Day 2 Inspiration Hop: Elegant Florals and Sentimental Holiday

 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, and as you hop through their blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because  a few random comments will be chosen 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 couple of days after the hops.

First up we have Theresa Momber's Elegant Florals (clear and rubber. I love these long stems!  One of my most popular posts recently was a CAS card I made with the colored lilies, but today I wanted to to share some inspiration from one of the set's bold silhouette images. Even with their delicate details, they make for really awesome graphic cards and work beautifully with modern elements, check it!

First I stamped a background with my Lots of Letters set with the long strip of rounded squares going down on white CS, first in Memento Toffee Crunch, then Cantaloupe, Tangelo, and finally Morocco. Next I stamped out some of the individual rounded squares in the same colors, cut them out and adhered them with pop dots over the stamped background to mix up the colored pattern and add dimension.

Now stamp the sentiment and leafy branch in Memento Rich Cocoa.  I also stamped just a bit of the branch to one more square to make the pattern dance and repeat around the card.  Isn't that gorgeous? Base is Pure Luxury Sweet Mango.

TIP:  Stamping the first line of the sentiment in the white space between the stamped pattern makes it easier to read.

Next up we have Beth Silaika's Sentimental Holiday 

(clear and rubber.)  These sentiments and bold images make creating holiday cards a snap.

 Base is Pure Luxury Red Hot.  Stamp sentiment on Pure Luxury White in Memento Rich Cocoa.  I stamped the star in Bamboo Leaves centered over the & and then did some scoring with the Scor-Buddy though the points of the star and around the mat. I layered this onto Dark Chocolate Pure Luxury.  DP is from the GKD Merry Little Christmas Patterned Paper pack.

I added a few more adhesive rhinestones to embellish the mat and the star print on the DP.

Thanks for visiting today! Please enjoy hopping for more inspiration with these two terrific sets with the rest of the 

Gina K. Designs team.

• Gina K
• Beth Silaika – Illustrator Sentimental Holidays
• Theresa Momber – Illustrator Elegant Florals
• AJ Otto
• Becky Oehlers
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Lori McAree
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Tami Mayberry
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

Sneak Peek Day 2: "Winter Wonderland" and "Snow Much Fun"

Welcome back to our second day of our previews! First off we have the new StampTV kit "Winter Wonderland". This card was inspired by the colored papers included in this kit: Pure Luxury Little Boy Blue, Wine with Everything, Cranberry Tart, Ocean Mist, Kraft, White, Ivory, Black, and Chocolate, a fun mix or traditional and nontraditional holiday colors with endless combinations! When I read that list a really beautiful four color combo popped out at me, so I grabbed my Pure Luxury papers and coordinating inks and stamped up my own snowflake background.

I started with a piece of WHITE Pure Luxury and stamped these 4 different snowflake images from the kit in brown, cranberry, aqua and blue. I love collage stamping with snowflakes, they are so handy and make the most dainty and beautiful patterns! Then I rubbed Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distressing Inks around the edges and a few areas in the middle, blending them til the paper had this beautiful, glowing patina. I stamped the sides with "In Stitches" and matted onto Cranberry Tart. Love this mix of warm and cool, light and dark colors together! TIP: Starting with white mat instead of ivory will keep the colors of your stamped images looking true, and even after your sponging turns the majority of the paper yellow with these inks, the white is going to be brighter in places than the ivory would and give more contrast.
Well, I'm in a "more is more" mood today, in case you can't tell! Christmas is coming, bling it up, pile it on! I found a little scrap of Basic Grey with this beautiful aqua and cranberry paisley print on it to liven things up. The sentiment is stamped in brown and cranberry onto more white cardstock Cuttlebugged with Snowflakes and sponged with the same distressing inks.
I stamped the smaller snowflakes in Timber Brown Staz-On onto the Pure Luxury buttons to frame the mats and then added a few little adhesive rhinestones. Whew! Creating this card felt like trimming the tree a few weeks early! :) You will love this kit!

My next card uses Gina's " Snow Much Fun". When I saw all these adorable snowmen and houses and trees and this sentiment "The good thing about snow is that it makes you yard look as good as your neighbors" (hee!) I felt a shaped card coming on! It's a shaped trifold, and fits into an A2 envelope, check it out!
And here it is unfolded! Two snow covered lawns on the hill, two snowbuddies waving at each other, what could be cuter? (Wish I could have gotten better pics it was really difficult to get the whole card in the pic, as well as get both the images and the front AND back in focus!)

First cut a piece of white cs 5 1/2" x 11. Place on the Scor-Buddy and score on both sides at the arrow, like you are making a trifold brochure.

But instead of folding the ends over each other, you make a mountain and valley fold so it looks like a Z.

Cut the tops at curves so it will make its way up the hill as you open it.

Sponge the curves with aqua ink.

Stamp, color and cut out two snowmen, two houses and two trees.

Adhere one snowman and house to the front fold, one tree behind them, then the second house and snowman on the front of the third panel at the top that will be facing you with the second tree top behind. You won't see the bottoms of either of these trees when the card is open. Be sure the top tree is even with or just below the top right corner so it fits in your A2 envelope, this keep sit at 5 1/2" tall. The snowmen can stick out the sides slightly because when folded into thirds, the card base is only about 3 3/4" wide.

Just add snowflakes and that feisty little greeting to the middle panel and you're done! :)
Please see more samples of these two new sets from the rest of our fabulous team!
Gina K

Cathy Tidwell

Carolyn King

Emily Giovanni

Lee Murphy

Theresa Momber

See you back here tomorrow for our third and final day of previews, thanks for visiting!

Button Tee

Today I have a clean and simple baby card (had to share a more borish one this time!) made with the "Wee Tees" onesie and the button image and sentiment from "Square Pegs". After scoring a large grid onto the Ocean Mist CS, I stamped a button into each to make a coordinating background, added a few real buttons for texture and then mounted everything on Black Onyx and White. I love these colors together, and how that white onesie just pops off the card like soft 100% cotton, so fresh! :)

This weekend I am trying to get some of my favorite cards assembled in ot a few different posts for you from the Two year Anniverysary Blog hop, stay tuned!

Scored Mosaic

Here is a card I made before the "Inspiration Mosaic" release but hadn't shared yet, realized we are about to get out of the "pumpkin months" for awhile, uh oh! LOL! This was a fun way to use the mosaic for an understated card: stamp your grid on colored or neutral CS (here Pumpkin Spice Pure Luxury), in any color ink, it won't matter because this will be the BACK. Now line up the different lines over your tracks on your Scor-Pal and score away until you have the entire frame scored, I did all the verticals at one time first, then turned the CS and finished the rest. Once done, I flipped it over and now you have this beautiful tone on tone dry embossed look! I mounted it on Ivory Pure Luxury.

I inked up the "Tropical Window" with an olive and pumpkin marker and stamped, then trimmed it to pop up onto the grid. I wanted to recreate that same thin live border on my base as on the image, so I just drew one 1/8" in on all sides with my marker and a straight edge.



Hope this gives you new ideas for how to use that mosaic! :)

Big Brother

Here is a little two piece (well, three piece if you count the hat from "Just So Sporty"!) set I made using "Wee Tees" and some solid Basic Grey DP. If you stamp the onesie image onto two pieces of paper and then draw a line through the middle of one (here the Pure Luxury Ivory) you can create little tops and bottoms from the image, which is a fun (and sporty!) way to change up the onesie! The outfit is made to look like something his little sister might wear. I paper pieced the middle of the ivory section onto the orange DP so the sleeves would be burnt orange as well.

I made this card for the son of some friends of ours (UT alums) who at age 3 recently became a proud big brother. The little star on the shirt and cap is also from "Just So Sporty" and all greetings on this card are from "Wee Tees".

I used my Scor-Bug to create the stitched borders and Square Scalloped nestabilitie for the mat. just a bit of shadowing with a pale gray marker will give your cut out images a lot of dimesnion.

Happy Monday! Two tip sheets this week plus TWO guest design spots, get ready! :)

Guest Designer Tina Gilliland

First week with Tina Gilliland and "Sporty Accessories"! (I'd love to be a fly on the wall when swim fan Gina sees this swimmingly fantastic card!) I thought it was so clever of Tina to Scor-Pal this background and then clear emboss it to make the tile wall! The "Pool" sign (which I actually put in the "Tee Talk" set thinking billiards LOL!) expands on the theme! ("Just Keep Swimming!" is from Gina's set of the same name. Isn't that cute with the Sporty goggles tacked up with brads and the water patterned paper from Gina K's "Jersey Shore" Digi pack?? and check out the inside of the card! I love how she used the watery paper again it looks like you're standing at the edge considering diving in! and Gina's Kindred "Greetings for Kids" cheers you on: "I know you can do it!" I just love all the thought she put into this fun card.. :)

Now here's a little more about Tina:

Favorite Technique-- Any form of water coloring. I have enrolled in a Copics class so I'm desperately wanting to learn to use those better. But...I like using OMS and Peerless Watercolor Colors as well. Anything that blends the colors like water coloring does.

Colors/color combo--. This is tough 'cause I'm such a COLORS person. I'm teased by my family that if there is lots of color in something..."Tina will like it"! But I notice I do favor pinks and purples often and I think black goes so well with just about anything. I love using it with all colors.

Gina K set by Melanie— So unfair... I love them all and I believe I have all but one.. hee hee. Mostly though I think I grab the "A Year of Flowers" most often because they can fit most any occassion. And, of course "Say it With Flowers" and "The Best Things in Life" has such great sayings that also fit most any card.

Gina K sets (from any illustrator)- Oh my... hmmm... I switch often. LOL But now I'm so in love with Carolyn King's Nurse Feelgood. I have so many ideas in my head to change that lady up and just haven't had time to make them all.... YET! *smile*

Craft supplies I can’t live without— Definitely my Stamp-a-ma-jig!!! I live in such a crooked world and I try TO hard to be a perfectionist when it comes to straight!! I MUST have my bling and embellishments which includes ribbons!!! And my Pop Dots and Glue Dots!!

I've been stamping for (how long)— Hmmm I know it's been longer than 11 years because I did it before my son was born... but seriously and dedicated to it, the last 3 years.

I get my inspiration from --. Melanie!!! (I think I have to call her my Mentor), StampTV and the challenges there and I recently started an Inspiration Journal so that when I see something.. even just color combos.. I can put them in it and use it later when I'm in a slump and need a new idea. But I keep up with all the blogs I can and grab pieces here and there that I like.

The most important things I’ve learned about stamping/ cardmaking/ scrapbooking are - My blog title says it all... Making Memories. I am sooo much about memories and what you leave behind in this world. You'd think I was dying already (hee hee)... I plan so much for when my kids don't have me around. There is nothing more important to me than what I leave them with... in the way of memories. I still write love letters to my husband and actually mail them. And I do the same with my kids. So they get cards from me... and so do many others I know for "no reason at all". I keep separate journals for my kids, hubby and my sister (we were the only girls with three brothers between us) and a "general journal" LOL. I love to write... what can I say. Memories... that's definitely worth more than anything to me.

Some of my stamping/crafting goals are- To be published... but I guess I have to submit first, huh? LOL I have a hard time giving up my cards for something like that though.. they aren't going to anyone in particular, ya know? I must do it though... someday. My other goal is to simply do cards for others... and scrapbooks.... for those who don't want to do their own and in doing so be able to work from home and spend more time with my kids while they are still in school (volunteering and such).

Favorite things to make that aren’t cards (if any): Scrapbooks and little books I write from memories to loved ones. Sorta like the tin I made for my mom I shared on Stamp TV. I made a book for my dad years ago like this but back then I didn't know about stamps and used stickers on most all the pages.

Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments are— Oh my..,. well I never thought I'd win an online challenge...EVER... and then to be featured/picked for StampTV's Center Stage and to even THINK about being on Melanie's blog as a guest designer.... wow!! I never ask or want for much so these are HUGE to me. I'm the mom that goes shopping and picks up a few things for herself and before I hit the register I have put everything back except what I got for my kids and hubby. LOL Seriously... my husband will remind me I need new bras! LOL LOL And I never thought I'd ever truly keep a blog running. I've tried a few times but never as dedicated to it as I am now. I thank all the Gina K girls I've met for giving me the desire and determination to actually keep it running.


Tina, you are such a doll! :) Thanks for this first of many samples this month and letting us get to know you better! Now please go check Tina's blog for another sample using "Sporty Accessories"(and if I know Tina, a few other Gina K sets in there with it!) ;)


Have a great day! Just keep swimming!

Sneak Peek: Sporty Accessories

Finally, the set to perfectly accessorize your attire and those sporty words from "Just So Sporty" is here! I've also incorporated gear to compliment many of the sports in the "Tee Talk" set. :) "Sporty Accessories" features stuff for sports year round and is perfect for boys, masculine cards, teens and tweens and even some very girly cards (let's see if we find some in our blog hop today!), it's one of my most versatile sets ever! You will have a blast creating scenes with all the stuff. If you're not a sports fan now, you will be once you start playing with these stamps, look at this little scene below!

A really unique image in this set is the single locker (although my fave is probably these shoes!), there are so many things you can do with that stamp! Here I've stamped them in a row, very simple to line up with a gridline block, and placed my different balls, each punched with a 1" circle punch, along the top like a shelf. All the balls in this set are great for making background or just when you need a little popped up something in the corner of your sport cards! I wanted to represent a lot of different sports in this sample (to give you more peeks!), so I chose the greeting "All Star" from "Just So Sporty".

Of course I have some new words in this set for you, too , there's one hiding in here, can you spot it? (AND, I also have a peek here of another set that will be released this week, a great compliment to "Sporty Accessories", what might that be....? hmmmm) Cardbase is the new Gina K Pure Luxury Rocket Red (with a beautiful striped texture, front AND back!) and the die cut star is the new Pure Luxury In the Navy releasing this month! Images are colored with Copics. Coloring the basketball was fun, if you click for a closeup, I added some dots with my orange marker to give it some texture.

Be sure to check out more peeks of Sporty Accessories from our Gina K team of All Stars:

Jessica Fick-
Carolyn King
Cindy Lawrence
Erika Martin
Theresa Momber
Gina K
and our In the Spotlight Designer this Melissa Shultz!


Please leave me a comment about your favorite image from this set from the peeks and what your favorite sport is or what you're hoping to find in here! :) I will choose one comment at random to win a signed "Sporty Accessories" set from me, winner announced Thursday!

One more thing: Gina K and I are also hosting a challenge over at Stampin' Out Alzheimer's using the sketch I created for the card above, she has sponsored it with a very generous prize! For a small donation, you can have access to the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's site and play along with this and many other challenges for a chance at over 30 different prizes, I hope you'll donate and join in the fun, it lasts til June 1st! :)


More peeks tomorrow, can't wait!!!!

Baby Love

Here is a simple card I made with just one image: the onesie! I am really enjoying looking through my favorite printed papers and finding images that would be sweet centered on the front, this little giraffe pair as well as the background paper and distressed cranberry paper for the heart are all from the Basic Grey Sugared pack. I popped the onesie up on top of the Nestabilitie die cut heart, (I really liked the hearts here with those funky heart-shaped leaves in the pattern!) and used my Scor-Bug to create a pierced border, going over with a brown marker to create some faux stitching. TIP: When faux-stitching I try to go off the end of a row at an angle with my pen to make it look like a little stray or snipped thread, this makes it a lot more realistic-looking and less like a drawn box, KWIM?

Base is Old Olive to match the DP, although it looks a little bright here. I used a warm gray Copic to fill in the neck and leg holes for shadows.

Hope your day is sweet!

PCP Sketch Challenge

I am hosting this week's sketch challenge this week at PaperCraftPlanet, I hope you like it! :) (The stars don't have to be stars, that's just any old embellishment!)

This week, we are thrilled to have MyGrafico sponsor our weekly Paper Craft Planet sketch challenge. While you don't have to use any particular stamp sets or products to win the sketch challenge, MyGrafico wanted you to be able to play along. To celebrate National Scrapbook Day, they are offering 40% off all digital downloads until May 3rd! They also have two really great sets that you can download for FREE! (Here are the freebies: Baby Silhouettes and Vases and Flowers.) Plus, if you play along during this week's sketch challenge, you can win the Butterfly Garden set!

I made today's sample using a free digital image download from Baby Silhouettes, pairing their sweet little sail boat with a greeting from my "Wee Tees" set from Gina K : "My daddy rocks!" ('cause the boat rocks, ya know??)

I made a cut out window with a classic circle Nestie to mimic a porthole and popped up the sailboat. The waves were created with a scalloped edge scissor. I added some SU! Rich Regal buttons to the corners with Glue Dots and created a pierced border in the Gina K Pure Luxury base with my Scor-Bug. I just love nautical cards because a clean simple layut and red ,white blue are so easy to put together for fresh looking results!

To play along in the challenge, please upload your creations with this sketch to PaperCraft Planet with the tag SK050209. To get you excited, the rest of our DT is showcasing the sketch challenge prize set Butterfly Garden. Check out their blogs sometime today to see what they made :)

Adela Rossol
Lynn Mercurio
Kim Burmeister
Wendy Price
Jen Tapler
Tammy Hershberger
Diana Gibbs
Erika Martin
Lori Tecler
Jessica Fick
Sankari Wegman
Susanna Boyd

Check out our sketch challenge entries for this week
Join the Sketch Challenge Group.

Have a terrific weekend! :)

Potluck Friday: Pierce it!

Today's Potluck Friday Challenge at Stamp TV is a piercing challenge! (not to be confused with piecing!)
We have some friends who have a little "Laila Bug", one birthday party they had for her everything was ladybugs, so cute! These stamps are all from "Wee Tees".

I used my new Scor-Bug* (how appropriate, LOL!) and zipped along up, down, up, down in the Scor-Pal tracks without needing to move my paper and left off at different intervals so I could go back in my ladybugs and stamp them at the trails ends. I added a little black safety pin and red grosgrain, then adhered it a scalloped square cut card base. Love how the little scalloped bumps aroudnt eh side look like ladybug shells. Bugs are colored with red Copics, and I popped up the onesie after cutting it out. I love using an accent color on the ribbing and sleeves, the contrast really makes it pop! I added a little gray Copic to the inside of the collar and leg holes to make it look even more dimensional.

Upload your card that incoporates piercing somehow in the design** to StampTV with the tag STVPF11 for a chance to win! You have all next week to play, hope you'll join in!

* You don't have to use a Scor-Bug, but gosh it makes it easy! Try a piercing tool and a template (did you see the cute circle frame Theresa made??) or even a straight pin, just be sure to place something underneath to protect yourself and your work surface.

** you don't have to pierce as much as I did here, it could be a frame, part of the design like a bug trail or flower stems, a few well placed pokes in a corner, you choose! Just make sure the piercing can be clearly seen, thanks!

Sneak Peek: Not Forgotten

You're going to be so moved when you see the full set reveal for Gina's "Not Forgotten" tonight, a new set from Gina K Designs that will be a must in any stampers collection. Sometimes we need to hear fro people the most on days when we are missing our departed loved ones, and those times can be the hardest to find the right words for or right card. This set has you covered.
This DP is one of my favorite prints from the Basic Grey Offbeat pack, aren't those colors and pattern amazing?? The brown in it is a perfect match for the new Gina K Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss CS I used for the base and mat. The greeting is beautiful enough to be it's own focal point when paired with a pretty DP or stamped background, here I framed it up in Petite Classic and Scalloped Nestabilities, sponging some bordering blue on before removing the die. The chocolate gingham I strung through the slit and tied is from the Floral Frenzy kit.

What's this? Did I sew for you today? No, that was using my new favorite tool, the Scor Bug, I went all the way around the card using that and my Scor-Pal with three quick turns and faux- stitched it with a brown pen! I LOVE IT!! (and you will, too!

Inside I added the strip of DP I had left after cutting the mat for the front and pierced and faux stitched across the top and bottom. I used the same shimmery CS from Paper Temptress for the inside, adding a greeting from the same set, along with a white paper flower adhered with a glue dot. Although many of the sentiments in the set are appropriate for those difficult "firsts", (anniversaries, holidays without a loved one), this greeting is a great one for any time you want to convey "I'm thinking of you both today, for no reason other than I love you..."

For more inspiring sneak peeks from our team, please see: Carolyn King, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Gina Krupsky, Jessica Fick, Theresa Momber and our "In the Spotlight" designer Beverly Cole!

Tonight is the party!!! I hope you can all join Gina K and her team ffrom 7-10 PM CST for one of our best and biggest releases ever!

Sneak Peek: Friendship's Garden and Out West

Today I have a simple but elegant card with Asela's new set "Friendship's Garden". A tall graceful plant like this called for a simple layout, and I kept it texture free to mimic the smooth leaves and lily. I love the classic yet modern combo of white, chocolate and green, just says "luxury" to me! Image is colored with Copics, on Gina K Pure Luxury White plus the new Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss , it is most the beautiful bittersweet brown! The greeting is a peek of a peek, stop back tomorrow! ;)
Now, I expect you'll also be seeing LOTS of classic cowboy imagery in our hop today, beautiful Western landscapes, gorgeous saddles and majestic steeds, .... so I thought I'd mix things up a bit...

BWAHHHHHHHH!! I couldn't resist putting the horse in boots when I saw the sentiment "Wanna Horse Around?" in our new illustrator Theresa Momber's debut set for Gina K Designs: "Out West". (Can I get a hip hip hurray for my girl Theresa??! I know none of you are surprised she can draw after seeing all the amazing art on her blog)

Anyway, Western sets lend themselves to a ton of fun techniques I love, although I've never had one before! and I'm a NATIVE TEXAN, too, go figure! Expect to see me using this set a LOT(most of them using leather paper from Paper Temptress, wait til you see!!) After coloring the images with Copics I did lots of sponging with Ranger Antique Linen ink on Gina K Pure Luxury Ivory to give it this warm patina, distressed the edges, added a woodgrained gate with the Cream White Pad on Chocolate Kiss card stock again and made ridges for the boards with my Scor-Pal (watch Gina's video on how to do this here!) I popped up the right side of the door to look like it's going to swing open and added some brads from the Floral Frenzy kit to the left to look like it was attached the stall. (Don't worry, I didn't have to mask out his hooves, you have just the horse head and separate boots image to play around with to your heart's content. :) Again, can I say how excited I am for Theresa and that we all get to play with her designs?! woo-hoo!)

BONUS PEEKS: I had lots of people commenting and emailing hoping for "boy stuff" in the "Wee Tees" set: well, I can't wait til Thursday to let you know I've got it covered (I've got two boys , remember? LOL!), here are just a few more images to tide you over 'til the full reveal! :)

Some simple cards with a little "one sheet wonder" action I stamped up to make my own custom little boy DP! How do like those tiny tees? it's the onesie cut in half! So this set can grow with you as the kids get older, I love that! PLUS...one more peek from one of my stamping idols Jen Del Muro, can't wait to see what magic she's worked up with this set! :)

Please enjoy more sneak peek samples of "Out West" and "Friendship's Garden" from our team: Asela Hopkins, Carolyn King, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Gina Krupsky, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Theresa Momber
plus our "In the Spotlight" Designer Beverly Cole!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

When you say something three times, you REALLY mean it LOL! StampTV is up to almost 1200 members, and our team is just so excited how excited you are!! Here's a card I created using the "Bold Flowers"set from the new kit, without the flowers! I love these "Neopolitan" flavors (er, papers!) in the "Floral Frenzy" kit, so I pulled out a few to decorate this trifold card, base is the new Chocolate Kiss CS from Gina K designs, also from the kit! (measures 8" by 5 1/2", scored at 2 1/2" and 5 3/4") EDITED TO ADD: this fits in an A2 envelope :)
I stamped out "thank" and "you" three times each in Rich Cocoa Memento ink, and punched them out with my 3/4 inch circle, I love the big and small rim that leaves around the circle stamps. Then I layered them on circles punched from the kit's pink and chocolate layering papers. On the front, the layered "thank" is attached on the left side, "you" is attached on the right. "You" is popped up on a dimensional and overlaps the front edge so you can tuck that flap in to fold it together, see pic.

When you pull the left flap open, you reveal another "thank" adhered on the back of the front one (to say thank you a second time,

and when you finally open it up all the way, you see the third "you"...

" Thank you, thank you, thank you, isn't that cute?! You can never go wrong with pink and chocolate, sigh!!

So how many of you bought the kit already?? Did you see Gina is offering up the downloads of both new digital paper packs for free right now? (the kit includes this as well, but already has several papers printed out for you.) Download it today and try this fun designs (minus the round greetings though, you have to purchase the kit to get the stamps!) I am so excited about the bonus pack she is releasing tonight to coordinate with them, not even the design team has seen these, so you can bet I'll be stalking her blog LOL! (and then run over here and gush about it!) :)

"Open Your Heart" Gatefold* Tutorial

I am so excited to share this original design with you today. Please stick with me through the many pictures, there is a bit of a "wow factor" at the end! It is not that hard or time-consuming to put together (once I figured out exactly how I wanted it!) You'll need the heart Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, embossing folder of your choice and some oval punches (SU!) for this project. (I was also inspired by a couple of my favorite new papers from Paper Temptress to create this special card. ) You'll need two large die cut hearts the same size and slightly larger scalloped mats to layer each. Here I used Poison Ivory Iridescent and Wild Cherry Pop Tone CS.

Then you need to score both hearts and mats down the middle, lining up the "v" at the top going down through the point at the heart bottom.

Create a gate fold card with the Poison Ivory base with 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece, scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8". When folded, the sides meet in the middle. Next I embossed each side with the Leafy Branch Cuttle bug folder. You have to do each flap separately, so emboss your left flap with the left side of the folder(shown below), then repeat with the right, so when they are folded together you will have a continuous pattern across the two flaps.

Now emboss both of the ivory hearts with the same pattern. Place in the spot in the folder where you'll be adhering them on the card (middle, and slightly closer to the top than the bottom), this way the pattern will be continuous when mounted. Adhere each heart to your red scalloped mats.

Put adhesive on only one half of the back of each scalloped heart, one with adhesive on the left side, one on the right. (I used Dot nRoller, but Scor-Tape or Mono Multi will work too)

Fold your scores and adhere your hearts so they wrap around the folds with the adhesive half on the inside. (so you place the heart with adhesive on right back half onto the left panel, and the one with it on the left back half to the right side) When the card is closed, it looks like one heart.

I stamped my greeting "forever" from "Say it with Flowers" and framed it up in 2 SU! large and small oval punch outs (did the same with "friends" from this set for the inside, you'll see in a minute). Then I placed a dimensional on the edge of the left flap in the middle to attach the left half of my oval punched greeting so it will overlap the opening. I did the same thing on the right heart INSIDE, so as it pulls apart, the two ovals kind of "mirror" each other shown below.

If you've ever made a gatefold card, you know it doesn't want to stay closed(and can be really hard to photograph!) To keep it together, I attached a Basic Gay magnet to the right half of the front oval punch, and the other magnet behind the heart on my right flap so that's hidden between the heart and front of the card. The nice things about magnets, you don't have to see exactly where to attach it on the back of the heart, just peel off the adhesive and hold it behind the heart without touching the paper, then move the magnet on the oval towards it, it will jump right into place and snap shut!

I wanted to repeat the red in a few other places and add some embellishments so I punched out a few fancy corners for each flap at the bottom and adorned then with vanilla sateen flowers and a halfback pearl (all attached with glue dots). Don't the flower and the punch look made for each other? I love this flower with the embossing!! And hopefully you can see from this pic why I adore the Poison Ivory so much, it is the exact sheen and shade as these flowers, the sateen flowers add such elegance to a project and the Poison Ivory is like having whole sheet of it!

I added my pearls to each of the framed sentiments as well. Below you can see how the card is holding together with that magnet, ready to spring open at your touch!

And here is how the hearts unfold from each other, revealing the lined inside, this is the Red Pepper Classic Columns CS from Paper Temptress. Beautiful embossed stripes (without having to emboss!), in 8 1/2 x 11 size! This piece is trimmed down to 4" by 5 1/4". (All papers in today's card are in the Paper Temptress Valentines Day Package but can also be purchased separately.) I just love how you still get to see that gorgeous leafy embossing from the front of the card on both the hearts and the flaps on this inside with this design!

I intend to put a picture of my husband and I inside with another framed caption, but still deciding on just the right pic, back with that later! Not just for Valentine's Day, wouldn't this design make the perfect wedding invitation, announcement or anniversary card? And as for symbolism, I'm just over the moon about the whole "two hearts coming together to make one" theme this has going on, you know?? (as well as how they still can be separate, and how in a relationship you need to have open hearts, blah blah blah!! **LOL!) It is such a thrill to come up with a design that not only pleases me aesthetically but also echoes the occasion I am trying to capture, for me it is one of the very best part of the card- making experience!

I hope you'll give this design a try, if so please let me know, and link your creation here! Have a beautiful day!

*which title is better for this? that or "Sweethearts Gatefold"? hmmmm...

** "opposites attract"?? hee hee!!!