Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Goodbye for Now

Hello crafty friends, I have a bit sad news to share... I decided to discontinue my Crafty Wednesday challenge for the time being. I have really enjoyed hosting this linkup for the last 7+ years, so much that I had started the "I spy" challenge along with my "Garden Party" last year too but I realized it may have been a bit too much to handle so for now I am taking a break from hosting this linkup (I don't know when or if it will return so it is a Goodbye for now). I want to thank you all for your wonderful support of this challenge over the years!

That being said, the Garden Party and I spy with my little eye challenges will continue and I do hope to see you all there :) And you can find the December Top Picks at the end of this post.

I do have a card to share today made with the adorable Pipspell and some additional Lavinia stamps. 

I stamped Organic Root at the bottom right, along with Pipspell using Versafine Clair Pinecone ink. At the top right I used Lavinia's Starpine set to build up the pine branch. The quote is Lavinia's Magic Surrounds Us stamped using Chipped Sapphire ink. I decided to add some orbs made with a homemade "bokeh" stencil and I stamped the mini snowflakes (also by Lavinia) onto the backround. Before adhering to the pale pink mat I inked some more of the Chipped Sapphire around the edges and added stickles glitter to the center of each snowflake and the bauble. The card base is navy to coordinate with the dark blue ink although it looks black in the photo. I also used my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for coloring the bauble and mouse.

If you're in the US I highly recommend Crystal from ASC Craft Supplies for a source of Lavinia Stamps as she offers Free Shipping on everything, although she doesn't have all the stamps in stock. (Also a great place to shop for the beautiful Stamperia papers!)

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!

Challenges I plan to share the above card with:

• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Creatalicious Challenges - Winter Animals
• Critter Crazy Challenge - Animals
• FarmQuest Country Christmas Challenge - Outdoor Christmas
• Girlz Creative Christmas Challenge - Christmas
• Peace on Earth - AG Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Something New (some new to me stamps - organic root and quote)
• Stamping Sensations - Beginning with B (Bauble and Branch)
• We Love Stamping - Something New (New Organic Root and Quote Stamps)

Top Picks with a Twist from the December Challenge

For the last set of Top Picks I decided that there is no twist and simply chose my favorites from the December entries: 

No. 18 Irene M.

No. 20 Jan R.

No. 48 Judy V.

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 :)

Thank you all again for your support of my Crafty Wednesday challenge over the years. It's been so fun and I got to meet many fabulous crafters along the way! I hope to continue to see you around blogland :)

Have a great day and I will be back again tomorrow with a new Garden Party! Hope to see you there!

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:

• A Cut Above - Die Cut Challenge Blog - At least one die cut (I used snowflakes)
• A Place To Start - Winter Things
• Aud Sentiments Blog Challenge - A Winter Sentiment
• Cupcake Inspirations - Let it Snow
• Fab n' Funky - Christmas
• FarmQuest Country Christmas Challenge - Country Christmas
• Path of Positivity - Unexpected Animal on Holiday Card
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Dies (I used snowflake dies)
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Use Dies
• Try It On Tuesday - Snowflakes
• 

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.

No. 17 Gerrina

No. 19 Amy

No. 27 Wendy

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.

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - November Challenge

Hello and welcome to the November Edition of my Crafty Wednesday Challenge taking place right here on my blog! I'm so glad you stopped by today and hope you'll join in too with a new or recently made creation. There were lots of fabulous entries last month, thank you all for sharing your creativity! My top picks with a twist are at the end of the post along with the new linky tool.

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 :)

And here is what I made:

I still love playing with my new Tracy Evans stamps and here I used the snowman from the set A Myriad of Designs. I wasn't sure how this would turn out (this was basically a test run with that snowman) but I love the results and decided to use it for today's inspiration piece.

I started out by heat embossing the snowman onto Bristol Vellum paper.

I know most of you are familiar with heat embossing but if you've never done it before, basically these are the tools you need:

• Anti Static Pouch (you rub this over your cardstock, this ensures that embossing powder only sticks to the ink)
• Versamark ink pad (make sure to ink your stamp very well with this ink)
• Embossing Powder of your choice (I prefer ultra fine/detail as I sometimes like to emboss sentiments too - here I used Ultra Fine White) I usually sprinkle plenty onto the stamped image then shake off the excess and put back into the jar.
• Heating Tool to melt the embossing powder

After heat embossing, I added some color to the background using the smooshing technique with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink. Using black ink (I used Versafine Onyx) I stamped the snowman's hat and then fussy cut so he could have a black hat. An embossed hat would have been nice too but I was too lazy for that :)  A Micron fineliner pen was used to color his eyes and heart shaped buttons and copic markers to color the embossed branches, carrot and tiny heart. Not sure the copic markers were the best choice as they did bleed a little so I am still looking for something fine-tipped that writes onto embossed images (maybe these extra fine-tipped Posca Pens would work without bleeding..)

The tree and wording are from Tracy Evans set Winter Delights and the little bird at the bottom left and row of bells at the top are part of the set Myriad of Designs. You can find Tracy Evans stamps at Simon Says Stamp if you are in the US or directly from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs in the UK. 

Another view below:

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!

Challenges I plan to share with:

• A Place To Start - Something New (new stamps)
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - Christmas
• Moving along with the Times - Winter Wonderland
• Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Snowman
• Peace on Earth - Christmas
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Masculine
• Stamping Sensations - Christmas
• The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up - Christmas
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Christmas
• The Paper Funday - Merry and Bright or AG
• Unicorn Challenge - Winter/Christmas
• We Love Stamping - Christmas

October Top Picks with a Twist:

So many wonderful entries to choose from and they gave me lots of ideas for a twist. But "Lots of White" won and these are my Top Picks using the twist. 

No. 8 Jenny Martin

No. 53 CarolG

No. 56 Dreja

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 Sunday November 30th 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.

 

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - October Challenge

Hello and welcome to the October Edition of Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge taking place right here on my blog. I'm so glad you stopped by and hope you'll share something too. There were some wonderful entries last month, thank you all so much for joining in. As always my top picks with a twist are 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 linky tool is at the end of this post.

Here is what I made:

I made a CAS style card using Tracy Evans Boutique Designs Numerical Cats along with some leaves from the Tracy Evans set Silhouettes. Available from Simon Says Stamp and Topflight Stamps in the US or directly from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs in the UK.

I made a mask using a circle die cut and my big shot machine then inked the circle using Antique Linen, Carved Pumpkin and Aged Mahogany Distress inks/Oxides. A torn paper mask was used to add some "hills" in the background. Then I stamped the cat using Versafine Onyx ink. The leaves were inked using Carved Pumpkin and Aged Mahogany ink. Birthday sentiment is from a SU set I found at a thrift store, it's probably retired. "Meow" is part of the same Tracy Evans set. I layered this onto matching papers by Stampin Up. 

>>>>>>>>>Click here to shop all kinds of cat stamps at Scrapbook.com/Ad 

(PS: Take an extra10% off with coupon code for World Card Making Day - ends soon!!)

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 with these challenges:

• 613 Avenue Create - Lots of leaves
• Addicted to CAS - Code word: Leaves
• A Place To Start - Leaves and Circles
• Double D - Mood Board (below)
• Dream Valley Challenges - Autumn Colors
• Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Animals

Top Picks with a Twist:

Now it's time to announce the Top Picks with a twist. Thank you all again for joining in, it was so great to see your posts! 

The twist from the September entries is: Beautiful Blossoms, meaning each one of my top picks features flowers.

No. 43 Irene M.

No. 51 Yvette

No. 56 Maria

Congratulations to each one of you on 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 October 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.

World Cardmaking Day Sale Going On Now!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - September Challenge

Hello and welcome to the September 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 some wonderful entries last month, a little slower than usual but still lots of beauties thank you all so much for sharing! My "Top Picks with a Twist" are at the end of this 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 linky tool is at the end of this post.

Here is what I came up with this month using a cute cat image in remembrance of my dear ginger cat Thomas.

On September 1st was Ginger Cat Appreciation Day and I miss my dear handsome cat Thomas so much. I had to say my final goodbye to him on August 17th. When we adopted him in September of 2010 I had no idea that losing him would be this hard and these almost 15 years of having him flew by so fast. He had a fun and adventurous life, always up to something and he knew how to keep us entertained! What a special kitty he was, my constant companion inside the house and out in the garden. My heart is still broken but I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories he left me with. 

So for today's card I decided to ink up this new to me stamp from Colorado Craft Company - No Peeking. It's a small set including this cute kitty along with some sentiments suitable for Christmas as well as other occasions. There is also a steel die available to match this stamp but I think it would be easy enough to fussy cut so I don't have the die.

After stamping and coloring the image (I used Memento ink and Copic markers on Xpress it blending card), I cut out the image using Penny Black's Postal die set. Then I used a thin washi tape to mask off the edges and used Tumbled Glass Distress ink for some color around the image. The patterned paper I recently won from Diana's challenge at DL.Art. 

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!

The sentiment is part of the same stamp set and I added the tiny hearts made with an Avery Elle die set which unfortunately seems to be retired so I don't have a link to share.

>>>>>>>>>>Click Here for More Stamps by Colorado Craft Company/Ad

I plan to link up with:

• A Cut Above - Die Cut Challenge Blog - Die Cuts
• A Perfect Time To Craft - AG
• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Cut It Up - At Least One Die Cut
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Neglected Stuff Challenge - My neglected stuff are those tiny heart dies
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp It
• Talk About It Tuesdays - AG

Top Picks with a Twist:

Now it's time to announce the Top Picks with a twist. Thank you all again for joining in, it was so great to see your posts! 

The twist from the August entries is: More than one fold. 

No. 11 Carrie Sheridan

No. 37 GerJanne 

No. 39 Silke

How amazing are these!!!

Congratulations to each one of you on 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 Sunday of September to join in (September 28th). 

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. 

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. 

Related Products:

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!

>>>>>>>>>>>Customer Appreciation Sale at Scrapbook.com/Ad

Take 12% off your order with Code!

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.