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!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #59 - The Sentiment takes Centre Stage

 

It's the first Tuesday of the month and so it's time for a brand new challenge over at Christmas Kickstart! We have a new theme and a fabulous new elf on board to inspire us as we're welcoming the rather wonderful Jennifer W from Jenerally Speaking!

Jen has made such a fun card for this challenge, so please head on over and take a look!

Our theme for this month is:

The Sentiment takes Centre Stage

Here's what I made for the challenge.

I used Spellbinders Nestabilities and a set from Hero Arts called Joy Stamp and Cut to make my card.

My next two cards for this challenge were great fun to colour. I really like this gorgeous stamp from Pinkfresh called Cozy Christmas Wishes. I'm not really sure that card #1 actually 'works' as the gel print background distracts from the sentiment and the illustrations. It actually looks much better IRL.  

For my second card using this pretty stamp I decided to stamp and emboss onto kraft card. I love the look of coloured pencil against kraft, even if my colouring skills aren't great! 

Rudolph is on board with his Random Raffle Prize for this challenge.

 

He's chosen a great set of six sentiments for this Random Raffle and all you have to do is link up a card to be in the draw for this lovely prize. Jen and I very much hope you'll come and join the fun over at Christmas Kickstart this month!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #31 - Wreathed in Christmas Smiles

Hi friends, I hope that you are all doing alright during the current situation. I'm happy to be spending lots of time crafting and building my stash of Christmas cards.

It's time for a new Christmas Kickstart Challenge and a new elf!

I'm delighted welcome another long term blogging buddy of mine: Robyn O from Queensland, Australia. I think I first got to know Robyn through the Hero Arts Flickr Group (plus the original incarnation of Card Chain Challenge), and I've always been a fan of her gorgeous cards.

Challenge #31 - Wreathed in Christmas Smiles!

We'd like to see a Christmas wreath or wreaths on your card.

I really wasn't sure about this card as it's a little 'busy' for me, but Robyn assures me it's OK so I'll trust her judgement and I hope you like it too! The wreath die is from Pinkfresh Studios and it's really well designed so you don't have to spend ages cutting out all the little pieces.

Here's a CAS version in cream kraft and gold:

Rudolph has come up with a gorgeous Random Raffle prize for this challenge:

Robyn and I really hope you'll come and play along with this challenge!

June Reveal - The Card Chain Challenge

Oooops, I'm two days late posting details of the June reveal - not sure how I've managed this, but they do say better late than never!

As always we had a lovely selection of options for our creations.

This lovely sketch sent me hunting for feather stamps or die cuts...

and these gorgeous colours made me think of sweet spring flowers...

however, this is what I made to send to Gail in Norway!

I have no idea why I used pink for the spots on the main panel. I had yellow in my head, but ended up using pink! Thankfully I managed to stick with the sketch. This sweet image is from Pinkfresh Studio.

My sender for this month was Helen in Ohio, USA. Isn't this a beauty? I love the vibrant colours and gorgeous stenciling.

If you'd like to see the full reveal you can click here and head on over. There are just a few days left to sign up for the July Chain, so why not make this the month that YOU play along?

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #126 - B is for Books

I'm loving the look of Edna's library: reminds me of my dining room!

For our first challenge of 2019 it's all about books. It seems that the sistahs love reading almost as much as they love crafting.

I knew immediately which stamp set I'd be using for my card. It's snark free but as it's such a gorgeous image, I'm sure you'll forgive me. This is from Late Nights by Tokomo at Pinkfresh. 

To join in the challenge, please head on over to The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers.

Before I close, I'm going to take a moment to pay tribute to my sweet stamping buddy, and fellow snarky sistah, Jessi, who sadly lost her battle with gastroparesis over Christmas.

Donna found just the right words to say about Jessi over at SoSS (thank you, Donna), so I'll just echo those words by saying that the world has lost one fabulous, fun and feisty gal. I'm sending my love to Rob, Connor, Riley, and Jessi's family and friends.

Snark on, sweet sistah, snark on. We miss you.

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #73 - U is for UFO

Nope, Edna isn't looking for alien spaceships this month, she's on the lookout for your UnFinished Objects!

Remember this sad and unloved box?

Here it is again in all it's revamped and finished glory!

I slathered on oodles of Gesso and added some papers from an old book and then slathered on yet more Gesso!

I knew I wanted polka dots or big spots so used my Acrylic Paint Dabbers to achieve this.

The stamps are mainly from Pinkfresh. Pinkfresh seem to have an active Blog yet have very few products in their store, so I purchased these sets from Simon Says Stamp and managed to live through the agony of the two week wait as they crossed the North Atlantic!

I meant to take more step-by-step pictures but got so involved in the process that I forgot!

My teamies have created some totally fabulous stuff for this challenge, so please drop by and take a look. 

Creative With Stamps Challenge #8 - Use a Bird Stamp

Hello crafters, we've got a lovely challenge for you this month over at Creative with Stamps: 'Use a bird stamp!'

I am seriously in 'stamp-love' with thes images from Pinkfresh Studio. I stamped, masked and over-stamped the main image with a beautiful Hero Arts background stamp. I cut my mask really close to the images yet they still have a weird 'aura' going on... I guess I can live with it. I know the little girl is the star of this scene but isn't that sweet bird a beauty? I love listening to the birds singing in my garden each morning and this image makes me think of how happy they make me feel.

I added the sentiment, some Wink of Stella and three tiny gems and left this as a single layer card. (Mmmmm, note to self: round that top-left corner!)

My teamies have created some beautiful inspiration cards and, once again, we have some fabulous sponsors so please follow the links and join the fun!