Reveal Night Giveaway

Want to win this fabulous calendar by our very own Tina Aszmus?

Simply leave a comment on this post telling us what you're thankful for this year.

These are some of Tina's favorite photos, taken up in the wonderful state of Alaska. What I love about this calendar is that it's the gift that keeps on giving all year long (Thank you Clark Griswald). Seriously though, once you're done with the calendar, trim it off and put her amazing photographs in a frame. They're high-quality and priced just right to give as a gift this holiday season (hint hint) but there's a limited number, so I wouldn't hesitate if you like it.

member inspiration : home front

Since it's a holiday week, Nik and I are altering the usual blog schedule a bit - I'm bringing you member inspiration today, rather than on Friday. So take a break from your turkey day prep to get a little Home Front inspiration from the best member gallery on the planet. =)

It's been so exciting to see Home Front turn up in stores (ask for it at your local store, or find it online at twopeasinabucket.com, amillionlittlethings.com or stopandscrap.com), and even *more* exciting to see projects featuring it show up in the gallery here! I've chosen a few to share with you - keep your eye on the Home Front gallery to see more. =)




Bike ride by Waleska - Such a fun design - I adore the circle. I love how she cut out "bike ride" to use as part of her title and how she edged along the design of the red paper.



Home by Ann-Marie I love that she started recording her home before it was even there. =) The detail of the outlined houses with the house number written on one is brilliant, and that Maya Road chip houses are a perfect accent to the Home Front patterned paper.




Grandma's House by Betsy I love all the journaling on this page - so many memories captured. I'm also in love with the photos of her Grandma's house - what a gorgeous building! Betsy mixed some Home Front paper with her Marketplace kit, and they look beautiful together.



Birthday Card by Penny - How sweet is this card? I love the Home Front paper paired with one of the SC designs from the March kit - they go together perfectly. And the design of this card is simple & perfect - I think I might have to lift it!



Sweet Baby by MandieLou - Who can resist a good baby page??? I adore these pics of her little guy, and the layered scallops are a fun way to add dimension. I love the lamps cut from patterned paper as an accent, and the layered label stickers are a fun detail.

I hope this inspires you to cut into your Home Front papers and post something to our gallery - I'd love to see more! =)

Weekly Challenge. PAINT + SC STAMPS = happiness.

Happy Monday everyone...it's Nik Harper here, sharing the blog this week with Lisa (you know...Glue!!). we married two of our favorite supplies to come up with our challenge this week...
here's the formula:

paint
+
Studio Calico stamps
________________
creative nirvana!!

that's right...any way you can use BOTH paint AND a Studio Calico stamp on your layout/card/project, we want to see it! ( just a reminder...it has to be a NEW layout/card/project.)

here are a few of my tried and true ways to flash some paint on my work...

i used the Carter stamps for my title here, but you could easily use the Story Time alpha stamps and fill them in with paint...just grab a tiny brush and your fave color of paint.
ahhhh...that journaling stamp is still a fave. i used the Stampin' Up! mini ink pads and plopped several colors on my stamp before using it...notice the journaling lines are 3 different colors (yellow, red, orange)? then i grabbed my favorite blue paint of all time, Sky by Making Memories, and swiped the edges of the Maya Road envelope flap.
here i stamped across some punched circles and borders...and i rarely use a photo that isn't edged in paint. in fact, i can't remember the last time i did a layout without paint on my photo edges. i always print them with a white border, but swipe on a touch of color for fun. on this one, i also tried something fun with my paint + rub-ons...use the rub-on, and then grab that tiny paint brush again and fill in the white space between the rub-on and the edge of your photo.

just a few fun examples...

now, upload your NEW layout/card/project to the SC gallery by Saturday evening...7pm EST, and Glue and i will pick a winner for a $5 coupon in the SC shop.

looking forward to seeing what you all come up with...show us what you've got!!!

The layout of the week is brought to you by Kaori Watanabe (chelseavyn).
Each week, the layout in the gallery is linked, so you can add it to your favorites easily.



This layout has been added to your favorites more than any other layout in the SC community gallery for the week of 11/15-11/21.

Congratulations Kaori! Because of this you have won a $10 gift card to be used on any new purchase at Studio Calico.

Want a chance to win next week? Be sure to upload your projects to the SC gallery, and support your community by adding special projects that catch your eye into your favorites! It could be YOU next week!

Please note, winners are not allowed to win more than once in a four-week period.
Winners are not limited to those using Studio Calico kits.

Challenge - My Take and a Winner!!

Thanks to everyone that joined in on this week's challenge! I am glad you had fun with it! I know I did! I love using lots of different patterns on one page.... Usually I have so many favorites from the kits each month and this makes it easier because then I don't have to choose just one or two! I can use them all! :)

My tip for using lots of different patterns on one page is to use small doses of each pattern. This helps to keep them from getting too crazy and overpowering the layout completely. I also like spreading the patterns out like this or at least leaving a little room in between each one because it gives them each room to breathe and allows each one to stand out on its own!

There are lots more great ideas in the layouts that everyone did for the challenge. I especially love the grids that many of them used to line up the patterns in. Some used grids of squares and others used random grids where each piece was a different sized rectangle. I seriously found some great ideas on every single layout so be sure to go and check out each one. Just scroll down to the initial challenge post and then go into the comments to click on the linked layouts! Thanks for all of the inspiration ladies!

I created a layout with no photo for this challenge. I really wanted to just focus on recording some of the things I am grateful for right now. I wasn't quite sure what direction I was going to go with the challenge and then the idea popped into my head to punch lots of different circles and then simply write the things I am grateful for around each circle. So, it ended up being a list but not in a traditional list format which makes it kind of fun and whimsical!

So, now onto the winner of the challenge. I drew the winner at random and it is:

penny said...

Too much fun - and so many great papers from the kits to choose from. Here's mine:

http://www.studiocalico.com/forums/galleries/show/16854

November 18, 2009 10:39 AM

Congrats Penny! Thanks again to all who played along!

Tutorial - Paint and Mist

Hi again!

How are your challenge layouts coming? I admit that mine isn't quite done yet but I will be back tomorrow to share it! Most likely it will be later in the day or even tomorrow night! (just a heads up.... and also to give you a little more time to get yours done in case you are running behind as well!)

Today I want to share a tutorial with you on using paint and mist (two of my favorite mediums) to create a custom journaling spot on a layout.

I used this technique and process on my "She Swims" layout from the September Kit gallery. It was pretty easy to do but it made a big impact and I have had a lot of people ask questions about how it all came together.

I decided to create another layout with the same technique and basically the same layout. When you come up with something that works I say don't be afraid to recreate it and follow the same basic guide on other layouts as well. And as you can see by my finished layout, just by changing up the colors and embellishments, you can get another layout that is unique in its own ways (even though it is basically a lift of the first one).

1. Cut a circle out of some scrap cardstock and set up the basic layout of your page. I always print my photos and then I decide how I want my page to flow so that I know where I want to place the mask before I start misting. Again I wanted to follow the same basic idea as the original layout so I set my page up like this.

The cardstock circle will be the mask. After you set up the page go ahead and remove the photos before misting. I always place my page in a cardboard box like this so the mist doesn't get all over the table or floor.

2. Hold the circle in place with your finger and spray pink mist over it. I used the bubblegum pink color this time and I sprayed it quite heavily. I use light spritzes and continue to add more and more until I like the color and saturation.

3. Remove the mask to reveal the negative image (in this case the circle).

4. Choose your paint color. I didn't have the exact color of pink that I wanted so I mixed some red and pink together to get the tone I was after. I used Claudine Hellmuth's Studio paint in painterly pink and dash of red.

5. Use a smaller paintbrush to paint a circle around the edge of the circle on your page. I paint a few coats to make sure it is nice and dark and so that you can see a difference between the paint and the mist. You also want to make sure that you paint on the outside of the misted circle (not on the inside) or you will make your space for journaling quite a bit smaller. You can see here that I painted right over the mist.

6. Use a black fine tip marker (or any color that you prefer) to draw your journaling lines inside of the circle. You can space your lines as close or as far apart as you like, depending on how much you have to say. I just freehand draw the lines but if you are particular you can use a ruler as well. Personally I like the hand drawn feel I get when it isn't quite perfect.

7. Add your photos, title, embellishments, journaling etc to complete the layout!

Again, you can see that I copied a lot of the ideas from my original layout - the placement of the title around the circle, the strips of paper underneath the photos, etc. - but it still feels like a layout of its own because of the different colors, different photos and different story that it tells. You can also see that I flip-flopped the whole design and placed the journaling circle and photos on opposite sides.

You can use this same technique with other shapes and also different sizes depending on how much journaling you have. You could use a square, a label shape, a heart, etc... anything goes!

Happy misting and painting!! Maggie

Behind the Scenes on the Homefront :)

I got a lot of comments on my FabRip flowers during the HomeFront blog hop this week. I decided to do a short tutorial on making those flowers so all of you can try it when you get your hands on the FABULOUS FabRips.

1. Decide how wide you want your flower to be. I wanted a big wide flower for this demo, but it did end up being pretty big. The smaller the strip you use is harder to manipulate...so remember that.

2. Begin pleating the bottom edge only, forming the top edge slowly into a circle.

3. Don't worry, you can always start over if you don't like how its looking :) The FabRips are self adhesive, but the adhesive is weak enough that you can remove it easily and reposition!

4. Keep forming your circle.

5. To end the flower, tuck one end under the other and press together. The strip should stick together. In some of the small flowers I had quite a bit of FabRip strip left. I cut that part off to use later.
6. Add a brad to the center and viola :) A FabRip Flower!!! You will need to glue (or just use your brad) to permanently adhere your flower.

7. To make the center of the largest flower on my layout, I made a strip flower. I cut a skinny strip of FabRips into 3 peices. I made 3 bow loops and used a Crop-a-dile to make a hole in the middle of each of them. I added a brad to the middle of the strip flower and the pleated flower and I stacked them.

Let me know if you have any questions!!!

Member Inspiration

If you haven't noticed Jenni Hufford in the SC gallery, you should have. I love her pretty style, and the little details really make her layouts come together perfectly!

Here is a link to her gallery (I think we should convince her to add more to it!)

Here is some of my favorite layouts of hers:

She added bits from all sorts of places and even though they don't exactly match, they come together perfectly on this layout!

The ribbon and the patterned paper cut outs make this layout for me. I have a couple of blanket babies at my house too, so the story is close to my heart too :)

This photo of Jenni's daughter and that perfect pumpkin are what first drew me into her gallery. I LOVE this!!

The details and photos on this layout are just captivating! That cupcake makes me hyperventilate it is sooooo cute!!

Thanks Jenni for sharing your layouts with the Studio Calico community!!!

Home Front Blog Hop Winners

We'll keep this post updated, so keep checking back to see if your name appears:

April Foster - LotsToScrap
Stephanie Howell - Michelle Wilwand
Lisa Truesdell - Patty B
Emily Pitts - Holly Humbert
Jenn Olson - Denise Nichols
Tina Aszmus - Roberta
Nicole Samuels - Abby

Maggie Holmes - Didee

Kelly Noel - Glynnis

Davinie Fiero - Heather Prins

Nicole Harper - Alison Day
Joy Madison - Beatrice
Celine Navarro - Jenney McAnnally

Grateful for Inspiration

One of my favorite thing about the holidays is looking through magazines and websites and dreaming of what I would do to decorate if I had money and gumption to do so. I just love seeing how different people (and truthfully the magazines) decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The reality of OUR crazy family dinners is "faux" plastic china (from Costco) red drinking cups and lots and lots of food and laughter, but a girl can dream, eh?


Love this simple buffet with a combo of pewter and wood and whiteware. The berry twigs just scream fall, and they can be found in (someone's) yard for free :)

This is another "cheap" idea of turning veggies into candle holders wrapped in ribbon or just hollowed out. Those artichokes are seriously adorable!

Another totally "do-able" paper craft, cut letters out of cardstock or fall colored patterned paper with a Cricut or craft knife, and slip them over candles as covers! I love this idea!

Not really something I'd ever do, but I really like this idea of an all white table. Very modern and wonderful!

I'm always a sucker for multiple things inside of glass pieces. Random, I know. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that big glass hurricane with candles, twigs, acorns and PHOTOS, are you kidding me? PHOTOS! (you must see this bigger, click through, click through!)


That Martha, she (well, her staff) is always a fount of cool decorating ideas. Most of them are do-able by the common (wo)man! I love these corn husk covered votives!!

Glue some acorns onto ribbon, cut leaf shapes for place cards (or press some real leaves) and you're in business!!

Another pressed leaf project. Clear plates sitting on top of a small branch of leaves. Loverly!!!

OMGosh, seriously? The cutest thing EVAH!!! Check out Martha's whole Thanksgiving decor slide show by clicking on that cutie!!


:) This turkey is more my speed. This project totally makes me smile. I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, (and my own 3) and this is a project that we could make at the cabin before we do the big Thanksgiving on paper plates thang ;)

Most of these photos are clickable to other ideas....if you need more inspiration click around through some of the lovely tables I found, and be inspired!!!