Sunrise wishes

Just a quick post today - we've got wedding work to do.  I was blown away by this card from Geri recently and was dying to try out her tutorial - found here. SO - with many thanks to Geri for this cool technique and some unabashed casing of Geri's work - here's my little take on the sunrays idea. I made this for Lee's color challenge to use turquoise and lemon plus one neutral!

After I created the sunrays, I sponged a 1" punched circle and adhered it to the "horizon".  I also add a few little birds in the sky. It's hard to see but under the sea, the fish (From GIna K's Best Fishes set)  has spica glitter on her scales, lips and fins - as well as the bubbles. The sentiment says "Best Fishes" but it's also hard to see.  If I do another one I will ink more of the sunray space so there is less "white space" in between but I didn't have time to re-do it today.

Thanks Geri for a super fun tutorial - I'm sure I'll try this again.
Have a great day everyone.

Hugs n Smiles,

Baby Love!

I've got a couple of new Gina K Design stamp sets and papers to share today and you will LOVE them.
First up is Nina Bracket's Lovely Labels - I just LOVE these new stamps - there are stamps in the set that work perfectly with Nestabilities Labels 1, Labels 4, Labels 8 and Labels 9!!! That is good news for all you nesti-holics like me! Add to that Rupa's new Oh Baby!! stamp set and you've got a winning combination.

 

I started with Gina K's new Lovely Lavender cardstock and added a layer of the new digital paper Swing Into Spring (also by Nina) in Lemon Drop yellow. I punched the edges of the two papers for a lacy effect and added a strip of lavender organdy ribbon under the nestie layer.

 

I used the plaid/floral label that fits Labels 8, stamped the sentiment and then punched out a Labels 4 layer as the base for a different matted look. I used my Y11 copic to add a touch of yellow to the purple label stamp. The sentiment stamp here and on the inside are from the Oh Baby! set as is the adorable teddy bear. I colored teddy with Y11 and Y00 plus some accents of BV00, added a couple of tiny purple rain drop embellishments to his tummy,  then cut him out and adhered teddy with a couple of pop dots. I added a couple of purple embellishment gems (Hobby Lobby) to the card for a finishing accent.

Finally, a look at the inside. Used the same label stamp from Lovely Labels and colored it the same - added a different sentiment and then matted that layer over a polka dot Lemon Drop DP layer. Stamped the diaper pins in the corner and the card is ready to send. :-)

Hop on over to Gina K Designs and see what's new in the store! Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs n Smiles,

Hope for Haiti

Hope is Faith... A fundraising effort to help earthquake devastated Haiti.

Feelings of Hope 

Gina K has challenged the CenterStage Spotlight team to make a card with the new Hope is Faith stamp set using the photo above for inspiration.  Check out Gina's blog for all the details on this special stamp set.

Here's my card... and one more below as well.

I worked with a bit of the flower colors although mine are not quite as bright and I used a similar style flower on my card. The butterfly was stamped on velum and copic colored then cut out and popped up for dimension. I used the crackled background stamp from Gina K's Bold Flowers - I embossed it with a mustard colored EP but it really lightened up when it heat set. It's new so maybe it's supposed to do that? I also had a beautiful blended yellow ribbon in my stash which pulled the yellows into my color palette and it worked perfectly to stamp the sentiment right onto the ribbon. My 2nd layer is embossed with swiss dots CB folder. A few golden rhinestones for a touch of sparkle. On the inside I used the same yellow paper but stamped a portion of the B-fly in the corner.

Here's another card I made with this same set for the recent Gina K release party. If you were at the party you probably saw this one.

On this one I used Theresa's awesome digi paper called Wings of Hope. It's beautiful. Isn't it great how completely different the two cards are - all depending on colors, accents, bling etc. I love the versatility of these beautiful stamps and papers. *sigh*

Those of you who have come to know my story might remember that I was on the Stampin' Cruise with GinaK in October 2008. Haiti was our first port of call and it was an amazing experience. I hold a special memories of this beautiful island and want to help the people who have suffered such loss.

Feelings of Hope Blog Hop

Please stop by these designers who are also participating in the hop tonight:

Jessica Fick

Diana S. Queen

Tina Gilliland

Pam Imholz (<--You are here!)

Carla Suto

Cheri Weston

Jennie Harper

Joy Hadden

Shannon Bracken

Karen Knegten

JenMarie Taylor

Brenda Turner

Giovanna Smith

Sue Morris

Melissa Shultz

Peggy Wainman

Sharri Seffens

Carolina Buchting

Geri Utterback

Melissa Cash

Betty Neville

Janice Melton

Jen Charboneau

DeeMarie Kelemen

Linda Payne

Lori McAree

Kay Simmons

Shelly Wilson

Selma Stevenson

Sue Walsh

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs n Smiles,

Cover Girl!

Well gang - Bear with me --- I have some SUPER exciting news to share with you today! Some of you have read my recent post for the Gina K Designs Holiday Treats Blog Hop and hopefully many of you downloaded the free recipe book. If you did read that post then you know that I was tickled pink to have my project featured on the COVER of the recipe book. :-)  :-)

NOW comes the really good stuff.... I got a package in the mail on Saturday - I thought it might be yet another real estate company's calendar and almost didn't open it.  Well, I did open it and WOW - there was a copy of the latest Just Cards Magazine - with a letter saying that they had featured one of my projects in this volume.  *SWOON* Oh my - that meant one of my cards was actually PUBLISHED in a real MAGAZINE!!! LOL {I submitted this in March and had totally forgotten about it - LOL}

So as I began to look at the magazine to find what page my card was on (pg 27 and write up is on page 26) I discovered that my project was featured.... ON THE COVER!!!! Yep - I'm a "cover girl" - TWICE in one week. I was so over the moon my DH needed to hang on to me so I didn't float away.

Here's the mag cover (my card is the yellow tulip one - the highlighting is mine, not on the actual cover):

Wait - it gets better still.... my card was created with Gina K Designs stamp sets, A Year of Flowers and Elegant Flowers for the sentiment. I thought Gina would get a kick out of knowing that so I sent her a quick note and guess what.... Gina sent me a publishing BONUS ( yeah some real $) AND I get to chose a stamp set for free - NOW HOW COOL IS THAT???? It wasn't just for me - it's for anyone who has a card that uses exclusively Gina K Designs stamps which gets published in a major card magazine !!! SO - get out your favorite GKD stamps and start submitting!! There is nothing quite like the feeling of seeing your work published!

Here's the recipe cover too in case you missed it - I'm the red card, cookies:

Ok - so it feels a little strange to "toot my own horn"  - trust me - it's just more the total excitement to share with all my stampin' friends and followers - we ALL can relate to the exhilaration of something as exciting as this.

Have a great week! Hugs and HUGE smiles...

Gina K Sweet Treat Blog Hop

Do you love sweet treats for the holidays? OK - dumb question - Then be sure to follow along on this Christmas Treat Recipe Blog Hop presented to you by Gina K's CenterStage Alumni from StampTV - those of us participating have "cooked up" some recipes and coordinating cards for your eating and viewing pleasure...



First up - here's a photo of the Candy Cane Oreo treats I made (be sure to check out the recipe document on Stamp TV under the "Freebies" tab!!!) My "peppermint" flameless candle was a perfect accessory to this plate of cookies.

Next - I made a coordinating card to go with my goodies.

Red and white was an obvious choice to go with my treats - Rocket Red and Pure Luxury White CS (GKD). I then used several stamps from the Vintage Borders set - I was DEEELIGHTED with how sharp the images are when embossed - the writing is quite fine and using detail embossing powder still provided a very sharp, crisp image! A fun piece of red and white striped ribbon was perfect to keep with the "candy cane" idea. The scallop at the top is an embossed image from the stamp set (I LOVE THIS SET!!!)

Here's a close up of the detail embossing.

Next, the entire ensemble... cookies and card - ready for gift giving OR just sharing at a holiday party.

AND finally, here is the inside of the card...  more Vintage Borders PLUS sentiment from the Festive Frame stamp set.

Thanks for hopping by - I hope I whet your appetite for a sweet treat AND some great eye candy, too!

Several members of the Center Stage Spotlight Team have whipped up some treats in their kitchens and their stamp rooms over the past few weeks so we could compile our very first Recipe Book for StampTV! Check out these designer's blogs for the sweet projects they've designed around their treats:

Carolina Buchting
Carla Suto
Deb Felts
Donna Baker
Giovana Smith
Jennie Harper
Jessica Fick
Joy Hadden
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons
Lee Murphy
Linda Payne
Lori McAree
Melissa Cash
Pam Imholz
Selma Stevenson
Sue Morris
Sue VanDeVusse
Sue Walsh
Vicki Dutcher

Then, stop by GinaK's blog for a super sweet give-away she has tonight in honor of the hop!

The Recipe Book will be available as a free download PDF on StampTV tonight as well. Look for it on the Freebie Tab link.

***Check out the cover of the holiday treat booklet!!! :-)  :-)  :-) 

Just Us Girls Challenge #10 - Sketch Time

*** If you are looking for my March of the Snowmen post please CLICK HERE ***

It's sketch time with Just Us Girls and I am this week's hostess. I hope you like the sketch. I created TWO projects with it - they are similar but feature different colors. First off - here's the sketch. Remember you can flip the sketch  - be inspired!

Here's what I came up with:

I used stamps from both Gina K (the sentiment) and PaperTrey (to make the ornaments). I used Faux Ribbon to make one of the "ornaments" and then I used the tree from the Holiday 2009 Tags - both from PTI. I added a small snippet of gold paper (from Gina K and it is my most favorite gold paper ever!) to make the ornament "tops" and a bit of gold cord to make the "hangers." All of the gold was stamped with Versamark and embossed with fine gold embossing powder.  My ribbon is a bit of gold and ivory braid and my "bow" was replaced by a gold tree from a length of ribbon that I have yet to use. It fit perfectly in this layout. Gold balls from Gina K provide the final embellishments in the two opposite corners. The BG is Cranberry Tart paper (Gina K) and was embossed with swiss dots CB. Here you can see the details of the embossed ornaments and sentiment.

For my second card I used the same concept only worked with PTI's Enchanted Evening (a really rich blue) and silver:

Sentiment is from Gina K's A Very Merry Christmas - the "flourish" comes from Gina K's Vintage Borders set;  the ornaments were made using PTI's Faux Ribbon and Guide Lines. I stamped with silver ink then embossed with silver powder. BG is embossed using Textile folder. A bit of white organdy ribbon topped with silver ribbon and a few glitter dots to finish off.

I hope you will play along with Just Us Girls this week. Be sure to provide us with a direct link to your card on the Mr. Linky on our JUGS blog.

Also - please stop by and leave some love for my fellow DT girls - they have some amazing inspiration for you as well.

Dana

Kristen

Lisa

Mona

Maria

Tracey
Alicia (Welcome back and congrats on your new baby!!!!)

Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate your sweet comments - thanks for taking time to leave one.

CSS Challenge Blog Hop

It's time for another Gina K Designs Center Stage Spotlight DT Challenge Blog hop!

Hostess: Jessica Fick (our lovely DT coordinator)
Challenge for this hop: Stamp and color your image on Patterned Paper

     (ok to cut out and pop up the image as long as it was stamped and colored on PP first)

Requirement: Use any Gina K Designs stamp set and use **Glitter**

Bonus Challenge: Decorate the inside of your card to coordinate

So... with all of that in mind, here's the card I came up with - this was really hard for me to figure out - which image would show up and not fight with the patterned paper, and which patterned paper to use...

I needed a birthday card for a friend who loves butterflies, so I started playing with the butterfly from Gina K's Take Flight. I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch and stamped the butterfly on some SU! designer paper (with butterflies) then colored the stamped butterfly with my copics. This was the hard part - the colors changed since my base paper color was not white - but in all, it kind of deepened the color palette I was working with so it still coordinated.  I added my glitter on the butterfly wings with Sakura clear stardust pens then cut it out.  I actually stamped a 2nd butterfly on white CS and cut it out just a tiny bit bigger so that my colored butterfly would "pop" more. I added a sentiment from the Tag Lines set (also stamped directly on the patterned paper) and some pearls as embellies.

Finally, here's what I did on the inside: the sentiment is one I've had for ages and I use it a lot.

Participating Designer's: Be sure to visit these talented Center Stage Spotlight members's blogs:

Brenda Turner
Carla Suto
Carolina Buchting
Cheri Weston
Deb Felts
Geri Utterback
Giovana Smith
Gina Krupsky
Janice Melton
JenMarie Taylor 
Jessica Fick 
Jennie Harper
Joy Hadden
Karen Knegten
Kay Simmons
  Linda Payne
  Lori McAree
Melisa Waldorf
Melissa Cash
Melissa Shultz
Nina Brackett
Peggy Wainman
Selma Stevenson
Shannon Bracken
Sharri Seffens
Sue Morris
Sue VanDeVusse
Sue Walsh
Tina Gilliland

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are inspired from the many beautiful creations you see tonight. Have a lovely weekend.

Mojo Monday

I had to laugh at the title of my post - Mojo Monday - on Saturday - Work is keeping me SUPER busy right now as we prepare for a new school year to start up again - I really wanted to work with this sketch and just couldn't get to it till now.

I inked up my So Grateful set from Gina K Designs and used my new nesties Labels 4 instead of a circle. Was in the mood for red and brown today - did some sponging on both nestie layers but I slipped out of the die on the kraft layer so I ended up with some red on my embossed layer. *sigh* I just didn't have time to redo it.

Thanks for a great sketch Mojo girls!!! and thanks to my "followers" for taking an interest. :-) Have a lovely weekend. It's HOT and humid so maybe I'll get a lot of stamping done here.

Poppin Pastels & Sneak Peek

Hi All,
Just a quick post today - we have friends visiting from MN and so I'm not doin' much stampin' for the next several days. Gina K has posted a new tutorial this week on Stamp TV on the Poppin' Pastels chalk technique. I had not done this in quite a while so I gave it a whirl. The DP is called Flip Flop Tan and it came from the SOA event and was free for all SOA participants - I love the bright, vibrant colors. The butterfly is from Eclectic Summer (GKD). Great fun to revisit techniques that we sometimes forget about as we learn new ideas.

Also - be sure to visit tomorrow for this week's color challenge from Lauren Meader and the My Time to Create team. Here's a sneak peek of what you'll be seeing from the DT tomorrow.

Cheers and happy weekend!

Center Stage Blog Hop - Many Wishes and Mojo Monday 93

I'll be sharing two cards with you today (so scroll all the way down) as I write my final post as a "Center Stage Spotlight Designer" for Gina K Designs. It has been an absolute blast. Each of the 6 of us CSSDs were assigned one of the new stamps sets being released in June. I got the beautiful and versatile "One Free with Three" set for this month called Many Wishes. There is a "Wishing you" sentiment plus 8 additional words and a cute little "&" image so you can combine those into dozens of combinations to find the perfect sentiment for your needs. I wanted to create a rather elegant card with this set for a sympathy or thinking of you card (which is what I needed.) I started with some vintage silver luster paper* for an elegant look then mounted it on Gina K's Black Onyx Pure Luxury base weight CS. That pure luxury CS is DIVINE and it really stands up! I stamped the dandelion images with Memento Black ink and, due to the texture of the paper, they took on a softer gray tone which is what I wanted. I added a black glitter dot to the center of each and a simple piece of satin black ribbon for a finishing touch.

For the inside of the card (I folded it inside out to photograph it) I continued with the vintage silver luster paper, added the "comfort & peace" sentiments, a couple more dandelions and a touch of ribbon. I also stamped the envelope so it would complete the effect. I love this set - it is SO versatile!!! Thank you, Gina. :-)


One final card I created using Many Wishes was this simple one I created for today's Mojo Monday Sketch #93. I used some of the new Bug Me Anytime digital paper from Gina K and layered it onto Chocolate Kiss Pure Luxury Card Stock. I stamped the dandelions in dark chocolate ink and added a piece of white grosgrain ribbon (part of the Gina K Stamp TV kit earlier this year.) A few buttons for embellishments and a sentiment for success (this is for a job promotion!) and my simple card was done. I hope you have seen just a bit of the versatility of this great new set AND it's FREE if you buy three stamp sets from Gina K this month!

Now, take a moment and check out what the rest of the Center Stage Spotlight Design Team has in store for you. The gals (including Gina K herself!) have all been working hard this month so please stop and "leave them each a little bit of love."

Gina K, Selma, Carla, Carolina, Jennie and Melissa

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and sweet comments - this has really been a fun and challenging experience for me. I hope I have provided you with a wee bit of inspiration along the way. You can check out other ideas with Many Wishes in the Stamp TV Photo Gallery.

*Vintage silver luster paper is from PaperTemptress

One Free with Three!!! Many Wishes Stamp Set

I think everyone knows that Gina K Designs (GKD) is one of my favorite stamp companies and I just can't get enough of StampTV!! Well, this month I was selected as a Center Stage Spotlight Designer so it is my HONOR and privilege to share a sneak peek of a brand new set from Gina K that will be released TONIGHT!!! GKD always offers a FREE stamp set with the purchase of three other sets. This month the new Free with Three is called Many Wishes and it is deeeeeelightful. :-)

Here's one of the cards I created with this fabulous new set. I just LOVE that it is so versatile and can be used in many unique and different ways. I actually made a couple of different cards with this set but I'm saving the other previews for tonight's release party over on the Gina K forum on Splitcoast Stampers. Please come join us and the fun - click this link to get to the parteeee!

When I first saw this set I immediately thought of summer and bright, fun colors. I started with Pixie Pink for the first layer, then took the medium image and stamped that in Yoyo Yellow right over the pink, followed by the Gable Green for the center and the stem. I added a matching rhinestone for some "bling" in the center and some glitter to "sparkle" up the dandelion. You can see the detail of the glitter in this close up. I also wanted to add a touch of ribbon but I didn't want to wrap the ribbon around the whole card since I used a border punch to add some character to the left edge of the white layer. I used my nesties ribbon tag punch for the sentiment then threaded the ribbon through and tied each end off in what my grandma would have called a "french knot." See the detail in this close up.

Finally, I wanted to be sure that I finished the "wishing you..." with a sentiment on the inside of the card. I chose "laughter" for this card but there are SO many great sentiments to choose from! Many Wishes can be used for lots of occasions - you'll find yourself turning to it again and again.

A final thanks to Gina K for the Center Stage honor and opportunity - I honestly don't know how her Senior Design Team comes up with the fabulous creations day after day but they do - so please check out the other Design Team previews as well. Just follow the links below:

Gina, Carolyn, Cathy, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Joanne, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, and Theresa

Additionally, fellow CenterStage Spotlight Design Team member, Selma Stevenson, is joining us today with a special previews of another new set as well!

Thanks for looking! See you at the Gina K release party.
Hugs n smiles ...

Sketch Challenge - Anniversary Wishes

Hey Hey - it's time for another sketch challenge - this time from StampTV. I love trying new layouts to help spark my creativity :-)
This one was hosted by the talented Melissa Shultz.

So, I just received my package of new paper that I won (woo hoo) from PaperTemptress during the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's event. It was more beautiful than my wildest dreams! I have been dying to use Rupa's new set from Gina K Designs called With This Ring. I decided to use this week's Stamp TV sketch challenge and my new Luster Laser Silver paper along with the new Vintage Silver Luster paper to create this anniversary card. I couldn't completely keep to the sketch with the embellishments but since this is a non-traditional card size (4x8) I added my pearl embellishments along the bottom.

The luster laser silver paper has a pattern to it that makes it just gorgeous in person. It is hard to photograph so I apologize that I'm not doing it justice. I tried to photograph a close up so you could see the luster laser.

I used the vintage silver luster for the inside and as the mat for the front and it is amazing! It's always a challenge to try non-traditional card sizes but this one allowed me to really use several of the images from this set!

Thanks for looking - hugs n smiles.

StampTV and My Really Exciting News

Oh me oh my - I am jumping up and down - well, that is, after picking myself up off the floor first. LOL. I just got the news that I was selected to be "Center Stage" on StampTV. What does that mean? It means that five other Center Stagers and I will be part of the Gina K design team blog hop in June. We will each receive one of the not-yet-released stamp sets to feature during the blog hop. Woo Hoo! You can read Gina's official post here.

I am both honored AND humbled to have been selected for this thrilling opportunity! Thank you to all who have supported me with your kind comments and encouragement. The motto of StampTV is "Watch Your Creativity Grow" and I must say this is exactly what has happened to me. I joined StampTV on the first day it was revealed to the world and I have never looked back. It's AWESOME. Please come check us out - and if you join (it's free) be sure to add me as your friend! See you on the StampTV forums!

Huge HUGS n Big SMILES :-)

Designing Women Challenge

It was my turn to post a challenge for the Designing Women group I belong to on PTI. Since we're close to Father's Day I decided to challenge all the Designing Women to make a masculine card (Father's Day or masculine birthday) but no girly ribbons allowed. Twine or hemp is fine. Of course my REAL reason for this challenge is to gather more ideas since masculine cards are usually a bit harder for me to design. I want to see what all our talented women come up with. Here's my take on the challenge - used the new Guiding Light stamp set from Gina K Designs. (I couldn't figure out a card with a PTI set so I went with this one instead - I'm a bit short on time so no time to mull and play - just had to go with my first thought).

Instead of ribbon I also used the new Nautical Netting from GinaK. It's great fun! New wooden buttons from PTI which are threaded with the new rustic cream cord. Image colored with copics.

Can't wait to see what all the other girls come up with.
Have a great weekend!

Happy Trails - Designing Women Challenge

A challenge was offered up by Peggy from our Designing Women blogging group on PTI to use an animal for a card along with two designer papers. I am in need of a masculine retirement card for a colleague and immediately thought of Theresa's new "Out West" set offered by Gina K. I've been dying to ink this one up so here was the perfect opportunity. I used a scrap of a "masculine" DP I had on hand and made a 2nd patterned BG using PTI's Ripe Avocado that was stamped with the crackle background stamp from Gina K's Bold Flowers set. (Sorry I didn't have a PTI set with an animal but I love Gina K, too.)

I colored the horse and the cowboy hat with Copics and sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip. I did discover that Copics work VERY differently on a somewhat porous paper surface. I used a small piece of SU Kraft paper for the horse because I didn't want vanilla or stark white but it didn't take the color as nicely. It turned out OK but is something to be aware of.

Thanks for a fun challenge Peggy!