Graphic 45 Throwback; An Unseen Project - Voyage Beneath the Sea Bathroom Decor

Alas!! As I flipped through the drafts, I took notice of this one project I had done up for Graphic 45 during my term with them. Oh how I miss those days with Graphic 45. Till date their various paper collections and staples still occupy more than 70% of my stash, thanks to their generosity. Therefore, for today's throwback I decided to do up a blog post about this unseen project that's long overdue and never get to share in Graphic 45 blog. 😢

Though I was very attracted by the steampunky mermaid on the main page of Voyage Beneath the Sea paper collection, I especially took notice of the seahorses and the arch frame instead. This gave me an idea of a pair of seahorses guarding a pearl. Eventually, I turned them into a piece of bathroom wall decor, which I think it would certainly look good when placed above the toilet bowl. Imagine the seahorses are splashing some glittering water each time you flush your toilet. Alright, it may sounds a little too much of information here. But, that's probably one unique aesthetic concept you could consider. I do find it rather cool, don't you think so? Oh well, to each of its own...

To hold the decor, I'd need some sort of hook. Instead of a usual conventional hook, I grabbed one of the shabby chic ornate metal key holders and improvised it so that it can be hang onto the wall. A final touch of some patina gilders paste certainly adds some marine feel to it. And it's all ready to be hang!

Sadly, it seems that most stores are not longer carrying this paper collection and we can only wait for Graphic 45 to relaunch them as Deluxe Collections. Nonetheless, below are a list of supplies (not a lot though and within what I can remember) I had used for this project with links to where to get some of them:

• Graphic 45 Voyage Beneath the Sea 12" x 12" Paper Pad
• Graphic 45 Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Key Holders
• Prima Marketing Shabby Chic Round Ornate Resin Frame
• GSL Miniature Steampunk Corners and Borders
• Baroque Art Patina Gliders Paste
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Own Stash (brass chain, seashells and pearl)

Magic Wonder - A Winter Faeries Fairy Box

For the past weeks while I was re-organizing my stuffs, I came across this half-done prepared (gessoed and texturized) filmstrip shadow box together with several primed fairies and flourishes hidden underneath my working desk on top of my craft mat. It was a long time overdue project; a project that I had planned and prepared way in advance supposedly to be completed in May for Gypsy Soul Lasercuts as a Guest Designer. However, things happened and almost all of my WIPs went into a halt instantly. Flipping through my notebook where I did all my project line-up scribbles, this is so much I had missed. 

Life shouldn't be full of resentments. For the very least, I had indeed a good long rest (mentally, physically and spiritually). I just need to get myself started somehow and those scribbles I had made months back is just what I need to rejuvenate my creative brain cells. Pardon me for the nag (I've a tendency to talk a little about my life) for life has been tough on me. The process of creation has always been a hibernating moment that will set me free from the real world. This has been one of the ways that I can be really be myself without any form of masquerade in order to maintain my inner sanity. So, I shall end my story here and present my completed project...

Presenting... 

A Winter Faeries Fairy Box, showcasing a little magic wonder for this Christmas!

My initial plan was to create some sort of gardening fairy scene but that's back in May; still stuck at the back of my head. Since Christmas is round the corner, I wonder why not doing up some wintry scenes? And yes I should. Since I've been hoarding a bottle of Aleene's True Snow for almost a year, it's time to try and use it. I transformed the filmstrip shadow box into a huge snow box that carries various miniature wintry scenes within the box, with a snowflake balcony on top. 

I planted 2 Christmas trees within the 1st and last box to keep it really simple. Unfortunately, I had quite a hard time trying to capture them within my camera due to the flourishes I placed on the outside. Sometimes the kind of work I do is just not camera friendly and you need to view them using your physical eyes. This is so much I could capture and I hope the pictures are not straining your eyes too much. If your eyes are really sharp enough to penetrate through the pixels of these pictures, you will get to notice some little magic I had added within the wintry scenes. I added some florescent glow-in-the-dark powder onto snow and trees! They do "light" up beautifully at night, subtly I should say.  Again, unfortunately I couldn't capture them 'cos the details are so hard to capture and only human eyes can view them.   

The entire media application, from creating the glittery snowy effect, building the snowflake balcony to building up the wintry scenes within took me close to a week to complete. It's the drying process in between that's taking up a lot of time as I was trying to garner the the kind of winter effect I want before I seal them with iridescent fine glitters. Oh yes! glitters! This was indeed a very glittery project and I used close to 3 different types of glitters throughout.

I decided to exalt one of the fairies to the centre of the box, in front of the frame of which she carries a sign - believe in the magic of Christmas. 

I built a mini glittery snowman and place him onto a pile of snow filled with tiny snowflakes.

And someone left an ice skate there as well...

Lots of snow, glitter and flakes at the back of the snowflake balcony! I'm afraid the picture is not doing much justice - the ultra fine details are just meant for the human eye. I found an ornate rectangle frame which I moulded out from a silicon mould which I was trying to test earlier this year. Oh well, it seems I needed some sort of wordings and I decided to affix some woody letterings onto it to complete the entire project. Finally the magic wonder was done!!!

A little different away from conventional Christmas projects I've done previously, but I do hope this can give a you guys a refreshing idea in how to create a piece as such. Give it a try, you never know Christmas is not more than just snowflakes and fairies!

Here is a list of supplies I have used for this project:

• Gypsy Soul Lasercuts (filmstrip shadow box, small garden fairies, flourishes 2, stackable label set shape) 
• Prima Marketing Art Basics and Ingredients (heavy gesso in white, modeling paste, light paste, soft gloss gel, 3D gloss gel, art sugar in white)
• Tim Holtz (stackable snowflakes die, Christmas word bands, ice skates, woodland mini trees, perfect pearl PPP17714)
• Martha Stewart Mother of Pearl acrylic paint
• Clear Snap Smooch accented ink in silver fox
• Lindy Stamp Gang delphinium turquoise mist
• Melissa Frances Mica Flakes in white
• Aleene's True Snow
• Iridescent ultra fine glitter powder
• Acetate sheet
• Paper clay
• Own stash (various tiny and mini snowflakes, jewels, glitter garland, letterings, paper balls for the snowman, fluorescent glow-in-the-dark powder)

First Guest Designer Blog Post with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts - Goblin Door

It has been seriously quite some time I've been doing up Guest Designer's post. I was glad to be asked by Gina from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts to be their Guest Designer for the month of May. Despite my busy and hectic life recently, I've been trying my very best to squeeze some time out to get my creative brain cells kicking. Due to the lack of rest and time for myself, they are mostly in snoozing mode. Should I not wake them up, I might lose them forever! So it's time to get creative and inspiring again!

Alright, before I go non-stop chatting away my life, I better showcase my very first project using one of the fairy doors diecuts. OMG! They are way too cute! Instead of using them as fairy doors like they are intended for, I'm transforming one of them into a Goblin door. A door of a kind, on it's very own mounted at one little corner of my mum's house which is more than 30 years of age - a home I've grown up in for the past 30 over years.

Close to nature, the door was adorned with foliage, twigs, scrubs and leaves. Even the main door itself is built with some sort of bark from a trunk.

I hope this door can age well in subsequent years to come. Unless we've to move, this door will be there with a Goblin guarding our house.

Coffee Express at Platform No. 9

At certain point of my life, I can be a fanatic freak of something something; something that caught my eyes that I feel like owning everything of something I fancy. Oh well, I can never have enough of suitcase frenzies and I'm certainly obsess over them especially old suitcases. It's definitely undoubtedly I'll have some sort of old suitcases in my very own home in the future.

Last year I was really obsessed with stacked suitcases, and for this year to bring my obsession to another fantasized level, I'm doing up a cafe based suitcase fusing with a fan-fiction derived inspiration from Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express at Platform 9¾. With my love for coffee and a fan of Harry Potter, I fused these two together and created this Coffee Express at Platform 9. While it looks rather magical on the outside, as you enter you’ll be welcome into a suite of modernized coffee cafe where mugglers hang out for a cup of nice coffee. It’s practically the reverse scene setting where witches and wizards travel to have mugglers’ coffee. They still have to board the train at Platform 9¾ to head back to Hogwarts, but it’s just ¾ platform away from Platform 9.

I built this medium size suitcase based on my stacked suitcases PDF tutorial and transformed it into runaway suitcase by adding some wheels. I've a separate mini magician matchbox suitcase tutorial, as well as a miniature magician wands Snapguide tutorial if you'd like to explore. To add some fun, most of the miniatures within are not fixed and free to move around. I've done up a video orientation to show how to "play around" with this suitcase. Something really fun to play with! Sit back and enjoy the journey!

List of Supplies:

• Graphic 45 Cityscapes 12" x 12" Paper Pad (Cityscapes, Global Odyssey, Passport to the World, Crossroads, Street of Dreams)
• Graphic 45 Staples (Stamped Metal Brads, Ornate Metal Keys, Ornate Metal Label Holder)
• Gypsy Soul Lasercuts (2” wheels, miniature bookplates, faux metal number plates)
• Tim Holtz Matchbox L Die
• Craft blank matchboxes
• Petaloo Flowers
• Coffee Stuffs (liquor, wine, honey pots, bag of coffee beans, coffee glitters, coffee grinder, bronze coffee cup)
• Other Cafe Items (industrial lamps, glass lamp, wooden spec, coffee time signage)
• Suitcase Items (top hat, magical books, magical wands, umbrella, pocket watch)

My January Tag for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016

Doing up tags is seriously not really one of my cores. I can take days to complete one tag, though tags are the most easiest to do. Don't get me wrong, I do love tags and I do really want to love making them whenever I could. Just that my creative brain cells are just not that tag friendly. 

Sooo, I heard about Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 and he will introduce some really cool techniques every month and encourage the community to participate. For someone like me struggling to make tags at some point of time, participating in this kind of activity sounds good to me. Plus, with some "technical rules" to follow, this really saves me the hassle to think. Taking it as another learning curve for me, I'm taking this challenge and here is my take for the January tag...

Quite a pretty last minute project, but better than never...

Oh well, guess I've overdone it yet not exactly using the techniques outlined as there's quite a number of stuffs I don't have, yet I've tons of Tim Holtz stuffs. So I gotta improvised given the limited amount of time I had. Instead of using the foil tape, I used Tim Holtz's kraft-core gold metallic cardstock for the industrious metal technique.

Added quite a number of embellishments, and as soon as I noticed it this is my very first masculine tag!!! Can't help it, how can I miss out gears to match the industrious look? I just need to add some gears.

Despite having so many mixed media stuffs, I don't have any of Ranger's embossing powder. Hah! Tricky! And this left me with not much choice left but to work within what I have. Instead of using the chalkboard technique with stamping, I applied it with embossing instead. And it turned out pretty well! The fussy me just don't like the idea of  leaving the back of the tag as it is, as usual I'll cover and do something to complete the look.

A tag that speaks much about my vision in life. Just nice for this January 12 tag thingy by Tim Holtz, Nice start and I believe it's all about re-learning and imagine the impossible. 

List of Supplies:

• Large Manila Tag
• Black Cardstocks
• Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Metallic Collection
• Tim Holtz Pocket Watches Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Compass Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Ruler Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Possibilities Framelits Die Set with Stamps
• Tim Holtz Metal Mini Gears
• Tim Holtz Game Spinners
• Tim Holtz Light Bulbs
• Tim Holtz Word Bands
• Tim Holtz Philosophy Tags
• Gypsy Soul Lasercuts (Miniatures Gears Borders and Corners, Gears Shape Set)

A Fairy Prayer's House

About a month ago, my previous Graphic 45 DT member Nichola Battilana shared her fairy lantern tutorial on Facebook which caught my attention. This practically gave me an idea what to do with some of my pixies diecuts which I've been thinking what I can do with these new Marianne Design dies I bought. 

Subsequently, my new Graphic 45 DT pack came and within my package there's some garden fairy chippies from Gypsy Soul Lasercuts. And I was thinking perhaps I could do up something with these little fairies. Very much wanted to do up some sort of prayer shrine/room/house. With the inspiration coming from Nichola's fairy lantern, I managed to do up this little fairy prayer house for this week's Graphic 45-Petaloo Blog Hop. 

“I Say a Little Prayer for You” was what came to my mind as I built this little house which is made out from the die-cuts of Eileen Hull’s canister XL Bigz. I’m not really a huge fan of purple (neither do I really hate this colour), but the purplish velvet Petaloo flowers literally won my heart. So…. I ended up using purple as the main colour for this prayer’s house using Graphic 45 Children Hour's March montage and calendar papers. 

I fixed a LED candlelight above and made a floral cap to cover the on-off switch. When needed to, just remove the floral cap, on the light and cover it back. When it is lit up at night it is exceptionally beautiful. This would make a wonderful little bedside companion at night.

May you have a peaceful night! I do hope this little project has brought you some joy! Happy Crafting!! Cheers!!

Holly Jolly Twenty-16

It's 2016!!! Seriously, why does time flies so fast? Does he really slow down? Alright, I believe everyone feels that way except for children. They are dying to grow up fast and wish time will fly fast, but definitely not for grown ups. I regretted making that wish when I was a child. Damn!

These pair of fairies are available for sale Here

So the little child in me and very much wanted to still stay in the Christmas mode, I made these 2 little fairies, namely Holly and Jolly. They had been receiving presents, and very much of them that they need a sleigh to ferry them. But the naughty Jolly ditched the presents aside and wanted to parade with the sleigh instead!!!

Winged up with ornate wings and dressed in little puffy skirts and white bloom millinery, they seriously look very angelic here. Oh well, it's still winter. Certainly the fur over their skirts do keep them warm. 

Oh look at how beautiful the ornate wings are!!! And how can I ever miss out glitters? They sparkle the wings so well!!! 

See how petite the are in my hand. Love 'em!!!! Off they go with their sleigh. They will be busy opening the presents when they reach home. 

Holly and Jolly hereby wish everyone a very Happy New Year and have a Holly Jolly Twenty-16!!!