Advent Calendar

 I've wanted to make one of these for so long.  This fall when Silhouette released their new advent calendar (which comes complete with downloads for custom fit drawers and amazing boxes) I knew I had to get it.  The hardest part of this project was deciding which gorgeous papers to use.  There are sooo many amazing sets this year that I had a hard time deciding.  But in perfect Denni fashion I gravitated to K&Company.  Oh this Yuletide pad is so purty!  For some of the drawers I fussy cut images from the collage page, and for others I just used bits of design elements on the papers.  I cut the numbers using a Sizzix set so that my daughter could help.  She LOVES using my toys- what a great little crafting buddie she is becoming!!

I decided to use drawers for the calendar this year because some of the box designs that came with the set might be a bit tricky for my daughter to open.  I love the boxes though, and I think I may replace a few drawers each year with new boxes, that is assuming I don't use up all the gorgeous papers from this paper set first, lol!




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Calendar for mini cd case

A friend of mine is starting her Christmas crafts and she asked me to make her a blank 2012 calendar set that she could stamp on and put in one of those small CD cases.  After creating the calendar part using my always awesome Storybook Creator 3.0 program (I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE that software!!!) I decided to take it one step further and I made a version complete with pre-colored images by Dustin Pike. 

I am now five months early starting my holiday teacher gifts!! woohoo!! Dustin, pretty please, don't ever stop offering colored versions of your designs!

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GIBBS Happy Mail Swap!

According to USPS tracking, the box of goodies I sent to my secret swap partner, Lisa, is sitting on her door step right now, YAY!!!  So it is safe to post my pics ; )

I made all 5 things that she posted in her wish list, not realizing that I only had to choose a few of the items.  Yep I'm a goober I guess, but that's a good thing for her, eh?  LOL!!

The first thing she asked for was a perpetual calendar.  I decided to make a magnetic one and I used a metal dry erase board for the base that I painted matte white.  The day markers are metal rimmed tags that I also painted, then glued onto magnets and covered with punched out numbers that I had printed from my computer.  The month labels were printed from my computer too and then backed with magnet sheets that I cut using my nesties.  I stitched the calendar grid to help with alignment and bordered the entire thing with flourishes cut with my Silhouette.  Extra calendar pieces fit nicely into one of the Stampin' Up! tins that I had stocked up on this winter when they went on clearance. 

I was kind of timid when designing all of the swap items for her since I am not totally sure of her style, but I know she likes purple (her scrap room color) and butterflies so I went with those hoping to play it safe.

I hope you like it Lisa!!



Thanks for visiting!
 

2011 Calendar Blog Hop!

Welcome to my first blog hop!! If you are hopping along the months then you should have arrived from Summer and Jennifer's blog at Cricut Diaries. If not, be sure to start at the beginning and check out all the amazing bloggers and calendar layouts!  The hop runs December 28, 29 & 30th.

Also, if you are hopping along you can be entered into a drawing for some fantastic candy because our host Karelj from One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity is donating a brand-new cricut cartridge: Designer's Calendar!!  In order to be eligible to win you need to leave a comment on each and every stop on the hop and include a way for her to contact you in each comment. She will choose a winner by random.org on the 31st and announce it on her blog and contact the winner personally. So keep hopping and good luck!!

Here is the list of participating blogs:
1. January and April: Celeste at Touched by a Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/
2. January and September: Jessica at Overjoyed Scrapper http://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 YOU ARE HERE!!
13. August: Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com/
14. September: Deb at If It's Groovy http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/
15. October: Rebecca at Creations with Becka http://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 http://www.queenbeesmusings.blogspot.com/
18. November and December : Col at Col's Creative Corner at http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com/
19. December: Deb at Tidbit's Place http://tidbitsplace.blogspot.com/


The layout I created is for the month of August. I love the summer months and with the snow and cold we are dealing with right now I needed to escape a bit and get lost in some warm thoughts.  And what says summer better than flowers, butterflies and kids chasing bubbles?  LOL!!

I no longer own a cricut, I replaced it with a Silhouette, but if you are a bug owner you can recreate my layouts easily using any similar cricut designs.  I've listed the materials and specifics below for these 12x12 layouts but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

PHOTO LAYOUT:
Purple mat = 12" x 12"
Periwinkle mat = 11.5" x 11.5"
Pink swirl paper = 11.25" x 11.25"
Light Pink Doily mat = 7.75" diameter (Silhouette design: "Scalloped Flowerd Circle" by Samantha Walker)
Lavender mat = 5.5" (Silhouette design: "Nested Frames Tags" by Alaa' K)
Photo is 4x5 but 4x6 fits nicely too
"August" font is Murray Bold and cut at 130pt and then shadowed
Periwinkle Loopy Border strip =1.25" x 10.25" (Silhouette design: "Loopy Lace" by Loni Stevens)
Misc leafy branch cuts (Silhouette design: "Leaf Branch" by Karla Dudley)
Butterflies were made using Martha Stewart punch and then I added Stickles
I added flat backed pearls to the doily mat
I added some doodling on leaves and fake stitching around mats using coordinating colored markers

CALENDAR GRID LAYOUT:
Purple mat = 12" x12"
Periwinkle mat = 11.5" x 11.5"
Pink swirl paper = 11.25" x 11.25"
Lavender Matt = 10.5" x 8.5"
Periwinkle Loopy Borders = 1.25" x 10.25"
Grid: I welded simple flowers in my cutter's software and cut from med pink, then printed the numbers on light pink paper using my printer and punched them out using Martha Stewart scallop 1" circle punch.  I also printed the days of the week on white cardstock, trimmed them to 1 5/16" x 5/16" and glued onto a green 10" x 1/2" strip.
I added another leafy branch, more Stickled Martha Stewart butterfly punchouts and doodled around mats.
I wasn't sure if I needed the year anywhere on the layouts but decided to add a hand drawn/cut tag and used floss for the tie.

Papers:
Purple and lavender cardstock and bright blue for butterflies is CTMH
Periwinkle cardstock is Bazzill
Pink swirl paper, green, medium pink and light pink cardstock is Creative Memories
Dark pink for "August" is American Crafts cardstock
Stickles color is Crystal

Thanks for visiting and Happy Hopping!

Your next stop is Gina's blog at Gina Thornton Stamping

Calendar

I wanted to make a little something to mail along with our Christmas card to my husband's aunt (not the same dancing turkey aunt, lol!).  I decided to make her a little 6"x6" calendar with the tear away pages and discovered that my Storybook Creator 3.0 software has an unbelievable calendar tool.  Oh how I LOVE LOVE LOVE that software!

I used my Silhouette to cut the gorgeous frame which is actually created by using four of the freebie flourish design that Kenzie Daley posted a challenge with last week.  If you want to participate check it out HERE but hurry - she's picking a winner tomorrow.  Papers were all Creative Memories as was the paper flower and the punch that made the teeny butterflies.  The leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

You know, I was so excited to find the calendar tool that I never stopped to double check the dates for each month - gosh I hope they are correct, lol!


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GIBBS REVEAL!

I'm so excited to ship my box off to Tammy but I will have to wait until Monday to be sure it arrives in coordination with her vacation.  It was alot of work and alot of crazy brainstorming, or should I say blog hopping and scraplifting, lol!  But I have to admit that I'm really happy with everything I created. 

The overall theme of this round was Recycle/Reuse/Repurpose and there were specific inspirational phrases to launch our imagination to create a total of 12 items.  I already posted my take on Button It and today I'd like to share one of my favorites this round, Time Flies.

I decided I wanted to make a perpetual calendar.  I scavenged the basement and found an old piece of wood that must be at least 12 years old.  Way back when, I built some kind of desk organizer hutch thingy for my work desk and this piece of wood was left over.  It was just bare wood and it had a bit of a warp to it and I challenged myself to use it as it was without cutting since I had no easy way of doing that anyway.  

I used awesomely amazingly fantabulously gorgeous K&CO Tim Coffey paper for the background.  It's from the Tuscan Sunflower pad and omg every sheet is just so pretty.  I hammered some nails into it to hold metal rimmed tags that I had spray painted and then added punched circles with the numbered days printed on my printer.  The months were also printed on my printer and then cut out using  my new Nesties Labels 10 set - loving this set even more than I thought I would.  I also painted the bottom portion with chalk board paint - I always wondered if that stuff really works and it does!  To hold the chalk I cut off a part of the plastic packaging that my external hard drive for my laptop came in, it made the perfect sized pocket.  Then to top off the Time FLIES part I added a Graphic45 butterfly that I cut out of patterned paper and then crackled - my new obsession!

I really love the way the colors of the paper and the tags go together, and how the bit of lace and the alpha brads help add just the right vintagy feeling.  I sure hope Tammy hates this one and wants to ship it back to me, lol!!  OK, so no I don't hope she hates it, but this is definitely one of a kind and I do hope she enjoys using it as much as I did creating it.

Thanks for visiting!