let's finish off that Studio Calico Elementary

After adding some of the Studio Calico Elementary collection to the Love, Elsie I thought I might as well finish off the collection pack with these cards.

And I didn't quite get rid of the collection pack...I still have 1 full sheet of atmosphere and a partial sheet of the apples left.  I did give it a good go though.  And now the back to school cards are done. Yay!

And just when you have decided that you can't make one more thing with your scraps

you go and make 3 cards!

Here is what was left of my Love, Elsie stash

I thought I would just toss it in the recycling bin, but then I started moving the little bits of paper around and came up with these 3 back to school cards...

And then it really was stash busting at it's finest...there were only 3 tiny scraps left :)

Love, Elsie stash busting cards

As I continue on my back to school card making journey, I am determined to use up the Love, Elsie that remains in my stash.  This makes it harder to make cards because I can't make them all the same.  Each card has to be made to fit the scrap that is being used to make it.  But alas, I worked it out and made the following cards...

to my stamped shapes I have added the approved tab from a Studio Calico stamp set and an owl from Sassafras Lass...the later being stamped with brown color theory ink and the shapes colored with copics.

here I added the light bulb stamped shape from the same Studio Calico set as the approved stamp above and once again these were colored with copics.

here I added some stars on sparkly DMC floss.

here I added some sequins.

theses shapes were colored with copics.

here I just stamped directly on the paper with color theory ink.

these shapes were colored with Studio Calico Mr. Huey's.

and these with diluted Mr. Huey's.

Again, the painting takes so much more time than coloring with the markers.  I love the effect, but unless I invest in some good paint brushes, I won't be doing it very often.

Thanks for stopping by and I should have some more cards for you tomorrow.

back to school time...

and that means back to school cards.  I have made a card welcoming back everyone on the campus where I teach for 3 years.  Last year I made 27 and so when I had 27 made, I looked at the new contact list and there were 40! YIKES! So I made 40 as of this morning and then looked at the list in my new teacher folder that I received on Friday and there are 43 names on the list...minus 1 for me and I am still short 2 cards. That should be easy enough to fix, but I also washed all my stamps and put them all away...that'll teach me;)

So I would love to share some cards.  First up are some cards I made with the Sandlot card kit from Studio Calico.  I also used the Studio Calico teachers pet stamp set for all of these cards.

The first card was a lift of Maggie Holmes's card in the CT gallery.  I used Studio Calico color theory inks to color the shapes and added some color theory stars.

I also made this card using the scrap 2" from the card above and another sheet of paper from the kit.  The shapes were colored with colored water color pencils dipped in water and used directly on the shapes.

I used the other half of the paper above used above and some numbers cut from the scraps of the paper used in the first card, and added in some Love, Elsie paper that I have been hoarding. I also added in a Stampin' Up library card. These shapes were colored with the water color pencils and then brushed with water.  

So now, I am into using pieces of the kit with the Love, Elsie paper. These shapes were colored with color pencils.

 and this one colored with Heidi Swapp color shine...

and this one using up the remaining numbers, some sewed on paper clips and these shapes colored with the water color pencils and then brushed with water.

I really loved how the color shine and color theory inks looked when painted on, but if I was going to do this frequently, I would invest in a good paint brush.  I used the paint brush from one of my daughter's paint sets (she is 12 and probably used these when she was 4) and it was a little difficult to control where the color was going.  I also loved the boldness of the water color pencils dipped in water and used directly on the shapes.  The other methods are good if you are looking for lighter colors. 

I'll share some more cards and coloring methods tomorrow.

Office Hours layouts

After the mini book, I made a few layouts for the month of May...

Layout 1: First Chair

Used the papers to make a funky pie as part of the Studio Calico CHA challenges.

Layout 2: Mother's Day

 

 

This was a lift of the ever fabulous Kim Stewart as one of the LOAW challenges posted in the challenge thread at Studio Calico.  The leaf die is from Simon Says Stamp.

 

Layout 3: Daddy Date

 

 

 

Here I used some of leftover PL cards to make a quick and easy layout. Added some puffy stickers and foam alphas from Freckled Fawn and called it done.

 

Layout 4: #myfeettellastory

 

Here I scrapped my month long instagram photos with a piece of colored cardstock from the kit and Freckled Fawn foam alphas and arrow clip.

I still have supplies from this kit, but will also be using it for March so I am hoping to use it all up.

 

 



Are you ready for some Office Hours?

I am painfully behind in my Project Lift album...like I have June done, but I am on a mission to be up to date by the time school starts...can I get a what.what? So June was completed with my Studio Calico hello, hello kit and now I am moving on to May using my Office Hours kit.

The first project I made was a mini album gift for my niece who was graduating form high school. It's so easy to use up the majority of a kit on a mini album...and I like that.

I included some of the items we had received in the mail and I hope she will fill it up with all kinds of high school graduation memories.

The page inserts are Simple Stories, the cards I used were from Dear Lizzy and the die for the rolodex card and star are from Papertrey Ink.

Put a fork in it...

hello, hello is done! That last little piece of paper has been sitting on my table, and I made a card with it today.  My favorite type of card...pick up items laying on the table and put them on a card.  I also like making cards without sentiments so I can use them for anything if I am in need of a card.

And you may be seeing those birds on some later projects...I cut out any remaining birds and put them in my bowl of items that I love too much to throw away even the smallest piece.

Let's bring it on home...

Here is the last of the last...a final layout with this kit

Shine:

The pink polka dot paper is covered with velum to tone it down a little. I added some PL cards, labels, a little  bird cut from the bird paper, chip clouds, LOVE clip and shine badge. The stamp is from Freckled Fawn.

And this is what I have left...most of the alphabet, a 4x4 square of pink polka dot paper, a few labels, some birds I salvaged from scraps of the bird paper, part of a doily cut from the back side of the bird paper and a few gems. The labels and gems will be used in my summer travel mini and the alphabet incorporated into my stash...and I really should make a card with the paper;)

Thanks for joining me on this kit killing journey.  It has been fun and now I am going to work a little bit on the Office Hours kit and the month of May PL.

What about that colored 12 x 12 card stock?

It throws me every month and usually it get deposited into my colored card stock bin and when that is full it gets donated or sold.  I am a white card stock kind of girl. But in the spirit of the challenge I used both colored pieces this month.
I used the green piece as card bases for a couple of cards:

I used the stamp from the card kit and tried a couple of different stamping techniques on water color paper...a bonus is that I used up the last little piece of the striped paper and also used some ribbon.

Then I used the other piece on this layout:

I also used the doily side of the bird paper and some project life cards from the kit that I did not use in my project life spread and a cute Freckled Fawn heart clip.

Here comes the mini albums...

The family got together to celebrate my niece's graduation from high school and I am always adamant that we take pictures with the grandparents (really so I can make them gifts for their birthdays) and that is exactly what I did.

For my dad:

I used the last remaining bits of the green/gray dot paper, some of the stickers and lots of the blue swirl paper...and a bonus is I used up some of the paper edge strips that I had laying around.  A wooden ticket, I heart this paper clip, puffy asterisks and emoticons all from Freckled Fawn, Oh Deer Me embellishment kit.

For my mom:

For hers I used the yellow dot side of the blue swirl paper, the pink dot paper and the bird paper. The canvas tag is from Pink Fresh and it holds a label with the details about the event. I used book paper and he yellow paint with a mask on the tags.

Lots of elements are repeated and that's OK because they will never know;)

My scheduled delivery for my July kit is today and I have 2 layouts in the works in my kit killing process so come back and see what I have done to use up the last little bits of hello, hello.