My Favourite Projects in 2020

 We have reached the end of another year and it's time to do one of my favourite posts - top picks! It is refreshing to sit down and look back upon my blog over the year and even through my previous top picks posts from years past. This year has been especially long and crafting throughout it definitely helped keep my sanity! Here are some of my favourites projects from each month:

January

Happy Birthday To You!
This Sketchbook Roses set from The Greetery is probably my most used stamp of the year! I absolutely love how the multi-layered stamps create a watercolour look. I have enjoyed playing around with this beautiful flower image.

February

Amour
This intricate Eiffel Tower die cuts out perfectly on my new Gemini machine. I enjoyed playing around some more with ink blending this year and want to experiment more with creating backgrounds.

March

Daisy + Eucalyptus Bouquet
Being on Quarantine after our trip to Maui meant some extra crafting time and a need to make some thank you cards for those who helped us out! It was fun to stamp out a variety of these daisies in all different colours and then combine them to make up some bouquets.

April

Wine Themed Card Set
This was a birthday gift for my mother-in-law and a good reminder that I should make card sets more often! I paired this set with a handmade tea towel featuring a family recipe.

May

You're The Zest
I think this is one of my most favourite cards that I have ever created! I love how it all came together with the gingham tablecloth and the yummy looking iced tea - I'm pretty proud of the overall look!

June

Fresh Picked For Your Birthday
I loved making more plantable cards this year and experimenting with how to make the layers all plantable, too, by using water-based glue to adhere the pieces together. This card got me recognized by the Zero Waste store in Kimberley, Fullfill! They now carry my cards at their store :)

July

Slimline Firefighter Slider Card
Slimline cards were a fun change this year and creating a slider card was so fun for these birthday cards! Check out this post to see a video clip of the firetruck moving along the card. Can't wait to make more of these!

August

Cornelius The Dragon
This special slimline birthday card was fun to put together using the Lawn Fawn Build-A-Castle die set. With the pandemic and border closures, I was super happy to have a Canadian store like The Papercrafter's Workshop to be able to order all of these fun supplies from.

September

Back To School 2020
What a different school year this has been! Our nephew started kindergarten this fall and I wanted to celebrate this milestone by creating a special card for him to go along with this hilarious book. 

October

S'more Birthday Invitation
This year for Harvey's 3rd Birthday I thought it would be fun to do a s'more theme. This worked out perfectly with the need to do an outdoor socially distanced party. I was stoked to find a Lawn Fawn x Ellen Hutson LLC s'more set that coordinated with the other Forest Friends themed items I have made and used over the years. Ellen Hutson LLC reposted my card and highlighted it on Instagram!

November

Noel
This simple card features an idea to create shadow sentiments using diecuts highlighted by my Auntie Karen during her Demo Days appearance this fall. I also had fun trying out some wavy stitching on my sewing machine and love the overall effect!

December

Reading Course Welcome Card
I am excited to have a new opportunity in January to teach in the Teacher Education program at our local college! Due to the pandemic, this course will be taught fully online and so I wanted to put in some extra effort to make my students feel welcome. I put together a course kit along with these welcome cards featuring a stack of books in a mountain scene! I am pretty proud of how these all came together - I made 22 of them!

Bonus:

#oneofmanypostcard
In April I decided to participate in the 1/Many Postcard event on Instagram. I created 10 cards and mailed them out worldwide to the first 10 people who commented on my post. I got to send cards locally, around our country and to the UK! This was so uplifting to do during the height of the pandemic and was a fun opportunity to try out some new colour combinations and techniques with my Tombow markers.

Sunflower Mother's Day
Mother's Day is a pretty emotional day for me, so when a crafty friend I met through the library crops had an idea that we each make a card for the other for Mother's Day I thought this was a great way to pour my heart into something creative and healing. Sunflowers are my favourite and I painted each layer of these with my distress oxide inks. The card took a long time to make but I feel that the process of it all was very therapeutic. When I shared the card on Instagram, Simon Says Challenge reposted it :)

2020 Spring & Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop
This card came together beautifully for the spring hop with the colours and the zip of stripes at the bottom, as well as some stitching done on my sewing machine to tie it altogether. Even the spatters cooperated for a nice clean look on this card. I was ecstatic to be highlighted as one of the Designer Picks from the hop out of 1468 entries! 

Lift The Flap Tree Backdrop
I am starting to work smarter and make up similar cards at the same time when I can. I had 3 special birthdays at the end of October to make cards for, including my son, and I immediately began to imagine them when I saw this fun interactive tree die set come out from Lawn Fawn.

Harvey's 3rd Birthday
Each year I have done a Forest Friends theme for Harvey's birthday and added a special project. His first birthday was the mountain banner; second birthday was the wooden birthday banner; third birthday was the s'more themed cupcake toppers! This project and others were highlighted on the Papercrafter's Spotlight by The Papercrafter's Workshop store in Stouffville, Ontario! I had an interview with them in October on Facebook Live and enjoyed sharing my projects with them on Instagram, too!

I look forward to continuing to find time to craft and create. It is so good for my heart and soul and I cannot wait to try out some new things in the new year! Cheers to 2021 :)