We are in full summer swing hear at the Drumheller household, the boys are out of school, the weather is finally warming up and our pool is being installed! I am still amazed that they started Monday morning and by Tuesday afternoon we had a pool in our backyard. It’s been a fun process to watch and every time a big piece of equipment would go past my bunker window I would have to run upstairs and see what they were doing next. The patio area goes in on Friday and Saturday and then landscaping cleans things up on Monday and Tuesday. The boys are on vacation with their Dad until next week Wednesday which actually works out perfect since we were told to not go in the pool until next week, otherwise I think they would go crazy wanting to go in it all weekend! Since Mom and Dad have sold both their home (which had a pool) and their cottage on Drummond island this last month, it really did seem the perfect time for us to put in a pool. More than anything though I am really looking forward to being able to spend a few hours with the boys each day outdoors. It is hard for me to find the time to take them to the beach, water park or lake during the summer and right now it’s just not possible for me to take any sort of vacation with them so this was the best solution for us – I can bring my work out on the patio in the afternoon or evening while they splash and play. The best part is they are getting exercise, fresh air and leaving the video games for awhile! 

Now on to Cocoa Daisy news. Our Day in the Life project life kit is in it’s 3rd month and it just keeps getting better! We have increased the thickness of the journaling cards for July so they set in the page protectors better and will hold up to any altering you may want to do to them. We have also added beautiful letterpress designs to the Day in the Life kit as well as the main kit – I just love letterpress! And that is not the end of new things for our project life and main kit, I’ve got some other things up my sleeve

Our Project Art kits have been a fun way to dip your creative toes into the world of art journaling. Ronda Palazzari has created an amazing Introduction to Art Journaling class with videos, prompts and inspiration that is included with the purchase of your Project Art starter kit. You can also purchase the Introduction to Art Journaling class separately on her website. Each month our own DT member Anna Bjorklund has been giving us beautiful examples and instruction on how to use the monthly Project Art kits. You can find her posts here.

We are running a special 3 month promotion right now – a great way for anyone who has been thinking about joining but not sure they want to commit to a full 6 months. This promo runs until July 1st.

I am thrilled to have Mary Kay Seckinger join the Cocoa Daisy family. Mary Kay will be handling lots of behind the scenes business, including, but not limited to answering your emails and helping make sure all is well. And most of all keeping me on track and sane!

Mary Kay lives in Denver with her husband, Jon, and her children Madeline (14), Baxter (12) and Sophie (10). She grew up in Florida & south Georgia, went to college in South Carolina, and then moved to Denver for graduate school (in Psychology). She has been scrapbooking since the “early days,” starting as a Creative Memories Consultant. She realized her dream of owning a scrapbook store in Denver, Scrapbook Destination, from 2007-2009. She’s been published in a few books and magazines, but didn’t do much scrapping while the store was open; since then she’s been thrilled to get her mojo back and has been making cards and layouts with abandon. Her favorite layouts are the serendipitous ones, where she just puts them together without over-thinking and only later realizes the design principles that made them great.

That is it for now, I hope you are enjoying the beginning of your summer!

I was supposed to share my scraproom with you today. But you’ll notice I’m not. It’s because I have plans. I have grand plans. And those plans are about 70% done. I have to finish hanging my IKEA Fintorp buckets. They look like this, only with scrapbook stuff in them instead of food stuff.

One is hung, the other is not.

I want to make cafe curtains that look like this:

They will made out of the curtains that were in my grandparents’ guest bedroom, the one my sisters and I got to sleep in when we were kids. When my grandmother passed away, that’s all I wanted, those curtains. Unfortunately, they were old and falling apart. My mom salvaged as much as she could, and since there’s not a lot to work with, I decided cafe curtains would be the best option.

But they are not done yet.

I have a huge old desk that we found at a reclamation yard. It was $50 and I had to have it. It looks just like this one. It’s called a Lincoln Desk, manufactured by The Commercial Furniture Company in Chicago. They were built in the 1930′s and 40′s and mine has a pull out platform on the left side, originally for a typewriter, but mine holds my sewing machine.

The reason you’re not seeing my pictures is because I am an archeological scrapper. I tend to pile and move to the next project. I’m almost to the bottom, but not quite. Soon, I promise.

I also have another couple of IKEA purchases that I use for storage. This sweet little Hemnes side table holds my laptop and some miscellany:

I put it together myself.

And this PAX unit holds almost everything else I use. After many different tries at storage, I found that keeping it all behind doors is what works for me. Also, not holding on to everything is key. I have to be vicious with what I keep, otherwise I end up in chaos (I’m almost there at the moment, which is why you’re getting this kind of tour).

Mine is black with frosted doors. I’ll show you inside once I really do my scraproom tour.

I’ve got a few more little projects, I’d like some wall art and just found this cool site, you type in an address, it will make a watercolored map for you. I may create one and frame it.

Or I may not. But you’ll know in a couple more months. I have until August now, and hopefully by then I’ll be all done with my reorganized scraproom.

Until then, I suggest if you’re looking for ideas on how to store your supplies, head over to the office section of Houzz.com, that’s where I went to gather inspiration. I found more of what I liked there then on Pinterest.

Hi, Daisies!  Mandie here with a challenge for you today.  My challenge to you is to use some nautical supplies.  Nautical themed product is popping up all over the place.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know how much I love a good nautical print anything… anchors, lobster, octopus, boats.  I love it all!  And, I’ve bought a number of nautical supplies.  So, I thought I would use them and challenge you to use yours, as well!  Link us to your project by leaving a comment here by July 5th and the winner of a $10 voucher to the Daisy Boutique will be announced here on July 9th.  So. Get busy & let us see your work!

The main item in the June Project Art kit is a set of 12 Inktense pencils. They are watersoluble pencils in strong, vibrant colours and they are permanent after drying. I love them so much and today I am going to share some art journal pages where I have been using them.

Sometimes the work I do in my journal doesn’t have any journaling at all. Sometimes the main focus is the experimenting, and I use the journal as a place to practice. When creating this page I wanted to draw a face and try colouring it with the Inktense pencils.

I started out with a pencil sketch and then I added some Inktense, little by little. I added the pencil very carefully to the paper and then used a wet brusch to dissolve the pigment. I then let the page dry completely, before adding another layer with some more pencil + water.

I added some stamping along the edge of the page and I used the Ink Black pencil for the hair.

To finish my page I added a couple of stickers from the Candy Dots add on. The only journaling on this finished page is the date. This is just playing and practicing. I actually like the above image better than the finished result. But it’s ok. I am learning…

The June Project Art kit also contains some fun vintage pieces and for my next page I tore some of them apart, and used gel medium to collage them onto my background.

After the gel medium had dried, I painted the entire page with some gesso.

Then I added Inktense Sea Blue and just because I wanted to give it a try, I first dissolved some of the Inktense pencil using gesso instead of water. It works really well! The pigment reacts right away, and the look is a bit softer than when using water.

I mixed the techniques of using gesso and water, to create my background. It looks pretty messy and ugly at this stage, but I knew I was going to layer things on top and it wasn’t a problem.

I then colored three of the sewing paper circles with mist.

I chalked the edges using a Prima edge chalker, and I also added some orange mist to the circle that I wanted to use in the middle of the flower I was creating. I glued the pieces together, adding some thread and one of the buttons from the kit, to the flower center. I took out one of the index cards from the Project Art kit and added everything to a glassine envelope.

I wrote my journaling on the index card, glued everything on to my page, and added a few sequins from the main kit. If my first page was just a page where I was practicing drawing, this is a page where I recorded this past week in my life and I wrote about all the “end of school year activities” that we’ve been attending. Just a small record of our everyday life.

I love the look of watercolours and all the spring blossoms gave me inspiration to try and paint some flowers. I don’t really know how to do this, so what I’ll be showing you is my very first experiment. :) It was fun! I am sure I’ll doing more flower experiments.

I started out with a very loose sketch where I added a tiny amount of Inktense Fuchsia.

I used water and a brush…

I then wrote some journaling – about my garden and about the fact that although it’s not fabulous, and although I’m not really good at flowers, I love to watch things grow. I also added a couple of more flowers to the bottom of my page.

I added more Fuschsia to the flowers and I decided to make the background green.

I painted the center of the flowers yellow and I added a tiny amount of orange too…

I think it was the fact that the black text stood out so much, that made me want to add some thin black lines to the flowers. I used the Pitt Artist Pen from the Starter Kit, and tried to draw lines that were kind of sketchy and non-perfect.

To finish my page I added a couple of pieces of one of the doilies from the main kit.

For my third page I wanted to create a background using the Inktense, and then adding other items on top. I picked two colours and started adding them to my page. I tried to add the pencil with a loose hand, making it easy to dissolve the pigment.

I covered my entire page and when it was dry I went back, adding more colour to some areas.

I decided to add a third colour and when I was happy with the look and my page was dry, I used a stencil and added some gesso.

To finish my page I cut a piece of patterned paper and die cut a hole in it. I attached a piece of a doily using my sewing machine and I added a sticker from the Candy Dots add on. I also added some stamping to the top and bottom of my page – I love that stamp! The journaling on this page reflects my feelings today – I only have 2 more weeks before my vacation and I am longing so much!

I hope you enjoy playing with your Inktense pencils and all the other fun bits and pieces in the kit! I would love to see what you create!

Have a fabulous week!

Hi Everyone!

This is Ashley today, and I’m going to show you how to make a painted and stamped background using my new favourite stamp ever — the exclusive Cocoa Daisy confetti polka dot stamp — and some basic ink and paint supplies.

I used this technique to make the patterned paper behind the sun cut-out in my layout using the June kit, Candy Shoppe:

And, here is a short tutorial on how you can easily make your own paper!

I hope you will give it a try… and have fun!

Special 3 Month Promotion:

Are you worried about committing to a kit club for 6 months? Perhaps you feel uncomfortable budgeting out that far ahead? Well, we have a special offer just for you!

For a limited time, we are offering a Cocoa Daisy 3 month subscription! When you sign up for a 3 month main kit subscription, you pay for the three months upfront. When your subscription is up, it will not auto renew (but, if you find you are loving Cocoa Daisy, simply sign up for a 6 month subscription–which will also save you some money!).

This is the perfect no hassle way to give Cocoa Daisy a try! You will be included in the subscriber pre-sale of add ons just like a regular subscriber, and your add ons will ship with your main kit.

The cost for a prepaid 3 month main kit subscription is only $95.85 + S&H.

This special offer runs from June 15th to July 1st.

July Stamp Sneak Peek:

This month’s stamps are sure to cover all your summer stamping needs, I can’t say much more than that – they are just sneaks after all.

Make sure to join us on June 28th 8pm EST for the full reveal.

Imagine deep turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, a warm yellow sun, and a row of inviting multi colored striped canvas cabana huts. Nice picture, yes?

We’ve incorporated that image into our July kit, Cabana, and created a kit that says beachy, summery fun like no other. A delightful mix of Bo Bunny’s Key Lime, the Cocoa Daisy/Simple Stories exclusives, American Crafts, and a bunch of other great manufacturers, Cabana is going to make your scrapping nice and easy this month.

The add ons will leave you feeling just as relaxed and ready to create. We’ve got Striped Awning, full of bright rich hues balanced with a great neutral kraft in the Placemat Frames from Jillibean Soup. Lime Rickey brings together a playful alphabet from Crate Paper’s The Pier and some bits and pieces from Lilybee, among others. Hammock, our patterned paper add on has plenty of turquoise and yellows, again balanced with neutrals. And our Day in the Life: July adds a touch of nautical to the month with our exclusive Anchor letterpress card and some fun silver twine.

Watch for the sneaks as the DT starts posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our message boards over the next couple of weeks. Search for the #CDSneaks hash tag!

Kits and adds on go on sale to subscribers of the main kit on Friday, June 28th at 9 PM EST. Our general public purchase date will be the 1st of June at 12 midnight. Because of lower shipping charges, the Stamp and Day in the Life subscribers do not have early access to the add ons.

Not a subscriber? It’s easy to join and you won’t ever miss out on the main kit, and you’ll have early and leisurely access to all the add ons. Even better? It’s easy to join us!

Hello and welcome to this months ‘Pleased to Meet You Challenge’.
This month it’s little me 

I love the June Candy Shoppe kit sooooo much. I love the bright fun summer colours and love that this kit is full of fun bits and pieces. It’s a ‘me’ kit.

1. When it comes to scrapping I love colour. I love bright happy colours but tend to steer away from primary colours as my main colours.
I find that my favourite pieces of work have always been when I’ve stuck to a colour combo. A couple of colours used heavily throughout along with one of two accent colours in contrast.

2. I love to tell a story. I do love to journal.

3. I love the fun stuff. Adding bits and pieces. Often non scrappy. And layering too.

4. I have a little thing for circles.

5. I can often get abit messy, inks, paints mists.

6. I find myself reaching for the masks and also needle and threads/twine quite alot..

I hope this helps you with this months challenge.
I love to see you using  at least 3 of my favourite techniques please on your LO’s.

Here is a page that I made just for this challenge using this months kit.

And here are a few more to give you a feel of my style.

I can’t wait to see your work 

Please upload your LO’s here by July 13th – 10pm EST.
Although this is usually a just for fun challenge, as it’s me this month that we are scraplifting, I’d like to pick a winner and send out a few of my favourite goodies.

You don’t have to use a CD kit to play.

Have fun   

I would also like to take this chance to announce last months winner who is Pam. Last month we scraplifted Anna’s creative style.

Pam blew us away with this very arty art journal page.

Pam is new to art journaling and was inspired by Anna’s work. We love this Pam. Congratulations on the deserved win.

Thank you to everyone who played along.

Our designer du jour for June is the lovely Ashley Calder. She’s been with us for about 6 months now and we’ve loved how she’s thrown herself into making Cocoa Daisy her home. We love her funky graphically messy style. We love her quirky sense of humor. We love how she sees life with her family. We love how she explores creativity. We just love having Ashley here you might say. We count ourselves lucky!

We asked Ashley to tell us more about herself, answer a few questions, and share some of her favorite layouts. So sit back and enjoy getting to know Ashley Calder.

I’ve lived in southern Ontario my entire life, in a few different cities. I just moved back “home” — across the street from my parents — after living in our university town for over 10 years.

Paul and I met in university and have been together for 14 years now. We have three children: Summer Lily (11), Addie Blue (9) and Ruby Sky (19 months). Paul is a restoration ecologist and currently working as a Post Doc doing research in forestry.

Right now I am a SAHM. When our big girls were young, I stayed home with them while Paul worked at graduate school; when Addie Blue was old enough for school and Paul was finishing his PhD, I returned to university and did a MSc in stem cell biology. I defended my thesis when I was nine months pregnant! Then we had Ruby Sky and I’m back at home!

I started scrapbooking in early 2004 after seeing an online gallery, falling in love, and asking for paper and stuff for Christmas! I was an avid scrapbooker for the next several years, until I went back to university. I have always been a story teller, and I love the family photo albums from my childhood, have an addiction to paper and other pretty things, so scrapbooking was a perfect way to combine all of those things in a meaningful way.

I worked on several design teams during this period, including being a Contributing Artist to several Designing With/Autumn Leaves titles, serving as a Contributing Writer for Scrapbook Answers magazine (I was in every issue for their publishing life!), and had my own sole-authored book with Memory Makers, called Scraptastic! 

Right now I am greatly enjoying being part of the wonderful Cocoa Daisy design team, and using this time at home to document this stage of our lives and being with Ruby Sky full time.

My scrapbooking goals and priorities are:

• to tell a story, no matter how small, on every page.
• to use products, design, and color to complement the photo and help tell the story
• to create well-designed pages that are fun!

1. What is your most creative time?
Usually late at night, or any time I can have a couple of hours of quiet to myself!

2. What is on your top 5 playlist right now?
Lately it’s been Blues Clues, Bear and the Big Blue House, Sesame Street, Elmo’s World, and Franklin.

3. What’s next on your scrappy life list?

Not too sure! I want to continue to expand my Etsy shop. And I really do hope to design a line of product someday. I’ve designed sets of stamps in the past, but would love to do a full line of paper and embellishments.

4. What is your favorite retreat?

I’m not really a retreat person! If I could plan some scrappy time for myself, I’d be happiest staying at home and spreading out all over my house. And a couple of boxes of new supplies to open at the start of my “retreat” would be perfect, too. Some iced coffee prepped, a fridge of fast easy foods and salads, stereo turned up loud, and I’d be one happy girl.

5. If your life was a movie, what actress would play you?
Winona Ryder.

6. Who are the important people in your life?
The whole fam!!

7. What are you known for on your pages?
Whimsy, and unexpected touches and details.

8. What’s your favorite inspiration site?
I really don’t have just one… I have a few favorite blogs (scrappy and other) and some great Pinners to follow.

9. What food would describe your style?
Homecooked simple.

10. What is “dressed up” for you?
Well, these days, just about anything. But usually I feel dressed up and HOT when I put on a pair of awesome heels!

And there you have it, a look into what makes Ashley Ashley. We’re so glad she’s a part of our Cocoa Daisy team, she brings a lovely energy to our online home, don’t you agree?

How are you using your Cocoa Daisy / Simple Stories this month?

I just love how colorful the Candy Shoppe papers are.

So, if you are stuck for ideas or need a little push, here are some ideas from the designers.

Journal Cards: You can use them for journal cards on your LO’s like Emily did here.

For Project Life: You can use them on your Project Life pages like Jody.

Add them as layers:  Kim, she cut hers up and used them for adding layers to her page.

Use them for Title Work: I cut out some of the words from my journal cards and used them as titles on these two LO’s.

And MandyK did the same.

A Color Burst: I love how Sharmaine’s papers bring this LO to life.

We hope you are enjoying these exclusive papers. There are so many different ways to use them.

If you haven’t grabbed a kit yet, you are in luck. We still have a few in stock here.