Umbrella Card Set

Hello!  It's Lindsey today. :) I bought umbrella stamps years ago and have hardly used them, so when I saw the Challenge Six board, I knew I wanted to challenge myself to dust off those stamps.  Then, after I made my first card for Challenge Six I realized that I hadn't actually used the umbrella stamps...I just used the dies.  So today I'm back to share three cards I made using my umbrella stamps, inspired by the same three elements (going diagonally from the bottom): patterned papers, clean and simple, umbrella.

When I started my cards I was a bit in a crafting slump, so I went to Pinterest and did a search for "cute umbrellas" :) and was immediately inspired by this pin. 

Photo Source

Fruit umbrellas? LOVE!  (Sidenote: my favorite food has been fruit for as long as I can remember, so I might be a little biased.) :)

I started with the watermelon umbrella.  This particular umbrella from Papertrey's Scattered Showers set was perfect for this fruit because it already has a line separating the border, making it really easy to mask.  I used the raindrop in the set to stamp the seeds and finished it off with a sentiment from Paper Smooches' Chit Chat.

I was having too much fun, so I decided to make a set of cards.  My strawberry umbrella card was the easiest to make.  Instead of masking, I stamped the image on my card base in red, then stamped it a second time in green on scrap paper and trimmed out the top to look like leaves.  I used a white gel pen to draw on the seeds and added glossy accents on top for a little dimension.  The sentiment is from PTI's Fresh Floral Wrap-Ups.  This was such a quick card!  I loved that, too. :)

And last, a kiwi umbrella. We've been eating lots of kiwis lately, so I just had to do it.  I masked the center portion, so it could be a lighter shade and drew the seeds with a black pen.  The sentiment is from PTI's Sketched Shapes.

And here they are all together. {Insert happy sigh} I admit that my MISTI made this process much quicker and easier.  However, I didn't use it on my practice run and they still turned out pretty well, so you could definitely recreate the look with or without one.  You still have over a week to join us (or join again) for Challenge Six....can't wait to see what you create!  Have a wonderful week!

Champion Guest Designer : Kitty

We are back today with a guest design post from our 2nd Champion winner, Kitty from KT Fit Kitty. She created this kitty shaker card that stole our hearts and so we wanted to bring her out and feature her.

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Hello, everyone! I'm Kitty and I'm super excited to be here today as a guest designer! I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, with my hubby and three kitties. Unlike many crafters, I have not been particularly creative my whole life. I discovered my love of card making about ten years ago when a friend invited me to do some stamping. I took a few workshops, and I was hooked! My card-making style is "cute" and I especially enjoy kitties and other critters on my cards. I started my blog KT Fit Kitty in 2013, and I would be so happy if you would pop over for a visit!

My card was inspired by the third column: Umbrella, Critters, and Clouds. I made a cute little scene with some bright spring colours! The adorable bunny is Breezy from Your Next Stamp, and I coloured him with Prismacolor pencils and fussy-cut so I could pop him up with foam tape. I added Snow Writer on his tail and Glossy Accents on his eyes and umbrella.

The background was made with Twisted Citron Distress Ink using a watercolour smooshing technique and then die-cut with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle. The three layers of grass were die cut with Lawn Fawn Grassy Border and I inked the edges with Twisted Citron. The cute picket fence is from Your Next Stamp, and I added lots of die-cut flowers (Impression Obsession), each with a gem in the center. The bunny die-cuts are from Impression Obsession Rabbit Set. I haven't seen any purple bunnies in real life but they are so fun on a card!

The clouds were die-cut using Lawn Fawn Spring Showers and I stamped a sentiment from Newton's Nook Birthday Flutter. The stitched panel was layered onto a scalloped stitched rectangle from Waltzing Mouse Stamps, and I finished it off with some tiny heart sequins.

I hope you enjoyed my card and will be inspired to join our challenge! Thank you to Ka and the design team for having me as your guest! I had fun!

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Isn't Kitty card just absolutely adorable and so full of life?! We love the bright colors and all the Spring elements in this super cute card. Thank you, Kitty for sharing your talent and providing us with more inspiration! Please hop on over to Kitty blog and give her some bloggie love!

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

Sweet Birthday card

Hello everyone,
Olesya's here with an inspirational post for Challenge Six. This time I've chosen the 2nd row across: celebrate - clean and simple - critters.

The main character here is a fairy Extra Cream Fairy, A day for Daisies sleeping in a cup. Such a cute image, isn't it? I colored it with alcohol based Chameleon pens. Added some dots with a white gel pen. I think none of my cards goes without a white gel pen :)

For the panel I used Stamperia WTK056 Candies stamps, colored them with distress markers and sponged with Tea Dye distress ink. The pattern on the background is active enough therefore I added a piece of vellum under the cup not to lose the focal point. I had some beautiful die-cut leaves in my stash so I adhered a couple under the cup and placed the printed phrase on top.

I love adding some sparkling elements to my project especially the gold ones. So I decided to make my own gold sparkling strip. Adhered a narrow double-sided tape to the card base, sprinkled some dry gold glitter on it and rubbed thoroughly with my fingers. That's it! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have an inspirational day!

Olesya kharkova.

Challenge Five Winners

Good morning everyone or evening - wherever you are! We are here to announce our 5th challenge winners. We have to say that all of the cards were once again AMAZING so it makes choosing a winner harder each time! We hope you are all enjoying this as much as we are. We will cut right to the chase and announce the winner (Champion) of the prize and our Masters!

Our Champion is...

#2 Michelle from Craft Cradle

Congratulations Michelle! We thought your card was truly amazing with the fun shaker and how you beautifully colored the funny donkey. He is so cute! Thank you for joining us for this challenge and creating such a fun interactive card. Please email us at tictactoechallenge@gmail.com with the subject line Challenge 5 Winner. Please include your full name, address and your choice of stamp set above.

And our Masters...

#11 Birgit from Crafting While I Wait

#17 Kim from Art Keeps Me Sane

#22 Dianchik from Moments of Creativity

Your cards are all amazing, ladies! Thank you for inspiring us all with your talent! Please grab your badge and add it to your blog with pride! :)

Check back tomorrow for another take on our current challenge from DT member Olesya!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

Challenge Six

Hello! Happy Hump Day to you! We hope everyone is enjoying their week so far! Anyway, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who played in our last challenge - the cards were exceptional! We will be going through the entries in the next couple days and will announce the winners on Friday.

Before we get to today's challenge, we would first like to invite you to come join us for a super fun "Creative Fools" blog hop on April 1st! That's right! Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge will have its very first blog hop, all organized by our very own designer, Nora Noll! The hop will start right here on the challenge blog at 9 a.m. CST. There will be lots of "punny" inspirations along with prizes to be won! Yep, so make sure to tell all your friends about this hop! The more, the merrier! And don't forget to mark it on your calendar so that you don't miss out on the hop along with some amazing inspirations and awesome prizes! :)

Okay, back to today's challenge. Who is ready for Spring to arrive? I know we are! Here in the Mid-west, we are seeing lots of signs of Spring already. Spring will finally be here very, very soon! Yay! We included in the challenge board showers, umbrellas, and clouds because they are just a few staples for this time of year. :) For this challenge, we'd love for you to take some inspiration from the challenge board below using three elements in a row of your choice. Whatever rows you chose and are inspired by is what we challenge you to create!

You are playing for one of the following 3"x 4" stamp sets. The winner will get to choose the stamp set of their choice. If you already have all three in your stash, why not play to give one of these sets as a gift for one of your crafty friend? You can click on the links below to read more about each stamp set.

Clearly Besotted Flower Blocks Stamp Set

Avery Elle Whale Hello Stamp Set

Memory Box Birthday Bunnies Stamp Set

Now it's time for some amazing SSD Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Design Team Inspiration...

Lindsey went diagonal going up from the bottom: patterned papers, clean and simple, and umbrella.

Shannon went with the third column down: umbrella, critters, and clouds.

Olesya chose to work with the first row horizontally: showers, glossy accents, and umbrella.

Nora used the middle row across: celebrate, clean and simple, and critters.

Stephanie also chose the middle row across: celebrate, clean and simple, and critters.

Tracie went with the middle column down: glossy accents, clean and simple, and twine.

Thank you for joining us in our sixth challenge. Please read the "Challenge Rules" tab at the top of the blog to be eligible for the prize. You have until Thursday, March 31 at 11:55pm CST to submit your entries. We can not wait to see what you create! HAVE FUN and Happy Stamping!!

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