Playing with computer generated accents

I wanted to share the following layout with a number of interesting computer generated accents, also referred to as Digital techniques. The original photo that is further down in this post had a great photo of Riley but there were lots of conflicting things in the background like other kids running and a fence, etc.

Technques used:

1. I used Magic Splash.com. This program turns the photo black and white and then allows you to pick areas to "add color back". This program puts back the original color so I used it on his uniform.

2. Now my background is black and white and I took an eraser tool and "took out" the conflicting things that were still in the background after I cropped the photo.

3. I used a Magic Tool in one of my photo editing programs that takes out the color of areas that you select. So all of the grass, the fence and bushes are changed in color, making them not obvious and adding emphasis to Riley, my star here.

4. I added "text" into the photo before I printed it out. That allowed me to add my title and to pick the color of those letters. Now I didn't have to find letters to use that would match or work the way I wanted.

5. I printed out the photo, it is mounted on black cardstock and I added the punched out circle accents with brads added to the circles.

I love to just sit and play with photos when I have time and this was a really fun exercise with a fun result.

This is my original photo of the soccer field with kids, a fence, spectators, buildings and bushes.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

A bit of this and a bit of that and some CPS goodness

First of all, I get to share my Card Positioning Systems blog card! We did not have a sponsor this week, so while our team just loves our sponsors, we also just love to pull out our own supplies and goodies to go with the sketch. Can you guess here, what one of my newest purchases was!

I just had to have these My Mind's Eye papers when I saw them. I love all of the newer, shaped papers that are around and I am always trying to think of how I can use them on a card since they are usually designed for 12"x12" layouts.

How do you like my little flower accent? The white, lacey flower is by Prima, I stamped on a clear button and topped that with a blue button that is secured with little, tiny, glitter brads.

And, for my greeting, I pulled out a stamp by a previous sponsor, My Sentiments Exactly. This stamp is about 5" long and so I just used a portion of it for my card. Notice that I embossed the Core'dinations cardstock with my Swiss Dot embossing plate and also notice the sanded edges of the card. I used a great WhiteWashed cardstock for the card base and by sanding it, that brought out the blue, reverse side.

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Gotta share some goodness from yesterday too! Our youngest grandson was playing in the water and he filled a bucket he had. He dumped out the water in the bucket and quickly put it on his head. BUT, the bucket had had sand in it so when he removed the bucket, guess what was left all over his head!

HE IS TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS TO BEING DIRTY!!!

And, guess what came to our house yesterday?

After a whole lot of names being considered, her name is now officially, TinkerBell!

It will soon be our granddaughter's 12th birthday and this little cutie is one of her birthday presents, just a bit early. Here they are meeting for the first time.

This little kitty just loves to crawl up to our shoulders and just sit there, so here she is on Grandpa and our youngest grandson is getting a close look and an exercise in being GENTLE!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 124 – GET WELL card
Materials:
* Stamps courtesy of My Sentiments Exactly
Cardstock – Vintage and Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – It’s Time Breaking Free series/Wild Ride “only Smiles”/ Seeing Stars and Hot Dots/My Mind’s Eye
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing plate - Cuttlebug
Black Versafine stamp pad
Flower – Prima
Buttons
Mini glitter brads – Creative Impressions
Ribbon
Sandpaper
Machine sewing

Adding details

First of all, did you notice my new banner? We just returned from some time in Oregon and while we were there we drove on a little tour of some covered bridges just out of Cottage Grove. Talk about photo ops!

Second, be sure to get a good peek at this amazing layout on the Core'dinations blog. It was found on the net, Core'dinations is on the lookout for good things like this!!!

Now to my card for today.

The challenge at the Hero Arts blog for this week is to create "travel" related cards using stamps and you can use or photo or not. Since I have so many great photos from trips we have taken, I pulled out a photo of one of my favorite lighthouses on the Oregon coast, the one around Bandon. I just printed it out pretty small so that I could use it as an accent on my card.

This card also shows off my very newest scrapping/stamping purchases. The cloud stamp by Hero Arts, the wave border punch by Fiskars and the scallop border stamp that comes in a set of borders, also by Hero Arts. I stamped the cloud background stamp on plain white cardstock with blue ink. Next I took a blue color of Memories Mists spray and gave it a couple spritzes. Next, I accented the cloud designs with White 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip. This paint is actually designed for decorating fabric but I have found that it works wonderfully on paper projects and it can be just the most perfect little accent.

This close-up gives you a good peek at the wave border, the stamped border and the little accenting I did on the bottom edge of my card by making lines in the Core'dinations cardstock with a Scor-Pal tool and then sanding the paper. The Bon Voyage stamp is actually a larger rectangle then what you see here. I just punched it into a circle and inked the edges some.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BON VOYAGE/LIGHTHOUSE card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Cloud background stamp, Clear border stamp, Bon Voyage stamp – Hero Arts
Versamark black stamp pad
Ancient Page stamp – Clearsnap
Circle punches
Memories Mist sprays – Stewart Superior
Brads
Wave border punch – Fiskars
Scor-Pal tool
Sandpaper
White 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip

CPS 123 and Sweet 'n Sassy stamps

You guessed it from the title of my post for today, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is the sponsor this week at Card Positioning Systems blog.

I picked a rather new set with a couple amazing butterflies on it and several great greetings. These were paired with these wonderful Cosmo Cricket papers.

I wanted to be sure to show you a close up of my butterfly and the next photo gives you an idea of how I colored it.

On a piece of plain white cardstock, I dropped some drops of my very newest color of Alcohol Ink along with some Alcohol Blender. The drops of the Blender liquid is what gives the yellow color various shades. When this was dry, I just stamped the butterfly over my colored area. For my finished butterfly, I did add some color to some of the areas with a Copic Marker.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 123 – SEE THE MIRACLES IN EACH DAY card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of SWEET & SASSY
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Early Bird/Sunrise/Cosmo Cricket
Black Versafine stamp pad
Alcohol Ink and Alcohol Blender – Ranger
Copic Markers
Ribbon
Sandpaper

Gotta have Butterflies!

How many times lately have I found myself adding a butterfly to my creations? Just seems to work and to be such a gorgeous addition to a card. I'll be posting a stamped butterfly in my next post.

I love this vine print paper and the colors on it and so it was fun to pull out those colors with my cardstocks. Notice the Paper Torn edge using the Core'dinations cardstocks. Paper Tearing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to expose the CORE to the papers.

The butterfly is cut from a piece of Making Memories patterned paper and I cut my little label out and then cut out a coordinating smaller border to it.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

BLESSED card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Patterned papers – Bloom and Grow Bhemian Vines/My Mind’s Eye
Butterfly cut from Making Memories paper
Rhinestone circle – Heidi Swapp
Apron Lace border punch – Fiskars
Machine sewing
Rub-on greeting – Melissa Frances

Can you guess?

What does this look like a photo of to you?

We were driving through Oregon last week and we took a road that leads to several covered bridges. We drove right out of Cottage Grove and found something like 5 or 6 amazing covered bridges to take photos of. BUT, one of the covered bridges was lined with boards and the boards had a few knot holes in them. I wanted to see what the area outside of those boards looked like, after all these bridges are over little rivers. So I found a knot hole that I could reach to take a peek. Then I got the idea, "what would happen if I tried to take a photo through this little hole"? I actually got several pretty fun shots and so I thought I would share this one with you.

Don't forget the Core'dinations blog contest. Pull out any Core papers you have and look around your house for a fun, unusual tool.

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

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