Featuring Clearly Kelly │ Holiday Stamps

Hello everyone, as promised I wanted to share with you the two Project Life® spreads I made featuring Kelly Purkey's new Clearly Kelly Holiday Stamps. They are available for pre-order on her site right now and you can see all of the sets right here.

The first spread that I made started out one way and then half way thru took a u-turn and completely changed. I actually kind of love when that happens, its pretty cool and I don't usually mind redoing parts if I need to. This spread started with photos in color but after completing the left side the colors were kind of all over the place, some inside, some outside and at night you know the drill. Darks and lights don't usually mix well for me so I decided to go all black and white. I love how the pop of red stands out against the photos and something like this could easily be done with any color you like.

I used stamps from the following sets; All Decked Out, Fa la la la la, Noel and Yeti on this spread. I love the mix of the graphics and the script text and they all just work so well together. And how cute is that Yeti.

I decided to emboss the title card with red glitter embossing powder just to make it stand out just a bit more and I love the sparkle it adds.

My second spread was part layout and part pockets because the previous week had a large layout that I had made so it didn't have pockets on the left side. One of my favorite trends right now is printed masking tape so I thought it would be cool to try to make my own. I purchased plain masking tape that was 3/4 of and inch wide and I also purchased 2" which was fun to play with too.

I stamped the making spirits bright sentiment from the Fa la, la, la, la stamp set and one of the tiny snowflakes from the S'no problem stamp set repeatedly on to the tape and laid it out as my background. To do the stamping I laid the tape onto a non stick craft mat so that I could easily remove it. When it was time to fit in my journaling I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to see if I could print on the tape and it worked. I'm not sure how long it will last but I love how it looks here. I just printed my text on a piece of thicker vellum, carefully laid my tape on top of the text and ran it back thru my printer again. I carefully peeled up the tape and put it in position. It didn't stick badly to the vellum which was great.

The rest of the spread was filled in with some cards left over from Ali's 2014 December Daily kit and I used more stamps from the All Decked Out and the Fa, la, la, la, la sets.

I stamped one more piece of masking tape for the title card to carry it over to the other side using stamps from the Fa, la, la, la, la set.

I hope you have a great time with these stamps when you receive them. They are shipping mid August which is just in time to get started making cards are working on last years pages that might not be done yet. They are going to be perfect for this years December Daily if you are doing that project too.

See you soon,

Studio Calico Walden the full reveal

I'm so happy to share with you the projects I made using the Walden Project Life® kits from Studio Calico. Like I mentioned on my sneaks post, the color palette of the main kit was probably one of my favorites all year. Not to mention the super cute embellishments that came with it. Hello days of the week tabs and gold mirrored stars!

Note: just a reminder that all the links I'm sharing will be active right now, 9:00am PST for subscribers and tonight at 9:00pm PST for non subscribers.

Because I loved the days of the week tabs so much I decided to scale down my spread and use them to highlight each day of the week. It was great for this weeks spread because I didn't have a ton of really great photos but I had at least one from each day. I did opt to drop Sunday from this weeks spread because it really wouldn't fit. I'll just add it to the next week and it will be fine.

I just adored the light blue die cut tags and that little hello was just the cutest. Paired with some mirrored stars and my title card was done.

I wanted to do something really big with this group shot from our outdoor movie night so I printed the photo as large as my printer will go and I made it flip up to show more photos from the night. I used the digital file of the Project Life® Holiday addon stamps and print and cut it with my Cameo. It holds the photo closed for me so it will slip inside the protector.

To create the title for the page I just hand wrote the word in pencil right on my page and then with a bottle of Glossy Accents I just lightly traced over my pencil lines a little bit at a time and laid the twine right on top of the glue. It stuck down fairly quickly and I just used the tip of my exacto knife to press it in and hold it down as I moved around each letter. I should have erased some of my pencil lines a bit before I started because some do show but its fine, just me being a bit of a perfectionist.

Here you can see how the large photo flips up to show a collage of additional photos from the night underneath.

Now I shared on the sneaks thread over on the Studio Calico board that I had a funny story about that twine, see it was originally planned to be in another kit a few months back and I had the perfect idea on how to use it as you can see below. But a change was made after I had made this so I had to pull it and do something else. When we got word that the twine would be in another kit and to hang on to it I was super excited to get to make something else with it. It's a super fun material to work with and I hope you all have lots of fun creating with it. My title this month was a lot of fun but man did I love that little jump rope. I did keep it and its in my album right now so all in all it ended up being great, I got to use it twice!

My second spread was made using my two favorite cards from the Firchburg addon and a lot of the digital files this month. This spread was interesting because I had two Design F protectors on this spread instead of one Design F and one Design D like I normally have. I had used two Design F protectors on the previous spread so that's why its wasn't a normal spread. It was definitely a challenge because I didn't have as many photos as I would have liked so I had to improvise to fill the space.

I loved that expletive card and paired it with a photo of my bruschetta, man I would love some of that right now! I also really loved the today card, it totally reminded me of the date stamp card that I loved so much from last month. The Lovely Day card was a larger 6x4 card that I just trimmed down, I love anything with phrases on it so I of course gravitated to that one.

I decided to focus my attention on one night for the right side of the spread. I had some good shots from the night but not a ton so in order to fill the space I enlarged the photo of me and my husband to 6x8 and trimmed it down to four 3x4's to fill up some space. It worked and I like how it changes up the interest on the spread. I really loved the 'in good company' digital stamp from the Project Life® Digital stamp set and used it on a full photo. I also loved the Fill in the Blank printable Marcy made. I deleted the items that didn't work for me and I love how these types of cards can make your journaling a bit more fun and interesting. The yes, heart and always are the digital stamps from the Project Life® Holiday addon and I love them so much. So versatile and not just for holiday.

The kits overall this month are just so amazing. Here are my favorite this month that I'll be sure to be placing in my cart.

1. The Baker Bridge scrapbook addon, the photo tags are amazing as are those leaves!
2. The Garland Road Project Life® addon is so getting saved for my December Daily. I cannot wait to add these items to my album, especially the veneer.
3. The Pine Hill scrapbook addon, I mean the masking tape alone makes this addon a must have.
4. The adorable Thanksgiving Card set from Tina, she rocks the addon cards like nobody and these will be so cute on my Thanksgiving spread.
5. The French Fry stamp set and the Holiday and New Years stamp sets are so cute. Just wait until you see what Julie Campbell did with that fry stamp set, dying over the cuteness!

I sure hope you enjoy the reveal and make sure you check out the Creative Team Gallery too, its really amazing this month as usual.

Studio Calico The Underground the full reveal

October is always a favorite month for me seasonally, there is always so much to look forward to this time of year; the temps get cooler, the food gets tastier, the drinks get pumpkin-ier (totally just made that up but you get the idea). Fall rocks!  And the Studio Calico The Underground kits totally rocked too! There was something I absolutely loved in each of them and I can't wait to show you what I made and since I made four things bear with me, this post will be a bit photo heavy.

Note: just a reminder that all the links I'm sharing below will be live right now 9:00am PST for subscribers and then at 9:00pm PST for non subscribers.

The first Project Life® spread I made was using just the main kit only plus a few digital items too. I totally picked out all of my favorite fall themed cards and a few others that helped tell my store. My favorite thing in the main kit was the masking tape, I LOVED it! I loved that it was a masking tape and not a more sheer washi tape like we have seen before. The sentiments were spot on and they did a great job with this. I also really, really loved that sweater weather card.

Here is a closer look at the left side of the spread. The Scarf stamp set that Tina designed is SO cute! I used the digital version of the stamps here to create the card to pair with my photo of my daughter looking thru my December Daily and I adore this. I may just have to break down and buy the stamp version of this set too, its just too cute.

Paige did it again and designed the coolest Background Cut file set that I used for my title card. I took the 12 x 12 background file and shrank it down and adjusted it to fit on my 6 x 4 card and then printed it out in a light grey color. I pre-punched all the holes and then hand stitched each one. I adore how this came out and love how it fits with the fall theme.

Allison also designed a set of printables for the first time for the digital shop and I really loved what she did. Its a new look that we haven't seen before and that Pumpkin Everything was one of them. I paired it with a printable from Marcy's set and then laid it on top of a printable from Geralyn to create my own card. The trifecta of printables all rolled in to one card.

The second Project Life® spread was a lot of fun to create. I really, really loved the Cozy Card set that Tina designed and so many of them just spoke to me. I ended up taking my color cues from the cards and created a mostly black and white spread with just a few pops of color. I had a lot of fun playing with my photo edits to leave just a hint of color in some of my photos. I used one of the envelopes that came in the Baker Street addon to hold a few other photos as you will see below. I really loved the gold rubons from the Chelsea addon and squeezed as many as I could on to this spread. I used two of the black tags from the Baker Street addon on my envelope and my title card, the one on the title card was just flipped over so it was blank to hold my dates and a little gold star rubon. The one I used on the envelope was long enough that the sentiment was wrapped around the back and hidden allowing for some space to add the rubon.

I really love how simple the spread it but it still covers a lot of different things. I really loved the photo rubons from the Baker Street addon, I love the little pop of color and I love how they look on top of a photo too.

Here's a closer look at the envelope and the photos inside. 

The moon shot was pure luck, I was putting my daughter to bed and noticed it out the window, and grabbed my camera to snap a pic as soon as she went to bed. The cozy back card worked perfectly for pajama day and that today's events card was a fun way to journal instead of just writing it all out. I so love working with black and white spreads, its the second time I've done it and its always so much fun to do.

Our Fall Bucket list happened kind of on accident like I mentioned earlier this week. The template set that Shanna designed was so much fun to work with and it was a fun way to make our list look pretty. I just grouped our bucket list items into loose categories that sort of made sense and just started laying them out based on my space needs. I added in the digital stamp brushes; some from the Scrapbook set, the Project Life set and the Forest set to jazz it up a bit. The sentiments on the Project Life set worked so great with three of my categories and that stitching digital stamp is a dream. I love how realistic it looks with just a tiny bit of a drop shadow added.

I turned that tiny little tag on the bottom left into a pocket to hold a tag cut out from one of the cards in the main Project Life® kit just to add a little interactive flair. A simple brad dressed up the piece and it was done.  Super simple and it will look great tucked into my Project Life® album as an insert with the season is done.

I thought I was done creating my projects but at the very last minute decided that I really needed to do something with that super cute pumpkin card in the Project Life® main kit, so this layout was born. I completed this whole layout in 20 minutes and I think that's the fastest time ever for me. I used only the Project Life® main kit and the gold card from the Baker Street addon on this layout. I used the masking tape in the main kit was my starting point. I just laid out strips alternating the placement so it was staggered until it filled about 1/3 of my page and then just started layering the cards and my photo. Super quick, super easy and super fall like.

Here's a closer look at all the different layers, I'm a big fan of foam squares and love having things at different heights.

So besides that awesomeness that is coming to you if you are a Project Life® main kit subscriber, these are my top pics of what to look for at reveal;

1. Baker Street addon I mean the little flags, the rubons and the foil card, amazing
2. Chelsea Street addon, shout it with me GOLD RUBONS! And that mad lib card, totally hoarding it!
3. The scarf stamp set, based firmly on the adorableness factor alone
4. The Cozy Card set, it has to land in your cart, has too!
5. The Halloween Card Set, perfect for those spreads that are coming sooner than you can say Candy Corn.
6. and there is another Craft Die set that's super cute!!!!

I hope you all have a great reveal, remember to check out the Creative Team Gallery, its pretty amazing!

the planner craze

On and off over the years I've always had some sort of planner, mostly paper but lately more electronic in nature. I found that a paper planner kept me sane when I was working full time and going to school full time. I had deadlines and assignments to meet and a life to lead all at the same time. Fast forward thru the last few years where this stay at home wife and mother has managed okay using just her memory and iPhone calendar. Now that my daughter has gone back to school and is gone all day I've been craving a more structured day. I want to get more stuff done in the hours she is at school so I can be more available when she gets home.

When Studio Calico announced the Agenda class that I wrote about here, it really put my desire to be more efficient with my time in the forefront of my mind. While this class isn't about time management it is about using a planner to be more organized so it will still help me a lot.

I looked thru my old planners that I had saved and decided they just weren't going to fit my lifestyle these days. I spent some time online looking for the perfect one and by perfect I mean gold.  Enter this beauty from Kikki.k all the way from Australia along with the accessories shown here.

I haven't had a ton of time to really sit down and customize it but I have printed out a calendar and some inserts from Miss Tiina at her etsy shop, her 2014 planner inserts are on clearance so if you are starting now like me its a good option to play around with her printables for the rest of the year to see if they work for you.  So far they are working great for me.  I am also using a few planner sheets that I have purchased from Marcy Penner which are more specific to scrapbooking projects and blogging.

I decided the other day that I needed to add some sort of personalization to the front of my planner and went with a Project Life® style to jazz it up.  I used this page protector that I found at Staples awhile back, its not online anymore but you might find it in stores. It hangs over a bit on the right side but still clears the edge when closed so I'm okay with it. I just needed to punch new holes and it worked great.

I added some photos and lots of gold bits to personalize it up. The Let's Do This and the Gold Icon card were from the Studio Calico Pretty Little Paper Pad that was a sneak night exclusive this past March, the gold embellishments come from the Heidi Swapp for Project Life Foil Mini Kit and the two gold vellum papers that I used are from Studio Calico; the stars from Brighton Pier, the gold punchinella was from the Lemonlush line. 

I even did the back side just so I could add in some more photos. It was a lot of fun personalizing the planner and I really feel like its mine now and that makes me happy.

I will add that ever since I got my gold planner someone (Simone) was very jealous and said more than once that she wished she had one of her own just like mine. I told her I had an old planner that she could have and when I mentioned it was purple she was thrilled.  She has been carrying this thing around ever since I gave it to her and has even taken it to school with her. I guess I need to sign her up for the Studio Calico Agenda class too!

Take care and I'll see you soon,

playing catch up - the Project Life® edition

So it's been a hot minute since I've shared a Project Life® spread because well, I'm behind again. As much as I said I would never be behind again, I am.

I shared a bit about how I plan to tackle these weeks from August and early September on the Studio Calico Blog yesterday in a tutorial for how to get current. You can read the whole thing here, but here is the spread that I made for the tutorial.

You can see my full descriptions and how to's on the Studio Calico blog but I've got a lot of work to do this week so I'm off! The Studio Calico October kits are waiting for me to dig into.

Studio Calico Poet Society Full Reveal

I'm so happy to share the full reveal of what I made with the Studio Calico Poet Society Project Life® kits. These kits are absolutely packed with embellishments and I just loved how perfectly they went with my photos and stories this month.

Note: reminder that all links below will work for subscribers as of now 9:00am PST and tonight at 9:00pm PST for non subscribers.

Here is the full Project Life® spread that I made using the Poet Society Main Kit only.

Lots of circles and stars on this spread, I used each and every one of the plastic stars that came in the main kit this month and I adored the circle stickers too and managed to get three on my spread. I'm also a super huge fan of the rubons that came in the kits this month. And yes they will stick to the plastic hearts too! Yay!

I made a little flip action and cut a hole so that the gold arrow printable would help guide the way.

I also made my own digital element this month by combining one the super cute flag cut file and a printable card. I just loved the watercolor card that Tina made for this set of printables, its so pretty and it worked really well clipped to the cut file.

My second project was the special insert I made just for my daughters first day of school.  It's 6 x 12 and I just love how it turned out. Its just two sheets of 12x12 cardstock that I stitched together right down the middle with a gold thread.

I used Shanna's digital template as my guide to cut a few sheets of the 4x6 paper pad and two of the special back to school cards that came in the set that she designed to make the patchwork for my cover.  I also added the wood veneer hello that came in the Oliver addon and a few bits that came in the Yeats addon to decorate the cover of my booklet.

Like I mentioned in my sneaks post the packaging for the rubons that came in the Oliver addon was the most adorable little clipboard piece.  I decided to use it as a backing for a letter to my daughter. I just cut around the bottom edge of the clip and around the label to slip my paper underneath. I added a little element to cover up the brand name in the upper right cover and I love it. I used some of the digital stamps from Suzy's adorable set to decorate the bottom of my letter and filled in with lots of the embellishments that came in the Yeats addon.  For the right side I added a phrase from the word strip stickers to the top of one of the veneer pieces that came in the main and a few more rubons but kept it more simple because I wanted to keep the focus on the photo.

I always take at least one close up face shot on the first day of school and love the way this one turned out this year. Just like last year you can see my reflection in her eyes and that is just so cool to see. The Apple of my Eye card is from Shanna's Back to School card set and it was perfect for this photo.  On the right I used some more of Suzy's digital stamps to make the Class of piece. I created the offset cut with my Cameo and it was a quick and easy thing to make. The tag pulls out in the back and it just has the girls names written on it. That pink pearl eraser piece in the Yeats addon was adorable and a must use as was that phrase from the word strips.

I waited out front while my husband went to pick her up at the end of the day and shot a series of photos of her on her scooter as she came home. I made a simple collage for the left side, cut the arrow from a card from the Yeats addon and added some more embellishments from Yeats. That & is veneer but I ended up covering is with more rubons. I posted the photo on the right hand side to Facebook when she got home and listed out some of her pro cons for the day so when I saw this card I new it was the perfect way to end out the story. I just laid it out in Photoshop and printed my text right on the card.

I just love how this little book turned out and it was so much fun picking out all of the little embellishments to use.

So to recap some of my favorites from this month

1. Poet Society Project Life Main
2. Poet Society Yeats addon
3. Poet Society Oliver addon
4. Shanna's digital template set
5. Suzy's digital stamp bushes 
6. Shanna's Back to School Cards

And the extra's that I had to add to my own shopping cart...

1. New Color Theory Stamp Pads - All of my favorite colors have been added I could not say no to these!
2. Marcy's die set - the first was so good, I had to get this one too
3. This Rocket Stamp set - SO adorable!
4. Poet Society Paper Pad - I need another set since I cut up a few sheets for my insert cover
5. Kraft Envelope set - these were from last month but after seeing them in person I never want to run out of these

I hope you all get everything you want this month and I hope you check out the Creative Team Gallery too, its really amazing this month.