I have to admit I'm still more than a little nervous as I type this out which is a little weird for me. Weird because I've been scrapping with Studio Calico kits for years and never felt scared before. Nervous because now I'm scrapping
for Studio Calico and I really hope that you find my layouts inspiring enough and that I can do these kits justice. Anyway... let's get on with the show!!
The main scrapbooking kit for January 2014 is called
"Copper Mountain" and takes its inspiration from a ski resort. Think bold primary colours and lots of woodgrain! Great for scrapping masculine pages and winter photos of course.... but that's not what I did ;-)
For my first "
Main Kit only" layout I knew I had to use that exclusive wood veneer matrix - it adds a unique and textural layer to my stack of papers and gives you lots of opportunities to fill it with little embellishments, or stamped images like me.
This layout tells the story of my daughter's first haircut (yes, when she was 3...... rack that one up to lazy parents hey?!) and because I like to include memorabilia on my pages I've kept some of her trimmed locks, encased them in some of the product packaging and sewn them directly onto my page.
The feature of my second "
Main Kit only" page is the paper from Basic Grey.. I cut out some of the triangles randomly and used foam adhesive to lift it from the background. Creates a little bit of interest, and draws together the other colours from the page.
But really it was the story in my head that actually inspired this page. I've had
many a James Bond joke thrown at me over the years. Believe it or not my Dad's name actually IS James Bond, and obviously Bond was also my maiden name. Growing up I had to hear those classic lines quoted at me time after time. But the other weird connection is when a college friend decided that the celebrity I most closely resemble is Dame Judy Dench (??!!) and he called me "M" forever after. Just a funny little story I wanted to preserve and this recent martini shot offered me the perfect opportunity.
After I was done with my
Main Kit layouts I knew I needed to dive into each one of the Add On Kits in turn. Each is fabulous and I still have trouble deciding which one is my favourite. Certainly I can tell you what my favourite bits are from each though. For
Add On 1: Fremont Glades I am loving those gold alphas and the chevron paper (both from We R Memory Keepers). And lets not forget those fabulous kraft lightbulbs from Maya Road!
Who would have thought a few years ago how dramatically
Pinterest would change our lives? This page tells the story of the day I was looking for ideas of how to treat two good little girls on a rainy day. 5 minutes on Pinterest, 10 minutes in the kitchen and.... hello Rainbow Pancakes! Awesome right?
Add On 2: High Point has a school theme which is just perfect for right now. I've got plenty of stories of end-of-year achievements and commencing new-year activities. The exclusive grey diecut shapes (oh that globe!!) and the veneer circles stole my heart.
Again, wanting to incorporate the important memorabilia I've actually
included the entirety of my daughters 4 page school report on this page.
Can't see it? That's because it's hidden inside a mini-book behind the
photo. You can view it all in my
Studio Calico gallery.. or perhaps I'll
do another blog post devoted to this later on in the month?
My final layout was created with
Add On 3: Slingshot filled with golds and greys and those adorable cork stickers. But my favourite bit was the white canvas Prima alphabet because honestly the possibilities are endless with these. Paint them or ink them to whatever colour you need. Here I coloured just the bottom half blue which I think gives them a fun and whimsical feel.
The story here is one of my youngest going off to Kindergarten this year. That's going to leave the house awfully quiet during the day - I wonder how my husband is going to fill his hours now? Hopefully productively in the garden I imagine. And I just know my daughter is going to thrive with the extra activities and stimulus. I predict she's going to take after her sister in her thirst for knowledge.
Anyway. That's all for now. Thanks for sharing this long journey with me. I'm going to have plenty more layouts throughout the month to share because I just can't get enough of these kits, and I sure do have plenty of fabulous pieces still to use!
What I used:
