Many Smiles

I turned to the CAS(e) this Sketch challenge for my first inspiration and the Inspired By All the Little Things challenge for added direction.  

 The colors are actually a little more soft, more similar to the Inspired by challenge of the yummy colors on those cookies.  

 The real starting point was the dot background.  I used Translucent Embossing paste with a Tim Holtz stencil and then used white embossing powder on the still wet paste to get my white dots.  

 I then used several colors of Distress Stain on watercolor paper.  When these inks are spritzed with water, the inks run, making for fun designs and the colors mingling.  The leave die cut by Memory Box helps make this fit the Inspired By challenge.  

 Here's a close up of the dots.  

 Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.

And the adorable Inspired By. . . photo challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Amazing!

So many people in our lives are amazing so this sentiment would be a welcome way to let them know it.  

 I went with a couple online challenges for the inspiration of my card I'm sharing.  This has to be one of the easiest ways to create a card.  I stamped the flower outline many times to cover my background using inks from Altenew.  I used watercolor paper and this ink reacted when I gave my stamped images a spritz of water making for a fun look.  That adorable little tag that has the word "AMAZING" cut out of it is from Technique Tuesday.  The placement of the flower and tag went along with the CAS(e) this sketch for this week.  

 I then stamped one single flower using a few of the layers in this stamp set by Altenew.  I love that the layers work together so nicely plus the inks in the set work together too.  

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch. 

The colors and the flowers were my way to use this inspiration card from Time Out Challenges.

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)

Congrats to You

Taking a little time to play along with a couple online challenges.

 Altenew stamps has a color challenge and Just Us Girls has a watercolor challenge.  So I reached for my newest Altenew stamp set.  I randomly stamped two of the flowers on my watercolor paper and then did some "messy" coloring by dabbing Distress Stains directly to the paper after spritzing the paper with a little bit of water first.  

 The Distress Stains and water bleed and run for a great watercoloring look.  The dots were created with a Tim Holtz stencil.  

Here's the Alternew November challenge.

Here's the Just Us Girls watercolor challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Autumn Colors

I know it's fall, but we aren't seeing that here where I live but it will come.

 I used the retro sketch for my design.  That piece in the middle is a page torn from my tablet of watercolor paper.  I love using this strip.  

This leaf is a stamp by Tim Holtz.  I did stamp it on watercolor paper and then I did add color with Copic markers.  The finish is a spray of Antique Bronze Distress Spray.  I cut the word out of copper glitter paper and the die is from My Favorite Things.

Here is the retro sketch.

I also used the Fusion challenge for the fall inspiration.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

You Are Awesome

I have lots of awesome friends and they would probably all love this card.

 I wanted to use the great CAS(e) this sketch so I pulled out some of my Altenew stamps.  I just love this set, I love the outline look to the leaves and flowers plus the allowed me to quickly add color with one of my favorite techniques, Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  

 This resulted in one of those one, two, three done kind of cards.  After I stamped all of the images to match the sketch, I embossed the images with clear embossing powder so that when I added a little bit of water and the inks, the black ink wouldn't run.  That neat sentiment is from another set of stamps by Altenew.  Some Liquid Pearl dots finish it off. 

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

Beautiful Day

I wanted to put the Freshly Made sketch to use plus the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Anything Goes.

 The sketch has three spots, I decided to make circles on watercolor paper with Distress Stains and then to accent them.  

 After my spots of color, I wanted the rest to be very simple with a black and white accent.  The flower is a stamp from Altenew and that neat sentiment is from Wplus9 Designs embossed with silver.  

 Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

You're Brag Worthy

I needed a baby card so I turned to some online challenges for my starting point. 

 I used the color combination from The Paper Players.  I thought they were just made for a baby theme.  My card needed to be for a new little boy so how could I go wrong with this adorable little airplane from Reverse Confetti.  That cute sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

 I used the matching die set to cut out the airplane and the propeller making my card fit the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Isn't that little background the cutest using a circle set of stamps from Simon Says Stamp.  The set has the outline circles and the solid circles.  By using the circles I made it fit the Cas(e) this sketch for this week.  All of the inks are Distress Stamp pads and I coated the airplane with Glossy Accents to make it a little more standout.  

 Here is The Paper Players challenge. 

 The Cas(e) this sketch.

Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Autumn is around the corner

I pretty much resist that thought because I love summer but I did like putting together this color combination.

 I wanted to use the CAS(e) this Sketch and this is the result.

 This really cute stamp and matching die set is from Simon Says Stamp.  I have pretty much become addicted to stamps that that have their own matching dies.  I used more Distress Stain to ink my stamps on watercolor paper.

 To go along with the sketch design, I used a Tim Holtz stencil and used Distress Stain in the dots of the stencil.  I so love the watercolor look. 

 Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.

This also fits the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use stamps.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Play along with Addicted to CAS

I have one last challenge with Addicted to CAS as their guest designer.  I've loved playing along with them.  

 I love how easy it is, just create with blue.  

 Once again, I turned to my Distress Stains to create my background.  I applied the ink directly to an acrylic block, spritzed it with water and then pressed it to the watercolor paper.  Working with the Distress Stains this was is always unpredictable but I always love what happens.   

I used my Lil' Inkers dotted label die and used it to emboss a design into my paper.  LOVE those dots.  The stamps with matching dies I used are from a set by Wplus9 Designs. I wanted my look to be very simple so I didn't color my giraffe except for the bottoms of his little feet.  The big balloon and the sentiment are also from the same set.  I only added some accent to the balloon with a light gray Copic marker.  I hand wrote the string for the balloon. 

Check out what the rest of the Addicted to CAS team created and be sure to play along too.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Welcome Baby

When I purchased this adorable set of stamps by Wplus9 Designs with this super cute giraffe, I knew it should be used for a baby card.  

 Because I wanted to color my giraffe with yellows and soft browns, I created my background in those colors with some Distress Stain with a watercolor look.  I added in a few spots with a dark brown ink.

 This completely adorable giraffe stamp has a matching die making it so easy to cut out.  I added my color with Copic markers and a little accent of some watercolor inks.  Plus some Glossy Accents here and there.  A few little epoxy stars finish off the fun. 

This fits the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge of Anything Goes.  Since I purchased my stamps from Simon Says Stamp, I think that really makes my card fit their challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Just a Note card

 I wanted to play along with Freshly Made sketches for there birthday celebration so here is my card.  The sketch itself is extremely simple leaving it open to some creativity.  I put a piece of tape across my watercolor cardstock and added two different colors of Distress Stain on either side of the tape.  This did leave a white space down the middle so I took a stencil by Tim Holtz and added some dots with more Distress Stain.  

 Next I used a flower and stem stamp from Wplus9 Designs and just stamped it in black.  The middle of the flower was centered over one of the turquoise dots, the rest of the flower was not colored.  The sentiment is from that same set of stamps and I added a couple buttons to the middle of the flower.  

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

Thanks Friend

First off, I wanted to use the Colour Q color challenge to create a card.

 The first thing I went to were my Distress Stains to create a background and to use a couple of the colors in the challenge.  

 Next, I turned to one of my Altenew sets of stamps with matching dies to stamp the leaves.  I added color to those with more Distress Stains to use the rest of the colors.  The sentiment is from a stamp set by Wplus9 Designs making this card fit the Friendship is Golden challenge at Time Out. 

 Here is the Colour Q challenge.

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