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

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Lavinia World 23 - Help Finding Home?

Finding A Safe Place?
Wishing you all the very best as we experience an unusual Life Event globally.
My heart is with each one of you.
In the meantime...


It is time for a new
Lavinia World Challenge!


Play in our Anything Lavinia Facebook Challenge
and/or our Anything Goes Challenge Blog

Today's story 

Three Woodland Mice are scared and worried about getting home - to their Safe Place. Eden Fairy explains that Home is not a specific place but wherever they are, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the hardships, as long as Love is in their hearts. If they will cherish their own dear lives and cherish the lives of their families and friends, they can find themselves SAFELY home.
And so, the mice carefully cross over the River of Misfortune, facing their fear head-on, learning that they are INDEED resilient in the face of adversity.

My cards today depict a night-time excursion, so they are darker than user. The Lavender Water Mist Paper was inked up and altered. I felt like experimenting, and learned a lot in the process.


The first card has a stenciled backdrop, using Distress Inks and Versafine Clair ink:




Then another stencil was placed on the blue stencil, and swiped with Nuvo Mousse:




I learned that the Mousse is impervious to any ink, and acts as a resist.



Maybe I should have tried VersaMark and embossing powder when stamping the fairy? As it happened, I had to restamp the fairy, and heat set her wings with glittery black embossing powder, and FUSSY CUT her! giggle



The periwinkle colored scene uses the 
Vine image inked with French Blue chalk ink. It was stamped randomly all over the background, and then coated with a white pearlescent mica powder:



These were full of product lessons (for me) and I look forward to playing a little more knowledgeably next time!




Come join the challenge for a chance to win the $15 store credit!




Products:
Challenges I would like to play in pretty-please:


hugs,

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Lavinia World #22 - A Hare-Raising Conversation

QUESTION: 
are the fonts on my blog large enough for your tablets and computers?


Hello, Blogging Friends!
Today I'm sharing two "hare-raising" cards.
Hope they don't scare you away!
(giggle)


It is time for a new
Lavinia World Challenge!


Play in our Anything Lavinia Facebook Challenge
and/or our Anything Goes Challenge Blog

Today's story 

Spellbound Fairy is having a "hare-raising" conversation with Whimsical Hare. Whimsical Hare does not want to leave her rabbit-hole home today because she is having a BAD HARE DAY. She had been cleaning house all day yesterday, getting ready for company, and now, she complained, she looks like a DUST BUNNY!

Ok - I'm stopping with the story silliness - laughing.

Both cards use identical die cuts and colors. First Spellbound Fairy and Whimsical Hare were stamped with Fantasia Purple VersaFine Clair. The fairy wings were heat set with a purple embossing powder that has clear and lavender glitter in it.

I like to make sure that my stamp images will fit inside the die cut shapes:


Make sure that all the colors will work:


The Out-of-the-Box die cutting technique was used here to accommodate her wings. Split Coast Stampers has a free pictorial tutorial and a free YouTube tutorial for the technique:


My uncoordinated fingers don't "free-lance" very well. To make a double-sided banner, I flipped my die:


I'm proud of my poor ole faithful die cut plate. That plate is well over 10 years old, and is still perfectly flat and works superbly. Probably only twice a year it gets a good scrubbing to become almost white again.


Why I take multiple photos - I cannot capture the details on a single photo. Notice how different the two fairies' wings look even though they were created exactly the same. It's that little bit of difference in the lighting. You can really see the difference if you click on the photo to enlarge it:


after the main images were inked, I distressed the backgrounds while the dies were still in place. Then applied a stencil, and inked some more.



For the two background shapes, I used the "inlay" technique. The blue halo around the fairy and hare were done with 
Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 Color Pencils and Gamsol.



After stenciling, the ground and circle were masked and inked more:

The glitter in the circle is adhered with a Quickie glue pen and loose periwinkle colored glitter:




Thanks for stopping by today!


Lavinia World Products:


Products Used:

  1. Stamps: Lavinia World Stars Mini LAV152, Toadstool Mini LAV216, Slender Mushrooms Mini LAV151, Forest Mushroom LAV565, Spellbound Fairy LAV434, Whimsical Hares LAV482, Fairy Dust is like Love LAV024
  2. Inks: Fantasia Purple VersaFine Clair, Distress Oxide in Worn Lipstick, Distress Inks in Spun Sugar, Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet
  3. Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 Color Pencils and Gamsol
  4. Uniball Pen in White
  5. Dies: Taylored Expressions Banner Stacklets 1, SB Grand Labels One, SB Grand Big Scallop Circle, 
  6. Glitter: Periwinkle Purple
  7. Embossing Powder: Purple with lavender, purple and clear glitter in it.


Challenges I would like to support:


Fairy Magic being sent your way,

Wednesday, March 04, 2020

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Amazing Owls!

Greetings, Wonderful Blogging Friends!
It's time for a brand new challenge 2 Crafty Critter Crazies!

and guess what?

I am the sponsor with my pretty Great Horned Owl Set! The set contains 17 JPG and PNG images in black and white, and also with sentiments.

I'll be giving this set to one three of my blogging friends as well, so if you are interested, just say so in comment and I'll randomly select a name on March 31.


For the month of March, join us at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies by uploading an "Anything-Goes" project as long as critter is the focal point of your project. The team has all kinds of inspiration and a variety of styles to view, so take a look!

My inky rendition depicts that period of time just after dusk. I can hear softly hooting owls in the trees talking to one another, the chirping of happy insects announcing the full moon, croaking toads and frogs in search of goodies, and perhaps even some "night owls" doing their crafting!


I printed out The Great Horned Owl digital set TWICE. 

One owl was fussy cut to make a mask. The other was colored with Copic Markers. This is one of the colored images included in the digital set.
After die cutting a circle and placing it on top of the owl mask, I used distress inks in Black Soot, Blueprint, and Stormy Sky to create a night sky.


The frame process:
(if you are reading this on my personal blog, click on the photos to enlarge)



  1. Applied a double sided Adhesive Sheet to black cardstock, leaving "rough" protective layer in place.
  2. After die cutting shape, I removed the protective layer and burnished in Black Microfine Glitter (if you prefer, use black glittery EP instead).
  3. I distressed with VersaMark Ink here and there and applied a gold-and-black Chunky Opaque embossing powder.  Then I added a bit of chunky Black embossing powder on top of the gold color, to tone down the gold. Glittery green embossing powder was also used in the distressing process. Heat a little at a time so it does not melt the double sided adhesive sheet.
  4. I die cut some white fun foam in the same shape, and edged it with a black Sharpie marker. The black frame was then adhered to the fun foam for dimension, using Double Sided Tape.


    I thoroughly enjoy "distressing" with glitters and embossing powders!
    frame close up:

    The set comes with a leafy twig - great for framing or using around the branch. Because this set was once available in rubber, I embossing the twig with more Green embossing powder to give the leaves a night time appearance. Any twig stamp will work.

    The sentiment was stamped with Nocturne VersaFine Clair and heat set with Black Detail embossing powder. It was distressed with the same colors as the sky background.


    The Handmade paper was dry embossed and distressed with 3 colors of mousse.



    Finished Card:




    Stamping Hugs,