4 Cardinals, 3 Challenges, 2 Christmas Cards, and a Fun and Cool Award from My Friend Joan!!

Yah, you should be able to sing today's blog title to the "12-Days of Christmas" song...I'm humming... :) I have so much to post today. I'll try to be brief cuz I have lots of pictures!

First -- the 4 Cardinals! I am not nearly done with Christmas cards but I focused on two designs today. One of them was with the "A Cardinal Christmas" set from SU. Here's the 4 cards -- any of them stand out to you? I don't know which one to make multiples of for the give-away stash. Let me know, k?

Second -- I finished 3 Challenges today!! Personal best, record for me!! Here they are:

The first card is actually for next week's Doubledog Dare Challenge!! This was so much fun!! Bev (aka Beestamper) sent us a package of goodies to use for this challenge. We could use which ever parts we wanted but had to create a Christmas card with them. Check out all the fun stuff!!! ....and this cutie wooden mitten!!

I quickly grabbed the paper, ribbon, and stamps and made a couple of Christmas cards right away! I love love love that color combo!! The ribbon and stamps were so fun, this was easy peasy!! (The stamping is on the rose panel, didn't get a good photo of it.) Thanks for the wonderful goodies Bev, I will be using them more I'm sure!! The second card is a two-fer. It is for this week's Doubledog Dare Challenge that I hosted for our stamping gang. The challenge was to create a card inspired by either this Ugg Boot or this Ugg Boot! I chose this one (the first Ugg boot):

(The picture of the boot is not very good, you need to check the link of the first boot!)

and then made this card:

I paper fringed and quilled some flowers and leaves in colors to match the ones on the boot. I also used my cuttlebug scalloped dies to make some brown flowers, snipped the petals and layered them to make some large sized flowers. Stamped the sentiment from the "All Holidays" SU set, and glued down all the flowers and leaves sort of randomly to cover the card. Added a few white half back rounds to match the boot.

So, if you're counting, that makes 2 challenges. The 3rd one is using the same card above, and it is for a challenge that I am doing with one of my stamping pals, Joanne (aka Sleepy in Seattle). We are giving each other a month to use a specific unused, unloved, or forgotten tool or technique that we both never use that we once thought we had to have! This month we started out with quilling, and so this is my submission!! Check out the GORGEOUS snowflake card Joanne made for her submission (of course she was much more prompt in posting than I !!) Third -- Two more random Christmas cards I made this weekend:

The one on the left is a stamp designed by Judy Duke that I bought from a company called B&Js art stamps out of Las Cruces, NM. I stamped it with Green Stazon, colored in the pinecones with copics, added glitter and a shiny plastic bow, and stamped the sentiment using one of the cute little stamps from the stash of goodies Bev sent (see first challenge card!!). I really liked this one, I will be making a few more of these. The photo I posted isn't very good at all, but I posted it on SCS also, so if you want to see a better view of it, you can check it out here!

The card on the right was much simpler and faster. I used my Woodcut Wheel from SU to stamp the poinsettia background, then added layers of green, red, and some DP from HL. Glued on a little plastic poinsettia that I got in a pack from HL. The ribbon is SU wide grosgrain. Fourth -- and last, but not at all least...ta da!! Joan Irvin awarded all the Doubledog Dare bloggers a Kreativ Blogger award!! How cool is that? (See my cool new badge on the side bar!) Joan is a wonderful, sweet stamper friend of mine from here in Texas that I've never met!! She's super talented, a famous Dirty Dozen Alumni, and designs for several stamp companies. You have to check out her blog!! I am honored to be stamping with her and the award is such a thrill!! Thanks Joan!! Now to pay it forward.... how fun!!

The rules are:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog. (Done!) 2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award. (Done!) 3. Nominate 5 blogs. (In progress...) 4. Put links to their blogs (In progress...) 5. Leave a message for your nominees. (In progress...)

The first person I'm nominating is Susan Conrad (aka One4Joy). This is one creative woman whom I admire both artistically and personally.

The next 4 are TBD! I'm just so new at blogging that I am still discovering new and amazing blogs everyday!! So stay tuned for updates to this list!!

Whew!! See, I told you I had a lot to post today!! Thanks for checking it all out!!

Sweet dreams everyone!

Anne