First I started with a panel of Pure Luxury White and stamped the square in vivid Coffee Bean into the center, with the branches top to bottom. Then I turned the image and stamped it again to the left and right of the center, this time with the branches side to side, slightly overlapping to make that diamond pattern. Do the same above and below.
Here is the finished pattern. you always just want to make sure when you overlap you aren't overlapping the branches one on top of the other, but the empty corner over the branches. I didn't need s stamp positioner, using a grid line block makes it really easy to line up your images.
Here is the finished card again, with a greeting from "Garden Silhouettes" popped up in the center on square punches. This time I added some sweet little paper flowers, where the diamonds intersected along the bottom, that Carolyn gave me for my birthday (among many other crafty goodies!) Finally I put some little silver adhesive nail heads in the centers.
Cardbase is Kraft. This symmetrical pattern on white reminds me of a garden trellis. I plan to try creating some other patterned designs in different colors with the oval and circle frames for this set, too. 
Here is the trimmed frame, no die this time, mounted on layers of Black Onyx and Pure Luxury White. The middle layer is embossed with the Cuttlebug Leafy Branch folder, anther spot on match for the vines in this set, and one of my favorite folders of all time, hope you can see the texture of the dry embossing, it's a little hard to photograph on black but it looks super sharp in real life!
I stamped the greeting from "Garden Silhouettes" on white and punched it with a 1 1/4" square and then layered it over a 1 3/8" square punch and popped it up over the script. No embellishments today! I love these colors and layout for a wedding or anniversary.
I inked up the circle frame in pink and stamped. As an afterthought, I decided to make the branches pop a little more so I traced over them in brown, this would have looked more precise had I just gone over them with my marker BEFORE stamping, but it happens! Next I added the trumpet flowers, coloring with two darker pinks and brown directly onto the stamp. There are so many different places you can add the flowers on these branches so I just try to use an odd number and stamp them in different directions, I love how they look creeping outside the frame. 
The bird silhouette doesn't have an eye, this way he appears to be facing away from the viewer looking off in the distance or at another bird, but here I wanted him to connect with you (hee!) so I just added a little white dot with my Inkssentials pen for a tiny detail (I thought a rhinestone would be cute but didn't have one small enough!) and added a little shading with my brown marker again on his wing and tail feathers. Greeting is from the new Free with Three "Garden Silhouettes".
...and here's my sample! I like the little trio of pots and this particular greeting grabbed me: "you are a ray of sunshine!" I love sponging rays of light on cards but I thought using paper today for a spotlighting effect would be cool! Simply stamp your posts at the bottom of a rectangle of Little Boy Blue cardstock and then again on white. Slice a diagonal of the white from corner to corner and layer over your blue like you are paper piecing! Color the portion that's in the sun, doesn't that look so cheerful and illuminated next to the blue?
Here is a closeup. Card also uses Black Onyx, Innocent Pink, and the new KEY LIME , which I love!! I love greens and this is one of my favorites now in the Pure Luxury Line, you must try! It's so vibrant!
They are available to download in full sheets, if you like big sheets of single colors, or quarters if you prefer printing out smaller mats all at once which are already sized for A2 cards. Wish I had some samples with them to share today but I don't have them ready yet, please check by later this week! :)
I stamped the frame in gray and then the flowers in red, this particular flower is one of my favorites in the set and I love how easy this and all the other tiny elements are to add anywhere to the vine, bringing it to life, and also adding quick pops of color.
Next I used Vivid Brick Red to add two different flowers (they can be different types or just the same trumpet flower at different angles) and the berries to random spots on the vines. Depending on the look you are going for, they can all be stamped in consistent spots on the vine for a more symmetrical print, or randomly, turning them this way and that, like real flowers would be. I sponged the edges with gray before adhering it to my card.
This measures 5 1/2" square, I don't normally make cards this large, but I really liked the Pendant die, turned and I think the delicate cut outs go so well with the vine. Cardstock is Smoky Slate, Red Hot and Black Onyx. I notched the corners with the ticket punch and added adhesive nailheads. That beautiful greeting, which really pops in black, is from our next set we are showcasing today, and is also used on the next two "Branching Out" cards which show simple ideas for the birds...
and this one, both simple ones I shared at our release party...
Before removing the boat mask, be sure to remember to flip your trees over and stamp again below it, without reinking, this creates the perfect reflection and completes the illusion of water on your card. (Refer to sample for the clouds and boat reflection in the finished scene, I forgot to get a pic of that, oops!)
A scene like that deserves a spotlight, so I die cut an oval window through my Kraft mat I'd stamped with the large "Branching Out" frame and then popped it up over my focal point with foam dots. I love doing windows with nature scenes especially, like you are peeking into another world. The frame allows me to come up with a simple but interesting layout that matches nicely! Base is Pure Luxury Fresh Asparagus, and I added just a few silver adhesive nail heads to finish it off.
Cardstocks are Gina K Pure Luxury White, Little Boy Blue and in The Navy. I love all the white space on this card! I began by inking up the long "linen" stamp in a pale blue ink, and then inked up the bold iris in Vivid Inky Blue and kissed it all over the inked texture stamp, re-inking each time and varying the height of the flowers by stamping them in different positions. then I huffed on the texture stamp and pressed it onto the white cardstock.
The kissing effect is subtle here, but effective, see below. This texture is so fine that if you used a line art image you would hardly see it kissed, but these bold flowers are just right. :)
Next I did some Direct to Stamp by inked up the different portion of the iris with my Memento Markers, Summer Sky and Danube Blue for the flowers and Cottage Ivy for the leaves and pressed it over the textures on the left, to leave room for my greeting on the right. The bold silhouette really brings out those kissed images on the linen, and that linen block really grounds the solid flower and adds interest to the layout.
I decided to go ahead and post this same card portrait style, because I think either layout looks pretty cool! If you send it in an envelope, it'll be up to the recipient to decide which way it goes anyway, and I'm sure most people will have "one" way they see it and one way only, and that's great!
This morning I have a couple glimpses of my newest set "Branching Out", oh are you gonna love this one!
"Branching Out" includes several small frames that fit the various Nestabilities dies, and small accent images for customizing and adding quick pops of color. It also has a large frame stamp that, like the one in "Inspiration Mosaic", can be turned 4 ways for different, easy layouts.
I've shared this pic of William on my blog before, it's a favorite portrait of mine, but I have NOT shown you what's at this link, a mosaic of the same pic but made with some of our family photos of him, you've gotta see this! (and zoom in to see some of the shots!) You can create these for FREE at Mosaically (and download them for only $5 if you want to be able to print your creation, but making it cost me nothing), or buy the Sweet Deal being offered today only, $36 for a 24x 36" print of a mosaic you make, that would make a nice gift! You could also share the link so others can view it, so friends or family might buy it to download themselves. (Use coupon code FRIENDS2 to get $2 off if this is your first Mamapedia Sweet Deals purchase or EASTER10 to take 10% off if you've bought before.) You can use even more tiles but this was my first attempt, I got tired of uploading LOL (it was 4 in the morning!) Isn't that cool? Give it a try, if you make one, let me know, I know I'll be making more for sure! How's that to pass the time? 
Let's do a blog candy today, shall we?? How would you like to win this little number? "Celebrate in Style" a super cute dress and sentiment, just tell me below what's on your Gina K Designs wish list right now OR what you purchased from the last release. If you already earned this mini set you can still win it for a friend, so go ahead and play along anyway! :) I'll draw a winner tomorrow! BTW, did you see the snippets for this Thursday's Gina K Designs release and party have started already? Yeah!! Getting excited! :)
This was from a couple weeks ago, we have won the past couple ( yeah!) I just keep forgetting to share! Tonight though I am tackling a new dessert that I will have to report back on after we eat, it was crazy simple to make and I found the recipe by Googling "best chocolate desserts": the one this search pulled up first for me had over 500 5 STAR ratings and has been saved more 25,000 times. Well! How could all those people possibly be wrong?! Hope you are having a good weekend! I am feeling a lot better today, thanks for sending all the positive thoughts and prayers my way! I didn't make a card but I have been working on two special new somethin's that I know you are going to really love (not stamps!!) Thanks for visiting!
Here is a simple sample for this week's color challenge, this crisp and sunny pairing with a pop of blue made me think of trying to create a patterned background using "Bring the Bling" and one of my other favorite sets, "A Year of Flowers"! It was fun to mix it up and use the blingy stems with the realistic looking daisies, makes for a happy pattern! Blue, white and yellow are always such fresh palette with this type of flower! 
I stamped the daisies and bling flourish with Vivid Inky Blue. Then I colored the centers Copcis Y08 and Y15. TIP: Because this blue ink is NOT waterproof, instead of coloring on your yellow in circles like you normally would, just dot it on until you get the deep yellow you are looking for, dabbing mostly into the white areas. Pushing through the blue with the yellow and you'll get more of a green, make sense? :) Greeting is also from "A Year of Flowers", punched out with 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches. By the way, WHICH flower from "A Year of Flowers" is your absolute favorite?? (I know this daisy gets see a lot of ink in my house!) Be sure to sure the tag STVCSP when you upload to the STV gallery using this color combo, good luck and I hope you win some free stamps! Have an awesome weekend (psst, I just bought two more GREAT deals, wanna know?? or are you getting sick of them? Email if you're curious and 'll send them on the sneak, hee hee!) PS I am still sick, but thankfully I started this card before I was feeling bad, but thanks so much for all your well wishes and prayers and VERY kind comments about my card yesterday, I still my head buried in the sand over that!
The casual feel of the new background loaned itself to some other casuals colors and details like the Soft Sand and White, embossed piercing the Scor-Bug. Stitched ribbon is Pure Luxury. Be sure to watch Gina's video, it's super easy rubbing the chalk and then stamping n images with your Versamark to pull the pastels away, no matter how many times you do you're always kind of amazed at how crisp the image is that pops out! :) 
I'll admit I was having some trouble finishing this card off (I'd had such high hopes about having a relaxing evening of stamping after I put the kids to bed, but I'm afraid I am coming down with strep now, too, yuck!) but I just happened upon this flattened glass marble in my drawer and thought it would like kind of cool magnifying the dots in the center of the blingy flower. Unexpected things (and I sure wasn't expecting it!) can sometimes really make a card (or distract you from the so-so-ness of a card, I'm sorry everybody, feel like I let you down today! Hope I am back "on" soon, I am super happy with all the RELEASE STUFF I got done a few days ago, come back for that, hee hee!)
Jonathan tested positive for strep yesterday at the doctor, so he is home today again, but should be able to go back tomorrow. Thanks for praying for him! He has a school project due that he had some time to work on while he was home and we found he is quite the sculptor with modelling clay, I am amazed at the thought and tiny details he put into the reef and animals, will be sure to share some pics! later! :)
Speaking of fathers, here is William and his dad doing a little warm up before the game on Saturday! 
We had family in town for the weekend and Jonathan has been running a fever since Saturday, so we are having some snuggle time at home again (please pray he gets better, we are going to the doctor in a few minutes!) I did get a chance to make a couple cards yesterday with our NEW Gina K Designs stamps (coming out April 21st! snippets will be starting soon!) but of course I can't show them yet, eek I am SO excited about these! (get your Nestabilities ready!!) 
Here are a couple samples in the new CardMaker May issue using my "Wild at Heart" set. These cards use two of my very favorite techniques for bold stamps and I love how well they work with this wild flower frame! 
This second card uses also the "Pressed Flowers" set.
I hope you'll check out this latest issue of CardMaker, quite a few Gina K designers in there this month representing, woot! :) I'll be back to share a few more samples from it soon!
Hope you have a terrific weekend, thanks for visiting!
So here's a hobo bag I got for myself (happy birthday to me! I was still really missing my little red purse that got stolen a couple years ago, even after all this time!) and a skinny red belt, they were originally 80 dollars for the two, and I got them for this $15 dollar deal plus an extra 2, not bad, not bad!) :) 
I was dumping a bunch of books in the book drop at the library, it’s one of those bins you load, close, open, load, close, etc and don’t ask me how but my engagement ring snagged on the chute and to my horror I looked down as the chute closed and the diamond had ripped OUT, just an empty setting!!!! I looked around the drop for about 30 seconds and ran in and presented my diamondless hand to the librarian so I could go turn the book drop upSIDE down. First she wouldn’t allow me in, (like it was above my civilian clearance or something), but you KNOW I got in there! After we sifted through every book, searched every corner, I finally shoved my arm through the slot and could see a dusty lint covered shelf in the middle of the opening. Feeling around in the dark, I knocked something pebble sized down (a diamond??) down into a space and discovered there is a huge gap inside the wall!! You know the space inside a building between the bricks and sheet rock where it’s just framing? UGGGGGHHH! I could only reach down as far from my wrist to fingertips because of the opening and felt the top of two books that had been trapped down in their for Lord knows how long! I fished them out and gave them to the librarian and realized that if the diamond had fallen down in THERE, it would NEVER be found unless they came and seriously took APART the wall… we spent about 15 minutes looking. I cried and left all my info at the desk then went outside to call my husband about our insurance while they paged a maintenance guy to see if he could do anything, felt totally sick to my stomach having to tell him what happened. 
