I Spy Anthology

I love seeing Studio Calico's paper lines out there in other online galleries I frequent. How people mix and match the lines with other manufacturers always leaves me thinking, "Why didn't I think of that!?!" I thought I'd share some of those layouts with you today. Each artist is linked to their gallery so you can go and explore more!

This layout by Tay created using the FabRips, the labels, Aperture, and the letters cut from Typo. I love the combination of the Cosmo Tiny Alphas with the Aperture paper, they perfectly compliment each other.

crafty.kari's hodge podging of elements caught my eye, but I absolutely LOVE how she used the Month Stamps, filled in the April to date this layout. Cool idea. She also used the label stickers, hand cut the flowers from the Bouquet paper, and it appears that she used the Tiny Attacher.


*Kristine* worked Anthology beautifully here. I love how she clustered around the photo using the label stickers, fabRips, and the flowers made from Compilation complete with leaves cut from the journaling cards. And putting everything on my favorite Lithograph paper makes the fun title using the blue alphas look like it's almost floating. I love how she did that!


Mou Saha's layout starts on the herringbone side of Bouquet, and adds a bunch of other little bits from Compilation, Lithograph, Typo, Aperture, and Periodical. I love that she uses a tiny horizonal strip of the fabRips just under the photo. It's a nice bit of texture. She tops it off with a couple of well placed stickers from the label stickers sheet.

Julie S used the alpha side of Typo so well, it's classy against the soft feel of layout. I love that she used the journaling card just for the rose, it's so elegant, and fits perfectly here. And she was so brave to rip it up! The button rubons add another classy look. It's fun to explore this page!

lainalamb worked with the label stickers and fabRips,, showing how little bits can be perfect!

georgia keays layered Compilation, Lithograph, and Periodical then used bits of the fabRips to make a mannequin. How cool is that? I love that she based it all on the fabric sheet. It's a nice soft look.

helpmeronda's title balances perfectly with some strips of the yellow side of Lithograph, which snuggle up nicely against the blue side of same paper. Don't you love how versatile double sided papers are?

Make sure you keep loading your Anthology layouts to both our member gallery and other online galleries. And if you link products, it makes it even easier for us to find and feature here. Thanks to all those who's projects were featured today!

Circle Flower Tutorial

Hello everyone. Waleska here with a flower tutorial.

When I posted this layout to the gallery I got a lot of questions on how to make this flower so here it is (finally)!

• Gather your supplies: sc paper/fabRips, circle punches, hole punch, string, buttons/brads
  

• Punch out 5-6 circles

• Slightly bend the circle in half and punch a small hole at the top

• String the twine through all the circles (note: if you don't want to use a flower center the smaller the whole and string the better- i'll show you an example at the end :))

• Tie the string tightly (This part is tricky. The circles will try to go all over the place so you'll have to be patient)

• Open and arrange the circles to look like a flower
  

• Add a flower center (optional). You can also make your own brad using fabrips + itop tool ;)

• Play around and have fun!

You can make these many different ways by using a variety of material (fabRips, paper, cardstock), different size punches (small, big, scallop), add a flower center or not... it's up to you.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please let me know if you have any questions.

insider tips : from inspiration to finished page

On Tuesday, I shared a few inspiration pieces with you. Today, I thought I'd show you how I used those ideas on a page.



I started with this piece as my main inspiration. I loved the way the hexagons were scattered on the background, and wanted to use a similar design on my page. I cut one hexagon from the Studio Calico exlcusive paper in Granny's Cupboard, and then used it as a pattern to cut more from other patterned papers from Anthology and Granny's Cupboard.



I played around with the placement of the hexagons and drew in where I wanted to add stitching, stamped journaling lines and some border punched paper. I use this trick a lot - once you stitch and stamp, there's no going back! This gives me a better way to visualize how it will look once I've added those elements. Once I'm happy with the basic design, I usually snap a quick photo. Because if I'm going to add stitching to the background I've got to go back to the beginning.



Yep. Everything came off the kraft cardstock. I added the strips of red at the top and bottom and stitched around my border, then added the graph patterned fabrip and the blue punched paper and did some zigzag stitching. I also stamped the journaling lines in pumice stone down in the bottom corner.



Then I need that photo that I snapped so I remember how to put it all back together! I added a few more hexagons and another fabrip to the page, and the stitched them all in place. The American Crafts glitter brads from Linens and Lace were the perfect accent to my small punched circles. At this point, if at all possible, I walk away from the page for a while. It's almost done, but I know it needs some finishing touches.



The next morning, I added the tab at the top of the photo (it's a sticker from the Anthology Labels - I punched a few hearts in it and backed it with the grey Aperture paper), the layered accent at the bottom right of the photo (that space just felt empty to me - I layered a piece of October Afternoon Thrift Shop paper punched with my Fiskars L Seal of Approval punch with a stickers from October Afternoon and Anthology, and then topped it with chipboard hearts). I also added a couple more small chipboard hearts tucked in with the other elements on the page. I added my journaling and did some stapling with my tiny attacher to finish the page.



I used some of the other ideas from the original inspiration post - the circles within the hexagons and planning my cuts around an element in the patterned paper. These ideas helped make my groupings more interesting than if it had all just been patterned paper.

So that's a little peek into my creative process - let me know if you have any questions! =)

Friday Inspiration...1st Edition.

this is the first of TWO Inspiration installments for today...and who better than our May Guest Designer, Jennifer Johner to provide us with something to get us revved up for National Scrapbook Day?!?!

honestly, i'm not quite sure where to start. i have been a HUGE fan of Jennifer's for the longest time, and i just think she is crazy talented. in this layout here, she combined both HomeFront and Anthology to document a fun photo of her little guy. (this one makes me smile, because my daughter STILL loves tub time, and she will be eleven in a few weeks, lol!) let's try to break it down a bit... i think the quality that i am most envious of in Jen's work is her ability to use lots of little details without making it look over the top. my personal taste runs a bit on the 'clean' side...yet i love lots of details. her work combines both of those elements and hits the mark every. single. time. the FabRip ruffled at the top of the page, the random Anthology Stickers floating about, the mix of the Anthology and HomeFront alpha stickers...sigh. each one a perfect addition that adds to the page without distracting from the message.
here in the detail shot, i love how she punched the FabRip with a heart punch before removing it from it's backing...and added the random 'H' stamped with the Noah alphabet for fun. again, little bits and elements that add to the fun of her page without distracting from that cute photo and her words. (side note: i am a big fan of journaling on lines drawn with my ruler...you will rarely see a page of mine where i have handwritten journaling and NO lines. i LOVE how she kind of free-handed her journaling lines...i will definitely try that!)

so there it is.
my profession of love for Jen's work.
please check her blog HERE...and her Studio Calico gallery HERE (just click on her image).
both are DEFINITELY worth your while!
and thanks Jen, for providing us with so much inspiration this month!!

Insider Tips - dye your tags using Maya Mists!

Hey everyone! :)

You know how much my Maya Mists? Well, I wanted to show you a new way to dye paper tags : I think you might like it! :)

We're going to make a layout and this is what I used for my layout :

• Anthology collection papers (including Aperture, Bouquet, Periodical)
• Anthology stickers
• Anthology Alpha stickers
• Maya Mist (Amethyst mist & Blue Raspberry mist)
• Kraft sheet
• EK Success label punch

Simply choose a cardstock that is the same color as one of your favorite alphas and glue all the letters, words, sentences you want onto your cardstock (you probably want to cut the cardstock first before adhering all the chipboards, otherwise might be a pain to cut afterwards).


Grab your kraft sheet, 2 tags and 2 small zip lock bags.


Spray Maya Mist in each plastic bag (one color per bag).


Open and put one of the tags inside a plastic bag. Use your finger to make the ink move onto the tag.


Use your heat gun to dry each tag.

Once your tag is dry and ready to use, you can also fold it and put it back into the same color bag.

All the wrinkles will get bolder and darker because of the ink. Use your heat gun to dry again.

You can use your tags the way you want. I like to use them as a new way to focuse on the photos.






Extra item I can't live without and that I used for this layout :

• Martha Stewart craft knife
• my favorite journaling pen
  

Enjoy!
Céline

Spring Has Sprung

It's obvious that warmer weather has arrived - just look at these bright and springy layouts!

A Visit to Devachon by Julie (Milkcan)


Spring by Ania-Maria


This cute card - Spring Has Sprung by Jen

Spring by Chelseavan


Honeymoon Slippers by Christy Sheffield



Hope the weather's getting warm where you are. Happy Friday!

xoxo,

Steph W

challenge: use it or lose it.

In efforts to purge and actually use my supplies rather than hoarding them and eventually not wanting the product anymore, I decided this year to was either use it or lose it.
I've been holding onto several empty chipboard alphas thinking I would find some genius way of using them but they quickly collected dust.
Not today.
Today they were worked into a layout and possibly a mini.
If they were not used, I would toss it.
So when you're faced with that choice of using something you absolutely love or throwing it away, what do choose?
Thought so.
So let's actually use those items we love. Today.
Ok...you actually have a week for this challenge.
Use it or lose it. Make the choice. Don't wait for that perfect layout you foresee in the future that will call out for that rub on or chipboard piece. That time is now. Why else would you have the overwhelming feeling of wanting to hold onto it forever?

Back to that empty chipboard alphabet piece.
I first imaged this as a mini album but after laying out the pieces, I thought it looked pretty sweet as a layout. Could go either way, we'll see.
The thing about it is this piece of chipboard I hoarded looks a whole lot better to me now than it did in a pile of random half used supplies. It's satisfying to actually use something rather than keeping it tucked away.

Your challenge is to simply use it or lose it.
Due by next Saturday. I'll choose a random winner Sunday.
Happy Monday.
Tina

Some Anthology inspiration

This month's kit over at Jenni Bowlin Studios contains a bunch of new SC Anthology and the design team over there has created some amazing pages. Jenni gave us permission to repost some faves here on our blog, but be sure you check out the whole team's work in their gallery.

Love the punched out circles of paper on this one by Doris Sander.

The journaling card looks STUNNING against the black patterned paper in this one by Ranjini Malhotra.

Keisha Campbell's style totally showcases the journaling cards just beautifully here.

Next month's guest designer, Lisa Dickinson, did a fab job with all the paper strips!
I love how Danielle Flanders stitched the circles and used the Anthology font in a tone on tone way. Beautiful!
There's much more gorgeousness over there in their DT gallery. Please, please make sure you check it out. :)

I'm so glad to see so many RED challenge layouts in the gallery this week! Keep 'em coming! You have until the end of today and we'll pick a winner tomorrow. Here's my take on the challenge. Have a great Saturday!