This is the collection for all of us romantics out there! I particularly love this collection because it really invokes a feeling of romanticism without being all pink and soft. I am a big fan of bright and bold color rather than soft and subtle. This collection has the most beautiful pinks and creams brought to life with blacks and greens. Mmmm I seriously love this!
I'm up on the Graphic 45 blog today sharing this card I made for my sweetheart on the occasion of our 23rd wedding anniversary. It's really a simple card to make. First, I cut a card for the base, 6” wide and 5” tall. Then I used Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Borders
to cut the layered borders. Each border
cut is around an 1” and they layer so nicely over each other. I love dies and use them all the time. I have a Cameo but find myself reaching for
my dies most of the time. After cutting 3 border pieces to layer, I cut the final piece which
is 4” from the center point to the top of the card and layered on top of the
other scalloped border pieces. Then I
diecut another little frame piece from ivory cardstock, topped that with a cut
apart that I popped up with foam tape, added some pretty flowers and some
diecut leaves and that’s it, all done. ½
hour tops and you have a simple, but elegant card. That’s 20 minutes to decide on the papers to
use and 10 minutes for the actual assembly!
J
If you like to make cards and tags, you might want to invest in a few basic
dies. Diecuts
give your projects such a nice finished look and you can use the dies over and
over again.
Supplies:
Graphic 45 Mon
Amour collection (12 x 12)
Dearest Darling 4501204
Forever Mine 4501210
6 x 6 Patterns & Solids 4501211
Other:
Core'dinations Graphic 45 Signature Series Precious Pink
cardstock
Ivory cardstock
Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Borders One
Spellbinders Romantic Vines
Spellbinders Decorative Labels 27
I Am Roses cream/pink roses
Later this month I'll be sharing a great mini album with you that I made from Mon Amour! This collection makes a gorgeous mini, perfect for a wedding!
Nicolle has the best Halloween chippies in the Creative Embellishments Store and I've been having so much fun with them! I combine two of my favorite things, Graphic 45 and Creative Embellishments to make this layout of my great-niece and her Dad and my great-nephew.
I altered the chipboard corner skull piece and Creepy title by giving it a quick spritz of Dylusions White Linen mist being careful not to saturate the entire piece of chipboard so that it would have a mottled effect. Then I used some Lindy's Creme Brulee Cream Starburst Mist to give it a little bit of a golden sparkle. I used some wood veneer leaves under the flowers and I dabbed two colors of mist on them for color.
I love combining Graphic 45 collections and on this layout I used papers from Once Upon an Eerie Tale and Happy Haunting. Then letters I used to spell out SCARY are from Rare Oddities.
Ribbon is my new old thing, he hee! I used to always dig through my ribbons and fibers to add to a layout and that just kinda fell by the wayside. But I really love ribbons and such, so I joined up with Really Reasonable Ribbon recently and I'm loving the ribbons I'm getting in their monthly ribbon club shipment. This orange gingham was part of their August shipment.
I heat embossed the bats with Stampendous aged black embossing enamel.
Here are links to the chipboard and wood veneer pieces I used from Creative Embellishments. There are so many neat pieces in the store, be sure and take a look!
I think it is fabulous that Graphic 45 is re-releasing some of their much loved paper collections such as this one, Baby to Bride. I only owned a few pages of this collection so I was elated when Baby to Bride was released as a Deluxe Collector's Edition.
One of my best scrapping buddies, Peggy, has the most
beautiful little granddaughter and when I saw Peggy scrapping this picture I
started drooling. Peggy, being the
wonderful person that she is, asked me if I'd like to scrap the photo. Of course I said oh yes. Since I don't have any children, I am often
looking for great photos of children to scrap because I can't make poodle pages all the time!
Try using the same photo twice on a page for maximum visual
impact particularly if your photo is small or very vertical as this one is. I flipped one of the photos just to make it
interesting. I love how the photos are
positioned and looking away from each other.
This is really a simple layout that you could whip up in no time. I've used a quick and easy tearing technique too, so be sure to check out my video tutorial to see how its done.
I've used Creative Embellishments chipboard flourishes underneath the Prima flowers. I love how the flowers match this paper so perfectly and the chipboard blends in so well. I simply dabbed Lindy's mist on the flourish to color it.
The title, from Creative Embellishments, is heat embossed with Ranger Antiquities Weathered White embossing powder.
I also heat embossed the Creative Embellishments chipboard lace peeking out from under the torn paper. You could use fabric lace instead, and that would be lovely too!
Supplies:
Graphic 45 Baby to Bride Deluxe Collector's Edition:
From This Moment
Unchained Melody
Love Me Tender
Other:
Lindy's Edelweiss Moss Green Mist
Recollections Printed Cork
Creative Embellishments Lace Border 2 chipboard
Creative Embellishments Flourish 20
Creative Embellishments Girl Word Set
Prima Winthrop Topaz flowers
Ranger Antiquities Weathered White embossing powder
Colorbox Graphic 45 Decades Dark Cashmere ink
Martha Stewart Scalloped 3 Dot corner punch
Thanks frieds for stopping by, I appreciate it so much!
I decided to create a fun layout of myself with a photo that was taken at CHA Las Vegas 2013,visiting, what else, but the Graphic 45 booth! The bright and bold colors of World's Fair are some of my favorites, and the vintage images in this collection are just so fantastic!!
I fussy cut the main image from the title page and layered it with several different patterned papers from the collection. I also fussy cut some flowers and leaves The photo, all of the words as well as many of the elements, have been popped up with foam tape so that they really stand out.
In these closeups you can really see the dimension that is added by popping up
different elements on the layout.
Petaloo's Botanica collection of flowers really go great with this collection!
Creative Embellishments has some awesome steampunk chipboard pieces that I used to alter this fun little box I found in the bargin bin. I thought it would be great to turn it into a Finnabair inspired Steampunk piece.
Here's what it looked like before I altered it. I almost forgot to photo the box before, but fortunately I remembered after I had only glued the one piece to the lid and taken the knob from the front. The box already has a neat crackled finish so all I had to do was add some chippys, metals and lots of color.
I started by painting on a coat of clear gesso. Then I glued on my chipboard and metal pieces and added a few fussy cut images from Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante collection and covered the images with matte medium so that I could wipe the sprayed on mist off the images. After all that dried, I painted on a coat of white gesso but only over part of the box as I liked the orginal color and wanted that to show thru in places.
Then I began layering on different colors of mist, drying each layer before adding another layer. I used Prima Color Bloom mists in Empress Gold and Glistening Waves. I also used Lindy's Cajun Carnelian Red and Jack in the Pulpit Teal. After I was satisfied with the color of my box, I sprayed it with Dylusions black marble and then used a paper towel to remove some of the black ink. The black ink creeps into the crevices and kind of gives everything dimension and a cohesive look. Then I added Lindy's Midnight Gold and Stampendous aged copper embossing powder to some of the pieces to highlight them and give some WOW texture to the box.
On the lid I used a winged dressform, a gear corner piece and lots of gears from our gear sets. I added a metal winged key and some metal flowers.
On the front of the box I used a photo corner and some stacked gears.
Left side of box, I used another gear corner and some metal pieces.
I really love this globe chipboard piece that I used! There is also another photo corner peeking out from under the flower.
More gears on the back of the box.
Here are links to all the chipboard pieces I used in the Creative Embellishments store.
Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to check out Creative Embellishment'smonthly challengebecause you could win a $50 gift certificate to the store! Woo hoo!!! And you want to stop bythe store often because Nicolle is always adding great new pieces and there are some fabulous items on sale during the week!
In our recent Graphic 45 survey many of our readers mentioned that they'd like to see more multi-pic layouts so this one features 2 pictures. I find that a multi-pic layout is much easier
to do, if you use smaller pictures. The challenge, for me, in a mult-pic layout is having enough space
not covered by photos to make a pleasing arrangement of papers and
embellishments.
Yep, it's that time of year when the kiddos go back to school. Here's my cutie pie great nephew on his first day of his 5th school year. I've used Graphic 45's An ABC Primer Deluxe Collector's Edition for this layout. I love it's vintage colors and images and it works so well with those school pictures!
I put together a Snapguide tutorial for you if you'd like to make a layout similar to this one.
I also used a couple of chipboard pieces from Creative Embellishments. I love this Out of the Worldframe. It worked perfectly with the letters from the collection. Inside the frame I've popped up a fussy cut student reading.
The Deluxe Collector's Editions include not only the design papers from the original release but a new sheet of chipboard pieces and a sticker sheet. I love that Graphic 45 is re-releasing some of their designs so thatI have a chance to hoard more paper, ha ha ha! I never had ABC Primer so I was really excited to see this one come out.
Isn't that just the cutest little schoolbus? It's a wood veneer piece and comes in a set of 3.
I am thrilled to be serving another term with Creative Embellishments! Nicolle, the co-owner has the greatest chipboard designs and is always adding new ones to the store. She also has some great wood veneer pieces, flair and really quality rubber stamps. Creative Embellishments runs a photo inspirational challenge every month and the prize (randomly awarded) is a $50 gift certificate to the store. How great is that? Here's the inspiration photo for September. Check out the challenge here.
I took my inspiration from the alphabet in the photo and decided upon a back to school theme. I thought Graphic 45's ABC Primer papers would be perfect with these chippies from the Creative Embellishments school collection of chipboard. The challenge has a twist and that is to use paint on your layout, so I painted all the chipboard with Claudine Hellmuth acrylic paints and then used our Distressed Text stamp and black Stazon ink to stamp over the frame and title, just to tone down the bright yellow.
The Back to School title comes in a set of two different sizes
and I used the larger of the two.
I used our Alphabet frame which comes with the cute little crayons
in the bottom photo.
To get the look on my metal flower, I dabbed on some embossing ink,
and then added gold and turquoise embossing powders and heat embossed.
Ohhhh this is a long post, but I've much to share today! This is a mini where our furbabies share their travel stories with you! For years we have owned a camper of some sort or other so that when we vacation, our pups could go with us. We love having them with us and its certainly made for some interesting travel stories!
The G45 design team partnered with Clearsnaps for this project. I am totally
loving Clearsnap's ColorBox Graphic 45 Decades ink that I used on this mini. Not only did I use it in this mini, but I've been using it with
all my G45 projects because the colors match so
perfectly. I've never had a good blue to
go with my G45 papers, oh but now I have
ColorBox Bon Voyage Blue and it
is perfect, as are the other 5 colors in the Decades collection.
I started
with a Clear Scraps acrylic and chipboard album and added a couple pocket pages
to it along with G45 Ephemera cards.
Ephemera cards are perfect for
journaling and you make them into pages for your mini by simply punching them on one side. No need to mount them on cardstock, by using
them this way you've got plenty of room for journaling on one side and a
beautiful image on the other.
Watch my video tour of the mini here.
Chena always loved sitting in the driver's seat. Here she shares her thoughts with us on an ephemera card. The backs are perfect for journaling and were easy to print using the 4 x 6 photo print slot on my printer.
I think you can read the story above but just in case, here it is:
I wanna drive!
Oh boy, oh boy, we're going on a road trip in the
funny house on wheels. I'm not quite
sure why we have a house on wheels but I sure like it! The house sort of hums when it's moving and
it just makes me so sleepy. Me and my
sister pup get to sleep on the couch which is a real treat. I don't know why we can't sleep on the couch
in our regular home.
Now and then I have to wake up and go up front and
get in Mom's lap so she can pet me. I
don't want her to get lonely up there.
I don't know why he won't let me drive, I can drive,
see me in the driver's chair, I bet I can do it. I practice all the time when Dad's not
sitting there. It's my favorite place to
sit in the motorhome. I can look out
the window and scare all the people who come too close to my house.
Below Tisha and Nika are resting on the couch in the motorhome and below Chena is working around our attempt to keep her off the couch. As I recall she was all wet that day.
I covered the pages with design paper through out and added chipboard and stickers for accents.
We had Tiffany and Brandy when we lived in Alaska. Here's Tiffany's story.
When I was 8 we took a very long road trip in
Mom's Jeep. We drove and drove for 7
days. The Jeep was stuffed full, there was hardly room for my bed but thank
goodness, Mom found a little perch for my bed on top of all the stuff where I could
see out the windshield.
Finally we stopped driving
and instead of my nice yard back in Virginia,
gosh now I just had a tiny yard AND I had to run up a flight of stairs to be in
my house. Mom said we were in Alaska now, wherever
that is. I was born in Florida and it sure is cold here even though
it's May!
Wasn't long before we moved
out of town into a nice house with a big yard.
And what do you know, I got a new sister but she's a lot bigger than me
and she's only 12 weeks old! Well, I'm a
Yorkie and she's a big mutt, half shepherd and half lab. Her name is Brandy and
we like to eat out of the same dish.
The next year Mom and Dad got
this funny house that sat on the back of the pickup truck. So whenever Brandy and I would see our
parents gathering up a bunch of camping stuff, we'd go sit in front of the door
and as soon as it opened, we'd bolt and jump in the pickup. As soon as Dad started up the truck, Brandy and I would settle
in for a long snooze.
That
Brandy, by now she weighed 90 lbs and took up the whole back seat of the
truck. Sometimes I'd have to bark at her
and then Mom would yell at us and put her camera case between us. LOL, we're just like human kids, fighting in
the car.
Camping
was great fun 'cause we got to be with Mom and Dad all day long and go for nice
walks around the campgrounds. We met
lots of nice people and their dogs.
People called us Mutt and Jeff and laughed 'cause I was so little and
Brandy was so big.
One
place we were camping Mom wouldn't let go of me. She kept me snugged up right next to
her. I don't know what her problem was;
she didn't make Brandy sit next to her.
She kept looking up at this great big bird sitting in a tree that was
looking at me. It had a white head and
brown body and it was really pretty. She
told me it was a bald eagle and that it could swoop down and carry me away.
Since Tiffany's story was long, I glued two ephemera cards together so that I could complete the story. I used a couple of stamps from the Raining Cats and Dogs collection to "gussy" up the printed page.
Chili was our 2nd poodle and a real beauty. She shares her story here.
I'm a Nebraska poodle and Mom and Dad adopted me
in 2002. Just like the other pups, I
loved going camping. My favorite thing
to do was prance around the campground and show everyone how pretty I was. I had such pretty white hair and Mom always
groomed us before we left on a trip.
One time we were camping out west
and the ground was red clay and my hair turned kinda pink from the clay
dust.
Chena was my best friend, really I
was her dog. I didn't care that much
about people. I didn't like Brandy
either cause Chena sometimes played with her and that made me jealous.
My story is sad, I only got to go
camping for 7 short years and then I went across the RainbowBridge. I was tired and my beautiful body was ravaged
by auto-immune diseases and it was time for me to go.
I know that Chena missed me because
the first time she went camping without me she got all scared and had to sit in
Mom's lap for the 3 hour drive. Chena
never ever sat in Mom's lap before but I think she thought she was being taken
away like I was. I'm sorry Chena, I wish
I could have told you good-bye.
The left page is the front of the ephemera card and on the right page I made a pocket to slip some tags in.
Another photo of Chili with a chipboard frame and a fun chipboard umbrella from Creative Embellishments.
Our 2010 trip to Alaska was probably our favorite vacation. Chena was our only dog at the time and she loved that trip!
Chena's trip to Alaska - 2010
After Chili went over the bridge we were all very sad so Mom and Dad said, what the heck, let's go to Alaska for the summer. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I get to spend a whole summer in the motorhome with Mom and Dad! Nothing could be finer!
We stopped in Denver on our way and I got to see my Uncle Willie who is my very favorite person besides Mom and Dad. Uncle Willie gives me treats and gets on the floor and plays with me.
It took us two weeks to get to Alaska but I didn't mind. Mom took me to her office where she used to work and what fun was that. She told me stories of how she would bring Brandy to work with her on the weekends. So I felt very special to walk where Brandy had been.
Next thing I know we had parked our motorhome in Denali National Park and I had lots of park rangers petting me. I became the unofficial mascot of Teklanika Campground. Every morning and afternoon I got to take nice long walks around "my" campground and greet all the campers. Alot of them were really missing their dogs so they really loved petting me. Of course I sat really pretty and gave them kisses too. While I was getting petted, Mom and Dad would tell the campers about the wolves and lynx that had been in the campgound. Then they'd tell them about the bears on the river. That would usually scare 'em good! That was the best summer I've ever had. We spent 6 weeks camping at Denali.
After Chena went over the bridge, Tisha came into our life and she is a mess, LOL! She, too, loves to drive, just like Chena. That's her in the driver's seat below. Then there's Nika and Tisha with their "Aunties".
Our fancy new doghouse.
Brandy's story should have been near the front and I will confess I mess up and scraped the wrong page so it had to be at the end. You know in scrapbooking, sometimes you just have to go with the flow right?
Brandy's first camping trip
It's cold and it's wet and I don't
want to go outside. It's only 40º and
everything smells funny out there. I
want to go home to my dog yard where everything is familiar. I'm not going outside so you are just wasting
your time walking me.
That was our first night out, it was
our very first camping trip. Mom and Dad
had just bought this used truck camper and planned a two week vacation. Well it sounded like fun but once we got
where we were going, I was scared.
Nothing smelled right and I just couldn't find a spot to go. Finally Mom gave up.
The next morning she walked me all
over Eagle, Alaska,
begging me to "go" but I just couldn't find the right spot. It had been 24 hours and I'll admit, I really
needed to go but a dog can't just go anywhere.
Finally, after about 2 hours, I found a spot where I could go. But then we moved on to a different location
and here we go again, it doesn't smell right.
Poor Mom she spent a lot of time walking me on that vacation!
And then there was the time...
We went on a long ferry ride to get
to Cordova, Alaska but it was a really neat place. We spent a couple days by Child's Glacier
watching it calve into the river and then we drove back to Cordova and spent
some time looking around in the area.
Dad took me for a walk in the woods about an hour before we needed to
catch the ferry. Well gosh we went by
the best smells and what's a dog to do but throw herself into the scent and
roll. Uh oh, Dad didn't think it smelled
too great and he was very mad at me.
Well I had rolled in a sweet smelling pile of poo. Our camper was very rudimentary, more like a
hard shelled tent and we only had cold running water. So here I am smelling like a petunia and
we've got to go for a 6 hour ferry ride in a closed up camper in 1 hour. Mom heats a big pot of water on the stove and
grabs a roll of paper towels. Dad takes
me down to the river where they pour water on me and try to get the caked on
stuff out of my fur. Oooh they really
thought I was rank and it was not a pleasant ride home, at least for them
anyway. I thought I smelled quite like a
dog should smell.
My little "trademark" when I make animal minis is to include this silly poodle graphic that reminds me of a gambler and Rita Rudner's quote that really makes me belly laugh!
Here are the things I used to create this mini. I really really love the ColorBox inks designed to go with Graphic 45 papers!
