LESSology Challenge #2: Creative Projects of Laurel Seabrook, Linda Lapotka and Kirsty Vitteto! :)

Today we are sharing the creative inspiration from Laurel Seabrook, Linda Lapotka and Kirsty Vittetoe.

Hi everyone, Laurel here with my first post as a LESSology DT member and I am so excited!

Our challenge is trinket boxes, so many options I can't wait to see what you do.

Ah, Trinket boxes, I love trinket boxes.  I picked these up at a garage sale over the summer.

I wasn't sure at first what I would do with the book boxes, I used the purse one to make a gift card holder... you can see that here.  I decided to make some Halloween Decorations with them.  Another use could be to fill them with treats and use them as a Halloween Hostess gift.  Or I'll just keep them myself and make the goodies for me, ;)

First I spray painted them black then I just went to work layering and stitching the papers and embellishments all before I adhered the panels to the box.  I left the back plain so that they could be decorations and lay on a table or side table.

For this one I used my Cricut to cut out the spider, and a Martha Stewart punch for the web border, and tied on some Twine.

The close up of the larger book.  The crow frame was fussy cut from the pattern paper and adhered.  

I love how these turned out.  Can't wait to see what you do!

Hi everyone! It's Linda! I just love the challenge today. Altering a box is one of my favorite things to do. 

I started with a 90 cent box that I got at Goodwill. I sanded, painted, and inked it.  Then added some designer paper.

Next I  added the embellishments. The lace is from my St Vinnie's lace haul. The image is from Graph 45 paper. "Dream" was cut with my Cricut.

Now for a peek at the trinkets inside. I trimmed and stitched some felt to line the inside.

This was so much fun. I sure hope I gave you some ideas and that you will join in on the challenge here at LESSology.  Remember to do something you enjoy today.

Hi, it's Kirsty here, sharing with you an altered trinket box...

to start with.... my favorite eye-cream, that comes with a cute little box

trace the 4 sides of the box onto your favorite paper...

I like to "label" them at the back of the paper so they don't get mixed up...

now the lid.... a little distress ink all over the edges....

a little stamping won't hurt.....

so what should I do with those pages dug out from that old book?

how about a little bloom?

here you go..... a tiny trinket box

maybe I should give it to my husband so he could put a little "something" in there for me?

Inspired to try out The Trinket Box Challenge? We would love to see your entries! :) Please leave some comment love for our awesome designers! 

LESSology Challenge #2: The Trinket Box

Welcome to LESSology's Challenge #2 - The Trinket Box Challenge! :) Don't we love having little boxes holding fun little treasure we have? Decorate an existing box or make one from scratch! Remember to include at least ONE upcycled item on your creation!

Our sponsor for Challenge #2 - The Trinket Box Challenge is Market Street Stamps.

One winner will take home the MKS Prize package - It contains: MSS-14 "Enjoy Today", MSS-11 "Computer Cutie", MSS-BK-07 "Vintage Wallpaper" and MSS-BK-08 "Vintage Music". Total retail value is $42.00.

Here are some sneak peaks of our design team projects to help get you started! You will be seeing these awesome projects in their full glory as we reveal them this week! :)

Ready to play along? 

Link your creations via Inlinkz (located at the end of the post) by Sunday October 2, 11.59pm EST. Please read the challenge rules to ensure your eligibility for our prizes.

Sponsor Spotlight - Creative Charms

LESSology is honored to have Creative Charms sponsor 

Challenge #1 - The Altered Book Challenge.

They have generously offered 2 prizes. Be sure to get your entries in for a chance to win.

Creative Charms has a variety of wonderful items that are great for traditional scrapping as well as altered art. If you like vintage, flowers, blings, and brads then you are sure to love the variety of their products.

Here are a couple of Angi's favorite altered projects made using Creative Charms.

Altered Christmas Box

Altered Tile

Be sure to visit the wonderful Creative Charms store:

http://www.creativecharms.com/

Get your entries in for LESSology Challenge #1: The Altered Book!  Challenge ends on Sunday, September 18, 11.59pm EST. Please read the challenge rules to ensure your eligibility for our prizes.

LESSology Challenge #1 Guest Designer: Julia Stainton! :)

Hi! My name is Julia and I’m thrilled to be guest designing for LESSology! I’m just loving this site and concept and the challenges! What a great place for inspiration.

Challenge #1: The Altered Book Challenge is an amazing one. Have you seen all the possibilities? I’m super excited about it as it gave me the impetus to make something I’ve been wanting to create for a long time. My altered book is one that I created myself out of a cardboard lid off a banker’s box. LESSology is all about altering and upcycling and I’ve had so much fun putting this little album together.

My “Things I Like” Album is created from cardboard pages that have been cut to 5”x7” in size. There are six pages and I’ve enjoyed covering almost every square inch of them. The Crop-a-dile makes punching through cardboard so easy and my little album is held together with some binding rings from the office supply store.

This album is fun, messy and I love that anything goes. Don’t take an album like this too seriously. They are a great place for using up bits and pieces of this and that. I love incorporating things I have around the house. Scraps of canvas fabric turned into this pretty rolled flower on the cover.

Here are the edges of the pages. I’ve stapled on little tabs from tickets and ribbons etc.

How about a peek inside?

I adore sewing and old patterns make great textured backgrounds with glued to the pages. I crumpled mine first for extra texture and then used a liquid adhesive to adhere.

Most of the pages hold different themes on the opposite page but I’ve tried to tie them together visually by using similar stamps and colors on each page. Background stamps are a great way to alter and add interest to plain pages. I’ve also using liberal amounts of white paint on the edges of most of the pages in this book. Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint is so easy to apply with the built in brush and it adds a great texture when dry.

Lots of stamping and inking on these pages. Don’t worry if your handwriting isn’t perfect. Mine is FAR from being so. It’s a piece of you and just add in your thoughts.

We’re almost to the end with these pages. I’ve covered  them with Tape Strips and patterned paper.

Lastly, I have so many things I like that didn’t fit into my categories that I just kept listing them on the back of my album. Use every space if you want to. Lists are also a great way to journal that are quick and to the point.

 I hope you’ll be inspired to create a fun cardboard album. Have fun with it!

 Feel free to stop by and visit me at my blog, Belle Papier.

 Thanks so much for joining me today!

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Wow! Isn't Julia's altered book just beautiful? :) Please leave a comment for our guest designer Julia.

Get your entries in for LESSology Challenge #1: The Altered Book!  Challenge ends on Sunday, September 18, 11.59pm EST. Please read the challenge rules to ensure your eligibility for our prizes.

Meet LESSology design team member: Linda Lapotka! :)

Hey there, Linda here. I am so excited to be a part of the LESSology Design Team. I am a retired first grade teacher and live in Wisconsin with my sweet husband and our fat cat Max. We have 4 grown sons, one very talented daughter-in-law and a beautiful granddaughter. When I am not making cards and scrapbooks I am hunting down items to recreate. I love to share ideas, and I’m always looking for new ideas. I hope I will be and inspiration to you. Thank you for all your support and votes.

Here's a look at some of Linda's creations!

Altered six drawer box.

Altered Cigar Box

This is my ATC and Rolodex Box made from an old crate. 

Don't forget to enter  The Altered Book Challenge!

You have till Sunday September 18, 11.59pm EST.

LESSology Challenge #1: Creative Projects of Amy Tsuruta and Lisa Saunders! :)

Today we are sharing the creative projects of Amy Tsuruta and Lisa Saunders.

Hey there!  It's Amy, with my first LESSology project....

Check out my board book:

I picked it up at Target's $ spot...the first thing I did was paint all the pages black. 

I started off with the front cover.  I actually kept both the front and back covers clean and simple since this is for Darin and he's not a fussy kind of guy:)  So, check it out, his favorite color is blue....see that blue patterned paper?  We recently went on a cruise and one of the things the cruise line left for us was an invite to some kind of jewelry show...that paper is the invite:)

I knew that I wasn't going to use all 8 pages of the book so what I ended up doing is adhering some of the pages together which gave me 4 interior pages.

Here's page one:

All the interior pages are lined with Webster's Pages...all the chippies are Crate.  The alpha on this page is by Sassafras.

I'm imported {canadian} and darin is domestic {montana}..haha.

We recently celebrated our 3 year anniversary...

In February of 2010, Darin proposed to me:)

The alpha on this page is Lily Bee.

Here's the clean and crisp back cover...more of that invitation paper:)

Thanks sooo much for stoppin' by the LESSology blog...I can't wait to see YOUR projects!

Hi! It's Lisa! An art journal is something I’ve been wanting to start for quite some time now. This challenge was the push that I needed to get me going.

I searched the local thrift stores for my perfect journal and found this beautiful hardback book. Emma by Jane Austen. So English and it cost me just $2.50.

I always feel a slight sadness at the thought of defacing a book, but hope that Jane Austen would think that the book is still being loved and appreciated but just in a different kind of way : )

I have removed pages, stuck several pages together to form more sturdier pages and covered these in gesso.

The pages have been misted and painted in lots of different colours.

I am decorating this art journal using odds and ends and scraps. It feels good to be able to use up these bits that are too pretty to throw away.

All my alpha stickers are from Basicgrey and years old. They’ve been saved and not used, so now is the time to finally put them to use.

I have decided to use this journal to record those funny moments. We have lots of them in our family, but we don’t always have the camera to hand at that exact moment.

Now I have somewhere to remember them.

Thank you for stopping by :)

Hope you have enjoyed the design team's projects for The Altered Book Challenge! Now it's time for you to work your magic! :) You have till Sunday September 18, 11.59pm EST. Please leave some love for our designers!