Pure Poppies Watercolor Card

Hello and welcome 

to another cardmaking inspiration. Have you seen the latest posts by the Design Team? There are so many wonderful ideas and projects on this blog!

It's actually a sad occasion that made me create this card. A neighbor of us died and her family had poppies on the obituary. I wanted to make a card for them in the same style and these "pure poppies" stamps were just perfect.

• stamp the flowers with a black pigment ink, cover them with clear embossing powder and heat set that
• color your images with a water based medium (I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens). I colored the flowers very loosely and spritzed them afterwards with a Mini Mister. This made the colors (orange, red and deep red) mix well.
• I dried my color using a heating tool. This creates these "watercolor edges". 
• I added some green Zig marker at the bottom and blended it out with a water brush
• for the sky, I used Distress Ink and a blending tool but you could totally do this with watercolors as well.
• after everything was dry, I added white paint splatters for a finishing touch
• I did not forget my sentiment, I just wanted to leave the card as it is

• sometimes, projects look messy first, but when they're dry or finished, they look much better
• you can use watercolors, water colormarkers or Distress Inks for coloring your images like this
• sometimes, cards do not need sentiments OR you just add them, when you know what kind of card you need. This could be a thank you card, a birthday card or so... 

Challenges are a great way to improve your cardmaking and we LOVE to see what you create! So click the logo on the right and check out or current challenge! 

Thanks a lot for stopping by!

Have a happy day,

Nicole

message in a bottle

Hi there...

One thing I love about cardmaking is, no matter what the weather looks like where you live, you can craft yourself to a beautiful place...

I just wanted to use this pretty bottle again. It's one of my favorite sets by Create A Smile and I was in the mood for a beach themed card.

• stamp the bottle and the ferns on some watercolor paper with a black pigment ink, cover it with clear embossing powder and heat set it
• color your images with watercolor markers (I used Zigs) and a water brush
• fussy cut your colored stamps
• paint water on a watercolor paper by using a light blue or light turquoise color
• paint one stroke over the bottle. Be sure you know where your bottle will be in the water later, so you match the water on the bottle with your background
• die cut your watercolor panel and adhere it to a light brown or sand card base
• adhere the fern and the bottle on your card using foam tape
• finish up your project by stamping  your sentiment and gluing on some clear drops

Flaschenpost / Message in a Bottle - Fine Ferns - Double Stitched Rectangles

Go through your stash and pick a stamp set that makes you think of a happy place. ;-)

... to join our Facebook Groupe "Create A Smile Friends and Family" :-D

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a happy day, 

Nicole

bear mail in the snow

Hi there, is it snowing where you live?

We did have a bit of snow and loved it but now it's all gone.

I have a crafty friend that has a lot of snow around her house at the moment and her postman is often a little late. That inspired me to make this card for her.

• use two stencils and two different grey Distress Inks to create your background
• take a piece of white paper and tear it to get that snowy ground, glue it to the background
• stamp, color and fussy cut the bear on his bike
• die cut the word happy and its shadow from white and pink card stock and glue them togeter
• stamp the little hello to some grey cardstock and cover it with white embossing powder. Heat set this and cut it to size.
• add the bear and the sentiment to your background and you're done :-)

Bear mail - Bärmail / Wave of Snowflakes / Small Sentiments / Happy / Frosty Fun Kit

Layering Stencils can create totally new looks. 

Using only one color combined with neutrals like white and gray makes that color the star of your project.

I did not have a matching pink card stock, so I colored some paper with the alcohol markers I used to color in my bike.

The JANUARY RELEASE is online! Check out all ne new goodies! ;-)

And if you're up for a challenge, hop over to the blog and play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a happy day,

Nicole

watercolor pine tree

Hi there, Nicole here.

I have a fun step-by-step watercolor project for you!

I was looking for ideas for backgrounds and stumbled upon watercolor pine trees. I had no idea how to make them, so I went to Pinterest and looked for "watercolor pine tree" pictures that could help me get an idea of the process. There were many inspiring photos and so I just grabbed my supplies and went for it ;-)

As you see, the look of the tree is quite messy but that's what I was going for :-)

• pick or mix a green color you like
• mix some of this color with water to get a very light shade and scribble a loose pine tree shape on your watercolor paper. Let it dry or dry it with your heat tool.
• mix the same color with a bit less water so that you get a slightly darker shade. Scribble over the light tree and let it dry. 
• Now start focusing on darker and lighter areas. Just paint, where you want some shadow. Repeat the mixing, scribbling and drying process one or two more times, so that you get a total of four layers. 
• for the last layer, use your color in the darkest shade. Now, try to paint some loose branches making small curved stokes with a smaller brush.
• let your project dry
• stamp, color and fussy cut your image and glue it to your panel
• stamp your greeting and finish up the card with some cute accents like sequins or enamel dots. I decided not to use any bling and just went for some watercolor splatters.

You can make a whole card with these trees. Just start with very light ones in the back and work your way to the front by adding darker colors and more layers to the pine trees.

By adding white paint splatters, you create the look of falling snow. This gives the scene an even more wintery look.

Cool Buddies     Friede, Freude, Lebkuchen     Zum Feste das Beste
 



There are some fun challenges going on on the blog and on our Facebook group! 😀 We would love to see what you create!

Have a happy and colorful christmas and all the best for a crafty new year!
Thanks for stopping by,
Nicole

clean and super simple christmas card

Hello crafty friends, Nicole here.

It's christmas card making time... and I have some tips for you to save a little time while making them ;-)

I love to make clean and simple cards. It's just a cardmaking style I feel comfortable with. But when it comes to making christmas cards, clean and simple cards aren't just fun to make, they can save you a lot of time.

• do some inkblending in the upper half of your cardbase, start in the middle and work your way out getting lighter with the color
• stamp your landscape stamp in a crisp black ink (I used Versafine Onyx Black)
• stamp, color and fussy cut your snowman (I used Spectrum Noir Markers)
• stamp your greeting (I used Pigment Ink)
• adhere your snowman using some foam tape 
• draw some snowflakes using a white gel pen
• (you can't see it on the pictures but) I added some Glossy Accents on the nose ;-)

• once you figured out a clean and simple layout you like, you can easily make several similar cards without all the color picking, layout planing and so on... This often takes up a lot of my time.
• landscape stamps are a fun and simple way to save time if you have to make a lot of cards
• I stamp a lot of sentiments in black but I really like colored ones too. Pick a color you already used on your image or background to fit your creation perfectly.
• making cards with snow on them is a great way to save some time on coloring 
• another way to spice up your clean and simple card is using a white gel pen to add details (like I did with the snow and on the scarf)

 

We love to see what you create! Share your cards on Instagram using #createasmilestamps to create some smiles! 😉

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a wonderful day,
Nicole