The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge # 218 - K is for Kraft

 

Hi there, happy Saturday to you all!

Kraft cardstock - much beloved by crafters, but not so much by those outside the crafting world, am I right? Personally, I'm a huge fan of kraft as I love the muted, knocked-back look it gives to inks and the way it makes pencil crayons 'pop'. 

The Sisters are celebrating all things kraft for the next two weeks and I know you're going to LOVE what they're created for this challenge. Here's what I made...

I created some paper stencils for the larger shapes and got inky with a variety of different colours. Then I added some stamping from a stamp set that has since gone AWOL! (When it resurfaces I'll add in the details.) Then, I added that brilliant Picket Fence phrase and called it job done.

There's so much potential with this theme it positively hurts, so why not add a little kraft to your project and come play along!

Let's Squash It! Challenge #24 - Inspiration

Hi folks, I'm over on the blog today at Let's Squash It! to share some inspiration to get Mr Mojo engaged for our current challenge...

We have a lovely guest with us for September: Jenny M from My Paper Epiphany and I know you'll love the adorable Holiday card she made for our launch post. You can see it by clicking here. 

I don't know about you, but I always like to keep a small stock of thank you cards and so made this simple little card to add to the numbers.

I think this is the first card where I've used Saltwater Taffy Distress Ink and I quite like the colour. The embossing was created by alternating two Cuttlebug border folders on the central portion of the card. I had to be quite careful with how I positioned the folders, but I think it worked out ok. The sentiment comes from a SSS set called Thanks.

This was such a quick and easy card to make with the border folders, yet I hope you'll agree the end result is very pretty and effective. I really enjoyed the challenge of finding a way to emboss just a portion of my card and I was so pleased to find yet another way of stretching my existing embossing folders rather than just rushing to buy more.

This fun challenge runs until the end of September and Gail, Jenny and I all hope that you'll come and play along! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #66 - Reminder

 

It's Reminder time over at Christmas Kickstart - doesn't time fly when you're making cards!

Our elfin guest this month is the lovely Tina from Slovenia. 

and she picked a super theme for our September challenge...

Making an 'Inspired by...' card wasn't going to be easy as there's so much to delight and inspire in Tina's creation, but here's what I came up with:

I borrowed some of Tina's colour palette, and also the gorgeous deer to create something very CAS. As always, this card looks so much better IRL and please excuse the shadow at the side of the picture - it's from some plants in the garden which were closer than I thought. 

The sweet little houses are from MFT Our Town, the deer are Sizzix Thinlets Darling Deer and the sentiment is from a Woodware set called Across the Miles. 

Rudolph has a super, fun prize on offer for his Random Raffle this month, why not come and join the fun over at Christmas Kickstart this month???

Let's Squash It! Challenge #24 - Cuz 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

 

Sometimes, it's hard to come up with a fun title for a challenge... this was one of those occasions! For September we're playing with ratios or percentages or fractions or however else you choose to describe embossing just 2/3rds of your card! 

We have a fabulous guest as our August Empress, Jenny Martin, joins us for the month. The card she's made for this challenge is a gem and I know you'll love it as much as I do!

Here's what I made for the challenge. It's mine and the hubster's anniversary in a few days time so I thought I'd use this theme for his card. 

This card looks so much better IRL as the gold has gone very yellow in the picture. The Katzelkraft rat is a favourite and I thought he'd be so much fun with that MFT sentiment! My embossing folder is a Sizzix one called Romantic. I was amazed at how thick it is - so much so that I only needed one plate (plus my base plate) in my Cuttlebug sandwich. 

Please come on over to the blog and play along with our fun, new challenge!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #66 - Home for the Holidays

Hi there, over at Christmas Kickstart Challenge today I'm delighted to be welcoming Tina from Treebug as our elf for this September! 

Tina has chosen a lovely theme for us to play with in September 

Challenge #66 - Home for the Holidays

We'd love to see cards with houses, homes, fireside scenes, cityscapes - whatever the phrase conjures up for you!

You can take a look at Tina's beautiful card by clicking here. This is a theme with plenty of scope for you to work with - just go your own way with it and have fun!

Here's what I made...

Looks okay in this colour combo too, but not as festive.

I combined a Stampin' Up! image from Sit, Stay, Relax with a sentiment from Corner Sentiments Holiday by Avery Elle.

I also made this little card - don't you just love kraft and white together? I know I do.

The lovely Rudolph has chosen a lovely prize for his Random Raffle. 

 

Nice one, Rudolph! I love that spaghetti beard, and who doesn't need a Santa Hat, cute glasses and some Ho, ho, ho! in their craft stash??!! All entrants who've followed the rules will go into Rudolph's Random Raffle with a chance to win this prize.

Tina and I hope you'll come and play along with our challenge and we hope you have as much fun interpreting the theme as we did.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #127 - B is for Birthday

 

The Sisterhood are playing B is for Birthday for the next two weeks and we'd love you to come and play along!

I'm still enjoying playing with those rather fabulous Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz cats, but this time I paired the kitty with a sentiment from an AI set called Never Too Old Laugh Lines. 

The background is one of my Gell prints that I made a while back. 

The sistahs have created some fabulous cards, so please come and take a look!

August 2022 - Card Chain Challenge Reveal

It's time for yet another glorious Card Chain Challenge Reveal!

We had 29 participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month.

 

Our total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants is 3,740 - which I think is pretty darn impressive!

 

All the cards exchanged this month used at least one of the following options:

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options:  Legs / Fruit and Flowers / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Acetate / Aperture

Just look what I received from Linda W in Minnesota! I love how she used the sketch, themes and colours.

Linda is such a talented cardmaker, and such a good, kind friend too. Thank you so much, Linda, I love this!

I sent this card to Helen G. in Ohio. I was delighted when she emailed a couple of days ago to say it had arrived.

I cut myself a stencil for the circle and sponged in Distress Ink. I added a little subtle patterning to the background and then coloured and cut a gorgeous bouquet from Stamplorations Bloomfully: Sparkle. I did a little layering of the flowers for added dimension. Isn't this a sweet image? I thought it really suited the colour palette. I picked that colour palette as I'd been sitting in the garden admiring some flowers which looked good together. It was only when Gail produced the graphic that we realised it looked a little Halloweeny! 

If you want to join in the fun you can sign up for the Card Chain Challenge.  All sign ups run in advance, from the 7th of the preceding month to the 6th of the exchange month.  All reveals happen on the 2nd of the month after the exchange is complete.

Hope to see you there!