Review of the Year

Wow what a year.

I have had a real journey this year, full of fun, new techniques, new mediums ... I could just go on & on ...

I managed to have a go at Scrapbooking, both digital & traditional, bringing both pleasure to me & for the family ones, joy to those who read them. I must do more.

I have played with altering canvases & dominoes, started my first altered book & tried crafting with new shapes such as houses & tri-pennants. My favourites have been Inchies & Moos, due to their size & their related challenge blogs, which have been so inspiring.

When I haven't been crafting, I've been redesigning my blog, as you may have noticed.

I won't hazard a guess at what the next year will bring, but if it's half as exciting as this year, then I'm in for a treat.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting my blog & sharing in my crafty creations. I know I have loved the time spent blog walking to see what everyone else has been making & seeing the different ways people interpret the various craft challenges out there in blogland.

Below is a slideshow of my favourite projects from 2008.

The Holly ...

May this
joyous season
fill your home with love
your heart with hope
&
our world with peace

The base card is Bright Red Soft Touch card from Inspire me.

I used corrugated card in Flame Red, Forest Green & Rye, with gold metallic thread & a few red gems.

"Thank You"

Time to make some Thank you cards.


The base card is made from Bright Red Soft Touch card from Inspire me.

Using a paper punch, I cut a flower from their corrugated card in Flame Red & wound gold metallic thread around it.

The flower was mounted onto an inch square of corrugated card in Rye, using silicone glue, then onto a square of handmade paper from my crafty stash.


All ready to write my thank you notes & send off after the Christmas festivities.

O Christmas Tree ...

A special card for my Great Aunt.


The base card is Soft Touch card from Inspire me.

I used corrugated card in Flame Red, Forest Green & Rye,
with gold metallic thread & a few red gems.

Christmas Cards

A few more Christmas cards for close friends.


The base card is Soft Touch card from Inspire me.

The tree image is by Magenta. I coloured the images with watercolour pencils & added a touch of sparkle with a stardust gelly roll pen by Sakura.

The image was then mounted onto a few layers & finally added to the base card with 3d foam pads.

Finally, more sparkle was added with some ribbon.

Rudolf the Reindeer

Well I am finally getting down to finishing off my Christmas cards for this year. This is the first of my designs for my family cards. This year I decided to use some scrumptious papers from Inspire me.


The base card is made from Soft Touch Pale Cream card, with a strip of Dark Chocolate & a dash of Bright Red. The reindeer die-cut is mounted on Coloured Corrugate card in Rye.


The reindeer was made using my Sizzix Sidekick machine, some red adhesive gem stones & gold Stickles.

The finishing touch was some red organza ribbon.


Luv the textures on this card.

Christmas Tree Card

This is a Christmas card using paper & elements from the Shabby Princess Holiday Magic range.


A few pale blue gems, some foam pads, organza ribbon & that's all folks!

Merry Christmas

This is a Christmas card
using a free downloadable decoupage image
from the Funky Fairy.


I used paper designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott
for The English Paper Company,
as the background.

All I added was a touch of stardust from a Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

Jingle Bells

Another Christmas card
using the cute decoupage images from the Funky Fairy.



I downloaded the wonderful reindeer image
from the Funky Fairy Inspiration Blog.


I have added a red gem for his nose,
brown ink,
Glossy Accents
& some Diamond Stickles.

Fa la la la ...

A Christmas card using a downloaded image of Christmas Carol singers from the Funky Fairy Inspiration Blog.

Jump for Joy

Another Christmas card
using decoupage images from the Funky Fairy.



I downloaded the wonderful snowman image
from the Funky Fairy Inspiration Blog.



I added Glossy Accents,
black & pink ink
with some custom coloured Flower Soft.

Paris, France

The challenge on Make a Moo or Two this week is

Paris.

I covered my mountboard base with a picture of an old map of Paris.

I added an image of the Eiffel Tower, a few clear gems & gingham ribbon.

The images were from Karen at The Graphics Fairy.

Craft Stamper Blog

For those of you like me who subscribe to this monthly craft magazine, or even just occasionally buy it, you will be pleased to learn that Katy has started a blog, which she hopes to update weekly with mini projects & sneaky peeks at articles from future editions.

Click on the logo to find it.

There are links to regular magazine contributors & suppliers.

It's cold outside

The challenge theme on Funky Fairy is a
Black & White Christmas.



For Funky Fairy challenges you have to use their own products,
so I downloaded a wonderful image from their Inspiration Blog.

I have only added a touch of Diamond Stickles & some black ink.



The penguin is decoupaged with six layers,
all shaped with an embossing tool
& adhered with silicone glue.

Shabby House

The challenge on Creative Wednesday is to make a house shaped project.


The background paper is from the Shabby Princess Damask & Dots range.

I added a section from an old lace doily, aged with Distress Inks (walnut stain & antique linen).


The image is from art-e-zine

There is an open theme on Dans ma maison ... this week, so this is my entry for that also.

This is also my entry for My Time to Craft, which has a theme of Coffee & Cream.

Postscript
The Creative Wednesday challenge blog is no longer active.

Guy Fawkes Night

Here in the UK we celebrate November 5th with fireworks, bonfires, toffee apples & baked potatoes in remembrance of the failure to blow up the Houses of Parliament back in 1605 in the infamous Gunpowder Plot.

So, with this in mind, Fiona on Inchy by Inch has set this as the theme for this week's inchie challenge.


I have stamped a Magenta rubber stamp on black card, using clear VersaMark ink, then heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

The inchie was edged with a Krylon 18ct gold leafing pen, then a few drops of gold Stickles were added to the fireworks.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Be safe this Bonfire Night xx

Party Girl

The challenge this week on Make a Moo or Two is

Party.

I covered the mountboard base with paper from the Shabby Princess

Spontaneous Delight range printed on linen effect paper.

The edges were sanded to give a faded look.

The girl image is taken from a rubber stamp

by Crafty Individuals stamped using Archival Ink (Jet Black) on white card

& coloured with Whispers Pens.

The image was stamped again on the Shabby Princess paper.

The dress & bow were cut out & overlaid on the original stamped image.

The hat image & Party word are sections from a Craft Stamper magazine rubber stamp,

stamped on the same patterned paper.

The flower was cut out from the paper & mounted on the Moo

over a piece of green gingham ribbon.

The finishing touches were some glittered adhesive dots

& a touch of Sakura clear glitter gelly roll pen

& white opaque Inkssentials pen.

In a hurry ...

The inchie challenge on Inchy by Inch this week is Halloween.


The image is from Dover Publications & coloured with Whispers pens. The Doo-dad word is from Tim.

Shabby Brown

The challenge theme this week on Make a Moo or Two is

Tone in Tone.

I used paper & elements from the Shabby Princess Damask & Dots range

together with a butterfly image from Dover Publications.

A touch of Glossy Accents to finish.

The challenge this week on Creative Wednesday is to make a shabby chic Moo,

so I hope this will do.

Leaf Collection

The inchie challenge theme on Inchy by Inch is Leaves.


The background is paper from the Shabby Princess Fall collection. I used chalks to colour the leaves & a word Doo-dad from Tim. It was edged with a gold Krylon pen.

Window to my Soul

The challenge theme on Creative Wednesday is Windows.


I took a 5x7 inch canvas & covered the surface with a thin layer of Distress Paint (antique linen). Once it had dried thoroughly & the cracks had appeared, I took a piece of Cut-N-Dry foam with black ink & rubbed over the surface, which highlighted the cracks.


I used a corner stamp by Crafty Individuals in the four corners, using Archival Ink (Jet Black).


The frame is a fabulous clip art image from Dover Publications & after much fine cut work, I mounted it over a piece of cream vellum. The image, or should I say, reflection is a Non Sequitur rubber stamp, again stamped with Archival Ink.


I must also mention that the frame & lettering were printed out onto papers from Shabby Princess.


The butterflies were lifted from a photograph that I took earlier this year, of a Speckled Wood butterfly as it was fluttering around my garden.

Cupid's Arrows

The challenge theme this week on Make a Moo or Two is Arrows.


The mountboard base was covered in paper from the Shabby Princess Amore range. The edges were sanded to create a soft worn look.

The image is another great one from art-e-zine. A few doodles around the border & a touch of Glossy Accents to finish.

Sun Flower

The inchie challenge theme this week on Inchy by Inch is Sun.


I used my Sunflower clear stamp by Linda Luckin on shrink plastic with a touch of gold in the middle.

I stamped the image on to shrink plastic using Archival Ink (Jet Black) & cut the image out. The flower was coloured with pale Whispers pens, as the colour intensifies after it's shrunk using a heat gun.

The original image was approx. 6cm in diameter & became approx 2.5cm (in other words an inch). It also thickens as it shrinks, going from as thin as paper to being as thick as mountboard.

I added gold to the centre using my Krylon 18ct gold leafing pen. It was mounted onto a base of white mountboard covered with a scrap of Shabby Princess paper & edged with the Krylon pen.

Doesn't time fly?

An anniversary card to celebrate 20 years of marriage.


I used designs from the Shabby Princess Spontaneous Delight range, printed onto linen effect paper, blue glitter gems, organza ribbon and Distress Ink (peeled paint).

Something fishy ...

This is my last Jolly Nation card, one for my Nephew who is a very keen fisherman.


The background is paper printed from a free download from Crafts Beautiful.

I have added organza ribbon, gold eyelets & I used my Krylon 18ct gold leafing pen to edge the background paper.

Dance Dance Dance

The challenge theme on Make a Moo or Two is Dance.


The base of white mountboard was coloured with Distress Ink (peeled paint). The Paper Artsy stamp was stamped over the green base to complete the background.

I used an image from art-e-zine, which was printed twice. Once onto white card & then onto patterned paper from Shabby Princess. The dress, shirt & tie were cut out of the patterned paper & layered onto the white card.


Finally, I added a few glitter gems & the wording, taken from the famous quote

Dance as though no one is watching 

Love as though you've never been hurt 

Sing as though no one can hear you 

Live as though heaven is on earth

Souza

Inspired by Nature

The challenge theme was Autumn, but I had already made so many Autumn projects this year, I was unsure what to make.

So I took a walk outside & found a wonderful leaf, fallen from it's tree & blown into our garden. This was my inspiration. I made an image of the leaf, using a piece of plain white paper & a brown watercolour pencil, in the same way you would take a brass rubbing.

I scanned the image into the computer. Then I adjusted the size & made eight copies of the image.

I printed the images onto Shabby Princess Harvest Spice papers. I cut out the leaves, edging them with Distress Ink (walnut stain) & shaped them using an embossing tool.


As the leaf had been my inspiration, the word Inspire seemed appropriate. The gold card embossed word is by Hot Off The Press.

I used silicone glue to give the card dimension & the feeling of falling Autumn leaves.


The background paper is from the same range, edged with a Krylon 18ct gold leafing pen. Finally I tied gold metallic thread around the card.


Here is a photograph of my inspirational leaf next to the finished card.