Big Hugs with Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello, my friends! Today I'm sharing a card made with one of the newest stamps from Create A Smile Stamps! This mini set is called Big Surprise and it is absolutely adorable!! This latest release was full of these mini stamp sets but don't be fooled, they are all so versatile!!

This little cutie was so much fun to colour! I made a simple scene card by die cutting a circle into a 3.5X5 inch white piece of cardstock. I used one of the Stitched Circle Frames to do this. On the card base, I used a light brown ink for sand and a blue ink for the sky. Over top, I added some clouds using the Cloud Pattern Stencil.

Before adhering the aperture panel, I ran it through my die cut machine using a striped embossing folder. I foam mounted the panel then added all the elements.

The sentiment is also part of this set. I fussy cut around the "big" and foam mounted it to the card.

I added a few details with a white gel pen, a sparkle pen and a few sequins! 

I hope you enjoyed today's project!  And just a hint...the June release is almost here!!!! :)

See you soon!

Laurie

Perfect Pearls...A Blog Hop!

Hello all and welcome back! Today we're having a blog hop brought to you by Scrap N Stamp Canada! From the title of this post, you've probably guessed that we are featuring Perfect Pearls, remember those?!

I've had a few pots of these kicking around my craft room for quite some time. I do have have some of the Perfect Pearls colour mixed up with some water (homemade shimmer spray) but I hardly ever use that! So, this was definitely a great challenge because it made me use some much neglected supplies!

There are many different techniques that involve Perfect Pearls but I tried something new. Well, new to me but maybe this technique is "out there"...let me know!

These are the colours I had on hand: Pewter, Heirloom Gold, Perfect Gold, Perfect Bronze and Perfect Copper. Sorry about the washed out photo but you can faintly see a die cut rainbow at the bottom..

Instead of using a binding agent like Versamark or the Perfect Medium, I wanted to see if double sided adhesive would work. Spoiler Alert:  It did!!  I die cut the Rainbow Whimsy Die from MFT out of white cardstock which I placed the Stick It Adhesive to.

I removed the backing from the adhesive and using a fluffy brush, liberally applied the Perfect Pearls. I started with the Perfect Copper shade for the largest arch of the rainbow.

The key to this is to make sure the entire surface is covered, including the edges. I found that the Perfect Pearls adhered very well and removed any sickness of the adhesive. 

As you can see, my rainbow isn't in the typical colours but I think it turned out beautiful as well as quirky!

I die cut the rainbow 3 more times out of scrap, white cardstock and layered them all together. Now, it's time to put this onto a card!

 I used the Cloud Stencil from MFT and a blue ink to create a sky directly onto the front of the card base.  I thought this card needed a few raindrops. I used the Colour Drops Die Set (MFT) and die cut 3 of the smallest die. I used the same adhesive covered cardstock. After removing the backing, I added the Perfect Pearls and the Pewter shades. It's so easy to blend different powders! I also stacked the drops onto scrap card stock.

As you can see, white gel pen works beautifully over top of this medium. I may have gone over board on that.  The sentiment come from the Essential Sentiments Stamp Set (older but must have set from MFT) which I stamped onto a strip of white cardstock and snipped into 3 pieces.  I popped those up as well because why stop with the dimension, right?

I hope you enjoyed my take on the Perfect Pearls! This is such an under used medium and I encourage you to give them a try!

BLOG HOP LINEUP:

Tara

Deborah

Kia

Chala

Susan

Laurie

Nancy

PRIZE AND SALE!!

There will be one $50 gift certificate given away to one lucky commenter! So make sure to leave a comment at each stop to increase your chances of winning! The winner will be announced on the SNS Blog on 

For this weekend only, all Perfect Pearls will be 10% off so now is a perfect time to stock up!!

**Some affiliate links used. Thank you so much if you make a purchase through one of these links**

Thanks for stopping by!

Laurie

Miss You Mandala Card with Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello and happy Wednesday! I'm back to share a card made with stamps and dies from Create a Smile Stamps.

This card is not mass producible but was a lot of fun to make!  I started by doing some no-line colouring with my Lyra Coloured Pencils. I used the Mesmerizing Mandalas Stamp Set along with the No Line ink pad from The Stamp Market.

I used a few pinks shades, a purple and a turquoise to colour this image. It's actually not as tedious as it may look and didn't take that long.  When the colouring was done, I fussy cut around the mandala then trimmed in half.

I cut a panel of white cardstock with the second largest of the Scalloped Rectangles then used the same die to cut the bottom of each half of the mandala. This added the scalloped edge so it would fit nicely on the panel!

The sentiment comes from the new Miss You Mini Stamp Set and was stamped in a grey ink. I used foam tape to adhere the mandala pieces to the top and bottom of the scalloped panel.

The card base measures 3.5 X 5.25 inches. I lightly inked around the edges using Spun Sugar Distress Ink to take away some of the brightness. I used tape adhesive to adhere the panel to the card base.

I played around with some embellishments but couldn't really come up with good placement so I used my white gel pen to add some details instead!

Thanks for dropping in! See you soon!

Laurie