Featuring Studio Calico │ January 2018 Summit

I realized I haven't shared the news here on the blog yet that I am back on the Studio Calico creative team this year. I was on the team several years ago, 2014 to be exact making projects with their Project Life kits as they were called back then. This time around my main focus of work for them will be creating pocket page spreads using their Documenter kit and lots and lots of stamping! Mostly in Travelers Notebook's but you'll see other projects pop up here and there too. It's been fun being back on the team and they are definitely keeping me busy which is great too. I've already contributed to one class this year and another will be coming in a few weeks too.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission if you make a purchase using the links below. There is no additional cost to you if you use these links.

Here are the projects I made using the January 2018 kits called Summit.

The first is a pocket page spread using the Summit Documenter kit. I loved that it had a outdoorsy exploring theme and used photos from a trip from last summer. It was perfect. That floral tag was my favorite and I loved all the stamps, especially the travel themed ones.

I made this Travelers Notebook spread featuring the Summit Stamp Subscription. It was designed by Christine Herrin and I loved playing with the circles to create little flowers.

I also made another Travelers Notebook spread that featured the Love Stamp Set from Life Love Paper. It is such a great Valentine stamp set.

The February kits go live tomorrow at Noon EST for subscribers. I made three projects with the kits and also made an additional layout that will be featured on the blog soon.  I'll be back to share those with you after they go live.

The next class I will be participating in is specifically about stamping in Travelers Notebooks so if that's something that interests you, you may want to check it out. It starts on February 19th and it should be a really fun class.

Take care,

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ April Release

So it appears the April release over at Kelly Purkey Shop was a huge success. The kit is amazing and the two additional stamp sets have already sold out. I'm happy for Kelly that they went so fast but I'm bummed that some folks missed out. If you did happen to get your hands on the kit and stamps I wanted to share with you what I made to help inspire your creations. Here is a look below of the My People kit, this stamp set and the cards are so perfect not just for family love but for that tribe of people that you have surrounding you that are just as close as family.

Seeing as I'm so behind on my pocket pages this kit was perfect for documenting my Thanksgiving photos. This day really was all about My People so the stamps and the colors of some of the cards really helped tell the story.

I just loved that 6x4 card that I cut down the middle and stamped with the Life is always better when were together stamp. I love how the edge falls of the page and I love how the white space helped balance out the solid white card on the right side. The Rumi quote card was another favorite, totally worthy of framing and hanging up for sure. I did sneak in one stamp from the Mama Bear stamp set, that set went so fast I didn't even have a chance to make something featuring it, you guys loved it so much and I agree it was a good one.

My second project came together really quickly because the Dear Weekend Stamp Set was just too perfect. 

For this Travelers Notebook layout I knew I wanted the photos to fall off the edge of the page and to balance that out, I lined all of my stamping up on the left side of the page to mimic the look of the right side. I kept all the stamping to one color and fussy cut one of the journaling cards so that I could tuck in behind one of my photos. I just love all that white space down the middle.

I cannot wait to see what Kelly has coming next, be sure to watch my Instagram for sneaks, you can find me here, make sure you follow so you don't miss any posts.

See you soon,

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ October release

I think its pretty funny that the two projects I made this month featuring Kelly Purkey's October releases are TV show related. I think its funny because I wouldn't consider myself an avid TV watcher. I watch a handful of quality TV shows and live sporting events but that's it. Lucky for me I get to share some of my favorites with you today.

This first project is very near and dear to my heart. You could categorize me in the OBSESSED category as far as my fandom for this show goes. It's really bad people, like really bad. I was pregnant with my daughter when this show ended and the ugly cry, OMG it was BAD! So when they announced that this show was coming back for a reboot on Netflix, oh my gosh....I was giddy. If you have no idea what I'm talking about by looking at the pictures, I'm talking about GILMORE GIRLS!!

When Netflix decided to host Luke's Diner Pop Up Coffee shops all over the US on October 5th to coincide with the official Gilmore Girl's birthday my friend and I decided we couldn't miss it. Luckily for us there were two coffee shops in Sacramento that were doing events so we had a 50/50 chance of getting a cup and some cute pics. We got there fairly early and waited about an hour in line before it was our turn. The excitement was overflowing from all of the folks in line. I was so glad we went. It really got us both excited for the reboot in November.

Luckily Kelly had sent me an advance heads up that this But I'm a Gilmore stamp set was coming so I made sure my photos were on point.

I used all of the stamps to create the background for my travelers notebook spread and then created a replica of the coffee cups they gave us at the event. I wanted to keep mine so I just scanned the sleeve and created a cut file for my Silhouette Cameo. I made sure to add the same text that was on the cup before I cut it out. One the right side I added in a few pictures and added in some more stamps. I know I will use this stamp set when the reboot airs so I'm so glad I have it in my collection. If you're a true Gilmore Girls fan you need one too. #teamlogan

My next project is a pocket page spread that pays homage to all of the currently airing TV shows that I love. I much prefer quality over quantity so these three shows are the ones I will not miss. They are all historical dramas which says something about me. Living in the past much! Ha! These shows are just so beautifully done, I blame Downton Abbey and of course my other love Outlander for spoiling me with such quality television.

This was a pretty simple and quick insert to make for my album, I found all of the images online except the one of me lounging on the couch. I used stamps from the It's Show Time stamp set and the stamps from the October Kit: My Favorite Things. The sentiments worked really well when talking about my love of these shows.

If you are looking for some good quality TV shows to binge watch, I can personally vouch for all four of these shows. They are pretty exceptional.

I hope you enjoyed the release this month. I can't wait to use the Sweater Weather stamp set. That was my other favorite this month and I have some fall pics waiting to be documented.

Have a great week everyone!

Featuring Kelly Purkey │ September release

It was the first day of Autumn last week, did you celebrate it? I sure did, even though it's still firmly in the 90's around here nothing will stop me from sipping the PSL's and buying all the pumpkin foods I can find. As soon as the temps drop, I'll be all set. Luckily the latest September releases from Kelly Purkey Shop are giving all the fall vibes.

The Gather the Goods mini kit designed by the lovely and talented Brandi Kincaid is a must for the true fall lovers out there. The stamps are so cute and so versatile too. I'm seriously loving the leaves, especially when stamped with some ombre inks.

I stamped some of my fall favorites using the new Miranda alpha, its designed to work with both the Walter alpha and the Dalton alpha stamp sets. I used the Dalton here for the outline. The vibrant colors one the cards are so divine. I adore that blue shade on the background of the fall leaves card. Perfection!

The main September kit is called Around Town and I was completely drawn to all of the amazing shades of blue in the kit. Not to mention the super cool locals stamps in the stamp set.

I also added in a few stamps from the Happy Things stamp set and the little phone stamp from the Singleton stamp set because they paired so well with the kit and my photos.

Love that Local stamp from the kit and the stacked words on the card that I fussy cut for my date card.

There are also a whole new batch of Clearly Kelly Products with Hero Arts. There are six new planner stamp sets, two new stamp and cut sets, and four new ink cubes.

For this planner spread I used a little bit of each of the new stamp sets; Arts & Crafts, Adventure, College Life, Doing my Best, Goal Plan, and the Garden Set. I especially loved the weather icons on this set. I also added in some banners from the Flags Stamp & Cut and one of the washi stamps from the Tape Stamp & Cut set. How cute is that die to cut little washi strips! Adorable!

Something you definitely don't want to miss out on are the four new stamp cube sets. I mixed them all up on this image below so you could see how amazing the new color range is. These stamp pads are amazing. They are juicy, they are pigmented and they make stamping effortless. Seriously love these new inks. The Make Note stamp is from the Gather the Goods stamp set.

There is a bundle available of all four sets or you can purchase each one individually; Palm Springs, Paris, Miami, and Charleston.

I hope you love this months release! Happy shopping!

See you soon,

Featuring Color Cast Designs │ April to August projects

While I'm on a blog roll, ha! I thought I'd also share all of the projects I made using Color Cast Design products. I've been so bad about blogging lately in general and sadly sharing the work I've done for Jessica hasn't been done like it should be. I do a good job of sharing my work on Instagram so if you follow me there you've seen these already but let me catch you up in case you don't on the last several months of work that I have done. I'll keep the commentary to a minimum but if you have specific questions please feel free to ask.

April

This month I made two pocket page spreads, this first one was using a kit that I just loved. Jessica had asked for some suggestions of what we would like to see and this set was one of my suggestions. I really love her larger icons so I thought a mixed set would be super fun. She totally nailed this set and I have two back ups, I loved it so much. Its still available and its called Punctuate This.

A little St. Patties Day spread using a lot of super cute food items from that month.

May

This was one of the first layouts I made for my Summer 2016 Notebook Mini album and what's not to love about a Pool Day! And how cute are those fish, the acrylic and the human.

This ice cream layout was super fun to make. I had to dig deep into the archives for some worthy photos but I'm so glad I did, I think it came out super cute.

Skipping ahead to July because there wasn't a release in June.

I always love when Jessica adds sports themed items to her line and this gold mirror had me all heart eye emoji! A super simple layout for a soccer tournament in my Summer notebook mini.

Holy Pineapple! I can't believe the Be Cool Pineapples are still in stock so you better grab them before I do, not to mention the gold glitter Hello Sunshine! This spread in my Summer mini had many different versions before I settled on this final product. Sometimes I push stuff around for a few days before I settle on things so if you do the same, know that you are not alone. Some things just take time. And for me, simple always wins.

I love how the images are muted in the glassine bag but then pop when you take them out.

August

And now we are current and I made three things with this release. Man was it a GOOD ONE!

Holy smokes, was I obsessed with the Olympics. Its not unusual for me to get obsessed but this year WOW! So much goodness to document and I loved that Jessica made a set for the Olympics, she'll even personalize your country name when you order. This set was the first thing I wanted to use when my box arrived.

The cards I used were a mix of free cards that Kelly Purkey sent out to her newsletter subscribers and cards that I purchased from In A Creative Bubble. I did also add in one sheet of gold star paper that is pretty old from Studio Calico.

Man I loved how this turned out!! Team USA baby. This reminds me that I also need to update the medal count card to the final numbers. Adding that to my to do list!

My next projects were spreads for my Summer notebook mini, the first was for the first day of school. Which I opted to included because its still summer and it was kind of a big deal. I used the School time set and one of the School Years wood veneers.

Jessica must have had ESP when she designed this set, the colors were perfect for my daughters back to school outfit. I did add in the hello piece from an older release.

The last one was for a hike that we took. I mixed pieces from the Take a Hike set and the Fresh Air set, that backpacker veneer is so darn cute. I kept this pretty simple with a large photo that I made sure to crop so there was room for the veneer at the bottom.

I decided to hide my journaling because this hike didn't quite go how I had planned. Leaving it hidden made more sense to me so it wouldn't take the focus away from the images. Without going into too much detail, I got dehydrated and really sick, it was too hot for me to be out that day and I paid for it big time. It was definitely a cool hike and one that I would like to repeat again one day but I would pick a 60 degree day vs. a 97 degree one.

Phew, you made it to the end! I hope you found some stuff that you loved. Make sure to check out Jessica's shop, she has so many other great sets that I didn't share here.

One last thing, Jessica is having a design team call so if you are interested in possibly joining her team, here's the info. Its a super fun team to be on and the ladies are all awesome. Think about it...