The SUNDAY TIMES - 11.30.2008 - Be a Blessing

Be agreeable,

be sympathetic,

be loving,

be compassionate,

be humble.

That goes for all of you, no exceptions.

No retaliation.

No sharp-tongued sarcasm.

Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless.

You'll be a blessing

and also get a blessing.

1 Peter 3:8 The Message Bible

Our hearts and minds are turned at this time of the year toward the good things in our lives and what we have to be thankful for. Even if things don't look so good for some reason, there is still something we can point out as being thankful for.

When I read the above verse, it made me also think that one way to look at things to be thankful for is in being a blessing to someone else. Takes the attention off of us and our problems. How about if we all took the attitude that it was "our job to bless"!!! Doesn't have to be big stuff, just "bless"!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

The photo shows off a Southern California Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

It's official - I am in love with creating Christmas/Winter cards and so I am going to try to share a whole bunch of them through December. I figure that really, the day after Thanksgiving, is a good time to start.
I created this from last weeks sketch, Laura's sketch #13, at 2 Sketches 4 You so I am a little late sharing mine but that is OK. I used a wonderful verse stamp from Unity that really isn't just for Christmas but it just seemed to fit so well.

I sprayed the verse piece with Stewart Superiors Memories Mists. It just helped that plain piece of white paper match my patterned papers. The snowflakes are coated with a new find, Deco Arts Craft Twinkles. You just brush it over your piece and when it is dry you have a great amount of sparkle.

This card is my CPS sketch card for this week. Read on for a pretty fun technique.

See that green patterned piece in the middle? Well, I used a Glimmer Screen from Tattered Angels. I had sprayed the screen with my favorite color of Glimmer Mist, Key Lime Pie and once the screen is covered with mist I just hate to waste it so I blotted it off with a plain piece of white cardstock so now I had a complete design on my paper, the opposite of the pattern that I got when I sprayed the screen. I just cut a piece of that for my little middle section. The entire card was sprayed with a little mist of the Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist. I love the look that a slight spray of a color gives to the entire card front.

Be looking for a fun announcement from me soon regarding Glimmer Mists and Tattered Angels!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

ALMIGHTY GOD card

Materials list:
Solid Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned Paper – Peppermint Stripe and Holiday Potpourri/Scent of Christmas/g.c.d. studios
Machine sewing
Tonic Paper Distresser
Blue Martini Memories Mists – Stewart Superior
Black stamp pad – Versafine
Snowflake punch – Papershapers
Greeting stamp – Unity Stamp Co.
Mini brads – Hobby Lobby
Glitter Glue - Craft Twinkles/Deco Art

SKETCH 92 – HAPPY HOLIDAYS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Glimmer Screen and Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels
Snowflake punch – Martha Stewart
Scallop circle punch – PaperShapers
Happy Holidays stamp – Printworks
Glitter Glue – Craft Twinkles/Deco Art

Shopping - Shopping!!!!

May you have a whole ton of things to be thankful for this season.

After you all finish up that amazing meal you have planned on Thanksgiving, if you need to know where to shop for scrappin' supplies - check out Emma's Paperie.

Let me tell you, if you have never ordered from Cindy, you must!!! She knows how to send out a super CUTE package! And she is so fast. I just love to order from her store.

She is having a rockin' Thanksgiving weekend sale too with the chance to win a Starbuck's card.

http://emmaspaperie.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-specials.html

I have some exciting news coming too - a hint is on my side bar.

Setting the Thanksgiving Table

Decorated Pumpkin Placecards

There are so many ideas for cute placecards for a decorated table at Thanksgiving. These little decorated pumpkins are easy to create and make for a fun table decoration. I found these are a local craft store. They are small, lightweight, artificial pumpkins that are about 2-3" across.

1. One of my pumpkins was covered with pieces of patterned paper that were glued to the pumpkin with Mod Podge.

2. Two of the pumpkins that I have pictured here were painted with metallic paint, one a copper and one a brown/burgandy.

3. When these were dry, they were all painted with Sparkle Mod Podge by Plaid. If you haven't used this stuff, you need to pick some up on your next trip to the craft store. It is a great way to add some "bling"!

4. The felt leaves are by Queen & Co. I just cut one leaf for each pumpkin. The felt is self-adhesive, so I placed each leaf on a piece of green cardstock and then cut around each one. A long, straight pin was placed between the felt layer and the cardstock layer. The head of the straight pin was cut off first and then each one was bent at the stem of the leaf so that it could be pushed into the pumpkin.

5. The name tags were created and a hole was punched in each one. The straight pin was placed through the hole in the tag before it was pushed into the pumpkin. The material of my little pumpkins was rather soft but I did poke a preliminary hole with my paper piercer first. A dab of glue was put on the end of the straight pin that was going into the pumpkin.


Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Thinking about Thanks!

Some of my favorite themes to create with are "THANKS" and "FALL". I love the colors of fall and there are so many reasons to tell someone thank you, not just at Thanksgiving.

This saying would work for really anytime of year, but it works especially well for Thanksgiving time.

I love the extreme contrast between the gold/oranges and the strong black of the image and the words.

This card represents a very simple design and a great little way to thank a friend for any reason.

These circles are part of a piece of patterned paper and a circle punch helped make them a fun accent to my card.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS card

Materials:Solid Card stock

Birthday Boy Circles/Brun Papier/Tres Bien/My Mind’s Eye

Corner rounder punch – PaperShaper/EK Success

Rub-on Design – Walter Knabe/Me & My Big Ideas

Rub-on phrase – Fall Holidays/Scenic Route and Making Memories

Fluid Chalk stamp pads – Colorbox/Clearsnap

Ribbon

Brad – Unknown

The SUNDAY TIMES - 11.23.2008 - God is Enough!

Chris Tomlin sings this song, ENOUGH:

"All of You is more than enough

for all of me

For every thirst and every need

You satisfy me with Your love

And all I have in You is more than enough"

I find the moment I start to sing these words, all of the cares of my life seem to fall aside.

If I am going to sing these words that "God is enough for my every need", then I need to actually mean it. When I turn my eyes and my cares toward Heaven, my wants seem to be put into perspective.

It is interesting how quickly we get wrapped up in the things that don't really matter in the long run and I love that a relationship with God and communication with Him helps me keep in check.

And God is able to make

all grace abound toward you,

that you, always having all sufficiency

in all things, may have an abundance

for every good work

(2 Corinthians 9:8)

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

(I took this photo on a trip to Bellevue, WA)

Creating Christmas or Holiday cards

You might remember that I love working with kits because of how well the products usually coordinate all together. This months kit from I Am A Scrapaholic is no exception! LOVE the papers and accents and, it was just in time for Christmas cards.
This card goes along with a sketch challenge we had at I Am A Scrapaholic. The red snowflake was a part of one of the patterned papers by SEI and I just cut it out. It was, however, not a full snowflake so I thought it worked really well with the sketch.

After the cut out snowflake was glued to the front of the card, I coated the entire piece with the Gloss Accents by Ranger. This product is clear, pretty much stays right where you put it instead of spreading out over the papers and dries with a raised or 3-D look. It is just like Aleene's Paper Glaze, Crystal Lacquer and Diamond Glaze by Judi Kins. While it was still wet, I slightly sprinkled the red, loose glitter over the wet surface. I didn't want to completely cover the red snowflake with the glitter. Pour on plenty of glitter and then when the Gloss Accent is dry, just brush off the excess glitter. I used a paint brush to really brush off all of the extra glitter.

For this next card, I combined several of the pieces from the kit to create my design.

The journaling piece is a sticker that comes with a white backing. I just kept it on the backing because I wanted white paper behind it. I rubbed on the tree, the green design that goes down the one side and the red, flourish design. Red Stickles were added to the tree to look like ornaments and I coated the flourish, chipboard piece with Platinum Stickles.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

RED GLITTER SNOWFLAKE card

Materials list:
Patterned Paper – Alpine Frost/SEI
Machine sewing
Gloss Accents – Ranger
Red glitter – Clearsnap
Rub-on greeting – Imaginsce
Corner rounder punch
Powder Puff Chalk stamp pads – Quick Quotes

MERRY CHRISTMAS - TREE card

Materials list:
Patterned papers – Alpine Frost/SEI
SEI rub-ons
Rub-on greeting - Imaginisce
My Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard flourish
American Crafts Remarks sticker
Machine Sewing
Stickles – Ranger

Christmas Gift Idea - Go check it out!

If you need an adorable Christmas gift idea you HAVE TO go check out Jenn's post at the Pursuit Of CraftYness blog. She posted a great idea with some great photos to go along with it.

I'll have something new to share soon!

A Photo Shoot and some sketch cards

We tried for a little "Santa" themed photo shoot with my youngest grandson on Sunday! It was interesting to say the least but we did come up with a few really cute pics. Can you read his shirt? Just perfect for a Grandma who loves Starbucks!!!

For Card Positioning Systems Blog this week, Kandi Corp was our sponsor. What you maybe didn't know was that Kandi Corp markets a wonderful heat tool for adding crystals and gems to creations but they also sell stamps! I picked out some wonderful, vintage-feeling stamps for my cards.

If you look closely, you can see how I used a Glimmer Mist spray to "fill in" the white space between my stamped images.

For my second card, I reversed how I used the same stamps and added yellow crystals with the Kandi Corp heat tool.

I stamped the snowflakes with the brown ink and you can hardly see it here, but I "stamped off" the stamp all over the background. "Stamping Off" means that you stamp the stamp one time with new ink and then you keep stamping the image without reinking. There is less ink on the stamp at that time, so you only get partial images. The partial brown snowflakes just gave a fuzzy look to the background and I finished the look off with stamp pads rubbed over the edges and the card.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 91a – SLEDDING card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps courtesy of Kandi Corp
Circle punches – McGill
Ribbon and rhinestone brad
Stamp pads – Marvy
Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels

SKETCH 91b – SNOWFLAKE-SLEDDING card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps courtesy of Kandi Corp
Crystals courtesy of Kandi Corp
Scallop oval punch – Marvy
Stamp pads – Ancient page/Clearsnap and Powder Puffs Chalk/Quick Quotes

A FALL themed card and a gift idea

I love the die cuts that BasicGrey created to go with this collection of papers.

The ones I used here are just perfect for a little card.

Just how cute is this little girl? I added her with foam tape so that my elements had dimension and the little ball on her hat is an additional layer.

There are so many simple and fast ideas for giving a little gift to a co-worker or a neighbor. Just little things that say I am thinking of you and yet, you can make several of these. Mine also shows off some recycling. I used a plastic juice container. Of course, it was washed out well, the label was removed and I filled it with peppermint Lifesavers that are individually wrapped. This way the gift can be filled without having to handle candy. There are so many Christmas papers and supplies that make this a very easy craft. I used "punched out" snowflakes as my accents here.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

FALL LEAVES card

Materials: Solid Cardstock

Patterned paper – Holly/Blitzen/BasicGrey

Punch out images – BasicGrey

Sticker letters – Mellow/BasicGrey

Fluid chalk stamp pads – Clearsnap

Rhinestones – Mark Richards, Inc.

Rub-on word – Making Memories

Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®/Tulip

CHRISTMAS CANDY GIFT JAR

Materials:Patterned papers – Multi-stripe/Serenity Collection/Paper Salon (2 sided)

Circle and Snowflake Punches – Papershapers/EK Success

Tulle – Michaels

The SUNDAY TIMES - 11.16.2008 - God's faithfulness

But there's one other thing I remember,

and remembering,

I keep a grip on hope:
God's loyal love couldn't have run out,

His merciful love couldn't have dried up.

They're created new every morning.

How great your faithfulness!

(Lamentations 3: 21-23 The Message Bible)

*

The words, "new every morning" were ringing through my mind this morning. I love how "FRESH" and "REFRESHING" having Christ in my life is. And, just like in this verse from Lamentations, God's love can't and doesn't run out, He is NEW every morning. No matter what I am going through, no matter if this time in my life has big challenges, He shows His faithfulness to me and who I am and what I care about! Talk about something that gives me HOPE

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

(I took this photo in Bellevue last fall)

This cutie lives at my house!!!!

Yep - is this a face any grandma would love to see each day???? Well, Grandpa too. Just had to give you a peek!
And, to change our lives even further, he is getting a good grip on the art of CRAWLING!!! Nothing is safe anymore! Guess that means it's a good time to do some serious cleaning up!
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CPS #90 and 2 Sketches 4 You cards

Yes, I got in an early start to Christmas with this weeks Card Positioning Systems Blog card. And my color scheme is a little "out of the box" too.
It was fun to combine a couple patterned papers from the Irresistible collection by Quick Quotes papers for this.

One of my absolute products right now is this yummy, green glitter by Clearsnap. LOVE this green and I want to use it on everything! So green snowflakes might not be very traditional but I think it works!!! I used Plaid's, Liquid Embossing Finish first and then sprinkled a generous amount of glitter over that. One thing about using this kind of liquid for my glue is that it is dimensional.

And, again, I love to use sketches so it is just a natural to want to follow the current 2 Sketches 4 You sketch, Kazan's sketch #13.

I so love this bright yellow lace paper and pairing it with this great blue patterned paper was fun. The butterfly is a 2 step Cuttlebug die. One step cuts the butterfly shape and then there are four choices of embossing plates that fit perfectly. The embossed design on the butterfly was accented by rubbing with a Powder Puff Chalk stamp pad by Quick Quotes. I also stamped a "writing" stamp with the same blue stamp pad over the yellow letters to make the pieces go together a little more.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 90 – JOY card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned paper and Joy label – Irresistible/Quick Quotes
Snowflake punch and scallop border punch – Martha Stewart
Green Glitter – Clearsnap
All Night Media Liquid Embossing Finish and Metallic Dimensional paint– Plaid
Rub-on word – Christmas – Making Memories

YOU’RE ONE IN A MILLION card

Materials list:
Solid Cardstock
Patterned Paper – Quick Quotes
Yellow Alphabet Lace paper – KI Memories
Blue Hawaiian Powder Puff Chalk ink – Quick Quotes
Writing stamp – Hero Arts
Scallop border punch – Martha Stewart
Butterfly die and embossing plate – Cuttlebug/Provo Craft
Rub-on greeting – Melissa Frances
Rhinestones – Mark Richards, Inc.

AUTUMN GIFTS - candy treats

Thanks for visiting, Linda

Creating Backgrounds - PART 10 - Glimmer Mist

I have shared some ideas for creating backgrounds using Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels before but I just had to pull them out again. I picked up a couple new colors recently and of course, I had to try them out.
What I had mostly wanted to accomplish with this first card was to create a fancy, colored paper to stamp the bird on. I actually did stamp and emboss the bird first and then colored that paper with a couple colors of Glimmer Mist.

One of my new colors was Coffee Shop so I sprayed that and then accented it with a little bit of the Key Lime Pie. I thought that little bit of green helped my piece match my background paper. From the side, the Coffee Shop brown has a copper sparkle. The leaves on the stamped piece were accented with Platinum Stickles. The background piece that this circle sits on was punched on both sides with the Stampin' Up notebook punch and then stamped with the alphabet stamp by CatsLife Press. The punched edges were distressed with the Tonic Paper Distresser and inked/colored with the Powder Puff chalk inks by Quick Quotes. If you haven't seen or heard of these stamp pads before, you need to take a look. Great colors and they are so easy to work with.

For this next card, the flowers are part of a piece of Irresistible patterned paper by Quick Quotes. I cut out the flowers and they were plain white with the black outline lines. I filled in the bottom petal of each of the flowers with the Icicle Stickles. The Icicle Stickles has a chunkier glitter in it.

The help the flower match the purple patterned paper I used for the card, I sprayed the flower with the Fully Purple Glimmer Mist and then I used the new Copper Metallics to spray the entire front of the card. This color is meant to give a nice "Glimmer" to the project rather then a strong color change. Notice how it colored the Stickles. I wish you could see the really cool GLEAM the card has from the Copper.

Thank You for Visiting, Linda (lbpost)

I LIKE YOUR STYLE card

Materials list:
Solid Cardstock
Patterned papers – Bob’s Boxers/Quick Quotes Papers
Bird stamp – Inkadinkado
Alphabet stamp – Catslife Press
Greeting stamp – Printworks
Pearl brad – Gartner
Powder Puff stamp pads – Quick Quotes
Platinum Stickles – Ranger
Hole punch – Stampin’Up
Machine sewing
Ribbon
Coffee Shop and Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels

MISSING YOU card
Materials list:
Solid Cardstock
Patterned papers – Irresistible and Bandana Rama Collection/Quick Quotes Papers
Icicle Stickles – Ranger
Fully Purple and Metallics Copper Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels
Rhinestone swirls – Prima

Rub-on greeting – Making Memories

The SUNDAY TIMES - 11.09.2008 - Amazing!

Who am I that You are

mindful of me

That You hear me when I call.

Is it true that You are

thinking of me

How You love me,

it's amazing

(written by Israel Houghton)

I just love when someone writes a song that perfectly expresses my heart. The above words to the song, I Am A Friend Of God, is just one example. We were singing this the other day in church and I knew this was a thought that I would have. That God was actually mindful of me. That He really does hear me when I call. And, yes, I can only say that that is amazing!

***

You know me inside and out,

You know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made,

bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book,

You watched me grow from

conception to birth;

all the stages of my life

were spread out before You,

The days of my life all prepared

before I'd even lived one day

Psalms 139:15 & 16 The Message Bible

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

(I took the photo on a trip through Oregon)

Another CPS #89 - Starving Artistamps, Inc.

Well, I love a challenge. So while my stamps were out from the CPS sponsor this week, Starving Artistamps, Inc., I just had to create another card. I used the same two stamps that I had for the other card, the circle background stamp and the Asters. This time I used a completely different color scheme, trying to mix it up a little.

For the middles of the flowers, I put a big drop of Liquid Embossing Fluid by All Night Media and sprinkled USArtquest's mica flakes over that. These flakes have a sparkle but it is hard to see it here. The Liquid Embossing Fluid is similar to Diamond Glaze or Aleene's Paper Glaze.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CONGRATS card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of Starving Artistamps – Mini Circle Background and Large Silhouette Asters
Cardstock
Patterned paper – October Afternoon and Bo Bunny Press
Memento stamp pads
Corner rounder punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Sand paper
Liquid Embossing finish – Plaid
Mica flakes – USArtquest
Rub-on greeting – Making Memories

CPS #89 and 2 Sketches 4 You

This week, Starving Artistamps was the sponsor at Card Postioning Systems blog. We don't always have a sponsor but one thing that is fun about having these great companies partnering with us is the challenge that comes with using their products. My card represents two stamps, a circle background stamp and the Aster stamp.

I used a stamp pad to slightly add color to my paper and then I stamped the circle stamp with a coodinating color of ink. For my centerpiece, I stamped the asters in black ink and embossed that and then cut the flowers out, adding them to my card with foam tape. I always think the dimension is a great accent.

And, I of course, had to play with Laura's Sketch #12 at 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. I also have to congratulate the new team members over there. So sad to see the past team go because every week they were amazing, but I'm guessing this new group will be every bit as amazing and inspiring.

For my two accent pieces, I punched out a circle from white cardstock and then punched "out" the butterfly in each circle. I coated the two butterflies with the Liquid Embossing Finish and then added the butterflies back into their space with foam tape so that I had some added dimension.

Thank you for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

I have another CPS card to show you later this week using the Starving Artistamps stamps

BLACK ASTERS card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of Starving Artistamps – Mini Circle Background and Large Silhouette Asters
Cardstock
Patterned paper – Sunny Side Up!/Quick Quotes Paper
Memento stamp pads
ColorBox Black stamp pad and Black embossing powder/Clearsnap
Ribbon
Copper Brads

WISH-Butterflies card

Materials list:
Solid Cardstock
Patterned papers – Rockets Red Glare Collection/g.d.c. studios
Scallop and circle punches – Marvy
Butterfly punch – Martha Stewart
Notebook punch – Stampin’ Up
Liquid Embossing Finish – All Night Media/Plaid
Scallop trim – Doodlebug
Rub-on red flourish – American Crafts
Wish glitter sticker letters – Making Memories
Tonic Paper Distresser
Machine sewing

Creating Backgrounds - PART 9 - Photos

I love to take photos of all kinds of things around me and I love to use those photos on my projects. Perhaps my favorite time of the year to take photos of nature is the Fall months.
This is an 8 1/2" x 11" layout and the entire thing is a photo matted on a dark orange piece of cardstock. I did print it out on photo paper. My favorite photo paper for printing photos at home is Ilford's Smooth Pearl.

I wanted that photo of leaves to be able to really shine through so my title is nothing more then chipboard letters cut with a Sizzex font and my Cuttlebug. In case you are wondering, the Cuttlebug does a great job of cutting through chipboard.

I used a poem to be the finishing touch to my layout. I typed it into the computer and spaced the lines of the poem so that after I printed it out on a piece of vellum, I could add strips of patterned paper between the lines.

The vellum is see-through, giving the colored leaves underneath another chance to show through and not be covered up.

I used a Sakura 3-D Glaze pen to doodle around the edges. This just added a little bit of extra interest and the 3-D ink looks so cool.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

AUTUMN’S ARTWORK layout

Materials:
Cardstock

Cuttlebug Red Tag Sale alphabet – Provo Craft
3-D Glaze pen – Sakura of America
Font for journaling – CK Becky
Patterned paper on journaling block – Spice collection/Paper Salon
My own photo that I also printed using my Epson printer and Ilford Smooth Pearl Paper

The SUNDAY TIMES - 11.2.2008 - Wonder

***

Take a good look at God's wonders

they'll take your breath away

Psalms 66:5 Message Bible

***

And you sure don't have to look very far. Every season has it's signs and some of my favorite are the ones we see in the fall. But even beyond what we see around us in nature, how about the wonder of a child? How about the wonder of how much He loves and cares for us? It is probably easier to get caught up in our daily duties and we need to make a point of pausing to see the many WONDERS!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

(I took the photo at one of our local farms)