My Creative Spirit (Blog Archive)

Hi every one Graphic 45 are introducing the new French Country collection with s neak peeks on their   blog from tomorrow.   Hop over and leave a comment on their blog or facebook page  to be in with a chance to win one of the four "Win it before you can Buy" prize packages. Good luck every one and Happy paper crafting :-) C

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and thanks to everyone who stopped by my blog over the last few days.  We're home from Cornwall, and back in the middle of the country only to find its wetter here than it was down by the sea lol!!!!!   With no chance of going out walking today without getting absolutely soaked I got out a few inks and the Mr fan-tash-tic stamp by I ndigoBl u, mega flakes and glue and made a few cards for Kaye.  Mr Fan-tash-tic by IndigoBlu Mr Fan-tash-tic by IndigoBlu Mr Fan-tash-tic by IndigoBlu ................all the best 'till next time :-)

After a day of feasting on Christmas Day we took ourselves off to Praa Sands, an amazing beach on the west coast of Cornwall near Penzance. I was looking forward to blowing the cobwebs away with a good walk to the headland  (pic below) to try out my new hip. Unfortunately the tide was right in and we couldn't get over the water that runs down from the cliffs without getting wet up to our knees, so we watched the loan surfer catching the huge waves and tried not to get blown off the sea defence. ( he's the   black dot in centre of photo above). Praa Sands and headland in the distance Gyllyngvase Beach and the victorian Falmouth Hotel  Through the dingleberries!!!!   Theres nothing like being by the sea, whatever the weather :-) 

I thought I'd share a project with you all that I made with a number of samples for the G45 shows on Create and Craft TV.  The matchbook box was painted with black acrylic and then lacquered with Royal Coat, Decoupage Finish medium to give it the traditional oriental shine, and the album was made to fit neatly inside.  I wanted to showcase the images from the papers so I made the album black, cut out the images and mounted them straight onto the pages.  I added a little art glitter here and there for a bit of sparkle along with a few tags for journalling and some photo mats for pictures :-) As it was a demo piece there are only four pages in the album but you could add more if you wanted too.  Altered Matchbook Box  Birdsong Album  Birdsong 8 x 8 Album Birdsong Album - 1st Pageset Birdsong Album - 2nd Pageset Birdsong Album - 3rd Pageset Birdsong Album - 4th Pageset Birdsong Album - 5th Pageset Happy paper crafting eve...

Hi every one  We've got another fun blog hop this week running from 17th -21st December with Graphic 45 and Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.  As always there's an amazing give away on offer so don't forget to leave a comment to be in with a change to win the following:  A Place in Time 12 x 12 paper pad both sets of co-ordinating Place in Time chipboard die-cuts both sets of Place in Time stickers Graphic 45 Ornate Metal Keys Graphic 45 chipboard buttons 3 packs of scrapbook adhesive 3D foam squares  and  a Scrapbook Adhesive MyStik. WOW!!!! Graphic 45 Place in Time Giveaway Prize  For info here's a little more info on Scrapbook Adhesives:  Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L(r) has been delivering high quality adhesives to the craft industry for 10 years.  They focus on a complete line of rigorously tested and approved adhesives that are safe for all of your crafts.  Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L offer a range of products from...

I was just reminiscing on of my places in time from nearly 20 years ago. Oli my gorgeous oldest bean will be 20 tomorrow.  I can't believe it, from small to tall in next to no time, or so it seems.  He's features in a few pf my projects over the past months and pops up again in my "Place in Time" album.   Made from the 8 x 8 paper pad of the same name its an album to hold a favourite picture for every month of the year.  There are a couple of my favorites of Oli in this one too.  I set myself a challenge to make the whole album (excluding the cover) from the paper pad using the foundation page and cut a parts in a variety of ways to make each page look different, and then using the Graphic 45 Signature Series 12 x 12 cardstock assortment for the photo mats, and I managed it.   Here s a quick look at a few of the pages:  A Place In Time - January  A Place In Time - March A Place In Time - July A Place In Time - October...

All my Copic Ciao pens have now arrived along with the two Molly Blooms stamps I fell in love, an early Christmas present from my boys which really should have been wrapped up lol, but seeing as they were out at school and work yesterday I thought I'd give them a try out and make a few special Christmas cards. So after pottering around the house and going for a short walk I put my still slightly swollen left foot up for a rest and tried out some serious shading and colouring in lol!!!!!  I've still got to master the art of the light direction but here's the end result. Christmas Card made using Molly Bloom Stamps  Christmas Card made using Molly Bloom Stamps  Once coloured in I cut out the stamped images leaving a tiny white boarder around them and mounted them on foam tape to make the cards.  How cute !! If you fancy making a card yourself here's details of the pens I used along with the other supplies that went into making the card. Ciao pen...

Well it's been a freezing day outside, not getting above -2 all day. My lovely Postie, who is still wearing his shorts!!!!! brrrrr, dropped my Ciao pens through the door mid morning, so after pottering around doing a bit of housework, and my exercises, I put my feet up, and finished off my Christmas cards.  Although I'm still a few colours short and had to use the distress pens again in one or two areas I loved being able to blend the colours. My next challenge is to work on shading and the direction of the light hitting the image.   These stamps are also from the Michael Powell Urban range by Docrafts.  My next challenge is to make a Christmas card using a couple of Molly Bloom stamps.  Happy Crafting every one :-) C

Michael Powell Stamps - Docraft I fell in love with the Docrafts Urban Christmas stamp range by Michael Powell when I first saw them back in October, and bought a couple of them, as you do, not quite knowing when I'd use them.   I'm not one to do nothing when I'm sitting down, and as I'm spending quite a bit of time resting my leg following my op I decided to get the stamps out and have a go at making some hand coloured Christmas cards.  Armed with my distress pens, stamped images and a flat surface to work on up went my feet and for the first time in years I did some colouring in lol!!!!   It was really therapeutic.  I wasn't that happy with the overall look I got with the distress pens, even when I using the blender pen, so I did some research on the net, watched oodles of videos and ordered myself some Copic Ciao pens, (there's a few on my list to Father Christmas too!!!)  I'm now a Ciao addict.  The sky on the card above was my first atte...

For Charee Hi every one,  We've got a special blog feature tomorrow over on the G45 blog tomorrow for Charee our incredible Design Team Coordinator and Director of Customer Service (Dianes daughter) who's expecting baby Richard any day now.   As a design team, we thought it would be a lovely idea to create a baby album from the Little Darlings paper collection for Charee to keep some of the treasured photos she'll be taking of her very own "Little Darling".  Jim, the Gentleman Crafter co ordinated the putting together of the pages, big thanks to you Jimbo, and once each of the pages had arrived from around the world he put them into an album and posted the completed album off to Portland, Oregon.  Charee received it earlier this week and it brought tears to her eyes.  The wonderful Kelly Woosner,  the lady behind all of the amazing words on the G45 blog  has put together a special post for Saturday 8th December to showcase and share each...

Graphic 45 Crafters Weekend Retreat Dates:  Saturday 12 th  & Sunday 13 th  January 2013 If you love Graphic 45 and would like to get away for a crafting weekend come and join myself, Ali and Ian from Ali-Craft.co.uk   for a project packed crafters weekend. Iain will also be bringing the Ali Craft shop along so you can buy your crafting supplies on location.  New in at the shop are the amazing Artistic Outpost and Indigoblu stamps. Venue:   We’ve chosen the Daventry Court Hotel Northamptonshire.  NN11 0SG.  A four star hotel thats really close to junction 18 of the M1 and the M40.  Projects:  We’ll be making two Graphic 45 projects over the weekend.   Al i - will be taking you how to create an inverted canvas and chipboard Tripetch with A Ladies diary papers (you'll receive  a 12 x 12 and an 8 x 8 paper pad, a canvas and three chipboard tags for these projects as part of y...

12 x 12 Birdsong layout & slipper  Hi every one,  Just a quick heads up to let you know that Create and Craft will be featuring two vintage inspired paper lines by Graphic 45 during the shows on  Friday 7th December,  Bird Song and A Ladies Diary.  Sadly I'm not able to co host the show but I did have some fun making some samples to showcase each of the paper lines.   Show times on Friday are  9 - 10 am and 6 - 7pm  A Ladies Diary  Bird Song   Happy crafting every one 

Hi every one,  Its been a painful and frustrating week.  Staples are out, all 28 of them, how painful was that, and I've had a suspected DVT in my lower leg.  Panic panic!!!!!  Luckily I slept through most of the week in a drug induced state, which was a bonus.  Anyway, today thankfully the inflammation seems to have gone down a little and the pain is not so bad so fingers crossed things will improve over the next few days, and I'll be able to get about again.   A Place in Time calendar page - April All of the DT members over at Graphic 45 have been busy making calendar pages using the new Place in Time paper collection for the latest series thats running over on the Graphic 45 blog.  Each day a new page is revealed on the blog along with detailed instructions on how to put it together and full supply list. If you'd like to hop over and see each of the pages just click the link below:  Graphic 45 a Place in Time Calendar s...