Studio Calico

Handbook | Marcy Penner

Back in March, we shared Marcy Penner's thoughts as she pulled together supplies to create a Hanbook about her family vacation to Florida. Now that she's back home, her prep work paid off and she was able to complete a Handbook recording their trip in record time!

Marcy says - The key for me completing this vacation album was to keep it simple. I decided on a format of one spread for each day (or two). I really had to narrow down my photo selections and keep embellishments to a minimum in order to complete this project and not have it gather dust in the corner of my room while it waited for me to find time to finish it. Well, I guess almost completed. I do have to get my family to fill out the cards on the last page yet.

I pulled out my photos, dated (pre made) journaling cards and my basket of Here + There, Sundrifter and Snippets and got to work… all with keeping it simple in mind. 

What started out as an intimidating project became a colourful, completed album filled with photos, memories and memorabilia.

Here's a video on how Marcy put each of her pages together - she's made this project totally doable!

 

And here's a look inside her finished album : 

What have you recorded in a Handbook? Link us up, we'd love to see!

wholesale spotlight

Here's a peek at how our Creative Team has been using our Here+There, Snippets and Sundrifter lines :

Deb Duty - happy place : 

Lucy Abrams - Hello : 

Julie Campbell - way to go : 

Joy Taylor - Hello : 

 

winners

We have a new set of challenge winners - CONGRATS to all of you!! If your name is on this list, you'll be getting an email from us with info about your prize. Thank you again to all who take part in our challenges!

Workspace Wednesday | Julie Campbell

Need ideas for organizing in a small space? Julie Campbell is sharing a video tour of her attic workspace : 

 

you've got mail | Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Hello Studio Calico Lovers!

Amber here from the Card Team and I'm bringing you a fun project that perfectly coordinated thanks to some pretty papers from the May kits! Let's get started with what I came up with:

I was inspired by the muted colors of Up & Up patterned paper included in the May Card Kit and Scrapbook Kit. Because the kits both include this same pattern, in two different scales, it was easy to create a card with the 6x6 paper and an envelope with the 12x12 paper. 

On the card, I created a simple flower embellishment with ovals made with a paper punch. In the center I added a brad, which also serves as the sentiment. Don't you love double duty! The otherwise white card is accented with an embossed background and some splashes of Mr. Huey's color mist. 

For the envelope, I used my score board to create a custom sized envie that would fit the overhanging embellishment on my card. To the front, I mimicked the details of the card with a few splashes of color and a strip of wood veneer paper that wraps around.

Supplies: May Add on Kit (Orion; Wood Veneer Cardstock and Vintage Bliss Decorative Brads); Mr Huey's Color Mist: Boss Lady; May Planetarium Card Kit (Studio Calico Up & Up Patterned Paper) ; May Planetarium Scrapbook Kit (Up & Up Patterned Paper) 

I hope this simple ensemble inspires you to create a few coordinating cards & envelopes of your own! Take a look through your kits and see which patterns repeat from one kit to another. This makes coordination super simple!

Thanks for stopping by! -Amber Kemp-Gerstel

weekly challenge | Anna-Maria Wolniak & Natalia Bun

Hi ladies! Anna-Maria and Natalia here to give you a new challenge for your layout and PL spread. I love quotes and it's always been a huge part of my layouts and PL spread. I love it most when I randomly stumble on a quote, something that's exactly what I needed to hear. When that happens, I always remember to screen grab them on my iPhone to use for my next spread or layout.  So for this challenge, we want you to find a quote that you recently found or one that's been on your mind, something that you really feel and definitely worth scrapping about :)

Anna-Maria used this quote for her layout. "Decide that you want it more then you are afraid of it".

(supplies: patterned paper: 'Planetarium' Scrapbook Main Kit, alphabets: 'Orion' and 'Lyra' Scrapbook add-ons, wooden veneers: 'Big Dipper' Scrapbook add-on andAtlantic Burnished Circle from 'Halley's Comet' PL add-on, printables: Planetarium Digital Printable #1 GS, Planetarium Digital Printable #2 MP, Planetarium Digital Printable Fancy Labels, other: Watercolor Transparent Papers, Mister Huey's Shell and Mister Huey's Seafoam both from Atlantic Collection)

I made a Project Life spread and printed out the quote in 4x6" card. I found this quote on Tumblr recently and I thought it's perfect. Life is indeed a balance of the good and bad.

(supplies: patterned paper - Atlantic 12x12 Vellum, South Hampton, Plymouth, New Haven; Bow - Atlantic Fabric Bows; Atlantic Cork Circles Stickers & Arrows; Atlantic Star Stickers; Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; Thickers - Atlantic Sunrise)

Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by May 13th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

Thank you!

Natalia & Anna-Maria

Sunday Sketch

We know that our members love sketches, so this week we are again offering you TWO...one for cards and one for layouts!! The card sketch is from Andrea Budjack's Planetarium gallery:

And the layout is from Tina Aszmus' Planetarium Gallery:

We invited member Marie (MarieL) to choose one of these to use as a starting point this week, and she couldn't stop at just one!! She wowed us with both of the projects she submitted!!

Using the layout sketch:

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts); Pink Vellum (Recollections); Cut Design (Studio Calico: Atlantic Sail With Me); Wood Veneer Typewriter (Studio Calico); Tags (Crate Paper);  Digital Word Stamp:  (Ali Edwards: Spring Hand Drawn Words @ designerdigitals);  Calendar (Katie Pertiet @ designerdigitals); Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart)
 
I really love how everything is centered vertically with a big bold title in the middle.  I switched things up and put my journaling on the top half of the page and my photo on the bottom half.  I wanted to use some transparent elements similar to the original page, so I took pink vellum paper and made a little pocket and a few butterflies.   I don't normally use so much pink on my layouts, but I thought the color reflected spring and the cherry blossoms.

And this one with the card sketch:

 

Supplies:  Cardstock (American Crafts), Washi Tape (Crate Paper: The Pier); Wood Veneer (Studio Calico);  Tags (Crate Paper); Journal Shapes and cutouts: (Studio Calico Digital Printable: Planetarium #2)
 
I had a lot of fun using a card sketch for a layout.  I made my page in landscape format (11x8.5") which is something I haven't done before, but I ended up liking it and will probably use it again.  I thought the big circle would be perfect for a photo of my son playing in the creek with his cousins.  The strips of paper on the right side turned into strips of washi tape on my layout.  I used a plain white cardstock background and then added pops of bright, primary colors.   Overall I followed the sketch pretty closely while making this layout.  I will definitely remember to use a card sketch as a source of inspiration in the future. 

Love the variety of elements on Marie's projects! Her clean, linear style draws me right in, and I love how she uses pastels and bold colors in equally awesome ways for impact...thank you so much for joining us this week, Marie!! You can see more inspiration from her in her SC Gallery, and on her blog.

How will YOU use this sketch? Whether it's a layout, a card or something else, link us up to your project by May 13th for a chance to win a $5 gift card to the Studio Calico shop. (Please remember, your project must be loaded into our gallery to qualify...and your comment has to link back to it in the SC Gallery)

 

NSD at SC | 2013 | Happy NSD!!!

Layout of the Week

Goodies, the layout of the week, is brought to you by Magda, member name magda_m. Magda favors white cardstock backgrounds to allow her details to take center stage...and we love the impact this technique made here. If you would like to see more of her work, you can stop by her gallery here at Studio Calico or her blog.

Each week, the layout in the gallery is linked, so you can add it to your favorites easily. This layout has been added to your favorites more than any other layout in the SC community gallery for the week of 4/21-4/27.

Congratulations Magda!! Because your work has caught our member's eyes you have won a $10 gift card to be used on any new purchase at Studio Calico.  Want a chance to win next week? Be sure to upload your projects to the SC gallery, and support your community by adding special projects that catch your eye into your favorites! It could be YOU next week!

NSD at SC | 2013

Hey everyone! All of us here at Studio Calico are ready to spend the whole weekend celebrating (inter)National Scrapbook (and card and Project Life) day, and we hope you are too! We have a lot of fun planned, so this post will serve as the NSD 2013 home base with links to everything that's going on.

One lucky winner will receive a $100 gift card to Studio Calico. Will it be you?? To have a chance at this amazing prize, enter ANY of our NSD challenges below. Each and every challenge entry earns you another grand prize entry, so break out the paper and glue and see how many you can complete!

We asked our scrapbook, card and Project Life Creative Teams to each issue three challenges to all of you. And then we asked them to take those challenges & show you how they can apply to any sort of project. The result is 9 challenges, a set of sketches, and enough inspiration to keep you working all week long!

All of our NSD challenges are open until May 13th, and each one has a prize attached. ;) You may combine challenges - just make sure to link them up on each one you complete!

Scrapbook Team Challenge #1 | give mixed media a try

Scrapbook Team Challenge #2 | break out the buttons

Scrapbook Team Challenge #3 | by the numbers

Card Team Challenge #1 | mask it off

Card Team Challenge #2 | stamped patterned paper

Card Team Challenge #3 | five different patterns

Project Life Team Challenge #1 | mix in a digital element

Project Life Team Challenge #2 | put it in a pocket

Project Life Team Challenge #3 | go transparent

Layout and Card sketches

free digital journaling cards and accents

chat schedule for Saturday, May 4th : 

• 10am EST | Nicole Harper & Marcy Penner
• 1pm EST | Deb Duty & Shanna Noel
• 4pm EST | Allison Waken
• 7pm EST | Lisa Truesdell & Jenn Picard
• 9pm EST | Steph Washburn & Catherine Davis

Follow Studio Calico on Instagram for even more NSD fun! Just do a search for "@studio_calico" - and don't forget to tag YOUR NSD instagrams and tweets with #NSDatSC 

Happy NSD, everyone!!