The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #104 - Just Add Antlers

 

Over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge I'm delighted to welcome the very talented Vicki Ruta as our November Elf. I first 'met' Vicki when we were together on Dani's DT and I've been fan-girling her cards ever since. Please drop on over to the main blog to get to know Vicki and to see her card.

Here's the theme that Vicki has chosen for us...

Challenge #104 - Just Add Antlers!

Yes, it's time to Add Antlers to you cards! We think you can play this theme a few different ways and we'd love to see deer or whatever you think will benefit from the addition of antlers!

Here's what I created to get the party started. I do love this little Impression Obsession gal and her fabulous headwear and am so sad that this company no longer exists. We seem to be losing so many stamping companies lately, don't we. 

The background is from Darkroom Door who, I'm delighted to say, have moved to the UK and are still going strong. 

My second card for this challenge had to have a little surgery following a mishap with a snowflake. I'd spent ages working with this sweet image and so did a little die-cutting as a save.  He's heat embossed and looks good and glossy IRL.

Woodware Clear Magic Snowflake Reindeer

Our favourite reindeer dude, Rudolph, has a fun set on offer as his Random Raffle Prize for this month.

Vicki and I can't wait to see what you create for our challenge and really hope you'll share your antlers-added cards with us this month!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #96 - Reminder

 

We're in excellent company this month over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge as our elf is none other than my dear friend, Arlene from A Bit of This and That...

Arlene has very kindly created a brand new card for our Reminder post. Please head on over and take a look.

Here's a quick reminder of Arlene's first card for this challenge. I think her palette is just so pretty and harmonious, and I wish I had her eye for colour combos. 

This is my 'Inspired by Arlene...' creation. I wanted to hint at Arlene's colour choice and her mail theme, so reached for Darkroom Door Christmas Post which has sat unused in my stash for ages. 

The ink is clear embossed and gives a lovely sheen to the card. I left my colouring somewhat sparse to avoid making the design look too busy.

Rudolph is offering a sweet price again this month...

So why not come and play along with Arlene and me: step away from the traditional and see what you can create using a colour palette that's just NOT the norm!

With a Cherry on Top!

I had the chance to sit down and make a card this morning! Oh, the joy and relaxation of colouring, stamping, cutting...

And this is what I made:

I needed a little inspiration to get the creative cogs turning and was delighted to find this challenge over at AAA Birthday Game #65 - Background Focus. 

I knew which stamp would be perfect for this challenge: Darkroom Door Word Block Stamp -  Birthday and I stamped in two different Altenew inks to add a little interest. The tiny Penny Black mice were a joy to colour, and I love how they are bustling along to bring the fun.

My card is rectangular in shape, so I'm linking-up at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where their Anything Goes Challenge has an Anything but a Square option. Nice!

Take care and Happy Tuesday to you all. 

Ho, ho, ho!

 Here I am with yet another Christmas card! I told you I was on a roll. 

Today, I'm playing along with ABC Christmas Challenge where the themes are: 'C is for Cats' & 'D is for Dogs'.

I really do love the little critters from Jane's Doodles set O Christmas Tree and decided to pair it with Darkroom Door's Word Block Stamp Christmas, which I masked to create a square background. I added some lovely snowflakes using a stencil that's missing it's packaging. 

I'm also playing again at Christmas Craft Creations where the theme is:

 Little Red Wagon, where it's all about Stencil Power for Challenge #745

And there's just one more day to squeeze in my card at Helen's Rudolph Days February Challenge.

I hope you're all having a happy day wherever you are! 

Wrapping It Up with the Jingle Belles

I'm just squeaking-in with a few hours to spare over at Jingle Belles where Lauren and Stef are playing with wrapping paper! What a fab theme, and perfect timing too as I'd collected this cute little squad of penguins from some off-cuts of Christmas wrapping paper.

Aren't they adorable? I have enough for at least another two cards. 

I created a background with a Newton's Nook stencil called Petite Snow and the sentiment comes from Cool Penguins by Mama Elephant. The gorgeous gold patterns on the card base are provided by Darkroom Door Background stamp Abstract Triangles. 

This was such a fun make and a big thank you to The Jingle Belles for giving me a nudge to make something with these cute critters!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #82 - The Midas Touch

Happy New Year!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and that you're ready for another year of crafting and creating. Did Santa bring you new crafting goodies? He was VERY kind to me this year!

I'm so happy to be kicking off a brand new year of Christmas card making over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge with my dear blogging friend, the very talented Linda W.

Our theme is:

Challenge #82 - The Midas Touch

We'd like to see some gold on your cards for this challenge. Not necessarily a whole card dripping with gold, but more like an accent, a 'pop', a touch of gold. You will LOVE what Linda has created for our challenge together, so please head on over and take a look!

This is my card for the challenge. I used this sweet stamp from Crafters Companion called True Friends, which was a gift from my crafting bud, Gail. It isn't a Christmas set, but I gave the girl long sleeves, warm tights and added a Wintery night sky to give things a festive feel.

This is a rather minimal interpretation of our theme, so please feel free to go for a bigger pop, touch or splash of gold on your cards if you wish.

My second card is a total, 100% CASE of a card I received a few years back from my VERY talented Sistah Toni. I had so much fun making this homage to Toni's original creation using a Christmas Darkroom Door image and super cute POD pup. Thanks for giving me the thumbs-up to share it here, Toni, and for wanting to pass along the inspiration. 

As always, our favourite deer, Rudolph, is on hand with a great Random Raffle Prize to Kickstart the prize giving for 2024. He believes you can never have enough beautiful sentiment stamps and I have to say I agree!

      

Please come and join Linda and me as we play The Midas Touch! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #235 - S is for Steampunk

It's time for a brand new challenge over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers as we play S is for Steampunk. Edna looks amazing in all her steampunk finery.

To be totally honest, I think I got a little muddled-up with card #1 and seem to have mixed Steampunk and Fantasy!

The stamp is from Sweet Pea Stamps by Nikki Burnette and is called Arden. I don't think Nikki Burnette stamps are available these days, so I hang onto the two that I have. Here's my second effort...

I made this for my niece's birthday using my other Nikki Burnette stamp, plus a gorgeous rose background stamp from Darkroom Door. 

The current challenge at Lost Coast Design is Women, so I'm linking-up these gals over there.  

The sisters and our fabulous guest queen, have once again created some fabulous cards for this challenge and we all hope you'll come and play along!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge ~112 - Q is for Quotes

Lovin' Edna's 'Air Quotes' today!

For Challenge #112 the sistahs wish to see a quote on your creation!

I went with a favourite quote of mine. I know it isn't always possible to live your life this way but I do try. I made this for a blogging buddy who once said 'YES' to a trip down a zip wire, so it seemed appropriate.

So, break out your quotes (snarky ones VERY welcome) and come play along!

Friend(s).

Its good to have friends. Whether they are my IRL friends or my 'virtual' friends I count myself lucky to have people around me who will make me laugh and pick me up when I am down.

The challenge over at CASology this week is Friend. It was also the Less is More theme last week but I've missed the boat with that one!

I stamped the Darkoom door quote in black Versafine and clear embossed before getting inky with a range of Distress inks and a stencil. Some matting and layering and I called it job done!

I'm really taken with this quote and have some other ideas spinning around in my head about how I'll use it next. If you want to see some FAB-U-LOUS cards head on over to CASology to see what the DT girls and the challenge entrants have created. There's some stunning stuff on show!