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!

Skipping Stones Design Sketch Tuesday: Blog Hop & SSD031 “Fall In Chocolate”

Last week I gave you a sneak peek at the Fangs or Fur stamp set and today we are celebrating the official release of the two new stamp sets, "Fangs or Fur" and “Chocolate Vol. 2”.  This is our "sweetest" release yet, whether you're a Twilight fan or a chocolate lover, we have something for you!!  

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 Teri Anderson’s blog.

Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means the Design Team is showcasing another great creation from Teri Anderson.

Here’s Teri’s sketch for today:

This sketch was perfect for BOTH sets of stamps and I had a blast playing with it but ultimately I decided to go with something chocolatey this week.  Yum, yum, yum….

Introducing Chocolate Volume 2 from Skipping Stones Design:

And a little treat made with this delightful stamp set! Who can resist chocolate covered strawberries on a sweet summer day?  Not me, that’s for sure!  Here’s my card:

I had a brand new 6x6 pack of Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper staring at me from the back of my desk and decided it would be PERFECT for a sweet tooth card.  So off I went a layering and a stitching. Peggy Russell gave me some advice on threads and I switched to a shinier, prettier thread (this one is a lemony Coast and Clark) and it has made the difference in my stitching love.. lol!  Thanks Peggy!  My poor Bernina got a workout on this card!

Here’s a close up of the stitching and new thread:

It’s hard to tell in the main photo, but I did sponge a little chocolate love around the circle that the strawberries are on to add texture and dimension and not have it be quite so stark white.  

I created the “index/recipe” card in Photoshop and handwrote an entire recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries because I wasn’t sure what would end up showing… lol…. well, if you pry up the top layers you would find an almost full recipe underneath, hehe!  I did cut off the bottom 1/3 of it.

We'd love for you to play along with the sketch. Just remember to use the keywords SSD031 if you are uploading to any online galleries or link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog. We're always on the lookout for  Guest Designers so you never know....

Thanks so much for visiting me today.  Your next stop is the wonderfully talented Peggy Russell.

~Inky Chocolatey Smiles!

Oh, and PS – since you’ve followed along this far… how about a little something SWEET?    I have a package of Chic Martini stamps from Skipping Stones Design to give away to one lucky winner!  Just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a winner on Monday, July 12th using a random number generator.

 

Here’s the Hop Order in case you reach a broken link along the way.  {Please note that while some artists may have their posts up already, the hop doesn’t officially start until 10 am EST.}

Skipping Stones Design http://skippingstonesdesign.com/
Teri Anderson http://terisplace.wordpress.com/
Erin Grotegut http://inkysmiles.blogspot.com/
Peggy Russell http://beautifulgreetings.blogspot.com/
Kandi Phillips http://kraftykandikrafts.blogspot.com/
*SPECIAL GUEST*  Jodi Collins http://stampingalatte.blogspot.com/
Michelle Giraud http://twisted-chick.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Ingle http://justjingle.blogspot.com/
Amanda Sewell http://www.inkspirations.blogspot.com/
Chelsea Van Wyk http://www.scraptasticvoyage.blogspot.com/
Angela Thomas http://sparkleandbling.blogspot.com/

Skipping Stones Design Sketch Tuesday: SSD027 Home of the Brave

Hey friends! 

I need to apologize for being away so long.  No drama, just life, and when life gets busy around my place my blog is the very last thing on my mind and very first thing to get pushed to the back of the line.  Brent took the last 5 days off of work and we’ve just been hanging out and enjoying having “nothing” to do.  We have gotten some house projects done, took care of the car and settled with insurance, bought a couple of new toys and discovered a new hobby.   I did completely space giving details on June’s Scrap My Scraps Challenge.  I will post about that tomorrow. I PROMISE :)

Moving along…

 

We’re starting with another month of sketches with Skipping Stones Design this week.  June’s sketch artist is Teri Anderson.  You may have seen her sketches in Papercraft’s “Go To Sketches”.

Here’s Teri’s first sketch for the month of June:

I hope you all have had a marvelous Memorial Weekend and Memorial Day!!   I love the summer months and all the patriotic celebrations.  We have MUCH to celebrate living in America and MUCH to be grateful for. As an Army Brat I get particularly verklempt and carry a huge smile in my heart at each special holiday.   Yesterday, Memorial Day, we celebrated and honored those men and women who currently serve, have served, and have given their lives for the freedoms we treasure. In addition to many friends, both my grandfather and father served our country and I am eternally grateful for them. 

This is my card for our first sketch.  It is simple (relatively quick to create), to the point and honors those who have served.

I used SSD’s Home of the Brave stamp set that was released last month.   I love the fireworks and they screamed at me to use embossing powder.  Each star (cut with my new toy) is popped up with a pop dot and I blinged out the edges with a clear gel glitter pen and distressed the fronts with a chalk ink pad.  I did some random stitching at the top right corner and outlined the Provo Craft patterned paper with a straight stitch. I needed a gold brad for the center star, but only had silver so I heated it up with my heat gun and dipped it in the embossing powder.  Worked like a charm :)

 
Thanks for popping by!  See you later this week!

~Inky Smiles!

Supplies:
Stamps – Skipping Stones Design Home of the Brave
Inks – CTMH, Colorbok, Versamark, Sakura Clear Glitter Pen
Papers – misc CTMH & Provo Craft (super ancient patriotic pad
Misc –CTMH gold ep, heat gun, my new toy, thread, Bernie, AC pop dots & tabs

Well Behaved… or… Not?

Mostly I’m naughty… I think…. at least with sketches.  I like rules because they give me boundaries and usually I see things in black and white with very few grey areas…. however with crafting I break all the rules…usually…  but not today!  {Go ahead, pick your jaw up off the floor….}

Today I followed the sketch and left everything in it’s right place.

Brent did not scold me.

Like he really ever does…

Usually he just gives me a hard time.

But that’s his job.

I {heart} him.

 

But moooving on…  Here’s today’s sketch:

Excellent sketch, but  totally not how I would normally lay things out… but I believe that is the point of a sketch CHALLENGE, right?  To challenge us to step out of our box and stretch the imagination and challenge ourselves to do something and grow!

So.. I obeyed the rules.

And my brain stretched.  You should have heard it.  Scary sound.

Heather sent me some fabulous stamps to play with again and I decided to use a FABULOUS sentiment from her newly revealed set, “Well Behaved”.  I believe that it’s being revealed today, Tuesday, and you’re gonna luuuuurve it!

Again, I pulled out the Basic Grey “Lemonade” paper kit and went to town.  I had so much fun stitching on the last card (and my cross stitch threads box was still on my desk) that I decided to do a little more stitchin’. With metallic thread that was a pain to separate and work with…  Woot!

And I didn’t want to use the big ol’ circle as a stamped bit, so I pulled out the beginnings of a funky flower I’d been working on earlier in the day.

The flower is made using some scraps of paper and tulle (that funky netting stuff that you usually find under wedding dresses or as the veil) and a DESIGNER button.. hahaha!  Anyway… I blinged it up with some Stickles (icicle flavor) and let it dry forevvvvvvver.  I tied the button with some metallic thread.  I used some home made glimmer mist and spritzed it on the paper parts of the flower.  You can kind of see it on the green paper (bottom left of it).  In real life it’s all shimmery and luuuuurverly!  Oh yah, and the light pink tulle (which came from my sweet friend, Jeanne Tomshack, is inked up with some CTMH Vineyard Berry ink to distress it even further.   My fingers were so gross. LOL!

Fiddled with the sentiment placement and decided on this:

Here’s the final product.   I did elongate the card a little to allow the uber long sentiment to be placed on it and fit a little better.

 

Thanks for stoppin by today!  Think of me as I slave away over numbers and contracts and customer payments and tax prep today at work.  Tee hee! :)

~Inky Smiles!

PS… Answering the last post comments.  

1) THANK YOU for your kind comments on my charms!  You made my day.
2)  YES!  An Etsy shop is likely in the works.  I am going to try my hand at selling my creations, both paper craft and especially jewelry.  (Jewelry posts coming…)  I love making jewelry and can’t wait to share my creations! 
3)  I have to figure out the whole Etsy thing and a shop name. LOL!

Supplies:
Stamps – Skipping Stones Design’s “Well Behaved”
Paper – Basic Grey “Lemonade”
Ink – CTMH Vineyard Berry
Miscellaneous"- Kaisercraft Rhinestones, pink tulle, Stickles, Silver metallic thread, border punches.

Sketches to help with {Me} Assignment

Here are a couple of fun sketches to help you with the {Me} Assignment I gave on Thursday's "TFT".

The sketches can be found on the Fiskars website.

# 1 designed by Maria Grace Abuzman:
Where to add the smaller pics of the things that make you happy? Get creative! See that big expanse of empty space around the borders?? *grin*


#2 designed by Stacey Kingman:
I can't wait to see your projects! Leave a link to your online photo in the comments section.

Inky Smiles!
Erin