Studio Calico love - Fall Fun

I know yesterday was Advent ideas, and tomorrow is Project 12 and DECEMBER 1, oh my, but I didn't want to let November go without sharing a fun fall layout with Studio Calico products.

Fall Fun:

One of Payton's preschool friends is now a Kindergarten classmate, and they spend a lot of time together as his Mom and I swap playdates back and forth.  She watches my PJ a lot when I have to work and Steve isn't home, and I take him home when the kids both demand macaroni and cheese and some trampoline time.  :)

ON this particular day, the kids had scooped leaves onto the trampoline and were having the best time jumping in the leaves and throwing them at each other.  I must say, I don't think Mr H knew what hit him when he put out the challenge to Miss Payton Jayne.  He never stood a chance.  :)

I love that there are 5 photos on this layout! 

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

The Autumn Press products are currently on Last Call at Studio Calico, so if you want a good deal, you'd better check those out.  They'll ship free with your kit or add-ons if you purchased any of the December kit this month.

Have a great day!  Davinie

crafTuesday- Countdown to Christmas, Advent ideas

So it's going to be a blog posting blitz for me this week.  There are a few things that got away from me, and a couple of things I want to post before December.

Aren't you lucky?  :)


Advent #1 - Santa's Beard

Counting down to Christmas is something fun in our family.  As I was yarding out the Christmas decor, I noticed we actually have several different ideas for counting down the days, and I wanted to share a few with you in the event you were looking for ideas.

This first one came from Pinterest.  I didn't see any reason to stray from the original.

Of course, I had to make two little santas, for my two little elves.  I made them last night while watching the finale of the Sing-Off (dont' worry, I want spoil it for you if tonight is your night to DVR).

I used some old MM sticker numbers from my stash.  Ran out of two's so utilized the Z's a bit.  But it turned out great!  This is going to be a fun little project for my girls.  They are both artists, so don't need the help, but this would be a great preschool craft to teach scissor skills.  Maybe someday with a snowman.  hmmm.

#2 - Starbucks advent tree

A couple years ago I got this Starbucks tree full of chocolate, and had to keep it to reuse.  I think this is the 3rd or 4th year for this one.  When you turn the box around you reveal bits of a scene, and it's Christmas when the full scene is revealed.  Payton saved me a few bucks this year.  I was going to use some little candies or tiny little gifts, but when she heard the word "advent" the girl went to town on said scissor skills, and it's full of tiny bits of paper in tiny shapes, and who knows what else.  I'm actually really looking forward to checking out what she came up with, especially for number 11.  Number 11 is important because it's her favorite number, she "likes the way it looks, and the way it sounds".  I'm sure she put something good in that one.....




#3 - Christmas books Advent

My absolute favorite advent idea is the countdown to Christmas book idea.  I heard about this a few years ago and think it's just genius.  I've always been baffled at the idea of Christmas books.  What do you do with them the rest of the year?  Are they just stacked amongst the other books?  I love the idea of wrapping them all up, to be opened during the holidays.  Starting 12/1, each night the girls will take turns choosing a wrapped book, and then we'll read it before bed.  We usually read a couple each night, so they will get to choose a wrapped book, and then we can choose one of the favorites that were already opened.  On the 24th, we read Twas the Night Before Christmas, so I don't wrap that one.  This particular one has the fold out pages where the paper jumps out at you as you turn the pages.  Love this version.  We got it several years ago from my Aunt.

The smartest idea I had was to purchase wrapping paper after Christmas last year, and then wrap the books before packing them away.  This helped with the let down post-holiday, and also saved me a ton of time this year.  It also keeps all the books a surprise from even me.  What fun!

These books are kept in a big basket with other holiday fodder, things like reindeer headbands, a snowman jack-in-the-box, a stuffed ornament that plays jingle bells when you squeeze it, light up reindeer noses.  Fun things to entertain the kiddos.

Tomorrow night, the 30th, is when we are going to introduce our little elf to the kiddos.  I wonder what they'll name her?  I'm actually excited about the antics she'll come up with.  I think it'll be fun for the hubby and I to take turns wreaking havoc.

Have a great night!  Davinie

Studio Calico Brooklyn Flea kit - it's reveal time!

The kit:  

It's that time!  The December kit called Brooklyn Flea is up for sale at Studio Calico.  While I'm bidding on some vintage Shiny Brite ornaments on Ebay, I ended up purchasing Salvaged, Snow Cone, and Printer's Drawer to play with this month.  And I had to get More Patterned paper, because this main kit is my favorite in a long time and I wanted to make sure I'd have extra papers to play with.  Here's a peek at that one:

The A side

And the B side of the More Paper Add-on contents.

My kit stash is out of control, but I couldn't help myself.  The contents were irresistible!

My projects:


We left for the beach on Saturday the 19th and didn't get back until Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so most of my projects were made before we left.  I brought my kit with me to play with but it's always hard to do that when there's family from out of state and holiday bonding to do.  As always, I wish I had more time!  That said, I was able to ekk out 4 layouts and a card this month.


This first one was made with the main kit only and is my favorite main kit only layout to date.  As I was creating it I never had the desire to reach for products from any of the add-ons I purchased.


#1

When I first spied the main kit stamp it spoke of a flower center to me, so that's how I used it this month.  I could have used the leaf stamps, but chose to cut up the canvas green leaves instead, because I love the texture.


I wanted to create a banner with rectangular shaped pieces, and the "wire" was made but stitching back and forth with my sewing machine. No trims needed for this one.  


The punch is a scallop punch from Stampin' Up.  
The Ormolu tag was rubbed with the Prima Moss Lawn chalk.
The small yellow flower punch is from EK Success.


The journaling is inspired by Shelly J's Project 12 contributions.  I LOVE when she does her journaling this way and it had just the right amount of texture I wanted for the bottom of my layout.


The alphas?  The Ali alphas designed by American Crafts exclusively for this kit?  LOVE.  


#2

Obviously, this is my 2pager contribution to my gallery this month.  I always like to have one.  I'm on a pennant kick this month, and this time, used the pennant shape just for pops of color, not to hang on a line.  

The addition of the Amy Tan tags was fun texture.  I like natural elements to left my snowflakes bare.  The fact they are wood is fabulous as is (They are in the Snow Cone add-on, along with the pink Crate paper, the tape.  Other Papers are from the Salvaged and Printer's Drawer add-ons).  

I would also like to profess my adoration of the Ormolu tags from the main kit, as well as my MIL's typewriter.  It made it so much easier to write more extensive journaling, and I love the overall look too.  


Isn't Charlotte the snow girl cute?  I thought so.


#3


Brace yourself for this next one.  She's not happy.  Not happy at all:

Because of the orientation of the photo, I decided to make it a large one for this layout.  

I just felt like layering rounded rectangles for this design, topping them with the Crate border stickers and some tape too.  I had to use another Amy Tan tag for this one too (found in the Salvaged add-on).  

#4

I had this photo I took of the kids the other day sitting around, and as I looked through the kit contents, thought it would be fun to put the twine to good use. I wrapped it a few times, tied it in knots, added brads, and then stitched it all down and added some snowflakes.  I thought it was a fun and easy way to embellish this layout about the anticipation of snow.

Most of the twine and hat snowflake tape came from the Snow Cone add-on.  The Peppermint brads are in the shop.

I love this photo.

#5

Lastly is a little card I whipped up because I had a hankering to use the main kit stamp again:

I really adore this color palette.  And I really love that stamp as a flower.

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Let me know if you have any questions about my projects this month.  I hope you liked them!  Davinie

December Daily workshop winner

Giveaway winner:


And the winner of the spot in the December Daily workshop by Maggie Holmes is:

Cheryl Leong said...

I Like your sneaks! TFS!

cheryl131091 at yahoo dot com

8:13 AM 

Congratulations Cheryl!  I'm sending you an email!

More Studio Calico Sneaks and a Weekend Giveaway

Hi all!


We got home from the beach, survived Thanksgiving, and my sweet hubby got up with me this morning at 4:30 am to brave the crowds in search of those great deals for Christmas.  We stocked up on several boxes containing games and accessories for our very own Wii.  I swear we must be the last family to own one, but it's finally time and my kids are going to be so excited!


With the weekend here and Studio Calico's December kit reveal around the corner, I wanted to sneak in and share snippets of more of the projects I created this month.  Check it out:

Sneaks:

I really enjoyed working with my kits this month.  I know you won't be disappointed when this kit is revealed!

While the weekend awaits and before Reveal gets here, I wanted to share something I'm going to be participating in, as part of my Tis the Season (December Daily-ish) album (speaking of which, I'm buttoning up week 1 as we speak since I started mine the day we left for our beach vacation).

Weekend Giveaway:

Miss Maggie Holmes is offering a workshop in December with prompts and ideas for taking photos over the holidays.  Check it out:

Isn't that great!?  The holidays always get away from me.  This is why I have never finished a December Daily album.  Getting a daily prompt with inspiring photos and ideas is just the ticket to making this happen, I do believe.  I'm very excited to play along!  I really want a record like this for my girl.  

You can read about it out again and check out Maggie's site here.

Maggie has generously donated a spot in this workshop for one of my blog readers, so if you'll leave a comment on this post telling me about how you are spending the weekend, I'd be happy to draw a name Sunday afternoon before SC reveal so that she can get you in the system and ready to go for her first post on December 1.  Sound good?

In the meantime, check out the Black Friday deals at SC (some fun holiday stuff on page 2 for that DD album), and enjoy some couch time while you are at it!  

Enjoy your weekend!  Davinie

Brooklyn Flea sneaks

Tomorrow morning (or today.... depending on where you live, lol), we are headed for our annual trip to the beach with my side of the family.  Good times ahead, but a long drive, because it snowed last night, is supposed to snow tonight, and the first part of our journey is a trip over the Cascade Range, so a normal drive from my house to Portland OR that would take 2.5 hours could take as much as..... 4.  Maybe more, depending on what pass we take.  So wish me luck in the truck with antsy kids!  


My December Daily is already packed up with a crop bag full of goodies, ready to be filled while at the coast.  Saturday is the first day of my "Tis the Season" adventures to-be-documented (I liked that title too, Jen).  I'm anxious and excited to get started, because then I'll know how prepared I am for a daily type journal.  I'm sure the gas receipts from the initial drive will be a treasure someday (you know, when the grandkids are laughing because gas was *only* $3.85 a gallon).  


In the meantime, though, I do have a couple of sneaks to share of the Brooklyn Flea kit from Studio Calico and those projects I finished before I left town.  I was going to finish up and leave my kit behind when I headed to the beach, but I still have time and inspiration left, so while I do have my assignments done, there could be a few extra pieces in my gallery this month.  


Here's a bit of what I've come up with so far:

This first one is the main kit only.  I thought the main kit stamp would make a great sunflower.  I stamped it with black Stazon and used Prima chalk in Moss Lawn for the Ormulu tag.  I also ADORE this layout.  I can't wait to share the whole thing.  

I made it while watching Water for Elephants.  I didn't care for the movie so much, it was nothing compared to the book, but the layout is great!  :)

This layout is a mix of a lot of things and makes me smile big time.  This is a nibble of a two pager, 8.5 x 11.

And that's all I can share for now.  I have more projects finished so will have another sneak post soon.

Have a great weekend!  Davinie

For the Front Door - Yarn and yoyo fall wreath

The details:


I'm obsessed with yarn wreaths and I'm not afraid to say it.  I think since the moment I first signed on with Pinterest and started seeing them, I've been pinning and dreaming of making my own.  I used to work at a flower shop in college and would make wreaths for clients on occasion (and not always with fresh flowers).  It is such a treat to revisit this craft.  

A couple of months ago I got a wreath form and wrapped it with yarn, and a couple of Studio Calico kits ago, I became obsessed with wood doilies and had to get some more, and the two combined to create a lovely little accent for my front door:

Maya Road doilies and buttons, Divine Twine, an embroidery hoop, and fabrics from Michael Miller and Heather Bailey, I think.  It's close to Thanksgiving and almost time for a more Christmas inspired wreath, but for the next couple of weeks, I plan to enjoy it!


Davinie


Supplies:________________________________________________________

InLinkz.com