Snowman Bakery

 Hey stampers, Anni here!

I am back on the blog with a brandnew Christmas card.

I love all the snowman stamps and this one is especially cute- because - hey, I mean, a snowman baking.

So I knew I wanted to use this stamp set. And I recently saw this colour combo I am not sure where! But i think I like it: red and aqua is a classic for Christmas. And the yellow adds the ectra little something something.

• If you want to create a background using a stencil I like to blend some ink on the cardstock before I use the stencil. That way you get a much more softer look.
• No line colouring is a great technique to get a whole new look from your stamps.
• Try to remember the colour combos you see and like - where ever this maybe: in a magazine, in clothes or in furniture. inspiration is everywhere!

Every other wednesday starts a new challenge with an awesome prize to win.

   

   

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

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

Christmas Monster

Hi there!
Samantha here, and today I am sharing a simple, but bold, Christmas card!

 

     

I am in the Christmas card making mood!! Anyone else with me? Ha!

And these critters from Beast Feast are absolutely my FAVORITE Christmas monsters ever! 

Let's make this card together!
- stamp and color your images (I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers)
- once dry, fussy cut out
- for the background on the outside, I used Blueprint Sketch, Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks to create the pretty ink blended background!

- then, I used a stencil and some white embossing paste to add the snowflakes! so pretty!
- the sentiment was heat embossing in white onto  strip of black cardstock and then popped up for dimension!

After the embossing paste is added with the stencil, remove the stencil and sprinkle on some sparkling clear embossing paste! Once the paste is dry, heat set the embossing powder and it will add some sparkle and shine to the snowflakes that won't flick off!

The cute little images are from Beast Feast, but the stencil in the background is Wave of Snowflakes! So pretty!

    

There is ALWAYS a fun challenge going on in the Create a Smile Stamp Facebook group page! It's fun and filled with prizes! I love seeing all of the incredible, unique and amazing inspiration!

~Samantha

   

((VIDEO)) Winter Holiday Card 4 Ways

Hello crafty friends! It's Jess and today I have a set of cards and a video with Poppin Over, Coffee First and Wave of Snowflakes.

For today's cards I wanted to play with the new Wave of Snowflakes stencil and a bunch of different mediums I had on hand. I had limited access to craft supplies for awhile so with today's projects I played around with lots of different supplies and I used several different watercolor mediums as well.

For today's card I started with Distress Ink  to create a soft blended background. Then I layered on a few different mediums including Gel Medium, Glitter Paste, Embossing Paste, and Texture Luxe. I watercolored the critters from Poppin Over and the cups from Coffee First.

Adding a bit of vellum makes the characters pop without completely covering my background. Check out the video for more instructions.

Please feel free to share in the comments which card you liked best from this little series. 

If you don't have any of the fancy mediums available and arts and crafts sales you can use spackling from the hardware store with your stencils to get the look of embossing paste.

Wave of Snowflakes Stencil

Poppin Over Stamp Set

Coffee First Stamp Set

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