Studio Calico Penny Arcade card kit

Hi everyone, hope your weekend is off to a great start :) I just noticed that I forgot to schedule my reveal post for Studio Calico's Penny Arcade kits… whoops! It must be because I can't wait to get back to my scrapping table to start some more projects with the leftover supplies. I made six cards so far, five of them almost exclusively with the main card kit. Let's go right to my personal favorite!

If you know Kim Stewart, she does some amazing things with her "Fresh Cut Illustrations" designs. They are all hand drawn and hand cut - amazing, I tell you! I'm so happy that she decided to turn some into cut files for Studio Calico so we all can have a "slice" of her creativity.


For this card, I cut two of Kim's images from Neenah Solar White cardstock and arranged them on a watercolored background. If you want to try this for yourself, the Martha Stewart Glue Pen is the way to go for adhering these intricate cuts. For the word stamp, I had prepared a punched 1" circle, sponged with Color Theory Coral Bay ink, then stamped on top of this. For some more oomph, I added gold glitter all around the edges, again adhered with the Martha Stewart Glue Pen.

Studio Calico Penny Arcade digital cut files by Kim Stewart

As for the next card, I'll be honest… I was biased regarding the gnome stamp! For me, it represents a narrow-minded lifestyle that I hope I'll never call my own. Still, I wanted to play with it and came up with an extra kitschi, wild design. Looking at the stamp set, you'll find that there's just an outline image of the gnome. Since it is pretty much symmetrical, you can however use the back of the stamp for stamping, too, and layer the outline on top. Ink colors are PTI's Raspberry Fizz and Studio Calico's Something Blue ink. Speaking of SC's ink pads, there are now refill's in the shop opening up a lot of new opportunities to play!


The bright colors continue with the following birthday card! I love the brush scripted patterned paper in the card kit (and yay, it's part of SC's new Brighton Pier collection!!) but found it a little too contrasty for what I wanted. Enter: vellum cardstock, of course! Now the birthday die might be my favorite single item in the whole of Penny Arcade - but you knew that already from my love for birthday cards, right? I cut it from watercolor paper and sprayed it with neon orange Mister Huey spray. The veneer star, inked with hot pink and sewn down with a tiny clear bead, is also part of the card kit.


Obviously, I could neither stay away from that awesome paper nor the above mentioned cut-files. First I used the die-cut twig as a mask with spray mist, then I put a second twig on top. The word stamp is part of the adorable Churros add-on.


For the last card, I finally got out the card kit add-on Pinball. When I saw the flower stamps, I knew I wanted to try the "cracked glass" technique with this. It was on my list for years but I never got to it somehow. Basically, you stamp/color your image then melt at least three to four layers of clear embossing powder on the whole image and let it sit for a few minutes. When it's completely cooled off, you can bend the embossed image and the embossed layers will crack. If you want to add to the effect, you can use ink (e.g., SC's Doc Brown ink, like I did) and a sponge over it to pronounce the cracks.


Pheww, and that's it so far! Modern, vintage, pastels, crazy colors… it's all possible within just a single kit collection. Awesome, isn't it? As always, you can take a look at the detail images in my Creative Team gallery.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone!