Happy New Year!

Hello friends!

Happy New Year! I know, 2016 is not that new anymore but since this is my first post this year I wanted to wish you a happy, healthy New Year with lots of time to create!

I hope your holidays were enjoyable. We spent them in Germany with my family and it was wonderful! We hadn't been there for Christmas in 11 years and among other things I wanted to show my kids some of the "Christkindlmärkte" (outdoor Christmas markets). My pictures are not the greatest but just to give you an idea:

(My hometown projects images onto the facades of buildings downtown)

Now first some administrative stuff:

You might have already seen it on other blogs that here will be some changes with Blogger:

Effective January 11, 2016 only Google account holders will be able to follow blogs with Blogger. In addition, Blogger will also remove any followers without a Google account from the blogs they are following. For the full announcement from Google click here.

I definitely don't want to loose any of my dear followers! So if you are reading my blog via Google Friend Connect you have the following options:

• You can create a Google Account.  Then you would need to become a Follower again because all previous Followers who did not have an account will be permanently removed from my Follower lists by Google.

• If you choose not to open a Google account, you can still follow my blog via email, bloglovin, or feedly.

And now I would like to do a review of my favorite cards that I posted last year. This year I did not pick one per month but my favorites of all so sometimes there are several in one month and other months are missing. If you want to go to the original blog post click on the dates underneath the photo.

2/2/15

2/17/15

3/19/15

3/26/15

4/19/15

6/6/15

7/27/15

8/3/15

8/14/15

8/18/15

8/31/15

10/9/15

12/23/15

Boy, that was hard. Could have included several more...

If you are interested check out a similar post from last year by clicking here.

I am linking up over at Lyndal Higgins blog.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart if you stuck with me till the end!

Hope to post some new creations soon and that you'll be back!

Hugs,

Susanne

Peace and Joy to You and Yours!

Wishing you all a

Merry Christmas

and

a New Year full of

Happiness, Health, and Love!

Stamps: Hero Arts (ornament, sentiment), DRS Designs (star background)

Other: shimmery cardstock (Recollection)

Thank you for all your visits and comments!

Looking forward to another year on this blog with you!

Cheers!

Susanne

Wish-granting fairy and a less transparent snowman

What would you wish for if you would meet this sweet fairy? 

This cute stamp as well as the label die belong to my friend Dora.  She brought them a long time ago for us to play with. I stamped, colored,  and cut out the panel but didn't finish it that Thursday night. So it sat on my desk. Then I discovered that a panel that was left over from a play with Gelatos had the same colors as her wings. Eventually this card came together. Too bad that you can't see well all the sparkle from the Stickles on the wings, stars, and flowers in her hair!

Stamps: Penny Black (fairy), Hero Arts (starry background), Inkadinkado? (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Label twenty-two
Other: Fancy corner scissors (Fiskars)


Challenges (please click on the links for rules and inspiration):


Butterlfly Challenge #44 "Fairies"
(because the butterflies are sleeping)






Virginia's View #21 "All About Glitter"








Simon Says Wednesday "Die Crazy"






Freshly Made Sketches #217








Remember that transparent looking snowman from my last post? I couldn't rest until I dabbed him with some pearlescent white chalk. I find he looks better now. What do you think?

I will take a couple of weeks off from blogging and commenting to enjoy the holidays with my family.

Have a wonderful the holiday season!

Hugs,
Susanne

Two Wintery Cards

Just popping in quickly to show you two more wintery cards that I made. They are both 5x7.

White embossed the trees, matted the panel with matte silver cardstock. Popped up the sentiment. Added stickles to the trees, snowflakes, and around the sentiment panel.

Stamps: Penny Black (trees), Stampin' Up (sentiment)


Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge "December" - Christmas/Holidays


Simon Says Monday Challenge - Just a Pinch
Added just a pinch of stickles...







White embossed the snowman on kraft. Colored with sharpies. Added a red layer, the sentiment, and a glittery snowflake. Seeing it on screen reminds me that I wanted to color the snowman with a bit of white chalk or something. Shucks!

Stamps: snowman unmounted and unknown, Savy stamps (sentiment)
Die: MFT (snow flake)


Challenge:


Inkspirational #97 - Flake
(Second entry)







Thanks for stopping by during this busy time! I appreciate your visits and comments very much!

Hugs,
Susanne

Two big glittery snowflakes

My apologies for the sparse posting here at the moment! I am so behind with everything this year and am now officially in panic! As I am sure you are all busy as well I will keep this short but I wanted to share two glittery snowflakes cards I made.

and a close up to see the glittery card stock better (although the gray weather didn't make the glitter sparkle very much)

And since I didn't want to waste the negative die cut I made this card

Stamps: Stampin' Up (both sentiments)
Die: Hero Arts (snowflake)
Other: Glitter paper (Recollection), snowflake paper from my stash


Lots of snowflake themed challenges in blogland at the moment. As always click on the links to find out details or browse for inspiration:


Virginia's View #21 "All About Glitter"
Sadly, Virginia's View is taking a brake after this one. Since Virginia did everything by herself it is understandable that she is in need of of a brake! I hope she will be back because she always had cool themes!








Time Out #45 "Snowflake are Winter's Butterflies"







Inkspirational #97 "Flake"




   



Cupcake Inspirations #339 "Let It Snow"







Simon Says Work It Wednesday "Holiday"







Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Let It Snow"







Hope your holiday preparations are going well! Don't forget to take deep breaths once in a while (note to myself)!

Hugs,
Susanne

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am here to wish all who celebrate a very happy Thanksgiving with delicious food, family and friends that get along, and lots of reasons to be thankful!

This year I only was able to make a few cards for the Cardologists. We have been exchanging cards for every holiday for years!

I CASEd a card that Debby Hughes made a couple of years ago. The cardbase is Petal Paper from Marco's. Embossed the wheat in gold, the sentiment in a glittery, fall colored ep that I've had forever. The acorn is covered with Glossy Accents.

Stamps: Hero Arts (wheat), Inkadinkado (sentiment), acorn unknown

On another note: I just finished reading the latest book by Cristina from My Paper Secret and I absolutely loved it! I always admired Cristina's cards. Unfortunately she doesn't blog them anymore to focus more on the writing. Now I am also a fan of her author side!  If you are looking for a good read I can highly recommend it! It's called
"The Book of Unknown Americans".

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by!

Hugs,
Susanne

50th Wedding Anniversary in White and Gold

Hi there!

Today's card I made for friends who just celebrated their 50th Anniversary! What an accomplishment, huh?

I stamped the background with Delicata gold ink and cut the big heart out of a patterned vellum snippet (from a chocolate box). The numbers are also cut from a snippet of gold card stock and then hammered with a Tim Holtz distress tool. Little hearts are also cut from snippets. This is a 5x7 card because I didn't want to cut off any of that background...

A new to me challenge "Use Your Stuff" celebrates their 200th post this week and the theme is "Celebrate". So, I am sending my card over there! And, of course, with all those snippets used it has to play in the Playground!

Stamps: Stampin' Up (background swallows and swirls), SSS (sentiment)
Dies: W9Plus (big heart), SSS (banner, tiny hearts), not sure where the numbers are from...


Challenges (please click on the links to get inspired by the DT's and gallery entries, and to find out about the rules):


Use Your Stuff #200 "Celebrate"
(ETA: This card was one of the Top 3! Woohoo!)

Pixie's Snippets Playground #203


And if you are still here I just wanted to say that my heart is breaking with what happened in Paris! I have once lived in this magical city for 18 months and I will always have a very soft spot for it! My heart goes out to all the victims, their families and friends!

Hugs,
Susanne