The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #111 - Snow Day!

 

Welcome back to The Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where I'm delighted to welcome Caroline from KISS as our elfin guest this month! 

"I am a Yorkshire wife, mum of 2 grown-up girls, nanna to 2 boys (4 and 5) and dog mum to Buster the border.  I have been card making since dinosaurs roamed the earth and started my card blog in 2008!! Eek!

Cute animals are definitely my go to style - coloured with copics, or more recently die cut. Flowers are my nemesis, so you won't see too many of those on my blog."

It's great to 'meet' you, Caroline! I began my blogging career in the late Cretaceous period, and have been a HUGE fan of Caroline's creations for all those years. Her colouring skills just make me swoon, and she's a total sweetheart too!!

Caroline has chosen the perfect theme for us:

Challenge #111 - SNOW DAY!

We'd love to see your take on this. Play it however you want, but there HAS to be snow! Here's a peek at Caroline's fabulous card...

You can visit Caroline's gorgeous blog here to read all the details of how she created her card for our challenge. Leave her some 💖💖💖while you're there!

Here's what I made...

I had so much fun creating this little scene. It's a SNOW DAY and the school is closed. Mom has just asked the kids to stand still, hold hands and pose with snowballs in their hands, but this is the moment when they start to pull apart and take aim! 

Here's Rudolph with another lovely Random Raffle Prize:

Rudolph thought it would be fun to offer the same set I used for my card! 

Caroline and I are both very excited to see what you guys come up with for our June Challenge. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Christmas Card Challenge #110 - Reminder

 

I'm thrilled to welcome back Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron as our guest elf this month. 

Joanne first served a tour of duty as she put it as our elf back in August 2019. Thanks so much for making the return journey, and for your friendship over the years, Joanne. 

This month we are playing:

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!

You can find out all the details of how Joanne made her card by dropping by at her blog here. 

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.

You can check out all the info about my card, plus you can see my second card by dropping by at my blog.

Here's Rudolph with his Random Raffle Prize for May. 

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!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #109!

Hi Crafters, it's time to Trim the Tree for Challenge #109, where we played Brimming With Style in the company of our lovely elf, Gail. Thanks so much, Gail, it's always a joy to have you as our elfin muse.

We had a rather amazing forty-seven cards for this challenge, and I'd like to say a very big thank you to everyone who played along. You guys really do bring the fun and I'm so appreciative of you all. 

I know I always say it but just picking a few cards to showcase is oh, so tricky. Here's what we went with for Challenge #109...

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#45 - Bonnie

Isn't this just joyous! 

#4 - Fabiola

So many hats!

#5 - Joanne

Gotta love that big snowdude, 

and the way the tag dangles from the sentiment!

Our Winner and Star on the Tree for this week is:

#15 - Arlene Rose

Just take a look at how Arlene played the theme with tiny blue hats on tiny snowmen.

Congratulations to you all, I hope you'll enjoy flaunting your blog badges for all the world to see!

Let's have a nice drum roll for the amazing Rudolph as he drops by to declare the WINNER of his Random Raffle Drawer! 

#29 - Denise B... It's you!

Congratulations, Denise, please email me a dottypudding (at) aol.com with your snail mail address so I can connect you with your prize. 

Thanks again to all our participants and thanks to Gail for all the inspiration. Challenge #110 is now up and running, so why not come and play along!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings

 

Welcome to another Christmas Kickstart Challenge!

I'm thrilled to welcome back Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron as our guest elf this month. 

Joanne first served a tour of duty as she put it as our elf back in August 2019. Thanks so much for making the return journey, and for your friendship over the years, Joanne. 

This month we are playing:

Challenge #110 - Season's Tweetings

We're all about our feathered friends this month.

And just look at Joanne's gorgeous creation! I love that snowy sky and the beautifully coloured robin. You can find out all the details of how Joanne made her card by dropping by at her blog here. Please leave her some love while you're there!

My offering this month is a very grown-up card for me. I tried so many different combinations of card stock and glitter card and patterned paper before I achieve a look I was happy with. It does look nice IRL, so it was worth the effort. You can see my other card for the challenge here. 

Here's Rudolph with his Random Raffle Prize for May. 

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!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #109 - Reminder

 

Hi there, it's mid-month reminder time as we play along with guest elf Gail from Crafty Nomad.

This month our challenge is:

Challenge #109 - Brimming with Style

We're all about hat-wearing this month. You can ink-up your favourite behatted stamp images OR perhaps add a hat to a none-hat-wearing image or die cut to make things extra fun.

Here's what Gail created to get us started for this challenge. You can drop by at Gail's blog and read all the details of how she made her card.  

I just fell in love with Gail's layout and colour combo for this one. My 'Inspired by...' card is pretty much a CaSE of her creation as I loved the three trees in the background, the placement of the sentiment and the bear's pink hat and scarf. 

Here's Rudolph with yet another lovely Random Raffle Prize. Don't forget to read the Challenge Guidelines in order to go into the draw. 

Gail and I can't wait to see your creations for this challenge!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #108

After a busy few days, I've finally found a few minutes to Trim the Tree for Challenge #108.

Our elf for this challenge was the lovely Wendy from Cartai. Thanks so much, Wendy, it was great fun getting to know you and I loved the card you made to inspire everyone. We had an amazing 31 entries for this challenge - none too shabby for March!

Choosing just a few cards to showcase is always difficult, but here's a few of your creations that really 'spoke' to Wendy and me this month.

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#23 - On the Corner of the Table

We love this sweet composition of a thoughtful fox in the snow.

#11 - Di

Such a lovely card with a very pretty sentiment and lovely layering.

#31 - Becca

Just so much fun, and perfect for the challenge.

Our Winner and Star on the Tree for this week is:

#24 - Linby

Just take a while to look at all the loveliness going on in Lin's collage card.

Congratulations to you all, I hope you'll enjoy flaunting your blog badges for all the world to see!

Here's the result of Rudolph's Random Raffle 

for March 2026

 

# 8 - Brenda... It's you!

Congratulations, Brenda, please email me a dottypudding (at) aol.com with your snail mail address so I can connect you with your prize. 

Thanks again to our guest elf Wendy, and also to everyone who created a card for our theme. There are so many of you who've made this a regular part of your crafting calendar and I can't tell you how grateful I am to have you play along each month. Just think how happy you'll be come Christmas and you have all those lovely cards made and ready to send!