Altering a mouse trap with Sandie Edwards!

My guest today is the super talented Sandie Edwards of Delightfully Crazy. I "met" Sandie when she was on the Zeus and Zoe team last term. Pay a visit to her blog and be prepared for jaw-dropping goodness in every single one of her creations. Seriously. If you love gorgeous blooms clustered to perfection, she is your go-to person. If you love classy and elegant vintage layouts, she rocks them too. And did I mention how sweet a person she is? Today she shares a fabulous tutorial that will help you get a headstart on your Christmas presents and is also hosting a challenge with a RAK for one lucky player! 

But first, let's get comfy in our chairs and check out her awesome projects, shall we?

Hello Everyone,

It is lovely to be here as a guest designer for ‘Do More With Less’ this month. Thank you Yvonne for inviting me. A Little Bit About Me: I live in Geraldton, Western Australia with my partner who works in the mining industry our son Jesse (3), and 2 spoilt felines.  We are older parents, and also have grown up children, as well as Grandchildren. I am currently a stay at home Mother, with my previous employment being law enforcement. In 2011, I discovered Scrapbooking, and have enjoyed the journey over the last few years immensely.  Creating memories for future generations is very important to me, especially being an avid diary writer – now my words are included in scrapbook pages, mini albums and so forth. 

Today, I want to share with you a quick, and easy tutorial on how to create a note or photo holder fridge magnet, using a mouse trap. Now, I do not think I need to stress how important it is to use new mouse-traps (LOL).  Recycling is wonderful, but perhaps not with mouse-traps!  These little note holders would be perfect little gifts with Christmas around the corner, and are something unique and certainly an entertaining, conversation piece.

Altered Mouse Trap

Materials: Mouse Trap, Pliers, Paint, Misc. Paper Scraps, Quick Dry Adhesive, Lace Remnants, Silk Ribbon, Small Roses, Buds and Leaves, Distress Ink, Magnetic Strip, and Wording.

1. Remove wire catch with pliers.

Photograph 1

2. Paint trap white as in photograph 1.  I find it best to use spray paint, as this adheres to the metal elements of the trap perfectly, and gets into all grooves and crevices.

Photograph 2

3. Insert a small paper piece as shown in photograph 2. This eliminates a gap of white in the centre when completed. I find it best to use a quick dry adhesive rather than tape, as glue allows for manipulation to get the paper into the correct position.

Photograph 3

4. Measure and cut 2 pieces of pattern paper to fit both the top and bottom portion of the trap, as shown in photograph 3. Ink paper edges, and adhere into place on the trap.

5. Affix wording of some sort across the top part of the trap (part without latch across it).

Photograph 4

6. Arrange flowers, buds and leaves and adhere into place, around wording.  Use photograph 4 as a guide for placement.

7. Create a bow from ribbon, and adhere to middle trap mechanism.

Photograph 5

8. To complete, affix lace to outer edge, on back of trap, and adhere magnetic strip.  See photograph 5.

I do hope that my tutorial has been inspiring and an appealing idea to some of you to make simple, adorable gifts for Christmas.  My challenge for you, is to get creative with something unusual laying around the house.  Examples:  Coffee jars, boxes, containers, old tins, plant pot, paper towel cylinder, paint brush (all the rage at the moment), chipped tea cup, anything that you can revamp, that would normally end up in the bin.  Bring new life to the piece you have picked, create up a storm and give the item a new place in your home..... I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

I have a RAK of a Shadow Box from Imaginarium Designs, up for grabs.  You can see a completed version of the shadow box in the slideshow.

________________________________

Ready to play along with Sandie's challenge? Please link your newly created projects via InLinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday November 29, 11.55pm (GMT +8).

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Sandie. :)

Pin It

Mixing patterned papers with Ashley Horton!

My guest today is the fabulous Ashley Horton of Ashley Horton Designs. If you love the look of patterned papers but have no idea how to use them, then Ashley is your go-to girl. Her layouts are a combination of patterns, colours and textures laid out in the most pleasing ways. Even though there are lots of eye-candy on her projects to drool over, I love that her pages stay relatively bulk-free. She shares her approach to mixing patterned papers and is hosting a challenge with an awesome prize for a lucky player! :)

Let's check out some of Ashley's fave layouts....

My name is Ashley Horton and I live in the Southern US, with my husband Tyler and our three kids ages 7, 5, and 4.  I've been Scrapbooking for over 7 years, and I love documenting the antics of my children on my layouts.  I have had the privilege of serving on several Design Teams over the years.  I have been published in Creating Keepsakes magazine, Scrapbook Trends Magazine, Life.Paper.Scrapbook magazine, and Scrapbook News & Review magazine.  I describe my style, as Cutesy Eclectic and I enjoy using a mix of products and techniques on my layouts.  Other than Scrapbooking, I enjoy cooking, reading, spending time with family, and watching movies with my hubby.

One of my most favorite techniques, is mixing patterned papers and colors.  I am definitely a patterned paper addict and 9 out of 10 layouts, are usually all patterned paper.  If you find this technique a little intimidating, here are a few tips for putting your patterns and colors together.

1.  The first tip for putting together patterns and colors is, use a Collection!  Working with a collection is a perfect way to dive into this technique, because the patterns and colors are specifically paired to go together.  For example, I used the Maggie Holmes collection from Crate Paper for my Cute New Do layout and used these patterns:

2.  Here is a second option for working with patterns and colors, that also ties into the papers I chose for this layout.  Use the Ounce, Pint, Quart, Gallon method.  That may sound complicated, but it's really easy.  When you are choosing your patterns and colors, decide which pattern/color you want to use the biggest "amount" of on your layout and then work down from there with your other patterns and colors.  The background pattern was my "Gallon" choice on my Cute New Do layout and then I used smaller doses of the other patterns.

3.  Another fun option, is finding a Color Scheme to work with.  Using Color Schemes can really help, when you are putting colors together and pulling papers that may not be all included in one collection.  This website offers many color combinations and you can also find several challenge sites, such as Life.Paper.Scrapbook that offer weekly or monthly color challenges.

I would love to see you use the technique of mixing patterns on your layout, so here's a little challenge:  Put together a layout, using no Cardstock and at least 5 different patterns.  If you get stuck, just remember the tips in this post and you can also visit my Blog for inspiration on putting those patterns together.

The prize is a $10 gift certificate to Paper Bakery. :)

_______________________________________________________

Ready to play along with Ashley's patterned paper challenge? Please link your newly created layouts featuring no cardstock and the use of at least 5 patterned papers via Inlinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday, October 4th, 11.55pm (GMT +8).

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Ashley. :)

Pin It

Shaped cards with Lisa Fish!

My guest today is the fabulous Lisa Fish of A Mermaid's Crafts. Lisa does amazing things with her dies and creates the most gorgeous cards. Her projects are beautifully layered and immaculately detailed with lots of brilliant stamping and use of mediums. Today she shares how she creates her signature Spellbinders base shaped card and is also hosting a challenge with a fantastic prize for one lucky player! :)

But first let's sit back and enjoy some of Lisa's fave creations...

My name is Lisa Fish and I'm so honored to be a guest today on Yvonne's blog. I have loved art all of my life but started seriously crafting about a dozen years ago. I was inspired by all of the crafty shows HGTV and DIY used to air. I first discovered Tim Holtz on an episode of The Carol Duvall Show about ten years ago and my love of all things inky, shabby and grungy was born. I dabbled with several mediums, with polymer clay being my favorite. I still enjoy working with clay when I have the time but most of my focus now is on paper crafts. My style is very eclectic and always changing. I enjoy trying new techniques and different mediums and have recently become obsessed with mixed media projects. I started my blog by making cards, layouts and home decor projects with my Cricut, then I discovered Spellbinders and fell instantly in love. I rarely make a project without using at least one.

My favorite technique is making shaped cards using Spellbinders dies as the base. This technique is pretty simple once you get the hang of it and you can create a variety of unique and beautiful cards.

Step 1
To create the base of the card, fold a piece of paper in half and place it over the die of your choice. I am using a Decorative Labels 8 die. For dies with intricate edges, you may want to use a piece of wax paper between the die and paper so that the paper will release easily. Also, since the paper is doubled over, you may have to run the die through the machine a couple of times to make sure the pieces cut all the way through. Now make sure you move the paper below the top edge of the die so that the fold does not cut. Run the die through your die cutting machine.

It will look like this after you run it through your machine a couple of times. You do not need to emboss it since this layer will be covered up.

Step 2
Remove the paper from the die and punch out any cut pieces. you will have a card with the fold intact, but it doesn't look complete since the top edge has been cut off.

Step 3
Your next step is to cut a single piece of cardstock with the die as you normally would and then emboss it. Now you want to adhere this piece to the base. With intricate dies, I've found that the easiest way is to attach it is to use sticky dot sheets, but you could also use a Xyron or glue.

Step 4
Adhere the top piece to the base to cover the fold. With the cut edge covered you have a unique shaped card base.

I love to layer Spellbinders to create different looks. I used paper from Prima's Nature's Garden stack for this card. On top of the base, I adhered a Labels 8 die cut. The next layer is a Spellbinders Floral Oval die.

Another technique I like to use is to make the card interactive. The Floral Oval die is attached to the base with a brad to reveal a hidden sentiment.

A Fancy Framed Tags 2 die was used for the JustRite sentiment. The butterfly is a Winged Things die, cut twice and popped up with foam tape for dimension. Rock Candy Stickles was added to the top for a subtle sparkle.

Now it's your turn!! I'd love to see your shaped cards using a die cut as the base. It doesn't have to be a Spellbinders die, but I'd love it if it was.

I am giving away one of my favorite Spellbinders dies - Labels 4, as well as a Spellbinders Impressabilities Snowflake template and some Want 2 Scrap Nestabling. I can't wait to see what you create!!

A huge thank you to Yvonne for having me as a guest this month!! I have truly enjoyed it!! Happy crafting :)
______________________________________

Ready to play along? Please link your newly created shaped cards using a diecut as a base via InLinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday September 6, 11.55pm (GMT +8).

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Lisa. :)

Pin It

Masking your stamps with Savannah O'Gwynn

My guest today is sweet Savannah O'Gwynn of Savannah Land 2. Savannah is a whiz at stamping along with mixing and matching patterned papers. She makes the cutest cards with the sweetest sentiments that she creates from combining stamp sets. Her style is fun and fresh and draws "Awwws" every single time I visit her blog. Today, she shares with us her fave technique - masking and stamping stamp sets. She is also hosting an awesome challenge with a fabulous prize for one lucky player! 

But first, let's admire a sampling of her body of work...

My name is Savannah O'Gwynn, also known as Sav. My love of all things crafty started at a young age. I began to stamp and create my own cards back in 2009 and started my blog {www.savannahland2.blogspot.com} shortly after that. I create videos each week to share fun techniques, tips, and tricks that I use for each of my designs. My style has changed these past few months-- I used to be very layered and used LOTS of embellishments/etc. I was Fun/Graphic mostly. I do dabble in other styles every so often (like CAS or Shabby/Chic)... but my new favorite styles are Freestyle/Collage and CAKS (cute and kind of simple)! My favorite craft is creating cards and gift card holders-- it brings great joy to see the appreciation, love, and surprise as the recipient opens up a handmade card. I also enjoy singing and leading worship with my husband. Music and crafts are my life :)

My fave technique: mixing and matching stamp sets (specifically sentiment sets) to create my own sentiment/

I know that this technique is a bit labor intensive but the result is totally worth it. You can maximize your stamps by using this technique! This technique is really simple...

1. Use masking tape (or clear tape, blue painters tape, etc) to cover parts of the stamp that you don't want to use 2. Ink up your stamp 3. Remove tape (and check to make sure the part of the image/word that you want to use is the only part with ink) 4. Stamp.

Watch this video showing my technique of masking to create my own sentiment.

My challenge is to create anything using the MASKING technique-- when I say masking, I'm talking about masking sentiments and images to create your own design or word. 

I'm giving away one of my favorite stamp sets from Paper Smooches, Hope and pink ribbons (5 1 yard lengths). I had a friend at the age of 23 go through a double mastectomy, as well as other friends and family members with cancer. So this set means a lot to me since Kim donates 50% of each Hope set sold to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

___________________________________

Ready to play along? Please link your newly created creations featuring the masking technique to create your own design or word via Inlinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday August 9. 11.55pm (GMT +8).

As always. please leave a little love for my guest Savannah. :)

Pin It

Aluminium foil art with Tone-Lill Angelskar!

My guest today is the super talented Tone-Lill Angelskar of Ark of Paper. Her style is a departure from the cookie-cutter projects typical of crafters who use coordinated lines from a single manufacturer. I love that she is fearless in her approach to her art and creates textured layers in unusual ways. A fellow upcycler - she often incorporates found objects in her creations. The result is an array of unexpected and inspiring projects bound to leave you yearning for more. Today she shares her unique way of using aluminium foil to create her embellishments. She is also hosting a challenge with a RAK for one lucky player!

Let's first admire her gallery of work...

Hello , I'm Tone-Lill and I'm so honored to be a guest here at Yvonne's blog Do more with Less.  I don't  think I have a certain scrapbooking style, but I  do like colourful projects,try out new things, play with different mediums and see where it takes me. Usually I'm miles behind every one else in trying out the latest  news on the market :P. What I enjoy most is the opportunity to be creative and create and at the same time treasure memories and events in an artsy way. 

I'm a mom to two, a boy 18 and a girl 11 (going on 20) lol. I have always liked to create and make artsy stuff since I was little. Cutting, gluing playing with colours and paint.  I grew up just outside Bergen in Norway, but I have lived in England for the past 7 years. It is mostly the children you will find on my LOs as  I think it's a nice way to treasure moments in their lives  by "scrapping" them into memories.

It's  funny how small the world has become. Scrapbooking is not only a passion we share with our nearest friends and family, but through blogging we can reach to all corners of the world. So thanks again to Yvonne who let us all connect by doing what we love most; scrapbooking and making paper projects. 

2 things I really enjoy when Scrapbooking is to make my own background and use items not meant for scrapping. Upcycling different items is fun to do and gives a more personal touch to your scrapbooking. Here I have used  aluminium foil, upcycled a cup cover and cut outs from a cereal box, and stars cut from black craft foam( kiddie stuff lol) + one corrugated craft star.

After I had used stencils with pewter  Distress stain and  gesso to add some more pattern to the background paper, I covered all the stars with the aluminum foil and carefully made impression pattern on them with a blunt pencil. Then I spread out the cork letters, added a tiny bit of glossy accent  on them and cover  the top with aluminum foil. Carefully  I made letter impressions in the foil. You can now leave it like this by keeping the cork letters in the foil, but if you want to create a melted metal look, like here, remove the letter carefully. I filled the letter impression with glue from glue gun, let it cool down and cut the letters apart, leaving a bit  of foil around the edges.

Next step was to cover the cup cover, I did it back to front to keep the diagonal impression visible. Don't cover the underside completely as the foil can rip when glued. It is better to glue on to the materials you are using.

The foil letters were glued on top with glossy accentsand I worked  the foil edges in to blend with the surface. For colour effect I first used black Pro marker and added blue Cosmic Shimmerz.

Then it was time to finish the LO and this is what it looks like.

Now it is your turn to give it a try to create a paper project using aluminium foil and at least 2 upcycled items. Love to see what you come up with  ;) A big Thank you to Yvonne for having me as a guest this month, I truly have enjoyed it :D 

____________________________________

Bet you are looking at your kitchen aluminium foil in a different light right about now, eh? Ready to play along with Tone-Lill's challenge? Please link your newly created projects featuring the use of aluminium foil + at least 2 upcycled items via Inlinkz [located at the end of the post] by Friday July 5, 11.55pm (GMT +8) for your chance at the lovely RAK courtesy of Tone-Lill. :)

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Tone-Lill. :)

Pin It