Dec 20, 2025

Magic Winter Scene for Allsorts Challenge

It's time for another challenge at Allsorts this time Lynn is hosting with her optional theme of "Create a Scene". This is our last challenge of the year and you have until December 31st to join us. There will be 2 winners selected from the entries and prizes come from Lavinia Stamps.


I used some of my older (but favorite) Lavinia stamps to create a scene inside a circle. The negative of a circle die cut was used as a mask for the scene along with a torn paper mask for a snowy ground. The bunnies are Pipin on the left and the one on the right is part of the Whimsical Hares set. For the tree I chose Fairy Fir Tree small. I also used Lavinia's Field Grass and Winter Magic for the wording stamped on the background. For some added interest I used a gold Posca pen for some spatter. 




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!


Challenge I plan to share with:


Thanks so much for visiting!


PS: If you haven't already then I hope you'll check out the December "I spy with my little eye" challenge where everyone is invited to share their "Year in Review - Favorites of 2025" this month. I hope you'll join in and share yours! The linky tool will be open until mid-January.


As this may be my last post of the year, I would like to sign off by wishing all my blogging friends, followers and readers a 

Merry Christmas 

and

Happy New Year!



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Dec 17, 2025

I spy with my little eye ............A Crafty Year in Review 2025 Linkup: Your Favorite Creations of the Year

Hello everyone and welcome to the monthly "I spy with my little eye" post! That said, this month we are doing things a little bit different as instead of a traditional challenge, there is a .........

"Crafty Year in Review" linkup: Favorite Creations of the year!

and everyone is invited to link up their own favorites of the year 2025. I hope you will join in, have a look back at your creations and create a post featuring your favorites. There is a linky tool at the end of this post where you can share your "Favorites" post. 

You  have  until January 18th. The Top Picks from the last "I spy with my little eye" challenge (November Challenge) will be announced on January 20th when a new challenge will be posted.

I usually choose a favorite of each month but you can do a Top 5, Top 10, Top 3 or maybe there is just one single project you are especially loving. The choice is yours and the only rule is that the favorites have to be your own work posted in 2025.


Here are mine, some months were easier to choose than others. (There were some ties too!!) I've included links to the original blog posts for all details for those interested.


January

Original post

February
Original post 

March
original post

April
Original Post

May
Original Post

Also May
Original Post

June
Original Post

July
none

August
Original Post

Also August
Original post

September
Original Post

October
Original Post

November
Original Post

December
Original Post


By looking at my Top Picks I can see that I really love making my own backgrounds with stencils, stamps and ink whereas my designer paper stash hasn't been touched much and only one card from my Top Picks includes designer paper.  Every year I like to challenge myself to use up patterned papers but it's just not happening!! Oh well...




I thought it would also be fun to see which post received the most views last year...


Most visited blog post of 2025:

This was a card made with (then) newly released stamps so I can see why it was a popular post, although it didn't make my personal top picks list.

And that would be it for today. I hope you will link up your own Crafty Year in Review post below. Would absolutely love to come check out to see what made your "favorites" list!


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Dec 12, 2025

Christmas Caroling

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well. We 're expeciting more snow and then very low temperatures overnight and probably lasting for a few days. Winter has just begun but I have to admit I am so over it already!!!

There are lots of Christmas challenges in blogland and I'm sharing a card I made using one of my most favorite Christmas stamps, an oldie by PSX (G1879). 


I first stamped the carolers onto Neenah 80lb cardstock then again onto a post it note to make a simple mask. Then I used the negative of a circle die cut to ink the circle using Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide ink. A "torn paper" mask was used for some snowbanks at the bottom. And I used a Posca pen to flick some flurries onto the background. The tiny stamped snowflakes are by Lavinia Stamps as is the sentiment. I used some matching cardstock by Stampin Up for the card base. Coloring was done with my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. For some sparkle I added Stickles glitter to each of the snowflake centers.

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 am sharing with these challenges:

Thanks for visiting and hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

PS: Coming soon (Wednesday December 17th)
"I Spy With My Little Eye........A Crafty Year in Review: Favorites of 2025". I hope you'll  link up yours too :)

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Dec 11, 2025

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 10 - 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.

And here is my garden themed share for this month, featuring a fairy in a secret garden with her snail friend and magic butterflies. My garden may be resting now for the winter but certainly there must be magic going on somewhere :)


I've had this beautiful fairy (Mae) for quite some time now but this my first time inking her up. I used my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils to color her wings and blossoms along with the garden sign. Other stamps used are Lavinia's Field Grass, Butterflies and Miniature Snail plus Secret Garden Sign and Textures 2 all by Lavinia. They were stamped with my new Versafine Clair inks I treated myself to on Black Friday. The tiny words are also by Lavinia (Mailbox Names Stamps) from the recent release. 

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 am entering the above card here:





Top Picks for Garden Party No. 9

There were lots of beautiful garden themed posts to choose from last month, thank you all so much for joining in! As always, selecting just 3 is never easy but I finally managed and here they are listed in the order of entry:

No. 7 Deanne

No. 26 Creative Smiles 

No. 30 Mia


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 :)



Now it's time for the 10th 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 January 5th at 11:59pm CST




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Dec 6, 2025

A Quick and Easy Card with Lavinia Stamps and a Stencil

Hello everyone, today is the start of a new Allsorts challenge with the theme of New... Baby, Home, Job etc. selected by Liz. Lots of options there and then as awalys the Anything Goes option is there too!  We have prizes from AALL and Create for this challenge, two stamp sets and you have two weeks to join us for a chance to win!

A couple of months ago I went on a Lavinia Stamps shopping spree at Del Bellos Designs (a US based Lavinia stamps retailer who is retiring and closing her shop) and this cottage and tree stamps were a part of my purchase. 


I decided to make CAS style card with these new to me goodies and I love how it turned out. 

Using Pinecone Versafine Clair ink, I stamped the cottage (Meadow Cottage) and the trees (Tree of Spirits Small) along with the "grass" (Winter Foliage) then added a thin strip of dark brown cardstock to ground the images. I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils to add a little bit of color to the cottage. I went with pink as I love a pink and brown color combo. The birds are from a retired set by Hero Arts. I don't think I have a "New Home" themed stamp (couldn't find one in my stash) and thought about computer generating one but then decided to go with a simple "congratulations" sentiment instead. This one is long retired from a set by Whimsy Stamps. 

I was going to leave the card as is but then it looked a bit bare and so I decided to add some stenciling on the background using Aall and Create's Crisp Tulips stencil by Tracy Evans. Btw, I linked the Lavinia stamps to my favorite US based Lavinia retailer because she is always offering free US shipping, but if you are in the UK or for the best selection you will find them all at the Lavinia Stamps shop. And maybe you'll find some goodies at Del Bellos Liquidation sale!

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 plan to share this card with these challenges:


Thanks so much for visiting and hope you're having a wonderful weekend! We've had a couple of very cold days (almost record low!!) and while it now warmed up a bit, we're supposed to get another round of snow this evening and into Sunday night. 'Tis the season!

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Dec 3, 2025

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday December Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome to the December edition of my Crafty Wednesday Challenge taking place right here on my blog. I am so glad you stopped by today and hope you will join in the fun too! There were lots of great entries last month, thank you all for sharing. As always, the top 3 with a twist can be found at the end of the post.

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 linkytool is at the end of the post.

Here is what I made for my share:


I've used Lavinia Stamps Pipspell (the mouse on the right) before but this is the first outing for Thistlewhisk here on my blog and I created a simple scene with these two cuties. 

I started by stamping them using Pinecone Versafine Clair ink then used the negative of a circle die along with a torn piece of paper for some masking and inked inside the cirle using Salvaged Patina Oxide ink. Inside the circle I used Lavinia's Winter Magic quote and the same Salvaged patina ink. At the bottom I stamped a branch from Lavinia's Winter Branches set with Pinecone ink and then used a white Poska pen to add dots for snowflakes. Usually I flick my Posca pen for random spatter but thought I'd try adding them in this way for a change. I do think I prefer the randomness of flicking even though it usually makes a huge mess all around with more spatter off the card then on 😄
For a little embellishment I added die cut snowflakes made with Penny Black's Dancing Snowflakes die set and used a Sakura gel pen in Stardust around the circle. And lots of Stickles glitter on the bauble which you can see better in the first photo.

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 plan to share the above card with these challenges:


November Top Picks with a Twist:

Once again there were many wonderful creations which makes it so hard to choose favorites but thank you all so much for joining in and I always enjoy having a look at the gallery to see what most catches my eye. For the November twist I selected: Autumn so each one of my Top Picks features something fall themed.


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 :)



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 Wednesday December 31st to join in.

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.



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Dec 2, 2025

November Card Chain Challenge Reveal Day

Hello everyone. I hope you are doing well. Winter has arrived here in my part of the world. It snowed a lot on Saturday and again last night and the roads were so slick when I was out in the evening. The main reason why I don't like winter but nothing to do about that...

Last month I joined in at the Card Chain Challenge again and today is reveal day. This time my card went to Dagmara in Poland. As always, there are several challenge options such as a sketch, colors, themes or techniques. I went with the theme of Feathers and Vintage and used a Bird for my focal point and did some distressing to make it a bit vintage.

And here is what I made:


For my "Feather" element I decided to use Tracy Evans' Bird from the set Robin and Nuthatch. The set is retired but may still be found at some retailers. I used Distress inks for coloring. The background was one I had done with the gelli plate and some moody blue ink. Then I used a Harlequin stencil by Tim Holtz and a script stamp from Tracy Evans' set Magnolia and Apricot Distress ink. Around the edges I used part of a stamp from Tracy Evans's set Branched Heart. The sentiment is from another Tracy Evans Aall and Create retired set Pinecone. Love this quote. I added a rust red layer and then an apricot colored cardbase. Card front and rust colored mat were distressed to make it a little "vintage". I know I could have done a better job with that technique but this is what it turned out to be. Looking at it here I think some stitches around the edges would have been nice. I was happy to hear from Dagmara and that she liked the card :)

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 am entering the above card to these challenges:




If you have never joined in the Card Chain Challenge but would like to, then you can still sign up for the December challenge for just a few more days. Be sure to read all the details here as it's a different type of a challenge where everyone will mail and receive one card in exchange. So fun!


I received the beautiful card below from Hilary in UK. I absolutely love these colors and the gorgeous stylish stamps! Thank you Hilary!!





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Dec 1, 2025

It's Winter Time at the Four Seasons Challenge

Hello everyone, it's so hard to believe December is here, this year flew by so fast and Christmas is right around the corner. I hope you got a good start with your Christmas cardmaking but if not then there is a great mood board at the Four Seasons challenge that might help you along in creating some beautiful winter/Christmas cards. For the next 3 months our theme at the Four Seasons challenge will be Winter, the mood board is not required but a great starting point should you need one.


Last month I went on a shopping spree at Del Bellos Designs who is closing her shop. She is/was a stockist for some UK brands such as Lavinia and Cardi-o stamps and as she is selling many of the stamps at a great discount I could not resist. Most of what I purchased were Lavinia stamps but this Cardi-o set came up as *last one* and the price was right so it landed in my shopping cart too :) It's my only Cardi-o stamp set.

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 first stamped the snowman and bunnies using Versafine Onyx ink then used a homemade mask to create some hills and snowbanks. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Snow Fall. I wanted to add some icy "greenery" and I decided to use a stamp from Lavinia Stamps set Winter Foliage which was part of their latest release. Some glitter and die cut snowflakes (Penny Black Dancing Snowflakes die set) were added as embellishments. I used blue cardstock as a mat and then a white card base.





I plan to share with these challenges:

Thanks so much for visiting. Hope to see you at the challenge blog :)






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Nov 22, 2025

Sentiment in Focus at Allsorts Challenge

Hello everyone, it's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and this time our theme is "Sentiment in Focus" selected by Helen. Or you can choose the Anything Goes option instead. The challenge runs for 2 weeks and hope you'll join us! We have a prize from Sweet Poppy this time.


I'm currently in "Christmas Card-Making Mode" so I decided to use a large sentiment stamp by Penny Black (from the set Festive Cheer) stamped with Versafine Onyx ink. Next I chose patterned paper from a 6x6 paper pack I purchased from Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago. A little more was needed under the sentiment so I chose die cut pieces from Spellbinders (they are part of a sleigh die set by Spellbinders (Delivering Joy). 

I used Kraft cardstock for my card base by Recollections 110lb from Michaels.

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 plan to share my card with these challenges:


And that is all for today. Hope you're having a great weekend! 

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