The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - July 2026

We are all about spreading love around the world, 

one handmade card at a time!!

Hi there, Card Fans, over at The Card Chain Challenge we had 26 participants who exchanged cards across the globe throughout July. This brings our total number of cards exchanged by Card Chain Challenge participants to a rather staggering 5,028. All hail Gail for all she does to keep this challenge moving along so smoothly.

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: Cocktails / Pets / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Embossing Powder / Ink Blending

My card went winging it's way across the Pond to Jeanne. 

I enjoyed playing with the colours and the cocktails theme. After creating a stencil I got busy stamping, colouring and cutting cocktails from a sweet Newton's Nook set I've had for ages.  

Brenda in the UK sent me this beauty.

Thanks, Brenda, I love it!

If you'd like to join us over at The Card Chain Challenge we'd love to have you! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #276 - X is for Xmas in July

It's July... And that can only mean one thing: Christmas cards! The year has tipped balance and we are in the downhill sleigh ride towards the Festive Season. Edna has wrapped the gifts and decorated the tree, whilst also taking time to inflate a flamingo and head to the beach! She's got it all covered.

Yes, the Sistahs, and our fabulous Queen, are all about putting the X in Xmas, and we'd love you to come and join the fun. 

I was in the mood for a pink creation so I grabbed a Newton's Nook stencil set,  a Reverse Confeffi stamp AND a little MFT snark. This is so pretty IRL, but the camera has done something odd with the colours so they appear less harmonious. 

We look forward to seeing what YOU create for our challenge, so please come and play along!

And it's not just The Sisterhood who are celebrating Christmas in July as our friends over at The Lost Coast Portal to Creativity are getting their Christmas on too! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #258 - N is for NBUS

The Sistahs are breaking-out some of their sparkly, new crafty goodies or unused stash, and would like you to come and join the fun!

My NBUS card features new-2-me Newton's Nook Newton Unwinds and a sweet plaid embossing folder that seems to have escaped it's packaging. 

Sadly, I'm snark-free for this card, but thankfully the Sisterhood and our fabulous Guest Queen Fran have got that sorted for us over on the main blog. 

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!

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - May 2021

 Hi there, it's time for another Card Chain Challenge Reveal.

Our May options were:

A fun sketch

Gorgeous colours

Theme Options: Tea or Coffee and Optional Cake/Mandala Patterns/Friendship

or 

Product / Technique Options: Embossing Folders/Heat Embossing

Here's what I made using a Newton's Nook stencil (Serene Stripes) and dies and sentiment from MFT set Cup of Love.

I decided to go with mismatched crockery from a variety of stamp sets and quite like the finished effect.

My card went winging it's way across the globe to Jeanne in MN, USA.

I was lucky enough to receive this beautiful card from Dawn in New Zealand.

The full Reveal post is as stunning as ever, so why not head on over and take a look? And if you fancy joining the fun for our June Challenge there are still a few days to sign up and become a link in our chain!

Birthday Girl, Wish Big!

 Hi there, it's another cool but sunny day here in the UK and my craftroom is bathed in sunshine!

I'm delighted to be playing along with two of my favourite challenges today.

Seize the Birthday is offering a Topping of Spring Flowers and Lost Coast would like to see a prominent sentiment on your card. I'm hoping this card fits the bill for both challenges.  

I've coloured and fussy cut Picket Fence Studios Kendyll and paired her with a gorgeous sentiment from Colarado Crafts Lovely Legs - Birthday. The stencilling in the background was created with a Newton's Nook stencil. 

I could spend all day making cards like this as I love a sweet and simple design... and a bit of kraft card.

Stay safe, and have a lovely weekend!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #178 - N is for No.

 

Ok, Edna, we get the message! What a great graphic - I think I'd like this on a t-shirt.

I was in the mood for bright and cheery when I made this - can you tell? I used a lovely stencil called Tumbling Hearts from Newton's Nook and paired it with a sentiment from Ink Road which I stamped in a nice, bright ink at the foot of the card.

The sistahs have done an amazing job with this theme and would love you to come and join the fun!

25 Days of Christmas Tags!

 

I'm so happy to have finally found time to play along with Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags. This has become one of the key blogging events of the year and Tracey, and everyone involved, works really hard to make it 25 days of fun and inspiration!

I was especially inspired by Day #4 where Tracey and the team joined up with the Newton's Nook gang, so I broke out a very old set called Winter Tails to play along.  It doesn't look as if this set is available any longer, which is a pity as it's so cute.

It's Day #9 of the 25, so there's still plenty of time to play along!

Nothing neutral...

Happy Sunday! I hope that everyone is doing ok today.

The STB gang have a fun challenge on offer and it's one that tested me a little as they want to see non-neutral card bases on our cards!

I broke out Edna wants a martini from Stamping Bella and paired her with a bling-tastic background created with a martini glass from Newton's Nook Cocktail Mixer set. I added red glitter  card and plenty of Wink of Stella too.

This card proved a real challenge to photograph!

The DT cards are gorgeous and the gallery is filling up nicely for this challenge, so why not head on over and join the fun!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #154 - E is for Evil

Yes, it's time to get profoundly immoral and wicked with the sistahs.

I wasn't sure which way to go with this theme and nearly made a very early Halloween card; then I found a fun meme and my thoughts turned to kitties!

I just can't resist using this little MFT cat as there is just something about that cute, cute face. The background is a favourite Newton's Nook Stencil called Tumbling Hearts. My husband received this card on Valentine's Day - from our cat.

Seems a pity not to share this over at Show Us Your Pussycats, so here goes!

Over at The Sisterhood, our fabulous queen and my dear sisters, have created some fabulous cards, so please come and take a look and join the evil fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #23 - SNOW!

We have a new challenge, and another fabulous elf on board over at The Christmas Kickstart - it's the lovely Rebecca from Mellymoo Papercrafting!

Rebecca is my go-to Stampin' Up! person as well as a long term blogging buddy and I'm delighted that she agreed to wear the elf hat for this challenge.

So, what challenge do we have on offer for the next two weeks? It's...

Challenge #23 - SNOW!

Whether it's snowflakes, snow balls, snowmen, a light sprinkling or a raging blizzard we'd love to see your cards featuring the stuff we either love or hate!

My first card features for this challenge a gorgeous image from Impression Obsession I stumbled across earlier in the year. She's called 'Oh Dearie Girl' and is the work of Lindsay Ostrom. I love her illustrations and have to admit that there is a Nordic Wreath stamp calling my name very, very loudly right now! I created the background with twinkly embossing powder and Distress Inks. The stencil is from Newton's Nook and is 'sans packaging'.

Card #2 took ages to come together. I tried a several different ways of using that gorgeous Stamplorations die, but none of them seemed right. Then I thought 'white on white' with a 'pop' of red and everything fell nicely into place!

Rudolph is here again and this time he's got a beary big stamp on offer as his Random Raffle Prize.

This gorgeous guy is from Woodware and is a whopping, card-front-filling 9cm tall. He's just lovely.

I really hope that you'll come and play along with Rebecca and I for this fun challenge... Christmas is coming and those cards won't make themselves...

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #143 - L is for Liquor

So many drinks, so little time!

It's all about drinkies for the next fortnight over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - so no change there then!

Yes, we want to see your liquor-related creations for this one. The sisters have fully embraced this challenge and created some fabulous inspirations cards (perhaps it's because we are soooo passionate about this subject). Our reigning queen (Good Queen Julie) has completed a fabulous trio of drink themed inspiration to get your creative wheeels turning so please head over and take a look!

I needed a masculine birthday card, so thought I'd go for black and white with a pop of colour. The background is the gorgeous MFT Wavy Colouring Book Background and the whisky glass is from Newton's Nook.

Hope you can come and join us for this fun challenge.

I'm also going to link this one to the current challenge at CASology because I hope the recipient gets a laugh outta this card... either that or I'm in big trouble.

Vodka, darling!

Another day and another card... I'm loving this holiday!

Today I'm playing along with the guys over at Shopping our Stash.

I really like the premise of this challenge as I'm trying to cut back on my stamp buying ( Hi, I'm Jo and I'm a stampaholic...) and love the idea of re-visiting the stash I have.

For this challenge we're encouraged to Get Your Drink On, so I hunted out a cute Newton's Nook set (Cocktail Mixer) and teamed it with a MFT Sassy Pants birthday sentiment.

There are some lovely, inspirational DT cards and the gallery is filling up with drink related cards of all kinds, so why not head over and take a look!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #121 - S is for Skull

I'm more than a little concerned for Edna's welfare in our current graphic... She's not looking well.

It's all about SKULLS for our new challenge at SoSS.

This fabulous image from Vera Lane was all I needed for my card today. For some reason (insanity perhaps?) this really tickles my funny bone. I printed out the image and sentiment and then carefully stenciled with Serene Stripes from Newton's Nook. After a quick colour with pencil crayons it was ready to mount. Such a quick and fun make!

Check out the fabulously crazy, and kinda creepy, creations of the sisterhood by clicking here.

Naughty or Nice Challenge #50 - Reminder.

It feels more than a little bit odd knowing that this will be my final post for Naughty or Nice Challenges. It's been a total blast; I've learnt such a lot and it's been a real pleasure to work with a group of lovely, lovely, talented crafters.

For our final challenge we asked you to take time to look back over the four years that the blog has been running and pick a challenge theme of your choice.

My card takes it's inspiration from a very recent challenge: Challenge #49 - Drink Up! I just couldn't resist another play with this theme, especially after purchasing this gorgeous Newton's Nook set. Once again, the purchase of this set was inspired by my lovely friend, Lynne-the-Enabler!

To create the background I spent ages stamping and embossing the different drinks, before smooshing some Distress Inks across the panel and adding plenty of water. To highlight the drinks, I added more ink using my water brush. This is such a bright and cheery card, but today the weather is dark and foggy, and I've really struggled to get a good picture.

There are prizes to be had, plus a final chance to bag yourself a sparkly blog badge, so please head on over and join us one last time as we say 'Goodbye, and thanks for all the Fish'.