My Top Ten of 2013

Today, I'm posting my favorite ten projects for 2013.  It was a LOT of fun going through a whole year of posts and picking them out. 

To start of with, one of my favorite images from Unity Stamp Company.  Seriously, how sweet are these guys?

Next I move onto a boots card made with a There She Goes Stamp designed by Torico.  It was perfect timing when it came out because my youngest had just joined the Army.  There She Goes Stamps is going out of business today. *sadface*

And speaking of Brian.  Check out my handsome guy.  This pic was taken when he graduated boot camp.  So handsome.  (Note, the same boots stamp is in this one too.  I used it a lot this year!)

 

And speaking of boots.....what year-in-review would be complete without a little Phyllis Harris / Unity Stamp Company.  This guy is SO adorable as are all of her images!

 

 The next favorite is a sweet card I made when I blog-hopped as a Unity Stamp Company Friend.  That was seriously one of my favorite things to happen this year, and I was so honored to have been selected.

And now onto another Unity favorite.  This little scarecrow is seriously just so sweet.

And yet another Unity Stamp Company card.  Hmm.....see a theme here?  Love their stamps!  This one I made for the current Be Inspired Challenge.

And, of course, I had to add a Christmas Card.  I've been on the Christmas Card Challenge design team for about half a year.  I love Christmas cards, and this one with a Tiddly Ink stamp is one of my faves!

Ok, I have to post another Christmas card.....because I love this image from Unity Stamp Company.  Seriously, how awesome is it?

And while the others are in no particular order, this one is my definite favorite.  I went to Minneapolis this year and met Tim Holtz.  When I came back, I created this one inspired by one of his 2013 tags.  I realllllllllllly love it.  The image is from Unity Stamp Company.

Happy New Year, everyone! 

Craftily yours,

Karen

Monochromatic Dress

I spent a WHOLE day crafting.  When I went into my craft-room, it was to clean up from the holidays.  I cleaned about a 10 inch piece of desk surface....and found a few stamps I'd pulled out to use before the holidays.  Welllll, this was one of 'em.  (Unity Stamp Company Shop. Lunch. Chat. Gal)

Maybe I've got an attention deficit disorder?  I've crafted about 8 hours straight, and my crafty space isn't any cleaner!  LOL  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe not.

I'm entering this card into the Shopping Our Stash One-Color Challenge.

 Craftily yours,

Karen

Hey Chickie

I'm on a roll with my Paper Smooches stampset, Chubby Chums.....and seem to be addicted to googly eyes. :)

Recipe:  Paper Smooches - Chubby Chums stamps, Basic Grey Nordic Holiday (red stripe), Echo Park A Boy's Life (yellow stripe), Timeless Twine in Lemonade Yellow and some sequins and googly eyes!

Ca-ute stamps!  I'm entering this into the Paper Girls Challenge to use a holiday item on a non-holiday card.  I used Basic Grey Nordic Holiday paper :)

It's also my second entry into the Paper Smooches Challenge - Anything Goes challenge!

Craftily yours,

Karen

WooHooo - Happy New Year!

I recently purchased my very FIRST Paper Smooches stampset, Chubby Chums, and finally got a chance to ink it up today.  I love owls, but this owl is seriously the cutest.  Isn't he?  I thought that this would make an excellent card for Happy New Year (or birthday or celebration of any kind). 

Recipe:  Paper Smooches - Chubby Chums stamps, Echo Park A Boy's Life Paper, Timeless Twine in Yellow and Cape Cod, UmWow Studio Heart Confetti covered in Liquid Pearls, Stickles and Glossy Accents, and some sequins and washi.....oh and some googly eyes!

WooHooo!  Entering this into my very first Paper Smooches Challenge - Anything Goes!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Christmas 2014

Welllllllllll, Christmas 2013 is over with sweet memories of family time, fun presents, good food and laughs.  No time like the "present" (get it, presents?!) to start on Christmas 2014! 

This week's optional challenge at Christmas Card Challenges is anything goes.  Using some Authentique Winter collection paper, a Tiddly Inks stamp and some fabulous Timeless Twine, lookie here at my FIRST 2014 Christmas Card....

This image just makes me smile.  Hope the new year is bright and happy for you all!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Capture Your Dreams

Happy Friday and Happy New Year, Friends with Flair!  My wish for all of us in the new year is "captured" in this card.

The stamp is Unity Stamp Company Dream Capture that I got in the Stamp of the Week club!  Love it!  It's colored up with TH Distress Markers.  I got the idea for the two colored feathers from Unity's Pinterest board.  Don't you just love Pinterest.  AND the best news:  I got a new light-box for Christmas from my eldest son.  I love LOVE love how the picture came out :)

Craftily yours,

Karen

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve - blog friends!  It's mid-inspiration time at Clear It Out Challenges!  The theme is Warm Fuzzies, and we ask you to use something textured!

For my card this week, I used a super cute snowman from Digi Darla - found "HERE".  The paper is from Authentique Winter Collection. 

The sentiment is from a Unity Stamp of the Week.  It seemed to fit with the happy snowman.  Feel all warm and fuzzy yet?  :)  If so, join us at the challenge!

Finally, I am sad to say that this is my last post as a design team member at Clear It Out.  I want to thank Laura and all the other crazy-talented ladies on the team for the friendship and inspiration!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Masculine Christmas

It's only a few days until Christmas!  Whoop, whoop!  It's probably too late to get cards out for this year, but no time like the present to start on next year's batch!

This week's optional challenge at Christmas Card Challenges is masculine.  Masculine cards are hard for me.....and masculine Christmas cards are no exception!  Using some Basic Grey Nordic Holiday and my Tim Holtz blueprint Christmas tree (along with some jute and burlap from 3 Girl Jam), I created this:

I used Tim Holtz distress paints to create the background and distress pens to color up the images.  Here's a close-up view to see the dimension in this gorgeous stamp/die set.

 

Craftily yours,

Karen

Gift with Ribbon

Wrapping presents today and decided to post one here for the current 3 Girl Jam Challenge to do a present with ribbon.  I always tie up my presents with real ribbon!  So, I used a plain ole gift bag and spiced it up with some 3GJ ribbon with an adorable tag I made at a Stampin' Up party.

Do not open until Christmas!  Just a few days away!  Yippee!

Craftily yours,

Karen

It's Friday - so BE Inspired!

It's a Scrappy HAPPY Friday, Friends with Flair!  I haven't posted with FWF for a few weeks.  It's been cray-cray busy busy getting ready for the holidays, but I think I'm ready!  Whoop, whoop!

I took a few minutes to create a card for this month's Unity BE Inspired challenge. I used the flower from the SOTW - Everything Happens to be Wonderful and the sentiment from Big Summertime Bouquet and came up with this:

I used the color scheme and the sketch.  I think it turned out ok....  In case you haven't seen it, here is the challenge picture!  Now, go enter!  :)

Hope you all have the MERRIEST of Christmases!!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Valentine's Day and a Winter Card

It's time for a new challenge at Clear It Out Challenges!  The theme is Warm Fuzzies, and we ask you to use something textured!

For my first card, I used an adorable image from QKR Stampede - called "Bundled Up." I used some burlap ribbon from 3 Girl jam, Authentique Paper and some wood veneer snowflakes from Studio Calico!

 I like the masculine feel of the card :)

One week until Christmas.  Eek!  Yay!  Fun....Sooooooooooo must be time to move onto the next holiday, huh?!

I also created a card with an image from Stitchy Bear Outlet - Reece's Scrap Pieces!

What could be warmier and fuzzier than a HUG?!  I hope you will join us in this challenge!!

Craftily yours,

Karen

All That Stickles Sweet & Sparkly

- Schedule to go live on Sunday December 15th at 12:00 AM US CST - Do not change lineup or sponsor information - Link to hop at the top of other posts if you have posts following the days of the hop

Welcome to the Sweet & Sparkly Blog Hop brought to you by the All that Stickles design team!

The holidays are just around the corner, and the ATS design team has put together some fabulous, sparkly projects to help get in the holiday spirit!

If you're looking to start at the beginning of the hop, please visit All that Stickles. If you've come from Cathie's blog, you're in the right place.

What could be MORE sweet than the gift of giving and the sparkly goodness of Stickles!?!  For my project, I decided to wrap a gift for my niece and create a special Stickled embellishment.  The flower uses Cranberry, Pink Taffeta and Mercury Glass Stickles.  The tree on the tag is topped in Gold.  On Tuesday, December 17, I'm posting a tutorial on the All that Stickles blog showing how I created that flower.  Don't miss it!

We have blog candy for those who are a follower of All that Stickles and leave a comment on every stop of the hop! Winners will be announced Wednesday December 18th at All that Stickles.

The Paper Parade

$25 Gift Certificate

Pretty Paper, Pretty Ribbons

$15 Gift Certificate

Bugaboo Stamps

10 Digital Stamps of Winner's Choice

Fresh Brewed Designs

$15 Gift Certificate

Your next stop is beautiful and talented Angline's blog.

Here's the complete lineup:

All that Stickles

Tonya
Laura
Karen S. 

Ann

Cathie

Karen N.

Angeline

Cathy

Thanks for hopping! :) Don't forget to check out our Happy Holidays Linky Party!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Merry and Bright

Today, there's a new challenge at Christmas Card Challenges!  This week, our optional challenge is to create a Christmas Card with words as your focal image.  The only real challenge is, as always, to create something for Christmas!

For my card this week, I used Unity Stamp Company's "Naughty is the New Nice" sentiment pack.   The paper is from MME Merry Little Christmas.  The chip is UmWow Studios covered in Liquid Pearls, Stickles and Glossy Accents.

Craftily yours,

Karen

A NEW and Adorable Stamp

Tiddly Inks recently had a really good sale.  I have one of their adorable stamps, and I simply could not RESIST getting a new one - Winter Wishes Wryn.  I just love this big-footed little girl.  SO cute!

And here's the inside!

I am submitting this card to the Tiddly Inks Challenge #123 - Christmas, Winter or Holiday!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Santa is coming!

It's mid-inspiration time at Clear It Out Challenges!  It's anything goes for Christmas, and we ask you to use your stash to make room for more presents

This week, I created a card with using a totally cute Christmas fairy image from Bugaboo! 

Loooooove this cute lil fairy!  I hope you will join us in this challenge!!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Winner, Winner

I want to thank EVERYONE for the lovely, thoughtful comments from my post on the Scrapbook Steals Blog Hop.  Random.org says that comment 13 is the LUCKY NUMBER.

LucyDecember 7, 2013 at 7:05 PM

Karen, you have been a very crafty lady!!! Love it all, especially the cookies for your son's platoon! They will love it :-)

ReplyDelete

Oh Lucyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!  Email me!

karey2005 at sbcglobal dot net

Unity Be Inspired

Unity's Be Inspired Challenge this month has a sketch and a pretty color palette (shown below).  It's pretty, but these are tough colors!  They also have a "strong woman" inspired thing going on, so I decided to use the sketch - and the colors - and the "strong woman" theme to make this feminine card.

I love that flair.  It's good advice :)  Whatever you do, make your mark on the world.  The butterfly is Unity Stamp Company Written in the Wings.

Here is the sketch and colors in the Unity Be Inspired Challenge!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Another Labor of Love

So a few days ago, I posted on the Scrapbook Steals Blog Hop a set of 30 cards that I made to go with some cookies to my son's platoon.  (Army Strong)  Today's post is 45 treat bags that I made for my co-workers - yet another labor of love.  I am very fortunate to spend my 40-60 hours of my work-week with truly fantastic people.

Each year, I make them a crafty thing, and they seem to like it.  This year, I bought a bunch of Christmas pads of paper.  I got some ideas from some beautiful online crafty friends and created these:

The stamp is from Unity Stamp Company (You Are Cute).  The ribbon is from 3 Girl Jam (pictured here is a double-bow of the Candy Crinkle Ribbon Bundle.  I'm submitting this project to their Tis The Season Challenge. 

And of course, I have some TWINE-tastic Timeless Twine goodness! 

See that PERFECT bow.  It's made with the 3GJ bow-maker.  Seriously - So.Easy.To.Use - GO get one.  O.M.G.  really.  :)

And here's a close-up of that crinkly bow goodness and the pile of all of the gifts I made....

Hope your holidays are super duper great!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Black and White

It's time for a new challenge at Christmas Card Challenges!  This week's optional challenge is to create something using black and white.  When I created my card, I wasn't sure if we could include other colors, so I went with just black, white, and silver grey!

What do you think?  Join us for the challenge!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Silhouette Challenges CH#8 "3D"

It's time 

for some mid-inspiration to the challenge here at

A blog dedicated to the Silhouette Cutting Machines.
You MUST use a Silhouette somehow in your project.

Ch# 6 3D

Begins: Sunday, December 1
Ends: Saturday, December 31

Sponsors this month are:

My Scrap Chick
Prize: $10.00 GC


My Crafting Channel
Prize: $15.00 Amazon GC


Little Scraps of Heaven Designs
$15..00 GC

For this month, I made a 3-D gift box.  The file is called "3D decorative snowman box" at the Silhouette Store.  Instead of cutting the snowman that came with the file, I decided to stamp the tree and sentiment from Small Stuff Christmas (Unity Stamp of the Week).  

I hope you consider joining us for the challenge!  This is my last post on the DT for Silhouette Challenges.  I want to thank Nana and the ENTIRE team for the wonderful experience!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Christmas or Valentine?

If you are here for the Scrapbook Steals blog hop - go "HERE".

Just a quick post today to submit a card for the Cuttin' and Stampin' challenge to use Red, White, Kraft and Black.  I used Unity Stamp Company's stamp (My Heart Melts - snowpeeps Frosty & Crystal) along with some papers from ye' ole' scrap pile to come up with this:

After I got it made, I realized it totally could be a Valentine card or a Holiday card.  Love!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Happy Howlidays

It's time for a brand new linky party at the All That Stickles blog!  Our theme is "Happy Holidays."  I decided to change that to "Happy Howlidays" using my new "Pugalicious" stamps from There She Goes Stamps!

I colored this adorable little pug with TH Distress Markers and then added some chip from UmWow Studies that I Stickled in Cranberry.  The hat is also Stickled with Stardust.  Here's a closeup:

Sparkly and FUN!  I'm submitting this to the TSG Christmas Critter Challenge!

Craftily yours,

Karen

Scrapbook Steals Blog Hop

Soooooooooooooooooo excited today to be hopping with Scrapbook Steals.  Loooooooooooooove this two-deal-a-day site and religiously check it at 8 a.m. and p.m. (California time)!

Today we are showcasing some ADORABLE American Crafts Everyday Ribbon!  First, check out this FUNky neon pink animal print.  The image is "Phyllis" - one of the sock goblins from There She Goes.  The hearts are UmWow Studio heart confetti!

Next, I used the really pretty black, gray and white chevron to make this sympathy card using "Everything More" from Unity Stamp Company.  The flowers and paper are from the stash (i.e. not sure what brand!).

EEEEk, and this is one of my favorite cards of ALL time!  Using "Beach Bums" from There She Goes, I created this card.  The zig-zag teal ribbon was perfect as it sorta looks like water.  I found inspiration for this card on the TSG Pinterest page.  Trendsetter Kim made a card that was just adorable, so I decided to give it a shot.

And finally, I used the bright green to add just a touch of interest to these holiday cards using Small Stuff Christmas from Unity Stamp Company.

 A new crafty friend had mentioned that she was making cookies and cards for her USMC son's whole platoon.  I looooooooooooooooooved the idea and decided to make cards for my Army son's whole platoon....so this, my friends, is a labor of love.  Since they are going to a military unit, I couldn't add glitter, so I especially love the extra interest that the ribbon brought! I'm not a baker, so a friend is making cookies for me to send......

Here is the order for the hop:

Scrapbook Steals - http://scrapbook.steals.com/wp/?p=19544

Karen Nofziger  http://karey2005.blogspot.com (you are here)

Carrie Craftynight Owls Craftynightowls.blogspot.com  (go here next)

Wendi Robinson http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/

Ruth Gauss http://paperandmusings.wordpress.com/

ALSO, I'm offering up some BLOG CANDY if you are a follower (either by joining the site or on Bloglovin'.  I'll draw a winner on December 9, so be sure to check back!

Be sure to check in on Scrapbook Steals a couple times a day for FANTASTIC scrapbooking supply deals....and check their archive section too.... All sorts of good deals there! And oh ya, check out their blog for wonderful crafty inspiration! 

Thanks for hopping with us!

Craftily yours,

Karen