Studio Calico May - What's in Granny's Cupboard?

The kit is live and it's time to take a peek into Granny's Cupboard. I came up with 4 layouts and 2 cards. My kit is still out and I have been using it on other projects to be shared later this week, though. I love it!

I purchased two add-ons this month, Linen & Lace as well as Trinkets. I also got more add-on paper, which gave me a few pieces in the Knick Knack add-on, and also made it easier to cut into some of the really pretty ones, knowing I had two.

I'm proud of myself too. I did 4 layouts, and only one of them uses kraft as a base. An easter layout uses some of the kraft Basics line from Basic Grey. Oh my word I'm in love with this idea.

I'm also digging the new Coredinations stuff with Cosmo. It just arrived back at the shop today so I don't have it in my hot little hands yet, but I ordered the classic/neutral pad that Cosmo put out. I fondled it at CHA and have been waiting in anticipation. This also a must have. (I missed out the first time it showed up in the shop).

Without further ado, my work for this month:




Payton is 4 but looks 14 in these photos. Egads! I wanted to do a layout about her interests at 4. After doing these monthly for her first year, I now do them every 6 months and don't plan to stop.

I cut open one of the MR envelopes for this layout. I also used yummy olive twisted burlap from the shop for my flower stems. That yellow OA paper is in the Trinkets addon. YUM. So pretty. I loved all those buttons in the main, the flowers, and the blue alphas too.

Here's that Basic Grey Basics I was telling you about. Isn't it perfect!? It's Tally, from the Kraft pad. This is in the Knick Knacks addon, but it's also in the more patterned paper option, and you can also buy that paper pad! I definitely need more of this.

I had a lot of fun roughing up my cardstock, as well as the fabric paper. I also used my new label punch for the journaling and date. Because the layout was so free, I even used a border punch on my photo. Heck, I print them myself at home. I can trim any size I want, right? I used my Fiskars Scallop Sentiment punch and my new EK Success double embossed dotted lace punch. I'm not a huge fan of the embossed part and I don't think it's very noticable anyway, so I'm a huge fan. I like that I don't have to hand cut this big scallop anymore.

I saw some sneaks using the Bumpy Road punch, and that's the next one on my list. I like it better in action than I thought I would. I've got a lot in my cart, but I might add this as well for next month.

I have a loose interpretation of the Earth right there with my Crate paper circle on this layout (also in the knick knack addon but also in the more add-on paper option).

I definitely need more of those clouds. ::sigh:: I used more of my favorite jute here. I also did some paper tearing. It's been a while. I used to do that A LOT a few years ago but then cut back. The trend is back. I'm inspired by the way Nik tears everything on her layouts.

This next layout came together in about 45 minutes and I had kids climbing all over me. This is an amazing thing, I tell you!

It started with the delicious SC exclusive paper and that doily stamp. I thought it would make great dandelions:

Morgan came up to me the other day with these dandelions and asked if I'd get a photo of her with her flowers and the one in her hair.

I was giggling the whole time. She is posed all sweet and has flowers and all that, but all I can see are the dang weeds she's holding. We are NEVER going to get rid of them. lol.

The big scallop punch from Mavy mixed with that dotted lace punch. And yes, more ivory jute.

Look at the cow pasture:

When the cows get here they are going to eat them all right, but then they are going to come out fertilized. Steve sprays them with weed killer, but he can't keep ahead of the kids, and they don't understand. Morgan told me, " but mom, they are pretty yellow flowers! ". ayiyiyi.

Weeds. We have 'em.

This was a spur of the moment idea so I didn't have yellow ink from the shop, but I verified with Lisa that the mustard seed would have looked just like this Colorbox yellow I used on the stamp.

With the card talk on the site and my card challenge for NSD, I figured I'd better make some cards for my gallery as well.

That K&Co. pink frame worked great here.

And I put another MR envelope to good use with this card as well. I trimmed off each side so it would open right up.

I'm hoarding those flowers from the Linen & Lace add-on, but sacrificed one for this card. She's going to have be a really good friend in order to get this one in the mail, lol.

And that's it! I hope you got what you wanted from the shop!

I'll be back later. I can't begin to tell you how many irons I have in the fire, many of them coming straight to you on Saturday!

Davinie

Easter Recap and some SC

How was your Easter weekend?

It was chilly yet again this year at my house. I have finally come to terms with it and am very excited about next year, because I'm absolutely going to make my girls super cute aprons they can wear over jeans instead of spending money on dresses you never get to see.

Really. And they'll be cute. And they'll be able to wear them to school. I already have patterns from Fig Tree & Co. I'm just going to wait to see what Heather Bailey comes up, although I do love Nicey Jane.

Chilly or not, we did have a great weekend. We live on 2 acres so are a good spot for easter egg hunts. At around 11am, this is what I found in my backyard:

Raegan (my neice), Payton and Morgan, Shelby and Krysta (a couple of close family friends), and Kael (my nephew).

I always have fun getting eggs ready, but because of the gusting winds and my Betty Baker status in the kitchen, Steve was tasked with the hiding of the eggs. The kids had a blast.

Afterwards, the sugar high began:


We deep fried a turkey, which I've never done before, but it was really good. I also made some of PW's Cinnamon Rolls, which were delish, if I do say so myself. I even made deviled eggs, and I've actually never made deviled eggs before.

My sister Sabrina came with a couple dozen decorated eggs we had embellished the night before, and after admitting she had put them in a pot for about an hour and a half, they became the best candidates for this:

Why yes, you are seeing that correctly. I've hidden it for years, but yes people, I am that tacky neighbor with a tower in her yard.

It used to be the radio tower for the airport in the 1940's. That white building on the left, which is also on our property, has some radio equipment in it that should be in some sort of air museum. We've had people stop by our house and tell us stories about our tower that irritate me, lol, because it adds historical content to something I'd be happy to remove.

One of them comes out of Alaska in the 1960's, when the big earthquake hit. Apparently our tower was the beacon for ham radio users to get messages out of Alaska to family members.

Great.

What to do with it? Rent it to a cell phone company? Tear it down and sell the metal for scrap? Use it for wind power and put a windmill up top which will generate enough power for my home and then send power down the grid so I get a check from the power company every year? No idea what we should do with it. But if we tear it down you can't put one back up again, so there it sits.

Honestly, the house needs so much work we haven't had time to worry about it.

But in April? In April we launch eggs. Easter Eggs. At the tower.

Yes, we are that kind of redneck.

Oh my how the boys love it when it's egg launching time.

I didn't post a photo, but this year they perfected a technique as the day wore on by attaching the tubing to our swingset so that two people wouldn't have to hold on to it.

This enabled my 6 year old to launch her own eggs, which somehow went further than anything her daddy had been trying. It was pretty funny.

I wish you could see the mountains in that photo. They are right there behind the trees. It hailed later in the day so the clouds had come in and covered them up. But we have mountains. That's one reason we bought the place.

Another exciting part of the day was the opportunity to get most of the kids with their Great Grammie. My mama's mama.

The other reason that was extra special this year was because she finally got to meet this little bundle of joy:

Yep, Lilly and her mom and dad came to stay with me for the weekend. They said she was teething and a little fussy but I don't believe them. A sweeter baby I have yet to meet. And those cheeks!

I miss her already and can't wait to see her again. If not before, we have plans to head her direction, the Seattle area, Labor Day weekend. Can't wait! She'll be on the move for sure by then.

Thinking of Lilly and her family made it easy to do my Studio Calico layout for the month:

Homefront's Dollhouse and Alpha Stickers mixed with pieces from the Anthology line as well as Crate Paper's Brook line.

Homefront Fabrips made the easiest brads using my I Top tool and the small brad daddies. I also used some fun rubons, the orange buttons and a blue doilie. My big scallop was hand cut with a Dollar Tree ruler, but I can't wait for my Double Embossed Dotted Lace punch to get here from EK Success! It'll get as much use as that Scallop Sentiment punch I use all the time, methinks.

Seeing my brother become a father has changed him, and me. Lilly has no idea how lucky she is to have him for a dad.

I feel fortunate to have him for a brother. He's 7 years younger than me, I'm the eldest and he's the youngest of 4, so it's great to finally have something in common. I can't wait to get to know them better as a family and to spend more family time together. It's been great!

He's already commited to coming down for Easter every year (he seems to think he can outdo the design on the egg launcher. I told you, we rednecks can draw people in to our web like nobody's business).

Anyway...

I have been busy with assignments lately, which is one reason I haven't been posting as much. I can't wait to share my work with Scrapbook and Cards Today and their summer issue, as well as a "Confidential" article assignment I can't share yet. Oh, and I'm excited about this too.

I'm also knee deep in soccer, but I'll share the Iguana and the Dolphin later. Payton made the age cutoff by 4 days, so I'm a soccer mom to two sweet girls, who are having the best time. So even though it's only 36 degrees out and the winds are blowing 15-20 mph, I still have a smile on my face as I see them darting around the fields.

Fun times.

Be back soon! Davinie

Studio Calico March - Quilting Bee

It's up! Time to race to the shop and load your carts with the March kit from Studio Calico.




This is what I came up with. I bought all three add-ons this month.



First, a fun thing the team did this month was to lift a layout in the gallery from one of our members. My sweet friend Dani has been sharing her work at SC, so she was an easy choice for someone to lift. I have had her Lolli Love layout in my favorites for a bit. I just adore the way she layered that crepe paper ribbon. So easy and effective! I *almost* asked if I could lift Everyday, but decided to get creative, as we didn't have crepe paper ribbon in the kit this month.

You'll notice the pink JBS paper is very textured.

To do that was simple. First, I chose the Jenni Bowlin paper because it isn't cardstock weight, and therefore easy to mess with. To make it look this was was simple. I trimmed the paper into strips. And then I ran them under the faucet, scrunched them up, and then flattened them back out again. When they dried they were warped and crinkly, just like crepe paper.

I then layered them just as Dani did, and sewed them down. I chose to layer mine on patterned paper and then adhere that to kraft, because I needed some of my plain in this layout, lol. The colors and patterns on their own were scaring me a bit.

To mimic Dani's journaling box, I used one of the super cool veneer circles, and then added some green stars made with the medium star punch from Fiskars.

Voila!

Do your kids have Twinkletoes from Skechers? Mine are obsessed with them. I admit, I think they are super cool too, and wish they also came in my size. Alas......

On to the second layout:

I think Becky Fleck changed me forever with regards to my two pagers. I don't know. When trying to come up with a design with these photos, I was really inspired by how she did her journaling box on her January sketch for my Project 12 challenge, so I decided to incorporate something similar with this layout. It worked perfectly with my photos.

I loved the great big flowers so decided to use them on this layout. It's a bit of a play on words, really. The title is "at her own pace" and Payton can sometimes be one of those who likes to "stop and smell the roses". Makes sense, huh, huh?

The polka dots on my butterflies was easy. First I sprayed the chipboard with creme mist. Then I took a scrap piece of cardstock, punched holes in it, and layered it over the butterfly, after which I sprayed it with pink mist. Have a wee bit of fun with my mists there.

I also used two of the stamps in the kit. Isn't that trike adorable? I had to go with pink to match Payton's pink bike in the layout (the frame is in the wedding ring add-on, the bike is in the honeycomb add-on).

I'm proud of myself and my use of white space on this one. I could have gone with more patterned paper, but I held myself back!

I decided to go pretty and 8.5 x 11 with my last layout of the month.

The AC ribbon was already ruffled a bit, but I ruffled it some more and used two rows of it on my layout for some fun texture.

The rose ribbon is pretty, and I wanted to do something besides lay it across my layout. One of the smaller veneer circles worked perfectly as a frame, so I trimmed out one bloom and added some leaf pins.

My photo is what I'm most excited about. That's printable fabric! I'm hoping to get some added to the shop at SC. I distressed it a bit so that it was more obvious that it was fabric. LOVE how it turned out.

That's it for layouts this month. I just ran out of time.

I did have one more project with the kit this month. Here's my baby, the Patchwork add-on.

This features delicious Nicey Jane fabric from Heather Bailey as well as canvas pendants from Maya Road and delicious vintage style buttons from Jenni Bowlin. SO fun.

Another fun thing about this project kit is the photo transfer paper, as well as the additional canvas. There's so much of it that after finishing my banner, I still have plenty of product to use on another project that I'll share with you soon. I just need to add a Lizzy flower or two (they weren't at SC headquarters when the DT boxes were ready to ship so I've had to be patient and wait until my next shipment to get them).

This project kit also contains photos and instructions to recreate this banner:

There were a couple of fun flowers made with fabric for this project, so the instructions for these will be fun to have on hand as well.

On top of another assignment or two, this is why I've been so busy! It's a lot of work to know what you are going to do in advance, so that you can document the process with photos and words. In the daylight. :)

Additional product I purchased to make this banner extra special were:

the I top tool (and this tool has paid for itself already with the use it has gotten, especially with fabrips! I can't wait to share the layout I'm working on right now that has fabrip brads).

medium brad daddies

hydrangea mist

pinking shears

You will still be able to create a beautiful banner with the project kit if you do not have these items, but I used them and had a lot of fun with them so I thought I would let you know what I picked up.

As I mentioned, there is photo transfer paper in this kit. At first, I had a hard time deciding what type of photos to use with it. Baby photos? Favorite photos? The photos Steve took of me with the girls? In the end I decided to channel my inner Jenni Bowlin, and I took photos of my favorite old things/ junk around the house so that I could have a vintage style banner for my scrapbook room. I have a photo of an old milk can, a Coca Cola crate, my favorite rooster salt and pepper shakers, and some blue Ball jars. It was fun to explore the house for junk to photograph. I wanted to use a window and some of my old suitcases, but having to trim the pendant in a triangular shape limited the way I could photograph my subjects, so I had to pick and choose.

If you pick up this add-on and have any questions creating your projects, please let me know! AND be sure to share your finished projects by linking me here or loading them to the gallery at Studio Calico. I'd love to see!

Have a great night! Davinie