Wild Flowers Inspiration!

Today I have the pleasure of sharing you with a gorgeous card set using "Wild Flowers" from the talented Lynn Brookside! I love the different patterned papers and colors she chose: large florals, simple stripes, even graphic geometric prints, and they all work terrifically with these bold wildflower images! This layout is so elegant with the three flowers and the two step stamping to add color with the leaves and centers is easy but effective! Love the dimension and sweetness of the one popped up butterfly, too! Cards like these are perfect to have on hand, no greeting necessary, use for any occasion. Gorgeous work, Lynn! :)
If you post in the STV gallery, it's likely you've received comments from Lynn on your cards, she is not only a terrific stamper but an amazing friend and encourager. You can tell she is as happy enjoying other people's work and complimenting them as she does cardmaking!

One of the verses in the set "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" reminds me of Lynn, because she lives with chronic pain, but you'd never know by what she sends out into the world, she just lifts people up with her positivity. I'm not only inspired by her love for the craft, but her love of people and I'm blessed that she takes the time to be a light for me and so many others, with her designs and joyful spirit! I look forward to sharing more about Lynn with you very soon! Please leave Lynn a comment below or on her STV page. Her gallery is a wonderful browse and I love how she also takes the time to share who the cards are for.

So much to share! Kid stuff, family portraits (the first we've ever had taken as a family!!), new ink pads came, tutorials, etc etc bear with me while I catch up!!

xoxo,
Melanie

Catching Up!

Whew, what a lot has happened since last week! A birthday, cooking class, my dad's birthday, Easter festivities, 4 day weekend etc! Hope YOU all had a terrific holiday! The kids are back to school so now I need to get to work! Still have to upload all my flower pics for recently, shot while hiking, camping, roadside, definitely have some Stately Flowers 1 cards coming on with all the bluebonnet inspiration we've been getting on the highways (after finally being blessed with lots of rain here!) Any requests for what I put the flowers in this time?? Real quick, here is just one bluebonnet photo since I mentioned it, of a new varietal that is red, called Alamo Fire. Have you seen red bluebonnets before? The white one is a mutation also. can't wait to show you some of the fields of blue we waded through!

Here is a quick Wild Flowers card I made the week before, it wasn't what I originally imagined but I just didn't have much time to work it out that day. It happens!

My intent was to show you how to make a cool background or wide border with those twisted, wonky vines in the Wild Flowers set, so at least I got that in there! If you stamp or emboss several of them in a row, you can create a look very similar to the Cuttlebug Distressed Branches folder, which is one of my favorites, so elegant and rustic at the same time! Put both the large stems/vines on the block to crank out a quick row in no time. One of the reasons I got tripped up on this idea, though, is that I couldn't find one of the stems (single one, yikes, where its it?!) and that would have really changed the look having the single one in between each. So... I rotated the vine each time I stamped it to have the leaves alternating top to bottom. Anyway, I wish I had embossed them, just clear embossed on a colored cardstock or stamped in white, but that will be for another time! Base is the new Gina K Pure Luxury Jelly Bean Green.

I have finished all my stamping for our April release (yay!) so can't wait to share those, mark your calendars for the Gina K Designs party on April 26th! Something fun I just noticed, my Wild Flowers set this month was my 50th release, woo hoo! What an awesome milestone! Just feel so blessed everyday to work for Gina K Designs, and have the best boss and customers I could possible ask for! :) can't wait to share set #51!! ;) Any guesses??

Have a fantastic day, talk to you soon!

What Butterfly? Tutorial

Good morning! In an effort to come up with something really creative with my Wild Flowers set for you today, I discovered another really fun way you can use those butterfly images in the set: make big, showy leaves for the flowers! Leaf clusters are already included in the set, but these have a different shape and size and the detail inside the wings adds a special touch, and so simple to do.
Here I inked up the larger butterfly with a Memento Pear Tart marker and then added a few streaks to the center with Memento Bamboo Leaves marker and stamped.

Cut out. Snip each butterfly into four separate leaves, or two V shaped clusters. Slip under your flower and arrange as desired. Doesn't this double blossom look terrific?
The flowers are stamped four times with Memento Angel Pink and cut out. Stamp the separate dotted stamp into the centers inked with Memento Tangelo. Curl edges with fingers and mount one on top of the other with pop dots. I added a bit of Crystal Lacquer to the centers and sprinkled on bit of Doodlebug orange glitter before it dried.
Finally, Splendid Circles are definitely one of my favorites of the new Spellbinders die sets, can you believe all that pizzazz and detail you get from just one die cut?? I layered a Black Onyx Classic Circle behind it to make the details inside pop more. Pure Luxury White base is embossed with Cuttlebug Leafy Branch folder.

Hope you enjoyed this simple tutorial! So excited to have all these new "leaves", more stamps, yeah! You'll never look at those butterflies the same again! :) Readers often ask me how I come up with out of the box ideas like this, and truly I often don't see them when I'm designing the set at all. It's only after I am stare at the piece of rubber and just start seeing shapes rather than the whole. Try it, you might be surprised and delighted with what you find! ;)

PS See that linen-looking mat under my work? It's from Scor-pal and I love this Stay Put Craft Mat! Will come back with a post all about it, but it is so terrific for my work surface as well as staging photos for my blog, LOVE!!

Hello!

Hope you've had a great week so far! Here is the finished Wild Flowers card I mentioned on Monday, please see this post for step by step photos of the fastest way to re-create it. After the last photo, I inked up the stem a few more times and stamped off to create blades of grass and add a little more depth. just a few dots of black gel pen to the center or each ad a nice contrast and tie in the black amt and sentiment. A line of piercing along the bottom (using Scor-Bug and Scor-Pal) is an understated detail that works well with the flowers centers. Cardstock is Pure Luxury Wild Dandelion, Black Onyx and White.

Tip: When using the same flower image repeatedly on a design, turn it at a different angle each time you stamp to keep them from looking like the same blossom and add more interest.

Love having "hello" greetings, these make perfect "any occasion" cards to have in your stash and then add birthday, encoruagement or thank you messages to the inside in a pinch!

Have a fantastic weekend, looks like we are in for some terrific weather! Thanks so much to all of you have left such kind reviews on the A Year of Flowers Amazon page! Makes me so happy to know how much you're enjoying it! :)

Gina K Designs: March "Spring has Sprung" Hop!

The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to a fun Spring Has Sprung blog hop. For this hop we will showcase Spring cards and projects with you! The DT Members have all used a wide variety of Gina K. Designs stamp sets to inspire YOU to get inky, too! Come play along with the Current Challenges at Stamp TV!

If you came from Lori McAree 's blog, then you're right where you should be. If not, please go to Stamp TV where you will find a list of all those participating.

Today I have another Clean And Simple card using Wild Flowers, this time with just a butterfly! (There I go using Blue Raspberry again, twice in one week, but I'm pretty sure I've never put it with Innocent Pink!) March is a really busy month for us (hence all the CAS designs!), but also I just love doing quick and easy direct to stamp techniques with bold images! When inking the butterfly begin with yellow Memento Marker (Cantaloupe) at center and work your way out to color each side of the visible spectrum: orange (Tangelo) and then red (Rhubarb Stalk) above, and beneath, green (Cottage Ivy), blue (Bahama Blue) then purple (Grape Jelly). This light to dark coloring process will allow colors to blend evenly and keep you from dirtying up your light markers.

Also, I wanted to show how you can use those little dotty stamps in the set to make a whimsical little trial behind the butterflies! See how they are in a fatter cluster ant one end and go to a point with just one dot? Ink up and stamp one way, then turn the stamp upside down and overlap with the first cluster so they are pointy on the ends and thick in the middle. Repeat until you have the desired trial length, see how that looks so floaty and ethereal?

Finally, because I really wanted the focus of the card to be the colors, I inked up the greeting the same way to emphasize the different words (red for "love" of course, and "laugh" in a rainbow to make it more whimsical!) and stayed away from adding patterned papers. The curved punched corner in Red Hot gives it some pop. Add just a few adhesive rhinestones for sparkle. That's it! happy card!

Now hop on over to Tina Gilliland's blog for more Gina K. goodness!!! Thank you for visiting today!

Direct to Stamp Flowers

Good morning! Here is another simple sample and easy layout I made with my new Wild Flowers set when it first arrived, just playing with Memento Markers (Cantaloupe, Potter Clay, Bahama Blue, Danube Blue, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy). It is so fun doing "Direct to Stamp" with new rubber and finding all the the gorgeous color combos you can create! :) TIP: Always ink up your images with lighter colored inks first and then go over with darker ones to avoid staining lighter pads and makers.Flowers are traced with Sakura glitter pens and cardstock is Pure Luxury Blue Raspberry, Black Onyx and White.A tiny bit of dimension was added to the butterfly and flower centers with a Black glaze pen.

If you came from the CardMaker blog, thanks so much for visiting! :) I'd love for you to stop back for more step by step technique tutorials with Wild Flowers and Wild at Heart this month and become a subscriber! Thanks, CardMaker, for the guest spots these past few weeks!

Hugs to you all!

Write it On...

Good morning! If you are in the middle of Spring Break as we are, I hope you are having a grand time with your family! Post coming tomorrow with last month's floral set Stately Flowers 3 and a guest designer, and just a quickie today since I have been so busy and out and about with my boys (BTW, look for one super fun free (or cheap) idea to share with you for "anytime" activity, or for next week if that's your spring break, coming here soon, we did yesterday just need some time to write it up and upload pics!)

One day last week, I had a super super busy day ahead of me with errands, work, chores etc. So the first thing I did after getting dressed as go into my craft room and stamp this verse from Wild Flowers in Memento Tuxedo Black on my hand (so it lasted through several washings!), a constant comfort and reminder I'd have with me if things were getting tense! All I had to do was peek down, take a deep breath, and resume! I just loved having that to glance at or meditate on all day. (Tempting to ink it permanently but I am tattoo-free and plan to stay that way! Who needs a tattoo when you have stamps and washable ink?) ;)

Also an idea for your kids, to stamp a little verse they need a scripture to focus on or are trying to memorize, or maybe for Sunday school or VBS. I do like "carrying around" words with me, perhaps not as always as literally as in this palm of my hand, but hope it inspires! And stamping on my hand makes me think of writing on my heart, so Ill leave you with this well known poem (emphasis mine):

Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit
to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,
with its hopes and invitations,
to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

God bless, see you tomorrow!

Inspiration Hop, Day 1: Wild Flowers and Masculine Tags

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 we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

First up today, we have my new "Wild Flowers" set, a bold two step stamping set that coordinates with the popular previously released "Wild at Heart" frame set. I am so excited to have these additions, with new greetings and some matching butterflies. Stylized bold flowers are so great for a multitude of stamping techniques and making quick cards with beautiful bursts of color!

Perfect for the rock and roll technique Gina shared recently on StampTV using your ink pads, today I'm getting out my water-based Memento markers for some direct to stamp coloring! TIP: Scribble on your lightest color first, and then add your darker colors so as not to dirty up the tip of a light colored marker. Once you have all the colors where you want them and image fully inked, huff on it to moisten the ink and stamp. You will love building simple or fuller arrangements with all the different leaves and buds!Several people commented yesterday they liked how I "double-stamped" the flowers on the panels, but actually, I just stamped these on a flat panel of white CS, then die cut with my Spellbinders Labels 24 to give the greeting more impact and add more interest to the layout! TIP: I offset it just the tiniest bit so you'd have a little more of the black peeking through, rather than just the added dimension of the pop dots. Card base is Pure Luxury Innocent Pink.

Next, I want to show you fast you can build a field of flowers! Here are five different images from the set placed on the long rectangle block , inked up and ready to go, this block is a must have!
Stamp just once!Bam!
Now add your leaves and stems! I'll be back with the finished embellished sample later! :)


Finally, my last sample shows another quick card pairing this set with "Wild at Heart". First I stamped the frame in Old Paper Distressing Ink on White CS (if you see hints of pink red, sorry, I guess I didn't clean my stamp very well from the previous use, oops! This ink is not pink at all!)

Next I inked up my flowers one by one with Memento Sweet Plum and Grape Jelly on the petals and Rich Cocoa in the centers. I didn't bother with a stamp positioner, the die cut images make it so easy to eyeball and if they are slightly offset you get a tiny white reveal that gives it a more whimsical look.

Finish with the other flowers and stamp a sentiment in the lower corner. Originally, I intended for this to be a single layer card on Pure Luxury (which is why you see that large white border) but after using the purple shades I decided to kick it up by including one of the new Pure Luxury Parisian Garden patterned papers around the border, these patterns all look so terrific with my new flowers!

The finished card is just three layers (and only one color cardstock-white!), but the two step stamping and border around the frame make it look like so much more! Lots of fun tutorials coming up with this set, so please check back! Hope you love the new set as much as I do and enjoy using it with "Wild at Heart"!

And now for something completely different! I started to make a tag for a card with Tami Mayberry's new "Masculine Tags" set when I noticed how cool one of thee labels would be...
on a frosty beverage!! Father's Day is not too far off, plus birthdays of a couple men in my life!

I stamped the labels onto Gina K's waterproof labels and then cut them out with the Labels 22 and Grand Calibur.

Soak the labels off the bottles you'll be using before adhering your custom labels.

Full disclosure, I WILL say soaking the labels off a beer bottle was much more difficult than soaking off a wine label, gotta scrub scrub scrub (different glue, I guess) just sayin'! It IS worth doing for one bottle, but for a whole six pack or more, I would probably create a paper wrap/sleeve to go around each covering the original label and then adhere my new one on top, that would look great too and be much easier! Label is colored with Copics.

This is an* adult beverage* but would be super cute on soda bottles for a birthday or slumber party! Wouldn't these be so fun on a big wash tub tub full of root beers or colored in PINK for girls night?! (hmm, my birthday is coming up...!) As you can see, these two particular greetings are gender neutral, for the "rock star" in all of us! Hope this project inspires, so many picnic and outdoor events to look forward to with spring and summer on the way!

Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:

• Gina K

• Melanie Muenchinger-thanks for visiting!
  
• Tami Mayberry
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Lori McAree
• Michelle Woerner
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

Have a great weekend! Fun stuff coming up this weekend and inspiration hops resume on Monday! See you soon!

Sneak peeks have started!

Woo hoo, Gina just peeked the first two sets in our new Gina K Designs release this Thursday night, party is just around the corner! Be sure to check 'em out and visit her blog each day for first looks at images from the new sets!

This peeks shows one image and sentiment from my new set, can you tell which past set of mine this coordinates with? What inky favorite techniques can you imagine doing with this one? Would love to hear from you! :)