Sunday, May 31, 2009

A Boy's World

We have three grandsons and let me tell you, they all LOVE the stuff that typically makes up a BOY'S WORLD.

These two played baseball this last season that has just ended.

And this one LOVES our backyard and anything that looks like dirt! How does that come so naturally?
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Friday, May 29, 2009

More Stamping

First of all, you just have to go and check out these amazing wedding photos here. This is my youngest daughters blog and she is showing off the photos she took this last weekend of her friends wedding. The photos are amazing as is the bride but the cool thing is these gals have been friends since grade school!! Leave her a little comment if you have a minute.
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PLUS, check out the Guest Designer call at CPS! Fun stuff.
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Now for my Card Positioning Systems card for this last week. Our sponsor for this week was Innovative Stamp Creations. The stamps I used on this card are just a small sampling of the stamps that were in this set. I LOVE the stamps I received and I know I'll be using more of them later.
I stamped that wonderful label shape first and embossed it so the lines were stronger.
TIP: (I cut out a reverse mask. That means I stamped the same image on a scrap piece of computer paper and cut out the label. I now had a piece of paper with a hole in it the shape of my label. When I placed this piece over my label that was already stamped, I could stamp the leaves and only those parts of the images that fell inside the label would show. The portions of the leaves that fell outside of the label shape stamped on my mask, keeping the edge of the label piece clean.)
I colored the leaves and flowers with markers, spritzed that with water and then stamped them. The words were also stamped inside the label and also embossed.
This adorable bird is from another set, I colored it with stamp pads and stamped it. I embossed it with clear embossing powder too.
Notice all of the interesting accents with the Core'dinations cardstock. Because this paper has a core, there are some pretty fun techinques you can do with it. I did score lines around the outside of the green piece with my Scor-Pal tool and then sanded them. I sanded the outside edges of all of the green piece and all of the blue card. For the little purple circle, I had a plastic stencil that had little circles in it. I dry embossed those circles to fill up the purple circle and then sanded that on the top side.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)
SKETCH 117 – CHERISH card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of Innovative Stamp Creations
Cardstock – Vintage Collection/Core’dinations
Versamark black stamp pad
Detail Clear embossing powder – Stamp n Stuff
Marvy Markers
Copic Markers
Scor-pal
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Sandpaper
Rhinestones – Mark Richards, Inc.
Mini brads – Creative Impressions
Circle stencil

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I pulled out my October Afternoon goodies

I ventured over to the October Afternoon blog this week and guess what I found? Some sketches and a challenge! So, I'm not sure how it gets better, a sketch to use and it required pulling out my yummy October Afternoon supplies!
They offered three sketches to chose from and so I picked the second one. I also have quite a supply of their wonderful stamp sets so I knew I also needed to pull them out. The bird and the flower branch are stamped as is the word "smile". The little "notes" die cut is by October Afternoon too. I used a wonderful color of Vintage collection Core'dinations cardstock for the card base and you can see the sanded edges on that. The pink paper is punched with a border punch from a piece of pink Core Essentials cardstock.
While I had these wonderful prints out, I wanted to still use them so I went to 2 Sketches 4 You and decided to use Kazan's sketch #27 sketch. I already loved this houndstooth print and thought it would be fun to pair it up with these red and black and cream prints. The card base is a piece of Whitewash Core'dinations cardstock. Again, notice the sanded edges and the one border piece is punched from the inside color of this paper.
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Want to see what we did on Monday? Santa Barbara has the best, little zoo. It makes for a relaxing afternoon and believe me, we weren't the only ones with the idea that this would be a fun thing to do on a holiday!We took two of our grandkids and you can believe this little guy LOVED the day.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SMILE card
Materials:
Cardstock –Vintage Collection/Core’dinations
Patterned papers and punch out die cut – October Afternoon
Stamps – October Afternoon
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Stamp pads – Clearsnap
Versamark Black stamp pad
Copic Markers
Ribbon
Flower punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Glitter brad - Doodlebug

HAPPY BIRTHDAY card
Materials:
Cardstock –Whitewash/Core’dinations
Patterned papers – October Afternoon
Circle punch- Marvy
Flower – Bazzill
Brad – Recollection
Sandpaper
Rub-on greeting – Making Memories
Border punch – Martha Stewart
Black stamp pad – Clearsnap

Sunday, May 24, 2009

It's All About COLOR Today

I have loved using sketches for some time but my new found love are color challenges! I just love thinking how I would put those colors together.
The first one is KWernerDesigns color inspiration #53. I so love the way she shows us the colors to use.
I always seem to have a ton of ideas that enter my imagination but this is what I settled on for this try. The funny part is that we went to dinner and across from me was a gal with an adorable top on and it was black/white/yellow with large white dots across the top and I knew that was what I was going to start with. The cardstock for the card base is Core'dinations Black Magic cardstock in Freeze. The top side is black and the core in a wonderful blue. On the outside of my card, I scored lines with the Scor-pal tool and then when I sanded these lines, the blue core was exposed to help further the color scheme. A huge plus is that the inside of the card is that same wonderful blue.

I punched white circles and glued those to a black strip of the same cardstock and then I used these adorable Studio G stamps for the flowers and that cute bee. Blue rhinestones for the middles of the flowers was a fun way to finish the card. (Notice the sanded edges of the card too)

To make it even better, the Moxie Fab blog issues a color challenge for this week and of course, I needed to pull out more papers to play along with that too.
I used this wonderful yellow Core'dinations cardstock for the card base and once again, pulled out my Scor-pal and created the criss cross design. When I sanded those lines, the core to this cardstock was exposed.
The butterflies are a green Core'dinations cardstock. I used one of my favorite dies, a 2 step die and embossing set by Cuttlebug. The die cuts the butterfly shape and then you have a choice of four embossed designs. I used the swiss dot embossing plate and again, when that was sanded, the core of the cardstock was exposed. Green rhinestones were the finishing touch.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

LOVE BLOSSOMS card
Materials:
Cardstock –Black Magic and Core Essentials/Core’dinations
Scor-Pal tool
Apron Lace Border punch – Fiskars
Corner rounder punch - Fiskars
Stamps – Studio G
Versamark black stamp pad
Detail clear embossing powder – Stamp n Stuff
Rhinestones – Darice
Rub-on words – Making MemoriesSandpaper


YOU MAKE ME SMILE card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core-Essentials/Core’dinations
Butterfly die and embossing plate – Cuttlebug
Scallop circle and circle punches – PaperShapers/EK Success
Rub-on greeting – Melissa Frances
Scor-pal tool
Sandpaper
Machine sewing
Rhinestones – Darice

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Cat's Pajamas and the Tortoise

You already know I love sketches so I wanted to make sure I played along with the challenge for this week at The Cat's Pajamas. I love their stamps so this also gives me a great reason to pull them out again.
An interesting feature of this card is that these wonderful papers by Scenic Route are meant for summer/4th of July but I figured I could make them fit a winter theme. I combined these Core'dinations cardstocks to go along with the red and blue in the patterns. Notice the sanded edges of the cardstock that really brings out the core of the papers and adds a fun accent.
Now to a photo that I wanted to share.
We have had a desert tortoise for something like 30 years. He just comes and goes in the backyard at his leisure. This week, our youngest grandson and the tortoise met. How cute is this? Our grandson kept taking the lettuce away from the tortoise but believe me, the tortoise was not going to put up with that at all!

Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)


BRRRRRR! card
Materials:
Cardstock –Vintage Collection/Calypso and Core Essentials/Cardinal/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Liberty/Scenic Route Papers
Clear Swanky Stamps – The Cat’s Pajamas
Copic Markers and Blender pen
Black Versamark and Blue Ancient page stamp pads
Detail Clear embossing powder – Stamp n Stuff
Apron Lace border punch - Fiskars
Scallop circle and circle punches – Marvy
Snowflake punch – Papershapers/EK Success
Memories Mist spray

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Stamping Bella Stamp Cuties

This week, the Card Positioning Systems Design Team got the opportunity to play with Stamping Bella stamps. Be sure to check out the CPS blog for all of the adorable cards the team created. With the stamps that I got to play with, I created three cards.
On my first card, I used Stellafina. Is she just adorable? I wanted my whole card to be very pink and girly so I colored her with Copic markers and I also used Core'dinations White Wash cardstock for my card. You can see that the front side of this paper is white with a hint of pink and the reverse side is pink. I used a Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing plate on one of the pieces and when I sanded that, it exposed the pink core.
I took a rather extreme photo here with the sun shining directly on my little image so that you could get an idea of how the Shimmerz paint looked as a final coat to her costume and ballet slippers.
The above photo gives you a close-up look at the sanding that I did on the outside edges of the card to expose that pink core and the punched, lacey borders.
This card uses the Flamenca Ketto image. I knew I wanted her to be very red and black and again, Copic markers were the way to go. This card uses the same CPS sketch for this week.
I used a Spellbinders Nestabilites die to cut out my little colored image and to cut the red mat. I love this die and you can also see that I embossed it. I used Core'dinations cardstock for my entire card and so sanding the red, embossed mat, exposed the core of that cardstock. You can also see that after coloring my little image, I added white dots with the White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint by Tulip. The paint dries 3-D and gives such a fun and feminine look to her dress, crown and shoes.
I wanted to give a close-up to the red cut edge. I used my Cloud, Fiskars scissors to help it match that Nestabilitie die. All of the outside edge of the card was sanded to expose the core.
Yes, the little flower vase stamp is also by Stamping Bella. I followed this weeks Card Patterns sketch #15 to help me put my card together.
I left the vases white and added some shadowing with the light blue Copic markers and then filled in each of the vases with Aleene's Paper Glaze. When that was dry, it left a "water/glass" look to each vase.
For my little butterfly accent piece, I ran a piece of the orange colored Core'dinations cardstock through the Cuttlebug machine with an embossing plate. I punched a circle from that and sanded my embossed circle. Isn't it amazing how that design just stands out with the sanding that exposes the core? I also sanded the edges of my orange, scallop border and the entire green card has the edges sanded too. The butterfly is cut from the Making Memories patterned paper.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 116 – BALLERINA card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of StampingBella – Stellafina
Bubblegum Bella Dots Glitter – Courtesy of StampingBella
Cardstock – Corner Hutch/Whitewash Collection/Core’dinations
Martha Stewart Border punch
Swiss Dot Cuttlebug Embossing plate – Provo Craft
Sandpaper
Copic Markers and blender
Bubblegum Shimmerz paint

SKETCH 116b – HAVE A MAGICAL DAY card
Materials:
Stamps courtesy of StampingBella – Flamenca Ketto
Cardstock –Poinsettia and Cloud Burst/Core Essentials, Vintage Collection/Frais’e/Core’dinations
Patterned paper – My Mind’s Eye
Spellbinder Nestabilities dies
Sandpaper
Copic Markers and blender
White Slick 3-D Fashion Paint – Tulip
Shimmerz
Machine sewing
Rhinestones – Kaiser Crafts
VASES IN THE WINDOW card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Flower Patch collection/Making Memories (butterfly cut from one of the papers)
Vases stamp – Stamping Bella
Copic Markers and Blender pen
Black Versamark stamp pad
Detail Clear embossing powder – Stamp n Stuff
Lacey border – Martha Stewart
Circle punch – McGill
Cuttlebug Embossing plate
Sandpaper
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Self adhesive pearls – Mark Richards, Inc
Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®
Scallop scissors

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Color and Sketches

I just wait for KWernerDesign.com to put up a new color challenge!!! And this color combo for Inspiration #52 was no exception for just looking fun and so summery.
My very first thought was this Whitewashed Core'dinations paper. I knew it was the perfect place to start.
I used this Picket Fence color and ran one piece of it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing plate. Sanding that piece exposed the core color.
I used some other colors of Core'dinations. The blue circle was scored with the Scor-pal and then sanded and the flowers were punched from other colors of Core'dinations cardstock.
I sanded all of the outside edges of my card too and you can see that exposed core in the above photo.
I also needed to play with the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch for this week. It is Laura's Sketch #26.
I pulled out this collection of papers I have had for awhile from Scenic Route. I love collections so that all of my patterns go together so well.
My stamp is a $1 stamp from Michaels. I stamped it with brown ink and embossed that. Then I colored in the cupcake paper with Copic markers and accented that with White Slick 3-D Fashion paint by Tulip.
I used a piece of Core'dinations for my card base and sanded the edges so that the core was exposed.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

THANK YOU card
Materials:
Cardstock –Picket Fence/Whitewash/Core’dinations (both sides)
Embossing plate – Cuttlebug
Sand paper
Machine sewing
Mini brads – Making Memories
Scallop circle and circle punches – Marvy
Apron Lace border punch – Fiskars
Flower punch - Papershapers/EK Success
Scor-Pal
Thank You stamp – Kim Hughes collection/Cornish Heritage Farms


HAPPY card
Materials:
Cardstock –Core’dinations
Patterned paper, die cut and sticker letters – Loveland/Scenic Route
$1 stamp – Michaels
Brown Colorbox stamp pad – Clearsnap
Detail clear embossing powder – Stamp n Stuff
Flowers – Prima
Glitter brad – Doodlebug
Scallop border punch – Fiskars
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
White Slick 3-D Fashion paint – Tulip
Machine sewing
Sandpaper

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Pulling out an unused tool and Core'dinations

I wanted to use that last weeks Kazan's #26 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. I am a bit late, the new one will go up in the morning, but I still created a card with it. I just loved how different and clever it was.
Now there are a couple unique things about this card. One is this amazing piece of Core'dinations cardstock. It is BLACK MAGIC, Whammy. What that means is it is black on one side and purple on the other. AND...because it is Core'dinations cardstock, it has a core that is going to show through with embossing and sanding. And, to make it even better, the outside of the card is black but the inside is purple! How does it get better?
The 2 Sketches 4 You sketch had this adorable scallop design to the top of the card and so I punched rows of lacey borders with a Fiskars border punch. This purple is the reverse side of the black piece that I used for the main card and so that means it matches perfectly. I sanded the punched edge a bit to distress it a little so that the lacey edges stood up a bit.
Here is a close up look at the embossing. Here is another unique element of this card and that is what I used to create the embossed design. Some time ago, I picked up a rubber-type plate that is designed to be used with Sculpey clay. I ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Tan Spellbinder mats for embossing. Once embossed, all that is required is that you take a piece of sandpaper and sand until you like how much of the purple core shows through. I like to use my "pick up" eraser to pick up the resulting dust. You can also see that I sanded the edges of the card so that the purple core shows.
Here is a photo of the supplies that I used, the plate with the design on it by Sculpey and the piece of Core'dinations. You can see the black side and I am also showing the reverse, purple side.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Materials:
Core'dinations cardstock, Black Magic/Whammy
Sculpey Texture Maker
Fiskars Border punch
Cuttlebug machine
Sandpaper
Label - Jenni Bowlin
Celebrate stamp - Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards

Friday, May 15, 2009

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)

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Make a Background of It

I have mentioned before how much I have loved finding VERVE stamps so I wanted to use them again.
Most often an image like butterflies are the main focus of a card but here I wanted to create a background of them. These butterflies come in two sizes so I stamped both sizes on my white paper using white ink and white embossing powder. The white embossed images will now act as a resist to the colors that I want to add.
First of all I rubbed over the stamped butterflies with a yellow stamp pad. I rubbed and rubbed the color into all of the paper and in and around all of the details of the butterflies. I then sprayed my piece with an orange Memories Mist spray. You can see the dots in the spray which means the background isn't really a solid color which I like. The greeting is also VERVE and I stamped it on my white paper with red ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder to make the letters more intense. I gave this a quick spray of a yellow Memories Mists so that this piece tied into the rest of my card.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)
SIMPLY FABULOUS card
Materials:
Cardstock
Stamps – Butterflies and Greeting/Verve stamps
White stamp pad – Joann and White embossing powder
Apron Lace border punch – Fiskars
Circle and scallop circle punches – Papershapers/EK success
Mustard stamp pad – Marvy
Memories Mist spray – Stewart Superior
Rhinestones – Me & My Big Ideas

Monday, May 11, 2009

Some New Stash and Some Old Stash

One of my most recent purchases is this adorable, girly paper from the Alissa collection by Bo Bunny Press and I just knew that was what I wanted to use on my Card Positioning Systems card for this week.
When I started to use this pink patterned paper, I knew I had to throw a whole bunch of "girly" accents with it. So out also came another brand new purchase, some lacey paper by SEI. The lacey paper comes as one whole piece with rows of different designs of lace and so I cut out one of the rows. I did a little extra accent of a punched row of Apron lace.
The flowers are stickers that go with this Alissa collection of papers. I used them to fit the sketch and made an additional accent with a punched circles of paper and a circle of rhinestones.
This card represents an older piece of paper that was sittting on my desk. I am not even sure why I had it out, but I sat down at my desk to work on a completely different project and as I looked at this paper that I was never all that sure what that print was supposed to be, I saw a layered and fun flower! The print has these circles on it and they are in different sizes so I just cut out three of the sizes. I used a Tonic paper distresser to distress my edges and crumpled the pieces a little bit.
To further the color scheme I used this wonderful red shade of Core'dinations paper. These papers just love the Cuttlebug so I used a swirl embossing plate on it. The card base is another Core'dinations paper that is brown on one side and green on the other. I used the green to mat the red and then sanded the edges of the brown card so you could see the green core, making all of my colors fit together.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 115 – PINK FLOWERS card
Materials:
Cardstock
Patterned paper and flower sticker – Kissable and Twirls/Alissa Collection/Bo Bunny Press
Circle punch – Marvy
Rhinestone circle – Heidi Swapp
Lace paper border – SEI
Fiskars Apron Lace border punchTonic Paper Distresser

HAPPY DREAMS card
Materials:
Cardstock – Core’dinations
Patterned paper – Roxbury/Dearbome Street/Scenic Route
Swirl embossing plate – Cuttlebug
Tonic Paper Distresser and sand paper
Machine sewing
Jewel brad – Recollections
Rub-on greetings – Making Memories

Friday, May 8, 2009

Have to share some CUTENESS

I didn't really start these layouts to be a 2-page set but after I worked out my idea for the first layout showing off this adorable photo of some cute, chubby legs, I knew I wanted to also use so many photos from this day of play. I used this simple patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket to try them together. They all showed what our grandson was typically doing at this age, so I printed out a bunch of small photos and created a second page. The good news is I got to use a whole ton of cute photos and we can now remember this time in his life because he has already grown so much and everything changes so quickly.

For the first page, I used a layout at 2 peas as my inspiration. The title was printed on the kraft colored paper and then the rest of the elements were added around that.
(You can click on the layouts to make them larger)
For this second one, I printed out 6, 3" x 5" photos. The title was again printed from the computer first and then the photos and the scraps of papers were added around that. I used little strips of printed out words to help describe some of the photos for the things we will want to remember.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

CPS and Sweet n' Sassy Digi stamps

Sweet n' Sassy digital stamps was the sponsor this week for Card Postioning Systems blog. AND, if you are like me, you had to say, what is a digi stamp??? It is kind of a cool concept. You purchase the ability to download the image, the cost is minimal and once you have downloaded it, you can print it out as many times as you want, on whatever paper you want and here is probably the coolest part, in the SIZE you want! One time you might want it small, another time larger. I am going to show you two versions of Timmy Turtle so that you can get an idea of that versatity.
For my first card that goes with the CPS sketch for this week, I printed Timmy Turtle out on white cardstock and I choose the 2" x 3" size, like I was going to print out a photograph.
From here, it was simple to color him in with the Copic Markers. You can see that I coated each of the dots with the Aleene's Paper Glaze for an epoxy look and that just adds so much character to Timmy.
I wanted to give a little close up of the details along the bottom edge of the card. It was fun to use these punched circles and brads to match the sketch.
I wanted to print Timmy out a little larger so you could see the difference and I also thought he could make a cute shaped card this way. I printed him out using the 5" x 7" size this time. I printed him on green Core'dinations cardstock and what is neat aboug that is that it is brown on the other side so the inside of the card is different then the outside. I printed him out again on the striped paper and cut just the shell out. The dots were colored with a Copic marker and coated with the Aleene's Paper Glaze. His are also coated with the Paper Glaze.
Thanks for visiting, Linda (lbpost)

SKETCH 114 – TIMMY TURTLE card
Materials:
Cardstock
Digital stamp – Courtesy of Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps
Patterned paper – October Afternoon
Copic Markers
Circle and scallop circle punch – Marvy
Corner rounder punch – Fiskars
Swiss dot Cuttlebug embossing plate – Provo Craft
Ribbon
Brads – Bazzill
Clear Paper Glaze – Aleene’s®