Studio Calico Starlight - the Spetember Release

Oh man, it was totally time I dusted off my layout-making skills and put something big on a 12x12" piece of paper again! The September scrapbook kit from Studio Calico was exactly what I needed to inspire me. The colours and designs in this kit are totally me!
But thinking I might be a little rusty I decided not to go too crazy. I used a 8x12" photo to dominate the page and then just added some clusters of cute things, and highlighted the colours of the photo with some paper strips.

Everything on this page is from the Main Kit Only, with the exception of the alpha stamps I used to create the title. They're called Blocked Alpha and Numbers and are available as a separate purchase.

I love the combination of this bold graphic alpha with a handrawn feel to it because of the scribbly shadow. I stamped my title onto watercolour paper with black embossing powder, then coloured them with Color Theory Inks to match Bethany's shirt in the photo. Oh... and then I ended up adding Stickles over the top for some glitter. Couldn't help it!

But new layouts aside, it was the new release stamps Studio Calico specifically asked me to play with, and I couldn't be happier to agree to that! They asked me for 3 cards... I 'accidentally' made 6!
(Yes, I know I'm only sharing 5 here, but the last card I'm not overly happy with so I'm not sharing it! LOL!)

I first started with the Thanksgiving stamp set with it's grassy frame type of stamp, and a million options for sentiments to pop inside. I had this idea for how I wanted the finished card to look, but I wasn't sure if it would work, so I did a mock-up version first with a blue and yellow background. It seemed like it would turn out ok so I did my 'good' version in the yellow-pink-red-blue spectrum. I finished it off with some puffy asterix from the Scrapbook Kit.
But I kept looking back at my mock up version and couldn't bear to throw it away. It's not perfectly stamped but I figured I would finish the card anyway, and try to cover up the defects with buttons! LOL!
And now I have a set!

I fell in love with the Fall Plants set. I think it's my favourite! It has a great mixture of flowers and vegetables (of all things!) and my 'failed' card featured the carrots. But then I had an idea to just take one of the flowers - the layered pansy - and stamp a whole field of them in rainbow colours. I wanted it to represent reproduction and growth and fertility to match the sentiment from the same set. I'm always in need of new baby cards so this is perfect.

Another delicate and elegant stamp set from this release is the Floral Thank You set. It's got a mixture of detailed floral images and bold graphic sentiments. They work together really well, so on this card I decided just to let them shine by themselves. This is about as CAS as I can get!

And lastly I took the Everyday Magic stamp set and whipped up this final card. There are lots of great images and funky sentiments in this set, but I stuck with just a couple. I was inspired by the 'heart of gold' phrase and had this idea to stamp a grid design of the hearts in gold. Pretty obvious right?! To kick it up a notch I also took the same heart stamp, inked it up with Color Theory inks, spritz it with water and then slammed it down on the paper to create the splatters behind each one. Messy but fun!

The Studio Calico September kits are called Starlight and they're now available.
You can find all the stamp sets I've worked with as add-ons in the shop here. Which one is your favourite?

World Cardmaking Day with Studio Calico

So October 1st was World Cardmaking Day - did you do any card making?! I participated in the Studio Calico challenges by issuing my own to make a card with repeated stamping to create either a background pattern or a focal image. 

For my example I pulled out an older stamp set from the Odyssey Card Kit and used a simple grid pattern to line up my little green critters ;-)

I went to and fro with different design ideas for this but in the end kept it real simple and stuck to stamping it in Color Theory Ink and colouring them in with the same. Sometimes simple is the best right?

And as usual I finished off with a sprinkling of sequins. Sequins are my new mist droplets ;-)
Certainly they're less messy!

Good news! The Studio Calico World Cardmaking Day challenges are open until the 5th and anyone who participates has a chance to win a $50 store discount. Find out all the details on the Message Board HERE.

Color Theory: The Complete Collection

I let out a great big WOOOO HOOO when the last 6 colours in the Studio Calico Color Theory Ink Pad range got released last month. They were the first thing that made it into my shopping cart at bundling time and I was excited to receive them a little while ago. I probably like looking at them just as much as I enjoy playing with them. You can see why...!

 

See? Super pretty!
The last six colours to hit the streets are: Gray Area, Clear Blue, Creme Brulee, Lavender Soda, Poppy and Lemon Zest. Like on previous occasions I thought I would take it upon myself to give you a little insight into what they're like in real life.

And because it gives me a good excuse to put them through their paces for my own pleasure ;-)
To test out all the new colours what I did was stamp their names with my Kit Alpha Stamp (currently sold out, but the Ashley Goldberg Alpha would be a great alternative) which gives a nice crisp outline of the colour straight off the ink pad.
To colour them in I created a little waterpaint with each of the inks by first dabbing the pad onto an acrylic block so plenty of the ink got transferred. Then I used my waterbrush to dip into the colour and then paint onto my paper. A fun little technique that I use with these inks all the time, and it gives me a look at the different shades within the colour as well.

The colours are vibrant and bright and fabulous of course. I've definitely got my eye on Lemon Zest as my new favourite, although Clear Blue is pretty special too. But what I wanted to do next was see where these new additions fit in with the other 'older' colours in the same spectrum. 

So here's the line up of how Poppy compares to Well Red and Flamingo. Each has been stamped twice after inking up to get a true colour, then progressively stamped off without re-inking (if that makes sense?) Now it's true that I've had to edit these photos a little because the light was a bit dark at the time, but I've tried to get the white paper as normal as possible in order to give you a true representation of the colours. It really is quite difficult to tell much of a difference between Poppy and Well Red even in real life but you'll have to trust me that there is! Well Red is a touch deeper and darker, whilst Poppy lives up to it's name as a brighter poppy colour.

It's much easier to see that Lemon Zest sits somewhere in between Sunny Day and Orange County and is a lovely egg yolk custardy colour (yes I get hungry a lot now that I'm pregnant, and food comparisons rate high on my interests lately!)

And this is how Gray Area and Creme Brulee fit into the more neutral tones. Certainly Gray Area is much lighter and warmer than Clean Slate and would make a great shadow colour.
Clear Blue and Lavender Soda are also both lighter tones of colours that have gone before them and you can see the comparison here.

So now that the collection is complete, which do you already have? What's on your list of what to get next? And what are you going to use them for? Link me up 'cos I'd love to see!!


All the pretty colours:

Color Theory Ink: Poppy Color Theory Ink: Well Red Color Theory Ink: Orange County Color Theory Ink: Coral Bay Color Theory Ink: Blush Crush Color Theory Ink: Flamingo Color Theory Ink: Lemon Zest Color Theory Ink: Sunny Day Color Theory Ink: Yes Peas Color Theory Ink: Lime Light Color Theory Ink: Emerald City Color Theory Ink: Mint Hint Color Theory Ink: Going Green Color Theory Ink: Glass Slipper Color Theory Ink: Clear Blue Color Theory Ink: Something Blue Color Theory Ink: Deja Blue Color Theory Ink: Purple Rain Color Theory Ink: Lavender Soda Color Theory Ink: Creme Brulee Color Theory Ink: Gray Area Color Theory Ink: Clean Slate Color Theory Ink: Doc Brown Color Theory Ink: Inky Black

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Invisible Ink and Homemade Watercolours

There's nothing more exciting than watching my girls take a real interest in wanting to learn how to scrapbook 'just like Mum'. I love that they're excited about crafting and more excited by the fact that they want to do it with me. And they're eager to discover new techniques too. That gasp of joy when I teach them something and they see it come alive before their eyes is soooo rewarding!

This week I showed them a couple of simple but fun techniques and taught them how to create their very own bright and vibrant Christmas cards. That's right, these two cards you see were made by my 8 year old (on the left) and 4 year old (on the right). Not me. Except for the trimming and sewing etc.

I call this my invisible ink and homemade watercolour technique and it's perfect for crafting for kids. You'll see why if you watch the video.

        

Meanwhile, it's also not bad for us adults too. I love the effect of this and can easily see myself creating cards along the same lines. In fact, I already have! Remember this card from my recent sketch feature on the Studio Calico blog? A bit more technical, but it's basically the same idea.

I love that my kids chose out these bright colours to create with. They're not hindered by thinking about traditional Christmas colour schemes. They just want what they like and for Moriah that always ALWAYS involves purple, and for Bethany it's not so specific - just something pretty.

Although I have to admit, I've been creating my own fair share of Christmas projects with lots of pink and aqua too. They're my favourite all year round so I don't see why I shouldn't include them into my holiday crafting as well ;-)

As a parting gift I've linked up all the supplies we used to create these cards in the list below. I'm still going crazy for Kellie Stamps Joy Set for all it's wonderful typographic sentiments, and I can never have too many stars in my life.

Happy scrapping!


Supplies:

Kellie Stamps: Joy Stamp Set Poet Society Card Kit Transparent Watercolour Papers Waterbrush Zing Embossing Powder: White Versamark Watermark Ink Color Theory Ink: Lime Light Color Theory Ink: Something Blue Color Theory Ink: Mint Hint Color Theory Ink: Emerald City

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