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

Sending Smiles with Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello!! Today I'm sharing a card using some brand new products from Create A Smile Stamps!  The May release is now available for purchase.

I used the new Plant A Tree Stamp Set along with the Basic Ovals Stencil. The stamp set is on the smaller scale which means the price is fantastic. But it is also packed with a ton of images! The stencil is so versatile. It has four different sizes of ovals and it also comes with the co-ordinating masks!

I started by using the largest oval on the stencil and ink blended some blue and a little brown at the bottom. I stamped each image (they are all separate) directly onto the ink blended background. I used Gina K Inks for this as they work well with alcohol markers.  I added very simple shading to images which really brought them to life!

I used the second largest of the Scalloped Rectangles Dies to trim down the piece of cardstock I was working on. To create the embossed lines perfectly around the oval, I held the panel up to the light and on the back side, lightly adhered the mask portion of the stencil. You can see through the cardstock just enough for placement. I then traced around the mask with a pencil.

On my scoring board, on the BACK of the panel, I added the scoring lines every 1/8th of an inch, stopping when I got to the traced line.

I added some white gel pen details to the images as well as 3 tiny, die cut hearts.  The sentiment comes from the new From Afar Mini Stamp Set and was stamped onto one of the Useful Banner Dies.

Both the sentiment strip and the panel were foam mounted to a light grey card base which measures 5.25 X 3.25 inches.

I hope you enjoyed todays card and will check out the new CAS release!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today.

Laurie

Create A Smile Stamps Card Share!

Welcome!! I'm dropping in to share a card I made using products from Create A Smile Stamps! I've just recently joined the design team and am over the moon to be a part of this amazing group!

For this card, I've mixed a few stamp sets, old and new!

CAS Products used on this card:

Uplifting Stamp Set: helicopter, clouds

Best Bugs Stamp Set: tiny flower

Ting-a-Ling Stamp Set:  kitty cat

Cloud Pattern Stencil

I'll be sharing Create A Smile Stamps cards here once a week so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

Laurie

Stamps, Stencils & Dies - Oh My!!! (Blog Hop for Scrap N Stamp Canada)

Welcome!! We're back with our monthly blog hop for Scrap N Stamp Canada and today we're featuring some really cool products from Wendy Vecchi.

She recently came out with these awesome sets that include a stamp set, dies and a stencil. How genius is that? And to top it all off, they are really affordable!!! I used the Country Flowers set for my project today.

The stencil has a pretty scallop portion and I knew I wanted to use that! I used Innocent Pink, Bubblegum, Dusty Rose and Passionate Pink Inks. these are all from Gina K Designs. After the inking was done, I used a Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die from Lawn Fawn to cut the panel down. I thought it was a bit plain so I used one of the Just Stitching Double Rectangles (also Lawn Fawn) to add some detail.

I stamped the flower, leaves and butterfly from the Country Flower Set in black ink. I never leave images uncoloured but thought it would look cool against the scalloped backdrop. 

In the end, I decided to restamp the flower. The stamp set comes with both the outline and a solid, filler stamp. I used gold embossing powder for the outline and the Innocent Pink ink for the solid stamp. 

I foam mounted the images to the background, then foam mounted the entire panel to a white card base. The finished card size is 3.5 X 5 inches. The sentiment comes from the Inspiring Poppies set from Gina K.

Final thoughts:  I think these sets are great for beginners! The idea that you have stamps, dies and a stencil in one package is fantastic. And the price is amazing! However, I did have one issue. And that is that the stamp set in not photopolymer. It is acrylic and there is a huge difference! Acrylic stamps do not stamp well and take multiple inkings to get a good impression. I'm not sure I could use this set without a stamp positioner.  But in the end, I'm happy with the way the card turned out and would recommend for beginners! 

PRIZE ALERT:

One lucky commenter will win a $50 gift certificate to the SNS Shop. So, please leave a little love at each stop to increase your chances of winning! Good Luck! The winner will be announced on the Scrap N Stamp Blog on May 14th, 2020.

SALE:

All the Wendy Vecchi Stamp Die and Stencil Sets are 20% off until May 7th, 2020.

BLOG HOP LINEUP:

Tara

Nancy

Laurie

Deborah

Kia

Chala

Susan

FACEBOOK CHALLENGE:

It's a new month so that means we have a new list of inspiration for you to follow! A new "key word" for each day to keep those creative juices flowing! 

Thanks so much for joining us this month! 

See you soon!

Laurie

Pinkfresh Studio Sketch Challenge

Welcome back! Today I've decided to participate in the current challenge over at Pinkfresh Studio Blog. This month they have a sketch to play along with.

Sketch challenges always get my creative juices flowing. Sometimes, I will follow it to a tee, other times I'll try to put a little spin on it.  This is what I came up with:

I started by doing some no-line colouring of the Leafy Decor Stamp with my Derwent Inktense Pencils. I haven't used these in ages! I used the co-ordinating die to cut the image out.

I actually had the Essential Braided Tag Die already cut out and just sitting on my desk. So, I layered my coloured florals onto one edge of it. I took a piece of white cardstock and used a stitched rectangle die to cut it out. I used some Peacock Feather Distress Ink around the edges as the white on white on white was a bit too....white.

Before adhering the die cut sentiment, I used the same Peacock Feather Ink to add a few splatters.

The sentiment is from the Classic Words Die Set. Again, I inked it up with the same distress ink.

I adhered everything to a white card base and added a few sequins. It was at this point, I decided to add the sub sentiment which come from the Leafy Decor set.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my creation for today!

See you soon!

Laurie