Some of you may have realized that a little while ago, I subscribed to the Studio Calico monthly card kit, but then I found the Simon Says Stamp monthly kits pretty hard to resist. I hadn’t seen any info on the big differences between the two, so I made a little video to go through what I think are some of the differences; my guess is that month to month, these kits can change, but from looking at past kits online, it looks to me like the type of contents and the quantity of items stays roughly the same for the price.

Simon Says Stamp Card Kit Quick Links:

• The Simon Says Stamp kit that I reviewed in this video is the January 2013 Thinking of You card kit which you can find here.
• For details on subscribing to the Simon Says card kit club, please see this page.
• Simon Says also has a page of FAQs on the card kit here.

Studio Calico Card Kit Quick Links:

• You can find all the details on the Studio Calico Block Party kit from the video here.If you would like to subscribe, I think you may need to be put on the waiting list, which was two months for me when I signed up last Fall.
• Studio Calico lists all of their FAQs here.
• Studio Calico also lists how the monthly kits work here.

If I had to list the three biggest differences between the two kits they are:

• Total price (including shipping and any possible cancellation fees)
• Size and style of the stamp sets
• Types/amount of paper and cardstock

There are two points I wish I had remembered to make when doing the video:

• There might be other card kit clubs available:
• Stampin’ Up! is coming out with one called My Paper Pumpkin.
• ETA: Barbara Murphy left me a lovely comment about two other card kit clubs:
• Paper Made Bakery…Baker’s Dozen kit subscription
• Artful Delights…Card Kits
• If you are considering subscribing, you may want to look into what happens when you want to unsubscribe. If you are unsubscribing from the Studio Calico subscription prior to 6 months, there is a $15 fee; I believe that you can unsubscribe from Simon Says’ kits at any time without a penalty.

I don’t think I will (or can) maintain both subscriptions moving forward, and will spend some time trying to decide which to keep (if any). I do love getting these in the mail and trying new things, but the costs and the time to use all the stuff (as well as the space to organize and store everything in a place where I will remember) are limited. I also think that the kits are geared toward different styles of cardmaking.

I hope you enjoyed watching, and if you have any questions please let me know; I love hearing from all of you. I will do my best to keep this post updated!

Thanks,
Suzanne

I just wanted to pop in and share a card that I made a little while ago - I wanted to try stitching on my patterned paper, using supplies from the 34th Street card kit from Studio Calico.

I wish the whole patterned paper pad in this kit was this chevron pattern only. I love it so much.

Have a fabulous week, friends! I was at a meeting at the National Cancer Institute for the second half of last week (and it was pretty awesome), but now I am hoping that this week isn’t extra crazy to make up for what I missed. Fingers crossed!

Hugs,
Suzanne

Hello, hello, hello, hello! It’s Neat and Tangled Stamps’ Release week, and today we are sharing projects made with a brand new washi tape-inspired set called On the Strip, which is possibly my most favorite N&T set yet.

On my card above, I stamped the striped washi image along the right side of the card base in Fern from A Muse Studio, which really stands out well against their Grass cardstock. Then I stamped and cutout the tag from Swirly Twirly Tags, also being released this week, and stamped the “hello” sentiment multiple times in matching colors. So fun!

Next up, I wanted to play with my patterned papers and this yellow paper from Studio Calico seemed really fun because of the sunray-like pattern in it. I had an idea to put the sentiment right in the center of the pattern, but to split it up with the arrow washi image, which was cut so that all the arrows point in the direction of the sentiment, which was stamped onto the Pebbles chipboard word bubble.

And for my last card, I flipped over one of the washi strips and used it to give me a solid image, which was stamped across the front panel in a gradient of blue-purple colors; I then added a sentiment from Kindness Matters in navy on a panel across the front.

I had SO much fun making these cards. I actually made a few more but I didn’t want to go totally crazy on you and show them all in one post. I will save them for a later post, but in the meantime you can head on over to the Neat and Tangled blog to see all of this week’s projects and for a chance to win some prizes!

Hugs,
Suzanne

It’s the 9th of the month, so that means it’s time for another Cloud9 Blog Hop! It starts today at 10am EST and runs for 3 days. Here is this month’s inspiration photo:

I decided to use the color scheme to make a non-traditionally colored Valentine’s Day card, just to show that you don’t always need to make a card for the theme shown in the photo. I also had the Scrabble letters in my stash from a trip to my local stamp shop last summer, and was excited to use them on this card:

I used much less silver than I had originally had hoped to but I still love how this turned out. The mini dots in this patterned paper from Studio Calico are so cute, and I used up some metal bling from one of my Christmas kits to add in some silver. I also made the cream tag on my own using a combination of other dies.

I hope you will join us for our first hop of the New Year!

Suzanne

I was super excited to see that this week’s Sunday Sketch Challenge at Studio Calico includes a card sketch inspired by Stephanie Washburn and of course I wanted to play along:

I broke out my last two card kits and a few other supplies and made this:

The red alpha stickers that were included in each of those kits seemed off-scale to me, so I diecut these ones from Clear and Simple Stamps cardstock (thanks, Jen!) using my Memory Box alpha dies. I also added the metal bling and red button, which I am pretty sure were from the Christmas card kit that Jeanne sent us a couple of months ago.

Hope your 2013 is off to a great start!
Suzanne

Hi friends! Here’s a sneak peek of a thank you card I’ve posted over on the Neat and Tangled blog today. I hope you’ll head on over there to check it out!

Have a great day,
Suzanne

I got together with the girls for a couple of hours yesterday and had a chance to play with this month’s Card Kit from Studio Calico using this week’s Sunday Sketch on the SC blog. I made two cards but am only showing this one because I want the other one to be a surprise for my friend.

I love working with these flair/buttons, but if anyone has any tips on how to reduce their glare in the light box, I would be forever grateful!

XOXO,
Suzanne

I made another card last night - this one is for this week’s Sunday Sketch at Studio Calico. I used the Sock Hop Card Kit to make this card for a friend whose birthday is this coming weekend. This is manly, right?

Everything here was included in the kit, even the diecut shapes. I stamped the sentiment and the lines along the left edge using the stamp set that was included in the kit. I have to laugh because even with the sketch and with everything cut for me, this took me quite a bit of time - I have a new respect for all you scrapbookers out there!

Have a fun day,
Suzanne

Hi everyone!

Today I’ve posted details on this card on the Neat and Tangled blog. Hope to see you over there!

And since I just received my very first card kit from Studio Calico, I’m also entering into their Sunday Sketch Challenge this week.

Have a great day,
Suzanne