Creating Backgrounds Part 2

It is really amazing what you can do by starting out with a plain, white piece of cardstock!
This photo gives you a little overview of some of the products you will need to start creating this background. The stamp comes from a set by TJ Designs. These are rubber stamps with a cling backing, the "abc" image is what you see on the long piece of acyrlic.

1. All I did was ink the "abc" stamp with the black ink and stamp it over and over to fill my paper. You see here one of my absolutely more favorite NEW finds - Memories Mists! I love the colors, the intensity of the colors and the way they spray. You get a fine, centered mist with these.

2. I used this red and yellow and sprayed my piece of white paper that is stamped. Just like that, it is wonderful! You can see that I sprayed most of the paper with the yellow and then sprayed portions of it with the red.
3. To finish off my background, I just stamped some additional images here and there to create a collage style look.

The close-up shows you the adorable little girl stamp that is my main focus on my card and it also gives you a great look at the way these mists spray.

4. I stamped the little girl on plain, white cardstock and then I cut out a simple mask to protect her while I sprayed the mists on that piece too.

If you haven't checked this out lately, you just have to go take a peek at the amazing images that TJ Designs is offering! And, I previously mentioned how much I love their packaging.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

ABC-ART cardDesigner:
Materials list:
Cardstock - Prism
Red Cling stamps – Little girl, ABC’s, ART and “Memories”/TJ Designs
Memories Mists spray ink – Stewart Superior
Oval Punch – McGill
Scallop scissors
Corner stamps – Crafty Secrets

The SUNDAY TIMES - How Big Is My God - 9.7.08

God's love is meteoric,

His loyalty astronomic,

His purpose titanic,

His verdicts oceanic.

Yet in His largeness

nothing gets lost;

Not a man, not a mouse,

slips through the cracks.

Psalms 36:5&6 The Message Bible

===

As I read this I wanted to laugh and stop in awe all at the same time. What big words but how do we even find words big enough to descibe God and His love and care for us and the world? And what is the best is that I find so much comfort in these words!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

The photo was taken in a friend's garden

What are we doing with our Saturdays???

You guessed it - SOCCER games!
We have 2 different grandsons, on 2 different teams, playing on 2 different fields at 2 different times!!!
Three things make this a ton of fun:
1. Grandpa just loves to see his grandsons playing sports
2. The Boys just LOVE to play sports
3. And, the Boys love for Grandma and Grandpa to attend their games!!!

This is a layout I put together from one of the photos from last years season.
And, see what Grandma and Grandpa were doing yesterday??? Grandpa put up the airplane swing in the backyard for this cutie patootie, our youngest grandson. I did get this smile but he really wasn't all that sure about this experience. Before long he is just going to love it, I know it!

And, now for some more fun news. I had two good scrappin' buds pass this award my way and so now I need to pass on that goodness to others. Thanks Melanie and Hilary!

So what does that mean?

Well, that means that I get to spread the love.

Here are the rules:

(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.

(2) Link the person you received your award from.

(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

(4) Put links of those on yours.

(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

I have so many blogs that I just love to take peeks at often and here as a few:

Miki at Fresh Lemon Blossoms I could love her just because of that yummy name, it really does make my mouth water but she really comes up with some fun things to blog about.

Danielle at Homespun with Heart She just plain creates amazing projects and I know you want to take a peek.

Shanna at My Next Thirty Years Again, a gal that comes up with amazing creations.

Laura at Laura Loo Loo We are on the same CPS team together and she creates with Unity stamps and comes up with some really cool stuff.

Kim at Card-E-ology I took special notice of her blog recently because of the SHIMMER that she adds to her creations with SHIMMERZ. YUM

Suzanne at Hey, it could happen Another gal who is just plain CREATIVE!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

It's a Good Thing!

Notice my new little icon on my side bar - that cute little thought bubble???

I actually got a little shout out on The Card of the Week blog for my little background tutorial from Monday and so I want everyone to know!!!

If you don't follow The Card of the Week blog, then you must because it is just plain amazing what she finds on the web. It could eliminate all need for blog surfing but I really don't want to stop doing that, so I'll just keep sitting here and surfing myself and then reading what she finds too.

*

I don't want summer to end so I thought I would post a photo of some great summer flowers!!! My mom always grew these and so when I saw these in a friends garden I just had to get some pics!!!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

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/

Blast From the Past - Paperdolls

I used to create paperdolls, mostly for Accucut using the Jill Rinner templates and dies cuts. I LOVED creating these cuties. It was a fun time when they were the rage. Anyway, I had kept several of these creations in a folder on my computer and I thought it would be fun to pull out some now and then to share with you guys!

My daughters played soccer at that time, so thus, a girl soccer player!
These next two are on cards. These made for some rather tall cards that I thought were pretty fun.
Fads come and go......
Thanks for visiting, Linda (aka lbpost)

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