Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - March Challenge

Hello and Welcome to Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday challenge!

It's a new month, that means time for a new theme and I hope you will join in this time!
It was great seeing so many of you playing along last month, seems like the "double theme" was popular and I might continue with two theme choices for a little while. After all, the challenges do run for a whole month so two themes to pick from would be nice! Be sure to scroll down to see if you were last month's prize winner or a top choice. And as always, the linky tool can be found at the end of this post.

This month's themes:

Think Spring or Add Some Green

(of course you may combine the two themes like I did!)

Penny Black Sweet Smiles // Versafine Clair Nocturn Ink // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Penny Black Flowing Butterfly Die // Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide, Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide // Ranger Ink Blending Tool // Martha Stewart Scor Board // Neenah White Card Stock // Bristol Vellum Paper

The image from the Penny Black set Sweet Smiles was stamped onto Bristol Vellum paper and I colored using my Faber Castell Polychromos. I trimmed the image panel to an about 3" square and layered over striped vellum paper from my stash. I did find the exact pack I have in an etsy shop, but the seller is located in Malaysia, so shipping might not be fast. Mine was a gift from a neighbor who was visiting Japan several years ago. The butterflies were done with Penny Black's Flowing Butterfly die, which is really 3 butterflies attached to each other but I cut it out twice and trimmed off the smaller one to use on my card. They were cut out of white card stock and I used distress oxide inks Tumbled Glass  and Blueprint Sketch to give them some color. Stickyback pearls were attached to their bodies. 

If you look really closely, then you will see that I used a scoring tool to add 5 scor lines behind the image panel for some interest. I used Martha Stewart Scoring Board.

The sentiment is part of the cute set, it's been stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink directly onto the Neenah heavy weight card base.

Challenges I am entering:

AAA - Sentiment plus 3 from wheel (I picked stamped image, coloring and a die cut)

Back to Basics - tic tac toe (Pearls, Flowers, Blue)

PINK	PEARLS	LACE
TAG	FLOWERS	CHARM
TWINE	BLUE	BUTTONS

CAS on Friday - Use Vellum (the striped paper is vellum paper with stripes.)

Crafty Calendar - For a Child

Crafty Friends Challenge - Gemstones or Pearls

Inkspirational - Use Your Stash 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes with PB/ option of CAS

Send a Smile for Kids - Anything for Kids

Ike's World - CAS

Unicorn Challenge - Spring

Crafty Cardmakers - Flowers

Anything Goes Themes:

Crafty Sentiment Designs // Lemon Shortbread // Get Creative Challenges // Path of Positivity 

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March Prize:

This month the winner gets the choice of a $6 Gift Certificate to either Tiddly Inks or Bugaboo Stamps, sponsored by me. The gift certificate will be purchased after winner has been selected and contacted me with the choice, then gift code will be emailed to the winner.

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February Winner and Top Picks

Nancy E.

Congratulations, Nancy! You are the February prize winner - please email me with your mailing address at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com by Wednesday March 19th.

Top picks are listed in the order of entry, and it was really hard to choose from so many wonderful creations!

 Due to GDPR regulations I am unfortunately unable to post links to the top picks and winner, and don't feel it's right for me to post other crafter's cards on my blog without properly linking to the original source, but their beautiful creations can still be seen at the February challenge linky tool. 

No. 17 - Sheryl Hare
No. 41 - Astrid
No. 55 - Treebug

Congratulations on being my top picks! Your top pick logo is below, feel free to post it to your own blogs if you like to!

The linky tool for the March challenge is below. As always feel free to combine with as many challenges as you like to, and you may share up to 3 creations per challenge.

Challenge themes: 
Think Spring or Add Some Green

Please remember: this is a public blog, meaning any papercraft you link up or any comments left on this blog will be visible and clickable by third parties. The blog owner is not responsible for republished content from this blog on other blogs or websites without permission. 

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!

Cowboy Adventures and New Hero Arts March Kit Release

Hello and happy Monday! I don't usually have three days of posts in a row, but last Friday I had some extra time and decided to make a card with the other stamp set I ordered from Hero Arts. Also, today Hero Arts is releasing their new monthly kit and you can see what it looks like at the end of this post.

I ordered this set (Cowboy Adventure) because I thought it would be great for masculine cards, and I really don't have many masculine stamps, although I do have a couple older single cowboy stamps, and this set is great for stamping scenes which I really want to get better at.

Hero Arts Cowboy Adventure

Distress Inks & Oxide: 

  Anique Linen // Victorian Velvet // Seedless Preserves // Faded Jeans // Bundled Sage // Vintage Photo  

Versafine Clair Ink Nocturne

Ranger Ink Blending Tool

Tonic Stamp Platform

I started out by covering the bottom 3rd of my card stockwith a post-it note, then using distress inks/oxides I inked up the rest of the card, starting with  Anique Linen ink, then Victorian Velvet ink. Next I started at the other end with Faded Jeans ink and following with Seedless Preserves ink until it met with the Victorian Velvet ink. I added more of the same colors over each color to blend. Next I removed the post it note and added Bundled Sage Oxide in to the bottom portion and used a torn post it note for some masking with more  bundled sage ink and an ink applicator tool. I decided everything was a little too bright, so I went over the whole card with Vintage Photo   distress ink and a blending tool, to deepen the colors. Next I stamped the plants, cowboy and dog and the horizontal line that is part of the set. The small dots you can see on parts of the image panel were done with Stampin Up's retired set Itty Bitty Backgrounds (can most likely be found on ebay). Sentiment is part of the set, stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink onto white card stock. I added some hemp twine and brad and layered the inked panel onto some pattern paper from my scraps.

The stamp set is also available as a combo with matching dies - Cowboy Adventures and Die Set, but I got the set without the dies.

Challenges I am sharing with:
The Male Room - Masculine
Make My Monday - something new (stamp set is brand new to me)
Alphabet Challenge - Twine
Brown Sugar - Transportation
Addicted to Stamps - Anything But a Square
Di's Digis Designs - Include an Animal
Crafteezee - Vintage
Crafty Animals - Animals
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern Papers
Mix It Up Challenge - Inked Backgrounds
Sparkles Forum Challenges - Animals
Crafting By Designs - Silhouettes

Anything Goes themes:
Simon Says Wednesday // Dare 2B Artzy Challenges // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // The Corrosive Challenges // We Love 2 Create // A Gem of a Challenge // Catch The Bug // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Crafts Galore Encore // Creatalicious Challenges // Happy Craft Challenge // Love to Craft // Not Just Cards // The Creative Crafters // Crafting-With-Friends // Creative Fingers // Crafting With An Attitude // Crafty Creations // Creative Moments // The Crafty Addicts // Word Art Wednesdays 

As I mentioned above, today Hero Arts is also releasing their March My Monthly Hero kit. I am a kit subscriber so my kit will be shipped automatically, but it can now also be ordered from the Hero Arts site.

Here is what this month's kit looks like:


The large aquarium die looks like so much fun! I might actually try making a shaker card with it (I've only made a couple of those, many many years ago following a technique challenge on splitcoast when I filled it with chunky glitter and the other one with sand.

You can purchase a kit here if you are interested. And remember, Hero Arts does ship free within the United States with a $50 or more order.
Some wonderful Add-ons  have been released as well, you can actually purchase all Add-ons (not including the kit) in a set at a reduced price of $215.00. (Not in my budget unfortunately!) But of course they can also be purchased separately here.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! Hope it's a great one. Super cold and windy here today but at least there is plenty 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. All products used in today's post have been purchased by me at full retail cost and all opinions are my own.

Penny Black and More - March Challenge

It's the first Sunday of the month and it is time for our March theme at Penny Black and More challenge! Our fun theme this month is "Going Round in Circles". Hope you can join us! You do have all month long to play along and remember you may enter up to 3 projects for more chances to win! 

Can you spot my circles?? I hope so, maybe I should have inked them up a bit. I wanted to do the spotlight technique for this card, and chose the stamp set "Sunny Wishes" by Penny Black along with a sentiment from the Penny Black set " Snippets". 

I stamped the image twice, the second time I used a couple of small circle dies to cut out parts of the image where I would add color. I didn't want to leave the rest of the image completely uncolored so decided to add some brown tones. I wish it was more of a lighter brown (or light sepia tone), but as I am teaching myself color combinations with my Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils, it turned out too dark. But I thought it was still nice, and it takes a long time to color, so there was no way I was going to throw away the card. 

I used Versafine Clair Nocturn ink to stamp both the image and sentiment. The strip paper strip is from my scraps and the brown card base is by Stampin Up. I embellished with natural jute twine by May Arts and a sticky pearl. Some Wink of Stella clear glitter was brushed over the spotlighted blossoms and butterflies.

Penny Black Sunny Wishes // Penny Black Snippets // Versafine Clair Nocturn Ink // Faber Castell Polychromos Pencils // Tonic Stamp Platform // May Arts Natural Jute Twine //
Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush

I am also joining these challenges:

Paper Minutes - Spring 

Mod Squad Challenge- Stripes

Simon Says Wednesday - Anything Goes

TIME OUT Challenges - Unique (I hope my card qualifies for this theme as it's not a technique I use often)

Alphabet Challenge - Y for Yarn, String or Twine (week1)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes with Penny Black

Inkspirational  - Use Your Stash
A Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goes
Catch The Bug - Anything Goes
Crafter's Castle - Anything Goes w/option of glitter
AAA - sentiment plus 3 from wheel below (I picked stamped image, colored pencils and circle die cuts).

Thanks so much for visiting and I hope to see your entry over at the challenge blog. This month we have prizes by Penny Black from their New Release and also a prize by Lost Coast Design, so plenty of reasons to play along!





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.

Allsorts 509: Seasons - What's Your Favorite?

Hello and welcome! Happy March!! It's almost time now for flowers to start peeking out of the ground! I am so ready!! But for now it's still too cold and we might be getting more snow later this coming week....

Today is the start of a new theme at Allsorts challenge, it's Tracy's turn to host and she picked the theme of "Four Seasons - What's Your Favorite?".

Not that I enjoy spring showers, but Spring is my favorite season, I love all the early spring flowers, my favorites being Daffodils and Snowdrops. Spring in Illinois doesn't seem to last very long, it turns into Summer quickly, so that is my second favorite season - love the longer days and all the Summer flowers but hate the mosquitos which unfortunately are always a big part of our Summers.

To make my card I used the newer stamp In Paris by Penny Back along with some Distress Oxides and inks.

I used Cracked Pistachio and Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide inks to created the inky background.  Using my stamp platform I next stamped the image  In Paris onto the inked background with Versafine Claire Nocturne ink. The sentiment is from the older Penny Black set Enjoy Life and I used the Classy Stripes stencil by Altenew to ink up a striped pattern with black ink. I finished off the card with a little prima flower and brad, matted onto some pattern papers from my stash and then onto a white Neenah 110 lb card base.

Oh, and the script I stamped in pink is Stampin Up's French Script. This background stamp is long retired but I've seen it on ebay.

Penny Black In Paris // Penny Black Enjoy Life (Sentiment) // Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide // Blueprint Sketch Distress Oxide // Spun Sugar Distress Ink // Versafine Claire Nocturne Ink // Altenew Stencil Classy Stripes // Stamp Platform // 

Paper Flower and Brad // Stampin Up French Script Background - retired

I am sharing my card with these challenges:

Paper Minutes - Weekly- Spring Signs

Little Red Wagon - Something You Love (I love this color combo and Paris Themes)

Mod Squad Challenge - Stripes

Always Fun Challenges - Travel

Addicted to Stamps - Anything But a Square

Inkspirational  - Use Your Stash (old Designer Paper, Old Background Stamp, Old Paper Flower and Brad)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - use Penny Black stamps

and Anything Goes themes here:

Simon Says Wednesday 

Crafty Sentiment Designs 

Lemon Shortbread

Artistic Inspirations

Whoopsi Daisy Challenges 

This past Thursday I was excited to receive my Hero Arts order from their new catalog, I didn't place a big order just enough to earn free shipping, but I really wanted to get these seaside themed stamps and a super cute set with stamps for the back of cards. I added this cowboy set from an older release (which will come in handy for masculine cards) to reach the $50. Not that I didn't want to get more, but this already exceeded my crafting budget this month.

So I decided to make another card for the Allsorts challenge theme, this time it represents Summer, which I almost like as much as spring. 

I used two Hero Arts stamp sets to create this card. If the stamps look familiar to you, it's because they were part of the June 2018 monthly stamp kit, which was voted as #1 favorite past kit, so Hero Arts re-released the stamps with their catalog last month. (The kit itself had sold out very fast last June and I wasn't a subscriber back then so missed out on the complete kit). The waves and clouds are "2 and 3 -step" stamps, then there are some sentiments included and some silhouettes like this mermaid. And how cute are those sandy footprints??!!

Unfortunately the "Layering Waves" set is currently out of stock. The Layering Sea set is currently still available (as I type this), and this set includes the clouds, sea silhouette images including the cute footprints. I used distress inks Broken China and  Stormy Sky  to ink up the waves, then added a post it note over the waves and inked up the sky with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide. Next I stamped the rock using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink and the Mermaid and birds using Versafine Claire Nocturne Ink. The two step clouds were first stamped with Pumice Stone oxide ink then  Hickory Smoke oxide ink for the second layer. The bottom portion was inked with Pumice Stone ink and I stamped the sentiment which is part of the Layering Waves set and the footprints with Pumice Stone ink as well. The beach ball was stamped using Candied Apple Distress Oxide. (By the way, I wish I had all these inks in Distress Oxide formula, but didn't, so I had to use some regular distress inks (which are great inks for all things watercolor-y but not so great for solid stamping.) Versafine Clairs would have been a great option too, but only have one ink pad in black (nocturn) from the Versafine Clair line of stamps.)

I also ordered this cute set of Signature Greetings  for the back of the cards. It's only $7.99 and looks like it is back in stock now as I type this.

Hero Arts Layering Sea and Sky // Hero Arts Layering Waves // Hero Greetings (for back of card) //  Broken China Distress Ink // Stormy Sky Distress Ink // Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide // Pumice Stone Distress Oxide // Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide // Candied Apple Distress Oxide // Versafine Claire Nocturne Ink // Tonic Stamp Platform 

Sharing this card with these challenges:

Sisterhood of Crafters - 2nd/4th Wed., 3entries - Use Red (red beach ball)

Alphabet Challenge - Y is for Yarn,  String or Twine

Crafting By Designs - Silhouettes

Ike's World - B for Blue

Use Your Stuff - Do You Believe in Magic

Anything Goes themes here:

Crafting-With-Friends 

Crafty Catz 

Creative Fingers

QKR Stampede 

Crafting With An Attitude 

Crafty Creations 

Creative Moments

Word Art Wednesdays

The Crafty Addicts  

Through The Craft Room Door

Crafting from the Heart

Get Creative Challenges

Path of Positivity

The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge

Thanks so much for visiting today! Hope to see you over at Allsorts with your "4 Seasons - choose one" creation. We have a great prize to give away again (see photo below). 

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. All products used in today's post have been purchased by me at full retail cost and all opinions are my own.