Favorite Projects of 2018

Hello friends! It is the last day of 2018, and it is a time to reflect on the year that has passed. I have often felt ambivalent regarding New Year's Eve, probably because it is the end of something, but at the same time it is the beginning of something new and I have some fun plans for 2019 that I hope will become a reality.

At the end of the year, I do a post or two with some of my favorite projects from the year. It is always fun to look through all the projects, and think about when they were made. The actually picking of favorites, is a little random though, and had I picked them tomorrow, I might not have picked quite the same projects. I posted a part one of my favorites a couple of days ago, focusing on projects using Sizzix dies by Eileen Hull. You can find that post here.

A big thank you to everyone who look at my projects, posts comments here and on my social media channels and click on affiliate links. I really appreciate it and I always look forward to hearing what you think about a project and hope that my projects inspire creativity and art making.

Let's start with a frosty project, a Sleigh Ride Mini Canvas, which was made with several fun techniques and shines and glimmers. I used the adorable Hero Arts Winter Silhouettes set. The canvas now hangs in Anton's room.

This Framed Animals Baby Gift is very sweet with the Simon Says Stamp Picture Book animals die cut from felt. It fits perfectly in my nephew's room.

This layered shaker card was such fun to make and contains a whole bunch of techniques. I also did a similar cream version, which was given away as a wedding card. It was made with the the Bohemian Heart Impresslits folder from Sizzix.

I picked the miniature shadow box, because it is tiny and I enjoyed fitting all those small details into the box to create a little springtime scene.

Here's a cheerful layout about bike trips, and I had such fun doing all the gelli printing for the background. I also like all the yellow and green shades.

This Flower Power tag, with flowers die cut from left-over papers in all colors, has such a happy and cheerful feel to it. I used Tim Holtz Funky Floral 1 and Funky Floral 2 to die cut all the shapes. Tim's Funky dies were some of my favorite dies from this year.

I picked this Doodled Wildflowers Journal page, since I had such fun drawing those flowers and butterflies.

I also couldn't help but to pick this watercolor mini panels layout, partly because I had such fun painting the mini watercolor panels (and I did a whole lot more than these), and partly because of the topic. The layout is about story time and the stories I make up for the children, long and elaborate stories, with made up worlds, travel through time, adventures etc. 

The woodplank background on this tag, was such fun to make and I like the yellow, brown and gold color combination here, as well as the beautiful sentiment.

A summer project was this Dramatic Seascape Journal page, using one of my favorite quotes and gorgeous Paper Artsy Eclectica3 Scrapcosy 11 stamps.

From July, I picked my African Night Watercolor journal page, since I really like the colors, and it brings back memories from South Africa. The stamps are by Darkroom Door. 

Another summery tag is this Sparkly Tropical Beach, which is super sparkly in real life.

From August, I picked my Dahlia Paper Flowers tutorial, just because dimensional paper flowers are gorgeous and fun to make. They were made with David Tutera's Sizzix Dahlia set.

One of my favorite project from autumn was this Embossed Acetate Tag, with all its texture and yummy colors. Another favorite autumn project, using the same Funky Foliage dies by Tim Holtz, were my Autumn Gift Bags.

This dreamy Misted Galaxy was definitely one of my favorites from this year, and it was quick and easy to make.

My Dimensional Stamped Skull wall-hanger might be my favorite Halloween project from 2018, with its cool transparent and dimensional skull, the neutral colors and all the texture. Another favorite Halloween project was the Dimensional Laboratory.

This Embossed Cityscape tag also had to be included here, with all its embossing and cool textures. I don't want to live in a big city, since I value being close to nature, but cityscapes at night are pretty cool.

And here's another tag using lots of embossing powder. One of my favorite winter projects is this Embossed Snowflake Tag with Dome, with a background that is entirely heat embossed.

My December Daily journal always makes it onto the favorites list, and this year was no exception, with a Winter Birch Forest theme. It is now filled with memories.

I was planning to have stopped picking projects by now, but I just had to include my Vintage Christmas in a Tin too, since I was really happy with how it turned out. I also made a second altered winter tin.

Looking through my projects from the year also made me realise that even though it feels like time flies by, if you start looking at details and remembering events, it slows down.

Again, thank you so much for all your support thoughout this year. I want to wish you all a Happy New Creative Year 2019!!

Anna-Karin

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