End of the Year Reflection

Hey Everyone! Happy New Year's Eve! I have been seeing a lot of posts about people's top ten moments of 2010, and I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to play along! Albeit, I don't know if I have had at least ten moments, but I will share what the top five moments I do have and some of my favorite cards from 2010.


#5 Creating this blog in April of 2010 (when I wasn't even sure what to do. I had never blogged, my original layout was HIDEOUS and I stayed up till 3am fixing it!)

 #4 Diving in head-first to to get published Eck...my first cards were BAD...no wonder they bombed....here's a couple that I submitted. One was for Embellish magazine's Button challenge and one for the October 2010 issue of Cards magazine

 

#3 Being asked to join the FABULOUS Etsy Inspired Challenge blog in June and staying on into the new year because I LOVE the ladies that I've met and how fun the challenges are! Then being asked to join the sweet and lovely design teams of Paper Therapy and Paper Vineyard


#2 Getting PUBLISHED for the first time in the November issue of  Cards magazine and then Paper Crafts magazine Now, I have had over 30 cards and projects picked up for publication!! I LOVE creating, being challenged and sharing my work!

Issues that I have been published in this year!

#1 And finally the most important thing of 2010 for me is having a heavenly father who has blessed me with a part-time teaching job so I can craft, and a wonderfully supportive hubby and family who ENCOURAGES me and CHEERS me on!

  And, as promised, here are my VERY favorite designs of 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

Without you dear readers this blog wouldn't

be possible

Paper Therapy-December 27 2010

Hello All! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and that you will have a joyful New Year!! I have already made a few resolutions, one being that I would participate in more blog challenges, so I have a few blogs that I am interested in, and I am excited about the challenges. This week the  Paper Therapy  design team will be on vacation, but we will still be hosting a challenge so that you can still play along.

  Here's how it works. Every monday a new challenge will be posted in the forum. You upload your design   and have the chance to win the weekly challenge. A fabulous prize and winner blinkie will be awarded the first challenge winner of every month, and then subsequent challenge winners will win an awesome blinkie to share with the whole world, showing them that you rocked the  Paper Therapy challenge.

  This week's challenge for you is to make a project focusing on new beginnings. Whether it be a wedding congratulations card, or a new baby card or even a congrats on your promotion card. You can make what ever your heart fancies. I hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll be back on January 3rd 2011 with a FABULOUS new card to share with you, and a challenge you're all going to LOVE!!  But, here's something fun to share with you!

Christmas Gifts for 2010

Hello Hello Hello!! MERRY POST-CHRISTMAS!! I hope you all had a marvelous holiday! I know that I did. I am still in Texas and won't be home until January 1st and I am desperately missing my craft room (and all the new products that are shipping home as we speak-it'll be like Christmas again when I get home!) Hahaha.

Well, as promised I wanted to share with you some of the gifts I made for family this year! I made ten calendars, several wall hangings and several dress form ornaments. I also made some bottle cap ornaments, but I forgot to get pictures of them before I left and like any true designer I was up until 2am the night before we flew out to Texas taking pictures. *Sigh*

So, here's the first gift I made using Calendar Basics stamps , Calendar Basic Mini Calendar pages and the Calendar Basics page die

Calendar 2011

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

 June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

December 2011

  To begin with each page I die cut the  Calendar pages  so that they were all the same size. I decided that each months tab orientation for the  mini calendar pages could be in a different place so that there was variety. After I die-cut the pages I would paint the edges of the months and then design that page based on the theme of that month. Designs included stamping the mini calendar pages, the layout of patterned paper, ribbon and embellishments.

Making 10 12-month calendars is quite a project. I would make them and sell them, but the cost of time and materials may be a bit expensive for some customers. On average, it took about three hours to design each calendar page, minus the  mini calendar pages . However, everyone loved them and that was the whole point!

  I also made a few wall hangings. These are SOOOOO much fun and so versatile! You can make holiday wall hangings, Valentine's Day wall hangings, even Easter wall hangings. I LOVE LOVE LOVE making these. I made several winter wall hangings and one Paris Vintage wall hanging.

  These are soooo easy to make! You can use any patterned paper collection that you like, trim the pape to fit, paint the edges with crackle distress paint and then add any embellishments that you like!! I am going to be making more of these and try to sell them in some local boutiques. Wall hangings don't take too long to make, so they're time efficient and make great gifts.

  Lastly, I made around eight dress from embellishment ornaments. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but here's a few. Once again, an easy gift to make.

  Hope you enjoyed! I love love love making gifts for friends and family!!

Paper Therapy-December 20 2010

Hello all!! Welcome to our  twelfth challenge at  Paper Therapy.  Paper Therapy is an online forum for scrapbookers and card makers to share their work, meet new friends, learn new tips and techniques and have fun!! I hope you can join us every week in our challenges! The previous eleven have been SUPER fun and were seeing some really incredible designs!

  Here's how it works. Every monday a new challenge will be posted in the forum. You upload your design   and have the chance to win the weekly challenge. A fabulous prize and winner blinkie will be awarded the first challenge winner of every month, and then subsequent challenge winners will win an awesome blinkie to share with the whole world, showing them that you rocked the  Paper Therapy challenge.

  This week's challenge was to create a Christmas Card or layout! Boy, was I happy for this!! I have been making Christmas Gifts ALL WEEK LONG from after to work to bedtime, and I needed a break from gift making to do something different!! So, here's what I made!

The Christmas tree is super easy to make. Cut five triangles from paper, fold them in half and adhere the backs to each other! It's the perfect embellishment!

Now it's your turn! Make sure to post your card or layout to the message board by midnight on Saturday, December 18th. I hope that you play along with us this week at  Paper Therapy 

MATERIALS:

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" Card

Cardstock: (Aqua Mist) PTI.

Patterned Paper: (Sing the Carols and Bake the Cookies from Very Merry collection) October Afternoon. 

Clear Stamp: (Sentiment from Dear Lizzie Holiday collection) American Crafts. 

Ink: (Rich Cocoa) Tsukineko. (Creamy Brown) Clearsnap.

Fibers: (Ivory satin ribbon)

Accents: (Vintage buttons). (Doily tag) Martha Stewart.

Other: (White paint) Delta. (Border edge punch) Martha Stewart.

Etsy Inspired-12.25.10

Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you and your loved one have a joyous holiday today. EIC will be taking this week off but, I didn't want to leave you hanging without a holiday inspired card. Hope you enjoy!

Hey there everyone!! Today begins the third challenge for Paper Vineyard . Paper Vineyard is a scrapbook store located in Chandler, Arizona and the new design team will feature cards, layouts and other paper-crafted projects showcasing fabulous products that you can find in their store! I am VERY excited to be able to design for them, as they carry some terrific products. This week is the first week to showcase product and participate in their new challenges where you can showcase your creativity and have a chance to win a fabulous prize. There will be two monthly posts with challenges featuring showcased products from the story, using the latest techniques in paper-crafting! What's even better is that you get to participate too!! So, what are you waiting for?

You can visit Paper Vineyard's blog to see my designs along with the other amazing team member's fantastic creations. This week's theme was to create  a New Year's Card!! I was soooo thrilled, as I have not made a New Year's card EVER!! So, I broke out some Cosmo Cricket, some Pink Paislee and my favorite embellie, doilies and made this.

"Rockin The New Year" Card

I wanted to a shabby chic feel to it, so I painted the edges, stitched a border,

 added a doily and used some tinsel ribbon from Pink Paislee

I inked a frame from Pink Paislee and added the sentiment right on top

I also painted the edges of the chipboard bells, and sprinkled some yummy

tinsel glitter on them. The stars are punched out from thick paper, and then glittered

and inked up!

Materials:

"Rockin The New Year" Card

Cardstock: (Kraft) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: (Mitten Weather) Cosmo Cricket

Accents: (Chipboard bells from Mitten Weather, Letter stickers) Cosmo Cricket. (Doily) Wilton. (Frame) Pink Paislee.

Fibers: (Tinsel Glitter) Pink Paislee. (Tinsel Glitter, silver glitter) Martha Stewart

Etsy Inspired #119--12.18.10

Hello All! This week's post is going to be very short, as I have a lot of last minute gift preparations that I need to finish before I leave for Dallas on Tuesday. I will be sharing A LOT of gift designs over the next two weeks of the Holiday gifts that I made for family and friends, so stay tuned!! Lots of goodness.

This week's shop is Ling Glass  

They'll be awarding one winner a $10 gift certificate!

Our sponsor this week is Wilson Designs

They'll be awarding our second winner the Snowy Day stamp set found on their website!

So, here's the piece that I was inspired by this week

Teardrop Stained Glass Pendant

I was inspired by the pink glass and swirls of the metal. 

 I mimicked the metal swirls by using a rhinestone flourish
to separate the patterned paper seam.

Close up of the detail

So, now it's your turn to play along. Make sure to visit the design team's blogs to see their BEAUTIFUL projects  so that you  can get inspired to create a fabulous project of your own! Make sure to post your design to the Etsy Inspired Challenge Blog by Friday, December 24th at noon!

Ashley

De

Emily N

Joy

Kerry

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Laurel

MATERIALS:

"Splendid" Card

Cardstock: (Pink) Bazzill Paper.

Patterned Paper: (Love Letters and Love Blooms from Sweetness collection) Pink Paislee.

Specialty Paper: (Transparency sentiment from Clear cards) Pink Paislee.

Fibers: (Yellow Ribbon) Creative Impressions. (Pink and White Baker’s twine)

Accents: (Rhinestone Flourish) Zva Creative (Ornament from Artisan Elements) Pink Paislee. (Flower metal badges from Sweetness collection) Pink Paislee. (Rub on sentiment from Dear Lizzy collection) American Crafts.

Other: (Cream paint) Delta.

Paper Therapy-December 13 2010

Hello all!! Welcome to our  eleventh challenge at  Paper Therapy.  Paper Therapy is an online forum for scrapbookers and card makers to share their work, meet new friends, learn new tips and techniques and have fun!! I hope you can join us every week in our challenges! The previous ten have been SUPER fun and were seeing some really incredible designs!

  Here's how it works. Every monday a new challenge will be posted in the forum. You upload your design   and have the chance to win the weekly challenge. A fabulous prize and winner blinkie will be awarded the first challenge winner of every month, and then subsequent challenge winners will win an awesome blinkie to share with the whole world, showing them that you rocked the  Paper Therapy challenge.

  This week's challenge was to create a project that incorporated Snowflakes!! I was super excited to read this because I am currently in love with Tinsel and Twig and I love love this line which includes some super pretty snowflakes. I decided that a wall hanging would be a fun project to create.

There's lots of goodness on here. I started with a chipboard banner covered it with patterned paper,
and then crackle painted the edges. Tie the eyelet trim around with some red twine and
then layered up all the embellishments.

I love love love these doily tags from Martha Stewart. After inking the edges I adhered
it to a stamped enveloped from Maya Road. To top it off I threaded some vintage buttons and
adhered them to the patterned paper.

The snowflake embellishment is from Tinsel and Twig collection from The Girl's Paperie

Now it's your turn! Make sure to post your card or layout to the message board by midnight on Saturday, December 18th. I hope that you play along with us this week at  Paper Therapy 

MATERIALS:

"Baby It's Cold Inside"  Wall Hanging

Cardstock: (Vintage Cream) PTI.

Patterned Paper: (Tinsel & Twig and Snowfall from Tinsel and Twig collection) The Girl's Paperie.

Clear Stamp: (Decorative circle from Victorian Flippery) Waltzingmouse Stamps. (Flourishes from Embellishments set) PTI. (Sentiment) American Crafts.

Ink: (Cantaloupe) Tsukineko. (Creamy Brown) Clearsnap.

Fibers: (White eyelet trim and red jute twine) May Arts. (Ivory satin ribbon)

Accents: (Pearls) Michael's. (Vintage buttons). (Doily tag) Martha Stewart. (Kraft envelope) Maya Road. (Snowflake from Flower Market) The Girl's Paperie. (Tinsel Glitter) Martha Stewart.

Other: (White paint) Delta. (Antique Linen Crackle paint) Ranger. (Label Die) Spellbinders.