2023 in Review

This week, I'm excited to be co-hosting the 2023 Year in Review blog hop where I and other co-hosts share our favourite papercraft creations of 2023 and we would be delighted if you join us!  

Here is a list of my co-hosts and I know they'd appreciate your visit and feedback!  

Alicia - Golden Goddess Designs

Debbie  - Secrets to Stamping

Diane - Nellie's Nest

Ellie - Ellibelle's Corner

Francesca - Percorsi di Fantasia

Helen - Made by Helen

Joanne - My Slices of Life

Lillian - Lillian's Crafting Blog

Tee - The Paper Layer

Or you can create your own "year in review" post and link it up below!  The linky tool will remain open for a week - plenty of time to review your creative year and pick one or more of your favourite papercraft projects to share!  

 

I decided to make it easier for myself and chose a favourite from each month, but you might like to just pick your favourite project of 2023 or your favourite top 5 or 10!   There are no rules other than that they are papercrafts projects and that they are your own work (not favourites you have come across online through the year)!   Any products and all styles are welcome!

These are my favourites for 2023, listed by month - you'll find a link below each photo to their blog post  in case you'd like to find out a little bit more about what was used and how (and sometimes why) they came about!

January

Scrapped Quilt (made up from pretty leftovers)

February

Like a Rainbow - a CASE of a Gina K creation!

March

Sending Hedgehugs (one of two cards in this post)

April

Style is Eternal

May

Hooray Squirrels

June

You're an All Star

 

July

Once Upon a Time

 August

 Hello Beautiful Peacock

September

Sweet Christmas Pudding

October

Fabulous Vintage

November

Poppy Hugs

December

Tis the Season to Sparkle - because Christmas really is the time
for paper crafters to sparkle and shine isn't it!

Well done if you made it this far because I'm giving away two die sets (see below) as a small prize to one lucky commenter on this post for the duration of the link up - and if you're a follower  I'll put your name in the hat twice!  I'll also post anywhere in the world!

Well that about wraps up 2023 for me.  I hope you enjoyed the recap of my creative year and hope you find some time to recap your creative year and play along with us.  

Wishing you and your loved ones health, happiness and good fortune in 2024!

Kate

Tis the Season to Sparkle!

 

Time Out Challenge #253 has just gone live and we're ending the year with a bling - we challenge you to be 

Sparkly

I'd like to thank our generous sponsor Picket Fence Studios who are offering a $25 store credit to our Time Out Winner as chosen by the Design Team!  

Our winner will also be invited to join us as a guest designer in a future challenge, so I do hope you'll grab anything that sparkles and join us!

I heard recently that the EU will shortly be banning glitter so I was determined to use as much of it as possible for my last card of 2023.  

I cut several Tm Holtz deer from white card stock and again from white glitter card stock and stacked them - this is the mini deer from the movers and shapers set.  Once stacked, I added a few coats of glossy accents - I love the way the glitter shines and sparkles under the glossy accents.  

For the forest scene I added birch trees (Impression Obsession) and a snow bank (Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Borders) to a background panel - all from various shades of white shimmer card stock.

The 'Tis the Season (Uniko Simply Said Blocks Christmas) was perhaps not ideal as a lot of the detail was lost with the Judykins White Diamonds Embossing Powder but it's still readable (only took me 4 attempts to get one that was readable LOL)!

"SPARKLE" was cut from white holographic card stock using the MFT Little Letters Upper alphabet.

It was devilishly tricky to photograph this white on white sparkle so I created a short video.

I ended up making 9 of these and ran out of the white holographic paper so I used silver holographic paper instead.  What do you think - the silver definitely sparkles more than the white but I think I prefer the white!  I'd love to hear what you think!

Be sure to check out the inspiration from my fellow team mates and the very talented Heather of Handmade by Heather joins us as our guest this challenge.  Heather is one of our regulars and is always a joy to visit! 

 I'd like to enter the following challenges

Die Traumfabrik Challenge #122 where Elliot the Littlest Reindeer is the movie of the month;

Bastel Traum Challenge #127 - Winter Landscape;

Four Seasons December 2023 Challenge - Anything Winter Goes;

The Alphabet Challenge - R is for Reindeer;

Shopping Our Stash Challenge SOS511 - Whatever the Weather;

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all my crafty friends a blessed and sparkly Christmas and a bright and prosperous 2024!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and how to find you!

Kate