Graphic 45 Communique Layout

2009 was the year that I was introduced to Graphic 45 papers by my friend Gine. She told me all about the beautiful papers while we were at a friends house, and as soon as I got home I had to pull up the website and see for myself. She was right, the papers were just breathtaking! So beautiful, a combination of vintage and brights mixed together to create very graphic classy pages. I fell in love immediately.

The last of my favorite layouts from 2009 was this layout made with Graphic 45's Communique line. It showcases a picture of my mother in law with her two daughters and her granddaughter. I thought it went perfectly with the society page's clipping about the world's prettiest girls. At the top corner I created a larger clustering of many of the collection's tags and other embellishments all inked to matched the antique look of this layout. The journaling block was a piece of white cardstock that I aged with different shades of brown ink. And then i finished off the page with a border of Prima ribbon. I feel pretty proud of my first vintage layout.

Supplies used in this layout:

Graphic 45 - Communique Collection - Society Page
Graphic 45 - Communique Collection - Pen in Hand
Graphic 45 - Communique Collection - Die Cuts - Tags

Prima Natural Obsessions Collection Layout - Curly Top

This layout is most amazing to see in person, and its because of the amazing paper line from Prima called the Natural Obsessions Collection. Its a thick texture rich paper that adds so much dimension to the page. Its just amazing. This is my second favorite layout of the ones I did in 2009.

At the bottom I have a strip of Prima Voila to anchor the page.

In this layout I also added some prima flowers and a prima ribbon that I losely curled and looped to add even more dimension. I just love how this layout came out. And the contrasting yellow letters just pop!

Again, I do not like the photos that much, I wish they were not so dark.

Products Used:

Prima - Natural Obsessions Collection
Prima - Prairie Flowers Collection

My Craft Projects were Published!

I was so excited to see my crafts published in a big local magazine called the Parklander. They ran an article about giving crafts as gifts for the holidays and two of my craft projects were photographed for the article. What a thrill!

The first project shown in the article is a rear view mirror ornament I made with pictures of my kids. I gave these to my parents for them to hang in their car and they just love them! They are made with an acrylic flower, stamped swirls, and a flower that I affixed with a rhinestone brad and my crop-a-dile.

The second project is a mobile I made for Tim Holtz using different Idea-ology products and vintage music themed paper.

Here is a link to the whole article:

Basic Grey Urban Prairie Layout - Clustering of Embellishments

Now that a new year is here, I was looking through my 2009 layouts and noticing some special moments when I tried new techniques, and attempted to step things up a notch in terms of layout design. I picked my three favorite layouts out of all the ones I did in 2009 and will be sharing them with you here on my blog this month.

My third favorite layout is one I did using a paper pack from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie line. This line of paper had several butterflies and girly colors which went perfectly for my baby girl's photos. In this layout, I was experimenting with clustering of embellishments to create a point of interest on the page. You can see where my title is that several coordinating embellishments are grouped together to make this cute area with tons of interesting things to look at.

What I learned in this layout was to be patient when cutting out paper butterflies from a 12x12 sheet, because it is so worth it once you pop them up and add that sense of dimension. I also learned how much a not-quite-perfect photo can distract from a pretty layout. The lighting could have been better in the photos.

Overall, I am proud of how it looks and I would not change a thing. I challenged myself to design a layout that is a step above what I was doing at the time, and I feel proud of the outcome.

So I humbly present to you, this layout as one of my favorite works from 2009.

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Beaded Zipper Pulls

I made these awesome beaded zipper pulls using Tim Holtz Idea-ology products. I participated in an online swap where each of us had to make something using any of the products in the idea-ology line. I used the new super fun and versatile Type Charms and the swivel clasps and added some various beads I had laying around, and made these very functional zipper pulls.

On the type charms I use my printer to print the word CREATE very small on matching cardstock and then I used a 1/2 inch punch to make it the same size as the type charm. Then I glued the punched out word to the type charm, covered it with the included epoxy sticker and it made the perfect charm to complete my piece.

Aren't they fun! Try it out!

Supplies:

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Type Charms
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Swivel Clasps
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jump Rings
Misc Beads of your choice