Style Watch: The Best of 2013

If I could I would post a video of me crooning out a few bars of The Way We Were to accompany today’s roundup. I’ll spare you the singing for today and celebrate those memories in a little different sort of way. Over the course of 2013 there was a hefty amount of crafting going on and today I’m gonna give you a look back at some of my favorites and some of the more popular Style Watch posts. Here we go, friends.
Who knew this project would be so popular? Not me. Turns out this perfect binding tutorial and project was the most pinned Style Watch project of 2013. The project even got a little love from some of my favorite bloggers including Kate at Centsational Girl. Since posting this simple bookbinding project, I’ve made tons more and if you missed this post, you may want to take a look and get started on some notebooks of your own.

When this first went up on the blog, the response was great and now with all those New Year’s resolutions to get organized, this desktop stationery organizer project is a frequent “go-to” for readers. I love the way this turned out – but what you didn’t get to see were the four attempts that were thrown away because I couldn’t settle on a patterned paper that I liked! Please tell me I’m not the only one who is totally indecisive when it comes to things like patterned paper!

Ever since the Mini Bow Trio Collection was released, I’ve been a might obsessed with those little things. You may have noticed that they make an appearance in just about every single Style Watch post. For these little cutie patooties, I was a little worried that the post would flop because of how simple they are to create. Turns out you guys love simple & bright projects as much as I do!

It was a Friday afternoon, and we were leaving for Chicago in two hours. I rushed home from work and had to finish my Style Watch project before we walked out the door. Talk about pressure. I was under the gun and had to come up with something good …and I had to do it fast. And in that moment of frenzied crafting, the die cut tea bag was born. It’s nothing fancy and really easy to do and I managed to get the project completed without missing our flight. Sometimes 11th hour crafting results in some pretty fun ideas!

Recipe box projects are nothing new, but I was sick and tired of trying to track down recipe boxes that could be customized with paper and stamps. They are available online, but I seldom have the patience to wait for things to arrive in the mail. At one point I found a recipe box at a craft store, but it had a rooster on it. No thanks.  Finally, I sat down and developed a template for creating your own recipe box with a couple sheets of cardstock. With that done, it didn’t take long to assemble a cute gift package using all the cutesty kitchen images from CSS.

This packaging post is definitely a reader favorite. There is something about a pretty lineup of packages that makes everyone happy. When I was developing this post, I shared a photo of the inspiration board on Instagram and asked for suggestions on a name for the color combination. In the end, “Pastel Sherbet” won and I think it totally captures the spring-timey feel of the ensemble. To this day, I have these packages sitting in  the craft room because I’m love them too much to give away!

Talk about proud moments. When I develop a template, I start with a stack of scrap cardstock and my scoring board. From there, I start playing around and seeing what works. Usually, it takes me three tries before I get the final template and final measurements. This template though? It took me at least 12 attempts and way more paper than I’d like to admit before I had a final product that I was happy with. For that reason, this monogram project and stationery holder is one of my all time favorite Style Watch posts. I think it gave me a few gray hairs.

You know that feeling when you are totally out of ideas? I dread that moment, but it happens a lot around here. Every few weeks I feel completely tapped. To avoid this rut, I keep an ongoing list of project ideas. It’s a long list that’s been growing over time, so it’s nearly impossible to get to each one. When I’m out of creativity, I look at it and make something off the list. This jelly bean banner is totally the product of a creative rut, but I love it all the same. Months before this post, I’d scribbled down a note about trying to use piping bags as a garland. Turns out this worked out great and the CSS banner dies are a great accent for it. Go ahead and file this one away for the next party you throw!

Spread the Love was a little campaign that we came up with to give a shout out to all those blogs that inspire us. I actually shared two blogs that are favorites of mine, but of those two posts, this one is my favorite. Who knew that basic shapes could result in an adorable paper cupcake. This would be a great gift packaging idea for valentine’s day!

2013 was the year of the infomercial here on Damask Love! My husband Andrew made his infomercial debut – and I must admit, the guy has a knack for over-the-top acting.   When we recorded the video for this post, I was originally going to be headliner, but it quickly became obvious that my acting is subpar at best. After a few takes, Andrew turned from cameraman to star of the show. I will take all the credit for post production editing though…and let’s be honest, we all know that’s where the real magic happens!

Valentine’s Day is my favorite crafting holiday! Unlike Christmas, I don’t have a million other errands to run and things to plan…I can focus on the projects a little more. Because of the hectic holiday season, I’ve never gotten around to making an advent calendar so for this post, I decided to make a Valentine’s day advent calendar, which takes a lot less time! The mini envelope die from CSS is a favorite of mine and I use it whenever I can. For this project, I got to use it 14 times!

Washi tape enjoyed a bit of fame in 2013 and there were quite a few tutorials on how to create your own. I took inspiration from those diy posts and decided to make fabric tape using the CSS Simple Adhesive. Of all the projects posted in 2013, I think this might have been the easiest. When it came time to make these though – I was totally out of canvas fabric, so I had to get creative. I didn’t want to make the drive to the fabric store so I cut strips from a canvas tote that I’d received for free at a recent work event. Shhhh – don’t tell.

For the last year or so, I’ve been loving “in a box” projects…and no, you’re not the only one who thinks about Justin Timberlake and Andy Sandberg whenever I post of one of them! I’ve made plenty of them, like this one, this one and this one….but Hot Cocoa in a Box was one of your favorites. It’s simple to do and as Laurie of Soapbox Creations showed in her post, it’s easy to mass produce!

So there you have it. A little round up of some 2013 faves. I hope you enjoyed Style Watch in 2013 and maybe this post has shown you some posts that you missed along the way. I’m excited for what 2014 brings to Damask Love!