Living My Dream

Classes at Studio Calico

There are several classes that are about to start TOMORROW at Studio Calico that I wanted to remind my blog readers about. Here they are with all the details! DIGITAL BEYOND THE BASICS: (begins June 3rd) Take your digital skills to the next level with Shanna Noel. Learn twenty cool techniques to get more from the digital files that Studio Calico offers each month. You’ll be exploring inventive ways to do more with templates, stamp brushes, digital paper, printables and digital die cut files both on your computer and on your papercrafting projects. Class taught by Shanna Noel Register for class HERE LETTERPRESS 2.0: (class begins on June 1st) Join Geralyn Sy for Letterpress 2.0. This new workshop will give... Read more →

Studio Calico June Kit Reveal Project Life Techniques

Today is the Studio Calico June Kit reveal and all of their kits are now for sale for subscribers HERE. They will be available for non-subscribers at 9:00 pm pst today, May 27th. As the header above shows, they are FULL of delicious color which makes me VERY happy! I want to show you the two spreads I made using the project life kits and the techniques I used on them with the Hello, Hello kits and digital elements. You can see my gallery HERE with many more images of the spreads and linked supplies that I used. This spread only uses the project life kit called Hello Hello. Some of my favorite things about this kit are all the... Read more →

An Artsy Fartsy Page that ISN'T about the PHOTO!

I made two layouts in one week and I've had a lot of fun doing it. I think this is for a couple reasons. First, they were not assignments - I made them just for me. Second, I used some new techniques (to me) for the background of this layout and the one on the last post. When we get in a scrapbook rut, I think it is good to try something new. I started with Pinterest, pinning A LOT of layouts that I really liked. This helped inspire me to create and think about new things I wanted to try. Then I closed my computer, pulled out some of my Studio Calico kits I had just received (Camlot kits)... Read more →

A Layout Tutorial using my Camelot Kits

I made a layout today that I actually really like - this does NOT happen often. So I thought it would be fun to talk about how it came together. Unfortunately I didn't take step by step shots, so hopefully words will be enough for a layout tutorial. I started the layout by using a turquoise Neocolor II directly on my photo backgrounds to brighten and add color to the ocean (see last post for a tutorial on this part). Next, I stamped the outside frame from the stamp set in the Merlin add-on kit - WHICH IS STILL AVAILABLE - SHOCKING! I cut around the outside and inside edges of the frame and placed it over my photo. Once... Read more →

NSD Studio Calico Challenge #4 - Layout Tutorial

I made this layout above for the National Scrapbook Day challenge #4 at Studio Calico. The challenge is to make your own patterned papers with stamps. I wanted to take this a step further to really challenge myself, so I created a piece of patterned paper using my Neocolors and stamps on mixed media paper to use as a backdrop for my photos. I thought it would be helpful to show you the steps I took to make it, so here you go! I started with the stamp set named Galahad from the Camelot kits. I took the plain 2" circle stamp to create my background. I used a water brush and dripped a couple of drops of water directly... Read more →