October 2012 Studio Calico - Roller Rink

My November 2012 Studio Calico kit arrived on my front porch Thursday night, so it is time for another blog post featuring all of the projects that I completed with the previous month's kit.

In October I got the main kit and two add-ons (kind of by mistake - I had a code for $25 that expired at the end of the month and forgot to use it when I purchased the first add-on - opps!!)  I have never bought two add-ons before and won't anytime soon - it is WAY too much for me!  I got a total of four layouts and two cards created with the kit.

This layout is my favorite of the month.

I call my little kitty by many names - and usually not by his real name!  I just thought this was a fun way to use the MME "Hello My Name Is" tag.  I cut the tag in half and used the bottom half at the top of the page under the banner.

This page I created with a photo I took of Craig's grandma Mayme on her 92nd birthday this summer.  

I thought the combination of colors and patterns had a very "antiquey" feel to them - a perfect look to scrapbook a layout about her age!

This layout I scrapbooked after Hurricane Sandy.  

My sister has pointed out that I printed "Irene" instead of Sandy - I'll have to fix that at some point!  We were lucky and didn't even lose power or anything.  We did have lots and lots of twigs and branches that we had to pick up this weekend though.

This layout is about my Grandma and Grandpa Booth's kitchen.

I usually ask for my mom's help when journaling about something from a long time ago, but this time I didn't.  I wanted to write down what I remembered without having my memories confirmed or denied.  

My last project was a card for my dad for Veteran's Day.  I was going to make a few 4th of July cards to use up some of the red/blue lined washi in the kit and I realized that the same card could be used for Veteran's Day.

This isn't the card that I sent to my dad - his was on kraft cardstock.  After I sent it, I wanted to see if it would look better on white and I think it does.

Have a great week everyone and enjoy your Veteran's Day holiday!

June 2012 Studio Calico - So Cal

I only got two layouts done with June's Studio Calico kit, So Cal.  (I've been averaging about 4-6 this year.)  It is partly that I was away on vacation for a week and partly because I just wasn't feeling the kit - even though I really love the looks of it!  Oh, well, it happens!

The first layout I created was pictures of me, my husband, and my nephew being silly while spending a few days on the Cape.  I though the MME "White Wash" paper was perfect for the background and then just went with the colors from the photos from there.  

I used Mr. Huey to color the American Crafts Thickers and the color was way too bright at first (I think I used sunshine  - possibly orchard?)  I put a layer of Mr. Huey in white over that and the color came out perfectly.

The next layout is of me and my cat, Elliott.  He likes to lay on my chest, peering into my face when I am trying to nap.  I thought this would be a good photo to use as a 12" X12" that is so popular right now.  I printed the photo on American Crafts vanilla cardstock as I didn't have photo paper that large.  

I kept the embellishments pretty simple for this one, using my Silhouette to cut out a few hearts, and coloring the American Crafts Thickers for the title with Mr.  Huey again.

This layout was featured in the Studio Calico So Cal Member Picks video.  It was so fun to see my layout there!  You can see it here along with other great layouts created from So Cal.

That's it for June's Studio Calico kit.  I have July sitting on my desk and already have a few ideas for this one so I hope I have more to share next month.

Have a great week everyone!

Do you choose photos or paper first?

This question was asked on a Studio Calico message board over the weekend and I immediately thought of this layout that I recently created.  I had the photo printed in 2008 and I never made a layout with it until I saw this MME paper that came in the May 2012 Studio Calico kit, 35mm.

The photo is of a Christmas tree that we saw in the Cayman  Islands while we were on a cruise there.  The tree was made of driftwood and had a ocean creature theme.  The paper was perfect for the photo and the layout came together really easily after that.  The kit had just the right embellishments and pops of orange and turquoise.

I used a lot new Heidi Swapp on this layout - the banner, the mistable letters and I used part of a memory file.  I wasn't convinced about the memory file at first, but I loved using three of the pages from it to add some dimension and extra room for photos and journaling.  Here's one of the interior pages.

I printed some journaling on patterned paper for the next interior page.  

I also was really surprised that I loved the black and white dotted Bazzill paper that was in the kit.  It is a really thin paper, not like other patterned papers thickness at all.  I discovered that is is perfect to pleat and crumble and I decided that I liked it so much, I bought a few more sheets of it at my LSS.

I find that most of the time, I try to find photos that fit the kit since I am most often times working with the most current kit.  If I have a photo that I want to scrap, I'll look through the photos of kits first and find a kit that fits the photo.  

How do you choose?  Photos or paper first?

Have a great week everyone!

Booth Family Photo Shoot

tQuite a few years ago, I saw a layout in a Creating Keepsakes magazine that had a great idea.  I think it was the 4th of July or some other summer event and they used a flag as a backdrop and took photos of each family member.  That idea stuck in my head and in 2009, I did a similar photo shoot.  My family is usually only all together once or twice a year.  When I went home that summer, I borrowed a quilt from my mom, hung it over a swing-set in my brother's back yard and did a family photo shoot.  I took photos of each individual, each family and then the entire family.  It was a lot of fun and I love that I have these photos!

The layout was created with the March 2012 Studio Calico kit, Story Hour.  I used the Silhouette Cameo for the letters "BOOTH FAMILY"  - the font is Dream Orphans.  I also cut the leaves out with my Sil and then hand-stitched the lines in the center.  The flowers were made by Amy Tan exclusively for the Studio Calico kit.  I really need to make some of these!  

Creating this layout made me realize that we haven't done this the past couple of years.  I really hope that we do a Booth family photo shoot again this summer!  

Have a great week everyone!

black sand beaches of Iceland

Six years ago, we vacationed in Iceland with my in-laws.  I still can't believe that I went there - it was so amazing.  We climbed volcanos, rode Icelandic horses, walked black sand beaches, went to the Blue Lagoon, snowmobiled on the tops of glaciers, saw the most amazing waterfalls.  I've been thinking lately that we need to go again!

I have so many pictures from this trip and this is the first one that I have scrapbooked - I'll have to get on that.  When I saw the gray Crate Paper from the Story Teller Collection in the March Studio Calico kit, I knew this was the picture that I wanted to create a layout with.  The photo is my husband on a black sand beach in Vik, the southernmost village in Iceland.

I started researching about the beach a bit online because I couldn't remember that much about it.  The beach was actually named one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world one year.  It is pretty amazing that I got to go there.

I used my Silhouette for the title and for the blue doily behind the photo.  Everything on the page was from the Studio Calico March 2012 kit.  The mist is Mr. Huey in Calico White.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great week!

   

Happy Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share a layout that I created over the weekend with the February 2012 Studio Calico kit, Daydream Believer.  Such a great kit!  The layout is a really old photo of my grandparents, Art and Ruth.  I'll have to ask my mom about when she thinks the photo was taken - I'm not sure, but it could maybe be around 1920? 

My mother gave me my grandma Ruth's wedding ring and wedding band several years ago and I have been wearing them ever since.  I could tell that the band was inscribed, but I couldn't make out what it said.  When I was at my parent's house over Christmas, I asked my dad for a magnifying glass (because dads have those kinds of things!) so that I could try to read the inscription.  We were in the living room and as I could make out each letter, I read them aloud:  A L - R G Apr 19.  Those were my grandparent's initials and their wedding date.

My mother instantly teared up.  I'm not sure what she was thinking about or remembering, but seeing the inscription made me think about my grandparents long before they were grandparents.  It made me think about them being young and in love and excited about getting married and spending the rest of their lives together.  I don't think we really think about our grandparents that way too often. 

Here is a close up of the journaling card that I created:

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Bowling Layouts

My most recently completed layout was totally inspired by this retro bowling sign for the Silhouette. 

Love it!  My parents took the whole family out for pizza and bowling the day after Christmas, so I had some recent photos to work with.  I looked through the Studio Calico kits that I had and thought that the colors of an older kit, Summer Camp, would be perfect.  The strip of paper at the top even matched the stars from the Bowl sign.

The photos are four of my nieces and nephews that bowled that day.

Here's a close up of that BOWL sign.  I layered it over another Silhouette layered banner.  How fun is that!

I had created another bowling layout about a year or so ago and went to take a peek at it in my Studio Calico gallery.  I couldn't believe that I used the same kit for two different bowling layouts - how funny is that?  Here is the other layout:

Have a great week everyone!

Thanksgiving Menu

I'm never very good about getting photos of our Thanksgiving Day and this year was no different.  I took one photo and it was of the turkey that we smoked.  I decided to make a layout with a post card that my mother sent, the photo of the turkey, and our menu.

Just a disclaimer - that 11 pound turkey and the entire menu was for two people.  Just me and my husband!  We've been doing really good eating the leftovers.  My favorite way to use Thanksgiving leftovers is to make turkey empanadas.  So yummy!

I used mostly the November 2011 Studio Calico kit for the layout.  The frame was from an earlier kit and   I used some older Making Memories letter for the word 'pull.'  My mother had written a note on the back of the postcard and I wanted to include that on the layout.

I created a little tag with her note printed on it and hid the journaling behind the postcard.  

Have a great week everyone!

Saturday Night Pomegranate Martini

My husband and I usually spend our Saturday nights cooking a great meal together.  We might make homemade ravioli stuffed with gorgonzola with a brown butter walnut sauce or we might make it a Spanish tapas night.  We might grill lobsters or crab legs and eat outside.  Sometimes we make Thai.  We recently had an all habanero night with our habanero crop from the garden.  No matter what we make to eat, we always start out the night with a pomegranate martini.  I love them!

I used the September 2011 Studio Calico kit Glee Club and added some BasicGrey letter stickers because they were the perfect color for the word "pomegranate."  I misted with Studio Calico's Mr. Huey piglet.  I don't mist too often and I love what it added to my page.

Just in case you can't read the recipe:

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. 100% pure pomegranate juice

1/4 oz. grand mariner

Shake over ice, strain, and enjoy!

Have a great Saturday everyone!