CHNC challenge 48: vintage and/or distressed

It's a bit scary that we're up to challenge 48 today. With only 52 weeks in the year, this really emphasises how little time there is now to get those Christmas cards done. . There weren't so many entries for last week's challenge, so perhaps you've all been so good and made most of your Christmas cards by now - or perhaps 'music' wasn't everyone's 'cuppa tea'! I very much enjoyed dipping into the blog entries and seeing all the amazing cards - such creativity and variety.

Challenge 48

So here we are at challenge 48 and for this I'm asking you to make a card with a vintage style and/or distressed. At this stage of the year the idea is to get those remaining Christmas cards done, so there's a bit of poetic licence with this challenge - please just give your card a vintage or distressed look - perhaps an image/picture that conjures up the thoughts of Christmas past.

This is my card - you can read more about it and see the challenges I've entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here.

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to make a card with a vintage theme - apart from that, anything goes.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 2 December. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 3 December - and, as this will be the first Saturday in the month, there will be a prize from a new sponsor for a randomly chosen winner.

And speaking of sponsorship I'm getting excited about next year - I have quite a few new sponsors lined up and some prize gifts as well.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

I look forward to seeing your creations.

CHNC challenge 47: music

What a wonderful range of Christmas cards for last week's challenge, some gorgeous 'candle' cards from those who took the theme literally and some other wonderful entries that used the 'whatever lights your candle' theme in the wider sense - they were all fantastic - thank you for sharing.

We are, of course, getting close to Christmas now - how come it creeps up on us so quickly in the end? I really must get more organised because, apart from making cards throughout the year, I've hardly done anything else towards Christmas preparations - and I probably still need to make a lot of cards for us to use because I've still got one more opportunity to sell next Saturday.

Challenge 47

So here we are at challenge 47 and for this I'm asking you to include music in some way on your card - you can interpret this however you wish - anything that has a musical connection, so, for instance, a group of carol singers would be fine. I'm sure that you can come up with several ideas for this - I look forward to seeing them.

This is my card - you can read more about it and see the challenges I've entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here.

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to make a card with a musical theme - apart from that, anything goes.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 25 November. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 26 November.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

I look forward to seeing your creations.

CHNC challenge 46: whatever lights your candle

Wow! What a fantastic response to last week's challenge - there were so many entries - more and more every day, so many I could hardly believe what was happening! It was lovely to see new people showing their bright colours and sparkly cards as well as many 'regulars' contributing. Christmas is certainly on its way and now is the time to seriously get on with making more cards.

It's time to announce the winner of the prize for last week, randomly drawn - unfortunately, there can only be one winner and random.org has picked:

Number 65: Cindy Pointe

with this lovely card:

Please email me with your name and full address and I'll get the packs of Eno craft toppers into the post.

Now on to this week's challenge:

Challenge 46

For this week my challenge is whatever lights your candle. Now, you can either take this literally and include a candle on your card or perhaps another form of light - a star, a lantern, a lamp post ... or you can take the phrase to mean 'whatever you like', which should give you plenty of freedom! The main thing is to get on and make those Christmas cards. I so enjoy visiting your blogs and seeing what you have created, so please keep the cards coming. Perhaps we'll have another week of a bumper number of entries.

I've made a set of five cards, using a candles stamp - you can read more about them and the challenges I've entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here:

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to create whatever lights your candle!

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 18 November. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 19 November.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

CHNC challenge 45: bright colours and/or sparkle - with a prize

Wow! you really did a great job of making some very special cards for last week's challenge - I love looking at all your creations and admiring the depth of talent of all the contributors to this challenge blog. Thank you so much for your participation.

Well, we're getting into November now and Christmas isn't seeming so far away now, so it's time to be a bit more serious about the festive crafting if you haven't done much so far. I know that some of you have been making Christmas cards throughout the year, but, if you haven't, it's just the right time now to start.

Apologies that linky went astray for a while last evening (because I forgot about the hour change when I did the settings last Saturday). I hope I've got it right for this week, but please bear with me if there is a hiccup.

Challenge 45

Today in the UK is 'bonfire night' when we celebrate the failure of Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. There will be lots of fireworks this evening (don't forget to keep pets in safe and snug). Thinking of fireworks made me think of bright colours and sparkle, so I'd love to see either or both of your Christmas cards this week.

This is my card - you can read more about it and see the challenges I've entered on my regular crafting blog My Crafty Outlook here.

Here is another card added mid-week that is for a Guest Design slot I was privileged to join in - you can read more about it here:

And here's another one - this one isn't bright colours, but it's very sparkly (more info here on my regular blog):


As it's the first Saturday in the month there will be a prize for a randomly drawn winner (using random.org) - 2 packs of Eno Craft toppers:

As usual, you can use any materials, any techniques, as long as the end result is a Christmas card - and this week please remember to make a card with bright colours and/or sparkle - apart from that, anything goes.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge - please add a link to your blog post (not your blog, but the actual post where your card can be found) by 22:00 UK time Friday 11 November. Please mention my blog and create a link within the post for your creation.

You can enter as many times as you wish (a good way to build up your stock of Christmas cards) and also link to any other challenges that allow you to do so, but new work only, please.

A new challenge will be set on 12 November.

Please add your link to inlinkz. If by any chance it disappears, please leave a comment with the link to your blog post and I will make sure it is added.

If you haven't done so already, please become a follower and grab my bright pink button to post on your sidebar and help continue to spread the word about this challenge blog - thank you.

I look forward to seeing your creations.