Studio Calico Kit ~ April & May Highlights

Hello Friends!

I'm back today with some pocket pages that I made several months ago & finally had an opportunity to photograph them.  Sometimes I put off taking pictures of these pages because they are more time consuming to take out of the pockets and line up. If I would just take the photos as soon as the pages were complete, I wouldn't have this issue!  LOL!!

For this summary page of April events, I used my Studio Calico Documenter kit from the same month. I enjoyed these SC kits because the style coordinates so well with the Ali Edwards kits; however, I felt like I was falling too far behind with my kits.  After the August kit when my subscription ended, I decided to cancel it & stick with just Ali's Story kits and my Felicity Jane kits for a while.     

I don't use yellow very often, but the May Studio Calico kit was full of yellow, black and white elements.  It made for a bright, fun page.

 Have a Fabulous Day!

One Little Word ~ {Explore} April Prompt & Pages

Good Morning!!  Today I wanted to share with you my One Little Word pages from the April Prompt.  The prompt this month was to put Post-Its up around your house to make your word {and questions about your word} visible.  

Below is the cover page for my April pages.  It's a photo I found on Pinterest and the "apr" button is from the OLW digital kit. 

For my Post-It questions, I decided to rewrite them on 3x4 cards and use an Ali Edwards travel stamp set and stamped "Let's Explore" in light aqua ink as the title of each card.  Then I used the OLW stamp set to add the subtitles.  I just hand wrote my questions, which is normally something I don't like doing, but I guess my WITL project helped me get over some of that dislike for my own handwriting.  I also included my Actions card with a stamp from the OLW stamp set for the subtitle.

For the last few pages, I included another "Post-It" question on the 3x4 card, a photo from Spring Break 2017 and my reflection card for the month.  The pattern card is from Studio Calico with a OLW Messy Circle stamp and the Explore arrow from an older Ali Edwards set.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Week in the Life ~ Day #7 Saturday

Well I've made it through WITL & today is the last post for this project!  This turned out to be a pretty involved project, but I really enjoyed it.  However, once a year is good enough for me.  I enjoyed looking at & documenting my daily life more in depth ~ and it really does open your eyes to new things.

I used the Ali Edwards Week in the Life Kit {WITL}along with products from the monthly Ali Edwards Story Kits & Story Sets, additional Ali Edwards stamp sets, Ali Edwards WITL digital templates, and stamps & project life cards from Studio Calico.  My Friday pages once again I begin with one of the layered templates that I put over my 6x8 photograph.  I used this year's Ali Edwards template package and used Photoshop Elements to add the text under the date.

Note: if you contemplate doing this project {which I highly recommend}, come up with a daily format for your pages and stick to it.  It makes the project much more manageable.

Transparent divider with the day embellishments.

Here is my journaling page in the 3x8 protector.

And the opposite side.

I wanted to make sure to take a picture of our home for the book and date night!

Lots of pictures of my son and his beautiful prom date.

A bunch of great band kids & a photo of me with Matt.

 A few more favorite prom pictures using one of the layered templates.

and the final page of Saturday's pages and the end of my album.

If you missed any days of this album, check out this link!
I hope you enjoyed seeing a Week in My Life.

Week in the Life ~ Day #6 Friday

Hi Friends!  Just a few more days of WITL posts.  I used the Ali Edwards Week in the Life Kit {WITL}along with products from the monthly Ali Edwards Story Kits & Story Sets, additional Ali Edwards stamp sets, Ali Edwards WITL digital templates, and stamps & project life cards from Studio Calico.  
Today I have Thursday's pages to share and I begin with one of the layered templates that I put over my 6x8 photograph.  I used this year's Ali Edwards template package and used Photoshop Elements to add the text under the date.

My set up is the same for each day ~ the transparent divider.

My 3x8 journaling page protector

My daily summary card and big chipboard letter.
I also used one of the layered templates for my morning photo story page.

This is another layered template.

Cards from the WITL Kit & Studio Calico

Sometimes Friday's call for a sweet treat... just because.

Thanks for visiting today!

Week in the Life ~ Day #5 Thursday

Welcome to a new week and more pages from my WITL project.  As I mentioned on previous days, I purchased the Ali Edwards Week in the Life Kit {WITL}.  In addition to the kit, I also used supplies from the monthly Ali Edwards Story Kits & Story Sets, additional Ali Edwards stamp sets, Ali Edwards WITL digital templates, and stamps & project life cards from Studio Calico.  

Today I have Thursday's pages to share and I begin with one of the layered templates that I put over my 6x8 photograph.  I used this year's Ali Edwards template package and used Photoshop Elements to add the text under the date.

The next page is the Thursday divider.

I used a 3"x 8" page protector for my daily journaling.  The box at the top is from the Digital kit called Daily Story Boxes.  Once printed and trimmed, I took a Stampin' Up marker (Poppy) and added some color to the box.

The "T" is from the 2015 December Daily Kit & the little piece of pizza is from the Eat Story Kit.

I mixed in several cards from various Story Kits and Studio Calico kits throughout my album.

I did a done of handwriting in this project... which isn't usually my thing.

I love this story about watching Jeopardy with Matt.

A final page using one of the AE digital layered templates.  

This was my view walking up the stairs one afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Week in the Life ~ Day #2 Monday

Hi Friends!  I'm back today with another set of pages for Day #2 of my Week in the Life album.  I purchased the Ali Edwards Week in the Life Kit {WITL} and I also used supplies from the monthly Ali Edwards Story Kits & Story Sets, additional Ali Edwards stamp sets, Ali Edwards WITL digital templates, and stamps & project life cards from Studio Calico.

FYI - Today I'm sharing the photos of these pages.  There are lots more product details on my post from yesterday.

I did a lot more writing on my photos this year using a Slick Writer. 

To see more from this album, with more details, check out this link.

Studio Calico ~ Our Day in Cozumel

Hi Crafty Friends!  Today I'm sharing a page I made from our New Year's Cruise that we took this year.  We usually stay home over Christmas Break, but having one in college and one in high school now, it's really the only break they have together.  So we were off to have some family fun!

For my page, I used supplies from Studio Calico ~ the Birds & Bees March Documenter Kit, the Spring Break Card Pack and the Explore Stamp set.  I also added some Ali Edwards phrase stickers and some wood veneer hearts for the embellishments.

Have a Great Day!

Studio Calico ~ All About March

Each month when the new Studio Calico kit arrives, I start making plans for my monthly highlight page.   It all starts with the white rubber month title & one of the 4x6 cards... that drives the whole page.  

The next step is to pull coordinating cards & papers.  For this page, I decided to use all greys & pinks and that just happened to work out very well with the photos from this month.  The black/white alpha stickers were from Pebbles, Inc. but everything else is from Studio Calico.  The "twenty seventeen" is a stamp from the 2017 New Year Kick Off and the (remember this) is from the stamp set that came with the kit.  A few of the embellishments (round 'LOVE' seal & the 'Oh Yes') were from the Roman Holiday January kit.  So many great highlights in March and the bonus was that we got to see my daughter several times.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Studio Calico ~ Happy {heart} Day

Hello Again!  As you probably remember, I've been working a lot with various subscription kits for my pages.  I am really enjoying the variety of products and I love when things coordinate.  For my page today, I am featuring the Studio Calico Documenter kit called Confidant .  Being it was February, there were lots of products with love and hearts... which was just fine with me! 

When starting a page, the first thing I do is lay out the various 4x6 & 3x4 cards I want to use on the PL page protector.  Next, I print the photos that work with the theme of my layout.   I do most of my photo printing at home on my Canon Pro 9000 Mark II printer, unless it's a large project like a marching band or vacation book.  The reason I print from home is so I can make the photos exactly the size I want and I tend to only print what I need for that project so there isn't so much waste.

After the photos are printed & trimmed to fit my pockets, I start figuring out embellishments & journaling.  For the top journaling blocks, I trimmed one of the 3x4 cards from the kit & stamped the "completely delighted" and the "Surprise" from the Ali Edwards Surprise Story Stamp set (November kit).  Then I wrote in my journaling with a black American Crafts Slick writer pen.  YES, I actually hand wrote my journaling!  That doesn't happen often because I hate my writing, but what can I say, Ali Edwards has been inspiring me & she does that a lot.   For the second journaling box, I added a large stitched heart from the Ali Edwards Bond Story Kit (February).

Other Supplies:
Pink wooden stars, black "XO" stickers - Studio Calico Confidant kit
Black square letter stickers - Pebbles, Inc.
Black phrase stickers - Ali Edwards
Red "xoxo" washi tape - Doodlebug.

Studio Calico ~ February Highlights

Hello My Crafty Friends!  Today I am sharing a new page I made using the February Studio Calico Documenter Kit called Confidant.   This kit is bright and cheery!

Each kit comes with a white rubber month name, so I've decided to take each one and make a highlight page once that month is over.  Under the month, I stamped the 2017 from the New Year Kick Off Stamp set.  I love the bright orange and golds that came with the kit this time ~ they really pop off the page.   All of the cards & embellishments on this page are from the kit, except for the cardstock and small square black alphabet letters.

Have a Happy Day!

Studio Calico ~ January Highlights

Welcome to a new week!  Since today is President's Day, many of you may have an extended weekend, so I hope you're enjoying a fun day off with your family.

My page today uses supplies from the January Studio Calico Documenter kit called Roman Holiday. I had placed all of the pocket cards and the white "January" title inside the pockets when I first got the kit, but I hadn't decided what I wanted to do with them.  I pulled the page protector out the other day and it dawned on me that it would make a fun monthly highlight page.  Since the Studio Calico kits come with that script month title each time, I may continue to do this all year since my Project 52 pages are in the Project Life App & I have all of these amazing physical products.

I love the colors on these cards ~ especially the floral ones... so bright and cheery for the dreary month of January.  I carried out a few themes through out the page ~ I dated each photo, used hearts, printed a few black & white photos, and I used gold elements.

Almost all of the supplies are from the Studio Calico kit, unless otherwise stated ~ here are the details for the cards.  

Top Left: I glued the white "January" title on the floral card and then added the gold "stories" sticker under it. Then I used some gold Studio Calico number stickers.

Top Right: I printed the photo in black & white because the color photo version had way too much color going on for this layout.  I added the coordinating heart sticker from the Ali Edwards Numbers Story Kit.

Middle Left to Right:

• To continue a bit more black and white, I printed a 2x2 photo of Tim & I and added it to a mat of coordinating cardstock. I added the gold "You & Me" title and date stamped it.
• This filler card & the white circle were both from the kit.  I trimmed the cardstock with a stitched circle die (Taylored Expressions) and then added a gold Studio Calico chipboard heart.
• I printed the photo of Matt in color since it coordinated nicely with the layout.  I just added a piece of the cardstock and date stamped it and then added these gold mirror dots from My Minds Eye to the side.  Confession... it covers up the neighbor's trash can.  LOL
• The card is from the kit & I printed off the 2x2 photo in color.  I added the gold mirror heart from My Minds Eye and then the gold "This".  It actually said "Needed This" but I cut the other part off.  Then I added the date stamp at the bottom.

Lower Left: I typed up my journaling on the computer and trimmed it to fit the bottom of the card.  I added the washi tape to cover the edge.  The gold mirror heart is from My Minds Eye.  For the photo flag, I trimmed a piece of cardstock & added the date stamp to one more black and white photo.

Lower Right: The chipboard pencil is from the kit and I added some quick hand journaling & the date stamp.  

Now that I'm looking at the photographed page, I may switch the lower two photos so the color photos aren't all grouped together... that's the nice thing about pocket page protectors!

Have a lovely day & thanks for stopping by!!

Monthly Subscription Reviews ~ Ali Edwards, Studio Calico & Hip Kit

Happy Friday Scrapbook Peeps!

As I discussed at the beginning of January, and from the many pages I've posted, I am being much more intentional about getting back into my scrapbooks.  I signed up for several monthly subscription kits & thought I'd share my impressions of them so far.   After each review, I've added a few layouts (both full 12x12 & Project Life pocket style) to give you a comparison of each kit.  I'll apologize up front for the various lighting on the photos below.  Sometimes I have to use different settings for different colors... I've been experimenting with editing as well.  It's a work in progress for me but I can see photography and/or Photoshop classes are in my near future :)

Ali Edwards Story Kit & Story Stamp:
I started this subscription in December and decided to go with both the Story Kit and the Story Stamp for 6 months.  If you sign up for both, you get the digital kit free. I love having the digital items to do overlays on my photos or extra cards to type my journaling.  I have received 3 kits so far ~ Surprise, Review & Numbers.  I loved them all and the quality of the products is amazing!  The pocket cards are 2-sided with different designs on each side and they are made of nice heavy cardstock.  Also included in the kit are a variety of beautiful embellishments that are different each month.    Another nice thing about having the digital kit, is that I have access to all of the double-sided cards... so when I use one, it's OK because I can print another.  The Story Stamps always coordinate perfectly with the Story Kits with fonts and sayings.  The stamps are quality clear acrylic & stamp beautifully.

A new "Classroom" is started on the Ali Edwards website for each Story Kit.  Ali includes videos of the kit contents and process videos for her projects.  Guest storytellers also post new videos mid-month for more inspiration.   In addition to the video section, the "classroom" also has a gallery to add your own pages, a forum to have discussions and ask questions, and a place for digital downloads for that month. She also has a very detailed downloadable PDF for each month with step-by-step instructions for her projects, as well as thoughts on other suggestions for using them.

This subscription is completely thought out & detailed.  They are designed to make you think and tell your stories. In my opinion, the Story Kits & Story Stamps are well worth the price.  I will be keeping my subscription to this one FOR SURE!

Here are a few of the pages I've done with Story Kits/Story Stamps:

Studio Calico Documenter Kit: 

Just last month, I started with Studio Calico. They also manufacturer the Ali Edwards kits, so I knew they would be a great quality products.  The pocket cards are 2-sided and several were gold foiled... GORGEOUS!!!  The colors were bright and beautiful as well.  The fantastic embellishments were a mixture of items designs by Jasmine Jones and One Little Bird (both are fabulous digital designers) like washi tape, gold foil sticker sentiments & chipboard elements.  Each Documenter kit also comes with a small clear stamp set.

Additional Purchases: Studio Calico offers the "Classroom" for an additional $5 with your subscription.  It includes several process videos, a gallery, and a digital download with printable embellishments.  You can also purchase the digital kit of the double sided pocket cards for $5.99 so you always have both sides of the cards & you can pull up the PNG file to add your journaling.  In addition, you can purchase additional coordinating items that will be sent along with your kit, like a 4x6 or 12x12 paper pad, stamps, letter stickers, etc.  For my next kit, I purchased the 4x6 paper so I can make additional matching pockets on my pages.

I signed up for a 6 month subscription & I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping this one as well.  Below are some pages I made with the January kit.

Hip Kit Club:

In December, I signed up for the Project Life monthly kit from the Hip Kit Club for a 3 month subscription.  They also have a regular scrapbooking kit, add on embellishment, paper, cardstock and a Color It kits.  For the first month, I purchased some of the add-on items so I could see what they were all about.  It was a lot of product with tons of exclusive items that they design to coordinate with the other papers and embellishments in the kit.  All of the Project Life cards that come in the kit are exclusive and are single sided.  I've used a few here and there, but I don't love them as much as the Ali Edwards or Studio Calico cards.  I have been using lots of the embellishments.  All of the products are nice quality!

For the January kit, in addition to my Project Life kit, I also ordered the 12x12 pattern paper add-on. They had several exclusive paper designs that I liked & thought they would be nice to have for full layouts or cut them up to use with the PL cards.  Again, all of the Project Life cards are exclusive & single-sided.  This month's collection of cards were pretty good. However, you can only do so many "2016 Highlights" and "Welcome 2017/Happy New Year" pages, so I need to get a bit creative with them.  The PL Kit also came with a huge package of painted cork embellishments, alphabet stickers, enamel triangles, and a date stamp... so much fun stuff.

I haven't received the February Kit yet, but it should be here soon.  This month, I only ordered the Project Life kit because I noticed that the other kits did not contain any exclusive products. This really surprised me since Hip Kit is known for designing many of their own items to coordinate with other items in the kit.  The PL kit will still have the exclusive single-sided cards and one other exclusive item.

At this point, the jury is still out if I continue with this monthly.  I am contemplating switching to the main scrapbook kit since I get plenty of cards from the other two kits.  I hope they continue with the exclusive products going forward.

Here are a few 12x12 layouts I've done so far with the December Hip Kit.  I also have some Project Life pocket style pages done; however, I haven't photographed them yet.  I'm still working with the January kit, so I don't have any pages to share with that one yet.

 

Felicity Jane:
I just signed up for this subscription and haven't received it yet.  I am so excited to see it in person because it looks stunning!  It comes with all exclusive products ~ 12x12 papers, embellishments, cut apart stickers and a stamp set. Here's a peek at the kit called London that may even show up today! :)

UPDATE:  Click HERE to see my thoughts and a project using the Felicity Jane London Kit. {Hint... I LOVE IT}

I won't be keeping a subscription to all of these kits, but I really like to touch products and work with them, so subscribing for at least a short time was necessary for me to see if I would like them.  So stay tuned for more pages ~ I'm scrapping up a storm!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great weekend!