Woodgrain Technique for JUGS

Hey gals - it's a JUGS Saturday technique day and today we want you to try the Woodgrain technique - just in time to make those masculine cards for Dad's Day!!! Please read all the details on the Just Us Girls blog - I'm very short on time and since I'm the hostess I already wrote all the details over there :-)

Here's my card....

Used one of my all time favorite sets - Happy Camper from GinaK - simple but a nice card for one of the men in my life! Hope you play along... this is a SUPER technique!

Have a great weekend,
Stampin Pam

Treasure Chest - Animal Kingdom

It's time for another blog hop from the Gina K CSS alumni team. Carolina has come up with a new theme called Treasure Chest - this month's treasure chest is a tribute to the Animal Kingdom and we were each asked to create a card or project that features one of Gina K's animal sets.

You should have arrived at my blog from Meisje's blog. If so, you are on the right path. If not you can start at the Stamp TV main page and start from the top.

I chose the Whatever Floats Your Boat stamp set and made this little baby card.

I punched out my sets of squares from Gina K Spring Colors CS in the blue and pink. I adhered them to Pure Luxury Chocolate base weight CS - then I ran that whole layer through my Swiss Dots CB embossing folder.

The focal point of my card is the sweet giraffe image which is matted with several layers and then popped up on dimensionals.  I bent the "window" up for a 3D effect - and tucked the sentiment flag under the giraffe layer.   I added a few pearls for an accent. I'm sorry I don't remember where I saw this layout but I thought it was perfect for my card.

Make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (March 1st), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that commenter will get a stamp set of their choice valued up to $24.95!

It's time to HOP along to Peggy Weiman's blog.

Thanks for stopping by - your comments are always encouraging and you make my day!!!
Hugs n Smiles,

Gina K CSS Blog Hop

It's time for a Stamp TV sketch blog hop brought to you by Gina K's Center Stage Alumni. You should have arrived here from Meisje's blog. (If not be sure to go back to Stamp TV and start at the begining and make all of the stops along the hop have a chance for a free Gina K stamp set!!)

If you are looking for my JUGS post please click here.

Here's the sketch we followed:

I wanted to make a card that is sort of a sympathy card but really it's a "Not Forgotten" card.  I've  used stamps from the set by that name from Gina K.

The papers I used are all from Gina K Designs. Black Pure Luxury Base weight CS for my card. Digital papers called Vintage Basics designed by Nina Bracket for GinaK. The words Dad, Husband and Son come from the Not Forgotten set. I used the polka dot frame stamp from Lovely Labels 2 . I finished it off with a bit of soft blue seam binding accented with a black button and a few black pearls. I used my Square Nesties to make the focal image (popped up on dimensionals).

Here's the inside of the card:

Another of the Vintage Basics paper, stamped with a sentiment from Not Forgotten stamp set. Flourish accent stamp is from Lovely Labels 2.

Ok - time to HOP on over to the next stop:

Peggy Wainman

Make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (February 1st), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs who will get a Gina K Designs stamp set of their choice valued up to $24.95!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend!

Hugs n Smiles

A Special Thank You

I can't tell you who this is for (yet) but I wanted to post this card. I used the new sketch challenge from Treehouse Thursday -- Challenge #75

I used several Nesties with one of my favorite new Gina K Designs Stamp sets Lovely Labels 2 - which coordinates with the new Nesties Labels16 dies. The words are from Gina K's  Elegant Flowers. The "swirly" accent next to the Thank You is actually the word TO: (I thought it was a small flourish) so I stamped it a couple of times and used some turquoise bling to "accent" it LOL.  The flower on the right is also from Elegant Flowers - stamped in Potters Clay (stamped off once) then overstamped with Hawaiian Shores. A tiny bit of MS glitter to make it sparkle.

I chose an unusal color combo - chocolate, pumpkin spice,  hawaiian shores and rustic cream.

Edited to add: After I posted this I discovered Elise's Color Cue combo - THESE exact colors! Woo Hoo!!! SO I'm adding this card to this fabulous color challenge: Color Cue combos from WPlus9!

Added some texture to my accent strips with CB folders. Here's a close up of the front panel.

I also decorated the inside with one of the accent stamps from Lovely Labels 2 and the floral from Elegant Flowers.

This is for someone special who has made a difference in my life and I just wanted to say Thank you for that. I'll edit my post later and let you know who I made it for.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs n smiles,

A Rose for You

It's a Just Us Girls colorific Saturday! Yep Kathryn is our hostess this week and she has chosen red, black and green (with an optional neutral) as our colors this week. Yum!

Here's my take on this weeks' colors...

I seem to be low on birthday cards so I decided to make one to add to my stash. I started with one of my all time favorite images from Gina K by Melanie Muenchinger - the rose from A Year of Flowers. I stamped it on Gina K Pure Luxury Ivory CS then colored it with copics. I cut out the colored image with a nestie Label 9 then mounted that over a Large scalloped nestie oval in green.  For my black BG I used my MS trellis punch and then my swirls cuttlebug on the top part for a richly textured BG.

I added a few pearls to the bottom and a small ribbon topped off with a button accent.  I left the sentiment for the inside...

I again used Gina K stamps to create my verse inside. This is two stamps from the Inside and Out set. I also added another rose to the corner of the inside. Below you can see a side view with the peek at the inside.

I hope you will get your mojo on and come color with JUGS this week. Be sure to stop by the design team (in my sidebar -->) for a look at their creations and our Featured Designer this month Lynn Mangan who also has a lovely card to share.

Have a great weekend.

Hugs n Smiles

JustRite, GinaK, Joans Garden Challenges!!

Well - for once I got a good chunk of time this weekend to PLAY! I was so excited that I got to tackle quite a few challenges so bear with me - several cards here - I didn't post all the details so contact me if you need to know something specific. ALL of these were cards I needed (do you keep a list? I do...) so it was a great way to get two things done at the same time!!

First up - I created another card for JustRite's Friday Challenge #25 which was called Inside and Out. I used the sentiment set Joyful Hearts Borders and Centers and combined it with some PTI designer paper. Here's the outside...

And here is the inside:

Next up - the Gina K July release challenges:

1. Jessica's sketch challenge

2.  Theresa's In the Round challenge - use at least NINE circles or round shapes.

3. Lee's Color Challenge - Black and White only

Finally -  Joan's Garden - make a Patriotic card - Red, White, Blue plus embossing. Although I didn't use an embossing folder I did use my score pal to create a couple of embossed lines on my card. This will go to my "other son" - my son's best friend that is serving in Afghanistan. He'll love it even though it's late.

Well - that's it - OH yes I did another project for My Time Made Easy - you'll see it in a couple of days and I got a start on JUGS challenges - trying to "work ahead" with the wedding coming up. Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and have a great week ahead.

Hugs n Smiles.

A few challenge projects

Hi gals,
Well I got a chance to do some playing along with a couple of challenges so I have several cards to post. Not a ton of detail cause I'm ready for bed now.

First up - Joan's Garden -Joan is hosting a new weekly challenge so I wanted to try and play along this time. We were to use any Just Rite floral stamp set and to use pink, green and yellow. So here's my card:

I used the Plant a Little Love set from JR. It's beautiful and I love the large size! I colored with copics and did a second layer which I cut out and popped up for some dimension. I added a little yello-green glitter to the flower centers, used some tiny pink rhinestones around the scallop and larger rhinestones on the corners. The DP is Lemonade from Basic Grey.

Here's a closer look:

Next up - A joint effort card from Selma Stevenson and me... when Selma and I returned from Joan's workshop we had a little time to play. Selma created this card and I finished it up (heh - all I did was add ribbon and the large flowers). But I was able to send it to my DD in Germany just to let her know I'm thinking about her - her last visit home got cancelled because of that volcano in Iceland.  Check out how Selam makes the fabulous vellum flowers. Here tutorial is HERE.

I also had a chance to get back over to Stamp TV for a couple of quick challenges. First up is this week's color challenge - Pink, Orange and Green.  SERIOUSLY? Oh boy now this is what I call a challenge - BUT I think I got it... and here it is...

I used the Spring Florals set from Gina K Designs - masked and stamped 3 sets of these fun flowers. Colord some pink and some orange.  Nestie matted with the Large scallop oval and then added another mat of green. Some CB embossing and a MS punch - ribbon and sentiment. All done!

Here's the inside - super fun to carry through the flowers...

Last up - one more Stamp TV challenge - to make a Christmas card and let the sentiment be the main focus of the card.  Here's my simple card for this one.

Stamps are from Gina K. I added a little bit of Eskimo Kisses DP and used the sketch from Waltzingmouse Stamps again.

I added another senti to the inside:

Whew - ok I'm officially tired now - I think I was in my stamp studio for a good three hours!
Thanks for popping in - do you have a favorite from these? I'd love to know which one if you do.

Have a great rest of your weekend.
Hugs n Smiles,

Gina K Creative Cookout Hop

It's time for another CSS Blog hop!

Several members of the CenterStage Spotlight Alumni team have gathered some of their favorite BBQ Picnic recipes together to make another cookbook!  The cookbook will be available for FREE over on the StampTV Freebie page for you to download and print at your leisure. Since we are paper crafters - the team was challenged to also make a project with our recipe in mind to share with everyone tonight on our blogs!

I decided to provide a family favorite recipe for Foil Potatoes. We originally made these on camping trips but we also now make them on the back yard grill.

I thought it would be fun to give this set of the seasonings to my future SIL so he can carry on the tradition - he loves these potatoes and now he can grill them up for my DD (his future wife)! Just a small gift but look how fun it is when it's all packaged up!

Here's a close up of the gift set.

I printed up some double sided digital gingham paper onto some GKD pure luxury card stock (nice and sturdy) and made up this Card Catch All template from My Time Made Easy.  Red gingham on one side, brown on the inside. I added a simple flat bow with some red ribbon then made a couple of cute tags with my nesties using Gina K's Lovely Labels. I used Theresa's Happy Camper stamp set for the words, the Happy Birthday sentiment, and the camp stove image. Since this recipe had its roots from our camping days I thought it would be fun to follow that theme.

Please check out the links of all the participating designers and then download the Recipe booklet and let us know how you like them! We'd love your "FEEDback" *grin*

• Jessica Fick: Grilled Pizza
• Betty Neville: Mom's Chinese BBQ Ribs
• Joy Hadden: Whiskey BBQ Sauce
• Tina Gilliland: Homemade Enchiladas
• Sue Van deVusse: Midwestern Kabobs
• Melissa Shultz: Foil Babies
• Geri Utterback: Oven Baked Beans
• Pam Imholz: Foil Potatoes
• Sharri Seffens: Calico Beans
• Carla Suto: Grilled Vegetables
• Dawn Lusk: Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salad
• Peggy Wainman: Bean Salad
• Karen Knegten: Miss Lucy's Rice Salad
• Jennie Harper: Picnic Coleslaw
• Cheri Weston: Fiesta Pie
• Brenda Turner: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
• Lori McAree: Dessert Pizza
• Giovana Smith: Peruvian Alfajores
• Carolina Buchting: Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter Cream Frosting
• Jen Charboneau: Dirt Cake

Thanks for stopping by -
Hugs n Smiles,

Gina K Blog Hop

Time for a new kind of HOP over here with Gina K Designs. This time the hop is open to all members of StampTV who want to play along.  We had to use one of this month's new release stamp sets - that was the only requirement. Since I just received my fabulous Festive Frames by the "Oh so talented Melanie Muenchinger", here's my card for tonight's hop:

This close up will show you more about how I did the poinsettias - I stamped and colored the entire image then I stamped the two corners again on a 2nd sheet of Pure Luxury Ivory CS and colored just the flowers and then cut those out with sharp snips and popped them up over the first layer. I added pearls to the centers of the flowers and the berries have each been dotted with Crystal Effects for that shiny glossy look. I also colored the oval "frame" (pink) and the outside of the overall frame (Green) with my copics to give the illusion of more layers.

Thanks for looking! Have fun hopping and have a GREAT WEEKEND!
Hugs n smiles...

Gina K Center Stage Spotlight DT Blog Hop

Welcome to our first Center Stage Spotlight Design Team Blog Hop!

Greetings everyone. Are you ready for some fun? We've got some great eye candy for you tonight. Jessica Fick, the Design Team Coordinator for Gina K Designs has issued a challenge to all of the past and present team Center Stage Spotlight (CSS) team members to make a Christmas card with one of these sketches.

I know you're going to LOVE what everyone has designed for us tonight! First up - my card which is followed by the list of all the Blog Hop participants - this hop should really get your geared up for Christmas card ideas! Be sure to leave everyone a little "love" as you hop around. ENJOY!!

I finally got a chance to ink up my Very Merry Christmas set by Theresa Momber. I LOVE these bells - and really wanted to use them with the musical BG image from Nina's new set Vintage Borders (but it's not here yet) :-(  so I cut up a strip of sheet music instead. I tried to make my bells gold but I'm sort of lacking on yellow copics - hopefully you get the idea.   I did use some gold sparkle pen on the bell middle - here's a close up that maybe you can see the gold edge. The sentiment is such a beautiful scripty font but it stamps crisp and sharp like all Gina K stamps.

Papers: all GKD card stock: Rocket Red, Ivory, and Good as Gold   Accessories: Metallic paste rub on, GKD Ivory Sateen Flowers, MS border punch, Nesties, gold rhinestones. This is a great sketch - I hope you'll try it, too.

NOW - on to the hop... here are the links for Gina K herself and the Current CSS Team Members:

Gina K

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 who are 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

Some of GinaK's Senior Design Team Members and Illustrators wanted to get in on the fun tonight too:

Asela Hopkins

Carolyn King

Cindy Lawrence

Jessica Fick

Lee Murphy

Lynn Mercurio

Nina Brackett

Melanie Muenchinger

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.

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 on Thursday morning. We'd love to see your cards with the sketch too!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great rest of the week :-)

Inspiration Mosaic Quilts

I finally got a chance to work with Melanie Muenchinger's stamp set, Inspiration Mosaic, (available through Gina K Designs). I put it to use to make two quilt cards. Now, I am NOT a sewer but I love quilts so this was my way to make a paper quilt.

This first card was designed as a thank you for my colleague, Cathy, who made a t-shirt quilt for my daughter. We gathered all of Dee's favorite t-shirts from college and Cathy made them into a spectacular t-shirt quilt. ABSOLUTELY fabulous. (Dee hasn't seen it yet so I'm not posting a pic.) I wanted my thank you card to reflect the concept of a quilt so I turned to Melanie's Inspiration Mosaic stamp.
I started out by stamping the mosaic onto a piece of white CS (my "master quilt"). Each quilt piece was stamped onto designer paper from PTI, cut out then adhered to the master quilt. Two of the solid pieces of CS were stamped in Versamark with the words thank you and grateful as a subtle sentiment on the front. Once the "master quilt" was assembled I ran the whole thing through my CB with the swirls embossing folder. A big fun flower with a button center was my final touch.
I added a couple of strips of DP to the inside with a thank you senti. The best part about this card? My quilter friend loved it so much she is framing it for her wall in her quilt room!!!

I thought this was so much fun that I made another quilt card from Inspiration Mosaic. This one is for the Color Challenge on Stamp TV this week. I used GinaK's Pumpkin Spice, Green Apple, SU! So Saffron and Vanilla CS. I followed the same process as the first one only I CB'd each piece before I adhered it, instead of the whole master quilt. For the wreath I stamped the mini sunflower image from Theresa Momber's Autumn Beauty in a circle using Butterscotch Vivid Ink then colored with copics, cut with Nesties, and sponged a bit of So Saffron. I added a fun bow from some fun fibers, and a few buttons to finish it off.

Thanks for looking! Have a great week :-)