First Post EVER

This is my brand new blog!  I've been stamping for about 2 years, but I have no history of any of the cards I've made, and although I surf other blogs and do challenges regularly, I've never entered a single one.  That's about to change.  I decided with my first post, I would continue the theme and enter the first challenge at the brand new Freshly Made Sketches.  This challenge is right up my alley, as my cards aren't overly simple, but they don't tend to have a lot of "extras" on them, either.

Here's the sketch:



And here's my card, it's time to start cranking on the Christmas cards, so this will be one of my designs:

My card has a variety of firsts as well:

• First time I've folded the striped grosgrain ribbon.  I've cut it before, and utilized the awesome fringe that comes out of that, but never folded it to get a skinnier ribbon.
• Also the first time I've tried Very Vanilla craft covered by clear EP to get a Very Vanilla sentiment on dark paper.
• First time I've used Valentine's Day DSP on a Christmas card!
• And for good measure, the Merry Moments DSP is the first DSP I ever purchased.

I also decorate the inside of my cards:

Did you see that?  The extra red dot before the "W"?  That's also the first smudge I've posted on my blog!  I'm of the opinion that these are handmade cards, and will therefore not usually be perfect, and so I don't stress about smudges like that.  :-)

Thanks so much for checking out my new blog!  

Card uses:
Card stock:  Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
DSP:  Merry Moments,Sending Love SDSP (I think!)
Ink:  Very Vanilla Craft
Stamp sets:   Four the Holidays, Many Merry Messages
Other:  Chocolate Chip striped grosgrain ribbon, Ornament punch, clear EP, basic pearls