The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #112 Reminder - Grace Us with Your Presents

 

Let's welcome back our July elfin muse: it's Lynn AKA Linby from Crafty Linby.

Challenge #112 - Grace Us with Your Presents!

Lynn picked a fab theme and so we'd like to see gifts and presents galore this month on your cards. 

In the previous post I mentioned that Lynn had kindly made a second card to inspire us, and here it is:

Isn't this just a beauty! I love the colours, the DP, the star border and the sweet Holly Hobby friends. What a lovely idea to have them exchanging Christmas gifts. Seeing Holly Hobby images really took me back to my seventies childhood. I was nuts about anything Holly Hobby and had pictures, badges, notelets etc etc with the girl in her blue bonnet. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Lynn. I had no idea these stamps were available. 

Here's a reminder of Lynn's first card...

For my 'Inspired by...' card I really wanted to 'steal' Lynn's use of DP to frame the image, but just couldn't find the right mix of papers to even come close to achieving a similar look.

The gifts on the sledge immediately reminded me of LOTV stamp Sledging Party. This stamp doesn't seem to be available any longer, but there are some gorgeous digi stamps to be found here on the LOTV Etsy shop.

I've not added a sentiment, but may do later when I decide who I'm sending this to. 

Rudolph has chosen a gorgeous prize for his Randon Raffle.

Please take a look at The Challenge Guidelines before you link up.

Lynn and I are loving your cards for this challenge, but it would be nice to see a few more in the linky gallery. I guess not everyone is making Christmas cards in this mad July heat! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #111

 

Hi guys, I'm back with the 'results' from our June challenge where we were joined by the very lovely Caroline from KISS. Thanks so much for brininging the inspiration and the fun for June, Caroline, it was great partnering with you for this challenge. 

If you remember, we played SNOW DAY as our theme and all our participants really pulled out all the stops to create some amazing cards. Thanks to all our players!

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#7 - Lia

We both love Lia's happy mouse - is he full of festive feeling 

or has he been at the mulled wine?

#23 - Helen

We think you'll agree that Helen's framing of the image is just perfect.

#39 - Joanne

A masterclass in smooshing and embossing

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

#60 - Cindi

Just look at all the details Cindi has included to make 

this sweet snow globe card. Just wonderful!

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

And now, here's Mr. R. Reindeer with the results of this Random Raffle Draw for June.

 

# 52 - Debbie Smith... It's you!

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

Thanks again to Caroline, and to everyone who played our challenge for this month. I think 63 players in June is none too shabby! Well done, everyone.

If YOU'D like to join the fun here at The Christmas Kickstart there is a fab new challenge currently in progress with a new theme and a shiny new elf...

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #112 - Grace Us with Your Presents

 

Hi there, Kickstarters, are you ready for a brand new challenge? Of course you are!

Let's meet our July elfin muse: it's Lynn AKA Linby from Crafty Linby. I've been following Lynn's creative journey for quite a while (huge understatement) and I know you'll enjoy her cardmaking style as much as I do...

"Hi, I'm Lynn know as Linby in blogland as there are quite a few other people named Lynn. I've always crafted something. I started with dressmaking when I was 12, crochet then briefly knitting. Next came cross stitching (which I still do some of) and then rubber stamping, as it was back in the 1990s. I graduated into card making starting my blog in 2009. Since then I've tried most crafts and added art journals and drawing to my dabbling."

Thanks so much for agreeing to be our Elf this moth, Lynn - it's great to have your company, and thank you for picking a brilliant theme as we play...

Challenge #112 - Grace Us with Your Presents!

We'd like to see gifts and presents galore this month on your cards. Here's what Lynn created to get the party started:

How cute is this? I do love PB images. Lynn has also made a card for our Reminder post, and I know you'll love that one too.

Here's what I made:

I had so much fun stamping and colouring North Pole Mischief from Stampin' Up!

Rudolph has chosen a gorgeous prize for his Randon Raffle.

Just look at that wreath - so pretty.

Lynn and I are both so excited to see what you create for this challenge and hope that you'll come and join the fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #111 - Snow Day!

 

Hi folks, I'm a couple of days late with the Reminder post for June. In my defence things seem to have been a little crazy recently AND it was my birthday yesterday!

We have the very lovely Caroline from KISS as our elfin guest this month! 

 

Caroline picked a fun theme for us to play with and made the loveliest of cards.

Challenge #111 - Snow Day

You can find all the info about how Caroline made her card by dropping in at her gorgeous blog here. 

For my inspired by creation I decided to go for a POD image where the character or characters were on the move just like Caroline's adorable postie. I was very taken by how Caroline had created the snow effect by stenciling with a gel pen and making sure that the snow covered the images. So cute! I also 'stole' her way of grounding the image with a hand drawn snowline, drop shadow and tiny stamped plants. It certainly gives a very finsihed look to the card. Thanks for the inspiration, Caroline!

Here's Mr Rudolph with his Random Raffle Prize details. please don't forget to follow the guidlines to be eligible to enter the draw. 

Caroline and I can't wait to see what you create for our challenge. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #110

Hi guys, I'm a little late with Trimming the Tree this month. I've been on holiday in Croatia and appear to have left my brains and energy somewhere on the stunning Dalmation Coast. 

Our elf for this month was the lovely Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron and I'm so grateful for all her help and creativity. Thanks, Joanne, you're a star!

Our challenge for May was Season's Tweetings and we had some amazing entries! Choosing just three cards as Top Picks was completely impossible, so this month we have 4 cards to showcase instead!

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#25 - Greta

We both love the balance of Greta's card, add in a beautifully coloured cardininal 

and an embossed background and we were hooked!

#25 - Linda

So simple and yet soooo effective. Ooodles of white space that 

showcases Linda's beautifully paper-pieced birdies to perfection.

#15 - Chrissy

So funny and festive  - we both love this!

#28 - Leslie

We loved the dark green die cut peeking out to provide definition for the white foreground one and the dramatic pop of rich red to contrast with all the delicate white texture.

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

#8 - Helen

Here's what Joanne said: "Great layout, perfect use of a patterned paper with the image, great colouring and such a great image, this one really made me smile." 

I echo her thoughts 100%!

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

And before I wrap things up, here is Rudolph with the WINNER of his Random Raffle Draw!

 

#13 - Dawn in NZ... It's you!

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

Thanks again to Joanne for being my elfin support this month - we always have so much fun backstage and I'm blessed to have you as my crafting buddy. Thanks also to everyone who played along - I really appreciate you all and love our little community of festive creativity and frienship!