Elle's Studio │ Everyday Adventures Mini Album Class

One of my favorite ways to document our lives these days is by making mini albums. Sitting down to make a mini album of a trip or an event is at the top of my list of favorite ways to scrapbook so when I was asked to be a contributor for the Elle's Studio Everyday Adventures Mini Album class I said yes right away. In this image below you can see some sneaks from all of the class contributors.

All of the contributors use the same products to complete their albums; the product bundle, the stamp set that comes with the class and the coordinating Jonah alpha stamp.  I just love how different and unique each album was, everyone did such an amazing job. This album ended up being one of my favorites that I have ever made. I documented a two day getaway that my husband and I took to one of our favorite places near Yosemite Valley. You can see the cover of my album in this image below. The stamp set for the class was so awesome, as you can see. I was totally inspired by the little plus sign stamp.

The sneak image above and below shows some of the stamping I did using the Jonah alpha stamp. I love stacked text stamping and this alpha stamp was the perfect font and size.

Thanks again to Elle's Studio for having me. If you are a mini album lover this class is super full of amazing album inspiration so I hope you enjoy it.

Happy scrapping.

Big Picture Classes │ Start the Year Right

I have some super fun and exciting news to share. I'm teaching a class over at Big Picture Classes! The class is called Start the Year Right and my goal with the class is to provided you with some organizational and planning tools to start your Pocket Page project off on the right foot. I worked on this class this past November and it is to date the biggest project I have ever done completely on my own. I've been a contributor to many classes in the past but standing on my own two feet on this was a tremendous challenge but one that I enjoyed completely. I worked really hard on the content and I hope that you love it. My sincerest of thanks go out to the folks at Big Picture for asking me to develop this class for them.

Along with traditional scrapbooking I have been doing Pocket Page scrapbooking for six years now. Over the years I have streamlined my process to be as efficient as possible to stay on track. I'm hoping in the lessons and three videos I will give you some fresh ways to think about how you work so that you too can work efficiently.

There is a stamp set and some printable cards that go along with the class and there is also a free printable tracking sheet too.

The class starts on January 3rd, just it time for the new year. I look forward to interacting with all of you in the classroom so I hope to see you there.

If you are not yet familiar with Big Picture Classes, they are a subscription based site and the monthly subscription is $9.95 per month. With that subscription you get access to all the main class content on the site. They also offer premium classes that are sold on an individual bases.  The class list is extensive as is the list of teachers, some of the best of the best are teaching classes there and the content is really, really good. You can start a free two week trial right here and start taking a look at all the classes they offer including my class when it starts.

Thanks so much and I can't wait to hear what you all think of the class.

Course Contributor │ Elle's Studio

I'm so happy to share that I was asked to be a course contributor for Elle's Studio this month. Each Month Elle's Studio launches a special kit and there is an accompanying course sharing inspiration from three different ladies. This month Emily Spahn is sharing a scrapbook layout, Jennifer Ingle is sharing cards and I am sharing a Pocket Page spread.

Included with the course are 9 pages full of tips, techniques, and fun ideas using the November kit and coordinating extras, with projects highlighting concepts that can easily be transformed to fit any type of project you are working on! This class comes as a downloadable PDF file and will only be available until November 30th, 2015, so don’t miss it! 

I just loved working on this spread and as you can see below the kit is super, super cute and covers not just Christmas but Thanksgiving memories too.

There are some cute extra items as well

And some super cute printables and digital files that I used on my spread.

I can't share the spread that I made but I can share this little sneak peek of it. I will say that this spread is definitely at the top of my list of favorites that I have made this year.

I hope you check out the Course and thanks again to Elle's Studio for having me as a contributor. Working on these types of projects is always super fun for me and getting a chance to work with new and different products always gets my inspiration flowing.

See you soon,

Studio Calico │25 Days

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas and I have pretty much one thing on my mind, besides Thanksgiving Stuffing...December Daily®! I pretty much wait 11 months every year for it and I cannot wait to work on my 5th December Daily® Album.  As is the same in years past Studio Calico is doing another class to support Ali Edwards' project and her kit and I cannot wait!

Join us for 25 Days and record all your special holiday moments with Stephanie Bryan. Stephanie will be teaching this class to coordinate with Ali Edwards' December Daily® kit, and she’ll share plenty of prompts and videos to give you that extra bit of motivation you need to make a gorgeous album during the busiest season of the year. Stephanie will share foundation pages beginning in November, and she’ll provide daily updates through December to culminate in a complete album.

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU'LL RECEIVE :

• 7 videos from Stephanie covering getting organized, foundation pages, finished pages, and 4 techniques you can incorporate into your own pages.
• A PDF with a detailed look at Stephanie's foundation pages.
• Daily PDFs starting December 5th that share Stephanie's completed pages, along with her tips and tricks for keeping up with her album in the busy holiday season.
• A peek into the albums of our 5 contributors - they'll each be sharing 5 pages during December.
• 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.

As usual the digital files that go with the class are super cute. Like these printables from Hello Forever

Super cute cut files from Hello Forever (check out that full sheet of text!)

And these super cute, super versatile collage templates that will be perfect to create inserts with from Shanna Noel

You will also receive digitals of the Stamp Set that comes with the class kit that you can see here.  I understand the class kits are getting limited so make sure you enroll today before they run out.

This class is always such a great place for inspiration and it really helps put me in the mood to create my album. I sure hope to see you in class! December is just a few short weeks away!

Oh Joy and Paint.Plan.Play at Studio Calico

Two new Studio Calico classes were announced last night and I'm super excited about both of them. I had a pretty good feeling that one was going to be announced but this class was a total surprise and its such a great idea and the perfect timing too.

The Yuletide season is upon us and that means it’s time to send hand-crafted greeting cards and tags for those you hold nearest and dearest. In Send Joy Lisa Spangler will show you how to create 15 cards and 5 tags in bulk so that you can send them to 100 of your closest friends. Provide your entire Christmas list with handmade cards made with care. Send Joy is enrolling now through October 31st at 11:59pm EST and all class content will be posted on November 1st.

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU'LL RECEIVE :

• 5 videos - 4 from Lisa Spangler and 1 from Jennifer McGuire - sharing tips and tricks for well designed cards that you can make for everyone on your list.
• PDF lessons sharing ideas for 10 stamped cards, 5 letterpress cards and 5 tags from Lisa and her contributors.
• 5 card sketches to use as starting points
• 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.

There are some really great offers if you act quickly for this class. Click here for the classroom page to see the offers and to sign up.

There are also some SUPER cute new stamps, dies and letterpress plates to accompany this class and here are some of my favorites

1. this adorable house set stamp that pairs perfectly with the house base that was released previously. It will be so cute for December Daily pages.
2. this letterpress tag and stamp set, perfect for all the gift giving thats coming up. It would be so fun to spend the day making a bunch of tags up in advance.
3. this merry craft die 
4. and this Christmas craft die the perfect pair
5. this snow globe letterpress plate is just the cutest thing ever.

To see the full list of all the other cute items in stock click here.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 

The second class that was announced was the one I had a pretty good feeling about based on what I had seen on Ashley's Instagram posts.

We've all experienced it – the frustration of sitting in front of a blank page for hours and still coming up empty. Well, we've got the remedy: cutting-edge artist Ashley Goldberg. Ashley’s come wielding her brush and paints to invite you into Paint.Plan.Play, an “art” class designed for scrapbookers. Grab the paints and brushes you've been collecting and let Ashley help you tap into the creativity you've got hiding inside yourself.

During the first half of Paint.Plan.Play, you’ll explore core painting techniques Ashley uses every day, then you will transition into putting those new skills to use in several projects. With Ashley’s expert guidance, you will learn how to take control of color, pattern, and text by using paint, collage, and various other mediums to add allure to all your paper crafting projects – from personally designed journal layouts to Project Life spreads. Paint.Plan.Play will begin on November 1st.

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU'LL RECEIVE :

• 4 technique videos from Ashley sharing tips and tricks for painted backgrounds, mark making, stamping and working with patterned paper.
• a PDF from Ashley sharing how she uses her painted pages to create an Art Planner.
• Inspiration PDFs from our expert contributors sharing 10 ideas for using these paint techniques on art journal pages, layouts and Project Life® spreads.
• 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.

There are also some really great exclusives and offers for this class if you sign up quickly, you can all the details and sign up for the class right here.

Just like the Oh Joy class there are some super cute items in the shop just for this class. Here are my favorite items.

1. gold splatter rubons, I'll take two please!
2. the cutest starry night stamp set, these icons are so versatile
3. super cute pattern dot stamps the backgrounds and edges that you can make with these, super cute!
4. the most amazing 6x8 paper pack
5. and the most adorable alpha stamp set

To see the full list of all the other cute items in stock click here.

 

I sure hope to see you in the class room for one if not both of these classes! I know I can't wait!

Agenda

Studio Calico has done it again, read everyone's mind and announced their newest class starting in October, Agenda. Have you seen what some people are doing with their planners? It's amazing! This class is the perfect thing for people that want to be organized on paper yet still add some creative flair to it. Who says a planner can't be pretty right! Not to mention that Marcy is the queen of all things related to organization so I am bound to learn a lot from her on how to keep myself on task while looking good doing it.

Here is what you will get with this class

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU'LL RECEIVE

• PDF lessons covering everything from setting up your planner to making it functional for you, all while adding your own style and flair to its pages.
• Three videos from Marcy Penner
• A peek into each of the contributor's planners, as well as insight into how they organize and decorate them.
• Digital files from Hello Forever designed for your planner (coming soon)

Class Syllabus

• Planner Set Up
• Inserts - Pockets, Bookmarks and Dividers
• Dashboards
• Bullet Journaling
• Ideas for using your planner to stay organized
• Decorating

What You Need

• Any style of planner or mini binder
• Your favorite calendar and notebook inserts

Their is an exclusive stamp set available although the initial supplies have sold out. A reorder has been done so if you want in on the super cute stamps make sure you sign up ASAP as I'm not sure that another order will be placed after this second round.

I mean how cute are these stamps!!!!! I love the faces and I'm pretty partial to the little water glasses too.

Marcy has also designed some super cute stickers that are on sale this week while supplies last so make sure you grab these too, you can see all of the class supplies here.

 
 I look forward to seeing you all in class, now I need to find the perfect planner.....

Photos & Words

I'm a huge fan of learning from others, especially others who do such amazing work.  Studio Calico has announced two new classes that I am personally very excited about. I can always use some fresh inspiration to shake me out of my photo taking rut and I can definitely use some help telling my stories in a new exciting way.  I think if you've been at this hobby for awhile now you might be like me, needing a fresh perspective on how you look at what you do and if you are new to the hobby what better way to learn from the pros and start off on the right foot.

Here is the first class Snapshot - Bring your every day moments into focus with Snapshot. Join April Foster in shooting a photo a day in September and learn to capture all of the little details that add up to your favorite memories. Snapshot will be enrolling through 9/30/2014 at 11:59pm EST, and class will begin on September 1st.

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU’LL RECEIVE : 

• 30 photo prompts designed to help you turn the camera on every aspect of your life and find new things to capture.
• Photo samples for every prompt from April and one of her contributors, along with bonus ideas for each to help stretch your creativity.
• Tips and tricks for staying inspired to pick up your camera and shoot new things from April and her contributors.
• A minibook project from April featuring her photos from the class.
• A class message board and gallery to share your thoughts and photos.
• Digital photo brushes from Hello Forever (shown below).
• A printable prompt list – sized to fit into your planner or your camera bag.

These digital brushes will be perfect to add right to your photos prior to printing.

The next class is Pen & Paper - Put pen to paper and make your memories come alive. Join Laura Kurz for Pen & Paper and take your layouts to the next level by seeing how you can use words to truly make a page. From journaling prompts to interviewing your loved ones, this class will explore many different ways of looking at life to tell your story. Pen & Paper will be enrolling through 9/30/2014 at 11:59pm EST, and class will begin on September 1st.

BY ENROLLING IN THIS CLASS YOU'LL RECEIVE :

• 8 PDF lessons designed to help you find your voice and share your memories in a more meaningful way.
• 1 video from Laura sharing her thoughts on the importance of journaling.
• Jour
  naling tips and tricks from our contributors - everything from finding the right words to capture a mood to fitting all that journaling into a page design.
• Digital layout templates from Shanna Noel in 12x12 & 8.5x11 (shown below) - designed with room for your biggest stories.

Class Syllabus:

Week One – Getting Started

• Assignment 1 – Finding Your Voice
• Assignment 2 – Recording A Day, A Week, A Month

Week Two – The Interview and the Letter

• Assignment 1 – The Interview
• Assignment 2 – If I Die on Monday

Week Three – Other Ways of Storytelling

• Assignment 1 – Let Others Tell Your Story
• Assignment 2 – When You Can’t Find the Right Words

Week Four – Looking for Prompts and Being Random

• Assignment 1 – The Prompt
• Assignment 2 – Let it Flow

Now if you are like me and know that you want to take both classes check this offer out! Purchase the Photos & Words bundle and save over 10% off enrolling in each class individually! This bundle offer is available through September 30th. By enrolling in the Photos & Words Bundle, you will receive access to two classes - Pen & Paper with Laura Kurz and Snapshot with April Foster.

I hope to see you in the classroom!

Workspace - for the love of organization

I'm fairly obsessed with good organization, I work best with things in their place and I am always on the look out for new storage ideas and a fresh perspective on how to keep my workspace organized.  Needless to say when Studio Calico announced their latest class with Marcy Penner, I was so excited! I mean check out the awesomeness that will come with this class.

• 8 lessons that will walk you through the process of assessing your space & storage, your stash, and how you use it so that you can organize (and maintain) your workspace in a way that works for you.
• Bonus lessons sharing ideas for finding vintage pieces for storage, repurposed and recycled storage ideas, creating an inspiration board, starting fresh in a new space, and identifying & tackling your "hot spot" problem areas.
• A class message board where you can interact with your teachers, and get encouragement and support from the teachers and your fellow students as you go through the process of perfecting your workspace.

Bonus Digital Files :

• Worksheets for each lesson, to help you work through the class
• Printable tabs to use to label your supplies
• Cut files for tabbed dividers for your 3x4in and 4x6in cards
• Reveal planning checklists
• Kit tracking sheets

I am super excited for the bonus Digital Files because Marcy is the queen of planning sheets so I know these will be awesome.

Sign ups for this class will close this Thursday 7/31 so make sure you sign up before its too late, you can do that right here. There's also still time to bundle some of the class supplies with your monthly kit orders, like this stamp set which I love and purchased just to have on hand for the class.

Its a great time to get your workspace in tip top shape so I hope to see you in the classroom!

Letterpress

I think one of the most exciting trends to come out of the paper crafting world in awhile was the addition of home letterpressing.  Letterpress items seem to be everywhere these days and the fact that you can now do it at home is just so cool.  When Studio Calico offered their first Letterpress class last year I signed up immediately.  It was one of the funnest classes and I loved learning about how to do it at home and I loved how easy it was. 

Fast forward a few months and Letterpress classes are back at Studio Calico with Letterpress 2.0!  This class will be taught by one of my favorite Paper Crafters, Geralyn Sy and I cannot wait!

This is what you will get with the class

• Detailed PDF from Geralyn with insight into how she fits Letterpress into her creative process
• 1 video and 4 PDF tutorials sharing new techniques for Letterpress from Geralyn
• Access to a class message board where you can discuss Letterpress with Geralyn and your fellow students
• Challenges to keep you inspired and creating all month long! 

This is what you will need as far as supplies go

• Lifestyle Crafts L Letterpress platform bundle
• Studio Calico letterpress plates – Many of the techniques and inspiration pieces will use more than one design.
• Manual diecut machine (The Cuttlebug, Epic, Big Shot and Evolution will all work with the platform. I have the Cuttlebug and its worked great for me)
• Letterpress Paper (you'll want plenty on hand believe me!)
• Letterpress Ink 

These are some additional items that would be nice to have

• Cleaning Cloths – these cut thru the ink and make clean up so much easier
• A large brayer – The letterpress bundle comes with an ink brayer, but you’ll find a larger brayer makes even inking on larger plates that much easier.

This class will also come with these printables and digital files so you can make complete projects.

Because the Letterpress 2.0 class will not include the basic how to's of home letterpressing they are also offering a Letterpress Class Bundle where you'll receive access to Letterpress 2.0 AND the introductory Letterpress class taught by Tina Aszmus in September 2013 . The introductory class includes 8 full tutorials, 6 videos and 30 great projects to get you started & is available only through the bundle purchase.  So if you didn't take that first class and want to learn the basic how to's first I would really suggest signing up for the bundle, you can do that right here.

Signs ups for both the Letterpress 2.0 class and the Two Class Bundle are open until 11:59pm EST on May 31st so make sure you sign up while you still can.  I can't wait for Letterpress 2.0 so I look forward to seeing you in the classroom on June 1st.

Digital Scrapbooking Classes at Studio Calico

This week has been crazy busy for me, I've been at my desk writing some tutorials for the latest FREE Class at Studio Calico that launched this week, its called Digital Basis and if you have ever wanted to learn about Digital Scrapbooking now is the time to do it.

Here is what is being covered in the class

Getting Started :

• What’s the difference between Photoshop and PSE? We’ll show you how to download a trial of PSE so you give digital a try!
• Downloading and opening files
• Saving files

 Organization :

• Organizing your SC digital files on the dashboard
• Organizing files on your computer

 Printing Basics :

• Setting Up Documents
• Flattening Layers & Saving Files
• CYMK vs RGB
• Print Settings

There will also be tutorials on working with the Studio Calico Digital files, in particular;

Stamp Brushes : 

• How to load the brushes
• resizing and recoloring brushes

  Templates: 

• Working with layers
• Using a clipping mask

  Printables : 

• Printing printable elements
• Using printable cards and accents individual digital elements

  Digital cardstock : 

• Ideas for using digital cardstock
• How to edit and resize digital cardstock

  Cut Files : 

• Setting up the workspace and blade / cut settings in Silhouette Studio
• What’s the difference between .PNG, .SVG & .STUDIO?
• How to trace a .PNG
• How to turn on cut lines on a .SVG with Silhouette Studio’s Designers software

  BONUS : 

• Incorporating text on photos and printables
• Using SC digital with PicMonkey (a free program)

The tutorials I worked on for this class are Organizing your Digital Files (which is already live) and Working with Digital Templates and with Digital Cardstock (which will be posted 5/21).  They were a lot of fun to put together and I hope the information is really helpful to get you going with Digital Scrapbooking.

Here one version of the Templates that are being offered with the class files

Here is a sneak peak at the Project Life® spread I made for the class.

Learning how to incorporate Digital into my process was the best thing I ever did.  It seems these days that every single thing I make starts on my computer and I love how much versatility using digital elements provides.  I can turn any item into any color, any size and anything I need it to be with just a few clicks of my mouse and I love that about digital scrapbooking.

To sign up and get started with the Digital Basics Class click here.

And while you are at it I would suggest signing up for the next class being taught by Shanna Noel

Beyond the Digital Basics will continue along but get a bit more in depth with the ideas and instruction.  Here is what you will receive and a list of all of the digital files included when you sign up for this class.

What you'll get:

• 10 how to videos from Shanna covering techniques for templates, stamp brushes, digital paper, printables and digital die cut files
• 10 tutorials from the contributors covering techniques for templates, stamp brushes, digital paper, printables and digital die cut files
• 20 new digital / hybrid projects to inspire you
• a class message board to interact with Shanna and your fellow students
• new challenges each week

Bonus Digital Files:

• Digital patterned paper (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Templates (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Alphabet Stamp Set (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Stamps (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Embellishments (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Die Cut Files (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)
• Digital Washi Photo Frames (Shanna Noel for Studio Calico)

Here is a look at just a few of the digital files you are getting with this class.  Shanna did such as amazing job designing the items for the class.

Shanna has a really great intro video for this class and you can see more images and sign up right here.  

I sure hope to see you in both classrooms!

Have a great weekend!