Tanya's 2013 Favorites

Happy New Year, everyone!  Tanya here, to share my favorite projects of 2013! To narrow it down, I picked 5 layouts, 5 cards and 3 projects that I really love! :)  I have included links to the original blog posts too, where you can get more description and close up pics of each creation! :)

LAYOUTS:
RIP Droopy-Doo
I die cut this rainbow and used happy, fun colors on this tribute to my Basset Hound, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in January 2013.

In Sickness & In Health
My husband spent Valentine's Day in the hospital recovering from a second surgery in two weeks.  I used Doodlebug's Love Birds collection, and carried the 'birds' into the theme of the layout.

First Bloom
I used white-on-white and covered the background in die cut patterns.  It is a little hard to tell from the photos, but I think the stark background paired with the vivid color of the hyacinth is just beautiful.  The link above has some better close-ups.

Say Cheese
I love all the die cuts and messy stamping, along with so much going on with this fun layout.

9
I stepped outside my box for this anniversary layout.

CARDS:
Valentine
My favorite thing about this card is actually the envelope!  I die cut it from a Kerri Bradford Studio file and love the tear-open flap, along with the hearts on the front.

Whoo's Turning 8?
This was a fun card for my nephew using a die cut file from Miss Kate Cuttables.  I also carried the theme onto the envelope using an owl stamp for the "o" in his name.

Wedding
I love the colors, stamping, embossing and everything about how this card came together.

Party This Way
I liked how this card came out so much, I made several of them in different color schemes!

Thinking Of You
A simple card with lots of texture and dimention that could be used for many different occasions.

PROJECTS:
Mother's Day glass etching
I finally tried my hand at using etching creme with vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo to make personalized gifts.

Boat Vinyl
I made several decals for our boat using vinyl cut with my Silhouette Cameo.

Project Life title page
This title page from my first year of Project Life encompasses everything my life is made up of - love, my dogs, home, fun and bright colors, scrapbooking ... it makes me happy to just see it. :)

Thanks for looking back at 2013 with me!  I can't wait to see what others chose as their favorites! :)

Reader's Pages: Year in Review

Happy Monday!!  Cathy here, and I'm so excited to be bringing you some Reader's Pages today. We've got some really cool Year in Review pages to share. So let's get to it!

Michelle shared a few pages that she has created.  This first one is completed with photos, embellishments and journaling. She used a blocked look to get all those photos on the 2-pages. I really like how she offset some of the photos. It really helps to highlight them.

Michelle also shared a few pages prior to adding her photos. Let's us get a "behind-the-scenes" look at the design process. I really like how Michelle works with coordinating papers and adds a touch of shape and pattern to each of her designs.  She also adds just enough embellishments for interest but allows her photos to be featured.  You can see more of Michelle's work at her blog Homespun Scrapbooking.

Next up, we have a few digital pages from Rachel. In this first one, she has also blocked the photos and included one from each month of the year. I really love the way she did her journaling.  She ran through the highlights of the year and listed them in chronological order by month. This allowed her to include so much information in a concise way. It also makes you realize just how busy a family can be! 

On this page Rachel focused on the year from her perspective.  This is like one big Pinterest board of visual memories. She included tons of photos that are special to her. I love the way she designed the page to have emotional emphasis through the negative space.  The placement of the year and brackets gives the feeling of looking into the future and the excitement of making many more memories.

This page is also by Rachel. I just love that she took a look back at her year through the books that she read. From what I've heard, she read a lot of books!  These are her top 12 picks. What a great idea and fun way to look back over the year at accomplishments that you or your family have made.  You can see even more of Rachel's work in her gallery at The Digi Chick.

Kristin shared this adorable page that she created.  The page is filled with shapes and patterns and textures. Did I mention that it is a digi page? Just so much to love on this page. The little doodle hearts are so cute and really let you know that these two are in love. I like how Kristin carried the curve of the hearts and big circle into the design of the tabs for the months. Such a neat idea to capture similar photos each month to use on a project like this.  With so many using Instagram and other cell phone photo apps, it makes it easy to collect these close ups of you and your loved one (or two - check out the month of May - love how they snuck that little guy in there!) Visit Kristin's galleries at Sweet Shoppe Designs or scrapbook.com to see more of her creative work.

And now for dessert.... Susan created this "sweet" page "This Year in Cupcakes". It is a yummy page with the wonderful cupcake photos and the use of washi tape. Sorry, but I couldn't resist the puns, just like I can't resist these cupcakes! The washi tapes add a lot of color, pattern and eye candy to the layout. Placing them on an angle really helps to add movement and flow to the design too.  This would be a great idea to do with leftover scraps of designer patterned papers too.  I also like how Susan brought the cupcake shapes out of the photos and onto her page with the use of circle journal spots.  Such a tasteful page! (You knew that pun was coming, didn't you?)  Susan has a gallery at Two Peas in a Bucket where you can see more of her designs.

For more Year-in-Review inspiration, check out these 2 previous posts on Ideas For Scrapbookers: Designer Showcase: Capturing Life; and Exploding Box.

Thank you ladies for sharing your amazing designs and creativity with us and our readers!

I did my best to gather some info on the products that these gals used for their creations:

Rachel

Family Highlights: Template: Paper Blocks - In Review by Michelle Batton; Digital kit: Thankful by Elise's Pieces.
This is My 2012: Template: Misty Cato's 100 things (revised);  Digital kit: Life Story by Sherwood Studio;  Alpha: Life Story Chalked Alpha by Sherwood Studio
Top 12 Reads: Template: Insta-Love Holiday Templates by Nettio Designs; Digital kits: The Upside of Down Kit and Journal Set, Copper Road, Memory Keeper, Fierce Beauty, Shabby Couture, and Journey, all by Etc by Danyale. 

Kristin

Us in 2012: Template: Year in Review by Penny Stringmann; Digital Kit: Talking About Us by Studio Basic Designs

Susan

This Year in Cupcakes: Alpha: Thickers by American Crafts; Journaling Spots: Anna Griffin (red, yellow, blue), Little Yellow Bicycle (yum, made with love); Washi tape: My Mind's Eye, Target, Queen & Co., Freckled Fawn, Wal-mart, Martha Stewart, We R Memory Keepers, Bella Blvd., KI Memories

(sorry, I was not able to get a list of the papers etc used for Michelle's wonderful pages)

Designer Showcase: Year in Review

This week is filled with such emotion. There are celebrations ending, beginning and continuing. There is normal everyday life to be tended to. There is time spent looking back, and dreams looking forward.  It's a busy week, it's a wonderful week.  All of us at Ideas For Scrapbookers are busy with the same things at this time of year. We may not post every day over the next week or so, as we spend time with our families at the holidays.  We hope that you are doing the same.  As the quote in the image above says: "For last year's words belong to last year's language, And next year's words await another voice" ~T.S. Elliot. We hope that you are able to look back over the past year and have many wonderful memories, and look forward to creating many more in 2013.

In January, we would love to feature your work. We are looking for Year-In-Review pages and projects that you have created.  Please email them to Cathy at scrappycath(@)gmail(.)com   Just remove the parentheses from that email address.  I can't wait to see your projects!!

At this time of year there is also a spirit in the air, and in our hearts, of promise and hope. From all of us here at Ideas For Scrapbookers, we extend our hope of wishes for a wonderful New Year to you and your families!