Father's Day {Shirt & Tie} Card + Templates

The new June kits are available now for subscribers at Studio Calico & will become available to everyone in just a few short hours. (links will be active at midnight for non-subbers)

I wanted to share one of the cards I made for this month's gallery using products from the kits.

Did you ever make origami shirts when you were a kid?  One of my friends taught me how when I was in elementary school & we made them out of dollar bills.  We thought we were so clever.  ;)  That memory inspired this design.  They're so simple to assemble & with Father's Day just around the corner... I need simple!

I started off with a 4" x 5.5" flesh-toned card base. (If you don't have any flesh-toned cardstock, there's a great medium shade in this month's More Color Cardstock set.)

Use the templates provided to cut out your shirt & tie.  If you have a Silhouette, you can let the machine do all the work for you.  If you don't have an electronic die cutter, you can download & print the PDF file & cut each piece by hand.  Either way, it's very simple.

I used some of the patterned paper found in the Hello, Hello card kit for my tie.  It's also found in the Hello, Hello paper pad.

I used my Silhouette again to cut out the word "DAD"  (Habana font) and stamp from the Ciao kit to finish out the sentiment.

From here, you can add as little or as many details as you'd like.  I used a hole punch to make a couple of "buttons" for the collar & a white gel pen to add details to the pocket.  To make it look even more realistic, I machine stitched along the middle & added a real button.

You can download all of the files HERE.  (PDF, .studio, png, svg)

Enjoy!

The New Kits Are Here! Take a Peek at Bluegrass Farm + Free Cut Files

If you're a Studio Calico subscriber, the April {Bluegrass Farm} kits are now available!

It's no secret the the Bluegrass Farm card kit is one of my favorite of all time.  Here are some projects I made using the kits:

I talked about using letterpress inks with my stamps in this post & the card above is an example of that.  I love the gorgeous, bold colors & the blendable shades that you can achieve with this type of ink.  A little ink goes a long way & I had a little leftover green after stamping the stems.  Instead of wasting the ink, I decided to roll it out (with a brayer) onto a scrap piece of cardstock.  It ended up coming in really handy!

I used the new Wonky Diamond craft die with the inked cardstock to make the berry basket above. 

For the card above, I used the same stamps but with the new Color Theory ink pads.   If you can snag the new Fruit Punch craft dies, I think you'll really love them.  They coordinate perfectly with the stamp set in the card kit & make layered cards so easy!

I cut strips of the woodgrain patterned paper from the card kit to make a crate for the fruit to sit in.

I designed some free cut files that you can use with your Silhouette for these next cards.  If you don't have a Silhouette, I included PDF files so that you can print them out & create your own pattern to hand-cut.

You can download the Grand Champion & Baby Clothes files here.

The tiny clothespins in the card above are from the Clarabelle card kit add-on.  They're just the perfect size for hanging these baby goodies on the line!

There are so many great new digital projects in the shop right now!  I used this cut file set by In a Creative Bubble for the card above along with the Wonky Hearts die to create the felt heart center.  (The Wonky Hearts die coordinates with the Clarabelle stamp set.)

  

There's also a really cool stamp set/craft die combo called Buttercup that was designed by JJ Bolton.  I used it on several of my projects.  It comes with cool frames, paint splatters, stars... need I say more?

  Here's a card I made using the set:

 And finally, here is another project I made using a letterpress inked background.  The blue panel started out as plain white cardstock.  I love how rich the color became!  I heat embossed my images & sentiment over the top of it & then added some hand stitching.

If you would like specific links to the products I used on each card above, you can find my Studio Calico gallery here.

I hope you are able to snag some kits this month!  I know you're going to love them!

Berry Basket Project Life Organizers & Free Templates

Spring is in the air & I have a quick little project to share with you today.  I was inspired by these adorable ceramic Farmers Market Baskets from Anthropologie & decided to make a paper version.

I designed some free templates to share with you.  If you have a Silhouette die cutter, you'll find .studio files, but I also included SVG files & a PDF for those that want to just print a pattern & hand-cut your designs.  (The berry box pattern is 12" x 12", so you would need to have it printed on a large format printer or at your local print shop.)  You can download all of the files here.

The basket is really easy to assemble!  If you die cut it, the score marks are already in place.  Just fold & adhere the tabs in place.  (I used hot glue to secure the tabs to make it extra sturdy.) I added foam adhesive to the included contrast strips to give it a little added dimension.

Along with the berry basket, you'll find a template for dividers & tabs.  I originally designed this box to organize my Project Life cards, but there are a lot of other things that you can do with the template.

I used the new Color Theory paper pack to cut out the basket & dividers.  The colors are just perfect!

 One idea is to create 12 dividers, one for each month.  I filled this basket with library cards & am using it to jot down things I want to remember.  You can make a perpetual calendar, having a card for every day of the year, & quickly see what happened on a certain day for several years in a row.  Or... you can jot down a little journaling & slip in photos,  using it in lieu of a memory album.  I think I'd like to use it to keep track of things (my kids' quotes, things we did during the month, etc.) & then use the cards as prompts for when I find time to work on my Project Life album.

The stamps in Studio Calico's April card kit are the perfect companion for this berry basket! (Kits will be available on March 27th for subscribers & 28th for everyone.)

If you're not a Project Life-er, these berry baskets make adorable gift packaging!  Here's another Anthropologie find that I'd love to replicate:

 

I hope you enjoy the free templates!