Favorites Showcase 2012, Part 1

My humble little stamping blog here is less than a year old so I didn't realize the year-end favorites showcase was a thing until I saw everyone else was doing it and so I'm hopping on the bandwagon slightly late because I wanna go to the party too.  I'm a teensy bit hampered by the fact that it looks like I was a bit sporadic in uploading to my SCS gallery this year, but I've got a few fun cards from the first 6 months of 2012.  (Detailed supplies lists for all my cards are included in my gallery.)

This one uses Curly Cute and Mixed Bunch and I think that might be this year's SAB paper?  Hope I have a hoard of that somewhere ;)

Here's a Valentine card with nary a heart to be seen, but the Eiffel Tower is romantic, right?  This one uses Artistic Etchings, Grateful Greetings (retired), and En Francais.

I didn't have a whole lot in the gallery for around March, but I thought this kid birthday card was tolerably cute.  I like how the background came out--it's just scribbling on the acrylic block with markers, spritzing with water, and smooshing it around on the paper.  This one uses Dinoroar and I forget the alphabet.

So this uses the retired sets Bronc Buster, Wanted (which now live in the same stamp case because I almost always use them together) and Cute & Curly.  I needed an encouragement card for my dad who is a die-hard Oklahoma State Cowboy.

Here's something more CAS-y, again with Mixed Bunch and Curly Cute.  (I kind of love both those sets.)

I couldn't pick just one for June so I've got one manly card and one girly card.  Love this one with French Foliage and one of the retired All-Year Cheer stamp sets; I think I need to use this layout more often 'cause I love it.

One more CAS creation with Kindness Matters and the (sadly retired) Thank You Kindly.  That Beau Chateau DSP is now on the clearance rack...and I am resisting buying any more retired DSP because I think I've hit critical mass when it comes to patterned paper o.O

Stay tuned for the second half tomorrow and Happy New Year!