My Favorite Cards of 2011!

These aren't in any specific order, or even in chronological order! I was surprised that I had made so many fewer cards this year than the year before!! I need to get back in the swing of doing challenges again - I've missed it! I also need to get everyone's birthday and anniversary dates!!! I'm so tired of missing out on your big days!!!!! So anyway....here of my faves....

I love this card because I got to take my time with it, lol! I already knew it was going to be going out late, so I just accepted that and had fun coloring the image. I think Magnolia images are my favorite stamps to color. I love my little handmade poinsettia too!

I was really learning how to "shade" with the Copics and I liked how my efforts worked out on this card! I also was using my pennant punch for the first time and I sure do love my punches!!!!

I love doing anything "princess-y", lol! I had had this cement wall paper from the very, very beginning of my stamping career and finally found a way to use it!! This is why we crafters hoard our supplies!!!! We'll need it for sure....someday, lol!

I love this simple, but sweet little card! And yellow is my favorite color!!

My #1 favorite Christmas card this year!! It was for Emily, who still hasn't received it yet! There are a lot of pretty details that don't show up well in this photograph. I especially loved how Tilda's hair turned out, with the soft little holly garland.

I love Cherry Cobbler & Sahara Sand combos! And this card combines a couple of embossing techniques and I love, love, love trying new techniques!

These were commissioned pieces. I love this stamp, and I colored it with my beloved Copics! They may be expensive, but 100% worth it!!! I really love the vintage feel of these as well.

My favorite Valentine card! I usually have difficulty with layouts and this card came together so easily for me. I have to remember to use my crimper more! It adds so much dimension.

My award winning card! This card took me a long time to make, but I loved how it turned out!! Of course only my peacock would have this much bling on it, lol!!!

I CASEd this card from someone else's card I saw online. I thought it was so cute and wanted to try it out for myself. And in the end, I rather liked mine better!! Punch art is so much fun!

LOVE this card!! It so soft and dream-like! I think I'll have to revisit this design and perhaps change up the colors.

I sent this card to Alex. She really loved it! It was a card I made after feeling really poorly, and had missed crafting!!! I sure hope 2012 brings much fewer "pain" days!!!

This was Thomas' Father's Day card. I didn't have any background paper I was happy with, so I made my own with a large stamp wheel! I have to remember that more often, lol!

I'm pretty sure this was my most labor-intensive punch art card - EVER!!! So many little bits and pieces!! It took me most of the day to make, but it was very well received.

This was my first time making the pop-up birthday cake card! Turns out it was sooo easy to do! This die also has a bride & groom as well, so you can make wedding or anniversary cards! I never did get time to make the Christmas tree pop-up...so we'll have to add that to the list in 2012.

A Christmas shaker card!!! I just heard that SU is keeping those shaker frames, so this is very good news! It makes these cards so quick & easy to make. Really love the Bashful Blue/Marina Mist color combo on this sweet card.

This was another commissioned piece. This was one of those rare times when I didn't want to let the card out of my hands, lol! I just loved how it turned out - the coloring, the flowers, everything!

I made this Christmas card as a Guest Designer. I got to use quite a few new goodies at the time and that's always motivating! This card just seems well balanced to me.

A very fun, very pink birthday card! What's better than pink cake???

This card was also an award winner!! A combination of very old and very new goodies, all perfectly arranged, lol! Tilda is my favorite!!!

For this card I had to make a punch art doggie, and couldn't find any directions online for it! Sooo, I had to come up with something on my own - yikes! Having every punch from SU really helps, lol. I was pretty pleased with the final result too!

Country charm in a card! I love how the stamps and the paper all coordinate!

This was the very first Magnolia card I ever made! I fell in love with this pretty little ballerina, who reminds me so much of The Bella! Flowers, and sparkle, and pearls - oh my!

I simply adore matching stamp sets and punches!!! It makes crafting so effortless, and yet gorgeous! Plus sparkle...you have to have sparkle!!!

A very fun Christmas card! This was from a new stamp set, Polar Party, and I think it's my favorite Christmas set!!! I wish I had had the time to do more with it, but there's always next year, right? It was fun adding the older elements with the newer ones on this card. Embellishments never go bad, lol!

This was such a fun card!! It's a digital stamp, which is nice because you can make it just the size you need for a project! I had just the best time coloring it!

I was still learning about blending with my Copics on this card, but she's still darling! I'm going to have to make better use of the 300+ of these beauties I have and make many more cards next year!!!

Tilda is gorgeous as a fairy, don't you think?? I loved coloring her, but not cutting her out! I think I failed cutting in Kindergarten!!! I need to remember the multitudes of paper packs I have and get them used for fun cards like this!!!

This was just so cool! Somehow a SU sentiment stamp perfectly matched this digital stamp!!! See? You can't ever have "too many" stamps, lol! I love the layout (it was a layout challenge!) and all the pearls on this one. And her red hair turned out perfectly!!!

Last fall I got a poinsettia Nestie set and I actually remembered to use it!! Yes, sometimes I do forget I have stuff. What's great is that it cut and embossed at the same time!!! I really liked the crochet trim bow too.

I made this card for a challenge and didn't win nothin', lol! Oh well! I still think it's pretty cool! It nearly killed me to leave it so "simple", but you have to try new things!

LOVE THIS CARD!!!! It took me around three days to make it (lots of coloring and masking), and I was 100% happy with it when I was finished. Which almost never happens, lol! I especially love the way their hair turned out, which is challenging to get "just right".

This card is actually prettier in person. I couldn't get a decent shot of it, no matter how many I took! I think it just screams SPRING!!!

I was so tickled with how this card turned out! I drove myself batty trying to keep the correct colors going on those ribbons!!! I'm not really an orange lover, but this card is perfect to me.

Sparkle!!!!! You get this super, duper sparkle with heat & stick powder and then Dazzlin Diamonds glitter. The iridescent ice embossing powder doesn't even come close!! And then I added the glass glitter! Even the cupcake background paper had glitter in it! It was a "sparkle" challenge, lol!

Truer words were never spoken!! And I avoid it as much as possible!! The mosaic technique is always a good one for interesting backgrounds!

I love these paper roses!! And if they didn't take so stinkin' long to make, I'd make more, lol! It's amazing to me that they are actually made with an owl punch! There are so many crafting geniuses out there, and thank goodness they post directions for their creations!!!

This is an interesting card! It opens on the diagonal, and has a pocket inside! This was a first for me and I thought this image perfect for it! "The only place stamping comes before housework is in the dictionary!!!" Oh.So.True.

And last, but not least!, we have this Mother's Day card! I didn't make it for anyone in particular, which is probably why I still have it, lol! I really like it though. I mean, who doesn't like fairies???

So there you have it - the best of 2011! Hopefully I will make even more cards next year. You know, before the world ends on December 21st. But that's another post, for another time...