American Crafts Studio Blog

Valentine's Day Blog Hop!

Welcome to the American Crafts Design Team Valentine's Day Blog Hop! Hop, skip, and jump along to each designer's blog to see the love-themed creations they've made for this special event, drop them a note of love, then come back here and leave a comment for a chance to win an XOXO prize pack worth over $60! Here is a little teaser of all the projects you are about to see:

HOP LIST:
Leslie Ashe
Andrea Budjack
Jen Chesnick
Jill Cornell
Sophie Crespy
Lilith Eeckels
Paige Evans
Leah Farquharson
Monika Głód
Angie Gutshall
Corrie Jones
Michiko Kato
Heather Leopard
Carina Lindholm
Melissa Mann
Kimberly Neddo
Patricia Roebuck
Erin Stewart
Diana Waite
Allison Waken
Becky Williams
American Crafts

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Love, American Crafts

Signature Series: Amy Tan Idea Book

Fashion designer turned scrapbooking icon, Amy Tan of Amy Tangerine is a burst of energy in the paper craft industry. Between creating best-selling paper lines and teaching creative classes around the world, Amy is working on perfecting the “art of truly living.” Come enjoy some of Amy's favorite projects and be inspired to squeeze the most of out your beautiful life in her inspirational new idea book.

Watch as Amy signs a few copies of her new book, hot off the press at the Northridge Publishing office in Utah:

**For a limited time only, get your autographed copy of Amy Tan's Signature Series book at Studio Calico while supplies last.**

Click Play: Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm CHA Video

Join Elizabeth Kartchner as she talks and walks us through her brand new line LUCKY CHARM in this charming video filmed at CHA:

Dear Lizzy, Lucky Charm Reveal and Blog Hop

Welcome to Day 2 of Reveals Week! We have something special today from Dear Lizzy - you will fall in love. Here we go!

Featuring an endearing assortment of charm bracelet icons - flowers, horses, hot air balloons, hearts, and arrows - Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm is a dreamland of color and patterns. Sweet pinks, aqua, yellow, red-orange and cream are grounded with a fun navy blue that make this collection charming. Lucky you.

This inviting collection features 24 patterned papers, plus five specialty papers such as printed vellum and gold metallic ruffle paper. Thickers and stickers abound, with new additions making an appearance including die cut cards. Brilliant!

Time for another blog hop! Start at Elizabeth's blog, hop along, then come back here and leave a comment on this post by Friday January 11th and we'll randomly select TWO winners to receive the ENTIRE Lucky Charm collection (winners will be announced Friday)!

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 7

How is everyone doing with their albums?! I can officially say that mine is complete! I go through the 25th so I just finished mine up! I loved sharing my weeks with you and I hope they provided a bit of inspiration as you worked through yours.

 

The last "page" is our Christmas card that I just punched holes in! 

Supplies: Lighting Department Paper (35855) - Kringle and Co, Merry Mail Room Paper (35858) - Kringle & Co, Santa's Executive Office Paper (35867) - Kringle and Co, Red Suit Tailor Paper (35849) - Kringle and Co, Coal Mine Paper (35856) - Kringle and Co, Kringle Garden Paper (35846) - Kringle and Co, Pinsettia Greenhouse Paper (35850) - Kringle and Co, Daily Black (53388) - Thickers, Jingle Silver (53441) - Thickers, Jingle White (53438) - Thickers, Kringle Crimson (53435) - Thickers, Jingle Crimson (53439) - Thickers, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Iceplum Dimensional Stickers (42276) - Remarks, Sugarflake Dimensional Stickers (42278) - Remarks, Hollymint Borders Accent & Phrase Stickers (42272) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Layered Tags (85610) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Large Tags (85599) - Bits, Caramel (71045) - Cardstock, Granit (71721) - Cardstock, White (71081) - Cardstock, Foam Dots (61709) - This to That, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42266) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Printed Chipboard Shapes (85601) - Embellishments, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42265) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Letter Stickers (42267) - Remarks

Feel free to link to your albums in the comments! Thanks for following along with me this month. I hope you enjoyed it!

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 6

We are almost there! Well, almost there if you stop at the 25th like I do. I hope you all are enjoying the process of forming your albums. Sometimes it can seem like a burden but it's so worth it when my kids pull out those albums again and again. They really love the smaller size of a mini album. This week I again mixed some 5th & Frolic with my Kringle and Co for some holiday as well as everyday moments.

Supplies:  Lighting Department Paper (35855) - Kringle and Co, Merry Mail Room Paper (35858) - Kringle and Co, Santa's Executive Office Paper (35867) - Kringle and Co, Red Suit Tailor Paper (35849) - Kringle and Co, Coal Mine Paper (35856) - Kringle and Co, Kringle Garden Paper (35846) - Kringle and Co, Pinsettia Greenhouse Paper (35850) - Kringle and Co,  Daily Black (53388) - Thickers, Jingle Silver (53441) - Thickers, Jingle White (53438) - Thickers, Kringle Crimson (53435) - Thickers, Jingle Crimson (53439) - Thickers, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Iceplum Dimensional Stickers (42276) - Remarks, Sugarflake Dimensional Stickers (42278) - Remarks, Hollymint Borders Accent & Phrase Stickers (42272) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Layered Tags (85610) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Large Tags (85599) - Bits, Caramel (71045) - Cardstock, Granit (71721) - Cardstock, White (71081) - Cardstock, Foam Dots (61709) - This to That, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42266) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Printed Chipboard Shapes (85601) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42265) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Letter Stickers (42267) - Remarks

How are your albums coming along? Anyone put them all together at the end of December?

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 5

And just like that we are down another week in December! Just like previous years I seem to get SO busy this time of the month so my pages become a bit more simplified. I like the change and I love that I am still documenting it! I like little bits of everyday life in my December album because that's just how it is around here. Somedays we do nothing related to the holidays so every day moments it is!

Supplies:  Lighting Department Paper (35855) - Kringle and Co, Merry Mail Room Paper (35858) - Kringle and Co, Santa's Executive Office Paper (35867) - Kringle and Co, Red Suit Tailor Paper (35849) - Kringle and Co, Coal Mine Paper (35856) - Kringle and Co, Kringle Garden Paper (35846) - Kringle and Co, Pinsettia Greenhouse Paper (35850) - Kringle and Co, Daily Black (53388) - Thickers, Jingle Silver (53441) - Thickers, Jingle White (53438) - Thickers, Kringle Crimson (53435) - Thickers, Jingle Crimson (53439) - Thickers, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Iceplum Dimensional Stickers (42276) - Remarks, Sugarflake Dimensional Stickers (42278) - Remarks, Hollymint Borders Accent & Phrase Stickers (42272) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Layered Tags (85610) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Large Tags (85599) - Bits, Caramel (71045) - Cardstock, Granite (71721) - Cardstock, White (71081) - Cardstock, Foam Dots (61709) - This to That, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42266) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Printed Chipboard Shapes (85601) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Accent and Phrase Stickers (42265) - Remarks, 5th & Frolic Letter Stickers (42267) - Remarks, Kringle Fountain (53437) - Thickers

This week I added quite a bit from 5th & Frolic to go along with my non-holidayish photos. I love that I can mix different lines together and they still look great! How are you coming along?!

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 4

1 week down! How did everyone do this week? Did you complete all your pages up until today? Are you doing them all at once? I tried to do pages here and there but I mostly assembled this week in one day. The printing of the photos always seems to slow me down! I like to keep my pages simple but fun.

I'm loving the Nippynose Decorative Layered Tags for putting in little bits of ephemera or journaling! Here's what I have so far:

Supplies: Lighting Department Paper (35855) - Kringle and Co, Merry Mail Room Paper (35858) - Kringle and Co, Santa's Executive Office Paper (35867) - Kringle and Co, Red Suit Tailor Paper (35849) - Kringle and Co, Coal Mine Paper (35856) - Kringle and Co, Kringle Garden Paper (35846) - Kringle and Co, Pinsettia Greenhouse Paper (35850) - Kringle and Co,  Daily Black (53388) - Thickers, Jingle Silver (53441) - Thickers, Jingle White (53438) - Thickers, Kringle Crimson (53435) - Thickers, Jingle Crimson (53439) - Thickers, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Iceplum Dimensional Stickers (42276) - Remarks, Sugarflake Dimensional Stickers (42278) - Remarks, Hollymint Borders Accents & Phrase Stickers (42272) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Layered Tags (85610) - Bits, 5th & Frolic Large Tags (85599) - Bits, Caramel (71045) - Cardstock, Granit (71721) - Cardstock, White (71081) - Cardstock, Foam Dots (61709) - This to That

I'd love to see how your albums are coming along!

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 3

It's officially December! Everyone have their cameras ready?! Don't forget to keep those coffee sleeves, receipts, and other memorabilia to add to your December album! Today I wanted to give you a few tips on prepping pages/inserts ahead of time. I personally don't do much. I like to do it all when I have the photos/ephemera from the day since so much of my layouts seem to depend on it. However, I know some people like to have as much as possible done ahead of time to increase their chances of finishing before the end of the year.

Here is an example of one page done ahead of time. I know that we'll have/be getting our tree on the first so I was able to do a little more on this page while still leaving room to add in items. I like the little number pocket for inserting a receipt! The smaller pocket with the tree can stay as is or hold lots of journaling on the back.

Some things that you can do to prepare your pages are:

• cut patterned paper/cardstock to size
• paint or mist pages or embellishments
• sew on your pages
• make confetti!
• cut ribbon
• make all of your day number pages (day 1, day 2, etc)

Supplies: Peppermint Parlor Paper (35863) - Kringle and Co, Woodshop Paper (35865) - Kringle and Co, Lighting Department Paper (35855) - Kringle and Co, Kringle Pine (53436) - Thickers, Daily Black (53388) - Thickers, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Tags (85610) - Bits, Mistlebow (59167) - Acrylic Stamps

How do you handle your December Album? Do you prepare pages ahead of time or do them on the fly?

December Daily Album with Allison Waken - Part 2

Hi everyone! I'm back again today with my December Album organization. For me to be successful with this project I need to have everything on hand and ready to go. Since I'm doing a spread a day I'd like to finish one spread a day. This seems do-able until you get into the craziness of the holidays. Having everything on hand and ready helps speed up the process!

I have my supplies on a tray with cigar boxes and ceramic containers for dividers. Some things to make sure you have with your supplies are adhesive, scissors, stapler, trimmers, and ink.

I am using some divided pages in my album so I cut some patterned paper into 4x6 and 3x4 pieces so they are ready to go.

Supplies: Merry Mail Room Paper (35858) - Kringle and Co, Reindeer Training Paper (35853) - Kringle and Co, Peppermint Parlor Paper (35863) - Kringle and Co, Poinsettia Greenhouse Paper (35850) - Kringle and Co, Coal Mine Paper (35856) - Kringle and Co, Accounting Paper (35869) - Kringle and Co, Woodshop Paper (35865) - Kringle and Co, Lighting Department Paper, (35855) - Kringle and Co, Autumn Stickers (42296) - Remarks, Sugarflake Dimensional Stickers (42278) - Remarks, Holiberry Die Cut Cardstock Shapes (85611) - Bits, Iceplum Dimensional Stickers (42276) - Remarks, Snowtoes Matte Puffy Stickers (42275) - Remarks, Nippynose Decorative Tags (85610) - Bits, Hollymint Accent and Phrase Stickers (42274) - Remarks, Mistlebow (59167) - Acrylic Stamps, Kringle and Co Printed Ribbon (89430) - Premium Ribbon, Foam Dots (61709) - This to That

Next week I'll share how I will prepare some pages ahead of time and how I plan to print/prepare my photos! Are you ready to start December?