Skipping Stones Design Farewell Blog Hop & Sketch Tuesday

Hey friends!  A while back Heather from Skipping Stones Design gave the DT members the option to stay or leave when our term was up this summer.  After mulling it over for several months and then having some things come up in my life I have decided that it is time for me to bid a fond farewell to the Skipping Stones Design Team.  I have thoroughly enjoyed being on the team and have had a blast sharing new stamps with all of you, too.  I have met some really neat and creative people on the DT and will miss them.  Thank goodness for Facebook, right?  So this will be my last official post as a Skipping Stones Design Team member.
Today we celebrate the release of two new stamp sets, ""Friendly Fruit" and "Timeless Textures" which I posted on yesterday’s blog post for a sneak preview.

If you just happened upon my blog today, you’ll want to go back to the beginning at Skipping Stones Design. You should have arrived from Kim Kesti’s blog.

Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means the Design Team is showcasing another great sketch creation from Kim Kesti. We'd love for you to play along with the sketch. Just remember to use the keywords SSD035 if you are uploading to any online galleries or link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog. We'll be looking soon for Guest Designers and a DT call soon will be going out so you never know....

Here is today’s sketch from Kim Kesti:



Here is the card I made using SSD’s new set “Friendly Fruit”:




(Please excuse the bad photo.  I had a hard time again this evening trying to photograph this card.)
I had this fun idea to cut out a window with a Nestabilities Square die and emboss the frame around it.  It’s a little difficult to see in the first photo so here’s an up close snapshot:

 
The strawberry and some of the fruits on the patterned paper and the dots on the bottom patterned paper are blinged up with a glitter pen as is the Sweet in the sentiment. It truly sparkles in real life. I used some Kaisercraft rhinestones to adorn the corners of the frame and CTMH organdy ribbon to tie an accent on the main focal point.  The sentiment and strawberry (which was stamped using paper masks) are stamped using CTMH inks.  Papers are Basic Grey’s Nook & Pantry. (Yum, Yum!)



Thanks for stopping by and checking out today’s Skipping Stones Design sketch.  I hope you have a fabulous trip on this blog hop!

~ Inky Smiles

PS.  Your next stop is the fabulatastic Peggy Russell who never ceases to amaze me with her beautiful cards and stitching.

Skipping Stones Design http://www.skippingstonesdesign.com/
Kim Kesti http://www.kimberlykesti.typepad.com/
Erin Grotegut http://www.inkysmiles.blogspot.com/
Peggy Russell http://www.beautifulgreetings.blogspot.com/
Kandi Phillips http://www.kraftykandikrafts.blogspot.com/
Dina Kowal http://mamadinis.blogspot.com/
Michelle Giraud http://www.twisted-chick.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Ingle http://www.justjingle.blogspot.com/
Heidi Van Laar  http://www.vanlaardesigns.blogspot.com/
Amanda Sewell http://www.inkspirations.blogspot.com/
Chelsea Van Wyk http://www.scraptasticvoyage.blogspot.com
Angela Thomas http://www.sparkleandbling.blogspot.com

Don’t forget to stop and share the love for the other DT girls’ creations!

Blog Candy Winner (FINALLY) & A PMS Sale from Skipping Stones Design

Ahhh!!!  I'm back!  It's been crazy.. I will post more details on Wed.  I do realize that I missed drawing the winner of the Skipping Stones Set "Chic Martini" from this olllllllllld post.  I truly apologize. It really has been hectic around here.

So I used the random number generator to choose a winner out of the 19 comments and Random.org chose commenter #5 which is

Lilian Child

So, Miss Lilian, if you would kindly shoot me an email with your information I will send this in the mail to you!

**********************************************************************************

Here's a sneak peek at tomorrow's Skipping Stones Design releases:

Friendly Fruit

Timeless Textures

PMS SALE!!

The P.M.S. sale is back at Skipping Stones Design!!

P.M.S. - in this case - suffering from the NEED to Purchase More Stamps!
P.M.S. sale - the more you buy the more you save!!!!

Here is how it works:
Buy 1 stamp set save 5%, Coupon code: PMS1
Buy 2 stamp sets & save 10%, Coupon code: PMS2
Buy 3 stamp sets & save 20% (total savings $8.70) Coupon code: PMS3
Buy 4 stamp sets & save 25% Coupon Code: PMS4
for a total savings of $14.49 ~that's like getting one FREE
Buy 5 stamp sets & save 30%, Coupon Code: PMS5
for a total savings of $22.10 ~that is like getting 1 FREE and another one half off!!!

What to do: Put the stamps into your shopping cart as normal. When you are checking out there will be a box where you can type in a coupon/discount code. This is where you type the letters PMS and the number of stamp sets you purchase. For example if you are buying three stamp sets type in PMS3 into the box.

*This sale will last until Monday August 2nd at midnight

 More Great NEWS!!!!

You can PRE ORDER these stamps starting NOW, and they will ship on TUESDAY!!! Plus, they count toward the PMS Sale!!  So hop on over to Skipping Stones Design to take advantage of this awesome sale!

Scrap My Scraps Challenge III Reveal: Nichole Walker

{This is a scheduled post while I am away from the computer enjoying time with my family – parents, sibs, nieces and nephews. Enjoy!}
Sadly, my friends, today’s our last Scrap My Scraps reveal.   Hope you’ve enjoyed this round of Scrap My Scraps as much as I have!  A big huge round of applause and thank you to all of our players! :)

Here’s a reminder of the “guidelines”/deets:
Scrap My Scraps Round 3 Details:
You will receive an envelope with several images and sentiments stamped onto white cardstock and a list of printed guidelines.  You may use ANY papers and embellishments from any company, but you must use the images in the envelope.   Everyone will receive exactly the same images and sentiments.

Your mission is to create a piece of artwork using ALL of these guidelines:
1)  Use at least TWO of the images (MUST use the large image included)
2)  Use at least ONE sentiment.
3)  Incorporate stitching of some sort.
4)  Incorporate additional decorative fibers (non paper).
5)  Use 1-2 pieces of METAL.
6)  Make it POP.. use some dimensional adhesives (pop dots, tabs, foam tape, etc).
7)  Have FUUUUN!!!!

Today’s Scrap My Scraps reveal is brought to us from my friend, Nichole Walker.    Nichole has made two darling cards for this challenge.  I love the whimsical stitching around the focal pieces and her use of additional fibers on these cards.

              

Thanks to everyone for playing with us for this round of Scrap My Scraps!  It’s been a blast seeing all the wonderful artwork come in and I’m dreaming up ideas for the next round of Scrap My Scraps!
~Inky Smiles!

Wine/Bubbly Beverage Charms Gift

{This is a scheduled post while I am enjoying time away from the computer with my family – parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. I will be back with Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesdays in a couple of weeks.}
Ok so you just got invited to a big summer party… and you think maybe you should bring a hostess gift, but what do you bring?  A treat? A bubbly beverage? Flowers? A plant? A card? Hrmmm..  How about a treat, a “card” and some BLING?
I have always liked the idea of wine charms… they’re such lovely bling.. and how can you go wrong adding sparkle to something already sparkly?  Brent and I don’t drink alcohol, but we do enjoy a nice sparkly glass of something bubbly like Martinelli’s Sparkling cider so for today’s purposes, this little giftie will be modeled on a non-alcoholic sparkly beverage.  Feel free to attach yours to your favorite sparkly beverage.
For this giftie I used the Skipping Stones Design stamp set Margarita Birthday.  Again, being a non drinker I wanted to find a fun way to use this delightful stamp set.  {I do love celebrating good times with good friends AND a good virgin strawberry daquiri or margarita!}
Here’s a full view of the gift set: 

You can choose to give glasses or not.. I’m just showing for demo purposes.  The charms fit neatly in the hanging “box” on the bottle which is made as you would make a door hanger or similar “hanging box”.


These wine charms are made by attaching various 2 mm glass seed beads and 8 mm fiber optic beads from Rings N Things {I picked these out at the warehouse with my sweet friend Stacey Flores when I visited her in WA last February… so much fun!!} to some hoop earring bases that I picked up at Michael’s. I folded the ends of the ear wires over to make  a “hook” to close on itself.
                        
For the packaging I cut out and layered up circles of cardstock with my Nesties and Cuttlebug, added a scalloped edge to the box with a FIskars border punch and popped up some sentiments.  The daquiri glass is colored in with a mix of colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, and a grey Copic marker.  I added a touch of bling to the glass with a Sakura clear glitter pen and sugared up the glass edge with some glass beads attached with Liquid Glass.  I love all the sparkle on this project!

The white circle and glass are one piece of cardstock.  I traced the Nestie circle around the stamped image, cut a rough circle around the nestie circle , cut out the glass up to the circle line and then placed the Nestie circle die on the image, popped the cut pieces of the image out of the die’s cutting area and ran it through the cuttlebug.  *Whew*  Did that make sense to you?  LOL! Perhaps I will to do a tutorial. Hrmm.
Anyway… Hope you enjoyed this little giftie project!
~Inky Smiles!!

Scrap My Scraps Challenge III Reveal: Jenn Embry

{This is a scheduled post while I am away from the computer enjoying time with my family – parents, sibs, nieces and nephews. Enjoy!}
We’re back again for our 5th reveal!
Here’s a reminder of the “guidelines”/deets:
Scrap My Scraps Round 3 Details:
You will receive an envelope with several images and sentiments stamped onto white cardstock and a list of printed guidelines.  You may use ANY papers and embellishments from any company, but you must use the images in the envelope.   Everyone will receive exactly the same images and sentiments.

Your mission is to create a piece of artwork using ALL of these guidelines:
1)  Use at least TWO of the images (MUST use the large image included)
2)  Use at least ONE sentiment.
3)  Incorporate stitching of some sort.
4)  Incorporate additional decorative fibers (non paper).
5)  Use 1-2 pieces of METAL.
6)  Make it POP.. use some dimensional adhesives (pop dots, tabs, foam tape, etc).
7)  Have FUUUUN!!!!

Today’s Scrap My Scraps reveal is Jenn Embry from Mission Ink Possible. I love the stitching and “ticket punched” corners on the main image.  Jenn even carried over an additional image and sentiment to the inside of the card.  She also used one of my favorite CTMH paper packs. LOVE IT!
From Jenn:
Card Details:
Images colored using Prismacolor pencils and gamsol technique. The sunglasses & bobber, and stuff hanging out of the fish's mouth are accented with liquid glass.  I tried using white glitter on his teeth to make them sparkly white...but I'm not really pleased with how that turned out. My daughter says he looks like he's wearing braces. LOL!  Stitching done with DMC embroidery floss.     Paper pack is CTMH Rustic Trail, along with Cocoa CS and Dutch Blue Textured CS for the card base. Card is 6x6.     I used Cocoa & Olive inks.  Inside sentiment is punched out using an SU punch.




I will be back with one more reveal in the next couple of days!
~Inky Smiles!

Scrap My Scraps Challenge III Reveal: Barb @ Barb’s Boys

{This is a scheduled post while I am away from the computer enjoying time with my family – parents, sibs, nieces and nephews. Enjoy!}
Back again with reveal #4 today!

Here’s a reminder of the “guidelines”/deets:
Scrap My Scraps Round 3 Details:
You will receive an envelope with several images and sentiments stamped onto white cardstock and a list of printed guidelines.  You may use ANY papers and embellishments from any company, but you must use the images in the envelope.   Everyone will receive exactly the same images and sentiments.

Your mission is to create a piece of artwork using ALL of these guidelines:
1)  Use at least TWO of the images (MUST use the large image included)
2)  Use at least ONE sentiment.
3)  Incorporate stitching of some sort.
4)  Incorporate additional decorative fibers (non paper).
5)  Use 1-2 pieces of METAL.
6)  Make it POP.. use some dimensional adhesives (pop dots, tabs, foam tape, etc).
7)  Have FUUUUN!!!!
Today’s SMS Reveal comes from Barb from Barb’s Boys.   I love all the little details and colors on Barb’s card, especially her “bait” on the right side of the card and the sentiment is mounted on cardboard. LOVE IT!

Be back soon with a couple more reveals!
~Inky Smiles!

Scrap My Scraps Challenge III Reveal: Kathy Smullen

{This is a scheduled post while I am away from the computer enjoying time with my family – parents, sibs, nieces and nephews. Enjoy!}
I’m back again today with our 3rd SMS Reveal.

Here’s a reminder of the “guidelines”/deets:
Scrap My Scraps Round 3 Details:
You will receive an envelope with several images and sentiments stamped onto white cardstock and a list of printed guidelines.  You may use ANY papers and embellishments from any company, but you must use the images in the envelope.   Everyone will receive exactly the same images and sentiments.

Your mission is to create a piece of artwork using ALL of these guidelines:
1)  Use at least TWO of the images (MUST use the large image included)
2)  Use at least ONE sentiment.
3)  Incorporate stitching of some sort.
4)  Incorporate additional decorative fibers (non paper).
5)  Use 1-2 pieces of METAL.
6)  Make it POP.. use some dimensional adhesives (pop dots, tabs, foam tape, etc).
7)  Have FUUUUN!!!!

Today’s reveal comes from Kathy Smullen who hails from waaaaaay down under in Australia.  Kathy’s scraps traveled the farthest in this round!  Kathy has 3 projects to share with us today.  You’re gonna love these.  Project #1 was submitted for the SMS Challenge and the other two are bonus fun projects that she made using the leftover pieces.   I really love Kathy’s cards, especially the easel fold red one.  Make sure you check out the amazing details on the boat and water!
Click on the photo(s) for a larger view.

From Kathy:
Red Square “Fishing You Happy Birthday”     This card also had some input from my youngest son- he suggested the boat be tin- I just elaborated on it and a friend gave a couple of ideas as well- which I had thought about and used because we thought they sounded ok-( like the esky or car fridge or cooler or chilli bin floating in the water and tied with a rope)   
Pictures and front Sentiments  from Erin Grotegut
Card stock and papers from stash- card is red generic cardstock from an office supply store.
Dies – Spellinders Petite Ovals ; Spellbinders  Petite Ovals Scalloped-I think they were # 5 for the oval and #6 for the Scalloped
Embossing was done using the Fiskars texture plate- Scales
Images were coloured with Lyra Watercolour Crayons; Foil for the boat is actually the recycled seal of a Milo drinking powder tin which was cut and embossed and then had Stazon ink rubbed over it; Ribbon- “A Touch of Class”; Buttons-Beutron;  KindyGlitz-Crystalina Colour- to add sparkle; Bic Kids Pearl Shimmer Glue to add a bit of shimmer to his glasses and the worm; Embroidery floss-DMC- Metallic Blue, Multicoloured and Pastel Yellow; Fishing Swivel- Halco size 12; Extra Stamps used-Happy Birthday-Stamp-It and fish –unknown; Template for sentiments- HOTP Labels; Helmar Craft Glue- for the buttons.

                           

From Kathy:
Reel  Glad You’re My Dad     (This was sort of a cheat card to use the sentiments because I just printed out the digi picture and added the sentiments)
Cream cardstock base card; Sentiments- Erin; the image is a picture from “Scrabooking Factory Deluxe”computer Program ; Punches- Fiskars Tag squeeze punch  2” and 1 ½  “ Foam dimensional tape and double sided tape; Blue paper insert from my stash.

From Kathy:
Holy Carp
Images and Sentiments- Erin
Green Cardstock Base- I’ve had for a long time and have forgotten where it came from sorry, Silver cardstock from stash; Image was coloured Lumin Arte paints-yellow, blue, green and red- not sure of exact colour names to give a sort of glimmer to the fish- unfortunately you can’t really see it from the pictures, Pearls – Kaisercraft Basics-given to me by a lovely lady in America(thanks Erin); gems-from the local discount store and coloured with just rite black ink reinker. Punch- Fiskars border punch –Rope, Paper DCWV, Ribbon-also from the local discount store- not sure of brand


Stay tuned for more!
~Inky Smiles