Merry Christmas everyone!  Shelly here with the new dare, but first let’s take a look at last weeks winners….

Our Random winner is mmbstaley

and I chose this layout for this week JulieMarie

Congrats girls!!!  and please email us at digidareya @ gmail . com for your prize!!

Let me introduce you to this weeks Featured Designer, who I also happen to CT for, the wonderful Julie Bullock.

1) A little about you, a short bio.
I’m Julie Bullock…a 50 something SAHM to my 2 dog children, Abbie & Katie. I’m also a grandma to 4 beautiful grandkids. I live in a small historical town in central Ohio. When I’m not designing, I enjoy cardmaking, reading & crocheting. I’m also a big collector of antique linens, quilting fabrics and quilts. I’m totally a night person and enjoy working on my designs throughout the wee hours of the night while watching old 30′s/40′s movies.
2) How long have you been designing?
I started playing around in late 2006 and actually began selling in September 2007
3)What is your design style? What kind of inspiration do you hope to achieve with your products?
Hmmm…that’s hard, because I love so many styles…whimsical, funky, shabby, traditional but, I think my creativity flows best on more shabby/vintage or traditional styles. I just want scrappers to feel happy about the pages they create with my products

4)Do you scrap? What would you say your style is?
Ummm, no. I started out scrapping but, I’m one of those people who can’t make quick decisions and it took me forever to do one page. I would move elements around the page over & over again ’til I got frustrated. Once I started designing, I knew that was the direction I wanted to go. I will however, scrap a page every now & then.
5) Where are you from?
Originally, I’m from Northern Minnesota but, I’ve been here in Ohio for the past 20 years.
6) Your favorite winter or holiday tradition.
Well, I just love Thanksgiving…all the meal preparation and togetherness. I love the smell of dinner cooking, the cold brisk air outside, holiday shows on TV and, having the family together.
7) If you could only use one scrap supply on a layout (not including solid paper) what would it be?
I think probably frames.
What’s your favorite product you’ve created?
That’s a tough one, too. Often, it’s my newest kit. I guess I’d have to say it’s my newest Christmas kit, A Folk Christmas.
9) What software do you use?
Currently I use PSCS2, XaraXtreme and once in awhile I shift over to PSPXI. I just upgraded to CS3 and Illustrator3 but, I haven’t installed them yet.
10) Hot Chocolate or Mochas?
Well…I like hot chocolate late at night while I’m working but, I also love Starbuck’s Mocha Frappaccino over ice.

Now for this weeks Dare…

Oh Christmas Tree…

By this time I am sure that most of us have our Christmas Tree up. I want to know about your tree. Is it traditional with ornaments collected over the years, is it modern with a color theme with all matching ornaments? I want to see it. Do you put up your tree the day after Thanksgiving? If not when do you put it up? Is it real, do you pick a day and take the family out to pick one out and cut it down or do you have a store bought tree? Tell me all about your Christmas tree and traditions that may be associated with it.

Dare Flair
*You must have a photo of the full tree and at pictures of at least 2 of your favorite ornaments.
*Scrap in the colors that you have on your tree.
*Journal about your tree and find some way to highlight the important words in your journaling.
*Use a star or an angel somewhere on your page.

Here are this weeks pages

Traci

Credits: A Folk Christmas by Julie Bullock, Woodland Winter by Dani Mogstad.

Stacie

Credits: Template by Jen Caputo (Collection 23); Kit by Julie Bullock (Holiday Flair 2); White paper & stripe paper by Tracy Ann Robinson (Miley & Christmas Trim); Alpha by Emily Powers (Itty Bitty Epoxy Alpha).

Alice

Credits : candy cane alpha by Emily Meritt,
sparkles, pinecone from the Falala kit by Sabrina Dupre,
paper, present, snowflake swoosh, ornament ribbon, jingle bells, birdie from the That Spirit of Christmas kit by HGD by Laurie Ann,
bling alpha by Shane Wiggins,
angel from as cute as a button kit by Lily designs.
Font : Downcome, Hilde.

Shelly

Credits: Papers and craft and red alpha by Kristin Cronin-Barrow; other alpha by Ziggle Designs; sparkles, glitter string, glitter circle and green (re-colored) circle frame by Sabrina Dupre; raffia bow by Nikki Beaudreau; star (re-colored), staple and berry twig by Julie Bullock; fonts are Times New Roman and the King and Queen font.

Journaling: Every year our tree starts out looking really great! Then the kids start rearranging the ornaments and now this year we have Jasper who thinks it’s fun to,climb on the bottom branches and pull all off the ornaments that he can reach. When I first moved out on my own I bought all red and gold ornaments. I filled in the empty spaces with big bows and red and gold glass balls. Over the years we have collected more ornaments and more of the glass ones have broken. We also have a handful of ones that the kids have made in school. We currently have a “fake” tree, but it’s pretty much seen it’s last year this year. I think that I may want to get a real one next year…we’ll have to see how that goes over with Jake!

Christine

CREDITS: Two Turtle Doves by Ziggle Designs; Worn Photo Overlays 2 by Something Blue Studios; Holiday Trees No. 9 by Katie Pertiet; A Month At A Time February (red ribbon) by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Traci Reed; fonts are Kayleigh & Kristen ITC.
Journaling: It’s hard to believe, but this is my first real Christmas tree! A douglas-fir tree. We’ve always had artificial trees before. Todd got the tree without me knowing about it. I got in the car and he said, “What’s that smell?” I said, “It smells like a pine tree!” Then I turned around and there it was, a real six-ft tree! We took it home and put it up. I knew real trees were messy, but I had no idea how big a mess it makes! There were pine needles everywhere on the floor. Todd dug out our ornaments from the attic. Most of our ornaments are gold-colored, but I also put up the paper ornaments that I made last year. It looks beautiful all lit up at night. Having a tree makes Christmas feel more real now.

Kristin

Credits: Julie Bullock: A Folk Christmas; Dani Mogstad – Holiday Spirits; Zoe Pearn – Merry & Bright

Mabel

Credits: Wish for tomorrow by Kasia Desings, Dreamy Pillows and First Christmas Mini by Jofia Degings, Noel Chick by Catherine and Crea Bisontine collab, Different Strokes by Fei Fei

Lynnette

Credits: Green patterned paper and green solid paper from Holiday Cheer by Zoe Pearn. Red dot paper and tags from Deck the Halls by Melissa Bennett & Zoe Pearn. Worn overlays by Penny Springmann and Something Blue Studios. Word brushes by Ali Edwards. Messed Up Threads by Zoe Pearn. Yellow alpha from Stuffed by Shawna Clingerman, Melissa Bennett and LIbby Weifenbach. Angel, red alpha and holly from Holly Days by Penny Springmann.

Karah

Credits: Paper, star, gingerbread men, snowflake, scallop edge, stocking from Julie Bullock’s A Folk Christmas; frame, bead swirl, tree, ribbon from Karah Fredricks’ Too Excited to Sleep; alphas by Karah Fredricks; film strip frames (recolored) by Catrine; Fonts: DJB Tweenybopper by Darcy Baldwin, James, Mom’s Typewriter, DesertDogHmk, Pea Sarah Lynne.