My Top 10 ... No! My Top 36 Favorites of 2010!

Happy New Year's Eve!  It is almost time to say goodbye to 2010!  And say hello to 2011!  Can you believe how time flies?  I have thouroughly enjoyed making cards for me and you this year!  All 225 of them!  Yes, I counted!  I was planning on today showing you my top 10, but I soon found out that was an impossible task to narrow down 225 cards to just 10 favorites, so I decided to go with the top 36 instead!  Even with that number, I had to eliminate some.  So here are my favs.  I will be giving you a link to the original post on each if you need more details.  One more thing, they are not in order of how much I like them, but in more of a chronological order.  Enjoy!

I love this layout and the rose!  See post here.

I love how she actually swings!  See post here.

Love the simplicity!  See post here.



Too cute for words!  See post here.



My colors and just too cute!  See post here.

I love the layout and the humor!  See post here.

Cool new technique that I love!  See post here.



I love this layout.  And the image completes it!  See post here.



I love how the boy sits with his dog and holds his flag.  So patriotic! See post here.



I love all the elements in this beach scene!  See post here.



One of the best cards!  Love all of it, especially the polka dots!  See post here.

Great guy card! See post here.

Love the layering with the pig!  And her tail!  See post here.

Used the cool technique for this Texas card.  See post here.

Wonderful layout for a very pretty card!  See post here.

Love the layering! Woof!  See post here.

Wonderful Shaker Card!  See post here.

I love black, white and a color, especially lime green!  And I love the saying!  See post here,



So bright and sunny!  See post here.



What a cute mouse and love that big 'ole button!  See post here.

I love how the paper created the background!  See post here.



I love all the paper piecing on the cowgirl shirts for this Texas card.  See post here.



Love the addition of the created beach. See post here.

A favorite layout and a cute guy!  See post here.

Beautiful layout!  See post here.

Beautiful easel card!  See post here.

I love this layout, the cute turtle and the colors!  See post here.

Life is too short for beige ... need I say more?  Love the rhinestone collar too!  See post here.

A favorite layout.  See post here.

Great layout.  Love the flowers!  See post here.

Great card!  Cute Bunny!  See post here.

Wonderful layout!  And I love the sentiment!  See post here.

Another great combination of coordinating papers.  Love it!  See post here.

I loved all the Halloween and fall cards but I picked this one for the button ribbon combo!  See post here.

What's not to love?  So many great elements.  See post here.

Love, Love this one ... so cute!  See post here.

I hope you enjoyed my sharing of all my favorites.  I so look forward to many more card creations in 2011.  I hope you will come along for the ride!  Have a wonderful safe and Happy New Year! 

See you next year!  Happy Stamping!
Tina

Skatin' by to say..."thanks"!

Hello!  I wasn't sure if I was going to get the chance to show you any card creations this week, but I am happy to tell you, I do have a couple for you today.  The stamps I used for today's creations are ones that I got back in October when a friend and I went to Stamp Salado on a road trip.  When they were first purchsed, I thought I would use them for one of my Christmas cards.  But when I didn't get to, I decided that anytime in the winter would work, as they are more wintery than Christmasy.  Ice skating must be "in", as there are several companies that I have seen that have created different animals skating.  I, who lives in Texas, well ... we don't do much of that!  But that dosen't mean I don't think stamps of animals, and in this case, a racoon skating is not cute.  It was cute enough for me to buy it at the stamp store and take it home!  Let me show you my card, and then I have a how-to about it.  Enjoy!

I had an idea about how it would be fun to do a reverse of him, making it look like a reflection.  My first thought was using a brayer but as I have said before the brayer is not my friend.  I decided to look at some tutorials about how to do this and see if there are ways without using a brayer.  There is!  And it work perfectly!  All I did was stamp the image on a piece of acetate and lay it onto the cardstock where I wanted the upside down image to be and rub it with my fingernail.  Whe I lifted the acetate, there was the lighter stamped image!  I then added my colored pencils lightly to the upside down image.  The only thing is, looking at it now, I think I should have added more light blue, the water color, around the whole upside down image.  Oh well.  

I made one more card using the same stamps.  So here is that one ... enjoy!
 

It is always fun to see the same stamps in different looks.  I had a purpose.  You see I made both of these cards for Christmas thank you cards and one was going to my stepdaughter and her guy and one to my stepgranddaughter.  I wanted hers to look more girly, so that is how I ended up making two cards and in different colors.  Both are pretty cute, I think. Oh by the way, the sentiment stamp, actually reads Skatin' by to say... Hi!  But, since I was making thank you cards, I did not stamp the Hi, and stamped thanks in it's place.


Recipe Card #1:
Paper - Plaid is backside of My Minds Eye Jusy Dreamy 2, Swirl pattern is My Minds Eye Countdown to Christmas pad, Cardstock White, Teal, Acetate (as tool, see above)
Stamps - Raccoon and Just Skatin' sentiment by Stampendous, Thanks by Studio G $1 stamp
Ink - Versafine Black, Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol
Tools - Classic Circle Nestibilities, Marvy Corner Rounder
Other - Quicky Glue Pen, Art Institute Crystal Glitter, Teal Pearls by Queen & Co.
 
Recipe Card #2:
Paper - Snowflake print unknown (scrap), Cardstock White, Green, Pink Shimmer
Stamps - Stampendous/ Studio G
Ink - Versafine Black, Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol
Tools - Classic Scalloped and Classic Circle Nestibilities, Polka Dot embossing folder, EK Success Victorian Corner Rounder punch, Marvy Corner Rounder punch
Other - Quicky Glue Pen, Art Institute Crystal Glitter, Green Rhinestones by Queen & Co.

 I will be back tomorrow with my top 10 favorite cards of 2010.  I have to tell you though I am having a really hard time narrowing it down to just 10!  WIsh me luck and I'll see you tomorrow!

Happy Stamping!
Tina

Desk Calendar with Notes!

Hello!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  I can't believe it is already Wednesday, which means it is just a few short days away from a new year!  Today's project is one I worked on before Christmas.  I thought it was finished and I did like how it turned out.  But, I decided in the last couple of days, that since I would not be sending it in the mail, and that I am making it to sit on a desk, that I should redo it, changing the size.  You see, my original one was an A-2 size.  And the end version is a 5 1/2 inch square.  Now that it is complete, I really like the square version better.  My idea all started when my hubby and I were at Dollar General one day before Christmas and I came across this little package with a notepad and a calendar.  The weird part is that the calendar was a thick stack of papers, too thick for just 12 months so I opened the package up and found that there were 4 to 5 sheets of each month!  And, the idea came!  Now I have seen a few sites where you can download a 2011 calendar and print your own, but I was thinking this would be better because I didn't have to do any of that.  There were a few different packages with different colors of calendar pages so I got one of each.  I think I ended up spending $5, giving me enough to make about 25 or so ... and you know that is not going to happen ... but I do have variety!  I figure I can use the memo pads too, so not all is lost.  I guess I had better get to showing you my creation, then I can talk more about the details.  I also have pics of the original A-2 size one.  Enjoy ...

What do you think?  It could still be sent in the mail because it does lay flat but stands up on it's own because it is an easel card.  How do like my new Pure Innocence little girl stamp?  Is she not too cute?  I got her back before Christmas but just now had the chance to use her.  I paper pieced her dress to match my background paper.  I added the sentiment Joy for the Journey, another new one I got at the same time from Verve, which I thought says it all when thinking about the new year.  In the second picture above, on the left you have post it notes which I halved the stack so it wouldn't be as thick, and on the right, I made a small envy to hold the additional month pages. On the previous design, I had to make a pocket on the top part of the card to hold the pages.  Here is the pic of the previous version ...

And, I had to hold the current month page on with a paper clip.  And that is the part, I disliked the most.  I saw on some blog where they held something in place with two slits on either side.  I liked how that looked.   Well, Stampin' Up used to make a punch that did just that, which I don't have anyway.  So, I thought I could figure out how to do it with another punch ... NOT!  So, I "phoned a friend", but after trying additional ideas, I still didn't like the result.  So, in the end I used my Victorian photo corner punch to create two holders for my current month page.  Here is a close up of that ...

I wasted more paper by trying to make slits that look good!  I think this is a better solution.  And I like it! 

Recipe:

Paper - My Favorite Things Paper Pack (this was the freebie when I did my MFT order, and as you can see, I put it to good use!), Cardstock White (in the square version, I went with this as the base because it is thicker than the pink I have), Pink
Stamps - My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Girl called Making a List, Joy for the Journey by Verve Stamps
Ink - Versafine Black, Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, YROO Copic marker for skin
Tools - Classic Circle and Labels 8 Nestibilities, Martha Stewart flower border punch, EK Success Victorian Photo corner punch, Polka Dots embossing Folder
Other - Pink flower and dots rhinestones by Hero Arts, Prima Flower

Reminder about how to make an easel card.  The base piece is 5 1/2 x 11 with a score at the 5 1/2 mark and then the second score for this card is 2 3/4 from one end.  You create your whole front on a second 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece and then you add adhesive ONLY to the bottom 2 3/4 end of the foldover to adhere your 5 1/2 square to.  This will allow you to form the easel.  If you need a visual, here is a you tube video from splitcoast stampers. Pretty darn simple.

I hoped to make a couple of other cards for you this week, but since the week is going fast, that may not happen.  I will be back with a post for tomorrow or the next day to share with you my top 10 favorite cards from 2010!  That will be fun!  Right now, I am off to make more calendars with my different color pages!  Woo Hoo!

Happy Stamping!
Tina

Christmas Eve Sharing!

Merry Christmas!  I wanted to give you one more post before Christmas and share the handmade items I got from friends.  I really appreciate all the cards I receive whether they are handmade or not.  But this post is about the handmade.  So let's get to it.  Enjoy!

Thanks Eileen!

Thanks Donna!

Thanks Debbie!

Thanks Angela!

I have one last share.  And that is a couple of pics of my tree.  We really don't get any company at our house that would get to see our tree.  So, I thought I would like to share with you.  I have had a fresh decorated tree all my life.  Not, one year was I ever without one.  When I was a little kid, we often had white flocked ones.  I remember my aunt had even pink and blue flocked ones in the 60's.  But I am more traditional.  Just green with clear lights.  The decorations are mostly red, green, and silver.  Every year, my hubby and I buy an ornament for us with that year's date on it. Maybe someday, we can fill a whole tree with them.  Here is my tree this year...

That's it!  I will be back sometime next week to give you a couple of ideas before the end of the year.  I hope you have the most wonderful Christmas with family and friends!  Love ya!

Happy Stamping!
Tina

The Gift Card Card!

Hello!  Does my title look like a typo?  Well, it is not.  I made a card to hold a couple of gift cards for my hubby.  You see, every Christmas, I like to purchase gift cards to the restaurants we like.  I always make some kind of holder to put them in.  You can see last year's idea here.  It really becomes a gift for not only him but me too!  This year, with our money only coming from his pension, we purchased only a couple of cards from the restaurants that had the deals.  You've seen them ... buy a gift card for $25 and get one for $10.  Too good to pass up, if they are places you know you will be going to.  So, even though he knows he is getting them, I still wanted to made something to give them in.  Today's card is the result.  The idea came from the resource section on Splitcoast Stampers.  It is called the diagonal double pocket card and the easy instructions can be found here.  I did do the variation so that my card would open like a regular card.  Here is the one I made ... enjoy!  

Green is my hubby's favorite color so I knew that I wanted to find paper that was two-sided and green.  I thought this sparkle dot paper from Best Creation would be perfect.  I love the way it came out.  That little reindeer is a hoot!  Let me give you a close up of the gift card holder inserts ...



Do you think that looks like a Labels 4 nestiblities?  You would be right.  I put just a very thin strip of red liner tape on each side and at the bottom and taped two together. The cards fit inside perfectly.  The next smaller size die was cut out of the DP for accent and the bow was added mainly for an accent when they are in the pockets.  The card idea is not really for gift cards, but I think it worked great!    Whatcha think?

Recipe:
Paper - Best Creation, Inc., Cardstock White
Stamps - Hero Arts
Ink - Versafine Black, Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol
Tools - Classic Scalloped Circles, Classic Circles, Labels 4 Nestibilities
Other - Green Rhinestones by Hero Arts

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!  Growing up, Christmas Eve was just as much about Christmas as the actual day, because we would go to my aunt's where my mom and her five sisters would make the big meal on Christmas Eve and presents were opened!  And then on Christmas Day, Santa came and then we were back to my aunt's for the leftovers.  I will always have those wonderful memories but now days things are a little different.  On Christmas Eve, my hubby and I will be seeing my mom at the nursing home.  We will also be visiting friends and hopefully going to church.  Christmas day we will be traveling to his daughter's.  She lives in St. Joe, which is up close to the Oklahoma border.  Gary's son, and his kids will be meeting us there.  We are looking forward to a family filled Christmas!  I thank God for giving me a ready made family with children and grandchildren. As I have no children of my own and now that big family I had growing up is all gone, except for my mom, who is 95.  I am very blessed.

I already have my post ready for you to see tomorrow where I will be sharing the handmade cards and items I have received from friends this Christmas. So check back in then.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Happy Stamping!
Tina