FINAL CHALLENGE OF 2013!

Welcome back Festive Friday fans!

We can't believe it, but the time has already come to launch our final challenge for 2013! It seems like just yesterday we were announcing a new kid on the challenge block, and that we were making our team introductions to you, and here we are, closing in on the Holidays! 21 challenges later, and we are ecstatic to see that our players are all celebrating their stash of cards, enjoying the lack of stress to get them made and mailed. Our goal at Festive Friday is to help you stay on top of your Christmas cards so you can relax and enjoy the season, rather than one more thing to tackle on the already demanding list of to-dos... and we're thrilled that so many of you are reaping the rewards!

Since it's our last challenge, we want to go out with a bang before taking a break until the New Year... so we're offering up some prizes! There are two prizes up for grabs:

PRIZE #1

For one of our faithful players, we are offering up a Grand Prize of a $60 gift card to your favourite online shop! You must have participated in at least 15 of our 20 previous challenges to qualify for this prize - we had so many regular and devoted players, we really wanted to extend our gratitude to you!

PRIZE #2

For all of the players of this final challenge, we are offering a Top Prize of a $20 gift card to your favourite online shop! Anyone who participates in the final challenge is qualified to win the prize!

This time around we're doing things a bit differently - instead of posing a challenge to you, we're asking you to pick your favourite challenge from the past year, and create something new! That's the only rule; you must upload a *new* project! You can find the graphics from all of the challenges under the tab at the top of the page!

Each of the Design Team ladies has created something with their favourite challenge from the year, and we'll just run this post for 2 weeks (no mid-week inspiration this time), so it's easy for you to enter as many times as you like!

Sadly, this is Amber's last post with us... she's been on hiatus for the past few months, as she took a break from blogging, but she's back to say farewell with one last challenge. She won't be back with us in the New Year, and we'll miss her, but it's so exciting to see the path she's taking!

Here are our favourite challenges from this year:

Amber:

Ardyth:

Ardyth also combined the Kid's Theme, and Merry Trigger challenges on her card!

Geri:

Geri also included inspiration from our Bird Element Challenge and the Star Element Challenge as well!

Melissa:

Sarah:

Meredith:

Now that you've seen our favourites, we want to see yours! Link up your NEW project, and be sure to include the graphic so that we know what challenge you loved! You can combine our challenge with your other favourite challenges, and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will run until December 4, 2013 at 11:55PST. 

FFC20 - Week 2 Inspiration...

Hello players!  Halloween took over, and so I am late with this post! I had two very exhausted little clowns to deal with, so the computer took the backseat!

I am back to share some new inspiration with you for our current challenge. As a refresher, here's the graphic for you:

And here is some new inspiration from a couple of our designers:

Ardyth

Melissa

Meredith

You have until Wednesday to link up your own creation, and you can check out all the details, and a quickly growing gallery of beautiful entries here!

FFC20 - Element Challenge...

Welcome back to another new challenge! It's time again for an Element Challenge... this means that somewhere on your creation we want to see this week's element - doesn't have to be a focal point, we just want to see it on there!

Here is this week's graphic:

And here are some samples from a few of our Design Team members:

Ardyth

Geri

Meredith

This week we're so excited to have the amazing Lynn Mangan from The Mango Boys and Me as our Guest Designer!

Here's a little about me:  I'm a mom to four boys, Ryan, Jonathon, Collin and Marcel who keep us busy and laughing a lot.   I am married to my high school sweetheart Pat; this year we celebrated 21 years of marriage but can honestly say we don't really feel old enough to have been married for 20+ years! I am very blessed that he is a stay at home dad to our four boys. I work full time. I've been blogging for a few years now and I love creating and the wonderful blogging community!  Making and giving cards is the best relaxation therapy ever!

And here is her beautiful creation:

Now that you've seen what we did with the challenge, it's your turn! Create any holiday themed project using the colours, and link us up below! You can combine our challenge with your other favourite challenges, and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will run until November 6, 2013 at 11:55PST. 

FFC18 - Week 2 Inspiration...

Hello players!

We're back with some new inspiration for our current challenge. As a reminder, here is our graphic for this time around:

And here is some new inspiration from some of our design team, as well as another card from our guest designer, Rebecca Luminarias:

Ardyth

Sarah

Meredith

Rebecca

You just need to head over to this post to enter your own creations before next Wednesday!

FFC18 - Element Challenge...

Welcome to another new Festive Friday Challenge! We know we're getting closer to the holidays, because our galleries are becoming more and more full of beautiful entries every week!

This time around, we're hosting an element challenge... we want you to put a star on your cards!

Photo Source

Here is what some of our designers came up with for you this week!

Ardyth

Geri

Melissa

Meredith

And this week, we are thrilled to be joined by Rebecca Luminarias of Thurston Post!

Hi there!  I’m so excited to be the guest designer at FF this week.  I used to be a complete Scrooge until I started paper crafting about 7 years ago; now I LOVE the holidays and think the idea of Festive Friday is genius and so much fun!  My favorite things to make are cards and tags, and in the last year or so I’ve also become a little obsessed with clever and beautiful packaging.  I’m a full-time mom to a 3-year-old boy and a baby girl.  We live in sunny Southern California, but I’m a New Yorker at heart (small town; not the city!).  This is the time of year when I really start missing home…my family, the changing leaves, the opportunity for a white Christmas…luckily, I have an amazing husband who doesn’t mind traveling.  Thanks for having me this week, ladies!  

And here is Rebecca's beautiful card for this week!

Now that you've seen what we did with the challenge, it's your turn! Create any holiday themed project using the colours, and link us up below! You can combine our challenge with your other favourite challenges, and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will run until October 9, 2013 at 11:55PST. 

An InLinkz Link-up

FFC14 - Week 2 Inspiration...

Another week has flown by us! We're a week into our current challenge, so our team has put together some more inspiration for you.

Here is our graphic for this week's Element Challenge:

And here is some new inspiration from a couple of our designers:

Geri

Sarah

Meredith

You can find the details, and link up your project on this post. You have until Wednesday to link up!

FFC14 - Element Challenge...

It's already time for a new challenge! The weeks are whizzing by us, aren't they?

We owe you some winners, which will come your way over the weekend. It's been a hectic week around here, and I still have to tally the team's votes and put together that post. Just to keep you in anticipation!

On to this week's challenge... it's time for an Element Challenge!

Here are some amazing projects from the Design Team:

Ardyth

Geri

Melissa

And joining us this week is the amazing Kristii Lockhart of Sincerely Yours.

Hi there fellow crafters and kindred spirits.  I love in beautiful southwestern Montana not far from Yellowstone National Park.  I have been married to my best friend for 29 years and I have 3 amazing adult children and 2 of the cutest little Yorktese puppies you have ever seen!  I have been crafting in one form or another all my life and over the last several years paper-crafting has become my passion.  I am so thankful for all the wonderful and inspiring people I have met through this awesome hobby and I am so happy to share my addiction with all of you!!!

 And here is Kristii's beautiful creation for this week's challenge:

Now that you've seen what we did with the challenge, it's your turn! Create any holiday themed project including a Candy Cane element, and link us up below! You can combine our challenge with your other favourite challenges, and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will run until August 14, 2013 at 11:55PST. 

FFC11 - Week 2 Inspiration...

Hello Festive players! We are already going into the second week of our challenge, so we are here to give you some more inspiration to keep your creative juices flowing!

As a refresher, this week we are working with an Element Challenge, which means we ask that you include this week's element somewhere on your card. Here's the graphic for this one:

And here are some fresh projects from the Design Team - lots of diversity in this week's designs, so you can see how many different ways you can take this one!

Ardyth

Geri

Melissa

Meredith

You still have lots of time to play along with us - just check out this post for the details, and link up by Wednesday!

FFC11 - Element Challenge

Welcome back to another Festive Friday challenge! This week we have a beautiful line up for you, so I won't waste any time, and just get right to the point!

We have an element challenge for you this week, so here is the graphic for you to go by:

Photo Source

We want you to include a tree somewhere in your design - it doesn't have to be a focal point, but we want to see it somewhere on your project!

Here is what the design team came up with:

Amber

Ardyth

Sarah

Meredith

This week, we are lucky to be joined by the incredible talented Heather Jensen of Simply Handmade by Heather!

Hello! My name is Heather Jensen.  I am a mom to a 13-year-old boy named Collin and a wife to my sweet and supportive hubby Michael for 14 years now.  I am lucky to have a husband who will take me to any craft store without complaining and waits patiently while I shop.  What more can a girl ask for?  I have been stamping a little over 4 years now.  A friend of mine got me into scrapbooking and I went straight to into card making when I realized that there wasn't many options (at the time) for boy and masculine products to work with.   During the school year I am a 1:1 Special Needs Assistant in our local school district.

And here is Heather's beautiful card for the challenge:

Now that you've seen what we did with the challenge, it's your turn! Create any holiday themed project with a tree element and link us up below! You can combine our challenge with your other favourite challenges, and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will run until July 3, 2013 at 11:55PST. 

***Please remember to link up your actual blog post and not just your blog address!***

***As it takes time for our designers to visit your blog, please consider shutting off your captcha so that we might be able to more easily leave you some love!***

2013 Festive Friday Grand Prize! 

We want to give you even more incentive to stay on top of your holiday card stash, and we also want to encourage you to continue playing with us! Our last challenge will launch in the middle of November, and at that time, we will be offering a $40 Gift Certificate to one of three online shops to one lucky player who has participated in 15 or more of our challenges! Keep the images of your entries handy - you'll need them!