Saturday, December 3, 2011

Swirly Snowflakes

The winner of this week's little give-away will be announced on Monday.

This Christmas card challenge has been fun, although I seriously need to pick up the pace. I've already received three cards (one from a fellow crafter...thanks, Sue C.!), and I vaguely recall having a contest that involved my sending some uber-simple cards to some of you readers. At the rate I'm going, you might get them in 2012. Or 2013. But I promise, you WILL get them.

Today's cards are from Snow Swirled and use the snowflakes from that set. I intended to make just two cards, but after I finished them, I craved something cleaner and simpler, and so I added the third. I like them all. Purple on Christmas cards isn't so radical (especially on snowflake cards) but it is different and interesting.

Besides, all these cards gave me an excuse to use my neglected purple bling, which is a good thing.

Random with a Ribbon Ground


Pure Random


Pure Simplicity


Personal Story: The middle card reminds me of a ski trip to Sun Valley. I am a terrible skier...I do mean terrible. (In fact, I resolved after my last ski trip to McCall, Idaho, on New Year's Day 1999, I would never ski again.) That day at Sun Valley, great puffy flakes were falling onto several feet of beautiful puffy powder. I was on a blue slope--where I had no business whatsoever being, seeing as green slopes kicked my butt--when I crashed spectacularly. Imagine a cartoon crash...limbs flailing, one ski flying yards away from me, a scream piercing the peace of the snowy afternoon. That was me.

After becoming completely airborn, I landed, conveniently enough, on my back in the puffy powder and sank into it so that foot-high walls of snow surrounded me. I lay there assessing the situation. Nothing hurt inordinantly, and I could still feel everything, including my right leg, ski still attached, twisted oddly but not painfully. I figured I hadn't broken my neck or back.

Once I assured myself that nothing terrible had happened, I lay there, watching the big, puffy flakes fall onto my goggles. It was so peaceful, and I was still warm from my exertions. I appreciated the beauty and tranquility of the situation for several minutes before it occurred to me that if I didn't move, someone might ski right over me because no way would they see me lying there with one ski God only knew where, the other flat on the ground, and my entire body under the surface of the snow. I sat up, found my ski, went to the lodge, ordered a hot chocolate, and thanked God I was still alive.

Lying there in the snow, with nothing in my sight but peaceful sky and gentle puffy flakes falling on my face....that's what the second card means to me.

On another note, as I've worked on this self-imposed Christmas Card Challenge, it occurred to me that it would be a great resource for future Christmases, so I'm going back and labeling all these posts with Christmas Card Challenge 2011. You'll be able to find them all quite easily in the future using the labels on the sidebar.

Have a lovely weekend!

20 comments:

  1. All three are very pretty...but my absolute favorite is the last one...pure simplicity!

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  2. Susan, I could ditto Susan's comment above me. I love them all, but the third one jumps off the screen at me. So gorgeous!

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  3. I love all three - incredible and perfect one layer cards!

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  4. All three are gorgeous but the first one is my favorite as it is the darkest purple! Love purple, love snowflakes...so there you go!

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  5. Three brilliant cards Susan, I have to admit my favourite is the last it's absolutely gorgeous:0)
    I loved your story, what a shame it (skiing) didn't work for you but you did make me giggle at the thought of you hidden in the snow angel, I'll bet it was really quiet LOL Gay xxx

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  6. Another 3 beautiful cards - I wish I had your resources

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  7. I looooove snowflakes and your cards are wonderful :) I'm sorry to have LOL re: your skiing story....I can relate to some spectacular wipe outs over my 25 years of skiing.

    We used to rate wipe outs we saw when riding the chairs and to get a ten you had to lose both skis, poles, hat and goggles. Saw some spectacular ones over the years from all levels of skiers. I provided one I'm sure as I wiped out at the top of a mogul run (black diamond) and proceeded to slide down the entire mogul face playing zamboni. Was so mad at myself for having done so I went right back to the run to do it again and lone behold, fell again and did the same thing all over. Third time was a charm though LOL!

    Great idea with the tags on the side bar :)

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  8. 4" of champagne poweder here this morning-wasted if you are working like me!
    Love the simplicity of the last card-but all three are gorgeous!

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  9. We could swap skiing mishap horror stories. It's why I took up cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. I was a menace on the slopes -- even the baby slopes.

    I'm not usually a fan of purple -- at least not on me -- but I really like ALL these cards. Goes to show me I should try different things. Thanks for showing us all sorts of options.

    I like the idea of the side bar link, too. Yours are always the cards I go to first. You have the best CAS style (or at least the one that strikes my fancy the most).

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  10. All three are very pretty...but my absolute favorite is the last one.

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  11. love them all - 3 more great cards! Loved the story - tough way to get inspiration for a card though :)

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  12. Great story! Glad nothing was broken or needed fixing. Your cards are beautiful. I adore purple and white and these are wonderful examples of such. I like them all so much, that I can't pick a favorite today. A splendid Sunday to you. :)

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  13. All three cards are beautiful, and I loved your skiing story. I became a snowboarder after realizing I would never be a great skier. No more yard sales (our term for skiers losing skis, poles, etc. when they fall) for me!

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  14. Lovely cards!! Great ski story... thanks for a good laugh. A spectacular fall is always good for a laugh when the person doesn't get hurt. A few of my funniest memories involve falls! LOL!! It's freezing here although the day is offering a slight warm-up between the frigid lows so hot chocolate definitely sounds good... and there's always a reason for a prayer of thanks.

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  15. I love all of these one layer beauties!

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  16. Very lovely cards once again!!! Actually I love all your x-mas cards!

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  17. OH MY WORD. CASEing all of your cards! You just simply amaze me!!!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!