10th Anniversary Blog Celebration -- Day 2

Welcome to the 10 year anniversary celebration of my blog!

 

(Note: the anniversary celebration started yesterday, so scroll down or click here
to leave a comment to be entered to win one of my fun giveaways!)

As I mentioned yesterday, I started my blog almost ten 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.

Here's one of the first photos I ever posted on my blog:

Jonah's expression in this photo kills me! 

So, to celebrate TO THE FULL's 10 year anniversary,

I started a series of posts yesterday and will continue tomorrow.

Now, while I was mainly a scrapbooker when I started my blog,

I can't deny that the frequency of my posts greatly increased when

I started stamping and making cards.

So, today, I'm sharing my 10 favourite cards that I created in 2015:

Originally posted on February 14th for the Papertrey Ink Anniversary Challenge



Originally posted March 1st for Reverse Confetti's Sketch for You to Try #22



Originally posted on May 5th for the Reverse Confetti Release



Originally posted on May 25th for the Papertrey Ink blog Hop



Originally posted on June 22nd on the Bazzill Basics Blog



Originally posted on July 2nd for CAS(E) This Sketch



Originally posted on August 6th for Jonah's birthday



Originally posted on August 25th for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop



Originally posted on September 10th for CAS(E) This Sketch



 Originally posted on October 12th for the Pinterest Inspired Challenge

And one of my favourite things about blogging has been being able

to design for wonderful manufacturers.

I've been thrilled to be a part of the Reverse Confetti Crew for the past 2+ years
and am very happy to be continuing on with the team in 2016!

Be sure to head over to the Reverse Confetti blog to check out the rest
of the Reverse Confetti Crew and for a special announcement
from Jen about some exciting news for 2016!

And, it wouldn't be a celebration without some giveaways, right?

 

I have four prizes to give-away:

1. a $25 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 to Butterfly Reflections Ink (generously donated by Vanessa Middleton)

4. a $25 gift certificate from me to Papertrey Ink

All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment here in this post by December 29th at 9pm CST.
I will draw four names and announce the winners on December 30th,
the 10th anniversary of my blog.

*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.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another chance to win!

Thanks for looking!

10th Anniversary Blog Celebration -- Day 1

Welcome to the 10 year anniversary celebration of my blog!

 

I started my blog almost ten 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 10 years and 2339 posts confirm that I was able to do so!

Here's one of the first photos I posted on my blog:

Look how adorable my children were!

So, to celebrate TO THE FULL's 10 year anniversary,

I'm doing a series of posts over the next few days.

Now, while I was mainly a scrapbooker when I started my blog,

I can't deny that the frequency of my posts greatly increased when

I started stamping and making cards.

However, I do still enjoy making layouts,

even if it has taken a bit of a backseat to my card making. 

So, today, I'm sharing my 10 favourite layouts that I created in 2015. 

Puppy Love, posted February 8th  

Hello togetherness, posted April 8th

Imagine, posted May 1st

Shine, posted May 6th


 

Best Day Ever, posted May 18th

Sage Lately, posted May 19th

 Today, posted May 26th

Black Belt, posted June 6th

Shine, posted July 28th

 Posted in Create Magazine in July

And, it wouldn't be a celebration without some giveaways, right?

 

I have four prizes to give-away:

1. a $25 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 to Butterfly Reflections Ink (generously donated by Vanessa Middleton)

4. a $25 gift certificate from me to Papertrey Ink

All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment here in this post by December 29th at 9pm CST.
I will draw four names and announce the winners on December 30th,
the 10th anniversary of my blog.

*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.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another chance to win!

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

We had a great day -- which included having friends and family over for supper.

Today, I'm participating in the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop.

This month's challenge is this fabulous inspirational photo:

Isn't it gorgeous?

I just love it!

 When I first saw it, I immediately thought of my Tinsel & Tags stamps

and decided to make some tags using them.

For each tag, I used the Tinsel and Tags stamps,

stamped in versafine onyx black and diecut with the round tag that came with the kit.

Inspired by the photo, however, I decided to add a little bit to each tag with diecuts.

I stamped the deer onto a coordinating diecut in Delicata Golden Glitz and added

the sprig and berries.

Here, I added the green boughs and red flower (with dimensional adhesive).

Here, I stamped the house onto the coordinating diecut

and added the sprigs and flower.

On this one, I coloured in the snowman stamp using Zig Clear Colour markers,

avoiding the scarf on the stamp.

I tied on some baker's twine for a scarf.

And Sage also make a couple of tags for the blog hop,

using the same stamp set/die, but she did hers in red:

She felt that the words didn't show up well enough,

so she wrote them in in black.

Didn't she do a wonderful job?

Before you go, I just wanted to invite you back to visit tomorrow (December 27th),

as I'm having a celebration (including prizes!) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my blog!

 

Thanks for looking!

Peace, Love & Joy

I can't believe it's already Christmas Eve!

I just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas

and share the photo card that I made this year.

We took the photo on our front steps in September, using the timer on my camera.

Lucy had been staying with us again, so she was able to be in our photo again.

I diecut the Peace from pure poppy cardstock using a PTI's One Liner die.

I stamped on the front of the white panel using soft stone and PTI's Brushed Off,

as well as the  '15 from PTI's Wet Paint Alphabet to mark the year.

I stamped the "love & joy" in pure poppy using Reverse Confetti's Winter Word Coordinates.

I have to admit, it took quite a bit of time to make 74 of these!

Thanks for looking!

Some Snow Globe Tags

Well, I'm well on my way to being ready for Christmas.

I finished up my tags today (yay!) 

and just need to make some ornaments/place settings for our Christmas supper.

I want to share three tags that I made this morning for my kids' gifts.

I found some fun kraft/red/black wrapping paper this year, with woodland

critters on it, so I decided to go with that theme for my tags.

For all three, I used my PTI Shaker Shapes: Snow Globe dies.

I also used some paper from the PTI Petite Places paper pack for my backgrounds.

I stamped the "name plate" on each one using the Snow Globe Sentiments stamp set.

For Austin's, I stamped the fox from PTI's Hey Foxy onto the background paper

and onto a piece of white cardstock.

I coloured him in using some kraft ink pressed onto an acrylic block,

some water and a paintbrush.

I paper-pieced the hat from Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals stamp set.

For Jonah's, I used the same paper-piece technique using the PPP Winter Pals stamp set.

I love his sweet ear muffs that don't cover his ears! Too cute!

And for Sage's, I did the same paper-piece/colouring in with kraft ink techniques

using Lawn Fawn's Winter Owl stamp set.

The scarf is paper-pieced with pure poppy cardstock.

I'm linking all three of these tags up to Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: Winter Wonderland.

Thanks for looking!

Tags for my Sunday School presents

Yesterday, I had the girls from my Sunday School class

and their moms over for a Christmas party.

It was so fun!

We started off by doing a craft -- we made half dome ornaments using PTI's Tinsel & Tags kit.

Most of the girls chose to use the stamps, but Sage decided

to colour in hers using my Zig Clear Colour Brush Markers:

I love her striped roof!

After making the ornaments, we played a couple of games

and then the moms hid the gifts I made, so that the girls could hunt to find them.

Here are the tags I made for each of the girls' gifts.

I diecut the tags using the Reverse Confetti Gift Card Holder Tag Confetti Cuts.

I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Phrases & Praises stamp set.

I stamped the little bird from Pretty Pink Posh's Holiday Pals stamp set and 

coloured it in using my Zig Markers.

Then, I did a little masking and stamped the leaves from PTI's Songbirds stamp set.

And inside the gifts...

I found these sweet little necklaces at the Fossil outlet store in Minneapolis

and thought how perfect they'd be for my group.

I told them that I picked that verse from the song on the front of the tag,

because I want them to remember when they were the necklaces

that God sees them and that they are special to Him.

And here's a picture of me with five of the six girls

(one of the girls had to leave early -- and we missed getting the photo with all of them!)

Aren't they beautiful?

Thanks for looking!

Curtain Call Inspiraton Challenge -- Milk & Cookies -- Take Two

Today, Sage and I are hosting our Mother/Daughter Christmas party.
We've planned a craft and some games, as well as some yummy snacks...
should be a great time!


 I have another card to share that I made using the current
Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge -- Milk & Cookies:

brit.co

These sweet gingerbread cookies with the red & white striped straws

inspired my card:

I repeatedly stamped my sentiment from MFT's Hand Lettered Holiday in kraft

on my white cardstock panel.

I stamped the holly leaves (from MFT's Winter Warmth) directly onto my panel

and onto a coordinating diecut.

I stamped my gingerbread men (from PTI's Scent-imentals) onto coordinating diecuts

and adhered them using some dimensional adhesive.

Some Classic Kraft button twine and a pure poppy button finishes it off.

Remember, there's still time to play along with this
 Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge.

Thanks for looking!