Gina K Release challenge 1

Last Thursday was Gina K Designs new release. As usual, in my opinion, Gina blew it right out of the park. There are great new sets from all the designers. At the release party on StampTV there were some challenges issued. This is the card I submitted for the first challenge. The challenge was to use at least 3 of the following colors: orange, yellow, green, red and white. I opted for orange, yellow, green and white. My new Spellbinders dies (August release) had also just arrived so I HAD to play with them.



I found this awesome DP in the Cafe Mediterranean DCWV paper pack. Have I mentioned how much I adore this DP? It's soooo much fun! I came up with this simple thank you card that could be made into many different types of cards, very generic. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals. Other than the die cuts, everything is just simply layered. One more for my stash... whew! My stash is finally starting to grow again. :-)

Recipe:
Stamps: Spring Mix (Gina K)
Paper: Dandelion, Fresh Asparagus, Sweet Mango, White (Gina K); DCWV DP
Ink: Bamboo Leaves, Potters Clay (Memento)
Accessories: Beaded Ovals, Classic Ovals (Spellbinders); flower punch (EK success)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Butterflies and Flowers

In my continuing practice with Copics, I decided to make a simple card with a large focal point. I chose to use the Northwoods stamp Asters with 3 Butterflies. I stamped the image with versamark, then Memento tuxedo black and embossed with clear embossing powder. For some reason, I've been reaching for purple a lot lately. Not quite sure why. Anyway, I colored the image with Copics and just left it at that. I did have to add a little ribbon because the card just didn't look finished without it. :0

Recipe:
Stamps: Aster with 3 Butterflies
Paper: Sweet Corn, Lovely Lavendar, White
Ink: Versamark, Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copics, Clear Embossing powder, ribbon

CONWAY~!!!

One of my FABULOUS friends sent me this cutie pie stamp by Whipper Snapper. His name is Conway Tweetie. I'm ashamed to say that this is the first time this stamp has been inked *cringing*. I'm trying to work on my coloring and thought this little guy would be good for blending practice. I used Gina K paper and sentiment. I love this sentiment because it's nice, but also general enough to be used for multi-purpose cards. I am wondering, though, what do y'all think of the button? I was going for a tire swing type feeling since it was a springy card. Not sure that's what I accomplished though! :-)

Recipe:
Stamps: Conway Tweetie, Enjoy the Sunshine
Paper: Sweet Corn, White, Innocent Pink, Gina K DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves
Accessories: Twine, button, nailheads, copics

An herbal get well

I don't know about you, but I never seem to have any get well cards when I need them. As I am in my sketch mode, I downloaded all the MojoMonday sketches to date. I chose to use this one... I think it is 149, but I'll have to double check. It looked like a really fun one! I also got to use some blingy paper, which I LOVE.

The stamps and the cardstock are from PaperteryInk, with the exception of the designer paper. The herbal tea tag is popped up with dimensionals. This is the type of card that would probably look great with a charm... but alas.. I havent gotten into that yet.

Recipe:
Stamps: Tea for Two
Paper: Scarlet Jewel, Lavendar Moon, Ivory, BoBunny designer paper
Ink: Memento Lulu Lavendar and Bamboo Leaves
Accessories: SU punches

Mojo Monday 153

I really do like using sketches to start a project. They seem to inspire lots of ideas. So, even though it's Friday, here is a MojoMonday project. I've been working on so many Christmas cards lately, I thought I should take some time out to do something different. There are a few people that I work with that I refer to as Rock Stars and this gives me the opportunity to recognize one of them with a card! It also gave me a chance to ink up Tami Mayberry's Stars stamp set. I actually won this set on StampTV. Awesome Prize or what????

Recipe:
Stamps: Stars (Gina K)
Paper: Green Apple, Sweet Mango, White (Gina K); DP- Cafe Mediterranean (DCWV)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Pear Tart, Rich Cocoa, Potter's Clay
Accessories: Nailheads, Shapeabilities Ribbon Trio 2, Double Stitch Ribbon
All of these products came from Gina K Designs

CardPatterns Christmas

YAY! Only one more day left in the work week after today. It couldn't come soon enough. Thursdays are rough for me :-) This is a Christmas card I made following the Card Patterns sketch for this week. I was able to break out a beautiful image by Northwoods that was gifted to me by a good friend. I really love poinsettias. I'm very glad that I am over my aversion to them. A couple of years ago I decided to make my Christmas cards using a retired SU Poinsettia set. I even cut the poinsettia's out. Silly me! They took me FOREVER and my hands really hurt. Anyway...

I decided to go with a traditional color scheme. I can't seem to get away from that. The great thing about Northwoods is that the images are so large that it's pretty easy to make a card, on the other hand, it's sometimes difficult to find a good placement for the sentiment :-)

Recipe:
Stamps: Northwoods Poinsettia, Sentiment (Gina K)
Paper: All Spruced Up, Lipstick Red, Metallic Silver (Gina K), White, DP
Ink: Memento Rhubarb Stalk, Black
Accessories: Copics

Tonight is the Gina K release over on StampTV. Cannot wait to go broke on my order for this month ;-)

Critter Creative

Happy Wednesday! Today's card combines 2 challenges, Our Creative Corner
and the Critter Sketch Challenge. The Critter challenge for this week is sposored by Limelight Papercrafts. The challenge was to use stripes and the color red. The challenge for Our Creative Corner was a sketch this week! Wheeeeee!



I broke out my Penny Black stamps, which I haven't worked with in awhile. I also took a little break from Christmas cards.. The image is popped up on dimensionals, other than that, it's all layers.. easy peasy!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Rainin' Daisies (Penny Black); Northwoods sentiment
Paper: White, Red Hot (Gina K); DP is unknown.. found it in my stash
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Ribbon, Chocolate Pearls, Nesties, Copics

Thanks for stopping by!

On a snow roll

I see all these challenges that ask for Christmas cards in non-traditional colors. I have to ask myself, what is non-traditional anymore? In my mind, this shade of blue is not traditional. I also have some friends that don't celebrate Christmas, so I like to have some winter cards on hand. I turned to my trusty Gina K stamps for this card.



I used the set designed by Rupa called Winter Friends. The snowpeople (like that political correctness?) are colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on dimensionals. In case you can't tell, the light is supposed to be coming from the upper right, I'm still practicing that whole light angle thing. The snow is embossed with the snowflake cuttelbug folder. I also used a little smooch spritz for some added sparkle!

Recipe:
Stamps: Winter Friends
Paper: Ocean Mist, In the Navy, Silver Metallic
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Paris Dusk
Accessories: Silver copic spica, copics, smooch spritz, snowflake cuttlebug folder

Another Christmas card

Looks like 3 or 4 people might get handmade Christmas cards this year. Woo Hoo!



This is another CAS Christmas card that wouldn't be difficult to produce a few of. The only stamping is the sentiment which came from the Gina K set Holiday Greetings. The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I used a Cuttlebug stamp and emboss set for the snowflake. I colored the snowflake with Solar Gold twinkling H2Os. The ribbon is some that I found at Michael's last year.

Recipe:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings
Paper: White, Moonlight Fog, In the Navy
Ink: Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Accessories: Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder, Cuttlebug snowflake cut and emboss, ribbon, twinkling H2Os, water brush, oval punch

CAS Christmas

After my "failure" at sitting down to make a CAS card, I really buckled down and got to it! Voila! White and gold, one of the traditional combos of colors that I love! I used all Gina K products on this card. I used versamark on the white card base just to add a little oomph. The beauty of this card is that it can be completed so quickly, it makes it perfect for producing a bunch for all your friends! Please do ignore the slight smudging on the panel. I ALWAYS think that ink dries faster than it does..

Recipe:
Stamps: Vintage Borders (Gina K)
Paper: White and Metallic Gold
Ink: Encore Gold Metallic; Versamark
Accessories:Ribbon

Christmas is around the corner

I don't know about you, but I always let Christmas sneak up on me. Every year I say "I'm going to start Christmas cards in January", every year.... I don't. While Christmas may still sneak up on me in 2010, I do actually have a few cards made and ready.

First, I must say, that I think I may have seen this sketch somewhere. It was stuck in my brain for a while. However, I don't know where I remember it from to give credit. If I find it, I will come back and edit. In the meantime, I was trying to make a CAS card. Obviously, it didn't turn out quite that way :-). The crochet lace ribbon is from Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. If you like ribbon, by all means visit the store. She has a TON of gorgeous ribbon. If you hoard ribbon, can't find a place to put another yard.... BEWARE... Sharon has a TON of gorgeous must have ribbon :-)

A couple of other little tidbits about this card. I used liquid applique on Santa's hat. I used flock on Santa's beard and Rudolph's antlers. The DP is from the Eskimo Kisses Basic Grey pad.

Recipe:
Stamps: High Hopes
Paper: Cranberry Tart, Moonlit Fog, White (Gina K); Eskimo Kisses (BG)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Snowflake CB; square punches, crochet lace ribbon, prima flower, circle Nestabilities, dimensionals, copics, liquid applique, flock, nailhead, gold spica pen

OCCSC29 - It's Frosty!

Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly happy soul! I just love snowmen or snowpeople...This card is for the weekly sketch challenge from Our Creative Corner. This was a fun sketch. All the way home from work, I was trying to figure out what to do... then it hit me! I love this Frosty image (SU retired). I used the SU snowflake punch and the 1" circle punch to make the pink snowflake on the bottom right. Hooray for me, I managed to actually create a Christmas/Winter card WITHOUT glitter or glitter type substance... I wasn't sure I could do it, but I challenged myself and was able to accomplish it.

Recipe:
Stamps: Frosty (SU retired); Winter Friends (Gina K)
Paper: All Spruced Up, Moonlight Fog, Ivory (Gina K); October Afternoon DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Rhubarb Stalk
Accessories: Copics, pearl, ribbon, Nestabilities, Corner Rounder punch, snowflake punch, 1" circle punch, dimensionals

Mojo 152

In my neverending quest to create Christmas cards, I chose to use the MOJO Monday Sketch 152 to attempt another one. This is for this weeks sketch challenge. When I saw it, I immediately thought ribbon and lace was what was needed.
I really like the vintage and vintage type cards that I've seen. I just have a lot of trouble reproducing that kind of card. I decided to try for a vintage look on this one. Not sure that is what I accomplished, though. I think the coloring (to practice with my copics) is a little too bright. All in all though, it's the best effort to date ;-) I tried to make the main image look a little older by sponging on some desert sand. The snowmen have a little smooch spritz for shimmer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Old Fashioned Christmas (SU)
Paper: Ivory, Tan Leather, Kraft, Metallic Gold (all Gina K), Cappella (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand
Accessories: Copics, Spica (Gold, Silver, Red), White Gel Pen, Sakura stardust gel pen, Snowman punch (SU), Nesties, Borderabilities, Ribbon, Crochet lace, Smooch spritz

Double Challenge

I have signed up to take Suzanne Dean's copic classes through My Creative Classroom. I've only gotten through a couple of lessons so far. It really is rather hard to find time ;-) Anyway, Suzanne has started a Copic Challenge group. The very first challenge is to color grass. We could either draw grass, or color the grass if the image already included it. I opted to do a little of both. I combined the Copic Challenge with the Card Patterns sketch for this week. The image and sentiment are both Whiff of Joy. The image is illustrated by Elisabeth Bell. I just love her images... LOVE them!


Since I was coloring in grass, I thought that sky might be appropriate for the image as well. THIS would be the PERFECT place for the Copic Air Brush system, but..... mine is still on order... sigh! Instead I sponged the sky using bashful blue ink. I dabbed a little dandelion in the upper right to, in my mind, show the sun.


For the grass, I first colored the large area with YG95. Then I used YG67 to create the blades of grass. I also used YG69 to add some darker contrast. Lest you think I came up with this all by myself... I followed the tutorial I found on Color Me Copic. I stumbled across this blog yesterday. It looks like a fun one to follow! For a little added texture, I used the Sweet Pea flower soft on the long flowers.

Recipe:
Stamps: Willow with Strawberry Basket, Summer 2009 E Bell Kit
Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU); Sweet Corn (Gina K), White (Neenah Solar), Porcelain DP (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue (SU), Memento Dandelion
Accessories: Copic, Buttons-Latte (SU), twine, dimensionals, ribbon (Gina K)

Sketch time

I got a wild hair today and decided to download some sketches from online. I've made myself a sketch book. I think that I have 500 or so sketches in there. If only I knew I would make a card using all of them! I find that sketches are a good way to get the ideas flowing for me.



This is for sketch challenge 293 at Splitcoaststampers. The idea is there, I think... card definitely looks better in person. I think there needs to be a little more color or just less brown... hindsight right? This card uses Gina K stamps and paper. I tried to make it generic in sentiment so the chances that I might actually put in the mail would increase :-)

Recipe:
Stamps: Botanicals (Gina K)
Paper: Ivory, Kraft, Chocolate Kiss, Lovely Lavendar, Green Apple (GinaK); DCWV Latte mat pack
Ink: Memento Sweet Plum
Accessories: Gina K Double stitched brown ribbon, Kaisercraft Chocolate pearls, Martha Stewart Punch

Pink Chickadees

First let me say, that I do know that this is not the appropriate color for Chickadees, but I was in a pink mood, what can I say!



This was really a fun card to make and color. I used.... guess.. c'mon, just guess... A DTGD sketch! HAH! Anyway, I got this chickadee circle from Northwoods Rubber stamps. It's called Circle Spring Chickadees (PP7427). The Butterfly in the upper right is cut out of another Northwoods image (Asters with 3 Butterflies P7296). I used the feathering technique that I learned at the Copic class for the butterfly, I am pretty pleased with the results :-) The layers are scored with the Scor-Pal to add a little texture. There was some time involved in this one, but overall, I think this would make a great card for different occasions!

Recipe:
Stamps: Northwoods Rubber Stamps; Sentiment (Gina K)
Paper: Innocent Pink, Grass Green, Chocolate Brown
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Green Stickles, double stitched ribbon (Gina K), scor-pal, Nestabilities, Copics

Curious George

Another of the DTGD10 Challenges was to use your favorite tv show as inspiration. Yeah, right... me? Watch what I want to? Doesn't happen that often. So I chose one of my kids favorite shows. I do believe I have seen every episode of Curious George that is shown on PBS. I can pretty much quote some of them. LOL. I also chose one of the sketches provided by the dirty girls. For those that have not had the privelege of getting to know George personally, his friend is the Man in the Yellow Hat. The Man has a black band around his yellow hat and wears brown boots with his yellow shirt and pants. I used one of the Stampendous Changito stamps (I won this little guy at the Copic's class I took a few weeks ago). As a gift for my kids, my mother, in her infinite wisdom and shopping ways, found some Curious George stamps, who knew? So I used one of the Curious George stamps to create a background on the yellow layer.

Next time, I'm going to have to find my Voila stamp set and stamp something inspired by Top Chef -- one of my two shows!

Recipe:
Stamps: Changito, Curious George
Paper: Lemon Drop (GinaK), Black (paper temptress); White (Neenah)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Wild Dandelion
Accessories: Sakura stardust pen, Copics

PaperTrey Balloons

I decided to delve into my PaperTrey Ink stash today. I love that they have dies to match their sets. I also love that they are clear acrylic stamps but that they stamp so well! Normally I prefer rubber. When I saw this set in a recent release, I just had to have it! I used the dies to cut out the hot air balloons. I suggest die cutting and then stamping.. I find it easier than trying to match up your image to the die. I will admit, my sun needs a bit of work, but I was pretty excited about the way the "scene" played out.

Recipe:
Stamps: Up, Up and Away (PTI)
Paper: Ocean Tides, Melon Berry, and White (PTI); DCWV pattern paper
Ink: Vivid Aqua, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Nailheads, Copics, Corner rounder punch

A Purple Birthday

My daughter was invited to a birthday party. I couldn't just buy a card.. I mean, what would that say about me? I went all out with the purple on this one. Trust me, purple is not the easiest color for me to work with. This sketch is also one of the DTGD10 challenge sketches, although I think it was supposed to be a square card... oops! The cupcake wrapper is colored with Copics. The cupcake top has some Sakura glaze pen on the sprinkles and the cake has dazzling diamonds for some extra sparkle. I used a gold spica pen on the candle flames.

Recipe:
Stamps: Candles on your Cake (GKD)
Paper: Vibrant Violet, Lovely Lavendar, Wild Dandelion, White (GKD); Kioshi (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Sweet Plum, Lulu Lavendar and Dandelion
Accessories: 1 in circle punch, 1 1/4 in circle punch, Nestabilities, Copics, Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU), Heat and Stick powder (SU), Sakura Stardust Pen, Gold Spica pen, Ribbon (GKD)

A Dove with Hope time heals!

This was one of the DTGD10 sketch challenges. I chose to use this beautiful bird from Hope Grows, illustrated by Teresa Momber. I didn't think the bird should have color, so I just used some smooch spritz on the paper to add a shimmer. In retrospect, I'm not sure the rhinestones were needed, but hey, they're there. The designer paper is by DCWV (which you can also get from the Gina K store). I think I'm going to have to get another pack of this. The paper is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! This specific one is textured and has a glossy feel to it. Can you ever have too much pretty paper? I don't think so!

Recipe:
Stamps: Hope Grows and Enjoy the Sunshine Kit (GinaK Designs)
Paper: Ocean Mist, Green Apple, Ivory (Gina K Designs); Cafe Mediterranean (DCWV)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities; Rhinestones, Vanilla Smooch Spritz (SU)

Winter is coming

I wasn't able to finish all the Dirty girl challenges by 8/1, but I am using them as inspiration lately. One of the challenges was to make a winter card. I found this Bild Malarna stamp that I had bought and not used yet. You can get this stamp at Paper Jewels. I decided it was perfect for a winter card. I love this image of the boy and his snowman. The front of the card has the Labels 10 from Spellbinders cut out. The image is actually on the inside of the card.



I used stickles on the snowflakes and added a tiny bit of snow on the snowman's arms with a gel pen.

Recipe:
Stamps: Bild Malarna, Christmas Punch (SU), Frosty Friends (GinaK)
Paper: Little Boy Blue, Lipstick Red, White (Gina K)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Memento Paris Dusk, Versamark
Accessories: Labels 10 Nesties, Stickles, Copics, Copic Spica, White Gel Pen

A Kinkade Christmas

I am very scared of coloring the Kinkade images. I'd be embarassed to tell you how long the previous images took me to color. However, these images are also great in a much simpler form, similar to this card I created for Christmas. This was easy to replicate and it still uses a phenomenal image.
I used copics for the little bit of coloring I did do on this one.

Recipe

Stamps: The Night Before Christmas (CHF)
Paper: Basic Gray, Brushed Silver, Night of Navy, white
Ink: Versafine Smokey Gray
Accessories: Copics, Sakura Stardust Pen

Here is another example of a Kinkade image without color. I thought that this one turned out to be a pretty good masculine card. A friend of mine was kind enough to share a stamped image with me.


I clear embossed the image to add some texture and shine.

Recipe
Stamps: CHF Kinkade, Warmest Regards
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black
Ink: Mellow Moss, Certainly Celery, Black, True Thyme
Accessories: sponging, clear embossing powder, Stampin Dimensionals

A Sandra Kuck Christmas

Yet another wonderful image from Cornish Heritage Farms. This is another image that is based off Sandra Kuck's paintings. I love Christmas and this looks like the epitome of an old fashioned Christmas, a la Little Women or something similar. The details in the image are absolutely amazing.

Recipe
Stamps: Ready for Christmas (CHF), Old Fashioned Christmas
Paper: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy, Brushed Copper
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Versamark
Accessories: Gold and Clear Embossing Powder, Ribbon (Pinkhedgehog), brads, Copics, Stardust pen