2011 in review

As a new year begins, it’s time to review how the old year fared. I have to say, 2011 has been a very good year for me, on all aspects. Scrap-wise, here are some numbers for 2011:

  • 81 hybrid projects completed (including 52 cards for my Project 52 cards)
  • 2 December Daily albums completed (well, still missing the cover and binding of one, but it still counts 😉 )
  • 137 digital layouts completed (including 51 for my mom’s spring visit album – only 9 more pages to be scrapped for that!)
  • 1 calendar (12 months+cover) for 2012 completed, and one page done for the 2013 calendar
  • A half-done P365: Weeks 1-11, 17 and 52 are completed; Weeks 13-16, 18, 23-32 are partially done (they have photos and journaling); the rest are undone.
Not too bad, I’d say. I am sorry for not keeping up with the P365; I am hoping to finish it up a bit, because it would be just a waste to let it lie like this, but realistically I will not have time to do it. I am embarking in a new project this year, Project Life, so it’ll be interesting to see if I can keep up with printing photos for my album. I sure hope so! 🙂
The topic of the journaling challenge this month at The Lilypad is very inspiring – scrap 11 highlights of 2011. Here’s what I came up with:

Top 11 for '11,

Credits:
Messy Machine Grids by Emily Merritt
Fonts: Century Gothic and Pea Pumpkin Peters

A very good year indeed! Nothing major, but many good little things.

Baby It’s Cold

Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens have created a gorgeous new kit out today, Baby It’s Cold:

It’s available at Oscraps and at The Lilypad, and it’s 20% off this weekend. I love the colors of this kit! AND, there is a great free with purchase offer: if you buy the kit, you will get this quickpage+template set for free

Here’s what I made with it:

The Weather is Delightful

Credits:
Baby It’s Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens, available at Oscraps and The Lilypad
Font: My Own Topher

I only wish I had more snow pictures this year, but alas, the one depicted was the one and only snow we have seen so far this year.

I also made a page for my 2013 calendar (trying to plan ahead for once 😉 ):

December 2013 calendar topper

Credits:
Background paper from Baby It’s Cold by Leora Sanford and Valorie Wibbens
A Month to Be Merry by Lauren Grier

I was loving this picture we took on Christmas day but didn’t feel like scrapping it with a normal page, so I decided to get started on the calendar. 🙂

Christmas Season

I am really enjoying this Christmas season. Too bad it’s coming to an end already – it’s such a magical time of the year! This year I’ve put quite some effort in making sure we did some Christmas activities – baking, going to see Christmas lights and gingerbread houses. In the process, I took many pictures that I really love. I have been using them in my December Daily album, but I also wanted to make a digital page to show them, so I made this:

Christmas Season 2011

Credits:
Cheerful by Tickled Pink Studio
Sugar Shock font bundle by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin
Gimme Space font by Lauren Reid and Darcy Baldwin

This kit is so pretty!! I loved using it!

Digital Stamps

Digital stamps are something I’ve started to use only recently, and they’re fun! I still feel that designers do a way better job than me picking color combinations, but it is fun to play with them. 🙂 Here’s the latest set I’ve used (20% off throughout the weekend):

I made a card combining a few of these tags (all colored digitally using a simplified version of this tutorial).

Tags card

Credits:
Colour In Christmas Tags by Kate Hadfield
Brown Paper Pack by Sahlin Studio

December BYOC!

It’s BYOC time at The Lilypad! I had a wee bit of time to scrap this week, and I loved playing with the new releases! Here’s what I grabbed:

These sketches by Kitty are much more than just templates! They come with a paper pack and are already loaded with finishing touches like brushes which make it very easy to put your pages together! I love this concept!

Isn’t this penguin just adorable? 🙂 This pack is filled with little goodies that really make your page look great.

Super versatile alpha, and the pockets are already shadowed – fantastic!

I love this set of painted, grungy alphas!

These brushes are so classy and elegant! They really finish your page nicely.

Heather’s fonts are just great, and this one is no exception!

I could not resist this kit. I had to grab it last night to make another page! 🙂

This alpha is festive and so much fun! Works on a great variety of photos too!And here are my pages. I am still working on my mom’s spring visit… 🙂

Mom's Visit Day 12 - Needle Felting

Credits:
Life Tale Sketches 5 by Kitty Designs
Brrr Elements by Valorie Wibbens
Winter Stickies alpha by Amy Martin
Awesome Sauce 2 alpha by Karah Fredricks
Winter Love Stamps by Designs by Lili
Fonts: The Snow Bunny by Heather Hess and Pea Pumpkin Peters

But I’ve started scrapping her latest visit as well. 😉

Christmas Lights 2011 (2)

Credits:
Life Tale Sketches 5 by Kitty Designs
Downtown Christmas papers and elements by The Tattered Pear
Wassail alpha by Jacque Larsen
Font: The Snow Bunny by Heather Hess

December Daily Deals at The Lilypad!

My mom’s visit is over (already), and I’m settling back into my routine. I have a few days to catch up on for my December Daily album, and I’m looking forward to it! Unfortunately I have a busy work week ahead so I’m not sure just how much crafty time I’ll manage to squeeze in. Wish me luck!

I also wanted to post about a great sale at The Lilypad. For the month of December, each day a category of the store will be 25% off. Here’s the schedule for the whole month!

The December BYOC is coming out this Friday, so look out for some gorgeous new products!

December Is Here!

This means the December challenges are up at The Lilypad. I played along in the Product Challenge, which consisted of using my favorite things: bright colors, patterned background and lots of alphas. 🙂

Credits:
Bring on the Cake by Karah Fredricks, Kate Hadfield and Kaye Winiecki
Sushi Anyone? by Jacque Larsen
Stripey Line alpha by Kaye Winiecki
Also a Very Small Alpha by Allison Pennington
Finishing Touches 6 by Karah Fredricks
Font: Pea Pumpkin Peters

I love how this page turned out!! 🙂

December is here, and this means it’s finally time to start my December Daily album! I won’t be starting to work on it until next week, after my mom leaves, but I can start planning pictures now. 🙂 Yay!

Document Your December

There is a great new Christmas Collection out today at The Lilypad. It’s called Document Your December, and it is basically a BYOC with Christmas products. How cool is that?? I have mixed and matched a bunch of these products to make the base pages for my December Daily album. I am loving how they’re coming along so far!

DYD 2011

DYD 2011

DYD 2011

Credits:
No Peeking papers and Pocket Stuffers by Valorie Wibbens
Half Rounds by Amy Martin
Journal Everyday and December Bits by Sabrina Dupre
A Christmas Collab by Micheline Martin and Fruitloop Sally
Big Ol’ Tags 3 by Lauren Reid
Very Merry embellishments by Precocious Paper and Sahlin Studio

I also used two products by Sahlin Studio to make a quick welcome card for my mom. 🙂

I bought a cheap watercolor set this past weekend, and I am loving it! 🙂

Welcome card