The 12 Months of Christmas Card Link Up Begins...

I know, I know...the last thing anyone wants to be thinking about is next December and all the associated holidays that take place around that time.  From Chanukah and St. Lucia Day to Festivus, Christmas and Kwanzaa, there are a myriad of holidays to prepare for depending on your culture and religion.  

Part of that preparation is of course getting ready all our annual holiday cards.  I don't know about you, but I never seem to have enough holiday cards ready and am always scrambling at the last minute to make some more.  Now last year I had a little extra incentive with the Lady Anne Progressive Christmas Challenges.  Each month we received two images and as long as we used one of them, we got two more the next month.  This was an awesome way for me to ensure that I at least got two Christmas cards created each month.  Sadly, that challenge has closed.  Now part of me wants to set up a progressive Christmas challenge similar to that one.  However, that part of me is insane because there is no way I'd have time to establish and lead another team, in addition to setting up another challenge blog and taking care of it and of course finding sponsors for it.  It still remains a goal down the road but not right now. 

Nonetheless, I still need to do something to keep me on the straight and narrow.  Something that will help inspire me to keep on track with a minimum of two cards a month.  So, I have come up with an idea that I don't think is going to cause me too much extra work and I would like to invite all of you to join me.  Intrigued yet?  Well, keep reading...

I am going to establish a new page (tabs at the top) on this blog.  On it I will add a smaller picture of each of the Christmas and other holiday cards as I complete them throughout the year.  My goal will be to add two each month.  This page will also contain a link up that will remain active until December 31st, 2014 (please note that currently I can only leave it open until September 13th which is when my account is up for renewal.  I will however update the link up, once the account has been renewed or add an additional one if necessary).  I invite you to come over and link up any Christmas and/or ***holiday themed cards that you create each month throughout this year.  It will provide you with a place to showcase your own creations and be inspired by others joining in, to keep ahead of or potentially even avoid, the year end holiday card panic that hits so many of us in December.

 A Little Incentive...

Now, I know that one of the things that helped me each month over at Lady Anne's was knowing that I would get a treat for playing along.  Well, the same principle will stand for this particular link up too. 
At the end of each month, every person who has linked up a MINIMUM of two (2) Christmas or ***holiday themed cards will be eligible to receive a specially designed Christmas themed digital paper that I will create.  On a monthly basis, I will go through and create a list of people's names and then post them on my blog.  If your name appears on the list, it will then be your responsibility to contact me, in order to claim your paper.  That means that if you submit two cards each month, by the time that the year is done, you will have received 12 free digital papers, all for the low cost of linking up cards you need to create anyways.  You do not need to use the digital paper I give you each month in your cards in order to get the next paper.  They are strictly meant as incentive to participate. 

But wait there's more...

Every ***card you submit to the link up, earns you one chance to win a special digital Christmas kit that I will be working on throughout the year.  This kit will include more papers, plus it will likely include: frames, buttons, brads, ribbons, wordart creations and other kinds of embellishments.  Each section of the kit will be offered up as a prize and then the whole kit will be offered up as a grand prize.  So for example, if you submit 40 cards across the whole year, you will have 40 chances to win these extra goodies.  How is that for a little extra incentive?!

Sound like a plan???

I hope that you will jump on board The 12 Months of Christmas Card Link Up with me.  I have created a badge that I would love for you to share with your own readers.  Just link it up to: http://decossesdynamitedoodles.blogspot.ca/p/the-12-days-of-christmas-card-link-up.html

To help get you started here is a special freebie paper:

The 12 Months of Christmas begins right now!!!  Click HERE to start linking up!

Until next time,

IMPORTANT:
***holiday themed cards--please note that I will accept any type of holiday themed card as it relates to any recognized holiday taking place during the month of December, i.e. Chanukah, St. Lucia Day, St. Nicholaus Day, Festivus, Christmas. Kwanzaa, etc.  This link up is not for other types of holidays like Easter, Valentine's Day, etc.  It is strictly a means to help provide incentive to create Christmas and/or other December holiday cards.

Credit Notes For This Creation:© 2014, Lisa L. Décosse.  PUO.  However, you are allowed to use the above digital paper on handmade projects that you intend to sell on a small scale basis provided credit is given.  You also need to include a credit note and a link to this blog should you use any of my images in your creations and post them on your blog.  If you would ever like to post a copy of this or other creations on your own blog or another location you MUST USE A WATERMARKED VERSION that I would be happy to supply you with.  Just drop me an email using the link in the right sidebar to request one.  Please be sure to familiarize yourself with my full terms of use found in the copyright tab at the top of this page.  I have included a quick summary below.   

Image information for DDDoodles_12MofC_paper_holly&berries_1:  This paper, part of the 12 Months of Christmas kit, is 3600 pixels x 3600 pixels and 300 dpi.  If you are a card maker you can always resize it smaller without distorting the quality. 
 
Additional Credits:  
Template  
The template I used to create this paper is from Marisa Lerin, a designer with www.pixelscrapper.com.  This template was purchased with a commercial use license.  Under this commercial use license, It is my understanding, that I am within my rights to give away and or sell any elements I personally create using said template, according to the terms of use I have set forth (please see full terms of use for what you can and can't do with this digital creation).

If you are not sure how to copy the image, check out the download instructions page. Please be sure to read the Angel policy found under the copyright info tab above for the full terms.  Below is a quick summary of those Terms of Use. Along with the Credit Note above... 

• Do not claim the image as your own.
• Credit 'Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' or 'Lisa L. Décosse' somewhere on your creation. 
• Credit and provide a link if you post a creation on your blog using any of my work in your creations.
• Do not share my images with family, friends, etc.  Additionally, do not post any images to file sharing services like Box®, 4-Shared®, etc.  Instead, please direct people to my blog so they can grab the image for themselves.  If you would like to post a watermarked version of the image, please contact me to obtain one.
• If I have signed an image, do not delete my signature.
• Leave a comment on my blog.  It is currently the only way for me to know if any of my freebies are being nabbed.  Additionally, it will help to inspire me to continue to create and offer future freebies.