2017 in Review

Each year for the past few, I've done a Year in Review post. Essentially, it is my attempt to choose my favorite of the cards I've made each month. This can be quite challenging, since some months I have a couple (or more) that I really like... and other months I can't say I'm crazy about a single one. But it's still fun to attempt to do this. Therefore, these are my personal favorite cards of 2017 (one from each month). As a bonus this year I will also share my six favorite Bible Journaling pages of the year.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

These are my six favorite Bible Journaling entries of the year 2017 (in the order of my favorites)...

Psalm 141:3

Jonah

Matthew 15:22-36

Psalm 5:3

Psalm 145:3

Psalm 30:1-5

And of course an Honorable Mention - 

because I sure love my son, Brock!

Psalm 139:13-16

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Dutch Cuties

I am sorry to say that this is my last post as a member of the Frantic Stamper design team. It has been a fantastic experience, true to the company's name. I started with the February 2017 release and have created every month since then and I must say, the dies/stamps are excellent quality and so much fun! I want to thank Fran and Kathy for allowing me to design for Frantic Stampers! THANK YOU!

Today's card featured some Dutch-themed dies from Frantic Stamper.

Base Paper Doll Body #FRA-DIE-10361

Dutch Doll Clothing #FRA-DIE-10362

Windmill #FRA-DIE-10363

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Frantic Stamper Precision Dies: Base Paper Doll Body #FRA-DIE-10361, Dutch Doll Clothing #FRA-DIE-10362, and Windmill #FRA-DIE-10363

Papers: Recollections Red and White and all other papers from my scrap file
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Happy New Year

Maggie is the hostess of the Challenge Your Stash group this month. Her theme encouraged us to make a New Year's card without alcohol.

You might remember, the Challenge Your Stash premise is this - we cannot purchase anything in order to make the card.

Okay... no alcohol is not a problem. I don't drink and therefore I do not have any alcohol related stamps. However... the theme was still a challenge for me, since I also apparently don't celebrate New Years. LOL!

In a quick perusal of my stamp inventory (in Evernote - I love Love LOVE Evernote!) I only found one stamp set labeled New Year. It's a Taylored Expressions stamp set called Light Up the Night. Since it is all I had (and I can't purchase anything) I used it.

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Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Taylored Expressions Light Up the Night stamped with Brilliance Inks (Lady But Red, Mediterranean Blue, Sunflower Yellow, and Thyme)

Papers: Recollections Blue, Red, and White CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Buttons from an unknown vendor

You're Beautiful!

Today is a very special day because it is the birthday of a very special woman - Denise, the owner and designer of The Project Bin stamps. 

Happy Birthday, Denise!

Those of us on Denise's design team have the incredible opportunity to work alongside her and to benefit from her kindness and generosity. As a small token of our appreciation for her, we are having a blog hop today in her honor. You'll find cards featuring stamps from The Project Bin on each of our blogs.

If you already knew about the blog hop, you came to my blog from Andrea's blog. However, if you just happened upon the blog hop here on my blog, you are almost to the end... which would be sad since you'd miss out of the creativity of each design team member. So, if you didn't start at the beginning, please do so by going to Stasia's blog and hopping along to each blog along the way.

Just in case you get lost along the way 

(or there is a technical glitch), 

here is the hop list from start to finish:

Stasia Sloma

Kelly McKown- Santi

Kelly Clark

Dawn Mercedes Barrett
Dawn Bennett
Nancy Nickel
Angela Bode
Barb Deichl
Tamie Jubinville-Camp
Andrea Jacobsen
Jeanette Cloyd - You're Here
The Project Bin

I chose one of the stamps from The Project Bin's #bff stamp set to make my card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! 
The next (and last) stop on Denise's Birthday Blog Hop is The Project Bin blog, where I hope you will leave a comment wishing Denise a Happy Birthday! You'll also find a link there to The Project Bin store, where you can find all of the stamps she offers. You might want to check them out... make a purchase. That would put a huge smile on our Birthday Girl's face, I'm sure!


Supplies Used

Stamp Set: The Project Bin #bff stamped with Memento Cottage Ivy Ink

Papers: Recollections White and SU Garden Green CS and AMuse Studio and Pinecone Press DP

Embellishments: Brads from an unknown vendor
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Birthday Girl

There's a new challenge at Craftaholics R Us... starting today.

Theme: Birthday

It's going to be fun. I hope you'll join us!

Please check it out:

December 27 - January 2

Theme: Birthday

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Claudia & Co Puddle Jumpers Birthday Lily stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Black and White and SU Wild Wasabi CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Brads and Button from unknown vendors

Try Something New with a Square Punch

FYI... I hope you have enjoyed my Try Something New posts this year. They have stretched me and I've enjoyed doing them. This is the last week of 2017, though... so this will be my last official Try Something New post. That's not saying I won't ever try anything new again... it just isn't going to be a weekly feature in 2018.

For this week's "new" thing, I decided to try something I noticed on a card on Pinterest. The creator took a square punch and cut the squares in half (creating triangles). She then made a fabulous zig zag with the triangles. Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers... but the point of Try Something New is simply that... to TRY something new, not to perfect it, right?

I added the zig zag inside, too:

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Supplies Used

Stamp Set: Taylored Expressions Polar Pete stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Blue, Red, and White CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishment: Stampin' UP! Red Grosgrain Ribbon

A Bethlehem Night that Changed the World

Merry Christmas!

My husband is a Director of Missions. For those of you who are not Southern Baptist, that term may not mean much. In a brief explanation, our churches are all self-governing but have connections to the national Southern Baptist Convention, to their respective state conventions and to local associations. Local associations vary in size (ours has 24 churches)... and most associations have a Director of Missions. This man is the one who helps the churches in the association to work in cooperation with one another on bigger projects/events.... and also nurtures the pastors and their families as well as members of the churches.

Each year I make a Christmas card that we mail to each of the pastors/families. This is no big deal to those of you who mail Christmas cards annually... but we've never done that before my husband took this position. So making 24 identical cards (okay, I made 30 because we also send it to a few staff members) is quite a stretch for me. (I admit, I get a bit bored making that many of the same card.)

It's a simple card, by design (we try to keep postage down)... but I hope the pastors/families like it.

This year I even did a wee bit of design on the coordinating envelope:

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
Have a Merry Christmas!


Supplies Used

Stamp/Die Set: Stampin' UP! Night in Bethlehem stamped with Gina K Black Onyx Ink 

Other Inks: Encore Gold Ink (for the stars on the envelope) and  SU Night of Navy sponged on the upper part of the Dapper Denim piece on the card front

Papers: Recollections Black, Shimmer White, and White and SU Dapper Denim and Metallic Gold CS

Embellishment: Recollections Star-Shaped Brad

Christmas Kits

Just in case you missed my post last week, I'm in a card kit group on SCS and this is my month to receive the kits. If that makes no sense to you, check out the explanation and the cards I made from the first two kits HERE. I asked them to make kits that represented something that brings them joy.


Today I have cards from two more kits. These were both Christmas-themed.

The third kit I received was from Tracie. She said she knew I like Christmas so she went with a Christmas themed kit. All of her images were from Prickley Pear which really made me happy because I don't have any Prickley Pear stamps. But oh, what darling images... so I suspect I'll need to shop there soon. The image I chose to use is just precious... look at those faces in awe, looking up at the sky!

Tracie, thank you for a BULGING kit! 

(there was so much to choose from)

The fourth kit I received was from Suzy. WOW! She saw my Joy request - and sent me a JOY kit! Who would have thought to do that? Oh the fun! I had a difficult time choosing what to use out of her kit, but finally went with this combination of image/papers. They are a tad bit vintage looking, which I love.

Suzy, thank you for the JOY-ful kit!

That's four kits total... 7 more to go. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Tracie's Kit

Images: Prickley Pear (Snowman with Lantern, Bundled for Winter, and Mistletoe) stamped on Neenah Classic Crest paper with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Sentiments: Welcome Christmas, Merry Christmas 2017, and From Our House

DP: Very Merry Christmas by The Paper Studio

Embellishments: Misc.

I used my own Recollections Black and Red CS to complete the card

Suzy's Kit

Images: SU Joy and Hero Arts Outline Reindeer Stamp (stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Recollections 110# White CS)

DP: The Paper Studio Old World Winter

Die: Sizzix Joy (silver glitter paper)

Embellishments: Paper Studio Gold Dots and Ribbon and Sequins from unknown vendors

I used my own Recollections Green and Red CS to complete the card

Let Your Light Shine Bible Journaling

I normally make cards with the Frantic Stamper precision dies that I receive as part of the design team, but occasionally one of the dies seems to "need" to be used in my Bible Journaling. The World Map die (FRA-DIE-10356) is one that seemed to find a way into my Bible Journaling.

You are the light of the world - 

like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. 

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, 

so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:14-16

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Frantic Stamper Precision Die: World Map #FRA-DIE-10356

Stamp: American Crafts Christ Lord of Lords stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Papers: Recollections Black and SU Mellow Moss and So Saffron CS and DP from the DCWV Travel Stack Paper Pad