Beautiful Spring Day

March 30, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello! It’s almost April so I thought it fitting that the next kit I chose for my Kill My Studio Calico Kit blog series is from April 2016, Film Club! 🙂

This page was inspired by the painted wood butterflies by Nancy Damiano; I only had 2 wood butterflies in my stash, so I added some feathers, and some paper butterflies (cut using a die from Papertrey Ink). I mostly used only items from the kit, and only added some puffy hearts and stars from Freckled Fawn (puffy stickers are my absolute fave!!), as well as some purple gems from an old Studio Calico kit (I think a card add on from Copper Mountain – Jan. 2014) to tie in the color of the flowers. I just love these colors, they feel so spring-y!

I never know how to use the washi strips,with the phrases printed on them, mostly because I am a literal scrapper and the phrases never quite fit what I am scrapping. Here I used one as is, because the words applied well (the flowers are fleeting, and also my mom’s visits are always too short). But then I cut up some words from the other strips to make my title (“beautiful” “spring” “day”) – I will do this again for sure!

I stamped two phrases from the stamp in the kit on the paper butterflies (I stamped on wood veneer in the past and the ink feathered a bit, and didn’t want to risk it on the wood butterflies – although it probably would be fine with pigment ink, which sits on top of the surface). I used washi tape to mask the wood veneers before painting them with acrylic paint – lime light and mint hint. Then I used the small dots in the kit stamp to add the polka dots on the feathers. I like how that touch of black matches the paper strips I used at the top and bottom of the page.
I love how it turned out! Now if the weather would just cooperate and get spring started! 🙂

Kill My Studio Calico Kit – Sep. 2016: Lost River

March 26, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello and welcome back for another installment of my Kill My Studio Calico Kit series! I am not going in order… this is the 11th kit I have killed, and in total I have made a whopping 130 layouts. Yay me!

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.
I considered a kit killed when I don’t have enough paper to make another layout.

This month I killed the September 2016 Lost River scrapbook kit.

Notes: I bought this kit with a $10 promotion (they also have a $5 promotion if you want to try a kit, check here and use the code SCKIT5), and I really like it. I found it to be a bit light on embellishments, but no big deal as I am trying to use up my stash more this year and was happy to add some items to supplement the kit. I also used some stamps from my stash. I didn’t care for the washi tape nor the stamp (in fact I have not used them).

Status: Killed! Knowing I had not paid full price for this kit resulted in me not pushing myself as much as I normally do to crank out 10+ pages from a kit. I used two of the cardstock pieces for other layouts but I didn’t count them towards killing this kit because all the rest was from my stash.
I made 8 layouts (6 12″x12″ and 2 8.5″x11″), for a total of $10, or $1.43/page.

Here’s a roundup of all the pages I made:

And here is what I have left:

Leftovers: I ended up not using the yellow cardstock – I tried, but it was just too bright. I’ll use it on some other page in the future. But otherwise, this kit is thoroughly killed. I used a lot of the gold alphas, but I still have plenty left, and I have most of the vellum alpha. I didn’t touch the washi tape and stamp. I’m very happy I used up all the envelopes, and most of the tiny red sequins.

And here’s a look at all the projects I made:

While I normally start by using my least favorite paper, this time I started by using my favorite paper in the kit for this page – it was just perfect for this story! The stamp I used is from an old add on called Caramel Apple – I purchased it when it went for sale at last call last August for $10 (score!). The alpha stamp is from Freckled Fawn (discontinued), as are the cork trees (aren’t they pretty? I used up the whole pack – it may be my first time ever doing that! :)).

Most of the items on this page are from my stash – only the background paper and the gold alpha are from the kit.

I used some alpha stickers and embellishments from my stash.

This one is my favorite page this month. And I get bonus points for using up some flair from my stash! 🙂

I love how this one turned out. I used some stamps from my stash, as well as some heart stickers. The pretty owls are printables by Wilna Furstenberg.

On this page I used the kit almost exclusively: the only think I added from my stash is the enamel dots.

I had so much fun making this page! I used stamps from Sakuralala with Distress Oxide Ink (cracked pistachio), and then used some scraps of paper from the kit, along with a rubber banner and the vellum alpha.

I love how this page turned out! I used up my last paper scraps, and put to good use the red sequins and the rest of the kraft envelopes.

And that’s it for this month! If you have any questions, please leave a comment and let me know!
This was my most recent unkilled kit, so now I’ll have to dig up some more kits from 2016 that I haven’t used yet: I still have Film Club (April), Scout (June) and Pool Party (July) that are mostly untouched. I cannot wait!

You can subscribe to the Studio Calico Scrapbook kit here.

I purchased all products myself, but if you use the affiliate links in this post (at no extra cost to you!) you’ll help me buy more supplies and bring more content to this blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Memory Pockets Monthly: RENEW at The Lilypad

March 24, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello and happy Friday! Today is release day for the newest Memory Pockets Monthly collection at The Lilypad. I fell in love with the floral patterns included in it!

Credits:

March Month in Review ’17 Template by Scrapping with Liz

Memory Pockets Monthly: RENEW from The Lilypad

And as usual all the new releases are 20% off through the weekend.
I thought March hadn’t been too eventful, but as I was putting together this monthly summary spread I ended up with lots of photos to document it!

We never have plants around the house, but my husband got us a small potted clover for St. Patrick’s Day and I love having it! It’s so cute the way the leaves fold up at night and open up again during the day. Here’s to hoping we don’t kill it off too soon!

Have a great weekend!

Planning Ahead

March 22, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Every year, starting in 2009, I make a photo calendar for my parents and in-laws. It features for the most part scrapbook pages I have done over the previous year. I always end up having to make a few pages around the fall (that’s when I order my calendars), but the majority of the months is already made. This process works really well for me, and I know that this gift is much loved and appreciated.
For some reason, though, I always dread putting together the calendar. Ugh! Working ahead of the deadline is always the best idea, so this week I took advantage of the awesome retiring products sale at The Lilypad to trap some autumn kits, and made this:

Everything 50% off!!
Credits:

Papers are Fun Templates by Scrapping with Liz – 50% off for SOSN

and 50% retiring products sale:
Storyteller October 2014 kit by Just Jaimee
Musings by Pink Reptile Designs
For the Love of Alphas 2012: Doodle Sans by Allison Pennington

The template is also 50% off but only through Wednesday. So now the only thing left for me to do is remove the journaling and adapt this to 11″x8.5″, and my October 2018 calendar topper is done! 1 down, 11 to go! 🙂

Happy Mail This Week: Foxy Fix

March 18, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

I ended this week with some awesome happy mail (on top of more happy mail that I received on Monday – a TN cover and some goodies from Freckled Fawn, and a bunch of new stamps from Sakuralala): a traveler’s notebook cover by Foxy Fix! All pictured here:

This was my second purchase from them – you can read about my first purchase here. I ordered this cover even before receiving my first two 🙂

This time, I purchased a #6 size (which is the standard size for traveler’s notebooks).

I chose Sugar Pink Grapefruit leather, with light pink stitching, light purple elastics, a pen loop, and secretarial pockets with card slots, and embossing with gold foil both on the spine and on the front.

So I am now the proud owner of three notebook covers by Foxy Fix:

You can read more about how I use the two smaller ones as my wallet in this post.
In the meantime, I made even more clay charms using this clay charm kit – including a charm to match my newest Foxy!

The colors are so much prettier in real life… and the textures! Mocassin leather (the blue one) is the softest, but the Sugar leather of the other two is very smooth.

I’m already plotting my next Foxy Fix – in size #3 this time… Oops! 🙂

If you want to make a purchase at Foxy Fix, you will get 10% off your first order (above $50) if you use my referral link.

New Stamps Released at Sakuralala!

March 17, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello! Today is release day at Sakuralala – with SIX awesome new stamp sets!

Top row (left to right): 365: Nippon 2 | 365: Happy Memo | Years – Spring
Bottom row (left to right): HST – Color Canvas | HST – Spring Home | HST – Playlist

These are so much fun!! I also shot a video to give you a closer look and share my first impressions:

After shooting the video, I inked the stamps right up! 🙂 I started making some cards for my Project Life album:

And then I had even more fun creating the background to this scrapbook page:

I’ll be using these stamps over and over in my traveler’s notebook, which I use for documentation – so I’ll be sharing some pictures of that here on the blog soon too. 🙂 Have a lovely weekend!

March 2017 Mixed Media Monthly at The Lilypad

March 17, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello and happy almost Friday! We’ve had some crazy weather this week, so I had to document it right away with some of the latest releases from The Lilypad – and they are 20% off through the weekend!

Credits:

Everyday Life Templates Set 8 6×8” by Sabrina’s Creations

Bloom Digital Kit – Storyteller March 2017 Add-on by Just Jaimee

I also played with the latest Mixed Media Monthly collection – and this one did not disappoint!! (nor does it ever!)

Credits:

Mixed Media Monthly – Mar. ’17 from The Lilypad

The background paper was just gorgeous, and I had fun layering some tree stamps and using other elements to make the tree foliage.
Have a great end of the week!

March Snow

March 8, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello and happy Wednesday! I’m sharing a page I made with two of the items that are 50% off today at The Lilypad.

Credits:

Family Love | Templates by Sabrina’s Creations

Perfect Day Papers and Perfect Day Elements by Sabrina Dupre

Have a great rest of the week!

My Latest Obsession: Foxy Fix Review

March 7, 2017July 14, 2017 | cristina

Hello! I have fallen down the rabbit hole of a new obsession: notebook covers from Foxy Fix! I love these so much because you can personalize them by choosing the leather type and color, stitching color, elastic color, size, pocket configuration, width of the spine, and you can add embossing to the spine and/or cover. Lots of choices!
For my first order, I chose to get two of the smallest notebooks: a size 0 Sugar Lemon Drop – this leather was just discontinued! – and a size 1 Moccasin Tiger Lily.

I am now using these two notebooks as my wallet (more info below)!
These are both “couture” notebooks – currently Foxy Fix is facing high demand so they limit how many they put up for sale (so if you go see their website it’s likely you’ll see all couture items sold out – but no fear: check back on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 AM PST and they will be back in stock).

I placed my order on February 17th. The production window is 10-20 business days, and mine were in fact shipped on the 10th business day. The notebooks come wrapped up in fabric bags, and they also include a leather sample with your box.

I got this Sugar Pink Grapefruit sample… which I took in fact as a sign, because I have placed a second order for a notebook in this color even before getting this box. I love this color already!

I chose not to have any writing / design on the front covers, but I had my initials added to the spine (in silver foil on the turquoise notebook, and in gold foil on the yellow one).

For size comparison, you can see the “passport” notebook cover I handmade a while back (you can find the details here). What I find unique in the Foxy Fix notebooks is the reinforced spine (it comes automatically with some types of leather – including the Moccasin and Sugar I bought – and is optional on others). They also offer two widths: 1.5″ (wide) or 1″ (compact). I chose compact for both and I think this is already chunky enough for me.