Sneak Peek: Stamp TV Kit Eclectic Summer

So excited about the newest Stamp TV Kit, "Eclectic Summer" from Gina K, which includes a set of images (and a set of greetings!) to satisfy every stamping appetite! For my first project I decided to use this bold seahorse with a Direct to Stamp technique where I used markers to ink up the different areas of the seahorse, I love the style of this image, aren't his different tiny plates and fins sooooo cool? Here I used SU! Night of Navy, Old Olive and Tempting Turquoise.

The Pure Luxury White and new In the Navy cardstocks, and the Basic Grey Lime Rickey DP are all included in the kit!! I love how this pattern looks like iridescent water. I added a piece of torn Turquoise Vellum from Paper Temptress (on sale in June!) over the DP to let more of that cool faceted pattern show through, these colored vellums are a neat way to enhance your patterned papers and still let you see more of the design. I really like how it adds a wavy "water" element to this!

The kit contains an assortment of beautiful red, white and blue brads you will love, but here I added some self adhesive rhinestones for bubbles and sparkle! At first I was on the fence about whether it was too "over the top" to put the ribbon the tail or not, but I just love this striped canvas ribbon so much (it comes in the the kit!) and I'm really glad I did because it adds a touch of sass! I decided to frame it and put it up in our yellow and blue guest bathroom, isn't that fun? The mat in the silver frame is the In the Navy CS again. I just love sea stuff and blue and white in a bathroom, like you're bathing in the ocean! Instant vacation! TIP: When you have a card you're really happy with, frame it! Make it a piece of art, because that's what it is! Make your card the gift! :)

I have a little shopping list of inexpensive home decor items I can stamp with this image, perfect for pulling out when you want to make your house feel like "a summer home!" I'll be sure to share the results here, of course! ;)

For more peeks of the Stamp TV kit, please check these samples from our design team:

Joanne Basile-
Jessica Fick-
Carolyn King
Cindy Lawrence
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Theresa Momber

Gina Krupsky and our "In the Spotlight Designer" Melissa Shultz!

Can't wait to share some more StampTV kit samples at the party, they are totally different and totally fun! One more day til the par-TAY...!! Have a good one!

Stretch Your Nesties and Save Your Nest Egg Tutorial

I got SO excited about exploring the possibilities of "two step cutting" with my Nestabilities dies to create new shapes like I did before in this "Faking it"post, so I played around with a few more, here are the results! I hope it gets you thinking outside of the box with dies you already have (or helps you pick which ones you REALLY want to get!) and saves you a few precious crafting dollars! TIP: For all of these, it is extremely important you have your die centered over the cut out so the pieces being cut off are symmetrcial, otherwise your final shape will be wonky, I didn't measure or anything, just look at it before you add your top plate and run it through. :)



While I DO love my scalloped dies, my favorite Nestabilites dies are the more classic, simple geometric shapes, so besides the Labels One Die Set, I haven't yet gotten any of the curvy, more ornate offerings that have come out from Spellbinders recently. Occasionally though I'll probably want something that has a fancier feel, so here's one I made using the Labels One set. Start by cutting one out.

Then turn you die a quarter turn over the die cut and cut again.

Voila! A kind of more angular substitute for the Labels Four die, has a more masculine feel(would make a cool, badge/belt buckle or just a different shaped frame... (be sure to save those curvy corners you have left over for something else!) ;) Below you can see I made a white mat with the smaller die, I'll stamp something on that later! :)

Now, onto the "Octagons"! Sorry, although I've seen some beautiful cards made with the Octagons dies, I personally can't look at octagons and not think "STOP!" (and that's where my creativity stops with this shape LOL! so I haven't bought the octagons either!) But what if I want to make a stop sign?? Well, an 8- sided shape is really a four sided shape cut twice, observe!
Cut your square, then turn a quarter turn and cut again.

...an octagon! (and photo corners, ooh ahh! hee hee!)

Next I thought I'd try cutting out an oval and then seeing what my Labels One die would do when centered over that...

A "softer" version of the first one I showed you today (it's easier to see the difference side by side at the bottom of ths post), not so pointy. It's very close to the original Labels One cut out, but I like just cutting off those rounded corners gives you a slightly different option. These two I meniton both have more of a Labels Two or Labels Three feel.... Certain stamp images and designs really do call for very specific shapes sometimes! (hey look, do you see a pair of lips on either side?! I just noticed that-HA!! I'll be using those!)

This next one using the Stars die set is cool for piecing together a quilt collage, maybe making the head of a prize ribbon, etc. Cut out a star. Now turn the star die so that each point is exactly in between the other points.

While not so curvy, layering several of these together could make a really cool looking flower, similar to the "Dahlia" Die set.

Here they all are:

I hope you liked this! :) I'm off to try to work these "new shapes" into some samples for further inspiration! New stamps are in the house!!! ;)

If you have not read the Alzheimer's post below, please do! The event has't even started yet and they are already halfway to their goal! My hope is at the end of the event we'll find there is going to be a 10, 000 dollar check written for Alzheimer's research!!

Sneak Peek Day 3: "A Charmed Life" and "Wreath of Wishes"

I feel one of the simplest pleasures is sharing a nice meal with friends and family and raising glasses to each other, celebrating the many joys and blessings life offers. On vacation last summer I was toying with a tiny charm on my glass at dinner and got the idea for a stamp set with stemware, charms and words you could pick and choose from...and it completely charmed me LOL! (pun intended, sorry, I could resist!) I am thrilled to preview my newest set from Gina K Designs with you today: "A Charmed Life". Including stamps that are both elegant and whimsical, this set has endless options (including toasts in other languages, and occasions you've probably wished you had stamps for but could never find), and is sure to be a year-round favorite! I've drawn it in a sketched style that lends itself towards "still life" designs, works with your antiqued, distressed, and vintage print papers and colors for a old world, cozy "cafe" feel, or when paired with trendy urban ones gives you a cool, cosmopolitan look!
Here is simple shaker card I made to celebrate an anniversary. I stamped my glass twice in Memento Black ink, cut out the bowl on the glass, and added a layer of acetate behind it. I pieced some Autumn Hay Glimmer CS from Paper Temptress for the liquid (which I also used for my card base), the shimmery golden color is perfect for champagne or sparkling cider, no coloring needed there! I added some clear beads before sealing it up and just love how festive and sparkling that looks, the way the beads rise and fall like bubbles is almost like the real thing, pop POP!! I chose the ring charm this time, and added self adhesive rhinestones to bling it and the wine ring up and traced with the Stardust gel pen, this pen is perfect for outlining the little wire ring around the stem and adding sparkle to your charms!) Black and white papers here are Gina K Pure Luxury white and the new Pure Luxury Black Onyx! Punch is Large Flourish. I added just a few shadows to the glass with gray Copics.

One more peek for today with this set (because I suspect you will be seeing several glasses in our blog hop!), here is a simple "charm bracelet" I created with several of the charms , stamped around a loop of metallic cord ("beads" are stick on metal dots), colored with Copics and covered with Crystal Lacquer for dimension. The bracelet design and this greeting could be just as appropriate for a 6 year old as a 60 year old (I always loved being called a "lady" as a young girl!), just add the charms that suits her best!

Now about that "vase" in this post,.. I think many of you figured out I was up to something... and I DID draw it ... right before Gina plated and vulcanized it! So yes, you can have this vase for all your flowers, too, when you ink up or cut out just the top of the glass from the "A Charmed Life" set! :) Please turn out for our release party tonight as the rest of team and I will be sharing more out of the box ideas for this glass and charms, as well as elegant and easy gifts with it that I think will make you say "WOW!" (can't wait!!)

More peeks of "A Charmed Life" from our design team here:

Asela Hopkins

Carolyn King

Donna Baker

Jessica Fick

Theresa Momber

Gina K

our "In the Spotlight Designer" Sharri Seffens,

PLUS My Guest Designer this month... Cathy Edgar! hip hip hurray! :)

This next little card, using "Wreath of Wishes" by Gina K, was fun to make! I scored a 6 x 5 1/2" piece of Gina K Pure Luxury White base weight CS at 3" with my Scor-Pal, so that the finished card is 3 inches across, a nice "door proportion", and still fits in a regular A2 sized envelope. I took one of my smallest dies from the Nestabilities Long Rectangle set and embossed it 4 times, one in each corner, to make the different panels. Then I stamped the wreath in Memento Black, colored it with Copics, stamped a greeting inside and carefully trimmed around the flowers. I put a gold brad through the top like a nail and popped it up on dimensionals. For the "knob", I took a large white brad I had, dipped it in Versamark and gold EP, then embossed to match my other brad. I snipped the prongs off the back with my Tim Holz Scissors (not just for trimming rubber!) and attached it with a dimensional (rather than poking it through, I didn't want the ends to show through my single layer card.)

As you can see, there is no latch or closure, as it stands it already looks ajar, on the inside you find a greeting from the same set, "My door is always open"... Isn't that sweet? This "open door design" is perfect for a friend, family member or to welcome a new neighbor. Did I mention this is the new "Free with Three" set? Do you have a list of three Gina K Designs sets you can buy to earn it yet? ;)

More samples of "Wreath of Wishes" from our team here:

Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Cindy Lawrence
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile
Kurtis Amundson
Theresa Momber

Gina K and our In the Spotlight Designer Sharri Seffens

The release is just HOURS away! EEK!!! Party is here (probably already started, but you'll be fine if you join us at 7 CST) :)

"Mirror, Mirror..."

This was such an easy project to make (but very hard to photograph, not allowing you to see my house of me without makeup reflected in the pic!!) I found this sparkly magnetic mirror at the Target Dollar Spot (for $1) and knew right away I wanted to make a fun locker mirror for my niece who is on dances (the only 8th grader to make their elite school dance team)

After stamping my tee on s sheet of Basic Grey "Sultry" pink paper, I added a stripe of black to each sleeve, filled in the collar, and cut out. I pressed a few sticky stars I got from Jody onto the mirror, frame and shirt, then dumped on Dazzling Diamonds glitter after peeling off the plastic backing, it turned out so sparkly cute! To make the star on the shirt show up a little better, I traced around it with my black pen after "glitterfying" it with a pen the same width as the stamp outline to make it all look uniform. Last I stamped star from the same set under it.
And here I am holding it up (conveniently hidden behind my camera) I would have loved to have had something like this in my own locker in school (even though I wasn't on dance team!) TIP: When I send it to here I'm going to suggest she uses a black permanent marker to add her name or a quote she loves around the frame, doodle or let her friends autograph it , etc, but I really want that part of the project to be her own, to "make it her own".

Hope this inspires you to explore the possibilities these tees provide for teens and tweens alike! Happy creating! I'd love to see your ideas!

PS I like the shirt kind of offset at an angle like I did here just to be decorative, but a fun/ funny thing you could do would be to put the tee in the middle at the bottom going straight up and down so that when the person looks into it their face is lined up with the collar!! (can you picture it?) HEE!!

EASY Jewelry from Jackie G!

Here's Jackie and I, it was such a pleasure to meet her last weekend and I so appreciate all the work she put into arranging such a successful swap and trip. She was asking me about the handmade earrings I'd made for part of my door prize, and I learned something fun and easy from her, too! I just had to share her brilliant (cheap!) idea for making a fabulous slide, which you can see her modelling above. The pendant in the pic? It's a flattened glass marble (you can get a bag of about 30 for $1 at Hobby Lobby in the floral or candle department) with a rub-on underneath!!

She said it was important to seal the back with something (she applied some Crystal Effects) so it doesn't rub right off onto your skin! The silver bead at the top was attached with E-6000 glue(cheap, stinky, available at any craft store) Doesn't it look so elegant as a slide on that silver collar? Thanks Jackie, for the great tip and inspiration! :)

Hip Hop Accessories Tip Sheet!

Here is a super easy card using the DCVW glitter mat pack for a background and three accessories from the new "Hip Hop" set! I punched these out with my SU! 1 1/4" circle, and then layered on my Cuttlebug flower dies(aren't they perfect with the flowers on this paper?). It may be difficult to seein the pic, but I added some stickles to each of the little accessories to match the paper. I created this sample to illustrate you don't always have to use the animals from my animal sets to make a card*, the little accessories work nicely spotlighted by themselves, and now you have mnore in Hip Hop. :) I also used three "greetings" from the set: "you're my", baby", and "girl". TIP: I love using DP with horizontal strips, it's such an easy way to line up and bring attention to your greeting.

Speaking of tips, I can't design a stamp set without giving you a tip sheet! Feel free to copy and paste this list to keep with your set, or you can download the word document I posted in the Gina K forum ;)

Hip Hop Accessories Tip Sheet

The individual words and greetings make the perfect little tags. They are sized to fit your small CB and Nestabilites dies, as well as SU! punches.

There are 4 "baby" versions of your favorite images from the Just So Hippy and Hoppy sets. However, they do not have to be babies, it could be a husband and wife, big brother/little sister,two friends etc... They are all looking up at the larger animal ("I sure look up to you!") if you choose to use se them alone, however, they look adorable watching the kite or the little butterflies from "Just So Hoppy".

The tiny umbrella in Just So Hippy is adorable with these smaller animals.

The bow can be cut off the rattle and placed on the neck, head or on the tail (as a little reminder?) of your animals to dress them up or make them look more festive/feminine.

The crown and party hat fit all the animals in all 3 sets. The crown is fun with "kiss me" and the frog, but can make any animal into a "queen for a day", prince, king etc!

The little kangaroo can fit in the big kangaroo's pocket (either cut the small one in half and adhere or mask the large pocket and stamp the little roo over it) or jump along beside the larger or ride on the tail(etc!)

The lily can be used on the lily pad or as an individual flower in their mouth, tail, hand. The pad can be givn a "stem" for them to wave like a big frond/fan!

The baby accessories make fantastic tags, accents and backgrounds in addition to being accessories for the animals to hold!

Enjoy grounding your animals in the new little grass image! Stamp it just under the feet and or at random at the bottom of your focal point or along a line to make a horizon

The greetings are designed to work alone AND with your greetings in the Just So Hippy and Hoppy sets. Many stand alone, but several you put together, there are hundreds (thousands?*) of combinations!
Just a few examples:

(Hippy/hoppy/so hoppy) together
(hippy/hoppy) holidays
hippy/hoppy) anniversary
(hippy/hoppy) Father's/Mother's Day!
queen(princess etc) for a day
I sure you look up to you DAD (sister, etc)
to the hippest new parents ( son, husband etc) around!
(So hoppy/hippy) you're my (mom, sister, dad etc)
I sure you look up to you MOM or
DAD I sure look up to you
you're my baby boy(girl)
you're my prince(princess)

you make me so(hoppy(hippy)
new baby boy
girlfriend
etc!

The different sentiments when paired together also work terrifically for the exterior and interior of your card.
Examples:
I sure look up to you Dad/Hippy Father's day!
So hoppy you're my husband/Hoppy anniversary!
Dad you're my King for a day/Happy Father's Day!
Queen for a day/Mom of the Year! Happy Mother's Day!

"kiss me" is VERY cute with the frog!! As all the other two lines greetings do in the other sets, it fits in your balloons and sign. Many of the one word stamps in this set will, too (MOM, DAD, son, girl, boy etc)

As always, please email me if I've overlooked anything, I'd love to add your terribly creative and clever tips!

* during the release party, I posted this card joking,"this one's for people who hate animals..." Emily Giovanni was the only one brave enough to raise her hand LOL!

** hey, if anyone wants to try to make a list(generate a formula???) to figure them all out, be my guest! ;)