The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #27 - Penguin Parade

Hi there card friends, did you all have a good Christmas? Things were fairly quiet chez moi, but still very pleasant AND there were a few crafty goodies from Santa which I am sooooooo excited to play with.

Before we get to the challenge, I need to let you know I'm making a few temporary changes here at Christmas Kickstart. Until July the challenges will be going monthly, launching on the first Tuesday of each month. I know this possibly reduces the potential number of cards (don't forget you can enter three per challenge), but I need a little time to concentrate on other areas of my life. I know you guys will all understand this, and I hope you'll continue to play as it's your participation that keeps the fun rolling along. I'll be cranking things up again come July when we'll be back to fortnightly challenges again!

So, it's time to begin making our Christmas cards for 2020! I'm delighted to be joined once again by the lovely Gail from Crafty Nomad. As you can see, Gail, just loves to wear her elf hat!

Our theme for this challenge is:

Challenge #27 - Penguin Parade

Here's what Gail created for this theme! I wish I had eyelashes like that penguin. You can find all the details of Gail's make by visiting her blog here.

Here's my little slice of penguin fun! 

You can find the details on my blog here. 

Rudolph's back after a busy time guiding Santa's sleigh and he's offering a gorgeous (and very appropriate) prize for this his Random Raffle draw:

Woodware Clear Stamp set - Penguin Parade.

So as santa heads off for a well earned rest, Gail and I very much hope you'll come and join us for the first pre-Christmas 2020 Challenge. 

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 on the first Tuesday of each new month, until July 2020 when we'll revert to fortnightly challenges. 
• 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

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #25

With Christmas just a few days away there's just time to drop by and announce the results of Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story.  A very big thank you to everyone who played along with this challenge and while this was a really tricky challenge to judge it was one which brought Janis and I a great deal of pleasure.

Thanks to Janis for book-ending a year of challenges here at The Christmas Kickstart - it's been great having you wear the elf hat again.

Our top picks are:

Valeria

Stunning silhouette against a gorgeous background.

LeAnne

LeAnne's subtle colouring and limited colour palette just wowed us.

Conil

What a fabulous way to use that die set 

and the placement of the sentiment is perfect.

Julia

While this is primarily a cardmaking challenge, both of us 

fell head over heels for Julia stunning tag.

Our Winners for this challenge are:

Marcia

Marcia's attention to detail blew us away!

Birgit

We love the simplicity of the embossed sentiment 

and the stylised tree in the gradient colors.

Congratulations to you all, please grab your blog badges.

Finally, Rudolph is back for one last pre-Christmas Random Raffle draw, plus a little seasonal message for you all.

$25.00 Voucher

Congratulations to Michele in Michigan, USA

Please could you contact me, Michele, so I can put you in touch with Jane. You can reach me via dottypudding@aol.com.

Once again, very many thanks to everyone who has played along in this challenge and the other challenges throughout the year. I've loved chatting with you, making new crafting friends and seeing your beautiful cards! We'll take a short break over the festive season, but I hope to see you all on 31st December for the launch of our next challenge.

Have a wonderful Christmas and happy holidays to you all!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #26 - Last Minute Madness!

Hi everyone, it's a little quiet here - just myself and Rudolph today. We're doing a little tidying, wrapping a few last gifts and pottering about the place.

This will be the final Christmas Kickstart Challenge before the big event, so I'd like to take a moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who has played along and joined the fun during the last twelve months. You guys have been truly amazing for keeping me company and I hope that you had a big stash of Christmas cards all ready and waiting to dip into like I did!

Thanks also to all the wonderful ladies who've been eleves this year (You can see the full alumnae here). I've loved chatting and creating with you all. Special thanks must go to Janis for coming on board as my very first elf and for all her kindness, ideas, and support; to the members of The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers for their continued encouragement and support, and finally to Gail for wearing the elf hat sooooo many times, securing sponsors and for pushing me to keep going and plan ahead into 2020.

Finally, thanks to our very kind sponsors for 2019. Your generosity and support is very much appreciated and meant that some very special prizes were on offer during the year.

This is the final pre-Christmas 2019 challenge and the theme is Anything Goes, or as we're calling it:

Challenge #26 - Last Minute Madness: 

If it's Christmassy, link it up!

Any last minute makes, cards you forgot to blog or Christmas 2020 early-bird creations, just add them to the linky!

Here's one I made earlier today. You can find the details about this cute little Santa and his wobbly belly here.

Rudolph has a sweet prize for his final Random Raffle of the year....

             

We both hope you'll play along for the chance of winning some pretty papers and a cute snow flurry stencil.

I'll be back in a few days with the results of Challenge #25.

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.
• 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

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #24

Wow, there are now only 17 sleeps until Christmas! Thank goodness we've all been making cards together throughout 2019.

You guys really hit the heights of fabulousness with your Santa cards and made selecting just a few a very tough challenge indead. Thankfully I had my trusty elf, Gail, on hand to help me out. Thanks for being my wingman yet again, hun, you're a star!

Our Top Picks look like this:

Sally

Such a sweet little Santa.

Joyfully Stamps

Fabulous alternative transport for the jolly man in red.

Jane

A beautifully coloured Santa.

And topping the tree for this challenge is:

Sherri T

Sherri's card just 'hit the spot' for both of us!

Congratulations to you all, please grab your blog badges.

Rudolph's here to announce his Random Raffle winner...

Congratulations, Suze, it's you!

Suze, if you could please contact me at dottypudding@aol.com with your snail mail address, I'll get your prize winging its way across the miles to you.

Once again, a very big thank you to everyone who played along - as always your cards were stunning! There will be some very lucky people opening those beauties during the next few weeks.

Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story is open at the moment, and myself and returning elf Janis, would love you to come and play in the penultimate challenge of 2019.

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story

Welcome to Challenge #25! Are we feeling Christmassy yet? Not long now until the big day is finally here - thank goodness we've all been making Christmas cards for so long! Just need the time to write them now...

This is a very special challenge; first of all I'm delighted to welcome back the lovely Janis from Her Peaceful Garden who was my very first elf all the way back in January.

 

The second reason this feels special is because of the theme:

Challenge #25 - The Christmas Story

What better challenge as we count down to that most special of days, remember the reason for the season and celebrate the birth of that very special baby.

Janis has created a glorious special-fold card in blue, cream and gold for this challenge.

Just look at that stunning inside with the sky filled with stars above that beautiful manger scene. You can visit Janis's blog here to find out how she created her beautiful card.

Here's my card for the challenge. You can find the details on my blog.

We'd love to see your Stars, Wise Men, donkeys, shepherds, angels, cribs and anything that links to the Christmas story.

Rudolph is cock-a-hoop to announce that we have a very special prize

 for his Random Raffle for this challenge.

The lovely Jane from Jane's Doodles is offering a $25.00 voucher. Jane has a gorgeous range of stamps, including some beautiful Christmas images and I'm very grateful that she's agreed to sponsor Challenge #25. BTW, she currently has some of her Christmas sets on sale!

Hope you will join us and play along!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter