Top Ten 2015 Crafts

In no particular order, my favorite ten crafts from 2015:

1. 30 Days of Lists March 2015 -- My base cards for March were a rainbow of colors. I love how they turned out! I used a variety of Project Life kits to create the effect.

2. Sarah's Bridal Shower favors -- I loved using these simple white berry baskets and dressing them up. They turned out really well!

3. Herringbone Technique cards -- These cards look so complicated, but are actually fairly easy to make. I love the outcome.

4. Fun with Decorative Masks -- This card was inspired by some fun rainbow cards I saw on Pinterest. I changed up the techniques and tools to make this fun masked card.

5. My favorite Christmas card this season -- I love the mix of patterns and colors on this one!

6. Project Life Thanksgiving Card -- I challenged myself to use SU's PL Seasonal Snapshot set to make a Thanksgiving card. I love the results.

7. Find Your Voice Pages -- I participated in an awesome free storytelling class from rukristin. The six traditional scrapbook pages I created were a nice change of pace.

8. Week in the Life -- I finished my first ever Week in the Life album and loved doing it! I'm definitely going to try again next year.

9. Sailboat Baby Card -- Such a cute little design!

10. Blue and Gold Butterfly Card -- I made this card using a photo inspiration challenge. I love the result!

January 2016 Crafting Goals

A very light goals list for January. I'm just today flying back home and things are a bit up in the air. I don't want to overwhelm myself, so I'm just committing to the following three goals:

• Finish December Daily pages -- Hoping this is done quickly after we get home.
• Restart stamp club -- Hoping to restart this month!
• Plan out rest of February/March classes -- I want to get some set before the end of January.

A recap of last month's goals:

• Journal/prep December Daily pages — Sorta success... I got most of my pages planned out and some of the journaling cards done,
• Plan out my Occasions catalog swap — Success! I have it planned out and partially completed. I need my Big Shot to complete then, but I got as much done as I could.
• Make my spring wishlist — Success! I have my list and will be placing another Occasions/SAB order soon
• Finish any crafty Christmas presents — Success!
• November PL pages — Success! Okay, not completely. I'm missing the pictures from Thanksgiving Day, but everything else is done. And that page has been planned out. I just need to print the pics when I get back in January.
• Plan and post January/February Classes — Sorta success... I scheduled a few classes for January, but I haven't completed my examples yet.

2016 Goals and Resolutions

Let's take a look back at 2015's goals and resolutions and my progress:

1. Get crafting classes up and running — I ran my first successful stamp club through the summer and fall. I loved it!
2. Shop from my stash — I did a decent job shopping from my stash this past year!
3. Participate in card making challenges — I participated in a few here and there. Decent progress on this one.
4. Keep up with my 2015 Project Life albums — I finally updated the twins scrapbooks to the present day. And Arthur and the family album are to present day.
5. Make gifts monthly — Totally failed at this goal.
6. Branch out with new styles, technology, and products — I stretched myself to learn some new techniques and branch out with my style.
7. Fully organize my new craft space — Success!
8. Make at least 50 Pinterest inspired crafts — I probably didn't make 50 non-card crafts, but I did make a fair amount.
9. Plan Arthur’s 2nd birthday party during the summer — Done! And it was a success!
10. Create a play area with crafty elements — I didn't really make much for the play area, but it was organized and changed when needed.

Now on to 2016's goals and resolutions:

1. Keep up with Stamp Club and card classes -- I'm going to attempt to start another stamp club round in January. Hoping to keep it moving. Also need to focus on a variety of class offerings to hopefully gain some more customers.
2. Complete another Week in the Life album -- I love doing it in August 2015. I hope to complete one in 2016 either as a separate album or included in my regular PL album.
3. Drop my Messy Box subscription, sign up for a planner kit subscription -- I've enjoyed getting the Messy Box kit this past year, but I don't seem to use as much of the products as i would like. My subscription is up in March. I'm going to drop that one and subscribe to something more Planner specific. Still deciding which one to subscribe to...
4. Ban on buying PL cards (core kits, mini kits, partials, or theme kits) -- I have so many! I do not need any more!
5. Curate my crafty Pinterest boards -- They are getting a bit out of hand. I need to do some curating, crafting, and deleting.
6. Make 150 different cards -- I did a great job in 2015 making different designed cards. Now I want to continue the trend.
7. Continue my 2016 PL albums -- Still in love with PL style scrapbooking. Hope to continue staying current in 2016.

Christmas Vacation

It's time for my annual two week vacation from the blog. I try to focus on family and fun during Christmas vacation. This break also helps me leisurely prep for the next year. I'll see everyone in 2016 with some great new projects!

Sunday Haul #35

I took advantage of Freckled Fawn's Black Friday sale and grabbed two grab bags and a roll of washi tape. Overall I'm very pleased with the contents. I'll definitely use those enamel stars and planner tags. The paper clips will probably go into my planner rotation. The rest will probably make some appearances in my Project Life spreads.

As a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I was able to preorder items from the Occasions Catalog and Sale-a-Bration brochure. I wasn't going to be at my house when they came, so I sent them to my mom's instead! Here's my haul:

• Flowering Fields Stamp Set (SAB)
• Wildflower Fields DSP (SAB)
• Botanical Builder Framelits
• Botanical Gardens DSP
• Botanical Gardens Washi Tape
• Botanical Gardens Jewels
• Botanical Gardens Cardstock
• Botanical Blooms Stamp Set

I'm hoping to be able to do a bit of crafting while here in Indiana.

I also popped into Michael's for some snail, but you know I can never just buy snail. I also grabbed a clearance paper pack (travel themed) to use for Project Life and some new-to-me planner stickers.

Trio of Ornaments

My last Christmas card for this Holiday Season. I hung a trio of ornaments off my card. The punched stars really help bring this card together. 

• Stamps: Cup of Cheer
• Inks: Mossy Meadow
• Cardstock: Early Espresso; Kraft; Old Olive; Cherry Cobbler; Whisper White
• Accessories: Silver twine
• Tools: Stars Confetti Punch; Stars Embossing Folder

A Blue Christmas

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a Christmas tag. As I have already made a red and green tag earlier this month, I wanted to go in a different direction. As I was flipping through my supplies, I stumbled upon these blue Project Life cards. I probably won't use them in PL albums, so I decided to use them to make a fun tag. A few simple snips and punches and I had the perfect tag!

• Stamps:
• Inks:
• Cardstock: Seasonal Snapshot 2015; Dazzling Diamonds Glitter Paper
• Accessories: Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Accessories
• Tools:

A Starry Christmas

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card featuring stars. I decided to make a garland of stars. As an added facet, I embossed the large Old Olive stars. In essence, this is a simple design, but the play of color, pattern, and textures make is a great card!

• Stamps: Six Sayings
• Inks: Mossy Meadow
• Cardstock: Merry Moments DSP; Cherry Cobbler; Old Olive; Whisper White
• Accessories: Home for Christmas Enamel Dots
• Tools: Stripes Embossing Folder; Stars Framelits

A Washi Tape Christmas

Today's card is featured over at Stylin' Stampin' Inkspiration and features another great Christmas card. I have an addiction to washi tape so of course I wanted to use it on a Christmas card. This card design is so simple, but I love all the patterns and colors.

• Stamps: Sparkly Seasons
• Inks: Mossy Meadow; Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Mossy Meadow; Cherry Cobbler; Crumb Cake; Whisper White
• Accessories: Season of Cheer Washi Tape; Rhinestones
• Tools: Washi Label Punch

SSINKCS28: Gold Tree

Today’s card is featured over at Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration and features a fun card sketch challenge today.

I turned the sketch on its side and featured a pretty embossed Christmas tree. You can't tell very well, but the ornaments and the base of the tree is embossed in gold. Very pretty and shiny! And this gives me an excuse to use my pretty Winter Wonderland Vellum stack.

• Stamps: Festival of Trees
• Inks: Mossy Meadow; Gold Embossing Powder
• Cardstock: Merry Moments DSP; Winter Wonderland Vellum; Mossy Meadow; Whisper White
• Accessories: 1/8" Gold Ribbon
• Tools: