Studio Calico

Project Life journaling prompts | Laura Kurz

I often use journaling prompts to come up with ideas for filling up my Project Life spreads with all the most-important information! I know sometimes you get stuck in a rut and feel like you are saying the same thing each month, so here are some ideas to jump-start some new journaling!

1. What are you loving right now? From clothes to recipes to the weather, what is it? I usually like to do this in a list format. (Here is an example of a page I did this on).

2. Quotes. What are some of the funny things/expressions your kids are saying right now? (Here is an example of a page I did this on using a journaling card with a speech bubble on it).

3. Highlight a few days out of the month and specific events that happened on that day. (I did this on this spread, pulling out a few key dates from the month).

4. Who did you visit with this month? Did you have playdates or meet friends for lunch?

5. Where did you travel this month? How many miles did you put on your car? Where was your favorite place you visited?

Here are two journaling cards I did to show my list of what I’m loving right now and how I highlighted some of the things my daughter is saying right now.

Supplies - patterned paper: Studio Calico Abroad Montauk; letter stickers: Roundabout Project Life Kit; fabric bows: Studio Calico Atlantic collection; vellum die cuts: Atlantic collection 

 Do you have any great journaling prompts for adding to your Project Life albums?

-Laura Kurz

Day by Day | Amanda Caves

Hello everyone!  Amanda here to share some prompts for your Project Life cards. These are great to prepare ahead of time and just grab and fill in some journaling and/or a photo as the weeks progress.  I've made some samples to show you, but also have created a list of examples for you to reference when you need some filler ideas.

Prompts:
Song of the Week
Quote of the Week
Highlight of the Week
Highs and Lows
To Do List
Goals
Accomplishments
This Week We Learned....
This Week I (We) Read....
Favorite Snack(s)
Dinners This Week
Favorite Outfit this Week


This prompt can be used for all sorts of lists.  Top Ten Songs, Weekly Top Ten, Top Ten TV Shows, Top Ten Books, Top Ten Pictures, etc.


If you've checked out my Project Life layouts, you know how much I love tiny envelopes and bags.  Tiny envelope plus tiny paper clip equals incredible cuteness.  You can use this prompt to record prayers and thoughts on your mind for the week or the day.  Envelopes are a great way to include journaling that you can reflect on later, but that aren't so apparent to everyone perusing your album.

Who doesn't love a good quote? Particularly from little minds that don't always hear or repeat things the way they were originally communicated?  My son Wilder says hilarious things pretty much every day.  I love to capture this time with him as I know all too well how quickly this stage will pass.


And music.  I love music. Don't we all?  I think this card would be great to incorporate your favorite song of the week or even your playlist of the week.

(supplies---journal cards: Studio Calico Planetarium Project Life Kit, Neverland Project Life Kit, and Halley's Comet Add-on; alphas: Studio Calico Orion Add-On; Veneer: Studio Calico Halley's Comet Add-On;  twine:  Studio Calico Orion Add-On; cork embellishments:  Studio Calico Orion Add-On, Mists: Mr. Huey Opaque White and Mr. Huey Ocean; envelope: Studio Calico Abroad)

The next time you have an empty pocket in your PL spread, I hope these ideas help!

-Amanda Caves

day by day

I was really excited to make a Project Life spread using the new Studio Calico lines: Sundrifter, Here and There, and Snippets. They are colorful and whimsical and fit my style of scrapping perfectly. Plus they have so many little embellishments that would work well for Project Life. The spread came together really easily due to all the matching products, including the printables for these three lines.

(supplies: patterned paper – Here and There Chattanooga, Here and There 6x6 Paper Pad, Snippets 6x6 Paper Pad, Snippets Me-Oh-My, wood veneer - Here and There Wood Veneer Dogs, die-cut shapes - Here and There Die-Cut Shapes, Sundrifter Die Cut Shapes, die-cut frames – Snippets Die Cut Frames, thickers - Snippets Aqua Thickers, badges - Here and There Adhesive Badges, stickers - Snippets Tab Card Stickers, Snippets 12x12 Sticker Sheet, Sundrifter 12x12 Sticker Sheet, chipboard - Snippets Printed Chipboard Arrows, Snippets Printed Chipboard Cameras)

You can see this spread is filled with COLOR. One of my favorite products in these new lines are the little 3x3” frames. I would add them over a portion of my picture I wanted to stand out.

I love the paper in the Here and There collection called Chattanooga with all the little designs on it. I cut several out to use on my spread to further the theme I was after.

When I saw these new lines at CHA, I was instantly in love with the playful little circles with different words on them. They come in stickers and in wood veneer. I printed the 4x6 PL card with the same designs on them and then added some of the stickers over my photo for an easy insert.

I think this Project Life spread is one of my favorite ever because I love the colors in these lines so much and they totally fit my style of scrapping! I had such a fun time using them to create this spread and want to use them all throughout my Project Life album! 

-Suzy Plantamura

day by day

Hello SC friends! My name is Colleen Warren, and unless you are on Instagram or a San Diego Nordtsrom's employee, you most likely have no idea who I am. I am wife to Joe, and Mom to Lola (two AND A HALF) and Wyley (three months). Not too long after I had Lola, I discovered Project Life and I fell in love with that method of scrapbooking. Especially for this certain time in my life where I want to document as much as I can, with the little free time I have. The problem I found initially, for me, was that a lot of the joy I get from scrapbooking is as my main creative outlet, so strictly using the same kit for an entire year or album wasn’t the right fit. I began using my Studio Calico kits and my stash in combination with my Becky Higgins kits and that has been great – but now with SC Project Life kits, it really has been a perfect solution for me. The kits are gorgeous and unique, different every month, and can be intermixed with the other kits and shop items. So I still get to shop! Sure I want to document my kid’s first and formative years, but also I really enjoy the shopping aspect. Just ask my husband. And Wells Fargo. 

For me, I could not do Project Life without:

1. An iPhone! Aside from the convenience of always having a really good camera with you at all times, it’s primarily what I use to edit photos and order prints (and shop!). And now with the flip view lens, I take more self-portrait pictures than ever. Most of my favorite pictures of myself with my kids are with the flip view lens.
2. Instagram! I follow many fellow project lifers & studio calicoers (word? probably not), as well as photographers, artists, interior decorators, people with cute kids, some random celebrities…I draw so much inspiration and motivation from just a glance at my feed, at anytime of the day. It has also been so fun seeing what other SC PL kit users are doing with exact same bag (or box) of goodies. (user name: colsterspl)
3. Letting go of perfectionism! I try really hard to not re-do things. And if I miss a week (or 5) (or 40) - no biggee. I just start with the most recent week, and if I get to those missed weeks some day, great, but I’m not losing any sleep over them either. Last year while I was pregnant, I was so crazy tired almost my entire pregnancy (like someone-was-slipping-Ambiens-in-my-teas tired) that I think I only finished about 25 weeks – and that’s probably a pretty generous estimate. But, I love looking at the weeks I did complete, and I seriously doubt Lola and Wyley will some day say, “Hey Mom, what happened to week 37?” They’ll just be happy with whatever was done as well.
4. Time savers! The tiny attacher I swear saves me hours. And the SC kit, having someone do all the leg work putting together a cohesive and beautiful color scheme. And items I love like Pow Glitter paper and veneer add so much without any work and time to achieve how great they look.

 

Well, I could go on and on – but I know you are all just as busy as me and probably more so, so I’ll wrap it up! I had so much fun with the February Project Life kit! I couldn’t bring myself to mess with several of the cards, they were just too pretty and it seemed like if it ain’t broke…. I’m not super active on the SC message boards, but very much so on Instagram. Thank you to all my Instafriends! I really do gain so much inspiration from all that everyone shares on there (and friendship to boot!)! And thanks to Studio Calico for this opportunity to share my Project Life! This has been very exciting!

Xo Colleen Warren

day by day

If you're anything at all like me, you have bits & pieces in your stash that you can't bear to part with. Rather than let them accumulate in a pile on your desk, grab them when you get a few free minutes here and there and make up some Project Life-style cards!! Even if Project Life isn't on your agenda, these still look awesome on layouts...I've loved seeing 3x4 and 4x6 cards in our gallery.

Here are 2 3x4 cards that are from my Front Row gallery...super simple, but fun right?! I just added some of the printable labels to the left card, and layered a printable card I trimmed down on top of one of the kit cards on the right.


These next cards were made with leftovers from my CHA projects for the SC booth...mixing pieces of all 2 of the new releases.


I kept the themes generic, so I could use them as filler cards whenever I had a blank spot. The San Francisco paper from Here & There was a no-brainer...cut out a row of houses, add a few clouds and a geotag and you have a fun card to talk about something happening in your town. The 'fact' card just uses an open triangle stamp that I paired with different colors of Zing embossing powder. I cut the middle out of each one and backed the entire card with the B side of the Portland paper.


These next two gave me an opportunity to just play with paper...which is always a good thing. ;)


The hand drawn words on the grey 'Love Wins' paper in the Sundrifter line are lovely...but when you twist off the tops of a few Mister Hueys and grab a paintbrush, that paper becomes even more happy. Go outside the lines! Choose words that stand out to you! Add a few chipboard arrows and call it a day!


The word bubble mask from Snippets is hands DOWN my favorite mask ever. Sometimes masks are a bit intimidating to me, but this one is perfect...used as the base for a larger page or as I did here on a 4x6 card, you have the option to use as many shapes as you'd like. I just grabbed my black pen and outlined a few bubbles,  then filled them in with embellishments I had laying on my desk. Drew a few lines to journal on when the mood strikes and I'm all set!

Check out the member gallery for LOTS of ideas on how to add cards like these to your projects...and use those scraps you've been saving in the meantime! :)

day by day

Hi everyone! It’s Deb today to help you out with your Project Life weeks that are lacking photos. We all have those weeks that don’t go as planned, resulting in less photos of our daily happenings than we’d like.

In the three years I’ve been doing Project Life, I’ve rarely had trouble filling up a spread. There are so many options! Here are some ideas for what to include in your weeks when you have empty pockets to fill.

Pick a theme to share throughout the year when space permits in your album. In 2012 I shared photos of different rooms in my home. You can take the photos all at once and save them for later use or you can take them as needed.

Use older photos that have special meaning or that relate to something going on in the current week. This photo that my mom took of the first dinner she cooked for my dad after they were married in 1959 has always fascinated me. Definitely a Project Life kind of photo, don’t you think? So I included it in my album last year with a little journaling about how my mom was ahead of her time. Too bad she didn’t have instagram to share it with her friends!

If you have one special photo that deserves more attention, print it large to fit across two or more pockets for a big impact. I printed this photo of my boys helping pick out our tree at 6x8”.

Add some screenshots. When we left on our vacation last summer I took screenshots of the route to Utah. It took two days to get there, and I didn’t take a lot of photos during that drive. Including our route was a good way to document the time on the road.

Add in some artwork from your kids. I don’t have little ones anymore so they aren’t bringing art home from school like they used to, but my younger son did draw a picture of everyone in our family using an ipad app called Adobe Ideas. I had him email his creation to me so I could include it that week.

Hope this gives you some ideas for adding interesting bits to your album. The important thing to remember about Project Life is to keep it fun… there are no rules!

day by day - Darling Dear

The last week of the year was such a short week.  Only two days.  So, instead of combining those two days with the prior week I decided to give them their own page.  This eliminated the need for me to create an end page for my 2012 album.

I dug into my Darling Dear products and printed my photos.  The oranges and blues in the collection worked really well with my photos from those two days.   I added a receipt from our New Year's Eve pizza night and a music book page with "Auld Lang Syne" on it.  Totally lucky that I came across that in my scrap basket.

To hold the new business card my husband had printed I cut a 3x4 piece of patterned paper and also a smaller piece.  I punched a half circle in the middle and stitched them together, leaving the top open.  A quick and easy pocket.  Just make sure to do any embellishing that goes through the back of the paper (ie. sewing, brads) before you sew your pocket closed.

I didn't do a lot of embellishing on this spread other than adding labels and a tiny embellishment here and there.  There wasn't a lot of room.  I wanted to do something subtle so my photo would still stand out so I punched snowflakes out of vellum and stitched them down over the photo.  I added some of the gems for a little sparkle.

I really love the Darling Dear journaling cards and pushed my hoarding tendencies aside so I could use this one with my photo of my daughter on the sled.

And with that my 2012 Project Life album is complete.  It's a good feeling and I'm excited to be moving on to 2013.

(Supplies: patterned paper - Flynn, Gable (Darling Dear); journaling cards; chipboard speech bubbles; gems - brights, whites, grays; vellum; date stamp - Classic Calico V.3; tiny attacher; ink - versafine; labels)

day by day

Hi everyone! It's Geralyn here today, sharing with you a bit of my Project Life. For this spread, I used Studio Calico's Darling Dear collection and the coordinating digital printables and files. Since my Project Life this year is 8.5x11, I opened the digital printable PDFs in Photoshop and resized the journaling cards to fit my page protector slots before printing them out.

(Supplies: patterned paper - Darling Dear 6x6 paper pad; alphas - Darling Dear Tiny Alpha - navy; veneer - Darling Dear Wood Veneer Triangles & Diamonds; stickers - Darling Dear Hearts & Arrows; digital stamp brushes - Darling Dear Sayings Digital Stamp Brushes, Darling Dear Sentiments Digital Stamp Brushes; printables - Darling Dear printable #1, printable # 2)

I also had fun playing with the Darling Dear digital stamp brushes! I combined some of the brushes with a mix of fonts to create a filler card for my Project Life.

I have loved doing Project Life this year and am so glad that I can document random, everyday moments in my life. Using the Darling Dear collection and the coordinating digital supplies for this spread made everything come together easily! I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my Project Life!

day by day

Hey everyone! It's Lisa Truesdell, here with a week from my Project Life album. I am over the moon excited about the debut of Studio Calico's new Project Life kit next month - but in the meantime, I'm loving using the current kits + printables to put together a perfectly coordinated week.

(supplies - Studio Calico Sock Hop scrapbook and card kits + add-ons ; cut files - Tag Card + Pocket, Card Banner; printables - Sock Hop printable labels, printable #1 & printable #2; stamps - Sam alphabet; ink - Hero Arts black, Prima Turquoise Stone; other - Tiny Attacher, Cameo)

The printable labels are a favorite of mine, for Project Life or scrapbook pages. I use them with my Silhouette as print and cuts and find myself grabbing them to finish almost every project I do!

This Halloween photo was the perfect chance to go BIG! I printed it at 6inx8in and then cut it to fit in the pockets. And this month's foldover card + pocket cuts were perfect for holding a journaling tag - I just resized them to 3x8in, and then added an initial to the cut out window.

Do you use your kits in your Project Life album? What are your favorite items to use? We'd love to see your pages in the Studio Calico gallery - remember to select "Project Life" under "challenges" when you're uploading so they're easy to find!

day by day

Hello dear SC lovers ! Céline here to bring you some Project Life ideas and inspiration ! I have to be honest with you : I am SO behind ! I would have never expected doing PL would be so much time consuming but I don’t want to give up : I love it too much ! I have decided that I need to catch up at least once a week : by the end of the year, I should be able to catch up…almost :)

Anyway, for this spread, I used bits and pieces of Roller Rink Main kit, along with some of Couple’s Skate, Rainbow Kneesocks and Crack the Whip addons : they were perfect for my trip to India. India means COLOR, so yeah. Perfect.

I had a lots of pictures to choose from for this spread : I took over 2,000 photos for this trip ! I decided that I would use 4x6photos for the 4X6 pockets, and print smaller ones (2x2 ») for the smaller pockets.

Then, I opened my kits, grabbed my Studio Calico favorite masks of the moment, my Mr Huey mists and I was ready to dive (back) into my PL !

(Supplies : kits - Roller Rink Main kit, Couple’s Skate, Rainbow Kneesocks, Crack the Whip ; die-cuts : Roller Rink Printables #1, Roller Rink Printables #2, Roller Rink printable labels ; Brushes : Roller Rink Digital stamp Brushes ; Mists ; Masks : Hexagon Mask ; Inks : Prima Chalk inks, Hero Arts)

I often like to play with the new Digital Stamp Brushes available now with each kit release. I’ve always been into Digital and Hybrid stuff, and I love to add messages, patterns, designs ON my pictures.

Misting is like breathing to me : I can’t help it, I need it. I’ve played with lots of misting and masking on this PL spread because I wanted to focuse on colors : India is colorful. Yellow, pink, red, orange were the colors I used the most for this spread.

I’m not afraid of adding « stuff » onto my pictures : I like to use brushes on my picture, but also stamps, stickers, washi tape, …I think it adds interest to your photos and make them look even more unique !

What I loved the most about using my Studio Calico for my Project Life, is that all colors, designs, patterns looked GREAT together : no need to waste time digging into my stuff anymore, I just grab my kit and use it for my PL. I know every single paper will match with the other one in the next pocket and that all embellishments will look great too !

Now I’ll just have to keep enough of my Studio Calico kits for my PL ! :) I promise I’ll catch up soon !

Love love !