Day 2 Inspiration Hop: Peony Wishes, Wise Old Owl, and Grand Greetings

Good morning! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets by Gina K! This month, we are celebrating the release of Wise Old Owl, Peony Wishes and the new incentive set Grand Greetings. We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the new stamp sets Wise Old Owl, Peony Wishes and the new incentive set Grand Greetings.

Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

Here I have the owls all dancing across the top of one of the Grand Greetings.  Die cutting with the coordinating die set and popping them up instead of just stamping on a single layer really bring this design to life. Did you notice the party hats?! I was so excited about this!  At first I intended to draw some tiny ones and then I notice the one little feathered "ears' would be perfect, so I stamped out a few more of those and colored and cut! Now it's a party!! Grand Greetings is free with your purchase of $75 or more.  Love of the size and fonts!  I think the big printed block letters will be great for masculine cards, too. :)

I am crazy about the coffee drinker's content little expression!  Again I used one of the Grand Greetings and popped him up over a Kraft base.  Since I did all the other owls in realistic earth tones on my first card, I thought it would be fun to use pinks on this one, to go with the mug.  Grand Greetings is free with your purchase of $75 or more.  Love of the size and fonts!  I think the big printed block letters will be great for masculine cards, too. :)

This is such a gorgeous border! Whether you use it portrait or landscape style, it fills up a card with its beauty.  I colored and splattered this with Spectrum Noir markers,without blending, just dabbing in bits here and there, for a more watercolored look.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, and Innocent Pink, and I used the die for the scalloped fancy border. I finished it with some black enamel dots and an adhesive pearl.

Here I heat embossed the border and sentiment in gold on a GKD Pure Luxury White mat and popped it up on white card base.  I added some pearls to the center.  Nothing more is needed, it is such an elegant stamp!

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika

Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels

Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Melanie Muenchinger (thanks for visiting!)

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Day 1 Inspiration Hop: Boho Flowers Mini Kit

Good morning, and happy Monday! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets by Gina K! Today we are celebrating the release of the Boho Flowers mini kit and hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

You will have so much fun creating unique cards using these images and sentiments. Here is everything that comes in the kit:

This is a really beautiful kit! I use those colors together all the time, they are some of my favorites!  And, the "you" and the coordinating die will work with so much!  Plus I love the delicate lacy design of these flowers!  For this first one, I thought just a few bright flowers stamped in Passionate Pink (and stamped off), Ocean Mist and  Sweet Corn would be perfect on a clean white base.

The "you" just pops!!   Love how thick the Therm-O Web foam squares are for extra dimension.

This next design, I thought the oval window in my Fabulous Frame would be perfect for spotlighting the stamped and die cut "you", plus opportunities to fill the sketch with the gorgeous vines and flowers! Vines, sentiment and popped up flowers are stamped in GKD Black Onyx, and masked flowers on the the bottom are stamped in Red Velvet and Jellybean Green.  I colored in the frame's border, leaves and flowers with Spectrum Noir markers IB2, DR2, FL2, LG4, LG5, and added a drop shadow with GG3.  I love how this flourish vine curls around the oval perfectly. no masking needed, just stamp and go!

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika

Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels

Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K. Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!  See you tomorrow for more inspiration and a chance to win while we feature our other newest stamp sets!

Video: One Cut, Two Cards! Recessed and Raised Bouquets

Hello! Today, I will show you how to create two gorgeous dimensional cards with just one pass through your die cutting machine and the A Year of Flowers 2/ Pressed Flowers 2 dies!  I love the interest the popped up background adds to your card and being able to stamp into the recessed, negative spaces.  Arranging the dies this way is also a two-fer bonus that allows you to make the second card in a snap, with a new or different layout, or just use your cut flowers as individual embellishments for other projects. You can also create a similar look with my A Year of Flowers 2 line art stamp set and the same die set used in the video, and leave uncolored or use your favorite coloring medium to fill in the blooms.  Please enjoy!   Let me know in the comments which card you prefer.

(I forgot to stamp "you" under "thank", caught that after!  It's fixed now) :)

Supplies:
Gina K. Designs Pressed Flowers 2 stamp set
Gina K. A Year of Flowers 2/ Pressed Flowers 2 die set
Gina K. Pure Luxury White cardstock ( 3 7/8” x 5 1/8” and 2 A 2 sized card bases, one sheet cut in half and scored in half)
Gina K. Black Onyx, Tomato Soup, Blue Lagoon, Wild Dandelion, Applemint ink pads
A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 dies , die cutting machine, Therm-O Web foam squares, adhesive

Video: 2, 3 and 4 Step Layered Tulips!

Oops! I just realized I didn't blog my video on Youtube from last week!  Did you watch it anyway? If not, here 'tis!   Tulips are such a versatile flower for so many occasions, and awesome flower building elements. The separate seed image allows for more color and depth. Adding die cuts takes it up another notch! Please enjoy!

Supplies:

Gina K. Designs Pressed Flowers 2, A Year of Flowers 2 stamp sets
Gina K. Lovely Lavender, Wild Wisteria, Black Onyx, Grass Green and Fresh Asparagus ink pads
Acrylic blocks, A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 dies, die cutting machine, adhesive foam

Dies and Stamps in Original A Year of Flowers/Pressed Flowers

Hello! I wanted to show you samples I made like the ones in our inspiration hop Monday with my stamps, dies and stencils, but instead using Pressed Flowers instead of Pressed Flowers 2 for a slightly different look!  See how the details in this set are more realistic?  Foliage stencil above, and Floral stencil below...

Pressed Flowers 

Pressed Flowers bold set fills the original A Year of Flowers line art set.  

The A Year of Flowers/Pressed Flowers die set to match both these stamp sets above can be found here. 


A Year of Flowers/Pressed Flowers dies
This set does not have dies that cut out the flower centers like A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 does, but DOES have two stem dies (A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 does not have stem dies).  You can use these with the A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 stamps!  Same shape as the curved stem image in the Pressed Flowers 2 set, hurray! :)  This way we were able to give more dies you can use in each set without having to repeat shapes. Love it!


Scroll down a few days or click here to see the version I did with these stencils and Pressed Flowers 2 to compare the stamp image and die shape cut out.

A few customers have remarked they have tried layering a "1" stamp outline over a "2" bold stamp (the more sketchy, whimsical version) set and vice versa, and yes, you absolutely can mix up one of the realistic sets with the whimsical one for a really interesting look!  I will stamp up some samples to share!  Below you can see the two die sets also, so you can see that yes, you CAN try substituting one of the die sets to fit the other (1 with the 2's and vice versa), and it will be *somewhat* the same, but not an exact fit, with a rim all the way around, like when you are purchasing the set that coordinates.  Just match up the numbers (stamp set 1 and die set 1, or 2 with 2) when ordering to get what you need!  
So looking forward to the weekend!  New video coming up! I am so glad I have all 4 sets now to satisfy all my flower needs, when I I want to go a little more classic(1) or a little more lighthearted, loose and sketchy (2)! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 3 Inspiration Hop: Sentimental Cala Lily and Happy Mail

Good morning! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets from Gina K Designs! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by Chris Dayton and Gina K.  Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration? 

First up, we have Chris Dayton's Sentimental Calla Lily!  Love these elegant stems and greetings!  For this first design I made a simple single layer on GKD Heavy Base Weight White and stamped the sentiment and calla lilies in Black Onyx.  Flowers are colored with Spectrum Noir markers.  I traced a drop shadow on Congratulations with  GG2.

Next, I mixed in some GKD Kraft and Black Onyx to pop up on the white for this quiet sympathy design.  I used the same Spectrum Noir markers for the stem but used a white gel pen for the lily. Again, I traced the greeting for just a little shadow.  Welcome to the illustration team, Chris, and congrats on this beautiful first set!

Sentimental Calla Lily

Next up we have the darling Happy Mail, free for a limited time with your purchase of $75 or more, and I love the theme, fonts and words for inside and out, both cards and your envelopes!


Is this darling, or what? I, for one,  am super excited to stamp "Not a Bill" on *everything*, and pair these fun sentiments with my postage frame and cancelled postmark from Stately Flowers 11! :)  Here are a couple ideas for your inspiration with this fun, free set!

Happy, happy, incoming!!  Letter image  is stamped in GKD Ocean Mist, Warm Cocoa, and Peach Bellini.Greeting is cut with one of the Gina K. Single Stitched Circles dies.

Here I used one of the sentiments with images from my new Pressed Flowers 2 framed up inside the postage Frame from Stately Flowers 11 (back in stock!) It is going to be so fun using all these big postage themed greetings with my big postage frame!!  I added one to the flap of the envelope and a few more flowers to match. Floral elements are stamped in GKD Red Hot, Peach Bellini, and Fresh Asparagus.

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Chris Dayton - Today’s featured illustrator

Beth Silaika  

Cathy Tidwell

Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels

Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Melanie Muenchinger

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

Day 2 Inspiration Hop: Karen Dolphin and Lovely Lilies

Hello and welcome back! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets from Gina K Designs! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by Beth Silaika and Claire Brennan.  Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. 

Ready for some inspiration?

 First up, we have Beth Silaika's Karen Dolphin! I love the little heart and spray droplets you can use with the different creatures to really flesh out your scenes in a simple way. Here I masked the clouds with a sticky mask I made sponged with Ocean Mist and colored the whale and sea with Spectrum Noir markers. Heart die is from Gina's Double Stitched Circle set (Red Velvet cardstock). Cardstock is Turquoise Sea and White.

I loved stamping the scene with this spouting whale! I masked the clouds with the same mask from above with Ocean Mist and colored the whale and sea with Spectrum Noir markers. Patterned papers from the Petite Patterns designer paper in the new Sentimental Summer kit ( or for purchase separately) Card base is Innocent Pink.

For this one, I did a Black Onyx outline and anther, Innocent Pink base, Dusty Rose, accent and Passionate Pink spots n the center.  The layered stamps make it so easy, and I love this combo! Just Google "lilies" for some fabulous color inspiration to create these beauties with the different pads you have. Leaves are Jellybean, Grass Green and Black Onyx.

Karen Dolphin

Next we have Claire Brennan's Lovely Lilies!! Here I used the Innocent pink and Dusty Rose, without the addition of the third layer on the ends, but added the back outline.  The little dots on the flowers are stamped in GKD Passionate Pink, love that detail I separate for solid or spotty lilies!  These are so fun to layer, so many looks!  Leave are stamped in GKD Jellybean and Grass Green. 

This next card I stamped the lilies first in Wild Dandelion, then added Sweet Mango, then Red Velvet accents and spots, and finally Black Onyx for the anther. No outline this time, but I cut them out and popped them up over the leaves, which are stamped with GKD Grass Green and Fresh Asparagus.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Red Velvet, Wild Dandelion and White. More Ebony Black Nuvo Crystal Drops!

This is such a gorgeous set!  I haven't tried it yet, but I love that Claire  provided the outline, so you can do your own coloring, with watercoloring, Prismas, etc also when you want to do something different than the two step filler stamps. :)

Lovely Lilies

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika  - Today’s featured illustrator

Claire Brennan - Today’s featured illustrator
Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels

Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Melanie Muenchinger

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

Day 1 Inspiration Hop: Pressed Flowers 2 and Framescapes-Tropical Skies

Good morning! The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp sets from Gina K Designs! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by me and Theresa Momber.  Please enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration? 

First off, I am enjoying my Pressed Flowers 2 set and the coordinating dies so much I can't stand it!  Starting off with a simple one here, stamping the flowers and leaves in Peach Bellini, Wild Wisteria, Grass Green, Black Onyx, and then just stamping the outline of the leaves from the coordinating line art A Year of Flowers 2 in Fresh Asparagus to give it a little extra sumthin sumthin!  So fun creating bold pops of color with this big blooms! I am also loving having the separate centers to make new little puffball flowers like the wisteria colored ones you see here, not just for centers! Base is GKD Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight White.

I enjoyed learning a new calligraphy style at a workshop recently and just had to create some script sentiments for you in my new set, so on trend and looks good with everything!

I shared this at our release party, but wanted to share some info! Another one I didn't use any dies, but if you DO have them, popping up that top rose would look divine, just sayin'! :)  I masked an area on this white mat and stamped in the roses in GKD Red Velvet, then the ferns and leaves in Grass Green and Fresh Asparagus, and finally sponging on some Sweet Corn before removing the masks.  I love how the corn turned kind of a blush color in some places, blending with the Red Velvet stamped roses before they fully dried!  Base is Pure Luxury Black Onyx.

I was also really excited to find how amazing these bold flowers look paired with Gina's new Art Stencils!

One this first Christmas one, I used the poinsettia and the coordinating die with her Foliage stencil.  I'll share this technique in a video I think!  Colors are GKD Red Velvet, Fresh Asparagus, and Jelly Bean Green for the cardstock layer.  

Greeting is also from my Pressed Flowers 2 set.

On this next one I stamped the flower and leaves in Peach Bellini and Fresh Asparagus after die cutting, and layered them with foam over  the peach and asparagus sponging from the Floral Stencil! 

One this one I stamped the flower and leaves in Peach Bellini and Fresh Asparagus after die cutting, and layered them with foam over  the peach and asparagus sponging from the Floral Stencil!  Don't both these stencils above look *made for* Pressed Flowers 2?!  

I love having dies to make a quick layered embellishment to add some quick dimension to these gorgeous stencil patterns!  I layered all this over my stamped Fabulous Frame because I had one stamped up and ready to go, no need to design a complicated layout.  Sentiment is also from Fabulous Frame. 

Base is GKD Peach bellini.

Pressed Flowers 2

A Year of Flowers 2/ Pressed Flowers 2 dies

I could go on and on but have to save some surprises for upcoming videos, there are MANY! I know the team will wow us today, too :)

Next up, we have Theresa's beautiful new Framescape-Tropical Skies.  I'm always up for the beach!

I made some subtler backgrounds with this glorious Tropical Skies frame today.  I googled some beach photos to create this one, using Wild Dandelion rolled in Sweet Mango for the setting sun reflection image, then sponged on Moonlit Fog and Powder Blue for the water, and Peach Bellini, Sweet Corn and Powder Blue for the sky.  I used a sticky note to mask the water, and added just the birds and greeting for a "take me away" virtual vacay design!

For this next one,  I knew this frame with its palm tree detail would look really cool with a direct to paper technique, by just swiping on the GKD ink pads horizontally to create the sand, water and finally sky layers: Kraft, Turquoise Sea, and Ocean Mist, in that order. Stamp in this happy couple and the sentiment and layer on a Kraft base and you're done!  My husband will love a card like this.

Framescapes- Tropical Skies

I will have fun going bolder for my next designs with this and I know Theresa will treat you to some really epic sunrises and sunsets in her upcoming videos with this magical set!

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Melanie Muenchinger (you are here!)

Theresa Momber 

Beth Silaika

Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet

Juliana Michaels

Karen Hightower
Laurie Schmidlin

Rema DeLeeuw
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

Video: Stamp Out of the Box Flowers with Pressed Flowers 2

Hello! Today I am sharing how you can create your own out of the box flowers using the LEAF images and centers from my Pressed Flowers 2 set!  It is SO fun to reverse the leaves' direction to make each one a "two-fer" and mix and match the different sizes to create completely NEW flowers!   Skip a space and use the matching leaf dies from A Year of Flowers 2/ Pressed Flowers 2 die set to create falling "loves me loves me not" petal embellishments! So versatile! Please enjoy!  Let me know in the comment which layout or details you prefer, A or B! 

Supplies: 
Gina K. Designs Pressed Flowers 2 stamp set
Gina K. Black Onyx (for greeting), Innocent Pink, Turquoise Sea, Sweet Mango, and Honey Mustard ink pads
Gina K. White (base weight 4 1/4" x 11, scored at 5 1/2", layering weight 3 1/2" x 4", and scrap for die cut pieces),  Black Onyx (3 3/4" x 4 1/4"), Turquoise Sea (2 1/2" x 5 1/2") cardstock
Gina K. A Year of Flowers 2/Pressed Flowers 2 die set
die cutting machine, adhesive foam, tape runner, black enamel dots or Nuvo Crystal drops 





Pressed Flowers 2


A Year of Flowers 2/ Pressed Flowers 2 die set

Thanks for visiting today!  Inspiration hops are coming next week!  And more videos, too!