Farewell to The Craft's Meow

Today is a sad day, as Lisa is announcing the closing of The Craft's Meow.  Lisa has organized present and past Design Team members and illustrators for 1 final blog hop.  It starts at The Craft's Meow Blog, where this is a listing of all the blogs participating.  Once you start hopping, you'll be directed from 1 blog to the next.

For our final blog hop, we were asked to choose our favorite stamps and make a card with them.  I looked through my stamps and chose 2 sets to make this card.  I thought the scripture would be appropriate for this occasion, and I paired it with this gorgeous flower:

supplies: TCM Beautiful Spring, Vintage Clocks, pink and green cardstock, watercolor pencils, pink pearls

The Craft's Meow Store will be closing its doors at the end of December. All stamp sets have been marked down by as much as 75%, and stock is limited.  Once a stamp set is gone, it will be gone for good, so don't wait too long to shop for your best selection.  All orders of $25.00 or more will receive a free gift with purchase, and flat-rate shipping is $3.00 for U.S. orders and $12.00 for international.  Please see The Craft's Meow blog for details, or click right over to The Craft's Meow Store to start shopping now.

I am saddened at this news, but change is a part of living.  I have loved being part of this team, getting to work with the beautiful images that our illustrators gave us, month after month, and rubbing shoulders with the other talented designers on the team.  They have taught me much!  The absence of The Craft's Meow will leave a big void in my crafting life.   I hope you'll join me in sending hugs and wishing Lisa the best in her new endeavors.

Now, hop on along to Angelica Suarez's blog.

Looking back - my favorite cards of 2010

I like the idea of doing an end of the year post showing some of my favorite favorites from the year past.  I've chosen one card for each of these artists, but I could just have easily chosen 5 or 6 from each one, and there are many others who, for one reason or another, I couldn't include.  I've linked each card back to the artist's photostream on Flickr.  Many of them also have a blog; if you go to her Flickr profile, it is often listed.  In alphabetical order.

Anna-Karin:  What a lovely mix of stamps and colors!  Her creations are always breathtaking!

Carole:  Carole's style is shabby-chic to the max! 

Emilia:  Emilia and I share a love of flowers.  Isn't this stunning?

Godelieve:  Godelieve has done a whole series of these vellum lacy lovelies, one more beautiful than the last.

Heather Maria:  Heather's use of fabric is something that makes her cards standouts; her quilting background really shines.

Hellemor:  Isn't this card wonderful?  Full of quilted goodness and some of my favorite colors!

Jacqueline:  One of my first contacts from the flickr group; I have trouble commenting on Jacqueline's work because I've run out of superlatives.  Again, her style is all her own.

Jill:  Jill has developed her own unique style, and I always love her cards.

Judy:  Love this card - hearts and flowers and pearls!

Kath:  She has such a unique style - and a great role model for me!

Kathy Rosecrans:  her cards are always full of beauty.

Lucy:  This exemplifies some of my favorite things that Lucy uses: stitching, buttons, kraft. 

Linda aka Oz: What an artist this talented lady is!

Patty:  Being a fan of lilacs, this card instantly drew me in.  I'm lucky enough to have the original!

Robin:  All of her cards always touch something in me.  Look at her photostream and see if you don't agree.

Suzanne:  Her cards inspire me on a daily basis; Sue has some serious talent!

and Tif:  what an amazing mix of stamps!  Tif is a girl for all styles, and she does each one to perfection.

Aren't they amazing?  Thank you ladies, for your constant day-to-day inspiration.  Looking forward to a whole new year of more - Happy New Year everyone!!

Looking back, part 2

Sue had a good idea to post her favorite cards made previous to the launch of her blog. Since my blog is only 2 months old, I really like her idea of preserving my older favorites here, too. This was so hard, like choosing your favorite child!

This one uses three of my very favorite stamps.


I've included this one because it uses the strip-piecing technique taught to me by Mary Anne, the friend who got me into making cards, and another old favorite stamp, the coneflower. This technique is great for using up little scraps, and also makes me think of quilts, another love of mine.


I love autumn. This was for a color challenge.


And this was made after Shari Carroll taught us the emboss/resist technique.


Lilacs are a sentimental favorite flower of mine. Each little flower was stamped separately in 2 colors of lavender ink.


This was inspired by my Hostess sister Sarah's scrapbook page.


And if you read yesterday's post, you'll see this is inspired by Marilyn.


You'll see Kathy's card in that same post.


This one was inspired by Jacqueline.


I love birds. This one was made about the time of our grandson's birth.


Another of my favorite flowers, the forget-me-not, made by paper-piecing.


Clear cards are so fun to make; this one was for my sister's birthday.


And just so you know, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!! This was a card using digital elements.

If you haven't noticed yet, I love hearts and flowers.


And finally, I made a card for each of my Hero Hostess sisters, using our signature apron colors.


If you'd like an up-close and personal look at any of these, just click on the picture. Thanks for indulging me!! Now please keep reading below for my favorites of other cardmakers this year.

Looking back........

SUE had a great post on her blog today......she showed her top favorite cards from the Hero Arts Flickr group. I thought this was a great idea! So get your favorite beverage and get comfortable and let's take a walk down memory lane.

It was so difficult to narrow down this list. Many of my favorites are missing because I couldn't figure out how to get their pictures posted here. Keep in mind that these are my favorites today; tomorrow they'll be different! I am so proud to be part of this amazing group of women! Thanks, ladies, for the constant inspiration!

I could choose 20 of Jacqueline's cards to show you, but this one really touched my heart in so many ways. She stamped over a photograph of wooden shoes planted with pansies.
I love OZ's cards because they always show her sense of fun and they are always beautifully crafted.

Tif's cards are always like a fairy tale brought to life; she often uses beautiful flowers.

Every single one of Donna's cards are a work of art. This one is one of my favorites from the shaped cards challenge. She even has a white picket fence!

Suzanne's card perfectly exemplifies the peace and gentleness that winter can be, and it incorporates music paper.

Marilyn's card is one of my very favorites, and I've used it as a model many times for cards of my own.

This one of Laura's is pure joy to me; it uses a digital image of one of my first Hero stamps, Sketch Tulips.
This card of Kathy's is another one of my all-time favorites; so much so that I did my own version of it.

This card of Sue's is one of the ones that makes me want to drop everything and run out and buy the stamp that is featured.

My Hero Hostess Sista Cathy made this little lovely for the photo challenge, and I can almost smell the lavender!

Trace has her own unique style. This one is one of her earliest cards; it makes me think of a soft worn quilt.
And this one of hers is my model for when I need a masculine card.

This card by Kathy Rosecrans hits all the right notes for me: text, scallops, gingham, flowers.....just a beautiful design.

Here is a gorgeous card by another of my Hero sisters, Sarah. This was just done for the recent blog hop. She used my current favorite stamp and made it sing!

Daria's card is another of my very favorites. The design is so appealing to me, and it uses everyone's favorite Heart Winged Butterfly.

Finally, I think Robin and I were separated at birth :) She and I seem to have the same sensibilities. Here is one of my recent favorites of hers; it has everything I need: pink, brown, hearts and flowers.
Please click on each artist's name to take you to her Flickr photostream, where you will learn more about each card, and can then explore more of her cards in her stream if you'd like.
It's almost the New Year here, so I'll close for tonight, but will be back tomorrow to post another of Sue's ideas, a look at my favorites of my own cards from before this blog was born. Happy New Year, everybody!!