The Best is Yet to Be & BLOG CANDY ALERT!!!

UPDATE: The blog candy is closed, the winner is Chelle!
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Yup, I've finally got the blog candy put together. You'll find all the details at the end of this post. I can hear you all groaning. Yeesh. Just look at my pretty card, and then you can find out how you can win! ;)

This card is for several challenges:

- The OCC colour challenge (two shades of blue and a neutral)
- Cuttlebug Be Inspired #14 (use your favourite embossing folder)
- Jen @ i{heart}2stamp's blog candy card challenge (make cards for international students at Dallas Baptist University); I plan to send along some other cards that I've had in my stash for a while - might as well put them to good use!

I was also inspired by a couple of my favourite craftsters, Faith (Stampin' With Markie's Mom) who has a style all her own, and Heather (pine is here), who is the Kraft paper queen!

It's hard to see, but I embossed the largest label and the sentiment with the paisley CB embossing folder. I love the idea of the paisley folder, but don't use it enough. I think I'm going to make another card with it, as you just don't see enough of it with this card. Originally I was going to use a larger label, but changed my mind on the design. Hence the reason you can't see to much of it!

To make the ribbon buckle, I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch three holes side-by-side. The Crop-a-Dile is useful for this because it has guides for the hole punches, so you can be sure they're all punched in a line. I just used my small snips to clean up the part that's showing. Here's a close-up (before embossing):
Stamps: Best Yet, Simply Said (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Kraft cardstock, Soft Sky textured cardstock (SU)
Ink: Whisper White, Blue Bayou (SU)
Accessories: Designer Label punch, Soft Sky ribbon (SU), Labels Two and Large Standard Circles Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Perfect Paisley embossing folder, CB (Provocraft), Crop-a-Dile (WeRMemoryKeepers), White Glaze pen (Sakura), brads (unknown)

Okay, here's what you've been waiting for - the blog candy!

I'm celebrating my blogaversary (which was in November - whoops!) and 5000 hits. Well, I was supposed to celebrate 5000 hits, but I'm two months late. And since then, I've jumped to 7409 hits! So yay, let's celebrate my 7409 hits! ;)

There is a chipboard alphabet and coordinating die cut flowers from K&Company, the Snow Fun cut & emboss set from Provocraft, and some dimensionals and sticky stars.
For a single entry, just make a comment on this post. That's it!

For a second entry, post about this giveaway on your blog, and post a another comment here with the link.

But wait, there's more! (said in my best infomercial voice) For two MORE entries, participate in Jen's challenge and post a comment here with a link to your card(s).

I'll give you all a week to play, to give you time to get your card(s) done for Jen's challenge. So make sure you post your comments by January 21, 2008 at 11:59pm PST. Make sure your email is available in your profile, or leave it in your comment.

Good luck!