Studio Calico

from layout to card | Joy Taylor

Hi there, Joy here sharing a card inspired by a layout...

I chose to search through this months kits layouts, boy it was hard to narrow down, the creative layout team has some awesome creations this month and so it took me quite some time to narrow it down, but there was one that I seem to keep coming back to and that was this one you see below of Sasha's..


My eye was really caught on how she collaged all those fun embellishments to the centre of her project and then the addition of the scatters of hearts..



The starting point to creating my card was what I saw on Sasha's layout, that being the Slide Frames that she had chosen to use as a central focus point, so I decided a fun Journal Card as my focus point, from there I built up my embellishments like Sasha had on her layout.

By adding the layers of Cork Stickers, Vellum Die Cuts, Anchor Die Cut from Patterned Paper and Gold Star Stickers and finishing the card by adding Thickers to create a sentiment.

Here are a couple of close up photos of my card.

(supplies - Studio Calico Atlantic 6 x 6 Paper Pad, Vellum Die Cut Shapes, Glittered Star Stickers, Rockabye Thickers, Cork Arrow and Chevron Stickers, Cork Circle Stickers

Love that choosing inspiration from a layout can still be maintained on a smaller scale to a card, I hope you will all try this out.

Have a great day! - Joy Taylor

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

from card to layout

Hi everyone! It's Robyn Werlich here with a fun Inspiration Challenge for you today! I love to find inspiration in a card and convert it to a layout design. Inspiration can be found anywhere! I was inspired by this great card from Maile Belles in the Spencer's Card Kit Gallery. I love how she used a huge triangle for her background - it is graphic and clean and makes a huge pop! So, I took that idea and made a background full of large triangles. I cut triangles with my Silhouette Cameo machine out of different pieces of paper from the Studio Calico Here & There collection. I loved the 'eat now' drawn element in that patterned paper and so I created a layout all about my daughters struggles with eating and the road we are taking to help her. I added a bunch of those amazing circle stickers, popped up with foam dots along the border to add an extra embellishment to the page. 

Take a peek at the Card Gallery and see where you can find inspiration for your layouts! I promise you'll be inspired!

Supplies:
Patterned Paper - Studio Calico Here & There San Francisco, Chattanooga, Bowling Green, Santa Fe, 6x6 Paper Pad; Stickers: Here & There Circle Sticker Sheet; Badges: Here & There; Mist: Studio Calico Splash & First Kiss; Silhouette Cameo, other: cardstock, sewing, pop-dots, stamps

-Robyn Werlich

 

from layout to card

I chose this gorgeous layout by the incredible Anna-Maria Wolniak as the inspiration for my card. Isn't it chock-full of inspiring elements and details. 

 Then, I considered how to turn it into a card... First, I sketched out my card design, choosing to use Anna-Maria's background in a similar way on my card. I chose a similar patterned paper from the Sundrifter 6 x 6 pad, and added lots of Calico White and Calico Shine Mister Huey's. Then I focused on layering up some embellishments. I wanted to stick to the same color scheme, so chose aqua and white, with some woodgrain elements to echo the kraft and bamboo paper in the layout. I love the little arrow she added above her photo, and was inspired to add one to my card too.  Finally, I added some Thickers. 

(Supplies: Patterned Paper - Studio Calico Sundrifter 6 x 6 Pad; Stamp - Snippets Miss You So Much; Chipboard Sticker - Snippets Speech Bubbles; Alphas - Sundrifter Ombre Aqua Thickers; Feather Stickers - Sundrifter Die Cut Shapes; Mister Huey's Calico Shine and Calico White; Veneer - Front Row Project Life Kit; Arrow - Front Row Scrapbook Kit; Ink - Hero Arts Black Dye Ink; Other - Cardstock.)

So using a layout to inspire a card is easy, and really fun too. Give it a try, and link it up in the comments - I'd love to see it!

-Lucy Abrams

from layout to card

Inspiration for a card design can come from pretty much anywhere, and one that I’ve played around with for today’s card is using scrapbook layouts as a starting point.  Layouts are obviously made on a much larger scale.  But when looked at with the right point of view you can pinpoint many inspiring ideas, which are perfect for jumpstarting a card.  Take for example Tina Aszmus' simple but striking page…

What appealed to me the most was the amount of white space and the flow of the design through the placement of the photo and additional elements.  I knew I could scale this entire layout down and make it work on the smaller canvas of a card.  Other times, it’s also possible to take just a portion of a layout and us it as the basis of a card.

By taking cues from Tina’s amazing layout, here’s what I was able to come up with…

I loved how the photo, embellishments and sentiment were all grouped horizontally at an angle.  To mimic this look, I trimmed a cardstock strip and placed it onto a card base in the same direction.  I then chose to place my sentiment in almost the exact same position as in the layout.

To give my card a bit of movement, I took note of the grouped embellishments in Tina’s design and carefully arranged mine.  A strip of chevron washi tape, a row of tiny stamped triangles and a few well-placed mistable arrows help to lead your eye directly to the sentiment.

When using a scrapbook layout as a jumping off point for designing a card, make sure to take cues from the colors used, basic shape placement, embellishment placement, shrinking the entire design or a portion of the design, basically… capturing the essence of the layout on a smaller scale.  I hope I’ve encouraged all of you to take a closer look at your favorite layouts and see the potential they holds for a card or two.

(supplies: cardstock - PTI rustic white; ink - Hero Arts Shadow Ink soft pool; stamps & mistable arrows - Central High card kit; washi tape & alpha letter stickers - Style Guide add-on)

Now that's a bright idea

I am in love with the Baby Smash Folio! The pages are super cute and make the creative process very easy. Not only are the backgrounds already chosen but they are super inspiring to me so it gets me excited to create each page!! I love the smaller size which is perfect for instagram photos and also forces me to keep things a little more simple. All of this adds up to getting the pages done quickly, which in my busy life is a true blessing!!

supplies: magnetic smash clips, binder smash clips, Baby smash folio, slick writer black fine

Bright Idea

Hello! 
I'm here today to show you my Smash book project that's a work in progress. The size of this particular Smash book was some what daunting but after brainstorming with a friend, she suggested I use it to house my magazine clippings. The large size is perfect for a torn out page and adding notes. So that's what I did. 

First, I wanted to personalize the cover to fit my style. That's what I love most about these Smash books. They're a perfect canvas to mist, paint and stamp on. I chose to use the Mister Huey's Calico Shine over some letter stencils & vinyl stickers purchased at my local arts & craft store. I'm a huge fan of tone on tone coloring. The Calico Shine is the perfect way to achieve that look. 


As you can see, I added a mixture of FabRips to the binding as well. Although I like purple, the color didn't suite the style I was after. Covering it with the FabRips was a great solution.

For the title page, I wanted to sort of catalogue my favorite washi and decorative tapes. I covered the page in bits of squares not looking for perfection. 

Here's a little peek of some of the pages I've been working on. Like I mentioned, it's a work in progress. I hope to fill it with all my clippings and ideas from 2012. 

supplies: Pretty Pocket Smash Portfolio, Adhesive Smash Inserts, Swatch Smash Tape, Mister Huey's Calico Shine, Honey Bee scissors, vinyl stickers, letter stencils, washi tape, Silhouette, AC Precision Pen, ProGlide glue gun, Take Note Gray Strip FabRip, Abroad Filmstip FabRip, Abroad Map FabRip, Take Note Woodgrain FabRip.

The Smash books are filled with some really cool pages, pockets and envelopes. All they need are your ideas. :)

now that's a bright idea

We've got a special guest today! Misty Buck is here to show us her colorful stamped greeting card!

 Supplies: SC/Hero Arts "Hooray" stamp set, Fiskars Cloud Punches, Stampin' Up Tempting Turquoise and Basic Black Ink, ZIG bullet tip markers in yellow and Aqua, Fiskars 1/8" and1/4" hole punches

"I had so much fun making this card. I've had this idea in my head for a while...to do some pointalism styled cards with my paper scraps that I just can't bear to get rid of. I dug into my color coordinated scrap bags and punched my little heart out with different sized hole punches (I would love to have one of those circle confetti punches). Next, I drew the outline of my rainbow and the lines marking off the different colors. It took a bit of time to glue down my rainbow but I think it was totally worth it. :)

I drew the grassy knolls on scraps of green and used my x-acto blade to cut them out. Next,I stamped my clouds from the Studio Calico "Hooray" stamp set and popped them up on the card. I added the "Hello" sentiment a few more dots with my Zig Markers and called this card finished! I'm so happy with the way it came out and I love that my punches coordinate with these awesome stamps."

Thanks so much Misty! You can see more of her beautiful cards on her blog.