Studio Calico

Hey Day Reveal

We are thrilled to reveal our newest collection here at Studio Calico! Kick off your shoes and skip into the soft morning sunlight of Heyday. Little boys and girls play in a world of balloons and butterflies, fused with warm tangerines, dreamy blues and precious pinks. Seize the splendor of everyday play.

Available in early June 2012.

Heyday includes 12 double-sided patterned papers:

Mistable Thickers and shapes ready to add your favorite color of Mister Huey:

Wood Veneer shapes:

Thickers and Sticker Sheets:

Diecut Shapes:

Wood frame stickers:

Four designs of 4x6 stamps:

A hexagon mask, 3 new Mister Huey shades and a FabRip design.

We hope you enjoyed viewing our newest collection, Heyday! The excitement doesn't end here. Now it's your turn to share in the fun!

First: Share this post on your facebook page. Want to earn an extra entry? Share on Twitter to double your chances!

Second: Comment here with your favorite product from Heyday to be entered to win a $25 gift card to StudioCalico.com!

Hurry on over and spread the word- this giveaway only lasts until 12 o'clock midnight EST 5/9/2012.

Product Spotlight

I absolutely fell in love with the wood veneer arrows and hearts! And then when I saw this paper from the Take Note collection I instantly knew that the arrows would be so fun to use with it! I painted the arrows with different colors of acrylic paints and then painted the hearts in a few shades of pink. If you want to create a similar page, I suggest laying it all out first so you know how many arrows to paint in each color. 

 

 

The background paper made my design come together really easily because I followed the flow of lines for my title and journaling as well. Then I added a few papers and embellishments under the photo and it was complete!!

I know I am stocking up on these hearts and arrows because they are a great "staple" item that will work on most any layout and I don't ever want to run out!!

**Take Note will be in the shop this month. 

 

More with Julie Balzer

Amazing inspiration from our February guest designer, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, continues!  Julie came up with this fantastic layout really showing off the Memoir patterned paper...

How cool are all the details... I love what Julie does with paint!

Doesn't that just make you want to grab some paint and play!

Julie did a very detailed blog post (complete with a video) about her process behind her guest designer layouts this month... head over here and check it out - so insightful and inspiring to get a peek into her crafty brain.

Insider Tips

So delighted to share this fabulous page from our talented January guest designer, Marcy Penner:

I love how she used the Memoir collection for this great layout of her daughter.  Did you know you can stitch through wood veneer pieces?  These cute embellishments hold up to your sewing machine, so get stitching!

More from Danielle

I have have the pleasure of getting to share a beautiful layout that our November guest designer, Danielle Flanders, created using the Autumn Press line...
Supplies: Paper - Scarf, Steamer Trunk, Preserves, Maple Syrup; Tags - Classic Calico Die Cut Tags; Stickers - Addy Alpha

Danielle says: "I used the Autumn Press line, the chipboard #2, the chipboard buttons, kraft paper, the yellow sticker letters and the add-on cardstock (creme background). I was the inspired by the last image found at www.tinyprints.com with the leaves and dots!"

It doesn't get more gorgeous than this!  It's definitely inspiring me to create some fall layouts with those Autumn Press papers.  Thank you for sharing, Danielle!

Die Cuts

Hi Everyone!! I love our die-cut tags from the State Fair and Countryside collections. They are an easy way to add pattern, color and shapes to your pagse without having to think about the coordination of pattern papers because Studio Calico has already done that for you! :) One of my most favorite elements of the die-cut tags is using them to make MORE tags.

I did just that with the pennant tags from the Countryside collection by using one as a template. I traced around the shape of the tag in pencil and cut it out with a craft knife (but it can easily be done with scissors too).  By doing this I made two more pennant tags from the largest tag in the package (which I misted with clay Mister Huey's) to add a bit more color and added them to my layout. Now I can save the original for a future project. Another great way to use these tags is to cut them up and use them as typography elements on your projects.
Products: Exclusive Studio Calico pattern paper: August Main Kit- Boardwalk; Countryside and State Fair die-cut tags;  Mister Heuy's (Dewey, Estate Green and Clay), Huey's Mask, Veneer (asterisk); Chipboard Alpha; Studio Calico Butterfly Rubons; American Crafts Precision Pen

I hope you enjoyed these tips and have a few more ideas on how to incorporate die cut tags into more of your projects!
Have a great day, xo

Tina's Album

Hey there! Thought I'd do a quick "how to" on my mini journal I created for CHA 2011 using the new woodgrain blank journals. I was extremely excited to get my hands on this item. The woodgrain embossed chipboard is so cool to work with.

I wanted to highlight the woodgrain pattern so I first painted the cover using a green colored acrylic paint making sure to get in the crevasses. I let that dry before adding my topcoat color which was teal acrylic paint. I made sure I didn't put too much pressure when applying my topcoat to avoid completely covering the book and loosing the detail of the first coat of paint.

After both front and back pieces are dry,  I attached the journaling block by adding the double sided super sticky tape on both the back and front piece of the block and adhered it to the cover. Unfortunately I had a done this step before realizing I should have taken a photo for the tutorial.
I used a piece of Fabrip for my binding on the outside. I cut it to the width of my liking. Before adhering, I wrapped the piece around the spine to create guidelines for myself. This ensures the piece is placed on evenly.

I tend to leave the decorating bit for last because at this point, I have no idea what the book is going to be used for. After digging through my Studio Calico goods, I found the "I am" rub ons and thought this would make a good everyday type journal of just random bits like what's going on, things to do and sketches/ideas for future layouts.


The rub on applied beautifully on the painted surface. I finished it off with a wood grain asterisk and a piece of ribbon to give my binding a more polished look.
Items used: Woodgrain journal kit, woodgrain asterisk, green phrases rub on, Type Fabrip, scrap pad from Autumn Press

Hope to see your mini book creations in the gallery soon!

Journals

For CHA, I was lucky enough to get to play with one of the new Studio Calico mini albums! This is the 5x5 size, embossed with the alphabet…and I love it!

I was also lucky enough to play with a lot of Studio Calico’s newest stamps, including Silhouettes, My Happy, and Hooray.

I decided to make this album kind of a quote book of memories from my son’s first year (I write in a “one line a day” book for him every night and I used memories from that).

The first step for me was to come up with a common design that could be easily replicated throughout the book. I decided to use the circle word stamp from the Silhouettes stamps on each page, and then use a different stamp within the circle.

Next, I picked out the stamps I would use in the middle of the circle stamp.
Then I stamped the circle stamp on about 40 pages in different ink colors.

Next, I picked out complementary patterned paper to act as filler pages in the album.

Then I stamped the image in the middle of the circle stamp.

Then I misted the covers of the album.

I repeated the circle stamp with a stamp in the middle on the back cover.

Then on the cover, I used one of Studio Calico’s wood veneer alphabets, and the “note” sticker from the new Scrap Pads.

Finally, I took the pages and wrote down the memories!
Supplies: Classic Scrap Pads, Hooray Stamps, 5x5 Journal Kit (Alpha Pattern Embossed), Silhouettes Stamps, My Happy Stamps, Classic Calico Woodgrain One paper, Classic Calico Dot One paper, Classic Calico Folio paper.

Voila! You guys are going to love these mini albums and stamps!

Product Spotlight - Mister Huey's

Hi Studio Calico friends- I'm so excited to be showing off some of the new Mister Huey's Color Mists and one of our new masks today! I was thrilled when I heard Studio Calico would be making masks - and I love the designs!



There are three designs in this release - a 4x6in intertwined circle background, a set of butterflies, and an ampersand. They're made of a thick plastic & are heavy enough that you can lay them on your project and mist over them without worrying about blowing them out of place! Once you're done misting, you simply wipe them clean and they're ready for the next color.


For my page today, I chose to focus on using the background mask. I started by trimming the die cut ledger paper from State Fair into mats for my photos, then used the circle background and a different color of Mister Huey  on each one. From top to bottom, I used Custard and Dewey from Autumn Press, and Clay from the Memoir line. This is a great way to add mist to your page if you're new to using it - if you're not happy with the results, you can try again on a new photo mat without ruining your entire layout! I love the subtle detail & color it adds behind my photos.
(supply list : patterned paper - State Fair Die Cut Cream Ledger, State Fair Pie Contest, Countryside County Line, Studio Calico exclusive & Sassafras from Mind the Gap ; stickers - Addy Alpha Yellow, 6x6 labels blue ; wood button - Veneer Buttons ; mist - Mister Huey's Clay, Mister Huey's Custard, Mister Huey's Dewey ; mask - intertwined circles ; other - brads, yellow buttons, ticket and chipboard from Paper Moon and add-ons, washi tape, twine, tiny attacher)

I stacked my mats and photos along the right side of my layout, and taped them in place with washi tape. I can't wait to see what you'll do with the new Mister Huey's Color Mists and Masks!

When I saw the exclusive map paper from the Mind the Gap kit, I thought immediately how perfectly the colors would work with my Countryside and State Fair tags. I used the tags to frame the photo and punched hearts from the map paper to reinforce the journaling.

I like that I was able to use a seemingly travel themed product for a layout that wasn't about traveling (well, not in the traditional sense anyway).

Supplies: July Main Kit- Mind The Gap;Tags-Studio Calico Countryside and State Fair,;Patterned Papers- Studio Calico cream die cut ledger; Stickers- Studio Calico addy alpha in green, orange label stickers,Documentary die cut stickers; Countryside die cut stickers; Punches- Fiskars My Funny Valentine squeeze punch, Stampin' Up! Heart to Heart punch; Pen- American Crafts Precision Pen .03 tip