Inspiration Hops, Day 1: It's the Little Things and Vertical Greetings

Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team will inspire you with many beautiful ideas for our new sets, and as you hop through our blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products! To see the full list of winners, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops.

 First up, we have Becky Oehler's darling set It's the Little Things.  I am in love with this little elephant, and I love all the options it and the other animals in this set can hold.  Not just for baby cards, there are so fun and sweet for any time.  I decided to use the kite because I really liked how you can add the little bows to the kite string in any colors you want with the clear image.  Accenting the side with some grosgrain ties were just the right embellishment.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury White and Innocent Pink.

Next up we have Theresa Momber's Vertical Greetings.  You might as well call this set "versatile Greetings, because they aren't just an orientation they make for a huge design elements in your cards!  I made a CAS one to show how you can use the greetings alone to make a very cool, graphic looking design.  Ink is Gina K. Red Hot, Sweet Mango, Sweet Corn, Grass Green and Turquoise Sea, stamped in that order and then again going in the reverse back up the right side.  I added one tiny rhinestone to accent the "i" in the middle greeting.  I love how this makes and arrow or part of a huge chevron. ;)  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Red Hot and White.

But she includes classic images that are so pretty for backgrounds or focal points, of course, as well.  I chose to make one red so it would pop from the subdued blue ones. and used Gina K. Moonlit Fog ink to stamp the flowers so the greetings stamped in Black Onyx ink over it would be easily read.  Copics BG93, G24, E07.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Little Boy Blue, Cherry Red, and White.

Here are the sets we featured today:

 

 

 

Now please enjoy more inspiration from our Gina K.Designs design team:

• Gina K
• Becky Oehlers-- Illustrator of It's the Little Things
• Theresa Momber-- Illustrator for Vertical Greetings
• AJ Otto
• Beth Silaika
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Latisha Yoast
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Sean Fetterman
• Valerie Stangle

New Gina K. Designs Stamps Now Available!

You can now order Stamper's Favorites and our other new release stamps at Gina K. Designs!   Here is the the full set, which image is your favorite?   So good to see so many familiar faces at the party!  :)  Will post more soon! Hugs!

You're Invited: Gina K. Designs Release Tonight

Good morning!  Today, the Illustrators have put together a little invitation hop for you! This hop features stamps that will be released tonight! So come hop along with us and don't forget to add a comment on each blog.  We will pick a random winner to win an awesome grab bag of Gina K. Design Goodies!!

I am so excited to share sneak peek samples with my newest set  Stampers' Favorites!  Birds, butterflies, flowers…and more!  You will love having some of the most popular images among stampers and cardmakers that work year round all in one set.  The first in a new series, whether you want to stamp and go, practice new or comfortable techniques, or do detailed coloring, these images and greetings make perfect first steps for beginners and tried and true favorites for any stamper’s collection.
  Feathers are one of the HOTTEST trends right now, but are also classic nature images.  I LOVE how this little hummingbird illustration turned out!  I used a little rhinestone for his eye and to accent the feathers.Stamped in a colored ink instead of black and you need very little coloring (if any!) to add a few more coordinating warm or cool tones.  Greeting is from Beth Silaika's new Lots of Thanks set.  Cardstock is Gina K. Pure Luxury White and Cherry Red.

 Loving mixing my new dahlia image with Carolyn King's new Elegant Flourishes!  The flowers you see here all come from one stamp:  the many layered petals of the dahlia allow you to trim off as many rings of the petals as you want to make them be smaller flowers (like the one at the bottom of this bunch) or to layer on top of the full image for the paper tole effect the tw above are two layers).  Greeting is from Theresa's new Vertical Greetings set.  Cardstock is Pure Luxury Little Boy Blue, Dark Chocolate and White.  The flowers are stamped in Gina K. Dark Chocolate on the blue cardstock and then just accented with a blue Copic, easy peasy!  Flourishes stamped in Grass Green. Shift the stamp without re-inking and stamp off to make the flourishes look dimensional.  You can add these elements in so many ways to your layouts!

We are all so excited to party with you as we share the new stamp sets and samples and chatting and contests and prizes and...! 7:00- 9:00 PM Central Time in our forum at StampTV.com! All of the fun starts right here:

StampTV Release Party Forum

 

Now please enjoy visiting the rest of the team for more peeks of what new stamps will be available tonight at 7PM CST for purchase in the Gina K. Designs store!  

• Gina K
• Becky Oehlers - Illustrator of It's the Little Things
• Beth Silaika- Illustrator of Lots Of Thanks
• Debbie Corbari-  Illustrator of Celebration Diva
• Melanie Muenchinger- Illustrator of Stampers' Favorites  (you are here!)
• Carolyn King-Illustrator of Elegant Flourishes
• Theresa Momber - Illustrator of Vertical Greetings

Did You See?

 

I hope you all are finishing up a fabulous weekend!  Our Gina K. Designs release of new stamps is coming this Thursday, and Gina has already started the sneak peeks!  I am so excited to release my first set since September!  Here is just a peek of one greeting and image. 

Are you on the "feather train" yet?;)   Wonder what else this set might contain...?:)

Gina K. Designs Black Friday

Stamps and patterned papers on sale, oh my!

Hope you are all having a fabulous time of thanks with family! :)

Ready for New Year's...

Here is another card I made for that winter call I mentioned on Monday, using my Lots of Letters set, and Beth Silaika's Lot of Dots.  Gina K. Powder Blue, Navy and Blue Denim inks are the perfect palette on Pure Luxury White for a Hanukkah, winter or New Years card!  Be sure to remember the glitter, here the dots are embossed with an iridescent clear EP, to make it more snowy and festive looking!

I went ahead and added a Christmas /Happy New year greeting to the inside of this card, I like those that work double duty!

It is so cold (for Texas anyway!) here this week! Brrrr!

A Year in the Making

No, this didn't take a year to make, but I don't think I ever showed you this card!  I made it months and months and months ago for a pub call, but it was not accepted.  I still love how it turned out! The best thing about "rejects", you get to actually send them to someone!* :)  And being that the season for the call is always way ahead, when the holiday finally rolls around I find, surprise, I'm more set than I thought I was for cards! (found this sifting through my basket)  This uses Becky Oehler's Warm Woolen Mittens and a heart Spellbinders die for the middle.  Sponging more pink ink to the underside of the heart makes it very "heart warming" indeed. ;)  Snuggling the heart inside the mittens just feels like a big hug, no?  (Did I mention I love this card?)  TIP:  Repeating the twine on the button at the lower right balances out the loop at the top left, so the string just keeps pulling your eye all around the card, love it!  (I said "love" again)

Supplies: Innocent Pink, White and Kraft Pure Luxury cardstock, pink button and brown bakers twine, corner rounder punch.

*Don't worry, I do send out published cards at some point, once they are returned to me and the magazine is finished with them.

Have a great day!

Really Good Gift #1

I wanted to tell you about a beautiful book my stepmother sent to us recently, which I think would be a really nice family tradition for you and a terrific Christmas gift for giving.  A Father's Legacy is a journal with a prompt on each page to have a father explain boyhood, the people who influenced him, holiday memories family traditions, etc, all things that kids would be interested to know but might never actually be discussed.  Flipping through it I was really impressed by the thoughtfulness of the different questions and realized not only would this be valuable for my kids to have, but a great way for me to get to know more about my husband.  We've been together 16 years but I still hear stories  that make me say "You never told me that!"*   He's not much for writing, so I will most definitely need to be his scribe to get thing done (started!).   My plan is to bring this book out at the dinner table sometimes because these are great conversation starters, the boys always love to hear dad's stories, but dinner is also a time where lots of life lessons and "stuff that Paul thinks is really important for them to know" is conveyed!  Also, I am thinking this will be a nice thing to do before bed when we are tucked in and he is watching the news, I can ask him to share a bit (during commercial break!) and then jot it down.  What a treasure it will be!

Anyway, with the holidays coming up, I think this is the first of my "this would be a really good gift" posts (see title).  We can always use more gift ideas, right?  These will be some I have received, and some I have given that were particularly well received.  Perhaps there will be some sprinkled in that are more "Wow, I sure would like to have this!"  because really , sometimes you might need to buy a little prezzie for yourself. :)  So for what it's worth!  Feel free to come back in the comment section of each and share ideas or even links of some you think are really great, too, because I just love something out of the box, that would be great for me to freshen up my gift giving also.

*This goes for recipes, as well. He'll bust out some dish he's never mentioned before that is the best thing I ever put in my mouth and will say, " Oh, we always made this growing up.  I have to save some surprises so you won't get tired of me."

Continued Season's Greetings

Here is a very simple card you could mass produce that I made with the StampTV kit Season's Greetings.  I love this reindeer silhouette! Repeat the image by stamping off twice.  This technique is great not only for adding multiple shades but also movement, now they are prancing!  Ink is the new Gina K. Charcoal Brown.  The touch of gray in this brown ink makes it such a versatile, unique neutral.  I used Pure Luxury In the Navy cardstock and the coordinating ink for the sentiment.  Add a little red colored pearl for his nose! The repeating pearls emphasize the sentiment and tie in the red embellishment. Some wispy white organdy from the kit adds softness to the card.  I folded up the white mat's corner just a touch to add a little more interest.

How's everyone doing on their holiday cardmaking?  Sifting through my basket yesterday I was pretty pleased with how many I have already just for making samples for our last few releases!  Yeah!

Do you know we have a new release coming up in just a few short weeks?  I have a new set I am so excited about, that I hinted about on Facebook, oh, maybe a month or two ago now, lol!  I couldn't be more pleased with the illustrations and hope you'll love this as much as I do. :)

Hugs!!

The Black Sheep

Here is another card I made with Fleece Navi-baa.  Coloring just the one little sheep black among all the others (who is also facing the other way, going against the grain) really emphasizes the point: Baa humbug!  They're all so cute that sentiment can't even bring you down!  Add just a touch of gray pencil to the whiteys to set them off from the white background and the little shadows underneath all blended with a waterbrush really adds dimension.

Supplies:  Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, and Moonlit Fog cardstock, Gina K. Black Onyx Premium Dye ink, Faber-Castell neutral watercolor pencils, water brush, Spectrum Noir red and green markers, Gina K. black stitched ribbon and red bakers twine

Are you the black sheep in your family?  Time to embrace it!  Cast off old labels and celebrate your uniqueness. :)  There's a reason you're so different from everyone else. ;)

Faber-Castell Products on Blitsy Today!

 
Guess what, some of the Faber-Castell pens and crayons you've been ogling this week are on sale today at Blitsy, including the Big White Pen you are loving!  Plus a ton of other items!  If you used ot look at Blitsy's deals but havne't stopped by in a while, you will be amazed at how much they are offering on a daily basis!  Get a Big White Pen before they're gone, see the card i made with in my post below!   I may have to go throw a few of their colored bigg pens in the cart, would be greta to have some other opque inks for coloring on dark cardstock!

If you haven't signed up for Blitsy yet, it is free to do so.  You'll be glad you did. :)

Have a terrific weekend!  We have some really fun plans, I can't wait!

Gina K. Designs Faber-Castell Hop: Day 3

 
Welcome to Day 3 of the Gina K. Designs/Faber-Castell Blog Hop!  We are so excited to team up with the Faber-Castell designers! Both  design teams are sure to WOW you with their many beautiful, creative ideas for using Gina K. and Faber-Castell products together.    We've got another incredible day of inspiration for you, so let's get started!  Don't forget to keep those comments coming as you hop through the blogs to enter to win a Gina K. Designs stamp set of your choice (up to a $24.95 value)

Pop over to the Faber-Castell Blog  and leave a comment for a chance to win a Designing With Gelatos Kit, too!

I used three Faber-Castell products here: Stamper's Big White pen, which is hands down the BEST white pen I've tried, and worked beautifully on this Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury Kraft cardstock for my sheep (Gina K. Designs Fleece Navibaa set by Debbie Corbari), snow and drift; their neutral watercolor pencils to add some gray shadows to the body and brownish gray for his ears and face, both blended with a water brush; and finally silver and gold metallic pens to fill in the lights. Of course add a dot of white highlight over the gold and silver for dimension and twinkle! These pens and pencils I will be using again and again!  Red Hot cardbase, Black Onyx ink pad, Kraft button and ribbon are of course all Pure Luxury from Gina K Designs. :)
 
 Thank you Faber-Castell for your outstanding products and hopping with us today!

Now please go visit the lovely and talented Michelle Woerner!!

Inspiration Hop, Day 2: Fleece Navibaa and Cheers

Good morning!  The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop! Gina and the Design Team hope to inspire you with many beautiful ideas for our newest holiday offerings from Gina K Designs. 

First up, love this punny Christmas set Fleece Navibaa by Debbie Corbari !

 Love these decked out holiday ewes, stamped in Black Onyx on Pure Luxury White. Lots of fun elements in this set like snow and Christmas trimmings to make the sheep even more festive.  I thought the scalloped frame was perfect with their pudgy wooly bodies! 

Gina K Pure Luxury White, Christmas Pine, Kraft and Cherry Red cardstock, red bakers twine, gray watercolor Pencil and white pen, waterbrush,  red and green markers,  Scalloped Rectangles die.

Next up we have the mini set Cheers, which goes from Christmas straight into the celebratory new year, and beyond!  I always love a toasting glasses motif, and this Christmas tree is so stylish!

 I stamped the tree and sentiment in the new Navy ink on Pure Luxury White and used some of the GKD Season's Greetings patterned paper.  (This comes in the new STV kit or you can purchase it separately) Just a few adhesive rhinestones and some Powder Blue ribbon and you're done!

And finally, just a reminder off the awesome stamps you can receive this month with qualifying orders!  Put together any type of products from the Gina K Store, not just new stuff, to qualify.  No samples yet because I haven't gotten my order... ;)

Ready for more inspiration?  As you hop through our design team blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products.  Happy hopping!

• Gina K
• Debbie Corbari Illustrator of Fleece Navibaa
• AJ Otto
• Beth Silaika
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Latisha Yoast
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Michelle Woerner
• Lee Murphy
• Sean Fetterman
• Sharon Harnist
• Valerie Stangle 

To see the full list of winners, please check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops.

Inspiration Hop, Day 1: Season's Greetings StampTV kit

Good morning!  Today kicks off our October release and we are so excited to be sharing with you.  Gina and the Design Team hope to inspire you the next couple days with many beautiful ideas for our newest holiday offerings from Gina K Designs.

 

Today we are devoting to Gina's newest fabulous StampTV kit Season's Greetings, as usual packed with stamps, paper and more!
  I masked the snowflakes into the different panes in my Inspiration Mosaic using some sticky notes, and the greeting (stamped in the new Cranberry Tart ink pad and outlined with a grey pencil) and Santa were perfectly framed up on these two boxes.  Flakes are stamped in Red Hot and card base is Pure Luxury Cherry Red.  TIP:  I intentionally chose different shades of red ink and paper here to bring in the different colored shades of markers I used on his suit and ornament.

 And here is a simple two layer card with the new Gina K Ivory Pigment Ink!  I think this is the best, most opaque coverage I have ever gotten from a pigment pad, and I have tried many over the last 10 years!  Isn't that flourished border so striking stamped on the Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart cardstock?  Base is Heavy Weight Pure Luxury Ivory.

Finally, I made one last card just last night when I realized how cute *both* these little guys from the kit would be popping out of my Santa bag from my recent Beyond Baskets 2!  Hee!  :) 

Bag is stamped on Red Hot Pure Luxury.

Ready for more?  As you hop through our design team blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of Gina K. Designs products.  Happy hopping! 

• Gina K
• AJ Otto
• Beth Silaika
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Debbie Corbari
• Latisha Yoast
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Lee Murphy
• Michelle Woerner
• Sean Fetterman
• Sharon Harnist
• Valerie Stangle

To see the full list of winners, please check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hops.

Branching Out with Christine Okken

Good morning!  Christine Okken is a lovely friend I made through the CardMaker blog team, and  today, Christine has made some cards with my Branching Out,  one of the sets are featured in my book Fabulous Stamped Frames.   I am so enamored of her coloring and really all that she creates!  I haven't seen these new samples yet myself (I love surprises!) but I know we are all sure to be delighted and inspired!  Without further adieu, let's go have a look at Christine's blog, shall we?  Be sure to leave her some love!