Embossing Paste Goodness

I love playing with embossing paste.

 It can make for such a dramatic background.  I used this piece to create a card around the Freshly Made sketch.  

 I started out with a piece of watercolor paper.  I sprayed it with some Tattered Angels Chalkboard spray in Valencia.  That is such a neat color because it has a metallic gold undertone.  I didn't cover the entire paper.  When that was dry, I added white embossing paste through a Tim Hotlz stencil.  The "hello" is a die from Mama Elephant and the butterfly is by Recollections/Michaels.  

Here is the Freshly Made Sketch.

Plus it fits the Time Out challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

LOVE and red seem to go together

I am so loving creating cards that fit for Valentines Day and the biggest reason is because of the RED!!!

 Todays card is no exception, lots of red.  I created a messy background with a stencil and some Distress Stain on watercolor paper.  I love how the Stains work with water and watercolor paper and I love the resulting messy look.  

 To keep with the Sunday Stamps sketch, I used a couple strips of Washi Tape on the side.  On top of that I added a little bow from Recollections. The die cut word, "love" is from PaperTrey, Inc. 

 Here is the Sunday Stamps challenge.

 This also fits the Friday Mashup challenge.

And the Curtain Call challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The MFT challenge

I have been a huge fan of My Favorite Things stamps for a really long time and so their new challenge blog is good news to me.

 I wanted to make sure to play along with their newest sketch challenge. For some reason I am in the mood all of a sudden to create in yellow, so here is my "HAPPY" card.  

 This card shows off my newest MFT purchases and can I say how happy I am that I got this banner die set!  OHHHH it is fun. How can you go wrong with a ton of banner sizes that all stack on top of each other?  I also got the pegboard background die and I have to say that that is pretty fun too.  I also used two little doily does on my card. That little gold "make a wish" sticker is from Teresa Collins.

Here is the sketch I used.

This also goes with the Friday Mashup challenge although I ended up placing the banners a little different.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Someone Who Makes Others So Happy

I took some time to do some playing.

 My card is the result, I created it to go along with the CAS(e) this sketch and the Color Throwdown challenge.  

 I started out with the colorful top portion of my card.  I used a piece of tape to divide my card.  I then used a variety of Distress Stains and Distress Stamp Pads on watercolor paper.  By spraying it with water, I let the inks run and mix until I had to look I wanted.  The leaf spray is a stamp with it's matching die from PaperTrey, Inc.  I used a doily from Recollections that I cut and the tiny flowers are from Hobby Lobby.  The cute sentiment is from a set by Alternew stamps.  

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch.

Here is the Color Throwdown challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Using Paper Tapes

Paper Tapes or Washi Tapes are so popular and really so much fun to use. 

 The Paper Players challenge for this week was to use tapes so of course I had to play along since I love these things. I love how fast and easy they are to use and you can combine patterns so easily. 

 After I had my variety of tapes on my white cardstock, I used a PaperTrey, Inc "LOVE" die cut word and cut that out of the larger, black pattern. I then cut the word again from red cardstock and put that into the cut out area of the word. The "you" is a die cut from Simon Says. My tapes are from Recollections and Queen & Co. 

Here is the Paper Players challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Love black and turquoise!

I love using color challenges.  They really do take me "out of my box".  

 For this card, I used the Colour Q combo.  This might have ended up being one of my favorite cards and here, I would not have ever normally used turquoise as a card base and a black pattern with it.  

 The black design was created with a Tim Holtz stencil.  I sprayed it with a Clearsnap black ink and then picked up the stencil and placed it on my paper. The leaves are a Paper Smooches die cut, that label piece is from Maya Road.  

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)

It is about the DOTS

A fun challenge at CASology this week is to make a project using dots. 

 This turned out easy when I pulled out some of my paper tapes! I used a Hero Arts heart stamp and a PaperTrey, Inc. sentiment to finish my card.

 I so love using this stuff.  They make for such a quick little accent and they are so easy to combine tapes and patterns.

Here is the CASology challenge.
I also thought this fit the Paper Issues "You are just my type" challenge. 
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Butterflies and Bicycles

A couple fun cards to share with you today.

 First up, Moxie Fab has a challenge to USE WASHI TAPE or paper tape. I love paper tape so I went to this retro sketch that I wasn't able to use and put it to use with this great wooden butterfly that I picked up at Micheals. When I saw this laser cut butterfly, I knew it would be fun with this particular sketch.

 The background is a Hero Arts stamp stamped with a gray stamp pad (the white portion is the stamp pattern). I then took my paper tape which is Recollections and made a frame around the stamped piece. Talk about easy and fast!!! I accented the butterfly with a cute American Crafts button I just picked up at Target.

 I went back to this older retro sketch for my inspiration.

 Next up, I used the CASE this sketch for my inspiration plus the Masculine challenge at Addicted To CAS challenge.

 Do you see my new, yummy woodgrain stamp from Hero Arts? Can I say I am madly in love with this one and I know I will use it often. I used a soft, Fluid Chalk sandy colored stamp pad. It was so easy to finish the card with this little wood bicycle and the little banner stamp, also from Hero Arts.

 Here is the CASE this sketch.

And the Addicted to CAS challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

More hearts!

In fact, LOTS of hearts!

 I love the retro sketch for this week and picking up my package of new little felt hearts just seemed like the right match. 

 I stamped the background with a Herringbone background stamp from Hero Arts, I colored the stamp with some Distress Stain, spritzed it with water and then stamped it on the colored cardstock.  The little frame and the letters for LOVE are also from Hero Arts!  I used the outline of the letters and stamped that in black and then stamped the solid letters with red. The black/white print is paper tape from Recollections.

 Here is the retro sketch.

This also fits the Addicted to CAS HEART challenge.

And the Simon Says Stamp challenge, Have a Heart.

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)