Jot Magazine Issue 10

The latest issue of Jot Magazine has just been released and as usual it's fabulous! For a free digital magazine you really can't get anything of a higher quality. Doesn't the sneak alone make you want to dive into it's pages?

As a Jot Girl I have two layouts in this issue. The first one features in the "Say What?" gallery which is all about the funny things our kids say. I had quite a few quotes I could have used for this one.

But I settled on a recent story about when Bethany met Amy Tan in March. She had only just discovered the world of Instagram and was gaining a few followers, and therefore considered herself quite famous. She wasn't shy about meeting a real scrapping celebrity either. She marched confidently up to Amy and stated, "I'm Bethany, one of the Elphie Kids. But you must already know who I am."

Yep. True story.

Now it only seemed fitting that if I was going to do a layout about Amy Tan that I should make it with Amy Tangerine products, so I pulled out my Yes Please collection and got to work. By mixing in a few different and newer supplies to embellish, it gives it a fresh look I'm think.

Because this issue of Jot Magazine marks it's 2nd birthday there's also a Celebration/Party gallery which I used as the prompting I needed to finally scrap about Bethany's 8th birthday. Which was in September by the way. Now you know why I said 'finally'!!

For this I used the Poet Society kit and it's Add Ons from Studio Calico. Not for any hugely sentimental reason other than me trying to kill a few of my older kits and this happened to be the first one I grabbed ;-) I keep all my old kits bundled together in separate plastic bags because I do like revisiting them from time to time.

Again, I like to think that if I add in just a couple of different embellishments it gives the kit a bit of a newer feel (even if the other embellishments aren't new themselves), but really I guess that's only in the eyes of myself and anyone else who happens to know obsessively which supplies came in which kit.

My much bigger stroke of genius came when I decided I was going to do my journaling 'interview style' and that I would actually let Bethany write her answers directly onto the page herself. Now it really is capturing this moment in time even better by including her handwriting too.

You can find both my layouts as well as a tonne of other inspirational projects (it's 166 pages long!) in Issue 10 of Jot Magazine right here. And did I mention it's free?!

Happy reading!

April Jot Mood Board

I know I've been all about the cards for a while here, but it seems I have swung my attentions a little more towards the Project Life process recently. I think probably because I've got SOOOooo many photos and tonnes of stories to tell at the moment. I really must get started on that baby album soon. But in the meantime I'll start with sharing this spread:

Sure, it's not the most joyful of topics. It is indeed about the day we sprinkled my Grandmother's ashes. But this is real life right? Documenting the lows as well as the highs, journaling through the tough times as well as the celebrations. And seriously, this specific day was all of those things!

I actually took my colour palette inspiration from the April Jot Magazine Mood Board Challenge. With it's elegant combination of navy, gold and pink as well as it's floral theme I thought it would suit the 'atmosphere' of this page perfectly. 

I've used a real mix of different Studio Calico Project Life kits for this one, as well as some other stuff from my stash. I shuffled through Poet Society, Penny Arcade and Cirque - pulling bits and pieces that matched as I went. I'm thinking it's about time I integrated all my kits out, rather than having them in their original packing. It would make this kind of PL-ing much easier! 

I even included not one, but two of the prized gold foil speciality cards on this page. I'm desperately trying not to be a hoarder! And honestly, if a page about your Grandmother's ashes doesn't deserve two gold cards then I don't know what would! I splashed around some orange waterpaint to add the finishing touches.

I tell you what, the Jot Girls are just loving the Mood Board again this month and have come up with some stunning projects. You can check out all the details for the challenge here. Maybe you'll join in?

xxx

Time to Shine

I'll be honest, this is actually a spread I made ages ago.
Might have only just gotten around to photographing it, but the making was ages ago.
Let's see... this is the Poet Society Scrapbook Kit and Add Ons, so that makes it September! 

Not sure why I did a Project Life spread with the contents of a Scrapbook Kit, especially given I subscribe to the Project Life kits as well. But probably I was just challenging myself to use more of my stash. And obviously it really IS all about using whatever you have on hand. The real point is about capturing the memories right?

Anyway, I do love these photos of Bethany with our aging family dog. She's a true farm dog, lives outside, barely trained to any other command apart from the call of food. But she's friendly and calm and just the sweetest thing. Which is why it was weird that Bethany was always deathly scared of her as a child. Somewhere along the way though things changed, and all at once they became best friends.

Meanwhile, I've actually got heaps more PL spreads completed. September holiday snaps now all documented. Working on Christmas next. Really gotta get more photographed though!
Will probably have to resort to a massive catch up post.
Watch for that soon.
I hope!

Poet Society Reveal. ETA - Kit Unveiling Video

It's the most exciting time of the month in the world of scrapping! It's Reveal Day at Studio Calico! This month's kits are called "Poet Society" which is actually a complete cooincidence as far as a reference to Robin Williams is concerned... but it's still a lovely tribute.

This month for my kit unveiling video I've let the Trophy Husband have some time off - he's been busy concentrating on his own assignments and just didn't have the usual enthusiasm for it this time around. Plus, I had a couple of other eager volunteers who have just been waiting for an opportunity! So I was shoved out of my own scrap room after I set a camera rolling, and I let these two do completely their own thing... unsupervised! Scary.. but I think you'll find the end result as amusing as I did ;-)

 

Here's what I've whipped up with the Scrapbook Kits...

 

"Rad" is made with purely the Main Kit only, as well as a couple of the digital stamps which I converted into cutting files. The giant title, as well as the watercolour leaves have been cut with my Silhouette. The kit as a whole is rather more on the masculine side I would suggest, but with this layout I found enough pink bits and blingy bling to make this quite girly!

Yes, I've found a new love for sequins! Those burnt orange coloured stars and sequins in the Main Kit are stunning :-)

My second Main Kit Only layout, "You're a Gem" is slightly on the hybrid side, with the addition of a digital stamp and computer journaling which I printed directly onto the blue paper. Once again I put my Silhouette to good use cutting out the title and diamond which are actually replicas of the stamp set that comes in the Card Kit. It's totally cute, you'll need to check it out!

I did stick with more of the what might be considered the boy colours of this kit, but I'm pretty sure navy blue, lime green and orange can pass for a feminine layout too right?

So here's a first for me - a heritage layout.... well I guess you could call it that? After my Grandmother passed away last month I felt the need to dedicate a page to her. Who knows, it might be the first of many. But for now I'm happy with starting here with this one.

I kept it fairly simple, with an oversized photo and a quote from her as she neared the end of her life printed directly onto the green patterned paper from Alcott (Add On 2). The texture comes from the green velvet ribbon and blue bling from the Main Kit.

And lastly, I really REALLY needed to use a bunch of those gold bits from Dickinson (Add On 1) on a page. Those large gold alphas, black and gold polka dot paper, and gold foil accents in the chipboard make for a really lovely layout. The only difficulty is that it's a bit hard to photograph. I've done my best for you!

You can catch more details about my layouts in my Studio Calico gallery here. And the supply list is below (the links will work once the kits have been fully revealed to the public).

Happy Reveal Day!!



Supplies:

Poet Society Scrapbook Kit Add On 1: Dickinson Add On 2: Alcott Add On 3: Whitman Poet Society Printables by LifeLovePaper Poet Society Printables by In a Creative Bubble Poet Society Printables by Hello Forever Poet Society Scrapbook Kit Digital Stamps Poet Society Card Kit Digital Stamps Poet Society Project Life Digital Stamps Color Theory Ink: Something Blue Color Theory Ink: Deja Blue Color Theory Ink: Well Red Color Theory Ink: Clean Slate Color Theory Ink: Orange County

InLinkz.com

Poet Society Sneaks

The September kits at Studio Calico are called "Poet Society" which coincidentally were named after the famous book/movie 'Dead Poet's Society', a name that came into fruition weeks before the tragic news of Robin William's apparent suicide. We actually debated long and hard whether we should do a last-minute renaming, but in honour of the great actor we have chosen to keep it. As scrapbookers we are memory keepers and documentarians, the name will now last as a small token of a memorial if you like.

The Scrapbook Kit is filled with bold primary colours, neutrals and a masculine feel, but as you'll see from my sneaks, it's got the potential for some girly layouts in there too :-)

Add On 1 is called 'Dickinson' and is my favourite this month. It's jam-packed with new Maggie Holmes goodies, including about a thousand embellishments. Only a slight exaggeration. Those oversized gold alphas are just the icing on the cake.

In fact, Add On 2 'Alcott' is pretty much stacked with embellishments too. This time focusing on the newly released Shimelle collection.  There's literally the whole rainbow of colours in this kit, you're going to love it if you're a ROYGBIV fan like me ;-)

And Add On 3 'Whitman' which actually is the embellishment-only kit will have you gasping with excitement if you're the sort of person who loves never-before-seen new products that stretch the imagination and inspire you to create.

Let me show you some sneaks of what I've made this month.....

For my first Main-Kit-Only layout I stuck with the bold colour scheme of navy, lime green and grey which works equally well for both masculine and feminine layouts.

But for my second Main-Kit-Only layout I focused on the girly bits in the kit just to show how versatile it is. You know I can never pass up the addition of a hint of pink!

I used Add On 1 for this layout. I already mentioned the gold alpha stickers, but did I also mention the gold polka dot paper, and the gold foil accents in the chipboard embellishments? Whoooop!!

And lastly, my hybrid layout for the month was created mainly with Add On 2, and the addition of the felt ribbon and jewels from the Main Kit for lots of texture.

I've mentioned before the fabulous exclusive products that subscribers get a chance at pre-ordering to ship when their kits come, and this month is no exception. Check out the five sets of vellum alphabet stickers you can add to your cart for under $10!

I'm going to be back real soon with my shopping list for the month, and we're already counting down the days until the reveal on the 28th. Yay!