Inspiration Hop, Day 2: Simple Flowers and Stamp it BIG! 2

Good morning! The Gina K. Designs Team welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Today we hope you are inspired with many beautiful ideas, and as you hop through our blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because Gina 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 Stamp TV a few days after the hops.

First up we have the adorable Stamp it BIG! 2 from Carolyn King, follow up to her very popular Stamp it BIG!  You will love these large scale greetings and images.

Here is a single layer card using all these big honking brackets and arrows!  Isn't that fun? I colored in every other line after stamping the patterned arrows, and traced the outer edge of each to make them look dimensional.  Love this little birdie, he can perch anywhere!  I snipped out the heart from his wing to accent the "o" in You. I used the Gina K. Black Onyx ink for my brackets and bird, Ocean Mist for the greeting, and Sweet Corn, Grass Green,Turquoise Sea and Passionate Pink for the arrows.  All these new ink pads are getting a workout, love!!

 I've used the large greetings and butterflies on several cards so far that I've made with my new Pretty Patterns 2 borders, but I hadn't used her house yet and thought it might be fun to try to use the patterns in some different ways...this card was so fun to make!  I thought the herringbone border stamped onto the roof (I masked off the scalloped roof line and chimney before stamping) would make great shingles, and stamped it again in Gina K. Grass Green and trimmed to make a nice strip of grass to anchor it.  

 

I stamped my row of dots from my set to make a Red Hot Swiss dot pattern on the house, and then cut out the heart window to place the bird inside.   Finally, I wanted to show how great these big bold words will pick up texture when you kiss them!  TIP:  Choose a tighter pattern with more details like this herringbone pattern to get more of the textured effect when kissing and pick up more of the letters so it's readable.  After kissing it in brown, it was still a bit light after stamping, so I stamped it again inked up in Gina K. Red Hot over the first stamped image.  You can do that with clear stamps, yes! :)  I love how that pattern on the word ties in the stamping on the house and grass.  Card uses Wild Dandelion, Black Onyx and White cardstock.

Hope you like it, Cammie!

Stamp it BIG! 2

Next up we have Simple Flowers from Ms. Clean And Simple herself, Tami Mayberry! :)

 I managed to use every image in the Simple Flowers set AND EVERY *new* Gina K. Designs Premium dye ink pads (all 8!  Turquoise Sea, Blue Raspberry, Grass Green, Passionate Pink, Sweet Mango, Sweet Corn, Bubble Gum, Black Onyx)  that we just released on this card, how ya like them apples?  Don't they all go so well together?  I love stamping my own patterns, simple indeed. :)  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, and Sweet Corn.  I added a few small bling to the centers for sparkle.

I also was looking at these floral elements again last night and realized how lovely they would be stamped over some of my Pretty Patterns 2 for even more versatility,
I could put flowers with anything!  ;)  Isn't that so fun and girly?!
I I also stamped the individual Moroccan images on either side of the her punched tag to go with the border.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Cherry Red. Ink  is Black Onyx, Chery Red, and Memento London Fog.  Victoria Cuttlebug folder.  I have so many ideas for these round elements paired with my square tile pattern border, too, eek!  So many patterns, so little time!

Simple Flowers

Now please enjoy continuing the hop with our Gina K. Designs design team!  Thanks for visiting!

• Gina K
• Tami Mayberry - Illustrator of Simple Flowers
• Carolyn King - Illustrator of Stamp It Big! 2
• AJ Otto
• Becky Oehlers
• Beth Silaika
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Latisha Yoast
• Lee Murphy
• Michelle Woerner
• Sean Fetterman
• Sharon Harnist
• Theresa Momber

Best of Friends

Here is another card in May's CardMaker, I am really happy about this one because it fulfills a personal goal I had for getting at least one project published with a sets from EVERY Gina K Designs illustrator, I think it's realy important we all support each other (it took a while, because I don't pick what they take, you know! LOL!)

This card uses The Carolyn King Collection, by of course, my good friend Cammie! I submitted it months ago, but I am so glad I used this image and sentiment ("Sometimes the most unlikey pair make the best of friends"), because as most of you already know, she lives "just up the road" from me now, but is moving across the country in a couple months, wahhh! Although I'm sad to know she is going, I am rejoicing that she and family can establish some roots close to family after many years of moving and time apart fro Kevin while he served in the military. She has become such a dear friend since we met through Gina K Designs three years ago and is definitely at the top of a long list of blessings I've received through the experience of joining Gina K. While I couldn't call us "unlikley" friends as we have quite a lot in common, how amazing the way we met and then got to live near each other for a couple years to allow us to spend time face to face and not just through email, I know we will stay in touch forever. Carolyn, I wub you! (BTW, the way they staged this card in the issue couldn't have been any cuter, I like to think one is Carolyn and one is me! hee hee, have to look to see what I am talking about!) ;)

Jonathan tested positive for strep yesterday at the doctor, so he is home today again, but should be able to go back tomorrow. Thanks for praying for him! He has a school project due that he had some time to work on while he was home and we found he is quite the sculptor with modelling clay, I am amazed at the thought and tiny details he put into the reef and animals, will be sure to share some pics! later! :)

"Heart to Heart" Card Drive

I hope you will all have a little time this weekend if you haven't already to participate in Cammie's "Heart to Heart Card Drive", collecting cards for the caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's (or if you don't know anyone personally , then for a caregiver at the Ardman Home where Carolyn's grandmother was a patient before she passed away in 2008.) You'll brighten someone's day by sending a card you made and you might even win a blog candy valued at almost $1000! Get full details on Carolyn's blog and see all the sponsors who donated and prizes included, you have until Sunday to enter!

Here is a simple card I made for it with "Buds and Vases". I stamped just the inked up outline of the glass vase onto this cool black wood grained pattern paper from the Basic Grey Granola pack. The wood vase lent itself to a very minimal design with clean lines, so the lilies from "A Year of Flowers" made the perfect arrangement. Mats are White, Soft Sand (embossed with Herringbone), and Black Onyx. Greeting is from "Lean on Me", which I thought was perfect for the caregivers, who give so much to be there for the patients and their families. Have a terrifc weekend!

Next up, my newest tip sheet!

Crafts 'n Things!

I am so excited to tell you about a wonderful publication I am now working with: "Crafts 'n Things"! I'm really excited about this magazine because it gives so much inspiration beyond cards: crafts of a huge variety of disciplines, many you can apply your stamping to, but also gorgeous projects that just make me want to try my hand at a new craft! Recipes, simple sewing and jewelry, there is something for everyone! Plus, it's all so pretty the non stamping projects inspire cards for me anyway, just like a beautiful picture would! I have two projects in their September /October issue (and will have projects in upcoming issues) both using my "What's in Your Tin? 1 and 2" sets! I was thrilled they were so enthusiastic about the versatility and practicality of these stamps for altering tins and am SO grateful it is introducing more crafters to these sets from Gina K Designs! :)
My first is a Back to School project on page 63, using "What's In Your Tin?" and my "Tee Talk" set....

The second is one of my favorite 3-D projects e-v-e-r (on their website, in the pic at top! can you see??? squint!!)! On page 91, it uses "What's In Your Tin?'' as well as Gina K's "Comfort & Peace" and "Hope is Faith". This inspirational tin is for a caregiver and I couldn't think of a better place to have it on display than next to the beautiful friend Carolyn King and her Mamo, with an article focusing Carolyn's grandmother's battle with Alzheimers and and profits from her stamp designs going to the Alzheimer's Association!

If you like to get your craft on, this is a magazine for you! My dear friend Donna Baker, crafty in more ways than one, saw this magazine at my house last week and her eyes lit up at all the wonderful projects they included, so she gives it the thumbs up, too! ;) I highly recommend you sign up for their FREE online newsletter, they have so many cool bonus projects, 30 minutes or less cards (I'll have some in them I created exclusively for them!) and articles They have a really great site, too, and you can get so much from it even if you don't subscribe to the hard copy, like tons of free craft supply giveaways (which I don't think I can enter since I am doing work for them, but YOU TOTALLY SHOULD!!!) Good luck with those! :)

Thanks for letting me share my news!!!

Blast from the Past Day 4

Hello! Welcome to Day 4 of our Blast from the Past Hop! Tonight we are featuring some favorite sets from Carolyn King and Asela Hopkins.


My first sample tonight uses one of Carolyn's earlier sets, "Framed Flowers". It is such a versatile set and so fun to use the little window to frame up the many sweet bold flowers in the set, grass and greetings. These images are perfect for the direct to stamp technique using your waterbased markers.
After going through my DP trove, while many would have been a lovely match, you can never go wrong making your own background to match using your stamps , especially with bold stamps, it goes quickly and couldn't be more perfectly coordinated! Aren't those little flowers so precious? In apricot on Ivory they have such a retro, vintage feel. TIP: If you want more contrast after coloring your rubber and stamping, you can go back and trace over certain parts with your fine tip markers. I first intended to make a card just using earthy colors, but then I reached for this Sweet Corn striped ribbon which had these lovely blues as well and realized using a Little Boy Blue card base would be so much more interesting! So thank you, ribbon! I masked the frame and sponged in a bit of blue ink to bring just a hint of that color into my focal point, then added some punched Grass Green flourishes, some punched curved corners, and a paper flower I colored to match. Finally a few Pure Luxury buttons and I'm done! :) Love this card, love this set!


Next I have this card using Asela's "The Journey". The quote about "faith unlocking the door" inspired me to try cutting the door open on three sides with a craft knife and fold back the last side so it could stand slightly ajar, allowing just a sliver of the golden yellow Wild Dandelion mat to show from behind...

Before coloring I also snipped some diagonals from scratch paper and placed them over the the left side of the door which I covered with sticky notes. I sponged on some yellow ink and then removed and colored my image. Now I have some rays peeking out, suggesting a glimpse of the glory and wonder that is revealed and doors that are opened when we put our faith in Him. What a comfort that promise it!

For even more samples of some of our favorite 'Blast from the Past' GinaK Designs stamp sets, check out these participating designer's blogs:

• GinaK


• Jessica

• Theresa


• Tami


• Lee


• Lynn


• Kurtis


• Emily


• Erika

One more day to go!! Aren't you curious what will be at the end?!! Thanks for visiting today! :)

Pink Christmas

Here is a pink card I made with Cammie's Warm Winter Wishes and Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly DP. Since the swirly paper was pink, I colored the snowman with pink Copics, too. I trimmed one of the layers in front of him , following the curve of the print, and then punched this striped piece from the pack with the threading water punch to look like a brightly painted picket fence and you're driving by the yard. (Remember this post when I told you a little about some of my neighbors? LOL!) Last I trimmed out some of the mittens from another Jolly by Golly piece like I did on this cookie card and put them on his twiggy hands, hugging that adorable heart. Base, stamped image and mats use Pure Luxury White and Rocket Red. Simple, sweet and so SO festive!! (who needs christmas lights with colors like this, hee hee!

Almost time for peeks, can't wait, can't wait!!

Blog Hop: Warm Winter Wishes

This little gingerbread house from the "Holiday Cheer" StampTV kit is the perfect backdrop for Carolyn's little snowman from "Warm Winter Wishes", you will have so much fun putting them in scenes together! I used a piece of Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly DP behind for a swirling blizzard and scalloped oval die cut for my greeting like it was puffing out of the little chimney. I had a blast coloring both of these little cuties!! :)



I used a rotary cutter to make some banks of snow from Pure Luxury White and popped them up to add a lot of depth to the scene. All images are colored with Copics. Mat is Rocket Red.

For even more inspiration visit Carolyn King - the Illustrator of Warm Winter Wishes and the Idea Center gallery HERE.

Then, check in with Carolyn's special guest designers:

Charlene Merrick

Tina Gilliland

Deb Anton

And, finally stop by these GinaK Designer's blog participating in the hop tonight:

Cathy Tidwell
Cindy Lawrence
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Nina Brackett
Melanie Muenchinger
Tami Mayberry
Theresa Momber

and our CenterStage Spotlight Team:
Joy Hadden
Kay Simmons
Linda Payne
Lori McAree

GinaK will be giving away a copy of "Warm Winter Wishes" on her blog tonight - so pop over there to leave your comment on her blog for your chance to win the set for free! (If you've already purchased the stamp set, we can swap it out for another GinaK stamp set valued at $19.95 or less.)

Sneak Peek: Warm Winter Wishes and Holiday Hospitality

Today we have two sneak peeks for you, the first is Carolyn King's highly anticipated set, and her second to benefit the Alzheimer's Association: "Warm Winter Wishes".

This card uses Pure Luxury White for the adorable snowman image and the new Cranberry Tart for the base. Background DP is from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly pack, isn't that cute like a festive front yard?? I cut the Copic colored snowman out and made a sloping bank of snow using a rotary cutter to make a curvy cut and running a black marker along the edge to match the line art snowman. Then I made a popped up little "thought balloon" for his greeting (because only Frosty can talk, you know!) made from a Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilitie, an oval and Cropodile punch! I loved the scene just the way it was, so decided not to add any more to it.But I had to make a little coffee sleeve with another sheet from the pack so I could use the little coffee cup from the set! TIP: if you save a cardboard sleeve from a coffee purchase, you can easily wrap it with your DP without needing to measure or make a template by putting Scor-Tape along each side and then pressing to the back of your DP and cutting around it. This DP has little cups and snowmen on it anyway, then I made a little medallion by masking the cup and stamping this fun "Love" word background (also from the set!) over it, then die cut with my Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. Be sure to attach the medallion with Scor-Tape as well, to keep it from popping off. Now you or your recipient will have a cute coffee wrap they can use all season! Deliver the hot drink with the card or fill the empty cup with candy!

The next card uses the Free with Three "Holiday Hospitality" set, one of the main images is this large ornament, but today I did something a little different with it. I have to give credit to my 4 yr old William for this idea, who was checking out the new un-inked rubber on my desk. "What's that?" he asked pointing. I held it up by the top to look like it was hanging and replied, "See?" thinking he would figure it out on his own looking at it that way. "Oh! a candle!" he said immediately. Well, I thought that was pretty cool, it does look like like one of those little ball oil lamps! (That's m'boy, out of the box, at age 4 LOL! it's a family thing... ;)* So I colored the hanging loop to look like a little flame and covered it with Stardust Stickles.

I colored the different sections and added these 2 mm adhesive rhinestones strips to the spaces in between, these will be fun to bling up with your different embellishments! Card base is the new Pure Luxury Vibrant Violet. The "Hip to Be Square" background border is colored with red to make the focal point look like it's triple matted, I love that! I popped up the "candle" and colored made a little shadow underneath. TIP: I used the lines of the square frame image for placing my focal point, with the vertical running through the middle of the flame and the horizontal going through the rhinestones, really pulls your focus to the bling and greeting.

Head over to GinaK's blog to add your comment to her blog entry for a chance to win the stamp sets being previewed tonight our blogs! Then, check in on Carolyn King's blog - the Illustrator of Warm Winter Wishes.
Here are the rest of the links to the Design Team Members participating in the hop tonight:

Cathy Tidwell
Cindy Lawrence
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Tami Mayberry
Theresa Momber

Nina Brackett

CenterStage Spotlight Designers:

Joy Hadden
Lori McAree

We'd love to have you join us at our Release party Thursday over on SCS starting at 7pm CST. There will be lots of chatter, samples, contest questions, and challenges - you won't want to miss it! Check out Theresa's discussion if you're new to our Release parties for some helpful information to get you started.

* and after he said candle, he thought of one other clever thing you can make with the image, not an ornament, can you guess? :)

Twilight Inspired...

Wanna win a free stamp set?! Calling all "Edward" fans, create and post a card inspired by the film/book "Twilight", link it on Cammie's blog here, and you could win a FREE Gina K Designs set of of your choice! In the link above you can read all about the challenge her daughter Kara has thrown down (along with mother /daughter samples, how fun is that?!)

I didn't go as literal as I could have with this, but obviously the red, white and black was a must (in addition to the cover art for the novel these colors all have a lot of symbolism in the story), the sahdowy gray leaves add some mystery and atmosphere, and the "Thinking of You" (ahh, young love...to be truly be thinking of someone ALL THE TIME! LOL!) fading over to red (since he craves her blood, get it?? ok, maybe not!) Anyway, I hope you like it! (card uses "Inspiration Mosaic" and leaves from the"Signs of Autumn" StampTV kit) BTW, You can read the whole series in about a week and get lost in it, although you might feel a little guilty for doing so. Making sure you know what Rob Pattison looks like before reading really adds to the experience! ;) I'll go ahead and add a nice one for you...

(sorry, i didn't realize it would be so tiny, I'm sure you're straining for a better look!)

I hope you'll play the challenge, but you better step on it, you have until 8 AM CST this Sunday morning, August 23rd to link your card for a chance to win! :) (Sorry I didn't let you know sooner! I'm sure you're all busy getting ready for back ot school like I am!)

Love Ambulance

Thank you again Cammie for creating this set to go with our favorite resident physician!! Along with lots of other hospital "stuff", of course..

I made this card for a friend who had surgery, not a minor procedure, but nothing risky, she was expected to be fully recovered after a few weeks of rest so I thought she'd enjoy this little card with the ambulance and die cut heart! Add a little red rhinestones for the flashing light if you're looking for some "medical bling" LOL! After coloring it with Copics and popping it up I made a little whoosh mark behind it to make it speeding by and stamped the "Get well!" all over my Kraft paper. This is a "stacked" greeting (meaning "well" is positioned below the "Get" in the rubber) but when you stamp it in rows offset like this when you stamp it also reads "Get well!" across, see what I mean? I love Kraft, with red, white and black (both Pure Luxury) one of my favorite color combos. I added some white brads to the corners to finish it off.

Tomorrow the peeks start!!! I love, love, LOVE this release!

I Heart ART!

Here's a card I peeked at the last release, using Carolyn's "Nurse Feelgood" set, made to look my son's art teacher (with long pants), with several of my small images from "Wee Tees" on punched squares tacked behind her and colored them quickly without to resemble children's artwork. I wrote the names of his classmates on each one and added ART with a marker to customize the "I {heart)} my___Teacher" greeting. Last I scribbled in a little "abstract" onto her papers she's holding.

This was such a fun card to make! :)

Our peeks start tomorrow! Happy Sunday!!!

Kicking it Up!!

Today I have a fabulous card/gift bag design to share that I received from the lovely and talented Carolyn King, when she came by to treat me to a birthday lunch!

Woweee!! I love how she matched up my little zebra from "Jumping for Joy" with this red white and black party-themed stuff (she used part of the napkin like DP!), and I thought her "card on a bag" design was so clever! The little white bag is A2 sized so you just adhere your card to the front, to decorate the bag, and then lift to read what's written inside, is that not the cutest??!! The Zoo Brads are also from Gina K. She also made this adorable little cupcake topper with punches and a toothpick, the black gingham is the perfect touch. The bag contained some beautiful Basic Grey paper and oodles on embellishments she hand-picked to compliment all my stamp sets, and she left the party supplies with me so I could throw a little birthday celebration with my family later, it was all over the top fabuolous and thoughtful and I just loved it! I love you, Carolyn, thanks for your friendship and inspiration!! :)



Still more birthday cards and gifts to share, I was so blessed, stay tuned!

Time for a Physical

A double dose of good feelings today with Cammie's two sets Doctor and Nurse Feelgood!
I' not sure what to say for this card except that.... we'll assume they're married (cuz' they have the same last name, ya know??)...and I masked it!

Hope I started your day with a giggle! :)

PS This is about as "naughty" as I can get on a card, I maintain this is still a family friendly site!!

Thank You, Ms. Berry

It is Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school and I am saying a big "whew!" that Carolyn's Nurse Feelgood set came out this month! I'll be sharing more teacher's cards i had fun making. here is one I created for his 1st grade teacher, Tiffany Berry. This "teacher" is such a fun image to alter and customize! Here I removed the hat and made her hair longer and drew in a pair of glasses. I paper pieced her shirt with some of the Black Market Let it Bloom textured paper and used the rest of the print and its reverse (these are double-sided papers if you've never ordered!) for the layers on my card (base is Gina K Black Onyx). I tried really hard to pick colors and a large print I thought she would "wear" (this purple floral is one of my favorite prints in the pack). Ms Berry is pretty well known around school for her fly wardrobe ;) When I picked my son up , she seemed pretty EDITED TO ADD: "tickled" by it that she could recognize herself (thank you , Donna! I hate spellcheck, doesn't catch typos that ARE words!!), had been showing it off ot the other teachers! :) Image is colored with Copics. I layered some white paper flowers and punched out a circle of the DP for the middle topped with a page pebble.

TIP: My favorite detail: click on the pic above for a closeup is the loose-leaf notebook paper she's holding! So glad Cammie left this stack of somethin' in her arms blank, because it can be whatever you need! Here I drew horizontal lines with my Bashful Blue marker, a Pretty in Pink vertical line to mark the margin and tiny black dots for the holes.

Hug a teacher today!

Heart to Heart

Have you seen the Heart to Heart prize MOUNTAIN that is accumulating over at Carolyn's blog?? (which has grown since she and I both posted??) I emailed her to see if I can enter myself, no lie!! Be sure you play along on September 21st for a chance at some great goodies and forward the fight against Alzheimer's :) Here's a card I made with one of my favorite images from "Whimsical Autumn".

FYI The Target Dollar Spot has a terrific fall paper pack that goes GREAT with the leaves and apples Cammie's set, check it out! (Don't have a Dollar Spot? Just leave a comment on this post and I will randomly choose one person to send some of it to in 6x6 size to complement your cards, winner posted Thursday :) I used two of the papers on this card to make my background. If you follow my blog, you know I don't normally take the time to dot a whole card base border with a white gel pen, but I couldn't really NOT with the dots in that DP, could I?? and Carolyn's worth it...(BTW the dots on the DP are embossed, too pretty cool)

Several of the colors in this pack are actually a perfect match for some old In Colors (but blend nicely with others if you don't have them) I used my Cranberry Crisp CS for the Base, as well as the ink with my Aquapainter for the apples and stitched ribbon (I intended to make more than one apple green but eek, I realized too late there was only one left without Cranberry on it, hope it looks like a "special apple", and not the bad apple of the bunch LOL!) The basket is a mix of Not Quite Navy and Buckaroo Blue. True Thyme ink is sponged onto my focal point, I left my die in place while sponging to reveal the white rim after I finished. The Scalloped top and bottom was created with the Threading Water Punch.

SO is your calendar marked for the 21st?? Don't forget to leave a comment to win a little grab pack o' this paper :)

Oh, Nuts!!

" Your never-ending kindness means the world to me." This sentiment and row of acorns in Rupa's new "So Grateful" set made me think about what would make Carolyn's squirrel from "Whimsical Autumn" most happy: a never-ending supply of NUTS!!!

Don't these set and styles blend perfectly? Let your friend or loved one know you're nuts about them with this simple card, easy to recreate if you don't mind a little coloring (which actually went relatively quickly with just a few shades from the Koh-i-Noor pack and a blending stump and OMS. I followed up with my warm gray 20% Prismacolor marker for some quick shadows.) The checks in the caramel gingham were the perfect complement for the acorns and squirrel on this sweet, outdoorsy card. Sentiment is stamped on a Nestabilitie Ribbon tag and popped up on dimensionals. Edited to Add: There is a single acorn image in this set and a long row of them(satggered upside down and right side up); I used the row, stamping it 3 (and 1/2) times to cover my card so lining them up like this was very simple.

Remember, proceeds from Rupa's set are going to "Feed the Children", and Cammie's are going tothe Alzheimer's Association! In addition to that, check out all the extra donations and matching contributions that have been offered here, get ready to smile and cry at the generosity!

Have a terrific day! Go NUTS!!!

PS I will be back later today to announce the Scor-Pal and Scor-Mat winner, I'm still busy cutting up all those little strips of paper!!!

Sneak Peek #3: Whimsical Autumn

This was such a fun card to make with Carolyn's newest set, "Whimsical Autumn". (Haven't we all missed her releases?! She is donating ALL the profits from this set to the Alzheimer's Association in memory of her grandmother, isn't that incredible?!) ) I used my favorite image from this set, which I will now refer to (after being bleeped on SCS after typing it!) as "The Flowers that Must not be Named" LOL!*


First I colored the vase with Koh-i-Noor pencils in oranges and yellows and OMS (this pic shows before blending). For autumn, I decided to go bolder than clear glass and opted for amber. :) (That scallop cut out you see has nothing to do with this card if you're wondering, just stamping on a scrap piece of CS!)
Then I added a little Hazy Grey Fun Flock with my Quickie Glue Pen to the little puffs, and covered the vase with Crystal Lacquer. I just bought this and I LOVE the extra applicator tip that comes with it (as opposed to straight out of the bottle with my old Crystal Effects), you can be SO precise in your placement of it! Using my finger, I rubbed the edges of my mat with silver Metallic Rub-On Paste(this looks really sharp on your mats when paired with all these Basic Grey papers...) And how about that Large Flourish Punch?? After punching out two and blinging them up with amber colored Self Adhesive Rhinestones, then adhering the punches with Mono Multi over my mat at the corners (I found the Quickie Glue Pen wasn't strong enough to hold them), I was able to slide the mat under the punched out negative area.
This next pic shows how you can insert a mat with the flourish "facing out" or "facing in". Doesn't that look sharp?
This card also uses SU! Gray taffeta ribbon and and one of my favorite prints from the Basic Grey Ambrosia pack. Be sure to check out the rest of the design teams awesome sneak peek samples (Jessica, Carolyn, Gina K, Kurtis, and Erika) and don't forget to leave a comment here today, it's the last day to enter for a chance to win my newest set! Winner of the set and my sneak peek of it revealed tomorrow!!!

*This blog is rated "G", and that's official, I checked it just for grins recently with a widget and got the "General Audiences" rating, despite being flagged for numerous instances of the word "knife" (craft or hobby, hee hee!)

Newsflash!

I'm SO excited! (I just can't hide it...!)

PS Cards N Things 2009 :)

These Frogs FeelGood!

Gina K's mention of Dr. Feelgood in the forum the other day reminded me of an idea I had for a Hoppy card, so I pulled out Carolyn's adorable set to make this! The clinking glasses are one image, so I stamped this first (Palette Burnt Umber) and then stamped a frog on each stem, didn't even have to mask! Don't you just love those googly eyes she has for him?? and that "hubba hubba!" look he's giving us??

I sponged the edges of my focal point in both the brown and rose inks and then made the background by two step stamping the heart and its outline, rolling the solid stamp in the Cranberry Crisp ink to create the shading. Last I cut out two little hearts and added "husband" and "wife" in the center of each, most of the words from "Hip Hop Accessories" ("anniversary" is also in this set) fit in these hearts! The dry embossed Regal Rose background was done with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The stacked ribbons are SU! Burgundy 1/4" and Rose 5/8" grosgrain. The scalloped edge at the bottom was done with SU!'s large corner rounder punch.

"Cheers!" :)

Blog candy winner of the Papertrey Anniversary set:


Here are your random numbers:81
Timestamp: 2008-04-29 10:56:05 UTC

Roni Thompson said...
I don't have any of your sets yet. Love your blog and I hope I can win this set! Thanks

Roni please send me your snail address and I will send your set!
EDITED TO ADD: Roni, I need you to contact me by 5PM CST Thursday, 5/1 to claim your prize, otherwsie I will need to draw another name for the Papertrey set. Thank you!

Floral Fantasy

(Mom, don't look!) Here is another card made with Framed Flowers. Had I been able to make a decision this COULD have been a 10 minute card! (I kept going back and forth, back and forth on how I wanted to do all the layers...) Isn't this Floral Fantasy CB folder scrumptious?! (It's one of my new faves) The shapes of the flowers and leaves go really well with Carolyn's images. In addition to loving this "box"image (frame that has SO many uses!), I really love the little individual leaves and flowers included for spicing things up and fleshing out your composition as you like. Here I stamped the individual leaf on the corners of the box as an embellishment instead of the usual brads etc. I used my SU! markers to color directly on the stamp. The word "Mother" is from the free with three set Spring Blooms, I was so thrilled to see all the coordinating font in these two sets(AND with my What's In your Tin? 2 set to boot!) All DP, CS, & ribbon used here (Real Red and Old Olive, two of my favorites) is Stampin' Up!

Okay, gotta go to bed!

Today's creative quote:

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do.

Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. ~Ella Fitzgerald, singer