Cutting Edge Class - Challenge 4

This weeks challenge was to use one of the favorite mediums discussed in the class to create a layout. I used canvas to create my layout this time. It is a fun medium to work with. You can print photos on it, you can mist it and I am going to try to water color it soon. I will keep you posted on how that turns out.
We were provided with the scalloped circle shape in the classroom cut files. I repeated the pattern in silhouette studio and fused a whole bunch of them to create a background for my layout. I then misted it with a grey colored mist. In the class Susan suggested that to adhere the canvas to a cardstock and then cut it so that it is more sturdy. I agree with her, that definitely helped.

And people, this was my first ever sewing project. Both my grandmother and my mom over the years tried to teach me how to use the sewing machine, but I never really got the hang of it. But last week I got my own sewing machine and did a little stitching along the borders of the heart paper. I totally enjoyed doing that. At least this part was easier than I thought. I am going to practice more.

In the center of each circle, I punched out hearts from a red cardstock and stuck them. The red ended up being too bright. So I just water colored them with white with some Inktense pencils. Here is a close up:

 

I used some of my older studio calico kits for the patterned paper, Kelly Purkey white letter stickers, October Afternoon Sprinkler - farmhouse, Silhouette printable cotton canvas for my materials.

 

Have a great day,

~Neela

 



 

Review of Hello Story Class by Ali Edwards

Ali Edwards taught a 12 week class at Big Picture Classes called Hello Story. For 12 weeks I was spellbound by the creativity and inspiration that was put forth. I was blown away by how beautifully she presented simple and complex topics and how she made such meaningful layouts for every layout. These days where most layouts are a single photo or there is so much white space in the layout, her layouts are very different and graphic and clean. I love her style. I love that she uses embellishments but they are just the right amount, never overbearing or never meaningless. Every single item on the layout totally makes sense and so well placed. In the whole process she always remembered that we are all artists after all and kept up the artistic component. I cannot tell you how much I loved and enjoyed this class. This was my first ever live class and I am so happy that I selected this over anything else. I felt so sad when it was over.... but hopefully I can sign up for another class taught by her in the near future.

My original goal was to keep up with every week of this class and make two layouts a week ( we were given new material and topic every week) and did so for about 3 weeks, then it got down to at least one layout for every topic and then I started missing some of the weeks because it was summer vacation and we ended up travelling and so on. I finally got done with at least one layout for every week last week so I thought I should write up what I thought about  this class and what I did in this class.

Every week for each new topic, we were presented with about 3 beautiful new layouts, some project life ideas and tons and tons of digital elements (silhouette cut files, .png files). I haven't even used half of what was given just because of the sheer amount of material given to the students. THANK YOU ALI. I directly scrap lifted some of the layouts and some I used as inspiration and jumping off point. I still want to do many more layouts on these topics and the digital handouts in the future. During this process, some of my layouts got selected at Two Peas In a Bucket as the featured layout and Layout of the week at Studio Calico. All credit goes to Ali for providing the needed inspiration.

Here are the layouts I created for each week: (click on each image to read more about each post related to this layout)

Week 1: Timeline

Week 2 : Fill in the blanks format

Week 3: Arrows - This is not as literal as it seems

 Week 4: Passage of time

Week 5: Mathematics

Week 6: Six word story

Week 7: Pie Charts

Week 8: Maps

Week 9: Numbers - This was the feature of the day at Two Peas

Week 10 : 5Ws

This was the layout of the week at Studio Calico.

http://www.memorablescraps.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-5-ws-fun-at-zoo.html

Week 11: Opposites

Week 12: Rules for Living

During the 12 week period, so much got documented and I went through a whole self discovery process. I realized how hard it was to write something about myself down. Superficial stuff is okay but to look deeper and express it was a big challenge. It was so much more easier to do anything related to the kids or others as compared to making a layout about myself. 

In these 12 weeks, I also organized all my photos and collected them from all over the place and gave the folders meaningful names. I started falling in love with large photos. My respect for Ali grew phenomenally. I fell more in love with scrapbooking than ever!

Do take this class if it is offered again, every single cent that you spend on it is worth it.

Have a great day!

~Neela

You are awesome my dear friend!

I made this layout as a tribute to my dear friend that I met after many many years in April. It was so much fun catching up and spending time with her and a few other friends. I had kept in touch with her on and off but never really caught up with all her stories till then. It was very interesting to hear all her ups and downs that she has gone through all these years. I have always admired her for her boldness but recently I have started admiring her for so much more.

For Hello Story week 6 class.... the topic was - Six Word Story..... 'you are awesome my dear friend' is my six word story. On a funny note, another friend of mine recently posted on facebook that said... ' home is where my pillow is' after a week's vacation .... that is so true. Check this website out for more six word stories.

The challenge for this week's cutting edge class was to use at least two of the materials that were provided in the class kit.... we were given some double sided adhesive paper, different colored vellum paper and gold foil. I combined three of those materials on this layout. It was fun using all these new materials with the Silhouette. This class has proved worth more than what I paid for already. We were given a $10 coupon for the digital cut files in the Studio Calico shop and I also won $5 for the challenge last week :). Of course all the materials in the class kit and videos and handouts are very good too.

I used the double sided adhesive paper and covered it with glitter, I cut out the speech bubbles with the gold foil and I cut the hexagon frames with the teal vellum and covered it with gold paint so that it fits better in the layout.

Here is my layout:

Here are some close ups of my journaling:

Here is a close up of the foil:

For the materials, I used Bazzill orange peel white cardstock as my base, I used some papers from Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm and Crate Paper by Maggie Holmes ,I also used the black cameras paper from the Studio Calico Antiquary kit, Wintermint glitter by Martha Stewart, gold acrylic paint by Martha Stewart the gold and teal sequins from Michaels. I misted the background with Studio calico teal and Heidi Swapp Gold Lamay to tie in with the colors of the photo and the embellishments. I also edged the top and the bottom of the layout with some the gold acrylic paint.

Hope you enjoyed looking at it, because I totally enjoyed making this and getting messy with the glitter and the gold paint. Have a great day!
~Neela

Will you be doing December Daily?

I will be.... at least I bought the kit that Studio Calico is selling. Ali Edwards has teamed up with Studio Calico to create the kit and to do her December Daily with this kit. Anything she does is usually out of this world and unbelievably amazing so I just went ahead and bought the kit even though it was kinda expensive - $99. It will not be if I actually do justice and finish my December Daily album because that would be priceless for the years to come for my kids.

So December Daily is the process of documenting the 25 days in December from 1st to 25th in a project life kind of a format. I am very interested in doing this along with Ali Edwards.

Honestly, I grew up in India as a Hindu. We had a holiday for Christmas every year because India is a secular country and that was the most exciting part of Christmas for us. When I was a kid I remember that I had put a sock by my bedside and Santa gave me a pencil box (I think). I remember this very vaguely.... I think that was my most exciting Christmas ever. Now I have kids of my own, my older son does make a list and he does get gifts from Santa every year but it is all very low key. This year, I want to use December Daily as an excuse to do it all right... decorate the house with lights, bring out our little artificial Christmas tree on time, decorate the Christmas tree, maybe make a banner to put on the fireplace, check out the Christmas lights, try to get photos with Santa, get gifts for my friends and wrap them all up nicely and so on. I know for a fact that we may be out of the country vacationing during Christmas time, but it is worth documenting that too. We will have to see how the kids get their gifts on Christmas day.

Here is a list of kits out there (click on the images to take you to the websites):

• From Studio Calico

Here is the link to the video that Ali Edwards made going over the contents of the Studio Calico kit:
http://aliedwards.com/2013/10/december-daily-2013-kit-video.html

• From Whimsical Twist

• From Gossamer Blue

• From Scraptastic club

• From Simon Says Stamp

Here is a list of some amazing December daily albums. I got this information from the Two peas forums.

• Kelly Goree's 2010 Album
• Kelly Goree's 2012 Album
• Elizabeth Kartchner's December Daily  Jen Gallacher's December Album
• Geralyn Sy's DD
• 6x8 December Daily by Gretchen
• Ali's December Daily Albums 2008-2012
• Marie's Blog 

The Two Peas forums is a really good place to get your scrapbooking questions answered. You should try it out here.

What activities do you do during Christmas time? Do let me know, help me plan my Christmas this year!
Have a great day!
~Neela

Boy And Girl

For Hello Story Week 11 class, the topic was opposites. I hadn't gotten to it till this week and then I saw what we got in the Studio Calico kit for October and then I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The girl and boy flair was perfect for this topic. I also knew exactly which photo use. I chose one of Ananya and Arjun. They have been friends since they were babies. As they are growing older, their interests are becoming different and they don't play together as much. But I know that they will remain good friends for a long time to come, they have a lot in common in spite of their differences. So I thought that this was a good topic to use for opposites. I documented their different interests on this layout. Here is my layout:

As soon as I saw the Amy Tan paper from Cut & Paste line in my kit, I knew I was going to use it. The Studio Calico paper with triangles was a perfect match for the base paper. I cut up the triangles and arranged them as if it were raining triangles and kept them more crowded on top and tapered them off as I went down. I did some hand stitching around a few triangles and stitched a pink border along the bottom of the layout. I also liked the gold rub ons that came with the kit and applied a couple of them on the photo and around the journaling. I used some wood veneer alphas that came in the Marks and Co kit and some Basic grey plastic letters for their initials that came with the Roundabout kit. I used Kelly Purkey alphabet stickers for the phrase '...but so different' on the photo itself.  Overall it is one of those fun and colorful layouts for me.
I am entering this layout for Paper girls blog challenge - Sew it On.
Have a great day.
~Neela

Winner of the Giveaway

Thank you all for leaving comments on my blog. It is always great to know that someone is reading what you are posting. I keep making a mental note to myself to leave comments on others blogs more often after reading their posts and admiring their work!

So there were 4 commenters. So I just wrote the names on little pieces of paper and made my son pick one and the lucky winner is......

 

....... MICHELLE

 

Michelle, do send me an e-mail at neeladotnalamatgmaildotcom and let me know which gift certificate you prefer: 

• Studio Calico
• Two Peas or
• Amazon

I will send it you!



 

Have a great day!

~Neela

 

 

Cutting Edge Class - Week 1

So now that Hello Story class is done, I signed up for another class at Studio Calico - it is all about maximizing the usage of Silhouette. For the first week, the tutorials were about cutting double sided glue paper with the silhouette and about cutting Vellum with Silhouette. With this class too, they have offered a whole bunch of cut files, digital brushes and printables. They have a weekly challenge in this class. This week's challenge was to use at least three cut files that were give in the package.

I decided to make yet another layout of Surya having fun at the beach. He absolutely loves going there, to play with the sand, to play with the water and become totally wet and totally dirty. We were there yesterday too, it was a gorgeous day here. We are so lucky to have such great weather even in October. It was beautiful and warm.

Here is my layout for the challenge:

I loved the loopy circles .png file that was given to us in this class. I added this onto the photo with photoshop elements to highlight Surya. I again used a bunch of Studio Calico kits to create this layout - Spencer's, Planetarium, Marks and Co and Roundabout. This is my latest thing.... mix up all the kits. I wasn't using them to their full potential by keeping them separate. I didn't know what I had when they were all in separate packages. So I mixed up all kits except the current kit and now I feel more free instead of feeling constrained.
The clouds, sun and the waves were cut files provided in the classroom. They were so fun. I thought that they suited the theme of this layout perfectly. I also cut out a few pieces of white vellum and layered it on top of the waves and the clouds for a fun texture.
I want to mention that I have a giveaway of a $10 gift card for the followers of this blog. Check out the details here. I will announce the winner by the end of tomorrow, so you have a day to leave your comments.

Rules of Life

For Hello Story Class - Week 12, the topic was Rules of Life. Ali Edwards as usual rocked all the layouts she made. I finally got the time to make the layout for the last week of the class. I love all the printables and digital cut files that we got in the class. I don't think I have used even quarter of them yet. I will be putting them all to good use over time. I still have a couple of weeks that I haven't gotten to. But do hope to get those layouts done.
For this topic, she suggested that we document the Rules of our life that we would like to live by or we live by. They could be fun or serious. I decided to make a layout with the rule that I would like to do a vacation being with nature at least once a year if possible. We went to Yosemite this summer and it was such a beautiful experience. We were so carried away with all the natural beauty and history of that place. It is a place worthy of a visit.
Here is my layout:

For this layout, I used the Roundabout Kit and Double Scoop Kits from Studio calico. The arrow clips are from Two Peas. The wooden circles are from Studio Calico. The letter stickers are from Simon Says Stamp by Kelly Purkey. Ali Edwards greatly recommended these stickers through out her class and they definitely lived up to my expectation. All the letters are of the same height and their sizes are perfect.

I chose to use a giant photo to highlight the beauty of this scenery. We had just had a picnic lunch by the Merced river and the boys were skipping stones in the river and checking out the tadpoles and fish. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place. 

I chose to do a visual triangle along three edges of the layout. I cut the Tim and Beck paper that came along with the Double Scoop kit into strips and layered them on top of each other. As for the rule #, it is just random. Hopefully I will end up making layouts for rule #s 1 to 12 and make a series like Ali suggested. But that is for some other day. 

Have a great day!

~Neela