TOP 10 FOR 2011

Kellie is hosting a fun look back at your favorite crafty creations. In random order, here are my favorite cards for the past year:

1. I have an obvious love for kraft paper. I also think the woodgrain stamp and the flower stamp are among my all-time favorite stamps. 

2. See, more kraft paper. This color combo of red and aqua is my favorite. Faux stitching on this one.

3. More kraft paper. I also like red and brown with kraft paper. I love that the two stamps used on this card are from the $1 bin at Michaels. Cause I'm cheap like that.I also love the thank you sentiment from Anna Griffin. I wish i had an entire set of sentiments in that cute little frame.

 4. Ummm, more kraft paper and again with my favorite color combo. I'm consistent if I'm anything. Also finally hopped on the doily bandwagon. I really like the little banner sentiment as well- Taylored Expressions.

 5. The woodgrain texture plate also ranks pretty high....along with a stamp by Hero Arts (tulip) that I've had for probably 10 years- it's my fave and I pull it out ever now and again.

6. Woodgrain texture plate again. A pretty clean and simple card.

7. A different texture plate and a color combo that I like a lot: aqua and light green. I also love the font of the birthday sentiment. Again, clean and simple, my fave. It looks simple but I spent a lot of time inside and out on this one.

 8. I wasn't lying when I said I like kraft paper. I also like the scallop punch I used here, too.

9. I LOVE to create my own background images, which you can see in this card below. Busy pattern yet still clean and simple. The ribbon is awesome- really flat and nice for cards- got it at Hobby Lobby and I wish it came in my favorite colors.

 10. See, another card with a stamped background. Taylored Expressions again. All of it.

 I had a hard time narrowing down my choices. That was fun! I think you should play along too!

same song second verse

Did you enjoy the holiday weekend? Mine was great. Hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone already. 

I was so pleased with the way THIS card came out, that I made a varation of it for a friend with a birthday this week. The difference was I put it on red paper and added a button. After I took my picture, I realized that I attached the top flower upside down. Oopsy.

Christmas packaging

Dog treats jazzed up with monograms. both shapes (initial and circle) were cut out using the AP Cricut Cartridge.

This idea is inspired by Pinterest, I've done something similar in years past but I just love the red and aqua combo that I used this year.

Hobby Lobby has the best quality of wrapping paper and it's a great value. I wrapped all the presents in the same paper and used a monogram to identify each girls' presents.

 

And some treats that I put in $1 spot clear tins from Target. I covered up the bottoms by putting a circle and a snowflake (cut with the cricut AP cartridge, the same snowflake went on the top. The little washer came on a standard plastic retail tag, I cut that up and used bakers twine to attach the washer. 

For the inside, I took an 8.5 x 11 sheet of aqua paper and stamped on it, then used glitter on the swirls, let dry overnight and filled with hershey kisses. The kids are lucky there are any kisses left over. My hubby and I attacked those the second the package was opened.

And there we have it.  I doubt the kids will care about the details, but it makes the presentation more fun.  That about wraps it up. My sister and in-laws are hosting both our Christmas events this weekend so that makes it easier for us. We don't have to clean for company on top of everything else!

Speaking of pinterest- I pinned  THIS recipe and decided to use it for my work pot luck today- cranberry feta pinwheels...they were so delish and I am adding that to my recipe box for the future. I might be sick of them by the time the weekend is over though, I'm bringing them to both Christmas's this weekend. They are soooo good.

Are you ready for Christmas??

Pinterest Inspired Birthday Card

I pinned a stunning card to my Pinterest board and found the perfect opportunity to CASE the card. 

Here is my version:

 I made this for a friend who celebrated a birthday this week. She's an avid reader, so took this page from a duplicate book I had of The DaVinci Code, stamped my images in red, trimmed them and then crinkled them. I added some bling to the center of the flower.

It's especially fun to make a card for a friend that will "ooooh and ahhhhhh" over all the fun details.

I've been admiring cards where people stamp on book pages and finally tried it myself. I have a feeling I'll be making a series of these cards soon for my Etsy shop!

Moxie Fab: get inspired kitchen contest

Here is the inspiration challenge for Moxie Fab.

I knew immediately the stamps I'd grab for it because it had a similar pattern- Mint Motif and I colored them in similar colors using my Prisma Colored Pencils. Then I added a doily, which sort of looked like a plate charger to me, layered it with coordinating colors and stamped it with an image similar to that in the glasses pictured in the trigger. 

I also used Me & My Big Ideas for the focal image and Taylored Expressions for the banner.  

swag bucks

I'm sure you've heard of swagbucks by now. I wish I had signed up when I initially heard about it. I'd have my Kindle by now :) I am sitting on $50 in Amazon gift cards right now and will be buying the Kindle Touch with my points. I've already purchased a pair of Dankso Mary Jane's, all with my swag points, so they were free!! And I also purchased some bare essentuals makeup with my swag bucks. This is LEGIT!!

Swagbucks is going crazy on Monday, with more ways for you to earn reward points towards free stuff. First, they're having a Swag Code Extravaganza, which means a fun day where you can earn up to 70 Swag Bucks from 8 different codes throughout the day!

You can do all kind of things to get points, but the easiest ways to earn points, which can be traded in for gift cards or other prizes are by using the swagbucks search bar and referrals. They have a great promotion going on right now.

So if you'd like to sign up, I'd appreciate if you used my referral code   so that we can both start earning more points!  clicking on my referral link will get you 100 bonus points if you activate your account by Dec 31.The code is: HOLIDAYSWAG

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In the meantime, here is something from my pinterest board. 

life is good wreath

I finally got the remarkable wreath stamp set (CTMH) that I've been eyeing up and I made a few cards with it over the weekend. Here's one of them. Pretty simple, I stamped the twig in chocolate, the 'blobs' in honey and then went in with my red stickles and decorated in a few spots. 

 

It was a little plain to me so I decided to pop up the white layer and add twine behind it.

Tuesday Trigger: deck the halls

There is a fun Tuesday Trigger this week! I took the sketch quite literally and create a 'floor' with my woodgrain stamp in grey ink. Then I picked some scraps out of my garbage can in similar colors and used my CTMH AP Cricut Philosophy Cartridge to cut 3 circles in the following sizes: 1 3/4", 1 1/2" and 1 1/4". Then I covered them in Versamark and clear embossed them. I 'hung' them from a pink teeny ric rac ribbon to make them appear more 'ornament like'. 

The outside says: May peace and happiness be yours.... 
the inside says: throughout this sacred season.

Thanks for stopping by!