2 Sketches 4 You and the Bonus sketch

I wasn't going to actually put a large star on my card using the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch #25 for this week because that was far to obvious of a design element and when I use sketches I always try to step back and think outside of the box on what else that design could be but then I picked up this Scenic Route paper from my stash and knew instantly that I needed to hand draw my own star to go with the print on the paper.

I drew my star on a piece of scratch paper just like the ones on the patterned paper and then cut that out for a pattern for the star that I was going to use on the card. The "numbers" print paper is the opposite side of the star print! Aren't they the perfect combo for a kids birthday card?

A simple Thickers number 3 seemed like the way to finish my card. The smaller star is a punch and so is the circle that I put the number on.

I wanted to do the bonus sketch this week too and I was having so much fun "making it my own"! That wonderful embossed white cardstock comes embossed like that. The clerk said it was Bazzill.

I was still playing with my Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and came up with this piece. The stamp block was stamped with a red/orange ink on white cardstock and then colored that by rubbing over it with a yellow stamp pad. The label shape was cut out. Here is a little bit of recycling, I received a wonderful box of chocolates and there was an adorable label on the top and I just knew I needed to keep it for a pattern! I added a little border punched edge and a very simple mix of some other cardstocks. So this card has no patterned paper on it.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

PARTY! PARTY! PARTY! card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned papers Surprise/Sunny Lane/Scenic Route Paper (both sides)
Martha Stewart border punch
Number “3” sticker – Thickers/American Crafts
Star punch
Big star is hand drawn
Rub-on greeting - Target

BEAUTY IS FOUND… card
Materials:
Cardstock – Embossed/Bazzill
Stamps – Greeting and Stamp Block/Ornamental/Cornish Heritage Farms
Stamp pad – Ancient page and Fluid Chalk/Clearsnap
Flower – Prima
Self Adhesive pearls – Mark Richards, Inc
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Corner rounder punch - Fiskars

THIS JUST IN... and some Core'dinations goodness!

I already liked working with Core'dinations cardstock and now I officially get to play with it and with the Core'dinations team.

The new team was announced today and I am on it!!! How exciting is that!!!???

What makes Core'dinations cardstock different from other cardstocks? Isn't cardstock just cardstock? Each type of cardstock has a little something that sets it apart from the others and Core'dinations is no exception. They offer some great colors and shades that are wonderful to work with but the papers have a "core" that is exposed with a few different techniques. Tearing is one of the most obvious of those techniques so I want to share a layout with you with paper tearing and that exposed core.

The brown is from one of their newer collections called The Chocolate Box! I don't know how it gets any better then some paper having a name that includes Chocolate!!! What is super neat about this collection is that it is a shade of brown on the one side and another color on the other. My paper is brown and blue so when I tore the edge, you see the blue.

Next I simply tore some circles and some leaf shapes to create my little layered flower. The border is green Core'dinations cardstock that was embossed with a Cuttlebug and then punched with a border punch. I slightly sanded the embossed piece and that also exposes that other shade. Because you get two shades of each color on the papers I tore for the flower layers, that adds a great detail to these simple flowers.

Thanks for visiting and be prepared for lots of Core'dinations goodness from here on, Linda (lbpost)

Card Patterns and The Cat's Pajamas Inspriation Challenge

I went searching for some fun challenges this week and ended up at two places, Card Patterns and The Cat's Pajamas. I recently found out that The Cat's Pajamas issues a new challenge each Tuesday and this week it is an inspiration challenge.

This first card is Card Patterns sketch #12 for this week. Their sponsor is Unity stamps so I pulled out this set I just love. The sketch really has what look like three circle kind of designs on the front, but what I like about sketches is that you are to look at them and make them your own so I used the stamps and created three points of interest on the front.

The two little stamped birds are one of the points, the Give Thanks label piece is the second and the flower is the third.

1. The birds are stamped and embossed and colored with Copic markers and accented with Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint on portion of the birds. One of the birds is added to the card with foam tape so their is dimension to them.

2. The label piece is also stamped and embossed and then the greeting is stamped over that and that is also embossed. I used Copic Markers to add a little bit of color to the border and added the same Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip to the colored border. I love the little bit of glitter that this adds while still letting the colors show through.

3. The flower was really white, I sprayed it with Memories Mist by Stewart Superior. This makes such a quick and easy way to add color.
Recently I was able to play with some The Cat's Pajamas stamps if you remember that post and I wanted to pull those out again. I was over taking a look at their blog and web site and I discovered that they issue a challenge each Tues. This week the team member, Toni, picked out a great set of summer themed glasses for inspiration and I picked out the great summer colors of the prints on the glasses for my card. I just love how these Prism papers have the exact perfect shades to go with this wonderful We R Memory Keepers paper that has the exact colors in the stripes.

This cute kitty cat was simply stamped with the black ink and embossed with the Detail Clear embossing powder. I just love how intense that makes the image and really brings it to life. I gave a little shadow around the image with a Copic Marker and the blender pen and then added the Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip to the wings and the halo. Again, I just love the amount of glitter you get with this kind of paint. Just makes that little cutie look so angelic.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

GIVE THANKS FOR BLESSING… card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned papers – Providence/Cottage Street/Scenic Route Paper and Dazzling Dots/29th Street Market/My Mind’s Eye
Apron Lace border punch – Fiskars
Set of stamps – Unity
Versafine black stamp pad
Clear embossing powder
Copic Markers
Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip
Flower – Petaloo
Memories Mist spray – Stewart Superior

SWEETIE PIE card
Materials:
Cardstock – Prism
Stamps – The Cat’s Pajamas
Patterned paper – We R Memory Keepers
Black Stamp pad – Versafine
Detail Clear embossing powder – Stamps n Stuff
Circle punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Scallop oval punch - Marvy
Oval punch - McGill
Mini brads – Making Memories
Ribbon
Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip
Copic Markersc

CPS and CHF together

Isn't it funny how quickly we use letters for appreviations!? CPS is Card Positioning Systems blog and CHF is Cornish Heritage Farms stamps. These two groups worked together this week to bring you some crafting goodness. I received the Ornamental Beauty and Ornamental Scrapblock to play with and as usual, I couldn't stop at just one card.

The scrapblock is about 6" square and it is full of great designs. I cut out a portion of that stamped design for the front of my card to fit with the CPS sketch. I used Copic Markers to color in the design.

This beautiful greeting piece is part of the set. I stamped it on white cardstock with black ink, embossed that and then colored it with Copic Markers. It is cut out and attached to the punched out scallop circle. These are added with foam tape for added dimension. Portions of this design were accented with the Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip but it is pretty hard to really see that in my photos. That adds just a touch of glitter and dimension.

On this card, I also used a portion of the whole stamp block. The flower is stamped with black ink and embossed and then colored with the Copic Markers to match the Pink Paisley patterned paper I used.

It was fun to have all of this dimension with the cut out flower that is added with foam tape.

The stamp block was again stamped, this time on watercolor paper with a white stamp pad and embossed with white embossing powder. It was real simple then to use my watercolor crayons and a watercolor brush to add the color to this piece.

The white dots that were added to the design are White Slick 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip. This is a fast and great way to add a neat accent and a little dimension. The glitter Thicker letters seemed like the perfect accent.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 113 – LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Stamps courtesy of Cornish Heritage Farms – Ornamental ScrapBlock and Ornamental Beauty
Copic Markers
Versamark black stamp pad
Clear embossing powder
Martha Stewart Border punch
Scallop circle punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Rhinestone – Me & My Big Ideas
Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip

SKETCH 113b – WHATEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps courtesy of Cornish Heritage Farms – Ornamental ScrapBlock and Ornamental Beauty
Copic Markers
Versamark black stamp pad
Clear embossing powder
Patterned paper – Pink Paislee

THANKS DARLING card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps – Ornamental Stamp Block/Cornish Heritage Farms
White stamp pad – Joann and White embossing powder
Watercolor crayons and watercolor brush
White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip
Lace paper – K&Co.
“darling” rub-on – Luxe
Buttons
Green glitter Thickers – American Crafts

KWdesigns Color Inspiration #50

Guess what we did yesterday??? I just had to share this photo first.

I didn't start playing with these color challenges until just recently and I can tell you, they are so much fun. This week is #50!

Each combo usually takes me "out of my box" because I never stopped to put those particular colors together. For this one this week, it was a real challenge to add the brown in with the other colors.

It was fun to find this adorable patterned paper by We R Memory Keepers that had most of the colors needed and to use that as my base piece.

The chipboard piece was covered with this cute woodgrain patterned paper and I accented that with Cinnamon Stickles. The birds are rub-ons by Luxe and I just rubbed them onto yellow paper. The card base is dot paper by Bo Bunny Press.

I wanted to keep real simple with this card and in order to get that brown in, my card base is brown Core'dinations cardstock. The rub-ons are also brown.
I simply cut thin, uneven strips from the other colors to finish off my color scheme.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

LOVE BIRDS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned Paper – Cosmo Cricket, We R Memory Keepers and Dot paper/Bo Bunny Press
Rub-on – Luxe
Buttons
Chipboard frame – Jenny Bowlin
Chipboard leaf – ColorBok
Martha Stewart Border punch
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Stickles
Ribbon
Copic Markers
Foam tape – 3M

SO HAPPY TOGETHER card
Materials:
Cardstock
Rub-on greeting – Deja Views
Flower ribbon trim
Mini glitter brads – We R Memory Keepers
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Machine Sewing
Swiss Dot embossing plate - Cuttlebug

"TREES" are in right now

It seemed that for Earth Day, lots of designers were using trees in their creations and so I thought I would share this little set of cards I created.

One of these was recently published in the April CARDS magazine but since I had created a set of three based on the same design elements, I thought I would share the other two.

I used a set of papers by Quick Quotes. I just love these prints and I loved how they worked together on the chipboard trees. The chipboard trees are by Maya Road. When you buy these, you get a whole tin of tops of trees and trunks of trees and it is fun to mix and match them. I always use something like Mod Podge for my glue when glueing paper to chipboard. I like that you get a good uniform coat without warping, etc. I didn't coat the top of the covered trees with the Mod Podge though because I wanted the natural look of the paper.

The common element in all of the cards is the white, Cuttlebug embossed background and the little heart brad. Various "thank you" rub-ons were used as the greetings.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CHIPBOARD TREES cards

Cardstock: Prism

Patterned paper: Bandana Rama Collection/Quick Quotes Papers

Heart Brads – Hobby Lobby

Chipboard: Maya Road

Rub ons: Making Memories

Cuttlebug embossing plate – Swiss Dot

Mod Podge for the glue - Plaid

Machine Sewing

Sandpaper

After some inspiration

I wanted to issue myself my own personal challenge and that was to find an inspiration piece and create a couple cards from that. (You can play along with me if you would like, just link your creation to this post)

What is "inspiration" to a paper crafter? An ad in a magazine, a piece of pottery, some fabric, a billboard, anything that makes you study it and then stop and say, I have a punch or a piece of paper or a digi element and I can create something similar. It can be rather exact or very far removed. It just needs to inspire you to create something.

Here is what I found.....

This set of three wonderful pillows from Pottery Barn online. What stood out to me about these? The wonderful colors and the white lines in each of the prints.

The above card is my first card using my inspiration.

1. I started with a piece of paper in an oatmeal color that resembled the color of the fabric background.

2. I stamped my flowers with a white stamp pad and embossed each of them with white embossing powder. This flower stamp if by Paper Source and it is an ouline of the flower.

3. I colored in each of the flowers with one color of a Copic Marker. This color was exactly what I wanted to recreate the color on one of the pillows.

4. After I colored each of the flowers, I took a soft cloth and buffed each of the flowers. The marker colored over the inside, white embossed lines and so buffing it helped take off some of the color on those lines.

5. I discovered an interesting secret at this point. I hit my piece with a heat gun again and that actually made those white lines pop out a bit, making them more intense.

6. I did add little "pearl-like" dots to the middles of my flowers with Metallic 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip. (see the insert photo on the right hand column of my blog to see what these paints look like)

The above photo just gives you a little more of a close up look at the flowers, the white lines and the metallic dots in the middle.

For my second card, I used this weeks CARD PATTERN sketch #11 . Love to combine two challenges in one.

This card follows my inspiration piece since I stamped the large damask shape by Inkadinkado with a white stamp pad and embossed it with white embossing powder and then cut that out. I also thought the colors of the papers fit with all of the colors on the pillows. Notice the "dot" accents on the patterned paper and on the damask design. I used White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

THANKS-RED FLOWERS card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps – Flower/Paper Source and Greeting/Verve stamps
Versafine black stamp pad
White stamp pad – Joann and White embossing powder
Copic marker – E-09 Burnt Sienna
Metallic Slick 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE YOU card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Stamps – Damask/Inkadinkado and Greeting/Verve stamps
Versafine black stamp pad
White stamp pad – Joann and White embossing powder
White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip
Corner punch – Papershapers/EK Success