Graphic 45 Design Team 2014 Audition

Because I have become so enamored with Graphic 45 papers, staples and embellishments, I have decided to audition for Graphic 45's 2014 Design Team. I love sharing how I create my projects using their beautiful products, so what could be better than doing so on a larger scale? It would be a fantastic opportunity to say the least.

So without further ado, here is my Official Audition Post. I wanted to begin by revealing my latest project using Graphic 45's newly-released line "By The Sea". Even though I live smack dab in the center of Canada, Manitoba is known as "The Land of 100,000 Lakes" so this paper recalls a time long ago when city dwellers boarded the train for a relaxing day at the beach.

By The Sea Curio-Cabinet

After discovering a huge piece of coral at the thrift store last year, I decorated my en-suite bathroom in an aquatic theme. I added seashells and beach glass in various mason jars around the small room... but they were cluttering up the limited counter surface. This project is a great way to safely display some of those delicate treasures and frees up precious space as well.

I gathered my supplies together, including a wooden baking set I found at Goodwill awhile back. My brand new pad of Graphic 45 By The Sea paper would be perfect for this project!

I selected a few trinkets including a brass ship's wheel that used to be a key chain (another thrift store find), a brass double pulley and a metal and glass porthole charm. Cheesecloth worked great as a fishing net and sand and aquarium gravel were added to the shelves with shells, coral, driftwood and beach glass.

I also wanted to add my own sculpture; a seagull perched upon the Pier 45 sign:

In the name of brevity for this special audition post, the process of creating this project is described in the video below:



Here are the other projects I have posted about previously for review by the Graphic 45 Design Team Selection Committee. I hope these demonstrate a variety of creations and techniques, my skills and attention to detail.

Couture Collection Memo/Shopping set

Starting with a thrift-store mystery item, I created a stand, memo pad, envelopes and a peacock feather pen for a desk set fit for the serious fashionista shopper. Click for full project details and video.

Sweet Sentiments Magic Iris Lens card

A birthday card with a sweet surprise for my mom, using the lovely Sweet Sentiments paper. Click here for all the details and video.

Bohemian Bazaar Book and Altered Matchbook Box

My first project for The Scrapbook Cottage using Graphic 45's 8 x 8 Kraftboard Altered Art Matchbook box, metal door pull and groovy Bohemian Bazaar paper. Click here for the full project details and video.

The Twelve Days Of Christmas Countdown book

An altered children's book to remind me of all those important deadlines before the big day. Click here for the details:  Part One and Part Two with video.

Steampunk Spells Journal

My first foray into the awesome world of handmade journals... using the incredible Steampunk Spells paper, natch! Click for the full project details and my first-ever video.

Steampunk Spells Happy Halloween Tent Card

A spooky side-step tent card / table decoration using fussy cut images from the Steampunk Spells papers. Click for details here.

Steampunk Spells Apothecary

In this six-part series, I showcase my highly-detailed Halloween / Harry Potter inspired apothecary, using Graphic 45's Steampunk Spells paper. You can begin at Part One here.

The Black Cat Carnival

A Steampunk Halloween creation (in three parts). Although I didn't use Graphic 45 product on it, I wanted to include this popular project as well. If you want to see how I made each piece, you can start at Part 1 here.

A Steampunk Airship made from a regular household light bulb

The Babbage Mechanical Ticket Engine

A Swing Carousel that used to be a photo holder

Whew! That was a long post - thank you for hanging in there for the whole thing.

To the Graphic 45 Selection Committee, thank you for your consideration of my audition. I do hope you enjoyed seeing just how much I love creating and using your wonderful products!

Big News and New Project!

First, the Big News. If you recall, last month I entered my very first tag in Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2014. His January tag was awesome and I had a wonderful time creating my own.

Well.... on Saturday, I was thrilled to discover that I was one of 12 winners (out of hundreds of entries, mind you)! Woo Hoo! How awesome is that? I received a gift certificate from Inspiration Emporium, something special is coming in the mail (which I will divulge when it arrives) and I also got this uber-cool badge to proudly display:

Thank you so much, Tim, Mario and Joy at Inspiration Emporium!

I can't wait to get going on his February tag. So much fun to play along. I have ordered a couple of supplies online, so I hope they get here soon. In the meantime, I thought I would share my latest altered piece using a whole bunch of Tim's wonderful products.

When I was at the thrift store weeks ago, I saw this item in the bathroom section:

I didn't know exactly what it was (um, yeah, that happens a lot it seems). Did it stand or was it to hang? And what the heck were the hooks for? Well, I decided they would now be for keys... but NOT for the bathroom thankyouverymuch.

I began by unscrewing the hooks and painting the entire thing black. It was going to be rustic with lots of texture, so I got out my burlap and rope. My "Snoopervisor" (thanks for that term, RedSetter!) Tawnee approved - only after I gave her a length of rope to play with, natch.

I used Tim's Distress stains to age the burlap before adhering onto the base and top of the frame with some Scotch Quick and Dry Adhesive.

Ditto for the rope, but this time I needed E6000 glue to attach it. I also removed the glass from the frame and spray painted the wooden mat with chalkboard paint.

I have two of Tim's 12 x 12 "Crowded Attic Paper Stash" pads and pulled out this old map page. After wrapping it around the frame, I cut out the center and stained the edges for an older look. A spritz of water made the stains run even more.

Distress Stain and Ink was also used on the silver hooks to turn them into Tarnished Brass.

Viola! An old-world style key holder. I got out four antique keys from my stash and added stained chain and jump rings to attach Tim's "Tag Labels". I also added a keyhole and key from his Ideology "Locket Keys" set on the lower right side, popping it up on double-thickness black foam dimensionals and using E6000 to set the key into the lock. Some crinkled and stained seam binding was added to the tiny key.

Lastly, I wanted to add a small notepad to the set. So I used more of the same paper and cut and distressed a front and back cover. Inside I made perforated pages which can be easily torn off. Butcher's twine and more crinkled, distressed seam binding were added with a "Collage Key" again by Tim Holtz. The vintage clip holds it in place as well as securing the string for the piece of chalk.

This set I am keeping; it fits in with my Studio decor so it won't be shipped off to the Scrapbook Cottage like my Couture pen stand and Bohemian book and box!

Oh, and the reason I wanted to use this paper? Not that it was perfect (it was). Not that it was uber-cool (it is). It's because there in the upper right hand corner.... was Winnipeg! Of course I had to make sure when placing this on the frame that my very own city was sure to be seen!

Here's a video for even more photos (as if these weren't way too many already....)

Couture Collection Altered Box

After creating my "Bohemian Bazaar" project for The Scrapbook Cottage here in Winnipeg, they gave me various 12 x 12 sheets of Graphic 45's new paper, "Couture Collection" and asked if I could use it to alter something from the thrift store.

My local Goodwill had this:

What is it? Honestly, I don't know! I did Google the shape, and it looks like it might be a home-made bagel cutter... a bagel is dropped in from the top then cut in two using the slots to guide the knife. But I am guessing here; it looked unused with no cut marks on it at all... so I could very well be wrong.

Regardless, I picked it up because I liked the lines of the carving... reminding me of Art Nouveau, which is also the style of the Graphic 45 Couture Collection paper I was given. Now I just had to figure out what the heck I was going to create with it!

I decided to make it into a stand one could place on a desk to hold a shopping list, pen, coupons and money before heading out to purchase the latest fashionable item (since the paper is all about fashion and style). I began by painting the box with black glossy Tremclad paint (chosen to ensure it coated the varnished finish) then decorated it with peacock-patterned paper on each side. I also added a chipboard pocket to the front and accented it with images from the collection. Since the peacock feathers were so lovely, I found real peacock feathers at Michael's to make a quill pen too.

I cut and scored chipboard for the covers of the shopping list book and punched four holes at the top with my Cropadile. I also painted the edges of my book with black acrylic paint before adhering the cover papers and wrapping with turquoise ribbon to bind.

I printed 50 pages on regular copy paper on my printer and cut them to size. I just got this neat Tonic perforation tool - another suggestion from dear Anne at Anne's Paper Creations - and used it to perforate each page so it can be torn off neatly.

I also added two envelopes to the kit: a small coin-sized one holding three bookmarks, and a larger envelope to store money or coupons.

The quill pen was a challenge. I spent a lot of time trying to come up with the best method on how to affix a pen to a real peacock feather. I eventually found that by slicing open the shaft and cleaning out the styrofoam-like interior, I was able to glue the cartridge of a stick pen inside it. I wrapped some Graphic 45 paper around and added two Bead's Landing jewelry findings to finish off the top. I cut down the pen's barrel and adhered it to the box stand with E6000 glue to store the quill.

I've made another short video to show this project (I do hope you aren't getting tired of them!). Oh, and you'll notice I have been teaching myself how to use more features in iMovie - I've been having fun with that too!

New Old Treasures

Daughter and I went to one of our favorite antique shows last weekend. Unfortunately, it was also the day Winter decided to arrive. But ice and snow wasn't going to keep us away from discovering some "new" old treasures.

I found some old metals - two cookie cutters and nine awesome vintage clips made in Germany (perfect for Studio projects!):

Some beautiful ceramics - two small horses that reminded me of one my paternal grandmother gave me when I was very young:

And an adorable set of Beswick bunnies - for half the price someone else wanted for them when I spotted a set at an antique shop over the summer!

A few regal items for my Victorian Studio - a Coronation plate from 1902:

And a Canadian Provost Corps cap badge. Love anything with a crown; these both have a bonus with a lion wearing a crown too!

Of course, I told daughter to be on the lookout for any vintage Christmas. Pickings were slim, but she did find some small glass ornies in a great old box. All I found was this poor glass bird without a tail. Since it was only $2, I decided to adopt it into my family of vintage ornaments:

When I got it home though, I realized there was something inside the bird. I pulled... and out popped the tail! In perfect silky condition. What a great surprise!

Actually that was my second surprise of the day - daughter found this mica-dusted deer and gave to me to join my ever-growing deer herd.

So despite the awful weather, we had a wonderful time. In fact, BECAUSE it was so nasty out, the show was a delight to roam about without the usual crowds!

Black Cat Carnival - Part III

On to the last item I created for my Black Cat Carnival. If you missed reading the first two posts, here are direct links:

Black Cat Carnival - Part I

Black Cat Carnival - Part II

This is the largest piece in my Carnival - a Swing Carousel. I really didn't know I was going to create it until I spotted this at Goodwill one day:

I took the pic after removing the glass and cardboard from each photo frame

I thought that if I could only get those frames off without damaging it too much, this spinning photo frame display would be the perfect start to my carousel. So I slapped down a whole $3 and took a chance. Much to my delight, the frames actually snapped right off when I bent them back and forth a few times - awesome!

Without the frames to hold them apart, both sets of five spokes slid down on top of each other. I asked hubby to do his magic, and he was able to saw the top knob off perfectly (I had hoped it was just screwed on, but no such luck). I slid the spokes off, glued a stopper near the top of the central post, glued both sets of spokes together and viola, they spun in unison - 10 spokes ready for swings!

Goodwill came through again when I picked up this M&M's candy tin for a whole 50 cents. The perfect shape, I simply used my silver tape to cover the top.

Silver brads were cut down and glued to represent rivets. Some glittered swirl brads were also added to decorate the top.

The decorative black edge was created from cardstock using a Martha Stewart punch. Silver brads and chain finished it off. I glued a clock gear under the knob and attached it to the top with E6000 glue. On the underside of this part, I glued a large nut so when it was placed over the center pole, it rotates independent of the spokes.

Making the swings was purely a hit-and-miss adventure... I thought I could fit 10 swings in, one on each spoke. So what did I do? Yep. I made ten seats. I punched out twenty "arms" (again, a Martha Stewart punch, folded in half to double it up). I counted out 80 rivets - 8 per seat to secure the chains. I designed the seats and cut out 10 of each, scoring and punching the backs for a decorative touch. I counted out 60 jump rings to attach the chains to the chairs and the spokes.

A production line was created at every step...  brads were painted and inked. Thirty gears were chosen to decorate the back of each swing and some needed to be painted and inked in black and silver. Pieces were lined up for assembly. I even made ten padded seats for each one... a piece of cardboard covered with fiberfill and cloth, glued together and two brads poked through for an upholstered look.

And then as I hung the first two swings it finally occurred to me...

It was way too cramped and I could only use half of them! Aw Crap!

Oh well, I placed the swings on every other spoke and added some lanterns onto the others.

Filigreed bead caps were glued to the spoke ends to finish them off.

Then I had to decide what the heck to do with the base. I had visions of either covering the three "legs" with cloth, or cardboard... but then I simply cut two pieces of chipboard in half circles, covered them with the silver foil tape, used my piercing tool to create pilot holes and inserted black brads for rivets. I used my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders die to create the center design around the pole. I also used the bottom half of the black cardstock decor I placed on the top for a fence of sorts around the base. I also finished off the edge of the base with more silver chain, just like the top.

Three black cats (okay they weren't black before I painted them and added Gold Stickles for eyes that glow when photographed) stand guard on the base. Oh and I added a pair of wings to the center pole too... matching it up with the Steampunk Airship.

That was a fun transformation!

So I guess that's it for now... until I figure out what to add next.

Well, at least I have five seats ready and waiting. :P