ISSC27 - Colourful Friends

Put on your sunglasses folks because this one turned out a wee bit bright! LOL This lovely flourescent card was made for this week's ISSC27 challenge over at iSpy Sketches. The sketch is from Toni Storie (ravengirl @ SCS) and is based on this card 

Um...you might say that I got a little bit carried away with the colours that I used and then I had to scramble like a mad person to try and find some matching paper or ribbons. This challenge is ideal for those bits of scrap paper or ribbon that you have laying around and they certainly come in handy when you are trying to find coordinating papers (in my case anyway). I used an older Basic Grey line to coordinate with my *ahem* masterpiece ;)

Thanks for coming by today and don't forget to check out the design teams cards and welcome our newest DT member Arielle Gordon on her first sketch with us :D

Tobi Crawford
Vicki Dutcher
Danielle Daws
Christyne Kane
Kim O'Connell
Vickie Zimmer
Angela Thomas
Jessie Rone
Jenny Peterson

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Healing Wings
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Basic Grey DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Banana, Saffron, Mustard, Rose, Plum, Pink
Accessories: Sponges, Sewing Machine, Sizzix Leaf Die, Cuttlebug, Clear Embossing Powder, Corner Chomper

Holy Carp!

Hi everyone! I haven't been in my card room for the last few days but I do have a card to show you that I made for my Dad's 60th Birthday back in April :D I thought that the sentiment and the image was perfectly appropriate for my Dad and he got a good chuckle out of it!

I used the set from Skipping Stones Designs called Holy Carp! to create this cheeky birthday greeting! I paired it up with an assortment of scraps that are Crate Paper and My Mind's Eye (I think). Don't you just hate it when you cut the name of the paper collections off the bottom of the sheets when cutting out your pieces? I do that all the time and then I end up not knowing what collection the papers are from and my terrible memory doesn't help the situation either! lol

The carp has been water coloured with my tombows and shaded with a chalk pencil. I added some light sponging for a bit of blue backdrop to him and finished the fish off with some silver gel pen on the hooks in his mouth and some glossy accents for his eyes.

Thanks for joining me today and I hope that you like this card as much as my Dad did! See you all a little later in the week for another creation ;D

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Crate Paper, MME
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo, Baja, Antique Linen
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Ribbon, Buttons, Twine, SU Circle Punches, Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Water Brush, Chalk Pencil, Gel Pen, Clear Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Dies, Stick Pins, Brads, Sponges, Glossy Accents

Hop(e) for Haiti and Blog Candy from Heather!

Welcome to the Hop(e) for Haiti blog hop by Skipping Stones Design to benefit the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti :) This hop has over 30 participants who have opted to donate the cards shown during the hop to be auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross!!! This is soooo exciting! Starting Feb 16th, Skipping Stones Design is also donating $2 from every stamp set sold to the American Red Cross! - I am totally honoured to have been asked to participate in this hop! :)

ETA: Here is the link to the active card listings on eBay

Please Help us by spreading the word!

Copy and paste this poster on your blog and by all means, send it to your friends, so they can put it on their blogs too! If you have a newsletter please send out the poster and let all your peeps know. The more people know about the hop(e), the more money we can raise!!!




So now that you all know about the hop (if you hadn't heard about it already) you should have arrived here from Angela's blog Sparkle and Bling. If you haven't then do not pass go and do not collect your $200....kidding ;) If you haven't arrived at my blog from the beginning then please start at the front of the line and follow the directions to the finish line and the link to all of the auctions :) Everyone is welcome to bid!




As a little treat for you, Heather from Skipping Stones has sent a set along to me to give out for blog candy. This set is called Frills and it's a 4 x 6" clear set. All you have to do is leave me a comment and I will draw the name of the winner on Sunday, Feb 21st.

So do you want to know where you are off to now? Well hop, skip and jump on over to the very talented Dawn Easton's blog and you will be able to follow the bread crumb trail to the finish line :)


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Dandelion Dreams and Healing Wings
Paper: Gina K, Black, Watercolour, K&Co DP, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Black, Chocolate, Caramel, Olive, Yellow, Suede
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Sponges, Pop Dots, Ribbon, Linen Thread, Button, Clear Embossing Folder, Distressing Tool, Corner Rounder, Tombow Dual Brush Markers and Multi Adhesive, Waterbrush, Clear Embossing Powder
Sketch: Mojo Monday 125

We are hoppin' with Skipping Stones!

Ok ladies, so now that you have seen my posts using Skipping Stones Designs all throughout the month of December, how about celebrating the official opening of Heather's new store and welcoming 2 new members to their DT with a blog hop, TONS of blog candy and a SALE? I thought you might like that! lol




Here's how it works...if you happened to stumble upon my blog and haven't started at the beginning then start your journey from Angela's Sparkle and Bling blog. Once you arrive there, simply enjoy the creations using the Skipping Stones Designs Stamps and leave a few comments along the way to enter yourself in every one's blog candy then follow the links to the next blog in the line-up.

If you guys are super sleuths then you will notice that there are 4 stamp sets (new stamp sets not yet released) are be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where *insert wicked grin here* so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! The more comments you leave the better your chances of winning are! The winners will be announced on Friday January 8th over at Skipping Stones Design!



My card for this hop is eerily similar to the one I made for the SSD01 sketch (I know). But it's not my fault I can assure you! My gram loved the card that I made so much, that she asked me to make one similar to it using the same papers for her BFF's birthday! How could I refuse? To my credit, I did change it up a little for you guys ;)

So are you all ready to hear about the SALE that is happening and all about my blog candy? First off, Heather is offering 25% off all stamps today and tomorrow (Jan 5 & 6) as well as free shipping on orders over $30 including international purchases!! Secondly, I would just like to say....feast your eyes upon this.....


I can already hear to ooooohhhhing and aaawwwing! This my dears is 3 sets of 4x6 stamps that I will be giving away to 1 lucky winner!!!! All you have to do is leave me a little lovin' in the comment department and I will post the winner here on January 8th! Easy peasey, lemon squeezy!

So now it's your turn to get ready, set....and HOP to your next stop to revel over Erin's creation at:

Erin Grotegut over at Inky Smiles

Thanks for joining me and don't forget to have some fun along the way!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Margarita Birthday, SU Baroque Motifs
Paper: Gina K, Chocolate, Watercolour, Basic Grey DP, Autumn Leaves DP?
Ink: Black, Mustard, Caramel, Burgundy, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Pop Dots, Sponges, Pearls, Ribbon, Designer Tag Punch, Crystal Effects, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Lined Thread, Eyelet

SSD05 - Needs coffee and blog candy winner!

This is so me first thing in the morning before I get to my cuppa joe right down to the scraggly hair! lol

I'm back for my last week as the Guest Sketch Artist for Skipping Stones Design and I chose to use the Coffee Volume 1 set particularly for the snarky comment - heheheh! So are you all ready to see the sketch? Yah? Right on! Here we go....




Ta Dah! Now I know that you are all thinking that this looks nothing like my card, but it really does, I assure you! All it takes to see this is a little imagination...and maybe some spiked coffee! lol

A couple of nights ago I was tossing and turning in bed trying so hard to fall asleep when this kitchenette epiphany came to me - I actually thought about jumping out of bed at 4 am and starting this card and then my sanity kicked me ;)



So come and sit down with me and let's visualize this together. Let's just say that the tower o' cabinet is the two paper pieces on the left of the sketch. Then lets say that then lower cabinets are the bottom layer on the sketch. Now what if I were to tell you that the bed head is my oval? Yeah, your seeing it now aren't you (nod your head vigorously with me). Bet your kind of wondering about that picture frame...well I couldn't leave poor bed head by herself - that girl had some s'plaining to do! I thing the frame sums it up nicely don't you? Oh, and those tiny circles that are on the sketch...let's just pretend that bed head's hair accidentally covered them up, 'kay? ;P



Now that I have explained so eloquently and made you understand that I didn't actually deviate from my very own sketch, we can move on to the good stuff! How about picking a winner from last week's blog candy?


Congratulations Shelly Schmidt!!! She left me this sweet comment:

Shelly Schmidt said...

Wow- love the Outstanding color you achieve when coloring! Great card. What a fun set- Thanks for the chance to win! Shellymc2@comcast dot net

December 23, 2009 8:23 PM

Shelly I will contact you asap and send the Margarita Birthday set your way! Thanks to all of the ladies for playing along and a heads up on what's in store for next week...more blog candy!!! Yay! Stay tuned for more details on January 5th ;)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Coffee Volume 1
Paper: Artichoke, Red, White, Cocoa, Watercolour, Unknown DP
Ink: Sand, Black, Burgundy, Artichoke, Chocolate
Accessories: Sponges, Mini Brads, Linen Thread, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, Pop Dots, Clear Embossing Powder

SSD04 - Hang in there!

Tis another week of the Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesdays and tis also the season for giving :) Yes Virgina, there will be blog candy ;) I'm just going to hold you in suspense until I get to through the nitty gritty *giggle*



This week for SSD Tuesday we are working with a square card for SSD04 and I have chosen to work with the Bra's Volume 1 set which has a lot of quirky and fun sentiments about friendship and dare I say....bosoms ;)




This fun polka dot bra comes hanging on a hanger and I snipped off the loop and replaced part of the image with a real wire loop and paper toled the bra to make it dimensional. I sponged the background with blues to really make the bra pop and to show the brightness in the coral colours. I coloured the "lace" on the bra with my white gel pen and added some highlights with my sparkly stardust pen :)




Now that you have "hung in there" for all of the blather above I have some blog candy to offer! Thanks to Heather (the very generous owner of Skipping Stones Design) I have this wonderful set to share with you:



Hooray! Isn't this the perfect set for seasonal celebrations? There is many a toast to be made over the holidays and to get this set, all you have to do is leave me a comment and I will post the winner next Tuesday (Dec 29th). And if you don't win but would like to one some of these fabulous sets then Heather has a save the shipping event on where you get free shipping on orders over $30 and that includes International shipping!

Good luck everyone and if I don't get a chance to post again before Christmas (knowing me, I won't) I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! May Santa bring you oodles of goodies and may you get a chance to share your holidays with your loved ones :)



Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Designs - Bras Volume 1
Paper: Gina K, Watercolour, Cocoa, K&Co, Basic Grey and My Mind's Eye Dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Sky, Chocolate, Olive, Coral
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Nestabilities, Sponges, Pop Dots, Wire, Rhinestones, Ribbon, SU Label Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, Scallop Edge Punch, Circle Hole Punch, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, White Gel Pen, Stardust Gelly Roll Pen, Silver Gel Pen

SSD03 - Getting Lucky!

It's time for another Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday and I got to play with a brand new release! The set that I got to play with is called Gettin' Old and it's being released today! It's full of sassy sentiments to make both you (the card maker) and the person you are giving it to laugh :)



Here is this week's sketch and you can tell that I cheated a little on my own sketch *gasp* I turned the sketch on it's side and moved the triangle piece to the opposite side to accommodate my car....an may have added another piece of card stock for good measure.... :) More is more I always say! lol



I coloured water coloured my car to match my orange and yellow scenic route DP scrap and added some silver gel pen to create the chrome look. I then paper toled the car, cut out the windows and added some acetate to look like glass - too bad that you can't tell that extra detail in the photo (you might be able to if you click on the picture too enlarge it).



While cruising around SCS the other day, I stumbled across a really cute card with these amazing trees on it by PJStamps. Hers was made out of punches but because I don't own any of the ones she does, I decided to cut the shapes out free hand and shape my version of the tree...and methinks that I will be making way more of these cuties in the future! Thanks Patti Jo!

I place my tree upon my sponged ink background and assembled my creation with the addition of the first part of the sentiment. And on the inside the card reads:




*Snort!* I love it!!! Don't forget to pop by the Skipping Stones Design store to see what's in the rest of this fun set :)


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Gettin' Old
Paper: Gina K, Grey, Moss, Chocolate, Watercolour, Cosmo Cricket DP, My Mind's Eye DP, Scenic Route DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Grey, Moss, Green, Celery, Baja, Artichoke, Rust
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, Brads, Corner Rounder, Sponges, Acetate, Pop Dots, Silver Gel Pen, Clear Embossing Powder

SSD02 - 'Tis the season for gingerbread men!

It's time for another Skipping Stone Sketch Tuesday and this week is a long and semi skinny card - I guess it ate too many gingerbread men *snort* ;) In case you were wondering this card is actually a 4x6" card which is kind of an unusual measurement but I find that I am still able to fit everything that I want to add on this size of card.




I took the opportunity to use this adorable gingerbread man to make a Christmas Card rather than pair it up with the sassy sentiments that it comes with to show the versatility of this set....and because I ran out of room! lol




I water coloured this gingerbread man using my tombow markers and aqua painter and then I touched up the icing bits with a white gel pen. As an after thought I added some stardust stickles and of course needed the rest of the card to be just as festive...a bottle of stardust stickles later and some awfully glittery fingertips...voila! There you have it - one very shiny card! Put on your sunglasses to view this one ladies!




Heather from Skipping Stones Design wanted me to let all of you know that she is having a 25% off sale on all of her sets today only (Dec 8th) just enter 25off in the coupon area and is also offering free shipping on all orders over $30!!!

And for all of you who would like to be on a design team...here is your chance! Skipping Stones Design is looking for a few more talented designers! Check out all of the details in this forum. Are you wanting to be a guest sketch artist like me? Look for all of those details here.



Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Trouble with Men, Sanded
Paper: Gina K, Caramel, Watercolour, Cosmo Cricket DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Burgundy, Sky, Sage, Caramel, Cocoa
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Nestabilities, Dew Drops, Ribbon, Sponges, Stickles, White Gel Pen, Pop Dots, Decorative Punch, Corner Rounder, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter, Clear Embossing Powder

Aging is like fine wine...

For the month of December I get to be the Guest Sketch Artist for a fairly new company called Skipping Stones Design and today is the big day....drum roll please.....




Yes, there it is...the first sketch of the month for Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday's and the very first time that I drew a sketch up on the computer! I'm so impressed that I managed to get it to work! lol - Just think...I get to do this 4 more times this month ;)

Ahem, now back to the card design ;) I made this cheeky card using the Margarita Birthday set and designed it specifically for my Gram. It's her 80th birthday coming up this weekend and not only does she love wine, but a good joke as well! Gram at the ripe old age of almost 80 still loves to have a good time and these sentiments couldn't be more perfect! I plan on saving some of the other sassy sentiments in this set for another birthday that is coming up soon...shhhhh...don't tell my best friend! *wink*




I water coloured and paper toled the wine glass and then added some crystal effects for the glossy texture and shine. I opted to play with the shapes on the sketch a little so that it fit what I had in mind for the card, and I think that it work out well. Almost all of the designer paper layers were run through my cuttlebug and I'm pretty sure that everything on this card was touched by a sponge. Yep...I got a little carried away with both the sponging and the sewing on this one!





I would love it if you got a chance to play along with this sketch! If you do and decide to upload your creation to SCS, then please use the keyword's: SSD01, skippingstonesdesign, skipping_stones_design. I can't wait to see what you all make! Oh and don't for get to leave some lovin' over on the Skipping Stones Blog. They will be doing a new sketch every Tuesday for your enjoyment and there will be prizes :)


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Skipping Stones Design - Margarita Birthday
Paper: Gina K, Watercolour, Jenni Bowlin DP, Basic Grey Dp, Inique Boutique DP, Chocolate
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Burgundy, Chocolate, Cocoa, Caramel
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folders, Nestabilities, Clear Embossing Powder, Crystal Effects, Corner Rounder Punch, Sponges, Pop Dots, Brads, Tombow Markers, Aqua Painter