You're Invited! Gina K Designs Release Tonight!

Good morning! We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs June Release Party tonight. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!

If you came from Michelle Woerner's blog, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Here's a peek at one of the cards I will be sharing at the party, using my new set "The Vine" which coordinates with my recent set "Branching Out". I'm anxious to tell you the story about designing it when we begin our Inspiration Hop next Tuesday, it's a good one! :)

We really hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

• When: Today, Thursday, June 30
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST)

Now please head over to Lee Murphy's blog to see what sneak peek she's sharing with you today and see you back here on July 5th for the beginning of our three day Inspiration Blog Hop series! Thank for visiting!

I'll say have a terrific Fourth of July weekend, but I know well talk before then! ;)

My Little Fishy

Well, we are busy busy this summer! (And new stamps arrived for our release later this week, eek!) Just a quick update with a little of what the Muenchingers have been up to! One of my last posts was about William, today I have to brag a little about how well Jonathan is doing with his swimming!
He had his first two meets the past two Saturdays and he took 1st place in all three of the events he swam in at each meet! I was especially proud he was still able to come in first this weekend because the coach signed him up to do a fourth event, (which they never do, limit is three, but they needed a sub to do butterfly in the medley) and he was super tired after the fly and had to compete in his breaststroke right after. I feel a little silly but I actually got teary eyed watching him do butterfly, because I'd never really even seen him do that stroke and I couldn't believe how fast he went! (His medley team only finished 4th but he really did awesome on his lap.)

Pretty exciting for us, he has always been a very strong swimmer and gotten ribbons, but this year I believe we will go ahead and go to the City Meet to compete in a few weeks (anyone can sign up but only the best move on), the winners go on to the regionals in Waco (and with him often winning his races by as much two lengths he really has a great chance!) I remember the first summer I met Gina at CHA after I'd started illustrating when she heard my son was starting swim team she asked if I got zone cuts, I hadn't a clue what that was because he hadn't even done a meet yet LOL! I can understand now how exciting it has been for her to watch her girls have so much success swimming... :)
Another fun thing: the night before the last meet my husband showed Jonathan all of the medals and ribbons he won for swimming as a boy (and there were LOTS, he won several events on the city level but then later stopped swimming to do baseball.) Jonathan was very intrigued with the medals as they've only passed out ribbons so far. Paul said if he could beat his time of 19.06 in the 25 freestyle he earned at the same age, Jonathan could have the medal. We knew he was fast but he hadn't done that event yet this summer since his coach had signed him up for other events. He'd taken first in that event last year coming in at 23.01, which was four seconds faster than the previous summer. Could he shave off another four seconds? Yes he could, I think it really lit a fire under him, because he did it in 18.04, two lengths ahead of the second place finisher! :) (will post a pic of this ancient medal later) ;) So now we need to go get his hair cut to streamline him a little for next weeks meet, he got a pair of Speedo shorts yesterday to wear instead of his baggy trunks, too (but we draw the line at shaving his legs, hee hee!) ;)

More later, we also went to San Antonio last week, will tell you about that and share a few pics when I can! I got a chance to stamp a bit yesterday and made my first card with my newest set, will peek it to you right here on Thursday before the release party, can't wait, can't wait! (I seriously owe you some "Border Bling" samples , sorry i am behind on my stamping, I had had a lot of projects I'd had to work finish I can't share on the blog at this time.

Hope you are having a great summer! Big hugs!

Gina K Designs Hop

Good morning, sunshine! Members of Gina K.'s Design Team have come together to host a hop today with cards and projects featuring a masculine theme, perfect for Father's Day, it's THIS Sunday, are you ready??

If you came from Lee Murphy's awesome blog, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

I made a card using Theresa's "By the Sea" set on Pure Luxury White, coloring the lighthouse with Copics and sponging with Stormy Sky Distressing ink to make the water and cloudy sky.

I cut out and popped up the seagull. Mat and base are Lipstick Red and Little Boy Blue. I used a piece of torn Tan Leather CS to continue the shore along the front and added a few colored shells snipped from "A Year of Borders".

Now please head on over to the lovely and talented Sharon Harnist's blog to see what she's sharing with you today! Thank you for visiting!

Baptism on the Lake

Happy Wednesday! Wanted to quickly share, my younger son and I got baptized together Sunday in the lake behind our church, they do them a few times a year. I was baptized as a baby when my parents attended a Methodist church but I had never done immersion. I’d been wanting to do it anyway for several years but really wanted to wait until my children were old enough to witness it and understand what it meant. I told them after Vacation Bible School last week they were having the baptisms and that I was planning on being baptized, would they be interested in doing it, too? Unfortunately, Jonathan and his group had gone canoeing on the lake a couple days before and a counselor had told them they couldn't swim in the water or they would get sick, so "No way!" was he going in the water. Upon hearing this, William was silent on the issue. Rats. I didn't want to do it if no one was interested in coming or supportive, so I just prayed if this was the time to do it, a door would open...But then after Sunday school (on the big day!) he came out and tugged on my shirt and said, “I want to get baptized tonight!” So precious, there was my answer, the time was now!! I told him it was very special for me that we'd be together. All day I wondered if he would lose his nerve, but in the car ride there, he jumped out saying, "Let's go get BAPTIZED, MAMA!!" He started withering in the heat leading up to it (100 degrees plus), and got really impatient during the songs, so they put us near the front of the line when it was time to start. After he got dunked he came out saying ‘”Again, again!” and the pastor gave him a high 5!

This picture my husband snapped of us after we came out speaks a thousand words. I believe they baptized about 50 people that night, many who were children who made the decision to accept Christ the previous week at VBS. My kids had made the decision previously to ask Jesus in their heart, but I am so glad William and I took this step as an outward sign of our beliefs. It is an awesome thing to watch my precious son grow in wisdom, stature, and faith. :)

I also wanted to tell you, that if anything is holding you back from doing this when you've ever felt convicted, let it go and dive in! I had some hang ups previously that others might think I wasn't a Christian beforehand, as well as getting a little confused over different people telling me a person could not/should not get baptized more than once, reading different opinions on the subject (and there are as many as there are churches) but I would urge you to prayerfully consider it. :) Who knows how many would be impacted by your choice...

Gotta run! Blog hop tomorrow, no card yet, eek!

Blessings,
Melanie

Kissing is Vogue!

Welcome back! Today I have a short tutorial for you on kissing, hee hee! (step one, pucker...nah, just kidding!) I noticed a chunky elements stamps in the Free with Three "Elegant Elements" were about the same size and shape as Theresa's solid vase in "Vogue Vases" which makes them both perfect stamps for the kissing technique, covering the whole vase to make a pretty pattern! First I inked up the vase in Vivid Butterscotch, because I want the vase to be two tones but also I want my impression to pick up the whole vase. (you could kiss just the print of the element on to the un-inked vase, but it would be missing some edges...) Then I inked up the knotted element with Vivid Brick and pressed (kissed!) it onto the vase. Here you see the kissed vase before stamping onto my paper.
And here it is stamped! I just love kissing, don't you?! :) This vase now how has a gorgeous pattern that looks hand painted and I didn't have to cut and paper piece, woo hoo!
Here is the finished card. I added the flowers and shelf border and layered it onto Pure Luxury Black Onyx, Pumpkin Spice (punched with Acanthus leaf border), and Sweet Corn. I also stamped that same element over the sentiment to tie in the pattern on the vase and did a little sponging on the Petite Oval Nestabilities before removing the die.
I decided to keep the bling to a minimum with just one pearl since this sentiment is talking about "little moments"... :)

Hope this inspires, two great sets here, lots of options!!

Buds and Bling

Hello! Today I have a card I made from Pure Luxury White and Fresh Asparagus, using my new "Border Bling" set with the Free with Three this month, "Elegant Elements". I had not yet used this pretty floral corner from the free set and noticed how nice the round flower centers would pick up the the little circles in my bling! Isn't that nice match? I colored directly onto the stamps with Memento markers to create the different shades in the flowers and leaves. I colored the flower petals with Dandelion and then brushed a bit of Lady Bug near the centers working outward, the yellow may be a little hard to see, but I like how they bled into each other and it softened the red,this is why the outer part of the petals don't appear to have a hard defined edge. To bring out the "pearl" part of the greeting, I added two adhesive pearls over the oink buttons. Ribbon is stitched Pure Luxury.

I could have stamped the florals in the opposite corners or connected the open sides with a little row of straight bling from "Bring the Bling" to make a beaded frame, but I'll save that for next time! I was liking the simplicity of this. :) I also like the way the ribbon treatment turned out, I feel like I was having a "What would Carolina do?" moment! ;)

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, we did! Special post about that in a bit!

A Peek at this month's CardMaker...

Here are a couple cards I have in CardMaker July 2011, this first using my "Candles on Your Cake" set and a template I made for the bomb pop, you can get the template for free in this issue!This next card uses the Smackin' Acetate, I love this particular technique with Theresa's "Aloha" set!


A shout out to my GKD girls Carolyn King, Janice Whiting, Colleen Schaan, Tami Mayberry, and Jennie Harper (I'm going to nickname her "Centerfold" from now on for a fabulous two page spread she did with my "Gifts from the Sea" set, hee hee! You can call her that, too ;) for their gorgeous projects this month, and a BIG woooooooo hoooooooooo to Lee Murphy for the fishy card she made with Gina's adorable "Quite a Catch" set, this is her first publication! Yeah!!!

I want to encourage you ALL who have been considering submitting cards for publication or have before and have not yet gotten a "yes"yet, by telling you (please keep reading, this is different form what I've said before LOL!) how important "no's" are! I'd heard this before, but was reminded of it the other day in a book I was reading and wanted to pass it along. The author talked about how in every success story, there are many no's that come before the "yes", and they are ALL part of the process. She actually got excited by the no's because they knew they were putting in the time and doing the work, checking off the boxes that would eventually, statistically have to lead to a "yes"! Imagine how many inventions, discoveries and great talents the world would be without if any of these people had abandoned their work or dreams before the door opened. And the best part, is that only the door that opens for you is the RIGHT one, any other one was not the person or time for it to happen. We should be glad when we see doors are firmly closed because that is really tangible confirmation that the person is not the right alliance in that time or the right path on your journey...

As far as cardmaking, it may be you just need to keep honing your craft, or carefully choosing pub calls that really inspire you. Possibly it's finding which publication is a good fit for your style, there are several publications who have never been interested in ANY of the work I've sent. (It IS fun to get published, and there are benefits, but it also can be a lot of work. It's not for everyone, and in no way validates or invalidates that you have talent whether you get the "yes" or the "no"...)

So here's to the "NO's"! :)

Do You Fandango?

Hey! My husband and I have been planning to take the kids to see Kung Fu Panda 2 this weekend, and I just found a deal on Living Social, 2 movie tickets through Fandango for only $9! (You can of course use them for whatever movie you want, but right now, it's an easy choice for us..skadoosh!!!)

Also, if you are a first time buyer, you'll get a $5 credit too which would make the deal only $4! I've bought movie tickets through Fandango before and it is really convenient knowing you don't have to get there way ahead of time and are guaranteed a seat, but I don't like paying the service fee, but this deal includes THAT too! :)
Awesome!

I love going to movies in the summer (because it gets HOT here!!) but I don't love paying full price for all of us! Hope this helps you beat the heat and save some dough for other things (stamps, maybe??) ;)

My Unplanned e-cation

Yoo hoo! hello! Thought I'd better come check in since I hadn't blogged in a week, God bless Susan White for checking in on me and making sure my family and I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth! :) I hope you are enjoying a great summer with your families, it is really flying by, our days have been packed with swimming, sleepovers, movies, skateboarding (a new passion in the Muenchinger household, more on that in a bit!) and Vacation Bible School! William's class (holding their "Gospel" spiders) is pictured above, sorry for the fuzzy photo I took it with my phone. Can you find William?Here is a pic of a few quick cards I made for my sons' teachers, these "Little Tees" cards measure 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" to give all the student room to sign. I made them to match the tie dye shirts each of their classes wear for school events and class field trips. The tie dye on the left is made by first stamping the shirt outline in black, and scribbling rows of orange and purple with Memento markers onto the BOLD shirt stamp and misting with water before stamping over the outline, it turned out JUST like their tie dye! "U ROCK" is from the same set. The shirt on the right with round tie die pattern was done by inking up the doily from "Nana's Needlework" with yellow and purple Memento markers in circles and then misting. If you don't have the doily stamp, you coudl also just draw circles on the bold tshirt stamp with the markers and mist, whch will create a more "bleeding" effect like on the orange and purple shirt. Don't forget to have a nice day with the "Little Tees" smiley face! The sentiment "TEACHER" on each is from my coordinating "Tee Talk" set. Mats are Pure Luxury Sweet Mango, Wild Lilac, and Lemon Drop.

Sorry I couldn't have posted these cards sooner to provide you some inspiration for your own teacher thank yous, I made them in pinch before the last day of school, nothing like the last minute! But I did enjoy having some time to stamp with my Little Tees" it had been awhile! :)

More photos, stories, tutorials and tips coming soon, I promise! HUGS! I miss you!

Inspiration Hop, Day 4: Vintage Chic StampTV Kit

Hello, and welcome to the final day of our May Inspiration Hop with the Gina K Designs team! We saved the beautiful new "Vintage Chic" Stamp TV kit for last, and it is simply fantastic! I fell in love with the whimsy of this image, with all those adorable balloons and her skirt billowing up, so I popped up the die cut piece she was stamped on at an angle to look like it's about to rise off the card, isn't that fun?Card uses Pure Luxury White, Innocent Pink, Key Lime, and some of the new beautiful black and white printed paper included in this kit! The classic patterns are beautiful on their own, or paired with any color for a bit of drama, or can be customized so many ways, here I've used the same Copics to color in the stripes as I used for coloring in the image. The stripes on her skirt and balloons are what helped me choose this striped pattern for my card, I seldom choose a print just because I like it, but because it ties in to my focal point in some very specific way. Have fun choosing which colors and where they will go!

I also added a few of the new rhinestone "Border Bling" to the corner of the mat and covered them with a little Crystal Lacquer and just the tiniest bit of clear glitter before it dried. The facets in the image look so fun in real life! :)

Thanks for hopping with us! Please enjoy more samples now from the team, and be sure to leave comments for a chance to win a free set!

Gina K

AJ Otto

Carolina Buchting

Cathy Tidwell

Deb Felts

Donna Baker

Giovana Smith

Janice Whiting

Jennie Harper

Jimmi Mayo

Lee Murphy

Michelle Woerner

Sharon Harnist

Suzanne Dean

Tami Mayberry

Theresa Momber

Tina Gilliland

Valerie Stangle

Vicki Dutcher

Have a great day!

Inspiration Hop, Day 3: "By the Sea" and Free with Three!

Hello! I hope you have been enjoying our inspiration hop so far! Today we have two AWESOME sets to share, the first is Theresa Momber's "By the Sea", this is going to be one of my favorites from her, as I love the beach! Great for men and women alike, sail away on a virtual vacation with these gorgeous stamps! The sample below uses the new Pure Luxury Just Peachy with Chocolate Brown and Ocean Mist, I love this combo!

I stamped the bird and sentiment and then trimmed around the birdy's tail so I could die cut it with a Long Rectangle Nestabilities to look like he is wading into the scene. This sandpiper is one of favorite images in the set. Sponge on a little coral colored sunset and blue water, remove your die, color him with Copics and you have such a realistic scene you can almost feel the waves lapping over your toes! :) I placed my focal point low and then extended the sky into the peach layer, to really emphasize the vastness of it, adding some large and small seagulls from the set in Versamark to the peach layer above and more sponging to really emphasize the big expanse of sky. A little hemp tied in a sailor's knot (I found an easy tutorial for it online) finishes it simply.

Hope it inspires, this is my favorite card I've made for this release! I also can't wait to use it with my "Gifts from the Sea" set, too, the style and selection of images complement each other perfectly! Gorgeous images from her set for the background and shells for the foreground from mine and you can really make some sweet scenes! Congrats on an awesome set, Theresa, and thank you!

Next up, we have Gina's new Free with Three set "Elegant Elements". This set is a long time coming and I am amazed that this versatile set is FREE with the purchase of only three sets, (have you given Gina a virtual hug lately for her generosity? I mean honestly, anything free rocks and this set for me is at the tippy top of the heap of all her "Free with Three" offerings! Here are four patterned papers I was able to quickly crank out with just a few of the different elements on solid Pure Luxury colors: Key Lime, Kraft, Smoky Slate, and Ocean Mist ( from left to right using black , brown and cranberry, gray, and finally brown ink) The possibilities are really endless and creating patterns with stamping is one of my favorite things to do as a stamper.
This sample shows the Key Lime mat I made, layered onto White and Black Onyx. This round medallion is probably my favorite, all the little details inside but then the clean round border of the circle really lend it to both fussy and "frou frou" designs as well as clean and classic, you know? I used the "Border Bling" that fits the Labels One die, and I think the white embossing on black turned out really sharp! I thought using the sentiment about a "pearl" was perfect for white on black and then accented the medallion centers with adhesive pearls. I love how nicely these borders in "Border Bling" really tie in and bring out all the little dots in the "Elegant Elements", these two sets are great for making a really detailed looking card in flash!

I used the "Border Bling" that fits the Labels One die, and I think the white embossing on black turned out really sharp! I thought using the sentiment about a "pearl" was perfect for white on black and then accented the medallion centers with pearls. I love how nicely these borders in "Border Bling" really tie in and bring out all the little dots in the "Elegant Elements", these two sets are great for making a really detailed looking card in flash!

Thanks for visiting today and please come back tomorrow for the final day of our hop! Please enjoy all the projects the team has created for you!

Gina K

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)

Michelle Woerner

Sharon Harnist

Suzanne Dean

Theresa Momber

Tina Gilliland

Vicki Dutcher

AJ Otto

Carolina Buchting

Cathy Tidwell

Colleen Schaan

Deb Felts

Donna Baker

Giovana Smith

Janice Whiting

Jennie Harper

Jimmi Mayo

Lee Murphy