My Whodunit gallery with an extra or two.

The gallery is live! The kit is for sale! Race on over to Studio Calico for the Whodunit kit, why don't you!? The colors in this kit are PERFECT, because they work well for any photo. I have plans for some winter photos, I can use them for Spring or summer photos, it doesn't matter! This should make my Australian friends very happy. Right?!

Of course, I got all three add-ons this month, Colonel Mustard, In the Billiard Room, and I had a hand in creating With the Candlestick. The stamps in that add-on? Those were my idea. And I will use them over and over and over and over and over for many occasions? Don't have small kiddos needing treat boxes? Use the pillow boxes on a card or layout.

First I'm going to share my Valentine projects. I created two cards and embellished the treat boxes, and if you purchase this add-on it comes with visuals and instructions to recreate these projects. A fun change, isn't it?



The stamp set comes with a tag stamp, two heart stamps, and a "to" and "from" stamp which is separate. 5 stamps! I used all of them to create gift tags for Valentine treat boxes.



One sheet of kraft cardstock made 20 tags.

Before I put my stamps away, though, I decided to get a head start on my Christmas tags for next year. I talked about this a little bit in my last Studio Calico blog post. I created the Christmas tags in the same way I did my Valentine tags, but this time, I used the fun star shapes from the main kit stamp set.



Aren't they fun? And as I mentioned in that blog post, it took a bit of the edge off from the craziness that is the holiday season. Sure, I could have gone out and bought those cheap sticker tags, but it's so much more meaningful to create your own, and doing it this way, in an assembly line type fashion, was really quick and easy. They are already trimmed and in a baggie, ready to be put with that Christmas wrapping paper I just bought for 50% off. And of course, I picked it out, knowing what my tags looked like. Done! lol

This next one was made, inspired a bit by the cards I had made:




For this one, I liked the texture that the fabrips offer, so I decided to create my own with Claudine Hellmuth's Sticky Backed canvas. I used my handy dandy $1 Dollar Tree scalloped ruler to trace a great big scallop, and trimmed it out. Then I brushed it with my second pot of green paint (it seems to match everything and it's my #1 paint choice), and this is where I got crazy. Wild. Zany! You see, April has tried to change me by introducing Mist to SC, but I am NOT a mister. I like the looks, but I can't reposition mist, so it's a huge challenge for me to use, lol. That said, I found a way to include mist on my projects, for subtlety. And that's by using CREAM. It's a hint of color but not too much, and I have enjoyed playing with it!

The Origins paper in this month's kit has often have a marbled look to some of the color schemes, so I took my creme mist and sprayed it over the green paint on my canvas, and I really like the subtle marbled look it gave. I also used it on my chipboard hearts, and this particular photos doesn't show it well, but it offered a sparkled sheen that I really like. So I say... get yourself some cream mist! Especially if you are scared to try misting.

This next layout was made with that funky family photo we took at the beach a couple of weeks ago:


I thought I'd showcase the Studio Calico paper this month and put all my embellies at the top. This layout basically scrapped itself and I had a lot of fun with it.



Now those wood alphas from the In the Billiard Room are a bit stinky when you break them out of the package, but they were a lot of fun to use. I think I want more. I really liked the font and the texture they offered to the my layouts. I'm also digging those cute little birdies from the main! I actually might use them a ton too.



To create a visual triangle of sorts, with this layout, I highlighted a couple of my trees with my Precision Pen. It adds just a little something to the layout, I think.

My last layout for my gallery this month was a fun two pager:

I love that I got so many of the photos I took during this adventure on one layout. I really really enjoyed taking my girls out on my dad's boat. I'm a child of divorce but my first 7 years were spent in Alaska on the water, as my dad is a boat man. He isn't a fisherman. No. He owned a tugboat business for many years, and he still works on the water today. He's a boat pilot, so he is in charge of navigating those huge ships which carry goods from Seattle to Anchorage and back. Anyway.... he built this boat from the hull up, and this trip was our first adventure on it after it made it into the water. It brought so many bittersweet memories. My girls loved it, and Steve, who grew up in the high desert, wants to move now, lol.

I thought the SC paper could be a bit nautical, so I had to break out these photos, especially with the touch of red in the OA polkadots.


I also created a little wave at the bottom with that AC paper, and had Steve snip the back of those MM buttons to adhere them to my layout.

This last one was made for my challenge on the Studio Blog last week, to scrap that Christmas card photo. You can check out the challenge and see some very old projects for card ideas, Christmas and everyday, here.


For my journaling I did a quick recap of the year, like the girl's ages and what grade they were in school, etc., and then I did a little history on the actual photo.




What do you think of that border punch? It's a holiday punch from Martha and combines a few punches I love, all together. I'm a fan. I'm going to try and get April to pick it up for the shop. Think you'd be interested? I like the wee bit of embossing with my treasured scallops.

That's it! I still have this kit on my desk. I have some winter AND spring photos to scrap. That's how versatile this kit is.

Have a great day! Davinie