Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia


I was super thrilled when the very talented Taheerah invited me to join 
her fun holiday event...


Advent Calendar Extravaganza is "the" festive event of the season! This "hop with 
a twist" was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day!
Joining in the fun with Taheerah are ONE HUNDRED special guests, each serving up
some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you'll never know
where you're going to be visiting next until you 'open the door'!

And that's not all! With 26 amazing sponsors taking part as guests as well, your crafty
wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Join in the fun each day at Taheerah's blog to see what special surprises
await behind the door!

* * *

Today's sponsor is Hero Arts and there aren't enough superlatives to describe
this amazing company! Hero Arts stamps are the first that I owned, and I joined
their Flickr group back in 2008. It's where I met other stampers who shared the
love of Hero Arts, whose friendships continue to this day.

I created two cards using Hero Arts Origami Happy Holidays and thanks to the
Misti, I was able to stamp them identically, but color them completely different.


On the first card, I ink distressed several non traditional colors over the white 
embossed images, then used the same inks to do some messy watercoloring. 
Not a fan of messy? Then the second card's for you.


This time, I ink distressed over the entire card, spattered water and let it dry,
then spattered white ink over the surface. Both cards were finished off with the
holiday sentiment white embossed on a banner strip and clear sequins.

* * *

It's not a party without a PRIZE and with prizes every day, you have several
chances to win! Today's prize is generously sponsored by HERO ARTS
that you'll definitely want to win!

Simply leave a comment on this post, then head over to taheerah-atchia.com
and leave a comment there, too! You must leave a comment on Taheerah's blog
as well as mine to be eligible to win!

Don't forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah's blog and
head over there as well to improve your odds even more!
You have until 11:59PM EST on December 31st to enter.

Taheerah's Advent Extravaganza started on December 1st and runs inclusive
through December 31st so be sure to visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for
inspiration + prizes! Thanks so much for stopping by, and Happy Holidays!

* * *

Edited to add: Thanks to all who stopped by and joined Taheerah's Extravaganza!
The winners from all 25 days have been posted and are listed HERE.
Congrats to all the winners!
 

217 comments:

  1. Both your cards are just fabulous... I love the colors on both of them ��

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  2. Beautiful background for lovely stamps. Nikki

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  3. Lovely bold backgrounds on both of your cards!

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  4. Fun images and I love the colors you used for the backgrounds.

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  5. The colors are so vibrant. I would not imagined those colors for a Christmas card but it really is lovely.

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  6. I love the background on the cards. It's a pretty combination of colors that is not the norm for the holidays which makes them even prettier!

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  7. Love the vibrant colours! Different and very pretty!

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  8. The colors are beautiful. Christmas aurora borealis.

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  9. What a fun card! Love the watercolor background. Thanks for the inspiration and chance to win. :D

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  10. I love them both, messy or not. Gorgeous color blending.
    This is a really cute set.

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  11. What a pretty and bright card! Love the color blending on this. Great job!!

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  12. Great cards. Love look and use of non traditional colors.

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  13. Donna, these cards are BOTH beautiful. Great colours!

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  14. Love the cards! Both backgrounds are gorgeous!

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  15. Wow, this card is so bright and cheerful. Love your wonderful background:)

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  16. These are beautiful. Love the colors

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  17. Love the colors you chose. Beautiful backgrounds

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  18. Gorgeous cards with nice bright colours, and cute stamps!

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  19. Love the color selection, non traditional colors are the best!

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  20. Love the stamps. I see a lot of possibilties

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  21. Beautiful Donna....I always love your use of COLORS.

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  22. Awesome card! Love the colors. Great job.
    natgodfrey4@gmail.com

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  23. Pretty! Love the colors with the pop of the sentiment. Thanks for sharing on the extravaganza!!

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  24. Your design is beautiful and unexpected. I love it! Great work.

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  25. So gorgeous and what a fun way to use the origami images! Love the colors!

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  26. These origami animals are really cute! So colorful and creative!
    Happy Holidays!
    Michele

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  27. Your colors are beautiful. The origami stamps remind me of constellations. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. These are both beautiful! I especially love the first one with the blues on it! The Origami stamps are so cool! TFS!

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  29. I love the colors and uniqueness of your cards. Christmas stargazing!!!

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  30. These two cards are so gorgeous, Donna! I have this stamp set and now I can't wait to ink them up. FABULOUS work (as always!)!

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  31. Both of these are stunners, Donna. I always admire your beautiful use of colour!

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  32. I love them both, Donna--unique & beautiful!

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  33. Unique card design and love the distressed coloring technique used.

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  34. How fun that you created 2 differnt cards with similar designs. Love them both!

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  35. Both of these are very pretty and I love the colors!

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  36. Gorgeous inking on
    both cards.
    Carla from Utah

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  37. the Misti was a wonderful invention.
    the cards are beautiful.
    Love the mix of colors on each.
    thanks for sharing.

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  38. What great cards! I like that they are not traditional.

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  39. How fun! I LOVE The coloring here, and those origami stamps are SUPER fun!

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  40. I like how this card is not traditional Christmas colors. Very refreshing.

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  41. Very nice. The stamp set looks like constellations/stars in the sky. Love your colour background.
    DebbieC

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  42. Wonderful cards, Donna. I like the background colors on both!

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  43. I haven't seen that stamp set before. That is so cool! I love how you did your backgrounds. I really need to put distress inks on my wishlist!

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  44. Great background! Those origami Christmas images are great too!

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  45. Beautiful colors on the card. Great cards!

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  46. Beautiful cards, love them both and thanks for sharing how different the cards can look with different techniques but same colors! Wow!

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  47. The origami stamp set is such a fun way to make your Christmas cards different and special!

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  48. Love the colours on both card fronts very bright and cheery. Have a lovely day. Cheers Donna Z :)

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  49. Love those Origami Happy Holiday shapes! They look amazing on your card with the watecoloring!

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  50. Just love your colorful holiday origami cards, Donna!!

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  51. Bright colors on your card with the origami animals is so nice thanks foe sharing both of your cards

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  52. Fabulous backgrounds with these cute stamps.

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  53. Love your artistic modern design and wonderful colours.

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  54. Thanks for being part of the hop, and for providing so much inspiration.

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  55. Great colors on both of your cards.

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  56. So pretty! I can do messy!!! Thanks for the options.

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  57. Beautiful!! Love the gorgeous blending of colors and the images popping through. Gives me some inspiration for my cards which I have yet to start! EEK!

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  58. the embossing is unique and fun. thanks so much for sharing.

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  59. These are both so pretty! Glad I bought this stamp set! You have inspired me! :)

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  60. Love the background that you created; it adds so much to the card.

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  61. I remember about 10 years ago when Crystal sculpture was very popular and used as ornaments. This card reminds me of that - so pretty.

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  62. Love both of your cards! The stamps remind me of the stars in the galaxies. Very clever!

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  63. Love how you did the backgrounds to make images stand out.

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  64. Ha. Thanks for the options. Some days you are ok with messy, and some days you aren't.

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  65. Fantastic card Donna. Love the white embossed images and the pretty sponging. Lovely colors.

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  66. Nice cards. I like the colors you used on the backgrounds.

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  67. Both of your cards are beautiful. I really like the colors in the background

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  68. I love how beautiful the stress thinks blend together it's such fun and always gorgeous. I remember doing a little origami folding as a kid basic stuff but it was fun good memories
    LDYJS@outlook.com

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  69. Both cards are very pretty, but I really love the coloring on the first.

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  70. Love both the messy watercolouring & ink blending. Especially love the non-traditional colours.

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  71. Thank you, Donna. I love any kind of watercolor look. The white embossing really sets it off. Very nice card.

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  72. What great colours! Such a cute stamp idea too.

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  73. What great cards! Love the fun images and colours.

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  74. Great colors! Don't you just love Hero Arts???

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  75. Very modern card! Very colorful too! Love it!

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  76. You always come up with unique designs and colors, gorgeous!!

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  77. Love the card background colors are great.

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  78. Love the colors. They invite you to stay and enjoy for a while.

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  79. Very pretty card! Love the colors you blended. So nice!

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  80. As always, I adore your inked backgrounds. This is stunning.

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  81. Cool cards! Love the use of colors with the cool stamps! I wasn't a big fan of these stamps until I saw your cards!

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  82. What cheerful cards. Your use of colors and origami figures is so unique. Love them. Thanks

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  83. You always do amazing things with colour, Donna ... both of these are just scrumptious! Anita :)

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  84. Lovely cards, the first one is may favourite, I just love those colors and the organic look combined with the geometric shapes

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  85. Gorgeous colorful cards!And this Christmas stampset is so unique!

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  86. I love messy.... for some reason that stands out to me. I'm afraid I'd be classified as a non messy stamper. (boring) Way to jazz it up!

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  87. Wonderful resist! I think I like that first version the best, but both look fantastic!

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  88. Two fabulous cards, Donna, that are, as the others have mentioned, simply spectacular! The images, the embossing, the colours: outstanding! Thank you for being part of Taheerah's Extravaganza; you've sent my festive spirit soaring!
    Hugs~c

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  89. Awesome cards. I like both backgrounds.

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  90. What beautiful cards! The nontraditional Christmas colours are a nice change and are just stunning. You did an awesome job blending the colours so nicely. Love them!

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  91. Love your cards! The backgrounds are so bright and festive!

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  92. Great cards, I like the non traditionel colors.

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  93. LOVE your cards! The backgrounds are amazing!

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  94. This is so different and SO COOL! LOVE!!

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  95. Love your origami cards! Thank you for sharing!

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  96. Beautiful! Two mediums, and both are gorgeous!

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  97. Wow, these are very different. It is good to be reminded that we can break away from the traditional Christmas colours. Thanks for the inspiration

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  98. Love this stamp set and your colors are beautiful!

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  99. Love your colors, Donna!

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  100. I love non-traditional colors! Such a happy card!!

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  101. Love these origami cards - the colours are wonderful! I love both messy and not!

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  102. Fabulous cards! The watercolor background is wonderful!

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  103. Great non traditional card with non traditional colors!

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  104. Amazing cards! I love non-traditional colors for Christmas cards and these are just amazing examples of that!

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  105. Very creative. The embossed stamped images reminded me of constellations (even though the background is obviously not the sky. Very cool.

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  106. Love your bright watercolors. Origami figures look great in white. Thanks for sharing!

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  107. Fantastic colouring, I really like the soft, happy, non-traditional cards.

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  108. Both cards are awesome, but I do like the 2nd one best. Thank you for sharing.

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  109. Hey Donna! Well aren't you a smart cookie, making a second card while you had everything out already. Really takes the pressure off when you start to add ink to the first card! Love both of them; the colors are amazing!

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  110. Great cards. I like how you have created two cards with quite a different style using virtually the same products.

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  111. I love your water coloring! Your cards are very different and beautiful! Thanks for sharing! (Peg)

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  112. You have marvelous coloring skills.
    These are so pretty.

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  113. Lovely and colourful - love the non-traditional card and those are great stamps!

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  114. The colours really zing - I love how they bring out the white images.

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  115. Is it really as easy as you made it sound? Good eye for color!

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  116. Love the bright unconventional Christmas colors. So cheerful!
    Ingrid

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  117. Awesome cards! The colors are beautiful.

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  118. Such stunning, non-traditional colors!

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  119. As a fan of "not messy" I was drawn to your second card immediately! However, they are both beautiful and I like the nontraditional colors you chose for them!

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  120. Love your backgrounds. Cards are beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing

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  121. Both cards are gorgeous, Donna! You always combine colors in the most beautiful way!

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  122. Love the non-traditional holiday colors!

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  123. Your coloring is inspiring. Very cool cards!

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  124. Sweet cards!! I love both versions, very colorful!!

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  125. Such lovely cards! I really like how changing the colors creates a whole new look. What a fun stamp set!

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  126. Beautiful cards, love wonderful watercolors.

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  127. Very nice! I like the messy & the not messy - you make them both look great!

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  128. I love the colors you picked out!!! What a great card!!

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  129. What a pretty card!! I love the background with the geometric Santa and reindeer!! So cute 😊

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  130. The colors that you used for these cards are so stunning...goes great with the fun stamp set!

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  131. Love both colorful cards. Simply gorgeous!

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  132. Omgosh! So much fun! Such original and cheery Christmas cards!

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  133. How creative - - tho I think I prefer the "non-messy" card.

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  134. Gorgeous card! Love ❤️ your background! :-)

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  135. OH MY GOSH!!! i just dropped my jaw! these cards are STUNNING!!! i am seriously IN LOVE! wow!!!

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  136. where do i begin!? first, i love the use of non-traditional colors for holiday cards. also, the constellation look is so eye-catching! i really like the first watercolor piece that almost looks like the images are in their own puddles!

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  137. Love the coloring and also love all things Japanese. Spent a wonderful year there! Arigato!

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  138. What a great use of "not the usual" Christmas color Scheme! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  139. Beautiful cards! Love all of the colorful inking!!

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  140. Love the rainbow watercolor with embossed origami images. Just so happy and gorgeous like all your cards!

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  141. Those images reminds me of constellations...cool look.

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  142. Beautiful cards!! Love those origami images! Lovely colors!

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  143. Great cards! Love the use of the vibrant watercolors on the background, with the origami stamps! Wonderful effect! Love that these cards "outside" the box with thier stamps and colors!

    Sammibug in Ohio

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  144. Awesome colors. I love the Origami images embossed and distressed.

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  145. Very colorful Christmas cards. Great job.

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  146. So fun and unusual! I love them both! The second one is my favourite, though... I guess I'm the less messy girl ;-) at least on cards, cause in life it's a completely different story, LOL

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  147. Donna! Your awesome colour blending over white embossing - a girl after my own heart! <3

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  148. I love your bright and beutiful nontraditional Christmas card! Love the colors especially!!

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  149. Messy watercoloring or not, both are beautiful.

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  150. These brightly-colored background are so awesome for your holiday cards!

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  151. These are fabulous! I love the colors and the simplicity of the stamped images.

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  152. Me likey messy ;) Merry Christmas, Donna.

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  153. I love the color combination in these cards. The black banner pops! love it Merry Christmas

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