My older brother, my sis-in-law, my two nieces and nephew just left for the USA two days ago. I ended up “inheriting” most of my sis-in-law’s beads and beaded creations. She was my inspiration for this fun DIY project.

I found this plastic headband as one of the things she left behind and I wish I could actually give her my finished project.

With some fabric from the Lush Kit, some bling from the Pink Parts Kit, and I had an entirely new headband especially for the holidays.

I used Acrylex Gel as adhesive for the cloth to the plastic headband. For my favorite glue-gun-in-a-bottle adhesive (which I used for the flower, gold berries and bling), I used my ever reliable Inkssentials Glossy Accents.

Miss you already, Kat. Praying for a bright new beginning for you and your family.

The holidays are always bittersweet when we remember our family and loved ones who are not with us. Send them an email, a prayer or a card just to let them know that they are sorely missed.

*hugs*

Nina

It was one of those days when hubby needed a last-minute gift for the Christmas party gift exchange. So I came up with this:

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project #9: Handmade Calendar

Remember the ATC from this post HERE? I simply adhered a piece of folded cardstock behind the ATC and it became an instant tag.

For the container, I used Sugarloaf Products’ See D’s (at least I think I remember that’s what they’re called). But you can also use a CD jewel case that opens up to be a stand for your calendar pages.

Since I had to cut relatively thick cardstock for the pages, then printed out my actual calendar dates, I couldn’t add much design on the pages except for stamped images. But you can also print your calendar dates directly on the paper before cutting them to fit the case.

Here are the pages:

Here’s hoping hubby actually gives it to his officemate. He really wants to keep this for himself. I don’t think he believes I’ll make him a new one. lol.

Christmas is just around the corner. Have you made any handmade gifts for the holidays? Handmade crafts? Share with us. We’d love to see!

*hugs*

Nina

As my title suggests me [Julie] would now like to give you [lovely GA blog readers] a quick tutorial on how I made lots of wired tissue paper leaves to decorate my Christmas gift tags:

If you’re looking for a reto / vintage style festive project and you don’t mind getting your hands and surfaces a little bit sticky then give the following video a watch:

What do you reckon? Pretty simple really aren’t they? 

To form the body of my tags I cut up sheets of ‘Ouchless cardboard’ [available here in ready cut lengths].  Then, for the tags below I layered my wired tissue paper leaves on top of  elements  from my red and white ‘Candy Cane holiday mixed media color kit’ :

For the tags below I used some of the game chip pieces from my Candy Cane kit to form holly berries plus gems and a leaf from my ‘Funky Fa La La green and pink mixed media color kit’.  On the tag on the right I followed the same technique as I showed in my tutorial but used fabric instead of tissue paper - and it works equally well.  

If you’d like to see more examples of the tags I made using the techniques in my video – there’s some here on my blog in the next few days.

Until then, go hunt out some tissue, wire and card. Happy tagging !

Julie

Hey Everyone, Nicole here

I don’t think a gal could have been more excited than I was when I saw the new Christmas Color Combos. *swoon* They totally rock me like a hurricane. Love, love, love them!

Blue Slush is such a wonderful classic Christmas color combo so when I saw this, I just had to make something.

Versatility is a big issue for me. I hate being locked in to one way of using something so I decided to decorate this wooden shrine so it could feature a pretty ornament at Christmas but hold a candle year round. A little paint, a little glue and my lovely color kit, easy as slice and bake cookies

… gauche style.

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project # 8: Creative Giftwrapping

Tag from this post HERE + metal ring + brown office envelope + vintage stickers.

Vintage ad (December 2008 Kit) + cartolina as giftwrapping paper.

Add some ATC-sized name tags with pertinent name and contact info at back.

Equals…

The goods: Wallpaper; rub-ons and collage sheet from the Lush Kit; lots of brown packaging; vintage ads and text; red ribbon; metal rings; decoupage paste or PVA glue.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping and giftwrapping? Sigh, neither am I.

*hugs*

Nina

… you MUST try to get a slot in one of the workshops of our very cool, uber awesome and talented Yasu Kataoka.

She has been having a ball with the Red Kit and Beeswax and totally conquered Japan with her fabulous workshops! Check out her posts HERE, HERE and HERE.

Beeswax Collage Vintage Style Workshop

Altered Book Workshop

Aren’t they just lovely? Makes me want to get on the next plane to Japan!

One of Yasu’s class participants also posted this lovely entry full of photos. Check it out HERE.

Hope this post has steered you towards some creativity! It sure has filled my head with possibilities!

*hugs*

Nina

Hello, gorgeous.

Candy Cane Holiday Kit (red and white)

Funky Fa La La Kit (green and pink)

Blue Slush Winter Kit (blue and silver)

… are now AVAILABLE at the Gauche Alchemy Store. Trust me, your holidays just won’t be the same without them. *wink*

Nina here. (Sorry to Lara’s fans. I hijacked her day just for today.)

My mother-in-law sent over this really cool humungous remote control dirt bike (with its very own rider) for my son. And now we have a ton of styrofoam packing to play with. Hmmm, I thought to myself.

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project # 7: Homemade Table Top Decor

The goods: Green Color Kit; Pink Parts Color Kit; Foreign Text; lots and lots of styrofoam bits and glitter glue; red cloth from Lush Kit; Inkssentials Glossy Accents as adhesive.

What I did: Roughly cut out desired shapes from styrofoam. Decorate, attach and poke through on a styrofoam base with toothpicks. 

P.S. I am always grateful how inspiration hits in the least unlikely of places. As we were unpacking the remote control bike, a piece of styrofoam fell off in the exact shape of a triangle. And, in a lightbulb moment, I thought, Christmas tree!

What are you thankful for today? Scrap it, make something, make a blog or Facebook post. And share it in the comments below. =)

*hugs*

Nina

*********************************************************************************************

P.P.S. I’m thankful for people who reach out and let you know that your work means something, even if it just brightened their day or became a source of inspiration. Thank you so much to everyone who leaves comments and love here.

Another thing I’m squealing over (and it’s 3:27 a.m. my time) is making it on the Scrapinstyletv Chatwalk this week! Woohoo! Kindly check out all the fabulous holiday inspiration HERE.

Nina here. Just wanted to say that I’m so proud to be in such great company. It humbles me everyday to see the talent of our Gauche Alchemy family.

One such talented lady is our very own Nicole Maki.

Does that project look familiar? Check out Nicole’s post HERE.

And, yup, Nicole is holding a copy of Altered Arts Magazine with her very cool and awesome project in it.

Yay, Nicole!

(Although it doesn’t take a published project to see how much talent this girl has!)

I got this small box for my son a while back to organize his Mushiking Game cards. But since they got so many, they didn’t fit anymore. So I sequestered the box and altered it as a Christmas gift container.

The design was multi-colored hearts and the color a bright red. I decided that they fit the colors of the season anyway but I had to tone it down a bit on top.

Nina’s Altered Christmas # 6: Altered Gift Box

The goods: old box; Pink Parts Color Kit; Wallpaper; Foreign Text; fake pearl string; ready-made flower; bells; sticker and collage sheet from Lush Kit, Maya Road bottle cap; Inkssentials Glossy Accents.

What I did: Adhere pink wallpaper on box and seal. I used Acrylex Gel but you can also use Mod Podge.  Adhere vintage pages, flower and bells with Inkssentials Glossy Accents. Fill Maya Road bottle cap with image from collage sheet in the Lush Kit and goodies from the Pink Parts Color Kit. Adhere to box with Inkssentials Glossy Accents but insert the sticker from the sticker sheet (stick on cardstock first to give it some weight) from the Lush Kit.  As a finishing touch, adhered fake pearl string around edges of box.

Do you have stuff lying around the box, sad and with no purpose? Infuse them with new life and pay it forward.

*hugs*

Nina

I remember the first time I discovered scrapbooking. I entered this crafts store for the first time and, boom! I just fell in love with all the little beads, flowers, leaves and scrapbook albums.

Well, the other day when we went to the notions department of the mall, it happened all over again. And I came home with all these bits and pieces — little berries on stems, leaves, ribbon, etc. It felt like rediscovering why I love this craft so much.

So this is what I came up with:

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project # 5: Family Christmas Wreath

The goods: embroidery hoop; newspaper; masking tape; green and white acrylic paint; fixative; green and silver glitter glue; styrofoam; ready-made berries and leaves from the notion department at the mall; gold ribbon; cardboard; Gauche Alchemy’s wallpaper; Gauche Alchemy’s foreign text pages; additional embellishments – chipboard, printed transparency, felt bird; earring and button from Gauche Alchemy’s Green Color Kit; Inkssentials Glossy Accents.

What I did: Get your embroidery hoop and wrap with newspaper using masking tape. Mix green acrylic paint and green glitter glue. (This gets messy so you might want to lay down a lot of newspapers.) Paint embroidery hoop wrapped with newspaper. Let dry as much as you can. Then spray with fixative. (If you want to eliminate the fixative, don’t add glitter glue to green acrylic paint.)

For the berries and leaves, simply wrap their wire stems around your painted base. For the fake snow, add dollops of white acrylic paint then add small circles of styrofoam. Let dry. Again, spray with fixative. (If you want to skip the fixative, paint only a thin layer of acrylic paint.)

For the finishing touch, wrap gold ribbon on top for hanging your wreath. Cut ATC-sized (2.5″ x 3.5″) cardboard. I used the pizza box my order from Gauche Alchemy came in. Layer Gauche Alchemy’s Wallpaper and Foreign Text and chosen photo (this was our first Christmas photo as a family). Add embellies.

You can hang your family collage to the wreath with a ribbon or thread or, for me, I just hung it by sticking the leaves to the wreath with Inkssentials Glossy Accents.

Since Christmas is all about spending time with family, think of little ways you can personalize your Christmas with the official family photo greeting card or even just displaying your favorite Christmas photo in a frame with your decor. Happy holidays!

*hugs*

Nina

Hi there my friendly neighbourhood Gauche-ites. How’s things?

I know that, what with there being quite a few of us blogging over here now you might not be certain who you’re talking to on any given day – so I’m going to make it clear that I’m Julie.  Hello.

It’s especially important that I make that  clear today … as the layout I’m about to share shows a photo of me in my underwear …and I don’t know how happy the other Gauche girls would be if they thought, that you thought, that they were flaunting themselves  … when it’s actually me!

So to clarify things:  today’s Gauche Alchemy post is brought to you by a vintage magazine page from the Career Girl kit, a 12X12 sheet of wallpaper  and a brazen photograph of me flashing my stripey undies.  You have been warned!

The idea for my the technique I use in my layout came when I found this particular vintage magazine page in my ‘Career Girl’ kit:

I really wanted to use it without covering up too much of the image. Yet, it was so large that if I simply stuck it directly to the backing page, I’d hardly have any room left for the photo and journalling which I had in mind.  While repeatedly shuffling both  it and my photo around on the 12X12 sheet of salvaged wallpaper [on sale in the GA Art Fire shop] I used as my backing …I had an idea.

As the following little video will show you, I turned the magazine page into a pouch for hidden journalling so that I could fit everything on my layout without compromise.  Give the video a glance and then I’ll show you some close ups:

So, as you can see, it was a really simple technique but which you can add interest to using the various mixes of brads, beads, buttons and eyelets which you have in your collection and which suit the colours and theme of your layout.  Many of mine came from one or other of my GA mixed media colour kits.

Here’s another look at the finished layout:

I’ve just realised that I haven’t explained why I’ve inflicted my underwear on you have I?  The topic of my layout is my navel piercing which I recently realised I’ve had for a decade now. As as odd as it may sound, I wanted to mark that anniversary! 

The piercing is just a part of who I am now and much of the time I don’t even notice it’s there. But at the time I got it, it meant a huge amount to me. The the story of how and why I decided to get pierced is recorded in my hidden journalling:

The journalling reads:

“1999 -2009. After handing in my final assignment marking the end of my first year at University I made a detour on my way home …to get my navel pierced. The conversation I had with the man who did it went like this:
Him: So why did you decide to get this done?
Me: I’ve just finished my first year at Uni and I didn’t think I would make it. So it’s just to mark that.
Him: What do people think about you doing it?
Me: I don’t know, I haven’t told anyone.
Him: Why?
Me: In case they try to talk me out of it … saying it’ll hurt.
Him: And did it?
Me: What?
While he’d kept me talking he’d finished the piercing and I hadn’t felt a thing … except perhaps a hint of pride.”

To mirror the theme of the layout I pierced my photograph with a pearl-headed pin from my white mixed media kit:

I also used more brads and eyelets than was actually necessary to secure the card-backed magazine page to my layout. I wanted to use lots and lots of interesting items fromseveral of my mixed media and other kits,   just to reinforce the idea of decorative adornments:

I hope that while avoiding looking directy at my underwear you’ve been able to take something interesting away from this layout and my tutorial. Perhaps you might want to:

• mark an unusual anniversary;
• scrap a daring photo;
• make use of a full size page of vintage ephemera you’ve been saving or
• record a personal story or triumph of your own.

Whatever you choose, you can always share them with us in our Gauche Alchemy Flickr Gallery .  [Although, if you want me to be able to look you straight in the eye ever again ... you might want to reconsider sharing any really daring photos!!]

See you around. Most likely I’ll be fully dressed next time. 

Julie

Okay, so I knew that people could come up with something that really kicked some major *toot* with the kits that Gauche Alchemy comes out with. But, I swear, this project just took my breath away.

Introducing one of our beloved and uber talented Japanese customers: Mary White from Japan.

What do you get when you mix a really hot number like the Red Kit with talent and a desire to share oneself? One really cool project.

Mary shares: “I want to tell you about a very wonderful project. Maybe it is the first time that I have been included in this kind of exciting project. It all started with a woman who lives in Hawaii, RBR. A friend of Mrs. Lia mentioned a project that helps children with Aids living in Africa.

The project is like this – a teacher listens and writes stories told by children of Africa. Then we put a ‘taste’ of our own. Pictures will be drawn for the stories, and then the stories become part of a picturebook. We then give those picture books to the kids of Africa.

When I heard about the project from Mrs. Joei of RBR, I thought, ‘What a wonderful project!’, jumping up and down with happiness. I could never have felt more happiness because even though I have little power, cannot go to Africa, cannot teach English, and am only a grain to the world, I could do ’something’. In addition, I love English picture books.

The elementary school children of Hawaii also participate in this big project. The pictures that they have drawn could be a seed of creativity, hope, and a future for the children in Africa. Children have their own way to connect each other already, Mrs. Lia explained to us, using information about Africa, and showing us the picture books drawn by the children of Hawaii.

Mrs. Lia and Mrs. Joei told me, who was having a hard time drawing at that time, that ‘It’s okay if you can’t draw well! You could use mixed media or Art Journal or anything. There are lots of picture books so you could make them as you want.’

Then the story I chose was… The Story of Kasanke, The Little Bird. The story was far different from the stories made in Japan, but it was a story made by chidren of Africa living their daily lives. The more I read the story, the more I felt something inside of me. Then I realized that this story was a story that was so profound that I couldn’t believe children made it.

I made the house of Kasanke. As if it was living in Africa. The bookcover is a bird cage, and inside was the storybook.“

To read more about this truly inspiring project, kindly read Mary’s post HERE. To view more photos of the project, head on over HERE.

Thanks so much, Mary, for sharing your awesome talent and generosity with this project.

We hope that this inspires you, dear reader, in the coming days as we countdown to Christmas!

Since we’ve already done cards (how’s it coming?), how about tags next?

The goods: kraft cardstock; doodle tagged clear stamps by Tia Bennett; vintage pages from the December 2008 Kit; last year’s Theresa Collins patterned paper (snowflakes); Making Memories Icon Dot Paper from the Mistletoe Collection; DCWV paper (sock monkey); sticker (billiards) and collage sheet from the Lush Kit.

What I did: Stamped tag clear stamp on kraft cardstock then cut. Cut out snowflakes and circles from papers and layered on top of each other with foam tape. Added vintage and various images.

Tip: These are just so easy and fast to make that it’s easier if you do a whole bunch at one time. Try to stamp a couple of extras so that you can just grab a few the next time you need them (without the hassle of bringing out the stamp, ink and stamp cleaner). If you don’t have any tag stamps, you can simply doodle and cut your own tags from cradstock. Have fun!

Hope you are enjoying the altered projects I’m sharing. I’ll be back again next Tuesday for more crafts for you. In the meantime, keep coming back for news, inspiration and posts from us.

Hope you’re enjoying your holidays!

*hugs*

Nina

It’s been a tough year. For our family, there’s been a lot of travel, packing, repacking, moving to our new home, and we’ve been in and out of sickness. Financially, well, let’s just say we did get to feel how the rest of the world is feeling with the hard times.

Despite all of this, I do believe that we are still blessed. Despite the bad economy, numerous typhoons hitting our country (Philippines), we’re still alive, healthy and surviving.

For me, being able to create is already such a blessing. So I wanted that to be my message for myself, for our family, and even for everyone this Christmas season.

No matter how bad it gets, if you hit rock bottom, remember: there’s no way to go but up.

The goods: chipboard letters (locally sourced); Pink Parts Color Kit; Green Color Kit; drinks stickers and ribbon from Lush Kit; white and black embossing powder; Versamark; white and black acrylic paint; Maya Road Sheer Butterfly Album page; straw ribbon; clear string; Melissa Frances Clear Stamps (Damask).

What I did:

For the letters — I stamped the damask designs on the chipboard letters with Versamark. I then covered the stamped design with white embossing powder, which I then heated with a heat gun. When the white design was raised, I painted over the entire chipboard letter with black acrylic paint. I then used baby wipes to wipe off the black paint from the white design.

I then punched two holes on the tops of the letter before stringing them together with straw ribbon.

For the sheer album page — I embossed it with black embossing powder.

For the woman, man, boy, house chipboard pieces — I stamped the damask designs with Versamark. I then spread black embossing powder over the stamped design before heating it with a heat gun. When the design was raised, I then painted over the design and the entire chipboard piece with white acrylic paint. Then I used baby wipes to wipe off the acrylic paint from the black designs. I also ended up wiping off the white acrylic paint, which gave the pieces a nice shabby chic look.

I then hung them on clear string and then looping more things on the string — bits from the Green and Pink Parts Color Kits, metal charms and the stickers from the Lush Kit which I’d adhered on transparency before cutting out and stringing.

Tip: You can spell out your personal message, mantra, saying for the holidays using different letters and making your own personal banner. Or even just playing with letter magnets on your ref. Why not make it a family activity and have the kids spell out their own words for Christmas then hang it on the tree or just post it somewhere you can see everyday to make you smile.

Come and play and share it with us on our Flickr group. Or share with us a link to your blog.

I’m posting my Stamped Tags next.

Art does not solve problems but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine – Magdalena Abakanowicz

hello crafty alt-crafters

although i prefer to think of “new years” as just another number on the calendar, you have to admit it is a pretty good excuse to think about what you want to accomplish in the upcoming months. I’m not one for resolutions but i do like to think about all the things i eventually want to accomplish and start devising ways of, well, accomplishing them.

we here at gauche alchemy are hoping to help you accomplish some of your crafty goals in the upcoming year with more tutorials along with all the inspiration and eye candy we can muster up. Speaking of, did you know we have a youtube channel with video tutorials? We do and we hope to be adding more moving picture tutorials in the upcoming year(s)!

But we have a question – what do you want to see? learn? do? Are there techniques you’ve seen that have made you scratch your head as your heart soared at the idea of figuring making that yourself? Have you ordered fabulous kits and supplies from the gauche alchemy artfire store and thought “this item is so flippin cool, but whatever will i do with it?!”

let us know how we can help – challenge is a key to happiness i have discovered!
if you don’t want to leave a comment, feel free to email us at gauchealchemy@cox.net with suggestions or ideas!

The original team of Gauche Alchemy, Amy and Heather, have such an amazing eye when it comes to spotting talent. And it never ceases to amaze me where I see the lovely talented ladies who have been a part of Gauche Alchemy in one way or another.

Pam Thorburn, our amazing guest designer for the Pitching a Tent Kit, is just one example.

Check out where she is and tell me if that doesn’t mean we can definitely pick ‘em!

Pam’s gorgeous work in the latest issue of UK’s The Scrapbook Magazine. You go, girl! And thanks soooo very much for the plug!

You can read all about it in Pam’s post HERE.

Now remember, if you are published in an online e-zine or print publication and Gauche Alchemy is mentioned in your supply list, we’ll send some candy your way to say THANK YOU! Click on HERE for details!

Okay, since the first project I posted was kind of a labor-intensive one, here’s a fairly simple altered project for you.

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project #2: Cardboard Background Cards.

The goods: Ouchless Cardboard; Green Color Kit; sequin waste from the Lush Kit; Wallpaper; vintage image from the December 2008 Kit; other stuff from my personal stash.

What I did: Cut and fold white cardstock to make a card. Adhere Ouchless Cardboard onto the cardstock. Measure wallpaper slightly smaller than the cardboard. Adhere. Get vintage image and adhere to cardstock. Adhere to wallpaper and cardboard. Get printed acetate and adhere to the bottom part of the vintage image. Adhere felt bird, bits from the Green Color Kit and sequin waste.

The goods: Ouchless Cardboard; cloth from an old kit; Making Memories old Christmas patterned paper and Vintage Findings Metallic Embossed Ephemera.

What I did: Fold white cardstock into card. Measure and cut Ouchless Cardboard slightly smaller than cardstock. Adhere. Measure and cut cloth slightly smaller than cardboard. Adhere. Cut chosen image from patterned paper and embellishment sheet. Adhere together with buttons.

And that’s it’s for today. Hope you come back to check out the rest of my altered Christmas projects. And hope that you and your families are having a wonderful holiday season!

*hugs*

Nina

Hi! My name is Nina and I’m a stay-at-home mom and scrapbooker. I’m no expert at altered art so anything I can do, you can definitely do also.

This Christmas, I wanted to do some simple altered art projects just so I can finally use up some of my stash. We all have too much stuff. (C’mon, admit it!) And in order for us to make room for more, err, the new and whatever the future holds, we need to let go of the past. Agree?

So, I humbly present to you Nina’s Altered Christmas. Come back and play along with me as we explore 15 different altered art projects.

Nina’s Altered Christmas Project # 1: Christmas Countdown

The goods: So I grabbed some old CDs, 25 all in all, and a big CD plastic CD container. For the cover, I grabbed some Gauche Alchemy Wallpaper (love the red!) and the Lush Kit (which is all about wine so I thought, Christmas Cheers!). The round circles are patterned paper and two pieces of lovely cloth from the Lush Kit. The sticker “For this special occasion” is also from a sticker sheet from the Lush Kit.

The “Welcoming Christmas” cardboard is actually from the back of a Christmas card from GA’s December 2008 Kit.

The fairy and “welcome home” stickers are from my personal stash.

What I did for the CD container cover: Trace the CD container cover on the back of the Wallpaper. Cut out. My adhesive and sealant for this project is Acrylex Gel. But you can use other mediums, like gel medium or Mod Podge (available at the store). What I like about Acrylex Gel is it works wonders on glossy surfaces like CDs and you don’t need a base layer like Gesso (available at the store) to make sure whatever you paint or stick will stay stuck.

So this is how it looks like inside the CD container. As you can see, all you have to do is remove the top CD to reveal how many days are left until Christmas. (I still can’t believe it’s December 1 already! Where did the year go?)

The goods: an old vintage books, any patterned paper with Christmas countdown numbers (I used last year’s Making Memories paper), stickers, vintage stuff (preferably with images), patterned paper, everything but the kitchen sink (unless you want to include that also, maybe a picture?), anything flat that you can use to decorate the pages

What I did for the CDs: I grabbed an old vintagey book (got it from the used bookstore for like $.20) and ripped out 25 pages. I then stuck the front side of the CDs on each page. Let dry. Cut around the CD. Since the book pages I used are pretty fragile, I just punched the holes in the middle of the CDs with my finger. (Save those bits for a future project!) I also sealed the CDs with the book pages with my adhesive medium.

Then I just cut up my Christmas countdown paper (Making Memories) and stuck it on one side of the CD. If the numbers are too big, I had to make holes in them by tracing the back and cutting them out.

Voila!

The goods: As I mentioned earlier, I used a vintage book, Making Memories patterned paper for the numbers, and of course more vintage goodness from Gauche Alchemy Kits. I used the Lush Kit, last year’s Christmas Kit, and stuff from my personal stash.

What I did: Here’s a quick tip so that your CDs all don’t look alike. Try to work randomly and not consecutive numbers to ensure that they don’t look alike. Sometimes, it’s easier to work with sticking the number down first since they’re big and there’s no room for much else. And sometimes, it’s easier to use an image first so that you can determine what size of number you need. For a more unified look, I worked with the text on the pages facing the same direction. Also, it’s fun to use chapter pages like “Chapter 20″ for day 20.

For the last page, I used the clear CD cover inside the container and stuck down stickers from the Lush Kit. The “cheers” sticker was one whole sticker and I decided that I’d rather see the letters separated so I cut them up and stuck them on cardstock before sticking them down.

Parting words: So I know it’s December 1 and you may or may not have the energy/time/opportunity to make a countdown calendar. Your Christmas countdown calendar need not be as time-consuming as this one.

Some alternate Christmas countdown calendars:

Grab a magnetic board, a square piece of colorful cardstock and some magnetic numbers.

Get an old flip calendar and stick patterned paper and numbers on each page, back-to-back. Decorate with stickers or photos.

Get some hooks and stick them to the wall. Hang numbers on them and remove one each day.

 Inspiration: My favorite place around the holidays online is still Martha Stewart. This in particular is wonderful! Poke around for endless inspiration.

More tutorials: The amazing Tim Holtz has just started his 12 Tags of Christmas! So excited! Also, this year, I’m following Noreen’s 12 Days of Christmas. Check it out HERE.

I’m posting Project # 2: Cardboard Background Cards next!

*hugs*

Nina

Have you ever used bleach?

Now, I don’t mean on your bathroom sink or on your hair, but rather have you used bleach on your photos?

I hadn’t until very recently when I saw a tutorial on it during Alisa Burke’s Anti-Scrapbook class and here’s the result of  my experimenting with bleach and the ‘Career Girl’  kit:

 The tutorial had stated that to recreate the particular effect then the technique should only be tried on photographs which had been printed in a lab. But, as I didn’t have any spare lab photos which I felt happy to begin slattering with bleach, I decided to see how home printed photos would hold up under the chemicals!

By using a self-portrait [the easiest renewable source of photos] I reckoned that if it suffered a complete disaster I could just as easily take and print another. So I laid out a photograph on to the kitchen worktop and began the experiment and while the green streaky effect I achieved is nothing like the fiery reds an yellows in the tutorial – I really love how it turned out:

The colours in my finished photo perfectly co-ordinated with the fabric, lettering and paper from the ‘Career Girl‘ kit …. and if there’s anything you should  know about me by now it’s that that I like picking out things that match!! 

With that in mind, the topic of my layout is that I’m in the process of growing my hair long, with the journaling: “After years of cutting it I’ve decided that  I’m definitely (almost 100%, probably, certainly, maybe) going to let it grow (at least] for now”. So,  imagine how happy I was to find that the vintage dictionary pages in my kit included definitions such as this:And this:

So, have I tempted you then? Any plans to grow your hair or bleach your photos yet? Or have I confused you into planning to bleach your  hair? Either way …you can always photograph the results, scrap with them and upload your pages to the Gauche Alchemy Flickr group!

If you’re still not totally convinced about mixing photos and bleach and would like me to blog a step-by-step tutorial on it for you – just leave a comment below to let me know.  I’m nice like that.

I’m even nicer when I’m reminding you that if you order from the Gauche Alchemy Artfire shop between now and Monday you’ll get 20% off with the code: CYBERMONDAY.

Right then, I’m off before you trample me in the rush to get your hands on Gauche goodies and bleach. I wouldn’t stand a chance!!!

I’ll see you soon.

Julie

We’re having a Cyber Monday sale over on our ArtFire shop!

Most of us are familiar with Black Friday, I gather – the crazy shopping day after Thanksgiving in preparation for the commercialism of the winter holidays!  You may or may be aware that the online version of this crazy day of sales is called “Cyber Monday.”  Amazing what folks come up with to push consumption, huh? 

Okay, I’m not anti-capitalist.  Promise.  To prove it, use this coupon code when you order from our ArtFire shop from now through Monday, and get 20% off your entire order!

HERE’S THE CODE!         CYBERMONDAY

We’re feeling generous – we’re kind of wacky that way.  You just may find an extra little something packaged up with your order. 

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Not shopping for yourself?  Hoping for the best when opening your own presents this year?

Put us on your AMAZON WISH LIST!  You know your friends and loved ones like to be pointed in the right direction – help them out.

This button is located in the price box on the upper right side of each listing page.  Simple as that!

We have lots of fun (and lots of kits) in store for December!  If you don’t already have us on your feed reader, might want to consider it – you won’t want to miss a bit of this.

kbyenow.

We have a local Yahoo! Group of scrapbookers in the Philippines with an online challenge blog. I’m supposed to be an outstanding core group member but I haven’t joined the challenges in a while. *hangs head*

Since the November-December challenge was right up my alley, I couldn’t NOT make something for it: make Christmas-themed ATCs.

I’ve mentioned time and again how in love I am with the Ouchless Cardboard in the store and the pizza box of my order which I am slowly but surely eating up. And here’s what I came up with.

I also had fun with the Green Color Kit to embellish. The pearl beads are from a chain from an old Gauche Alchemy kit.

Tip # 1: I originally intended of painting the ridges of my ripped cardboard from the pizza box my GA order came in. I painted them white, but it didn’t look right. So I added splotches or green, red and more white paint. It came out purple and was an ugly, smooshed mess. As I was thinking I’d just scrap the pieces of cardboard, thank goodness I flipped it over. And I had these lovely splattered paint all over the back. So that’s what you see here.

Tip #2: My adhesive of choice is gel medium. But for the more intricate gems and beads, I used Ranger Glossy Accents.

Tip # 3: Cut out Christmas-themed shapes from cardboard then emboss with gold embossing powder for a fun, unique embellishment. These turned out to pretty that I want to make a bunch more to decorate the tree.

hi all!
wanted to share a mixed media project i just finished with you!
i used generous amounts of the Wedding Night White Mixed Media kit

and the Black Mixed Media kit

It’s a present I made for my dad’s birthday

I started with a box that my new Magic Mouse was shipped in and gesso’d the heck outta it! Then i layered on a couple of different types of text and music and over that put one of my new favorite tools – wax paper with paint. The image over that is a drawing i drew of my dad, like, um, 20ish years ago (thank god my mom kept a scrapbook of her own!) and scanned it into my computer then printed it out and made a packing tape image transfer of it (tutorial to come one of these days).

Around the inside edges of the box i glued down different little pieces from the Gauche Alchemy mixed media kit elements and various pieces of hardware i collected. And i discovered the BEST adhesive i have used yet from the Gauche Alchemy store: Omni-Gel Transfer Medium!

I have yet to use it as a transfer agent, but as an adhesive it ROCKS!!!!! WOW it holds all that on upside down and stuff!

The background matte is made of my other favorite technique – duct tape and acrylic paint

He liked it

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

I am obsessing over this song and video right now: Fireflies by Owl City.

I just love the last line: “It’s hard to say I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep/Because my dreams are bursting at the seams.”

I also just finished the chapter called “Say Hi to Yaron” from Patti Digh’s wonderful book “Life is a Verb”. (To have an idea what the book is about, check out the blog 37 Days.) Basically, Patti related about how she sits beside this total stranger in a plane who irritated her to no end before she realized that she was missing an opportunity, the same kind of opportunity she always talks about. So she talked to this man named Yaron, who turned out to be this sweet man from Israel, full of amazing stories and adventures. Their friendship endured and grew from that one conversation and they grew to be lifelong friends.

And then I stumbled upon this tonight: The Lost Camera Project.

And then I stumbled upon this page because of it: Disposable Memory Project. (I love that one of the cameras is actually in the Philippines. It gives me a sense of solidarity with the world.)

Sadly, according to the Disposable Memory Project website, out of 249 cameras released into the world in 56 countries, 17 have returned home, 77 are found and are going around, while 152 are still missing in action.

I love the idea of sending out something into the world, not knowing or caring if it’ll come back to you filled with wonderful little stories from the people who were part of it.

But it also makes me shake my head that 50/50 of people will love the idea too and go along with it, while the other half will just keep the camera for themselves. Most people have bigger problems, I get it, who don’t have the time or money or vision to go along with it.

For me, I can totally understand the feeling of wanting to reach out and touch other people’s lives somehow. And be lucky enough to see a glimpse into other people’s worlds.

Because my dreams are bursting at the seams too.

tis the season for holiday present buying and making!
but some of us may not have time for the making part…
if not, there’s alot of suuhhhweeeet crafters out there who have!

today i went to an indie craft show in atlanta ga and got most of my holidays presents – all unique and handmade.
it was like etsy or artfire came to life in one big room!
and so inspiring i can’t even begin to tell you the list of ideas i have in my head now – it was rather exhilarating.

anyways, a short post to make you aware, if you weren’t, of the cool newish indie craft movement “IRL” (in real life).

I found this directory of shows maybe one near you will be happening soon…and don’t forget to check your local listings wherever they may be.

(but if you do have time to make your gifts and cards, the gauche alchemy artfire store has some very inspiring kits and materials to help you out)