Top Ten Blog Hop 2016

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Happy New Year to you all!

Thank you all so much for your very kind comments along this wonderful hop! I'm thinking for instant gratification I might actually do a $20 voucher to a store of your choice as my prize. The winner picked at random out of 19 entrants was:

 

Congrats Jean! Please get in touch with me to arrange the details.

Wishing you all much happiness and plenty of creativity in 2017!

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Hello and welcome to another year of the Top 10 Blog Hop. I'm looking at my poor blog and thinking 'what on earth happened this year?!' lol. It's has been a crazy one - leaving my little design business and going back in to the work force after around 7 years at home with my babes. It has been a very steep learning curve and along with lots of highs, there have been a few lows and a definately a few tears along the way.

To all you Mums out there, trying to juggle it all - well done. You have done an amazing job. Let's raise a toast to finding a few more life hacks in 2017 ;)

Now on to some all-important creativity...

Lots has happened since last year. Joining the We R Memory Keepers team and staying on at Simple Stories have been a dream come true. I'm so grateful to have this creative outlet to keep my fun side going when the going got a bit tough!

Below are a few of my favourites from 2016. I really couldn't just chose 10... so I've popped 16 on for the year that was ;)

LHR-SIN
This was such a fun page to create and it winged it's little way to CHA at the beginning of the year, which was awesome. It was also published in Scrapbook & Cards Today which was a first for me and such an honour! 
Details here >>

Hanging Mobile
I created this mobile for my daughter's room. I absolutely love the gentle light it brings to the area and how it lights up her face as she looks up towards it.
You can check out how this came together here >>

Open wide
This photo alone would make this one of my very favourite pages, ever!
My little one, at the cheeky age of 3, was trying to feed me some mud pie. Yum yum! I used a few different techniques and tools on this page, which is always fun and I think the combination was great for the subject.
Details here >>

Dear Jaime

My beautiful niece is turning 18 today! I just can't believe how quickly time has flown. This page is a little note from me to her.

Details here >>

Live Colorfully

This was another page for the Simple Stories booth at CHA. I pulled out all the floral elements I could find in my Carpe Diem collection and what resulted, was a bit of a colourful explosion!

Details here >>

Sun & Surf

This page was just so fun. I love the elements in Life in Color - the stars, the foil accents, the awesome little wooden die cuts. Totally me.

Details here >>

Miss you with my whole heart

The starry print on this page was the inspiration behind my constellation theme. I lost my beautiful Mum over twenty years to cancer, and its comforting to think she's up there, watching over us.

Details here >>

As wild as life gets

This project was inspired by Rio at the time of the Olympics. Having never travelled there myself, I have visions of a lush, tropical escape! I created this seriously interactive page using mostly Fuseable items. It a treasure trove of memories and keepsakes from a fun day out at Australia Zoo.

Details here >>

Framed Art

This framed bit of art was part of a set which I created for my craft space. I experimented with Minc paint and foil and just LOVE the result.

Details here >>

BeYouTiFul
This page was part of a GDT for The Cut Shoppe. I really don't make as much use of my Silhouette lately - something I need to work in 2017!
Details here >>

Life is Good at the Beach
I created this page for a monthly class I used to teach at Craft Inspirations in Petrie. Sadly, I had to give up my classes to make a bit more time for my family. Hopefully one day soon I can pick it up again.

Stationery Folder
My little girl got such a kick out of this custom stationery folder I made for her. It has paper for penning a letter, cards, envelopes, stencils and pens etc. She loved making cards for all her little friends which was SO sweet to watch.
Details here >>

Sparkle & Shine
This page was part of the same post which featured the page about my niece. I was in an introspective mood and created this one. The feathers swirling around were like the bits and pieces of life I felt like I was losing control over. There is a touch of hand stitching on it as well as some DIY feather stencilling.
Details here >>

Thankful for you
This page was super fun to put together. Check out the Simple Stories blog to see how I created the background.
Details here >>

With my Heart & Soul
This page was created during a class by the incredible Wilna Furstenburg. She and Louise Nelson were our amazing teachers at Escape 2 Create this year. I can't rave about this retreat enough and I absolutely adore the vibrance of this page.

Adventure Time Game

Ever in search of the fun - I created this little board game for my kids using We R Memory Keepers, High Five. Gameplay is simple, based off of an existing game, you just spin the wheel and move the amount of spaces on the board, watching out for obstacles/bonuses along the way.
Details here >>

Now I will admit that I am not organised enough as yet, to have a pic of my prize, but if you leave a comment below, it will enter you into a draw to win a little mystery goodie bag. Please make sure you have popped your comment in by January 1st, 2017. (I will accommodate for some time differences.)

If you are on Instagram, I will have another little giveaway on there too for followers both new and old. You can find me @chantallemcdaniel

If you are just joining the hop here, you can head to Mendi next...

Mendi Yoshikawa
Audrey Yeager
Christine Meyer
Juliana Michaels 
Wendy Antenucci
Suzanna Lee
Karen Hunter
Monique Liedtke
Kat Benjamin
Jennifer Haggerty
Jen Matott
Missy Whidden
Marcia Dehn Nix
Heather Leopard
Rebecca Keppel
Traci Penrod
Melissa Elsner
Monika Wright
Laura Whitaker
YOU ARE HERE >> Chantalle McDaniel

I am last, so if you are ending here - thanks for joining in the fun and good luck for your chances along the way!

Until next year ;)