Class Giveaway Winner + Sneaks!

nicolesamuels — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:24:57 +0000

First, I want to announce the lucky winner who will get a spot in Amy Tan’s Stretch Your Kit class….

Renza Submitted on 2012/01/17 at 5:30 pm

Thanks for the opportunity! So many kits untouched in my house!

Congrats, RENZA! You’ll love it, I’m sure!

And now on to some sneak peeks of February’s kit, Daydream Believer. I got the Lady Lane, Pleasant Valley, and Stepping Stone add ons along with a couple must have shop items (the new Dear Lizzy stuff and the 6×6 paper pad from MME!)

Thanks for taking a peek. TGIF!

Class Giveaway!

nicolesamuels — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:19:16 +0000

I think this is going to be such a fabulous class! The whole concept is so useful for anyone who buys kits and even for anyone who just wants to get more use out of their supplies. Here’s the class description:

Are you ready to jumpstart the way you look at supplies? Tired of letting your kits pile up month after month without touching them? Ready to pull out the tools you have on hand and put them to use? Amy Tan is here to help show you how to see the Studio Calico Main kits in new ways and get those supplies onto your pages. She’s ready to share tips and tricks on making your kit supplies stretch to create beautiful page after page.

Known for her playful and innovative pages, Amy is the perfect teacher to help you stretch your kits. She’ll walk you through ideas for breaking open those brown paper bags and seeing your kits in a fun new way. Amy and Studio Calico kits… what a great combination!

Amy is joined by creative powerhouses Kelly Goree, Celine Navarro, and Jen Jockisch who will all share inspiration for using ONLY the Studio Calico Main kit. You’ll see their process for getting started on a layout, selecting which supplies to pull from the kits, and tips for using their favorite tools and techniques.

START DATE: FEBRUARY 1, 2012

REGISTRATION ENDS: JANUARY 31, 2012

PRICE: $30.00

I have one spot to give away to one lucky gal. Or guy! Just leave a comment on this thread and I’ll pick a winner on Thursday. Good luck! (and please note that you won’t be able to register after the 31st of January…so sign up soon!)

I also wanted to share some crafty stuff I made for Echo Park Paper a little bit ago. I was a guest designer for them last month and shared my pages here already, but I did a few extra projects for them as well and I forgot to share those!

This page uses their Holly Jolly line. I love the fun colors and designs!

This card uses Winter Park. I just wish we got more snow here so I could have done a snow-themed page with this line!

And then finally this little card uses Times and Seasons. I haven’t been one to jump on the mustache bandwagon, but these little stickers were really cute and made me think of those mustache stick things people use in photo booths, etc. So I went with it!

Hope your day is a good one! And don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to WIN!

I did it! Project Life, week 1.

nicolesamuels — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:34:32 +0000

I have to admit… I was a little anxious about sitting down to do this. The first week of Project Life. I missed a couple days of photos over the weekend b/c I was so busy finishing up my photo-a-day album from 2011 and I didn’t know what I was going to fill those spots with. Turns out it worked just fine. I had Cate’s spelling test, which she was so proud of and wanted to keep. And to fill in the last Sunday, I found a photo online of the football game we watched on Sunday and printed that out. Yay! All the slots filled up! I used some these brushes by Ali Edwards for the days of the week on the photos. Nothing else too exciting. I think I’m going to keep it pretty streamlined and simple. If I’m digging through my stash each week to find lots of bits and pieces to add, I think it will just stress me out. Instead I’ll add things digitally as I am printing my photos. Easy. At least that’s my plan for the moment!

It’s hard to get good pics of these with the page protectors and all. Hopefully these are clear enough!

Basic Grey’s Kissing Booth!

nicolesamuels — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:46:08 +0000

I love Valentine’s Day themed goodies. I don’t have a ton of photos to go with them, but the combo of pinks, reds, and hearts just makes me happy. You can imagine how excited I was then when I saw the new release from BasicGrey. KISSING BOOTH! It’s so gorgeous and the embellishments are so darn cute! I made two layouts with it so far….

You’ve Got Mail: I didn’t a have a photo to go with this story. Well, I do have a photo, but I resized it for web and failed to save the original. oops. So when I printed it, it was all yucky looking. I opted instead to just use the mailbox chip embellies as a stand in for the real mailboxes I lack a good photo of. It works!

One: Isn’t my niece Ella just the sweetest? Look at those eyes! These are a couple shots I got of her on her first bday and I thought these colors in Kissing Booth worked really well with them.

I’ll have another Kissing Booth layout to share next month on the BG Blog. I just love this line!

Happy New Year!

nicolesamuels — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:27:12 +0000

I hope your 2012 is off to a great start! It feels really good to be back into routines here, while also starting new things like Project Life, a new Photo-A-Day, and a new gym membership. I hope I can keep up with all 3 of those! Anyways, I have a SC layout to share… using Autumn Press.

First Day: I punched a bunch of circles from different papers. Easy way to mix a bunch of patterned papers on your page. Supplies: Steamer Trunk, Maple Syrup, Preserves, Frolic, Bookplate Stickers, 6×6 Label Stickers, Die cut border stickers

I also have a Basic Grey layout to share. I found this idea on Pinterest, to fold a half circle of paper back and forth to form a tree. It worked really well with double sided paper. You can read more about it on the BG blog.

Last Day for Photo-A-Day!

nicolesamuels — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:59:40 +0000

Just a quick reminder to sign up today for my class. Registration ends today and the pdf will be sent to your inbox tomorrow. I think you’ll find this is a great value for the price… a lot of information in the pdf, input and examples from 7 awesome contributors, a message board for daily inspiration/encouragement, and 2 chats with yours truly. I can’t wait to get started tomorrow!

Project Life!

nicolesamuels — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:57:38 +0000

I decided to jump on board the bandwagon and attempt Project Life this year. I was hesitant about it given the fact that I’m already strapped for time and that I wasn’t sure I’d like the pocketed look of the pages. But I love the concept and it fits perfectly with the photo-a-day project that I will continue in 2012. So, I asked for the Clementine core kit for Christmas and got some of the page protectors and I’m giving it a go! I worked on my title page last night and I have to say… I really like it! I know the photo printing will be the hard part and keeping up with that will be a challenge. But hopefully, I’ll get it done. I used the freebie file from Cathy Z on Becky’s blog for my “Samuels/Project Life” title along with some of the PL cardstock and a 6×12 page protector. (I would link it, but my computer keeps freezing up at Becky’s blog right now!) Also used my Cameo to cut some cute little banner phrase for the one photo.

Now I need to order a binder. I was going to use one I had left over, but I think I might need a more durable one… we’ll see. Thanks for stopping by!

County Fair and two winners

nicolesamuels — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:11:24 +0000

It’s time to share my County Fair pages! The January kit at Studio Calico is live and it is beautiful, as always. But first I want to share the winners of the two giveaways I had last week. I said I’d draw a winner on the 24th, but a nasty stomach bug for Christmas and then an extra long trek home yesterday (thank you D.C. traffic!) has sort of sucked up all my free time since Christmas Eve. Ugh. But at long last I have two winners! The winner of the Echo Park Paper collection pack of her choice is…… #7, Jennifer! The winner of the Photo A Day class giveaway is……..#22, Donna B! Congrats ladies and I’ll send you an email shortly with info. Thank you for all the comments on both those posts… I love reading them.

Now, back to County Fair! I got three add ons this month, Kissing Booth, Shooting Gallery, and Photo Booth. I loved them all pretty equally to be honest. My first layout is my main kit only one.

You: I knew when I saw that woodgrain paper that I wanted to use this photo since it’s mostly wood slats in the pic. I thought it would mesh in a cool way. Well… I struggled with this one forEVER. I just couldn’t get it right for whatever reason and finally just settled with it as it. I used my brand new Cameo to make the circle die cut and then misted over that to tone down the white cardstock. Supplies: County Fair, Silhouette Cameo, adhesive foam circles, glue glider pro, Mister Huey’s Clay

Dear Valentine: I love Valentine themed stuff! This page is just a bunch of red, pink, hearts, and love. I used the Cameo to cut out the heart/flower design and my heart layering punch to add some dimension to the background. Supplies: Kissing Booth, County Fair, Silhouette Cameo, adhesive foam circles, glue glider pro, heart layering punch, JBS cough syrup ink

Hot Shot: This is one of my faves this month I think. I just love these pics of Will and the cowboy/bulleye theme…perfect and so fun. I stamped the bullseye design on the paper and then hand stitched around it for a different look. Supplies: Shooting Gallery, Fiskars fingertip knife, Rusty Keys Chalk ink, Brad Setter, JBS Spice Tin ink, adhesive foam circles, glue glider pro

Photography: Once I figured out how I wanted this page to look, it came together pretty quickly. I found a shutter symbol image online, blew it up to the size I wanted in word, printed it out, cut it out and then traced the pieces onto different patterned papers. Very easy! Supplies: County Fair, Kissing Booth, Shooting Gallery, and Photo Booth, adhesive foam circles, glue glider pro, Brad Setter, heart layering punch, JBS Lemon Drop, Black Stazon

And that’s it! Enjoy your last few days of 2011… I hope to be back soon with my cover page for Project Life!

Echo Park Paper Co. Guest Designer (and another giveaway!)

nicolesamuels — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:10:06 +0000

I was so excited to get an email from Echo Park Paper Co. a couple months back asking me to guest design for them in the month of December. They generously sent me some goodies to work with and I really love the layouts I made with them. Their collection packs really make it easy! First I created this layout with their ”For the Record” collection. I loved the For The Record sticker and wanted to use that as my title. I took screen shots of my Shuttercal calendars and then merged those together in photoshop. (sounds more complicated than it was!) I wanted a bunch of small photos to represent the 365 in my photo a day. Then I used the packaging in the collection (that shows all the different patterns in the pack) as a border along the bottom of the page. Quick and easy!

Next I worked with the “Happy Days” collection and it was perfect for these pics from the park. Love the bright happy colors in this line!

Finally, I used the “Seasons Greetings” collection with some photos from our town’s Christmas parade. I made some large holly leaves out of patterned paper and handstitched around them for some extra dimension. I love that subway art style sticker embellie.

Be sure to stop by their blog for lots of inspiration and to see their newest collections. I love the boys’ one!

If you’re a fan of Echo Park, you’ll love this next part…. Echo Park is letting one of my lucky readers pick out and receive a collection pack of their choice! So, leave a comment on this post and if you win, be ready with your fave collection. I’ll draw a winner on the 24th.

(And don’t forget to enter the Photo-A-Day class giveaway here. I’ll draw a winner from that on the 24th as well.)

Merry Christmas! And a special thank you to Echo Park!

Photo-A-Day class giveaway!

nicolesamuels — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:43:31 +0000

I promised a giveaway for a spot in my Photo-A-Day class that starts January 1st and here it is! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this class. I started photo-a-day January 1st, 2011 and have gained so much from the experience…beyond the priceless moments caught on “film”. If you are interested in seeing my project, just click on the photo-a-day link on the sidebar. I’m working on assembling my photos into a book after the new year. Cannot wait to get them all printed together! Anyways, to read more about the class, click here. There are 7 amazing ladies who helped contribute their photos, ideas, tips, and inspiring creations to the class as well. I hope you’ll join us in this project…. sign ups end December 31st!

Now, if you’d like a chance to win a spot in the class, just leave a comment here on this post and I’ll draw a winner on the 24th. Good luck!