Ways to say "Thanks"!

Who doesn't need lots of thank you cards?  I just love that there are so many ways to say "Thanks"!  I used a few online challenges and created two cards to share today.

 First up, I found a new to me challenge blog, CAS on Sunday. I love the sketch they are using so I sat down to play.  The sketch has three elements going down the card.  I used a leaf branch stamp and stamped that three times on my card.  I inked the stamp with two colors of Distress Stain, spritzed that with water and stamped them onto watercolor paper. It might be a little hard to actually see the leaves since the ink ran a bit. I love the look though.

 I finished the card with one stamped flower and a sentiment. All of the stamps are from Wplus9 Designs.  

Here is the CAS on Sunday sketch.

 This also fits the CAS-ology FLOWER challenge.

 For my next card I just had to use the amazing color combination at Colour Q. I just loved the mix of bright and happy colors.  I created a fun background with a stencil and some Distress Stains on watercolor paper. 

 To add all of the other colors, I used a Paper Smooches banner die, a "thanks" word die and an Avery Elle flower stamp.  

Here is the Colour Q combo.

Plus this card fits the Addicted to CAS challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Loving yellow!

The card I want to share uses the CAS(e) this sketch for this week.  

 I went to my grunge circle stamp from  Neat and Tangled.  I simply inked it with a few colors of Distress Stain and stamped it only watercolor paper.  

 To add a little additional interest to the circle, I used a stencil from Crafter's Workshop and inked some of the rays.  I stamped black circles that are from the same set from Neat and Tangled, adding some enamel dots to a couple of the stamped circles.  I also sprayed some Heidi Swapp gold spray to the circle.  The sentiment is from Mama Elephant. 

 Here is the CAS(e) this sketch.

 Next I want to share a little project I just completed.  This week is teacher's appreciation at two of my grandsons school so as one of the treats, I created these cute little pencils built around a package of Rolo's.  

I cut papers to create the pencil look, stamped a number 2 on each one, used a Hershey's Kiss for the pencil point and some adorable PaperTrey, Inc tags were tied around with red twine.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards Guest!

How much fun, recently I was asked to be a guest designer on a brand new challenge blog, AAA Cards.  

 To make this even better, Victoria had noticed one of my cards on my blog and wanted that to be the inspiration piece for this week.  Above is my original card.

I created another card using the original card for the inspiration.  In the first card, I had used a stsencil to create colorful dots.  I took that same stencil and created a reverse of the dots.  I embossed the dots with white embossing powder and then added color with Distress Stamp pads to the background.  The white embossed dots acted as a resist to the stamp pad inks.  I thought the bright colors looked like a party waiting to happen.

That great word "happy" and the word "birthday" that I used to create a background are stamps from Winnie and Walter. 

 Next I just had to play along with this super cool color combination from Color Throwdown.  I just loved that silver was one of the colors. 

 I created a very simple background with a dot stencil and two colors of  Distress Ink.  

To add the silver, I cut the "Hello" that is a die from PaperTrey, Inc from silver cardstock.  The little doily piece is a die cut from My Favorite Things.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Fun with die cuts and online challenges

Yes, once again, I created some cards to go along with a couple online challenges, retro sketch and Colour Q.

 I did turn the retro sketch on the side.  I had some fun doing some interesting techniques.  The background was created with a Crafters Workshop stencil and some Distress Stain.  I am in love with those two colors together. 

 I wanted to use my brand new word die so it seemed better to turn the sketch on the side to make it work. I also "imbedded" the word which is a fun look.  PLUS - do you see that completely adorable little tie! The word and the tie die are from Mama Elephant.  

 Here is the retro sketch.

This also fits the CAS-UAL Fridays, Three Thirds challenge with the three blocks of white embossed paper.

 For this card I used the Colour Q combo. The minute I saw the combo for this week, I knew I had to use it and sat down that night.  I do have to give a little disclaimer here.  I did use some great brown inks and when they mingled with water, some of the color turned a bit orange.  I promise I started out with yummy chocolate brown. 

 I used a My Favorite Things butterfly die. It comes with four butterflies, I used two.  The top more intricate one and the solid shape one.  When I went to cut out the butterfly from the watercolor paper, it didn't cut out all of the way so I used that to just leave the butterfly on the paper and to pick up the wings.  I did back that with the matching solid butterfly shape, also with the wings lifted.  To go with the gold in the combo, I added some Heidi Swapp gold and some Distress gold glitter.  The Heidi Swapp gold is a spray but if you unscrew the spray nozzle, you can drip or splatter the gold and it is such a neat look. 

Here is the Colour Q combo.

This also fits the Simon Says Wednesday challenge to use die cuts. Both cards use die cuts that I recently bought at Simon Says. 
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Butterfly fun

I wanted to play along with the AAA challenge blog again this week.  The challenge is a sketch and/or color combination. I decided to combine both in one card.

 First off, I took a background stamp from Hero Arts and only inked part of it with two colors of Distress Ink, using the stamp pad directly to the rubber.  By only inking part of the stamp, I was able to have just a border of the design when I stamped it.  

 I used a set of round, stitch looking stamps from Prima to help match the sketch and the butterfly and the sequins finish off the card.  The butterfly is from Clearly Besotted.  

Here is the AAA Cards challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A Flower Here and a Flower There

Yeah! More fun online challenges!

 I first off wanted to use the Fusion challenge.  It is a sketch and a color combo and you can use both or either.  I did decide to use both.  I started out with a fun background with some Distress Inks and other good stuff. I always like how these turn out.  These are some drops of Heidi Swapp gold spray, that stuff is so cool. 

 In order to create those little banners that are hanging down, I used some Paper Tapes that I had.  I added the tapes to white cardstock so they were sturdier.  The stamps for the label, the flowers and the sentiment are from PaperTrey, Inc.  

 Here is the Fusion challenge.

 I also wanted to create a card to go with the Less Is More "One Layer" challenge. I don't know why but this seems to be such a hard challenge for me.  I think it is because I just want to add "stuff" so much!!!

 I created a simple background with a stencil and some Distress Inks.  Over that I stamped the solid flower and embossed that so the black was more vivid.  The flower and the sentiment are from PaperTrey, Inc.

Here is the Less is More challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

New Challenge Blog!!!

This makes me so happy, a new challenge blog!

 I, of course, hurried to play along with AAA Cards.  The challenge this week is to use two layers and glitter.  I went right to my glitter cardstock stash and cut the leaf sprig using a Paper Smooches die.  

 This cute notebook shape is also a die from Paper Smooches.  I cut it from a piece of paper that I had played with color on for a watercolor look.  

Here is the AAA challenge.

I also wanted to enter this card to the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)