Gauche Girls Open Up Blog Hop

I interrupt my regular posting to present.... :)

Extra, extra, read all about it!!  The Gauche Girls Open Up! (...and there are RAKs to be won! ;)

If you've stopped by the Gauche Alchemy blog (..kits with a twist! ;) today, you'll see that a brand-spanking new team has been announced (it includes me! ;), and in honour of that, all the Gauche Girls are Opening Up. How easy are we..to figure out that is! (cue: laughter! ;) If you haven't started at the beginning of our hop, Hop on back to the Gauche Blog and start in the fun there. There are RAKs up for grabs along the hop, so make sure you comment on each Gauche Girls blog for a chance to win some serious yumminess (this is one of those RAK stops!;)

Now for the fun part: Each of us Gauche Girls has chosen a word that best describes Why we're so Gauche! Honey, this is where you need to work it a little!  Here's what you do:  Find all the words and which  hoppin' hunny they belong to, head back to the GA Blog & post a comment with your answers - if you get it right, you get a shot at a kick-ass prize pack from The Head Honchettes themselves! See, it's EASY. If you have already started on the hop you should have come from Stephanie's...;)

Here's my word: QUIRKY

And my little project! I love those cute little charms my dad got me from China..:) My "hands" are actually brads (baby handprints!) that were white but I coloured in with Copics (my new love :)...notice how I placed flowers strategically around the area where I'm supposed to have shoes? The shoes I made just didn't look right and it looked odd to be feetless *LOL*...the clothes are iron-ons...patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket. Base is felt mounted on a piece of wood.

Oh yes, I do have a RAK up for grabs if you leave a COMMENT on this post! :) Just make sure your email addy is linked to your profile so that I can contact you when you win!

Now shake your tail feathers all the way to Erika's and stare at some more Gauchy Goodness and get to know the rest of the team, since I've OPENED UP to you already *wink* ;)

If you're up for some serious shopping...stop by the Gauche Alchemy's Artfire store too! Pin It

I love packaging!

Hello friends! Today I'm sharing a project using scraps and packaging!:) I love clear packaging...so many possibilities..This one used to hold brads...now it's a tiny piece of art! (at least to me!:) Some October Afternoon paper scraps, stickers, lace and bling! :) What do you think?

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Wet world

This week's challenge at Scrapping The Music is the song Fireflies by Owl City (I love this song! :) My layout Wet World features my friend K's adorable kids having some water fun...:)

As promised, here is another example of a non-traditional base ( I shared a previous one here). My layout was done on a 6 X 12 piece of acrylic. I inked the edges with Stazon. The elements were cut from Prima paper (some were on 3D dots for some dimension), some random stickers and stickles.

P/s:  You can submit your entries for the non-traditional base challenge in this post. The deadline is 8 April 2010 so you still have a bit of time to work on it...:) Pin It

Mmmm...

Mmmm...how about a nice cup of tea? Or coffee?

This week the design team at Card Patterns was sponsored by Hero Arts and got to play with some lovely stamps! :) I'm not much of a stamper because I'm not very good at it...(notice the imperfections in the stamping?)...the tendency is to reach for stickers...*LOL*...

This week's winner gets to win TWO 4X6 Hero Arts stamp sets! So find time to play along! :) 

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A cherished moment

Hello friends! Did you enjoy the awesome tutorial my blog guest Maggi shared yesterday in this post? Maggi challenged all of us to use something non-traditional as the base for our projects and here's my not-so-fancy-as-Maggi's-waxed paper-crayon base...Prima stamp packaging! My layout, A cherished moment, features my cousin V and her boyfriend...(ahhh...sweet young love :) who graciously posed for this photo for me to scrap..(thanks lovebirds!)

I used paper scraps and some found things (in my stash) to create this cluster around the photo...the "cherished moment" sentiment was from a Bo Bunny patterned paper...the journal block (which I left for the recipient to write something) is from Creative Imaginations...the roses are from American Crafts, felt flowers are from Queen and Co...bird and heart sticker are from SRM stickers...the heart flower is a sticker (some Korean brand I can't read)...the vellum glittered butterfly is from EK Success and the lovely clay butterfly is a cellphone accessory..the picture perfect arrow is from Dream Street papers (I think..)...the "follow your heart" sticker is from 3 bugs in a rug and I used a bottle cap! :)

The green base is from Prima flower packaging, heart vellum glitter stickers are from EK Success, pink transparency is from Hambly, felt heart is from Fancy Pants, photo mat is from American Crafts, "cherish" sentiment is a sticker from 3 bugs in a rug, chipboard "&" is from American Crafts, letter stickers are from ProvoCraft, the cute umbrella is from Prima...ribbon and button.

I left the envelope empty so that my cousin can slip in love notes and other memorabilia...and it serves as a lovely keepsake..:) 

Are you ready to play along? Remember to leave your entries in this post by 8th April 2010. I'll be sharing more non-traditional bases for projects next week...hopefully it'll inspire you to play along! :)

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Just add glitter and stir!

My guest today is the delightful Maggi from Just Add Glitter and Stir! She's super fun and has a wicked sense of humour (check out her photo in which she's eating a crocheted sushi!) I "met" her through her X'mas in July blog party (2009) and we've been exchanging comments and emails ever since....:)

Here's a look at some of Maggi's work...

Maggi is sharing with us a really cool technique for backgrounds that she used on this layout...:) Read on for the tutorial...:)

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When Y asked me to be a guest blogger on her fabulous blog, I was so excited! Then I was nervous, then excited again, then a little sleepy and then super excited! :D I am so in love with the gorgeous layouts and cards that Y creates and am so honored to be a part of the fun happenings here at Do More With Less.


For those of you that don't know me, my name is Maggi and I live in the United States. I've been doing one craft or another for as long as I can remember, a trait I got from my mother who is a Crafty Goddess and knows everything Mod Podge. lol I like to try all kinds of different mediums and materials, most recently I have really jumped into incorporating mixed media in my projects, rediscovered my love for crochet and I just learned how to cast resin.

I'm inspired by so many things around me, most recently: Jpop (Japanese pop music), bright colors, vintage magazines and the amazingly creative bloggers our there that share their talent (including Miss Y here! :). For Y's first challenge, I created a layout using plastic canvas instead of traditional card stock.That was such a fun layout to create and it really got my wheels turning on what else I could use as a background!


So for my guest post here, I want to share a layout I recently made that has a non-traditional material as the background. I was inspired by this post at Gauche Alchemy which led me to this post  at Way Crafty which listed various techniques involving melted crayons. Hmmmm, interesting no? So, can you guess what my background material is? :D

For my "card stock", I took two pieces of wax paper, some crayons Toot got at a restaurant (Thanks Olive Garden! :D), a cheese grater (no longer used for food!) and my heat gun.

I grated different colored crayons onto one piece of the wax paper.  You'll notice on Way Crafty that her crayon pieces are bigger than mine.  I used very fine pieces of crayon so next time I do this, I'll use bigger chunks.  You get a nicer, brighter color effect that way, lesson learned! :D

Then I covered this with the second piece of wax paper, turned my heat gun on the "sandwich" and the magic begins!  The crayon pieces melt and meld into one another and form a rainbow of color ready for you to add your creative stamp.

I then stitched the edges together using my sewing machine (hand sewing or gluing would work fine too) and trimmed the edges off (I didn't worry about trying to stitch or trim evenly).  I added some "clouds" using the end of a paper towel roll, white paint and white glitter.  The fence is made from plastic canvas and sequins, the grass is from my lunch of delicious sushi, the title is Thickers and the flowers are Prima and Basic Grey bling.  I made the stems by twirling colored wire on a skewer.  The sun, "apples" on the tree and butterfly (accented with Stickles) are all part of various mixed media color kits from Gauche Alchemy.

I had so much fun creating this layout!  I challenge you to look for everyday objects, packaging or things you would normally throw away and incorporate them into your projects.  Keep those scrapbooks acid-free but go crazy with those extra pictures and hang your funky layouts on the wall or give them as gifts.  Inspiration (and free crafty supplies) are everywhere! :D

Thanks so much to Y for letting me take over her blog for a bit, muwahahahaha!  :D  I've had so much fun over here at Do More With Less, I can't wait to see what Y (and all of you) create next!  If you would like to see what I'm up to, please feel free to visit me over at Just Add Glitter and Stir.

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Are you inspired to try something other than cardstock or patterned paper for the base of your project?
Leave your project links in this post by Thursday, 8th April 2010. Winner gets a RAK of course! :)

I will share my inspired project in my next post...:) It's not so fancy like waxed paper...just packaging..:(

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The iconic Cape Otway lighthouse

The Great Ocean Road is a 243 km stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia. The road was constructed to provide work for returning soldiers and dedicated as a memorial to those killed in the First World War. I had a fun day driving through this scenic route, stopping en route to visit the iconic Cape Otway lighthouse featured in this layout...:)

American Crafts paper, the blue clouds and balloons are stickers, some handstitching along the white clouds and fabric butterflies on 3D dots (thanks Cindy!).

Happy Tuesday! :) Pin It

Just the two of you

This week's challenge at Scrapping the Music is the song "Just the two of us" by Will Smith. My layout, Just the two of you, features my two nephews posing with their new toys...one was considerably happier than the other because he got a Power Rangers action figure while the other got a rooster torchlight...definitely favouritism on grandma's part *LOL*

Base paper is from Teresa Collins, mounted on scalloped cardstock...misted with Maya mists...ribbon along the border, stickers, handstitching and random scraps (thanks K!)

Do try to play along this week for your chance at a sponsored prize by Simply Fresh Arts - a Pink Paislee kit along with a Maya Road curved scalloped album....yummy!:) Pin It

Thanks a bunch...you're the best!

Hello friends! Just wanted to say...thanks a bunch for your sweet messages....you're the best! :) This card is for you and based on this week's sketch at Card Patterns. The design team was generously sponsored by SRM stickers...(can you believe I got TWO packages from them? They sent them out separately to the international team in case one package got lost!) so I'm sure this week's prize winner will get a super duper sticker package too! :)

A piece of doiley, ribbon, balloon brads, some handstiching and SRM stickers...Happy weekend! :) Pin It

Hatty birthday to me!

It's my birthday! Hatty birthday to me! :)

A really simple card...using some recycled goodness...the silver foil is from food packaging..ribbon, the cute monster is from Sassafras, stamp, and some handstitching... Pin It

Adventures in Wonderland

Hello! Today I'm sharing the project I made for my new friend Nerina (in the Alice in Wonderland swap organized by the delightful Maggi). I created a little book called Adventures in Wonderland...with some page dividers and photo frames for her to document her own beautiful memories....

I used felt for the base of the pages and the handcut elements...and some Sassafras papers.

jjj

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Really good

Oh yes, this white chocolate strawberry mousse was really good! :) I had it when I was in Melbourne last week...:) This layout features Sassafras papers! Aren't the new lines super yummy? Most of the cut out elements are actually on 3D dots...some handstitching...a little piece of plastic doiley (thanks Mirjam!), heart pin (Heidi Grace) and SRM stickers (love these!).

And what inspired this layout? The song, Free Me by Joss Stone...this week's song at Scrapping The Music...ahh...I love being away from home and indulging in delectable desserts freely (it was cold and I needed the energy boost!) Pin It

It is only with the heart

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antonine de St. Exupery

Hello friends! Are you having a fabulous weekend so far? This week, the design team at Card Patterns got to work with sponsored digital images from Little Paper Shop...:) They are sponsoring this week's lucky winner with a $20 gift certificate! :)

I coloured my image with Copics...cut it out and adhered on 3D dots against an American Crafts patterned paper background....added some heart bling and some tulle for the skirt.

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My best friend...my red doll...

Meet my best friend...my red doll...when I was eleven months old. According to my mum, I was so taken with this doll that I absolutely had to take her everywhere with me...:)

Aren't these Crate Papers the cutest? Some Prima flowers, pearls and buttons. Title stickers are from Studio Calico and Cosmo Cricket.

Inspired by TAAFOMFT. Pin It

New York

This layout was inspired by this month's challenge at Scrap-It-Lah...to scrap a vacation. I visited New York for the first time in 2007. One of my first stops after checking in was a visit to the Empire State Building of course...(think Sleepless in Seatle)...

Crepe paper along the borders (I used my trusty stapler!), ribbon, buttons, a little handstitching and yummy Como Cricket papers.

P/s: I'm out of the country and experiencing poor internet connectivity. I will resume visiting your blogs when I get back this weekend. My google reader count is at 700+ at the moment..yikes! Pin It