Beautiful Butterflies Now Available!

 Hey, everyone! I hope you were able to check out our live release on facebook! If not you can go back and watch! We'll be hopping with the team next week, too, be sure to come check out all the ideas and inspo with our new sets starting Monday!  

Beautiful Butterflies is now available for purchase, and I think this one is gonna go fast!  

I hope you love it as much I am creating with it!

Have a beautiful weekend!  

We are leaving in the morning to take my son to his new dorm at LSU!  I had no idea when I turned in this set how close it would be releasing to when I am literally releasing my butterfly into a big new world! Soar! Bittersweet, but so exciting!  

Any of you been following this blog since he started school? 

It has been 13 years for him, almost a lifetime!  

Sunrise, sunset...

Macramade with Love Video: Making Backgrounds and Borders

Hey, everyone! Let me show you how to create easy borders and backgrounds with one of the smaller knotted images in my Macramade with Love set. Whether you choose to use multiple ink pads to create a rainbow or gradient, or one pad with the stamping off technique I demonstrate to create multiple shades from one ink pad, you'll get lots of helpful tips and ideas for layouts and small details you can change, watch to the end! Please enjoy, and I hope you will subscribe to my channel. Tell me in the comments which card, color combo or layout you like best! 

Supplies:

Gina K. Designs Macramade with Love stamp set

Gina K. Pure luxury White 4" x 5 1/4", Innocent Pink 4 1/4" x 11, scored at 5 1/2"cardstock

Gina K. Passionate Pink, Jet Back Amalgam ink

MISTI, acrylic gridline block, tape runner, Gina K Connect Glue, Gina K. rainbow hearts or clear solid quartz sequins

Inspiration Hop, Day 3: Nature's Touch Kit

Welcome back to our last day or hops (for now!) Today we are featuring the Nature's Touch kit and what a fabulous one it is!  Hope these ideas inspire if you already purchased your and if you are waiting for the reorder to come in, click on this link and then hit the "notify me" button so you get a message as soon as its back!  Let us know you favorites along each stop of the hop today because we are giving away a $50 gift certificate to the store to one lucky commenter!   You should be coming from Lisa's blog!

I was so intrigued by this long bold stamp in the kit. It can be a cloud, sandbar, snow, water depending on the color you use, has a lot of applications.  I stamped this in GKD Tangerine Twist and masked a setting sun behind the trees (stamped and stamped on in Jet Black amalgam) with GKD Wild Dandelion and the tangerine ink using a Life Changing Blending Brush.  I used the Master Layouts die set for my mats. (again, click notify me in that link if you want these later!) Don't forget the heart!

The Hands of Love set included is so fun!  I used GKD Peach Bellini to make a square card base and the stencil for a subtle border with coral Reef. This really echoes the colored in heart (I used alcohol markers) that the hands are making. I used the I, love, and you words from my Macramade with Love set to stack the sentiment, I LOVE how the "love" fits perfectly inside! Isn't that cute?  Finish with a rainbow heart using Connect Glue. I can't even how adorable and effective these teeny TEENY embellishments are!

 One more with the hands! I used the greeting from the Baby Girl set and the kit's pretty stencil again.  Cardstock is Warm Glow. One of the rainbow clay hearts inside the kit's hands went so well with the little/fierce sentiment. I have really come to appreciate over the years how measuring my words and seasoning them with grace makes the strongest impact on others. <3 font="">

For this last card, I used the flower dies included in the kit and stamped them in Jet Black Amalgam ink and colored with alcohol markers. I used some of the new clear solid quarts sequins and without a hole in them like traditional sequins, they really like dew drops on the petals and leaves, allowing your gorgeous coloring to show through!  I also dotted the I in the greeting with one of the rainbow clay hearts. Base is GKD Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight White.

I hope you enjoyed all these cards and ideas today! Have a few more for our Instagram hop, coming up!

Nature's Touch kit

Next on the hop is Mindy's blog!  Full list on Gina's blog.

Here are all the new products, happy shopping!

Thanks for stopping by!  Sharing another video an my tip sheet for Macramade with Love next, plus Instagram hop with the design team coming up!

Inspiration, Day 2: Baby Boy, Baby Girl, Graceful Greenery, and Free to Flourish

Welcome back, it's Day 2! Thanks for returning for more fun idea and inspiration with new Gina K. designs products! Comment as you hop for more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to the store!

You should be coming from Karen Hightower's blog!

First is  Free to Flourish from Lisa Hetrick. Sometimes simple is best!  Start with Kraft for an elegant textured base.  Then stamp the images an sentiment with Jet Black Amalgam and create some depth adding the fern with GKD watermark embossing ink to create a shadow.  Filling the daisy with the white pen makes it pop! Boom, this card is DONE.

Step it up and make a fancy card now! I used GKD Fresh Asparagus, Lucky Clover, Watermark, and Plum Punch for my stamping.  Cardstock is GKD Whisper, White and Plum Punch. I used the Free to Flourish dies  to die cut the frame and flower and colored both with alcohol markers to match.

Next up some baby cards with Emily's lovely greetings and images!I used the stencil from the new Nature's Touch kit for this first Baby Girl card, but any pretty cutesy one will do!  I blended on a gradient with GKD inks and a Life Changing Blending Brush and then stamped the flower and sentiment over it in GKD Chocolate Truffle Amalgam.  A drop shadow on the flower with a gray Arteza Everblend marker gives them more dimension and looks so pretty with soft gray of the GKD Pure Luxury Soft Stone cardstock base.

 For this next card, I made a background with three images from my Macramade with Love -the circles piece stamped end to end, the heart underneath, and one of the tassels, all in GKD Innocent Pink on Pure Luxury White.  I stamped Emily's cute greeting in the center in Jet Black Amalgam, and then accented where each circle met with a rainbow heart, just picked out the yellow, orange, white and pinks from the mix and adhered with Connect Glue. Two step stamp the heart from my set (GKD Soft Stone and Innocent Pink) and use the coordinating Macramade with Love Die Set to cut it out and pop up with a foam square over the scalloped strip of Lemon Drop cardstock. So sweet! I love how this just looks like one big detailed background stamp once it's all together, soft and subtle.

Now I shared a baby boy card yesterday and my friends aren't having boys now, so I wanted to make some samples with Baby Boy that could work double duty as an encouraging card to give to a friend or loved one if I needed it. I made a simple scene with the tree and mountain stamps, adding some grass and a path to the mountains with markers and blending on some sky and clouds with GKD Blue Raspberry and Life Changing Blending Brush.  A rainbow hear that the mountain top is so encouraging! I love this book and think anybody would recognize the Seuss sentiment and enjoy this encouraging card. Great for a grad! Cardstock is GKD Moonlit Fog, White and Black Onyx.

 Here is a very different mountain scene, a circle punch or die cut creates a mask for you to do a little blended sunrise or sunset with GKD Coral Reef ink and a Life Changing Bending Brush.  I used the Master Layout set of dies to cut my mats.  The scene is offset and popped up with foam squares.

Last set of the day, the first card I made with Hannah's Graceful Greenery I can't find now to take a photo, ackk! (It'll turn up, but that was disappointing.  I'll share it in our Instagram hop later, so all is not lost...)  I'm explaining that to say I started coloring it *before* I checked the name of the set, and got to almost the end and it was all shades of green, what, no flowers?  "Graceful Greenery", indeed!  I love how it turned out, but I wanted to create something else to show you can do all sorts of colors, to be whimsical, or to look like the leaves that come in other shades, or are dried and dyed like eucalyptus.  I used my Everblend alcohol markers on GKD Pure Luxury White. Love these vibrant jewel tones.

Here's all the sets I just used!

Baby Boy

Baby Girl

Free to Flourish

Free to Flourish dies

Graceful Greenery

Happy hopping and shopping!  All products can be found here in the What's New section

Next up is Mindy Eggen blog!

The full list:

Gina

Emily Loggans

Hannah Drapinski

Lisa Hetrick

Beth Silaika

Arjita Singh

Cathy Tidwell

Donna Idlet

Karen Hightower

Melanie, you are here! thanks for your comment!

Mindy Eggen

Rema DeLeeuw

See you TOMORROW!!!

Sheri Gilson

Inspiration, Day 1: Macramade with Love and Let's Celebrate

Good morning! Welcome to our first day of inspiration hops! It's been awhile, I've missed these so! Glad you are joining in!  Please enjoy the teams ideas today and I hope you will leave comments as you go, you could win a $50 gift certificate to Gina K. Designs! You are not required to comment on every stop, but the more comments you leave the better you chances of winning, and we love hearing from you!  Hope you enjoy all ideas and samples with the sets. Today we are showcasing my Macramade with Love and Beth's Let's Celebrate.  Here we go!

I am having so much fun with these macramé images! I peeked the edge of this card in my ombre video last week, did any of you guess I had these hands from the Nature's Touch kit stamped and clinging for dear life from the end of the rope? I just couldn't resist with this greeting, hee hee!

Here I stamped one of the larger more intricate piece twice, then the tassels.  This greeting is from Emily's Baby Boy which we are showing tomorrow.  I really like all I've been seeing of modern nurseries with macrame and other crafty touches and neutral colors to "man up" a little man's room, but still have a softness and sweetness to it! Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx and Tranquil Teal.  I heart these new rainbow hearts!!!

 Here is the card I showed during the release using the beautiful coordinating dies, I loved cutting a pile to match the 3 different tassels and get a fussy cut look so quickly! All images are stamped inn Soft Stone for a more subtle look. I colored them with my Everblend markers and used a Life Changing Blending Brush to give the Blue Raspberry mat a nice glow with Blue Denim ink at the bottom.  A teeny strip of Sandy Beach layered behind the popped up die cut and it look like you knotted  the rope on a dowel, and easy way to add an extra earthy touch and texture with your scraps.

This was a fun one to build with the round knotted pieces, hearts and large tassel.  Combos are endless! Instead of using the two step filler stamps on these, I colored with a marker to leave some strands white, really like the two toned effect. I just love the different looks this allows, and how it lends to whether you feel like stamping to add color or coloring yourself.  Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx and Peach Bellini. A tiny heart is so fun on top of the o or the v in this love stamp in my set!!

Here are a couple border cards, I can't leave this image out of the hop! One I did with the coordinating dies. I LOVE the intertwined knots with a thank you or love card, all snuggly!! (It's called a double something or other and I will tell you later when I remember!) I so enjoyed drawing these! I will do a video with some coloring tips,  it is fun to follow the cord, but color however YOU like!

The other with the Master Layout set of dies for the mats and sentiment mat. I covered the knots with the oval die cuts on the black and white card and added tassels, but it's that same image! Just wanted to emphasize the rope more than the knots to go with the greeting, know what I mean?

I have all my favorite shades of blue GKD inks (yes, pretty much every blue! Sea Glass, Turquoise Sea, Blue Raspberry, Blue Denim, Tranquil Teal) with the image made up of two round pieces.  This makes a beautiful anywhere border, or fill up your whole card! You could stamp this all in one color with the line art, and then fill them in with the different colors with the 2 step image, or change color for each row like I did here and leave open. Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Sea Glass and Tranquil Teal.

The set's "miss you" greeting works so well where you'd *expect* some tassels to be, and darn it, if I don't miss pretty much EVERYONE right now, you know??  KNOT even funny!! I added some of the new Clear Quartz solid sequins to the intersections and think these round embellishes are a perfect match for this macramé element.

I forgot to post last week's video with the direct to stamp technique to my blog, so in case you missed it, here 'tis!

There is so much more than can be done with this set in the more straightforward ways I've shown today, but I have to leave some surprises for videos upcoming! Stay tuned and get ready to stamp some awesome stuff with me! You will also see this set used in our hops the next two days because it plays SO WELL with out other release sets!

Macramade with Love

Macramade with Love Die Set-these are awesome!

Next we have Let's Celebrate. I really love the fonts in this set and greeting combos you can make. They are also fun to bling up. This first card I used the different bits to make a confetti wreath in GKD Sea Glass, Passionate Pink, Lucky Clover, and Wild Dandelion.  One pink heart from the new rainbow heart embellishments to dot the i was the perfect little something. I cannot stop using these teeny so you cute you want to eat them hearts. Seriously, you need these things, get 'em while you can! Cardstock is GKD Pure Luxury White and Wild Dandelion.

 For this next card I had to add some of the open hands from the new Nature's Touch Kit (we're showcasing that on Wednesday!), stamped in Jet Black Amalgam ink (I needed to reink my pad and stamped without the MISTI, so couldn't go over it, sorry it's not as crisp as it could be, my bad!)   I used different ink cubes to roll the edge of the confetti image and greeting to make a virtual tie dye of color-Wild Dandelion, Key Lime, Tangerine Twist, Red Velvet and Tranquil Teal.  Base is Pure Luxury White. I added more rainbow hearts with glue plus a couple of the new Angel Aura rhinestones for sparkle. 

Let's Celebrate

Ready to see more inspiration with these stamp sets and other new products?!  

Happy hopping and shopping!

All products can be found here.

Beth Silaika

Arjita Singh

Cathy Tidwell

Donna Idlet

Karen Hightower

Mindy Eggen

Rema DeLeeuw

Sheri Gilson

Day 2 Inspiration Hop: Just Because, Kindness Wreath, & Woodland Whimsy

Good morning, welcome back!  The design team has a new inspiration hop for you showcasing the new stamp sets Just Because, Kindness Wreath and Woodland Whimsy.  We hope you get tons of ideas today and as you hop, be sure to leave comments along the way, we love hearing from you and each one is a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the Gina K. Designs store!  

Gina will announce the winner a few days after the hops.

You should be coming from Karen Hightower's blog.

Your next stop will be  Mindy Eggen's blog.

First up we have the Kindness Wreath set from Hannah Drapinski. This was so much fun to color.  She has several sentiments that will fit inside the circle and I love how the flowers placement allows you to turn it in different directions for your layout.

For this next card, I wanted to use the individual branches for making a custom arrangement. After stamping them in Grass Green, I added the yucca flowers from Stately Flowers 13, in that same green ink colored with just a touch of yellow. Sentiment is stamped in Jet Black Amalgam.

Kindness Wreath

Next up we have Emily Loggan's Just Because  set. What gorgeous scripty greetings! And so different form ones you may already have. The scale and beauty of these really make a statement,  pardon the pun.  For this card I added the Stately yucca flower again in Soft Stone to match the card base and spattered on some black.

Although I love monochromatic cards, this one feels a little unfinished to me so I am going to add color when I decide who exactly I am sending it to--their favorite, of course!  This is a tip or having the stamping and cardmaking done when you need it, but allows for that personalization!  OR, if THEY like to color, invite them to do when they get it! :)

On this next card, I used my Cherokee Rose from Stately Flowers 13. Cardstock is White, Black Onyx, and Tomato Soup.  I know I am going to love all these new greetings with all my flowers and other sets as well. They are both timeless and on trend.

Just Because

Unfortunately, I do not have the Woodland Whimsy set, but I love it and know Lisa and the team will show you awesome things with it in our hop! (AND, I think it's going to work very well with my set coming out next release!  So I will be playing with it and the two together for sure!)

Woodland Whimsy

Ready for more inspiration?  Next on the hop is Mindy Eggen!

Thanks for visiting today!

Inspiration Hop, Day 1: Stately Flowers 13 and Simply Circular

Good morning, happy Monday!  The design team has a new inspiration hop for you showcasing the new stamp sets Stately Flowers 13 and Simply Circles.  We hope you get tons of ideas today and as you hop, be sure to leave comments along the way, we love hearing from you and each one is a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to the Gina K. Designs store!  Gina will announce the winner a few days after the hops.

First up we have my Stately Flowers 13! I am thrilled to give you the final set of the series and grateful all the friends I've made and fans of the stamps along the way!  It has been a pleasure to see your creations online and in my mailbox using these beautful state flowers. I made a new video showing how you can create a design that will work with these 4 new flowers as well as every other flower in the Stately series with the postage images from Stately Flowers 11! 



(If  you missed my preview video of the new set from last week, I have another tutorial there on my channel and in the Stately Flowers 13 playlist)

On this next card I used the GKD Barely There cardstock, it has just a touch of pink that is perfect for a soft sunrise or sunset and these delicate petals! I embossed the flowers and leaves in white and and sponged on Innocent Pink to suggest clouds and sky.

I used my watercolor pans to add just a bit more color.  Sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Truffle amalgam ink.

This next card uses the single peach blossom as well as its bold 2 step filler. I wanted these to look like they gently falling in the breeze. It is easy to collage stamp and fill this background!

Sequins secured with GKD Connect Glue in the centers are so fun.  Colors are GKD Dusty Pink, Innocent Pink, and Passionate Pink.

I hope you love the new set as much as I do!

Stately Flowers 13

Next we have Beth Silaika's Simply circles!  I love circles for backgrounds or spotlighting smaller images.  They have a very contemporary feel, but it's also very striking to put them with classic images.

This first card I stamped a fun collage background in different Gina K. inks and then punched out a few to add dimension. Cardstock is Pure Luxury . Colors are GKD Turquoise Sea, Tangerine Twist, Passionate Pink, and Jet Black.

On this next card I used the single Cherokee Rose from Stately Flowers 13 inside the dotted circle.  I chose that one for the look but also go with all the dots in the flowers' centers (I'm weird that way, gotta match stuff up even if no one else notices!) Cardstock is Pure Luxury  White and Turquoise Sea and inks are Blue Denim, Turquoise Sea and Stormy Sky. Simply Circular is a great set for your stamping toolbox. Sentiment is from Emily's which we will show more of in tomorrow's hop.

Simply Circular

Next on the hop is Beth!

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to reading your comments and answering your questions!  

Which card do you like best?? 

Which new stately is your fave?