Studio Calico - Field Guide projects

It's reveal time, the October kit is up for grabs.  Field Guide.

I got all the add-ons.  Perennial, Greenhouse, Meadow Lark, and Almanac.  AND I got allll the shop items.  I know.  I couldn't help myself.  It's all new product and I have no LSS. 

The SC paper is really cool this month too.

And I didn't get to play with it this month, it's a new addition, but you can now get MORE GRAY.  woot! 
One of the new things were up to as a group is to create layouts using the main kit only for the gallery every month.  This first layout about my eleven year marriage to my hubby was that main kit layout for me this month:

The butterflies were created with the new SC butterfly masks, using Clay mist, droplets of Dewey, and then hand stitched and trimmed out. 

InLinkz.com

I was a bit inspired by my recent circle challenge on the SC blog for this one. 

I wanted an apple to make this layout more "school" themed, so I found one on the computer and printed it out.  No mask, die cut, or chipboard element there.  Just scissors.  :)

All the little alphas in this kit begged for a card.  There's just so much you can do with them!

Another fun thing we did for the gallery this month was to create a project inspred by something pinned on Pinterest.  This is my inspiration piece:

When we were vacationing in Washington, I was soaking up inspiration at my dad's house with my stepmom's quilting magazines.  I came across that quilt and was immediately inspired by the circles stitching offset from the colored pieces. 

I adore that layout.  It must be said.  That everywhere punch is da bomb.  :)

InLinkz.com

Here's all the fun shop items this month too:

InLinkz.com

And that's it!  If you have any questions about my work this month, let me know.  Mini coming soon!  There was a lot of great inspiration this month.  Enjoy it all!  :)  Davinie

It's Field Guide Sneak time....

IF blogger chooses to allow me to publish a post when I want on my own stinkin' blog.....  then there shall be sneaks.  October kit, Field Guide named sneaks.

I got everything this month.  I was drawn to the color palette and each add-on contained something I couldn't live without.  I know that doesn't help the budget conscious, but you should know each girl on the team has created something with the main kit only, and this is my sneak for that project:

I did use a new Studio Calico butterfly mask and some Clay and Dewey Huey (my FAVORITE color released, except for white), but you could print something from the computer to trace and cut out (I actually did that for one of my layouts this month), or use other objects or chipboard negatives, etc., in your stash.

I also got to use my new typewriter on this layout, which I am really excited about.  She's a Royal.  She's gray.  And Steve's Mom got her as a gift for High School graduation and passed her on for me to play with.  So she has history in my family.  LOVE that.

  

The wood doilies are from Perennial, love those, and there's a nibble of the hand cut embellies I was referring to earlier.

(The birdie stamp and those Prima alphas are from Meadow Lark, #3.  LOVE those Prima alphas - and you can take the centers out of those alphas.  I just didn't).  The background paper and the other alphas are from the main kit.  I used those Basic Grey alphas on several layouts this month.  I love that font.

I'm still working with the kit, as I like to use it for my latest Project 12 layout, and am having fun with it. 

I have huge plans for the Amy Tan mini in Almanac....  it's the perfect type of random album for our trip to Washington, where we played in the sand on the beach, in a boat on the ocean, and in the big city of Seattle.  The Ormolu date tags, perfect (we were there Tuesday to Monday), the Amy Tan bits and pieces, fabulous.  Love it all.  But I am not the fastest mini maker.  So you'll see that later. 

Have a great Sunday!  Davinie

P.S.  My friend Alison has a great big giveaway on her blog that you need to check out.  Head here and good luck!

The Fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today...

Good Morning friends!

It's mid-September and that means the fall issue of Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine is available for download if you don't have a subscription or a scrapbook store that carries it.  TODAY!  :)

Check out the cover of the fall issue, created by sweet Kelly Goree.  Isn't it gorgeous?!

I've only had a minute to peek at it, but as usual it is full of great ideas and projects.  I have a couple of things in this issue, including a really great frame that my daughter is going to have a lot of fun with.  I hope you'll check it out (it's on page 37).

I also wanted to share a peek at the upcoming 2012 calendar being put out by SCT:

If you didn't purchase this calendar in 2011, I encourage you to consider a calendar for 2012.  They are available for preorder on 10/14.  Each month will include a sketch of the layout, as well as closeup shots for each project to make it easier to lift or be inspired.  If you have a 2011 calendar, my sweet peach just happens to be on your wall right now.  Very cool indeed (I just love that photo).  I have the honor of participating in the next calendar as well, and I can't wait to share the final product.  It really is a great resource to have, for crafty purposes as well as organizational ones.  ;)

I hope you have a wonderful Friday! 

P.S.  Ever wanted to be published in Scrapbook and Cards Today?  The winter call is out now, with a deadline of October 3 for submissions.  Check out the current winter call here. 

Davinie

Words on Wednesday - Love your life

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Pinned from AbsolutelyWhite

I'm in the process of pushing send on an application for grad school, and these quotes are helping me keep my end goal in perspective.

I have fears.

It's a big student loan.

Will I get a job?

What if I am not good at it?

What if I can't get hired locally?  We can't move!

Am I organized enough to do this?

Will I still be able to do the things I love to do now, the commitments I have already made? 

It's a BIG student loan.  Is that the right thing?

HOWEVER.  I do not want to live my life with any regrets.  There are things I have already wanted to see and do, and it is up to me to make it happen.  I'll always regret it if I don't go for my dreams, so I'm about to take a leap.  The deadline is 10/1, and then the nail biting will begin on whether I'm accepted to the program.  Oh my.   



Anyway, I hope your Wednesday is filled with steps towards your goals, happiness, fulfillment, and love with your life.  It is the most important thing. 

foto Friday - a new tradition

On top of having issues with Payton and Kindergarten, one of our external harddrives may or may not be kaput.  This means I may or may not have lost some valuable photos, which may or may not lead to an insanity plea.

Because of that, I'm more determined to send more of my favorite photos to the cloud, and one way to do that is via my blog.  I don't share a lot of photos here, but I like looking at them, so I've decided to throw caution to the wind and share more of them.  It's my blog, after all.  With the kids back in school I don't know if this will happen every week, as I tend to do a photo blitz and then the camera gathers dust for a few days, but I'm hoping to gather photos all in one post for the most part, and Friday is my day to share them I think.

The excitement this week in photos would be the beginning of the school year.  Morgan started school last week, but I'm going to share her photo here too.

They both started school on different days, but Payton's first official day with her permanent teacher was this morning, so that was the first opportunity to take a photo of the two of them together.

This was today:

(chicken dance. I don't know why, lol).

(love that one).

And this is Payton on Monday when we thought she was going to have to be in PM Kindergarten (but Mama did NOT want PM Kindergarten):

She's such a nut.  She learned that face from Grandpa Fiero.

There's my beautiful girl.

When we went to the meet and greet with her teacher earlier in the week, she got her first homework assignment; to make a self doll.  This is what she came up with:

When she was first drawing this little brown strip on her hand, I thought it might be a bracelet or something, but no.  It's pizza.  ha!  (apparently she was hungry when doing her homework).

And these are photos of Morgan last week on HER first day of school.  Even though I knew that a ponytail wouldn't make for the best headshots, it's what she wanted, along with curls, so the night before after bathtime I braided and braided.  It's a bit crimpy, but she loved her hair on the first day:

My squinty girl.  She has her mama's light sensitive blue eyes.

And of course, after she got off the bus at the end of the day, it was time for jumping photos! 

 She loves school.  Can you tell?

I hope you have a great weekend!  I'm going to be busy crafting up a storm so if that's your inclination, I hope you have tons of mojo and little interruption!

Davinie

P.S.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but my photos look better in Photoshop than they do here in blogland.  They look grainy here.  ack.  Whey can't this techy stuff be obvious and more user friendly?  bleck.

Words on Wednesday - don't worry

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One of the many things that has had me preoccupied in recent weeks was a mailing from the school district with an assignment for miss Payton Jayne in PM Kindergarten.

This mama does NOT want PM, for a million reasons, including:

• I work in the morning
• I put Morgan on the bus in the morning.  I don't want to have to then wait @4 hours before Payton gets to go to school.  She has zero patience.  And neither do I.  It's a nightmare, lol. 
• Kids are fresh in the morning.  School doesn't start until after lunch?  NO.  Not doing it.

I called the school and learned that they were really Kindergarten heavy, and eventually assigned kids based on their bus route.  Yes, we live in a PM bus area for Kindergartners.  There is no AM bus available to bring her home.  But she could ride the bus in the AM to school with her sister, and I could pick her up, etc.

I got put on a waiting list, and have been twiddling my thumbs for WEEEEEKS.

School is already in session for the older kids, and it wasn't until "emergency" funding was released this evening that I finally got the word:  A new teacher has been added part-time.  And she's AM.  And she happens to be the same teacher that Morgan had in Kindergarten.

I'm not kidding.  I started shaking and almost cried.  Hallelujahs were definitely in order.  I know this sounds silly, but that reverse schedule was going to make this school year extremely difficult for me to organize.  I work part time but I work 8 hours some days, and if Steve isn't home (he's gone for 48 hours at a time), I don't feel comfortable asking my sister or a dear friend to watch her if she was going to have an opposite schedule from their Kindergartner.  This makes me feel so much better.

Anyway, a dear friend told me not to worry, and it turns out, she was right.  I could have saved about 7 gray hairs that recently sprouted if I had just listened.  It all worked out in the end, and it also turned out much better than I could have hoped.  I love it when that happens.  And now I can make a hair appointment  to wash that gray right outta my hair because I now know when I'm free. 

Have a great Wednesday!  Davinie