These two played baseball this last season that has just ended.
And this one LOVES our backyard and anything that looks like dirt! How does that come so naturally?
I stamped that wonderful label shape first and embossed it so the lines were stronger. 
This adorable bird is from another set, I colored it with stamp pads and stamped it. I embossed it with clear embossing powder too. 
They offered three sketches to chose from and so I picked the second one. I also have quite a supply of their wonderful stamp sets so I knew I also needed to pull them out. The bird and the flower branch are stamped as is the word "smile". The little "notes" die cut is by October Afternoon too. I used a wonderful color of Vintage collection Core'dinations cardstock for the card base and you can see the sanded edges on that. The pink paper is punched with a border punch from a piece of pink Core Essentials cardstock. 
While I had these wonderful prints out, I wanted to still use them so I went to 2 Sketches 4 You and decided to use Kazan's sketch #27 sketch. I already loved this houndstooth print and thought it would be fun to pair it up with these red and black and cream prints. The card base is a piece of Whitewash Core'dinations cardstock. Again, notice the sanded edges and the one border piece is punched from the inside color of this paper. Want to see what we did on Monday? Santa Barbara has the best, little zoo. It makes for a relaxing afternoon and believe me, we weren't the only ones with the idea that this would be a fun thing to do on a holiday!
We took two of our grandkids and you can believe this little guy LOVED the day.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)
SMILE card
Materials:
Cardstock –Vintage Collection/Core’dinations
Patterned papers and punch out die cut – October Afternoon
Stamps – October Afternoon
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Stamp pads – Clearsnap
Versamark Black stamp pad
Copic Markers
Ribbon
Flower punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Glitter brad - Doodlebug
HAPPY BIRTHDAY card
Materials:
Cardstock –Whitewash/Core’dinations
Patterned papers – October Afternoon
Circle punch- Marvy
Flower – Bazzill
Brad – Recollection
Sandpaper
Rub-on greeting – Making Memories
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Black stamp pad – Clearsnap
The first one is KWernerDesigns color inspiration #53. I so love the way she shows us the colors to use.
I always seem to have a ton of ideas that enter my imagination but this is what I settled on for this try. The funny part is that we went to dinner and across from me was a gal with an adorable top on and it was black/white/yellow with large white dots across the top and I knew that was what I was going to start with. The cardstock for the card base is Core'dinations Black Magic cardstock in Freeze. The top side is black and the core in a wonderful blue. On the outside of my card, I scored lines with the Scor-pal tool and then when I sanded these lines, the blue core was exposed to help further the color scheme. A huge plus is that the inside of the card is that same wonderful blue.
I punched white circles and glued those to a black strip of the same cardstock and then I used these adorable Studio G stamps for the flowers and that cute bee. Blue rhinestones for the middles of the flowers was a fun way to finish the card. (Notice the sanded edges of the card too)
I used this wonderful yellow Core'dinations cardstock for the card base and once again, pulled out my Scor-pal and created the criss cross design. When I sanded those lines, the core to this cardstock was exposed. 
The butterflies are a green Core'dinations cardstock. I used one of my favorite dies, a 2 step die and embossing set by Cuttlebug. The die cuts the butterfly shape and then you have a choice of four embossed designs. I used the swiss dot embossing plate and again, when that was sanded, the core of the cardstock was exposed. Green rhinestones were the finishing touch. 
We have had a desert tortoise for something like 30 years. He just comes and goes in the backyard at his leisure. This week, our youngest grandson and the tortoise met. How cute is this? Our grandson kept taking the lettuce away from the tortoise but believe me, the tortoise was not going to put up with that at all!
On my first card, I used Stellafina. Is she just adorable? I wanted my whole card to be very pink and girly so I colored her with Copic markers and I also used Core'dinations White Wash cardstock for my card. You can see that the front side of this paper is white with a hint of pink and the reverse side is pink. I used a Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing plate on one of the pieces and when I sanded that, it exposed the pink core.
I took a rather extreme photo here with the sun shining directly on my little image so that you could get an idea of how the Shimmerz paint looked as a final coat to her costume and ballet slippers. 
The above photo gives you a close-up look at the sanding that I did on the outside edges of the card to expose that pink core and the punched, lacey borders.
This card uses the Flamenca Ketto image. I knew I wanted her to be very red and black and again, Copic markers were the way to go. This card uses the same CPS sketch for this week.
I used a Spellbinders Nestabilites die to cut out my little colored image and to cut the red mat. I love this die and you can also see that I embossed it. I used Core'dinations cardstock for my entire card and so sanding the red, embossed mat, exposed the core of that cardstock. You can also see that after coloring my little image, I added white dots with the White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip. The paint dries 3-D and gives such a fun and feminine look to her dress, crown and shoes. 
I wanted to give a close-up to the red cut edge. I used my Cloud, Fiskars scissors to help it match that Nestabilitie die. All of the outside edge of the card was sanded to expose the core.
Yes, the little flower vase stamp is also by Stamping Bella. I followed this weeks Card Patterns sketch #15 to help me put my card together.
I left the vases white and added some shadowing with the light blue Copic markers and then filled in each of the vases with Aleene's Paper Glaze. When that was dry, it left a "water/glass" look to each vase.
For my little butterfly accent piece, I ran a piece of the orange colored Core'dinations cardstock through the Cuttlebug machine with an embossing plate. I punched a circle from that and sanded my embossed circle. Isn't it amazing how that design just stands out with the sanding that exposes the core? I also sanded the edges of my orange, scallop border and the entire green card has the edges sanded too. The butterfly is cut from the Making Memories patterned paper. 
My very first thought was this Whitewashed Core'dinations paper. I knew it was the perfect place to start. 
I used this Picket Fence color and ran one piece of it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing plate. Sanding that piece exposed the core color. 
I used some other colors of Core'dinations. The blue circle was scored with the Scor-pal and then sanded and the flowers were punched from other colors of Core'dinations cardstock.
I sanded all of the outside edges of my card too and you can see that exposed core in the above photo. 
I pulled out this collection of papers I have had for awhile from Scenic Route. I love collections so that all of my patterns go together so well.
My stamp is a $1 stamp from Michaels. I stamped it with brown ink and embossed that. Then I colored in the cupcake paper with Copic markers and accented that with White Slick 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip. 
I used a piece of Core'dinations for my card base and sanded the edges so that the core was exposed. 
Now there are a couple unique things about this card. One is this amazing piece of Core'dinations cardstock. It is BLACK MAGIC, Whammy. What that means is it is black on one side and purple on the other. AND...because it is Core'dinations cardstock, it has a core that is going to show through with embossing and sanding. And, to make it even better, the outside of the card is black but the inside is purple! How does it get better?
The 2 Sketches 4 You sketch had this adorable scallop design to the top of the card and so I punched rows of lacey borders with a Fiskars border punch. This purple is the reverse side of the black piece that I used for the main card and so that means it matches perfectly. I sanded the punched edge a bit to distress it a little so that the lacey edges stood up a bit. 
Here is a close up look at the embossing. Here is another unique element of this card and that is what I used to create the embossed design. Some time ago, I picked up a rubber-type plate that is designed to be used with Sculpey clay. I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Tan Spellbinder mats for embossing. Once embossed, all that is required is that you take a piece of sandpaper and sand until you like how much of the purple core shows through. I like to use my "pick up" eraser to pick up the resulting dust. You can also see that I sanded the edges of the card so that the purple core shows. 
Here is a photo of the supplies that I used, the plate with the design on it by Sculpey and the piece of Core'dinations. You can see the black side and I am also showing the reverse, purple side. 
SO.... I picked up this one piece of patterned paper by Scenic Route that I just love and I cut out one big circle. I wanted it to be uneven and out of shape. I then just starting cutting circles out of that biggest circle. Because the paper is two sided, I could use whichever side I wanted and it looks like I used two different papers. I simply kept cutting circles out of the biggest circle and kept putting them around my layout. 
I love the look of journaling paper so I used this journal paper from Scenic Route and used my Stampin' Up journal hole punch to make it look like I had torn it out of a notebook. The Tonic paper distresser and a quick rub with a brown stamp pad gives it a bit of a distressed look. 
Most often an image like butterflies are the main focus of a card but here I wanted to create a background of them. These butterflies come in two sizes so I stamped both sizes on my white paper using white ink and white embossing powder. The white embossed images will now act as a resist to the colors that I want to add.
First of all I rubbed over the stamped butterflies with a yellow stamp pad. I rubbed and rubbed the color into all of the paper and in and around all of the details of the butterflies. I then sprayed my piece with an orange Memories Mist spray. You can see the dots in the spray which means the background isn't really a solid color which I like. The greeting is also VERVE and I stamped it on my white paper with red ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder to make the letters more intense. I gave this a quick spray of a yellow Memories Mists so that this piece tied into the rest of my card. 
When I started to use this pink patterned paper, I knew I had to throw a whole bunch of "girly" accents with it. So out also came another brand new purchase, some lacey paper by SEI. The lacey paper comes as one whole piece with rows of different designs of lace and so I cut out one of the rows. I did a little extra accent of a punched row of Apron lace. 
The flowers are stickers that go with this Alissa collection of papers. I used them to fit the sketch and made an additional accent with a punched circles of paper and a circle of rhinestones. 
This card represents an older piece of paper that was sittting on my desk. I am not even sure why I had it out, but I sat down at my desk to work on a completely different project and as I looked at this paper that I was never all that sure what that print was supposed to be, I saw a layered and fun flower! The print has these circles on it and they are in different sizes so I just cut out three of the sizes. I used a Tonic paper distresser to distress my edges and crumpled the pieces a little bit.
To further the color scheme I used this wonderful red shade of Core'dinations paper. These papers just love the Cuttlebug so I used a swirl embossing plate on it. The card base is another Core'dinations paper that is brown on one side and green on the other. I used the green to mat the red and then sanded the edges of the brown card so you could see the green core, making all of my colors fit together. 
For the first page, I used a layout at 2 peas as my inspiration. The title was printed on the kraft colored paper and then the rest of the elements were added around that.
(You can click on the layouts to make them larger)
For my first card that goes with the CPS sketch for this week, I printed Timmy Turtle out on white cardstock and I choose the 2" x 3" size, like I was going to print out a photograph. 
From here, it was simple to color him in with the Copic Markers. You can see that I coated each of the dots with the Aleene's Paper Glaze for an epoxy look and that just adds so much character to Timmy. 
I wanted to give a little close up of the details along the bottom edge of the card. It was fun to use these punched circles and brads to match the sketch.
I wanted to print Timmy out a little larger so you could see the difference and I also thought he could make a cute shaped card this way. I printed him out using the 5" x 7" size this time. I printed him on green Core'dinations cardstock and what is neat aboug that is that it is brown on the other side so the inside of the card is different then the outside. I printed him out again on the striped paper and cut just the shell out. The dots were colored with a Copic marker and coated with the Aleene's Paper Glaze. His are also coated with the Paper Glaze.
