The moment you have been waiting for...the announcement of the new Design Team!

Hello Everyone,

Although we had every intention of announcing the new team today, we are unable to come to a final decision.

We are not going to be making the announcement today.

APRIL FOOLS!

{Ok, sorry I just had to do that}

So are you ready to learn who the new Graphic45 Design Team is?  Today?  Right Now?  Well I am excited to tell you who it is....

But first, let me say thank you to each and every one of the finalists.  The work that was sent in was incredible, we poured over each project, we debated, we scored, we debated some more and then finally realized that we had to add ONE MORE SPOT to the team!  We just could not decide and if we continued to debate it, we could not make the announcement today. 

Ok, Ok, I am getting to it, let me have a little fun with it.  So without any further ado, CONGRATULATIONS to the following incredibly talented ladies (in no particular order):

Domestic Team
Christie Bryant
Tammy Roberts
Laura De La Rosa
Gloria Stengel
Jade Moore
Tracey Locher
Candy Rosenberg (DT Coordinator)

International Team
Jenny Svennson
Jane Tregenza
Trisha Ladouceur

We are so very excited to have these ladies on the team for the next year!  You are all going to be treated with some serious eye candy!  We will be sharing information and submission projects with you over the months so keep an eye out and learn more about our new design team members.

Take a moment to help me welcome these ladies to the team by commenting on this post.  We will be randomly choosing 2 of you to receive some yummy Graphic45 paper just for helping out! 

Happy Crafting,

Candy Rosenberg

 

My Last Post

It is sad for me to say that today is my last post.  Tomorrow is that start of a brand new design team here at Graphic 45.  I have enjoyed being your blog hostess for a while.  As I bid farwell, I will leave you with a lo by current design team member Christie Bryant.

Christie used  A Proper Gentleman to make this fabulous lo.  We have some close-ups so you can see the detail she has put in as well.

Thank you all for visiting the blog while I've been posting.  It was fun!  I will miss being a part of Graphic 45.  They are so wonderful to design for, and they are truly some wonderful ladies.  My congrats to the new team.  You will enjoy your journey with Graphic 45.

Happy Scrapping!

Susan Dupre
   
  

Golf Anyone?

Ok seriously, how cute this little golf bag that our March guest designer Ira Huberts has made for us this month?  I think it is really really clever.  Ira used our latest collection for the men in your life  A Proper Gentleman  and some papers from a previous collection Communique .  I also love how she used the golfer  that is part of the A Proper Gentleman collection.  

Ira shared her thoughts with us about her inspiration:

Men are always a difficult subject (not mine though, LOL!), but they deserve some attention, too, every now and then.  When I first saw A Proper Gentleman Sporting Aristocrat, I immediately wanted to make a golf bag, just didn’t have the time to do so yet.  Anyway, I used both this paper,  Communique Classy Correspondence (for the golf bag itself) and Communique Typography (for the sachets of the bag).  The expression “Hole in One” speaks for itself, of(f) course .  I wanted it to mean something like ‘good luck and keep hitting the green’.  I wanted the bag to stand, so I cut 2 pieces for the bag and placed harmonica pieces in between. This also makes the card easy to fold. For the circle (symbolizes the golf ball) I used my Cuttlebug folder Swiss Dots.  The golf clubs stick out of the bag; I wanted it to mean “you stick out”.  This would make a nice card for any man who loves to play golf AND who can do with  a nice compliment.

Graphic 45 has so loved seeing Ira's work this month.  Her ability to make 3 dimensional objects out of paper is amazing.  It has truly been an honor having her as our guest designer this month.  Thank you so much Ira!!

Well, only a couple of days now until the big announcement of the new team!  I hope you are all excited to see who the new girls will be.  Hang on it coming soon!

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

Susan Dupre

Le' Romantique on Canvas Fabric

I was lucky enough to get my hands on this fabulous 12 x 12 fabric canvas piece that is two pieces sewn together from Canvas Corp.  What a great "canvas" to add some beautiful Le' Romantique papers to.

My husband and I have our 17th year anniversary coming up and we snapped this picture last weekend while out and about antique store shopping.  {Keep reading to see some wonderful inspiration I found at one of them!}

 

It's no secret...my obsession with dress forms.  The entire look of a dress form envokes the power of a woman and the strength that they posess.  This one in particular is from 1904 and oh how I wish it could talk.  It looks like it has been through a few wars and has some wonderful stories to share.

I hope you enjoy my inspiration piece and that it inspires you to create something beautiful today!

Happy Crafting,

Candy Rosenberg

 

More from Ira!

Take a look at this creative idea of Ira's.   She used Le' Romantique to make this darling butterfly couple.  I have to say it turned out beautifully!

Here is Ira's creative thoughts behind it:

Spring was my inspiration for this large butterfly. I didn’t want to do ‘too much’ to the papers themselves, since they are so lovely as they are, but I wanted to enhance them. I took the small butterfly as my first point of inspiration, cut out a large romantic butterfly and cut out the couple that I thought would be mostsuitable for what I had in mind.

My thoughts were “your love is giving me wings”, Spring makes wonderful weddings, flowers start to blossom again and soft colours can be found in the garden.  The train dress of the lady was made of several layers of lace (4 in total), I only added a little bling bling to the edge of the butterfly.  I really wanted to “Le Romantique” in every way, so I was thinking classic wedding traditions.

 How about a closer look at that darling lace skirt Ira made?

Thanks Ira.  I just adore this idea!

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

Susan Dupre

One beautiful lo by design team member Nancy Burke

Isn't this lo that Nancy provided Graphic 45 for CHA just lovely?  Nancy used Le' Romantique papers for this lo, and it is just that - lovely and romantic.

Here are some close ups of her stunning work!

Thank you Nancy!  Your daughter is just as beautiful as your lo. 

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

Susan Dupre  

Design Team Follow Up

Happy Spring Everyone!

I hope the weather is fair in your area! Just wanted to pop in and let you know that we have received all the design team finalists projects in the office and can I just say, "WOW!" all you girls are incredibly talented! I know the wait is torturous, however, it is almost over!

We will be making the announcement of who our final design team members are on April 1st! Wait a minute that is April Fools Day, hmmm, might have to come up with something for that!

Happy Crafting,
Candy

Off to Notre Dame with Design Team Member Susan Lui

Susan has made a stunning lo using Le' Romantique papers.  She also did a little stamping using My Tattered Angels. 

Take a look at Susan's stamping below.  Isn't the effect amazing?   I love how she did that!

 
Susan's stamping and added little touches are just beautiful.  Don't you think?  Thanks Susan for sharing your lo with us!

Happy Scrapping!

Susan Dupre

Almost time!

Pretty soon Graphic 45 will have a new design team!  Are you all excited to see who those eight lucky girls will be?  I know I am!   I guess you can tell by the list of the first round that there was only one name from our current design team on it.  Well, most of us have decided to move on.  However, some of us wanted to share some parting words with you all.  Here is what some of the girls had to say:

Hilde Janbroers

I want to thank Graphic 45 and all the people behind it so much for the great journey I had with them. I loved working with Aimee and Diane. They are such sweet people.
I am thankful for the opportunity they gave me being their DT member for such a long time. I will miss being on their DT. But I will keep following everything about Graphic 45.
Thank you so much!!

Susan Lui

I've had a wonderful time this past year being on the design team of Graphic 45. It's been a fun journey, creating with one of my favourite manufacturers and being in the company of all the talented ladies on the team. Graphic 45 papers have always brought out the best in my layouts and I look forward to creating even more projects with their collections to come. Thank you to Aimee and everyone else at Graphic 45 for giving me this opportunity and I'd like to wish the new team and Graphic 45 all the best for the future.

Stacy Cohen

I've thoroughly enjoyed my year on the Graphic 45 design team! It's been so much fun to create with all these gorgeous papers and to work with such a talented group of ladies. Thank you everyone at Graphic 45 for giving me this wonderful opportunity. I'm so excited to see who will make the new G45 team . . . I'm sure we will all be inspired by their beautiful creations!

Natasha Prymak

I had a BLAST with Graphic 45 this past year. It was so much fun to receive packages full of new papers that were SO inspiring & fresh! My favorite thing about Graphic 45 is that Graphic 45 papers have the ability to bring a touch of "old school" to today's layouts without seeming outdated & boring. I will be a fan & follower of Graphic 45 for many, many years to come & I can't WAIT to see all that the girls come out with. I thank Aimee & everyone else at Graphic 45 for honoring me with a spot on the design team to "play" with such gorgeous products & wish them all the very best for the future. And, to all the new Design Team girls: you are sooo LUCKY!! This company ROCKS to work with!!!!

Emeline Seet

It was such an incredible journey creating with Graphic 45's.
What a privilege it has been to be with the reputable company right from the beginning and see how she grew.

Thank you for the opportunity Aimee and Diane and i believe G45 will continue to grow and inspire crafters around the world. I have learned so much from the design team members as well as the inspiring community, you have helped me grow. Though my time here is up, it will definitely not be the last time i create with your awesome products. All the best to the new gals ... you WILL Enjoy your creative journey with G45 ! :)

Now for me 

I want to send out my sincerest gratitude to Diane and her two beautiful daughters.  Thank you for this amazing opportunity that you have given me.  I have had so much fun growing with you.  It has been such an honor to be on this team from the very beginning.  I am excited about all the new things planned for Graphic 45.    I have had the pleasure of meeting Diane and her daughters at two different CHA's, and I promise that whoever makes the new team is going love designing for Graphic 45!

I have enjoyed being the dt coordinator and your blog hostess for a while, but we all have to move on sometime. However,  I'll be checking in at the ning site so I can continue to see the fabulous work of the new team. Good luck to the new girls, whoever you may be!

Happy Scrappin!

Susan Dupre

More from Ira Huberts our March Guest Designer!

Ira has made the most amazing book.  The detail is this book is jaw dropping fabulous!!  Here is what Ira had to say about it:

I wanted to “do something” with the Alice in Wonderland theme all along, and I found that the “Playtimes Past” papers worked wonders for me.   I also used scraps of “Fashionista".

I specifically wanted to have the outside look like a book; I even used several famous quotes (book spine, quote is Alice’s) and clock embellishment on the front of the book (quote is Mr. Rabbit’s).  I made the flower in the left bottom corner by using my scallop nestabilities (paper is Childs Play) and folding the petals together.

The queen is embossed with the cuttlebug folder Queen of Hearts, I used cardstock which I inked with several colours.  The clock embellishment is a Playtimes Past Tag, I worked circular word art around it.

In my view the inside should be somehow like a secret garden. And the main house hides what lies beneath, Alice’s world. Two curious faces are looking outside to see who’s coming to visit them and their secrets. I placed Alice on a teacup and tried to insert several symbols of her Wonderland, but since it’s only a small book I couldn’t put anything else in there anymore.  Alice and Mr. Rabbit are coloring pages, I used Derwent coloursoft pencils to color them.

Below is the outside of the book.

Here is a close up of an amazing flower that Ira has made for the book.

Here is the spine of the book.

Now here are some photos of the inside.  Can I say wow!?!  Look at that details she put into this to create a story.

All I can say it that this book would be an amazing treasure to pass down.   I have so enjoyed just looking at all of it - super fun!  Thank you Ira!  This is spectacular!

Happy Scrapping Everyone!

Susan Dupre