August 02, 2017

Guest Designer | Neela Nalam

We're thrilled to have the lovely and talented Neela Nalam as one of our guest designers this month and are excited to get to know her better today! Be sure to follow Neela here at Studio Calico to keep up with her and see more of her beautiful work.

Hi, friends! To say I was jumping with joy when asked to be a guest designer for Studio Calico this month would be an understatement! I remember when I came across the Studio Calico website for the first time in 2013—I've been a member ever since. I remember looking at all the projects and being blown away. I also remember looking at all the photos of the Creative Team members and their contributions and being awestruck. So I can't tell you how much it means to be the guest designer for the month of August.

I'm a mom of two boys, 7 and 12, and an aunt of a 7-month-old baby girl. These kids are the main subjects of my layouts. A close second is making layouts about our vacations. I love to document our trips and keep those memories alive, and a lot of times, relive those moments while scrapbooking about them. I started scrapbooking in 2004 when my son was born. I wanted to make a baby book like so many others. One of my colleagues at work was an avid scrapbooker and she showed me her projects occasionally. She took me to the store and bought me what I call my starter kit. Boy, I have to say my collection has grown (ahem...) a little bit since then! I then discovered the world of online scrapbooking in 2012 and then Studio Calico. My scrapbooking style totally changed at this point—totally for the good. I have learned a lot of new techniques and styles since then by taking classes here at Studio Calico.

I have been on the Design Teams for Stuck On You Sketches and ScrapbookCircle in the past. I'm currently on the Design Team for Elle's Studio and am super honored to be asked to be on these teams. I have also taught a couple of classes at Big Picture Classes. The first class is called Big Impact and is all about printing and incorporating large photos in various ways on your layouts. My second class is called Circles, and this one is about cutting your photos into circles, typing in circles, and incorporating circles on your layouts.

When the August Kits were sent to me, the first thing that struck me were the awesome colors. They are great for boy layouts. But there was also enough pink for a girl layout as you can see in the gallery.

Love This: My first layout is about my little guy learning to surf. I used the main kit only to create this layout. I loved that the colors in this kit went so well with the layout. One of my favorite elements from this kit is the specialty paper. Those stars are simply awesome! I backed the stars with a bunch of patterned paper and stitched through them. And how awesome is that handwritten paper? A little bit of that peeking above the photo was enough to give it a special look. Another favorite of mine was the alpha and the handwritten words. I combined them and stitched over them for my title. The acrylic circle that says "SUN" was the perfect starting word for my journaling.

Akka Falls: My second layout is about our little hike to Akaka Falls. I wanted to write a lot about this—and how perfect are the documenter cards to house journaling? I also love the Abigail alphabet stamp with which I stamped the title. The stamp set included in the Documenter Kit is awesome for travel-themed layouts. I used a bunch of chipboard stickers along the large photo both from the Scrapbook Kit and the Documenter Kit. I also used the kraft cardstock and patterned paper for some added interest behind the documenter cards.

Anika - We Love You: My third layout is about my niece. I can't resist making layouts about her! I collected all the pink from the Scrapbook Kit, Documenter Kit, and the 4x6 paper pad and used it on this layout. I cut out her photo in a circle with my silhouette and typed around it. I then used the acrylic circles across the page and added chipboard stickers on top for texture and dimension. I also used the little emoji stickers. They are so cute!