Graphic 45 Spotlight With Designer Tara Orr

Here is the latest installment of our Graphic 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 Tara Orr

Our next Graphic 45 Guest Designer for this month is Tara Orr who is part of the 2012 Graphic 45 Design Team.  As always, we have a fabulous project to share with you.

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

I live in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada with my gorgeous husband of 12 years and our three amazing kids who are the heart and soul of my projects. I am now a SAHM to my precious little kiddos but before that, I worked as a webmaster in the Technology industry for many years and loved it. I think I will return to the ‘work’ force one day but for now, my job is at home, raising my kids (and squeezing in a little scrapping on the side).

Random Facts about Me: I have a degree in Psychology, a green belt in karate, love horseback riding (although its been way too long since I last rode), I order a grande dark from Starbucks almost every day, prefer chocolate to any other sweet – although I’ll eat any other sweet over chips/salty stuff any day, I’m the oldest of 3 siblings, gave up hope of maintaining my ‘Monica from Friends’ (as my husband would describe) cleaning habit once I had kids of my own, have earned more grey hairs and wrinkes in the past 8 years than I could have imagined and love my family more than anything else on the face of this earth!  I love papercrafting – LOVE it. It challenges me, it relaxes me and it lets me escape into a world of creativity that I adore.

If you want to take a peek at some more of my work, please stop by my blog for a visit – I’d love to have you!  http://eachmoment-onlyonce.blogspot.com

 

Altered Art Box Project

I absolutely ADORE the Place in Time collection from Graphic 45! It is the most versatile collection with which I have ever worked. Each month is loaded with the most beautiful imagery and the most stunning colours. For my project today, I was inspired with the shabby chic softness and colours found in the Spring months of this collection.

Graphic 45 Supplies:

Metal Tag

Metal Key Hole

Patterned Paper: May Cut Aparts, June Cut Aparts, April Cut Aparts, June Foundation, February Foundation: Place in Time

Place in Time Chipboard 1

Place in Time Stickers

5×5 Kraftboard Altered Art Box