2011 in cards ... and my top 5

I have loved looking around at my fellow bloggers' entries for Debbie's challenge  to pick your top 5 cards for the year ... I had a look back through mine yesterday and found it really hard to choose my favourites!! But I decided to have a go anyway ... so here are my fave cards by month, followed by my top 5 for the year :-)

Sorry not got time to explain why each of these is a favourite ... but they all involve either fave stamps, papers, or I was just very happy with the way they came together with flowers and other embellies! 

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

...and my top 5 (in no particular order!)

Wow that was difficult ... and I'm sure I'd choose different ones on another day lol! 

Gotta dash now to get ready for the evening's visitors and festivities - so I'll just finish by wishing everyone a 

Happy New Year

and all the best of everything for 2012

Hugs

   

Win 20 Promarkers of your choice from Handy Hippo

The lovely Jules (always With  a Heart) is promoting this fab prize from Handy Hippo 

..... 20 Promarkers of your choice  - to celebrate them starting to sell single Promarkers - woo hoo!!

And as I ♥ ProMarkers (sorry, couldn't resist that lol!) but don't have a full set yet, I'm fantastically excited by this fabby candy!

So why not pop over to Jules' post about this candy here ... and follow the easy peasy steps to enter?? 

 

My Favourite Five Christmas Cards of 2011

It has been great fun looking around everyone's entries for Debby's 5 Favourite Christmas Cards of 2011 Challenge, so I thought I would join in.

I realised that I hadn't actually made that many Christmas cards this year even though I bought quite  a bit of new stash ... unless of course you count the 37 last minute "panic makes" over the past couple of weeks that didn't involve any stamping or colouring lol!!

So I've had a look through my makes and here are my favourites :-)

I bought this adorable LotV stamp at Port Sunlight in October, and have made quite a few Christmas cards with it this year, all of which I was pretty happy with. I was particularly pleased with the colour scheme and vintage look I achieved on this one, and I have discovered how fabulous white Wild Orchid Craft carnations look on Chrimbo cards :-)

I love making all-white cards, but often find it difficult to find enough textural interest. During the year I bought a new snowflake embossing folder so I now have three, and when I used them in conjunction with some fabby new Memory Box dies (border and corner) I was quite pleased with how this one turned out (also as this is Debby's challenge - this was Debby's Chrimbo card!! :-)  )

This was the A5 card I made for my mum and dad. Penny Black "Snowy" is one of my all time favourite stamps, and I really loved these delicate papers by Crafter's Companion. Another fluffy paper carnation along with the other embellishments and this one was good to go.

Here's another of my fave Christmas stamps - I find this Christmas FF teddy totally adorable, and this was my first attempt to colour him using Promarkers and Flexmarkers rather than Copics, as this was a DT card for the I ♥ ProMarkers challenge. I needed to use this stamp as it is quite dinky - the challenge was for a shaped card and this is as big as it gets with my nesties lol!!

  

Last but not least is my husband's Christmas card .... how could that possibly not be one of my faves, even without the adorable WRS stamp and romantic die-cut mistletoe ....aaaaww!!

So there we are - Chrimbo cardmaking all done for another year. In 2011 I never made my first Christmas card until about July, so I'll have to see whether I manage to get a bit further ahead for 2012. Time will tell I guess!!

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas
Hugs

 

With Love At Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone - I am scheduling this for Christmas Day ... and hope you will all be having a happy and peaceful time.

I would like today to show you the Christmas card I made for my darling husband ... it has almost become a tradition in our house that I make it on Christmas Eve evening, but this year I got ahead of myself and made it on Friday lol! I never publish it before Christmas Day .. although he never looks on here it just somehow wouldn't seem right lol!

I always really enjoy making this card, as it gives me a rare opportunity to express myself romantically - I just love choosing a suitable image and embellishments! This year I bought this adorable Wild Rose Studio stamp and Magnolia mistletoe die; and I  used some Magnolia mistletoe papers left over from last year!

Stamps: Wild Rose Studio "Christmas Cuddles"; Pink Gem sentiment;

Media: Promarkers and Flexmarkers; polar white Flowersoft mixed with glamour dust on hats and snow on the ground;

Papers: Magnolia;

Supplies: pearls and ribbon from my stash; gems from The Hobby House;

Tools: large, small and lacy circle nestabilities; Magnolia Doohickey "mistletoe with berries" die.

Challenges:

Papertake Weekly - Last Christmas ... Card of the Year

Totally Gorjuss #111 - For Someone Special

Creative Belli #133 - Merry Christmas!

Divas By Design #17 - Merry Christmas!

Top Tip Tuesday #65 - Anything Christmas

Deep Ocean #15 - Warm Wishes

One Stop Craft Challenge #163 - Winter Wishes
My Time To Craft #169 - Winter Pals

Crafty Catz #113 - Santa's Hat

Craft Your Passion #89 - Things With Wings 

(penguins have wings!! ;-)  )

Simon Says - Bingo! 

(Ribbon / Gems / Glitter & Sparkle)

Stampin' For The Weekend #23 - Anything Goes

Crafts & Me #66 - Anything Goes

Charisma #50 - Anything Goes

Creative Inspirations # 43 - Anything Goes

Scrapbook Sisters #66 - Anything Goes

Secret Crafter #166 - Anything Goes
My Mum's #37 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon (2nd entry)

Well that's about it from me - have a wonderful Christmas.

Hugs,

 

I ♥ ProMarkers #97 - Anything Goes

Good morning and welcome to another I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge. Thanks to everyone who entered last week's colour combo challenge - don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you have won last week's prize.

This week is our last challenge for 2011 so it's a nice easy peasy one ....

Anything Goes

This challenge will stay open until 8pm GMT on Tuesday January 3rd 2012 - and we will be back with a  brand new year of I ♥ ProMarkers challenges on Wednesday January 4th. :-)

Don't forget that to be eligible for our challenge prize you need to use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens on your creation - this week we are sponsored by Di's Digis who are offering a $10 gift certificate for their online shop - lovely!

For this week's challenge I decided to take a pause from my last minute frantic Christmas card making (I have somehow managed to make no less than 37 simple Chrimbo cards in the past 10 days!!), so I took the opportunity to make a card for my boss who will be celebrating her 50th birthday over the New Year.  (She's not into cardmaking so I think I'm safe to post it on here!! ... but as it is the only card I've had time to make with Promarker colouring it just has to be done regardless!!)

I adore this FF stamp and think he is very versatile for celebratory occasions. I made an A5 card to make it a  bit more special, but cut away the front of the card and then lined the inside of the  with Bazzill, punched out to form a border on the right hand side.

I also had my first go with my new Bow-Easy which I bought a couple of weeks ago from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. Took me  a little while to get the hang of it, but once I'd viewed this great Youtube video I was up and running ...and although you can't see it too well I actually made my first ever double loop bow - yay!

Stamps: Forever Friends;

Media: Flexmarkers (Capuccino, Champagne, Tea Rose, Pink Pearl); Promarkers (Sandstone, Ivory); Stickles on flowers and champagne bubbles;

Papers: Crafty Individuals "Springtime" pad;

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls by The Hobby House; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large oval and large scalloped oval nestabilities; Martha Stewart "wildflowers" PATP; Crafts Too "daisies" embossing folder; Cuttlebug "Hippie Chick" alphabet dies for numbers.

Challenges:

Paper Sundaes #100 - Celebrate!

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Celebrations (2nd entry)
Secret Crafter #165 - New Year / Celebration

(I have chosen celebration)

Penny Black & More At Allsorts (December) - Happy Birthday! (2nd entry)
CES #66 - Party, Party, Party!

Totally Papercrafts #97 - Time To Party!

Sparkles - Anything But A Christmas Card

Crafty Pad #152 - Anything But Christmas

Corrosive #139 - Anything But Christmas

Sweet Stampin' - Sparkle & Bling

 (sparkly holographic silver card, sparkly champagne ;-) and Stckles on flowers)

Fussy & Fancy #52 - Monochromatic & Sparkle
Pollycraft #121 - Punch It!

Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers (3rd entry)

Everybody Art #173 - Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon #38 - Anything Goes + Ribbon

Look forward to seeing all your creations - Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the I ♥ ProMarkers DT!

 

Penny Black Saturday #182 - Make A Tag

Good afternoon peeps ... my goodness I'm running late today with the latest Penny Black Saturday Challenge - so I'll get straight to business!!

Today's challenge is our last for 2011, so I hope you'll be able to join us. Many thanks to everyone who has joined in last week's challenge, and indeed all the PBSC challenges throughout this year. We will be back on Saturday 7th January 2012 - raring to go with another year of fab Penny Black Challenges.

In the meantime, this week's theme is an easy peasy one for a last minute Christmas make ....

Make A Tag

We have another fab prize for a randomly drawn winner - a cling stamp and three sheets of stickeroos from the DT :-)

Don't forget that to be eligible for the prize you need to use a Penny Black stamp, large sentiment or stickeroo on your creation.

The rest of the DT have made some stunning samples to inspire you - mine is (as you've guessed already) a rather last minute effort and I'm not altogether pleased with it (my sentiment went smudgy!!) but here it is anyway ...

Stamps: Penny Black "Solitaire" (3241K); Inkadinkado (Holly swirls); Woodware sentiment;

Media: flower watercoloured with Marvey markers and spritzed with water; TH distress inks in Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters;

Supplies: teeny gems from The Hobby House.

Challenges:

Charisma #49 - Last Minute Christmas

Paperplay #50 - Christmas

Crafts and Me - Christmas

Anything Goes #56 - Anything But A Card

Ooh-La-La #95 - Anything But A Card

Craft Your Passion #88 - Tag You're It!

Hope you can join us - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the PBSC DT :-)

 

I ♥ ProMarkers #96 - Colour Combo

Good morning everyone, and welcome to another I ♥ ProMarkers Challenge. Thanks very much to everyone who entered last week's shaped cards challenge - fab entries, and don't forget to check the main challenge blog to see if you're the winner.

This week we have a colour combo for you -

Blue & White

You can either use this for a last minute Christmas make or go in a different direction altogether ... so long as you use Promarkers, Flexmarkers, Aquamarkers or Tria pens :-)

This week's prize is a £10 online store voucher for Crafty Emma's

Lovely! ... so what are you waiting for ??

I used this colour scheme to make my mum and dad's Christmas card ... and here it is.

This really is one of my fave stamps - I always make a few Chrimbo cards using Snowy as I think he is so adorable ... but I have never used him on a card for my mum and dad before. I also took the opportunity to use a couple of the fab blue coloured sheets from my Crafter's Companion "The Snowman" paper pack, as the pack is A5 and I always like to make an A5 card for my parents.

Stamps: Penny Black "Snowy" (2521K) and "a wish..." (3502F);

Media: Promarkers (Midnight Blue, Cornflower, Pastel Blue, Rose Pink, Cool Grey 1) and Flexmarkers (Glacier Blue, Blue Grey 1, Tea Rose);

Papers: Crafter's Companion "The Snowman";

Supplies: flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts; pearls and large pearl brad from The Hobby House; lace from The Ribbon Box; ribbon from my stash;

Tools: large circle and lacy circle nestabilities; Cuttlebug "Ice Crystal" die.

Challenges:

CYDA #35 - Snowmen

Paperplay #49 - Snowman
Papertake Weekly - I'm Dreaming Of A Blue Christmas
Stamptacular #142 - Christmas Glitz

Pretty Little Ribbon #5 - Christmas With A Bow

Incy Wincy #124 - Christmas With Brads

Passion For Promarkers #129 - Mega Christmas Challenge (2nd entry)
Crafty Purple Frog - It's Cold Outside

The Ribbon Reel #17 - Shabby Holiday Winter

(I used Blue + White + Silver)

Everybody Art #172 - Blue & White

DYSU #49 - Something Old

(I have had my Snowy stamp for several years !!)
Hotshot Crafts #1 - Promarkers (2nd entry)

Sunday Sketch & Stamp #85 - Sketch

(I flipped the sketch vertically)

Looking forward to seeing your creations this week :-)