Skipping Stones Design

Hi All!

It’s JoAnn and I’ve got a fun preview today to share with you using the upcoming Sassy Cats set!

Adorable, right? Be sure to check out my blog for more! And mark your calendars – Sassy Cats will be unleashed on February 14th! Yippee!

It’s Winner Wednesday!  Just a reminder…please be sure to read the rules of the challenges…there aren’t many, so it’s not too tricky!  I had to pull a new winner because the first one I pulled did not comply with the rules.  And…this week’s random winner is……

Maggie!!!

Congratulations, Maggie!  Please email Heather at madebyme33 at hotmail dot com to claim your prize!!  Thanks so much to EVERYONE who played along!  Check out yesterday’s post to play along this week!

Can you believe how fast January has flown by?  WOW!  Welcome to sketch challenge #113!  We are SO happy to have you all here with us to jump start this challenge!  If you are new to our challenges, it’s pretty simple…just create a card based on the sketch you see below and post it to your blog.  Come back here and post a direct link in the linky and you could win a FREE set of Skipping Stones Design stamps!  You don’t have to use our stamps to participate, but we LOVE when you do!  We ask that you combine a total of five challenges or less (no more than that), but other than that…just have fun!!!!!  Here is the sketch that the amazing Pamela created for us this week!

And here is what the team has created with it!

Candice

Julie

Emily

These girls have ROCKED this month!!! Please remember to visit their blogs and thank them for their amazing inspiration!!!

And our Design Team…

Wendy P.

Wendy J.

Stephanie

JoAnn

Karen

Katie

Shannan

Jingle

Happy Friday!

As I am sure a you all know by now, our Featured Set of the Month Grunge.  Check out my blog today to see how I featured Grunge with this week’s sketch!!!

Sometimes #1 just so happens to be pretty darned lucky! This week’s winner is….

Congratulations! Please email Heather at madebyme33 at hotmail dot com to claim your prize! Thank you ALL for playing and please remember to link up for this week’s challenge! It’s another good one!

Welcome to sketch challenge #112!  We are SO happy to have you all here with us to jump start this challenge!  If you are new to our challenges, it’s pretty simple…just create a card based on the sketch you see below and post it to your blog.  Come back here and post a direct link in the linky and you could win a FREE set of Skipping Stones Design stamps!  You don’t have to use our stamps to participate, but we LOVE when you do!  We ask that you combine a total of five challenges or less (no more than that), but other than that…just have fun!!!!!  Here is the sketch that the amazing Pamela created for us this week!

And here is the inspiration based on the sketch provided by our Guest Designers for January!

Pamela

Candice

Emily

Julie

Aren’t they amazing?  I’m sad that we only have one more week with these girls!  And now here is what our fabulous Design Team has created with this week’s sketch!

Wendy Jordan

Wendy Price

Jingle

Katie

Karen

JoAnn

Taylor

Now I KNOW you want to jump right into this sketch so go DO IT!!!  Don’t forget to link up your card here for your chance to win free stamps!  (Please remember – no more than five combined challenges.  Thanks!)  Have a Happy Sketch Challenge Tuesday!

Karen here, and I want to know if you are like me and strive to get the most out of your stamps as possible? Skipping Stones Designs offer a variety of beautiful silhouette images in their stamp sets and today I’ll show you a quick way to give silhouettes a bit of personality!

Gather together your silhouttte image (I’m using the bird stamp from the Garden Stamp Kiss set), a light pigment or watermark ink, colored pencils (alcohol markers would work too), ink blending tool and light colored cardstock. For a bit more interest and definition I first stamped a trimmed piece of cardstock with the text background stamp from Garden Stamp Kiss in the light pigment ink. On top of that I used the same ink to stamp the bird silhouette. The trick is to be able to see the image but not have it too dark that it will muddle the colors that you put on top of it while bringing the image to life.

The next step is to start lightly coloring in the image. Another tip: have handy a photograph for reference that resembles the silhouette you are working with. (Google Images is a great tool for this!) Build your colors up gently with light strokes of the colored pencils instead of dark, heavy strokes because you’ll be able to add texture, highlight and shadows much easier. After you’ve colored the majority of the image, use the lightest color in each color family to blend the strokes together by coloring over that particular entire area. I really like using the PrismaColor brand of colored pencils for this because their lead is soft and waxy, perfect for blending.

The final step is to ground your image. Simply color a light line with pencils or use the edge of an ink blending tool and pull the ink downward. Assemble your card to showcase your now realistic looking bird!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope that you’ll want to give this technique a try. You’ll be amazed at how your much personality your silhouette images can have!

It’s time to announce the winner for Sketch #111!  And the winner is….

Shar!!!

Thank you all for participating and don’t forget to check out the FABULOUS PMS sale we have going on right now AND this week’s Fantastic sketch challenge for your chance to win FREE stamps!

Shar, to claim your prize, please email Heather at madebyme33 at hotmail dot com.  Congratulations!