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Monday, December 27, 2010

2011 Calendar Blog Hop

Happy week between Christmas and New Year 2011 and Welcome to the Calendar Blog Hop!  If you arrived here from Lora at Notes From The Scrapbook Lady, then you are on the right track.  The complete list of participating blogs is below.  Be sure you visit all of them because 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.

The month I chose is November.  Thanksgiving holds a special place in my heart for many personal reasons. It has been a pivotal time in our lives many times.  Someday I plan to write a book called Thanksgiving Through Tears.  I truly am thankful for the life God has given me with all of its ups and downs. My layout page is entitled "gratitude" and will hold a photo of my sons. There's so much gratitude in my heart with the sons God entrusted to my husband and me.  All supplies and stamps used are from Close To My Heart



The base page is Vineyard Berry cardstock that I stamped with several leaves from the Flourished Blessings stamp set with Chocolate Ink.  You might not see it well in the photo but it just leaves a nice tone on tone pattern to the cardstock.  The patterned papers are from the beautiful collection Olivia.  I cut the leaves out with the Cricut Designers Calendar cartridge also with the Olivia papers.  I embossed the title box and the quote using  stamps from the "A Little Thanks" stamp set and Versamark ink with gold embossing powder.  I rubbed the edges of the box in Versamark and embossing powder as well then heat set it for the finishing touch.  The 2 gold brads are from CTMH as well.  I roughed up the edges of the mat, sentiment box and the leaves with the edges of scissors after wetting the paper a bit.  Then I scrunched up the mat and leaves and straightened them back out to adhere to the page.  The edges of the page are inked with chocolate.


After making several calendars for gifts using the Designers Calendar cartridge, I learned a great use for the Cricut markers.  It saves so much time to draw the outlines of the grid and the lettering using the markers instead of cutting and gluing.  I used Copic E31 Brick marker to fill in the lettering.  Easy Peasy! You can "print" out several calendar pages in a hurry this way.  I stamped the numbers using the Chocolate Font Stamps in chocolate ink.  The leaves are from two different sets-Flourished Blessings and Timeless.  The words are from Timeless as well.  For the variegated look of the leaves, I stamped first in Terracotta ink and stamped the first inking on a scrap paper, I then rolled the edges of the stamp around the chocolate ink pad.  Love the faded fall leaves this way!  Finally I chose to mark the 2 major holidays (Thanksgiving and Veteran's Day) with leaves and a CTMH Mocha Pearl.  


I really enjoyed this project and think it took me more time to type up the instructions than to actually do it!
Now then, you are in for a huge treat because my extremely talented friend Colleen at www.scrappycol.blogspot.com has also created a delightful November layout and calendar page.  In fact, hers is bound to outshine mine by a mile!  Happy hopping and a blessed New Year!


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/
 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 **YOU ARE HERE**
 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

56 comments:

  1. How smart are you? I never thought of using the markers to draw the grid...but it looks great and it's got to be so much faster! I also always forget that you can stamp directly on the background...Thanks so much for hopping with me and being such a great blog buddy! Karelj

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  2. Love it! Really says November to me!!
    sensationallychicboutique(at)gmail(dot)com

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  3. Super pretty.

    Happy New Year,
    Georgiana
    http://carsonscricutcreations.blogspot.com/
    coachfans at cox dot net

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  4. Great idea to do the grid with the markers - why didn't I think of that? Awesome layout - thanks for sharing!

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  5. I think I left my comment in the post after this one explaing the coming of this hop! But anyway beautiful beautiful layout and calender! Love the idea layout and design and perfect colors as well! Thank you for sharing!
    Contact Info: incase I get lucky enough to win that amazing blog candy! Happy New Year!
    Email: arebori0204@gmail.com
    New Blog:
    www.scraptillyadrop.blogspot.com

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  6. Wow...this is just so gorgeous! I love the colors and I love how you used your Cricut markers to make the calendar grid! Beautiful!

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  7. Wonderful layout... Love it...

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  8. This is a great fall lo!! The leaves are very pretty! Thanks for joining in on the hop!!

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  9. Beautiful LO and Beautiful Calender page, I too LOVE Thanksgiving and everything that it stands for! Thanks for joining us on this great hop!

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  10. Great job on your calendar. Beautiful color choice & background papers. It's so interesting seeing everyones take on creating these calendar pages. Thanks for sharing yours.

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  11. Love your layout and the colors! T4S

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  12. Thank you everyone for the sweet words!

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  13. awesome idea. thanks for sharing.thanks for the hop.
    http://craftywithjoann.blogspot.com

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  14. Beautiful!! Love the cricut markers idea!!
    TFS!! Take Care!!
    Jennie @ http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com/

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  15. ohhh great idea with the markers!!!
    kacee
    mcvicwif@yahoo.com

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  16. Beautiful-love the color- thanks- millierose651@aol.com

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  17. Simply brilliant page hun. I love how it looks. The marker trick is an awesome find!

    Heidi Browning aka Liadan
    liadan@liadan-mes.com

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  18. I love to use my cricut markers like that. It does make it much easier. I just love all of the leaves that you stamped and the chocolate color that you used. This layout totally says November to me.

    Thanks for hopping with us.
    Michelle

    mpetrovich23(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  19. You know I have never used mine??? I should try after seeing yours! Thank you for sharifeelingsng your about Thanksgiving and wishing you much luck with your book. You know what God said "ask and ye shall receive...".

    Beautiful work!
    Deb

    groovydeb@yahoo.com

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  20. I love your Thanskgiving, grateful layout! The colors are perfect!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
    Thanks for hopping along with us!
    Gina
    GRKIDDO
    At
    Verizon
    dot
    Net

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  21. great colors for Thanksgiving
    love the leaves

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  22. Beautiful calendar pages, Belinda! TFS.

    jlhudson2(at)cox(dot)net

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  23. Very pretty layout for november.

    Kathy
    Katsews at gmail dotcom

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  24. Great layout!!! My birthday month and you did a great job.
    annadowdy at gmail dot com

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  25. great layout! tfs!
    esigmon at cox dot net

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  26. Great Hop! Really like the Calendar pages.

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  27. Wonderful job!!

    Tanya
    phenis2031 at yahoo dot com

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  28. This paper is so beautiful! Thanks for the reminder about gratitude. This is such a great blog hop and I love these pages! TFS them :)


    Happy Scrappin'

    Sue B

    http://susanascorner.blogspot.com/

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  29. Great job on Nov. calendar month. TFS
    jennyplace26@gmail.com

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  30. Beautiful job, and great idea using the markers. TFS!
    firelass51@aol.com

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  31. love the idea of using the markers! Wahoo!! TFS!

    dfhenson@q.com

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  32. Love that paper! I have some of it too Great job!

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  33. Beautiful calendar! TFS

    Happy New Year!

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  34. So great visiting your blog today!! You did a wonderful job on November. I am a sucker for Fall colors and you nailed it. I hope you and yours have a wonderful New Year to come. God Bless and as always XoXo Niki_Ray

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  35. very elegant looking! I have some of the cricut markers, but NEVER think to use them...**SAD FACE**
    TFS
    Bonnie C
    http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com

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  36. O How PRETTY My Baby Boys Is the 10th..He will be 38 dont tell him I called him a baby. He is more mature than me.. HAHAHA I also got married on the 17th so this is my MONTH..LOLOL

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  37. B~
    Wow, that is such a gorgeous page. I am so happy that we became friends through our crafting! BTW, for my 2 cents, I love your page so much more than my own, too! Oh, and I will be first to buy your book, but you have to sign it for me!!!! Big Hugs!!!!!!!

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  38. What a brilliant tip to use the Cricut markers to draw the calendar outline and numbers instead of cutting! Love it!

    Melissa
    www.disneydreamerdesigns.blogspot.com

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  39. Love your layout! Love all CTMH products!! I am now a follower.

    stephs361@yahoo.com

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  40. I love your pages. You were so creative. Thanks for sharing the tip to use the markers for the grid. I really wish I had known that before I did all the cutting and gluing just as you mentioned. LOL!!! Live and learn. TFS!

    Christel
    Blog Hop Sista
    onescrappinsista.blogspot.com
    christel(at)majesticdesigns(dot)net

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  41. Wonderful and sweet! Always a pleasure to meet another crafting sister in Christ. I just this last month decided to dedicate my scrapping to the Lord and put thoughts about Him and scripture in my layouts. That is my Timeless Legacy! God Bless You!
    Natalie
    mtmcbroom at gmail dot com
    http://timelesslegacydesigns.blogspot.com

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  42. Love your soft color choices. How innovative to use the markers, too!

    Keltonsmom at gmail dot com

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  43. How Wonderful! Love the theme! It is so elegant! Very cute, you all have put so much work into these calendars. Great job!! Deb and Natalie sent me so I am going to hop all through now!!
    jmdegruc@yahoo.com

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  44. Just saw your playlist...we are KINDRED spirits, could any group be better than Mercy Me? I THINK, NOT!!!

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  45. Your layout is so beautiful! I love the idea about using the markers for the grids.
    Thanks for sharing with us.
    Happy New Year!
    reneeleeak at yahoo dot com

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  46. Well, I'm a huge fan of CTMH! Olivia is sooo beautiful! I'm in love with your LO...my favorite so far! To die for:) AWEsome job!!! ~Vanessa W
    baboo7192 at gmail dot com

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  47. Thank you for the reminder to use the Cricut markers. They work so well for outlining after cutting too. Your pages are so pretty! Thank you for participating!

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  48. I just wanted to stop by to thank you for hopping in the Calendar Blog Hop. I've had such a good time! I hope you've had tons of fun, gotten some new followers and found wonderful ideas for your 2011Calendar. Don't forget to hop through yourself, and leave comments, so you could maybe win the Designer's Calendar! Thanks again! karelj

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  49. Oh this is really pretty. I love those colors.
    Hugs,
    Raven
    thatsmerb at gmail dot com

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  50. Ah, Belinda, I love those colors. I've about decided that fall colors are my favorite. And I love the cricuit marker tip - hadn't thought of that! Fun hopping with you - now back to my ATC's!!

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  51. Never thought about using the markers that way but now that you mention it it makes soooo much sense! I love your LO

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  52. What a great idea to use the cricut markers as opposed to cutting them out! Thank you so much for that tip. Your page looks amazing! I love the colors and how well it all came together :)

    Thanks for sharing
    Jamie
    bamiester(at)gmail(dot)com
    www.glitterstampsandpaperohmy.com

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  53. oh girl what a beeeautiful layout! But then again everything you do always is! :)

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  54. Belinda,

    Your calendar pages are wonderful!!! :) And what a great idea to use the Cricut markers!


    Thank you so much for sharing,

    Jennifer
    partridgelu at yahoo dot com

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