Christmas Kickstart Challenge #93 - If It's Christmassy, Link it Up!

Well, here we are: December! This is what we've been preparing for during the past eleven months over at Christmas Kickstart, and if you've managed to play along you should have a lovely pile of festive cards to drop into the mail!

If It's Christmassy, Link it Up!

Yes, it's that one month where I don't have an elf: we're all so busy doing the festive stuff and I don't like to add to the pressure! Here's my first card for this challenge.

I do love a fun Santa image and fell head-over-heels with this cutie from the 2018 Simon Says Stamp set Christmas Cheer. Sadly, this little guy is no longer available, but there are some gorgeous images in this set with the same name. The background is also an out of date oldie, but this time it's from Honey Bee Stamps. I've lost the packaging for the die cut greeting. Sorry for being hopeless!

My second offering for this challenge is a shameless CASE of a very beautiful card. 

These are so quick and easy to make and are perfect for 'mass production'. 

The very lovely Rudolph has a cute little stamp set on offer for this challenge:

 

Here's hoping you'll come and join the fun! 

Card Chain Challenge Reveal - November 2024

There's a brand new Reveal over at The Card Chain Challenge as we showcase the cards that flew around the World for our November Challenge! We had 27 participants this month and we all played with some fun options.

 

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

Colour Palette Option

or

Sketch Option

or 

Theme Options:

Nativity, Steampunk or Friendship

or 

Product / Technique Options:

Patterned Paper or a Tunnel Card

Here's the card I sent to Arlene in California. 

I had fun creating this little card using the Floral Stag die from Spellbinders.

My sender this month was Carol in the UK and she went with the colour option and a fabulous take on the sketch.

Thanks Carol, I love this!

Our December Challenge has a few more days to run so why not drop by and join the fun...

AAA Birthday

 

I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer for December over at AAA Birthday. I had a win back in October with this little card and was tickled pink when Jane got in touch to invite me to play along with the very talented DT girls.

Challenge #68 is all about Lovely Layers and is open all month. To be honest, as a CAS card maker I wasn't quite sure how to tackle this theme. More than two layers on a card and I begin to get dizzy and worry about nosebleeds! However, I did a little Pinterest search and found a gorgeous layering technique with which to make my card.

There are a few different ways in which you can layer your half-circles and I went for this 'wave' layering as I like the slightly 'Yin and Yang' look it gives. If you take a look at this lovely video you can see how different layering patterns can give a variety of looks to a card.

I decided to go retro for my colour palette, although I do wish the green of the smallest circles had photographed closer to the grass green colour that it appears IRL. This was such a fun, simple make and I think it'll be great as a design for those tricky masculine makes we all struggle with. I finished with a simple banner and four Stampin' Up! gems. I can imagine this card style would look great in festive colour combos too. 

Thanks for dropping by today, and thanks to Jane and the DT for inviting me along. There are some gorgeous cards on show on the AAA Birthday site, please head on over and take a look!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #92 - Reminder

 

We're all about Wise Men Three for this month over at Christmas Kickstart where we're joined by my partner in crafting shenanigans Gail from CraftyNomad.   

Gail created this showstopper of a card for our challenge launch. 

I was immediately reminded of stained glass windows when I first saw Gail's card. The colours and shapes made me think particularly of the glass of Coventry Cathedral. This set me thinking about stained glass and how, when I worked in a primary school, we used to decorate the windows to look like church windows. We used paint mixed with washing-up liquid to make it glossy and easier to use on glass and the smell was horrible... That's how I arrived at this card:

The Three Kings image is one I removed from a wood block. The block wasn't balanced very well and I couldn't get a good print with the image in situ. Sadly, I'm not sure of the brand as the block has gone AWOL. I went bold and bright for the colours just like Gail did on her card.

My second card continues the theme of Christmas in a primary school as I used these delightful images by AI called Jingle Tots Nativity Set. I think I snaffled the last set of these cuties (and at a lower price too!), but you can still buy them as individual wood blocks here. 

Working with these images again took me back to my days in Education, and The Nativity play which was put on each year with the youngest children in the school taking the parts. The 'scenery' is a die cut from MFT Little Town of Bethlehem. I'm also sharing this card over at Die Cut Divas (Thanks for the 'nudge', Linda).

Rudolph is itching to give away this fun stamp set this month, so please read the Challenge Guidelines to be in with a chance to win!

Gail and I both hope you'll come and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge

So, November it is! Not long now until it's Fa La La La La all the way!

We've got a FUN challenge over at Christmas Kickstart this month where I'm joined by one of my favourite people: the lovely Gail from CraftyNomad.

Our Theme for this month is:

Wise Men Three

I thought I'd struggle with this challenge, but actually it's proved to be great fun and I was surprised just how many stamps I found in my stash that matched the theme.

My first card features a trio of gorgeous images from LOTV. Sadly, this set is as old as the hills and no longer available, but you can still find beautiful LOTV digis here. 

My second card is a fun one using a very cute stamp from Little Claire Designs. Once again, it's an oldie and one I love to colour as the cats are so beautifully drawn. 

Rudolph's Random Raffle Prize for this challenge is this sweet little penguin set: 

 

Gail and I both hope you'll come and play along with our challenge!

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - October 2024

Whoops, guess who left her post on draft? Oh, well, better late than never for the Card Chain Challenge post for October 2024.

We had 28 participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month, pushing our total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants to a whopping 4,523.

 

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: Bears / Transylvania / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:   Plaid / Needle and Thread

We had a 'bevvy' of bears for this month, plus other gorgeous makes, so why not head on over and take a look?

My sender for this month was/is the wonderful Gail! This is what I found when I went to the Reveal post in mid-October to add my card to Lyneen: 

Gail in Norway sent Jo in UK

 

It's a mystery, it's a mystery 

😀

 

Jo in UK sent Lyneen in Washington

And this is the card Gail sent to me... Isn't it fun! Thanks so much, Gail, 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.

If you're new to the Card Chain Challenge this is an event where everybody wins. You make a card for the person above you on the chain and you receive a card from the person below you on the chain. It's a personalised swap, sort of, and it's a ton of fun! Go here for past Chains.