Inkspirational Challenge #357 - Designer's Choice - COLD

Welcome to Inkspirational—we’re so happy you’re joining us! Can you believe it? This is our final challenge of 2025, carrying us right over the threshold into 2026. Where did the year go?

For the next two weeks (December 20–January 2), Marlena invites you to explore her Designer’s Choice theme: COLD. A timely pick for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere; indeed, as I write this post, the thermometer reads a brisk –27°C! 🥶 Winter has truly arrived.

What does cold spark for you? Frosty textures, icy palettes, snow-covered scenes, frozen treats or perhaps a humorous take on shivering critters or bundled-up figures? So many options, right!

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Julia

Marlena

Pia

Carol

  We can’t wait to see how you interpret COLD. Stay warm, craft and enjoy the challenge!

The Inkspirational Team wishes you and your loved ones all the joys of the festive season.

The Link will be open until Friday, Jan. 2 @ 11:59pm (GMT)

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We'll be back on Saturday, Dec. 27 with a Reminder Post and Top Picks from Challenge #356. 

Top Picks Challenge #355 and Reminder Post - Challenge #356 - Use Stencils (optional twist: Snowflakes)

 Welcome to our two part post.

**First, a reminder that you have until Friday, December 19th at 11:59 pm (GMT) to play in Challenge #356 - Use Stencils - found HERE.  

For more inspiration, our wonderful Pia has created a pretty village scene with a backdrop of a stenciled wintry wonderland. I want to bundle up and go for a stroll!

**Second, the gallery of 33 Mood Board inspired cards and projects was a delight to behold! We’re so grateful for your wonderful participation; your creativity continues to WOW us. As always, narrowing down our Top Picks was a challenge…but the kind we love to have.

Our Top Picks:

Pauline

Pauline chose the ornament as inspiration and created a most lovely card in doing so. Pretty baubles, indeed. 

Jaydee

Jaydee's images and grid design make for an eye-catching take on the mood board. The patterned papers are lovely.

Maria

Maria's cross-stitched project (on paper, no less!) is an investment in both time and creativity! Lucky person receiving this pretty stitched stocking!

Congratulations to our Top Picks; please take your badge.

Inkspirational Challenge #356 - Use Stencils ( Optional Twist - Snowflakes)

Welcome to Inkspirational; we're delighted you're joining us.

For the next two weeks (Dec. 6 - 19), we invite you to play along in our popular "USE STENCILS" challenge, with the optional twist of SNOWFLAKES.  

Optional Twist: SNOWFLAKES

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Julia

Marlena

Carol

Pia

Joining us for the Reminder Post.

We're looking forward to seeing your stencil sensations -with or without the optional twist - in the gallery.

The Link will be open until Friday, Dec. 19th @ 11:59pm (GMT)

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We'll be back on Saturday, Dec. 13 with a Reminder Post and Top Picks from Challenge #355.

Top Picks Challenge #354 and Reminder Post - Challenge #355 - Mood Board

 Welcome to our two part post.

**First, a reminder that you have until Friday, December 5th at 11:59 pm (GMT) to play in Challenge #355 - Mood Board - found HERE.  

In case you need a bit more inspiration - or just want to gaze at beautiful things - our wonderful Pia has created this lovely vintage ornament tag for you. Enjoy!!

**Second, the gallery of 19 Knit/Knitted cards and projects gave us all the warm, snuggly feels. We’re so grateful for your wonderful participation; your creativity continues to WOW us. As always, narrowing down our Top Picks was a challenge…but the kind we love to have.

Our  Four Top Picks:

Lisa

Lisa's collection of skeins of wool tags hit the mark on the theme. So cute! 

Bobby

Bobby's knit sweater vest is fabulous; we want to have real life versions to wear!

Rita

Rita's cat is quite dapper in his knit sweater and hat. His expression: ohmyword! LOL! 

Nancy

Nancy's white embossed knit background is perfect for her pop-of-colour Christmas sweater. Such fun! 

Congratulations to our Top Picks; please take your badge.

Inkspirational Challenge #355 - Mood Board

Welcome to Inkspirational; we're delighted that you're joining us.

For the next two weeks (Nov. 22 - Dec. 5), we invite you to draw inspiration from the mood board’s traditional Christmas colours and holiday charm to spark your own unique card (or journal pages, or layouts, or albums or....whatever) designs. No tags required; just your imagination. You may consider:

            🎄 Playful holiday icons and illustrations, perhaps displayed in a grid design style
            🍬 Sweet, nostalgic details
            ✨ Cozy hand-drawn or handwritten touches. 

A plethora of possibilities, right!

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Julia

Pia

Marlena

Carol

Looking forward to seeing a gallery bursting with your Mood Board creativity.

The Link will be open until Friday, Dec. 5 @ 11:59pm (GMT).

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We'll be back on Saturday, Nov. 29th with a Reminder Post and Top Picks for Challenge #354.

Top Picks Challenge #353 and Reminder Post - Challenge #354 - Word Prompt - Knit/Knitted

  Welcome to our two part post.

**First, a reminder that you have until Friday, November 21st at 11:59 pm (GMT) to play in Challenge #354 - Word Prompt - Knit/Knitted - found HERE. 

**Second, the gallery of 31 Seeing Stars themed card had us seeing stars. Once again, we are so thankful for your fabulous participation!  As always, selecting Top Picks is a challenge...but a good challenge to have. 

Our Top Picks:

Arlene

Arlene's beautiful version of a Christmas card in non-traditional colors accentuates a lovely swirl of stars brightening up the night sky for Santa.

Denise

Denise's card is a delightful play on stars: the physical stars and the two little 'rock stars'. Sweet, charming and clever.

Papierelle

Stars are definitely the 'stars of the show' on Papierelle's wonderful cup of cocoa and her frothy whipped topping. That, along with a couple of cookies...yum! 

Congratulations to our Top Picks; please take your badge.

Inkspirational Challenge #354 - Word Prompt - Knit/Knitted

Welcome to Inkspirational; we're delighted that you're joining us.

For the next two weeks (November 8–21), our Work Prompt is KNIT / KNITTED.

As cooler weather settles in, we naturally reach for things that feel cozy and warm: snuggly sweaters, chunky scarves, mittens, hats and that's just a start.

For this challenge, we invite you to create a card or project inspired by something knit or knitted. You might feature:
🧶 Knitted images such as clothing or accessories,
🧵 Embossing folders with a knit pattern,
🐑 Balls or skeins of yarn,
👩‍🧶 Images of someone (person or critter!) knitting.

So many wonderful possibilities to wrap your creativity in warmth and texture—we can’t wait to see your interpretations.

 

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Marlena

Julia

Pia

Carol

Looking forward to seeing your KNITspiration in the gallery! 

The Link will be open until Friday, Nov. 21 @ 11:59pm (GMT).

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We'll be back on Saturday, Nov. 15th with a Reminder Post and Top Picks for Challenge #353.

 

Top Picks Challenge #352 and Reminder Post - Challenge #353 - Designer's Choice - Seeing Stars

   Welcome to our two part post.

**First, a reminder that you have until Friday, November 7th at 11:59 pm (GMT) to play in Challenge #353 - Designer's Choice - Seeing Stars- found HERE. 

**Second, the gallery was filled with 86 (yes - eighty-six!) Seasonal-themed cards for Challenge #352. We are in AWE at your fabulous participation!  As always, selecting Top Picks is a challenge...but a good challenge to have. 

Our Top Picks:

Pauline

Pauline has created a hauntingly beautiful calendar page; one that definitely captures the spookiness of Halloween.

Kathy

Kathy's basket of harvested apples and 'blessings' sentiments speaks to the season of Thanksgiving wonderfully.

Heather

Heather's fall images and colours definitely convey the Autumn season. So pretty.

Esther

Esther's measuring tape Christmas tree is creative, eye-catching and 100% seasonal. Such a fun take on an iconic Christmas image.

Congratulations to our Top Picks; please take your badge.

Inkspirational Challenge #353 - Designer's Choice - SEEING STARS

Welcome to Inkspirational; we're delighted you're joining us.

For the next two weeks (October 25 - November 7) Julia invites you to draw inspiration from her Designer's Choice of SEEING STARS.  A few stars or a Milky Way's worth of stars, sparkly, shiny or glittery...the choice of stars and occasion is entirely yours.

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Julia

Marlena

Carol

Pia

What stars will you share that will make Julia all starry-eyed!

Looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

The Link will be open until Friday, Nov. 7 @ 11:59pm (GMT).

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We'll be back on Saturday, Nov. 1st with a Reminder Post and Top Picks for Challenge #352.

Top Picks Challenge #351 and Reminder Post - Challenge #352 - Seasonal

  Welcome to our two part post.

**First, a reminder that you have until Friday, October 24 at 11:59 pm (GMT) to play in Challenge #35s - Seasonal- found HERE. 

**Second, the gallery was filled with 20 creative Mood Board interpretations for Challenge #351.  As always, selecting Top Picks is a challenge...but a good challenge to have. 

Our Top Picks:

Bobby

Bobby's colourful mushrooms really pop against the forest night background. A lovely take on the mood board.

Karen

Karen's little forest animals are charming in exchanging birthday wishes - and how pretty the mushrooms they're sitting on. Delightful take on the mood board.

Henriet

Henriet's whimsical mushrooms are just all around fun; definitely mood board inspired.

Congratulations to our Top Picks; please take your badge.

Inkspirational Challenge #352 - Seasonal

Welcome back to Inkspirational; thank you for joining us.

For the next two weeks, we invite you to draw inspiration from our SEASONAL-themed Challenge. 

 

Here's a quick description of the challenge:

We invite you to consider the four seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - and create cards/projects based on occasions +  images that are 'specific' to those seasons.
For instance:

• Spring: Mother's Day, Easter, flowers, etc.
• Summer: summer vacations, school's out, weddings, beaches, Fourth of July, Canada Day, etc.
• Fall: harvest, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Remembrance Day, etc.
• Winter: Christmas, Hanukkah, winter activities.

These are just a few ideas to get you started; the team also has some fabulous inspiration for you.

Inspiration from the Design Team:

Julia

Marlena

Carol

Pia

  

What season + occasion will you share with us? 

Looking forward to seeing you in the gallery.

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The Link will be open until Friday, Oct. 24 @ 11:59pm (GMT)

We will be back on Saturday, Oct. 18 with a Reminder Post and Top Picks from Challenge #351.