Favorites of 2016!

Happy New Year's Eve!  It'll be a quiet day here, as most of the family is recovering from an energy-sapping cough and cold.  Perhaps that will be an opportunity for some cardmaking . . . my craft table is looking a little too clean at the moment! ;)

Anyway, thought this would be a fun time to look back over this year's creations on my blog and share a favorite from each month!  Here we go:

From January, I chose these cards created with the One Great Year Paper Pumpkin kit:

Really love the watercolor-look prints, and it was so fun to put those together!  I'm looking forward to doing something similar with this month's Paper Pumpkin kit!


While the next one is actually more of a January creation as well, I posted it in February, so I'm going with that!  This is the 13th birthday card I made for my fan of the Doctor:

One of my favorite annual events, the Hostess Appreciation Tea, happened in March this year, and here's one of my favorite projects from that:

In April, my SUper Friends demonstrator group did our first 3x3 card exchange, which resulted in this framed spring artwork sampler:

My favorite project from May was creating these card totes:

Hmm . . . seeing those makes me want to make more!  Maybe with some new papers from the upcoming Sale-a-Bration and Occasions Catalogs?

June was an exciting time with the release of the 2016-2017 Annual Catalog, and my favorite project from that month is this card showing off the then-new 2016-2018 In Colors:

July seems to have been the month for double z fold cards on my blog!  Here's one I created as a thank you for some special baseball coaches:

My favorite project from August is this card made using the Star of Light stamp set and the galaxy technique:

This September project is a favorite in part because of the happy memories of an afternoon spent helping some great kids at the Ronald McDonald house make their own versions of it:

October brought another amazing 3x3 swap with the SUper Friends, and this holiday sampler:

In November, we had the Stitched from the Heart special, which gave us a sneak peek of the new Stitched Shapes Framelits (available again in the 2017-18 Annual Catalog) and inspired me to whip up a batch of cards like this one:

And, for December, I chose this pop-up card -- very thankful to my friend Jana for teaching me how to make these!

Hope you enjoyed this look back at projects from 2016!!!  Looking forward to lots more crafting fun in 2017!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!   Happy New Year!!!

- Michelle

Fabulous Friends Friday: Christmas Creations by Marlene

Happy Friday before Christmas!!!  I have some fabulous projects to share with you that I received recently from another swap with my amazingly talented friend Marlene!  This was a seriously fun box of goodies to open!  Wait until you see all that was in there!

First up, the 3D projects!  This is a Sliding Elf Boxx Marlene created, adapted from a project by Becky Roberts:

Stamp sets used on it include Jolly Friends and Flurry of Wishes.

The next project is an advent countdown -- Isabella was fascinated and had to check it out as I was unwrapping it to take photos:

 Here's the cute tag, with image from the Holly Jolly Layers Hostess set:

 And, out of the packaging (though now only one of those numbers is right! Yikes!  Time flies!):

Marlene adapted this project from a countdown created by Melissa Stout.

Here's a darling Christmas turkey box Marlene created using the Curvy Keepsakes die and some punch art:

Marlene created this adorable Grinch box using the Popcorn Box Thinlets die and Jar of Haunts stamp set (eyes):

Here's a sweet stocking stuffer -- a nail file and candy cane packaged up oh-so-prettily in Sweet Sugarplum (Marlene got the idea for this from Stephanie Kendall Purvis):

The next treat is an adorable Rolo reindeer, made with the Cookie Cutter Christmas bundle (original idea came from Twila Davis):

This box is a creative use of an acetate sleeve leftover from another project using the White Gift Boxes -- Marlene created a box top and bottom for it, and voila:

Marlene also created some gorgeous cards for our swap!  Here is a "Faux Fireplace Scene," CASED from Becky Roberts, and using the Hang Your Stocking Bundle, Pretty pines Thinlits, and Brick Wall embossing folder:

The next card is a clever use for washi tape (inspired by Dawn Olchefske), and Marlene put her Washi tape on Colored Paper for a richer look (it has a sparkly glow from Gold Wink of Stella colored around the tree as well):

Marlene also used the tree die from the Santa's Sleigh Bundle, along with the Cable Knit embossing folder, to create her "faux ugly sweater card":

The next card has some fun embellishing of the Candy Cane Lane Designer Paper on the outside (Marlene used fine tip glue to add some clear dimension to the red sprinkles on the cookie trees and the gingerbread men's red cheeks):

and opens to reveal this clever pop up:

Marlene's next card is a gorgeous shaker with a Galaxy technique background on the shaker frame:

For this card, which also uses the Woodland Textured Embossing Folder, Marlene tweaked a card idea from Gina Anderson, and used a technique from Debbie Henderson for adhering Mika flakes to similar colored paper and then heating them!

 Here's the inside of the card:

This gorgeous card is a "5 Panel Fancy Fold Card" (Debbie Henderson has a tutorial available, which has printable templates to go along with it):

Marlene used the This Christmas Designer Series Paper for this card, along with the Wonderful Wreath Framelits and Petal Burst Embossing Folder.

The next card uses a technique designed to save paper -- the sunburst was cut to a 4 x 4" piece and then that piece was cut in half, the "Joy" piece is like a belly band that fills the space between the two sunburst pieces:

The stamp set used on this card is Joyful Nativity.  The designer paper is from the Floral Boutique package.

And, last but not least, is this "Twisted Gate Fold" (inspired by a card Dawn Olchefske created):

Marlene used This Christmas Designer Series Paper for this card, along with the Christmas Pines Bundle.

Whew!!!  Thanks so much, Marlene, for all these beautiful and inspiring projects!  I'm excited to try out some of these new 3D and fold ideas!!!  How about you?

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Merry Christmas!!!

- Michelle

Candy Cane Lane Reindeer

Happy Wednesday!  Today I have a card to share with you that I created for an over-the-top Wow! swap.  The challenge in the swap was to create with Washi Tape.  For the swap, I used the Candy Cane Lane Washi Tape (discounted as part of the Year-End Closeouts, so it's a great time to stock up!) to create a fun background.  I also used the Washi Tape to dress up some Whisper White Organza Ribbon.  Here's how the card turned out with the ribbon (unfortunately my only photo before I sent the cards off . . . and didn't save one of these for a retake! Oops!!):

And, here's another version without the organza ribbon:

I used Blushing Bride card stock behind the washi tape.  The reindeer (stamped in Soft Suede on Soft Suede) and greeting (Real Red) are from the Santa's Sleigh Bundle.  The flower on the reindeer is made with the Tree Builder Punch, and has one of the smallest of the Pearl Jewels in the center.  The Whisper White circle behind the deer is made with a die from the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  The stitches at the bottom of the card were stamped in Crumb Cake ink onto the Crumb Cake card stock using an image from the Lovely Stitching Stamp Set.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

P.S.  Don't miss out on the Year-End Closeouts -- you can see what's available in my online store here.