15 Years Young

Hello Card Chain Challenge friends.   Happy Birthday to us!!

Can you believe it's been 15 years since Deborah had this awesome idea.

In 15 years we have sent nearly 4,500 cards!! from 33 different countries!!!  and some of the original players are still playing!!!!

Awesomeness.  

Welcome to our party.  We hope you will help us make it a success.  My name is Gail, I use ionabunny online, and along with Jo, also known as Dotty Pudding, we keep this whole huge endeavour moving along in a semi-orderly manner.  I'm talking, so I get to say, that without Jo it may have crashed and burned, cos it's quite a lot to deal with each month.  Luckily for us all Jo agreed to help out.  She beavers away in the background, often unseen and unsung, but I just wanted you to know that she is my rock.  Thanks Jo.

 OK, this is all a bit 'oh look, it's our birthday, maybe we should do something', so things may or may not pop up in the coming days or weeks, but we felt it shouldn't passed unnoticed, since we had noticed... 

We are kicking off, and maybe finishing LOL, with a little reminisce of how we found the Card Chain Challenge and what it means to us.  

Hi, I'm Gail in Norway and I joined my first Card Chain Challenge exchange in January 2014.  I was fairly new to blogging at that time and I had been following Deborah for a while.  I liked her crazy happy chatty blog and I remember I didn't jump in immediately cos I wasn't sure how it worked.  I like to understand how things work!  Then January rolled around and I thought the new year was the time to jump in.  I sent my first card to Greta and Jo sent me my first card and it didn't arrive!!   Probably went for a walk the wrong way around the planet.  Anyway, disappointed, but resigned to the possibility of such things happening, I learnt my first very important lesson about the Card Chain Challenge!  Jo sent me a message saying 'looks like it's lost, I've sent another one'.  Well, wow.  A stranger had sent me a card, it disappeared, but she's sending another.  How awesome is that.  The second card turned up very quickly, everyone was happy and I was hooked!!  Never missed a month since.  I think the second card limped in a few weeks later with an Australian postcode!!  No clue about that really.  Weird things happen.  

So yes, I'm pootling along, sending a card a month, getting a card a month, and like I said, I like to see how things work, and Deborah was occasionally a bit slow getting the contact sheet up to date, which I now totally understand, so I started adding a few names in.  She seemed grateful for the help, so I maybe sent a reminder to send photos, or fended queries, without having any idea of the whole picture cos it was Deborah's baby across the pond.  And then life started getting really big and busy for Deborah.  And I still am not sure how I knew that, or how we became such good friends all this long way apart, but we did, and I helped where I could.  I did a bit more and a bit more and suddenly the baby was in my lap, and I gotta tell you ladies, she's a big baby.  But like you do with a baby, you just gotta get stuck in, so I did.  I moved it to my blog for a while thinking maybe Deborah would want it back, but she hasn't yet.  So I did it all for a few months, cos I know how much it means to me, and I know how much it means to you, but it was a lot.  It got easier, but it took time and it got a bit lost on my blog so I decided it needed a blog of it's own.  This is where I reached out to Jo, or maybe she reached out to me.  I needed help and she said offered.  I remember my knees went weak and I sank into a chair thinking thank you, thank you, because this is a thing that deserves to exist.  Thanks Jo.  The pretty blog is all Jo's doing.  The pretty badges are all Jo.  The continuation of this is down to Jo's support and help and love and to you lovely ladies who have continued to play along, send love and support and awesome cards every single month for 15 years.  You are all awesome and amazing.  HUGZ.

 

Hi, it's Jo here now. Goodness, I got a big build up from Gail and of course, it's all true! Seriously, this brilliant challenge would not happen each month without GAIL a.k.a. Wonderbunny; she is one very special lady and my very dear friend. Thank you for all that YOU do, Gail.

I first joined The Card Chain Challenge back in February 2010. I'd been hovering around Deborah's amazing blog for a while having got to 'know' her through The Hero Arts Blog, where she was a Hostess, and chatting on the wonderful Hero Arts Flickr Group. I'm so happy that so many of our CCC players (past and present) are from HA Flickr. I loved the whole concept of The Card Chain Challenge and eventually summoned up the courage to sign up and send my first card in February 2010. 

I sent this card to Cassi in Vienna, VA, USA...

and received this card from Yvette in Belgium!

I was caught hook, line and sinker, and the thrill of receiving a card from a fellow cardmaker each month has never diminished! 

I got to know Gail when I was her sender. The bunny card I made didn't reach her. I was so disappointed as I knew Gail was a brand new player. Thankfully, card #2 flew across the miles to Norway and reached her safely. Card #1 turned up a while later having done some globe trotting first! When Deborah hit a few health problems Gail stepped in to keep things going at CCC, and after some emailing we ended up chatting on the telephone about how best to take things forward and support Deborah's fabulous challenge until she could take up the reins once again. I will never forget my surprise at Gail's accent as I was expecting to chat with a Norwegian lady and instead heard her lovely North East Somerset tones. The rest is history, as they say, and thanks to Gail, The Card Chain Challenge is celebrating 15th years since it's inception on Deborah's blog.

I feel so blessed to be a part of CCC and have made so many wonderful friends through the simple act of sending and receiving a card each month.  Thank you to Deborah for dreaming-up this brilliant challenge, and to Gail for keeping things going with such energy and passion. It's a huge undertaking each month and I don't know how she holds it all together. Thanks also to all our wonderful, wonderful players who bring the magic - you are all amazing and much appreciated. 

In November 2023 we found ourselves in the same pub...

  OK, so that's us.  We would love you to share something about your Card Chain Challenge experience, how you feel about it, or any other thoughts you have.  Maybe you only did one exchange, maybe you have been here from the start, maybe you have thought about it but never joined in.  Joining in is the way to really understand how it works, how wonderful a concept and community it is. 

SEE THE AUGUST REVEAL

SIGN UP FOR OCTOBER 

Jo and I have managed to wrangle a few crafty goodies and we will be sending out a few random packages to some people who take the time to leave a comment.