Happy New Year-2011 Favorites

I have always found it fun the last few years to take a look back at my blogging year and pick my favorite cards from each month, so here goes.  I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I always do!

In January, this card for Color Throwdown #125 using a beautiful stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps was at the top of my favorites list for the whole year, too.

Do you ever make cards that you're so pleased with that you can't help but keep going back to them and looking?  This February Timeless Tuesday birthday card using the Friendly Reminders set from Flourishes was like that for me!

As I recall, I had quite a few favorites in March and had to do some serious narrowing down of the competition.  In the end, this Penny Black duck still just stole my heart, from another Color Throwdown challenge.

This special birthday card back in April, combined with another Timeless Tuesday challenge was a no-brainer as far as my favorite for that month.  I used the Lenten Rose stamp set from Flourishes on this card, along with my recently-acquired High Tea Party Doily Die-Namics die from My Favorite Things of which I am still madly in love with 8 months later!  :)

The beach scene created on this card for May had me dreaming of warm temps and sunny shores, for sure.  This vacation-themed card for the Crazy 4 Challenges team was high-ranking for May, using the Beach Life stamp set from Flourishes.

Another Timeless Tuesday card took top honors for June using the Butterflies & Blossoms stamp set from Flourishes.

July's favorite card led me to this creation for a Bellarific Friday Sketch challenge, using some distress inks for the background and a few Stamping Bella stamps.

In August, I pulled out some Kitchen Sink Stamps that Maria was kind enough to gift me with when she visited Ohio back in June to create some fabulous hot pink cowgirl boots on this card!  I'd love to have a pair of boots like these!

Several times in 2011 I was honored to join the fabulously talented girls on the Stamp Simply Store team in some challenges, and this card from a suede ribbon challenge back in September was hands-down a fave!

In October, another card created for a Color Throwdown challenge was the front-runner featuring one of my most favorite characters in stamping... Mavis!

November's favorite card was this Timeless Tuesday creation for Flourishes using the Vintage Postcard stamp set, and the Dryer Sheet Technique.  I find it hard now to contemplate trying this technique on another card, because it just seems so perfectly suited for this stamp set!  LOL

And finally in December, one of my most-recent favorite cards was this one using the newly released Pears set from Flourishes.  This stamp set can have you dreaming of warmer weather and fresh fruit, for sure!

On top of these cards, a LOT of my favorites for 2011 were also created for the Dirty Dozen galleries at Splitcoaststampers... a team I'm incredibly proud to have joined this past year!  I can't show you some of those cards here on my blog as yet, but if you're a Fan Club member at SCS you can hop over to my gallery by clicking here to see them!

AND if you're not a Fan Club member, you really should be especially if you're someone like me who has gotten years of encouragement and inspiration from visiting SCS.  Yes, it's a free site to use but I have always been a Fan Club member as a way to give back to a community who has given me so much.  Please consider a half or full year membership if you feel the same way to show your appreciation!

I wish you many of God's blessings in 2012, and happy stamping!  Thanks for stopping by!

Ribbon Inspiraton/Stamp Simply Style - Suede

Hey everyone! I am so happy to share with you today that I'm helping the fabulous girls on the Stamp Simply store team with a Suede Ribbon Blog Hop today! This is a Mystery Blog Candy Hop, meaning the winner will be drawn from comments on one of today’s participating blogs, so leaving a comment on each blog (listed below) will greatly increase your chances of winning, but only one comment per blog, please. The winner will be selected at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, September 13 and will be posted on Sharon's blog on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, so please check back to claim your prize if you are the lucky winner!

Sharon Johnson * Deb Saaranen * Michelle Woerner

Holly McMillen * Barb Schram * Tammy Hershberger (that's me!)

I created a couple of cards for today's blog hop, using papers and flowers from the Prima "Madeline" collection along with the fabulous suede ribbons that Sharon has in the store!

For this first card, I have used the 5/8" Ruffled Faux Suede ribbon in celery because I pictured it looking a little like leaves when paired with the Prima flowers. My sentiment is thePsalm 37:4 Plain Jane stamp, and I stamped it and cut it out with a Labels 14 Nestabilities die. I accented the upper left corner of the card with some Kaisercraft pearls in chocolate.

My second card uses more of the Prima "Madeline" papers and flowers and more of the 5/8" Ruffled Faux Suede ribbon, this time in brown. I used the Philippians 4:4 Plain Jane stamp this time, stamping it on the Prima paper, and cutting out with a Nestabilities circle die and matting with a Lacey Circles die. I accented again with some Kaisercraft chocolate pearls, and a chipboard flourish, colored with a brown Copic marker. The layout for my card is from the Card Patterns sketch #131 from last week.

So don't forget, you'll want to stop by the other designers' blogs to leave some love for a chance to win some of your own of this beautiful faux suede ribbon! It's so pretty and nice to work with... you'll LOVE it!

Thanks so much to Sharon for having me come out and play with her and the girls today! Any day that I can use gorgeous products from the Stamp Simply store is a good day! :)

Happy weekend, everyone!

Stamp Simply Prima Blog Hop

About two weeks ago, I got an email from one of my most favorite people, Sharon Johnson! As many of you know, Sharon has a fabulous online store, the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store, where you can get tons of beautiful paper crafting supplies (not JUST ribbon!) Sharon said she was planning on doing a Prima blog hop today with her design team and asked if I'd like to join them! NO WAY could I turn down that offer! The Stamp Simply design team members all ROCK, and I'm thrilled to be joining them today to share some beautiful Prima goodness with you!

The Prima Blog Hop starts at Sharon's blog, so you'll definitely want to head over to her blog and start at the beginning! Leave a comment on all the designers blogs because somewhere along the way a winner will be chosen to win the FABULOUS Prima prize package shown below! (Don't drool on your monitors!) If you came here to my blog from dazzling Deb Saaranen's blog, then you're on the right track! From here, after leaving me some love :) you'll want to hop on over to beautiful Barb Schram's blog!

For my card, I am using the "Melody" line from Prima which on my card includes the papers and the "Sugar Blooms" flower. Also used are some of the gorgeous May Arts ribbons that Sharon stocks... 1/2" wrinkle ribbon in pink and brown (threaded through the 7/8" crocheted lace). I used my Bow Easy tool for the double-looped pink bow. The sentiment stamp I used is the Ecclesiastes 3:11 Plain Jane stamp from Verve (available in the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store). I stamped it on some pink paper from the Melody paper pad, and cut out a frame with burgundy paper from the pad using the Labels 14 Nestabilities. I also mixed a little Perfect Pearls with water and used it to spritz the frame for some extra shimmer.... if my photography were better, you'd be able to see it! :(

So, just a reminder if you didn't come here from Deb Saaranen's blog, you'll want to go to Sharon's blog and start at the beginning! And if you're hopping along, your next stop is Barb Schram's blog!

THANKS SO MUCH to Sharon for asking me to join in today, and a big thank you to the Stamp Simply girls for making me feel so welcome!

Good luck!