September Kickoff: Your gateway to the holiday season!

Hey there!

It’s Gia with your monthly kickoff post.  I love the fact that from September through December every month brings the joy of ushering in the change of seasons and my favorite holidays.

First and foremost, isn’t the September kit stunning? It was absolutely perfect for all of my photos this month. I have been looking forward to sharing some of the ways I used both kits together this month! I hope you too have been able to get in on both the main and traveler’s notebook kit subscriptions!

 

I just love how this dreamy Fancy Pants Designs paper captures the essence of a road trip exploring the countryside, and these wildflowers on the 1Canoe2 Creekside paper were just calling to be fussy cut and layered!

Plaid is all the rage right now and I loved using it to document the newest love of my life-our new adopted dog Kira.

I didn’t even come close to killing my Sundance main kit before moving on to some TN layouts with a mixture of main kit scraps and the September TN kit! Ashley Horton always knocks it out of the park with her fun trendy collections and I had to break into the TN kit for some llama action! Here’s another peek at it in case you missed it.

I can’t wait to see what you all have made with both of the beautiful September kits.

Here is your official invite to the Clique Kits World Card Making Day online event.  We never require you to purchase a kit to participate in our online community and hope whether you pre-order a card kit or holiday kit or just BYOS you will be there to create with us! We will have sketches to inspire you, challenges to rock, and prizes to be won! This year we are focusing on getting those holiday cards made ahead but you can always use the ideas to create any occasion cards!

Traditional red and green do it for me when it comes to Christmas papers, how about you? I am drooling over this kit just filled to the brim with Simple Stories products because of its fresh take on everything classic! We hope to begin shipping the Clique Cards kit right after the September Kits go out. Please let us know if you order and plan to participate in the World Card Making Day event to be sure we get it to you in time!

Next up you can just feel the vibe of this year’s Clique into the Holidays MEGA limited edition kit, can’t you? Everything you need for everything December is in this phenomenal kit!

Both of our limited edition holiday kits are only here for a short time, while supplies last. They have an unbelievable retail value for the price, and those who have been in on them before will tell you there is no bigger or better value for the holidays. Get all the details in the Clique Kits shop! All of our card and general holiday kits mix and match with those of previous years to extend your stash even further. There are also add ons and digital items designed to coordinate with them perfectly. Check out the Clique Kits Limited edition holiday kits section of the shop for loads of great products!

Don’t worry, we haven’t forgot those other two holidays between summer and Christmas…namely Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Clique Kits has you covered there with new seasonal embellishments and workshops. You can sign up now for either October Bucket List or Documenting Gratitude workshops with kits included! The October Bucket List project will feature exclusive printable embellishments in addition to everything you need to follow along and make 7-8 lush traveler notebook layouts!  For more ideas and inspiration, check out the Clique Project sheets section of the website. 

You may also like to pick up one of these NEW traveler notebook cover sets! These are available by pre-order now and are perfect for doing a gratitude journal or for transitioning your latest traveler notebook inserts from a summer to a fall cover!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Click. Connect. Create.

-xoGia

Art Studio: Back to Basics

Hey everyone!

Melissa here with you today and I’m sharing a clean and simple card using the July Travelers Notebook kit. It truly is a perfect kit to make some cards! Just the right amount of papers and embellishments that are designed for the smaller scale of a Traveler’s Notebook… so, naturally, it would be perfect for cards too!

To go with this post, I also have a process video I’d love to invite you to watch.

Now, normally for these Art Studio posts, I’m always drawn to creating with paints and other “artsy” and messy supplies. Mixed media is always a go to. As I was contemplating what to do for this post, my “teacher hat” came on. I realized, YES… sharing our thoughts and ideas using all that product is awesome but, maybe we need to take it back to the basics and bit and talk about where we go for making sure our projects look pleasing to the eye (while still embracing our individual styles!).

Artists have their founding with the Elements and Principles of Design. Elements are the components and Principles are we organize them… put them in to action, if you will. So, for a little review, here are the Elements of Design: Line, Color, Shape, Form, Value, Space and Texture. Principles of Design are: Balance, Emphasis, Movement, Proportion, Rhythm, Unity and Variety.

Each of these terms are a little self explanatory but, if you’d like to go deeper with their definitions, you can check out this awesome resource at Oberlin.

Here is the card I created using the July TN Kit and contemplating how I use using the Elements and Principles of Design:

It’s a very clean and simple card. But, I thoughtfully used each kit item to create a well composed card. By using symmetrical balance, I utilized the colors and patterns of the papers to also create unity and variety. The flower is clearly the focal point. I also was able to draw attention to the lines and shape of the card design by bringing in rhythm and texture. Where does the emphasis lie? I believe on the flower but,  your eye also is taken on a brief journey to the sentiment and cute little heart up top.

For more thoughts, have a watch of my video below:

You can find the July Pool Party TN Kit here.

Use melissa10 as a discount code while you shop to save 10% on your order!

Here are a couple of close ups of that card so you can see all the lovely details:

Thanks for joining me today!

Share Your Space with Hannah

Aloha!! I think it is every scrappers desire to sit back and take the time to dream up what our perfect craft space is to us. We make our wish lists, and pick out the perfect colors and configure the space a dozen times to best fit our stash.

When we were house hunting last summer, finding a house with a craft room was on my wishlist.  I hit the jackpot, with the house we ended up getting. This smaller closed in porch with surround windows would be my SPACE, all mine! It was a blank canvas for me to figure out how I wanted to use as my inspiration starter.

The first purchase I made was a comfy adjustable chair. I decided on the Grey/Aqua color combo as my palette.

 

This fall my husband surprised me with a really nice and big craft desk. I love it!! It has tons of storage. I also love that it is a really light color so I can film right on top of it when I am recording process videos.

I try to keep it fairly clean, since I am the type of scrapper that is affected by my mess. If my desk gets too cluttered I have mojo issues. Not what you want when you want your space to speak ideas.

I do like to line my window sills with pretty tea cups and dishes (I am a collector of Asian tea pot and cup sets, they make me so happy). I add my die cuts and tiny embellishments to them and then they are ready and at my fingertips when I am creating. I really like to see my supplies so they spark my creativity.

 

I also keep some Project Life type embellishments in this really cute cupcake tin from Crate Paper on my desk top. I keep a small stash of Pocket Page cards in the berry containers when I am working on Project Life. This is new this year since I have started monthly Pocket Page Scrapbooking.

 

My desk has some really nice paper shelves that I like to keep my current kits and collections in. The top is my Clique Kit stuff that I am working on that current month.

All the other shelves house current collections (papers and embellishments) that I may want to scrap with. When I buy more collections or they mostly gone, I separate them by embellishment type and scraps or add them to the plastic kit club bags. I really like to keep my kits and collections together as long as possible. This is how I think when I scrapping, by kit or collection. Even if I mix them I need them to be separate. Only when they are mostly used up I add them with like embellishments for later use.

I really try not to keep a really big stash of stuff. I used to buy stuff every month, but this year I have really slowed my buying to focus on using up most of what I am buying. Plus I only have so much space. I don’t want it cluttered and I can’t store my stuff anywhere else.

My desk drawer holds my most used items scissors, stapler, my fave ink pads, journaling pens (I may have a problem with those), adhesive, and some other odd and end embellies I may want to use. I also add pictures I really want to scrap in this drawer until I scrap them. This way I won’t forget to scrap those most important stories.

I seriously love this view!! My room over looks our backyard, so green.

 

Here is another view of my window view. On a good day I can see the top of Mt. Rainer in it’s snow topped beauty!!

You can see my filming equipment. I film with my iPad Mini, and that gooseneck clamp, holds it really well. It’s adjustable if I need to move it around. I use lots of light if I film at night so I have two extra lamps on my window sill to help distribute the light all around.

This cubed shelf is so amazing!! My Gooseneck clamps on the shelve for filming. I also keep my monthly current layouts on my shelf. I keep them there until I do the voiceovers, incase I need to look at them. It is really cool to see all the stories I have documented on the side. It really inspires me to keep telling our memories and stories, so we don’t forget them. Having three smaller kids, things change so much.

I also keep some old smaller alphas on this shelf. I have a small Crate Paper box for my Clique Kits printables after the month is over. This way I can go back and see if there are any I want to add to my Project Life Spreads.

I really like keeping things at my finger tips. It helps the searching process to a low, I can get so much more done in a shorter time, if I don’t have to run around my room looking for things.

I love all the patterns I could get with the cubes. It holds tons of embellishments and stickers. I can store them and not have to worry about clutter.

This is how I store my embellishments in my cubes. I also have a mixed media cube and a Ali Edwards Story Kits cube. Staying organized helps me find the things I want to add to a layout when I am scrapping. I don’t spend a lot of time searching for things, because I know exactly where they are.

This is my work station.

With a great big pile of layouts (that is what is in the Priority Mail Boxes.) Old layouts that need to go into albums. That is a project for next year, buy a  bunch of albums and fill them up. For now they are going into old mail boxes from my Clique Kits or other scrappy purchases. I may have at least a hundred or two of old layouts from this year and last.

The last owners left this amazing roll top desk, which I love for storing my laptop and silhouette. I really like to have a separate area for writing blogs, editing photos and doing voice overs. This helps separate my creative space from my work space.

Also being housed on my desk is my newest purchase, this really beautiful Singer sewing machine. I solely bought this machine to sew on layouts, is that bad?!  I will however need to learn to sew now, so who knows what I will end up sewing on in the future 😉

 

Lastly I want to share one last thing in my scrap space that I really love. Because of all the windows in my room I don’t really have a place for an inspiration wall, so I got this board. I like to switch out sketches I need to use, things I want to incorporate on my layouts. I also have some fabric on it, trying to plan out a future curtain project I am starting this summer for my craft space.

I am also finally painting my room, so I have some paint samples trying to see what I think will be the best for my space. I really want to digest this, because I probably won’t repaint it for a while. I want to it be great for picture taking and filming, but also inspire me so I am more productive in my space.

I love to come and just sit in my space too, I can see so much nature. It can get distracting but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The only thing that would make this space perfect is a ocean view, LOL. I can’t have everything though, so I am so thankful for this amazing space.

Yearbook | DREAM BIG

 

Hello Crafty Friends!

Nathalie here with a new project featuring this month’s super gorgeous Aquarelle main kit.   Seriously, this kit is so versatile, full of color, and watercolor designs that  are perfect for documenting all your cherished memories.

 

 

I love butterflies, and the “Mariposa” paper included in the kit was the starting point for this  layout.   However, I went ahead and search the Clique Kits digital store for a butterfly cut file, and found this one from January 2016.  The combination of color and clean lines of the butterflies in this project bring the page to life.

 

 

I love capturing my kids and littles growth, however, i always chose to photograph the difference in their progress using a fixed object.  This time, after a quick shopping trip to Michael’s, both, my daughter and niece -unknowingly to each other- bought the same bracelet.  “DREAM BIG” is what the beads in the bracelet spelled; and i used the bracelet as my point of reference to compare their developments -they are 6 years apart after all-   So sit, and enjoy a compressed version of  how this page came together:

 

 

For this page, I chose to create a watercolor background using a few Prima watercolor palettes.  The color splatters can easily be created by sprinkling some water drops, followed by some ink splatters (on top of the water ones), and then using a round brush connecting the color and water droplets together.

 

Though I created the background with a different design in mind, the change of orientation of the background helps the overall look of the page.

 

 

 

The cut out butterflies were backed with vellum, and randomly stitched to the watercolor background.   All the fussy cut butterflies from the “Mariposa” paper included in the Aquarelle kit were sprinkled around the page, and also sewn into the layout.

 

 

The exclusive cards that are included in this month’s kit serves  as the layer behind the picture.  In addition to finding the cut files, I also found some exclusive printables  in the store (September 2015 kit) that also match the colors of the Aquarelle kit.  The large tab from this printable serves as  part of one of the clusters created around the picture.  The rest of the embellishments come from the die cut pack, and this month’s exclusive printables.

 

 

 

To create a visual triangle on the page, another small cluster was created at the top of the page using pieces from the kit along with a piece of the paper’s branding strip.   The title of the page is “DREAM BIG” which is what the beads on the bracelets spell.  I am not big on alphas, but this month’s Pinkfresh Studio copper set is so beautiful,   it needs to be featured in your projects.  After adding the journal lines, here is the final layout:

 

 

Can you tell, i love butterflies?  Trust me, I think i used at least one of them in almost all my projects this month (there are still a few more projects coming to the blog soon!).  But you will also be reaching for your detailing scissors to fussy cut this lovely designs.   The Aquarelle kit is just a dream to work with.  If you haven’t checked the kit, run to the Clique Store to pick one of the few left (i hope they haven’t sold out yet!).

 

You can always leave me a comment if you have any questions on how this page came together.

 

Thanks for stoppping by!

Field Notes | My Personal Journal

 

Hello crafty friends!!

Nathalie here with  some new entries on my personal journal -my TN- inspired by the beautiful Aquarelle kits (main and TN).   This month’s TN kit features the beautiful “Wildflower” collection from Kaisercraft, as well as plenty of embellishments, and exclusive printables that make memory keeping so easy and pleasurable.

 

 

Since the weather is finally changing here in Toronto, I am taking advantage of long doggie walks around the Humber River path behind my house.  The papers in the Aquarelle TN kit were perfect to document the beauty of Spring in the city.  Here is a small video on how this page came together:

 

 

It took less than 10 minutes to put this page together.   I picked one of the papers in the kit, and used both sides to cover both pages of the TN ( each page features a side of the paper).

 

 

I picked my 3 favorite pictures of the walk, and printed them in a film strip form using Lightroom.  This was then glued to one of the pages of the TN -i chose the one with a less busy pattern on it-.   Pieces from the Aquarelle TN Kit’s die cuts and exclusives were used to decorate the page

 

 

The exclusive printables in this month’s Aquarelle TN kit  are perfect to add small details around the page.  In this particular case,  one of the cards houses all the details of my walk around the river path.  Here is the final spread:

 

 

The color combination of the papers in the Aquarelle TN Kit was perfect to document all this Spring memories, and it took less than 10 minutes to complete the spread.  It is that easy to work with this kit.

 

If you are a subscriber to both  Main and TN kits, then this month’s pizza box  is going to be a dream for all memory keepers. Since you can easily incorporate bits and pieces from both kits in your projects.    Here is an example of how I combined pieces of both kits to complete the spread of our favorite Mother’s Day portrait, just sit down, and enjoy the video:

 

 

 

We love this picture, and i  wanted it to be prominent on my memory keeping system, so I chose to enlarge the image to fit the entire TN spread.    First i cut the picture in half so that i can easily glue to the TN.

 

 

 

Before gluing the right side of the picture, a small pocket was created behind the picture, so that it can hold a tag  (from the Aquarelle main kit exclusive printables) with all the journal lines about this memory.

 

 

To complete embellishing this page, one of the fabric tags, included in the Aquarelle main kit, along with a die cut from the TN kit were glued to the top corner of the left side of the page.  The arrow clip was then used to hold these pieces together,  and a small asterisk from the main kit Alphas complete this cluster.

 

 

 

 

Finally one of the labels from the Aquarelle TN kit’s exclusive printables was used to add the date and place of the picture.  The copper Pinkfresh Studio alphas was then used to create the title of this page.  Here is the complete spread:

 

 

This is by far one of my favorite spreads of the past 2 weeks in my spread.  The texture from the different embellishments from both Aquarelle kits just adds the perfect touches to the picture.  If you haven’t checked the kits, there are still a few available at the Clique store, and you better rush to pick yours.

Remember i am a comment away if you have any questions on how these came together.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Field Notes – My Personal Journal

Hello Clique Friends!

Nathalie here bringing you a few entries of my personal journal created using the beautiful ( it is truly a gorgeous!)  Aquarelle main kit.  This month’s kit features  Cocoa Vanilla’s “Wild at Heart” collection which is full of florals, watercolor motives, and lots of beautiful designs.  If you haven’t checked the Aquarelle kit, yet, then you better run to the Clique Store to pick the few available for sale.

 

 

Did you know that there is a large library of cut files and printables available for purchase at the Clique Store?  I happen to visit the store, and combined the  printables from the September 2015 kit with the the Aquarelle kit to create a spread about this year’s NSD. Here is  a small video on how the page came together:

 

 

The picture (of the day) was enlarged to fit into one of the pages of the TN (4.25×8.25 in).  After gluing it to the page, I added a few pieces (Pinksfresh Studio Alphas, and CK printables)  of the Aquarelle kit to the picture.

 

 

Since the picture has plenty of white space at the bottom, it was the perfect spot to add a few lines about the day’s experience.

 

 

To balance the page, the large sentiment card in the September 2015 exclusive printables was machine sewn to a piece of white copy paper -cut to the TN’s page size- .

 

One of the  small tabs was then glued to the card to complete the page, and stamp the date.  Here is the final spread:

 

 

The next entry in my personal journal uses the Double Dot paper included in the Aquarelle kit, along with some of the exclusive printables, and Pinkfresh Studio’s Nico stamp ( unfortunately, this stamp has sold out in the  Clique store).   Here is a detailed video on how the spread came together:

 

 

This spread was so easy to create.  First, I found the center point of the TN page, and used it to cut a large triangle (that will cover the other page of the TN) out of the patterned paper.

 

 

The title for this spread was created on the paper covered page using a combination of  stamps (Pinkfresh Studio’s Nico alpha, and Simple Stories Faith roller stamp), and the Pinkfresh Studio alphas included in the kit.

 

 

A few simple exclusive printables was all that was needed to complete this page, and balance the large triangle on the spread.  After a few lines of journal, and a  few more sentiments added with the roller stamp in  Faded Jeans ink -Distress Oxides- , the page was completed.   Here is the final spread:

 

 

Both pages were created in a really small amount of time (between 10-15 minutes), and I love the different looks, I was able to achieve with the Aquarelle kit, and the CK printables.  

Remember to visit the Clique Store to check all the exclusive printables, cut files, and most materials used in this pages.  You can use the DT codes to receive a discount at checkout.  As always, I am a comment away if you have any questions on how this came together.

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Art Studio: Let’s Get Misty

Hello friends,

Melissa here with you today and I’ve got a fun post for Art Studio. Of course, it involves inking and such and I’m also using the awesome specialty papers from Kaisercraft that are in the May Sorbet kit. (Psst… this kit is so beautiful and packed full of awesome product. RUN to store and get it!)

For this post, I wanted to showcase the Wildflower Spot Varnish Floral paper. I cut it down to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ size and selected two sheets. Mostly, because I do enjoy making a couple of cards at once and, because I wanted to just give you a couple of ideas on how to use these papers.

First, I grabbed my favorite mists which are the Heidi Swapp Color Shine mists. Love the colors! I also am throwing in some gold mist from Jen Hadfield.

Instead of spraying it on the cards, I used a paintbrush to spread it on. Then, I did a little mist with the gold.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Then, it was time to dive into the kit and use up the beautiful papers to create some cards. For the first card, I wanted to use the awesome washi tape strips from Pretty Little Studio. I thought to wrap them in a diagonal across the bottom half of the card. They were longer and it was easy just to wrap them all the way around since I would be adhering the floral paper down to my card base.

After that, I added all the goodies to complete my card and, here is the final look for this first one:

I love how you can still see the pretty floral paper through the tape. So cool!

Alright, now on to the second card!

For this one, I wanted to combine some of the papers and show that, because they contain so much white space and calmness, they are perfect to combine on a card. No overwhelming colors and patterns. It really does end up being a breath of fresh air!

Here is the final look after everything was placed just so and a cute little cluster of embellishments was added:

Isn’t that all sorts of happy??? I really wanted to use the Thickers on this card and, sometimes that gets hard with the smaller scale of the card. However, due to the beautiful, calm nature of the papers, I love how the gold just pops off and shines! Someone will truly feel happy with this shiny card, hey???

Here are some close ups of these two cards:

Thank you so much for joining me today! I’ll be back tomorrow with another post using this awesome kit! To close, how about I just show you another pic of the May Sorbet Kit, huh? You might just need to have an opportunity to drool over it before you run to the shop to get one of your own. 🙂

And just to help ease your scrolling fingers, I include another link to the kit right HERE.

Until to tomorrow!

Geek Lab | You Go Girl

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have been enjoying all the beautiful projects the DT has created this month with the beautiful “Jellybean” kit.   It does not only contain beautiful papers and embellishments, but also exclusive printables and  beautiful cut files!

 

For this layout, I wanted to use the  large phrase title cut file  as the main focus in the page,  so I chose to convert it into a large stand out title.  Here are the picture steps I followed on the Silhouette Software to create this title:

Here is the image ready to be cut.  DO NOT close the program or image after cutting it!

Using the offset  command, add an external offset to this image ( i have colored the original image, so you can see how the function works).  You can chose the size of the offset.

Separate the images, just click on the edges of the original image, and move it out of the picture.  Now the offset is ready to be cut.

 

To make the title stand out, i added a small white border around the title (the offset).  The title was cut from the beautiful Bella Bld.’s “Magnifique” paper  -though the flowers are gorgeous, I was drawn to the colors and paint brush marks on the image-.  I made sure to cut the title from the center of the Magnifique page.

 

 

Once the cuts were glued together,  the edge of the title was pierced to add some stitching and texture to it.  After adding hand stitching to the title,  I set out to construct the page.   First,  i trimmed about 0.5in from two of the edges of a light pink card stock.  Then I used watercolors and inks to add some color to the background.

 

 

Once the background dried,  the title was attached to the page, making sure it sit right in the middle of the large watercolor background.  The picture of  my niece holding her art TN (she loves TNs as much as I do!) was placed above the title.  I used the exclusive printables, and ephemera included in the Jellybean kit, as well as the puffy stickers from the Make Your Mark collection that are available in the Clique store, to frame the picture.

 

 

To finish the page, using the sewing machine, I stitched the  layout to the left over piece of the “Magnifique” paper, making sure to leave two opposite corners free .  These were folded into the layout to be used as part of the clusters formed here. I tried to use these corners to bring some of the colorful accents and embellishments from the Jellybean kit.  Here is the final layout:

 

Don’t the colors and title work just pop  out of this page?  Though I love the roses, I wanted to take a different approach when using the Make Your Mark  “Magnifique” from the Jellybean kit in this layout.   I am so pleased with the end result, and i hope it inspires you to create stand out titles for your project.

Don’t forget to check Clique Kits to register for a subscription (there are just some spots available) for their gorgeous kits, or sign up for their newer Traveler’s Notebook kit.  You will love them!

I am always a comment away if you have any questions on how this came together.

Thanks for stopping by, today!

Geek Lab | One + One

Hi Clique Kits fans,

I am very happy to be here with you today, to show you a fun way to customize the wood embellishment (one + one = us), that you can find in the March kit (Play kit)
available in the shop.

As you can see, I’ve tried to create the same effect than in the letters from the kit.
I’ve painted half the letters with a new product from Aladine: the Izink 3D Texture Paste.

It’s a kind of light coloured texture paste, very easy to apply.
To obtain this effect, I’ve used washi tape as masking tape. I did not have any more masking tape, but that may be better to use masking tape than you favorite washi tape, except if you want to leave the washi on the letters.

Then, I’ve applied my texture paste directly on the wood with my finger. The best is to follow the lines of the wood, and the embellishment is perfect for that.
Let the texture paste dry at least 10 minutes. Then take off the washi tape and enjoy!

I absolutely love the result!!

Then, this wood embellishment can be used in your layout.
Here are some close ups for you to see the details.


Have a great day and don’t hesitate if you have some questions.
Magali

Hello Friend {Geek Lab}

Hi friends,

Melissa here with you today and I’m sharing two fun cards using the printables from the February BEE You kit. I love that we have these fabulous printables to help complete our kits. They always go so well with the papers and colors of the kit. Most of all, I love how you can adapt them to work for your project.

The two cards I’m sharing showcase one of the printables and how I used Photoshop to make it work for my card. Here are the two cards that I made:

I also created a process video that will walk you through how I pulled the image from the printables, into Photoshop, and added the text. I printed it off to use as a die cut type element on one card and then printed it onto another printable element for a card base.

To see all the details and steps, I encourage you to watch the video below.

I hope this video has helped you come up with some new ways and ideas for using printables on your cards and projects. The possibilities truly are endless!

Stay tuned because it’s almost time for the reveal of our March kit and boy is it a beauty!!!

Have a great day friends!