Wishes and Dreams Hop

Welcome to the "Wishes and Dreams" Hop!
Today I wanted to have Alicia's little fairy holding something else in her hand besides the wand, and I came across this cute print from the Cosmo Cricket Earth Love pack with all these dandelions blowing all over, perfect for a birthday wish! I colored and cut her out, then popped her onto the background, positioning her hand over one of the dandelions. I cut out two little borders for the bottom from different prints in the pack to make a border for the little lady to skip along and die cut some hearts for my accents and greetings, cutting a larger one around a smaller heart to make a little window for spotlighting the dandelion. The lighter aqua that I used on her skirt and wings was such a close match to the paper until I got it photographed: it has such a yellow undertone, but it does complement the paper. The Lipstick Red hearts and base I threw in to contrast these muted tones.

Check out these links for even more inspiration:

Jessica Fick
Melanie Muenchinger
Lee Murphy
Asela Hopkins
Erika Martin

Theresa Momber

Bev Gerard
Colleen Schaan
Suzanne Dean

Sankari Wegman
StampTV Idea Center

Now, it's your turn! Please hop over to Gina's blog to add the direct link to your blog post showcasing Alicia's Wishes and Dreams stamp set in the Mister Linkey Box. Gina will have a special prize for the one link that she chooses out of all the participating bloggers - check out her blog for the details.

Have a wonderful day! :)

Dreaming Fairy

Today I have a card with Alicia's little sleeping fairy from "Wishes and Dreams".

Base is Ocean Mist and DP is Basic Grey Indian Summer, I loved how ethereal this print was with these long vines, like night blooming flowers. Although I don't usually throw in a color that's not key in my design, i love the contrast of the aqua with the pink and deep orange, and it does bring attention to the very small bit of aqua I added to the wings in just a few places to make them look iridescent, ink and lilac were added as well.

On her hair I added highlights of white pen and Sakura Stardust gel as well. Card is adorned with large flourishes punched from Innocent Pink and blinged sateen flowers. The greeting is on a die cut circle, like the moon rising in the background.

I've gotten several requests for how I color this Manga style art with my Copics, so I will be back with some step by step tips for coloring their skin, clothes, and hair, it is actually much easier than some of the techniques you've learned already with your Copics because this style is really based on hard lines and high contrast, rather than lots of blending of the shades which takes more time and practice.

Sneak Peek: Wishes and Dreams

Tonight I have fairy card for you, using the new set "Wishes and Dreams" by AliciaK, did you know I looooooove fairies?? Yes, I do! I colored and cut out this little pixie and then stamped and masked a little garden below for her to light upon using "A Year of Flowers", don't these sets look GREAT together? Everything is colored with Copics and all the little details are traced with the Sakura glitter pens to add sparkle and "magic fairy dust".
Now for a little extra birthday surprise, I added another fairy, this is my first time to try a wiper card! This image that could fly up and hover over the scene was too perfect for me to put off trying one any longer! ;) (and it really wasn't that hard...) I stamped the little fairy trail and stars below her from the set, this is a nice transition so you don't notice the pink flap sticking out of the card below her as much, and another greeting to decorate the last panel.

Last here is a top view to show the scoring and dimension to better understand how the card pulls open if you've never seen one of these in action. No, your eyes don't deceive you, I got a smudge on the front of the card after taking the pics above, so I stamped the little stars under "Hope your birthday is magical" to cover it up! (Looks better now, though, right?)

This wiper card folds flat and fits in an A2 envelope. Card base is the new and long anticipated Pure Luxury Innocent Pink, available this Thursday at Gina K Designs!

Something else fun about this new set: For this month only, when the "Wishes and Dreams" stamp set is purchased, the card kit will be included. Instructions for the card as well as enough materials to make 3 cards will automatically be sent along with the stamp set. Sweet deal!!

For even more inspiration with our new stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out our other GinaK Designers' links:

Tami Mayberry {Illustrator of Happy Hearts}

Gina Krupsky

Jessica Fick

Nina Brackett

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)

Theresa Momber

Carolyn King

Cathy Tidwell

Lee Murphy

Donna Baker

Lynn Mercurio

Erika Martin

Emily Giovanni

Colleen Schaan

Sankari Wegman

Valerie Stangle

Asela Hopkins

Alicia K's "Feel the Magic"

Alicia K has drawn the cutest Halloween set this month "Feel the Magic", with this adorable witchie and cute little props for her to hold in either hand, you will love it! Today I have her riding the broom, I thought it would be fun to suspend her in front of a cut circle, using Classic Circle Nestabilities, for a perfect (and easy!) moon backdrop. Stamped bats in the background are from Gina's "Spooky Silhouettes". Greeting is framed with the new "Fancy Tag" dies, they look totally magical with the punched large Flourishes (Green Apple) to match! Isn't that greeting fun?! "Witch way", hee hee!

Here's a closeup. She's colored with Copics, I used C-3, C-5 and C-7 to shade her hat, and added some stripes to her stockings with a pen. Punched stars are Pumpkin Spice, accented with adhesive nail heads, mat and base are Moonlit Fog and Black Onyx. Instead of masking the broom I just cut it out, ten cut the handle in half and ahdered one half to either side of her leg like she is sitting on it.

I sponged some Memento London Fog all over the inside to create shadows for the moon when you look at it from the outside. Pumpkin is popped up. As you can see here, her silhouette from the inside is all black: before cutting I adhered my stamped image on white paper to the black so that when I trimmed her out she would be black on the back side. This carries the silhouette theme to the inside. Pop dots are hidden under the broom and hat. My original plan was to hang her from some jump rings so she would swing back and forth, but...this was much easier LOL!

Joining us tonight with special projects made with AliciaK's Feel the Magic Stamp set are these Designers:
Gina Krupsky,
Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Theresa Momber

Are ya feelin' the magic yet??? :)

Sneak Peek: Best Friends

The wait is over, we finally have another set from Alicia Krupsky, yay!!! I'm especially excited to do a peek of her set "Best Friends" today because I wasn't officially on the design team yet when her first set came out in January. This set is so cute, you're gonna love making projects for all your "besties"! This is a little spiral notebook I found at Dollar Tree awhile back, I thought it'd be fun to alter because it already had this pretty block pattern in various shades of purple, plus a frosted plastic cover layered on top, which gives it a cool translucent look, and also protects my colored images underneath. Assorted SU! grosgrains that matched the colors on the cover (plus red) are tied onto the binding. I added self-adhesive rhinestones to the outside for these starry eyed Manga girls(see above), but when you flip it open, it reveals the unembellished images(below)

I used only Copics from my new "A Box" for the images ( stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black) I love the C-3 gray in this. it's just right for shadows!! I also found it works beautifully over colors to create a darker tone (see the hat) Aren't they cuties??

I covered up the writing on the front corner with a little square for my journal image, punching a corner rounder into the bottom to match the the curve of the cover. It is matted perfectly by the printed square underneath.

Inside I stamped several of the images and sentiments randomly throughout the pages, like they'd been doodled by a very "artsy" girl... hee hee ;) Just makes me want to curl up with it and make list after lovely list or gossip about "boys and things"... (I didn't keep it, though, sent it to someone special whom I know will put it to good use, more about her in another post...)

More "Best Friends" peeks:

Gina K

special guest: Michelle Giraud

in the sptlight: Courtney Fowler

Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile

I don't have a peek today of the "Free with Three", the last in our previews, BUT it is one of the best free sets ever offered!!!(IMHO!)( and I look forward to sharing cards with it very soon!) So get your wish list ready to be sure you earn one tonight, I'm hoping the team's convinced you that you need more than 3 sets this time (but if you not, join us for the party this evening,we've got more samples heh heh!!) and in that case, see if you can get another 3 picked out, because it'll earn you another set of your choice!!

Gotta go get ready for the party at 7 PM CST! I will be back to announce my winners of my challenges well before "the store opens", don't worry! (Thanks for your patience, I've got a lot going on at home right now!!) Have a great day, chat with you tonight!!!