Author: cristina

It’s Beginning…

| cristina

It’s that time of the year… Christmas is almost 2 months away and I love that there are so many opportunities to help us get ready. Studio Calico has some great classes available, and I’m always happy to get more inspiration!

First up is the

KEYSTONE CABIN WORKSHOP

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—for making and capturing memories! Join April Foster, Lisa Truesdell, and Kelly Noel for the perfect holiday retreat into creative ways to use the new “Keystone Cabin” collection to document your favorite moments this season. From fresh sketches and videos, to inspiring photo and journaling prompts, you’ll learn plenty of tips and tricks for using this exclusive collection to bring a rustic but modern feel to your scrapbook, pocket, and traveler’s notebook pages!
Class begins on November 1st!

I can’t wait to see what these ladies will be sharing in the class!

Next, they are re-releasing some past classes for even more December inspiration!

25 DAYS CLASS BUNDLE

Get in the Christmas spirit! Revisit our past holiday classes to get endless inspiration for your December 2016 projects. Our 25 Days series has housed some of our most popular classes, and they’re all back for a limited time, along with last year’s Wrapped! Many of the industry’s biggest names have collaborated on these classes, and the outcomes have been nothing short of incredible.
The bundle includes 5 classes:
December Daily | 2015, team taught
Wrapped with Amanda Rydell
25 Days | 2014 with Stephanie Bryan
25 Days | 2013 with Maggie Holmes
25 Days | 2012 with Maggie Holmes.

These classes originally retailed for a total of $130 – you’ll save over $100 by enrolling with this bundle. These classes are also available for $10 each through the remainder of 2016. This offer will expire December 31st at 11:59pm EST.

Have you decided on your format for December Daily yet? This will be my 7th time doing this project. Check out my 6 past albums here.

And here’s a look at all six of my December Daily albums.

I am still debating because it looks like I will be traveling for a good part of the month… currently it’s a toss up between a traveler’s notebook and a pocket page album.

Calendar Prep Time

| cristina

Hello and happy Friday! It’s that time of the year when I frantically work on my 2017 calendars… I usually repurpose layouts I crated during the year to become my calendar toppers, but occasionally I make a new one too. This was the case this week, since I couldn’t resist using some of the latest releases at The Lilypad (20% off through the weekend). 🙂

Credits:
Easy Peasy vl6 {falloween} by Little Butterfly Wings
Russet bundle by Lynne-Marie
Artsy Stamps & Brushes and Watercolour Stencilled Alpha by Dawn Inskip

That fox is just too cute!! 🙂 Have a great weekend!

Mid-Week Sale and Reflecting on My Blessings

| cristina

Hello! We’ve almost made it halfway through the week, and that means it’s time for some amazing deals at The Lilypad, with select product 50% off! I had fun making these projects with some of the product on sale.

 

Credits:
Make Like A Tree {Dressed Down} Template by Fiddle-dee-dee Designs
Evergreen Bundle by Lynne-Marie

This template was really cool to use, and I love how this page turned out!

Credits:

I was inspired by this collection to document a few of the many blessings in my life – I’ve been having some health issues (ugh) on top of a few other things that haven’t been going great, so it sure felt good to focus on all the good I have in my life.
Have a great rest of the week!

Studio Calico October Reveal: Story Board – Christmas Cards

| cristina

I was so happy to make some cards using the new 4″x6″ Christmas Card stamp set by In a Creative Bubble! Seriously, if you want to make all your Christmas cards with just one stamp, this is the one! It is so versatile – I haven’t even used all the stamps in the set, yet I easily made four cards that have all different looks. So fun!
I’ll be posting an unboxing video at 3:00 PM EST where you can have a look at the 4″x6″ Christmas Card stamp and the 4″x6″ Christmas paper pad.

Also… Happy WCMD (World Cardmaking Day)!! Check out the challenges at Studio Calico and play along for a chance to win a prize!


This was a fun card to make! There are 5 stars lined up in a row in this stamp set, so with some masking I turned them into a Christmas tree!
This was a tricky one to photograph, but here’s a detail of the shine:

I used metallic silver and red glitter embossing powders.

The background is made entirely by blending Color Theory dye inks!

this one was another really fun card to make. I love the script stamp, and the holly stamp.

I added some red glitter glue (Stickles) to add some pops of colors.

For this card, in addition to the 4″x6″ Christmas Card stamp, I also used a piece of the 4″x6″ Christmas paper pad.

The script stamp is gorgeous! I embossed it in gold.

And here’s a look at how I made the background – that pattern stamp is so versatile!

Finally, I got creative on this last card, and used the branch stamp to spell out 2016. 🙂

The stamp set comes with two solid circles that you can use to stamp in the berries, but instead I decided to use some markers to color up all the outlines.

You can use anything you like – watercolors, brush markers, colored pencils, etc. I used Mildliners markers because I got them recently and had them sitting on my desk. 🙂 I love the colors! They are double sided – they have a highlighter tip as well as a detail tip, which I used here.

I hope you liked my cards! I had a lot of fun making them!
You can check out my Project Life projects here:
Project Life 2016 – Week 28
Project Life 2016 – vol. 2 Title Page
Project Life 2016 – week 29 insert.

Studio Calico October Reveal: Story Board

| cristina

Hello hello! Happy October! I am happy to be contributing to the Creative Team this month with some cards and Project Life spreads! I also made an unboxing video of the Story Board Documenter kit, the 4″x6″ Christmas Card stamp and the 4″x6″ Christmas paper pad, I will post this at 3PM EST today when the kits go for purchase for everyone. 🙂
Here’s my first project made with the Story Board Documenter kit. I loved the colors of this kit, and the embellishments were very fun to use!

I make 2-page weekly spreads for my Project Life, and end up with 2 albums per year. Usually I split the two volumes after 26 weeks, but this year I put two extra weeks in the first volume because I had some trips I didn’t want to split. And I made a single page for the last week of the album – week 28.

I used some phrases from the stamp set either on a journaling card or stamped directly on a photo.

I loved using the chipboard shapes and gold alpha stickers from the kit.

I used the die cut numbers as a stencil to write out my week number on the title card.

The bird transparency is adorable!

You can check out my other Project Life projects here:
Project Life 2016 – vol. 2 Title Page
Project Life 2016 – week 29 insert
and here are the Christmas Cards.

I also have a 2-page Project Life spread that is exclusive to the Documenter workshop, so if you are signed up for that you’ll see it there, along with some tips on how to stretch your kits. Here’s a sneak of the spread:

Have a great October!

Studio Calico October Reveal: Story Board – Project Life 2016 – Week 29 insert

| cristina

After making 2 12″x12″ pages and a double page spread (24″x12″) with the Story Board Documenter kit, I still had several cards and embellishments left, so I made this double-sided 6″x8″ insert.

The gold foil phrases are great – there are so many that you’re bound to find one that works with your photos!

You can check out my other Project Life projects here:
Project Life 2016 – Week 28
Project Life 2016 – vol. 2 Title Page
and here are the Christmas Cards.

Studio Calico October Reveal: Story Board – Project Life 2016 – vol. 2 Title Page

| cristina

Hello! Here’s my second project made with the Story Board Documenter kit. This is my favorite project I made this month!

It is the title page for volume 2 of my 2016 Project Life. I love how it turned out!

I used the Story Board Documenter kit and the mega date stamp to add the months.

The chipboard shapes from the kit are such a nice way to add a special touch to the cards! Here I also stamped a phrase from the stamp set included in the kit.

This is my favorite detail of the month. I layered a 3″x4″ card, the square transparencies and the die cut number to make this card. Here’s a look at how else I was planning to use the transparencies:

Such pretty colors!

Here I used a few more of the fun embellishments from the kit – a badge, the gold foil phrases, chipboard stickers, alpha stickers, and another transparency. I used this card to jot down the goals for this year – the “one” is stamped by masking some of the words from the “you have to be odd to be number one” phrase. (I journaled the #2 goal after taking this photo since it’s private :)).

You can check out my other Project Life projects here:
Project Life 2016 – Week 28
Project Life 2016 – week 29 insert
and here are the Christmas Cards.

What’s catching your eye in the Story Board release? I’d love it if you left me a comment. 🙂

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!!

| cristina

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day (DSD)!!! Well, technically DSD is Saturday, but at The Lilypad the celebrations are in full swing, with games, challenges, and sales. And lots of awesome new products! Here’s what I made!

Credits:

I was this close to having another surgery, in fact I had the pre-op appointment this week and the surgery was supposed to be next Friday, but we decided to put it off for a short while. Fingers crossed that I don’t need it! Although it is very likely that I will. 🙁

But on to happier topics… this page is about our trip to NYC this past spring. I love these photos we took in Times Square but hadn’t scrapped them yet (except for Project Life), and this awesome collection was just perfect for them! This collection truly had everything you need to scrap NYC, it’s awesome!

Credits:


Make sure you stop by and check out all the fun going on at The Lilypad… they are also having a Pollywog Creative Team Call!! This is a rare opportunity and it’s the best team in all digiland!

Memory Pockets Monthly: Timeless

| cristina

Hello and happy Friday! Today the latest Memory Pockets Monthly collection is in the shop at The Lilypad, along with some great new products!

Credits:
Flower Templates by Scrapping with Liz

These templates were so much fun to use!

Credits:

I was inspired to pull out some really old photos. 🙂 I love how well the Memory Pockets Monthly collection worked with them!
Have a great weekend!