AAA Cards Birthday Party and Blog Hop

Everybody loves a party and its time for AAA Cards Challenge blogs 1st birthday.  I think that is pretty exciting not only because this cupcake is completely adorable but because there are prizes, lots of prizes, you just have to play along. Check out the AAA Cards blog for all of the details.  You should have come here from Jane's blog.

 I wanted my card to be very pink to match that adorable party banner.  Of course, I started out by coloring a piece of watercolor paper with some Distress Stains.  There seems to be no way I can get enough of that technique, maybe because it turns out different every time.  

 Next I cut the flowers and leaves by Essentials by Ellen from plain white paper and cut the "happy birthday" by Paper Smooches from plain white paper and then sprayed the words with Heidi Swapps gold Color Shine.  I wanted to keep my card very simple and let my die cut shapes have all of the glory.  

I knew I needed to do another card, maybe because you can't have too many for a party.  Simon Says Stamp has supplied one of the prizes for the celebration and they sent me one set to play with so I wanted to have that be part of my celebration.  The little kitty is from a set from the Falling For You collection. 

That adorable frame is a stamp with a matching die from Lawn Fawn and the super cute sentiment is from Wplus9 Designs.  The balloon is also from the Party Animal set.  Once again, my background is simply Distress Stains and watercolor paper. 

This also fits the Simon Says Wednesday challenge regarding sentiments.

Plus the Lawnscaping watercolor challenge.

This is a birthday hop so you can hop on over to Vicki's blog so see what she created for the party. If you missed any of the blogs along the way, you can always go back to the AAA Cards blog.

Now it's your turn to create.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's all about backgrounds

I wanted to share two cards in this post, both using some online challenges. 

 First off, I used the CAS(e) this sketch challenge.  The sketch is simple and, what I love about that, open to some great interpretations.  I started out creating a neat background with a Crafters Workshop stencil and some Distress Stain on Tim Holtz watercolor paper.  That bottom border piece is a die from My Favorite Things.

 My main element is a digital image from A Day for Daisies.  What I love about using these is that I get to pick the size of the image.  I printed it out and gave it some subtle coloring with Copic markers and then cut it out.  The sentiment is from a set by Neat and Tangled.

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch challenge.  

 And, for more about backgrounds, I wanted to play with the Lawnscaping challenge to create your own background.  I LOVE the trend to use feather images and die cuts.  It is one trend I want to stay around for awhile.  I particularly like the Lawn Fawn feather stamps and matching dies because the image is the outline of the feather meaning I get to create the design of the feather.  

 I started out with some Heidi Swapp gold spray.  This just might be one of my most favorite newer products.  It is the best gold and can be used as a spray or you can use drops of it.  I created a grungy background with the gold and then stamped the smaller of the feathers randomly all over that.  I did emboss the black ink because it makes that a little more vivid and intense.  I finished the card off with some cut feathers and a sentiment that is also from Lawn Fawn.  

 I added little drops of a purple Distress Stain and a great blue Heidi Swapp spray, using that in drops.  

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

Distress Inks and a Watercolor look

For the current Lawnscaping challenge you are supposed to try a new technique. I so love techniques and playing around with them that it was hard for me to think of something I had not tried.  

 I did manage to come up with something a little bit different for my resulting card.  I purchased a set of four mini Distress Stains.  I wanted to see what would happen if I pressed each pad onto a piece of watercolor paper, spritzing it with water.  I ended up creating a colorful border.  I loved the way the colors ran together and ran out on this great paper.  

 I could see it being the perfect piece to stamp an image onto it.  I stamped two leaf sprigs from Lawn Fawn.  I also stamped the little flower and cut that out and added a little sentiment.  I added it to a card base that has some embossing on the top and the bottom edge.  I also added on a few sequins that are the exact same color as the card. 

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

Happy Wishes day

Happy Wishes can be for all kinds of occasions so this is a pretty all purpose card.  

 Lawn Fawn has such cute stamps and this border stamp is so one of my favs.  It comes in a set with some other pretty cool border stamps.  PLUS, I love this set with the cool lanterns. I pulled these out so I could create a card for the Lawnscaping challenge of Clean and Simple. 

 After I stamped the border, I quickly colored it with three colors.  Some of the blocks I then coated with a glitter glue, some with Glossy Accents.  I did this just to "bling" up the border a little.  The one lantern was simply colored with Copic markers and accented with some enamel dots, one of my '"go to" accents these days.  I gave the card a final spritz of yellow spray ink by Clearsnap.

Here is the Clean and Simple challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Stamping Fun

I found a few challenges online to help me with my creating!!!

 First up, I used the Colour Q color combo, the CASology Fireworks challenge and the Simon Says Patriotic challenge for this card. It was fun to add that golden yellow because of the color combo.

 The sentiment stamp is from Impression Obsession, love this set and the fireworks look is really a sunburst stamp from Hero Arts. I used Clearsnap inks, there are so many great colors to choose from.

Here is the Colour Q combo.

 The CASology challenge.

And the Simon Says stamp Patriotic challenge.

 Next up, I tried my hand at the Lawnscaping Challenge sketch.  Lawn Fawn stamps are so fun so I pulled out some for my card.

 I created a background for my circle, I love this border stamp. I colored the circle with a couple spray ink colors and then added some color with Copic markers in some of the rectangles. I also added some Glossy Accents to some of the rectangles and to the paper airplanes.

Here is the Lawnscaping Challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Playful and Elegant

Let's start off with a playful card.

 I just bought this digital paper kit from Design House Digital and had to put it to use. My lauching pad is the Card Patterns sketch and the color combo at Colour Q.

 I opened four pieces of the papers in the kit to fit on one page along with a portion of another piece with the banners in it. I could then cut these pieces to fit the sketch.  I love kits where the prints coordinate so nicely.  Do you totally love that little bike! It is a stamp from a set by Hero Arts. The label is cut with my Cricut Expression. 

 This banner portion is cut from the top portion of a patterned paper piece.

 Here is the Card Patterns sketch.

 And the Colour Q combo. I did miss getting that kraft color in my card, I just couldn't seem to make it fit.

 Next I wanted to play along with the Lawnscaping challenge to use heat embossing or dry embossing plus this set of stamps has a playful look to them. Since I love both kinds of embossing, this was a challenge I had to give a try.

 I pulled out this numbers embossing folder, I thought it had a kid like look to it to go along with the cute paper airplane. I added color by rubbing with a Distress stamp pad and sprayed it with some Chalkboard spray.

 Now for a more elegant look, I wanted to play along with the Moxie Fab challenge to use a damask design.

 I cut the two piece damask shape with my Cricut Expression.  The background piece is a digital paper printed on white textured paper.

Remember that funny passion fruit flower I showed you the other day? Well, glory be, we finally have some fruit setting. We were so excited to find several of these cuties!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Lawnscaping challenge and Unscripted sketch

I found a sketch to play with this week...

If you know me at all, I love sketches and this one on the Lawnscaping Challenge blog is great.

Of course, I pulled out my Lawn Fawn stamps, this just might be my favorite set. Since the word Lucky was in the sentiment and St. Pat's day is approaching, I thought it was fun to stay with a green color palate. I used some Echo Park papers from a mini pad.

 Gotta love a neat sentiment that can be the focus on a card.

Since it is Saturday, it is time to share a new Unscripted sketch.

A package of brand new Paper Smooches stamps arrived in my mailbox recently and so I had to give them a try. 

The front flap on the card is shorter then the back flap so I hope this photo gives you a better glimpse of the stamp I used on the inside of the card.

The kite and clouds are a new mini set and I thought they were pretty cute for the front of my card. I paper pieced the kite and stamped a pattern in the clouds. I cut a reverse mask as that I was stamping in the clouds only.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)