Raining Cats & Dogs Horlicks; A Cat Layout

Tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day... When I ran out of ideas, sometimes it's good to go back to the basics and do something traditional... Here on today's Graphic 45 blog post, I'm sharing this Horlicks layout using Raining Cats and Dogs paper collection... 

Featuring my friend's cat, he was named after a malted drink Horlicks... It may sounded familiar to some of you perhaps... It's definitely one of my favourite drink after Milo... So I am presenting this one cool cat on this layout and this will be gift for my friend...

Making it to the Graphic 45 Design Team for the 2nd Year

Oh Yes!!! I'm on the Graphic 45 DT for the second year!!! Yeah!!! I'm still absorbing the news though... Last night I struggled to sleep as I'm thinking how to complete one of my May assignments which I intend to make a tutorial out of it... Partly is also 'cos of the excitement for this DT announcement... 

Well, I guess it's due to the lack of sleep or my brain is still in Scatterland, I forgot about this completely till the various FB notifications from my fellow g45 DT members... Given the fact I placed my milk in the freezer this morning, indeed I was reacting a little slow today... Holly Heck!!! It seriously caught me by surprise and shocked me till my heart skipped a beat the moment I saw my name on the list... Goodness!!! I'm still in frozen moment... Join me in this excitement and welcome this year DT...

Arlene Cuevas - USA

Belly Lau - China

Brit Sviggum - Norway

Danielle Copley - USA

Donna Espiritu - Saudi Arabia

Ginny Nemchak - USA

Joanne Bain - Australia

Katie Zoey Ho - Singapore (That's ME!! Holly Heck!!!)

Lori Williams - USA

Maggi Harding - USA

Mariusz Gierszewski - Poland

Robin Shakoor - USA

Solange Marques - Brazil

Tanya Dudkina - Russia

Tati Scrap - Spain

Graphic 45 Ambassadors

(This is an invitation-only program for educators. What amazing artists and teachers on this list!)

Alberto Juarez Diaz - Spain

Clare Charvill - UK

Jane Tregenza - Australia

Jim Hankins - USA

Laura Denison - USA

Pardon me, I seriously feel like a slow poke today...

Getting excited is one thing, the next most exciting thing is I can boggle my creative brain cells for another good year with Graphic 45... As pervertic as I could be, I pinkies and thumbies swear that I'll be bringing more interesting projects that will blow you away... This week new paperlines preview is just insane!!! Look at this year Halloween collection - Rare Oddities!!! How crazy can this be?!? I wanted to build a curio shop diorama since beginning of last year using the Olde Curiosity Shoppe collection but for whatever hell reasons I didn't attempt, and now being part of the DT again for the 2nd year, there's absolutely no reasons for not doing one up... Wow!! I'm all maxed out but I love it... Hope over to their blog here and here for the preview... You will not regret it...

I shall see you guys very soon again... 

Smooches... XOXO

Safari Trunk Boutique Diorama

Besides being a coffee freak, I'm equally a freak in imagining doing certain things in unusual places such as shopping for my favourite trunk in a Safari park. Presenting here my ideal Safari Trunk Boutique diorama which is on this week's Alpha Stamps newsletter project highlight using this month kit.

Used a bazillion of Alpha Stamps' supplies plus those greens and other supplies I've been keeping for God knows what the hell I'm hoarding for, I transformed a small wooden box into a wooden chest using Tim Holtz wood grain stencil and painted it over with various shades of brown. Added a layer of bushes and dumped some branches and fern garlands at the top. To finish off, I added on claw feet and lion head door knocker. Oooo how cool is that!!! I love these new Graphic 45 staples!!! They simply match this theme so well. Don't you feel Safa-rish-ing? 

There's 2 level in this boutique, level 1 is for men; all sort of explorer stuffs while level 2 is for women!! Fashion parade in front of the mirror and have a comfortable rest on a nice chair, ladies are only interested for bags isn't it? What's more to this diorama is I can hold it with one hand. Feels like I'm owning this whole Safari Trunk Boutique all by myself. Added a 3D giraffe nibbling the leaves off the branches, as well as some little pocket watch charm, binoculars and ornate key on the other end of the branch. This just spice up the entire Safari scene. I have a step-by-step tutorial in how to make this 3D giraffe from the collage sheet at the bottom of this entry. A full list of supplies follows by.

Happy trunk shopping. And I hope you have a wonderful day ahead.

The entire view of Safari Trunk Boutique. This diorama is available HERE.

The tree branches and greens at the top.

The main entrance of the Safari Trunk Boutique.

A closer look at the fallen charms.

A shawl, folding newspapers and a passport of a lady traveller.

Explorer stuffs all men will love...

Tutorial in making 3D giraffe from Out of Africa collage sheet

Step 1: Create a mirror image of the giraffe. You can reverse the image within Adobe Acrobat by following the instructions HERE if you've the software... Otherwise you can reverse the image using Microsoft Word by taking a snapshot of the giraffe on Adobe Reader, paste the image onto a word document, copy and make another copy and flip the image horizontally (under Picture Tool > Rotate). 

Step 2: Print and fussy cut the giraffes out. In order to "strengthen" the giraffes, backed the print outs by gluing them over a piece of cardstock before fussy cutting. This can be omitted if you had printed them on a heavy weigh paper. Distress the edges if preferred.

Step 3: Paint or distress the backing cardstock with black paint or black soot distress ink. You will only need to do this if you are using a light colour cardstock as backing or you've printed on a heavy weight paper. Otherwise, backing with a black cardstock will conveniently save this step.

Step 4: Build a 1/4" block by stacking a few medium weigh chipboards. I often keep scraps of my chipboards so that I can use them for functions as such.

Step 5: Paint the edges with some black paint.

Step 6: Glue the block onto one of the giraffe as shown.

Step 7: Sandwich the block by gluing the other giraffe. 

Make sure they are match in symmetry.

Step 8: Glue the heads together as shown.

This will eliminate the illusion of having a double-head creature.

And you are done!!! Here is one proud standing 3D giraffe.

Supplies List:

• April Vintage Vagabond Kit
• Out of Africa Collage Sheet
• Vintage Travel Tags & Hardware Collage Sheet
• Steamer Trunk Parts Collage Sheet 
• Haunted Ship Travel Collage Sheet 
• 2mm Brass Flat Back Studs
• 3mm Brass Flat Back Studs
• Faux Suede Sheets
• Bronze Binoculars Charm
• 1” Bronze Keys
• Narrow Gold Fleur Dresden Borders
• Fancy Chipboard Corners
• Wood Flourish Frames
• Glittered Mini Seed Pods in Gold
• Violet Cherry Blossom Garland 
• Tim Holtz Damask Regal Flourish Embossing Folders
• Tim Holtz Wood Grain Stencil
• Golden Rod Sticklers 
• Alphabet Baby Beads
• Moss Sheet
• E6000
• White Gesso
• Molding Paste
• PU Varnish
• Kraft Cardstock
• Graphic 45 Claw Feet
• Graphic 45 Lion Head Door Knockers
• Dusty Attic Chipboard (mini chairs & atc frame)
• Twiddleybitz Chipboard (flourish corners)
• Martha Stewart Craft Paint (chestnut brown)
• Daler Rowney System 3 Acrylic Paint (burnt umber no. 233, pale gold no. 708)
• Own Stash (pocket watch charm, modeling foliage, faux tree branches, fern roping garland, jute twine, mirror sheet)

Graphic 45 Gilded Lily Sneak Peeks and DT Tag Exchange 2015

What's coming up next is this absolutely gorgeous Marie Antoinette inspired, Baroque vintage style collection by Graphic 45... I absolutely adore this Gilded Lily collection!!! And what's so amazing about this collection is that my suggestion of seeing a Victorian/Baroque paperline come true... I've never seen a company that truly value every of their DT members so much and take in their suggestions so seriously besides gifting us generous pack of their products and other goodies... Being part of their DT is just simply jaw dropping and utterly speechless... 

Even before the new 2015/16 DT announcement (which is this coming Thursday), I already have tons of project ideas at the back of my mind... I shamelessly admit I hope to see myself in the list again so that I can greedily get another year of goodies... This is just mind blowing and I can't wait to work with this collection... 

Hop over to their blog here and here for more sneaky peeks...

Very soon my very first year with Graphic 45 will end this May and surely I'll miss my fellow DT members... Because the team will be disbanded soon, somewhere this January, one of our fellow teammies Nichola Battilana suggested a tag exchange and a few of us decided to do this for a little keepsake before our team disbands this end May... As sad as it is, I wish we can never part...

Here are the several ATC tags I've made for them... Still obsess with crates, I'm bringing them onto these tags and I hope they will happy when they receive their crushed packages... They'll need to uncrush to see their tags...

Just Be A Carefree Beauty

After my very first art journal attempt, this is my 2nd attempt... Although this is not really one of my strengths, I'm learning to cope with such restricted 2D art... I can't really build things up or else I'm unable to close my journal... 

Getting away from 3D art seriously tie me up in a certain way... Yet I'm curious enough to try something else... It's often easier for me to think of a theme and create on a 3D platform which often appeals to me most... I do sucks on 2D I realize... I may start to dislike it but it does explore and broaden my other creative perspective... Because it is that "restrictive", I don't actually have "much" choices but to "force" myself to utilize my other aspect of creativity... As a budding artist, I just have to try and re-learn everything...

While sieving through the various ScrapFX chippies with my DT package, I came up with this "Just be a Carefree Beauty" title using various wordlets and shape embellishments... Initially wanted to use some feathers and wings but not sure what to do... Staring at the blank page, I was lost at start... So I re-look into my DT package again and found a Dandelion and some seed spores... And I thought this could be better than feathers and wings since Dandelion has a symbolic meaning of happiness and desire...The spreading seeds just make me feel carefree... And I decided to cut the feather off the "Just be" chippie...

As I excitedly gesso-ing my journal page and those chippies, the next step I need to do is to create a background... Happily took out several shades of pink and blue from Shimmerz, I was lost for the second time on what colour scheme to use exactly... Thinking of just using pink mainly ('cos I was too overly immersed with my pink Haute Couture petite fairies), I tried to get myself to think of a suitable colour theme that will match my title... I started misting and I screwed it... Before I started to feel frustrated, I gesso everything with an intention to redo everything... Surprisingly, as I spread the gesso down the page, the brushing down effect blends the colours and gives a series of nice vertical strokes giving a very nice shabby look... To add on some dimensions, I added some Shimmerz Dazzlerz and painted some blue and gold... At the end, I manage to achieve this unicorn colour scheme which I think it does matches well with my title, somehow... 

"Just be A Carefree Beauty" is a message to all girls and ladies to be carefree and just be a beauty yourself because you are worth it... I grew up without people telling me I'm beautiful the way I am and often being teased as ugly... Adults treated me very differently and my cuter sister and friends are often more well adored compared to me... Even at my era, I was often criticized on the way how I look... Moving forward to today's era, I've read and seen so many girls and ladies struggling to look good... The media influence of what is defined as a beauty greatly impact how everyone look at themselves... I wasn't spared either and I did struggle for a good hell 10 years before I could eventually accept the way I am... Be carefree and enjoy the beauty that's given to you... You will learn to appreciate the way you are.. 

Supplies:

• ScrapFX chippies (Dandelion, Seed Spores, Just Be, B Words, C Words, Mini Alphabets)
• Shimmerz Paints (Inklingz - Miner, miner, 49er, Pink-a-Boo, Creameez- Berry Hot, Ride the Tide, Spritz - Cotton Candy, Vibez - Sweet Heart, Texturez - Crushed Coral, Dazzelerz - Tutti Frutti)
• Prima Finnabair Don't Forget to Fly Cling Stamp
• Vintage Handwriting Rubber Stamp