A new AAA Cards Challenge

 Fall is here and Halloween is upon us.  That makes this a pretty good challenge at AAA Cards for this week, to use the above image as an inspiration piece.  Plus you are playing for a guest spot at AAA Cards.

 My card is super simple.  Some punched out squares of a patterned paper and a pretty cute little spider cut with the Cricut Expression.

To give it the last little bit of interest, I did a line of machine sewing to look like the spiders web.
This also fits the Less Is More Little Creatures challenge.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to give the AAA Cards challenge a try, Linda (lbpost)

A fun new AAA Cards Challenge

You need to watch closely because the theme of the challenges at AAA Cards changes each week and that is part of the fun of taking part. 

This week we are focusing on fussy cutting.  I have to admit that I really like fussy cutting so I was so on board for this one.  One thing I have discovered that sitting down and cutting out an image really doesn't take that long and the result is pretty cool. 

 I feel in love with this adorable Printworks snow lady when I saw her at our stamp convention and I have had so much fun using her. Most of the other elements were cut with my Cricut.  This was a quick little card to assemble because the Cricut pieces had been cut out previously.  I had saved them for a future use and this card seemed like the perfect fit.   

After I stamped the snow lady with black ink, I embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I really like my black lines on an image to be a little more intense with embossing and I like using that technique when I am going to add coloring with Copic markers.  You can see where where I added some chunky glitter on the red heart and on the golden wings.

Make sure you stop on over on the AAA Cards blog so you can play along.

And, can you stand a few more Maui photos...

 We stopped at this little Coconuts stand mostly because I saw that red truck and just had to get a photo of it.

 One of my most favorite photos from our trip!  We found this old hotel with these colorful surfboards along the front. I had a feeling it was abandoned but sure made a great photo op. 

I couldn't even get enough beach photos. Mostly because each beach we stopped at seemed different from the last.  I loved the shadow of the palm tree across the sand.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Wish Big

A fun card to share using the color combo at Colour Q.  They always have such fun challenges.

I cut out the fleur de lis design with my Cricut. It has two layers that allowed me to use two of the blues in the combo.  

 The background is embossed and I finished with the accents of a tiny tag that has a PaperTrey, Inc sentiment and some sequins, rhinestones, buttons and twine. 

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

Love and Kisses to You

I just love hearts! I love using hearts on projects, they are probably my favorite accent.  So, Valentine's Day is a fun holiday for me to create some fun things. I am adding this to Paper Smooches Valentine's challenge.

First up, a really cute little card that is tied to a glassine bag of chocolates.  The card base was cut with the Cricut and the rest of the goodies are stamps and a banner die from Paper Smooches.  This little frog is so completely adorable!!! 

 It fits with the CAS(e) this sketch.

 Next up, I ordered this totally cute tiny coffee cups with lids from the internet and then we decorated them to use as gifts for all of the staff at two of my grandsons school.  The cups are about 3" tall. 

I cut the red tag using a Reverse Confetti tag die, embossing those tags with a heart Cuttlebug embossing folder. The other tags are from a set of tags by Recollections at Michaels.  We stuffed them with amazing homemade salted caramels!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Halloween is on it's way

I am not a big fan of all things Halloween, but I love the pumpkin patch visits and the colors, etc. 

 I loved these little images in the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge and so I decided to create a little fall decoration with them.  I used a simple 5"x7" canvas for the foundation of my project.

I tore pieces of an old dictionary page and added them to the front of the canvas with Mod Podge.  This was painted with a wash of white paint.  I then added some color and accent by rubbing a brown stamp pad over the edges.  The tree, the bat, the moon and the sentiment were just cut out like they are shown in the cartridge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

World Card Making Day part 1

Since I love making cards, it just warms my heart that there is a day to celebrate Card Making!!!

 Paper Crafts Magazine will have the actual celebration this Saturday, October 5th,  but they are talking about it all week so I thought I should for sure share a card today.  Check out the Moxie Fab blog to read more.

 My card also features the look of Fall.  The leaves and the word "Thanks" are cut with my Cricut machine.  I love the colors of fall.

This fits the Addicted to CAS challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Butterflies and bike riding

I wanted to play along with the Colour Q combo for this week so I pulled out a brand new set of stamps I just picked up from Tim Holtz. 

 I love the design of these stamps so I picked this set. It has something for Valentines day, Easter and Fourth of July not to mention other holidays.  I was pretty sure this butterfly would fit that color combo well.  The banner and sentiment are from Paper Smooches.

 The background is a stamp from Fun Stampers Journey, I just didn't ink it thoroughly so it looks a little distressed.  The butterfly is colored with Copic markers and that yellow accent is punched with a Martha Stewart anywhere punch.  I added some Glossy Accents on portions of the butterfly.

 Here is the Colour Q combo.

This also fits the Addicted to CAS Summer challenge.

 I also have several new stamps from Hero Arts so I sat down and did a whole bunch of playing.  I'll be showing off more and more of that playing along the way. 

I used the Brush Strokes set and just stamped randomly.  I used this little strip for a background for the bicycle stamps.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's all fun!!

I mean stamping and creating! LOVE to make cards.

 I went to the CAS(e) this sketch for my card and I need to add a disclaimer here. After I created my card using the sketch, I took a closer look and realized one of the DT members used one of these same stamps to create the look only she did turn the sketch.  I just didn't want anyone to think I couldn't think of anything else but to copy her!!!!

 I had just received this stamp set from Hero Arts in the mail so of course they needed to be used and this brush stroke stamp was the perfect fit to the sketch.  I loved using the bright colors that really looked like watercolors.  The other accents for the card are also Hero Arts stamps.

 Here is that CAS(e) this sketch.

 Plus, I also wanted to use the retro sketch.  Another disclaimer! I don't usually go with the obvious when using a sketch but I love hot air balloons and I had this cool one on a Cricut cartridge!

 I stamped the dictionary background stamp from Hero Arts with white ink and embossed it with white and then sprayed color over that.  Everything else is cut with the Cricut.

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

Sunshiny Flowers

I am always into experimenting!!!

 This card is one example of that.  This Hero Arts flower stamp is fun and so I did a bit of experimenting on a way to ink it up.  The background is a wonderful spray of two shades of the Stephanie Barnard spray inks by Clearsnap.

 

 I took two colors of Distress Stain and daubed them directly on the stamp. I spritzed it with water first and then stamped it.  I did each flower twice so I could cut out the middle section to add it with foam tape for added dimension. The dots in the middle were finished with Liquid Pearls.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Yummy color combo

I needed to create a few Thank You cards and I had already fallen in love with the color combo at The Play Date Café so I went to that for my inspiration.

 I pulled out some of my most favorite flower stamps with matching dies from PaperTrey, Inc. plus the most perfect sentiment stamp from PrintWorks stamps. 

 First off, I stamped the dictionary background stamp from Hero Arts in a dark pink color on plain white cardstock. Next I cut the flowers and leaves and then stamped the images over the cut out pieces.  I did emboss the black stamping with clear embossing powder, that really adds the wow factor to the flowers.  I love the dictionary images showing through. 

I then took a great pink spray ink from Stephanie Barnard and Clearsnap.  I wanted just a few splashes so I took off the sprayer top and flicked some ink here and there.  The label piece is cut with the Cricut and some pink rhinestones finish is off.

 This is a slightly different version. I sprayed the pink spray on the yellow cardstock.  The spray of color made more of change to the yellow cardstock.

Here is The Play Date Café combo
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

New stamp fun

The other day, I ordered some pretty wonderful Avery Elle stamp sets.  Of course, I just had to put them to use.

 I used the retro sketch for this week with this set.  I just love the label and the sentiments in this set and I thought I was able to put the sketch to use with the stamps.

 I used a yummy new pigment stamp pad from Clearsnap for the label.  Do you see the strip that I created by just stamping the leaf sprig over and over?

 Here is the retro sketch.

 LOVE these solid flowers and leaves in this set and knew I could get the Dynamic Duos color combination. 

 That neat label shape is cut with my brand new Cricut cartridge, Artiste from Close to My Heart.  The stamp pads are by Clearsnap. The strip accent is paper tape from Queen & Co.

Here is the Dynamic Duos combination.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

New Spray colors!

Can I say that the weather around my parts is beyond perfect and amazing!!! We are having spring weather that is just plain wonderful and it makes me so happy. I'm of the camp who think that the weather should always be perfect, at least I can marvel at the days that are.  I was able to get out in the yard and get a bunch of clean up work done. We had so many plants that really needed some serious trimming before they get out of hand. It sure feels good. 

And now for the card I want to share with you today...

 I love the color combination at Colour Q so I needed to get a card together using that combo.  I started by creating my background.  I just received some wonderful sprays from Clearsnap.  They are from a new collection by Stephanie Barnard and I am so in love with them already. I love that they are solid colors, most sprays have a sparkle look to them which is fine, just not always the look I want. I first sprayed the cardstock with the Banana yellow and then placed a stencil over that that is circles and sprayed again. I really liked the resulting layers.

 My accent pieces are cut with the Cricut. I have so much fun discovering new shapes that are on the cartridges that I own.  I loved making it fit the color combo too. The black pearl-looking accents are Liquid Pearls.

Here is the Colour Q combo.
I also used the CAS-ual Fridays challenge that is "no stamps".  I have been using stamps so much lately that I knew this was going to be a challenge for sure but with the help of my Cricut, I did it!!

Here is that challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Stamps and Punches

I wanted to use a couple challenges, but what else is new!!!

 First up, I used the color combination at Dynamic Duos. The combo of the black and yellow with some white makes me so happy!

 I wanted to create my own pattern of the black and yellow so I use a set from Wplus9 Designs that I so love and some Clearsnap inks.  The black design is cut with the Cricut and the word "hope" is a die cut from Wplus9 Designs.

 Here is this weeks Dynamic Duos challenge.

Lately I have seen talk regarding Ombre coloring and it was fun to give it a try.  Moxie Fab has issued a challenge to create a card with an Ombre look.  For my card it was pretty easy after I pulled out a set of cardstocks that were of the same family but each piece was a little darker then the other.

I then accented my strips of cardstock with punched flowers using all of the same shades.  The punch is from Martha Stewart. I thought it was so fun what a simple look this created.

 This card fits with the Avery Elle photo inspiration challenge.  I was taken with the simplicity of the photo yet the neat dynamic to that photo.  With that, I also went with a simple look and I thought the color combination gave my card a similar dynamic.

 I stamped two of the flowers from a set of stamps by Avery Elle and cut both out.  When I placed them on my card, I layered them with some foam tape between the layers. The cardstock comes with that embossed design on it already and the sentiment is from Simon Says.

Here is the Avery Elle inspiration photo.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)