Year 2 - the new challenge

Welcome back wonderful ladies!

Having had so much fun on our first round of the Card Kit Challenge, we've voted unanimously to play again for a second year. What's more, we have an 8th player, Debbie, to welcome into the fold.

Nora has sent out the kits so we'll be beginning in September.

The freeform round was so popular last time that we're doing it again, so make sure you keep the leftovers of your kits in their bags for the final round in June 2017.

Watch the blog for the next sneak peek of September's kit.

Freeform round

When we had finished all our kits, there was a bit of a "what shall we do next?" conversation. It occurred to me that we still had quite a lot left from all the kits, and I suggested that we put all the leftovers together and made cards from those. As the greetings would be mostly used up, we were allowed to add our own, but the challenge would be to attempt to co-ordinate all the kits together. So we did.

And as I laid out all the beautiful, mismatched leftovers on a table and looked through them with something approaching despair, it occurred to me that there are times when I probably ought to keep my mouth shut! It was MUCH more difficult to combine different styles, colour schemes, genres together than to use (mostly) matched hand-picked kits. But the girls dug deep with their usual creativity, and here are the lovely cards that they came up with.

Kathleen is moving state and has her craft room all packed up, and Claudia had tidied up all her kits before the big idea was suggested, so they have bowed out of this round.

First up is Danielle, who finished up some of my kit in her first, and Virginia's in her second. She didn't attempt to mix the kits.

Then we have Jenny who did a little mixing, and added some contrasting card-stock. The first two are from Virginia's kit with the flower from mine.

Those spots and brads are from my kit.

I actually don't know where this lovely striped paper came from because I don't think I had that in any of my kits. Maybe someone can help me out there? The greeting picks out the aqua beautifully though, doesn't it?

More from my kit, with sequins from Nora's, I believe.

Next we have Nora, who used elements of her own with just touches from the kits. This aqua patterned paper is from Virginia's.

And the fawn is from mine, with Nora's die-cut sun and sequins.

 This combines Virginia's kit with mine.

And this is all Virginia's.

 My (Rosey's) cards are next. I used some more elements from Nora's kit, with the background paper from Jenny's.

Here we have everything from Nora except the black rik-rak which was from Claudia's.

 This is all from Virginia's kit except the greeting which was supplied by Nora.

And Danielle's Valentine's kit provided most of this card for my niece who turns 13 next week. I used a little paper from Virginia's and my kits too.

Last up is Virginia. She has really mixed and matched! This one has her own greeting and string, Claudia's olive green paper, my spotty paper and the wood-grain background is from Kathleen's Christmas kit.

Here she has combined Danielle's hearts paper with Nora's blue greeting and silk, and the flower and pearls from her own kit.

Even more mixing up here with Jenny's flower, Claudia's background paper, Nora's silk and corrugated card from her own kit.

Nora's blue swirly paper, Claudia's chevrons, Virginia's music paper and string, and Nora's balloon and sequins - wow!

I spot Jenny's blue flower, Virginia's lace, Nora's flowery paper and gems.

And finally, this colourful card combines papers from me, Virginia and Jenny with her own flowers and lace, and my button.

I have to say that although this last round was never a competition to find out who could mix and match the best, if it had been, then Virginia would have won hands down!


And that concludes the first round of the SJ Card Kit Club. Thank you to the whole team for a really challenging and educating year. Comparing the first rounds with the later ones, the improvement in our cards is actually really obvious. I, for one, have learned more about how I work than I would have thought possible.

So WELL DONE everyone!

The jury is still out over whether/when we will do another round. Personal circumstances have changed dramatically for more than one of us. The owners of ScrapJazz itself have given notice that they are closing the site down at the end of this year. We've set up a Group on Facebook, but we're all still getting to grips with it. All I can say for now is "watch this space", and meanwhile, keep on crafting.

Au revoir!

An extra player!

Hi! This is Rosey.

May was my round, and despite having played this game since last October, muggins here somehow managed to forget how many players there were. Yeah, I know. I wonder about myself too sometimes.

Anyway, I ended up creating an extra kit by mistake, and I posted it to my friend Anmarie here in the UK to have a bit of fun with. She sent me photos of her creations, and has given me permission to share them with you all. She's goooood, isn't she?

Thanks for joining us Anmarie! Girls, please leave her some love in the comments.

Rosey's Kit

Hi everyone!! Nora here. First I want to thank Rosey for stepping in last month and helping me out with posting. My life has not been my own as of late!! Now onto why you are REALLY here.

It is that time of month again to reveal the cards created by our kit. This month, Rosey sent us some beautiful papers, a bunch of embellishments and sentiments with a birthday theme.

First we have Rosey with her beautiful cards that she created.

I think my two favorite are the animals with the large leaf embellishments!! Rosey always has a way of layering her embellishments that put me in awe.

Claudia made some beautiful cards-one being a cool interactive card!!

I adore how she used all the ribbon on her cards, as well as the fun way she used the leaves.

Virginia made a lovely group of cards too. She created the most out of us all with eight cards!!

I love the simplicity of Virgina's cards and the way she cut up and used the patterned paper as embellishments on her cards.

Danielle's cards have a lot of lovely layers this month.

I love how she staged them for photographing with the clothes pins!!

Kathleen made some pretty cards as well. She added some of her own die cuts to her cards to create some fabulous scenes.

I can tell you that Kathleen used most of the flowers in this kit on her cards. I wish I had her way with them.

I created five cards with the kit. I really tried to stick with the kit, using my dies to enhance the supplies that Rosey sent us. I did well with all but the last card.

Again, I have had so such limited time to create. I think I need to start "scheduling" it into my day every day to get it done!! For more information on how I created the cards, please stop by my blog.

Aren't all the cards wonderful? I love how everyone's card making skills have gotten better with using the kits throughout the last six months. I know it has stretched me to the max!!

Next month we have an unusual treat for you with our reveal so stay tuned!! Thank you for stopping by!!