In Memory of Janis

Hi guys, I just wanted to post a few words today to remember our dear blogging friend Janis Woolbright, who sadly passed away earlier this month. 

Many of us got to know Janis through her Cat Lovers Blog Hop, which took place each year in October and must have been a herculean task for her to organise.  Janis hosted the hop on her sweetly named blog Her Peaceful Garden, where her son James posted the sad news of her passing on Friday 6th January. 

I'd been chatting with Janis just before Christmas and had been planning to ask her to be my elf again later this year. During the conversation she was full of concern for me and my family and made no mention of her own health worries, brushing aside my queries with her usual humour and endless concern for others. 

Janis was my first elf here at Christmas Kickstart and created this adorable card for our Festive Felines Challenge. 

She kindly made a return visit in the same year for Challenge #25 when we played with The Christmas Story as our theme. 

 

Her encouragement and support were invaluable when I first began this crazy Christmas Kickstart adventure and I will be forever grateful for the help and ideas she supplied. 

Her son James has been very kind in keeping in contact with her cardmaking friends, and I was especially touched by his comments about how crafting played a big part in her life:

'As her health continued to falter, she continued to keep busy, working in her garden as she was able (until she finally retired from it last year), and returned to her old interest in cardmaking and papercrafting, which became her most satisfying hobby and occupied her last years.  She entered her greeting cards in contests on the internet and won many prizes and delighted in sending them to friends both online and offline.  Her most successful venture was the annual Cat Lovers Hop that she created and hosted on her blog, which drew entries from cardmakers all around the world.'

I'm glad her family have a sense of what a special part of our crafting community Janis has been and how much we will miss her. I'm know you'll all want to join me in sending love and special thoughts to Jim, James, Betsy and all her family during this weekend which will see her memorial service and burial take place at at St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Kamiah, Idaho. 

Challenge #70 - Reminder Post

 

How's your January going? I hope you're getting plenty of crafting time!

I'm joined this month by Beverly from Bev's Creative Path and we're playing with Stencils and Masks.

To inspire us for this challenge Bev created this adorable snowman card and matching envelope.

I really struggled not to simply just CASE Bev's card as I love the design, colours and everything about it, but I came up with this as my 'inspired by...' creation.

  

I borrowed Bev's big, white snowflake stencilling, snowman (x 2) and spotty scarf. There's a mish-mash of different card company's stamps on this one, but they seem to hang together quite well.

You can see the details for this card and another make for this theme over on my blog.

    

Rudolph starts the year with a sweet little prize from LOTV as his Random Raffle offering. Don't forget to read the Challenge Guidelines before entering as Ruddy can get quite grumpy when participants enter too many challenges and can't be awarded their prize!  

 

Beverly and I can't wait to see your Stencilled and/or masked creations!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

It's Time To Trim the Tree for Challenge #69.

Hi everyone, I hope that your New Year is going well and that you've managed to squeeze in some time in your craft rooms.

For the final challenge of 2022 we played the by now traditional If It's Christmassy, Link It Up! and an amazing 170 of you joined the fun. Thank you so much to everyone who linked to this challenge. I'm hoping to comment on all the posts, but if I don't make it please forgive me.

Yet again, the cards for this challenge were so inspirational.

The Top Picks for this challenge are:

#2 - Stephanie

The colours and CAS design that Stephanie has chosen make this a very special card.

#73 - Valerie

The positioning of the partial circle feature takes this card to the next level.

#98 - Fabiola

Just look at that colour combo and such a harmonious design.

                                                         

#102 - Suze

This one tickled my funny bone and no mistake!

Our Winner and Tree Topper for this week is:

#143 - Janet

Isn't this beautiful? The embossing background is the perfect foil for the gorgeous, larger image.

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

Once again, thank to everyone who played along. There were plenty of regular players, plus some new friends in the gallery and I look forward to all of you joining the fun here at Christmas Kickstart during 2023. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Rudolph picked a lovely prize for his final Random Raffle of the year and our lucky winner is...  

#137 - Lynne in NI...  It's you!

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

Our first challenge of 2023 is already underway and I know you'll love the card created by our January elf, Beverly, so please come and join the fun! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #70 - Stencils and Masks

Happy New Year and welcome to Challenge #70 or as we'll call it today - the first Christmas Kickstart Challenge of 2023.  

I'm delighted to welcome the lovely Beverly from Bev's Creative Path as our first elf for 2023.

"I am a domestic engineer and freelance project designer living in rural Alabama. I enjoy reading and going to the movies with my daughters, but most days you can find me in my studio happily working on my art." 

Thanks for coming to play at Christmas Kickstart, Beverly, it's great to have you here!

Our theme for Challenge #70 is Masks and Stencils

Just look at what our brilliant elf made for this theme...

Isn't this just adorable. Anyone else feel a sudden urge to CASE the heck outta this one? 

Here's what I made for the challenge...

It wouldn't be Kickstart without the amazing Rudolph and here he is with his first Random Raffle of 2023.

The prize is a sweet Lili of the Valley grey rubber stamp called Two fairies and Stocking.

Please remember to read the Challenge Guidelines before linking-up to this challenge. here they are just for a little reminder:

• Like and/or follow this blog either via Blogger or Bloglovin, or Email.
• 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 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. 
• 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.

 

Beverly and I can't wait to see your new year creations!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Happy New Year, and thank you!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to drop by and say a very BIG thank you to everyone who has visited, played along or supported The Christmas Kickstart during 2022. You guys make it all worth while and I'm so grateful to each and every one of you!

Here's a badge I made a while back but never used... I think 2023 is the time to give it an airing. If you'd like to display it on your blog that would be fab!

This isn't going to turn into an Oscar acceptance speech, but I do also want to thank our fabulous elves for 2022. Here they are again...

January 2022 - Rainbow Christmas

Cornelia from Stempel Spass

February 2022 - The Sentiment takes Centre Stage

Jen from Jenerally Speaking

March 2022 - Snowflakes Are Winter's Butterflies

Carol from Inkyfingers 

April 2022 - From My Gnome To Yours

Gail from Craftynomad

May 2022 - Mini-Slimline

Arlene from A Bit of This and That

June 2022 - Pawfectly Pawesome

Di from Pixy's Crafty Workshop

July 2022 - Show Us Your Snowfolk

Helen from Helen's Craft Haven

August 2022 - Never in a Nativity

Gail from Crafty Nomad

 September 2022 - Home for the Holidays

Tina from Treebug

October 2022 - Poinsettias and Posies

Janet from Swanlady Impressions

November 2022 - Trees, Trees, Trees

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers

Thanks for all the inspiration, friendship and fun!

I'll be back on Tuesday 3rd with our first elf of 2023 AND a fun, new theme to commence another year of Christmas Kickstarting. Take care and see you soon!