Studio Calico

Kill My Studio Calico Kit: November 2015 – Canyonlands

| cristina

After a few months of hiatus, I’m back with my Kill My Studio Calico Kit series! It’s time to kill Canyonlands, the November ’15 scrapbook kit ($34.99). This is the sixth installment of this series, and in total I have made a whopping 73 layouts!

Kits get released the first of the month, but one of the perks of being a subscriber is that you can make some early purchases on the 22nd of the month before, often at a pretty sweet discount – in this case, I was able to buy the embellishment kit Redstone for only $8.99.
And who am I kidding?? I probably would have bought it anyway! Puffy gold alphas, fun plastic shapes, and some pink? Sign me up! 🙂
Notes: Even though the A sides of the main kit shown here are a little more muted than my style calls for, I love the papers this month. The B sides have some bright colors that I put to good use. I LOVE the stamp, the gold foiled leaves, the gold tag, the wood alpha and the rubber pieces.
Kill my Studio Calico kit is a monthly series I started on my blog to hold myself accountable and use up my kits.
You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.
 
Status: killed!
I made 11 layouts (8 12″x12″, 2 8.5″x11″) for a total of $43.98, or $4/page. I supplemented the kit with some cardstock from my stash, stamps, and the odd embellishment. Here’s a roundup of all the pages I made:
And here’s what’s left over:
Leftovers: I am so happy I still have plenty of those gold puffy stickers! I will combine them with the December kit, Lollipop Guild, as I think they are perfect for Christmas.

And here is a look at each page I made.
I thought the fun patterned paper matched these colorful photos pretty well.
I love the gold foiled leaves that come in the scrapbook kit! I did some stamping with colored inks to match the arrows from the Redstone embellishment kit. I also used this lovely Thankful stamp+die – it’s so versatile! Perfect for Thanksgiving of course, but really good year-round too.
This page was inspired by the January scrapbook workshop taught by Paige Evans. I love how it turned out!

I really loved this darker paper in the kit, and decided to cut it up in circles. I also covered up the wood numbers from the Redstone embellishment kit with it. The big “2015” is stamped using the Mega Date Stamp  (love it!!)

This page was inspired by the year-long Art 2 Heart workshop by Wilna Furstenberg. I love her!! I used some die cut embellishments from my stash on this page.

On this page I also used some embellishments from my stash, and the Mega Date Stamp of course!

After these pages that were made in January, the kit pretty much sat unused until I got my recent purchases from the kit sale… that got me motivated to kill this kit before I move to the next one. So I made these next 4 pages all in one night, after dinner!

The cardstock is from my stash but the rest is from the kit, apart from the leaves that are stamped with the wood stamp from the Wink Wink kit.

That wooden alpha is one of my favorite things in the kit, and the leftovers were so pretty that I decided to use them as a design element.

The Mojito Color Theory dye ink matched the rubber embellishment perfectly!

I think this was my favorite paper of the kit (although the dark dotted one was also much loved!), and I kept it for last. I used a glassine back from the packaging to tone down the pattern, and used up my last few gold foiled leaves. I also used the gorgeous gold foiled tag – originally I was planning on cutting into a square, but then when I was putting together this page I just love how it looked in the background so I left it as it came.

These plastic emoticons from Redstone are so much fun. I knew I wanted to use them in a bold way. I use them in this 2015 in review page – and I hid my journaling behind each emoticon, which I backed with paper from the kit and adhered using a brad. I used silver paint on the bottom half of the wood numbers. The pink alpha is from my stash.

And that really wraps up this kit!
I hope you are enjoying this blog series. If you use the affiliate links included in this post, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. I purchased all the supplies used in this post and am happy to share my projects on my blog. You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.

My New Planner

| cristina

Well, I have fallen into the rabbit hole of planners and traveler’s notebooks. In the space of a short few weeks, I have become totally obsessed! 🙂 They are so much fun. I have acquired monthly and weekly traveler’s notebooks, that I use for documentation, and a melon planner by Studio Calico that I use mostly to plan my creative projects. I see these planners as a way to use up my stamps and have fun in a small format, and so far I am having a blast.

Today I stamped for the first time in my Melon planner that I received this week, so I wanted to share a few photos. BTW, the planner is currently 40% off through the weekend, and you can get an additional 20% off with the code EASTER20 – it’s a great deal! In fact, I couldn’t resist and I may or may not have a grey planner coming my way…

I just LOVE the melon color – and the polka dot inside! Anyway, here is this week’s spread in my planner.

I used the mega date stamp to add the dates – it is coming back in stock in June so hit the “notify me” button here if you want to know when it’s back!


I used a pastel color theme for this Easter week.

I have also fallen in love with the planner kits from Studio Calico and I will definitely buy the April one going on sale on April 1st – the stamp set has so many possibilities!
There is a fantastic promotion going on if you want to try out a Planner or Stationery kit this month. Just add the 1-month subscription to your cart and use the promo code FREESCKIT to get the kit for free, all you have to pay is $5 shipping (FREEKITINTL for international). I got the Planner kit and love it!

Never Give Up

| cristina

Hello there! I am so inspired by this month’s scrapbook kit from Studio Calico and by the latest printables by Wilna Furstenberg in her year-long workshop Art2Heart, that I combined them to make this page last night.

The flower printable has such pretty colors.. I made a background for it using watercolors and paint with the silkscreen included in the Homespun scrapbook kit.

The stamp set from the Homespun kit is awesome too!

I love these alphas from the Homespun scrapbook kit!

Psssst… if you want to pick up some old kits such as the ones I have used in my Kill My SC Kit series, check out the sale that is going on right now at Studio Calico!

March Homespun Kits at Studio Calico

| cristina

I am so happy to be contributing to the Creative Team gallery this month with the Homespun Release. I used theDocumenter main kit and add on, and add on stamps and cards, and more stamps and dies – making three Project life spreads, one travel pocket spread, three scrapbook pages and nine cards. 🙂
Here is a roundup of the products I used:

Homespun Documenter kit Pocket add on $26.99 On the menu stamp $9.99 Everyday Documenter stamp $15.99

 

Easter cards $7.99 Craft die Easter $7.99 Barn stamp $15.99 Easter egg stamp $15.99

 

Hello stamp $9.99 4×6 paper pad $4.99 Polka dot die $7.99 Stripes die $7.99

 

Zig zag die $7.99 Plus sign die $7.99 Nested eggs dies $7.99 6×8 Asia stamp $7.99

I am SO excited to have completed my collection of stamp maps! If you don’t have them, you can purchase them as a bundle!

Here you can check out the projects I made:
Project Life spread 1
Project Life spread 2
Project Life spread 3
(I will be adding to this list as I blog more; in the meantime you can see them all in the CT gallery).

And here is what else I am buying at reveal:

Homespun scrapbook kit Asia craft die $35.99 Happiness Is stamp and die $22.99

And I haven’t decided yet about these two add ons (I love them, but my budget is limited):

Purl add on $25.99 Patch add on $22.99

I love the papers and embellishments in the Purl add on, and the weather stamp in the Patch add on is perfect for Project Life!

And finally – there is a fantastic promotion going on if you want to try out a Planner or Stationery kit this month. Just add the 1-month subscription to your cart and use the promo code FREESCKIT to get the kit for free, all you have to pay is $5 shipping (domestic AND international).

Planner kit Stationery kit

I will be trying out the planner kit, and I’m really excited about it too!!
Happy shopping!

Doodle 2 Digital Class at Studio Calico

| cristina

This year is sure turning out to be the year for learning new things for me! I have enjoyed immensely the sketching class last month at Studio Calico, and the next one coming up next month is equally exciting!

DOODLE 2 DIGITAL

Ever wondered who’s behind the fancy lettering and quirky illustrations you see on Studio Calico products? Graphic designer Matthew Wilson takes you behind the scenes to show how he creates those trendy designs. He’ll cover his favorite tools and share techniques for creating your own hand-lettered art and illustrations. You’ll even learn how to go digital with your work so you can make original art prints, patterned papers, cards, and more!

WHAT COMES WITH THIS CLASS

  • A video introduction to the class and the tools you’ll be using
  • 6 in-depth instructional videos from Matthew covering class material
  • Tips & tricks on the tools, techniques and practice involved in the class
  • Access to a class message board and gallery, where you can share and learn with your teacher and fellow students
  • Weekly challenges to inspire you to use what you’ve learned
  • Live chat with your teacher and fellow students

Seriously… I cannot wait! You can sign up for this class here through April 1st.

Homespun Documenter Kit, Add-Ons and Dies

| cristina

This is my third Project Life spread with the Homespun release from Studio Calico, and probably my favorite of the three. 🙂

For this spread I used the Documenter main kit, the Pocket add on, the “on the menu” stamp, the Easter cards, one of the card dies, and the 6×6 paper pad. Oh and I did some foiling with the Minc too! 🙂

I spent all the week at home recuperating from my surgery (see prior week here) so all the photos are from around the house.

And of course, lots of food photos – love food! 🙂


This was the week I made my firsts experiments with foiling, and I was so giddy about it that I had to document that in my album.

The Easter cards were perfect to document my love for bunnies! 🙂 I have a few things around the house that I happened to photograph that week. And the wood veneer letters from the Pocket add on are gorgeous!

I used the polka dot die on a piece of foiled card stock. The die is 2″x3″ and fit snugly in the pocket – there are three more of these card making dies in the Homespun releases and I think they work great for Project Life! You can check the other ones out here: stripes, zig zag and plus signs.

I used the puffy stickers from the Pocket add on and the “on the menu” stamp here and throughout this spread.

Homespun Documenter – Main Kit Only

| cristina

I have tons of pages to share made with the Homespun kits from Studio Calico. But truly.. the Documenter kit and add ons were all so good!! I had purposefully held back in documenting my January, and was able to get caught up easily with all these new products. Today, I am sharing what I made with the Documenter main kit only.

This kit stretches pretty far!

I loved all the pink in the kit, but since I know not everyone is a fan, I decided to avoid pink in this main kit spread, so I chose teal and red as my main colors, with some black.

The silver foil on the card I used for the title is so pretty! I did some creative use of the alphabet letters – since there was only one “w”, I used the “n”s instead.

I used those pretty kraft labels with silver foil accents throughout the spread as a cohesive accent.

I love how the gray rubber word pops against this red card! Oh and a PSA – use staples to attach these rubber pieces, it looks like glue dots have a messy reaction, while staples work great.

I loved the card that said “good times”, but it had a bit too much white space, so I cut out the circle and layered it on top of the woodgrain card, and added my journaling around it. I also used the hang from the stamp set to turn the circle into a framed piece.

There is a lovely set of kraft labels with silver foil in the kit, and I decided to use the leftover backing as a background for this card. Since I like to use up my scraps, I backed it with a couple of pieces I had left over from cutting some cards. I love how it turned out!

The rubber pieces in the kit are adorable as is, but you can stretch them even further by using them as a stencil. Here, I used some Studio Calico mist to spray over the word in red.

I loved the “boss” card in the kit, but it was too black for my taste, so I just cut out the sentiment and layered it on top of another card. I also cut apart the black card and layered it on top of the other one.

The silkscreen that comes in the kit is so much fun! Seriously.. so pretty! I used it a few times here with black paint – it’s so easy to customize your cards! As part of the kit, you can also pick a color of paint out of three options. Here, I used black to stick to my color scheme.

The stamp set is really cute and versatile – I used it throughout the spread, and here as well.
Check out the Documenter kit here.

Homespun Documenter Kit and Add-Ons

| cristina

This is the second Project Life spread I made with the Homespun release from Studio Calico.

The Documenter add ons are spectacular this month! In particular I am in love with the stamps by One Little Bird (everyday documenter and “on the menu”) – I know I will be using them over and over!

For this spread, I used pink as my main color – the “yeah” transparency from the main kit is fun!

This was definitely an unusual week – I had a small surgery on the Monday, and stayed put at home for the rest of the week.

I had fun stamping directly on the photos too – the Color Theory dye ink pads work great for that.

I used neon pink embossing powder with the everyday documenter stamp. I always add the week number to my spreads and this stamp set is just what I needed! It also comes with months, days, seasons and numbers – perfect!

The tags in the Pocket add on are so fun and bright (and hard to photograph…), and I decided to tone this one down with some white mist. I used one of the rubber phrases from the Documenter main kit as a mask.

There is a pretty set of puffy stickers by Pink Paislee in the Pocket add on.

Love these stamps (everyday documenter and “on the menu”)!

This is my favorite card of the entire spread! I stamped the “be cozy” from the Documenter main kit around this lovely bunny card from the Easter set.

More stamping with the everyday documenter and “on the menu” stamps.

Here you can see the numbers from the everyday documenter in action, plus the stamp from the Pocket add on.

March Homespun Kits: Bundling Time

| cristina

Reveal is in just a few hours (noon EST for subscribers, 3 PM EST for everyone), but bundling for subscribers has already started, so I thought I’d post what items I recommend adding to your order.

Happy script die $7.99 Power Suit dye ink $4.99 Flamingo dye ink $4.99 Lime Light dye ink $4.99

The Happy script die is a perfect complement for the Easter die that is part of the Homespun release!
Color Theory ink pads: I used the Power Suit, Flamingo and Lime Light colors the most this month.

Here are a couple sneaks at how I used these items:

I also had a lot of fun with foiling this month… so here are some other items I recommend:

Minc starter bundle $149.99 Minc 6” $79.99 Gold foil $9.99 Rose gold foil $9.99

and here are my foiling examples (in addition to the Happy Easter above!):

Stamp Sale at Studio Calico

| cristina

There is an AWESOME 40% sale on stamps going on at Studio Calico through Sunday, Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. EST, so I thought I’d post a round up of the favorite stamp sets I own that you can pick up with this awesome deal. Stamps are by far my favorite supply!

Alpha Stamps
Alpha stamps are a weakness of mine… but they are so versatile, too! I use them a lot in Project Life and on scrapbook pages.

Mia alpha $14.99 $8.99 Alyra alpha $24.99 $14.99 Maggie alpha $24.99 $14.99 Make It Big alpha $24.99 $14.99
Alyra numbers $24.99 $14.99 Maura alpha $24.99 $14.99 Monogram alpha $12.49 $7.49 Laina alpha $24.99 $14.99

And here are some examples of how I used these alpha stamps:

 

{using the Mia alpha and the Alyra alpha}            {using the Make It Big alpha}

Animal Stamps
I cannot resist a cute animal stamp.. and these ones are so good!

Party Animals $23.99 $14.39 Celebrate Animal $14.99 $8.99 Merry and Bright $15.99 $9.59 Polar Bear $15.99 $9.59

Here are some examples of how I used them:

  

And since the last two sets were winter themed, this leads me to the next category of must-have stamps:

Seasonal Stamps
Sure, it may be a bit early to think about the holidays… but these sets are fabulous, and a real bargain!

Christmas Icons $15.99 $9.59 Howdy Pumpkinl $14.99 $8.99 Happy New Year $5.99 $3.59 Merry and Bright $5.99 $3.59

And here are some examples:

  


Everyday Stamps
These sets are great for any occasion – cardmaking and/or Project Life!

Sending You Sunshine $14.99 $8.99 Totally Awesome $9.99 $5.99 Grub On $5.99 $3.59 Everyday Moments $14.99 $8.99

Here’s an example:

Bargain Stamps
Here are some super cheap stamps that are great and I use often.

Tea Time $9.99 $5.99 Eleanor $4.49 $2.69 Best Year Yet $3.99 $2.39 2015 Top $2.99 $1.79
And here are a couple of examples in action:

  

My New Stamps
And here’s what I didn’t have that I picked up in this sale!

Congratulations $9.99 $5.99 SC dates $24.99 $14.99 Jack numbers $25.99 $15.59 Love You More Than Pizza $15.99 $9.59

I’d love to hear what stamps you buy with this sale, so leave me a comment if you want.

{I purchased all these stamps because I love them; if you click through the links and make a purchase, then I happily receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!}