About Michelle

What do talcum powder and volcanos have in common? They both erupt into a gorgeous mess and so do I. Anyone who knows me, knows my love for getting messy. I love to dabble with media and experiment with anything in my reach. As a child, I would mix water, food coloring and talcum powder to make eyeshadow. As I grew, I learned to knit, sewed my own clothes and started my own successful catering company before the age of 16. Later, I entered the corporate world and still found time to feed my creative side. I began my current path in 1995 following a trip to Costa Rica. I went to view the Arenal Volcano, only to discover it was hidden by clouds. Returning home, I decided to put my photos in an album and when I realized I didn’t have any pictures of the volcano, I searched the internet to see what I could find. Lo and behold, I stumbled across the world of scrapbooking and rubber stamping. It was my introduction to this new world and I haven’t looked back since! I am a Copic and Ranger Certified Educator. Before owning “Everything Scrapbook & Stamps” in West Palm Beach, Florida, I traveled extensively worldwide and loved to collect unusual items to incorporate into my art. Born and raised in England, I currently reside in Florida with my husband and two rascally parrots.

Cruising to Alaska

We are headed to Alaska again for another Royal Carribean cruise. I flew in a day early so that I could go and visit my friend Brookes store called Urban PaperCrafter in Edmonds Washington.

I only spent an hour here before Brooke whisked me away for a day of play :)

We took the ferry

And had Crepes

Before driving to Port Angeles. I had a personal quest to search for Edward from the Twilight series.  Did not find him but I did see the restaurant that Edward and Bella had dinner in !!

Here are some of the photos from our day

Vegas Baby

Time for the Summer Trade show and this year it was held in Vegas.

Not a favorite location of mine. I find there is too many people and it is hot. On the plus side I get to meet up with my colleagues and order tons of merchandise for the holiday season.

View of the hoover dam from the plane.

Vegas was hot, hot, hot and there was a swarm of grasshoppers. The grasshoppers were so dense that they could be seen from space!!

I found some very cool products for the store and had a great time with my colleagues. Time away from the store always gives my head time to think about new classes. This time I found a new book system and it gave me some fabulous ideas for 4 or 5 different art journaling classes.

Can’t wait to get some of the components I need to start designing.

Here is one of them.

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Here is the outside of an English pub that I managed to eat at with my friend Brooke.  I like to eat genuine English Sausages when I get a chance.

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Genuine Sausages and Baked Beans.  Strange to have the Baked Beans with Bangers and Mash tho.

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I finally did it – I made a video

I taught a class in March or April of last year on the Gelli Plate and what we could do with the prints  I came up with this fabulous concept of the Traveling Throw Away Collage Journal.  There was some chatter the next day in the store and someone who did not come to the class asked me too do a video.  Easy enough to promise but difficult to do when you have no idea how to edit videos!!!

Finally I have figured it out:

 

It really is a great concept.  Think about using up your scraps to make your book.  If you don’t have a long reach stapler you can use a 3 hole pamphlet stitch to bind it instead.

I would love to know if you try it

Cutting the page

If you have never tried to cut your art journal pages I highly recommend you trying it.  It makes them more interesting to have windows or shaped pages.

This one required a lot of cutting but was totally worth it.  I gessoed the page with black gesso and then I traced through a Dina Wakley stencil with my white Gel Pen and then cut on the inside of the white line.  I think I may put eyes behind all the openings :)

 

Experimenting with my Gelli Plate

Tried Gelli Plate Printing with  my new Creative Expressions watercolor pallet on black cardstock.  Punched circles and added to my art journal page.

The shimmer on the back paper is unreal!!!

 

Watercolor Powders

We just received some new shimmer watercolor powders in the store and of course I had to try them out.  Loving the subtle shimmer they give me in my moleskine journal.  Adding acrylic paint though a stencil on top of them and the paints takes on  shimmery glow.

An action shot!

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This was one of the “Action” shots that did not make it into the Miami magazine,  It is one of my favorites.  I was so nervous having the photos taken  but this one captured me in a moment of mark making!

I know you don’t see my face but you do see my page!

April Art journal page

I started with a magazine page and scraped gesso across the background using an old credit card. I used lots of different colors and then added some random stenciling to the paper using black and white paints. I punched circles and added them to my book. Now I just have to journal.

A Rolled Art Journal

This journal was designed a little differently. I ripped muslin into four foot strips and then the same with some used underpaper and alternated them, attaching them with staples at one end.

I gessoed both sides of the muslin scraping and pushing it into the fibers.

The journal is meant to be rolled up.

Adding depth to the already started pages

The start of the journaling

This is a fun sized journal to work in and I like the different surfaces.

I used Pebeo Paints, Gesso (of course), Scribble Sticks, Neocolor II, sprays, Stains and paint pens

This is a journal that I designed for a workshop a couple of years ago and I love coming back to it and adding bits n pieces.