Swanky!

Good morning!

Today, I am sharing my take on Skipping Stones sketch 125 inspired by non other than the triumphant return of Mad Men to TV, also known as the primary reason I don't get enough sleep on Sunday nights and start off the week tired, oh well, it's totally worth it! (LOL!)

Enough about my sleep or lack there of, here is my card:

I used Chic Martini to create this card.  I stamped the martini glass and setiment in black ink and followed up with the stars stamped in red ink.  I colored the olives in the glass green and added a gem to the stir stick.  

I created the olive paper with the olive stamp from Chic Martini that I stamped repeatedly and colored the center of the olive red with a marker.   I finished off the sketch with some border punched paper in green and gray and some red ribbon that I adorned with a few extra gems. 

And here is a look at the sketch: 

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Ready to give this week's sketch a whirl?  Head over to the Skipping Stones blog and link your take on this week's sketch by April 30 at midnight EST for a chance to win a free set of Skipping Stones stamps.  

Be sure to swing by our guests and DT's blogs to see more awesome takes on this week's sketch! Thanks for stopping by! 

Katie  

Grand

Hello!

Just popping in to share a scrapbook layout that I created for Pretty Little Studio's sketch challenge.  I few weeks ago, I received my Pretty Little Studio order and inside was all kinds of vintage cuteness, including the Mousier collection that I used to make my layout below: 

This layout features my grandpa, Paige and Sophie's great grandpa, who turned 94 years old last week.  He is so amazing and as my Aunt Anne says, "he is truly the finest person to ever be put on this Earth."  These photos were taken a few years back during what turned out to be his last visit to my house.  Nowadays, he sticks pretty close to home which is Columbus and he and my mom have not been up to making the 2 hour drive north to visit us.  That's ok though, and we try to make it down to Columbus as often as we can for a visit. 

Here are a couple more pics of the layout. 

Notice the blue spray ink?  I am trying to break out of my comfort zone. 

The rosettes are from American Crafts City Park collection, but I thought they complimented the other papers nicely.  Buttons are from PTI and the sticker letters are Cosmo Cricket from the stash-a-rooni. I was so thrilled to have the Mousier collection released so that I have some more choices in creating for the guys in my life. 

Hope you enjoy my take on the sketch and if you haven't already, you should really give these sketches a whirl.  Not only have they gotten me back into scrapping, but they provide excellent and totally do-able ideas for using smaller sheets of patterned paper in your layouts- great way to use up scraps and for folks who primarily make cards- this is a great way to stretch those 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 paper collections. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Katie

Hey!

Good morning!

My blogging efforts over the last few weeks can be summarized in two words- Epic Fail.  Sometimes life just gets in the way. :o)  It's all good stuff like a little kitchen "botox" that the hubs and I are working on, a crafty baby shower for a dear friend and oh, a business trip, which despite me generally not sleeping well in hotels, resulted in one of my best night's sleep in years! But enough about all that, I wanted to share a card I made for the recent Stamping Royalty Contest held by Paper Crafts Magazine.

I used several sets to create the eclectic look I was going for including: Skipping Stones Garden Stamp Kiss, Pumpkin Seed Sentiments, and Grunge, Waltzingmouse: Compact Sentiments, and PTI Fancy Flouishes. There was also lots of stamp smooching and masking involved- let's just say that me and  Spellbinders circle dies and post it notes were like this- (insert mental image of me crossing my index and middle finger) during this process.  I did have to do a bit of fussy cutting for the bird and the butterfly wing, but it was totally do-able- this coming from the gal who is not a fan of fussy cutting. 

Here are a couple close ups of the "fussy" spots.  First up, the bird: 

And the butterfly:

Since I am sharing it with you, this card was obviously not a winner, but I was, and remain to be, really proud of it.  Creating this card stretched be creatively and I tried a look and some techniques that I don't normally do and that makes me really happy!  

Here is a peek of the Pinterest image that inspired my card: 

Via

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!

Katie

Love makes all my reasons sing

Good morning!

Skipping Stones Design revealed another awesome sketch by the talented Dina Kowal today and here is my take:

Many of the DT gals are also featuring the original Heartsong with today's post and that is where those pretty butterflies are from.  The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Tea for Two collection.

Be sure to stop by the other DT gals and our guests to check out their version of the sketch, then head over to Skipping Stones Design to link your take on the sketch to our weekly sketch contest for a chance to win free stamps!!

Thanks for popping by!

Katie

Heartsong 2 Blog Hop!

Good Tuesday Morning!

Today Skipping Stones Design is excited to be celebrating the release of a follow up to a very popular and beautiful set, Heartsong 2!   If you arrived from  Wendy Price's blog  you are in the right spot, if not, head over to the Skipping Stones Design blog and pick up the hop from the beginning.  

Our sketch artist this month is Dina Kowal and here is my take on this week's sketch.

I used Pumpkin Seed, Timeless Textures and Heartsong 2 to create my card. From Timeless Textures, I stamped the background with the tapestry image in yellow ink.  I then stamped the musical line in aqua ink on aqua paper. I tore the edge to give it a bit more texture. The focal point background was created from Pumpkin Seed in yellow with the branches, sentiment, flowers, and bird are from Heartsong 2.  

Now it's YOUR turn! Join in the sketch challenge this week by creating a card using the featured sketch and link up to the Skipping Stones site for your chance to win a FREE stamp set! You don't have to use Skipping Stones Stamps, but we love when you do!  We ask that you don't combine the challenge with more than five total in your post (including SSD)! Your next stop on the hop is Dina Kowal's blog!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy hopping!

Katie

Heartsong 2- Released this week!

Good morning!

It's a very exciting week at Skipping Stones Design.  Not only is our supah fun, crazy loads of inspiring blog hop tomorrow, but we are also celebrating the release of Heartsong 2!!  This set was inspired by all the loveliness that is Heartsong with some additional images and sentiments that work perfectly with either set and lots of other occasions too.

In honor of this release, I created a little card to showcase our newest set:

I stamped the background with one of the images from Timeless Textures in Pear Tart Memento ink.  For the focal point, I stamped the leafy branch image from the set a few times and the bird on a branch in Lilac Posies Memento.  I stamped the sentiment in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and added a few gems from Hero Arts.  

The rose in the left corner was stamped and paper pieced from Lilac Posies and Pear Tart. The patterned paper that I used to draw my colors is Basic Grey- Cherry Limeaid collection- I think. 

Here is the set I used on my card today:

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope to see you back tomorrow for the blog hop!  Have a great week!

Katie

Hangin' with my peeps

Hello!

Thanks so much for dropping in!  Just wanted to share a card I made based on Skipping Stones Sketch #122 designed by Dina Kowal and a cutie set called Chick Chat.

I paper pieced the Chick Trio with some patterned paper and nestled them in some grass to resemble those sugary, gooey marshmallow treats that will be inside many a basket in little less than a week.  All the patterned papers are from Doodlebug Designs.  I stamped the sentiment on a double ended banner die and scored to add some dimension.  A few die cut clouds and buttons added the finishing touch. 

Here is another look at Dina's sketch: 

And the set I used this week: 

Love this set so much- especially the bar code and "Not Cheap" sentiment.  It made me LOL because it's so true!!! 

Now it's you turn to link up your take on the sketch!  Head over to the Skipping Stones Designs blog for all the deets.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great week!

Katie