January 2017 Calendar Journal

January already has come and gone!  But never will be forgotten.  No matter how boring.

I still miss the very first calendar journaling format when I look back at those months.  But this style is so much more workable for me.

Have a great February!

xxx

Annie

Sepia Garden

The Sunday Postcard Art theme this week is SEPIA.

Time to jump in and play.  I pulled several Sepia bits of paper out, cut them up then stitched them together.  After that a splash of color was needed.

And the back is ready for finishing when the recipient is known.

Happy Mail Day!

xxx

Annie

Just Because Card

I so seldom take the time to make a "just because" card these days.  So it felt quite refreshing to do exactly that.  My daughter will be so surprised.

I bought a hearts set of rubber stamps that I have been resisting for almost 2 years.  But now I had to have them.  My Valentine card for my daughter is already done, but I so wanted to play with these heart stamps.  So a "Just Because" card was just the ticket.

I begin with an A2 (4.25" X 5.5") card made from 140# smooth white cardstock.  

When I only have one sheet of a scrapbook paper design I love, I photocopy it then cut the photocopy to the size of my card front and spray glue it on.

  Next comes all the fun stamping and inking.

And then when I love how the card turns out, I have a terrible time letting it go.  This one I thought would make a fun art postcard (that I could keep). You'd think that would be simple but it took 3 tries. And the postcard is a bit longer, so the larger heart worked better here.

I think this design has room for another play day.  I can see adding a small stamped "h e" in front of "art" to change the sentiment to "Follow your heart". Do you see it?  :-)

Happy "Just Because" mail day!

xxx

Annie

January Cards

My January cards are inspired by some scrapbook borders I saw on Pinterest.  I thought I'd try the idea on my scrapbook pages (but who knows when that will happen).  So I took the inspiration to my cardmaking (which is my current passion for creativity at the moment).

They don't look anything like the Pinterest borders, but that's why we call it inspiration.

I've been having some fun with foil and glitter cardstock.

This thank you card is for a guy.  I was going for an industrial look.  That was pretty fun to work on.

The foil is reflecting and looks yellow, but it's really silver.

This little Tim Holtz punch birdie is turning into quite the family and showing up in many of my cards.  

All the teeny tiny rhinestone gems and metals are for nail art. But I have trouble getting them to stick well and stay on my nails.  Now they are a favorite paper crafting supply.

If I could keep my nose out of books, I could have half a year of cards made already.  But the stories keep calling to me and I must answer.  I love to read.

Greetings!

xxx

Annie

Calendar Journal - Year Five

I'm beginning year FIVE with my calendar journal project.

Obviously I love documenting a bit of each day.  My struggle has been the format.  Yep, I have another new format going.  This might be the one...***have I said that before?...snicker***. 

Three months of 2017 are ready for the day's happenings.

It's pretty simple.  I just need this one template.

I photocopy my template and cut away the blocks I don't need for that month.  Then I number the days.  These templates will work for whatever month starts on these days.  From here I just choose a fun piece of scrapbook paper and photocopy the template to the scrapbook paper.  From there just a little bit of artsy/craftsy page deco is needed.  This is working for me nicely.

Depending how the days fall for the month, some months will allow for more deco fun than others.

I couldn't really wait for January to give it a try, so I began with December 2016.

Here's to the bits and bobs of the 365 days of 2017.

xxx

Annie

2017! Happy New Year!

Wow!  2017!  Where does the time go?!

I've got a good start on my 2017 handmade cards challenge.  January cards are done.

I was after a classy glitzy look for this New Year greeting.

The mail carriers did well delivering this envelope with the large bold year in their way of easily identifying the address.

I liked the subdued color scheme I used and it seemed a good fit for my Grandson's birthday card.  I also liked the big bold numbers on the envelope.  And I really love getting some extra mileage from a card idea.  

May 2017 be our best year ever for one and all!

xxx

Annie

Money Gift Wrapping

My most favorite gifts to wrap are money gifts. 

And I certainly had some fun with these!

It's all about the wrapping.

And the glitz!

Everything is ready.  It's now all about the coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream and enjoying the sights and sounds of this beautiful Christmas season.

Merry Christmas to everyone

xxx

Annie

Snowflake Christmas Card

I DID IT!  I made handmade greeting cards for the entire year for 2016!  Inspired by my daughter, who makes all her cards, I challenged myself to make the cards I would need all year, and I DID IT!

I wrote out a calendared list and kept to it.  It did get a little dicey from July on, but I managed somehow.  

This is my Christmas card.  I knew if I were going to mass produce, it had to be simple.  But I loved this simple elegant card as soon as I saw it on Pinterest here.  Having an Embosser/Die Cutting machine makes life much simpler and funner.  

I stamped, then heat embossed the phrase, then die cut the sentiment for the card inside.  That way I was free to mess up without ruining the card.  

To say the least, I am quite proud of myself for completing this self challenge.

May you all have a very merry, bright & cheery, happy little Christmas!

xxx

Annie

Christmas Postcard Swap

I wanted to join in Sheila's fabric postcard swap.  But one of her rules is that the postcard front AND back are to be fabric.  Although I started my postcards way back in the beginning with fabric backs, I quickly came to prefer paper cardstock backs.

I find that a paper back is more accepting of creativity.  

I finally let Sheila know that I wasn't joining her swap because I'm too old to spend my time playing in a way that I didn't want to.

Sheila is so kind, she offered to swap with me herself.  She was also curious about my cardstock backs and would like to see one for herself.  Sheila received this JOY postcard from me.

And I received this beautifully stitched Dove postcard from Sheila.  The music is a great background for Sheila's beautifully appliquéd Christmas dove.  Thank you Sheila!

Ho Ho Ho

xxx

Annie

November 2016 Calendar Journal

For November I played around with some lettering practice with a single word each day.

This style lettering is easy when the brush tip of the pen is new and stiffest.  Once you letter with it for a short while, the tip gets softer and I find it is harder to make nice looking letters.

No surprise here, I'm getting bored with covering the "notes" section and the blocks with the blank blocks at the beginning and ending of the month.  Why won't someone who loves doing that create these calendars as blanks for me to buy?!!!

I probably should have a little Tequila with that whine.

Happy Day!

xxx

Annie