Christmas Kickstart Challenge #39 - Festive Sweet Treat

Welcome to another Christmas Kickstart Challenge and just look who is on board as our elf: It's Chrissie Stokes, AKA The Queen of CAS!

Our theme is:

Challenge #39 - Festive Sweet Treats

We'd like to see something sweet and yummy on your card, please! Candy canes, sweets, cookies, Christmas cocktails and any form of sweet confectionery that gives us that festive sugar-rush - all are welcome!

My card is all about one of my most favourite Winter treats: hot chocolate! 

I also made a cute tag:

The stamped images are both from Purple Onion Designs. They are real oldies and don't appear to be on sale on the site and more. I've had them for ages and always enjoy inking them up every now and then. 

Rudolph is over at Christmas Kickstart again with a lovely Random Raffle prize:

 

He's gone for something a little different this time, and I'm sure the lucky winner will love these gorgeous pearls and Lucy's gorgeous sprinkles and sequins. 

If you'd like to see Chrissie's gorgeous creation AND play along, then please head on over here to join the fun!

Playing in The Man Cave again...

 

I couldn't resist another play in The Man Cave Challenge over at Lost Coast and Carmen's Veranda as I needed a card for a former colleague.

I spotted this fun meme on Pinterest and immediately wanted to turn it into a card. I've had this fabulous image from Crafty Individuals for ages and knew it would partner perfectly with the wording. 

Turns out I have a box full of wonderful stamps from this lovely company. I think I bought them early in my stamping career and wasn't sure what to do with them. Having a Mysti really helps get a good, solid print with these red rubber stamps and I know I'll be digging out more of these fun images for future cardmaking adventures. 

It's cold, but sunny here in the UK, so I think a little Autumnal stroll is in order at some point today. Keep safe everyone. 

It's a guy thing...

 

I don't often make masculine cards, so it was good fun to ink-up this slightly odd image from VLVS and play along at Lost Coast Designs for their Man Cave Challenge!

The sentiment was printed on my PC, but seriously, someone should make a stamp out of this one!

I'm now off to break out some embossing folders - I wonder why?

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #169 - S is for Slider

 

Hi there, snark fans it's time for a fun, new challenge at The Sisterhood and the sistahs had heaps of fun creating their slider cards!

My card features a fabulous AI stamp...

I had way too much fun with this and love how the cat glides across the card. I think the expression on it's face is priceless. 

Wanna see what the sistahs created? Then please S-L-I-D-E on over and take a look!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #38 - White on White.

How are we mid-way through September? Time flies when you're having fun making Christmas cards!

Welcome to another Christmas Kickstart Challenge. We have a fun new theme and a lovely elf to meet and greet. Say 'hi' to Linda from Scrappin', Stampin' & Singin'. We've got to know each other through our love of Christmas cards and Card Chain Challenge, and I'm delighted that this lovely lady has become a regular player Christmas Kickstart!

Challenge #38 - White on White!

We'd love to see your white cards, please! We had a little chat about this and decided that we're up for totally white cards, cards with a neutral addition, a 'pop' of colour and/or a little silver or gold. If you're not sure what I mean then please take a look at Linda's beautiful card on the main blog and all will become crystal clear!

Here's what I made:

It's hard to see but all of the stencilled snow is very, very sparkly!

After making card #1 I found I'd run out of inspiration, so had a look around Pinterest. I found a really cute card and couldn't resist CASE-ing it. I sometimes do this when I'm struggling to get to grips with a tricky theme or a new technique. For some reason it helps me get in the zone a little.

Next up we have an uber simple creation which looks fabulous IRL and would be super-easy to mass produce for those last minute pre-Christmas panics!

As always, Rudolph has done us proud with a lovely Random Raffle Prize of this gorgeous die from MFT!

Linda and I very much hope you'll grab your white cardstock and come join the fun!

Ladies Night...

As soon as I saw the new theme over at Lost Coast Designs I knew I'd be playing along!

I broke out some VLVS images and got to work.

My husband didn't find this card very amusing, but I quite like the idea of the beautiful Geisha offering a little homecare advice! The stencil is from Aall and create and I tried to create the effect that she's standing in front of a shōji screen.

My second make also features VLVS images. It was a lot of fun to make this postcard of Momma Earth striding into Autumn.

The DT inspiration for this theme is amazing, so why not go take a look? Psssst, there's always prizes too!

But is it CAS and snowy enough?

Hi guys, I'm hoping that my card is CAS enough for the September Challenge over at the CAS Christmas Card Challenge... 

I'm also hoping my card is snowy enough for the ABC Challenge S is for Snowy!

What do you think?

Isn't this bear just the cutest?

My original plan was to have the bear holding a tree, but I wasn't happy with how that looked and went with Plan B instead. For me the candy cane gives a nice 'pop' of colour in the middle of the card so it all worked out well! I always enjoy using this cute set from Sugar Pea Designs (Hey, Winter) and love that the bear comes with the option of adding a hat and a jumper! The sentiment is an oldie that has lost it's packaging.

There are some gorgeous inspiration cards and a lovely gallery for this challenge, so I'm going to grab a cuppa and go visiting!

Stay safe and keep crafting! 

Cute kitty!

I don't know about you but I have to admit to being rather smitten with the kitties from Birdie Brown MFT set Cat-Astrophe. This card features my favourite of the set - what a cheeky little soul.

I just had to have this cute kitty telling a joke!

I'm entering my card over at Show us Your Pussycats Challenge #58 (Anything Goes) 

and also at Simon Says Stamp - Monday Challenge where the team are inviting us to use our favourite stamps.

Stay safe and keep crafting!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #168 - F is for Friends

 

Don't you just love this graphic of Edna and the girls?

We're all about Friends for our latest challenge at the sisterhood, and we're going to celebrate it in our usual snarky style!

Hope you like my crazy kitty card. The image is from The Cat's Pajamas; I really enjoyed paper piecing the cup and colouring the cat.

Please come and play along and help us celebrate friendship - we'd love it if you got snarky but it's not essential!

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - August 2020

We had 24 gorgeous, sparkly participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month (making our total number of exchanged cards 3,077 thus far!) using at least one of the following options:

Colour Palette Option

or

Sketch Option

or 

Theme Options:

Summer/ Pets or Friendship

or 

Product / Technique Options:

Vellum or paper piecing

 My recipient this month was Gundi in Germany. 

And here's Gundi's sweet, little dog in real life!

I was the lucky recipient of this little beauty from Tina in Slovenia. 

Isn't this such a cheery card! 

If you'd like to see the whole reveal post you can do so by clicking here. There are just a couple of days left before the September Challenge closes and then we'll be opening the October Challenge! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #37 - Festive Furbabies.

Welcome, welcome! It's time for a new challenge over at Christmas Kickstart and to welcome back regular elf Gail from Crafty Nomad!

We have an uber cute challenge for you as we'd like to see Festive Furbabies on your cards! Puppies, kittens, guinea pigs, mice, rabbits, reindeer (Santa's favourite furbabies) - whatever you choose!

Both of my cards for this challenge feature adorable MFT Furbabies.

Don't you just love these Birdie Brown pups?

Talking of furbabies, this is what happened when I tried to photograph my second card. I'm actually quite surprised Custard didn't just try to sit on the card!

Rudolph has another random raffle prize on offer and it's a rather gorgeous stamp set from WPlus9:

Gail and I hope you'll come and play along with this challenge. Don't forget all Christmas Kickstart Challenges are now fortnightly so that we can grow our card stash in plenty of time for the festive season! Take care everyone, and keep safe.