The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #103 - Snow Alert!

Anyone got SNOW yet? 

I'm delighted to welcome the very lovely Loll from Stamping with Loll as our elf for this month. Please take time to drop by and take a look at Loll's blog - she is one seriously talented lady!

"Hi everyone.  I’ve been having fun with this amazing hobby for 20+ years, sharing my cards on my blog, Stamping with Loll for the past 14 years.  This hobby has brought many wonderful people into my life, and I am truly grateful. 

I spend some time creating cards most days, with my sweet dog Jessie by my side.  I am a CAS (clean and simple) girl at heart, but I also enjoy learning new techniques, so my style of card making has changed over the years.

My favourite cards to make are for Christmas.  I try to make at least 80 Christmas cards a year to share with friends and family, as well as donating to charity.  I start in January, creating throughout the year.  Challenges play a big part in my card making by keeping me motivated and inspired.

I’m so excited to be Guest Designing this month at Christmas Kickstart!  Thanks for inviting me, Jo! "

Loll has picked a fun theme for our challenge together:

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #103 - Snow Alert

This month we'd like to see some snow on your cards. You can have snowflakes or drifts of the white stuff - the choice is yours and we can't wait to see what you create!

Here what Loll made to get us in the creative mood:

 

You can read all about how Loll made he beautiful card by heading to her blog here. The more I look at this card the more I love it!

I went monochrome for my first card for our Challenge. 

I like how pleased with him/herself the little bear looks. 

Finally, it's time for our favourite reindeer to share his Random Raffle Prize for this month:

 

Loll and I both hope you'll come and play along with us for our snow-themed challenge. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #102

 

Our October Challenge doesn't start until Tuesday next week so this gives me plenty of time to Trim the Tree for Challenge #102. 

Before the prizegiving begins I'd like to say a huge thank you to the very lovely Leslie for being our Elf this month. 

 

We had some really beautiful cards for this challenge and once again you guys just crafted your hearts out. Thanks goodness Leslie and I could share the responsibility of picking just a few to showcase.

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#7 Michele

Isn't Michele's Santa Mouse just the sweetest!

#12 Silke

We both loved Silke's simple, but oh, so effective design and fabulous colour palette.

#14 - Loll

Just look at the snow on Loll's card, and her beautiful colouring too.

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

#15 - Trina

The light from that beautiful moon in Trina's fun card is simply stunning!

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

Here's Rudolph with the result of this month's Random Raffle Drawer... 

The Reindeer!

 

The Prize!

#12 - Silke...  It's you!

Congratulations, Silke, what a good day for you! Please email me a dottypudding (at) aol.com with your snail mail address so I can connect you with your prize. 

Once again, many thanks to Elf Leslie for her inspiration and total loveliness. There will be a brand new challenge starting next Tuesday so please drop by and play along!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #102 - Reminder

Welcome back to Challenge #102 here at The Christmas Kickstart. We're in very talented company this month as we have the lovely Leslie from Running with Scissors as our Elfin muse!

Leslie has very kindly created another super card as we continue to play:

Challenge #102 - Santa in September

Isn't Leslie's card just so much fun! You can find all the details of how Leslie made this beauty over on her blog here. 

Here's a reminder of Leslie's first card for our challenge:

And here's my Inspired by... creation:

I loved that Leslie had used a die cut Santa image and so I decided to do the same. I included design paper, a shaped window, an embossed snowy background, gifts with bows and a die cut sentiment from Leslie's original. I felt that Santa needed some googly eyes and I'm so glad I had some in my stash.

Finally, here's Rudolph with his September Random Raffle prize. 

Don't forget to read the Challenge Guidelines before linking up, please. 

Leslie and I are looking forward to seeing your Santa creations!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #101

It's that time again, folks! Yes, we're Trimming the Tree for Challenge #101.

A huge and heartfelt thank you to our lovely elf, Greta. As always, it was a joy to have Greta's company here at The Christmas Kickstart - thanks so much to you, my dear friend.

I'm also so grateful that Greta picked a lovely theme for us to play. There were so many gorgeous and inspiring cards in the gallery this month and just choosing a few to showcase has been super tricky.

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#10 - Betty

Isn't this just darling? 

#28 - Darnell

Such an elegant card.

#42 - Gail

Punchy and eye-catching... so striking!

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

#15 - Marcia

Don't these two just grab your heart with both flippers, 

and just look at the beautiful stenciling.

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

 

Rudolph bagged us some Heffy Doodle sweetness as the prize his August Random Raffle...

 

and so who is our winner this month?

# 2 - Karen Walker... It's you!

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

A big thank you once again to Greta, and also to everyone who played along. You guys really bring the fun and it's a real privilege to put on this little challenge for you each month.

Our September challenge is already underway and we have the lovely Leslie from Running With Scissors as our Elfin muse this month, so why not come and join us!

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge Challenge #102 - Santa in September

 

Happy September to you all! 

I'm completely delighted to welcome back the lovely Leslie from Running With Scissors to be our Elf for this month. Leslie first guested here just over a year ago when we played Festive Frames together in July 2024. That was such a popular theme and we had some great entries. 

Once again, Leslie, has picked a fun theme for us and this month we'll be playing:

Challenge #102 - Santa in September!

Take a look at what Leslie has created for our new challenge - isn't this just darling!

You can find all the info about Leslie's sweet card by heading to her blog here. Please head on over and leave her some love.

This is my offering for our Santa challenge:

I bought the Santa image as part of a set from eBay, but have no idea of the manufacturer.

Finally, here's everyone's favourite reindeer with this month's prize for Rudolph's Random Raffle draw...

 Fun Crafter's Companion text stamp

Please take a read of the Challenge Guidelines before you enter.

Leslie and I both hope you'll come and join us as we play Santa in September!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Challenge #101 - Let's Wreath it Up! Reminder

 

I'm delighted that we have the very lovely and talented Greta as our Elfin Muse for August. I love that Greta headed her launch post: 'On Elf Duty'. So cute.

We've had some of the classiest, loveliest cards for this challenge thus far - Greta certainly picked the perfect challenge theme for us!

Just take a look at the beautiful card Greta has created for our Reminder!

You can visit her blog here to find out all the details and to leave her some love.

 

Here's what Greta made to kickstart her Elfin Mission with us:

Isn't Greta's card a dream? I was going to talk through the things I love about her card, but where do I start as everything is simply stunning, STUNNING! I love the big cream bow, the different shades of green AND the sparkly red accents, the placement and style of the gorgeous sentiment, the thin red border. It's all just lovely and totally harmonious.

OK, I'll stop the whole fan girl stuff! Here's what I made, inspired by Greta's card... I wanted to place my sentiment and bow at 5 to 5 just like her original, but it just wouldn't work. Thankfully, everything else seemed to fit together nicely.

I had so much fun CASE-ing/being-inspired-by Greta's card 😉.  I know I made a much more visually interesting card because I drew on Greta's superior design abilities and her adorable signature style! Thanks, Greta!

Here's Cool Dude Rudy with his Random Raffle Prize for August...

Greta and I both hope you'll come Wreath it Up with us before the end of the month.

Hey, are you an Instagrammer? 

Be sure to use the hashtag #christmaskickstartchallenge on your projects.  

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter