((VIDEO)) Playing with Stencils

Hello crafty friends! It's Jess and I'm very excited to be joining the Create a Smile video inspiration team and to share my first card featuring Perfect Tune!

For today's card I wanted to try something new with my stencils. I have used them with ink and with sprays but never with Distress Stains so I decided to give it a shot. In my video I share the results and some helpful tips.

I started with some thick white cardstock, the Say It stencil, and some Distress Stain. Check out the video for more instructions.

If you find that you are getting ink underneath the stencil try using a lighter hand as you apply the Distress Stain. Also keep in mind that the Stain will spread more if you use watercolor paper.

Say It Stencil

Perfect Tune Stamp Set

Tiny Words Cool Cuts

You still have plenty of time to enter the Create a Smile challenge this month. The theme is embellish! You could win a 15€ gift card!

More summer fun........

Hi there, you probably expected to see another card with that great new kit but for today I would like to share this card with you. It's another summer fun card which you could easily make with the new kit.

 

I would love to incorporate several stampsets in my card for today. Something old and something new and create a nice background for my scenery.

 

 

I started with a topfolded kraft cardbase and stamped the cute palmtrees tone on tone to create a soft background.

I cut a banner out of white cardstock and stamped the bird once and mirrorstamped it. Colored the birds with copics and stamped the flowers and colored them. Fuzzy cut the flowers and arranged them onto the card.

Adhered the banner onto the cardbase and stamped the sentiments.

Rounded two opposite corners to finish of the card.

 

 

Stamps;

Aloha spirit, Comfy, Jungle Fever and Perfect Tune.

 

 

 

Cool cuts (dies);

Stacked Pierced Banners;

 

 

 

Some stampsets are limited so if you like what you see make sure to get them before they are gone. The new beach Party Kit is also limited so don't wait to long. Once it's gone it's gone.

What's up.....

Hi there it's Anja to start of another week of creativity.

And let's begin with the card for today;

I wanted to use a kraft cardbase and give it some colored background.
I love how it turned out hope you will like it too.



I first stamped the speechbubbles in white ink. Just let it airdry for a little while and then stamp the speechbubbles again with colored ink but slightly offset to get more interest.
I hadn't measured out the stamping so I was left with some space at the right side of the card. I partial embossed it and liked the way it turned out.
Tied some twine around the card and diecut a tag out of cardstock. I stamped the little elephant and copic colored it. Then fuzzy cut it leaving a little white outline. I popped it behind the tag and stamped the line at the tag in the same way I did with the speechbubbles. The sentiment is white heat embossed and I tied some colored twine at the tag. Placed the tag with foamtape on the card and tha's all to it.



Stamps;

Perfect tune and Poppin over.





If you want to stamp on kraft cardstock you can higlight your stamping by using white pigmentink and then stamping offset. Your colors will be more vivid.
Try partial embossing it gives some extra interest to the card.





It's a new month so don't forget to link up your creations.

Have a great week and see you next time,

Anja

Guest Designer Sonja Kerkhoffs Part 1

Hello lovelies!

Maybe you noticed that our loved DT girl Yoonsun is missing this month. She took July off for some recreational time, to be back full of inspiration in August.
So we invited the amazingly talented Sonja Kerkhoffs from The Art of Stamping to fill that spot.

She's one of the crafters who constantly knocks my socks off - you should check her out (and you'll probably realize that you already know her. And she's such a sweet person, too. This is what she has for you, today:

_____________________

I wanted to create a baby card for an old friend of mine I haven’t seen in a long time. As the baby in question has already been born a while back and I’m a little late with my card I decided to do something more elaborate in an unusual format.

Stamp three of the cute critters from the new set Poppin’ Over on Copic friendly paper and color them with your Copics or other alcohol markers. Then fuzzy cut the little guys.

For the card base cut a piece of cardstock to 21x21 centimeters. Score and fold it in the middle (at 10.5 centimeters).

Cut a panel measuring 20.5 x 10 centimeters and using a square die cut out three windows at (almost) equal distance that align horizontally. Then adhere your critters onto the bottom edge of those windows.

Using some tiny circle stamps (from …) stamp a confetti background on those areas of your card base that will later show through the windows you’ve cut out of your panel.

Cut out a word die for your greeting from cardstock in a color that matches the elements on your card. Cut it out a second time form fun foam (I’ve used a white one here) and adhere the cardstock to the fun foam to give your greeting a bit of dimension.

If you want to add some stamping to your greeting like I did with the word “baby” position the die-cut on your panel and figure out where to stamp your additional word(s). Put the die-cut aside, stamp and if you like emboss the additional text. Then adhere the die-cut to your panel.

To finish off your card adhere foam tape to the back of your panel and adhere the panel to your card base.

Experiment with scrap paper first when you try out new formats that you are not sure about. When you are satisfied with the outcome note down all the measurements and transfer them to your cardstock.

When fuzzy cutting your images use real sharp and small scissors. Tiny windings and corners are easier to cut out with an excacto knife.

 

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Hero Arts Soft Leaf, Hero Arts Soft Sky, Hero Arts Soft Vanilla

Coloring: Copics

Dies: WPlus9 Hand Lettered Hello, MFT Inside & Out Stitched Rounded Square Stax

Paper: Perfect Coloring Paper, Folio Fotokarton, Tchibo

Other: clear embossing powder

Thanks for stopping by and see you again next week! 

Sonja

Watercolor Rainbow

Hello Crafters!

It's Kelly here and I'm going to share a rainbow watercolor card with you today. I love anything rainbow and as soon as I saw the new Wild Waters stamp I couldn't wait to smack a rainbow on it :)

I wanted to create a fun background that could be used as the star of my card. 

I used my distress markers to add colors in a rainbow pattern directly to my stamp. I stamped onto watercolor paper and just used a small amount of water on my paintbrush to blend the colors. Now it looked awesome already but I wanted it to be a bit more interesting. I scribbled a little bit of each color on my craft mat. Using a bit more water I mixed each color and splattered little (or big) droplets onto the background. Last I splattered clean water onto the background and blotted them up with a dry cloth. This creates those negative spots where the color looks bleached out. To make the stripes look a bit more 3D I added a shadow to each stripe to complete it. 

The talk bubbles are from Perfect Tune and I thought they were perfect to bring in some black. Black accents with a rainbow make my little heart go pitter patter :) I embossed the "Bonjour and Hola" in black and the "Hallo" in white on black paper. Once I fussy cut them out I added them with dimensional adhesive. There was a difference in the blacks that was really bothering me so I coated all three in glossy accents. Not only did it make the blacks the same it made all three look like really cool epoxy stickers!! Crafting win! A smattering of sequins completed the card. 

If you don't have distress markers you can do the same background with the inkpads. It will just put down more ink than the markers. 

When doing the splatters if you don't have a craft mat to scribble your colors on you can use an acrylic block. 

If you smoosh to hard stamping the talk bubbles and lose some of the definition in the fine lettering you can add it back in with a white gel pen and no one will ever no the difference. Same goes for any spots of white heat embossing that you wish came out more solid :)

Did you know our stencils are back in stock? Also don't forget to enter your own Create A Smile projects into our side bar for a chance to win some goodies!

Thanks for stopping by!!

XoXo

Kelly

Wild Waters

Perfect Tune

Miss You Card (Stamping on Kraft Cardstock)

Hello! Nicole here and today I want to share a simple, fun, and an easy card to create using one of the Create A Smile Stamp Sets.

Kraft cardstock can really help images to stand out. So I decided to stamp the images using white pigment ink pad. You want to choose a good white pigment ink pad when stamping on a darker colored cardstock. One of my favorite white pigment inks to use is Hero Arts Unicorn Ink Pad. 

Also, adding some background images on a card base can really pop out the focal point of the card to pop!

Perfect Tune Stamp Set

Crumb Cake Cardstock 

Neenah Solar White 80lb

BG0000, BG01, BG05 Copic Markers

My Favorite Things Black Licorice Hybrid Ink Pad

Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink Pad

My Minds Eye Enamel Dots

Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Small Die Set

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen

Foam Tape

- Stamp background images first when putting the card together. Pigment inks take a while to dry.

- If you are short on time, use a heat tool to dry the pigment inks quickly. (but the paper might get warped!)

- Try off setting the embellishments when adhering them. It helps the different elements to be balanced.

We will be starting a new project link up for March! Check out our right sidebar to add new projects using CAS stamps in March.