Creepy But Cute! Birthday Card

Hi there!
Samantha here, and today I'm sharing a card that would be PERFECT for your friend who has a birthday around Halloween!

 

     

I have been eyeing those cute, sweet little dressed up, ghost images forever, and I finally decided how to make them into a card! Ha!

Let's make this card together!
- stamp and color your image (I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers) 
- once dry, fussy cut and set aside
- on your card front, I used a combination of Peacock Feathers and Blueprint Sketch Distress Paints to create that 'night' sky! so fun!
- once it was dry, I used white embossing paste and a stencil to add to the fun! 

- I heat embossed the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock
- then popped up the sentiment strip and the frog image with foam tape!

What? No rainbow?! I know! Ha!
I decided to keep it dark, and night-like this time! But a little rainbow background would totally change the feel of this card!

I used the cute little dressed up ghosts and speech bubbles from the Creepy Cute stamp set! 

The sentiment is from Mini Birthday set! And that backgound stencil is Focal Point!

    

And, bonus!
The Creepy Cute stamp set is on sale!! It's part of the awesome sale going on now on the Create a Smile stamps shop!

~Samantha

      

Hi there!
Samantha here today, and I was feeling Easter festive this time! 

     

Eeeeee! I LOVE those little guys!!!! They're SOOOOO CUTE!! I only send Easter cards out to close family/friends, do you send Easter cards?

Let's make this card together!
- stamp and color your images! I colored my image with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers!
- once dry, fussy cut out!
- on a separate piece of cardstock, choose your favorite colors in paint! I used Distress Ink Paint Dabbers! It was so easy to swipe on the color! But you could do the same thing with paint and a brush!

- the sentiments were combined and heat embossed in black
- and the two critters on the side were popped up with foam tape

Adding the color swipes to the background of the card was SO EASY! I just chose some of my favorite colors and swiped them along the cardstock! You could easily use that technique to add color and fun to your backgrounds in a flash!

Those cheeky little egg-critters are from Eggstarordinary Egg Hunt! And they are MY FAVORITE! Ha! I use them ALL THE TIME! My favorite is using them for birthday cards!

    

There are so many fun challenges going on - check out the Create a Smile Friends and Family Facebook group for all of the details and fun!

~Samantha

Hugs!

Hello!
Samantha here with you today, and I'm sharing a card I created with that adorable little octopus!! So cute!

For this card, I wanted to play with cool colors, and I also wanted to challenge myself...to use purple. It's just 'that' color, you know what I mean? ...the color that stops all creativity in it's tracks for me...the color that won't match others...the color that I work with the least.

But sometimes it's good to challenge yourself to work with things that are intimidating, or out of your box. Because you know what? I really do love the way this card came out! Win!

To create this card, we're going to get a little messy!
-on a piece of white cardstock, swipe across the paper with Distress Paints.
- once dry, do this again and then spray with water and set aside to dry
- stamp that adorable sea critter onto watercolor paper
- watercolor with your favorite medium! For this card, I used Peerless Watercolors to get that vibrant rich color!

- I used a dark Violet, a wine-y purple, and a magenta pink for this octopus
- die cut the distress painted background with the banner dies and pop up onto your card base.
- adhere the octopus, allowing the edges of the 'arms' to hang off one side
- add some enamel chevrons

I used the ADORABLE Underwater Love stamp set for the octopus creature. The sentiment is from Your View. And those chevron enamel shapes are from both the Sending Sunshine kit stickers and the Pretty Cool enamel stickers sheet! Oh, and how could I forget the awesome Stacked Pierced Banner Dies?

As I mentioned before, it's not always easy to create with colors, techniques or shapes that are out of your usual style. I find that I need to just dive in and start creating, even if I'm not 'feeling' it, yet! Just stamp out an image and color. Or just try that new technique you've been thinking about! It doesn't have to work out perfectly the first few times, but it will get your head in the right mind set! 

You just need a little 'crafty warm up exercise' to get your creative juices flowing! Ha!

Next week is release week! EEEEEEEEE! We're all really excited to show you what we have for you!

Thanks again for stopping by!
~Samantha

 

Surprise - Just for You!

Hello!
Samantha here, and today i'm going to share a card that is sure to make you happy, just looking at it!! Well, that's the idea, anyway! Ha!

This card really came together because I wanted to play, and I wanted to color! Nothing more other than plain old fashioned FUN! Ha! I love getting messy with Distress Paints, so that's what I did!! :)

To create this card, get ready to get messy, and most of all, get ready to experiment! Every time I create with Distress Paints, or Inks or Markers, I get a different result, and that's what's so much FUN!

- on a Kraft mat, add lines of color in a rainbow order with distress paint and spritz with water
- using a strip of watercolor paper, lightly press down into the color puddles and swipe to one direction and you pick up the paper!
- set aside to dry

- color the bear with copics (and squeal a little as you do, because the bear is just TOO cute for words! Ha!)
- trim a starry paper to fit your card base, and once dry, pop up the rainbow panel on the left side of the card
- pop up the bears head as well, slightly overlapping the rainbow panel

I used the newly released Poppin Over stamp set! It's SO cute!!

I used watercolor paper for my rainbow panel. You could use regular white cardstock, but through trial and error, I have learned a few things: the color does not stay as vibrant and the paper warps considerably. That being said, I do still use watercolors and other Distress Products on regular carstock sometimes! Totally your choice!

Do you follow Create a Smile on Instagram? You should! It's always filled with amazing inspriation and even a giveaway now and then!! It's my favorite way to be inspired!

Thanks again for stopping by!
Have a wonderful weekend!
~Samantha

Blue Sky Sunny Day Card

Hello! Nicole here and I am back with a brand-new video tutorial to share with you today. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the video!

I wanted to create a card you can create with a minimal amount of products that is full of fun colors!

• Floating Chevrons  ——  http://goo.gl/oEj0Xr

• Versamark Ink Pad  

• White Embossing Powder  

• Sizzix PRECISION BASE PLATE For Wafer Thin Dies

• Sizzix MAGNETIC PLATFORM FOR WAFER-THIN DIES  

• Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White 

• Neenah Solar White 110LB 25PK  

• Tim Holtz DISTRESS WATERCOLOR CARDSTOCK 

• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain TUMBLED GLASS 

• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain STORMY SKY  

• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain ICED SPRUCE  

• MFT INSIDE & OUT Diag. STITCHED RECTANGLE Die  

• 3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent  

• FrogTape  

• For easy color blending, I used Distress Spray Stains instead of Ink Pads. Liquid products makes it much easier to blend colors. 
• Make sure to saturate the paper before adding pigments onto the watercolor paper.
• I love to dry my watercolor paper naturally. Just give it 15 minutes to dry and you will get a soft, nice result. 

A Galaxy Background

Hello!
Samantha here, today, and I can't wait to share this card I created using Create a Smile stamps! :)

I have been actively looking for ways to use my distress products! (I'm sort of, kind of, completely addicted to them at the moment...) And somehow the idea of creating a galaxy background hit me! I have never made one before, but I am SO glad I finally did! It was SO much fun! And it came out awesome! Right?

To create this galaxy background, you definitely want a kraft mat! Ha! Things are going to get messy!

- tap lots of Chipped Sapphire distress paint all around a card-sized area on your kraft mat
- also tap in areas of color; i used Mustard Seed, Seedless Perserves and Peacock Feathers distress paints
- spray with water and lay the card panel right in the paint and rub on the back
- lift up and dry with your heat tool
- using Black Soot distress paint, liberally apply it to the kraft mat; spray, smoosh the card front and heat dry
- clean the kraft mat and tap on Brushed Silver distress paint lightly, spray with water and dab up most of the color with a paper towel.
- smoosh the card front and dry again

- repeat this process until you have the desired galaxy look!
- mask and heat set the sentiment in white on some vellum
- color the stamped image with copics and fussy cut
- attach to your card

I used the super adorable Penguin Party stamp set and the Balance stamp set! Two of my favorites! I just LOVE all of the phrases and possibilities of sentiments you can make with the Balance stamp set! :)

Creating the galaxy scene was SO fun! I can totally see a set of cards with this background! Each one would be different, but sooooo cool! You could also use any of the critters and set it as a 'night scene' card! 

Have you joined the special Create a Smile Special Release Party event on Facebook? There are exclusive giveaways, sneak peeks and discounts you can only find there! And believe me, you're going to want to see what this is all about!! :D

Thanks for stopping by!
~Samantha