When is Red, White and Blue not patriotic!

I always love the Colour Q combos and this weeks was no exception!

 The red, white and blue color combo was so adorable in the inspiration photo, I loved that it was something other than patriotic although I am a huge fan of pictures of our flag, etc. With the Fourth of July coming up, that is foremost on our minds.  I wanted to use those colors in a non traditional way though. I started out with a watercolor background, pulling out my trusty Distress Stains. When that was dry, I added some white embossing paste with a stencil.  

 I love feathers and one of my favorite sets is from Wplus9 Designs.  I have the stamps and the matching dies so I used both.  I started out coloring a piece of paper with more Distress Stains and then cut the feathers out of that.

Here is the Colour Q combo.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards Blog Hop

AA Cards is featuring a week full of fun, starting with a blog hop among the team members. You might have come here from the Desert Diva's blog.

 The MacGyver Challenge is full of games and huge prizes from Stampendous so be sure to check out the AAA Cards blog for all of the details.  

 Here is my card that uses all the parts of the MacGyver challenge, string, corrugated paper, a stamp, a hole and plastic.  

 I received a package this week and knew right away I had to keep part of the box.  This was the perfect backdrop for my card.  Those adorable daisies, that cute little tag and the sentiment are from a stamp set by Stampendous.  I kept the coloring very simple by touching the image here and there with Distress Stains.  

This wonderful stamp set is the give away from my blog.  You need to answer this question to be in the drawing:
What do you create the most - Cards, Layouts, Other projects?

Be sure to read all of the details on the AAA Cards so you can maybe be one of the winners.

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

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Bring on the Sun!!

Summer just makes me happy, I think it is mostly that the day is lighter longer!!!

 Anyway, makes for a fun reason to create a sun design on a card and that is also the Addicted to CAS challenge this week.  I started out with watercolor paper and some Distress Stains. I could play with these all day long and every time they turn out different. That neat sentiment is from Technique Tuesday. I have been waiting for a chance to use this set!!!!

 When the inks were dry, I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil for my rays with some white embossing paste.  

Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.

This also fits the Simon Says challenge.

 And for a fun project....

 My daughter created a gift for a friend who is moving away and I just had to share.  She started out painting the bottles with chalkboard paint.

 She then used a Chalk Marker to create her design. These are a ltitle more then just chalk.  You can wash it off but it is pretty stable. 

Love the verse she used.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Fun Times Two

My card today uses one challenge from two challenge blogs.  Of course, it was fun to play along.

 It represents some firsts for me and since I love to experiment, I was happy. The main focus is lots of white.  I started out using a stencil and some Gesso.  Once I had my card front covered with the Gesso, I sprinkled some Pearl embossing powder on the stenciled design.  I heated the embossing powder now but that did take awhile since the Gesso was wet.  In the inspiration piece, I saw a green butterfly although it just might be gold.  I did have it in mind though that I wanted to use a green butterfly against all of the white.

 I tried to catch a lot of light so you could really see the Pearl embossing powder.  Because I had to heat it for awhile, the embossing powder started bubbling up and I thought that really added to the finished look.  The banner pieces are cut strips of vellum.  The little banner piece and sentiment are from Clearly Besotted.

 Here is the Fusion and CAS(e) this sketch challenge.

And for a photo...

From our day at the beach on the First Day of Summer!

And, for a teaser, watch the AAA Cards blog for a fun challenge starting this next Sunday.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Gotta Create!

Once again, I find myself creating with a couple online challenge.  The first one is a brand new one to me at the Craft Stamper Magazine.

 This challenge was to play with a technique I really hadn't tried and so this was the time to dive in.  The challenge is called Bleach Blocking. Instead of using actual bleach though, you use water with Distress Inks.  I have used bleach several times and love that look.  I created a background with some Distress Stains and Distress Stamp pads. As I sat at my desk, I glanced at a jar of embossing powder that was in front of me and I wondered what would happen if I spritzed water on the lid and "stamped" that into the red ink.  Just like with using bleach, you have to let the water "work".  I came back to find a look I loved! I also used some black embossing paste and a stencil to add small aaccents.

 How amazing is that leaf branch???? That and the little flower are from Waltzing Mouse.  They have matching dies so I cut them out with those.  

 Here is the Craft Stamper challenge.

 I also wanted to play along with the CAS-ology Celebrate challenge with some Wplus9 Designs and Paper Smooches stamps.  

 This quilt builder set is so fun, I kept with a very simple design and used the red and blue to go along with Fourth of July coming up soon.  I used Liquid Pearls for accents and some red splatters.

Here is the CAS-ology challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards challenge

It's time for a new AAA Cards challenge

 This weeks challenge is to create a card using the inspiration card.  I started out with some paper or Washi tape for my card. The inspiration card has a band of color across the card and I love using paper tape so this made for a quick start.

 I cut out my flower using a Spellbinders die to go along with the flower on the inspiration piece. A die cut and a stamp for my sentiment, both from Paper Smooches. 

Here is the AAA Cards challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

How do you Celebrate!?

Yeah, another Colour Q combo and I needed to create a card to go with it.

 Since CAS-ology is Celebrating their anniversary, I also played along with them.  I did start out with a Tim Holtz stencil and some Distress Stains to create my background on watercolor paper.  

 Next, I stamped the leaf branch from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and cut that out with it's matching die.  That great die cut "celebrate" is from Penny Black.  They have a bunch of great sentiment dies and I love them all!!! I did finish my card off with some silver Liquid Pearls. 

 Here is the Colour Q combo.

Here is the CAS-ology challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

This is the day...

 I have said this before and I'll say it again, creating a card with just one layer is soooooo hard for me. I want to add something for dimension. I found two current challenges, both are using one layer and I was determined to do it! Less is More's challenge is also "off the edge" and they like to see white space. That is my next huge hurdle!!! 

 I used watercolor paper, this stuff is my new "most favorite".  

 That amazing leaf branch is a stamp from Waltzing Mouse.  The sentiment is by Ali Edwards for Technique Tuesday and those little butterflies are from a set by Clearly Besotted.  I used Distress Stain and Distress Stamp pad inks, love the look of these. 

 Here is the Less is More challenge.

And the Paper Players challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Happy, Summery colors

From the first time I saw the Fusion inspiration piece, I feel in love with it and knew I wanted to play along.  

 I used one of my favorite new sets of stamps and it is from Alternew.  I simply stamped this one flower over my card base and embossed them with white embossing powder.  These embossed flowers will act as a resist when I add the inks.  

 Once again, I just had to play with a watercolor technique.  Distress Stains and Distress stamp pads applied to watercolor paper and spritzed with water. I don't usually know how this is going to look when finished but it is always a fun adventure. My little vellum tag is a die cut from Reverse Confetti stamped with a Mama Elephant sentiment.  

Here is the Fusion challenge.

And here is a photo...

He is NOT singing loud, he is yawning in the middle of one of their songs! There just have to be fun pieces to a kids performance!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

This was a fun one!

Another online challenge to play with, the Color Throwdown challenge.

 I so loved the soft shades of the pretty colors.  As I set out to use the colors, I started out making a background with Distress Stains, Distress Stamp pads and watercolor.  I then set this aside to dry. This is always fun because some really neat character comes out with the watercolors when it all dries. This also had a great Mama Elephant sentiment and a Memory Box butterfly die. 

 I took my stencil and added some pink inks to the stencil with Distress Stain and then placed that on my card.  Next I took some white embossing paste and used a palette knife to spread the paste over a portion of the stencil. The pink inks on the stencil added an irregular color to the paste so that I then had my two shades of the pinks. The butterfly has an underneath layer in that same pink. I also used some pink Liquid Pearls for accent.

Here is the Color Throwdown combo.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Challenge #7

Another fun challenge!

 Be sure to check out AAA Cards for the embossing and pink challenge.

 I started out creating a background with Distress Stain, Distress Stamp pads and watercolor paper.  When you spritz these with water, you never know what you are going to get but you can be pretty sure it is going to be wonderful.  

 I next took a doily die cut and instead of cutting it, I used an embossing pad so that the design embossed into my colored paper. Love the look! Those amazing flowers are from Wplus9 Designs, the banner is from My Favorite Things and I embossed that black ink, I love that that makes the black more intense and elegant.  Remember the Blue Moon Scrapbook store has lots of Ranger products and the prize this week at AAA Cards is from that store. 

Now for a few photos...

 This is what we did this week. So much fun and you can see he is pretty happy. It can't possibly be time for summer vacation, can it?

His mom, my daughter made this adorable treat for the class.  Cookie "french fries", red frosting "ketchup" and an adorable hamburger that is really a cupcake with a brownie center and frosting ketchup, mustard and lettuce.  A bunch of work and oh so cute!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Less is More!

Why do I have so much trouble with "simple"!? You know, leaving some white space.  I usually want to keep going but for my card, I added a few elements and then walked away.

 I wanted to play along with the Inkspirational CAS challenge and to also use the retro sketch.  Is that die cut word amazing! I just got it from Penny Black. I added color with some Distress Stain, such a fast and easy way to make it match.

 Do you love these flower stamps from Alternew!? I sat down to play with this super cool stamp set and created I don't know how many different combinations with the different layers. (Altenew has a sheet available on their web site for guidelines on used the layers) The only draw back is I did have to cut them out but that only takes a second. I also used the Lil' Inkers stitched layers die. 

 Here is the Inkspirational challenge.

Here is the retro sketch challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)