Love You Skipping Stones!

Sigh, I knew this day was coming, but somehow knowing, doesn't make it easier.

Today is my last post on the Skipping Stones Design blog.  It's a Valentine that I made with a few of my favorite SSD background sets.  Stop by the Skipping Stones blog and feel the love!

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Shopping for Inspiration + Happy Mail for Grayson

Hello friends!

I am over at the Neat and Tangled blog today to let you in on a little secret of how I combine my weekly Target shopping with finding inspiration for card making.  Pop on over to see what I have been up to!

As card makers, I know that we are a caring bunch, so before I go, I wanted to let you know about opportunity to spread a little love to a little boy and his big brother who could use a little sunshine. 

Just before Thanksgiving, Danielle Walls from Neat and Tangled, heard news that a girl she went to high school with and her family had embarked on an incredibly difficult journey. They had discovered that their sweet little 2 year old boy, Grayson, had a tumor on his brain stem. Since then, they have been on a roller coaster ride, and this is only part of the journey.  Grayson will begin chemotherapy this month as the next stage of treatment. Through all of this, the family has stayed strong, hopeful, faithful and positive.  And Grayson is a strong and spunky fighter :) Grayson's mom, Jackie, has a blog she keeps updated regularly, so you can get to know more about Grayson HERE.

Danielle wants to just light up Grayson's life with some serious happy mail!  She talked to Jackie, and she informed her that Grayson and his brother love to get mail...and so, here we have the Happy Mail for Grayson Card Drive. 

Grayson is super lucky to have a big brother, Aydan, who is 4, so make sure to send some awesome cards to him too! These boys love all things boy :) Rescue Bots, Geotracks, Angry Birds, Thomas the Train. Send these little men funny, happy, cards! We all know how much love goes into a handmade card, and even better how personalized they can be!

Here is the important info:

The drive will run from January 21 - February 28

(If they arrive late because they are International that's okay too!)

Send them here:

Grayson Savery and/or Aydan Savery

c/o Danielle Walls

P.O. Box 5808

Wilmington, DE 19808

I will be sharing the cards I made for these little guys next week and getting them in the mail.  Please help spread the word and make a card or two to brighten the day of these little guys! 

Thank you for stopping by!!

Katie

Celebrate!

Hello!

Playing along today with the latest Runway Inspired Challenge which offered up a stunning dress from Carolina Herrera as inspiration piece.

I used a couple sets from Papertrey Ink to create my card.  First, I used Background Basic Circles to build a background featuring the colors in the dress. Then I stamped the large bow from ribbons and bows. I also stamped part of the bow and sentiment onto a tag that I adhered to the card with foam tape. 

Here's a look at the dress that inspired my card:

That's all I have today.  Thank you for stopping by!

Katie

A Skipping Stones thank you

Hello and happy Monday!

Today, some friends of Skipping Stones and I are taking a moment to say thank you to Heather Engebretson.  Heather is the owner, sense of humor and artistic visionary behind Skipping Stones Design.

I am grateful to Heather for many, many reasons, but I thought I would take a minute, if you will indulge me, to tell you how Heather and I first crossed paths. After placing my first order with Skipping Stones Design back in 2011, Heather checked out my blog from a link in my email and encouraged me to submit an application for her design team.  She also invited me to participate in the Blogs for Boobies fundraiser with dozens of very talented and accomplished designers. Needless to say, I was very flattered and humbled.  I was very new to participating in the paper crafting community and had only just started submitting projects to magazines and playing along with online challenges.

A few months later, Heather offered me a spot on the Skipping Stones Design team and I was thrilled. The last year and a half have been so amazing!  I am grateful for the opportunity to work with Heather and the amazing team of designers, guest designers and sketch artists over these many, many months. And to Heather, I would like to say thank you for taking the time to encourage new designers, taking a chance on the new girl and giving me this awesome opportunity!

I made a card for Heather that I am sharing today.  I used a vintage Skipping Stones set called Buns and Crunches.



Don't those cookies look delicious? The patterned papers are from My Mind's Eye and I used an oval doily from MFT's Dienamics to create the platter.  I love the Buns and Crunches set for it's sweet and sassy sentiments.  I think that sums up Heather's contributions to the stamping community pretty well, sweet and sassy!

Your next stop on the thank you hop is the sweet and talented Wendy Price. Here is a list of the designers hat are participating in today's hop.

Wendy Price

Glenda Wyatt

Rochelle Washington

Wendy Jordan

Karen Baker

Stephanie Mino

Amy Tsuruta

Cyndi Bundy

Tesa Broman

Vanessa Menhorn

Lindsay Amrhein

Judith Gowdy

JoAnn Valderama

Pamela Young

Jingle

Be sure to leave comments on the designer's blogs as you hop today.  There are some Skipping Stones sets that will be given to winners selected from comments left on the designers blogs.  Comments must be received by 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 3 and will be announced here and on the Skipping Stones blog on Monday, February 4.

You're my type

Hello!

Yesterday, I was able to sneak away from the family and have some quality crafty time with my crafty girlfriends.  We try to meet up at a local Archiver's every few weeks.  It's always a riot- it's so much fun to spend time with people who share your passion for paper crafting.  We share many laughs, and if we are lucky, manage to get a few things done as well. ;o)

One of the cards I made yesterday was for Avery Elle's AEI{heart}U challenge. This month's challenge was to create a card based off an inspiration photo.  Here is what I came up with:

Since the photo is black and white with just a touch of red, I tried to mimic those colors in my project.I first stamped the stripes from Knotty onto cream cardstock.  The stripes reminded me of the boots that the girl is wearing in the photo.

Next, I created a tag using All Occasion Tags and tried to create the subway art look with the sentiments and tiny hearts from Lots of Love. I added some patterned paper from Crate Paper and finally a big bow tied with New Moon grosgrain ribbon.

This was this month's inspiration photo.  It makes rainy days look very chic, don't you think?

That's all for me today.  Thank you for stopping by! 

Katie

The Contenders

Today I am sharing a few projects I made for a recent Paper Crafts call that will not be appearing on the pages of Paper Crafts Magazine.  They are rejects, or as my friend Annette calls them, contenders, and over the next couple days, lead by Annette, we are celebrating the contenders.

I was super inspired to create projects for the Nautical-themed category and I was so delighted that two cards were picked up for this feature.  Here are some that did not...

First up, a lighthouse card that features my beloved Paper Smooches stamps, some paper piecing and dies from MFT and Papertrey Ink.

I also tried my hand at a couple tags.  This one above featured bold stripes of color.

This one features stripes, woodgrain + red, white and blue.  I actually decided not to submit this tag because the "are awesome" portion of the sentiment looked a bit blurry to me.  

Finally, I love a good home decor project, so I made a banner of different nautical flags:

Using square and circle Spellbinder dies, this banner came together super quickly and would make a great accent for a nautical themed room or party.  Dimensions: 24" x 3.5"

Those are my contenders for this round.  They were fun to dream up and put together. If you haven't already, be sure to stop by Annette's blog and check out the other inspiring contenders! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie  

A Runway Inspired Challenge

Playing along today with the latest Runway Inspired Challenge based on a super fab dress from Cacharel's spring collection.

To create this one layer card, I first spattered black ink onto the card base created from Soft Stone cardstock.  Next, I pulled out an oldie, but goody, set from PTI, Out on a Limb.  I stamped the branch lots and lots of time in black and kraft ink.  The lighter tones were achieved by stamping the branch again without reinking. I added leaves in yellow and blue varying the shades of ink by stamping the leaves several times before reinking.  I added the Happy Birthday sentiment from Botanical Silhouettes and lastly rounded the top right corner of the card. 

Below is the frock that inspired this card.  

That's all I have for today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

 

Meet On the Strip

Hello!  It's Day 3 of release week at Neat and Tangled and today the team is previewing a super fun set called On the Strip.  On the Strip is a set of long border stamps that you can use in so many ways- including making your own washi tape!  With washi tape on the brain, here is a card I created with this set: 

I embossed a panel of aqua cardstock before die-cutting a large heart.  I stamped thr border strips from On the Strip onto cardstock and adhered them along with some gold washi tap onto the card base.

The aqua panel was attached to the card base with some foam tape.The double-ended banner is from Party Dots which the team will be showing off tomorrow. The XO sentiment is from My Heart Sings.  All of the sets shown off this week will be available on Jan 11.

Be sure to stop by the Neat and Tangled blog today to see what the other girls created and for a chance to win this fun new set.

Thanks for stopping by!
Katie

Meet Swirly Twirly Tags

It's Day 2 of release week at Neat and Tangled!! Today, the team is previewing a new set called Swirly Twirly Tags and here is a card I created with this darling new set: 

This card was made by layering lots of elements- washi tape, patterned paper and stamps from this set to create my card. Before I started taping everything down, I misted some green cardstock with white ink 

Don't forget to stop by the Neat and Tangled blog today to see what the other girls created with this set.  Oh, and Danielle may be giving away a free set to a lucky someone.  Good luck!!

Katie

Introducing My Heart Sings

Good morning!

Neat and Tangled is releasing 5 new stamp sets this Friday and I am super excited to be introducing a "tweet" set to you.  I used My Heart Sings + the chalkboard technique on this card. 

I love Danielle's handwriting and this set pairs her adorable script with some gorgeous birds and sweet heart and music notes. On a piece of chalkstock paper, I stamped the images in Versamark and embossed them with white embossing powder.  I then rubbed a some white ink around the embossed images to give it that chalky look.  

All of the stamp sets previewed this week will be available for purchase at 8 a.m. on Friday, January 7, 2013. Be sure to stop by the Neat and Tangled blog today to see what the other girls came up with and for a chance to win this adorable set!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Waltzingmouse Holiday Card Exchange

Hello all,

Earlier last month, I had an opportunity to sign up for the Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card exchange on their customer forum.  A few weeks later, an envelope of Royal Mail arrived containing this stunning card....

I was somehow so blessed to be on the receiving end of this beautiful card from the head mousetress, Claire. I often oooh and ahhh over the samples that Claire posts on her blog, but I have to say that now that I have seen one of her cards in real life, I am not sure that the photos do her cards justice!!

A simple photo does not truly capture all the gorgeous details that comprise this breathtaking card. The gems on the ribbon, the black sentiment was clear embossed, and pops of colors were added with marker, the inking, the perfect mat for the label, the background stamping, sigh, I could go on and on....I am so appreciative of receiving this lovely card.  I will treasure it always! 

On the giving end, I was assigned to send a card to Design Team Member, Julia Aston.  I love her creations, so it was a bit intimidating to come up with something to send her.  Here's what I came up with: 

I stamped all the little Christmas icons from Gingerbread Joy to a card base I made from a rustic cream card stock. I then die-cut a tree using my pennant dies from Spellbinders and adhered it to the card base with foam tape. 

I then die cut and banner from more rustic cream card stock and adhered it to the card with more foam tape.  A few weeks later, I received a lovely handmade note from Julia thanking me for the card.  She is just awesome! 

Hope your day is off to a great start! Thanks for stopping by!

Katie