Happy New Year!

As we come to the end of another year, I like to take stock of things, both in my personal life, and in my stamping life. What did I do right? What can I improve upon?  Getting organized is something I always need to improve on! Clutter and chaos clutters my mind, and I can't get anything done, so I will be streamlining my craft room, purging a lot of unused things that are just taking up precious space, and re-evaluating my blogging.

I know last year I promised more step-by-step photo tutorials, as well as videos, but that has proved to be difficult for several reasons, which I will get to in a minute. On the plus side, I did blow my previous total posts for a year completely out of the water! My old record was 176 posts.....this year it's 253! (Counting tonight's Stamp Review Crew post.)

The whole reason I started card making was for a fun filled, relaxing creative outlet. When I committed to blogging five days per week, it added pressure to what should have been a fun activity. First I had to come up with a project and create it. Then I needed to take photos, and the photos had to be edited (they never look good straight out of the camera), the watermark added, and THEN they were ready for the blog post which, of course, had to be written.

It is way more time-consuming than you would think, and there were times I was ready to throw in the towel, because it wasn't fun OR relaxing anymore. And don't even get me started on the videos! I tried three times, with three different videos, to get them uploaded from my iPhone, and never could get it to work. They weren't even very long; all were under five minutes. (And that was after wrestling the cat out of the area, because he wanted to plop his hairy butt right in the center of everything!)

So my resolutions for 2018 are:

1. SEND MORE CARDS! No point in making them if they aren't going to be used, right?
2. Purge and organize, both the craft room and the rest of the house.
3. Be better about scheduling posts in advance, especially during the summer when I'm completely overwhelmed with processing veggies from the garden. (Lesson learned!)
4. Cut back to four posts per week. I'll be eliminating Wednesday posts unless they happen to be when a blog hop is scheduled. New schedule will be Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So no posts on days that start with T or W. *grin*
5. Figure out the gosh darn video upload thing! (Might have to use a different camera than my iPhone.)
6. Do more step-by-step tutorials, even though it means more photos (and the extra time & editing that goes with it) and longer blog posts. I hopeful that fewer blog posts will mean I can devote more time to this.
7. Reevaluate the posting schedule after three months and see if it needs tweaking.

I wish you all a very happy 2018, and hope that you do something creative every day!

My New Year's Wish for You!

I love brand new years! It's a blank canvas that I can paint in any way that I want; new beginnings, so full of promise! My wish for you all this year (besides the obvious good health, prosperity, and love wishes, which I always want for you) is that you make the time to create. Don't do so much "adulting" that you don't have time to play. It's SO important for your mental health! I can't stress that enough.

Make something pretty, something that makes your heart happy. No, making the bed doesn't count, even if it does make you happy. I'm talking artistic expression here, folks. I don't care if it's card making, coloring in a coloring book, painting, scrap booking, quilting....whatever. Just take the time to create something at least once a week. Preferably more often than that, but I know how reality is, lol. And if you do make a card - send it to someone! You'll brighten their day, after having brightened yours when you made it!!!

Even better.....get together with a friend and be creative together! Share your passion with someone else. It more than doubles the fun! My BFF and I are separated by too many miles, but it doesn't stop us from being creative together on challenges that we like to do, and texting/calling each other to share. And I am blessed to get together with new stamping friends every month here in Tennessee.

So, my friends, Happy Creative New Year to you, and I hope to bring you much inspiration this year!

Happy New Year

Another quick post for today, as I am up to my ears in trying to get organized for the new year. Which, of course, leads me right into this card! I'm sorry to see the Frosted Medallions stamp set retire, because I really liked the versatility of the medallions. Plus, it has this great Happy New Year greeting. It is still available until January 3rd, as long as supplies last.

No time for a "How To", but the medallion is heat embossed on Basic Black 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" and the copper foil mat is 3-3/4" x 3-3/4". I gotta tell you, the copper on black looks really snazzy in real life!

Product List

Frosted Medallions Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Frosted Medallions Wood-Mount Stamp Set

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

Copper Foil Sheets

Versamark Pad

Heat Tool

Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder

Big Shot

Large Numbers Framelits Dies

Stampin' Dimensionals

Last Call for the New Year

Here's the final New Year's card....you can't see how purdy and sparkly it really is, unfortunately, because my camera just can't capture the glimmer paper in all its glory. And I'm pretty sure Santa isn't bringing me a new camera, because he brought me the new BBQ grill w/ smoker that I wanted. The old one finally died after almost 20 years, so it was time for a new one.

Now I know all you people in the frozen north can't wrap your head around it, but we grill year-round here in Southern California. It's a beautiful thing. We may not ever have a white Christmas, but we can throw some meat on the barbie whenever we want!

Northern folks:

Me:

Okay, now I gotta run to finish the cookie baking and candy making. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the SUO Challenges theme for this week. Ta!!!

Another New Year

Here's one of the other (much brighter) cards I made on Sunday. The tiny pearls from our Pearls Basic Jewels fit the champagne bubbles perfectly!

The lime wedge is popped up on a bit of a Stampin' Dimensional.

Stamps: Cheers To You
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, International Bazaar DSP
Ink: VersaMark, plus Tempting Turquoise, Pool Party, River Rock, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, and Real Red markers
Accessories: Heat Tool, Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon, Pearls Basic Jewels, Stampin Dimensionals

Is It The New Year, Yet?

I'm about ready for 2013, how about you? Of course, I'm not even ready for Christmas yet, but I am already looking forward to the new year. It's got to be better than this one, right?

I think so because for one thing, right after the new year starts, the Spring Catalog starts (Jan 3), and then on January 27th Sale-A-Bration begins. And then right after that is my birthday, when I will officially be pushing a milestone birthday I'd rather forget. Let's just say it will begin my last year of the nifty fifties, and leave it at that, okay?

Today I made several New Year's cards, which is a first for me! Yup, can you believe it? As many hundreds of cards as I've made, not a single one one of them was specifically for New Years! And today I made THREE. I saw a card that had a year ticking over, and thought that was a clever idea, so I tried it. The Silver Glimmer paper really doesn't show up well in the photo, but IRL it looks snazzy.

I love picking out the colors in our Designer Series Paper for card making. It's so easy to coordinate things!

Stamp: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Basic Black, International Bazaar DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Big Shot, Fancy Fan folder, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlets (retired), Decorative Label Punch