Friday, December 27, 2013

A closer look at "Go BE the LOVE"

YAY! It's reveal over at Studio Calico!!!! Instead of showing you all my layouts in one long post without much detail, I thought I would take them one at a time and share a little more on the though behind the process as well.



The first thing this layout was inspired by: the amazing colors in the kit. Particularly I fell in love with the Nvy Blue and the Lime Greens in the kits. I never knew how much I loved them until this kit came into my craft room! For this layout I mainly use:







and High Point for those GEO TAGS!!! Oh my heavens I love those!


These Peerless watercolors also helped me to create this dreamy background!

To start I sat down with my thoughts, and my photography of my beautiful daughter  LOL jK!!! I went shopping!!! I bought this watercolor paper at my local art supply store that is called a "brick", esentially it means both sides of the paper are glued to the pad so that when you paint the paper it doesn't bubble up!! How awesome is that!? Why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner?!

The moment I got home I saw this image on pinterest (I am a preschool teacher so I follow a lot of other teachers)




When I taught Pre-K one of their favorite things to do was bubble paint (which is slightly different than the image above, but it sparked the memory) bascially what you do is put some dish soap, watercolor, muster huey or paint and water in a small cup, or bowl. Stir it all up and grab a STRAW! Yup! A STRAW!!! Then you start blowing bubbles in your solution (like when we use to blow bubbles in our chocolate milk) until it floats to the top, then you take your paper and lay it on top and it creates these lovely watercolored circles. Now this really isn't an exact science, its very organic so just go with it! 

Once I was done with the watercoloring I was really able to see where I wanted this layout to go. Using the ncy cardstock to give this dreamy layout an achor I pulled other colors that were similar from the kits. I knew i wanted that bird paper in there some where, so I just add to add a little snip of that!  The title came from the sermon I had heard the Sunday before and it just stuck with me, I love that sentiment! 

I thought I was done before I added the geo tags, and I am so glad I thought to add those later because they are one of my favorite parts now! 

If you try this technique I would love to see! Link me up!!

talk to you soon, enjoy creating!







Monday, December 23, 2013

Copper Mountain SnEAKS!!!!

Ladies, and I think there may be a Gentleman that reads this *cough cough Jonathan*.... THE COLORS in Copper Mountain have stolen my heart, especially the GREEN and NAVY combo, oh my heavens! I wanted to share some sneaks with you today!












I had so much fun creating this year in review layout (my one of many, right?!) are you going to make anything like that to wrap up your year? If so, what approach are you taking? I would love to see it!!


Are you all signed up for your Copper Mountain kits? If not, make sure to sign up here.. 

STUDIO CALICO KITS (scroll to the bottom of the page) 

For those of you who are already signed up, I always like to check out my subs at the beginigng of the year, and right now is the PERFECT time to EXTEND your subscription because Studio Calico is giving you BONUS points for doing so!!! How fun is that? Use the following cards to rack up your points!

 SBBONUS, CARDBONUS, PLBONUS




Have an amazing day! And Happy Christmas EVE!!

xox

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The dream behind WANDERLUST!!!!

Yay Yay YAY HIP HIP horrrrray!!!! I get to share my little secret with you guys! I am EXCITED to announce my second line with Studio Calico, WANDERLUST!!! Before I share with you some of the products I am MOST excited about, I wanted to share with out a little mood board I made that reflects where I was coming from with this line. I wanted to create a travel line that was more about the PLACES you have gone, but also spoke to the PLACE you HOPE to go. This really is a line for dreamers, wanderlusters, and the journey this life takes us on!




Okay friends, how FAB will these numbers be on your scrapbook page, card, or a pocket page?! With your favorite patterned paper tucked behind? Yes PLEASE!


Anything cork= LOVE, MINI FLAIR and hello I have wanted these scrap pads back for years! So excited to have this treasure back!


Did you check out this 3 inch roller stamp!?!? I can't wait to see this bad boy in person. And yes, we all need this little punch in our lives, don't we? 


I will be ordering 400 of these, how about you?


These little cards have stolen my heart, I think they would not only be perfect for Project Life, but any card, tag or special event!


I am a HUGE fan of anything HANDBOOK so I was so excited to have these added to this collection!



So what do you say, are you a DREAMER?! 

xox







Monday, December 16, 2013

Dollar Spot Stocking Stuffer Tutorial

Happy Monday! With only a little over a week before Christmas I wanted to share a quick and fun stocking stuffer idea with you. Chrismtas is at our house, so I like to make sure the adults are as well covered as the kids, with 8 adults here for Christmas that can get a little crazy and expensive. So I like to come up with help Santa come up with some affordable ideas.

So when I  saw these adorble journals in the dollar section of Target, I knew I had to grab them! So I grabbed enough for all the women in our family and knew I could come up with something fun with them!


When I had the house to myself for a moment or two I took them out and went to work. This really is the fun part for me. I got these out with NO idea what I would do with them, so I just took out some supplies that I thought may work. I really love these metal letters but they didn't end up working on my project today, but I did find these basic grey alpha letters that ended up working well! That is what I LOVE about my Studio Calico kits, I often have supplies left over for on the whim projects li
ke this!


From there I started to push around my supplies until it started to come together. I love having basic supplies on hand like doilieslarge white tags , non-stick snips, tiny attatcher & refills.


From there I just sewed together some bits of fabric, tags, ribbons etc while adding a tag and a letter. I used this firs journal as a template to quickly put together my other journals! Once i hit this point it came together very quickly. 


At this point I thought it might be fun to add a button closure to add an extra special detail (I am sorry but I am a sucker for anything with a button on it!). So I pulled out a grey button along with my Amy Tangerine sewing kit. 


I don't mind the messy look of this, to me it goes with the front! So I simply added some washi and twine and used my sewing machine to secure them to the back cover. 


Then pulling the twine around the front, I simple wrapped them around the button to close the journal. 



Super easy, personalized gift!! Once you get started on these I promise you will whip them out in a couple minuets, and they are so much fun to make! Who wouldn't love this personalized journal on Chrismtas morning? 


Thanks for stopping by! And remember, if you make one, 
let me know! I would love to leave some love!

xox





Friday, December 13, 2013

Day By Day & What Project Life Means to ME!




Hiya! Thanks for stopping by! I know with the holidays it is nearly impossible to think about 2014. But I wanted to make sure that you all had the chance to get on board with the FIRST class in 2014 at STUDIO CALICO- DAY BY DAY. For 2014, I want to do Project Life in a way that inspires me to keep going, while documenting our every day life in an authentic way.


So as I was prepping for my video in the Day by Day class I was reflecting on what Project Life has meant to me in 2013.


Project Life has meant I documented the first month of my 
husband being home from deployment. 


Project Life means that in the middle of winter I can remember the warm epic summer we had!


Project life means I have photographs of MYSELF in my albums. 



Project Life (and instagram) means I had their trip documented before they even got home! 




So when I have those days when I think that Project Life is TOO MUCH, it takes TOO MUCH time, I just take a moment to look back on my albums. Now my ONLY regret is that I didn't start sooner! Which means if you aren't already signed up for your Project Life kits to start hitting your door step in 2014, do so now!! You can easily sign up HERE for your kits. And while you are at it, join us in DAY BY DAY at Studio Calico, to make sure your stay on track and inspired for 2014. 


I can't wait to see you in class,  and I wanted to share this little peek as I prep for my VIDEO!


xoxo 






Tuesday, December 10, 2013

3 cards in 15 mins - inspired by 1 layout




Happy Tuesday! One of my goals for 2014 is to send more letters, cards etc. I feel silly when I am in a pinch and need to send out a card and end up pulling out one of the pre-made ones I have tucked in a drawer. I mean, HELLO I have a craft room full of products that inspire me, there really is no excuse. But the one I often like to make is "I have no time!", does that sound familiar?  So I set out with some goals.

1. Make three cards in 15 minuets. 
2. Find inspiration in work I have already created
3. Use the kit I have on my desk. 

The kit sitting on my desk was Blue Note



The layout I decided to take my inspiration from 




I simply used the scraps on my desk that I had out from making my Blue Note projects. 


Then I made 3 card bases with white card stock and started with the same composition on each card. Simply using the washi tapes that came in the kits, and a piece of paper in the same manner. 


I took 3 labels and added them to the cards as well as the adorable stickers. 


I also knew I wanted to add the sewing detail that 
I had on my layout so I added that quickly to all of my cards.



From there I had the base of the design done and started to
 design each card on it's own with the supplies I had right around me. 


I always cut all my cut files for the month on white right when
 I get them to have them on hand so the "believe" was an easy add! 




I love that after only 15 mins and simply using the supplies I already had out I now have 3 cards ready to send out to some of my favorite people! 

So here is my challenge for you! The next time you make a layout, take 15 mins. afterwards and make a couple cards! Link me up, I would love to leave you some love!! 

xox