a year in review: 2011

ETA: Adding some text to explain why I chose each card...thought it would be a nice touch. :)

2011 has been a very fun year in papercrafting for me. I have made some amazing new friends and I was able to post a lot more often here on the blog. I am still thinking about goals for 2012, but posting even more here on the blog is surely one of them.

I decided to play along in the Year in Review Blog Hop that's going on right now, featuring my favorite projects of each month over the last year:

January
This card was made using flowers that I cut out from someone else's Christmas card. It was a pretty swanky card that was sent from one of my husband's political colleagues; I chose this card because of the joy I feel knowing those political days are behind us now.

February

I cased this card by Melissa Phillips, so I can't take credit for the design, but I chose it because I *love* the patterned paper and because it was one of the first cards I made using my sewing machine, this year's Valentine's Day gift from my husband. 2011 will be remembered as the year I truly fell head over heels for patterned paper and for sewing on cards.

March
This card stood out because of the message of "HOPE" in the patterned paper and because I love those stick pins.

April
The card I made for my Dad for Father's Day...I love my dad...so why not choose this one?

May
I was so touched when Christina MacLaren gave me a set of crocheted flowers that she made herself. They're beautiful, aren't they?!

June
I never would have thought I could come up with something CAS, but I just loved how this one turned out.

July
I chose this card as a reminder of the awesome online Summer Card Camp that I took this year.

August
So pretty and feminine...I don't use pastel colors often, but with the pinwheel die from Lil' Inkers, it just seemed right.

September
This card stood out mostly because of my love for the Jenni Bowlin ivory flower embellishments, but also because it was my first time trying Verve stamps. The Crate Paper paper looks awesome too.

October
I had to feature a card using A Muse Studio products, to mark 2011 as the year I joined A Muse Studio as a consultant. It has been a lot of fun, and I am still trying to figure out how far I can grow with that in 2012.

November
I love Lisa Johnson and I love this stamp set that she designed. And I love the colors in the patterned paper. I had high hopes for papercrafting this Christmas, and those were thwarted around Thanksgiving when my grandmother had some medical issues. This made it tough for me to use so much of what I had bought for Christmas projects this year, but everything is now neatly packed away for the 2012 holiday season. 

December
I love this card for so many reasons. Dawn at WPlus9 featured it on her blog, which was an exciting honor for me, and it was the card I gave my mom this year. I love the entire In the Meadow set from Papertrey probably more than any other stamp set I own, but paired with Winter Wishes from WPlus9 this card came together so well, I can only atribute it to pure magic. My mom loved it so much that she turned around and requested 75 of them for her holiday card for next year...I am still hunting for more of those rhinestone snowflakes, but Two Peas received quite the order from me for Basic Grey Nordic Holiday papers last week. LOL!

This was really fun for me to do. I enjoyed seeing how my style has differed over the last year, and how my photography skills improved, if ever so slightly. Maybe that's something to work on even more in 2012.
What are your plans for New Year's Eve? Eric and I are going out for dinner, and I will probably go to see my grandmother with Teddy.

Happy New Year, everyone!