the moments in between

quilting bee

holy moly!! the kits were flying off the shelves last night. studio calico's march kit, quilting bee, and my fave add-on, honeycomb, are both already sold out - but wedding ring and patchwork are both still available.  some of the paper add-ons are still available as well.

i'm trying to finish up some work this morning, but i did sneak time to go through the design team gallery - and now i want to get my kit back out and play some more.  there are some seriously creative ideas happening there. here are my projects for this month :

this page is mostly made with the wedding ring add on - i did add the sc text paper and a maya road chipboard button from the main. as soon as i saw that veneer i knew i wanted to cut a title from it - thankfully it wasn't hard to do at all.  i wrote my title on a piece of scrap paper, and then layered it over the veneer and cut around it with scissors. i also used my tiny attacher on the veneer - i was initially worried that it might split, but it didn't. i also broke out my new martha loopy border punch, and sprayed the kraft background with turquoise maya mist.

 

this page is a mix of quilting bee and honeycomb. that blue doiley paper made me think of snow, and i loved these pics of sam making footprints up and down our block - they went together perfectly.  i laid out the veneer pieces and then built the page around them.  the background is sprayed with silverplated mist for a nice frosty finish.

how cute is that trike stamp???  if you missed it in honeycomb, it will be in the shop with the may kit reveal. also those sass banner stickers?  my new favorite thing.  this page mixes bits from quilting bee and all 3 add-ons.  i used turquoise mist on the maya road chip buttons and on the background of the page below the border. loving the pics on this one - love seeing little ben next to little sam. =)

another page mixing honeycomb and the main as well as the label stamp from wedding ring. (i reeeeeeeeeeeally wanted to use the ferris wheel stamp that comes with it on a page, and even had some pics marked for it - but i ran out of time!) and some more old pics - these are from 2 years ago. we all did a user lift this month, and this page was inspired by simplytam's uniform. every little accent on her page was perfectly placed, and that photo??  totally made me giggle. i turned the design on it's side but tried to work in as many of tam's elements as possible. the maya road butterfly was covered with turquoise maya mist, and the background cardstock was sprayed with cherry.

my last project was a banner with the patchwork kit. as soon as i saw this kit, it would be perfect for my scraproom.  i'm not 100% sure where it will go, but i'm thinking it will look good across my window, once i ditch the ugly fake wood blinds and get some nice white curtains.

 

i kept the banner fairly simple.  i'll be honest - i tend to get ALL sorts of fun ideas when i see projects like this, and then get overwhelmed with where to start.  so this time, i just picked a couple ideas and ignored the rest. it would have been fun to mist and stamp this banner, but i can guarantee that it wouldn't be DONE if i had gone that route. i knew i didn't want to use photos on my banner, but i *did* want to use the photo transfer paper - so i ended up scanning in some old ledger paper and adding it to 2 of the maya road canvas pennants.  i added a strip of the funky floral dear lizzy ribbon from honeycomb to each of those pennants and stitched it into place. for the other 3 pennants, i layered circles cut from fabric with my fiskars pinking sheers, and then stitched a spiral using pink thread that matched the dear lizzy ribbon. i added a jbs button to the top circle and called it good. my 5 pennants weren't quite long enough for the space i had planned, so i quickly cut a bunch of triangles from the fabrics that come with the kit.  i didn't measure, they're not even, i just cut.  then i stitched them together in groups of 5 and added them between each pennant.

now, if you're not the banner type - this is still a fun kit.  emily made a fun album w/ her maya road pennants and some of the fabric.  i will be doing a tutorial for this blog this week, featuring a page made with this add-on.  i'm going to scan some school work and use the iron on transfer to put it on the canvas - i think it will be a fun look.

as always, if you have any questions - feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. =)

home again home again

 

we're being lazy today.  well, the boys did go outside and play for a bit, but other than that?  l-a-z-y.  i just walked past and saw this and had to grab the camera.  it's totally out of focus - i was trying rather hard not to be caught taking it. ;)

we had a fabulous trip - i will be sharing all of the fuji instax pics that i took while we were gone in a belated fuji friday post in the next couple of days.  i've dumped my other pics but barely had a chance to sort through them, since i've been so busy being lazy and all. here's one of the bigs at moon marble company.  this place is too much fun.  we came home w/ new marbles, a marble skill shot game, and a balloon powered robot set.

quilting bee goes live tonight - i've got big plans to hang around the message boards for all of the reveal night fun. there's some fun new stuff in the shop already - new colors of distress inks (i picked up tumbled glass and pumice stone - but really debated on getting on getting barn door, too) & new colors of maya mist (tangerine and latte are coming to live with me - and i've got my eye on blue corn for next month!!)  some of the new colors are already sold out, but will be back in stock for next month! i'll post my projects tomorrow - i'm definitely looking forward to the gallery reveal and seeing what the rest of the team did with the kit.

more quilting bee sneaks

aaaah, quilting bee. my fave part (outside of the SC exclusives)? hands down, the new sassafras cherry delicious.  especially these new banner stickers. l-o-v-e.

quilting bee + honeycomb + buttons from patchwork. i adore the trike stamp - i stamped with with red brilliance ink..  i used turquoise mist on the background & one the maya road chip buttons.

i'm pretty sure this one is quilting bee + honeycomb. there's cherry mist on the background, and i used my beloved 3in1 butterfly punch.

patchwork  dear lizzy ribbon from honeycomb. loved this project kit. it's going to be perfect for my scraproom, once i decide exactly where i'd like to hang it. =) i have leftover printer transfer paper and canvas that i have a plan for - and i'll be doing a tutorial on the SC blog next week. i'm hoping to be able to get you a sneak for that before the kits go live sunday, but we'll see how the weekend works out. =)

if you haven't made your shopping list for reveal day yet, april has posted add-on prices and new shop items here.  i'm definitely excited about the colors of ranger distress inks & maya mist.  i've got several coming to me with the april kit and i can't wait to play with them.

and with that - i'm out of here.  we're heading to kansas city for a quick trip - the bigs are off school and we need a change of pace.

(ps : i posted my first sneaks here, if you missed them. =)

is it spring yet??

the february blahs are in full effect here.  it's been cold.  *really* cold.  too cold to throw the boys outside.  and even if we did, the snow is no longer fun.  it's melted and refrozen so that our entire yard is a solid block of snow/ice.  you can't dig in it.  you can't make snowballs.  you can't make snow angels.  where's the fun in that?

there's been a fair amount of watching the olympics. and playing mario and sonic at the winter olympics on the wii.  there's been lego playing and reading (the bigs) and lots of trains & cooking play food (the littlest).

there's been computer games (cartoonnetwork.com & bakugan.com (the bigs), & pbskids.org (the littlest). the bigs and i have been working on the clues and missions at 39clues.com, too - they're loving the books, and this is a fun continuation.

but seriously?  these boys need to get outside and burn off some *serious* energy. there's been a lot of running around in circles through the house.  wrestling (as pictured in the last post).  and a fair amount of crankies, which is just no fun. we *all* need a little more sun and warm!

(ps : i'm getting my last march studio calico sneaks ready to post...  so check back tomorrow for another peek ;)

amid the chaos

 

...he drinks his juice.

and we have a winner! =)

random.org says:

and some careful counting (twice) tells me that keshet is the winner. =)

keshet - please email me at the address to the left, and i will get your info to kelly!!

kelly posted some sneaks for her beginnings class on her blog - if you're still on the fence about signing up, maybe they will push you over the edge. =)

fuji friday - lunch date

me + the littlest.  library + lunch. panera for me, mcd's for him.  though he totally stole my side of mac and cheese. stinker.

have a good weekend, everyone! =)

***don't forget to scroll down a couple posts and enter to win a spot in kelly purkey's beginnings class - i'll be drawing a winner tomorrow morning! =)**

framed! + sneaks

**don't forget to check in on this post to enter to win a spot in kelly purkey's beginnings class - you have till saturday morning to leave a comment!**

i have a confession.  i'm REALLY good at buying prints.  and really terrible about framing / hanging them. my plaster walls are a little intimidating to me when it comes to making holes, and i'm forever standing at target, staring at frames, unable to remember what size / color i need for the print / space.

i'm doing my best to change that.  there's no way i can buy frames for all of the prints i have at once, so i'm trying to get one or two every couple weeks.  i started with these :

 

(sorry for the glare!)  this 12x12 matboard collage of photos was given to me by becky for christmas. two years ago!  ack. i found this 12x12 shadowbox frame at target - perfect.  it had been just leaning against the old window - now it has a a lot more presence.

and this counting birdies print from vol 25 now has a home in sam's room. the "s" still needs to be hung on the wall, but it requires drilling. we'll save that for another day.

and now....  studio calico sneaks. =)

 

this page was in the sneak slideshow, but with a yellow background.  i kinda took it apart and rebuilt it on kraft yesterday.  and i'm glad i did.  this one uses the main kit, quilting bee, and the wedding ring add-on.  i used turquoise maya mist on the background.

this one uses quilting bee + the honeycomb add-on (which, btw, is my fave of the add-ons). the background got a liberal coating of silver plated maya mist.  i LOVE these wood veneer shapes - they are too cool.  i used my 3-in-1 hydrangea punch to make snowflakes - a little trick i've used before. this star confetti punch would have been awesome, too, but i don't have one yet!

there is still a lot more cutting and gluing to be done (and some sewing, with the project kit) - so i will have more sneaks closert to reveal time. =) i've got to turn my attention to a couple of other assignments for the next day or so, and then it will be back to the kit!

class giveaway

it may be wednesday - but i'm just starting my week.  alex and ben were off school monday and tuesday, so it's back to life as usual today.  well, life as usually with a two year old that has a cold - thank goodness there are new episodes of curious george.

but - in much more exciting news - my sweet & talented friend kelly purkey has asked if i'd like to giveaway a spot in her beginnings class to one of my readers. here's the info she sent me about her class :

Beginnings is a five day class that will help you go through the process of starting with a single inspiration piece and finding ways to use it to create a complete layout.  Each day we will cover a different dose of inspiration...

• Photos
• Products
• Color Schemes
• Found Items
• Magazine + Books

Starting March 1st, I'll deliver a PDF and video to your email inbox full of tips, ideas, samples, and steps.  All of the layouts will be brand new, never before seen pages created just for the class.  There will also be a separate blog where you can ask questions and start discussions or share tips with others in the class.  By sending the information through email, you'll be able to print off the PDFs and move through the class at your own pace.

******
sounds good, yes?? i love the concept behind this class - figuring out how to start a page can be one of the hardest parts of the process! to enter to win a spot, just leave me a comment.  i'll do a random drawing the morning of saturday, feb 20th and announce the winner. good luck!!

all you need is love

happy valentine's day! =)

ben, btw, lost another tooth this morning. =)

 

no pics of sam i am, he's been a cranky little devil the last couple days.  you don't want to see that. we've been busy enough that his naps have been out of whack - i'm hoping a good one this afternoon will cure what ails him.

 

i wrapped the boys v-day presents (books all around - 39 clues for alex, elephant and piggie for sam, and nate the great for ben) in the kraft bags that my studio calico kits come in. alex got cherry mist, ben got blue raspberry, and sam got orange.

the tags are just simple shipping tags stamped with their initial with my carter alphabet stamps. alex's is in red brilliance ink, ben's is ranger broken china, and sam's is ranger spiced marmalade.  i added a bit of 7gs paper tape and stapled them together with my tiny attacher before sticking them to the wrapped package.

 

to wrap matthew's gift, i sprayed vintage sheet music with cherry maya mist, and then added a punch fabrip from sc's anthology and a typed tag.

 

and what valentine's day is complete without sprinkles??? =)

this is what i got matthew, courtesy of etsy.  gotta love etsy. =)  he got me the three pillow from pottery barn that i've been admiring and a book by maira kalman - i adore her illustrations. we're putting off going out till next week when it's less crazy.  tonight we're celebrating by having 2 extra kids spend the night - LOL.

i hope you all have a happy hearts day!!