design team provides their takes on it. This month the challenge is a mood board type of challenge:

When I saw the "My Celebration" themed images I was excited! There were so many ways to take the theme and I was super excited to look through my stash to find products. When I create a project based off of this type of challenge I always start with making a list of all the things that stand out to me and here is what I wrote down:

Celebrate; gold foil; lights, wood grain; pink thread; ballons; 

blue, ruquoise, and pinks; banners; string lights; hearts; and arrows.

Having a written list really helped me zero in on specific products as I was looking for things to use. It's always nice to shop your stash!  Here is what I came up with:

When it came down to putting the inspiration from the image to use, I really embraced the whole theme of celebration. From my photos of my daughters on the youngest's birthday to the birthday themed embellishments, it's is obvious I went pretty literal. 

I love the little details that this challenge inspired, such as the addition of the pink thread and the foil hearts. These were two things that I probably would not have thought to add if not for the challenge and I just love what these minor details brought to my page!

One of my favorite parts about scrappy challenges is seeing what others do. There are just so many possibilities and I invite you to head on over to the blog to see what the rest of the design team did with the challenge :). 

Michelle