Butterfly Hope

Hello stampers! Here is a card I shared at the GKD release party last week. I used my new set, Hope Grows.

To start, I saturated the entire butterfly with RV21.

Then I added shading with RV29.

Went back with RV21 to blend. I knew I was going to cut out the images, so I was totally careless with staying in the lines.

To make the background, I made a rectangle frame usingNestabilities and cut an oval, from scratch paper.

On my single layer Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight card base, I stamped a branch with Memento Bamboo Leaves. Then I placed the frame and oval, adhering with re-positionable tape.

Sponged Memento Lulu Lavender in the open area.

Sponged Memento Grape Jelly.

Added a bit more dimension to the leaves with some Copic shading, using YG93, with YG91 to blend.

I stamped the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and added the cut out butterflies, adhering with Pop Dots.

Thanks for the visit. I hope your day is wonderful!

Hope Grows Tip Sheet

Here are some tips and trimming suggestions for my new set, Hope Grows, from Gina K Designs.


The Large Flower Stem

The large flower stem can be colored or paper pieced.

If masked or cut out, they can be layered with the two larger branch images.

Try stamping it a second time and popping up a single flower, or the flower center.

This would be a great image for the spotlighting technique.


The Single Silhouette Flower

The single silhouette flower is sized to work with the four-leaf large branch. Stamp the flower so that is “blooming” between the two leaves on each stem.

Use techniques like thumping, kissing and rock & roll.

Use it to create a pattern background.


The Small Flower Stem (silhouette)

Use it to create a pattern background, either with the other silhouette flower, or small branches, or singly.

Use it to accent the quote sentiment or Enjoy Your Day sentiment.

Make a paper vase using punches for it, or borrow a vase from other stamp sets you may have.



The Branches

These can be focal images for CAS (clean and simple) designs, or background images for more detailed projects.

Used individually, they would make wonderful sympathy or masculine cards.

With the larger branches, have them “bloom” with buttons, die cut flowers, stamped and popped up flowers, gems or cut out flowers from your favorite pattern paper.

Use as a backdrop for some of the other images in the set – the flowers, dove, owl or butterflies.

Stamp the smaller branches, along with the smaller flowers, to create your own pattern paper.

Stamp the branches in varying shades, or ghost stamp to indicate depth in scenes.


The Owl and Dove

The owl symbolizes great insight, wisdom and maturity.

You can leave the owl on his branch, or cut him out, after stamping, and place him on another branch.

The dove symbolizes innocence, gentleness, faith, marital affection, peace and constancy.

The dove can be placed on one of the branches, or stamped individually.

Use the dove on sympathy cards, Christmas cards, messages of hope and love.




The Butterflies

The butterfly symbolizes change, resurrection, transformation, celebration, young love and the soul.

The bold lines in the large butterfly would make it wonderful for paper piecing.

Position the smaller butterflies so that they are resting on the tip of a flower petal.

Combine the smaller butterflies with the small branches to make beautiful backgrounds for your focal images.

These would be beautiful images to use glitter, or other sparkly materials.



The Sentiments

Hugs/Kisses is intended to for two step stamping with the “&” Try stamping Hugs/Kisses in a dark ink and the “&” in a lighter ink.

Use Hugs & Kisses with your circle punches and die cuts

Use the Elna Rae quote as a focal image, and use the silhouettes to accent it.

Use the quote with other flower stamps in your collection.

Enjoy Your Day will work well in smaller oval punches and make a wonderful hanging tag on a card.



Project Ideas

Cards and scrapbook pages.

Decorate candles for wedding presents.

Use the branches to make elegant wrapping paper.

Decorate simple, inexpensive gift bags to coordinate with your cards.

Use the stamps as a pattern to etch glass and make elegant candle holders and vases to use as gifts.

Bookmarks

Wedding or party favor boxes.

Stamp on lacy handkerchiefs.

Embellish projects with elegant, rich looking supplies – pearls, gems, gold lined ribbon, crystal lacquer, metallic papers, etc.


Cutting Tips

I always try to include a straight line or two when I'm laying out my illustrations, so you can first trim it into sections before cutting out the individual stamps. In Hope Grows, there is a pretty straight channel just below the owl and blossom quote. Cut there as shown above.

Next, for the bottom section, cut between the butterfly and dove, at a slight angle and continue between the small butterfly and hugs/kisses sentiment.

For the top section, cut up from the owl and continue between the large flower stem and the two small images beside it. You'll have to cut at a slight curve for this section and it might be easier to cut to midway, then start over from the top and cut down to where you stopped.

Once you have it into the four sections, it should be fairly straightforward to go from there, but here are the next cuts I did in case it helps anyone.

Here is how I arranged mine on the binder sheet. I was able to fit them in the same positions as shown on the cover sheet. I like to do that when I can since it makes it quicker for me to find the stamp I'm looking for.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Gina K Preview - Friends Are Forever and Fine Furnishings

Hello! Today we are previewing the final two stamp sets for the new Gina K Designs release. This first card was made with the new Free With Three stamp set from Gina K, called Friends Are Forever. I love the beautiful floral images in this set!

Next is a wonderful new set from Nina Brackett, called Fine Furnishings. She also created an accessory set, Fine Furnishings Additions, that coordinates perfectly. The images in this set are so fun to combine and build so many different settings!

I paper pieced the couch with DP, then added some shading with my Copic markers. All the elements in this set are separate so you can mix and match to create a totally unique card every time. I put a lamp on one table and a stack of books on the other.

For more samples with the stamp sets being previewed today, check out these Designer's Links:

• Gina Krupsky *Friends are Forever designer


• Nina Brackett *Fine Furnishings and Fine Furnishings Additions designer


• Jessica Fick


• Theresa Momber


• Melanie Muenchinger


• Cathy Tidwell


• Lee Murphy


• Donna Baker


• Lynn Mercurio


• Emily Giovanni


• Erika Martin


• Kurtis Amundson


• Sankari Wegman


• Kay Simmons *May's CenterStage Spotlight Team Member!*

Please make plans to attend our Release party, Thursday night, May 27th from 7-10 central time which will be held at StampTV. There will be contest questions, challenges, samples from several designers and lots of chatter all leading up to 10pm central, when all the new products and stamp sets previewed this week on our blogs become available online through GinaK Designs store!

To make the Friends Are Forever card, I stamped the flower image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then used Copics to color, starting with RV29.

Blended from there with RV25.

Added RV21, leaving a few highlights uncolored.

I softened the highlights with my blender pen and then used G05 on the foliage. Then I cut out the flowers.

I cut an oval using my Nestabilities and then sponged Memento Cantaloupe ink.

Sponged Memento Angel Pink.

Sponged Memento Rose Bud.

Sponged Memento Lulu Lavender.

I used one of the silhouette images from Botanicals (the new card kit set, previewed earlier this week), and inked with Memento Rose Bud. I stamped off once on scratch paper, then stamped on the background a few times.

I layered wit Pure Luxury Black Onyx, Innocent Pink and Wings of Hope digital papers. The sentiment is also from the new Friends Are Forever set.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you at the party!

Gina K Preview - Enjoy The Sunshine and Stars

Hello! It's another day of previews for the upcoming Gina K Designs release and today we have two more sets to show you. First up is the new StampTV Kit, Enjoy The Sunshine. You are going to love the summery images in this month's kit.

Next is a stamp set from Tami Mayberry, called Stars. The name says it all. This set has a wonderful variety of star images, along with coordinating sentiments. It will be fabulous for CAS cards and accenting scrapbook pages.

I stamped some images with Memento black and colored them with Copics. On others I stamped with Memento Rhubarb Stalk. I layered with Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart paper and used a Kraft cardbase.

For more samples with the stamp sets being previewed today, check out these Designer's Links:

• Gina Krupsky *Enjoy the Sunshine StampTV kit designer


• Tami Mayberry *Stars designer


• Jessica Fick


• Theresa Momber


• Melanie Muenchinger


• Nina Brackett


• Carolyn King


• Cathy Tidwell


• Lee Murphy


• Donna Baker


• Lynn Mercurio


• Emily Giovanni


• Erika Martin


• Kurtis Amundson


• Colleen Schaan


• Kay Simmons *May's CenterStage Spotlight Team Member!*

Please make plans to attend our Release party this Thursday night, May 27th from 7-10 central time which will be held at StampTV. There will be contest questions, challenges, samples from several designers and lots of chatter all leading up to 10pm central, when all the new products and stamp sets previewed this week on our blogs become available online through GinaK Designs store!


For my Enjoy The Sunshine card, I started by stamping the daisy bouquet with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloring with Copics. I started with YR02.

Blended out from there with YR000.

For the flower center I started with Y17.

Then filled in with Y21. I colored the remaining flowers the same way.

I filled in the foliage, including the negative most of the negative area, with YG93. Then I used YG95 to shade the stems and leaves. After coloring, I cut out the image. This was a very detailed image to cut out, so I left those tiny negative spaces that I had colored earlier. Using a pale green helped them to blend into the foliage.

For the background I sponged a piece of Pure Luxury White cardstock with Memento Cantaloupe ink.

Sponged Memento Tangelo ink.

Sponged Memento Potter's Clay.

Then I stamped a silhouette image, from Enjoy The Sunshine, with Memento Desert Sand. On the right side, I only inked up the bottom of the stamp, leaving the single flower un-inked, then I stamped it a second time, on the left, inking it up fully.

I used my new Big Scallop Nestabilities from Spellbinders, to cut a large scallop border. This is a great way to use up some of those small leftover strips of cardstock that I always seem to have lying around.

I added some highlights to the background image, using a white gel pen, then I layered with Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, Kraft and used a Sweet Mango (new Pure Luxury color!) cardbase. That ribbon is from the StampTV Kit, too.

Thanks for visiting. Have a fantastic day!!!

Gina K Preview - Hope Grows and Candles On Your Cake

Hello! It's day two of Gina K Designs previews and first up today is the set I illustrated for this month, called Hope Grows. The images in this set are a bit different than my usual style and so much fun to draw.

Next up is a fun new set from Melanie Muenchinger, call Candles On Your Cake. This set will be perfect for so many celebrations! I got a little wild and turned the cupcake images into a hot air balloon and trees.

I sponged the background first, then I stamped the bottom of the cupcake and colored it, and cut it out. After placing it on my cardstock, I drew lines on either side then adhered buttons above. For the trees, I inked up the cupcake top with Memento New Sprout, then rock 'n rolled the image with Memento Bamboo Leaves, then stamped. The tree trunk is just the wedge end of my E33 Copic, pressed once at the base of each tree.

Check out the card base for a look at one of the new Pure Luxury colors called Grass Green!

For more samples with the stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out these Designer's Links:

• Gina Krupsky


• Theresa Momber * illustrator of Hope Grows


• Melanie Muenchinger * illustrator of Candles on Your Cake


• Jessica Fick


• Carolyn King


• Cathy Tidwell


• Lee Murphy


• Donna Baker


• Lynn Mercurio


• Emily Giovanni


• Erika Martin


• Kurtis Amundson


• Bev Gerard


• Kay Simmons *May's CenterStage Spotlight Team Member!*

Please make plans to attend our Release party this Thursday night, May 27th from 7-10 central time which will be held at StampTV. There will be contest questions, challenges, samples from several designers and lots of chatter all leading up to 10pm central, when all the new products and stamp sets previewed this week on our blogs become available online through GinaK Designs store!


To make the flower card, I stamped the image from Hope Grows and used Copics to color, starting with Y17.

I blended out from there and filled in around the edges with Y21. Then I used my blender pen to pull some of the yellow into the highlighted areas.

For the flower centers and stem, I used G24 and YG03.

To make the background, I first sponged Memento Cantaloupe ink.

Sponged Memento New Sprout.

Sponged Memento Pear Tart.

Sponged Memento Danube Blue.

After sponging, I stamped a small branch image from Hope Grows and the sentiment, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The fancy layer is made using my Spellbinders Fleur Di Lis pendant die and Pure Luxury In The Navy cardstock. The next layer is the new Pure Luxury Grass Green and I used Black Onyx for the cardbase.

Thanks for visiting. I hope your day is fantastic!