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)

Sweet bouquet

I recently picked up some new stamps from Stamps by Judith and I so wanted to use them.  

 I also had just gotten my Zig Clean Color pens and I thought this was the perfect chance to use them.  That great sentiment is a stamp from Stampers Anonymous.  Isn't that a great way to great a friend?

 The plant and that cute little colander bowl are separate stamps.  They are easy to stamp together though.  I stamped them with black ink on watercolor paper and then used my new pens to add interest.  Just bits here and bits there.  They were so easy to use.  

 My colors fit the Colour Q combo.

Plus the CASology challenge for SIMPLE.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Merry Snowflakes

One last Christmas card to share for this year...

 I used the color combination from Colour Q along with a few snowflake related products.  The banner shapes are die cuts from My Favorite Things.  I love that they are various sizes so that they fit on top of each other.  The word "Merry" is a die from Simon Says Stamp.  

 I ran the white banner piece through the Cuttlebug along with a die cut that I embossed instead of cutting.  The snowflakes are from Wplus9 Designs.  

Here is the Colour Q combo.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A friend is a smile God gives when you need one

Don't you just love that sentiment! Its fits any season.

 I wanted to use the colors from the Colour Q combo and the sketch from My Favorite Things so those challenges set the pace for my card.  That fun background was created with a My Favorite Things background stamp.  I stamped it in white, embossed it in white and then added color with Distress Stain in Hickory Smoke on watercolor paper.  That helped my card fit the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to not use patterned paper. 

 I'd been wanting to use these adorable pumpkins from My Favorite Things for some time and it just seemed like I could get them to fit the color combination.  I used a MFT's border die, it is actually from a square set but I cut it twice and made it fit the sketch.  The pumpkins have matching dies, my favorite way to stamp and cut shapes out. One pumpkin has Liquid Pearl dots added and another one is coated with Glossy Accents. 

 Here is the Colour Q challenge.

 Here is the My Favorite Things sketch.

Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

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)

You Are The Best

What a neat sentiment to encourage a friend.  It's from a set of stamps with a matching die from Simon Says Stamp.

 And, it just goes with these colorful flowers.  I randomly stamped the flower stamp by Tim Holtz over a piece of watercolor paper using white ink and white embossing powder. 

 Next I took various Distress Stains and added the inks to the flowers.  I did spritz my paper first with water, that helps the inks run and mingle.  I can't get enough of playing with these inks like this.  After I added the inks here and then I walked away from my piece to allow it to dry.  Coming back to look at it is always magical!!! 

 I used the Colour Q combo to determine my colors of inks.

And, I used the retro sketch for my card layout.

And it also fits the Anything Goes Simon Says Stamp challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

That splash of color

One of my favorite challenges is black/white with a splash of color and that is exactly what the Colour Q challenge is for this week. 

My other goal for the card I created to go along with that color challenge was a look that was very simple.  I recently received a set of flower and leaf dies from Essentials by Ellen and so I cut several leaves from the same white watercolor paper as my background piece.  The leaf dies are in two sizes.  To go along with the black/white part of the challenge, I cut one of the leaves from black paper. 

 Before I placed my leaves on my card, I used a Heidi Swapp spray and some Distress Stain to create an extremely simple splash of the turquoise.  My card was finished with a tiny sentiment stamped with black ink and a black and white enamel dot.  

 Here is the Colour Q challenge.

Plus I created my card around the Freshly Made sketch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards - Springtime

 The perfect AAA Cards challenge, spring time flowers! 

 And I used a brand new set of flowers stamps to me from Alternew.  After I stamped the flowers and leaves with white ink and embossed them with white embossing powder, I colored the entire front of my card with Distress Stains.  

Because the Distress Stains have a dabber top, it is very easy to apply ink to specific areas so I used them to "paint" the flowers and to create the background on watercolor paper.  I used a stencil to add a little scattering of silver dots with embossing paste. 

Be sure to play along at AAA Cards.

It also fits the Colour Q challenge.

And the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, Spring Flowers.

Plus the great colors from the Card Concept challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Spring Chicks

One more card with a fun Easter and Spring theme. 

 I used a set of stamps with their matching dies from Reverse Confetti.  I have used this set so many times, I love it.  That background was created first with a stencil and two shades of green Distress Stain on watercolor paper.  I loved how you can barely make out the pattern of the stencil yet it ended up a neat mix of the greens. 

 I used several of the stamps in the set and I am a huge fan of having the matching dies.  They make cutting out the pieces so much faster and so much neater.  Everything was colored with Distress Stamp pads or Distress Stains by Ranger Ink.  

 My card fits the colour combo at Colour Q.

Plus it fits the Spring theme at Cas-ology.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The big red flower

 Even though I am almost out of time, I really wanted to play along with the Colour Q challenge for this week. It has to be one of my most favorite color combos.  Part of the challenge was to use a newsprint look so I stamped a Stampers Anonymous ticket stamp and then cut that in a square with a My Favorite Things stitched die.  That was matted with a black MFT stitched square.  Because there are several sizes of squares in this die set, it is easy to do graduated sizes.  

 For the flower, I added two shades of Distress Stain to a piece of watercolor paper and then stamped a PaperTrey, Inc. flower over that colored piece.  It made for such a pretty flower and a real easy one too.  The leaves are from the same stamp set, I colored them with Copic markers.  The die cut word is from a set by Die-Versions.  

Here is the Colour Q combo.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Why not have a yellow tree

I love using a color combination challenge to create with.

 Here I used the Colour Q combo to create a Christmas card.  It really made for a fun out-of-the-box card.

 I used a tree stamp from Tim Holtz.  The stamp has four trees on it.  I inked the stamp with different colors of Distress Stain, stamped that on a piece of watercolor paper that was spritzed with water first.  This always gives a watercolor look to the stamped image.  I just stamped that stamp a few times.  I added color and pattern to the corners with a dot stencil.  The sentiment is from a stamp set by Simon Says Stamp. 

Here is the Colour Q challenge with a super cute imspiration piece.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's Thanksgiving and time to Make Christmas cards

I love when it's time to pull out my Christmas and Holiday stamps. 

 My first card goes pretty much way outside-the-box for Holiday colors but I did want to use the Colour Q challenge.  I kind of like my little Toy Soldier in these interesting colors and who uses orange snowflakes!!!

 I wanted a simple background to go with him so I simply sprayed some spritzes of water on a piece of watercolor paper and ran matching Distress Stains across the card.  I always love how they run and mingle.  That great sentiment is from a set by Simon Says Stamp, the Toy Soldier is a stamp from Tim Holtz, the tiny snowflakes are from Stampendous.  

Here is the Colour Q combo.

 My next card fits Thanksgiving, a holiday that is closer then I want to think.  How on earth does time fly?  I am stretching things a bit but I am adding it to the CAS-ology challenge to use a FLAG. My banner is a flag shape!  That is a shape I love used on cards but I don't often think to use it.

That amazing, ornate piece is a die by Spellbinders.  It is pretty much hard to believe that one die can cut something so pretty.  The leaf is from Hero Arts.  

Here is the CAS-ology challenge.

This also fits the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge for "thanks".
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)