CCEE2150 - Christmas Around the World

For the CCEE Stampers' final challenge of 2021, Lynn would like for our stampers to select a country or culture other than their own and feature a unique element in that country or culture's Christmas celebrations to feature on their card.

My ancestors came mainly from Ireland and England, so I looked in another direction and chose Germany for my card.  I found this on the website for House Beautiful -- "Decorative nutcracker figurines, commonly made to resemble a toy soldier, is a common German Christmas tradition. According to German folklore, nutcrackers were given as good luck keepsakes to the family to protect their home. It's thought they would watch over the family, keeping evil spirits and danger at bay."  Nutcrackers have found their way into many American homes as well, but apparently they started in Germany.   Fortunately, I had an old stamp set with several nutcrackers the right size and came up with this card.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for more Christmas around the world.  As this is our last challenge for the year, I want to wish you a very merry Christmas; and I'll see you next year!

C4C614 - Sketch Challenge

The final Crazy4Challenges challenge of 2021 is a sketch challenge, with a bit of a twist.  We were to select our favorite "crazy" sketch from this year to create our card.   As I had joined the team in the middle of the year, I decided that I would choose a sketch from before I joined.  So I selected C4C580, which was the sketch for April.

My card is another Christmas card using dies from both Honey Bee Stamps (poinsettia and foliage) and Karen Burniston (labels).

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see which sketches the rest of the team chose.  As this is our final challenge for the year, I will wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  See you in 2022.

CCEE2149 - Family Traditions

Lynn continues as CCEE Stampers hostess this week.  She said, "If your family is like mine, there are certain family traditions that show up at each of your Christmas celebrations together.  I would love for the CCEE Stampers' cards to represent a favorite or an unusual Christmas tradition shared by the members of your family each year."

Like many crafters, I have gone through the gamut of various different crafts.  One of my hobbies for a long time was ceramics.  I think every ceramic hobbyist I know made a Nativity set, and I am no exception.  This set took me several Christmases to complete, and it is a part of my Christmas every year.

Several years ago I was part of the CottageCutz design team.  One Christmas I chose several Nativity die sets with which to create.  I have made several different cards using some or all of the three sets.  My card today uses all three.

I'm anxious to see Lynn's card today because of something she said about her family tradition in her challenge to us:  "I am betting that mine might just be the wackiest!!"  Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what it is.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- MOD HOLIDAY

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month we were to make a Christmas card using a non-traditional color.

As one of my favorite colors is purple, that's the direction in which I went.  The front of the card is relatively simple, with just a snowy hill (using the Long Nature's Edges 2) and snowflakes (also Long Nature's Edges 2).

The inside has a bit more to say.

I used the new Little Labels Pop-Up and added a few holiday charms to the labels.  Please note that another Karen Burniston die set, the Paper Frames, has dies in the same shape as the labels.  I actually used some of them on the layering.  One of the dies in the new Border Blends - Trims set looks so nice with two pieces woven together, as you can see along the base of the pop-up.  Another new die is the Labels - Crosshatch, which I used as a place to sign the card, dressing it up a little with some more snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my Designer Challenge card for December.

C4C613 - Christmas Flowers/Foliage

Frances' Crazy4Challenges challenge this week is all about Christmas Flowers/Foliage.  She said:  "One of the ways people decorate for Christmas is with flowers and/or foliage -- the most popular being Poinsettias, Holly, Ivy, and Mistletoe.  For our challenge this week create a card using something flower or foliage related."

Another way to decorate for Christmas is with wreaths, so I pulled out my Wreath Builder and created a wreath using Creek Bank Creations' A Thrill of Hope stamp set.  I made my card using their Angel Side Circle die.

The plaid from the front is carried through to the inside as well.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more Christmas florals.

CCEE2148 - Celebrate with Song

Lynn McAuley is the CCEE Stampers hostess for December.  For today's challenge, she chose "celebrate with song" as her theme.  She asked that the CCEE Stampers use song lyrics from a holiday song (either secular or religious) as the sentiment on the front of their Christmas design.

I recently purchased a couple of Hero Arts stamp and die sets that seemed to coordinate with each other.  One set is just dies (Tri-fold Edge Village Fancy Die) and the other set is both stamps & dies (Cozy Village).  Many of the houses on the Cozy Village stamps were the same as those on the Tri-fold Edge Village die, so I tried an experiment.   I think it worked!

The sentiment on the stamp set was just "Santa is coming to town," but that's not exactly the same as the song; so I printed it out on my computer.  I've had that little sleigh and reindeer stamp for many years, and it was the perfect size.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more musical inspiration for Christmas.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score"

My card for the Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge this month is a slimline bridge card.  I recently purchased a Hero Arts die set called Tri-Fold Village Fancy Die Set, which I thought was so pretty.  Since then, I found a "sort-of" matching stamp and die set called Cozy Town.  Many of the buildings in this stamp set match the shape of the buildings in the Tri-Fold set.  

As you can see, the dies span the center opening of this card, forming a "bridge," as dpes the sentiment, which is the Karen Burniston "Merry Christmas" greeting and shadow.

The card folds flat for mailing and fits in a business-size envelope.