Gina K. Designs –Inspiration Blog Hop: Day 2

Good morning! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets by Gina K and the illustrator team from Gina K Designs! 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 stamp sets Vicky Mermaid by Beth Silaika, Cottage Garden by Claire Brennan and the Botanical Blocks Incentive set. These stamp sets are so fun and versatile! 

Ready for some inspiration? Here are a few of the projects I have created for today’s hop:

I couldn't be more thrilled with how this one turned out, exactly how I imagined after seeing that sentiment, "Inking about you"!! (I guess technically anytime I stamp a card, I really AM inking about the person, lol!) Anyway, I used watercolor paper for this one, but did a lot of sponging first with Ocean Mist and Blue Raspberry at the corners to create a base of color. Next I got the cardstock wet and dropped on some GKD Black Onyx and Blue Lagoon drops using the reinkers.  The smaller drops I just touched the tip of the reinker to the paper.  While the Black onyx was still wet, I smeared it to blend out with a brush, like a cloud of ink dissipating. Finishing touch was a few bubbles with a white gel pen.  Base is GKD Applemint.

So I was looking at my postage stamp border from Stately Flowers 11 again and suddenly l saw waves! I just stamped this repeatedly in Turquoise Sea working my way down, and then sponged in the same ink to fill the water.  These were really fun to color (Spectrum Noir) Finally, stamp just a few bubbles, the greeting and seaweed, also stamped in the Turquoise Sea.

Vicky Mermaid

Next up, we have Claire's gorgeous Cottage Garden set!  it screams fairy tales and storybooks, both dear to my heart!  I kept these very clean, like a book illustration on a white page.  

This little gated garden is perfect for some meditative coloring time. I had a wonderful time filling in all the tiny bits, discovering the different flowers, leaves and other special touches.

I shared this one at the party, all the tiny creatures begged me to have them hiding in the trees! I worked biggest to smallest, filling in the little corners with the tiniest last.  Colored with Spectrum Noir.  Just add a shadow to ground the tree. 

Cottage Garden

Today we wrap up with the latest incentive set, Botanical Blocks, free with a purchase of $75 or more! (Set will automatically be added to your cart.) These bold nature elements work in so many ways!  I came up with a couple ways to use them with Stately Flowers 11:

Here I inked up just the top and side of one of the blocks with Kraft ink to get that cool distressed and artsy edge, and stamped it 4 times, turning it each time to create this open, square frame, which I then stamped the mock orange flower into.  After coloring, I inked up the same block in black and added under the mat kind of like the swath of a paint brush. Cool way to add texture and interest and have that fun reveal of the tiny flowers inside it. Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury Kraft, Red Hot and White.

Next, I inked up two of the blocks in Ocean Mist and Jellybean Green to make a color blocked spring day inside my postage frame. Stamping the paintbrush flowers over in GKD Black Onyx with no coloring lets the gorgeous detail of these Botanical Blocks show through. Cardstock is Ocean Mist, Black Onyx, and White.

Ready for more awesome creations?! Please enjoy more gorgeous inspiration samples and ideas from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

Gina K

Beth Silaika  -Illustrator of Vicky Mermaid

Claire Brennan - Illustrator of Cottage Garden
Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels
Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Theresa Momber

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!