CHNC challenge 53: celebration candy continued

Thank you to all who linked for challenge 52 - and for some showing some more Christmas cards. Mr Linky will be left open until 10:00 pm UK time Friday 6 January 2012.  Even if you entered last week, you can add a further entry for this week's challenge - that will give you two chances to win the candy. If you didn't enter last week, then what are you waiting for?

The winner will receive a 10 card pack of dark green aperture cards, Anita's  snowflakes outline stickers, a Crafts-Too snowflake banner embossing folder, A Joanna Sheen Giordano studio stamp 'Love this Christmas', A Crafter's companion Humphrey's corner 'mistletoe kisses' stamp set, a pack of 48 die cut Christmas trees, Craftwork cards candi vintage berries gold and vintage berries silver:

Anyone can take part - I'm willing to post to anywhere in the world. The draw for the winner (randomly chosen using random.org) will take place after 10:00 pm UK time on Friday 6 January 2012.

All I ask is that you create a blog post and leave the link here and, if possible, also put my pink button in your sidebar, telling people that there is blog candy available.

If you'd like to also add a Christmas card to show, then that would be lovely - perhaps you made some that you didn't have time to blog - or perhaps you've already started making some for next Christmas!! But please don't add a card unless you are linking for the blog candy - please do both at the same time, with only one entry per person this week, please.


Here is my first Christmas card for the coming year - I made this the other day - you can read about it here on my regular crafting blog:

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Sponsorship news

Just look at the sidebar to see the many sponsors that are lined up for2012! I am so grateful to these wonderful people for being willing to donate prizes for my challenges. I now have seventeen sponsors. This means that there will be a prize every week for one randomly chosen winner.

The first sponsored challenge of 2012 will be on Saturday 7 January, when Whoopsi Daisy will be providing a prize - more details next week.

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If you haven't yet become a follower, please do so. It has been encouraging to see more and more followers joining each week.

This blog candy is open to everyone, whether you've participated in my challenges during the year or whether you have just found my blog - please spread the word and perhaps we'll get even more entries during 2012. The success of the blog depends on YOU.

Just remember to:

Create a post about my blog candy (and perhaps add a link to your sidebar).
Show a Christmas card within that post if you wish to (you don't have to).
Add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears - or if you have any problem linking - please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.
Become a follower if you haven't already done so.

Don't put away your Christmas stash - please come back next Saturday 7 January at the usual time of 09:00 for a challenge sponsored by Whoopsi Daisy.

Happy New Year, everyone!

CHNC challenge 52: Happy Christmas!! Celebration Candy

I can hardly believe that I started this Christmas challenge blog on 1 January this year ... and here we are on Christmas Eve. Throughout the year, I have seen loads of fantastic Christmas cards - such a lot of creativity and inspiration. The blog has gone from strength to strength, which is just down to YOU for your support and participation. I was overwhelmed with the response for last week's challenge - during one of the busiest weeks of the year for most people, you managed to break the record for the most number of entries!!

I'm also so grateful to those who have sponsored the challenge - and the good news is that I now have fifteen sponsors lined up for 2012 - yes fifteen!! I'll give more details next Saturday. This means that instead of offering a prize just once a month, there will be a prize almost every week!!

So, what am I asking you to do this week? As a big THANK YOU for the success of this year on CHNC I'm going to give away some blog candy. The link for this will stay open until 10:00 pm UK time Friday 6 January 2012. The winner will receive a 10 card pack of dark green aperture cards, Anita's  snowflakes outline stickers, a Crafts-Too snowflake banner embossing folder, A Joanna Sheen Giordano studio stamp 'Love this Christmas', A Crafter's companion Humphrewy's cornder 'mistletoe kisses' stamp set, a pack of 48 die cut Christmas trees, Craftwork cards candi vintage berries gold and vintage berries silver:

Anyone can take part - I'm willing to post to anywhere in the world. The draw for the winner (randomly chosen using random.org) will take place after 10:00 pm UK time on Friday 6 January 2012.

All I ask is that you create a blog post and leave the link here and, if possible, also put my pink button in your sidebar, telling people that there is blog candy available.

If you'd like to also add a Christmas card to show, then that would be lovely - perhaps you made some that you didn't have time to blog! But please don't add a card unless you are linking for the blog candy - please do both at the same time, with only one entry per person this week, please.

These are a few quick cards I made last week, the first four using Basic Grey papers and the fifth one using Websters pages (more information on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here):

If you haven't yet become a follower, please do so. It has been encouraging to see more and more followers joining each week.

This blog candy is open to everyone, whether you've participated in my challenges during the year or whether you have just found my blog - please spread the word and perhaps we'll get even more entries during 2012. The success of the blog depends on YOU.

Just remember to:

Create a post about my blog candy (and perhaps add a link to your sidebar).
Show a Christmas card within that post if you wish to (you don't have to).
Add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears - or if you have any problem linking - please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.
Become a follower if you haven't already done so.

Please come back next Saturday at the usual time.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

CHNC challenge 51: anything goes for Christmas

Just over a week to go till Christmas Day, so I'm guessing that most of you have got all your cards made and posted? Well, I confess that, as I write this on Friday evening, I still have about half a dozen cards to make and get in the post tomorrow, which is the last day for second class post in the UK. And I still need to make a card for John (always gets left till last).

Once again, I've had a fun time this past week looking at all the wonderful entries for my 'traditional Christmas' challenge.

Now it's time for

Challenge 51

So I think that this week's challenge can only be 'anything goes', to give you the opportunity to show any of those last-minute cards that you are still making. Or perhaps you've made some recently, but not had time to blog and show them - now's the time to do so.


I've actually made a lot of cards in the last couple of weeks - I took photos of most of them, but haven't had time to blog them. I made two black and gold cards a few days ago and managed to get photos taken outside, but had to take them at strange angles because of the reflection on the gold mirror card.

And I made these yesterday:

You can read more about these cards on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here.

So now it's your turn to show me any Christmas cards that you've made and not yet blogged.


As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week  anything goes.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 23 December. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 24 December.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

I look forward to seeing your creations.

CHNC challenge 50: traditional Christmas

Well, another week has passed and we're one more big step nearer to Christmas Day ... only just over two weeks when this challenge goes live and probably less than that when you are reading this.

Thank you so much for all the entries for last week's challenge - as usual, I so enjoyed looking at them all, so creative and inspirational.

So now it's time to announce the winner of the prize for last week, randomly drawn - unfortunately, there can only be one winner and random.org has picked:

Number 38: Anne

with this lovely card:

Please email me and I'll arrange for you to choose your digis from our

generous sponsor, StretchNBubbles.

Now on to this week's challenge:

Challenge 50

For this week my challenge is traditional Christmas, whatever that means to you. You might want to concentrate on traditional colours or include 'traditional' items on your card - holly, Christmas tree, snowmen, snowflakes, festive food ... whatever you think of as traditional. The main thing is to get on and make those remaining Christmas cards. I so enjoy visiting your blogs and seeing what you have created, so please keep the cards coming. Perhaps we'll have another week of a bumper number of entries.

If by any chance (and I wish I could say this) you've finished all your Christmas cards for this year, why not make one for this challenge that can start you off for next year. I'm sure you've still got some Christmas papers, embellishments, stamps etc around you.

Here is my card - you can read more about it and the challenges I've entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here:

I've added some more traditional cards here on my regular blog.

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to make a traditional Christmas card.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 16 December. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 17 December.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

CHNC challenge 49: mainly monochromatic - with a sponsored prize

Now it's December, we really are getting near to Christmas and it's time to crack on with the remainder of the cards that we need to send. I still need to make lots (a penalty for selling so many for charity ... I now need to make more for us to send!). I loved visiting the blogs last week and seeing all the gorgeous vintage and distressed creations that were linked up. And now it's time for another challenge:

Challenge 49

As this is the first Saturday in a new month, there will be a prize for the randomly drawn winner: StretchNBubbles are sponsoring me for this week's challenge 49. The winner will be able to choose 5 digital images from the fantastic range at StretchNBubbles - just click on the link and feast your eyes on the super images - you will not be disappointed! I am so grateful to Stretch N Bubbles for offering to sponsor my blog.

A little bit about Alison:

I really started “Scrapbooking/Card making” in 1996 when my dear friend Lisa Bearnson introduced to her new magazine Creating Keepsakes.. after that I was HOOKED!.. I do both scrapbooking and card making.. I have been published in many magazines, worked for Creating Keepsakes as a designer for products sold on QVC, and won many contests. I am the owner of Do You Stack Up?! Challenge blog, Free Digital Stamps blog, & Stretch N' Bubbles Digital Stamps blog/store. I quickly fell in love with the idea of digital stamps. Not having to find a spot to keep them,being able to get your product instantly, and buying one size fit's all.. I was on board! I have never taken an art class.. I just started doodling and putting them online. My free digital stamps within 2-3 days were getting 500 downloads, so I thought if there were that many people who liked my designs. I should start a little store.. and Stretch N' Bubbles was born.. Now you might ask yourself, how did you get the name Stretch N' Bubbles? Well my dad "poppie" gives all the grandchildren "magic names" and my son's magic name is Stretch, and yep you guessed it..my daughters magic name is "Bubbles".. so I put them together and came up with that name.. Thanks so much to all of you for helping support my dream..HUGS

*Alison*

stop by and check out my blogs..

Personal Blog HERE

Store HERE

Design Team HERE

For challenge 49 I'm asking you to think 'monochrome' - this doesn't mean your cards have to be black and white - although they can be if you wish - but one prominent colour that you use tone on tone. There can be a bit of flexibility, so you can use other colours sparingly if you wish as long as there is one dominant colour.

Stretch N Bubbles kindly gave me some lovely digital images to use for this challenge, so here is my first card made with '3 stockings' which I've simply coloured with a poppy promarker. You can read more about this card and the challenges I entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here:

I must be having a 'red and white' phase because I've now made six more cards that fit this challenge - you can read all about them on My Crafty Outlook:

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to make a monochromatic or 'tone-on-tone' card (with limited addition of other colours if you wish) - apart from that, anything goes.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 9 December. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 10 December - and I'll reveal who the randomly chosen winner is for today's challenge.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this Christmas challenge blog - thank you.

I look forward to seeing your creations.

Exciting news about sponsorship

Not only do I have a new sponsor for today's challenge, but I have lots of new sponsors lined up for 2012 - in fact, I am going to be able to give prizes much more frequently than I have this year, thanks to the generosity of those coming on board.