Art 2 Heart Update

I realized that after my first enthusiastic post, I haven’t blogged anymore about my experience with Wilna Furstenberg’s year-long Art 2 Heart workshop. But my enthusiasm hasn’t waned in the least! So it’s time to show a couple more pages I’ve made since.

The first two are directly lifted from Wilna’s pages from October. This first one is definitely one of the favorite pages I’ve ever made.

The printables also come with the workshop.

Apart from the visual aspect of the class (lots of eye candy!), my favorite thing about this workshop is that it makes me reflect upon the small and big things in my life. Maybe saying it’s life-changing is a bit much, but it’s certainly inspired me to give deeper thought to some things that I’d otherwise not have thought about. Every single month.

This page was also a really fun one to make. Wilna gave us the printout of her floral+writing combination, and I traced it with watercolors.

I have slowed down a bit in creating, and made only one page inspired by the November workshop:

This page has been a work in progress for a long time. I painted the background back in November, but then it just sat there, waiting for a good theme for the page.

I used some copper mist from Studio Calico to add some shine to the page. I also used it on top of the wood letters, though it’s hard to tell from the photo.

To embellish the page, I used some very old embellishments from my stash (Dear Lizzy) along with some bits and pieces from the Canyonlands scrapbook kit and Redstone embellishment kit from Studio Calico.

And that’s all I’ve made so far from the workshop. I have a page in the works inspired by the January content, so be on the lookout for that soon. 🙂

What I’ve Been Up To

I am home recovering from a small surgery, and spending most of my time in bed. I have been catching up on my 2015 Project Life (printing photos from my bed is really quite efficient!) and getting up only for short periods of time. In one of my breaks from bed rest, I put together one more page using the Canyonlands scrapbook kit from Studio Calico.

I am also thrilled because I received my Mega Date Stamp this week and put it to good use on this page. I love it and highly recommend it!

Have a great weekend!

Traveler’s Notebook

As promised yesterday, I wanted to show you a bit more of what I am doing in my Traveler’s Notebooks.

So far I’ve only been using the little passport-sized one for note taking on the go, but I started playing a bit more in the larger, red one.

The red one is to big to carry around for me, but it is perfect to use at home with my stamps.

I started by making a log for my exercise, which is one of my 2016 resolutions.

{Stamps by Studio Calico, mostly from past Documenter kits}
I find that having a visual reminder/motivation works well for me, and I am happy each day to check off my workout. Hoping this lasts!

I’m also really excited to be using the Mega Date Stamp in my notebook! This stamp is back in stock but is selling fast (and likely won’t be restocked), so if you’re thinking about it, don’t wait too long!

New Workshops at Studio Calico

Did you see the new workshops that will provide monthly inspiration for the Scrapbook and Documenter kits at Studio Calico?

I wanted to check out what the workshops were about, and I started with the scrapbooking one. This month’s workshop is taught by Paige Evans. I was really inspired by her main kit only lesson, which is based on a loose grid, and I used this technique for my page. Alas, I don’t have the Arendal kit, so I used the November one (Canyonlands) instead.

There are three lessons in each workshop, and each lesson comes with a video – I love it! It’s just the right amount of inspiration to look at your supplies in a fresh way.
I love how my page turned out! I picked all blue and green elements from the kit, laid them out, and that was it. Easy page but I love the result!

After five months strong (June-October), I slacked in my Kill My SC Kit series. Alas, I am not giving up, in fact I resumed using my Canyonlands scrapbooking kit now that December Daily is over and done with. 🙂 Only 3 pages done so far, so I’ve got a ways to go.
Kill my Studio Calico kit is a monthly series I started on my blog to hold myself accountable and use up my kits. My goal is to use up a kit before the next one arrives.

You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.

Oh… and I almost forgot to mention the best thing – if you are a subscriber to either the Scrapbook or the Documenter kit, you can sign up to the corresponding workshop for the month of January for free!

Sketch Your World

I am so excited for the new class at Studio Calico: Sketch Your World! It starts Feb. 1st.

Here’s the description:
Expand your creativity! Olya Schmidt takes you on a creative journey filled with practical tips and simple techniques that will help develop your drawing and watercolor skills. Olya will introduce you to the various tools and materials needed to start sketching different scenes and bringing them to life with watercolor paint. You’ll also learn plenty of basic exercises to get you more comfortable using pencils, pens, and brushes to capture the world as you see it!
A few years ago I took an online art class that I absolutely loved – it was my first attempt at drawing and watercoloring. At the time, I made a couple things I was really proud of, but didn’t do much at all after the class was over. Here they are:

I am really excited to get back to drawing and painting with the Sketch Your World class! This is just the push I need to play with colors again! And Olya is such a talented artist!

Over the years, I have amassed some favorite watercolor supplies, including Neocolors IIPeerless watercolors (currently sold out at Studio Calico but you can find them on Amazon too) and Kuretake Gansai Tambi. I don’t own this little travel-sized Koi set, but I just might have to try it out! 🙂

Neocolor II Kuretake Gansai Tambi Peerless Koi watercolors

I hope to see you in class!

Studio Calico January Kits

Today is Reveal Day at Studio Calico for the January (Arendal) kits. I am not contributing this month, and while I have to wait (not-so-patiently) for my box to arrive, I decided to play with the digital products.

For my digital page, I used the scrapbook papers, the Documenter kit cards, and some printables.
I just love the colors this month! Later today I’ll be sharing my picks for this month of what is coming in my box along with my Documenter kit.
Come chat with us at 11 AM  EST for Subscriber Presale chat (kits+add ons are on sale at noon EST for subscribers) and again at 2 PM EST (3 PM EST is shopping time for everyone).

December Daily 2015: Day 25

And so we have gotten to the last day of my album! Christmas Day.

I did some minimal embellishing but really, it’s mainly about the photos for this day.

This first spread is about opening gifts.

I used a digital brush by Ali Edwards on top of my photo. Christmas breakfast is one of my favorite traditions! The journaling card is from the Jasmine Jones mini kit.

On the back of the journaling card I detailed the gifts I got. My husband totally surprised me with an Instax mini camera!

I embellished the card from the mini kit with some stamping using a set from Ali Edwards and color theory inks.
And after the gifts, it’s all about the food! 🙂

The card at the top is again from Jasmine Jones’s mini kit, while the one on the bottom was letterpressed by me using a plate by Studio Calico.
I even assembled my Raskog card on Christmas morning. 🙂 It’s my second one, and I love to house my Studio Calico stamps!

More cards from the mini kit here. The photos were assembled using these incredibly handy photo collage templates from The Lilypad.
I hand lettered our menu, which was incredibly festive this year, courtesy of Costco! 🙂 The alpha stickers are from Ali Edwards’s December Daily kit.

And that wraps up my 2015 album! I will post tomorrow a photo of the full album – it’s really quite full! I hope you’ve enjoyed my daily shares!
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Catch up on all my 2015 December Daily posts:
Title page
Dec. 1st
Dec. 2 and 3
Dec. 4th
Dec. 5th
Dec. 6th
Dec. 7th
Dec. 8th
Dec. 9 and 10
Dec. 11th
Dec. 12 and 13
Dec. 14th
Dec. 15th
Dec. 16th
Dec. 17th
Dec. 18th
Dec. 19th
Dec. 20th
Dec. 21st
Dec. 22nd
Dec. 23rd
Dec. 24th
Dec. 25th

December Daily 2015: Day 24

Hello there! For December 24, I kept things pretty simple in my album.

Today’s story is about what we did on Christmas Eve.

I used the two journaling cards for my journaling. The adorable vellum mouse is from the Lollipop Guild scrapbook kit from Studio Calico.
The date is stamped with an alpha stamp by Kelly Purkey and Emerald City ink.
The journaling card on the left is from Ali Edwards’s December Daily kit, while the one on the right was from an add on from Studio Calico from a couple of years ago.

For the page on the right, I filled in the 2″ slots with some paper from an old Basic Grey collection and with some bits I printed out on transparency paper (the gifts are by Wilna Furstenberg, and the Merry Christmas is from Studio Calico).
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Catch up on all my 2015 December Daily posts:
Title page
Dec. 1st
Dec. 2 and 3
Dec. 4th
Dec. 5th
Dec. 6th
Dec. 7th
Dec. 8th
Dec. 9 and 10
Dec. 11th
Dec. 12 and 13
Dec. 14th
Dec. 15th
Dec. 16th
Dec. 17th
Dec. 18th
Dec. 19th
Dec. 20th
Dec. 21st
Dec. 22nd
Dec. 23rd
Dec. 24th
Dec. 25th

December Daily 2015: Day 23

I certainly cannot pick a single favorite spread in my album, but I do have a few that I really love.. and today’s spread for December 23rd is certainly one of them.

This spread makes me so happy. I combined a lot of my favorite things here – letterpress, watercolors, stamping & embossing, and gold foil. 🙂
Today’s story is all about the gifts I bought for my family this year.

The card at the top left was made with an old Studio Calico letterpress plate, my Big Shot die cutting machine and the letterpress platform. I added some watercoloring on top with Peerless watercolors (currently sold out at Studio Calico but you can find them on Amazon too).
The gold foiled card was in the Jasmine Jones December Daily mini kit, and I simply added a puffy sticker from Pinkfresh Studio.
On the card in the bottom pocket (also from the Jasmine Jones December Daily mini kit) I added stamping with versamark ink and embossing with Rouge Zing embossing powder. The stamp images are from Pinkfresh Studio, while the alpha stamp is from Studio Calico.
The gold foiled label was from an old Studio Calico kit. I wish they made more of these!

The puffy stickers and acrylic presents are from Pinkfresh Studio. The paper in the top pocket is from the December Daily kit.
In the pocket at the bottom, I stamped a floral stamp from Pinkfresh Studio right on the chipboard numbers from the December Daily kit with versamark ink, and embossed it with Powder Zing embossing powder. I love how it matches the gold foiled leaves in the previous page.

This post contains some affiliate links. If you click on any of these affiliate links and make a purchase, then I happily receive a small commission. Thank you for your support! I purchased all the products you see used at full price, and am happy to share what I made with them here.
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Catch up on all my 2015 December Daily posts:
Title page
Dec. 1st
Dec. 2 and 3
Dec. 4th
Dec. 5th
Dec. 6th
Dec. 7th
Dec. 8th
Dec. 9 and 10
Dec. 11th
Dec. 12 and 13
Dec. 14th
Dec. 15th
Dec. 16th
Dec. 17th
Dec. 18th
Dec. 19th
Dec. 20th
Dec. 21st
Dec. 22nd
Dec. 23rd
Dec. 24th
Dec. 25th