Graphic 45 Design Team 2013 Submission

Every Year Graphic 45 selects their design team after reviewing hundreds of entries from people aspiring to be a part of this fabulous company. For years I have used their products and looked on as people with amazing artistry and skills were selected. This year, as part of living my life with "zest", I decided to get off the bench and get into the game. I truly had a great time putting this post together, and creating the project you will see first, made especially for this DT call but with a practical use in mind.  I hope my selections will please the eye! Here are the 6 projects that I decided to submit for their perusal:

It's a Secret...

This side hides the mini album.

The drawer is a great place for your love letters!

The Gazebo has a roof shingled with the Secret Garden
"Patterns and Solids"

It's amazing what you can do with some pretty paper!

There is even a little bench to sit and think...
if you are a really, really small creature!

The whole project set out for you to see!

The Mini Album:

Since the album has to fit in it's case, 
it cannothave embellishments on the outside. 
But who needs embellishments when using 
such pretty paper?

Inside the mini album...the rose pages!

I just love the purple pages! A cascade of space for pictures!

Pretty in Blue too!

Green is pretty too!

Between each of the pages is a giant tag to put pictures on!

To make sure the ribbon on the tags doesn't interfere
with the ability of the mini to slip into it's space under
 the garden, the ribbon is wired and folded into a bow
that is tucked inside the book.

Magnolia's Daisy in Graphic 45's Secret Garden:

The Magnolia Tilda with Daisy was just sitting in a box waiting for the
perfect paper! And there is no doubt that for my eye, the Secret Garden
paper with the fence was just perfect!

Erica's Card:

Another Secret Garden Project!
Thank you Erica for sending me the picture!

A Lady's Diary Blue Journal

When I decided to do this project, it occurred to me that it would be fun to try make it mostly blue. 

The album cover is made from chipboard and closes with a magnet. 

This is what it looks like open.  There are 4 signatures 
as well as a mini journal on the left and 
4 signatures on the right.

The memories mini on the left is a place to write your thoughts about fashion of anything else that crosses your mind.

Once Upon a Springtime Mini:I just loved this Graphic 45 collection.

My Place in Time Calendar:

This calendar was created for a class I gave. The acrylic cover and back are reusable every year. The pages are specific to 2013 and will fit nicely into a scrapbook when the year is done.  We all wanted a calendar we could write on, so I created the calendar sheets and made sure to match the papers for that month. 

This page is very minimal as the elements need to be hidden behind the acrylic front and I only wanted the year to show.  When the time comes to place it in a scrapbook, I'm sure I'll add a few things!

Well here is to living with zest and enjoying every moment! Thanks to the Graphic 45 family for providing us with paper collection that stretch our imaginations! 

Merci et à la prochaine! 
M-C

Busy Bee Buzzes In - Yup Catching Up Again

I'm not sure how my life manages to get so busy!  I honestly don't do it on purpose!  I think part of it is just that I'm not as fast as I used to be.  It's been a few years since I've passed the threshold from time moving too slowly, to time moving too fast!  Personally I'd love to have found time at just the right pace in time, but I think I zoomed right past that moment, assuming it even exists, LOL!

Over the last few weeks, I've taught card and layout classes, some using the Place in Time with which I created a 12 month calendar. It's been a lot of fun.  I've also gotten my colorist certification from Spectrum Noir and am working on becoming one of their instructors!  I do love my Spectrum Noirs!  Speaking of which, here are a couple of projects I made using them.

Don't forget to click on the pictures to get a bigger view!

Here is a card that I made and sent to my friend Janie in florida,

Then there is this card that I made for my friend, Angie. 

Everyone is raving about the Prima mixed Media Doll stamps by Julie Nutting! I just could not resist these large stamps (they are 7.5 inches tall).  i really enjoyed coloring them with my Spectrum Noir pens, paper piecing their clothes and decorating a tag to feature one of them. 

For some reason I got the following image in my head and just could not get it out of my head until I agreed to get a 7x10 canvas and just have a mixed media blast!  I'm pretty sure I'll be sharing some more projects with these beauties!

Of course not all the cards or projects I've made has a colored girl on it. Here is a card that I'm giving to the daughter-in-law of a friend of mine.  I've made a couple of modifications to it and added a gift card in the blue mini card in the front. I hope that it will make things just a tad easier on her DIL as she starts a brand new phase of her life.

It stands to reason that I've also made a few layouts.  If you follow this blog you probably already know that I am not a one company crafter, but I do have my favorites.  Amongst them and need I say it right at the top is Graphic 45.  Here are a few pages from the reusable Calendar I made and that I'm teaching.

I'll post some of the other layouts in a couple of weeks!

I have been teaching card classes at my LSS, (local scrapbook store), Scraps Etc. So much fun!  Here are a few cards...

Trifold card

Here is another view of the same trifold card.

I'm always being asked for guy cards!

Well that's a little bit of what I've been up to!  Hope you enjoyed this quick tour inside my creative mind. 

Have a great and creative time,

M-C

Organizing my Spectrum Noir pens in the Ultimate Pen Organizer

I did, I broke down and ordered a complete set of these, all 14 trays, perfect for organizing all 168 of my spectrum Noir pens. Once I cascaded them together with two trays next to each other, I started filling it with pens.  But since I'm a practical sort at heart, I decided to search and see if I could find how someone else had put all their pens! Why re-invent the wheel, if someone had put their pens in a way that made sense to me.  I did not find anything. So here is how I did mine, just in case my way makes sense to you and saves you a bit of time.

Here are all my pens at a glance.  You can click on the picture for a larger image.  You will note that the JD (greens are sitting in the first row going down of the second tray. I actually moved the pens around quite a bit to figure it all out. At least for me, finding the pens is now pretty intuitive. If you are wondering about the white thing under the trays, I just placed that there so that I could move the trays from one table to another for taping! You will find a video I made at the bottom of this post!

Here is the left side with the greys, the blues and the tans:

Here is the right with the pinks, reds, oranges, and purples:

And here is the middle where I placed my greens to split the two sides visually:

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As promised here is the video explaining the where and the why of my pen placement:

Before I forget, this storage system works for a number of markers, copic, pros as well as other items such as cosmetics. I really hope that this will have helped someone and saved them a bit of time!  

Have a great day,

M-C

You Tube Giveaway Winners!

Thank you to everyone who subscribed to my channel during my YouTube giveaway!  I hope that I will give you reasons to come back and check on what I'm doing! This has been a fun experience and I hope that finding a word that identifies your goals for 2013 was a worthwhile thing to do!

I spend a great deal of time watching videos on YouTube and I will make a greater effort when I do so to actually leave comments! This whole giveaway reminded me of why it is that we YouTubers and bloggers put things we make out there for others to see.  Sure there are extroverts that just love it for the exposure.  But for some of us that are somewhat more shy, this is a great way to connect with people that will motivate us to keep on doing what we do! Creating is a great outlet for many of us. I am convinced that it helps me stay healthy and grounded! Again, thank you for your comments and encouragement of all the crafters out there!!  To actually learn who won, please watch!

Congratulations to the 3 winners! Don't forget to email me with your full name and address so that I can send you your goodies! Have a great day! 

It's Giveaway Time on my YouTube Channel

Good evening to all of you!  Well I am just about to reach 700 subscibers on YouTube abd so I thought I would do a giveaway there!  So my faithful blog readers are not left out, I will include all the comments that are made here by my blog subscribers, providing that they include the answer to the question on my video in the drawing for the big prize. Last day to post a comment is This Saturday, January 12th!  I'll be drawing the winners on Sunday!

Just to give you a hint, above is a picture of the grand prize.  Of course, I never reveal everything that you can win and sometimes what isn't included is the real treat.  Then again, sometimes not, LOL!

Here is the video, for you to watch! Good Luck!

Have a happy and creative week!

Marie-Claire (M-C)

Oh Christmas Tree

It is onward with the Christmas projects around here!  Every year I have a ton of projects I'd like to do and a ton that don't get done!  Here is something that I made as a gift.  I got the idea from a YouTuber (ILuvVintageScrap) and from Pinterest. 

This tree has jewelry grade decorations. Each silver bell was attached to the chain individually using jump rings. I had fun using beads to create the Ornaments. While I looked at glass (mason) jars, the only ones I could find locally that we're big enough were Ball jars and they had writing on all four sides. They may work as part of the charm for undecorated trees but for a decorated one it took too much of the clarity and crispness away. 

So my shabby chic tree is encased in an acrylic jar purchased in the kitchen section of Walmart. Hope you like it!