Not A Baker's Dozen of 2017

Hello all!  There's a great deal going on behind the scenes at the moment, but I can't share any of it with you right now (though there's a little sneak peek tease over at PaperArtsy which will give you a giant clue).

While all that's under wraps, I thought I'd share my annual round-up of some of my favourite projects from the last year.  I was trying to stick to an approximate Baker's Dozen, but it all went to pot.  It's more of a "Baker's Many"!

You'll see certain themes and products making multiple appearances.  It's one of the things I like about creating these collections each year - it's a chance to reflect on the directions in which the journey is taking me.  And there was one very clear new direction which will be obvious pretty quickly!  Click on any of the links to see the projects in more detail, in case you missed them at the time... 

Neutral Blues III

So the greatest crafting thrill of 2017 for me was, without question, the launch of my own line of word stamps at PaperArtsy - Eclectica³ Alison Bomber.  The quotes on each stamp plate are linked by theme.  These words come from one of the first releases, EAB02 Darkness & Light, and the tag uses the fabulous Distress Oxides, also brand new this year.

Tiny Greenhouses

Lots of my favourite things - little houses, fresh inky greens and blues, meadow flowers and springtime!

New Lynne Perrella Part III

It was an absolute delight to play with the new Lynne Perrella releases at PaperArtsy.

The woman on the right has to be one of my all-time favourite stamps, and she's appeared quite often since!

Wild Grasses

I've been doing more experimenting with my own mark-making in 2017.
These pen and ink wild grasses were a big step on that particular journey.

Windswept Grasses

More grasses make the cut with this dreamy delicate wooden tag,

and it's in a looser layered style which makes me feel light of spirit when I look at it.

Candlelit Foliage

I love the play of light and shadow, and especially candlelight.  These altered jars for Destination Inspiration at A Vintage Journey are all about the light - including some more words from my EAB02 Darkness & Light.

It really is worth checking out the post to see how different they look in different lighting states!

Wallflowers

I had a lovely time "colouring in" with my watercolours - one of my new obsessions this year.
(See also a little further down this post.)  And the brickwork makes me happy too.

Pastime With Good Company

I simply have to include my first handmade dolls, Shakespearean characters created to go into the Tudor Tavern in Cestina's dollshouse museum, Small Worlds.  I put off making them for an age, convinced I wouldn't be able to do it.
They were one of the great surprises and delights of the year to me when they turned out so well.

We're in the money!

This set of cash-envelope ATCs really came out of nowhere - a little bit of this, a little bit of that... scraps and leftovers...
and they've ended up being one of my favourite makes of the year!

Nature Journal

I was thrilled to be part of Eileen Hull's Journal Treasury E-book.  Her journal die is a fabulous tool for making your own handmade books, and Lin Brown's PaperArtsy grasses put in their second appearance in this round-up of favourites!

Breaking the Silence

I've already mentioned my watercolour experimenting.  This post gives you some idea of the early steps in the journey.  You can catch more of them by checking out the Watercolour label search (though there are other projects mixed in for which I also used the watercolours).   And I haven't yet shared what I got up to with them late in the year.  Another time for that...

Nature Assemblage

The fabulous Lynne Perrella stamp put in another appearance on this 12x12 canvas of nature gatherings on the PaperArtsy blog.  There's a lot of story built into this one too - almost always an ingredient in my favourite creations.

Sunshine Watercolour Dwellings

More tiny houses, more watercolours, but this time in a whole different colour palette!

Cabinet Journal

Another appearance for Eileen Hull's journal die, but this time with a surprise on the inside...

I used one of the Calico Craft Parts Printers Trays - a perfect fit inside the journal die.
Again, lots of stories inside this one... a journey for the imagination.

Autumnal Oxide Journal

Another handmade book with the journal die, and some more of those extraordinary Distress Oxides, as well as the scrumptious seasonal Tim Holtz Thinlits dies... can't tell you how happy this journal makes me.

Haunted Jars

More fabulous Tim Holtz Thinlits, more altered jars, more candlelight... what's not to love?!

Feeling a little sombre

A set of ATCs which grew out of a grey mood into something I really loved.

The Darkness & Light words felt completely necessary - I was so glad they existed!

Fabulous Fungi

My new stamps in September included EAB05 Autumn Edition - and I had a wonderful time pairing some of the quotes with some of Scrapcosy's wonderful fungi images, also from the Eclectica³ line at PaperArtsy.

Rainbow Serenity

More new words from probably my favourite set so far, EAB03 Music & Silence, and my favourite way to play with Distress Oxides - mixing them with Distress Inks.  It all adds up to a surprise rainbow entry... far more colour than we're used to here at Words and Pictures!

The Art of Meditation

Handmade books have been part of the journey since the beginning, but they started to appear more regularly as I became part of the design team for the new challenge blog, the Mini Album Makers Challenge.
I loved making this gentle, meditative tag book, and the wildflower covers make me especially happy.
(There are also lots of quotes from EAB01 Trees & Flowers involved.)

A True Autumnal Day

Autumn colours, autumn words (yes, my quotes again... well, the blog is called Words and Pictures!) and meadow grasses...
and that glow of light at the heart of it is maybe my favourite part.

Falling Leaves

More Oxide backgrounds (again smooshed with Distress Inks), more of the autumn words, and another triptych.
I do seem to like pairs and sets and especially trios.

The Time of the Falling Leaves

An autumnal creation for Destination Inspiration at A Vintage Journey... I do love autumn crafting and I didn't really get to do any in 2016, so I indulged myself this year.  More words from EAB05 Autumn Edition to go with the falling leaves.

Winter Light

Sorry, the quotes are here again, but we've moved on to a new season.  This wintry pair of tags make use of some of my favourite words from EAB05 Winter Edition.  Spare and bare, just right for icy winter days.

Mini Marvels

Tiny houses, wildflowers, lots of crackle, and back to my all-time favourite colour world of blues and browns...
I simply had to include these!

Love This Life

Another handmade book - a slightly different look, though still with plenty of crackle... 
and the words couldn't be more apt.  I feel incredibly lucky to live life as I do.
Creativity and inspiration are part of both work and play - and that's a true joy worth celebrating every day.

As you can see, I've often been inspired by the quotes in my stamp sets, but the other great joy for me this year has been seeing other people inspired by those same words and watching the stamps working in other crafters hands, shaping artwork I could never have imagined myself.  An amazing, uplifting feeling.

Thank you all for your company, your friendship, your lovely comments and feedback, and for all the inspiration I find when I have time to visit Craftyblogland.  There hasn't been as much of that as I'd like in 2017... work and travel made it another busy year, but I really can't complain!  Here's to a year of creative adventures and fulfilment.  I hope 2018 will be kind to all of us.  Happy crafting all!

To be human is to have a collection of memories that tells you who you are and how you got there.
Rosecrans Baldwin