Puppy dogs and Little boys

I love sketches, I have mentioned that before. I love them for cards and for layouts.  One thing that is great about the Unscripted sketches is that they are meant to be used for any project you want to apply them too. This week, I just knew I wanted to use the sketch for a layout. 

Here is the new sketch for Saturday.  If you have time this week, create something using this sketch.

I pulled out some more photos from when our Sadie was brand new to our house.  We bought her this trendy pillow and she knew instantly what to do with it.  I used photos that were almost 5" x 7".

The patterned paper is by Jillibean Soup and I also had some sprouts on hand and they ended up being the perfect accents. 

More Sprouts. I punched brown circles from the circle patterned paper and put those in the middle of the Sprouts and then added these cute self adhesive glitter hearts to each of them.

You guessed it - more photos!

Last Sunday, we were on our way to church and I just had to grab the camera first for a mini photo shoot. 

He was trying to escape real quick like!

He is cute no matter what he is doing!!!


Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 83 – NEW BED FOR A NEW PUPPY layout

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned Paper and Sprouts – Jillibean Soup
Self adhesive hearts - Recollections
Sandpaper

Voting and Stamping

As for the voting, will you vote for me at Sketchy Thursday if you have a minute? The voting goes until Wednesday and it is for being the December Guest Designer which I think would be so fun.

Now for the stamping part of my post.

The sponsor this week at Card Positioning Systems blog is Kitchen Sink stamps. Her stamps are always some of my favorites to work with.  And to make the stamps that I used this week even more fun, I was on the lookout this fall for some great, "go to" leaf stamps and I found them!!! LOVE this set, it includes a number of leaves all in the 3-4 step process that makes Kitchen Sink stamps popular.

The Kitchen Sink stamps are designed to use in her 3-4 step process but what I discovered about these leaf stamps if that you don't always have to use all of the layers.  The golden yellow stamps that created my background here are only one of the layers.  Another interesting thing about these leaves is that for the orange/brown ones, I used the second leaf in the set and the third and I used the same color ink for each layer. They are designed to use all three or four layers and to use different shades of ink for each layer to create the finished image. 

Another interesting accent to this card is that I used a piece of Core'dinations from The Chocolate Box collection. That means it is brown on the top side and the core and reverse side is red.  I used my Martha Stewart score board to score the lines in the bottom portion of the card and then sanded them to expose the red core.  A fun, easy and inexpensive technique. 

Now for a more Christmasy style of card, I used another leaf in the same set. 

This time I used all three layers and a different shade of ink for each layer.  I then sprayed over the piece with a green Glimmer Mist. 

 A close-up of the three layers. 
Gotta share a few photos too...

We pulled out the Halloween costume again to get some photos of the costume in the daylight.  This is the famous Dino-Bubbles slayer!!! He was very specific that he wanted to be a dinosaur with a sword.  His big sister pulled out the bubbles to help keep his attention while Grandma snapped the camera.

It is pretty funny too because our puppy dog thinks she is part of the action!!!

Our fearless Bubble Slayer!!!
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 194 – THANK YOU card

Materials:
Stamps – Courtesy of Kitchen Sink stamps
Cardstock – The Chocolate Box/Core’dinations
Memento and Distress stamp pads
Martha Stewart Score Board
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Self adhesive rhinestones - Recollections
Sandpaper
Foam tape

SKETCH 195 – HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS card
Materials:
Stamps – Courtesy of The Stamps of Life
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Winter Wonderland/Echo Park Paper Co. (both sides)
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder - Stampendous
Copic markers
White pen
Foam tape

Amazing and Thankful all at the same time!

I am usually a pretty happy person but I am SOOOOO happy right now. I know that Christmas is "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" but I also love so many things that come along at this time of year.  Here are my favs...

1.  Eggnog Frappucino's and Latte's are back at Starbucks.  Why we can't have Eggnog all year long is a mystery to me but since we don't, I wait for November when it comes back.

2.  A close second to this is Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's new Red Velvet Hot Chocolate! OHHHH wow and another drink that will probably only be around for awhile.

3.  The last is this variety of Truffles by Lindt - Dark Peppermint, Dark Chocolate shell with a smooth Peppermint filling in a dark green package.  I usually only find this variety at Target's and believe me, I stock up.

I haven't shared my Card Positioning Systems sketch for this last week yet so here it is today. 

The sketch is simple and I love it!  Gotta love this BasicGrey patterned paper too.

The label is readymade by WeRMemory Keepers and they are so fun to use. Behind that, I embossed a piece of white cardstock with a Sizzix embossing folder. I thought it was a fun little accent.

And here is my Unscripted sketch for the sketch starting today, Saturday. 

I am showing off my brand new stamp from a set by Darcie Heater. I was able to attend a stamp convention this last week and I was totally amazed at this great selection in the Darcie's booth. I have loved this company for along time but I had thought they weren't my style anymore. Boy was I surprised. I found so many sets I just plain loved! I colored the stamp by tapping it with Memento stamp pads. 

And, now for a few more Vineyard photos...

Is that a scene right out of the books?

These flowers were so beautiful, especially with the grapes in the background.

Can you see that I was really there!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 193 – YOU ARE AMAZING card

Materials:

Cardstock – Core Pearls/Core’dinations

Patterned paper - BasicGrey

Sentiment label – We R Memory Keepers

Button – PaperTrey, Inc.

String – Karen Foster

Scallop circle punch - Marvy

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Corner rounder punch – Fiskars

Tonic paper distresser

Sandpaper

Foam tape

SKETCH 82 – SO VERY THANKFUL card

Materials list:
Cardstock – The Chocolate Box collection/Core’dinations
Patterned Paper – Tree Love/Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker
Stamp set – Flourish Pumpkin set/Darcie’s
Memento stamp pads
Self Adhesive Pearls – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

Celebrations with Flower Soft

The Flower Soft Design Team is hosting another blog hop, this time with the theme of Celebrations.  Each team member with be using Flower Soft, of course, and JustRite stamps.  Flower Soft will be hosting the JustRite challenge that starts this Friday too so look out for that. 

This week we'll be giving away TWO prize packages during the hop!

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 FSC12.

Both prize winners will be chosen and announced on the Flower Soft blog on November 26th. The winner of the Splitcoast Gallery challenge will have their card featured on the Flower Soft Blog on November 26th!!!

For the card that I wanted to share with you, I used the theme of Weddings for my Celebrations.  I think that a wedding card should be elegant but a simple color scheme so that the guys will like it as well as the gals.  I used pieces from several different JustRite stamps to create my design and sentiment.

The Small Rectangle label is from the Baroque Nested Frames & Occasions set, the Circle label is from the Whimsical Christmas set and the Mr. & Mrs. sentiment is from the Wedding Nested Sentiments set.  For all of them, I used the clear blocks, I love those things!!! Just shows how versatile their sets are that they can be mixed and matched.

All of them were stamped on white cardstock using a Versafine Black stamp pad and I embossed the images with Clear Embossing powder. I just love the elegance that comes with the black, embossed lines.

I wanted the circles to look like wedding rings so I punched out the middles of the circles labels after I stamped them with a circle punch and then punched out the entire circle label with a larger circle punch. 

Now for the part you can't resist, I added SILVER Flower Soft to the gun metal colored Gemstone Core'dinations scallop punched circle.  There is no way getting around what amazing detail that silver Flower Soft adds to the finished card. 

Another interesting detail to take note of with this card is the card base.  It is black cardstock that has white on the reverse side. It is by Core'dinations and it is the best answer to making a black card but having a color inside that you can stamp on or write on. I sanded the edges of the card too so that sanded edge is white.

From here, hop on over to Vicki Garrett's blog. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Materials:
Silver Flower Soft

Tacky Glue - Aleene's
Cardstock - Gemstone and Black Magic/Core'dinations

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Queen & Co. self adhesive pearls

Versafine black stamp pad

Clear embossing powder - Stampendous

Scallop circle and circle punches - PaperShapers

Sandpaper

Foam tape - 3M

Puppy Love

It is Puppy Love at our house and this collection of SUGAR LOVE by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker was the perfect match for these cute pics!

Just the chocolate brown with the shades of pink are perfect but then the addition of the hearts is so cute.  Our puppy, Sadie is 6 months old now and a bit larger then she was when we brought her home. My heart just melts when I look at these first photos and I wish I had tons more. I pulled out a few of them for my layout which fits a Sketchy Thursday sketch and challenge to use at least 5 photos.  I, of course, took a few liberties with the sketch but to me that is what they are about in the first place. 

These brown letter stickers are part of the SUGAR COOKIE collection and they worked great for my title.  To help them stand out a little more against the background, I lightly ran some sandpaper over them. I love the look of the ruffed up edges.

In order to use at least 5 photos, I picked out one photo to be larger and then accented that with a row of smaller photos.  I love to do layouts this way.

The little white dots on the hearts were accented with white Fashion Paint by Tulip.  A really cute way to add a little bit of something different plus some self adhesive rhinestones. 

And yes, I have to share some photos!

We recently drove through the Paso Robles part of California where there are many vineyards.  I love the artistic look of vineyards and how they look in the fall is the best! The clouds on this day were so pictureque, I couldn't have asked for a better photo op. 

This vineyard had these wonderful, golden grapes. I loved the white dots that appeared in the photo, I am guessing from the sun. 

The colors were so beautiful.

Next post I will share some more pics from another vineyard.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Cupcakes are soooooo nice!

Yes, time for another sketch! It is Saturday and the day the new Unscripted sketch is revealed. 

This one was so fun.  On the sketch, the card front is divided in four parts and so I used my Martha Stewart Score Board to put score lines to define the four areas. 

The sketch has a circle in the upper corner and I thought that a punched out circle to create a little window would be fun.  The cupcaker is a sticker by SRM. 

Here is a close-up of my score lines.  I used a piece of Black Magic Core'dinations cardstock for my card base.  Once I had my score lines in place, I sanded them on the top side of the card and the sanding exposed the green core of the paper. 

Gotta share a few photos...

We have been having such amazing sunsets lately. 

I took our youngest grandson with me so he could play in the sand for a little bit.  I love the silhouette of him and the surfer walking on the shore. 

Is this gorgeous!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 81 – MAKE A WISH card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Black Magic collection/Core’dinations
Cupcake and sentiment Stickers – SRM
Martha Stewart Score Board
Circle punch and scallop circle punch – Marvy
Border punch - Recollections
Self Adhesive Rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Ribbon
Sandpaper
Foam tape – 3M

Goodness, Goodness and MORE Goodness

And, most of the goodness comes from sketches but also from some great online challenges. 

To start off my post, I am showing you my Card Positioning Systems blog card for this week. Our sponsor is Paper Pretties and I just fell in love with this adorable little skating girl.  Notice that great embossed cardstock for the card base.  It is Core Impressions by Core'dinations. That means it comes with that embossed design in it already and I slightly sanded it.  They aren't snowflakes but they look like it here.

This set comes with several little snowflakes so I used some of them to create a snow scene.  The girl is colored with Copic makers.  Her handwarmer and ear muffs are accented with Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip. I love how that is just enough added glitter and bling.

For this card, I started out with the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch for this week.  Their sponsor is Layers of Color so I used a free digi download from LOC for my card, that is that great sentiment.  The flower is cut out of a piece of SEI patterned paper.  This great, golden orange flower plus the white space for the sentiment made this card fit in with the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger for this week and the colors fit with the Colour Q challenge. 

Once I downloaded the sentiment, I opened a WORD document and inserted it.  From here, I could size this to the exact size I wanted to work with. This download could be printed out just about any size and another great reason to use something like this is that I could make multiple cards by repeatedly printing out the verse. 

And, I also found time to play with the Card Patterns sketch.  This gave me a chance to use my new Wplus9 Designs Studios medallion stamps.  I thought they looked like they could be snowflakes. 

My very newest purchase is this great set of Spellbinder Nestabilities and I thought they were perfect to go along with the sketch.  I kept the Nestabilitie in place once the shape was cut out and embossed and sprayed it with some Glimmer Mist.  I did a little bit of accenting with a matching Copic marker. 

Gotta share some photos from this last week...

This last Saturday was my grandsons last soccer game of this season and in the last quarter he played the position of goalie. You can see by these photos that he really showed them how to do it. Just like this, he stopped the ball several times.

And had great form as he kicked the ball back into the game. 

Here is our little puppy today.  She has grown so much since we got her, she is now 6 months old and just as cute as ever.

I thought you might like to see where you can most often find our kitty cat! She is so intent as she watches anything that moves.

Plus, here is a photo of one of my  new Calla Lillies in our backyard. They are such a dark purple, some of them are almost black!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 192 – WINTER GREETINGS card

Materials:
Stamps courtesy of Paper Pretties
Cardstock – Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper - BasicGrey
Versafine black stamp pad
Clear Embossing Powder – Stampendous
Copic Markers
Glitter 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip
Self adhesive rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Scallop circle punches and circle punches – PaperShapers
Sandpaper
Foam tape

BLESSED IS THE NATION… card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Moonrise collection/SEI (the flower is cut from one pattern)
Digital stamp for sentiment – Layers of Color
Self adhesive gems – Queen & Co.
Foam tape – 3M
Sandpaper

HAPPY HOLIDAYS card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Couture and Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – BoBunny (both sides)
Rub-on sentiment – Making Memories
Border punch – Apron Lace/Fiskars
Snowflake stamp - Mehndi Medallions/Wplus9 Design Studios
Scallop Circle die cut – Spellbinders Nestabilities
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Blue Glimmer Mist spray – Tattered Angels
Buttons – PaperTrey, Inc.
Self adhesive rhinestones – Queen & Co.
Foam tape – 3M
Sandpaper