What could be more perfect than a calendar...

for the new "A Year of Borders" set? :) Sharon Harnist put together this lovely little calendar (it didn't even occur to me those were inchies when she posted this in our party!!), please check out her blog for more views of the project, direction, AND, are you ready for this? Free downloadable little calendars you can print out in this size to make your own! (They are sized to fit the labels One die if you have that!) Too cool, thank you Sharon for the freebie and the inspiration!

I plan to make some of these little calendars using the borders, but also plan on trying them out with a different design and larger format using Tami Mayberry's Calendar sets ! These will be an awesome match as well, great for keeping yourself organized throughout the year or for gift giving!

I will be sharing my tip sheet soon! Have a terrific weekend!

A Year of Borders Now Available!

Here's the new set!

Here's a favorite card using "A Year of Borders" I shared at our Gina K Designs release party (click on "what's new" in the store to purchase the set and other fabulous new releases!!) Greeting is from the set "A Beautiful Life" (which coordinates with these butterflies) and polka dots are from "Vintage Backgrounds". Thanks to everyone who popped by the party, it was a fun one!! I will be floating around all day remembering the enthusiasm about this set, thanks for the love!

Start by stamping the polka dots in pink on white CS, then stamp the butterflies over it in black. Fill in just a few of the butterflies with a slightly deeper pink Copic, allowing the dots to show through some of the others. The matching butterfly from "A Beautiful Life" is popped up and bent to add dimension. I also traced the colored butterflies with a glitter pen. Mats are Black Onyx and Innocent Pink. i wanted a single delicate embellishment to accentuate the dainty butterflies so i added a single adhesive rhinestone to punctuate the greeting.

Have a beautiful day! and a terrific weekend if I don't see you again!! :)

And the Winner is...

Update on the blog candy giveaway from our sneak preview: The winner of my new set "A Year of Borders" releasing tonight at 10PM fron Gina K Designs goes to:

Melissa Cash said...
Ack Melanie, you're killin' me with this borders set. I NEED it! I can't wait to order it. Your card is beautiful.....:)

Congrats, Melissa please send me your snail mail address and I will put your set in the mail!

See you all at the party in a few hours, 7PM CSt (I'll be fashionably late, baseball game tonight!)

Scroll down to see our final peeks if you haven't ready seen them, we will be sharing all these AND MORE at the party! :)

Sneak Peek Day 3: "Light of the Season" and "Heirloom Ornaments"

Welcome back to our final day of Gina K designs previews, we'll be partying before you know it! First up we have Nina Brackett's "Heirloom Ornaments", which coordinates with the Spellbinders Ornament dies. I will be the first to admit this card may be *wee* bit overdesigned, but I couldn't help myself, when the holidays are coming I gotta bring the bling! You can fill up a background with these bold graphic images quickly, here I used Vivid Inky Blue, Brick and olive and eggplant inks. One fun thing about these ornament shapes you can turn them either way, top or bottom heavy for different looks! Don't forget to add some sparkle with rhinestones and emboss the strings and toppers! Here is another view to show the sparkle. The set includes a little bow tie image but I used these different colored embroidery flosses instead to more color and texture. Cardstock is Pure Luxury Lovely Lavender, Red Hot, White and Silver Lining.

Our final set to preview is Gina K's "Free with Three" set "Light of the Season". This is a great holiday set with classic Christmas images and greetings, as well as... a menorah image and Hanukkah sentiment! I only have one person I make Hanukkah cards for, but that person is pretty important (my stepfather) so although I've never bought a complete Hanukkah set, it is SO nice to have these included when that time of year comes around! :) Traditional Hanukkah colors are silver and blue, so I started my card with Pure Luxury In the Navy, Little Boy Blue, White, and Silver Lining. These deep blues might seem a little less than radiant for "The Festival of Lights", but I'm going to use a couple little tricks to create the illusion of light.

I wanted to represent the 8 candles plus one in the menorah and I thought a gradient look with strips of paper for the candles would be perfect. I sponged the bottom of a 2" x 3" strip of Little Boy Blue CS with Inky Blue first, and then cut strips 1/4" wide, cutting the strip for the Shamash candle, which will be in the center, just a little wider. Then I spaced them evenly across my white mat and glued them down.

I embossed the menorah in Silver, filled it in with Stardust gel pen, and die cut it with a Classic Oval. A little sponging on the bottom of the focal point (not the top to create the effect that the flames illuminate above) I did the same for the sentiment which I die cut with a Classic Long Rectangle but left the embossed Hanukkah part unsponged to make the word look like it was giving off light. Just a few thoughtfully place rhinestones like flames above the candles and straight lines by the sentiment give the card sparkle and elegance but still have a clean, unfussy feel that can be very masculine.

I know my Stepfather is going to be crazy for this card! :) This is a great free set, thanks Gina for thinking of things like this!

Please see more samples of these two new sets from the rest of our fabulous Gina K Designs team!

Cathy Tidwell
Emily Giovanni
Gina Krupsky
Lee Murphy

Nina Brackett
Theresa Momber

and another fun blog hop with Carolyn King using the ornaments! :)

See you at the party at StampTV, Thursday Night November 4th, 7PM-10PM CST! Come for as much as you can, thanks for visiting today!

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!

Sneak Peek Day 1: "A Year of Borders" and "Winter Mittens"

I am so excited to preview my newest set from Gina K Designs: "A Year of Borders"! These 5" seasonal borders coordinate with SEVEN of my previous hand drawn nature sets, which are also some of my most popular sellers:

"A Beautiful Life" "Gifts from the Sea"

"Buds and Vases" "A Year of Leaves"

"Festive Frame" "A Year of Flowers" "Wild at Heart"

You will love having this as an expansion to these sets, or if you have none of them, once you have this you’ll feel like you do! Since the winter holidays are upon us, today I chose the poinsettia border to make an elegant Christmas card, but hopefully you'll see a few other borders popping up today in our design team hop!

I started out with a 4"x 5 1/4" Ivory mat and then punched the bottom. I stamped my poinsettia border above it and colored with Copics (E13 and E57 for pinecones, R37 and R59 for flowers, YG23 and G99 for needles). Next I Cuttlebugged the top of the mat with the Victoria folder and sponged the edges lightly with some olive and Antique Linen ink. I adhered that to a Gina K Pure Luxury Lipstick Red base and embossed my greeting from "Festive Frame" in gold and die cut the mats with Petite Ovals.

I added two more little poinsettias clusters I'd cut out from my second stamped border and popped these up over the greetings like embellishments. I hope this sample give you an idea of how much smaller these individual images are than the ones in the original sets! Accents are Fancy Corners punched from Good as Gold cardstock and adhesive nail heads. Don't forget to add a little sparkle to the centers of each flowers with a Sakura gold glitter pen! This set will make beautiful CAS cards as well, no coloring required, but I just had to do something fancy for our peek! :)

Year round, these are stamps I know you'll reach for again and again. Stamp an entire mat with the borders to create a background in just seconds filled with intricate, already masked natural elements, use a single border to add drama to the side off your card, add one to the inside of your card or create a coordinating envelope, or snip out individual images. It is sure to become a well-loved staple in your craft room.

Would you like to win "A Year of Borders"? Leave a comment at the end of this post telling me which of my nature sets you love best and/or what you'd do with these borders first! Want a second chance to win? Copy and paste a pic of this card and link this sneak preview post on your own blog to help me spread the word! Come back and let me know, thanks in advance!

Next up we have Nina Brackett's set, "Winter Mittens". Stamps in this set coordinate with a few of the Spellbinders sets, which I know you will see tonight in our hop. I hand cut the mittens for this sample, but used a Classic Oval Nestabilities die for the label tag.
Base is Pure Luxury Red Hot and patterned papers are from the Basic Grey Jovial pack. The mats are stamped with Tami Mayberry's "In Stitches" in Memento Rich Cocoa and the tag is stamped on ivory and sponged with Antique Linen. I inked up both the mittens and label images with markers for this two-toned effect. The greetings are separate from the label so you can add the one you want.

My inspiration for this card was to have them look like they are hanging up on the wall, so I used a little turquoise Pure Luxury Button and I love how this Basic Grey paper looks like the distressed and peeling plank in a cabin.

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

Nina Brackett- illustrator of Winter Mittens

Theresa Momber

Release party this Thursday night at 7PM CST at StampTV, it's not a party without all of you Gina K friends, please come!

Thank you for visiting today!

Halloween Pics! (and a pumpkin you will NOT believe!)

Hope you all survived Halloween last night, everyone was dragging in to school this morning, those Sunday night celebrations are rough LOL!! We spent most of the evening up at our church's Festival 31 before a quick trick or treat spin around the block. Hyde Park Baptist is such an amazing church with so many wonderful ministries and offers such fantastic resources and events for the community, the kid had blast playing all the free games and doing the rides and inflatables and I won a cake in the cake walk! if you are in the Austin area I would love for you to come check them out!

Here is William posing in his Boba Fett costume, just pretend the candy bag is a really cool blaster (I didn't want to spend the extra $15 bucks, I drew the line at the costume!)
And here is Jonathan in his Clone Wars Commander Fox costume, he makes his own blaster, piu piu, got you!!

And finally one pic I just had to share from our 'hood, we live a few blocks from some truly amazing amateur pumpkincarvers, here is Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, this is a carved pumpkin with a colored light inside, so I really got lucky to snap this just before it changed! They had several others, some with dry ice billowing out of the designs, but this was my fave!

These people really get into Halloween, you know the ones? They hand out about $5 worth of goodies to each child, like glow sticks so they'll be safe walking, microwave popcorn bags, Play-Doh the works, every year, so I think this time I'm going to take a handmade thank you card down there along with this printed out pic for them! We are so blessed to have people like that in our neighborhood who do that for kids, it is a place we look forward to visiting each Halloween as much as we look forward to a carnival or trick or treating itself!

Hope you had a fantastic time with your own families, now I need to go make like a stamper and crank out some sneak peek goodness for the week!

See you back here at 10PM with a reveal of my new set, which I will also be giving away!!! (Any guesses, ladies??)

Wishing you and yours...

a happy Halloween!
More pics to come after tonight's adventures! Be safe and have fun!

New Gina K sneak peeks start tomorrow night, eek!!!!!!!! :)

Ghost Town in a Jar

Here is a card I made for my son, using the "Buds and Vases" jar and the little haunted house and pumpkins from Asela's "Boo!" I was inspired by a little shaker globe with a a ghost and bats in it at the drug store and saw how easily I could recreate it with these images! The house and tree fit perfectly in the jar. Pumpkins are colored and cut out, glued over the image.
Although a clear jar wouldn't like "white" on and black background, I like the contrast and thought the large black layer was perfect for a spooky night.

I used a vintage border punch and patterned paper from Basic Grey Ambrosia pack which seems so at odds with that polka dot ribbon, but the Grass Green layer pulls it together and keeps it from being so matchy match! Halloween is a fun holiday to go really whimsical and kind of classic creepy Gothic at the same time! :) The little foam sticker ghost my son got in a treat bag from school, so I threw it on the card, the dimension and texture is fun and makes the whole thing more playful, looks like it just sped through the glass and is flying away from the card...

So, what are you going to be for Halloween? Just a couple days left to find or maake that perfect costume! :)

Final week with Giovana!

Hello! Here we are with our fourth and final guest spot with Giovana for my "Buds and Vases" set! (The month went really fast, no?) Today Giovana's created a pretty little art frame in these dazzling fall colors!
Here is a side view so you can seethat gorgeus glaze she added to the flowers and leaves...

I love this reminder that the crafts we work so hard on are not just meant to be cards that are read and then thrown in a drawer, but proudly and prominently dipalyed! Slap a little stand on the back and it's not a card, it's ART! :)

Here are Giovana's creation details:

"The frame is 3.75" square. I recycled some cardboard from computer boxes. I Cuttlebugged a piece of mustard cardstock, sponged all edges in Rust Ink then distressed them. I die-cut the biggest frame from Fleur de Lis and adhere to the frame. I also die-cut a square white piece and stencil it. Added to the frame with foam tape. Finally I stamped the sentiment and image, colored it with Copic Markers, and covered it with Crystal Lacquer. After drying, I cut it out and popped it up on the frame, then added pearls and ribbon."

So how's that for recycling/repurposing? You don't even need to buy a frame to put your card in, make your own! (We're surrounded by card board!) And backing the artwork with thick cardboard gives it lasting durability, weight and permanence, great for gifting...

Thanks Giovana, for all your beautiful designs with "Buds and Vases" this month! Now let's go see another project on her blog!

How to Top the Jar! Tutorial

Here's a fun little card using the jar from "Buds and Vases" and Gina's "Happy Haunting" spider, the web and spider fit perfectly into the corner! Sorry I didn't get more Halloween samples done for you sooner, but better late than never! And I do have a quickie tutorial to show you how to make cute toppers for the jar like little fabric covers, you can do with this different seasonal prints for your jar year round!
First find a piece of patterned paper you like and flip it over. Now stamp the top of the jar, here inked up in Memento London Fog, on the back.

Take a pen or pencil and make straight sides on either side of the mouth of the jar. Kick the line on either side at an angle and then an zigzag line below the rim. Making the zigzag uneven will make the gathers and pleats look more realistic.

Cut it out.

Flip it over!

Here it is over the jar. Now just add some twine or ribbon to look like it's holding the "fabric" over the top. Patterned papers are Basic Grey Pyrus.

Hope this is helpful to you! I'm looking forward to making some pretty Christmas-y toppers this way for my jar with Basic Grey Jovial papers, then filling them with fun holiday images, cookies etc!

Have a great day!

Sickness and Health!

Sorry I've been a stranger, my boys are recovering form sinus and ear infections and I am recovering from laryngitis and eye infections! i have a lot of catching up to do for creating nd posting, as well as getting all my samples done for our next release, sneak peeks starting on Monday night, party next Thursday November 4th! I also need to make some cards for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over at SCS, I am sponsoring their giveaway with some stamp sets so I hope you all are playing along when you can!

I DO have a couple fun and simple Halloween card ideas I hope to get done this afternoon and post for you, but in the mean time, I know so many of you have little ones, so here is a short video made by the children of Aviva Goldfarb who authors the "The Six O Clock Scramble" meal planning service I recommended here a few months ago (By the way, I have made over 130 unique dinners from her menus since I started subscribing back in March!) Her daughter shows three super cute, easy, and HEALTHY snacks your kids can make to celebrate Halloween. After watching, I now have plans to pick up some cream cheese, pita breads, and pretzels after watching (we have the other stuff on hand already!), the kid will be so excited to make these when they come home. :)

Ok, off to try to get some work done! I pray you are well and good but if not heal up soon!

Week 3 with Giovana

Well, I about fell out of my chair when Giovana emailed this beautiful WREATH sample she made with "Buds and Vases" this week! Wowee!! I have been so busy thinking about putting the flowers in containers and what else I can do with the jar (and designing my next three sets and...!) that I hadn't even thought how awesome the little leaves from the set would work on their own for a Fall card yet!! (this is why I have guest designers...)

The thank you greeting inside is from "Hip to be Square" set.

Here are Giovana's creation details:

"For this card, I dry-embossed the front of the card (Distressed Stripes), then sponged it a bit. I stamped both leaves 16 times, colored them with Rust Pearlscent Ink using a sponge. I cut out a circle using Circle Nestabilities to have as a base for my wreath, then I assembled first the small leaves and then I added the big ones. After that, I added some Gold Stickles around the edges of each leaf and put some Gold Gala Glitz (this is a mix of tiny beads and glass) on top. "

Well! Are you as intrigued with how GORgeous that "Gold Gala Glitz" is as I am??

Anyway, I'm just in love with this card and this look! I also just noticed as I typed those little row of dots she did on just one side of the thank you, perfect! Little unexpected details like these just make a card so special! I keep noticing more things to like about it! Thank you Giovana for thinking outside the box and reminding us all how much can be do with some classic, simple leaves!

Now let's go see another beautiful sample with "Buds and Vases" on Giovana's blog! :)

Card Drive for Kids and Spina Bifida (and a sketch!)

Hello! Giovana is doing a repeat of her card drive for children she knows who have Spina Bifida, you can get all the details here to participate on Giovana's blog. I was delighted to see her post a photo of little Rebekah receiving all her cards from last year's drive! (My card is the little "Bug Me Anytime one in front, hee, I'd forgotten which one I'd sent until she posted!) :) She is asking for cards again for Rebekah, now 8, and a little 2 year old boy named Logan, who both have Spina Bifida. Now several people have sponsored the drive with stamp sets you can win by particpating, you have until November 5th to enter! Please play, it's fun, and these kids will be so happy to get your special creations! I donated my set "Wee Tees", which is not just for babies! Here I cropped the stamped onesie to make a cute tee for that cutie Rebekah! I made the flower with some silk ribbon from Sharon I twisted together with some Scor-tape. DP is from the Basic Grey Olivia pack (and I know just what I'm going to do next for Logan with the Wee Tees set and the Basic Grey Oliver paper! choo chooooo!)
Since this card turned out different than I originally planned, I thought I'd go ahead and make up the sketch of it for you! Enjoy! If you make something with it, please let people know about my sketch with a link to this post and share a link to your card in the comment section below! It would also be great even if you can't participate to link this post on your blog to spread the word about the card drive, thank you in advance!

And if you do play, don't forget to add your card to Giovana's blog, not here! The sketch is NOT part of a requirement for the card drive, just for fun, anytime! Good luck winning Wee Tees or one of the other great sets offered! :)

Have a terrific weekend!

Wow, great Copic deal!

If you live in or around the Austin area and love Copics, here is a GREAT deal for you! I have bought several markers from Jerry's Artarama, but they have loads of other art supplies too (if that's what you're into!) ;) the coupon is only good at thier brick and mortar location in Austin, not online, just so you know. I bought the limit of 2, which means I can get $90 worth of Copics for $38, wowee! (I already have all the Ciaos Gina sells but am still building my collection of select sketch markers outside those colors). buying the deal expires today, but you have until January to redeem it so don't delay!

Jerry's is just a few miles from my house, too, so if you come shopping at Jerry's, we should maybe meet up! :)