Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Good morning stampers! Today I have a pink Christmas card, made for the Inspiration Challenge at SCS this week. I used this doll house for inspiration. All of the images for this card can be found in the Holiday Cheer StampTV Kit.

I stamped the gingerbread house with Memento ink and colored with Copics, starting with E57.

Added E35.

Added E53.

Used R24 on the fireplace bricks.

Added R22.

Used R24 on the lollipop.

Added B00 to shade the roof tiles.

Used RV21 and R42 on the door, curtains and trim.

Y21 in the windows.

For the background I sponged Pretty in Pink (SU), using a torn Post-it note to mask the bottom.

Sponged Regal Rose.

I adjusted the Post-it note and sponged Pretty in Pink to create some snowbanks.

Sponged Regal Rose along the edges on the bottom.

Stamped the trees with Pretty in Pink.

I created a second background panel, sponging with Regal Rose and stamped the snowflakes. The third panel was embossed with my Snowflakes Cuttlebug folder and then sponged very lightly with Pretty in Pink to emphasize the snowflakes. I also added some Doodlebug glitter to the gingerbread house.

Have a happy day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving to all! I know a number of my readers are from other nations, but I am thankful for you all and wish you all a wonderful day! I guess I should have planned a themed card for the occasion, but I am sharing another Christmas card today.

Did you see Gina K Designs is having a fabulous sale this weekend? You can see all the details here.

To make my card, I started by creating an oval mask using my Nestabilities. Then I used re-positionable tape to keep it in place while I sponged So Saffron ink (SU).

Then sponged some Creamy Caramel (SU).

Sponged Chocolate Chip (SU).

I stamped the tree from A Very Merry Christmas using Chocolate Chip, several times including a few times without re-inking to make some of the images appear more distant.

Stamped the dove from The Magic of Christmas with Memento ink and then colored with Copics, starting with E53.

Added E51 and then blended out with my blender pen. I used G24 for the little green sprig and then cut out the image.

The sentiment is from A Very Merry Christmas and the ovals were cut with Nestabilities. I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss and used a Creamy Caramel (SU) cardbase.

Have a happy, happy day!

Snowy Mike

Hello! I have a scrapbook page to share with you today. I made this as my sample for the Scrapbook Challenge I am hosting at StampTV this week. I would love to have you play along! And there is a chance to win free stamps from Gina K. :)

The photos are from a ski trip about 10 years ago. We were doing a bit of sledding and I just had to snap these photos of my husband right after he ran headlong into a snow bank.

I started by stamping some snowflakes from Holiday Cheer, using Versa Mark ink, then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

I sponged around the snowflakes and along the edges of the paper with Certainly Celery ink (SU).

Stamped the poinsettia from A Year of Flowers and colored with Copics, starting with YG95.

Added YG93.

Used my blender pen to smooth out the color.

I cut out the poinsettia and added some self adhesive pearls to the center.

I stamped a branch from Winter Foliage with Old Olive ink (SU) around the edges. I mounted my photos with Pure Luxury Smoky Slate and layered the page with Smoky Slate and Fresh Asparagus. I also used my EK Success Curved Corner punch for the corner details.

Here is the sketch for the challenge. If you are not a scrapbooker, you can still play along by using the sketch to make a card.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Calendar Bits & Pieces Blog Hop!

Hi and welcome to a Gina K Designs blog hop featuruing Calendar Bits and Pieces and Calendar Grid, the newest stamp designs from Tami Mayberry. Tami has created the most easy to use calendar set and tonight the design team has put together even more inspiration for this set.

For my project I am sharing a November calendar I made. I printed out some digital paper I designed to coordinate with the Calendar Grid. I stamped the grid and numbers directly onto the framed area on the digital paper and then highlighted a few days using stamps from the Calendar Bits and Pieces set. I used Memento markers to ink up the cupcake for a two tone effect.

I embellished around the calendar with some leaf images from A Year of Leaves and added some punched shapes to the corners using my EK Success Curved Corner punch.

For more inspiration, please visit Calendar Bits and Pieces' illustrator, Tami Mayberry, then to the following Blog Hop Participants from the GinaK Designs team:

Carolyn, Erika, Donna, Jessica, Lee and Nina

{the GinaK Designs CSS team}
Deb, Sharri, Sue, Melissa.

{Tami's Guest designer}
Jennie Harper

Make sure you stop by Gina's blog to leave your comment for a chance to win this amazing stamp set for free! Remember to check our Idea Center for even more samples, tutorials, and links!

Here are some of the other papers I designed. These, along with the non-framed versions, will be available soon as freebies.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Inspired Mushroom

Hello and happy Sunday to you! I have a card today that I made for the inspiration challenge at SCS yesterday. I chose some cute little mushroom buttons for my inspiration photo.

To start, I stamped the mushroom from Bug Me Anytime with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then used E59 Copic marker to begin coloring.

Added E55.

Added E53.

Filled most of the way in with E51 and then used my blender pen to soften the highlights.

I used Post-it notes to mask off a tiny border around my paper and then sponged Bashful Blue ink (SU).

Then I sponged Ballet Blue ink (SU). I also added a little shadow to the left side with my N3 Copic.

To color the snail, I used B26.

Added B21 and used the blender pen to soften the highlights.

Added E35.

Added E51 and used my blender pen again and then cut out the snail.

I layered with Pure Luxury Tan Leather, Chocolate Kiss and SU Bashful Blue. The cardbase is Pure Luxury In the Navy. I used a Fleur Di Lis pendant die from Spellbinders to cut the Tan Leather layer.

Just a note - I've had a persistent spammer the past week or two and need to turn on my Captcha security. I'll leave it on for about a week and hopefully that will take care of it. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for understanding.

Have a great day and thanks so much for taking the time to visit!

Thankful Blossom

Hello happy stampers! Just a quickie today. I made this card to play along with the SCS Ways To Use It Challenge - make a "thankful" card.

I used the Copic markers shown above to color the sunflower (Autumn Beauty from Gina K). I didn't take step by step coloring photos on this one, but I did on a previous card, which you can see here.

To create the embossed frame, I cut a piece of Pure Luxury Sweet Corn cardstock to size and then cut an oval from the center using my oval Nestabilities. Then I sponged around the inside and outside edges with Vivid Coffee Bean ink.

Next, I ran the frame through my Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder.

I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss & Tan Leather and used a Sweet Corn cardbase. The sentiment is also from Autumn Beauty. The border punch is by EK Success.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Vintage Borders Blog Hop

Hello! Today the Gina K Design Team and friends are having a blog hop featuring Vintage Borders! I was so excited when I first saw this set, thinking of all the backgrounds I could create with it. I also love that several of the images can be used throughout the year.

On my card, I used the music background to create my own custom designer paper and the scroll border as an accent to the main image panel.

How about some more inspiration with the Vintage Borders stamp set? First, check in with the Illustrator of this versatile stamp set, our Senior Designer Nina Bracket and her friend Lisa Hjulberg joining in the blog hop tonight.

Then, stop by these GinaK Designer's & Center Stage Spotlight blogs for even more samples:

Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn, Tami and Melanie

Deb, Melissa, Karen, Sharri, and Sue

Before you finish hopping, be sure to check in on GinaK's blog to enter your comment for a chance to win Nina's Vintage Borders stamp set. If you already have purchased Nina's set, you can substitute any GinaK Designs stamp set valued at $23.95 or less.

For those of you are who looking for a quick and easy Christmas card idea, check out the Vintage Borders Card Kit available online in GinaK's store tonight. The Kit includes the step by step tutorial as well as all the card stock cut to the exact measurements needed to make 4 cards. For more details and photos of this card kit, see Jessica Fick's blog link as well as this Class Kit link.

To make the music background, I cut my Pure Luxury Ivory cardstock and then sponged So Saffron (SU) ink.

Then I sponged Chocolate Chip (SU).

Next, I stamped the music image, from Vintage Borders, using Chocolate Chip ink. It was really easy to line up the image, using the grid lines on my long acrylic block.

For the top panel, I again sponged with So Saffron.

Sponged with More Mustard.

Sponged with Pumpkin Pie.

I sponged some Chocolate Chip along the bottom and then stamped a tree from Tree Silhouettes, using Chocolate Chip ink. I stamped fully inked twice and then stamped a second time for some more distant trees.


The sentiment is from Nina's Elegant Verses. The middle panel was sponged just along the edges with Pumpkin Pie ink and the scroll, from Vintage Borders, was stamped with Really Rust. I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Chip cardstock and used a Pumpkin Spice cardbase.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a happy, healthy day!