I always enjoy looking back on my year of creations ... and thinking about what I want to create in the coming year.
Here are my 10 favorite non-holiday cards & artsy creations from this year in no particular order (here are my top 5 Christmas cards for 2018).
1. This has been the year I fell deeply in love with stamps from The Ink Road. So many fantastic movie and TV quotes to choose from. I also loved this gorgeous flower die paired with a snarky quote from my spirit animal Leslie Knope of Parks & Recreation for (in my opinion) unexpected design perfection ... not to mention the Technique Junkies Vivid Volt Shimmering Bliss Spray with Kraft.
2. It's been a great year designing for Technique Junkies. I love their deep red rubber stamps and wonderful background designs like this gorgeous Big Butterfly Background (remember use TJ10Stephanie at checkout for 10% off the Technique Junkies Store). This was one of the cards I made for the March Stamp Release. Love the Color Burst design, and the splatters were a marvelous happy accident ... I love when you can turn potential messes into design elements.
3. I have also had another fantastic year designing for My Sweet Petunia ... the MISTI changed my crafty life and I love sharing new ways to use it ... like creating this super-adorable Winnie The Pooh card with Concord & 9th's Hi There Bear. Winnie was my brother's constant companion for a large part of his young childhood, so this card also brings back those wonderful memories.
4. I was blessed to finally get to attend Creativation (formerly CHA) in 2018. I got to meet so many people that I had only designed with *virtually* over the years and enjoyed getting to try so many of the new products. My favorite class was the Mixed Media Revolution Class taught by Seth Apter where we got to use his awesome paint and stamps ... and I also got to meet the oh-so-talented Linda Brun in person.
5. One of the fun things about designing for My Sweet Petunia (MISTI) are the collaborations with other companies. I loved creating with a new-to-me company Heffy Doodle and getting to meet the owners/designers at Creativation. These aren't the usual types of stamps I gravitate toward (another fun part about collaborations ... stretching my design skills), but I was thrilled with how all of my cards turned out ... especially this fun Sip Sip Hooray Design. I should really use Alphabet Stamps more to create fun sentiments.
6. I pushed myself to take more art classes this year, like this fun Mixed Media Class that was held in the lobby of our Condominium building right outside my front door. The oh-so-talented Dori Patrick once again pushed me outside of my comfort zone to create a finished product I loved so much, it's actually hanging on one of my art walls in my home.
7. Essentials by Ellen always releases some of my favorite stamps of the year (and I was so thrilled to meet the Ellen Hutson teawm) ... and I loved this background I created using inspiration from one of their Pin-Sights Challenge. It was so easy, but created such a dramatic effect just using paper squares ... and Mermaids were big in 2018.
8. I love learning new techniques and using neglected products like I did on this Dare to Get Dirty Challenge card ... and I love these Inky Antics stamps by Andrea Ockey Parr too (I may have bought everything she illustrated).
9. When I visited Lauren this year, I was thrilled to get to contribute a Guest Artist page to her Space Age Atlas. I had such fun combining pictures from Fashion Magazines ... it was a serious 8th grade flashback (in a good way).
10. I also had the privilege of Guest Designing for some new releases at STAMPlorations this year including these wonderful phrase dies ... I loved being able to combine mixed media stamping with a wonderful clean & simple design.
I hope you had fun walking down my 2018 memory lane ... looking forward to lots more fun art in 2019.
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