Studio Calico

Sunday Sketch

This week, we invited SC member Leanne (username leannemw) to share her take on one of our sketches. She couldn't resist seeing the ability to use both, and we're excited to share them with you!

First up is our card sketch, based on a card from Lisa Spangler:

Our scrapbook sketch this week is from Kinsey Wilson's gallery:

Jennifer couldn't resist the scrapbook sketch...look at how awesome these colors look against her white background!!

Supply list:  Roundabout main scrapbook kit; shop items include the shipping tag, twine, & the Noah alphabet stamp set

I guess you could say I was really excited about being asked to make something for the Sunday Sketch because I didn't waste any time getting right to work.  I followed the layout sketch for this page about the month of June.  This was kind of a just for fun page documenting all things I love about this time of year.  I loved the idea of using strips of patterned paper to divide the page into sections.  I cut several strips of the different papers from Roundabout and just moved them around until I like the order.  I basically flipped the sketch upside down because I liked the photo on the top half and the title on the bottom.  I then took the raindrop acetate shapes and altered them to look more like flower petals.  I wanted to tint them with color so I lightly sanded them so they would accept some Mr Huey's mist better.  I carefully used my heat tool to dry them and held the heat on them just long enough so they would slightly curl. 

 

Then, she decided to use the card sketch to help her finish a problem that had her stumped!

Supply list:  Roundabout scrapbook & card kit;  Mr Huey's First Kiss and This Is Me class stamp set

I took the This Is Me class a couple months back and needed a title page for my book that I'm still in the process of completing.  I thought the card sketch would be perfect for that.  I really liked the cascading elements down the right side and followed that idea almost exactly.  I changed it up just a bit with the misting but following the sketch made it quick and easy to get this page done! 

Leanne's use of color against neutral backgrounds allows for versatility, as well as giving her photo the spotlight! We love what she came up with, and hope you do as well. If you'd like to see more of her work, check her SC gallery...thank you for sharing these with us, Leanne! :)

Now it's your turn! Make a project with using one of this week's sketches as a starting point, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 24th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

 

 

 

product spotlight

I just love these Darling Dear chipboard heart stickers!  So much so that my entire package is almost used up.  Not only are they full of assorted shapes and sizes, but the patterns and colors make for a fun mix.  I've put a few to use on today's card...

These stickers are perfect for layering (one on top the other) without creating too much bulk.  I thoroughly enjoyed how easy it was to select from the collection the perfect hearts to embellish the edge.

They also pair well with other elements from the Darling Dear collection.  Take for example the Darling Sayings stamp set, which I used to finish off this card of mine. 

 

 

(supplies : patterned paper - Studio Calico Darling Dear 6x6 Paper Pad ; chipboard stickers - Darling Dear Printed Chipboard Hearts ; stamps - Darling Dear Dear Sayings ; other - Papertrey Ink cardstock & ink)

We wanted to show you even more ways to use the Darling Dear chipboard shapes, so we asked two more Creative Team members to put them to work. Kinsey used them on this Project Life Spread - the chipboard is a perfect way to embellish cards without making them too bulky for the pocket page protectors!

(Supplies: patterned paper- Studio Calico Darling Dear, October Afternoon, Crate Paper, Dear Lizzy ; Cardstock- American Crafts White, Bazzill Kraft ; alphabet stickers- Studio Calico, Basic Grey, American Crafts ; stamps- Studio Calico date stamp, KI memories 'real life' ; stickers- Studio Calico Darling Dear ; ink- Hero Arts black, Staz On Jet Black ; other- glitter, sequins, tiny attacher, vellum, paint)

Natalia used the speech bubbles on a layout - we've loving how they look layered over the paper speech bubbles!

(Supplies - Patterned Papers : Darling Dear - Garland, Hepburn, Monroe, Flynn; Stickers - Hearts & Arrows ; Chipboard - Speech Bubbles ; Gems - Whites, Brights )

How have you used the Darling Dear speech bubbles and hearts? We'd love to see - link us up in the comments!

Sunday Sketch

This week we are offering you TWO sketches...one for cards and one for layouts!! The card sketch is from Lisa Spangler's Block Party gallery:



And the layout sketch is from Kinsey Wilson's Block Party gallery:



We invited member Ingunn (smultringunn) to choose one of these to use as a starting point this week, and she chose the card sketch...we adore this layout she designed!



Supply list: Kris Kringle add-on, Basic Grey Micro Alphabet (from Roller Rink kit), white woodgrain cardstock

Here are some of Ingunn's thoughts on working with this sketch:

I was having a hard time picking out my favorite photos from this New Year's hike, so when I saw the card sketch, I jumped at the chance to use a whole bunch of pics on my layout. By using photos instead of embellishments as the small boxes in the design, I was able to fit three vertical and three horizontal photos all on one page! 

I moved the banner from the top to the bottom of the design so that the title would be snuggled next to my journaling. Bonus - I finally got to use one of those gorgeous glitter stickers from the Kris Kringle add-on! It works perfectly, since it brings to mind the beautiful, glittering snow that afternoon. It was also freezing out there, so the North Pole paper seemed appropriate. 

This is definitely the kind of sketch I'll use again; it's fast, simple, pretty, and perfect for an 'event'-type page where I just can't seem to pare down my photos.

We couldn't agree more with Ingunn's thoughts on using a sketch like this to include lots of photos...and the simplicity of her design lets them shine front and center. Thank you for sharing your work with us, Ingunn!

Please check out Ingunn's gallery and blog for more inspiration!

How will YOU use this sketch?  Whether it's a layout, a card or something else, link us up to your project by January 14th 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)

black friday

Happy Black Friday, everyone! We've got some rocking deals for you today. Check out the "Black Friday" tab in the shop for two new stamp sets - available JUST for Black Friday. You'll also find past kit stamps there, and you can use the coupon codes above for great deals on Classic Calico!

About those Black Friday stamp sets.... we wanted to show you just what the Noah Outline and 2013 New Years sets look like in action!

(gift wrap by Kinsey Wilson :  patterned paper - American Crafts POW (gold); stamps - Studio Calico (Noah Outline and 2013 New Years); ink - gold metallic Staz On; other- vellum, wrapping paper, star sequins)

(tags by Kinsey Wilson : patterned paper - Studio Calico (Darling Dear 6 x 6 pad); stamps - Studio Calico (Noah Outline and 2013 New Years); ink - gold metallic Staz On, onyx black Versafine; mist- Mister Huey's (silver); frame die cut- Studio Calico (Wonderland); chipboard camera sticker- Studio Calico (Darling Dear); other- tiny attacher, craft knife, vellum)

(read card by Jen Jockisch :  Stamps - Noah Outline and 2013 New Years; Cardstock - American Crafts; Journaling Card - Wonderland Journal Cards; Alphas - Calico V. 3 Sotheby's Thickers - Ledger; Stamps - Noah Outline 6x8 Stamp Set, New Year 4x6 Sta mp Set; Ink - Staz-On Timber Brown,  Hero Arts Shadow Ink - Pool; Tape - American Crafts Glitter Tape; Die - Cuts - Crate Paper, Binder Clip - American Crafts; Tag - misc.; misc. colored pencils; Tools - We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper)

(pumpkins by Lisa Truesdell : Stamps - Noah Outline and 2013 New Years; patterned paper - Studio Calico Darling Dear Temple & Wayne, Studio Calico Take Note, My Mind's Eye, Pebbles; chipboard - Studio Calico Darling Dear printed chipboard speech bubbles; badge - Studio Calico Darling Dear badges; veneer - Studio Calico Darling Dear wood veneer; journaling card - Studio Calico Darling Dear journaling cards; star sequin and diecut - Studio Calico Yearbook Ephmera pack; alphabet - Studio Calico Darling Dear navy tiny alphabet; mist - Mister Huey's Audrey)

(happy new year card by Maile Belles : Stamps - Noah Outline and 2013 New Years; Gems - Darling Dear Opaque Gems Whites ; Ink - Hero Arts Pink Neon, Orange Neon, Yellow Neon ; Other - White Cardstock)

(made with love by Tina Aszmus : Today Handbook, Handbook 6x8 insert, More Kraft cardstock, grey tags, pro glider glue gun, Basic Gray die cuts/transparencies, Basic Grey woven tabs, Mister Huey Opaque White, Versamark Onyx, White Prima chalk ink, Noah outline stamp, New Years stamp set)

(hi new year card by Robyn Werlich : Noah Outline Alphabet Stamps, New Years Stamp Set, Ladybug Chalk Ink, Vintage Pink Chalk Ink, Coltfoot Stemens Chalk Ink, Moss Lawn Chalk Ink, Teal Damask Chalk Ink, Farmers Jeans Chalk Ink)

Happy shopping!!

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!

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.

stamp storage

Finding the perfect storage solution for your coveted acrylic stamps can be a daunting task- there's lots of trial and error involved in the search for that perfect system that will corral everything but also provide easy access so they actually get used. Kinsey recently revamped her stamp storage system using our rubber stamp storage cases and new Russel + Hazel binders in the shop. Head over to her blog for instructions, tips, and photos on how she got her stamping groove back.

kinsey's challenge

Happy WCMD!!! My challenge for you is based on a card I made for my Roller Rink gallery this month. I love using strips in my projects- strips of paper, embellishments, stamps, washi tape or even alphabet stickers- I really like the effect and it's a fun way to use up scraps and leftovers. So I challenge you to use at least 3 different kinds of strips (paper, embellishment, stamp, washi, or alphabets) on one card. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

supplies: Studio Calico Crack the Whip add on kit ; staples- Tiny Attacher ; ink- Hero Arts Butter Bar and Wet Cement ; cardstock- More White Woodgrain ; other- foam squares, Mono Multi liquid glue.

To be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop, just complete a card based on Kinsey's challenge, then upload it to the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by October 15th in the comments here. We can't wait to see what you make!

weekly challenge

Hey everyone! This week, my challenge for you involves text, lots and lots of text. I love that letters and words can also be a design element so this week I double-dog dare you to use text as a background. It can be by way of alphabet stamps, text based patterned paper, letter stickers, die-cut letters, handwriting, or you can create your own text mask like I did here in my "Passion Pit" layout from the Central High designer gallery.


(supplies: Studio Calico Central High Main Kit and Style Guide Add On Kit. patterned paper- Studio Calico horizontal thick stripes, American Crafts Encinitas; Mister Hueys- Pinstripe, cardstock- American Crafts white; die cuts- Studio Calico Exclusive Printables; mistable arrows- Studio Calico exclusive; star brad- Creative Imaginations; thought bubbles- Hey Jen Renee; other- embroidery floss, Silhouette Cameo)

I created the Passion Pit text mask using my Silhouette die cut machine and then tilted it on an angle and misted the letters onto my background cardstock using Mister Hueys in Pinstripe. I didn't want the text to be too bold because I wanted to journal over it and keep the text more as a background element.


I'm so excited to see what you guys come up with so be sure to link us up to your finished work in the comments section below. Thanks so much for playing along! Post your projects by September 17th for a chance to win a $5 gift card to the Studio Calico shop.

Heyday Sentiment Stamps

Today we're putting the spotlight on our Heyday Sentiments stamp set! This set of phrases is just as at home on cards as it is on layouts. Here are five projects from our design team showing this versatile set in use! Just click on the links below each project to get a full list of supplies and more information.

(Kinsey Wilson // ahoy)

(lovely // Dawn McVey)

(Susan Weinroth // surfer dude-ing)

(Nicole Samuels // canvas)

(Tina Aszmus // AK State Fair 2011)

Have you had a chance to use this stamp set? Link us up in the comments - we'd love to see!