So Sorry.....

That we have not been keeping up on the Christmas Challenge Blog. Both Donna and I have been sooooo busy with life in general, but I hope to update sometime this week. Thanks so much for sticking with us while we were away :). We really appreciate it so much!

If you don't follow our other blog- Country Blessings- I am so happy to announce that my daughter Sarah married John today! John is a soldier in the Army and he is currently serving in Iraq and is home on his mid-tour leave. They have been together for almost six years and engaged for two years and have been separated for several months due to deployment. They have both been looking forward to this day- counting down the days- and they are on their honeymoon as I write :o). Can't wait to see them when they get back!

Many Blessings!
Barb

March Challenge is Here!

How are you all doing on your Christmas cards so far? I just love being able to take my time and really enjoy making my cards, knowing there is no rush or deadline hanging over my head to get them done in time :D. This month's challenge is all about the tags, baby! And embossing! Use ribbon tags, use regular tags, use whatever kind of tags you want to use and then do some embossing. I just love embossed cards, don't you? I think embossing adds such an elegant and enriching touch to our cards. Makes them look really expensive ;o). My hubby gets sent a Christmas card catalog every year because he is in business for himself and trust me- those babies are COSTLY! I don't even want to tell you how much- you would faint, lol! Of course, my hubby gets all his business Christmas cards cheap cause I make em' ;o). All right on to the card that I made for this month's challenge.

This guy is a Penny Black stamp and in case you didn't know this already from our other blog, I looove Penny Black stamps! He is a brand new to me stamp so it was really fun coloring him for the first time. I used markers and my blender pen to color him, then I used Prisma Color pencils and OMS to do the sky around the image. I added a bit of glue to the snowballs and the snow and covered them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter glue. Both sets of holly leaves have Dazzling Diamonds on their edges too, but I don't know if you can see that real well. Here's a close up of my little guy and you can see the glitter on that set of holly leaves.....

Isn't he a cutie :D ? He will be going on my grandson's Christmas card for sure this year, lol!

The inside is Bashful Blue matted white on white. I stamped the corner with pine branches and a pine cone because I just thought they would go with the theme of my card- ya' know- boys and the outdoors :). Instead of using brads I used Class A Peel stickers from Stampabilties- those things are awesome! You get the look of jeweled brads without the bulk. Ok, so now you have seen my card- we want to see yours! The clock is ticking- I know that eight months sounds like a loooong time but it sneaks up pretty quickly ;o). Just make one or two cards a week and that will help a boat load when it comes down to crunch time- you can do it, I know you can :D! Have a great month everyone and if I get some time I may be back with some gift tags. Those have been rumbling around in my mind this week, so ya' just never know.

Blessings,

Barb

Details: Stamps: Hugging Snowballs 2545K- Penny Black, Peaceful Wishes 106754- Stampin' Up! (retired); Happiest of Holidays- Stampin' Up!, Flourish Seasonal Messages- Hero Arts; Cardstock and Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Garden Green- Stampin' Up!, 110 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper; Ink: Bashful Blue, Garden Green, Close to Cocoa- Stampin' Up!; Dies: Long Rectangle, Long Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities, Ribbon Tag Trio- Spellbinders; Punches: Alpine Snowflake, Holly Leaf- Martha Stewart/EK Success; Embossing Folder: Snowdots- Provocraft; Other Supplies: Sheer Dots ribbon- Michael's; Dazzling Diamonds glitter 102023- Stampin' Up!; Blender pens 102845- Stampin' Up!; Red rhinestones- Michael's; Markers- Hobby Lobby.

My card for February Challenge

Here is my card for this challenge, this is way out of the box for me. I used a stamp that has never seen ink. The stamp set is by Inkakinkado #98398 called Christmas Silhouettes, it's a clear set. This is not the type of image I usually do at Christmas. I think Barb has this set so that may be why I bought it. LOL I inked the image with Stampabilities French Blue dye ink, and cut it out using the Mega Nestibilities Curved
Rectangle. It fit right into the nitch in the corner piece. I used some Waterfall Stickles on the image to give it some sparkle. I cut a strip of pattern paper and then took a another piece of the off white card stock and punched it using my fiskars snowflake with embossing border punch, and attached it to the pattern paper. I used part of the border that I punched to make the corner piece on the top right. I used a piece of ribbon by Ribbon Bow-tique and 5 tiny faux gold beads by Rhinestone Stickers. This is a close up of the

card front you can see the Stickles.

Here is the inside of the card. I had stamped the image a second time so I would have a faint image then I stamped my sentiment over the top of that. The stamp image is by Print Works Collections and is called Joy and Hope. I used the same ribbon from the front and then cut 3 snowflakes from one of the CB snowflake #2 die.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs,

Donna

Details: Card stock Georgia Pacific, stamps Inkadinkado and Print Works Collection, Nestibilities Mega Curved Rectangle, Waterfall Stickles, Rhinestone Stickers faux gold beads, CB snowflake #2 ribbon by Ribbon Bow-tique

February Challenge

How is everyone doing with their Christmas cards for 2009 so far? I know how hard it is to think about Christmas cards when you are in the midst of making Valentine cards, Easter cards, and in general- bright, happy cards (longing for Spring too :D ?). If we get just a couple of Christmas cards done a week, it will go a long way to saving us more time when it counts- the arrival of the holiday season. Every year it seems to get here faster- anyone else notice that, lol?!

The challenge for this month is actually several challenges. You can do one or do all :D. Here are the challenges:

1. Use a stamp set in your collection that has never seen ink or...

2. Use a stamp set that is old and kind of forgotten, but still loved

3. Think SNOW on your cards

4. Use a card sketch for your card from anywhere that you like

The stamp set that I used has seen ink, but not from me. Yep, bought it on ebay :). But it is an old stamp set- retired :(, but I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this set! Probably because I have wonderful memories of all of my kids making snow angels in the snow every year! And they are still inclined to make the occasional snow angel even though three out of four of my girls are grown. Every snow sees a brand new snow family in the front of the house, built by our youngest, well.... that is if we get enough to make a snowman :D. If we get enough snow the snow angels still abound in the front yard too! This year the snow has been a bit sparse, but I'm not complaining because for the last two, we have had more than our fair share! The next part of my card is obviously snow related ;0) -the snowman and the snowflake- but I also used some Stickles to add sparkle to the snow, the snowman, and the snowflake. And lastly, I used an awesome card sketch from Mojo Monday. The card sketch I used was Week 71. If you haven't been to Mojo Monday yet, you owe it to yourself to go and have a peek. It's my very favorite place for card sketches :).

Don't ya' just love this stamp? The little kid and the snowman are too cute! What kid doesn't love his/her snowman after he or she is built?

I used the mittens from the Snow Angels set to stamp around the border on the inside of my card. My card measures 5" x 5", in case you wanted to know the size.

Ok, so there you have the challenge for February. Even though it's 'sooooo' hard to think about Christmas cards you still need to do it, lol! Or you will be lamenting in November as to why you didn't and I want you to have all that freed up time for your family and other enjoyable holiday things. You can do it- just a few cards a week- come on, you know you can squeeze it in ;o). Have a wonderful month and we really would love to see what you're making for the Christmas Challenge Blog so please leave a comment with a link to your cards so we can go see. If you don't have a blog, feel free to send us a JPG of your card and we'll post it on the blog for everyone to see :D!

Blessings!

Barb

Details: Stamps: Snow Angels, Happiest of Holidays- Stampin' Up!: Ink: Riding Hood Red- Stampin' Up!; Cardstock: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue- Stampin' Up!; Paper- DCWV; Dies: Classic Square Nestabilites S4-126 and S4-128- Spellbinders; Punches: Photo Corners- Stampin' Up!, 2008 Collectible Snowflake- Martha Stewart/EK Success; Diamond and Waterfall Stickles- Ranger; Prisma color pencils- 924, 937, 912, 939, 927, 918, 946, 903, 935, 1023, 1034, 942, 1024; Odorless mineral spirits; Ribbon- Hobby Lobby; Card Sketch: Mojo Monday Week 71.

Donna's Photo Card Challenge

All right, I did it :). I made a photo card for Donna's Christmas card challenge posted last week. I actually had it done before the weekend was over, but didn't get around to photographing it until Monday.

The photo that I chose is one that I took in November on our first and only snow so far. It's a garden shed in our backyard and it's the view that my husband and I wake up to every morning and we just love watching the changes in seasons of our little country view :). This little garden shed has been a playhouse for our daughter as well and she has spent many happy hours playing in it. You may have guessed by now that this little piece of scenery at our home is one of our favorite spots and I wanted to showcase it in my very first photo card. The photo looks black and white but it is actually in color. I took this photo early in the morning- before 7 AM so the light was not bright and it gave the photo a very wintery feel.

I used a Ribbon Tag for the sentiment on my card and I edged the tag with Stickles so it would look snowy and icy. I added a little flower that I made with one of my flower punches and set some leaves that I punched out underneath it.

I did the inside of the card to match the outside, but stayed with the blue and white colors of my card.

Lastly, I made the envelope for my card and added one of the tree diecuts to the outside of the envelope and stamped a greeting beside it. Both the tree and the greeting were done in navy as well.

So there we have it... my first photo card :). I really had a lot of fun making this type of card and I'm so glad that Donna came up with this challenge. Thanks Donna!

So how are you all doing on your Christmas cards so far? We want to see what you're making, even if you don't make a photo card. The challenges are just for inspiration, not something you have to do to be a part of the challenge to get all of our cards done before Thanksgiving. Send us a link to or a JPG of your cards, we would looooove to see them :D.

Just a little note of encouragement :D...... I know that the holidays are a ton of work and that after the holidays are over, we don't want to be thinking about Christmas cards! But if we get them all done before Thanksgiving this year- and that includes having the envelopes addressed and stamped- that is one less thing we have to deal with. So in the long run, if we are done, we will have that extra time for other things and we are going to be sooooooo happy that we did it! So if you haven't started yet, the how to on getting started is right here. I know you can do it :D!!!!

Blessings! Barb

Details: Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red by Stampin' Up; Stamps: Outside Sentiment- clear Christmas stamp set from Walmart, Inside Sentiment- Joy, Hope...#3028F by Penny Black, Envelope- Flourish Seasonal Messages by Hero Arts; Ink: Not Quite Navy by Stampin' Up, Brilliance Galaxy Gold by Tsukineko; Punches: large Snowflakes, Branch, Frond- Martha Stewart by EK Success, flowers- EK Success, small snowflakes- Tonic, 1/8" circle punch by Paper Studio; Die/emboss combo: Tree Tops #37-1854 by Provocraft; Petite Ovals, Ribbon Tag Trio by Spellbinders; A2 embossing folder: Sledding #37-1558 by Provocraft; Stickles by Ranger; Ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Reader Cards

I wanted to take a minute to post two cards that were sent in to us for the Christmas Card Challenge. Diana has a good start on her cards for 2009 already :D, so wanted to share them with everyone. Thanks so much Diana for sharing your pretty cards with us! I will be posting my card sometime this evening for Donna's challenge, so please stop back by and take a peek :).

Till tonight :)....... Barb

Christmas Photo Card

Happy New Year everyone!! Are you ready to start on our Christmas card challenges for this year? I am! I know that you will love Donna's project for our first challenge :).

Do you ever want to send photo cards to your family and friends, but not quite sure how to display your photos in your cards? Look no further- Donna has created the cutest photo card I have ever seen :D! I will be making a photo card from Donna's project sometime this weekend and will post it when I'm finished. If you don't have any photos that you want to use, then this project would also be great for stamped images. We would love to see your projects too, so please post a link back to us here on the Christmas Challenge Blog so we can go peek :D! If you don't have a blog we still want to see, so send us a JPG and we will post it on the blog.

This is the card Barb was telling you all about. I made this card for a friend to give his wife this past Christmas, he was going to put a picture of their two boys in it. The base of the card is red from the Paper Company, it's called the Value Pack, which is 50 sheets and it's all red. I purchased it at JoAnns, and I'm not sure if they carry that year round or just at Christmas time. I cut the base of the card to be 5x7. The pattern paper is from of the DCWV stacks, maybe last years Christmas or the year before. The bottom of it was done with a Fiskars snowflake -
embossing punch. I then cut a piece of white George Pacific with the largest Curved Rectangle by Spellbinders and embossed it using Snow Dots by Provo craft. When you do this you will have to emboss twice because the die is much bigger than the embossing folder. If you're careful you can line it up and it will come out fine. Then cut anouther piece of white using the next size mega rectangle and then used one of the Spellbinders Ovals to cut out the center. Here is what it looks like with a picture in it.

This is a 4x6 that I just trimmed to fit in the opening. This rectangle is popdotted on three sides on the outside edge. The picture slides in and out very easily.

I then stamped my image, I used a Penny Black

stamp called Snowy. I stamped him using black

archival ink and then colored him using primsal colored pencils and odorless thinner.

Next I cut out some snowflakes using the snowflake#2 die from ProvoCraft and put some snowtex and stickles on them. Here's a close up . As you can see there is snowtex around the oval. I used 4 snowflakes and the one in the middle is stacked.

And finally this is the inside. I just cut a piece of white cardstock 6.5 x 4.75 punched 3 candy canes on the bottom and then took a scrap piece of the pattern paper from the front and used the snowflake/embossing punch and then cut a strip about 3/4 of an inch and glued it to the cardstock.

I hope you have enjoyed this one. I must be honest with you all... When I finished this card I was impressed with myself. LOL I too will be making some of these to use myself but also will make some for my daughter and my daughter-in-law to use this Christmas.

I too hope you will try this card and share your creations with us.

Hugs,

Donna

Details: Cardstock: red, white; Paper: DCWV Christmas Stack; Stamp: Penny Black; Snowflake #2 die by Provocraft; Fiskars snowflake border punch; Snow Dots embossing folder by Provocraft; Spellbinders dies: Ovals and Curved Rectangles Nestabilities; SnowTex by Delta; Stickles by Ranger