Hand-in-Hand, Month after Month

The giveaway for this post is closed. Feel free to keep adding your ideas, though! :)

Thank you all for your requests for coloring tutorials, hands and hippy, cuddly animals are at the top of my list of things to do LOL! Until I finish getting them photographed, I am blessed to be able to treat you to my third week of Guest Designer Allison Cope, and her lovely sample "A Friend", which uses "Hand-in-Hand" with "A Year of Flowers"...isn't this fabulous?!

I love how she added a few tiny wrinkles to the finger joints and nails, this makes this image work with the more realistically drawn and detailed flower, and are relatively simple to draw in (just copy hers LOL!) The colors and patterns she chose just lift me up!
Here's what Ally has to say about today's card:

"I loved the idea that you can take the double hand images from Melanie's "Hand-in-Hand" set and create a single hand to hold something. With the cool "friend" sentiment in the set, I knew I had to find something that meant friendship for my hand to hold. While browsing through all my Gina K. stamps I came across Melanie's "A Year of Flowers" and I knew the rose in the set would be perfect! After all, a yellow rose symbolizes friendship in the world of flowers!"

Stamps: Gina K. Designs (Hand-in-Hand, A Year of Flowers) Tools: Spellbinder's Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing FoldersInks: Ranger, Copics Papers: BoBunny Cardstock: Bazzill Brad: BasicGreyPen: SharpieRibbon: American Traditions Other: thread, clear embossing powder


Thank you, Ally! Your talent and creativity truly inspire me!!! :)

Now, for that contest I've been hinting about!


Here is a poem I discovered and pasted from Kerianne Young's blog after I drew my hand in hand set, but before it was released (she doesn't know I copied the poem... til now!) :

Do you know what hope is?

It's magic and it's free.

It's not in a prescription. It's not in an IV.
It punctuates our laughter. It sparkles in our tears.
It simmers under sorrows. It dissipates our fears.
Do you know what hope is? It's reaching past today.
It's dreaming of tomorrow. It's trying a new way.
It's pushing past impossible. It's pounding on the door.
It's questioning the answer. It's always seeking more.
It's rumours of a break. It's whispers of a cure.
A roller coaster ride. Of remedies, unsure.
Do you know what hope is? It's candy for the soul.
It's perfume for the spirit. To share it makes you whole.
Take my hand...come... Let's share this hope...together...


And it really touched my heart! And it had me wanting to do something with this set that wasn't tied to any one charity, organization or person, because I feel the set is universal.

So many of the images and greetings in "Hand-in-Hand" are perfect to support people needing it or show people in helping professions they are appreciated, so I would like to issue and host a challenge, which will be ongoing. I would love to have you all join me each month, beginning whenever you would like, participate every month if you choose, or only as often as you can/wish.


Each month I will post a new project with the "Hand-in-Hand" set here on my blog and some info about a different cause or need and an address where to send cards. Please use the "Hand in Hand"* set to create your own card to send to this cause, post a pic of your card on your blog or gallery with a short message about the cause (you can write your own summary or copy and paste my write- up, that's up to you), and send me the link. All who play will be entered into a drawing to win my new release set the following month! More details on the first month coming soon!

Today's giveaway is: "Rectangle Greetings" stamp set by Gina K Designs from ME (I got an extra when I splurged on more Copics over Christmas!) ;) These greetings work terrifically with the "Hand-in-Hand" set, see this sample. :) Please let me know if you have ideas for organizations that could benefit from this type of card shower! I won't be able to use them all, but would love your suggestions to help set the wheels in motion, this is going to be fun!!! Looking forward to it, I really hope you'll join us!

A couple more blogs to browse in our blog hop: Donna and Theresa! (Want to get in on the blog hop yourself tomorrow? Get ready to add a link to your blog here Thursday for a project using any of my stamps so we can come check you out! :)

*If you don't have the set, you are, of course, free to make cards to send for the cause, but this drawing each month will be for "Hand-in-Hand" cards only.
I will, of course, keep having other opportunities, contests, blog candies and challenges for you to use other stamps you have, so even if you never get this set, there will still be ways to win fun stuff! :)