Celebrate

Yes, another card completely inspired by some online challenges plus purchases from last weeks stamp convention.

 I'm quite sure my favorite stamp pad and favorite color ink ever is the Distress Oxide in Blueprint Sketch!!! That and the new stencil from Stampers Anonymous and Tim Holtz are a match in stampers heaven.  That color also helped me use the Color Throwdown combo.  

 I used a flower stamp set from Altenew and added color to complete the Color Throwdown combo with Distress Inks and Zig Clean Color markers.  The stamp set has a matching die set making cutting out the flower and leaves so easy and perfect.  

 I put a strip of vellum across the card from to help it fit the Freshly Made sketch.  

 Here is the Color Throwdown combo.

 Here is the Freshly Made sketch.

And the Time Out challenges anniversary challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

All about Green

The Addicted to CAS challenge is LUCK or LUCKY and I really had to think about that until I remembered a set of sentiment stamps from Stampers Anonymous that fit.  

 To start off I created a background using a stencil and some Distress Inks.  

 The flower is from a stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous and by coloring it in greens I was able to also make this card fit the Sundays Stamp color challenge. The top part of the flower is coated with Glossy Accents for some added interest.  

 This is a close up of the result of the inks with the stencil.  

 Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.

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

Stamped Flowers

I love using flower stamps from Altenew stamps.

 I used the Color Throwdown color combination for this week as my inspiration.  You can see the colors they used if you scroll down in this post.  That wonderful sentiment is from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous.  I love the font that is used on this.

 I embossed the flowers with a silver embossing powder and then added color with Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  I'm rather addicted to creating watercolor looks and it is so neat how easy it is to create that look with Distress Stains.  

Here is the Color Throwdown combo although I am too late in posting to have this included in their challenge. 

The card also fits the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge for "flowers".

Thanks for visiting, Linda ((lbpost)

Hello Sunshine

I found a few minutes to play with some online challenges so I first of all went with the color combination of the Color Throwdown blog.

I went with my most favorite way to create a background with Distress Stains.  I added the inks directly to an acrylic block, one color at a time, gave the ink a spritz of water and smooched it onto my watercolor paper, sliding the acrylic block down the paper.  This makes what I call a "messy" background.  I used the Freshly Made sketch to create the layout of my card.  The sentiment is from Wplus9 Designs.

I used a flower from a collection by Tim Holtz, coloring them with Distress Stains and a little accent with a Distress Crayon.  I love the way the Distress products work together so well.  

Here is the Color Throwdown challenge.

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

CardMaker Blog hop using Ranger Distress Crayons

Talk about exciting, the CardMaker Blog team has been able to play with the new Distress Crayons from Ranger Ink and wow! I still knew it was going to take some playing and experimenting to figure out just what these could do and how I would want to use them so this was my chance.  

 I am such a huge fan of anything related to Distress Inks by Tim Holtz and I knew these crayons would be no exception to the fun and versatility.  The first thing you need to know about these crayons is that they can do many things.  There isn't one correct way to put them to use in your crafting projects.  That's where experimenting comes in for sure.  You have to realize the different things these can do. 

For my first card, I first of all used a Tim Holtz stencil with some white embossing paste to create a background on watercolor paper and left that to dry.  

I took three colors of the crayons and one at a time colored a portion of my embossing paste background.  I then kept adding spritzes of water to my piece.  I wanted the color to sink into all of the highs and lows of my stencil design.  As I added more color and more water, I worked the colors around and together with my fingers.  I wanted this to be rather "sloppy" and uneven.  When I was happy with my mix, I set it aside to dry. 

 I used a Tim Holtz flower stamp to be my finishing touch.  I did color this with matching Distress Stains and water.  This is a big bonus with the Distress Inks, the colors are the same and so they all can work together.  I finished this flower off by adding Glossy Accents to the petals of the flower.  The sentiment is a die from Simon Says Stamp.  

 Once I started working with the crayons I very quickly found a few ways that I liked to use them.  For this card, I used an extremely simple technique. The butterflies were stamped on watercolor paper and embossed with white embossing powder. Those embossed lines now will act as a resist to the other inks I'm adding.  This stamp set includes the sentiment and three different kinds of butterflies plus the little line of hearts.  

 I most often use water with the Distress Inks but for this card I wanted to try just coloring directly onto the butterflies and the paper.  I scribbled a small patch of one crayon on each butterfly and then moved that color around with my finger.  The color is rather thick as it comes off of the crayon and it is so easy to move it and blend it.  For each butterfly I used two colors of crayons, blending the shades.  I love the intensity of the colors and how nicely they added color, making each butterfly highlighted just right.  

From my blog hop on over to Lisa's blog for more Distress Crayon ideas.  

This also fits with the Fusion Challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Love Red Hearts

I could use hearts in my crafting all year long but of course with Valentines Day coming up that is the natural time to use them.  

 I hadn't used my Lil' Inker heart dies yet so this was the perfect time.  I wanted to add some interest to the white background so I used white embossing paste and a dot stencil.  The die cut words are a die set from Simon Says Stamp.  

 This angle shows off the embossed dots and the great accents with the heart dies.  This set includes several sizes of hearts and it also adds the stitching detail.  I just kept cutting hearts and then embedded them.  The striped heart is created by covering the paper first with strips of washi tape.  The red is glitter paper.  

Here is The Card Concept challenge that was my inspiration.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Prettiest Snowflakes

I love mixing colors on a card and stamping snowflakes is the perfect time to use that combo.

 I have a thing for snowflake stamps and snowflake dies so I knew I needed this set from Tim Holtz.  Each one is so lacy.  Each snowflake was inked with Distress Stamp pad inks on watercolor paper then I spritzed the images with water so they would end up a little "messy".  

 I stamped the sentiment first and embossed the black ink with clear embossing powder so the ink wouldn't run as I added the other colors.   I added dot accents here and there with Stickles.  

My card fits this Color Throwdown challenge.

Plus I thought it fit the Time Out challenge.  I know they are circles but I thought the way they were scattered reminded me of this photo.

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)

A different watercolor look

I took a workshop using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush and so I needed to give them a try.  Using the CAS(e) this Sketch was good inspiration.

 The sketch is so simple and I thought this set of Paper Smooches stamps was good for the pens and the sketch. 

 There wasn't much to add color to but it was fun.  The keep with the sketch I added dots to the card with a Tim Holtz stencil and some Distress Stain.  I couldn't leave all of that white space so I added some design with an embossing folder.  

Here is the CAS(e) this Sketch.

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)

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)

AAA Cards Starry Night Challenge

 I was able to pick the theme for this weeks AAA Cards challenge and I think the banner turned out so cute.  I wanted stars but not necessarily patriotic although that is what I am thinking as we just celebrated the Fourth of July. 

 I created my background with Distress Stains on watercolor paper.  I used blue, red and white just because those colors go so nicely with stars.  Plus my sentiment by Tim Holtz has the word Sparkle in it so again not really patriotic and one about celebrating. 

The white dots were created with a Copic white ink in a little bottle.  My stars were punched and I ended up creating a little banner with them by sewing them together.  The dots on the stars were created by Liquid Pearls.  

My card also fits the Addicted to CAS Patriotic challenge although it doesn't have a specific Patriotic theme.  

Be sure to join us at AAA Cards.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)