It is birthday time

I love making cards but for some reason I seem to seldom use the theme of birthdays. 

 Moxie Fab is featuring a new Birthday issue all of this week so they have issued a few challenges. I love challenges so I knew I needed to create something.  I used the challenge that uses a sketch. 

 I love my stamps from Avery Elle and the matching dies are so perfect with them.  I could see this flower stamped in black so that was the starting point for my card.  The other part of the challenge is to use all stamps or no stamps so I went with the all stamping part.  To keep with that, I decorated my cut hexagons with the tweed background stamp from Hero Arts.  Stamping it in black was the perfect choice.  The banner die is from Paper Smooches and that sentiment is also from Avery Elle.

 Here is the Moxie Fab sketch.

 And for more birthday fun, I wanted to use the retro sketch and so I went with some supplies from October Afternoon.  The vintage card is from a package of embellishments.  The sketch was my inspiration for this card although it was followed rather loosely.  This fits the Moxie Fab challenge to create a birthday card.

 The word "birthday" is a die from PaperTrey, Inc.  I thought it was fun to add that to the vintage card.

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

Red and Yellow color combo

First off, check out this goodie!!! I thought it turned out so nice in the newsletter.
I wanted to play along with the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger challenge. 

 This gave me a chance to play with a technique I have wanted to give a try.  I can truly say I had so much fun with this one.  I loved the yellow sweater that wrapped around the red top and the black and white scarf so I wanted to put those elements to use in my card. 

I cut strips from yellow cardstock, red cardstock and stamped a larger flower from Hero Arts with just black ink on white cardstock.  I cut a piece of white cardstock, 7" square and added these strips to that.  A yellow strip first, a red strip next, my stamped strip next and then red and then yellow again.  Now I cut this piece in 3/4" strips, cutting down through the strips.  I then added these strips to a 5 1/2" square piece of white cardstock, staggering the cut strips.    I wish I had taken photos of the process so this would make sense.

 I used little word sticker pieces to my sentiment, they are from Authentique and I added black rhinestones, I thought these went with the shiny black sunglasses she has on.

 Here is the photo for the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger inspiration.

 Next up, the Card Positioning Systems sketch for this week.

 I sooooo love October Afternoon papers so I picked these from the Sidewalk Chalk collection. 

The black bingo card is from Jenni Bowlin and so is that rectangle shaped label sticker.  The chipboard is from October Afternoon.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Boy stuff - Girl stuff

I have managed to complete a few layouts recently and I wanted to share one of them with you.

 I created a collage of my favorite photos from this park visit, Picassa makes that so easy.

 Notice my Target Paper Tapes as my decoration? They look great against white cardstock.

 I picked up some chipboard pieces by October Afternoon as accents.

 This little sentiment is from a sticker set by Echo Park.

 Gotta share a girly card too. LOVE these products from My Little Shoebox.

The cloud, the little girl and the flowers are all cut from patterned papers.

And for a few photos...

I was walking in my backyard this week with my camera.  Have you ever seen the blossom on a Passion Fruit plant? They have to be one of the weirdest creations. One of those wonders of God's creation that just amaze me as they all turn out identical and very strange!

More of my fushias too.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Rainy Day stamps - Flower Soft

The Flower Soft team was challenged to use a topper or one of the new stamp sets. You can find the other team members links on the Flower Soft blog to see what they created.

 I picked one of their relatively new Mabel Lucie Atwell stamp sets.  This is a picture of the set that I used.

 If you want cute, then this set is it!!! I used some wonderful October Afternoon papers and Copic markers to help me show off the stamps.

I paper pieced the little girls raincoats and then colored the rest of the image.  Liquid Pearls were used to help me show off the rain drops. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A sketch, some color and CLOUDS!

First up, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week.

 This is a fun sketch, give it a try when you have time!!!

 Sweet n' Sassy is our sponsor for this week. I picked out a set of stamps that has a few silhouette images in it and then some sentiments. I love this set! I cut that amazing oval frame with a Spellbinders Nestabilities.

 I simply stamped the image with black ink and embossed that with clear embossing powder. This piece was cut in an oval shape and sprayed with a little bit of some colored sprays.  There is also an umbrella stamp that is just the outline of the umbrella making it easy to use it on other papers.  I actually stamped my piece with a dictionary background stamp by Hero Arts.

 I also used this color combo from The Play Date Cafe.

 I pulled out some October Afternoon mini pad papers.

 The blue flower circle is cut with the Cricut and then it is matted with matching shapes in yellow and red.

And for a few photos...

 We had a top of rain this last week and the day after, the clouds were amazing. I had to capture this sky with my Hipstamatic camera on my phone. See those tiny palm trees at the bottom of this photo?

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Flower Soft "Anniversary" Challenge

It is time for another challenge at the Flower Soft blog.  It is an Anniversary challenge, A Happy Heart (FSC-45) and the team was to use this adorable Mabel Lucie Attwell Card Making Kit. 

These two cuties are pretty cute for the theme of "anniversary" I would say.  All of the shapes for the card base and accents are cut with the Cricut Expression.

I cut this little couple out of one of the sheets of prints in the kit.  I also added some Flower Soft to her apron and to the ribbons in her hair.

Be sure to check out what the other team members have created.

And for a few photos...

We went down to our pier today for a Valentines Day lunch.  There is a great restaurant on the pier and we had never taken the time to eat there. It really was great with every seat in the place having a wonderful view of the ocean and the pier. 

This view is from the end of the pier looking back at our city.

I love to watch the waves from the pier.  It is also so much fun to watch the birds play in the surf and to watch the people on the beach.  I used my trusty Hipstamatic app on my phone.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Sketches and Tools

It is Saturday so it is time for another Unscripted sketch.

 I loved the simplicity of this one so it was really fun to use.  PLUS, Paper Crafts Magazine and the Moxie Fab blog are featuring tools in papercrafting all of this week. I just don't know what a papercrafter would do without tools! I, of course, then, had to play along and used this sketch for my idea.

 I created this card to go along with the embossing/debossing category.  I love to use my Cuttlebug to create wonderful embossed designs but a score board is another way to emboss and you can get so creative with it. 

 I just scored lines 1" apart up and down my card front.  When that was done, I did sand those raised areas a little because I was using Core'dinations cardstock and a handy thing about that cardstock is that sanding it exposes the core and makes the embossed lines stand out a bit.  I then cut three pieces of patterned paper to fit inside three of the diamond shapes I had created.  That paper is by October Afternooon.  1, 2, 3 with a few other supplies and I had a card created. 

 This card represents my Card Positioning Systems card for this last week.  I pulled out some October Afternoon papers and a chipboard sticker. 

I accented the chipboard sticker with some White Flower Soft, a sculpture flower by Prima and some pink Liquid Pearls. 

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A new Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

Time for another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This one runs January 12 - January 25th.

 Do you love the red and green together and it isn't Christmas related!

 I wanted to pick up that great red/dot wall and the green tiny print, especially in the square pillows.  I picked up my 8"x8" mini pad of Sidewalks papers by October Afternoon and found the perfect papers.  I used little square punched pieces to go across the card front. 

I liked the little black table with the lamp on it and thought the little telephone stamp by Paper Smooches would go along with that.  I stamped it on plain white cardstock and matted that with a black circle since the lamp in the inspiration piece had black lines on it. 

The sentiment is a rub-on by EAD Designs and Paper Smooches.

I hope you can find some time to play along with this piece.
Gotta share a few photos taken with my Hipstamatic phone camera...

 I went down to the beach at sunset time because we were having big waves.  Someone had created this perfect, amazing sand castle so I had to take photos.

 I used one of my new black/white lens/film packages.

 And, here is one of the sunset and waves.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Inspiration and sketches

I wanted to play along with one of the challenges at the  Moxie Fab Get Inspired week.  This is the inspiration piece that I played along with.  I think that is it adorable, so feminine and gotta love that great checked, green and cream pattern.

This is the card that I created. I love this doily die from My Favorite Things, a look that is so very feminine and to that I added a circle cut from a piece of October Afternoon patterned paper. 

I love this particular piece of patterned paper because whatever circle you cut out, the patterns and colors are all different so you get a completely different look with each one.  The flower is a resin flower by Maya Road.  I added a pearl to the middle of that to give the look of the jewelry on the little jacket.

I also used the Unscripted sketches sketch for this week. I turned it like I am showing you here.

The piggyback challenge was to not use any flowers so of course, a card for a little boy just seemed like the right fit. 

I also picked some October Afternoon supplies for my card.  It was fun to use all chipboard sticker pieces for my accents, sooooo fast and easy.

And for a few photos...

More from our SNOW or Big Bear trip.  How can a snow trip be complete without a snowball fit! It was so much fun to try to capture the snow "in the air"!

It didn't actually snow while we were there and our granddaughter so wanted to see snow falling so this photo of the fit captured the feel of that pretty well!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)