PPssssstttt. SALE!

If you dash over to Studio Calico right now you might have a chance at LaSalle and Lewis & Clark.  They are 25% off!!!  I used Lewis & Clark this month.  The first thing I used when I opened my kit were those Hambly rubons, so I would definitely recommend it!  The Pink Paislee pleated ribbon and the Girls Paperie sticker book are more must haves!

Lewis & Clark and LaSalle here.

Kraft cardstock is also on sale for 50% off today only!  $1.50 for 6 pieces!  Good grief!  And all of this will be ready to ship with your July kit, if you ordered one. 

 
Get over there on July 1st!  And then have a great day!  Davinie

crafTUESDAY - Fun for the Fourth

The summer is upon us and I don't know about you, but my kids have already put me in charge of hourly entertainment.  Sometimes it seems like it's minute by minute entertainment (and I thought swimming lessons would help!!!!)  As I need all the help I can get, I thought I'd share some of the crafty things we do this summer to give ideas to others, should you need some.  Feel free to link your own ideas to this thread to help keep me and the rest of my blog readers entertained too, okay?
I'm going to try and post every Tuesday.  crafTuesday, dontcha know. 

With the Fourth of July this weekend and Independence day being celebrated all over the USA with our red, white, and blue, I thought it would be a fun opportunity to do something patriotic.

Supplies:

You can get three bottles of School Glue from Elmer's for $1.00.   It's a staple in the kids' craft cupboard.

Tissue paper.  I was at Walmart and found a package of red, white and blue paper for $1.  This is another fun staple to that craft stash, and very inexpensive. 

One piece of white cardstock for each kid.  this is 8.5 x 11, the standard size.  I drew a rough drawing of a flag on this cardstock for each girl to decorate.

The concept is simple.  In fact, you may remember doing this in school when you were young.  I do (but Steve does not.  Perhaps he just wasn't into art like I was, lol).

You take a pencil, preferable unsharpened, and you place the eraser end in the center of a square piece of tissue paper that you've trimmed (they are about 1.5 inch squares, but I didn't measure.  I left the tissue paper folded as it is in the package, trimmed a long strip, and then trimmed that strip into squares).

You then scrunch the paper around the end of the pencil, dip it in some glue (I poured some glue onto paper plates), and press it on to your paper. 

What you are left with when you remove your pencil is a frilly cup shaped piece of tissue paper.  Keep doing it and eventually you will come up with a fun design.

I would have loved to share a finished flag, but oh my word, the sands of time may not be long enough to see this finished.  This means:

a.  it is geared for children older than 4-6.  OR
b.  it is PERFECT because it will entertain your kids for several hours or at least a bit here and there for a couple of days.

My goal is to have these finished by the 4th of July.  :) 

I like this project a lot, it was very inexpensive, and it was fun for my girls.  It really helps them work on their coordination as they hold the pencil, wrap, and dip it in glue and then place it on their project.  I took turns helping both kids and both were doing just fine. 
Need more 4th of July/summer ideas?  Check out this post here.  This project was published in BHG Scrapbooks Etc last year (woot!), and that's my girls in 2008 when they were 2 and 4.  My kids loved that project, and I still have that star banner. 
If you are headed to a barbecue this weekend or hosting an event yourself, I also wanted to pass along a fun party dip to try.  We camped a couple weeks ago and I tried out a new recipe.  The best part about it was that many of the ingredients were canned veggies, so if you are planning a long camping trip, you can save valuable fridge space until you are ready to whip up something to munch on.

It's called Cowboy Caviar and boy is it delicious.  I'd share a photo, but I made it while at the lake and the minute I set it out it was gone.  That's always a good sign, methinks.

Cowboy Caviar:

1 (15.5 ounce) can of black beans, drained
1 (15.5 ounce) can of black-eyed peas, drained
1.5 cups of salsa (you can also do 1 15.5 ounce can of diced tomates w/green chiles, if you prefer).
1 (15.5 ounce) can of corn
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1-2 jalepeno peppers, finally chopped
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 cup italian dressing
3/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix everything together and then add the cilantro and dressing.
YUM.

My camping friends said it would be nice with avacado's, or would be great in a taco (they said fish tacos but I'm not a taco with fish in it kinda girl, so I'll just say taco, lol).


I'm going to take a batch of this dip along with a bag of Juanita's tortilla chips to a barbecue.  Steve is on shift on the 4th for the first time in a few years, so the girls and I are going to be fairly low key this year, which will be a fun change. 


Have a great day!  Davinie

Studio Calico - It's all Continental

Did you manage to pick up what you were looking for?  Lewis & Clark and Magellan (the one with the coveted stamp set you must haaaaave)?!!!!?  I hope so.  That's what I got.  I also got more SC paper because I had to have those blues.  A punch?  What about a stamp to take advantage of the stamp offer for this month?  I did notice that a couple of the pink-slipped stamps are still available. 

I wanted to share my projects for the month.  This first one was inspired by Lisa Dickinson's Ella Book.  I've been digging the use of grids, so between that, the Hambly rub-ons, and Lisa's book, I had to do another one this month.

Those Hambly rubons in white stood out great agains the Basic Grey Basics background.  I had a lot of fun playing with those and I'm not normally a rubon person (you know, as I can't reposition a rubon, lol). 

This next one was inspired by a pillow I saw in a magazine.

I'm working on another project right now that was inspired by this same magazine, so you'll have to check back to see what it was.  I fell in love with this issue and was inspired in many places. 

I layered two circles on each other, stitched the center, and bent the edges up a bit on the top one to give the page some oomph.  I also took advantage of my wide format printer to do some journaling in the center of my layout. 

This next one was a lot of fun for me.  I did a lot of stamping and punching on this one.

There's that label punch and the stamp set from Magellan in action.  The fun thing about those stamps is that the set comes with all labels attached.  That made it fun when trying to line them up with the label punch.  Good idea, Studio Calico! 

Lastly is my two pager for the month.  I must admit...  I am totally in love with this concept and therefore head over heels for my layout.

I was at work the other day (I work part-time and head into the office for a few hours once a week), and I was looking at this photo of my girls, and realized I still had the outfit Morgan was wearing, but it is now in Payton's dresser.  So I thought it would be fun to dress Payton in those clothes and get a photo of the two together, and do a layout with that photo as well as the earlier photo.  The first photo was taken in 2008.  I LoVE how this came together.

I had a lot of tone on tone this month, so made my corrugated alphas dark brown using some brown mist from the shop.  I love that date stamp from the main kit as well.  I'm going to be using that on just about every layout.

And that's it!  I wish I had more time to play with it before Reveal, but it was just not in the cards.  The kit is still out though.  It has a great palette for summer photos.

Have a great night!

Davinie

Today is Continental

Good Morning!
Subscribers now have first dibs on the new kit from Studio Calico, Continental.  The presale shop opens at 12pm EST (that's 9am my time!).  After items are sold out, you'll have a second chance at them tonight at midnight EST (9pm my time!)

My favorite add-on this month was Magellan, in particular because of the stamp set which goes with my favorite punch.   I also picked up Lewis & Clark this month, my favorite explorers.  I am happy with both purchases.

Extra items I used this month were my pinking shears (they were fun to use with the Hambly rub-ons, and of course they are a must when working with fabric).

As I mentioned in my last post, I also used mists this month.  Pink, blue, and brown.  Misting is the easiest and cleanest way to change the color of an alpha, and I used the pink on cardstock to add some girly colors to one of my layouts as well.

There are some great new stamps in the shop this month as well:

I did not get the add-on with the cloud stamp in it and regretted it, so that cloud is currently in my cart.  The doily stamp is fun to use as well.  You can see a nibble of my layout above, but I used it for dandelions on this layout:

That yellow was Colorbox ink from my stash, fairly old, and it still preserved the detail of the image, which is really pretty.  I like that stamp a lot.

There is a promotion this month for a set of Home Front alphas with the purchase of any stamp set.  That's a great deal, so this is the month to pick up that stamp you've been coveting.

There's a few extra items that are new in the shop as well:

When April mentioned that there would be pendant banners in the shop, I thought she was planning to restock the triangle shapped banner albums from a couple of kits ago.  These pendants are super cute!

I will be back tonight after the gallery is up to share my projects and details.  Have a great day!

While you wait, in anticipation I'm sure, be sure to head over for the Reveal night giveaway on the blog.  It's yummy Basic Grey!

Davinie

Things to note:

Summer at the Fiero household has begun.  Two little girls just finished their first week of swimming lessons. 

This little fish is earning her fins (and that little fish behind her did come up for air eventually).  heee.

And this little fish may in fact advance to level 2 after this session (this is her third time in level 1, bless her heart).  She may do so despite the appearance of a locked-arm coalition between herself and few of her preschool classmates opposing any form of head dunking.  She is really loving the water! 

I love that and despite the humidity in the bleachers while we watch, I think I'm going to sign them up for the next session.  It'll help us get through our summer.

I received a little goodie box in the mail the other day which contained this:

Ta da!  The summer issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today is now available for download if you don't already have a subscription.  It is jam packed full of fun ideas.  I really like the projects I have in it this time.  I recently got some of my assignments for fall, and I'm really excited about that issue, so I hope you will check them out.  You can download that summer issue here.

Love it and want a chance to submit?  The fall calls are here and you have until July 12.  I strongly encourage you to do so!  Catherine, Kerry, and the team are heavenly to work for, the magazine is stunning, and the goody boxes are perfect!  Do it. 

I finally buttoned up my kit projects for Studio Calico this month.  I had a lot of fun working with this kit and made some projects I really adore.  I hope you'll take the SC plunge if you haven't already.  I hear the shipping prices are very competitive, and there was a discussion on the boards the other day about no duty fees in Canada, which has been an issue from other online sites, I guess. 

I stamped.  I punched.  I even MiSTED.  3 colors.  Blue, Brown, and Pink.  I'm not a flashy mister, but they certainly came in handy this month, especially when changing kraft corrugated cardboard alphas to a color that will pop off kraft cardstock, if you are a krafty girl like myself. 

I also have one more sneak at the end of this post. 

I will be back soon with my Project 12 layout and my Studio Calico layouts. 

Tomorrow Steve is running in his very first Duathlon!  Biking 50 odd miles and then running a half-marathon.  His allergies have been acting up, feeling like a cold, and it's finally getting warm here, so wish him luck!  He might need the extra push.

Have a great day!  Davinie

Father's Day and a muffin

First I want to thank you for the nice comments and emails regarding my last post.  I didn't say anything for sympathy, but your sweet comments sure made me feel better.  I am mostly irritated that I let anyone take my power away from me.  If I like it, I like it!  I shouldn't care what other's think.  And I am NOT going to let people take advantage of me.  I'm not. 

Anyway, big thanks.  Really.  It meant a lot. 

I've been slaving away with my next Studio Calico kit and wanted to take a break to share a little gift idea that involves the new Documentary line, and also....  don't tell April but a wee bit of the next kit as well.

For Mother's Day I came up with a quick and easy idea that would save on clutter and provide years of memories. I shared it on the SC&T blog here.

With the same vibe in mind, I wanted to come up with something for Steve for Father's Day. Kimber-Leigh had posted on the Studio Calico boards a couple months back about a birthday book idea and the minute I saw it I tucked the idea away for Father's Day instead.  (I *think* it was Kimber-Leigh.  I can't find the thread anywhere to link it!)

I thought this would be a great gift to keep on giving.  I bought a 6x10 artists notebook, and embellished it simply with Studio Calico's Documentary line, and my favorite new punch, the labels (with those label stamps that you HAVE to get if you have this punch which means you WANT the Magellan add-on on reveal night.  HINT). 

After I took the photo I did move the "celebrating" alphas to the left just a wee bit to line it up a bit better. 

Studio Calico's Documentary paper, sticker alphas, fabrips.

Because I want this album to be used for several years and read many many times, I didn't want it to be lumpy at all, which is hard for a layering type of girl.  I also wanted to keep it simple and therefore more masculine, to better fit the boy.

Each year, I have attached those labels (cough, the label stamps, cough cough, check those out.  Hack) that I punched out of kraft with my label punch.

The following page will be my "card" to Steve, which is basically a love letter to my baby daddy.

The page after that I left to Morgan to decorate. 

(The two of them are wearing tye-dyed shirts that she made on her last week of school.  She's giving him his on Sunday.  I also didn't help her at all with her message and she did darn good, if I do say so myself.  And I do).

The next two pages were Payton's, or PJ, her "little name" as she refers to it. 

Payton did ask me how to spell I love you but she wrote it all by herself.  She is becoming a reader, that girl. 

Steve was spoiled on his birthday a couple months ago.  The girls and I picked him up one of these: 

If you are looking for a last minute Father's Day gift idea, you should go with one of those.  Steve loves it.  I took it with me when the girls and I went to the Balloon festival, and it was so nice.  Now that they are 4 and 6 I don't need a great big stroller when we do things, so I needed something small to tuck into my purse.  After all, I need to be hands free to break up any 4 and 6 year old squabbles, you know.  This camera fit the bill!  If anything it was too small and I was afraid I'd lose it.  I'm used to lugging my Canon. 

See how smart I am?  Gift for him.....  but I can borrrrrow it.  lol. 

I should also mention it's on sale.......

We are headed to the hills this weeked on a camping trip, and I whipped up a batch of muffins to give Steve with his card book.  He loves blueberries.  I have to warn you though...  this batch yielded a lot of muffins, and was dang delicious.  They are made with sour cream, and if you are anti-sour cream you wouldn't notice a taste difference, they are moist, and they are muy delicioso.

Blueberry Cream Muffins

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla extract
4 cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 cups sour cream
2 cups blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or muffin pans or use liners.
2. In large bowl, beat eggs and gradually add sugar. Keep beating while gradually adding oil. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, salt, and baking soda.

3. Stir dry mixture into egg mixture a little at a time while also adding sour cream. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour mixture into baking tins.

4. Bake for 20 minutes.

And that's it!  Muffins and an album.

If you are looking for something free, Nic pointed out this free print offer from Walgreens.  You have until Saturday to order.  Check that out here. 

Have a great weekend!  Davinie

P.S.  Blogger has made some fantastic upgrades!  Uploading photos for this post was so much easier! 

A graduate and a sneak

Yikes! I can't believe it's been so long since I last blogged!

let's see... what have I been up to this week? Oh yes. Graduation. Small children. Moving to the big league. Me, practically popping pills in the back of the bleachers, while at the same time manning a video camera, my Canon, and a 4 year old who was busy stepping on the dozen pink roses we'd just bought at the store.

Ack.

I thought becoming a Kindergardner and entering public schools was the big time, but I was wrong. Contemplating days this fall where she's in school all day, every day, is enough to make this mama curl into the fetal position.

I also realized how unfair being the eldest can be. For the next two years, PJ is going to have quality time with mom and dad while Morgan is gone all day. Morgan's one-on-one time occurred from birth to 2 years, when she figured it would be all about her anyway, and it was. I'm going to have to find a way to get quality time with my girl. How do other people do it? If you have any thoughts, let me know.

For now, some peeks on her last day. She bathed the night before and I put her hair in several braids so it'd be nice and fluffy for Graduation.




I'm not thrilled with how these turned out. I took photos of the girls on the first day of school with this old desk and wanted to do it again on the last, but was rushed that morning and hefted the thing outside about 2 minutes before we needed to leave. School days were cut at the end of the year for elementary school because of budget cuts, so Payton's last day is actually Tuesday. I plan to do a retake of Morgan with Payton then. I can't wait to scrap the photos side by side to see how much they've changed.


Other than that, I've been busy with yard work. We've been working a lot on curb appeal and I can't wait to see what it looks like when we are finished. One of our projects is a sprinkler system and that makes my heart smile. Green grass = happy!


I'll admit to being a bit burnt out on the craft front lately. I've experienced some negativity that has made me question myself, my work, the industry, so I've been avoiding my craft room. But I got my July kit from Studio Calico and it was a great big burst of happy (between the kit and the 5 American Craft albums I purchased to clean up some layout clutter, so happy about that).


I have one sneak to share tonight, but I have a few more projects in the works. I actually got a great big huge burst of inspiration with a magazine I ran across and I can't wait to share it and my projects this month. I sure hope everything turns out like it looks in my head! :)

I sure hope you've managed to catch the great big hint I've been giving you. You did check out the sneak show, right?

More soon! Have a great night! Davinie

Page Maps and a couple of giveaways

Have you seen the June pagemaps? I was asked to participate with the Cardmaps for June, and there are a lot of fun sketches there for you to check out. I made this card using my June kit from Studio Calico:

I love that pink! I will declare it again. That pink from the SC exclusive paper this month is to die for. It's a peachy pink and it goes with blue/green and yellow and therefore boy and girl. LOVED it. My card was based on this sketch I was sent:

Thank you Becky, for having me play! I had fun with that one. I love creating cards based off a sketch! They do a lot for the mojo if you have deadlines or big plans but can't get started.

Before I go I wanted to direct you to a couple of giveaways in case you've missed it (it would seem it's a giveaway time of year).

If you head on over to the SCT blog you'll have a chance to win the debut collection from Echo Park. Oh my, it's delicious. It has the look of a few of my favorite manufacturers, mixed together. I like it a lot.

If you want a shot at this release, you need to get there by Thursday.

This morning I also stumbled upon this new online magazine: Cartwheels in my Mind It looks super fun and inspiring. I look forward to checking them out.

They just happen to be doing a giveaway for Jenni Bowlin's new release, Play Date, so be sure to leave a comment on this post.

That's all I have for today. Happy Wednesday! It's raining... YET AGAIN at my house. Isn't summer vacation about to begin?

Davinie

DOCUMENTARY WINNER!

The winner of some Documentary goodness from Studio Calico is:


summer said...
love the page and you're right i definitely want the label punch now- inspiration: check. want list: growing.
10:26 PM

Please send me an email at cooperdees (at) yahoo (dot) com

Have a great day!

Davinie

Project 12 May in June

FIRST: If you are looking for the blog hop, scroll down, it's the next post.
ALSO: Be advised.... label punches en masse have been ordered and will be in the shop soon in anticipation of future purchases for an aforementioned upcoming reason (vague enough for ya?).

(I really just wanted to say aforementioned again. Aforementioned. Makes me sound like I know I what I'm talking about, doesn't it?)

heeee.

On to Project 12:

Another month, another double page layout.

These next couple of months will be the true test because my family has so much going on. But that means I'll have a lot to document, so that makes this challenge even more important.

I really liked the submissions this month. As I mentioned... (oh, another chance to say aforementioned!) I struggled a bit with this sketch. It's very different from what I would come up with on my own. And that's why I loved it.


You can peek at my layout here. And as always, any questions you might have about Project 12 can be answered via the blue button on my sidebar, but if you do have anything, please leave a comment in the comment section and I'll try and answer it. That post also shows the sketch for June if you want to plan ahead.

As always, I wanted to share some of the fun entries on my blog last month:

LOVEd this one from Brenda. I was really inspired by the way she changed the design, used more photos, and utilized that WRMK paper. There's a piece of this in the Partly Sunny kit from Studio Calico for June. Loved every inch. Did I mention I loved this layout?

I love the color palette on this one from Jen. One of my favorite things about it, though, besides the fact she used Granny's Cupboard, one of my favorite kits from Studio Calico, was the fact she included a poor resolution photo on her layout. She said she was emailed it from her son's teacher. This project is a perfect place to preserve those photos. It's a moment she wants to remember, and years down the road, she'll be happy she saved the picture, rather than being critical of the quality in the photo.

Loved the scallops and the color palette on this one from Ashley. I love the different prints and patterns she chose, the bullet points, and the little flower she made with her round calendar. Super cute layout.

I loved what Andi did this month. Her journaling is about what happened at her house in April, but her photos are focused on one particular event. I love that! I also love what she did with the yellow alphas and the bracket. So clever!

Andi also has a tip. She was looking to find the dimensions on some of the papers in the sketch, so she "opened the sketch in Photoshop elements in the full editor and changed the file size to 12" x 24". This gives me the actual dimensions with a ruler on each side and I then I can see what to make all the papers cut to! "

Great tip Andi!

Just like Andi, Vanessa did her journaling about the month, but she too chose to focus on herself. I really really like how she changed the sketch here. I can see how she was inspired.

Thanks again for sharing your layouts! Remember to check the SCT blog here to see if you were a winner last month. That post I just linked is also the spot on the SCT blog to link your layouts if you don't want to submit them for the Facebook gallery.

Jillibean Soup is sponsoring the prize for next month! I love this line and would love a nibble of it myself!

Remember, you have until the 20th of June to link your layout to this thread. I look forward to checking them all out!

Have a great month!

Davinie