Seasons Givings Blog Hop: Year 2

This blog candy is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the hop and commented!

Happy New year!  I was so honored to be invited by Latisha to be part of this year's Seasons Givings Blog Hop that she started last year, to gift blog readers with some crafty stuff as a thank you for being so faithful in your reading, following and comments. All participants in the hop are giving away candy today! I have been so blessed to be a part of Gina K. Designs the past six years and often supported by other companies with goodies to test, which always keeps my craft room overflowing, with more than I can possibly use.  Today, I have a huge package of stamping and papercrafting stuff I am giving away, which retails for more than $175, listed and pictured below!

          

1 Spellbinders die set
2 CardMaker issues
3 of my Gina K. Designs stamp sets
4 Memento ink pads
4 packs of product from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
6 packs Gina K. Designs designer paper

Just Swingin'

 Pretty Patterns 2 (clear)

 Lots of Letters (clear)

 Beyond Baskets 2 (clear)

 




Just leave a comment below to win!  You have until January 5 at 11 PM Central to enter.  I will draw and post a winner on January 6.  I hope you will subscribe to my blog if you have not already, as I have lots to share in 2014:  stamps, inspiration and more giveaways!  You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest.  I have a Youtube channel as well where I share videos with my stamps.  This was something new for me in 2013, but will be a large part of my focus this year.  Expect new videos often!

Here are links to some of my favorite projects from 2013 (these aren't in the giveaway, I actually sent out these cards!)  The first is my first video, such a simple card and technique using A Year of Flowers 2.  Click the link below the photo to watch the short video.

   

Coloring the A Year of Flowers 2 set 

 Here is a card I made using my set Inspiration Mosaic for my book Fabulous Stamped Frames that was released this year, I did a video for creating this card as well.

And here is one of my most popular cards on Pinterest this year, with my most recent stamp set from Gina K. Designs, Stamper's Favorites.

Finally, here is the main hop list, I counted over 80 peeps!  Good luck winning some fabulous goodies!

Lawn Fawn

Reverse Confetti

My Favorite Things Stamps

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Julee Tillman: Verve Stamps

Avocado Arts Stamps

A Jillian Vance Design

Latisha Yoast

Amber Hight

Amber Kemp-Gerstel

Alice Wertz

Debbie Corbari

Vera Wirianta Yates

Lori McAree

Carolyn King

Sharon Harnist

Amy Tsuruta

Beth Pingry

Angie Blom

Julia Stainton

Sharon Johnson

Michelle Woerner

Cindy Lawrence

Lori Tecler

Daniela Dobson

Savitri Wilder

Theresa Momber 

Giovana Smith

Kimberly Crawford

Maria Levine

Colleen Schaan

Lydia Fiedler

Kelly Klapstein

Kim Kesti

Laura Williams

Shanna Vineyard

  

Jennifer Gallacher

Heather Pulvirenti

Stacey Schafer

Leigh Penner

AJ Otto

Teri Anderson

Julie Overby

Margie Higuchi

Jimmi Mayo

Tenia Nelson

Lee Ann Barrett

Iwona Palamountain

  

Kim Jackson

Linda Lucas

Sarah Gough

Dina Kowal

Elena Roussakis

Lisa Henke

Jodi Collins

Joanne Basile

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here, thanks for visiting! Don't forget to comment!)

Darsie Bruno  

Libby Hickson

  

Dana Joy

  

Jody Morrow

Heather Campbell

Savannah O'Gwynn

Lee Murphy

Lisa Arana

 Jocelyn Olson

Isha Gupta

Piali Biswas

Ashley Harris

Bunny Vance

  

Anabelle O'Malley

Andrea Murdock

Stephanie Muzzulin

Alyssa Bennett

Christiana Reuling

Laurel Seabrook

Melody Rupple

Emily Branch 

Megan Hoeppner

I hope 2014 is your best and most blessed year yet!

Really Good Gift #2

The Corksicle.  Paul bought this for me (us) last Christmas as a little gift and we have really enjoyed it.  I decided to put this on my Really Good Gift list because the people we have had over when we were using The Corksicle  or have gifted it to Freaked. Out. when they saw it, thought it was so cool and clever.  It's a stopper, and a chiller, and an *icicle*.  What value! :)  So, for the oenophiles in our life, they will love you for The Corksicle. 

By the way, we haven't been drinking wine the last few weeks.  (I don't mean never will again, but probably very rare nice meals or just a glass when we go out to dinner)  I don't miss it and am sleeping GREAT.  Fun to think about what we can do with the money we save.  I have a vacation, more pedicures, and sponsor a child on my list (not in that order, of course)

When you purchase through the link above on Amazon, StampTV gets a small portion of the sale as an affiliate.  So this is the best price around AND helps Gina K keep StampTV a free site for our fans and friends, bonus!  (Sorry I didn't post this before the get it by 12/24 date.  Boo!  You can also pick them up at target, etc but when I went they had colored stoppers, not real corks like this one.  Which you actually might prefer.    Or not.)

Unfinished and Unedited: Warming Up

Good morning!  I thought it might interest some of you to see how things look before I decide they are worthy you! for today's card, I am still undecided but may as well go ahead and show you some pictures, now that I am out of Stamper's Favorites samples for the moment but this is till on my desk!  it was the first card I started stamping with my set when it arrived.  These usually aren't my best, they're warm ups!

Anyway, I LOVED the cut out around the flowers.  I tried to keep coloring on him really simple with two light greens.  (there just isn't enough pop, though.  Yet.)  I decided on Passionate Pink for the base to pull out the stamped flower outline (which was actually red but blended and looked more pink after I colored it with some peachy pink Copics).  But the only ribbon I had on hand that might work was this green organdy, and I was not lovin' how it looked over the pink.

I thought I might like it better if I gave him a sky to fly in, sponging on Ocean Mist ink like I did on a later card.  It is better, is some ways, but the pink is still a problem (for me)

So we try a lighter pink base.  Meh.  It's alright, but now my green ribbon looks yellow. 

So there it is.  As you can see, because I'm not sold on any of these, I haven't bothered to edit the photos either.  I've been having to use my phone becuase of issues with my camera, so they haven't been as sharp as I'd like, but I always sharpen any photo before posting (and correct the tint and contrast).  I also crop every photo before  posting so you don't see my Silhouette Cameo behind my high tech (not) printer paper backdrop.

Until I get some new ribbon, or possibly just cut out the flowers to use on another projects, there it sits.  I could next try an Ocean Mist base, a white base, etc or just move on to more cards as I did!  I try not to let myself stay stuck for too long.  I definitely went on to make some better cards I think. :)

Happy hump day! 

Blue Jay

Goods morning!  I hop you had a wonderful weekend.  Another sample today with my new set.  I wanted to make a more masculine design* with Stamper's Favorites so I created a card focusing on the feather, colored to look like that of a blue jay.  Stamp the greeting next to the tip and it gives the impression it's been written by a quill. I love the old world feel it lends the card and makes it bit more personal as if the the greeting is handwritten.  :)  I used a W-5 for the dark areas and B05 and B12 for the blue stripes and finally BV02 for shadow.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Blue Raspberry, Black Onyx, White and Charcoal Brown. I added some scoring to the top and bottom with my Scor-Buddy and a black brad to the corner.


*And then found all my natural fiber supply I intended to use was a exhausted.  So, we ended up with a turquoise ribbon and modified design to accommodate, maybe not so masculine after all!

Bird and Flowers

Here is another card from the release party with Stamper's Favorites. I stamped the cut out flowers in Gina K. Tomato Soup ink, and sponged some on the sentiment tag as well to tie that in.  I used a few peach Copics on the flowers and added adhesive pearls to their centers.  Leafy background is stamped and sponged with Gina K. Grass Green ink.  Such delicate, detailed images need a really fancy die to compliment them!  I thought this Spellbinders Decorative Labels Twenty Two was perfect, with those tiny oval cut outs along the top and bottom echoing all the dahlias' petals.  Here is my favorite way to do the hummingbird so far:  Stamp the bird twice.  (I used green for the bird, then added a little brown marker directly to the stamp for the beak.)  On the second bird, cut off the tail and back wing, so you are left with the head body, front wing and feet.  Pop this up over the first and bend the wing out slightly.  You can almost see its wing flapping this way!  I finished it off with some cut leaves and adhesive pearls.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Dark Chocolate, Grass Green and White.

I hope you love this card as much I as I do!

Blue Butterfly

Here is a CAS card with Stampers Favorites that I shared at our Gina K. Designs release party last week.  I always love how striking one beautifully colored image and a black sentiment on white is, makes such a strong statement.  The image panel is popped up on Pure Luxury Baseweight White cardstock.  Blue Morpho is the real butterfly I used to draw this image, one of my favorites with that velvety black and stunning color, so I colored it with different shades of Blue Copic to match that stunning iridescent turquoise and azure, and outlined the sections and veins Sakura gel glitter pen.  A popped up butterfly with bended wings always looks better if you have time!  Stamping  one underneath and doing just a quick layer of color on the one you don't see as much of looks much richer than just the one popped up.  Also, you don't have to try to cut out the antennae this way, cut them off the top one and you see them on the stamped one underneath.  I also added some rhinestones to the body for extra sparkle.

Hope you have some fun plans this weekend and enjoying your weather, whatever it may be!  We are celebrating Christmas early with my mom who is coming in town, looking forward to making caramels and opening presents.  Stay warm!  All the best! :)

PS  Trivia:  How many butterflies have I drawn for Gina K. designs?  (I don't know the answer to that one either without looking!  Off to look!) :)

Inspiration Hops, Day 3: Lots of Thanks and Celebration Diva

 Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to our final fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop for December! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas for our new sets, 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.

Today we are sharing samples with Beth Silaika's Lots of Thanks.  My first thought, when I saw the checklist, was to frame it up with one of the other cute thanks!  I used different colors to fill the boxes and used tiny rhinestones instead of checks add a bit of interest and bling. Inks are Gina K. Cherry Red, Red Hot, Prickly Pear, Grass Green, and Turquoise Sea.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White and Black Onyx.

Finally, we have Debbie Corbari's darling Celebration Diva!  Dang, this girl makes me wanna party!  I colored her dress with Copics C-3, C-5, and C-7 to create an ombre and outlined the bottom with a silver glitter pen.  I used Carolyn's Elegant Flourishes stamped in Gina K. Black Onyx, Moonlit Fog and White ink to create the background on Moonlit Fog Pure Luxury cardstock.  Base is Black Onyx.





Now please enjoy more samples from our team!  Don't forget to leave comments for more chances to win a grab of Gina K. Designs goodness!  Hope you enjoyed our hops this week!

• Gina K
• Beth Silaika- Illustrator of Lots Of Thanks
• Debbie Corbari- Illustrator of Celebration Diva
• AJ Otto
• Becky Oehlers
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Latisha Yoast
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sean Fetterman
• Sharon Harnist
• Valerie Stangle

Inspiration Hops, Day 2: Elegant Flourishes and Stamper's Favorites

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 for our new sets, 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.

Today we start off with my new set Stamper's Favorites!  Which image is your favorite in the set?  Or rather, which of these faves do you/did you already have a little stamping "thing" for?  As you know I am pretty partial to flowers, but I love all these others too (and I can't tell you how happy I am to receive all the customer requests form Gina K fans for a feather!  That is a fun trend that is here to stay!)

The hummingbird is the illustration I hinted at a few months ago when I said I thought it turned out to be one of my best.  I wanted to show you here with these "lovebirds" that you can stamp them at different angles are on your projects to make them look like different birds so they can pair up!  There are also many ways to color these, both stamped in black here, I made one a Ruby-throated  (RV25, RV000, YG93, YG97) and the other an Emerald (RV25, G05, B06,B37, YG67, BV31).  Try Google search for hummingbird for color reference (here is a good page) or check back on this blog often as I know I want to recreate every species!  :) Their tiny iridescent feathers are like scales, so I did a little stippling with the markers .  Watch for a video this will be my next one!   Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Passionate Pink and Black Onyx.  I love how the pink just pops on his throat, the greeting and the flower (which I cut out from pink cardstock and popped up).  Sponge just a bit of Ocean Mist ink to create the sky behind them.  I also used the leaves from the set to finish the scene.  Last I added one of Theresa's Vertical Greetings.
 

Here is one I shared at the party with the feather.  There are so many ways to repeat this image and accent to create movement on your card,  with stitching,  rows of bling, stamping off,  or pierced trails like you see here.  Stamping off the image in Gina K.  Moonlit Fog at different angles look like they are gently wafting down from above.  Coloring just one feather red and popping it up (or cutting it out from red cardstock) really makes a statement.  The feather, which measure over 3" long, is a great addition to any nature card. It's like a masculine flower. ;) Greeting is from Beth's Lots of Lines set.

We are also showcasing Elegant Flourishes by Carolyn King. So excited to have these new decorative elements from Cammie, that can be used alone or with almost anything else of your choice! I like her new set and mine so much I just have to keep putting them together!  Doesn't this butterfly look fabulous with these flourishes?  Butterflies are always better flying from a flourish, I always say! ;) It's like, poof, magic!  

  I stamped the large and small flourishes in Gina K.  Cherry Red and Innocent Pink ink, stamping each off to make the flourishes dimensional, then did just a bit of sponging with the Innocent Pink along two sides and accented with some tiny adhesive pearls.  Cardstock is Gina K. Pure Luxury Black Onyx, Innocent Pink and White. 

And last is one I made with the dot circle in the Elegant Flourishes set, not just for "elegant" cards, these make fantastic whimsical or graphic elements, too!  Starting at the top of a panel, I stamped a row in each ink color, Cherry Red, Sweet Mango, Sweet Corn, Grass Green and Turquoise Sea inks, stamping off for the in between shades, then turned my mat horizontally and added hello from my Lots of Letters set in Black Onyx side the circles.  The size is just perfect for this alpha! And was a design element I do NOT have in that set!  Finally I jazzed it up with a tiny rhinestone in between the circle rows and mounted on a Pure Luxury Cherry Red base.  Easy peasy!

For more cards I've already created with the Stamper's Favorites set, please visit my StampTV gallery.

Here are the sets we are sharing today:



Now please enjoy more inspiration for our Gina K. Designs design team.  Don't forget to leave comments for more chances to win!

• Gina K
• Carolyn King- Illustrator of Elegant Flourishes
• Melanie Muenchinger- Illustrator of Stamper's Favorites
• AJ Otto
• Beth Silaika
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Sharon Harnist
• Sean Fetterman
• Valerie Stangle