My Creative Spirit (Blog Archive)

Happy Wednesday to you.  I hope you're weeks going well.  I've just taken Harry to college and enjoyed the drive through the countryside on this fabulous May morning. Its a wonderful 15 degrees outside and I'm thinking I should be outside in the garden rather than working inside :-)  Maybe after lunch!  After a lovely weekend out crafting I've been beavering away back here at home with the gorgeous Precious Memories papers from Graphic 45 finishing off my latest vintage styled photo album.   I chose Kaisercard Bluebell card stock as the base colour and loved how it worked with all the papers and colours in the collection.  The album's full of interactive pages and pull outs to showcase all those precious pictures we have of our children, grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren. Here's a few more pics and the video link too if you d like to see the whole album. If you'd like to make the album yourself here's the link to the  ...

Helllloooooooo there.  I'm so sorry I've been quiet on the blog and FB for the last few days.  I thought I'd escaped the dreaded Festive Flu that was flying around here in the UK but no, it caught up with me good and proper last week and rendered me totally incapable of doing anything.  I hope it didn't catch up with you.  It's almost gone thank goodness and I'm getting back on track again.  I'm really pleased to finally be launching my latest large photo album, or as Mel would call it a Memory Book which of course it is.  Made using the Cats and Dogs collection by G45 it's a darling of an album with oodles of room for loads of full sized photos, which is what my albums are all about. There's a video driven on line workshop to go with it if you fancy making it yourself, and for those of you who love a project sheet you can print off and work through there's one of those too with all the info you need on what to cut and how to put it all ...

Happy 1st of December to you.   It was an early and very foggy start for me yesterday as I headed up the M1 to Rotherham to set up for a fabulous workshop with all the lovely ladies who came along.  Our project for the day was a Twas the Night Before Christmas folio album, the last in my series of four little albums that you can make from an 8 x 8 paper pad.  In all the excitement of the day I completely forgot to take any photos of everyone crafting away and only realised at the last minute as everyone was leaving.  Huge apologies ladies, but thank you Margaret for catching the last of us before we all headed home.  I'm booking more dates with the hotel for 2015 and a crafty weekend too.  All the info will be posted on the workshops and events page of my blog over the next few days.  I'm a day late announcing the winner of our November Giveaway .  Random.org selected No 5, and  comment number 5 on the post was left by...

Ladies Diary Pocket Memory Book - Graphic 45  Well summer has finally arrived here in the UK.  Its hot and guess what were all complaining lol!!!!  how British :-)   Anyway, if you love the Ladies Diary Paper Collection by Graphic 45 take a look at the project ideas by Diane Shady and myself over on the Graphic 45 blog today.   There's more sneak peeks of the gorgous 12 Days of Christmas collection and projects from Dianes workshop and the winners of the latest "you've got to be in it to win it" prize draw will be announced.  Theres loads going on so just click the link below to go take a look.  Go to the Graphic 45 blog Happy crafting everyone and enjoy the sunshine :-)

Secret Garden Tag Album - Graphic 45 To quote the classic writer Leo Toltoy, "Spring is the time of plans and projects."  The girls and guys over at Graphic 45 couldn't agree more with Toltoy and are showcasing two spring themed projects over on the G45 blog today.  Click the link to have a look at the fabulous mixed media canvas by  Sharon Ngoo  and a cute  Secret Garden  tag mini album of mine.   There's a fun video  to go with the tag album filled with lots of great tips for creating with the new Graphic 45 Regular Tag Album Staples ! Today's blog has everything you need to bring some inspiration to your day! So lets get to it! Happy papercrafting every one.  :-) C

Happy Monday every one We're celebrating wonderful ways to be creative with French Country over on the G45 blog today.   Click here to hop over and see Arlenes' wonderful French Country card and video, and my Film Canister Memory book.  I had a whole load of fun combining all the papers I had left over from earlier projects and combined five or six different collections together.  Can you spot them all?  The lovely thing about the Graphic 45 collections that Diane and the team design is they all work so well together.   Click below for a meander through this little memory book in more detail. There's also a fabulous blog contest and French Country prizes to give away too.  Good luck, I hope you win :-) 

Hellooooo and happy Monday everyone G45 are featuring fun and creative ways to DIY with Place in Time papers over on their blog today. To hop over and feast your eyes Arlenes' photo tray and video and my Birthday book and video instructions for you to make one your self,   just click here .  Don't forget to take part in the beautiful Place in Time blog prize to be given away this week.  It could be yours............:-) Here's the video that goes with this project : Have a great week and happy crafting :-)

Place in Time - Love Letters Tag Album Wishing you all a truly romantic Valentines Day. For more truly inspiring valentine themed projects hop over to the Graphic 45 blog today to see Denise Hahn's amazing valentine mini, Sharon Ngoo's Envelope/Tag mini along with more pictures of my vintage valentine Love Letters tag album.   Click the link below for more info on how I put this project together:  Vintage Love Letters Tag Album Video  Supply List 4 tags from the G45 regular tag album  Place in Time 12 x 12 and 8 x 8 February cut apart and 12 x 12 Foundation papers Place in Time sticker sheet and alphabet stickers G45 Trim Staples  G45 Flower Staples  Petloo Flowers and leaves  Connie Crystal sun-catchers May Arts Ribbon\Vintage Seam Binding Art Glitter Pee Wee Pot- monochromatic reds Distress Inks - Worn Lipstick, Barn Door and Black Soot Sizzix Envelope dies - numerous Tim Holtz Fragments     black card glue Ha...

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...

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...

Happy Tuesday everyone With halloween creeping ever closer I thought I'd share a sneak peek of my Happy Hauntings photo album that I'm hoping to get finished over the next couple of days.  Just click on the pics below to watch the video walk through of the album from cover to cover.  I've had loads of fun making projects from this collection with its bright and cheery colours and vintage images, and this one was no exception.  Happy Hauntings (Graphic 45) photo album cover  Happy Hauntings (Graphic 45)  photo album  Happy Hauntings (Graphic 45) photo album  Happy Hauntings  (Graphic 45)  photo album  Happy Hauntings everyone :-) C

Hi everyone The Bird Song collection by Graphic 45 released back in July is full of oriental colour and inspiration, and truly beautiful to work with. I teamed it up with the smallest of the match boxes from the Graphic 45 Staples collection and designed this cute little book in a box. For more info on the project, lots of pictures and full supply list hop over to the Graphic 45 blog after 1pm GMT 26th September. Be sure to leave a comment while you're there too :-) Happy Crafting and have a great day.

I wanted to make a journal to put some of my favourite holiday pics in and have room to journal about each of them, so out  came my Tropical Travelogue papers and this is what I designed.  For more pics and details of the supplies I used click the link below and hop over to the  Graphic 45 Blog . to watch the full video walk through of this journal just click here   Happy papercrafting :-)

This workshop is now fully booked  If you love Graphic 45 paper collections why not come along and join Sal, Kay and Shirley who organise  Funcrop  and myself for their annual Birthday crop on Sunday 9th September 2012, where we'll be making my Altered Art project (above)  which was one of the first I made as a member of this years Graphic 45 Design Team and my Ladies Diary Stitched book.   Crop Info:  Location:    Hadland Community Centre ,  Hadland Road,  Abingdon  Oxfordshire  OX14 3RR Cost:  £35.00  Times:  9am - 5pm slightly longer than usual for a birthday treat  Date:  Sunday 9th September 2012  Refreshments:   Will be provided including nibbles but please bring your lunch.  There's a microwave and fridge in the kitchen.  There will also be a chocolate birthday cake :-)    There is a kit provided for you on the day, but here's a list...

I used one of the Graphic 45 Staples Altered 8" x 5" boxes for this project and covered it in papers from the Little Darlings paper collection.  the album is made form white card, inked and bound using a bind it all.  

Happy Thursday every one I'm really excited to be taking part in this weeks blog hop with Graphic 45, Want2Scrap and Art Glitter, blog links below:  Graphic 45   Want2Scrap   Art Glitter Theres some amazing crafts in the hop this week so  hop around the blogs for more inspiration by the three design teams. There are four fabulous prizes up for grabs during the week from Graphic 45 too (pics below).  Winners comments will be selected from the Graphic 45 blog, Facebook and Pintrest,   so don't froget to leave a comments below and comments as you hop about:  Here's a bit more info about Graphic 45, Want2Scrap and Art Glitter and links to each of the  design teams blog for you to hop over to for more inspiring crafts: Graphic 45 Bio: Graphic 45 an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company­— owned and operated by a mother and her two daughters.  Together we create vintage inspired crafting products ...