Top 12 of 2012

It is hard to  believe in just a few days 2012 will be over. Overall it was a pretty good year. I was not able to make as many new projects and blog as much as I have in past years because things have finally taken off with my Etsy shop but today I want to share my favorite projects of 2012. Click on the month under the photo to find out more about it.

January

February

March

                                                                       

April

                                                                           

May

                                                                               

June

July

                                                                           

August

                                                                       

September

                                                                      

October

                                                                           

November

December

                                                                     
Which projects were your favorites? I hope good health, happiness and lots of mojo comes your way in the New Year!  As always I am grateful for your visit and look forward to sharing more with you in 2013!

Christmas Recap

Happy Wednesday. If  you celebrated Christmas yesterday I hope it was a good one. We woke up to a couple of inches of snow so it was a white one for us.  Emilia was thrilled because she loves it, Rich and I not so much. Emilia opened all her presents in the morning and was very happy with all she got. This year it was mostly cooking stuff and books and movies but we are all loving the Karaoke Wii Singing game Sing 4 she got! Rich and I exchanged small gifts before Christmas. He gave me a new Nintendo DS, my other one broke and an art game to go with it. I got him a record.  The rest of the day was a pretty quite one but in the evening we went for a drive to see the lights. Unfortunately not many houses had lights up this year but we still had fun even if it was freezing out at least we were in the car. Emilia and I finished up the night by watching Christmas Vacation, one of our favorite holiday movies. Here are a few photos of the morning.

I have been busy working on Etsy orders again but today I wanted to share a card set I made for one of my nail clients as a holiday gift this year. One day we were talking as I was doing her nails and she was telling me how she likes to send handwritten notes but was finding it hard to find stationary so I though this gift would be perfect for her.

I started with the new Card Wrapper Template from My Time Made Easy. After cutting the base out of Stampers Select White Cardstock I embossed it with the stripes impression plate from PTI. After that I added the top using a pattern from the Dainty Damask paper pack. It is suppose to be sky blue but when I print using Silhouette Studio the color comes out different. If anyone knows a way solve that problem please let me know. After adding the top piece I created the monogram using the digtial images from the Merriest Monograms set  then I cut it out using print and cut in Silhouette Designer Studio and created a black mat.
Inside are 6 matching notecards  which I also created using Silhouette Designer Studio

I gave it to her this morning and she really seemed to like it. Unfortunatley I also found out she is not going to be coming back in the new year because she does not want to drive so far anymore. I was really sad to hear that but she is 80 years old  so I understand. She was  a great client to have for the last 3 years though so I am really going to miss her.
That's all for now I hope to be back soon with a year end post. Until then I hope the rest of your week is a great one.

Tea Time Part 2

Happy Monday and Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish readers! I hope your weekend was a good one. We lit the first candle Saturday night but are saving the presents for Christmas. Last weekend we were enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures but this weekend that all changed and snow and cold returned. The snow didn't last long but the cold is still hanging around.Thankfully it is suppose to be back in the 50's by the end of the week though. I hope it is warmer where you are.
Today as promised I want to share the rest of the items I made for the tea party. First is the invitation.

I used the same layout for the brunch invitations I made here but this time I added die cut tea cups from the Tea For Two Additions set with tiny flowers using the flower die from the Flipping Out Dies.
Next is the tea bag favor

The base was made with the PTI lunchbox note die but I enlarged it using SCAL to hold a tea bag and made mats to go with it..The tea pot from Tea For Two was die cut and stamped. The leaves are from turning a new leaf dies but this time I shrunk them with SCAL so they were tiny and my Silhouette cut them out. The rose was made using the smallest MFT rolled rose die and to finish it off I added a liquid pearl to the middle. When you take the teabag out you will find this sentiment from Tea For Two that has been die cut behind it.

Finally here are the matching food and drink cards.

These were all created digitally with  Silhouette Designer Studio. I hope you have enjoyed my tea party.I had a lot of fun making it. I will be back soon with more to share until then I hope your week is a great one.

Tea Time Part 1

Happy Saturday. I hope your weekend has been a good one. It is hard to believe it is December 1st and was in the 60's here today. I am not complaining but we could use some moisture just no big snows though.
Today I want to share a new party theme I have been working on for a few weeks now in between orders. Introducing the  Shabby Chic Tea Party

Since there are so many pieces to this set I thought I would break it into 2 posts highlighting each item so I don't overwhelm you with it. Today I want to start with the banner, teapot and teacup.
A couple of months ago I asked Lauren Meader from My Time Made easy if she could make me a round teapot template. If anyone could do it I knew she could and she did.  This is what I came up with using her Apothecary Jar Template and what  started my new tea party theme. I was also inspired by the paper in the Ella Rose Shabby Chic digital paper pack. It reminds me of Cath Kidson and Laura Ashley.

The template comes with a different spout but I ended up changing it to the one that comes with her other Tea For You template because I liked it better and it fit perfectly. The base of the teapot was made out of white cardstock. The sentiment from the PTI Tea For Two Set was handstamped then diecut and attached to the front. Hibiscus Satin Ribbon was added to the rim tied it in a bow then I added a felt flower that I made with the MFT rolled rose die and a tiny pearl. To finish it off I added some white pom pom trim to the bottom.
Now you can't have a teapot without a cup so I created this matching tea cup.

When Lauren came out with the Cuppy Cake template she mentioned that the top could be used as a cup. I thought that was a brilliant idea but was not sure what to do for a handle.When I saw the handle for the teapot I shrunk it to 65% and it worked perfectly. The top of the cupcake also matches the teapot style too. I  also used more of the patterned paper I used for the teapot to decorate it.  The saucer was made using this template from Claire at Waltzing Mouse. I think these would make great favors at a tea party. Just fill them with candy. I used lemon drops then attached a tag. This one was made using the new Do Me A Favor Tags Stamp set stamped with Hibiscus Ink. Then I added some Spring Rain Satin ribbon and attached it to the bag. Some petite white pom pom trim finishes it off.
Finally the banner

I love how this came out. I think it would also look great in a baby girls room as a name banner too. I used  the SVG pennant banners from Perfect Presentation and more patterened paper. I added tissue paper trim that I made to the tops. The letters were die cut and covered with angel dust glitter. The teapots and butterflies were die cut then a felt rose was added to the middles and finished off with tiny pearls. Hibiscus Satin Ribbon holds it all together. Click on the photo to see it close up.
That's all for now I will be back next week to share the rest with you until then I hope the rest of your weekend is a great one and as always thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Alexandra

Happy Wednesday! I hope your week has been a good one so far. It is a beautiful day here. I hope the weather is nice where you are too. Thankfully so far this week my health has been better but we have been dealing with a sick dog again. She had been doing great for the last few weeks and had been off the anitbiotic for about 8 days when she relapsed again on  Friday night. The vet put her back on the antibitotic on Saturday but it still took 2 days for her to recover. We really need to figure out what is causing this. We think it is her ear but won't know for sure until someone can look into her inner ear. We have to figure out what kind of procedure can be done to do that and we can afford.  In the meantime she will stay on the antibiotic for another 30 days and we are very thankful she is back to her old self again.
Today is also my niece Alexandra's 17th birthday. I know I say this every year but where does the time go? It seems like yesterday I was at the hospital with my family waiting for her to be born. it was a Wednesday and the day before Thanksgiving that year too. When she was little her favorite characters were Sleeping Beauty and Ariel. Those days are long gone but still loves Hello Kitty so I made this card for her

This year her requested colors were purple, yellow and blue. I found the free SVG file here then made it into a shape card using Silhouette Studio. I used Bitty Dots Lavender Moon and Lemon Tart patterned paper for the heart and the bow. The Happy Birthday sentiment from Fillable Frames #4 was stamped and embossed on the heart. The only place I could think to fit the blue in was the eyes so I added blue jewels. I hope she likes it. She is off to get her tagus pierced today so I will be giving this to her tomorrow with a little spending money. My dads birthday is tomorrow too so we will celebrate both birthdays a long with Thanksgiving then. I will be doing the cooking with Emilia's help. . I will be back soon with something new to share that I have been working on it for awhile now and am really happy with how it is coming out. I look forward to sharing it with you. Until then  I hope your Thanksgiving will be a good one and you have a lot to be thankful for; I know we do.

Shabby Autumn

 ETA: This project was a winner!

Happy Friday, I hope you week has been a good one. I have been dealing with health problems again. Last week it was female problems, this week it was a gum infection. I finally went to the dentist on Wednesday because I was in so much pain. Thankfully my teeth are okay and they were able to treat just the gum without me having to take oral antibiotics. The gum is better but my ear and mouth are still hurting. I am going to see a new ENT next week so hopefully she will be able to help with those things.
Even though I have been in a lot of pain most of the week I still wanted to participate in this weeks Shabby Tea Room Challenge which is to use the inspiration photo below include a pumpkin and make it shabby. I have been wanting to make a pumpkin shaped card for awhile now and when I saw this weeks challenge I knew this was the perfect chance. This is the inspiration photo

This is what I came up with

I started by using the Perfect Pumpkin Card SVG file from My Time Made easy as my base. The digital papers are from the Vintage Points Bright Paper Pack  I reduced them by 50% then pieced them on Vintage Cream Cardstock. The stem was cut from Kraft cardstock then embossed with woodgrain and distressed with chai ink.  I stamped the main image and sentiment from Think Big Favorites #19 then I cut maple leaves that I found in SCAL and attached them in a cluster at the top. Grey seam binding tide in a double bow, a handmade rolled flower with a tiny pearl finishes it off.
I am really happy with how this came out. I hope you like it too. It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away. This card would be perfect for your Thanksgiving table too. We are expecting snow and cold here starting tomorrow.  I hope the weather will be better where you are and your weekend is a good one.

To The Point Dreidle Box

Happy Friday. I hope your week has been a good one and if you live in the East you made it through Sandy without any problems. My heart goes out to everyone that was affected by the storm. We have had our share of bad weather here but we have never experienced something like that. Unfortunately weather is something we can't control though hopefully with time and help things will get back to some kind of normal for them soon.

Now that Halloween is over Christmas and Hanukkah will be here before we know it. This year Hanukkah starts on Sunday December 9th. I have made quite a few Hanukkah items in past years but I still wanted to make a dreidel box. When I saw this template designed by Lauren Meader last year I was going to make one then but never got a chance. I finally had some time this week though and this is what I came up with.

I started by cutting out the base of the box from white cardstock. After that I printed out the damask pattern from Amy Jaz Designs Very Merry Christmas digital paper pack from last year. The symbols were cut from Enchanted Evening Cardstock, embossed with the linen impression plate then added with foam tape to give them some dimension I made the tag in Silhouette Studio then stamped the Happy Hanukkah Sentiment from the new Menorah Medley Set. Finally I tied it together with Enchanted Evening Saddle Stitched Ribbon and tied it in a bow. This is a good size box and would make a great gift filled with some Hanukkah Candy/Gelt and a gift card.
That's all for now. I hope your weekend is a good one.