Many Thanks to a Friend...

Everyone will have a least a friend that means a lot to them. Ever since I join as a new member in my local Church of Christ congregation, I got to know a lot of amazing and inspirational people there. Given that I didn't know anyone in the church before I came in, it could be a rather daunting experience to face so many unfamiliar faces. Eunice is one of many unfamiliar faces among the crowd who had extended her very warm welcome on my very first Sunday there. And this is very unforgettable.

Alas, for the past Graphic 45 #G45lightside challenge that happened in May (which was also my very last ambassador post with therm 😢), I'm presenting this gift set idea for Eunice. Took me this long to settle down to blog this entry. As much I know I'm rather late in updating, I decided to just to get this done...

Knowing how busy her life can be as a doctor, I decided to gift her a book about balancing life. It's a book written with biblical principles in mind to aid Christians in finding and keeping balances in life. I have this book as well and I thought this will make a great gift to Eunice. 

Decided not to just merely wrapping up the book like a typical present, I made a book sleeve as part of the gift wrap. Learned that green is Eunice's favourite colour, I decided to pair up the book with a personalized bookmark that bears her name.

Graphic 45 Garden Goddess is perhaps one of the paper collection that mainly features various women within the entire collection. And this makes creating female-related gifts a much easier choice. Eunice is someone who has this positive and kind vibe in her that I find this sunflower goddess a good fit in her personality. Instead of presenting this with a "Happy Birthday" title in front of the gift packaging (which is what this gift is intended for initially), I chose a "Many Thanks" diecut frame to thank her as a friend to me. 

Oh well, it's better late than never in updating! I hope this can keep myself within the loop even I've been rather quiet recently. I hope to come back really soon, actively whenever time allows me to. Nonetheless, this won't be the last entry of the year (I promise!) and there'll be more to come; for the least with some level of consistency (I hope!)...

Below is the list of supplies I've used for this project with various links to purchase if you are interested to get:

• Graphic 45 Garden Goddess Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pack (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad
• Venetian Lace (Scrapbook.com)
• Spellbinders Past Club Kit (December 2018)
• Many Thanks (big die of the month)
• Warm Wishes (small die of the month)
• Aleene's Always Ready Tacky Glue (Blitsy)
• Tim Holtz Thinlits Alphanumeric dies (1/2" tall) 
• Green, yellow and brown cardstocks
• Paper dollies and assorted ribbons

Magical Fairy Tooth Gift Box for The Koays

One of the brethren in my church actually fell in love with my work after I showed him my blog on what I'm doing over here as a crafter/artist. Despite not an avid crafter himself, he was rather amazed by the work I do. So much so that he even watched most of my YouTube videos and read my blog, just to found my tutorial on the making of the fairy tooth door shrine an impressive one. 

And so... from there on after much communication about my works, he thought it'd be good to get something for the kids he adores from the church in Perth. Without much hesitation, this fairy tooth door is the ultimate choice for them.

It came so handy right after I've created one as my pioneer blog post for Graphic 45 as their ambassador last year. As it's going to be a gift, I decided to do up a shadow box specifically to fit the door in so that it will be easier for them to bring it over to Australia as well as for easy storage when it reaches the hands of the children. Took a great amount of Fairie Dust papers to doll up the shadow box. Not to mention, abundance of flowers on top of the box. These are Graphic 45 ivory flowers which I've colour sprayed them with some Prima purple mist to match the papers. 

I've also added a few Petaloo blooms and some other floral elements.

Bottles of pixie and fairy dust that sit well on top of a nest.

Presenting far more than just a fairy tooth door, I decided to get the tooth fairy Pdf printout from the whimsical mess maker lady Nicola Battilana. This will be so much fun in using this kit! And I heard the kids really love it very much.

For your interest, below is the list of supplies I used for this project together with links to where to get them. Unfortunately, most of the Fairie Dust collection ran out of stocks.

• Graphic 45 Fairie Dust Collection (12"x 12" Kit, 8"x 8" Pad, 12" x 12" Patterns & Solids, Tags & Pockets)
• Graphic 45 dies (Large, ATC & Flower, Regular & Gear)
• Graphic 45 Ivory Tags (Large, Regular, ATC)
• Graphic 45 Shabby Chic Drawer Pull, Ivory Flowers
• Tim Holtz 8" x 8" Metallic Kraft (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Spellbinder Donna Salazar Doll Accessories Etched Dies (fairy wings)
• Scrap FX chipboard
• Own stash (1/8" satin ribbon, golden dresdens, buttons, fairy resin, artificial mini flowers, bottles vials, glitters)

Imagine Junk Journal Episode 1 - Imagination

Greetings everyone! I know it has been a long long time that I had not been really updated. I wasn't missing in action, neither am I gone in the crafting space! It's just that I was caught up with a lot of things later and with my digital gadgets getting old and slow, I couldn't update fast enough to catch up. It's really time to upgrade some of my gadgets before they die on me.

Well, this is a long due post that I've yet to share personally on my blog but to most it has been featured on Graphic 45 blog. I'm deeply sorry that I took that long to come online. However, better than never while all my digital gadgets are functioning, I'm going to update as much as I could. Here is my very first page layout I've done in the junk journal I've done for Graphic 45 previously. As stated in my orientation video, I might do up a series so this is the very first episode I'm gearing towards at.

It's just a very simple layout I created using the various elements from the paper collection. Because I wanted this journal to be flat, it's not going to be dimensional. I've provided some tips over at Graphic 45 blog which you can hop over to read more. Below is a short run through start to finish video in how I do this layout up. 

Some close up details here using an "Imagination" quote stamp by Tim Holtz. They were stamped over some leftover scrap paper using the Decades Dye to match up the colour scheme.

I hope this will provide some basic inspiration for everyone who wanted to start something within their junk journals. Here is the list of supplies I've used for this project which you might be interested to know where to get them from:

• Graphic 45 Imagine Collection 
• 8" x 8" paper pad  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Create yourself clear acrylic stamps (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Dream clear acrylic stamps  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad
• Venetian Lace (Scrapbook.com) 
• Photogenic (Scrapbook.com)
• Aleene's Always Ready Tacky Glue (Blitsy)
• Tsukineko Dew Drop Brilliance Planetarium Metallic Colours Ink Set (Scrapbook.com)
• Tim Holtz Mini Orantes Stamp Set (discontinued)
• Penny Black Ornate Frame Stamp (discontinued)

Till next update... I shall catch up with you guys really soon...

A Rustic Garden Wedding Guest Book

Oh well, before I get into this... Happy 2019! Though a little late for the New Year greetings (it's March now!), I still feel there's a need to greet everyone who reads my blog. 💝

For the very first project of 2019, it's probably one major project to begin with that took me about a month plus to get this done up. Planning started as early as late December. Sharing here is one special wedding guest book I've done for one of my girlfriends, who got married recently. It's also one project that I decided to use it for Graphic 45 February challenge.  

Wedding guestbook is perhaps one of the basic essentials most couples would want to have during their big day, a book that allows all their friends and families to jot down their heartfelt blessings and messages. While it's easy to get the wedding planner to get one for you, my friend Sarah actually approached me to help her with this. What really touches me is that she entrust this entirely to me, believing I'd be able to deliver the very best for her. That's the best part, but it could also mean stress to me.

Knowing her wedding was going to be of a garden theme and would be held in a colonial house restaurant with a rich history, I thought a dainty wood-grain textured cover with a touch of gold and distressing brown would be more suited. Bearing in mind of the colour scheme Sarah was using for her wedding, Graphic 45 Princess collection is the way to go...

"Once Upon A Time" is title of the guest book within where I modified and re-engineering the pocket albums into a functional book by means of bookbinding. It took me a while to figure out how to integrate the book onto it's cover. After much thinking, I decided to keep the book separate from it's cover.

To make the entire guest book an interesting one, some of the couple's pictures were made detachable using magnets where they can place their photos anywhere they want. This will add some fun to it and not making the guest book a boring one. Rather it'd be very close to heart and personal.

Nearer towards the end, I decided to do up a mini album for the couple. To house them, I made a box from scratch as well. Everything made was made with thoughts of functionality and usability. Inasmuch as I could, I try to make this guest book as durable as it can last.

I used quite a lot of gold to brighten up the entire look mainly on the diecuts, a club kit I bought from Spellbinders that I also use it for Sarah's bridal shower card!

Well, this is the whole package I made for Sarah and Jason for their wedding day, which spans more than just any other guest book. To keep it short and sweet here, I've written a brief description over at Graphic 45 blog in how I made this entire package. Over here I just wanted to share the extend of my work and some thoughts on how I created this project, in hope to provide some inspiration.

Nonetheless, should any of your is interested to know the supplies I'm using for this project, the list is below with links to where to get them for your convenience:

• Graphic 45 Princess Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pad (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• 8" x 8" paper pad (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Tags and pockets (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Chipboards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Stickers (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 Staples
• Antique brass stamped metal brads
• Square tag and album in Kraft
• Square tags in Kraft
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad (Venetian Lace)
• Mixed Media
• Heavy white gesso
• Soft matte gel
• Light paste
• Golden rod stickles
• Spellbinders 
• Club kit (Fancy Floral Frame set)
• Shapeabilities (Lace Heart etched dies)
• Em-bossing fold'ers Bricks and Bark (discontinued)
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Ornamental Bigz Die
• Tim Holtz Kraft Stock Metallic 8" x 8" Gold & Silver Cardstock (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in white gold (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Glossy Accent (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Aleene's Always Ready Tacky Glue (Blitsy)
• Dusty Attic chipboards (upper alphas, lower alphas)
• Other supplies (pearlescent craft paint, assorted fabric and satin ribbons, golden fleur dressden, jute string, mulberry leaves, elastic band, cream paper and cardstocks)