A Fond Farewell and Thank You!

Happy beautiful Friday everyone!
Can you believe it's almost May? Gulp. I don't think I'm quite ready for it yet, but at least the summer is right around the corner. ;) The end of April also means a close to our challenge site *sniff sniff*. While we are all excited for new things on the horizon, it is a bittersweet goodbye as I've loved blogging every Friday here on Raise The Bar and meeting new friends.
As promised, the month of April had some 'secret' sponsors and prizes for whomever joined in on the challenge of that week. Thank you all for your beautiful entries for the entire month of April!
Here are the winners of each week:

Winner of The Greeting Farm giveaway (one single stamp of choice):
Marina of My Perfect Life

Winner of a gift certificate to By Lori Designs:
Vickie O'Dell of HeARTful Stamper

Winner of images from QKR Stampede:
Leanne of Paper Dolls Creations

Winner of a goodie bag from yours truly:
Paula of Scrap Addict's Attic

YAY! Please contact me at jonjinko@hotmail.com with RTB WINNER in the subject line.

And now to bid adieu, our last cards from my two fabulous designers Peggy  and Thanh:

Peggy, wishing you the best with TGF's Hatter Bean:

Thanh, encouraging you to Chase Your Dreams!
(sentiment from a new TGF set):

And my card, hoping that your heart

 blooms with happiness

(sentiment and Pup from TGF):

Thank you to all the sponsors who have made contributions to this challenge site. Thanh, Peggy, and I will be continuing our journey as designers together for The Greeting Farm, so this trio cannot be so easily separated. lol! We hope your creative path continues to wonderful opportunities, happy projects, and more importantly, creations that continue to put smiles on loved ones' faces.
Have a wonderful day and know that we truly appreciated all of your cards and support!
Love and Aloha always,

Challenge #140

It's Friday!
Happy day everyone, I hope your week went well? First off, sending all our love and thoughts to crafters and families who were affected by Boston and Texas this past week. :( Although the weather has been beautiful, all the recent events have been so heartbreaking and gloomy. It's such a reminder to take each day as a new opportunity to be thankful.

And speaking of, thank you all for the beautiful entries in last week's Lock the Door challenge! As I mentioned in Friday's post, every week has a secret sponsor for our last month of challenges. All winners will be announced on the last Friday of this month, so be sure to play along as much as you can.

Congratulations to the following crafters for our Lock the Door challenge:

Ira

Moshie

Sanja

Please click on their names to hop over to their blogs - these creations were amazing!
Ladies please email me at jonjinko@hotmail.com for your chance to be a Guest Bar-Tender!

And now on to this week's challenge, sponsored by a lovely company (heehee!):

FRIENDSHIP

Joining us are our Guest Bar-Tenders:

 Kathy

 Danni

Vicky

Sigrun

And from our Bar-Tenders:

Thanh

Peggy

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Thank you for supporting our last month of challenges here at Raise The Bar! We appreciate your Friendship and can't wait to see what cards you create with it. Have a wonderful and safe week everyone, we'll see you next Friday!

1.	Paula (ScrapAddictsAttic)	11.	Tracey Boley	21.	Cara
2.	Deloris	12.	Jenny B	22.	Evelyn
3.	Melissa SunshineHoneyBee	13.	Lynda	23.	Adrienne Crist
4.	R Meyers	14.	Valou250809	24.	Gro Tjeltveit
5.	aunty sue	15.	Annette (Netty)	25.	Katie Tate
6.	Vickie ODell	16.	Gale	26.	Billie A
7.	~DEANNE~	17.	Kevin	27.	Scrappellen
8.	Marja	18.	Dewi Lestari	28.	sidan
9.	Leeann	19.	Three Trees
10.	Suzie McFloozy	20.	Helen Howardh

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Challenge #139

Hello and happy Friday everyone!
My apologies for the late post, it's raining cats and dogs here so I had to do a special trip to the bus stop to keep my girls dry. :)

But other than that, it has been a beautiful Spring week! How about in your neck of the woods? I am definitely ready for flowers, sunshine, and the kids to be in shorts. The laundry is definitely easier when the weather gets warm.

Thank you to those who participated in last week's challenge of "Pack Your Bags" - since we had 4 lovely crafters who participated so a huge congratulations to them:

Marina of My Perfect Life
Rachel Taylor of Blossom Cards
Melissa of Sunshine Honey Bee
Sidan of Wenig Oder Viel

Thank you ladies! Please email me at jonjinko@hotmail.com for next week's theme.

Before I announce this week's challenge, just thought I'd add in a little note. Every week in April, we are being sponsored by a fabulous company, however, instead of announcing it every week, it will be one big celebration at the end of the month. YAY! Now only those crafters who participated in that week's challenge will be eligible, so be sure to play along as much as you can!

Okay, with that said, join us this week for our theme of:

LOCK THE DOOR

(use any image/paper/embellishment with a key/door/house)

Here are the fabulous Bar-Tenders with some awesome inspiration:

Peggy

Thanh

Joni

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Thank you for joining us in our challenge this week! We can't wait to see your door/key/house cards. Have a great day, we'll see you next Friday.

1.	Sanja Grdinić	4.	Ira	7.	Melissa SunshineHoneyBee
2.	LeAnne	5.	sidan	8.	Lucia
3.	Moshie	6.	Vickie ODell

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Challenge #138 and an announcement!

Happy beautiful Friday everyone!
I hope your week is going well, it is finally starting to feel like spring here. I am not a fan of the cold weather so I'm looking forward to warmer days. :)
Before we announce the top 3 of this week's challenge, I wanted to personally thank you all for being a part of Raise The Bar. When I started this site, it was a chance for me to challenge my own self, to raise my own bar when it came to creating, and of course being inspired by your designs as well.
Thanks to you, I've been introduced to some wonderful stamp and paper companies, just by adoring your work! I have also met the most wonderful group of designers who, week after week, have produced such amazing cards.
This summer is a huge transition for my family - we have our oldest going off to college, our youngest starting Kindergarten, and moving where the Army sends us. My husband will hit 20 years of active duty, and we've been fortunate to live in Virginia for 8 of those years.
With that said, Raise The Bar will close its doors at the end of April. By coincidence, the two remaining Bar-Tenders Thanh and Peggy, have been handpicked to be on The Greeting Farm's Design Team, so we will all still have the chance to create together! YAY! From the Bar to the Farm... ;)
Every challenge of this month will have a goodbye theme, more on that in a bit.
For now congratulations to this week's top 4 designers (just because it was so hard to choose!!):

Kathy of Will Stamp for Wine
Danni of Danni's Dreams
Vicky of Crafting Vicky
Leona of Cards by Leona

Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at jonjinko@hotmail.com for your opportunity to be a Guest Bar-Tender.

And now for this week's challenge, in the theme of saying 'Goodbye' to all the Raise The Bar followers:

Pack Your Bags

(use any image/embellishment/paper with a bag/suitcase)

And here are our wonderful Guest Bar-Tenders:

Kevin

 Leeann

Wendy

 And our Bar-Tenders:

Peggy

Thanh

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Thank you for celebrating Raise The Bar's last month of challenges. Have a wonderful week, we'll see you here next Friday!

1.	Marina	3.	Melissa SunshineHoneyBee
2.	Rachel Taylor	4.	sidan

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Challenge #137

Happy beautiful Friday everyone! And a Good Friday at that. ;) I hope you all have wonderful plans for this Easter weekend? Thank you so much for all of your lovely entries for our Hop Into Spring theme - those images that you used are SO adorable. I think a bit of shopping is in store for me this weekend. ;)
Before we announce the picks for the week, stay tuned for some big news here at Raise The Bar that will be posted with next Friday's challenge!
Now on to the winners...
Congratulations to our 3 crafters:

Chriss

 Leeann

Wendy

Congratulations ladies! Please contact me at jonjinko@hotmail.com

with the subject line GUEST BAR-TENDER. Thank you so much!

And now for our newest challenge:

And here are Thanh and I with our cards (as we both decided to rotate it!):

Thanh

Joni

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Thank you so much for joining in on our sketch challenge this week. Have a happy Easter everyone! See you here next Friday. :)

1.	Jennifer Scull	7.	Tammy - the purple muse	13.	Monika Reeck (second card on my Post)
2.	Paula (ScrapAddictsAttic)	8.	Robin Kirkpatrick	14.	Evelyn
3.	Danni	9.	Ardilla	15.	Bananastamper
4.	Crafting Vicky	10.	Kathy Curry	16.	Cyndi
5.	Laila aka Koneko	11.	NanaConnie	17.	Leona
6.	Janice	12.	Made By Mandy	18.	sidan

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Challenge #136

Happy Friday everyone!
 I hope you have wonderful plans ahead for the weekend?

Even though it is technically spring, it sure feels like winter here!

Regardless of the weather,  we want you to create a card with our new theme:

Spring is a 'hop' away!

(use any image of a bunny, chic, or baby animal)

Here with adorable samples are the designers:

Peggy

Thanh

Joni

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Thank you for entering in on this week's challenge! We can't wait to see all the baby bunnies, chics, and other animals to celebrate Spring. Have a great day everyone, we'll see you here next Friday with a special announcement.

1.	pinky	18.	Shell♥	35.	Evelyn
2.	Katie Tate	19.	Gale	36.	Kathy Curry
3.	Sarah T	20.	R Meyers	37.	Sheena B
4.	Kitt	21.	Helen Howard	38.	Dee
5.	Mian Hahne	22.	Sandy How	39.	Craftin' Suzie
6.	Melissa SunshineHoneyBee	23.	Leeann	40.	Papersniffer
7.	Lucia	24.	Chrissyxx	41.	Jenee Todd
8.	Joynana	25.	Lorraine A	42.	Pauline C
9.	Katie Tate	26.	Imke	43.	Shirley H.
10.	Chriss America Real	27.	NanaConnie	44.	Bananastamper
11.	Sassy Raggedy	28.	Angela P.	45.	My Creative Therapy (Kathi)
12.	Avril Watson	29.	Mian Hahne	46.	sidan
13.	Helen	30.	Helen	47.	Made By Mandy
14.	Stargroves (Anne)	31.	America	48.	DLR
15.	Deonna B	32.	Christine Craig	49.	Evelyn
16.	chris v - easily amused	33.	Barb Thompson	50.	adziamar
17.	DLR	34.	Sanja Grdinić	51.	Sonia

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Challenge #135

Happy beautiful Friday everyone!

Thank you all so much for your entries in last week's challenge,

we had so many adorable "That's My Boy!" cards!

Congratulations to the following crafters:

Kevin

 An

 Shelby

Congratulations everyone!
Please email me at jonjinko@hotmail.com to be a Guest Bar-Tender.
And now on to this week's challenge:

Celebrate Music in our Schools Month!
Use any image depicting music (instruments, song)

Joining us this week are two of our Guest Bar-Tenders:

 Melissa

Sherryn

Thank you ladies! :)

And from the Bar-Tenders:

Thanh

Peggy

Joni

*************

Thank you for your entry in this week's challenge, celebrating music in our schools. Have a wonderful day, we'll see you next Friday!

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)