TO THE FULL: December 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Season's Givings Blog Hop

Welcome to the Season's Givings Blog Hop!

I'm participating in this blog hop today because of you, my blog readers.
I truly appreciate each one of you.... that you take the time to come & visit my blog
& comment on my projects... it means so much to me!

And so, this blog hop is being held for you, as a way for me to say "thank you".

For those of you who are new to my blog, I welcome you to check it out.
I've recently posted my favourite cards (click!) & layouts (click!) that I made in 2014,
which you can see by scrolling down or clicking the links.

Each stop on the hop is hosting a giveaway.

So make sure you comment on each one to be eligible to win each prize.

Here is the prize pack that I'm giving away...

It consists of five stamp sets (from Studio Calico (2) Fresh Squeezed Stamps, Prima & Basic Grey/Hero Arts) and some Basic Grey goodies.

To be eligible to win this prize pack, you need to leave a comment here
on my blog by Sunday, Jan. 4, 2014, at 11:59pm CST.
I will announce the winner on Monday, the 5th.

And here's the card I wanted to share with you....

I was inspired by a photo I saw in a magazine of Christmas lights in a mason jar

and wanted to recreate this look on a card.

To start, I inked some Bazzill CS White Cardstock with some Harvest Gold ink

and my Tim Holtz blending tool, to create the glow.

Then I diecut the Lawn Fawn Summertime Charm jar from the white cardstock

and adhered it to a second piece of white cardstock that I'd be using to mat my card.

I diecut the lights from PTI Harvest Gold card stock using the die from PTI's Shaker Shapes: Tree

and heat embossed the string in white using PTI's Sparkle & Shine Holiday stamp set.

I stamped the bulbs in Harvest Gold and adhered the two strings to the jar diecut.

I layered a piece of Bazzill Platinum Vellum over top.

I stamped the flower and boughs using PTI's Tinsel & Tags stamps and dies

and tied a bow using some PTI Rustic Cream Button Twine.

Before adhering the diecut, inked panel over top, I added the diecut Shine (also from PTI,

which I diecut from some Bazzill Wax Lips Cardstock.

I stamped the "Bright" (from PTI's Sparkle & Shine stamp set), the "in" (from PTI's Monthly Moments:Tabbed stamp set) and the date using the numbers from PTI's Get Lost stamp set.

Here's a close up of the lights in the jar...

Before you go, feel free to follow my blog & click on the link to do so on the sidebar.

Next on the hop is LisaLee.

Here's the complete list of all of the blog hop participants:

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Lawn Fawn

Spellbinders Paper Arts

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Avocado Arts

A Jillian Vance Design

Leigh Penner (that's me!)

LisaLee

TinaMcDonald

NinaYang

‪AngelJohns

Happy New Year!
Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Top 14 {of 2014} -- cards

As has become my end of the year tradition,

I'm posting my 14 most favourite layouts & cards of 2014.
(You can see my previous years top cards posts here: 2013 & 2012
and my favourite layouts of 2014 here.)

So, here are my favourite cards that I made in 2014, in chronological order.

(If you'd like to see the original blog post for the card, just click on
the title below the photo and it will take you there.)

Sending Lots of Love -- CAS(E) This Sketch #61

I love you -- PTI January Blog Hop

Just a note -- Retro Sketches #100

Lucky -- Chickaniddy Crafts Premier

Butterfly Birthday -- PTI March Blog Hop

Happy Birthday -- Pretty Pink Posh

Enjoy Summer -- PTI June Blog Hop

Let's Chill -- Reverse Confetti

Thanks for Everything -- Pretty Pink Posh Blog Hop

Hello Friend -- CAS(E) This Sketch #91

You Are Fabulous -- CAS(E) This Sketch #94

Hello Friend -- Pretty Pink Posh Blog Hop

Happy Birthday -- CAS(E) This Sketch #98

Season's Greetings

So, which one is your favourite?

Oh, and if you haven't already entered my give-away for my 2000th post, there's still time --
you have until the end of 2014 to do so.
Click here for more info.

And one more thing before you go....
Heidi Sonboul has revealed her new collection -- 365 --
on the Chickaniddy Crafts Blog today.

Click here to check it out.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for looking!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Top 14 (of 2014) -- Layouts

As has become my end of the year tradition,
I'm posting my 14 most favourite scrapbooking layouts of 2014.
(You can see my previous years top layout posts here: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 & 2009.)

Here they are, in chronological order from the past year.

(If you'd like to see the original blog post for the layout, just click on
the title below the photo and it will take you there.)

Naomi

ChoralFest

Enjoy Life

Oh, Boy

A Love for Lucy

Brussels, Belgium

Currently

Shade Seeker

If I die, post this on YouTube!

Summer 2014

Amazing

My Best Girl

Sage's Grade 4 Field Trip

It's a Pumpkin Party

I love doing this every year because I'm always a little surprised at how many layouts
I do create in a year! For some reason, it always feels like less...

So, which one do you like best?

Come back on Wednesday to see my 14 favourite cards of 2014.

Oh, and if you haven't already entered my give-away for my 2000th post,
you can do so by clicking here, or by scrolling down.

Oh, and one more thing....
Heidi Sonboul has revealed her new collection -- Yippee --
on the Chickaniddy Crafts Blog today.

Click here to check it out.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

My 2000th post!

I'm so excited because this is my 2000th blog post!
I started my blog almost exactly nine years ago, on Dec. 30, 2005.

What began as a place to share photos and thoughts has become such a big

part of my life, seeing as I post almost daily.

I had to laugh as I reread my first post, because I expressed concern about

being able to keep up with it.... I guess 2000 posts confirms that I was able to do so! LOL!

To celebrate my 2000th post, I have a card to share -- and a give-away!

First up, the card.... which features two of my very favourite manufacturers that

I have the extreme pleasure of designing for: Reverse Confetti & Pretty Pink Posh.

(And these two manufacturers have also very generously agreed to sponsor my give-away!)

I have a fun "faux-shaker" card to say hello to my 2000th post &

to you, my wonderful blog readers....

I started by diecutting the largest circle from

Circles 'n Scallops Confetti Cuts from the Tag Me, Too Confetti Cuts tag.

I stamped the diagonal stripe stamp from So Stripey onto the tag and

onto my white card stock background.

I also stamped the sentiment (from In A Big Way) on the white card stock background and adhered some Pretty Pink Posh marshmallow, pink blush & pink peonies sequins and wooden stars.

I adhered my tag over top, using some dimensional adhesive.

I used the Fabulous Flaming Confetti Cuts to die cut the flamingo and

then stamped it using the Fabulous Flamingo stamp set.

Now.... onto the give-aways....

I have three prizes to give-away:

1. a $15 gift certificate to Reverse Confetti (generously donated by Jen Del Muro)

2. a $25 gift certificate to Pretty Pink Posh (generously donated by Paulina Nakamura)

3. a $20 gift certificate from me to the online store of your choice

All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment here in this post before the end of 2014 (CST).
I will draw three names and announce the winners on January 2nd.

*Note: If you would like to become a follower while you are here, I welcome you to do so,
but it isn`t necessary to be eligible to win.

Thanks for looking!

Friday, December 26, 2014

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you all had a great Christmas!

We celebrated yesterday as a family & had Cameron's mom & some friends from church over for supper.

We'll celebrate with the rest of his family on Saturday and with my mom on Tuesday.

I love that the Christmas season is more than just one day....

This evening, I'm squeaking in at the last minute to play along with the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop.

This month's challenge is to use gold & silver together.

I made a few projects for the hop....
and I'm posting so late because it took me most of the day to finish them.

First up, a Valentine's card using World Map & my Headline Alphabet dies.

I stamped the World Map stamp in Versamark and then heat embossed it in silver & gold.

The sentiment (Lawn Fawn) was stamped in Versamark on a Get a Handle on It diecut in seafoam white.

Next, I made a layout...

I was collecting the tags and ribbons after the unwrapping on Christmas morning and decided that

the tag that I made for Sage was too pretty to throw away.

So, I decided to use it on a layout.

I used some Teresa Collins and Simple Stories patterned paper, as well as some PTI dies.

And, I have some ornaments to share that I made using the PTI Tinsel & Tags kit.

For the challenge, on the ornaments that I made for my immediate family,

I stamped the tree trunks and deer in gold and heat embossed the pine trees in silver.

Here's a close up of the first one (sorry the photos are so poor -- I had to take them this evening!)

Here are the rest of the ones for my husband & kids...

And here are the ones I made for my SIL's family & my MIL.

And lastly, Sage made her Secret Santa gift this evening, using the PTI blog hop challenge.
We filled a jar with hot chocolate mix & mini marshmallows
and made a snow globe topper (using the Tinsel & Tags kit).

She stamped the tree trunks and deer in gold and we heat embossed the roof & snowman in silver.

Before you go, I just wanted to mention that this is my 1999th post.
Isn't that cool?

And in order to celebrate my 2000th post tomorrow,
I'm doing some...

That's right -- I've got three fabulous prizes to give-away,
so you'll want to come back tomorrow to enter to win. :)

Thanks for looking!

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