Happy Sunday evening from Wisconsin everyone!! Yes, that's the beautiful land this mama & her family calls home! We're quickly wrapping up summer here, as school starts Tuesday for our munchkins. I have to say, I'm kind of dreading it. I know I'll be hiding my Mama-tears behind big sunglasses as I proudly watch them enter 1st and 2nd grade this year. Time truly does fly, so keep those memories all you fabulous memory keepers out there!! Ok, I digress :) Here is my first Study Abroad layout, featuring our Abby nearly taking flight on the swings at our favorite park!! Here's my take on some easy photo inspiration from Erica. I left some white space on the side of photo for some text, which was courtesy of Rhonna Farr's photo app. Love it!! I've included lots of pictures, followed up by a little teaser for tomorrow's first Clique Kits Design Team reveal! I also used a fun sketch to create this layout fast!! I'm a big fan of Sketchabilities and often turn there when I need a mojo boost or make a layout super fast... like in 23 minutes fast! 
Once again, watch out because here comes September!! Our Study Abroad kit is sold out as well as October's kit, but do you know what's even cooler???! Tomorrow we're announcing the 2014-2015 Clique Kits Design Team!!! Can you say AWESOME-SAUCE!!!!! See ya tomorrow, it's gonna be a fantastic year!
Click. Connect. Create. Jody
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How About Both!Hey everybody, its Gia here…surprise! What am I doing in the locker room today? I am usually found in the Art Studio. Well Coach Jody is busy behind the scenes paving the way for the BIG DAY! The introduction of the first ever Clique Kits Varsity Team!! That's scheduled for this Monday- so be there or be square! You HAVE to meet this Varsity Team line-up! Subscriber Pep Rallies will be ever so much more fun now that we have these ladies to inspire us! In the mean time, I have designated myself the team Water Girl. I usually don't go out for slapstick comedy much, except if it's an Adam Sandler film. I just love him. Anyway, if you are not familiar with the movie Waterboy Adam Sandler plays a typical loser who gets bullied until the football team realizes he has amazing tackling skills the team can use. I feel I can relate to him! My superpower is throwing out the cray, outside the box ideas that everybody says can't be done…and I say, Why not? Oh, and using the f-word a lot. Ask the other CK girls. I kind of have a mouth on me. See, I belong here in the locker room after all! Okay, so my topic today is about gender stereotypes and color in scrapbooking. Did you look at the September kit Study Abroad and see all that blue and green and yellow and think automatically…BOY! No? Me neither! Okay, maybe a little at first- my first grade boy does love to make paper airplanes! But I recently had some back to school photos taken by my hubby of all 4 of my kids still in grammar school -2 boys and 2 girls- and I couldn't wait to scrap them both using this month's kit. 
This page came together embarrassingly easily once I cut out some awesome cut files from The Cut Shoppe. These particular cuts are now in the shop and coordinate perfectly with this kit! So go get 'em!
And here is one of my girl pages. I also used a cut file as my title on this one. But I was itching to also dive in to my chalkboard paint. I made a grid with washi tape then painted over it and when dry removed the tape.
Geesh, I hope Coach Jody doesn't get upset with me for bringing some paint into the locker room. Naaah. She paints all the time in here! LOL. Okay, here are some more close-ups of my two sweet and super easy layouts. I finished both of these in under thirty minutes. I used my Study Abroad kit, and found a few accent pieces in my stash in hot pink to match the girls t-shirts in the photo. I am really pleased with the fact that as a Mom I could use my kit for back to school photos. But, do you see a bunch of yellow school buses, pencils, notebooks, apples or other typical back to school things around here? Nope- we try to avoid using traditional themed papers or embellishments in our monthly kits because we are all at different stages and places in life and have different kinds of memories to preserve... we can find inspiration for ANY theme in lots of places. 
The "happy" card and the "bicycle" card are exclusive Clique Kits printables included in the kit! 
I hope you have a wonderful labor day weekend! See you next time! Click.Connect.Create.
-xGia 
Happy Thursday everyone! Erica here with you today to share something fun and new I created using the September kit! I have been wanting to use a big photo on a scrapbook layout for sometime now but have always been a little afraid of how it would turn out! Well I finally did it and and I love the end result! I normally scrap 2x2, 4x4 or 3.5x5 photos but I have always loved the look of a large photo on a layout! So I took the plunge and went for it! I used a photo of our youngest son Eli James at the park. He was climbing up the ladder to the big slide for the first time on his own so I snapped a quick shot with my iPod. Now being the the scrapbooker that I am I knew to leave some white space at the top of my photo and have my subject towards the bottom so that I could embellish, journal and add a title along the top. The colors in the photograph also seem to just go with the September kit perfectly! I played up the little bit of yellow in the photo as much as I could with some brighter yellow elements from the kit along with the add-on Jillibean Soup Beanboard Alphas. 
I cut down a piece of pattern paper from the kit to 8.5x11 to use as my base and like I said in a previous post, this size is becoming a favorite for me. I printed my photo out to 8x10 and trimmed it up a little bit and mounted it onto some vellum. I also pulled out stickers and embellishments from my Clique into Summer kit and the July kit that I thought went great with my layout. I am in love with this months flair so I used two of them in my layout. I kept the embellishments to a minimum adding them around my journling and title at the top of my page and a small cluster in the bottom right corner close to my subject. Using a large photo like this is a great way for me to document this big moment in my little guys life. It reminds me of how big he is getting, how independent our little man is and just look at how cute those little legs are! Do you have any tips and tricks for designing with larger photos? Do you step outside the "normal" size and go big? Share with us in the comments below! I hope you enjoyed my layout today and give the larger photo a try in your next layout! Before I go today I want to thank everyone who joined us in our August Glam Camp Blog Share and announce our two winners! If you missed it you can check out all the amazing inspiration HERE. Congrats to Renee Joy and Tyra! Renee thank you so much for all your lovely comments! You will receive a $10.00 credit to the Clique Kits store. Please email us at cliquekits@yahoo.com to claim your prize. We appreciate your support of Clique Kits! Tyra you blew us away with your beautiful cards inspired by the "Wild and Free" challenge. You will have $10.00 in honor credits added to your balance! Happy Shopping girls and thank you to everyone who joined us!  The Clique welcomes Cassandra back for her third and final post teaching us more about using the Cricut Explore with downloadable cut files and your Clique Kit! We really enjoyed having you this month Cassandra! Exploring with Clique Kits - Part 3 Hi Everyone! Welcome back for the final installment of Exploring with Clique Kits. I'm not sure if I'm more sad to be finishing up my time as August's Substitute Teacher or that my gorgeous Glam Camp kit has dwindled down to just a few pieces. I have absolutely loved being part of all the Glam Camp fun and just want to say a huge THANK YOU to the CK Gals for letting me play along. For my last project, I wanted to add a little CK flair to a major trend in today's crafting world. Background overlays are very popular so I searched for an overlay in Cricut DesignStudio and found a fun circle overlay. I then went ahead and welded some of the cute hearts from the CK digital files from Glam Camp. Adding the little hearts really helped to personalize it. I went ahead and cut the overlay with my Cricut Explore using plain cardstock and then I embossed it with a gold embossing powder... LOVE how it turned out!  I really wasn't sure where this project was going when I started and didn't have a picture in mind, I just started to create. I ended up getting the inspiration to create my first page for my crafty album where I plan to keep all the layouts of pictures from my mommy getaways and scrappy retreats... I went with the title, For the Love of Scrap and used my Explore to cut out the "Love" part of my title... I used a Project Life card which made it such a quick and easy process. Here's a peek -  To finish up I sprinkled a few gold sequins and flower embellishment from my Close to My Heart stash. Check them out here...    And here's the whole layout all together!  Again, I just want thank you all and the CK gals for the opportunity to play along as August's Substitute Teacher. I hope I've inspired you to dig out your die-cutting machines, whether you have a Cricut or a Silhouette... and I hope you start having fun with those wonderful digi-files that come with your kit! I'll see you around the Clique! We love the gold embossing on the background die cut and we especially love the addition of the Clique Kits hearts to the circle lattice design-isn't that clever? A beautiful layout for a beautiful photo to document your journey into scrapbooking. Now that you are hooked, we hope you continue on this journey for a long, long time! Click.Connect.Create.
-xThe Clique Kits Girls  By now whether you are a subscriber or just checking us out you have had a chance to take a peek at the September Kit Study Abroad which will be shipping in just another week! I hope that you are lucky enough to be a subscriber, since this kit is already sold out! But not to worry, we are pretty sure we have arrived at a magic formula for creating kits that cannot be beat anywhere in terms of setting a new standard in awesomeness. So as soon as that subscribe button goes live again next week, you can sign up with confidence that every kit will be a winner. And here is why.  1. Paper collections: Clique Kits picks out winning paper collections every month from a designer collection that coordinates so that you don't have to think about whether the patterns and colors will match! We are on the pulse of the hottest trends, and then some we scope out from designers and new companies you might not have heard of! We're full of surprises each month, so you can open the box and create!  2. Handmade: We love it! Clique Kits is all about DIY so naturally we will bring you something not only exclusive but handmade in your kit. Sometimes it's a hand crocheted appliqué, or a hand painted item, or these hand folded origami hearts we sourced from New York City which were up-cycled from discarded Japanese comic books. How cool is that? You will be sure to have something unique on your layouts that can't be found just anywhere!  3. Indie: Oh yeah! We love those Indie designers who rock the arts and crafts markets on Etsy, DaWanda, and ArtFire. Like these gorgeous wood veneer paper planes in the September kit. These were special ordered from a supplier down under in Australia just for Clique Kits September kit and we LOVE them, don't you?  4. Fair Trade/Small Business: Especially those owned by women creatives like ourselves! Pinkfresh Studios, Freckled Fawn…these are some favorites. Not to discriminate against the men-we know some awesome ones who support us and our passions! Clique Kits is looking to create an international network of women... wives and mothers dreaming, making, and sharing in their homes and communities. We salute them! Here's another one we salute this month-the amazing Ashley Horton's:  And there's more…like the fact our kits just Clique! We make our kits good to the very last scrap with never-ending print as-many-as-you-want digital products like printables and cut files. We can help you use up your hoards of supplies and be a more productive scrapbooker. There are certain things we think you probably don't need to add to your stash-we call it the filler and fluff. But we keep a school store just in case there's something extra you 'need' to add to your kit. We have big plans to continue to make our school store even better this fall, based on the ideas and requests of our current subscribers who we listen to every day in our private Facebook group. This month we were inspired by Lilith Eeckels, who will be joining us as Designer in the Spotlight, to include some chalkboard paint in the September kits when we saw her sharing a tutorial on using chalkboard paint on a layout on one of the blogs she posts on. This is the wonderful thing about the internet, and the online community we share. Even though times have changed and we may grieve the loss of smaller scrapbooking stores in many places, we can still connect with one another for inspiration and friendship more than ever before. We have an international community! Here is a look at a map showing where Clique Kits subscribers can be found across the U.S alone! We also have subbies in Europe and Canada, and we hope soon many other places worldwide! (We keep shipping as low as possible, and are always looking for ways to save on shipping costs.) View CK_Aug US Subscribers in a full screen map Thanks so much for stopping by to take a closer look at Clique Kits! We hope you like what you see!
Click.Connect.Create. -xThe Clique Kits Girls Gia,Jody,Erica, and Lacey  Are you ready to Study Abroad! This month we have something pretty cool in store for YOU! Can you say adventure, Pink Fresh Studio, daring, sequins, overseas and more exclusives??! Well friends, September's kit is packed with all of that and more. Today is just a peak into this fabulous, versatile Clique Kit. Keep a close eye on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more sneaks and peaks leading up to the big reveal on August 25th! Don't miss a thing and be sure to follow us on social media and by subscribing to our newsletter! 
See you real soon for more Clique Kits style inspiration!
Click.Create.Connect. The Clique Kits Girls 
Welcome to the August Pep Rally! So glad you could join us for our monthly blog share showing off our projects made with this months Clique Kit- Glam Camp, where members earn product credits for participating! In case you haven't seen it, Glam Camp has been blowing up our social media lately-thanks to the brilliant Market Street collection by August Designer in the Spotlight Jen Allyson and so many of the exclusives and special additions hand selected to go with it like the adorable vintage camper Webster's Pages vellum, the exclusive flair and wood heart embellishments, and OMG those Fancy Pants Designs burlap bows. Not to mention some adorable Wild & Free elements like the Maya Road resin deer. Speaking of Wild & Free, this month's challenge was to create something with that phrase as inspiration! We'll be picking a challenge winner to receive even more honor credits this month good for product credit! I can't wait to see what each of our members in this month's honor society have created! (Is it after 10 o'clock am Central Standard Time? Oh good, because otherwise, some of the links may not yet be 'live') Here------->Clique Kits Gia Jody Erica Lacey Katie Sarah Cassandra Stephanie Mariah Danielle Alisha Charity Madge Rosann Tyra Stop by each blog and leave some love- one lucky person who has commented on each blog will be selected to win a $10 store credit good for anything in the Clique Kits school store. We are currently clearing out inventory to make room for lots of new and seasonal stuff coming in this fall! Woot! Honor credits do not expire- save or spend (or both) -your choice! Just a few reminders before you go off hopping on your way…
Click.Connect. Create.
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Next, I cut a piece of pattern paper to go over the fold I created. I made this piece slightly larger (3" x 6.75") so it would give me a deeper pocket. Using an edge punch, I added more character to the pocket. I than adhered this to the pocket fold.
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Below, in the first photo, you can see the backside of the pocket. The second photo I show you where I indicated where the new holes will be punched.
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Below, I folded a journal page in half and added 3x3 cards as flips.
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| To the left, you see a 4" x 6" journal card. However, I glued two pockets together to create a side pocket. In the pocket I added 3" x 4" journal cards. You see, something so simple can add interaction to your album, give you more space for items you want to include (more pictures, journaling, tickets, etc), or hide more private items you don't want everyone to access. I challenge you to create an interactive item in your next mini album using a journal card or journal page! |
Thanks for joining me today. Don't forget to stop by tomorrow and join our August Blog Share with our Clique Kit subscribers. A prize is up for grabs for one lucky commenter. And don't forget to try-out for our FIRST Design Team. Submission information located under the About tab.
Lacey Gasper
Welcome back for our Clique Kits Student of the Month, Katie Smith's second post this month!! She's back today with some wonderful projects for us. I love how she mixed all the Glam Camp patterns from the My Minds Eye Market Street papers in each of her fun projects. Katie really captured the essence of these beautiful Market Street patterns and combined them beautifully with the earthy textures and glam in Glam Camp.
Katie also rocked out the Lawn Fawn Wish You Were Here stamp set, found HERE in our Clique Kits school store. You'll see the arrows, hearts, "wish you were here" and the fabulous states stamp.
And now for Katie's layouts!! I just adore how she used a pen to accent the elements on her pages and how she added her handwritten journaling. Outlining letter stickers really gives them some more dimension and makes them pop right off your page! Such great details from Katie here.
A huge Clique Kits thank you to Katie Smith for playing along with Glam Camp this month and sharing her creative spirit with all of us. You can check out Katie's blog here and see more of her there.
Click.Connect.Create.
The Clique Kits Girls
Have you ever heard it said that it is impossible to be sad while climbing a mountain? I would add, it is also impossible to be sad while sitting under a tree or listening to the waves of the ocean crash. I have always loved nature and as much as I love to enable others when it comes to retail therapy, the truth is the best things in life really are free! I hope that you have been having a truly amazing summer taking advantage of everything wild and free that nature has to offer!
Today I am sharing a layout of my family (or at least a large number of us) on vacation in Colorado a few summers ago. My son Jack had spent a week at skateboarding camp at Copper Mountain near Vail, Colorado and the whole family got to go to pick him up when camp was over! We stayed a few days to enjoy the views and some outdoorsy activities together.
Today I am sharing a layout of my family (or at least a large number of us) on vacation in Colorado a few summers ago. My son Jack had spent a week at skateboarding camp at Copper Mountain near Vail, Colorado and the whole family got to go to pick him up when camp was over! We stayed a few days to enjoy the views and some outdoorsy activities together.
I can't believe how productive I have been scrapbooking summer memories using Glam Camp. I just love all of the juxtaposing natural, raw elements like wood grain, burlap, and cork with the botanical and flowery patterns. But what about that little deer? Have you ever looked at something like this and wondered where and how to use it in your scrapbooking?
In this layout I fussy cut from the large floral pattern and really went all out layering in the gold doilies and other gold foil ephemera. The Maya Road resin deer in that creamy mint color (which they actually call the aqua) really pops contrasted against the soft corals on top of the other wow factor-the burlap bow from Fancy Pants Designs.
Here is a design tip for you: When you look at a design element you may not have worked with before, such as this little deer, try not limit yourself to thinking about it literally. Maybe the color will add just the perfect pop of an accent color to an otherwise conventional palette. Or, maybe it will convey a certain theme or mood -whether it is artsy, modern, vintage, quirky, or any other style out there, you too can stay in step with the trends without getting lost in the woods!
Click. Connect. Create.
-Gia
-Gia
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