Year In Review: July - September

Welcome to Day 3 of my year in review.

July 2013

Loved this Mojo Monday sketch.

Love the citrus colours on this card.

A fabulous verse to cling to.

August 2013

This was such a unique sketch I had to try it and I used one of my favorite colour combos of pink and green.

Love this sentiment and the fun papers.

 

This card just makes me happy. Love the fun papers and colour combo.

September 2013

These Clearly Besotted sunflowers are so much fun to use!  Love them!

Love using fall colours and these Verve pumpkins are so fun.

 

Love this Stampin' Up set and the grid technique is such a fun one to use on a card.

Three days down and one to go.  Back on January 2nd for my final year in review post.  Have a safe and Happy New Year's!

 

Mojo Monday #326

Welcome to the last Mojo Monday of 2013!  Man, where did the year go?!

I broke with tradition this week and made a square card as I needed the extra room to get everything on my card.

I used Teresa Collins' Memorabilia paper and the sentiment is from Let It Be.  There are a few people I know who could use a reminder to believe in themselves in 2014 after a tough go in 2013.

You can check out all the challenge details over on the Mojo Monday blog and also get a chance to view all the wonderful Mojo Makers samples.  Should you wish more details on the Mojo Maker's cards, you can also visit their individual blogs noted below.

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen (you are here)

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen

Looking forward to another week with the kids home, company gone, a jammie day or two and just relaxing and enjoying some good family time :)  Also beginning to think about my word for 2014 as well as a few goals I want to accomplish in the coming year.  As the saying goes, if you aim at nothing you are sure to hit it!

Thanks for walking through this year with me on my blog and for all your kind comments and encouragement  - you guys are the best!!  Have a safe and Happy New Year's everyone, and I'll be back on January 1st with the new Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge.



 
What's In It?
Stamps:   Let It Be  (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Memorabilia (Teresa Collins), Kraft, Black (Stampin' Up)
Ink: Black   
Accessories:  Number Border Die (PTI), Crimper (Fiskars), Buttons, Twine, Glue Dots, Dimensionals 

Year In Review: April - June

Welcome to Day2 of my year in review.  Today I will showcase my favorite cards from April through June.

April 2013

 

 Just love this sentiment's font!

 

Flowers and butterflies, two of my favorite things to use on a card.

May 2013

 

Love the soft colours on this card.

My beloved Verve tree die!

June 2013

A challenging Mojo Monday sketch with an outcome I just loved.  Verve's Strong Anchor is such a great set!

A Diva Dare card where we had to do some mixed media.

That's it for Day 2 of my year in review.  Back soon with Day 3.

Just Us Girls #221 - Photo Inspiration

 

This week Lisa has provided this fun inspiration picture for us to work from.  Hard to believe 2013 is almost over!  It's been quite the year and I'm actually looking forward to a fresh starts in 2014.

I decided to go the tag route this time and focused on the gold and sparkle.  Some shimmer paper from the dollar store (oh how I love our local dollar store!) and Reverse Confetti's tag die (loooove this die!) along with PTI's number border die and I was good to go.

The rest of the  JUGS team, along with our fabulous December GD Jan Del Bone (thanks for your awesome cards this month, Jan!), have some wonderful samples to get your inspiration going, so head on over to the Just Us Girls blog and check out what they've created.  Then put your creative genes to work and add your card/project to the challenge post on the JUGS blog for the chance to be chosen as the Chic of the Week.  Plus if you are chosen as Chic of the Week, you could be invited to be a Guest Designer.

Have a great weekend!

Challenges:  Simon Says 
                     Friday Mash Up




What's In It? 
Paper:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up), Gold Shimmer Paper (Dollar Store)
Accessories:   Tag Die (Reverse Confetti), Number Border Die (PTI), 5/8" White Satin Ribbon and Gold Twine (Michaels'),  Dimensionals

Year in Review: January - March

Time for my "Year In Review" posts.  A time when I dig back through my posts and select my favorite cards of 2013.

January 2013

Love this card because it is out of my norm.   Definitely on the CAS side. 

Green, green and more green makes me happy :)

Had great fun rolling big orange roses.

February 2013

Love making white on white cards!

Never tire of this fabulous image.

One of the cards from my very first Verve release as a Verve Diva :)

March 2013

 

Another CAS stretch and I just love these Verve flowers.

My first Diva Dare card.

A challenging Mojo Monday sketch with results I loved. 

Never an easy task narrowing down favorites!!  Back with the next installment of "My Year In Review" tomorrow.

Wishing each and every one of you a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Christ with family and friends.

Thank you for all your support and kind comments this past year.  I greatly appreciate the time you take to leave a few words of encouragement, and know that each one is a treasured gift and greatly appreciated :)    

Thank you for making this a wonderful year in blog land and I look forward to sharing 2014 with you!

Blessings,

Mojo Monday #325

I love seeing hearts on sketches :)  Maybe because I love hearts and am excited about moving on from snowflakes LOL.  Mind you, I'll use any excuse to use a heart on a card!

Just had to use Santa's List paper pad by Teresa Collins again - love the colour combo and patterns in it!  Just bought the tag die from Reverse Confetti and had to use it along with my beloved Jotted Heart die, to which I added one of the hearts from the Heart Quartet die.   Some ribbon, buttons, bling and twine added the accents I was looking for.

You can check out all the challenge details over on the Mojo Monday blog and also get a chance to view all the wonderful Mojo Makers samples.  Should you wish more details on the Mojo Maker's cards, you can also visit their individual blogs noted below.
 

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen (you are here)

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen

Just one sleep before Christmas (we celebrate Christmas Eve!) and a fabulous roast beef dinner made by hubby.  My in-laws arrive tomorrow, and I can't wait to catch up with them. I am truly blessed with an amazing second set of parents!

Will be a bit quiet here for a week or so as I take time to enjoy time with family and friends -- and oh how I am looking forward to a jammie day or two as well as some puzzle making and reading!!  My year in review posts will start towards the end of this week, and you can see if you agree with my choices {grin}. 

Wishing you a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of Christ with family and friends!  Hugs to all :)


 
 
What's In It?
Stamps:  Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  Santa's List (Teresa Collins), Early Espresso (Stampin' Up), Cream Linen
Ink: Black  
Accessories:  Jotted Heart and Heart Quarted Dies (A Cut Above By Verve), Doily Die (PTI),  Tag Die (Reverse Confetti), Seeing Spots Embossing Folder (Provo Craft), 5/8" Red Grosgrain Ribbon amd 5/8" Brown Satin Ribbon (Michael's), Crimper (Fiskars), Distressing Tool (Stampin' Up), Button, Twine, Bling, Glue Dot, Dimensionals   

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Sweet Snowflake Reminder

We are half way through the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge entitled Sweet Snowflakes.   Uniko Studio is our sponsor for this challenge and I am gleefully using their Stunning Snowflakes set.  Love the mix of snowflake images and they have a matching die set too.

I am stretching myself waaay out of my comfort zone and going to the CAS side for this card.  Chose to use this FTL sketch, and since I don't own an aqua ink pad (definitely need to fix that soon!), I went with turquoise and pink instead.  Added some bling in the middle of the snowflakes for a little dimension and sparkle and couldn't resist this cute tag.  As for the sentiment, one snowfall would be nice so the kids can have fun building snowmen and sledding in it, and then it can go away LOL!

You can check out all the challenge details over on the Curtain Call Inspirations Challenge.  You have until December 25th at 8:00 a.m. CST to complete a new card/project using the inspiration picture and linking it up accordingly.

Thanks for popping by and hope you can find some time to play along with us!












Challenges: Simon Says
                    Friday Mash Up

 

What's In It? 
Stamps:   Stunning Snowflakes (Uniko Studio)
Paper:  Kraft, White
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Positiviely Pink, Black (Stampin' Up)  
Accessories:   Tiny Tags (PTI), Twine, Bling, Dimensionals

Just Us Girls #220 - Colour Challenge

Sue T. has chosen a yummy colour combo for us to work with this week and it gave me the perfect excuse to use my Santa's List papers again - happy sigh :)  I combined it with last week's Freshly Made sketch, which was a great one. 

Used Lil' Inkers stitched rectangles and WPlus9's "joy" die (oh how I love this die!!) one more time.  A little bling to bring out the "joy" and a holly trim finished things off.

The rest of the  JUGS team, along with our December GD Jan Del Bone, have some wonderful samples to get your inspiration going, so head on over to the Just Us Girls blog and check out what they've created.  Then put your creative genes to work and add your card/project to the challenge post on the JUGS blog for the chance to be chosen as the Chic of the Week.  Plus if you are chosen as Chic of the Week, you could be invited to be a Guest Designer.

Kids are off school and we are heading into the home stretch for Christmas :)   Lots of cleaning in store for this weekend along with some last minute shopping for chef hubby (he's the cook and I'm sous chef and clean up girl).     

Have a great weekend!

Challenges: Simon Says 
                    Friday Mash Up




What's In It? 
Paper:  Early Espresso, Kraft, Real Red (Stampin' Up), Santa's List (Teresa Collins)
Accessories:   Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil' Inkers), Joy Die (WPlus9), Holly Die (PTI), Crimper (Fiskars), Bling, Dimensionals 

CAS(e) This Sketch #58

Sorry about being rather quiet here the last few weeks.  It's been a very busy two weeks and I am thrilled that we are in the home stretch!  Kids are off school on Friday and we can ease our way into Christmas :)

This CAS(E) This Sketch sketch caught my eye and a few ideas popped into my head, tired as I am, so I ran with it while the energy lasted LOL!  I flipped the sketch to a horizontal orientation and also inverted the design so my sentiment was on the left rather than on the right.

Just had to use my "joy" die one more time, an create some sparkly joy :)  Made this for my SIL as we are headed over there on Saturday for dinner and then a walk through some gorgeous gardens in Vancouver that are all decorated for Christmas and have various choirs singing. Fingers crossed the weather holds.

Hope you are surviving the last minute rush.  Take time to breathe deep and not stress out too much - I know, easier said than done.

Challenges:  Simon Says


What's In It?
Stamps:   Celebrate the Season(Amuse)
Paper:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up), Silver Shimmer Paper (Dollar Store) 
Ink: Black   
Accessories:  Joy Die (WPlus9), Snowflake Die (PTI), Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil' Inkers), White Half Pearls, Dimensionals 

Mojo Monday #324

This week's Mojo Monday sketch is by Teresa and that banner was great fun to use!

Once again I used We R Memory Keepers North Pole papers and created a banner using one of the dies from the Flag It die set and stamping on the sentiment an then threading it with twine.  Love this tree die from the Winter Fun set, and had to use it again, crimping one of them for a bit of dimension and to fill some space.  The sentiment is embossed in white and I added a touch of twine for a little something.

It was a big stretch for me to use so much patterned paper and not have any white space - yikes!  However, I think it works as "joy" is highlighted and that was my goal.

You can check out all the challenge details over on the Mojo Monday blog and also get a chance to view all the wonderful Mojo Makers samples.  Should you wish more details on the Mojo Maker's cards, you can also visit their individual blogs noted below.

Carole Burrage

Debbie Carriere

Julee Tilman (Owner)

Marisa Ritzen (you are here)

Mary Fish

Sarah Biglow

Teresa Kline

Wanda Cullen

Last week of school for the kids before they are off for Christmas Break.  Going to be a busy week indeed!  Wishing you a great one!



 
What's In It?
Stamps:   Peace On Earth (Verve Stamps)
Paper:  North Pole (We R Memory Keepers), Cool Caribbean, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up) 
Ink: Black, VersaMark  
Accessories:  Winter Fun Die Set, Flag It Die Set (A Cut Above by Verve), Crimper (Fiskars), Twine, Dimensionals