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)

Handbook | Marcy Penner

Back in March, we shared Marcy Penner's thoughts as she pulled together supplies to create a Hanbook about her family vacation to Florida. Now that she's back home, her prep work paid off and she was able to complete a Handbook recording their trip in record time!

Marcy says - The key for me completing this vacation album was to keep it simple. I decided on a format of one spread for each day (or two). I really had to narrow down my photo selections and keep embellishments to a minimum in order to complete this project and not have it gather dust in the corner of my room while it waited for me to find time to finish it. Well, I guess almost completed. I do have to get my family to fill out the cards on the last page yet.

I pulled out my photos, dated (pre made) journaling cards and my basket of Here + There, Sundrifter and Snippets and got to work… all with keeping it simple in mind. 

What started out as an intimidating project became a colourful, completed album filled with photos, memories and memorabilia.

Here's a video on how Marcy put each of her pages together - she's made this project totally doable!

 

And here's a look inside her finished album : 

What have you recorded in a Handbook? Link us up, we'd love to see!

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

Marcy's vacation Handbook

We are embarking on our annual trip south... and what better way to document it then with a Studio Calico Handbook.

In this first post I'll explain a bit about my plan for capturing this time with my family.

WHY NOT PROJECT LIFE? WHY A HANDBOOK?

I am an avid Project Lifer. No doubt about it. Ever since I've been doing Project Life I've documented our trip my 12x12 spreads. But I really wanted to try a Handbook and felt that a trip was a perfect platform for that. Yes, my Project Life album will be missing a few weeks this year. I'm not going to bother duplicating our holiday in there.

I love the small size of the handbook and can't wait to fill it with trip photos.

THE PLAN :

I will not be using this Handbook on the go. That is I will NOT be taking it with me. I've promised my family that I will be present during our holiday. Spending time with them and photographing our days. The last thing they want is for me to be playing with paper while we're trying to make memories. So, the next best thing is for me to do some prep work and have everything ready to put together when we get back. This means gathering supplies and prepping some planning tools to use while I'm away so that when we come back I can tackle this mini book.

THE SUPPLIES :

I'm using a Here + There Handbook. I've also gathered some supplies that I know for sure I'll use... lots of Here + There products mixed with a little Sundrifter and Snippets.

I gathered these items together and put them in a basket near my Project Life supplies. This will make it easy for me to just grab this basket and take it to the dining room table or wherever I feel like working on it.

THE ALBUM :

I decided to paint the album with a light blue acrylic paint.

I taped off the label holder with washi and painted on three coats with a foam brush. Once that was dry I trimmed a piece of white paper for inside the label. The FL (for Florida) fit in there perfectly. A little wooden geotag and I was done.

I had debated about decorating the cover in addition to the spine but decided against it. I imagine this album being pulled out of the shelf quite a bit and didn't want to risk damaging anything on the front.

The little Here There badge fit perfectly in the center of the geotag on the front though. ;)

Here's everything in it's basket, ready to go.

(SOMEWHAT) PLANNED PAGES :

I didn't plan out my pages a lot. I didn't want the assembly process to be boring... I will want to play. But I did plan it out a little bit so that I had an idea of what I was going to be getting myself into.

I'm using an assortment of the pages from all three of the new lines. I pulled out pages with each of the four numbers die-cut into it... a 1, a 2, a 3 and a 4. These will be the dividers for my holiday.

Section 1 will hold photos from our drive down (3 days worth)

Section 2 will hold photos during our first week there (7 days worth)

Section 3 will hold photos during our second week there (7 days worth)

Section 4 will hold photos from our drive home (3 days worth)

I'm picturing each day being one to two pages. I temporarily added as many page protectors as there were days in each section... just so I could get a feel for the album. Obviously I'll have to be very selective when I'm picking photos to print for this project.

When I get back from my holiday and go through my photos I'll decide on which style of page protectors I want to use and swap those out.

I also added a page protector for a cover page.

Right now the inside of the album looks like this.

KEEPING TRACK OF MEMORABILIA :

In the basket I also have 4 large manilla envelopes. One for each section of my Handbook.

I'll be bringing these along on my trip to hold the memorabilia that I'll be gathering.... ticket stubs, brochures, maps, etc. Once we get back I'll keep them in the basket with my supplies so that I don't forget to add any of that stuff in.

Having them in numbered envelopes will ensure I put them in the right sections and with the right photos and save me time when I'm putting stuff together.

MEMORY KEEPING :

Along with the envelopes, the other thing I'll be bringing with me is my planner. Normally I use an 8.5x11 binder and my planning pages when keeping track of my days for Project Life. And since this will basically be a mini Project Life for three weeks the same method of memory keeping makes perfect sense to me. But I did not want to bring a large binder along.

My solution was to tweak my planning pages to fit into my Filofax. They have a section everyday for notes which I'll surely fill up on a daily basis.

My pages have a template after every week, and obviously since I'm doing a spread per day for this handbook those won't be needed. Once I get home I'll plan out my spreads and use templates as I go.

So, that's my plan. It's a plan to make post-vacation assembly easier. To allow me to enjoy my holiday with my family. To let me spend more time putting my Handbook together and not searching for missing tickets and notes. It's all about the prep work.

I'll be back next month with more from my vacation Handbook.

handbook

Hey everyone! It's Amanda here to share a handbook I recently put together. I've had some images picked out for a while and wanted to make a mini book about BROTHERS.  This was the perfect opportunity to do that, and I am lovin' this handbook. It's just such a great size to work with. There is room for plenty of pages and pictures, but the size is still compact enough to not be bulky.  This was my first handbook, and I loved being able to customize it and make it my own.  I chose a Wintergreen paint for the outside, with an Apple green for the inside.


For the "title" page, I chose one of my favorite pictures of the boys from our trip to the beach last year.   I love the softness of this image and it shows their playfulness.  I did not use a page protector for this page, but I could have easily used a non-divided page protector and inserted this page into it.


This page includes pictures of the boys from a few years ago, and it showcases their personalities perfectly.  I loved the yellows and greens of this page.


Here's a mix of pictures from different years. I love that you can mix and match with the handbook, and it still all comes together perfectly.  I love filling each little pocket with embellishments, stories, and images.  I attached the butterfly to the outside of the pocket so that it can still retain its dimension.


As you can tell, I love the beach. This page features pictures taken on our Disney Cruise from a few years ago, as well as another image taken while on vacation at the beach.  Both page protectors offer a great layouts for both vertical and horizontal images.


I just love the 3x4 pockets. They're so fun to work with and each little pocket is a chance to showcase a different image, a different story, a different year.  I chose to include some journaling in a little bag on the right-hand side.

This spread spans different years as well. I love the two 4x6 slots to showcase larger photographs that can also be embellished over in the negative space in order to tell the story.



More mixing and matching of page protectors. I also chose to use a square photo here, and make up the different with a journal card.


This page is my forever favorite picture of the boys, which I chose to put on a handbook divider page.


The last page is a large bag in which I included a letter to the boys as brothers.


(supplies- Alphas, Journal Cards, Printable Labels:  Studio Calico PL Kit, Pattern Paper, Twine, Stamp:  Studio Calico Card Kit, Pattern Paper: October Afternoon, Studio Calico Abroad, Dear Lizzy, Journal Cards: Studio Calico Darling Dear, Overlay: Hambly, Embellishments: Labels: Bananafish Studios, Martha Stewart, Elle's Studio, Alphas: Studio Calico Yearbook, October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Thickers, Chipboard Shapes: Basic Grey, Squirrel Paper Clip: Studio Calico Studio Selections, Handbook Insert: Studio Calico Yearbook, Number Paper Clip: Studio Calico Yearbook, Veneers: Freckled Fawn Woodchips, Studio Calico Stars, Stitched Tag: Made by Mish, Vellum Word: Studio Calico Classic Frame, Adhesive: Tiny Attacher, Glue Pen

-Amanda Caves

handbook

When Studio Calico asked me if I would be interested in doing a feature on the Handbooks, I jumped at the chance. I have been wanting to get one but had not had the chance- this was the perfect opportunity! I honestly didn't have a project in mind to start, but as I started flipping through the pages I realized this would be the perfect solution for Project Life. I have been wanting to move away from the 12x12 size and to something smaller, easier for the kids to handle, allows for travel, etc. Handbook was my answer. What really sold me was the spine. It's as thick as my regular scrapbooking albums so I knew it would last me a while into the year.

What does any scrapbooker jump to when given a clean canvas? AQUA! Oh wait no.....inspiration. Yes, inspiration! I wanted something clean and not to fragile, the kids look through my PL album all the time. I want to continue to encourage that, so I knew I needed to keep it simple. I decided to just paint the whole thing AQUA and then emboss the year along the side, then I added a pink heart for good measure.

For the opening page I wanted to do something different from last year. I decided to make it one large image instead of doing the pocket pages. I loved the idea of using the sequins from the Pioneer Drive add-on along with the "hello 2013" card from the Project Life kit. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to create the "floating" effect until it hit me - laminate them! I put the sequins and card inside the laminating pocket and ran it through.

I was slightly nervous (you know when you have an idea you want it to come out how you have imagined) and when I pulled it through I loved it even more. You see, the heat had slightly melted the sequins. I LOVE how they turned out! You can't really see here, but I tried my best. Give it a try - I think you will like the effect.

A couple of my spreads went up in my Jan. gallery but I wanted to show you how they looked in the Handbook albums. 

I used the laminating idea again in the album. Using the Handbook for my Project Life I need to come up with ways to add a little extra where needed. I love using the laminated pockets because they are very sturdy when you punch the holes to add them to the album. I can't wait to use this idea throughout the year.

Since I was using my album for PL I wasn't really sure I would use the album inserts, but I quickly fell in love with them. I like the idea of taking a moment to highlight a special event, award or just something we are excited about.

One of the things I really liked (as I mentioned) about the smaller size for PL is I now have the ability to travel with it when I want to. We are in and out of town a lot, so this was a HUGE plus for me. As you can imagine over the holidays we traveled a lot, so I just packed up a small tote with some basic supplies, added my handbook and my little  Canon Selphy and I had PL- to go.

This spread was done on the road. No sewing machine, no Cameo, no *gasp* trimmer. I used my family's printer to print out the journaling and the rest was basic supplies. That is one REALLY nice thing about the die-cut frames from Studio Calico, is that you can kind of get the diecut effect when you need something quick and easy.

To add a little hidden journaling and extra "real estate" to my spread I created this flip pocket journaling. Inside there is journaling that is more in detailed, things that not everyone would be interested in reading. 

(supplies-  Journal Cards & Wood Veneer Label Stickers: Studio Calico PL Kit, Pattern Paper: Studio Calico, Classic Calico V3 6x6 Pad,  Embelishments: Sequins: SC  Pioneer Drive, Polka Dot Pocket: SC Woodbrooke Road, Diecut Frames, Long Hexagon Stickers, number paper clips, wood veneer speech bubbles: Studio Calico Yearbook Collection, Speech Bubble Chipboard Sticker: Studio Calico Darling Dear, BG Alpha: Studio Calico 34th Street , Arrow Veneer: Studio Calico Block Party, Album, Studio Calico Handbook , Page Protectors, Studio Calico 6x8 Page Protectors Adhesive: Tiny Attacher; Glue Glider Pro; Glue Pen Digital Supplies: Studio Calico Block Party Digital Stamps, Studio Calico Hop Digital Stamps ,Cut Files from Day by Day Class.  Stamping: White Zing; Versamark Watermark Pad Other: Washi Tape & Brad from October Afternoon, Binder Clip)

If you are thinking about using Handbook for your Project Life, don't forget to pick up a couple extra page protectors. My favorites are the 6x8 page protector #4 and 6x8 page protector #2. Enjoy!

- Shanna

CHA-W 2013 // Handbook

Happy Thursday, everyone! We're wrapping up our CHA reveal today with a peek at the updates to our Handbook line. We've got six new albums that coordinate with our three new lines, as well as inserts, journaling cards and diecut frames.

First up is our Here + There albums! The woodgrain album is oilcloth, and the other album is raw chipboard with a debossed geotag accent.

And to go inside, album inserts and journaling cards, all perfectly matched to our Here+There line.

And now, Sundrifter! The black and white floral album is oilcloth, and the debossed triangle patterned album is chipboard.

There are also album inserts, journaling cards and ombre vellum die cut frames :

Here's what we put together to match the Snippets line - a colorful oilcloth album and a debossed grid chipboard album :

And you can finish that album with inserts, two sets of diecut journaling cards (months and days), and a set of frames :

That wraps up our CHA reveal!! If you'll be at the show, please find us and say hi and check all the products and projects in person. If not, we'll be sharing all of our amazing booth projects on the blog later this month.

december daily

Our new Handbooks albums have been a hit, and we love getting to see how you're using them! One of our new Project Life Creative Team Members, Natalia Bun, is using one for her December Daily (tm). Here's a look at what she's put together :

(supply list - Handbook album and page protectors, Studio Calico Wonderland patterned papers, School Life stamp set, Yearbook speech bubble wood veneer, Classic Calico v.3 wood veneer circles)

What are you recording in your Handbook? We'd love to see! Link us up in the comments.

cha-s 2012 : handbook projects

We're excited about your response to our new Handbook line - we've seen a lot of fun ideas of what you all plan to do with them! Until they ship in September, heres a little inspiration to get you started :

(Geralyn Sy)

(Kinsey Wilson)

(Lisa Truesdell)

 

cha-s 2012 : handbook

 

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope you've enjoyed our reveal week! Today, we wanted to give you a closer look at something we shared earlier this week - our new Handbook line. These little albums will be perfect for recording everything from everyday moments to big events and vacations.

Our Handbook line has three albums, sized at 6x8 inches. This is such a great size - not so big it's overwhelming, and not so small that you feel like you need to leave things out. Each style has an embossed chipboard cover. They look fabulous as is or you could dress it up with mist, paint or ink. The spines are about 2.5in thick, so they'll hold a lot of memories!

Once you've picked an album, you can stick with the included page protectors (they come with 13, in a mix of styles, or pick up extra packages in whatever style you like best. The divided pages will make your album come together in a snap.

Our album inserts fit right into the binder rings, and are the perfect way to divide up your book while adding a little extra style. We've got three styles - each matches one of our new lines. Each set offers a variety of designs and features tabbed pages, diecut designs and folders. And in case you think these are just for albums, we can tell you that we've spotted these being put to use on our design team's pages as well!

Classic Calico Vol 3:

Yearbook:

Wonderland:

 

We've

We've also got journal cards (3x4 and 4x6) and stitched pockets that fit within the page protectors. You can stick with the same line as your album inserts, or mix and match for a personalized look.

Classic Calico Vol 3:

 

Yearbook:

Wonderland:

In addition, there are a number of embellishments within our lines that will work well with these books :

Diecut Frames:

Date Stamp:

Washi tape:

Badges:

Would you like to see these books in action? Three of our designers made Handbooks for our CHA booth - here's a little peek inside their albums! We'll be sharing the whole projects on our blog next week.

Geralyn Sy used her handbook to record some memories from her childhood :

Kinsey Wilson's album is bold and bright, with lots of stamping :

 

And Lisa Truesdell is recording summer memories :

What memories will you put in your Handbook?

Thanks for joining us for our big CHA-S 2012 reveal week! Don't forget to go back to our earlier posts and enter the giveaways - we'll post winners next week. ;)