"Masking" Challenge...Create A Smile Stamps!

Welcome to another fun challenge for Create A Smile Stamps!  This one is ALWAYS a challenge to me and that's masking!  I'm a fairly lazy card maker so when it comes to masking, I rarely do it.  While I don't mind fussy cutting images, cutting masks always seems like such a chore!  However, every time I create a project with masking, I am amazed at how cool the look can be!

I made a masked background as well as a separate masked scene for my card.  I used the Scene Builders Stamp Set for the majority.  I started by stamping the house image onto a card panel, then using a mask cut from a full stick Post-It Note, covered the image and stamped it again, overlapping the two. I needed 3 masks in total to create the background.

On a separate piece of cardstock, I stamped out a scene using some of the trees and shrubs from the set. I started with the little shrub at the front of the house and worked from there. You always start with the foremost image!  It always takes me awhile to figure this out :)

I fussy cut around the scene leaving a small white border so it would stand out a little from the background.  I used shades of grey for the background panel and went all out with the colour on the separate scene.  I glued the coloured images directly over the FIRST house I stamped on the background panel!

The sentiment comes from the Small Sentiments Stamp Set which works perfectly with the Speech Bubble Cool Cuts.  I added some sparkle pen and Nuvo Crystal Glaze to all the round windows as well as the windows and door of the coloured house. I popped the speech bubble up with some foam adhesive and added a die cut heart as well as some stitiching detail to match the stamping!

I really hope you'll join us as we LOVE to see your creations!!  Remember, you have a chance of winning a €25 gift certificate to the Create A Smile Stamps Shop!! Please visit the CAS Challenge Page where you'll find more inspiration along with link up information!!!

Thanks for stopping by!! See you soon!!

Using Small Stamps with Craftin Desert Divas!

Good morning friends and welcome back!  I'm back to share a cute and fun card that makes use of all those tiny stamps that you may have!  I'll also show you a simple yet very effective masking technique!

In almost every stamp set, there comes a variety of tiny images that are there to help you create scenes or backgrounds. I call them "filler" images. Just like the way extra sprigs, leaves and baby's breath fill out and complete a bouquet of flowers, these tiny stamps act much the same way.

I started by creating a simple mask using the middle heart from the Nested Hearts Die Set and a piece of 4.25 X 5.5 inch copy paper.  I wanted the mask to be the same size as my card front to make lining things up easier!

I adhered the mask to the white panel using a dot adhesive and removing some of the stick with my fingers. I don't have any removable tape so this worked well!

I went through all my CDD stamps and choose some of the small images with the same theme. In this case, bugs!

The Ladybug Garden and Garden Bugs sets were perfect! I started by stamping the largest of the images I had chosen in the centre of the heart.  I wanted to make sure I had enough room for this image and also for it to be the focal point.

When stamping inside a mask, you want to be sure that some of the images are stamped "outside". This is maintain the shape you are going for.  I ended up needing a couple of more images to fill in more of the heart.  I found the cutest flowers in the Twinkle Toes stamp set and a tiny heart in the Magical Unicorn set. These finished the stamping off perfectly!! Next, I removed the mask.

I coloured all these cuties with my alcohol markers.

To emphasize the heart shape a little more, I decided to add colour around and behind the images with a light grey markers.

I trimmed this panel using the medium rectangle die from the Fancy Frames Dies.  I actually didn't get it centred so to fix this I added some twine along the right side of the panel.

The sentiment is from the Ladybug Garden set and stamped on a banner from the Flag Banner Die Set.  I adhered this panel to a piece of beige/pink cardstock cut from the largest die from Fancy Frames.

To finish off, I added a few Shimmer Sequins, some glitter pen and Glossy Accents!

I hope you enjoyed my project today and maybe found a little inspiration!  I encourage you to take a look at your stamp sets and get some use out of these itty bitty images!

Thank you for stopping by!!  You'll find a list of all products used below!!

Garden Bugs

Ladybug Garden

Magical Unicorns

Twinkle Toes

Nested Heart Dies

Flag Banner Dies

Fancy Frames

Glossy Accents

Clear Wink of Stella

Shimmer Sequins