January 2017 Crafting Goals

• Oct.-Dec. PL spreads -- Just didn't get them finished last month...
• Launch The Craft Sea Newsletter -- Determined to get this done in January
• Start memory planning for the Awesome Ladies Project  -- Very excited for this project!
• Get back into the swing of things on the SSINK team -- We got back yesterday, now I need to start creating!

A recap of last month’s goals:

• Send out Christmas cards — Success! Over 50 cards were sent out!
• Send out customer thank you cards — Success! Every SU customer from 2016 received a thank you card.
• Make shoebox swap cards — Success, I guess. Everyone except for one person canceled last minute. I pulled from my stash and we made a few cards, but kind of upset the events fell apart...
• Plan and make swap cards for FNC and Alaska Bound groups — Success! And I must say my cards were very cute!
• October and November PL spreads — Fail. Just didn't get around to it last month...
• Make 3 Holiday Albums — Success!
• Finish 30 Days of Lists —  Success!

2017 Goals and Resolutions

Let’s take a look back at 2016’s goals and resolutions and my progress:

1. Keep up with Stamp Club and card classes — Success! I had two successful rounds of club in 2016. The second one ended right before I had the baby, so it was perfect.
2. Complete another Week in the Life album — Success! This time we did it in May. I love my new tradition.
3. Drop my Messy Box subscription, sign up for a planner kit subscription — I dropped my Messy Box subscription, but decided to not sign up for anything else.
4. Ban on buying PL cards (core kits, mini kits, partials, or theme kits) — Success! I avoided buying more PL cards.
5. Curate my crafty Pinterest boards — Success! I paired down my Pinterest board and reorganized. It was perfect.
6. Make 150 different cards — Success! Joining the SSINK design team was a great move for my momentum and creativity!
7. Continue my 2016 PL albums — Success! I need to catch-up for the last three months of 2016, but I've kept them going and love them!

Now on to 2017’s goals and resolutions:

1. Restart club in January -- I've got some ladies interested and I love hosting stamp club. Hope we can start 2017 off right!
2. Launch a newsletter for my crafting business -- I've been thinking about doing this since October. Hopefully I can get it moving in January.
3. Continue participating on the SSINK design team -- Loving my time on the team. Looking forward to what 2017 brings!
4. Jump into the Awesome Ladies Project Practice Team with my memory planner -- A whole new crafting community launched this week and I'm on the Practice Team. I can't wait to explore telling my story. I am planning on using a planner to create a memory planner for my 2017.
5. Another Week in the Life album (time tbd) -- Really enjoyed doing this the past two years. I hope to continue the tradition.
6. Overhaul my PL card and supply stash -- My supply stash is a bit out of control. I need to do a destash and a reorganization and commit to using up my supplies!
7. Continue to do my PL albums -- Still want to scrap our family and all four kids' albums in 2017.
8. Expand my planner skills -- 2016 was the year I dove into planning and I would love to continue. I am addicted to a paper planner and have had fun decorating it to my preference. I've got my 2017 Happy Planner and am ready to go!

Navy and Watercolor

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a quick and easy card. I decided to feature this gorgeous new navy and white dsp and the beautiful copper accents. I stamped the flowers onto watercolor paper and used my aqua painter to add some navy. From there, I added a strip of copper featured washi tape and heat embossed the sentiment. Layering that on top of a navy cardstock, I placed my main piece onto a piece of lovely Floral Boutique DSP. Such a lovely card in person.

• Stamps: Remarkable You
• Inks: Basic Black; Night of Navy
• Cardstock: Floral Boutique DSP; Night of Navy; Watercolor Paper
• Accessories: Affectionately Yours Washi Tape
• Tools: Copper Embossing Powder; Aqua Painter

Currently...

Watching: January is traditionally a month of new-to-me movies. I've already started, catching up on some silly Hallmark Channel Christmas movies.

Reading: Mom got Hannah Hart's Buffering for free at the library and had no idea who Hart was. I jumped at the chance to take the book off my mom's hands.

Listening: Twins are playing video games of course. It's a constant background noise during school breaks.

Making: Finishing up the 2016 Holiday albums. Only a few things left to do before I can give them to my mom, in-laws, and grandma and grandpa.

Feeling: Baby's not sleeping great right now meaning I'm usually tired.

Planning: We go back home in a just a few days. I've been busy figuring out our January activities and attempting to meal plan.

Loving: As much as I hate the cold and would never move back to Indiana, I did enjoy having snow on the ground this year.

Top Ten 2016 Crafts

In no particular order, here are my 10 favorite craft projects of 2016!

1. Multicolored Trees -- Christmas card featuring the baby wipe technique

2. Moroccan Butterfly -- I didn't initially love the Moroccan DSP, but look how amazing this card is!

3. Butterfly DSP -- Sweet and simple baby card

4. Dapper Fish -- Love the watercolor resist technique!

5. Week in the Life May 2016 -- Once again I had a blast documenting our week.

6. Mini magazine-stle card holder -- Nice 3D project for my stamp club ladies!

7. Purple Birthday Blooms -- Hands down my favorite card I made in 2016. Totally fell fir the Birthday Blooms stamp set and the color combo of Rich Razzleberry and Sweet Sugarplum.

8. Wildflower Triptych -- Simple card featuring my favorite stamp from SAB 2016 and fun coloring with markers!

 9. Collection of Quilts -- Great way to use all the scrap pieces of DSP. i made multiple versions, but this one was my favorite.

10. Stacked Beasties -- Loved this fun stepped up Halloween card

Celebrate 2017!

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a New Year's Card. I decided to use the fun Paisleys stamp set one last time this season. After three different attempts, I landed on this great design using a circle mask. All I needed to add was a simple sentiment and layer of DSP.  Can't wait to see everyone in 2017!

Detail of the heat embossing:

• Stamps: Paisleys and Posies; Suite Sayings
• Inks: Rich Razzleberry; Versamark
• Cardstock: Petals and Paisleys DSP; Rich Razzleberry; Sweet Sugarplum; Whisper White
• Accessories:
• Tools: Gold Embossing Powder; Circle Framelits

I Think I Can

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using one of the new Sale-a-Bration stamp sets. For my preorder, I knew I had to have the Designer Tee Stamp Set. It has the absolute cutest sayings and stamps. My favorite is the cute little affirmation train. This would be the perfect card for kids or adults alike. I went a little crazy layering some fun DSP from three different packs. As a finishing touch, I colored the clouds with Wink of Stella. You can't see from the picture, but I guarantee the shine comes through in person.

• Stamps: Designer Tee
• Inks: Mint Macaron
• Cardstock: Carried Away DSP; A Little Foxy DSP; 2015-2017 In Color DSP; Peekaboo Peach; Whisper White
• Accessories: Peekaboo Peach Ribbon; Wink of Stella
• Tools: Circles Layering Framelits; Stitched Shapes Framelits

SSINKTC40: Green Tree

Today’s card is being featured on Stylin’ Stampin’ Inkspiration. The challenge was to create a card using the technique below.

For my card, I decided to create my own mask using the Circle Framelits. I simply die cut a medium circle out of a piece of white cardstock. From there, I sponged on three different green inks to create my multi-colored tree. I decided to continue the green theme with some fun apple print DSP. I finished the card with some gold enamel shapes to give the card some bling.

• Stamps: Sheltering Tree
• Inks: Wild Wasabi; Old Olive; Always Artichoke; Early Espresso
• Cardstock: Fruit Stand DSP; Old Olive; Whisper White
• Accessories: Metallic Enamel Shapes
• Tools: Circle Framelits; Daubers

A Collection of Quilts

Merry Christmas Everyone! The boys and I are at my mom's house in Indiana snuggling up to stay warm and enjoying our lazy day. Today's card is the last of my Christmas cards to share with you this year. Simply make a quilt from all the little pieces! In this case, I used the smallest square from the Stitched Shapes Framelits set and die cut 12 squares for each card. If you look, I ended up die cutting 96 squares to make this collection. A lot of cranking! But it was worth it create this amazing collection of cards. And I used use a ton of small scraps laying around. Win win!

• Stamps: Cookie Cutter Christmas
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Presents and Pinecones DSP; Cherry Cobbler; Mint Macaron; Emerald Envy; Gold Foil; Whisper White
• Accessories: Mint Macaron Striped Ribbon; Metallic Enamel Shapes; Emerald Envy Metallic Thread
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Variations

• Stamps: Cookie Cutter Christmas
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Presents and Pinecones DSP; Cherry Cobbler; Mint Macaron; Emerald Envy; Gold Foil; Whisper White
• Accessories: Mint Macaron Ribbon; Emerald Envy Ribbon; 2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

• Stamps: Four You (retired)
• Inks: Cajun Craze
• Cardstock: Petals and Paisleys DSP; Delightful Dijon; Mint Macaron; Copper Foil; Very Vanila
• Accessories: Regals Candy Dots (retired)
• Tools: Paisley Framelits; Stitched Shapes Framelits

• Stamps: Four You (retired)
• Inks: Night of Navy
• Cardstock: Petals and Paisleys DSP; Night of Navy; Mint Macaron; Copper Foil; Very Vanilla
• Accessories: Affectionately Yours Washi Tape
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

• Stamps: Random Christmas Stamp (retired)
• Inks: Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: Warmth and Cheer DSP; Cherry Cobbler; Garden Green; Crumb Cake
• Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Twine (retired)
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

• Stamps: Random Christmas Stamp (retired)
• Inks: Early Espresso
• Cardstock: Candy Cane Lane DSP; Early Espresso; Crumb Cake
• Accessories: Real Red Ribbon (retired)
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

• Stamps: Four You (retired)
• Inks: Island Indigo
• Cardstock: Winter Frost DSP (retired); Mint Macaron; Island Indigo; Silver Foil; Smoky Slate
• Accessories: Large Rhinestones; Silver Metallic Twine
• Tools: Stitched Shapes Framelits

Wonderful Scraps

What to do with all the scraps of DSP you inevitably have leftover? Make a fun card with them of course! Siimply cut some DSP down to 3/4" x  3 3/4" and create a background pattern. A simple heat embossed sentiment and a few embellishment create a great card! Tomorrow I'll show you another fun way to use your scraps.

• Stamps: Wonderful Year
• Inks: Versamark
• Cardstock: Presents and Pinecones DSP; Cherry Cobbler; Mint Macaron; Whisper White
• Accessories: Gold Sequin Trim; Emerald Envy Metallic Thread
• Tools: Gold Embossing Powder