My "Spring Aspirations" List

I always enjoy reading people's "bucket lists" but I have never made one before. After reading Joanne's (of Slices of Life) list, I decided to start making my own "spring aspirations" list. I'm naming it "Aspirations List" simply because I do not like the term "bucket list" :) 

Spring Aspirations List

March 20th - June 20th

1. Visit a new city.
2. Visit a new botanical garden.
3. Complete all design team work through end of Summer (this means binge- cardmaking sessions!!).
4. Get back to the Project 333 (minimalist closet challenge). 
5. Donate unused clothes without overthinking it. (This will be so hard!!)
6. Sell unused craft supplies. (They are already stored in the basement.)
7. Visit a spring flea market/craft fair.
8. Add a new flower bed to the garden. (I want more Dahlias!!)
9. Plant strawberries and figure out how to keep the squirrels/slugs/bugs away from them.
10. Find a new hiking trail within a 2 hour radius from home.
11. See at least 1 live performance at a theatre.
12. Visit the movie theatre.
13. Be more consistent with attending Yoga/Pilates classes. (My body needs them!!)
14. Have a picnic at a local park.
15. Make Rhubarb Pie!!!

Let's see how this goes and if it goes well, I might make one for the Summer too😊

Linking up with:

Slices of Life

I Spy With My Little Eye ........... Spring Flowers or Spring Showers (Challenges No. 35 and 36 Combined)

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 two new themes and we hope you will join us! As always, our top two from the last challenge are at the end of this post, both invited to join us in the next challenge.

As you may have noticed by reading the title of this post, we are combining the next two challenges as I won't have access to a computer right around the time when the next challenge would start. This will make things a lot easier and we are offering two challenge themes to choose from:

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

Spring Flowers (Pauline's Theme)

or 

Spring Showers (Ellie's Theme)

We thought these would be great themes for the next two months. This can be any flowers blooming in the spring, not just the early flowers. As for Spring Showers, this will of course cover rain showers but don't forget about baby showers and wedding showers if you have those events coming up this spring. As always, you may share any type of (paper) craft as long as it follows the theme(s). The linky tool is at the end of the post.

My Card (Ellie)

(following the Spring Showers theme - all details are below)

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 thought this cute little mouse with umbrella was a perfect choice for a "spring showers" card. I started out with a rectangle mask/stencil by My Favorite Things and Distress ink. After removing the mask, I stamped Lavinia's Shadowbloom and colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. Next I stamped the little mouse Thistlewisk, also by Lavinia. The inked background needed something else so I used Lavinia's Featherleaf stencil to add a design. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Love Big. A few clear dew drops were added to the card to finish it off.

Sharing the above card with these challenges:

• Beautiful Blossoms - Blooms
• Crafty Calendar - Spring
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Daisy Chain Challenges - Flowers
• Double Trouble Challenge - 3 colors , 2 images, 1 sentiment plus twisted sister opt. of 4 paws
• Path of Positivity - 3 gems
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Beautiful blooms
• The Paper Funday Challenge - Fur or Feathers
• Try It On Tuesday - Spring

Pauline's Card

(following the Spring Flowers theme)

Absolutely beautiful! Please visit Pauline's blog to find out how she made this card.

We're so excited to have a guest designer joining us this time and it is Jolanda from Jolanda's Inque Spot. Thanks so much for joining us, Jolanda!!

Jolanda's Card

(following the Spring Flowers theme)

Such a beautiful CAS design. Please visit Jolanda's blog to find out how she made this card.

Top Picks from Challenge No. 34

Thank you all so much for joining us in the last challenge. It was so great to read all about "Something you Love" which was our theme. As usual, selecting Top Picks is never easy but we finally managed and they are listed in the order of entry. 

No. 25 Gerrina (Pauline's Pick)

No. 39 Helen F. (Ellie'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. 37 starting May 20th. 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 10 different projects (during the 2-months challenge)
• 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, May 17th at 11:59pm CST
• Remember: This linky tool is open for two months - will close May 17th!!

Green Butterflies

Hello everyone, it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Lynne is our host. Her optional theme is Things with Wings and we have a $30 voucher from Taylored Expressions  along with an A4 stamp set to give away. As always the challenge runs for two week so there is plenty of time to join us. The "Anything Goes" option is also there if you prefer to go that route.

Lots of "wings" to choose from in my craft room and I decided on a beautiful older set by Tracy Evans.

I was inspired by the current Triple B challenge (linked below) where the option is to use shades of green for their March challenge. I made an inky smooshed background using Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink. The stamp set is by Tracy Evans for Aall and Create called Spread Your Wings. It's been retired but still found at various retailers such as Frantic Stamper if you are in the US.

This card was easy to make. After the background dried, I stamped part of the image at the bottom of the card, then another part at the top part using Versafine Onyx ink. 

I used Zig Clean Color brush pens to color the butterflies. Two of the butterflies have been fussy cut and added with a glue dot. I then stamped part of the image again at the top right using Mowed Lawn Distress ink (second generation for a fainter "background" look). The sentiment which is also part of the set was stamped on a scrap piece of cardstock. I used my Twisted Citron ink pad to make a colored mat for the image panel then adhered this to a white card base.

The large butterfly is covered in Wink of Stella sparkle but it was practically impossible for me to capture the sparkle on camera. I did try...

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!

Below is the list of challenges I'd like to share my card with:

• Colourful Options - Shades of Green
• Craft Rocket Challenges - No Designer Paper
• Crafty Gals Corner - Make it Green
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Fab n' Funky - Shades of Green
• Paper Rock Scissors - Paper and/or scissors (both were used)
• Simon Says Stamp - Green
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Green
• Stamping Sensations - Spring
• The Card Concept - Monochromatic Green (I'd call the style "freestyle collage")
• The Paper Funday - AG
• The Pick 3 Challenge - I chose Bright Colors, Coloring and Circle from the choices given
• Triple B - Birds, Blooms or Butterfly with opt. of Green (see below)
• Try It On Tuesday - feminine
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 13 - 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, each one invited to join me as a special party guest :)

Here is what I made inspired by what's currently showing signs of life in my garden but they aren't blooming yet. Daffodils are probably my favorite early spring flower but then I do love them all.

I used Penny Black's brushstroke stamp Daffodil Dance and Letraset Aquamarkers for coloring. I lightly spritzed the stamp with water before coloring. Not 100% happy with how the stamping turned out and I really miss my "working" Distress markers. Maybe I need to get all the mini Distress inks for an alternative. Unfortunately the regular sized ink pads are not so easy to use with these stamps so I used the aquamarkers instead.

For embellishments I used part of a MFT die (crosshatch) and tied some green jute twine around the image panel. And a butterfly from Penny Black's die set Soaring. Patterned paper is really old, this one is from Stampin Up. To finish the card I flicked some diluted green ink and a gold posca pen onto the card, as usual I think there was more splatter on my desk instead of the card.

Entering the above card with these challenges:

• Beautiful Blossoms - Flowers
• Die Cut Divas - Spring is coming
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps
• Triple B - Blooms, Birds or Butterflies

My snowdrops finally started to bloom a few days ago, of course there had to be a picture 😀and then I discovered the little ladybug too. So nice to see after a long winter! After some strong storms in the area we are now back to chilly March weather. 

🌹 Special Party Guests 🌹

I'm so happy to announce that I have two Special Party Guests joining me this time, they are Brenda from  Floral Fantasies and Carrie from Carrie's Custom Cards. Many thanks to both of you for accepting the special guest invite and they made some wonderful garden themed projects to share and inspire.

Brenda

Also by Brenda

Two gorgeous creations so full of pretty spring flowers. Please visit  her blog to find out how she made these cards.

Carrie

An amazing creation by Carrie, how gorgeous are those pink flowers! Please visit her blog to find out how she made this card.

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 12

Now it's time to announce my Top Picks from the last Garden Party. Remember each top pick is invited to join me here as a special party guest for the next party if interested. 

No. 16 Diane A.

No. 40 Rosi

No. 58 Loopyloo

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 (starting April 9th). 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 the 13th 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 April 6th at 11:59pm CST