Dec 29, 2023

Year in Review 2023 - Blog Hop and a small Prize

Hello everyone! Hope you had a wonderful holiday spent with family. Ours was nice but once again some of us were sick on Christmas. My son tested positive for Covid a couple of days before Christmas and I started to feel a bit "off" on Christmas Eve, by Christmas Day I knew for sure it's Covid too and my husband also started to feel sick then. But we made the best of it and hopefully will all be recovered in a couple of days from now. Although my daughter somehow didn't get it (yet) and I'm hoping she won't this time around!! 



Today is the start of the 2023 Papercrafters' Year in Review hop where we get to share our own favorite creations of the year! There are a total of 10 papercraft bloggers taking part this year as co-hosts, many thanks to each one of you for joining me!

Btw. even if you didn't sign up as a host, you are still invited to take part as we are leaving the linky tool open for 1 week. So feel free to create your own year in review post and link up with us! I would love to see what your favorites were!! The linky tool is at the end of this post and you may also find it at some of the co-hosts blogs.




So let's get started with my list of favorites. As usual, I selected a favorite of each month to make my selection easier so here we go :)

I linked the main products used below for those of you interested, but you can always click on the link above each card to find out how it was made. It will take you to the original posts.


January:

A Frosty Farm Scene

Products Used: Snow Blanket, Nature's Gifts (Penny Black), Seasonal Tree, Winter Magic (Lavinia), Sheep digi (Mo Manning)

I just love the frosty feel about this card, may be one of my favorite creations ever...


February:

Products Used:  Dream.Love, Pig - retired (Penny Black), Wonky Stitches die (Avery Elle), Cloud Stencil (MFT)

Another farm animal?? LOL. This one almost tied with this card. But I stuck with the little pig because I just LOVE its big smile :) Fun fact: This was my most viewed post in 2023.


March:

Products Used: PSX stamp (K1695 - old), Stampers Anonymous stamp/stencil set

A beautiful bunch of tulips and love the "country" charm.


April

Products Used: In Paris (Penny Black), Tiny Text (Stampers Anonymous) French Script (SU), Stampers Anonymous and Lavinia  Stencils

This one almost tied with another one too, but ultimately I decided on this one as I LOVE the quote.


May

Products Used: PB Frog Stickeroo, Sweet Wishes, butterflies die (Penny Black),  Flowers and Leaves Embossing Folder (Spellbinders)

I love how the white background draws the eye to the fun image panel and banners. And of course can't help but smile when I see this frog!

June

Products Used: Bike (Hero Arts), Seashells (SU), Palm Tree (ProvoCraft) - all no longer available

Doesn't this card just scream coastal living? I just love how this scene came together with a mix of old stamps and dies. Those seashells and palm tree are well over 15 years old!! 


July

Products Used:  Patisserie, Sprinkles and Smiles, Heart Die (Penny Black), Birthday Background Stamp (MFT),

I had made this one for my daughter's 17th birthday and am so pleased how it turned out. I think it's a perfect image for an older teen/young adult. 


August

Stamp Used:  Daisy Dream (Penny Black)

Again, I am loving how the white background draws the eye to the beautiful daisies.


September

Products Used: Seasonal Tree,  Creeping Vine (Lavinia),  Friendship Florals (Aall & Create)

Another clean white border to draw the eye in. And I love how this all came together with new and old stamps.


October


Products Used:Seasonal Tree (Lavinia),  Flower Journey (Aall & Create), Baby, Mama, Papa boo (Stampressions no longer available)

Another mix of old and new stamps for a fun and a bit spooky scene. 


November

Products Used: Trilling Trio, Berry Bevy, Nature Sings, Christmas Story (all by Penny Black)

I am drawn to the colors on this card as well as the distressing even though I usually tend to love a crips white border. But somehow everything here seems to "work" together including the chunky glitter. Funny thing is, this card was originally supposed to be a CAS style then I messed up and it turned into this "shabby" card, making it a favorite of the year :)

December


Products used: Woodland (Aall and Create), Sled Bunny (Colorado Craft Company),  Berries die (Penny Black)

I love the combination of these new to me stamps from different companies. The Aall and Create trees seem so perfect for this cute Colorado Craft bunny in the snow. 


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 always love to have a look back at what I created and what I choose as favorites. From the look of these I can definitely say I love a varity of crafting styles which works out just fine as they are for a variety of people. While I haven't used my beloved Penny Black cuties as much, I'm happy a couple of them made an appearance here. I can definitely see that I love creating scenes on cards and it's interesting that Lavinia's Seasonal tree was included on 3 of these 12 cards. That's definitely a great "worker" stamp!!

Here is the list of all  co-hosts. Please stop by their blogs to see their favorites of the year.

  1. Alicia - Golden Goddess Designs
  2. Debbie  - Secrets to Stamping
  3. Diane - Nellie's Nest
  4. Ellie - Ellibelle's Corner (you are here)
  5. Francesca - Percorsi di Fantasia
  6. Helen - Made by Helen
  7. Joanne - My Slices of Life
  8. Kate - Cards a la Kate
  9. Lillian - Lillian's Crafting Blog
  10. Tee - The Paper Layer

 As a little "thank you" for visiting I am offering a little prize to one commenter. Please only leave one comment. The winner will be selected from the comments left using random.org. Anyone who comments will be entered, including other co-hosts. However, if you want to comment but don't want to be entered into the drawing, simply let me know in the comment and I will select another winner should your name be drawn. 

The prize is a $10 Gift Certificate to Whimsy Stamps (offered by me, not Whimsy Stamps). For those overseas, they do offer digital products as well so it will be a nice little price for anyone from anywhere in the world.

US $10.00



You have until Friday January 5th (8pm US central time) to leave a comment. 

The winner will be announced on Saturday January 6th with my Allsorts challenge post. It will be the winner's responsibility to contact me within 1 week.

Before linking up, please be sure to remember this is for papercrafts only (any kind!) and all other links will be removed.


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Dec 23, 2023

Cold as Ice

Hello and welcome! It's time for a new challenge at Allsorts and Lorraine's turn to host. It's the last one of the year so it will run for two weeks over the holidays. This is also my last new card post of the year but I do have the Year in Review hop post scheduled for December 29th, hope you will stop by for that as I will have a small prize on offer and remember, even if you didn't sign up as a co-host, you can still create your own "favorites of 2023" post and link up too. I would love to see your favorites :)

So for this challenge, Lorraine selected the optional theme of "Cold as Ice".  Our wonderful prizes come from AALL and Create and Craft Stash, these are for challenges 760, 761 and 762. 


I needed a masculine birthday card and thought these penguins would work well for the occasion along with a star stamp, all 3 from Aall and Create and they are marked 50% off.


I created an inky background using some blues and a bit of purple, then stamped the star image from the Aall and Create set Blackbird. Then I stamped the penguins from sets Penguin and Frosty on paper scraps and fussy cut. I added some die cut stars (retired die set from Whimsy Stamps) which I inked with the same inks and added some stickles glitter to make them sparkle like snow on an ice cold winter morning. 


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On the bottom portion I used part of a birthday background stamp from My Favorite Things and the "happy birthday to you" on the top is part of this same background stamp.

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 plan to link up with these challenges:

I would like to sign off today by wishing all of my blog readers a 

Merry Christmas!

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Dec 20, 2023

I Spy With My Little Eye.........Something Old and/or Something New (Challenge No. 10)

Hello everyone and welcome to another "I Spy With My Little Eye" challenge right here on my blog. It's the last one of the year, how time flies when you're having fun, and we are so glad you stopped by today! Hope you'll join us too and share your crafty makes with us following our theme. Also be sure to scroll down to see if you were one of our top two who will be invited to join us as guest designers for the next challenge.

It's Pauline's turn to select the theme this time around and it is:


I spy with my little eye...........................

Something Old and/or Something New.


So perfect for this time of the year and I think everyone can join in wether you use something from your stash or maybe you have some new goodies to showcase. We'd love to see all your wonderful creations and you may enter up to 5 times. 


My card (Ellie)

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!

Something a little different from me today, as I don't usually use die cuts as a focal point but this new to me die set was absolutely perfect for the theme and I have both something old and something new :)  My "something new" are: new baby, a new die set and baby sentiment, also the white enamel dots. Everything else I used on this card is really old, especially the patterned paper, prima flower and scalloped rectangle die. The heart string die is by Penny Black and also several years old.

I was so lucky to win a prize from Honeybee stamps through the Cat Lovers Hop and absolutely did not need any baby things, but could not resist this cute die set with my gift certificate. It's available direct from Honeybee Stamps or at Scrapbook.com, and probably other retailers as well. 
 

Related Products:

I plan to share the above card with these challenges:


Pauline's Card

How cute and beautiful is this colorful creation??!! Please visit Pauline's blog to see how she created this wonderful card and what her "something old or something new is!

We're so excited to have a guest designer joining us this month too, and that is Carol from CarolG Creates. Thanks so much for being our guest, Carol!

Carol's Creation

How fabulous (and useful!!) is this Z-fold calendar card! Please visit Carol's blog to find out how she made this wonderful card!


Top 2 from Challenge No. 9 - Sparkle or Shine

Many thanks to all of you who played "I spy" with us last month. We had many fabulous entries and as always selecting our top picks wasn't easy but something that needed done so here they are in the order of entry. 

*To be in compliance with GDPR, Top Pick photos and links will be removed after the start of the new challenge. 

Remember, both Top Picks are invited to join us in the next challenge if you like to. That would be for challenge no. 11 starting January 17 ! Of course it's not a requirement but we would love to have you as guests!!


No. 9 Helen (Pauline's Pick)


No.11 Rosi (Ellie's Pick)


Congratulations to both of you!! Your top pick logo is below to display on your own blogs if you like to.

You are both invited to join us as guest designers (optional of course!) for challenge no. 11 starting on Wednesday January 17th. If you are interested in taking part, please message me (Ellie) at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com so I can give you all the details for our upcoming theme.

Now it's time to link up YOUR creations for the new theme! Anyone is invited to join us with your crafty makes following our theme - I Spy Something Old and/or Something New.

A few things to remember:
  • You may share up to 5 different projects
  • You may combine with as many other challenges as you like to
  • No fully digital projects please
  • Please include a link back to this blog
  • Challenge ends Sunday January 14th
  • Backlinking to a recent project is allowed

As this is our last challenge of the year, we would like to wish all of our participants a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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Dec 16, 2023

Christmas Flowers and/or Wreaths

It's Saturday again and time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. It's Mervi's turn to host and she would love to see Christmas flowers or wreaths this week. Then there is always the option of Anything Goes so hopefully you'll join us for a chance to win or to be selected as a top 5. Prizes come from  Aldridge Crafts, Stampendous and AALL and Create and are for challenge weeks 758 and 759. 

I do have 2 sets of Poinsettia stamps which I thought about using but decided I don't really like either of those that much so while looking through my Christmas stamps I came across this cute stamp illustrated by Margaret Sherry. This one wasn't made for Penny Black but was a magazine freebie a few years ago and one of those rare occasions when I had to buy the magazine. But think this is my first time using a stamp from the set.

I wanted to make a Christmas card without any red this time so I went with kraft, green and gold as my main colors. The image was colored using Distress inks and Zig Clean Color markers and cut out using a circle die. The wooden square "wreath" is a die by Penny Black - Wildwood. Patterned paper came from a pack I purchased a year or two ago. And then I added the sentiment from a  Penny Black set. A little jute twine bow and stickles glitter finish off the card. The card base looks black but is actually dark brown.


Related Products:



Challenge I plan to link with:

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!

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Dec 9, 2023

"B" is for.......................

Hello and welcome! It's Saturday again and that means it's the start of a new challenge at Allsorts. Brenda is hosting this week and her challenge is "I spy something beginning with "B". It's an optional theme so if you haven't included any "B"s on your card you are still invited to join us with a new crafty creation for your chance to win or to be selected as a Top 5. Prizes are from Aldridge Crafts, Stampendous, AALL and Create, these are for challenge 758 and 759.

Always love this theme as there are so many things that would be suitable and I decided on B for Bird on a Branch, Blue and Black. 

I used some new to me stamps from Aall and Create to make this simple card. I first stamped the bird (from the set Robin and Nuthatch), then masked the edges off with washi tape, then I added the watered down Distress ink (Faded Jeans) around the bird using a piece of acetate. The clocks are from the All and Create set Clocks and Flowers. (By the way, both of these sets are still available and part of their super discounts along with many other stamps!!) I wanted to ink around the inner edges before removing the washi tape but somehow I forgot about doing it until the card was finished... I think it would have given the edges a little more definition. 


Related Products:



The sentiment is part of the Clocks and Flowers set. 

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 plan to link up with these challenges:


Today (Saturday December 9th) is the last day to sign up to take part in the Papercrafters' Year in Review hop. The linky tool will close at 11:59 pm CST. If you would like to join a few other crafts in sharing your favorites of 2023 with a blog hop please read this post where you can find all the info.Would LOVE for you to join in!!



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Dec 6, 2023

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - December Challenge

Hello and welcome to Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - December challenge taking place right here on my blog! I'm so glad you stopped by today and hope you'll join in the fun too! There were lots of wonderful entries last month, many thanks to everyone who joined! My top picks with a twist are at the end of this post.

{Also, as a reminder, if you were thinking about taking part in this year's Papercrafters' Year in Review hop (on December 29th), only a few more days remain to sign up. All that info can be found in this post.}


I'm sure most of you know by now, the theme is now always............

Anything Goes

and instead of a challenge theme there will be a top pick twist, meaning the top picks will each have something in common. But nobody knows what the twist will be (not even me) and will be inspired by YOUR creations. So do link up all your new or recently created crafty makes (any type of craft) for your chance to have your project featured next month! The linky tool is at the end of the post.

Here is what I made:
I recently got the new Lavinia Large Snowflake set in the mail and so I used one snowflake as the focal point.

I started out by using Lavinia's Feather Leaf stencil with a circle mask in place to ink up the background with Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink. Inside the circle I stamped Lavinia's Winter Magic sentiment using a regular die ink in a coordinating color (second generation stamping). Then I used the the same Distress Oxide ink to stamp the new Lavinia snowflake in the center, which I sprinkled with ultra fine clear embossing powder and heat embossed. 


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The sentiment is an oldie from Stampin Up, love this simple font! It has also been heat embossed using the same Oxide ink. I wanted to add something with stripes to the card so I used my Classy Stripes stencil on a white paper scrap once again with the same ink. I added a crystal glimmer enamel dot from Honeybee Stamps in the center of the snowflake and, hard to see, but used a clear Sakura Stardust glitter gel pen on the dots which are part of the Lavinia sentiment.

I also made the this card using Blueprint Sketch and Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide inks.

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!


Linking up the purple snowflake card with these challenges:

November Top Picks with a Twist:

Many thanks to everyone who joined in last month. There were so many fabulous entries and as always it's not easy to select a theme but I do enjoy that part of the challenge and the Top Pick twist from the November entries is....Three of Something.

And here are my Top Picks with a Twist each one featuring "Three of Something" posted in the order of entry:



No. 17 Melanie H.


No. 51 JanR



No. 52 Chrissy



Congratulations everyone! Well deserved recongnition! Your top pick logo is below, you may place it on your own blogs if you like to :)
 

I will continue to pin the top picks to the dedicated Pinterest board, but will also include photo and link back to the original blogs/sites here. These will be removed at the start of the new challenge to stay in compliance with GDPR.

To join in this month's challenge please use the linky tool below. You have until Sunday December 31st to play along!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>12 Days of Christmas Sale at Scrapbook.com/Ad

A few things to remember:
  • You may combine with any other challenges.
  • You may use any brand of stamps/digis/products (no company restriction).
  • Please try to limit your linked up cards to 3 entries per month - it's ok if you end up with more than 3.
  • Please do include a link back here to my blog in your blog post.
  • Backlinking to a recent post IS allowed.
  • Digital products are allowed and very welcome but the final piece has to be a physical handmade creation, not just digital
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Dec 2, 2023

Christmas Pinecone and a Bunny in the Snow

It's Saturday already and that means a new challenge starts today at Allsorts and it's also time for the reveal at the Card Chain challenge so I have two project to share today :)

First up, at Allsorts it's Liz' turn to host and she selected the fun theme of "Stitching - Real or Faux" and of course the theme is optional so all your new creations are welcome.  A wonderful bundle from  AALL and Create is our prize which will be split between challenges 756 and 757 so hope you can join us for your chance to win! 


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!

This beautiful pinecone stamp is from my most recent Aall and Create order from the set Pinecone. I placed 4 orders with them in total within the last 3 months, just couldn't resist the fabulous sale prices and lucky for me I did not have to pay any custom fees for any of my orders. The inky background was found in my box of previously inked card stock where I used Distress Oxide ink, not sure anymore what color. I stamped the image on the inked piece then colored with Ground Espresso Oxide ink and a Faber Castell Polychromo pencil for the pine needles.

On the top portion I used part of the Penny Black background stamp Christmas Story. And a bit of it was stamped on red card stock for some added interest. I really wanted to use some of this gingham ribbon but thought it was all gone, then found a small piece of it on the bottom of my ribbon stash so I tied some jute twine around it and added with a mini glue dot. Really love this ribbon combined with twine. Some glitter on the pinecone for a little sparkle and I used my Wonky Stitches die to add a stitched design.


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I'm entering this card with the following challenges:


The next card I made for the November Card Chain Challenge where today we are revealing the cards sent in November.  My card went to Bonnie in Colorado this time and I was happy to hear that she liked it. 


As always there are several challenge options to choose from - a sketch, color combo, themes, techniques. We only have to choose one and this time I selected the theme of "winter" which was one of the options because I really wanted to use this new (to me) stamp from Colorado Craft Company - Sled Bunny. I combined it with the beautiful trees which were part of the Aall and Create set Woodland. I added Penny Black's Berries die and then the sentiment which is part of the Aall and Create stamp set. 



I am sharing the above card with these challenges:


Below is the beautiful card I received from Julia in MA, doesn't this pie look absolutely delicious!! Thank you, Julia for this wonderful card!!!


PS: If you've been thinking about taking part in this year's Papercrafters Year in Review hop, there are only a few more days left to sign up for this hop which takes place at the end of December. Please visit this post for all the details! Would LOVE for you to join in!! 

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