All about Green

The Addicted to CAS challenge is LUCK or LUCKY and I really had to think about that until I remembered a set of sentiment stamps from Stampers Anonymous that fit.  

 To start off I created a background using a stencil and some Distress Inks.  

 The flower is from a stamp set from Tim Holtz and Stampers Anonymous and by coloring it in greens I was able to also make this card fit the Sundays Stamp color challenge. The top part of the flower is coated with Glossy Accents for some added interest.  

 This is a close up of the result of the inks with the stencil.  

 Here is the Addicted to CAS challenge.

Here is the Sunday Stamps challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CardMaker Blog hop using Ranger Distress Crayons

Talk about exciting, the CardMaker Blog team has been able to play with the new Distress Crayons from Ranger Ink and wow! I still knew it was going to take some playing and experimenting to figure out just what these could do and how I would want to use them so this was my chance.  

 I am such a huge fan of anything related to Distress Inks by Tim Holtz and I knew these crayons would be no exception to the fun and versatility.  The first thing you need to know about these crayons is that they can do many things.  There isn't one correct way to put them to use in your crafting projects.  That's where experimenting comes in for sure.  You have to realize the different things these can do. 

For my first card, I first of all used a Tim Holtz stencil with some white embossing paste to create a background on watercolor paper and left that to dry.  

I took three colors of the crayons and one at a time colored a portion of my embossing paste background.  I then kept adding spritzes of water to my piece.  I wanted the color to sink into all of the highs and lows of my stencil design.  As I added more color and more water, I worked the colors around and together with my fingers.  I wanted this to be rather "sloppy" and uneven.  When I was happy with my mix, I set it aside to dry. 

 I used a Tim Holtz flower stamp to be my finishing touch.  I did color this with matching Distress Stains and water.  This is a big bonus with the Distress Inks, the colors are the same and so they all can work together.  I finished this flower off by adding Glossy Accents to the petals of the flower.  The sentiment is a die from Simon Says Stamp.  

 Once I started working with the crayons I very quickly found a few ways that I liked to use them.  For this card, I used an extremely simple technique. The butterflies were stamped on watercolor paper and embossed with white embossing powder. Those embossed lines now will act as a resist to the other inks I'm adding.  This stamp set includes the sentiment and three different kinds of butterflies plus the little line of hearts.  

 I most often use water with the Distress Inks but for this card I wanted to try just coloring directly onto the butterflies and the paper.  I scribbled a small patch of one crayon on each butterfly and then moved that color around with my finger.  The color is rather thick as it comes off of the crayon and it is so easy to move it and blend it.  For each butterfly I used two colors of crayons, blending the shades.  I love the intensity of the colors and how nicely they added color, making each butterfly highlighted just right.  

From my blog hop on over to Lisa's blog for more Distress Crayon ideas.  

This also fits with the Fusion Challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A friend is a smile God gives when you need one

Don't you just love that sentiment! Its fits any season.

 I wanted to use the colors from the Colour Q combo and the sketch from My Favorite Things so those challenges set the pace for my card.  That fun background was created with a My Favorite Things background stamp.  I stamped it in white, embossed it in white and then added color with Distress Stain in Hickory Smoke on watercolor paper.  That helped my card fit the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to not use patterned paper. 

 I'd been wanting to use these adorable pumpkins from My Favorite Things for some time and it just seemed like I could get them to fit the color combination.  I used a MFT's border die, it is actually from a square set but I cut it twice and made it fit the sketch.  The pumpkins have matching dies, my favorite way to stamp and cut shapes out. One pumpkin has Liquid Pearl dots added and another one is coated with Glossy Accents. 

 Here is the Colour Q challenge.

 Here is the My Favorite Things sketch.

Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

You're Brag Worthy

I needed a baby card so I turned to some online challenges for my starting point. 

 I used the color combination from The Paper Players.  I thought they were just made for a baby theme.  My card needed to be for a new little boy so how could I go wrong with this adorable little airplane from Reverse Confetti.  That cute sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

 I used the matching die set to cut out the airplane and the propeller making my card fit the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Isn't that little background the cutest using a circle set of stamps from Simon Says Stamp.  The set has the outline circles and the solid circles.  By using the circles I made it fit the Cas(e) this sketch for this week.  All of the inks are Distress Stamp pads and I coated the airplane with Glossy Accents to make it a little more standout.  

 Here is The Paper Players challenge. 

 The Cas(e) this sketch.

Here is the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Welcome Baby

When I purchased this adorable set of stamps by Wplus9 Designs with this super cute giraffe, I knew it should be used for a baby card.  

 Because I wanted to color my giraffe with yellows and soft browns, I created my background in those colors with some Distress Stain with a watercolor look.  I added in a few spots with a dark brown ink.

 This completely adorable giraffe stamp has a matching die making it so easy to cut out.  I added my color with Copic markers and a little accent of some watercolor inks.  Plus some Glossy Accents here and there.  A few little epoxy stars finish off the fun. 

This fits the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge of Anything Goes.  Since I purchased my stamps from Simon Says Stamp, I think that really makes my card fit their challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Keeping white space

Why does it seem so hard to create a card and still keep lots of white space?

 The challenge at CAS-ology this week is Precious, meaning that white space is precious.  I of course had to give it a try.  

 I started out by mixing a little bit of orange and purple Distress Inks onto a piece of watercolor paper. I spritzed these inks with water and created the little burst of color that I wanted.  I stamped this great sentiment on the ink once it was dry.  Then stamped the flower with white ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I added color with Distress Stain ink.  The flower and sentiment are stamps by Wplus9 Designs and the flower has a matching die.  I added Glossy Accents to the middle of the flower and then added some white pearls with Liquid Pearls.  

Here is the CAS-ology Precious challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Just Us Girls Celebration

I love any and all online challenges and so a huge treat for me is to be the Guest Designer at Just Us Girls.

 What is even more fun about this challenge is that it is their 300th Challenge and there's a big party with prizes.  Not sure how it can get it any more fun. Be sure to check out the Just Us Girls blog so you can see all of the Design Teams cards and all about the prizes and the amazing companies offering the prizes. 

 The theme is Congratulations so my here is my card.

 I figured one of the best things for a party is Ice Cream with a cherry on top.  To help me create that I went to my brand new Reverse Confetti dies.  I cut two scoops and even gave them some dots of red with a stencil and some Distress Stain.  Be sure to check out this super cute set of dies.

The doily die is from Spellbinders and take a good look at that yummy gold stencil design with embossing paste.  The congrats is a die from PaperTrey, Inc. and I coated it with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to play along with the Just Us Girls party challenge.

Linda Beeson

O Christmas Tree

Another Christmas card to share...

 I am trying to put a big focus right now of creating Christmas cards.  I am going with different designs rather then mass producing lots of the same thing. More fun creating that way.  For this one, my main piece is a black tree. Not your usual color but it ends up as a fun combination. 

 The tree is from Wplus9 Designs  The little heart is part of the stamp, I stamped an additonal one, cut that out, colored it with red and added some Glossy Accents.  The background to the entire card is some red Distress ink blended over a dot stencil. Such a fun way to create a simple background. I added some sprays of Pewter Distress Stain, an amazing silver spray and my mat on the card is silver paper. 

This fits with the Paper Players Black Tie challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

It's chilly outside

At least that is what my card looks like - here in Southern California we really are not all that cold even with a little bit of welcome rain.

 I used one of my newest Tim Holtz stamps for the main image on my card.  A snowman doesn't usually take a whole lot of coloring so that is good.  The most fun part of my card is the background.  I blended on color with a few shades of Distress Ink.  That was then splattered with a little bit of water and some dots using a stencil and some Soft Gesso. 

 I cut the snowman out and added him with foam tape for dimension.  His black hat was given a coat of Glossy Accents so it was shiny.  

I used the wonderful colors from Color Throwdown for my inspiration.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Happy Card - Happy Colors

I just had to sneak in a card for the Colour Q challenge. 

 I have been wanting to color this cute A Day for Daisies clown image for awhile and I was pretty sure this color combination was going to work.  I love working with digital images because I get to size them to fit what I want to do with them and I can print them out as many times as I want. 

 This cute clown caught my eye, maybe because of all of those hearts!!! I colored her in with Copic markers.  I did very little shading because I wanted to colors to be bright and vivid.  Each heart is coated with Glossy Accents.  I tried to turn the card to the side to show off the shine.  The corners were accented with a dot stencil and some stamp pad inks.  The "happy" word die is from Clearly Besotted, love their style.

 Here is the color combination for Colour Q.
And for a fun photo...

Seems that wearing lizards on our shirt is a new style around our house!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Stepping up with some Fall colors

I wanted to play along at Colour Me because I fell in love with the combo.  I wouldn't say they really looked fall related but I was able to get a fall slant to my card.

 I went to the Freshly Made Sketch for the layout of my card.  Add to all of that some brand new to me stamps from Simon Says Stamp.  The word "Hello" is a stamp from Avery Elle and I added some sticker letters from Teresa Collins. 

 That neat tag is a die from Reverse Confetti.  The stitch marks on my card front were created using a die from a set by Lil' Inkers.  The biggest die in the set doesn't cut, it just cuts in the stitch lines.  I stamped the wreath with white ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  After I cut it out with the matching die, I coated the stamped image with Glossy Accents just for some added interest.  The flowers and leaves were stamped with various Distress Stamp pads in the colors of the combo.  Because of the dies for the wreath, flowers, leaves and tag this fits the Cuttlebug Mania challenge too.

Freshly Made Sketch

Colour Me

Cuttlebug Mania: Anything Die Cut

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AAA Cards challenge - Summer Foods

Time for another AAA Cards challenge.

 The challenge is to use the theme of Summer Foods. 

 I picked pineapples! I love pineapples so this was an easy choice. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti and the stencil for the background is from My Favorite Things.

 The pineapple stamp is from Art Impressions.  I added ink with some mini Distress Stamp pads.  I tried to show in this photo that I added Glossy Accents to the leaves.  

I took this photo at an angle so the embossing paste would stand out.  I added the yellow color with a stamp pad and the stencil.  I then added embossing paste over the same stencil, I just didn't cover the entire front of the card.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Happy Wishes day

Happy Wishes can be for all kinds of occasions so this is a pretty all purpose card.  

 Lawn Fawn has such cute stamps and this border stamp is so one of my favs.  It comes in a set with some other pretty cool border stamps.  PLUS, I love this set with the cool lanterns. I pulled these out so I could create a card for the Lawnscaping challenge of Clean and Simple. 

 After I stamped the border, I quickly colored it with three colors.  Some of the blocks I then coated with a glitter glue, some with Glossy Accents.  I did this just to "bling" up the border a little.  The one lantern was simply colored with Copic markers and accented with some enamel dots, one of my '"go to" accents these days.  I gave the card a final spritz of yellow spray ink by Clearsnap.

Here is the Clean and Simple challenge.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)