Calendar Blog Hop

Welcome to the Calendar Blog Tour!!! You should have arrived here by way of Summer and Jennifer's blog. If you just happened along my blog, why not start at the beginning with Celeste
Before I post my pictures, I have to say that I am more the card maker then the scrapbooker. With that being said, I picked August so that I could scrap some of the great pictures we shot when we went crabbing last August.





I have quite a few pictures to showcase, so I wanted the decorations to be small, not overpowering. So I chose to use a retired Stampin' Up set called "Crab and Company". I stamped the images first on the tan, and then stamped them on white, cut them out, and adhered them on top of the ones that were stamped on the tan. The sandcastle was cut from Life's a Beach. I only had the tan cardstock in 8 1/2 x 11, and since these were 12x12 pages, I had to figure out something to make it work, and that's when I decided on the cream strips along the sides. They made the perfect mat for the title, and gave me a place for the journaling (I had a lot to say!). I'm sure there are layouts along the hop that are much better then mine, but I am happy with how it came out! The pictures (Which I still need to print out), will most likely be matted in Red, or maybe black. So anyway, there you have it! Your next stop in the hop is Deb at If It's Groovy. Don't forget to comment below if you are trying to win Karel's blog candy - your very own new copy of the Designer Calendar Cartridge.

1. January and April: Celeste at Touched by a Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/
2. January and September: Jessica at Overjoyed Scrapper www.overjoyedscrapper.blogspot.com
3. February: Christel at Scrappin' Sista http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
4. February and March: Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity http://karelj.blogspot.com
5. March and July: Diane at Crafting This Moment http://www.craftingthismoment.blogspot.com/
6. April: Bonnie at A Scrap Above http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com
7. May: Michelle at Peanut Butter and Jelly Designs http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
8. May: Natalie at Timeless Legacy Designs http://timelesslegacydesigns.blogspot.com
9. June: Lisa at Lisa's Paper Butterflies http://lisaspaperbutterflies.blogspot.com
10. June: Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! http://jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/
11. July: Summer and Jennifer at Cricut Diaries http://cricutdiaries.blogspot.com
12. August: Denise at Starlight Scrapper http://starlightscrapper.blogspot.com
13. August: Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!!!
14. September: Deb at If It's Groovy http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com
15. October: Rebecca at Creations with Becka www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com
16 . October: Lora at Notes From The Scrapbook Lady http://scrpbooklady.blogspot.com/
17. November: Belinda at Queen Bee's Musings www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com
18. November and December : Col at Col's Creative Corner at www.scrappycol.blogspot.com
19. December: Deb at Tidbit's Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com

Another Blog Hop coming soon!!!

Calendar Blog Hop..Coming Soon
Join me and many other wonderful crafters on Dec. 28, 2010 for the Calender Blog Hop....Great Blog candy and wonderful calender creations....What a great way to end the year!!!


The Grand Prize Blog Candy is a brand-new Designer’s Calendar Cartridge, donated by Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity. In order to be eligible to win, you need to leave a comment on each and every stop on the hop, along with a way for her to contact you. She will choose a winner by random.org on the 31st and announce it on her blog, as well as contacting the winner personally.”
Don't forget to stop by!!!!

I have the month of August! Which is perfect since the snow is falling outside like crazy, so maybe it will transport me to a nice warm sandy beach.....well it was worth a try!!! The idea is in my head, just have to get it on paper!

Easel Card - Birthday Card

My friend's daughter Nicole celebrated her 10th birthday this month, and I wanted to send her a card as special as she is! I really am into these Easel cards, I just need to get them to stand up a little higher! I'm not giving up though!! This won't be the last attempt that you will see!
This card features the "Circle Circus" stamp set. The circles are stamped in Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, and Melon Mambo, also black StazOn. The trim and ribbon are both in Rich Razzleberry. And the outside sentiment is from Sincere Salutations, and inside is a sentiment from "On your Birthday" (not shown).

Cards from Card Club - December

The second set of cards we made featured, the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set by Stampin' Up. We used an Old Olive stamp pad, and then used our handy Blender pen to remove some of the ink from the tree trunk. Then we used a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker to color the trunk and branches. That gave us the two tone tree. The Old Olive cardstock we (gulp) crumpled up before tearing the edge. I always feel so "wrong" when I crumple up perfectly good SU Cardstock!!! The Very Vanilla is matted on Soft Suede, and the card base is Pretty In Pink. The sentiment is from the "On your Birthday" set. We finished off the look of the card by adding three little knots in Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, and Old Olive ribbon. I took some of the inspiration from a card created by Peggy Brooks on Stampin' Connection. (Stampin' Connection is a website exclusive to Stampin' Up Demonstrators)

Cards from Card Club - December

If you missed Card Club this month, not only did you miss out on some cute Birthday cards, but you also missed out on some yummy Holiday goodies! New to cardmaking Judi brought some yummy Peanut Butter pinwheel cookies, and Lisa brought some pretzels topped with chocolate and M&M's! Mmmm Mmm!!!
So here was one of the cards we made, along with a twist. When I originally came up with the card (11:30 PM on Thursday night) I couldn't decide if I liked the Elegant Eggplant alone with the Basic Gray, or if I wanted to highlight it with a lighter green. So at the time I settled for just the Eggplant and Gray, and went to bed. The more I looked at the card on Friday, I decided to offer the green, Old Olive, and see what everyone thought. I think we all agreed that while the eggplant and Gray was nice, the Old Olive just finished the card! So the first picture is without the Old Olive, and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations. The second card is with the Old Olive, and I changed the sentiment, however it too is from Sincere Salutations.

A first Attempt - Easel Card

Each month at the PhillyInker's meetings we have been having a mail swap, where we each draw a name and we mail that one person a card. Last month I had Juliana. I wanted to try something a little different, so I created this easel card for her. It features Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, and Whisper White cardstock, Cherry Cobbler Classic Ink, and Basic Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. The image is from the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, and it is stamped over and over again in a circle. The sentiment is popped up with Dimensionals, and is trimmed with the scallop border punch. The sentiment is from Heard from the Heart. I really like how it turned out and I will definitely be making more easel cards in the future!!!

December's Monthly Card Club

Join us on Friday December 17th for the next monthly Card Club! We meet here in my home starting at about 6 PM. We stamp Open House style, and as long as you arrive by about 7:45 PM you will have more then enough time to complete your projects. (We won't kick you out if you need to stay longer to finish:) )
The cost is $10 for 6 cards, three each of two styles, or $12 for the 6 cards plus 6envelopes. Also new this year, if you invite a friend who has never attended Card Club, you will both receive free envelopes when they attend!
Contact me today to reserve a space at GRKIDDO at Verizon dot Net. Please RSVP by Wednesday December 15th!
No special tools required to bring, however if you have an adhesive or scissors you prefer, you are welcome to bring them along.

Hope to stamp with you soon!!!

Cards from Card Club - Christmas

The first card was inspired by a fellow PhillyInker, Lynn. She had made a card similar to this one at a shoe box swap a while back (2008 I think??). Her card featured Lavender Lace and metallic silver cardstock (both previously available through Stampin' Up.) I updated it, by changing up the colors, adding some dazzling Diamonds, and adding satin ribbon. It features the Snow Swirled stamp set.
The second card was inspired by a card I saw on Stampin' Connection. I like the simplicity of this card! Now if you wanted to add color you could always switch it up and do the card in all blue, or red and green or whatever color combination you'd like! You could also add some sparkle to some of the snowflakes with Dazzling Diamonds. We kept it simple. But you could also change up the border punch for a little different look. This one features the Serene Snowflakes stamp set, and the sentiment is from Occasional Quotes.

Cards from Card Club Night - Inspired by Andy Warhol

I made the first card for a PhillyInkers Swap, and although it was a lot of stamping and punching, decided to recreate it using the Sock Monkey card. I was trying to prevent coloring the images.
The Christmas one used Merry Crittermas, and the monkey one used Sock Monkey.

Cards from Card Club night - Nature

These were on two different card club months, but were both inspired by nature.
The first one used the Upsy Daisy stamp set using the Faux Embossed technique. The background was embossed with the small dots Texturz Plates, and used silver brads, as well as the curly label punch.
The second, was a simple card, featuring the Just Believe Stamp set. The sun was done using sponges.