Challenge 165

Well hello again, Friday! Imagine seeing you again so very soon...hard to belive it's been a week already! Boy oh boy, much has been happening behind this computer screen around my place! I've got a brand new photography business...check it out! Vanessa Falle Photography. It has been so stinkin' busy I can barely catch my breath. But that's a good thing, right!?!

So this is Sasha's last week with us...actually, she's moving to England and all her scrap stuff is in boxes...she will be enduring an extended separation from her scrap stuff :( Hopefully she can make it!! Sasha, you are so inspiring and funny as hell!! Hope you come 'round lots once the dust settles! Have a safe move and be sure to give the blogosphere a shout-out when you get there...so we know you arrived alive!

And I know there are some new readers with us. Check out this link to get the lowdown if you are wanting to play along. This week our challenge is::

USE UP YOUR MISMATCHED ALPHA STICKERS

Our ever-fabulous team has once again knocked this one outta the park. I loved using up all those crazy leftover letters :) Let's see what you do with this one.

Vanessa

Tania

Gudrun

Eva

Carol

Ellie

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorial - Coloring lace w/ Glimmer Mist

Good morning! Today’s tutorial is all about using glimmer mist to colour lace. Here in Singapore, coloured lace is not easy to find, and usually quite expensive. Often, colours are limited. Plus, who has the time or inclination to run out to the store when you’re in the middle of a layout? White or off-white lace, in contrast, can be bought in 25 yard rolls from some of our textile shops, and this is what I use regularly in my layouts.

This tip I’m sharing today will help you use your scrap supplies to effortlessly colour your lace the exact shade you need for your layout. I’m going to use a layout of mine to illustrate. The regular readers may recognise this layout as one that was posted some weeks back. When I first started putting it together, I realized that the white lace just simply did not go with the coloured patterned paper I had chosen.


The lace needed to be a stronger colour to stand out. So I rummaged through my stash of glimmer mist, and found a colour that would achieve the effect I had in mind.


Next, lay the strip of lace on some old newspaper. One sheet of newspaper will not be enough. Use at least several layers as the glimmer mist is going to soak through the first few layers.


Start spraying the glimmer mist on the lace.
Make sure every part of the lace is covered. Some types of lace are more resistant to water (for some reason) so what I normally do is turn the lace over and press it down into the excess glimmer mist that has been sprayed on the newspaper. Dig in and get your hands dirty (glimmer mist dye washes off after one shampoo/bath) and pat along the entire length of the lace. The more dye soaks in, the more saturated and ‘glimmery’ your finished strip of lace is going to be.


When you’re done, turn it back over and leave it on the newspaper to dry.
You may wish to put it on a clean part of the newspaper to aid drying. Alternatively, you can use a heat gun – that is what I normally do as I really want to finish the layout once I start it; in Singapore’s humid climate it will take at least 24 hours to dry fully if left to itself. Using the heat gun, though, tends to shrink the lace a little, so you may then wish to start off with a strip slightly longer that what you actually need, you can always trim off the excess when putting together the layout.
And there you have it, a nice deep brown and ‘glimmery’ strip of lace which you can use on your layout in place of what would have been a while and insipid strip.

This little trick can save you some moolah as you’re basically using items in your stash and you can even bulk buy white lace to save further.
And if you don’t have enough glimmer mist colours, not to worry. Just use the chalk or pigment inks that you use for stamping. The same rules apply, place the lace on several layers of newspaper, and turn the ink pad over and pounce or tap it along the entire length, paying attention to any uneven patches. If the lace appears to be resistant to the colour, just tap harder. As is the case with using glimmer mist, you will end up with a very damp strip which you then dry using either of the 2 methods above. And voila! Lace of the exact shade and colour you need. And it doesn’t end there. You can use several colours of ink to get a variegated effect, or even adjust the saturation along the strip to achieve colour gradation. The possibilities are endless!
So get cracking with your glimmer mist and inks and post the result in our gallery! Thanks for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing you back this Friday when we post our next challenge!

Challenge 164

It's sketch week! We wanna see what you can do with this.... Our Guest Designer this month is Sasha. Check out her amazing art here. If you'd like to play along with us all the info is here.

TaniaVanessa

Gudrun

Carol

Eva

Elly

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorial - Covered Buttons & Lace Flowers

Today's project is brought to you by Gudrun Loennecken
Buttons in new coat:

1. for this little project you’ll need some buttons in different sizes (not to small). If you have some buttons you are tired of, or someone with an odd color they are perfect for this matter. You also need some strong liquid glue and scraps of paper. Bookpages, sheets of music, newspaper and notepaper are great.
2. Choose a piece of paper you want to use to dress up your button. Cut the piece of paper so it’ll cover the front and back of the button you want to dress up. Add glue to the button and stick it in the middle of the paper.


3. Fold all the edges so the button is wrapped in paper. It’s ok to add some glue while you keep on wrapping. Stick all the loose edges down.
4. Now you have a beautiful button in new coat – perfect for your papercraft-project.



Lace-flowers:



1. For this cute little lace-flower you’ll need about 15 cm ( 6 inch ) of a lace. My lace is not too thin - 3 cm ( 1 ¼ inch ) is ok, otherwise your flower will be really small. You also need a needle and a thread.
2. Sew along the top edge of your lace. It is not necessary to do small beautiful stitches, because they’ll never show. Just tack the thread along the edge.


3. When you have stitched all along the laces edge, you can make a flower-shape of your lace, and tie a knot with the tread in the middle of the lace-flower.
4. To embellish your beautiful flower you can for example use your newly dressed-up buttons and place it in the middle of the flower. This little flower is great for vintage-projects, and is a fun easy way to make your own embellishments.

Challenge 163

We are back with another challenge, another up-cycling challenge. :) We want to see what you can do with

tissue paper!

Lovin' how the DT came up with so many different ways to use it.

Also, while we have ya here, check out our guest designer's introduction here. Some amazing talent.

If you are looking for the info to play along, it's all here.

Tania

Vanessa

sorry, I gotta take a pass this week. Have fun with the challenge :)

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Sasha

Tuesday Tutorials - Mini Album Madness!

DIFFERENT WAYS TO MAKE A MINI ALBUM

Hi! Today I’m going to show you different ways to make a Mini Album. When I started scrapbooking I made lots of minis, I love them! They are very cute, you can put lots of photos, tell a story, scrap a whole trip, etc… and they are always the perfect gift!
I’m going to show 4 ways you can put together a mini:
- Basic
- Accordion style
- Magazine style
- “Book style”

BASIC MINI

The basic one, and the one I use the most on my albums is to just make two or three holes and then use a binding ring. If you don’t have these mini rings you can use key chain rings like the ones I used here, they are made from plastic and I found them in a kids game!


Otherwise you can just put some ribbon or string like this one

If you use ribbon or string please make sure not to tie the knot very hard or you will not be able to flip the pages.

ACCORDION STYLE MINI

For the accordion style mini, you will need to cut your papers of the height of the page you want, but you will have to double the length. Every paper will contain 2 pages of your mini so you will have to cut half of the papers. For example: If you want a mini with 8 - 4X4 pages. You will have to cut 4 - 4x8 papers . Use one side paper for this because the back of the paper will not show.

To make the pages of your album crease the pages at half (1). Cover the right side of every page with double side tape (2) and adhere the pages as seen in picture number 3. Complete the accordion (4).
For the covers, cover a piece of chipboard 1/2 inch larger and wider than the pages of your mini with a coordinating paper (1 and 3). *The paper will have to be 2 inches wider than the chipboard also*
Adhere the covers to your pages (2) making sure to insert a ribbon in the back or in the front cover to close it (5).

MAGAZINE STYLE MINI

For the “Magazine style” mini cut your papers of the height of the page you want, but double the length. You will need double side papers for this as the back will show.

Make a crease in the middle of your pages (1). Decide where you want to make the holes (2). Use your hole punch (3) and make the closure with some string or some ribbon. If necessary, use a big needle to pass the ribbon through and decorate the ends with buttons, beads or simply a knot. (4 and 5)
Note: If you have lots of pages you will have to trim the excess of the inner pages. To do this simply use your paper trimmer or a cutting knife. (6)

BOOK STYLE MINI

For the Book style mini you will need to cut your pages following the same steps than the accordion style. You will also have to cut a piece of paper ½ inch wider than the length of your pages for the cover. (2)

Cover the pages of your mini with double side tape. I covered the whole page but you can cover just half … my mistake! (3)
Close all your pages leaving the design in the inside. Adhere the pages. (4).


All the creases will remain in one side of the mini (6).
Fold you mini album (7) and cover with the last piece of paper (8). Do this while your book is closed, otherwise you will not be able to close it!
To cover the creases, cut a piece of coordinating paper and adhere it to the side. Before adhere it insert a ribbon to close the mini (9).
And here are my three minis all together! Now I just have to fill them up!


Wow! How many ways to make minis! I hope you like them. If you use one of these techniques or have a doubt please leave a comment!
Bye! Eva