Black and White photo challenge

Each month the Nikki Sivils blog issues a challenge and there are chances to win prizes. 

 For the next month, the challenge is to use black and white photos.  I found the perfect photos of our youngest grandson to turn into b/w.  Can I say I love this piece of red patterned paper! This is a print I would want to use over and over since I am madly in love with anything red.

 I cut this design from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge by Close to My Heart. It is designed to use to create a flower but to me it was the perfect accent for a "boy" layout.  I placed it over a piece of Core'dinations embossed cardstock.  I love the letters and numbers in the paper.

 I created a little collage of elements to finish off the layout.  The half circle is a banner cut from the same cartridge as is the little tag with the cut out heart. The other patterned papers and the alphabet sticker letters are by Nikki Sivils too. 

And, to share a few photos...

 We visited the San Diego Safari Park recently and one of the highlights was viewing the baby elephants. There were several and this one was only three weeks old. 

 What was especially fun was the group that was carrying for the baby.  Not only was mom close at all times but there were two other elephants in various sizes who were just as concerned. 

 See these guys?

They are waiting for this big guy to finish drinking water!  He is big and they seemed to understand that.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Pumpkin, Tiggers and Hot Air Balloons

No, those things don't always go together but for my post today they do.

 I wanted to share a couple older projects with you since they fit so well for the time of year we are in.  I have shared these first two before but I hope you will like seeing them again.

The card is so simple! Just some circles, a pumpkin stamp in one of the circles and SRM sticker sentiment in another. 

 And, since our grandson was beyond adorable in this cute costume, I wanted to share this layout again. It uses Nikki Sivils papers.

 And, this card is brand new.  It uses some Bella Blvd papers and the hot air balloon is a die cut I cut out.  I am a fan of anything woodgrain right now, in any color and love cloud designs too.

 I cut the top of the hot air balloon off and then added it back with foam tape so there is dimension to the card.

And for a few photos...

 Our new little girl! She even has a name now. There are too many of us voting so this took awhile.  She will have been in our home one week, tomorrow.  Let me introduce K. C.!

 She plays hard but then has to stop. 

She loves running around the yard with our other do.  They are becoming great friends.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Layers of Color Ornament Blog Hop

Welcome to the Layers of Color Ornament Blog Hop!

The beginning of the blog hop is at the
Layers of Color blog.

If you came here from Keri's blog,

you are hopping in the right order.

This is the place to discover the newest creative paper ornament ideas, be inspired by talented designers, and get showered with gifts! Layers of Color is giving away:

FREE Ornament Templates!

FREE Vintage Roses Ornament Tutorial! and

6 drawings for a $20 Layers of Color Gift Certificate!

First, my ornament inspiration!...

 I got to play with the ANGELIC set of stamps.  I picked up this wooden heart ornament at Michaels in all of their new products for Christmas projects. 

 I wanted to keep my stamped image very simple in the coloring so I used some of my very lightest Copic markers and kept the color combo very limited.  When I had it all colored, I sprayed it with some Smooch Spritz.  Plus I added some gold paint for the decoration at the neck line of their little outfits. 

I had downloaded a free piece of sheet music from Crafty Secrets and printed that out on white cardstock.  Next I took one of the stencils from Layers of Color and sponged it with brown ink.  I also sprayed this with the Smooch Spritz.  The outside rim of the wooden heart was painted with a pink paint and also spritzed so it wasn't too pink.

I also wanted to create a card using the same set of stamps so you could see more uses for the stamps.

I loosely used the sketch for this week at Card Patterns for my card.  The cardstock is two sided so I just used both sides.  That rub-on sentiment is from EAD Designs/Paper Smooches.

Again, I wanted to keep the image very simple in the coloring so I slightly colored the angel and then sprayed the entire image with the Smooch Spritz and cut it out.  LOVE the glimmer from the Spritz. I embossed the kraft colored corner with my Cuttlebug and the pink patterned paper is from Echo Park.  The corner is punched one time with a 4-in-1 Kreaxions punch.

GIFTS FOR YOU!...

Come get a FREE Vintage Roses Ornament Tutorial tomorrow, October 27th on Layers of Color blog!

  

Follow the directions at the Layers of Color blog as to how to enter for the prizes. Winners will be announced tomorrow! And there are more gifts for you!...

 

With every online purchase from Layers of Color boutique you will get an exclusive FREE Vintage Ornament Template designed by Laura Campbell! She made this sample using Glad Tidings art stamp set and Feather Twine. Your gift will be printed on cardstock ready for you to add your creative ideas with stamps and ink! Limited time only!

Let's get hopping to discover lots of gorgeous ornament projects to add sparkle to your Christmas preparations! There are drawings for $20 Layers of Color Gift Certificates as surprise gifts for you along the way, so be sure to visit each designer blog!

From my blog, hop on over to Linda Lucas' blog for more goodness.

 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Child's Play

 First off, I want to share my Unscripted Sketches card for this week. 

 I pulled out some brand new stamps and a wonderful Spellbinders Nestabilities die. 

 Don't you just love this stamp of these kids in a parade? I stamped it with black, embossed it with clear embossing powder and then sprayed it with colors.  Same with the number strip. 

 I created this fun card for the Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker blog.  I used the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge and some My Lil' Monster papers and stickers. 

 In this bottom square, I created a little collage of some of the stickers that go along with that paper collection.

 These stickers are in the set too.

Gotta share some photos too...

 This little cutie came to our house this weekend.  Little Miss No-Name!!! Why is it so hard to find the perfect name?

 They are just meeting each other.  I took the photos with my Hiptamatic phone app.

 They are trying to figure each other out.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 128 – FOR  YOU card

Materials list:

Cardstock – Core’dinations and Bazzill

Patterned papers –My Mind’s Eye and Webster’s Pages (label)

Kreaxions 4-in-1 punch

Flower - Fabric

Rub-on sentiment – EAD Designs/Paper Smooches

Buttons

Stamp pad - Distress

All That Glitters Blog Hop

The Flower Soft team is showing off some

brand new Flower Soft products,

from the Diamond Range.

The hop starts today, Saturday, October 22 and ends October 29, with the winners announced October 31. 

Flower Soft will be giving away a package of some of the new colors and YOU WANT THEM!!! There are 11 chances for an entry into the give away, you just need to comment on each blog.

If you are following the hop, you should have come here from Dina's blog. 

 I used one of the Country Villiage Toppers for my card. These toppers come printed and colored with extra parts so that you can make your little scene dimensional.  I loved this choice because of the wisteria that were hanging from the building and that gave me the perfect reason to use the new Amethyst Diamond Range Flower Soft. 

Not only are the Amethyst and the Emerald that I used on some of the leaves amazing colors but, wow, on the great splash of glitter that is in them!  I used an extra set of the front gate so that that part of the image was layered. 
From my blog hop on over to Gini's blog for more goodness.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The acorn fell from the tree!

 This is the newest Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  I knew the moment I saw it what I wanted to create using it. (Remember you can play along with the challenge to win stamps, you have until November 2nd)

 The first thing I saw was "simplicity". Just a tall tree and a little car.  I figured I could create what was in my mind with some woodgrain patterned paper and Kim's adorable little acorn stamp.  The patterned paper is by Bella Blvd., I just love it. 

 I could have used a few different color combinations on the acorn but I wanted to stay real close to the colors of that super cute van.  The colors leaves are coated with Aleene's Paper Glaze for an epoxy look.  I created a little banner so I could add a cute sentiment.

And, I need to share some fun news...

I just got the new issue of Just Cards in the mail and my card is on the cover!!! The little The Cat's Pajamas stamp of the chicken in the bowl. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Clouds and Flowers

First off, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week.

 Clearsnap and the new Stephanie Barnard stamp pads are our sponsor this week.  I pulled out some Paper Smooches stamps to create my card. 

 The cloud stamp was stamped on a piece of "text" print digital patterned paper.  It is from a set at 2 Peas in a Bucket.  To use the stamp pads, I used my blending tool and colored the clouds and the yellow portion of the little scooter with the ink in the stamp pads. The rest of the scooter was colored with Copic markers.  These new pads are the best colors. 

 Next up is my Unscripted sketches card for this week and it has a piggyback challenge to it to use fabric. The use of the fabric also fits the Moxie Fab challenge to use Texture.

 I pulled out some fabric I had purchased with these adorable little flowers all over it. I used Mod Podge and glued three flowers to white cardstock and left that to dry. When it was dry, I cut the flowers out. The cardstock helped make the flowers more sturdy, they were easier to cut out and it helped stop the fabric from fraying. 

 Notice that red strip going down the page? I punched it with one of my brand new Kreaxions 4-in-1 punches.

And for a couple photos...

 We took a trip to the San Diego Safari Park last weekend. Kids get in free in October.  We knew there was a new baby gorilla there so that was one of our first stops. The mom with her baby came out for just a few minutes.  I think the mom doesn't let the baby go very far away from her so it was so cute to watch her carry it around. It was just born in June so it is very young. 

The mom got sight of something in this tree that she wanted so she walked over, stood up and reached for what she was after.  It was neat to see her walking around.  If you are in that area, this park is a wonderful place to visit and to see the animals in something very similar to their natural surroundings.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 240 – JUST ROLL WITH IT card

Materials:
Stephanie Barnard Stamp pads courtesy of Clearsnap – Blueberry and Banana
Cardstock – Core’dinations
X-Press Blending Card – Copic Markers
Digital paper – Collage kit/Two Peas in a Bucket
Patterned paper – We R Memory Keepers
Copic markers
Stamp – Paper Smooches
Foam tape – 3M


SKETCH 128 – FOR YOU card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core’dinations and Bazzill
Patterned papers –My Mind’s Eye and Webster’s Pages (label)
Kreaxions 4-in-1 punch
Flower - Fabric
Rub-on sentiment – EAD Designs/Paper Smooches
Buttons
Stamp pad - Distress

A stamp here and a stamp there

Both cards I get to share in this post use stamps! I love stamping. 

 First off, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week.  Want2Scrap BLING is our sponsor.  I cut the scallop circle with my Cricut and the ring of black rhinestones are a perfect fit. 

 The flower stamp was stamped with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder and then I very simply colored it with Copic markers. 

 Now on to my Unscripted sketch card.  I turned the sketch on it's side. I just love this sketch and could see using it several more times.

 I combined a few Hero Arts stamps for my design.  The circle/wreath was inked with a couple colors of Distress stamp pads. 

 I stamped the flower twice on patterned paper.  The top one was added with foam tape for added dimension and I made clips into the petals to add even more dimension. 

And, to share a couple photos...

 Our puppy, Sadie! She is a year and a half now and sooooo cute. 

My husband built this wonderful arbor.  I picked up the birdcage at Ross and put plants in it, the little lights are solar.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 239 – THANK YOU card

Materials:

Rhinestone circle courtesy of Want2Scrap

Cardstock – Core’dinations

X-Press Blending Card – Copic Markers

Copic markers

Stamp – Inkadinkado

Black Versafine stamp pad

Clear embossing powder - Stampendous

Art Philosophy CTMH Cricut cartridge - , 3 1/4” and , Card, 4 ½” and 5 ½”

Rub-on sentiment – EAD Designs/Paper Smooches

SKETCH 127 – WISHING YOU LAUGHTER card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned papers – BoBunny, My Mind’s Eye, We R Memory Keepers
Fiskars corner rounder punch
Wreath, flower and sentiment stamps – Hero Arts
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampedous
Distress stamp pads
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.