My Button Box - Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home

 I call this my button box because I have placed my Graphic 45 pin-on button to the front of it.  (Thank you Krissy and Rae for getting this for me while you were at CHA!)  I really love these buttons that G45 has but rather than just having them hang around, I like to make them a part of a project.

This is a G45 Staples Book box that I've covered using the Home Sweet Home collection.   I seldom work with mixed medias when I'm working with G45 papers as I can't bear to cover the gorgeous images and patterns but today I thought I'd try my hand at it and I actually like the result.  I used a couple of masks and white modeling paste as well as acrylic paints.  After all that was dry I painted the entire box inside and out with matte medium to protect the paper as I do plan to use this box to hold my G45 metal embellishments.

The large G45 button is, of course, the centerpiece of my embellishments!  I fussy cut some flowers and added 3D flowers as well.  When I add fussy cut elements to something like this that is going to be subjected to wear and tear, I coat the pieces with something like Glossy Accents to give the paper strength. There is a G45 Ornate Metal Label  Holder peeking out at the bottom from underneath the red flower.

I stickled up the flowers and foliage and it looks really nice but unfortunately, the camera doesn't  pick that effect up very well.

Inside the box I sprayed some white linen Dylusions in keeping with the shabby messed up look.

I am loving these book boxes, they are just the right size for fun little projects and they are useful too.

This is another G45 button box that I made last year.  This one is a G45 Staples shadow box and has 3 different G45 buttons in it.  It's just a fun piece of decor for my scrap room.

The predominant paper that I used for this was Couture but there are bits and piceces of Curtain Call, Typography, A Proper Gentleman, and Ladies Diary.

Thank you for visiting me today, I appreciate it so much!!

Graphic 45 Place in Time card.

I know, I have been scrapping like a crazy girl lately!  And loving every minute of it I must say!  We are going to be traveling a bit in April so I probably won't have as much scrappy time next month.  AND gardening season starts in earnest mid April so I know I'll be busy outdoors too.

So I thought I'd get ahead of the game and make a card for my Mom.  She loves it so much when I hand make her a card.  You know its not all the different from when I was a little girl giving my Mom little handmade things, LOL!!

I used papers from Graphic 45's earlier calendar collection, Place in Time, for this one.  I believe the card itself is the back of the March cut apart page.  The ivy spray is from Creative Embellishments and I've painted it with Art Anthology sorbet.  I guess we could call this a use your stash card because that is an old Prima bloom too.  I've been working on getting my stash under control, ha!  Wish me luck on that.

Yay its the weekend, enjoy!!

One more with G45 Artisan Style

The title of Graphic 45's new collection, Artisan Style, is inspiring me!  It has me rummaging through photos looking for interesting architecture to go with these gorgeous papers!

This is an old cabin along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mabry Mill built in 1869.  Love the spinning wheel and skeins of yarn hanging behind it.  We visited there in the fall of 2012.  The leaves were just starting to turn and it was such a pretty fall day.  The main attraction is Mabry Mill which is a beautiful old grist mill.  I shall have to dig that photo out, it's so scrap worthy!!

The circle frame is Creative Embellishment's Twiggy Frame with Fall Leaves.  I used Distress Walnut Stain embossing powder on the frame itself.  The fall leaves are painted with Silks.

I used some circle chippies from Creative Embellishments and dabbed them with Lindy's Golden Lump o'Coal.

Combination of Prima and Wild Orchid flowers.

You can see the rough finish that the Distress embossing powder gives the "twigs", perfect for imitating bark.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marion Smith Designs Romance Novel II

I loved the Romance Novel collection so much, it's definitely up there as one of my favorite paper collections.  What could be better?  Romance Novel II of course!!  I love the bold splashes of color along with the vintage styled papers.

This is such happy paper to me!!  I love the pinks and teal greens against the aged parchments and black, its sooooo pretty and perfect for scrapping this vintage photo of my Mom.

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The words are also from Creative Embellishments and they are embossed with black embossing powder over gold embossing powder.

 I used a Creative Embellishment Viney Flourish frame that I've heat embossed with Stampendous shabby green embossing enamel.

Thanks for visiting!  I do appreciate it so much.

Garden Romance, the March Swirlydoos Kit Club kit.

I love the days when my kit arrives on my doorstep, it's kind of like opening a Christmas gift!  The first thing I do is take the embellishment and flower addon kits and put them in a plastic shoe box container and label it.  I always keep two months of those addons in a plastic shoe box.  That way the embellies and flowers are contained but easy to sort through.  I have plastic drawers underneath my scrappy table and that's where the papers and anything that won't fit in the shoebox go.  All of this happens, of course, after I have looked over all the pretties in the kit!

I can't work in a mess and so, when I start to work with the kit, the embellies are put in one basket and the flowers in another.  I pick out some photographs and start playing with the papers seeing how the papers will go with my photos.  I will usually pick 3 to 5 papers that I think will work and put the rest of the paper back in the drawer.  After pushing paper around for a few minutes a design starts to form in my head and I go ahead and cut some of the paper and lay  them out.  Then I sort through embellies and flowers and push those around on the papers.  I select what I think is going to work and they go into yet another basket.  Yeah, I am an organization freak and in spite of these measures I still manage to routinely lose things on my desk.  Well now really, I don't lose them, that damn scrap fairy comes and takes them!!  Eventually, the layout comes together and I repeat the process all over again for the next layout.  Like Kim, I usually start with the sketch and get that out of the way.

If I am doing the anatomy page I deviate from the above method and put everything but the main kit away and work with that only since the anatomy page is done with the main kit only.

Enough about all that, let's look at some layouts!  This is an old photo, but I love it so much!  This is Fifi and she was the flower girl at our poodle's breeder's daughter's wedding.  She carried that sweet little basket down the aisle like a little princess and held it in her mouth for about 20 minutes and then very calmly set it down in front of her.  She never made a sound or moved about during the entire ceremony!  Her brother poodle was the ringbearer.  The wedding was outside  and was just beautiful.  I think I loved it so much because as a child I always dreamed of a wedding gown with a really long train and my dogs to help carry the train, LOL LOL!!  I think I must have gotten that from a Disney movie.

The kit features Fabscraps Elegant Chic papers and a couple sheets of Blue Fern Studios Love Story.  For this first layout I used all Fabscraps and flowers from the main kit and add ons.

I embossed the chippy with Stampendous Shabby Pink embossing enamel.

This layout was done with the Blue Fern Studios papers in the kit.  Most of the red roses are handmade rolled roses done with two different dies.  I cut the Love Story title from the edge of the paper.

Here's a quick and easy card you can make in less than a half hour with Fabscraps.  I've included a Snapguide tutorial.  The lace flowers are from a prior kit.

Check out How to Create a Simple Card With Fabscraps Elegant Chic by Maggi HARDING on Snapguide.

And finally, a fun little Easter basket.  This is easy to make and it's something you could make with your children or grandchildren.

I have a video that shows you how to make this basket too.  The video shows different paper but it's the same basket.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. I sincerely appreciate it! If you are not a Swirlydoos Kit Clubsubscriber, please consider it so that you never miss any of our beautifully coordinated kits. Please visit Swirlydoos Kit Club and click on Join Our Club on the left side bar. Be sure to mention my name, Maggi, when you subscribe because you will receive a 10% discount on your first kit AND a coupon for 30% off an entire purchase in the Swirlydoos store. Your Swirlydoos store purchases are always shipped free when shipped along with your monthly kit. Swirlydoos also maintains a Forum where everyone can share their work, tell stories and have a ton of fun! We have monthly challenges too so please come and join us!

It's Tag Tuesday - Make a Spring tag with me.

I love this time of year!  Here in eastern North Carolina spring is on its way.  The ornamental pears are all blooming and my Japanese cherry blossom trees are going to bloom any day now.  The daffodils are up, soon the azaleas and dogwoods  will pop and I can hardly wait.

So all the beauty that surrounds me this time of year inspired me to make a fun tag that holds a seed packet.  I think it would be great to add to a hostess or housewarming gift.  If your Mom is a gardener, it's a pefect tag for her Mother's Day gift too!

I've put together a quick Snapguide tutorial for you.

Check out How to Make a Grapic 45 Time to Flourish Tag by Maggi HARDING on Snapguide.

Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments Easter baskets

Here's a fun little project that you can complete in just a few minutes or its a craft you could do with the little ones in your life. Both of these were made with Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments papers.  These little baskets are just the right size for filling with little treats for family and friends.  You could also use them as place cards but putting names in the place of the tags on the front.

Here's a short video I recorded for you so you can see my process.

Thanks for stopping by!

Times Nouveau -

My Mom, two of her sisters and a cousin lived together in Washington DC during WW II.  I have to wonder how my grandparents felt when their girls took off for the big city as my  Mom was raised in the countryside of NC on a farm and certainly was a stranger to the big city.  I love how they're all dressed in their trousers, so cute!

I used Graphic 45's Collector's Edition of Times Nouveau.  LOL, yeah I think I'm a collector all right, I have as much Graphic 45 paper as I have of all my other papers combined!!  I am not complaining, I start to get all scared if it looks like I'm going to run out of a collection!!

I used a ScrapFx clock and embellished it with a fussy cut image from the Fashionista collection.  That is an older Petaloo bloom, love these so much, thank you jrabs for giving it to me!!!  I have been hoarding it!

I fussy cut the ladies on this page and popped up one of them.  I do think the sisters all look like they are styling it!

Thank you friends for stopping by!