Spring Is In The Air With Graphic 45!

Hello G45ers,

Welcome to another magical day here at Graphic 45! Yes, it's that wonderful time of year when the first inklings of Spring begin to emerge. It's a super exciting time as the weather gradually starts to get warmer and the trees begin to bud with the first blooms of Spring. We're definitely feeling the enchantment here at Graphic 45 and we thought it would be fun to share some Spring-inspired crafts with you today. Gloria Stengel has prepared a some gorgeous cards and a fun tutorial that you're sure to love. We also have a stunning layout by Hilde Janbroers. Both of today's beautiful projects feature our Once Upon a Springtime collection that is just perfect for this time of year. So get ready for some amazing inspiration!

We also want to give a huge thank you to everyone who sent in their auditions for the Graphic 45 2012 Design Team Call. The deadline was on Sunday and we are so amazed by all of the applications. We got well over 250 applicants this year and it is such a joy to see the wide range of talent! Make sure to tune in on Friday, March 2nd when we will be announcing the Top 30 Finalists! Thank you to everyone who auditioned. Your are all incredible!

Okay, its craft time! Behold this wonderful card ensemble by Gloria Stengel. Spring is a terrific time for creating lovely paper flowers. Today you'll learn a great technique for creating gorgeous flowers using the Spelbinders Presto Punch! It's a lot of fun and makes any craft creation spring to life! Check it out!

Supplies:

Graphic45 paper: Once Upon a Springtime (Fairy Folk, Woodland Fantasy, Primrose Cottage)

Cardstock: Bazzill, Neenah, American Crafts

Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs, StampingScrapping

Ink: Clearsnap Colorbox Fluid Chalk (rose coral, chestnut roan), Memento rich cocoa

Embellishments: ribbon from the fabric store, glitter glue from Ranger Stickles, eyelets from We R Memory Keepers

Tools: Machines form Spellbinders (Grand Calibur, Spellbinders Presto Punch), Dies from Spellbinders (Labels Eighteen, Labels Five, Labels Four Small, Fleur de lis Accents, Presto Punch flower), Scoring board from Scor-pal, Crop-a-dile from We R Memory Keepers, Bow Easy from Posi-Bendr Company

Adhesive: Scotch 3M, Tombow

Spellbinders™ Presto Punch™ Machine
Spellbinders Presto Punch Starter Pack Punch Templates - Flower
Cardstock or heavy weight designer paper
Ranger Stickles Glitter Glue - Star Dust
Paper piercing tool
Sharp scissors
Glue (Tombow Mono Liquid or similar)

1.Using the Presto Punch machine, punch 4 flowers with the flower punch template. 

2. Cut one flower into a spiral with sharp scissors.

3. Roll the spiral onto a piercing tool or similar.

4. Glue the bottom of the flower to the rolled shape, to create a rose.

5. Cut a slit between two petals of flower #1. Cut out one petal of the flower #2 (it will look like a piece of pie).  Cut two petals from flower #3, as shown.

6.  Wrap flowers 1, 2, and 3 into a cone shape and glue. Cut the points from flowers 2 and 3, as shown below.

7.  Assemble the rose by stacking each layer, and gluing together. Place the rolled rose into the cone created from flower #3

8. Once your flower is glued together, you may add some Stickles or glitter to it, or even spray it again with a sparkling mist.

Next up is this gorgeous Spring layout by Hilde Janbroers. This LO has all the vibrant colors of Spring and a heart-warming sentiment that's simply darling! Hilde did a wonderful job of layering beautiful Once Upon a Springtime papers and pretty embellishments to give this LO beauty and charm. Here is what she had to say about it!

"I tore off a piece of the blue paper so the kraft cradstock would be visible. Then I cut out a piece of the paper with the images and placed it on the layout. I matted the picture and let an image of a postcard stuck out underneath the photo. Then I added some chipboards and flowers. A quick and easy layout!" -Hilde Janbroers

Supplies: 

Graphic 45 Once Upon A Springtime Paperpad, Staples Metal Tags 

Flowers; Prima Marketing and Petaloo

Chipboards; Imaginarium Designs

white paint

My Minds Eye title card

kraft cardstock

That's all for today, G45ers. Thank you all so much for stopping by. Big thanks to Gloria Stengel and Hilde Janbroers for their marvelous projects today. We will have more smiles and sunshine in store for you tomorrow. There will be more glorious crafts to brighten your day. Don't forget to leave us a blog or Facebook comment this week for your chance to win this week's wonderful prize pack! We hope to see you all tomorrow! Have a wonderful day!

Flowers and Butterflies,

Your Friends at Graphic 45

Comments

[Sue W]

Great trutorial on flower making! Beautiful projects.

[Jan Hennings]

Beautiful cards and LO today..one of my favorite lines :)

[julie Tucker-Wolek]

Ohhhhh my all time fave G45 collection ever! I loveeeeee Gloria's cards and love love love how she made her flowers! And hilde's lo is just gorgeous!

[Lyn Gill]

Lovely! Great flower tutorial as well.

[Johanne L.]

Gorgeous projects. Love them. Very talented ladies. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Cherie Gray]

Beautiful layouts! I love the roses!!

[linda williamson]

thanks for the flower tutorial. Love both projects. Can't wait for Friday to see who the finalists are.

[Sue Benedick]

Thanks for the flower tutorial. I have made them before, but I really needed a refresher.

[Chris Dring]

Absolutely stunning cards and layout! Thanks for the tutorial, that will come in handy!

[Julie Shearer]

Beautiful projects today. Thanks for the flower tutorial . Very helpful .

[Gloria L.]

This collection certainly makes beautiful cards!

[Anne McIntosh]

Beautiful and a little different for G45. Now I'm interested in looking a little deeper at the Spellbinders Presto Punch. Looks like a tool that needs to be in my arsenal. thanks again

[Cheryl L. Martin]

No plain Jane cards here ladies! Beautiful and inspirational work.

[MaryLouH]

thanks for the demonstration on the presto punch machine and making flowers. Love the Once Upon a Springtime paper. Guess I'll have to add that one to my shopping list.

[Marisa J]

Beautiful projects! Love the papers too!!

[Paula]

Love the card and layout. Great tutorial, always looking for ways to make my own embellishments.

Paula

[Jennifer S.]

Lovely card and layout. The little flower is simply beautiful! Fantastic work!

[Amy Jones]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I learned alot about making some beautiful flowers. I really have been wanting to try to do this. I hope mine turn out to be just as wonderful. I love the card and the layout. They both are really Beautiful.

[jengd]

Stunning cards and layout!

[Tammy Predovic]

The spring layout is just so pretty and rejuvenating. I love what you can do with the papers!

[Candy]

LOVE the flower tutorial! Thank you!

[Larissa Heskett =)]

LOVED the creations for today!! THANKS for sharing and have a FABULOUS WEEK!! =)

[maria cole]

Very lovely projects - makes me want Spring to come even faster! Once Upon A Springtime is such a pretty collection - I LOVE the fairies and Peter Rabbit illustrations!

[Doris Widder]

Lovely projects and great tutorial!

[centralnyscrapper (Brenda L)]

Gorgeous cards. Thank you for the flower tutorial. I cannot wait to try it.

[Michelle Reaves]

What a beautiful Card and Layout! Spring is in the air here, my Plum Trees are in full bloom!

[becky jeffress]

So pretty! The art keeps blowing me away, such talent, thanks for sharing.

[karine]

Coucou, ces projets sont très jolis, bises

[stephanie mccorquodale]

Gorgeous!

[Renee VanEpps]

Lovely card, and Hilde's LO is gorgeous!!!!

[Izzwizz]

Lovely projects and a great tutorial! My goodness, 250 applications for the design team?? You have your work cut out reviewing that many and deciding on your finalists before Friday, but how enjoyable to see so many fabulous graphic 45 projects. Have fun! Maddy x

[Romy]

What a beautiful card and layout! Once upon a springtime is still my favourite collection ever!

And wow, 250 applications? That's a whole lot! I can imagine it will be hard to narrow down all those applications to 30. Good luck!;)

[Rosann]

Love Gloria and Hilde work so beautiful !

[natasha g.p.]

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. Love the bird.

[Lynda]

I'm so entranced by the blues & yellows in Little Darlings that I didn't recognize the 1st project as being from the LD line. But the green & pink papers are beautiful too!

[B. Poteraj]

Very classy. I'd like to make that for some friends.

[Sharon Gullikson]

What a beautiful and uplifting card. I like the mixture of patterns and colors, and of course the bird.

[Boni Grabusky]

I always wondered how they made that flower :) lovely

[Micah G.]

It's cool that the shapes are so perfect---I don't have a die cutter machine, so I really appreciate that.

[Jackie]

The cards are so inspiring! I like the roses. I will have to try them!