Behind the Scenes - a baby book

I have quite a few friends that are pregnant or have just had their babies. My friend had little Jada in November, and when I saw the colors of the last kit, I knew I had to make a baby girl book.


When I make a mini book I think of a few things:

• What is the subject matter?
  
• Who is the book for? A scrapbooker, a non-scrapper, a grandma, a new mom?
• How much handling is the book going to get?

As I considered these questions. I decided to go with an easy to handle, easy to clean and easy to travel with 4x6 photo book. These type of books are very quick for a new mom to "fill," and they are also pretty rough and tumble. I love using these traditional books in a new way by filling some of the pages with photos and some with scrapbook pages.



On the opening page I included the vital statistics of Jada as a newborn. There is also room for a newborn photo of her.


In the following pages I followed a simple pattern that was easy to duplicate and relatively flat, I also left room with the awesome SC stamp for Jada's mom to fill in some of the things that happened during that month.


At the back of the brag book there is plenty of room for extra photos that the family might want to include and carry around with them.

Let me know if you try one of these quick and easy brag books for anyone in your life. I'd love to see them.

This would be a perfect purse accessory for a new mom, or a doting auntie, or especially a gramma who wants to show off all those wonderful grandkids!

Tiny Banner Challenge!

** Updated with... Celine's "Tiny Banner" page! **


I love love LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE how artsy and unique and totally creative Celine's work is! And a pom-pom trim tiny banner....?!?? GENIUS!!!! :)

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Hi Guys! Susan here with my first post for the SC blog... & first challenge! Woohoo :)

I have been obsessed with pennant banners for a while now. Really, who hasn't?! Whether made of paper, felt, or fabric - they are so cute & adorable and add a festive touch to any decor. And so, the super-talented Celine (who will be hosting the blog with me this week!) came up with the idea for our "little challenge" this week...

Add a Tiny Banner to your Layout!!!

Can I tell you how much I LOVE this challenge?! Here is my page...

I punched out triangles from both solid cardstock & also from cardstock that I had misted for my title banner, and then added Studio Calico Homefront letter stickers. I machine stitched through the top of the "banner" and left the ends of the thread hanging (instead of trimming it like I normally would).

We would love to see you try to use a Tiny Banner on your page too! Doesn't have to be a pennant style banner (but it could be!) - really just whatever type of banner inspires you... You have until Saturday night at midnight PST to enter this challenge... the (random) winner will be awarded a $5 gift card to the Studio Calico shop!

The Story Behind the Page - You Monsters

Happy Friday! Based on our new blog schedule "insider tips" posts are supposed to be on Thursdays....but yesterday flew by me without a chance to get on here and post. So today I'm going to post a quick little bit about how I created my layout called "You Monsters" from October's gallery. Kelly will get us back on our normal schedule later today I'm sure!

As soon as I saw the Sassafras monster paper I knew I had to cut out those cute little guys and use them somehow. Especially since we've been battling our own little set of 3 monsters here lately in the Samuels household. I don't know if it's the start of school, new schedules, different routines, or what...but lately all three of my kids have had a major case of the late afternoon crankys. It's almost like between 4-6pm they morph into these alter egos and lose their normal sweet selves! Anyways, I digress. So in an attempt to capture this season of life I thought the Sass monsters would be perfect!

First, I had the kiddos each pick out which monster they wanted to be. heehee. Yes, I really did. :) And they loved it. Then together we came up with what their monster names should be. It was funny because they were really quite accurate at coming up with appropriate names for themselves...which makes me think they KNOW which behaviors are bad! We have Grumpus for Jack, Whine Ball for Connor, and Queenie for Cate.

Then I found some photos of them all looking sweet, innocent and loveable to contrast with the monster theme and started designing the page. I did the journaling last (as I always do) and typed it out so that I'd have more room. I basically did a sum up of each kid, pointing out their normal sweet characteristics and then warning about their monster alter ego specialties. It was a fun way to journal and makes my kids laugh when I read it to them. Why? Because it's so true and they know it! LOL Plus, it's been a great reminder to them when they do start acting up now. I just start calling them their monster name and it lightens the mood immediately. Who knew scrapping would play a role in behavior management! ;)

Anyways, if you have any questions about the layout, post them here. Thanks for reading! :)

New Additions

We've had a few changes around the office lately and I thought that I would use my blog post today to introduce you to our new team members.


First, let me introduce Kristen & Bella. Kristen is our new graphic designer and Bella is her faithful 4 legged friend.

Kristen is a student at Western KY University and will be graduating in December. I wanted all of you to get to know her, so I concocted some interview questions to give you a little insight into our new team member.

1. Why did you choose graphic design as a career? (I had to start her off with an easy one to break the ice)

I chose graphic design because even at a young age I had a huge imagination and was always into arts & crafts. In 4th grade I was my teacher's "Art Princess". It's always fascinated me because the possibilities are endless and it's far from boring. So naturally graphic design was right up my ally.

2. What is your favorite aspect of design?

I enjoy the challenge that it gives me. Most people think that its an easy mindless job, but in fact it can be challenging. I like overcoming this factor and seeing the end result and how much progress I made along the way.

3. What made you apply for the job at Studio Calico?

Good Question. I have a lot on my plate as it is with doing another internship with WKU (Imagewest) and taking three classes. I've always loved scrapbooking and wanted to get into a job just like this to learn more about it. With the two weeks I've been here, I've learned so much more about scrapbooking then I had ever imagined. It's fun.

4. What was your first impression of Studio Calico?

I like the peaceful drive to work and I think the whole concept of the company is very interesting!

5. What has been the most surprising thing about your job at Studio Calico so far?

That I can bring my dog to work! I love it! Because I felt like a bad mom with never having time to spend with her. But really that I have learned as much as I have so far. I'm learning more and more everyday

6. What is your favorite pattern? Least favorite pattern?

I like all patterns usually. More so bright and lively than dull. I like stripes and circles as well. Least favorite.. anything with like skulls on it, I don't know why but not a big fan of the skulls. (I know that many of you out there are also anti-skull....this should make you happy!)

7. If you could name your own font, what would you name it?

Kristen of course, but since that font is already in existence (not a very exciting font if you ask me) I would name it "Bubbles" and it would be big fat bubble letters with polka dots in them.

8. What is the most rewarding part of being a designer?

Seeing my work made public. It's an amazing feeling to be able to point and say I DID THAT!!

9. Tell us the story of Bella.

Bella is the love of my life. I am so obsessed with her. She has the most loving personality and a great snuggler :) I am a pet person. I LOVE any and all pets. Mostly dogs but I've had almost every pet possible. So naturally when i went away to college and my mom got rid of my yellow lab i was devastated. I lived in a place that didn't allow dogs for 2 years so when we moved out i convinced my roommate to move into a place that was pet friendly for our last semester. She agreed but my mom did not. She kept telling me to wait until i had a house, a dog is so much responsibility esp a puppy, you need to wait. Well, she was right, moms are always right. Bella is soo much more responsibility then i had ever imagined. But i think I'm better for it. She does limit me sometimes, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. She always puts a smile on my face (but not when she chews up my computer power cord or pees EVERYWHERE because she gets excited) I have so much fun with her. I got her from the humane society when she was 4 months and she is now 7 months weighing in at 21 pounds. No idea what she is they didn't know her mom or dad, but she looks like a mini boxer, and greyhound mixed with a whole lot of other stuff. So who knows but that's her story in a nutshell :) (We are all dog lover's here, so I had to throw this one in....it makes me all warm and fuzzy)

10. What is your favorite drink?

Easy, Chi Tea. It's like coffee for me. Don't try it unless you want to be addicted. (In my opinion)

You all know how much we love Sonic drinks around here....she's young and we will work on her and try to get her to see the light! There is nothing better than a Sonic drink!

While I'm at it, I'm going to go ahead and introduce you to another new arrival. Her name is Ava and she is the cutest little bundle of joy you have ever seen!

Ava is Carter's little sister....her Mommy is Cara. Some of you know Cara because you see her name in your kit every month, she is one of our dedicated kit packers. We missed her like crazy while she was out on maternity leave and I, for one, am so excited that she is back working with us again!! One good thing about Studio Calico, we love babies and dogs!

That's all for me today....Emily's got something good planned for tomorrow....stay tuned!
Lorie

School Layout ideas

There are so many ways to "tackle" the school scrapbook. Some people do a page for the first day and the last day of school. Some people have an entire book dedicated to school pages. Some people interview their kids every year. Some people have pre-made an entire "school years" book and just add the essentials as their kids pass from grade to grade, school photo, report card, journaling about their teacher, etc.

As you can see....many ways to tackle the beast.

Here are a few examples of some school related layouts by the SC DT:

These first two are from Nicole S. I love how she used her sons handwriting in this layout. That is a great way to record some history from your students perspective.

Kelly N is up next. I love how she documented all the hats her son wore home from his Pre-K classroom.

copyright CK Media

I love how Maggie used stars to promote the "school theme." This one with the journaling inside the star knocks my socks off.

These last two are by me...I used tags on these so my kids could write their favorite things we do in school. School stuff is a little harder for me, because we homeschool, but I love how these turned out.

Some a-gourding fans to cheer you on in the challenge! ;)

Just wanted to pop on here to encourage you all to give the Two Pager challenge a try! I saw a few pages pop up in the gallery the other day....can't wait to see more! (For more details on the challenge scroll down a post or two here.) And to help cheer you on, here are some friends I brought along....



I made these yesterday with my kids after a trip to the local pumpkin patch. These are the little gourd pumpkins. Tiny little guys. And I saw the idea for these in Family Fun magazine this month. We just painted them all black (it took two coats to completely hide the orange). Then I cut out some bat wings from black cardstock along with some little bat ears. I attached the wings and ears with little stickpins. The magazine suggests taping a skewer onto the back of the wings and sticking them on that way. Which would make the wings more durable. I may need to go back and do that. Then I cut the eyes out of some white cardstock and punched "pupils" with a hole punch. Glue dotted them on and viola....some little fun bats for our front step! My kiddos loved this. :)

Anyways, keep those two pagers coming! Go team!