Happy Thoughts for Four Seasons May Challenge

Hello everyone, I just got back from a 2 week blogging break. The last few posts had all been scheduled as I was in Europe visiting with my family and friends, and I also decided to spend a few days in Northern Italy before taking a train to Germany (we flew into Milan this time instead of Munich so Italy was the first part of our trip.) It's been a wonderful time. When I get around it I'll share a few pictures. I will try to catch up with commenting this coming week and get back to normal life.

May has arrived and that means it's the start of a new Four Seasons challenge where we have another fun Spring Mood Board to inspire you. It's a seasonal Anything Goes challenge, so the mood board is optional and we'd love to see all your spring themed creations (up to 3 entries per participant). 

My inspiration came from the bottom left image of flowers inside a vase and I tried to follow the color scheme of that image too, but my butterflies didn't show up as yellow as I want them to be (adding glitter to them didn't help!)

The stamp I used is from the Penny Black clear set Sunny Wishes. Stamped with Versafine Onyx and colored wiht Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. I masked off the edge and inked the image panel. Then used a Tim Holtz stencil for a design on the background. Sentiment is from the Penny Black set ... A few black Posca pen spots flicked onto the card finish it off.

Thanks so much for visiting and hope to see you at the Four Seasons challenge blog!

Shaped Cards at Allsorts Challenge

Happy Saturday, it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Christine selected the fun (optional) theme of "Shaped Cards/Anything But Square or Rectangle". A bit of a challenge for me as a practically never make anything but rectangle or square cards but I had fun finding something a bit different to make and it wasn't complicated at all.

I followed a flowerpot pocket card tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers (you can find a link at the end of this post) just used different supplies. I used the set Dainty Daisies and matching dies from Penny Black. They were stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink and colored with Copic markers. The patterned paper is from my stash and I have no idea what brand it is. Some of my papers are over 20 years old and it's hard to remember what brand they all are. The tiny sentiment on the front of the flower pot is from My Favorite Things (retired). The butterfly was done with Penny Black's die set Soaring. I used an old scalloped edge punch for the flowerpot, added another strip of matching patterned paper and some twine to hold the pocket together. I used glue dots and foam tape to add dimension to the flowers. 

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!

On the tag inside the pocket I used an old Penny Black set Friendship. I thought this sentiment worked really well for the floral design. Sticky enamel dots finish off the card.

If you would like to make your own flowerpot pocket card, then you can find the easy- to- follow tutorial here at Splitcoast Stampers by Stephanie.

I scheduled this post ahead of time as I  currently don't have access to my computer, but as soon as I do I plan to share with these challenges:

• Beautiful Blossoms - AG with Flowers
• Penny Black Saturday - use PB Stamps
• The Paper Funday - AG

Thanks so much for visiting!

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