The Lacey accents

I love to use color challenges and this one from Colour Q was no exception. For some reason, they usually end up making me go "out of my box" a bit. 

Case in point, I know I would never have started out wanting to put purple and orange together but once I did, I love the result!

I started by cutting out this big orange flower from a piece of SEI paper and I was on my way. Not to mention how cool this purple patterned paper is by BoBunny. Notice the dot embossed cardstock for the card base, that is NEW Stacy Julian Core Impressions Core'dinations.

These doilies by Martha Stewart worked just right for a middle accent on my flower and that is finished with a punched out circle with cuts into it and a button center. 

I also want to share my Unscripted Sketch card with you.  I just picked up this lacey paper and the butterfly stamp set at Michaels. 

The butterfly was stamped on a green gingham patterned paper with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I loved it with this piece of Webster's Pages patterned paper.
TIP: I used a new Recollections border punch for the lacey edge on the first card and I was surprised to find out that these punches come with a little catch lid on the bottom to capture all of those tiny punched pieces. NICE!!! Recollections are found at Michaels stores.

And gotta share a few photos from our pumpkin carving party.

Our 13 year old granddaughter wanted to carve the pumpkin she picked out at the pumpkin patch so Grandpa was enlisted to help. When she found out that after you cut off the top, that you need to clear out the seeds, etc from the middle she was ready to quit! Pretty funny, I guess she didn't know all of that was inside.

Her little brother was also pretty put off by that yucky inside stuff but once he got into it, his "all boy" side came out!  No fear now!

This is our finished project! Pretty fun!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SWEET card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Stacy Julian Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – SEI and BoBunny
Border punch – Recollections
Machine sewing
Button – PaperTrey, Inc.
Doily – Martha Stewart
Leaf punch
Mini sticker letters – Cosmo Cricket
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

SKETCH 79 – FRIENDS FOREVER card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Webster’s Pages
Lace Paper – Anna Griffin
Butterfly stamp – Inkadinkado
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder - Stampendous
Self Adhesive Pearls – Queen & Co.
Rub-on sentiment – Deja Views
Machine sewing
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

Taylored Expressions Christmas

I love when we have a sponsor at Card Postioning Systems sketch blog and this week was especially fun with some new Taylored Expressions stamps. 

I love the elegance of this set of stamps.  I loved them so much that I created two cards this week.  I used the same red patterned paper because it just seemed perfect.  Notice my punched bottom edge to my card, love this EK Success punch.

 I stamped the sleigh and embossed it with a cranberry embossing powder and then sprayed the white cardstock with ChalkBoard spray by Tattered Angels. 

For this card I used the reindeer stamp and one of the great sentiment stamps from the same set. The label that the sentiment is stamped on is a punch by EK Success.

The reindeer was simply stamped with black ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I love how easy it was to get another elegant look.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 190-a – CELEBRATE THE SEASON card

Materials:
Stamps – Sparkle and Cheer clear set/Courtesy of Taylored Expressions
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – My Mind’s Eye
Stamp pad – Clearsnap
Embossing powder – Clearsnap
Spray color – Chalkboard/Tattered Angels
Lacey border punch – Martha Stewart
Self Adhesive Rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper
Foam tape

SKETCH 190-b – THAT BRINGS JOY TO US ALL card
Materials:
Stamps – Sparkle and Cheer clear set/Courtesy of Taylored Expressions
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – My Mind’s Eye
Versafine black stamp pad
Clear Embossing powder – Stampendous
Border punch – EK Success
Label punch – EK Success
Self Adhesive Rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper
Foam tape

JustRite 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hop 8

JustRite Stampers’ newest

Wednesday feature,

12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops 8!

Every Wednesday up until Thanksgiving, some of your favorite designers will be joining some of the JustRite design team for a series of Christmas blog hops, showcasing

 JustRite’s entire

Christmas Collection of stamps!

And don’t forget that JustRite has some Christmas stamps in their newly released CLING line of stamp sets you can find them HERE.

This week, the designers joining the JustRite design team are the Flower Soft and The Shabby Tea Room challenge blog design teams! So mark your calendars for Wednesdays at 9am Central for great Christmas gift, card & project ideas,

starting at the JustRite Inspiration blog!

I always love snowflakes of any kind and size so I wanted to use this great set of Christmas themed stamps that includes a couple snowflakes.  The patterned papers are brand new from Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker. Another thing I love to go along with snowflake images is the color blue and notice how I paired these prints with the green for my card base.

I stamped the circle frame image on white cardstock with Versafine Black ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  This piece was punched out with a circle punch and matted with a slightly larger black punched circle and then matted again with a slightly larger, scallop circle punch. 

Now I generously filled the middle of my white, framed circle with the Aleene's Tacky Glue and sprinkled on the Polar Ice Flower Soft.  I am pretty sure the white is my favorite of the Flower Soft colors, you can't find a better look for "snow".  The snowflake was also stamped with the black ink and embossed with the clear embossing powder.  I colored portions of it with a couple shades of blue Copic markers and then sprayed the entire piece with a blue Chalkboard Glimmer Mist.  I cut out the snowflake image and attached it to my Flower Soft circle with foam tape for added dimension.

Now for a tip:  I read this one time, I think on the JustRite blog and it has helped me so much. When you use JustRite stamps and use a center image and a frame image in the sets they come in, these can be stamped very successfully. However, sometimes I like to use the middle images alone, especially the words and I could not figure out how to stamp these without black ink on the edges.  The tip that I read is to trim these stamps to take off those excess areas of rubber. These stamps have ridges on the back side so that they work with the JustRite blocks and I would have thought that trimming them would not have been a good idea but it works perfectly and makes these stamps so much easier to stamp a great image of.  My photo gives you an idea of what this looks like.

Now for the hop. Here is the entire list but from here you can hop on over to Deb's blog.

JustRite Design Team:
Sharon Harnist
Angela Barkhouse
Sankari Wegman
Stephanie Kraft
Kazan Clark
Michele Kovack
Kellie Fortin
Barb Schram
Debbie Olson
Becca Feeken
Heidi Blankenship

Flower Soft Design Team:
Jeanne Streiff
Debbie Seyer
Gini Cagle
Linda Beeson
Deb Felts
Cibele Glazer
Vicki Garrett
Dina Kowal

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team:
Debbie Marcinkiewicz
Nicole Segnere
Clare Buswell
Pattie Goldman
Lisa Golzbein
Cathy Clark-Sanite

Before I go, I just have to share some photos from our weekend. This was our third pumpkin patch visit this season! We are usually lucky to get to one but with a 2 1/2 year old grandson, pumpkin patch visits are FUN!

This was a hay bale maze, where you go until you run into dead ends. Well, dead ends were no problem, he would just crawl up on the hay bales and walk on top of them!

Throwing handfulls of hay was also a fun activity!

This is a pumpkin patch with an ocean view!!! Beyond those palm trees is more farm land and then the coast. The pumpkin patch goes up a hill so I was standing up the hill abit.

I loved these pumpkins with their long, skinny stems. Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

MERRY & BRIGHT card

Materials list:
Stamps – Whimsical Christmas and Christmas Nested Sentiments/JustRite stamps
Polar Ice Flower Soft
Tacky glue – Aleene’s
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Something for Everyone collection/Nikki Sivils
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Scallop circle and circle punches – PaperShapers
Border punch – Recollections
Machine sewing
Copic markers
Chalkboard spray – Tattered Angels
Self adhesive rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

Colors and Sketches

The first order of business is that the NEW Crafts 'n things® magazine has hit the magazine racks and you want to be on the lookout or maybe you have a subscription. 

You can tell from this amazing cover that this issue is full of great ideas, especially for the holidays.

Let Crafts 'n things® show you how to make the 2010 holiday season your creative best! Hand-crafted holiday cards and gifts, quick-and-clever ornaments and dazzling décor ideas abound in the December issue. Check out the Budget-Savvy Gifts section for a dozen handmade gift ideas that fit your budget and don't scrimp on style. You don't need to spend a fortune to make your loved ones feel treasured! Be sure to say "hello" to some of our cutest Christmas friends ever, including a houndstooth holiday bear, recycled sock penguins, festive snowmen to sculpt, stitch or sew, and, of course, a jolly St. Nick or two.

Go directly to the top of Santa's "Nice List" when you give homemade decadent treats -- from heavenly cappuccino truffles to beautifully packaged chocolate chip banana bread, every morsel packs a dollop of holiday happiness. Love decorating for the holidays? Discover the secrets to creating sophisticated holiday décor on a shoestring, then invite the girls over for a special night of Christmas cookie painting in our Girls' Night In spectacular. Creativity and food -- who can beat that?!

New this year, don't miss our special 30-Minute Ornaments showcase. Whatever your style, you're sure to find at least one special addition for your tree. Happy Holidays!

Now for the first card I want to share.  My Unscripted sketch card for this week. 

I love how these Jillibean Soup patterned papers go with this great Core Impressions cardstock.  The cardstock comes with that embossed design in it already.

The labels are stickers by BasicGrey and the velvety flower is from Michaels. It was a stem of artificial flowers. I used a big brad for the middle with some rhinestones for an accent.

This card combines a couple different challenges.  A bonus sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You and the color combo from Colour Q and the color challenge at Color Cue by Wplus9 Designs. 

I wanted the center element on my card to be this new stamp I just got from Wplus9 Designs.  It is from a set of doily looking images.  I stamped it with white, embossed it with white and then colored the background with Chalkboard Glimmer mist and some stamp pads.  Some of the little circles in the design are accents with Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip.  I used a link to Joann craft store to show you how easy it is to find this product. It gives just the right amount of bling. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 78 - THANKS card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Pasta Fagioli collection/Jillibean Soup
Sticker labels – BasicGrey
Sentiment sticker - SRM
Flower – Michaels
Brad
Self Adhesive rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Corner Rounder punch - Fiskars
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

THANK YOU 3 times card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – BasicGrey
Stamp – Mehndi Medallions/Wplus9 Design Studios
Self Adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Scallop circle punches – Marvy
Glitter 3-D Fashion paint - Tulip
Rub-on sentiment - Pebbles
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

Punches as accents

My two cards in this post show off the use of punches.  I have to say that one of my favorite tools right now are punches, especially all of the new border punches. 

My first card makes use of the Colour Q color combo from a couple weeks ago.  I created it in time to submit it by the deadline but my trusty Canon camera decided to take a little unscheduled vacation and I had to try to figure that out and then pull out my older Sony camera.  I loved using my Sony before I got the Canon but it took me a bit to remember how to use it!!!

I could not resist using the NEW Stacy Julian Core Impressions Core'dination cardstocks.  The set comes with all of these colors and each of these particular pieces come with that little swiss dot embossed design in it already.  The colors were just exactly what I needed for the Colour Q combo.  That white, scalloped card base is one of the pieces from this same Core'dinations set.  I just cut around the embossed scallops. 

I used a corner rounder punch on the ends of each of my color strips and I also used a little flower punch to add a design to the end of each strip. 

My next card used the Card Positioning Systems sketch for this week. Another sketch that I thought was really fun to use.

I pulled out a couple brand new pieces of Creative Imaginations patterned papers that I had recently picked up. I just love that blue and white dot paper.  The Make A Wish piece is cut from one piece of patterned paper.  The entire piece is different little tags. 

I used my Loopy punch for a "party" looking accents with a line of self adhesive rhinestones.

We visited another Pumpkin Patch this last weekend. You can probably tell that it was a gloomy, wet day.  We still had a ball walking amoung the pumpkins. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

HAPPY - COLORS card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Stacy Julian Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Rub-on sentiment – Making Memories
Flower and leaf punch – Tonic
Corner rounder punch - Fiskars
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper

SKETCH 189 – MAKE A WISH card

Materials:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper and printed tag – Teresa Collins/Celebrate/Creative Imaginations
Frame and sentiment stamp - Gina K
Loopy border punch – Martha Stewart
Rhinestones – Mark Richards, Inc.

It's a PINK blog hop

Since there are so many PINK related activities during the month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness,

the Unscripted Sketch Design Team is hosting a blog hop for our sketch this week. 

You can start at the Unscripted Sketch blog or if you came here first, I will be giving you a link to the next team members blog at the end of this post. 

Here is this weeks sketch.

Along with the sketch and the blog hop, the other focus element is to use PINK for our creation.  I had just purchased these adorable My Mind's Eye papers and so it was fun to use them for my card.

The word tickets are stickers by SRM.  Not only are they cute for Valentines day but they are perfect to say hi to a friend or to offering some encouragement. 

Another thing to know about our blog hop is that we have a great sponsor and she will be giving away prizes.  The sponsor is Anita B Stampin'.  Some of the team used a cute image that she provided to go along with the theme. 

From here, hop on over to CherylAnn's blog.

Thanks for visiting my blog and the other team members blogs,
Linda

SKETCH 77 – HUGS AND KISSES card

Materials:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Alphabet Soup Girl/My Mind’s Eye
Ticket stickers – SRM
Heart brad – Recollections
Self Adhesive Rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Circle punches – PaperShapers
Sandpaper

Did you stamp today?

It is like a fever - gotta stamp almost everyday!

And, today I want to share a couple cards that I used stamping on.

This is the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger inspiration piece.

My first card is based on the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  I love challenges and always want to play but don't always have time but I made time for this one.

The chair is a rub-on that I just picked up at Michaels. I knew it fit perfectly with the challenge.  I created my own "wallpaper" looking background with a flourish kind of stamp from Impress Rubber Stamps.  I have had this stamp for awhile now and it was fun to pull it out. After I stamped it with an Ancient page stamp pad, I sprayed the white background with Glimmer Mist and rubbed it here and there with a Brilliance stamp pad. 

I also saw in the Trigger, either a wood looking floor or table so I wanted to add that look.  I have a mini stamp that I purchased at Michaels awhile back and that worked just right for my little accent strip that is edged with my brand new border punch by Martha Stewart.  The flower is one that I have had for ages from Prima. It was just what I needed to finish my look. 

This also fits the Little Red Wagon challenge for this week to use something old and something new on a creation.

My next card is my Card Positioning Systems card for this week. I love sketches and I thought this was another fun one to interpret. 

The middle piece is a white circle that I embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. 

The label is a stamp by Gina K as is the sentiment.  After I finished the card I realized how the pattern in the label matched the embossed design of the card base.  That card base cardstock is Core Impressions by Core'dinations.  It comes with the embossed design in it already.

And for a few pics from this last weekend...

 We went to the pumpkin patch. This is such a fun farm to visit. Here they are climbing a hay pyramid.  Grandpa and sissy are waiting at the top!

What a cute photo op!

The red barn on the farm is so perfect for a photo background.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

REFRESH card

Materials list:
Cardstock – The Chocolate Box/Core’dinations
Curious Iridescent Cryogen White/CutCardStock.com
Patterned paper – Baby Safari/Little Yellow Bicycle
Chair rub-on – Michaels
Flourish/Damask stamp – Impress Rubber Stamps
Animal print stamp – Michaels
Black Versafine stamp pad
Ancient Page stamp pad – Clearsnap
Brilliance stamp pad
Distress stamp pad - Ranger
Self Adhesive rhinestone – Queen & Co.
Flower - Prima
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Rub-on sentiment – Making Memories
Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Foam tape – 3M
Sandpaper


SKETCH 188 – THE LORD BLESS YOU… card

Materials:
Cardstock – Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper - BasicGrey
Frame and sentiment stamp - Gina K
Green stamp pad – Versafine
Black stamp pad – Versafine
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Embossing plate - Sizzix
Foam tape – 3M
Sandpaper

A FALL Flower Soft Blog Hop

You are in for a fun blog hop today.  The Flower Soft Design Team is going to share with you some ideas on fall projects, using fall or autumn colors.  Not only are we sharing projects but this is also a challenge for you. 

This week we’ll be giving away TWO prize packages!

One prize package will be given away on the blog hop

and another will be chosen among people

who make a card using Flower Soft

and post it in the Splitcoast Gallery using the keyword FSC07.

Both prize winners will be chosen and announced on the Flower Soft blog on October 22nd.

The winner of the Splitcoast Gallery challenge will have their card featured on the Flower Soft Blog on 22nd!!!

If you didn’t start at the beginning of the hop please go to the beginning at the Flower Soft Blog.  I am the last team member in this hop so when you can go to the Flower Soft blog from my post you will find the next name on the hop list.

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be a prize winner chosen randomly among the blogs.
The prizes (one set for Splitcoast players and one set for the blog hop!) :
Hedgerow Friends Toppers – Picking Up Leaves
Hedgerow Friends Sentiments
Ultra Fine Sage
Nut Brown Flower Soft
Autumn Flower Soft
Flower Soft Glue

I love to use "autumn" colors so this was easy for me.  The wonderful frame stamps that I used are by JustRite stamps.  The flower spray is also by JustRite stamps as is the "Thank You" sentiment.

The two different size frames were stamped with brown Memento ink and I did emboss them with clear embossing powder and then cut around each of them.  The smaller frame was added on top of the larger one with foam tape for dimension.  I colored the flowers and the leaves with Copic markers. 

Now for the really good stuff, I used a brand new color of Ultra Fine Flower Soft, Burnt Sienna.  This is a slight combo of a couple different shades and it was just made for an "autumn" color challenge. 

After I colored the flowers, I cut out that image and then added the Tacky Glue to the middles of the flowers.  This was then generously sprinkled with the Ultra Fine Flower Soft and left to dry.  To finish off my frames and flowers, I added some self adhesive pearls by Queen & Co.  I LOVE the color of the pearls. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

THANK YOU – Flower Soft card

Materials list:
Burnt Sienna Ultra Fine Flower Soft
Tacky glue
Frame and Sentiment Stamps - Baroque Nested Frames & Occasions/JustRite Stamps
Flower Stamp – Plant a Little Love set/JustRite Stamps
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Curious Iridescent Cryogen White/CutCardStock.com
Patterned paper – Baby Safari/Little Yellow Bicycle
Memento stamp pad
Black Versafine stamp pad
Copic markers
Self Adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Corner rounder punch - Fiskars
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper

Welcome Fall!

We are actually hot here this weekend, but it is fall, nonetheless. You can still feel that in the air.  The two cards I wanted to share today are both FALL related.  I so love the colors used for FALL!

This is my card for the Unscripted sketch that was just posted today.  A favorite stamp of mine is this super cute tree from My Favorite Things stamps.  A rather different color scheme for FALL was created with these cute papers from BasicGrey.  Notice the strip on the side of the card? I pleated it in a rough, haphazard style.  This fits in with a Perfectly Placed Pleats challenge at the Moxie Fab Blog.

I colored in the tree with some subtle colors using Copic markers.  You can barely make out the design, but I stamped a damask stamp on the Jenni Bowlin circle journaling die cut.  The sentiment words are by SRM stickers. 

I created this card to go along with last weeks 2 Sketches 4 You sketch.  I am late getting it posted because my camera decided to break and I had to pull out my older camera and actually try to remember how to use it!!!  I used a leaf border punch to create the designs on the sides of the green piece.   

The leaf is by Me & My Big Ideas.  It is a solid stamp with a distressed look.  I colored it with a couple different colors of stamp pads. The edges of the image were then rubbed with a Fluid Chalk stamp pad to add extra color. 

And for a couple photos...

I mentioned we are hot this weekend but we were cold during the week! And we got some rain. Rain is a rare occurence for us.  I walked outside and saw this plant in our yard and throught the rain drops were so artistic looking.   

OK, is this CUTE!!! I am not into decorating for Halloween but I had to have this little guy.  I found him at Bath and Body Works.  Not only is this too cute but it is foam soap which I just love and the smell is amazing. I always want to just take a bath in it!

 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

 

SKETCH 76 – CELEBRATE AUTUMN card

Materials:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Oliver/BasicGrey
Tree and Acorn stamps – My Favorite Things
Chalkboard and Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels
Circle die cut – Jenni Bowlin
Copic markers
FALL sticker letters – K&Co.
Sentiment stickers – SRM
Mini brads
Foam tape – 3M
Sandpaper

THANKS - Leaf card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Expressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper - BasicGrey
Foam tape – 3M
Leaf stamp – Me & My Big Ideas
Colored stamp pads – Versafine and Clearsnap
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Dot embossing folder – Cuttlebug
Jenni Bowlin journaling sticker
Rub-on sentiment – Making Memories
Leaf border punch – Martha Stewart
Sandpaper