Top five cards from 2012

Hi, ladies! I'm busy stamping away on new product (and I'll share that later), but I wanted to gather up a few of my favorite cards from last year to share with you one last time. Boy this was hard - I made a LOT of cards last year! I linked each card to the original post, just in case you need more details...

#5 is this 3-D flower card done with just a touch of red. I made a ton of variations of this flower this year - so simple and but super pretty.

#4 is this fresh little bike card...I wish I had a glitter bike to ride like this! Again with the stitching - can you feel the little curly-Qs of {love} flowing off the back of this bike?

#3 is this SMILE card I whipped up using the new Burlap ribbon and lots of rolling (my favorite inking technique!). Those fabulous rhinestone brads are one of my favorite things for sure!

#2 is this CAS holiday card...clean and simple are not my strong suits, but I whipped this card out in minutes and wouldn't change a thing!

And my favorite card from 2012 is probably this one - the crisp black and white, stitched panels, glittery dragonfly wings...I made this right after we got those brads I love so much! It breaks my heart that they are retiring at the end of this month - I'd better get some more before they are gone!

A bonus project - probably my favorite layout I made last year. I say probably, because how do you pick for sure, but I loved these pics of my boys so much, this layout helped me realize the power of the photo collage in a layout! Plus I loved this Dotty paper packet to pieces...

I'm linking this post to the Paper Issue My Favorite Linky party, which is sure to be chock full of awesomeness, so go check it out! 

Hope you enjoyed this quick trip down memory lane with me - new product sneak peek project #1 is coming ASAP!

Bringing Back the Avonlea Frame!

Due to popular demand, I'm bringing back the Avonlea Frame as an option for the Volume 4 consultant kits. Featured on Jeanette's Blog, this frame is amazingly fun to assemble with my instructional kit that breaks down the tree into 6 easy steps. Now you can order the consultant kit for this frame again, either as a stand alone kit, or as a substitution for one of your workshops in the three pack. 

Thanks for all of your kind words and comments, ladies. Being a part of this awesome CTMH sisterhood is the most wonderful part of being a consultant . 

Hope to meet y'all at our Convention in Disney World this summer! You are the best!

Tuesday Tips!

Tuesday is going to be my Jamberry bloggin' day, which I've named Tuesday Tips, because alliteration makes everything better...kind of like glitter! Here's what I'm wearing this week - a little Snowflakes with a Diamond Dust Sparkle Accent nail. I did my toes in the Snowflakes, too. The Sparkle shields are like having glitter paper for your fingers - so fabulous, but without the cracking and flaking off action of my beloved glitter nail polish ! After I was done, I was giving my four year old a thumbs up. He sighed and said, "Mom, don't you know that Christmas is over?" After I got done giggling with him, I told him snowflakes are for all winter long...as my wreath project I'll post later this week will attest!

There is so much amazing change happening for Jamberry this month. I made a little list of some of the changes announced so far this month - they say next week's announcement saves the best for last!

1. All shields are moving to a clear backing - hooray! That makes for much easier sizing!
2. They have made the adhesive even stronger bonding. I already get a fabulous hold, so I can't wait to see how these stick!
3. The vinyl material going forth will be even thinner - I cannot wait to get this new format on my fingertips!
4. There's a new Style Sister's Shield of the month - this month it's a deep oxblood accented with a gold star.
5. There's a new Hostess only shield available each month. How sweet is that Emerald hounds-tooth gonna look on your tips in March?
6. There's new and even more generous Hostess rewards! You can request a party (online or in person if you are local) on my Jamberry website!

That's my Tuesday tip for this week. See ya back here for more glittery goodness soon!

10 Things I Have No Intention of Changing in 2013

I aspire to be a more regular blogger in 2013...and one of my favorite blog challenges is the Monday Listicles over at The Good life. The ever fabulous Stasha is challenging us to make a list of 10 things we have no intention of changing in 2013. I love this idea...I always have ideas for things I want or need to work on, but taking stock of things that I'm just not gonna be working on...there's a list I can get done!

10 THINGS I HAVE NO INTENTION OF CHANGING IN 2013
1. Gluten Free.  When we started we thought it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Now it's just a part of us.

2. My addiction to Glitter in all it's glorious forms. Not in 2013 or ever.

3. The cleanliness of my mini van. No matter how much I clean it somehow it always looks like a slovenly family of raisin eating super hero obsessed hobbits occupy it. OK, maybe not hobbits - they'd be cleaner with cooler rugs and better chairs. Maybe raisin eating super hero obsessed gollums. I'm throwing in the towel on this problem until my preeecioussesss are a mite bigger with better eye hand coordination.

4. My exercise routine...or lack thereof. The only reason I would join a gym right now is so I can take a nap while the boys hang in the daycare. Hey, that's not a bad idea...

5. Honeycrisp Apple Hoarding. They cost more, but they taste oh-so-much better. I hide them just for me, since they boys literally don't care what kind they eat, and have been known to take three bites before declaring they are full of apple.

6. Getting excited over little things. I like the details. I like an extra layer of paper, glitter, googly eyes, and I will paper piece tiny owl balloons if I want to...and it will make my heart happy!

7. Facebook and Instagram. I love them. I'm keeping them. I'm posting. It's fun.

8. My garden. I let the strawberry plants take over my garden last year. This year I'm calling it a strawberry patch, going to the farmer's market, and joining a CSA. I am a terrible gardener. Oh well.

9. Sleep. I've been sleeping a lot more this last month while I was not well, which is causing my problem in number 10 to grow exponentially. And it's fabulous. I LOVE SLEEPING! I intend to do a lot more of it in 2013.

10. The fact that my To-Do list is always going to be longer than the time I can reasonably devote to it. That's ok, I'm quitting guilt. Tomorrow is another day - but these boys are not getting any smaller!

Here's to health and happiness in 2013, Stampin' Friends!

Avonlea Monthly Memories Club Pages

Monthly Memories Club is meeting this Friday, and I'm so excited to make these pages with my Stamping Ladies (as my three little guys call y'all)! Avonlea is one of my favorite papers in the catalog - I was so excited to choose the Avonlea Card Workshop as my prize when I was Spotlighted on Jeanette's Blog because I can't get enough of it.  I purposely placed Avonlea at the end of our club schedule for this catalog because I knew that I would still be inspired by those beautiful prints even with the new Catalog sitting on the table next to me... but then December's Train of Minor Tragedies rolled in and I just plumb ran out of time to get anything done. I've got the last ten holiday cards sitting on the table at my left, a stack of half packed packages for my brother's kiddos Holiday gifts on my right, and there was just no way to cram in any more time last month. So I stamplifted these fabulous pages from two (well, sort of three) of my favorite CTMH stampers. 

How gorgeous are those white heat embossed flowers/snowflakes on this first layout? They are the creative genius of Karen Pederson, whose warm and witty blog you need to run over and follow right away. I love reading her posts,which make me feel like we're just chatting over a cuppa tea. Check out her fabulous salsa recipe too!

I stamplifted this second layout from Karen Pederson also, adding a bit of burlap to the right side of the layout. The Avonlea Canvas StickEase are just so pretty and easy to apply!

This last layout I lifted from Dawn Montanago, who told me she had lifted her version with extra stamping on the sides from one of my creative heroes (and yours too, I'm sure), Tresa Black. I added even more stamping down the sides, plus a title trimmed out of that fabulous burlap ribbon...and a ton of glitter!

For this one I went back to the Stardust Glitter Glitz, which add just a subtle shimmer. I also did some fun alternative inking on the more solid images, sliding the image across the pad in a swiping motion instead of the normal "pat pat" solid ink coverage we aim for when inking a stamp. I thought it added a nice bit of texture to the images!

One last note for my Canadian Consultant friends who have been waiting ever so patiently for a solution to the Stamping Rules Consultant Kit problem...The door is now open again! I've started building the Shop My Stash page on my blog (which anyone can shop from, of course) and now you can order kits again. Hooray! Check out the details on my Consultant Kits page and I'll be loading more products and a wider variety of products to the Shop My Stash page as time permits. Right now it's just stamps, but I plan to expand to include more retired products and page kits as well. Thanks for looking, and for your patience!

Two of my three kiddos are going back to school tomorrow, so it's (finally) back to our beloved routine. Have a great week, Stamping Friends!

P.S. Thanks to Karen, Dawn, and Tresa for the amazing Inkspiration this month!