it's that time again! studio calico may kit: planetarium

I really enjoyed the color scheme this month!  There's a touch of a nautical flair, but it's so flexible, too. And the navy blue details are delish.

If you haven't stopped by to see the Planetarium collection of kits and add-ons, here you go:

Yum Yum Planetarium, Really Gotta Get You Some

I ordered the Main Kit, plus the Orion and Lyra add-ons.  I also picked up the Project Life kit, and some of those goodies ended up on my layouts this month.  It's ok.  My PL album doesn't mind sharing.

Much.

The digital shop has tons of fun stuff, too.  I used more of the items from the printable sheets on my layouts this month than I ever have before.  May need to print them off again.  Because while my PL album doesn't mind sharing, it DOES mind being left out.

Very much.

Here is what I put together from the gorgeous Planetarium kit (and it's equally gorgeous counterparts):

Details for what supplies I used where can be found in my Creative Team gallery, which can be found right here:

G's gallery

The rest of the team put together a stunning display, so do check them out, as well.  Thanks for stopping by!  :)

fool me once...

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!  Hope you all are on your toes and not falling prey to any countless number of pranks and shenanigans.

I, however, have been victimized.

I'm rambling around the house today, getting chores done.  (No, that's not an April Fool's joke.  That part is real.   Shut up.)  And as I'm walking through the upstairs hallway, I notice a smell coming from the end of the hall near the kids' rooms.  An off smell.  A smell that instantly strikes fear in my mommy heart that I'm about to find something fuzzy and damp and in some state of decomp that used to be a food item or a clothing item and now is some zombie combination of the two.

So I go looking.  And sniffing.  (Yes, sniffing.  And yes, I probably DID look stupid, thanks for asking.)

Sniff.  Sniff.  Not in Emma's room.  Sniff sniff sniff.  Shockingly, not in Sean's room.  Huh.  Wonder what the heck Kyle's been up to?  Sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff.  No, don't see any wet clothes or forgotten fruits on the floor.  What ever could it...

HOLD UP.

HOLD THE FREAKIN' PHONE.

OMG.

This is a picture of Kyle's pillow.  Which was, as you might guess, on Kyle's bed.  Kyle's bed is a favorite hang out for the cats during the day, and especially our sweet kitty Hops.  Hops is sick.  He's got progressive kidney disease, and well, we're watching him closely and loving him lots.  Enjoying our remaining time with him.

And when I saw this?

I thought our time with poor ol' Hops had just ground to a halt.

It was definitely liquid, but it was viscous.  Red tinged.  Looked very much like a GI bleed from my people nursing days.  OMG, my poor kitty.  And which end of kitty produced this horrifying mess?  I shuddered to imagine either possibility.  No real win, either direction.  Whoever let this biomass go wasn't feeling at all in a good way.

As I walked to the bed, I steeled myself to make the call to the vet.  You know.  THAT call.  That horrible, sucky call.

And I hadn't yet turned off my investigative sniffer, so as I picked up the pillow and realized I wasn't reeling over from the God-awful smell that is typically associated with a GI bleed, I stopped a second.

And took a closer look.

And, yes.  Took a closer sniff.

(Hey.  I'm a mom.  And a pet owner.  And a former nurse.  I'm not afraid to sniff something to get to the bottom of a mystery.)

Sniffed again, and I'll be damned.  I got a craving for Famous Dave's beef brisket.

It was barbecue sauce.

Now I'm dealing with an odd combination of emotions:

1) Overwhelming relief that I wouldn't be saying goodbye to my ailing cat today.

2) That I want to strangle a Nelson child for scaring me so and not to mention for ruining a pillow case and the pillow that resides within.

3) That I'm a teensy bit proud of the Nelson child who did such a fool hardy and dangerous thing to prank his (her???) mom and/or brother this way.  (They probably didn't realize how fool hardy and dangerous an undertaking it was to pull this prank, but based on how much I want to strangle them, they'll understand after the fact what a risk taker they were.)  (Oh yes.  They will.)

It'll be interesting to see which Nelson kid did it.  Was it Kyle pranking me, knowing I'd go in his room some time today to deliver laundry?  Not likely.  He and I were rushed getting out of the house for an early class this morning.  Was it Sean, pranking his brother after he'd left for said early class, and not considering that it would in fact be laundry-delivering and heart-attack-having Mom who would actually discover it?  Or was it Emma, stepping completely out of her wheelhouse in an effort to prank one brother while framing the other one?

Intriguing.

All I know is?  Some April fool in this house is buying a new pillow and case.  And a bottle of BBQ sauce.

And as to the mystery smell that got me searching in the first place...

Still haven't found it.

Lord help me.

studio calico april kit: spencer's!

Named after a local coffee shop in the Studio Calico home base of Kentucky, Spencer's is a lively blend of colors that will awaken your senses and energize your scrapping.  :)

Ok, so I tried.

Cheesy caffeinated references aside, the April kit, Spencer's, is sure to delight.  I totally enjoyed the bright colors this month, and while the kit didn't strike me as a personal favorite right away?  As I got to working with it, I found myself further and further inspired.  I made 9 layouts with this kit, which is a personal record.  It's huge.  Unheard of, even.  So while my conscious brain might not have considered it a top personal favorite, my unconscious brain disagreed.  :)  So much fun, especially once you throw the fully loaded Front Porch Blend and Daily Grind add-ons into the mix.

Here is my layout that I created using only the Spencer's Scrapbook Main Kit:

This next one was made using only the Front Porch Blend add-on (plus white cardstock for the background):

This next one was a bit of an experiment for me, as I used the cityscape image from the Spencer's Scrapbook Kit Digital Stamps from the Digital Shop to create the background.  I also used the speech bubble images from the Spencer's Quote Digital Template.  I printed it all out, and then I finished it off with some embellishments from the Daily Grind add-on.  No patterned paper at all!  Craziness.

The rest of my pages were all made with combinations of the main Spencer's Scrapbook Kit, plus the Daily Grind and Front Porch Blend add-ons.  Just mixed it all up.

For more information about how I created these pages, you can check out my Studio Calico Design Team gallery, and I'll give you the run-down.  :)  And while you're at it, check out the projects by the rest of the team, too.  As always, they blew me away this month.  Thanks for stopping by!

a stitch fix review

Stitch Fix is all the rage right now...at least in my little circle of the internet.  I've been reading so much about it lately, so I thought I'd give it a go.  I hate shopping, and when I do shop, I usually end up buying different versions of the same t-shirts.  So this program could be really beneficial for me.

If you haven't heard of Stitch Fix, it's a new company out of California that serves as a personal shopper for its customers.  You take a survey about your fashion likes and dislikes, give them your sizes and preferred price ranges, and they choose 5 pieces for you and mail it to your home.  There is a $20 "styling fee", that if you choose to purchase any of the items they send, gets applied to the purchase price.

You have 3 days to try on the clothes and decide if you'd like to purchase.  Whatever you'd like to buy, you pay for by logging on to your account and paying the balance online.  What you don't want to keep, you put in an included, postage-paid envelope, and drop it off at the post office.

If you DO choose to purchase every piece, there's a 25% discount on the total amount.

Pretty sweet, yes?  I thought so!  Enticing enough to experiment, anyway.

I thought I'd share photos of the items they sent me for my first "fix", so ya'll could see the type of stuff they picked out for me this time.  I'm not affiliated with Stitch Fix in any way, nor do I receive compensation for reviewing their service.  But should you decide to sign up with them and use my code, I will get a $25 credit towards my next purchase.  That would be really cool.  And I'd love you to pieces for it.  :)

Here's my code:  http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3064644

Whatever.  No pressure.

Anyway.  Here's the rundown of what came in my first delivery:

This blouse was sitting on top of everything else, and my first reaction was to shield my eyes from the onslaught of color.  I adore color.  I just don't wear it very often.  :)  So the bright coral, combined with the fact that that this is much dressier than something I'd usually wear, made me give this a no at first.  But the hubs made me try it on, and I'll tell ya, I actually considered keeping it.  It could easily have been dressed up or down, and yes, the color is KAPOW, but with a white tank underneath, it toned down a lot.  It was still a bit out of my wheelhouse, tho', and since it was $68, I decided to pass.  I would pretty much have to want to have a shirt's babies to pay that much for one.   Just ok?  Not gonna happen.

This one was again dressier than my norm.  But as I mentioned before, my norm is t-shirts.  The whole point is to branch out and challenge myself, fashion-wise.  So it looks nice on the hanger, but when I tried it on, I actually snorted, I laughed so hard.  For those of you who don't know me, I've got a slightly taller stature than a Keebler Elf.  I'm short.  And bonus?  My legs are downright stumpy.  So when I put on this tunic and it came down to my knees?  I looked like I got into Mommy's closet and was playing dress up.  No.  I gave them feedback that in the future, tunics are forbidden.  ;)

Blech.  What did I hate more...the variegated orange yarn or the bulky coppery buttons on the shapeless patch pockets?  It's a toss up.  But since I was committed to trying everything on, regardless of my first impression, try it on I did.  And I was suddenly overcome with the urge to go out on my porch and yell at kids to get off my lawn.  Man, this would be hot paired with house slippers to wear to the grocery store.  Ooh!  And I could accessorize with curlers in my hair and a pack of cigs in those gloriously huge and sloppy pockets!

NO.

(If you received this sweater in one of your fixes and you loved it, my apologies.  It looked downright dreadful on me.  I'm sure you'll rock it.  Different strokes and all that.)

I wasn't crazy about this little blazer at first sight.  Didn't love the cut, and the close-set stripes were a little bit seizure-inducing.  And when am I going to wear a blazer, for heaven's sake?  Not likely.  Not ever.  Back in the bag it went.

So this infinity scarf is my one keeper from the delivery.  It's so soft and the color is more fall than spring, but I know I'll wear it to pieces.  Perfect.  Love it.  Sold.

I tried on all that stuff, and kept a scarf.  Typical.  

Everything else got packed in the prepaid envelope and I threw it in the bin at the post office.  Done and done.  I gave feedback as to why I didn't keep the items, and hopefully, as they get to know me better, I'll have more success with "fixes" that are more to my taste!  My next fix is scheduled for April, and I'm already chomping at the bit.

Don'tcha just love fun mail?  And not having to go to the mall?  Awesome, awesome combo.  

self talk

Using the happy colors in the Studio Calico Snippets line to create a little pep talk for myself.  You know...scrap style.  ;)  

I'm always telling the kids how fabulous they are and how they can accomplish whatever they put their minds to.  That all it takes is effort.  But how are they going to believe me if I don't believe in myself and lead by example?  

I'm truly a work in progress.  

But I'm trying to be better.  

Swear.

 

It's time to be sneaky...

I've had my April Studio Calico kit in my hot little hands for just over a week, and I've already created 5 pages.  That's huge.  Trust me.

Speaking of huge, the amount of stuff in the main kit and add-ons this month is pure craziness.  Like I said, I've done 5 pages, 5 rather product-heavy pages, and I have a metric ton of stuff left.  I think it only behooves me to create 5 more.

(Yeah, right.  Me, create 10 pages out of one kit?  The world would be thrown off it's axis, the weather would change with devastating results, and I couldn't live with being responsible for such upheaval.)

But maybe I'll do one more.  :)

Anyway.  Here's what I've been up to so far with the April "Spencer's" kit...

Come on back on the 28th to see the full-sized versions.  That viking helmet you might have glimpsed there in the 4th shot?  You're going to want to see that in it's full glory.  It's rad.

In the mean time, if the ground starts tipping a little to the left and it gets much colder or hotter or wetter or drier than is seasonally normal?  It's not my fault.  You can't prove it.

Studio Calico made me do it.

welcome to neverland

The March Studio Calico kit and DT gallery is now live for subscribers, and will go live for all the public at midnight EST tonight!  The DT gallery being live for the Subscriber Early Reveal is a new feature this month, so if you subscribe already, head on over and take a look at the Creative Team galleries.  So much inspiration!  Once again, I am humbled to be a part of this amazingly talented group.  They've produced some beautiful work.

If you're not yet subscribing to one of the kits offered by Studio Calico, the link I provided above won't actually work until midnight tonight, but after that, you should be golden.  :)

So, I said back in January that Block Party was hands down my favorite SC kit of all time.  And I know it's only 2 months later, but Block Party already has a tie.

Neverland is GORGEOUS.

It has such a playful combination of colors and patterns.  Good for both masculine and feminine pages. The main kit has an exclusive "mini" Mister Huey spray ink, and an exclusive mask.  If you haven't yet tried misting and masking?  Here's your chance.  It's SO fun.  And the mini bottle gives you enough to experiment before taking the plunge and purchasing full-sized bottles.  Win-win.  The color of the mist is a beautiful heather-grey.  Can't go wrong with heather-grey.

Here are the pages I created for the gallery this month.  I used the Main Kit, and also the Hook and Lost Boys add-ons.  The first page, "Right Back" uses only the Main Kit, and the rest of the pages use all of the supplies mixed together.  I used a couple of journaling cards from the March Project Life kit on the "Welcome to My Life" page.

The bow I used on the "Right Back" page is folded out of white paper that I had first sprayed with the grey mini Mister Huey.  See?  It's a beautiful color.  Love.

I hope you enjoy the Neverland kit as much as I have.  And seriously...reserve a good chunk of time to spend going through the Creative Team gallery.  You won't regret it.