Copics Holder!

Been meaning to share a very special (and functional!!) gift I got from Tina Gilliland: a beautiful six sided box on a turntable with a little frame on each side, she filled them with stamped images from "Sporty Accessories", the month after she guest designed for me with this set! She found the box at Hobby Lobby and it came with a top so you could fill it with all sort of knickknacks, but I was thrilled to find it would hold 142* of my 144 Copics (4 whole boxes of Ciaos) so I have them all at arm 's reach and can carry them around together, woo hoo!!

It is so special to dress up a nice piece of art or organizational item with stamping and papers.
Thank you Tina, I use this every day and think about how blessed I am to have friends like you supporting my art and creativity! (and getting me organized, slob that I am!)

Blog hop tonight at 10 PM CST!!

*I keep the Colorless Blender and Black out on my desk, so it's all good. ;)

Thank You!!!!

I received this gorgeous thank you card from Brenda Turner last week, and had to share it here! She masked a TON of different images from "A Year of Flowers" to make this beautiful bouquet, and created a window using the "Hip to Be Square" grid stamped on plastic over it, like looking through a real window. This over sized square card measures 5 1/2". Circle tag is from the Stamp TV Kit "Holiday Cheer", and I just love it, Brenda, thanks!! (I'll need to send her a thank you card, hee!)

And hey, BTW thanks very much to everyone who's been leaving all the super sweet comments lately on my posts, as well as some really encouraging emails and messages about how much you're enjoying the latest sets, they just make my day! :) You rock!!

Tropical Simplicity

How about an "Island Christmas"? LOL! Wouldn't this be a cool holiday card?! Card base is Pure Luxury Green Apple with the Mosaic stamped on White in Memento Tuxedo Black. "Tropical Window" image is colored on directly with waterbased markers, and boxes are colored with Pale Olive and Strong Red Copics. I cut it out and then popped it up over the grid! This was super simple to make! :)

Festive Blog hop and candy coming up!!!! :)

Alphabet Trees

On today's card I tried substituting two of the trees from on of the images inthe StampTV kit Holiday Cheer for the "M" in "Merry Christmas" (from the "Seasonal Greetings" set). Do you see it or is it to over the top?? I am still undecided!) Anyway, I think it's fun to try to make letters out of images when you can... :)

I stamped everything in Vivid Vintage Green and outlined the trees and greetings with the Inkssentials white pen, piling it on just the tops and left side of the letters to look like snow accumulating. Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Soft Sand, and All Spruced Up. I love this new Cuttlebug Herringbone folder I used on the mat, such detail and texture and great to go with the pine tree theme. A little piercing to the corners completes the card.

Lord of the Season Trio

Let someone know you're thinking of them all year long with a card using Nina's new "Lord of the Season" . Inside reads "To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven" which is included in the set. I stamped these three topiaries from the set onto Pure Luxury White and cut them into separate panels, then colored them with Copics and adhered to a Pure Luxury All Spruced Up base. Stitched ribbon is from the StampTV Holiday Cheer Kit.

Beside taking some time on the coloring, this was a very simple card to make! Or, separate them onto three cards with some coordinating DPs for quick and easy cards...

have a great day!

Week 2: Linda Payne (and a RAK request)

Another new "Festive Frame" new creation from Linda Payne this week, do you even recognize that wintery frame here? She has done almost NO coloring, just a but of shadowing with green around the outlines for shadows and on the oval rim, some yellow to the centers of the flowers, but the majority of what you see are these beautiful swirling pastels on this lovely Basic Grey print! Looks like something out of a fairy tale, utterly magical, and completely unlike poinsettias LOL! she layered more flowers and leaves from "A Year of Flowers" stamped on the same DP to the empty corners of the frame and added some Stickles for pollen (fairy dust??) ;) and a butterfly from "Take Flight". Card base is Pure Luxury All Spruced Up. Thank you, Linda for giving us an early peek at springtime! :)

Now let's go see what else Linda has dreamed up on her blog!

PS My mother just forwarded this request for Christmas cards for 5 year old Noah. He is in the last stages of a 2 1/2 year battle with Neuroblastoma Cancer. He is not expected to survive to Christmas. The family is celebrating Christmas next week and when asked what he wanted for Christmas Noah's request is to get lots of Christmas cards.

Lets get him some, please send cards to:
Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountain View Circle, South Lyon, MI 48178.

Here is a video link of Noah, I know a lot of you have gotten a jump on your holiday cards too, and I know where my snowglobe from the other night will be going! Thanks in advance!

CSS Christmas Blog Hop

Welcome to our first Center Stage Spotlight Design Team Blog Hop! (Grab a drink and a snack, we have lots to share tonight!)

Jessica Fick, the Design Team Coordinator for GinaK Designs has issued a challenge to all of the past and present team CSS team members to make a Christmas card with one of these sketches:



We know you're going to LOVE what everyone has designed for us tonight!

This sketch just had me thinking of a snow globe, so it was the perfect time to ink up this shy little snowman from Rupa's Winter Friends! It would have been fun to make a shaker but I am completely out of crafting plastic (more is on the way, whew!!) so I made do by die cutting a circle from Pure Luxury White that I'd stamped and colored, sponging around the edges with blue, and then adding a little pile of Star Dust Stickles to the bottom and gluing some clear microbeads and findings Donna gave me long ago swirling around him like he was just shook up! No shaking required! DP is Basic Grey June Bug (plaid) and Emily's Vintage Holly Quarters, I love this snowflake pattern she created. Base is Rocket Red. I came this close to trying to "free cut" my own little base for the globe, when I noticed how much better one of the Fancy Tags in Good as Gold would look!

A little candy tonight too! Nina Brackett is giving away one of my "Hip to Be Square" sets (thank you, Nina!) to one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on ONE of these blogs in the hop, (only Nina knows which is the lucky blog!), so be generous with your comments if you want to win! Thank you in advance for taking the time to comment, it means so much to all the designers who work really hard on creating things for your inspiration! :)

Now, here are the links for GinaK's Current CSS Team Members:

Deb Felts
Diana S. Queen
Karen Knegten
Melissa Cash
Sharri Seffens
Sue VanDeVusse

and the links for all of the past CSS Design Team members participating:

Brenda Turner,
Carla Suto,
Carolina Buchting,
Charlene Merrick,
Dawn Lusk,
DeeMarie Kelemen,
Geri Utterback ,
Giovanna Smith,
Janice Melton,
JenMarie Taylor,
Jennie Harper,
Joy Hadden,
Kay Simmons,
Linda Payne,
Lori McAree,
Melisa Waldorf,
Pam Imholz,
Selma Stevenson,
Shannon Bracken,
Shelly Wilson,
Sue Walsh,
Tina Gilliland

Finally, some of GinaK's Senior Design Team Members and Illustrators wanted to get in on the fun tonight too:
Gina Krupsky
Asela Hopkins
Carolyn King
Cindy Lawrence
Jessica Fick
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Nina Brackett
Melanie Muenchinger (you're here!)

along with Nina Brackett's Guest Designer: Lisa Hjulberg

All of these gorgeous cards from the entire team will be added to the StampTV gallery throughout the next few days with the tag cssjf1 (which stands for center stage spotlight jessica fick 1)

These sketches are also our sketch challenge for this week, so be sure to check out all the information in the discussion in our Challenge group over on StampTV Thursday morning. We'd love to see your cards with the sketch too!

Enjoy hopping! Thanks for dropping in! :)

Warm and Cozy Boy

Today's card is stamped on Pure Luxury Ivory in Memento Black Ink and colored with Copics (TIP: Warm Grays are beautiful on the Ivory for shadows). I used "Festive Frame" and this sweet little boy is from "Warm and Cozy Christmas"( I haven't found a holiday image I don't like in this frame window yet!) and this image reminds me of all the Christmases we've taken my sons to choose and cut our tree :)

I kept all the markers for coloring the boy and tree the same palette as the frame: 2 reds, 2 greens and 2 browns. I trimmed the frame with some postage scissors and popped it up onto a Tan Leather base. Last I stamped "Joy" on an oval punched tag (larger rim is All Spruced Up) and added a little button from the Gina K Holiday Assortment.

Have a great day, thank you for visiting! blog hop coming up!!

Tall and Skinny!

Here's a tall and skinny card (just changing it up, would be good to tuck some cash inside!) I made using Theresa's "A Very Merry Christmas" . Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, All Spruced Up and Fresh Asparagus. I Cuttlebugged some dotted strip borders along the top and bottom and rubbed white ink over it to make them pop out a little more. This new plaid ribbon Gina K sells is so festive!

After coloring the holly with Copics, I covered the entire image with Crystal Lacquer.

Are you ready for a Christmas blog hop?? Coming soon!!

I got yesterday's post up late, so if you missed it please scroll down to see a very special card and card request.

Potluck Challenge on STV

One of our CenterStage Spotlight Designers Deb Felts is hosting the current Potluck Friday at Stamp TV: to make something soft and feminine. On today's card, I used the "Festive Frame" set, stamping it on white, and coloring in the borders, then colored and cut out flowers and leaves from "A Year of Flowers" to pop up over the poinsettias and pine at the corners. If you color the poinsettia and greenery underneath green and color the berries the same color as the popped up flowers, they will really blend seamlessly with your new arrangement, without needing to worry about covering up the entire image. Hope this sample helps you find more ways to use the beautiful borders in the new frame set, I know many of you have "A Year of Flowers" (or plan on ordering it for the matching poinsettia), and these sets work so well together. I used some adhesive pearls and Silver Lining Cardstock to make it even "girlier".

The purple theme and ribbon is part of Deb's dual challenge: to create cards for the family of Somer Thompson, the little girl who was kidnapped and murdered recently in Jacksonville, Florida, where Deb lives. I used the sentiments from Gina's "Not Forgotten" for the inside and out. This child and family has been on my mind so much in the past couple weeks and I am holding my own children tighter as I pray for this family and community's healing, and that the killer will be found. If you can find time to send a card to them, it would be so appreciated, as would be your spreading the word about the card request.
Please include a purple ribbon. Your card can be mailed here:

c/o Deb Felts
General Delivery
Fleming Island, FL 32003

If you play along in the Potluck Challenge, please upload your card to STV before this Friday, with the tag stvpf37.

Thank you for reading today, I pray you have a wonderful week!

Festive Frame Tip Sheet

Time ofr the "Festive Frame" tip sheet! This set is sure to become a favorite in your collection you'll reach for year after year for all your holiday projects and family photos! We will be adding this tip sheet as a word document to the StampTV Idea Center for you to print out and keep as a reference with your set. :)
Today's sample is embossed in gold and colored with Copics, the popped up balls in the corners are from Asela's new "First Christmas". Cardbase is Vibrant Violet.

This set coordinates perfectly with "Winter Foliage" and "A Year of Flowers". You will love popping up the pine cones and poinsettias from these sets into the oval window or onto the corners, or stamping them inside your card for a custom finish!

Stamp the poinsettias again and cut out just a few individual leaves from it to pop up over the ones in the frame.

Add metallic dots, pearls, nail heads or large buttons to the middle of the poinsettias to dress them up.

Stamp the frame in brown and use distressing inks to create a vintage look.

Create beautiful one or two layer cards without coloring in a flash by embossing the frame and greeting onto neutral or colored CS. A metallic powder on white or ivory cardstock will be "soft sophistication", and metallic, white or black on jewel tones colors cardstocks like red, green, navy or cranberry are fabulously festive! Color in your embossing for a real "WOW"!

Try tone on tone embossing with silver and gold powders and metallic cardstocks like Silver Lining and Good as Gold.

Try mixing glitter into your EP when embossing the frame for extra sparkle!

Add Stickles over your coloring, or trace the outlines of the petals, pine needles and cones with a Stardust pen.

Add flocking or Flower Soft to the centers of your poinsettias or on your pine cones. Create a dusting of snow on your pine cones with Liquid Applique.

Other Gina K Designs sets with images and verses in a style well suited for the corners or the oval window in the middle:


Christmas Blessings


A Very Merry Christmas


Lord of the Season


StampTV Kit Holiday Cheer


Warm & Cozy Christmas


Holiday Hospitality



First Christmas

Seasonal Sayings

Layering cut leaves from "A Year of Leaves" over the poinsettias and its greetings to the center will make amazing cards for autumn!

Two elegant flourishes have been provided to stamp above or below your sentiment or at the corners of a mat when you stamp a greeting (one from this set or try it with any other classic and elegant greetings in your stamp collection!), to make it a bit more formal or when you need to fill in a bit more space on the mat or die cut for a balanced look.

Cut out the oval in the center for more dimension like a real window. Use Oval Nestabilties to cut out the middle quickly or use scissors to snip around the flowers. You can also layer these scalloped and classic oval mats directly over the widow, overlapping the flowers.



Oval Nestabilities in sizes smaller than the window look beautiful popped up and centered inside the oval border.

Other Nestabilities shapes Gina K sells to try in the middle of the oval window to change the look are the many labels dies, some you probably have in your collection! Whether you leave some of the oval from the image showing or cover it completely with your die cut, the poinsettia bunches will be set off to spectacular effect, enjoy mixing and matching!

The frame can be used 4 ways, vertically or horizontally to perfectly frame up your images or greetings and give you more variety in your layouts. The flowers and foliage extend into the oval frame a bit differently in each corner, one side more so than the other, so depending on how your image or greeting is arranged, you can choose which best suits your layout (top or bottom "heavy" to insure you are not covering up an important part of the picture or words.)

The greetings have been intentionally formatted to work well whether you are using the frame vertically or horizontally.

The greetings used alone on a mat over some DP makes a quick and beautiful card!

Stamp the frame inside your card in Versamark or contrasting color to you CS to add your greeting or handwritten message for a really professional, coordinated look for the inside of your card.



Stamp the frame on your envelope and add your recipient's name and address inside.



Add a family photo inside the oval cut out for easy holiday cards. 3x5 is a perfect size. Mat onto an A2 base with photo underneath or stamp directly onto the base and cut out the window with a larger photo adhered inside your card. Add other holiday stamp or images in the oval window or to the corners, layering over the poinsettia or on the opposite corners for a fuller frame.



Place a layer of vellum over your photo to soften the look. Stamp a greeting on the vellum for a floating effect.



Stamp the frame directly onto vellum, trim and layer over a rectangular photo without cutting out the window: this allows you to see the entire rectangle of the picture but spotlights the middle of your photo in the oval.


To make a more masculine looking card, layer pine cones over the poinsettia or even masculine images for year round birthday or greeting cards (ex: tent from Happy Camper".


Stamp with and onto neutral colors to make a more the frame "masculine- looking" or to give it more of "nature" than a "holiday" feel, this will allow year round use.

After stamping the frame, go over the cardstock with one of the many Cuttlebug embossing folders to add texture and dimension.

Mix the greetings from all our latest holiday sets with the frame or try Gina K's "Seasonal Greetings", another great option!



Greetings in the set like "Celebrate the beauty of the season" and "from all of us" will take you well past December for New Years and other holidays.


Add a photo to the middle window and stamp one of the greetings over it in white ink (or embossed white) like an overlay.


Put one greeting on the outside and another on the inside to continue the message. Ex: "We wish you a Merry Christmas!" and inside "and a Happy New Year!"


Ink up just one cluster from the frame or cut around them to make a beautiful corner to add to your cards and scrapbook pages.


Stamp frame over a very delicate, pale patterned paper and color the flowers, pine cones, and border to make the images pop. Adds color without having to paper piece!


Create a reverse mask of just the oval cut out and another mask removing just the blank corners to stamp textures into these spaces or sponge on color without going over the images.


Color the double border around the edge and the oval window with a marker or colored pencil; this will instantly add layers without all the cutting, CS, adhesive, without adding bulk AND saving you time and money!


To add simple detail to the blank corners, try:

• piercing the corners or a row of dots to mimic the border


• add a little tag or stamp a smaller greeting


• add buttons, pearls, rhinestones, brads etc


• add a corner punch or flourish.


• add a small or big, beautiful bow!

Projects:

Use as a mat for a picture frame, as a gift or to bring out to decorate at the holidays with a photo or scripture or quote from the set.


Stamp frame and greeting onto a plain gift bag for lightning fast gift wrap! Or attach a card with the frame on it to a 4x6 or larger gift bag.



More fast packaging: adhere the stamped frame to the center of a plain white gift box with an image or the "to: and from: info" in the center.

Make gorgeous gift tags with the many greetings in the set on punches or die cuts.

Adhere frame to a magnetic sheet and cut out oval portion. Now you have a frame for the fridge or office to place over your favorite holiday photo of the moment, year after year!



Stamped candles: stamp frame onto tissue paper, color, wrap around a pillar candle and heat! Beautiful and inexpensive gifts, see this post.



Add the frame to decorate your homemade family calendars.



Create a special invitation to a holiday dinner or open house, printing the party info inside or in the oval window.

Create a menu card to match, listing the courses inside the window for an elegant table setting!



Slip the stamped and colored frame into an acrylic frame to gift or decorate your kitchen for the holiday months for a little wipe off kitchen menu or memo board. (Writing out the family meal makes it extra special...) :)


More tips to come!

Guest Designer: Linda Payne

If you thought you couldn't use a LOT of black on a Christmas card..think again!
This stunning card was created by Linda Payne using Gina K Pure Luxury Black Onyx, White and Good as Gold Cardstock and the Festive Frame set, with the frame embossed in gold detail powder. She cut out the middle to leave a white opening for her greeting and layered cut white poinsettias over the images. The it needs gold, gold and more gold to make it super festive! Gold Glimmer Mist for sparkle, Copic Y28 Lionet Gold over the veins in the petals and gold adhesive dots to the flower centers. Ooh aah!! Magnificent design, Linda!!

Here is a little more about this feisty and talented crafter... :)

FAVORITE TECHNIQUE: hard to pick - but would chose any type of coloring and paper piecing...but love learning new techniques

COLORS/COLOR COMBO: love blues and browns, but use a lot of black with everything! actually, I love all colors but I think matting with black just makes them pop!

FAVORITE GINA K SET BY MELANIE: this is easy...Inspiration Mosaic...mine has its own block it stays on. There isn't a stamp that won't work with it!! All my stamps I work with, end up being stamped at some point with the IM stamp! Can't imagine that by now everyone doesn't own it!!!

FAVORITE GINA K SETS (FROM ANY ILLUSTRATOR: now this is tough....hmmmmmm, outside of the IM stamp, would say ....Gina K's Tree Silhouettes, Take Flight, Thanks a Million and Tropical Flowers, Theresa's A Very Merry Christmas.....actually, I could keep going!

CRAFT SUPPLIES I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: my ATG, scor-pal mini tape, Cuttlebug, Nesties, Stickles, decorative scissors...I'm thinking I need it all.. LOL

I’VE BEEN STAMPING FOR (HOW LONG): about 8 years, played at first and then started spending serious money...started selling cards on Ebay and was a SU demo. Started blogging in January and then seriously in June.


I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM: absolutely everything! nature, clothing, weather, music ...and I love blog surfing!

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT STAMPING/CARDMAKING ARE: to enjoy it, don't take yourself seriously, and the joy is in the giving!

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING GOALS ARE: become a DT member for GinaK !!! well, realistically...teach card making at a LSS (when you teach, you learn) and have an income through my cardmaking so I can keep it up when I retire.

FAVORITE THING TO MAKE THAT AREN’T CARDS: post-it note holders and stamping candles!

SOME OF MY STAMPING/CRAFTING ACCOMPLISHMENTS: I am very blessed through my blog with the friends made there and at StampTV (that's been the best), being chosen for Center Stage at GinaK and a DT member for Creative Vision and Melanie's guest designer!!!


Please go see more festive and fabulous projects from Linda here. Have a great weekend!

Festive Frame Candle Tutorial

"Festive Frame" is now available for purchase at Gina K Designs! :)

Gina K's stamped candle video on StampTV inspired me to try out the new frame on a 6" pillar, and the results passed my wildest expectations! Look how pretty!!
I used a piece of white tissue paper 5 1/2" tall x 9" wide. I was able to stamp the frame on it twice in Memento Tuxedo Black, leaving about 3/4"-1" in between the frames and a little room on the ends so there would be space in between both frames when you viewed it from the side. Using a grid line block, it was easy to get the borders to line up going across. Then I stamped two greetings from the set in the center, a different one for each side. You could also use a holiday image.

Copics on tissue need a lighter touch that on cardstock so I worked quickly in soft strokes without blending(the great news is you don't really need to blend it like you do on paper the color comes out really evenly!), otherwise it will want to bleed into the paper outside the lines.

I wasn't really sure what would happen (to the ink and coloring) when I started to heat it up, but the images and coloring stayed crisp and looked absolutely luminous, woo hoo! I wrapped the piece around my candle holding the ends at the back to keep it tight and started heating with my embossing gun in the middle. This picture shows it after heating, see how smooth? (and how nice those borders look with a space in between even from the side)?

And here is the back side of the candle! I've done tissue candles before but always with bold images, I'm really excited about the coloring possibilities now that I've tried this as well as how perfectly the proportions of all my Gina K frame stamps fit a standard pillar (3 inch diameter). It would be gorgeous to go back and add some stickles to the flowers and needles to make it even more festive, etc! :)

I'm anxious to go buy more candles (these range from $1-$4 apiece) so I can make some stained glass ones using "Inspiration Mosaic" and seasonal ones for Autumn and Spring gifts using "Arranged with Love", to decorate my home and to give friends and family!

Hope this project inspires, and be sure to check out Gina's video to see this technique in action! :) A special treat, please go check out more Festive Frame projects from the lovely and talented Joan Ervin!

Then Friday night, check back for a featured spot with my guest designer this month for Festive Frame: Linda Payne!

Sneak Peek: Free with Three "Signed with Love" and "Winter Friends"

Thanks for joining me for our last day of previews before the party! :)

It's really important to have something to leave your mark on creations you've labored over with such care: Gina's new "Signed with Love" fills the bill! ( as well as making adorable gift tags, etc) Here are four cards from this release I've stamped the back of with just a few of the options in the set. Aren't these elegant? (and so professional-looking?!) I'm sharing these specific ones today because I used all four of these stamps on ... ... a scrapbook page!! (from me, are you surprised??) When I first saw the new set, I saw enormous scrapbook potential in the words and borders she chose as little tags and titles. This is an 8x8 page (In the Navy base) featuring my son William's preschool pic, also using buttons and cardstock from the Gina K Pure Luxury Collection. The red buttons are fun because of the little buttons on his shirt and the ribbing on the Rocket Red CS is a nice match, too. Two tags and the triangles at the corners are the new Caramel Leather CS, which looks a lot like the tags on little boys' jeans. :)

In a closeup below, you can see this "Created by God" tag. I inked up just one of the round borders and stamped (refer to the top pic to see each of these images in their entirety), so I could make my own custom center, first inking up the "Created by" from the set and then adding "God" from my "The Best Things in Life" set. You could also write in your own names, dates inside these etc...

Next I used this beautiful oval "original" stamp, one of my favorites in the set, omitting the "handmade" and Gina K copyright (sorry Gina, LOL!) for a title tag, and finally inked up the just box border and lines for my white name tag (omitting the "created with love "and copyright) and wrote in his name and date ("date" was already there for me, that part was perfect!) :) I jut love being able to use the parts of my stamps for other things I need this way!

The journalling lines you see stamped on the new Pure Luxury Kraft are from the "Special Delivery Addition" set by Tami Mayberry.

This next card uses Rupa's new "Winter Friends", this set is too sweet for words! I used two little penguin images, the candy cane pole that one is holding is so fun for stamping some of the included greetings on the sign. Pure Luxury White card base is 4.25" square, with a 4 inch mat of the new Pure Luxury Silver Lining Cardstock! Isn't that beautiful? You will love dry embossing this paper, here I used the Cuttlebug Snowflake folder and die cut a circle out of the middle to frame one of the penguins. Images are colored with Copics, I used BV31 Pale Lavender instead of gray to add shade this to match the purple tone of my Vibrant Violet scalloped frame. Last I adhered the skating penguin with some pop dots and punched oval like a little patch of ice and some Rocket Red punched corners above and below. So fun for a child's holiday card!

We have a couple of our Center Stage Spotlight Designers joining in the previews tonight. Here are their blog links:

Karen Knegten

Sue VanDeVusse

Then, stop by these GinaK Designers' blog for even more projects with tonight's stamp sets:

Gina Krupksy
Carolyn King
Cathy Tidwell
Cindy Lawrence
Donna Baker
Erika Martin
Emily Giovanni
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Nina Brackett
Melanie Muenchinger
Theresa Momber

Asela Hopkins

Our Release party will be held tomorrow night (Thursday!) over on SCS in GinaK's Forum from 7-10 pm CST. We'd love to have you join in the fun! There will be contest questions, challenges, chatter, and lots more samples from our designers throughout the party! See you then!

Sneak Peek: First Christmas and Vintage Borders

First preview today uses Asela's "First Christmas" and I just think her holiday images in this set were made to go with "Festive Frame" , I have already made cards using every image in the set and I can't wait to share them all! I think this teddy all by itself is so sweet, so I popped him up in the center of the oval (don't even need a greeting, what else is there to say but, "Awwwww!") To give the frame a more homespun feel and go along with the stuffed toy theme, I attached buttons from the Gina K Autumn Assortment with glue dots to the corners and drew some faux stitches over the holes with the Inkssentials White Opaque pen. Base is Pure Luxury Good as Gold.

I also love Nina's newest set, "Vintage Borders"! It will see a lot of use on my stamping table all year, I know. One great way is to take favorite ribbons (here Pure luxury white gold line organdy ) from "Wow!" to "WOWZERS!" by stamping these borders on one or both sides for a really pumped up effect! I stamped this same border inside my card and then stamped a different one to the envelope flap. (Don't forget to decorate that envelope when you have the time, it's like the gift wrap for your card!) ;)

I stamped the Bible verse in the set on the Labels Nine die, then I added another border above and below it, isn't that pretty how it fills out the space? I went a little crazy with the adhesive pearls LOL! but I couldn't help blinging up the centers of the scallops (there is a circle in the middle of each to guide your positioning of them) and on the flourishes around the verse. Cardstock is Pure Luxury White, Kraft, All Spruced Up and punched flourishes are Good as Gold.

I also wanted to share a more whimsical card created with the same set using different borders, these little ornaments (stamped three times across to span the card) are adorable. Although they are tiny, it didn't take long to color them a with a few bright, holiday colors. I adhered a ribbon border above it for them to "hang" from, and then punched out the word "peace" from the set with a 1 3/4"circle from Pure Luxury Vibrant Violet CS. I popped this up and doodled the topper and dashed line to match the border (you can do this!) Since this card is 4.25", it will still fit in an A2 sized envelope with this big bow at the top (attached with a glue dot)

Tip: although the details are very small on the ornaments, you can can color them solid and go back and add dots to them with a White Inkssentials ink pen, this was the inspiration for adding the dotted ribbon!

For even more inspiration, please visit the Illustrators of the stamp sets featured tonight:

Asela Hopkins: First Christmas
Nina Brackett: Vintage Borders

Tonight, we have several of our Center Stage Spotlight Designers joining in the previews. Here are their blog links:

Deb Felts
Sharri Seffens
Melissa Cash

Finally, stop by these GinaK Designers' blog for even more projects with tonight's stamp sets:

Gina Krupksy
Carolyn King
Cathy Tidwell
Cindy Lawrence
Erika Martin
Emily Giovanni
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Melanie Muenchinger
Tami Mayberry
Theresa Momber

Donna Baker

Our Release party will be held Thursday night over on SCS in GinaK's Forum from 7-10 pm CST. We'd love to have you join in the fun! There will be contest questions, challenges, chatter, and lots more samples from our designers throughout the party! See you then!