I Spy With My Little Eye......... Autumn in the Woods (Challenge No. 42)

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'll join in the fun. We had some wonderful entries for the last challenge so be sure to scroll down to see who made the Top 2, both invited to join us in the next challenge.

This time it was my turn (Ellie) to select a theme and I chose:

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

Autumn in the Woods.

As always, the linky tool is at the end of this post. We'd love to see all your woodland inspired autumn creations. 

Here is what we came up with this time:

My Card (Ellie)

(All details are right below the card)

For my card I used some older stamp sets from Tracy Evans. The cute foxes come from the set Up Up and Away, Mushrooms from the set On the Wild Side and the tree is from the set Woodland. The foxes were stamped on inked cardstock (using distress inks) then fussy cut. Trees and mushrooms were stamped with Versafine Clair Portobello ink. I used Peeled Paint and Rusty Hinge Distress inks for the hill and Antique Linen, Carved Pumpkin and Chipped Sapphire ink on the background. The autumn sentiment is from a retired Hero Arts stamp kit, bottom sentiment from Tracy Evans On the Wild Side set.

Challenges I am linking to:

• Cardz 4 Gal - Add an Animal 
• Crafty Calendar - Autumn 
• Creative Knockouts - Fall 
• Make My Monday - Fall
• Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Four Legged Friends

Pauline's Card

Such a beautiful autumn creation by Pauline. Please visit her blog to find out how she made this card.

 

We're so happy to have Lia from Lia's Design joining us for this challenge. Lia was a top pick a few challenges ago and today she is here as a guest designer. Thank you for joining us Lia!

Lia's Card

A gorgeous autumn scene featuring an adorable deer! Please visit her blog to find out how she made this card.

 

Top Picks from Challenges No. 41

We had some wonderful entries for last month's "Added Text" challenge, thank you all so much for sharing your creativity with us! Selecting Top Picks is never easy but we finally managed and here they are in the order of entry:

 

No. 10 Helen (Ellie's Pick) 

 

No.  25 Jolanda  (Pauline's Pick)

Congratulations to both of you on your well deserved recognition! Your Top Pick logo is below. 

Remember, you are both invited to join us as guest designers for challenge no. 43 starting Wednesday November 18th. 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 totally optional as we all are busy in one way or another and it might just not work out for you but we thought it would be something fun to offer our top picks :)

 

 

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.
• It is the creator's responsibility to follow copyright laws.
• Please include a link back to this blog.
• Back-linking to a recent project is allowed.
• Linkup closes on Sunday, November 16th at 11:59pm CST

More Than One Fold at Allsorts Challenge

It's time for a new theme to start at Allsorts challenge and this time Liz is hosting. Her optional theme is "More than one Fold" or you can go with the "Anything Goes" option. Prizes are a bundle of craft essentials from Stix2 and an A4 stamp set from the Allsorts prize box.

For my card I decided to make a simple "gate fold" card. 

For the card front I used Penny Black's Poppy Edger die and a "Brusho" background I made some time ago. On the right side of the card I used My Favorite Things Birthday Background stamp. It didn't stamp properly along the edge, so that is when I decided to add the black strip of paper to the card and I really love how that turned out. To bring in some black on the left side I used my Posca pen for a little splatter. 

Inside I used Penny Black's Hypnotic stencil and Distress ink, then stamped the sentiment from the Penny Black set Sprinkles and Smiles onto a scalloped die cut which is part of Penny Black's die set Pinwheel. 

It's probably one of the easiest "more than one fold" cards to make. All you need for the base is a 8.5" x 5.5" piece of cardstock, scored at 2 ⅛ " on both sides, fold and decorate as you wish for an A2 sized card.

I plan to link up with these challenges:

• A Cut Above - Die Cut Challenge Blog - AG
• Craft Rocket Challenges - dies
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB stamps/products
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Triple B - Blooms, Birds or Butterflies
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

The challenge at Allsorts runs for 2 weeks and hope you are able to join us. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 20 - Anything in or from a Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to a new Garden Party, taking place right here on my blog! So glad you stopped by today and maybe you brought something along to share too. Remember, it's Anything in or from a Garden, this can be crafts of any kind, garden photography, garden tips and advice, garden tea parties or weddings etc. The linky tool is at the end of this post. I also have two special guests joining me today so be sure to scroll down.

It's beginning to look a little spooky in the garden, in fact the large Illinois orb weaver spiders have been busy since August and of course cats are part of it. Wether it's my own Fussy who enjoys sleeping on a garden chair when the weather is mild, and it always makes me happy when a stray cat wanders through the garden. 

Anyway, you might recognize the cat stamp I used here as I made a similar ATC in September. I loved that one so much that I decided to make two greeting cards using the same cat stamp.

The stamp set I used is called Spooktacular by Penny Black. Background was done with orange and black Distress inks and a stencil. I flicked some water onto the background for that fun reaction and a few flicks of a black Posca pen. The cat has been fussy cut and I colored the pattern on the cat with pencils and a glitter pen. Sentiment is from the Penny Black stamp Creepy Crawly Halloween K4018 (no longer available). 

Challenges I am entering the above card to:

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Spooky (see cookies above)
Just Add Ink - Stencils or Dies
Two Old Bats - Halloween
Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Halloween

This is the other card I made:

Here I created an inky background with Villainous Potion Distress ink and once again a few splatters of water. A circle die has been used to cut out the cat and then I used a starry Avery Elle circle die around the circle die cut. Sentiment and spider are both part of the same stamp set Spooktacular. And I used a pencil and glitter pen again for the cat's pattern and sparkle on the spiderweb.

Challenges I am entering card 2:

Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters

Halloween Crafts All Year Round - Halloween

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps

The Paper Funday - AG

I'm so excited to have not one but two special party guest joining me here today as guest designers, that is Priya and Darlene! Thank you both!!

 Priya

Darlene

Aren't these both amazing!! To find out how they are made, please click on the links above the projects.

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 19

This is never an easy task but one that I do enjoy and finally made my selection. They are listed in the order of entry, each one invited to join me as a special party guest/designer for the November 12th Garden Party.

No. 2 Kathy K.

No. 44 Julia A.

No. 47 Helen F.

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 (#21 starting Thursday, November 12th). 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!)

Now it's time for your share at the Garden Party No. 19!

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.
• A short mention of products used whenever possible is expected, especially the focal point.
• It is the creator's responsibility to follow copyright laws.
• The party ends on Monday November 9th at 11:59pm CST

September Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Today is reveal day at the Card Chain Challenge and  I joined in the fun again :) This time my card went to Hilary in the UK and so glad it arrived just in time! Mail delivery unfortunately isn't as fast as it once was.

Our wonderful hosts Gail and Jo came up with some fun challenge options and this time I chose the theme option of Cute and Funny along with technique option of Stencils.

I thought this little mouse was super cute and find the sentiment a little funny too. I'm not sure if Hilary is a coffee lover but I figured if not then it can be re-used and sent on to someone in her life who is :)

The stamp set is another one by Colorado Craft Company illustrated by Anita Jeram (Coffee House - sadly retired and I believe the full line of Anita Jeram stamps has been discontinued). I used a polka dots along with a stripes stencil and thought the background paper found in my stash coordinated really well with the image panel. Sentiment is part of the same stamp set and I tied a bow of jute twine around the card. Image was stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. 

I am linking up with these challenges:

• C.R.A.F.T. - AG Option
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• FarmQuest Home Challenge Blog - Anything Home Related goes (my home must have coffee!!)
• First Cup Challenges - AG coffee, tea or other drink 
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - More than one stencil
• The Male Room - Dots and Stripes
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

I received this gorgeous card from Pia in Norway, thank you so much dear Pia!

If you have been thinking about joining in the fun at the Card Chain Challenge then you are in luck as the linky tool for this month is still open for a few more days! Super fun way to receive some happy mail, all you have to do is make a card and send it to the person you sign up after so they receive it (hopefully) before the month is over. You can read all the details here.