April Calendar

As promised here is April's calendar layout.  These layouts were inspired by a friend who owns a Creative Memories Everyday Display.  This is a frame with a magnetic center that can be used as an organizational tool and doubles as a beautiful piece of home decor.  My first post has more information about this really cool item and how to purchase one.  The truly fabulous thing about the Everyday Display is that it is made to frame a 12 x 12 piece of cardstock, so once you pull the center out of the frame at the end of the month, then you can immediately use the page as a layout in your scrapbook!

Recipe for Layout:

Background Paper, Title, Photo Mats, Silhouette:  Egg-o-pague Easter collection by Moxxie

Border:  Creative Memories White Cardstock

Journaling Box:  CM Everyday Display Calendar Kit

Eggs on Border and Journaling Box:  Rub-ons Egg-o-pague Easter collection by Moxxie

Cricut Cartridges:  A Child's Year for Girl feeding the Rabbit silhouette and Calligraphy Collection for APRIL title

Other products:  Creative Memories Personal Trimmer, CM 12-inch Rotary Trimmer with straight and wavy blades (along border), CM Tape Runner, CM Precision Point Adhesive Pen

To learn more about Moxxie products go to http://www.gotmoxxie.com/  I hope you can find a way to work calendar layouts into your scrapbooking and crafting endeavors.  Remember:  Dream Big. . . Design Big!

March Calendar

Today's post focuses on the March layout for the Creative Memories Everyday Display.  I'm hoping to be able to continue to post daily, but may have to back down to two or three posts per week once school starts picking up its usually crazy pace!  I hope you enjoy the inspiration and ideas.  I appreciate the comments.  Maybe today's post will cheer you up and make you think about spring and those wonderful color combinations that we so love when the winter cold becomes too dreary to bear. 

Recipe for Layout:



Background Paper:  Bo Bunny Press in Kiwi (swirl side used)

Decorative Cut:  Creative Imaginations Shamrock

Picture Mats, Title, Boy with Shamrock and Shamrocks:  Olive and Navy heavy weight cardstock

Cricut Cartridges:  A Child's Year for Boy with Shamrock silhouette,  Designer Calendar for Shamrock decorations, and Calligraphy Collection for MARCH title

Other Products used:  Creative Memories Personal Trimmer, CM 12-inch Rotary Cutter, CM Tape Runner, CM Precision Point Adhesive Pen, CM Pop Dots

Please feel free to share your take on this idea in your comments.  Remember:  Dream Big. . . Design Big!

February Calendar Idea

On yesterday's post you can read about my purpose for creating these calendars.  I hope you can find some inspiration to copy or tweak.  I will continue to post a different month each day.  Here is the double page spread for February:

Recipe for Layout:

All papers are ionized heavy cardstock by Prism Papers in 2 shades of pink and silver

Border strip on left-hand page:  from Sweet Love collection by Little Yellow Bicycle

Photo Corners and Dimensional Hearts:  Sweet Love Card Kit (SL-306) by Little Yellow Bicycle

Cricut Cartridges:  Calligraphy Font for FEBRUARY and A Child's Year for Girl and Dog image

Other Products used:  Creative Memories Personal Trimmer, CM 12-inch Rotary Cutter, CM Tape Runner, CM Precision Point Adhesive Pen and CM Photo Tape

If you have any questions about the products used or where you might be able to find them please leave a question in your comments section and I will get you the information as soon as possible.  I have also given you the link to my Creative Memories consultant's website (if you would like to order any of their fabulous products she can ship anywhere in the country) and to the Little Yellow Bicycle website (they always have wonderful papers and embellishments).

http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/vickilafoe  Creative Memories consultant

www.mylyb.com  Little Yellow Bicycle

Have fun and remember to Dream Big. . . Design Big!

A New Year. . . A New Blog

Happy 2011!  I have been thinking about creating a blog for about two months.  In October, I began daily following two blogs:  Diane at capadiadesign.com and Robyn at mypinkstamper.com .  They both really inspired me to begin a blog to post my own creations and designs.  I decided that the new year was the perfect opportunity to start this new project, so here it goes.  I hope that you can find some ideas to "scraplift" or some designs that you can make your own.  I tend to come up with really BIG ideas and then have a heck of a time trying to bring them to fruition, but I usually enjoy the journey of figuring out how to make them come to life.  Because of that, I decided that Dream Big. . . Design Big would be the perfect title for the new blog.


My plan was to kick off my new blog with twelve days of calendar layouts.  I have been working on the calendar ideas and getting very excited about making them my first posts; however, Robyn (mypinkstamper.com) issued a CHALLENGE last night on her website.  She is trying to fill two spots on her 2011 Design Team, so I am going to do my January calendar tonight as my first blog post and then will interrupt my calendar posts when I have finalized my entry in her CHALLENGE.


I will try to include very specific instructions regarding the content on my posted layouts and projects, but if you ever find something confusing or if you need further information please leave a comment for me at the bottom of the post and I will be happy to get back with you as soon as possible.  Enjoy!!!

I have a friend who owns an Everyday Display from Creative Memories (creativememories.com).  This wooden frame with a magnetic center is a great home decor item that can show-off fun family photos, but can also be decorated and changed for each month or each season.  She likes to have a 12 x 12 layout pre-made that she can add pictures to throughout the month.  At the end of the month, she takes it out of the frame, pairs it with a coordinating page and tapes it directly into her album as a double page layout that kicks off that particular month of events in her album.  This is a great organizing tool and a perfect way to fit in some of the highlight photos that might not typically have enough pictures to create a complete layout on their own.  I loved her idea and created our first calendar display for 2010.  The idea worked beautifully and so I created another year of calendars for her to use in 2011.

This is the double page layout that I created for January 2011.  I will work on getting better at taking the pictures.  I couldn't seem to get the lighting just right to show the beautiful paper and the detailed cuts from the Cricut.  I was just really determined to get this posted before midnight, so I'm using these two photos despite their less than perfect exposure.

Recipe for these pages:

Background papers:  the swirl paper from Best Creations Winter Wonderful collection

All Matting, Title, snowflake punches and Cricut cut image:  Bazzill Basics Bling in Sparkle

Cricut cartridges:  "JANUARY" from Gypsy Font, Boy and Snowman from A Child's Year

Snowflake punch:  Creative Memories snowflake pocket punch

Other products:  Creative Memories oval and circle cutting templates, CM personal trimmer, CM 12 inch Rotary Cutter, CM tape runner, CM Precision Glue Pen, CM pop dots

I hope everyone enjoys this idea.  I would love to see your own take on the calendar page projects.  Please feel free to link them to your comments.  Here's to a fantastic start to 2011!