Polished Stone Mosaic

This shimmery card uses specialty papers and the polished stone technique! Begin with glossy CS, drop dots of metallic and colored ink from reinkers, here Gold Encore and Regal Rose, then take a cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol and dab and twist onto the paper to blend the colors together to get this marbling effect, it's like magic watching the paper resist and create beautiful patterns before your eyes. Next I stamped the "Inspiration Mosaic" grid in Black Staz On over it, now it looks like an opulent marble tile floor! The mosaic stamp is just perfect with polished stone, you must try! I reverse masked the boxes and stamped in the "Tropical Silhouettes" flowers, then added the greeting. The silhouettes are stinkign stamped directly onto the polished stone. Last I matted it onto Retro Black Glossy Lustre , Retro Gold Glossy Lustre (the wavy lines on this are really cool with the gold marbling ) and Azalea Metallic CS, all from Paper Temptress. With all the shimmer and texture in the stone pattern you create, you really don't need any embellishments! What an easy card, less than 10 minutes!

Hope you enjoyed this "Mosaic Monday"! How would you like seeing a new mosaic each week? :)

See the Polished Stone technique video here on StampTV.

Week 2 with Melissa Shulz and Geri Utterback

It's great having two guest designers in one month, makes for such fun and different eye candy! :) I love how both, (unbeknownst to each other!) chose to use just one image and one sentiment from the set they are working with to create their cards today! It's all in the details!

Melissa Shulz has such a great eye for detail and always makes such wonderful, whimsical cards! Today she has a festive card using "School, Sports, Spirit!", so cute how she hung up the skates with some cord and a brad! Makes a wonderful holiday card and I love that she used these fresh, trendy colors! The non traditional lime really pops on this wintery aqua card, and the glitter, snowflakes, brads and dry embossing make it extra"cool!" Her layout and little clip treatment for the sentiment are so unique. Great card, Melissa! Definitely makes me wanna get my skate on! ;) (Around Christmas is about the only time I ever do, but I've always loved watching figure skating, one of the first movies I ever saw at a drive-in was "Ice Castles" when I was realllllly little, anyone remember that movie??! ) You can see another card using this set on Melissa's blog, I haven't seen it yet, so we'll both be surprised!! :)

Geri Utterback is great at creating scenes or coming up with clever uses for stamps, but she is another master at creating a just plain GORGEOUS card with one image, a greeting and lots of carefully chosen details. Check out this beauty with "A Year of Leaves"!!

The details, straight from Geri:
Stamps - A Year of Leaves
DP is from Memorybox Twilight
Martha Stewart punch
self adhesive nailheads- from Gina
ribbon- from Gina
Tim Holtz ink
Oval and square nestabilities
Pure Luxury Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Kiss

I made a 3 inch square, punched out once on each side. I made a inside square using two sizes of squares. I stamped and sponged the leaf using Tim Holtz ink. Applied a sticker strip in copper around the edge.

Sounds easy, right?? Easy on the eyes, for sure! Sigh, ...sooo pretty!! Love those patterns, punched frameand muted cooring on the leaf! Okay, let's go see another lovely, leafy creation at her blog! :)

Thank you, ladies, for your time and talent!!!!

Autumn Beauty Blog Hop!

Today we are doing a blog hop for Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty set! It was fun how this card came about: I didn't know what I would make but I knew I wanted to use the sunflower so I stamped, colored and cut it out. After looking at it for a minute, I realized the petals of the flower would look magnificent framed with the points and curves of my brand new Fleur de Lis Pendant die, a chance to use my new toy, hurray!

After die cutting the pendant, I had to poke out all the little pieces with a piercing tool, and I noticed how perfect these little pieces would be to use as petal embellishments on the card! Theresa's flower is beautifully drawn, slightly asymmetrical just like the real thing, see how there's a little space at the top right where it looks like a few are missing? So I adhered and popped up several of my new little "petals" as if they are blowing away, but it also looks like they are being swept up right out of the die cut, like a petal explosion! I just love the energy it brings to the card. The greeting from the set is stamped on a yellow oval like another petal, card also uses Pure Luxury White and Chocolate Kiss.

For more inspiration, please check in on our Illustrator of Autumn Beauty, Theresa Momber. She has also designed a beautiful digital paper pack called All About Autumn that is available for purchase as well. Be sure to leave a comment on Theresa's blog for a chance to win this stamp set!
Theresa has asked several guest designers to join in on the blog hop tonight:
Pam Imholz
Karen Knegten
Jennie Harper
Melissa Shulz
Brenda Turner
Then stop by these Designers' blogs to see the projects they are sharing tonight on their blogs:
Gina Krupsky
Emily Giovanni
Jessica Fick

Carolyn King
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mecurio
Melanie Muenchinger
And finally, check out our CenterStage Spotlight Designers joining us with cards tonight:
Geri Utterback
Shelly Wilson
Tina Gilliland

Hope your weekend is filled with beauty!

Winner from the Gina K Blog Hop!

The winner from Wednesday's night hop is:

Juls said...
this is gorgeous I especially love the torn edge
September 10, 2009 11:24 AM

Congrat Juls! please email em your snail mail addy so i can send your "A Year of Leaves" stamp set!

If you have not yet seen the hop and challenge from PCP, be sure to scroll down!

And, another hop from the Gina K team, coming up tonight at 10 PM!!

Best Wishes to and from PaperCraft Planet!

A bit of sad news: With mounting family and designing commitments, I have had to make the difficult decision to scale back on my other teams so I can focus solely on my designing and illustrating for Gina K Designs, which includes stepping down from the Paper Craft Planet Supernovas. :( (I never dreamed when I started illustrating in January of 2008 with my first set that a year and half later I would have 22 sets out!) BUT, I am so glad for the experience and friendships I've made through Paper Craft Planet, thank you Susanna and all the ladies of PCP for the opportunity and support! I know Paper Craft Planet will continue to thrive and grow and I will keep sending people your way!


Now some happy news: the PCP ladies are throwing a little going away "Best Wishes" bash for me in the form of a blog hop today featuring my two newest sets "A Year of Leaves" and School, Sports, Spirit!" Aren't they the best?? There's nothing like having people wish you well when you are making big choices for the future, I am SO grateful they are helping me do this with their blessing!! :) So blessed!! I'm playing along too since I wish only the best for PCP and all my peeps there!

I used "A Year of Leaves" to make a simple fall card with "Bless You", this covers so many occasions and best wishes, too! Leaves are watercolored with peerless watercolors, and I stamped the background mat with the different leaves in Vivid Coffee Bean ink. CS is Pure Luxury. I made 2 little pairs of matching earrings from Polyshrink (stamped in Stazon and colored on the backside with Copics) to go with it using one of the leaf images and the acorn, oh my goodness you should see the acorns in real life: they shrink up so tiny, look like little gem stones, so sweet! (I know what i;m makign for gifts this year!!) I pierced some holes through some matted matching CS to coordinate the presentation.

This next card uses "School, Sports, Spirit!", but in keeping with today's theme I didn't go "sports" or "school" with it, just sending lots of love and spirit with this girly, feel good card! "Go for the goal!" is stamped right side up and then turned over to make a complete circle four times on the mat, and then I layered on some Cuttlebugged heart and circle punches inside each. Really fun to frame up little images and punches with this sentiment! Go for it ladies, take the 'Planet to the top!!
To top it all off, Gina K is sponsoring a challenge this week on Paper Craft Planet with a chance to win one of Melanie’s newest sets! Upload a new project with a "Best Wishes" or good luck theme to the PCP gallery with the tag GKDBW by Monday, Sept 14th, 10 EST. A winner will be announced Tuesday, that person will win their choice of “A Year of Leaves” or “School, Sports, Spirit!” Hope you will play the challenge!

Now please see more beautiful samples the Supernovas created with my new sets here:
Adela Rossol
Lynn Mercurio
Kim Burmeister
Wendy Price
Jen Tapler
Tammy Hershberger
Erika Martin
Lori Tecler
Jessica Fick
Sankari Wegman
Susanna Boyd

Thank you again, SuperNovas!! :)

A Year of Leaves Blog Hop!

This blog candy is now closed. Find the winner here.

Thank you for joining the Gina K team and our guests for this special " A Year of Leaves" hop today!
Today I have a sample that's Pure Luxury: Chocolate Kiss, Soft Sand, and Ivory, that is! They are just the perfect neutrals alone or together, so rich! I embossed the oak leaf from this set in gold EP onto the Chocolate Kiss CS, and colored them in with a Q-tip and bleach! I think this just might be my favorite way to color the leaves now, you can see below how realistic looking the fading light to dark and variety of colors are! Stamp on any earth tone paper and watch the new colors appear as the bleach does its magic! And virtually no "technique" to it either, just dip and rub!

I rubbed a little gold metallic paste around the edges of the mat and a little on the punched chocolate oval frame, doesn't the chocolate paper look so beautifully burnished? I added some ribbon and a few of the adhesive nail heads to embellish it. I tore the edge to make a little more distressed and "leafy", then you have a beautiful peek of the inside.

I lined the inside with the Ivory and stamped "Thanks" and the little caterpillar, both from the set at the corner. Stamping the oak leaf repeatedly on the envelope flap makes easy coordination.

For even more inspiration, please visit our Illustrator of the Year of Leaves stamp set, Melanie Muenchinger's blog. You'll want to leave a comment on her blog because she is hosting a drawing for her gorgeous stamp set there tonight!
Melanie has asked her two guest designers to join in on her blog hop too:
Selma Stevenson
Karen Knegten

Also showcasing Year of Leaves stamp set samples tonight are these GinaK Designers:
Gina Krupsky
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Theresa Momber
as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Designers:
Geri Utterback
Shelly Wilson
Tina Gilliland

Would you like to win "A Year Of Leaves"? I will post the winner here tomorrow night!

Alicia K's "Feel the Magic"

Alicia K has drawn the cutest Halloween set this month "Feel the Magic", with this adorable witchie and cute little props for her to hold in either hand, you will love it! Today I have her riding the broom, I thought it would be fun to suspend her in front of a cut circle, using Classic Circle Nestabilities, for a perfect (and easy!) moon backdrop. Stamped bats in the background are from Gina's "Spooky Silhouettes". Greeting is framed with the new "Fancy Tag" dies, they look totally magical with the punched large Flourishes (Green Apple) to match! Isn't that greeting fun?! "Witch way", hee hee!

Here's a closeup. She's colored with Copics, I used C-3, C-5 and C-7 to shade her hat, and added some stripes to her stockings with a pen. Punched stars are Pumpkin Spice, accented with adhesive nail heads, mat and base are Moonlit Fog and Black Onyx. Instead of masking the broom I just cut it out, ten cut the handle in half and ahdered one half to either side of her leg like she is sitting on it.

I sponged some Memento London Fog all over the inside to create shadows for the moon when you look at it from the outside. Pumpkin is popped up. As you can see here, her silhouette from the inside is all black: before cutting I adhered my stamped image on white paper to the black so that when I trimmed her out she would be black on the back side. This carries the silhouette theme to the inside. Pop dots are hidden under the broom and hat. My original plan was to hang her from some jump rings so she would swing back and forth, but...this was much easier LOL!

Joining us tonight with special projects made with AliciaK's Feel the Magic Stamp set are these Designers:
Gina Krupsky,
Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Theresa Momber

Are ya feelin' the magic yet??? :)

"School, Sport, Spirit!" Tip Sheet

"School, Sports, Spirit!" perfectly captures and celebrates you and your kids year round sports and school activities and events, from the first day of school to the last! This set coordinates with "Just So Sporty", "Tee Talk" and "Sporty Accessories". With all 4 sets you can do practically any sport or pastime you could ever want! "Little Tees" works , too (the letter jacket of course fits on the hanger) :)

Two new greetings are included for your favorite pennant and megaphone stamps from "Sporty Accessories", perfect way to cheer on your students from beginning to end of the year!

Bag it: piece the bag with cool papers or use your school or favorite colors. The tiny words from this set and Sporty Accessories can be stamped on the front pocket. or you can write the person's name to personalize.

Cut a slit in the bag along the zipper and have your gear sticking out! Example: the baton or goggles from Sporty Accessories. Now you just assume the bag is stuffed with all SORTS of other twirling or swimming accouterments! This is great for a sport that may only have one or two images in the set, just place them next to the bag like shoes or a ball, and you have a nice large stamped focal point for your project.

Cut in between the handles and loop the sleeve of the letter jacket or Sporty Accessories cheer outfit through to hold the bag.

Place the small words or images from either set on top of the trophy as a topper.

Stamp off when using the baton, turning it again and again, this will look like it's in motion, whirling through the air. This would a fun way to toss the graduation cap as well!

Trim the curved "Go for the Goal!"separately and use it over your images like the trophy or any other image you choose(how about the round images in Rupa's "Back to School" set?) Stamp it above and below a smaller image like a ball and you now how a little medallion for your circle punches! Place it on top of a scalloped circle with a ribbon to look like a prize ribbon.

Make fun "couple cards" with the pairs of skates or the letter jacket and cheer outfit! Try linking their arms!

Place a ball from "Sporty Accessories" in between the pockets on the jacket it will look like the arms are holding it. Have fun tucking different things under the sleeves (bat, trophy, etc)

Hang the jacket on the locker. Small words like "MVP" can be stamped on the chest or sleeve.

GRADE can be stamped with the numbers and abbreviations above or below from "Just So Sporty" for all your photos and scrapbook pages to make 1st grade, Grade 10 etc.
Stamp it above the A+ from Rupa's new School set!

Tuck the trophy under the sleeve of the jacket or at the end of the sleeve on the cheer outfit.

Pair the helmet or the hat from "Just So Sporty" with the new jacket.

The women's skates are posed to look perfect when stamped under the "cheer" costume.

The greetings "Perfect Match" and "You Aced it!" are perfect with the tennis images.

Pop up the basketball from "Sporty Accessories" to use with the net. Swish!

The homecoming mum can be "pinned" to the locker or cheer uniform.

The cheer outfit can become a twirling or ice skating costume. Bedazzle it with your rhinestones and glitter!

Small words and images can be stamped on the helmet.

Omit SKATE from the greeting and substitute words from Just Sporty to say "Get your Game on!" or Get your Dance on! "Get your twirl on!" etc

Put the letter jacket over the cheer outfit for a cute "boyfriend" card! :)

Omit the "1st" from the ribbon image when stamping if scrapping an event that won a different place and write in 2nd, 3rd, etc.

Stamp the shoe again and again up and down like it's running across the card!

Omit the cleats and now you have a running or other flat soled shoe that works for almost any sport or dance discipline.

Make a card with the letter jacket of your sweetheart to let him know he's still your "big man on campus!" :) or that you share his excitement about the upcoming big game!

Use "We are the Champions" to scrapbook any achievements or cards celebrating any victories with friends (weight loss, care walk, etc)

Projects:

back to school

game day, homecoming, and Spirit Week gifts

encouragement

teacher gifts

sports fans

coach gifts and thank yous

graduation

decorate notebooks folders,

gift wrap

bookmarks

lunchbox cards

scrapbooking school and sports events

"A Year of Leaves" Tip Sheet

The images and sentiments in "A Year of Leaves" will take you through an entire year of masculine and feminine cards, for simple and elegant thank yous or birthday, as well as covering occasions celebrating beauty, change, growth and recognizing loss or difficult times.

Makes quick masculine cards, perfect for any guy in your life!

Change your colors with the changing seasons.

Leave are easily shaded with just a few greens in the spring but no rules apply in the fall, anything goes. Drops bits of different colors onto the same leaf, make them patchy or streaky or look at photos for examples.

Use gorgeous yellows and greens with your leaves for beautiful spring cards and use them with the related Spring and Easter/spiritual quotes in the set.

Collage stamp them in different colors to make beautiful background papers.

Cut out the leaves and pop them up for dimension.

Paper piece them with patterned paper for a whimsical look!

Add drops of Crystal Lacquer for dew, this will work perfectly with the "dew on the tip of a leaf" quote!

Added a pierced or dotted trail for the leaf to fall from. Or, stamp a leaf at the bottom of your mat and then stamp off going up tilting the image back and forth to imply the falling motion (this is also called generation stamping)

Sketch a simple branch to attach the leaves too. For fun, glue a real twig to your card, just add stamped leaves! or use a stem image from "A Year of Flowers".

The caterpillar represents growth, change, new beginnings. Paired with the caterpillar sentiment, it is appropriate for a sympathy card, or to give anyone who is on the verge of great change or needing to make big choices. Or it can just represent a caterpillar LOL!

Place the little caterpillar on or around the edge of the leaf. Stamp him along edges of mats and borders or even along the top of a sentiment, exploring your card!

Use the caterpillar with a butterfly from Gina's "Take Flight" set, perfect with the new sentiment. Put them both on the front or save the butterfly as a surprise for the inside.

Mix them with other nature sets, one or two large leaves from this set will be the perfect addition to the corner of a card made with these Gina K sets:

Happy Camper

Tree Silhouettes

Winter Foliage

Home Tweet Home

The Journey

Autumn Beauty

Kindred Kids and Dads

and many more!

Mix and mask leaves with the flowers from "A Year of Flowers" to make very full and festive looking arrangements, simply stunning with the sunflowers, see examples here of some gorgeous fall bouquets!

After cutting the leaves, curl the edges with their fingers to give them interesting shape.

Stamp them on brown paper and crumple for crunchy fall ones!

Stamp on colored paper and sponge the edges, easy coloring!

Stamp on Polyshrink or into Sculpy Clay to make beautiful charms for book marks, wine rings, jewelry, etc!

Created stamped framable art or coaster with the leaves and on e of the inspirational quote for a friend.

Make a gift box of note cards with the different leaves and a greeting on each.

Create a calendar or planner coloring the leaves to represent the changing seasons.

Mask or cut them to make a beautiful seasonal wreath.

Mask or cut them in a pile like raked leaves for a "Happy Fall" card.



Techniques with leaves:


bleaching, embossing, water coloring, cracked glass, Emboss resist, wax crayon technique, Joseph's coat, Versamark resist (ghosting) etc!



More projects:
home decor: stamped place mats, napkins and napkin rings, coasters
place cards for a dinner or thanksgiving Feast
candle ring
gift wrap
scrapbooking accents and frames (back to school, raking leaves, and other Fall themed pages)
easy background papers

Potluck Friday Challenge

Here is a sample for this week's Potluck Friday Challenge this week on StampTV, which involves adding one of more elements outside the perimeter of your card base. (Hope you'll play along with us, you could win free stamps!) I used the sentiments and caterpillar from "A Year of Leaves" and the butterfly from Gina's "Take Flight". DP is Basic Grey Ambrosia and cardstock is all Pure Luxury: Moonlit Fog, Black Onyx, and Ivory.

I will tell you I hemmed and hawed for awhile before finally deciding on this layout, I wanted it to feel really transcendent so originally I was going to have the butterfly coming off the top of the card somehow with the quote below it, more like a tent topper. In the end I moved the greeting mat off the card to the right and I'm really pleased with how it turned out! It's unexpected and really goes so nicely with the butterfly theme, like the butterfly and quote might both just take off! :)

I also like how the the thin black mats are the same size and keep your traveling around and around the card to follow the line. The black flourish punch adds a bit of drama and brings attention to the quote, but is also a whimsical representation of antennae. I adhered it just below the vertical of the of the black mat on the card base so it almost looks as if they are continuous and the straight line is morphing into a curved one! Shadow below the caterpillar is a C-3 Copic, my C-1 marker dried out recently, but I'm really digging the darker shadow, makes that ivory panel look super bright and illuminated! it is also a great match for the Moonlit Fog CS...

For the inside of your card, you can add another little mat behind the black box that is off to the side to stamp another sentiment, I will take photos of that to share later this week so you can see how to pull something else intersecting to your design with this when it's open.

Have a blessed a Sunday! Hope you have something fun lined up for the holiday tomorrow! Be safe!

It's Fun to Color Outside the Lines!

Today I have a three layer card I made with "Inspiration Mosaic" and "A Year of Flowers". I made this over a month ago, realized I better post these sunny colors before we get too deep into the fall palette! :)
This was very simple to do, I stamped three of my daisy image over the grid stamped in black on Pure Luxury White, then left them white and then colored around them in different shades of orange, green, yellow and aqua, this makes the flowers really pop and creates a very happy background! I love how the grid tricks your eye a bit in separating these different colors and layers. Last I added the two yellows for the centers and added a little bit of C-1 grey to the petals to give them some dimension. Card base is Only Orange (nice color in very SMALL amounts!) and a Summer Sun mat that I edged with a black marker. Offsetting the mat this way is a nice change to always centering it.

Pumpkin Patch

I was so excited to get these new beautiful loopy, leafy flourishes in Theresa's new "Autumn Beauty" set! They are perfect for tucking into a corner , building a border or going around a die cut shape! They just have a bit of "Cinderella magic" about them, don't they?! :)

Card base and Labels Four die cut are Pure Luxury Green Apple. I made a vine border on a square on Pure Luxury Ivory, cut out the center and distressed and sponged the edges with Antique Linen. Base is embossed with leafy branch to match. A few Copic colored pumpkins in the center and a popped up greeting from the set complete the card.

Enjoy your weekend, there is so much to be thankful for! :)

Pure Luxury

Here is a simple card using the new "Free with three" Gina K set this month: "Tropicals Blooms". You will love creating patterns and focal points quickly with these beautiful floral elements! I stamped the bloom across the middle of the paper, then did the other rows moving over to stamp the flower in between the two above it so they would nest together nicely and give me room to go back in and add that pop of green with the stem. The fancy corner punches at the corners under the mat looks so beautiful with this swirly bloom. I left it greetingless to grab whenever I need something elegant!

ALL products on this card can be purchased from Gina K Designs: Ink: Vivid Brick and Olive, Pure Luxury Cardstock: White, Rocket Red, Green Apple, Chocolate Kiss, and that fancy corner!

Make it a great day! (I am really trying hard to always say that instead of "Have" now that my sons are back in school!) :)

Guest Designer Geri Utterback

Today's be-YOO-ti-ful project was designed by Geri Utterback (lovely and talented MOM of the lovely and talented Theresa Momber!) She found a 3x4 inch tall pillar candle at Rite Aid (flameless, as you can see in the bottom pic) and made this breathtaking candle ring from 4 of the images from "A Year of Leaves"! oooh ahhh!!!!

Geri says she stamped and embossed the leaves using Tim Holz distressing inks (gives them a nice shine to mimic a leaf's waxy cuticle) and then colored them with Copics. Click the pic for a closeup to see how beautifully those different colors blend together, orange yellow and green all on one leaf!

After cutting them out and shaping them with her fingers to give them more dimesnion, she adhered them to a circle she cut from Gina K Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss CS and added a bit of matching ribbon. I'm guessing this candle was pretty inexpesnive, but Geri sure made it a whole lot of "WOW!" with this gorgeous treatment! With a flameless candle especially you don't have to worry about the wax gunking up your beautiful leaf ring and you can save it to use again and again!!! I'll be CASEing this for my fall tablescape for sure!! Wouldn't these make awesome gifts?!!

Here is a little more about Geri:

A FAVORITE TECHNIQUE: I love to color, so any form of coloring is good for me. I mostly use Copics and Koh-i-noor with OMS. I also like to cut out images.


COLORS/COLOR COMBO: Amazingly the fall colors are the colors I like best,green, browns, orange and reds.


FAVORITE GINA K SET BY MELANIE: I love "A Year of Flowers" and "A Year of Leaves"

FAVORITE GINA K SETS (FROM ANY ILLUSTRATOR This is hard. I love so many. I think my favorite is Theresa's "Happy Camper" and " Melanie's "A Year of Flowers".


CRAFT SUPPLIES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: The list is long but the first three that came to mind is: Copics, Nestabilities and Cuttlebug.


I’VE BEEN STAMPING FOR (HOW LONG): It's been just about two years. Before that when we all got together like at my daughter Brenda's house (Brenda who had been making cards for awhile), would get out all of her supplies and we would do projects like tags or ornaments and it was a lot of fun.It was a lot cheaper back then!!


I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM: I can't say just one thing, My daughters are my biggest inspiration they are the ones that got me into this and nature I'm always inspired by the colors in it. Like flowers, leaves, tree and the sky.


THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT STAMPING/CARDMAKING ARE: Friends that I have made here Is the most important thing and to be able to share our creativity with each other. Like Tina said the other day we are like a large family and it is so true.


SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING GOALS ARE:Well this is really something I enjoy as a hobby but I would like to get a card published in a card making magazine. That would be pretty cool.


FAVORITE THING TO MAKE THAT AREN’T CARDS: Scrapbooking is one that I would like to do more of and I like making tags.


SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING ACCOMPLISHMENTS:Being Designer for you Melanie was huge for me as well as being featured on StampTV, Centerstage and Centerstage Spotlight also at StampTV.

Thanks Geri for this fabulous 3-D project, I'm heading over to your blog see what else you made with "A Year of Leaves" right now, let's go see!

Guest Designer: Melissa Schulz

Melissa has been busy with the new "School, Sports, Spirit!" set and she's mixed in some "Hip HOP"! is that not the cutest thing ever??! bwahhhh!
I am just in awe of all the cool details she added to the scene and the "Sporty Accessories" locker, the little schoolbooks, and I am still just cracking up over that baton she's holding with her tail! Never would have thought of it, I clearly have not been playing with my hippys and hoppys enough lately! :) Way to go, Melissa!

Here's a little more about her:

FAVORITE TECHNIQUE: I love the results of sewing with a real sewing machine. It really adds such a nice touch.

COLORS/COLOR COMBO: My favorite neutral color is chocolate brown. I use it with so many different colors. And I like lighter pinks and medium greens. My favorite green is the retired Wild Wasabi from Stampin’ Up. I just bought some Apple Green from Gina K Designs and it is quickly growing on me.

FAVORITE GINA K SET BY MELANIE: Little Tees is still my absolute favorite by Melanie. And I love all the sets that go with it.


FAVORITE GINA K SETS (FROM ANY ILLUSTRATOR: My Cuppa’ Joe because if it’s coffee I am in love.

CRAFT SUPPLIES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: All of my stamps, Memento Inks, Copic Markers, Scor Tape Cutter Bee Scissors and Tonic Paper Cutter. Those are the supplies I use more than any other.

I’VE BEEN STAMPING FOR (HOW LONG): 8 years. Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been stamping for 8 years. It’s the only hobby that has lasted this long.

I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM: Mostly from StampTV and all of the blogs I visit. There are so many talented stamping and paper crafting people out there that share so much. I also find inspiration when looking through magazines and while shopping in stores. I even drew a sketch in church one time while looking at the design on the shirt a woman was wearing. Is that crazy or what?

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT STAMPING/CARDMAKING ARE: Don’t try to mimic other designers. It is okay to be inspired by them and try the same techniques they may use. But you need to find your own style. Whenever I tried to copy something made by a designer I admired, it never turned out as nice. Then I was disappointed. Now I get inspired by other designers, but then I try to incorporate what I like from their designs into what I am doing but no copy it.

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING GOALS ARE: My biggest goal is to find a way to focus more. I want to take my stamping to the next level and I need to be able to focus more to do that. My next biggest goal is to be more consistent with my blog and posting at least 4 to 5 times a week. Eventually I want to work up to daily posting. I would love to be a part of a design team some day. And I realize it takes focus and commitment. So I will be working on those two areas.

FAVORITE THING TO MAKE THAT AREN’T CARDS: I like to make items that I can use to either decorate or as storage. I made a file folder holder and pen/pencil cup for my office that I enjoy using while at work. I also like to alter picture frames to give as gifts. I recently found a way to use stamps on fabric and incorporate that in sewn projects. The possibilities are endless.

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Being recognized by super talented people and by my favorite stamp company was a huge accomplishment for me. I was on cloud nine when Gina asked me to be in the spotlight a few months ago. And now I am being featured by Melanie, which puts me on cloud nine again. I never dreamed that would actually happen. I have also been paid to make cards for people to give to others. That is a huge compliment and great accomplishment as well. I have received so many compliments from other stampers online. They have helped me to realize my talent and have inspired me to do more.

Thanks Melissa! Your work is truly one of a kind LOL! Look forward to more projects from her over the next few weeks, and actually you can feast on another right now, click here to go see!