Studio Calico Sugar Rush - Full Reveal and some layouts too!

Today is the day! The full reveal of the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kits!  They are so unbelievably awesome this month and here is what I made with them.

Note: all links below will be live at Noon EST today January 27 for subscribers and Midnight tonight for non-subscribers.

My Project Life® 2014 Title Page

I went with a Design G Protector and kept it really simple.  I loved the house card and the I'll be Yours card and thought the pink and grey colors worked well with my photos.  I ended up making one a flip up so I could add a bit more text.  The gold accents in the main kits and the Cherry Sours add-on were a must use here for me.  I love any type of gold accent so these were right up my alley.

Here is a look at the flip up

And this adorable house card paired with the vellum alpha in the main kit, these will all get used for sure.

My Main Kit only layout was my week one.  Since the week was short having an abbreviated space worked well since I didn't have a ton of photos to work with.  The pie chart cards were top of my list of favorites this month and they worked perfectly for a way to show my goals for the year. I added the second just to have some fun and asked Simone what her goals for the year were.  These are her actual answers just so you know, I did not make this up for her.

I was asked to do a tutorial on how I print my journaling directly on the cards and will get something put together very soon for you all.  The crown card came plain and I added the quote myself and the gold heart is on the outside of the page protector.

The chipboard accents sheet in the main was amazing. I used so much of it this month and really hope more of these are made for us in future kits.

The wood veneer was great, these x and o's were the middle pieces of a larger piece and I love that we get both the positive and the negative pieces.

I had enough time to put together another spread and this is week two. This spread is a combination of the Main Kit the Cherry Sours and Ring Pop add-ons and the 4x6 paper pad.

I loved the black and white cards that came in the main kit and used one here for a day that I drove in to meet my friend Kari. Having the top space for my journaling was perfect.

There were so many sweet cards in the kits and the to do card was just adorable. I had some fun with it and added the last two lines of journaling myself.

Loved that little Amy Tangerine camera and the tiny word stickers.

The title card is digital using one of the digital stamps from this months add on stamp set.

I absolutely loved the printables that Shanna Noel designed and turned one into a digital element to lay on top of my photo instead of using it as a printable. I absolutely love this piece.

That wasn't where my creative spurt ended this month and I actually made two layouts to share as well.

This first one was done simply because I absolutely loved the stamps that Tina Aszmus created for the Card Kit this month so I had to make something with them.  I loved the sentiment, I loved the little girl and I loved the crown.  I bought the card kit this month because I had to own those sweet stamps, I know they will get used a lot by myself and Simone plus the rest of the kit is just awesome!

I cut several pieces of the stamp out on POW blossom paper and the crown was cut with the POW gold paper.

The journaling was typed and another little gold chipboard heart placed as an accent.

I'm currently in a debate with my daughter on where this will be kept, in her album or in her room.  We shall see who wins.

My second layout was done quickly and also done on my wedding anniversary this past week.  There are a few new sets of craft dies in the shop today and this page uses two of the new dies.  The arrows which is an awesome set for Project Life® because the negative can be used for journaling and the confetti die is the perfect way to quickly make some confetti without punching with a hand punch.

I placed a few of the arrows under a piece I cut on my Cameo to draw attention to the photo and scattered the confetti along with some heart cuts that I made with the hearts from this months digital template.

Wow, what a month!  As you can see the kits are jam packed and I had a great time working with them.  Don't forget to check out the Design Team Gallery, the projects this month are amazing!

See you soon!

Studio Calico Sugar Rush sneak peaks

I kind of went crazy this month and got two spreads and my 2014 title page done with the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kits and I have plenty more left to add to other weeks.

Here are my main kit only sneaks. The pie charts and the chipboard embellishments were my favorite

my second spread made with a combination of all three kits and some digital stuff

and my title page for 2014, lots of pink, grey and gold but still super simple

It's not too late to get a subscription so you can get these kits early, which is probably a good idea because I don't think the add-ons will last very long.  I'm seriously considering adding a subscription to the card kit this month because its amazing and the stamps alone make it a must get. I had a great time playing with the digital versions of the stamps and can't wait to show you that at reveal.

Life | Scripted with Kal Barteski

I love how varied and fresh Studio Calico always is with their class offerings and February's class Life Scripted is definitely fresh and new.

Here's a little description directly from Studio Calico, "Bring creative play into your memory keeping with the art of brush script. In February, renowned artist, Kal Barteski, brings her popular class on brush script to the calico classrooms. Learn the ins and outs of brushes and inks to take a variety of projects to the next level with your own handwriting. Our Creative Team members & contributors will join in to inspire you how to incorporate your new skills into your pages and projects for 2014.  Class will officially being on February 1st. Until then, please feel free to visit the class message board and get to know your fellow students! We'd love to hear what you're looking forward to in this class. You also have access to the class digital files - a layered template with a script title from Shanna Noel, printables from Hello Forever, and digital die cut files from Hello Forever and Shanna Noel."

Here is a really great sample video that they have shared too



I have been a fan of Kal's work for awhile now and have two pieces of her art hanging in my home.  I absolutely love the simplicity of her pieces along with the bold brush stokes it really makes an impact.

I received my class materials a week or so ago and had some time the other day to play around.  It's addicting for sure and boy do I still need lots of practice but it sure was fun!

Click here to register today, because registration is closing at the end of January so you don't want to miss out!  While you are registering pick up some supplies so you are ready to go.  The three items that I think are key to starting this class are the brush, the paper and the paint.  The brush was amazing, and the paper is super smooth and allows the paint to move quite freely

I cannot wait to take this class and I hope to see you there as well!

For all the basketball moms....

About a week ago I received the nicest email from a lady named Staci who had seen my Soccer Journaling card on the blog but really needed a Basketball version.  After a few emails back and forth, I have one to share, completely inspired by Staci.

I'm providing two different downloads; a PDF sheet of 6 and a single .png file if you want to recolor in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

 

Full Sheet PDF download here

.png file download here

 

If you want to share this with other basketball loving friends that's great, I just ask that you redirect folks here for the downloads or hover over the image above and you'll see a Pinterest button to share it that way.  All I ask is that you please not post it anywhere else as a download or email the files around.

 

Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!

Project Life 2013 - week 52

It's done, I can't believe it! These albums were such a joy to work on, I really pushed myself to try many new things and to trust my gut on what it should look like and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.

Here is the final week;

The spread came together with many leftover elements from both the Copper Mountain Project Life Kit and the Storm King add-on, both from Studio Calico. It seriously bugs me that there are typos on one card and since its the only one I have they have to stay...

The calendar page is from a new calendar that I purchased for 2014 that actually started with November 2013. I kept the two months that I tore off and realized they were the perfect size so hello title card.  I added two veneer brackets from Studio Calico that I embossed with Gold Glitter Zing.

I love that many of the photos I used here were already in my December Daily so the edits were pretty much done for me, I really only had to edit for size and print.

Because my spread went a bit long so I could end on the 31st I needed some extra room so I made an insert using the Design G protector.  I love this size, it's the perfect mix of horizontal, vertical and some 3x4's.

Last year was the first year that I closed my album with a year in numbers review. I loved it and decided to do it again this year.  Plus I loved this photo from our family photo shoot and it was the perfect choice to use for this. It doesn't take that long to count everything up and its super fun to see how the numbers changed vs. last year.   I'm having it printed as we speak so when its all done I'll cut this 12x12 image into the proper sections to fit into the back of my last page.  When its done I'll add another photo of it inside the protector.

here's a snap I posted on Instagram of me doing the counting this past Sunday during the football game.

Here is a look at the print after it was cut and placed in the protector.  I ended up cutting some plain cardstock that was a bit larger than 4 x 6 because the slots are a tiny smidgen bigger.  Because of that my photo was not lining up the way I liked and was looking off.  Having the 4 1/8" x 6 1/8" bases helped a lot for tightening up the alignment.  I made sure to attach those four sections to the very edge of the cardstock along the middle and top or bottom edge.  The center section of 4 x 3 photos were just slide into the protector as is.

I also had large size prints made for the last page of my volume one

and the first page of my volume two.

I haven't started anything for 2014 yet, not even my title page.  I needed a break and plan to get right back into it later this week so I'll post all of that soon.

As far as I know I'll keep the same plan in place as I did last year but who knows what might happen when I actually sit down to work on it.

Today I'm just relishing in the joy of these completed albums and how much fun it is to look back on the year and see all that we did, it certainly was a really great year.