Studio Calico

watercolor tutorial

  

Watercolors are so on trend right now, and we wanted to give you an easy way to incorporate this look into your projects. We've brought in some new shop items - transparent watercolor papers and small and medium water brushes.

Tina Aszmus has put together a video to share just how these papers work : 

Whether you use them for coloring in stamps, creating backgrounds, or adding a custom look to ready made embellishments, these papers are a great item to have in your creative arsenal!

cha-s 2012 : stamps

And finally, it's stamp time!! We're excited about our latest stamp release with Hero Arts, and hope you are too. We've brought back some old favorites and mixed them with new designs that we think you'll love!

First up, our Yearbook stamps. Back to School features thought bubbles and the coveted coffee stain stamp :

And our Claire alphabet is just as pretty as the girl it's named after. ;)

For Wonderland, we have our Spread Joy set - I love the handwritten word bubbles and the little house stamps :

And our Cal alphabet, which also features some cool circle designs :

I think our Classic Calico Vol 3 sets are my favorite - Oh Snap has arrows (be still my heart!), hexagons and the sorts of phrases you'll reach for again and again :

 

And of course, we couldn't forget Sam - another alphabet set that we've paired with some basic geometric shapes :

What do you think of the stamps? Our design team can't wait to get their hands on them - we hope you feel the same way!

There's just one more day of reveal... come back tomorrow for a closer look at the Handbooks, along with some sneaks from our team!

Summer Stamp School

Just when you thought school was out for the summer, we're ready to put you back in class! Join us in July for Summer Stamp School taught by stamping extraordinaire Robyn Werlich.

This self-paced class is complete with amazing PDF lessons you can download all at once to use at your own pace. You'll find new techniques and amazing inspiration from your favorite stampers.


Included in the cost of the class is an EXCLUSIVE stamp set (not available separately, ships free) designed just for Summer Stamp School. You'll see Robyn and contributors put this awesome set to work throughout the class.


The dream team of contributors joining Robyn are: Danielle Flanders, Ali Edwards, April Foster, Vee Jennings, Nicole Harper, Jessica Witty, Susan Weinroth, Shari Carroll, Geralyn Sy, Jennifer McGuire, Davinie Fiero, Maile Belles, Dawn McVey, Keisha Campbell, and Teri Anderson.

Registration ends June 30th and the classroom opens July 1st with all materials available on that date. See you in class!

kelly's mist tutorial

Hello, SC friends! Kelly here to share a quick little tutorial on using Mister Huey with your SC stamps. I touched on this a bit before, but wanted to expand on the idea and show you exactly how to achieve the same effect.

Here's the layout that was shown on the blog before...

And here's the card I made for this tutorial...

Supplies: kit- Candy Shoppe; Noah Alphabet Stamps; Mister Huey's Color Mist- Piglet; ink- JBS Cough Syrup

First you'll need some mist, a stamping block, cardstock and some ink. Get out your trusty misting box (mine is looking mighty messy!) and place a small strip of cardstock into the box. Arrange your letters (I used the Noah Alpha set for this card...such a classic font and perfect for just about everything) onto the cardstock face up, so that the flat part of the stamp is against the cardstock and the words "read" correctly and not backwards. Basically you're placing them the opposite way than you would if you were actually stamping them.

Next, get some mist and spray away...several short sprays from about a foot away seems to work best.

Once you've sprayed, carefully pick up the stamps and clean them up with some baby wipes. Let them dry off and get your stamping block and ink ready to go. You can see that we've left the negative of the word here and now we can just stamp right into the spots for each letter. 

It is really such a simple technique, but the possibilities are endless. You can do this with just about any stamp. Hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you'll try this technique out on your next card or layout! 

 

 

Lisa's Tutorial

Hello SC friends! It's Lisa here today with a tutorial that's a little out of my usual comfort zone. I know that it's pretty obvious that my sewing machine and I are tight, and that I use it on nearly every page I do. But recently, I've found myself adding more and more embroidered projects to my inspiration files. I finally hit the tipping point and couldn't resist adding a little handstitched love to this projects - but instead of using any of the embroidery templates that are out there, I wanted to put my Studio Calico stamps to use.
Supplies - patterned paper : Elementary Library, Elementary Harper's Ruler, Napa Valley Peloton ; Elementary Journaling Cards ; stamps - Natalee Alphabet, Doily, Apple (Drafting Table), Herringbone (En Plein Air) ; Notions ; mist - Mr Huey Sunshine ; tiny attacher ; Crate School Spirit Phrase Stickers ; ink - JBS Seed Packet ; punches - EK Success Zig Zag Stitch Punch

I decided to start small, in case it was harder than I thought it would be. I stamped the apple from the Drafting Table add-on on a small shipping tag. I then placed it on top of an old mouse pad and used a pin to pierce holes along the outline.

I stuck to a simple backstitch for all of the handsewing on this page. For the apple, I decided to stitch right over it - the stamped lines are thin enough that they won't show under the stitching. I used yellow around the apple, and green for the leaves. Once I'd finished, I decided the apple needed a little something more, so I stamped the apple again on a scrap of yellow patterned paper.  I cut the apple out and added it inside my stitched tag.

Now that my accent tag was finished, I was ready to take on something bigger - a title. I love the new Natalee stamps and couldn't wait to use them as a template.

Since the alphabet stamps have a wider line, I stamped them on to scrap cardstock.  I laid out the design of my page, using that stamped scrap to figure out the best place for my title. (I also stamped some additional words with the Addy set on to scrap paper and cut them out.  This is a good way to try out stamping without committing to it.  I wasn't sure if I'd like how they looked in the final design, and in the end, decided to leave them off.)

I used repositionable adhesive on my stamped title, and set to work piercing through it onto the background of my page.

Once I'd finished and removed the scrap, this is what I was left with.  You can lightly "connect the dots" with a pencil if it helps you to see the design better, but since these letters were fairly straightforward, I opted not to.

I worked with a backstitch again, and soon had a handstitched title.  I chose to double up my embroidery thread for this - I wanted the titlework to have a bit more presence. When I finished, I assembled the rest of my page, adding my patterned paper, journaling and photos.

At this point, I wanted to bring a bit of handstitching up to the top of the page, so I punched some scrap cardstock with my Zig Zag border punch and used that as a template to pierce holes for more stitching. I knew I'd never get a zigzag this even on my own!

I also added a bit of stamping in a shade similar to my embroidery thread - and layering a flower made from one of the Notions over the stamped Doily adds a bit more interest. To make the flower, I took the Notions and squished them between my thumb and forefinger until they were flat, and then added a button to the center.

To finish, I added a second page to my layout to feature this artwork made by my son at preschool. I tied the two pages together by continuing the patterned paper border across the page break, but wanted to bring the stitching over as well.  I pierced holes along the outside of the apple and then stitched a border. To turn this into a more traditional two page layout, you could add a collage of photos with a border stitched around it.

The handstitched accents and title add a lot of warmth and texture to this project - and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be!  I hope this inspires you to look at your Studio Calico stamps in a new light - I know that I can't wait to try this technique with more designs.