Clean and Simple Koala Card

Hello there, Nicole here.

After all the christmas card making I really enjoy diggin' through my non-christmassy stash and picking out favorites like the fun koala pirates set called All Hands On Deck. I went for my all time favorite cardmaking style: clean & simple.

I was simply in the mood for a cute critter on a clean and simple card. I enjoy creating a pop of color on a mostly white space with a cute image as the focal point and some little extras that make the card interesting.

• stamp the critter on alcohol marker friendly paper with your go-to ink for alcohol markers. Mine all time favorite ink is Memento Tuxedo Black.
• color cour image and cut it out. 
• chose where your focal point should be and start stamping the background. I used different shades of green to make the background look more dimensional. 
• give your critter a place to stand on. It doesn't need much. A few dots are enough to make it look like he's standing on sand or rocks.
• add your little pirate with foam tape
• stamp your greeting in crisp black ink (I used Versafine Onyx Black)
• add a little something with Glossy Accents on the nose or some white gel pen details

Think around the corner. I needed small dots and found some in my flowers collection. But I was looking for super small ones as well and ended up with dots from an alphabet set. It's so fun to use stamps in unexpected ways.

Stamping a leaf with a light green ink looks nice. But you can easily add more interest to the leaf if you add a darker shade of ink to parts of your stamp using a small sponge dauber. If you take a closer look at my card, you can see some kind of gradient or ombré look on the leaves.

All Hands On Deck / Alle Mann an Deck

 

Fine Ferns

Thanks a lot for stopping by!

Have a happy day,

Nicole

(last minute) masculine christmas cards

Hello there, Nicole here. 

I have two quick and easy masculine christmas cards for you today.

I realized that most of my christmas cards were cute but I needed some masculine ones as well. And because it's December already, I needed them fast. So here are two quick and easy cards I made using watercolors, embossing powders and Distress Oxide Inks.

Card no.1 - mistletoe

• stamp the mistletoe on watercolor paper with a crisp black ink that is a bit sticky and cover it with clear embossing powder. Heat set the powder with your heating tool. 
• color your image with watercolors or watercolor markers and let it dry
• use a blending tool to add Distress Ink to your panel. Start with the lightest color on the edges and get super light towards the middle to create a halo. Add a darker color of Distress Oxides to the edges to create more depth.
• sprinkle on some water drops to add a bit of texture/interest to your background.
• stamp the greeting in crisp black ink
• stamp some little stars with the lighter Distress Oxide ink to add a finishing touch

Card no.2 - globe

• stamp the globe and the stand on watercolor paper with a crisp black ink that is a bit sticky and cover it with clear embossing powder. Heat set the powder with your heating tool. 
• color your image with watercolors or watercolor markers and let it dry. Make sure it's completely dry, so the embossing powder for the next step will not stick to your entire image
• stamp the stars and lines with a sticky clear ink and heat emboss it with gold embossing powder
• add a little watercolored shadow underneath the stand
• stamp the greeting in a matching dye ink or Distress Oxide ink

• Clear embossing powder over black ink helps you to stay in the lines while coloring with watercolors if you need to be quick
• for me, watercolors or watercolor markers are easier to use if I want to do some quick coloring (projects with alcohol markers or colored pencils take me much longer)
• vintage colors like these warm brown tones give your stamped image a cool retro look
• gold embossing powder adds a bit of festive bling without being too much

Festive Foilage

Joy to the World / Fröhliche Weihnacht überall

Zum Feste das Beste

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a happy day,

Nicole

You're so sweet

Hello there, Nicole here.

Today, I have a cute little recycling idea for you. I hope you like it and get inspired.

I always thought that the (new) packaging from Create A Smile is too pretty to throw away so I kept it and started looking for ideas to use it on my cards.

First, I stamped and colored the macaroons. I used watercolor paper and watercolor markers along with a waterproof ink. I fussy cut them and set them aside.

Next, I die cut a pretty scalloped rectangle from the packagings paper and glued it to my card base. I stamped the sentiment on turquoise card stock and covered it with white embossing powder. Then, I die cut it with a cute sentiment banner.

The rest is super simple. I arranged the macaroons and glued them in place with glue or foam tape. I added some alpha stickers and adhered the sentiment banner to my card. To finish it up, I added some white sequins.

You don't like to throw away the packaging of your stamps? Try to find ways on how to use them for your projects. Some papers are quite slick and work with alcohol inks. I also use the plastic part of the packaging for instance for the ink smooshing technique.

And here are two more cards I created 

with the pretty patterned paper from the stamp packaging. 

   

A little Treat / Zuckerschnute

Alphabet Stickers

Useful Banners

Scalloped Rectangles

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a wonderful day,

Nicole

winter wishes * adding texture to your images

Hi there, Nicole here.

I have this cute little card for you sharing how I added some texture to my stamped images.

I'm not going to talk you through the whole card making process because I want to focus on the texture I've added. I simply stamped my images with a light brown dye ink and colored them in the no-line coloring style using alcohol markers, just like I am used to. I could have stopped there but I wanted to add a fun twist.

To add some texture to the sweater and the wood, I used colored pencils. I made sure their tips were really sharp. For the sweater I added tiny V shaped lines to create the knitted pattern. I tried to stay light at the top and got darker where my shading (from coloring with the alcohol markers) was. 

For the wood, I drew some wonky lines and loops. You can take a closer look on the photo below. It's really quite simple to do. But if you feel insecure to draw on your colored images, I recommend you first practice on a scrap piece of paper or start by drawing the lines super light and get darker as you go. And another cool thing is, you can carefully erase colored pencils on top of the alcohol markers with a regular eraser if you make a mistake. I used Swisscolor by Caran d'Ache colored pencils but you just try this technique with the colors you have, it might work perfectly fine.

To finish up my card, I added some snowflakes with a stencil and Distress Inks and stamped my greeting in black. I also added a bit of white gel pen to the string of lights.

Use colored pencils to add shadows or texture to your images.

Aus meinem Nest / From my nest

Wave of Snowflakes

Thanks a lot for stopping by!

Have a happy day,

Nicole

Winter Wishes

Hi there, Nicole here, with a cozy little christmassy card for you.

I'm slowly thinking about making christmas cards but at the same time I'm not really in the mood for santa and christmas trees. So what I do is, I use unusual colors and stamps that can be used for christmas but also for other occasions, like... they don't scream christmas to me.



For this card, a stamping tool like the MISTI comes in super handy. I used the stamp with the graphic design that looks like knitting and stamped it repeatedly, three times to be exact. The pattern has some blank spaces and an additional small stamp to fill them. So I took a small acrylic block and stamped the little shape in some of the gaps with another color.

Next, I stamped the bird with water resistant ink and colored it with Faber Castel Watercolor Markers. I cut him out and adhered him to my panel using foam tape. I filled the other gaps of the knitted pattern with white sequins and stamped my sentiment with a crisp black ink. To finish up my card, I added some glitter on the star using Wink of Stella.

This is a clean and simple card that you can use for fall, winter or christmas. It has a cozy feel to it and a little sparkle too because of the star.

If you are like me and want to start early with your christmas card making but you're not into santa and christmas trees yet, go through your stash and look for other stamps and dies that can be used for christmas cards and use them with a non traditional color combo.


Aus meinem Nest (also available in English "From my Nest")


Mix & Match Patterns




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Thanks for stopping by!
Have a wonderful day,
Nicole

Hello, how are you?

Hi there, Nicole here with a rainbow card that says "Hello, how are you?"

When I started making cards, I had just a few stencils and did not know what to do with them but now, many years later, I just love playing with them. So I wanted to make a card using this Huge Polka Dots Stencil.

I also got inspired by a YouTube video by Cathy Zielske. 

• put some masking tape on your panel 

• lay your stencil on top and stick it to your working surface with some washi tape

• start ink blending with a light hand

• remove the stencil and the masking tape

• stamp a large greeting over the gap between the two ink blended parts

• decorate the card with small stamps and twine 

• gridlines on your work surface are super helpful to put on the masking tape straight
• some of the colors would turn into a muddy brown when mixing them, so that's where the masking tape does a wonderful job by keeping them apart.  

Nur mal Hallo sagen / Huge Polka Dots Stencil / Bear Mail (auch in Deutsch: Bärmail)

We love to see what you create, so make sure you tag us on Instagram using #createasmilestamps or share your cards on our FB Group called "Create A Smile - Friends and Family".

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a colorful day,
Nicole