Sweet Bee Card ft. Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello friends and welcome! Today, I'm sharing a cute, clean and simple card with you featuring stamps, dies and stencil from Create a Smile Stamps!

I created a couple of mini scenes using the Best Bugs Stamp Set and the Magical Frame Dies.  This was simple to do. The die cuts in 2 seperate pieces, the inner square and the frame portion. I did all the stamping on the square. The scene to the right did require some simple masking of the flowers because I did do a little ink blending.

I stamped the bees on a separate piece of cardstock and fussy cut them not leaving a white border. This gave the illusion of more masking!  After the colouring was done, I attached the frame to the inner square with scotch tape then added some foam tape.

On the card base, I masked off the centre portion (approx 2.5 inch strip) then applied the Narrow Stripes Stencil over top. I used a light grey ink to add the subtle stripes. This just gave it a little extra something.

To finish the card off, I stamped the sentiment onto one of the Useful Banner Dies and adhered it with foam adhesive. And to add even more cuteness, I used three of the new Chipboard Tiny Hearts as embellishments.

I hope you enjoyed todays look at Create A Smile products!

See you soon!

Laurie

Masking Stencils with Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello and welcome! I have this fun card to share with you today featuring stamps and stencils from Create A Smile Stamps.

I started by choosing the size of circle I wanted on the Basic Circles Stencil. With ink, a blending brush and a light hand, I added the colour. This layer needs to be a bit lighter. With the circle stencil still in place, I laid the Heart Rays Stencil over top and tried to centre the hearts the best I could. I used the same ink colour and a heavier hand when applying the ink. This creates a lovely two toned effect.

The cute little elf is actually from the Christmas set called Clumsy Santa. I did a bit of altering to the facial expression by fluffing up the eyebrows and adding a couple of eyelashes. By colouring the image using the same colour palette as the background, it doesn't look like a Christmas image at all!

To ground the elf, I used one of the Scalloped Rectangles Dies and trimmed off the top. The sentiment comes from the A Little Treat Stamp Set. 

I added a few white gel pen details to finish the panel off. I created a white card base to match the size of the panel. I inked the edges of the card base with the same blue ink I used before and adhered the stencilled panel on top.

And that's it! Thanks for joining me today! See you soon.

Laurie

Rainbow Thinking of You Card with Create A Smile Stamps!

Hello friends and welcome!  Today, I made a rainbow "thinking of you" card featuring stamps and dies from Create a Smile Stamps.

I started by taking one of the banner dies from the Useful Banner Die Set and cut rainbow strips of card stock. I adhered the banners one by one onto a scrap piece of cardstock so it became one piece and easy to move around.

To add a bit of texture and interest, I chose a few of the solid images from the Wildflowers Stamp Set and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I love this look. It lets the background show through yet it also darkens the cardstock where it's embossed!

After a dry run of panel placement, I decided to clear heat emboss directly onto the card base as well. Hard to see but the texture is awesome!!

I used fun foam to adhere the rainbow panel. The sentiment is a combination of the You Twice Die and the All About You Stamp Set. In retrospect, I wish I had white heat embossed the "thinking of" but I'm still happy with the way this turned out!

Thanks so much for dropping by! See you soon!

Laurie

No Line Watercolour with Create A Smile Stamps

Hello and welcome! Today I'm sharing a card made with stamps from Create A Smile Stamps along with the no-line watercolour technique!

I'm no expert at this and tend to mess with things too much. I'm constantly trying to move the colour around and usually end up overworking it. The key to watercolouring is patience and I don't have a ton of that, haha!  

My go to ink for no line techniques is the No Line Ink from The Stamp Market. I love the foam pad and it usually only requires one impression, even on watercolour paper!  

I used the gorgeous Pure Poppies Stamp Set from Create A Smile. I went for a pinkish-purple flower. My medium of choice was Derwent Inktense Blocks which have been gathering a bit of dust. Every time I use them, I ask myself "why aren't you using these more!?". Of course, you can use the pencils! 

When the colouring was done, I placed the Petals Stencil (CAS) over the top and used a light blue colour to trace around each opening. Because the Inktense are waterproof when dry, you don't have to worry about reactivating the colour! It's very faint but still adds detail!  I trimmed the panel down and added some Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges.  

I did some partial die cutting of the second largest Scalloped Rectangles Die to fit the floral panel. I adhered the two together with tape adhesive then foam mounted it to an ivory card base.

The sentiment comes from the Favourite Everything Stamp Set and was white heat embossed onto black cardstock. The small banner comes from the Useful Banner Dies.

Thanks for stopping in today! Hope you enjoyed today's card and will come back to visit again!!

Laurie

Canada, Eh? Blog Hop for Scrap N Stamp Canada

 We're celebrating Canada Day today with a fun blog hop brought to you by Scrap N Stamp Canada!

I made a very simple, very quick card. I don't generally give or mail these types of cards, do you?

I also do not have many "patriotic" sets in my stash so I had to improvise!

I used one of the zebras from the Zippy Zebras set from MFT. I actually drew the flag myself, fussy cut it out and attached it to the zebra.

I foam mounted the zebra and added a bit of "grass" using one of the Grassy Hillside Borders Dies from Lawn Fawn. I added a couple of clouds from another set in my stash. Any cloud stamps would work here.

For a bit of interest and to break up some of the white space, I added some doodled borders in opposite sides of the card.

The sentiment comes from an older set from PhotoPlay called O Canada. This is an adorable set and worth checking out!

I love the simplicity of this card and it was so quick and easy to make.

PRIZES

This month there are 3 prize packs up for grabs! There will be one winner chosen from comments left on the hop, one winner from comments made on our Facebook Page and one winner from comments made on our respective Instagram posts.  Winners will be announced on the SNS Blog on July 15th, 2020.

BLOG HOP LINEUP

Tara

Laurie

Nancy

Susan

Kia

Deborah

Chala

I hope you all have a fantastic day and thank you for hopping along with us!

Happy Canada Day!!

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