French Country Journal

Hi beautiful

Over the summer on the hot days, I've been enjoying some papercraft. This past couple of weeks, the leftovers of my French Country papers and stickers and recycled manilla folders have come together to make a journal.

Cover

The manilla folder card formed the base pages (6"x 8") with the Graphic 45 papers and ephemera providing the magic. I machined stitched the borders of feature pages and used a variety of pockets and tags. 

Pockets and tags

Sunflowers

Stitched pocket

Lots of journaling spots tucked away.

For a flip through the journal, check out the video, French Country Journal.

And would you believe, I still have tags left! Another album for another day......

Love

Cara

Diving into my stash

Hi beautiful

Making Christmas cards recently left me with the hankering for more paper crafting, so it was time to dive into my stash. Hey presto! Some leftover card stock from the Graphic 45 collection, "By the Sea" caught my eye.

It's summer and my thoughts turn often to the beach and swimming in the surf! What better theme to use for a journal than "By the Sea" and what wonderful papers to use! 

I wanted to keep the journal simple, no planning required. (It was hot, I needed to stay calm and cool!)  I had a few pages left in an 8" pad, lots of tags and 3 sheets of 12". The album therefore was to be 8" x 8". So the feature pages became this:

More writing space needed! I added different plain pages - drawing paper, Kraft paper, printed watercolor paper, layout paper, all great for doodling over, painting etc. Lots of pockets with little booklets, cards.

Side pocket with envelope

Side pocket with note

Belly band with large envelope

Booklets, extras inside envelope

Belly band with envelope

Contents of envelope

I managed to keep this journal relatively plain and simple. Lots can be added as I use it. I'm looking forward to recalling and recording my "By the Sea" holidays and outings, past and in the future.

So much fun to make and to use! 

Have fun this holiday season.

Love and lightness of being to you.

Cara

Happy Mother's Day

Hi beautiful

Flowers and Mother's Day go together! So why not a paper crafted flower in a box?

Boxed & labelled

The box (3" square) was made using the We R Memory Keeper's Gift Box tool. The paper of the box is from the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection. Such a pretty hibiscus pattern. The card and small tag are from G45 Secret Garden collection. The message "Happy Mother's Day" was drawn as an outline using the Scan N Cut and then coloured in with gel pen.

Opening the box

The big reveal

Close up

The pretty floral cardstock from Graphic 45 collection, Secret Garden, sets off the arrangement beautifully.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love
Cara

Boxes

Hi beautiful

I happened upon Artist Trading Blocks in my Pinterest wanderings and was amazed by the creations. This got the old brain ticking and led me to exploring the many possibilities of making boxes of various sizes and then decorating.

I found that the different weights of card made a difference to the strength of the box. Below are various boxes, some made from cereal boxes card, others chipboard and manila folders, another using patterned cardstock.

Assorted boxes

I first tried making the boxes from the basics - measuring and cutting. Edie Cournoyer's video was useful How to Make an Artist Trading Block .This yielded some reasonable results. In the end, I bought a We R Memory Keepers box maker - after encouragement from hubby! No doubt he thought my success rate in achieving perfect results every time would greatly improve!

Decorating with distress inks and stamping was fun. These are works in progress.

Distress inked & stamped

I decided to use the box as the basis of a birthday "card" for my 16 year old niece. Below are the sides and top of the 4" box, made and decorated from the Graphic 45 World Fair collection of cardstock and tags.

 

Basic box

One side

Sides and 16 Top

Decorating the sides and top of the box was really enjoyable. The vibrant colours and images of the G45 papers along with the inspirational word tags really made it fun.

My next post will be a Mother's Day Box.

Love

Cara

My week in craft: Feb 1 - 6

Hi beautiful

A week of blessings ....

Swimming and reading,

Watercolor play,

Learning off the page techniques with others,

Sharing happiness with loved ones.

By the Sea - photo plaque

Thanks to Jane Tregenza workshop for a wonderful time creating this miniature plaque using Graphic 45 By the Sea papers. I loved all the embellishments Jane included in this kit - the tiny bottle filled with beads, the anchor, the sea horse key are just a few. Love the little medallion inscribed with the words "may you always have a shell in your pocket and sand between your toes".

Joy and happiness to you in the coming week.

Love

Cara

Modern Priscilla

May seems to be birthday month! 

This time I used a purchased secure style envelope as the card and decorated it with Graphic 45 papers. 

The envelope is heavy black matte card. Yellow card was adhered for the base.
The G45 papers (Place in Time - August) were used for the front, reverse and tag. I love the richness of the colours in these papers.

Front of card

Tag inside - front & back (ribbon added later)

Front & back of envelope

A lovely feminine card. 

Cara

Pretty and feminine

I have been busy over the last couple of months, making a variety of cards for family and friends. Here is a birthday card from February - very feminine and pretty, made for a special lady.

I used a matchbook card as the base and decorated with Graphic 45 Place in Time (month of May) papers.

Front of card

 Lifting the top flap of the card reveals the tag and pocket. Tag is a Saturated Canary stamp coloured with Copic markers.

Left: Tag Right: Top flap lifted

To finish, I popped the card into a white envelope decorated with the postcard image from the May papers. 

A special card for a special lady.

Cara

Place in Time Mini Album

I recently finished a mini album using the delightful Graphic 45 Place In Time papers in the 8"x8" card stock.    

Front cover

I used the project instructions given on the Graphic 45 website. These were for 12"x12" card stock. I modified the dimensions to suit the 8"x 8" papers. 

The papers are gorgeous, as is usual for Graphic 45, so I've dived in and made a video clip to show the various tags and cut outs. 

Hope you enjoy!

Secret Garden mini album

Just finished mini album using the beautiful Graphic 45 card stock, stickers and chipboard pieces from the Secret Garden collection. I enjoyed creating the look and layout of each page and learnt how to do pockets! Yay! I used chipboard cut into different shapes for each page and hinged rings for the binding. 

Quite chuffed as the whole album is original "me" ideas. 

Cover

Page 1-2 

Page 3-4

Page 5-6

Page 7-8

Page 9-10

Page 11-12

Back cover

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Tag happy

Well it's been over a month since I last posted. I have been busy making tags for gifts to special people and enjoying Graphic 45 papers in the meantime. 

A Bonne Chance tag for a special colleague was great fun to make. French Country collection papers from Graphic 45 were a delight. 

Still in love with French Country Collection, I made another tag with a few variations. This one was for my very special sister. Similar but with an extra front pocket and tags and extra flowers. 

Really love Graphic 45 papers!!

Thanks for stopping by ….

It's a good day!

What can I say - a perky tune to start your day and sing along with.

Go Peggy Lee!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-PqM0BSmt4

Have a GREAT day!