How about a layout!!

I do seem to create far more cards then I do layouts, but I love the process involved with that too and wanted to share this new one.

 

 I am having so much fun finding ways to use my Cricut with my projects so when I saw this cute tree with a swing I knew I wanted to use it.  I have numbers of photos of my grandsons on swings so it was pretty easy to find some photos to go with it.

 The two red, stamped accent pieces were actually from me experimenting with a couple Hero Arts background stamps. They were sitting on my desk and what do you know, I thought they would work here.

 The sentiment phrase is also cut with the Cricut.

The finish my layout, I stamped some lines of butterflies in the corners and sprayed the spaces with some red spray. Love that woodgrain background paper from BasicGrey.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Gotta love the color blue

My cards both use some shades of blue, always a fun color.

 First up I wanted to use the retro sketch for this week along with my super brand new Simon Says Stamp stamps!!! I just feel in love with this cute little house. I pulled out my BasicGrey Aspen Frost mini pad of papers. These papers are meant for Christmas/winter but I knew I needed to get more use from then then just one season.

 The two label shapes are cut with the Cricut. The stamp set comes with a couple doors to stamp and a couple windows plus the cut cloud outline and some sentiments. It was just made for stamping on patterned paper.

 This is the retro sketch, I just turned it.

 My next card uses some wonderful paper tapes from Recollections and a great stamp sentiment from Verve stamps.

 Are these tapes yummy!

 The pretty border is a punch and I just love this sentiment set that is a few different sentiments that can be the focus of a card.

And for a couple fun photos...

 We have had a fair amount of rain lately and I caught a glimpse of the rain drops on my plants while looking out my kitchen window.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A "deer" here and a "deer" there

I get to share a couple cards with some fun deer images on them, fitting for Christmas or Winter.

 

 My first card uses some really neat stamps from Flower Soft.  They released a few different silhouette style stamp sets this year and this deer and the trees are from the Winter Wonderland set. I love that they come in different sizes.

 Along with these great stamps, I added some White Flower Soft to my trees and to the ground below the deer to make it look like a wonderful winter scene.  These stamps are silhouette in style so they could be stamped in just black but it was fun to stamp them with some color.

 I added a snowflake punch to my scene. Some white Flower Soft was added to that too along with some brown ink rubbed on the edges and a pearl for the center.

 This card was so fun and so fast.  I pulled out two rolls of paper tape from Recollections along with some new BasicGrey papers. 

 The label shape was cut with the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  I cut the label shape down the center and added in the two rolls of tape along with the stamped sentiment, a Hero Arts stamp.

And for a couple photos...

 Guess where we went this last weekend??? This is the huge ferris wheel at California Adventures. It is lighted up at night and what is cool is the colors keep changing.

And, this photo is from the special lighting ceremony at the castle.  It is so gorgeous to watch the snowy looking lights come on all over the castle.

 

This is Small World, all decorated for Christmas. If you have never seen what this place looks like during the holidays, put a trip on your "must do" list!!! Extremely stunning.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

School Time and Red Roses

First up, the Flower Soft blog is featuring a new product this week. 

 They are paper frames, Scrap It, Frame It.  They come flat with all of the score lines on them, you just fold, decorate and they are ready to use.  I'd say pretty fun and a great little gift. 

 I covered one of the sections on the frames with patterned paper. This just took minutes. 

 I finished it off with one of Flower Soft's Card Toppers. These come in a big variety of themes and are all colored and ready to use. 
Be sure to check out Deb Felt's blog starting Thurs. morning. You can also check out the Flower Soft blog for other ideas.

 Next up, I played along with the Dynamic Duos challenge.

 I picked up this great piece of patterned paper by BasicGrey and just cut along the zig zag lines. 

The sentiment is a stamp by Verve
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Stamping Flowers and other things

I love to stamp, maybe you have already guessed that much!!!

 

 So I pulled out some stamps for a few challenges in blog land.  First up I used the color combination at Dynamic Duos and the sketch at Freshly Made to put this card together.  That great label shape is cut with my Cricut Expression using the Art Philosophy cartridge and the green cardstock is already embossed from Core'dinations. 

The little stamped pieces are stamps by PaperTrey, Inc.  This is two stamps put together, I thought they created the cutest little accents that make this fit that sketch so nicely.

 Here is the Dynamic Duos combo, this is my first time to play along with this group.

 And here is the Freshly Made sketch.

 Now, I just had to play along with the Colour Q Combo, they always make their color choices to inviting. This also fits Cath's challenge at Moxie Fab for repetition for Card Design week. 

 These stamps are from the same PaperTrey, Inc set as the last card. LOVE the stamps and I also purchased the matching dies. Love how they cut out the flower and leaves.

Here is that amazing color combination for Colour Q.

 And, for another cute flower stamp, I used the retro sketch for this week. The papers are a brand new purchase for me from a mini pad by BasicGrey, the Shine On collection.  The button is from that collection too. I think my little grouping also worked for the Moxie Fab Asymmetry challenge that Cath posted this morning. I was working on my card as I was reading her challenge.

 I used a Hero Arts flower and the matching die. Let me tell you, there just aren't any dies out there easier to use then the Hero Art ones.  You can see through the middle of them to see your placement.

Here is the retro sketch that I used.

 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Some Yellow here and Some Yellow there

I see so much of the color yellow used lately and I so love it.

For this card I used the Colour Q combo for my card and the Freshly Made sketch.  As usual, I am in love with the colors they put together. Using a color challenge always makes me go out of my box on combinations.  The little ball jar is a digital stamp by The Wax Fruit Company and the flowers are part of a digital stamp by Hero Arts.  Part of the fun of using digital stamps is that I can pick the size I want. For this card I was able to put the two stamps together and then I printed the image out as one.

 All I needed was just a bit of coloring with my Copic markers and I used one of my new most favorite supplies, some Liquid Pearls by Ranger.

 Here is the Colour Q combo.

And, the Freshly Made sketch that I used, I just turned the sketch on it's side.

For this card, I played around with a technique I have wanted to use for awhile. I also wanted to make it fit the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab.  I cut a bunch of diamonds using my Spellbinders Nestabilities die.  Once they were cut, I cut each one in half.  The paper is by BasicGrey and it is 2 sided, so I alternated using both sides for my design. 

 Once I had my triangles in place, I gave my design the accent of black rhinestones.

Part of my inspiration is the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  From this I picked up that great yellow and the triangle shapes in rows.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Using a Kreaxions punch

I get to share today on the Kreaxions punch blog.

Here is a little peek of the card I created, be sure to hop on over to the Just Imagine blog to see the entire card and how I created my doily shape with a punch.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

New Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

It's that time again, time for a new Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  

Isn't it wonderful! So fitting for Valentines day coming up quickly. 

 I wanted to go along with the pinking shear cut on the edge of the heart so I used a Cricut cartridge to cut a zig zag shape.  I cut out a heart from the middle to match the heart shape.  I also kept with the color of the little felt heart in the inspiration piece.  Because that little heart has a homemade look to it, I used some amazing papers that have a homey look from BasicGrey. 

Is that little lightbulb stamp just too cute? I thought it made for a cute little middle to my creation and it even gave it a sweet little sentiment.

Gotta share a photo too...

The crocus are blooming in my yard! The first sight of bulbs blooming makes me so happy!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

True Blue - Flower Soft challenge

The Flower Soft team is hosting a challenge using the completely adorable Mabel Lucie Attwell Kit #8 and the theme of "True Blue".  Be sure to visit the Flower Soft blog and the other team members blogs to see what they created.  You can read the details of the challenge on the FS blog, there are prizes involved. 

 For my card, I picked this little girl in the set and she has a blue dress on.  These BasicGrey papers seemed like a fun match with the vintage feel of the image. 

I cut the little girl out and inked the edges with some Distress Ink to keep with the vintage feel.  I added her to the card with foam tape for dimension.  Her little shoes are coated with Glossy Accents by Ranger to give them a patent leather look.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It is a Rose and a Tiny Envelope

Another post to share some sketch cards. 

 First off, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week. Taylored Expressions is our sponsor and I was so happy to get to play with this amazing set, Rosy Posey.  It included some solid roses and some outline roses, both in two sizes. 

 I used some Clearsnap stamp pads.  I used a Chalk stamp pad in Orchid Pastel.  It was just the right kind of ink to stamp a nice, solid rose.  Next I stamped over that with a ColorBox Die stamp pad in Dark Cherry.  The leaves were also stamped in that same Dark Cherry and after I cut the scallop circle label with a Spellbinders Nestablities, I spritzed it with some Clearsnap Smooch Spritz. 

 Next up is my Unscripted sketches card for this week.  This week's sketch includes a piggyback challenge - use a pocket.

 I am so in love with the wonderful, vintage feel of these papers by BasicGrey and it was fun that the different patterned papers go together so nicely. 

I found this little vellum envelop in my stash and thought it was a great way to add a "pocket" to my card. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 252 – THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FRIEND card

Materials:

Stamp set courtesy of Taylored Expressions

Cardstock – Core’dinations

X-Press Blending Cardstock – Copic

Patterned paper – Yours Truly mini pad/Echo Park

Stamp pads – Dark Cherry/ColorBox/Clearsnap and Orchid Pastel/ColorBox/Clearsnap

Spellbinders Nestabilities die shape

Liquid Pearls/Ranger

Corner rounder punch – Bind It All

Foam tape – 3M

SKETCH 142 – WITH SPECIAL THANKS card

Materials list:

Cardstock

Patterned paper – Refrigerator Magnet and Wronght Iron Skillet/Picadilly/BasicGrey

Spellbinder Nestabilities label

Pearls – Recollections

Resin flower – Webster’s Pages

Sticker sentiment – Creative Impressions

Mini envelope