Autumn Colors

Today is the start of a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Brenda is hosting. For her optional theme she selected "Autumn Colors". They are all around us here so a perfect time for the theme. I hope you'll join us! We have prizes from Stamp Addicts and Simon Says Stamp. 

Always a  hard decision on what stamps to use so I decided to ink up some newer Tracy Evans Boutique Design stamps for the first time - Seedheads. These are available directly from Tracy Evans shop or if you are in the US then you can get them at Simon Says Stamp. Besides Seeheads, I used a few additional stamps by Tracy Evans - Magnolia, On the Wild Side and Pinecone (retired from Aall and Create) on the background.

The inking on the background was done with Brushos before stamping. The seed pods were stamped again and fussy cut. I used a white gel pen for some highlights. "Autumn" is part of the Pinecone set. The image panel was distressed and glued onto rust red cardstock then onto kraft cardstock.  I used a harlequin stamp (very old from Stampin Up) on the top and bottom corner of the card front. Decided some gold spatter would be nice but my Posca pen went a bit wild with some huge spatters. Oh well... I need to accept that some things I cannot control!!

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:

• Ally's Angels - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - Autumn Splendor
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Craft Rocket Challenges - Autumn/Halloween
• Creatalicious Challenges - Fall Colors
• Creative Inspirations Challenge  - AG
• DL.ART Thankful Thursday   - AG
• Hand Stamped Sentiments - Inspiration Challenge (I took inspiration from the colors of the mood board- below)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - AG
• Neglected Stuff Challenge - It has been many years since I last used the Harlequin stamp)
• Paper Rock Scissors - I used papers for all layers and scissors for distressing and fussy cutting
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Fall
• Stamping Sensations - Autumn
• Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Stamp or Punch
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Try It On Tuesday - Autumn Colors
• We Love Stamping - Autumn

Lots of autumn themed challenges so I found plenty to join :)

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

 

I Spy With My Little Eye...........Something Spooky (Challenge No. 31)

Hello everyone and welcome to a new I spy with my little eye challenge taking place right here on my blog. Pauline and I are back with our new challenge and we hope you'll join in the fun! It's always so nice to visit your entries and seeing what you shared with the theme in mind. Be sure to scroll down to see who our Top Picks were from the last challenge.

This time it was Pauline's turn to select a theme and it is.........

I Spy With My Little Eye.........

Something Spooky

Spooky cards, treat bags for the neighbourhood trick-or-treaters, scrapbook pages or any other spooky crafts, but please nothing too creepy 😊 We still want to be able to sleep at night after visiting your blogs 😊😊 (We're ok with creepy spiders LOL)

And here is what we came up with this time to inspire you.

My Card (Ellie)

all details are right below the card.

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

This is about as spooky as it gets for me, this witch looks rather ugly and scary so I decided to paint her skin green like the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. I have never used this stamp before, it's from Northwoods Rubberstamps (not sure if they are still in business) but I was lucky to find it at a thrift store and thougth it was perfect for Halloween cards.

I heat embossed the image so I could work around it without the worry of smearing ink. I used Derwent Inktense pencils for coloring and Distress ink (Black Soot) to create the scene around it. My new "Hill House" stamp from Lavinia along with Lavinia's Large Path and Tree of Courage completed the scene. The sentiment I used was actually part of a Halloween designer paper page by Carta Bella I've had in my stash for some time. I thought it was the most perfect wording to coordinate with the image. The "batty" background paper is also by Carta Bella. 

This finished piece is larger than my usual cards measuring 8x6 inches so I might just put it in a frame and use as home decor during the spooky season.

I plan to share my card with these challenges:

• Alphabet Challenge - M for Mythical Characters
• Craft Rocket Challenges - Halloween
• Crafty Calendar - Halloween
• Di's Digis Designs - Spooky or Cute
• DL.ART Thankful Thursday - Not Too Spooky Halloween
• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Add Some Text
• Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers - S for Spooky
• Sweet Stampin - Inspired by Song or Film (The Wizard of Oz)
• The Crafting Challenge - Halloween
• Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge - Halloween
• Unicorn Challenge - Halloween

Pauline's Card

Such a magical and fun spooky scene framed so nicely! Please visit Pauline's blog to find out how she made this card.

Top Picks from Challenge No. 30

(and a return of the Guest Designer Invites)

Thank you all again for joining us in the last challenge of something CAS. As always selecting favorites is never easy and this time it was even harder than ususal so instead of a top 2 we have a top 3 (there was a tie!!)

No. 9 Carol (Pauline's Pick)

No. 12 Cindy Beach (Pauline's Pick)

No, 22 Chris (Ellie's Pick)

Congratulations to all three of you on your well deserved recognition!! Below is your top pick logo, you may place it on your own blogs if you like to :)

As mentioned above, we are bringing back the guest designer invites for our Top Picks if wanted and we would love to have you joining us.

 

If any of you are interested in joining us for the next challenge (starting November 19th) please message me (Ellie) at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com so I can tell you all about our upcoming theme. We completely understand that you may have other obligations so it is of course totally optional. 

To play along in the new challenge please use the linky tool below.

A few things to remember:

(Complete list of guidelines and copyright info can be found here.)

• You may share up to 5 different projects.
• You may combine with as many other challenges as you like to.
• A short mention of products used whenever possible is expected, especially the focal point.
• New: While you are free to link up your creations using pre-colored digital art (AI generated, digital pre-colored toppers/images, digital papers etc.), they will be excluded from top picks. 
• Please include a link back to this blog.
• Back-linking to a recent project is allowed.
• Linkup closes on Sunday, November 16th at 11:59pm CST

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. 

 

Green and Gold for Christmas

Hello everyone, it's the start of a new theme at Allsorts challenge today and Lynne is hosting this time. Her optional theme is "Traditional Christmas Colors" and of course the Anything Goes option is there too for those of you who prefer to go that route. We have a fabulous Tim Holtz Festive Foliage stamp set offered by Buddly Crafts along with a voucher for digital downloads from their store. Plus (brand new) starting with this challenge, the host will select a guest designer for a future challenge.

For my traditional Christmas Colors I went with Green and Gold.

The focal point is a beautiful die by Penny Black - Birds on a Wreath. UK friends can find it at Buddly Crafts. This wreath originally includes 2 birds but I had to cut one out as I messed up my background where I had to trim off more than I wanted and then the bird at the top didn't fit. I tried to add it somewhere else on the wreath but it looked cluttered so I left it off. 

The background was done with Pine Needles Distress Oxide ink using the smooshing technique. For the background stamp I used Penny Black's Christmas Story and the same ink. Before adhering the die cut I used a gold Posca pen for some spatter. Brushed Gold cardstock was used to cut out the focal point and the golden layer. Card base is SU cardstock. The color matched the Pine Needles ink beautifully but unfortunately I have no idea of the name of the SU color or it it's a retired color. It's been a few years since I purchased paper from Stampin Up. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>Click here for more Christmas themed dies by Penny Black/Ad

I thought about adding a little red for a full traditional Christmas color scheme but I liked the simplicity of just the two colors so left it at that. 

I plan to share with these challenges:

• Creative Inspirations Challenge - AG
• Die Cut Divas - AG
• Double Trouble Challenge - 3 of something, 2 of anything, 1 of everything (3 layers, 2 baubles, 1 bird)
• Krafty Chicks - AG
• Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog - AG
• Peace on Earth - Christmas
• Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB products (I used PB die and background stamp)
• The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up - Christmas
• The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Christmas
• The Paper Funday - AG

Thanks so much for visiting!

Ellibelle's Garden Party No. 8 - Anything in or from a Garden

Hello everyone, it's time for a new Garden Party (No. 8) to start and all are invited to attend with a "Garden" themed post. Remember, anything in or from a garden goes, this can be any type of craft, photography (from a garden), garden tips, garden weddings and parties, etc. As always the linkup is at the end of the post. And don't forget to check who made the top picks from the last party. My apologies to all of you as I fell so behind with commenting but finally got the chance to visit all your blogs now. 

Here is what I made using stamps from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs.

I don't have any pumpkins growing in my garden this year but I did once before (accidentally by leaving a pumpkin for the squirrels to enjoy over winter and one of the seeds grew a plant :)  I do have birds and cats (my own cat as well as some neighbourhood cats roaming around).

I started with my stamp positioning tool and the large pumpkin from the Tracy Evans set A Myriad of Designs. I used a mix of yellow-ish and orange Distress inks/Oxides and green for the stem. Next I used the ivy which is part of the same set. I slightly bent the ivy stamp so it wouldn't stamp in a straight line. Next I stamped the cat from the set Numerical Cats which also included "October" using Versafine Onyx ink. The little bird is from the set Myriad of Designs as well. I thought about some stenciling on the background but couldn't decide on a stencil so instead I dug through my Tracy Evans stamps and decided on using the background stamp - Art Notes which was released through Aall and Create and retired. If you are interested in any of these stamps, they are available in the US from Simon Says Stamp. The retired Art Notes can be purchased at Frantic Stamper. Fran is unfortunately closing her shop and is no longer purchasing any new inventory so the newer stamps aren't available there. Of course if you are in the UK you can get the Tracy Evans Boutique Designs stamps directly from Tracy's shop. 

I framed my scene with black cardstock then a white base. To finish the card I used a black Posca pen for some black spatter and stamped a couple more of the ivy leaves under the cat's paws.

I am sharing the above card here:

1. A Place To Start - Pumpkins
2. Cupcake Inspirations  - Fall Harvest
3. Double Trouble Challenge - 3, 2, 1 Recipe (3 layers, 2 animals, 1 pumpkin)
4. FarmQuest General Store Challenge - Anything farm/country/outdoors
5. Sisterhood of Crafters - Anything Fall
6. Stamps & Fun = Creativity - Animals
7. Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge - Halloween
8. We Love Stamping - Autumn

I also decided to make an ATC since I had stamped the pumpkin a second time. A similar design to the card above using the same stamps and inks. I am starting to love the miniature cards and have already made 5 this year. Those of you who make/collect these... how do you store them?

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

I am sharing the ATC with the challenges below:

1. Papercraft Challenges - Amazing Autumn
2. Pearly Sparkles Challenge - Pumpkins and Leaves
3. Stamping Sensations - Autumn
4. Tag-Along (and ATC's) - Anything Autumn

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Click Here for Spooktacular Savings at Scrapbook.com/Ad

Top Picks for Garden Party No. 7

It was so great to see many of you joining me again at the Garden Party and selecting just 3 is never easy but I finally managed  and here they are listed in the order of entry:

No. 1 Silke

No. 17 Vicki

No. 24 Diana L.

Such beautiful work!! Congratulations to each one of you on your well deserved recognition! Your top pick logo is below, you may post it to your own blogs if you like to :)

Now it's time for the 8th Garden Party to start!

Simply link a new or recently shared post (featuring something in or from a garden) using the linky tool below. To make it even more fun and maybe meet a new blogging friend I invite you to visit another entrant's blog post and leave them some love. This is just a suggestion and in no way do you have to :)

Below are the main guidelines at a glance:

• Your entry must feature something in or from a garden.
• You may combine with any other challenges/link parties.
• Please leave a link back to this blog.
• Up to 5 entries per blogger please.
• Backlinking to a recent post is allowed.
• The party ends on Monday November 10th at 11:59pm CST