Bold - that is the challenge

I so love anything red but I don't always create in what I would call BOLD colors.

 But since the current Time Out challenge is BOLD, I knew I had to give it a try.  The background is a messy inky style with lots of Distress Stain.  

 The further my attempt at BOLD I cut out the leaf die from Memory Box and colored it with more Distress Ink in blues and used a blue card base.  To further the BOLD look on the card I colored the stamped sentiment piece with a strong yellow.  

 The butterfly stamp from Clearly Besotted finishes off my look and I added white dots to that.  

Here is the TimeOut challenge of BOLD.

This also fits the Simon Says Wednesday challenge of Anything Goes.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Its Royal in Purple

I don't often create using purples but I'd say that was a good choice for this card.

 I also wanted to use the CAS(e) this sketch.  I started out with an adorable little stamp from Stamps by Judith.  To go along with the sketch, I added a strip of paper colored with purple Distress Stain and a die cut word from Simon Says Stamp.   

 Once the image was stamped with white ink and embossed with white embossing powder, I just kept adding different colors of Distress Stain, mixed with spritzes of water on watercolor paper. The white embossed image acts as a resist to the inks.  The butterfly is a stamp from Clearly Besotted.  This also fits the Simon Says Flickr Challenge. 

This is the CAS(e) this sketch.

And the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge of Anything Goes.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Spray of Flowers

I just had to create a card so I could use the Freshly Made sketch and the Colour Q combo so here's the result.  

 The sketch just called for a simple card so in order to get started I reached for a stamp set by Altenew and stamped two of the flowers.  I stamped then with white ink and embossed them with white embossing powder and simply added color with a couple Distress Stains using watercolor paper.  I love coloring that way. For the background I simply added three shades of Distress Stain to an acrylic block, gave that a spritz of water and then rubbed it onto my watercolor piece of paper.  Giving that another spritz of water gives a great watercolor look. 

 I did use two different flowers and added one of them with foam tape.  The thanks is a die cut from Clearly Besotted and I cut that from the light brown paper to match the Crumb Cake in the colors.  

 Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

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

Some wings and a sketch

Yes, another card inspired with some online challenges.

 Parts of my card are pieces that I had previously worked with and they were just waiting to be used.  Always fun.  I was playing one day with a stencil and some embossing paste so that is my background piece.  The butterfly that is a stamp by Clearly Besotted was also created during a play session and the little cut tag was sitting on my desk.  

 The background is watercolor paper that had been colored with Distress Stain.  When it was dry, I took a Memory Box stencil and added some white embossing paste. To go along with the sketch, I cut the little banner with a My Favorite Things banner die and helped it fit in with the rest of the card by adding white embossing paste with the same stencil.  The "forever" tag is cut with a Technique Tuesday die.  The die cuts several tags and this one was just waiting to be use.  I didn't take out the cut letters.  I was using so much white on my card I thought it fitted in just like it was.  To make the white even more yummy, I added pearl dots with some Liquid Pearls.  

 Here is the CAS-ology Wings challenge.

And here is the Freshly Made sketch that I followed.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A little bit of silver, a little bit of sparkle

I feel in love with the Sunday Stamps sketch challenge and had to sit down and play.

I already had this background created with Distress Stains, watercolor paper and a stencil so adding some butterflies seemed like the thing to do.  The chevron pattern is created with a stencil and some Brushed Pewter Distress Stain, that is a metallic ink.  

 The butterflies are stamps with a matching set of dies from Clearly Besotted. I love this set because it includes so many different butterflies.  I stamped each one with white ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  That allowed me to simply color each one with a spritz of water and some more Distress Stain.  Then how about those amazing silver glitter words.  This is a die from Simon Says Stamp and it is amazing it can cut these words out so neatly.  

 Here is the Sunday Stamps sketch.

Plus this works for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Sparkle and Shine.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Chevron goodness

Addicted to CAS has a challenge to use Chevron designs and since that is one of my favorites, I had to play along.

 It was hard to decide where to start but I did pick up this little die from Reverse Confetti and it seemed just right.  I had colored the paper first with Distress Stains on watercolor paper. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

 On my desk I had this adorable butterfly that I had stamped, cut out and colored earlier and I thought it was just the way to go to keep my card CAS.  The butterfly stamp and matching die is from Clearly Besotted.  I just added color with Distress Stains.  My card base was plain white but I just couldn't go with that so I added some various Distress Stains to that.  The base of my card is not watercolor paper so this paper does take the stain inks a little differently.

Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.

Plus it fits this challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Just Us Girls Celebration

I love any and all online challenges and so a huge treat for me is to be the Guest Designer at Just Us Girls.

 What is even more fun about this challenge is that it is their 300th Challenge and there's a big party with prizes.  Not sure how it can get it any more fun. Be sure to check out the Just Us Girls blog so you can see all of the Design Teams cards and all about the prizes and the amazing companies offering the prizes. 

 The theme is Congratulations so my here is my card.

 I figured one of the best things for a party is Ice Cream with a cherry on top.  To help me create that I went to my brand new Reverse Confetti dies.  I cut two scoops and even gave them some dots of red with a stencil and some Distress Stain.  Be sure to check out this super cute set of dies.

The doily die is from Spellbinders and take a good look at that yummy gold stencil design with embossing paste.  The congrats is a die from PaperTrey, Inc. and I coated it with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to play along with the Just Us Girls party challenge.

Linda Beeson

Texture and Color

I wanted to play with some online challenges with a stencil background, great colors and a neat sketch. 

 First off, I used the Simon Says Wednesday challenge to use a stencil and I used the featured company, The Crafters Workshop.  I love their stencils so this a pretty easy choice.  I reached for my embossing paste in white.  Once this was dry, I used three main shades of Distress Stains to color the dried paste.  The colors fit the Colour Me challenge. The sentiment is also from Simon Says Stamp. 

 I took this photo at an angle to try to show off the amazing texture of the paste.  Plus I love how the inks colored the stencil designs.  The butterfly is a stamp with a matching die from Clearly Besotted.  I stamped it in white, embossed it with white embossing powder and then added color with Distress Stains.  

 Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, stencil it. 

Here is the Colour Me challenge.

Here is the Freshly Made sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The happy bunny

Here we go again...

 Another card with the Easter bunny in mind. I used a set of stamps by Tim Holtz.  

 For the easiest way to color the image, I just used some Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  Once that was dry, I cut it out with a tag die.  That helped it fit the two sketches that I used.  The entire background was cut with a stitched die from Avery Elle.  I also added some accent with white embossing paste and a stencil.  The die cut word is from Clearly Besotted. 

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch I used.

 If you turn this sketch, my card also fits the Sunday Stamps sketch.

And it fits the Addicted to Stamps Holiday 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)

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)

Playing with Watercolors and the AAA Cards challenge

I could play around with different watercolor techniques all day so a the watercolor challenge at AAA Cards is just made for me.  

 I wanted to stay with a fall look since I am so in love with those colors.  Those leaves are a stamp set from My Favorite Things with a matching die set.  The die cut word is a die from Clearly Besotted and I used a copper metallic paper for it. 

I created a simple background on a stitched label with some inks that were dropped on the paper with spritzes of water.  One of the leaves is cut from paper that was also colored this way, the other leaf was stamped with Distress Stains and this stamp set has separate vein stamps to complete them.

Be sure to play along at AAA Cards.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Lets get this party started!

Every year at this time my heart gets just so happy - there is actually a World Card Making Day, a day for something that I enjoy so much.  

 Of course, I wanted to sit down ahead of time and create a couple cards to share.  I was playing with watercoloring techniques this week and created the background to this card.  I used two colors of watercolor paints.  The paint comes in little tubes, I squeezed out a tiny amount on a piece of acetate then used my waterbrush to dilute that paint and pick up some.  I just painted simple lines on my watercolor paper, spritzed it with water to help the inks run a little more and then walked away to let it dry.  I always love the surprise that comes as the inks dry on the paper.   I used a Happy Birthday stamp from Wplus9 Designs.  I seem to not make many birthday cards so I thought that was a good theme for this card.  

 The big flower is a stamp from PaperTrey, Inc.  I stamped it with black ink on white watercolor paper and then added color with three shades of Distress Stain.  I love how the Distress Stains are so easy to use and give a watercolor look.  I did add a few sprays of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine.  

 Be sure to check out the tons of fun planned for World Card Making Day.  You can also find lots of fun posts on Instagram.  So many companies are offering specials.

 Another card I wanted to share uses the Fusion Challenge for my inspiration.  I didn't use the colors in the challenge, but I did use the sketch and I also stayed with a big flower, mine is just black and white with some great bright green.  The background was created with a The Crafter's Workshop stencil. I love stencils and I love theirs.  I just gave it a spray with some black spray. 

 I gave that background some splotches of green Heidi Swapp Color Shine.  My flower is a stamp from PaperTrey, Inc.  I kept the coloring extremely simple so I could stay with my black and white color combination.  Can you see that little bit of neat sparkle?  I used a Wink of Stella pen to outline parts of the flower.  Some green Liquid Pearls finished it off along with a die cut word from Clearly Besotted.  

Here is the Fusion challenge.

This also fits the Addicted to CAS Stencil challenge.

Thanks for visiting and I sure hope you get to do some paper crafting today.

Linda (lbpost)