Love card

I actually found a little bit of time to play and I used the CAS(e) this Sketch for my inspiration.

 I wanted to try this particular technique on a card for sometime so that was the starting point on my card.  I stamped the background stamp from Hero Arts with white ink and embossed that with white embossing powder on white cardstock.  Now to make the design show up, I took two different colors of ink and used a blending pad to only add the ink to a portion of the background image.  This is a great way to add a focal point. 

 I finished it off with a die cut word, Love, from PaperTrey, Inc and a stamped damask design from Judi Kins.  A few sequins accented with some Liquid Pearls completes it. 

Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Gotta have more snowflakes!!!

I so love snowflakes and I am guessing that many other people do too since there were two online challenges this week to use them!!!

 I used this great die cut for the center piece to my card, the die is from PaperTrey, Inc.  I cut the snowflake out of white, glitter paper and it sure looks neat.  The inspiration for my card came from Julia Stainton at Belle Papier.  I liked the look of her circles under the vellum. 

 First of all I used some Studio 490 Embossing Paste and a Studio Calico stencil.  I love the look that is created with the paste.

 Here is the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.

 Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.

And, I made these cookies the other day and WOW!!!! Here they are.  That is melted York mint pieces you see.  The result is a really chewy and amazing cookie.  I added some crushed candy canes as the cookies came out of the oven.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A Christmas Load

Take a peek at this card in the Crafts n' Things newsletter.
Now for my card that I want to share today.

 Back in 2010 I created this card to use to give someone the gift of money, I am always amazed at how many times it has been viewed, something over 900 times!!! I used the same little truck and could not resist the adorable little reindeer antler stamp.  The stamps are all from Printworks.

Of course, the trunk could hold a gift card too but how cute to show off the $20's!  The little tree stamp is also from Printworks and the die cut word is from Paper Smooches.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A bronze snowflake

I am having fun getting some Holiday cards finished for sending to friends.

I also seem to be addicted to snowflakes! I just love them and who could resist a bronze snowflake?  I went to the CAS(e) this sketch for my inspiration.

 That wonderful snowflake is a My Favorite Things die and I cut it from some dreamy bronze glitter cardstock.  The word JOY is a die cut from Wplus9 Designs.

 

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch.

And, here is the Addicted to CAS challenge for snowflakes.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Let it Snow!!!

At least on my cards! No actual snow around these parts.

 My first card uses the retro sketch for this week along with some pretty cool My Favorite Things products.  The papers are from Teresa Collins.

 I cut the large snowflake with a My Favorite Things die and a page torn from an old dictionary. I wanted to match the little book print snowflakes on the patterned paper. I added some chunky glitter to the middle of my large snowflake.  The cool sentiment is a banner die and stamp from My Favorite Things.

 Here is the retro sketch.

 This card uses the Seize the Sketch for this week.  The larger and smaller, white snowflakes were stamped with white paint.

 The cool die cut words are from Paper Smooches.

Here is the Seize the Sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Simply Amazing

What a perfect sentiment for a card for a friend - "You are simply amazing"!!!

 I pulled together the sketch from CAS(e) this sketch and a color combo for Colour Q for my card.  The Colour Q combo is an older one but one that was different and fun to use. 

 These wonderful leaf die cuts are from PaperTrey, Inc.  For the rectangle block, I added color to an acrylic block and "stamped" that directly to the paper.  I love the distressed look that gives.  The sentiment is from Wplus9 Designs. 

Here is the CAS(e) this sketch.
And some photos from my yard today...

I know that some of you might be getting snow, we have a different story here!!!
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Eight Things!

The CAS-ual Friday challenge is to use eight of something.  At first, I wasn't even going to give it a try, not knowing what I had eight of.

 I had just received this little stamp set from PaperTrey, Inc that features the word "congrats" and eight little sentiments to go along with it.  What a perfect fit.  The card base was embossed with an embossing folder.

 The set comes with the word "congrats" as a stamp but there is also a matching die for the word so that was what I used for my card. I LOVE die cut words.  The label shape is also from PaperTrey, Inc.  I took a new stencil from Tim Holtz and added color to the label shape by rubbing it with some inks.  I put all eight of the little sentiments on an acrylic block and stamped them at once.  The sentiments are divided with black dots of Liquid Pearls. The recipient of the card gets to choose which sentiment fits best. 

 Here is the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. 

 To add the color to the label shape, I actually colored a piece of white cardstock first and then cut the label out of that piece.  The result is that I also had the negative of that cut and I knew I needed to use it.  I just backed it with green cardstock. 

I used a die cut word "Happy" from PaperTrey, Inc for the main part of my sentiment and a Paper Smooches stamp for the rest of the sentiment.  What is funny is this card actually uses eight elements on it.  The die cut label, the die cut word, the stencil, the ink, the corner rounder punch, the Paper Smooches stamp, the sequins and the Liquid Pearl dots. 

This is a photo of the Yield signs at a new shopping center near our house.  We live by the beach! This just cracks me up. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Pretty Black Flowers

My card today uses the CAS(e) this Sketch for the design.

 I played with some stamps and matching dies for the flowers.  They are both from Heartfelt Creations.  The pretty frames are die cuts from Spellbinders Nestabilities.

 I stamped the flowers with white ink on black cardstock and then cut out the various layers of the flowers.  Having the matching die shapes for the stamps is so fun and these flowers are pretty easy to form. 

Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Brown Leaves

The card I wanted to share with you, mixes a fall theme with the CAS(e) this Sketch.

 Again, I so love this background stamp from Hero Arts.  I combined it with a notebook looking stamp. 

 That great leaf is also a stamp from Hero Arts.  I like the clean look of the brown and white.

Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.  My take is a little bit loose but love the sketch anyway.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Fall colors

I so love the colors of fall.

 I also love this tree die from Simon Says.  It was fun to play around with this tree and using some fall colors. 

 I colored a piece of white, watercolor paper by using some Distress Stains and then I cut out the tree.  For this card I used the negative image of the die. 

 I took that cut out tree and used the actual die cut for this card.  Notice how neat it is colored because I used that paper that I had already colored with the Distress Stains.

 This is actually a mini card.  I decorated the background of the card by using a stencil. 

These cards go along with the Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  That challenge for this week is Thanks/Thanksgiving.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Daisies and Leaves

First off, I played along with the retro sketch. 

 I went to a couple of my favorite Printworks stamps. I have loved Printworks for what seems like forever. It helps that they are always at our stamp convention.  In fact, I am headed there this weekend, YEAH!!!

 After coloring the main flowers with Copic markers, I gave the piece a spray of yellow spray ink and some drops of some orange spray ink, both are Stephanie Barnard spray inks by Clearsnap.

 Here is the retro sketch.

 Next up, I attempted what is a huge challenge for me, a one layer card.  That is the current Addicted to CAS challenge.  I always feel I just have to add layers so it was pretty hard to just stamp on the card front and leave it that way.

 My squares of color are just Distress Stamp pads directly "stamped" on the paper.  The leaf is a stamp from Paper Source.  That neat sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Is it winter?

Well, we do not ever get snowflakes here in my city, but I sure love to use them when it comes to creating winter themed cards, so I pulled out a few for these two cards that I want to share.

 First off, I am playing with the Seize the Sketch challenge along with the CASology "Black" challenge. 

 I pulled out an adorable My Favorite Things stamp to use as my center piece.  I kind of consider this coloring method a type of "cheating" or a "less is more" look.  I keep the coloring to a minimum and mostly just outline the image with a gray Copic marker.  I also used limited bits of turquoise.  I think he turned out adorable. 

 Here is the Seize the Sketch challenge. 

 And the CASology challenge although I just found out I am too late to link to that. 

 Now for the Freshly Made sketch. 

 I just got this die cut word "Joy" from PaperTrey, Inc and I so wanted to use it.  I thought it fit the sketch nicely with snowflakes as accents.  I did coat the smaller snowflake with Distress Rock Candy although you can't really see it in the picture. 

Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

And for a few fun photos...

 Our youngest grandson picked a Minion for his Halloween costume.  He became quite the clown when I asked for some pics!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)