Stamp, Chat & Swap - March

I'm excited to say fourteen fun stampers/friends kicked off our new monthly card club today.  For our first month, we had 12 attend, all with fabulous cards!  Thanks to such a great group of ladies.  I'm really looking forward to upcoming months!

Birthday Frames

I've posted a couple of birthday frames before, and mentioned that I make one each year for my nephew and my niece.  Each year, I create the layout to match their birthday party theme.  They talk about them, and ask about them, which makes them that much more fun to create! 

The theme my niece chose for her 3rd birthday was Pinkalicious!  It couldn't have been more fitting my sweet princess niece.  I cut the cupcake from the Simply Sweet cartridge.  All paper is Stampin' Up, with the exception of the pink glitter cardstock used on the bottom layer of the tiara.  This is for an 8x10 frame.  

My nephew's 4th birthday party was all about monster trucks, because he, of course, is all about monster trucks!  The 4x4 worked perfectly to get a "4" on the layout.  The cuts are from the Father's Day cartridge.  All cardstock is Stampin' Up! 

I'm working on Christmas layouts so I plan to post some of them soon.  Thanks for stopping in again!  

Calendar project

My 8 x 8 calendar was a fun project, and maybe one I'm most proud of.  I was thrilled with the finished project.  This is picture heavy because I'm including a picture for each month.  I love that when creating a calendar you get a whole month to display and look at each page of the project!

The spiral calendar I started with (8x8) is from Archiver's, and all of the paper I used is from an Archiver's calendar kit.  It is an exceptionally cute stack of paper -- not what you expect when buying something in a kit or stack.  There are three sheets of paper for each month:  one cardstock and 2 DSP's.  One of the DSPs is glitter paper also.  If you ever want to make a calendar, check out the DCWV stack from Archiver's.  Every page I created with the exception of September was made with the paper from the kit.  I used other paper for September because I wanted create a custom page exclusive for our high school colors and mascot, since September is a football month which consumes our household that time of year! 

Just FYI, in case your interested, I have an extra calendar and paper kit, so I'm planning to post them on an Ebay auction tonight.  If you're interested in making your own calendar, search for "Archiver's calendar and paper kit".  My seller ID is "mkbh94il".  I'll start the auction at a very reasonable price, and will include a BIN price also. 

I used a few different Cricut carts.  For January the snowman from "Snow Friends".  But my real love for this page is the paper, as for many of the pages.  In addition to decorating the top half of the 8x8 calendar, I stamped and "dressed" the bottom half also.  I used  markers to write in the dates.

Love is always in the air during February, right?  I couldn't help but go traditional, especially since the paper in the kit was embossed and sparkly!
Umbrellas for March, and tulips for April.  I felt a little limited on what I could do as far as design, because I've only done two 8x8 albums, and all other layouts are 12x12.  As you can see, I wasn't extremely creative with my pages :)



 Spring is  full of dance competitions for us, so May gets a dance costume picture.  Again, the papers used are part of the calendar kit. I did add the flowers, buttons & ribbon .

Oops, now that I'm posting the June page, I remember I used SU DSP for June. The kit comes with wedding-ish paper.  We are "pool" people, so I wanted to make a layout where I could use a pic from family in the back yard. 
 July is most-likely my favorite page because I think the paper is fantastic.  Then again, I love paper.  I think most paper is fantasic.  I'm very eclectic when it comes to paper styles . . . I just love it all!

Another summer/pool page for August.  I can't get enough of summer! I often question why we still live in the Midwest!

As mentioned earlier, I used my own paper for September so I could make a football layout.  I like it so much, I need to make a 12x12 layout just like it! 

A simple October layout, but again, super cute paper in the kit. November, also great paper in the Archiver's DCWV kit, so I added some Cricut cuts and Stampin' Up ribbon. 

Finally, we're at December.  I guess there are 3 months that I used my own paper!  I wanted to use a front from the Christmas cards I made, but paper from the kit didn't match my stamped trees :)

So I hope my calendar gives you an idea for a project or inspires you to play with some paper soon!

Thanks for stopping in,
Kim

Time for a new look

Time for a change again.  I probably change my blog template more than I actually create new posts!  No, I'm not really that bad, but I do like to change it often :)  Hoping to post some scrapbook layouts in the next day, so please check back soon.

Thank you LeeLou Blogs (freebies) for the new template! 

Blog Candy Winner!

Thanks so much to everyone who hopped with us this past weekend for the Disney Pixar Blog Hop.  I appreciate everyone looking at the projects.  Hope you found some inspiration during the two days.  I'm so appreciative of your kind comments, so thank you for leaving them  :)

Congratulations to the winner of my blog candy, comment #14, CathyinMN! 

"Happy belated Anniversary! What fun to be on a [Disney] cruise for your anniversary! Fun layout -- perfect for the wonderful memories you have of your time on board. Thanks for the chance to win!"

 

I'll be sending Cathy a Kaisercraft Fairy Castle Album along with a package of AdornIt rub ons. 

Again, thanks to everyone for the comments and stopping in!  Please come back to see more projects.  It's the time of year when I hope to be able to get some good quality scrapping time (yippee)!

Bibbiddi Bobbiddi Blog Hop! Disney Pixar Time Again!

Welcome back Disney fans! I feel so fortunate to be invited back for the fourth time to the Disney Pixar Blog Hop! Thanks, Shawn, for the opportunity to be part of such a talented team of ladies. It's always such a fun weekend looking at everyone's Disney projects.

And speaking of Disney, we cruised on Disney's newest ship, the Fantasy, over New Year's, from Dec. 29 through Jan 5. Great vacation, gorgeous ship, and incredible service -- I highly recommend the Fantasy for a family vacation!

New Year's Eve on the Fantasy was amazing!  It's a special day for my hubby and me anyhow because it's our wedding anniversary, so I chose this as the first layout to make for my newest Disney album.   The night was so much fun, Disney treated us so well, and the party and entertainment was so memorable!  I hope to scrap more Disney cruise layouts in the next few weeks, so please check back. 

 My goal was to use the tiara from the party.  I also wanted to use (part of) one of the top hats Disney provided, but I couldn't come up with a way to bring it into the layout.  I'm anxious to add the photos!  Colors are (Stampin' Up) rose red, real red and black.  I used the Martha Stewart punch to thread the ribbon down each page, and SU black grosgrain.  The words "Cruising" and "New Year" are covered in a healthy layer of Christmas Red stickles.  Cartridges:  Mickey & Friends, Mickey Font, and Martha Stewart Cake Everyday Occasions. 


Thanks for joining us today.  Here's the complete line up in case you missed anything!
Shawn http://craftychicsblog.blogspot.com/
Amy Chomas http://amychomas.blogspot.com/
Bobbi Jo http://sweetsassydiva-gspot.blogspot.com/
Jenny ttp://www.crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com/
Kathy http://kathyand3kids.blogspot.com/
Tami http://www.scrappinrabbitdesigns.blogspot.com/
Claire http://www.scrapmyway.blogspot.com/
Kim http://uscrap2.blogspot.com/

I'm doing a random drawing for my personal blog candy offering.  To qualify, simple leave a comment on this post.  Please do so by 10:00 PM Central on Monday night.   Don't forget to check back to see if you're the lucky winner!

Thanks again, Kim

Easter Peeps card

We're just past Christmas, so who can possibly think about Easter yet, right?  Well, I'd like you to think I'm already working on 2013 Easter cards, but that would be false ;)   I made this card last Easter, to be honest! 

Isn't it cute though?  I love the look of the "peeps".  I couldn't find the right bunny to make a peep on any cricut cartridge, but I did find a good bunny head from one cartridge.  So I used just the bunny head and welded it to a circle (Cricut Design Studio), then welded the three "peeps" together.  The bunny head may have been from Stretch Your Imagination, I can't remember as it's been so long ago.
As always, the products are all Stampin' Up, Very Vanilla and Rose Red cardstock, ribbon, and DSP. A little embossing, punching the edges, and sponging, and it's complete!

Hoping this gives someone an inspiration for a fun Easter card this Spring! 

Happy paper crafting . . . hope you get some time to play this weekend!  Kim

Coming Soon: Disney Pixar Blog Hop!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm trying to figure out where 2012 went, and we're 1/3 of the way through January 2013 already!

We had a fantastic Christmas, and left for Disney on Dec. 27. We cruised on the new Disney Fantasy for the New Year's Cruise from Dec. 29 - Jan 5. What an amazing ship and and super fun vacation! I wish it didn't have to end :)

Back home now, just in time to put together a layout (or hopefully two) for the upcoming Disney Pixar Blog Hop. I hope you can check out all of the projects on Saturday, January 19 and Sunday, January 20. I am so honored to be part of such a talented group of paper crafters, and so grateful to be invited back to the Disney Pixar Hop for the 5th time! Thanks Shawn and Melissa for having me!

I will post the details when the hop gets closer, but if you want more info now, check out the public facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/135056236643588/

Thanks for stopping in!  I've been horrible about posting projects, so I'm trying to get back in it!
Kim