Monday, November 30, 2009

Gina K Preview Day 1 - Tech Talk and Lovely Shelf

It's time for a new Gina K Designs Preview! Today, I am sharing projects from two wonderful new stamp sets that will be available from Gina K this Thursday night.

Tech Talk - illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger

Tech Talk is Melanie Muenchinger's latest set of amazing stamp designs. I am excited about this set because it will be so great for teens and guy cards. It is always hard to make cards for teens, but the hip, modern images and sentiments in this set are perfect for teens.

I used the laptop image, colored with Copics, and sponged the center (screen). Then I added two of the sentiments included in the set. The pattern paper is from Basic Grey Lime Rickey and the grey layer is sponged and then stamped with several of the "emoticons" from Tech Talk.

Check out the two new cardstock colors Gina is releasing this month! The blue layer is called Ocean Mist and the cardbase layer is called Crème de Menthe. I love these new colors.

Here is CAS card I did using Tech Talk. The clean lines in this set will be perfect for quick CAS cards. I stamped the coffee mug on Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight cardstock and colored it with Copics. Then I scored some accent lines, using my Scor-pal and added some self adhesive nail heads. Easy peasy and only took about 5 minutes to make.



Lovely Shelf - illustrated by Nina Bracket

Nina Bracket has created such a beautiful, elegant set of images! There is so much to choose from in this set, a fabulous scroll shelf, teapot, multiple vases of flowers, beautiful sentiments and more. It is packed full of gorgeousness! More details about my card below, but for now...

To see even more ways to use these fabulous stamp sets, please check tonight's featured Illustrator's blogs:

Then, visit our Designer's blogs participating in the previews tonight:


We also have two of our special Center Stage Spotlight Designer's joining us with samples as well:

To make my Lovely Shelf card, I started by stamping one of the flower vases and colored with Copic markers. I used RV29 toward the center of the petals.

Added RV25.

Used my blender pen to help spread the ink toward the highlighted areas.

On the stem and leaves, I started with G28.

Added G24.

Used my blender pen to again, allow the ink to spread into the highlighted areas.

Used Y17 for the flower centers, C3 for the vase and B00 with the blender pen for the water.

I used my rectangle Nestabilities to cut out the image and sponged Creamy Caramel ink (SU) while still in the die, then used C1 to add a shadow near the bottom.

I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss and Ivory, and SU Pretty in Pink. The designer paper is from Basic Grey Bittersweet. I used my Martha Stewart lace border punch along the bottom and added self adhesive pearls.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be back tomorrow with two more previews, one of which is my new set! Have a great day!!!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

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!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

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!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

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!

Monday, November 23, 2009

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:


{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!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

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!