March Designer in the Spotlight – Ashley Goldberg

Hello Everyone!  I am excited to be bringing you our March Designer in the Spotlight!  This month our kit featured the Goldie collection designed my Ashley Goldberg!

You can see Ashley’s designs everywhere from Target to the Land of Nod and most recent with Parasol.  We were beyond thrilled when we saw the Goldie collection!  Ashley has taken some time out of her day for a little Q&A to share with everyone!  Please say Hello to Ashley Goldberg!

Tell us a little bit about your creative process and what inspires you?

My creative process these days is centered a lot around deadlines. Because there are both deadlines and administrative work to manage. I try to let myself be creative when I feel creative. That has been a struggle for me. Normally, it’s answer emails, go over contracts, meetings, etc and THEN create. But I think it’s more efficient to create work when I have that creative pull to create.

It can’t always work quite like that. We can’t abandon laundry because we want to create BUT if you can do that on some days I think you may get some great work made : )

 I am also making an effort now to try to build time back into my week time to create art just for me. Let there be more exploration and mistakes and discoveries. That’s the only way to next place creatively.

Where and when are you most creative?

That’s easy! In my house from late afternoon to late at night. But man, I wish my answer was early in the am!!

What are some of your must have supplies?

If I had NOTHING else it would be a sketchbook and black pens. My extended version of that is access to a computer with photoshop, a scanner, and a wacom tablet . A lot of my process professionally happens digitally. For my personal art there is a lot of acrylic paints (A mix of professional and craft paints), a ton of brushes, pens, and pencils.

And I am a product dabbler and hoarder. I like to buy products that intrigue me and see if I can incorporate it into my work.

Have you always had a love for design and can you share where we can find more of your work?

Yes, yes, yes. I can’t remember a time in my life when design and art and even a love of product and product development weren’t a passion.

 The best place to find me is on instagram: ashley goldberg. I can also be found on periscope under ashley goldberg and I am trying to snap chat more and there I am ashleyashleyg 

and of course my website: ashleygoldberg.com

3 Things people probably do not know about you

3 things people probably don’t know about me. Hmmm. That’s a good question.

1) I almost never go to movies in the theater and I don’t watch a lot of movies. I don’t know why, I just never have. And that is really surprising to a lot of people. But if my fiancee starts watching something, I get sucked in pretty easily.

2) I love making jewelry. I haven’t in a long time. But I still love it and collect beads here and there.

3) I’m really intimidated by dslr cameras. I have one and I use it, but I feel it’s still really intimidating to me.

Favorite:

book

that’s tough. There are so many to chose from! The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore  was an interesting read in the last year.

movie

I don’t actually have one. My answer to my be explained by the last question ; )

candy

peanut m&m’s

drink

coffee!

music

mostly hip hop (anything from 90’s to now) and same with “alternative” music for lack of a better word.

color

-white, black, and light pink. all equally.

tv show

My answer is I like GOOD tv and I like BAD tv. I could binge watch anything from the wire to ghost whisperer. I am currently watching the OJ show and high maintenance.

smells

camp fire, cut grass, pretty much smells associated with outdoors and change of seasons.

I read on your website that you like to go thrifting!  What are one or two of your favorite finds?

I do love thrifting! I have many many many favorite thrift finds. When I was 18 and moved into my first apartment I bought a $70 (it seemed so much at the time!) electric blue velvet, tufted sofa. It was crazy and I both loved and hated it. I had it for several years and when I moved to portland and sold it a coffee house bought it, so it lives on and that just makes me happy

When I bought my house I was on the hunt for these very specific mid-century fireplace tools. And yes, I know that sentence sounds a bit strange ; ) But I was looking on eBay and craigslist and I couldn’t find them for under $250. And then I found the exact set for $2!!!!! That was a good score.

A piece of advise you would give to your younger self.

For international Women’s Day a company I work with often, The Land of Nod, asked me the same thing. My answer was “Pride is not a bad word or feeling. Find something each and every day to be proud of yourself about.”  I am a person who really values humility, so it is sometimes hard to remember that you can still be proud of yourself and be humble and grounded.

The Goldie collection is one of our favorites and the response from our subscribers has been incredible!  Any plans for another collection? 

That’s the best! I love hearing that. Thanks so much! I don’t have another collection like Goldie in the works right now. Although, I LOVE all things paper crafting. But I do have some really fun things in the works that are paper related that I can’t talk about quite yet : ) But I do hope everyone will keep an eye out on my instagram (Ashley Goldberg) for an announcement in the near future.

What was the last thing you took a photo of?

I just checked! And it was a picture of a progress shot in my art journal.

Thank you so much for asking me to do this interview and including my Goldie collection into your March kit. It has been AMAZING and inspiring to see all the ways members have creatively used it.

Ashley thank you so much for sharing with us today we really appreciate it!  Thanks so much for stopping by today to connect with Ashley check out all the social media links listed below!  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Website

Instagram

Shop

Travel Journal Docuementing

Hello Everyone! Sandy here with you today to share my new way of documenting our everyday life!  In the past I have done Project Life pages but this year I decided to give the travelers notebook a try and I am really love it.  Today I want to share a couple pages with you using my notebook and the March Clique Kit that features the Goldie collection!  This kit is amazing and if you are wanting to get your hands on one check it out HERE!  One of my favorite things in this kit is the exclusive ephemera designed by CK Graphic Designer Inna Moreva!  These ephemera packs can be picked up in the shop as well and you are going to love all the super cute designs in this pack!   I used my Instax printer to print the photos off my phone and this makes it super easy and quick to get these moments documented in my notebook!  This printer is light and portable and perfect for on the go!

 

So this is the first week in March and it was Dr. Seuss week!  They had crazy hat day and crazy sock day so these were everyday moments I wanted to document.

 

 

Gabby also lost her first tooth and drew a picture of Dr. Seuss that I kept and cut it down to fit in my notebook.   I love to add little items like this to my notebooks to always remember these moments!  You can find little doodles like this from your children and adding them to your pages just makes it that more special.

 

I backed  the photos with different papers from the March kit!  I love all the black and white and punches of color in this kit!  The super cute french fries are a March add on and are super cute!  There are 6 per package and are the perfect little embellishment to document the photo of the girls at Moe’s!

I also like to add the age next to their drawings!  Have you ever gone through books and asked when was this from!  This way it is documented and when the girls look back at these they will know how old they were at that time!

I also added a few wood veneers from the Pinkfresh Studio Felicity collection available now in the Clique Kit Shop!  Remember you can use my code SANDY10 to get 10% off your purchase of store product!  Here is a look at my completed notebook cover!

This way of documenting is fun, fast and simple!  I love that it fits nicely in my purse or bag and I can document on the go!  Please stay tuned to my YouTube channel for more pages in my notebook later this month!  Thanks so much for stopping today and remember to check out the Clique Kits shop!  The Ck ladies have added a ton of new and fun product including those delicious new watercolors!  Have an amazing day!

 

 

 

 

Student of the Month – Hannah Lemieux

Aloha!! This is Hannah here and I am so excited to be one of the Guest Designers for March!! The “Hell Yeah “ Kit is so much fun to play with. I am loving all the black and white with pops of colors. For the layout I made I decided to go with that concept. Since I love making my backgrounds unique I took one of the Pattern papers and altered it. Yes, i know that sounds kinda scary, right?! I picked the Seven Paper Goldie paper002, which has Amazing black doodled stripes. Now I messed up there definitely was no going back. I broke out my watercolors and started painting more stripes. The Inspiration I had for my background was a shirt I recently bought that was a black and white plaid. I love the the stripes on my plaid shirt are different widths. On my background I played with this thought of making some of the lines wider. Since I had already picked out my papers, I went with twisted citrus in distress ink (watered down to look like watercolor) and some hot pink Heidi Swapp Color Shine for some of the other stripes on the background. I splattered the access of my paint brush in a couple of spots too.

 

I love how it turned out, even though it isn’t perfect. I find that is the key to homemade backgrounds. Embracing the imperfect!! The imperfections often adds to it’s uniqueness.

Now it was time to build the rest of my layout. I knew that I wanted to use three 3×4 size photos that I took recently during a unexpected trip back to visit my family. I took some nature shots of things we definitely don’t see much of in Hawaii, like sumac and birch tress. I knew I wanted to create this layout so my kids could see a little of what I used to see growing up but is so foreign to them.

Because my background was so busy I tried to pick just a few papers that were mostly black and white with pops of colors that were either in my photos or in the background paper I created.

I layered some of the exclusive die cuts pieces made by Pink Fresh Studios in a few areas to draw your eye around my photos. The wash tape also added a nice layer without being to much because you can kinda see through it.

For my title I used one of the pocket page cards from the Paper add by Photo play. The word Wonderful just looked so pretty. I couldn’t help but use it on my layout. I added the word Nature in the Red alphas by Studio Calico. I love these alphas, they are just the perfect size for titles. I only wish they had more of each color.

For my journaling, I waned to do something a little different. Plus with this busy background there wasn’t a lot of space on the main part of the layout to see what I wanted to write. I cut a little off the the sides of the layout and added the patterned paper on plain white card stock. This gave me a little edge around the layout for journaling.

I think it turned out really cool and adds something different to my layout.

Here is a look at the full layout completed.

Thanks for joining us today!! I hope you were inspired!! Don’t forget to come back and see what the other designers are doing with their March “Hell Yeah” kits too.

Aloha, Hannah

March Kickoff

And the Academy Award for Best Actor goes to…

Gotta love that Leonardo DiCaprio! How can you not? And now I would like to thank the Clique for bringing us so much amazing and incredible inspiration every day on social media! You guys are the best! Every day I am blown away by the talent of our subscribers, and by the caring supportive attitudes I see- it makes me happy. It reminds me of the time the Clique Kits girls discussed the type of community we wanted to build to be a part of and make our scrappy home in the future. And we said, “What if instead of asking what if, we said HELL YEAH!”

Hi everyone! I could not be more excited to kick off this month because the March Kit Hell Yeah really, truly, no-for-real is my all time favorite Clique Kit ever made so far! I know, I know…you say that every month, right? But, this month really is special. Inna Moreva, one of Clique Kits graphic designers in collaboration with the rest of the Clique Kits girls exceeded all expectations designing our first ever Clique Kits exclusive 12 x 12 papers and die cut ephemera packs, in addition to the usual cards and flair. With motifs like happy macaroons and french fries, Eiffel towers, abstract painterly patterns, and fresh, funky colors for Spring- this kit is so much fun to play with. Of course Ashley Goldberg’s Goldie collection from 7 Paper forms the backbone of the paper collection and we are just so excited to see what our subscribers are going to create with the March Kit all month long. Make sure you are sharing in the facebook group, and on instagram-please tag us! We love to spot our subscribers sharing! Many who have been discovered have become guest designers and limited edition kit designers!

#Clique Kits

#CKMarchKit

#HellYeah

We would love to have you join the fun with our monthly challenge, which will post live on March 5th. I can’t wait to see the Varsity Design team’s inspiration! Play along for a chance to win a prize!

If you are a blogger, we hope you will join us this month for the monthly Pep Rally on March 23rd. Subscribers and Design Team members alike may participate in the monthly blog share showing one or more projects using the kit of the month. Each participant earns product credit just for doing what you love! There is also a chance to win extra product credits for participating, and invited guests and blog hoppers can win a free kit. This event is a sentinel to mark the reveal of the following month’s kit, with all of the hype, while enjoying the sharing and inspiration of the previous month’s creativity.

In other news this month, the Clique Cards Spring Edition Limited Edition Kit is available for pre-order. This kit is beautiful, and features the My Mind’s Eye On Trend 2 collection by Jen Allyson, and a few surprises. Whether you make cards or not, this kit will not disappoint. The Clique Kits Spring card kit is able to help you stock up on all occasion cards to last throughout the year. Combined with our World Card Making Day card kit and our Holiday Card Kit, this kit rounds out the perfect triad of card kits to complement your monthly subscription. 

You won’t want to miss out on the adorable cactus and macaroon exclusive stamp sets in the shop, plus the latest inks from Altenew. Shop the Clique Cards Spring 2016 and Add Ons section of the store for ideas!

Have you seen all of the new products added to the Clique Kits shop? With new merchandise listed all the time- make sure you follow our blog and follow us on social media so you stay informed!

Did you know that in addition to the main Clique Kits blog (this one) the Clique Kits leadership team also have their own blogs ? There is often so much information to share, news, updates on products, inspiration, previews, and of course projects to share…too much to fit it all in here. Make sure that in addition to following Clique Kits you also follow Gia,  Erica , and Nicole. We would also love it if you would follow all of our fabulous Design Team members! You can find their links here! Simply click on a photo to be connected to the blog! If you have a blog or are active on social media, please share your links and galleries with the Clique!

Let’s get March started and bring it on!  Now can I have a Hell Yeah?!

-xo Gia

 

 

 

Study Hall: Cut File Fun

Hey everyone it is Erica here on the blog today to share my first layout with the March 2016 kit and add ons!  This month the kit features the Goldie collection designed by Ashley Goldberg and we have a great add on paper pack from Photoplay  Paper!

Every Clique kit comes with exclusives each month and one of my favorite exclusives are the cut files!  You can download the file and use the cut files over and over again!  One file can be used in so many different ways making your kit stretch even farther!

One of my favorite things to do with the background cut files is to back them with all the beautiful papers in my kits!  This month I wanted to highlight the add on paper as well so I also cut into these papers!  Making that first cut into a kit is always so hard for me so starting out with a layout like this always helps me just get it done!  I started by pulling out the papers I wanted to use and then cut out enough circles to back the cutfile using my circle punch!  This was very quick and easy to do and then adhered the circles using my Tombow adhesive from the Clique Kits shop!  The Tombow liquid is my favorite because if you let it set for just a minute before sticking it down it is easy to remove if you do not like the placement!  Also liquid glue allows you to wiggle it around a bit and get it just in the right spot!

I also used some of the glassine bag from the kit to back some of the circles!  Might as well recycle some of that packing on our layouts right!  Once all my circles were placed I added some layers behind my photo and adhered to my layout with my Tombow Dot Runner!  With such a busy background I kept the embellishments light adding a few of the exclusive die cuts, some enamel dots and  I also pulled a foam black Thicker from a previous kit add on for my title!  If you have had your eye on the exclusive die cut pack you can grab them now in shop!

The layout came together so quickly and I love the end result!  Another nice thing is I only used a small amount of paper to create this layout but was able to showcase so many of the beautiful papers!

The March paper add on is the perfect match with this kit!  If you have not yet picked it up in the shop we still have some available for you to add to your March kit boxes!  The photo I am documenting is of Sandra and I at CHA!  All of us Clique girls were getting ready to go in and get our badges and of coarse we all took a ton of photos in front of the CHA sign!  This is one of my favorite pics of Sandra and I so I wanted to document it!  Here is a look at my completed layout!

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and my layout using one of the exclusive March cut file!  We would love to see what you are doing with our cut files so please share with us on Facebook or tag us on Instagram!  We have a digital shop filled with fun cut files and printables so head on over and check it out!  Thanks so much for stopping today!  Please remember to follow us on Facebook and check us out in our Facebook group The Clique!  I hope you all have a great day and are enjoying some sunshine where ever you are in the world!