Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - November Challenge

Hello and welcome to the November 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

The theme I selected for this month is.............

Christmas

Can't wait to see what you'll share and remember themes are optional now and you are welcome to share anything you've been making new or old (yes, backlinking is allowed). 

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.

I couldn't resist some of the Penny Black's newest release and this brushstroke stamp was one of them. This one is called Season's Tweeting.

I purchased from PB stamps (this is now out of stock there), but I did just notice it available on Amazon from an independent seller. Also Scrapbook.com is supposed to receive their Season of Hope Penny Black release soon and you can take a look at the new release HERE and be notified when available if you prefer shopping there.

As with all brushstroke stamps, I colored directly on the rubber using Distress inks and markers Mowed Lawn, Candied Apple, Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, Faded Jeans, Old Paper, Black Soot. I wanted a bit of a watercolor look so after stamping I used my Zig Detailer Brush over the stamped image. If you are new to these brushstroke stamps, I do highly recommend using a stamp platform as you are able to re-stamp several times adding more color as you go. Here you can see I added some touches of orange to the edges of the leaves. 

To add some interest to the background I used an old Penny Black background stamp - Christmas Story (unfortunately it appears to be currently unavailable) - and stamped portions of it using Old Paper Distress ink, then flicked some diluted ink - faded jeans - onto the background. 

The sentiment is from my favorite Christmas sentiment set by Penny Black - Season's Gifts, stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. Edges were distressed and inked with Old Paper ink, then I added some Natural Jute Twine to to finish the card front. As I'm trying once again to use more of my pattern papers, I decided to frame the card front with polka dotted paper from my stash. 

Related Products:

Stamps: Penny Black Season's Tweeting // Penny Black Christmas Story// Penny Black Season's Gifts

Inks & Markers: Mowed Lawn, Candied Apple, Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, Faded Jeans, Old Paper, Black Soot, Versafine Clair Nocturne 

Accessories and Tools: Natural Jute Twine // Stamp Platform - Options // Zig Detailer Brush 

Papers: Bristol Vellum // Designer Paper from Stash // 110lb Heavyweight Card Stock

I'm sharing with these challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper - Pattern papers // Dragonfly Dreams - Christmas and Winter // Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - something beginning with H (Holly) // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Sentiment 

Always Anything Goes Card Challenges:

A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Crafts Galore Encore // Classic Design Challenge // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Not Just Cards (F) // Lemon Shortbread // Through The Craft Room Door // Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenges // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends // The Corrosive Challenges // Creative Fingers // QKR Stampede // Crafting With An Attitude // Brown Sugar (?) // Craft-Dee BowZ// 

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Last Month Top Picks

Selecting just 3 is never easy but something that has to be done and last month's top picks are listed in the order of entry.

No. 15 Jackie C.

No. 37 Kylie

No. 40 Inky Fingers

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:

• You may follow the theme or anything goes

• 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.

Something for Kids or Teens at Allsorts Challenge

Good morning, a new theme starts today at Allsorts challenge and it's my turn to host. Hope to see you joining in for a chance to win a wonderful prize by Craft Stash, a beautiful Woodware stamp set. 

For this week I selected the theme of "For Kids or Teens" - including young adults still in their teen years.. This can be any type of card for any occasion, gift, tag, decorated bag, etc. 

Please note, some affiliate links are included in this post, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the links. As always this is at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for supporting this blog.

I made this card for my amazing son for his 18th birthday!! How time flies, it really does seem like yesterday when I brought my first chubby cheeked bundle of joy home with no idea of what I was doing!

Earlier this month I was moving furniture around in my craft room and the shelf that held all my designer papers among other things snapped and broke. I had to throw it away as it wasn't fixable. It was one I had picked up at a Joann's Black Friday sale many years ago, not really the best shelf for heavy papers even though it was meant to hold 12x12 papers and came with some drawers for other items. Silly me kept not only heavy papers on this shelf system, but also my heavy punches, it was just too much weight. 

In any event, this broken craft shelf incident caused me to re-think my paper dilemma, I have soooo much of it but rarely if ever would reach for it, so I decided to cut most of them down to 6x6 inches so they are easier to store and easier to look through. And I also placed them closer to my desk so they are within reach. I still need to get through my paper scraps which are pieces already cut but random sizes and I want to be sure non are taller than 6" (I am still keeping some full 12x12 sheets separately in case I make something bigger, but I rarely do). Keeping all scraps at 6" or shorter is going to be so helpful! Hopefully I can manage to throw some of them away too, I don't know why I even hang on to tiny pieces .....

So the papers I used on this card were some of what I had discovered in my paper mess. I always think star themed cards make great masculine cards for the younger male. Here I used the colors vintage red, navy and white, along with some gold accents. What appears black in the photo is actually navy card stock. 

The star dies are all from my Design Team years at Whimsy Stamps, and no longer available, but it's a basic shape and there are some great choices at A Cherry on Top or Scrapbook.com if you are in the US, and for those of you in the UK and overseas I am sure Craft Stash has a good variety available too. And don't forget about Amazon...

I layered the big star over a die cut circle and white circle frame, then added the small stars all around with foam tape to make them pop up. The no. 18 is from a chipboard Alphabet and Number set. I found mine at Michaels, but can't seem to find it online. There may be more options on Amazon. My sticker set is made of kraft chipboard and I ran my Wink of Stella glitter brush over the numbers for a little sparkle. The small stars were die cut from brushed gold paper that was part of a Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit - I don't remember which one, but also available in single sheets at Scrapbook.com.

Related Products:

The only stamping I have done here is the sentiment, which came from this Penny Black clear set. I really like this simple font as I think it's fitting for a more masculine card. For an extra little detail I used a stapler on two of the corners. 

And below is a photo of the card recipient and the maker :-)

I'm linking up here:

Challenges:

A Vintage Journey - Numbers // Creative Fingers - Anything Goes // Aud Sentiments Challenge - Add a Sentiment // Cute Card Thursday - Sparkles (glitter on the numbers) // Make My Monday - Masculine // Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Movie Inspiration / Captain America // Stamps & Fun = Creativity  - Masculine // 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share // Beautifully Made Sat. 5pm // Inspire Me Mondays // Little Cottage Linkup // Love Your Creativity // Handmade Monday // Anything Goes with your Hosts (Mondays) // Craftastic Monday // Beautifully Made // The Happy Now // Hearth and Soul (starts Monday night)Tuesday Turn About // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Welcome Wednesdays // Artsy Fartsy // Thinking out Loud Thursday // Little Things Thursday // Thursday Favorite Things // Slices of Life (Encouraging Hearts and Home) // Creative Compulsions // Fridays at the Fire Station // Friday favorites //High Five for Friday // Friendship Friday // Funtastic Fridays // A Morning Cup of Joe // On the Edge // Friday Favorites // Best of the Month-- (first Friday/ month) // Party In Your Pj's // 

Celebration Time at Allsorts Challenge

Hello and welcome! It's Saturday and that means a new theme starts today at Allsorts challenge for everyone to join in! It's Kath's turn to host and she picked the theme of Celebration Time - birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, new home, new job, Christmas and more! We'd love for you to get crafty and share with us! One lucky winner will receive  a Tonic die and  your entry may be one of the top 5!

I made an anniversary card for my husband (last month was our 22nd anniversary) using the Hero Arts February 2019 stamp kit. 

Please note, some affiliate links are included in this post, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the links. As always this is at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for supporting this blog.

By the way their classic kits (where still available and this one including) are now reduced ($5 off). There are currently a total of 8 kits in this reduced category, you can see these 8 kits here or take a look at all of their monthly kit products. 

I  created an inky background using distress inks - Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire. A circle die cut and a wide strip of masking tape were used to mask off the bottom border and moon. 

The dancing couple from the stamp kit was stamped using Versafine Clair Nocturne ink (I need to buy a re-inker for my ink pad!!)  and I used the matching die that comes with this kit to cut out the image. I used foam tape to adhere to the card.

  

The '"true love" sentiment is an oldie from Whimsy Stamps - Chalkboard sentiments, but unfortunately it is no longer available and I wasn't able to find anything comparable. The music notes are part of the Hero Arts kit. 

On the bottom part I used one of Tim Holtz's Quotations stickers. 

Hero Arts February 2019 stamp kit // Whimsy Stamps Chalkboard Greetings (retired) // Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire // Versafine Clair Nocturne ink // Tim Holtz's Quotations // Sizzix Big Shot // Foam Tape // 

Thanks so much for visiting!

I'm linking up here:

Cute Card Thursday - stamping // / Inspire Me Monday - Linkup // Artsy Fartsy // Thinking out Loud Thursday // Little Things Thursday // Thursday Favorite Things // Slices of Life (Encouraging Hearts and Home) // Creative Compulsions // Fridays at the Fire Station // Friday favorites //High Five for Friday // Friendship Friday // Funtastic Fridays // A Morning Cup of Joe // On the Edge // Friday Favorites // Best of the Month-- (first Friday/ month)

Party In Your Pj's // Tuesday Turn About // Wonderful Wednesday // Classy Flamingos // Welcome Wednesdays // Dare to Share // Inspire Me Mondays // Little Cottage Linkup // Love Your Creativity // Handmade Monday // Anything Goes with your Hosts (Mondays) // Craftastic Monday // Beautifully Made // The Happy Now // Hearth and Soul (starts Monday night)

Related Products:

Winter Scenes or Snow for Allsorts Challenge

A new theme starts to day at Allsorts challenge, Tracy is hosting and she selected the theme of Winter Scenes or Snow. Hope you'll play along for a chance to win a beautiful woodland animal stamp set by Clarity Stamps

. 

It's so strange, I love making winter scenes and winter cards, but for some reason I was struggling so much with this challenge! Maybe it's because it's currently over 80 degrees (over 26 Celsius) outside, so practically summer, but I think it's also because I had a specific card in mind and it just didn't work out the way I wanted it to. This one almost didn't make the cut either....

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 no cost to you. Thanks so much for supporting this blog.

In any event, I started out with a mask in place to cover the hill, and flicked some masking fluid (I have this one by Winsor and Newton) onto the background using an old paint brush and let this dry completely. Then I inked the sky with a mix of distress inks and oxides (Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipsick, Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire.) I removed the mask and rubbed off the masking fluid, then stamped the Berry Branch - Penny Back's Berry Bevy using a stamp platform with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink onto the inked panel and colored the berries using Festive Berries distress ink. This is when I almost threw the card away...

I mistakenly colored one of the snowflakes made with the masking fluid in red. Ughhhhh!!! I tried to add some blue ink over the red but it just made it stand out even more. I'm sure every crafter can imagine my frustration!! It wouldn't have been as upsetting had this not been my 3rd attempt at a card! At this point it was already late Wednesday evening and I decided to start another card Thursday morning. So Thursday morning when I went back to my messy craft room, I really didn't feel like wasting another card and not sure why I hadn't thought of it the night before, but I decided to add a die cut snowflake right over the mess-up and it worked out perfectly! The snowflake die I used is from a retired set by Whimsy Stamps, but there are many snowflake dies available. 

The sentiment is part of Penny Black's set Brush Pines stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. 

Penny Black Berry Bevy // Penny Black Brush Pines // Masking Fluid // Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink // Distress Inks and Oxides Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick, Tumbled Glass, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire // Festive Berries // Stamp Platform Options // Snowflake Die Options // Ink Blending Tool Option

Thanks so much for visiting!! 

Related Products:

I'm linking up here:

Cute Card Thursday - Dies and Punches // The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas // Chocolate Baroque Challenge - Anything Goes // Penny Black Saturday Challenge - Use PB Stamps