The Best of the Best

Hi there!
Samantha here and today I'm sharing a fun card with the BEST rainbow wishes for you! Ha!

     

Honestly, I love contrasting rainbow with black and white...that's how this card was born! 

Let's create this card together!
- on a piece of white cardstock, heat emboss in white the background image
- once dry and cool, add some watercolor in a rainbow pattern! (I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and the packaging technique to create my watercolored look!)
- allow the cardstock to dry, and then die cut out the rectangle

- layer a piece of washi tape under the frame, and heat emboss your sentiment onto a white card base.
- pop up the banner, and add some Pretty Pink Posh sequins to finish off the card!

That frame on my card (see above)...? Yeah it was leftover piece from when I created THIS card!!! SO FUN, right?! I keep all my scraps - you never know when inspiration will hit, and then BAM - half the work is done for you! :)

LOVED making this card! I used the Color Your Polka rubber cling stamp for the background frame. The sentiment and banner are from the goooooorgeous Decorated Wishes set. And the frame was created with the Double Stitched Rectangle dies!

    

Create a Smile Stamps has moved!!! Check out the website for the latest up to date information! We're so excited for this new space to thrive and grow!

~Samantha

Friends Like You

Hi there!
Samantha here again on the Create a Smile Stamps blog! And today I'm sharing a card inspired by St. Patrick's Day!

     

Since I knew I would be posting on St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to create a card using greens and things, but NOT make an actual St. Patrick's Day themed card! So I used the day as inspiration and made this! Love it! 

I seriously love how this came out, so let's make it together!
- on a piece of watercolor paper, stamp your images with a permanent ink
- using Distress Stains in Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio and Peacock Feathers, I randomly added the colors onto the leaf images!
- I let the colors dry on their own, and then added more colors on top - love the layers of color!

- once dry, I fussy cut out the leaves
- on a piece of white cardstock, I stamped part of the background stamp image in a light grey
- next, I arranged the leaves on the card and popped up my sentiment with some foam tape!

I colored this image with copics, but you could easily paper piece this image if coloring isn't your thing! It's so easy to cut out and that koala is just plain cute, no matter what! Ha! 

I just HAD to use my favorite set EVER - Time to Say Thanks! It's my MOST used stamp set! Ha! I used that Color Your Polka Cling Stamp for a little bit of interest on the background!  And that BEAUTIFUL scripty and text-y sentiment is from the Friends Like You stamp set! LOVE this combination of sets! 

    

Do you like to use stencils on your projects? I LOOOOOVE stencils! Create a Smile stamps has SO MANY amazing, and unique stencils! Be sure to check them out! 

~Samantha

    

Thanks Polka Card!

Hello again!
Samantha here with you today, sharing a fun and rainbow-y thank you card!

     

I really just wanted to play with some of the newly released July products!! The new dies and cling stamp sets are SO cool! And I find myself drawn to them!!

Ok, so to start this card, we'll need some watercolor mediums and heat embossing tools!

- heat emboss in white, the background image
- using watercolors, add color! (not surprisingly...) I decided to go in a rainbow color scheme!! Because rainbows make me happy! Ha!
- set aside to dry and being your die cutting!

- I die cut the phrase out of a subtle, tone on town black polka dot paper, and then popped it up with foam tape.
- the leaves were die cut out of white cardstock, and (it's so hard to photo!!) I added some shimmer and shine with my Spectrum Noir Glitter brush

I didn't use watercolor paper for my card...but it would make things easier and less prone to warping! So keep that in mind when working with any form of water on paper! Ha! 

I used the FUN Color Your Polka Cling Stamp, the Double Stitched Rectangle Die, Pocket Tag Die and the Thanks Twice Die!

    

Did you know that you can now buy gift cards for the shop? Yes! Check them out, and choose to send your best scrappy friend either a digital or actual gift card!!

~Samantha

       

Cling Stamps - Part 1

Hi everyone! Time for another mini-series! For today and the next 2 Sundays, I will share a card featuring the Create A Smile Cling Stamps. For today, I will use :  Color Your Polka Background Stamp.

To start, I've taped off part of the card base so that I can get a clean unstamped side of the card. I stamped the card using versamark and then white embossing powder. The bright white on a kraft base has always been my favourite :) 

To add colour, I've chosen to use the Distress Ink Crayons. Really, not much work is required. You can keep it as simple or as complicated as you like :) I wanted to keep it simple so I've randomly coloured some circles using the crayon. 

Add a strip of gold paper and a sentiment and ta-da, the card is done :) Hope you've enjoyed the card and come back next week!

All Create A Smile products : 

Color Your Polka Background Stamp

Mini Danke

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

All about diecutting....

Hi Anja again on this Monday and the new start of a month. Can you believe it's August already?
Have you seen all those great dies at the last release aren't they awesome?
So for today's card I would like to focuse on some of them......

As I mentioned before I really liked all those great new dies for the last release so when I got them this weekend I had to play with them.
I tried to combine different dies in one card.






I started with a cardpanel from watercolor paper and white heat embossed the new color your polka cling stamp.
I watercolored all the polka dots with 5 different shades of distress ink.
I diecut a rectangle with  the second biggest double stitched rectangle die and adhered the outline onto a topfolded card. The inner rectangle I placed onto the cardbase using some foamtape.
Then I diecut a tag with the lovely tags M out of some vellum and clear embossed the clustered leaves cling stamp.
Did the same on some vellum but this time I used white embossingpowder and fuzzy cut the leaves.
I adhered those leaves at the cardpanel and placed the tag over them.
Now I diecutted from some colored cardstock the little leaves and flowers from the pocket tag. I placed these onto the vellum clustered leaves and copic colored them. To give them more dimension I used a white gelpen.
The sentiment is white heat embossed onto some black cardstock.
To finish of the card I adhered some sequins and tied a ribbon at the tag.

Stamps;

Message in a bottle, Clustered leaves, Color your Polka.



Cool cuts (dies)

Double stitched rectangles, Lovely tags M and Pocket tag

It's a new month so we have a new challenge please join in the fun we love to see what you all come up with.

Have a great week and see you next Monday,
Hugs Anja

New DT member + more Inspiration + GIVEAWAY!

Hello crafty folks,

I guess you noticed that 3 of our Release countdown posts are missing. I had to deal with some health issues, so I wasn't able to write up the posts - so sorry!

But you seem to LOVE the release - we got so many orders in already - wow. Thank you, my friends, you rock and you make this business grow and be enjoyable for all of us!  We love you!

So, instead of a countdown we'll turn it into a post-release inspiration - and we have TONS of amazing projects for you.

First of all, it's FINALLY time to announce that we're welcoming a new Design Team member. 

Nicole Vögeli

We met Nicole on Instagram - she knocked our socks off with many of her fabulous creations. She has an amzing CAS style - well balanced, perfectly educated. And the best part - she is super kind and encouraging, leaving sweet comments for fellow crafters and enriches this crafty community.

She has always showed that she loves our products, and we love her projects, so having her on our team is a match made in heaven! <3 

Here are some of her recent projects (and LOTS more to find on her blog and IG feed!) 

Don't you just love her clean style and her great photos? (BTW: She takes them with her mobile and edits them with an app - maybe she can make a tutorial about this one day... anyone interested?)

Please give a warm welcome to Nicole!

It's now Nicole's time to introduce herself to you:

_____________________________

Hello everyone!
So, this crazy cool thing happened! :-) Christine asked me - totally unexpected - to join her fabulous team and I’m over the moon! I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. Ever since I discovered Christines stamps, I’m a fan of Create A Smile. This is truly a dream come true.

I’m Nicole Vögeli (my last name means birdie in Swiss German), 34 years, from Switzerland. 

I always had a love for paper, pens, stamps and all the beautiful craft supplies. I remember my all time favorite christmas present as a kid was a big blue box full of crafty stuff. And that love just never ended. But crafting has become more than just a fun thing to do. It’s my happy place. Especially as a mom of an almost two year old boy, crafting during nap time really helps me to get my energy back. And sending and receiving handmade cards is just priceless for me. I call it happiness in an envelope.

I make cards for more than 15 years now but I did other crafty stuff too. When I got my Big Shot in 2012 I started to focused on cardmaking. I prefer to make clean and simple cards. I’m just most comfortable with that style but that does not mean, that all my cards are like that. I just do whatever I’m in the mood for. I also like it clean and simple on my craft desk. I’m not a very messy crafter, I clean up my desk regularly and I l-o-v-e to have my craft supplies organized :-) That just helps my creativity to develop. I love to get inspired by other cardmakers, my everyday life, nature… It’s just amazing what you can create on a little piece of paper. 

If I’m not crafting I enjoy walks with my family through Switzerlands beautiful old towns and I have a love for castles (we have a lot of beautiful ones, now museums). I also enjoy baking, reading historical novels and singing (I’m thinking about joining the gospel choir here).

I’m happier than a bird with a french fry and honored to be a part of that wonderful Create A Smile DT-family and looking forward to meet you here on the blog every Wednesday from now on.

Hugs from Switzerland
Nicole

_____________________________

I would now like to show you some more projects using the newest release :) If you haven't checked out the release so far, you can take a closer look at all the products HERE

Nicole made four amazing cards using the new products:

On the first card she used the cute Koala from All Hands on deck! /Alle Mann an Bord! stamp set and created a wonderful treasure map for her background. This cards is the perfect combination of vintage/ distressing and CAS!

On the second card she created a wonderful maritime striped background on the Lovely Tag XS to add the lighthouse from Glowing Seaside/ Strahlende Küste. I love the light, soft maritime look on this one!

Yay for more Koala prates! Nicole thought outside the box and turned the Lovely Tag M into a boat for the Koalas from All Hands on deck! /Alle Mann an Bord! Ha! What a great way to use the tag!

The Lovely Tag M cut from masking paper created a perfectbackdrop for your focal point. the jellyfish from Glowing Seaside/ Strahlende Küste seems to glow on this background. And the droplets are the perfect finishing touch!

Anika made three Tags using the Lovely Tags M die :) they're all different and each one is so beautiful!

On her first Tag Anika used the Color Your Polka  Cling background stamp. And her watercolor rainbow makes this tag so eyecatching! The black birthday sentiment from the Gebrutstags-Triple die set just pops!

On her second tag she used watercolor over an embossed Mandala. I think her color choice creates an amazing oriental look! I wish I would get that tag! ;)

Tag #3 was created with the Clustered Leaves  cling stamp. the lose watercolor on top makes the white embossed leaves shine - and it looks so dreamy! <3

I am sharing three cards with you today:

On my first card I used the vampire squid from Glowing Seaside/ Strahlende Küste and made him pull some of the Lovely Tags XS across the sea. I am super pleased hor the coloring turned out - I think the squid is so much fun to color!

On my second card I created a super subtile background using the Starry Night cling background and one of the Double Stitched Rectangles to make my little Hippo pop :)

My last card for today has a completly different style. I added a whole lot of Dylusions Ink to some Mixed Media Paper - this is super intense and highly reactive with water. I spritzed the Mandala cling stamp with water and stamped that onto my colored panel. You could intensify the look by dabbing the reactivated ink off with a dry cloth, but I loved the tone on tone look.

So many projects - so much inspiration. I hope you're not completely overwhelmed :)

Now for the giveaway!

We're giving away a 15€ gift code to the store for one lucky winner. 

To play along:

• Leave a comment, telling us what you love about summer
• Let us know which product of the new release you love most and WHY.
• Optional:  tell us what kind of stamp or die you would love to see in the future.
• We'll draw a winner from the comment that hit the guidelines on wednesday, July 20th 2016.

Thanks for stopping by and encouraging our designers! 

Love and hugs