Jillibean Soup paper and Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations

One of my favorite Jillibean Soup papers in the Lentil Soup collection is this great red checkerboard print. What I love about it the most is that it goes with the other papers in the collection, but when it stands alone it can work with so many different themes. SOOOOO, the Moxie Fab blog is having a big HOLIDAY themed bash this week to give a big shout out to the new Holiday Issue by Papercrafts. They are also encouraging crafters to create fun stuff for the holidays.

I thought this JOY card had a fun and funky feel with my little punched circles using the red checkerboard patterned paper, the little punched red snowflake and the button center for the snowflake.

Take a really good peek at the cardstock that I used, the red and the cream. It is by Core'dinations and it is part of the new Jenni Bowlin collection. The text is embossed in these papers and you can see how wonderfully that text shines when these papers are slightly sanded. The red is from the Vintage collection.

Here is another card using that red checkerboard print. I paired it with this wonderful "label" Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations cardstock. The label is embossed into the paper and I slightly sanded that part of the cardstock as well as the edges of the card. The little sprout is from Jillibean Soup too. Because it is a little calendar for February, I made it fit a Valentines theme.

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You also need to see some cute pics of our youngest grandson with that new little kitty. He loves the kitty and you can see how extremely happy and proud he is here that he actually got to pick her up. He was being very gentle and what is cool is how gentle she is towards him.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

JOY card
Designer: Linda Beeson
805 659-1282
lbpost@roadrunner.com
Materials: Cardstock – Jenni Bowlin collection/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Jillibean Soup
Snowflake punch – Martha Stewart
Circle punch – Papershapers
Letters for JOY – David Walker epoxy letters
Sandpaper
Button

I ADORE YOU card
Designer: Linda Beeson
805 659-1282
lbpost@roadrunner.com
Materials: Cardstock – Jenni Bowlin collection/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Jillibean Soup
Calendar Sprout and ribbon - Jillibean Soup
Rub-on words - Making Memories
Chalk ink - Powder Puff/Quick Quotes

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

Unscripted Sketches and Backyard resident

A recent purchase was some great, shear journaling spots from The Little Yellow Bicycle and so when I saw the sketch for this week at Unscripted Sketches, I just knew this was the perfect use for one of the pieces in the package.

The patterned paper is from a pad of papers from the Traveler collection, also from The Little Yellow Bicycle. I loved all of the prints in this collection and I love that by getting the pad, I got smaller prints then what they use on the 12" x 12" papers. The smaller prints are so perfect for cards.

I did punch a circle from plain white cardstock and placed that behind my shear shape so that my rub-on words would show up better. The flower and the leaf image are stamps by DRS Designs. I did stamp the flower with black ink and I embossed it with clear embossing powder. I just might want to use this flower in the black and white on all of my creations!!!

And, now for our backyard resident! These is a spider somewhere and this guy makes a new, HUGE web everyday. Everyday we go out and destroy the amazing creation and everyday or should I say everynight, the spider recreates a new work of art. It truly is an amazing piece of nature's artwork although we would rather he wouldn't do this. I had to take my camera out to try to capture something of it. I used manual focusing to get this photo. That way I could focus on the web and the background was not in focus.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

FRIENDS FOREVER card
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Fresh Print Traveler/Little Yellow Bicycle/C-Thru Ruler
Clear Cuts Journaling Piece – Little Yellow Bicycle
Flower and leaf stamp – DRS Designs
Versafine black stamp pad
Ancient Page stamp pad/Clearsnap
Clear embossing powder
Pearl Brad
Zig Zag scissors
Fiskars corner rounder punch
Rub-on words – Deja Views
Sandpaper

CPS #126 and Keep In Touch Card Kit club

The sponsor for Card Positioning Systems blog for this next week is Keep In Touch card kit club or KIT. You are going to want to keep checking the CPS blog all week long to see the supplies that each designer created with because we each received different little trinkets.

So here is the deal. The owner of the KIT club sent each of the CPS designers their own little personal envelope of unusual goodies to use to go with the CPS sketch for this week.

Mine included the tickets, a couple interesting labels, the buttons, the bingo chip and some ribbon. I didn't use every single piece that was in my envelope but I sure did my best to get most of it on this card!

An interesting little feature to take notice of on my card is the three pieces along the side of the card. The sketch has three circles. I had a rectangular label and used a circle punch to punch each corner of the label. This gave me a pie shaped piece and now I could use three of these shapes to mimic the circles on the sketch.

Remember to check the CPS blog all throughout this coming week to see the other cute embellishment pieces.

Thanks f0r visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 126 – ALL FOR YOU card
Materials:
Embellishments (labels, tickets, buttons and bingo piece) courtesy of Keep In Touch kits
Cardstock – Vintage/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Silly Sam/Lil’ Man collection/Cosmo Cricket
Leaf punch – Emaginations
Rub-on greeting – Making Memories
Border punch – Fiskars
Sandpaper

It's color challenge time again

I wait for Kristina to put up a new color challenge at kwernerdesign.com!!! This is challenge #56. These combos are always wonderful and I just love trying to come up with something.

What else would I do to start creating my card but pull out these brand new papers I had just picked up? I had the thought in my head that that little airplane patterned paper had several of the colors in it. What I really find interesting is that I know I would have never put these colors together without this challenge and yet I really like the end product.

I did use Core'dinations cardstock on the card and maybe you can see the sanded edges that just add something nice to the finished card.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SOAR - ADVENTURE card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core Essentials/Core’dinations

Patterned paper – Lil’ Man/Cosmo Cricket

David Walker epoxy sticker letters

Making Memories rub-on words

Scallop scissors

Brads – Making Memories

Twine

Toy or Tool? PLUS a contest

Details of the contest at the end of this post.

Maybe you have heard that one of the wonders of Core'dinations cardstock is that you can sand it. BUT, did you get the full picture of what that means?

I am not just talking about sanding the edges to get a distressed effect. I am talking about sanding it to create patterns and designs. For that you need to take a new look around you and your house.

For this card, I used some really fun Cosmo Cricket supplies and a "tool/toy" that you maybe hadn't thought of.

In this close-up photo, do you see the "circles" on the yellow colored cardstock? That cardstock didn't come that way, I created it.

Take a peek at what my tool is here. I just picked up some building plates to go with the Duplo Legos that we have around our house. They are a perfect way to create circles on my paper. I just placed a piece of the cardstock on top of the plate with the holes on it and sanded away. The trick is to keep your paper in place so it doesn't slip around.

Want more fun ideas for creating patterns? Do you have some of your own? You sooooo need to visit Core'dinations blog to see what a few of the team members have found around their houses and you sooooo need to check out our little contest letting you do some looking and creating.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

DON’T FORGET card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Mr. Campy/Nature Walk/Cosmo Cricket
Rub-on words and designs – Cosmo Cricket
Machine sewing
Sandpaper
Tonic Paper Distresser
Ribbon

Soft and Sweet

I wanted to share a couple cards that show a soft side to cardmaking and to patterned papers.

This patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket looks so quilt-like, so I thought it was perfect for a new baby card, especially with the machine sewing and the punched border that looks so lacey.

I love these letters and so I used one on this card. It could either be an initial or stand for the beginning of the word "all". It is a little hard to see but I used Diamond Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip and rhinestones to accent the designs in the paper. I have mentioned that Fashion Paint before and that I like to use it to add glitter to a card because it adds a good amount of bling while still letting the underneath color show through.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BABY MINE card
Materials: Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned paper and rub-on words – Clementine/Honey Pie/Cosmo Cricket
Martha Stewart border punch
Diamond Glitter dimensional
Fabric paint – Tulip
Scallop oval punch – Marvy
Oval punch – McGill
Ric Rack – Wright’s
Fluid Chalk stamp pad – Clearsnap
Mini Buttons

“a” ALL FOR YOU card
Materials: Solid cardstock
Patterned paper – Cosmo Cricket
Alphabet letter and black chipboard flower – Cosmo Cricket
Rhinestones – Me & My Big Ideas
Glitter 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip
Fluid Chalk stamp pads – Clearsnap
Scallop punch – Fiskars
Rub-on phrase – Making Memories

The eyes have it!

Can you see what I mean? This little guy has eyes that just catch your attention. This is our youngest grandson, you have seen him before!!!

I made a stop at one of my scrapbook stores and here was this Cosmo Cricket paper that I just knew I had to use with these bathtub related photos I had recently taken. Are the little fish on the green paper just plain cute and fitting? The other print that I picked up had these circles or umbrellas on it and so I punched out a couple to use as accents.

I still had a whole lot of the umbrella print paper left so I just cut some pieces from it to put together a quick and easy layout. I also struggle with the quick and easy kind so I decided I was going to make it work! The rub-ons were in circles shapes already so they fit right in the circles of the umbrellas. They are by Creative Impressions.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CUTE-CUDDLY-CLEAN layout

Materials: Cardstock
Patterned paper – Snorkel: School’s Out and Umbrella’s/Cosmo Cricket
Various Thickers sticker letters – American Crafts
Circle punch – Papershapers
Brads
Powder Puff chalk stamp pads – Quick Quotes

SPECTACULAR layout

Materials: Cardstock
Patterned paper – Umbrella’s/Cosmo Cricket
Rub-on words - Making Memories and Creative Impressions

2 Sketches 4 You Ultimate Card Showdown

I love to play along with 2 Sketches 4 You sketches whenever I can and so with their big CARD SHOWDOWN, I had to give that sketch a try too. This is Laura's Sketch #27.

I had to use one of the newest papers in my stash, this great yellow patterned paper by Pebbles, Inc.

And, to show off my absolute latest purchase, I created the flower with a Sizzix flower die. This die cuts four sizes of this flower design. I used two colors and three of the sizes but first I embossed the white and the golden yellow Core'dinations cardstocks with the Swiss Dot embossing plate.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CHERISH YOU card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core Essentials and Black Magic/Core’dinations
Patterned papers – Orange Lace/Zinnia/Little Yellow Bicycle
Flower die cut – Sizzix
Swiss Dot embossing plate – Cuttlebug
Lacey border punch – Martha Stewart
Ribbon
Fluid chalk stamp pad – Clearsnap
Rub-on greeting – Creative Imaginations
Scallop circle punch – Marvy
Black brad

My Own Accents - hand cut circles

I wanted a layout where I could use several of the photos from this day. I also wanted to convey the feeling how quickly our youngest grandson was crawling this way and that and so the other accents needed to be simple.

SO.... I picked up this one piece of patterned paper by Scenic Route that I just love and I cut out one big circle. I wanted it to be uneven and out of shape. I then just starting cutting circles out of that biggest circle. Because the paper is two sided, I could use whichever side I wanted and it looks like I used two different papers. I simply kept cutting circles out of the biggest circle and kept putting them around my layout.

I love the look of journaling paper so I used this journal paper from Scenic Route and used my Stampin' Up journal hole punch to make it look like I had torn it out of a notebook. The Tonic paper distresser and a quick rub with a brown stamp pad gives it a bit of a distressed look.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

CRUISIN’ layout

Materials: Cardstock
Patterned paper – Background Worn Lines paper and Parkman Road/Garland Collection/Scenic route
Stampin’ Up hole punch
Making Memories chipboard letters
Art Warehouse rub-on phrases and arrows
Powder Puff chalk inks – Quick Quotes
Tonic Paper Distresser
Brads – Making Memories
(hand cut circles)

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

CPS #94 and 2 Sketches 4 You cards

I am having way too much fun creating Christmas or Winter themed cards!!! I stayed with that theme this week for both my Card Positioning Systems card and Kazan's Sketch #15 at 2 Sketches 4 You card. I have said this before, but I just love the jumping off place that sketches give for creating. Sometimes it is fun to just get a bit of inspiration for your creations from a sketch, sometimes it is fun to follow the sketch very closely. I love the little wave look at the bottom of the sketch so I took that literal and handcut a couple wave shaped pieces from plain white cardstock. The fun thing here was that I then painted them with this Glitter Dimensional Paint. You get a great amount of sparkle and it is easy to apply.

I hope you can see it here - look very closely. Do you see the "dimension" of the rub-on bird piece? It is just so cool. These rub-ons are "thick" or "dimensional". They really make a stunning addition to a card. I found this set at Michaels in the Christmas supplies.

For this card, I combined a couple things, my I Am A Scrapaholic kit for December and the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. I also got in my brand new Distress Stickles by Ranger!!! OHHHHH what a wonderful color - Broken China.

The snowflake piece is a Glimmer chip by Tattered Angels. It comes with a soft silver look but I also sprayed it with Silver Glimmer Mist for some additional sparkle and accents from my new Stickles.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SNOWY BIRDS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Christmas Is/Cloud Nine/Fiskars (2 sided)
Bird rub-ons – Royal Brush/Royal and Langnickel
Glitter Dimensional paint – Plaid
Snowflake punch – Papershapers/EK Success

SILVER SNOWFLAKE card

Materials list:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Heidi Swapp
Broken China Stickles – Ranger
Snowflake piece – Tattered Angels
Ribbon – Michaels
Silver Glimmer Mist – Tattered Angels

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

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