notes from home

Letterpress 2.0

29 May 2014

I'm looking very forward to doing another Studio Calico Letterpress class. I took Tina's class last year, and got hooked in a big way.This time around it's the talented Geralyn Sy who's the teacher, and I can't wait to see what she's got in store for us. Letterpress is addictive and the results are fun, fun, if you're prepared to play around and experiment. It takes a bit of patience,but once you get the hang of it, you can't stop. If you have a BigShot and the adapter platform, then you can jump right in. Right now, Studio Calico has some gorgeous new letterpress plates for sale in the shop, and there may or may not be more on the horizon... ;)
I bought this gorgeous script-y one as well as this one ( sadly sold out now, but I'm thinking they will be re-stocked) and a few of the coasters to experiment with. I have several packs of Letterpress cards as well in different sizes and thickness, but I do tend to prefer the thicker ones, as I like a deeper impression.

Here's a sample of a few cards I've made:

And the class description:

LETTERPRESS 2.0

Join Geralyn Sy for Letterpress 2.0. This new workshop will give you an in depth look at how Geralyn incorporates Letterpress into her creative process, and show you five fun techniques for printing with Studio Calico letterpress plates for your layouts, cards and pocket pages.

Letterpress 2.0 is enrolling now through May 31st at 11:59pm EST, and the all of the class content will be live on June 1st.

NEW TO LETTERPRESS?

Enroll in the Letterpress Bundle and you'll receive access to Letterpress 2.0 AND our introductory Letterpress class with Tina Aszmus from 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.

Hope you'll be inspired to sign up and join in the fun- you only have a few more days to think about it, deadline is May 31st! See you in class. :)

My Hello, Hello layouts

27 May 2014

There never seems to be enough time to sit down and create with the kits I get on a monthly basis. They're so jam packed with all kinds of lovely things, so believe me when I say that if I had the time, I could probably create another 25 pages easily.I do try during the month to get a few done after reveal, and I'll post those as the month goes on. There are those deliciously colourful KI alphas and striped paper in Hola that I haven't even touched, but dying to use. I'm thrilled they've brought back one of my all time fave papers.Back in the day, KI was my favourite company, and I basically bought EVERYTHING they put out.

Here are my pages this month, starting with the 3 main kit only layouts I made:

Perfect pairing of this pinky blush paper with my photos, and the gold labels just made it come together. I think I could happily scrapbook camping photos for the rest of my life. :)

This is a 2 page 8x11 page, and it came together accidentally after the photo printed out in b&w instead of colour. I didn't want to necessarily waste another entire sheet of photo paper, so I took it in another direction and paired it with the gorgeously bright striped pp for the main kit, then just embellished very minimally from there. I still haven't cut those words down the middle of the page, so I'm not sure how this one will fit into my album, lol.

Also using the main only, a super simple one of my son and his bff from a few years back. He hates this pic, but I think it's hilarious and SO them! Cute, cute boys. I decided to go monochromatic by using just greens and blues to compliment the photo instead of adding in another colour.

This one uses the main, Bonjour ( love those Kal Barteski stickers!) and the stamp from Hola.

I stamped on the wood piece for my title and subtitle, and adhered with glossy accents so it would hold.

This page about my son ( looking a tad disheveled after the ceremony, but whatever!)

uses Hola, the main kit, and a few bits of Bonjour.

As you can probably tell, Hola was my fave add-on this month, and I'm sure it will be sold out super fast- hope you all get the goodies you want!

And a few sneaks of tomorrow night's reveal...

26 May 2014

Not sure where the month of May went, and it's hard to believe that it's nearly June! I feel like I haven't seen the month go by, it's been a crazy whirlwind. Lots of big stuff coming up in June- the biggest being that my oldest is graduating high school. How the hell did that happen so quick?! A word to those with little ones... hang on to these days and breathe in every second, because you'll be where I am before you even know what hit you. It's THAT fast.

Anyway, here are a few sneaks of tonight's reveal using the beautiful 'Hello Hello' kits. I literally gasped when I saw the images of the kits before they arrived. I love the bolder, hotter colours, perfect to get you in the mood to kick off summer.

This is one of my 'main only' layouts ( I did 3 using the main only this month),

simple. simple. The paper I used here was THE perfect colour. Happy, happy when that happens.

Bold yellow alphas and a bit of black, this one is graphic and I like it. :)

Used mostly Hola here.

Be sure to check the CT gallery tomorrow night for the full reveal- can't wait to see what the others have done!

Officially the world's worst blogger.

I was supposed to have blogged my Studio Calico Camelot kit layouts last month, but I failed miserably. In fact, I'm failing miserably at keeping up with the whole blogging thing in general. I know it's here,I know I need to update more than a few times a month, but I'm so incredibly busy right now that it's really low down on my priority list.I will try harder!
These are now a month old, as the new reveal is tonight, but here you are anyways. I'll put up my layouts from this month's "Hello, Hello" kits in a more timely manner, I promise!

Super into making layouts with old photos right now, specifically ones with my Mother.

This page uses a really fantastic cut file by Barbara Picinich, you can find it here.

Using one of the digital brushes for a big title- love it!

My favourite page this month was the one I did about the gym. I love the quiet photo, and the fact that I actually did a page about a gym, where I have been spending a LOT of time the past 2 months- like 7 days a week lots. ;) Lots of white space, and I like how the numbers ( also a digi stamp) look so graphic on the photo. Happy with this page. :)

This one documents my love of flower photography, one of my passions. Doesn't get more simple than this, right?!

Thanks for looking!

Happy weekend!

29 March 2014

It has been a very LONG week. We were dealing with a gastro outbreak at work, where all hell kind of broke loose. It was crazy. I'm very happy to report that I didn't catch the bug, so I dodged a big bullet there! Here's what I'm doing this weekend: ( not barfing, lol!)

-dealing with the aftermath of a scrapping frenzy last week for reveal. I basically left everything laying in a HUGE mess in my dining room, just working on things after work and into the evening until I was too exhausted to care about cleaning it up. I'm bad about that, but I seem to work well amid the chaos. ;p I hate the cleanup part. Wish I could hire someone to come in every month and do that for me.

-Laundry. Piles and piles of laundry. It's never ending, isn't it?

-Getting my nose pierced tomorrow. Maybe it's a midlife crisis, but I have decided why not? It will be a small, tiny stud. I figure if it looks bad, I'll just take it out and let it grow over- what the hell, right? You only live once. ;)

-Sunday bootcamp. Gearing up for April when I'll be on the attack and at the gym 4-5 times a week in addition to these 2 classes/week. I'm gunning to see a six pack by June.

-Finishing up a few more layouts I had started with the Bluegrass Farm kits. There is never enough time between when I get the kits and reveal day. There is so much more I can do, they're packed this month!

I'll leave you with a layout I did a while back and never posted here. It is one of my favourites in a while, using a old photo of my son that I printed eons ago. We're talking years ago. I have big love for these gorgeous graphic number cards from SC's Lemon Lush line, and the stars- ( presently sold out, but hit that 'notify me' button) that goes without saying. :)

Have a safe and happy weekend, all.

Bluegrass Farm reveal!

27 March 2014

Today is reveal day at Studio Calico and I'm quickly sharing my pages before I head off to work this morning. Pip is sure to be a hot commodity, and although I didn't use a lot of it in my layouts this month, it's one of my favourite add-ons. Those puffy hearts from Twine and Ink get me everytime, and the colours of these ones are stunning. I ran out of time for the deadline, but I have 2 other layouts started and will post them in the gallery in a few days, hopefully by the weekend when things are a little less crazy here!

This is one of my main kit layouts. I LOVED the wood tag, and knew as soon as I saw it that I'd use it with these camping pics. This is a double page 8x11 spread. I got some of my photos printed at Costco this month as I had run out of ink, so the right side of this spread uses 2 4x6 pics, very simply. Love how this one turned out, love this memory.

This is an all digital layout, using one of the digi stamps from this month.

It's a very basic page, given my very basic digi skills, LOL, but I like how it came out, and most importantly, I love that I have documented a very momentous occasion in my life!

This layout, Mother, came together super fast, about 10 minutes start to finish- rare for me, but it feels so great when that happens! I used the beautiful vellum from Clover ( which, on first sight, wasn't really my style, but it works so good here) and the hearts and badge from Pip. I love the simplicity of this page- the photo of my beautiful Mom carrying me in her arms combined with the text is really all this layout needs. My sewing machine needle broke as I was sewing through the hearts, so it needs some added stitching once I get around to replacing it.

This is my other main kit layout. ( editing my blog on my phone from work, so I cannot change the order of the photos, sorry!)

Another camping page, surprise! ;) I used that fabulous eat stamp, stamped in deja blue , and it was perfect to document my obsession with photographing our meals. ;)

I'll post a few more over the weekend- thanks for looking!!

Wecome to the Studio Calico bloghop!

17 March 2014

Hello, hello!

I'm assuming you're here from following the link from Suzy's blog, and that you already know about the great promotion happening at Studio Calico right now. If somehow you stumbled upon my blog, and don't know what I'm talking about, then you're in the right place at the right time! I have several scrapbook friends who I know are on the fence about subscribing, and I'm hoping that this will be the push they need. I'm thinking of this promo as a wonderful way to welcome Spring ( although it seems to be a long way off, by the terrible cold we're still experiencing here. UGH) and getting a 2 great gifts at the same time, one is monetary of course, but the other is more precious. It's the camaraderie and inspiration you will get every month as an SC subscriber. I'm not even kidding. This is completely true.

I have to tell you something that is really important to me. It was a turning point for me when I dearly need one. Really.
I worked for almost 9 years in the scrapbook biz, at my local lss, selling product and occasionally teaching. It was a great store, and I could have anything I wanted there. But it got stale for me about 2 years ago, to the point where I was pretty sure I was done with scrapbooking. I was saturated, but I wanted something more. I don't know if it was that nobody in my circle scrapbooked like I did, or that I was selling LOTS of Jolees and mixed media stuff ( not my thing at all), and I was burnt out. Nothing seemed appealing to me anymore. And I was barely scrapbooking anymore at that point, which I fould really sad. I had done my time at 2 Peas, and was looking for a new online home, really hoping to find something that could renew that spark. Because, god knows, I had invested a lot of money and love into this hobby.And I knew I still loved it, deep down. So after lurking for several months, I decided to upload a few of my pages at Studio Calico, and the rest is history. Good stuff.

If you're looking for the same thing, feeling like you need that spark, or just want to try your hand at a great kit club with beautiful product, then here you are. I'm not one to try to sell stuff that isn't my cup of tea, so I hope you'll take me at my word. Whether you're a simple scrapbooker like me or not, this is something that everyone at every level can enjoy.

Click here to get your scrapbook subscription going, starting with the gorgeous Office Hours kits, and get a 20$ gift card to the SC shop, which I can tell you quite frankly that you will not have any trouble spending. :) You can check out my layouts done with that kit in my post below.

If you're more into Project Life, ( which I also am a subscriber to) then here's the link. May I say that I have been getting the SC PL kits for a year now, ( while barely doing any form of PL, lol) and I completely adore them. Great value and packed withsome gorgeous, exclusive product. I love them. (And I make scrapbook pages with mine, for the most part, in case you're wondering!)

Oh, and I was asked to post 5 of my most favourite things from the SC shop right now, so here you are:

This ink pad- because I NEED Spring to arrive, very, very soon. A beautiful, happy shade of yellow.

These are completely luscious. And thanks to SC, I have a new found love & admiration for sequins.

These albums, which I think should be a staple item for every scrapbooker. Great for PL or a travel album. Perfect size, perfect neutral colour.

Star die and stamp set. OMG. I clicked 'buy' the second I saw them- I think this set is such great value. I should get mine anyday now, and I'm sure I'll get a ton of use out of them. Stars are my favourite accent. ( Next to hearts, coming up next.. )

Chipboard hearts, in all colours of the rainbow. These make me very happy.

Have fun shopping, and here's the next stop on your hop, the awesome Nicole Reaves. :)

And the rest of the hoppers, in case you want to cheat. ;)

Lisa Truesdell : http://www.gluestickgirl.com

Natalie Elphinstone : http://onescrappydoctor.blogspot.com

Marcy Penner : www.marcypenner.com

Kelly Noel : www.kellynoel.typepad.com

Suzy Plantamura : suzyplantamura.typepad.com

Melanie Louette : http://melanie-notesfromhome.blogspot.ca/

Nicole Reaves : http://reavespartyofthree.blogspot.com/

Lilin Fang : http://www.afterdinnertreats.blogspot.com/

Maggie Massey : http://www.midwesterngirldiy.com/

Jenn Picard : http://www.anewinkonlife.com/

Geralyn Sy : http://inacreativebubble.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Baxter : http://stephaniebaxter.blogspot.com/

Anna-Maria Wolniak : http://annamariawolniak.wordpress.com/