Studio Calico's February Kit

It's that time of month..I get to share a few layouts with you using Studio Calico's February kit, "Sherwood Forest". I actually finished these layouts a week or two ago, but as always, I have to wait for their final debut at the "Studio" before sharing them with you here. You've already seen some close-ups, but not the layouts themselves. Take a peek below:

The "Sherwood Forest" kit has sold out. No surprise. The place has been hoppen' lately as new member's sign up for subscriptions at the speed of light. The kits are always beautiful. Scarlet and April have really great taste and a good sense of style for combining product. Their vision is fresh and sophisticated. The website itself is like shopping for scrapbook supplies at the Pottery Barn. The gallery is always inspiring and the community is inviting and warm. I love designing for this kit club. I won't forget to mention the cute kraft packaging and Studio Calico printed boxes that are used to ship kits to their customers- every detail is fine tuned and hand tailored, including the kits themselves.

It's a Monday. My day pretty much started at the local post office with a missing box. I left the item I was suppose to mail out on my garage bench. Mrs. Clueless forgot to grab it (that would be me) before driving out of the garage. Go figure. Ethan and I visited my mom in the afternoon, but could only stay a short while because she had a meeting with a business friend. We ended up trekking back home after having made little progress on anything. Ethan took his afternoon nap and his uncle, Peter, came over to visit for an hour or so once the nap was over. I also took a nap. It was soooo wonderful :) I haven't been sleeping very well at night. New bed. New room. Highway outside my window along with a horn loven' train station. Not exactly ideal sleeping conditions. It's going to take some time to get used to the changes. After Peter left, we went back to my parent's place and hung out for a few hours. Ethan and I filled up on some Swedish Pancakes during our visit. By the time we got home, 6:30 had already rolled around. I gave Ethan his bath and put him to bed. It was a fairly uneventful day, though I did receive some special photos in the mail from Krysten Halek (a good friend of mine who also happens to be a very talented photographer). They were the last photos taken of "our family" (Ethan, Eric, and myself) before Eric died. They were taken a month before Eric passed away. I purchased 3 large 8.5" x 11" pics to hang on my wall in my scrap room. They're beautiful and with permission, I will try to post some of these pics at my blog in the near future. That was truly the highlight of my day. Thank you Krysten!

I have been contemplating purchasing Photoshop CS3. I still need to do further research on pricing..is it the same price no matter where you purchase the software? I need some advice here..if any of you have experience purchasing Photoshop CS or CS3, send some info my way. Thanks!

Till tomorrow, take care.

Comments

[Laura]

Love your layouts Christine so beautiful, so touching...how did you find the strength... You always amaze me with all of the details on your layouts - you miss nothing. They are eclectic and elegant and beautiful all at once. :)
I purchased CS3 but only because I was offered an upgrade from Photoshop Elements for $99 last year. I love CS3 but there are still some things I prefer (mostly because I knew how to use it better) in Elements. The nice thing is...I can go back and forth. I'm still a beginner on both but took an online class on Elements last year which was awesome.
Take care of yourself. Wishing you a good night sleep. Hugs - Laura

[casey boyd]

Christine..those are some beautiful layouts, so full of emotion and the detailed embellishment is fabulous as always. I have to say that your handwriting just amazes me, it is beautiful.

[Denise Morgan]

Hi Christine,
I hope all is well considering everything you've been going through. But last night at SC reveal after purchasing my add on I ventured over to the gallery. And your LO's as usual were spectacular! I was'nt sure if you had done this yet, or would consider it. But when I first saw the LO w/ Eric's child pic I thought it was one of your son. Then remembered you had mentioned just after Eric passed about finding his stuff in the basement. Well what I'm driving at here is, I think it would be super to do a LO with that same pic of Eric and a pic of Ethan. They look so much alike it's unbelievable.

Take Care,
Denise

[Amy Hutchinson]

Christine, your layouts are beautiful! I just love your style :) I love CS3 myself, but other than Prima, I'm a mostly digi scrapper. There are so many features I just couldn't live without now that I'm used to it!

[Linda F.]

Lovely layouts! I'm really going to have to sub to Studio Calico!

[Savitri]

Buying Photoshop is quite expensive. Price will pretty much be the same. If it's not then it's probably not the real deal. But, if you have a student or somebody that works at an educational institute maybe that person can pick one up for you at the college bookstore OR, purchase online from an educational software store (you need a student ID, fax/email, or a schedule). Instead of $599 for just Photoshop, you can get the CS3 suite for $399 or less (depends if you get the web or design version -- difference is one has InDesign, more by $50). My university has a deal with Adobe. The first 25 each semester gets the suite for $190.

I love your work. I want to be just like you in my scrapbooking :D

[Laura Fiore]

Hey Christine--in response to your question about CS3--if you know anyone at a university, you can probably get it at a substantially lower price in the bookstore. My dd goes to SF State and we just got a sweet deal on my new Mac, and I noticed that their software (including CS3) is much cheaper than I've seen in stores.

[Celeste]

http://www.journeyed.com/ or http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ - all you need in the house is a child to qualify for these discounted prices.

[Wendy Vecchi]

As usual...absolutely OUTSTANDING layouts.
Very very nice!
Take care!
Wendy

[naomi coker]

hi Christine.
I was just wondering you have a book of your scrapbooking published? if you do I would LOVE to get my hands on it.

[naomi coker]

hi Christine.
I was just wondering you have a book of your scrapbooking published? if you do I would LOVE to get my hands on it.

[Lisa Wilson]

Hi Christine,
Your layouts are beautiful as always! Your work is so inspiring. You and Ethan are still in my prayers.

[Linda]

Hope you are doing well...your los are absolutely fantastic, as usual. so inspiring.

[Jennifer]

It's good to see that you are blogging again. I missed ya!
We are continuing to lift you and your family up in prayer.

Jennifer

[Gaby]

I love your Layouts! They're beautiful!

Hugs

[Jennifer Caputo]

Beautiful layouts Christine!

You can get an educator's version of CS3 for much cheaper from academicsuperstore.com or something like that, you just need a report card or some proof that you have a child in school (is Ethan old enough for school?)

Once you get it, I have a bunch of tutorials for scrapbookers at digitalscrapbookingtv.com - the tutorials are 1/2 for digital scrapbookers and 1/2 photo editing tricks for anyone although the next episode is all about paper scrapping with photoshop (should be out in about a week).

hope that helps!
Jen

[Ingunn]

I just have to tell you how much I love your handwriting - it is so beautiful and elegant, it gives a really cool touch to your layouts!