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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I've always wanted to ride in a hotair balloon...

Hello friends! :) I don't know about you but ever since I saw the movie The Ugly Truth, I've always wanted to ride in a hotair balloon. Weird considering I've an irrational fear of heights...*LOL* 

 

Just wanted to share this week's Get Sketchy card.

Clouds were stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder. Sky was misted and the clouds were further defined by distress ink in denim. Hot air balloon was stamped and popped up on 3D dots. American Crafts patterned paper and stamp. Ribbon. SRM sticker sentiment. A little handstitching.

P/s: You have another week to play along with my guest Erika's distressed challenge. There will be another awesome guest next week with some tips on a cool technique! :) 

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Love. My. Dearest. Pals.

I woke up this morning to sweet emails in my mailbox pointing to this post. *smiles* Love. My. Dearest. Pals. Today's card is dedicated to you! :) ...inspired by the card sketch challenge over at the My Mind's Eye blog.

MS edge punch. The heart was cut out from corrugated board. Some baker's twine and buttons. Papers, trim and owl embellishments are all from My Mind's Eye.

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I also want to announce the winner of my guest Dana's Get more from your patterned paper challenge! There were so many lovely entries and I made Dana do the hard work of picking her fave! ;)

So, the winner is *drumroll please*

#13 Ujjwal

Congratulations Ujjwal! :)

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My grandma...isn't she lovely?

This week I was invited to be the guest designer over at City Crafter Challenge blog!:) My layout features my grandma (and me)...isn't she lovely? :) I'm her fave grandchild (or so she says!) *winks*

I went super girlie with some misting, My Little Shoebox papers, trim, ribbons, buttons, stickers and flowers! :)

 

Those lanterns are just perfect for a CNY layout! :)

*Edited* SRM stickers featured this layout on their Facebook wall! :)

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Boys will be boys

Boys will be boys indeed. My nephews. Role-playing for the overzealous, photo-taking aunt! *winks*

So my current guest blogger Erika Taylor challenged me to create a piece that's grungy and distressed with drippy paint splatters. I used the sketch from  Sketchy Thursdays.

 I used lots of the chipboard letter "X" as inspired by Scrapbookers Anonymous's challenge and lots of ugly mismatched buttons. Glued them down on corrugated board. Then I added textured paste all over. When that dried, I misted them in bold colours.

The edges of the My Mind's Eye papers were distressed, torn and inked. Some misting and paint splatters.

Crackle paint on the edges of the photos.

Letter stickers, some cute stickers (still a kids' layout afterall) and some Gauche Alchemy embellishments.

What do you think?

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Have a wonderful Valentine's Day! :)

Wishing you a wonderful Valentine's Day friends! :) Just a tag to share today, inspired by the Appearance of Cameos challenge over at Moxie Fab World. 

I used punchinella as a mask, inked with various distress ink colours, spritzed walnut ink and heat embossed with distress embossing powders. I also used crackle paint in rock candy for a subtle crackle finish. A little upcycled wrapping tissue , stickles and beads from the Gauche Alchemy's It's All Gravy, Baby! Brown Mixed Media Color Kit. 

*Edited* I'm a winner over at Moxie Fab World for this tag! Yay! :)

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Good luck

Happy Friday! Just popping in to share this week's Get Sketchy card. I went really simple with this Good Luck card...using some tags and American Crafts paper scraps....

P/s: If you have time this weekend, come play along with my guest Erika's distressed challenge! :)

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I am a mouse killer.

It's official! I am a mouse killer. I'm averaging a mouse a month! No, not the rodent kind. *LOL*  I think I really should learn to use the trackpad on my laptop. Hope your week's been fabulous so far!!! Today I'm sharing a Best Wishes card inspired by Sasya's Sketch #49.

Two-tone misting - I used Maya Mists in Hydrangea Blue and Turquoise on textured cardstock. Crochet doiley, paper rose, buttons and pins. A little paper tearing and a combo of ribbons, trim and baker's twine. Fiskars sentiment stamp.

P/s: You have one more day to get your entries in for my guest Dana's Get more out of your Patterned Paper challenge! :)

*Edited* This card was featured in the Cards Challenge Gallery! :)

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Life is pure adventure

My 3 nephews. S, O & J. Sitting on a bench. S.M.I.L.I.N.G. at me :)

Life is pure adventure indeed. With these 3. Boys are really noisy! *LOL*

A 30-minute layout using the sketch from Creative Scrappers and Bo Bunny paper scraps. Sentiment sticker is from SRM. Letter stickers are from Cosmo Cricket.

A little handstitching [the initial plan was to stitch the entire panel but I got tired...*LOL*]

Love the floral felt embellishment my friend K made for me! :)

P/s: My guest Dana's Get more out of Patterned Paper challenge ends on Friday! :)

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Get grungy with Erika Taylor!

My guest today is layer queen Erika Taylor of Taylord Concepts! I "met" Erika last year through Gauche Alchemy and I'm a fan of her super textured and layered style. She's a master with glimmer mists and paints.... and mixes the grungy and the pretty oh so very well. Erika's hosting a challenge and daring all of us to play along! With a fabulous prize for the winner! :) Game? Read on...

Let's have a look at her cool creations!

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There is something so freeing and truly beautiful about sitting down to create. Whether a paper card or a canvas, it does not matter. What matters is the freedom and fulfillment you get while you create.

Hi Everyone, I’m Erika Taylor and I’m so blessed to have this opportunity to share with you a little of my artistic life with you on Yvonne’s blog. I am so thankful for the chance and was tickled pink when Yvonne asked me to contribute. A little about me, I’m a wife to a wonderfully supportive and loving man Mark, who always comments about my crafting and notices when I change things up. I’m a mom to two wonderful children who love spending time in my craft room with me. I have always loved crafting ever since I was a wee girl. Making paper clip jewelry to construction paper fridge art, if I could create something, I would. My mother is very artistic and I’m blessed to have received that gift from her.

I started out 3+ years ago creating cards and was instantly hooked. The options were astounding and I loved how things just came together. I’m a layer queen and love piling layer after layer after layer onto a project. This is where my design team days started and I’ve been so super duper fortunate to be on some amazing teams over the past 2 years. Currently I am on the Nikki Sivils, Helmar Adhesive, Tattered Angels, Kiki Art, Say it With Letters, Frantic Stamper, Really Reasonable Ribbon, and PSA Essentials design teams. I’ve guest designed for quite a few great companies as well and I’m looking forward to guesting with Sparkle N Sprinkle as well as Darkroom Door soon.

Now back to my journey, I then started branching out to altered art and I’m more in love with creating now than ever before. Mixing Glimmer Mists, paints and art mediums is my big thing right now and thanks to being on the Tattered Angels Design team, I get to experiment a LOT!!! Pair that with being a glue nut (thanks Helmar) and you’ve got yourself a bonified CRAFT JUNKIE!!! What can I say, I love being busy and when I’m under the gun and have a bunch of deadlines, and I work really well.

I never plan a project ahead of time, I just let the cards fall where they may. When it is done, IT’S DONE!!! I don’t over think and I’ve been blessed with an eye for color. (again thank you mom ~hugs~). 

With all that said, I’ve got a challenge for all of you. I want to see a project from you that gets down and dirty!!! Something that is distressed, drippy, paint splatters and all. Try mixing those Glimmer Mists and crackle paints. If you come up with mud, go with it!!! And Yvonne I dare you to play along!!! I wanna see you rock out a grungy project. Like dirty, grungy Nirvana!!! Come on, you can do it.

 

For a little inspiration, a little Grunge Project from Lil Me.

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Is Erika daring me to try grunge???? It's time to bring out the big guns.....[dramatic music plays in the background] ...as in my paints and paintbrushes...*LOL* Will you join me? Link up your distressed creations using InLinkz (located at the end of the post) by Friday, February 25.

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

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Monkeys at play

Hi there! Today I emerge from my sugar coma [the consequence of eating too many sweet treats in the last 4 days] to present three monkeys at play! *LOL* I have 700+ unread posts in my google reader so I have a lot to catch up on...scrolling the mouse and typing counts as cardio right?? *wink*

Outtakes from the posing game with my nephews. ;) I used the sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

 Patterned papers and foam letters are from American Crafts. Stickers. Buttons. Paint splatters. Bottle cap. Distress inks. Embellishments are from Gauche Alchemy's Purple People Eater Mixed Media Color Kit.

P/s: Don't forget to play along with my guest Dana's Get more out of Patterned Paper challenge. It ends on Friday! There's another fabulous guest tomorrow and a brand new challenge! :)

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Love

Hi there friends! :) It's Friday and time for another Get Sketchy card! :)

The roses are from this American Crafts patterned paper...

 

Which I coloured with Copics and used glossy accents for some added dimension. I was inspired by my guest Dana's challenge to get more from your patterned paper. Hope you find time this weekend to play along! :)

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Ps... I love you

Ps...I love you. :)

Just sharing my last card for Some Odd Girl....using Sweet Kody and My Mind's Eye papers. Fancy Pants chipboard (misted), stickles, baker's twine, copics, googly eyes, Unity Co. sentiment stamp.

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When I see...a tribute to my grandfather

"When I see pics of you or anything relating to my childhood, I am reminded of those happy times we shared and how much I miss having you around.

I am the guest designer this month at Category Stories where the prompt is "Everytime I ...(see, touch, feel, smell, taste), I am reminded of..."

My layout is a tribute to the first man I've ever loved. My grandfather.

[a little teary-eyed now]

A little fun with Sassafras papers and embellishments! I cut the base paper into 2, regretted almost immediately and then thought to stitch the opposite ends together...mimicking the faux stitching design that was already on the patterned paper. Makes it a tad more interesting, right? *LOL* Some misting, a mix of beautiful trims (courtesy of Smita!), buttons, Cosmo Cricket letter stickers, American Crafts foam thickers, EK success bubble stickers and K & Co wood letters.

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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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