Create A Smile Stamps Mood Board Challenge!

Welcome back, friends!!  Today is the start of another challenge over at Create A Smile Stamps! We've got a beautiful mood board to inspire you...

I took inspiration from the wood, wreath and the colour gold.  I started by breaking out the Wreath Builder Template from Gina K Designs (a must have, in my opinion) and the Floral Decorations Stamp Set.  Before creating my wreath, I used a circle die that matched up to the largest Postage Edge Circle Die. I wanted to make sure my wreath didn't get too big!

I chose a variety of images from the stamp set and created the wreath using Icing on the Cake Ink from Catherine Pooler Designs. The sentiment comes from the Decorated Wishes Add On Stamp Set, this is one of my all time favourite stamp sets!  I used Versamark Ink and Gold Embossing Powder from WOW.  I then used the circle die (same one I used for a guide), to cut around the wreath.

To create the gold Postage Edge Circle, I simply pressed the Versamark Ink pad around the edge and added the same gold embossing powder. I did this twice to get a nice smooth finish.  I decided to add a few gold heart to my wreath using a good ol fashioned acrylic block.

I foam mounted the circle onto an ivory card base that was dry embossed using an embossing folder from Stampin' Up.  I refrained from adding any embellishments :)

Thanks for stopping in today!  I hope you'll join us for this challenge! As always, you'll be playing for a €25 gift certificate to the Create A Smile Stamps online shop!  For more details, please visit the Create A Smile Stamps Challenge Blog.

Easy Faux Watercolour for Scrap N Stamp Canada!

Welcome to another fun blog hop and challenge for Scrap N' Stamp Canada!!  This one is so much fun and is going to be quite popular I think!  This months theme is watercolour!! Watercolour Wishes, in fact!

I used the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder Bundle for my project today. I love this system of stamps and templates (stencils)!  The possibilities are endless. You can use almost any stamps you already own with these templates as well.

Now, while I love to watercolour lined images, I also like using water based inks/markers to come up with fun and easy techniques. I chose to do some watercolour stamping to create a beautiful faux watercolour look!  This technique works with solid image stamps, which happen to be in the Wreath Builder stamp sets!

The technique is quite simple. Add colour to the stamp, add a bit of water with a damp paintbrush or water brush and stamp down!  That's it!  Your results will vary depending on the amount of water you add. I didn't want my images to distort too much so I used very little water. However,  by adding more water, the images will be more fluid which would look beautiful as well!  To show how easy this process is, I put together a video!!

I used Distress Inks on the card today, mostly because I LOVE the colours.  I used: Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, Wild Honey and Antique Linen. For the sentiment, I used my favourite shade of embossing powder, Metallic Brass from WOW...I'm addicted to this stuff and the moment!

With a bit of ink, a bit of water and a few turns of your paper/cardstock, you will end up with wreath that looked like it took you hours to create!

Prizes!

SNS is giving a $50 gift certificate away to one lucky commenter. The winner will be announced on the Scrap N' Stamp Blog on September 19th, 2019!!  So, please leave a little love on each stop of the hop for your chance to win! Good luck! As an extra bonus, all watercolour products will be 20% for this weekend only!!

Facebook Challenge!

Remember to add your watercolored creations to the SNS Facebook Page for another chance of winning!!

Here is the complete hop lineup!!

Tara

Chala

Nancy E

Laurie

Nancy F

Sandi

Kia

Deb

Susan

Thanks so much for hopping along with us!!

Paper Smooches Flower Challenge!!

Hello friends!!  It has been awhile since I've participated in any sort of challenge...not design team related.  Paper Smooches always has great challenges, and I used to participate in them often!  So, when I seen this month's challenge, "Flowers", I just had to play along!

I dug through my PS stash of stamps and dies and chose the Best Buds stamp set for all my flowers.  I picked the small florals in the stamp and using the Gina K Wreath Builder Template, created a 4X4 wreath.

I stamped everything in a alcohol marker safe, grey ink.  I thought I'd stray away from a bold, black ink.  I coloured all those adorable flowers with Copic markers.

My collection of Copics is fairly small, so I tend to use the same colours over and over in my projects. But I don't mind, I LOVE these colours!  I was flip flopping on what to do next and thought I'd place a cute critter in the centre of the wreath. So I used the bee and the bear images from the Courteous Cuties stamp set and used the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  

And yes, I decided to cut the centre of my wreath out using the smallest of the Pinked Circle Dies. I found that with all that stamping, the critters got "lost". Plus, I didn't really want to cover too much of those pretty flowers!

After I die cut the circle out of the front panel, I lined everything up and cut it out of the front of the cardbase as well.  I stamped the sentiment (from Courteous Cuties) onto the positive die cut using white embossing powder and adhered it onto the inside of the card.  I added a ton of foam adhesive to the stamped panel and popped it on top.

Of course, I didn't let those critters go to waste!  I glued the bear on the inside of the card and he looks super cute there!!

I was going to add some sequins to the front, but went with a few white gel pen details instead.

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out. I'm not gonna lie, this one took me awhile :)

Thanks for stopping by today!! See you soon!

Laurie