2014 Year in Review

I haven't had as much time as I'd like to create over the holidays and am supposed to be figuring out what to wear for New Year's Eve, but somehow have ended up here taking a look back at some of the cards I've posted this year.

This was made for my daughter when she passed her driver's test and reminds me I should use patterned papers more when making cards.

My son's favorite card this year.

Not papercrafting, but created for a challenge to use buttons, 

this little project now sits in our entry way.

I really loved playing with stencils, ink and embossing paste.

The same stencil & inks as above, but no embossing paste this time.

This card was a happy accident when my original plan didn't work.

The biggest creative thrill this year was winning the World Card Making Day

 contest with this card in the Hello/Thinking of You category.

There is no question stencils and embossing pastes have been my favorite trends this year and I can't wait to see what the next year brings. As always, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comments and feedback, I really appreciate each and every one.

Now I really must figure out what I am wearing tomorrow night. After 17 years of family centered New Year's Eve celebrations, Stefan and I are heading out to a party and my social anxiety is building because I only know one other couple that will be there. Looking to my friend for guidance, she asked if I'd ever seen any of the Real Housewives shows. Hahaha, do you think it is too late to make a hair & make-up appointment somewhere?

Thanks for stopping by and see you next year!

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink December 2014 Blog Hop Take Two + Seize the Birthday

After I made my first card for the PTI December 2014 Blog Hop, I remembered that Seize the Birthday also had a Silver and Gold challenge happening right now, so I took a few minutes to make a birthday card.

I alternated stamping the Stylish Sentiments: Birthday sentiment in Delicata Gold and Silver inks before mounting this panel on a slightly larger silver shimmer cardstock panel and then onto the black card base.

The Wet Paint die is cut from gold shimmer cardstock and mounted on the white banner to finish the sentiment.

A trio of gold pearls finish the card off. There are some beautiful cards in the Blog Hop and I'm off to check them out.

ETA I am linking this card up to a "new to me" challenge, Stampin' Celebration, where the current challenge SC94 has an inspiration photo that perfectly fits my card. Thanks for the suggestion Kimberly!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink December 2014 Blog Hop

I hope those celebrating Christmas yesterday had a wonderful time with family and friends. Today Stefan is at work, my son has gone to the beach and daughter to the Mall. Hmmm, all by myself? I'm going to play with paper and ink!

This card was created for the Papertrey Ink December 2014 Blog Hop where the challenge is to use both silver and gold on a single project. All the details can be found on Nichole Heady's blog here.

For my card, I pulled out the Delicata Golden Glitz and Silvery Shimmer ink pads and the Thank You Kindly stamp set to create a Subway Art style sentiment for this card (the small "merci" stamp is from Mega Mixed Messages).

The stamped panel is finished off with silver floss and a glitter bow before being mounted on a gold shimmer cardstock panel.

I adore the shimmer from these inks.

Happy Boxing Day to those that get an extra long weekend break!

ETA: I am linking this card up to Stampin' Celebrations, a new to me challenge, based on this inspiration photo. Thanks for the suggestion, Kimberly!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays!

I'm popping in with holiday wishes from our house to yours. No papercrafting to share, although I have some fun new goodies and hope to get into the office by the weekend, but thought I'd give you a peek at what is going on around here today.

Stefan & I enjoyed a quiet coffee together this morning before the teens started to stir. Our daughter made the tree topper when she was in Kindergarten and she is a Senior this year.

  

Don't you love the black garbage bag wrapping on Stefan's awkwardly shaped gift ;)

This was supposed to be a light snack to tide us over until dinner but I'm not sure I will be hungry again today. My willpower takes a walk when it comes to gooey, warm Brie and crackers or Smoked Gouda and apples.

Here are my babies in the photo we sent out in our Christmas letter, which was a collection of screen shots of text conversations between us. Bella is using my phone and refused to keep her hat on this year, so ended up looking a little more scruffy than usual.

The pile of cards before being stuffed in envelopes and sent off.

And finally, I'll share one of my favorite photos of the kids from this year. Stefan has been using this as his wallpaper on his phone and I finally had him send it to me. They are in the Eye of the Wind on Grouse Mountain in Vancouver. 

This observation pod is about 200 feet off the ground on the center shaft of a windmill at the mountain peak.  Even though our niece and couple of other kids we know were working there for the summer, I skipped the trip for a walk along the seawall instead. In fact, if we could zoom in, I am probably right in front of the waterfront highrise buildings to the right on my son's shoulder.

I hope you are all enjoying some quiet family time today!

Happy holidays and thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MIM #193 + CTS103 + Curtain Call Candy Cane & MM139 + Card Concept #25

I couldn't resist making time to play with Laura Bassen's Make It Monday#193: Camouflaging Die Cuts. You can check out the video tutorial here.

I also took inspiration from CAS(E) this Sketch #103 for the design and the Curtain Call December 15 - Candy Cane challenge for the color palette.

  

It is very hard to see in the full card photo, but score lines add a bit of dimension and echo the stripes of the candy canes.

This second card is based on The Card Concept #25: Silent Night Neutrals and Merry Monday #139: Winter Wonderland .

I used my pearl Modeling Cream and Memory Box stencil to add snowflakes to the panel first and then layered on the inked reindeer die cut and Sizzix die cut sentiment. I think ths card belongs in the Clean & Layering category.

The kids are finishing up final projects before their winter break and I am on call to advise my son on a little painting, die cutting and hot gluing tonight. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #97 + Simon Says Bling is On

This is the last week with Theresa Calvird on the Muse Design Team and her card for Muse #97 has been rolling around in my head all week.

I did make another Christmas card, taking a few elements from the inspiration card: the diagonal line of the background pattern and a whimsical image framed on a larger panel.

A Memory Box stencil and pearl Modeling Cream are used to make the shimmery snowflakes before the tiny sequins were added.

The reindeer image is stamped and then partially die cut so the scarf flows off the rectangle panel.

I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is Bling it On this week.

With Theresa leaving the Muse Design Team, voting is going on now for her replacement. Anyone and everyone can vote for their favorite three entries until midnight tonight.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Merry Monday #138 + Simon Says Bling & WCMD prize winner

Today just did not go as expected, and I am much later than I planned posting the winner of my World Card Making Day 2014 Winner Blog Hop prize.

I want to give a huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone that commented on the Blog Hop post and welcome those that have starting following my blog. And now to the prize winner! My Random Number Generator picked post 17, which is Kathy Mc.

Kathy McDecember 4, 2014 at 8:54 AM

Following you also, Jacquie!

Congratulations, Kathy! I will be in touch with you regarding delivery of the Altenew Gift Certificate and prize box.

I can't post without including a card and every year, when I think I'm done with Christmas cards, Stefan will ask me for 2 or 3 or 10 to use at work. I decided to use Merry Monday Challenge #138 and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to Bling It On to inspire this card since I had a silver glitter paper wreath sitting in my die cut pile.

   

After using gold glitter thread to tie the joy sentiment circle to the wreath, it is adhered to a scalloped vellum circle on then onto an embossed panel.

Before I go today, I have to caution you about leaving half finished craft projects where you husband might feel inspired to do something with them. A long while back I bought the letters to make my own version of the Pottery Barn Noel sign but things didn't go the way I'd hoped and the project was abandoned. The other day I found this waiting for me in the garage.

Not quite what I had envisioned :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS(E) this Sketch! #102 & Fusion {Merry Christmas} + Seize the Birthday

Believe it or not, our Christmas cards are in the mail! Well, the ones that are heading out of state that is ;) I still have a few hanging around that I hope to hand deliver in the next couple of weeks.

We will be interrupting the holiday festivities to celebrate my baby boy's 16th birthday this weekend and need a couple of cards. I used the CAS(E) this Sketch #102 for the design of this first one.

I rarely buy wood mount stamps, but when I saw the lyric on this Impression Obsession stamp at a local store it immediately went into my basket. I know this doesn't look like a birthday card, but it is. The sentiment/song lyric is an inside joke between my son and I, that makes no sense to anyone else and I couldn't begin to explain, but I know he will get a big kick out of this card.

It took a little trial and error to get the embossed image lined up on all three pieces. The frames are adhered at varying heights and then the Memory Box birds are added as the finishing touch.

There is no question this second card is a birthday card. I took the colors from the photo and used the sketch from the Fusion {Merry Christmas} challenge. I didn't see anything saying we HAD to make a Christmas card, so hope it's okay to enter a birthday card.

The kraft card base is inspired by the pinecones and a black Wet Paint die cut is nestled into a red pinked edge panel that extends slightly beyond the card base.

I am also entering this card in the Seize the Birthday challenge where Anything Goes.

Don't forget I am having a giveaway as part of the World Card Making Day 2014 WInner Blog Hop and December 10th is deadline to enter. If you haven't already, head over to this post and leave a comment to be eligible for the draw. I will be picking a winner on Thursday, December 11th!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #96 + CASology 124: Old & Curtain Call December 1: Clearly Christmas + Simon Says

Why does the deadline to get Christmas cards in the mail always sneak up on me? I'm taking a little break from the card factory to post a couple of cards for a few challenges.

This first card is inspired by Vicki Dutcher's card as the Muse #96 and CASology Week 124: Old.

I still have a basket of punches that get used every now and then, including a Family Treasures Holly Leaf punch that was used today, so that is my "old" on this card.

For the Muse challenge, I was inspired by Vicki's colors, the vertical sentiment panel and red polka dot patterned paper. I couldn't resist adding a few red bells even though that means this card is heading to the hand deliver pile.

This second card is one of many I made today with the same design because my family voted it to be our mass produced card for mailing to family and friends. As much as I love making one off designs, we still send so many out every year that I always end up taking a couple of days to mass produce 50 or so cards.

The fun thing about this design has been changing up the color choices and this one is inspired by the Curtain Call December 1: Clearly Christmas Challenge.

The Delicata Silvery Shimmer ink is just as fabulous as their Gold.

It was hard to capture all the shimmer and shine in one photo, but the sentiment has the same glow as the tree.

This card is also being entered in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Simon Says Christmas/Holiday.

Thank you for all the kind comments on my World Card Making Day 2014 Winner Blog Hop post. If you haven't seen it yet, please take a couple of minutes to check it out as I have a terrific giveaway that is open until December 10th!

On a completely different note, if you see Butterscotch Shortbread Wreath Cookies at your local Trader Joe's please walk the other way. I've managed to eat four while writing this blog post and I don't think the 20 foot walk between the couch and kitchen is far enough to work off the calories so now have to go to the gym :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie