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 #259 - L is for Love

 

The Sisters have been hard at work creating some wonderfully 'romantic' cards to celebrate Valentine's Day on 14th February. As you can see from our graphic, Edna is in two minds about celebrating this annual show of affection! Great work, Sister Lee.

My card is all cute and girly - gold on pink and created using Dani Doodles gorgeous Winter Vine and one of her fun More Narky Sentiments. 

Reads: Nope, Not Today.

Who said ROMANCE is dead?

Please come play along with the Sisterhood and share your romantic/mildly indifferent/anti-romantic creations with us!

Dani Doodles

 

Earlier in the week I was finally able to announce my new creative adventure as one of the DT over at Dani Doodles. 

The DT comprises the lovely Dani...

Plus Stacie, Angela, Vicki, and (top right) Squinty McSquinty Trousers. In my defense the light inside the glasshouse at Kew was dazzling that day. 

Dani Doodles is known for the Narky sentiment stamps which offers a range of fun, cheeky and tongue-in-cheek alternatives to those currently on the market, designed to get a fun reaction from the recipient!

Today, I'm showcasing Dani's new release of fun and narky sentiments, 

plus her very first drawn design.

Dani Doodles - More Narky Sentiments

Dani Doodles - Winter Vine

I love this pattern soooooooooo much. 

Because everyone appreciates a little praise from time-to-time!

Dani's sentiments are great because they work on their own and also pair well with a variety of images from my stash... especially this little sweetie.

 

Dani Doodles - More Narky Sentiments

Pop on over to the website now and get yourself 10% off your order using code: ddjo10.

You can shop Dani's Stamps here and visit her fun blog here. 

Introducing Dani Doodles!

Ok, so I've been sitting on a SECRET for a while... And it's rather a good SECRET!

I'm delighted to announce I'm one of the new DT over at Dani Doodles. 

The DT comprises the lovely Dani...

and Stacie, Angela, Vicki, and me, myself and I!

Dani Doodles is known for the Narky sentiment stamps which offers a range of fun, cheeky and tongue-in-cheek alternatives to those currently on the market, designed to get a fun reaction from the recipient!

You can find out all about Dani's New Stamp Set by heading over to her Blog HERE. You can Shop Dani's Stamps here and get 10% your order using code:

Jo: ddjo10

I'll be sharing some cards showcasing Dani's new designs on Thursday of this week, so please hurry back to join me on my new crafting adventure! Until then, here's a fun little peek at one of my creations...

Happy crafting!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge # 94 - Reminder

 

Welcome back, card friends! We have the very talented Julia Aston as our first elf of the New Year over at The Christmas Kickstart and she's created another gorgeous bauble-themed card for our Reminder post... Please head over and take a look. 

Here's a reminder of the gorgeous card Julia made to get the party started!

As regular visitors will be aware I like to make an Inspired by card for the Reminder post and attempt not to shamelessly CASE my guest's original creation. I love Julia's cute Christmas pudding bauble, but really struggled to get my head around which elements to include for my card. I love the sweet, playful nature of Julia's beautiful card and so here's what I came up: 

A single bauble, patterned paper and a little gentle humour! This card was made in these colours as a reminder of my sweet girl cat, Cleo. Once the tree was up and decorated she would quietly eye up a bauble, check whether we were watching and then extend a paw, bat the bauble from the tree and expertly dribble it across the floor!

I combined a few different dies and images for this card: Paws Up Die from Waffle Flower, Wreath Tag Sentiments from Avery Elle, and Funky Baubles from Sizzix.

My second card for this challenge is inspired by my boy cat Custard. He just used to look blankly at the tree and take no notice of all the sparkly, dangly stuff. He always wore a look of 'Oh, that thing again.' whenever the tree appeared. 

The cat is from Globeland Stamps and the Sentiment is from a fun Whimsy Stamps set I've just opened called Merry Stressmas. 

I'm linking-up over at The Jingle Belles as they are looking for Something Old, Something New for their first challenge of the year. The cat and the sentiment are new, but I've had the bauble stamps for years and have lost the backing sheet and everything! Still stamps well though. 

Rudolph has a beautiful bauble as the prize for our first challenge of 2025!

 

There's still plenty of time to play along, so please come and join Julia and me... and don't forget to Bring the Baubles!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #94 - Bring the Baubles

 

It's 2025,  and a new Christmas Kickstart Challenge is calling. I'm delighted to be kicking-off  another year of Christmas cardmaking with the very talented Julia Aston as our first elf of the New Year! 

Our theme is:

Challenge #94 - Bring the Baubles

We want to see baubles/ornaments on your cards for the whole of January and you will LOVE Julia's sweet inspiration card, so please drop by and take a look!

Here's what I made:

It took three attempts to get something that felt right for this one. I kept changing my mind on the size/style of the bauble. I'm glad I finally settled on this sweet ornament from the Sizzix set Funky Baubles. I think it works well in combination with one of my my fave die cuts Noel from Penny Black.

Rudolph has a lovely prize for our first challenge of 2025!

 

Guest Elf Julia and I can't wait to see what you create!