Fun with die cuts and online challenges

Yes, once again, I created some cards to go along with a couple online challenges, retro sketch and Colour Q.

 I did turn the retro sketch on the side.  I had some fun doing some interesting techniques.  The background was created with a Crafters Workshop stencil and some Distress Stain.  I am in love with those two colors together. 

 I wanted to use my brand new word die so it seemed better to turn the sketch on the side to make it work. I also "imbedded" the word which is a fun look.  PLUS - do you see that completely adorable little tie! The word and the tie die are from Mama Elephant.  

 Here is the retro sketch.

This also fits the CAS-UAL Fridays, Three Thirds challenge with the three blocks of white embossed paper.

 For this card I used the Colour Q combo. The minute I saw the combo for this week, I knew I had to use it and sat down that night.  I do have to give a little disclaimer here.  I did use some great brown inks and when they mingled with water, some of the color turned a bit orange.  I promise I started out with yummy chocolate brown. 

 I used a My Favorite Things butterfly die. It comes with four butterflies, I used two.  The top more intricate one and the solid shape one.  When I went to cut out the butterfly from the watercolor paper, it didn't cut out all of the way so I used that to just leave the butterfly on the paper and to pick up the wings.  I did back that with the matching solid butterfly shape, also with the wings lifted.  To go with the gold in the combo, I added some Heidi Swapp gold and some Distress gold glitter.  The Heidi Swapp gold is a spray but if you unscrew the spray nozzle, you can drip or splatter the gold and it is such a neat look. 

Here is the Colour Q combo.

This also fits the Simon Says Wednesday challenge to use die cuts. Both cards use die cuts that I recently bought at Simon Says. 
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Distress Stains

Oh how I love Distress Stains! There is so much that can be created with them.  

 For this card, I simply used the color combination at Colour Q.  They are so pretty and springy.  

 I took three colors of Distress Stain and made "splats" of stain on my paper.  I think that look is just so much fun and pretty much unpredictable.  The butterfly is cut from paper that I also colored with that yellow Distress Stain.  The die cut words are new to me from a set by Die-Versions. 

Here is the Colour Q combination.

My card also fits the "three" challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Love embossing paste and stencils!

Yes, I have found a new love in creating! 

 I started my card out by making a "mess" with some black Distress Stain and water.  I knew that this would mostly turn out gray so it would fit with the CAS-ual Friday challenge to use Shades of Gray.  I used Tim Holtz watercolor paper. This is a great weight for playing with.  I made sure to get it pretty wet with spritzes of water and that allowed the ink to run.  

 I had a little bit of black ink leftover in this stencil from Tim Holtz so when I used the white embossing paste, it turned out a little bit gray.  I finished it off with this really neat butterfly die and a stamped sentiment from Wplus9 Designs stamped on vellum.

Here is the CAS-ual Fridays challenge and this card also fits the Less is More challenge to use stencils.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The little birdie says Hello!

I had so much fun with this card!

 I used the Freshly Made sketch as my launching pad.  I felt the sky was really the limit with this great sketch.  I started with one of my embossing folders, the bubble background. I made sure to not emboss the entire front of the card.  This embossed piece was then accented with a spray of two different colors of ink. 

 My main focal piece is a little birdie digital image from A Day for Daisies.  After I printed it out, I added some real simple coloring. The little dots were added with a stencil.  The doily looking piece is a Martha Stewart anywhere punch. I punched it once and then cut that out. I added it to my card, going "off the page".  That makes it fit the CAS-UAL Friday challenge.  The word "hello" is a Paper Smooches die cut.

Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

Here is the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.

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)

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)

Autumn is in the air

Well, here in Southern California, we really aren't feeling fall so much but it will come. It just takes us longer.

 But, I love to create cards for Autumn or Fall so I wanted to share this card.  I used some neat Paper Smooches stamps on my card. 

 I stamped the tree branches with white ink and embossed with white embossing powder and then colored those branches with some brown spray ink.  The white embossed lines resisted the spray color. I thought this was a fun way to color these stamps.  I used one green leaf because as the leaves are turning color and falling off there always seem to be a green leaf or two hanging on.

 My card fits the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.

And the CAS-ology Challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Gotta love sketches

I finally found some play time and so I went to a few online challenges, always great for inspiration.

 First up, I used the retro sketch for this week.  I coupled that with the Cas-ual Friday "She's Krafty" challenge.  The patterned paper is from Echo Park, I used both sides of the paper.

 I love this little chipboard drinking jar and the card is also decorated with a few tiny flowers from the same set. 

 Here is the retro sketch.

 Here is the Cas-ual Fridays challenge.

 For this card I wanted to use the CAS(e) this sketch.  I thought it was a pretty fun and different sketch. 

 The black, chalkboard looking label is from Stampin' Up.  It is from a set with matching dies. 

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

Flowers and Coffee Cups

I have some new supplies and it is so fun to pull them out and give them a try so I used the CAS(e) this Sketch for my inspiration.

 I just got this really cool Spellbinders Nestabilities set in the mail and that amazing "thanks" die along with the flower stamp.  I just knew that flower shaped die would fit the sketch so perfectly.

 The banner die and the "thanks" die are both from Paper Smooches.  I love this set of banner dies so much that I cut several banners out of white cardstock so they would be right at my finger tips whenever I think they will fit on a project!! I colored the flowers with Copic markers and sprayed the entire piece with yellow Stephanie Barnard Spray inks by Clearsnap after doing the coloring.

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch.

 My second card uses all kinds of Paper Smooches stamps.  I love coffee related stamps so I think this set is so much fun.  I am submitting this to the Paper Smooches Guest designer search.

The dot border stamp is also from Paper Smooches. I love the look of the white dots. After stamping it and embossing it with white embossing powder, I sprayed a few different colors of Stephanie Barnard Spray inks over them.  The embossing acted as a resist and the spray colors show off the white so nicely.  I stamped the coffee cup three times in three different colors of ink on watercolor paper and then used a watercolor brush on the images.  The use of the water gave the inks a watercolor look.  This also fits the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge of Polka Dots.

Here is the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

New Spray colors!

Can I say that the weather around my parts is beyond perfect and amazing!!! We are having spring weather that is just plain wonderful and it makes me so happy. I'm of the camp who think that the weather should always be perfect, at least I can marvel at the days that are.  I was able to get out in the yard and get a bunch of clean up work done. We had so many plants that really needed some serious trimming before they get out of hand. It sure feels good. 

And now for the card I want to share with you today...

 I love the color combination at Colour Q so I needed to get a card together using that combo.  I started by creating my background.  I just received some wonderful sprays from Clearsnap.  They are from a new collection by Stephanie Barnard and I am so in love with them already. I love that they are solid colors, most sprays have a sparkle look to them which is fine, just not always the look I want. I first sprayed the cardstock with the Banana yellow and then placed a stencil over that that is circles and sprayed again. I really liked the resulting layers.

 My accent pieces are cut with the Cricut. I have so much fun discovering new shapes that are on the cartridges that I own.  I loved making it fit the color combo too. The black pearl-looking accents are Liquid Pearls.

Here is the Colour Q combo.
I also used the CAS-ual Fridays challenge that is "no stamps".  I have been using stamps so much lately that I knew this was going to be a challenge for sure but with the help of my Cricut, I did it!!

Here is that challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)