the moments in between

Studio Calico Dads + Project Life

Father's Day was last weekend, but Studio Calico is celebrating all week long. We've asked a few of the SC team dads to weigh in on Project Life. It's been so cool to get to share Project Life from an outside perspective, and the things that have been shared so far just reinforce why I'm committed to PL. Catherine Davis and Kelly Noel have both shared thoughts from their husbands this week- watch the SC FB and twitter for more to come!

Matthew has always been amazingly supportive of my love of paper + glue, and I'm glad that extends to my PL album. When I started this project in 2011, my main goal was to make it something we could ALL have a voice in, and he's always been willing to contribute. Here's his take on PL : 

Around the time Alex started walking, I started watching his behavior and saying to Lisa, "I wish I could go back in time and be a fly on the wall watching myself at that age. I wonder if I did that, or what other habits I had." That's not possible, of course, but with Project Life I think it will be for our kids. I love that Lisa captures the big events like birthdays and school programs and, this month, the boys and I at the College World Series. But, the things I treasure best are the small moments and behaviors, like Sam standing outside and waiting for Alex's bus. When my children are older and have kids of their own, they'll be able to look through the Project Life albums and say, "Look, I did the same thing when I was 8," or "You're just like Uncle Alex, see?" I have a lot of film photos from my childhood, but most of them have no context, other than maybe a date written on the back. Project Life lets Lisa build that context in a beautiful, creative way that will have meaning 30 years from now.

I also love that Project Life has turned Lisa's scrapbooking into a team event. She's been scrapbooking for years, but it was always her in her workroom doing who knows what until she presented the finished project. Now I know that I'd better save the ticket stubs, and I'd better take a few photos when I'm out with the boys. I know what it means when we're sitting on the couch and Lisa says, "Hand me your phone." When she hands it back, I'll see that she's texted herself several photos from the week. Alex, Ben and Sam get into it too, often handing me or Lisa a scrap of paper or a found object and telling us, "Here. For Mom's book." It's great that even the kids are thinking about preserving memories at their young age, and Project Life has made it a family activity instead of a solitary one.

Let's be honest. Project Life is a BIG project. It's an every day, every week, never caught up sort of thing. Knowing that my husband and boys have got my back on it totally keeps me going.

Have you jumped in to Project Life? I'd love to hear how you make sure to capture other voices and points of view in your album. Leave a comment here telling me, and you'll be entered to win the Cumberland Gap PL add-on from Studio Calico. This kit is a great way to add some fun bits and pieces to your PL stash. I'll post a winner next Monday.

I also wanted to share that as of the July kit, Studio Calico is caught up with the waitlist! If you subscribe now, you'll start with the Valley High kit - or you can wait till reveal and grab one a la carte. They've also stocked the Project Life section of the shop with albums and page protectos- I just placed an order for more page protectorswhen I realized I could only do two more weeks before I ran out!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

project life // 2012 cover page + week 17

may is always bad for me + project life. the end of the school year brings a flurry of events, and not much in the way of extra time. on the bright side, i know i won't be short on photos once i finally get to those weeks!

the studio calico kits keep me accountable for getting a little project life done... i gotta get some use out of it before the next one comes! this month, i finished a recent week - and then went off on a tangent and did my cover page. for 2012. because may of 2013 is a fab time to do that, right?

2012 cover page // i gathered up some of my favorites from the kits (and some confetti, of course!) and finally filled in that blank page at the beginning of my 2012 album. i mixed in a few of the happy little moments printables and items from marcy's class kit (LOVE her stamp set!!!) as well.

maybe i can get it together and make my 2011 title page now?? anything's possible!

week 17 : april 20-26 // this was one of those cold, miserable and just plain BLAH weeks that don't inspire much in the way of photo taking, so i was glad to have some memorabilia to help fill in the pockets!

to make the confetti pocket, i folded the 4x6 crate paper overlay in half and stitched it shut. break out a swiss cheese border punch or a hole punch and go to town on paper scraps, magazines, catalogs, or anything colorful you have laying around to make the confetti.

on the field notes card, i used a standard hole punch to punch out the lens of each camera. i backed it with one of the map print cards and then filled each lens with glossy accents.

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there's something cool in the works for PL subscribers at studio calico - all PL main kits starting with roundabout will be shipped in these cool storage boxes. they have a magnetic closure and an inner tray to help keep the cards from shifting around. you can see the insides here.

If you haven't had a chance to get the PL kit (crossing my fingers that the waitlist will be gone SOON!), the Cumberland Gap add-on is still available. i'm in love with the basic grey filmstrip alphas. and that grid washi is perfect fot adding a bit of journaling to any photo.

happy wednesday!! our day started with a 7:23 delivery of our new couch. and i didn't even realize that early of a delivery was a possibility. at least we weren't waiting around all day?? i am in love.. it fits the space so much better, and definitely reflects my current style for the house. i've had a lot of ?s on instagram about where we found it - here's a link. if you're in the midwest and looking for this style of couch, i can tell you that 5/5 truesdells thought this one was comfy. ;) now to patiently wait for my new coffee table to come on friday! 

studio calico roundabout sneaks

there is a lot of paper + glue happening in my workspace right now... i've got both the studio calico june kits and the happy little moments class kits out on my desk, and am flipping between working on projects. i will be sharing lots of sneaks of both in the coming days - starting with some roundabout sneaks today.

this is the roundabout scrapbook kit only. it's a two pager - it's been a while since i've done one of those! this page is a bit of an overview of our minnesota trip last summer. i'm thrilled with the mix of the embellishments in the main this month. i turned some of the printed transparency raindrops into geotags by using a hole punch.

this one is the roundabout project life kit only. apparently i'm digging the hole punches this month...  i used one on the cameras, and then filled the "lenses" in with glossy accents.  i'm still playing catchup with project life... i have 6.5 weeks missing from my 2013 album.

my favorite add-on this month is navy pier. those crate alphas and slide frames are beyond awesome. and the basic grey ticket paper from carte postal is perfect. i can't wait to get my hands on more of that line.

now it's time to print more photos so i can make more projects.... ;)

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project life 2013 // week 19

week 19 // may 4-10 : ben's birthday. free comic book day. teeball. a lot of pizza. a mother's day brunch, iron man 3 and a dead car battery.

can we talk about how long i've been waiting for the right project for those darling dear calendar pockets to appear? they're perfect to hold a little birthday journaling.

i love the impact of the enlarged photo - it's a good way to illustrate that this is a very important week. hello, 10.

lots of stars and arrows this week. they continue to be my go to shapes. and one nice big flower, courtesy of the name tag sam made for the mother's day brunch.

i used lots of punches this week - check out my challenge on the studio calico blog. =) i'd love to have you play along!

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happy monday! it's the last monday of the school year here..  i'm off to make it count.

#NSDatSC

NSD may technically be over.... but we have a whooooooooole line up of challenges over on the Studio Calico blog that are open through next monday. You can find all of the details in this post - there's a $100 GC as the grand prize, so it's definitely worth trying a challenge or three! I took on two of the challenges - it was the perfect way to use up a bit more of my Planetarium kits and play with the new Atlantic collection.

PL team challenge #2 : put it in a pocket | this team

I think we've all been in a position of wanting to record certain thoughts on a page without them beind front and center. For this page, I wanted to jot down some thoughts about how much we love our current ball team, but part of that reflection included some past struggles with teams. Hiding the journaling lets me focus on this amazing team of boys and their coaches.

I had a little extra room at the bottom of my glassine bag and was going to just trim it down and stitch it shut when I decided it would make an awesome place for some confetti.

Scrapbook team challenge #2 : break out the buttons | PL 2013 wk 16

Once upon a time, I couldn't finish ANY project without buttons. Time went on, and decorative brads, enamel dots and sequins came into my life, and my poor button stash has spent a lot of time on a shelf in a jar (where it looks super cute, so at least it has that going for it!). As I worked on this PL spread, I realized that buttons fit right in with my beloved enamel dots, and I really like the two of them mixed together! They're also not too bulky in the pocket pages. Maybe I'd better move that button jar a little closer to my desk...

This is half of my week 16... I'm working on finishing it up this week. =)

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happy monday! my week is off to a rocky start - sam and i went out to leave for school and realized the car battery was d-e-a-d. sam's enjoying the unexpected day off. i'm trying to not be too frazzled by it. ;)

more happy little moments

i'm thrilled to be joining maggie and marcy as a contributor to their more happy little moments class at studio calico! maggie taught the first version of this class early last year, and we're excited to have marcy co-teaching this time around so we can show how each of them take the same altered book concept and make it their own. my role in the class is to take their ideas and show how to adapt them to a Handbook format. i think it will be a fun twist on the class, and hopefully some of what i share will adapt well into a project life album as well.

i spent a bit of time thinking about whether i wanted to stay with a general "happy" theme, or to do something more specific. in the end, i've decided to look for photos that show happy little moments in my boys' relationships with each other. some of these will be photos i've used other places, but i love the idea of having them all together in one happy album.

maggie and marcy have both built kits for this class  - and i get to work with both of them. while buying two kits (or even one!) isn't a class requirement, we wanted to be able to show how well these very different kits can work together. i can also tell you that these are WAY cute in person. =) here's where you can find them : maggie's kit | marcy's kit

my book is still pretty incomplete, and i'll be sharing more sneaks as i work on it. i can already tell this is going to be a really fun project to pull together, and i hope you'll join me in the class! 

studio calico planetarium

another month, another reveal. =) this time we're heading to the planetarium. star charts and hearts and the loveliest of color combos... not to mention some rocking stamp sets. as of right now, the scrapbook kit, card kit and lyra add-on are still available. here's a look at the layouts i made this month : 

this won't last // ah, those sweep naptime snuggles. as my littlest gets older, they're definitely something to savor - even when they're not at the best times. =)

i started this page by putting the blocks of patterened paper on the background, then i placed my mask on top and misted over them with the gray mini mist from neverland and mister huey's shine. i stitched around each block for a quilted look, then added a few elements over the misted paper. and i couldn't resist breaking out the mini anchor punch on an accent strip of patterned paper.

up // the stamp set in halley's comet is a new favorite, and as soon as i saw the "happy place" sentiment i thought of this photo. =)  i stampedthe messy circle in  different colors on the ledgers from big dipper, and then painted some water color circles on the same paper. i cut them out, randomly stitched them to my background, and then stacked some patterned papers to make the photo mat.

now & then // when we got ben's uniform for this year (SDSU Aztec #2!), i had to dig up photos from his very first teeball season when he was the same team & same number. (and incidentally, he still wears that shirt. it finally fits. HA).

i started the title with the ghost letters.. and then lost an "N" to The Mess. ack. minor moment of panic. then i grabbed my scissors and handcut a new one using the one I had as a guide, and did a few other letters (both alone and layered), to make it look intentional. gotta love happy accidents. =)

i punched the circles along the side of the cosmo paper for something else, but i loved the look of the negatives along the edge.i put a couple of foam adhesive dots under it to pop it up and added embellishments underneath.

currents @12 //i love these currents cards - they're a great way to work in a little journaling from other people. i used one to capture alex's favorites at 12.

i used some of the mixed tape neon huey on the background, then went over it with shine to tone it down a smidge. one of the wood veneer frames from lyra was a perfect way to make sure the photo was the focus of the page.

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i'm not feeling quite done with this kit.... i'm planning to spend a bit more time working with it. perhaps for the upcoming studio calico NSD challenges?? ;)

studio calico planetarium sneaks

this week has gotten away from me, and the studio calico planetarium reveal is tomorrow. (okay, to be honest this MONTH has gotten away from me - how does that happen?!?) we are on the brink of a kid free night (all three are heading to a sleepover with friends), so i'm going to keep this short and sweet. you'll be able to check these out in full tomorrow at noon est!

here are my main kit only projects - using the planetarium scrapbook kit and PL kit : 

and my other projects, which are a complete mishmash of all of the kits : 

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happy happy friday!! =)

hello atlantic

atlantic has landed at studio calico. or should i say come into port? either way, this lovely collection is up in the shop.

i'll admit that i was not all "team anchor" when this trend started popping up. and then i started making this page and the next thing i knew there were anchors everywhere, and i was in love. the itty bitty anchor punch is totally a new fave.

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happy thursday! =)

project life 2013 : week 6

 

i am slowly creeping towards caught up. i started a list in teuxdeux JUST to keep tabs on where i am and am finding it makes it less overwhelming to be able to see what's done and what needs to be done on my missing weeks. 

week 6 // february 2-8 : sick ben. sick mom. a lot of movies. a little legos. breakfast at jimmy's egg and baseball.

i was going for quick and done with this week. there's not much embellishing and a lot of label stickers. =)

i used a small heart stamp over the amy tangerine date stamp to mark off the week. and then stamped out the week's dates on the "currents" card because i thought i hadn't done it anywhere else. oops.

i love hat heart from sam. he made me two - one is pictured, and a different one is included.

oh, alex. he did this again yesterday. what is it with the coat aversion?

i used a lot of cards from past studio calico PL kits - but here are some of the other bits & pieces : 

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happy tuesday! the sun is shining and i'm craving chinese food. yes, at 10am. i blame bridgette's instagram from last night. how's that for a random sign off for today? ;)