Friday, August 15, 2025

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

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Let's trim the Tree for Challenge #100



A huge thank you to everyone who joined the fun and frolics that were Challenge #100! 

I was so touched by your lovely comments, and totally blown away by the gorgeous cards you guys made. Massive thanks also to my partner in crafting: the one and only Gail from Crafty Nomad. Gail picked a great theme and our total haul of seventy-six cards proved this.





There were so many beautiful, witty and fun circular creations for our challenge and choosing a few to showcase has taken us a couple of days, but here they come...

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#43 - Michele

Anyone else spit their coffee with laughter when 
they saw Santa doing a Miley Cyrus? Bravo, Michele. 


So cute and funny, and beautifully made.

The perfect way to play our challenge with a circular easel card!


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

Congratulations to our current Elf, Greta, on her win! 
Just look at all the circles on her beautiful card. We both love it!

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


Finally, here's Rudolph with his Random Raffle Results for Challenge #100, and don't forget this month we have TWO lucky random winners:




#22 Denise... It's you!
#58 Marcia... It's you too!

Congratulations, Denise B and Marcia H! Please email me a dottypudding (at) aol.com with your snail mail address so I can connect you with your prizes. 

Once again, thank you so much to everyone who played along with Challenge #100. It's you guys that bring the fun and I am so appreciative of the fact that you turn up and share your creativity in my little corner of Blogland. 

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #101 - Let's Wreath it Up!

 


We're steaming-on through 2025 and no mistake. It's August, people, August!

Being the first Tuesday of the new month means it's time to launch a new challenge here at The Christmas Kickstart

I'm so happy to welcome back a very special Cardland friend, the lovely Greta, as our Elf for August. Thanks so much for joining us again, Greta, it's always fun to hang out with you. If you've not visited Greta's blog I urge you to head there this very second as her cards are a total delight and so inspiring.

 
Greta has chosen a lovely theme for our new challenge...

Challenge #101 - Let's Wreath it Up!

Yes, we'd like to see a wreath or multiple wreaths on your cards, please. 

Here's what Greta has created to get us in the mood. Told you she makes amazing cards!

I'm just swooning!

Here's what I made for our challenge. 

I grabbed my pencils and coloured Petunia Loves Christmas from Stampingbella.

His Rudolphness is here with a brand new prize for his Random Raffle Draw

 


*Sigh* I wish Heffy Doodle was still in business, but am so glad that Rudolph bagged a few stamp sets before they closed. Please remember to read the Challenge Guidelines before entering.  

Greta and I can't wait to see what you make for this challenge - have fun! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Challenge #100 - Hold the Front Page...

 


Hi guys, I'm loving all your entries for Challenge #100 - just keep 'em coming!

I wanted to drop by and share this little piece of wonderment created by our Elfin Muse, Gail. Surely, only Gail could involve Boris Karloff in our current challenge. 

Isn't this just brilliant!?!


If you'd like to find out more about Gail's card, plus see Boris on the move, please head over to her blog and leave her some love!

There's still plenty of time left to enter our current challenge, and don't forget there are prizes...

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

The Christmas Kickstart Challenge #100 - Reminder

 


It's REMINDER time here at The Christmas Kickstart Challenge! 

We're celebrating a milestone challenge in the very good company of my dear friend, Gail from CraftyNomad.

We're playing...

Challenge #100 - Merry go round


Here's Gail's card from the launch post...


I have to say that the more I look at this card the more I love it! The pup is Taco John from LCDand I love that Gail added a Santa hat at a jaunty angle for extra festive fun. Just look  how Gail created a stripey background and nestled John in amongst a bevvy of baubles. Nice!

Gail's attention to detail is top notch as she has then stamped Ho, Ho, Ho into each bauble. I love the tone-on-tone look of the baubles and so grabbed that look as the inspiration for my card!

I used Wow! Confetti Circle stencil set for my circle and spots, and then added a tone-on-tone snowflake and greeting using (now retired) Snowflake Season from Reverse Confetti



Rudolph has done us proud for this celebration challenge and he's offering a prize for not one but two lucky randomly drawn winners.




Lovely!

 


Gail and I hope you'll come and join the fun!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #99


Well, June and the middle of the year really flew by at top speed! I hate to say it but the calendar has tipped and it's all down hill to the Festive Season! 

We had the lovely Dani with us throughout June as our elf, and she picked the fun theme of Christmas Critters for us to play. We had #51 fabulous entries for this challenge - which might just be a record for a June challenge. 




Thanks so much for inspiring us with your adorable card, Dani. It's been lovely partnering with you for this challenge. 

With so many amazing entries it was always going to be hard to just choose a few to showcase, but we narrowed it down and here come our Top Picks and Winner:

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#1 - Meghan

Meghan's gorgeous colour palette and sweet design is as charming as it is fun.


Linda's scene is adorable, and we both love how she's used blue and green on her card.


#34 - Bobby

Just look at Bobby's gorgeous backdrop for her cute critters!


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


Helen's card is beautifully coloured, and so much fun.

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


Finally, here's Rudolph with the result of his RANDOM RAFFLE DRAW for June...
 





#12 Jeanne H. - It's you!

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

Huge thanks again to Dani, and to everyone who played along with this challenge. Challenge #100 is in full swing and I really hope that you'll all come and join the fun!

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #100 - Merry-go-round!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! It's Challenge #100 here at The Christmas Kickstart.

I'm delighted to be in the company of my dear friend Gail for this challenge. Thanks so much, Gail, there's no one else I'd rather celebrate this milestone with.

 

Gail has chosen a brilliant, fun theme for Challenge #100 and it's...

Merry-go-round!

We'd like to see your spots, dots and circles this month, please. 

Here's what Gail has created to get us in the mood:

Isn't this just the best! You can find all the details for Gail's brilliant pup card by visiting her blog.

And here's my card: 


Dots, spots and circles a'plenty, and such fun to make.

You can head over to my blog to find out how I created this simple, but fun little card.

Rudolph has pulled-out an extra special prize for this month's Random Raffle Draw and has decided that there will be TWO lucky RANDOM WINNERS in honour of our 100th Challenge. 


 

Thanks, Rudolph, that's a great idea!

Gail and I can't wait to see how you play our theme. Please remember to read the challenge guidelines and please remember that the challenge theme should clearly be the inspiration for your card. A few cards are beginning to creep into the gallery that don't appear to be inspired by this challenge. This just makes Rudolph grumpy and means that the designer will be omitted from his Random Draw. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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