Stars, Rain and Baseball

For my Card Positioning Systems card this week. This was such a fun sketch to work with because it was so different. I challenge you to give it a try. I used a Fourth of July theme and then realized that it really was fitting to today too with it being Memorial Day.

I always love the red, white and blue color scheme that makes us think of America and this also gave me a great reason to use this wonderful, chipboard star by Magistical Memories. The papers are by Daisy Bucket and Shabby Green Door.

Notice the red, embossed cardstock. That is Jenni Bowlin Core Impressions cardstock by Core'dinations, the text letters come embossed in it.

I colored the chipboard by patting it thoroughly with a white stamp pad and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I love the look that gave it.

And, here is a layout I finished recently. The photos are from our "rainy day" little outing. My granddaughter was standing under a water spout and I just loved how casual she was standing there, enjoying the rain.

All of the papers are My Mind's Eye, I love papers that coordinate so well. Notice my NEW Martha Stewart border punch!

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And, what would a post be without some pics!

Baseball is almost finished around here, but our grandson was able to pitch in a couple of his games and he was soooooo happy about it and took it so seriously. It was so much fun to see how much he cared about this position.

We took our youngest grandson to this game and he thought he was so cool, climbing all the way to the top of the bleachers! You can tell how cool he thought he was by that huge smile on his face.

This play structure is in our backyard. It really did start out small and grandpa just had to keep going, as he added to it. The kids LOVE it and our own kids are jealous that something like this wasn't built for them! Grandkids do enjoy a ton of extras your own kids don't! We just started letting our youngest grandson go up in this and let me tell you, HE LOVES IT!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 169 – GOD BLESS AMERICA card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core Essentials and Jenni Bowlin Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Daisy Bucket Designs/Shabby Green Door
Letter stickers – October Afternoon
Chipboard star – Magistical Memories
White stamp pad – ColorBox/Clearsnap
Clear embossing powder – Stampendous
Big Brad – Creative Expressions
Circle template - Coluzzle
Sandpaper


RAINY DAY layout
Materials:
Cardstock – Core Impressions/Core’dinations
Patterned paper and scallop circle die cut – My Mind’s Eye
Sticker letters – David Walker
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Machine sewing
Scallop circle punch – Marvy
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Font -
Sandpaper

Chocolate Box goodness

I sure don't know who thought of the name for this collection of Core'dinations cardstock, but they have my attention just with the name "The Chocolate Box". (Here is a link to get a peek at the amazing colors these come in) BUT, now that I have played with it, I have found that the papers all by themselves are just plain fun. Basically it is a shade of brown on the front side of the cardstock with a yummy, ice cream colored core and this is also the color on the reverse side of the cardstock. My two cards for today use the same color of cardstock, both have a pinkish core and reverse side.

The style of this card is an old favorite. It is just a gathering of punched squares of scraps. I love to create cards with squares like this, I just tend to use slightly larger squares. I liked the little ones because it gave me space inbetween the squares for my grid design to show off well and it also let me use more squares.

I pulled out my Scor-Pal tool and simple created a grid and then sanded the scored lines, letting the core show through. I also sanded the edges of the card. The chipboard flowers are from a long border of flowers by Magistical Memories.

My Little Shoebox and Core'dinations teamed up by sharing papers with each other and this is one of the cards I created with their adorable supplies. LOVE the tiny sticker letters. I think it is so fun to make up my own greeting with them.

I again, used the Scor-Pal tool to make my lines along the bottom edge of this card. When those scored lines are sanded, it makes the entire card coordinated.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BEST FRIENDS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Chocolate/Core’dinations
Various scraps of patterned papers
Chipboard flowers – Magistical Memories
Rub-on greeting – Making Memories
Scor-Pal tool
Sandpaper
Brads – Creative Impressions
Square punch

YOU ARE AMAZING card
Materials:
Cardstock – The Chocolate Box Collection/Core’dinations
Patterned papers, journaling spot, tiny sticker letters – Tanisha and Danielle/Wonderful Collection/My Little Shoebox
Border punch – Fiskars
Scor-Pal tool
Glitter brads – Doodlebug

KWdesigns Color Inspiration #50

Guess what we did yesterday??? I just had to share this photo first.

I didn't start playing with these color challenges until just recently and I can tell you, they are so much fun. This week is #50!

Each combo usually takes me "out of my box" because I never stopped to put those particular colors together. For this one this week, it was a real challenge to add the brown in with the other colors.

It was fun to find this adorable patterned paper by We R Memory Keepers that had most of the colors needed and to use that as my base piece.

The chipboard piece was covered with this cute woodgrain patterned paper and I accented that with Cinnamon Stickles. The birds are rub-ons by Luxe and I just rubbed them onto yellow paper. The card base is dot paper by Bo Bunny Press.

I wanted to keep real simple with this card and in order to get that brown in, my card base is brown Core'dinations cardstock. The rub-ons are also brown.
I simply cut thin, uneven strips from the other colors to finish off my color scheme.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

LOVE BIRDS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned Paper – Cosmo Cricket, We R Memory Keepers and Dot paper/Bo Bunny Press
Rub-on – Luxe
Buttons
Chipboard frame – Jenny Bowlin
Chipboard leaf – ColorBok
Martha Stewart Border punch
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Stickles
Ribbon
Copic Markers
Foam tape – 3M

SO HAPPY TOGETHER card
Materials:
Cardstock
Rub-on greeting – Deja Views
Flower ribbon trim
Mini glitter brads – We R Memory Keepers
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Machine Sewing
Swiss Dot embossing plate - Cuttlebug

"TREES" are in right now

It seemed that for Earth Day, lots of designers were using trees in their creations and so I thought I would share this little set of cards I created.

One of these was recently published in the April CARDS magazine but since I had created a set of three based on the same design elements, I thought I would share the other two.

I used a set of papers by Quick Quotes. I just love these prints and I loved how they worked together on the chipboard trees. The chipboard trees are by Maya Road. When you buy these, you get a whole tin of tops of trees and trunks of trees and it is fun to mix and match them. I always use something like Mod Podge for my glue when glueing paper to chipboard. I like that you get a good uniform coat without warping, etc. I didn't coat the top of the covered trees with the Mod Podge though because I wanted the natural look of the paper.

The common element in all of the cards is the white, Cuttlebug embossed background and the little heart brad. Various "thank you" rub-ons were used as the greetings.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CHIPBOARD TREES cards

Cardstock: Prism

Patterned paper: Bandana Rama Collection/Quick Quotes Papers

Heart Brads – Hobby Lobby

Chipboard: Maya Road

Rub ons: Making Memories

Cuttlebug embossing plate – Swiss Dot

Mod Podge for the glue - Plaid

Machine Sewing

Sandpaper

Mr. Wonderful layout

Totally the sweetest thing in the world is a new born baby when he is sleeping!!! This just gets anyones' heart!

This is our youngest grandson. He is 11 months old right now but this photo just got me as he had fallen asleep in our granddaughters arms. It is also amazing that they can just fall asleep anywhere! I am always jealous of that!

The finish on my big, chipboard initials was kind of a mistake but a mistake that I ended up loving! That is what comes from playing with supplies!

My first plan was to put dots on the letters which were kraft colored. I took the wooden end of a paint brush and dipped that in paint and put dots on my letters with white paint. When I had them all "dotted", I knew I really didn't like the look. The contrast wasn't going to be enough against the patterned paper. I just figured, no biggie, I would paint the letters instead. BUT, the dots had partially dried and as paint will do, the paint had already added a dimension. When I painted the blue paint over the letters and the dots, the raised areas of the dots remained. I loved the resulting feel and look of the blue paint and the little, subtle raised areas of the dots.

I also inked the edges of the letters with a black stamp pad to add more definition to the letters.

A final feature to notice are my circle designs. That is NOT real machine sewing but I have to keep looking at it myself to be convinced. This is a stamp by Hero Arts! I just love their stamps that look like machine sewing. The resulting stamped circles really matched the patterned paper.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

DJB-MR. WONDERFUL layout
Materials:
Solid Cardstock
Patterned paper – Explore/Hubcaps/White Out collection/We R Memory Keepers and October Afternoon
Rub-on word - Luxe
Chipboard letters – Paper Loft
Stamps – Stitched Circle/Hero Arts and Clear Flourish set
Stamp pads – Clearsnap
Buttons
Date stamp – Office supply store
Paint - Plaid

Santa and Snow - they seem to go together!

First of all, THIS JUST IN - check out the January/February 2009 Simple Scrapbooks issue, pg. 59!!!! You will see a layout that I did!!!

Second of all, THIS JUST IN - check out my super cute youngest grandson and pictures my youngest daughter took of him this last weekend!!!!

And then to today's card - Something else that seems to go with Santa and Snow this year is glitter! Everyone is adding glitter and it is fun that it comes in so many different forms.


This is my CPS sketch card for this week. I loved the three sections to the sketch and thought that adding my vintage Santa over that just worked perfect. This Vintage Santa came in a set of two different images and I bought them from Emma's Paperie.
The extra touch - a punched out snowflake covered with glitter. I picked up a jar of Crystal Craft Twinkles by DecoArt at Michaels. It is a brush-on glitter paint. I love how easy it is to brush this stuff on about anything either with a brush or even with just my finger and when it dries it has a great amount of sparkle to it and the piece is still flexible.
The products for this next card are from the I Am A Scrapaholic's December kit. I just love this paper by Heidi Swapp. They don't have to be used for winter or Christmas themed projects but they sure worked for that. The scallop paper is a 12" square paper that has a die cut scallop edge all the way around. I just cut a slice from that paper so the scallop edge ended up at the bottom edge of the front and the back of the card.

The little chipboard house is by Maya Road. It comes in a tin with a whole bunch of chipboard houses and roofs in different sizes. These things are a fun accent to a whole lot of projects or cards. You can see here another example of my brush-on glitter paint. The snowflake is a velvety piece and this glitter went on great and it was also brushed over my house. First of all, though, I added some "snow" with a Snow Writer. When this is dry, it has a textured look that resembles snow.

Thanks for visiting and my your holidays and celebrations be wonderful!!! Linda

VINTAGE SANTA card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned paper – Peppermint Stripe/Scent of Christmas/g.c.d. studios
Vintage Embossed Santa cut out – B. Shackman Co.
Snowflake punch – Martha Stewart
Ribbon – Michaels
Craft Twinkles – Deco Art
Button
Machine Sewing

SNOWY CABIN card

Materials:

Patterned papers - Heidi Swapp

Punch out calendar die - Heidi Swapp

Velvety snowflake - IAAS kit

Button

Snow Writer - Deco Art

Craft Twinkles - Deco Art

Ribbon

Chipboard house - Maya Road

"DRESS" up their gift!!!

Gift cards have so become one of the best ways to remember a friend with a gift. Kind of that "one size fits all" type of thing. Here are a couple ideas for "dressing up" those cards. They say "it's all about the packaging", so making fun holders adds to the gift.
This cutie is a Maya Road chipboard doll. She is about 8" tall and there are so many things that can be done with her. I decided to make her some clothes and on the front of her little apron, I added a row of punched lace and it isn't glued down all of the way so that I could slip my gift card into it.

When the gift card is removed, she is still dressed up and CUTE. This could also have a ribbon for hanging it on the tree as an ornament.

Here is a close-up of the apron. I used my Martha Stewart embossing border punch to create my lacey looking edge and that is the pocket.

I started out by painting the front, back and sides of the chipboard doll. I like to start these kinds of projects that way so that the areas that aren't covered with paper still look finished. The apron is one whole piece that fit over her head and I created a little belt to wrap around her. You can see the back in the above photo to get a better idea of how the apron really does "dress" her.

This is a very simple little card with a pocket. I started out with a chipboard accordian album that has a couple pockets in it. I just cut the accordian sections apart so that I ended up with a couple cards, the pocket is on the front. I then created a little tag that slips in the pocket and that holds my gift card. The ribbon bow makes it easy to remove the tag.

For the inside of the card, I simply cut a matching piece of the patterned paper and made a little insert where I added some rub-on words. This leaves space for me to write a message.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

DEAR SANTA gift-card card

Materials:

Chipboard doll shape – Maya Road

Paint – FolkArt/PlaidPatterned paper – Holly and Mistletoe/Deck the Halls/KaiserCraft

Fluid Chalk stamp pad – Clearsnap

Embossed border punch – Martha Stewart

Christmas rub-on phrases – Making Memories

Ribbon

HOLIDAY gift-card card

Materials:

Chipboard “exposed” library card – K&Co.

Patterned paper – Icicles/Jack Frost/Lasting Impressions

Fluid Chalk stamp pad – Clearsnap

Rub-on Christmas greetings – Deja Views

Ribbon – Creative Impressions

Christmas Tree Branches card

A quick card to help celebrate the season!
The products used on this card are from the I Am A Scrapaholic November kit. The papers are SEI and I cut the branches out of one of the patterned papers.

Red Stickles highlighted the red berries on the branches and I covered the chipboard ornament with another one of the papers in the kit. Something that I just loved was I painted the ornament with Angel Wings Shimmerz paint and it gave it the most wonderful little sparkle but I couldn't quite capture that with the camera. You will have to imagine it!!! A couple extra dots of sparkle were added with Glitter 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CHRISTMAS TREE BRANCH card

Materials list:
Patterned papers – Alpine Frost/SEI
My Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard flourish
Machine Sewing
Cinnamon Stickles – Ranger
Angel Wings Shimmerz
Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip