Summer Artist Trading Cards and Last Few Photos from my European Trip

Hello everyone, I recently made two ATC's with leftover pieces from my desk, thought it would be a good idea instead of throwing away or adding more things to my ever growing box of scraps. 

First up is a bee themed ATC where I used stamps from the set Bee Happy by Visible Image. Stencil at the top right is by TCW (chickenwire) and the script stamped in black is from Tracy Evans' set Magnolia. I used a black Posca pen for some random spatter. A clear Wink of Stella glitter pen was used on the bees wings to make them sparkle.

I am entering this ATC here:

• ATC Around the World - Monochrome
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils and Pattern (honeycomb)
• FarmQuest General Store Challenge - Anything Farm or Country 
• The Pick 3 Challenge - I chose Yellow, Sentiment and Sparkle (hard to see the sparkle)
• Tag-Along and ATCS - Favorite Color or AG (I have several favorite colors but always feel drawn to yellow, especially in summer)
• The Little Things Challenge - AG or Elephant/Flamingo (Going with the AG theme here)
• We Love Stamping - Summertime
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

This ATC was made with scraps from Stamperia paper pack  Silent Sea and a stencil for the background. The edges were inked to give it some definition and I added a bow of jute twine to finish it off. 

Entering this ATC here:

• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Let's Craft & Create Challenge - Fun in the Sun
• Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge - Coastal
• The Card Concept - Summer by the Sea (inspiration came from the seaside theme - logo below - and I would call the style freestyle collage)
• The Paper Funday - Summer Splash

And it's now or never for my last few photos from my April trip to Europe to visit family and a quick stop in Italy. These were from the time spent in  Northern Bavaria (home sweet home💛💛💛) and a few from my sister's town about 45 minutes north of Munich.

City of Hersbruck - this is a street I frequently walked to get to my work place in the city center.

That was around 28 years ago so things look a bit different but not much. I don't think cars used to be allowed on this street back then.

Same street, pedestrian only part.

 It's a pretty small town so not much going on on this random Tuesday morning in April.

Castle ruin Lichtenegg about 20 minutes from Hersbruck. This fortress is estimated to have been built in the year 1200 and was destroyed in the 15th century. There isn't much info about it. My brother had stumbled onto it while on a bicycle ride through the surrounding area so he took us to see it.

Along the river Pegnitz in Nuremberg about 40 minutes from Hersbruck

Old Town Nuremberg

Castle Ruin Hohenstein about 15 minutes from Hersbruck. Built in the 11th century. 

View from the castle grounds. We didn't go inside as it's only open on Sundays. 

Hohenstein Castle from the other side.

City of Amberg about 30 minutes from Hersbruck

Amberg

These below are from my sister's hometown (Ingolstadt - about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Hersbruck) where we spent our last weekend before flying home from Munich.

Egyptian Geese on Lake Auwald

And this is probably one of the reasons why I gained almost 8 pounds on this trip but so worth it!!

If you would like to see more pictures from this trip you can see them here:

• Milan
• Varenna on Lake Como
• Verona
• Weekend in the Austrian Alps

Have a great weekend! 

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 17: Anything in (or from) a Garden

Hello and welcome to a new Garden Party taking place right here on my blog 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 in a  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 :)

And here is my Garden share for this month. Now if I could just find a cute little hedgehog in my Garden, sadly they aren't native here in the States but I will always have the fond memory of finding one under our plum tree growing up in Europe :)

Some of the links included are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no extra cost to you.

I recently mentioned that a friend asked me to show her 10 year old daughter how I make card (she really loved the birthday card I sent her) and this is the second card design I prepared for her to make. (You can see the first one here). 

The stamp is the wood mounted Penny Black "Ladybug 'n Hedgehog 1433F. The wood mounted version is hard to find but I think it comes also as part of a clear stamp set (probably smaller scale). Stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. The patterned paper is the same used on the first card I shared, by The Paper Studio, butterflies were done once again with Penny Black's Soaring die set. Cut from pale yellow cardstock and the edges were inked with Wild Honey Distress ink. The leafy bunch at the bottom of the card is a woodmounted stamp also by Penny Black Spotted Winter 4270K and sentiment an oldie from Stampin Up. I added a tiny heart to the sentiment. I gave my little student :) the option to add a few more butterflies to her card which she did. She also used a cloud stencil on the white space and that looked really nice, wish I had taken a photo of her finished project but I didn't think of it. She had lots of fun and hopefully we'll do this again in August before school starts. 

I plan to share my card with these challenges:

• Crafting Happiness Challenges - AG
• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Moving along with the Times - Use a coloring medium (I used pencils)
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps
• Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Four Legged Friends
• Try It On Tuesday - Animals
• We Love Stamping - Summertime

I'm so excited to introduce not one but TWO special party guests joining me this time as guest designers. Please welcome Lia and Deanne! Thank you both for being here! Remember, even though you are special party guest, you are still invited to link up your other garden themed projects!

Guest designer Lia

Guest Designer Deanne

You can find out more about how they made these gorgeous creations by visiting the links above their projects. I'm sure they would love to hear from you!

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 16

Now it's time to announce my Top 3 from the last Garden Party. It was so great to visit all your blogs and admiring your gorgeous creations. A note for entry no. 18 - I am sorry that I couldn't leave you a comment, but I kept getting a "spam-alert" error message. I do appreciate you sharing the beautiful 3D paper flower! Thank you!

My Top 3 are listed in the order of entry:

No. 9 Lorraine A.

No. 13 Donna W.

No. 28 Rosi

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 Thursday, August 13th). 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. 17!

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 August 10th at 11:59pm CST

A Crafty Cat and an Artist Trading Card for America's 250th Birthday

Hello everyone, it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Donna is hosting this time. Her optional theme is "Stencils" which are my favorite tools (besides stamps) to use. We have a selection of stencils from the Allsorts prize box for 2 lucky winners. 

And here is what I made:

Some of the links included are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no extra cost to you.

I colored this cute cat at the end of last month when I tried to join the We Love Stamping challenge where the theme was "hobbies and sports". Who can resist this cute crafty kitty working on a handmade card? As it so often happens to me, I didn't get a chance to finish the card for that challenge but it was a perfect starting point for this Allsorts challenge theme. 

The image which is part of the Penny Black stamp set Furry Affection has been stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and colored with Derwent Inktense pencils. For the wall I used a stencil by Tracy Evans for Aall and Create (Crisp Tulips)  and I drew lines for the floor after lightly coloring with the pencils. I added a strip of patterned paper to the top edge and die cuts made with Penny Black's die set Doodles of Love. I've had this die set for a few years now but this was my first time ever using it. 

The card above fits these challenges:

• Addicted to Stamps and More - Die Cuts or Stencils (I used both)
• Craft Rocket Challenges - Animals
• Cut It Up - Critters and a die cut
• Pattie's Creations - AG
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - PB Stamps
• The Male Room - Hobbies (cardmaking)
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

I have another project to share today which also fits Allsorts' Stencils theme.

As we are celebrating America's 250th Birthday today, I decided to make an Artist Trading Card for this special Independence Day.

I love this eagle stamp from Tracy Evans set Fully Fledged (from her Aall and Create release) and thought it would be a perfect choice as the Bald Eagle is the national bird of the US. Then I used the star stencil Lotsa Stars also from Aall and Create on the background. Also used are Tracy Evans Boutique Design sets Alpha Florals (USA and little squares) and Numerical Cats for the number 250. I used a small circle punch to punch out the numbers then added to the fussy cut squares with glue dots. Inking and stenciling was done with Distress inks Fired Brick, Chipped Sapphire and Faded Jeans. I also used a stripes stencil but it's hard to see. 

The photo below was taken at the end of January at a dam on the Mississippi River about an hour from where I live. They gather at this dam to hunt for fish in winter when most of the river is frozen and it's always fun to see many of them. Perfect winter activity!

I am linking this ATC up here:

• Ally's Angels - AG
• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Crafty Catz - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Creative Fingers - AG
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Fab n' Funky - Beginning with B (Bird)
• If You Give a Crafter a Cookie - Inspiration photo

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stars and/or Stripes
• Tag-Along (and ATC's) - AG
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Triple B - Birds, Blooms or Butterflies
• We Love 2 Create - Anything Creative

Thanks so much for visiting and Happy Independence Day to my readers in the United States. 

Oh Happy Days - Four Seasons July Challenge

Hello everyone, happy July! A new month meant it's time for a new challenge to start at the Four Seasons challenge blog where it's  All About Summer! We would love for you to join in the fun and share all your summer themed creations with us.  As usual, we have a new mood board to inspire you but it's optional as anything summer goes. 

Here is my summer themed creation inspired by the bottom right of our moodboard which you can see towards the end of the post.

The beautiful paper used as the focal point is from another pack by Stamperia. A few month ago I went on an online shopping frenzy and bought several 8x8 paper packs by Stamperia. This pack is called Blue Dream, released in 2023 so it's not very easy to find.

As always, I had the hardest time cutting into these beautiful papers so I used part of a sheet for my focal point/card front and added a couple strips of paper to the sentiment part. Sentiment is an oldie from Whimsy Stamps (Summer Letter Seals - no longer available). I distressed the edges and used my sewing machine for a special touch.  I added some jute twine to the lemon bundle to finish it off. 

Another view below..

And a peek at our wonderful moodboard... Which one of these inspires you? The challenge is open until July 25th (evening US time). Hope to see you there :) 

I plan to share my card with these challenges:

• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Ally's Angels - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafting from the Art Challenge - AG
• Crafting Happiness Challenges - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Creative Fingers - AG
• Cupcake Inspirations - AG
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Everybody-Art-Challenge - Summer
• Fab n' Funky - Beginning with B (Bow)
• FarmQuest Grocery Game Challenges Blog - Anything Food Goes
• Love to Craft - AG