Top 10 of 2013 plus top 3 Christmas cards

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2014 brings you everything you wish for. I like to think back over the old year before I say goodbye to it and this post is looking back and picking my favorite 13 cards of 2013, before I start looking forward to where the crafty muse will take me in the coming year. I always find this exercise to be useful in reminding me of techniques or designs that I really want to try more of, and it helps spark some creativity too. I warn you that this will be a long post, so why not grab a cuppa and join me, or just have a quick scroll through if you prefer. There is a link to the original post with each card, if you want to find out more.

I made this thank you card back in January



using one of my favourite Penny Black images. I don't often do cutesy cards but this stamp has been with me a long time and I couldn't part with it.



Some friends of ours celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this year and I really don't know where the time goes because I remember attending the wedding like it only happened 10 years ago! We will be celebrating our own ruby wedding this coming year though, and it is wonderful that we are still in touch with so many of the original wedding guests. I made this card



for them using Papertrey Ink materials and scarlet jewel colours as it was a Ruby Wedding Anniversary.

The Bridesmaid from my wedding became a Grandma for the first time in June, and I made this card when we attended little Joshua's Christening



This uses a lovely stamp from Lily of the Valley and some Nestability dies.

In February, Papertrey Ink celebrated its 6th birthday and I made this card for the celebration Blog Hop.



I used the Year of Flowers, Morning Glory stamp and I tried a new (to me) technique of stamping part of the sentiment on the panel and the rest of it on the base card. I really like tone on tone colours.

In July, I took the Summer Card Camp from Online Card Classes, and one of the assignments was to make a trifold card, so I came up with this one.



I used an edger die to give interest to the flaps and a Hero Arts flower for the focal point. I like how this turned out, and it reminds me that I want to try making more cards that aren't just an A2 portrait shape.

This next card was made for my daughter to give to some of her friends who got engaged




I love the look of white embossed on kraft colours and this CAS design is one of my favourites. I also decorated the envelope to make it a little more special.

Another card I made for the  Summer Card Camp involved a watercolour and masking technique that was new to me.



I really enjoyed playing with my inks and I got several images from the one inking with each one getting more pastel looking.

Bloggers are such friendly people and in November, a kind blogging buddy, Joyce, organised a blog hop to celebrate the birthday of another buddy, Tracey, so of course I wanted to join in. I made this card for her




using Papertrey Ink materials, and she really is a superstar!


This is another card that I made for Summer Camp -  what can I say - it was a really good class.





I used an Embossabilities folder and die cuts from Papertrey Ink. I wanted to make polka dots for the presents and used my Cropadile to punch out all the little dots.

My final pick for the non Christmas cards is not a card at all, but is a coffee themed gift set which I gave to my daughter for Christmas.



I really enjoyed making the felt coffee cozy using Papertrey Ink dies, but I had an absolute ball making the packaging and the gift card holder!

The last 3 cards are Christmas Cards which I got started on early this year.

This is a card made with the Papertrey Ink one liner dies,

a tiny tag die, and double ended banner die. I love the one liner dies and want to make more use of them.

I made this circular card on my Silhouette Cameo



and used a hand punch to cut out all the ferns to make the wreath. I cut and folded some vellum to make the sentiment banner.

I think this one was my favourite Christmas card this year, so I saved it for last.



I love the little WPlus9 Christmas tree (kindly given to me by Ann at Love Making Things), and I like the simple design.

Thank you so much if you stayed with me through this look down memory lane. For next year I want to get more use out of my Silhouette Cameo and try some new stamp companies, so if you have some favourites you can recommend, I would love to hear about them. I also want to enjoy being on my first Design Team for the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge, so this year my Christmas stamps will not be packed away, and I will get a head start on next year's Christmas cards. If you would like to get a head start too, I would love it if you joined us.

Well I think that is more than enough for now, so I just want to wish you a very happy and crafty New Year.

Thanks for stopping by
Hugs
Carol x