Studio Monday with Nina-Marie: Encouragement Cards for Kids
Hello crafters, welcome back to a new Studio Monday video! Here at Simon Says Stamp we just had two BIG releases jam-packed with products that are perfect for encouraging the ones we love. Today I wanted to feature some of those products in a card set geared towards kids but could also be used for adults too!
There are a few easy techniques incorporated into these cards; one of which is watercolor smooshing. This is a really fun and easy way to achieve a watercolor effect with little thinking or planning involved.
I used a combination of both Zig Clean Color Felt and Real Brush markers with an Art Impressions palette to achieve the smooshing technique; however you can also do this same smooshing technique using any sort of slick surface.
The “yahoo” sentiment was stamped with one of the new Simon Exclusive CZ Design stamp sets; Everett Alphas. In place of one of O’s in the sentiment, I used the adorable Fingerprint Doodles stamp set and added little critters onto each of the cards. You could make this even more “authentic” by stamping your own fingerprint instead of using the fingerprint images included in the stamp set.
The supporting sentiment “so proud of you” is heat embossed onto coordinating colors of cardstock strips. Isn’t it fun to create your own sentiments by making use of letter stamps?
To finish up the cards, I put my stamped and watercolored panels onto card bases that are decorated with Simon’s new Stitched Alphabets stamp set. I wanted a bit of texture and pattern on the card bases, but nothing distracting. Using embossing ink, I was able to get a tone-on-tone effect that coordinates perfectly with the card design. To stamp those alphabet letters I did not remove them from the stamp packaging; this saved time in not having to line them onto a block or MISTI tool!
The watercolor smooshing technique is really fun and in the video I share some other tips and tricks as well… even a fix for a mistake I made during the creation process! I hope you enjoyed today’s post and will check out the video below to see how these cards came together! Thanks for stopping by; I’ll be back again tomorrow with more crafty inspiration to share with you!
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Sooo cute!!
So cute!
I absolutely love your videos. You are such an inspiration. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful, blessed talent!!! Hugs
Love how you used your goof to benefit you and it worked out great, love the cards!!! I love those fingerprint animals, they are so adorable!! Thanks for sharing .
Can’t get enough of the animal fingerprints! Nice technique. Thank you.
Very cute cards!!
Wonderful cards, great ideas.
Love these cards and especially the little fingerprint doodle critters on each of the cards. Thanks for sharing.
Linda D.
Love the use of the fingerprint critters in the word, what fun. And I would love a grab bag, they feel like Christmas!
These are Soooo Super CUTE!!!
These cards are so cute, love this stamp set.
Love these cute fingerprint animals!
Totally adorable! Those little critters really add that extra touch.
Just darling!
Sweet cards!
These are super cute!
Love how you used the little critters! Awesome cards and made me smile! So cute!
Kids will love these
These are so cute and so perfect for little kids and “big” kids, too!
Simplicity is AWESOME!
Such a cute card set
How sweet are these! sUPER DUPER SWEET ANY KID WOULD LOVE!
This is such a fun idea! Love these cute cards! What child would not be thrilled to be given an adorable encouragement card like these!
So sweet Nina. This is a great way to use up scrap cs and the new Stitched Alpha set is awesome!
OMG! The cards are just too cute! You made it look so easy to make, also. Thanks for the blog hop!
My mother taught us how to make thumbprint animals as kids. These are such great cards Nina!
Awesome encouragement cards for kids.
Thanks for the “smoosh” technique. The cards are adorable. The critter stamps are on my wish list!
Like the fingerprint critters.
Melissa
“Sunshine HoneyBee”
These ate so cute and simple! Love them
So colourful and so funny!
These are precious! Any kid would love to receive cards so encouraging!
The fingerprint doodles are so cute and I love how you’ve used them here.
So fun!
How cute! Love this finger print animals stamp. I also love that you turned a “mistake” into an asset–I do that lots too!
Those are such cute encouragement and congrats kind of cards.
These are just the cutest!
Cute cards for the kiddos. I already follow by email.
Really cute cards! I love the fingerprint animals!
Love the way you used an error to stretch your creative imagination! Adorable!
such a cute idea
yeah! Soooooooooooooooooo fun!
How sweet are these?!?!
I love the Fingerprint Doodles stamp set too and thanks for showing us that our mistakes can make cards better!
Love the little critters in these big sentiments!
I think that our kids needs encouragement more than ever now. These cards are just perfect!
Adorable and so inspirational. Great job.
Nina-Marie I love your inspiration and fun tutorials!!
Super cute cards. Kids will love these!
I love how you combine old and new products and that you are using your scraps! I love the set of cards. TFS