my favourite highlights from 2009

I've noticed a lot of people picking out their favourite projects from 2009, so I thought I would jump in on the fun. I actually gave up on my first attempt to do this - in some months I had more than one personal favourite, so it was incredibly difficult to pick just one. However, I persevered and chose just one favourite from each month.

Click on the month heading to be taken directly to the original posting. Click on photo to enlarge.

January ~ two birds

February ~ girly

March ~ amour

April ~ creative

May ~ thinking of you

June ~ little princess

                           

July ~ home for the holidays

                        

August ~ we do not inherit the earth

                          

September ~ book worm

                         

October ~ altered skull

                                     

November ~ remember {good times} in Paris

                        

December ~ loving wishes

                        

Are any of your favourites here? Some of these projects seem so long ago now, but they all bring back memories of their own.

I would love to see what you've done. Drop me a message so that I can come peek at your favourite projects.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day

dear santa ...

I hope that everyone is having a magical Christmas time. This is something I managed to make in the run up to Christmas but simply didn't have time to post. So I thought I would post it now before Christmas is well and truly over!

Challenges:

'Anything that reminds you of the holiday season': Stamp Something.

'Christmas': Stamp With Us.

'Free theme': Lots To Do.

Papers: Webster's Pages ~ Home for the Holidays: December Journal and Christmas Sky.

Edges have been embossed with gold and then stickles added.

                                       

Image:Magnolia ~ Tilda with Christmas Cracker. I coloured her with my copics and added stickles to the decorations she is carrying, although this is hard to see in the photos.

I hope you all continue to enjoy the holidays. I have some time off (lucky, lucky me!) so will be round to visit you all very soon!

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day.

loving wishes

I needed to make a birthday card and it was such a welcome break from making Christmas stuff!

The challenges:

'Anything goes': Creative Card Crew.

'Free for all': C.R.A.F.T. Challenge.

'Use favourite colouring medium & colour': If the Shoe Fits.

'Lace': Quixotic Paperie.

Papers: Bo Bunny ~ Alissa Collection. I love these yummy pink & turquoise colours.

Flowers: Bo Bunny.

Punch: Ek Success ~ Edger Punch.

The image and sentiment are from the new Magnolia ~ Winter kit so I don't yet know her name, but isn't she just the cutest? I'm sure I will never tire of these darling Tilda's.

Well of course today it snowed and we were transformed into a winter wonderland. Here is a section of my garden.

I noticed the bird feeders were looking a bit empty but they are now filled with yummy goodness (for birds!). These guys & gals need all the help they can get in this weather, so don't forget to leave out your scraps and keep the feeders topped up.

Apologies for not visiting your blogs in the last week or so, my life has not been my own lately in this 'silly season' but I will be catching up as soon as I can.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day

lamp post tag: Day 8 ~ Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Here is my version of the TH Day 8 Tag, which I used as a topper.

Yes, I've jumped a few. Day 3 drove me to distraction ... creating plaid on glossy cardstock. A whole sheet of 12 x 12 glossy cardstock ended up in the bin and I won't be going back there! Tim said of the plaid that it was 'very addicting'. Uhmmm ... not for me it wasn't! I will go back to the others when I get the time though, as I am interested to try out some more of the techniques he uses.

Challenges:

'Christmas foliage': My Time to Craft.

'Winter': Wednesday Stamper.

'Flourishes': Creative Belli.

'Winter wonderland': Stamp Something.

'Music in your soul': Saturday Spotlight.

I was really happy when I saw the Day 8 tag as I actually had the stamp set that he was using, which is the Festive Sounds collection.

Just love that lamp post and would never have thought to stamp it on to grungeboard and ink the edges in that way. I used a black glitter embossing powder on the lamp post as it was the only black embossing powder I had, but I think it gives a more metally effect.

I again used the Little Yellow Bicycle flourish stamp. The holly stamp is by PaperArtsy, I added stickles to the berries.

You might notice that I didn't use the giant key. I didn't have any but pretty sure that I wouldn't have used one anyway. I couldn't see the connection between a giant key and a lampost the same size, other than a marketing ploy   ;-) Besides, I didn't like to cover up my music parchment and I liked it just the way it was.

The cardstock is Webster's Pages: Winter's Wings ~ Snow Tips.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day

a vintage christmas

Challenges:

'Santa Claus': Wednesday Stamper.

'Use charms': Simon Says Challenge and Quixotic Paperie. I have used a trinket pin.

'lace & distressing': Crafty Creations.

'ho ho ho': Winter Wonderland.

I've made a little book to remember Christmas.

                              

Papers: My Mind's Eye ~ 29th Street Market. Edges distressed with distress embossing powder and inked.

Image: Bo Bunny ~ Santa Dear stamped onto kraft paper. Edges distress, inked and glitter glued! TH Brads added to corners.

Ribbons, lace and buttons: From stash.

Embellishments: Tim Holtz hitch fastener and 'vintage' trinket pin.

                 

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day.

snowflakes and candy canes

Another Christmas card!

The Sketch: Sketch Saturday.

Other challenges:

'Christmas': Stampavie & more.

'Anything girly': Cute Card Thursday.

'Add glitz': Stamp Something.

'Use flowers with Christmas in mind': Saturday Spotlight.

'Bedazzled': Magnolia Down Under Challenges.

'Winter Sparkle': Crafty Calendar Challenge.

Papers: S.E.I. ~ Winter Song: Starlight and Flurry Kisses. Full of touchy feely glitter. Machine stitching and stickles added to the edges.

Brads: Doodlebug ~ Sugar Coated.

Flowers: Hero Arts with a touch of stickles.

                                          

Image: Magnolia ~ Sitting Tilda with Candy Canes coloured with copics.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day

peace ... joy ... love: Day 2 ~ Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Yes, I know. I am running way behind with my 12 tags of Christmas already, but I did say it would take the whole month ... I wasn't joking!

I am entering this into the 'Christmas' themed challenges at Stamp With Fun and Creative Card Crew.

OK, so this is my version of Day 2, it should have been simple but it drove me crazy! LOL! Tim's version can be found here.

My problems started when I did not have an ornate frame (first ingredient) or anything close to it! My 'frames' were few and far between so after experimenting painfully, I finally decided that it didn't have to be a frame ... I could create a border instead.

I used Winter Border stamps from Inkadinkado. I'm not really overwhelmed with the whole process of using distress powder and then rubbing ink on and wiping it off. I like to have a clear cut image, I don't really like the vagueness that is the end result of this method. However, having said that, I am quite pleased with my overall end result.

I don't really like the dark red and green Christmas colour combo that TH used, but wanting to keep vaguely with it and knowing there would be gold in there, this is what I used.

Somehow it created an orangey effect which is much more my colour scheme.

The 'Peace Joy Love' stamp is by PaperArtsy.

I used the same flourish stamp (if it can be called that) as for my Day 1 tag, from Little Yellow Bicycle.

As you can see, I did not add a metal flower as I don't own any so created a layered paper flower but did add a Tim Holtz ~ Long Fastener to the middle. Couldn't bear to crush it with a hammer though, so didn't!

For the flicky gold bits I used Gold Alcohol Ink. It didn't create big blotches as seen on the TH tags but more of a fine mist, which for my tag I think I prefer. I don't know if this effect was down to the ink or the brush I used, as the brush seemed to absorb a lot of the ink.

My metal corners ... don't even talk to me about that! I didn't have the TH ones, but did have some PaperArtsy ones. Unfortunately however, they do not sit at 90 degrees, so however much I bashed them, they didn't sit true. So having hacked uselessly at the corners of my tag a bit to get the metal corners to fit, I then pulled them off and used my Round-It-All to make the corners look pretty again.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day

I'm dreaming of a white christmas ...

I must have white Christmas on the brain! This one however is of the Magnolia variety.

The sketch: Cutie Sunday.

Other challenges:

'Christmas in unconventional colours': Saturday Surprise.

'Chistmas': Stamp with Fun.

'Use your favourite colouring medium': The Pink Elephant - mine of course is copics.

'Christmas - not red or green': A Spoon Full of Sugar and PaperPlay Challenges.

'Stitching': Everybody-Art Challenge.

'A Christmas Carol': Tuesday Taggers.

'Make a card for someone special': Just Magnolia.

                     

Click photo to enlarge

Papers: Magnolia ~ White Christmas: Frosty Fir and Snow Script. Love all the Magnolia papers, they are such a lovely quality.

I have embossed the edges with blue/silver embossing powder and added stickles. The main piece has been machine stitched and I stitched the lace to the velvet ribbon.

                                    

Image:Magnolia ~ Tilda Singing Carols. Love this stamp, isn't she lovely? I coloured her with copics and embossed her wings.

Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day.

white christmas: Day 1 ~ Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

I've decided to play along with the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas. I intend to do all 12, but it may take me the whole of December to get there as I have other projects on the go. So here I am at Day 1, running slightly behind (he has already published Day 3).

I am going to make these with the stash I have available, so I may not use all of Tim's products (is that a hanging offence?!). I will do so where I have them, but otherwise I will improvise. Well he does encourage us 'to think outside the box' and that appeals to me, rather than replicating what he has produced.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:

'Anything with hats' ~  Saturday Spotlight.

'Christmas' ~ Creative Card Crew.

'Snowmen' ~ Paperminutes.

Click photo to see detail.

Stamps used:
Snowman: Inkadinkado.
Snowflakes: Hero Arts.
Flourish: Little Yellow Bicyle.

I was aiming for a vintagy look in the colours that I chose.

Other products:

The scarf around his neck drove me crazy. This is the 5th scarf I made for him. Not sure that this image is really cut out for a scarf, so may remove it yet. All of my red ribbons looked a bit too bright, not very vintage looking at all and the browns looked blah, so I finally settled for this one.

Another view:

White Christmas stickers: Making Memories.

I didn't have a grungeboard flourish, so used a Fancy Pants chipboard flourish.


Thank you for looking.

Keeley

having a {me} day