Flower Soft DT Challenge: Flowers

The Flower Soft team is hopping today... today we're using our Flower Soft on flowers! You'll want to start from the Flower Soft Blog to make sure you don't miss a thing...because prizes are involved!! If you arrived here from Linda's blog, you're on the right track.

If you'd like to join in on the challenge, pull out the Flower Soft ---------- we'd love to have you join us, and you might even win a prize! Be sure to include code FSC05 if you post your creation to an online gallery. Here's my card:

This is one of the unmounted House Mouse stamps available from Joanna Sheen... she has a new collection of summer and fall HM stamps available now too...but the birthday ones are my faves. I watercolored the scene using Derwent WC pencils and a waterbrush, and then filled in all those tiny flowers with Flower Soft's Sweet Pea mix. There's a little fluff of Polar White FS on the bunny's tail as well.

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post! There will be a prize winner chosen randomly among the blogs. The prizes are (one set for Splitcoast players and one set for the blog hop!) :

Moments in Time Stamp set Little Friend (love this one!!)
Polar White Flower Soft (another favorite...)
Ultra Fine Strawberry Flower Soft
Flower Soft Glue

You'll be moving on to Cibele Glazer's blog, Flower Foot Designs, next. I'm glad you stopped by... enjoy the hop!

Flower Soft & CPS

Flower Soft is sponsoring this week's Card Positioning Systems challenge (#186)...... here is the sketch...... .......and my really loose interpretation! I made a gatefold card, using stamps from Impression Obsession:

Journaling 1 (label stamp) - stamped in red and sponged in red and currant
Typestacks Family (text)
Mittens - watercolored with markers

I used Flower Soft's Heather Mix to cover the cuffs of the mittens. The label and thumb of the mitten tuck under the button to keep the card closed.

If you'd like to play along with the sketch challenge for a chance to win a prize from Flower Soft, remember to post a link over at the challenge post at Card Positioning Systems!

etsy update......

I just uploaded a bunch of unmounted stamps to my etsy shop - making another round through my stash and simplifying... These are barely used (some are new, just inked to index) and super cheap for you! I have more to list but wanted to let you know about what's there now. There are stamps from smARTworks, Eureka Stamps, My Heart Stamps for You, Firecracker Designs, Impression Obsession, Our Daily Bread, Alextamping, TAC, Biblical Impressions, Stampin' Up!, and more. All are grouped loosely by theme. Lots of cards in the shop too, as well as tags like these, watercolored tags, and some other stuff... feel free to look around!

my orchid!

And there's so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see,
but everywhere I go, I'm looking.....

Rich Mullins

I've had this orchid growing out beside our house for a couple of years now - this is the first time it has put out double blooms! Sooooooooo pretty.... just had to share.

winner!

Thanks to all that participated, shopped, hopped, and bid on cards throughout the last week during Skipping Stones Design's fundraiser! My card goes to Tiya-B, and her winning bid will go to the Susan Komen Foundation to help further breast cancer research......... I think that's pretty awesome!

Halloween Candy Jars

I adore this Candy Jars image - it's just so fun to color and so fun to customize. Had to share this bit of genius - how to make the gumballs into eyeball candies! I used this set (Create-a-Cupcake) again - see those tiny circle stamps? Turns out they make great eyeballs too. Heh........ I stamped the second largest one in chalk ink (one is Tangerine, one is Lime Pastel), and then the smallest circle in Onyx Black, then did a little shading and highlighting with pencil. The highlights on the jars are done using acrylic paint.


This first card was one of the samples I sent for CHA - it has a button eyeball on it too! hee hee... The background uses the Large Paisley Cover-a-Card, and the sentiment can be found here.

The image is colored with Prismacolor pencils - these are the ones I used: I made a second card with the same idea, but a different color scheme... I used the CAC Bubbles stamp for the base layer, and the sentiment is here.
I used vintage seam binding and some black eyelash fiber, too. The coloring again is done with Prismacolor pencils:
Fun, huh?

Flower Soft Sprinkle Challenge: Furry Critters

This week's Flower Soft Sprinkle challenge over at SCS (FSC04) is to use Flower Soft to fluff up a furry animal. I used one of Gail Green's new stamps available through Impression Obsession - these are finely detailed images and super fun to color! I used Prismacolor pencils to color the image, which is called Goldie on Ornament.

Because I didn't want to lose the detail of the ears, I used the Flower Soft a bit more sparingly than normal so some of the shading and lines would show through. I used the Ultra-fine Sand Flower Soft to add some texture to the ears of this dog, and Polar White Flower Soft on the rim and ball of his hat. Here are the Prismacolor pencils I used:
Thanks for stopping by!

Layered backgrounds

I've been playing with my new Cover-a-Card backgrounds... the possibilities just are limitless, which drives me crazy, probably because I want to try out every possibility there is...

The CAC stamps that were released in the summer (view catalog supplement here!) were designed with layering in mind. If you look closely at many of the leading brands of designer paper, the motifs are created with layered patterns. These designs are geared toward that idea - creating your own background paper using a variety of patterns, techniques, and inks. There are a variety of effects you can achieve simply by the kind of paper you use. You can stamp directly to the paper, or mist your stamp with water first for a more muted, watercolored effect. There are botanical stamps and flourishes to throw into the mix as well - see, I told you the possibilities are endless!

So here are a few cards that feature layered background stamps. I've used adhesive glossy photo paper, which has some different properties than regular glossy cardstock. These are super simple layouts meant to show off the base layers... This first background layers 2 favorite CAC stamps - Screen and Script, with some added sponging with Sand ink. I used Flourish 2 on the card base. The sentiment can be found HERE (and it's on sale!).Here I used Screen on the brown card base - tone on tone - just to break up the solid color. On the map layer, I covered the photo paper with Versamagic chalk ink first (Aegean Blue), then stamped over that with Scratches (Memento ink) and quickly wiped away the areas where the two inks met, using a tissue. This produces a subtle distressed look, because the second ink removes the first ink... still working on an tutorial... I stamped the Map over everything, and used a marker to fill in the land areas lightly. Edges are sponged. Those are rolled paper beads on the twine, made from book pages. One of my favorite quotes, too......
Last card - here is Screen again on the card base.... after this card, I had to make myself put the stamp away...! Love it. For this background piece, I rubbed my yellow inkpad (Adirondack Lemonade, same ink I used for the Screen) on the photo paper, then stamped the Kaleidoscope background in Bisque, and stamped the Large polkas over the top in Tangerine chalk ink. I sanded the whole piece horizontally and vertically for a distressed look. The cupcake image (Party Kisses) is watercolored on a Twinchie Square using reinkers. Sentiment is called "Fill Your Day".

Hope this gives you new ideas for playing with backgrounds! If you have questions, let me know.

House Mouse Challenge Blog - 2nd anniversary!

I wanted to help the House Mouse Monday Challenge blog celebrate their 2nd birthday (Challenge #78), and I really tried my bestest to use their sketch..... but I could not get it to work for me. So here is the sketch... and my card... it has some "inspired elements" so maybe they will let me play anyway........
Use your imagination, ok........? This is the Wishin' Well stamp from House Mouse's Happy Hoppers line - the scene is watercolored with a variety of stuff... reinkers mixed with Shimmerz, markers, Twinkling H2os, and Derwent WC pencils. I think that was all..... (!) I sketched in lots of grass, inspired by the Shabby Tea Room's challenge (#27) to use natural elements, images, or green. I used Twinks on the coins so they're sparkly, and covered the jar with a clear Glaze pen (Sakura).

Oh right --- there is Flower Soft on the bunny tails... couldn't help myself!

Silent Auction for Breast Cancer fundraiser

Skipping Stones Design has invited little ol' me to join along in helping to raise money to fight the war against Breast Cancer! If you've missed their blog hops this week, be sure to take some time to visit the participating designers' blogs - each participant is auctioning a card to raise money for breast cancer research. All the info is at the SSD site, as well as peeks at 2 new releases! They're also donating $2 for EVERY stamp set sold this week to the cause, so keep that in mind as you browse! All of the money raised will be donated to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

We have a family friend in the States who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer now. She is my age. My husband's language helper's wife has breast cancer which they are unable to operate on due to her recent stroke, and another national co-worker of ours has recently lost his mother to breast cancer - so this is a cause that is hitting home for me personally. So happy to help out in this small way!


You can help us raise money for the Komen Foundation by bidding on a project or card at the blog of any participant!

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If you'd like to place a bid on my card:

1. Go to the comment section of this post.

2. Fill in the dollar and cents amount of what you are willing to pay for the card/project. We recommend a starting bid of $5.00 or more. Remember your bid includes shipping as well as the card/or project. 100% of the money your bid will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

3. Next to your $ bid please type in your email address. During a silent auction bidders sign their name next to their bid. typing your email address is the electronic equivalent of signing your bid. Also it will help us contact you if you are the highest bidder.

4. Watch and wait! Once you have entered your bid/comment sit back and wait. If someone out bids you then you may bid again. Bidding will continue until 8:00 p.m. Mountain time September 23rd. The winner of the auction will be the highest bid (with an email address) in the comment section at the end of the silent auction.

**Keep in mind: near the end of the bidding you may not see bids as they come in. Most blogs have a comment feature where the blogger must approve comments before they are published (and you may be bidding while I'm sleeping!). So bid high! You might have the highest bid that is published, but someone might have outbid you in an unpublished comment/bid. Skipping Stones Design will send the winner an invoice for their donation/bid amount.

Have at it!!


P.S. My card uses the new Friendly Fruit set - the lemon wedges were stamped in Rouge ink and colored with Prismacolor pencils and Neopiko markers.

Impression Obsession meets Inchie Arts!

A few months ago, Lisa from Inchie Arts sent our Impression Obsession design team lots of fun product to play with! If you're unfamiliar with Inchies in general, they are tiny pieces of artwork, one square inch in size. Inchie Arts' high-quality matboard squares aren't limited to an inch though... there are Inchie Squares, Inchie Plus Squares (1-1/2"), and Twinchies (2") - all available in 7 different colors! They have lots of other stuff too. Check out how much inchie goodness comes in just one box!

You can visit their site to see all the products, find samples, and way more information about their products and the process of making them. So cool! Their blog "all in an inch" is very cool, too.

I used 3 of the white Inchie Plus Squares on my first card. My first step was lining them up together and connecting them with some masking tape on the back. Sorry for not taking pictures along the way! Next I sponged the clouds using a scalloped circle as a mask, and sponged Versamagic Sage ink across the bottom. The tree image (Sm. Tree Border) is stamped in Versamagic Sahara Sand. I didn't have a small enough leaf stamp, so guess what... the leaves and grass are stamped with the sprinkle stamp from the Create-a-Cupcake set. The leaves are stamped with Adirondack Terra Cotta ink - I 'squished' my inkpad up into its lid, and then misted the ink that was impressed there with water, and stamped with that. After I was done stamping, I removed the masking tape and mounted the squares on a piece of decorative cardstock.

The sentiment comes from the Flowers for You set and I added the tool line myself, using a ruler and fine marker.
Here's a second quick card - this layout reminds me of a 20s style hat... Here I used 3 cream inchies, stuck them on an an acrylic block, and 'stamped' them onto an inked CAC Newsprint stamp. After that, I inked up Silhouette 12 in Burnt Sienna and stamped different areas of it onto the inchies. I shaded a small area of each leaf for depth with a pencil, and that was it! Here's a closer look at the Inchies - thought it was kind of funny that the area I chose to stamp the center one has the words "HEAD STONES" on it... see it?

Remember you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps! See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! We'd love to have you join us. Be sure to check out the other designers' blogs for inspiration - their links are to the left!

blog 'bounce' and fundraiser for breast cancer awareness

Just wanted to let you know about an opportunity to help raise some money for breast cancer awareness - October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Skipping Stones Design is starting now by giving towards that cause. They will be featuring a new release, offering discounts on other sets, and making a donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Today and tomorrow (Sept. 15-16) they're having a blog hop to show cards that will be auctioned as a fund raiser - I'm not participating in the hop today, but here's a peek at the card I will be donating to the cause, along with many other designers... Friday I will have this card up for silent auction here on my blog - the winner will receive the card, and the winning bid will go towards breast cancer research.

Head over there, enjoy the 'blog bounce', and find out how YOU can also be part of giving back to this charity through Skipping Stones Design! They will continue to give back into October with another new set designed specifically to “stamp out cancer,” and even more!

Flower Soft DT Challenge: Fall Fun

The Flower Soft team is hopping today... You'll want to start from the Flower Soft Blog to make sure you don't miss a thing...because prizes are involved!! if you arrived here from Linda's blog, you're on the right track.

Today we're sharing a project with a Fall theme. If you'd like to join in on the challenge, pull out the Flower Soft ---------- we'd love to have you join us! One prize package will be given away on the blog hop and another will be chosen among people who make a card using Flower Soft and post it in the Splitcoast Gallery using the keyword FSC03.

I used a stamp from smARTworks as my focal image - this is actually from a Mother's Day set, so I hadn't considered using it as a Fall image before. It works though, and I love it! The Flower Soft I used in the trees is actually the Heather Mix, dyed with a couple drops of Terra Cotta ink from Ranger. The image is watercolored with a combination of reinkers/Shimmerz and Derwent Watercolor pencils. I used a brown blow-pen (does anyone remember those?!) to add some speckles to the sky and edges. I looove all these rich browns, and that peachy-pink sky.......

For the background, I used a Cover-a-Card stamp (Kaleidoscope) from Impression Obsession, stamped in Terra Cotta and Espresso inks with lots of misting in between. The edges are sponged with Espresso as well, and stamped with a large Flourish.

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post! There will be a prize winner chosen randomly among the blogs. The prizes are (one set for Splitcoast players and one set for the blog hop!) :

Moments in Time Stamp set Little Friend
Polar White
Ultra Fine Strawberry Flower Soft
Flower Soft Glue

You'll be hopping on to Cibele Glazer's blog, Flower Foot Designs, next. I'm glad you stopped by!

P.S. Want even more inspiration? Do you like video tutorials? Make sure and visit Flower Soft TV!