The ONE with the AWESOME Michelle Godin

Happy Thursday! YAY! Do you all remember the other day when I posted this amazing layout?

Well there is something you might not know! The person behind this beautiful page is also an inspiring designer! And today we all get to get to know her a little bit better, how fun is that? 

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Hi! I'm Michelle! I'm 32 and I live in Ontario, Canada with my husband Kurtis. We just got married last September and moved into our first house in January 2013 so it's been a big year for us! 

I discovered digital scrapbooking in 2005 but I've always been a memory-keeper in some form or another. I'm a teeny tiny bit obsessed with history, to the point where I even made a career out of it! I work full-time as a registrar at a museum where I process loans and acquisitions of artifacts. I spend my evenings and weekends scrapping or designing for my store at the Lilypad. I will admit I'm not a very prolific designer because even though I adore my little side-business I will always be a scrapper first and foremost!

Here's where I create. I took this photo on Monday while I was working on my Toolbox layout so this mess is all Shanna's fault! HA! I thought about cleaning and taking a better photo but this is more accurate :) 

I've always loved art journaling, painting, drawing, etc. A lot of my digital designs in my shop are hand-made creations. But I've always struggled with paper scrapping! I give it a try every once in a while and then go running back to digi! I think my brain is just hard-wired for digital because that's what I got into first. I'm determined to do my next year of Project Life in paper though so I signed up for the Toolbox class at SC to start practicing and learning some new techniques. The whole hybrid thing is really rocking my world right now!

Michelle I am just MAJORLY crushing on your style, what inspires you?

I just recently joined Pinterest (I'm always the LAST person to jump on these bandwagons!) so right now all the eye candy I find on there is a huge inspiration. When I scrap, I'm usually product driven. I don't think to myself "Ok I have this photo, how can I scrap it?" It's always "Oh wow! That's a gorgeous paper! How can I use it?" I'm a very visual person and I just get so inspired by all the pretties! I also get really inspired by colour. There seems to be a trend going on right now where everyone is scrapping in whites, and soft, muted tones. While I find those layouts and products gorgeous, I need my colours! 

Being the trend setter that you are, what do you see being a trend as we head into fall?

Black and gold! I noticed a few of the new lines have used black really prominently (gotta love that chalkboard trend!) and I was excited to see the gold in the new Maggie Holmes collection. For digital scrapping, I think (and hope!) the trend for hybrid will keep growing into next year. 

We all have our favorite projects that we create, can you share yours?

Wow! That's a tough question. I guess the project I'm most proud of is my current year of Project Life. I started on my wedding day last September so I'm almost done and this is completely mind-boggling to me because I've NEVER kept up with a project this long before in my life. I'm really excited to have my first year of marriage documented this way. 

As for a specific layout, this one is very special to me! I'm an amateur genealogist and I love scrapping my heritage photos. 

As I am inspired by you, can you share with us who inspires YOU the most?

Julie Balzer has to be the artist I admire the most. She is ridiculously talented and so prolific! There are so many elements to her creative business, I can't wrap my brain around how she manages it all. Her style really speaks to me and I've learned so much from her through her blog and workshops. Whenever I need an inspiration boost, a pep talk or some help figuring out a technique her blog is the first place I visit! 

Thank you so much for sharing with us Michelle, it is so much fun to get to peek inside your creative space and see where you are coming from to create such unique pieces!! I love Michelle's designs, and wanted to share a couple of my faves with you today!

These hand carved stamps are when I fell in love with Michelle's work!

Michelle's word art would be the perfect addition to any layout!

For reals, I NEED these journal cards for Jaden!

Guess what Michelle has some GIFTS for you all!

Use this coupon in Michelle's store from now until August 15th to save 35%! 

Also she made us this LOVELY freebie with all our favorite elements that we are learning to use in TOOLBOX at Studio Calico! How much does she rock? Yep, I think so toO!!

download here

Thank you Michelle for everything, you are just wonderful! And thank you to everyone else for sharing the love! Make sure to visit Michelle's social media sites for even more info! Talk to you soon! P.S. Check out Instagram for even more Giveaways from Michelle!!