A Cup of Cheer

I've become a big fan of succulents so finding stamps of succulents was the perfect answer.  

 The challenge at Wednesdays Simon Says Stamp is Hip to Be Square so I picked up my succulent stamps from a set by Simon Says Stamp and created this card.  I'm sure a big fan of Distress Stains so I created my backgrounds with those inks along with a stencil.  

 The squares were cut with a stitched set of dies from My Favorite Things.  I love those stitch accents making the squares so much more fun.  I used some Liquid Pearls in red to add the final accents.  

 Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

 I also love photographing flowers and plants so I wanted to share a couple here. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Summertime Dreams

The challenge at Simon Says Monday blog is Summer Fun.  

 The sentiment on this bookmark says it all as far as I'm concerned.  Summer is a whole lot of things but I can sure dream of the island breezes.  I created a bookmark just for summer time reading. That sentiment is a stamp from Printworks Rubber Stamps.  The flower and leaves are stamps from Altenew.

 For the background on my piece, I first used embossing paste with a stencil to create this gorgeous pattern and then washed over a few different colors of Distress Stain mixing those inks with water so that the inks ran and created a watercolor look.  I so love a watercolor background because it is always irregular and unpredictable yet always wonderful.  

 Here is the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

 This also fits the Just Us Girls watercolor challenge.

I have become rather obsessed lately with photography so I thought I'd share a few photos.  

Getting up close and personal with some Hummingbirds. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A smear of color with Watercolor

It's no secret, my favorite inks to reach for are anything and everything Distress from Ranger.

 This might be one of the most simple ways to use the mini Distress Stamp pads to create a background.  I added a few different colors of the inks to an acrylic block, gave that a spritz of color and ran the block downward on a piece of watercolor paper.  The inks slightly run, creating a place to add other stamps and elements.     

 I then just stamped a leaf sprig on this pre-prepared background and added soft colors to that.  I used used a little bit of water and a little bit of added color with Copic markers. The leaf sprig is a stamp from Altenew and the sentiment is from a set of stamps by Simon Says Stamp.

 The layout for the card goes along with the Freshly Made sketch.

 Casology's challenge for this week is watercolor.

Plus this fits the Addicted to Stamps and More Photo Inspiration challenge.
This also fits the Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge of Emboss it.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)