Studio Calico

tips and tricks with wilna

In this month's tips and tricks, Wilna will show you how to use a mask and wet medium to create this resist technique. If you have any questions, leave a comment and Wilna will answer it in the comments.

 

start to finish video | Allison Waken

 

It's no secret that I love layering in my Project Life spreads and layouts. For this layout I discovered that Project Life cards are already cut to a perfect size and ready to layer. There aren't really any "rules" to layering but I tend to keep the weight of my layers towards the bottom of the layout to "anchor" it down. Distressing the edges of your layers adds another dimension. Have fun with your layers and be sure to share the link here!

(Supplies - Planetarium Project Life Kit, Halley's Comet Project Life Add On, Orion Scrapbook Add On, 4x6" More Grid Cards, 4x3" More Grid Cards, Stazon Ink Pad Jet Black, Tiny Attacher, Mister Huey's Warm Calico)

-Allison Waken

weekly challenge | April Foster and Lisa Truesdell

Hey everyone! This is Lisa Truesdell, and April Foster and I are here with this week's challenge. We're keeping it simple this week - we want you to break out your punches! Even with my Silhouette around, I've still kept most of my basic punches. They're a great way to add a little something extra to any project you're working on.

(Supplies - Lyra add-on; Martha Stewart glue pen; Foam dots; Precision Pen; Glue Glider Pro; square punches)

April gave her square punches a workout on this page - first she punched squares from strips of patterned paper, and then she went back and filled them with words, photos and contrasting paper. She popped the inner squares up on popdots to add some dimension. I love how the squares aren't perfectly lined up on her layout!

(Supplies -Studio Calico Atlantic 6x6 paper pad, cork circles, cork arrows, sequins, 12x12 sticker sheet, glittered stars, star stickers, printables & printable labels; 4x6 More Grid Cards; Planetarium Project Life kit; Darling Dear calendar pockets; punches - Fiskars (circles, star, arrow);other - tiny attacher, washi tape, star clip, date stamps, tags and enamel dots)

I don't always remember to grab my punches when I work on Project Life - but they really are a great fit. Punched paper doesn't add any bulk to the pockets, and it's a fun way to add accents to the empty space on your journaling cards or photos. I stuck with my three favorite shapes - circles, arrows and stars - and repeated them throughout my week.

We can't wait to see how you'll use punches!! Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by May 27th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

sunday sketch

This week, we invited SC member Cristina (username CristinaC) to share her take on one of our sketches. We were thrilled when she sent back a project for each - that means we have double the inspiration to share with you!

First up is our layout sketch, based on Amy Tans's "My Little Cutie" page : 

And here's Cristina's take on the sketch - I love the mix of alphabets in her titlework :

I decided to flip the sketch horizontally to have the photo on the left. I let the title take up lots of room, and hid my journaling - the photo is adhered on a card that flips open to reveal the journaling.

Supplies : Planetarium Scrapbook, Card & PL kits and North Star, Orion & Big Dipper add-ons; Tombow mono adhesive; Martha Stewart glue pen; American Crafts cardstock; Prima chalk ink

And here's this week's card sketch, based on Dana Fleckenstein's "Ahoy Matey" card : 

Cristina followed the sketch fairly closely. I love her color scheme : 

As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew I wanted the sentiment to be the most prominent element of my card. I dug out a journaling card from the March Project Life kit that I had been hoarding, and decided to put it to good use. I debated whether to cut the journaling card down or not, since it is quite large compared to the size of the card, but I decided not to - I think this plays well with my desire to have the sentiment be my focal point. To enforce this further, I added the embellishments directly on top of the journaling card. Originally I had not included the two horizontal paper strips on my card, but I found that adding them really grounded the design.

Supplies : Planetarium PL kit - star sequins; Neverland PL kit - journaling card; Planetarium card kit- grid paper; Lyra add-on - sequins, resin flower, Lawn Fawn trimmings, alpha stickers; North Star add-on - star and polka dot papers; Adhesives - Martha Stewart glue pen, Zig 2 way glue, EK success 3D Dots; card base - Core'dinations

Cristina, thank you so much for sharing these gorgeous projects with us! If you'd like to see more of Cristina's work, please visit her Studio Calico gallery or her blog.

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 May 27th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

wholesale spotlight

Here's a peek at how our Creative Team has been using our Atlantic and Snippets  lines :

Susan Weinroth - Right Now : 

Anna-Maria Wolniak - Summer Loading : 

Joy Taylor - Me Oh My! : 

Bright Idea | Celeste Vermeend

Sometimes when I am lacking inspiration I can find my mojo in unusual places. Occasionally it is magazines etc - but I also like perusing the card designers here at Studio Calico. The detail and also the simplicity of a card can jog my inspiration. Take this lovely card from Joy Taylor (also a fellow Aussie!) from her May card kit gallery:

I was instantly drawn to the sweet layered love heart combined with the more masculine map paper. So I began from there.

I started by layering a star and adding a button to the centre in a similar way to Joy's heart.

I also added the map paper just like Joy in a layer along the bottom and the layout continued to flow from there. A layout is on a much larger scale to that of a card - so obviously I have added a lot more detail including stamping and extra stars and patterned paper. So although the finished layout doesn't really resemble Joy's original card - it was the initial inspiration that got my creativity flowing:

 

Products:

Orion addon kit , Lyra addon kit Planetarium scrapbook kit Big Dipper addon kit

-Celeste Vermeend

weekly challenge | Shanna Noel & Steph Washburn

Hi! For this challenge, we thought it would be fun to create projects featuring the softer, more feminine colors in the Atlantic collection and the Planetarium kits! Check out this gorgeous color combination!

From Steph: When I saw these pretty colors, I knew I wanted to include that pretty vintage lace from the North Star Kit on my card! So soft and pretty! I started by choosing three patterned papers and adhering strips to a thin sheet of printer paper. I cut the Home Sweet Home cut design with my cameo from those papers. I adhered a pretty lace bow to the tag before adhering it to the card front! Then, I printed out a quick "congrats" sentiment and adhered it to the card. A clean and simple, quick card to take along to a housewarming party!

(supplies - patterned paper : Studio Calico Planetarium Card Kit, North Star Kit; vintage lace trim: Studio Calico North Star Kit; digital cut file: Planetarium Home Digital Cut Design; font : KG Eyes Wide Open)

From Shanna: When I first saw the Atlantic collection online I was excited to get it, but when I saw it in person I just feel in love with it! I love all the pinks, yellows and golds intertwined throughout the collection! As I was putting this layout together I wanted to use lots of the papers (which is rare for me!) and thought a layered hex design was in order. I haven't done a layout like this in a long time so it was fun to create a pattern with the papers. Within each hex you have a spot to highlight some of the fun embellishments that come in the Atlantic line. 

(supplies- pattern paper: Studio Calico Atlantic Collection - embellishments; Atlantic Fabric Bows; Atlantic Glitter Stars;  Wood Veneer Hearts - Alphas: Rockabye Thickers Atlantic Collection Tools: MIni Anchor Punch Digital Stamp; Planetarium Digital Stamps ) 

Make a project with our color scheme, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by May 20th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

-Steph Washburn and Shanna Noel

wholesale spotlight

Here's a peek at how our Creative Team has been using our Here+There, Snippets and Sundrifter lines :

Deb Duty - happy place : 

Lucy Abrams - Hello : 

Julie Campbell - way to go : 

Joy Taylor - Hello : 

 

weekly challenge | Anna-Maria Wolniak & Natalia Bun

Hi ladies! Anna-Maria and Natalia here to give you a new challenge for your layout and PL spread. I love quotes and it's always been a huge part of my layouts and PL spread. I love it most when I randomly stumble on a quote, something that's exactly what I needed to hear. When that happens, I always remember to screen grab them on my iPhone to use for my next spread or layout.  So for this challenge, we want you to find a quote that you recently found or one that's been on your mind, something that you really feel and definitely worth scrapping about :)

Anna-Maria used this quote for her layout. "Decide that you want it more then you are afraid of it".

(supplies: patterned paper: 'Planetarium' Scrapbook Main Kit, alphabets: 'Orion' and 'Lyra' Scrapbook add-ons, wooden veneers: 'Big Dipper' Scrapbook add-on andAtlantic Burnished Circle from 'Halley's Comet' PL add-on, printables: Planetarium Digital Printable #1 GS, Planetarium Digital Printable #2 MP, Planetarium Digital Printable Fancy Labels, other: Watercolor Transparent Papers, Mister Huey's Shell and Mister Huey's Seafoam both from Atlantic Collection)

I made a Project Life spread and printed out the quote in 4x6" card. I found this quote on Tumblr recently and I thought it's perfect. Life is indeed a balance of the good and bad.

(supplies: patterned paper - Atlantic 12x12 Vellum, South Hampton, Plymouth, New Haven; Bow - Atlantic Fabric Bows; Atlantic Cork Circles Stickers & Arrows; Atlantic Star Stickers; Atlantic Vellum Die Cut Shapes; Thickers - Atlantic Sunrise)

Make a project for this challenge, then share it in the Studio Calico gallery. Leave us a link to your project by May 13th in the comments here to be entered to win a $5 GC to the Studio Calico Shop.

Thank you!

Natalia & Anna-Maria

NSD at SC | 2013 | PL team challenge 3

See through elements add a bit of fun to any project - whether it's a pocket you can peek through in a Project Life album, a window in the front of a card, or an overlay or sheet of vellum mixed into the layers of a layout to give it more interest. For this challenge, add something transparent to your next creation!

Leena Loh | To make my window card for my PL spread, I cut out a piece of 8 1/4" x 6" pattern paper from Fancy Pants Trend Setter paper from the Big Dipper kit. I then cut a window in the center of that paper leaving about an inch of border all around the 4 edges. Then, I inserted this window card into Becky Higgins 6" x 12" protector, trimmed off the protector top to fit the window card. Next, I machine sewed a U-shape around the inside window card on the protector itself, leaving the top open. I poured in the Atlantic Sequin from my Halley's Comet kit, punched some papers and added into the see through window, together with a few pieces of wood chips from Freckled Fawn (from Big Dipper kit) to make them into confetti. I sewed the top to seal the window card. I machine sewed again across the protector of the see through window card randomly and added Heidi Swapp Clear Pop Letters on top of the protector. 

Julie Campbell | I love the new Atlantic printables & wanted to try them out for this challenge.  I imported the images into my Silhouette software & used the circle tool to cut out a window for my card.  The card base is actually made from an office transparency & it gives the illusion that the "love" die cut is floating in the center of my card.  I added patterned paper to the inside to create a space for writing a message to the recipient.

Celine Navarro | Hey everyone and HAPPY NSD! Let's talk "transparencies" here! Our challenge now is that you use anything see through! For my layout, I glued and then sewed a piece of glitter & star lace curtain that I bought at my favorite Fabric store - look how cool it looks! You can actually see through the fabric and peek at the gorgeous Studio Calico Sundrifter paper. I also used a Studio Calico Sundrifter vellum paper to create a fun and see through pocket near my photo. Whether it is fabric or vellum, you can easily find see-through supplies to create unique and colorful layouts!

To be entered to win a prize from the fabulous Studio Calico prize stash, leave a comment here with a link to your new layout, card or PL spread/cards in the Studio Calico gallery by May 13th. We can't wait to see what you make!