The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #27 - Penguin Parade

Hi there, did you all have a good Christmas? Feeling up to partying the night away as 2020 approaches? And are you ready to make a Christmas card??? Yes, it's time to begin making our Christmas cards for 2020! 

The theme for this challenge is:

Challenge #27 - Penguin Parade

and I'm delighted to be joined by Gail from Crafty Nomad to undertake the elfin duties.

I spotted Mama Elephant's Little Penguin Agenda just before Christmas and fell head-over-heels in stamp love!

Aren't they adorable? You get twenty little penguins in this set; some with Winter accessories and some that could be used for birthdays. I can see me using this set again and again.

Card #2 is all about random stamping and a central panel from a very old Technique Tuesday set that doesn't appear to be available any more. This was very quick and simple to make.

Rudolph's back after a busy time guiding Santa's sleigh and he's offering a gorgeous (and very appropriate) prize for this his Random Raffle draw:

Woodware Clear Stamp set - Penguin Parade.

So, as Santa heads off for a well earned rest, Gail and I very hope you'll come and join us for the first pre-Christmas 2020 Challenge. 

Happy Christmas!

Hi, just dropping by to wish all my lovely blogging buddies a very Happy Christmas.

Hope Santa brings you lot's of new crafting goodies.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #26 - If it's Christmassy, link it up!

Hi guys, it's the final Christmas Kickstart Challenge before Christmas 2019 and the theme is Anything Goes, or as we're calling it:

Challenge #26 - Last Minute Madness: 

If it's Christmassy, link it up!

Any last minute makes, cards you forgot to blog or Christmas 2020 early-bird creations, just add them to the linky over on the CKC blog!

Having been poorly for a while it felt good to do a little crafting today - nothing too technical, just a sweet Mama Elephant Santa from the Santa's Sleigh set I first used a few weeks ago. There are 10 image stamps and 5 sentiment stamps in this set, so it's a great one to have on hand for last minute makes. I think this cute guy may just be my most favourite Santa of 2019!

Rudolph has a sweet prize for his final Random Raffle of the year....

             

so why not come and play along at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge one more time in 2019!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #150 - X is for X-rated Christmas

Now, here's graphic you won't be able to unsee for a long, long time! Nice one, Sister Lee.

Yep, If there's one thing that Edna and the sisterhood like it's the opportunity to get naughty with the cardmaking and we very much hope you'll come and get X-rated with us too!

My card is really rather tame, but hopefully would raise a smile. The sentiment is computer made and inspired by a Google search. The lady in the chair is from Art Impressions. I've not inked-up one of these lovely stamps for ages and couldn't resist paper-piecing her for a little added fun. It's such a great way to use up scraps of DP.

As always, the sisters have created some super funny cards for our final challenge of the year, so please come and join the fun and naughty frolics!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story

Amazingly it's Challenge #25 over at The Christmas Kickstart! Not long now until the big day is finally here - thank goodness we've all been making Christmas cards for so long! Just need the time to write them now...

This is a very special challenge; first of all I'm delighted to welcome back the lovely Janis from Her Peaceful Garden who was my very first elf all the way back in January.

 

The second reason this feels special is because of the theme:

Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story

What better challenge as we count down to that most special of days and remember the reason for the season and celebrate the birth of that very special baby.

Janis has created a showstopper of a card for this challenge, so please head over to Christmas Kickstart and take a look.

My first card is a deceptively simple, layered creation using beautiful dies from MFT. The set includes everything you'll need to make your own little town of Bethlehem. The layering took a little 'jiggling' to get it to look right. I had fun creating the night sky and splattering some stars with white paint and a toothbrush.

My second card is a little fancier. Can you spot where the sentiment for card #1 came from? Sooo much masking was required, but it was worth the effort. I used a gorgeous Woodware stamp that just begged to be embossed on cream with gold. I added gold braid and some extra background embossing to finish things.