Challenge #93 - Reminder

 

Only ten days to go to the BIG DAY! Are you ready? Tree up, tinsel twinkling, cards mailed, gifts wrapped, pudding made, cake iced, turkey ordered etc etc... or none of the above? 

We're all about an Anything Goes Christmas for the rest of this month 

here at Christmas Kickstart!

However, if you're still looking for a little card making inspiration why not take a look back through the past twelve months here at Christmas Kickstart: we've had some lovely themes and a whole gaggle of very talented elves! I've just Googled the collective noun for elves and it gives me the AI generated answer of Troupe or Drum. I was expecting something more festive, but then I guess an elf is for life and not just Christmas. 😁😁😁

Anyhooo, I thought I'd just jump in and share my last two Christmas cards for 2024.

You can find all the details for these cards over on my blog. Here's my first card:

And my second card features a sweet little ginger cat in a festive tangle. 

Here's what Rudolph has on offer for one randomly selected winner of his Random Raffle:

 

Please don't forget to read our guidelines before signing up! 

This is a Christmas Card Making Challenge

• Like and/or follow this blog either via Blogger or Bloglovin, or Email. 
• Add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery or blog to 
• Please mention and link back to this post/blog to let people know about this fun challenge!
• I'd appreciate cards made especially for this challenge, but I understand that we all love challenges and the additional traffic they bring, so please link a card that fits NO MORE THAN 8 CHALLENGES including this. 
• New Challenges will commence on the first Tuesday of each new month. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.
• Please remember to reference a fellow crafter's creations if your card has been inspired by their work.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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 here 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!

For December I have the traditional Christmas Kickstart Month 12 offering of Anything Goes. It's time to play:

If It's Christmassy, Link it Up!

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.

Rudolph is here and looking good. Please make sure you read our guidelines before linking up in the gallery as Rudolph gets very grumpy when players don't adhere to the challenge rules and regs and are not eligible for his Random Raffle. 

Here's what Rudolph has on offer for one randomly selected winner:

 

This is a Christmas Card Making Challenge

• Like and/or follow this blog either via Blogger or Bloglovin, or Email. 
• Add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery or blog to 
• Please mention and link back to this post/blog to let people know about this fun challenge!
• I'd appreciate cards made especially for this challenge, but I understand that we all love challenges and the additional traffic they bring, so please link a card that fits NO MORE THAN 8 CHALLENGES including this. 
• New Challenges will commence on the first Tuesday of each new month. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.
• Please remember to reference a fellow crafter's creations if your card has been inspired by their work.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Challenge #92 - Reminder

 

We're all about Wise Men Three for this month here 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 using paint mixed with washing-up liquid to make it glossy and easier to use on glass... The smell was horrible. Anyhoo, 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. 

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

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #92 - Wise Men Three

The three wise men came to the manger with gifts for baby Jesus. They brought gold and frankincense...

But wait, there's myrrh!

Welcome to The Christmas Kickstart Challenge for November 2024, where we're joined by Gail AKA, Iona B Unny, Crafty Nomad, AKA Wonder Bunny, AKA My Very Dear Friend!

Thanks so much for bringing the fun again, Gail, it's always a joy to have you wear the elf hat!

Our Theme for this month is:

Wise Men Three

We'd love to see what you come up with for our theme. We think it's one you could play in a few different ways and hope it's a challenge that gets your creative juices flowing. Thinking outside the box is definitely welcome.

Here's the card Gail made for our challenge:

Isn't this just a stunner! You can find all the details at Gail's blog here. Please head on over and leave her some love.

I decided to go super-traditional for my first card:

You can find all the details about this card and also see my second card, which gives an additional idea for playing our theme by visiting my blog.

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

 

Please, remember to read our challenge guidelines to be eligible to win this lovely prize.

Challenge Rules and Guidelines: 

This is a Christmas Card Making Challenge

• Like and/or follow this blog either via Blogger or Bloglovin, or Email. 
• Add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery or blog to 
• Please mention and link back to this post/blog to let people know about this fun challenge!
• I'd appreciate cards made especially for this challenge, but I understand that we all love challenges and the additional traffic they bring, so please link a card that fits NO MORE THAN 8 CHALLENGES including this. 
• New Challenges will commence on the first Tuesday of each new month. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.
• Please remember to reference a fellow crafter's creations if your card has been inspired by their work.

Thanks for reading our guidelines.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #91 - Colourful Christmas!

 

Welcome to The Christmas Kickstart Challenge! I'm delighted to welcome Faith from Daffodil Cards as our elf for the new month.

"Hello, I'm Faith here from Daffodil Cards, why Daffodil? Because I'm Welsh and it's our National flower. I started making cards many, many years ago. I started with digital cards for family and friends, then tried stamping, which I was awful at, then stamping platforms came in, and I got to grips, sort of, with stamping, I'm still learning, but love it. It got me into colouring which is a much harder learning curve, but, I'm mostly satisfied with the result. I'm also love my Silhouette, that's another story. I hope you will join me in either starting or continuing making your Christmas cards with the lovely colours chosen this month."

This month we're inviting you to join us for a COLOUR Challenge as we play:

Challenge #91 - Colourful Christmas

Exact matching isn't necessary, but we'd like to see our palette reflected in your card, please. If you'd like to you can also take inspiration from the picture; I love the reindeer with it's gingham bow against the frosty blues of the background. 

Here's what Faith created using these colours:  

Just look at the sweet little scene she's made. I love the positioning of her gnome in the landscape so everything looks perfectly to scale. And don't get me started on the gnome guy with his super-cute hat: totally adorable. Thanks so much, Faith.

Here's my card. Unfortunately, the photo-editing process has taken all the beige/pinky tones out of the picture, but trust me they are there on the reindeer's belly!

Rudolph was delighted I used one of his kin for my card, and so has provided an extra lovely prize for our October Random Raffle:

Faith and I both hope you'll come and play along!

Don't forget to read the Challenge Guidelines before linking-up. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #90 - Reminder

It never fails to amaze me how quickly the middle of the month rushes to greet us. How can we possibly be half-way through September??? It'll be Christmas before we know it!

This month we're in great company with Jenny from My Paper Epiphany as our elf.

 

Jenny created a stunning card to inspire us all and picked a theme which has really got you guys rocking our challenge as we play:

Embossing Folder Fun!

I, for one was blown away by Jenny's card and knew I wanted to attempt the same technique for myself. I decided to go with a non-traditional colour palette, but I'm not really that thrilled with the result.

Jenny made a tricky technique look so easy and got a great result. You can see my other card for this challenge by heading here. 

Rudolph has a lovely Random Raffle prize on offer for this challenge:

 

I very much hope you'll came and join Jenny and me as we invite you to give your festive embossing folders a workout!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #90 - Embossing Folder Fun!

 

Welcome to The Christmas Kickstart Challenge for September and I hope the new month is treating you well.

I'm delighted to welcome the very talented Jenny Martin from My Paper Epiphany as our elf for this Challenge.

Hi everyone! My name is Jenny and I live in Melbourne, Australia. I spend a lot of my time at our Beach House in Queenscliff,  where I’m always relaxed and do most of my crafting. I have a wonderful view from my craft room and lot’s of light. When I’m not making cards, I enjoy walking our 2 dogs. My blog is called My Paper Epiphany and my Instagram name is @jenmar59 I am very excited to be Jo’s Elf this month - I love making Christmas Cards!

Here's the card Jenny's created for our challenge...

Isn't it a beauty, and such a great way to use that gorgeous embossing folder. I love how the poinsettia really 'pops' against that dark background. You can find all the details of how Jenny made her card by visiting her blog. 

Just like Jenny, I wanted to let the embossing folder take centre stage. I very nearly added colour, but loved the look of all that white, embossed space.

Rudolph has been shopping for cute stamps and is happy to be offering this cute set from Heffy Doodle as his Random Raffle Prize for September. It's such a pity that this sweet store had to close it's doors. 

 

Jenny and I very much hope you'll break -out your embossing folders and come and play along!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #89 - Animal Antics

 

I'm delighted to be joined again by my dear friend Gundi from Papierelle!

Welcome back, Gundi, it's good to have you here to inspire us once more.

Gundi has chosen such a fun theme...

Challenge #89 - Animal Antics

We'd like to see animals playing in the snow - yes, it's as simple as that! We've both had so much fun creating our cards for this challenge, and hope you'll enjoy this theme too!

Here's Gundi's card:

Love the cheeky mice so much. If you'd like to see how Gundi made her card, please drop by at her blog here and leave her some love. 

And here's my card for the challenge. I always love an excuse to ink-up this cute bunny stamp. If you drop by over at my blog you can find out why I've given this little bun these distinctive markings. 

 

Finally, here's Rudolph with another fun Random Raffle Prize on offer.

 

We hope you'll come and play along!

Challenge Rules and Guidelines: 

This is a Christmas Card Making Challenge

• Like and/or follow this blog either via Blogger or Bloglovin, or Email. 
• Add the URL link from your project after it has been uploaded to your online craft gallery or blog to the Linky tool. 
• Please mention and link back to this post/blog to let people know about this fun challenge!
• I'd appreciate cards made especially for this challenge, but I understand that we all love challenges and the additional traffic they bring, so please link a card that fits NO MORE THAN 8 CHALLENGES including this. 
• New Challenges will commence on the first Tuesday of each new month. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.
• Please remember to reference a fellow crafter's creations if your card has been inspired by their work.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter