displaying the final products

well it was certainly an eventful reveal night at studio calico last night! according to the numbers, the add on HONEYCOMB sold out in 30 minutes when it went up for sale for the subscribers at noon on the 27th and in a wee 3 minutes when it became available at midnight on the 28th. lesson learned? become a subscriber. send and email to waitinglist@studiocalico.com to start your subscription. really, you won't be sorry. the main kit quilting bee is also sold out but you can still get wedding ring, patchwork, more patterned paper, add on patterened paper and vanilla, kraft, and calico paper. but hurry :) i'm thinking if the other things sold out so quickly, there may not be too much time left on these as well.

this is what i did with the project kit patchwork. i used my pinking shears to trim all the edges of each triangle, i also used it to cut two circles for my title. i sewed the two circles together, leaving a little opening to stuff it with batting, then stitched it and added some hand stitching. i should have stamped my title and bird before hand, but wasn't thinking linearly at the time. it worked to do it after it was stuffed, but it would have been easier to think ahead :) i you choose to make a mini, you'll want to attach the MM felts with stitches or i suggest zip dry glue. it will hold the flowers in place beautifully. i used the tweets stamp through out because i LOVE those little birds. for only $3.50, it's definitely worth it's weight in gold. i also used the storytime alpha for my title and hero arts mini alpha for my journaling. i stamped with the timber stazon, but you could also use jet black. i recommend this ink because it's not water soluble so it won't bleed into the canvas. or into the paint when you paint it :) i used claudine hellmuth's blank canvas. al my ribbons and fabrics were finish snipped with these tim holtz scissors. if you don't already have a pair or two, please do yourself a favor. they are amazing. they cut ribbon and flosses like butter, they can snip through tougher things, like sequins. i thought i'd lost mine so i bought a second pair. then i found the first, of course. but i wouldn't have less than two pair. they are the best scissors. not great for fussy cutting, because they are self sharpening and can leave a serrated edge if you don't use them correctly. but in a bind i do use them too :) one more thing. i misted each triangle with maya mist's orange, but the photos didn't transfer as well, so i took some of the blank canvas paint, painted over the mist, then wiped it off with a tissue. it left enough of a layer to give the photo a stronger presence.

I did some quasi-quilting for the tops of the triangles. i'll show you what i did someday :) this mini captures some of the photos from our second trip to a beach on the southern shore of WA state. it's called, well if i tell you then you might go there. it's the most wonderfully empty beach i've ever seen, so i'm not going to tell you :P westport. i can't be that mean. it's a place my family loves and could spend forever walking the beach, flying kites, just being. it's magical.









this is my lift of the very talented jenni hufford. i would show you her layout, but it was just picked up for publication and therefore i can't share it here. mine was different enough that when you see hers, you'll still be surprised. it was fun to try a two pager that was so funky. she had lots of photos, lots of tilting, and yet stayed very clean. i really admire that. i appreciate jenni's inspiration over at studio calico, her layouts always catch my eye. this uses both the sold out kits. sorry. the mist is also sold out, but just to let you know, it is bubblegum. matches the rose ribbon perfectly.

and finally, what's probabaly my favorite layout because i just let loose and played, while listening to the mighty mighty bosstones station on pandora.
did i mention how much i love the tim holtz crackle paint? :) i just have to show you again. i bought the pewter and it's SHINY! that makes me smile. and that mist is turquoise, which happy day, is not sold out :)