The decorated ampersand....

The ampersand has been seen in many design vignettes....on bookshelves, in the bedroom, on the entryway table...Needless to say, I'm a little enamoured by the ampersand of course [typical of someone who suffers from the Shiny Object Syndrome... *winks*].

I started with a white wooden ampersand from Typo which I covered with some textured paper from Donna Salazar (for GCD Studios). Then I inked it with Ranger Distress Ink in antique linen to bring out the fabulous texture on the paper and give it a vintage feel. After which I adhered a piece of vintage crochet doiley and pearls.

That took a long time with the hot glue gun....but it was so worth the effort! I finished with a metal pendant from the Zeus and Zoe store and some Golden glass bead gel covered diecuts.

P/s: Happy weekend friends! Come join us with the challenges at Let's Get Trendy Now!3, the sketch layout at Purple Pumpkin, the favourite things challenge at Zeus and Zoe, LESSology Challenge #26: Feel the bead and my guest designer Tone-Lill's fun challenge!

*Edited* This ampersand was published in Create: Vintage February 2014. :)

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Why you should order a gin and tonic on your next flight...*winks*

So what drink do I order when I get on the plane? Gin and tonic. I always thought it was what "old" people drank till I tried it. It is surprising refreshing actually. And the bonus? These miniature gin bottles. [No prizes for guessing how many bottles I took...*LOL*]

They are super cute and make excellent decorative pieces....

I added some washi tape and beads for my project for LESSology Challenge #26: Feel the bead. And yes, yet another Prima resin bird. :)

Add a bunch of small flowers and water and you have you sweet little vase too! :)

P/s: Come play along with the challenges at Let's Get Trendy Now!3 - they end on 30th June!

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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 

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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. :)

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Tag for Artistcellar

Just sharing a tag I made as guest designer this month at Artistcellar. They sent me some awesome in-house stencils to play with....[you know I love to add to my stencil collection...*winks*]

The base of the tag is Ranger grungeboard coloured with distress stains. Once that dried, I added some Golden glass bead gel with the stencil for a really sparkly finish.

I coloured the Prima paper blooms with the Ranger distress stains too. Just add more for a vibrant and intense colour. And a little Ranger distress stickles in rock candy for a vintage glass sparkle.

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"Terrors" at the playground .......and a challenge winner! :)

Hello friends! Just wanted to share with you my layout based on the June Purple Pumpkin sketch. If you love the cute Purple Pumpkin embellishments I've been using...[those fabric buttons, tickets, crochet doilies..yum], then you should totally play along. You don't need to use any Purple Pumpkin embellishments to play [they just changed the rules!]...and you could win yourself a shopping spree at the Purple Pumpkin store too!

A little typewriter action...yes, the washi tape was strategically placed there to cover up some "mishaps"...*LOL*

Love the fun resin skull...totally reflects the "terrors" my nephews and niece are at the playground! *winks*

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And a big thank you to all who played along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge...she picked a winner...drumroll please...

Congratulations to Jean Green! Please email me with your mailing address so that I can arrange for your RAK to be sent to you! :)

P/s: Can't wait to introduce you to this month's guest blogger! Don't forget about the ongoing challenges at Let's Get Trendy Now!3. You have till the end of June to play along!

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Textured layers card for Let's Get Trendy Now!3

Wooooohooooo! I'm so glad today's Friday! It has been a really tiring week for me since I got really sick over the weekend but still managed to do 17 blog posts on 5 blogs without majorly screwing up *High fives all around*. Yep, people generally get drowsy on flu medication but me? Full steam ahead! My doctor says I need a horse tranquillizer to knock me out...*LOL* [Hey! Don't get any funny ideas!]

I created textured layers on my card by mixing up a bunch of elements. And adding some handstitching.

Please check out the awesome textured layers inspiration over at the Let's Get Trendy Now!3 blog.

P/s: Now to play catch-up on commenting and emails. Happy weekend friends! :)

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Altered project for Let's Get Trendy Now!3

So I have had this [you get to fill in the blank] in my "things to upcycle" stash for a while now and used it as the base for my altered project. Any idea what it is?

Here is another clue....the view from the back...and it is used in the bathroom.. *winks*

Yep....loofah brush! :) I coloured a Ranger Grungeboard with Faber Castell gelatos for the "frame". Some stitching on the photo for a textured border. [Love it when the nephews cooperate...] Fun embellishments. And finally some used for stuffed toy I've been keeping in my "save it for a rainy day" stash. :)

More photos of the rascals on Purple Pumpkin fabric buttons....Leather cords from an old belt.

Please check out the fabulous stitching ideas at Let's Get Trendy Now!3 - Day 4: Stitching.:)

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Tag with handmade embellishment for Let's Get Trendy Now! 3

Hello there friends! Today's tag turned out really sparkly [to cover mistakes of course...*LOL*]!

I started with Faber Castell gelato + water on the base of the Ranger Grungeboard. Found a remnant piece of lace that fit the width of the tag *score*. But it was hard gluing down the lace and there were visible glue marks. Out came the Glimmer Glam [Love the larger glitter bits!]. Found a bottle cap and filled it up with pretty sequins...and a big heart bling. Some aqua beads and ribbon and I'm all done! :)

For more ideas on handmade embellishments, please check out Let's Get Trendy Now!3 - Day 3: Handmade embellishments. 

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Sequin layout for Let's Get Trendy Now! 3

I really love this photo of  littlest nephew J and niece S but it was really blur and grainy [yeah...I have a thing against flash and set my IS0 high because I have steady hands *winks*...not really...the kids blink when I use flash and I'm too lazy to take out the tripod *LOL*] because they couldn't keep still. So I changed it to black and white and then added some fun digi elements like the banner and the sentiments.

I really wanted to use my string of sequins but it was the wrong colour...so alcohol ink to the rescue! Tada...silver sequins became a matt gold...and added a textural interest to the layout. A few fun embellishments and journaling and the layout is complete! :)

For more ideas on how to use sequins, please visit Let's Get Trendy Now!3 - Day 2: Sequins.


P/s: Just a few more days to play along with my guest Shahrul's stitching challenge...it ends on Friday!

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Neon card for Let's Get Trendy Now!3

The starting point for my card was the blue corrugated cardboard. Then I found the MT washi tape in my stash and just went crazy with the colours on it...

A little misting and masking....

Then a focal point with a sheer ribbon bow and a gold button.

For more inspiration and tips on how to use neon, please check out the Let's Get Trendy Now!3 blog - Day 1: Neon. :)

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