Creating Backgrounds PART 4 - Sprays

Have you ever played with Prima Paintables? I love these things. What I love the most is the kind of paper that they have used, it is an amazing watercolor paper. It is the kind that allows you to play and play with water and it holds up well. I have even used the back of the paper when I wanted to watercolor my own image.
The above piece is the one that I used for my two cards. It has four sections of prints on this one sheet of paper making it the perfect backdrop to card making. I just cut it in fourths so I could work with each design separately.

The background in the card above took all of a minute to create! I just used my Memories Mists sprays. (I seem to be finding way too many things to create with them) I used the yellow and the red and sprayed the yellow first. The usual rule of thumb when working with different colors is to start with the lightest color first. I didn't want either color to cover the entire piece and these sprays are great for giving a nice, fine mist that lets you only color portions of your piece.
In this close-up, you can see the yellow with a fine mist of the red over that. I used my watercolor crayons and watercolor brush to add red to the middles of each of the flowers and I added an accent dot to each middle with the Inkssentials white pen. The little label was also lightly sprayed with the yellow so that it fit in better. To finish this fast and easy card off, I just added a punch out black chipboard piece from Cosmo Cricket. I just love using the black chipboard, it is so dramatic without any work. Mini brads accent the middles of the chipboard flowers.
For the above card, I got a little more involved with my sprays and accents.
If you look at my original piece, you can see that the crown is part of the pattern on the paper. I used the white, Inkssentials pen and accented the designs with lines and dots.

You can also see in these two close-ups how I kept the purple and the yellow sprays somewhat separate on the piece. A rub-on greeting and some various stamps stamped in a collage style finished the card off.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BLESSINGS ABOUND card

Materials list:
Cardstock
Patterned papers – Prima Paintables
Bracket stamp – Inkadinkado
Label – K&Co.
Black Chipboard flower – Cosmo Cricket
Brads
Memories Mists sprays – Stewart Superior
White pen – Inkssentials/Ranger
White dimensional paint – Tulip
Rub-on words – Deja Views

MAGICAL-UNIQUE card

Materials list:
Cardstock
Patterned papers – Prima Paintables
Yellow Memories Mists – Stewart Superior
Purple Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels
White accent pen – Inkssentials/Ranger
Rub-on word – Luxe
Word stamps – Wordsworth
Rhinestone

The CPS sketch of choice and Scor-Pal box

It was pretty fun this last week to sit back and reflect on all of the Card Positioning Systems sketches we have worked with and to get to pick one we would like to use again and then to go one more step further to create something other then a card with that same sketch! I picked sketch #18. Along the one side of the CPS blog is a link to all of the sketches so far. Here is my card and my little box that I created, both with the same sketch but with different papers.
A little note on my flower - it is a stamp that is the outline of the flower, meaning it can then be colored in. I took the easy route on that one and used a Glimmer Mist spray for my coloring and what is neat is the metallic glimmer that you can see.
I decided to create a little box for my "and more" portion of the challenge. I used a tutorial from SplitCoast Stampers by Laurie Schmidlin -

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

You can see the specifics for creating the box there along with the measurements, etc. Because this is a perfect project for the Scor-Pal tool, I also included some simple photos here to reinforce that.

The box bottom is taller then the top of the box and I tied it shut with a fluffy ribbon, making that a great way to present a gift.
If you don't have a Scor-Pal, you need one! You can see from my photos all of the lines that are on this tool and another thing that I just love is that the bone folder has it's own little place on the board. You can have it in your hands in a second and you can have it back stored in place just as fast.

1. I used a pen to draw on the fold lines just so you could see them better in my photo. From the tutorial, you will see that you make four score lines for the top of the box. Each one is scored at 1" from the edge. 2. The bone folder is the perfect way to give your fold a great crease and since it is right there in it's own little spot on the board, ready to be used, it is sooooo handy. I like to run the bone folder down each score line on the top side of my paper and then I turn it over and run it again on the other side. I think that just makes it that much easier to make my folds. Gently fold on the score lines and use the bone folder to press down a solid crease.
3. Make four little snips along the fold lines and up to the other fold line.
4. Now you have four little flaps that need to be glued to the sides, forming the box top. You can see here that I have a Zip 2-way glue pen. This is my favorite glue for these kinds of glueing projects and I like this fat one the best.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

FRIEND card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned papers – Stella Ruby/BasicGreyFlower stamp – Paper SourceGlimmer Mist – Tattered AngelsLetter stickers – StickoDot embossing plate – CuttlebugFluid Chalk stamp pads – ClearsnapEmbossing powder – ClearsnapScallop and circle punches – MarvyStickles and Clear Glaze – Ranger

HAPPY BIRTHDAY box
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned papers – Backyard Diamonds and Backyard Stripes/Bo Bunny PressScallop punch and circle punches – EK SuccessRibbonRub-on greeting – Bo Bunny PressRhinestone flower – Dress It UpBox template and idea – SplitCoast Stampers http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

Creating Backgrounds - PART 1

The market is flooded with patterned papers and I basically love them all BUT...you can also create your own background papers. There are so many kinds of coloring mediums, mix those with some stamps and you can come up with a look that is custom. I am going to take you through a few simple steps today for creating a neat look that is really very easy and it started with plain white paper.#1. Take a piece of plain, white cardstock. I used a swiss dot background stamp by Stamp Camp. It was stamped with black, ColorBox ink and then embossed with black Top Boss embossing powder. The ColorBox ink is a pigment ink meaning it is great to use for embossing because it stays wet for awhile allowing you to pour on the powder, etc. I didn't have to emboss my design but the embossing does give a great look to the dots, they are now raised and that also allows the dots to stand up against the painting process I am going to do.
#2. To color my background, I used these pearlescent paints by UsArtQuest. They are basically pearl ex powders in a form that works by just adding water. They come in this little palette as pictured. I used a water brush to paint my paper. I LOVE water brushes!!! They have a barrel that contains water and they are ready at any instant for watercoloring. The dried paints need a little more water then what is going to come out of the brush, however, so I did squirt some water directly into the paint too. I just kept adding paint with the brush until my paper was coated. When the paint was dry, I buffed it with a soft cloth so that my shiny, embossed dots would show up well.
#3. Now for a little added interest, I used this purple Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. You do have to shake the container very well before using because the metallic portion of these inks settle very quickly in the bottom of the bottle. I didn't want a lot of this ink so I just did a little squirt at two of the corners.
#4. I also wanted to show here that when the bird is stamped on white cardstock, the bird is black because of the color ink I used and the flowers are white because the paper is showing through those places. I then added color to the flowers with the same watercolor brush and pearlescent paints.

This is my finished card.
I hope you can see the shiny black, embossed dots and the pearlescent look of that paint.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

THE ROAD TO A FRIENDS HOUSE card :
Materials list:
Cardstock Dot stamp – Stamp Camp
Bird stamp – Inkadinkadoo
Pearlescent Stargazers – USArtQuest
Glimmer Mist - Fully Purple/Tattered Angels
Fancy Label – K&Co.
ColorBox stamp pad – Clearsnap
Top Boss Black embossing powder – Clearsnap
Greeting stamp – A Muse Rubber Stamps
Watercolor brush - YASUTOMO

Today is the day!!!!

Never thought it would happen but I decided I do want to share. I want to share my creating ideas. I want to share my faith in God. I want to share lots of fun and interesting things and so I did it!!! I started a blog! My hope is that we can have FUN here! With PAPER and all kind of other important stuff.


You will often find me using photos on my projects so I thought the first thing I would share with you is this photo of my sister and a couple neighbor kids that I used on a card. I loved the vintage look of it but just that word "vintage" is a bit scary cause I am using it in connection to a childhood photo of mine!!!


The photo was actually very small, a size they seemed to use a whole lot in days gone by. I scanned it, altered it, cropped it and printed it out. Just a fun accent to go with my PAPER!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)