Year End Recap

Why do I create?   I started creating cards as time spent with a friend doing something fun together.  It transitioned into a way for me to explore, de-stress, express myself, learn, get messy, create something( sometimes anything) and to grow and try something new.

Having said all that I like to look at a snapshot from the year to see if I have grown at all in my artistic efforts.

Overall I noticed a trend of people blogging less and posting more on instagram?  I haven't jumped to the instagram to post things but definitely have posted less. I have also created less this past year. 

In January my favorite project was inspired by Tim's tag:

I love the foil effect and mixed it with an image underlying all in grays.

I joined the Frilly and Funkie Challenge this year. (yeah!) One of the February challenges inspired me to create a series of postcards.  I loved doing this because it let me layer images in a one-layer format.

I see I didn't post much in March but there were two projects I loved one was a series of ATC's which I always love to create and they were based on a color challenge.  I love color challenges. Something about certain color combinations have me thinking of how to show off the colors in different ways. The other project was a trios challenge and I created a tag separated into three pieces.

Sometimes projects seem to just flow naturally out and they tend to be the ones most pinned or get the biggest response online.  This tag in April was one of those pieces of art that was easily created and I loved it when it was done.  I think because it is very much in the Tim Holtz style that it got a big response.  I loved this tag but didn't feel I tried anything new or grew at all in creating it.

In reviewing May I have to say I loved every project I created. That doesn't happen very often. I picked this card because of the image within the butterfly shape. 

I like playing along with challenges as it has me thinking of how and what to use within a constrained challenge. The Anything But Cute and A Vintage Journey were the starting point for my June inspired card.  This project made me feel  uncomfortable because I used a girls face on a bee stamped image.  I kept thinking of the old horror movie of "The Fly".

Tough decision in July as a I created a golden undersea canvas that I loved. I decided instead to share a card which I created a new technique.  I like looking at something and thinking how could I represent that with my inks and stamps.

For August I decided to share a trio of tiny tags that were made for the Funkie and Frilly Challenge where the project had to be tiny. I don't often  use pattern paper (but I have a lot of it on hand!).  I loved this vintage baby paper as it reminded me of the baby cards that our parents had. 

September was a lean month for blog posts.  I found this pocket watch butterfly  that was  for a challenge.  Something a little different from my usual tags. :)

October had many more posts and there was a lovely selection of cards but I decided on my current blog header. These leaves were a happy accident while playing around on my desk with some embossed leave. 

November was full of inspiration from Linda at the Funkie Junkie.  I picked one of my cards inspired from her 12 tags of Christmas challenge.  Linda runs this challenge every year and posts a tag every week leading up to Christmas.  Her tags are phenomenal and gave me such an inspirational boost in November and December. Thanks Linda!

Another card inspired by Linda using my beloved Artistic Outpost stamps.

 Sorry for the length of the post. I hope it was enjoyable. I want to wish all of you a very blessed, healthy and happy 2017!

Suzz