CHA Madness!

So a bunch of us have decided to have a little fun over at Studio Calico
during CHA week.
We were chatting and came up with the idea of a 4 product challenge,
much like they do in Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Except I've changed it to a 5 product challenge because i've lost my dang mind and used 5 instead of four.
Nice.

Thanks to Ally, creative genius =)
for these rules:


Rules:

1. Cardstock counts as a product

2. You may not use ink, chalk, paint etc. (unless you are using it on a stamp that came in a kit)

3. You MAY use any and all types of adhesive - including pop dots, diamond glaze, etc.)

4. You MAY use punches (this could be your saving grace :) )

5. No sewing

6. Sanding/distressing is okay.

I took Ally's challenge and here is what I came up with using the Via Airmail Kit:


Products used:
1. KI memories felt accents
2. Making Memories patterned paper
3. Making memories border sticker
4. Basic Grey alphabet stickers
5. My Mind's Eye die cut.

ETA: Here is another take. On this one I actually used 4 products and I also tried to stretch them as far as I could.
1. The Sassafras paper is the background and the photo mat. I also punched 6 circles from the B Side and then cut smaller pieces of the trim to use within the circles.
2. The Making Memories Chipboard alphas are the titles and also the dots in the scalloped border (I used the centers of letters)
3. The Making memories tag
4. The Making memories ribbon.



So now it's your turn! Post your projects in the gallery and link them here.
No stress on a time frame...let's just say you should have them done by the time
the girlies are back from CHA.

Our sweet Denise (Nichoda) will be providing a prize to the challenge winner.
Thanks, Denise!!

Happy creating everyone!
xo
s

we're sneaky...

but you knew that already right?

with reveal night only 10 days away, the DT has been busy scrapping away with the august kit. let me tell you, it's a FABULOUS kit! the colors are fantastic and i am loving the stamps that come with the kit :)

here is a directory of the sneaks that have been spotted so far:

- steph has been busy! she has some sneaks here and here. i especially love what she did with the butterfly stamp!

- april's use of subtle yet briliant details always leaves me wanting more! her sneaks are here. i can't wait to see the project with all the PP strips!

- dav's sneaks are so pretty! i love what she did with the green trim and she rocked the flocking!

- nik's sneaks are so deliciously sneaky! i love how she created a PP ring border!

and finally, here are a few from me:


i'm sure there will be other sneaks popping up in the next few days - especially after CHA! stay tuned!

-- caroline

scrapping tunes

one of my favorite ways to fire up the scrapping mojo is to turn up the tunes. music is essential while i'm scrapping.

i thought i'd share some recent favorites off my scrapping playlist with you:

(click play and it'll start)

the list:
The Kooks - Ooh La
Joshua Radin (featuring Ingrid Michaelson) - Sky
Ingrid Michaelson - The Hat
Phoenix - Lost and Found
Band of Horses - The Funeral
The Shins - Girl Sailor
Cary Brothers - Honestly
Death Cab for Cutie - Title and Registration
Spoon - Don't You Evah
Stars - Ageless Beauty
Rosie Thomas - Much Farther to Go
Sigur Ros - Vaka
Priscilla Ahn - Dream
My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus
Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Iron and Wine - Lovesong of the Buzzard
The Hives - It Won't Be Long
AC Newman - Miracle Drug

i'm also always open to discovering new tunes...what's been on your playlist lately? :)

-- caroline (yes, i'm taking over the blog this week!)

AC Winner!!!!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:13
Timestamp: 2008-07-15 01:45:16 UTC

That makes ScrapEvangel our winner
Scrap Evangel said...
I think the Flair buttons are my favorite.
July 13, 2008 9:05 PM

Please send an email to info@studiocalico.com with your shipping information.

Another AC giveaway

Thanks to American Crafts for another giveaway to Studio Calico fans!!!



To be eligible for this RAK, you must state your favorite item from their new release (which can be viewed on the AC blog), right here on this blog post. A winner will be randomly chosen tomorrow morning. Let the fun begin!

PARIS

As requested, here are some tips on my PARIS project binder! I wanted to use my binder as a place to organize my thoughts. I love looking through magazines and tearing out any of the pages that inspire me (Country Living, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, and Romantic Homes are some of my recent favorites). Now I can keep some of my favorite inspirations together all in the same place. That is why the title of my binder is "Life Inspired."



To begin my project, I cut out a piece of the Paris map paper just a little bit larger than the open binder. I coated the outside of the binder with acrylic gel medium (although Mod Podge would work just as well) and attached the paper. After it dried, I used a craft knife to trim the paper around the edges, and then I smoothed the edges with a sanding block.

Next, I cut two smaller pieces for each inside cover and repeated the process above.

I decided to keep the inside of the binder simple, so I labeled the clear dividers and decorated one kraft page for the opening of each section. I randomly placed the rest of the pages throughout the binder to fill up with notes and magazine clippings.

I gave my sections the following labels: Learn, Create, Inspire, and Reflect.



My plan is to use the binder to organize website addresses I like to visit (and why), project ideas that I don't want to forget, tips and techniques, and visual inspiration. I used a removable adhesive to attach magazine clippings to the pages, in case I want to remove them later. For full pages that were too big to fit on the binder pages, I turned them sideways and folded them accordion-style so that I can pull them out to view the entire page.





Although I used my PARIS project kit to create an Inspiration Binder, there are so many other possibilities! How about a recipe binder, a personal planner, or an address book? Or, as one of our members suggested (sah11679)... a travel journal! Perfect... why didn't I think of that?

PARIS project kits are still available for purchase. If you haven't already, get yours before they're gone!

Independence Day...and a Challenge.

so while wandering through Etsy, i came across this lovely photo print you see above by the seller 'buckscountyframes'...and it kind of inspired me to scrap a photo from last year's 4th of July parade we used to attend. i just grabbed bits and pieces of red and blue papers i had in my scrap bin and started playing around...this is what i ended up with.

(it's really hard to get a good scan on white cardstock, so i apologize)

so my challenge to you is to use red white and blue on a layout...very simple, right? it could be about anything...it doesn't necessarily have to be about Independence Day. (i realize SC has lots of members who are international, but please don't let that stop you from playing along!) the only stipulation is that you use red, white & blue somehow.

i know how crazy busy everyone is this weekend, so i'll give you until NEXT FRIDAY, July 11th, to upload your work to the SC gallery. and i'm thinking a RAK just might be in order to the winner...

can't wait to see what everyone comes up with...and have a great 4th of July!!

a fun twist.

so we kind of had an idea.

because while our members are always so kind and encouraging every month, letting us know that they enjoyed our DT Gallery and what caught their eye...we don't often get the chance to let THEM know what they created that caught ours. so for a fun twist on that, we thought we would each 'lift' a member's layout for our own galleries this month. remember when we asked everyone to get busy uploading any SC Kit layouts they might havehad laying around? we wanted to fill the member galleries with tons of possibilities for us to choose from...and you all rose to the challenge!! i think i can speak for the entire team when i say that the hard part was choosing just one member per kit...Joy and Jenn just couldn't do it, lol...they each chose 2.

so we were each 'assigned' a kit gallery to look through and decide...here's what we came up with.

NatureMom's 'PolkieDots' layout jumped right out at April from the 'In Session' gallery. i have to say, i can't find one single thing i don't love about this page! April's twist?? she made her own circle border with her trusty circle punches. (that girl can WORK a circle punch, lol.) and instead of a ribbon border, she used some LabelFetti and postage stamps from Making Memories.

AE1Girl's 'Every Day' layout from the Sherwood Forest gallery strikes me for 2 reasons...the tidbits of goodies along the top and the use of that Paper Source calendar paper.
Scarlet chose to mimic the tidbit border as well as place her title in a similar 'frame'.
Greta's 'I Want' layout from the Happy Ending gallery is pure simple perfection. love all of the white space and the colors are just yummy.
so Caroline decided to go 12x12 with her lift of Greta, but kept her title placement and flower transparency in about the same place as the original.
MlePitts' 'She Always Knows' layout from the Farm Fresh gallery makes me smile. the journaling about her children as well as her obvious affection of the color orange just seem so 'Em'.

Davinie used ribbon to mimic Em's black circle near the title but kept her photo placement the same.
Laura Fiore's 'Swing Standing Up' layout from the Fly a Kite gallery is just absolutely beautiful, elegant, feminine and fun...what a cool way to get one of those everyday things down on paper.
Jenn handcut her own die-cut paper, and added her photos on an angle as well. love the trim border separating the pics from the journaling.
NYGirl cut out those diamonds from the Making Memories Harlequin paper that was in Fly a Kite for her 'Mad Skills' layout...using them as a 'shelf' to stand her pics on.

Jenn saw this as an opportunity to do the same with the Jenni Bowlin Harlequin paper in one of this month's add-ons. she stayed with 3 pics as well as the faded/distressed black patterned paper background.

RosePetal9's '1st Grade' layout from the Times Square gallery made good use of that KI red DiscoBall lace paper...acting as a border for her photos.
Joy used the Making Memories Fragile paper to do the same thing with the green circles...placing her title across the top as well.
Aline's 'Panini Love' layout from the Times Square gallery featured a cluster of smaller photos on kraft paper with just the right amount of embellishments.
so Joy used kraft cardstock, but instead of a cluster of pics, she used only 1 with other embellishments for the same effect.


CWL2283's 'Adorable' layout from the Newsstand Gallery caught Kirsty's eye right away with the sweet pic of her dog and the trim along the edge.

Kirsty used a scallop edge at the bottom of the patterned paper as well, but kept the title the same.
Amy Coose's 'I Love' layout from our Hand Picked gallery is chock full of photos, journaling and great little pieces to look at.
Nicole S. decided to keep it to one pic of her sweet babes, but used the Technique Tuesday frame tiles to 'house' her goodies.
Waleska's 'Some Day' layout from the Red Carpet gallery is another example of how simplicity can definitely be a good thing.




and while the 'main' part of my page is 8.5 x11 like Waleska's, i mounted it onto 12x12 cardstock so that i could extend my journaling onto the page without distracting from the photos.

Moonlightgrrl's 'Fall Into You' layout from the Johnny Appleseed gallery uses one pic that speaks 1,000 words.
Stephanie's July In TX layout does the same thing using 2 pics. she also used a cluster of flowery goodies alongside her photos like Diana did.
Erin B.'s 'Almost Thirty' layout from the Billboard gallery features journaling and a pic of herself as she approaches a milestone.
Tina's layout features journaling to herself as well as a slightly different pic to document something about herself at this time in her life.

thanks to each of our members for agreeing to let us put a twist on your work...we all had fun with the challenge, and don't forget to keep posting your work in the gallery using the Kit labels so we can keep them straight. you never know, maybe we'll try this again sometime...

and i think it's clear that if you look around, inspiration can be found just about anywhere.

but nowhere is it more abundant than right here in our SC Member Gallery.

this week's posts shall be picture heavy.

because i'm a visual kinda gal.

so i have something to say on behalf of the entire Design Team here at Studio Calico...you know how you all look forward to Reveal Night? we look forward to it even more than that...if that's possible, lol. we are so antsy to see the gallery flooded with the goodness and creativity that each of our fellow DT members has thought up...how peeps used the product different, what they journaled, just basically their take on the same bag of goodies that we all received. i know for myself, there are a ton of 'a-ha! why didn't i think of that!?' moments, lol...but i just jot those ideas down for future reference and chalk it up to 12 people thinking 12 different ways. then the members start posting when they get their kits, and i have a gajillion more of those A-HA moments!!

so without further ado...here are my fave pics from last night's Reveal gallery...

Ms. Layle Koncar is simply amazing. honestly, she has been one of my fave scrappers for quite some time...and her pages always look so 'together'. i love how she used the Making Memories LabelFetti here as a border! April...this layout has me looking twice and 3 times trying to take it all in. i am amazed at how she cut the photos and paper to fit the outline of the die-cut paper, and the journaling makes me insanely jealous of her travel adventures, lol.
Scarlet...her 'Changing My Course' layout got me right in the heart...and i love that. the wonderful pic of her is perfectly fitting for the title and the way she used the LabelFetti on the left hand side to balance things out is one of those added touches that make a world of difference.


Caroline...again with the journaling! this one totally brings me back to when my husband and i met and started dating...who could ever forget the butterflies and giddiness you feel when it's all fresh and new?! her repetition of pics always catches my eye and reminds me that when you have a picture that 'speaks' to you, there isn't any better way to emphasize your point than to use a few small versions of said pic.
Davinie...with her signature stitching, Dav's layouts always jump out at me. but this time it was all of the pieces hanging off of the 'edge' of the layout that sold me. darling pic of sweet Morgan, and i am a sucker for a mixed font title.
Jenn...i am always noticing that i keep going back to Jenn's gallery every month, and her use of ribbon is just one reason why. she always manages to do something different with it...and plop a few ideas into my brain along the way.

Joy...ok. the tags trailing across the entire layout were the first thing i noticed. but after reading her journaling, it just reinforced the feeling that i already had of just how alike she and i are. we both did 'wishful thinking' travel layouts this month...kindred spirits i tell ya, lol!!
Kirsty...her simple journaling is a message i want my own daughter to appreciate. and did you notice that she hand cut the edge of that blue flower from the paper?! holy X-Acto Knife Batman!!
Nic... Nic never fails to knock my socks off. the clean colors against the crisp white background of 'Berry Sweet' just pop right off of the page...and did anyone else notice how she used the notched edge of that Making Memories paper??!! i think i want to be her when i grow up.

Steph...another kindred spirit. we both journal straight from the heart, and i find myself choking up quite often when reading her work. it touches me...whether it's about her family or herself, i always take the time to read her words. the frame filled with yummy goodness and the bow at the center are AWESOME...why don't i ever put embellishments in the center of my pages?!

Tina...being that she is the other 'typewriter junkie' on this team, i always love that she includes it on her pages. the strips of that same notched edge paper grabbed my attention...and te fact that they were sewn on is perfect.

i know everyone has their favorites. and after looking at my personal picks, i noticed that this month the die-cut papers & how everybody used them really caught my attention.

what caught yours??