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My First Official Graphic 45 2016 Design Team Project: Creativity Takes Courage

Hello, Friends! Oh, what an exciting day it is today! I get to share my very first official project as a member of the 2016 Graphic 45 design team! Somebody pinch me! I can hardly believe that little ole me is being featured on the G45 blog right this very moment. Wooo-hooo! My first assignment was to create a project that describes me as a designer and to include a photo of myself. Since Typography is my all time number one most favorite G45 collection of all times, I created this Creativity Takes Courage layout to share with you here today.

Ladies and Gents, this is me on a page. Lots of layers? Check! Gorgeous color? Check! Details, details, details? Check, check, check! Beautiful flowers? Check! Fabulous ribbon? You bet! A little bit of grunge/steampunk vibe? Oh, yeah! A hidden pocket/interactive element? Yup. I think this creativity takes courage layout covers all those bases and then some. What do you think?

I created a Snapguide tutorial so you could follow the process of how I put this one together.

Check out How to Create a Graphic 45 Typography Mixed Media Layout by Kathy Clement on Snapguide.

And here are some detail shots:

Love the way the colors in the ribbon, Petaloo flowers and peacock feathers play with the colors in this paper collection. Color me happy!

Tell your story: I cut out the inner portion of this Typography frame and inserted my photo here. I changed out the stamps to reflect the fact that the year is 2016 (top right corner), it was my 3rd audition for the team (Left hand side) and I made the G45 team (below the photo). See that pic? That’s why I’m grinning like a happy sap!

A little bit of grunge made its way into the layout with these old paintbrushes bundled together as an embellishment, and in the ink spatters on the page. I also included a little banner flag with the title of the layout. I had to dig my Brave Boots out of the Closet of Shame and put them on to go for a spot on the team for the 3rd time, and I am so glad I did!

Here’s the interactive detail. That Staples tag pulls out from behind the page.

I agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments, and “Imagine” is one of my favorite words in the English language!

Finally, I had to throw in a little altered art/embossing to make this piece really reflect my style. The Staples key was painted blue, and the GSL chipboard was painted, heat embossed and tapped with paint.

This is the best dream I’ve ever had, so please don’t wake me up! Graphic 45 is welcoming me to the team on their company blog today, and they are also sharing 3 of my all time favorite creations in addition to this layout, so if you are interested, you can pop on over there and take a peek.

Thanks again for being on this journey with me! You are the best traveling companions in the world!