Top 12 {of 2012} -- cards

Today, I wanted to share my twelve favourite cards that I made is 2012.

I had a hard time narrowing these down. I actually had three that I would have added here, but they were requested for publication. ;)

So, without further ado, here are my favourite cards from 2012...
(Click on the title of the layout to go to the original post for the details.)

1. A "you brighten my world" card that I made using some homemade patterned paper that I'd stamped -- January 2012

2. The wedding card I made for my nephew and his bride -- January 2012

3. The welcome back card that I made for Sage's teacher -- March 2012

4. The baby card I made for our friends' new son -- April 2012

5. The mother's day card that I made using a Sketchbook 4 sketch and some of my favourite patterned paper ever -- April 2012

6. The birthday card I made for the PTI Blog Hop in June, with my newer favourite patterned paper ever -- June 2012

7. The birthday card that I made for my friend, Val, using the same line of paper as #6, as well as a Got Sketch? sketch -- July 2012

8. The invitations I made for my fortieth birthday party -- July 2012

9. This card that I made for a MIM challenge-- the three little houses in a row just make me so happy -- August 2012

10. A card that I made, again using some favourite patterned paper and a sentiment along the side that makes me smile -- October 2012

11. A Christmas card that I was super pleased with how it turned out -- December 2012

12. And one more Christmas card that made me happy -- December 2012

So, what do you think? Any favourites?

Thanks for looking!

Top 12 {of 2012} -- scrapbooking layouts

Well, as per tradition, I decided to go through the scrapbooking layouts that I made this past year and choose my favourites to post here. I was thinking that I hadn't made many layouts this year, but I was surprised at how many I had indeed made! It's so fun to look back on them-- and was very hard for me to narrow them down to twelve (Sage had to help me! Hee!).... but here they are....

(Click on the title of the layout to go to the original post for the details.)

1. Hanging Out -- January 2012



2. On the Bright Side -- February 2012

3. Happiness -- you make me smile -- March 2012

4. Every Single Day -- May 2012

5. Happy you have each other -- June 2012

6. Traditional Zoo Photos -- June 2012

7. Delightful -- July 2012

8. Mmm... Smores -- August 2012

9. Christmas Cookies --  September 2012

10. Last Day of 7 -- October 2012

11. So Incredibly Thankful -- November 2012

12. My Wish List -- December 2012

Thanks for looking!

Five cards

I have five cards that I wanted to share on my blog today.

These cards have several things in common.

1. They were all made using my Papertrey Ink Lovely Layers dies.
2. They were all made using MIM #88: Positive and Negative diecuts.
3. I made all of them today.

My first card is a sympathy card that I need for a friend. I used PTI cardstock (vintage cream), stamps (Lovely Layers, Botanical Silhouettes) and dies (Lovely Layers, LL:Squares). The pink patterned paper is Authentique & the patterned paper on which the sentiment is stamped (which applies for MIM #73: stamping on patterned paper) is from my scraps and is old. I think it's K& Co. Is that company still around?

The decorative brad is Basic Grey.

My next four cards were all created using the same sketch by Iwona Palamountain's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #86. Normally I'm not a fan of mass producing cards, but I loved this sketch so much, it seemed like a fun thing to do.

For this one, I used some Lily Bee patterned paper from my stash, and a My Mind's Eye decorative brad. I used PTI cardstock (soft stone, vellum), stamps (happy trails) and dies (double ended banner.)

For this one, I used some Teresa Collins patterned paper and a Crate Paper decorative brad. I used PTI cardstock (vintage cream), stamps (on the farm) and dies (double ended banner.)

For these next two cards, I used some Kaiser Craft patterned paper and a Crate Paper decorative brad for the first one) and a My Mind's Eye decorative brad for the second). I used PTI cardstock (vintage cream), stamps (botanical silhouettes). The first card is for this week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World: Sweet Dreams.

And its cousin, just reversed:

These last two cards also apply for MIM #73: Stamping on patterned paper.

Thanks for looking!

A couple of layouts

I have two layouts that I'd like to share today....

I picked up these gorgeous patterned papers from Fancy Pants when I was in Minneaoplis-- I just love them! I love mixing patterned papers on my cards and layouts. This week's MIM is à la Carte, and I'm entering this layout for MIM #67: Step it up: Mix-it-up Patterned Papers-- I did step 2: mixing patterned papers from the same line.

I used PTI's tag sale #5 die to create the title for my banner. The letter stickers are AC Thickers. I haven't bought thickers for a while, but these totally caught my eye at my LSS.

I selectively inked one of the stamps from PTI's We Go Together and framed it with a stamp from PTI's Fabulous Frames.

I stamped the journaling block using PTI stamps (journaling lines, label basics) and dies (angled labels). I backed an inked Pink Paislee chipboard heart with some Fancy Pants chevron patterned paper.

And here's the second layout I made, using some of the same supplies. The black letter stickers are Fancy Pants. I inked up another Pink Paislee chipboard heart (this time in red).

The journaling card I used is a Becky Higgins Project Life one (given to me by my friend, Mandy). The "everyday" along the bottom and the grey diagonal stripes were already on the journaling card. I stamped the bike and the "love this" arrow (both CTMH stamps).

Thanks for looking!

Thank you, Lily Bee Design

It's been such a thrill for me to be a guest designer for Lily Bee Design this month! I'm so thankful for this opportunity.

Today, the last project I made for them is posted on their blog. It's a scrapbooking layout that I made about the fact that I kept one of the resolutions that I made last December 31st. Here's a peek of my layout:

If you'd like to see more of the layout and find out which resolution I kept, click here to see more.

Thanks for looking!

PTI December Blog Hop

Once again, I'm playing along with Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop. This month's challenge was White & White.

I was a little intimidated by the challenge, because I love colour. But I thought, it's suppose to be challenging, right? So, I actually ended up creating two cards for the hop.

I was inspired by Iwona Palamountain's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #86 to create my first card, using my favourite PTI white cardstock (rustic white), PTI stamps (lovely layers, movers & shakers sentiments) and dies (lovely layers, half & half, heart border).

Since I couldn't add colour, I decided to add a lot of texture, with layers, stitching and my PTI linen & canvas impression plate.

For my second card, I decided to break out my new PTI shape-up sweater die and coordinating stamp sets.

I used PTI rustic white cardstock & stamps (purls of wisdom, knit bits, fillable frames #9). Again, I wanted to add texture, so I stitched on my card and heat embossed the knit pattern with white embossing powder. I layered the front diecut over a piece of Offray ribbon, stitched the ribbon in place and then stitched four buttons over top.

Thanks for looking!

Merry Christmas

... to you and yours!

I hope you're all enjoying your day! We're having a low-key day here. The kids enjoyed their presents and I talked to my brothers and my mom on the phone. I've been busy figuring out how to make the "placecards" I'm using for our Christmas meal with Cameron's family tomorrow night.... it's a little slow-going, but it's getting done.

I wanted to share one more Christmas card.... to you, my friends!

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (pure poppy, rustic white, limeade ice), stamps (wreath for all seasons), buttons, twine and dies (double ended banner, delightful doilies). The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye.

This week's MIM is à la Carte, and I'm thinking that this card works for MIM #88: Positive and Negative diecuts. I was trying to think why I hadn't participated in this challenge when it was first posted.... and then I realized that it must have been posted when I was in the Congo. ;)

Thanks for looking!

The last tags

(Note: the title of this post should be read with the same tone of the characters in the first Ice Age movie when they say: "The last melon.")

Yes, Christmas is almost here and I got all of my cards and tags done! Yay! While I enjoy Christmas crafting (and will start on my Christmas layouts soon), I'm looking forward to creating some non-Christmas cards in my near future!

So, here are the last of the tags I wanted to share here on my blog.... these were made for my kids' teachers to accompany the Butter Crunch that I made for them (always very well received-- I think if I switched goodies, there would be some disappointment for sure!)

I diecut the tags using PTI's Tag Sale 7 die and stamped a sentiment from PTI's Bells and Boughs. The snowflakes were cut out on my Silhouette Portrait. I adhered them to the tags and added a PTI button tied with PTI twine to finish them all off.

Thanks for looking and merry Christmas!

Mama Elephant Colour Challenge 01

I was blog hopping earlier this week and noticed a Mama Elephant Colour Challenge on the ME blog, so I decided to play along, by making both a tag and a card.

For the tag, I used a Papertrey Ink Tag Sale 7 diecut, on which I stamped the background with Mama Elephant Trifecta stamps, in aqua and red. I diecut the tree using PTI's LLH:Holidays die. I adhered sissix adhesive sheets to the front of the cardstock before I diecut it and then peeled off the backing and sprinkled glitter over top. An aqua ribbon finishes it off.

For my card, I used PTI cardstock (aqua mist, pure poppy, stamper's select white). I stamped a ME Trifecta stamp over the aqua mist cardstock for my background. I cut a circle from my cardstock and then stamped a ME On Target target in the negative space. I used the same technique for the glitter as I did for the tag, but this time using a PTI heart prints die. I added a little button for fun.

For my sentiment, I stamped the title on a PTI double-ended banner diecut, using Versamark. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder. Then I stamped the arrow in Versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Both of these stamps are from the ME On Target stamp set.

Some stitching around the edges finishes it all off.

Thanks for looking!