The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #107 - Reminder

 

We're in the very talented company of  Carol Mayne for the whole of February over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge.

 

Carol picked a fun theme and and I'm delighted to say that thus far plenty of you have joined our festive sing-along challenge.

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #107

 - A Christmas Sing-Along!

Being a kindly elf, Carol has made a second card for our challenge, and you can see it over at Kickstart Central. 

As part of the fun I like to make an 'Inspired by' card for each challenge where I try not to shamelessly CaSE my guest's creation. I always hop my guests don't mind my doing this and I have to say I've learned so much about cardmaking styles and techniques as a result. 

Here's a reminder of Carol's first card for our challenge together. 

I just fell in card-love when I saw this 'pop up' as I opened Carol's email. The colours and that design - just perfect! I loved the bold background too, and hunted through my background stamps for something with a similar feel. 

Rather than sit my partridge in a bauble, I opted for this gorgeous wreath die. I wasn't sure how to colour the wreath and then remembered some embossing powder from The English Stamp Company. The colour is verdigris and it's completely stunning... And impossible to photograph! The very cute partridge is from Jane's Doodles and the Layered Wreath is an oldie by Pinkfresh.

You can find all the details about Carol's cards on her blog here, so please head over and leave her some love.

Let's say 'Hi' to once again our favourite reindeer with his cute February Random Raffle Prize. 

Carol and I can't wait to see what you guys come up with for this fun challenge!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #99 - Christmas Critters

 

There's a brand new challenge over at The Christmas Kickstart where I'm delighted to welcome a our new elf Dani from Dani Doodles. 

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Dani has chosen a fun theme for us to play this month

Challenge #99 - Christmas Critters

Here's what Dani made to get the party started...

You can find all the details about Dani's cute card over on her Instagram Account. I love the little mouse in a tangle of fairy lights. I'm sure this would be me if I didn't always leave the tree trimming to my husband!

I broke out some LOTV loveliness for my first card. 

For my second card I decided to create a festive trio of dancing cats from a favourite Jane's Doodles set. 

I volunteer at a Cat Rescue and often colour the cat images to look like our residents. Big boy Bruce has the starring role on this card, although in real life he's a shy guy who likes his basket.

Rudolph has a a sweet prize for his Random Raffle prize this month and he's offering some adorable critters to one lucky random winner.

Dani and I can't wait to see what you create for our new theme and very much hope you'll come and join the fun!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #86 - Playing with Plaid

I'm sending love and healing vibes to the lovely Jen Nelson, who was due to be our Christmas Kickstart Elf for this month, but has succumbed to Covid. I hope you feel better very soon, Jen.

So, just look who has jumped into the breach and is our emergency elfin inspiration this month over at The Christmas Kickstart... It's Gail from Crafty Nomad!

For the rest of May we're going to be...

Playing with Plaid 

and we'd love you to come and join the fun!

Plaid, Tartan, Gingham, Buffalo Check, Shepherd's Check, Houndstooth Check, Mini-Check, Pin Check, Graph Check, Window Pane Check, Madras, Argyle Checkered Pattern... Get the picture???

Gail has created a little piece of magic for our challenge, so why not hop over to the blog and see her adorable card...

Here's my first offering for our challenge:

This cute pup in his tartan pullover really appeals to my slightly warped sense of humour! The gorgeous Tartan paper comes from this pad and the pup is from Jane's Doodles set O Christmas Tree!

Rudolph has chosen a lovely Random Raffle Prize for this challenge, so why not come and join the fun?

See you there!  

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #84 - Get Your Grinch On!

It's the first Tuesday of a new month and so we have a brand new elf over at Christmas Kickstart. I know you are going to love the work of the very talented Meghan Kennihan from Made by Meghan K. 

Meghan and I are taking our cue from the approach of Spring and St. Patrick's Day on March 17th, but as always it's got a Christmas twist...

Challenge #84 - Get Your Grinch On!

We'd to see the colour GREEN taking centre stage on your Christmas cards for this month and you will LOVE Meghan's creation for this challenge.. 

I had so much fun making my card, and decided to employ a technique I always enjoy: paper - piecing! 

I stamped their jumpers on some teeny, tiny pieces of leftover papers!

I'm linking this card to Snippets Playground Challenge #475 because, well: SNIPPETS! 

For my second card I got busy with this sweet stamp from WPlus9 (sadly, no longer available) and a very large die cut.

Rudolph has a lovely prize for one lucky, Random Raffle Winner. 

Please head on over to Christmas Kickstart and play along!

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! 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Technique

Happy Monday, folks!

Over the weekend I was looking through a few different challenges and spotted that it was Technique Week over at 52CCT and they were playing with RETIFIORM. I'm not sure which rock I've been hiding under but this was a new technique to me and I decided to give it a go.

As I'm a CAS girl at heart, I decided to attempt a cleaner look for my card. I used blue Versafine ink and Distress Ink, and stamped images from Jane's Doodles into each cell. 

This is very much a first attempt, but I really enjoyed creating a card with a very different look from those I usually produce. Thanks to the DT at 52CCT for all the inspiration - they've created some gorgeous cards using this technique and each member of the team, and their guest, Kath, have really made this technique their own and used it in different ways.

Thanks for dropping by, and happy crafting!