Monday, February 29, 2016

Gina K. Designs Inspiration Hop: A Year of Flowers 3 and Birds & Blossoms 2

Good morning! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamps from the February Release Party. We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs!


Today, we are featuring the new stamp set A Year of Flowers 3 (by moi!) and the Birds & Blossoms 2 set by Theresa Momber. Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win an awesome grab bag of GKD goodies!!!  To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

First up, A Year of Flowers 3! I am so excited to give you this new set to follow up and complement the most popular set of stamps I've ever released!  While I believe A Year of Flowers will always remain a timeless set for your collection, this new set gives you the same flowers, but in different orientations than front facing, to flesh out even more realistic looking arrangements as well as showing the original seasonal flowers in different stages, form bud to more full-blown.  I love the opportunities for creating more variety in your layouts and representing the life cycle of a flower in this way. If you don't have the first set, like that original offering, these images will work for an entire year 's worth of occasions and all four seasons.  Truly a must have! Mix and match or use it on its own.  In addition to the flowers, you are also going to love the new elements, like more complicated stems, and fillers like baby's breath and ferns. And, it's in CLEAR, woo hoo!!

Here is an arrangement I masked and stamped with A Year of Flowers 3 . I used my galvanized tub from Beyond Baskets. Great containers in that set for these flowers! The baby's breath and ferns are stamped in GKD Fresh Asparagus and Grass Green. I just love these fillers so much!   It's so delicate and much faster than stamping and coloring leaves. I may go through my basket of cards and just add baby's breath to all my previous stamped floral arrangements!  It gives such an airy, fresh-cut feel. Tip: Use two shades of green for your greenery, whether that's two pads or stamped and stamped off, to create more variety and depth. I'll be doing a masking video this week to show you how to mask an arrangement into any kind of container stamp! Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury White and Powder Blue. Greeting is from Scripty Sayings.

I showed this card at the end of last week's video, but not a close up photo. Base is the gorgeous new GKD Pure Luxury Lipstick and the tulip is colored with Spectrum Noir FL1 and CR11.  Leaves are CG3 and CG4. By the way, how do you like these new long leaves? They are just *perfect* for tulips in both sets!

This card I showed at the party, but wanted to list the colors. I actually stamped the focal point and greeting in Edible Eggplant to match the card base. A nice alternative to black ink for line art images when you are using purple shades!  Spectrum Noir HB1, LV1 for the petals and GB8, CG2 and CG4 for the eaves and centers. The lotus is collage stamped all over the Lovely Lavender layer in Wild Lilac, and then sponged with Wild Lilac and Edible Eggplant. I love this smoky look! I can demonstrate a card like this but with different flowers and colors in a video if you like.  This is one of my favorite types of coordinated backgrounds to make.

Lots more videos and samples with this set in the coming weeks! Be sure to scroll down to the previous posts if you have not see the other samples I'e shared so far with this set. 

Next we have Birds &Blossoms 2 from Theresa Momber. So many different looks you can get with this set!
I stamped the cherry blossom branch on this 4 1/4" square Pure Luxury White card in GKD Charcoal Brown and colored with Spectrum Noir markers.  I stamped the large flower, colored, then cut out, cutting in between the petals towards the center so I could mold them with my fingers for extra dimension and popped up on a foam square.  Last I added some stamped and stamped off leaves with GKD Grass Green, like a soft breeze blowing through, before adding the sentiment. I love having stamped sentiments in one of my besties own handwriting! :)
 I shard this at the party. Cardstock is Pure Luxury Powder Blue, Fresh Asparagus and White. All stamped images and sponging were done with GKD Fresh Asparagus.  I cut out a second flower to layer over the first at an angle to give a fuller look, with more petals.
Finally, I love this sentiment! I stamped the solid leafy branch over and over with GKD Fresh Asparagus, full strength and stamped off, to create the tree top, then added the birds in Black Onyx. Honestly, I didn't mean to add so many flying birds, but I dropped the stamp and had to cover up a smudge (rather than start over!) The simple colors and layout remind me of a sweet children's storybook. Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury White.


Birds & Blossoms 2

Fabulous set, Theresa, welcome back!


While shopping, don't forget Scripty Sayings (free with $75 order or more, for a limited time only!)


Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from the Illustrators and Design Team!!


Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator for A Year of Flowers 3
Theresa Momber – Illustrator for Birds & Blossoms 2


Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.


Thank you for stopping by!

57 comments:

  1. This is one awesome set, as usual! Love what you have done with it, your coloring is so rocking!

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  2. Beautiful cards and your coloring is wonderful as always! This set is full of beautiful flowers! Another great addition to the collection! I also love your cards made with Theresa's set! Beautiful!!! :) <3

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  3. Oh my goodness, so much colorful inspiration. Using the Scripty Sayings as a floral stem was a touch of artsy genius!

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  4. Gorgeous cards, I love the new stamp sets!

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  5. Soooo gorgeous! Love your samples. Love the barrel of flowers. All the flowers are colored so beautifully! Another amazing addition to the A Year of Flowers series!

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  6. I love how you mixed your new flowers with the older tub stamp! Very nice!

    ~~Heidi @ My Little Stamping Blog

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  7. I am so glad we didn't have to pick our favorite. I don't think I could pick just one. Your talents amaze me. Thank you for your inspiration.

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  8. Such an inspiration especially the details,thanks for sharing

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  9. You did some beautiful cards with these two wonderful sets! Wish I could get them but sadly I can't, gotta have some money for the dentist cause I broke a tooth. *cry* Love seeing what you did with the sets though!!

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  10. I love the flowers in the washtub. Such depth and colors, just beautiful. I've pinned all the cards so I can go back and drool over them. :-)

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  11. Love your shading and the colors you chose for the bases...purples and reds make my heart sing.

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  12. All I can say is WOW! These cards are all striking and lovely.

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  13. Those cards are so strikingly beautiful! Wonderfully colors on all of them and so nicely compiled together.

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  14. Your cards are lovely. Spring is coming.

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  15. All of your cards are awesome. Love the bright colors in the flowers - and always learn so much from watching your videos. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. Your cards are all awesome. I really liked the flowers in the tub. Also appreciated the tip about two shades for the baby's breath and fillers. I really liked the last card too with the birds flying out of the bush. Can't wait until my sets arrive.

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  17. Oh my! This set is simply amazing! Your cards are stunning and inspiring! Purple is my favorite color so I adore that card 😍

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  18. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!! I'm so glad you made A Year of Flowers 3 with the blossoms in varied positions. Hope I can get them soon.

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  19. You are so talented and I'm thrilled that you share it with us at stamptv! I love all the cards, but if I had to pick a favorite it would have to be the purple and lavender lotus. I would love to see a video of that. Thanks!

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  20. Love the new set, also love the depth and color in all your cards. So beautiful!!

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  21. Love the beUtiful flowers in the wash tub.

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  22. Beautiful cards! I am so ready for spring! Thanks for all the inspiration!

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  23. Gorgeous cards as usual. So many ideas, so many I'd like to try, so little time!.

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  24. Beautiful cards! I would love to see a video on the Edible Eggplant card.

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  25. I love your new stamp set! The original set is already on my wish list. Can't wait to get this one! Love the cards you made. So colorful!!!!!

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  26. Beautiful cards! Love the new sets! A Year of Flowers 3 is a favorite!

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  27. Amazing! On my wish list for sure!

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  28. What can I say.....love, love, love, love your cards! Darn, I'd like to be as talented in coloring as your are. Seems like everyone on the GKD team is super talented. I always look forward to these hops Thanks for the looky loos!

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  29. Wow, Melanie, these cards are awesome. You have come up with so many gorgeous designs with these fabulous new stamp sets. Thank you for inspiring me today:)

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  30. Oh my! There is so much gorgeousness here! I especially like the idea of using script sayings as a stem for the flower! Fabulous, all!!

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  31. Your cards are always so amazing. I will definitely be purchasing these stamp sets in the near future.

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  32. Melanie, I cannot wait to borrow some of your ideas Your stamps and your cards are exquisite. I an sure we all have our favorites for different reasons and you clearly are mine! No question...hands down for me it is you. I cannot even pick a fav from these cards... Love them all. Maybe, if forced to pick, it would be the bouquet in the tub....love, love, love it...the tub and the way you colored the flowers.
    I will have years 2 and 3 and those cool scripty stems...yahoo I meant. YAHOO,

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  33. All the cards are beautiful. Love the purple one and yes I would love to see a video showing how you did this technique.

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  34. I have already ordered the Year of Flowers 3 and Ordered a Year of Flowers 2 last week. These are great ideas to get me going on some simple cards!

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  35. I love the randomness of the basket and pitcher full of flowers. You have included such a wonderful array of flowers for a wildflower-like bouquet.

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  36. These are all wonderful examples. I really like the red one!

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  37. Your blog is my first stop on the hop. I just want to run into my studio and create now that I'm so super inspired. Your work is incredible and I am always in awe.

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  38. Way to rock the card designs and stamp images Melanie! Your cards have so much vibrancy and depth - what a joy to look at them all. Congrats on another fabulous set!!!! And yes, please, on the video offer above :D

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  39. These are all super gorgeous! Looking forward to getting my new set! : )

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  40. Love this stamp set. It has such a great variety of flowers. Love all your cards, such a great variety.

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  41. Melanie, you've really outdone yourself with the Year of Flowers 3. I have both of the other sets and I love them. The babies breath is a nice touch. Thanks for all the helpful hints and inspiration.

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  42. I love your cards and your coloring. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent!

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  43. Love the colorful flowers and the sweet bird card.

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  44. I am anxious to add this new "Year of Flowers" set to my collection. I like all of your cards very much, especially the purple and blue ones, and am anxious to see any and all new videos that you are willing to make.

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  45. Absolutely beautiful stamps and bright colors!

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  46. Such gorgeous cards, Melanie! I couldn't pick a favorite, each one is uniquely beautiful. Love your new stamps :-)

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  47. OH WOW... Your flowers in the bucket is one of the most Beautiful cards I have seen since I started my card making! You are a true Artist!!

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  48. Melanie, you have such a way with flowers! I liked all your cards, but loved seeing the sample of the complete bouquet!

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  49. Absolutely beautiful cards again. Love seeing what you make at any time, TFS

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  50. LOVE how you put the flowers in the big metal tub! Fantastic!!!

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  51. Your cards are beautiful.

    KathleenR

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  52. Your cards are beautiful

    KathleenR

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  53. Great cards to introduce us to the new stamps. Love your new set of flowers, specially the choice of leaves and small floras. I can see lots of bouquets on cards soon.

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Your generous feedback helps make my work and this blog better! Thanks for inspiring and motivating me! :)