Studio Calico

tutorial | digi stamping with Geralyn Sy

If you've wanted to give digital stamping a try, this tutorial by Geralyn Sy is a great way to get started! She'll walk you through using the brushes to build a background, and how to personalize the Adventure stamp by adding text. She's turned her background into this amazing page, but you could adapt the concept to Project Life cards by starting with a smaller canvas.

Click here to download Geralyn's tutorial.

(supply list: Roundabout Scrapbook Kit, Roundabout Scrapbook digital stamp brushes, Photoshop CS3)

tutorial | digi stamping with Geralyn Sy

As soon as we saw the phenomenal digital stamping on Geralyn Sy's "The Good Life" page in her Planetarium gallery, we knew we had to know just how she made it! Check out her digital stamping tutorial PDF to get a step by step explanation of how she filled the Paislee Press exclusive frames with color & digital stamps, and then try it on your own! 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 :

Geralyn Sy - Misibis Handbook

Nicole Harper - #Happy

Dawn McVey - Thanks

Natalia Bun - it is what it is

Becky Novacek - love you sweet boy

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

tutorial - die cut project life cards

Hi everyone! I am loving the addition of the digital store at Studio Calico and the silhouette cuts are so fun to use for Project Life. In this tutorial, I'll show you how I used some of the silhouette cuts to put together some quick and simple pre-made journaling cards. You can easily make some pre-made cards too so that you can use them whenever you want for your Project Life! Let's get started.

First off, I picked some shapes that I want to use for my PL cards. I chose the Love Banner Cut Designs (which coordinate with February's Front Row Kit) as well as the Be Brave Feather Cut Design (which coordinates with SC's new CHA lines). 

I sent the cut designs to my Silhouette and cut them out of white American Crafts cardstock. Using white cardstock makes the cuts really versatile because I can mist them any color I want. You can choose your favorite colors! For these cuts, I used Pretty Pink, Powder Blue, Pinstripe, and Overdue Mister Hueys. 

For the first pre-made card, I used SC grid paper as the 4x6 base. Then I added a strip of washi tape (from February's Matinee add-on) to the bottom. I chose two of the banner cuts and decided to angle them for a fun design. I wanted the top banner to be shorter than the bottom banner so I just trimmed the right side of the banner. After adhering them to the card, I cut off the extra bits.

The second pre-made card is a 3x4 card. I knew I wanted to create a card that would be perfect to jot down a current 'love list'. I flipped one of the banners so that it would run vertically along the card, then attached the heart banner to the top right hand corner. I used an arrow veneer (from February's Front Row scrapbook kit) to point from the 'right now' to the heart, just for emphasis. Trim off the extra pieces again once everything is adhered.

You may have noticed that I didn't mist the 'Be Brave' feather earlier on. Another way to use the silhouette cut is as a mask! I used temporary adhesive to adhere the feather to a 3x4 grid journaling card, and then I misted it with Pretty Pink Mister Huey. Careful not to over mist - it may cause the mist to bleed underneath your mask. Peel off the feather.

For this misted card, the mist bled a little on the masked feather image so I outlined the image with my white pen. Doing so helped 'clean up' the image and make it stand out more. I added a label and some wood veneer brackets to finish it off. The fun thing is that the misted feather that was used as a mask is still usable! Here, I attached it to the middle of another grid card and added sequins to create a filler card - super easy.

Here are the four cards all together. I hope this tutorial gives you some ideas on how to use SC's silhouette cuts on your Project Life cards! 

Supplies: Silhouette cut files - Front Row Love Banner Cut Designs, Be Brave Feather Cut Design; patterned paper - Studio Calico Classic Calico v.1 Folio, SC Front Row Card Kit; washi tape - Matinee add-on; veneer - (arrow) Front Row Scrapbook Kit, (brackets) Front Row Project Life Kit; label - Front Row Card Kit; mist - Pretty Pink, Overdue, Powder Blue, Pinstripe Mister Huey; cardstock - American Crafts; pen - Uniball Signo; other - Silhouette Cameo, sequins

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!

Sunday Sketch

This week's sketch comes from Geralyn Sy's SOCK HOP gallery - and is based on her layout titled "Paper Love."

We were excited to see how Julie (juleshollis) interpreted the sketch for herself, and it looks fabulous!

Supplies: Sock Hop, Poodle Skirt, Penny Loafers

Here is what Julie had to say about this particular sketch:

I love playing with sketches and approach them as recipe for a project. For this sketch, I really wanted to use a favorite picture. The picture that I chose of my husband and son is vertical, so I decided to turn the sketch sideways. I didn't stray too far away from the sketch in terms of design. I used the November kit - Sock Hop with two papers from Penny Loafers (the red hearts) and from Poodle Skirt (the yellow triangles). My favorite way to make little banner pieces is to fold washi tape in half and then snip the end piece at angle. I love how this sketch helped me create lots of layers.

We love that all of Julie's elements draw your attention to the beautiful photo of her family, and the repetition of the 'flags'...what a great idea to use washi tape!

Please check out the rest of Julie's work in her SC Gallery and on her blog.

How will YOU use this sketch?  Whether it's a layout, a card or something else, link us up to your project by December 3rd 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)

darling dear blog blitz

Our newest mid-release, Darling Dear, has hit the shelves of the Studio Calico store and is currently in route to many of your scrap desks. What better way to celebrate this dazzling new line than with a blog blitz?

We're starting you off here with three downloadable PDFs and a peek at our new digital offerings. But this is just the start of the inspiration - our design team has been working with Darling Dear and we think you'll love what they've made. You can find links to each of their blogs in our sidebar, or at the bottom of this post.

Lucky Stars by Maggie Holmes // click here to download the PDF


Long Time, No See // click here to download the PDF

Pumpkin Fun // click here to download this PDF

We have an exciting announcement to make - we now have digital files to coordinate with Darling Dear! Stop by the shop and check out our new Die Cut files, printables and stamp brushes. You may be able to spot these on some of the projects by our design team!

Amy Tan - April Foster - Becky Novacek - Celine Navarro - Dawn McVey - Geralyn Sy - Jen Jockisch - Kelly Noel - Kinsey Wilson - Lisa Truesdell - Maggie Holmes - Maile Belles - Marcy Penner - Nicole Samuels - Robyn Werlich - Sasha Farina - Stephanie Dagan - Susan Weinroth - Tina Aszmus

Our design team has worked their magic with this versatile line and we're excited to show you their projects! We've listed their blogs above so you don't miss any inspiration. Enjoy!

product spotlight

Hi everyone! It's Geralyn here today, with a spotlight on one of my favorite new items from the Classic Calico V.3 collection, the Sotheby's thickers! They come in classic ledger (my favorite!), charcoal, and the mistable version and they are my current go-to alphas. I love the font and the fact that there are both smaller and larger letters in a set. The different sized alphas are really fun to mix together.

(Supplies: patterned paper - Calico v.3 Quilted, Yearbook 6x6 pad, Textbook; alphas - Calico v.3 Sotheby's charcoal, Sotheby's ledger; veneer - Yearbook speech bubbles; Yearbook stitched pockets; Yearbook journal cards; badges - Calico v.3 weekdays; mistable - Calico v.3 feathers, enamel dots - Roller Rink kit; stamps - exclusives from Roller Rink, Rainbow Kneesocks, Couple's Skate, Crack the Whip; ink - Hero Arts Cup o' Joe; other - washi tape, Kelly Purkey stamp)

For my layout, I pulled together lots of Yearbook and Classic Calico, then decided to use both the larger ledger Sotheby alphas and the smaller charcoal Sotheby alphas for my title. I think they look pretty cool together and I like the contrast between the light and dark alphas. 

Hope you enjoyed this little product spotlight! Can't wait to see the Sotheby's thickers on your layouts!

We wanted to bring you even more ideas for using the Sotheby's Thickers - here are more layouts from our Design Team :

celebrate eight by Kelly Noel : cardstock - American Crafts ; patterned paper - SC Time Sheet, SC Charted , SC Geometry, October Afternon (yellow) ; wood veneer - SC Wood Veneer Flags, SC Wood Veneer Speech Bubbles ; chipboard - SC Mistable  Sotheby Thickers ; Enamel dots - MME ; ink - Prima Chalk Edgers (Turquoise Stone - teal, Rock Moss - green, Coltsfoot Stemens - yellow, Rusty Keys - orange) ; washi - Freckled Fawn

this is no good by Kinsey Wilson :  patterned paper - Studio Calico Yearbook- Pi, Honor Roll, Superlatives, Tardy, American Crafts- POW glitter paper ; letter stickers - Studio Calico Sothebys Charcoal Thickers ; veneer - Studio Calico Speech Bubbles ; Pockets- Studio Calico Yearbook Stitched Pockets ; spray mist- Studio Calico Pinstripe and Dark Calico Mister Hueys ; journaling card- Studio Calico Yearbook Journal Cards ; other - white cardstock, brown pen.

first day by Marcy Penner : patterned paper - Classic Calico vol.3 Quilted, Geometry, Botanical, Yearbook Most Likely, Pi, Hall Pass, Tardy; Letter Stickers - Classic Calico vol.3 Mistable Thickers (Sotheby); Stickers - Mistable Stars; Wood Veneer - School Icons; Journaling Cards - Yearbook; Cameo, mist - Mister Huey Gold; date stamp

one year old by Becky Novacek : patterned paper - Yearbook 6x6 pad; thickers - Sotheby's Ledger; stickers - Classic Calico Vol 3 hearts; veneer - Yearbook speech bubbles)

good morning kata by Sasha Farina - supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Clasic Calico V3 Charted , Yearbook 6x6 paper Pad ; Sticker : Classic Calico V3 Kraft Heart ; veneer : Studio Calico Heyday Speech Bubble ; Thickers : Sotheby's Ledger, Mistable Arrow : Studio Calico exclusive from Central High kit, Mister Huey's : Sunshine, SchoolHouse, Taxi; Diecuts : Heyday Ephemera Pack; Staples : Tiny Attacher ; other : vintage doily

We'd love to see YOUR projects using our Sotheby's Thickers! Link them up so we can check them out.