Member Spotlight | Cari Orellana

This July, get to know Cari Orellana (@cariilup). Cari has been dabbling in scrapbooking since she was 16, but really started doing it consistently after subscribing in 2014. She is a proud feline-lover, and dedicates her pages to her rescue kitties, her architect husband, and special memories she knows she'll want to revisit down the road. Her pages are full of personality, bright color combinations, and, of course, cats! We hope you enjoy getting to know Cari a little better as much as we do!

Hello everyone, I'm Cari! It's always so hard to introduce myself so this time I'm going to tell you something you may not know about me. I'm married to an architect, we met at university because I studied architecture for one year, but I didn't finish it. Instead, I changed to translation school and now I have a degree on English-Spanish translation + Spanish teaching to foreigners.

I'm obsessed with my two rescued boys cats. Lukas was found by my best friend on the street, he got inside engine of a car and my friend waited for two hours to the car's owner to arrive so she could take him out of the engine. The next day I went to her home for him, it was love at first sight. I found Tomas Amador on the street, that day I wanted really badly to eat french toasts and I went to the market to buy what I need, I saw him playing alone in the street and I brought him home. I think it was fate for my to find him.

I made my first scrapbook album when I was 16. It included some photoshoped photos of me and Orlando Bloom (insert crazy laughs here) and my friends at school. I destroyed it because I thought It was too ugly and now I really regret that. I restarted scrapbooking in 2011, but I really got into this world once I got my first subscription on January 2014 because the February subscribers special was a cat themed mini kit.

I create my scrapbooks because I believe that memories deserved to be saved, regular things from today may be totally different in 10 years and when that happens I don't want to regret I didn't give my memories the right place.

How long have you been a member here at Studio Calico? I'm not very sure but must be sometime between 2011 and 2012.

All time favorite past kit or collection: It's hard to choose because I basically love everything from SC but I can't stop using Brighton Pier. I remember when I first saw that collection and thought, "That collection is totally me." My favorite Kits have been Sugar Rush, Sandlot, and Cirque. Right now I'm in love with Baxter - you can imagine why. For me, the brighter the better, so any collection/kit full of color gets my heart really quick.

What do you do when your kits come? I open them! I live in an apartment, and the porter calls me as fast as he gets the box. I start opening them in the elevator, and I use them as far as I can do it, hopefully that very same night.

What's your go to technique? I always start with a white background. I'm trying to use more patterned backgrounds just to challenge myself, and I'm having a hard time doing it. Right now I value more all those girls who use lots of patterns. I also love layers and grid designs, but nothing is really done until I sew some details with my sewing machine and add some ink splatters.

Share your top 5 products:

1.- Studio Calico Kits: I try not to buy anything else, so I don't hoard supplies. My kits give enough supplies to work with for a month, plus they are always so pretty.

2.- Black Ink: As I said before, nothing is done until you splatter some ink! My favorite is black; no matter what colors you use in your project, black will match just perfectly. I have to say that lately I'm loving copper ink too.

3.- Binder Rings: I love making mini albums. I love mini albums of any kind, but my favorite technique is to use a binder ring. It's fast and easy and you can add and add more pages if you need to.

4.- Hearts and Stars: Of any kind, I think they are the perfect embellishment. Whenever I think something is missing on my project, a heart or a star solves the problem!

5.- Labels: For me, labels have the same function of hearts and stars. If something feels a little empty, a label will give it the finishing touch.

Where do you go when your mojo is low? I try just to take a break. If I force myself to do something, I'm not going to like the result. While in that break I like to check the Creative Team and Member Gallery. There are so many talented people here, and I'm always impressed with the amazing ideas I can find here. Also Pinterest is an incredible source of inspiration. If none of that works, I get new supplies (not so recommended!) to see if that can bring me new ideas. If I'm completely honest the last one ALWAYS works haha!

Thank you for letting us spotlight you, Cari! We loved getting to know more about you! If you'd like to see more of Cari's work, be sure to follow her here at SC and on her Instagram!