A PLACE TO START, DECEMBER, 2025 - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: WINTER THINGS

Last challenge of 2025 at A Place to Start.  As always the theme of this  Anything Goes and the optional 

twist of winter things.

This is the card I made for this challenge. 

Another view of the card

The products I used for this card are:

Snow

Copic Markers

Nuvo in several colours

Easel die cutter

Sentiment by 

Assortment of Christmas papers from my stash

Digital Stamp - Christmas Eve Count Down

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week. All the best this holiday season. Looking forward to seeing all your beautiful art work in 2026.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Hugs Judy

 

A PLACE TO START JULY CHALLENGE - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: VELLUM

Time for another great challenge at A Place to Start this month.

The Challenge this month as always is Anything Goes with an optional Twist. This month's twist is to use vellum in your design. 

The vellum I used for this card has gold flex's in the design.  The embossing folder I used was an old one from my stash. I used blue background paper, Copic markers for colouring , vellum butterflies from some left over vellum from my staff. I also added some gems to give the card some sparkle.  I used a thin black sharpie to add a border on the card. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month. Hope you will join us this month at A Place to Start. 

A Place to Start Challenge - JUNE, 2025 - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: RECYCLE

 

Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start. The challenge this month is Anything Goes with an optional twist of Recycle.

For this challenge of Recycle I decided to recycle a birthday card I got earlier in the year.

I used the flower section of my card that I was recycling and cut it out in a circle and layered in with another circle slightly larger in the green of the flower stems. I stamped a birthday stamp on some white cardstock, added  some  distressed ink and a layer of the green cardstock.

The outside layer of the card is some scrap lined paper from my stash. 

To complete my card I added a ribbon, and butterfly from my stash. I also added gold Nuvo to the butterfly and clear Nuvo as water drops on my vase. 

Hope you will join us this month's challenge. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team. 

Have a creative month. 

Hugs Judy

A Place to Start - April's Challenge - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: BLACK WHITE AND RED

Time for another great challenge at A Place to Start this month. The theme as always is Anything Goes with an Optional twist of colours of red, black and white.

This is the card I made for this challenge.

 The rubber stamp I used for the challenge is an old stamp from my stash by Stamps Happen, Inc. 

The name of the stamp is "dolly mama's" by joey, inc.

The red love paper is from my stash and I do not know the designer of the paper. I used Copics, pencil crayons, and clear Nuvo to give the shopping bag some shine and depth. 

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you will join us this month. Create your project and enter it here. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspired by our creative design team.  Have a creative month and remember my favourite saying is by Maya Angelou. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” 

A Place to Start - JANUARY, 2025 Challenge - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: INCLUDE A BALLOON

Time for another great challenge at A Place to Start and the first challenge of 2025.

The challenge this month is as always anything goes, and the optional twist is to include a balloon in your project.

This is my card I made for this challenge. 

To create this card I used the following products

Rubber stamps

Sentiment - have a FAN-tastic day!

A Muse ArtStamps

Birthday Dinosaur by Whipper Snapper Designs Inc

Designer Pattern Paper from my stash

Ribbon

Nuvo - clear

Glittern stars

Copic Markers

Wink of Stella

Thank you for stopping by. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to see the creations of our talented design team members. 

All the best to you and your family in 2025.

A PLACE TO START - DECEMBER 2024 - ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Time for another great challenge at A Place to Start. As always the challenge is anything goes and December's twist is Happy Holidays. The twist is happy any holiday, the holiday is that of your choosing. This challenge is also the last challenge for 2024 but we will be back here in January 2025.   

This is my challenge project this month, a Chritmas Collage. 

Closer look. 

To create my collage I used the following products

small oriental metal garden gate. 

designer papers

acrylic paint 

die cuts from Tim Holtz  collection

chip board frame,

gems,

glitter

snow

silver ribbon

Tim Holtz Christmas sentiment

assortments of glue. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month. Hope you will join in the challenge, create a card, tag, art journal page. There are so many posibilites to show us your art. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team. 

Just create your project and enter it here.

All the best to you this holiday season and we hope to see you back here again in 2025. 

A Place to Start - Anything Goes Challenge - Optional Twist Sentiments of Thanks

 Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start. The of November's challenge as always is Anything Goes and the optional twist is to used a Thankful sentiment

inside of card

This is the thankful card I made for this challenge. The face of the card is made using a die cut for the flower from my stash, along with a background made with alcohol ink on Yupo paper. I added a fence and a stamped thank you sentiment to finish the front of the card. 

For the inside of the card I used a digital Thank You sentiment from my stash along with a few die cut flowers that I  used on the front of the card. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month. I hope you will join us this month, just create your project and enter it here.

A Place to Start September - ANYTHING GOES w/Optional Twist: FOR A MAN

Time for another Challenge over at A Place to Start. The theme this month is as always, anything goes and the optional twist is "For a Man"

I decided to use the anything goes challenge and show you a project I made in a Mixed Media event that I attended that was put on by a two dear friends, Mindy and Britt from Pip Art Creations. It was a fun weekend trying out new products and making new friend.

 To create this pretty butterfly board we used:

Papers from Stamperia

wooden frame

black foam

an assortment of embellishments

splattered paint

clear Nuvo

metal corner pieces 

gems

stamps

distress inks

Thank you for stopping by and have a create week. Hope you will join our challenge, we would love to see what you are creating in your craft room. 

April 2024 - A Place to Start -ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: ADD ONE OR MORE FLOWERS

Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start.  As always the challenge is anything goes with an optional of twist this  month of just add a flower. 

Our generous sponsor this month is Sheep Ski Designs. 

I made two cards for this challenge. This card was for the Optional twist of adding one or more flowers. The image I chose to use is by Sheep Ski Designs called Annabell Image No. 4

To make this card I coloured the image with my markers, gel pens and glitter pen.  I just love this modern image. To complete the card I added a ribbon, flower and a sentiment from my stash.

Anything goes

This card I made for one of the little ones in my family for his fifth birthday.  The earth is a digital stamp from Hazuzu on Esty Canada. The rocket was drawn by me using various ideas for a rocket. I added a sentiment, silver stars, some penned details. All thought the stars ar all die cut out os the same paper my camera light changed some of the colours. I hope he enjoys his card. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week. Hope you will join in the April Challenge.  Remember to pop by our challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team. 

A Place to Start- Anything Goes Challenge with optional Twist/Gate Fold Card

 Time for our first challenge of 2024  over at A Place to Start. Hope everyone had a Happy New Year.  The theme this month is Anything Goes with an optional twist of a gate fold card. 

This the gate fold card I made for the challenge.

I used the flower to hold my gate closed.

The background paper with from the Ltd. Collection - called Ice Porcelain. It is a very pretty paper pack (www.itdcollection.com). The butterfly is from a group of Tim Holtz stamps that I have had for a very long time. I also used some gems on my card along with a gold leafing pen to edge the card. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month.  Hope to see you back here again soon. 

A Place to Start - December Challenge - Anything Goes - Optional Something New

This is the last challenge at A Place to Start for this year. It is hard to believe 2024 is just around the corner. 

This challenge is an anything goes challenge as always with an optional  twist of Anything  New: for example of something new could be a new bay, new home, New years etc

I decided to make a Christmas rocker  Christmas card for a new baby in our family. 

The image is by Mo's Digital pencil. I just love her drawings. On her site she has a  great number of images that are retiring, they are so adorable. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful Holiday Season and I hope to see you back here again in 2024. 

A Place to Start - October 2023 - Anything Goes

 Time for another great challege this month at A Place to Start. The theme this month is Anything Goes. 

Our sponsor for this challenge is: 

Conie Fong

Prize ~ 3 Single Digis

Conie Fong is a self-taught artist residing in California, USA with her husband, daughter, pet hamster and fishes.  In her early childhood years, she was inspired by every kind of art and crafts.  She loved watching demonstrations by artists on the streets and at festivals and spent most of her free time perusing arts and crafts books in the library, drawing, crafting and experimenting with her art supplies at home.  Conie first started sharing her art with the world by selling ACEO reprints of her ACEO paintings of fairies, mermaids, and kitty art on Ebay in 2010.  She was a full time account manager for a University before becoming a full time mom and part time artist.  She currently enjoys spending time with her family traveling, exploring the outdoors, and designing beautiful, cute, and magical art for craft and coloring lovers. 

You can find this cute image in Conie's shop.

Folded card

I made with cute little witch for a Halloween card for my 4 year old grandaughter. I think she will love it.  The background of the card was coloured with Pan Pastel and the image with Copic Markers. I added some gems, Nova in gold on the shoe buckle. The small spider print was a digital image from the stash was was black and white and I printed on matching mauve paper. 

It was a fun card to make.  Hope you will join us this month, just create a card and enter it here.

A Place to Start - July 2023 - Anything Goes/Optional Twist - Lifes a Beach

Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start.  The theme of the challenge is Anything Goes and the Optional twist is Life a Beach. 

I used a rubber stamp by Whimsy called Serenity for my card. I coloured my card with my copics and pencil crayons. I also added some sand pipers to my scene using a sandpiper stamp from my stash. Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month.  Hope you will join our challenge.  Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team.

I am entering this card in the following challenges

Crafty Addicts - Anything Goes

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: July #7-2023 – Anything Goes

Classic Design Challenge: July #7 – Anything Goes

Jan’s Digi Stamps Challenges: July Anything  Goes

A Place to Start - Challenge Anything Goes with Optional Twist - Embellish with Flowers and Another Thing

                                      

Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start this month.  

As always the theme is Anything goes and the optional twist is:

           

Embellish your project with

FLOWERS and ONE OTHER THING 

our generous sponsor  this month is 

Mirtillamente

this is my card for this challenge

using a lovely digital image by

 Mirtillamente

I made this easel card with designer flowered paper from my stash along using Mirtillamente's image.

I added a flower to the easel card and my another thing added is gem earrings.

To give the card some sparkle I added A Wink of Stella to the designer paper.

You can find Mirtillamente's creative designs on the internet at

www.mirtillamente.com

and on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/mirtillamentecraftshop/

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspirited by our talented design team.

March 2023 - A Place to Start - Anything Goes

Time for another challenge over at A Place to Start .  The theme of this Challenge is Anything Goes. 

This month I decided to make my project a fairy birthday book that I wanted to make for my granddaughter that is turning 4. 

 

I used the cover image from a digital stamp created by Conie Fong Art.  The fairy images were from a collection of rubber stamps and dies from my stash from various companies.    I also used Scrapbook papers Craft Papers called Ink Crops - Vivid. The little book I altered to make my card was by a company called K and Company.  It also was in my stash for a very long time.  

 a few pages from book

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week.  Remember to pop over to our 

challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team. Hope you will join us this month. 

A Place to Start - Anything Goes with Optional Twist - Squares and/or Circles

Another great challenge over at A Place to Start this month, the challenge is to create a card with either squares or circles.

CONIE FONG IS SPONSORING and she has a 

October Discount this month 

Code:  PLACETOSTARTOCT

Check her store out.

This is the card I made for this challenge using Conie Fong's image called Birthday Bennie.

I decided to create a round easel card for this challenge.

The products for this card I used were

circle dies

glitter papers

birthday die

Copic marker and pencil crayons

balloon dies

and some coloured string

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to view the creative creations of our design team. Hope you will join in the fun. 

Place to Start - AUGUST 2022 CHALLENGE: ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST: BY THE BOOK

Time for another great challenge at A Place to Start

AUGUST 2022  CHALLENGE: ANYTHING GOES w/OPTIONAL TWIST:  BY THE BOOK

I love our optional twist this month - by the book.  If you are playing along with the twits your project must be book related. 

I decided for the twist to do an altered book cover for a note book I had in my stash.

This is the front cover that I altered

This is what I started with

More views of my project.

Front cover

I used the following products on my book cover. 

Kroma Crackle 

along with an assortment of acrylic paint

and stains

gold leaf pen

assortment of layered papers from my stash

ribbon

metal embellishments

lace

walnut  distress ink

Tim Holts Vintage people

rubber stamps

 

Back Cover

Inside  of cover

I like how my book turned out and I am going to use this book to store my assortment of sentiments, inspiring quotes that I have been saving to use on upcoming projects and inspirations.

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week.  I hope you will join us this month.  I love to see what by "the book" means to you. Remember to visit A Place to Start to be inspired by the projects of our talented design team. 

I am entering this projects in the following challenges:

A Perfect time to Craft - AG 

Classic Design Challenge - AG 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Creative Fingers - Anything Goes

Two by Two Challenge at A Place to Start

Time for another great challenge over at A Place to Start.  The theme of this challenge is as always anything goes with the optional twist of : two  by two.

These are my birthday cards for two special little boys  in your family who are  twins and turn 10 in March.  It is always a challenge for their birthday 

I like the cards to be similar but different. 

I used Tim Holtz Hipster stamps to create the card.  I used similar papers in the cards and many of the same embellishments. I coloured the gears with Copic Markers and Distress Ink.  I added gears, diamond glaze, wooden numbers, and a sentiment to complete the card.

They were fun cards to make and always a pleasure to make them for their birthday.

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative month.  Hope you will join us this month for this challenge. 

A Place to Start - January's Anything Goes Challenge

Welcome back and a Happy 2022 to you all.

We have a new challenge this week at A Place to Start and our theme is as always "Anything Goes".

Our sponsor this week is 

Remember to visit their store to see the great selection of digital stamps and papers.

Remember they have a new challenge every month., visit their challenge blog to be inspired.

 

I made these two cards that follow using our sponsor's images. 

For my first card I used

Le Pine: Grace Selfie

I just love this bold cute selfie image.  I used some of my mix media paper for the background to the card.  The paper was made using a Gelli print that I made using acrylic paint, stencils, glitter and a black permanent marker.  The image was coloured with Copic Markers, and glitter pens in several colours was used n the background, boots and dress,  It is was a fun card to make. 

Closer look

For my second card I used

Le Pine - Mary R. 

I think this image is such a cool lady. I coloured her with Copics and highlighted her hair with a sliver gelly roll pen.  The arrows and bicycle wheels are both die cuts by Tim Holtz. The background paper is from my stash.  

Closer look

Thank you for stopping by and have a creative week. Remember to pop over to our challenge blog to be inspired by our talented design team. Hope you will join us this month. 

I am entering the card in the following challenges

Classic Designs - AG

CHNC Patterned Paper - AG

Colouring in Scrapland - AG

Incy Wincy Designs - AG

Lil Patch of Craft and Crafty Friends -  AG

Mirtillamente Chaleenge - AG