A Year in Review

One of my fellow Hambo Design Team members, Karin, is hosting A Year in Review Blog Hop. I'll admit that for some months it was easy peasy to pick the card I liked best, but other months it was a really difficult task! But here are the ones I chose that highlight my stamping year:

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Some cards I chose more because of why I made them or who I made them for, but others I just love how they turned out. This was a great idea, Karin! As I was looking through my projects I forgot about making some of them, so it was fun to look back.

Hambo Hoedown #47

This week's challenge at the Hambo Hoedown was to use this adorable new Reptile digi image that you can find here and create a card using something new (within the last 3 months). Want to give it a try yourself? Just head on over to the Hambo Hoedown challenge blog, here. There is a free digi waiting for you, if you do :) No on to my creation!

The new item I used are those cute little cloud dies. They are from My Favorite Things, and I just purchased them a couple of weeks ago when my parents were here and we went to this fabulous stamp store called Absolutely Everything.

This little reptile is so cute, and I love the sentiment that comes with him! And aren't the little raindrop rhinestones cool?

I pulled out my slit punch that I hadn't used in forever to create half circles to slip the corners of the Newt's paper into.

The cardstock and ribbon are from SU, the patterned paper is from DCWV, the newt was colored with Copics. Thanks for stopping by :)

December PTI Blog Hop

This month's PTI blog hop challenge was to use wrapping paper, tissue paper, bows, tags, anything leftover from Christmas and create a project using them, and of course PTI products. Here is what I created using my brand new Rosey Posie set and the special limited edition Thank You set that came with my order.

The bow and ribbon were created from a gift bag's handle. Behind it is some snowflake tissue paper that I used for patterned paper.

I used the new Mat Stack 5 die for the background.

All cardstock is PTI. Ink is SU. The pearls are Q and Co. Thanks for stopping by :)

Merry Christmas!

As you may have noticed, I haven't been around too much lately. But I was busy! So here are the Christmas cards that I sent out (and that all got there on time ;) this year.

This is my first Paper Smooches stamp set I purchased, and I will most definitely be a return customer! I got my use out of it with these 3 cards:

All my dog lover friends and family received this card, "fleas Navidad" :)

And this adorable santa! Its hard to tell but the snowflake was made from this really awesome glitter paper.

And here they are all. There is one more design that I forgot to take a close up of before I had them all in envelopes. its with PTI's Bells and Boughs that I won during the release and is in the front left corner of the bunch.

You can see it a little better here. They were the more serious cards, the rest were all cutsey :)

I hope you all had a wonderful day full of family and food, and that Santa filled your stockings full of crafty goodies :) Merry Christmas!

SC363

Time for my monthly Splitcoast Sketch Challenge with Hambo! Here's this week's sketch:

And here's my card:

I used the new Elfgift digi that you can find here. Isn't he just adorable? See that cute sheet music paper underneath? Suzanne gave me a sheet of it :)

This card uses cardstock from SU and so is the diamond patterned paper (not sure where Suzanne got the sheet music from). The ribbon was from the dollar bin at Joanns...forever ago!

Because of the busyness of the holiday season, Hambo decided not to do a challenge at the Hoedown this week, that is why you're seeing my Hambo card early. But don't worry, I've got all my Christmas cards to show you that I've been diligently working on and FINALLY sent all of them out this morning at 6:30 on the way to the gym. I was shocked...I started a line of cars at the post office that early in the morning!

Hambo Hoedown #46

This week's challenge at the Hambo Hoedown was to use Santa Monster (which you can find here) and to use rounded corners (because Santa doesn't cut corners ;) I wanted to make sure there were a lot of rounded corners, so I used circles, the Top Note die, and of course rounded the corners of my card. It turned out like this:

Santa Monster is colored with Copics and the circles are cut with Nestabilities and various sized circle punches.

The sentiment comes with this digi (there are two included). I cut it out with one of my SU label punches and added some red pearls for color.

All cardstock is a mixture of SU and PTI. The ribbon and button are SU. The pearls are Q and Company. If you would like the chance to earn your own free digital image from Hambo, go on over to the Hoedown, here, and give it a try for yourself!

Hambo Hoedown #45

It's that time again...time for my Hambo Hoedown post! This week's challenge was to use this cute "Anty Claus" image (which you can find here) and to use an extra fold in your card. Well, I decided to add more than one!

I made my ant red because I grew up in FL where we had a TON of red ants.

And here are my extra folds. I took a piece of card stock and scored it many times. I folded it on the score lines and got a ripple/pleating effect. Then I tied some twine from the Twinery on top and added some awesome bling that Christina gave me on Saturday at our Christmas card making get-together. It is from Recollections and called bling on a roll.

All the cardstock is a mixture of SU and PTI. The image was colored with Copics. The button is from SU. So go on over to the Hoedown blog, here, and give this challenge a shot for yourself! It means earning a free Hambo digi image for yourself :) Who could resist??

The Ornament Exchange

Right before Thanksgiving I posted that I needed to get my 24 handmade ornaments done. Well, I did, and tonight's the night! My mom's annual ornament exchange.

It was actually Phillip's idea for me to make a mini card this year. Afterall, I do spend most of my free time in my craft room and I also had the wonderful achievement of being on my first Design Team! I like to try to make my ornament tell a story from my life that particular year, so the card worked nicely for that.

I made five different ones, but made the most of the penguin because I thought he'd probably be everyone's favorite.

The stamps are all PTI. They're from Tiny Treats Christmas. The circle is actually from one of the Tag sets, though. The label punch and ribbon are from SU and the rhinestones from recollections. The cardstock is all PTI.

And then to make it seem more like a card and not just a little tag, I made the inside for each one, too :)

My mom has been doing this ornament exchange since 1987! Every year she invited 24 of her friends to come over to her house for a fun evening. Each attendee brings a basket full of her 24 ornaments, and first enjoys the 3 signature desserts that mom makes each year (coconut pound cake, apple dump cake, and mexican chocolate cake...all delicious!) and gets to make 3 different ornaments that my mom has set out at different stations. After everyone has made their ornaments and is full, they all gather in a big circle in the living room with their baskets. Each person tells how they got the idea for their ornament and any story that may go along with it. Then the baskets are passed around so that when it comes back to you, your basket is now full of 24 different handmade ornaments! As a child, my grandpa and dad would take my brother, sister, and I out to eat and then we'd get to come back and fill up on desserts. It was always fun to look at the ornaments the next day and figure out which ones we liked best. The year I got married is the year I joined in on the fun. This will be my 8th year and although I've only actually attended one or two (because I've always lived somewhere else since we got married) I still participate by mailing my ornaments and my mom is my "stand-in." Because she has so many ornaments, I was raised that on the Christmas tree, if you can see green, then you haven't put enough ornaments on ;) But now her collection spreads not only to her huge tree, but to garlands that she hangs all in the living room and entry way, and to at least 3 other trees she has in the house as well. I am up to two now! Anyway, its a wonderful tradition that I look forward to every year and I may even start one myself someday, although I don't think I could fit 24 ladies in my living room!