Autumn Blessings

Happy Monday! I intended to post this card during the weekend, but time got away from me. If you attended the Gina K release party last week, then you may have seen it already. I used my new set, Autumn Beauty and papers from my digital paper, All About Autumn.

I started by stamping the pumpkins and coloring with Copics. I used YR07 around the edges.

Added YR04 and worked my way inward.

Filled in the rest of the area with YR02 and then usedW3 to add some shading where the pumpkins overlap.

Used YG03 and YG95 on the stems. Then I cut out the pumpkins.

Next, I stamped the wheelbarrow and started coloring with E57.

Then used E35 to blend out from the shadows.

Filled in with E31. I also used my blender pen to lighten a few areas for more contrast.

Then I cut out the image and used my craft knife to make a cut along the along the closest side and front of the wheelbarrow.

Then I slid the pumpkins into the opening I had cut and adhered them on the backside.

For the background panel, I cut a circle of Pure Luxury Ivory, using my circle Nestabilities. Then I stamped both corn stalks and colored them with Copics (YG03, W3 and blender pen).

Then I stamped the swirly branch and colored it using E31, E37, YR12 and YR14.

After coloring, I heat embossed the images with clear embossing powder, then sponged the background, starting with So Saffron in the center.

Then I sponged some Apricot Appeal.

Punched a circle from a post-it note to mask and then sponged some Pumpkin Pie ink.

Sponged Pretty in Pink.

Sponged Lavender Lace.

Sponged some Old Olive and then tore a strip from a post-it as a mask so I could sponge a more defined foreground, still using Old Olive.

Sponged just a tiny bit of Basic Black around the edges.

I layered with Pure Luxury Black Onyx and Moonlit Fog (a new color from Gina K!) and All About Autumn digital paper. The card base is also Moonlit Fog.

I decorated the inside with the larger sunflower stamped in So Saffron and the sentiment in black.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Fall Thanks

Hello and happy Friday! What a great release party last night. All the new stamp sets from Gina K Designs are now available in their online store. This is a card I shared last night, that I made using Melanie's A Year of Leaves.

Sorry, I don't have coloring photos for this one. I accidentally deleted all my leaf photos, but I'll be sure to do pictures the next time I use this set. I did used Copic markers to color and sponged the background. The vertical panel is a piece of my new All About Autumn digital paper.

Melanie has an A Year of Leaves project on her blog today and her guest designers are all posting projects, so for some great Leaf inspiration be sure to visit Melanie, Geri, Laurie and Sharon.

I'll be back tomorrow with a project using my new stamp set, Autumn Beauty and I'll have lots of details photos to go along with it.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Gina K Preview Day 3 - Autumn Beauty, Elegant Verses and Tropical Blooms

Hello and welcome to day three of previews for the new Gina K Designs release. Today we are sharing peaks of three new stamp sets. These, plus the four sets previewed the last two days, will all be available at Gina K Designs, Thursday at 10pm central.

First up, I am sharing a card I made using two of the new sets...

Tropical Blooms - illustrated by Gina K &

Elegant Verses - illustrated by Nina Brackett


The floral images in this card are from the new free with three stamp set, Tropical Blooms. This set has gorgeous floral silhouettes and foliage, perfect for two step stamping and a lot of the wonderful techniques Gina has shared on her StampTV videos.

On this card, I used two Memento markers to ink up my stamps, similar to the thumping technique. Then I embossed the images and sponged the background. The vertical panel is stamped using another image from the set.

The beautiful sentiment is from Nina Bracket's new stamp set, Elegant Verses. The sentiments and script in this set are so beautiful and were created to go with Nina's set last month, Elegant Post. All the inspiring sentiments will also work with so many of our other stamps. In this case, the sentiment was the perfect compliment to the Tropical Blooms images. (I will share the step by step photos for this card this weekend)

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Autumn Beauty - illustrated by me


Next up is a card I made using the new stamp set I illustrated for Gina K Designs, called Autumn Beauty. I have been so anxious for the release of this set. I loved drawing these images and have been so excited to get to play with them as stamps. The set is full of Autumn inspired images and will work for fall, masculine, Thanksgiving and even Halloween cards, especially if combined with some of the Halloween sets like Spooky Silhouettes.This card also features my first ever digital papers, called All About Autumn.

To see more inspiration with the stamps previewed today, visit Gina's blog, the illustrator of Tropical Blooms and Nina Bracket , the illustrator of Elegant Verses.

For even more projects with tonight's two stamp sets, these Senior Design Team Members are participating in previews today: Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika Jessica, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn, and Melanie as well as our Center Stage Spotlight Design Team members:Shelly Wilson and Charlene Merrick

Our Release Party starts Thursday night at 7 pm CST. Please join us for contests questions, challenges, lots of chatter as well as a ton more samples shared by the Senior Design team members and our Center Stage Spotlight team too. See you tomorrow night!

And now a few details about my card...

I started by stamping the larger sunflower on Gina K Pure Luxury White cardstock. Then I used my YR14 Copic marker in the deepest parts of the petals.

Blended out with Y17.

Filled in the rest of the petals with Y23.

Came back with YR14 for just a bit more shading and used my blender pen on the centers of the petals for some highlight.

Used E37 for the darkest parts of the flower center.

Filled in the rest of the center with YR14 and then blended with E33.

On the leaves and stem, I started with YG95.

Filled in with YG93.

Then added YG03 to make them just a bit brighter and used my blender pen for some highlights. Check out the pink smudge between the blender pen and the flower. I don't know how it got there, but it was a red blob to start. I tried using my blender pen to push the color through the paper, but it was taking forever. So I altered my plan. Instead of a nice emboss resist image, I decided to cut it out. Usually I can use my blender pen to push stray blobs either through the paper to the other side, or back into the lines if I gone over a bit. It's a lot easier to do with a lighter color.

Since I had room, I stamped the second image next to the first and colored it. As you can see, since I was planning to cut, I got quite wild in my coloring. Instead of coloring each petal individually, I treated it like a circle starting at the inside and working out.

After coloring and cutting my images, I used my oval Nestabilities to cut an oval. I left it in the die to do a little sponging, first with So Saffron (SU).

Then sponged Creamy Caramel (SU) very lightly.

To finish the card, I layered with my new All About Autumn digital papers, Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss and a Pure Luxury Ivory cardbase. The sentiment tag was cut out using Nestabilities, again sponging while still in the die. The ribbon and brads are from the new StampTV kit, Signs of Autumn.

I hope to see you tonight at the party. Thanks for visiting. Have a wonderful day!

Gina K Preview Day 2 - Back to School and Sports, School, Spirit

Hello! Today I am previewing two more stamp sets to be released from Gina K Designs this week...

Back To School - illustrated by Rupa Shevde

Have you struggled to find good images to use for teacher "thank you" cards? Rupa Shevde has created a wonderful set of school related images and sentiments that you are going to love. I combined three of the images, colored with Copics. The globe was heat embossed with clear embossing powder after coloring. Then I sponged the background. The books and microscope were cut out and added. I used Pure Luxury White, Chocolate Kiss and Soft Sand for my cardstock and the little red ribbon tags are from the Gina K Holiday Ribbon collection.

On the inside of the card, I stamped the microscope with Vivid Tuscan Tan ink and then stamped the wonderful sentiment with Memento Black.

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Sports, School Spirit - illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger

We are so lucky to have a second stamp set designed by Melanie Muenchinger this month. Sports, School, Spirit is a wonderful collection of images related to, but not limited to the school experience. You'll be able to use this set for back to school, sports and even graduation and it coordinates with Melanie's Just So Sporty and Sporty Accessories stamp sets!

I have all the details on how I made this card below, but first, you can find more inspiration with the stamps previewed today. Just visit Gina's blog as well as Melanie Muenchinger, the illustrator of Sports, School, Spirit.

For even more projects with tonight's two stamp sets, these Senior Design Team Members are participating in previews today: Carolyn, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika Jessica, Lee, Lynn, and Theresa as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team members: Tina Gilliland and Vicki Dutcher

Don't forget about our Release Party on SCS starting at 7pm CST on Thursday, August 27th. There will be contests, challenges, lots of chatter as well as a ton more samples shared by the Senior Design team members and our CenterStage Spotlight team too. We'd love to have you join us!

And now for the details on how I made my card..

I started by stamping the school jacket on Pure Luxury White cardstock and used Copics to color it, starting with B26. I kept mine simple, but you can color coordinate the jacket to match school colors, or a sports team colors, and even turn it into a letterman jacket using your number and alphabet stamps.

Added B24.

Added B21 and then used my blender pen to highlight the front just a tad.

On the sleeves, I used N7.

Then N5.

Added N3.

Then filled in with C1.

Used C1 and N7 on the collar and waist band.

For the basket ball hoop, I stamped the backboard and sentiment with Black Stazon and heat embossed with clear. Then I used Y14 on the rim, with E35 to add some shading.

For the backboard, I started with N5.

Added N3.

Then filled in with C3 and used my blender pen to lighten the center a bit. I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of the Copic I used on the net, but I think it was E31.

After coloring I embossed the image with clear embossing powder. To do this I used a Versa Mark pen to cover the entire image, so the embossing powder would have something to stick to. Then I cut the paper using a rectangle Nestabilities die and kept the paper in the die while sponging Vivid Tuscan Tan ink.

Then sponged a little Vivid Coffee Bean ink.

I added the basketball image from Sporty Accessories, starting with E37 around the outside.

Added E35.

Then went over the entire image with YR14 and followed with my blender pen to add some highlights.

I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss, a piece of Timeless Treasures digital paper, SU Bashful Blue and used a Soft Sand card base.

Thanks so much for coming. I hope you'll come back tomorrow for more peeks and then the release party at SCS. Have a great day!