Reneé's Top 10 of 2023

 2023 is coming to an end and that means it's time
to share my Top 10 cards from this year.

My top picks are in no particular order.
It's just how they loaded here when I selected the photos.
You can click on the title or the photo to be taken to the original posts for details.

It's a GIRL! Let's Celebrate!

This was made for the nurse at my school. Little Emersyn just turned 1!

Chicken Matchbook

Patriotic Front Porch

Happy Birthday Noah!

Here's the inside.

Sending Bugs and Kisses

O-FISH-ALLY OVER THE HILL!

Spooky Halloween Journal
Be sure to click on this to see a full video "flip through" of the inside.

Flying Fairies
Be sure to click this to see a video of the fairy under the sun flying.

Here's the inside.

Look on the bright cider.

More Bugs and Kisses...

This one is possibly my favorite card this year.

The Mushroom Cubbie set is one of my ALL TIME favorites!!

I hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane as much as I have.
Have a very happy, safe and healthy holiday season and check back here in 2024.

There is so much more inspiration to be shared!

Spooky Halloween Journal by Reneé Matarese

Hello Ai fans!

If you've been following along over the last two months then you know that I've been working on a trio of Halloween Journals for my son, daughter and for Art Impressions.

This is my son's completed journal.  His birthday is October 2nd (this past Monday) so he has grown up LOVING Halloween!  Here's a page by page flip through.

I decided to decorate the inside of the plastic storage case.  This is the front side where I used the Block Letter Dies letter D, (for my son's name) the 23 from Journal letter dies (for the year) and I mounted them on Double Stitched and  Nested Ovals.  There will be links for everything at the bottom of my post.

On the inside of the case I decorated the other side of what you see on the front.  Then you also see the cover of the journal.

The cover is one of my favorite "pages" but I guess that makes sense since it's what you'll see most of the time.

Let's check out the inside now.  Here are pages 1 and 2.  Lots of little pockets to tuck stuff into.

The thin little tags pull out to spell out All Hallows Eve.

The back of the Fox tag has a little pocket that I showed on a previous post, that holds cash.

Pages 3 and 4 with a little Peek-a-boo window!

Pages 5, 6 and 7 which include a fun fold out page making a 3 part layout.

This spread also contains a hidden element.

Pages 8,9 and 10.  The pumpkin is a gift card holder.  This time I added some cash instead.  It works great for that too!

I apologize.  When I began my journal, the set with the mummy was still current.  It's since been retired but there are so many new sets with fun images that would work great here.

Halloween Journal Black Cat and Bat page by Reneé Matarese

Hello and happy Sunday!

Today I'm sharing another page from my Halloween journals as well as announcing the winner of the Black Cat GCH set!

Let's start off with my new pages.  I made three in all.  One with the darker web paper and two with the lighter paper.  Both are from 5605 – Halloween Journal Paper Pack.

I used the same sets on all of the pages.  The scalloped matte and base page were created from 5543 – Journal Template Die Set. The frames are both from 5591 – Journal Rectangle Frames Die Set.

I used the 5328 – Halloween Mini Dies for the bat and spider. The cat is from 5333 – Cats Mini Dies.
The bat that I colored is from 5460 – Halloween Slimline Set.

Now for the announcement you've all been waiting for!  The lucky random winner of the 5341 – Black Cat GCH Set is...

Congratulations, Jackie U!

I'll be in touch with you to get your address.

Copics used:

YG91, YG93, Y02, W4, W5, T2

Diamond dots used:

5001, 7005, 8236, 8305

Distress Stickles Frayed Burlap

Halloween Journal Back Cover and Cat GCH GIVEAWAY!! by Reneé Matarese

 Hello everyone and welcome to the back page of my Halloween Journal!

This time I've added a Gift Card Holder.

Two of my journals feature the 5341 – Black Cat GCH Set (though he certainly could be used any time of year in any color) and my third journal features the 5342 – Pumpkin GCH Set.

You do need the 5344 – Envelope GCH Set to hold the gift card and glue the GCH elements to or you could just use the dies on a card of scrapbook page but they wont hold a gift card.

I'm giving away a 5341 – Black Cat GCH Set.  This is JUST the cat dies.  The envelope template is not included. See the link up at the bottom of my post to enter to win.  U.S. addresses only please.  You just need to enter some sort of crafty item you've created and leave your first name and last initial. I will announce the RANDOM winner next Sunday on my blog post.  If you win, please contact Leah at Feedback@artimpressions.com.  I'll share this information again next week when I announce the winner.

Don't these adorable little dies add so much fun to your creations!  They certainly don't even need to be in a journal.  How cute would these be on a card or scrapbook page!

I fit the little envelopes into a pocket from 5543 – Journal Template Die Set.  BOO was made with 5562 – Journal Letter Die Set and the little fall embellishments are from 5604 – Halloween Journal Die Set.
Some of the papers are from 5605 – Halloween Journal Paper Pack.

I used Copic markers to color some of the dies.

YR16, Y19, E35, YG91, YG93

Add your photo, first name and last initial (US addresses only) and one entry per person. Good luck!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Halloween Journal Inside Cover by Reneé Matarese

 Hello Ai fans!

Last week I shared the covers for my three Halloween Journals.

Today, I'm sharing the inside of the cover.  I created it with our current Tag, You're It! challenge here on the blog.  You can join the challenge here.

For Dominick's journal I used the fox from 5352 – Halloween Critters Set.
The tags are all from 5132 – Tag Stitched Dies.

My original plan was to have two long tags and have them say Happy Hallloween but it was too long.  I improvised and ended up with All Hallows Eve.

The letters were cut using 5562 – Journal Letter Die Set.  All of the images on the thin tags are from 5487 – Front Porch Halloween Set.

Next up is Makena's journal.  On hers, I showed how I'll put a little cash in the journal for them.  This time I used the bunny from the Halloween Critters. 

I used the little pocket from the 5589 – Journal Pocket Die Set

I used some of the papers from 5605 – Halloween Journal Paper Pack.

Here's my final journal.  This one has the owl from the Halloween Critters set.

All three journals were created using the 5543 – Journal Template Die Set.

I hope you're enjoying my journal so far and that
you'll play along in our Tag, You're It challenge!

Click HERE to see my cover pages of these three journals.

Copics used:

YG91, YG93. Y02, Y19, YR16, YG06, E35, BV00, BV11, BV13, N0, T2, W4

TT Gray, TT Pale Rose
Black Micron Marker