Finally! December Release preview (+ video)

Hello favorite crafty community :)

It's 5pm while I am typing this and know what? It's pitch-black outside already - so we all know it's that time of year - sun is a rare guest, it gets colder and darker. 

Time to lighten up our days with fun new stamps, right?

Our Release countdown including LOTS of inspiration and give-aways starts tomorrow - you don't want to miss that!

Today I'd like to share a video that shows all of the sets and ideas of how you can use them. I had a BLAST creating these examples - making entire cards will be even better!

These are the new products, waiting for you :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Gift boxes for teenage boys

Hey, stampers, Anni here! I have two gift boxes for you today!

A friend of mine asked me if I could make gift boxes for teenage boys!! TEENAGE BOYS (insert scream here)! Masculine cards are difficult but things for teenage boys? That's really hard in my opinion!
I looked through my Create a Smile stamps and thought this penguin was perfect for a teenage boy - black and white and no need for anything pink! I made the box, added the penguin and I knew it needed something special! Hmmm, what would a penguin bring as a present? Fish, of course! Even a teeamage boy could not resist a wrapped up fish, could he?

• Die cut the box from patterned paper and put it together
• Color and fuzzy cut the penguin!
• Cut a fish from cardstock and wrap some twine around
• Emboss the sentiment and cut a banner

• Gift boxes are the perfect opportunity to use up your stash of 12 x 12" paper!
• Use cool colors like blue, green and turquoise for teenage boys with a little splash of orange or red!
• You can use the idea of the wrapped up fish for other animals, too: A bone for the dog from Your View, a carrot for a snowman from Cool Buddies and so on
• If you have such a small bow add a little glue to hold it in place

      

Create a Smile reached 900 likes on Facebook and Christine added another freebie: The cutest Santa ever! Hop over and grab it!

Do you think my boxes are cool enough for teenage boys? What are your tricks for teenage boys? Do you find it as hard as me to craft for them?

We have a new freebie - yay!

Happy news!

See this image on my card??

This is Santa waiting for you :)
We just hit 900 Facebook-likes! (Anyway - if you haven't likes so far - we'd be happy if you join the fun over on our Facebook page.

As promised you can now find a new Freebie in the Freebie-tab....
We'd be happy is you share your creations with us! I had a blast coloring him ;)

Thank you! Enjoy! :)

A Rainbow Scrapbook Layout!

Hello and happy Friday!
Samantha here, with a scrapbook layout using a bunch of Create a Smile supplies! :)

One day this summer, it was raining hard all day. These little Menn were suffering from a severe case of 'Cabin Fever!'. So, for my sanity, we put on bathing suits, and went riding in the rain!! The boys had a BLAST! and by the end, we were all muddy, and laughing and happy! 

I decided it would be fun to make MOST of the layout a grey scale, with the only color coming from the picture and border! I really like that idea!

I used the Comfy stamp set and Distress Markers to color the umbrellas on the layout, and also Jungle Fever for the awesome (and perfectly appropriate!) sentiment by the umbrellas on the bottom of the layout! :)

I also used the "Hello" from the Your View stamp set and stamped it directly onto the photo! LOVE doing that! :)

On the background of the layout, I used the AWESOME Cloud stencils and sprayed some warm grey mist to add the color! :)

Then I added some 'raindrops' with a stencil and some embossing paste, but not to all the clouds!

I used my sewing machine to add stitching to some of the washi tape strips, the picture mattes, and also to the title of the page! :)  

To finish it off, I sprinkled a few grey enamel dots throughout the page! :)

 

When using Thickers or other Alpha stickers on my cards or layouts, I usually stitch them on with my sewing machine! I just don't trust the thin adhesive that it comes with to stay stuck for a long time! :)

If I don't sew the letters on, I will either add glossy accents or mutli matte medium under the letters, to make sure they stick! 

This will ensure the card/layout staying in one piece! 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Samantha

Danke

Hi friends!

Linda here with a simple, cute card for you today, which uses the newly released Perfect Tune set!

I wanted to create a card that was simple, but had some fun details in it. I also love learning and speaking foreign languages, so the 'danke' sentiment was perfect!

 

I stamped then copic coloured my little radio image, before stamping then outlining the sentiment speech bubble--I thought that outlining it might bring a fun little point of interest on what is otherwise a very simple card! Little details like this can really help a CAS card look more finished.

Finally I took a coordinating ink and created a border using the two teeny circle/bubble images from the same set.

 Don't forget those tiny little images that come in stamp sets, you can easily use them to create borders or even full backgrounds with a little patience!

That's it for me today-- it's my eldest daughter's birthday tomorrow, so I have to run! Birthday decorations to put up!

Have a great week and I'll see you again soon!

Linda

Guest Designer Jenn Shurkus - Part 2

Happy wednesday!

As you all know - wednesdays are dedicated to out guest designer. Jenn Shurkus is our guest for November - and we're so happy she brings some inspiration our way.

For today she crated a cute funky card using Perfect Tune - I loooooove the dimension she added. Take a look:

Sometimes simple cards are the best cards. You can jazz up a simple card with just some foam tape and paper piecing. 



I started by stamping the radio and speech bubble on Neenah cardstock. I used copics to add color to these images. I stamped another set of each of the images and colored the speaker part of the radio and the little heart in the speech bubble. 



I used Smokey Gray Versafine to repetitively stamp the speech bubble to give a subtle background. Be sure to stamp off the edge to give movement across the card. I also stamped the radio on the card and paper pieced the speaker on top. This way I didn't have to fussy cut the antennae and the copic markers wouldn't bleed through the card. I added a little bit of Rock Candy Distress Stickles to accent the radio and the heart on the speech bubble. 

Don't you just love that fresh CAS look? And Jenn makes it all look so simple!Better hop over to Jenn's Blog and check out all her awesome work!

The new sets (3 of them) will be relased next friday - there are peeks on our Facebook-page so check it out!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by! :)

CAS:Colored Pencils

Hello Crafters! 

It's Kelly here to share a cute little CAS card with you. 

Ack! Are you dying of cuteness overload?!

I was surfing the web the other night and found this little tutorial for creating miniature colored pencils.

They were so adorable I knew I had to make a card with them. Thanks to Jungle Fever I had the perfect sentiment to go with it!

The tutorial said to cut them in half but I decided I wanted varying lengths. I thought it looked more playful that way. Also I used an old Making Memories sanding block I had instead of sandpaper. I used copics to color them. 

In order to get a really saturated color I went over them twice. Even then, they were super simple to make.

I love the way it turned out. These little guys would be perfect for a Teacher thank you  . . maybe paired with the "You Are Awesome" from Friends in The Woods. Or you could use "Where's Your Happy Place?"from Comfy on a scrapbook layout of your child coloring. I think the use of these little guys is endless! 

Thanks for visiting! 

XoXo

Kelly

White Cardstock

Copic Markers

Toothpicks

Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

Jungle Fever

Layered White and color ink on kraft.

Hi there it's Anja again.
For today I would like to show you a card made with kraft paper. I love kraft paper.

I love the use of kraft paper but it's sometimes hard to use colors on kraft. So by layering your colors with white ink  the color will stand out more on the kraft paper.



I started with inking up the hypnotize stamp partial with white pigment ink. Made a random pattern on the background. After cleaning the stamp I stamped with several colors a little bit offset to get the best results. The circles remind me of wrinkles in the water.
I stamped the frog from the jungle fever in watermark ink on some kraft and heat embossed it with white embossingpowder. I did some mirror stamping ( you can find the technique HERE as shown by Kelly) and so created another frog.
Copic coloring on kraft isn't easy because the colors will not blend easy but it works.
I stamped the little heart bubble from perfect tune onto some vellum and also heat embossed it. Put some colored cardstock behind it to highlight it more.
To finish the card I scattered some hearts from the Für Alle Fälle set in the same way as I did with the circles.
Finally stamped the sentiment herzlichen gluckwunsh which means congratulations, happy birthday in black.



Stamps;

Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black) hero arts (pale tomato), ( tide pool), ( mint julep), (soft pool), fresh peach and (unicorn white pigment ink),  versamark (watermark)
Cardstock: Bazzill ( kraft), Bazzill (Vellum)
Tools; Heat gun.
Embossingpowder; white (hero arts)
Coloring: Copics E31, E33, E35, YG 95, YG 97 en YG 99.




Don't let you scare off by that big background stamp you can use parts of it and so create a whole different look.
Since the pigment ink stays very wet you can heat emboss it before you use your colored ink.