Gina K Preview Day 1 - The Best Things in Life

It's Day 1 of the previews for Gina K Designs and today I am sneak peeking Melanie Muenchinger's newest stamp set, The Best Things in Life. This is a gorgeous and AMAZINGLY VERSATILE set of sentiment stamps.

I made this key holder and matching card with a sentence, I put together, as the focal image. As I was working on my project, I finally had to take the stamps off my counter because I kept getting distracted by creating new sentences. (Melanie, you forgot the warning label on this one!)

For instructions on how I made the key holder, keep reading. For some fabulous samples using The Best Things in Life and Rupa's latest, Perfectly Polished, head off to the amazing design team to see what they have to show you.

Gina
Joanne
Jessica
Kurtis
Erika - Erika has a blog candy giveaway you don't want to miss!
Cindy
Melanie
Cammie
Donna
Emily
And Mary Anderson, our In the Spotlight designer for January!

Tomorrow we will be previewing two more sets, including Asela's latest. It is so cute and you can have a chance to win one for yourself, if you head over to her blog ASAP! And don't forget to join us in the forums on Thursday, from 7 to 10 pm central, for the release party, more chances to win free stamps and fun challenges!

Now, on to the details of the key holder...

I purchased this little wooden plaque at Michaels for under a dollar. First I painted it with Antique White paint by Apple Barrel (just a generic craft paint you can also find at Micheals).

After it was dry, I went over it with a pink that I mixed using Antique White and Bright Red.

Next, I sponged around the edges with Regal Rose ink.

Then I lightly sanded the edges to distress them just a bit.

I used Melanie's new stamps to create this sentence and stamped it with Ruby Red ink. (I was thinking of you, Lee!)

I free had cut the cardstock to fit the plaque. Then I sponged around the edges with
Regal Rose ink and adhered it using craft glue.

I used 7/8 inch cup hooks from Lowes. It was about $2 for a pack containing several hooks. I made three evenly spaced marks, then used my paper piercer to create pilot holes. The hooks are self tapping, but I wanted to be sure they got started without slipping, since that might have damaged my cardstock. After making the pilot holes, I just screwed the hooks in with my hand. No special tools required.

I also bought a pack of these wall hangers for hanging the. These were similarly priced and came several to a pack. The wood is very soft and I was able to just "push" the nails in with the small pliers I keep in my craft room. Yep, I was too lazy to go get a hammer.

And here it is after I embellished with a Prima, Martha Stewart branch punch and some self adhesive pearls, colored pink with a Copic marker.

If you want to do a project like this, Michaels has several sizes and shapes available and the cup hooks can also be found is different sizes.