Top 13 Projects of 2013: Year In Review

Hello everyone. I can't believe a new year is dawning!  As 2014 approaches, I wanted to look back at my creative projects from 2013 and post a few of my favorites.  I love seeing these types of posts on your blogs and wanted to follow suit. 

Below are 13 of my favorites in the order that they appeared on my blog this year. The blue titles hyperlink back to the original posts and tutorials. 

At The Sea - Pebbles Inc. 

I'm All Ears - October Afternoon

Welcome Little One - Echo Park Paper

Lollipop Tents - Echo Park Paper

Delight - Little Yellow Bicycle

Sailboat Tag - Pebbles Inc.

Silly Amazing Handsome You - My Mind's Eye

The Race - My Mind's Eye

I Fell In Love - Fancy Pants Designs

Tuesdays With Cory Mini Album - Fancy Pants Designs

One Fine Day - Fancy Pants Designs

Toilet Roll Reindeer - Fancy Pants Designs

Shaker Card - Crate Paper

Do you have a favorite among these?

As it turned out, 2013 was the Year of the Pub for me. I had 38 projects in print publications this year including work in Paper Crafts Magazine, Creating Keepsakes, Better Homes and Gardens (specialty issue Make It Yourself), Scrapbook and Cards Today, Scrapbooking & Beyond, CARDS, Scrapbook Trends, Create and Simply Handmade.  Sadly, most of these magazines have either ceased publication or will publish only (or primarily) in digital form in 2014. 

I hope 2013 was a wonderful year for you. If you've written a list of favorite projects from the past year, I'd love to see your post. Please link it in the comments. 

Happy New Year!

December Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook

December is here!  It's the most wonderful time of the year. Bring on the holidays.

With a new month comes a new reveal from My Creative Scrapbook kit club. Here are peeks at four winter projects I made with the Creative kit this month.

The full reveal is December 5th. Thanks for stopping by!

My Creative Scrapbook: October Kit Sneak Peeks

Hello everyone and happy October!  Autumn is here!

I have some sneak peeks for you of a pretty new Fall kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

Last weekend, we took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the North Carolina mountains. The tree colors weren't at their peak, but it was still lovely in every way.  We stopped at an apple orchard and had the most yummy sweet, crisp apples off the tree.  Life is good!

Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook July Kit

The summer is flying by!  Here it is July already and time for sneak peeks of the new creative kit at My Creative Scrapbook.

The full reveal is July 5.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook May Kit

Well, hello, May!  I'm so happy to be in the full swing of Spring with the promise of Summer around the corner. I love this time of year. 

The first of the month brings sneak peeks from the new kits at My Creative Scrapbook. It is so much fun to design for this kit club. 

I worked with the Creative Kit this month.  Here are my colorful peeks! 

I'll be back on May 5th with the full reveal. 

Sneak Peeks: My Creative Scrapbook Feb Kit

It probably won't be too much of a surprise to say that the February kits at My Creative Scrapbook  full of love-themed products. And, wow, are they beauties!!

I worked with the Creative Kit.  Here are some sneak peeks of my projects. 

Do you recognize this manufacturer? I'll be back on February 5th with the full reveal.  

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Read To Me / Our Handmade Christmas

I hope your new year is of to a good start!  I wanted to share a couple of Christmas layouts that were recently published. 

Up first is Read To Me.

This was published in the December 2012 issue of Scrapbook Trends and features paper and embellishments from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I took these photos Christmas morning 2011. When my little boy, then 2, opened a new set of Thomas the Train books, he immediately went lap to lap and had everyone in the family read to him. I love his love of books.

The second layout is Our Handmade Christmas.

This was published in the Winter 2013 issue of Scrapbooking and Beyond and features October Afternoon. These little felt ornaments hang on my grandmother's tree. I remember sitting by her side as a young girl, making ornaments. It was a holiday tradition to make something new for the tree each year.  She's 90 now and it makes me smile to visit her and see her little tree and the ornaments still hanging that we made together so long ago. 

I was so blessed to have had a grandma who crafted with me.  Her stitches were straight and true. Mine were crooked and tentative but she instilled in me a love for homemade things. Thank you, Grandma.

Happy New Year! / MCS Sneak Peeks

Hello and Happpy New Year!  I always love the first day of January. There's something magical about the hope and promise of new beginnings.  I'm excited to see what 2013 will bring. 

And, with the first of the month, comes sneak peeks from the new kits at My Creative Scrapbook.  Here's what I had been working on during the last few days of 2012.

Do you recognize this collection?  It's a great one. I have enjoyed working with it so much.  The full reveals are Jan. 5.

Just for fun (not with the kit), I made a New Year Countdown card:

Supplies:
CS: Memory Box
PP: Echo Park
Stickers: Cosmo Cricket, Crate
Wood Veneers: Studio Calico
Twine: The Twinery
Sewing Machine: Bernina

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a wonderful new year! 

Christmas Carriage Ride: My Creative Sketches

During the holidays last year, we visited to the Billy Graham Library one evening and it was beautiful in every way: a pastoral hideaway in the busy city. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the hills and valleys, alive with lights and music from carolers.  It was a night to remember and I captured a nice photo of my folks with my son.

I used the photo on this layout, following the new December sketch by My Creative Sketches. My paper and embellishments are from the Once Upon A Christmas line by Little Yellow Bicycle and this project is featured today on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog. I love the elegance and traditional holiday colors of the collection and thought they worked perfectly.

To make the cluster in the upper-right hand corner, I used a mix of chipboard and stickers and stitched a red "hanger" for the ornaments. 

This is the sketch I used:  

We'd love to have you play along.  You can find all the details on the My Creative Sketches blog.  The challenge runs through January 14 and there's a great prize up for grabs.

Reveal Day: December Kits at My Creative Scrapbook

Yay!  It's the 5th of the month and reveal day for My Creative Scrapbook.  This month, I worked with the Creative Kit, which featured Bo Bunny's Mistletoe.  It's a bright and cheery line in classic Christmas colors. I loved this fun and happy collection. 

I made a mix of layouts and altered projects with this kit. Today, I am going to post the layouts and I'll post the altered projects with tutorials next week.  

First up is a visit to Santa. Or rather, waiting in line to see Santa.

On this layout, I made a big photo mat from the red dot paper to ground my page. I put a photo in the center and a large piece of chipboard on the left. On the right, I wanted to add my journaling, but the journaling card was too small in scale and made the layout unbalanced. 

To give the right side more visual weight, I made a pocket for the journaling card. Easy peasy. I cut a piece of patterned paper a bit bigger than the journaling card, backed the pocket with cardstock and stitched it together on three sides with red thread. 

My second layout documents our Christmas cookie tradition. Mom has been using this same recipe for Christmas cookies since the 1960s and it just doesn't feel like the holidays without these. They are a hands down favorite for the whole family.

Here's a closeup of the cute gingerbread people:

Here's is a photo of the MCS December Creative Kit.

The design team has done amazing work with the December kits, especially altered projects.  You can see all the projects in the design team gallery.  Some of the other kits this month featured Authentique, Teresa Collins, Kaisercraft and Fancy Pants Designs.  The team will have tutorials posted every day this month on the My Creative Scrapbook blog. Come have a peek!

Christmas Projects with Little Yellow Bicycle

I’m super excited today to show you a couple holiday projects I made for a guest spot with Little Yellow Bicycle.  LYB is doing a fun 12 Days of Christmas series with 12 members of the Once Upon A Christmas cycling team.  I’m Day 3 and am featured on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog today.

If you don’t have Once Upon A Christmas, run to your closest scrapbook store.  This collection is a classic.  It features deep red and green and great neutrals to soften them. The icons are of nature: birds, trees and deer.  And there’s a Father Christmas too.

When I opened my cycling team box, the dark brown houndstooth paper was the first thing that caught my eye. I went to work with it right away.  It made the perfect cozy backdrop for this holiday photo of my sister and son on a carousel ride.  My son’s sweater featured reindeer and snowflakes so I pulled both of those into my design.

  

On this page, I used a journaling card as a decorative element for a cluster of items, including a little pennant made from a vellum strip and a stick pin.

  

For my actual journaling, I made a tag to slide under the photo. I used a piece of cream paper from the collection, stitched around the edges and added a word sticker at the top. The tab at the top of the journaling card is made with a little piece of vellum strip backed with cardstock.

For my title spot, I used a tag, embellishing it with a sticker and punched snowflake.

For my second project, I made a simple holiday card.  The OUAC collection has a pretty piece of red damask paper with a large script sentiment, Merry Christmas, at the bottom. As soon as I saw that paper, I knew it would be perfect for a card.

To make the card, I trimmed the sentiment from the damask paper, then added a bit of red houndstooth with a vellum strip above it.

An accordion flower from the line’s Paper Crafting Kit added some dimension to complete the card.  These flowers come pre-scored in the kit and are so easy to make. I love them.

I have one more project with Once Upon A Christmas: paper ornaments.  They are on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog today. I'll be back with those - and a tutorial - on Monday.