Ellibelle's Corner

Life Is Beautiful!

2019-05-06T14:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a great start! We had a really nice and sunny weekend, I stayed busy trying to prepare my garden for some vegetabes. This is my first year starting from seeds unfortunately the plants aren't doing so well and I may end up having to buy some again when it's time to plant. What can I say I don't have a green thumb but love growing my own vegetables.

Today I am sharing a card made with last month's Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit. And this is actually my first time making something with this kit, it sat on my desk for a few weeks now because I just didn't get the time to use it. Today Hero Arts is releasing their May kit and I am sharing a little info about that at the end of this post.

This Hero Arts kit includes several scenery dies which make wonderful silhouettes and work so well with a distress ink background. I started out by masking the bottom half of my card with post it notes, then using Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks/Oxides with an ink applicator tool I created the sunset. The city scene and gondolier were die cut using black card stock and adhered to the card. Some foam tape from this kit was used to adhere the gondolier to the card. Birds, sentiment and "Venetian" cancellation mark are all stamps from this kit, sentiment and birds were stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and the cancellation mark was stamped with Antique Linen ink. A CAS card that was quick to make! The card base is Hero Arts Dove White 100lb card stock.

If you like this kit then you're in luck, although released in April, it is currently still available here. Remember US orders do qualify for FREE shipping on orders of $50 or more.

Hero Arts April My Monthly Hero Kit //

Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet // Seedless Preserves // Blueprint Sketch

Versafine Clair Nocturne // Bristol Vellum Paper // Dove White Card Stock 100lb

Sharing with these challenges:

Crafty Friends Challenge - More than one die // Just Us Girls - Movement // My Time to Craft - CAS // Crafty Catz - Add a Sentiment // Happy Little Stampers - Dies // Lost Coast Designs - Things Starting with B (Birds, Buildings)

Anything Goes:

A Gem of a Challenge // Catch The Bug // Crafter's Castle // Jo's Scrap Shack // QKR Stampede // Crafting With An Attitude // Cute Card Thursday // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Crafts Galore Encore // Creatalicious Challenges // Create With TLC // DL.Art Linky Challenge F // Happy Craft Challenge // Not Just Cards // The Creative Crafters // Crafting By Designs // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // The Crafty Addicts // Word Art Wednesdays

Ok, now some info about the May My Monthly Hero Stamp kit. I won't be sharing a card made with this kit as I cancelled my subscription recently and won't be getting this kit, but I do want to continue sharing info for those of you interested and I am sure somewhere in the future I'll be purchasing another kit (they are also available without a subscription while supplies last), but I won't be getting this one.

This is what the May Stamp kit looks like, it's perfect for cards you send to your crafty/artsy friends.

There were also some wonderful add-ons released, availabe HERE as a complete lot or individually HERE. My personal favorite is this cross stitch stamp set...but it might be sold out by the time I place an order...

Thanks so much for visiting! Enjoy the rest of your week!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Butterfly Garden - Again!

2019-05-05T02:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday! First Sunday of the month means a new theme at Penny Black and More challenge and this month it's all about Feminine Creations with an option of Anything Goes. Some great prizes are up for grabs again, hope you'll find some time to join us, and remember you may enter up to 3 times for more chances to win. This week we have prizes by Penny Black, Crafts U Love and a set of stamp and embossing folders. One of the winners could be YOU, but only if you join us :)

If this butterfly looks familiar to you, it's because I used it on this recent card. I just love the whimsical style and since the set is new to me, I had to play with it again :) It is from the Penny Black set Butterfly Garden.

Related Products:

I stamped on Xpress It Blending Card with Memento Tuxedo ink and colored with Copic markers. I think there is a matching die to this butterfly, but I don't have it and fussy cut using my Cutterbee scissors. A clear Wink of Stella brush was used to add some sparkles. The circle was die cut and inked with Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The words behind the circle are from one of Whimsy Stamps retired stamp sets (Basic Backgrounds and Borders - I think) stamped with Memento ink again on Xpress It card. The leaves, flowers and "with love" sentiment are part of the Penny Black set Butterfly Garden and I inked the edges with Broken China Distress Ink. Distressed the edges before adhering to a white card base - Hero Arts Dove White 100lb.

I did end up cutting the antennaes off and hand drew them in on the yellow circle. As you can imagine that's easier to do than trying to fussy cut around them.

Penny Black Butterfly Garden // Memento Tuxedo ink // Xpress It Blending Card // Copic Markers // Cutterbee Scissors // Wink of Stella // Mustard Seed Distress Ink // Broken China Distress Ink // Hero Arts 100 lb Cardstock Dove White

I'm also sharing my card here:

Double Trouble - Some Things // Make My Monday - Wings // Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes // CAS on Friday - Butterflies // Alphabet Challenge - C is for CAS // Crafty Calendar - Distress It // My Time to Craft - CAS // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - opt. Make your won Background

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 518: Pretty In Pink

2019-05-04T02:00:00.000-05:00

It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, Tracy is our host and she would like to see "Pretty in Pink". We have a wonderful prize by Buddly Crafts and hope you can join us for your chance to win!

Should be an easy theme, unless you're ending up with some difficulties like I did, but in the end it all worked out and I am sharing two cards today, even though my second one is where I had the trouble and ended up not really working for our theme. Thought I'd share it anyway.

The inky background was done with Distress Oxides and Inks, Cracked Pistachio and a little bit of Tumbled Glass with Spun Sugar Distress ink.

I stamped the orchid from the Penny Black set Happy Together using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and colored it with my Zig Clean Color markers. Using the Penny Black stencil Oscillations (which includes 3 different stencil designs) and Spun Sugar distress ink I added a little more pink to the background and wiped the ink pad across the distressed edges. No, I didn't get out my sewing machine (sad to say since I re-organized my stamp room I don't have a designated spot for it and haven't used it in a long time). Instead I used one of the stamps from Whimsy Stamps In Stitches stamp set, I was lucky enough to purchase this at a great price when Whimsy Stamps was clearancing it out a few month ago. Unfortunately the set is no longer available, but there are similar sets available here. I used a clear Wink of Stella brush on the blossoms for some sparkle. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Sprinkles and Smiles.

Related Products:

Penny Black Happy Together // Penny Black Sprinkles and Smiles // Whimsy Stamps In Stitches - retired - Similar Options // Penny Black Oscillations Stencil // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Tonic Stamp Platform // Wink of Stella Glitter

Below is the card I initially had in mind for the challenge - I wanted to heat emboss everything in white and use Loll's Splash Watercolor technique for the background with some pretty shades of pink and lilac and a little bit of a muted green.

Penny Black Happy Together // Stampin Up Sentiment - Retired // Versamark Ink // White Embossing Powder // Picked Raspberry Distress Ink // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Shaded Lilac Distress Ink // Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Bristol Vellum Paper // Post-It Notes // Cutterbee Scissors // Craft Mat - Similar

The green and lilac turned out fine, but the Picked Raspberry ink (although not quite as purple as it appears in the photo) was more of a fuchsia color, not a pretty pink as I had hoped for. And the Spun Sugar ink I also used is pretty much invisible. I also wasn't happy with the white embossing. Another mistake that happend here was the post it note I used for masking stained my image pink (I really need to get some white post it notes!) I didn't want to completely waste the card so I finished it by coloring the blossoms with Shaded Lilac ink and the leaves with Bundled Sage ink. Of course I could not remove the pink stains caused by the post it note. I framed with some lilac card stock and then mounted onto white card base. The white embossed sentiment is one of my old favorites from a retired Stampin Up set (I think it's called Beautiful Beach).

Sharing with these challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Pink Birthdays // Retro Rubber Challenge - Anything Goes with Stamps older than one year (this set was released a couple of years ago) Simon Says Wednesday - Happy Birthday // Moving along with the Times - Floral // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // International Art & Soul - Birthdays // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Creative Fingers - Anything Goes // Pattie's Creations - Flowers

Mark your calendars: On May 18th Allsorts challenge is celebrating 10 wonderful years of challenges and we're having a special prize that week (which will actually run as a 2-week challenge). Brenda created this wonderful logo, you can post it to your side bars if you like a little reminder :)

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Imagine That Playground Guest

2019-05-02T02:01:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome!
Last month I was one of the Top Two winners of "Imagine That Creative Playground" and along with the prize comes an opportunity to be a guest designer for the following month's challenge. Today I am sharing two cards made with one of the sets I chose, and then I will have another share using the second set I selected on May 16th when the mid month challenge inspiration is posted on their blog. By the way, the theme is "Anything Goes" and I am sure the "Imagine That Playground" team would love for you to join in!

Would you believe I didn't own a wedding stamp set already!! This one was perfect! The set is called Wedding Day. The image has been colored with copic markers on Xpress It blending card. The sentiment is part of the set. I just love the font of this sentiment. The card is mostly CAS. After coloring the image I added an Art Deco type frame which was part of this Hero Arts stamp kit, cut out with shiny silver card stock from the same kit. Pearls were added as embellishments and I mounted the card front on a Dove White 100lb card base.

Related Products:

For the second card I printed out the sentiment (which is also part of the Wedding Day set) on Vellum paper. While the ink was still wet, I sprinkled gold embossing powder over it and heat embossed. I wasn't sure if this was going to work, but it did perfectly and you would never know the ink under the gold was black and not versamark ink. The wedding cake from the same set was printed on Xpress It blending card and I kept it mostly white but added some pink roses using copic markers. Paper strips from my stash and half a paper doily finish off this card. Some pearls were added as embellishments because I think they go so well with wedding themed cards.

Products used:

Wedding Day by Imagine That - Digistamps // Hero Arts February Stamp Kit // Xpress It Blending Card // Copic Markers // Gold Embossing Powder // Heat Tool // Dove White Card Stock 100lb// Vellum Paper

I'm also entering these challenges:
Paper Shelter Challenge - Love is in the Air // Double Trouble - Words // Path of Positivity - Happiness // 613 Avenue Create - Weddings
Anything Goes:
Crafty Creations // Word Art Wednesdays // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // A Perfect Time To Craft // Happy Craft Challenge // Crafting By Designs // Creative Moments // The Crafty Addicts // Crafting from the Heart // Get Creative Challenges //

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - May Challenge

2019-05-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome to Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - May challenge hosted right here on my blog. It was wonderful seeing so many of you joining in last month, be sure to scroll down to see if you were the prize winner or a top pick. The linky tool for the new theme is also at the end of this post.

This Month's Themes:

Feminine or Add a Sentiment

Both super easy themes, feel free to choose one theme or the other, or combine as I did.

Art Impression Rubber Stamps Shoppes Tryfolds (also avail. on Amazon) // Penny Black Patisserie // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Penny Black Oscillations Stencil // Pumice Stone Distress Oxide // Hero Arts April Stamp Kit (birds) // Hero Arts Dove White 100lb Card Base

Related Products:

I love how these stamps from 2 different manufacturers work together! The city stamps are from Art Impression Rubber Stamps - Shoppes Tryfolds. These AI stamps are new to me. The set includes 3 stamps (I only used 2 here) and are meant to create tri-fold cards with them, but of course they can be used for traditional cards as well. The gorgeous lady stamp is from the Penny Black set Patisserie. Everything was stamped on watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and I used my Zig Clean Color markers and Zig Detailer for some simple watercoloring. A Penny Black stencil - Oscillations - was used to add a design for the street with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink. The birds and the sentiment are both from the Hero Arts April Stamp Kit (sad to say I haven't had a chance yet to use the rest of this kit!), both stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.

Also sharing my card here:
Double Trouble Challenges - Something, Everything, Anything // Path of Positivity - Anything Positive // Alphabet Challenge - C for CAS // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Crafty Catz -Add a Sentiment // Paper Shelter Challenge -Add a Sentiment //
Anything Goes:
Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Colouring in Scrapland // Crafting from the Heart // CuteNCrafty Challenge Blog // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // A Gem of a Challenge // Creative Fingers // Jo's Scrap Shack // QKR Stampede // Crafty Creations // House That Stamps Built

This Month's Prize:

I am running low on physical prizes, so this month the winner will get to choose a $6 Gift Certificate from either Bugaboo, Tiddly Inks or Mo's Digital Pencil Shop. The gift certificate will be purchased by me next month after winner has made contact.

Last Month's Winner & Top Picks:

(Challenge themes: Wings, Tails or Spring Blossoms)

As always, due to the GDPR no winner or top pick links or photos will be posted for privacy protection. But last month's linky tool is still available here where you can see the winner's / top pick's wonderful creations.

Scrappy Horses

Congratulations, you are the prize winner of a Whimsy Stamps rubber stamp. Please email me at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com by May 15th with your complete mailing address to claim your prize.

It wasn't easy to choose 3 from all the wonderful entries but I did manage and they are as follows in order of entry:

15. Chris

48. Viv
82. bharati

Well done! Your top pick logo is below, feel free to post it to your own blogs if you like to :)

To join in simply leave a direct link to your blog post with the linky tool below.

Guidelines at a glance:

Three entries total per month please.

Your blog post must inlclude a link back to my blog.

Your entry must follow the challenge theme!

You may combine with any other challenges.

May use any brand of stamps and products.

Please remember: this is a public blog, meaning any papercraft you link up or any comments left on this blog will be visible and clickable by third parties. The blog owner is not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without permission.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 517: Mother's Day or Feminine

2019-04-27T02:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome! Sorry I haven't posted in almost 10 days. I did make a few cards during this time, but I was working ahead on some posts and had nothing I could share yet.

But today a new theme started at Allsorts challenge and we're back to our regular -weekly - schedule. Mervi is hosting this week and she picked the theme of "Mother's Day or Feminine". Hope you can join us for a chance to win some Woodware stamps.

I so love the style of stamps from the Penny Black set Butterfly Garden! It's a new to me set, and I think it is also from a more recent release from a couple of months ago.

Related Products:

I heat embossed the butterfly using white detail Embossing Powder on Bristol Vellum paper. Then watercolored it with my Zig Clean Color markers. It's been carefully fussy cut with Cutterbee scissors to add to the design. The background was done with a dotted stencils, unfortunately I don't rememer who it's by, but I think any stencil would look nice behind the butterfly. I used Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink for stencilling, last time I used this stencil with yellow ink and didn't wash it off (please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't wash the ink off their stencils!!) so the two colors mixed gave this pretty shade of light green. The paper strips are from my stash and the Mother's Day sentiment on the card front is an older one from a Whimsy Stamps set and no longer available.

I continued with the stencilling on the inside as well and used another stamp from this set along with a sentiment from the Penny Black set Friendship. I thought this sentiment was perfect for the occasion.

Penny Black Butterfly Garden // Penny Black Friendship // Whimsy Stamps Sentiment (no longer available) // Versamark Ink // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Ink // Mustard Seed Distress Ink // Ranger Detail Embossing Powder White // Heat Tool // Tonic Stamp Platform // Dotted Stencil - not sure which brand I have // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush // Bristol Vellum Paper // Zig Clean Color Markers // Cutterbee Scissors

I'm sharing with these challenges:

CAS on Friday - Butterflies // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Penny Black Stamps // Alphabet Challenge - CAS // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Paper Shelter Challenge - Add a Sentiment

Anything Goes:

Simon Says Wednesday // Crafty Catz // Crafting With An Attitude //

Many thanks for visiting! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Rain in our forecast, but it could be worse (supposed to snow just north of us - hope it stays there!).

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

More Springtime for Penny Black and More Challenge Reminder

2019-04-18T02:00:00.000-05:00

I am back today with a couple of Springtime/ Easter cards for the current theme at Penny Black and More challenge. Still plenty of time to join us if you haven't already or maybe you'd like to play along again - remember you can play along up to 3 times - for more chances to win. Our theme is simply "Springtime" so if it has a spring feel to it you can share it, just be sure to follow our simple rules which you can read about on the challenge blog.

It's no secret that I love the Penny Black bunnies (and their animal stamps in general) and although these particular ones are wood mounted and have been retired some years ago, I reach for them every year for spring themed cards.

Both were stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and watercolored with my Zig Clean Color markers and a Zig Detailer waterbrush. I used Winsor and Newton watercolor paper.

Here I used the stamps "Bunny Kiss" and "Happy" (sentiment). The butterfly die is part of Penny Black's Flowing Butterfly die. I die cut it with white card stock, trimmed off the one I wanted to us and inked with Mustard Seed Distress ink with a little bit of Wild Honey ink on the edges of the butterfly. The paper strips are from my drawer of paper scraps. These particular ones are by stampin up but long retired.

The image stamp I used on the second card is called "What a Spring". Another wood mounted one by Penny Black, unfortunately not so easy to find now but you might have some luck on ebay or etsy. Again stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and watercolored with Zig Clean Color markers and Zig Detailer brush on Winsor & Newton watercolor paper. The sentiment I used here is from an old Easter stamp set by Stampin Up called "Gifts of Spring". I used the scallop circle die from Penny Black's die set Pinwheel that I received as a gift from our wonderful team leader Brenda a year or two ago. Paper strips are from my stash, and here you can see why I keep even the smalles pieces of papers! They worked here so perfectly especially the pink stripes matching the way I colored the tulips so well. And you can always use some polka dotted paper in black and white :)

I embellished with a button and some May Arts Natural Jute Twine. Mounted onto Hero Arts Dove White 100lb card stock to comlete the card

Sharing here:
Simon Says Wednesday - Spring Mood Board

Stamploration - Stamps and Watercolors

Cardz 4 Galz - Pretty Papers // Moving along with the Times - That Spring Feeling // TIME OUT Challenges // TIME OUT Challenges - Embellishments // Brown Sugar - Spring or Fall // My Time to Craft - Easter // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Spring Colors // The Fairy and the Unicorn - Easter Rabbits // Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - Animals // International Art & Soul - Easter //

Paper Minutes - Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting!!

Wishing you a Happy Easter, hope it's filled with lots of sunshine!

Related Products:

Currently FREE SHIPPING (USA only) at $50 or more at Scrapbook.com.

Use Coupon Code FREESHIP423. International costumers can use Coupon Code FIVEAPR423 to receive $5 off an order of $50 or more! Ends 4/18.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Midmonth Inspiration

2019-04-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday and thank you so much for visiting! If you are here for Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge, then you are at the right place! Today I am sharing another card for the April theme which is

"Wings, Tails or Spring Blossoms".

Feel free to choose one, two or all three! The linky tool has been added at the end of this post again, but as always it is also still accessable on the original April challenge post.

Off topic, but did you hear Mo Manning's Design team brought back their blogging challenge? I personally don't care much for Facebook challenges so I entered there only once while it was held on Facebook. I don't know about anyone else but I find blogging a much better platform for those types of things. So I am really excited that their challenges are back in blogland and thought I'd spread the word to those who haven't heard!

But now back to my card ... I decided to combine this post with Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge (among some others) so I used the image Teen Fairy Mia for my card. She's been colored with my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils (my choice of coloring medium for digital images) on Neenah 80lb card stock.

Related Products:

Currently FREE SHIPPING at $50 or more at Scrapbook.com.

Use Coupon Code FREESHIP423. Ends 4/18.

I decided that I wanted some stencilling behind the image, so I tore a post it note into small pieces and layered them over the image where needed as a mask. The stencilling is hard to see in the photos as I used a really pale pink ink (Spun Sugar Distress Ink) for the stencilled design. The stencil is by Penny Black - Hypnotic.

You can see more of the stencilling in the photo below. But isn't this image GORGEOUS!! You might also notice that I added some sparkles to the wings and the flower using my clear Wink of Stella glitter brush. I embellished with a pink button from my stash and white cotton twine.

I rounded the corners and layered the image over a pattern paper by 7 Gypsies. Unfortunately I am not sure which paper pack it's from. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is part of a set given away for free by Scrapbook.com - Handmade Essentials. The "From the Heart" is a metallic sticker by Tim Holtz' Quotations.

If you are in the United States then I hope you took advantage of this offer, but if not, you might still be able to get it - the coupon code still worked as I type this (4/16). You do have to pay for promotional shipping which is $2.24, but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. Also, this is not a cheap quality set like those you usually find in the Dollar Bins. This set is made in the USA of premium photopolymer and stamps beautifully. I love how it also includes stamps for the back of cards or as as letter seal.

If you are interested in this set, be sure to add coupon code FREE3762 - this will take $10.00 off (the cost of the stamp) and then will show a shipping charge of $2.24 in the cart. Unfortunately this offer is only good within the United States. Here is what it looks like.

On another note, Scrapbook.com currently offers FREE SHIPPING at $50 or more for US shipping adresses with coupon code FREESHIP423. (International costumers can use coupon code FIVEAPR423 to receive $5.00 off an order $50 or more). But please note: you can only use one coupon code at a time, meaning, if you'd like to get the set above for free you will have to place a separate order because a promotional shipping charge does apply for that set, and once you enter the free shipping coupon code it will remove the other coupon code for the free set. A bit confusing, right? But I think most retailers usually allow just one coupon code at a time. Note: The Free Shipping Coupon expires on 4/18.

Mo Manning Teen Fairy Mia // Faber Castell Polychromos pencils // Handmade Essentials Stamp Set by Scrapbook.com // Wink of Stella // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Penny Black Stencil Hypnotic // Tim Holtz Quotations Metallic Sticker Sheet

Challenges I am playing along with:

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge Blog - Anything 'Mo'/ option of Spring // Unicorn Challenge - Spots or Stripes // Crafty Friends Challenge - Birthday // The Fairy and The Unicorn - Anyting Magical Goes // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Craft-Dee BowZ - Handmade Bow // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Papers // Daisy Chain Challenges - Make it Feminine // Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog - Hand Coloring

Anything Goes (and I found lots of them!):

As a reminder, the prize for my Crafty Wednesday challenge is this cute rubber stamp from my prize box:

To play along simply leave a link to your blog post with the linky tool below. Please remember to leave a link back to my blog in your blog post and the given themes must be followed in order to be entered into the prize drawing.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 515 & 516: Bugs, Butterflies and Blossoms

2019-04-13T02:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome!
It's Saturday and that means it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. This time our challenge runs for 2 weeks over the Easter holiday. This gives everyone a little extra time to join us! We have a new sponsor this time - The Paper Box - giving away a gift certificate to their shop. Hope you can join us!

We have fun theme for you, chosen by Brenda - Bugs, Butterflies and Blossoms. Choose one, two or combine all three.

All stamps I used on this card are from the Stampin Up set "Butterfly Basics". It's my newest stamp set from Stampin Up, but I placed my last order with them a few years ago so it is now retired as well, but like with most retired Stampin Up products it can be found on ebay.

Related Products:

I created a "smooched" background by using Distress Oxide inks Wilted Violet, Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage. Next I stamped the flower and butterflies with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. The grid lines on my Stamp Platform came in handy to line up the butterflies almost perfectly. The sentiment was stamped with Bundled Sage ink 3 times across the card and I stamped the lace-y butterfly from this set with Tumbled Glass ink. To add a little more interest I used the "honeycomb" stamp (which is also from the set) randomly on the background with Wilted Violet ink. Distressed the edges and framed with colored card stock, then mounted onto a white card base.

Stampin Up Butterfly Basics - Retired but should be available on Ebay or Etsy

Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Distress Oxides: Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage, Wilted Violet //

Tonic Stamp Platform // Tonic Distresser

I'm sharing my card with these challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday - no Designer Paper // Pattie's Creations - Flowers // DL ART Thankful Thursday Challenge - Spring // Crafty Sentiment Designs - For Girls // Path of Positivity - Something Positive // Use Your Stuff - Flora and Fauna // Daisy Chain Challenges - Feminine // Tales From The Craft Room - Spring or Easter

Anything Goes:

Crafty Catz // Jo's Scrap Shack // QKR Stampede // Simply Create Too // Crafting With An Attitude // Creative Moments // A Place To Start // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Happy Little Stampers // Not Just Cards // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // We Love 2 Create

Thank you so much for visiting!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. As always, thanks so much for your support!

Watercolor Garden // Flashback Friday

2019-04-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! I'm bringing you another card today with some "Oldie but Goodie" stamps, that haven't seen ink in maybe a decade?

I thought this stamp set would be perfect for an Easter card with the beautiful 2-step stamping tulips. I incorporated some stencilling and background stamping and used Distress inks / Oxides for stamping. Some of you might recognize the main stamps from the Stampin Up set "Watercolor Garden 2". The butterfly stamp is from the Stampin Up set "Watercolor Garden 1". These are wood mounted stamps so it wasn't so easy lining up the 2nd step and I simply eyeballed and guessed, therefore the leaves are not lined up perfectly, but I think that just adds to the "handmade look" which sometimes gets lost nowadays with all the tools available now.

I used Distress Ink Mowed Lawn for the stem and leaves (stamped off once for the lighter shade), and I used Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Ink, for the tulips, (also stamped off once for the lighter shade). I have no idea why the violet color is showing up more in a lilac tone on the photo... For the blue blossoms, butterflies and around the egde I used Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink.

The tiny Happy Easter sentiment is from the Penny Black set "Chick to Chick" stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. The stamped words that you can see in the background were done with a retired stamp set by Whimsy Stamps - I think it's called Basic Borders and Backgrounds - but it's no longer available, using Spun Sugar Distress ink. If you look really closely, you migh even notice that I used a "canvas" background stamp. That's another old retired stamp from Stampin Up. The stripes were done with a Classic Stripes Stencil.

Watercolor Garden 1, Watercolor Garden 2 and Canvas by Stampin Up

(retired but I'm sure available on Ebay or Etsy)

Basic Backgrounds and Borders Whimsy Stamps

Penny Black Chick to Chick

Distress Oxide Wilted Violet // Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass // Distress Ink Mowed Lawn // Distress Ink Spun Sugar // Classic Stripes Stencil

Something Yummy!

2019-04-09T12:39:00.000-05:00

Please click here if you are visiting for Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge!

Hello and welcome! I don't have a card to share today, instead I decided to share what I baked on Saturday (don't worry I am not turning my blog into a food blog, I will have a card to share again soon:-)

This past weekend I decided to treat my family to a Black Forest Cake. This is a longer blog post and you might think this cake takes forever to make, but it actually doesn't take that long, I just explained it step by step. I don't have the best pictures as I don't usually take pictures of food, but I tried my best. I am also no expert in cake decorating, so please don't expect a professional looking cake 😀. But I can assure you, it's delicious if you love chocolate-y things!

So lets get started. By the way, this is an old German recipe, so all measurements are in grams/ ml. But you can easily convert them to ounces with an online calculator. I personally prefer the metric system when baking because it's more accurate. I've had my digital kitchen scale for a long time and I can use it with the metric system and English measurement (which is more common here in the United States).

Ingredients:

For the Sponge Cake

6 eggs (at room temperature)
250 g Sugar
90 ml Hot Water
200 g Flour
75 g Potato- or Corn Starch
50 g Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
2 tsp Baking Powder

For the Filling

1 jar of Morello Cherries/Sour Cherries (I found mine at Aldi - save approx. 12 to 15 cherries for decoration or use fresh cherries for this)
25 g Starch (to be mixed with cherries)
approx. 1000 ml Heavy Whipping Cream (32 oz)
1 tsp Starch or 1 packet of Whip It (to be added to whipping cream - optional)
1 Tablespoon of Powdered Sugar
6 Tablespoons of Cherry Liquor (you may substitute with Brandy or Rum. or make it alcohol free by using 6 Tablespoons of Cherry Juice)

Frosting/Decoration

3 to 4 Tablespoons of Whipped cream (saved from the filling)
Chocolate shavings and saved cherries

I tried my best at writing up/translating the "how to" but if it sounds a little bit confusing it's because English is not my native language. But I hope it is easy for you to understand. If not, just leave me a comment.

Directions for the Batter / Sponge Cake:

Preheat the oven to 395 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and line the bottom of a spring form (mine measures approx. 9 3/4 inches or 25cm) with parchment paper.
Separate eggs. In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs, warm water, and sugar. Mix until sugar is dissolved and the mixture will be very creamy and pale yellow. (I used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for this, but you can use a Hand Mixer as well.)
In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, starch, and cocoa powder, blend together, then add to the egg and sugar mixture with a sifter or fine mesh strainer (what I am using). (I recommend replacing the wire whisk with the flat beater for this step if you are using a stand mixer.)
Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with hand mixer until stiff, then fold into the rest of the batter.
Add batter to the spring form and bake for 25 - 35 minutes in preheated oven. It is recommended to lower the temperature during baking, so that at the end of baking time it will be at about 305 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius). This will prevent the sponge cake from sinking. (Unfortunately I overlooked this step when I baked my cake, so it did sink a little.) Ovens vary, so be sure to test with a skewer or toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
When done, let cool for just a minute, then remove spring form and turn cake upside down on a cooling rack covered with parchment paper. Let cake cool completely before cutting and adding the cake filling. During this time you can prepare the whipped cream and cherry mixture.

Now it's time to cut the cake horizontally twice. Be sure the cake has completely cooled before you do this step! You can purchase a cake leveler/cutter for this part. I do not currently own one of these devices, but have this one on my wish list. For now I use a ruler, some toothpicks and floss to cut layer cakes. I am sure many of you are experts and know how to do this well, but in case you are a beginner, you can read about how I do it.

(You can see in the photo below what I am trying to describe. Also, in this case I turned the cake right side up again, sometimes I leave it upside down though. It's really just a preference I think, but you will want to work with a flat even top. You can also cut it flat and eat the parts you cut off :-)

For this cake I measured approx. 1/2" from the bottom all around the cake, placing toothpicks all around to mark the 1/2 of an inch. I repeated this process measuring 1" from the bottom all around, again marking with toothpicks. Using the toothpicks as a guide, place the floss around the cake (I actually had to cut a little bit into the cake because my floss kept falling down - cake was a little bit over baked), overlap the ends of the floss and pull to each side. The floss will cut the cake. (If the cake is still too warm, this will not work well - ask me how I know 😀).
Repeat this process at 1 inch. Now you have 3 layers. Separate the layers.

Directions for the Filling:

Drain the cherries, but save all the liquid.
Mix about 6-8 tablespoonful of the liquid with the 25 g of starch and bring the rest of the liquid to a boil at medium low temperature.
Stir the starch mixture into the liquid and also add half of the cherry liquor (or cherry juice) and bring to another quick boil while stirring). Promptly remove from heat to prevent burning of the mixture.
The cherries (minus the ones you kept for decoration) can now be added to this mixture.

(I am aware that you can also purchase cherry pie filling for this, but I always find those much too sweet and prefer making my own.)

Completing the Cake:

Using a Stand Mixer or Handheld Mixer whisk together the cold whipping cream (in a chilled bowl) and 1 tablespoonful of powdered sugar. You can also add a packet of Whip It or 1 teaspoonful of corn starch as a stabilizer. Save 3 to 4 Tablespoons of this whipped cream in a Pastry Bag.
Drizzle bottom layer of cake with some of the Cherry liquor (or brandy/ rum or cherry juice), then add half of the cherry mixture, then (when cherry mixture is completely cooled) add about 1/3rd of the whipped cream and cover with second cake layer.
Drizzle second layer again with a little liquor or juice, add the other half of the cherry mixture and 1/3rd of the whipped cream, making sure the cherry mixture has completely cooled before adding the whipped cream. Top off with the last cake layer and using an Icing Spatula cover the top and sides with the rest of the whipped cream.
Finally decorate the cake as you wish with the whipped cream from the pastry bag with an attachment. I created 12 slices of cake.

As you can see I am nowhere near a pro when it comes to decorating, but luckily my family doesn't care, they just want the cake!

I made my own chocolate shavings by simply using a Mandolin Slicer and yummy dark chocolate, then sprinkled on the top of the cake and the sides.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you found this recipe of interest!

Amazon shopping links are above. These are affiliate links, meaning I might earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links but at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support.

Penny Black and More - April Challenge

2019-04-07T02:00:00.000-05:00

Good morning and happy Sunday! The April theme has just gone live at the Penny Black and More challenge blog and hope you can join us this month. We have some fantastic prizes to give away by Penny Black, Woodware and Rare Earth, so please do join us for your chance to win!

Our theme this month is an easy one - Springtime - just be sure to remember stamping must be the focal point of your creation (PB stickeroos are the only exeption).

The critters and the grass are all stamps by Penny Black The bunnies were stamped on watercolor paper using Versafine Clair Nocturne and watercolored with Zig Clean Color Markers with a Zig Detailer Waterbrush. Fussy cut to add to the design. The bunny with bird image is a wood mounted stamp called Sweet Talk. This particular stamp is retired but Penny Black re-released it as part of a clear stamp set called Garden Friends. The bunny sitting in a flower pot is part of the stamp Bunny Friends, which is a large stamp featuring a row of bunnies in flower pots, but I masked the rest of them off and used only one.

The flower shed is a stamp and die from Hero Arts January Kit (kit particular kit has unfortunately sold out). It's also been stamped on watercolor paper, colored with Zig markers and then cut out using the matching die. I stamped/ colored the awning twice and then fussy cut it the second time. Some inking on the bottom portion for some dirt and I used Stampin Up's retired set "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" for some interest. The grass is from Penny Black older set Enjoy Life. For the sentiment I used one from the same Hero Arts kit (happy), and then I used "Hello" from My Favorite Things' Label Maker set, which is retired, but this set by Altenew is similar. Before adhering the image panel to the card base, I added two strips of pattern papers.

Penny Black Garden Friends // Penny Black Bunny Friends // Penny Black Enjoy Life // Hero Arts January Stamp Kit (sold out) // MFT Label Maker - Retired/ Similar by Altenew // Versafine Clair Nocturne // Bundled Sage Distress Oxide // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer Waterbrush

Also sharing with these challenges:

Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - Animals // Simon Says Wednesday - Animal Antics // Sisterhood of Crafters - Celebrate Spring // As You Like It Challenge - Fav. Coloring Medium (Love my zig clean color for quick and easy watercolor looks) // Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes // Alphabet Challenge - A for Animals // Brown Sugar - Spring or Fall // Pattie's Creations - Flowers // Inkspirational - Pop it up (I popped up the awning) // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // Send a Smile for Kids - Anything for Kids // Addicted to Stamps - Spring

Thanks so much for visiting. Hope you have a fabulous Sunday!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 514: Sentiment in Focus

2019-04-06T02:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome! Happy Saturday! It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, hope you can join us this week. Helene is hosting this week with the theme of "Sentiment is Focus" and we're giving away a great sentiment stamp set by Bee Crafty.

This card was an easy and quick one to make. I already had the ink "smooched" background from a previous project. So then all I had to do was stamp the sentiment and brushstroke flowers using my Tonic Stamp Platform. I stamped the flowers (Penny Black Blossom Branch) using Spun Sugar and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I wanted to keep the flowers in the background to fit our theme better, so I didn't bother inking it up again, although it might have been a good idea to do so and could have easily be done with my Stamp Platform. But by the time I noticed it that it needed re-stamped, I had already removed the card. (I really need go get some re-inkers then this wouldn't have happened!! Or I should have I used my Distress Markers instead!)

Related Products:

The sentiment from the Penny Black set Happy Wishes was stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. I love the crips impression this ink gives. The script background stamp I used with Spun Sugar ink is an oldie but goodie from stampin Up - French Script. I carried this script over onto the card base. Before adhering the image panel onto the card base I inked up the edges with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide ink and distressed the edges.

Penny Black Blossom Branch // Penny Black Happy Wishes // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide // Bundled Sage Distress Oxide // Seedless Preserves Distress Ink // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Tonic Stamp Platform // Tim Holtz Paper Distresser Tool // Stampin Up French Script (retired) - but most likely availabe on ebay or etsy

I am sharing with these challenges:

Cardz 4 Galz (Flora this time) // Pattie's Creations - Flowers // Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Flowers or Showers

Anything Goes:

Cute Card Thursday // Penny Black Saturday Challenge // Crafting With An Attitude // Crafting By Designs // The Crafty Addicts // Lemon Shortbread // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design Team Open Challenge // Happy Craft Challenge

Thank you so much for visiting!! Enjoy your day and please come back again tomorrow when I share my creation for Penny Black and More April challenge. It's going to be a cute one :-)

This post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!

Friendships Grow // Flashback Friday

2019-04-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I posted a card made with some really old stamps and titled the post "Flashback Friday". I thought it would be fun to try inking up some of my very rarely (or never!) used older stamps and post those creations on Fridays. I have no idea how often I will have the time to do these "Flashback Friday" posts, but that's ok as they are just for fun.

I did find some more time to play this week using an old stamp set from Stampin Up - Friendships Grow. I don't know about you, but I love the old Stampin Up sets. Back then when they were current many of the sets were out of my price range, and I actually found this set at Goodwill for just $2.00 a few years ago. But sadly, I have not inked it up until now.

To make my card I stamped the image with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink on Bristol Vellum paper. Zig Clean Color markers and a Zig Detailer waterbrush were used for coloring. I wanted to make a little scene with the image, so I inked up just the flowers from this stamp and masked off the girls with post it notes and stamped the flowers on each side of the girls. Next I stamped the image on a post it note, did some quick and simple fussy cutting to place this over my colored image, and then I stamped a line of trees in the background. This is another old stamp I purchased online a few years ago - by PSX F1550.

Related Products

I used Distress Oxide ink Iced Spruce to stamp the trees with. The birds are from a little more recent set (but still a couple of years old) set by Penny Black - Spread Cheer. It's actually a stamp with lots of birds, but I masked off all but two to use on my card, stamped with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink.

The sentiment is part of the Stampin Up stamp set. I used Versafine Clair Nocturne ink again for stamping. The edges were all distressed. I used some retired designer paper to mat the image panel. The card base is Hero Arts Dove White 100lb card stock.As you can see I tied a bow with some sheer ribbon, another item I use so rarely, but I thought it fit the image style so well.

Stampin Up Friendships Grow // PSX F1550 (both retired but are probably available on ebay or etsy) // Penny Black Spread Cheer // Versafine Clair Nocturne // Distress Oxide Iced Spruce and Distress Oxide Pumice Stone // Strathmore Bristol Vellum // Hero Arts Dove White 100lb Cardstock // SU Retired Designer Paper // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer Waterbrush

I am also sharing with these challenges:

Stamplorations Challenge - Stamps and Watercolors (I used Zig Clean Color Watercolors)

Stinkin' Inkers - Trees // Double D Challenges - Beautiful Watercolors // As You Like It Challenge - Favorite Coloring Medium (Love my Zig Clean Color markers, because I find them quick and easy to use and love the watercolor look) // Cardz 4 Galz - Flora or Fauna (I really do love both) // Art Impressions Stamp Challenge - Outdoor Scenes // Moo-Mania & More - Polka Dots // Pattie's Creations - Flowers // Craft-Dee BowZ - Bows // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Paper

Anything Goes:

Cute Card Thursday // Crafting With An Attitude // Imagine That Creative Playground // Crafting By Designs // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // The Crafty Addicts // Through The Craft Room Door *//

Thank you so much for stopping by today and your interest in my "Oldies but Goodies" creations. Hope I can inspire you to dust off some of your old stamps too 😃

This post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - April Challenge

2019-04-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and Welcome to the April theme at Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Challenge taking place right here on my blog - Ellibelle's Corner! Before I let you know more about this month's theme I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone that joined in last month. I had lots of fun visiting your blogs or galleries and a winner and top picks have been selected. They are listed at the end of this post.

This Month's Themes

I think everyone is enjoying choosing from multiple themes, and since each challenge runs for a whole month, it makes sense to let you choose from more than one theme. This month they are:

Wings, Tails or Spring Blossoms

Choose one theme or the other, or you may combine as you wish! I can't wait to see what you will share this month!

For my creation above I used a mix of Lavinia stamps on an inked background. I started out by masking the edges of my 7x7 inches Bristol Vellum paper using painters tape, then used Distress Oxide inks for the background, applied with an ink blending tool. I used the colors Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet and Blueprint Sketch. A little water was spritzed on the background for a fun reaction before stamping the plants, fairies and words. All stamping besides words were done using Hickory Smoke distress oxide ink, then I used Cracked Pistachio ink for some of the words.

Save $5, $10 or 6% off your order - Details at Scrapbook.com
(This sale ends April 4th)

Another photo below...........

Lavinia stamps // Bristol Vellum // Painters Tape // Distress Oxides: Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Hickory Smoke // Ink Blending Tool //

I am also entering my card here:
Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Spring Fever (it does appear that these fairies have long been awaiting the arrival of spring!) // Daisy Chain Challenges - Spring // Addicted to Stamps - Spring //
Anyhing Goes:
Crafty Sentiment Designs // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Path of Positivity // Creatalicious Challenges // Happy Craft Challenge // The Creative Crafters // A Gem of a Challenge // Creative Fingers // QKR Stampede //

Before I continue, I wanted to mention that the Hero Arts April "My Monthly Hero Kit" has just been release and is now shipping. If you love to work with dies and die cuts, and like creating scenes, then this kit might interest you.

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

This month's prize:

A randomly selected winner will receive this fun Whimsy Stamps rubber stamp (retired) from my prize box.

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Last Month's Winner and Top Picks

The winner of the $6 Gift Certificate to Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo Stamps digi shop is .................

No. 22 Lynne

from Lynne's Craft Haven

Congratulations Lynne. Please email me at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com by Wednesday April 17th to claim your prize. Be sure to let me know in your email which shop you choose for your prize. (Please note: Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo are not sponsors, the Gift Certificate is sponsored by me.)

And now onto the top picks, which is never easy to choose, but I did manage and they are listed in the order of entry as follows:

No. 31 Craftduckydood

No. 52 Inky Fingers

No. 54 Carole J.

Well done! Below is your Top Pick logo, feel free to post it to your own sidebar if you like to.
Unfortunately I am unable to post links back to the creations (to be in compliance with GDPR), but you can see these beautiful top picks by clicking on the entry numbers in last month's linky tool HERE.

To join in this month's challenge simply use the linky tool below. As always feel free to combine with any other challenges and you may share up to 3 creations during the month. Please don't forget to leave a link back here to my blog! I can't wait to see what YOU will share!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Curious Cats and Hero Arts April Kit Release Info

2019-04-01T12:41:00.001-05:00

Hello and welcome!

Today I am sharing a card I made with a new stamp set I purchased last month from the Hero Arts March release. I just couldn't resist these two cute kitties! Also, the new Hero Arts April kit is releasing today, and you can find more info about that by scrolling down.

This stamp set is called Curious Cat. I started out by first stamping the fish bowl using Broken China Distress ink on Watercolor Paper. I stamped the fish bowl again on a post it note and fussy cut it to use as a mask. With the mask in place I then stamped the orange kitten using Vintage Photo Distress Ink, then removed the mask. The gray kitten was stamped on a separate piece of watercolor paper using Black Soot Distress Ink, stamped off once for more of a gray shade instead of black. I watercolored everything using Zig Clean Color markers. The sentiment which is part of the same cute stamp set was heat embossed using Versamark ink and White Embossing Powder. The gray kitty was fussy cut after it dried and I adhered her to the card with pop up tape. I decided the background needed a little something, so I used one of the designs from Penny Black's Oscillations Stencil to mimic some wallpaper. The card base is Hero Arts Dove White 100lb card stock, also a recent purchase.

When we had fish, our cat Thomas (who is represented by the orange kitty on this card :-) used to love drinking the water from the fish bowl. I really wish we still had fish now, but we decided not to get any more, because the same culprit that drank the fish water, would alway hammer against the fish tank with his paws, scaring the fish to death. So we decided not to get any new fish.

Hero Arts Curious Cat // Winsor & Newton Watercolor Paper // Zig Clean Color Markers // Distress Ink Black Soot // Distress Ink Vintage Photo // Distress Ink Broken China // Versamark Ink // White Super Fine Embossing Powder // Penny Black Oscillations Stencil // Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass

All Ranger products on sale today at Scrapbook.com

I am entering my card with these challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches - I turned the sketch sideways

Make My Monday - Something Humorous // As You Like It Challenge - Favorite Color Medium (Love my Zig Markers because they are so quick and easy to use) // Alphabet Challenge - A is for Animals // Sweet Stampin - Funny // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Any Sentimeny except Happy Birthday //

Anyhting Goes:

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // Simon Says Wednesday // The Corrosive Challenges // A Gem of a Challenge // Crafty Catz // QKR Stampede // Crafting With An Attitude // Crafting By Designs // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // Lemon Shortbread

And now for some info about the April My Monthly Hero Kit:

If you love creating scenes with dies and die cuts then this kit is for you! It's a really fun kit for travel themed cards. Although working with dies is not normally my first choice of products to use, (I personally prefer using stamps and coloring) I can see these working beautifully along with stamps from my stamp collection to create fun travel themed cards with.

This is what the kit looks like.

This month's kit includes:

4" x 6" Clear Stamp Set
7 Scenery Fancy Dies
14 5.5" x 8.5" Sheets of Hero Hues Premium Cardstock (Sand, Mustard, Pumpkin, Cherry, Plum, Adriatic, Arctic)
2 5.5" x 8.5" Sheets of Vellum Paper
2 Rolls of 1/2" Foam Tape, 2.2 yd. each, in 2 thicknesses
Tombow Mono Drawing Pen (Black)

Also, check out these wonderful European inspired Add-ons!

By the way, these Add- Ons are also available as a Complete Set for those of you wanting and them all! And remember, if you are in the United States, then your order of $50 or more ships for free.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 513: Use Yellow

2019-03-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome! It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. This week Lynn is our host and she chose the theme of "Use Yellow Somewhere". We're having a wonderful prize by Woodware to give away this week to one lucky randomly selected winner. It could be you - but only if you play along :-)

To make my card I followed this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and used this cute image (Baby Fairy Bee) by Mo Manning. I colored it with my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils on Neenah 80lb card stock. I used a chickenwire stencil for the honeycomb background with Mustard Seed Distress Ink to add some interest to the background. The yellow stripe on the right side was done with Distress inks as well, and I used a dotted stencil (Penny Black Oscillations Stencil) to add a simple design.

Stencils at Scrapbook.com

Sentiment is from the set Label Maker by MFT. This specific set is retired but this one by Altenew is similar and it also comes in a spanish version. I stamped it with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. A button and white cotton twine finish off this CAS card. I also covered the wings with a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush for some sparkle.

Mo Manning Baby Fairy Bee // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Neenah 80lb Cardstock // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush // Penny Black Oscillations Stencil // TCW Chickenwire Stencil // Mustard Seed Distress Ink // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Scor Tape // MFT Label Maker Sentiment - retired - Similar by Altenew

Related Products

I am also sharing my card here:

I used this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Ike's World - CAS // 2 Sisters On The Blog - CAS // A2Z Scrapbooking Linky Party - Color it in // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Any sentiment except Happy Birthday

Anything Goes Here:

Simon Says Wednesday // Crafting By Designs // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // House That Stamps Built // Crafty Sentiment Designs // Digi Choosday Challenge // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Artistic Inspirations // Path of Positivity

Thank you so much for visiting! Hope you're having a fabulous weekend!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Bunny with Daffodils // Flashback Friday

2019-03-29T02:00:00.000-05:00

I don't usually share a card on Fridays, but I came across this cute stamp when I was sorting through some stamps and realized I hadn't ever used it since purchasing it from ebay a few years ago. And I will be needing a few Easter cards soon so I decided to ink it up. In fact I think I will try making and sharing a card made with my retired and rarely used stamps on Fridays whenever time allows.

For this card I used the stamp No. G1946 by PSX.

My card front is Bristol Vellum Paper (not to be confused with the milky transparent vellum sheets) and I used Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink for stamping.

I colored with my Faber Castell Polychromos. The sentiment is another oldie (this one is by Penny Black) - I do like using this sentiment on spring themed cards. The butterfly is part of Penny Black's Flowing Butterfly Die, it's meant to be used together but for my card I simply cut each butterfly off the cluster to use separately. I cut it out with white card stock but inked it up with Broken China and Blueprint Sketch distress oxide ink. Stickyback Rhinestones were added to the butterfly's body and I used some May Arts Jute Twine in Parrot Green around the bottom. The green designer paper is from my paper stash, this specific one is ancient by Stampin Up. For my card base I used Hero Arts Dove White card stock. I've been running low on my white paper for card bases and wanted to give this one a try. For anyone interested this is a 100lb bright white card stock works perfect for the purpose and it runs $7.99 for a pack of 25. It will cost less to get a ream of Neenah Classic Crest 110lb card stock which most of you know is a great quality as well.

Another photo below, here you can see the colors I used for this image. It's so much fun layering all the pencils to achieve the color I want. But it does take time.

PSX G1946, Penny Black Sentiment (both retired but probably available on Ebay or Etsy)

Bristol Vellum Paper// Hero Arts Dove White Card Stock // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Penny Black Flowing Butterfly Die // May Arts Jute Twine // Tombo Mono Multi Glue // Scor Tape // Sticky Rhinestones // Broken China Distress Oxide // Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide

Find Spring-Themed Stamps at Scrapbook.com

I found some challenges to join:

Retro Rubber Challenge - I used the diagonal twine, leaves, dies (I had this stamp for about 2-3 years but it's been released in 1999 - before I even began this hobby) // Little Red Wagon - Hop to it // Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes // Crafty Friends Challenge - Spring // Addicted to Stamps - CAS // CCEE Stampers - Color with Pencils // Crafty Gal s Corner - Spring // Try It On Tuesday - Say it with Flowers // Unicorn Challenge - Spring // Alphabet Challenge - A is for Animals

Thank you so much for stopping by! I will be back again tomorrow with my design team creation for Allsorts challenge.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 512: Feathered Friends

2019-03-23T02:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday! It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, my turn to host this week and I picked the theme of "Feathered Friends". I do hope you join us, we're giving away a beautiful stamp by Indigo Blu to one lucky winner!

I'm not sure when this stamp was released, but it's new to me, by Penny Black - Flower Perch. This is another card that was super easy to make but I do love how it turned out. I stamped the image on Bristol Vellum Paper using my Tonic Stamp Platform, then colored it using Zig Clean Color Markers and a Zig Detailer water brush. I then stamped the music notes using an older Hero Arts background stamp (this one is Similar) and Antique Linen distress ink.

Related:

I decided I wanted the bird to stand out more from the card, so I stamped it again, colored and fussy cut. The label sentiments are from My Favorite Things (retired - similar here), stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. A little button and some natural jute twine complete the card. Before adhering it to the card base, I used a distressing tool around the edges. This of course can also be done with the blade of a pair of scissors, so the tool is not a necessity, it's just a little safer and less chances of the paper tearing.

Penny Black Flower Perch // Bristol Vellum Paper // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Antique Linen Distress Ink // Natural Jute Twine // Sentiment by MFT - Retired (Similar) // Hero Arts Music Background - Retired (Similar)

I'm also sharing my card here:

C.R.A.F.T. - Spring or Easter // Cute Card Thursday - Spring Fever // TIME OUT Challenges - Hugs, Kissed and Birthday Wishes // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - CAS with Penny Black stamps // AAA - One Image // Addicted to Stamps - Spring // Craft Rocket Challenges - Flowers // Crafting By Designs - Blooming Flowers // Creative Moment - Anything Goes // Artistic Inspirations - Anything Goes

Thank you so much for visiting, and hope you play along with us at Allsorts challenge! Remember you may enter up to 3 times for more chances to win!

Amazon shopping widgets are below for those of you interested.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!

Under the Sea

2019-03-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

If you are here to join Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge please click HERE or simply scroll down three posts.

Last Friday I received my Hero Arts March My Monthly Hero kit and yesterday I finally found some time to get inky. You may have read in a previous post that I wanted to make a shaker card, well, turns out I don't have any acetate sheets so instead I made a more traditional card using this gorgeous kit.

Using Bristol Vellum Paper for the background, I inked it up with the reactive ink cubes that were included in the March kit and flicked some water onto the ink making it react to the water. These inks are similar to the Distress inks and react to water the same way. Next I stamped the jelly fish using reactive sea glass ink from the kit and sprinkled it with Sparkling Sea embossing powder which was an Add-on item this month. Underwater castle, fish and seahorses are also from the march kit, I used hickory smoke distress oxide ink for the castle, candied apple distress oxide for the seahorses and reactive blue water (stamped off once) for the little fish.

The cute sentiment was stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. The aquarium frame die is the main die included in the kit. It's a very intricate die that required another piece of card stock as an extra shim with my big shot machine. Scor tape was perfect to use to attach the frame to the background. To finish of the card I added some yellowish -orange fin sequins from this Seashore Sequin Pack to the card. The dew drops are part of the kit and make a perfect embellishment.

This cute kit is currently still in stock at Hero Arts and as usual kits are $34.99 plus shipping. (Or get it shipped for free with an order of $50 or more within the US.) This is what the complete kit looks like:

Kit subscriptions are also available and when you are a subscriber your kit and any add-ons will ship for free, but when you subscribe you will actually begin your subcription with the April kit, not this one. You can read more here about how the kit subscriptions work.

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero March Kit // Hero Arts Sparkling Sea Embossing Powder // Hero Arts Seashore Sequin Pack // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Distress Oxide Candied Apple // Distress Oxide Hickory Smoke // Bristol Vellum Paper // Big Shot Machine

Sharing with these challenges:

Just Add Ink - Something beginning with "J" (Jellyfish) // Cardz 4 Guyz - Die Cuts // As You Like It Challenge - Dies or Stencils and Why (I really like them both about equally, they are both fun to play with and both add fun details to a project, but today I am using a die.) // Mod Squad Challenge - Metal Dies // Incy Wincy Designs - masculine // The Paper Girls - Under the Sea // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // Happy Little Stampers - Dies // Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenges - Glitter

Anything Goes:

Thanks so much for visiting!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Midmonth at Penny Black and More Challenge

2019-03-18T02:00:00.000-05:00

Today we're sharing our midmonth creation at the Penny Black and More challenge blog, reminding you that there is still a little time to join us! Our theme is "Going Round in Circles". As usual, we have some wonderful prizes again and I hope you had a chance to join us, but if not there are still a couple of weeks left to play along! And remember you may enter up to 3 times for more chances to win!

I thought this cute stamp set was perfect to use for our "circles" challenge! The chicks are all from the Penny Black set "Chick to Chick", it's an older set but I found it HERE on Amazon and it ships free with a $25 order. I am still having fun with my Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils and using the layering and burnishing technique. A few weeks ago I had asked on Instagram comparing two images (a pencil colored one and a copic colored one) and most people preferred the pencil coloring. So I am continuing working with pencils and learning color combinations etc. I know I could just use mineral spirits or baby oil, but I prefer the layering technique more, even though it takes longer to complete.

Related Products:

These chicks have all been fussy cut using my Cutterbee scissors. Some Wink of Stella glitter was brushed over the flowers.
The striped paper is an old one (but favorite) from Stampin up. I've been hoarding it long enough and it was perfect for this spring card. Sentiment is an old wood mounted one by Penny Black, stamped with Versafine Claire Nocturne ink. I tied some striped twine around the card to finish it off. Card base is Stampin Up's kraft card stock.

Penny Black Chick to Chick // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Bristol Vellum Paper // Versafine Claire Nocturne // Similar Twine // Prima Flowers // Wink of Stella Glitter

I'm sharing with these challenges:

Mod Squad Challenge - Layered Looks // Moving along with the Times - Bugs (stamp includes a little lady bug) // Challenge Up Your Life - Winter Goodbye // Crafty Calendar - For a Child // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // Send a Smile for Kids - For Kids // Addicted to Stamps - Spring // A Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes // Crafter's Castle - Anything Goes // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // A2Z Scrapbooking Linky Party - Color it in // A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes // Classic Design Team Open Challenge - Anything Goes // Craft-Dee BowZ - Bows // Crafty Animals - Animals // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Papers // Creatalicious Challenges - Anything Goes // Createful Heart Digis & Design Challenges - Springtime // Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Spring Fever // Daisy Chain Challenges - Spring is in the Air// LeAnn’s World 10 - Anything Goes // Make My Monday - Going Round in Circles
Lost Coast Designs - Round and Round

Thank you so much for visiting! Hope to see you over at the Penny Black and More challenge blog. We have some wonderful prize to give away from Penny Black and Lost Coast Designs!

Amazon shopping links below for those of you interested:
This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 511: Favorite Stamp or Die

2019-03-16T02:00:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome! It's time for another theme at Allsorts challenge, Kath is our host this week and picked the theme of "Use your favorite stamp or die". This should be an easy one I think, although for me I can't say I can ever decide on a definite favorite. Love so many of my stamps and I just cannot choose. Now if I were to be asked to pick a favorite stamp company, there would be no question to that as it's been Penny Black stamps for a long time and still is.
So digging through my Penny Black stamps I decided on this beauty called Botanical Notes. I don't think this stamp needs much more than some coloring and a sentiment to make a pretty card. Maybe even no coloring needed ... just stamp over an inked background and it would already make a beautiful card!

The sentiment is also one of my favorites from the Penny Black stamp set "Snippets", I love using it with butterfly stamps. As you can see I stamped it onto a piece of torn vellum paper using jet black Stazon ink which is a must for stamping on vellum (heat embossing would be another opion).

The image Botanical Notes has been stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink using my Tonic stamp platform on Bristol Vellum card stock. Then colored using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. I inked up the edge with Mustard Seed and Antique Linen distress inks and added some gold cord as an embellishment.

Penny Black Botanical Garden // Penny Black Snippets //

Versafine Claire Nocturne Ink // Stazon Jet Black Ink // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils //

Tonic Stamp Platform // Stickles Diamond Glitter Glue // Wink of Stella Glitter // Bristol Vellum Paper // Vellum Paper

I stamped the butterfly a second time, colored and fussy cut and attached it to the card with a glue dot in the center then bent up the wings for a 3D effect. Some diamond stickles glitter was applied to the flower center and wink of stella brushed over the butterfly.

I am also sharing with these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Feminine // Fab 'n' Funky - Butterfly // Moving along with the Times - Bugs // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // Addicted to Stamps - Spring // Crafty Catz - Spring // Craft Rocket Challenges - Flowers // Crafting With An Attitude - Anything Goes // Imagine That Creative Playground - Anything Goes // Sasayaki Glitt er Challenge Blog - Flowers // Moo-Mania & More - Close to Nature // Sweet Stampers - Spring

Thanks so much for visiting! Hope to see you over at the Allsorts challenge blog. We're giving away two cute clear stamp sets this week to one lucky winner!

Amazon shopping links below for those of you interested:

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - March Challenge Reminder

2019-03-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Wednesday! Today I am sharing another card I made for my Crafty Wednesday Challenge here in my blog where the themes are:

"Think Spring" or "Add Some Green"
(or a comination of the two!)

If you are here to join in, the linky tool can be found at the end of this post.

Last Saturday it's been raining all day long, and I decided to get out some of my Lavinia stamps. I really wanted to make a canvas print inspired by Brenda's beautiful Allsorts challenge creation, but that didn't turn out as I had planned, so I made this instead using Bristol Vellum as a base.

All stamps I used on this creation are from Lavinia Stamps.

All colored inks are Distress Inks or Distress Oxides.

Black ink is Versafine Clair Nocturne.

I did some masking and inking here using distress inks and oxides. For the sky I used Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves and Blueprint Sketch distress inks/oxides (in that order). The grass area was done with Bundled Sage distress oxide. All background stamping was done with Iced Spruce distress oxide. The black silhouettes were stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. I don't really like how the distress oxide ink shows through the Versafine clair ink, may need to try stamping the silhouettes with black distress oxide ink, but I don't have that ink pad yet .... Heat embossing really only works if I stamp the fairy first but somehow I always start these card with the background because I don't usually know where I want the silhouettes until the background is done. Any advise is always welcome!!

I have edited my post to add: some of you may have already seen this, but if not - Scrapbook.com is offering THIS FREE STAMP SET to anyone using coupon code FREE3762 at checkout. This will take the $10.00 price to $0.00. Promo shipping of $2.24 does apply, this is within the US, I am not sure what the promo shipping cost would be outside the US. (Be sure to click on "change shipping" at checkout to select the Promo shipping.) This offer is still valid today 3/13 but I have no idea when it ends. (I just ordered mine!) This is what the set looks like:

I am also entering my card with these challenges:
Make My Monday - Somehting New - I used new to me stamps // Simon Says Stamp Monday - Girly/Feminine // Catch The Bug - Make a Scene // The Fairy and The Unicorn - something Magical // Mix It Up Challenge - Inked Backgrounds // Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Make it Girly
Anything Goes Themes:
Dare 2B Artzy Challenges // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Artistic Inspirations // Crafting from the Heart // Get Creative Challenges // Path of Positivity // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // Crafter's Castle // The Corrosive Challenges
Crafting-With-Friends // QKR Stampede

If you would like to join in this month's Crafty Wednesday challenge, or if you'd like to enter a 2nd or 3rd creation, simply use the linky tool below. As a reminder, this month's prize is a $6 gift certificate to Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo (winner's choice), sponsored by me.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 510: For a Child

2019-03-09T02:00:00.000-06:00

Hello and Welcome! It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. This week we want to see creations made "For a Child", picked by Wendy. My cute Penny Black stamps come in so handy for kids cards. The stamp I used today is an older one called "Balloon Madness".

Penny Black Balloon Madness Stamp (no longer available)

Penny Black Sweet Wishes Set // Penny Black Snippets

Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Zig Clean Color Markers // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Penny Black Die Set Pinwheel // Distress Oxide Ink Tumbled Glass

This cute stamp is unfortunately no longer in production, but if you are lucky you might find it on ebay or etsy. I stamped the image using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink on Winsor & Newton Watercolor paper. Coloring was done with my Zig clean Color markers and a Zig Detailer Brush. A clear glitter brush (Wink of Stella) was used on the balloons to make them sparkle. I originally wanted to use crystal glaze, but couldn't find my bottle since I moved everything around a few months ago. The sparkles look really nice though!

Related Products:

The sentiments on the top are from the set Sweet Wishes which I think is so perfect for children's cards, and the small "happy birthday" sentiment is from the Penny Black set Snippets. I used the Penny Black die set Pinwheel (which was a gift from our team leader from few years ago, thank you again, Brenda) to cut out one of the sentiments which was stamped on white card stock, then inked the edges with Tumbled Glass distress oxide ink. The butterflies were done with a Martha Stewart butterfly trio punch which I've had forever and sadly it's now only working with pattern paper and I can no longer punch out from card stock. But I do have lots of scraps and I like the polka dotted butterflies, so it worked out well. Tiny pearls were added to the butterflies bodies. The striped cardstock is also from my paperscraps. The white twine I used is from Stampin Up.

I went with pretty and bright colors perfect for a girl, flesh color and pale pink for the skin with some light pink for the cheeks, gray for the body. Balloons were colored with light blue, light pink, yellow and bright yellow and the grass was done with light green. All colors besides the light blue were part of the set of 36 Zig Clean Color markers, which is really all you need, as these colors do dilute and mix well and I could have achieved the light blue balloon color by using a diluted cobalt blue from the set of 36 marker.

Challenges I am joining in with this card:

First up Hero Arts is celebrating National Craft Month and are hosting a challenge every week. This week it's "Build your birthday card stash".

Little Red Wagon - Animals // Simon Says Wednesday - Create a Scene // Alphabet Challenge - Yarn, String or Twine // Crafty Calendar - For a Child // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Penny Black stamps and CAS // Send a Smile for Kids - For Kids // Colour Crazy Challenge - Something Colored // Crafty Catz - Best Friends // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // A2Z Scrapbooking Linky Party - Color it in // Crafty Animals - Animals // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Papers // Creatalicious Challenges - CAS // Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Spring Fever // Daisy Chain Challenges - Spring is in the Air // Die Cut Divas - Use a Die Cut // Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor // Happy Little Stampers - Dies // Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Make it Girly // Sparkles Forum Challenges - Animals // Tinker- Dream - Die Cut // Fab 'n' Funky - Spring Colors // House That Stamps Built - ~~Easter or~~ Spring // Paper Shelter Challenge - Spring // The Crafty Addicts - Embellishments // Path of Positivity - Friendship

And there are lots of "Anything Goes" Themes so I am linking up here too:

Cute Card Thursday // Dare 2B Artzy Challenges // Crafting-With-Friends // QKR Stampede // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design Team Open Challenge // Happy Craft Challenge // Let's Craft & Create Challenge // Love to Craft // The Creative Crafters // Crafting By Designs // Creative Moments // Crafty Sentiment Designs // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Crafting from the Heart // The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you have a great weekend! Maybe you'll find some time to join us at Allsorts challenge for a chance to win a wonderful prize! Would love to see you over at the challenge blog :-)

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - March Challenge

2019-03-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

Hello and Welcome to Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge!

It's a new month, that means time for a new theme and I hope you will join in this time!
It was great seeing so many of you playing along last month, seems like the "double theme" was popular and I might continue with two theme choices for a little while. After all, the challenges do run for a whole month so two themes to pick from would be nice! Be sure to scroll down to see if you were last month's prize winner or a top choice. And as always, the linky tool can be found at the end of this post.

This month's themes:

Think Spring or Add Some Green

(of course you may combine the two themes like I did!)

Penny Black Sweet Smiles // Versafine Clair Nocturn Ink // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Penny Black Flowing Butterfly Die // Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide, Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide // Ranger Ink Blending Tool // Martha Stewart Scor Board // Neenah White Card Stock // Bristol Vellum Paper

The image from the Penny Black set Sweet Smiles was stamped onto Bristol Vellum paper and I colored using my Faber Castell Polychromos. I trimmed the image panel to an about 3" square and layered over striped vellum paper from my stash. I did find the exact pack I have in an etsy shop, but the seller is located in Malaysia, so shipping might not be fast. Mine was a gift from a neighbor who was visiting Japan several years ago. The butterflies were done with Penny Black's Flowing Butterfly die, which is really 3 butterflies attached to each other but I cut it out twice and trimmed off the smaller one to use on my card. They were cut out of white card stock and I used distress oxide inks Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch to give them some color. Stickyback pearls were attached to their bodies.

If you look really closely, then you will see that I used a scoring tool to add 5 scor lines behind the image panel for some interest. I used Martha Stewart Scoring Board.

The sentiment is part of the cute set, it's been stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink directly onto the Neenah heavy weight card base.

Challenges I am entering:

AAA - Sentiment plus 3 from wheel (I picked stamped image, coloring and a die cut)

Back to Basics - tic tac toe (Pearls, Flowers, Blue)

PINK	PEARLS	LACE
TAG	FLOWERS	CHARM
TWINE	BLUE	BUTTONS

CAS on Friday - Use Vellum (the striped paper is vellum paper with stripes.)

Crafty Calendar - For a Child

Crafty Friends Challenge - Gemstones or Pearls

Inkspirational - Use Your Stash

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes with PB/ option of CAS

Send a Smile for Kids - Anything for Kids

Ike's World - CAS

Unicorn Challenge - Spring

Crafty Cardmakers - Flowers

Anything Goes Themes:

Crafty Sentiment Designs // Lemon Shortbread // Get Creative Challenges // Path of Positivity

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March Prize:

This month the winner gets the choice of a $6 Gift Certificate to either Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo Stamps, sponsored by me. The gift certificate will be purchased after winner has been selected and contacted me with the choice, then gift code will be emailed to the winner.

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February Winner and Top Picks

Nancy E.

Congratulations, Nancy! You are the February prize winner - please email me with your mailing address at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com by Wednesday March 19th.

Top picks are listed in the order of entry, and it was really hard to choose from so many wonderful creations!

Due to GDPR regulations I am unfortunately unable to post links to the top picks and winner, and don't feel it's right for me to post other crafter's cards on my blog without properly linking to the original source, but their beautiful creations can still be seen at the February challenge linky tool.

No. 17 - Sheryl Hare
No. 41 - Astrid
No. 55 - Treebug

Congratulations on being my top picks! Your top pick logo is below, feel free to post it to your own blogs if you like to!

The linky tool for the March challenge is below. As always feel free to combine with as many challenges as you like to, and you may share up to 3 creations per challenge.

Challenge themes:
Think Spring or Add Some Green

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!