The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings - Reminder

 
We're in great company over at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge as we welcome back Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron as our guest elf for May. 

Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings

We're all about our feathered friends this month and Joanne has very kindly created a second card for our challenge. Don't you just LOVE her penguin card, I know I do!

Here's Joanne's first card for our challenge. I had both of her cards saved on my PC by the time I came to make my 'Inspired by' creation, so they merged in my head a bit!

I made this card using Joanne's idea of a snowy, coloured background, but went with the darker colouring of her second card. I was going to use her big sentiment style, but after I'd made the card I decided I liked it as it is. I might add something top left as now I'm looking at the card again it looks a little empty. I always enjoy colouring the AALL and Create Owls.

For my second card I did go with a Joanne-esque big sentiment:

I think the Penny Black Twelve Days of Christmas set is so comical. It's quite an oldie now, but I was thrilled to snag it on eBay a couple of months ago - and at a good price too. I asked my hubby if he got the 'joke' of this card and he asked if they were burglar hens. I'm taking that as a no.

As always, Rudolph has a lovely Random Raffle Prize on offer. 

Isn't this a gorgeous set! Please remember to read the Challenge Guidelines before signing-up to play if you're new to Christmas Kickstart.

Joanne and I can't wait to see what you create for this fun theme!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings!

 

It's time for another Christmas Kickstart Challenge and this month I'm thrilled to welcome back Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron as our guest elf.

We're all about our feathered friends this month as we play:

Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings

You'll love Joanne's card for our challenge, so please hop on over to the main blog and take a peek. 

My offering this month is a very grown-up card for me. I tried so many different combinations of card stock, glitter card and patterned paper before I found something I was happy with. It does look nice IRL, so was worth the effort.

The die cut was created using Christmas Doves Aperture from Clarity. The cardstock is Rose Gold and when I came to stamp the sentiment (Avery Elle - Dasher) I was thrilled to find matching embossing powder from WOW in my stash. 

My second card for this challenge is this one:

I do love this little guy from Colorado Craft Company called Happy Feet. I felt he needed something to dance to, so gave him this lovely Hero Arts background. Poppystamps Frozen Border finished things off nicely. 

Rudolph has an especially lovely Random Raffle Prize for this month. 

Joanne and I both hope you'll come and join the fun this month!

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - April 2026

We had 22 participants who exchanged cards across the globe this month. The CCC group is such a lovely community, and one that is very much appreciated by everyone involved in this monthly crafty jaunt around the world. The lovely Gail keeps us in order and makes this sweet challenge such as fun place to play.

 

Total number of cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants is 4,952. That big 5,000 mark is gonna happen soon and no mistake!

 

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: Long Ears / Spring / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Bookpaper / Fancy Edges (ripped, die cut, embossed etc)

 

I decided to go with the themes of Long ears, Spring and Friendship for my card to my very good friend Joanne in UK. I kept it all very, very simple, but did enjoy adding the little flower gems. I tried to use the colour combo too, but once I'd added blue for a clear, Spring sky I knew I'd gone off-piste and wasn't coming back! 

Daja in Germany was my sender this month. Thanks so much, Daja, I love your beautiful floral creation!

Soooooooo, 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 #274 - G is for Gnome

 

Edna has some new little friends she'd love us all to meet as we play G is for Gnome over at The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers!

My 'take' on the theme is a little on the dark side as it's more than a wee bit sick and twisted...

Thankfully, Good Queen Jenn and the Sisters have created cards that are a little less distasteful, so please head on over and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #109 - Brimming with Style

 

Hi there, I hope you all had a good Easter. Hey, turns out it's time for a brand new challenge over at The Christmas Kickstart where I'm tickled pink to welcome back my dear friend Gail from Crafty Nomad.

This month our challenge is:

Challenge #109 - Brimming with Style

We'd love to see hats, or people and/or critters in hats, please. You can ink-up your favourite behatted stamp images OR why not add a hat to a none-hat-wearing image or die cut to make things extra festive!

Gail has created the cutest card to get the party started, so why not head on over to the CKC blog and take a look!

Here's what I made. I've had this cute stamp set for a while and decided now was this little guy's moment to shine! Isn't he fun!

This little snow dude is from the Snow Good set by AALL and Create and the lovely big die cut is Jolly Dies by Concord and 9th.

My second card was so much fun to make. I die cut Grand Whittle Pig and then modified another die-cut to make him a hat. I then added a pom pom and placed him in the 'O' of Penny Black's Immense Noel.

Rudolph has a lovely prize on offer again this month. 

Gail and I can't wait to see your creations for this challenge, so please come and join the fun!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Challenge #273 - H is for Happy Birthday!

 

The Sisterhood have a brand new challenge for you to play! We've all had heaps of fun with this one and we hope you will too. Sarcasm, snark and general naughtiness are encouraged, but are not essential so why not join the H is for Happy Birthday fun? 

Here's how I played our challenge this month. 

While wandering around Etsy I fell in love with these cute robot stickers and just had to get them. I'm not usually a sticker gal, but I couldn't resist these and knew I'd have fun playing with them. 

It turns out when you use stickers that it's better to pop them up on dimensionals. I guess it depends on your overall design but I love how this little guy sits so well against the Visible Image stencil rather than disappearing into it. This isn't something I discovered by accident... my very talented friend Carol pointed me in the right direction! 

The Card Chain Challenge Reveal - March 2026

 

Hi there, it's tie for the March Reveal! During the month twenty-five lovely players exchanged cards across the globe. This brings the total cards exchanged thus far by Card Chain Challenge participants to 4,930. Whoop, whoop! We also welcomed new player Kathy in the UK.  

 

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: Gnomes / House or Home / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Stamps / Patchwork

I decided to go with and Gnomes and Homes for my card, which travelled across the sea to Linda in Michigan. This one was such fun to make and it turned out Linda likes gnomes every bit as much as I do!

It appears my sender is a gnome fan too as I received this cutie from Joanne in UK.

Thanks so much, Joanne, he's totally adorbs, and I love that we both feel gnomes like flowers!

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 Christmas Kickstart challenge #108 - Reminder

This month we are in the company of the rather wonderful Wendy from Cartai!

Wendy picked a super-fun theme for us...

Challenge #108 - Out of the Woods

Here's a reminder of the gorgeous card she created to start our challenge.

Isn't this a beauty! Please drop by at her blog and leave her some love. 

For my Inspired by... card I zeroed-in on Wendy's card layout and her cute POD trio. I grabbed a sweet POD image with three critters from my stash and started colouring. The trees are from a Mama Elephant Scene Builder set I bought on eBay a while back. Such a useful purchase. 

I'm never sure what sort of dog Flappy is, but in my head he's some sort of scaled-down St Bernard. Tofu just had to be a ginger kitty - mainly because they're the only ones I can colour! 😁😁😁

The gorgeous Rudolph has a lovely March Random Raffle Prize.

Please check our Challenge Guidelines before linking up in order to be eligible to win Rudolph's sweet prize. 

Come and join the fun - we can't wait to see what comes out of the woods on your card!

Climb Every Mountain...

 

The lovely folk of Shopping Our Stash have a new challenge on offer... as they play Challenge #569 I'm Counting on You!

They'd like to see numbers on our cards and for us to use our stash.

This card is a commission for a friend of a friend. Mike is turning 80, but he's still hiking and climbing and enjoying the outdoor life. I hit my scraps box for the black card and my good card for inking and then broke out a favourite stencil for the sun rays. I don't like to charge too much for the cards I make as commissions so often use clipart images and word process a few bits 'n' bobs if I don't have suitable stamps to hand. If I can use off-cuts and leftovers I do that too as it all keeps the cost down. 

The SOS team have created some really inspirational cards to play this theme, so why not head on over and take a look! 

The Sisterhood of Snarky stampers Challenge #272 - C is for Cold

Just look at Edna battling the Brrrrrrrrr for the Sisterhood this month as we play C is for Cold!

For my take on cold I went with a cool colour combo and the offer of a dash of biting sarcasm. 

The cat is from Technique Junkies, but sadly they appear to have closed down. 

The sisters have had a proverbial hoot with this theme, and we very much hope you'll come and join the fun too!

Fa la la la la la la la la

Well, just look at me managing to fit in some card making time amongst everything else that's going on! 

The Jingle Belles are looking for Christmas Music and Lost Coast Designs would like us to Make it Funny this month. 

 

I think my card should fit the bill for both challenges...

I always enjoy playing with the Katzelkraft cats and thought it would be fun to pair this little caroler with Fa la la Bold Prints from Hero Arts. I'm sure the neighbours are delighted! 

I hope your day is going well and, like mine, has involved some lovely crafting fun!