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

Monday, September 30, 2019

Remove Excess Blogs from Your Blogger Profile




BLOG TIP:


Do you contribute to several Blogger Blogs? The default setting is to show all the blogs to which you contribute.

Correct this by choosing which blogs to show in blogger.

Go to your personal blog’s dashboard. On the left scroll to SETTINGS. Under Settings, choose USER SETTINGS (it is the bottom option in settings on the left side)

On the right is a button to Edit User Profile. Click it.

The EDIT USER PROFILE page pops up.

Under the section for PRIVACY, click on SELECT BLOGS TO DISPLAY to the right of SHOW MY BLOGS. Select the blogs you want displayed, and UNCHECK any blogs you don’t want to show up in your profile. 

Be sure to click on SAVE.

Why is selecting the blogs important?

  1. We don’t want “visitors” coming to the private or secret blogs.
  2. This helps visitors who look at your profile trying to locate your personal blog in response to comments you left on their blogs.

For example: 

I contribute to eleven blogger blogs. I don’t want people to wonder which of those blogs are mine, so only 2 of my blogs are checked.

I also don’t want them to click on the links to the private-admin blogs that the general public should not be seeing (especially if proprietary information is available on them)

Be sure to click on SAVE!

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Lavinia World - Moon Gazing

I have two posts this morning - the MAWTT post is here.

Hello, dear blogging friends! I hope you are doing well - A little insight into my life...

I enjoy stepping outdoors, especially in the wee hours of night, to gaze upon the sky, regardless of the weather, and allow the Beauty of the sky and the quietness of the pastures to fill my soul with the Wonders of Life and the Splendor of Love. These nighttime "excursions" fill me with a type of inexpressible Awe-filled Gratitude.

Lavinia's Moon Gazing Hare depicts my experiences.



YOU KNOW that brings us to a new Lavinia World Challenge!

We are an ANYTHING GOES theme challenge using ANY brand clear or rubber stamp - no digitals. Winner receives
a $15 gift certificate to the Lavinia World store.

While "our" Lavinia World store is located in the US, it ships worldwide. In the US, buy $25 and get free shipping! Lavinia World carries other crafting supplies for your convenience.

I cheated with this beautiful pre-made background, and changed it up with inks and good old finger daubers to reflect an Autumn theme. I also tore a piece of copy paper as a mask, and created a larger spot for the Hare to stand on:


After inking the bottom portion with VersaFine Clair Nocturne, I dredged the area with a brown EP containing brown glitter for texture and dimension.



This angle shows off the autumnal color glitter atop the VersaFine Clair Nocturne inked dragonfly. With each movement of the card, the sparkle shows up in different places:



Here it is around the moon and edges:


I wish the heat embossed sentiment had been stamped lower, covering the moon - there is always next time! To better show the letters of the sentiment, a little white pen was added:



Dimensional Glue was added to the brown embossing powder, and coated with the autumn colors of glitter to provide more dimension and shimmer. A Quickie Glue Pen was used around the moon for more glitter. Specks of glitter surround the hare and a few are even in front of the hare for more depth:



Don't forget to play in our challenge! I honestly think these Lavinia stamps are the best quality clear stamps I've ever played with, and a heartily recommend them.




Products Used:


Challenges I'd like to Support:

  1. Creative Knockouts #317 Anything Goes C10 10/3 (2nd entry)
  2. Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1938 Anything Goes C10 09/30
  3. Crafty Cardmakers #241 Autumn Colors 09/30
  4. Creativ Fusion Arts and Crafts #14 Autumn Theme 10/1
  5. World Wide Open DT Challenge #9 AG DT 10/15
  6. Lil Red Wagon Challenges #516 Fall It 10/2 (sep post)
  7. Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Sept 25) Anything Goes 10/2 (sep post)
  8. Penny Black and More Challenges (Sept) Animals - Critters on Parade 10/1


Fairy Hugs,



Moving Along With the Times - Wedding or Anniversary

Good Morning, Blogging Friends!
I wish you each a lovely day.



It's time to share a Project for the new Moving Along With The Times Challenge!

Challenge #107's theme is WEDDING OR ANNIVERSARY - for the next 2 weeks! 




A special friend will soon be celebrating a special anniversary, and this card is for her. The paler blue pieces are watercolor paper prepared with pearlescent blue, aqua and purple acrylic paints smeared with a little glitter:


The dry embossed area was highlighted with Sky Blue Pearlescent ink. The word "Cherish" and the leaves have been coated with glue and transparent glitter. The white die cuts are from white glossy cardstock:



These rolled "bitty blossoms" are so pretty!



Products Used:
  • 7 Die sets: SB Grommet Tags S4-322, Tonic Memory Book Maker Layered Cascade Die Set, Cheery Lynn "Cherish" die set, Wild Animals "African Circle" set, SB Bitty Blossoms set, Cheery Lynn Fanciful Flourish die, Tim Holtz Garden Greens
  • Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug Anna Griffin Baroque Vine Frame
  • Paper: Navy, White Glossy, White, Watercolor Paper prepared with acrylic pearlescent paints and glitter
  • Other: White Opaque Glitter, Sky Blue Pearlescent Ink, 


Challenges I'd like to support:

  1. Creative Knockouts #317 Anything Goes C10 10/3
  2. World Wide Open DT Challenge #9 AG DT 10/15
  3. Little Patch of Crafty Friends #114 Anything Goes 10/2 (sep post)
  4. Aud Sentiments Challenge #236 AG + a sentiment 10/2 (sep post)
  5. Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Sept 25) Anything Goes 10/2 (sep post)
  6. Watercooler Wednesday #240 "All About Occasions" 10/2 (sep post) C8
  7. Scrapy Land Challenges #122 AG SL dies (7 sets listed above) 10/3
  8. Color Throwdown #562 10/2



Stamping hugs,



Thursday, September 12, 2019

Lavinia World Dancing in the Moonlight

Hello, fellow fairy lovers!
I have a little gift for you at the end.
In the meantime, my heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with all who were impacted by Hurricane Dorian - all the way up to Nova Scotia!

In the meantime...
I'm running away to Fairy Land!


I've always wanted to dance carefree on a tree branch overhanging a pond. 
Have you?

My fairy cards today use the same stamps, but the background has been inked with different colors of distress inks, and the sentiment is applied differently. The white highlights are also a in different places. Three similarly stamped panels with slightly changed colors and designs.

Details of our Lavinia World ChallengeAn ANYTHING GOES theme using ANY brand clear or rubber stamp - no digitals. Winner receives
a $15 gift certificate to the Lavinia World store.

While "our" Lavinia World store is located in the US, it ships worldwide. In the US, buy $25 and get free shipping! Lavinia World carries other crafting supplies for your convenience.
My cards are about 5" x 7".

These backgrounds could not be more fun to play with. Fast, simple and easy AND the spark the imagination. I actually "fall into" the story as it unfolds.
These three began identically, but I used a variety of plain old distress inks to change the colors in the pool, the sky circle, and the edges.



Stamps were placed on the background to get an idea of how they fit:


To do the sentiment in sections, I was lazy and just inked parts of the stamp:



I have learned that even with shaking, spasmodic hands that are prone to lots of boo-boos, the white lines still bring out more magic to the scenes. So give it a try if you've never done it before. For example, my hands jerked several times with this card, and it still looks better with the white details, jerky as they are. So don't be afraid to try it:


A panel of purple with a black stripe was added for visual interest:

Using a leaf border punch on two sides of the card:


I added lots of extra purple and dark pinks to this background before distressing the edges with black EP containing glitter.

My favorite is the sparkly scallops:


A darker photo shows a bit more of the purple embossing powder (with glitter of course) distressing the border. Such a fun card:




Lavinia Products Used:



Lavinia World Stars Miniature LAV152
Lavinia World Fairy Bugs LAV471
Lavinia World Vine LAV165
Lavinia World Fantasia VersaFine Clair
Lavinia World Uni-Ball Pen Signo Gel White (for highlights)
MS border punches: Curved Scallop, Laurel Leaf
Embossing Powders: Purple with Glitter, Black with Glitter, Detail White


A Digital Gift for You

Freebies for you - if you love fairies, I hope these little sentiments will add some fun to the inside of your cards or other fairy projects. They are for personal use only, and may be used on your design team creations. Click on the sentiments to make full size. Then right click to download as a SAVE PNG. (not for commercial use). Enjoy!

A Freebie Gift PNGs to my Followers -
NOT for commercial use:











Challenges I would like to play in please:

  1. Fairy and Unicorn Challenge Blog (Sept 7) Anything Fantasy (10-7)
  2. Patti's Creations Challenge #162 "Things That Fly" 10-7
  3. Classic Design Team Open Challenge #9 "AG DT" 10-1
  4. Simply Create Too Challenge  #153 Anything Goes10-4
  5. Modsquad Challenge Blog (Sept 11) Create A Scene Card 9/17
  6. Always Fun Challenges #127 Create A Scene 9/15
  7. Creative Fingers Challenge #170 Anything Goes 9/20 check chal 172
  8. Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge #447 Anything Goes 9/17 (sep post)

Thanks for stopping by today!
Stamping Hugs,

Sunday, September 01, 2019

QKR Stampede and Stamp On it at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Greetings, friends!
Here in "west" Florida, we are breathing a big sigh of RELIEF with Hurricane Dorian staying away. What a miracle! Thanks to my friends in the NorthWest who have sent their cold front our way. Now the weathermen are saying the hurricane might just go back out into the Atlantic and spare everyone!




It's time for a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)!

Our very generous sponsor this month is:
QKR Stampede from Stamp On It

My crazy card features QKR's Hippo Digital Stamp. I've used papers from my stash, some very old lace, woven satin ribbon through the lace, and played with my old Martha Stewart punch. Everything on the card is "old" except the image!




SIGH...

I just love playing with my "old stuff".
In this case, the old stuff was cool, but my resulting card is rather icky crazy!

(giggling despite myself!)

My hippo was colored with Copic Markers, Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and Black Memento Ink.

AND -- my fumble fingers MANUALLY wove the satin ribbon through the lace.
(so proud of myself!)


Wishing you all a lovely week, and I hope Dorian stays in the Atlantic and away from land.


Products:
Dies: SB Decorative Elements Teardrop Circles, SW double pierced Circles
Image: Hippo Digital Stamp, Sentiment from a Jan's Digi Shop Botanical Orchids stamp set

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

  1. A Bit More Time to Craft #99 Anything Goes 10/15
  2. Crafts Galore Encore #67 Anything Goes 10/1
  3. Crafty Animals #30 Anything Goes 10/1
  4. Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper September Challenge 10/1
  5. Pearly Sparkles Challenge Blog #44 Ribbon and/or Bow (I wove ribbon through the lace) 10-1
  6. The Library Craft Challenge #41 Reader's Choice (I am inspired by Disney's Fantasia written by John Culhane - the episode of the dancing Hippo where she feels so lovely and enticing) 10/1 sep post



Hippo Hugs to you!