July 2013 Studio Calico kit - Valley High

I'm a bit behind in my posting again - it is time to catch up!  My excuse is kind of funny.  I spilled wine on my computer a few weeks ago and now several keys on my computer don't work.  I took it in to get fixed, but the $800 estimate  was a bit to much for me to spend on a five year old computer.  So to type, I have to copy and paste the letters that don't work from other places and it is a major PITA!!!  So typing out a blog post is not as easy as it seems!

For today's post, I'm sharing the projects that I created with my July Studio  Calico kit, Valley High.  Most of the projects that I created this month have lots of other stuff thrown in from older kits or my stash.  I also just noticed that EVERY SINGLE layout has Crate frames from the Pier collection.  I love them!

Iconic

LHR

4th of July

Lots of Crate Paper from the Pier collection on this one.  

N.E. Aquarium

I  realized that I was kind of on a grid rut when I look at these layouts, but I love grids!  

Have a great week everyone! 

4th of July Projects

I thought I would sneak in these two projects before the month of July came to an end.  Craig's brother, nephew, and his nephew's friend came from France to spend three weeks in the USA during the month of July.  They arrived in Boston on the 3rd and spent the 4th of July holiday with us.  We took them to a Red Sox game, out for BBQ and to the Boston fireworks.  It was great but it was so extremely HOT! We snuck in to see a movie in between the dinner and fireworks just to cool off.

I started with the Crate Paper "The Pier" collection because I want to use as much of my supply up of that before the next collections come out.  I added a few items from July's Studio Calico kit and a few older kits as well.  One of my favorite items on the layout is the "4th of July" printable.  I had never printed or used one before and I may be hooked!  It added just the right touch to my page.  This one was a free one from the Two Peas digital store.

I made this card a while ago in an attempt to use up a huge roll of washi tape.  I put two strips of washi tape on the cardstock and then used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the flag shape.  I backed the card with the red and blue patterned papers.  Unfortunately, I forgot to send the card out this year.  

Did you create any projects for the 4th of July holiday?

Have a great week everyone!

June 2013 Studio Calico kit - Roundabout

I'm a bit behind in posting my projects with last month's Studio Calico kit - but better late than never!

I have only created two projects with June's kit - not because I didn't like the kit, but it has been a pretty crazy month with not much time for scrapping.

My first layout that I created was "Boston Strong."

I wanted to do something with the photos that I have been taking of the make-shift memorial for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings. It has been in Copley Square, across the street from my office, since the square reopened after the bombings, so I walk by it all the time. The city took all of the items away a few weeks ago to be archived.

My second layout uses a great piece of patterned paper from the Crate collection "The Pier."  The paper really reminded me of a vintage wallpaper pattern, so I tried to think of some photos that would work.  I remembered these photos taken with my IPhone from an afternoon tea while my hubby and I were in London this May.

I added some pops of gold which has become one of my favorite things to do lately.  

Hopefully, I'll have a little more time to play with July's kit and have more to share next month.

How many many projects did you create with June's kit  - or did summer fun get in the way?

Have a good week everyone!

  

  

May 2013 Studio Calico kit - Planetarium

Well, I don't know where the month has gone, but it is way past time for another "what I did with the month's Studio Calico kit from the time the kit arrived until the next month's kit arrived."  So here it is!

This first one is my favorite of the month.  The photos are from a cruise that my hubby and I went on several years ago.  

The page just didn't seem complete until I added the hemp twine across the top.  I think it looks a bit like a fisherman's net - perfect for an ocean page!

This next page documents our New Year's Eve tradition.  We always make Cioppino (a seafood stew) for our dinner.  Sometimes it is the two of us and sometimes we have a party, but we always serve Cioppino!

This next page just documents a Saturday we spent together recently.  I told my hubby that we could do whatever he wanted to do for the whole day.  We ended up going to a concert, going out for lunch, and then going to a movie.  My hubby loves to be out and about!

My last page has a lot of gold, glitter, and sequins!  We went to see the musical "Rock of Ages" when we were in London last month.  Towards the end of the production, there was gold confetti being thrown into the audience.  Of course, I had to pick some up to save for a scrapbook page!  The next day, we went back to take a few pictures of the front of the theatre since we couldn't take any pictures the night before.

I decided to play up the gold and cut my title out of gold POW glitter paper, used the gold and craft paper from Studio Calico, gold sequins and I punched out some more confetti out of the POW glitter paper.  Not my "normal" style (which I'm not sure what that is), but I think it turned out fun!

How many projects were you able to make with Studio Calico's May kit?

Have a good week everyone!

March 2013 Studio Calico kit - Neverland

Another month, another "what I did with my Studio Calico kit from the time it arrived at my door until the next month's kit arrived" post.

I got just the main kit this month, but picked up a few products from Two Peas that were in some of the add-ons.  I liked the kit, but didn't feel that the kit included enough embellishments.  There was a mask and a mini Mr. Huey in the kit, which is a fun idea (OCCASIONALLY), but I think it made the kit seem a little light.  Anyways.

The first layout is a photo of my husband's cousins daughter.  She was a flower girl at her uncle's wedding in France last month that I was lucky enough to be able to go to.

I started with the kit but then I decided I wanted to add some gold to the layout and it went a whole different direction.  I love using gold POW glitter paper in my Silhouette. 

The next layout is of my husband just after the wedding.  He was a groomsman and during the ceremony he and the five other groomsmen had to take turns holding crowns over the heads of the bride and groom.  It was not an easy task and this picture shows how glad he was that it was finally over!

I had picked up some Maggie Holmes line from Crate Paper and used some of that along with some washi from a previous kit.  I mixed some Mr. Huey with a bit of water and "painted" part of the background and then I went in and added some splatters.

"Shine" is a layout of my niece at the wedding.  Again, I started with the kit and then went a whole different direction, using more Maggie Holmes line and other bits from my stash.

The next layout is a really fun one.  There's a story behind the title that I typed out and is in the little Alison Kreft mini bags.  Basically, the story goes - Craig and I spent a day in New York City with my mom and dad and they both ordered meatloaf for lunch.  Out of all of the fabulous food that NYC has to offer, they ordered something they eat at home regularly!  This was way back in 1997 and the story has been told and re-told numerous times and my husband pretty much can't talk to my mom without mentioning meatloaf.

The photos aren't great and they aren't even at the restaurant where we had lunch that day (they are from that trip though.)  The photos really seemed to convey the feel of the story though.

So, how many projects did you get done with Neverland?

Have a great week everyone!

Shine

I love Crate Paper products and buy most of their entire collections and use them a lot.  I had decided to pass on getting the Maggie Holmes collection that was released at CHA this January though.  Then I went to my LSS and saw it in person - LOVE!!!  The product that sold me was the stitched fabric frames.  So adorable.  Since I had to have those, I had to buy matching papers and some stickers.  After I got home, I decided I really needed duplicates of some of the papers and added them to my cart at Two Peas.  I have used bits of the collection on my last three layouts!

I'm also excited about a second Pop Off the Page class being taught by Jen Jockish at Studio Calico.  I loved the first class and signed up for the second right away!  I created this layout in the spirit of that class.  

I started with a Maggie Holmes patterned patterned paper and stitched fabric frame.  The rub-ons and "E" are from the March Studio Calico kit.  Everything else was bits and pieces from a previous kit or from my stash.  I'm in love with gold POW glitter paper right now and used it for my title and some punched butterflies.

The photo is of my niece from France who I saw last month when I went to my husband's cousins wedding in Nice.  I love how happy and beautiful she looks in the photo and thought "Shine" was an appropriate title.

Have a great week everyone!

  

Crate Paper "On Trend" Collection

Way back in August, I won the Crate Color Challenge (yay!)  You can see my layout here.  As the winner of the challenge, I got to choose a Crate collection as my prize.  Since I pretty much had almost every other collection, I chose one that was just being released "On Trend."   I had to wait for a while to get my prize as it was still being manufactured at the time that I chose it.

The package finally came last week and I couldn't wait to open it - it was much heavier than I expected!  Crate was so generous!  Not only did I get the collection pack, but they also sent a sheet of chipboard stickers, 3 packs of Thickers, a sheet of mini alphas, tape stickers, vellum garlands, brads and buttons, and a 6" X 6" paper pad.  WOO HOO!!  What a haul!

I wanted to create something with all my goodies and knew that this picture of me that my husband took last weekend would be perfect.  I had gone to my salon to have an "up-do" for a wedding that we went to.  I loved the way my hair turned out and the picture turned out really good, too!

I'm taking the "Cut It Out" class from Studio Calico this month and I used the POW glitter paper and the vellum from the class.  The tissue paper came in a package that I ordered from Etsy and I used it as part of the matting to add some texture.

Have a great week everyone!

I AM a cardmaker!

(She tells herself, a bit unconvincingly.)

  I never considered myself a cardmaker.  I don't make a lot of cards.  I struggle with them much more than with a scrapbook page.  I make them mostly to use up excess supplies.

However, I have made cards that are good enough to be published - three of them!  So, I decided to embrace calling myself a cardmaker.

With cards, I generally start out with a sketch, a challenge, or I lift a card I saw somewhere (but only if I am  just sending the card to someone - not if I am submitting it.)  Cards magazine has a sketch and a style challenge each month, so sometimes I create something for that.  The style challenge for January 2013 is:  the colors chartreuse, aqua, light grey, with the element tags.

 

I went through my stash of Crate papers because they always have the best chartreuse colored patterned papers.    I found a chartreuse and an aqua in the Pretty Party collection pack.  I had a great tag from an older Studio Calico kit that I knew that I wanted to use.  I cut two more tags out using my Slice and decorated the card with butterflies, a border sticker and my favorite embellishment - a mini clothespin.

I think it came out pretty cute!!

So, do you scrapbook and make cards?  Do you enjoy creating one more than the other?  Are you better at cardmaking or scrapbooking?  I'd love to know!

Have a great week everyone!

June Crate Color Challenge

Here is the color palette for the June Crate Color Challenge:

I decided to create a page with a picture of a bowl of fresh strawberries from a farmer's market that I took last summer.  I thought that the green of the colander in the photo would offset all the pinks in the color palette.

I used all Crate Paper products from the Paper Heart and Pretty Party Collections.  The stamp for the letters F-R-E-S-H are from the Studio Calico set sold here.  The font for the word strawberries can be downloaded here.  I tried to play around with lots of fun layering on this layout and I love the way it turned out!!

Wish me luck and have a great week everyone!!

April 2012 Studio Calico - City of Lights

Every month this year, I have been sharing all of the layouts and/or cards that I create with my Studio Calico kit from the time the kit arrives until the time the new kit arrives.  I love seeing them all together!  I'm a little late this month, but here are my projects from the April 2012 kit, City of Lights.

I always claim not to be a huge washi user, but as I posted the first four projects from the April 2012 kit, I noticed that I used washi on all four of them.  I LOVE the yellow chevron washi from the kit!  In this layout, "this is the life,"  I used it to cover the wooden sun embellishment.

I love the Prairie Hill collection from Pink Paislee and as soon as I saw the yellow dotted paper in the kit, I knew I was going to scrap this photo of me on my first birthday.  The color and the vintage feel of the papers were perfect.

I used the Pink Paislee mask that was included in the kit on this layout.  The nozzle on my Sunshine Mr. Huey wasn't working quite right and was more blotchy than I wanted it to be.  I almost decided to start over, but I decided just to go with it, and I love the way that the layout turned out.

I created a card for my husband's 43rd birthday with the kit.  It turned out so cute, I decided to submit it to Cards magazine and it was picked up to be published in the October 2012 issue.  Woot!

I was inspired to create this layout when I saw this bicycle silhouette in the Silhouette design store.  I knew I had a vintage photo of a little girl on a bike.  The photo is of my dad's cousin, Lorraine, from 1945.  I used bits and pieces from older kits in this layout.

This is my favorite layout that I created from the kit.  I created this layout for the May Crate color challenge and the SC triangle challenge on NSD.  I have always loved this photo that I took of my husband on a walk we took on the beach on a fall day.  The color combination from the challenge seemed perfect for the layout.  I wasn't the winner of the challenge, but my layout was featured on the Crate blog (see sidebar.)

I've opened the May 2012 Studio Calico kit, 35mm, but I've only created one layout with it so far.  I better get going if I am going to feature my layouts from the kit next month!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to share this Mother's Day layout today that I created about a year and a half ago.  I had submitted the layout to Scrapbook Trends and it appeared in the May 2011 issue, so I haven't shared it here before.   The call was for Mother's Day layouts and at first I thought - I haven't spent a Mother's Day with my mom in the past twenty years or so, I don't have anything for this call.  That made me think that maybe I should create a Mother's Day layout about just that - that just because I'm not with my mom on Mother's Day, that doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about her and that I still love her very much.  

The photo of my mom is probably from about 1968, so before I was even born.  I love the photo because it reminds me how much I look like her!

I used mostly Crate Paper's Restoration line on this layout (my favorite line, EVER!)  I made hand-rolled flowers that were perfect for this page.  I created a hidden journaling tag, as I wanted the note to be more private.

I'm having the layout framed for her for Mother's Day.  I hope she loves it!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

May Crate Color Challenge

I was able to spend most of the evening on Saturday scrapbooking for National Scrapbooking Day.  I decided to combine the May Crate Color Challenge with a Studio Calico challenge - triangles.  Two birds with one stone!  

I loved the color combination that Crate chose.

I had hoped to get more than one layout done on Saturday, but this one took quite a bit of time!  I ended up with 65 triangles on my page that had to be individually cut, adhered, and then sewed down.  I love the way it turned out though.

I used all Crate papers from three different lines:  Pretty Party, Paper Heart, and Farmhouse.  The wood frame was from Story Teller.  The orange button, die cut butterfly and the journaling label were all from Pretty Party.  I love how all of Crate's collections mix so well together.

I didn't add Mr. Huey to the layout until the very end and it terrified me a bit!  I almost didn't do it, thinking I could easily ruin hours of work, but I think it turned out great.  I used "sunshine" Mr. Huey - one of my favorite colors.

Have a great week everyone!