LESSology Challenge #30: Guest designer Suman Pandit

This month, we have the lovely Suman Pandit as our guest designer.

I have made two projects for LESSology Challenge #30 Kitchen Raid. Upcycled some old stainless steel containers and a wafer box  for this challenge. There have been few things I wanted to try for some time and that is using crackle effects and decoupage. I have used locally made inexpensive products for both these techniques.

I started with lightly sanding the steel containers so that the paint can adhere better.I used bronze,copper, blue and aqua green metallic acrylic colors as a base coat and left it overnight to dry. next used Fevicryl Hobby Ideas crackle medium all over. Wait for about 5-10 minutes and then painted over with a bit of rust mixed with white acrylic colors As I had applied a thick coat of crackle medium, the resultant cracks started appearing soon and are quite defined and big to show the various layers of mixed colors underneath. 

I have added some wood and mirror embellishments on the lid, the second one had some pink stones so I painted over with matching colors. Have kept it simple as did not want to take away from the beautiful crackle effect. Finished with two coats of clear varnish. 

For the chocolate wafer box decoupage  ( box image from the net as forgot to click a picture ) , I first painted with white acrylic color.  Adhered this nice green net effect and wine glass print napkin with home made mod podge ( diluted fevicol MR with water in a 1:1 ratio), left to dry overnight and then coated with another layer of fevicol mix. 

The different laces are from the super cheap scrap basket of a local lace and button store. for the lid I have used the gorgeous off white flower and the green foam flowers which I received from Tone-Lill all the way from Norway, the glittery leaves are hand cut from the lace. 

It is a pleasure and an honor to be here on LESSology today  to share my work with all of you. Thanks to Yvonne and all my friends at LESSology for inviting me to join the fun here with all Up cycling enthusiasts !!

LESSology Challenge #29: Creative inspiration of Hussena Calcuttawala

Today's project is brought to you by our guest from India - Hussena Calcuttawala as she helps us celebrate our birthday. Let's check out what she brought to the LESSology Challenge #29: Birthday Party. :)

I have recycled a mini I-cod tablet box into a gift box which would make a perfect gift for any birthday celebration with some yummy chocolates placed inside.

To make the base of my box I have first taken some water-color paper and added texture to it by stenciling it with texture paste and the damask Prima stencil.I have added a dash of Lindy's sprays to my texture paste to give a hint of color to it.Then, I have distressed it completely using Spun Sugar and a bit of Fired Brick distress inks.Also, I have distressed the edges of the paper using my scissors and this forms the base of the box on the top and on the sides.I have then embellished it using MDF embellishments and my ever favorite flowers using Spellbinder dies and colored it using Distress Stains.A little bit of pearls here and there and some delicate foliage completes my project! :)

I have also decorated the insides of the box with some Martha Stewart punched laces and a base white paper.

Finally, added some yummy chocolates to it and my gift is ready to be shared :)

Hope you like this gifting idea.Most of us love to receive or give chocolates as gifts ad when it's packaged beautifully, it's all the more fun to receive.

LESSology Challenge #29: Creative inspiration of Helen Tilbury

The birthday party continues today with a fabulous project by our guest designer Helen Tilbury. 

Shall we check out her inspiration for LESSology Challenge #29: Birthday Party?

I created this page with a rare photograph of me with all 4 of my children together. This is an unusual thing as I am normally the one behind the camera J As such any photos I have of us all together are very precious to me. So I journaled my thoughts as they came to me when looking at my children. My greatest achievement in my life for sure!

I used a kit from 13arts that came complete with lots of lovely things like string, a zipper tab & feathers, that are all recycled in a sense. But I also added some of the negative areas from my Ranger pop dots that work great as a layering embellishment & saves them from clogging up the waste bin! 

I had a wonderful birthday party that went on all weekend long as my birthday fell the day before the Easter weekend this year so we headed down the South Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa & enjoyed a lazy beach weekend complete with lots of rest & seafood J

Thanks to Yvonne & all my lovely friends at LESSology for inviting me to join in their birthday fun!!

LESSology Challenge #29: Creative inspiration of Sandi Taloumis

We are so happy to have guest designer Sandi Taloumis join us in our birthday celebrations. Let's see what she created for LESSology Challenge #29: Birthday Party! :)

How exciting ...LESSology turning two! Yippee! This is a time to celebrate! 

In keeping with what Lessology is all about, I decided to celebrate with an ordinary paper towel roll, and then I threw in a lemon packaging bag, bits from a Prima flower pkg., and an old check for good measure....like the pinch for good luck...lol!

First I cut the paper towel roll down a tad, painted it white, and then I wrapped tissue around it and tied both ends. A small gift could be inserted and removed by untying one side. 

Next, I simply added small embellies and my repurposed items and voila, I have my party gift package, ready to celebrate Lessology's two amazing years of up-cycling! 

Come join in the fun....take that ordinary, and make it extraordinary!

LESSology Challenge #29: Creative inspiration of Lizzy Hill

We are so happy to have Lizzy Hill join in our birthday celebrations. Shall we check out how she was inspired by LESSology Challenge #29: Birthday Party?

Hi there! I feel privileged indeed to have been invited to help celebrate LESSology’s 2^nd birthday…..& what better way than with a birthday book, I reckon. 

What is a birthday book? Well, I don’t know if anyone else out there has done this…but I decided for my Wonder Boy [& only grandchild!] I’d create a book that celebrated ONE photo each year on his birthday….so when he gets to be 21 I’ll have a nice little gift to give him as a ‘keepsake’…..sooooo I found an old book at the Op Shop….ripped out the middle, then folded, stitched & pasted in this little booklet.

Then I set about decorating the cover….I used the little star fish that was already on the cover as inspiration & took it from there…but I kept the colours vintage-ish & masculine….more suitable for a 21 year-old-to-be than the 1 year old he is now! So, enough chat – here’s some photos.

Of course, I’ve only done up to his first birthday….I figure fashions, even in scrapping, come & go, so each year will show a different side of his ‘Ma’ as she creates this little keepsake…so, I’ll do the pages as his life & the years unfold JJ

Ahhhh...what a clever idea to commemorate a special date every year! This is such an awesome keepsake Lizzy! :)

LESSology Challenge #27: Guest designer Lizzy Hill

Our guest designer for LESSology Challenge #27: Packaging Central is the lovely Lizzy Hill. I had the pleasure of meeting up with her in person last week and got to spend some time in her scrap room too...:)

My name is Lizzy Hill & I began scrapping in 2009 after coming home from a trip overseas. Mum encouraged me to ‘give it a go’ as a way of getting my photos sorted. It opened up a whole new world which I just adore. Blogging seemed to be a natural extension of scrapping – thus I’ve managed to combine a whole pile of ‘loves’ - photography, writing & scrapping!

My style is madly eclectic. I’ll give anything a go…my fave embellie atm has to be Washi tape – oh! And buttons/badges are up there, too. I scrap cards & OTP’s [off the page projects] as well as layouts. I don’t consider myself artistic – but I do really enjoy colour combinations. That may come from my dim, dark past as a hairdresser! I was also an English teacher…but my boys are grown up, I have my first grand-child, & I’m pretty much enjoying the good life these days. Not complaining at all… This is my 2^nd term on the Scrap Friends Design Team & I’m also on The Trinket Track Design Team…..plus I’ve had a fair few layouts published in Scrapbooking Memories – a fab Australian scrapping mag. Basically, I LOVE the ‘love’ of belonging to the Scrappy Community…blog hops & challenges, like this LESSology one, are such fun! 

I found this box in an Op Shop & it was crying out to me 'Take me, fix me, use me'...so naturally I have! Yvonne showed me how to use old dress pattern to add a bit of texture. Of course, after she'd gone I added more gesso, dimensional paint, mica flakes, crackle paint, mists, spray, pearlessence....nail polish...ummmm...& I'm sure there's more!!!! 

Amazing details and textures on this beautiful upcycled box by Lizzy! Won't you come and play along with LESSology Challenge #27: Packaging Central?

LESSology Challenge #25: Guest designer Kishley

Our guest designer this month is Kishley of Kishley's Studio. :) Let's check out how she was inspired by LESSology Challenge #25: For the love of fabric.

Hi everyone, I am Kishley, an avid papercrafter, a compulsive hoarder, someone who loves to travel and a doting mom with a touch of craziness to add a little zing to life.

I am no good in planning things, so much so that i made this fabric-album-cover project almost as soon as i got the mail from LESSology to be a GD and yet I am running to post it to them on time.

I made a mini album for my daughter and i am going to fill this in with pictures of her and other family members. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and us.

I have used fabric for first and last page of papermania bare basics chipboard album and colored sides of inside pages with metallic marker. It gives a nice feel to the complete album.

I embellished the cover with fabric flowers, feathers, Family-label, Alpha flowers and my colorful anklet. I lost its other pair and it just went with the colors of this album.

Hope you like what i made.

Love,
Kishley

Isn't it a sweet album? I especially love the colourful anklet she added. It adds such a special touch. Please leave a little love for our guest Kishley.

Hope she has inspired you to play along with LESSology Challenge #25: For the love of fabric. We would love for you to play along!:)

LESSology Challenge #24: Guest designer Hussena Calcuttawala

Our guest designer for this month is the lovely Hussena Calcuttawala of Quill and Punch works.

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Hi Everyone,  Hussena  here and I am a stay at home Mom to two lovely kids and I am from Kolkata,West Bengal,India. I have a blog called "Quill and Punch works " and I started my blog journey a year and a half back...  Its been very interesting getting to meet so many different crafters from all over the world  each having their own style and  different techniques of paper crafting and most importantly getting to know about the various Craft Tools and supplies that are available to us nowadays  ...  Because of this I have come to love Paper crafts so much that its become a major part of my life, being part of the blogland has helped me a lot to grow as a Crafter and given me a chance to try out the different styles and techniques of crafting... Over , a period of time I have experimented with various styles and  I can't call any particular style my forte except maybe making my own flowers and embellishments and layering of -course !!..:)
I am  so happy to have  been invited to  Guest design for LESSology today and want to take this opportunity to thank Yvonne and the entire team at LESSology for inviting me here :)...Having said this I am really looking forward to seeing all the gorgeous work you people are going to enter here  for LESSology Challenge#24: Are you a Cover girl?.

So based on the theme ....I have recycled an old trinket box I had in my stash and embellished the cover of it with paints ,pattern paper and my current obssession die cuts :).. And here's is what I have come up with hope you all like my box ..:)

That is one beautiful cover by Hussena, isn't it? Please leave a little love for our guest. :)

LESSology Challenge #23: Guest Designer Helen Tilbury

Hello friends! Today I would like to introduce you to our guest designer Helen Tilbury. Helen does amazing work and was the winner for LESSology Challenge #19: Mirror, mirror on the wall. Let's meet her shall we?

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Hi everyone!  I am totally STOKED to be invited to LESSology as a Guest Designer this month!!  Thank you SO much LERSSology girls!  I can’t wait to see what everyone will create & look forward to visiting your blogs & checking out what I’m already sure will be awesome creations J 

My name is Helen Tilbury & I discovered scrapbooking quite by accident 10 years ago.  I’ve been at it on and off ever since & have been blogging about it for over 4 years now & been on many different design teams & had layouts published in magazines in Australia, America & England.This year I’m working for a few design teams, namely ‘My Creative Scrapbook’ Kit Club in America, and ‘Scrapmatts’ Chipboard Company in Australia, and Purple Pumpkin embellishment company, also in Australia.

You can find my blog at http://helentilbury.blogspot.com under the name of SCRAP ADDICT.  I call myself that because I do love to scrap, although time does not permit me to scrap as often as I would like this year unfortunately. 

I am married to that cute guy in the photo {and have been for a very long time!} & together we have 4 awesome kids & a few sweet furballs in our family.  We live in Durban, South Africa, where it is really hot & humid but air-conditioning is my best friend J

As well as scrapbooking I like taking photos (well they go hand in hand really...) am a Picasa (free editing software) lover, adore cats & monkeys {strange combo but here we have a huge Vervet Monkey population & they are regular visitors to my home & the sweetest creatures ever}. 

I love watching movies, reading magazines and organizing.  Yup I am a storage & container addict & everything in our home is labelled & categorized!’

Eye-catching with loads of graphic details and amazing textures, don't you think? Please leave a little love for our guest Helen!

P/s: Come play along with LESSology Challenge #23: What's in your toolbox?!