August Card Chain Challenge Reveal Day

It's been quite some time since I last joined in at the Card Chain Challenge but came across their fun optional August themes just a day before the linky tool was closing and immediately had an idea in my mind for the card. So I signed up :) My card went to Tina in Slovenia this time and I was happy to hear that it arrived safely.

As always there were several challenge options to choose such as a sketch, themes, colors, product or a technique. I chose the color options, mice and baking plus the design was inspired by the sketch although it's not an exact match.

Ok, so these mice look  more like they are getting ready to eat these baked treats and not actually bake them 😊 They are from the set Sweet Treats by Colorado Craft Company. Stamped with Memento on Xpress it card and colored with copic markers. One of the little mice has been fussy cut because I wanted to use a smaller circle for it to follow the sketch idea somewhat.

Background paper is old from Tim Holtz (Idea-ology). I added a few die cut flowers and sentiment is also from Tim Holtz (Tiny Text stamp set). The card base is kraft cardstock where I used a polka dot stencil on the front side. Some glitter was added to the flower centers and cake decor. 

I am sharing my card with these challenges:

• Addicted to Stamps and More - Die cuts and/or Stencils (I used both)
• Crafty Animals - Animals
• Creative Moments - Make it Cute
• Critter Crazy Challenges - Critters
• Simon Says Stamp - Stamp It
• Sweet Stampin - Use Die Cuts
• The Paper Funday - AG option

It was a joy to receive some happy mail from Greta in OR. Thank you so much! Love these colors and the flowers are layered so beautifully!

There is still time to sign up for the next Card Chain Challenge where everyone sends and received a physical card. So nice these days when most things in our mail boxes are ads or bills. You can find out all the details here. 

Little Squirrel Amongst the Sunflowers

It's hard to believe but September has arrived!! I'm always sad when summer comes to an end but luckily here in Illinois we usually still have summer-like temperatures throughout September (in fact we are currently having a heatwave) and the weather stays mild until mid October (usually). And my Dahlias and Zinnas are still blooming happily with lots of butterflies around them. 

I do love working with autumn colors and themes so really enjoyed making today's card for the new Four Seasons challenge where we've now switched seasons and it's now All Things Fall/Autumn. As always we have a wonderful moodboard if you need a starting point.

I am actually sharing 2 cards today, they are similar but not exactly the same. First one is the one for the Four Seasons design team.

Card No.1:

 

The moodboard (see below) inspired me to reach for this beautiful sunflower PSX stamp (G-2003). A real oldie released 2006 that I purchased from eBay several years ago along with a few others. After stamping I used my Zig Clean Color brush pens for coloring and "smooshed" some distress ink color onto the background using a small acetate sheet. Then I stamped the script from Tracy Evans stamp set Magnolia and the little squirrel is also from a Tracy Evans set, Alpha Florals. Sentiment is from a Hero Arts autumn stamp kit from several years ago. I added gingham ribbon and a couple of staples, and used my black Posca pen for splatter.

Our moodboard is below, isn't is wonderful? As you can see my inspiration came from the bottom right image of sunflowers and black gingham ribbon, and then just had to add a squirrel!

You have until September 25th evening to join us and hope to see you there!

I am entering my card with these challenges:

• Ally's Angels - AG
• A Perfect Time To Craft 
• Beautiful Blossoms - AG
• Classic Design Challenge - AG
• Crafts Galore Encore - AG
• Creative Fingers - AG
• Cupcake Inspirations - In the Garden
• DL.Art Linky Challenge - AG
• Love to Craft 
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

Card No. 2:

While I had the sunflower stamp out I decided to make a second card, this time a birthday card. It's just slightly different the the card above so I thought I'd include it in the same blog post.

Here I used the My Favorite Things Birthday background stamp (part of it) instead of Tracy Evans script stamp and the gingham ribbon was placed above background stamping. Instead of a squirrel I used a little blackbird from one of Tracy Evans sets Amongst the Flowers. Love her little critters!! Sentiment came from a Stampin Up set with lots of small sentiments (found at a thrift store so it's most likely retired). On this card I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils for coloring instead of the Zig Brush pens I used on the first card.

I am sharing the second card with these challenges:

• Kleuren Met Potloden - Use Colored Pencils
• Retro Rubber Challenge  - Old Stamps and Anything Goes
• Seize The Birthday - Opt. of Anything Goes

Here they are side by side. Not sure which one I prefer :) But probably the birthday card as it's just a little bit more CAS.

The Great Outdoors

Hello everyone, it's time for a new theme at Allsorts challenge and Brenda is hosting with the optional theme of "All Creatures Great and Small". Always a favorite one as I love working with creature (animal) stamps just as much as I love florals. This time our prize comes from Lavinia stamps so I took this opportunity to play with some of mine. Sadly I have to admit that they have been neglected recently.

I started with a die cut circle mask for a moon and used Lavinia's Feather Leaf stencil with Dried Marigold and Mowed Lawn Distress inks. Before removing the mask I used Marigold ink again just around the circle. Next I stamped the large fox from Lavinia's Fox Set 1, Pixie Lanterns and Field Grass. I colored the lanterns using Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. Next I used a torn paper mask for some grassy hills. While looking for a sentiment to use I found this one from a set by Tracy Evans for Aall and Create (Blackbird - retired) and remembered the cute little foxes from a recent Tracy Evans set (Blossoms of Hope) so I stamped that right above the sentiment. I finished off the card with a few black Posca pen splatters and a Sakura clear sparkle pen over the lanterns and around the moon.

I am sharing this card with these challenges:

• Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! - Stencils
• Double Trouble Challenge - at least 3,2,1 Recipe (I used 3+ stamps, 2 colored ink pads, 1 stencil)
• Just Us Girls - Stencils
• Krafty Chicks - Masculine
• Simon Says Stamp - AG
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Try It On Tuesday - Inspired by a song (anyone remember "What does the fox say? "😊)
• We Love Stamping - Summer Blooms
• Word Art Wednesday - AG

As always, thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Supposed to be cloudy over here but we're expecting another heat wave next week!

I Spy With My Little Eye............. Sunflowers or Something Yellow (Challenge No. 40)

Hello everyone and welcome to the new I spy with my little eye challenge, taking place right here on my blog. Pauline and I are back with a new theme and we hope you will come join in the fun! And don't forget to scroll down to see who we selected as our top two, both invited as guest designers in the next challenge.

This time it's my turn (Ellie) to select a theme and it is:

I spy with my little eye...........

Sunflowers or Something yellow

I'm always drawn to the color yellow this time of year and usually sunflowers are in full bloom, so I thought it was a great theme for the challenge. We can't wait to see your wonderful creations. As always, the linky tool is at the end of this post.

My Card (Ellie)

I have several sunflower stamps to choose from but thought it was time for me to ink up the beautiful sunflower by PSX (K025). An oldie that I purchased from eBay many years ago but I think I have only used it once before. This time I stamped with Memento Tuxedo ink on Copic Xpress it paper and colored with my Copic markers as I feel like they are being neglected and sadly some are even drying up 😞

At the bottom part I used a stamp from a retired Tracy Evans for Aall and Create stamp set (Plant Your Dreams), mounted this onto black cardstock and then onto an embossed kraft card. Embossing was done with a folder from Penny Black. A white card base completes the card.

Entering the above card here:

• Beautiful Blossoms - Blossoms
• Can You Handle The Pressure? - Embossing Folders
• FarmQuest General Store Challenge - AG Farm or Country (There are always sunflowers out in the countryside!)
• Inspiration Station - Photo challenge: Sunflower
• The Paper Funday - AG
• Triple B - Blooms, Birds or Butterflies

Pauline's Card

Absolutley stunning! Please visit Pauline's blog to find out how she made this card.

We have no guest designer for this challenge so lets get straight to our Top Picks from the last challenge.

Top Picks from Challenges No. 38

We had some wonderful entries for last month's "Things with Wings" challenge, thank you all so much for sharing your creativity with us! Selecting Top Picks is never easy but we finally managed and here they are in the order of entry:

No. 1 Kathy K. (Pauline's Pick)

No. 17 Diane H. (Ellie's Pick)

Congratulations to both of you on your well deserved recognition! Your Top Pick logo is below.

Remember, you are both invited to join us as guest designers for challenge no. 41 starting Wednesday September 16th. If you would like to be a guest designer please message me (Ellie) at ellibellescorner at gmail dot com so I can give you all the details. Of course this is totally optional as we all are busy in one way or another and it might just not work out for you but we thought it would be something fun to offer the top picks :) I'm always happy to offer an alternative date too, just ask :)

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, September 13th at 11:59pm CST