Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador Call 2024 -2025

It has been a really long time. Though I've been rather inactive and did some projects here and there form time to time, in actual fact I was lurking around keeping myself updated on what's happening within the crafting community. And YES! I decided to head back and hope to be part of Graphic 45 for this 2024 - 2025 Brand Ambassador team after my last term with them in 2018.

For this year's project submission, I delved into Graphic 45's retired calendar collection, Children's Hour. This undertaking has been one of my most extensive projects, utilising the majority of the collection to create these 12 monthly journal pamphlets, each representing a month of the year. These pamphlets are housed in a handmade bookcase, crafted entirely from scratch.

There is so much photos can tell and I think a video tour might be better to show this project. For the very last minute, I decided to do a quick one.

To add a touch of uniqueness, I randomly stamped the sides of the bookcase with a G45 floral background stamp using Tsukineko Brilliance galaxy gold ink. The result is a textured yet not too overpowering effect. For embellishments, I incorporated my newly bought stitched flower and medallion dies from Spellbinders, a reflection to match all the pamphlets' front covers I have made. Loads of stitching work are done here!

Pamphlets are all hand-stitched individually, measuring 4" by 5.5", each having enough pages for a month's worth of writing if written on a single page daily. Because the calendar collection has each of its colours and designs, I simply use the design for the whole series without having to think much on colour and design matching.

Each pamphlet was stamped and embossed with gold with the month (unfortunately, G45 has retired this calendar stamp set) on the tab of the insert pages, which I created using the folder die from the G45 Folder & Sentiment die set.

This project took me over a week to complete with nearly 3-4 days of prep work before I could piece everything together. Nonetheless, it's a fulfilling one given I've not been crafting actively for the past year, and I hope through this ambassador call, I can bring more interesting projects should I get into the team with Graphic 45.

Cheers!

Supplies List:

• Graphic 45 Children's Hour collection (available at my ETSY)
• Graphic 45 Floral Background and Calendar (retired) stamp sets
• Graphic 45 Matt Pearls Gems (retired)
• Graphic 45 Folder & Sentiments (SB, AMZ) Tags & Flowers (SB, AMZ, AMZSG) and Policy & Decorative (AMZ, AMZSG) metal dies sets
• Spellbinders Stitched dies - Medallion (SB, AMZ) and Flower (SB, SPB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Label Forty Nestabilities & D-lite Flourishes dies (retired)
• Ranger Ink Embossing Power in Gold (SB, AMZ)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tsukineko Brilliance ink in Galaxy Gold (AMZ, AMZSG)
• DMC Thread #676 - Old Gold (AMZ)
• Ornate Metal Feet (available at my ETSY)
• 80gsm Papers (for pages)
• Vellum

Legend - SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

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)

A Skinny Imagine Junk Journal

About 3 months ago, I made my very first attempt in doing up a junk journal. As unsure and scary as it seems to me, I managed to get one done up at the end of the day. It wasn't easy for me as making albums is my Achilles heel. For this month Graphic 45's monthly challenge, I was one of the few ambassadors to do up a junk journal. Thankfully, my very first attempt didn't make this task a daunting one. Bracing ahead, this is what I've done up!!!

Instead of a bulky book, I decided perhaps I should do up a skinny version where it's handy enough for my very own keepsaking. This skinny little junk journal measures 4.75" by 8"; a pretty good size to me. In view that perhaps not a lot of crafters are daring enough to do up a complex one, introducing such a size might be less daunting. 

Super short and sweet; I kept the front cover as simple as possible. Not so much over the top yet it looks like a noteworthy kind of journal. This junk journal consists of 3 magazines within, stitched onto the spine, with as many as 20 over pages to be filled in due time. 

A combination of old vintage stuffs, recyclables, together with pattern papers, stuffs and such were added to give the junk journal the junky identity. I'd suppose that's how it should be, isn't that so? Well, those matching Imagine acrylic stamps just came in time to pair up this beautiful collection. I've literally used all of them for this journal. Here is a video showing a short glimpse on how the inside of the book looks like...

Right now, I can't wait to get those pages filled up. Looks like I'll have to do up a junk journal series on this book since there's an abundant of designs from the Imagine collection that I can use them to fill them up. And that what makes creating so far when you've all the matching stuffs. And YES! I think I'd really do that soon. 

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)
• Tea-dyed papers
• Cream cardstock
• Ribbons (golden trims, grosgrain ribbon)

Meanwhile, happy crafting and junk journaling! See you guys very soon!!

Back to School Fun Tutorial with Graphic 45

What's sharing on today's Graphic 45's blogpost is a short tutorial on how to create these cute mini notebooks using just a single sheet of printer paper in just 4 simple steps.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Fold an A4 size printer paper into 16 parts and cut across the paper as shown, leaving the last part uncut.

Step 2: Gather and fold the paper alternatively into a mini accordion book. Distress the edges if preferred.

Step 3: Wrap Kraft cardstock around the book. This will be the cover. Glue/tape down the first and last parts of the paper onto the insides of the cover. 

Step 4: Embellish as follows. And you're done!!!

The final size of the mini notebooks measures 2.25" x 3". For those wondering about A4 size, it's an international ISO standard paper size commonly used in Singapore, UK, and some Commonwealth countries. It's larger than the US letter size paper, which measures 8.27" x 11.7" (21cm x 29.7cm). If you can't find A4 size printer paper, don't worry! You can use letter size or similar sizes, just keep in mind that your notebooks will be smaller. The steps, however, remain the same. I hope this clears things up for you.

Have fun!!! Cheers!!!

Graphic 45 Botanical Tea Spring Duet Album Class at The Art Republic

Finally, I manage to find some time to sit down and blog a bit here...

For the past weeks I was busying clearing my craft corner, space-digging to accomodate my Graphic 45 DT package... Took me several days to clear my area and I managed to re-organize quite a number of stuffs... Not very ideal but it has de-cluttered alot... What came next was something all crafters dread most; I injured my right index finger which landed me "handicapped" for a week!!! This explains why I was quite inactive for the recent weeks...

Well, I know this is what my scrapping peeps have been waiting for - the pocket album... It was all done up finally!!! Learn how to create this pocketful album via modified saddle stitching... Happening in June, opening for registration...

The pocket album...

Added some stickles to enhance the embellishments...

The spine; there'll be some stitching involved...

A pocketful of album...

Tags in the pockets...

One of the little "things" inside the album...

Tagging the tags...