Love black and turquoise!

I love using color challenges.  They really do take me "out of my box".  

 For this card, I used the Colour Q combo.  This might have ended up being one of my favorite cards and here, I would not have ever normally used turquoise as a card base and a black pattern with it.  

 The black design was created with a Tim Holtz stencil.  I sprayed it with a Clearsnap black ink and then picked up the stencil and placed it on my paper. The leaves are a Paper Smooches die cut, that label piece is from Maya Road.  

Here is the Colour Q combo.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Pretty shapes

Both of the cards I want to share today include some pretty cool shapes.

 

This first one uses a wooden doily shape from Maya Road plus I used the retro sketch for the layout of my card.

 

 

The black strips are cut from the Tweed background stamp by Hero Arts. I mentioned the other day that I could probably use this stamp somehow on every card I make, I love it so much. I did spray the wooden piece with some gold Heidi Swapp spray, a Broken China Chalkboard spray and I inked the edges with a brown stamp pad.

Here is the retro sketch.

 

  

                              

 This card uses my brand new My Favorite Things snowflake die. It cut like butter!!! I used the Dynamic Duos color combination for it although it is a pretty subtle color combo and I also used the CAS-ology challenge for a WINTER theme. We don't get snow but I can still use snowflakes on cards.

 

 

I have this wonderful, chunky glitter from Impress Rubber Stamps. I coated portions of my snowflake with Glossy Accents by Ranger and then poured on the glitter. The white dots are Liquid Pearls. The pink is a stamp pad that I rubbed over the woodgrain embossed portion.

Here is the Dynamic Duos combo.

Here is the CASology challenge.

 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Can't have too many snowflakes!

I need to share fun news, I have a couple layouts in this issue, look for it on your newstand!

 

I guess you can tell I love having snowflakes on my cards, all kinds of snowflakes.

 For this card, I used one of the snowflake stamps in The Craft's Meow set. I wanted it to fit the retro sketch and the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge to use a score tool.  I love the Martha Stewart score board so I pulled that out to help make my pleats in the pink patterned paper.

 I stamped the snowflake with pink ink on a watercolor paper. I took a watercolor brush and slightly went over my stamping to have it bleed a bit. The snowflake button and some pink Liquid Pearls finish it.

 Here is the CAS-UAL Fridays challenge.

This is the retro sketch.

 Next up, I wanted to use the Dynamic Duos color challenge. I also pulled out one of my absolute favorite stamps, a chevron background stamp from Hero Arts.  I embossed it with a neat Ranger gold embossing powder. This makes it fit the Simon Says Stamp challenge to use a favorite.

 The black snowflake transparency is from Maya Road with a punched snowflake on top of that and a button and rhinestone on top of that.

 Here is the Dynamic Duos challenge.
And for a few fun photos...

 We had two Christmas programs this last weekend. First up, my grandson's school program.  He picked out that adorable bow tie!!! At this point, he all of a sudden started directly, following his teacher!

 One moment he was not singing, the next singing with all of his heart!

 Next up, the Church Christmas program.  He has to be the cutest little lamb ever!

He picked out this tie too, all his own idea!
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A bit of this and a bit of that

This post covers quite a bit of ground so I didn't even know what to call it!

First off, the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  I love the shape of this adorable little creation so I could have gone with a shaped card but I wanted to go with the country look of the materials and that it is a craft project.

I picked out some patterned papers that went along with the colors in the little creation and I punched them in small punched squares to create a quilt like look.  Plus, I thought this piece of Core'dinations embossed cardstock also had a craft look to it and I added some machine sewing.

The add the "house" or "cottage" part to my card, I used a chipboard house from Maya Road. I painted it with a very simple cream color paint and then sponged the outside edge with brown Distress Ink.  Next I stamped it with a woodgrain stamp by Hero Arts.  And, of course, the twine from The Twinery also added a homemade look to the card. 

For this card, I used a flower digital stamp by Hero Arts plus I just found out some really great news, it was a winner in the February contest at Hero Arts for a digital card!!!  The background paper is a digital paper available at 2 Peas in a Bucket, the stamp is available there too. I opened a Microsoft Word document and inserted the piece of paper and sized it to the size I wanted. I then opened the little grouping of flowers. I copied that and pasted another set of the flowers and placed them close together to look like one big bunch of flowers.  I printed this out all at once.

I added little black rhinestones to the middles of some of the flowers and I added white Liquid Pearls to some of the other flowers. The sentiment is a stamp by Hero Arts.

Last up, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week. Lil' Inker is the sponsor so that is where I got this most adorable mouse. 

The patterned papers are by Echo Park from a mini pad.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Inspiration and sketches

I wanted to play along with one of the challenges at the  Moxie Fab Get Inspired week.  This is the inspiration piece that I played along with.  I think that is it adorable, so feminine and gotta love that great checked, green and cream pattern.

This is the card that I created. I love this doily die from My Favorite Things, a look that is so very feminine and to that I added a circle cut from a piece of October Afternoon patterned paper. 

I love this particular piece of patterned paper because whatever circle you cut out, the patterns and colors are all different so you get a completely different look with each one.  The flower is a resin flower by Maya Road.  I added a pearl to the middle of that to give the look of the jewelry on the little jacket.

I also used the Unscripted sketches sketch for this week. I turned it like I am showing you here.

The piggyback challenge was to not use any flowers so of course, a card for a little boy just seemed like the right fit. 

I also picked some October Afternoon supplies for my card.  It was fun to use all chipboard sticker pieces for my accents, sooooo fast and easy.

And for a few photos...

More from our SNOW or Big Bear trip.  How can a snow trip be complete without a snowball fit! It was so much fun to try to capture the snow "in the air"!

It didn't actually snow while we were there and our granddaughter so wanted to see snow falling so this photo of the fit captured the feel of that pretty well!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Lots of Flowers

I hope have checked in this past week while the Core'dinations blog has been showing off projects using Core'dinations and Maya Road. 

I put together this card for the challenge.  Gotta love those kraft and black doilies.  Notice that great Graphic 45 Core'dinations cardstock. 

 The Maya Road Black Gingham flowers finished off my card wonderfully.

And, it is Saturday meaning it is time for another Unscripted sketch. Be sure to play along and to also watch for the Anniversary coming up on April 2nd.  The sketch this week has a piggyback challenge to it, to use a color scheme.  I thought this paper collection by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker loosely fit the color choices. 

I used a cloud and rainbow from one of the pieces of patterned pape similar to the card I posted for St. Pat's Day.  Again, I outlined the clouds with the Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip because I just think that clouds should be sparkly.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BLACK DOILIES card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Essentials and Graphic 45 Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Kraft Doilies – Maya Road
Plaid flowers – Maya Road
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.
Sandpaper

SKETCH 98 – I LOVE SUMMER card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker
Brads
Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint - Tulip
Foam tape – 3M
Sand It Gadget – Core’dinations

The sentiments takes center stage

The sentiment on a card is what sets the theme usually.  You can tell a friend HI or "I care".  Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas.  The list is a mile long. 

This is my Unscripted sketch card for this week.  I used a Bible verse stamp by Our Daily Bread for my sentiment. I can't think of a better way to send a card to a friend then with a verse on it.  Something that says "Just Thinking of You", "I Care".  This one is just plain encouraging.

I used an Artisan Elements piece from Pink Paislee for my corner accent. The help it blend into the style of my card better, I lightly rubbed some Distress Ink over it. 

The sentiment was stamped on plain white cardstock and I gave it an "aged"  or "vintage" look by rubbing it with a Distress Ink stamp pad as well as on the edges of the patterned papers I used. 

For this card I used a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp.  Another great way to tell a friend "HI"!  I used some of my most favorite papers by Crate Paper. 

The chipboard butterfly is by Maya Road.  I painted it with Crackle paint.  The sheer flower is also by Maya Road and I colored it with alcohol inks. I just dropped some inks right onto the flower. 

And for a few photos...

We visited the Santa Barbara zoo on Saturday.  The weather was outstanding, making for a great little trip.  Does this guy just crack you up???? He was just sitting there looking at the people like he owned the world.  LOVE that stylin' mustache. 

My favorite is always the giraffes. It was fun to watch this one get in position to take a drink out of the pond.  Gotta love what it took for him to get down there.

And, can you touch your nose with your tongue???

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 96 – GOD WORKS… card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Copic X-press cardstock
Patterned Papers and die cuts – Love Blooms/Sweetness/Pink Paislee
Artisan Elements – Pink Paislee
Black Versafine stamp pad
Detail Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Distress Ink stamp pad - Ranger
Sentiment stamp – Our Daily Bread stamps
Self adhesive pearls - Recollections
Sanding block – Core’dinations

WRITE IT ON YOUR HEART…EVERY DAY… card

Materials list:
Patterned paper – Crate Paper
Cuttlebug embossing plate – Provo Craft
Label shape – Nestabilities/Spellbinder
Corner rounder punch
Music background stamp and sentiment stamp – Cornish Heritage Farms
Brown Distress Ink – Ranger
Alcohol Inks
Crackle paint - Ranger
Black Versafine stamp pad
Corner rounder punch – Papershapers
Powder Puff chalk stamp pad – Quick Quotes
Gingham flowers, sheer flower and chipboard butterfly – Maya Road