Stuck on You - Jingle Belles

I'm so happy to have Lauren and Stephanie from Jingle Belles as my guests at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge this month, where we've been playing Friendship. By way as a thank you to the girls I set myself a little mini-challenge to try and take part in all their August Challenges and 'get me', that's just what I've managed to do!

The Belles are playing with stickers for their newest challenge and I knew I had a sweet little cat sticker in my stash that could be perfect.

I have a top tip for anyone new to using stickers and that is to back them with card or leave on the backing paper. This tip was given to me by Carol from Just Me: c and it works like a charm. 

I'm having a little romance with tone-on-tone stamping right now and created a background using a gorgeous oldie Hero Arts stamp - Antique Brocade. It's a smaller background stamp and just the right size for this little square creation. I added some Glossy Accents to the baubles on the wreath to give a little added interest. 

Have a great weekend, guys, and happy crafting!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 - A Friend is for Life and not just Christmas

 

Over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge this month I'm joined by Lauren and Stephanie AKA The Jingle Belles! 

With two 'Craft Besties' as our elves for August there was only ONE possible theme for us to play:

Our Theme this month is FRIENDSHIP!

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

My first card for our challenge together is this one:

I was feeling in the mood for some solid colour and tone-on-tone stamping. I always enjoy working with this MFT stamp set. I do miss MFT, don't you? 

My second card is this one. Another 'oldie' of a stamp, this time from Stampin' Up! Again, good fun to work with. 

Rudolph has chosen a sweet penguin set for his August Random Raffle Draw... Nice choice, Mr R. 

Stephanie, Lauren and I hope you'll head on over and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings!

 

It's time for another Christmas Kickstart Challenge and this month I'm thrilled to welcome back Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron as our guest elf.

We're all about our feathered friends this month as we play:

Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings

You'll love Joanne's card for our challenge, so please hop on over to the main blog and take a peek. 

My offering this month is a very grown-up card for me. I tried so many different combinations of card stock, glitter card and patterned paper before I found something I was happy with. It does look nice IRL, so was worth the effort.

The die cut was created using Christmas Doves Aperture from Clarity. The cardstock is Rose Gold and when I came to stamp the sentiment (Avery Elle - Dasher) I was thrilled to find matching embossing powder from WOW in my stash. 

My second card for this challenge is this one:

I do love this little guy from Colorado Craft Company called Happy Feet. I felt he needed something to dance to, so gave him this lovely Hero Arts background. Poppystamps Frozen Border finished things off nicely. 

Rudolph has an especially lovely Random Raffle Prize for this month. 

Joanne and I both hope you'll come and join the fun this month!

Fa la la la la la la la la

Well, just look at me managing to fit in some card making time amongst everything else that's going on! 

The Jingle Belles are looking for Christmas Music and Lost Coast Designs would like us to Make it Funny this month. 

 

I think my card should fit the bill for both challenges...

I always enjoy playing with the Katzelkraft cats and thought it would be fun to pair this little caroler with Fa la la Bold Prints from Hero Arts. I'm sure the neighbours are delighted! 

I hope your day is going well and, like mine, has involved some lovely crafting fun!

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - December 2025

Happy New Year to you all! It's a cold one here in the UK as we've woken up to a fall of snow. However, the sun is shining so I expect it'll melt pretty quickly but it does look very pretty right now.

For our December Challenge Gail and I decided to make things nice and simple for our players...

 

Challenge Directions  

 

NBUS

(new, unused stuff) 
something from your stash that is unused
It doesn't have to be new, old unused stuff is OK too

 

AND

 

your favourite 3 colours

 

AND

 

an animal OR a flower OR a fruit 

 

I used a new-to-me Paper Smooches frame and a cute kitty from a MFT set I recently purchased on eBay. 

I picked one of my favourite colour combos as I love white and pastel shades against kraft. The little envelopes are supposed to link to CCC. I think the white swirly background is a Hero Arts stamp, but it's lost it's packaging.

I sent my card winging across the miles to Michaela in Austria, and I'm looking forward to receiving this beauty from Julia in Massachusetts:

As always, our Reveal is a thing of beauty, so why not head on over and take a look! 

Dani Doodles - New Release

It's NEW RELEASE Week over at Dani Doodles! And what a fun release it is too.

Here's how a Dani Doodles package arrives:

I do like it when a delivery looks like a little gift. Such a sweet touch and so typical of the lovely Dani. 

Here's my first card using one of the new sets:

And suddenly, thanks to Dani, 'Sorry' doesn't seem to be the hardest word! 

This is just such a great set of sentiments and I love the fonts that Dani has used. For my card I paired the big 'Sorry' and 'things are rubbish' with sweet Hero Arts Lia Griffiths Mini Clear Just for You set, plus a nameless stencil (I must try and find the packaging!). I stepped-up the middle of the card just for a little added interest.

Here's the stamp set in full:

And here's another card using stamps from the same set, plus Dani's gorgeous Winter Vine pattern. 

And here is a little look at Dani's fun pugs on her set Easter Maisie. My favorite is the pup with the bunny ears!

Dani's final set of the release is a little bit X-rated and you can find it here in her online shop. Great fun!

You can see more of Dani's new stamps over on Facebook here or on Instagram here. You can shop the new release and purchase other sets here and don't forget to use my discount code: ddjo10 to get 10% off. 

Happy crafting everyone!

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - January 2025

We had 26 lovely participants who exchanged cards across the globe for our January Challenge.

 

The total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants is a truly spectacular 4,595 which means we're closing in on our next big milestone of 5,000 cards sent.

 

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

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired)

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Theme Options: Moustaches / Cats / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Scraps / Spinner Card

The possibility of making a card combining the options of 'Moustaches' and 'Cats' was way too tempting to pass up, and so this is what I sent Barbara in Switzerland:

Don't you just love Hero Arts Cinco de Meow? It's currently reduced here in the UK. 😉

I paired this cute kitty with a Simon Says Stamp sentiment from the Happy Every Day set, which seems to be discontinued. 

The lovely Imke in Germany sent me this gorgeous card. Thanks you, Imke, I love it!

Hey, 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.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #255 - H is for Halloween

 

Hi Snarkettes, it's time for a brand new challenge over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and it's one we all enjoy! We want to see your Halloween creations, and if you so desire, make 'em Pink Halloween creations to honour Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I grabbed this fabby Inkadinkadoo cat (I've had this gorgeous stamp for years), a couple of bats who flew past, plus an old Hero Arts background stamp, some Distress Oxides and this is the result! I was going to add a sentiment, but I kinda like it without one. 

Don't forget to make a card for our challenge, and don't forget to check them boobies too!

It's important, girls!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #90 - Reminder

It's mid-month reminder time over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge and for the whole of September we're in great company with Jenny from My Paper Epiphany as our elf as we play Embossing Folder Fun!

 

Jenny created a stunning card to inspire us all...

I, for one was blown away by Jenny's card and knew I wanted to attempt the same technique for myself. 

To be honest, I'm not quite sure that I like my card. I also made a version using black as the colour you swipe across, and liked it even less. Hats off to Jenny for making such a stunning card for our challenge - the technique is harder than it looks and she did a great job!

My second card for this Reminder is this one:

I got smoochy/swipey with some Picket Fence Distress Ink to make the reindeers 'pop', and then simply added a Hero Arts stamp from a very old set that's lost it's packaging. So quick, and so simple - isn't that just one of the joys of using embossing folders!

Rudolph has a lovely Random Raffle prize on offer for this challenge:

 

I very much hope you'll come and join Jenny and me as we invite you to give your embossing folders a workout!

Let's Get Floral...

 The very talented folk over at AAA Birthday have a lovely challenge on offer:

My mom's cousin will be celebrating her birthday next week. I thought I'd break out my set of Sizzix Thinlets 664164, a Hero Arts Woodblock plus some Distress Oxides, and create her card to join the fun at AAA Birthday. 

I do love a quick and easy card, don't you?

The DT have created some beautiful cards, so why not go take a look - they have so  much inspiration on offer.

Have a happy day, folks. 

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - June 2024

 

We had 26 fabulous participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month. Our total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants is 4,416. I think that's totally amazing, don't you?! 

All hail Gail, and the amazing amount of time and effort she puts into keeping our chain of crafting and friendship bobbing along so beautifully! Thanks also to all our players - you guys rock!

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

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

 

Sketch Option

 

(Orientate as desired.)

 

Theme Options: Summer / Maritime / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Foil / Weaving

I sent this to Barbara in Switzerland 

I hope Barbara likes her card - I had loads of fun making it for her, and also dreaming of sunny holidays at the beach. The towel was made by stamping Simon Hurley Cling Painted Lines in three different colours. The sunglasses come from a very old, but very cute Hero Arts Background Cling, and the flip-flops are from a retired Hero Arts block set. Typing this, I'm beginning to realise just how old some of the stamps in my collection actually are. The Relax die cut is still available here. 

I received this beautiful card from Gundi in Germany. Just look at all the sweet details she's included. 

 

I think our Reveals just get better and better each month, but don't just take my word for it - please drop by and take a look!