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.

C4C612 - Go for a Ride Day

 Last Monday was Go for a Ride Day.  For our challenge this week, the Crazy4Challenges team were to create cards that feature something you might ride on -- car, bus, bike, truck, horse, etc.  I chose a train and used the Karen Burniston Train Pivot Panels train together with the brand-new Little Labels Pop-Up on a slimline card.

This is the inside.

Stop over at the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team handled this challenge.

CCEE2147 - Thankful Leaves

Kelli finishes up her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a great challenge.  She said that, because it's Thanksgiving, we should create a card with a thankful theme -- bonus points for using a leaf/leaves somewhere on our cards.  I guess I get lots of bonus points!!!

I made this birthday card for a dear friend whose birthday was last month.  She loves cards with leaves on them.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this delightful challenge.

Karen Burniston New Release Blog Hop

 Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC November Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 8 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

This release includes:

• 1 new Add-Ons Die Sets - Animals Add-ons 4

• 1 new Slimline Pop-up Die Sets - Little Labels Pop-up

• 2 new sentiment sets - Word Set 14 - Hugs; Happy Birthday Shadow

• 1 new Crosshatch Die Set - Labels - Crosshatch

• 1 new Animals die set - Bayou Animals

• 1 new Charms die set - Big Birthday Charms

• 1 new Border Blends die set - Border Blends Trims

Dies are available to order now on the website.

The main new die I'm using is Animals Add-ons 4, which coordinates with the Bitty Ball Pop-Up.  I fell in love with it when I saw the packaging,  I've made several cards using this die.  The first one also uses a previously released die set, Ocean Animals.  I made a belly band to close the card, which is 6" x 7".  The background paper on the front of the belly band is a slimline paper pad from Whimsy Stamps, cut down to fit.

When you open the card, up pops this adorable octopus.

I've flattened him down so you can see that the card COULD HAVE BEEN slightly smaller, but I didn't want to crowd him in.

There are two other animals you could make with this die set as well -- an alligator and a frog.  I showed these two other animals on my blog last week.   As a Floridian, I couldn't resist making Albert the Alligator (the mascot of the University of Florida).  Even though I am a fan of the Florida State University Seminoles, I'm an equal-opportunity crafter.

And the frog is quite cute as well.

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the release Karen Burniston and each of the Karen Burniston - KB Riley LLC Design Team members will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to some lucky person who comments on our blog posts, so make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post. Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received on our blog posts by Monday, November 29th 2021. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter! Don't forget to leave some way for us to contact you, in case you are a lucky winner!

Karen Burniston

Karen Aicken

Lois Bak  (that's me)

Frances Byrne

Fran Sabad

Sandy Diller

Kelly Booth

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Karen Burniston New Release -- Day 7

For my final sneak peek of this new release, I made another birthday card.  I have a long-time friend (since junior high school -- many, many years ago), who has a birthday this year.  We are both now octogenarians (I told you we were long-time friends).  I'm sending this card to her.

I used the new Big Birthday Charms in conjunction with the Happy Birthday with Shadow and Crosshatch Rectangles on the front.

Inside are some more of the Big Birthday Charms mounted on the Oval Pop-Up set.  I added a row of the new Border Blends - Trim and some additional balloons from the Explosion Pop-Up in the background.

Make sure you stop back tomorrow for the Blog Hop.  If you follow the hop and comment often, you might just win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burniston website.  Each one of the team is giving away a certificate!

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 6

I'm showing off some more new dies from Karen Burniston today.   I combined the Happy Birthday sentiment with the new Shadow die and several charm sets on the front of my card -- the Wine Charms and the new Big Birthday Charms.  

A couple of weeks ago Tanya Doner-Kostynuk demonstrated a card on the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo @Home event showing how you could use the Photo Collage Pop-Up with something other than the photo elements.  She inspired me, and I made the inside of my card using some more of the Big Birthday Charms on the Photo Collage.  How fun is that!!!

I hope you've enjoyed all of my sneak peeks this week (one more tomorrow), and I urge you to check out our blog hop on Monday for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burniston website.  See you then!

C4C611 - Sketch Challenge

It's time for the Crazy4Challenges sketch challenge.  This month's challenge is a slimline card.

I'm still making a few Thanksgiving cards, and today's challenge card is one of them.  I used a digital image from Paper Nest Dolls and sized her to fit the white panel in the sketch, adding some autumn patterned paper, an appropriate sentiment, and some trim using one of Karen Burniston's Border Blends dies.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team handled this sketch.
 

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 5

I've got another sneak peek at the new Karen Burniston release -- this time a Christmas card using the Little Labels Pop-Up.   Some of my favorite papers are from Heartfelt Creations, and I used a sheet of one of their Christmas papers on my slimline card today.  Purple might not be your first choice for a Christmas card, but I love purple -- so why not?  The two reindeer are from Christmas Animals (I reversed one of them).  I was really happy when Karen made a shadow for the Merry Christmas sentiment.

 There's more of that purple paper on the inside.

And I thought the elements from the Evergreen Pivot Panels and House Pivot Panels would be perfect inside those Little Labels.  I used another one of the new Border Blends - Trims across the top and stamped my sentiment on one as well.

One more day of sneak peeks from me tomorrow and then on Monday the new release goes live with our blog hop.  I hope you'll join us.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 4

I've got another pop-up animal using the new Karen Burniston Animal Add-ons 4 with the Bitty Ball Pop-Up.  Today's animal is a frog!  On the front of the card you'll see parts of another new set -- Bayou Animals.  Aren't those the cutest little critters?  And I love the cattails!

I used the Karen Burniston Flap & Closure set to hold the card closed.  And when you unwind that cord, up pops the frog!

I tried to emulate the lily pad from the front on the inside as well.  I used a Crosshatch Oval and some flowers from Backyard Charms.

This has been a fun week -- hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.  Check back tomorrow and Saturday for a couple of other sneak peeks and be sure to follow our blog hop on Monday for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Karen's website.

CCEE2146 - Buffalo Plaid

For her CCEE Stampers challenge this week, Kelli asked us to create a card using black and white (or any color if you don't have black & white) buffalo plaid as the focal point.

I just bought a pad of buffalo plaid paper in various colors, black & white being one of them; so I was all ready for this challenge.  The favorite color combination of a former member of the CCEE Stampers who is no longer with us (Joanne Grzelak) was black/white/red, and I have come to like it as well.    And it just so happens that her birthday would have been this week.  So I'm dedicating my card today to her.  Happy Birthday in Heaven, Joanne!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more cards made with buffalo plaid.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks - Day 3

For today's sneak peek, I am again using the new Karen Burniston Little Labels Pop-Up and showing a slimline Thanksgiving card.  The front of the card is a piece of scrapbook paper with the sentiment from Word Set 2 (Birthday) and Word Set 7 (Autumn).

Again, the action is on the inside.  Karen has lots of small dies that will fit on these cute little Labels.  The pumpkins are from Autumn Elements, and the turkey is from Feathered Animals.  You might notice the trim along the bottom of the pop-up.  That, too, is from a new set of Border Blends.  It's called Border Blends - Trims.  And, of course, I used the new Crosshatch Labels for a place to sign.

This is a fun release.  I am getting slightly addicted to that Little Labels Pop-Up die.  it's so versatile.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for another sneak peek.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks - Day 2

Day 2 of the new Karen Burniston sneak peeks brings another Animal Add-on.  You can make three different animals with this set -- an alligator, a frog, and an octopus.

First of all, I must clarify that I am a fan of the Florida State University Seminoles, not the University of Florida Gators.  With that said, as soon as I saw this new add-on, I knew I had to make Albert the UF Alligator.  I didn't put him into a card; I just mounted him on another of the new dies from this release -- the Crosshatch Label in the UF colors of orange and blue.

I have a friend who is a Gator fan, so I gave this little guy to her -- she was thrilled!

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to come back tomorrow for another sneak peek.  And don't forget our blog hop next Monday!

 

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks - Day 1

It's finally time to show off some projects made with the new Karen Burniston release, which will be available next week.

My first sneak peek is at a fun pop-up -- Little Labels Pop-Up.  Sci-fi fan that I am, I used the Rocket Pop-Up and Space Charms in conjunction with the Little Labels Pop-Up for this mini slimline card.   

The inside is where the pop-up shows off.  By the way, the labels are exactly the same shape as the frames in the Paper Frames Pop-Up, so you have lots of choices for sizes.  My card includes one of the Paper Frames' labels as well.

Be sure to check back every day this week for more sneak peeks.  This is a small release (8 dies) but a fun one.  And next Monday we will be having a blog hop, where you could win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burniston shop!

C4C610 - Die Cuts Only

This week's Crazy4Challenges challenge is one after my own heart -- create a card that is created using dies only, no stamps.  If you must, you can use a stamp for the sentiment; but bonus points if you use dies.  Bonus points for me!

My card for this challenge is a  Christmas slimline, using various dies from Pink & Main, Honey Bee Stamps, and CottageCutz.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for lots of die-cut fun!

CCEE2145 - Tag! You're It!

Kelli continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week and asked us to create some tags to get ready for the holidays.

Last year I bought a set of dies called Winter Bouquet from Honey Bee Stamps.  I used that die set to make these two tags.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more holiday tag ideas.

C4C609 - Home, Sweet Home

Frances gave the Crazy4Challenges team a "home, sweet home" challenge this week -- create a card that features a house or any element you might find on a house -- door, window, roof, etc.

My card fits the bill -- a house as well as elements of a house -- using various Karen Burniston dies (Holiday House, Merry Christmas & Shadow, House Pivot Panels, Evergreen Pivot Panels and Border Blends).

Check out the Crazy4Challenge blog to see how the rest of the team handled this homey challenge.

CCEE2144 - Manatee Awareness Month

Kelli McKown-Santi is the hostess for the CCEE Stampers this month, and she told us that November is Manatee Awareness Month.   She and I both live in Florida, so we know all about manatees.   My daughter is a big fan; in fact, she adopted a manatee many years ago.  I bought these stamps specifically so that I could make a card for her.  Her birthday was back in September, so she already has it.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more manatee cards.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Window Cards

It's time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge again.  This month's theme is "Window Cards."

One of my go-to dies from Karen Burniston is the Katherine Label Pop-Up because it's so versatile, and I used it on my card today.  I cut the "window" using the Crosshatch Circles, making a frame with a couple of the circles as well.  As Thanksgiving is this month, that was my theme -- you can see that cute turkey (from Feathered Animals) through the window.

I had added a leaf from Autumn Elements in the upper left-hand corner and carried it over to the inside as well.

Do you know that old saying "There are no mistakes in card-making, only opportunities for creativity"?  Well this is a perfect example of that.  I somehow got an ink smear on the inside of my card below the circle window.  So I just cut a piece of the patterned paper that matched the front of the card and added it below the window.  I think it works!  There are more diecuts from Autumn Elements on the inside as well.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you like my card.