Sun, Sea and Sand

Hello and welcome! Happy July!

I wish I could tell you I am currently enjoying a beach getaway with sun, sea and sand, but that is not so and I am just here inviting you to our new summer themed Allsorts challenge :-)

It's Lynn's week to host and she picked the theme of "Sun, Sea and/or Sand"! 

Some time ago I was the lucky winner of a challenge where I won a gift certificate to Bugaboo stamps, and this cute digi was one of the images I selected. I just love all the summer themed images on this collage digi and thought it was so perfect for Lynn's theme this week!

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

Since there is so much detail on this image I wanted to keep it simple otherwise, so after coloring (which did take quite some time), all I did was adhere to a card front, then repeatedly stamped "you make me smile" from Penny Black's set Snippets all around the card. The small heart is part of a Hero Arts set which included several stamps to be used on the back of cards, but it was a limited edition set and no longer available.

I did print the image twice and parts of the image were fussy cut and adhered with foam tape. 

I used my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for coloring which I my personal favorite brand of colored pencils. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Ad: Christmas in July  at Scrapbook.com!

I'm linking up here:

Themes:

2 Sisters On The Blog - Vacation // Clever Dexter Challenge - Hello Summer // Do-Al(l) Kreatives - Summer // The Crafting Challenge - Summertime // Craft Rocket Challenges - Summer // Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes // Colour Crazy Challenge - Coloring // Crafty Catz - Anything Goes // 

Always Anything Goes and Link Parties:

Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // 

Dare to Share //   Inspire Me Monday // Hello Monday // Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Shelbee on the Edge Spread the Kindness //  Effortlessly Sophisticated // Wonderful Wednesday // Welcome Wednesdays // Classy Flamingos // Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - March Challenge

Hello and happy March! 

Welcome to a new theme for my Crafty Wednesday challenge hosted right here on my blog! I'm so happy you decided to check it out and of course I'd love for you to join in too! You can find last month's top picks at the end of this post, there were so many gorgeous entries!! The linky tool is also at the end as well as a quick summary of the guidelines.

This Month's Theme:

I don't know about you, but I am soooo ready for spring color and spring flowers, so this month I picked the theme of ................................

Spring Colors.

As always, the theme is optional and you may share any of your handmade cards and crafts, and all entries will be considered for my top picks. 

This Month's Sample:

This pretty floral image is another one I had purchased from Power Poppy last year when they  had a sale. I have to admit, pansies might be one of the hardest flowers ever to color!! I really struggled with this image!

Once again, I used my   Faber Castell polychromos pencils on  Neenah 80b card stock. I printed the image twice so I could fussy cut the pansies and adhere them with  foam tape. I used a scallop circle Nestabilities die to cut out the image and then inked the edges using Spun Sugar Distress ink. 

The patterned papers are from my stash and the label sentiments from My Favorite Things. It's a retired set but this set from Altenew would make a good alternative.

Related Products:

I used  Versafine Onyx ink to stamp the label sentiments.

Power Poppy Digital Image // MFT Sentiment (old - options) // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Versafine Onyx Ink // Faber Castell polychromos pencils //  foam tape // Nestabilities Dies // Cutterbee Scissors // Neenah 80b // Patterned Papers from Stash

Related Products:

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

Recent Posts you may have missed:

• Roses and Cheesecloth for a Feminine Birthday Card
• A Baby Card for Twins with a Button and Lace
• A Masculine Birthday Card with Safari Animals

I'm linking up here:

Anything Goes:

Curated by Jennifer // Crafty Sentiment Designs // Digi Choosday Challenge // Lemon Shortbread  // Crafting Happiness Challenges // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // The Corrosive Challenges // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge // Crafts Galore Encore // Createful Heart Digis & Design Challenges // LeAnn’s World 101 // Love to Craft // The Creative Crafters // Crafty Creations // 

Themes:

Everybody-Art-Challenge - Birthday // Unicorn Challenge - Feminine // AAA Birthday - Patterned Papers // Dream Valley Challenges - Hand Colored Image // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned Papers // Crafty Friends Challenge - Birthdays // Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog - Beginning with F (Flowers) // Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Use a Digi // Simon Says Stamp - Beautiful Blossoms // 

Last Month's Top Picks:

I will continue to add my favorites to the dedicated Pinterest board, but going forward I will once again showcase the top pick's creations with links to their individual blogs, which will be removed at the start of each new month's challenge to remain in compliance with GDPR.

Choosing favorites is never easy but something that needs to be done and here are my top picks in the order of entry.

 

No. 22 Maryann Scrap

No. 52 Maria

No. 58 Sheryl Hare 

Congratulations! Your top pick logo is below. Feel free to post it to your own blogs if you like to!

To play along this month simply use the linky tool below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A few things to remember:

• You may follow the theme or anything crafty goes.

• Backlinking is allowed.

• You may combine with any other challenges.
• You may use any brand of stamps/digis/products (no company restriction).
• No more than 3 entries per person please - no worries if you end up with more.
• Please do include a link back here to my blog in your blog post.

Note: Top picks will be selected from the entries shared with the linky tool. The top pick's creations will be displayed the following month along with their blog links until the start of a new challenge. If you do not want to be featured, please do not use the linky tool.

Roses and Cheesecloth for a Feminine Birthday Card

Hello and welcome! 

It's time already for a new theme at Allsorts challenge. I'm hosting this week with the theme of "Feminine". There are two great prizes to give away this week - we have a beautiful Tonic header die as well as an inspirational sentiment stamp set.

I'm currently loving the pretty color "blush" and was inspired by a strip of patterned paper on my desk from last week's card. Yes, I'm often guilty of not cleaning up my craft desk after finishing up a card. And I can't tell you how much I hate setting foot into my craft room to make a new card only to discover I have to clean up first!! I'm blaming it  on my craft room being upstairs and not in the main living area and whenever I make a card I take forever. Meaning by the time it's done I need to get to something more important than cleaning up my desk.

But in this case I'm happy for the inspiration I found from the patterned paper and I really like how this card turned out.

Some affiliate links may be used in this post. This means I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you! Thanks so much for supporting this blog!

The image is a digital stamp from Power Poppy I purchased sometime last year when they had a sale. 

I printed the image twice (to use one of the roses a second time) on Neenah 80b card stock and colored with my Faber Castell polychromos pencils. I have the complete set of 120 pencils and there are many blush tone pencils in this set so it was perfect. If you look closely you may see some sparkle on the roses - I used a clear Wink of Stella brush for this.

I really wanted to use a cheesecloth textured stencil, but don't have one (on my wish list), instead I dug out a package of cheesecloth I had stashed away and cut a small piece to add behind the mug using a couple of glue dots. I'm pretty sure I purchased this cheesecloth in the crafting department and not a kitchen supply store, but traditional cheesecloth would give you the same effect. 

Next I adhered the strip of patterned paper and the image which I had fussy cut using my Cutterbee scissors. Foam tape was used to adhere the image. 

The french script is an oldie but goodie by Stampin up and I used a tile textured stencil here and there with Pumice Stone Distress ink. 

Related Products:

The large sentiment is from Penny Black's set Sprinkles and Smiles, stamped with Versafine Onyx ink, and the small "happy birthday" from the set Snippets also by Penny Black. This one I heat embossed in white on black card stock using Versamark ink and ultra fine embossing powder in white. 

Before adhering the card to the white card base I inked the edges using Tattered Rose distress ink.

Power Poppy Image // Penny Black Sprinkles and Smiles // Penny Black Snippets // Cutterbee Scissors // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Neenah 80b card stock // Foam tape // TCW Tile Stencil 6x6 // 

Pumice Stone Distress Ink // Tattered Rose Distress Ink // Versafine Onyx Ink // Versamark Ink // Detail White Embossing Powder

Related Products:

Recent posts you may have missed:

• A Baby Card for Twins
• A Masculine Birthday Card with Safari Animals
• Project 333 and a Pink Sweater for Valentines Day

I'm linking up here:

Anything Goes:

Inspire me Mondays // Spread the Kindness // Curated by Jennifer // Encouraging Hearts and Home //  Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // Simon Says Stamp // Sisterhood of Crafters // Crafty Sentiment Designs // Digi Choosday Challenge // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // The Creative Crafters // A Gem of a Challenge // Crafter's Castle // Crafty Catz // Creative Fingers // 

Themes

As You Like It Challenge - Fav. Reason to send a card (Birthdays - they are my favorites to make :) // Cardz 4 Galz - For a special lady (my dear sister) // Cute Card Thursday - Feminine // Krafty Chicks - Occasions // TIME OUT Challenges - Birthday // Everybody-Art-Challenge - Birthday // Let's Craft & Create Challenge - Red, Pink or White // Crazy 4 Challenges - Flowers // 

A Christmas Wreath for Allsorts Challenge

Good morning! It's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge, luckily everything seemed to work out ok with my card upload last week at the challenge blog and hopefully it'll continue that way.

This week it's Wendy's turn to host and she chose the theme of "Got to be Christmas". Everyone is welcome to join in and be in the drawing for a cute stamp set by Woodware. Just be sure to follow our simple rules which you can find on the challenge blog.

Please note, some of the links included are 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! Thanks so much for supporting this blog!

I had started coloring up this image a few weeks ago but never finished the card and decided it was perfect for this challenge. This is an old stamp by PSX. No longer in production but you may find it on eBay or Etsy. I stamped with Versafine Onyx ink and colored with my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. On the background I used the background stamp Christmas Story by Penny Black with Antique Linen Distress ink. The edges were sponged and distressed for some added interest.

The sentiment is from the Penny Black set Brush Pines stamped with Walnut Stain Distress ink. Gingham paper is from my stash, it's really old from my early days of paper crafting but in perfectly good condition. On the left side I used some chocolate chip card stock from Stampin Up.    

Jute twine is by May Arts, I added it along with an eyelet which I set with my crop-a-dile tool. I don't use eyelets often but still have a ton from when they used to be popular and they do add an interesting detail. 

Thanks so much for visiting today! 

I'm linking up here:

Colour Crazy Challenge - Anything Colored // Creative Fingers - Anything Goes // Winter Wonderland - Christmas // Crimbo Crackers - Christmas // Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes // The Paper Funday - Christmas // Lemon Shortbread - Anything Goes // A Place To Start - vintage // Make My Monday - Christmas // Use Your Stuff - Winter or Christmas // International Art & Soul - Add a Bow // We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge - Anything Goes //

Link Parties:

Sunday Showcase with Ada and Mireille // Inspire Me Monday // Hello Monday // Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Little Cottage Linkup // Love your Creativity Link Party // Hearth and Soul (starts Monday night) // Shelbee On the Edge Spread the Kindness // Jenerally Informed Happy Now Blog Link // Tuesday with a Twist @Stonecottage Adventures // Randomosity - Good Random - Fun // The Happy Now // Tuesday Turn About // Effortlessly Sophisticated // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Welcome Wednesdays // What's Up Wednesday? // Little Things Thursday // Thursday Favorite Things // Traffic Jam Weekend //@Being a Wordsmith Slices of Life (Encouraging Hearts and Home) // A Morning Cup of Joe // Fridays at the Fire Station // Shelbee on the Edge // A Little Bit of Everything // Dare to Share /

 

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - December Challenge

Hello and  welcome to the December Crafty Wednesday challenge right here on my blog! I'm so glad you decided to stop by and hope you'll join in too! Many thanks to everyone who shared in last month's challenge. There were some wonderful entries so be sure to scroll down to see if you were one of my top picks! 

This Month's Theme

December is a busy month for everyone, so I am making it easy and it's simply ..............

Anything Goes!

Remember, this is open to any type of crafts and everyone is invited to join in as long as it's handmade and family friendly! I can't wait to see what you'll share this month! 

Please note: 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. Thanks so much for supporting this blog.

Here is what I made: A Christmas card using red, kraft and black with an old Santa image. 

I used another stamp from an old stamp set by Craft UK (sorry, no link, it's a really old set, I purchased it from eBay years ago). This stamp also included a Christmas tree but I decided to fussy cut Santa and his penguin friend without the tree.

To start, I first stamped the branches in the background (Penny Black Winter Ledge) then layered some torn white card stock for snow. The image has been stamped on separate card stock using Versafine Onyx ink and colored with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, then fussy cut.

Related Products:

Wink of Stella glitter was added to the fur trims and snow for a little bit of sparkle. The jute twine is from May Arts and the sentiment from Penny Black's set Holiday Snippets. I thought the card needed a little something more so I cut a strip of patterned paper and white card stock to add under the sentiment. 

Stamps: Craft UK set (retired), Penny Black Winter's Ledge, Penny Black Snippets

Inks: Versafine Onyx

Tools: Faber Castell Polychromos, Cutterbee Scissors, Stamp Platform (options)

Embellishments: May Arts Jute Twine, Wink of Stella

Papers: Neenah (white), Stampin Up (dark red), Hero Arts (kraft)

I'm linking up with these challenges: 

Crafty Sentiment Designs - Sentiment // Everybody-Art-Challenge - Black, Red plus one other color (Kraft) // Ike's World - Christmas // Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes // Christmas with the Cuties - Feature a Creature // Double Trouble Challenges - Create Something New and include snow // 2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes // A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes // A Perfect Time To Craft - Anything Goes // Craft-Dee BowZ - Add a Bow // Crafts Galore Encore - Anything Goes // Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Patterned Papers // Creative Craft Cottage Challenges - Christmas // DL.Art Linky Challenge - Anything Goes // LeAnn’s World 101 - Anything Goes // Love to Craft - Anything Goes // Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - Christmas // Not Just Cards - Anything Goes // A Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes // Crafter's Castle - Anything Goes // Sweet Stampin - Spots // Crafty Catz - Anything Goes // Just Add Ink - Just Add "S" (Santa, Snow) // Pattie's Creations - Anything Goes // Cardz 4 Galz - Cute Christmas // C.R.A.F.T. - Christmas // Crimbo Crackers - Christmas // Krafty Chicks - All Occasions // 

Last Month's Top Picks

Thank you all for joining in and sharing your wonderful creations! It's always so hard to select favorites but it's something that needs to be done and here they are in order of entry. 

No. 21 Jenny Martin

No. 40 - Kuni

No. 51 - Carole J.

As always, in order to be in compliance with GDPR I am not able to post links, but I recently decided to create a Pinterest Board where my Top Picks of the month will be pinned with links back to each Top Pick's blogs.

You can see their wonderful creations HERE.

Congratulations! Your Top Pick logo is below, feel free to post it to your own blogs!

To play along this month simply use the linky tool below.

A few things to remember:

• Link up to 3 different entries.

• Backlinking is allowed.
• You may combine with any other challenges.
• You may use any brand of stamps/digis (no company restriction).
• Please do include a link back here to my blog in your blog post.

You may also like:

  

Stamp Something with Christmas Colors  //  Holiday Gift Ideas for Teenagers

Acorns and Autumn Leaves

I recently made this fall themed "thinking of you" card for a friend and thought I'd better share it before  the winter season is here. I used a stamp from Penny Black with some pencil coloring and a sentiment from Whimsy Stamps.

Please note: some affiliate links are used in this post, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always this is at not extra cost to you.

The image from the Penny Black set Grateful has been stamped using Versafine Onyx ink and colored with my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. I used a this stripes stencil and distress ink (Shabby Shutters) to add stripes to the background. 

Add caption

Penny Black Grateful

The sentiment is from a retired set by Whimsy Stamps and no longer available. I received it as part of my design team products without packaging therefore I don't know the name of the set, but I think this set would be a good alternative. 

Add caption

Sentiment Option

The patterned paper is from my stash and I added some May Arts jute twine to finish off the card. This color is Parrot Green but I don't see it currently listed. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

I'm linking up here:

Lots of "Anything Goes"

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // We Love Chocolate Baroque Challenge // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge // Craft-Dee BowZ // Crafts Galore Encore // Happy Craft Challenge // LeAnn’s World 101 // QKR Stampede // Crafter's Castle // Crafty Calendar // Creative Moments

Themed Challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Papers // Sparkles Forum Challenges  - Stencils // The Crafting Challenge - Add a Sentiment // Penny Black Saturday Challenge  - PB Stamps // Cute Card Thursday - Sentimental //