Studio Calico

weekly challenge | Susan Weinroth & Ashley Cannon Newell

Take out your punches, dies, and cut files because this week is all about using those negative cuts on your projects. You can get so much more out of your punched or cut shapes by using the negative shapes as well, so don't throw those away. Even better - how about you purposefully cut shapes just to use those negative designs. Susan and Ashley have teamed up to take on this challenge.

From Ashley :  I wanted to create a focal backdrop on my card that used a negative shaped images, so I picked my current favorite punch - the mini anchor and punched a few patterned paper strips. I layered the punched paper over contrasting patterned paper. To complete the design, I added the vellum die cut shape and some hemp cord as a border for the patterned paper lines.

Tip: To punch an even anchor design, the first punched image should rest against the punch as you punch the next anchor. Also, save those punched anchor shapes for your next project!

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Atlantic Montauk, Portsmouth, Seabrook, Nantucket, South Hampton; cardstock : Studio Calico white; punch : Studio Calico mini anchor punch ; vellum : Studio Calico Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; hemp cord : Coconut Grove kit)

From Susan : I used the negative of my arrow cut as a foundation for my title.  I added a circle cut around the arrow, and was left with the arrow cut into the circle.  I backed it first with Vellum and then with lime green cardstock (which muted the color).  Then I machine stitched around the edge to finish off the look, before adding title stickers.

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Atlantic Atlantic City, Atlantic Montauk, Atlantic Plymouth, Atlantic Vellum; embellishments: Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; Staples: Tiny Attacher ; other : sequins)

Let's see how you use those negative shapes! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 17th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

Atlantic

Here's a peek at what our team has been making with our Atlantic Collection. We've linked you up to each project in our gallery - click through to learn more about each project or to add them to your favorites. 

Deb Duty - This Moment : 

Ashley Cannon-Newell - Dreaming of the DR mini : 

Natalia Bun - Right Here : 

NSD at SC | 2013 | card team challenge 3

Do you like to mix and match? We want to see five different patterned papers on your project! Go BOLD with bright colors and big patterns, or go with a more toned down combination. Dig into your paper, pull together a fun mix of papers and put them to work!

Ashley Cannon Newell | Adding multiple patterned papers all at once is a big challenge to take on for a card because of the small canvas size, but I was ready to create something clean and simple. So, I trimmed five sheets of different patterned papers to about 1/2" wide. Next, I stared at them forever trying to figure out how I wanted to add them to my card. Finally, I stacked them together at an angle and the rest was history! All those patterns on a clean and simple card design...who knew it could be done! Try it out!

Gillian Nelson | I love the look of combining several patterns and colors on a page, but I tend to get easily overwhelmed if I try to use them in large blocks.  So the answer for me is to incorporate all the different colors and patterns, but do so with small shapes.  I love that I can still get the visual interest from the multiple patterns, but it doesn't make the design too busy for me to work with.  For this page, I used 5 different patterned papers from the Studio Calico Sundrifter, Snippets, and Here & There lines to cut out Mickey Mouse shapes and give my title a colorful border.  Lots of color and pattern going on here, but there's still plenty of white space to let my eyes rest.  And they need to rest.  They're old.  

Maggie Holmes | I have to admit that this one wasn't super tough for me because I do love to use a lot of different papers on my layouts. BUT you will notice that I typically do it in a subtle way so that it doesn't get too overwhelming or busy. Here I used all of the different papers (except for the background paper) in small doses. In case you get nervous to mix this many papers together, take my lead and keep the amount of each one to a minimum! 

Deb Duty | Since I used mostly smaller photos in my 4x6 pockets on this Project Life spread, I used patterned paper to back them. I didn't have a lot of extra photos and I loved the beautiful floral pattern on the Cosmo Cricket paper from the Planetarium Big Dipper add on so I used it as a filler in one of the 4x6 pockets. I also made some of my own 3x4 cards out of patterned paper from the same Cosmo Cricket floral paper and the Amy Tangerine paper from the Planetarium main scrapbook kit.

To be entered to win a prize from the fabulous Studio Calico prize stash, leave a comment here with a link to your new layout, card or PL spread/cards in the Studio Calico gallery by May 13th. We can't wait to see what you make!

product spotlight

This month, we asked three of our designers to show you how they like to use our wood veneer accents - here's what they made :

Geralyn Sy : Wood veneers are definitely my go-to embellishments. I love that they add a bit of dimension to a project and that they can be left plain or altered with inks or mist. For my layout (which is the title page of my This is Me album for this month's Studio Calico class), I used a variety of SC's wood veneers to create a graphic background.  

There are so many different wood veneer shapes and I had fun arranging them to fill the background of my layout. After gluing them down, they stood out a bit too much compared to my photo, so I layered a piece of vellum on top. Love that it softens the layout but still allows the wood veneer designs to show. 

(Supplies: patterned paper - Snippets 6x6 paper pad; alphas - Here & There 12x12 sticker sheet; badge - Snippets badges; label - Spencer's printable labels; stamps - This is Me class stamps, May Project Life 'Happiness Is' stamp set; washi tape - This is Me class kit; sequins - Studio Calico sequins; wood veneer - Snippets speech bubbles, Snippets punctuation, Sundrifter shapes, Sundrifter phrases, Sundrifter flowers and leaves, Abroad transportation, Abroad cameras, Classic Calico 2 tiny stars, Classic Calico hearts & arrows; Memoir houses; ink - Versafine onyx black ink pad, Hero Arts royal red ink pad; other - DMC thread)

Ashley Cannon Newell : I love wood veneer embellishments! I just have to make sure I don't hoard them and actually use them on my cards! So, I've designed a clean and simple card and used some wood veneer. I love how it adds texture to a card without too much bulk.

On the speech bubble veneer, I added a stamped speech bubble. I masked off the arrow part to create an oval shape and adhered it to the veneer. After stamping the ever-so-cute dog and sentiment, I added a few arrow stamps. 

Wood veneer can add so much to even the most simple card designs. So, don't hoard your veneer any longer. Pile them up on your work table and add them to your card designs. They're perfect for all design styles!

(supplies : cardstock - Studio Calico solar white; stamps - Studio Calico Here & There Cats and Dogs;  wood veneer - Studio Calico Snippets Speech Bubble, Snippets Chevron, Here & There dogs; ink - Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy, Classic Kraft, Dark Chocolate)

MaryAnn Perry : Wood veneers are a fun way to give your Project Life pages extra dimension, an added design element or just that little something extra your page might need on any given week.

On my Project Life layout I used the SC's wood veneers in a variety of ways: I used the chevrons on my weekly title card to create a design element, On my This Week 3x4 card I used the Sundrifter shapes as bullet points to highlight our weekly activities, and on the 3x4 North Carolina card I use the Geo Tag shape to mark the island of Holden Beach.

I used the wood veneer speech bubbles in one of my 3x4 spaces and filled it with quotes/statements that were repeated during our trip. I love how fun and quick it is to dress up a PL page using some wood veneer!

(Supplies: Alpha Stickers - Sundrifter Tiny Pink Alpha; Thickers - Sundrifter Ombre Green Thickers, Sundrifter Ombre Aqua Thickers, patterned paper - Sundrifter - Beautiful, Here & There - San Diego, Snippets - Oh Snap, Snippets- 6x6 paper pad; Wood veneer - Sundrifter - Wood Veneer Shapes, Sundrifter - Wood Veneer Phrases, Snippets speech bubbles, Snippets punctuation)

How have you used our wood veneer accents? We'd love to see - link us up in the comments!!

wholesale spotlight

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

Kelly Noel - Good Eats : 

Dana Fleckenstein - Happy Birthday : 

MaryAnn Perry - S'mores : 

Susan Weinroth - You Are The Best : 

Natalia Bun - Remember : 

Ashely Cannon Newell - Be Fabulous :

Sunday Sketch

 

This week we are offering you TWO sketches, and each one has our 'heart'...one for cards and one for layouts!! The card sketch is from Ashley Cannon Newell's Front Row gallery:

And the layout sketch is from Robyn Werlich's Front Row Gallery:

We invited member Allison (AllisonLP) to choose one of these to use as a starting point this week, and we love what she came up with!

Supplies: Patterned papers: October Afternoon 9 to 5; Boardroom, Studio Calico Take Note; Executive, G Silk glitter cardstock in silver; Washi tapes: Freckled Fawn, October Afternoon and My Mind's Eye; Die cut heart: Silhouette Cameo; Heart punch: Studio G; Craftworkcards Cani Dots in silver; Alphas: AC Thickers in Jewelery Box, October Afternoon; Front Porch; American Crafts Glitter Tape in white; Heidi Swap Color Shine in Tinsel

When I first saw the sketch, my first thought was "You gotta be kidding!"  I don't own ANY Valentine's Day papers, and I don't do girly layouts.  How in the world was I going to pull this off? Since heart paper wasn't an option, I turned to my Cameo.  I found tons of heart images.  I put quite a few of them in my cart but ultimately decided on this one.  

I recently acquired some glitter paper, and knew that it would be perfect for the heart.  I then had to find a background that the heart wouldn't be lost on.  I decided on a light woodgrain, and matted it on a darker woodgrain. I wanted to bring in more silver so the heart wouldn't be the only silver element on the page, so i used some silver washi and some silver mist which I splattered on a diagonal. I printed my pictures in wallet size in black and white, and matted them on a dark woodgrain patterned paper. Instead of using patterned paper for layering I decided to get some use out of my washi tapes, and created a base to add the matted photos to.   Even with the huge heart cut from glitter paper, I don't think the layout is girly at all.

We love how Allison interpreted the sketches, as well as sharing her tips on how to adapt them to fit her needs. Thanks for joining us this week, Allison! 

How will YOU use this sketch? Whether it's a layout, a card or something else, link us up to your project by February 18th 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)

weekly challenge

Hi Everyone - Susan & Ashley here today with this week's challenge.  We thought it would be fun to issue a color challenge for a change...  And in keeping with the spirit of Valentine's Day coming up, we drew colors from that palette. 

So our challenge to you is to create a card or layout using primarily the following colors:

• Red
• Pink
• Aqua
• Kraft 

Here is Susan’s layout for the challenge.

(supplies : Here and There Arrow Chip, Snippets Adhesive Badges, Snippets Epoxy Brads, Snippets Woot Paper, Snippets Stop Paper, Snippets Oh Snap Paper, Here and There Chattanooga Paper)

Here is Ashley’s card for the challenge.

(supplies – Stamps: Front Row Main Card Kit; Embossing Powder: Aqua Zing; Button: Junior Mints Add-on Kit; Chipboard Star: Junior Mints Add-on Kit; Patterned Paper: Matinee Add-on Kit; Heart Sticker: Matinee Add-on Kit; Letter Stickers: Matinee Add-on Kit; Ribbon: Matinee Add-on Kit; Vellum: Front Row Main Card Kit; Enamel Dots: Front Row Main Card Kit; Versamark)

I hope you love this color combination as much as we did. We can’t wait to see what you create.

Create a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by February 11th the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.