My blog is called "Creative Smiles" because my designs are the result of incorporating mistakes. With fumble fingers that drop whatever they are holding - repeatedly, it takes a lot of giggles, smiles and creative patience during my crafting process. xx

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

An Untraditional Mother's Day Blog Hop with Sparkle N Sprinkle

Welcome to An Untraditional Mother's Day Blog Hop With Sparkle N Sprinkle. Did you arrive from Shona's amazing place? Then you're right on. If not, to view all the beautiful cards and become eligible for one of two great prizes, begin at the SNS Home Blog.

This is your last stop before returning to the Home Blog. 

The incredibly diverse and beautiful cards presented by my fellow Sparkle Team designers reveal a glimpse into their feelings about special woman in their lives. Our Mother's Day inspired hop is untraditional because we're displaying cards which honor extraordinary women, whether they are Moms or not. We hope you have enjoyed these feminine cards, and perhaps want to create something special for the dear women who meaningfully touch your life. 

Today's card is intended for my Dad's wife. Linda is one of those rare and kind individuals who shines  a certain happiness and light in our family. Hard working, and lots of fun, she always seems to be thinking of others, making each day more enjoyable. How fortunate she and my dad found each other! The card style is a little different for me, because I tried tearing paper so that everything would not be uniform - the layers of designer and mulberry papers are all torn, and intended to overlap. (No reflection on Linda, LOL).

Also employed is the newly re-released set "Flower Vases", which is on special this month. 




The images have great potential no matter what your coloring forte. Water color pencils were applied with a brush. Vases were then "colored in" with a VersaMarker and covered with clear detail embossing powder


The "Special Warmth" saying is perfect! The stamp can easily be cut in half to have a "before and after" placement on the front of the card, or to employ an "innie and outie" effect on the inside of the card. The combinations of bead and glitter colors were specially mixed to create a dimensional texture in the card colors. It's fun mixing custom elements! Check out the enhanced designer paper - an image was randomly stamped on the DP with VersaMark and then heat embossed with Princess Rose embossing powder which is also on special this month.


A complete recipe for this card, and its components is on the SNS Gallery here.

Thanks for stopping by! To become eligible for one of two prizes, remember to leave a comment below, before continuing on to SNS Home Blog for one last comment. I hope you win a prize! 

Stamping hugs,


Monday, March 07, 2011

Glitter Tinsel and Quilting

Designer, Teacher, Coordinator - she does it all. Dawn Thomas, that is. Dawn coordinates our Tampa Bay Area get togethers for The Florida Stampers group. Saturday we enjoyed 2 sweet projects, courtesy of demo artists Kim Davenport and Dawn!

Kim helped us make darling little bird house containers which hold little goodies or candy. Armed with excellent directions and lots of patience, Kim guided us through lots of laughter, diversions, and "how do you do it?" questions.

Here's my finished product after a lot of fumbling:



This little birdie's house has a thatched roof made with Yellow Gold Glitter Tinsel to resemble straw. Sparkly straw from Sparkle N Sprinkle, of course. :-)


It's true what they say about "a bird in the hand..."
Jack quickly relieved the bird of the candy cache inside. Jokingly he claimed to have ripped off the roof. My response was laughter, musing that I wished I could have seen that... then he CLAIMED not to have done it. What do you think? Did he?

Dawn demo'd how to achieve a look which simulates hand-made paper with embedded dried flowers. I thoroughly enjoyed this demo because I'm passionate about flowers and addicted to easy texturing. I wonder if it will work with REAL dried flowers - does anyone know? SIMPLE - stamp an image, pop on the paper flowers with a droplet of glue, place in detailed embossing folder, and put it through the die cut machine. In THIS case, we christened my brand new Grand Calibur!


A great day all 'round! Are you in the Tampa Bay Area? Our next meeting is the third Saturday in May.
Thanks for stopping by.