A Vintage Girl

The Story Behind the Printers Tray Album and an Introduction to the "A Vintage Girl" brand.

Introducing "A Vintage Girl," a vintage brand of crafty goodness including chipboard albums, chipboard embellishments and stencils to start.  All our products have a vintage style with some sprinkles of Steampunk.  We will have our official launch in late October, so keep an eye out. 

One of my chipboard albums, The Printers Tray, will be featured at Scrapbooking Fairies in Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada on September 29th is my all time favorite. As those that know me, know that I am truly a vintage girl at heart and at the center of that heart is a love for old Printers Trays.  I own one cabinet that is buried deep in storage, that I had to save for quite some time to buy. It was missing two drawers but that's ok, I have about 12 drawers that I have picked up over the years. They are spendy little devils, but when I see them I cannot resist.  All the little areas to put little things in like keys, old matchbooks, anything small really.

Six years ago, I was given the opportunity to create chipboard albums with Michele Parish of Want2Scrap.com.  Naturally, I did a gear album, then a steampunk one and then THE PRINTERS TRAY.  This was tricky because we needed to create the little lip on the long edge.  And then what would we put inside, so the embellishment sheet was born.  It had pieces and words that fit perfectly in the cutouts on the cover.  Scissors, windows, words, buttons and other fun items.  This is my most favorite album and such fun to have an album that is of one of my most prized possessions at home.

We are now offering them under my own brand, "A Vintage Girl" that features chipboard albums, chipboard embellishments, and stencils.  Working on a few other ventures including a paper collection and home decor.  Keep an eye out, we are super busy!

 

This is just a quick and dirty SNEAK PEEK of what we are featuring in upcoming workshops for September and October. 

 

Here is the gear album.  There is a second gear set that you can purchase to create a three-dimensional look that I show on the finished piece in this post.

Gear album embellishment Sheet.  These are made to add 2 additional layers to the cover of your gear album.  They are perfectly fine as a stand-alone gear set as well.

 

Our Epic Wicked Wings, perfect for use on mixed media home decor like dress forms or your art journal pages.

 

MORE COMING!!!! WOOHOO!!!

Let's Take A Time Warp to 2009-2010. Want to join me?

A little history and fun... I have been in the crafting industry since 2009. Most know that this journey started with my first show in Craft & Hobby Association show in 2009 in Anaheim, California where I took my very first paper dress form by the Graphic45 booth and they asked to leave it there.  Well, the rest is history!

My story and all the dress forms that I have made every single year for them will be posted on their blog in a little over a week, I will give the date and official announcement shortly. In preparation the research of finding all the photos, which shows, which locations have taken days and days to put together. I have dug deep into the computer archives. Along the way, I have found some fun projects from back when I started both with Graphic45 and other great companies.  I thought I would post them here first to show you where I began and to hopefully inspire you to keep creating no matter what!

These projects are all from the 2009-2010 era, so they go way back.  It was fun to see what I did so many years ago.  I am still crafting my style, and I am proud of all that I have accomplished in this time, but the best part is all the amazing people that I have in my life because of crafting.  Thank you so much for following me and encouraging me.  Some of you have been with me since the beginning, and for that I humbly thank you!

 

I hope this inspires you to never stop creating, we all start somewhere...just keep going!!

Best Blogger Contest with FaveCrafts.com. Please vote!

Fly Away With This Child Size Fairy Dress Form with Graphic45 and Testors Glitter Brilliance!

Its The FaveCrafts.com Best Blogger Contest Time and I would love if you would vote for little ol' me!

 

Ok, its that time of year again. The awesome FaveCrafts.com hosts a spectacular networking event at the Creativation show each year. This gives us bloggers and industry influencers a chance to meet one on one with some great companies to establish relationships. We use the sponsor's products to create a project and then the top 20 finalists compete in the Best Blogger Contest.

https://www.favecrafts.com/contest/Blogger-Contest-2018

Well, guess what? It's that time for you to vote and hoping for you to choose little ol' me and my Graphic 45 dress form that is lathered with Testors Glitter Brilliance making it twinkle like a fairy. We only have until the 19th, you can vote every day! The winner is chosen by popular vote, so with 4,996 facebook friends, family and awesome peeps in crafty groups, I am so calling you all out! I need your help and please share if you like.

VOTING BEGINS TODAY through April 16th. Vote once a day, click on the link below, find the full-size purple and blue fairy dress form (there are two dress forms, one is not mine but done by a very talented designer)

https://www.favecrafts.com/contest/Blogger-Contest-2018

Creativation 2017...Dress Forms and More!

The Creativation 2017 show was a great experience.  It was held in Phoenix, Arizona this year instead of the usual Anaheim, California location.  I did miss Disneyland and knowing what, where and how much things were.  My greatest hope was to have some warmth and sunshine and unfortunately, I was disappointed in that area.  It was rainy and overcast as well as cold nearly the entire week I was there.  On a super shoestring budget, Phoenix hotels are very pricey so I will have to work on that next year and do more searching for lower rate rooms and transportation to get to the store and back.  But overall, it was a good experience.

At this years show I had the honor to create my 15th dress form for the Graphic45 booth and this year she was no normal dress....she towered at over 6 foot tall.  I knew I needed to go big this year and I hope that I did not disappoint.  She spent the first two days in the Graphic45 booth showing off the "Portrait of A Lady" paper collection, then when we had some shipping snafus come up as I was leaving the show on Sunday, Fiskars was nice enough to babysit her for the last day of the show and ship her home later.  The butterflies that were punched out for the dress were Fiskars punch, so wanted a chance to show this off to the show goers and see what kind of cool projects can be made!  Keep an eye out for next year, I am going even bigger!  Thank you to Graphic45, Canvas Corp Brands: 7Gypsies, Prima Marketing, Charity Wings, Beacon Adhesives and Fiskars for sponsoring me for this show.

Lady Butterfly in the Graphic 45 booth

 

Lady Butterfly in the Fiskars Booth

 

 

Additionally, I created a small version of Lady Butterfly for the Canvas Corp Brands: 7 Gypsies booth.  She was stowed away atop of a shelf for the show.

She is perched up top of the shelf.

 

The final and a very special project was done for Elena Etcheverry of Charity Wings.  Each year for a number of years, Elena has had wings designed for her to wear at the show.  I even created a paper dress to match wings one year.  This year, it was time to do something different.  We put those wings on a crown of beautiful Prima flowers with natural feathers and punched butterflies throughout to give it the winged theme.  She was so beautiful and I was honored to create it for her!  Thank you Prima Marketing for sponsoring this project.

Elena with her wall of wings and headdress!

 

Close up view from the side

 

Back view of the headdress with the flowing feathers

 

Headdress on display

 

And I could not do any of it without the incredible Fabri Tac by Beacon Adhesives, these projects all used up a large bottle of adhesives to make sure everything was secure!

Thank you for stopping by, looking forward to next years show.  Its going to be even bigger and better projects!

You Are Not Going To Believe What I Am Doing This Year at Creativation 2017!

Creativation 2017.  Graphic 45 Dress Form

I have been in the craft industry since 2008, in 2009 I worked with and for the amazing Graphic 45 Paper Company.  Since CHA Winter 2009, with the exception of one summer show, I have exhibited a custom paper dress form in their booth.  It all started with a little wire dress form that I brought to the 2009 Winter show in Anaheim, California.  To see the dress forms from 2009 to 2012, visit this past blog post HERE.

Its been an incredible adventure and I am so grateful for Graphic 45 allowing me to be a part of their journey as well.

But this year is going to be a bit different... I am going FULL SIZE!   Yes, you read this right, a full size mannequin covered in the beautiful "Portrait of a Lady" Graphic 45 paper collection.  Hundreds of die cut butterflies and signature swirls will adorn this years display.  I cannot wait to share it live at the show in just a couple of weeks.  There is some teasers in this blog post, so keep reading.

THE VERY FIRST GRAPHIC 45 DRESS FORM. CIRCA JANUARY 2009.

 

GO BIG OR GO HOME.  OR JUST GO TO CHA!! 

She is a full 5 ft. 5in. Heck she is taller than me.

Hundreds of die cut butterflies, each is inked and folded to be dimentional.  Still need hundreds more and lots of curled paper.

The assembly begins...only have 9 more days until she needs to ship!!

Shes coming along....more sneaks coming up but you will have to wait until the show to get the full view of this beauty. 

 

Stay Tuned For More!

Candy

 

{CHA} Creativation 2017

Its that time again....

Tickets are bought, room is settled and boxes of goodies are arriving.  I am super excited to attend this year with a whole new mindset and ready for a fully creative year!!

First up is a box full of Graphic 45 goodies so that I can start to create a dress form for the 2017 show.  This will be my 7th year and 12th show that I will be exhibiting a custom created dress form for Graphic 45.  Its always a true pleasure to work with this scrumptious paper, it makes it so much easier to create when it is so beautiful and fun to play with.

It will be one of my first projects in the new craft space, that is not quite done but good enough to get started!!

 

A Pretty Dress Form.....Fit For A Princess Party.

 

If you know me, you know my obsession with dress forms.  It was so nice to etch out some time to not only create one but to play with Graphic 45 and Canvas Corp in my almost finished craft room.

 
It is quite a process and was made over a few days here and there.  Check out how it progressed and a little burlap trick to boot.

I start with what I call an old school technique because I have been doing it for so many years.  You cut strips in the paper to almost the edge, then twist the paper around the end of paint brush to create the curls.

 

 

I had started this dress form with other paper but found the Botanical Tea collection at my local craft store and couldnt resist!

To create the burlap band, I used  a piece cut from Canvas Corp Brands Burlap Sheet in Pink.  I cut a 1.5 inch strip, used Beacon Adhesives Fabri Tac and ran adhesive down the center and folded the ends in.  I held it down until it stuck on its own.

 

 

Supply List: Graphic 45's Botanical Tea, May Arts Ribbon, Canvas Corp Brands Burlap Sheet in Pink, Beacon Adhesives FabriTac.

Stay Creative!

Candy

CHA Anaheim 2015...Graphic 45 Dress Form...Artisan Style

You have to start somewhere.....a 16" dress form and some wire is where I began...

This dress form was a bit different, after 12 dress forms this was truly mixed media.  I am often called a mixed media artist and that is true today but in the past, I did not consider myself one.  I was a PAPER ARTIST.  I created art out of paper and few other trinkets.

In addition, these dresses are done weeks before, howevver, I created this dress form at the show.  I was in the middle of moving and everything was packed up.   I had not planned on going to show and wasnt quite sure how I was going to get it done in time to ship it to the show so it would make it into the booth. 

Luckily, I was able to go and take everything with me and hope that it all comes together...lets check out the creative process:

Then a pile of goodies to play with.  The Graphic 45 paper collection is an old home theme so I wanted to bring in items that represent this.  Keys, upholstery tassels, clocks, gears and ribbon and start working on my steampunk gear wings that span 7" tall and are part of my Vintology & Co. Collection.  Email me for more info.

I also used Beacon Adhesives Fabri Tac, Canvas Corp Brand Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, May Arts Ribbon, Imagine Crafts ink

Time to add some vintage newspaper from 1908 covered in ICE Resin to make them pliable and transparent to give it a true vintage look.  Add some versatile burlap from May Arts, and some cool upholstery tassels from a local interior designer and you got the start to a dress form.

And then you add all the yumminess of the Graphic 45 Collection, Artisan Style and it all starts to come together.

 

She has a corset, real gears and fun doo dads...

A Close Up....

Now lets bring it to the show....its ready to show off...

Delivering it to the Graphic 45  booth, passing it onto Diane Shultz.

Finding its way home so to speak....

This is my 12th dress form that I have made for Graphic 45, it has been a great journey!!!  Thank you for visiting.

A Vintage Collage- Canvas Corp Brands

A vintage 8 x 10 collage with a plethora of goodies..... 

I started with the 8 x 10 blank canvas and added a piece of vintage newspaper from 1951 from my personal collection, then decoupaged to the canvas.  Added a piece of old dictionary paper that I had covered in ICE Resin, tore a piece to add for textured layering.  I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to cover the gear and the large flower to change their color to blue.

Assembled it all together with Beacon and Scrapbook Adhesives and covered with Fast Finish Decoupage to seal the project.

Supply List:

Canvas Corp Brands
- 7 Gyspies rubber stamps
- Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Chalkboard Paint
- Canvas Corp- Black wire mesh 

ICE Resin  

Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares
Beacon Adhesives  Fabri Tac, Zip Dry, Fast Finish Decoupage
Graphic45- metal book tab

Mon Ami Gabby Flower-Peach color sprayed with TA Glimmer Mist
Brown Prima Flower, Dictionary Page

Other: chipboard, domino jewelry piece, metal owl, domino, cork, scrabble tiles

 

 

Have fun with your own collage!

Candy

Graphic45 Design Team 2013 Audition

I have been waiting for this design team call for a couple of years..... its time to throw my hat back into the ring!  I feel like I have been off to college and ready to come home...lol!

I had a blast making a couple new projects with the latest releases for this post along with projects that I have made in the past!  I am currently working on a full size dress for the upcoming Summer CHA show in Las Vegas!  Excited about that, keep an eye out on the blog for updates!

 

 A Secret Garden Canvas Mini Album
Featuring A Secret Garden from Graphic 45, May Arts twine and burlap ribbon, Ranger Pearls and a whole lot of fussy cutting! 

 

A French Country Layout
Featuring French Country by Graphic45, Silhouette by Want2Scrap, Ranger pearls, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L. 

 

Altered Tray- Olde Curiosity Shoppe
Featured in "Just Steampunk" by Scott Publications.  Featuring Olde Curiosity Shoppe by Graphic45, Blumenthal Lansing buttons, May Arts twine, Ranger Pearls and Beacon Adhesives.

Fairy Tale Mannequin

Steampunk Candy-Altered Record
Featuring Imaginarium Designs-Australia, Ranger pearls, Tattered Angels, Copic Markers.

My Fairy Lady Dress Form

Altered Steampunk Jars
Featured in "Just Steampunk" by Scott Publications. 

I hope you are inspired to go outside your box and look at everything differently and what you can do to alter things!!

Be Inspired...Always!
Candy