Taheerah Atchia

Hey everyone! I’m back for the second post of today to feature my favourite cards from this year!

This was so so *so* difficult to narrow down. I mean, how do you even begin to choose just 10 cards or whatever when I’ve posted over 400 cards this year?! I couldn’t even remember what most of them were without looking back!

It was such a satisfying and rewarding feeling looking back on a year’s worth of work. I’ve seen just how much I’ve grown and evolved, through style, technique, design, and creativity. I guess I should rightfully feel pretty proud of what I’ve accomplished!

So, on to the cards! As I said, this was no mean feat! In the end I chose a mix of cards that were my favourites for various reasons, and I think as you look through them and read why they were chosen that a pattern will emerge.

So, in no particular order (because this was hard enough as it is!) may I present my favourite cards of this year. You can click on the image of each one to be taken back to the original post:

Keep Calm And Carry On:

This card had me featured on Amber’s Damask Love blog as a Substitute Teacher. I chose it for the clever double kiss technique I used to bring the Union Jack alive through a telephone box stamp, and it also featured a great step-by-step tutorial! This card was also published in CARDS Magazine, so it’s a bit of an overachiever!

Woodgrain Happy Birthday:

This year really saw me embrace CAS in my own way, but always with a clever technique or unique touch thrown in! I love this thoroughly modern-looking card, with the woodgrain adding a level of sophistication and perfect alignment of all those die cut letters!

You’re So Unique:

What can I say? This card is so *me*. I managed to mix a few different trends here and put my own spin on it for a stationery-style card that is full of personality!

Subway Art Birthday:

You know what’s cool? Subway Art. You know what’s mindblowing? Over 56 stamps used to stamp 60 images, then throw in gold AND silver embossing for a card that just keeps giving and giving. This one wasn’t picked up for publication but I really think it deserved to be!

Moxie Fab Camera Challenge Polaroid Card:

This one was a true labour of love. A unique twist (literally!) on a shaped card, you have to turn the lens to bring the sentiment into focus. It took concepting and time and effort and *thinking* to put this baby together in a pretty much solid 8 hours stint. It left me kinda a bit insane afterwards but it was a winner of the challenge so it was all worth it. Plus check out those teeny tiny little Polaroids I created as props!

Tuesday Trigger: Honouring Ombre:

Another winner, another card that tried its best to best me, but I did not give up. This card has something like 3 or 4 different approaches (all on the same actual card!) and took an age, but finally I finished it in a way I felt worked. I submitted it sure that it wouldn’t win, and was so so *so* happy to be proven wrong.

Birthday Spotlight:

A true technique lover’s card, I combined lots of products based on one idea in my head for this showstopper of a card. Some of these ideas I’d never even tried before (the two blended spotlights through masking, spraying mist into the air for it to fall onto the card) and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the payoff my creative risks gave.

Mistletoe in The Woods:

This is so hauntingly beautiful that I cannot stop looking at it. Technique-driven again with a truly misty feel and such a great end result. Who knew that just ink and stamps could create something so evocative?

Watercolour Bird:

This one was an entry into the CASE Study Challenge. The inspiration piece was a bird outline filled with a watercolour look and black line images inside it. I took the idea and colours and literally turned it inside out to create this beauty. Did I mention that this was my first attempt with real watercolour paints, and with masking fluid. Win.

Hearts All A Bokeh:

This one I really felt deserved more plaudits than it got. Maybe it’s because it was so hard to photograph with that light airy feel and shimmer and soft colours. Anyway. This one totally deserves all your love. Soft, delicate sponging of cream ink at different intensities produced one of my finest bokehs, soft and dreamy and poetic and beautiful.

I think it’s clear what won my heart over this year. The cards I picked were all about trend, technique, individuality, creative risk and perseverance. I guess it makes sense that that my favourites would all be the ones that have the most of me poured into them, and I think the ones I ended up loving the most were the ones I found most rewarding to put together. And of course, they are utterly drool-worthy as well. *wink*

Well, there were a lot of ‘Also Rans’ as well when trying to pick my Top 10, that I’m also going to link to some of those as well:

I’ll be back a little later today with a final post of the year. It’s sort of a ‘What 2013 Taught Me’ post and hopefully it’ll be quite an interesting read for you. In the meantime I would love it if you left some love before you went on your way. And if you had a favourite of mine that wasn’t featured here I would love to know what it was, and your reasons for loving it! Thanks so much for stopping by!