Experimenting With Colours!

Hi everyone! What is your process of card designing? For me, I have various items that I wanted to try and I just proceed from there. It could be a new product, a new technique, new layout. Today, I wanted to try out a new colour scheme. Colours are so important in this crafting community but sometimes, I tend to overlook colour combination that might not be as obvious or as common.

So, today, I'm experimenting with a couple of colours that I don't usually use together. Hope you'll like it!

If you notice, the die-cut is also cutting through the frame. So this means that, I had die-cut the frame separately first, stuck it on the purple paper and then, took the word die and put it through the machine. This will cut through the purple paper and the frame :) 

I've never used purple and yellow together. I thought it would be nice to have a bright colour peeking out of the die-cut and the corners. You can also substitute the yellow with some glitter paper or even patterned paper! 

This is a simple card with simple construction but my challenge for you is to grab some colours that you might be uncomfortable with and try to start with something simple like this card. 

Create A Smile - Magical Frame Die
Create A Smile - Geburtstag Triple Dies
Create A Smile - Mini Geburtstag Stamps

Follow Create A Smile on Facebook keep yourself updates on all the happenings and if you're an Instagram addict like I am, you can follow Create A Smile using this name : @createasmilestamps ! :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Marina

Today is your birthday!

... that's what the sentiment on today's card says!
Hey stampers, Anni here!
I have a card for you that combines an oldie but goodie ("Jungle Fever") with something brand new ("Geburtstag Triple" and "mini Geburtstag" - both available in English, too).

I LOVE to pile up die cut sentiments. It is always a great effect! And I thought it would be cute if the cockatoo would be sitting on the die cut. The colors of the cockatoo gave me the idea for the color combo for the background.

• Add some ink blending to the right bottom right corner in yellow and green. Sprinkle with water!
• Die cut the sentiment from that panel. Keep all the small pieces.
• Die cut the same sentiment from black cardstock four or five times.
• Stamp, color and fuzzy cut the cockatoo!
• Assemble the card.
• Add some sequins and a stripe of patterned paper.

• With the black cardstock your die cut sentiment gets more "visible"!
• Some areas of black here and there on your card are a great contrast fro bright colors!
• On almost every card I use turqoise, teal, aqua or something like that! Challeng yourself to rech for other colors then you usually do! Get out of your comfort zone!
  

Have you already seen the acrylic blocks Christine has in store now? I think they are great. They have etched gridlines, rounded edges and have just the right thickness! I LOVE them!

         

Make Your Own Background!

Hello!
Samantha here, and today I'm sharing a layout that I just LOVE with you all! It's super summery, and super fun and super colorful! All my favorites! Ha!

I am currently taking the Clean Mixed Media Class at Big Picture Classes and I am in LOVE with it! I knew I wanted to create a layout with flowers and leaves and what better images are there than Create a Smile Stamps?! Am I right?

Unfortunatly, since I'm taking the class, I don't want to give away too much, you should DEFINITELY take the class if you're curious about mixed media (lite!!) techniques! Suffice it to say, you'll need watercolor paper, watercolors and stamps! It's that easy! :)

I used the incredible flower images from Botanical Love and just one of the leaves from Time to Say Thanks! :) I just LOOOOOOVE those images, and since I was aiming for a 'Hawaiian shirt' kind of look, it was a no brainer to use florals! :)

I made a scrapbook layout with the watercolors and stamps as my background, but this would beautifully translate to a card! 

Imagine a gorgeous watercolor background with these flowers as a Thank You card or Get Well! It would look divine! 

     

Don't forget to like Create a Smile Stamps on Facebook and Instagram! There's always tons of inspiration and fan features! It's the best way to stay current with all of the latest and greatest!

Thanks again for spending a little bit of you day with me! It means so much! 

~Samantha

  

Lovely Critters Die Cut Background Tutorial

Hi Crafters,
Justine designing on the blog today, and I'm excited to share my January project with you!

I wanted to use the Tiny Sentiments die cut set in a different way then just for the lead sentiment on the page. Often I have seen stamping as a background with different words and phrases so I thought I would try it with die cuts. It is a little time consuming but the layers and textures look great!

Here is a video tutorial showing you how to make this card.

I shared plenty of tips and tricks in the video. Be sure to watch for tips on Copic Colouring, Die Cutting intricate words and blending distress inks.

• Try Stick It when applying intricate dies to avoid messy adhesives 
• Apply very little pressure on the blending tool to avoid harsh lines

Here are the Create a Smile products I used to create this card. To see the full supply list, check out my blog!

Lovely Critters Stamp

Tiny Sentiments

Speech Bubbles Chipboard

InLinkz.com

Don't forget to follow Create a Smile Facebook and Instagram @createasmilestamps to keep yourself updated on all the latest projects and releases!

Foxy Happiness

Hello Crafters!

It's Kelly here and I'm so excited to be sharing a clean and simple card with you guys today.

I loved these sweet foxes but I wanted to make a Valentine's Day card with them. I did a little surgery with my stamping to get it that way. 

I started by stamping the foxes and coloring them with my copics. Instead, of coloring the band-aid I just added a black line through the end of the bands creating a "belly" for the fox. I fussy cut them out and then used an exacto knife to cut their arms so I could fit them around the heart. I stamped the heart and colored it with copics as well. I used a yellow Souffle pen to fill in the dots because it dries opaque. Then, I fussy cut that out too. 

I wanted just a simple background so I picked a few light yellows and added some dots behind them. Initially, I was going to just pop the card up on a white background but it still needed something. I used a scrap piece of purple (Thank God I never clean my desk off ) in two of the corners to make the heart pop.

Try looking at your stamps a little differently. This set is a get well set but it doesn't need to be. Also try pairing complementary colors together on a clean and simple card for an easy design.

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Your Heart Out 

Doctor's Helpers

Paperpiecing.....

Hi there I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for another week full of inspiration.

Here is my card to start the week;

 

 

A few days ago I made a card and used paperpiecing so I got the idea to use the paperpiecing again for this card. Those great critters from the new release are perfect for this technique.



Again I used a top folded white cardbase and some patterned papers for the cardpanel. Both images were stamped several times on different patterned papers and fuzzy cut. I adhered them to the panel and gave them some dimension with foam tape and some copics.

Stamps;

Doctor's Helpers;



Patterned papers;

Feel Good and Sending Sunshine


Cool cuts;

Magical frame;



Enamel stickers;

Holly and berry





The paperpiecing technique is a great way to use your left overs from patterned papers.
The create a smile paperpacks are a good quality papers and you can even color the papers with copics to spice up your paperpiecing.
Just go through your stamps and find some images that are great for this technique because it is lots of fun.







We love to see what you create and who knows you will give the paperpiecing technique a try.

Have a great week;
Hugs Anja