Allsorts Challenge 543: Make Your Own Background

This is not a sponsored post, however it includes some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no cost to you! Thank you so much for your support! 

Good morning! It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, this week Lynn is hosting and her theme for this week is: Make Your Own Background - No Designer Papers! Hope you can join us for a chance to win! We're having a great prize this week by Crafty Devils.

This card was super simple to make and can be recreated for any occasion. 

I used Penny Black's Hypnotic stencil and Distress Oxide inks in Blueprint Sketch, Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass on Bristol Vellum paper (not to be confused with the milky translucent vellum paper). Next I stamped the music notes border (retired stamp - similar, I'd also like this stamp set as an option),  using Tumbled Glass ink, added some ink around the edges and finally heat embossed the sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and ultra fine clear embossing powder. A few sticky rhinestones finish off this card. The sentiment is from a new to me Penny Black sentiment set (Eloquence) I recently got from Amazon.  I used heavy weight white cardstock by Recollections for the card base.



        >>>Michaels Sale Alert: Take 25% off your entire online order, or order online and pick up in store. This also applies to sales prices. Use code SPOOKY25W. Valid online through Saturday Oct. 26th.

Penny Black Hypnotic Stencil // Penny Black Eloquence // Music Sheet Background Stamp (Retired - Similar, also like this set as an option)  Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio, Blueprint Sketch // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Clear Embossing Powder // Sticky Rhinestones // Ranger Blending Tool // 110lb Heavy Weight White Card Stock // Bristol Vellum Paper

I'm also joining these great challenges:

Just Add Ink - Add a Technique (Stenciling) // Cardz 4 Galz - Something beginning with S - Stencil Design // Artistic Stampers - Music // Crafty Sentiment Designs - Use a Sentiment // Path of Positivity - Something Positive (opt. Courage)

STAMPlorations - Stencils // Inspire Me Monday 

 


Thank you so much for visiting!! Hope to see you over at the challenge blog!

Allsorts Challenge 538: From Boys to Men

I was made aware that I need to post this disclosure before any affiliate links vs. at the end of my posts, so in the future you will see this message first, in order to be in compliance with the regulations:

Please note: This post includes some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no cost to you! Thank you so much for your support!


Hello and welcome! I have a card to share today. A new theme started at Allsorts challenge. Tracy's turn this week and she picked the the theme of "From Boys to Men". Hope you can join us for your chance to win a great prize by by Craft Stash.

I took my inspiration from the tag featured on the backside of the Penny Black Tall Tree die package. I'm not sure if the artist creating that sample used the same inks as I did, but I used DistressOxide Inks in Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough and Blueprint Sketch applied with a mini ink blending tool. I spritzt some water onto the background with a paint brush for a fun reaction with the ink. I forgot to add a mask for the moon, so instead I added a die cut circle and then stamped the birds from the Hero Arts set Layering Sky and Sea in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. By the way, this stamp set is also available in a combination with dies, if you like matching dies with your stamps.

The trees from this beautiful die set were die cut using black card stock and my manual die cutting machine, then adhered to the card with scortape. I use black card stock for layering only, and the package I picked up from Joann's Craft Store works perfectly for this. I think it's a 80# layering weight. The white part was die cut with a die from Whimsy Stamps. I've had this die set for many years and it may be retired now, but there are plenty of Similar Options available. 

Tip: If you don't have a die cutting machine, you can also simply cut this shape out by hand. You just won't have the faux stitching but it's not needed. Plus you could always add some doodling around the edge for a fun effect in place of the faux stitching. 

Sale Ends 9/29

The Happy Birthday sentiment is part of the Penny Black Set Happy Critters. I thought the font worked well for a masculine card. It's been stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. The card base is a heavy weight white card stock.  

Penny Black Tall Trees Die Set // Hero Arts set Layering Sand and Sea // Penny Black Happy Critters // Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Distress Oxide: Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, Blueprint Sketch // Mini Ink Blending Tool // Whimsy Stamps Stitched Border Die (retired) - Similar Options (I like this Hillside Borders Die Set) 

Related Products:

I'm sharing my card with these challenges:

Cut It Up - Into the Woods // Pattie's Creations - Things that Fly (the birds are stamped) // As You Like It Challenge - Favorite Style (I like CAS style because I like to keep the focus on one area of the card for an uncluttered look, plus CAS cards are always easier to mail) // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Use a Sentiment // Creative Moments - Masculine // Cardz 4 Guyz - Trees and/or Leaves // Everybody-Art-Challenge - Dies 

Anything Goes:

Crafty Catz // Creative Fingers // QKR Stampede // Simply Create Too // Crafting With An Attitude // Crafting By Designs // Crafty Creations // Simon Says Stamp  // Word Art Wednesdays // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Tuesday Throwdown // Get Creative Challenges  // Path of Positivity 

Thank you so much for stopping  by! Be sure to visit the Allsorts challenge team for some wonderful inspiration from the rest of the team.

Btw, you can also find me here:

Pinterest // Instagram // Facebook

I've linked the products used today to Amazon for those of you interested. These (and some of the links above) are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, but at no cost to you. As always thank you for your support.

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday: September Challenge

Hello and welcome to the September Crafty Wednesday Challenge right  here on my blog! I'm so happy you decided to check out this month's theme and hope you'll decide to join in! Be sure to scroll down to see if you were last month's winner or one of my top picks, and THANK YOU to those of you playing along last month. It was great visiting your blogs and seeing your gorgeous creations!

This Month's Theme

Something Beginning with "B" 

Lots of choices here...birds, bees, butterflies, baby, blue, boy, birthday, banner, border, binoculars, bicycle, barnyard and I am sure there are many more! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Be sure to let me know in your post what your "B" is especially if it's not too obvious.

I went with Blue, Birds and Beaks.

For my card I decided to ink up the Penny Black stamp The Sweetest Sound using Distress Markers, spritzed lightly with water then stamped on to Bristol Vellum Paper using my Tonic Stamp Platform. I used Distress Markers in Faded Jeans, Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive, Rusty Hinge and Worn Lipstick to color the image directly on the rubber. The card was then inked with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide, Wilted Violet Distress Oxide and Faded Jeans Distress Ink. (I don't have this color in the Oxide formulation, but luckily you can mix and match the formulations.)

Related Products:

Next I created some ink puddles by pressing Wilted Violet and Faded Jeans ink onto a clear stamping block, added water and with a paint brush I flicked each color onto the background for a fun effect. The Sentiment from the Penny Black set Happy Wishes was stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.

The music notes were stamped with Faded Jeans ink using and old rubber background stamp. This clear stamp by Echo Park is similar.  I only wanted a few parts of the music notes showing, and since it is an unmounted rubber stamp, I inked only a portion of it and was able to bend the stamp and sort of "roll" it onto the card where I wanted the music notes stamped. Finally I wiped the Wilted Violet inkpad across the edges for more depth before adhering to the white card base. 

Penny Black The Sweetest Sound // Penny Black Happy Wishes // Distress Markers // Distress Inks and Oxides: Faded Jeans, Wilted Violet, Bundled Sage // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Bristol Vellum Paper // Tonic Stamp Platform // Music Sheet Stamp - Similar Option

I'm linking up here:
 Create With Joy - Week 398 //

Below are the products I've used as found on Amazon for those of you interested. These and some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy something through the links, at no additional cost to you. As always, thanks so much for your support. 

This Month's Prize

For the ease of things I am continuing to offer the winner a $6 Gift Certificate to either Mo's Digital Pencil Shop, Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo. I am not affiliated with any of these companies and the prize will be supplied by me. 

Last Month's Winner

Chriss R. 

Congratulations Chriss! You won a digi gift certificate from either Mo's Digital Pencil, Tiddly Inks or Buggaboo Stamps. Please message me with your choice by September 18th at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com to claim your prize. 

Now onto my top picks, there weren't too many entries but surely some beauties and it's never easy to select just three. But I did manage and here they are in order of entry:

No. 6 Vicky

No. 10 Jan R

No. 21 Nana Connie

Congrats to all of you, your top pick logo is below. Feel free to post it to your own blogs!

To be in compliance with GDPR no links have been posted, but you can take a look at these wonderful entries HERE in last month's linky. 

To play along in the September challenge simply use the linky tool below. The usual rules apply:

• Enter up to 3 times with a new project.
• You may combine with any other challenges.
• You may use any brand of stamps/digis (no company restriction).
• Be sure to add a link back here to my blog.

Allsorts Challenge 522/523: Sun, Moon and/or Stars or Something for Baby

It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and this time it's my turn to host :-) Hope you will join in. I picked the theme of Sun, Moon and/ or Stars, or  Something for Baby.  So many baby stamps with moons and stars out there too, maybe you can even combine the themes :-) We're giving away a crafting CD rom with Holly Pond Hill images. Hope you can join us. The challenge runs for two weeks so you will have plenty of time.

It's been a long time since I last used this cute stamp by Penny Black - Cat on the Moon. Isn't this kitty adorable!! This is an older wood mounted stamp but I did find it still available at Joann's Crafts and Fabrics online shop.


Related Products:

My card was quick to make. I simply inked the background using Distress Oxides (Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet). It's hard to see but I used Stamper's Anonymous Speckles stencil on the background and a wet ink applicator which took off some of the color. Household bleach might have been a better option but I didn't have any in my craft room and didn't want to go clear to the basement to get it :-)

The cat has been stamped twice, once on this inked card stock and again on a scrap piece of Bristol Vellum card stock and heat embossed so I could watercolor. I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens for coloring.  It's been then fussy cut and adhered to the card with dimensionals. I really hadn't planned on adding the pattern paper but I accidentally trimmed too much off of the image panel and I wanted to make an A2 sized card, so I decided to add a polka dotted frame. This is from a sticky back paper pack but I have no idea what the brand is. Stamping was all done with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink. I used a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush to add sparkles to the moon and stars.

Penny Black Cat on the Moon // Penny Black So Very Much // Distress Oxides: Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch // Faded Jeans // Wilted Violet // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Stampers Anonymous Speckles Stencil // Bristol Vellum Paper // Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush

I'm sharing with these challenges:

 Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // TIME OUT Challenges - Relaxation (stargazing) // Brown Sugar - Anything Goes // Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes // Send a Smile for Kids - Anything Goes for Kids //  Dare 2B Artzy Challenges - Anything Goes // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Animals and Sentiment // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Critters // Artistic Stampers  - Use Rubber Stamps // Crafty Animals - Animals // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Paper // 

Thank you so much for visiting!! 

Some affiliate links were used in this post, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - August Challenge

Hello and welcome! It's a new month and that means time for a new theme for my Crafty Wednesday challenge. It looks like many of you enjoyed my June and July themes which I ran for both months to make it easier while I was on vacation. Be sure to scroll down to see if you were one of the two winners or a top pick.

As always, to share your creation simply scroll down, and remember to follow one of the challenge themes.

This month's themes: 

Sunshine, Sunflowers or Add Something Yellow

I've used a lot of yellow on my card, you don't have to do that, as long as the yellow you added is visible somewhere without having to enlarge the card :)

The butterfly I used is from the Penny Black set Butterfly Garden and I paired it with a sentiment from the Penny Black sentiment set Snippets, both stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

Related Products:

I started out by adding a moon (or sun) mask then inked the background with Mustard Seed, Wild Honey  and a little bit of Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink along the edges before distressing. The circles were done with the Circle Explosion stencil the TCW, again with Mustard Seed Distress ink. I stamped and heat embossed the butterfly a second time on a separate paper scrap then colored with distress ink and a waterbrush. 

Penny Black Butterfly Garden // Penny Black Snippets // TCW Circle Explosion Stencil // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Mustard Stain Distress Ink // Bristol Vellum Paper // Zig Detailer Watercolor Brush // Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush // Clear Button and Cotton Twine from Stampin Up

Challenges entered:

Stamping Sensations  - Things with Wings // Stinkin' Inkers - Summer Related (the butterfly and the color yellow) // CAS on Friday - Use a Stencil // Brown Sugar - Anything Goes // Just Add Ink - Just add "C" (circles ) // Crafty Calendar - Anything Goes // Crafty Friends Challenge - Summer Colors // Just Us Girls - Summer // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // Dare 2B Artsy - Anything Goes // 

This Month's Prize

This month one winner will receive a $6 Gift Certificate to either Mo's Digital Pencil Shop, Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo. I am not affiliated with any of these companies and the prize will be supplied by me.

June/July Winners and Top Picks

Last challenge ran for two months and therefore I am selecting 2 winners.

Misplaced Mojo

Treebug

Congratulations to both of you. You each will receive a $6 Gift Certificate to either Mo's Digital Pencil, Bugaboo Stamps or Tiddly Inks. Please email me at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com by August 21st with your choice of company. 

There were so many fabulous summer themed entries over the last two months so instead of 3 top picks I have selected 6. They are posted in order of entry.

No. 23 Paper Whims
No. 57 Carole J.
No. 92 Rosina
No. 108 Gloria Shirr
137 Lovely Linda
No. 141 Nick

Congrats to all of you, your top pick logo is below. Feel free to post it to your own blogs!

To be in compliance with GDPR no links have been posted, but you can take a look at all these lovely entries HERE in last month's linky. 

To play along in the August challenge simply use the linky tool below. The usual rules apply:

• Enter up to 3 times with a new project.
• You may combine with any other challenges.
• You may use any brand of stamps/digis (no company restriction).
• Be sure to add a link back here to my blog.

Hope to see you joining in :) This challenge runs until August 31st 11:59 pm CST.

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 525: Soft Pastels

Hello and welcome! This is a scheduled post and hopefully blogger will behave as expected. I'm spending some time with family from overseas and will be taking a little break from blogging and cardmaking, so anything from now on and into July will be scheduled. 

It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, Helene is hosting this week with the theme of  Soft Pastels. A wonderful prize of crafty goodies is up for grabs so hope you can join us!

Just so you know, what appears black in the photo is actually a Distress Oxide gray ink and is much softer in real life. Whenever I upload my photos I use photoscape to crop and edit and it shows up  a little bit darker in the photo.

Related Products:

The Carousel Horse is a wood mounted stamp by Inkadinkado.

The background was done with Distress Oxide Inks - wish I remembered exactly which colors I used, but when I made this card I made several cards at once and didn't keep track of the inks. The pink is for sure Abandanod Coral, stencilled clock was done with Blueprint Sketch and the image and sentiment were stamped with Hickory Smoke ink. The light bluegreen could be Cracked Pistachio but I am not 100% sure. Whimsy Stamps retired background words from the set Basic Background and Borders were stamped with Victorian Velvet ink, I believe. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Happy Wishes. The lacy half circle on the top right corner is a stamp from the retired set Kindness Matters by Stampin Up.

Edges were distressed before adhering to the white card base.

Inkadinkado Carousel Horse // Penny Black Happy Wishes // Distress Oxide Inks // Clock Stencil

Whimsy Stamps Background and Borders - Retired // Stampin Up Kindness Matters - Retired

Thank you so much for visiting! 

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

More Blossoms and Bugs for Penny Black and More June Challenge

Happy Tuesday! It's time for our midmonth reminder post at Penny Black and More challenge, our theme is "Blossoms, Butterflies and/or Bugs". Still some time left to join us if you haven't already and as always you may enter up to 3 times for more chances to win! We do have several fantastic prizes this month, so hope you will join us!

Penny Black Butterfly Suite // Distress Oxide Inks // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // TCW Circle Explosion Stencil // Stampin Up Sentiment - Retired // Craft Mat - Similar

 This was a really quick card to make. I had the blue Distress Oxide inked background left over from a previous project. Here I simply added some stenciling using TCW Circle Explosion Stencil with yellow distress ink and stamped the Butterfly Suite image onto the background using Versafine Clair Nocturne. The sentiment is from an old and retired stamp set by Stampin Up, unfortunately I separated it from the main set and no longer remember which set it came from. 

Butterflies which are part of the stamp Butterfly Suite were stamped again and fussy cut, then added to the card with mini brads. Inked the edges and adhered to a white card base.


Thanks so much for visiting! Be sure so check out the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team is sharing today!

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 523: Fantasy World

This week at Allsorts challenge it's my turn to host and I picked the theme of "Fantasy World". I'd love for you to join us .... we have a beautiful stamp set from Crafty Devils to give away this week.

I knew I wanted to use Lavinia stamps for my "Fantasy" card. It's never easy for me to decide what colors to choose but I decided to go with some purples, orange, pink and blue Distress Inks/Oxides and randomly inked up the background with an ink blending tool. I used a circle die cut to mask the moon. The florals on the background were done with Penny Black sets Sprigs and Butterfly Garden. Stamped words are from a retired set by Whimsy Stamps and I used one of Tim Holtz's stencil to add a design to the background. The mushrooms and fairies from Lavinia stamps were stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturn ink. Sentiment is from the Penny Black set Snippets. 

Related Products:

I used a glitter pen to add some sparkles to the fairy wings and flower.

Lavinia Stamps // Penny Black Snippets // Penny Black Sprigs // Penny Black Butterfly Garden // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Distress Inks: Seedless Preserves // Victorian Velvet // Spiced Marmalade // Blueprint Sketch // Ink Blending Tool // Tonic Stamp Platform // Tim Holtz Stencil // Stampin Up White Craft Ink 

I'm sharing with these challenges:

Lavinia World Challenges - Stamping // Double Trouble - Stencil // Shopping Our Stash - Stencils (13) // Stinkin' Inkers - Colorful World // Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes // The Fairy and the Unicorn - Magical // Stamping Sensations - Show your True Colors //  House That Stamps Built - Things with Wings // Moo-Mania & More - Wings // A Place To Start - Stencils //

Thanks so much for visiting! Hope you have a great weekend filled with lots of sunshine! 

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Allsorts Challenge 518: Pretty In Pink

It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, Tracy is our host and she would like to see "Pretty in Pink". We have a wonderful prize by Buddly Crafts and hope you can join us for your chance to win!

Should be an easy theme, unless you're ending up with some difficulties like I did, but in the end it all worked out and I am sharing two cards today, even though my second one is where I had the trouble and ended up not really working for our theme. Thought I'd share it anyway.

The inky background was done with Distress Oxides and Inks, Cracked Pistachio and a little bit of Tumbled Glass with Spun Sugar Distress ink.

I stamped the orchid from the Penny Black set  Happy Together using Versafine Clair Nocturne  ink and colored it with my Zig Clean Color markers. Using the Penny Black stencil Oscillations (which includes 3 different stencil designs) and Spun Sugar distress ink I added a little more pink to the background  and wiped the ink pad across the distressed edges. No, I didn't get out my sewing machine (sad to say since I re-organized my stamp room I don't have a designated spot for it and haven't used it in a long time). Instead I used one of the stamps from Whimsy Stamps In Stitches stamp set, I was lucky enough to purchase this at a great price when Whimsy Stamps was clearancing it out a few month ago. Unfortunately the set is no longer available, but there are similar sets available here.  I used a clear Wink of Stella brush on the blossoms for some sparkle. The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Sprinkles and Smiles. 

Related Products:

Penny Black Happy Together // Penny Black Sprinkles and Smiles // Whimsy Stamps In Stitches - retired - Similar Options  // Penny Black Oscillations Stencil // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool // Zig Clean Color Markers // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Tonic Stamp Platform // Wink of Stella Glitter

Below is the card I initially had in mind for the challenge -  I wanted to heat emboss everything in white and use Loll's Splash Watercolor technique for the background with some pretty shades of pink and lilac and a little bit of a muted green.

Penny Black Happy Together // Stampin Up Sentiment - Retired // Versamark Ink // White Embossing Powder // Picked Raspberry Distress Ink //  Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Shaded Lilac Distress Ink // Bundled Sage Distress Oxide Ink // Zig Detailer Waterbrush // Bristol Vellum Paper // Post-It Notes // Cutterbee Scissors // Craft Mat - Similar 

The green and lilac turned out fine, but the Picked Raspberry ink (although not quite as purple as it appears in the photo) was more of a fuchsia color, not a pretty pink as I had hoped for. And the Spun Sugar ink I also used is pretty much invisible. I also wasn't happy with the white embossing. Another mistake that happend here was the post it note I used for masking stained my image pink (I really need to get some white post it notes!)  I didn't want to completely waste the card so I finished it by coloring the blossoms with  Shaded Lilac  ink and the leaves with Bundled Sage  ink. Of course I could not remove the pink stains caused by the post it note. I framed with some lilac card stock and then mounted onto white card base. The white embossed sentiment is one of my old favorites from a retired Stampin Up set (I think it's called Beautiful Beach). 

Sharing with these challenges:

Dream Valley Challenges - Pink Birthdays // Retro Rubber Challenge - Anything Goes with Stamps older than one year (this set was released a couple of years ago) Simon Says Wednesday - Happy Birthday // Moving along with the Times - Floral // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes // International Art & Soul - Birthdays // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Creative Fingers - Anything Goes // Pattie's Creations  - Flowers 

Mark your calendars: On May 18th Allsorts challenge is celebrating 10 wonderful years of challenges and we're having a special prize that week (which will actually run as a 2-week challenge). Brenda created this wonderful logo, you can post it to your side bars if you like a little reminder :)

This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links, at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!