Warm Wishes and Spring Flowers

I have mixed up the seasons here.

 I put the retro sketch to use for my card that has a winter theme to it. I used a digital kit by Cosmo Cricket, the papers and the elements.

 The rub-on is by EAD Designs/Paper Smooches.

 Here is the sketch that I used.

 Now for the spring side of my post, this fun card with flowers.  The black dot piece is a stamp by Paper Smooches.

 The woodgrain print and the herringbone are both digital prints. I love the look of punched out shapes so I was able to use some circles here.

Gotta share this pic of an amazing flower that we found blooming on a recent zoo trip.

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)

Soft beige - Bright green

Gotta share a couple cards.

First up is the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger for this week.

I love the soft and subtle little scene with beige, a touch of pink, a touch of black and a touch of green.  I wanted to do something that would give my card that same soft light brown/beige background like in the rug.  I used a stencil from Crafter's Workshop. I rubbed it with a Distress brown ink.  I also used a text stencil and sprayed that with some brown and pink Chalkboard mist.  I like that I can make a random pattern with the stencil. 

I used a stamp set by Waltzing Mouse.  I used two layers of doily stamps from the set.  The pink layer is my brand new Martha Stewart punch and the leaf pieces are leftovers that were cut with a Cricut cartridge.

And now for the Unscripted sketch for this week. I turned the sketch upside down for my card.  I also changed the size/shape of my card.  The piggyback challenge this week is to use green. 

I think this is my favorite shade of green and I love it with black.  This sentiment is cut from the Martha Stewart Elegant Cake cartridge. 

The central image is cut with a Cricut cartridge. I liked that it has a quilt look. I cut out the first layer from a piece I had stamped with a Hero Arts stamp. Then I cut the outline layer from black cardstock. The butterfly is a punch.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

If you enjoy challenges like I do, today is the time for another SPARKS challenge at Paper Smooches. 

 This is the SPARKS challenge, is it cute!!!

I realize that the SPARKS challenge photo is rather Christmas related and I was going to go in that direction but then I created this card and it so fit! The colors are exact.

 I used some Crate Papers for this, I couldn't believe how fitting they are to a DAD theme and to go along wtih this adorable card stamp by Paper Smooches. 

I have another card I want to share too using Paper Smooches stamps. I used some digital Cosmo Cricket papers for the card.  I just printed out small pieces of these two patterns.  I cut around some of the swirls to look like swirling snow.  The card base is cut with my Art Philosophy Close to My Heart Cricut cartridge.  I love that I could cut the card base and then two label shapes that are a perfect fit and matted just right.  

 I love this little snowman stamp.  I used mini buttons on him. 

And, to share some photos...

 Our family took a couple days to go find snow.  We are all Southern Californian's so we had to drive to play in the snow.  We went up to Big Bear Lake. Of course, we had to build a snowman!

 This is our youngest grandsons first "snow" experience. Talk about excited!

This is the finished guy.  Kind of a bear with a mohawk!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Clip Art and Digital

Gotta share a couple cards today.  This one is using the Unscripted sketch for this week.  I turned the sketch.

 I purchased a set of clip art cards from Made by Janet's etsy store. LOVE the vintage feel of them. I printed them on a piece of textured cardstock that even adds to the vintage look. I did ink the edges with a brown Distress stamp pad to further the vintage look.

 I am madly in love with this wonderful doily die from My Favorite Things and I thought it fit here pretty nice. I used some amazing Tim Holtz Kraft cardstock, I just love the shades of colors in this collection.

 This is my Card Positioning Systems card for this week. I think it has to be the fastest card I have ever created!

 I inserted a piece of digital patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket in a Microsoft Word document and resized it.  Then I placed this cute little snowglobe digital element over the paper and printed them out at once. I printed them on the X-Press Copic paper, this stuff smooth like butter and the inks print wonderful on it.

The little banner is by Spellbinders and I stamped the Paper Smooches sentiment on that.

Now for a couple photos...

 The bottom dog, Sadie, likes to cuddle under blankets and pillows so she burrowed under this pillow and the little dog, K.C., came along and got comfortable on top of this sandwich! Funny dogs!

This is a photo of the sunrise I caught the other day. I was out taking photos of something else and I realized that the sun rays made this pattern when I caught it just right.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 135 SO SORRY card

Materials list:

Cardstock – Core’dinations

Clip Art tag – Made by Janet/Etsy store

Doily die – My Favorite Things

Distress stamp pad

Buttons and pearls

SKETCH 247 – MY COOLEST FRIEND card

Materials:

Cardstock – Core’dinations

x-Press Copic paper

Digital Patterned paper and Element – All I Want for Christmas/Echo Park Paper Co.

Sentiment stamp – Paper Smooches

Black Versafine stamp pad

Clear embossing powder – Stampendous

Banner – Spellbinder Nestabilities

Tulip 3-D Fashion Paint

CPS and Unscripted cards

First off, I get to share my Card Positioning Systems card for this week. 

 Stamping Bella is our sponsor! I loved this little cutie as soon as I saw her and I knew I wanted to color the flowers in red. 

 I kept the rest of the coloring to the image very simple to let the flowers shine. 

 Now, on to my Unscripted Sketches card for this week. 

 I have been downloading more and more digital papers and elements recently, it is fun to use them for cards.  I use Microsoft Word and insert the elements onto a blank page.  After I added the paper piece and the mug, I placed the mug over the paper so I could print them both at the same time.  This is a set by Cosmo Cricket. There are so many great little elements in this set. The sentiment is a stamp by Paper Smooches. 

 Just a close up of how cute this little mug is. 
And, now for a couple photos...

 It didn't snow, a bomb did not go off!!! We can only blame the two dogs! I had just walked in the door from the grocery store. I dropped a big package of 12 rolls of toilet paper on the floor to take to the bathroom when my hands were free and when I wasn't looking, our older dog dragged the package outside and proceeded to have a ball. I only wish I had a video of the event instead of just the aftermath!

As I was trying to quickly pick up all of the pieces so there wasn't more distruction, the little dog was going for a little more fun.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 246 – HAVE A MAGICAL DAY card

Materials:
Stamps courtesy of Stamping Bella
Cardstock – Core’dinations
x-Press Copic paper
Patterned paper – Happy Days/Echo Park
Scallop circles – Spellbinders/Nestabilities
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Copic markers

SKETCH 134 WARM THOUGHTS card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Digital Patterned papers and image – Cosmo Cricket
Sentiment stamp – Paper Smooches
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Distress stamp pad - Ranger
Self adhesive rhinestone – Queen & Co.
Corrugated cardboard

A stamp here and a stamp there

Both cards I get to share in this post use stamps! I love stamping. 

 First off, my Card Positioning Systems card for this week.  Want2Scrap BLING is our sponsor.  I cut the scallop circle with my Cricut and the ring of black rhinestones are a perfect fit. 

 The flower stamp was stamped with black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder and then I very simply colored it with Copic markers. 

 Now on to my Unscripted sketch card.  I turned the sketch on it's side. I just love this sketch and could see using it several more times.

 I combined a few Hero Arts stamps for my design.  The circle/wreath was inked with a couple colors of Distress stamp pads. 

 I stamped the flower twice on patterned paper.  The top one was added with foam tape for added dimension and I made clips into the petals to add even more dimension. 

And, to share a couple photos...

 Our puppy, Sadie! She is a year and a half now and sooooo cute. 

My husband built this wonderful arbor.  I picked up the birdcage at Ross and put plants in it, the little lights are solar.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 239 – THANK YOU card

Materials:

Rhinestone circle courtesy of Want2Scrap

Cardstock – Core’dinations

X-Press Blending Card – Copic Markers

Copic markers

Stamp – Inkadinkado

Black Versafine stamp pad

Clear embossing powder - Stampendous

Art Philosophy CTMH Cricut cartridge - , 3 1/4” and , Card, 4 ½” and 5 ½”

Rub-on sentiment – EAD Designs/Paper Smooches

SKETCH 127 – WISHING YOU LAUGHTER card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned papers – BoBunny, My Mind’s Eye, We R Memory Keepers
Fiskars corner rounder punch
Wreath, flower and sentiment stamps – Hero Arts
Black Versafine stamp pad
Clear embossing powder – Stampedous
Distress stamp pads
Self adhesive pearls – Queen & Co.