Top 10 of 2013!

Time for a little bit of crafty reflection!  I love when people review the favorite cards that they made over the year, such a fun walk down memory lane.  So here are my favorites from my own blog posts this year...

 My Favorite Things, Papertrey Ink

 Papertrey Ink

 Waltzingmouse Stamps

 Waltzingmouse Stamps

Waltzingmouse Stamps 

 Waltzingmouse Stamps

 Waltzingmouse Stamps

 Waltzingmouse Stamps

A Muse Studio, Waltzingmouse Stamps

And my favorite of all from way back in January 2013 for Challenge Chicks...

Waltzingmouse Stamps, Papertrey Ink, Sizzix snowman die

I am pretty sure this card took me 2-3 hours to complete, and it was worth every second of crafting!  I was so happy with how it turned out!

I hope that you have a wonderful New Year's Eve tonight...and here's to everything fun and crafty in 2014!!

12 Kits with Jessica!

It's time for another edition of the 12 Kits of Occasions.  This month Jessica Davis is our hostess, and of course she sent us the most adorable kit for Christmas!  Full of sweet and whimsical images, and trendy fonts and patterns!

Up first are the little "Winter Sparrows" from Lawn Fawn paired with the "Charlie Brown" tree from Waltzingmouse Stamps Sewing Box-Christmas set.

The sentiment is from one of TWO woodblock stamps that she sent as a gift, sooo generous!  This one is from Hampton Art's "Ditto" line.  It had a little tree with dotty ornaments on it which I masked off for this card.

I love the idea of the little birds sitting on the tree!  The top left bird had an unfortunate journey through the paper cutter, yikes!  He must have gotten stuck to another piece of paper because he suddenly was missing his tail!  Nothing a little scor-tape couldn't cure ;).  The bottom of the WMS tree is paper-pieced with gingham paper.  The top is a wood veneer heart from Studio Calico colored with a red Copic marker.

Next up, more Lawn Fawn critters...this one is called "Winter Bunny"!

He was right at home sledding down the dotted hill.  The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" set.

Added a little Sakura glitter pen to his scarf.  The snowflake die cut is from L'il Inkers Designs.

Still one more little woodland fella, "Winter Owl."  The sentiment is from Mama Elephant's "Toy Shop" set.

Loved this beautiful chevron woodgrain paper from Authentique, and thought it looked like a perfect home for him.  And that awesome red corduroy brad...I took it off 2 times just because I wanted to "save" (a.k.a. hoard) it! The little felt holly is left over from Sharron's last kit, hee!  I have collected so many extra supplies during my first year with the 12 Kits.

Last a fun die cut that I have always wanted to try...the Shape Up Series "Sweater" die from Papertrey Ink.

It looked lovely with these beautiful layered poinsettia die cuts from Jessica.  Very "brooch" like!

It was a bit hard to tell in the first photo, but the sweater is mounted on a white card base stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Holiday Button Bits.  I had the most perfect embossing folder to use....the Cuttlebug "Charles" folder!

As always, I have SO many things left to use!  I will put them in safe keeping for the start of another year with the 12 Kits of Occasion bloggers.  Sadly, Amy will be leaving us for now, but I would love for her to come back some day.  Speaking of great returns, Jeanne Jachna is back as of next month!  I can't wait to see what this new year brings!  Keep track of it all on Pinterest or our Facebook page.  Thank SO much for all of your support and lovely comments this year!!

For those of you that entered the blog comment contest to be Sharron's guest next month, the winner has been announced on the 12 Kits Blog HERE!  Jessica will be posting her list of supplies for the December kit HERE on the blog in case there is anything you see and want :)!  See you soon!

Still time to enter!

Want a chance to be a guest designer at the 12 Kits of Occasions blog for January 2014?  Sharron will send you a freebie kit if you win the drawing HERE!  You still have time to leave a comment...contest closes December 29th (tomorrow) at noon!!

Deer Tag Duo

Time for some more tags, and keeping with my favorite theme of this season...sparkle!

I used this lovely deer image from Memory Box again, coupled with gorgeous sentiments from the Waltzingmouse Stamps set Seasonal Flourish.

I sprayed each tag with Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist.  Let it dry, then stamped the sentiment.  The gold one was then embossed with PTI's Woodgrain Impression Plate.

For each deer piece, I sprayed a piece of cardstock with glimmer mist, let it dry, stamped the reindeer in Memento Ink, then colored it with Copics.  This one uses a W1, W3, W5 trio.  The deer and background tag are both stamped with Guilded Gold but I saturated the background tag to get a deeper gold color.

This one is the C1, C3, C5 Copic trio for a cooler effect...and a red nose for Rudolph!  The deer piece was sprayed with Glacier Glimmer Mist and the tag was sprayed with Boardwalk Glimmer Mist.

Hope your Christmas plans are coming together.  FINALLY done shopping...and for the first time ever, most of my gifts are wrapped!  Usually I take it down to the wire...about 2:00 AM Christmas Eve ;)!

Team Talk Blog

Have you been enjoying the new Waltzingmouse Stamps Inspiration Blog called Team Talk?!
 Every few days a member of the Waltzingmouse Stamps Design Team gets to "take over" and post a project.I am the hostess today, sharing some new inspiration from an old idea.

Come on over and check it out!

Tags with Tracey!

I am honored to have been asked by the lovely Tracey McNeeley to be a participant in her 25 Days of Christmas tags!  What an awesome idea for December, and she must be SO ready when Christmas Eve rolls around with the most beautiful collection of tags!

Today I decided to use my new favorite crafty item...the Holly Sprigs dies from Waltzingmouse Stamps that coordinates with the previously-released (and most gorgeous set!) Festive Foliage.

I have been having such fun experimenting with different color combinations this holiday season and have hopped on the gray bandwagon!  This paper is from DCWV's "Merry Little Christmas" Collection.

I stamped the holly in Versamark and then heat embossed with silver powder.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Ornate Ornaments.  The berries are topped with Glossy Accents.

Thanks so much, Tracey!  Today is Day 22 for her tags.  You must be sure to scroll back through Tracey's blog posts to see her creations so far, as well as all of her other special guests' tags...so amazing!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Festive Foliage & Ornate Ornaments, both Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper:  PTI white, DCWV "Merry Little Christmas" patterned paper
Ink:  Versamark, Memento Gray Flannel, Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler
Other:  Waltzingmouse Stamps Holly Sprigs dies, Hero Arts Long and Cute tag die, A Muse Studio silver embossing powder and red twinkle stickers, silver ribbon, Glossy Accents, sparkle twine

Falling Flakes Sketch

I got to play along with this week's Freshly Made Sketch!  This lovely one is by Jennifer Timko...

I had been obsessing about this 12x12 paper pack by DCWV called "Merry Little Christmas" for a month. I tend to buy 6x6 pads, but I really loved the prints, and snagged it at 50% off on Black Friday (with an extra 20% off my total purchase :).  I especially loved this gray paper with the falling dots and snowflakes!

I used this lovely sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps new Alpine Christmas set.

Many of the papers in the collection are glossed or glittered, as some of the dots are on this one.  The snowflakes are from my dear fave "Sewing Box-Christmas" set, also from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Such an awesome sketch!  You too can play along until Monday HERE!  :)

Challenge Chicks with Lydia

It's the first Sunday of the month which is my standing date with the Challenge Chicks, and Lydia is our hostess today!  I was all ready to say Happy December...but a warning.  Lydia does not appear to be a big fan of the snow and cold ;)!  She has issued us a challenge to shed winter layers already!

*We are to make a one-layer card AND the theme/images must have nothing to do with winter!*

No Christmas, no snowflakes, no hot cocoa.  No winter!  

I barely remembered that part of the challenge when I sat down.  I was still perseverating on the "one-layer" part, UGH!  How am I supposed to cover up all my mistakes?!!! Somehow, shedding layers made me think of feathers I guess, LOL!  I used my Fine Feathers and Funky Feathers stamp sets from Waltzingmouse Stamps and made a get well card.

 (Now when I look at it, it IS rather snowflake-like, eek!) 

Even though I stuck to the rules with the one layer of paper, there ended up being lots of layers of ink and embossing.   I am pretty sure that I am allergic to one layer cards...they induce hives!  The feathers are stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with white powder.  I stamped the hearts in all different shades of blue, teal, and aqua ink and added some Stardust Stickles.

Before adding the hearts, though, I sprayed the paper with 3 kinds of glimmer mists in light silvery blue (okay, it's called glacier, but I said that in a very small voice), aqua, and teal, keeping the darker colors at the top and going lighter toward the bottom.  If I had to do it again, I may have stamped a few less feathers to keep that lighter, floating, drifting down kind of  feel :)

Your turn to play along!  Upload your creations to Splitcoaststampers using the keyword CHXDEC13 or post a card or projects on your blog and upload a link to our Facebook page HERE!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Funky Feathers (feather, heart) Fine Feathers (sentiment), both Waltzingmouse Stamps

Paper:  PTI Soft Stone

Ink:  VersaMark, various blues. aquas from Fresh Ink and A Muse Studio, Stazon Black

Other:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Glacier and Sea Glass and Heidi Swapp glimmer spray in Teal, Filagree white embosssing powder, Stickles, sheer ribbon