Hearts Butterfly for Allsorts Birthday Challenge (and a few more Vacation Photos- Verona)

Hello everyone, a new theme at Allsorts challenge is starting today and Lynn is hosting this special challenge as it's Allsorts' 17th birthday. We are celebrating with many prizes from Lavinia, Buddly Crafts, Art Impressions, Highlight Crafts  and there are also some goodie bags from the Allsorts prize box. The challenge runs for 2 weeks and our theme is simply Anything Goes.

Something a bit different from me today as I don't normally use die cuts as focal points but surprisingly I do love how this turned out.

The star of the card is the gorgeous hearts butterfly die by Penny Black available from Buddly Crafts if you are in the UK and several retailers in the US.

I cut the butterfly from white cardstock then used Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide ink and a blender for color. As you can see, with this die you will get lots of little hearts. I saved them all and added 4 to the card as embellishments. On the background I used an old Tim Holtz mini tile stencil and the same pink ink. The large postage die cut was done with Penny Black's Posted, also available at Buddly Crafts in the UK or several retailers in the the US such as scrapbook.com. 

On the background I used a script stamp from Tracy Evans stamp set Magnolia. A button with some twine was used as another embellishment. 

Challenges I am linking up with:

• A Cut Above - Die Cut Challenge Blog - Die Cuts
• Craft Rocket Challenges - Not Square
• Crafting from the Art Challenge - AG
• Crafting Happiness Challenges - AG
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• DL.ART Thankful Thursday - AG
• Dragonfly Dreams - Die Cuts
• Girlz Creative Crafts - Dies
• Girlz Rebel Challenge - Buttons
• Heart's Quest Challenge - Pink or blue hearts
• Moving along with the Times - Butterflies
• Neglected Stuff Challenge - Butterfly die was purchased at a going out of business sale a couple of years ago, this is my first time using it.
• Paper Rock Scissors - Paper or Scissors (all layers are papers)
• Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Butterflies
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Triple B - Butterflies, Birds or Blooms

💖Verona 💖

Today I am also continuing with some more vacation photos, this time it's a few snapshots from Verona. This was just a short stop as we were on our way to my sister's house (north of Munich) but since we had to change trains in Verona I decided to book the train tickets separately so we could spend a few hours in Verona. And we were not disappointed about our decision although I wish we had a little extra time. But when your family lives over 4000 miles away then you plan to spend as much time as possible with them therefore I didn't plan a full day in Verona. 

Verona has one of the best presevered Roman Amphitheatres, still used today. If you have watched this year's winter Olympics then you may already know that the closing ceremony was held here.

Enjoyed some window shopping... 

and saw several vintage/antique shops.

Cats!!!

How cute is this??!!

And some fun souvenirs at a market stand.

We did try to see Juliet's balcony but unfortunately as of April 2026 you are no longer able to see the balcony for free. We would have happily paid to get into the courtyard where you can see the balcony from but with a very short time window there just wasn't any time to wait in line for a ticket. Oh well.... the city was beautiful and we fully enjoyed it without seeing the balcony. 

Loved all these wild poppies growning along the train tracks. I am having such a hard time to grow poppies here in Illinois!!

The 5+ hours long train ride from Verona to Munich was anything was boring as we got to enjoy some beautiful views from the window as we made our way through the Alps.

The next 10 days we spent in Germany and Austria with family.. I will share a few more photos as I sort through them. 

If you missed my first 2 sets of vacation photos and would like to see them, you can find them in the links below: 

• Milan  
• Varenna on Lake Como 

I Spy With My Little Eye..........Something Monochrome (Challenge No. 37)

Hello everyone and welcome to a new I spy with my little eye challenge, taking place right here on my blog. Pauline and I are back with a new theme and we hope you will join us! As always, our top picks from the last challenge are at the end of this post, invited to join us in the next challenge.

This time it's Pauline's turn to select a theme and it is.........

I spy with my little eye...........

Something Monochrome.

We can't wait to see what color you choose to feature on your monochromatic projects. As always, the linky tool is at the end of this post.

Here is what we came up with to inspire you:

My Card (Ellie)

(All details are right below the card.)

I went with a brown color scheme. I recently got Tracy Evans' new-ish stamp set Framed Delights, I knew I wanted to use it with my cats set by Tracy Evans - Numerical Cats and this is what I came up with. The hearts at the top left are from the set Branched Heart also by Tracy Evans. Stamping looks black but I used Versafine Clair Pinecone ink which is a very dark brown. On the background I used a crackle stencil by Prima with Tea Dye Distress ink. I distressed the edges for an aged look and used DCWV Cocoa paper as a layer and Stampin Up Espresso paper for the card base. It's hard to see but I added rhinestones to the top and bottom of the stamped frame.

I am entering the above card here:

• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Crafty Catz - AG
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - AG with Stencils
• Fab n' Funky - Monochromatic
• Neglected Stuff Challenge - I had that Prima crackle stencil for many years but think this is my first time using it. 
• Paper Rock Scissors - Paper and/or Scissors (all layers are paper and I used scissors for distressing)

Pauline's Card

Such a beautiful design with that gorgeous color! Please visit Pauline's blog to find out how she made this card.

We are so excited to have Gerrina of Gerrina's Creatieve Wereld joining us this time as a guest designer. Thanks so much, Gerrina!

Gerrina's Card

So cute and feminine, what a fun design! Please visit Gerrina's blog to find out how she made this card.

Top Picks from Challenges 35 and 36

We had such wonderful entries sharing in our combined Spring Flowers or Spring Showers themes over the last two months. Thank you all so much for joining us! Selecting Top Picks was so hard but since we had a 2-months challenge we decided it was just right to choose 2 Top Picks each, so a total of 4. Each one of you is invited to join us as a guest designer in the next challenge.

No. 1 Chris (Pauline's Pick)

No. 35 Carrie Sheridan (Ellie's Pick)

No. 47 Silke (Ellie's Pick)

No. 51 AdryConceP (Pauline's Pick)

(You can take a closer look at all the pretty pages in this album on Adry's blog.)

Congratulations on your well deserved recognition! Your Top Pick logo is below.

Remember, you are all invited to join us as guest designers for challenge no. 38 starting June 17th. If you would like to be a guest designer please message me (Ellie) at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com so I can give you all the details. Of course, this is not a requirement but would love to have you joining us if you like to :)

To play along in the new challenge please use the linky tool below.

A few things to remember:

(Complete list of guidelines and copyright info can be found here.)

• You may share up to 5 different projects 
• You may combine with as many other challenges as you like to.
• A short mention of products used whenever possible is expected, especially the focal point.
• New: While you are free to link up your creations using pre-colored digital art (AI generated, digital pre-colored toppers/images, digital papers etc.), they will be excluded from top picks. 
• Please include a link back to this blog.
• Back-linking to a recent project is allowed.
• Linkup closes on Sunday, June 14th at 11:59pm CST

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 15 - Anything in (or from) a Garden... Plus More Italy Vacation Photos: Varenna)

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 in a  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, each one invited to join me as a special party guest :)

At the end of the post I'm also sharing an assortment of photos from our daytrip from Milan to Varenna on Lake Como. They are very garden focused so fit well into today's post. If you're not interested in the pictures simply scroll down to the very end for the Garden Party link up.

Here is what I made this time:

I started with a smooshed background using diluted Distress inks. I found a piece of inky cardstock in my stash of extras that matched the background piece so I used that extra piece to stamp the boots onto and then fussy cut. I thought the postmarks stamp from the same set would work well to "ground" the boots and I used the same stamp directly on the boots to give them some more detail.

Next I stamped the butterfly collage stamp directly onto the background but it didn't stamp fully so I decided to use another butterfly stamp from the same set, stamped on another snippet of inky cardstock and fussy cut then added right over the large butterfly. "Fly Free" and "Butterfly" are part of the same sets: Tracy Evans for Aall and Create The Great Outdoors and Spread Your Wings. Both have been retired but possibly still found at some retailers...

I plan to share the above card with these challenges:

At Double D they are asking for Watercolor (my background is a smooshed watercolor background), Double Trouble Challenge want to see at least 3 layers, at least 2 shapes (hexagon and rectangle), and at least 1 stamp

At Mix It Up Challenge it's all about Stamped Backgrounds, Moving along with the Times wants to see Butterflies, Paper Rock Scissors is looking for Paper and/or Scissors (I used both this time!), then at The Pick 3 Challenge we need to choose three from a list of 6 words(I chose Boots/Feminine/For a Friend) and at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge it's Things with Wings. Anything Goes at The Paper Funday and Word Art Wednesday  My color scheme was inspired by the current optional Triple B moodboard with pink butterfly, bird for flower. Finally at We Love Stamping it's all about all creatures great or small.

I'm so excited to introduce a Special Party Guest this time around and that is Guest Designer Irene of Irene's Scrapbook. So happy yo have you as a special guest, Irene!!

Irene's Card

This card puts a big smile on my face as I love hedgehogs and daisies!! Please visit her blog to find out how she made this card.

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 14

Now it's time to announce my Top 3 from the last Garden Party. It was so great to visit all your blogs and admiring your gorgeous creations. Susan aka rainy if you read this, I am sorry that I wasn't able to leave you a comment, I kept getting an error message and my comment wouldn't go through.

My Top 3 are listed in the order of entry:

No. 10 Loopyloo

No. 32 Suzanne Reynolds

No. 44 Pauline

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 :) Please read the info below if you'd like to join me as a special party guest.

New this year:

I would like to invited each Top Pick to join me as a "Special Party Guest" in the next Garden Party (starting June 11th). Please 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!)

As promised I am sharing some more of my April vacation photos. This time the photos are from our daytrip from Milan to Varenna on Lake Como. Mid-April on a weekday was definitely the perfect time to visit as it gets extremely busy during summer - and as a bonus, the beautiful Wisteria was in full bloom during our visit. 

Varenna is known for its beautiful gardens at Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero and they were why I planned this daytrip from Milan. Some  of you know how much I enjoy gardens! Plus it only takes one hour to get here from Milan and train tickets were easily purchased from the Trenitalia site and very inexpensive. 

This is "Heaven's Gate" at Villa Cipressi. Be prepared to wait in line for your turn... Unfortunately some visitors turn this into longer photo sessions for Instagram (some showed up with tri-pods for their phones)  but I can't blame them as it's such a beautiful spot.

 

Even prettier without people in it...

All roads to the town center were very narrow and uphill like the one below.

Many daytrip tourists take ferry rides to other villages on Lake Como but I wanted to have enough time to explore Varenna and I didn't want to wait in a line for a ferry on our first visit to Varenna. It worked out perfectly and we enjoyed a relaxed day surrounded by beauty and some surprises (such as a small scorpion on a wall - I had no idea Northern Italy had scorpions - luckily I found out these are pretty harmless!)

PS: If you missed my Milan pictures and would like to see them you can find them here. I have more vacation photos and soon I will share some snapshots from Verona.

But now let's get back to the party... it's time for your share at the Garden Party No. 15!

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 June15th at 11:59pm CST