challenge 168

Sketch week again! I love how the design team used it in such different ways again!
If you are new and want to learn more on how our challenges work here's all the info for that. Play along and have fun with it! :)

Tania

Vanessa

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Jeannie

challenge 167

Hello, we are back with another one. This week we want you to pull out your

Glimmer Mist.

This popular technique is being seen everywhere and we want to see how you use it. For all you newbies that want to join in on our fun here's how it all works.

Let`s get started! :)

TaniaVanessa

Carol

GudrunEva

Elly

Jeannie

Challenge 166

Oh yeah! I love sketches :) This week's challenge is a super simple sketch that is just begging to be rocked out in the biggest, baddest way. So all you gotta do is rustle up a photo and a few of your favorite embellishments and you're all set!! Try spinning it 90 degrees or 180 degrees...we wanna see what this sketch does for your creative mojo.

And being the first challenge of a new month, that means we've got our new designer playing along with us! Hooray! Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post to see what Jeannie did with this sketch.

Do you wanna get in on the creative fun but don't know how it all goes down?? Then visit this link to get the scoop. We're a super laid back crowd 'round here so really, fun's the name of the game.

Vanessa

Tania

Carol

Gudrun
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Elly
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Eva
Eva was visiting Chile with her family when the earthquake hit. She has contacted us and tells us that they are all okay but due to delays with flights leaving Chile, she won't be leaving the country until about the middle of March.

Be safe Eva. Take care of yourself and your family. Please let us know how things are going and when you arrive home! Love and hugs! XOXO

Jeannie

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

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

Challenge 162

Oh yeah! It's challenge time again people! This week's challenge was to work with the sketch shown below. It was an incredible inspiration point for me to start from. I am in love with the layout I created from it and can't wait to keep riding the inspiration-train! Yeah!

So while we're at it with creating more scrappy goodness, let's not forget that we have the amazing Sasha Holloway with us this month (have I mentioned how much I love her layouts?!?!) and you can read more about her HERE in her introduction post from earlier this week.

edited:: I posted the wrong layout for Sasha. The new (correct) layout is now at the bottom. Sorry for the Oops, Sasha!!

Wanna get in on the action 'round here? You can join us on Flickr with your own terrific pages. Go HERE to find out more. Let's see whatcha got, guys! Rock this one like you do with all the rest!

Vanessa

Tania

Carol

Gudrun

Eva

Elly

Sasha