A New Ink on Life

Welcome to Park Ave.

It's time to reveal the December Park Ave. Kits at Studio Calico. I had a ton of fun creating three cards using just the Main Card Kit. 

I've never been one to love purple but I am totally crushing on the rich tone in the kits this month. I think green, yellow and purple (Lime Light, Lemon Zest and Purple Rain to be precise) is my new favourite colour combo. I am also loving the fun cityscape feel to the kit. 

This Banana Valentines stamp set add on is perfect for the little monkeys in my life. I seriously can't wait to make valentines with my 7 year old this year. I also am thrilled that there is a seperate 6x6 paper pad add on this month! It is full of fun versitile patterns and nice bold, fun colours. 

And does it get any cuter then animals on parade? This Celebrate Animal stamp and die set is just too adorable. I love that it can be used to create baby cards or kid's birthday cards etc., the sentiments are really versitile and let's be honest who doesn't love cute stamps and matching dies?!

Now for the really fun part, I am going to share what made it into my cart this month:)

Of course I will be receiving my Project Life Subscription. It is loaded with great cards and jam packed with some really fun embellishments. Totally dying over the printed masking tape in the kits this month.

When I saw this Mad Lib card set and matching stamps I knew I had to order it. Such a fun and creative concept.

I also knew these Calendar Scratch off cards would be perfect for my 2015 Project Life Album. 

And one of the best things about being a Studio Calico Subscriber is that all of my purchases made between the 27th and end of the month are bundled together- so I can check out as many times as I want and just be charged the one shipping fee (or free shipping if I spend $99+ Cnd. or for those in the US $75+) And as long as I am being honest here; I check out several times because there is always something else that I need that I had forgot the first time;) So I sure I will be posting more of my "must have" items before the month is done.

Almost Time to Take a Walk Down Park Ave.

Ummm yeah, so you are probably wondering what is up with the title of this post? And no I am not going to New York although that would be fun;) Studio Calico's reveal is just a few days away and the Main Kit for December is called Park Ave.

I of course got to play with the Main Card Kit and three of the stamp set add ons, plus this month they are offering an additional 6x6 Patterned Paper Pad! So happy for this and I know a lot of you were asking for it.

 

Here's a little look at the Main Park Ave. Card Kit.

The above three cards were created using just the main Card Kit.  I used several of the Color Theory Inks when creating this month and I really found that Purple Rain, Lime Light, Lemon Zest, and Glass Slipper worked really well with the Park Ave. colour scheme. Of course black ink is a must and while I love my Onyx Black Versafine ink I have become quite found of the Color Theroy Inky Black. I love how black the ink is and it works great for detail stamping, like sentiments and words. 

Okay I will say this now and probably again ;), I don't think it gets much cuter then this Animal stamp set and matching dies. Totally adorable!  I used the Color Theory Inks here too and I love how saturated the images are. I also used Versamark and Black Glitter ZING embossing powder on the hanging banner sentiment that you can see a peek of in the top left corner.Glitter goes with everything,right?! 

There is also a really cute stamp set designed by the very talented Lizzy MacKay. I had some fun with watercolours on this one. I also did a little doodling using a pen to outline the presents.

Now speaking of cute and fun stamp sets-this set is just perfect for the crazy little monkeys in my life! I can't totally see making Valentines with my youngest using this set. I am forever calling her a little monkey because she is so mischievious:) For this card I added a pop of colour by using several little strips of patterened Paper from the Dots and Stripes 6x6 paper pad.

This is just a peek at the Park Ave Card Kit. And I of course am looking forward to the reveal of both the Park Ave. Project Life and Scrapbook Kits.

I have big plans for staying ontop of scrapping this coming year, well who am I kidding, I will never be "caught up" and that's okay. I am have accepted that some weeks I may take a zillion pictures and others maybe one, but as long as I embrace the stories that go along with them and doucument those moments, I am fine with it;) 

One of the reasons I love getting my PL kit so much is that it makes putting those stories in an album so much easier. It comes with all the pieces I need to doucument my month and they are perfectly coordinated. As I have mentioned before I can easily get carried away with wanting and buying so much paper crafting supplies that it gets overwhelming and I end up not doing anything. I think that's why I love having some one else expertly put together cards, papers and embellishments that are not only coordinated but also on trend; it satifies my need for new and current products. 

And right now Studio Calico has an amazing promotion going where you can get your 1st new subscription kit for only $1! 

Use the promo code DOLLARPL

Use the promo code DOLLARSB

use the promo code DOLLARCD

This offer is only good until Nov. 26th 11:59 EST. So if yoiu don't have a subscription and would love to receive a little happy mail each month then this offer is for you! The subscription will start with November's Walden Kits.

 

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like.......

Christmas?! Okay, okay I know that we are still in November but in all seriousness Christmas is only 32 days away! *Gulp* and this year I am determined to not only make Christmas cards I am actually going to address them and get them in the mail.

I am sure a lot of you are in the same boat, you would like to make your cards but every year the days seem to slip away and before you know it it is the middle of December and those cards are yet to be mailed or like me to even be made! So this year I have teamed up with Toni From Designs so that I had some one to hold me accountable to actually getting those cards made and sent. 

We are going to be "Holiday Helpers" and offer up designs that can be made quickly and easily. 

This week we are both using the super awesome Cool Yule stamp set designed by Cathy Zielske and we focused on making mailable cards.

Now I will admit that I definitely have crafting ADD. I can not focus on creating the same thing over and over again and I get easily distracted. So when I sat down to create these cards I knew I wanted to make 3 different cards but using all the same supplies. I also find it more productive to pick out want I am going to work with and stick with it as I have such a hoard  um I mean, collection selection of products that I could easily get pulled off task.

Both of these cards use the same supplies and dimensions but I created one vertical and one horizontal. When creating cards that are easily mailable you want to stay away from bulky ribbon and embellishments. Using Patterned Paper is a great way to quickly add interest and colour. (which by the way these designs are a little sneak peek at something that is coming to Studio Calico for the Dec. release;) Another way to add a little depth without adding bulk is to stamp on top of images or words. You can see in the second card that I did that with both the words along the bottom as well as the main sentiment.

For this card I used the left over patterned paper from the first two cards. Even a little left over piece of paper can create a little banner. Creating a design using scraps is a great way to make the most of your supplies. On this card I didn't use an image but rather a bold sentiment that was stamped 3 times with out reinking. Generation stamping ( The Color Theroy Inks are perfect for this tecnique) is another easy way to add interest to a simple design. And I simply can not leave out adding a little sparkle to a card is a great way to make a sentiment or image "pop".On the first card I used one of my favourite products ( Zig Wink of Stella Gliiter Brush)  to make the deer stand out a little more. I also used it on the above card to hilight the middle "merry". And last but certainly not least adding some Mister Huey's Mist to any project will add a "little something extra" to it. For this card I used Calico Shine.

Well I hope I have given you some quick and easy designs to help you get started or finished those Christmas card:) And be sure to check out Toni's Blog too for some great ideas!

 Oh and December is only 9 days away! So that also means I better get busy and start setting up my album for Ali's December Daily. As musch as I really wanted to buy Ali Edwards amazing kit  (if you have the budget for it I recomend getting it because it is definitely worth the cost) I just couldn't swing it. So I am putting together my own kit with the massive amounts of Christmas themed products that I have. I kinda blew my buget on stamps;)

And the good thing for me is I will be taking the wonderful 25 days class taught by the brilliant Stephanie Bryan over at the Studio Calico Classroom. I am hoping that by taking the class that I will actually finish my album that year, although I do still have high hopes of completing my 2013 album too!

Here's a peek at the digital printables and cut files included in the class. In the classroom the boards are already buzzing with lots of creative ideas.