It's a sunny day

It really isn't here right now because we usually experience June Gloom right here on the coast, it should burn off some time today, maybe!!!

 I wanted to share a couple sketch cards and both have a sun or summer theme to them.  This first one is the Card Positioning System sketch.

 I pulled out my mini pad of My Mind's Eye papers from the Fine and Dandy collection, plus I had the matching chipboard pieces.  It was fun how fast and easy the card was. 

 Here is a close up of my sun. I used the chipboard sun and added a chipboard button, leaving in the circles in the holes.

 Next up, the Card Patterns sketch.

 I started out with the thought of a patriotic theme but I didn't end up there!!! I used a background stamp from Hero Arts and stamped it with white, embossed it with white and then I cut it in two pieces to match the sketch.  I colored both pieces with Distress Stains.

 The little flip flops are from a set of three shoe stamps by Hero Arts. 

And for some beach pics...

 We went right before sunset so you can see that starting in the background, there was a cloud layer just off the coast. My granddaughter always loved to draw in the sand.

 They had so much fun playing with the waves, trying not to get wet but that didn't last!!!

 She brought a camera to try to capture some fun pics of her own.

Just before we left, this was the view we experienced.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A challenge here and there

That's right, my cards today incorporate some great challenges!

 First up, I used the color combo from The Play Date Cafe. It is a southwest type of combo and I thought this piece fit that plus I will also enter this to the "Thinking of You" contest at Hero Arts.

 The flower piece is a new digital stamp from a set at 2 peas. The writing background printed on the white cardstock is also from that kit. I decided to make my flower and leaves a little 3-D so I printed the flower out twice and added parts of it to the original flower with foam tape. The little sentiment is a stamp.

 Here is the color combo.

 Next up, I used the sketch at Card Patterns and the Kraft challenge during stamping week at 2 peas.

 I have wanted to use this adorable set of stamps from Wplus9 Designs on kraft colored paper stamped with the white and black for awhile now and I so like how it turned out.

 Here is the Card Patterns sketch.

 And, this card uses the Card Positioning Systems sketch and my set of dies and stamps by Sizzix as they are our sponsors this month.

 I LOVE this set of die label shapes. I cut the dark blue label, the maroon colored little frame and then two other label shapes. They are all meant to be used together is you want. The paper behind my label is from a digital paper kit.

Here is the CPS sketch.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Card Patterns Guest

What a fun surprise!

 I got to be the guest designer at Card Patterns sketch blog today. Since I love sketches, this was right up my alley.

 I wanted a girly, new baby card.  I don't create a whole lot of baby related cards so I thought it was time to try one.

I, of course, went to my Cricut cartridges to find just the right look. This is from the Paper Lace 2 cartridge. The sentiment is a stamp by Pink Persimmon and the pink patterned paper is by Bella Blvd.
And for a few photos...I was walking around my yard this morning and I wanted to share some glimpses!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Putting ink to stamps

I seem to go through phases but for now, I seem to be reaching for my stamps a whole lot.

 First off I used the Colour Q color combo for the inspiration on my card.  I picked up one of my Crafter's Workshop stencils and added the color to my background by rubbing it with a few different Fluid Chalk stamp pads.  I used all of the colors in the combo, just rubbing here and there.  The card base and the frames were cut with my Cricut Expression.

 This wonderful butterfly is a stamp by Stamps by Judith. I stamped it with white ink and white embossing powder and then colored the white cardstock with some Distress Ink.  The white embossing acted as a resist.  I added some Glossy Accent to portions of the butterfly.

 Can you see the spatters of color? When I finished the stenciled background, I felt it needed a little something more so I used a paint brush and a couple puddles of some Distress Stains and flicked the brush against my finger.  This ends up fitting in with Cath's challenge on Moxie Fab to do some spattering.

 Here is the inspiration piece from Colour Q.

 Now onto the Paper Smooches SPARKS inspiration piece.

 And, the Card Patterns sketch that I also used for my next card.

 I cut my Little Yellow Bicycle piece of patterned paper in pieces to look like the rays.

 The houndstooth band is a stamp by Paper Smooches as is the cloud. I added a pattern into the cloud with another stamp. The sentiment is a stamp by Paper Smooches too.

 Next off, I played along with Kimber's Saturday sketch at 2 Peas. I liked the sketch and saw a cute reason to use this little elephant stamp by Paper Smooches.  You can tell I still had that patterned paper by Little Yellow Bicycle on my table and I thought it fit pretty great. 

I have also wanted to play more with cut out shapes and thought that fit pretty well here too. That top design is a border punched with a Kreaxions 4-in-1 punch. 

And for a few photos...

 This is my brand new rose, I just put it in the ground not many days ago and it already has blooms all over it. It is called Ketchup and Mustard! Does that fit or what?

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Inspiration, Inspiration and more Inspiration

Do you know the feeling, "I started crafting and I can't stop"! That is pretty much how I feel! But, that does give me some cards to share with you.

How about a dreamy, watercolor looking butterfly? 

It really wasn't watercolored, I used one of my favorite coloring techniques. The stamp is by Hero Arts.  I stamped it with a Top Boss Tinted stamp pad. What is cool about this stamp pad is that the tint lets you see where you stamped the image and it is plenty juicy for using embossing powder.  Next I sprinkled on white embossing powder.  Now I had a white stamped butterfly on white cardstock.  I took some chalk stamp pads by Clearsnap and started "painting". The stamp pads were rubbed directly to the paper, using three different shades.  It is pretty easy to blend the shades.  Once it is all colored, a soft cloth was used to rub the extra ink off of the embossed image.  The flower piece is cut with the Cricut.

This is the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger that served as my watercolor/color inspiration.

The Freshly Made sketch helped me with the layout of my card.

Next up, I took the Card Pattern sketch to create a card.

I had just received a new set of stamps by Paper Smooches and of course, I had to get some of the images dirty.

I took a Kreaxions 4-in-1 punch to create my white doily.  I cut a circle and then punched around it.  Those great papers are Bella Blvd.

And, since I just love color challenges, I had to play along with the Colour Q combo.

I wanted something really simple where the colors were able to shine.

First off, I punched flowers out of pieces of cardstock, using three of the colors in the combo.  Next, I centered a flower in the middle of a circle punch and punched out circles.  These were added to the front of a white card.  I glued the punched out flowers in the middles of my punched circle, alternating the colors so they were all mixed up. I used black rhinestones for the middle of each flower.  The finished card was sprayed with some yellow and orange spray mist.

And, for a few photos...

From our Long Beach aquarium trip, he loved this huge wall of glass with a view into the fish tank.

He is looking for the various fish in the pond, it is a pond where they can touch the fish.  I loved how close he got and his reflection in the pond.

And, it is always fun to feed these guys!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)