Hip Hip Hooray for Easter Eggs

 Oh, just a background with a bunch of fun colors!!! This was such a super simple background to create with Distress Stains yet I am so in love with the magical mix of colors.  They just seem to go along with coloring an Easter egg.  The egg stamp is from Tim Holtz and the sentiment is from Wplus9 Designs.  

I applied some Distress Stains directly to an acrylic block, gave that a little spritz of water and then placed it directly to a piece of watercolor paper.  I picked it up but there was still plenty of ink on the block so I blotted it here and there to add more color.  I didn't even need to color the egg because the background has so much color to it.

My card fits the CAS-ology Spring challenge.

And it fits the Crazy 4 Challenges Spring challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards Easter Colors Themed challenge

 I am having so much fun creating Spring or Easter colors themed cards lately.  Who can resist bunnies and chicks and flowers!!! So I am a fan of the newest AAA Cards challenge. 

 I created my background with a Simon Says Stamp stencil, some embossing paste and some Distress Inks.  In order to get the embossing paste yellow, I simply added some Distress Stain ink to the stencil first and then spread the embossing paste over the stencil. This combines the paste and the ink.  

I then gave it a quick spray of some spray inks.  That adorable little chickie and the cute sentiment are stamps from Reverse Confetti.  More coloring with Distress Stains.

Be sure to check out the AAA Cards Design Teams cute creations and take some time to play along. 

This also fits the Fusion challenge because of all of the yellow and the celebration of Easter.

And the Addicted to CAS challenge of CUTE.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A Little Love

I am so in love with this particular flower stamp set from Alternew.

 I also love finding more ways to use it.  For this card, the style is pretty casual as far as not really defining each flower, just making all the flowers and leaves and colors just flow together.  I also made it fit the Sketch Saturday since I also love my banner dies from My Favorite Things.  

 I just stamped the outline of the flowers and the leaves on watercolor paper with black ink, embossed them with clear embossing powder.  I like to emboss the black stamped images because it adds definition to the black and makes the ink stable for adding more colors.  I then added color with Distress Stains.  Nothing was exact, I just let the inks and colors flow.  

 Here is the Sketch Saturday.

It also fits the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge because it is Anything Goes.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Black and White with a splash of color

And I picked pink...

 I wanted a card that was fast and easy and had a simple wash of some pink.  I stamped this stamp from Studio Calico in black ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I like to do that so the black lines are a little more intense and the black ink is stable when using other inks over it.  

 I used watercolor paper and then brushed on some Distress Stain inks.  This very simply colored the flower image and the background.  The larger flower has a matching solid stamp so I did stamp that in the same pink.  In order to future the white parts since that is part of two of the challenges I was following, I used some Copic white ink.  I also added some dots of black Liquid Pearls. 

 I also thought this colors in the card went along with the Card Concept challenge.

Here is the Just Us Girls challenge.

Plus the Frosted Designs challenge.
I also used the Time Out challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Orange is a "Happy" color

And the card I wanted to share is very orange and I love it!

 I love playing with inks and watercolor paper for a watercolor look and this one was super easy.  I just spritzed the paper and ran a mini stamp pad down the paper a few times, not filling all of the surface.  I loved the irregular result.  

 It was finished with a simple little white label shape and some Paper Smooches flowers and leaves.  The word "hello" is from Winnie & Walter. 

This goes with the Paper Players challenge.

And the CAS-ology Blossom challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards challenge

 When it comes to card making, one thing is for certain, I struggle with one layer cards and in keeping it simple.  I just have to add stuff!!!

 So this weeks AAA Cards challenge was just that, a challenge for me.  That is one of the things I love about creating though is to have to think outside of my own box.  My card base is watercolor paper. I love the thickness of it along with the texture.  The sentiment is a stamp from Printworks.

Since I am a huge fan of stencils, that was what I reached for to start my card.  Just inking portions of it.  Next I stamped three different butterflies from Clearly Besotted with black ink.  I did emboss them with clear embossing powder because I like what that adds to a design.  To finish it off, I gave it some dots of black embossing paste that I added through a stencil.

Be sure to play along at AAA Cards.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Gotta Love Peeps

When you think of Easter candy, Peeps have to be at the top of the list whether you like them or not, they are pretty adorable.

 Something I have sure noticed this year is that they come in even more colors and flavors then before.  With all of that in mind, I love this adorable stamp set from Reverse Confetti.  The stamps come with a matching die set making them so easy to cut out.  

 I wanted to be sure my bunnies resembled the candies in the store so I added color with Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  I blotted the colors to the paper making sure I didn't completely color each bunny.  I created the background with the same stains and the same colors letting the colors run after they were spritzed with water.  Liquid Pearls puts on the finish on their little cheeks. 

I created it to match the Sketch Saturday sketch.

I thought it would fit in with the Addicted to Stamps challenge too because of the brightly colored candy looking bunnies.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A little bit of this - A little bit of that

I love to play and experiment and this finished card is a good example of that.

 I started out adding some Distress Stains to watercolor paper.  When this paper is spritzed with some water first, the inks run and create the best, unexpected look.  When this was dry, I added some embossing ink over the color and sprinkled some clear Ultra Thick embossing powder over it.  I heated that layer and then added some more of the thick clear powder.  

 When this was cooled, I gently made this thick embossed area crack.  It ended up as a great big distressed background.  The butterfly stamp and matching die is from Clearly Besotted and the die cut word is from Mama Elephant.  Both the butterfly and the word are colored with Distress Stains.  

This fits the Addicted to CAS Distress challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Pink Puppies

I had to use my new Reverse Confetti set again.

I used the Freshly Made sketch for my inspiration.  The background is a mix of all kinds of stuff because I love playing with techniques.  I used embossed paste, Distress Stains and a Tim Holtz stencil.  Pretty much layers of goodness.  To mimic the string going across the card in the sketch, I used these little rows of hearts that I colored with Distress Stains. 

I colored this little cutie with a little touch of Copic markers and then gave it a spritz of ink.  The tag is also from Reverse Confetti.  I added the embossing paste with the same stencil just to add a little bit of interest. 

Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

Also the Addicted to CAS Distress Challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Rain is a comin'- Newest AAA Card challenge

 We are expecting rain where I live so the newest AAA Card challenge is so appropriate. 

 I knew exactly what I wanted to use for this challenge, this super cute stamp set from Pink Paislee and it has a matching umbrella die.  In order to keep it on the simple side, I stamped the sentiment and the clouds on my watercolor paper with white ink and embossed them with white embossing powder.  The embossed images then acted as a resist when I added the various Distress Stain inks.  

I just love the way these Distress Stains react with water for a resulting watercolor look.  You can see in this close up how the embossed images resist the inks.  For the umbrella, I stamped it the same way on another piece of watercolor paper and then added ink to it then cut it out with the matching die.  I added it with foam tape. I love that this dimension adds a little bit of interest.  

Be sure to check out what the other team members created and take the time to play along with us at AAA Cards for the Rain challenge.

This also fits the Inkspiratonal Sprinkle challenge.

And the Paper Players Spring challenge.

Plus it fits Virginia's View challenge for All Things Embossed.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)