The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 - Reminder

I'm so happy to have Lauren and Stephanie as our guests over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge! Together, this dynamic duo are The Jingle Belles and run one of my most fave Christmas challenges. 

Our Theme this month is FRIENDSHIP!

We'd love to see your cards for a friend and/or celebrating friendship, please.

As regular visitors to my blog will know, I like to create an 'Inspired by' piece for my Reminder card. I like to do this as a little homage to my guest's work, but also to stretch and challenge myself a little. With two cards for inspiration I wondered how I could do this, but actually everything came together really well for my card.

I love how Stephanie's card has a photographic motif, and so thought of using photos of friends 'goofing around' in the snow. I picked girl and boy images to mirror the friends in Lauren's card, and used her colour palette for their clothing. The images of the children are from Concord & 9th set Bundled Up. Sadly, this set appears to be retired now, which is a pity. 

Rudolph is playing with penguins for this month's Random Raffle Draw.

Stephanie, Lauren and I hope you'll come and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 - SNOW DAY!

 

Its the first Tuesday in the month and so we have a brand new challenge over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where I'm delighted to welcome Caroline from KISS as our elfin guest this month! If you head on over you can read all about our guest.

Caroline has chosen the perfect theme for us:

Challenge #111 - SNOW DAY!

We'd love to see your take on this. Play it however you want, but there HAS to be snow! 

You can visit see Caroline's stunning card over on the main blog. Here's what I made...

I had so much fun creating this little scene. It's a SNOW DAY and the school is closed. Mom has just asked the kids to stand still, hold hands and pose with snowballs in their hands, but this is the moment when they start to pull apart and take aim! 

My second card was also fun to put together. I only wish I'd thought to put wobblers under the robins for added fun. 

The birdies are from Honey Bee Stamps. The set is now out of stock. 

Here's Rudolph with another lovely Random Raffle Prize:

Rudolph thought it would be fun to offer the same Concord and 9th set I used for my card! There are so many different ways to use this sweet stamp set.

Caroline and I are both very excited to see what you guys come up with for our June Challenge. 

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #109 - Brimming with Style

 

Hi there, I hope you all had a good Easter. Hey, turns out it's time for a brand new challenge over at The Christmas Kickstart where I'm tickled pink to welcome back my dear friend Gail from Crafty Nomad.

This month our challenge is:

Challenge #109 - Brimming with Style

We'd love to see hats, or people and/or critters in hats, please. You can ink-up your favourite behatted stamp images OR why not add a hat to a none-hat-wearing image or die cut to make things extra festive!

Gail has created the cutest card to get the party started, so why not head on over to the CKC blog and take a look!

Here's what I made. I've had this cute stamp set for a while and decided now was this little guy's moment to shine! Isn't he fun!

This little snow dude is from the Snow Good set by AALL and Create and the lovely big die cut is Jolly Dies by Concord and 9th.

My second card was so much fun to make. I die cut Grand Whittle Pig and then modified another die-cut to make him a hat. I then added a pom pom and placed him in the 'O' of Penny Black's Immense Noel.

Rudolph has a lovely prize on offer again this month. 

Gail and I can't wait to see your creations for this challenge, so please come and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #106 - Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Welcome, welcome, welcome... I hope you had a very Happy Christmas and that the New Year is being kind!

We have a very talented Elf to get 2026 started at The Christmas Kickstart as we welcome the lovely Chris Lawlor. 

Chris has chosen a wonderful theme for our first challenge of the year...

Challenge #106 - Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

And you can see her gorgeous card by heading over to Kickstart HQ.

Here's what I made for our Challenge, and let me tell you I am totally smitten with this sweet gal and her polar bear friend.  

Just before Christmas I was delighted to find a UK stockist for Sweet November Stamps, and so, naturally, I had to have a little spend. I was good, honest... Just the two stamp sets. How abstemious of you, Jo, I hear you say! 

My second card for this challenge is this one, and to be honest, I'm not sure it's floating my boat or rockin' my socks. I like the Paper Smooches Wise Dies bow and the Concord and 9th Jolly Dies, but I think I should have chosen my paper strip combination a little better and also worked on not getting gaps. Never mind, we all live and learn!

 

Rudolph has a lovely prize on offer. And, he'd like you to know that he's had a little makeover. He simply cannot wait to hear your thoughts on his new look! Come and take a peek.

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - December 2024

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Over at The Card Chain Challenge we've now exchanged 4,523 cards by participants from 41 of the 50 United States and 33 countries. It's not that we're looking for World domination or anything!

 

Exciting news!

This month the Card Chain Challenge was again generously sponsored by

Relatively Thoughtful

  Check their website for free gifts.

Our now traditional December 'twist' is to play

GAIL's FIENDISHLY FESTIVE TIC TAC TOE

 

Here's my card for the challenge. I've gone across the grid on the second row down. 

I used this lovely image from Concord and 9th called Merry Mantle Stamp Set. I substituted the dotty sock and popped it up to include 'spots'. The 'Sassy' sentiment is from The Ink Road, who are taking a brief pause at the moment.

My card flew across the globe to Tina in Slovenia and just look what lovely Gail in Canada sent me: 

Happy New Year to you all, and why not make 2025 the year that YOU come and play along at The Card Chain Challenge??? 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #58 - Reminder

 

It's hard to believe that January is already half-way done, but it's true and so it's time for our mid-month reminder post for Challenge #58. Our theme is Rainbow Christmas and our elfin muse is the lovely Cornelia from Stempel Spass.

I'm not really sure my card is quite as 'rainbow-y' as I wanted, but I hope you like it. 

These sweet stockings are from Merry Mantle Stamp set from Concord & 9th. There are some lovely images in this set and I can see it becoming a firm favourite of mine. 

You have until 31st January to 'wow' us with your creations, so why not take the plunge and start making those Christmas 2022 cards.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #187 - T is for Texture

 

We're getting all touchy-feely as we start a fun, new challenge over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers today. We's like to see some texture on your cards for this one. 

I had just tooooo much fun with this theme and broke out a cute WOW stencil to create the centre of my card. I mixed embossing paste with Distress inks in citrus shades and couldn't believe how beautifully fruity the resulting mixture looked. I then added some Diamond Stickles and spread the mixture through the stencil.

What a pity we're suffering invisible sparkle syndrome again. I stamped the sentiment and the fruit slices from Concord & 9th set Hugs in Rose Gold  embossing powder - it looks so pretty.

Such great Summer colours if I say so myself!

The sistahs, and our fabulous guest, Tristan, have had a riot with this theme, so please come take a look and join the fun!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #35 - Snow is Falling

There's a brand new Christmas Kickstart Challenge on offer!

And there's a very talented new elf: Gay Peplow! 

Gay is a long term blogging buddy of mine and I'm delighted that she's our elf for this challenge. Our theme is:

Challenge #35 - Snow is Falling!

Gay's card is awesome, so head on over and take a look!

I made two cards for this challenge:

My first card was a quick and simple card made with Big and Bold Winter Wishes. This one really sparkles and catches the light as I used sparkly embossing powder.

Card #2 is very different. I was going to emboss smaller snowflakes for the top of the card, but then found this paper and decided to go with it as I like the pattern and colours. The image and sentiment come from one of my favourite sets: Concord and 9th - Winter Wear.

I thought stamping the sentiment in black would pull together the image and the words, but I wish I'd gone with blue instead as it just looks a little bit blah!

Snow, snowflakes, snowy scenes - it's all good, and we'd love to see what you can create over the next fortnight. Hope you can drop by and play along!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #34 - Starry, Starry Night.

There's a brand new challenge at Christmas Kickstart! 

We have a new elf in dah house and I'm sure it's someone many of you will recognise as it's the very talented Pia S!

Our theme is Starry, Starry Night

Yes, we'd like to see some stars on your card for challenge #34 and I know you'll love the card that Pia has created for this challenge - it's over on the CKC site, so please go take a look!

I couldn't resist creating a night sky for this cute MFT bear. The top sentiment is from Winter Wear by Concord and 9th and the second sentiment is from Jane's Doodles Winter Fun set.

My second card is this one:

The stamp is from Penny Black and is called Cuddle in the Snow - it's such an oldie that it isn't available now.

Rudolph has another Random Raffle prize to giveaway, so why not head on over and join the starry fun! 

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #5 - Have a Very Bear-y Christmas!

It's time for  Challenge #5 of The Christmas Kickstart Challenge! Can't believe it's time for the fifth challenge already. For this fortnight a new Guest Elf has taken up residence and the lovely Lynne from Ruby-Dooby-Doo Crafts is 'In da house'.

You'll love Lynne's adorable bear card which you can see here.

Here's my first card for this challenge:

I went with non-traditional colours and broke out a whole heap of My Favourite Things goodies for this one. I love every bear from BB set Polar Bear Pals, but I have to admit that this one (affectionately none to me as Bernard) has captured my heart.

My next card is very, very different and was very difficult to photograph. I'm still not sure whether I need to add Santa hats. Whaddya think?

The bears come from a set from Concord & 9th called Hugs. The trees in the background come from a Hero Arts stamp (Winter Trees Pattern) and the trees and cardinal bird are by Lawn Fawn (Birch Trees). When I assembled the card I couldn't decide whether to include the cardinal: you don't get cardinal birds here in the UK. Then I realised that you don't get bears either, so there he is!

Hope you decide to play along...