Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart: October 2015 Linky Challenge and Blog Hop

Hello, Friends!

It's the first Monday in October and time for a new Linky Challenge and Blog Hop.  Fall is in full swing, Halloween is coming up fast, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  With that in mind, the theme for this month's challenge and Blog Hop is "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart."  We challenged the design team to create a hostess gift, card, wall hanging, mixed media project, altered art or mini album with a Thanksgiving/Thankfulness theme.   I've had a sneak peek of all the different projects, and I can tell you, there's some fabulous inspiration coming your way in today's post.

But before we get started with the hop, we have to announce the winner of our Halloween giveaway.  We had asked you to share your favorite Halloween traditions with us, and you all had so many great ideas to share.  It was wonderful to hear from you all.

The winner of the TRADITIONAL prize package is Susan McMenamin who said,
"I would love to win your traditional prize package.It would fit right in with my favorite Halloween activity-surprising friends and coworkers with cards and treats!"

September 28, 2015 at 8:03 PM

 The winner of the DIGITAL prize package is LeAnne who said, 

"We don't get any trick-or-treaters because we live in the country too, like Margie! So my favorite tradition is carving out jack-o-lanterns and putting them on our porch. Nobody sees them but us, but it's still fun! And I have lots of Halloween decorations that I like to arrange around the house, and that makes me happy! I love Halloween! And I love CS stuff, in fact, I already have that cute little stamp set, to have it digital so I could re=size it would be awesome!"

September 27, 2015 at 5:17 PM

 Congrats, LeAnne and Susan!  Please contact Sandy at craftysecrets@telus.net to claim your prize! 

I wish we could have sent a prize package to everyone who commented.  But the good news is that all these Halloween Goodies are available in our online store and most of them are on sale!  And did you hear the news?  We now offer FREE SHIPPING on all domestic US orders over $35.00!  

Now, let's get see what inspirational ideas our fabby design team has prepared for this month's blog hop.  You'll find a sneak peek of their project below along with a link to each designer's blog where you'll find a little tutorial, lots of pictures and loads of inspiration.

Kathy Clement, Design Team Leader, created a vintage album filled with her family's favorite pumpkin recipes. Visit her blog, Kathy by Design where she shares her method for assembling this keepsake album.

Ginny Nemchak created a fabulous fall wall hanging and will show you how to create the pretty wreath that decorates it.  Visit her blog, Polly's Paper Studio, for more pictures and instructions.

Teresa Horner altered a jar to write down each day the things she is thankful for.  What a great idea and a reminder to be thankful each and every day.  Visit Victorian Paper Queen for more photos and details. 

Darlene Pavlick knows that we all need thank you cards, so she created a cute set of them with our Birds and Blooms Digital Paper Kit.  Visit Dar's Crafty Creations to see how she did it.

 

 Sheila Rumney inspires us with a beautiful altered project and has a great PhotoShop tutorial that will teach you how to use the Color Picker Tool.  Learn all about it at Sheila Rumney Design and Photography 

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Shantaie Fowler got out her glitter, chalk paint and pretty embellies to make her altered project.  She'll teach you how to add color to chalk paint on her blog, Inking Pink. 

Diane Hover had this great idea to ask each of her grandchildren (and great-grandchildren!) "What is Thanksgiving?" and then record it in a keepsake journal.  She'll share the process (and hopefully some of their answers!) on her blog, Nellie's Nest. 

 

Michele Kovack has created the most precious card...and you will love seeing all the beautiful details on her blog Thoughts of  Cardmaking Scrapbooker.

What beautiful creations and what great reminders to be thankful!

We'd love to invite you to play along with us this month.  Simply create any project of your choice that features Crafty Secrets Products and link up with the Linky Tool at the bottom of this post.  

You don't have to follow our theme, but it's always fun if you do!  To win the $25 DIGITAL shopping spree, you MUST use Crafty Secrets Products in your creation.  To help you with that task, and to thank you for playing along please enjoy these free downloadable images.  Just right click and save the images to your computer.   These images are ONLY for those who are playing along in the challenge this month and cannot be sold, shared or otherwise reproduced. 

I love the beautiful papers and images in our Digital Thanksgiving Collection.  You'll find 10 designer papers, 34 PNG files (images that you can overlay and layer on other images) Thanksgiving stamps, and 5 full color files with ephemera, place cards, menu card, post cards and more.  It's available for instant download for just $10.99. 

Since our theme this  month is "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart" I thought you might enjoy creating with one of the beautiful  papers and this lovely Autumn print from the set. 

Link your project no later than midnightPST on Sunday, October 18th.  The design team will be stopping by to take a peek at your lovely creations and a winner will be randomly chosen to win the $25 DIGITAL shopping spree.  We'll announce the winner here on the blog on Wednesday, October 21st and will share the lucky winner's project on our Facebook page and blog.  

We're so thankful for each one of you!  

On behalf of Sandy Redburn, this is Kathy Clement wishing you joy and creativity!

LINK YOUR PROJECT BELOW: