November Challenge Winner and Highlights

Last month's gallery has got to be one of the most beautiful Christmas-themed galleries around! So many beautiful Christmas-themed mixed media cards were entered -- thank you, everyone, for playing!

Here's the mixed media card that the design team voted as the winner:

#54 Julie B

Congratulations, Julie! Your mixed media card is a work of art! Grab your winner badge below to display proudly on your blog.

Before we show the highlight entries, here are the winners of the random drawing sponsored by STAMPlorations. We used Random.org to draw the winners.

Randomly drawn from all the entries:

#29 Nikki Acton

Prize: choice of 3" by 5" stamp set available here

Randomly drawn from the entries with the optional element (bells):

#15 Paper Talk With Samra

Prize: $15 gift certificate to the STAMPlorations shop

Congratulations, Nikki and Samra. Please send an email to sheryruss@gmail.com to claim your prize.

And now here are the highlights. Each of us in the design team picked an entry to highlight. It's the entry that uniquely impacted us in some way -- a specific technique that was used, the colors, the creativity, or something in it that touched or impacted us.

Loll's Highlight: #54 Julie B

Loll says, "Julie's watercolored card is elegant and sophisticated. Her masking and layering of the poinsettias creates such depth, even though it is one layer. The raised design of the white embossed word background adds more visual interest and depth. Amazing card, Jules!"

Sanna's Highlight: #50 WeiWei

Sanna says, "I really liked this card alot. The stamped background is cheerful and happy and the stenciled bells match the challenge theme perfectly. The idea of adding a shaker inside the wreath makes the card extra interesting. Such lovely work and a beautiful outcome, Wei Wei!"

Kripa's and Shery's Highlight: #49 Samra

Kripa says, "Samra had two very beautiful entries this month and I had a tough time picking one to highlight. Entry #49 felt like the prefect Christmas card. Rustic and traditional yet interesting with many textures and details - combination of red and green against a woodgrain background, the wreath and bow and the beautiful glittery bells. Beautiful work Samra!"

Shery says, "Samra's card is stunning -- the layers, texture, and traditional Christmas colors. I fell in love with its rustic/shabby feel!"

Jenny's Highlight: #23 Karen D

Jenny says, "Karen had lots of gorgeous entries of various colours. I loved them all, but I've chosen this one because I love the technique and the amazing pop of the white snowflake on the bright Copic background!"

Lyndal's Highlight: #42 Pamellia

Lyndal says, "The mixed media detail in this just takes my breath away - right down to those gorgeous bells as the centre of the poinsettia - just FABULOUS!"

Deepti's Highlight: #3 Maura

Deepti says, "The inking in Maura's card is flawless and silhouette adds a perfect touch of elegance."

Jan's Highlight: #39 Karen D

Jan says, "Karen used 3 non-traditional colors and several techniques to create a beautiful holiday card with lots of depth. Awesome use of the salt technique!"

Elina's and Maria F.'s Highlight: #43 Yvonne Yam

Elina says, "Love the simplicity of the design. Carefully selected elements on a gorgeous background. Less is more!"

Maria F. says, "What can I say, I'm a CAS-loving gal and this card has so much dimension and texture but still so much wonderful white space."

Maria L.'s Highlight: #25 Barb Housner

Maria L. says, "I just love all the layers and texture she used on this amazing snowman card! LOVE LOVE IT!"

Congratulations, ladies! Grab your badge below to display proudly on your blog.

Get ready because tomorrow, we've got a brand new challenge for December! Get your artsy supplies together and check back in at 6 a.m. PST (GMT -800) to see what we've cooked up for the December challenge!

Be artsy. Be messy. Be creative! :o)