Crate Paper Guest Designer: Raphalen Benedicte

Raphalen Benedicte

My name is Benedicte, I'm a French Scrap-Addict. I've got two daughters, Cassandre & Danae, who really inspire me. We live in Brittany (an area located in the North West of France) with my husband, Yannick, and my stepdaughter, Sarah. I'm a psychologist and work with teenagers and homeless individuals. I started scrapbooking about five years ago and I'm rather keen on freestyle with a touch of shabby, vintage and whimsy. What I enjoy creating the most are layouts, but I also love working on mini-albums and art journals in which I use altered art techniques. From time to time, I like creating DIY and home decor projects. I've been working for the design team of a French magazine called Histoires de Pages for almost four years now. I've also taught several classes and have launched my own crop events. I'm sincerely honored to guest design for Crate Paper because the new collection inspire me a lot. They're perfect! I love the designs, color and admire the creativity that makes Crate Paper such an original, singular brand.

Ten Randoms About Me

I like playing witches, fairies and mermaids with my daughters.

In the morning, I like to surf the net with a cup of coffee; Pinterest, Facebook, Emails & Fave Scrapbook Blogs

I love cats, but dislike hens; I've a very traumatizing memory from my childhood while having spent time at my grandparent's farm.

I listen to the radio a lot in my car and sometimes, I find myself singing at the top of my lungs.

I love the sea and countryside. I'm not much of a town girl. I love wide, open spaces found in mother nature - there's much peace and quiet to be had there.

My dream is to go to Iceland for it's northern lights, it's volcanoes and it fjords.

When I cook, I like to innovate and try new recipes with seasonal vegetables.

I often take off-centered photos because most of the time, they're the best ones!

The only jewelry I wear is earrings. I put them on everyday.

I never watch TV, but still love watching films and show series on DVD's.

In creating this layout titled, I Love Your Smile, I first cut a strip of Acorn Avenue tags and placed at the top of the page. I then added a triangle border beneath it's bottom edge - trimmed from my very favorite Acorn Avenue patterned paper, "Hazel". I mixed orange and brown alpha's for the title. They match quite well! As accents, I used various pieces from the Acorn Avenue chipboard collection, including the camera, leaves and butterfly. I enjoy gathering embellishments together to create vertical clusters. Overall, this Fall collection is bright and warm and does a great job of highlighting the photo of my daughters, and their dear friend.

This mini album is crafted from Crate's On Trend collection. I trimmed 10 x 15 centimeter sheets from various patterned papers. Leftovers were kept for adding to the album at a later time (you can see bits and pieces throughout). Once the album was finished, I noticed that the papers matched beautifully. The collection as a whole is cheerful and colorful - I love it!

I thoroughly enjoy creating home decor from recycled items. In following this passion, I used the wheel of a worn bike to create an inspiration board. The shades of the Acorn Avenue collection inspired me to create a photo montage frame from Fall photos, the Fall leaves collected with my daughter and of course, the numerous chipboard elements, stickers and vellum garlands that I LOVE!

First, I customized clothespins with tape stickers. I then cut different sized rectangles from Acorn Avenue's patterned papers. I added a few real Autumn leaves and some chipboard/sticker pieces to them. As a finishing touch, I adhered a photo to each one - the girls collecting leaves, our walks through the forest, and our mushroom hunts. I love recycling. Just look at this old, fashionable wheel!

*One last tip you might be interested in hearing about as to this photo-friendly,crafty wheel - you can update it whenever you'd like according to the seasons! :)

I hope to have inspired you with my creations. I really appreciate the opportunity to work with Crate's two collections, On Trend & Acorn Avenue - they're so wonderful and easy to work with . Thanks again to Christine, Lisa and Crate Paper!

Comments

I love the idea of using the old wheel to display your photos!

Posted by: Betsy Gray | November 30, 2012 at 05:54 AM

Love the bicycle wheel. What a great idea!

Posted by: marianne-g | November 30, 2012 at 07:15 AM

amazing creations ! I'm not surprised, Bénédict is one of the best scrappers in France and I can say that not only I'm really happy for her to be your guest this mouth, She could be too totally part of your design team ! she is very talented !

Posted by: Ana | November 30, 2012 at 09:32 AM

Beautiful! Love your style!!!

Posted by: meganklauer | November 30, 2012 at 09:54 AM

hourray for french scrappers! cocorico!! j'adore tes projets !! wow! cette roue est vraiment créative!!

Posted by: sophie | November 30, 2012 at 12:08 PM

Bonjour Bénédicte, contente de voir une française parmi les guest designer!!!! Et que de jolies choses! moi aussi j'aime énormément l'idée de la roue sur laquelle accrocher des photos, cette petite touche vintage colle tellement bien avec ces papiers. Félicitation et bravo pour toutes ces belles réalisations!

Posted by: StephanieD | November 30, 2012 at 12:10 PM

Ohh merci beaucoup Stéphanie et Sophie je suis toujours fan de vos créas avec les produits CRate paper, AC et SC je suis si contente d'être sur le blog aujourd'hui :) !! Thank you so much to all of you girls I'm so so proud to be on the blog today :)

Posted by: benedicte | November 30, 2012 at 12:21 PM