Monday, November 16, 2015

Put Some Extra Layers On + Christmas Gift Surprise Giveaway!!

Click >HERE< for our Gratitude Badge Winners!

Wow! Can you believe it! We are starting our last November challenge today which rolls for two weeks right into December and getting oh so close to Christmas! I have a special bit of news for this challenge that I will share in just a bit.  But first, let's discuss this card challenge that starts today, Monday, November 16, 2015.  The theme is "Put Some Extra Layers On."  Now this can be taken several ways and this is what we are asking to see in your cards for this challenge--your "layers" can be layers of paper and matting or it can be actual "layers" on your card images such as a sweater, scarf or coat.  It's getting colder in some areas so of course we need to put some extra layers on either in paper or fashion.  Makes sense?  We hope so!  For a bit more clarification and inspiration, please look at our Cards in Envy Designers' cards below. Be sure to click on their blog link by their name for more details about their card and leave them some comment love! And as always, your card must be A2 size (4.25" x 5.5") and flat enough to fit in an envy for mailing.

Now for that bit of special news!  Because of the upcoming Christmas holiday season, one of our Cards in Envy Designers wants to give TWO lucky people a Christmas gift!  Our own Sherry of  Bits of Cheer wants to actually give bits of cheer through our challenge! Sherry is a published children's author/illustrator and is giving two winners (selected at random from the qualified entries of this challenge) a copy of BOTH her children's books! That's right two of you will win TWO children books that you can keep for your own children or grandchildren or use as a gift this holiday season!  You have to do nothing but link a QUALIFIED card entry to this challenge to be in the drawing at the close of this challenge.  Winners of the books will be announced at the end this challenge in the Winner's post along with our First Class Card and In the Mailbox cards. Winners will have to email us their mailing info within 7 days.  If we don't hear from you we will choose another winner.  Please note! You have an extra week to participate in the challenge as it doesn't end until December 6th!

I'm sure you all want to know more about these books!  The titles of the books are:  "Card Auntie's Wonderful Workshop" and "Chloe the Shoe Cat" by Sharon Hickey.  These books are listed on Amazon and other online booksellers.  

"Card Auntie's Wonderful Workshop" by Sharon Hickey is for ages 4-10 and is about a lady with a funny name who loves to send cards and has a cat named Zip, Other characters in the book are a nurse who forgot how to smile, and a little orange snail who pops up in unexpected places!


"Chloe the Shoe Cat" by Sharon Hickey is a picture book for children ages 3-9 and is a story about a cat named Chloe, whose love of playing with, hiding and napping in the family's shoes starts with her discovery of a little white baby shoe as a tiny kitten.

We are so appreciative to Sherry for offering this special Christmas Gift Surprise and know that two of you are going to be thrilled to win a copy of each of these adorable books.  If you aren't the winner, we hope  you  will click on the link of each book title in the text above  and check them out on Amazon. They would make wonderful Christmas or birthday gifts!  The usual limit of 3 entries for our challenge will give you 3 chances to win this generous prize from Sherry. So make 3 cards for our challenge and link them up. Good luck!!

And now let's see what  our designers have created  for our "Put Some Extra Layers On" challenge!








 Kathy, The Crafty Nurse

















  Patricia, Thinking of Inking  







Sandy (Challenge Host), Sandy's Crafty Creations 





Sherry, Bits of Cheer













Now it's time for you to create a Put Some Extra Layers On card and share it with us in the linky below. Make sure it is an A2 card (4.25" x 5.5")  flat enough to fit in an envy for mailing.  

Here are a few reminders about our challenge requirements:
  • No square or shaped cards(shaped cards allowed IF you list the size of your card--height and width). All cards entered must be A2 size (4.25" x 5.5")
  • No lumpy, bumpy cards.  Elements on your card need to be relatively flat (no thicker than 1/4")
  • Limit entries to 3 per challenge.
  • No Back Linking.  Cards must be posted to your blog or online album during the challenge dates.  If it was posted online BEFORE the beginning of our challenge, it cannot be linked.
  • Entry must be for the current theme: Put Some Extra Layers On!

Additional rules can be found under the Challenge Guidelines tab at the top under our blog header.

Our Designers will be voting on their favorite cards which will be announced on our blog  the Tuesday or Wednesday following the close of the challenge.. We will have one FIRST CLASS which is the card that receives the most votes from the Designers and each Designer will pick one card as their favorite for  IN THE MAILBOX. That means we may have up to 10 In the Mailbox cards for a challenge.  We decided to go with this fun method as each Designer has their own unique style and preference.  Each chosen may grab one of our fun badges for their blog! The badges for the challenge will be in the winners post following the close of the challenge after all the Designer votes are in.  The winners will also be announced on our Facebook Page, so come Like us so you'll know quickly if you were a winner. 

THIS IS A CARDS ONLY CHALLENGE.  Entries not following our rules and guidelines will be deleted without notice or comment. REMEMBER!  NO SQUARE or SHAPED CARDS unless you provide the measurements of your shaped card.   Challenge ends Sunday, December 6, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Central Time. 


Gratitude Challenge Badge Winners!

So many beautiful and awesome Thanksgiving and Thank You cards for our Gratitude challenge! We appreciate so much everyone that created a card and linked it to our blog challenge post. Thank you!! After the votes were tallied, we had a winner for our First Class card.

Congratulations to
#6 Tammy A
First Class Card

We loved the colors of Tammy's card, the faux stitching, banner, leaves and adorable little Pilgrim mice! So cute! Thank you Tammy for joining in on our challenge and please grab the First Class badge below to proudly showcase on your own blog!







After selecting the First Class card, the CIE Designers then each picked their personal favorite card from the challenge entries.  Here they are, listed in no particular order:


# 2 Claire, In the Mailbox as Lisa's Personal Favorite




 # 5 Dena J, In the Mailbox as Kathy's Personal Favorite




 #10 Vikki W, In the Mailbox as Wendi's Personal Favorite




#11 Bobbie, In the Mailbox as Sybrina's Personal Favorite




#6 Tammy A, In the Mailbox as Sherry and Patricia's Personal Favorite



#13 Jennifer-g, In the Mailbox as Sandy's Personal Favorite




#19 A J, In the Mailbox as Donna's Personal Favorite




#24 Mynn, In the Mailbox Annie's Personal Favorite


In the Mailbox Badge winners, grab your badge below to proudly display on your own blog!





We'd like to extend a super BIG Thank You to all who have joined us for our challenges in the past and for this challenge.  We have a new challenge going on right now with a surprise GIFT to two lucky random challenge participants so make sure you check it out!

Again, Thank You!
~Sandy and the CIE Designers



Monday, November 2, 2015

Gratitude Card Challenge

Click >HERE< for our badge winners for the Trick or Treat Challenge!

Hello card makers and November! Wow! This year is flying by.  November is the month of Thanksgiving in the United States so we here at Cards in Envy would like to see your Gratitude, Thank You or Thanksgiving cards!  Remember your card must be A2 size (4.25" x 5.5")  PLEASE--NO SQUARE CARDS.  And flat enough to fit in an envy for mailing.

Our Cards in Envy Designers have created a wonderful variety of Gratitude (Thank You or Thanksgiving) cards for your inspiration!  Please click on each designers blog link by their name for more details on their card creation and leave them some comment love!








 Kathy, The Crafty Nurse

















  Patricia, Thinking of Inking  







Sandy (Challenge Host), Sandy's Crafty Creations 





Sherry, Bits of Cheer













Now it's time for you to create a GRATITUDE (Thank You or Thanksgiving) card and share it with us in the linky below. Make sure it is an A2 card (4.25" x 5.5")  flat enough to fit in an envy for mailing.  

Here are a few reminders about our challenge requirements:
  • No square or shaped cards(shaped cards allowed IF you list the size of your card--height and width). All cards entered must be A2 size (4.25" x 5.5")
  • No lumpy, bumpy cards.  Elements on your card need to be relatively flat (no thicker than 1/4")
  • Limit entries to 3 per challenge.
  • No Back Linking.  Cards must be posted to your blog or online album during the challenge dates.  If it was posted online BEFORE the beginning of our challenge, it cannot be linked.
  • Entry must be for the current theme: GRATITUDE (Thank You or Thanksgiving)

Additional rules can be found under the Challenge Guidelines tab at the top under our blog header.

Our Designers will be voting on their favorite cards which will be announced on our blog  the Tuesday or Wednesday following the close of the challenge.. We will have one FIRST CLASS which is the card that receives the most votes from the Designers and each Designer will pick one card as their favorite for  IN THE MAILBOX. That means we may have up to 10 In the Mailbox cards for a challenge.  We decided to go with this fun method as each Designer has their own unique style and preference.  Each chosen may grab one of our fun badges for their blog! The badges for the challenge will be in the winners post following the close of the challenge after all the Designer votes are in.  The winners will also be announced on our Facebook Page, so come Like us so you'll know quickly if you were a winner. 

THIS IS A CARDS ONLY CHALLENGE.  Entries not following our rules and guidelines will be deleted without notice or comment. REMEMBER!  NO SQUARE or SHAPED CARDS unless you provide the measurements of your shaped card.   Challenge ends Sunday, November 15, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. Central Time.


Trick or Treat Badge Winners

Wow! So many awesome Halloween cards for us to choose from!  And so much fun!  Let me just say, it was VERY close like 1 vote among SEVERAL of the cards! But we did have a winner and we want to congratulation our FIRST CLASS badge winner:

#11 Theresa. First Class
We loved this simple card with the adorable ghosts holding their Jack-o-Lanterns!
Theresa, please grab the First Class badge below to proudly showcase on your own blog!  And again, Congratulations!

The CIE Designers also chose their one personal favorite card from all the entries to be IN THE MAILBOX.  Here they are in no particular order:

#12 KT Fit Kitty, In the Mailbox as Sandy's Personal Favorite



#5 AJ,  In the Mailbox as Kathy's Personal Favorite



#8 Billie A, In the Mailbox as Sherry's Personal Favorite



#9 Theresa, In the Mailbox as Annie and Sybrina's Personal Favorite



#10 Steffi H, In the Mailbox as Wendi's Personal Favorite



#11 Theresa, In the Mailbox as Marilyn's Personal Favorite



#17 Debi B, In the Mailbox as Lisa's Personal Favorite



#7 Emily D, In the Mailbox as Patricia's Personal Favorite



#16, Valerie L, In the Mailbox as Donna's Personal Favorite

In the Mailbox badge winners, you may grab the badge below to proudly display on your own blog! Congratulations to each of you!

Thank you to every one for sharing your frightfully fun Halloween cards with us for our Trick or Treat challenge!  We hope that you will join us again for another challenge and check out our current challenge on the blog for Gratitude cards!

~Sandy & the CIE Designers