Christmas Kickstart Challenge

Monday, May 15, 2023

Challenge #74 - Reminder Time

Hi there, we're playing with an awesome colour palette this month chosen by our very talented elfin friend Gundi from Papierelle.

Here's a reminder of our colour combo:

Gundi has very kindly created a second card using these colours just to show how versatile a palette this is. Thanks so much, Gundi, this is simply adorable. You can see Gundi's reminder post here.

Here's Gundi's original card - you can really tell from both cards how she's studied that pretty palette of colours.

I loved everything about Gundi's first card and was genuinely floored for a couple of days as to which elements to draw on for my Inspired by... card. In the end I found a wood block oldie from Hero Arts and created the background for my card. You can find all the details here.

Rudolph has a lovely Randon Raffle Prize on offer for this challenge...

Gundi and I both hope you'll come and play along!

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #73

Welcome back to Christmas Kickstart, where it's time to do a little Tree Trimming for Challenge #73 where we played Gnome for Christmas with elfin inspiration from Gail aka Crafty Nomad. Thanks, Gail, it's always great to have you wear the elf hat!

After a slowish start we had some brilliant cards for this challenge and picking cards to showcase has been tricky, but fun - yet again, you guys created some fab cards for our theme.

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#1 - Becca

Love this sweet, cozy scene!

#24 - Arlene

What a beautifully made, and fabulously punny, box card!

#18 - Stef

Isn't this a great colour combo, and we love the torn edges too.

Our Winner and Tree Topper for this week is:

#22 - Fabiola

Isn't this just such a fun card! A cute quartet of colourful, quirky gnomies.

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

Ooooo, look, here's Rudolph to award his Random Raffle Prize...

#7 - Chrissy... It's you!

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

Thanks again to everyone who played along with this challenge - you guys are just the best. Thanks also to Gail for being our elfin muse and picking this fun theme.

A new challenge is already underway and we have a brand new elf who has created a gorgeous inspiration card, so please take a look!

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Challenge #74 - Colour Palette Fun!

I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that we're now entering the fifth month of this year, but we are so let's get going on our brand, new Challenge!

I'm delighted to welcome my sweet pal Gundi from Papierelle as our elf for this month.

"Hello, I'm Gundi and I live in Michendorf, Germany. I live with my family - my husband, son, 3 cats and a dog in a small community in the woods. I always have been creative. Even as a little child I was in love with paper and colored pencils. About 14 years ago I discovered card making and for about 11 years I have been around in blog land. I don't have a definitive style, as I always enjoy trying out new techniques. That is reflected in my blog name papierelle. My other passions are reading, gardening, camping and hiking."

Gundi has chosen a gorgeous colour palette for our challenge...

Challenge #74 - Colour Palette Fun!

And just look what she's created!

Isn't her card beautiful? I love how she's taken so much from the inspiration picture and incorporated it into her card, and her use of the colours is stunning! Thank you so much, Gundi, you've totally rocked this challenge and no mistake. You can find all the details about Gundi's card by heading over to her blog.

Here's what I made for the challenge... You can read about my card here.

Here's Rudolph with his Random Raffle Prize for May:

This is a great little Die and Stamp set and a lovely potential prize for anyone who enters the challenge, follows the guidelines and get's drawn from Rudolph's special Random Raffle hat!

Gundi and I can't wait to see what you create using this inspiration!

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.

Monday, April 17, 2023

Let's Trim the Tree for Challenge #72

It's Tree Trimming time again as we look back at Challenge #72 where Monika from Tinker Cards and I asked you to Get Wrapped Up for Christmas!

Thanks so much for being our elf for this challenge, Monika, it was great fun chatting and getting to know you as the month progressed. We wanted to see Scarves for this challenge and you guys certainly didn't disappoint as we had 50 fabulously cosy creations in the linky gallery! Thanks so much to all our participants. Your cards were all so lovely that it was really tricky to pick just a few favourites, but this is what we came up with:

Our Top Picks for this challenge are:

#12 - Dawn

Just look at this cute couple sharing a scarf! Love the embossed snowflakes too.

#16 - Darnell

Genius!

#1 - Barb

Beyond cute, and so beautifully put together too!

Our Winner and Tree Topper for this week is:

#46 - Fran

Doesn't that deer look cosy? We both love this witty take on our theme.

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

Finally, there's just time to announce the winner of Rudolph's Random Raffle:

#14 - Gail (Crafty Nomad)... It's you!

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

Thanks again to Monika for wearing her elf hat for this one, it was great partnering with you! The current challenge is underway, but needs a few more cards in the gallery so please break out your gnomes and come join the fun!

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Challenge #73 - Reminder Post

Hi there, Kickstarters, I hope you're having a fab day. This month we're all about Gnomes as we play...

Challenge #73 - Gnome for Christmas

We have the lovely Gail from Crafty Nomad as our elf and here's a quick reminder of the delightful rocker card she made as her inspiration piece for the challenge

I just fell in love with Gail's card and decided to shamelessly CASE it! It rocks like a dream.

You can find all the details of how I made my card by clicking here.

Don't forget that Rudolph's Random Raffle is for this cute little penguin stamp set and everyone who follows the challenge guidelines will go into the draw for this little cutie.

Gail and I can't wait to see what you make for this challenge!

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Challenge #73 - Gnome for Christmas

It's time for Challenge #73 here at Christmas Kickstart and we've got one of our regular elves dropping by to supply the inspiration... Welcome back, Gail, it's always great to have you here!

Our theme for this challenge (chosen by Gail) is...

Challenge #73 - Gnome for Christmas

We'd like to see your Gnomes and Gnomettes for this challenge, please.

Here's what Gail created... Isn't it brilliant? I love her fun trio of rocking gnomes.

Here's my card...

Isn't this Santa Gnome adorably cute? I had fun colouring him and only hope that he isn't stuck in that chimney pot! You can find all the details by visiting my blog by clicking here.

It wouldn't be Christmas Kickstart without Rudolph and his Random Raffle and here he is with his prize for this challenge:

Admittedly, not a gnome, but a very cute prize all the same. Nice work, Rudolph.

Rudolph has asked me to add the Challenge Guidelines to this post so that everyone knows what they have to do to be eligible for his Random Raffle. So here they are: