Where Are They Now? Bee Burg!

Bee Burg, my readers' "favorite pick" the month of my "What's in your Tin?" contest, has been busy making..a BABY this year LOL! (and he is coming SOON, maybe today, so I thought I'd better hurry up and share LOL!!!! I have her addy if you want to send her a card!) ;) You can tell from today's project she's in "full nesting mode" and used images from my first THREE animals sets "Just So Hippy!", "Just So Hoppy", and "Hip Hop Accessories" to make these inspired closet dividers!!

Accck, it's so cute, I could eat em up!! (num num num) As you can see, this fabulous idea and design would be very easy to recreate with Classic and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities and a notch for the closet rod. You could change the colors and animals out to work for any nursery theme, I just love this! What a great project to gift a mom to be or her to make herself while she's "waiting", as a mom I know there's nothing like creating some special touches for your baby and his or her room to prepare for that most special of arrivals!!

Here's a little more about Bee:

Favorite technique: Paper dry embossing (I'm in love with my Cuttlebug folders ;-)) and I also love embossing with powder and my heatgun.
Favorite colors/color combo: I'm a rainbow kind of girl! The only color I don't like and use very rarely or in small touches is yellow. My favorite color is blue and I love pairing it with all kind of colors. Most of the time when I make a card or project it is with someone in mind so I get my color inspiration from the person or from the paper I feel like using that day, or the ribbon...
Favorite type of project to make that's not a card: Anything with my kids in mind, and maybe giftcards holders. Oh and those mini albums I have been making lately...:-)

Favorite Gina K set by Melanie: It's hard to say, but I would go with "Have a cookie" and "Hand-in-hand" even though I have neither of them (yet! ;-))...
Favorite Gina K sets (from any illustrator): Same as above! :-)
Craft supplies I can't live without: Well the basics: paper & cardstock, ribbons, stamps, coloring pencils and markers... for the "extras" I would say my Cuttlebug and the embossing folders and my Nestabilities... Of course Prima flowers and brads and...
I've been stamping for a little less than 1 1/2 year.
I get my inspiration from anything! But I am certainly influenced by all the crafty blogs I visit!.. ;-)
The most important things I've learned about stamping / cardmaking / scrapbooking are that's it's all about you! LOL! It's not about following rules or doing a perfect job or something that everyone will rave about, it's about having fun and expressing yourself! If in the process it makes someone else feel loved or appreciated then it's even better! :-D
I started papercrafting to have something just for me that I enjoy and that relaxes me. It is definitely liberating and rewarding. I had no clue I would "meet" (over the net ;-)) so many wonderful people in the process! ♥...
Some of my stamping/crafting goals are: Make my kids' photo albums (much catching up to do in that area, years!!!..). Scrapbook more. Make a recipe book for my daughter with traditional french recipes from my grandmother. Maybe one day (years from now!) design my own stamps? Who knows?...
Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments are: I still see myself as kind of a newbie in that field so my accomplishments are still ahead of me!... ;-)

Thank you Bee for blessing us with your project today, I am just so touched my stamps are a part of that little boy's room! And I know we all wish you the VERY , VERY best for yor delivery, praying that it's safe and speedy, and a healthy mom and baby! :) Keep us updated!

Be sure to scroll down and leave a comment on the post below if you have not already for the Paper Temptress prizes! Winner of the BCDZYNS set and winner of Donna's planner announced this evening!!

Tempting Sentiments & Paper! (AND a CHALLENGE!)

This giveaway is now closed. Check this post to see if you won! :)

I am thrilled to have Patricia from Paper Temptress involved today, she has generously offered THREE packs of paper, each valued at 19.99, so today we will have three winners, woo hoo!! The Pop Tones 2 cardstock pack is a sampling of all 24 of the Pop Tones colors (you get two of each!) and I'm totally diggin' on the mouthwatering names and shades. Here are some of my faves from this pack! (colors can be purchased individually too!)

I will be back later to show you in a separate post more color comparisons for you to help you get a better feel for these shades, but I will include some for today's sample! (AND, my new Copics arrived today so my Ciao collection is complete! (hip hip hurray!) I would like to do a color match of these with the Paper Temptress shades for you ASAP, I'll let you know when i'm done!)
Berrylicious is a dead ringer for one of my faves, the RETIRED Cool Caribbean!! (no need to hoard your stash anymore!) Snow Cone is a great alternative to the also RETIRED Soft Sky!! How many of you have both matching inks already, LOL!! ;)

The Tangy Orange is such a vivid red-orange. you cna see how much brighter it is than SU!'s rust. I had to throw the Ruby Red in the pic, because the brown of the rust had me thinking it was like ruby, until I put them together.. .nope! so much brighter! love it!

Gumdrop Green is almost a perfect match ot Su!'s retired Wild Wasabi... :) me like!!

Today's sample uses a quote from my "Say it With Flowers" greeting set. When I selected "When words escape, flowers speak", for this set (which I LOVE!!) I honestly was thinking more about those hard to write sympathy/loss cards. But as I wanted to work in some of these colors for today's sample, I realized there are many happy times too that you just can't say enough how much you mean what you're feeling! So I'm using it on a "fun" card for the first time, I love how exuberant it, turned out, says "happy HAPPY!" loud and clear!

All DP is Basic Grey Cupcake, I was able to find three great matches in these prints for my new Pop Tones papers! I also really wanted to use the Basic Grey Cupcake Glazed Brads I love but have been neglecting, so I poked those through a sateen flower and punched two more for flowers using an EK Success punch out of an ivory distressed print in the same Basic Grey pack. I framed up my quote first in a Square Nestabilitie and added the three flowers below with glue dots. Then I alternated scalloped and classic die cut layers of both DP and the Paper Temptress colors: Tangy Orange (love this fiery shade), Snow Cone ( so close to SU!'s retired Soft Sky (if you're having with withdrawal LOL!) and Gum Drop Green. Instead of using a whole 4 1/4" square, I cut it into 4 equal sections and staggered two so I could leave some white showing through (and I can save a little of that beautiful green paper for something else!) :) Gina K Pure Luxury White is my base.

I had some scrap leftovers so I decorated the inside of the card, too, shown here (It is really is such an extra treat for the recipient if you have the time to make the inside a work of heart, too!) but I want to suggest that this could be your simple version for the outside of a card! "forever grateful" is also from the "Say it With Flowers" set, you can cover almost any occasion with the individual words his set includes! This card has SO many more layers than I normally use, but this paper is 65lb, lighter than my colored SU! paper so you really don't feel how much paper you've added, won't add extra postage to my card, which I like! : )

TIP: To get my sentiment just right, I placed the embellishment I knew I wanted on top of my round acrylic block(you've gotta get these!), which was centered on top of my scalloped mat. I added my words above and below, removed the flower and stamped... ta da!! perfect. :) Then I added the inside flower with another gluedot.

This card has inspired today's challenge: create a project that features a sentiment in some way. How would you show it off? It could be fancy or simple, but something that makes "a statement with your statement" LOL! Please upload you project to SCS or PCP with the keyword GKDMB1 (linking it here would be helpful, too if you can!) by Tuesday January 7th, 9 PM CST, I will pick a winning project and the winner will receive a guest designing spot next month and my January release, coming soon (you will LOVE it!!) I would love for you to use one of my stamps if you can, but if not, please play along anyway! (I expect to have hundreds of projects to pick from , you hear?!) ;)

So who will win today's prizes?* Leave a comment here to enter, today I would like you to go through the Gina K Gallery on SCS and or Papercraft Planet(thanks so much for letting me know about all your faves on here, that is very helpful!) , and link a favorite creation you find that uses any of my stamp sets (or one from your very own blog!) so we all can see!! Check back for the winners tomorrow and more fun samples and FREE stuff! EDITED TO ADD: Okay, very few people are following the directions on this so far LOL!! I asked you to link a card using one of MY stamp sets in the comment section, most are not leaving a link or they are linking to a card that uses someone else's set, OR not even Gina K sets! (That's okay if you like it, but that's not the rules! Don't feel bad if you did, I will assume you haven't had your coffee yet;) ) Try this: check out the Pop Tone Colors and tell me which color or colors you like the best in this post!! (either answer will count as an entry, okay?)

After leaving your comment for the paper, here's today's blog hop (still can't believe how many of your favorite designers turned out for this (happy dance!!!)

Carolyn, Donna, Jessica, Lee, Michelle, Theresa, Carolina, Joanne , Jessie, and Gina K!! (check out THAT prize!!wow! My biggie (Copics!!)is coming up soon!!!) :)

*If you don't... guess what? Patricia has the PopTones on sale the entire month of January 25% off! :-O

PS There is another clue in this post for an upcoming sponsor...

PPS How do you like this "au naturale" backdrop for my cards? The way I've chosen to rearrange all my tools in my stamping space, I don't really have room to do my low-tech mock up of a photo tent(2 sheets of 12x12 white!) I'm kinda diggin it, you?

The First Blogaversary Winner!

The winner of day 1 of my blogaversary has been posted, see here, the first day's giveaway is now closed!

But of course, I'd still LOVE to hear about your blessings! I have been overwhelmed reading about all the new babies, but also the struggles with illness you and so many of your family members have faced, it made me count my family's blessings over! Praying for you and your loved one's continued healing, it was another blessing and inspiration to me to read how you all have so many blessings you choose to count in spite of focusing on your hardships!

There is still time to enter today's "And then I said" candy from Kim, be sure to leave a comment here if you haven't already, winner will be announced tomorrow! And speaking of tomorrow come back, I have: a product review, sample, blog hop, MULTIPLE prizes AND a challenge (that anyone could winand you have several days, so please play!) See you on the other side of midnight, just a few hours away!!! :)

Where Are They Now? Donna Baker

If there's one thing I've learned this past year (don't worry, I learned a lot more than that LOL!) it's to believe that anything that can happen. A neighbor recently reminded me on Christmas Day about my discovering at stamping my first SU! workshop ever 5 years ago, and calling her afterwards saying "THIS is what I'm supposed to do!" I meant just sit down and make cards, not make my own stamps, who'dve thunk it? LOL!

But more than that, I've found how the destinies of others can become entwined with our own in unexpected ways. Donna Baker (who later won my "Just So Hoppy" contest AND the tied with Bee for the fan favorite contest the next month with my tins!!) was the first friend I shared my secret I would be leaving SU! to design for Gina K. At that time she was demonstrating for SU! but not on any design teams (i wasn't either!) It was fun to share that new beginning with someone who loved stamping as I did, and as we both began testing the waters outside of SU! into "the big stamping world beyond" LOL! (Little did I know that just one year later, Donna and I would both be on Gina K's Design team together!) She really threw herself 110% into working with my stamps over the next year, and that really got her noticed by "the Big Lady"*, hee hee! Her story is one of passion and persistance, and I hope it inspires you today...make your dreams come true!

Here's a little more about Donna:
favorite:
Technique - Coloring (line art images)
Colors/color combo - Pinks, Chocolate brown
Type of project to make that’s not a card? Altered items & jewelry
Gina K set by Melanie: All of them! HA – All the Hip Hops
Gina K sets (from any illustrator) Take Flight (new one free with 3 by Gina K)
(I won’t put you on the spot and ask favorite stamp company, hee hee!) ;) I don’t mind answering this question at all; it is hard to say just one because I like to share my stamping LOVE with Gina K, Stamp a Sweet Impression, Starving Artistamps, My Favorite Things & Cornish Heritage Farms. SU! was my first stamping love but has taken a back seat to all these others – still hanging on by a thread!
Craft supplies I can’t live without: coloring mediums, Basic Grey paper pads & matching embellishments, cute stamps!

I've been stamping for about 6 years

I get my inspiration from a LOT of blogs I read (over 150), SCS & Melanie *wink*

The most important things I’ve learned about stamping/cardmaking/scrapbooking are to have fun & no matter what mistakes you make, they are usually fixable & a personal quote, “If it looks perfect it won’t look handmade”

Some of my stamping/crafting goals are to learn to solder & get published.

Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments began in March 2008. After winning Melanie’s Just so Hoppy contest in March, Gina K asked me to be guest designer for October and in September she asked me to be one of her Senior Designers. In June, Jessie Rone asked me to be guest prettie girl for Paper Pretties for 3 months, and during July, Tracey Berkey of Starving Artistamps welcomed me on her design team and Taylor VanBruggen asked me to be on her first rotating design team for her new stamps Stamp a Sweet Impression. I have grown so much during this year & I am grateful for the many friendships stamping has played a role in bringing into my life. It’s been such a blast & I know the meaning of the phrase “When it rains it pours” but in a good way!!

Donna has offered to send this beautiful handmade 2 year planner made with "A Year of Flowers" and "Say it With flowers" to one of you! Leave a comment here letting me know about one of your own crafting accomplishments or goals, we wanna hear (and then you have to go make it happen!) and I will announce the winner tomorrow :)! (Don't forget to leave scroll down and leave a comment on this mornings post for a chance to win "And Then I Said', winner announced tomorrow for that tomrrow as well! )

* Gina K , although no one would ever refer to her as "big" LOL!!

Laptop Pop Up!

This giveaway is now closed. Please enjoy anyway! :)

Good morning!! Note: today's post uses two sets I Did NOT design, but I just love how they go with the set I DID design, look! :)

Here's one of those "fabulous" (she must be, her shirt says so, right? courtesy of my set from November: "Tee Talk"! ) coiffed "ladies" (see "how to make a perfect ponytail" in an upcoming post!) The "fabulous" on the tee is embossed in silver, the shine and dimension look just like a real iron-on! The greeting "You've got mail" is from "Who's that e-girl?", another set I {heart} from My Favorite Things (today's sponsor!) Wonder what the message could be...?

I was so excited to make this pop up card, it turned out exactly the way I envisioned it! As you pull open the card, the "screen" lifts up and a big popped up button on the "keyboard" reads "Sending {{{Hugs}}}. ( Press repeatedly!!) :) The focal point I simply framed up on a piece of Black CS with extra below it. Cut down each side to leave an 1/8" border on either side and then cut down and out at an angle when I got to the end of image. I also scored a fold 1/8" down from the bottom of the screen and folded. Now the laptop looks like it's 3D and open, ready to power up!! Wouldn't it be great to have a gbig honking "Hugs" button on your laptop?
To make the "button", I stamped my sentiment on white CS and then punched a word window out of scratch paper, then moving the punch over and punching again to make it long enough to fit the whole greeting. I placed it over my stamped greeting and traced inside the punched out window with a black pen, and then shifted it down and traced just the bottom to make the "key" look dimensional. I colored it with my C-3 Copic, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

That fabulous pieced couch is made from the Black Market Ebony and Alabaster pack! I colored the e-girl with Copics to make her match the girl on the front. I added line with my pen below her ankles to separate the "carpet" from the "wall".

If you've never made a pop up, it's very easy to do. Score a strip of CS at 1", 2", 3", and 4".(These measurements can be bigger or smaller depending on how far out or big you focal point is, just make sure they are the all equal measurements) Fold at scores and adhere the last little 1/4 piece to the end to make a little "cube". Put adhesive on three sides of it, and press it into the scored fold of your card with the side without adhesive facing UP. This way your cube will stick to the top and bottom of the inside of the card and the last sticky side will be out to press your pop up focal point against.

other deets: Sateen flowers are colored with Copics, adhered with glue dots and embellished with Self Adhesive rhinestones, my hands down favorite embellishment of the moment! This is one of those things I have to buy several of at once, to make sure I don't run out!

So today's prize is appropriately from Kim of My Favorite Things and BCDZYNs, she will send BCDZYNs "And Then I said" stamp set to one of you luckies!! (yeah, I know a LOT of you probably already have this set, but you can give it to your stamping BFF or PSF! They'll love you for it!) Be sure to leave a comment here for a chance to win it, today if you could spend a little time going through my archives and letting me know your favorite or some of my favorite projects I've shared here(unless you already know LOL!), it will really help me choosing what to share and how to make the blog the very best it can be this year for my readers! Then go leave Kim some love at her blog for helping a sistah out! :)

Now for a blog hop: can't wait to see what all these generous and talented ladies have whipped us for today!

Charmaine, Donna, Jessica, Lee, Michelle, Theresa, Joanne, Cathy, and Tammy who will all be using my sets in some form or fashion , thank you all!

The blogaversary bash continues, a new prize offering tomorrow, tonight an update on our winner from yesterday and another guest design spotlight...see you soon!!

PS there may be a clue in this post about an upcoming sponsor... ;)

Q&A with Guest Designer Allison!

Bet this made ya bounce!! ;) I squealed with delight when I saw how Ally modified the child hand image from my latest release "Hand-in-Hand" by omitting the parent hand to take hold instead of my lil bunny from "Just So Hoppy" (one of my favorite animals from my animal sets) The little butterflies she added over the hand iin hand sentiment provides just the right touch of whimsy, innocene and wonder. Great job, Ally, thinking out of the box again!! That's why you're my guets designer. Here's a little more about her:

Ally’s favorite:
Technique: I love just simply stamping and coloring my images the best. You can get some of the neatest effects with simply some ink and a few markers!

Colors/color combo: I think my favorite color scheme for cards is red and green with a touch of white. You know... simple but striking!

Type of project to make that’s not a card? I love to scrap 12x12 pages! I am an avid amateur photographer and just love displaying my photos surrounded with cool papers, glittery embellishments and lots of stamped images!

Gina K set by Melanie: I love all of Melanie's stamps but I think my all time favorite set is her "A Year in Flowers". There are so many floral images to pick from and so many flowers for different occasions, how can you not love this set!

Gina K sets (from any illustrator): I simply love the new "Winter Foliage" set by Gina K herself! I am originally from Ontario, Canada and just simply love the look of pine! This set can be used for almost every season!

Craft supplies I can’t live without: BasicGrey papers, my Scor-Pal, my Ranger Distress inks & black archieval inks and my Copic Sketch markers.
I've been stamping for about 2 years. I began scrapbooking 3.5 years ago and got really into stamping wanting to make Christmas cards to send to my friends in family. I am now an official stamp addict!!!
I get my inspiration from everywhere! I love to check out scrapbook magazines, scrapbook on-line galleries and personal stamper's blogs. Thank goodness for the internet!

The most important things I’ve learned about stamping/cardmaking/scrapbooking are that's it's okay not to be perfect. Sometimes your mistakes turn out to be great learning experiences and you can then pass along your new knowledge to other crafters!

Some of my crafting goals are to have one of my cards published! Yup... a simple goal. LOL!

Some of my stamping/crafting accomplishments are being published in numerous magazines; Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine, The Scrapbook Magazine (British publication) and Canadian Scrapbooker. I am also on a number of Canadian and American based design teams; weScrap (International Scrapbooking Association), A Page in Time Scrapbooking, Mon Ame Memories and The Scrapping Bug. I love creating sketches and I have my own sketch design blog called So Sketchy!. I am also the blog editor for the Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine and love working with Catherine and Kerry... my two sweet bosses!

Isn't she fabulous??!!!

Be sure to scroll down and leave a comment on the post below if you haven't already, and come back at midnight for the next installemnt of the PAR-TAY!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (and blogaversary to me!)

Today's blog candy contest is closed! The winner is:

Amy Johnson said... Happy New Year. I had a huge New Year's Day Party yesterday, so I wasn't able to get on-line till today. I love your frame of your son's name. I think your animal images are my favorite of yours. I just love them. My biggest blessing in 2008 was good health. I was sick for half of 2006 and all of 2007, so to be completely well in 2008 was such a blessing.

Congrats, Amy! Please email me your addy and stamp set pick, I will let Gina and she will ship it to you! :)

Let me be the first to wish you a Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by my blogaversary celebration and one year anniversary of illustrating for Gina K designs, I hope you'll spread the word about this week long celebration and goodies giveaway (the more the merrier!) and join me every day this week! This year I have been SO blessed, and I'm so happy to be able to share my love of this craft with you every day, and thankful you all keep coming back! YOU put me on the Stampin Top 50 map and I hope to say there and keep moving up in 22009! I have lots of exciting things planned for us and for the blog this year, some you'll hear about this week, can't wait! (Actually been completely distracted the past couple days putting finishing touches on sets coming out later this year you will LOVE, but more about those later!) ;)

My first post I'm sharing a simple project I made for my younger son for Christmas: his very own name frame. (Remember when these were really BIG a few years ago? are people still amkign them as much?) I grabbed several of these frames at the Dollar Spot awhile back and they have been a dream to have on hand whenever I need a quick personalized gift for someone. I dug out my old SU! Headline Alpha* and stamped his name in Brilliant Blue, Summer Sun and Real Red letters(he actually requested orange, green and purple but those colors are nowhere to be found in his train -themed room, so I had to exercise my executive veto power!:) The majority of my releases were animals sets the first half of 2008, and I'm sorry I haven't been playing with them as much the past few months, many of you have asked, so I'll have to do something about that! Many have also asked "when are you releasing more animals?" that's a good question! So many sets, only 12 months in the year!! we'll see...)

Instead of masking in the animals, I strategically placed some of the "skinnier" ones(sorry, hippo!) between the letters where they had room to fit and cut out the hippo to place in front of the name. These pint-sized animals from "Hip Hop Accessories", my 5th release, are the perfect scale for these letter and size frame. Adding a few little balloons (which I placed dot my "i's"and butterflies from my 2nd release "Just So Hoppy" completed this storybook-sweet scene! Everything was colored with Box A Copics (BTW did you hear I'm giving away Copics this week?? ) plus one sketch marker and I made a little shadow underneath all the animals and the letters with Pale Aqua, it really finishes it off. I completed this project in about 30 minutes, they are one of my go-to projects for baby showers or kinds birthdays! :)
Crafty, Decorating $$$-saving TIP(NSR): Now that 2009 is here, all those pricey calendars you've been seeing everywhere are on sale!! I wanted to do a train theme for William's room last year when we transitioned him out of his crib, and I found a "big boy" train calendar with beautifully photographed trains at Border's for only $1 last January! Buy 12 frames in one color or accent colors (these were from IKEA, $2 each) and create groupings with all the pages, your walls will be done in no time! :)

Now! for the prize: My first blogaversary sponsor, has to be, of course, Gina K! Thank you, Gina for being the best boss/mentor/friend I could ask for, your company and this opportunity has been one of the best things that has EVER happened to me! Now! Please leave a comment on this post telling me which has been your one of biggest and best blessings this past year (craft related or other) and you will be entered into a drawing for any stamp set from Gina K Designs valued at 19.95 or less, thanks Gina for donating this prize! (It doesn't have to be one of my sets (but if it is, uhh, don't tell me LOL! (you probably have them all, right??)) Winner will be drawn randomly and announced here on my blog Friday night, January 2nd!

Tomorrow I will be sharing a new sample and a new prize to win! But come back later today, becuase I have another post!! (I know it gets hard to read one long ginormous post!!!)

After leaving your entry, you can find more samples using my sets today from Cindy Lawrence, and Donna Baker, fellow Gina K Senior Design Team Members, and Jessie Rone, Dirty Girl and past guest designer for me! Thanks, ladies!!

*If you don't have a large stamp alphabet, you can print out a perfectly spaced named on your computer! :)

5,4,3,2...

it's almost here!!!!!!!!

Some things to expect here this week:
tons of new projects!
samples from guest designers, get ready to blog hop!
challenges!
A new ongoing contest!
Who's Who "Where are They Now?" guest spots!
Prizes!!! Stamps, Paper, Copics, oh MY!
a generally fabulous time!!!

come as you are, see you in a couple hours! (unlike the last couple eyars, I WILL be waiting up LOL!! (I thnk this is officially my last post of 2008!! the 474th, good grief!! who will be the last person of 2008 to comment??) For those of you who are out partying, have fun tonight, be safe!!!

Tee Spotting!!

I was SO excited to read Joanne has a card featuring my "Little Tees" set in "Cards" magazine this month, you can find this wonderful publication anywhere! (I expect a major spike in the sales of this already popular set now, hee hee! ;) get it while you can LOL!! Thanks, Joanne! You rock! I'll be off to Hobby Lobby today as soon as it opens, but I am 99% sure I know which card they chose, hee hee!! It was "divalicious" if I'm right!!) I have several of my own cards coming out with my different sets after the first of the year, too, can't wait for you to see!!

Have you gotten any cards with my sets published or seen cards done by others with my stamps in your favorite stamping publications? Please let me know! :)

I'll have another post later today with a little more about what to expect this week for the blogaversary!!!! can't wait!!

Hand in Hand Friends

FIRST: have you subscribed yet??? sign up NOW! :) Thanks!----->

With these bright red nails, these hands could work for two friends or for husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend. I wanted it to be fun and cheerful to be able to send it to a BFF near or far away that I want to be there for or brighten her day but just can't get close enough to reach her!

For the nails, I added a dab of red Copic to the end of each finger and traced around it with a fine line black ink pen. TIP: Try adding glitter or go over with Copic Spica or Stickles for sparkle or a drop of Sakura Glaze to each nail to look like real polish! (I could have picked a "trendier" color like blue or violet, but you know how I love my red!) Hands are colored with E00 and E21, both from Box A. This fun paper is from the Basic Grey Cupcake pack.

Polka dotted ribbon is from the Gina K Pure Luxury Holiday collection. Image and sentiment are stamped on Gina K 80 lb white and die cut using the Classic Oval and Petite Oval ( these petite longer ovals I just got are great for sentiments!) Card base is Real Red.

Does anyone want a "hand coloring" step by step tutorial? It's really easy and you may be able to tell just by looking at my past samples what I'm doing, but I will, just LMK! If you click for a closeup you will see that for a highlight I just left the top sides of the hands white, rather than blending to remove or lighten. :)

Less than 2 days to the blogaversary celebration!! Are you excited to see what all the prizes are?!! What sets are you most excited to see used here? Back later, thanks for stopping in!!

BEST Storage System Evah!!

Check this out!! In just ONE foot of desk space (I placed my ruler on top to show! It's 7 " deep and 9 1/4"high) I have all* my Gina K bagged stamp sets from ALL our illustrators (not her sets hat come in tins) from the past YEAR in these binders(I linked the 6 pack for savings, but they can be purchased indivuidually), neat, safe and easy to find! (Before I had this stack of shees with myall my rubber on, getting dirty and it's a miracle I hadn't lost any iamges that way!) I was able to make a page from one 8 1/2 x 11 printer paper for all 9 binders (with some room left over for a few January sets soon to come!), trimming each spine to one inch wide. As a little "gift" to you, I am oing to be providing the document if you want to use it for your collection, it looks so nice and neat to have them all printed out, you can modify them as you wish to include to different sets! So check back for it, just got to figure out how to attach it!

The Blogaversary Blowout Bash starts 12:00 AM January 1st! You will not believe all the goodies, Stamps, paper, Scor-pal products and, are you ready for this, COPICS!!!! Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on the fun!!

* actually there are two sets that are not in here, I'm going to start another Rupa binder,as she has an odd number, so they didn't didn't fit in 2, and I still need to get Alicia's first set "Anna Mae's Valentine" :) but Valentine's Day is coming! ;)

"Isabelle Paper Doll" from MFT Presents

Something's fishy, this card looks much better in real life LOL! For Isabelle's tail I used about 10 different Copics in various shades of pale greens top blues and even some purples, just dabbing here and there to fill out the scales and sin and it really gives it an iridescent look. Then I went over all the lines with my green Copic atyou Spica for shimmer. I used both the Spots and Dots and D-vine Swirls folder to look like bubbles and waves and accented some of the bubbles with the self-adhesive rhinestones, I love that these come in several different sizes on one sheet, doesn't that look like real bubbles rising to the surface?

I went through my stash of stamps and turned up no fish sentiments, and then realized happily, I had something very appropriate for this pear shaped lady after all: "hippy birthday!" LOL!! I framed it up on a round tag to go with the bubble theme, the scalloped long Nestie frame goes nicely with the fish scales...The tail I added separately and curved out and under with my fingers, really looks like it's undulating, this is definitely my fave outfit from this new set, I heart mermaids!

My blogaversary is just a few days away, eeek!!! It's going to run all week and HUNDREDS of dollars of prizes from me and my fabulous sponsors will be given away, also new samples from all my sets this past year, and guest star appearances from past contest winners and guest designers, can't wait!! Be sure to subscribe to my blog if you haven't already so you don't miss a single day or chance to win!

It's Never Too Late...*

...to let someone know you're thinking about them during this busy season with a card. I found as I got closer to Christmas there were a lot more people I wanted to send cards too, but I didn't have much time left to get cards made, let alone elaborate ones. I also spoke to friends who said with great regret that hadn't had time to make cards to send in time for Christmas this year, but I love receiving cards post-Christmas and I think the idea of just" Holiday" or cards "blessings in the year new year" are just as nice to get! Here are some super simple ones I created with "Seasonal Greetings" (which take you past Christmas, I love that!) and "Have a Cookie".

Begin with a 120 lb Gina K Pure Luxury white base, you can use your Copics on this single layer and with a paper like this, your simplest designs will still feel rich and elegant! 'Happy Holidays" is stamped in Real Red and the images are in Memento Black. To add a little depth and create the illusion of a plate to ground my cookies, I embossed a nestabilities circle around the images. I took my red Copic Spica and traced and added a few sparkly details to my little gingergirl. The red 1/4" grosgrain adds some spice as well. I took my Inkssentials white opqaue pen to fill in the sprinkles on the tree, it really makes them pop! TIP: Color the whole cookie and then add sprinkles and color them, much easier than trying to color around each tiny bit!

Inside I added the "You are one sweet cookie!" and the star because these were cards I sent to friends. When I stamp with my cookies, I almost always add the little crumb image from the set off to one side to add interest, for a little "flava", it just makes you want to take a nibble! (crucnhcrunchcrunch...)

Hope you enjoyed this card, sometimes simple is best!

* February might too late... for "happy Holidays" that is!! ;)

Guest Designer: Allison Cope

My Guest Design Spot is starting a little late this month, I had to ship the stamps to CANADA to this month's amazing designer, Allison Cope! I first became familiar with her work when she submitted some outstanding samples for my "Jumping for Joy" contest several months back, they were so well made and just SO darned clever! She really has a knack for putting different sets together, too (as you will see in today's card) so I really wanted to wait for "just the right set" to feature her, because she is also an outstanding scrapbooker (with another blog "So Sketchy", which she continually updates with gorgeous sketches she's created.) I knew "Hand-in-Hand" with its images and quotes would be magic in her hands for both cards AND pages. Today I am sharing the first sample she sent, a Christmas card (although this idea she had would be fabulous adapted to a Christmas page...) :)
THUD!! Are you as impressed and inspired as I am?!

Here is Ally's description of "There is a Santa":

"I love the child and adult hand image and knew that it would perfect for a Santa and child setting. So I dug out my wonderful BasicGrey papers and went to work. I first stamped my hand images on to a die cut oval. I used some soft water color pencil crayons and gave the hands some soft skin. I drew the cuff on the Santa suit and extended the child's hand using my thin sharpie acid-free pen. I masked off the hands using some Post-it-Notes and stamped on a number of pine bough images from the "Winter Foliage" set to set the mood of the back ground. I then used some Liquid Applique and gave the cuff a soft, fuzzy texture. I added a tiny string of ahesive pearls to the child's wrist."

Supplies:

Stamps: Gina K. Designs (Hand-in-Hand, Winter Foliage), October Afternoon
Inks: Ranger, Copics, Staz-On, Chalk inks

Tools: Spellbinder's Nestabilities

Papers: BasicGrey Wassill
Brads: Heidi Swapp
Cardstock: Bazzill

You won't want to miss a single one of Ally's projects with this set, she has completed 5 already and they are all the BOMB! Creating possibilities you won't believe with this set, I am so excited for you to see! Please check out her blogs and try her sketches, you'll be glad you did! (and maybe try out for one of her new Sketchy design spots??)

Hope you had a GREAT holiday, and have a terrific weekend, more projects and cards to share here shortly! :)

Baked with Love

This card uses several images from "Have a Cookie!" that will allow you to create a complete kitchen scene, filled with cookie-baking activity! The rolled out dough with the pair of heart cut outs is one of my favorite images from the set ("cut from the same cloth", so to speak!):)

A coat of Crystal Lacquer brings the cookie jar image to life, "Baked with love" is just one of the many sentiments you can add to customize the crockery! A Sakura Glaze Pen adds shine and dimension to the smaller images like the measuring spoons and cutter.

TIP: The tiny heart decorating bit is quickly becoming a favorite in my stamp collection, here it does double duty on my iced heart cookie as well as in the corner; covered with Sakura Glaze, it looks like the mat has been tacked down with a little shaped brad! :)

Everything is colored with copics, and are popped up on dimensionals. Polka dot background is SU! DP.

If I don't "see" you tomorrow, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!