National Craft Month with Graphic 45!

If you are looking for my Color Throwdown Guest Post, please click HERE!

This March, Graphic 45 is having a party for National Craft Month. They are going to be sharing great ideas, giveaways, and crafting tips on the G45 Blog, and on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter! They are giving away an amazing prize, too! Plus, they will even have some surprise guest stars this month.

Can you guess one of the guest stars?! Oh yes, me me me me me! I was overjoyed when I got an email asking me to do a guest post for Craft Month! {Plus, we all know that I will never really leave G45! I am like a bad penny where they are concerned!} Graphic 45 sent me a box of goodies and said, "Create a card with a tutorial in your best Gloria-style." I said, "OK!" 

Well, they sent me By the Sea! {swoon} When Graphic 45 introduced their By the Sea collection, I went bonkers! I live near the Pacific Ocean in southern California, and I am always on the lookout for beach-themed papers. What fun to have access to a new beach-themed collection from my favorite paper manufacturer!

I loved the anchor imagery, mostly because I have a lot of stamps about ships, anchors, the sea, etc. Here we go! Let's make a card!

1. Cut blue cardstock to 5 x 10 inches. Score at 5 inches to make a top-fold, 5x5-inch card.

2. Cut the By the Sea Signature paper (reverse) to 4 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches. Wrap the paper with twine. Secure the twine on the back of the paper with tape. Attach the paper to the front of the card.

3. Cut blue cardstock to 3 x 4 5/8 inches. Cut Beachcomber paper to 2 7/8 x 4 1/2 inches. Attach the Beachcomber paper to the blue cardstock and attach the panel to the left side of the card front.

4. Cut a banner, approximately 2 3/8 x 4 1/2 inches from blue cardstock. Trim Pier 45 paper to slightly smaller than the cardstock banner. Adhere the banner together. (The sample uses My Favorite Things Fishtail Flag Stax die cut templates to cut the banner.) Attach the banner to the Beachcomber panel as shown using adhesive foam squares.

5. Cut a 2 1/2 inch circle from blue cardstock. Cut a slightly smaller circle from Set Sail paper. Adhere the circles together. Attach the circle to the right side of the banner using adhesive foam squares.

6. Tie the twine into a bow, overlapping the right edge of the circle.

7. Trim the "You are My Anchor" image from 8x8-inch Sand and Surf paper. Rub the edges of the image with blue ink. Attach the image to a scrap of chipboard, and attach the image to the left side of the card as shown. (The chipboard is for extra support and depth.)

8. Tie the small chipboard tag from By the Sea Chipboard Tags to the card with twine. Also add a Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Key and an anchor die cut shape.

9. Glue a blue sequin to the top of the twine. Add a tiny, self-adhesive pearl to the top of the sequin.

10. Glue three sequins to the Set Sail circle. Add a self-adhesive pearl to the top of each sequin.

11. Glue a Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Key Hole to right edge of the main image. Add self-adhesive pearls to the keyhole as shown.

12. Using sharp scissors, trim a starfish and a shell from the Beachcomber paper. Attach fussy cut images to the card as shown.

13. Using deco scissors, trim a postage stamp image from Splash paper and attach as shown.

14. Fill a tiny bottle with sand. Cork the bottle of sand and glue it to the card as shown.

15. Trim two pieces of cream cardstock to 4 7/8 x 4 7/8 inches. Use black ink to stamp the lighthouse from the By the Sea Cling Stamp 1set onto one cream panel.

16. Use black ink to stamp a sentiment and blue ink to stamp the anchor from the By the Sea Cling Stamp 3 set onto the other cream panel. (The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs "The Sea.")  Attach the cream cardstock panels to the inside of the card. 

17. Trim By the Sea Signature paper to 1 x 4 7/8 inches. Stamp the postage image from the By the Sea Cling Stamp 3 set onto the left side of the paper strip with black ink.

18. Attach the paper strip to the top of the cream panel containing the lighthouse.

19. Trim By the Sea Signature paper to 1 x 4 7/8 inches. Stamp the "Pier 45" image from the By the Sea Cling Stamp 2 set onto the right side of the paper strip with black ink.

20. Attach the paper strip to the cream panel containing the sentiment.

I enjoyed being back with the Graphic 45 Team, if only for a day! Thanks for looking, and I hope you feel inspired to create something with By the Sea papers! Make sure you stop by the G45 Blog to see what else they have going on....and to enter to win the prize!

For MORE Graphic 45 goodness, click HERE and HERE! If you love Graphic 45, come and enter the CHALLENGE HERE!

Graphic 45:

12x12 Papers: By the Sea: Signature sheet, Beachcomber, Set Sail, Splash, Pier 45

8x8 papers: By the Sea: Sand and Surf

Chipboard: By the Sea Tags 1

Cling Stamps: By the Sea 1, 2, 3

Staples: Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Keys, Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Key Holes

Cardstock: WorldWin Papers ColorMates Smooth and Silky Blueberry, ColorMates Original Light Totally Tan

Other stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs The Sea

Ink: Clearsnap Colorbox Graphic 45 Decades Bon Voyage; Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Twine: May Arts

Die cuts: Spellbinders Nautical, Standard Circles Large and Small; My Favorite Things Fishtail Flag Stax

Sequins: Darice

Pearls: Couture Creations

Bottle: Sky Blue Pink

Other: sand

Adhesive: Scotch 3M ATG tape; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L 3D Foam Squares; Aleene's Tacky Glue