The Year in Review: 2014

For 2013, I was mostly unemployed and pursuing my art. I was broke by the end of it.

In 2014, I became a part-time employee and managed to pay my bills. I saved enough to scrape by at DisneyWorld. (My sister and brother-in-law were fabulous to foot the bill for airfare and lodging!) I'm still pretty well broke!

But I kept better track of my blog, my FB page, and joined a Design Team for Red Carpet Studios. I managed to make some art and I've basically set up a space in the basement for mixed media pursuits. I feel that I'm in a good place to jump off of in 2015.

I thought I'd share the projects that I've done for Red Carpet Studios over the last year. I just want to see them all in one post...what I've done and what I can build on for next year. Each project has a link back to the original blog post that I did at the time. Some posts explain how I made the card and what materials are used in it. So you can check out the past to get inspired for next year!

RCS #61: Snow Buddies
It isn't my favorite card but I took chances on it. I learned from it.

 

 #62: The Breakfast Club: I was pretty happy with this project. I loved the bright colors and the different elements that combined to make the little set: placemat, utensil holder, straw flowers, and a card.

#63: Love, Actually: Valentine's Day ain't my thing so I did the "anti-Valentine" card. Really like this one with the layered stencil background and embossed black hearts.

#64: The Academy Awards: Liked the pops of gold that this card displayed. I felt that I gave some good inspiration with this "card" that was actually made out of two envelopes!

#65: The Lucky Ones: Not bad but I took a bad photo, I think. My lighting was off as it has a more orange tinge than it really does in person. But copper and green...my faves.

#66: Beaches: Not my best work but I do like the different ideas I put into it. A collage "motherboard" background. 3-D touches and stamping. Folds at the top for something out of the ordinary.

#67: Hop: Like the card but the blue is a bit intense. Like the cut out and the scene behind it. A couple of the my favorite stamps are here.

#68: The Heat: The campfire card! Really like it, mostly because I love to color in this stamp image!

#69: Something Borrowed: This was the challenge that we paired up with Stick It Down and used one of their sketches to create our project. Since the movies up to this point hadn't really been my cup of tea, I used this challenge to celebrate "Star Wars Day", May the 4th. While the card was quick and easy, I love it's look. (Yea, so...I'm a nerd!)

 

#70: Saving Private Ryan: This was a challenge we did with Bugaboo stamps. We got to pick an image to feature on our cards to match the theme. I felt a bit bad that my cards weren't very elaborate but I wanted the images to pop out and with camouflage, that's not easy. It was a washi tape kind of day!

#71: National Lampoon's Vacation:  I made these two cards with Lawn Fawn stamps. Like 'em both. I'm still trying to get the hang of CAS cards.

#72: Hairspray: Challenge to use ribbon, twine, or washi tape and I chose Washi Tape! I really like how this card came out and my intended recipient did, too. I heard from her Mom that she loved the bright colors and the unicorn! (I also think they both might be addicted to Washi tape now!)
 

#73: Born on the Fourth of July: Totally rocked the theme. I love this paper banner I did with all the red, white, and blue. While I haven't gotten around to completing the back side yet, it's on my to-do list. (I was going to put CELEBRATE on the back but I also realized that HALLOWEEN fits as well!) I had a fun time making this and using lot's of different techniques!

#74: Grown-Ups: While I called this a simple card, looking back on it, maybe it wasn't. I really like the bubbles and the embossing powder gives them a great little iridescence. I was really stuck with this theme but I came out with a card I liked.

#75: Pitch Perfect: I finally went back to a Vintage style and loved it. Using old paper always makes me happy and I felt really good about the collage. I love the look of this woman and thought that the phrase, "waste of time" was just so well-suited for her expression. Really like this one!

#76: Sixteen Candles: Another '80's movie that allowed some bright colors. I made my first "explosion" card with a birthday theme. Absolutely love this one!

#77: Billy Madison: The Back to School theme really excited me and it had been a while since I had "enhanced" a modest composition notebook. My idea changed several times but the end product was very satisfying. No complaints.

#78: Any Given Sunday: I admit the Sports theme had me a bit stumped until I thought of Hockey. Then, it really came together as it used elements in a collage that I had been wanting to use for a long time. For family out in Rochester, NY, I really like this card. One of my faves of the challenges.

#79: Robin Williams Tribute: Jumanji. The challenge to be inspired by any Robin Williams movie had my ideas flowing but I was running out of time to execute. Overall, I like the card and was glad that I devoted the time to fussy cut those animals!

#80: Superheroes!:  This card is okay. I was pretty amazed that I could freehand a decent looking Spiderman but I really didn't know what to do with him. It appears rather simple but it does have a bit of time devoted to it. A good masculine nerd card.

#81: The Haunted Mansion:  A card I'm really proud of. It came directly from a page in my art journal as I was just screwing around with the new Tim Holtz stamps my sister had bought. LOVE.

#82: Marley & Me:  Honestly, I had been wanting to use these Bugaboo images for a project! I love the many different poses of the cat and the size works well for a card. I had a great time making them look just like my Bubba boy, Aussie.

#83: Julie and Julia:  One of my favorite quotes is this one from Julia Childs so I wanted to make that the focus of the food challenge. I have a stack of cut out blanks that need to be bound into books just as soon as I get covers made for them. So I started with this one! I like it and I'll probably keep it for my little notes!

#84: Elf:  I don't much like this movie but I like this card. Not particularly "Holiday", I suppose, but it could certainly be adapted to fit. Just substitute "Happy Holidays" where the sentiment is and it works perfectly.

So there it is, the year in review. So lets's have a giveaway!
If you'd like to win some of these cards (I have 11 left...61,64,65,67,74,75,76,79,80,82,84) along with the altered composition notebook I made in challenge #77, please leave me a comment here on this post! Tell me what project you liked best, or what you'd like to see me attempt in the New Year! I'll randomly draw a winner and post it. Winner can contact me via e-mail. Leave your comment before January 5th to be eligible.

Happy New Year!
--Wy
"It's been a long December and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last."  --Counting Crows, "Long December"