Happy 2013!!!!

Hello again!!!! HAPPY 2013!!! I hope you all have had a GREAT start to your fresh new year!!! I have been very busy as usual making both cards and layouts, as well as some birthday invites!!! So, here's a look at what I've been busy doing!!!!

I'll start with some cards I made for various challenges and sketches.  The first couple of cards are last minute Christmas Cards that I wasn't able to upload before.  All three of these were made using a sketch by Cheryl Caldwell for a challenge at Sketches4All!  

Here is the lovely sketch Cheryl provided...

And here is what I came up with...

All three of these were made using papers by Recollections and MME.  The chipboard Santa is by K&Company, the violin , cute little reindeer, and bells by Recollections.  I also used a gold leafing pen around the edges of the cards.  

I also made a tag for my Tag Challenge over at Sketches4All.  This month, the challenge is to create a tag using a stamp.  I was lucky enough to be given this stamp made by The Greeting Farm from a lovely member at S4A.  The little girl Santa was just too cute to pass up on this!! I also used papers from Websters Pages given to me by Fia, the site's founder.  Isn't it adorable?!?!?

I also made a few birthday cards for some people very special to me.  The first was for my oldest daughter's 6th birthday!  She loves Disney Princess so I put them to work!!! I used some alcohol inks (for Paula's Challenge on Colorful Creations) on glossy paper to create the top and bottom border, then stamped my sentiment.  The center piece was purchased as a gift tag and I just tore it apart!! I added some bling to finish it off and voila... Disney Princess it is :-)

This is a close-up pf the inks.. Isn't that neat?!?

This is a card I made for my Mother-in-Law's birthday.  The papers are gorgeous and from the Melody Ross collection.  The chipboard flower is by K&Company and the sentiment by Basic Grey.  All I really did was put it together and add pink rhinestones to the circle.  Not much work  to make such a beautiful card!!!

The next two cards were made for challenges at Skecthes4All using a sketch Fia posted by Freshly Made Sketches.  I LOVED working with this sketch... it was soooo much fun!!!!!!

Here is the sketch...

The first is a card for a special friend using a Recollections Signature paper pad that I couldn't wait to play with!!! The papers are GORGEOUS!!! I actually made an antire paper bag album using them and it turned out PHENOMENAL !! I will def show pics when I can :-) I also used a jean pocket by Simple Stories and added some twine (my fav these days!!).  Lovely?!?!?

And the last card was made for my best friend.  She LOVES hot pink so I made a card to match her style.  I used some rub-on flowers in the middle to fill in all the negative spcae, added some ribbon and embellies by Soft Spoken and that was it!  Well, I also used my butterfly punch on some left over embossed foil (will show you that shortly) and outlined it with a Sharpie paint marker.  I just love the look :-)

And a close-up of the butterfly...

Now... On to some layouts!!!! I know you're probably sick of seeing all these cards!!!! I know you're probably also sick of seeing Christmas anything so his is the last one.. I swear it!!!!

I made this layout using a sketch for the January Sketch Challenge at Sketches4All! The theme is "Winter Wonderland" and I just happened to have some "winter" type photos.  This is my husband and I on the night he proposed (and of course I said yes!!!!).  The date was December 13th, 2009... Two days before my birthday, 10 days before our anniversary, and 12 days before Christmas!  

I also combined this with Paula's "Anything Goes" winter photo challenge at Colorful Creations.  The papers are Recollections Signature Collection and the flower and ornaments are by Recollections as well.  I just happened upon the red tree at Michaels and couldn't resist buying them.  They're buttons and cute ones at that!!! This is a close-up of the journaling pocket..

And the cute little tree!!!!!

Well, that sums up this edition of my crafty creations.  As usual, thanks for stopping in and have a LUCKY day :-)