Year in Review ~ 2021!

 

Hi friends!

2022 will soon be upon us

and I'm wishing you all a safe, blessed New Year!

It's always fun to look back at the year in review for cardmaking

and reflect on our favorites created :)

2021 was definitely not as productive one for me

AND this might have been slowest year of making cards

but it's never a competetion and I love my crazy busy life!

I've learned a lot about my tastes and habits of crafting.

I've learned that I don't come first ~ and neither do cards.

One day, I'll look back upon this part of my life ,

knowing that family togetherness and memories will all be worth it.

 I'll be so bored out my mind with an empty nest and make plenty :)

These are my Top 12 favorite cards, based on WHY I made them

or a particular technique or WHAT I was trying.

Thank you for all your kind comments, sweet words and support!

Without further adieu, 

January

                                                                            February

                                                                            March

April

(this one won an award! YAY!)

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Tomorrow I'll share my Word of the Year right up.

2022 is defintely going to be more minimal

but I'm excited for what the new year brings!

Thanks for stopping by

for my last blog post of 2021!

Mission (IM)Possible ~ Star bright!

 

Hello friends!

Today's card is for the Mission  Impossible Possible 

quarterly-ish card group

where we receive a mystery item from a hostess

and then create a card with the item!

This mission's mystery item was a beautiful star bright stencil

from Spellbinders and it was sent to both Barb and I from Jeanette.

She also  purchased one for herself and

 we 3 have the same stencil to create our own versions of cards.

Mine probably should have been a candidate for the Hot Mess card!

I started by taking  a sheet of watercolor cold press paper

and did a dry flat wash using Altenew watercolors.

Once it was dry (several hours naturally), I used the Spellbinders

Star Bright stencil over the top, my ranger distress inks and blending 

foam brushes from Scrapbook.com.

The last creative part was a dusting of ultra fine glitter after 

pouncing the stencil and paper with versamark.

This card has a great New Year's flair with the sparkle and shimmer!

I added the string for a bit more drama 

and as a reminder of how we always have streamers and horns 

that blow strings each New Year's celebration :)

The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions simple strips Crafty

stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

You can see Barb's card here 

and Jeanette's card here.

I'm up next Mission and the item I'll be sending them found me last week!

Honestly, I'm a little scared, LOL!

But a challenge it is!

Stay tuned for that mission -

 coming to a blog near you in the Spring '22!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Christmas, a new year and plans!

 Hello friends!

I hope you all had a magical Christmas 

and are looking forward to a brand new year soon upon us!

Ours was absolutely wonderful, 

especially through the eyes of our 3 year old granddaughter, Alice!

She weaves a light ~ and love ~ into our families like no one else <3

I am SO EXCITED for 2022!

I adore even numbers and can't help shake the feeling 

"it's going to be a good, really good  year!"

Let's see ...

my word of the year has already chosen me.

I say that every year on my WOTY blog post ~

and it's always true.

I don't choose one - it choses me.

And for the 1st time ever,  my 2022  Word Of The Year makes history!

I also have my One Plus Twelve stamp ready for 2022.

That one I did fight just a little bit 

 mostly because it's been with me for about 8 months!

I kept thinking "This one? Are you sure?  Like REALLY sure?"

every time I'd see the stamp.

And I swear, if stamps could smile, this one does.

I'm convinced of it.

Like a gentle reminder ......... I'm still here.  

I'm also scaling back on my card groups 

and focusing more on my YouTube channel.

If you are interested, you can follow my crafty adventures there!

I have some grand plans for my channel 

and am really excited for my 2022 YT goals.

Shown above are some shaker polaroids I created just for fun -

and more things like these will be on my channel next year.

Stay tuned!

Honestly, I can't wait!

2022 - I'm comin' atcha :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Word of the Year: 2021

3M: Winter Friends!

 

Hi friends!

It's officially the last day of school here which means ..

winter break!

YAY!

And by winter, I mean it's 85* and hot and sunny

with no snow in our forecast! 

But a girl can dream!

Today's card is for the 3M card group 

and this stamped image is SO SUPER CUTE!

This is from Barb, our December hostess, and it's called

Snowman and Bunny from Colorado Craft Company.

I've colored it with my copic markers

and popped it up onto some brightly colored papers from Doodlebug.

We 3 will start afresh in 2022!

You can see Barb's card on her blog

and Jeanette's card on her blog.

I do have one more card to post (November)

and hope to catch up on all of my overdue cards during the break

since Christmas is fast approaching but I am ready.

How about you?

I hope you are enjoying the shopping, wrapping, baking

and all the joys that Christmas holiday beholds.

I can't wait!

Just 7 more days until Santa, my friends!

Thanks for stopping by :)

CCEE2150 ~ Christmas Around The World!

 

Hi friends!

            It's the last card of 2021 for the CCEE Stampers but not to worry!

We will be back in 2022 with new challenges each week.

We hope you've had as much fun as we have had all year long

with all of the unique and fun challenges!

 Lynn brings us our last challenge of the year and she says: 

                             Last week we celebrated traditions within our families.

                                                Today's challenge might involve a bit of research on your part.

I would like for all those who are taking part in this challenge 

to select a country or culture other than their own

                                                      and feature on the front of their cards a unique element 

                                                 or tradition from that country  or culture's holiday celebrations!

My card represents:  Austria!

For my card today, we're heading to Austria!

  Since I grew up there as a child, most of my memories of Santa, 

the Christmas tree, holiday magic and more are centered 

around our home in many cities. 

 So, we're heading to Europe! 

 I have so many wonderful childhood memories of going to 

Christmas markets called Christkindlmärkte.  

These outdoor Christmas markets were held in front of town hall

 in the town center or large squares. 

 They are so romantic and beautiful,

 lit up in the night sky and when it's snowing, it's just enchanting to behold!  

Fun fact:  I always told my husband if we were to ever 'strike it rich',

I'm retiring us to a small swiss chalet where I can write and finish my book :)

AND ...... we invite you to create a card, too!

Please link up your cards here.

Should you post your design to an online gallery other than your blog, 

please be sure to include keyword CCEE2150.

Thank you for stamping with us throughout 2021! 

The new CCEE Stampers Challenges will begin again on January 6, 2022.

Thanks for stopping by!

CCEE2149 ~ Unusual Christmas traditions!

Hi friends!

There's a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers this week:

unusual Christmas traditions!

Lynn is our amazing hostess for December challenges

 and this is what she writes:

If your family is like mine, there are certain family traditions that show up at each of your Christmas celebrations together. I am challenging each of the CCEE Stampers and their fans to create a holiday card which depicts on the front of his/her design a favorite or an unusual Christmas tradition shared by family members each and every year.

I'm thinking that mine might just be the wackiest! Do you know of anyone else who dresses up a yellow rubber chicken to gift to one lucky family member? I can't wait to learn about the holiday traditions in your family!

That's pretty funny, Lynn!

In our family, we started a tradition that I did as a kid.

Growing up in Europe, my parents bought a glass pickle ornament

in Bavaria and hid it in our Christmas tree!

Christmas morning, my brother and I would scramble to find it

because tradition was the first one that found it got an extra present 

from Santa Claus!

We'd scramble down the stairs, tearing our way to the tree,

both of my parents trying to make sure we didn't knock it over :)

Truthfully, my brother always found it first

but it was great fun.

We started the tradition here in our family with our 4 kids

but they have had more fun with the Elf on the Shelf!

So here is my card - the Christmas pickle!

Isn't it hilalarious!

I actually purchased this from an etsy shop here

when I was searching the 'web since I most certainly 

don't have a pickle stamp, LOL! 

To link up your cards and play along, head to the CCEE blog here!

We'd love to hear about your unusual family traditions, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

It's The Grinch!

 Hi everyone!

I'm a little late for the CCEE Stampers challenge this week -

so in case you are interested, it's Celebrate with Song!

Speaking of music and movies,

I have a fun card share today ...

How The Grinch Stole Christmas!

This is a stamp set from Crackerbox stamps

and super fun!

I had a lot of fun coloring these

and created two of them: one red, one green set!

For the red set, I popped up an image on top of another 

for a 3D look!

Here's what they look like a solos!

Just a few more weeks until Christmas ~

I hope you are enjoying the weeks of shopping, cooking,

togetherness!

Big big hugs!