Top 10 cards of 2017

Hello everyone,

I do hope you have all had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate it, or at the very least enjoyed some time off with friends and family over the holiday period. It has been pretty chaotic in our household with my husband having his second hip replacement just before Christmas. You may remember that he had one hip replaced in June and it did not go very smoothly. However, I'm pleased to report that this one went according to plan and we just have the normal slow recovery process to go through in January. The highlight of Christmas day was having our four-week-old Grandaughter, Alice and her parents join us for the day and as I looked around at my three gorgeous adult children, it took me right back to when they too were little babies. How time flies. Happy days!

The period after Christmas always sees me looking back at the year gone by, so I have been looking through the blog to pick my favourite makes of 2017. Here they are, in no particular order.

I have a good friend with a February birthday, and I bought this stamp from Papertrey Ink with her in mind. I really liked the vivid yellow and orange colours for brightening up dreary February days. I don't know about you, but I am not a big fan of February. I have trouble with January too but I think when we have got through it, we should be rewarded by being able to fast forward to spring. Of course, those of you in other areas of the world probably don't agree because it would speed you through your summer days.

You can find the original post on this card here.

My Favourite Things design some fabulous images and I just love these cute little Harvest Mice. I'm ashamed to say that I had these stamps in my stash for far too long before they saw ink, but I think they really suited this CAS design

You can find the original post here

This card used a large Creative Expressions stamp by John Lockwood called, appropriately 'Daisy Heart Stamp' I really enjoyed creating the little raised circles around the heart and adding the tiny little bow.

You can find the original post here.

You will have noticed that this one isn't a card, but it makes me happy and I wanted to include it here. Penny Black is so good at character dies and I really took to this FeLINE die with all the cats having their heads tilted at slightly different angles. I did a little snipping to remove the cats from their frame and watercoloured a background for them.

You can find the original post here.

I've added this card because it took me outside my comfort zone and is not my normal style. I used tone on tone black by clear embossing on the black card to add some shine and used a blue watercolour spray to make the background. The silhouette fairy is a Lavinia stamp and I added sparkle to her wings which is sadly difficult to see in the picture.

You can find the original post here.



Several members of our local book group are cat lovers so I made this card for one of them and it fitted the bill perfectly. The stamp is from Newton's Nook and I coloured the cat to match her own little kitty.




You can find the original post here.



This one has to be my favourite card of the year because I made it to celebrate the birth of my first Grandchild, Alice who was born at the end of November. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the stork and the film strip, and  I love the curved 'welcome' die cut from Paper Smooches. I cut Alice's name from an ancient alphabet die set from Sizzix called Mac'n'Cheese which has a whimsical feel to it that I really like.




You can find the original post here.


This card was made for a young friend who had just been told she was expecting a little boy. The rocket is from an old Papertrey Ink 'Out of this World' stamp set. I'm pleased to report that Sam arrived safely and is a delightfully cuddly baby boy.

You can find the original post here.

It was a big year for new babies and this one was made for another new arrival. I used a Crafter's Companion baby quilt embossing folder on patterned paper to make the background tag and then sanded it down to expose the white core of the paper. The sweet little eggs and nest are again from Papertrey Ink.

You can find the original post here.


Finally, I have included this one because I love the textured sponging technique I used through a masked off oval shape. The sentiment reminds me that this is the attitude I should have about every day in 2018 - even those that occur in February.

You can find the original post here.

Well, that is it for today but I'll be back in the next day or so with my Top 10 Christmas cards of the year. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs

Carol x