Graphic 45 Spotlight With Designer Gloria Stengel

Here is the latest installment of our Grahpi 45 Guest Designers. Many of you may remember that back in April we hosted a Graphic 45 Week on the Paper Crafter’s Library Blog. It was week filled with projects and inspiration using Graphic 45’s Tropical Travelogue Collection. We had such a great experience partnering with Graphic 45 and their design team, and such a great response from you, that we’ve decided to partner with them on an ongoing basis. The first and third week of every month one of the Graphic 45 Designers will share a project they’ve created here on the PCL Blog. We started with our monthly designers in June and before I introduce you to our latest Designer, I just wanted to take a minute to re-introduce Graphic 45 for those of you that may not be familiar with the company.

Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company­— owned and operated by a mother and her two daughters.

Diane Schultz (pictured center)—Designer and CEO (aka mother)

“I’m passionate about being creative and eager to make it possible for others to find their creative voice. My background includes stints as a designer for, McCalls, Simplicity, Vogue/ Butterick, Mattel Toy Company and a host of other jobs that each, in some way, led me to what I do now. At 45 I went back to school and got my degree in graphic design— I named the company to celebrate that achievement.”

Aimee Filimoehala (pictured left) —Director of Operations

“I wear a lot of hats and love it that way. Business, marketing, operations, etc. have made me a pro at multitasking (aka juggling‑figuratively and literally). When we launched Graphic 45 just three years ago we had no idea what was in store, working together as a family has been an amazing journey that we all feel so grateful to be apart of.”

Charee Filimoehala (pictured right)—Director of Customer Service and Design Team Coordinator

“I joined the team a little over three years ago and haven’t looked back…what a life-changing experience this has been. I love working with and around creative people and products (not to mention I like my co-workers quite a bit). I spend my days working with our friendly stores and talented design team…the occasional trip to a workshop or tradeshow pretty nice too.”

Together we create vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920’s and 30’s – with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that’s both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album or home decor project.

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Here’s a picture of their booth at the CHA show which absolutely blows us away every year! The artwork inside is absolutely stunning and totally unique. At the last show as we were speaking with Diane she told us that many of the altered pieces were vintage finds which she and her team transformed with their gorgeous Graphic 45 products. We can’t wait to stop by their booth at the Chicago CHA and see what they’ve got in store this year!

Here’s a picture of the Graphic 45 team – they’re always dressed in period costumes to complement the themes in their collections – every day of the show brings a new set of costumes. The ones shown below were for their Little Darlings collection.

Graphic 45 Designer Gloria Stengel

Our next Graphic 45 Guest Designer for this month is Gloria Stengel who is part of the 2012 Graphic 45 Design Team.  Gloria was part of the design team that we showcased during Graphic 45 week back in April, which you can view here: https://blog.papercrafterslibrary.com/graphic-45-week-day-2.  She does amazing work and we are so exicted she has come back.

You can see Gloria’s fabulous project below, but first, here is a little more about Gloria:

My name is Gloria Stengel and I live in Oceanside, CA with my husband Matt, and our three children, Nathan (20), Laura (16), and Jonah (11). Besides being “queen of the craft women,” I am also active in my church and I homeschool my two youngest children. (My oldest son has graduated and now attends college full-time.)

I live for exploring and creating with all sorts of mediums and products, thus I am always on the hunt for new ways to “make a mess.” My motto is “seek out new crafts that you have never done before.” I love the thrill of mixing product lines into my projects, and I guess my style is quite eclectic. I enjoy the creative process, the discovery, and the “happy accidents” that sometimes arise during crafting time. However, the biggest thrill of this business is teaching and instructing others. When another crafter holds up a finished project and says, “Look what I made!” I get the biggest kick out of it, especially if I had a small part in helping them learn a new technique.

I’ve been on a number of design teams over the past few years, including Spellbinders (2011) and Graphic 45 (2010, 2011, 2012), Hampton Art Stamps (2011, 2012). I also create sample art for various companies and online stores. I’ve been published in magazines and catalogs, and I have a blog called Scraps of Life, that is my creative link to the world  (www.gloriascraps.blogspot.com).

 

Pumpkins Galore Layout

 

The NEW Graphic 45 Happy Haunting Collection is perfect for highlighting this photo of my youngest son, taken several years ago at the pumpkin patch. He had climbed onto a huge pile of pumpkins and made himself comfortable! The tiny pumpkins on the Happy Haunting paper make a prefect backdrop for the bright orange photo.

 

I used some chipboard and metal embellishments, altered with paint and glitter, plus I added some fall foliage to bring the layout all together.

 

 

Techniques:

1. Paint chipboard with one coat of gesso and one coat of black paint. Allow to dry. Rub over paint with white fluid chalk ink. Buff off excess ink with a paper towel.

2. Paint chipboard alphas with one coat of gesso. Mix sunflower and monarch paint and paint over gesso coat.  Allow to dry. Use a foam brush to apply a thin layer of glue to the alphas and sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry.

Supply List:

Designer paper: Graphic 45: Happy Haunting: Happy Haunting, Enchanted Garden, Midnight Magic, Jeeper’s Creeper’s Tags: Graphic 45: Happy Haunting Tags 2

Imaginarium Designs Chipboard: Alphabet (IDA0005, IDACC0001), Fence/rail track (IDS0021), James border (IDB0009)

Cardstock: American Crafts Black Metal Embellishments: Momenta Ink: Clearsnap Colorbox Fluid Chalk Blackbird, Popcorn Paint: Delta Ceramcoat Gesso; Making Memories Acrylic Asphalt, Sunflower, Monarch Glitter: Art Glitter Lion’s Mane Transparent Ultrafine Floral: Craft supply Adhesive: Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Glue; Scotch 3M tape runner

We hope you have enjoyed this beautiful creation from Gloria. I would also like to extend a warm thank you to Gloria for sharing yet another fabulous project with us! Please take a minute to stop by Gloria’s Blog  and of course the Graphic 45 blog to check out all their amazing creations!