Introducing Our 2025/2026 Design Team!

             Welcome Back to The Card Concept!  

  We hope all of you had a great summer/winter break and we are back with our monthly inspiration challenges starting tomorrow, Wednesday, September 10th at 8 am EST.

Now, please welcome our Fall/Winter 2025 Design Team 

Julie Gearinger

Hi Everyone!  My name is Julie and I live in Maryland.   As a fairly new widow, I am fully relying on the Lord to give me strength to take of all of the chores that my beloved hubby used to do for me.  I am also, slowly, continuing to remodel my home and create cards in my spare time, lol!  I have been artistic all of my life, and in addition to creating cards, I enjoying quilting, drawing/painting, and vintage junk journaling!  Since I enjoy experimenting with different styles and mediums, my overall style tends to be a bit eclectic. Hopefully I will inspire you to create a card and join us!

 Michele K. Henderson

Hi! My name is Michele. My husband and I, along with our feline fur babies live here in tropical Florida where we love the beautiful beaches and the year-round golf! When I'm not crafting, I work as an Employment Consultant for people with intellectual disabilities. I love working with layers of paper and color and am thrilled to be a part of The Card Concept!

Jolanda Johnstone 

 Hi, I'm Jolanda.  I currently live in Greenville, South Carolina, originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  I am now retired and very happy to have the time to pursue my hobbies and principally my cardmaking every day.  I have been stamping for most of my adult life.  Along the way, I discovered card challenges and set up my blog site The Inque Spot Studio in 2020 to better participate and share my creativity.  I just love combining challenges.  A layout from here, colors from there, and a theme from yonder. It is exciting to see what develops.  I am such a fan!  What fun to be asked to join the talented group of Designers of The Card Concept as a Guest Designer.  I am delighted!  The Card Concept has been a favorite of mine ever since I discovered them.  Such great inspiration and I am looking forward to what is to come.  Cheers.

                                                           Karen Ksenzakovic

Hello stampers!  My name is Karen Ksenzakovic and I am so excited to be a part of this creative team.  I live in central New Jersey with my husband of 37 years.  I have 2 adult children, a 3-year-old puppy and 1-year-old puppy.  My son is a soccer coach, and my daughter is chemist.  I've worked in accounting for over 40 years, mostly at the same company.  I love to cook & bake, garden and I've sewed, crocheted, knitted and cross stitched.  My biggest passion is card making which I've been doing for over 16yrs. When I was introduced to Stampin' Up! years ago I fell in love with their product. I decided to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator 7 years ago and love it.  I love designing all styles of cards from clean and simple to collage.  I love layering and especially love water coloring and coloring with alcohol markers.

Karen Letchworth 

Hey there, crafty friends!  I'm Karen Letchworth of My Cup Runneth Over.  First and foremost, I love the Lord Jesus Christ; and I live for Him.  I've been crafting most of my life...cross stitch, scrapbooking, card-making and now even doing fun arts & crafts projects with my (6) beautiful grandbabies.  I'm a retired, married (39yrs), wife and mother (3 grown kids) who spends the vast majority of my free time either in my craft room or in front of the tv watching my favorite shows.  I'm excited to be part of The Card Concept Design Team, and I hope that some of my cards/designs will inspire you.

Jennie Maier

Hi, my name is Jennie Maier and I live in New Berlin, WI. My husband Steve and I are empty nesters, as our three adult kids are all on their own and adulting. I am a Substitute Teacher. We enjoy traveling, pickleball and golf. When I'm not crafting, I love to read!  I'm also on a mission to visit all 50 states, having only 12 left to visit. I've been a Stampin' UP! Demo since 2007. My blog is Jennie M's Stampin Spot.  I love to play with all kinds of challenges. I'm so excited to join The Card Concept Design Team!

Karen Mead

Hi, My name is Karen Mead and I live in Tasmania, Australia. I am a Christian, Wife, Mother of boys, fur babies and chickens. I have been cardmaking for many years and love to try all styles of cards. I especially like using inky techniques and copic colouring. I am so delighted to be joining the lovely team here at The Card Concept and can't wait to be inspired by all the future challenges.

Hello all my name is Tenia Nelson and I am a 43 year old jazz pianist, music teacher and paper crafter that lives in Denver, Colorado. I am married to a great guy named Tim, I am momma to my awesome son Thelonious(Theo) and I have a wonderful doggie "kid" Snowball. Super excited to be joining the Card Concept Design Team!

We are looking forward to inspiring you to join us for our new monthly 2025

Fall/Winter Challenges! 

Our September Challenge starts tomorrow, Wednesday September 10th at 8 am EDT. 

The Card Concept #218 {Summer Days}

            Welcome to The Card Concept !

Before we share our inspiration photo for our last challenge before our summer break, we wanted to say farewell to a few of our Design Team Members.

Esther Asbury and Jenny Martin will be stepping down from the Design Team due to wanting to spend more time with family and other commitments.  

We will miss both of these talented artists and their inspiration!  

Esther and Jenny, we wish you all of the best! 

Now, on to our last challenge before the summer break... 

For those of you who are new to our challenge, every month we will post our inspiration photo challenge and hope that you will join us by creating a card for our challenge gallery. 

If you would like to join us on Instagram, please follow us at our new IG acct-  @thecardconceptchallenges2  

Also, if you post on social media, please tag @thecardconceptchallenges2 and use the hashtag #tccxxx (xxx=challenge # for ex: this challenge would be #tcc218).

Just a reminder, an inspiration photo is exactly that- a starting point for inspiration. Will it be the colors, the overall theme, the texture, the actual items and/or something else that will inspire your card? 

Choose a design style (or combine styles), create a card, and in your blog post, let us know what inspired you from the photo, what style and/or styles you chose and don't forget to display our inspiration photo and link back to our challenge :-)

At the end of the challenge, our Design Team will choose one Main Winner and at least three Honorable Mentions.  We will announce the winners here on our challenge blog, as well as our Facebook page and our new Pinterest board.  

Again, as we mentioned above, please feel free to use any of the styles we have defined or create your own with a combination of styles.  We want you to have fun with our inspiration!

So come and join us!  We'd love for you to try your hand at a brand new style of card making or feel free to work in your comfort zone.  It is totally up to you!

In case you missed the link above, the styles are explained HERE.

Now for our Design Team's inspiration: 

Esther Asbury

Esther's Inspiration: I was inspired by the 

seashells when I created my mixed media card.

Julie Gearinger

Julie's Inspiration: I was inspired by the summer theme

 and blues for my Clean and Layered/

 Mixed Media card. 

Michele K. Henderson

Michele's Inspiration: I loved the idea of those 

carefree summer days where we all just had fun! 

I was inspired by the beautiful nautical color 

palette and fun by the seaside.

Jolanda Johnstone

Jolanda's Inspiration: Warm Natural Colors, Shelving 

and Vases for a Clean and Layered card.

Karen Ksenzakovic

Karen's Inspiration:I was inspired from the theme, Summer Days, 

along with the colors for my Clean and Layered card.

Karen Letchworth

Karen is taking a break for this challenge! 

Jenny Martin

Jenny's Inspiration: I was inspired by shells and colours in 

the photo, to make a Clean and Layered Card.

Tenia Nelson 

Tenia's Inspiration: My inspiration was the colors

for this Clean and Simple card.

Since this is the last challenge before our summer break, we have extended the deadline to Monday, August 25th at 12:00 pm EDT.

Our Design Team will be on break and will try to comment as they can over the summer.

Thanks again for playing along with us and we look forward to seeing your artwork in our gallery!

---------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to be included in our entries for possible Winner or Honorable Mention, please make sure you include our inspiration photo in your blog post, and, if possible, explain how you were inspired by our challenge.  Also, please make sure that we are the only inspiration challenge and direct link to our challenge site.  

Thanks again for playing along with us!

Winners #217 {Patriotic Decor}

  Happy Wednesday! Julie, here with the Winners and Honorable Mentions for our  

                           #217 {Patriotic Decor} Challenge!

 

What a fun gallery!  We were so excited to see all of your red, white and blue cards this month!  Thank you for taking the time to play along with us! 

 

Our Design Team has voted and we have a tie for our Main Winner..

 

listed in order that they appeared in our gallery...

Karen Mead

Kathy S.

   And our three Honorable Mentions ...

again, listed in order that they appeared in our gallery...

Wanda Cullen

SmilynStef

Wendy R

Congratulations to all of our winners!!

We hope that you will take the time to visit each of the Winner/HM 

blogs to see how they created their cards, and, if you have time, leave a comment and show them some "love" :-) 

Also, if you have a chance, check out our Facebook page as well as on our Pinterest board to see all of our Challenge and Honorable Mention winners!  

Please join us in an hour for our last challenge before our summer break! 

The Card Concept #217 {Patriotic Decor}

             Welcome to The Card Concept !

For those of you who are new to our challenge, every month we will post our inspiration photo challenge and hope that you will join us by creating a card for our challenge gallery. 

If you would like to join us on Instagram, please follow us at our new IG acct-  @thecardconceptchallenges2  

Also, if you post on social media, please tag @thecardconceptchallenges2 and use the hashtag #tccxxx (xxx=challenge # for ex: this challenge would be #tcc217).

Just a reminder, an inspiration photo is exactly that- a starting point for inspiration. Will it be the colors, the overall theme, the texture, the actual items and/or something else that will inspire your card? 

Choose a design style (or combine styles), create a card, and in your blog post, let us know what inspired you from the photo, what style and/or styles you chose and don't forget to display our inspiration photo and link back to our challenge :-)

At the end of the challenge, our Design Team will choose one Main Winner and at least three Honorable Mentions.  We will announce the winners here on our challenge blog, as well as our Facebook page and our new Pinterest board.  

Again, as we mentioned above, please feel free to use any of the styles we have defined or create your own with a combination of styles.  We want you to have fun with our inspiration!

So come and join us!  We'd love for you to try your hand at a brand new style of card making or feel free to work in your comfort zone.  It is totally up to you!

In case you missed the link above, the styles are explained HERE.

Now for our Design Team's inspiration: 

Esther Asbury

Esther's Inspiration: I was inspired by the colors and

 flags for my Shabby and Vintage style card.

Julie Gearinger

Julie's Inspiration: I was inspired by the flags, the doily 

and the colors for my Shabby and Vintage/ 

Mixed Media card. 

Michele K. Henderson

Michele is taking a break for this challenge!

Jolanda Johnstone

Jolanda's Inspiration: I was attracted to the

 fabric table runner and the wood elements

 for my Clean and Layered design.

Karen Ksenzakovic

Karen's Inspiration: I was inspired by the colors, 

the wooden crate and the jar in the crate 

for my Clean and Layered card

Karen Letchworth

Karen's Inspiration: I was inspired by the

rustic elements, the barn wood, and the

patriotic theme/colors when creating my

Mixed Media card for this challenge.

Jenny Martin

Jenny's Inspiration: inspired by the pattern of the 

runner in the photo and the colours to make a 

Clean and Layered card.

Tenia Nelson 

Tenia is taking a break for this challenge! 

The deadline to participate will be  

Monday, June 9th at 12:00 pm EDT.

We look forward to seeing your artwork in our gallery!

---------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to be included in our entries for possible Winner or Honorable Mention, please make sure you include our inspiration photo in your blog post, and, if possible, explain how you were inspired by our challenge.  Also, please make sure that we are the only inspiration challenge and direct link to our challenge site.  

Thanks again for playing along with us!

Winners #216 {Spring Celebrations}

  Happy Wednesday! Julie, here with the Winners and Honorable Mentions for our  

                           #216 {Spring Celebrations} Challenge!

 

What a fun gallery!  We were so excited to see all of your beautiful cards this month!  It is so difficult for us to narrow down winners and honorable mentions for sure!  Thank you for taking the time to play along with us! 

 

Our Design Team has voted and we have a tie for our Main Winner..

 

listed in order that they appeared in our gallery...

Karen Mead

Donna H.

   And our three Honorable Mentions ...

again, listed in order that they appeared in our gallery...

Christy Stanford

Wanda Cullen

Deborah Wheeler

Congratulations to all of our winners!!

We hope that you will take the time to visit each of the Winner/HM 

blogs to see how they created their cards, and, if you have time, leave a comment and show them some "love" :-) 

Also, if you have a chance, check out our Facebook page as well as on our Pinterest board to see all of our Challenge and Honorable Mention winners!  

Please join us in an hour for our May 2025 Challenge!