Fabulous Stamped Frames Blog Hop!

Good morning!  Today several members of the CardMaker Blog team and Gina K. Designs team are  showcasing stamps used in my newest book Fabulous Stamped Frames, published by Annie's. (You can also download a digital copy, no waiting! :)  This cardmaking tutorial book features 36 projects using seven of my bold and line art frame stamp sets from Gina K. Designs.  This frame series is near dear to my heart, being what I feel are among the best, most innovative and versatile sets I've designed.  Each set contains a frame stamp large enough to fill an A2 card front, which can be rotated portrait or landscape style, for a perfectly balanced layout every time.  Along with coordinating images and sentiments to customize your designs, these sets allow both beginners and advanced crafters to enjoy endless possibilities for year-round themes, occasions and styles. Some stamps are bold and some are line art, so virtually any technique can be achieved with a mix of these stamps.  Not all sets are needed to get a ton of instruction and ideas from this book!  I asked my designing friends to put their own spin on one of the sets that really spoke to them, so we hope you enjoy what you see today! Gina and I have videos also to show more of the book and some of the stamps in action.
In this video, I chose to recreate a card from the chapter on Sponged Scenes, (since so many of you love creating scenes!), using Inspiration Mosaic. Start to finish this card is only 5 minutes!

The amazing thing about the mosaic frame is that its clean lines and sentiments look beautiful with any other stamps in your collection stamped into or over the different panes, whether they are whimsical or realistic (here is another video showing just that).  This frame is really a "tool" stamp that will add structure and stylish complexity to any card.

At the end of the video I  also shared a new, simpler sponged scene, but this time with A Beautiful Life, along with the  matching Studio cut file to cut out the oval window and create the oval sentiment tag.

And here are just a few more peeks at cards and techniques in the book!

 

using Arranged with Love...

 using Wild at Heart...

using Festive Frame ...

using Fun Year Round...

And guess what? All seven sets frame stamp sets are all on sale for the first time ever (click that link to view them all.) Take this opportunity to stock up on your favorites or complete your collection.   

There is also a prize today! A $25 gift certificate to use on any stamp sets, templates, digital paper or Studio cut files in my line of Gina K. Designs products.  To enter, leave a comment on the blogs in our hop today.   One commenter will be randomly chosen and posted Friday on Gina's Blog.  The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win.  

See full details for the prize and the sale on Gina's blog.

Please enjoy the hop!  Good luck on winning the gift certificate!  Thanks for hopping today!

Gina Krupsky

Cathy Tidwell

Debbie Corbari

Latisha Yoast

Lee Murphy

Michelle Woerner

AJ Otto

Sean Fetterman

Tami Mayberry

Theresa Momber

 Christine Okken 

Beth Silaika
CardMaker 

Finally, this is my final hop on the CardMaker blog team.  Thank you Brooke and Tanya for choosing me, and thank you fellow CardMaker bloggers who joined in my hop today!.  It's been such a fun year of posts and challenges and I am grateful for the new friendships I have made through this design team!

Statebound 2013

If you could please send some positive thoughts and prayers our family’s way, I would so appreciate them as I drive my sons to Corpus Christi on Thursday morning, where Jonathan is competing in three events at the Games of Texas State Meet.  We need all of us to be healthy and for him to have good swims Friday morning.  He is seeded 6^th and 7^th for two events, but these were not his personal best times, so I feel he has a really good shot at qualifying for Nationals, which would mean he'd need to place 1^st , 2ne or 3^rd.  He's been working really hard the last two and half weeks at the pumped up practices for the City team, so of course I think he can win them all, barring a goggles malfunction like at Regionals!  I am so excited for the Parade of Athletes and Opening ceremonies and Fireworks on Friday night, which we haven't been able to attend the last two years he qualified because he always had a warm up scheduled for so early the next morning before his events.  This year we'll be done by Friday afternoon and know whether or not he placed but just thankful for the experience and relieved morning swim sessions and the pressure/anticipation are over for a while!  Sounds like it is such a good time for the kids and their parents.

I haven't managed to finish my tribute to Homey for you to read yet. The short story is we had to have him euthanized after his legs stopped working (due to the cancer in his spine) and I have never gone through anything like that or burying  a pet that meant so much, so of course I have to tell how it all went down, along with how we got him and why he was the Best. Cat.  Ever. Between wanting to find all the right pictures and say all the right things and procrastinating on some of the more emotional parts, it is almost but not yet ready to post.  (I'm not sure how people get eulogies together so quickly for their loved ones in time for a service)  Hopefully when we get back, along with some good news about Jonathan.  It will be good for us all to have some time away from the house for just a few days.  Preparing for the meet and short trip has helped to have something else to focus on and look forward to.  I so appreciate the outpouring of loving words and support from so many of you on Facebook.  It has not been easy, but it is getting easier each day.

Hugs and blessings,
Melanie

Favorite Product: Copics (of course!)

I have a post up on the Cardmaker Blog today.  My final Favorite Product Feature for the CardMaker Blog team.  I hope you'll check it out! 

You can find the post HERE!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Technique Thursday: Cardmaking with the Silhouette

I have a post up on the Cardmaker Blog today.   
Today I am going to show you how I like to use my Silhouette Cameo for cardmaking. 
I hope you'll check it out! 

You can find the post HERE!
This is my final technique tutorial for this term of the CardMaker Blog team. I've really enjoyed it!  More tutorials to come here,though, of course, always!

Thanks for stopping by!  :)

Inspiration Day 3: Darling Divas and Beautiful Banners

Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas, and as you hop through our blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops. 

First up we have the set Beautiful Banners by Becky Oehlers.  I thought it would be cool to stamp the   "happy birthday" banner over and over nested together to make this rainbow-ish gradient, fits very nicely!  I popped up the cut red banner to echo my Pure Luxury Cherry Red base and added a popped up punched star from Wild Dandelion.  Add a brad and you are done!  Happy birthday!

Beautiful Banners

Next up we have all new Darling Divas by Debbie Corbari!  I had to make a running card first for my runner friend Vanessa, colored just like her, with Marathon Diva.  
 Don't forget to add a little C-1 shadow below!


Punched circles are 1 1/4" and 1 3/8".  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White and Powder Blue.

Here are all the new Divas!  More cards to come with the other Darlings!

Aloha Diva

Impressed Diva

Marathon Diva

Please enjoy more ideas and inspiration from the team:

• Gina K
• Becky Oehlers-Illustrator of Beautiful Banners
• Debbie Corbari-Illustrator of the Darling Divas
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Latisha Yoast
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Sean Fetterman
• Valerie Stangle 

Thank you for visiting!  Hope you enjoyed the hops this week!

Inspiration Hop Day 2: Up and Away and Lot of Dots Alphabet

Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas, and as you hop through our blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops. 

First up we have Up and Away  by Theresa Momber.  I alternated stamping the large and small balloons in Gina K. inks: Red Hot, Sweet Mango, Sweet Corn, Fresh Asparagus, Turquoise Sea and Blue Raspberry.  Doesn't that make a cool floating rainbow?  Sponge some Turquoise Sea around the balloons and add the greeting and brad below. one last detail was adding some pierced rows to the white mat with the Scor-Bug and Scor-Buddy.

Base is Black Onyx.

Here is simple scene create with sponge daubers and Gina K. Designs Ocean Mist and Grass Green ink.  Stamp the grass at the bottom and the balloons above.  Sponge the green ink right over the stamped grass and lightly sponge the aqua ink around the balloons to create sky and clouds.   Color the balloon with Copics.  Don't you feel like you are relaxing in a field watching them go by?

 I made this top fold card a little skinnier than normal to really emphasize the vertical scene here.  Base is Pure Luxury Lemon Drop.

  Up and Away  

Next we have Lots of Dots Alphabet by Beth Silaika . I decided to start with a Facebook inspired card to go with the include "like" symbol.

I improvised the facebook logo by stamping the f into a square and making a search box strip from Pure Luxury White to stamp out the remaining "or you".  Pop everything up with foam dots for dimension.  Cardbase is Pure Luxury Blue Denim.

Lots of Dots Alphabet

Please enjoy more fabulous ideas and inspiration from our team:

• Gina K
• Theresa Momber-Illustrator Up, Up and Away
• Beth Silaika-Illustrator Lots Of Dots Alphabet
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Latisha Yoast
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)
• Michelle Woerner
• Sean Fetterman
• Valerie Stangle

Thanks for visiting!  See you tomorrow for our final day of hops!

Inspiration Hop Day 1: Stately Flowers 7 and Simple Numbers

Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas, and as you hop through our blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops. 

 So excited to share more inspiration with you today for my new Stately Flowers 7!

 No fussycutting here!  I used the mask version of the red clover from the Stately Flower 7 Mats and Masks cut file (meaning it is the exact size of the image), cut it with the Silhouette and then stamped my image in Gina K. Fresh Asparagus ink.  Don't the leaves look gorgeous in that color?  (If you don't have a silhouette just cut with scissors.)  Then just add a bit of green to the leaves and red flicks of color to the flower. Isn't this flower beautiful with the Watercolor Garden patterned paper?  This set also contains some of my favorite greetings in the whole stately series.  Best friend ever.  Wouldn't you love getting a card saying that, any old day? :)  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Red Hot, Black Onyx and White.  Punched circles are 1 1/4 and 1 3/8".

Here I used that same clover image with another sheet from the wildflower paper pack, and one of the square frames from the Stately Flowers 7 Frames cut file.  That is the patterned paper showing through the middle, but doesn't it look like several layers, instead of just the one piece of DP and the white frame?  Stamp the image onto the cut frame and color. (I accidentally dropped the stamp so that's why I you see a bit of a double image on the leaves and stem, it's not your eyes! I just went with it!!)  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx and Lemon Drop.  I used a black brad and stitched ribbon from one of the StampTV kits, but you can also purchase these embellishments separately, from Gina K. Designs of course!



Here is a card incorporating one of this month's new incentive stamps for a greeting (this one is free with a $75 purchase).  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Dark Chocolate, and Little Boy Blue.  I added adhesive pearls to the flourishes and corner.

  

I added some highlights to the roses centers with a marker.  See how using clear stamps makes it so easy to stamp the rose stems together as though they are attached?

 

Stately Flowers 7 

Which image from this new set is YOUR favorite?  Tell me below!  Please see this post if you missed video for how to color the Lady's Slipper!!

Next up we have Tami Mayberry  Simple Numbers.  My older son is starting middle school next month, so I made him an encouragement card commemorating "the big day"  (oh, boo hoo!!!)   I like using the circle image to separate the month, day and year this way.  His school colors are purple, white and yellow (with a black Scottie dog mascot) which determined my color palette, and I added the CB Diamond Plate embossing to make it more of a "dude" card.

Cardstock is Pure Luxury Black Onyx, White, and Wild Dandelion.

 

Simple Numbers

  

   

Please enjoy more fabulous designs and inspiration from our team:

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger-Illustrator of Stately Flowers 7 (you are here!)
• Tami Mayberry-Illustrator of Simple Numbers
• Beth Silaika
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Sean Fetterman
• Valerie Stangle

Thank you for visiting today!!  See you back here tomorrow for another hop!

New Gina K. Stamps Now Available

Filled up your Gina K. shopping cart  with some fun new products yet?  Thanks for your purchases, Stately Flowers 7 is flying off the shelves! :)  And how much do you love the new incentive program?  I can never have enough greetings and these fancy shaped ones incorporating borders really fill the bill!    

I have some time to stamp this afternoon and plan to work each one of these into designs for our Inspiration hops next week, starting Monday!  Will look perfect with all my flowers! :) 

Here is a card I shared at our party.  This was a last minute one I made just before it started, to show how gorgeous the flowers are without Copic coloring, stamped on white or colored cardstock.  I didn't even know Gina was going to do a color on color challenge!   Cardstock is Gina K. Pure Luxury Red Hot, Blue Raspberry, Wild Dandelion (for the butterfly) and Jelly Bean Green.  Just a bunch of colors I already had on my desk from last month's StampTV kit, lol! ;)  

I did add just a few accents, like a little yellow marker to the center of the Lady's Slipper, a bit of red over the Red Clover, and touches of white to the rose's center.  I love the drama of these colorful, colorblocked panels on a black base!

Hope you are having a great weekend! 

Crate Paper/CardMaker Hop!

 Welcome to the Crate Paper / CardMaker blog hop!  If you just arrived from the Cardmaker blog, you are in the right place. Today we are using the Maggie Holmes Collection.

I don't usually make cards without stamps, but these patterned papers and pre-cut pieces of coordinating vintage elements make creating go so fast!  I picked out 4 tags and a bird that spoke to me from the pack, and popped up all the elements on 3D foam squares.  I distressed the edges of the designer paper before adhering to my card base, a Krafty-colored paper included in the collection.

 Crate Paper will be hosting a giveaway on their blog of a $40 prize pack of Maggie Holmes items.  Be sure to enter!  Post has full details,

 

Next on our hop, please visit Rebecca Luminarias!  

Thank you for visiting today!