Saturday, 30 March 2013

March ANYTHING BUT a CARD, ATC or TAG GOES! Challenge

Hello and welcome back to 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where it seems like Christmas every day. Is it just me (Louise) or is this year flying by? I have had a brilliant time hosting these last 4 weeks, first I get to choose the challenges and look at all the amazing entries and then I get to post the winners- how good is that! I am so lucky as I get to host an extra week here because March has an extra Saturday. It's the very last challenge for the month and since it's a 5th week, it means ANYTHING {but a card, ATC, or tag} GOES!!!

Don't forget, we will be posting the top 5 from last week's embellishment challenge on Wednesday so do pop back for a look then.

 

And some inspiration from the DT~

Mynnette




Please make sure to follow these rules when you play along with us here at 52CCT! :)



*Please link back to our blog in your post so that others can join in the fun.
*We would love it if you added our button to the side of your blog
*Please make sure to link to your POST, not your blog.
*Please make sure NOT to back link.
*In order to be considered for Top Honor or Honorable Mention, you must link up by Friday at 6:00pm GMT.
*You are free to enter this challenge and 10 others only.
*We'd really appreciate it if you'd turn off word verification so that we can comment more easily! We know a lot of you do this for safety, but it takes a very long time to comment when verification is activated, and you may lose your comments from us...just sayin'. ;)
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Wednesday, 27 March 2013

March Theme Honors

Thank you for all your animal themed Christmas cards, I was  a little worried after our shaky start with the 'no birds' rule, but  we saw lots of different animals in festive spirit, not only reindeer, and they were all beautiful and perfect for the challenge.
How do you choose between mice and bears, reindeer and dogs, cats and hedgehogs? Well, we had to, and our top honor was a clear winner this week, with an extraordinarily adorable, mousey holiday card..

Top Honor


Voting was very close for all the others and I can now reveal our...


Honorable Mentions
In numerical order

Don't forget, this week's challenge is in full swing and we would love to see lots more cards with beautiful ribbons and bows. We always leave comments on your entries so please keep your cards coming and keep us busy! There will also be a new challenge on Saturday and, as it is the extra 5th Saturday in March, it will be something a little bit different -so check back here then. Until then, happy crafting!

Saturday, 23 March 2013

March Embellishment Challenge

Hello and welcome back to 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where it seems like Christmas every day. Is it just me (Louise) or is March  flying by?  After all those amazing Christmas Animals last week (and apologies for any penguin confusion!) I thought we would go a bit more towards tradition and femininity this week with a challenge featuring ribbons and bows.  There are so many gorgeous ribbons out there and we want to see them all! 
Don't forget, we will be posting the top 5 from last week's challenge on Wednesday so do pop back for a look then.
 

And some inspiration from the DT~







Please make sure to follow these rules when you play along with us here at 52CCT! :)



*Please link back to our blog in your post so that others can join in the fun.
*We would love it if you added our button to the side of your blog
*Please make sure to link to your POST, not your blog.
*Please make sure NOT to back link.
*In order to be considered for Top Honor or Honorable Mention, you must link up by Friday at 6:00pm GMT.
*You are free to enter this challenge and 10 others only.
*We'd really appreciate it if you'd turn off word verification so that we can comment more easily! We know a lot of you do this for safety, but it takes a very long time to comment when verification is activated, and you may lose your comments from us...just sayin'. ;)
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Wednesday, 20 March 2013

March Colour Challenge Winners

It's midway through the week and it is my pleasure to be allowed to announce the winners of last weeks colour challenge here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.


This was your starting point and we were thrilled by your entries. They all were elegant and classy as we expected, lots of gold heat embossing, ribbons and dry embossing,beautiful stamping...i fact, every week you make our job harder and harder, but there has to be a winner and this weeks Top Honor goes to

TOP HONOR

Of course we have five more fabulous entries that we call our.....

HONORABLE MENTIONS
in numerical order


Don't forget our current challenge where we are hoping to see your cards featuring our four-legged friends, furry, cute, wild or humble, any animal on a Christmas card will be considered for next weeks Top Honors, and we're waiting to see them and leave you a comment!



Saturday, 16 March 2013

March Theme Week

Hello everyone  and welcome to another wonderful week here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown!  Thank you to everyone who entered our colour challenge last week.  Black, gold and white is such a classic combination and we had so many beautifully elegant cards we will really have a hard choice picking our top 5, but check here on Wednesday and we'll have all the winners.

Back to today where it's THEME week and this week we've gone wild as our theme is....


Animals!!!

We'd LOVE to see all your amazing Christmas/holiday animal creations-camels, donkeys, sheep, reindeer or even non-traditional animals -lions, tigers-whatever animal you think of, we'd LOVE to see your creativity!  Just one thing--NO BIRDS this week, so if you want to be considered for the top picks make sure you feature a furry not feathery friend! Sorry!


Here's some inspiration from the DT~










Please make sure to follow these rules when you play along with us here at 52CCT! :)

*Please link back to our blog in your post so that others can join in the fun.
*We would love it if you added our button to the side of your blog
*Please make sure to link to your POST, not your blog.
*Please make sure NOT to back link.
*In order to be considered for Top Honor or Honorable Mention, you must link up by Friday at 6:00pm GMT.
*You are free to enter this challenge and 10 others only.
*We'd really appreciate it if you'd turn off word verification so that we can comment more easily! We know a lot of you do this for safety, but it takes a very long time to comment when verification is activated, and you may lose your comments from us...just sayin'. ;)

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Wednesday, 13 March 2013

March Sketch Top Honor and honorable Mentions

Thanks to all of you who entered the sketch challenge, we loved  seeing your cards but it made our job so hard, because they were all fabulous. This was my first ever sketch design so, for me (Louise), it was especially exciting to see each new entry and what you had done to make the sketch your own. I honestly can say I loved every one! But... there has to be a winner and this week it was the simplicity and fabulous colour combo that caught the DTs' eyes..

Top Honor this week goes to


Of course we have five fabulous....
Honorable Mentions
(in numerical order)


Winners don't forget to grab your badges to display proudly on your blogs, and well done to everyone. 
This week we are looking for your creations in Black Gold and White, so if you haven't put your entry in yet, what's keeping you?? We are lovin' all the cards that we've seen so far and look forward to leaving comments on your blogs, so keep us busy and enter yours soon! 
I'll be back on Saturday with the next challenge too!

Saturday, 9 March 2013

March Colour Challenge

Wow! Thank you for all your fantastic entries for our sketch challenge last week- it's going to be very hard to chose our Top Honor and Honorable Mentions, check back here on Wednesday to see who's won!
  If you've only just found our challenge blog 'Welcome'. We are here to help you create all your cards in plenty of time for the Christmas holidays.  Each week we give you either a sketch, a colour combo, a theme,recipe, technique or embellishment as your starting point.  Then it's 'over to you'  We love looking at all your creations so please keep them coming!

This week we have the traditional and elegant combination of 
White, Gold and Black.
 

 Here are the cards from the DT~
Louise


Ruth




Deborah




Patricia


Danielle


Please make sure to follow these rules when you play along with us here at 52CCT! :)



*Please link back to our blog in your post so that others can join in the fun.
*We would love it if you added our button to the side of your blog
*Please make sure to link to your POST, not your blog.
*Please make sure NOT to back link.
*In order to be considered for Top Honor or Honorable Mention, you must link up by Friday at 6:00pm GMT.
*You are free to enter this challenge and 10 others only.
*We'd really appreciate it if you'd turn off word verification so that we can comment more easily! We know a lot of you do this for safety, but it takes a very long time to comment when verification is activated, and you may lose your comments from us...just sayin'. ;)
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Wednesday, 6 March 2013

February Felt Challenge Top Honor and Honorable Mentions

Oh boy, oh boy...I must admit that you had me worried at first that my felt challenge was going to be too much of a challenge.  But then all of a sudden so many of you came through and I was totally blown away by the creativity I saw on each of your cards - nice job everyone!!  Okay - so let's get to the announcement of the winners as you've had to wait a bit to find out.  Our TOP HONOR for the February Felt Challenge goes to #3 Brenda B for her absolutely fabulous hand-cut felt creation.


And our HONORABLE MENTIONS who provided us with something to ooh and awe over in very different ways (in numerical order of entry) were:
#1 Meg
#6 Rocky
#12 Fabiola
 
Winners don't forget to grab your badges to display proudly on your blogs :o) 

Congrats to you all and thank you for indulging me this past month - it was a lot of fun for me.  Your bravery (for attempting this challenge) and talent has absolutely astounded me this time around.  This month Louise is our hostess and she has some great challenges as well that I hope you will play along with us. 

Saturday, 2 March 2013

March Sketch Challenge

Hello Everyone, Louise here . March has arrived and it's my turn to be your hostess for the month.  I am really looking forward to seeing what you will make of my challenges. Remember-even though spring has sprung  in the UK, we're still all about Christmas and the Holidays at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.
Thanks to the wonderful Danielle for February's challenges, I hope you enjoyed doing them as much as I did!  We had some fantastic entries for the felt challenge  last week  -don't forget I will be here on Wednesday to post the Top Honour and Honourable Mentions.
Really, really exciting news is that, as of today,  we have three new ladies on our DT! A very warm welcome to Deborah Sarah  and Patricia .  They have all been very loyal followers of 52CCT and week after week have created fabulous cards, rising to every challenge thrown at them.  We are very pleased that they have now decided to cross to the other side and design for us!
I can't wait to see what you will do with this month's sketch and I am sure you will have fun creating some stunning projects with this as your starting point:


Have a look at the fabulous creations from the DT members~

Ruth
Please make sure to follow these rules when you play along with us here at 52CCT! :)



*Please link back to our blog in your post so that others can join in the fun.
*We would love it if you added our button to the side of your blog
*Please make sure to link to your POST, not your blog.
*Please make sure NOT to back link.
*In order to be considered for Top Honor or Honorable Mention, you must link up by Friday at 6:00pm GMT.
*You are free to enter this challenge and 10 others only.
*We'd really appreciate it if you'd turn off word verification so that we can comment more easily! We know a lot of you do this for safety, but it takes a very long time to comment when verification is activated, and you may lose your comments from us...just sayin'. ;)
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Introducing the Newest 52CCT Design Team Members

Our recent design team call was met with wonderful enthusiasm! We were honored to have so many of you who want to be part of our team. After a good bunch of viewing, re-viewing and viewing again we did make our selections and are thrilled to announce our "newbies" to the 52CCT design team. Please welcome.... Deborah Frings, Patricia Hays and Sarah Stone. Let's hear a little bit about each of them shall we? 

First meet Deborah Frings
Hi, I’m Deborah - and right about now, I’m jumping up and down with excitement!! I’m thrilled to be picked to join the design team here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. Thank you ladies :)

I have always crafted in some form or other. I started by making cards and little books as a child, moving onto embroidery and later cross-stitch. I’ve always taken photos and made my own scrapbooks, although not with lots of embellishments and paper like you get now, just memory books. And I made the odd card or two. And recently I even tried my hand at knitting!!

I became seriously hooked on card making after receiving a handmade card from a friend. I started off small with a few boxes and the kitchen worktop as my studio. When we moved to North Wales in 2006 my small craft space got somewhat bigger, and now that I’m in the US my craft room has exploded!!  

You can see Deborah's lovely creations at Deborah's Gems.
And now meet Patricia Hays

Hi there! I'm Patricia, and I am delighted to be one of the newest design team members here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown! Now that I've settled down from my initial happy dance, I'm looking forward to working with the rest of the team and seeing the Christmas creations shared by the challenge participants.

I honestly can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't doing some sort of artsy-crafty things. Over the years I've enjoyed crewel embroidery, counted cross-stitch, latch hook rug making, and scrapbooking. About 12 years ago, one of my friends became a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and I did the polite, supportive thing of attending her Open House... and promptly became addicted to making cards. The rest is history. :)

I've lived in Virginia all my life, although I've traveled and moved throughout the state. I currently live in the Shenandoah Valley with my husband of 20 years and our two teenage sons. Both of the boys are active in band - concert band, symphonic band, jazz band, and marching band - so that keeps us busy with practices, competitions, football games, and concert events. I work as a substitute teacher at the elementary school my sons attended when they were young. The flexible hours allow me a lot of crafting time on my non-working days. It's a pretty wonderful life!

I blog frequently at Thinking of Inking. I hope you'll stop by there for a visit!

And then there is Sarah Stone

Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm so excited to be part of this design team! Making Christmas cards all year round is just about a dream come true!

I was raised in Ohio, then I studied German in Berlin, which is where I met my husband. He is from Alabama, so we moved there after we got married in 2004. We moved to Wisconsin in 2010 when my husband found work here, and we're still here. I have 3 children, ages 6, 3, and 1, two girls and a boy.

My mom got me into scrapbooking when I started college, and I still scrapbook all my pictures. I have always made homemade cards, but I really got into it when I started consulting for Close To My Heart.

In addition to scrapbooking and stamping, I also like to read, crochet and knit, cook, and watch TV with my hubby. I am also a Mary Kay consultant, and I babysit to make some extra money. But the most important part of my life is God and his Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He saved me from my sins by his blood when I was little, and I am eternally grateful and can't wait to spend eternity with him in heaven. I love my church family, and try to serve at  church in any way I can.

 If you like challenges, come check out my Close To My Heart color dare blog, Color My Heart. I also have a 365 recipe blog: 365 No Repeats. My personal blog is Sarah Stone Creations.

So there they are - aren't they all just lovely? We are excited to have them join us and we know you will love seeing their wonderful creations each week too.

Please check back soon for the start of  a new month of challenges.  Louise will be our hostess this next month and she has some great challenges in store.  And remember to visit us on  Wednesday to see who was awared the Top Honor and Honorable Mentions for the February Felt Challenge.