Link in the chain — August

The second of the month can only mean one thing — time for the reveal of August's cards for the Card Chain challenge where 26 players exchanged happy mail around the globe.

This time I chose the theme of elephants and/or mice and the sketch to play with and my card has travelled to the lovely Gail in Norway.

I planned to use the mouse from the Katzelkraft Russian Cats set but having got it out of the cupboard I put it down somewhere and promptly lost it! In the end I decided this little Penny Black mouse would make a cheerful substitute, I think he's about to offer that daisy as a little gift in an attempt to lift poor Ellie's mood. Hopefully the cats will turn up now I don’t need them!

I did stamp and mask the mouse before stamping the elephant but made the mistake of doing it in a lighter ink colour and it really didn’t look right so I fussy cut a second one and stuck it over the top. The flower that's part of the stamp got a bit lost somehow so I made a daisy to stick over it. It's a couple of die cuts that are supposed to be flower centres and a circle made with a hole punch.

Stamps:
Les Jungles (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Enjoy Sayings (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Critter Party (Penny Black Transparent)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Broken China)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Christmas rose dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Corner Chomper 

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Pink Christmas

It might seem odd that my first card of 2026 is a Christmas card but I’m going to make a determined effort to play along with Christmas Kickstart this year so I hope I’m starting as I mean to go on. Jo’s guest elf this month is the lovely Chris Lawler who has chosen a colour theme — pink! Not a colour I naturally gravitate to but I did my best to embrace it!

The Christmas wording dies got their first outing here so I’m playing at Die Cut Divas too where the theme is New. Although I’ve had them a while this is the first time I’ve even opened the packaging so I hope that counts! I used them to cut hot pink glitter card to stick to an inky background then stood my fussy cut bear on top of the wording, I hope she's light enough on her feet not to squash it! 

I sprinkled a few tiny die cut stars and some white pen dots around the place, mounted with a broad border and called it done. The confetti die used for the stars is ancient (I’ve had it at least ten years) but very useful! The bear’s raised paw has a couple of layers of cardstock scraps behind it so it’s a got just a wee bit of dimension.

Stamps:
Polar Bear Pals (MFT)

Paper:
Pink glitter card 
Bristol board 

Ink: 
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Momento Luxe by Tsukineko (Rosebud)
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide by Ranger (Picked Raspberry)
Adirondack by Ranger (Raspberry)

Other:
Stylish Script Christmas Wishes dies  (Lisa Horton for Creative Expressions)
Confetti die (Mama Elephant)
Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)

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Christmas roses

In a change of pace — something more on the elegant side and very die-based compared to my usual stampiness! I’ve had this set for years and barely used it so thought it was about time it got a proper workout.

This started life in my head as a white on white creation with a silver sentiment.  I couldn’t make the florals look anything but bland though (I don’t know how others pull it off for gloriously chic creations!). I ended up going through every sort of colouring medium and eventually binning them and starting again! This time the flowers are cut from red card, edges inked with Distress and a little bit of detail added with a white pencil. The rest was cut from white and coloured with Copics with a tiny bit of pencil on the holly veins. 

I heat embossed the gold sentiment then added the frame and assembled everything in the corner, using scraps of card to vary the heights, and finally called it done. 

I confess it reminded me why I don’t do this style of card very often — it doesn’t come naturally and takes me longer than seems humanly possible 😂 It’s a good job I know the intended recipients will appreciate it!

Stamps:

Noel (Waltzingmouse Stamps, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board
Red

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versamark
Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Barn Door)

Other:
Christmas roses dies (Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions)
Branch die (Craft Emotions)
Stitched square frame dies (Paper Rose)
Detail embossing powder (gold)
White pencil

With so many die cuts, it would be rude not to join the Die Cut Divas’ Christmas/winter challenge, don’t you think? Click the graphic for all the challenge details.