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Please click HERE to join in "Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday" challenge.


Please click HERE to join in "I Spy With My Little Eye" challenge.

Dec 2, 2023

Christmas Pinecone and a Bunny in the Snow

It's Saturday already and that means a new challenge starts today at Allsorts and it's also time for the reveal at the Card Chain challenge so I have two project to share today :)

First up, at Allsorts it's Liz' turn to host and she selected the fun theme of "Stitching - Real or Faux" and of course the theme is optional so all your new creations are welcome.  A wonderful bundle from  AALL and Create is our prize which will be split between challenges 756 and 757 so hope you can join us for your chance to win! 


This post may include 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 supporting this blog!

This beautiful pinecone stamp is from my most recent Aall and Create order from the set Pinecone. I placed 4 orders with them in total within the last 3 months, just couldn't resist the fabulous sale prices and lucky for me I did not have to pay any custom fees for any of my orders. The inky background was found in my box of previously inked card stock where I used Distress Oxide ink, not sure anymore what color. I stamped the image on the inked piece then colored with Ground Espresso Oxide ink and a Faber Castell Polychromo pencil for the pine needles.

On the top portion I used part of the Penny Black background stamp Christmas Story. And a bit of it was stamped on red card stock for some added interest. I really wanted to use some of this gingham ribbon but thought it was all gone, then found a small piece of it on the bottom of my ribbon stash so I tied some jute twine around it and added with a mini glue dot. Really love this ribbon combined with twine. Some glitter on the pinecone for a little sparkle and I used my Wonky Stitches die to add a stitched design.


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I'm entering this card with the following challenges:


The next card I made for the November Card Chain Challenge where today we are revealing the cards sent in November.  My card went to Bonnie in Colorado this time and I was happy to hear that she liked it. 


As always there are several challenge options to choose from - a sketch, color combo, themes, techniques. We only have to choose one and this time I selected the theme of "winter" which was one of the options because I really wanted to use this new (to me) stamp from Colorado Craft Company - Sled Bunny. I combined it with the beautiful trees which were part of the Aall and Create set Woodland. I added Penny Black's Berries die and then the sentiment which is part of the Aall and Create stamp set. 



I am sharing the above card with these challenges:


Below is the beautiful card I received from Julia in MA, doesn't this pie look absolutely delicious!! Thank you, Julia for this wonderful card!!!


PS: If you've been thinking about taking part in this year's Papercrafters Year in Review hop, there are only a few more days left to sign up for this hop which takes place at the end of December. Please visit this post for all the details! Would LOVE for you to join in!! 

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Dec 1, 2023

Four Seasons December Challenge - Christmas Blessing

Hello and welcome! 

So hard to believe it's December!! I'm not sure where the time went and I wish it would slow down a little bit! We already had our first snow of the season then some below freezing temperature but thankfully it's been warming up a bit since yesterday. As much as I love a beautiful winter scene, I am just not a fan of winter weather anymore, especially when it comes to the unpredictable road conditions!!  

A new month means a new challenge at the Four Seasons challenge blog and we are also switching seasons as it's time for WINTER for the next 3 months. So we would like to see all your winter themed creations of course that includes winter holidays. As always there is a wonderful mood board to inspire you but it is completely optional.

Here is what I created:

And here is our December mood board:

My inspiration came from the bottom right image, the icy holly berries. I used this as an opportunity to ink up the beautiful Penny Black stamp Holly Berry Birds. This is a large stamp so instead of using the full stamp, I first stamped the end of it on the top left then the part with the birds on the bottom. I colored with distress inks, the background was also watercolored using only Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, I love the variation of colors this ink gives when diluted. 


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I created a snowy background with a white Posca pen then added the die cut Snowflakes (Dancing Snowflakes dies by Penny Black). The sentiment is from the Penny Black Christmas sentiment set Festive Cheer.


This post may include 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 supporting this blog!


I plan to share with these blogs:
PS: If you've been thinking about taking part in this year's Papercrafters Year in Review hop, there are only a few more days left to sign up for this hop which takes place at the end of December. Please visit this post for all the details! Would LOVE for you to join in!! 


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Nov 26, 2023

Papercrafters Year in Review Hop - Who Wants to Join In??

Hello everyone, as I haven't done a "proper" post for this year's Papercrafters Year in Review sign up post (and instead had just included it with other posts), I thought I better prepare one before it's too late! We already have a few who signed up to take part but there is still room for a few more and still a bit of time so here is all the info you need:


Details:

  • Create a blog post featuring YOUR OWN favorite creations of 2023 to be scheduled on your blogs for Friday December 29th 6am CST (12 noon UK time)
  • I will provide the html code for the linky tool to each person signing up as a co-host. It would be great if you included this in your post on your own blogs but not neccessary as long as you post a list of each participant.
  • Your blog followers are welcome to link up their own favorites during that time period should they decided to create their own "year in review" posts. The linky tool will be open for one week.
  • You must have a blog to participate.
  • This will be a blog hop, so please plan on visiting and commenting on each participant's "Year in Review 2023" post when time allows during hop week.
  • This sign up is for any paper crafter with a blog. You don't have to have a papercraft only blog - as long as you have some favorite handmade cards or other papercrafts to share in your review post you are welcome to sign up. 
  • Optional: You are welcome to offer a small prize to a winner selected from those who commented on your post (including other co-hosts) but that is totally up to you and it is absolutely not needed or expected to offer a prize in order to be a co-host. 
  • The blog hop will run for one week (December 29th - January 4th)
  • To get an idea of how it works you can click here to see last year's hop.
  • As always, you may select any amount of favorites to share, this can be a top 10 or top 5 (etc.), maybe you are extremely proud of one of your creations you'd like ot highlight, or you can select a favorite of each month which is what I usually do to make the selection easier :)

I will close the sign-up linky tool on December 9th (may close sooner if enough sign up before that date), then I will message everyone with the hop list by December 15th so everyone will have plenty of time to prepare their posts even before Christmas should you want to work ahead on it. 


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Nov 25, 2023

Winter Trees

Hello and welcome! Time for a new theme already at Allsorts challenge and it's Sarah's week to host. As winter is just around the corner (definitely already feels like winter over here!!!) she would like to see "Colors of Winter" which is optional so all your new crafty makes are welcome for a chance to win one of our great prizes or to be selected in her top 5. We have a great assortment of prizes for the next two weeks, by AALL and Create who by the way still have some fantastic discounts, many 50% off or more. So if you haven't taken advantage of their fabulous sale yet, don't miss your chance! 


For my card today I went with a simple winter scene using the Penny Black stamp Gorgeous Grove.


I used a mask made of torn copy paper and a circle for the moon then inked the sky with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. The trees were stamped with Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide ink. A white Posca pen was used to flick some "snowflakes" onto the background and then I added the die cut snowflakes which were done using Penny Black's Dancing Snowflakes dies. On the sentiment portion I used Lawn Fawn's stitched border die. Sentiment is an oldie from Stampin Up. 

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Another view:

The tiny sentiment inside the moon is from the Penny Black set Holiday Snippets.

I plan to share with these challenges:



PS: Still some time to sign up for the Papercrafters Year in Review 2023 hop where we share our favorite creations of the year. If interested, please visit this post where I shared all the info about it at the end of that post. 


This post may include 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 supporting this blog!

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Nov 18, 2023

Christmas Elf

Hello and welcome! It's Saturday meaning a new challenge starts today at Allsorts and Lorraine (Lolo) is hosting this week. Her theme, which is optional is Christmas Time, so if you haven't started yet with your Christmas cards then this is your chance! Almost time to send them off!! Of course the Anything Goes option is there too, so hopefully we'll see you joining us this week! Prizes for the November challenges come from Stampendous and Oakwood Direct and WOWVOW and winners will be announced on the last Friday of the month.

Here is what I made with an image inspired by a couple of other Christmas challenge I found.

This cute image is a Penny Black stamp (Little Elf Present) illustrated by Mo Manning. It was part of a mixed lot I purchased from the resale site Mercari earlier this year and my first time using. I was inspired by the Christmas Craft Creations challenge where the theme is Hats and I thought this image was a perfect choice. I'm not sure why this stamp seems to be so rare... I did find one listing of it on eBay and another on Mercari, and Mo Manning should have it in digi version for those who prefer that.

At the current Christmas Kickstart challenge the theme is Christmas, but not as we know it, which inspired the non-traditional colors. The skirt and hat were paper pieced from some patterned paper scraps, the rest of the elf colored with Copic markers. I was really hoping to find a bigger piece of the same patterned paper to mount the image panel on but could not find any more of it in my stash, so I chose some polka dotted paper instead. I embellished with some small punched circles and Stickles glitter.

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For sentiments I chose a larger verse from the Penny Black set Season's Gifts and "Happy Holidays" is from a Stampin Up set I found at a thrift store.

Below are the challenges I plan to link up with (this list includes the two I mentioned above):

                >>>>>>>>>>>>>American Crafts Sale at Scrapbook.com/Ad

This post may include 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 supporting this blog!


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Nov 15, 2023

I Spy With My Little Eye ...........Sparkle and/or Shine (Challenge No. 9)

Hello and welcome to a new I Spy With My Little Eye challenge taking place right here on my blog! Pauline and I are here with a new theme and hope you will join us too this month for your chance to be featured in the next challenge and maybe even joining us as a guest designer. We had many wonderful entries last month, thank you all so much for playing along with us. The Top 2 are at the end of the post so be sure to scroll down.

It was my turn to choose a theme this time around and it is.................

I Spy with my little eye...............

Sparkle and/or Shine.


We can't wait to see what you'll share with us. Remember, you may share anything crafty, it doesn't have to be a card! As long as it fits the theme and is handmade by you we'd love to see it! The linky tool is at the end of the post.

My Card:
This post may include 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 supporting this blog!

For my card today I used a few Penny Black stamps (Trilling Trio, Berry Bevy, Nature Sings, Christmas Story). The postmark/cancellation stamps are from a set by Flourishes which is no longer in business. I started by inking snow drifts with a torn paper mask on a white piece of card stock (they are barely visible in the photo), then stamped the bird with the help of my stamp platform. I used Distress ink pads as my markers no longer work well. After stamping I used a damp paint brush on the bird. Next I stamped the branches and somehow I managed to get a couple of smudges on the paper so my idea of a clean-ish card changed to a more rustic card so out came the background stamp to "hide" the smudges. The patterned paper (which also wasn't part of the original card idea) is from Hobby Lobby/last year's release. I also found the ribbon scrap on my desk from the last project and I thought it was perfect. I stapled it onto the card then tied some jute twine around the staple. Since the card turned a bit "rustic" I decided that the chunky glass glitter was a perfect choice for my sparkle/shine element. I've had this from Stampin Up for a long time. I used my regular liquid glue (Mono multi) to add the glitter. I also added stickles glitter to the berries.


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I plan to share the card above with these challenges:
A beautifully done scene which Pauline always does so amazingly! Be sure to visit her blog to find out all the details and a better view of the wonderful sparkle!

Excited to have a guest designer this month and that is Jolanda of The Inque Spot Studio. Thank you so much for joining us this month, Jolanda!!

Love the deep blue and gold combo! So effective for Christmas! Be sure to visit Jolanda's blog to find out how she made this card.


Top 2 from Challenge No. 8 - Shades of Autumn

Many thanks to all of you who played "I spy" with us last month. We had many fabulous entries and as always selecting our top picks wasn't easy but something that needed done so here they are in the order of entry. 

*To be in compliance with GDPR, Top Pick photos and links will be removed after the start of the new challenge. 

Remember, both Top Picks are invited to join us in the next challenge if you like to. That would be for challenge no. 10 starting December 20th! Of course it's not a requirement but we would love to have you as guests!!


No. 44 Carol G. (Ellie's Pick)
No. 53 Anke (Pauline's Pick)

Congratulations to both of you!! Your top pick logo is below to display on your own blogs if you like to.

You are both invited to join us as guest designers (optional of course!) for challenge no. 9 starting on Wednesday December 20th. If you are interested in taking part, please message me (Ellie) at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com so I can give you all the details for our upcoming theme.


                >>>>>>>>>>>>>American Crafts Sale at Scrapbook.com/Ad

Now it's time to link up YOUR creations for the new theme! Anyone is invited to join us with your crafty makes following our theme - I Spy Sparkle and/or Shine.

A few things to remember:
  • You may share up to 5 different projects
  • You may combine with as many other challenges as you like to
  • No fully digital projects please
  • Please include a link back to this blog
  • Challenge ends Sunday December 17th
  • Backlinking to a recent project is allowed

PS: I am planning a Year in Review hop again at the end of the year  and looking for co-hosts. I shared more info in this post, if anyone is interested :)

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Nov 11, 2023

Sleigh Ride with Friends

Hello and welcome! It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge where Lynn is the host this week and she selected the optional theme of Friendship. We'd love to have you joining us following her theme or not, as the option of Anything Goes is there for each challenge. Prizes for the November challenges come from Stampendous, Oakwood Direct and WOWVOW.

For this challenge I decided to make a winter themed card and I found this old stamp set from Whimsy Stamps in my box of Christmas stamps. It's been a long time since I've inked it up.

The background was done using Iced Spruce Distress Oxide inks and I used a white Posca pen for some "snowy" spatter. I used a deckle die to cut out the image. The sentiment (a quote from the Christmas song Sleigh Ride) is part of the same stamp set, I think it works perfectly for the "friendship" theme.


Outside the snow is falling & friends are calling "yoo-hoo."
Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.


I layered image and sentiment onto red card stock then white. The patterned paper is from a designer paper pack purchased last year from Hobby Lobby. I finsihed off the card by adding the punched snowflakes found in my box of die cuts/punched pieces and used some ribbon scraps and jute twine. Wasn't easy to tie the bow as my thumb isn't completely healed yet but I managed somehow.  

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Below a closeup


I'd like to share with these challenges:


                       >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Holiday Festival Sale at Scrapbook.com/Ad


I wanted to post another reminder about this year's Year in Review hop happening the last week of December. We have 8 entrants so far, thank you to everyone who's joining so far. 

All the info is below (copied from the original post) along with the linky tool for signing up. 


Papercrafters' Year in Review 2023 Hop Sign Up

Before I let you go, I wanted to mention that I am once again planning the "Year a Review" hop where we will feature our favorite creations of the year and looking for a few co-hosts. As always, you may choose how many project you will feature. It could be a top 5 or top 10. Maybe you have just one you are especially fond of having created. I usually go with a favorite of each month to make the choice easier. 


Details:

  • Create a blog post featuring YOUR OWN favorite creations of 2023 to be scheduled on your blogs for Friday December 29th 6am CST (12 noon UK time)
  • I will provide the html code for the linky tool to each person signing up as a co-host. It would be great if you included this in your post on your own blogs but not neccessary as long as you post a list of each participant.
  • Your blog followers are welcome to link up their own favorites during that time period should they decided to create their own "year in review" posts. The linky tool will be open for one week.
  • You must have a blog to participate.
  • This will be a blog hop, so please plan on visiting and commenting on each participant's "Year in Review 2023" post when time allows during hop week.
  • This sign up is for any paper crafter with a blog. You don't have to have a papercraft only blog - as long as you have some favorite handmade cards to share in your review post you are welcome to sign up. 
  • Optional: You are welcome to offer a small prize to a winner selected from those who commented on your post (including other co-hosts) but that is totally up to you and it is absolutely not needed to offer a prize in order to be a co-host. 
  • The blog hop will run for one week (December 29th - January 4th)
  • To get an idea of how it works you can click here to see last year's hop.

I will close the sign-up linky tool on December 9th (may close sooner if enough sign up before that date), then I will message everyone with the hop list by December 15th so everyone will have plenty of time to prepare their posts even before Christmas should you want to work ahead on it.


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