Spread Kindness

I’m over on the Skipping Stones Design Blog sharing a card featuring the new Let it Be stamp set!

Pop over to get more details and the full card!

Skipping Stones Design April Challenge

I can’t believe it’s the end of April already! I mean, seriously!

Today is a new monthly challenge at Skipping Stones Design and we’re using a sketch!

I (of course) didn’t stick totally to the sketch pictured below, but used it as inspiration when creating my card  and loosely kept with the sketch.

To start, I masked off three circles and used an ink blending tool to color the three circles with Cantaloupe Crisp, Coastal Cabana and Perfect Plum. Next, I pulled out Breathtaking Butterflies and stamped the top with the smaller butterfly image in Calypso Coral, followed by Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss.

The sentiment was stamped in Smoky Slate and I added a sequin to each circle for texture.

Make to visit the Skipping Stones Design Blog to see what the other designers came up with, and then participate in the challenge!

SSD April Tip & Technique Hop!

It’s time for a new Blog Hop at Skipping Stones Design full of tips and techniques!

Make sure to visit to rest of the team to see their blogs and what they came up with!

For my card today, I pulled out my MISTI, a tool that has quickly become a huge resource to me! This may  not be a fully “named” technique, but I love that while I have stamps already on my MISTI I can play with the ink colors when inking up a stamp.

After getting the placement of butterflies from Breathtaking Butterflies where I wanted them around the sentiment, I inked up the butterflies, coordinating between three colors. I was able to apply the ink directly to the stamp in a variation of colors creating a unique look.

I used Hello Honey, Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe to ink up the stamps and then repeated the same process to fill in the blank areas after my first pass of stamps.

I then mounted the stamped panel onto a Smoky Slate card base and added a few sequins to accent the images. My tip for you today, is to place your sentiment first, and then frame the sentiment with  images. It will showcase your sentiment even more!

Don’t forget to visit the rest of the Design Team and see what they have to inspire you!

Cupcake Cutie Birthday!

I’m sharing a card on the Skipping Stones Design Blog today made with one of my favorite sets, Cupcake Cutie!

It’s an over-the-top girly card, sneak peek below!

Come check out the details of this card and the full view at the Skipping Stones Design Blog. See you there!

SSD March Tip & Technique Hop!

Happy Saturday and welcome to the Skipping Stones Design March blog hop! We’re sharing tips and techniques featuring SSD stamp sets, so be sure to hop through all the blogs and check out all the inspiration!

Although I’m using a technique that’s not super new, it’s one that I have been loving on lately! 

I first embossed the butterflies from Heartsong with white embossing powder onto watercolor cardstock. I then used my Zig watercolor markers to scribble on an acetate sheet, spritzed with water and then smooshed the panel onto the cardstock. I love seeing the colors blend together when you do this!

The sentiment from Everyday Blessings was stamped in Smoky Slate gray ink, between the butterflies.

My tip for you today is to case you own cards! Sometimes when I’m gathering inspiration, I look back at my old cards and like to reinvent them using a new technique or different stamps and colors.

My card today was inspired by this past card:

My variations included the new watercolor technique, but if you look you can see the similarities in embossed butterflies, three butterflies in a row, and the gray color. I also added the sentiment to the card front, but used a different placement on my current card as it balanced better between the butterflies.

I hope you’re feeling inspired to try a new technique, or revisit some of your cards for a fresh and fun look!

Check out the hop order below!

SSD Blog

Kandi (you’re here!)

Stephanie

Tanja

Martha Lucia 

Larissa

Coralynn

Jen

Ilina

Sweet Cupcakes!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Taking a queue from a few challenges I whipped up this Sweet card today.

My very first stamp set from Skipping Stones Design was the Cupcake Cutie stamp set and I love any reason to pull it back out! The cupcake was the starting point for this card using the inspiration photo from Cupcake Inspirations and the  one layer challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  I also added a few sequins for the AAA Cards sequin challenge.

The frosting and sentiment were embossed with gold embossing powder, and I used a heart stencil from Stampin’ Up! for the background. I used the same sponge dauber for the background to add a little pink to the frosting.

I really loved on the pink and red while crafting this weekend, stop by later this week for more pink cards!

Sweet Suprise Birthday

I’m thrilled to join the Skipping Stones DT today for our monthly Stamp and Share Challenge! Make sure to visit the SSD Blog to see what the rest of the team created and share your cards at the link up.

We’re doing an “Anything Goes” challenge so anything you create is welcome and we’d love to see your cards and projects! 

For my card today I pulled out the Birthday Donuts stamp set. I have been obsessed with my new Zig watercolor markers so of course I had to use them to color this sweet birthday card.

I started off by stamping the donut in black Momento Ink onto watercolor paper, and colored in the donut and sprinkles along with adding gray shadow underneath with the watercolor markers. The sentiment was stamped in Coastal Cabana ink and the watercolor paper was mounted onto a Coastal Cabana cardstock base.

I added Dazzling Details (like Stickles) to the top of the donut for added texture, shine and fun. Glittery donuts are the best - right?! ;) I topped off the card with Coastal Cabana twine for a sweet and simple card.

Come join us for fun and show us your “Anything Goes” cards on the SSD Blog!

 

Heart Song Butterfly

Over the weekend I was able to spend several hours in my crafty studio and one of the cards I made was inspired by a few challenges.

I love Heart Song and the butterfly images in the set are so fun to play with!

I embossed the butterfly with black embossing power and tried a new to me techinque. Yes, it’s one that has been around for awhile but I finally gave it a go and will now be playing with this technique quite a bit I’m sure! Still loving my new Zig watercolor markers and used a clear acetate sheet to smoosh the colors onto a sheet of watercolor paper. I scribbled four colors on the clear sheet, spritzed it with water, and then smooshed onto the watercolor paper. 

Once the watercolor was dry I stamped the sentiment and added a few sequins. The panel was then mounted to a Basic Gray card base. Such a simple card but I love soft and subtle watercolor. Kinda soothing!

 

Linking up to the following challenges!

MFT Color Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch 

Friday Mashup (music inspiration)

CASology (CLEAR acetate sheet to create background)

You & Me

You & Me

Such a simple phrase on a card that evokes one of my favorite songs. Did you ever watch The 4400? This song was in the episode where Tom meets  Alana and they romantically fall in love thanks to her ability to create an alternate reality in which they were together for 8 years in the span of a few minutes and the moment they leave the alternate reality Tom rushes to find her and they dramatically kiss at the end when they are reunited…after less than 10 minutes with not knowing each other previously. Yes, I’m a Sci-Fi geek and a romantic at heart.  So naturally, anytime I hear this song I think of that episode. Of course. ;)

 

Anyway, onto my card. My husband would be rolling his eyes at The 4400 reference but I think he could appreciate a super sweet and simple Valentine’s card. I watercolored the pink background with my Zig watercolor markers, and then heat embossed the two stamps in gold from So Much Love (MFT). Thanks to my MISTI it was super easy to line them up and get pretty accurate placement. (And thanks to my friend Susan for letting me use this when we were crafting last Saturday!)

I mounted the watercolored and embossed panel onto a Pool Party cardstock base and love the contrast of colors here. Very simple but super fun and easy.

I’m linking up to the Paper Players Clean and Simple Valentine’s Challenge.

So, do you have any cheesy rememberances for songs in movies or tv shows like I do?! ;)

You’re Hot

After what felt like a creative dry spell, I was super inspired after spending time with my friends Beth and Susan making cards all day long this past Saturday.

We crafted, drank a lot of Cosmos, made lots of new memories and laughed for hours upon end. It was basically the best recharge for my creative batteries and I have several new cards to share! 

To start off, one of my favorite cards began with wanting to use my new ink blending tool and distress inks, and the circle grid stencil from MFT (thanks Susan and Beth for sharing all your supplies!).  I made the background for practice and fun and set it aside. Later on in the night I made the tag (because hello cute and sassy sentiment that I HAD to use) and then saw the two together in my work area and it clicked that they were MFEO = Made For Each Other! ;)

I’m still getting the hang of the blending tool but used Berry Sorbet (PTI) and Ripe Raspberry (MFT) inks along with the Picked Raspberry (Tim Holtz) Distress Ink to create an ombre background with the circle stencil. The panel was then layered onto a Real Red card base and the tag was made with a Ripe Raspberry sentiment and coffee cup watercolored with my (also new) Zig Clean Color watercolor markers and then die cut. A little ribbon treatment finished off the tag before being popped up on dimensionals onto the card base. 

I seriously may need to get the All Heart (MFT) stamp set because the images and sentiments are ridiculously cute and full of puns.

I’m linking this up to the Simon Says Stamps Ombre challenge for the ombre background.

I’ll share more of my completed projects including my absolute favorite card soon! Let’s just say it has a little ink blending and a little bit of Game of Thrones reference, which I’m entirely too obsessed over for my own good. ;)

SSD Tip/Technique Hop

Hello and Happy Saturday!

I’m so excited to be back with the Skipping Stones Design DT and can’t wait to share my first post with you for the January Tip/Technique Hop!

I received several amazing crafty products for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!) and I couldn’t wait to use my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens for my card today. Actually make that cards plural as that’s part of my tip for you!

Often when I’m making scrapbook pages for my kiddos scrapbooks, I make two of the same page for each child sometimes only changing colors or small details. Taking that idea I wanted to use the same card layout with slight variations to create two cards from one concept in one sitting. (My second tip/technique is below  my second card.)

With all your supplies out it’s super easy to generate another card but have it look completely different!

My first card is a softer look at Funny Coffee Vol #1 and making the cup into more of a tea cup with the Get Well Soon sentiment from Heart Song 2.

I started with a Calypso Coral card base and layered on a piece of patterned paper that was notched in the corners and then layered on a doily.

The tea/coffee cup was heat embossed in gold embossing power onto watercolor paper and then colored with the Light Carmine watercolor marker. I’m still a beginner with my new markers, but love how fun they are to play with! Still practicing and learning but having fun along the way!

I wanted to show this angle for the gorgeous gold embossing – look at that shine and a close up below!

The cup panel was adhered with dimensionals for a lift off the card front, and the sentiment was stamped, cut and layered over the main image also with dimensionals. A few gold sequins were added for accent.

Now that I had my first card done I switched gears copying the same layout and mapped out my variations.

I still used Funny Coffee but pulled out the coffee to-go cup and the Thank You sentiment from Heart Song 2.

Keeping  with the same layout, I used Real Red cardstock, a patterned paper piece and doily for the base. And yes, I totally played on the Starbucks Red Cup Controversy, but thought this was fun to use as a holiday thank you with a Starbucks gift card tucked inside. ;)

The image had the same treatment – heat embossed on watercolor paper and then colored in with the Geranium Red marker, and sentiment and sequins were mimicked from the first card with one change of cutting off the edge of the doily.

One more fun tip I have for you today is to pull out your old crimper! Didn’t we all have those back in the day?!

I stamped the cup onto Crumb Cake cardstock, cut out around the sleeve and ran the piece through my crimper. I then went back to cut around closer to the edges and secured the finished piece to the colored image with a dimensional giving it a boost to add to the texture and dimension of the cup.

Be sure to visit everyone along the hop and leave some love as there could be a stamp set or store prize for a lucky winner! Check out the SSD Stamp Store to make your wish list!

The order of the hop:

The Skipping Stones Design Blog

Coralynn

Ilina

Jen

Kandi

Larissa (Head here next!)

Martha Lucia

Stephanie

Tanja

Teresa

 

I’m playing along with the following challenges!

Simon Says - Something New (new markers)

The Card Concept #46 - Warm Heart (coffee cup and color inspo on Thank You card – Clean and Layered Style)