Studio Calico

project summer

Welcome to the last edition of Project {Hello} Summer!  The summer is just about at an end (and school may have already started at your house) so it's time to wrap up my summer mini album. Truth be told, I still have pages to do, but it's been easy and a lot of fun, and a wonderful opportunity for my family to contribute.

The first page I wanted to share was our trip to the fair this year.  I didn't bring my DSLR, only my phone, which was nice because it's always super hot at the fair and who wants to lug a great big camera around the whole time?  Instagram pics were the easiest way to capture our day.  Payton also drew a picture of her favorite ride, the spinning bears (I forgot the ride's actual name) and I LOVE having it in this album.



I'm still using my Chevron journal.  I created a kraft overlay for one of the journal pages with my Cameo.  I put some of the chevron pieces back in to make it a little less busy, and added some scraps of paper in the color palette of the photos to add some fun.  I'm obsessed with this background and it'll be on a layout soon. 

The title was cut with the Pacifico font from my Cameo again, that's a recurring theme, and stitched to hold it down. 

The second page I wanted to share today was a mini triathlon for kids that my girls participated in.  It was called the Li'l Rat Race, a spinoff from the adult RAT race happening the same day (Redmond Area Triathlon).  There was a water obstacle course, a 1 mile bike ride, and then a 1/4 mile run at the end.  It was so crazy it was hard to take photos and I completely missed that Morgan crashed in the bike to run exchange, but my little trooper kept going and sprinted to the finish line. I couldn't be more proud and the kids are already talking about doing it again next year.



I knew this was going to be another two page spread, so I used stamps to help bring cohesion to the page.  I used the Chevron border from the Heyday Thoughts stamp set to add the detail, along with my American Crafts stamping markers and my stamp press.  I really like how it turned out.  Just for fun I outlined a couple of the arrows with a Precision pen.



Because it was a triathlon with three events, I trimmed some numbers from my Cameo and layered them with tags around my layout.  The color palette I was working with worked beautifully with tags from the Abroad line.





I also thought it would be fun to include the little racing bibs with this project.  That's one of the things I love most about this adventure.  It's been fun to include drawings from the girls and also memorabilia from our summer fun.  We went to the lake the other day and Morgan caught a fish in the kayak out in the middle of the lake without any help.  It was her first fish and I'm really excited to have her write her fishing story to include with that summer page.  Down the road that type of thing is going to be the most treasured parts of our albums.  We wouldn't want to forget that she named her fish Mr Bubbles, right? 

I hope you have had a wonderful summer!  Have a great school year!

project summer

The summer is in full swing as are the iPhone photos and Instagram prints of our family adventures.  I find I'm reaching for the DSLR less and the phone more, and have to make an effort to lug around my big camera. New to the iPhone or Instagram and wondering where all the fun washes are coming from lately in your favorite feeds?  Check out the Snapster app.

For my summer mini I've kept things simple with a dash of color and a lot of journaling.  For this first page, I didn't want a lot of clutter but wanted to use all four photos, so split it to two pages.  The Plano circle stamp made a perfect addition to the page, adding some interest and grounding my photos, without taking a lot of time.

This next page is a simple one about our trips to the pool.  We have a timeshare so have access to the facilities at a resort down the road, which has been great for the kids because it's not as crowded as the public pool.  They sure are turning into fish this summer.

Speaking of fish, this last page I'm going to share was from a trip to the local fish hatchery.  It was the one day of the year where kids could fish the stocked ponds, and the girls had so much fun.  Normally when we fish you sit around all day hoping they'll at least get a bite.  To be guaranteed a fish, and a big one at that, was a great opportunity for them.  Because it was a special day, there were exhibits about fish ladders, stories, and some fish art.  I love the idea of including artwork and notes from my kids.  It's our album, so I want it to include things from all of us.  I folded their fish paintings in such a way that only one side was punched so you could open it up and check out the whole trout.  :)  

One tip I have is to allow yourself to create out of order if you need to.  I find that it makes the creative process easier if you have more choices, so if you'd rather make a page of your vacation before that day at the fair, for example, do it.  You'll feel a sense of accomplishment which will make it easier to get the other pages done.  Make a list of the events and check them off as you do them.

I hope you are having a great summer!  Be sure to select Project Summer under challenges in the gallery when uploading your summer album pages so we can all check them out.

summer journal

In addition to our super awesome sneak night giveaway for a $25 gift card rom Postal Pix, they're also offering a coupon code for 25% off an order to ALL of our blog readers. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment here and we'll draw a winner next week.

If that wasn't enough, we've also got a fun summer album from Davinie - she's got a great way to use a Studio Calico journal kit + Postal Pix to get all of her memories in one place.

Last year I created an album capturing all of our summer adventures in one place.  My family has enjoyed it so much, I thought I’d make another one this year.

Say Hello to Project Summer.

The idea is simple.  If you are on a vacation at the beach, document it.  Staying home this summer?  Have a fun day in the backyard or at a community event?  Document it.  The 4^th of July?  Documented.   And then highlight those fun times in a summer mini album.  It’s a little bit of Project Life, a bit of Project 12, and takes the pressure off individual albums for each event, or that feeling like you need to capture every little detail on a separate layout.

When I saw the journaling books in the shop I was excited about them.  Chipboard covers and 40 journaling pages inside makes for a lot of of memories that can be captured.  I chose the 8x10 Chevron album. 

One thing that tends to keep me away from mini albums, however, is the wear and tear.  These books get looked at.  They get used.  And with a summer album, I plan to take it places, which increases the likelihood of use.  To alleviate some of that anxiety, I decided to protect the cover of my album.

1.  First, I spray painted it.  Well, first I splattered a bit of ink, didn’t care for it, and then I spray painted it white. 
2. After it was painted, it was time to add confetti.  I used two different hole punches, as well as a butterfly punch from Martha Stewart, and added a bunch of confetti using the Take Note Collection.

1. I needed a title, so I created one with my Silhouette.

1. I layered my title piece over a doily, placed it on my cover, sprinkled it with the confetti, and slipped the whole cover into an 8.5 x 11 page protector.  And then I sewed it shut.  And sewed around the edges.  And sewed around the circle.  And created grid lines so I could keep my confetti spread out a bit.  After sewing, I turned the page protector over, pulled the top thread through the last stitch, tied knots, and trimmed the ends.
2. Except for the paper bits and some of the stitchery, I did the same thing with my back cover.

1. Because the album is smaller than an 8x5 x 11 page protector, I used a blade and trimmed the edges.  Then I used my cropadile to punch two holes in it and added some binder rings, and voila, Summer Mini Album begun.

TIP:  I found some old 6x8 page protectors I thought would be fun for memorabilia, so I made sure to keep the hole placement on those in mind when  punching the holes for my album.

1.  I want to keep the journaling pages with my album, so I punched two holes with my cropadile in those and added the whole notebook to my album.

I’m still in school this summer and will be missing a family reunion that my hubby and the kids are going to be attending.  I’ll be slaving away with the books while they will be lounging by the pool with their cousins.  HMPH.  With that in mind, I wanted them to be able to document their adventures without hassle, and without me there, so I put together some of the inside pages for them so all they had to do was think about photos and do some journaling.

 

To create this page I trimmed some patterned paper for some color, and added some washi tape over the the holes to add some reinforcement to the journaling pages.  I also created some pages with fabrips, which work great!  To add some extra oomph I stitched down the left between the punched holes and the edges of the paper as well.  Then I simply added some fun Hero Arts/Studio Calico stamps to make the pages fun, and a few mini staples.

With photos in mind, my immediate thought was to use Postal Pix.  You can order them from your phone so my husband with his Iphone 4s (and a better camera than my Iphone 4, double HMPH) could snap photos, add an Instagram wash (Earlybird is my favorite) and then upload them to Postal Pix to quickly and easily add to our albums later.

My favorite size is 4x4, so with that in mind, I created a couple of templates so that when it came time to document the day, they could be placed on the page en lieu of the photos themselves so that journaling could be done around them.   He can trace around the templates with a pencil and maybe note inside the box what the photo will be of.   When the photos show up in the mail, it’s then just a matter of adhering them.  No need to fuss over photo placement, etc.

 

Seems simple enough for documenting on the road.  Hopefully he can figure it out.  J

Another reason I wanted to keep those 40 journaling pages with my book is so that my kids can contribute to this family album.  We went camping over Spring Break, and it was fun to just hand over a sheet of paper and have the kids document their trip.  Morgan’s favorite part was riding her scooter.

 

I’m really looking forward to this album, and will have more to share with you as the summer progresses.

Want to play along?  I hope to see your Project Summer album pages in the gallery.  I’ll be looking for them!

With that said, be sure to enter the Sneak Night giveaway from Postal Pix, to help make that summer mini album a more affordable success!

Happy Crafting!

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!

NSD Challenge: Triangles

First NSD Challenge of the day is brought to you by Kelly N and Davinie! Can you guess what it's going to be after this layout by Kelly?

Yep, it's using triangles as your inspiration!

Supplies: Mister Huey's Water Cooler, Lullaby Thickers, Rolodex, Spreadsheet, Noteworthy,

Think Tank, Destination, Executive, Abroad Printed Tags, Calico Borders Stamps, Ladybug Chalk Ink, Classic Calico Vol 2 Alpha Stickers, Wood Veneer Stars

 

Check out Dav's mini....I'm loving that cover!

supplies: wood veneer people, wood veneer transportation, chevron journal kit

Ok, ready?
Now go make and show us your triangle-inspired project! Post the link here to your project that has been posted in the member gallery by May 13th for you chance to win a collection pack from one of stash of prizes!

Have fun!

NSD Sketches

It wouldn't be a weekend dedicated to scrapbooking without some sketches!

Here are 5 new sketches from the design team galleries.

based on Geralyn's layout.

based on Susan's layout.

based on Davinie's layout.

based on Kelly P's layout.

based on Nicole H's layout.

Have fun! Post your sketch layouts here!  

Wholesale Feature

I was recently tasked with teaching a small workshop to demonstrate a specific teaching style in a class I'm taking for my Graduate School program.  Obviously, as a crafty person I knew I wanted a crafty project for the group to do, so I decided to make bookmarks.  All school kids need bookmarks, right?  Prior to that workshop my partner and I had to present a Power Point presentation, and I needed a few photos of kids creating the bookmarks.  Luckily, I had baked a couple of those who were eager to help, and they created a couple of super cute bookmarks!  I wanted to document it all on a layout, and had the perfect title in mind.
To create this layout, I utilized the Cameo machine to trim out the apples.  Don't have a Cameo?  No problem.  Simply search online for an apple image, print it, trim it out, and use it as a template to either trim with scissors or cut with a blade.  I've done apple layouts before using this method.  The Cameo?   It's just faster.  After I placed and cut my apples, I played with various prints from the Take Note and Abroad Collections, and layered patterns and strips for the design of my layout.  I trimmed my title with my Cameo as well (using the Pacifico font), and added some chipboard alphas that have been colored with mist.  The fun badge was the perfect finishing touch.

Items used:  Take Note (Spreadsheet, badges), Abroad (First Class, Bucket List, Destination), Anywhere Thickers, Mister Huey's Passport

Take Note:  I used a couple of Hero Arts/ Studio Calico stamp sets in my class and these non-crafty students were all over them and had a lot of fun with this project.  Surprisingly, the people who had the most fun and had to be pulled away from this project so we could continue with our class?  The boys.  Watching two grown men experimenting with acrylic stamps, Hero Arts Shadow Ink, and various Studio Calico stamps was unexpected and adorable, really.  They really liked the Hey Y'all stamp set and Airmail, especially.  It was the potty people and the planes that got them.  Boys.

words to inspire

I have a Pinterest board called "Words".  One of my favorite things to pin on Pinterest are fun quotes, inspiring quotes, and popular quotes in fun typography.  When I'm on top of things, I like to post "Words on Wednesday" on my blog to share fun ones when I find them.

I found this quote and thought it was a great resource for those creative days when you found the time, the bathroom is clean, but you are stumped.  Maybe the photos aren't working, the color palette isn't working.  These tips were designed for photographers, but they work for all artists. 

 

1.  Do what you love.  If you like wonky stars, use the wonky stars.  It shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks.  ;)

 

4.  Be yourself.  Don't use mist if you don't want to.  You have to enjoy the process, and if making a mess doesn't work for you, don't do it.

 

22.  That said, if you don't normally mist and you want to try and mist, go for it.  Work outside the box.  Let the process free you and see where it takes you.

 

I hope these prompts help you out of a creative slump, both in your pages and behind the lens as well. 

 

Have a great day!

Weekly Challenge

New Years Resolutions.
Project Life.
To Do lists.
Momento. (on my Iphone)

There’s a lot of chatter this time of year and right now in the scrapbook community about recording things daily, making goals, how to keep a to do list, plans for the future, so I wanted to share a fun way to cross a few things off the list and challenge you to take a moment and think about what you want from the coming year.

I was recently reminded of a Millenium time capsule I made in 1999 at a New Year’s party I was hosting with roommates.  I had this piece of butcher paper and went around to partygoers to have them write thoughts on the coming year (I honestly don’t remember specifically what I asked them to write down, though.  It was a party on New Years Eve in 1999, you know.  At the time the world was going to come to an end, or so they said).  When I had the paper filled, I rolled it up, and we put it in the garage down that metal pipe that normally protects the hot water heater from the front of your car.  Know what I’m referring to?  Anyway, this one had a twist top and we just slipped it down inside and sealed it tight.  The “millennium time capsule” we called it. 

Unfortunately, the friend who owned that house no longer owns it.  I’m still debating whether to knock on the door and ask if I can go into a stranger’s garage and start taking things apart to retrieve it.  HA! For me personally, 2012 has a lot of changes coming my way.  In contemplating that as well, I thought it would be fun to create another time capsule for just myself, but this time tuck it away for just a year before opening to read it again.

My challenge to you is this:  Sit down with a pen and paper, or your laptop, and write a letter to yourself.  In mine I jotted down all the goals and thoughts I had for the coming year, things I intend to accomplish, even words of encouragement for my future self.  I have to tell you, it was a very empowering challenge for me.  I wrote out everything.  I talked about food and exercise, the hubby and the kids, and I didn’t hold anything back.  It was a personal letter, and when I open it again, it’s a letter only I intend to read.

I did this challenge a few years ago, and that time I created a paper pillow box and slipped the letter in.  This time, however, one of my New Year goals is to reduce the clutter, so I had to take that into consideration, and decided to do something I could add to my scrapbook albums now, on the very last page, so in the back of my mind I can think about my words each time I add a new layout (but I must be honest here, I have stacks unfiled right now, so it could be December before I see it again.  Ha!)

Because I am also participating in Project Life in 2012, I decided a page protector was the way to go, and because I have a mild love affair with my Pinterest account, I peeked around for ideas and went with a popular idea circulating for a couple of months now, and added confetti.  It’s a celebration, right?!  This is what I came up with:

I took a 12x12 page protector from American Crafts and stitched the different sections.  I did the bottom section first and stitched it closed before adding the next layer.  The envelope with my letter inside is sealed all around with thread.  When it comes time to read it again, I’m going to use a blade and slice the front of the page protector open and slip it out to devour.
My confetti is a mix of Studio Calico veneer, patterned paper trimmed with a simple hole punch, and Martha Stewart medallion punches.  The great big doily in the middle is the very first thing I’ve trimmed with my Cameo.  P.S.  I want to marry my Cameo.

My life is not only about me, but my family, so I had to include photos of both.  I also included patterned papers from the County Fair kit, some Memoir, and I also added a little Clementine from Project Life. 
Additional supplies: Autumn Press alpha stickers, Autumn Press die cut tags, Classic Calico Fabrips

My challenge for you this week is to write a letter to yourself and seal it up tight.  You don’t have to do anything fancy with it.  Just tuck it away to be read this time next year.  It’s a gift to yourself.  I hope you’ll play along! Happy New Year! 

It's Davinie with your new Sunday Sketch based on a layout from Jen Jockisch's October Field Guide gallery...


Here's the card I created based on the sketch...
Supplies; Coredinations cardstock, American Crafts cardstock, Studio Calico Memoir patterned paper, Studio Calico chipboard clouds, Studio Calico kraft sticker alphas, MME bling, machine stitching

I was inspired by the general design of Jen's layout and thought it would make a really fun card.  This is a great design to use with those leftover paper scraps and tiny embellishments.

Now it's your turn!  Create a card or layout based on the sketch and post the link here by Monday, November 7th for your chance to win a SC GC!  Have a good week!