One die - two ways

I picked up a new shape die.  It is from Spellbinders and it is so cool.

 Of course, I needed to play with it so I made it fit in with a few challenges.  First off, the retro sketch.  LOVE this sketch!

 This die is a two step die. One piece cuts the shape and the other piece cuts the doily design.  Here I didn't cut the doily design, I embossed it.  I used a little bit of a rub of brown stamp pad ink to help the details show off a bit.

 Here is the retro sketch that was my inspiration.

 Next off, this card uses the Dynamic Duos color combination and the Freshly Made sketch. 

 I embossed the silver paper for the card and the die shape is cut with the same die using a mirror finish placemat.  I was hoping that the die would cut the plastic and it wouldn't but how cool is the design that was cut into the plastic?  I had to hand cut the outside of the die along the lines that it did cut.

 Here is the Dynamic Duos color combo.

And the Freshly Made sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CardMaker Magazine - Flower Soft blog hop

Hope you are having fun on this great blog hop. You should have arrived here from Krista's blog.

If you are just starting at my blog, you can catch up by starting at the CardMaker blog or the Flower Soft blog.

 The theme is cards with animals so I went straight to my Cricut machine and pulled out my Create a Critter cartridge. 

 I wanted to make sure I used some Flower Soft on my card too, so I added some Ultra Fine green Flower Soft to the leaves on my little vine.  The flowers here are punched.

I also added some of the same Flower Soft to my cut grass pieces.

From here, hop on over to Kimberly's blog for more inspiration and the next step in the hop.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Flowers and Wise Men

No, those two don't go together except in this post!

 I wish you could see this card in real life! It turned out way more exciting then I expected.  I embossed the Hero Arts background stamp with clear ink and clear embossing powder on white cardstock. Next, I took a brownish color of paint and painted over the entire piece.  Before this was completely dry, I carefully wiped off the paint and revealed this great look.

 It looks like porcelain or china since it turned out shiny with the clear embossing powder.

 I used this CAS(E) this sketch for my inspiration.

 Next up, I used some really neat new Flower Soft stamps for this card.  I used a EK Success border punch on this too.

 I love the look of silhouette stamps and this entire set is just that.  For the blue background, I took some Distress Stain and applied it directly to an acrylic stamping block and then touched that inked block to my paper and slightly turned the block which gave me that swirl pattern.

 This card fits in with the Cas-ual Fridays Winter Blues challenge.

And for a fun photo...

We came across this cutie in the parking garage of our Target!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I am ready to get ready for Christmas. 

 I like making cards for all occasions but what better time to put together a few with a winter/Christmas theme to them.  First off I used the color inspiration at The Play Date Cafe along with the Tuesday Trigger piece at Moxie Fab. 

 I pulled out one of my Cricut cartridges, making this so easy.  The green branches are a border punch.

 Here is the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger. Instead of using the look of all of the frames in the Trigger for my card, I centered in on one of the pink ones.

 Here is The Play Date Cafe color combination, a perfect combo for a Christmas/Winter theme.

 Now my card for the retro sketch.  I wanted to keep it really simple.

 I used a Cricut tag for the main piece on my card, using the negative cut of the snowflake as the centerpiece.  I added a decorative button and the plaid is paper tape from Recollections.

 Here is the retro sketch.
And for a fun pic...

We have a new shopping center that is starting to take shape. When we visited this week, we all had to stop and laugh at the stop signs in the center. We are right by the ocean.  Isn't that fun??

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Favorite color combinations

The two cards I want to share in this post show off a couple of my most favorite color combinations.

 First up, the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge to use blue and this wonderful shade of blue mixed with white. I used the Broken China Distress Stain and a blue Chalkboard spray.  I thought that the blue and whites looked pretty neat on the gray card.

 The ornament and the snowflake stamps are from Hero Arts. I stamped each one with white ink and then embossed with white embossing powder.  The embossed images then act as a resist when the colored ink and spray are added.  I just love that look.

 Here is the link to the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.
This also fits the HAPPY HOLIDAY challenge at Paper Issues. The challenge is for a Christmas project, but I think a card fits for that.
And this also fits the Addicted to CAS SNOW challenge. It is their very first challenge, how cool is that!!!

And for my other card...

 I also wanted to play with the Freshly Made sketch challenge.  It seems it always comes and goes to quickly to get a card done for with their sketch. I made sure to make it in time this week.

 I just got a set of sentiment stamps from Hero Arts. I LOVE this set. I combined two of the sentiments. So many of them mix and match plus I love that font. The chevron tapes are from Queen & Co. and the dot petals are paper tape from Smashbox. The button is from WalMart.

Here is the Freshly Made sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Snowflakes and Puppy Dogs!

Those two things don't really go together except in my post today!

 First up, I wanted to use the sketch at Paper Smooches SPARKS and the color combination at Dynamic Duos so those two things are the inspiration for this card.

 One of my favorite stamp sets is this one from Paper Smooches.  I just love the big and long sentiments. This particular one can fit a few different occasions but I wanted it to go along with a winter theme so I added that adorable little birdie and some red snowflakes.

 This is the Paper Smooches SPARKS sketch.  The sketch shows a scallop edge but I used the wonderful, hexagon border stamp instead.

 This is the great color combination from Dynamic Duos

 And, here is a card I created to go along with the Saturday sketch at 2 peas.  At the stamp convention I went to this last weekend, I picked up this adorable and playful snowflake stamp and some great paper tapes from Queen & Co. 

 I took this photo from a side angle to try to show the Glossy Accents that I added to the yellow star on each snowflake. I used a Distress marker to color the snowflakes and then used a waterbrush on that. The star is colored with a Copic marker.

 Here is the Saturday sketch.

 I also want to share a fun little layout I put together. We have two puppy dogs that we love so much.  Bringing the new one home was so much fun although we sure weren't sure how it was going to go.

 I picked up a roll of leopard print Duck Tape at Michaels and thought it fit with a dog theme.  I just cut little strips and put them together in a zig zag design. 

I also cut some in these triangle shapes for more accents.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Snowflakes and Snowmen

Yes, it is fall but our thoughts are going to snowflakes, snowmen and all that winter brings.

 First off, I took a very simple Kreaxions 4-in-1 #312 punch to create my card that features snowflakes.  

 I punched borders from three different colors of cardstock and then layered those punched borders.  The punch punches the larger snowflake and the tiny snowflake with each punch.

 I had a little pile of leftover snowflakes so I glued them to the top of my card for added decoration.

 For my next card, I wanted to use this CAS(E) this sketch.  My card also fits the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge to stamp with supplies other then ink.

 I was able to get to a stamp convention this past weekend. Three times a year there is a stamp convention in Carson, CA and I try to get to as many as I can. I was so happy to see Printworks there with their adorable stamps and of course, I had to get a few. 

Fitting the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, I stamped the larger snowflake on the card front first using Picket Fence Distress Stain. Next my little guy was simply colored with Copic markers. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The Flower Soft Lampost stamp

The Flower Soft team is showing off their Lampost stamp all this week.

 One thing neat about this particular stamp is that it can fit for about any theme.  I wanted mine to look like winter or Christmas so I paired it with some of the poinsettia die cut dimension pieces. 

 The lampost was stamped with white ink and embossed with white on kraft colored cardstock and then very lightly colored with Copic markers. 

The poinsettia pieces just punch out of the card toppers set and some of the petals are lazer cut so that they can be bent forward for a 3-D look.  The sentiment is from one of Flower Soft's new stamp set.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)