Winner Wednesday- Sketch #124

April 25th, 2012

Good morning!

So, I betcha you wanna know who won last week’s sketch challenge… Well let me put you out of your misery…. Our lucky winner is none other than Robyn and here is her card!

Congratulations Robyn!  Please email Heather at madebyme33 (at) hotmail (dot) com and let her know which stamp set you would like as your prize!  On a side note, Robyn mentioned in her blog post that she is crafting to help raise money for her hubby and his Ride to Conquer Cancer ,and we at Skipping Stones Design think that is simply fabulous.  Robyn, good luck with your crafty fundraiser!  We are so grateful that you found inspiration in our sketch to assist you in this important cause!

Big thanks to everyone who played along with last week’s challenge and don’t forget that a new sketch challenge was announced yesterday- just scroll down for the deets.  Have a winning day!

Feature Friday with Stephanie!

April 24th, 2012
Surprise!  Our Feature Friday scheduled post decided not to post, so … here it is on Tuesday!  Don’t forget to check out the new sketch challenge post with lots of inspiration below!
Hi, everyone!
I hope you have been enjoying all of wonderful inspiration the last couple of weeks featuring Heartsong and Heartsong 2.  Since these sets are featured this month, I’d love for you to stop by my blog and take a look at another Heartsong 2 card.
Come on over and let me entice you a little more with this set!

Winner Wednesday!

April 18th, 2012

It’s Winner Wednesday! Thank you to all who continue to play along with our weekly challenges! It’s so easy to play and we LOVE checking out your fabulous creations! Welcome to the newer players, as well! And…now for our winner of sketch #123!

Lisa L. you are our winner! Please email Heather at madebyme33 at hotmail dot com to claim your prize! Congratulations!

Tuesday Sketch Challenge #124 Featuring Heartsong!

April 17th, 2012

Well, after the release of the fabulous Heartsong 2 last week (NOW AVAILABLE! :-) ) We, here at Skipping Stones, had an itch to pull out the set that inspired it… Heartsong! So…our Design Team has featured Heartsong using the sketch for this week’s challenge today and we think you are going to LOVE the inspiration! Let’s get started with our sketch created by the fabulous Dina Kowal!

And here is what our fabulous April guests have done with this sketch!

Dina

Annette

Veronica

Wow! Didn’t they do an amazing job? I just love these cards! And now for even MORE inspiration, here are the projects created by our design team!

Jingle
Happy Birthday Butterflies

JoAnn

Karen

Stephanie

Wendy P.

Katie

Pamela

Lindsay

WOW! Awesome inspiration, huh?! Now it’s YOUR turn! Our rules for the sketch challenge are simple:
1. Create a card that is BASED ON THE SKETCH and link back to the SSD blog.
2. Upload your link to the linky below to be entered for a chance to win FREE STAMPS!
3. Please have no more than FIVE total challenges combined in your project (including ours).
4. Have FUN!!! You don’t have to use Skipping Stones Design stamps, but we love when you do!


Feature Friday with Wendy Jordan

April 13th, 2012

This month Skipping Stones Designs is featuring Heartsong! The set that inspired this month’s release, Heartsong 2!

Head over to my blog, Paper Therapy to see Heartsong with this week’s fabulous sketch by Dina Kowel!!

Tips and Tricks Thursday: Creating Custom Banners with Karen

April 12th, 2012

Hello! It’s Karen, from The Bald Dragonfly, to show you an easy way to create your own custom banners in a jiffy! Banners are quite the rage on cards and with just a few simple steps, you can make perfect ones each time! Hope you enjoy!

Heartsong 2 Release BLOG HOP and Sketch Challenge #123!

April 10th, 2012

Well, that’s just a fun sketch challenge number, now, isn’t it?! We are SO excited to be releasing Heartsong 2 today! It is SUCH a gorgeous set! AND…we have our weekly sketch challenge for you! Here is the sketch that the fabulous Dina Kowal has given us for this week!

To play along, simply create a card using the above sketch and l ink it up below!  You don’t have to use Skipping Stones Stamps, but we love it when you do!  Also, combine no more than five challenges, including ours!  Other than that…HAVE FUN!!!  One randomly selected winner will win FREE stamps!  YAY!
And now it’s time for the Heartsong 2 Release blog hop!  This is a gorgeous set and our Design Team has ROCKED it!  You are going to be SO inspired!  Don’t forget to let them know you visited with a little comment!  Those always make us smile!  The hop order is below the picture of the gorgeous new stamp set!  Have fun!

Thanks for hopping!

Link up your take on the sketch here!


New Release Designer Showcase – Heartsong 2!

April 9th, 2012

We are SO excited to be debuting Heartsong 2 this week!  We know how much you all LOVED the first Heatsong set and this new release set will work beautifully as a companion to Heartsong or entirely on it’s own!

Isn’t it just gorgeous?! I love this set! And a couple of our designers have created BEAUTIFUL cards to show off this set!

Stephanie created this beautiful card! I just love that pretty frame around the bird! Stunning!

And this beauty is from Katie! I love how she also used Timeless Textures as her background! Gorgeous!

Tomorrow we will kick off the release of Heartsong 2 with a FABULOUS blog hop and a brand new sketch challenge where you will have the chance to win FREE STAMPS! Come on back and join us!

Feature Friday with Wendy Price!

April 6th, 2012
“here comes Peter Cotton Tail, 
hopping down the bunny trail. 
Hippity Hoppity, Easter’s on its way”
artist unknown

Hop on over to my blog (paper, ink and smiles) for a cute Easter card using Gray Hares!

Tips and Tricks Thursday – Faux Misting with Katie

April 5th, 2012

Hello friends!

Thanks for stopping by to visit us today!  Spray inks are so popular and really give your cards and projects that trendy and current edge.  If you are anything like me though, the thought of spraying a card or flicking a finished project and potentially ruining it, can make your heart skip a beat, and not in a good way.

Using some of the images from Grunge 1 and 2, you can achieve a similar look without the risk.  I showcased this technique on a card I created a few weeks back and now I want to take you through a step by step.

To get started, pull out Grunge 1 and Grunge 2 sets. I also used the new Beautiful Botanicals set on my card. 
First, attach the speckle image from Grunge 2 and attach it to a clear block.  Ink the stamp with a color that you would like your “mist” to be.  I used  Versa Magic Chalk finish ink on my cards to give it a nice smooth finish and solid coverage. 
Then start building your background by stamping the speckle image repeatedly.  A couple tips:
  • Flip the direction of the stamp to keep things from looking TOO uniform. 
  • Blot the stamp with a paper towel for a more subtle misted look
  • Thanks to the speckled image, don’t worry too much about making it seamless, you can always go back and fill in the gaps. 
In the finished card above, I also created some score lines and inked them for added interest, but that is an optional step. 
To create the ink splotches, use the splotches from Grunge 1 and stamp in a desired color.  Grunge 1 offers two different splotch images for variety and you can use selective inking to change up the look even more. 
Finally, attach you faux misted and splotched masterpieces to your card and there you have it- the look of misting without some of unpredictability of spray ink. 
 Thanks so much for visiting today!  I would love to see your take on this technique- if you do try it, be sure to stop by my blog and let me know so I can visit you and your beautiful creations!  
Have a great day!
Katie