Studio Calico

weekly challenge | Marcy Penner and Nicole Harper

This week's challenge is to use a repeating pattern on your page.

From Marcy Penner : I have a hard time with circles, but the whole idea of using repeating circles on this page it emphasis the pile of stone by the culvert was just too perfect to pass up.

I started by layering my photos and papers and then found some circle elements in the Atlantic collection that could accompany circles punched from patterned paper.  Once I had a few I started layering those on in a diagonal pattern and finished it off with some stitching and sequins.

Supply list : paper - plymouth, rock port, bridgeport, montauk, atlantic bundle collection, atlantic 12x12 paper pad, atlantic 6x6 paper pad; sequins - atlantic variety sequin pack; stickers - atlantic sunrise thickets, atlantic glittered star stickers; printables - atlantic printable labels, atlantic digital printable #1 MP; tags - medium white tags; tools - tiny attacher, tiny attacher refills

From Nicole Harper : When we came up with the idea of using repetitive shapes, I was stoked to have a chance to show off my love for the die cut files this month. I resisted adding 'hello...' to every single window of this Project Life layout!! I forced myself to only use 3 of them, as well as 3 of the tab cut files and used the triangle elements on the washi tape as another graphic to repeat.

Supplies: Roundabout PL Kit, Navy Pier kit, Cumberland Gap Kit, Roundabout Printable File, Roundabout Label File, Hello banners Cut File, Roundabout Tabs Cut File, Gold POW Glitter Paper

We can't wait to see how you use repeating patterns! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 17th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

Roundabout Add-On Spotlight

When you take the ROUNDABOUT way, you're bound to find adventure. Our Creative Team is here to whisk you away to three destinations by sharing some inspiration with our still available add-on kits for June!

Kick back on the beach of the OUTER BANKS. This soft mix of pinks and aquas from Anna Griffin, My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey brings to mind a gorgeous sunrise over the ocean.

Anna-Maria Wolniak - this is what summer looks like :

Dana Fleckenstein - Hello :
Sasha Farina - A Day Well Spent :

Do a little sightseeing at CUMBERLAND GAP. This add-on mixed bold and bright journaling cards from Echo Park, Simple Stories and Studio Calico with cameras from Maya Road and a filmstrip alphabet from Basic Grey.

Nicole Reaves - PL week 17 :

Mary Ann Perry - Camp Calico :

Spend an afternoon on the veranda with SAVANNAH SHORE. This elegant add-on conjures up images of days gone by with products from Anna Griffin, Freckled Fawn, and an exclusive copper mist from Studio Calico.

April Foster - Happy :

Stephanie Washburn - Hello :

Becky Novacek - I Love Spring :

seeing stars | Becky Novacek, Jenn Picard & Suzy Plantamura

From Becky Novacek :

The moment I saw the gold glitter stars I was in love. I've been so into gold lately. Love the mix of pink and gold too...so I am really fond of the Atlantic collection. 

I made a little random string of stars which I stitched over and between. It's subtle, but I like the effect.

I also used the Mister Huey's Gold and the transparent watercolor papers to fill in the month the photos were taken. 

As tempting as it is to hoard these gorgeous glitter stars, be sure to use them! 

supplies: Gold Stars - grey tags, pattern papers - Roundabout Scrapbook Kit, Outer Banks Add-on Kit, New Haven, Slide Frames- Navy Pier, Ink - Staz-On Black Ink Pad, Mister Huey's Gold, Transparent Watercolor Paper

From Jenn Picard :

The Atlantic star stickers are a great way to add a quick accent to any to any or project or perfect for making a fun focal point. For my card I combined them with some pattern paper, thickers, stamps, and of course mists.

Stars are such a classic shape and I love the colours that are offered on this sheet but for my card I decide to jazz them up a bit by adding some Mister Huey’s Mists to alter the colours a little and add some sparkle. I cut a section off of the sheet then misted the Shell and Shine Mists all over this piece being careful not to get them too wet. I then blotted up the excess with a paper towel and dried the stickers with my heat tool.

Here you can see how shimmery they are up close.

(Supplies- Stickers: Atlantic Star Stickers Stamps: Navy Pier June Add On, Paper: Atlantic South Hampton, Thickers: Atlantic Sunrise, Mists: Mister Huey’s Shell, Navy and Calico Shine, Staples: Tiny Attacher , Other: Twine: Lawn Fawn, Metallic Dots: Silver Metallic Decor (Hero Arts), Card stock: Stampin’ Up!)

From Suzy Plantamura :

My two favorite design elements to add to my project life spreads are stars and arrows. They add the perfect finishing touch and draw the eye to the photos. I used the star stickers and chipboard stickers from the Atlantic Collection to bring all my project life card inserts together making it a cohesive spread. 

I made my weekly title card using stamps from the May kits and then added different elements on top including some of the star stickers. I then added the gold chipboard stars to each photo and card insert as well. The star and anchor designs work nicely with my beach pictures that are part of this week. 

I used a piece of patterned paper from the Atlantic 6x6 paper pad that has playful circles with words on them as an insert for a 4x6 slot (cut down to fit). I then covered some of the circles with vellum circles from the die cut set and added stars on top.

I like having a theme for the embellishments I use on each of my spreads to tie it all together. The star stickers added just the perfect touch to finish off my week!

(supplies: patterned paper - Atlantic 6x6 paper pad; stickers - Atlantic star stickers, Atlantic glittered star stickers , Atlantic cork arrow and chevron stickers ; sequins: Atlantic variety sequin pack ; chipboard letters: Atlantic Rockabye thickers; Atlantic Sunrise thickers; die-cuts: Atlantic vellum die-cut shapes; project life cards: Planetarium project life kit; stamps: Planetarium project life kit; brads: Atlantic epoxy brads ; staples: Tiny Attacher ; corner rounding punch: Corner Chomper ; other: digital printable files)

Now that you've seen how our team is using stars, we'd love to see YOUR star studded projects! Link us up in the comments.

weekly challenge | Susan Weinroth & Ashley Cannon Newell

Take out your punches, dies, and cut files because this week is all about using those negative cuts on your projects. You can get so much more out of your punched or cut shapes by using the negative shapes as well, so don't throw those away. Even better - how about you purposefully cut shapes just to use those negative designs. Susan and Ashley have teamed up to take on this challenge.

From Ashley :  I wanted to create a focal backdrop on my card that used a negative shaped images, so I picked my current favorite punch - the mini anchor and punched a few patterned paper strips. I layered the punched paper over contrasting patterned paper. To complete the design, I added the vellum die cut shape and some hemp cord as a border for the patterned paper lines.

Tip: To punch an even anchor design, the first punched image should rest against the punch as you punch the next anchor. Also, save those punched anchor shapes for your next project!

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Atlantic Montauk, Portsmouth, Seabrook, Nantucket, South Hampton; cardstock : Studio Calico white; punch : Studio Calico mini anchor punch ; vellum : Studio Calico Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; hemp cord : Coconut Grove kit)

From Susan : I used the negative of my arrow cut as a foundation for my title.  I added a circle cut around the arrow, and was left with the arrow cut into the circle.  I backed it first with Vellum and then with lime green cardstock (which muted the color).  Then I machine stitched around the edge to finish off the look, before adding title stickers.

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Atlantic Atlantic City, Atlantic Montauk, Atlantic Plymouth, Atlantic Vellum; embellishments: Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; Staples: Tiny Attacher ; other : sequins)

Let's see how you use those negative shapes! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 17th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

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)

wholesale spotlight

Here's a peek at what our Creative Team has been making with the Atlantic Collection! Click on the name of any project & you'll be taken to it in our gallery. From there you can check out the supply list, find more details on how it was made, and even add it to your favorites!

Allison Waken - Balboa :

Amanda Caves - End of 2013 Vol 1 :

Anna-Maria Wolniak - Mom :

weekly challenge | Catherine Davis & MaryAnn Perry

Catherine Davis - We love our triangles around here! For this layout, I thought I would incorporate Atlantic papers with triangles and the Roundabout Triangles Digital Template. After masking some of my photos in the 8.5x11 template, I printed it out and added patterned paper on top of the remaining triangles.

I wanted some dimension on this layout, so I made two of the triangles slightly bigger and cut angles on the edges to fold up. Love the effect. I used this same idea on the edges of the background papers as well.

For accents, I cut off points of the Atlantic Glittered Stars to make little sparkly triangles that I placed around the page. A few splatters of Mister Huey's, some white journaling and a punched out anchor finished things off.

P.S. Look at that shine on the Gold Kraft paper. One of my absolute favorite papers ever!

(Supplies -Studio Calico Atlantic Gold Kraft Paper; Plymouth Paper; Scarbourough Paper;Bridgeport Paper; Portsmouth Paper; Atlantic City Paper; Glittered Star Stickers; Mini Anchor Punch; Mister Huey's Silver; Roundabout Digital Triangle Layout Template.)

From MaryAnn Perry - my Project Life Spread I decided to have fun with triangles in a variety of ways. I incorporated both Studio Calico's Atlantic Collection and the Roundabout Kits to create my week 13 in my Project Life Album.

I used the Roundabout Triangles Digital Template for my title card. I printed the 4x6 card as is and cut out the triangles. I then traced & cut the triangles onto various patterned paper from the Atlantic collection and arranged them to my 4x6 card. I used my sewing machine to attach a 4x6 piece of vellum paper above the triangles. 

I used the Roundabout Triangle Cut Design as a png file in photoshop (instead of cutting it on my cameo) so that I could add journaling right on the Design. I printed Weekly Review Triangle as a 5x7 onto transparency paper and then placed the Atlantic Vellum paper behind it. I used the Atlantic thickers for the #13 beside the week. The week in review protector is sandwiched between two design A page protectors. 

On the second part of the layout I used the 3x4 Roundabout digital template and repeated the same process as I did for the title card.

(Supplies - Studio Calico Atlantic Collection: Atlantic Collection Bundle ; patterned paper: Studio Calico Atlantic Atlantic City- 12x12 double-sided paper , Bridgeport - 12x12 double-sided paper , Scarborough- 12x12 double-sided paper , Atlantic 12x12 Vellum, Atlantic 6x6 paper pad , Letter Stickers: Atlantic Rockabye Thickers ,  Studio Calico - SC alphas-gray , 4x6" Alpha Stickers in Vanilla (Basic Grey)  , Embellishments:Atlantic Burnished Circle Wood Veneer , Atlantic Cork Circle Stickers , Atlantic Cork Arrow & Chevron Stickers , Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes, Atlantic Variety Sequin Pack ; Digital Elements: Atlantic Digital Printable #1 , Atlantic Digital Printable #2 , Roundabout Digital Triangle Layout Template by Catherine Davis , Roundabout Triangle Cut Design by Kinsey Wilson ; Journaling Cards: Currents Card Set ,  BlinksofLife Prompt Cards , 4x3 more grid cards ; Page protectors: Photo Pocket Pages- Design A 12 Pack , 5x7 Page Protectors Becky Higgins; Tools: Tiny Attacher, EK Success Large Photo Labels Punch)

For this week's challenge, we want to see YOUR triangle love! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 10th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

-Catherine Davis & Mary-Ann Perry

sunday sketch

This week, we invited SC member Jessy (jc.chris) to inspire you with her take on our sketches. We knew from her gallery that she has a fabulous eye for design, and we were excited to see her break out a vintage SC kit for her layout.

This week's frame-worthy layout sketch comes from Catherine Davis' Smoothie Girl page from her Roundabout gallery : 

And we're breaking out the banners for our card sketch - it's based on a card from Dani Flanders' Roundabout gallery : 

Jessy says : As soon as I saw the layout sketch, I knew I am gonna have tons of fun with it. I immediately grabbed one of the SC kit randomly and started to play. I love the squares in the layout & thought Instagram photos will be perfect for this. I was delighted to see the chevon & grid papers in the kit, I just have to include them into the layout. I started of by positioning the photos of my baby girl, Katelynn and my cat, Tobes. Then followed by the rest of the papers, all I did was to cut them in different sizes of squares. I also positioned them a wee bit apart. Once I am done with all the positioning, I sewed all around the squares. Lastly, I added tit bits onto the squares for a fun look. This sketch is just perfect for me!

(supplies : Supply list: Story Hour, Illustrated add on - stamp, Sundrifter Wood Veneer Shapes)

If you want to see more of Jessy's work, stop by her Studio Calico gallery or her blog. Thank you for inspiring us this week, Jessy! 

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 10th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

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 : 

weekly challenge | Gayatri Murali & Gillian Nelson

This week, Gayatri and Gillian are teaming up to challenge you to break out your watercolors and use them in your paper crafting!

From Gillian Nelson : While I've always considered myself a "crafty" person, I am not confident whatsoever with the "artsy" stuff.  Drawing, painting...stuff like that.  I'm so much more comfortable with paper and scissors than I am with paper and paintbrushes.  But I looooove the look of watercolors and how it's been making such a beautiful splash in the world of scrapbooking.  I wanted to experiment with using water colors on a layout, but I wasn't willing to ruin an entire sheet of paper by painting directly on the background.  The compromise I came up with was to paint smaller portions of paper that I would then add to my layout afterwards.  I started by cutting watercolor paper into strips that were 1.75 inches wide, and then hand cut triangles from the strips.  I painted each individual triangle with a wash of color (most of them pink, with a few yellow triangles thrown in for visual interest).  Once the paint dried, I outlined each triangle with a thin black line and also inked the edges.  Then I adhered the triangles onto another block of watercolor paper, so that the painted color could really pop against more white.  I used adhesive foam under the yellow triangles for more...say it with me...visual interest.

Then I layered the remaining patterned papers, found places to live for the assorted embellishments, and stuck the photo up there at the top.  Done!  

(Supplies -- patterned papers, acetate diecuts: Roundabout Scrapbook Kit; gold washi tape, "enjoy" banner sticker, gold triangle sequins: Coconut Grove Add-On Kit; letter stickers: Outer Banks Add-On Kit; Studio Calico Hello Today Banner; pen: Precision Pen 0.3-Black; ink: StazOn Ink Pad-Jet Black; foam adhesive: This to That Foam Tab Squares; glue: Martha Stewart Glue Pen; other: sequins, staples)

The watercolors were truly a lot of fun, and while I'm not brave enough yet to paint myself a background like some of the gals on our SC team are so adept at doing, I'm really happy with how my watercolor baby steps turned out.  :)

From Gayatri :  Watercolour background is currently trendy. I love the soft blend of colour using the water colours. They make great background and easy to stamp on it. For my project which is a card, I have decided to use this technique both in the background as free flowing colours as well as in a defined space. 

I have used two water colour techniques on this card. For the background, I have used dry on wet technique. I diluted few drops of each of the neon Mr. Huey on an acrylic block and brushed each colour from the top of the card front using a rounded brush. I let it dry. Then I brushed some water on the pink layer and added few drops of pink neon Mr. Huey and let the colour spread and dry on its own.Then I did the same with the yellow followed by the orange. You can see how the colours have blended and beautifully flowed as well. This adds layer of colours.

While the card front is drying, I masked and stamped the balloons from Coconut Grove June Add-On Card Kit stamp set. There is well defined space in each of the balloons to paint the colours. For this I used wet on wet technique here. For each of the balloon, I first wet the area and while still wet, I added colours from one end to give the gradation of colours. I let it dry on its own. This give beautiful shading to the balloons.

While the balloons are drying, I stamped the large sentiment also from the Coconut Grove June Add-on Card kit stamp set on the bottom of the card front. I then cut of the balloons and adhere them to the card front using foam adhesive. 

The neon colours are intense and bright which is perfect for birthday celebrations.

(Supplies: Mister Huey's Neon My Little Pony, Trapper Keeper & Windbreak, Seafoam and Ocean; Coconut Grove June Add-on Card Kit; Archival Jet Black Ink and Stampers Select White from Papertrey Ink; watercolour brush)

We can't wait to see you give watercolors a try!! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by June 3rd in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.