Sneak Peek: Take Flight (Free Set!)

Since you've already seen some peeks of "Tropical Flowers", and they go so beautifully with this set "Take Flight" from Gina K, the Free with Three Set this month (they just keep getting better and better every month, don't they?!) , I thought I'd go ahead and use them today on the same sample. Is this new butterfly gorgeous, or what?

I used several shades of light and dark blue and aquas on the wings to give them the iridescent quality of the Morpho butterfly, one of the most brilliant blues found in nature! Then I decided to go ahead and pull out my Brilliant Blue CS( which I don't think I've ever used on my blog!!) and found that putting it with the Bashful Blue mat and Ballet Blue tag, the different shades tone down the base and these different shades of blue really work like the different scales of a butterfly's wings, I like it! The sparkle you see is from tracing the lines with my Blue Copic atyou Spica pen. Bending the wings out from the body and then ends back down a bit before popping it up on a dimensional will make it look like a real one just lit on your card!

I love how the curves of the Labels One Nestie mats echo the butterfly shape. I continued this theme by choosing an oval shape for my greeting and using my corner rounder punch on the base. The flower silhouette is done by coloring my Ballet Blue, Brilliant Blue and Old Olive and Always Artichoke markers directly to the stamp, stamping, and then stamping off to create the lighter bloom on the left. "Dream" was inked up separately from the "Let your (dream)s take flight" quote in the "Take Flight" set, and framed up with SU! Silver Hodge Podge.

Here are more peeks from our designers:

Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile
Kurtis Amundson
Theresa Momber

Gina K
and Carolina Buchting, our In the Spotlight Designer this month!

See you tonight 7PM CST at the party!! (it's okay, you can be late!) Don't forget to check back on my blog before it starts to see who won my new "Hand in Hand" set! :) (don't know what I'm talking about? Read this, you might still have time to make something and enter!!)

Sneak Peek: Hand in Hand

A few months ago, I was going through my drawings trying to decide which of my planned sets would be most appropriate for my December release, and Gina reminded me to start thinking about Valentine's Day on the way. Now at the time, my mother was doing hospice care for my grandfather, so my mind was very focused on family and relationships. Over and over I kept coming back to connecting with someone by holding hands, and started sketching pair after pair of clasped hands. When I finished, I felt I had something very special and unlike any set I had or had seen before. Gina agreed it would make perfect Valentines , but when we reveal all the images and greetings included, you'll see it's much more than that. In this month's set "Hand in Hand", you will find vignettes celebrating two people bonded in this simple, intimate touch, in every stage of life: happy ones like birth, friendship, love, marriage, and hard ones when someone is sick or needing help and support.

For today's peek, I chose a "happy" one, with a sentiment I am so excited to bring you: "Soulmates"! (fits in the SU! oval punches) You'll find other words in this set that are sure to give you warm fuzzies and I doubt you have in your stamp collection... yet! :)

Although the "woman" is not wearing a glove in the image, it is fun and easy to add one to make it look like a formal wedding by piecing a silky glove from white shimmery CS as I did above. Just draw a line across the arm at the desired length, cut out (fingers, too!) and attach to your first stamped image with a Quickie Glue Pen for those small parts, doesn't that look real? The image is colored with Copics (Skin White, Baby Skin Pink, c-3, Black, all from Box A) I went over the underside of the shimmery CS as well with my gray marker to give it a shadow. The little cuff link dot is filled in with my Stardust glitter pen. I blinged up my black fancy corners to match with self adhesive rhinestones.

Now that little winged heart is made from the other half of the Fancy Corner Punch, I told you I had something special planned for it! :) Punch out two of the thicker corners from the punch in Real Red and White CS. Now snip off each top of the corner with a rounded cut on each side and down into av to connect and make the heart. On the white one, snip down between the "wings" a little deeper so you won't have the "little diamond" sticking up above your heart. layer the red and the white, and add a little shadow with a gray marker under the wing if I desired. On my card, I punched out one more in black and layered it behind the two just to make it a little more dimensional and show up against my Black Market Ebony and Alabaster DP.

Last you can see the inside of my card which I dressed up with more of the DP under my white layer that I punched with Threading Water. I made this card with my husband in mind, but you could change the greetings out to make an anniversary card or wedding day card (where it can say "the journey begins...") with this image as well.

There's something about all these hands that reminds me of a special, different moment in my life each time I look at them, and evokes such strong images and sensations: the one above I hear the wedding recessional (LOL!), another reminds me of meeting my sons and smelling "new baby", one I hear crunching leaves on walks with my mother and father when I was young, and still another makes me feel the warmth and safety friends and family have offered when I needed it most...I would love to hear about a favorite "hand in hand" moment of yours below...! (chances are GOOD I have an image to match for you!) ;)

I hope you all will love this set as much as I do. They are such simple images to color and will be one of my "go to sets" when I need a quick card to let someone know, in good times or bad, I'm here for them, or how grateful I am to have them in my life! ( And, I really am going to try to tackle my neglected scrapbook, this set is so appropriate for the many occasions I need to journal!!)

Would you like to win this set? Please create a card, page or 3-D project inspired by a favorite "hand in hand" memory of yours (it does not have to use hands, can have any stamped images, photos, found objects you choose, go nuts!) and upload the pic to Papercraft Planet with the tag GKDMMSJ, I will pick one winner randomly and announce it tomorrow night at 6:30 PM before our release party tomorrow night (7-10PM CST) in the SCS Gina K forum! I will ALSO pick a favorite project and that person will receive be a guest designer for me NEXt month and receive my January set(which you will LOVE!) Good luck, I want everyone to play and I hope you join us for more peeks at the party!!

Let's go see more samples with this set from:
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile
Theresa Momber

Kurtis Amundson

Gina K

and Carolina Buchting, our In the Spotlight Designer this month!

Are You Here Looking for My Preview?

It will post at 12 AM CST, just one more hour!! please check back!! or how about, while you're here, subscribe to my blog at the right real quick, you'll get a notice each time I add a new project and never miss out on new stuff!

Thanks, see you soon!!

Sneak Peek: Home Tweet Home & Tropical Flowers

Here is my favorite image in Rupa's new "Home Tweet Home" set, when I saw it I knew it would be fabulous with my favorite Cuttlebug Folder!

I've shown here before how I made a rose bush by trimming out my embossed Leafy Branch, today I used Basic Gray CS to make a tree branch instead! Our challenge today at Papercraft Planet for 12 days of Christmas (with me hosting this 12th day!) is to use 12 embellishments on a card! There are so many embellishments to choose from in Gina's store, this was actually a lot easier than it sounded! I attached 6 sateen flowers with glue dots that I'd colored with Copics, swiping outPale Pink and Peach from the middle of each petal, and then stuck a self adhesive rhinestone in the center of each I'd colored with my Yellow Green Copic. 6 flowers +6 rhinestones = 12! Sponging Regal Rose ink around the mat makes the little bird(also colored with Copics) just glow! They are so tiny, but I filled in the centers of the flowers in the image with my Green Copic atyou Spica to add sparkle and match the larger sateen flowers. Base and Mat are Basic Black and Blush Blossom.


Perhaps not so coincidentally, Gina K is also the sponsor for today's challenge and is giving away a Gina K designs stamp set to one lucky person who enters a project with 12 embellishments at Papercraft Planet today, winner will be randomly drawn! Be sure to have your card uploaded to Papercraft Planet by midnight CST tonight 12/10 to be eligible and use the tag 12day12 when you upload, good luck!

Now if you want a sneak peek I made with Gina K's "Tropical Flowers", see here, I'm A Guest "Sketchy Sistah" this month! (Isn't that a cool sketch??? Ally did it, I just made the card LOL!)

More peeks from today with these two sets from:

Asela Hopkins, Carolyn King, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni ,Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Theresa Momber ,
of course Gina K , AND our "In the Spotlight Designer", Carolina Buchting!

TOMORROW the previews continue! : MY set, EEEK!! (You'll never guess!!!) :)

While You're Waiting...PEEK!

ha HA, made you look! Here's a little something I made today, how do you like my new snowman? er, snowhippo! I sketched in a little pile of snow around it to complete the effect.
I added a bunch(12 to be exact) rhinestones that could either be interpreted as falling snow or stars. The full moon (hee!) was made by masking with a scrap circle and sponging Night of Navy ink. I went back in after removing the mask on the udnerside of the moon an his bottom for a nice rounded effect. :) Card base is Incandescent Blumarino from Paper Temptress, a navy paper that has such an amazing shimmer, you have to see it to believe it. I outlined the hippo, portions of the trees and bright and happy" in my greeting with the Stardust glitter pen. White CS and ribbon are both Gina K Pure luxury.

Card also uses Gina K's"Seasonal Sayings" and "Tree Silhouettes" (only a couple days left to earn it free with three sets!)

Only a couple hours til the next peek! (for real!!)

Sneak Peek: Framed Friends

Here is a 4 1/4 " square card I made with Asela's new set "Framed Friends". It's really cute for making kind of "pocket-sized" Valentines (you'll see!) . Knowing me, I had to start by inking up her "snail mail" image! (if you've gotten mail from me before, then you know it is snaaaaaaaaaaaaaail maaaaaaaaail!!!)

I used my postage decorative edge scissors which I think is so cute with this stamp (and looking at my sample now, I see I was holding my scissors" upside down"!! the bumps are facing out instead of in!! sigh, oh well! you wouldn't have noticed, right??) The hearts are stamped on Real Red CS, outlined with a Lipstick Red Copic, highlighted with the Inkssentials white pen, and popped up on dimensionals at the corners. It was fun choosing greetings from the set to frame up my "Framed Friend" even more! Snail image is colored with Copics.

More Design Team Samples:

Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Cindy Lawrence
Donna Baker
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile
Kurtis Amundson
Theresa Momber ,

of course Gina K , AND our "In the Spotlight Designer", Carolina Buchting!

Tomorrow, TWO sets to peek, can't wait!!!

CS: SU! Real Red, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink; Gina K Pure Luxury 80lb Brilliant White CS

A Quickie...2COOL!!

Told you I had more good stuff to share with BCDzyns and the "Little Tees"! I have not yet completed cards with these next two, but I thought I'd leave you with a little tee shirt inspiration before our peeks start tonight at midnight( in case you need help finding another set to throw in your Gina K cart on Thursday so you can earn all those free sets!!) ;)

No new do's on these (but there ARE more to come, I promise!) but I had to share how two accessories stamps, the tiara and shades, in my "Little Tees" are also a perfect fit for the BCDzyns girl: Check 'em out!! (one is JLo inspired, the other Elle Woods LOL!) And of course their cool tees, "2COOL" and "DIVA" greetings are also from "Little Tees" !) :)So...have you bought these sets yet???

2FUN!!

Sandwich Cookie Card Tutorial: 2 Ways

I'm going to be swamped with new release stuff (in a good way!) the next several days, so this will be my last cookie project for awhile, I think it's good one, I hope you agree! These big sandwich cookies are SO cute and so easy to make!! ( and fit in an A2 card)
"We go together" reads the top...

and opens sideways to reveal "like milk and cookies..." All images and greetings here are from the "Have A Cookie!" set :)

The card above uses the design you see on the right below. To make this one, take your largest scalloped circle Nestabilitie and lay it just a bit over the score of a folded 4 1/4" square card and run through your die cutter. Now you have two scalloped layers that are attached. Cut out smaller classic circles in brown and white, layering the white circle inside for your "cream filling" and emboss a texture on the smaller brown circle (here Cuttlebug Textile folder) and adhere to top of card.

The design on the left is a "twist off" just like you may (still!) do with your Oreos! (True Story(NSR): when I was little I was at my mom's friend house, and she told me I could help myself to the cookies while the two of them visited. Well! "Help myself" meant to open every Oreo in the brand new family size pack, eat the filling and put the cookies back in the bag!! Boy, did I get in trouble!! I was such a rascal!!!*) Here, create two separate Chocolate Chip scalloped circles, and do the same as you did in the the other design for the inside and out layers.

Once you've added your embossed top to the outside, and "cream" to the inside, hold them together and punch with your 1/16" circle through all the layers near the edge and insert your brad (Antique Brass) Now twist to reveal a greeting you've stamped inside!

As you can see I adhered two layered SU! punched ovals to both cookie tops with greetings from my set. Aren't these fun? (Don't they look almost as good as the real thing??) :) I plan to make these on occasion to throw in my son's lunch box as a surprise :) (maybe Dh's briefcase...? ! maybe send to that friend of my mom's?? "Remember me??" BWAHHH!!! ;)

Enjoy!!

*check me out at age 4, see that sly grin...? (I'm up to something!!)

Papercraft Planet Sketch #5 (and Mini Tutorial!)

Okay, so it's my week for our Papercraft Planet sketch challenge, I think this is the first sketch I've ever officially "created" for anything ( although I'm always doing my own layouts, of course, I don't always have the whole thing planned in my mind when I start creating.) If you haven't tried other people's sketches before, I highly recommend it , when I challenge myself with other's layouts I am always so happy with the result because it just looks so fresh and different to me than what I normally make on my own, AND I learn something new. :)

This one is pretty basic! (If you don't have circle punches, please just improvise, they could be round scallop punches or similar, even rounded embellishments like flowers...) Not a lot of stamping here, as I've been meaning to make a card showing you this new little reindeer I designed (I like it even better than the big one I made!!) and thought this sketch would do quite nicely! (Easier than trying to fit "eight tiny..." on one card LOL!)

DPs are both Basic Grey Ambrosia, greeting is from Gina K's "Seasonal Sayings". I used the threading water punch on both layers and I love how the red and black peeping through the holes complements my reindeer noses!! The deer were ridiculously simple to make, using a punch you probably already have, but if not, run and order the EK Success Fancy Corner Punch NOW!! (or in 2 minutes after you're done reading my "how to")

Here you can see I punched out the "more delicate" fancy corner (this is punch is 2 for 1!!*) in Chocolate Chip for my antlers, and Close to Cocoa for the head, snipping off the scroll from either side (save these pieces, I'm sure you can find a place on another card that needs a little somethin'). Add two black dots for eyes (I added a litle dot of white to each with my Inkssentials pen later for "shine") and draw in a little "v" on each side to make the undersides of the ears. Now add the nose embellishment of your choice! Above I colored a self adhesive rhinestone with my Lipstick Red Copic and colored some adhesive metal dots I had with my Black Copic (I added two of these to the top corners of my card as well.) Layer the head on top of the Chocolate Chip punch out, and you're done! I popped them all up on dimensionals on my popped up circles.

What do you think??? I'm just thrilled with how it turned out! (and depending on how behind I get on all my holiday stuff and Christmas cards, I have a feeling I might be making a LOT of these little single deers to stick in the center of plain white square cards and just "calling it good" LOL!!! :)

Please try this sketch and upload your creation to the 'planet with the tag SK120608 , can't wait to see what you make!

*the other fancy corner in that punch??I have something so cute to show you with it, can't wait!!!!

Ready to get your Weekend Bake on??

Just a reminder: If you have time to share a favorite cookie recipe and can whip up a batch and have them photographed by this Sunday night 12/7, please send it to Carloina and enter her Baking Balendar Contest Collection , she is offering up the cutest little handmade calendar to the winner with all the top recpies! Check it out!! (and while you're there, check out some of her latest "baked" creations!!

EEK!!! Storage from Heaven!!!

you've gotta to go Gina's blog right now!! Not only is she giving something away, but you are gonna flip when you see it, read about it!!! I received one binder box and a page in each of our new release sets a couple days ago, and I had to call her and gush as soon as I opened my package, I was so impressed with the quality and practicality of it!!! Only when I read her post though did I discover how easy they'd be to decorate, I had to go back and check my box LOL!!
(Come back in a minute after looking at it and I'll tell you even more!!)

Now after you leave her a comment (and I hope YOU win!), start getting organized right now and go count up the number of bagged Gina K designs sets you own! Write this number down (for me, 24). Now divide by 2. This number is how many pages you need for all your sets because you can store 2 sets per page, one on each side! (for me, 12) Now divide this number by 4, as they come in packs of 4! This number is how many packs you'll want to order, only 2.95 a pack! (I need 3, because all sets after next week will already have a page included in the bag, yippee!) Now a binder box can hold can hold 4 sets of stamps, so divide your original number (of stamp sets) by 4, this is how many boxes you'll want! ( I need 6, but I'm going to go ahead and add an extra, becuase I'll have more sets coming in JANUARY!) :)

I just think it's a good idea to figure these things out before you get to that ordering page, because I have a feeling they're going to be selling fast!!! And while you can always use more boxes later, it's easy to get confused during that shopping frenzy and realize later (when the box arrives at your house!) you bought way more or less than you needed! (ever done that before? (raising hand)) Of course you don't have to get them all at once, but I would buy the pages immediately (all my new pages will cost less than 9 bucks, for 24 sets of stamps, is that affordable or what??), they are much larger than the sheets that adhere to the Ezmount on the back of the stamps, which is how I "store" mine currently and there's very little wiggle room, also they stop wanting to stick to that over time, so my "storage" has really just become a jumbled stack on my desk! It is amazing how firmly they stick to these sheets and they are nice and thick plastic, not flimsy/flippy! I also love how easily the binder rings open and close! I just checked to see if the hole placement would fit a small binder I had on hand, it DID, but it's open on the sides and I'm happy to pay a little for the security of knowing my teeny stamps are snapped shut in the binder box since I do intend now to try to stamp "on the go" more often since I have these! Plus it just looks so nice and can be stacked or stood up on a shelf whereas regular binders always want to sliiiide over, KWIM?

Oh, I can't just say enough about how GREAT I think this new system is!!!! (can you hear me yelling??!) I plan to take some pics of my "before" and after storage once we can show you the new stamps next week, but the pics on Gina's site I think already speak volumes about how terrific they look/work ;)

Available next Thursday!!! :)

Hippy Holidays!

While my mom was here for Thanksgiving, she suggested I dress up the "hippys" with some festive winter stuff for the holidays, and she was right, it's been too long since I played with the giraffe!! (Amazing to think it's been almost a year since this first set of mine was released! And I'm pleased to report it's still one of my biggest sellers, thank you!) :) With a little masking I was able to place Rupa's ornament in its mouth, and popped up the front ornament on a dimensional. Image is colored with Copics, sentiment if from "Hip Hop Accessories", ribbon is from the Gina K Pure Luxury Holiday assortment.

I just can't get enough of using WHITE now for a card base now that I have the Gina K 120 lb Pure Luxury CS, if you haven't tried it, you must, you won't be sorry!

hmmm, now what should I have the hippo do....? oh, I know, back later! ;)

Tomorrow, it's my week to host the Papercraft Planet sketch challenge, please come check it out, I've created something really special with "punch" in my sample you won't want to miss!

12 Days: Day 7 "Black and White Elegance"

"seven swans a swimming..." I liked the spin Verve requested for their sponsored challenge day in the 12 days of Christmas Challenge on Papercraft Planet : "Black and White Elegance"! I don't think I've done an all black and white holiday card, but I'm always up for a black and white theme! I've been having so much fun decorating with Rupa's Christmas ornaments, the black and white got me thinking of high fashion, so what could better than decorating one of her boutique shelves! That's what I'd call a happy holiday!

It was simple getting the hanging ornaments to line up, simply adhere them to your gridline block. Images and sentiment from "Seasonal Sayings" stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I went over the dotted strings with the Stardust Gel Pen, and added these little metal dots I found at Hobby Lobby to the purse snaps. White organdy ribbon is Gina K Pure Luxury, and white cardstocks are the 80 and 120 lb weight.

Please play and enter your version of black and white holiday elegance with the keyword 12day7 to Papercraft Planet before the end of the day to possibly win a set from Verve, good luck!!

Milk and Cookies

We go together..." like milk and cookies". Truly, is there any more perfect pairing?? Something that just conveys the innocence of childhood, the comforting memories of returning home after school to a fresh-baked snack and talking about your day...ahhhh!


I made sure you could get your chocolate* fix with the "Have a Cookie" set, too, so have fun stamping out those chips to make the candied backgrounds of your dreams! I went over the chips in the cookies and the background with my Sakura Glaze Pen, it provides a nice dimension and sheen to the chips without looking too glossy. Everything is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa, the glass of milk is finished in a snap with just a few gray shadows. E13 Light Suntan Copic is a "lovely baked-to-perfection cookie" color. :)

Going through my considerable embellishment stash, I found I was seriously lacking in "the brown department" (!) so I made some "chocolate bling" for my tag by coloring my self adhesive rhinestones with E47 Dark Brown Copic (it appears much lighter on the clear stone so pick a really dark brown if you don't have that same color) I decided not to add any other colors to my "milk and chocolate chip" base. The white square on the scalloped chocolate mat reminds me of some cute little cream-filled cookie itself, hee hee! 5/8 Chocolate grosgrain finishes the card.

Warning: this set kinda makes you hungry, it's so yummy! (But go ahead, indulge! calorie free!) ;)

Thank you again everyone for the warm welcome everyone's giving the cookies! Please let me know here what your favorite image(s) is from the set, I'd love to know! :)

*or butterscotch, or peanut butter, or... !

PCP Sketch 4: Magical Christmas

Here is my take on Kim's PCP sketch this week (I just realized I didn't work the big circle in though, hmmm!) Anyway, these three sassy trees are one of my favorite images in Rupa's "Magic of Christmas" set, when I first saw them I thought of Marilyn Monroe's famous skirt blowing scene LOL! I also knew when I did ink them up I wanted the reveal underneath to be RED like a sexy Christian Louboutin sole! :) Cool Caribbean and Garden Green are also in the color scheme, and I colored everything with Copics(there is a light gray shadow under the trees that didn't really show up here, sorry! ) I added several self adhesive rhinestone accents as well the 5/8" Gina K Pure Luxury grosgrain from the Holiday Assortment to finish my card! LOVE that Large Flourish and how nicely the little snowflakes from her set fit the 3/4" circle punch!

Please play along, you have until Friday to upload a project!