A Masculine Birthday Card

Hello everyone. It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Donna's turn to host. For her theme she selected "Birthdays" and of course we have the "Anything Goes" option as always. There are 2 prizes for this challenge of 2 stamp sets each and you have two weeks to join us.

As I have more masculine than feminine birthdays coming up later this year I decided to make a masculine birthday card using an old PSX stamp I purchased from eBay many years ago. I think it was part of a mixed lot I purchased as this is my first time using it. 

It is PSX K2777, as with all PSX stamps now only available through second hand markets such as eBay or Etsy. I used Distress inks for inking and coloring along with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for the smaller parts such as the flowers, stones and ramp.

The background was embossed using Spellbinders 3D embossing folder Cast Away and the sentiment is part of the Penny Black set Let's Play. I like the simple font for male cards. 

Linking up here:

• Can You Handle The Pressure? - Use Embossing Folders
• Cardz 4 Guyz - Boats
• Shopping Our Stash - On or in the Water

Thanks so much for visiting!

I Spy With My Little Eyes..........Warm and Sunny Colors (Challenge No. 29)

Hello and welcome to the new "I spy with my little eye" challenge taking place right here on my blog! Pauline and I are back with a new theme and all are welcome to join us.  

This time it's Pauline's turn to select a theme and she has chosen:

I Spy With My Little Eye.................

Warm and Sunny Colors.

Perfect theme for this time of the year and we can't wait to see what you'll create. The linky tool is at the end of this post.

Here is what we came up with for your inspiraton:

Ellie

(all details are right below the card)

I used a Vicki Boutin stencil on the background that I received as a freebie some time ago from Scrapbook.com along with some Distress inks (Twisted Citron, Mustard Seed and Picked Raspberry). The butterfly die cut was done with a die by Penny Black (Flowing Butterfly), simply left it white for this card and placed it onto a strip of black card stock  which I added a few sticky rhinestones to. Sentiment is from the set Butterfly Basics (long retired from Stampin Up). 

Pauline

Such a beautiful and stylish design! Please visit Pauline's blog to find out how she made this card.

We have a guest designer this time and that is Fiona Whitehead. So happy to have you joining us, Fiona!

Fiona's Card

So gorgeous and creative! Please visit Fiona's blog to find out how she made this card. 

Top Picks from Challenge No. 27

Many thanks to each one of you who took the time to join our last challenge of "Something to Celebrate". Our Top Picks are below listed in the order of entry. 

No. 11 Claudia (Ellie's Pick)

No. 38 Loopyloo (Pauline's Pick)

Congratulations to both of you!!

Below is your top pick logo, you may place it on your own blogs if you like to :)

For the time being I am discontinuing the guest designer invites but hopefully will bring them back some time in the future.

To play along in the current challenge please use the linky tool below.

A few things to remember:

(Complete list of guidelines and copyright info can be found here.)

• You may share up to 5 different projects.
• You may combine with as many other challenges as you like to.
• A short mention of products used whenever possible is expected, especially the focal point.
• New: While you are free to link up your creations using pre-colored digital art (AI generated, digital pre-colored toppers/images, digital papers etc.), they will be excluded from top picks. 
• Please include a link back to this blog.
• Back-linking to a recent project is allowed.
• Linkup closes on Sunday, September 14th at 11:59pm CST

B is For............Bird, Blue Bloom and Butterfly

Hello and welcome! It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and this time around it's my turn to host. For my optional theme I selected "I Spy Something Beginning with B". Lots of favorites beginning with a "B" so I hope you will join us and there is always the "Anything Goes" option. We have 2 prizes of coordinating stamps and dies to give away.

I have two projects to share today:

A couple of weeks ago I made this card using a new to me stamp set by Stampin Up and today I am sharing an Artist Trading Card (ATC) I made using the same products but a bit differently. 

B is for Bird on a Branch

I used a mix of red, orange, yellow and brown Distress inks for this card. A white pencil was used on the bird's and dragonfly's wings. I used the Direct to Paper technique around the edges of the ATC but a couple words got lost from the ink so I cut those out from white cardstock. The background was stenciled using Aall and Create's stencil Tulips (the same one I used on the card I made previously).

Related Products: 

  

I am entering this ATC here:

• ATC Around the World - Any ATC Goes
• Stamping Sensations - Birds, Bees and Butterflies
• Tag-Along (and ATC's) - Any tags or ATC opt. Travel

B is for Blue, Blossom and Butterfly

For the above card I used washi tape to mask off the edges then using the "smooshing technique inked up the background with Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide ink. Stamping on the background was done with Aall and Create's set Foliage #496 (retired) and Sent with Love #831 (retired). The rose (also from set #831) was stamped on a separate piece of cardstock which was also inked using the smooshing technique, and then fussy cut. The butterfly is part of the Aall and Create set Spread Your Wings #729 (retired).

For a little more interest I added a piece of cheesecloth behind the rose and used a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush all over the rose but it's not showing in the picture. 

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I am sharing the rose card with these challengese:

• Beautiful Blossoms - Flowers
• Creative Artiste Challenge - Anything Mixed Media Goes
• The Flower Challenge - Add Embellishments (cheese cloth)
• Triple B - Blooms, Butterflies or Birds

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Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 6: Anything In or From a Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my Garden Party No. 6 taking place right here on my blog. I'm so glad you stopped by and I hope you will bring something along to share this month too. Remember, anything in or from a garden goes, this can be any type of craft, photography (from a garden), garden tips, garden weddings, etc. As always the linkup is at the end of the post. And don't forget to check who made the top picks from the last party.

Here is my Garden Party share this time.

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!

I used one of my favorite Hero Arts stamps - Antique Bee and Flowers, stamped once in the center and then part of it on top and bottom of the card. I colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. I used a Chickenwire stencil from TCW which works as well for a honeycomb background I think, with Antique Linen Distress ink. I then used a script stamp from Tracy Evans' set called Magnolia on the background for a little more interest. The sentiments in black are from the Tim Holtz booklet of quotes called Small Talk. I mounted the card front onto black cardstock and then onto an embossed piece where I used the Texture embossing folder by Penny Black.

Above is a photo of one of my beautiful mini sunflowers (Suncredible Sunflower or Helianthus Hybrid). This plant was purchased from the Lowes Garden center "clearance" section. Anyone else addicted to the Garden Center clearance?? I had to quit going as I started running out of room for flowers without more digging. Absolutely love how well this plant recovered. It looked really sad when I purchased it but I was happy to rescue it, trim off all the spent flowers and it grew back so beautifully! This sort of sunflower almost grows like a little shrub and is full of blossoms as you can see a few in the background. Plus the bees and butterflies love it!

Challenge I plan to share the above card with:

• A Place To Start - Summer Things
• Can You Handle The Pressure? - Embossing Folders
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Double D - Bee Happy
• Stamping Sensations - Birds, Bees or Butterflies
• Sweet Stampin - Use a stencil
• Try It On Tuesday - Summer

Related Products:

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 5

It was so great to see many of you joining me again at the garden party and selecting just 3 is never easy but I finally managed  and here they are listed in the order of entry:

No. 3 Melanie H.

No. 56 Brenda

No. 66 Papierelle

Such amazing work!! Congratulations to each one of you on your well deserved recognition. Your Top Pick logo is below, you may post it on your own blogs if you like to.

Now it's time for the 5th 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 September 8th at 11:59pm CST

If you like this post then I invite you to subscribe to receive post updates sent directly to your inbox. Simply add your email address below to be added to the list. 

 

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday August Challenge

Hello and welcome to the August edition of Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge, taking place right here on my blog. I'm so glad you stopped by and hope you will join in this month too. There were lots of great entries in June and July which had a combined linky tool. Be sure to scroll down to see if you are one of the "Top Picks" and this time there are 2 sets of Top Picks, one for June and one for July.

As most of you know, the theme at Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday is now always ....

Anything Goes

and instead of a challenge theme there will be a "Top Pick Twist", meaning I will select a twist from all of the entries for the Top 3. Nobody will know what the twist will be (not even me) until the end of the challenge. So do link up all of your crafty makes, your entry might be the one inspiring the Top Pick twist :) The linky tool is at the end of this post.

Here is what I came up with this month.

I love visiting second hand shops (you'll never know what you'll find!!!) and on my last visit I found this beautiful wood mounted stamp set from Stampin Up - Asian Artistry. I knew I had to have it as I absolutely love this quote and of course I love the stamps in this set too. To make my card I followed a few challenges which helped me come up with the design.

I used several colors of Distress inks/oxides on the background (Barn Door, Carved Pumpkin, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey and Mustard Seed). Then I used a retired stencil from Aall and Create - Crisp Tulips - on the background. 

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The image was stamped using Walnut Stain Distress ink directly onto the background and again onto a scrap piece of white cardstock so I could cut out the bird for the "spotlight" technique using a circle die. I mounted the inked cardfront onto brushed gold cardstock (the lighting on the photo makes it appear a bit green-ish but there is no green on the card). Finally I mounted this onto a red card base. The dragonfly and sentiment are both part of this same set by Stampin Up. 

This post does 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 your support!

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I plan to share with these challenges:

A Cut Above - Die Cut Challenge Blog - at least one die cut
Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils and opt. Leaves or Trees
Double Trouble Challenge - 3,2,1 recipe (at least 3 colors: red, orange, yellow used; at least 2 layers and 1 spotlight technique) 
Stamping Sensations - Birds, Bees or Butterflies
The Paper Funday - AG
Triple B - Birds, Blooms or Butterflies

Top Picks with a Twist:

Now it's time to announce the Top Picks with a twist. Thank you all again for joining in the fun, I really enjoyed visiting your entries and selecting a "twist". As it was a 2-months challenge I am sharing two sets of Top Picks, one from those entering in June and one from those who entered in July.

From the June entries:

For June I selected the Twist of "Birthdays". So each one of these top picks features a birthday card.

No. 1 Jan R.

No. 29 Pauline C.

No. 73 Irene M.

From the July entries:

For July I selected the twist of "By the Sea" so each Top Pick below features a seaside scene. 

No. 85 Debbie M.

No. 97 Maria

No. 111 Yvette

Congratulations to each one of you for your well deserved recognition. The Top Pick logo is below, you may post this to 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 the last Wednesday of August to join in (August 27th). 

A few things to remember:

• You may combine with any other challenges.
• You may use any brand of stamps/digis/dies/papers (no company restriction as long as copyright laws are followed).
• Please note: entries using pre-colored digital products will no longer be selected as top picks. 
• A short description of products used is expected, most importantly the source of focal point.
• This linkup is for sharing handmade projects of any kind not limited to papercrafts.
• Please try to limit to 3 entries per month - it's ok if you end up with more than 3 but I may not be able to visit your entries after the 3rd.
• Please do include a link back here to my blog in your blog post.
• Backlinking to a recent post IS allowed.

You can read more about the Guidelines/Copyright info here.

If you like this post then I invite you to subscribe to receive post updates sent directly to your inbox. Simply add your email address below to be added to the list. 

Cats, Books and an Abstract Background

Hello everyone. Today is the start of a new challenge at Allsorts and Helen is hosting. For her optional theme she chose "Animals". Lots of options there but you can also go with the "Anything Goes" option to be entered into the prize drawing or to be selected in the Top 7. We have prizes from Lavinia Stamps.

Last month for my birthday I treated myself to a few new Lavinia stamps and thought this challenge was the perfect reason to ink some of them up. 

I've loved these cats - Hocus and Pocus - from when they were first released last year. I also knew I needed this book stamp - Wizardry - when I first saw it on someone's card a few months ago. Then on the background I used the stencil called Abstract also by Lavinia. You can purchase these stamps directly from Lavinia if you are in the UK and there are several stockists here in the US as well, I love ASC Supplies as they offer free shipping. Not sure how they can do it with the constant rise in postage fees but free shipping is so appreciated these days!!

I first started by stamping the books and cats onto my card front and stamped the books onto a post it note and fussy cut to make a mask. With washi tape and the mask in place I inked up the bottom portion using a Lawn Fawn stencil and Tea Dye Distress ink. After removing the washi tape I inked up the rest of the card using Lavinia's Abstract stencil and Mustard Seed Distress ink. 

I thought the card needed something more so I decided to stamp  Field Grass also by Lavinia around the books with the book mask in place. 

For the sentiment I chose "Have a Purr-fect Day" from the set Fun Felines by Penny Black.  I added a few black enamel dots as embellishments, matted it onto light brown card and then a white card base. 

This post does 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 your support!

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I plan to share with these challenges:

• As You Like It Challenge - Cats or Dogs and Why (I choose cats, I have 2 cats and they are my favorite domestic animal)
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Krafty Chicks - AG
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Stripes and/or Dots
• The Paper Funday - Fun with Stencils
• The Male Room - Cats or Dogs
• TIME OUT Challenges - Choose 2 : Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow, Book (I chose Books and Stripes)

Thanks so much for visiting!

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A Girly Birthday Card for Four Seasons August Challenge

It's so hard to believe that August has arrived and that means this is the last summer month of the year at the Four Seasons challenge blog! I hope you have more summer crafts to work on and share with us as we'd love to see it! As always we have a fun mood board to inspire you but it is optional as "Anything Summer Goes". 

August means it's "back to school" here in my part of the world and I chose this cute image which reminds me of a little girl going back to school but I will be needing a girly birthday card very soon so that is what I made. I was inspired by the balloons on the bottom right along with some of the colors from the balloons. 

The image is from the Penny Black set Let's Play 30-468, stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink on Xpress It blending cardstock then colored with my Copic markers. I chose a gingham paper from my stash. I probably had this for almost as long as I've been papercrafting and I thought the colors were a perfect fit to match some of the markers I used. 

I embellished my card with some pretty butterflies made with a Martha Stewart punch. I also added some shiny gems and lots of sparkles. You can never go wrong with a sparkly bicycle, don't you agree??

Related Products:

This post does 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 your support!

The sentiment is from the set by Veggie Stacks by Colorado Craft Company. I really like this pretty font for a girly card. I almost forgot to mention, but I used a Tim Holtz stencil set on the background from one of his "stamps and stencil" combo set. 

I plan to share with these challenges:

• AAA Birthday Challenge - Birthday and Sport (biking)
• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Ally's Angels - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Creatalicious Challenges - AG
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Do-Al(l) Kreatives - AG ?
• Double D - Cards for Kids
• Krafty Chicks - AG
• Paper Shelter - AG
• Passion For Markers Challenge - Dies or Punches (I used a punch)
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB Stamps
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Sweet Stampin - Anything but Square
• The Creative Crafters - AG
• The Paper Funday - Stencils
• TIME OUT Challenges - Pick 2: Torn, Transport, Star, Stripes, Rainbow, Book (I chose Transport and Stripes)

Thanks so much for visiting!

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