If you’re looking for a chic way to gift a bottle to your favorite drinking buddy or the perfect place-card-cum-party-favor for your next wine-soaked fete, have I got the tags for you! Scraps here, and I’ve been splashing around in the Shaken Not Stirred Mixed Media Kit.

I started by having my eCraft cut out half a dozen 6-inch bottle shapes from speckled card stock, then I pulled out the awesome magazine and book pages from the kit to find my words and images. The people came from a Coca-Cola ad–aren’t they stylish?!–and the recipes to go on the companion tags came from some pages of a cocktail guide. I used my tags as a cutting template and cut them all to size. The bits from the pages got their edges dabbed with some Versamark ink.

The chipboard martini glasses (also in the kit) were perfect additions to the women’s cards and the bottle caps for the man.

The top and sides of each bottle shape were sponged with Barn Red craft paint through some round punchinella. For the cork/cap I wrapped some Mail Art washi tape around the top of the die cut (also to reinforce the hole I was about to cut in them) and then created the wrap around the neck with more washi tape, this time the Beautiful Music design. Then the cut pages were attached with Power Tape.

The martini glasses were “filled” with 3 colors of Art Anthology Gelates: Splashed, Red Velvet and Kenyan Copper to give it a layered cocktail look. Round the edges and the glass and down the stem was covered with silver dimensional paint by Tulip. Once dry they were attached to the front tags with Helmar Quick Dry.

ProTip: The Quick Dry likes to ooze out a little after you’ve twisted the cap closed. To avoid wasting this precious stuff, leave the last bit of your item bare, close the top, then use the overflow to add your glue to that last section.

“Don Draper” (tell me he doesn’t look a little like Jon Hamm!) got a couple pieces of ephemera (all from the kit) for a more “manly” decoration.

To hang the tags on the bottles, I used a small binder ring to hold each pair of tags together. If you use a 2″ binder ring you can easily slip it over the bottles neck and be done, or you can take a length of Baker’s Twine, strung a few times through the smaller binder rings, and then loop that over the bottle to secure the tags in place.

It wouldn’t take much to add some snarky sayings to each tag or a name if you wanted to use it as a place card.

Cheers!
~Scraps

Filed under: altered art, design team, Kits, Mixed Media | 1 Comment »

Hello all you artsy people, Maggi here to help you get to know a little bit about our new Alchemist’s creative style. Today new Alchemist Deb shares some of her favorite projects. Take it away, Deb!

Art Journal page with my mug on it:

This art journal page was a part of a 30 day project I gave myself where I had to art journal every day. I had planned for this to be a more sophisticated painterly type thing..until I dropped the contents of my beading bag onto the wet impasto medium. So this is what I got. Happy accident, yes?

Scrapbook page:

I made this scrapbook page using a Prima stencil and some modelling paste. I love lots of bits and pieces. I also love these two kids.

Mixed media painting:

This painting is called “Community”. I love plaster and cloth..so it has been made by building layers of plaster and cloth and paint. I really love dripped paint too…hope that doesn’t mean I am a drip…lol although it probably does.’

Paper art:

This little number is a part of an art assignment….I layered printed paper, sketches on tracing paper and doodling…. I also love eyes. I put them on everything, just about. Tracing paper is an awesome base to play on!

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Um, so am I the only one currently *drooling* over Deb’s creative prowess??? Holy Mod Podge, Batman! And I cannot WAIT to see the projects she creates for us here at Gauche Alchemy. Thanks for sharing with us Deb!

Now go glue something awesome onto some awesome something! (Or just drop it all on there like Deb did on her first project, either way!)

Maggi

Filed under: Art Journal, design team, Mixed Media, Scrapbooking | 4 Comments »

Hello!! Mary, here to share a quick but effective way to alter an old book, and create yourself up one AMAZING mini book! It’s repurposing at it’s best

That’s my kind of trash-to-treasure! Now, go sprinkle some awesomesauce onto an old book or two. And glitter. Glitter is GOOD.

xx Mary

***Public Service Announcement — No books were harmed in the creation of this video. Only turned into a new and FAB version of itself.***

Filed under: altered art, design team, diy, Scrapbooking, tutorial | 3 Comments »

Hello everyone. Alchemist Marilyn here with a project I created from a wooden spoon and the Shaken Not Stirred Mixed Media Kit. This was really fun to do and somewhat of a challenge. You know, rectangular paper, round spoon; you get the picture.

I found a large whiskey advert in the kit and used it to cover my spoon. To make this easier, I worked from the middle outward, cutting slits in the paper right up to the edge of the spoon so everything would wrap and lay down with no wrinkles. I then covered it with a decoupage medium to seal and strengthen the paper. Magazine pages are very flimsy and you have to be careful not to tear them when gluing. Once I had the front and sides of the spoon covered, I started adding my embellishments.

I grabbed my kit and began laying out different embellishments on the spoon until I liked what I saw. Everything was glued down with Glossy Accents. This is being mailed to someone and I wanted to make sure everything stayed put. To back the spoon, I used the piece of braid found in the kit and glued it on, then I added a piece of lace as a hanger. In fact, everything on the spoon is from the Shaken Not Stirred kit except for the lace, the sequins from the Wedding Night Mixed Media Color Kit and the tiny glass.

Of course, I had to add some bling to the center of the spoon. What’s a project without a little sparkle?

So, now that you’ve seen you can alter a spoon, why not give it a try? Grab a wooden spoon and get busy!

Until later……………….
Smiles~

Filed under: altered art, design team, Kits, Mixed Media | 3 Comments »

Hi everyone! Maggi here to share a little bit of a project that I did a while back. Actually, I wanted to share the quote that’s on the project with you, which really struck me a couple of nights ago.

I decided to take some pictures of my craft room which is really a craft room/office/storage area for completed projects, to do projects, pieces of projects and all sorts of other awesome things. (Don’t worry, I’ll lower the boom with those pictures some other time.)

But as I was looking around at things I’ve made or things I’ve gotten from other artists, this altered tin caught my eye. Like I said, I made it a while back. There’s the usual suspects on it like Distress crackle paint, some melted crayon and the picture is of my husband’s relatives (it was taken in the 1920s, isn’t is awesome?!)

Anyhoo, the quote from James Russell Lowell really stood out to me:

I think a lot of times creative people (particularly mixed media artists that revel in “lost things”) tend to find an object and get excited about gluing it on something else just to find it years (?!) down the road and say, “Oh right! I was going to glue this on something!”

It occurred to me that this quote is the perfect inspiration for digging through the lost things and finally getting “creative” with them. Take some time to dive into the Piles of To Do so you can move them over to the Pile of Done and Done.

Now go glue something awesome onto some awesome something!

Maggi

Filed under: altered art, Mixed Media | 2 Comments »

Hi everybody!! Lori here to share with you a mixed media canvas I made for this month.

I started with this background of patterned paper, washi tape and a white wash of paint.

(You may remember the background from this post…see! If you have some pre-made backgrounds, you’re already a step ahead! )

I then pulled some star punchinella and some elements from my Scarlet Fever Red, Lady Marmalade Orange, and Blue Streak Mixed Media Color Kits to create a little layered cluster. I added a tag sprayed with Art Anthology Colorations Spray in Juicy with the “notes to self”.

I finished it off by smooshing some modeling paste through some punchinella to add just a bit more texture.

And, TAAA DAAA!

Now, you go get messy, ya hear?!

Lori

Filed under: altered art, design team, Mixed Media | 2 Comments »

Peg here…Welcome to May! My favourite time of year, we have the most beautiful Autumn sunsets at home right now!

That said, this last few weeks have been a little bit OTT (over the top) at our place, what with school holidays on top of regular commitments AND a feisty teen girl thrown into the mix. However I was lucky enough to get away for an amazing weekend learning Art Journaling from the fabulous Dina Wakely. It is a skill I have long admired but struggled to find my own meaning with, but after her classes I am totally inspired and feel I really ‘get’ it now. So much so that it was what I turned too during the recent stresses when I had no passion to scrapbook.

This is where I started…

Right there, that’s a collection of circle punchinella in different sizes and some inkpads, I ended up with a few other colours. Using the punchinella as a mask, and rubbing the inkpads directly over the top I simply layered up the colours and circle sizes until it looked like this…

Next I cut a silhouette from a vintage magazine page, inked the edge and glued her down. Then I peeled the top layer off a paper napkin, tore carefully around the images I wanted to use and applied these to my page with gel medium.

I found a perfect quote and added a couple more shadows in the lady shape (using a stencil). Then, because it still needed something, I used the punchinella again to make white dots with correction fluid, drawing around them with black to make them stand out. Lastly I added some big grey punchinella circles and inked around the edge for a finishing touch.

All in all it was pretty quick and very cathartic, here’s the finished piece…

I think I love art journalling!

Now go and glue something awesome onto some awesome something

Filed under: Art Journal, design team, Mixed Media | 4 Comments »

Hi everyone! Maggi here to introduce our new Alchemists! I have to say, this was a TOUGH choice. We received so many AWESOME applications. So first, thank you to everyone who applied! We so appreciated each and every application and want you to know that your talent is amazing, keep right on gluing what you’re gluing!

And now, let’s meet our new Alchemists!

Pam Palmarini

Hello! I am Pam–artist, crafter, 13-year high school art educator, wife, mother, sister, friend, home-maker, and jack-of-all-trades. I love to play with materials, try techniques of all kinds, and be as messy as possible when I create! In my experience, art and all creative pursuits are supposed to make you think and demand that you step outside of your comfort zone. Teaching and sharing what I have learned, as well as being a life-long learner are traits that have made me a better problem solver. And, solving “artful” problems really makes me feel ALIVE!… It is all about the journey… Won’t you come along with me? (Visit Pam’s blog: here!)

Deb Godley

Well howdy!! *waving madly* My name is Deb,and I am a ridiculously short, , Mummy to a 15 year old and an 11 year old, wife, and a loud and boisterous arty type. I am also Mummy to a black pug named Gypsy. I have made art since..well…forever, but my favourite thing to play with is paint and paper, and I am a firm believer in the art journal as a daily ritual.

As well as being a new Gauche Alchemist, I study art full time, and work full time as an Office Administrator for an Accounting firm. I live on a little property just outside Tamworth, Australia’s Country Music Capital, and for the record, no, I don’t dig Country Music. I live with a heavy rock guitarist so music is also a huge part of my life- and my creative process. So it’s tattooed dudes and loud guitar solos for me..all the way.

I am so excited to be a part of the Gauche Alchemy Design Team for 2013. When I’m not playing with the Gauche Team… you can find me on my blog, Lunatic Fringe.

And last, but not least….

Rachel Whetzel

I specialize in creativity and mixed media art through thrifting, up-cycling, re-purposing and new design. I have had the privilege of being published in several Stampington Publications, and am a contributor to Seth Apter’s newest Mixed Media book, “The Mixed-Media Artist: Art Tips, Tricks, Secrets and Dreams from Over 40 Amazing Artists” slated to be published later this year. I am the owner of A Year in the Life of an Art Journal and Monday Mugshots! I am SO thrilled to have been chosen to be an Alchemist! I am: Thrift junkie. Free Spirit. Believer. Artist. Photographer. Mom to boys. Rust Lover. Worm Farmer. Blogger. Creative Soul. Rule Bender. Spider Saver. Coffee Drinker. Cream Lover. Chook Farmer. Goat Milker. Sailor Mouth. Music Listener. Phone Talker. Garden Grower. Beek. Mess Maker. Risk Taker. Chewy Mom. Gritty Gramma. Good Intender.

You can find me on line –
BLOG: http://www.RachelWhetzel.com | FACEBOOK: http://Facebook.com/RachelWhetzelArt

Please help us welcome them and as they’re working on their first projects for us, go check out their blogs!

And don’t forget to go glue something awesome onto some awesome something!

Maggi

Filed under: design team, News and Announcements | 9 Comments »

Our newest kit is sure to get you creating in your mad laboratory! We pay our homage to our wonderful Alchemists we have here at Gauche Alchemy with a kickin’ new Steampunk themed kit: Alchemist’s Apothecary.

This kit is loooooaded with Steampunky goodness. Here’s what you get with this packed to the brim kit:

Antique Apothecary Bottle (bottle design and size vary from kit to kit)*
7 sheets of Graphic 45 Papers from “Steampunk Debutante”
Graphic 45 tag sheet “Steampunk Debutante”
1 sheet of white Ouchless Cardboard
Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in “Cowboy”
Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze in “Chianti”

Prima Junkyard Findings “Gears” (a brand spankin’ new package of them!)
Tim Holtz “Ball Chain” (new in package)
Tim Holtz “Clock Faces” (new in package)
Tim Holtz Keyhole with key (single, may vary from kit to kit)
Octopus metal charm
Sewing maching metal charm
Metal Cameo
Filigree disk
1 12″ length of Punchinella (color will vary)
1″ 12 length of Grid PVC Punchinella
1 swatch of fabric (color and style will vary)
1 12″ film strip

*Due to the antique nature of the apothecary bottles, there are imperfections. We also left the bottles in an “as is” state so as to add character and uniqueness to the kits and projects. Of course, you can alter the to your alchemist heart’s content!”

Now go grab Alchemist’s Apothecary and glue something awesome onto some awesome something!

Maggi

Filed under: Kits, News and Announcements | No Comments »

Heydee hello, it’s Amy here today, to share a fun layout featuring my daughter’s guinea pig (and my recent obsession), Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon is so sweet, fat, and cuddly, and he has feet that look like a Hobbit’s, soooooo, he’s super rad.

I wanted this layout to be as funky and colorful as Sheldon makes me feel, so I started with the red and white polka dot paper, and then added more polka dotted layers of paper, and some shiny, fabulous punchinella in red. Punchinella was a BIG hit with the participants when I taught an “upcycled scrapbooks” class recently, I think all of us crafty types love the sparkle and shine….and who doesn’t love taking sequin waste (! eeek, punchinella is certainly not waste, what a word) and upcycling it! Good for the earth, and also good for your crafty soul.

Also on my layout are several washi tapes, some of which can be found in the Gauche Alchemy store…. so go right now and pick some up!

Ah, I’m so thrilled to know that future generations will be blessed with a funky fresh layout featuring a little creature that makes my days soooo sunny! So, hopefully you’re inspired to get crafty…..and you’ll immortalize a fun member of your family (maybe with two legs?) Peace out!

Filed under: design team, Mixed Media, Scrapbooking | 3 Comments »