Goodbye To 2015

It is that time again, the time that we all look back at the year about to end and forward to the year about to start. Before I share some of my favourite makes from 2015 I just wanted to say a massive THANK YOU to all my readers, fellow creatives and facers for popping in, commenting, looking at my makes over the last year. You are all amazing and I truly appreciate the time you take to read my blog, comment but above all the fabulous inspiration that you share with me too.

Right, let's get on with the show and tell 2015 style! Click on the photos if you want to see the original post, some of these are tutorials so you might want to click through to see the whole thing. Also some of them are my work hosted on other websites and just so that you know I have used affiliate links in places.

Grab a cuppa, a couple of mince pies and enjoy!

I've had a fun time this year making lots of things to share with you through the various magazines that I work for and I've loved all of them but a couple do stick out in my mind, one of which was the cover stamp I made for the March Issue of Craft Stamper.

[Photo credit Practical Publishing International]

I love a bit of monoprinting from time to time and I often make my own gelatin plates and you can see how if you check out my 'Monoprinting - Old School post from 2013. But if you got the 134 issue of Simply Cards and Papercrafts this year then you would have seen my Masterclass with tips and tricks for using inks on a homemade gelatin plate.

If you click on the picture above you will get a bonus step by step showing how I made the printed card shown.

I have to admit that the photo above has got to be one of my favourite photos from my blog this year. I mean I had great fun sharing some tips on how to use your ink pads like watercolour paints to keep up with the watercolour trend that hit hard this year. But really it has to be because Usagi, one of our cats, photo bombed this picture in the middle of my photo shoot, is why I like it so much. Seriously, how cute is she?

The brush survived by the way. No brushes were harmed in the photography of this card!

This favourite share was one of those serendipitous makes. I have various boxes of leftover bits of paper and card from projects, probably much like yourself. I was have a bit of a sort through and chuck out of some of these boxes in May this year and came across the crackle paste heart on a fabric scrap and the texture paste wall and the card pictured above was born.

I never actually managed to clear away much though. *Sigh*.

I decided to make a fabric tree this year, you know, as you do. I know you mostly know me for my card making and perhaps more recently from the faces that I've been painting and drawing but I love a bit of 3D work too. I really enjoyed making this tree and overcoming the various challenges involved in making a 3D piece and so this project is on my faves of the year list!

But 2015 has had some creative hiccups as well. Creativity is hard work, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It may seem like a dream to be able to turn something you love to do into a full-time job but as with everything in life there are downsides and challenges too.

I went through some times this year when it was difficult to keep going and in one of these times I was not happy with what I was creating. I shared some of my thoughts about it with you all and just loved all the support, understanding and kinship I got back in return.

It is always nice to know you are not alone when things get tough! So I don't think it would be a true reflection of my year if  I didn't at least represent some of the tough times too, so I'm including my post on How To Get Through The Creative Jungle To The Land Of Creative Joy in my faves of the year.

This year I had lots of fun as part of the Blitsy Creative team again. They did a bit of reorganising and I found myself on the Mixed Media part of the team so through the year I've been trying to come up with some fun and interesting mixed media-based tutorials for them and here are some of my favourites.

The first one, shown above, is very much in the clean and simple vein. Clean and simple with mixed media? Yup! I love journaling cards, I've got a few tutorials here and there using them like the one showing how to make Journaling cards with the Cricut explore or the one showing how to make Journaling cards with gem shapes and acrylic pens used as watercolour paints. I'm totally obsessed with them - Still! In the tutorial pictured above I share how to use dies to make stencils to bespoke your journaling cards.

We might as well stay on the subject of Journaling cards for this tutorial where I mix it with another of my obsessions from this year, the MAMBI Happy Planner to make this bespoke planner pocket.

But how cute are these? These are one of my top favourite makes of the year! They are little keepsake envelopes I made using paints, stamping pens, inks. I kind of love these, they are so cheery, it must the colours but they just make me smile when I see them! There is a full tutorial for them on the Blitsy blog plus a template to download and keep.

Now I can't finish my round up for 2015 without mentioning a couple of blog projects that I started this year.

First is Show Your Face my weekly community link up where like-minded folk can share any portraits that they have been working on. I am truly thankful to all of you that have been joining me on this journey and sharing your work. I've been loving every moment of it and all the fabulous shares.

Oh and don't forget that you can still link up to the last Show Your Face of 2015. It will be back in 2016 so don't fear if you haven't yet joined in there is still opportunities to do so!

The second blog project that I started this year was my Newsletter. I've been sharing some of the things I've learnt from working creatively full-time as well as tips and inspiration with my mailing list since September. I hope that it has been fun and informative with those of you that take the time to read it and if there is anything you would really like to be featured in it then just let me know!


So there, in a blog post, was a snap shot of my Creative 2015. If you want to share your 2015 round up with me then please feel free to drop a direct link to it in the comments.

I really hope that 2016 is a wonderful year for you all.

Happy Creating!
Kim

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