From Chris Smith's Ink Pad

Category: Uncategorized

  • Around the World on Wednesday: Sketch Challenge

    It’s Around the World on Wednesday time again. This month our theme is a sketch and I’m the featured team member.

    The idea is to use a sketch and maybe other inspiration from my work. One of the sketches I’ve used quite a bit over the past few years is one that I first came up with while playing around with the retired set, Daisy Lane. I actually played with it a while before I figured out that the daisy in the lower right needed to go off the card.

    Even though I started the second card first, the first card I finished was for a color challenge calling for Flirty Flamingo over at Splitcoaststampers, where I had recently begun participating on the design team. Once I got the partial daisy figured out the finishing up the second was pretty quick!

    Since I did those back in 2019, I’ve done them with leaves, other daisies and even snowflakes. I thought since I was using a sketch I was already familiar with I should try it in a theme that stretched me a little so I decided to see what would happen if I tried it with Silly Safari:

    It was pretty easy to decide which animals to use since I wanted them to face the center/greeting. These worked out perfectly to get the kind of weighted balance I previously achieved with the large and small daisies. The animals are all colored with blends, plus a little Cajun Craze watercolor pencil on the giraffe’s spots since I was afraid the blends would be TOO dark. I also toned down the white contrast on the cut edge by outlining them with Light Crumb Cake Blends, a trick I use even if I’m not cutting them out.

    I initially planned to fussy cut the leaves too and researched safari sunsets and sunrises to see what kind of colors I might blend up for my background layer. Alas, they just weren’t playing well with the colors I used on the animals so I opted for a green stamped jungle and added some Pecan Pie accent stamps from the set and a little extra ink on the edges with a blending brush. Possibly simpler and oh, so much more fun. I can get a little lost in the ink blending. I really find it relaxing.

    Usually I use a white or plain left border but this time I changed it up with a piece of DSP from the Need for Tweed Designer Series Papers.

    Now for the best part. I can’t wait to continue on the hop and see what the others have created. Next up is Bree Renwick:

    Leonie Stuart – AU
    Rochelle Laird-Smith – AU
    Cheryll Miller – AU
    Marga Bultena – NL
    Aurélie Fabre – FR
    Annette Ball – CA
    Kelly Taranto – US
    Chris Smith – US
    Bree Renwick – US
    Lori Willcox – CA
    Teri West – US
    Cheryl Hamilton – US

    Thanks so much for stopping by!

  • From the Archives: The Daisy Sketch

    This is a repost from my old Typepad blog. Please check the end for an updated version from 2025.

    From: NOVEMBER 20, 2023

    The Daisy Sketch

    One of my favorite sketches to use over the past few months is one I refer to as the “Daisy Sketch”. I originally started using this in 2019 with the Daisy Lane Stamp Set along with a large and medium sized daisy punch. 

    This is my initial “perfected” version, after playing with a few different colors, etc.

    It basically has:

    • a left border that is 1/2″ to 1″ or so wide with the remainder covered by DSP or a dry embossed piece.
    • an approximately 1 3/4″ wide greeting panel on the lower 1/3 or so of the card. 
    • 2 objects (daisies) on the left of the message and one on the lower right, extending off the card.
    • embellish with leaves etc as desired or indicated by the occasion.

    It was easy to adapt for a specific occasion request, for example these cards which were created n honor of November employment anniversaries for a couple of treasured church staff:

    I shared this one earlier this fall (2023) with altered colors and objects but the same basic arrangement.

    Last month, I brought it out again for when I hosted a color challenge:

    This is one that I did on a Facebook Live video earlier this month. After the video I decided to add a tiny bit of Balmy Blue Blends brushed just outside the yellow centers, along with a few more leaves…

    Here is the video.

    from my ink pad with Chris Smith

    A Favorite Card Sketch with Stampin’ Up!’s Cheerful Daisies.

    2025 Update

    Many of these products have retired since I first posted this almost two years ago but I think the sketch still works for many themes and seasons. Plus, I think they were really great products and would be so happy if you have them and pull them off your shelf for a little love! (And, I’m trying to learn how to bring forward some of my favorite old posts from my now discontinued Typepad blog.)

    Here is a much more recent card I made with some of the Beautiful Gallery Suite products from Stampin’ Up!’s current catalog.

    I used the Damask Designs embossing folder to add texture to the Beautiful Gallery DSP. By lightly sanding the raised areas I revealed the white core of the paper for a little extra contrast. I love the painterly look of this paper so much I feel like I’ve been hoarding it for months.

    Here’s another I did – different sketch – with just the Beautiful Gallery papers, with a little help from Peaceful Days stamp set for the greeting.

    Such a simple card, I almost forgot to pack it when we went away for our anniversary…

    Thanks for stopping by. Please come back again to check what’s been on my crafting table!

  • Around the World on Wednesday: Remember When

    Here we are. Day 2 on the new blogging site and it’s time for our Around the World on Wednesday blog hop. I’m delighted if everything worked and you found me here. For those who are new to me, I’m Chris Smith, from the Twin Cities in Minnesota, US.

    This month we are continuing the celebration of our 5th year as a blog hop and taking inspiration from one of our Artisan members, Bree Renwick. Aside from that we have a theme of “Remember When”.

    I fully expected to take full advantage of Bree’s inspiring scrapbook pages and ordered some of our latest scrapbook stamps and “stickers” to use for this month’s hop. But then, late last month I received notice that Typepad, the blogging platform I’ve used since early 2007, was ending the platform and my 999 blog posts plus galleries would disappear after September 30. Needless to say I’ve been preoccupied evaluating what to do about it AND looking back at the posts themselves to help inform my decision making. I will save my work and find ways to bring back what I think still has relevance. And, you know what? It has been fun looking back to Remember When I first started blogging about 18 years ago.

    One of my first posts was a brief remembrance of my Grandma Edith:

    January 18, 2007

    Tribute to My Grandmother

    “Memory is the power to gather roses in winter.”   I designed this card in tribute to my grandmother who died last month, a few weeks before Christmas.  She would have turned 100 next week.  Edith was a loving and generous grandmother…and she used to grow beautiful roses!  

    I drew upon one of my all time favorite SCS color challenge entries for this special card. (SCS referred to SPlitcoaststampers.)

    I loved using these colors (Orchid Opulence, Rose Red, Old Olive and So Saffron) together and thought I would update this idea with current colors and stamps and borrow a sketch idea from Bree.

    This is a genius little sketch, especially in Bree’s crisply styled and “magical” message. It works with so many images and the layer measurements don’t have to be exact. Great for beginners or busy, preoccupied stampers like me…

    My original card used an old product called Iridescent Ice, a sparkly embossing powder. After substituting Petunia Pop Glimmer paper for the skinny borders, I realized this pretty paper has gone from Stampin’ Up!”s Last Chance List to also being discontinued. But it is pretty.

    I used Fresh Freesia, Petunia Pop, a bit of Melon Mambo along with Old Olive and Crushed Curry.

    The flower stem is stamped with Fresh Freesia on Fresh Freesia and colored with the Light Fresh Freesia, Petunia Pop and Melon Mambo Blends.

    I blended Crushed Curry and Old Olive ink on a piece of white card stock embossed with the Damask Embossing Folder and trimmed to 3 3/4″ x 5″.

    I thought the greeting from The Right Words stamp set followed the theme of the original greeting which I always loved: Memory is the power to gather roses in winter

    I really like the skinny strip of glimmer at the edges. While I think Bree layered her piece I’m stingy with my (now unavailable) Glimmer paper and just used strips.

    Before I sign off I have to share one more card inspired by Bree and I think it fits with Remember When. My husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in a few days and I wanted to see if I could make some white roses (my wedding bouquet) look a little masculine. We’ve grown a lot of white roses together over the past 40 years so I thought it could be appropriate. Here is Bree’s:

    and here is mine:

    I made this a top fold card with a Basic Beige base. Both the fussy cut roses and the brushstroke pecan Pie layer are from the Beautiful Gallery designer series paper. I kept the layering to a minimum. The greeting is from the Peaceful Days stamp set in Stampin’ Up!’s scrapbooking line. Perfect anniversary greeting!

    Now you get to move on to Bree’s blog! I can’t wait to see how she did this month’s theme.

    Jan Clothier – NZ
    Leonie Stuart – AU
    Rochelle Laird-Smith – AU
    Cheryll Miller – AU
    Danielle Kassing – NL
    Marga Bultena – NL
    Kelly Taranto – US
    Chris Smith – US
    Bree Renwick – US
    Teri West – US
    Cheryl Hamilton – US

  • Big Blossom to Gathering Moments

    A new direction for blogging about ink

    Since early 2007 I’ve had a Typepad hosted blog – inkpad.typepad.com – which will be disappear on September 30, 2025 when Typepad closes operations. To date I have 999 posts over there. While it’s truly disappointing after so many years, when you consider that other atrocities people in our country and world are currently experiencing, I guess it’s really just small potatoes. I’ll save what I can and re-introduce some of my favorites here though I’m afraid the original links will be lost.

    In a way this kind of jives with where my stamping is heading anyway. I’m starting to refocus on old favorites in my stash and trying to resist trying every new thing. Don’t get me wrong, the new things tempt me but there are SO many older images and tools that I have loved and still want to explore. Let me know if you would like to see more ideas with old favorites too. This is really a practice post for me to get to know WordPress and see how this will all come together. Here is my very first blog post from January 3 2007: … and then a little more chatter

    JANUARY 03, 2007

    Bib Blossom WOW swap

    Some hints:  I used my brayer to apply Ruby Red ink evenly to the blossom stamp. You can’t see it but I stamped “happy joyful birthday” from Small Sayings inside the card in Very Vanilla craft ink. When the card is closed the message is hidden by the petal.  I’m really efficient at the dots around the petals now that I’ve made 38 cards to swap with WOWswappers, a monthly swap group I’ve been in for several years.

    I knew Big Blossom was going to be fun almost as soon as I saw it. This is a card that was developing in my mind while I waited for my demonstrator Sell-a-Bration preorder to arrive.  

    Look how short it was and I even used “Bib” instead of “Big”. What a rookie!

    Here are some other Big Blossom cards I posted that first month. It looks like I did have a little fun with it.

    I called the technique I developed for the first two cards Shady Layers. It used some tools that have been discontinued such as the Perfect Layers tool but it’s possible some may still find it helpful so I have converted that post to a PDF file if you would like to see it. I didn’t have the heart to delete the kind comments so be aware. If you choose to print you may want to do select pages.

    Blog Post 1:5:07: Shady LayersDownload

    So what’s on my craft table now?

    I don’t have any recent work with large background sized stamps to share with you today but I have been playing with some pretty big leaf dies from the Gathering Moments Bundle/Gathering Together Suite.

    These two cards make use “nesting” dies that include an outline die and another large die with holes that fits into the middle. These holes can be used to make stitches OR just show through to another color.

    Or, you can use the outline dies alone. In the next photo I used it with an embossing folder and then blended a bit of Basic Beige ink around the edges. In the second card I used the “negative” of the die cut as a stencil to brush in layers of leaf prints, such as you see when leaves bleed into a city sidewalk.

    Let me know if you want to know more about any of these.