Creating 1L of 1000 ppb stock solution of Pb2+ I’m testing on samples that require a concentration of 1000 ppb (or 1 mg/L) of Pb 2+. My first thought was to simply dissolve 1 mg of Lead nitrate in 1 L of deionized distilled water to create 1 L of stock solution at the desired 1000 ppb (1 mg/L) concentration. 

Is the process as simple as that, or is 1 mg proportionally too small a mass of solute to dissolve in 1 L of distilled water? Should I create a more concentrated stock solution and dilute it to 1000 ppb by adding requisite amounts of water? What concentration stock solution would be recommended in this case?

All the best!
Making the solution in a single step is inaccurate up to impossible.


Try to find a crystal of lead nitrate with the mass close enough to $\pu{1 mg}$
Try to weight up $\pu{1 mg}$ on scales with good enough accuracy.
Try to make such $\pu{1 ppm}$ solution stable enough.


The usual thing is to create a concentrated stock solution ( e.g $\pu{1000 ppm}$ and creating the working solution in 1 (1000 times) or 2 step ( 20x50 times) dilution whenever needed.

There is need to consider stabilizing by an acid, to prevent hydrolysis and adsorption. Very diluted solutions, like for AAS, are often stored in PE instead of laboratory glass to prevent ion Vs glass surface interactions.