Reminder Post for Challenge #67

Hi there, it is just me or is Reminder Post time coming round a little quicker the nearer we get to Christmas?

This month we have a fabulous guest and a fabulous theme as we play...

in the company of the lovely Janet from Swanlady - Impressions.

Janet created a gorgeous card to kickstart our challenge, which you can see by clicking here. Not only did Janet create one card for this challenge, she created a whole gaggle of cards and here they all are looking glorious!

For my inspired by card I hunted through my stash and found a Woodware Poinsettia background to work with. Janet's cards are beautifully CAS and I love how she has so much white space on each design. I 'borrowed' Janet's black sentiment on a white space and die cut the background to create a window. However, the card just didn't look right until I stamp and coloured a second background and cut two poinsettia to soften the centre of the card. Again, I was inspired to do this because of the dimension Janet had achieved with her cards. 

This is so different to my usual style but I enjoyed the challenge of working with a stamp set that wouldn't have otherwise seen the light of day. 

There are currently twenty-three amazing cards in the gallery. If you haven't got a poinsettia stamp then any Christmas florals will be just fine and Janet and I look forward to seeing yet more beautiful flowery creations before the challenge closes at the end of the month.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #66

It's Tree trimming Time here again at Christmas Kickstart! 

Challenge #66 was very popular with 42 lovely cards in the gallery - thank you so much!

And thank you so much to our elf Tina in Slovenia and her gorgeous inspiration card which got this challenge rolling. Tina was poorly in the middle of this challenge, so, please, can we all send her lots of healing vibes for her continued progress. Thankyou, Tina, it was lovely partnering with you.

Our theme was...

and we were blown away by the variety of the entries for this challenge. Choosing our Top Picks and Winner was tricky, but this is what we came up with:

#18 - Fabiola

We both love Fabiola's little street scene in pencil crayon on kraft.

# 23 - Linda

The details on Linda's fabulous snow globe card card are amazing!

#35 - Dawn

Dawn's beautiful placement of the different elements of her card make it a real stunner.

#28 - Fran

As with Dawn's card, placement is everything for this creation too! 

Add in a colour combo that makes me go weak at the knees 

and you can see why Fran made our Top Picks!

Our Winner for this challenge is this Tree Topping card by

#24 - Julie K

A swooningly beautiful creation with fabulous attention to detail.

Congratulations to Fabiola, Linda, Dawn, Fran and our challenge winner, Julie. Please grab your badges - we hope you enjoy them!

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

 

It's YOU, #29 - Nicola G

Nicola, please drop me an email with your snail mail address at dottypudding (at) aol (dot) com so I can connect you with your prize.

Once again, congrats to our winners, a very big thank you to everyone who played along and very many thanks to Tina for being our September elfin muse!

The new Christmas Kickstart Challenge has already started, so why not click here to meet our new elf AND discover the great theme she picked for Challenge #67! 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #67 - Poinsettias and Posies

Happy October, everyone! 

I'm thrilled to be joined by the very talented Janet from Swanlady - Impressions as our elfin muse this month. 

"I’m a Zimbabwean Born, South African raised, Mauritian settled, enthusiast of all things paper, ink, stamps etc. I started stamping 28 years ago and it’s amazing how the craft has developed with amazing new products over the years. I also enjoy scrapping, watercoloring, decoupage, crochet, sewing, baking, gardening and reading.  I love creating and want to do it all but there are just not enough hours in the day!  I love using colour when I create -  especially blues, greens and rainbows.  I find that I am gravitating towards CAS more and more but I as I can’t resist playing with techniques it can be a challenge."

I'm a huge fan of Janet's stunning cards and I know you'll love what she's created for this challenge. It's great to have you here, Janet, thanks so much.

Our theme, chosen by Janet, is

Challenge #67 - Poinsettias and Posies 

Here's how Janet interpreted our theme...

Just look at the layers and that stencilling - such stunning details. You can find out how Janet made this beautiful card by clicking here to visit her blog. 

And here's my take on the challenge; same theme, yet so completely different in design.

The handsome Rudolph is here to join the fun and he's chosen a great little prize for his Randon Raffle this month.

Just look at all those gorgeous border stamps - nice work, Rudolph!  Please remember to read the Challenge Guidelines so you can be in the drawer to win this prize.

Challenge Rules and Guidelines: 

• 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 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. 
• 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.

Janet and I both look forward top seeing what you create!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #66 - Reminder

 

It's Reminder time for our current challenge here at Christmas Kickstart - doesn't time fly when you're making cards!

Our elfin guest this month is the lovely Tina from Slovenia. 

Tina picked a super theme for our September challenge...

and here's another look at her beautiful card:

Isn't it stunning? I just love all the detail and Tina's use of colour and embelishments.

Making an 'Inspired by...' card wasn't going to be easy as there's so much to delight and inspire in Tina's creation, but here's what I came up with:

I borrowed some of Tina's colour palette, and also the gorgeous deer to create something very CAS. As always, this card looks so much better IRL and please excuse the shadow at the side of the picture - it's from some plants in the garden which were closer than I thought. 

 

Rudolph has a lovely Santa prize for us, so please don't forget to read the Challenge Guidelines so you can enter his Random Raffle Draw!

Tina and I very much hope you'll come and play along with this fun challenge!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #65

It's Tree trimming Time here again at Christmas Kickstart - don't the months just fly by!

I was joined for this challenge by the one and only Gail from Craftynomad and she picked our fun theme of Never in a Nativity! 

While I'm not sure everyone quite grasped what was required for this challenge, we had some amazing entries and so picking just a few to showcase has been very difficult in indeed.

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

Cindy

Isn't this little gnome just so much fun! Such a witty, sweet design.

And Cindy created another gorgeous piece of whimsical magic 

with her second entry for the challenge. 

Fabiola

Just look at that gorgeous colour combo and beautifully placed Frosty.

Rina

Isn't this just joyful! Love that mosaic circle and colour combo too.

Our Winner and Tree Topper for this week is:

Elizabeth

A traditional colour combo, two adorable Grumpling Elves 

and a snarky sentiment - you spoil us, Eliz, you really do!

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

Last, but never, ever least, we have Rudolph with the result of his Random Raffle draw...

 

Congratulations

# 58 Merry and Bright/Pam - it's you!

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

Thanks again to Gail for her elfin activities and to everyone who played along - the gallery was truly awesome for this challenge. 

Our new challenge is already up and running, so why not come, join the fun and get making those Christmas cards.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #66 - Home for the Holidays

 

I'm delighted to be welcoming Tina from Treebug as our elf for this month! 

"Hi. I am Tina and I live in Slovenia, a country well known for its stunning nature. I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have one daughter and two sons. I started cardmaking in 2010 when my husband bought me my green Cuttlebug and the rest is history. I don’t have any specific style, I just love playing with papers and trying different styles and new techniques. You can find more about me on my blog (http://www.treebug.org/). The name incorporates my passion for the environment (»tree«) and card making (»bug« is short for my green Cuttlebug). I was very happy  when Jo asked me to be a Guest Elf for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge because I love making Christmas cards. Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing all your Christmas inspiration in the gallery."

Tina has chosen a lovely theme for us to play with in September 

Challenge #66 - Home for the Holidays

We'd love to see cards with houses, homes, fireside scenes, cityscapes - whatever the phrase conjures up for you!

Here's what Tina made to get us started...

Isn't this just a beaut! What a great colour combo, and I love the sweet Winter scene and Tina's choice of embellishments. Take a look at Tina's blog for all the info on her gorgeous card.

It's hard to believe we're playing the same challenge, but here's what I made...

Just shows how much choice there is with our theme! You can find all the details of how I made my card on my blog here.

The lovely Rudolph is here with a lovely prize for his Random Raffle. 

 

Nice choice, Rudolph! I love that spaghetti beard, and who doesn't need a Santa Hat, cute glasses and some Ho's in their craft stash??!! 

Tina and I hope you'll come and play along with our challenge. Don't forget to read through the rules before entering.

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. 
• 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