challenge : scrap a summer photo

Hello, Studio Calico friends! =) Kelly and I are hosting the blog this week, and we are planning on bringing you a week of summertime inspiration. We're winding down the long Memorial Day weekend here in the US, which unofficially kicks off summer. School is almost (or already!) out, the weather is getting warmer, and we're spending more and more time outside.


(partly sunny + rec league,oa word stickers, tiny attacher, turquoise mist, large monarch double punch, photo label punch)

I made this page for the Partly Sunny gallery (and while the main kit has sold out, there are still add-ons available!)- the photo was taken less than three weeks ago. I love seeing how each season impacts our everyday routines - since this photo was taken, the jeans and long sleeves have been packed away and my boys are in full time shorts and sandals mode. Homework has been traded for sprinkler time, and the late nights are no longer a novelty. We're in full on summer mode.

Our challenge to you for this week is an easy one - scrap a summertime photo. Whether it's recent or an older shot, get a little piece of your summer captured on a page. Once you've finished your page, link it up on this thread and let us see it. We'll close the entries at midnight EST on Saturday, and draw a winner for a $5 gift certificate for everyone's favorite shop on Sunday. I'll be back with my summertime page later this week!

Partly Sunny Favorites

I completely forgot that I was supposed to blog yesterday. I'm really sorry. I went hiking in Boulder with the family then we had friends over for swimming and kabobs. It was a delightful day, completely void of any thought that I had a job to do! So I hope that perusal through the Partly Sunny gallery will make up for it. :)

Also I'd like announce the winner of Sasha's rub on challenge, it's Rimna! Please send your information to info@studiocalico.dom stating you're the winner of Sasha's Rub on Challenge for the week of May 24. Congrats! Here's her layout:


And now the DT gallery favorites, through my eyes. I decided to go backward through the gallery this time. So enjoy!

I had a hard time picking a favorite from Waleska's gallery this month, they were all fun and happy, but I think this one won because of the banner. I love how she stamped underneath it and then added the fabric swatches over top. And those faces? How could you not smile at them?

Not Tina's typical style, but it is totally fitting for the topic she journaled about here. I think that's why I love it. Her journaling is absolute joy on paper. Everything on this page has a reason of being there. Love how she chose her title too, it's a fun way to use the strip.
I wanted to pick Airplane Alert for my favorite, just because I loved it in Susan's sneaks, but come on, how can you not laugh and smile at that picture? I thing Susan's happy selection of papers and embellishment perfectly highlight an adorable baby. :)

I love the way Steph W. captures her 6 years with her sweetie. A fun way to look at things that can seem so day to day. I love hwo she used the MM flowers, the perfect little touches to a beautiful layout. And the paint and stamping balance so nicely with the K&Co paper lace, pretty.
Hee hee, Steph H. made this before she knew about twins and I think that's part of the reason this one is my favorite this month. I just LOVE the stamped starbursts around the circles, brilliant, but the journaling is the best part. Well, that and how she turned the 8 into an S. Um, cool.

I love how Sasha took a couple of different papers and used bits and pieces of them to compliment the Jenni Bowlin Coredinations paper. What a fun finishing touch to add the stitching. I love the "Impossible Nothing" she added with the MS punches. Very cool.

By no means is this kind of layout unique. Lots of scrappers have captured whole season on a page before, but the way Nicole S. has designed this one is so beautiful. Her strips of paper between the photos and the center so nice and clean allow the photos to shine.
This one by Nicole H makes me giggle for a couple of reasons. First, I'm at the bottom of the technology latter as far as it comes to phones. And I know when I some day convert as she has, I'll be the EXACT SAME WAY. Secondly, it's green. Could that be any more perfect? I also LOVE the look of the bubbles punched cardstock over the striped MME paper from Front Porch. Lovely.

Bright colors popping against the fun Cosmo Coredinations is one of the things that I loved about this layout, but then I noticed the green stitching and that won me over Maggie!

See how easy it is to bring momentos from your life into your scrapping? I adore how Lisa used the tag from her son's birthday/mother's day trip to a cupcake shop in her layout. It's front and center, but doesn't take away from the fabulous photos. Great way to use that stamp too!

I love how Laura can capture so much in such few supplies. Her stitching and type always pull me in to study. and then she does the cute little heart over the top of the yellow and it just makes me smile.


Yep, I was right. I knew I'd love this one by Kelly. The colors just POP on the dark cardstock and combined with those hilarious pictures of Brady, well this one went into my favorites pile pretty quickly. I love how Kelly used the banner stamp too.
Although she had a bunch of masterful layouts in her gallery this month, I REALLY LIKE Joy's idea. Pre-make a summer fun album and fill it in as you go. What a clever idea for capturing your summer before it slips away. You can tell this is a momma who's good at planning ahead. Since summer officially starts for me this weekend, I'd love to slap something together, now i have a template to copy. :)
Always one for her happy combinations of paper and color, Jenn did not disappoint this month. I love how sh used the cloud paper tucked into all her strips of color to represent a rainbow. Beautiful!

I knew when I saw her sneaks I'd like this layout. I was even more pleasantly surprised! the way Davinie brought in the fabric swatches with the Jillibean flowers from Front Porch makes this layout sing of summer.
Celine's album was so beautifully put together, I really loved how she combined the green/yellow/browns in the kit and made a fun album about her friends.
This alphabet set was the reason I bought Front Porch as my add on this month. I love how April took hers a step up and colored them. It's absolute genius! And what a fun look at her 9 years of marriage, congrats April and Greg!
Finally we come to Mou Saha's gallery. I love Mou's style, probably because we're both inot handwriting your journaling. It always pulls me in on her pages. I love the perspective on this photo, and the planes are just fun.

The Mind Behind the Mini

I'm not much of a mini-maker. I really don't have a place to put little albums, don't want to stick them in a drawer, and most times I just don't finish them.

But this month when the big box of goodness arrived on my doorstep, I was a bit baffled with what to do with the Maya Road chipboard banners. I had recently posted some faux TTV pictures on my blog, and I thought that it would be a good idea to start a charm bracelet-esque mini for my travels. One that I can add to each time I visit a new place.


I used my most favorite Studio Calico stamps - the Noah Alphabet Set to abbreviate the cities, like "NY" , "CHI", and "NOLA."


Then on each opposing banner, I wrote what year the trip was, where we went and who I was with.


I added my pictures, some bright bits, punched holes, inked the edges with Black Staz-On, sprayed a layer of Charcoal Mist and strung it all together on a ball chain.


I'm really excited at how it turned out. Are you a mini-maker?

tutorial : misted monogram

Happy Wednesday, all!! I'm here today to share the misting technique that I used on my "B" layout in the Joyland gallery.





I have to admit that I came at this page backwards. I was flipping through Real Simple and came across this page and fell in love with the large monogram.



I loved the size of the letter in relation to the other bits and pieces on the page, as well as the detail of the thinner, curving lines within the letter. I knew I wanted to recreate the look with mist, and begun flipping through my photos and old blog entries in search of anything that lent it self to being scrapped with a monogram. When I came to an entry talking about how Ben had the longest name in his first grade class, I knew it would be the perfect story to go with my technique.



I started by printing a large "B" in light gray (to save ink) on regular printer paper. I cut out my B and placed it in about the same place as it was in my inspiration piece. I chose a simple, sans serif font - I didn't want it to compete with the other details I knew I'd be adding.



I placed the sheet in my misting box and sprayed it with turquoise mist - I concentrated most of it towards the B mask, so that the outline would be well defined.



After I'd sprayed the mist, I took my printed B and drew a thinner version and cut it out. I used this as a pattern to cut my patterned paper to fit inside the masked off B on the page. I added stitched lines curving out from the body of the B to mimic the look of the inspiration piece.



Once my monogram was finished, I added strips of patterned paper and paper tape, as well as photos in one of the K&Co Handmade frames. I used the alphabet border stamp to fill in some awkward space under my patterned paper - it fit the space and tied in to the theme. One of the Schooltime ABC borders would have worked well, too.



This could also be a really fun technique for a set of monogrammed notecards, or maybe even on place cards at a dinner party. It would also work well for any short title for a layout. I can't wait to see what you all do with it. =)

-Lisa

tutorial : printed canvas background

Happy Wednesday!! I'm here today with a fun way to use the iron on transfer paper and canvas that comes in the Patchwork add-on.



I started by choosing a few pieces of Alex's schoolwork and scanning them. I tried to find pieces with different colors and designs. Once they were scanned, I opened a blank 8.5x11in document and combined bits and pieces of each into one document. I knew I was going to place a 4x6 photo of the left side of the canvas, so I made sure to keep my favorite bits and pieces - like his signature and drawing - visible.



The next step is to flatten all of the layers and flip the document. I used PSE 7 for this - I went to the image menu and then "flip horizontal"



I printed the document on regular paper, just to get a sense of how it would look on the page and make sure everything was correct. I sized the image down 1/2in on both sides, just to make sure nothing would be cut off.



Since I was happy with the image, I loaded the iron on transfer paper into my printer and printed the image again. I then followed the directions to iron the image onto the canvas in Patchwork. The higher contrast pieces worked best - I found that Alex's pencil diagrams on green construction paper didn't transfer as well as I would have liked.



I stitched the canvas in place on a piece of vanilla cardstock, and then added a title, and some patterned paper and veneer accent from the Wedding Ring Add-On. I also stamped journaling lines with the notebook paper stamp (perfect for the theme of the page!) using Spiced Marmalade Distress ink.



To create these star accents, I punched scrap paper with the Fiskars Twinkle Twinkle punches in Med and XL. I attached the scrap paper to the back of the veneer from Wedding Ring and then cut around them. I stapled them with my Tiny Attacher and attached to the page using glue dots.



I added a bit more stitching and some of the Studio Calico patterned paper from the main kit (it's sold out, but you can still get it in the more patterned paper add-on) to finish the page.



I also used the iron on transfer paper for my banner, but once again, not with a photo - I scanned vintage ledger paper. I hope this inspires you to think beyond photos for using the iron on transfer paper from Patchwork- there are so many fun ways to use it.

PS : Even after both of these projects, I still have good sized pieces of all of the fabrics left, and I haven't even touched the Making Memories felt accents or the satin ribbon that comes with Patchwork. I love that I still have enough leftovers to do even more projects!

Valentine's Mini Tag Book! ...A Tutorial

In honor of this weekend's holiday, I thought I'd make a little mini tag book for my sweetie. This is a really easy project that anyone can put together,
and chances are, you already have everything you need to make it.


For the tag book, I gathered some basic supplies:

• Studio Calico Silhouette stamps
• Studio Calico Heart Tag stamp set from Whodunit
• Maya Mist in Silver
• Staz On ink in Jet Black
• Scissors
• Office supply tag
• Scrap paper
• Stapler
• Black pen

This would also be a great time to use any punches you have.


First, I folded my tag in half. I stamped a heart onto a piece of scrap paper, cut the heart out and made a mask out of it. I sprayed Maya Mist directly on top of the heart and removed the shape once the mist dried.


Then, I took my Staz On ink and stamped directly where the mask was.


Then, I gathered scrap paper for my inside pages. I cut about 6 little double-sided sheets to fit right inside my tag, then folded them in half.

You can really use any kind of paper you want here, vintage, ledger, patterned...I experimented with some white washing, but decided not to use the paper for a layout, but decided the finished product was perfect for my tag book.

I stamped the girl silhouette on the right side of one paper, and flipped the boy stamp over to stamp it on the left side of another piece of paper.



Once I finished stamping, I folded my "pages" and arranged them in order.



Then I folded the book in half and trimmed off the excess corners.



Then I flattened the book out and stapled the spine right on top of the fold.


Of course, you can decorate the pages before or after you assemble your book. I did most of my embellishing after, and here's how mine turned out:



That's it! Easy peasy. If you decide to make your own tag book, feel free to link it up!

xoxo,

Steph W.

tutorial : misted & stitched background

Hi all! While you're waiting ever so patiently for the February kits and gallery to go live, I thought I'd try to provide a little distraction in the form of a tutorial. I was working on this page for this week's sketch and had quite a bit of fun creating my own background using misting and stitching, and wanted to share how I did it.



I started by cutting my patterned paper (I used one of the grid patterns on a B side of a Basic Grey Origins piece that was in the Whodunit kit) to size and laying out a pattern of punched circles. I just punched them out of scrap paper that was in my misting box - it looks kind of cool as is, doesn't it? I might have to use that idea on another page. =)



I then carefully lifted the paper and placed it in my misting box, and gave it a few sprays with Lemon Maya Mist.



Here's the background after misting. I kept it light enough so that the grid pattern was still fairly visible.



I wanted to add more texture to the page, so I threaded my sewing machine with yellow thread and stitched a wonky spiral in each circle. I just stitched around and around, pivoting the paper with my fingers as I stitched. I didn't slow down or pay any attention to keeping my lines evenly spaced - I wanted an uneven, funky look.



Once I started laying out the rest of my page, I felt like the bottom half still needed a bit of a punch. I started by punching stars with my Fiskars Twinkle Twinkle punch from the same grid paper and spraying them with more Lemon Maya Mist, and then adding them to all of the large circles.



To finish the bottom half of the page, I stapled each star in place, and added some journaling strips and a little bird stamp from one of the Whodunit add-ons stamped in Timber Brown Staz-On. I also added glitter brads from the upcoming Scones add-on to each smaller circle.



To finish the top of the page, I added a strip of Basic Grey patterned paper (from the upcoming Tea Cakes add-on) and some Prima printed canvas (it's in the upcoming Petit Fours add-on), as well as a Jenni Bowlin circle die cut and wood letters from the Whodunit kit and add-ons. Another stamped birdie and two pins from one of the Orchestra add-ons finish the page.

I hope you're inspired play around with sewing, masking and misting to see what kind of fun backgrounds and accents you can create - if you do, please send me a link, I'd love to see it! I also encourage you to play with mixing and matching your kit leftovers - it's a great way to give those leftover bits a new look.