A Little Bird Told Me....

Hello everyone, it's my turn to host at Allsorts challenge this time around and my theme is For Boys or Men. Of course the Anything Goes option is there too and I hope you can join us. We have prizes from  Sweet Poppy. 

I came across this fun stamp with sentiment by Penny Black (40-327 "A little bird") on eBay a few months ago and the price was just right so I clicked the "Buy  It Now" button :) This is my first time using it. I think it's perfect for masculine cards and of course for any cat lover. I'm a bird lover too but do find this funny as long as this wouldn't happen in real life!!

I stamped on Bristol Vellum paper and colored with my Derwent Inktense pencils. On the background I used a "speckled" stencil from this Tim Holtz set. On the bottom portion I used a birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things (retired) and inked with gray ink. I did stamp the image onto a post it note to make a mask to use when I inked the floor. My sewing machine is still closeby so I stitched around the edges. 

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

I plan to share with these challenges:

• Ally's Angels - AG
• C.R.A.F.T. - AG
• Crafty Animals - AG with Animals
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils and opt. Four Legged Friends (I used a "speckled" stencil on background)
• Creative Inspirations Challenge - AG
• Critter Crazy Challenges - AG with a Critter
• Double D - Birthday
• FarmQuest Home Challenge Blog - Anything Home Related (a cute lovable kitty being up to no good is part of many homes)
• Paper Rock Scissors - Papers and/or scissors. All layers are paper and I used scissors to cut out the image from a post it note to use as mask.
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB Stamps
• The Paper Funday - AG

Thanks so much for visiting!

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 11 - Anything in or from a Garden

Hello everyone, it's time for a new Garden Party to start and all are invited to join in the fun!

As always, you may share anything in or from a garden. This can be crafts of any kind, garden photography or garden tips, weddings and tea parties taking place the garden... So many options!! As always the linky tool is at the end of the post along with my Top Picks from the last party.

I think my mojo left me way before Christmas and it's still nowhere to be found but at least I knew I wanted to use Tracy Evans stamps and this is what I came up with.

It turned out to be a bit "busier" than I intended. That is because I originally used only green, black and white, but then decided to add some yellow and this is the final result. A little mistake led me to add a little more yellow and not much I can do about it now :)

Stamps used are all by Tracy Evans: TE38 Silhouettes, TE14 The Wonder of Nature, TE33 Sunflower, TE32 Alpha Florals and Art Notes from Tracy's Aall and Create release. For inks I used Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide, Mustard Seed Distress Ink, Versafine Onyx. I also used a black Posca pen for some spatter along with diluted Wilderness ink. Stamps are available directly from Tracy Evans in the UK or Topflight Stamps and Simon Say Stamp in the US. 

I plan to share my card with these challenges:

• Lost Coast Designs - Winged Things
• Stamping Sensations - Beginning with B (Birds, Bare Tree)
• Triple B - Birds, Blooms or Butterflies
• We Love Stamping - AG

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 10

There were lots of beautiful garden themed posts to choose from last month, thank you all so much for joining in! As always, selecting just 3 is never easy but I finally managed and here they are listed in the order of entry:

No. 6 Gerrina

No. 8 Karen L.

No. 14 Carrie Sheridan

Congratulations to each one of you on your well deserved recognition! Your top Pick logo is below you may post this to your own blogs if you like to :)

New this year:

I would like to invited each Top Pick to join me as a "Special Party Guest" in the next Garden Party. Simply message me at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com if you would like to be a special guest. Of course this is totally optional as I know we all are busy in one way or another just thought it would be something fun to offer the top picks :)

(Btw. Even if you are a special party guest for the month, you are still invited to share your other garden themed creations in the linky tool during the month!)

Now it's time for the 11th Garden Party to start!

Simply link a new or recently shared post (featuring something in or from a garden) using the linky tool below. To make it even more fun and maybe meet a new blogging friend I invite you to visit another entrant's blog post and leave them some love. This is just a suggestion and in no way do you have to :)

Below are the main guidelines at a glance:

• Your entry must feature something in or from a garden.
• You may combine with any other challenges/link parties.
• Please leave a link back to this blog.
• Up to 5 entries per blogger please.
• Backlinking to a recent post is allowed.
• The party ends on Monday January 5th at 11:59pm CST

I wanted to add a little reminder that the annual Crafty Year in Review is still open until January 18th and I would love for you to join in there as well to share you favorite creations of the last year. I think it's so nice to have a look back!