Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #113

There really was only one theme to play when Jingle Belles Stephanie and Lauren dropped-by as guests for Challenge #113 and that was...

A Friend is for Life and not just Christmas

A huge thank you to these lovely ladies for bringing the inspiration and fun. It was a blast to hang out with you both. 

We had thirty-two fabulous entires in the linky gallery and this theme obviously sparked everyone's creativity! Thank you so much to all of you wonderful people for playing along. 

Choosing cards to showcase was especially tough this month, but here come the 'RESULTS'...

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#29 - Becca

Just so sweet and cute, and perfect for the theme. 

#24 - Helen

What a gorgeous card, and so beautifully pencil coloured too.

#14 - Michele

A knock-out colour palette and a sweet scene inside the letter 'O'.

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

#26 Julia

A stunning piece of design work and a fabulous use of colour.

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

Rudolph had an adorable penguin set on offer for his August Random Raffle. I wonder who is our lucky winner?

#4 - Arlene Rose... It's you!

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

Thanks again to everyone who played this challenge, and to our dynamic duo The Jingle Belles aka Stephanie and Lauren for their elfin undertakings. BTW, the gals have a super fun challenge on-the-go right now as they invite us to CASE(Copy and Selectively Edit) past cards they've made for Jingle Belles since 2011. I may have to play that one as I am a huge fan of their creations.

Over here at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge we're playing Reindeer Games with your friend and mine the lovely Loll. I've just checked and it appears that we have about 3.5 months or about 15 weeks or 106 days until Christmas. However you slice it, that means it's time to get crafting those Christmas cards! Join us, please do!  

The Christmas Kickstart Chalenge #114 - Reminder

 

Hi folks, I'm so happy to be joined again this month by the very lovely Loll from Stamping With Loll. We are playing:

Challenge #114 - Reindeer Games

And just look at what Loll has created for our Reminder post! 

Isn't this just so much fun! Please head on over and take a peek at how Loll put this together! Thanks so much, Loll. 

Loll created this fabby little number for our launch post...

I was inspired to make this little piece of fun. 

I just had to use Loll's gorgeous sketch, but decided to place my reindeer topper at a jaunty angle! I also added some torn white card as snow - I picked this up from when Loll was our elf last time and was tickled to see she'd use the same technique on her second card. Thanks for the inspiration, Loll. 

Rudolph is especially pleased with the theme this month, and is offering a fun prize for his Random Raffle!

Loll and I can't wait to see what you guys get up to when you play those Reindeer Games!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #114 - Reindeer Games

 

Look who's back as our Elf this month! Yes, it's the lovely Loll from Stamping With Loll. Thanks for guesting again, Loll, it's great to have you here!

Loll has picked such a fun theme for our September challenge...

Challenge #114 - Reindeer Games

We would like to see reindeer this month, please, and LOTS of them! It's as sweet and simple as that.

Here's what Loll made to get us in the mood... 

Isn't her card just brilliant! I really love this little guy. You can find all the info about Loll's fun creation by heading to her blog here. Please leave her some love when you visit. 

Here's what I made:

I'm so glad I bought these little reindeer dudes as they are so, so cute. You can find out about my card here. 

Understandably, Rudolph is especially pleased with the theme this month, and is offering a fun prize for his Random Raffle!

Loll and I can't wait to see what you guys get up to when you play those Reindeer Games!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 - Reminder

 

I'm so happy to have Lauren and Stephanie as our guests for August! Together, this dynamic duo are The Jingle Belles and run one of my most fave Christmas challenges. 

Our Theme this month is FRIENDSHIP!

We'd love to see your cards for a friend and/or celebrating friendship, please.

I am a huge fan of the work of both these gals create and I love how completely different their cardmaking styles are. Here's a little reminder of what they made to launch our challenge and inspire us across the month:

You can see how Stephanie created her fabulous card by heading here. 

And you can read all the details about Lauren's beautiful card by heading here. 

As regular visitors to this blog will know I like to create an 'Inspired by' piece for my Reminder card. I like to do this as a little homage to my guest's work, but also to stretch and challenge myself a little. With two cards for inspiration I wondered how I could do this, but actually everything came together really well for my card.

I love how Stephanie's card has a photographic motif, and so thought of using photos of friends 'goofing around' in the snow. I picked girl and boy images to mirror the friends in Lauren's card, and used her colour palette for their clothing. 

If you've enjoyed Stephanie and Lauren's cards why not head on over to their blogs and leave 'em some love. Also, don't forget they have a fab challenge just over at Jingle Belles where they are playing Tic-Tac-Toe! 

Here's Rudolph with this month's Random Raffle Draw... Nice choice, Mr R. 

Stephanie, Lauren and I hope you'll come and join the fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #112

It's Tree Trimming time again here at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I had the sweetest elf for company in July as I welcommed Lynn from Crafty Linby. Lynn was so lovely during our month together and even sent me an e-card when she discovered I'd gone down with Covid mid-month. Thanks so much, Lynn, it's been great getting to know you!

Our chosen theme was Challenge #112 - Grace Us with Your Presents! and we had some fabulous entries for this challenge. You guys really rocked this challenge and no mistake. Thank goodness Lynn was on hand to help with the Top Picks and Winner choices. My Covid-addled brain would have coped alone!

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#7 - Chrissy

Chrissy's card made us both chuckle. 

Love the colour combo and the embellishments too.

#29 - Linda

Fairly swooning over Linda's card! The gifts in the side car, the blending, the colours...

#32 - Gail

Isn't this just an amazing make? 

The colours, that background, the shadow on Santa.

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

#38 - Leslie

Breathtakingly beautiful and full of fun!

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

Before I wrap up this post (see what I did there?), there's just time for Rudolph to announce the WINNER of his Random Raffle.

 

#28 - Becca... It's you!

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

Huge thanks to everyone who played along with this challenge, and to Lynn for being a dream date and a brilliant elf. 

There's a shiny, new Challenge on offer so why not drop by and join the fun!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #113 - A Friend is for Life and not just Christmas

 

What could be better then a brand new elf? How about TWO brand new elves!!!

Gotta admit it, I'm beside myself with festive glee as I welcome Lauren and Stephanie who are our guests for August! Together, this dynamic duo are The Jingle Belles and run one of my most fave Christmas challenges. 

"Lauren Bergold (left) and Stephanie Severin (right) are Craft Besties who live in New Jersey and Iowa, respectively. They started Jingle Belles in 2010 so they would HAVE TO make one holiday card per week in the "off-season". They've met loads of amazing, inspiring crafters over the years, including your hostess, Jo. Lauren and Stephanie plan to keep making cards at Jingle Belles until they run out of holiday embellishments or stop having fun. (Neither of these seems remotely likely in the near future!)"

One of the loveliest surprises about card making and blogging, for me, has been the friendships I've made over the years. You guys out there rock! The same has proven true for Lauren and Stephanie, and with two 'Craft Besties' as our elves for August there was only ONE possible theme to play:

Our Theme this month is FRIENDSHIP!

We'd love to see your cards for a friend and/or celebrating friendship, please.

You can see how Stephanie created her fabulous card by heading here. 

And you can read all the details about Lauren's beautiful card by heading here. 

Please head on over to Stephanie and Lauren's blogs and leave 'em some love! Also, don't forget that they have a brand new challenge just opened over at Jingle Belles where they have a fabulous game of Tic-Tac-Toe on offer! 

Here's my offering for our challenge together:

Here's Rudolph with this month's Random Raffle Draw... Nice choice, Mr R. 

Stephanie, Lauren and I hope you'll come and join the fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter