Studio Calico

Handbook | Deb Duty

I'm using a handbook to document some of our unscrapped photos from pre-Project Life days. I can't get enough of the Atlantic collection so I wanted to be sure to use it on a few spreads throughout my book. I chose a couple of beach trips and some fun summery photos because I knew they would be great with the lovely colors of the Atlantic collection. There is a huge selection of fun embellishments, and I used a wide variety of them on my spreads! The darker wood veneer and cork embellishments look great paired with the soft colors of the collection. I also added in some of the digital printables and cut files that are available to coordinate with Atlantic.

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Atlantic Montauk, Atlantic City, New Haven, Seabrook, Cape Cod, Portsmouth, Scarborough, Vellum, 6x6 Paper Pad; embellishments : Studio Calico Atlantic Sequin Pack, Star Stickers, Vellum Die Cuts, Tiny Hearts Wood Veneer, Burnished Circle Wood Veneer, Glittered Star Stickers, Cork Circle Stickers, Cork Arrow and Chevron Stickers, 12x12 Sticker Sheet; digital : Studio Calico Atlantic Digital Printable Labels, Digital Printable #1, Digital Printable #2, Circle Digital Cut Designs, Sail With Me Cut Designs, Planetarium Scrapbook Stamp Brushes; staples : Tiny Attacher; Cardstock : Studio Calico More White; alphas : 12x12 Sticker Sheet, Rockabye Thickers, Roundabout Project Life Kit; chipboard sticker : Roundabout Scrapbook Kit; punch : Studio Calico Atlantic Anchor Punch; washi tape : My Mind's Eye; handbook : Here & There Chipboard Album, Page Protector #2, Page Protector #3, Page Protector #4)

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 : 

wholesale spotlight

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

Deb Duty - happy place : 

Lucy Abrams - Hello : 

Julie Campbell - way to go : 

Joy Taylor - Hello : 

 

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!

weekly challenge

Deb and Leena are here today with a simple challenge for you! This week’s challenge is to create a project (layout, card, project life card, etc.) that includes at least three different alpha stickers

Leena created this Project Life page with a variety of alphas. She used different sizes, colors and types that all work well together for a really fun look!

supplies - patterned paper : Spencer's Card Kit 6x6 Paper Pad; letter stickers : Basic Grey 4x6 Woodgrain & White and Twine & Ink 4x6 Green, chipboard letters - AC Thickers Aqua, Kitten & Patchwork; envelopes - Latte add-on; washi tapes - Daily Grind add-on; enamel dots - Latte add-on; wood veneer - Latte add-on; stamp - Blinks of Life for Studio Calico Today Noted; PL card - Studio Calico Spencer's PL Kit & Latte; printable labels - Spencer's; printable shapes - Spencer's #1 GS

Deb created a layout using a different alpha for each word in her title. She emphasized the word “smile” with the largest alpha.

supplies – cardstock : More White; patterned paper : Studio Calico Spencer’s card kit, Spencer's scrapbook kit; letter stickers : Studio Calico Front Porch Blend add-on, October Afternoon, Studio Calico 34th Street scrapbook kit, Sassafrass; embellishments : Studio Calico Spencer’s scrapbook kit, Spencer's card kit, Spencer's Latte, Spencer's Front Porch Blend; printable label : Spencer’s; stamps : Studio Calico Spencer's Project Life kit, Spencer's card kit, Spencer's Today Noted; sequins : Studio Calico Spencer's Project Life kit; mist : Studio Calico Mister Huey Real Red and Gold; ink : Hero Arts Shadow Wet Cement

Make a project using three different alphabets for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by April 15th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

-Deb Duty & Leena Loh

product spotlight

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

 

Natalia Bun - Deja Vu

Deb Duty - #DUDE

Julie Campbell - just a note to say thanks

Lisa Truesdell - The Bean

Allison Waken - First Ride

Gillian Nelson - Self Talk

product spotlight

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

Nicole Reaves - By the Numbers : 

Joy Taylor - Hello :

Geralyn Sy - February Project Life

Deb Duty - Utah Vacation minibook

Suzy Plantamura - Learning to Love Myself

Leena Loh - Project Life Week 7

Julie Campbell - Happy Birthday

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!