SC kit winner!

Thank you everyone for your nice comments! A random winner has been chosen for the SC kit! Congratulations to:

 

Savannah O'Gwynn said... 78

I just love visiting your blog--you inspire me! LOVE your creativity and talent:) THANKS for the chance to win:) sbmmhoover at yahoo dot com

October 30, 2011 4:27 PM  

Would you like to win a Studio Calico kit? *now closed*

Studio Calico is giving me one of their November main kits to give away! Just leave me a note on this post or the previous post where I shared my kit projects, and I will add you into the drawing. Everyone who already left me a note will be entered. Good luck!!

P.S. I will be chatting at SC tonight from 9-10pm EST. Hope to see you there!

Studio Calico guest creations...

The Studio Calico projects for the month are up here! I'd love to show you what I made with the kits. The first few are made with (mostly) the main kit...

"Snow Days are the Best Days"...shortly after we got our puppy, it snowed and the girls took her out to play. She absolutely loved the snow, although she was so little compared to the big snow banks...and was completely soaked and freezing cold when she came back in!

I layered lots of the Basic Grey die cuts, some of them are fabric, and so pretty. Here's Maggie with her little sweater. :)

Made my own little paperclip here with a Basic Grey die cut and a white cardstock snowflake cut out with Papertrey Ink's Damask Snowflake dies. (All of the snowflakes on the page were cut with the Damask Snowflakes dies.) The "notes" card is from add-on #2.

I hand stitched part of the title.

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On this card, I flipped over the die cut paper and ran it through my printer to print the "thank you" text on the back of the paper. The little holes in the paper made tying some floss onto it very easy!

I used a Maple Leaf punch by McGill to punch the leaves, and a few leaves are cut to hang off the edges of the card.

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On the JOY snowflake card, I used the button card that the buttons came on! I had to trim it down just a bit, so it wasn't so tall. I misted the gray cardstock with Calico White Mister Huey by Studio Calico. LOVE this opaque white mist!

Did you guess what the snowflake is made out of? They are the Amy Tangerine paper leaves in the main kit!

I thought about doing something Fall-ish with them, but I wanted to try something different. I painted them white and trimmed 2 little V's out of the tops of them. You could certainly make your own snowflake like this by cutting or punching your own leaves and then doing the same technique. I covered the center where the leaves come together with a button and piece of cardstock. Floss is from my stash.

This little striped button makes me SWOON! (I'm easily entertained, aren't I??)

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Now onto the add-ons!

This little card set was made with add-ons #1 and #3. The papers in these kits coordinated SO nicely! I used a Wine Bottle Tag die by Papertrey Ink to cut 2 pieces for the pocket, then placed them horizontally (instead of vertically like the Wine Bottle Tag is supposed to go) and stitched them together to form the pocket for these cards.

The butterfly stamps in the kit were gorgeous, so I stamped them with Weather Vane ink by JBS onto the text paper and cut them out.

I wanted to keep the cards all basically with the same design - all with a circle die cut in the back, a sticker, a butterfly and a strip of paper. This basic design helped with making the cards quickly.

All of the background circles were cut with Papertrey Ink's Doilies Details dies.

I made 4 thank you cards to tuck into the pocket.

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Now onto add-on #2. Which...I have to say...was my very favorite kit! There was an adorable stamp in this one, where you stamp the outline and then fill in the little spots with another stamp. FUN!

I used all JBS inks from the Studio Calico shop - Weather Vane, Stick Candy, Speckled Egg, Chewing Gum and Lemon Drops. I also inked up the chipboard from the main kit with Speckled Egg ink, then layered a pretty button and a tag that I cut from the kraft paper. (Sentiment and tag die are from my stash - Tiny Tags by Papertrey Ink.)

This layout was made with kit #2 also... I added the Basic Grey fabric circle from the main.

I used the journaling cards as a background here. Really loved all the patterns. This is one of my favorite photos of Kati when she first came home from the hospital! Chubby cheeks.... :) 6 years later, she has become the sunshine that lights up our lives like we could have never imagined. Such a great kid, she is!

Sending a huge thank you to Studio Calico for having me as a guest!!

Sizzix fresh vintage...

For the past couple of weeks, you may have been wondering what's been up with the Sizzix Fresh Vintage photo in my side bar? ------>

Sizzix has asked quite a few designers to participate in a blog hop that lasts several weeks. I love the name "Fresh Vintage" for their blog hop! That is really how I think you could describe my style. I love the vintage warm cozy feel, but I also love it to look fresh and bright - not old, like you might think vintage would look!

Anyway, Sizzix sent me the Bigz Flower 3D #2 die to work with!

I made a pretty flower with it to dress up a gift box in silver and red for the holidays. It was very easy!

I followed the directions on the insert for the die. It tells you to first cut paper in squares of 4x4". I used some printed tissue paper from my Christmas stash! (You could stamp on tissue paper also to make your own designed tissue!) The tissue paper works great because it's so thin, and you can cut many layers at once.

Next, you fold these 4" squares in half and then in half again, leaving you with 2" squares. Place them on the flower die in the corner with the fold on the outside and run them through the Sizzix. You will get some little pointy flowers that look like this...

Now take some thread and sew them all together at their points. String them all on the same line.

When done, it might look something like this...

Now pull the two thread ends together tight and tie in a knot. You can unfold the petals a bit, and scrunch them up on the ends. After I scrunched mine, I added some spray adhesive and sprinkled on some Diamond Dust Glitter from the craft store.

Although you can't see it very well in the picture, I sprayed the top of the box with Calico White Mister Huey mist by Studio Calico to make the box a little whiter. I hot glued the twine on and added a rub on saying by Melissa Frances directly to the box. The measuring tape sticker around the box is from the Portrait line by Crate Paper. Red polkadot paper is Autumn Press paper by Studio Calico, striped paper is Candy Cane Prints by Papertrey Ink.

The whole process of creating the flower took me only a few minutes! I am imagining these flowers on all kinds of gifts - birthday, Easter, etc. You could spray the tissue paper any color you wish with mists too.

To continue on the hop, click on that FRESH VINTAGE image in my side bar! (UP by my photo) You can see ALL of the designers participating, but if you click on the image in my side bar, you'll just be visiting those of us doing the "Flower 3D #2 Die" blog hop today.

Visit the Oh My Crafts blog for your chance to win a die!

text-style...

Just for fun today, I thought I would share some projects with you made with text paper! Whether it's vintage book paper or paper that is current, but made to look vintage...I am loving it!

Text paper makes a great backdrop for colorful accents, like the Tranquility Trilogy banner I made here. Also great for stamping on, like the sentiment, which is from Think Big Favorites #4.

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I've used text paper again here again for another backdrop for a colorful accent.
I cut two of these gift bags Favor It Box #1, one from cardstock and one from vintage book paper, then layered them.

These cute lollipops were found at Dollar Tree, love that they have clear wrappers, so you can see all of the fun colors! The little tag is stamped with Sweet As Can Be. The chipboard lolly is from Crate Paper.

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These are Echo Park papers, Dots & Stripes - but one of them, the text paper, is actually a Christmas paper from the Season's Greetings line. I used a 2" square punch to cut out squares that had toys, dolls and vintage images on them that weren't alltogether Christmas-ey, and used them on a page about how I love to make baby quilts for friends.

I added some stickers and a star stamp from the Simple Circles stamp set by Papertrey Ink. Stars seem to go with anything, don't they!

Of course, I had to add stitching to give the layout a "quilted" feel. Hope you enjoyed these ideas and ways you can use TEXT paper on your next project!

Card Month + Ella Publishing

Pssst! Today and tomorrow I will be guest blogging over at Ella Publishing to help out with their "Card Month". I'd love if you stopped over! You'll have a chance to win a fun little stamp set and coordinating dies to use on your cards, donated by Papertrey Ink!

 

Studio Calico sneaks...

I was blown over recently to receive an email from Studio Calico asking if I'd be a guest designer for this month of October! I just adore their kits...and SO much more now that I have seen them in person and worked with them. I am seriously in love with them!!! I'd love to share some sneaks with you - would you like to see a few? The big reveal is on the 28th (I believe!), but here are some little peeks....

These are from the main kit...

Can you recognize what this snowflake is made out of??

Here I mixed add-ons #1 and 3...

Something from add-on #2...

I promise, I didn't make all cards for you layout lovers out there! :) I am putting finishing touches on one more layout right now. But I DO hope you'll find inspiration from the techniques I used on my cards also! :)

I DID get all of the add-ons, but I'm saving kit #4, the December Daily kit, to work on very soon. The album that went with the kit wasn't ready when I got my kit, so I should be getting it in the next few days. Ali Edwards and Studio Calico have teamed up to create this fun December Daily kit...and it's PACKED with goodies! I have never made a DD, but can't wait to document all of our fun December goings-on! ha Stay tuned to see my Dec. Daily work. You can read more about this kit HERE.

hope...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Papertrey Ink just came out with a new stamp set that's gorgeous. It's called Faith & Hope.

I've stamped the leaves from the set in layers of pink and red, then embossed the white cardstock after stamping. I used a large floral pin through the card front and added the stamped ribbon onto the pin. A Melissa Frances brooch is clipped onto the pin, and I thought the recipient could easily remove it and wear the brooch with the Hope pin. A card that is also a gift! :)

Faith & Hope card:

Stamps: Faith & Hope

Ink: Pure Poppy and True Black (PTI) and Chewing Gum (Jenni Bowlin)

Paper: Sweet Blush cardstock, white cardstock

Dies: Faith & Hope (ribbon)

Other: floral pin, embossing folder by Cuttlebug, brooch by Melissa Frances, lace.