Studio Calico

from start to finish with gillian nelson

Hi, gang!  Today I’m going to take you through my process of creating my “Make You a Deal” layout from the Block Party gallery.  Warts and all.  :) Click here to download this start to finish tutorial as a printable PDF.

First, I gathered up supplies from the Block Party Kit and add-ons that I thought I’d like to use.  Aren’t they pretty?

I chose the Block Party Numbers Cut Design from the SC Digital Shop, and resized the file to 7.475 inches wide and 9.9 inches tall.  I then cut the design from white cardstock.  I chose the yellow diagonal stripe and the notebook-lined patterned papers as the backgrounds for my 2-page layout, and trimmed them each down to 8.5x11 inches.  I decided to use the numbers diecut over the diagonal stripe to help tone down the stripe pattern and to balance the white from the opposite page.

I decided to add a little dimension to the diecut, so I used number stickers from the Jenni Bowlin alpha sheet in the Woodbrooke Road add-on as masks.  I sprayed Mister Huey Calico Shine and gave the die cut an even coat.  Calico Shine gives a subtle, but very pretty effect and just a little bit of depth.  (My son would like it on the record that he makes an excellent and cooperative hand model.  So noted.  Thank you, son.)

While waiting for the mist to dry, I cut strips of varying widths from the cloud and chevron patterned papers, plus a strip of the yellow diagonal stripe.  I then inked the edges of the strips of paper and my photo.  I always ink the edges.  It can’t be helped.   Here’s where I need to confess that while inking the edges, i dropped my StazOn pad onto the photo and the notebook background paper.  Awesome.  And while I’m confessing, I should also admit that I may have used an expletive or two when this happened.  There.  I feel much better getting that off my chest.  What do they say?  Mistakes are merely an opportunity for creativity?  Something like that.  So, my next step was to reprint my photo (it couldn’t be saved), and I decided to cover the ink on the background paper with the Thickers from the main Block Party kit.  Problem solved.  I put the Thickers on a scrap of wax paper, coated them with VersaMark, and embossed them with some Powder Zing (such a pretty blue).

Once the mist dried, I removed the number stickers from the numbers die cut, and adhered the diecut to the striped paper.  Then I stuck down the strips of paper to each side of the layout, trimmed the ends that hung over the edges, adhered my photo, and penciled in my journaling.  (Note the remnants of black ink pad on the right side, there.  Do you blame me for the expletive?  Really?)

Next, I started placing the chipboard hearts and the wood veneer arrows from the Wildberry Court add-on across the strips of patterned paper on the right side of the page and also to the left of the photo.  I stamped the index tag with the “You” stamp, also from the Wildberry Court add-on.  I added the OA badge from the Pollard Avenue add-on, as well as some of the delicious silver washi tape.  De-Li-Cious.  I stuck down the chipboard letters over the aforementioned ink spots.  And no expletives this time, because I actually liked it better this way.  See?  It all works out in the end.

I wrote over the journaling in ink, erased the pencil lines, added a title using the itty bitty pink BG letter stickers from the Wildberry Court add-on, threw some of the little silver stars on there, and finished off with some pops of red (OA index tag, enamel dots and BG number stickers).

Voila.  Done.  :)

from card to layout

Hey everyone, Kinsey here with a card to layout conversion.   I don’t recall ever doing a layout based on a card prior to doing this blog post assignment and now I’m kicking myself for it! Cards are an awesome source for inspiration and I found it really easy and fun to convert card sketches so that they work as layout sketches.  This is something that I will definitely continue doing.  For this project, I chose “Happy For You” from Dawn’s DT gallery as my inspiration and starting off point. 

When converting cards to layouts, really it’s just a matter of scale + photos.  For my take on this, I just enlarged the card sketch and added a photo (multiple photos would work as well).  I did several layout sketches based on cards from the gallery and in almost all of those, I added the photo to the sketch wherever the largest embellishment, accent, or text block was placed on the card. So if you look at the comparison above, you’ll notice that I added the photo behind the “Happy” sentiment from Dawn’s card. Another photo option for this sketch would be to use a large photo as the background of the layout with a smaller photo near the title.

Here’s a bigger photo of my layout:

Supplies: patterned paper- Studio Calico Classic Calico V.3 Charted, Wonderland Toboggan, Yearbook Trapper Keeper, Central High Kit horizontal thick stripes; letter stickers- Sotheby’s ledger thickers; veneer- Studio Calico borders, circles, elongated hexagons; mistables- Studio Calico stars; mist- Studio Calico Mister Huey’s Letter Jacket & Honor Society; journaling card- Studio Calico Yearbook cards; paper clip- Studio Calico Yearbook; hexagon sticker- Studio Calico Yearbook Hexagon sticker sheet; other- Hero Arts Soft Brown Ink, tiny attacher, turquoise washi tape, Distress Marker- Pumice Stone, WRMK paper piercer.

Once I had the layout sketched and ready to go, I began building my layout by misting the background toward the bottom right corner. Once that dried, I went to work on the paper strips, journaling strip, and wood veneer border. To get the color behind the wood veneer border, I used a ½ inch circle punch with the thick striped Handbook page. I inked the wood veneer with a brown ink so that it looks like stained wood. Next, I added the library journaling card with some washi tape, the photo, title work, and the veneer circle.

With the page mostly complete, I added some smaller details by stitching stars over the mistable stars, tracing the paper clip and cutting out some paper to fill in the ‘2’, and also adding a date stamp to the elongated hexagon sticker at the bottom.

I love trying new approaches to scrapbooking, this was definitely something new for me and it’s given me a new source of inspiration. Thanks so much for stopping by today and hanging out with me for a bit!

from start to finish with jen jockisch

Hi everyone! Today I wanted to walk you through my process for creating a layout. I honestly keep it quite simple, my entire philosophy centers around making quick decisions (NO second guessing myself!) and going with what feels right. Click here to download this start to finish tutorial as a PDF.

(supplies : Sock Hop and addons; More Vanilla; Sock Hop Printable labels & journaling cards; Tiny Attacher)

I love a layered cardstock look, whether it be cream on cream or white on kraft or any variation thereof. I typically begin by creating my layered cardstock background and then placing my photo on the page. I then just kind of look at the photo - the colors, the theme (if any) and see if there’s any particular direction I want to go in. If not, I usually just start by grabbing some patterned paper that I like and see what I can do with it.

When working with a kit like I was with this page, I lay my patterned papers out on the table and choose from those. Once I’ve chosen a few papers to start with, I like to get the main base of the page laid out and then embellish from that point. For this page, the main base was the grid at the top. Past that basic design structure, everything is embellishment.  (I never adhere anything until the end so I can always make changes if needed.)

Next, I happen to see nearby the pink chevron that I had hand cut from some paper for a previous layout. I really like it, so I decide to see if I can incorporate it somehow. The same with the ‘hi’ printable tab. I lay them down in the general area I think I want them in and move on.

Now I decide to place some patterned paper in a horizontal line beneath my grid to add some different directional movement and a bit of contrast. I choose two papers and laid them down - I first punch the edge of one just to add a decorative border. I think little touches like that can add a ton of visual interest to a page.

Looking at the page, I decide I need something to counter balance the photo and add some visual weight to the bottom right corner. I embellish this section with some elements that aren’t super overpowering but definitely draw your eye. I also decide to add another arrow embellishment opposite my pink chevron just to add some more movement and because I think you can never have enough fun stuff to look at. Even if it doesn’t seem to work in a traditional way, I like it.

Now it’s on to the title work. I lay down the ‘princess’ portion and happen to notice that the N can do double duty if I place it directly underneath the chevron point - it also becomes a monogram that I can draw attention to with a thinly punched circle. Once I’ve decided on placement, I machine stitch this section down so that it can have some lift and dimension at the top. Now I add the ‘cowgirl’ portion of the title, but looking at this I really think it needs some kind of red or orange color in that area to help define the ‘cowgirl’ as well as balance out the red patterned paper on the right side, so I add a printed label. I also realize that the grey arrow that points up needs to have something above it, because otherwise it is directing your eye up with nothing to look at. I simply add a stamped word and some more cream cardstock to get a bit more depth.

I could be done at this point, but I happened to see the chipboard leaves and decide I like it, so what the heck, I’ll add it. Now I’ll call it done.

So that’s my basic process. The most important aspect of it, for me, is to have fun with it! If I second guess every decision and placement and color choice it’s completely stressful, so I try to just let go and have fun with it and do what feels right.

insider tips - maggie

Hi there! I am excited to be with you today sharing a peek into my creative process!

Lately I have been making a lot of cards with my Studio Calico kits. One of the reasons is that I always felt guilty throwing away the leftover little scraps that I had after I got done making my layouts. I used to store my scraps and I still do save the big pieces of paper, but I found that I hardly ever went back to the little scraps because once I put them away they were out of sight and out of mind. Now that I am using them while they are still out, I feel great that I am not wasting as much and I also have a whole box of cards on hand for whenever I need one!

Here's how I go about the card making process.

1. After I am done making my layouts, I will use cardstock that is left from the kit or extra cardstock from my stash to make some card foundations. I will usually grab neutral colors but sometimes I also use the bright colors because if they were in the kit, then I already know that they will coordinate with the rest of the products. I make a few of these card foundations at the standard card size with is 4.25" x 5.5". This way they will fit into a standard card size envelope.

2. Next I will start finding some of the scraps or leftover elements that I want to use. Often times these are the elements that I loved from the kits but that just didn't make it onto my layouts. For example, I loved these confetti tags but they ended up not working on my layouts so this was a great way to use one of them! I will also pick a stamp at this point, especially if there is a good sentiment stamp like this one. I went ahead and stamped the sentiment onto a journaling card.

3. I start arranging things on the card. This is where I will also grab more elements like the washi tapes here, based on how it is coming together and what I need to complete the card. What I love about cards is that you can mix and match a lot of different colors and embellishments really easily. You aren't trying to match the theme or colors of a photo like you are on a layout so I think you have even more creative freedom here. Keep playing around with it until it works and most importantly, don't over-think it! In the end, it's just a card!

(supplies : Studio Calico Summer of '69 kit and addons ; ink - Versafine)

I hope this inspires you to make some cards with the scraps from your next kit!

insider tips - laura

When I have a lot to say on a layout, I try to keep it as simple as possible (OK, let's be honest, this is what I do 99 percent of the time any way!) I love how the SC products add just the right touch to any layout - whether it's super simple like mine or someone who is far more talented in embellishing! And, I think I will use these wood veneer hearts on pretty much every layout from here on out.

(supplies - mist : Mister Huey's Watercooler ; veneer : Hearts & Arrows ; fabrip : Take Note Gray Stripe)

I'll also be honest - I never understood the mist craze - until a few months ago. Now I'm obsessed. Yes, I'm late to the party, but better late than never, right? I think I was always afraid of messing it up, but then I realized that's the beauty of it! Can't wait to see how everyone starts using the latest Studio Calico products!

start to finish - susan weinroth

Hi Everyone, Susan here today to tell you a little bit more about one of my layouts from the City of Lights Designer Gallery.  "You Right Now" -- & Actually this one was created entirely with the Sorbonne Add-On. 

I'm going to walk you through my thought process in creating this page - from start to finish - and hopefully it'll make a bit of sense along the way.  :)  When I started formulating an idea for this page, it was in order to prepare a "sneak" peek of the Sorbonne Add-On for that month's sneak night slide show.  I took everything out of the kit and was immediately drawn to the Kesi Art pie-style patterned paper.  Loved the colors on it, and decided to use that multi-colored palette to base the entire page off of & as the "base" of the page.  Before adding anything to it, I spritzed it up a bit with my favorite Mister Huey's - Calico Shine.

I had recently taken a bunch of photos of my oldest son, Evan, in our backyard, and wanted to use those for the page, thinking that the pie-shaped pattern's radiating lines would be a fun "path" to use for little journaling tidbits.  And the two types of teeny & small alpha stickers in this add-on made it easy to mix and match both into my journaling snippets later on.  There wasn't really a good spot in my mind to house a larger sized photo, so instead I decided to go with lots of smaller photos - and printed a few per 4x6 print, so that I was able to trim around each and leave it with a white border/mat.

I trimmed my photos down, arranged them on the page base, and then noticed that the packaging of the Prima alpha stickers in the kit had cute little banner flags with sayings printed on them.  I trimmed each from the sheet, not knowing which I would use (and actually changing my mind & re-arranging them even after I had finished my page), but overall just loving the idea of incorporating the packaging as well onto my layout.

The wood veneer starburst sun was a natural center to the pie paper, and I topped it off with a little more color and pattern in the form of a punched yellow polka circle.

After my photos were arranged & adhered down where I thought they best fit, I started spelling out my journaling bits with the combination of both alpha sticker sets, along the pie graph's lines.  I machine stitched along the lines, adding a few sequins underneath my stitch lines as extra embellies.  (The sequins were my FAVORITE thing in this kit!!!)  I used the journaling card as my title block, and then stamped a little bit of pattern from the background stamp in this kit behind the card.

I finished the page off by bringing back the yellow polka paper pattern in a strip at the bottom of the page, and then stretching twine across the page and securing the ends with staples.

And that was how this page came to be.  :)

(While this add-on is now sold out, you could get a similar look with the new HeyDay starburst stamp, or by using our Take Note Protractor or Rolodex patterned papers as a starting point. We hope you'll give it a try!)

insider tips - nicole harper

It's funny how sometimes projects don't always end the way they started, isn't it? I'm here today to walk you through how my 'Fun Shots' layout using the So Cal kit came together...with a few thoughts along the way. :)

I admit I'm biased. I always start by pulling out my favorite pieces from a kit and laying them out together...for this kit it was the papers shown above, the 'Hey Girl' stamp set, the sequin butterflies, the just twine, a diecut I had on my desk that I cut from vellum and that lovely exclusive diecut card with the stripes on it. Actually, it initially started with my love for that die cut card...I had every intention of hoarding it. But I realized that was silly and built my page around it.

I knew that with so many patterned papers that caught my eye, layering was the way to go so that I could get bits of each of them on this page. And since I had committed to the die cut card with the stripes, I decided to round all of the corners on my papers to mimic that. I specifically chose to use a piece of the SC alphabet paper that had the initials of both people in the photos, and outlined them with a black pen. I just started playing around with different layering options until I liked how it looked. The die cut starburst circle was added at the last minute to break up the linear bits...and ended up being a perfect spot for my journaling.

Time to start sticking things down. I often snap a quick picture on my phone so that I can remember how I had everything arranged when I need to take things off the page to assemble from the bottom up. Once I had the papers back in order, I added the photos and began toying around with embellishments. The small border of woodgrain cardstock just to the left of the jute twine was a last minute addition...I was playing around with my chalk inks and liked how it looked, so I added the border as well as 2 punched hearts at the bottom of the large photo. A few hidden butterflies here and there, the completed journaling spot and stamped word bubble rounded out a cluster of bits near the middle.

Last to add was the title. I usually have in mind kind of where I want it to end up, but almost always add it last. Initially I had planned on adding it under the large photo, but it didn't quite stand out enough...so back to the top it went, lol. The exclusive tiny alphabet added an extra bit of color and a fun subtitle all in one fell swoop. :) 

(supplies : kit - So Cal ; mist - Mister Huey's Shine & White ; cardstock - More Gray, More White Woodgrain ; paint - JBS Chicken Feed ; ink - Prima Chalk Ink Tin Can & Moss Lawn, Versafine Black Onyx)

Finished product is my Main only layout for June. As you can see from the first photo up there, taken before I started cutting things up, a few changes were made from my initial 'intended pile'. Only one sequin butterfly made it onto the page, I added bits of the woodgrain cardstock, the coral twine and vellum diecuts were both eliminated...but the basis remained the same. Hope you enjoyed my thought process!!

Insider Tips

Hi guys! Today I want to share my stream of consciousness while creating a kit layout. 

Once I'm done with any projects that need to be done with an individual kit only, I lump all the kits together. Papers together, alphas together, embellishments together, and so on. It all goes into a big jumble on my (messy) desk. 

To begin with, I choose a photo from my photo drawer. I typically print a lot of photos at once and then throw them here for future use. It saves time when I'm ready to scrapbook. 

Next I decide if I'm going to scrapbook 8.5x11 or 12x12. This is usually decided by the size of my photo; today I'm working with an Instagram photo printed at 3x3 so I'll go smaller. I cut my base card stock to size and then cut my inner sheet of card stock and lay them on top of one another. I do not adhere at this stage. Then I lay my photo on top and look at all the different patterned papers and grab whatever catches my eye. In this case, it was the Cosmo Cricket paper, mainly for the colors but upon closer look I see the text is fairly appropriate too. I trim that up to the size I want and lay it down. 

Looking at this, I know I need more color. I think maybe yellow. I find some yellow paper in my kit pile, but realize I only want  a teensy bit of it so I punch it with my AC Knockout punches and then lay it down. That works for me, so I punch another tiny strip for the other side of the page. I love the Echo Park camera paper and I know I want to use it somehow but I'm not quite sure yet. I'll just lay it down in the general are I'm thinking for now and come back to it. 

Now I'm going to add in my title. A lot of times I will move this around quite a bit before I make a decision, but this time I think I'll just leave it where I started. Also, I'm going to adhere everything I have so far because this is the base of my layout, I really just need to embellish it from here. 

So now I need to embellish. I think I want to add some of the mistable hexagon Thickers from the main kit but I'm not sure what color, so I'll try a few different colors. I definitely like the Dewey Mister Huey color best - its more subtle and just adds a little something extra - so I mist a few more and add those in. 

Add a few more embellishments - I tuck the Echo Park camera that I wanted to use underneath my photo and then realize it still needs a little something else so I wrap some Lawn Fawn cord from add-on 4 around the page and tie it off with a Prima wood button. I also add a  Heidi Swapp Color Magic number - it took a few tries to get the color right and it's a tiny detail but I think I like it. Now I need to think about my journaling - I realize I really want to just tuck it under my photo somehow so I grab one of the cards from add-on4 and slip it under the photo. Finish it off with a few jewels and some staples along the edge of the yellow trim and I think I'm done. 

Now I need to photograph my page. I thought I'd share how I photography my pages with you guys but it's messy. You've been warned. I use a piece of foam core board and just set it on top of my drawers and adhere my page. As you can see by all the dirty adhesive - I've used this a lot. :) I just photograph a bunch of shots until I'm fairly certain I have the image straight. 

Next I import my photos to my computer and crop my layout image, and I sharpen it a little and brighten it a little in Lightroom. I make sure it's sized properly, name the file - and that's it!

I hope you guys enjoyed this peek into my layout process. Thanks!

Geralyn's Insider Tips

Hi everyone! It’s Geralyn here today, and I wanted to show you how I used Studio Calico’s super fun new Airmail stamp set from the Abroad collection to create the design of my travel layout.
I started out by stamping the polaroid stamp several times on a sheet of Folio paper. Then I cut out each polaroid frame so I could move them around and arrange them on my page until I was satisfied with how they look.

After figuring out the design, I decided which polaroids would have photos and which polaroids would be embellished. For added interest to the page, I also stamped some of the phrase stamps from the Airmail stamp set around the arrangement of polaroids.

Once I decided where the photos and embellishments would go inside the polaroids, it was just a matter of adding a title and journaling, as well as a few more embellishments around the page. Super simple right? :) I also used the cute luggage tag stamp in the corner so I could date the page (I cut off the JFK part since these photos were taken in San Francisco).


Look for all the new Studio Calico stamps to arrive in stores this March. Hope you enjoyed this little peek into my process of putting together a layout and I hope you’ve been inspired to pull out your stamps and use them on your pages!

Stephanie's Tutorial

Hi everyone, Stephanie Dagan with you to share a technique that I used a lot in my layout : scrap little pieces of paper and work on color blocking. It is a good way to mix different papers and patterns while having a fairly clean design

First, I choose papers by staying on two colors, in my example I choose blue and green. This will be my main colors. I will add later two other colors in small quantities.

Then I print my photos and my journaling. As I chose to make a page of 8 by 8, my photos are about 2.1 to 2.7 inches by 1.7 and 2.1 inches, very small.

I begin to position papers, photo and journaling together as if it were a patchwork. Once the layout is like I want, I glue each piece together with tape on the back. I often starts the top of my page with a bunch of pieces of paper.

Here is the basis of my page. Now I just have to add some embellishments and touches of color to give more punch to the layout.

And this is the final result.

Supplies: County Fair January kit : http://www.studiocalico.com/shop/silhouette/cameo, Add-on Shooting Gallery  :http://www.studiocalico.com/kits/shooting-gallery, Add-on Kissing Booth : http://www.studiocalico.com/kits/kissing-booth, Add-on Photo Booth : http://www.studiocalico.com/kits/photo-booth, You Are the best Clear Stamp Studio Calico : http://www.studiocalico.com/shop/stamps/you-are-the-best-stamp-set, Cameo : http://www.studiocalico.com/shop/silhouette/cameo

All the papers come from the January main kit and add-on. The little pink card "E" is cut with the Cameo, the back of which I glued a piece of embossed paper.

Another example of color blocking is my 30*30 page. The technique is the same with more photo. I find this very funny to do and very interesting to illustrate a scene of life.

That's all for today. I hope that is not seem too complicated. If that scares you, try on a little page first and you will be surprised!  Even if it looks at first very clean, you can add a touch more unstructured in final. Thanks so much for stopping by!