At the beach.

I'm off.  A crazy busy July culminated in 14 new gray hairs but the trailer is packed and we're off to the beach.  And because I think Tina is super cool:

hoping....  for blue skies.  PLEASE.
praying...  that this break from routine will be just what the doctor ordered for Miss Payton and this very stressful phase she's in right now.  I seriously can't do it anymore, so crossing all fingers and toes that some fresh air and 100% 1/1 24/7 is what she needed.
eating...     the dutch oven recipes we are trying this trip are pizza and ravioli soup.  The tried and true German Pancakes are also on the list, and I'm also bringing ingredients to bake cookies and brownies, amongst other things.  We'll be there a week.  I'm thinking I may have the opportunity to bake (which sounds crazy because we are camping but that's where the blessing of a trailer comes in).
excited...    to take the kids to the Newport Aquarium.  I don't think Payton has ever been and Morgan would have been very young.  They want to see Free Willy, but unfortunately, Keiko passed away a number of years ago.  They also wanted to swim with the dolphins. 
prepared....   to anticipate dissapointment, lol.
anticipating....   more time for PJ on her bike without training wheels.  My guess is she'll have helmet hair the entire week.  She gets frustrated, easy and FAST, so we'll see how long said helmet hair is actually on a bike and not writhing on the ground in some sort of fit.

heeee.

TOTALLY excited to go.  NEEED this quality family time.  Until I return..... a glimpse of last year's crew:

Well, this photo cracks me up.  That swimming suit lives to tell another tale because I just packed up that green number as an extra suit...  for miss Payton.  Oh how I love the hand-me downs!

Have a great week, friends!  Davinie

P.S.  Project 12 post is still scheduled for the first. 
P.P.S.  Polliwog layout tutorial upon my return.  I know you will be waiting with bated breath.
P.P.P. S.  It is really good to take a break for a bit!  It'll be nice to take a step away from the paper and glue but I'll be ready to jump right back in when I get back!

Summer Camp!

First things first:  The winner of the Sketchbook 2 spot is:

KristynG said...



great sneaks!


That looks like a great class! Thanks for the chance to win a spot!
6:16 AM

Congratulations Kristyn!  You won a seat in Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 2 class!  Email me at cooperdees (at) yahoo.com and I'll get you the info you need.

Moving on.

Summer Camp.  For sale.  Now.

I've had a busy month and it almsot killed me to turn in less than 4 layouts, but that's what happened this month.  I loved the photos I chose to play with though, and that added to the fun in creating the following layouts.

I purchased two add-ons this month, Sugar Woods and Footpath.  I'm in the process of finishing a layout right now for Morgan's half day (she turned 6 and a half on the 20th) and am busy using those super fun Sassafras cards that was in Footpath, but my layout isn't quite finished yet.  I LOVE what April did with them in her gallery.  Did you see that?  Get those cards! 

Anyway....  on to the layouts.

I surprised myself and was a bit obsessed with the WRMK papers in the main kit this month.  The colors were so vibrant and fresh!  The first thing I did this month was to trim out this big bloom. 

I've been hand stitching since the beginning of my scrapbooking, and it was nice to do that again this month.  I needed some texture and extra detail to this layout about my girls and their relationship.  Fighting like cats and dogs right now.....  but mama is crossing her fingers that someday it blossoms into something great.  Somehow.

I was looking at these photos of Payton and having a hard time choosing which ones to use, so decided to use them all.  I love the story they tell all lined up together.  That's how she is.  She has a beautiful smile, a crinkly nose, and an adorable laugh. 

Between these two layouts I pretty much used all of the super cute blooms from the Footpath add-on.  I loved the Studio Calico exclusive papers from the main so had to use it on this layout, but needed a dash of pink, so I painted the chipboard alphas from that add-on with Claudine's pink paint.  It matched perfectly and is so easy to use in that little paint tub.  

 

This one was pretty time consuming, but a lot of fun.  Again, I used the WRMK paper from the main, and mixed it with some BG Basics from my Manilla paper pack.   I've been obsessed with this pattern ever since October Afternoon came out with this paper at CHAW10.  It was my favorite paper from the show and when I saw a tutorial to create the quilt I realized I could do it myself using paper, and voila, the layout was born.  That photo?  I LOVE this photo and am going to frame it for my wall.  My girls just crack me up.  I love how they are princesses with dirty feet.  Every day.  On this particular day they were on a mission to catch frogs, baby frogs, or polliwogs.  Did they?  Morgan caught a few.  Payton just toodled around the pond in her lifejacket.  But they had a blast....  until Morgan dropped her fishing net.  ayiyiyi.

Each month I try to do at least one of each, a 12x12, an 8.5x11, and a 2 pager, but this wasn't the month.  I went with what felt right with the photos I chose, which I guess is how it should be.

I'll be back soon with my Morgan layout!  I need to finish it and hope to do so before I leave on Friday.  My family is headed to the beach and I have several things to get buttoned up!

Have a great day!  Davinie

Be there or Be square!

Not at CHA?  No problem!  That means you have a better chance at add-ons, lol.  Check out the August kit from Studio Calico:

I picked up Sugar Woods and Footpath.  I'm regretting not picking up Elk Lake, and we have an Elk Lake here in Oregon! 

The stamps are great this month. 

In the shop this month we have Documentary, the mid-release, as well as coordinating Documentary cardstock packs.  See the bodacious bovine?

Also in the shop are some new punches I'm really excited about:

I have the stitched border punch and the postage stamp punch coming with my next kit.  I've been eyeing the postage stamped edge ever since those K&Co. frames that were in...  Granny's Cupboard?  Anyway, I'm excited about those punches.  I can't wait to actually stitch with that stitched edge too.  That should be fun!

Before I go I did want to shout out regarding some of the retail goods coming to a store near you soon.

A lot of the stamped images of the past are back and will be available soon at places like 2peas, Scrapbook.com, and one of my favorites, amillionlittlethings.com - so be sure to look for them soon!

Have a great day!  Davinie

Ridin'

It happened so fast I didn't even have time to get the camera on the right settings.  First try.  Just like Morgan, only a year younger than she was.

And just like that, training wheels are out, and it's time to get a couple of kick stands (we've been meaning to get Morgan one for a long time too....  ).

Sneaks and Sketchbook 2

My plate is full!  CHA is next week, my kids have been busy, I've been busy with work gearing up for a week at the beach, so to say I'm a bit swamped is a wee understatement.

I do have sneaks to share of the August kit from Studio Calico.  I'm also working on another layout or two and hope to have them to share at reveal as well, although they won't be in my gallery this month as the deadline has come and gone.

I got add-ons 1 and 2 this month.  Sugar Woods and Footpath. 

I just wish I could have ordered more time, lol.  July was a busy month, family wise and crafty wise.  You just can't quite tell because I can't quite share everything, lol.

I can share this though:

I had a lot of fun contributing to Kelly's second Sketchbook class.  This time, I also contributed two layouts. 

Sketchbook 2 is a four week class filled with fresh sketches, easy instructions, beautiful examples, and lots of fun. From August 2nd to August 27th a PDF will be delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so you can work at your own pace. By the end of the class, you'll have a complete sketchbook of 12 original sketches, 36 layouts, and an additional 36 sketches based on those creative pages. All the examples are brand new layouts, exclusive to this class... you won't see them anywhere else! The best part is that you will be receiving an example layout from me for each of the sketches, along with two example layouts from a member of the incredible Studio Calico design team. The class will also include a private message board for questions and sharing ideas, as well as two scheduled chats - all on the awesome Studio Calico website.

the link to registration on Kelly's blog:

http://kellypurkey.typepad.com/its_me_kp/2010/07/register-sketchbook-2.html

These peeks are the only thing you'll see from me on the internet unless you sign up for the class:

I used some leftover kit contents from previous Studio Calico kits.  I had a lot of fun with these layouts so I hope you'll take the class so you can check them out along with the other projects!  Here's a peek at what the setup looks like:

A very cool thing to have in your crafting arsenal.

You may have noticed that the other participants are giving away a seat in this class. Of course, I am too.  Leave a comment on this post if you'd like to take this class and I'll draw a winner on Tuesday (good grief, I am giveaway queen these days... ).  You can find their blogs on my sidebar if you want more chances to win.

Already registered?  If you win a spot Kelly will happily give you a refund, because she's cool like that.

Sound good?  Now you have yourself a great day!  Stay cool!  It's bloomin' hot here!  Davinie

Studio Calico winner is.....

Wowee!  Methinks we have some Studio Calico fans!  Without further ado...  random.org chose:

and that's:

L said...

Window Seat paper. My husband is a pilot, and so is my best friend and scrapping buddy, Rachel. We both collect airplane supplies and buy in doubles so we each have one. In fact, we recently ended up with four airplane stamps from Michael's because we both saw it and both bought one for ourselves and one for the other! :)

7:05 AM

 
Congrats L!  You are the winner of my ST box from Studio Calico!
 
But guess what!?  There was a deleted comment there at the end, and I don't know if blogger takes that comment into consideration or not when it's doing the counting.  So.....  I'm also going to give number 261 a prize, because she might BE 262, right?  If I'm counting from the end?  And if I should have chosen 263 instead, forgive me, 263.  I have a Bachelor of Arts.  Not a Bachlor of Science degree.
 
So......
 
 
Leslie said...



How do you choose ONE favorite SC product, or collection even?? Impossible. Every time a new one comes out, it was as drool-inducing as the last one! LOL!






6:30 AM

Leslie, you are a winner too!
 
Thank you for all your wonderful comments!  I made sure April from Studio Calico took a peek and I know they all appreciate the feedback.
 
I am REALLY looking forward to the opaque mists, and I'm not a mister, so I was happy to see you excited about it too!  The Notions as well!
 
Have a great night!  I'm going to be right back with some Studio Calico  August sneaks.
 
Davinie

Great Big Fat Studio Calico giveaway HERE.

EDITED:  Time's Up.  Thank you!




At just around dinner time the dog started barking which told me my favorite man in brown was at my door.  I opened it to reveal my latest goodie box from Scrapbook Trends.  Upon opening it, though, I gave a little giggle.  The goodies that went with my layouts and magazines were all Studio Calico. 

As much as I'd love to hoard every little last inch of the Studio Calico goodness, it immediately became apparent that I had to give it alllll away.

Well, almost all of it.  I am reeeallly tempted to keep the buttons.  And the sticker sheet.  And the Homefront alpha stickers.  And the journaling cards.  But I already have the stamp.  And then I read the cute little card attached to the stamp, and I restrained myself.

A little Home Front.  A bit of Anthology.  Some exclusive kit product.  DEEEElish.

If you would do me the honor of leaving a comment on this thread declaring your favorite Studio Calico product, either currently out on the market or soon to be released at CHAS10 in Chicago, I'd love to let random.org choose a name and send this little bit of Studio Calico stash to you.  You did see the wood veneer, notions, and mists, right?  The stamps and rubons?  Elementary?

That little card?  It contains a coupon code for $10 at Studio Calico.  I certainly can't keep THAT to myself!  It must be shared!

You could pick up Documentary, AND the coordinating cardstock.  You could get the latest mists or save your $10 and hold out for Mr Huey, because that white mist is going to ROCK my world here in a couple of weeks. 

I'm going to leave comments open until I draw a name on Friday.  I'll send the code right away should you wish to shop this weekend, and then put your package of SC goodness in the mail.

Woot!  Now spread the word!  Or don't....  to increase your chances and all that.  :)

XOXO

Davinie

crafTuesday - Balancing Butterflies

This week's craft was actually made last week.  The craft I had originally planned turned out to be a waste of Dawn detergent and karo syrup so I had to find something else.....

I just happened to be surfing some craft blogs on my google reader and came across this great idea through the Crafty Crow and had to try it out. 

Balancing butterflies:

You can find the template and instructions here. 

I printed my butterflies on white cardstock and then got out the watercolor paints. 

Morgan and Payton both did the rounded butterfly and I took on the two smaller butterflies template.

After the paint was dry I trimmed out the butterflies and glued on the pennies.

And despite the look on her face when we took the photo...... 

 
both girls really enjoyed this craft project and even now, almost a week later, those butterflies still exist.  *I* had fun painting my butterflies as well, so it's an easy project, not very time consuming, and can be fun for the "supervisor" as well.  :)
 
Davinie

My Project 12 - June

I know.  You are probably dashing to your calendar, feverishly checking your blackberry, or looking at some super cool Iphone app for the date, as it can't possibly be the 20th yet, but here's Davinie and her Project 12 layout!

Brace yourself.... 

I'm early.  DAYS early.

Isn't that amazing?

I have paid assignments with due dates looming, kit layouts to do, CHA work to get finished and sent to Chicago, there are magazine submissions to do, and my blog is in major need of an overhaul, but I was determined to get my Project 12 layout for my challenge, my baby, finished in a timely manner this month.

I figure if I can get it finished by the 20th, maybe it'll inspire others to get it finished.  I KNOW how busy the summer months are.

June was busy at our house.  Payton finished her first year of preschool, and Morgan graduated from Kindergarten (ack!).  We camped, Steve and I both ran a couple of races, and Morgan got a great big haircut too, that needed to be documented.  The sketch Becky Fleck created for June worked perfectly for our family.

Here's a reminder:

And this is what I came up with:

I was digging around my stash for two pieces of the same paper to use as a background (LOVE that I'm utilizing my stash), and came across some Abbey Road from MME.  My girls were in pink a lot in June ( AGAIN), but I added some new Jenni Bowlin and more MME for a really fun color palette.  I love blue, yellow, and red together. 

The design offered a great opportunity to use the sticker tickets from the Thrift Shop line from October Afternoon.  They matched the color palette too.  And that wasn't planned in advance!  :)

My kids were in my craft room with me when I was working on this layout, working on their own projects, and there was one point where the chaos forced me to put my layout on the floor in order to complete it.  Looking at it from far away gave me an opportunity to add some texture with the JBS buttons and butterfly stickers, as it was looking flat and plain without the extra dimension and detail. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out and am patting my back at another successful month of documenting our life.  Another huge thank you to Becky for sketches with big journaling blocks. 

You still have time to play along!  You need to share your layout on this post by the 20th of the month.  The 20th according to me.  My European and Southern Hemisphere friends actually have an extra day.  yay!  :)

I still plan to host this challenge going forward, but we might make things easier.  Would having the new challenge posted and the due date all on the same date help?  As in, June layouts are due July 1, and on July 1 the new challenge would also be posted?  I try to keep things simple, but am always on the lookout for good ideas, so let me know if you have one.

Enjoy your Sunday!  Davinie

Studio Calico - A little Documentary and some new Elementary, my dear

Good day!  Yesterday afternoon I was spontaneously swept to the lake with the hubby and kiddos, under the pretense of  "fishing" but it turned into a wonderful afternoon spent watching two little guppies toodle around in floating rings.  Heavenly.  And I totally forgot to bring my camera!  But that just made it more enjoyable, because I was able to be in the moment.  I love it when that happens sometimes, (although I still would have liked a photo or two.....).  We met some friends there who brought some friends who brought their friends, and all of us and all of the kids are planning to jet to the lake again next week.  I feel so fortunate to live so close to all this fun.  This particular reservoir was only 20 minutes away.

I'm busy crafting away today (and should have been crafting yesterday too, darn you sunshine and sand, how dare thee interfere...,).  I got the green light to share some new Studio Calico product and am excited to finally show it to you.

First I wanted to share a layout I recently made with the Documentary line, the mid-season release. 

This line will also be in the booth in Chicago at CHA.  It's available for purchase now, retail, in the Studio Calico shop, where they've also added coordinating cardstock.  Fun!

They were doing a safety unit at preschool and had these firefighter turnout suits for the kids to try on.  I was volunteering that day and it was also Payton's lucky day to get to try one on (but it may have been because I had a camera and Steve is a firefighter that this particular day was Payton's day, lol).  Anyway, she was SO excited to get a chance to wear it.  Sometimes when she isn't declaring to be the next swimming teacher, horse trainer, or Taylor Swift's sidekick, she says she wants to be a firefighter girl when she grows up.  Sweetie pie?  You can be whatever you want. 

I thought these photos were made for this paper line.  I trimmed strips of the yellow and the gray to mimic the reflective stripe in the outfit, and used some buttons as a design element to draw your eye through the photos.  And look!  Hand journaling on my BG Basics.  Have I declared my love for BG Basics?  Using it means I don't use kraft for the base of EVERY layout, lol.

If you clicked off your reader and into the blog today, though, my guess is that you may not have done so in order to see Documentary.  Methinks you want to take a better peek at the new stuff revealing at CHA in a couple weeks.

Meet some Elementary.

And here's my layout:

 

On this layout I used the die cut base (it comes in pink and blue), patterned papers, rubons (the clocks and the tweets), stamps, and a wee bit of fabrip.  We were limited in product so I was only sent a couple of sheets to work with, so I added a wee bit of Documentary to bring in some green. 

Elementary is a loosely based school themed line, but it's a great color palette for fall, which is why I chose those photo.  That and my baby was adorable in 2006 in her pumpkin costume.  ack.  I can still remember what it felt like to hold her at the pumpkin patch that day.  For pete's sake...  ::sigh::

You can see all the papers and embellishments for the Elementary line on the Studio Calico blog here.   (But there are a couple of  EXCITING extras that you'll have to wait until show time to see.  SO FUN).

I have Crate Paper to share, Studio Calico August kit sneaks to share, my Project 12 layout to share....  so stay tuned.

Happy Friday!  Davinie

Crafty

Sneak Night Giveaway one
Sneak Night Giveaway two

Two giveaways tonight for sneak night at Studio Calico!  New mists and a chance at a photography class.  Perfect!

CHA is at the end of the month but instead of heading to Chicago, my family and I will be headed West to enjoy the beach for a week.  Can't wait!  Because of that, though, I'm swamped with crafty deadlines.  I hope you'll understand!

I'm busy working with this:

(taken from the online issue of Scrapbook Trends)

So excited about this release!  My favorite thus far.  You can see a sneak of the embellies on the layout I did for the SC blog here. 

I'm also busy working with this:

(that's Restoration, from Crate Paper). 

Crate Paper actually has 3 new lines for CHA and I was fortunate to work with one of them for their sneak peek blog post.  I think it should be posted today or tomorrow.  So fun!

And besides that, I have my fall assignments for Scrapbook and Cards Today.  It's going to be another fun issue!  I hope you had a chance to submti to the fall call, which ended yesterday.

I have a kid crafty post I'm hoping to have finished later this afternoon.  I have the craft ready and we were going to do it yesterday, but the wind picked up big time which would greatly interfere with our plans.  Today I'm blogging between swimming lessons and a cooking class for Morgan, so the craft has to wait until later, if we have time.  Crossing my fingers!

Have a great Tuesday!  Davinie

crafTUESDAY - painted rocks

(it's still Tuesday.  Don't you be thinking it's Wednesday morning.  Nope.  Tuesday it still is).

I didn't have to come up with a craft last week.  The girls took care of the idea on their own, and I thought it was a perfect craft  for that last minut scramble, and a great craft to share.

When in doubt, grab a rock.

I wanted to do this project last year but had trouble finding any river rock.  Here in the high desert, surrounded by mountains, all we really have is lava rock, which doesn't make the prettiest yard decor. 

So....  last year when we went on our annual trip to the beach, we picked up some rocks along a nearby river and took them home for this project.  The girls decorated rocks last year as well.

I can't believe how young they look!  I am in denial that they are changing at all until I look at old pictures.  ack!

I've seen kid ideas that involve rocks where you are trying to make animals and specific shapes, etc.  But when they are little, they can't handle the pressure, so it's easier to give them some washable paints and a paintbrush, and let their free spirits determine the design.

My girls loved this project last year, and even though they were washable paints, I still have pretty rocks decorating my flower beds a year later.

This year they were a bit more methodical in the design process:

They were out "helping" Steve in his shop so he set them up with their supplies.  All the girly colors must be all used up because their choices were orange, blue, and green.  Payton has recently declared orange her new favorite color, so she wasn't too upset.

Morgan's rock features Saturn, a star in the sky, and fireflies all around it.  Too bad we don't get fireflies here.  I've never seen one in real life myself.  That would be fun.

Voila.  A colorful rock will make any landscaping look better, even a sad climbing rose bush like I have here.

Have a great day!  We are off for more swimming lessons.  Gotta love the summer time!  Davinie

Happy 4th of July!

Have a wonderful Independence Day!  My your day be filled with fun and family, wherever you might be.

XOXO

Davinie