Get out of your comfort zone with Michelle Bertuzzi!

Moshi moshi friends! :) Today's guest is the lovely Michelle Bertuzzi of Jiroken. If you are a cardmaker, you already know her from Card Patterns...[she's my ex-boss!] because you love her sketches! Michelle's style is a lovely mix of kawaii, classy and chic. She shares with us how she organizes her craft supplies and is also hosting a challenge with a sweet prize! Yay!:)

But first, let's have a look at some of her awesome creations!

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Hello! My name is Michelle Bertuzzi (also known as JiroKen on forums). Having a Japanese father, I was blessed to grow up with Origami, Washi papers and a lot of markers. Collecting markers & pens is a hobby I share with my dad. 

I hate crafting at night due to color indifferences. No matter how great your light is, nothing beats natural light so I squeeze it during the day when my eldest is in school or if my little one is napping. 

I don’t limit myself to any style. I like both vintage/shabby and CAS. It’s always great to stretch your boundaries. I’m an avid card maker but promised myself to do more layout pages about my kids this year. Apart from crafting, I also like to sew, draw, bake & gardening in the summer.

Must have tools: Craft knife (I’m left handed & I hate using scissors especially when I’m eyeballing something, I could never see the line where I’m supposed to cut! LOL.  I always leave my project overnight & come back the next day to see if I need to add something. It’s better to add than peeling off any unwanted embellishments.

I’m attaching a few photos of how I organize my stuff. I don’t have state of the art stuff but it works for me! Hope you can get a few ideas. 

Most of my supplies are categorized by type. Storage purchased from Michaels.

I keep my lace ribbons on wooden dowels for those delicate edges.

I have pre-cut/scored cardstock for my cards nearby my work table. Saves me time for those quick cards. 

I have my markers & pens within arm reach. I store them in a planter for easy access.

So, to challenge you ladies today, how about creating a project that is not your typical style? It’s great to expand our horizon and step out of our comfort zone for a minute.  Thanks so much for visiting today & hope that you get to play along with my little challenge. 

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So, are you game to venture out of your comfort zone? And play along with this challenge? :)

I hope so because Michelle is offering up this sweet little prize for one lucky participant! :)

Please link up your "out of your comfort zone" creations using InLinkz (located at the end of the post) by Friday March 25.

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Michelle!

Arigato! :)

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Fussy cutting and paper piecing with Laurel Seabrook!

My guest today is multi-tasker extraordinaire Laurel Seabrook of Seabrook Designs. I swear she churns out 2 cards by the time I decide on my paper choices for my first project! ;) Yes, this woman is a force to be reckon with. She shares a gazillion gorgeous projects on her blog each day and still has time to submit to publications and leave lovely comments on blogs! Today, she shares a tutorial on fussy cutting and paper piecing. There's also a challenge with a fabulous prize courtesy of Laurel! :)

But first, let's have a look at Laurel's awesome creations!

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Hi everyone, Laurel here and I am so honoured that Yvonne has asked me to be a Guest on her blog Do More With Less!  I have been following Yvonne for a long time now and am always inspired with her talent with misting and upcycling.  She also is so good with the copic markers.  Now I like copics, but I prefer paper piecing and fussy cutting my images out to mount onto a project.  I get asked a lot how I do such ‘good fussy cutting’ so I am here to show you.

First of all stamp your image:

I then color what needs to be colored.  Stamp onto pattern paper for paper piecing.  When I cut them out I try to do the least amount of cutting and piecing so I think about how I can layer.  You can see that here by how I cut out her top.

Adhere the pieces and then cut out the image.  The tricky part is the part under her arms.  I used to use my craft knife for those areas, and did have some success.  However, I have since learned an easier way to do it.

I find a place that is a natural join and cut right through the image, making it easier to cut out the inside pieces.  When the image is adhered to the project, you will not see these cut marks.

 

Now here is the finished product, can’t tell where they have been cut and the fussy cutting is much easier to do!

Now my challenge to you is to do some paper piecing and fussy cutting on a project.

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Hmmm...paper piecing can be a great way to use up those small paper scraps I've had for the longest time...Are you ready to play along? Link up your creations using InLinkz (located at the end of this post) by Friday, March 11.

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Laurel. 

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My parents...on their wedding day

A quick layout to share today... a photo of my parents on their wedding day as inspired by the challenge at Let's Get Shabby.

Echo Park patterned papers. Ribbons. Trim. Buttons. Pearls. Crochet flowers. Yo-yo flower.

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Thanks to those who participated in my blogoversary giveaway! It was really lovely to read about how you found my blog. :) The winner who was chosen randomly is...

#7 Ujjwal!

Congratulations! :)

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Get more from your patterned paper with Dana Seymour! :)

My guest today is the talented Dana Seymour of Kismet, Art & Life. I actually got to know of her last year when my friend Karen Baker was a guest here and I returned her comment with a blog visit. But I really took a good look at her work again this year and boy have I been missing out! Dana combines patterned paper and stamping with her unique style to create incredible textures and layers. Her cards are always unexpectedly fresh and lively. She shares her "secrets" in a tutorial on how to get more from your patterned paper and is issuing a challenge with a chance to win a gift certificate to one of her fave online stores! :)

Let's have a look at her awesome gallery!

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"I was so honored and excited when Yvonne asked me to be a guest blogger on Do More With Less! Not only is she incredibly talented, but she's a sweetheart to boot, and her blog is full of amazing inspiration. I love to peruse her older posts just for eye candy!"Do more with less" is a really important concept not only in my personal lifestyle, but in how I craft too. So I thought I'd issue a small challenge by way of using some of that Patterned Paper we all have hidden away. *wink*

Here's how I get more out of my PP.

1. I stamp on it.

If the pattern is boring, I add to it with my stamps.

2. I color it.

If the colors don't match my cardstock perfectly, I alter it by coloring over those parts with markers.

Here are some PPs that I will be working with for today's tutorial:

  

You can see that I already stamped on the last PP (I forgot to take a photo of it before I began!)

Then I choose some stamps and get started.

For an example of how I alter PP with markers, you can see below that the PP I wanted to use had ivory stripes. Well my finished project would be utilizing white CS, so I colored those ivory stripes with a Copic Marker to match another color of CS I was using.

And here are the finished products with all those unique stamped/altered patterned papers on display!

Not only am I using up PP that might otherwise not match or "fit the theme", but I have created something unique in the process! And by altering the PP I already have, I'm not out purchasing more to find that perfect piece that works with my intended project...I'm making it myself with supplies I already have!

Here are several other cards I've created where I use patterned paper that I stamped on or colored over.

Here's where the challenge comes in!

I want to see patterned paper that YOU stamp on or alter in some way. Link up your project below for a chance to win a fabulous prize...a $10 gift Certificate to an online stamp store from the options below!

Practicing Creativity Designs

WPLus9

Papertrey Ink

Denami Design

Lawn Fawn

Let's DO MORE WITH LESS!

*mwah*

Dana"

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 Doesn't Dana make you look at your patterned paper differently now? I think my stack of  "buyer's remorse" patterned papers need a revisit...*wink*..So, are you ready to play along? Link up your creations using Inlinkz (located at the end of the post) by Friday, February 11.

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

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Extending the background with Mandy Dodd

My first guest of 2011 is the talented Mandy Dodd of Teacup of Scrapisms. I got to know Mandy through Scrapping The Music and I love her shabby chic style, particularly how she infuses vibrant colours and incredible textures on her projects. She is also the co-founder of the awesome challenge blog Let's Get Shabby. Today, she is sharing a tutorial on how to extend past the photo to create a scene! And there's a challenge with a RAK to be won too! :)

But first, let's have a look at Mandy's stunning gallery...

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Hi, my name is Mandy  (also known as mandysea) and I live in Australia on an island called Tasmania.  I live in a big old house that over looks the sea and pretty much the sea is our way of life here.  I’m inspired by and love nature, and animals and use green and blue a lot in my scrapping.  I spend a lot of time capturing birds and lizards and wildlife with my camera.

My scrapping style is Shabbychic and I love playing with the arty side with it in paints, gesso, tissue paper, and all the lacy bits plus the layering and texture that goes with it.  I love to feel these things in my hands and most of all – I love to see the shadow its casts.

If I had some things that are undeniably me – it would be that I love to match the background of my photo to my background paper…. and extend the photo into the scrapping area, rarely use pattern paper, and usually draw a border around my papers edge and fold it to suggest a frame.  These are not always, but mostly, and I fall not conscious of these habits creating work..… they just kind of evolve as I go along.

My favourite paper to use is Basic Grey background papers – usually they are the plain reverse sides. I’ll pick them up wherever I see them – especially if they are older discontinued lines.

 

  And my fav place to shop are a couple of etsys for my embellishments – Tallulah Belles

  and Tattered Inspirations.

Extending the Background tutorial 

 

STEP 1

Choose a photo that has either horizons or Vertical lines in it that can be extended.

By placing some pointers – you can easily see where the lines in this photo are.

 

STEP 2

Here some tissue paper has been sprayed the same colour as the steps and creased in a way that its been moulded where the dark lines extend outwards on each side of the photo.  At this stage both the tissue and the photo is only just sitting on top as a gauge just to see how its working out.

 

 

STEP 3

Smearing some paint with my finger into an almost transparent film picks up the next set of horizon lines – a pinky cement colour.

STEP 4

Here I wanted to pick up the darker colour of the grass in the top part of the photo – the dark green right on the edge of the pic.  So I measured where the photo was and placed a scrap piece of paper there and sprayed.

 

STEP 5

Embellished and finished.   There are a couple of extra things I did to extend the background more.   I’ve made the brown columns behind Paige in the photo extend upwards more and decorated them a bit – to suggest where she was sitting did have a roof.   And I’ve used green crocheted lace to wrap from underneath the photo  and curved it up the side to suggest the circular shape of the podium she was  sitting on.

  

Now it’s your turn to have  a go creating your own extended scene!

I have a rak here to give away!!

 

I can't wait to see what you can do with this!

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What a fabulous tutorial! And a great way to create a picture perfect project! :) Are you ready to play along? It would be cool to see how you interpret this challenge. You can create any project as long as it includes a photo. Please  link up your creations using InLinkz located at the end of this post by Friday Jan 28 Jan.

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Mandy! :)

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