Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #17

 Hi there, it's time to Trim the Tree for Challenge #17 and also to thank my lovely Elf, Cat, for all her help with the fun and cardmaking frolics! Thanks, Cat, it was lovely teaming with you.

After a slowish start the entries just kept on coming; picking just a few to comment on has been really tricky.

Top Picks are as follows:

Lynne from Lynne's Craft Haven

Gorgeous colouring, super-crisp embossing and an adorable pup!

Angie

We loved the sweet little puppy and just how many stamp sets Angie used 

to create this sweet scene.

Fabiola

What a great scene and we love that we're seeing the action through a window.

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

Marcia

Both Cat and I fairly swooned over this gorgeous little creation.

Well done everyone, please grab your blog badges.

Here's Rudolph to announce his Random Raffle...

It's you, Helen!

Please can you contact me via the sidebar form so that I can arrange for your prize to reach you.

Once again, a big thank you to Cat, and to everyone who played along in this challenge. Our new challenge is open and I'd love it if you could join myself and elf Joanne to play along.

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #18 - Get a Head-er Start!

Thanks so much to everyone who played along with Challenge #17 - Dacshund Through the Snow! After a slowish start the entries just kept tumbling in and it'll take Cat and I a few days to sift through all your gorgeous creations before we announce a winner and top picks.

It's time to launch a new challenge and to introduce a new elf!

I'm thrilled to introduce the very talented Joanne from Ambrosia and Iron. I've been fangirling Joanne's cards for quite a few years now as I love her cardmaking style. Let's meet and greet her...

"I'm delighted to be joining Jo for a tour of duty as an elf, Santa's little helpers have always struck me as the creative type! I've always made things, I remember my mum used to tell me "Make a feature of it" if I messed up a project when I was a little girl. Amazing what it does for your creative confidence if everything has the potential to be a feature rather than a mistake." 

I can't take credit for the title of this challenge - we must blame thank Joanne for this punny little number!

Challenge #18 - Get a Head-er Start

For this challenge we'd like you to take your inspiration from the blog header!

Photo Credit

You can grab the colours, the layout, match the happy snowman or focus on the pretty baubles in the background - the choice, as they say, is all yours!

Joanne's card

Joanne has picked-up on the snowman and the circles of the baubles for her sweet card. You can see all the details on her blog post here.

My card

Try as I might I couldn't find Promarker colours to match the header colours, so I cut myself a little slack and just got as close as I could. This little Paper Smooches snowdude with his carrot nose and stick arms hit the spot for me. There's another card and all the info on this card over on my blog.

Rudolph is going to be very busy during this fortnight as he has TWO Random Raffles on the go!

Would YOU like to be an elf here at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge? I'm looking for someone to to keep me company for Challenge #20. If you'd like to go into Rudolph's Random Raffle to be a guest, please include the world 'Elf' next to your name when you sign up. The lucky winner, drawn at random by Rudolph, will guest on Tuesday 24th September and will need to be available for commenting in the fortnight following the challenge launch. 

For his second Random Raffle Rudolph brings us a very sweet Clearly Besotted set as a prize.

Hope you can join Joanne and myself and get a 'Head-er Start' on those Christmas cards!

Challenge Rules and Guidelines: 

• 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 fortnightly on a Tuesday. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #16

I'm a little later than I meant to be, but here I am to announce the winner and the top picks from Challenge #16.

Before the results, I must thank the lovely Darnell for undertaking her elfin duties for this challenge!

I was thrilled when Darnell agreed to be the elf for Challenge #16. I've long admired Darnell's crafting style, sunny personality and wit, and knew I'd love to have her as a guest here. Between us we cooked-up the idea of Christmas-themed Twofering and I'm delighted that so many of you came and played along with this fun challenge.

Thanks so, so much, Darnell, it's been a total blast!

I was glad of Darnell's guidance and support with this challenge, and that was especially true when it came to the 'judging' side of things. You guys made some amazing cards and some fabulous Twofers, so once again, thanks for playing. 

Our Top Picks are:

Greta

Two very different looking cards - Twofering at it's best!

Dawn

The same stamp but two very, very different looks.

Bonnie

Two different and equally beautiful ways to use that gorgeous die.

Our winner and Star on the Tree for this challenge is:

Trina

Two beautiful cards and a perfect Twofer pair.

Congratulations to you all, please grab your badges!

 Finally, here's Rudolph to announce the winner of his Random Raffle Prize...

It's you, Chrissie!

Congratulations, Chrissie, please could you contact me via the sidebar form to arrange for delivery of your prize.

There's a new challenge here at The Christmas Kickstart and a new elf.

Finally, if you enjoyed Twofering with Darnell you should check out The Twofer Card Challenge where she and the team have a Nautical Themed Challenge on offer from 10th - 24th August.

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #17 - Dachshund Through the Snow

Welcome to Challenge #17 - doesn't time fly when you're having fun!

We've got a new theme and a new elf. Please welcome Cat Craig from Catluvspaper! 

I think I got to know Cat through The Card Chain Challenge and I've long been an admirer of her beautiful, CAS cardmaking style. Let's meet her:

"Hi! I am Cat Craig. I was delighted and honored when Jo asked me to be a Guest Elf for her fabulous Christmas Card Challenge. 

I was never much of a crafter until a dear friend introduced me to scrapbooking in 2006. A few years after that another friend introduced me to card making I was hooked and eventually started my blog Cat Luvs Paper.  

I love all kinds of techniques and card styles. My favorite technique is coloring, whether it is markers, pencils, or paints. Whenever my mojo wanes, I look to a card challenge to rev it up again." 

Thanks for being here, Cat, it's great to have you as our guest elf for this challenge.

Our theme for Challenge #17 is 

Dachshund Through the Snow.

Hope you'll forgive the punny title! For this challenge it's all about Christmassy canine companions, so break out any doggie stamp of your choosing and come join the fun.

Cat's card

I just LOVE Cat's card, and the placement of the wreath is genius!

Here's my offering for the challenge. I fell truly, madly and deeply in stamp love when I spotted this little pug from Art Specially. If you follow this link you'll need to scroll down the page until you see The Stamping Cottage - they appear to be the retailers for these stamps.

You can see my other cards for this challenge over on my blog.

Rudolph's here again with another lovely Random Raffle prize. This stamp set is just gorgeous and the packaging doesn't do it justice.

Cat and I can't wait to see your festive furball creations, so please read the rules and come play along!

Challenge Rules and Guidelines: 

• 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 fortnightly on a Tuesday. 
• Please enter a max of 3 cards per challenge.
• Preferably no back linking to older projects, please.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter