2018 card challenge

Happy New Year!

I hope 2018 will be a wonderful and creative year for you.

I must admit 2017 was not my most creative and crafty year as my head and heart just weren't in it for a number of months. However with the big push to make Christmas cards towards the end of 2017 I started to get back into the swing of things.

I also came to the realisation that I had gone more than a year without purchasing new papers and embellishments save that one lone 6x6 pad of Knit Picky from Lawn Fawn. Birthday money and a few treats earlier in 2017 led to some great stamp and die purchases, however, and I really enjoyed putting these new items to good use, especially on my Christmas cards when old and new stash were happily combined. That whole experience gave me the idea for this year's challenge.

Something old – Something new

• The Old:
  The whole purpose of this challenge will be trying to show some love for your past purchases, whether cutting into papers you have hoarded for that one perfect project that never got made, reacquainting yourself with some stamps you bought years ago, or trying to find a new use for something that has been left behind as design trends have changed over the years like eyelets, brads and more lumpy embellishments - I can see so many buttons, ribbons and other "must have" items that I accumulated over the years that would look nicer on a card than gathering dust on a shelf.
• The New:
  The flip side will be putting new purchases to immediate use before they have time to languish in a drawer or on a shelf.
• The best of both worlds:
  What could be better than making a project where you marry the old and new together?

Here's how the 2018 challenge will work:

• On the 1st of the month, I will post a prompt here on my blog.
• The prompts will focus on a specific design element. They may or may not include a Pinterest image for added inspiration.
• What about Christmas cards? The elements chosen will allow you to be as productive as you like, in fact you will be able to start on your Christmas cardmaking now if you so wish!
• How many cards you make is totally up to you, but the more the merrier! In fact check out the extra little challenge later down this post!
• All prompts past and present for this challenge can be found here on my blog and you can find them easily by clicking on the 2018 card challenge tag over there on the left.
• Speaking of tags, if you're also on Instagram then I'll be using the hashtag #2018handmadecardchallenge for any posts related to this challenge, feel free to use this tag on Instagram too!
• You can share your cards by linking them up here on my blog - just add a comment to the relevant monthly prompt - or by sharing them in the dedicated challenge thread over in the UK Scrappers card forum.
• If you are ever stumped about the layout of your card, then definitely check out the sketches I pin to my Pinterest board here, hopefully there will be something there to inspire you!
• What if you don't have time to start now or play along every month? No problem! Just dive in and out of the challenge when you feel like it. :D Do as much as you want or as little. It's always lovely to have lots of people sharing their makes, but real life doesn't always allow for crafty time as we well know!

An extra challenge for those who want to really get ahead with their crafting:

• I set a personal challenge to myself late last year when the panic set in of trying to make multiples of a Christmas card design in one sitting.
• I have never been a fan of assembly line production for crafting as my brain just can't take it and it's just not the way I enjoy creating. But I found that making 4 or 5 of the same card when I had everything out really helped me catch up.
• I'm hoping to employ this approach for a few crafting sessions this year - especially as I found using a stamp positioning tool and also stamp masking paper with dies really helped me out with this.
• You don't need to share all your multiple makes, but this might be a personal challenge you will enjoy and find rewarding – especially come December if you do your Christmas cards this way or want to make sets of cards to give as presents.

So all that's left for me to do is share our first prompt of 2018 – the January design element is...

Fancy Words

{Pinterest pin}

Fancy words means focusing on text in any of the following ways:

• Pretty fonts
• Stand out words
• Word art
• Extraordinary sentiments
• Inspiring quotes and sayings
• Hand lettering
• Making words the focal point

And on that note I wish you happy crafting in 2018!

Comments

[Elaine]

What a fab challenge! Thank you Nat, we are so lucky to have you setting these each months for us.