Meadow Mushrooms in the Garden

It's the start of a new theme at Allsorts challenge. Gail is hosting this time and her theme is "In the Garden".  Perfect timing as I am sure we all love seeing our gardens back to life after winter. But there is also the "Anything Goes" option if that works better for you. Prizes are from Lavinia stamps going to two lucky winners. Please remember to follow our simple rules so you don't miss the chance to be entered in the drawing or considered as a Top Pick.

A garden theme was a perfect reason to get out my Lavinia stamps.

I started out by inking a background scene using torn paper and a cloud stencil (I have the My Favorite Things stencil) with Twisted Citron and Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide inks. Next I stamped the mushrooms (Lavinia Meadow Mushroom) and bunny (Lavinia Pipin) in Versafine Onyx ink. Butterflies (Lavinia Flutterbies) and flowers (Lavinia Lavender) were stamped with Versafine clair inks (Avocado, Lilac Blooms, Bali Blue). 

Sentiment is by Penny Black from the clear set Snippets. I inked some more Salvaged Patina around the edges then decided the card could use more details on the background so I used Lavinia's Feather Leaf stencil for that. I wanted a little bit of sparkle so I used a Sakura glue pen to add loose glitter to the flowers. A white gel pen by Sakura was used on the bunny and mushrooms for some highlights/dots.

I plan to share this card here:

• Double Trouble Challenge - 3,2,1 (3 stamps, 2 stencils, 1 sentiment), plus Thing 3 Easter Element (bunny)
• Fab n' Funky - Spring
• Stamping Sensations - Inspired by Nature
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Tic Tac Toe Challenge - I chose middle row Stencil/Free/Pastel Colors

Thanks so much for visiting!

Btw. If you do make a garden themed card then I'd love for you to stop by my Garden Party too! The theme is always Anything in or from a garden 😊

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 14 - 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 this time:

Some of you may remember that I fell in love with Stamperia papers, first I had only purchased 2 Christmas/winter packs but then at the beginning of this year I placed an order with a few more (spring and summer themed) paper packs but as you can imagine I had a hard time cutting into them. They are just so beautiful! I think I'll buy another pack just to hoard!!

This particular paper pack is the Stamperia Lavender collections. Available in 8x8 or 12x12. I have the 8x8 paper pack. 

These pretty papers don't really need much more so I just added stitching around the edges. I mounted the image panel onto another paper from this pack and then added the sentiment with is also part of the paper pack. I distressed the layers before adhering to the white card base. Oh, the little  heart is also part of the paper pack, I cut it out and distressed then added a little button and jute twine. There had to be some sparkle so I used a glue pen and loose glitter for that.

I plan to share the above card here:

• Beautiful Blossoms - AG with Flowers
• Dream Valley Challenges - 2 or more patterned papers
• Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge - Designer Papers
• Paper Rock Scissors - paper and/or scissors (scissors for distressing and all are paper layers)
• Triple B - Birds, Blooms or Butterflies

Below is a picture I took in my garden with some beautiful daffodils. We had an amazing sunset that evening and I just couldn't resist. If you are following me on Instagram, then you may have already seen it. Somehow it looks better on the small phone screen than the PC screen. 

There are no special party guests this time so let's get straight to the Top Picks from the last Garden Party.

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 13

There were many wonderful garden themed creations, thank you all so much for joining in! Selecting just 3 is never easy but I finally had to make a decision and here they are listed in the order of entry:

No. 26 Lia

No. 31 Irene M.

No. 37 Imke

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 May 14th). 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 14th 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 May 11th at 11:59pm CST

Artist Trading Card - All About Nature

Sometimes when I make a card, the first attempt doesn't turn out the way I intended but that leaves me with parts that are too nice to throw away so I often put those into my box of "extras" for future use.

When I saw the new Tag-Along (and ATC) challenge was butterflies or birds, I knew I had a perfect starting piece for an ATC in my "extras" box.

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!

This background isn't quite as vivid as the one on the card I had made previously (see below). And unfortunately the butterfly also didn't stamp as well. It's not as visible in real life as it's a small ATC and the photo on the PC is larger than the actual ATC. For this ATC I added another butterfly at the top and then ran a black ink pad along the edges for some definition. 

The stamp set used is by Tracy Evans for Aall and Create - Spread Your Wings. It's been retired but still available from various retailers.

I am entering the ATC here:

• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Daisy Chain Challenges - No Design Paper
• Let's Craft & Create Challenge - Beautiful Butterflies
• Stamping Sensations - Inspired by Nature
• We Love Stamping - Spring
• Tag-Along (and ATC's) - Tags or ATC's/ opt. of butterflies, birds or blooms

Btw: This is the card I was referring to using the same stamp set. If you missed that post and would like to read more about it you can find all the info here:

Thanks so much for visiting!

Purple Delights at the Four Seasons Challenge

Hello everyone, it's a new month and that means the start of a new The Four Seasons challenge. It's all about Spring so come join us with your Spring themed creations. If you need a starting point then check out our wonderful moodboard for your inspiration. As always, the use of the mood board is totally optional as Anything Spring Goes.

Here is what I made following the overall color scheme of the mood board and the small blossoms on the top right. 

I was happy to use another one of my woodblock stamps for today's card. They get overlooked so easily because I keep them separate from my cling and clear stamps. This is a stamp by Penny Black Scented Message 4293K. 

After coloring the image using my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils I used a rectangle stencil/mask by My Favorite Things (no longer in business) for a purple border around the image, then I used the Plaid stencil set by Lawn Fawn to add a pattern to that border. Inks used for stenciling are Dusty Concord and Villainous Potion Distress inks/oxides. A white gel pen was used to add tiny dots around the flower centers.

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!

A tiny white silk bow finishes off the card along with a white card base.

I plan to share the card with these challenges:

• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Beautiful Blossoms - Blossoms
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafting from the Art Challenge - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Creatalicious Challenges - AG
• Creative Moments - Blooms or Bunnies
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Fab n' Funky - Spring or Easter
• Just Us Girls - Stencils
• Kleuren Met Potloden - AG with Colored Pencils
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB stamps
• The Creative Crafters - AG
• The Paper Funday - AG
• We Love 2 Create - Anything Creative
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

The challenge runs until April 25th and I hope to see you there!