Graphic 45 Design Team Audition 2015

Yes it's the Graphic 45 Design Team Call; one of the most exciting event ever!!! I was very glad to make it into this wonderful team for 2014/15 and I should say my experience with Graphic 45 was truly a heaven one... I love my fellow teammies, the amazing people behind Graphic 45 and truly enjoy the cohesiveness and support we had together as a team... It made me feel like a family... As much I'd like to wish we could never part, I know I'll miss my current team dearly... 

Sieving through my past Graphic 45 projects from my last audition to being on the team till date, I've seen myself grown artistically, evolving into a different creative level; an experience that I'll truly treasure for sure... Though I'm still searching for an identity as a budding artist, I'm very grateful for this wonderful opportunity that have brought me this far... Here again, I'm trying out for another year, in hope I can have this opportunity again to share my works in a brand new different level...

And here is my entry, featuring some of my favourite projects...

Project #1 - Come Away with Me Stacked Suitcases

This was one of the biggest projects till date; building all these suitcases from scratch and took me almost a week to complete everything... Wasn't an easy job but due to my obsessions on stacked suitcases, I wanted it so much that I just went crazy to build this mini version...  

More details about this project can be found here... 

I guess I can never had enough suitcases, these little matchbox suitcases are just part of my addiction that I had to create a tutorial...

Project #2 - A Snowman's Baggage & Christmas Suitcase

In sequel to my matchbox suitcases, I did these suitcases for last Christmas... It's a sudden inspiration coming from Disney's movie Frozen and my niece, after hearing her singing the snowman song to my dad... 

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #3 - Botanical Tea Violin Display Stand

I tend to keep things and when I found my violin, I felt old... Those were the days; bringing me memories... Each time I dug things, there'll be something that caught me and I'll always get inspired somehow... Nevertheless, making this stand for my violin was a result from digging old things... Spring cleaning don't sound that scary after all... It became one of my inspiration sources...

 More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #4 - A Christmas Kaleidoscope

This was one such recycling project that I put in extra effort to conduct some research in making functional kaleidoscope... I've seen quite a number of tutorials online but not all are able to attain favourable results... I tried and made several attempts before finally make this into a tutorial...

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #5 - Come Away with Me Altered Postbox

I'm always a big fan of Nicola Battilana and love minis and little things... I altered this post box piggy bank and revamped into a vintage one with failing parcels and mini mailbags... Away from the traditional red postbox, I decided to make it blue to match the paper collection... 

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #6 - Time to Celebrate Patina Box

This was one of my Graphic 45 newsletter assignments using the 5" x 5" mixed media box... I was tasked to alter the box with stenciling and stamping technique on the exterior of the box only, strictly no papers but only in the interior of the box... This challenging assignment had actually pushed me one step further, putting my creative brain cells into a new level.. And finally I came up with this Patina look which a tutorial is available...

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #7 - Precious Memories Baby Boy Patina Keepsake Box

For this Winter CHA, I revisited my Patina tutorial and create a pastel blue version of Patina together with Precious Memories paper collection... This keepsake was especially made for a friend of mine who is currently residing in Chicago and just had a baby boy last December...

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #8 - Typographic Grunge Altered Bookend

This wooden bookend was built by my youngest sister as part of her school project and has been kept in one of the drawers for more than 10 years... We managed to discover this one day when I was doing some spring cleaning at home... Again, another "digging" inspiration, I altered this bookend for her using a great amount of Graphic 45 staples and other metal embellishments I had in my stash...

More details about this project can be found here... 

Project #9 - A Thanksgiving Card

I made this card during the last Thanksgiving; my very virgin attempt on the Big Shot machine... Owning a Big Shot was never at the top of my mind despite I crafted a lot... It's because of the various dies given to us as part of our DT package, this indeed had changed my mind... 

I had penned down my maiden voyage with this virgin trial here...

Project #10 - Time to Celebrate Birthday Pop-Up Card

Never once in my life I attempted to make such a big card... This was my first attempt... Stands at A4 in size when close, this card will pop into a bouquet of flowers when open... This birthday card is especially handmade for a 98 year old granny...

More details about this project can be found here...

Though I managed to get into the DT last year, my Graphic 45 teaching opportunity at The Art Republic (AR) ended shortly... Very sadly, due to the rental hike they are unable to sustain the business and was forced to close shop... Here are the final 2 projects I had taught before AR close shop...

Project #11 - Botanical Tea Spring Duet Album

An album full of pockets and all pages are hand-bound together using modified saddle stitch which I put in an extra effort to explore and modify the stitches just for this album...

More details about this project can be found here...

Project #12 - Wanderlust Mixed Media Shadow Box

My very last class project for The Art Republic using Come Away with Me paper collection and 8" x 8" matchbox staple... This project was inspired by the 90s sitcom Friends' Central Perk fictitious coffee shop, just that there's no coffee served but more towards a travel shop...

More details about this project can be found here...

Thank you so much for viewing this entry of mine and I hope my projects have been an inspiration... I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Charee, Joanna, Aimee, Diane, Jeff and all people from the Graphic 45 family for providing me a great year in the DT... I hope to work with this amazing team again very soon...

Last but not the least, I hereby wish all applicants Good Luck for this audition... 

Thank You!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Be Lucky!!!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, it's a day to get luck... Here today on Graphic 45 blog post together with Lori Williams, I've made this dimensional card just for this St. Patrick's... Not something entirely green, I'm using purple together with green to make this Good Luck Card... I wanted it to be a little "flowery", hence added some miniature violets around the card...

Wishing everyone a lucky day today... Not only for today, but I also do wish everyone good luck every day...

My Interview with Graphic 45 for this National Craft Month

Today on Graphic 45 blogpost, I'm featured as part of their DT member for this national crafting month. For this March, we are given a set of questions for a short interview which you can read them HERE. On top of this, I've also created a tutorial on how to make tumbling blocks (aka Jacob's ladder), a traditional folk toy for this crafting month.

Jacob's ladder by tradition is set of wooden blocks held together by strings or ribbons. When held at one end, the blocks will cascade downward, giving a visual illusion of one block flipping over the other. There's actually several tutorials available online as well as on YouTube but I didn't manage to find them clear enough and hence creating this tutorial in a more visual way.

How to play this toy? I've included a YouTube link in my tutorial for your convenience. I hope this will be a fun project for your family. Cheers!!!

Steampunky Mobile Case

Today is my debut as a ScrapFX DT Member... For this very first blog entry for ScrapFX, I've altered my very own iPhone 6 mobile case; a case that I bought previously once I got my new iPhone 6... Because it is a pretty cheap mobile case, the images printed onto it were not that fantastic and it faded away just after 2 months usage... 

Since I'm such a big fan for anything that's steampunk, I decided to revamped this mobile case of mine into one such steampunky case... And here is what I created using ScrapFX chippes and Shimmerz products... When I'm done with it, I sealed the entire case with acrylic spray followed by PU varnish... So now I've a brand new mobile case...

A list of products used for this project is stated below... To receive some freebie, remember to mention my name during Paypal checkout under "Instructions to Merchant" when you place your Shimmerz order should you want to shop something there...

List of supplies used:

• Gesso
• ScrapFX Chippies (Steampunk Hot Air Balloon, Mini Feathered Wings, Mini Cogs, Wordlets - C Words)
• Shimmerz Products (Shimmeringz - Heavy Metal, Coloringz - Night Moves, Inklingz - Miner, Miner, 49er, Tarnish Treasure, Blingz - Hi Ho Silver)

Precious Memories Patina Baby Boy Shadow Box

Somewhere in last winter, a friend of mine who is currently living in the USA, Chicago had a baby boy. When Graphic 45 released the Precious Memories collection for Winter CHA, it came in just in time for me to do something for her newborn child.

Revisiting my Patina tutorial, I'm using blue as the main colour with a touch of pink. On the inside, I created this "Welcome the little One" as a sentiment inside the box and made a pair of mini booties inside as if they're hanging from the treetop. The booties are made of felt and I created the shoe patterns and made everything from scratch. Something that I get to put some of my footwear knowledge in practice. I even made a card to go together with this box... This project was sent over to Graphic 45 as part of the CHA project display this January. So if any of you guys have visited the booth, you probably have seen this around...

Hop over to today's Graphic 45 blog post to see the rest of my fellow teammies' amazing creations. A list of supplies that I used for this project can be found there as well.