Studio Calico

Layout of the Week

The layout of the week is brought to you by Megan Klauer.  You can check out more of Megan's awesome layouts on her blog or in her gallery at Studio Calico.

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 2/13 - 2/19.

Congratulations Megan! Because of this 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!

State Fair Spotlight

My assignment for the blog this month was to work with the State Fair line, one of the two newest collections.  As I was looking at this primary color palette, it immediately made me think of school photos which led me to some quirky photos I took of Morgan laying claim to the goalie box during Fall soccer.
A sports layout always makes me gravitate towards stars, so of course I had to break out the veneer and incorporate them into this layout as well.

A sports layout wouldn't necessarily make you think of hand stitching, however, but I used lots of it on this layout.  I used the WRMK Sew Easy tool for my hand stitching.  In between the stitches I added strips of patterned paper for pops of color.

The veneer alphabet is in an easy to use font, so I grabbed what I had left and used Hot Dog, a new color from Mister Huey, to change the color.  In addition to veneer, blue rubon alphas were also used to create my title.
Supplies: Patterned paper - Tickets Please, Guess your Weight, Sideshow, Step Right Up; Wood Veneer - Alphas, Stars; Other - Sew Easy

Laura also created a fun layout using State Fair.  She says: "there isn't one thing I don't love about the State Fair collection...The colors, the versatility, and did I mention the butterflies?? Oh, and they go so well with kraft cardstock.

I love this photo of my little peanut, and I wanted to keep the vertical feel with turning the title vertically."
Supplies: Cardstock - Kraft; Rub-ons: State Fair Alphabet, Butterflies; Label sticker - State Fair; Other - Blue twine

I can't wait to see the projects you come up with when this line hits stores.  Have a great day!

Kelly's Insider Tips

Hello SC friends! It's Kelly here to share an insider tip on my "This..." layout from the Candy Shoppe gallery.
Creating a mosaic is so easy. Big Huge Labs is a photo site that allows you to create really fun things with your photos...puzzles, mosaics, etc. I chose the mosaic maker for this particular layout.

First, I converted all the photos I wanted to use into black and whites. That was the most time consuming part and now looking back on it I probably could have uploaded them all and then converted the entire mosaic to B&W, but converting them one by one gave me more control over the editing. When you go to the Mosaic Maker  on the Big Huge Labs site, it will ask you how many columns and rows you want you mosaic to be. Depending on how you're planning your layout, select the appropriate number of columns and rows. Then you can either upload your photos individually, from your Facebook albums or from Flickr.

After your finished uploading your photos, save the mosaic to your computer. Open the mosaic using Photoshop or Elements, resize to your liking and print away! The possibilities are endless here... you could even print out some DIY photo booth strips with the mosaic maker.

Have fun with it!

Stephanie's Favorite Kit

My favorite kit was Baker's Dozen.

It was a close call between Granny's Cupboard and Baker's Dozen... but Baker's won out.  How could I not love it? It had doilies, candy colors, feminine touches, pearls, scallops, and lace. I think April pretty much made me my perfect kit in this one.

The colors still make me so very happy when I look at them. And the BasicGrey Nook and Pantry line was one of my favorite lines of 2010.

I went nuts with this kit. And several of the layouts that I truly loved are ones I can't share because they are out for publication.

But I adore this layout of Harper. It's super simple, but really showcases the photos and how I feel about her.

Another page I loved is this layout of Sadie. Classic Sadie. Heee! I had so much fun layering and playing with textures, patterns, and colors.

Oh Baker's Dozen...how I miss thee. You were the quintessential kit. Sigh.

Vee's Tutorial

Hi this is Vee here with a quick tutorial for you today, using color blocking to design a layout. Color blocking has been a trend in fashion and home decor for years. Color blocking is done by mixing like colors in a single block/strip or matching together like patterns or geometric shapes. It is so much fun and will help you experiment with color in a new way.
Supplies: Cardstock; Embellishments: Countryside Cardstock Tags; Ink: Mister Huey Pickle; Rubons: State Fair butterflies; Stickers: Countryside Die Cut Label, Die Cut Stickers
You can color block a layout by using complementing solid colors or similar geometric patterns, I did both for my layout here. I love shapes as you may know! I used different sized rectangles and similar colors from the Countryside collection using paint and mist to accent those color blocked colors.

I started with a sketch to figure out the placement of the tags for the 11x8.5 layout. I blocked around the photo of my daughter to bring focus to it and make the layout more appealing. It was easier for me to use various sizes of the same shape because it makes it easier to fill white space.



Next I matched up the tags to the sketch, you can always add to a sketch to make it more cohesive. After I like the placement of shapes and glued them down, I added a few extra elements like rubons and stickers to add contrast and interest.

I hope you will try color blocking and share what you create! I can't wait to see you spin on it in the gallery.

Food Challenge

Supplies: Patterned paper - State Fair Step Right Up, Stickers - State Fair Chipboard, Tags - State Fair Die Cut Tags, Pen - American Crafts .03

Happy Valentines Day to all my SC friends!  While all you happy couples out there are celebrating together, I thought I'd take this opportunity to honor the love of my life... delicious food.  Those of you who know me, know that I take this relationship very seriously.  And believe me, food has loved me back by clinging to my thighs.  Ahhh sweet romance.

My Muffuletta layout was made document my blissful experience with a sandwich down in New Orleans.  I had posted on Facebook that I was in NOLA and asked for suggestions on where to eat.  Studio Calico member Barb Novak left me a note to try out Central Grocery's Muffuletta and it made quite an impact.  Thanks, Barb!

So this week I'm challenging you to create a layout about food or cooking or recipes or anything gastronomy related!  Post your layout and link here by next Monday, February 21 for a chance to win a SC gift card.  I can't wait to see all your eye candy!

Lucky Strike

I think you would agree that the Studio Design team is pretty talented... but did you know that they are also first rate bowlers?  You didn't?  Well, did you know they've got some awesome dance moves?  You probably suspected that though, I'm sure.  Here's some evidence in a little video I put together from our night at Lucky Strike during CHA:

They've got skills, wouldn't you agree? ;)

Sunday Sketch

Maggie here with this week's Sunday Sketch based on Vee's layout from Candy Shoppe!


I loved this sketch and layout the instant I saw it! With the small photo and the fun embellishments/design, I knew it was right up my alley!

* I've had this photo that I took of Emily and her daddy with my phone printed for a while but hadn't scrapped it yet. It was a small everyday moment that I only have one photo of but it is definitely deserving of a layout so this one-photo sketch was the perfect fit!

* The punched circles drew me right in and I noticed those first so I really focused on those and even added more than the sketch shows.

* I also liked the placement for the title and followed that part as well.

 

* Finally I loved how the stamped images balanced out the page and drew your eye out across the layout so I used that design element too, although I changed it up a bit and used some tapes instead of stamping.

 

* The hand written journaling was also a natural fit for me and my style. I just moved it down on the page to a different spot.

Scrapping from a sketch definitely makes it fun and easy to complete a layout in a short amount of time! It is awesome to be inspired by someone else's design and yet fun to add my own little variations as well in order to make it unique to me! Now it is your turn to be inspired and have fun with this amazing sketch!! Be sure to upload your layouts by February 21st and add a link to this post for a chance to win one of 2 $5 gift cards! Good luck!

 

Layout of the Week

The layout of the week is brought to you by Lisa Day.  You can check out more of Lisa's gorgeous work on her blog or in her gallery at Studio Calico.

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 2/6 - 2/12.

Congratulations Lisa! Because of this 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!

Sneak Night Giveaway

Here's another great win in before you can buy it sneak night giveaway!

Just leave a comment here telling us who your Valentine is this year and we'll choose THREE names to win a set of all three new Addy alpha stickers.