Apr 24, 2021

Brushstroke Flower, Stencils and 3 Colors of the Rainbow / Handmade Greeting Card - Plus my Favorite Rainbow Picture

 Hello and welcome!

This week at Allsorts challenge our theme is "3 Colors of the Rainbow" set by Kath. Hope you'll join in for a chance to win a wonderful prize by Pearlywinks.

I've surely seen plenty of rainbows in my life, but have to admit I had to look up what colors make up the rainbow :-) In case you too need some help, here they are: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet


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!


Here is what I came up with using Blue, Green and Violet


This pretty floral image is called  Exhilaration by Penny Black

I used distress inks (markers or ink pads - I don't have each color in every version) to ink up the stamp. I used: Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron for the leaves, Wilted Violet with a touch of Blueprint Sketch for the blossoms. (Wish I had a blueprint sketch marker but had to use the ink pad instead and now my blossoms are a little bit darker than I wish they were!!) 





Then I used Tumbled Glass and Blueprint Sketch ink pads to add the stencil designs (from this Tim Holtz Stencil and Stamp set). Not sure I like how the ink marks stenciling turned out, but at this point most of the card was already done and there was no way back. 


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The sentiment is one of my favorites from Penny Black's set Blooming Sentiments, stamped using Versafine Onyx ink

I had this dotted patterned paper on my desk and thought the color was a good match for my violet colored flowers so I added a strip to the card under the sentiment. Then I finished it off by adding a blue button and green jute twine (alternative option). 



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Since we're talking about "Rainbow Colors" for this week's Allsorts challenge I'm leaving you with my favorite rainbow picture I've taken. This was back in 2015 on our Colorado trip. One of the stops we made was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park on my birthday! I've taken it as a "Happy Birthday" message from above 😊


This is what you see when you turn around - the Sand Dunes. If you've never been here, I highly recommend visiting if you can. 




I'm linking up here:

Themed Challenges:
We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - Springtime // Penny Black Saturday * - Use PB Stamps // Mod Squad * - Spring // The Paper Funday - Spring // Ike's World - Springtime // Double Trouble Challenges - Flowers // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper- Patterned Paper // Do-Al(l) Kreatives - Spring // Let's Craft & Create Challenge - Flowers // Sweet Stampers - Spring 

Anything Goes:

Always Anything Goes and Link Parties:

Apr 18, 2021

*I Spy* Photography Challenge 15

Hello and welcome! 

I'm playing along again in Lysha's "I Spy Photography" challenge and I am sharing my pictures for each prompt below.



This week's prompts:

  • Turquoise
  • Pill(s)
  • Dots of Stripes
  • Starts with an "A"
  • Your Choice

I struggled with some of these and waited until yesterday to take some of the photos. Really shouldn't have been a struggle but I tend to overthink and actually needed ideas from my husband :-)


Turquoise:

A picture I have hanging in the hallway. I have enough turquoise in the house that this shouldn't have to be a struggle, yet nothing seemed good enough and my husband suggested this picture. Plenty of turquoise in the sky here.




Pills :

I don't take any medication on a regular basis, but did have these in the medicine cabinet that my brother sent me over from Germany years ago - a natural based sinus pill that is not available in traditional US pharmacies. I've only taken 4 of them and they expired 4 years ago 👀, time to throw them out!!




Dots or Stripes:

This was another one I shouldn't have struggled with, but I did!! My husband's idea (again) to photograph one of our cats. Of course Thomas didn't want to cooperate so you can't see his stripes very well here.



Starts with an "A"

I thought about "above" when I took the photo for this prompt, but when I looked at the photo I also spied an "airplane" :-)


My Choice:

A beautiful Magnolia tree at a local park with a small bird nest hidden in between the branches. Wonder how long it will take until the Magnolia tree in my garden will be this tall!! Unfortunately last spring the squirrels chewed off most branches and it's now smaller than it was when we purchased it!!


All photos were taken with my Canon DSLR camera





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This week I'm linking up here:



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!

Apr 17, 2021

Cute Fairy Greeting Card in a Clean and Simple Way

Hello and welcome! 

It's Saturday again and that means we have a new theme at Allsorts challenge. This week it's Wendy's turn to host with  "Anything Goes with -add ribbon- option". So feel free to link up all your new crafty makes for a chance to win a voucher from Crafty Ribbons.


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 kept my card very clean and simple today by simply keeping the focus on the image. I thought it was so pretty with such great details that it really didn't need much more.



I printed this out on Neenah 80lb card stock several days ahead of time so I could use Copic markers for coloring. I have an Inkjet printer and the ink will smear if I don't give it a few days to dry. (I did try  heating with with a heating tool but it doesn't work well and will still smear.)

All I did after coloring was cut out the image using one of Avery Elle's Wonky Stitches dies. Then I tied some white silk ribbon around the top and adhered to a white card base using Recollections 110lb card stock from Michaels. 

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Next I stamped the simple sentiment h.e.l.l.o. from Penny Black's set Snippets to the left bottom using Versafine Onyx ink and the card was complete. Oh, and I added a sticky pearly dot to the large flower center. 


You can get this cute image HERE and I noticed this cute Giraffe Freebie there as well, perfect for those of you needing to make a baby card. 

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit!



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I'm linking up here:
Themes:
Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Simply Create Too - Stitching real of faux // Krafty Chicks - CAS // Through the Purple Haze - Ribbon // Creative Moments // Paper Shelter - Girl Power // Simon Says Stamp - CAS //  Cute Card Thursday  - Ribbon // Ike's World - Springtime // Passion For Markers Challenge - Feminine // 

Anything Goes:

Link Parties:


Apr 10, 2021

Butterflies, a Stencil and a Vintage Key

Hello and welcome! 

I hope you had a nice Easter weekend. We had plenty of sunshine here and I enjoyed the beautiful weather, it was perfect timing for a little blogging break over the holiday weekend! 

But we are back again at Allsorts challenge this week with a new theme set by Tracy who wants to see... Butterflies, birds and/or bugs. Hope to see you joining in for a chance to win! We have a new sponsor this time, Helping Hands Craft , who are giving away a  £15 Voucher to one lucky randomly selected winner!



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!


My card was inspired by this week's MFT sketch


To make my card, I started out by stamping and heat embossing the beautiful Penny Black stamp Gathering Together (an older wood mounted stamp) using Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink (a great neutral ink color) and clear embossing powder. Then I used a circle die to cut this out. 

Next I stamped all the butterflies (the large one is part of the stamp Gathering Together, the small ones are from the retired Stampin Up set Kindess Matters), using Memento Tuxedo ink and I colored using Copic markers. Cutterbee scissors were used to fussy cut all butterflies and I placed them on small die cut circles for some added interest. The main image circle was inked along the edge using Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress inks.




I used a Tim Holtz stencil from this stamp kit to add a stencil design to the card base with Tumbled Glass ink and then inked the edges here using Broken China ink.

The sentiment from the Penny Black set Snippets was stamped directly onto the card base using Versafine Onyx ink. Foam tape was used to adhere the image circle onto the card base and I finished it off by adding a few black sequins to the circle. These sequins were part of the February 2019 Hero Arts stamp kit.


You can see a closeup above.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hope to see you over at the challenge blog!

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I'm linking up here:
Other Challenges:
Penny Black Saturday - Use PB stamps opt. Cute // As You Like It Challenge - Embossing or Stenciling- stenciling, I love the look of colorful stenciling) // Aud Sentiments Challenge - add a sentiment // Cute Card Thursday - Wings // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies  - Critters // Do-Al(l) Kreatives - Spring // Happy Little Stampers - Stencils //  Paper Shelter - Sentiment // Ike's World - Springtime // Crafty Calendar - Spring // 
Anything Goes



Apr 7, 2021

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - April Challenge; and a Double Easel Card using Stampin Up "A Touch of Ink"

Hello and welcome to the April Crafty Wednesday challenge right here on my blog! I'm so glad you decided to stop by and hope you'll join in too and share all your crafty makes! As always I will select my top 3 picks and share them at the bottom of the post. You can see last month's Top Picks at the end of this post! There were some gorgeous entries so be sure to check them out! 


This Month's Theme


For the month of April I selected the fun theme of................


Something Beginning with "B".


So many options here....blossoms, bugs, bees, butterflies, blue, bunny, brocade, banner, bow, brown and many more ....I can not wait to see what "b"s you are incuding on your card!


As usual now, the theme is optional so feel free to link up anything else too and all entries will be considered for my top picks! 


My April Creation


I recently received a beautiful double easel card from Debbie of Secrets to Stamping who is soooo very creative, and I fell in love with the style of the card, so I decided to make a double easel card as well. While I've made  2 or 3 easel cards before, this was my first time making a double easel card and I used Debbie's card as a reference. 


You basically have a regular folded card base (whatever size you choose), then score one of the halves down the middle using a scoring tool. Decorate a card front using a separate piece of card stock, which you will then attach to the bottom part of the folded half. (I've included several photos so you can see what I mean.) On this card I added a mini easel just the way Debbie did because I thought that was such a cute "wow" factor!

The stamp set I used here is one of Stampin Up's recent "Sale-a Bration" set (A Touch of Ink) which I also received from Debbie.

I've mentioned this last month already, but if you haven't heard yet, she is hosting a new challenge on her blog where it's all about Fancy Folds. You can check it out HERE.

I used Distress inks and Versafine Onyx ink for stamping. The music notes background was done using an old Hero Arts stamp (mine is old - alternative option) and I inked the edges with distress ink as well.



The "floral" sentiment is from the Penny Black Set Blooming Sentiments, partly stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and partly heat embossed using ultra fine white embossing powder and Versamark ink on black card stock. The striped paper is actually striped vellum.


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I thought this fancy fold card would make a nice Mother's Day card so I added a Mother's Day sentiment (old from Whimsy Stamps) to the mini easel. This sentiment I cut out using a retired slider die also from Whimsy, and I tied some white silk ribbon (option) around it. 

In the photo below you can see the mini easel also opened. I added a prima flower with a small white brad to the inside of the small easel card. 



To decorate the inside of the card I used the same stamps and inks but stamped off twice for a more subtle background to allow for a handwritten message. Then I used an old wood mounted Penny Black flower border stamp on the inside of the fold - see below.


And finally, a side view is below. 



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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!






Last Month's Top Picks


I will continue to add my favorites to the dedicated Pinterest board, but going forward I will once again showcase the top pick's creations with links to their individual blogs, which will be removed at the start of each new month's challenge to remain in compliance with GDPR.

Choosing favorites is never easy but something that needs to be done and here are my top picks in the order of entry.


No. 49 Kuni

No. 54 Jose

No. 56 Carole J.




Congratulations! Your top pick logo is below. Feel free to post it to your own blogs if you like to!




To play along this month simply use the linky tool below.
Thanks so much for stopping by!!



A few things to remember:

  • You may follow the theme or anything crafty goes.
  • Backlinking is allowed.
  • You may combine with any other challenges.
  • You may use any brand of stamps/digis/products (no company restriction).
  • No more than 3 entries per person please - no worries if you end up with more.
  • Please do include a link back here to my blog in your blog post.

Note: Top picks will be selected from the entries shared with the linky tool. The top pick's creations will be displayed the following month along with their blog links until the start of a new challenge. If you do not want to be featured, please do not use the linky tool.



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


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