Magic Surrounds Us In The Garden (and a few more vacation photos: a short trip to the Alps)

Hello everyone, today is the start of a new Allsorts challenge and our theme is Anything Goes from the Garden. Or the option of Anything Goes. We have prizes from Oakwood Direct and AALL and Create. 

I'm also sharing some more vacation pictures at the end of the post for those interested, or simply scroll down to the commens if you like to leave one :)

I decided to make a scene from the garden. While my constant companion Thomas is no longer following me around and supervising my garden work in physical form, my gorgeous cat Fussy took over some of his duties part time and many evenings she is by my side as I water the plants. There are also some 4-legged feline visitors from the neighborhood, some snacking on the cat mint, others just passing through or to do their "business" LOL.  So this is definitely a scene from the garden. 

I used stamps from Lavinia to make this card.. They've been a bit neglected, especially that cat stamp has only seen ink once when I purchased it in 2018) so it was time to reach for them. The sky was done with Distress inks/Oxides (Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire). I flicked some water droplets onto the card for a starry sky or tiny "orbs" (as the sentiment suggests). For the bottom portion I used Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss Distress inks/Oxides. 

All stamps are from Lavinia - Star Blossom, Magic Surrounds Us and Witches Cat (this one appears to be only available in digi form now?? It was one of my very first Lavinia stamps purchased so possibly has been retired as a clear stamp). Flowers and the cat were stamped with Versafine Onyx ink, words with Versafine Clair Very Peri. 

The card fits these challenges:

• Crafty Catz - AG
• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• FarmQuest General Store Challenge - Farm or Country (a country garden)
• Heart's Quest Lovable Quotables Challenges Blog - Quotes (mine is by Tracey - owner of Lavinia Stamps)
• If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Outdoor Garden Theme
• Neglected Stuff Challenge - This cat stamp is my neglected item, I've only used it once when I first purchased it in 2018, almost 8 years ago!!!
• Paper Rock Scissors - Papers and/or Scissors (all layers are paper - no scissors used this time)
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

I want to share a few more photos from my vacation back in April. We visited extended family in the North-Western part of Austria for a couple of days and they showed us around the area where they recently moved to. Just about 2 weeks before we arrived it had snowed so it was still in the early days of spring here, luckily most snow in the valley was gone.

I don't share photos of my family because it is their wish but my dad probably won't mind :)

One of King Ludwig II. of Bavaria palaces was closeby (in the German Alps) so we stopped for a walk on the palace grounds. We have been here before many years ago when we also toured the inside so we skipped the tour this time. This is Schloss Linderhof.

And one last stop at Ettal Abbey (also in the German Alps) which was located in the village of Ettal along the way. I highly recommend a stop if you are closeby as it is absolutely beautiful. 

 This organ took my breath away!

I do have one more set of photos I plan to share ... hopefully soon!

If you'd like to see what else I've posted from this trip so far, you can see them in these posts:

• Milan
• Varenna on Lake Como
• Verona

Thanks so much for visiting and hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Four Seasons June Challenge: Sunset over the Sea

It's hard to believe that June has arrived but here we are and it's time to switch seasons at the Four Seasons challenge blog. We have a fun summer-themed mood board this month and as always the use of moodboard is just an option as Anything Summer Goes!

And here is what I made, inspired by the bottom right image. 

For some reason I struggled with this card, I think this was my fourth try but at that point I was ready to call it "done". 

I started out with the negative of a circle die cut as a mask and inked up the seascape using Distress inks (Peacock Feathers, Antique Linen, Carved Pumpkin and Crackling Campfire. I used stamps from a retired Hero Arts set. The rays were done using a Tim Holtz stencil.

I plan to share with these challenges:

• Alphabet Challenge - C for Circles
• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Ally's Angels - AG
• Creative Fingers - AG
• Fab n' Funky - Stencils or embossing
• Just Us Girls - Stencils
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Try It On Tuesday - Circles
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

Please visit the challenge blog to see what the rest of my teammates came up with and to share your own summertime creation. The challenge is open until June 25th. Hope to see you there :)

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