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One of my favorite card ideas is an I love you card. I am not a big fan of the traditional Valentine's Day card, but this card would work for it. I fell in love with the Bear Hugs stamp set when it arrived on the scene with the new full line catalog. It was a BONUS that it has matching framelits so I don't have to do "fussy cutting" on it. 

This card receiced raves review when I presented it at our recent event. I like that it is simple to put together but packs alot of punch. Just a little bit of stamping and a little bit of Big Shot work. If you are on my newsletter you will receive access to the full instructions, but if you are not, then use the form on the side bar to get on my weekly email list! For now, here are a couple tips:

 

• First, stamp the hearts in a pattern on the background. I used ink in the same color as the cardstock (Pink Pirouette). After I top folded the 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of cardstock, I left it folded then stamped three hearts down the left side. Then I moved over and stamped two hearts down making sure they landed in between the three hearts. I continued to fill the front of the card with hearts in this pattern until I finished on the right side. Then I went back in and filled the open spaces with partial hearts.

 

• Second, after you stamp the larger bear on Crumb Cake cardstock with Soft Suede ink you can cut him out with the matching framelits. To save you a little time, position the bear and leave some room to position the scalloped circle from the Layering Circles die on some Whisper White cardstock on the platform. Thus, cutting both at the same time. 

Sale-A-Bration good news! If you don't have the Bear Hugs stamp set with the matching framelits, your purchase would qualify you for a freebie! Even better, if you need the other supplies required to do this card, you could qualify for even more freebies! Still need a Big Shot? Talk to me about getting a Starter Kit, you can choose the Big Shot and a few other things for your $99 purchase! It really is one of the best values we offer!  

A big beautiful rose is perfect for Valentines Day, wedding cards, anniversary, or as this one shows saying hello to a wonderful friend. Coloring can be done with the new Watercolor pencils (once they are available again) or like I did, using a regular ink pad and a Blender pen or an Aquapainter if you prefer.

There are so many people who we love! There are our spouses, significant others, boyfriends, girlfriends, family, and friends. There are different degrees of love. Sometimes it is a deep meaningful, important love and sometimes it is a mutual share of fun times and bonded friendship. No matter the type of love, isn't it fun to let that person know how you feel? Make up some quick and easy notes or make more elaborate Valentines. Either way, make sure you share your feelings with the special people in your life!

The Stampin' Sisters - Teri, Kari, and myself will be gathering NEXT Saturday January 14, 2017 at 9:30 am in Madison, WI for a Love is in the Air cardmaking event. We would love to have you join us! You can get all the details and RSVP on my event calendar page. There will be 12 different card designs for your fee and lots of fun and surprises too!

Maybe a Birthday Card Bash is just what you need this time of year? It would be so fun to get started making some of the Birthday cards that you will need for this year. We know that your weekend times are precious so we are happy to offer two options for your Birthday card making pleasure. The afternoon Birthday Card Bash will be Sun January 22, from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm in Waunakee, WI. We will follow up with a morning option on Sat February 11 from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm in Madison, WI (on the east side). You can get all the details for the afternoon bash or get the scoop for the morning bash on my events page. We hope you can join us once or two times. No cards will be repeated!

Boy the year went fast! October through December were pretty fresh in my mind, but it was fun to look back to try to choose cards to feature as the best of the best! For me it is a great time to reflect back and check my consistency with blogging. It was better than years past, but I plan to get even more consistent in 2017. So, I hope you will join me as I look back, but also stay with me as we go into the new year!

October 2016

Grateful for Fall is the perfect blend of texture, shine, and simplicity! First you notice the subtle color scheme, Soft Suede card base topped with Very Vanilla for contrast and then the embossed layer in Cajun Craze. You can cut out the leaf shape from the Leaflet Framelits before or after you emboss with the Petal Burst embossing folder. Be sure to use the leaf shape inside the card for a fun surprise! There is shine and extra shine with the Copper Foil paper and the 1/8" gold ribbon both perfect for your fall themed projects! One of my favorite products from the full line catalog was the stamp set and punch bundle Thoughtful Banner. There are so many useful greetings, borders, and punch ideas to make each project special. You can get more information about this card by reviewing the blog post.

November 2016

Christmas Bells are ringing was my favorite card from November and I made a lot of cards in November! I used this design a few times but changed up the colors. This card is stunning in blue, white, and silver! My favorite part of this card design was the stampers looked at this card and thought it would be hard to make, but soon found it was so easy and that the elegant stamping made it look complex. Check out the post and get some more details for this card!

December 2016

Layered Snowflakes is a fun card that uses product that I had in my stash. I love the star border punch used on the background cardstock piece. The stamp set is Holly Jolly Greetings and was a new set last Holiday Catalog. The colors are Island Indigo and Pool Party.   One my favorite things to do is create fun layers with texture from the star punched piece, a little silver glimmer paper, and the stamped panel. The step by step instructions are available, check them out here! 

Wasn't that fun? Did you remember all the cards? Did you check out some of the other ideas that didn't quite make the cut into the Top 12? If not, please take another visit and be sure to save some of your favorites to Pinterest! I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and looking forward to having you join me again for more project ideas, great sale specials, and more!

More of 2016 best ideas! July through September there were so many card ideas to choose from that it was difficult to choose, so I hope you will go back and take a look to see if you have different favorites! were some of the busiest times for my blog. There are lots of great project to look back on, but I wanted to pick my favorites to share with you today! I hope you will take a look at these card ideas again for inspiration for the coming year!

July 2016

Wedding Wishes was a card I designed for a swap with some fellow demonstrators. It uses a "fancy fold" called an easel card that is easy to make but with the Detailed Floral thinlits creating such an amazing edge detail, the card looks more difficult than it is. This card is feminine from head to toe, with the pretty ribbon, delicate stamped border and the pretty butterflies. as with all of my cards, I go for classic layouts so all you have to do is change up the color scheme and stamp sets to create your very own idea using my design. Let me do the "heavy lifting" for you. The Floral Phrases stamp set provides the pretty floral border and the greeting on this card. You can get more information about this card by reviewing the blog post.

August 2016

Timeless Wishes Birthday card was a very popular card with my fellow demonstrators when I brought it as a Make and Take for our August meeting. Many of them had said they liked the card so much that they purchased the Timeless Textures stamp set and the Morrocan Designer washi tape so they could make similar cards. Now, when you can sell to fellow demonstrators you are doing something right! So, the card had to make my Top 12! One of my favorite parts of the card is the layering and texture added with a touch of 5/8" Burlap ribbon and Very Vanilla Thick Bakers Twine  Check out the post and get some more details for this card!

September 2016

Subtle Fall Paisley and Posies was the perfect pick for September. It uses the beautiful Paisley and Posies stamp set in an amazing color combination that is not traditional for fall, but works so well! The colors are Soft Sky, Early Espresso, and Cherry Cobbler stamped on Whisper White cardstock to allow the colors to be true without warming them like a Very Vanilla background would have done. The fun part of this card is the background can be part of a One Sheet Wonder template that has you do all your stamping first, then do a little cutting and add the pieces to your card base to create multiple cards in almost the same amount of time as just stamping one card! This is one of my most favorite card layouts, with the standard base size (8 1/2" x 5 1/2 folded to create a top fold and horizontal opening card), then making the Early Espresso second layer slightly smaller than normal (5" x 3 3/4" instead of 5 1/4" x 4") to allow more of the Soft Sky base to show through. Finally, the stamping layer is done in the traditional spacing giving us 4 3/4" x 3 1/2". This layering and card layout is one my favorite and I used it many time in 2016. Top add some interest without a lot of bulk I used the smallest amount of 5/8" Burlap ribbon cut into a banner end tucked under the 1" wide greeting piece. I hope you will take another look at the blog post here! 

The last two installment of the the Top 12 List for 2016 will post tomorrow, so I hope you will take some time to look at it as well. It has been fun for me to see some of my favorites again!

We continue through the Year! April through June were some of the busiest times for my blog. There are lots of great project to look back on, but I wanted to pick my favorites to share with you today! I hope you will take a look at these card ideas again for inspiration for the coming year!

April 2016

Timeless and Classic was a versatile design showcased in April! It is done in a color scheme and with minimal embellishments to lend itself to a masculine card idea. The greeting and color scheme could be changed up to stay masculine or go in a feminine or gear it for a teen! The Timeless Textures stamp set has been a great addition to my stamping stash. I use it to add subtle backgrounds on cards or as the case of this card to be the focal point. You can get more information about this card by reviewing the blog post here.

May 2016

Way to Go - Bravo was my most popular card in May! It was so poplular in fact that it caused several of my fellow demonstrators to copy it in their own color schemes that I blogged about later in the month. The card used a classic layout and a fun technique called Subway Art layout. These was a card design that was featuring a retiring stamp set that is no longer available, but could certainly be done with another stamp set that is greeting heavy. One of my favorite parts of this card is the cut-out in the top layer and the focal greeting peeking through. Check out the post and get some more details for this card!

June 2016

You are Totally Awesome. I hope you like my pick for June. It uses one of my favorite stamp sets called Grateful Bunch with it's coordinating punch to really make a card with lots of interest! I had received a card in a swap with other demos and she had used the paper from the Playful Palette paper pack in the background of her card and it gave me the idea for this card. The colors and the stamp set are the only similarities between our cards. That is the fun part of card design, you can be inspired by another design or you can just copy it completely and still have a great design!  The instructions tell you how to attach the doily at the back of the front cover and some other tips. Be sure to check them out here! 

Watch for the last two installments of the the Top 12 List 2016 which are coming soon! I hope you are enjoying this stroll down memory lane!

Through the Year! As the end of the year gets closer, I thought it would be fun to look back at my Top 12 projects from 2016! I hope you remember them all, but if not, go back a visit each one with the links provided. This first post will get you started in the first quarter of 2016.

January 2016

Party Wishes was a hit in January! I traditionally start the year off with ideas for your Birthday card needs throughout the year and that is what January and part of February was this year. The card idea shown used festive paper that was available in the new catalog, so you could substitute the paper you have on hand, or I can let it slip there will be some fun paper available starting January 4th that you could use! The stamp set used for the focal point is retired, but I think Party With Cake could easily be substituted! This design is a simplified One Sheet Wonder template. You only need to cut each 4" x 6" piece into three pieces to get the fun effect! 

 

February 2016

Smiles and Flowering Fields was my most popular card in February! I created this card for a demonstrator only card swap that I participated in. The idea behind a swap is I created one design, and make a set number of multiples of it. Everyone else participating in the swap does the same thing. Then we trade our cards to get several card ideas back for our efforts. It is one of the best parts of being a demonstrator, you get to swap cards with some of the most creative people out there! I used a free Saleabration stamp set called Flowering Fields that was so delicate and pretty, but then I added some soft feminine touches with the ribbon, lace, linen thread, and a peek of a doily. The Soft Sky cardstock against the Crumb Cake base really pops! 

March

The idea from March was called Bright Flower and Spring. It included pretty flowers made with punches and a little greenery using the Botanical Builder Framelits. After stamping the front piece with the Hardwood background stamp it was easy to create the layered flower embellishment at the top of the cut-down card front. I used three different embellishments on the different colored flowers to make each one special and unique. The instructions tell you how to attach the doily at the back of the front cover and some other tips. Be sure to check them out here! 

There is just something wonderful about reminiscing and this blog post has warmed my heart. I hope you found it useful as well, so you can add these card ideas to your resource library. I hope you will check back later this week and next week for additional blog posts and more card ideas from this year as we walk back through 2016 in card project ideas.  

This snowflake card uses a twist on the classic blue, white, and silver color combination! Stamp up the snowflake panels on one piece of cardstock and you can quickly have 10 pieces for your card fronts!