Awesome Blog Candy Alert

I can't believe the value of this blog candy Debbie is giving away for her Blogoversary! I want to spread the news...there's 3 hours left to get your name in the drawing!! a box of copics, spellbinders dies and more!! 2357 comments already!!

STVSC10: Hey There Girly

Kurtis is host this week at StampTV for the sketch challenge {STVSC10} but he’s on vacation so I posted it for him!  It’s another great clean & simple sketch/card from him but I dirtied mine up a little. 

On Tuesday, I was able to meet up with Libby Hickson for the first time, we did a little clothes shopping for her, ate lunch and then went to a LSS where I got inspiration for this card.  I love Theresa’s new Out West set by Gina K and thought I really needed to get some girly cards made with it so I’m glad I found the 2 sheets of pattern paper by Debbie Mumm under my card.  I made girly boots & hats in Pixie Pink, Brown & Tempting Turquoise!  I distressed it up with some sponging & the rugged line cb folder (can’t remember the real name of it).  I really like how it turned out!  It was so fun meeting Libby & the famous Courtney who is just as sweet in person as in her photos! She was such a trooper as we toted her around town!! 

Be sure to play along at StampTV for your chance to win a free Gina K set of your choice (valued at $24.95 or less!) 

Happy Trails to you until I share again…

CPS113: A Friend

It’s been a while since I’ve used any of my Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and since they are the CPS sponsor this week, it was as good a time as any to get a card made using them.  Can you tell I am loving my new Spellbinders Labels 4 dies?  Makes me realize I need Labels 1-3!!  I made the sentiment Friend Centers the focal point, adding the Leafy branch cuttlebug embossing folder, a prima flower and buttons/ribbon from SU!  The colors I used are vanilla & blush blossom for cardstock. 

See ya soon with a card for StampTV’s weekly sketch challenge! 

Super-Dad to the rescue & Super-Mom baby gate

well…Super-Dad came to Izzy’s rescue and got her away from the big bad snake in the jungle!!  So Izzy is here flying in a mini plane over Seattle declaring her dad a Superhero to the city! 

And now Izzy is in trouble and can only play out in the front yard being supervised real closely by Super-Mom {when in reality her  mom is not all that super if she allows her toddler to play in the front yard these days unsupervised in the first place – after all this world is not such a safe place is not like it used to be}

Sets: Doodlefactory Super Parents, Oh, Baby!, Sentiments Baby,   Country, Urban

Hope you’ve enjoyed Izzy’s little adventures!  I have one more card to show from this super set of new Doodlefactory sets still!

If you’d like to get some of your own – be sure to use my discount code for 10% off your Doodlefactory & Starving Artistamps stamp order: SAVETENDB in the discount code box at check-out (hit re-calculate to see your savings).  If you haven’t stamped with these sets, I have to tell you - they are so fun and a lot of the images are interchangeable as you can see the scenes I’ve been able to create using them, that’s one reason I am so happy Irene drew people!!  If you have stamped with DF images, obviously  you’re a Doodlefactory FAN and you haven’t gotten them yet -  these are a MUST-Have for your stamp collection!  If you get them, let me know, I’d love to check out what you make with them! 

Have a fun day!   

SASI special project

Here is a peek of a special Taylored Expressions project I posted on the Stamp a Sweet Impression blog today – go check it out & let me know what you think!?

Have a “Sweet” Day!  I know I will be; I plan to hand deliver this sweet project to a special blogging/stamping friend I’m meeting for the first time today!  

Oh Baby! A Snake!!

Here’s a card I made using today’s SCS Clean & Simple Challenge to use Little Bits of Ribbon {CAS12}.  I grabbed my sweet fluffy bear, bottle & diaper bag from the Oh Baby! Doodlefactory set and my new Labels 4 Nestability dies which I love!!  The little bit of ribbon with a green safety pin on it is from a retired SU! designer ribbon bundle that I literally only had bits of – perfect for the ribbons you just can’t bring yourself to trash!  Sentiments on both cards are from Sentiments Baby!

This other card I made uses crying {or scared} Izzy from the set along with the Jungle backdrop – complete with frightening long snake!!  Poor Izzy – scared out of her mind!  Maybe Super-Dad will rescue her from the Jungle & bring her home safe.  Stay tuned…

Shopping friends in sunshine & in shade

Here are 2 cupcake diva friends shopping from the Taylored Expressions set Downtown Diva.  This sentiment cracks me up - ‘people who say money can’t buy happiness don’t know where to shop!’  I made this card for my DMIL to send to her college friend (at her request) and I thought my SU! Flamingo dp would be fun for it!

Here’s a card I realized I’ve not shared using last month’s release Branching Out & Branching Out Coordinates.  When I was making  this cute card, positioning the dp swirl tree, DH said it looked like a mushroom so I went with it (although the angle I photographed it, you can see the top of the tree, oops).  I used Basic Grey Offbeat scraps on this card, and made 2 squirrels facing each other by stamping a squirrel on a mirror image stamp that way it showed the squirrel friends enjoying some shade under the big mushroom. 

Just one more week until sneak peeks from Taylor & the Baker’s Dozen Design Team for May’s release, you are going to LOVE what we have in store for you!! 

RAK Blessings

I’ve been blessed over the past few weeks with some wonderful hugs in the mail and I’m finally sharing (I actually have received more, I’ve only photographed these so far to share). 

The first is an Easter RAK from Carolina, I totally adored the card on the left she made when I saw it on her blog (well, she happened to have MADE it for me and was relieved when I said that – she almost thought she’d have to make a different card, as IF, I love ALL her wonderful creations!) She was so sweet to send me AND John these sweet candy treats, he was sure happy about it & dug in right away (I usually wait until I am craving chocolate to indulge!)  Thank you, my friend!!

This sweet Bunny Sophia card (using my Taylored Expression’s Anniversary Sketch) is from Jessie!  She always sends love in the mail, she’s so thoughtful!!  Thank you, Jessie!!

This fabulous card made by fellow Baker’s Dozen design team member Sankari Wegman was sent to cheer me up after being laid off from my job and it sure did the trick!  My word, when I saw that red, black & white beauty on her blog, I fell in love with it, little did I know she MADE it with LOVE for ME!!  Check out the cardboard treasure box – well, it was filled with the most delicious melt-in-your-mouth-chocolatey-truffle-goodness I have EVER HAD!  WOW, they are so yummy!!  Chocolate always makes a gal feel better.  Thank you, Sankari! 

Lastly, this precious Ketto image with sentiment, ‘need a hug?’ is from another fellow Baker’s Dozen dt member, Karen 'Saucy’ Motz.  I totally did feel hugged opening this sweet card!  She was so funny - on the back of the envelope, she wrote ‘please fluff the bow’ with a smiley face.  So I was sure to do that before I took my photo.  Thank you, Karen!! 

I also want to thank Melanie again, last Friday [a few days after the big change}, we finally got together so I could give her her birthday gift and it poured rain practically the whole time we hung out!!  She treated me to a few of her favorite local spots: a local trailer in S. Austin called Flip Happy Crepes, who was a Throwdown with Bobby Flay (click here to see video) winner!  I had a yummy ham & gruyere cheese crepe and Melanie had a hot Morrocan one!  I look forward to trying one of their sweet ones next time!  Then we went to get some yummy popcorn treats from Cornucopia!  It was such a fun time just hanging out & it was so sweet of her to cheer me up after having a crummy week!  Thank you, Melanie!

All you ladies are such a BLESSING to me and I appreciate your thoughtfulness, it all moved me to tears and made me feel SO special!! 

TECC65: Clean & Simple Blooms

Happy Cupcake Friday, Y’all! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week! Mine was sure interesting being the first full week in the ranks of the unemployed! I do have an interview on Monday, though and I got all my hairs cut today for a fresh Spring look (more than 2 inches off). My card today is for the Clean and Simple challenge on SCS this week {CAS11 Inspiration} I used the pillow below. I used the Whimsical Wishes set Fresh Flowers on a regal rose card base stamped with white polka dots from a pencil eraser. The pumpkin twill is from the Taylored Expressions store {love it!}

Here is Taylor’s sketch for you to try out - how about a sweet Spring Treat? Taylor is giving away a FREE Tiny Twinkles to one random winner from among all the people who upload their sketch challenge cards to Paper CraftPlanet using the same TECC65 keyword. So hop on over and upload your card at PaperCraftPlanet and you could be the winner of some cute twinkle bling! It’s as easy as that!!! Be sure to leave a comment on Taylor’s blog and leave a link to your blog post or gallery upload using the Mr. Linky service so she can check it out! You must have your creation uploaded by Monday, April 27 at 10:00 a.m. CST to be eligible for the featured cupcake sampler honors. Lastly, be sure to have FUN creating!

Be sure to check out the other Cupcake Crew’s Creations:

Taylor Van Bruggen
Ana Wohlfahrt
Jackie Pedro
Lynn Mercurio
Sherrie Siemens
Vicki Chrisman

I’m so excited to say my friend Joanne Basile is Featured Sampler today! Check out her sweet creation that caught Taylor’s eyes last week and be sure to check out today’s creation!

Gina K. Sneak Peek: Not Forgotten

I am so happy Gina has thought of making a set that I do not recall seeing anywhere in the stamping industry but is so needed. It is called Not Forgotten, a heartfelt set to send cards to those who have lost their loved ones. There are many occasions after you lose a loved one that you tend to miss them most: the first birthday without them, the first holiday, the first anniversary of their death, etc. This set will be perfect for those occasions to let them know you are thinking of them and have not forgotten their loved one. I made this card to send to my cousin Stephanie who lost her mom Liza 2 years ago this week. I also used Asela’s Friendship’s Garden {rose} and made a frame for the sentiment so the picture of Stephanie and her mom would show through the window.

I’m so happy I took this picture; Stephanie and Liza came to visit Gabby for the first time and spend time with me & John who were in town. Coincidentally, Liza died a week before Gabby’s 1st birthday and we were able to attend her funeral which was a beautiful one. Liza touched so many people’s lives the 78 years she lived on this Earth; it was touching listening to person after person who talked about her character and how much she loved them, like she was everyone’s grandmother, a true angel. I’m sure Stephanie will love this card. The sentiment on the inside says, “I’m thinking about you today. I know it still hurts so much” {I do and she knows}. You may have a hard time seeing, but my blue card layer is stamped lightly with the weathered background stamp in the Bold Flowers set.

This card will be uploaded to the StampTV website later this morning for the sketch challenge for this week {courtesy of Melanie – thank you!} isn’t it a great one? I hope you will check it out later in the challenge forum & play along for a chance to win a Gina K. stamp set of your choice!


Here are a few pictures to show you how I put the frame together. The first one is two sizes of Labels Four dies.

The larger die was cut from the white card base and then through the blue & black layers for the front of the card.

Then, I stamped my sentiment on vellum paper in the upper right corner so I didn’t cover all of Liza’s face. Note: the center die was not cut from this – it was only used to line up my sentiment exactly how I wanted it to appear in the ‘frame’.

I hope you join us this evening in the Gina K. forum on SCS 7:00-10:00 p.m. for contests, challenges, chat, more sneak peeks from the design team and FUN of course!

Here are links to the design team who are showing sneak peeks of this set on their blogs today:
Gina, Carolyn, Cindy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Melanie, Theresa, Beverly

Gina K. Sneak Peek: Notes to Mom & Nurse Feelgood

Each month, Gina K. brings out a unique set that you get for Free when you purchase 3 sets. This month it’s a beautiful set in tribute to Moms called Notes to Mom; how perfect with Mother’s Day right around the corner. I thought it would be a wonderful addition to Melanie’s A Year of Flowers set (my favorite, the rose). I paired it with Emily’s new digital paper called Softly Spring, which is a gorgeous array of patterned soft pinks & grays. I made my card with yesterday’s color challenge on {SCS CC215} - Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette & Rose Red.

What would we do (be) without the love & support of our moms?? I have my mom to thank for my creative nature; I remember one year for Mother’s Day, we made potted plants with dirt cake inside clay pots & stuck silk flowers in them for my friends who were moms. They loved them! I know she would adore my stamped creations and be so proud.

Some of my readers know I lost my mom to Congestive Heart Failure as a result of a diagnosis of Lung Cancer just 8 days before she died, July 1996. It was a real difficult time with her in and out of the hospital for about 9 months prior. Had it not been for the support of my sisters, friends, church family and my faith in God-it would have been more difficult to endure. One of the blessings that came out of that time was a special nurse that God brought to her/us. Her name is Ann and she is the first person I thought of when I saw Carolyn’s new Nurse Feelgood set; I knew I was going to make a card for Ann to thank her for her caretaking and love for our mom & us in the days and years that followed her death.

Ann was so quick to hug on each of us girls when she was on shift at the hospital during our visits and brief us on her condition {more than the Doctors did sometimes}. We were so grateful she would talk with our mom, pray with her and it was no surprise she was there when she died to comfort us and wanted to attend her funeral. She has been a part of our family since. Here is a picture of her & her family at Easter this year (her husband Jim is the head anesthesiologist at the hospital he works at). I know our mom would have loved her children and it’s a source of heartache she missed out on knowing my niece & nephew. My card is simple-straightforward, no frills-well except for my brand new Spellbinders Labels 4 dies which I got at Taylored Expressions! Just the perfect layering touch for this white on white car. Also you may notice once you see the set, I made Ann’s hair longer & put on boobs (after all she is nursing her daughter-ha!) This card is long over-due to thank Ann for being the World’s Greatest Nurse!

Don’t forget we have one more day of sneak peeks & our release party is scheduled for Thursday, April 23 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. CST in the Gina K. Forum on SCS.

Here are links to all the other sneak peeks out there by the wonderful Gina K. Design Team:

Gina, Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Joanne, Kurtis,Melanie, Theresa
Beverly Cole {In the Spotlight Designer}

Gina K. Sneak Peek: Out West & Friendship’s Garden

Out West brings a wonderful collection of western images and sentiments drawn by our own Gina K. Sr. Design team member, Theresa Momber (the woman can draw!!)  I drew inspiration for my card from this one by Anna Wight.  I stamped the horse on Gina K pure luxury layering weight cardstock and colored him in using copics.  I then put a small border around the horse to create a border like Anna did in her post and sponged Distress inks in red brick, tea dye and vintage photo.  I layered the horse image on my awesome new Chocolate Kiss cardstock that Gina K will be releasing this Thursday and layered on top of kraft cardstock.  Under the horse image is another new product Gina will be releasing this week called Nautical Netting, which I thought would be real nice on this card and finished it with a silver charm I had in my stash. 

Friendship’s Blessing is another beautiful floral set illustrated by Asela.  I chose to show you the potted plant Miltonia Orchid (click to see the plant I drew inspiration from and made a matching soldered charm bookmark for me!!

I have been waiting for just the right small floral set so I could try my hand at soldering, which was one of my goals for this year.  It is my first piece and it took me quite a while to make but I think it’s pretty decent for my first one.  I followed the online tutorial for soldering by Ellen Hutson which was easy to follow.  I attached the whisper white organza ribbon by SU! for the ribbon, which is tucked into the book I am currently reading. 

Be sure to check out all the sneak peek samples by the rest of the design team today and come back for more through Thursday, our release day! 

Gina, Asela, Carolyn, Cindy,  Emily, Erika, Jessica, Joanne, Kurtis, Melanie, Theresa
Beverly Cole {In the Spotlight Designer}
Cathy Tidwell {Theresa’s Guest Designer} 
Jen Del Muro {with a sneak peek of Wee Tees}. 

Gina K. Sneak Peek: Guiding Light & Wee Tees

Our first sneak peek is Guiding Light, a beautiful lighthouse,  seashore set with wonderful sentiments illustrated by Rupa Shevde. For my project, I made a shadowbox card and coordinating laminated bookmark for a dear friend who loves lighthouses! 

 

Here is a closeup of the card.  I used the new Jersey Shore digital paper pack created for this release (the paper is called Sunlit Ocean but I used it for my background, I thought it was perfect for it).  The gold cardstock I used is Mica/Metallic by Papertemptress.  I used the weathered background from the Bold Flowers set from the Floral Frenzy stamp kit, which will be available for purchase separately soon. 

Here is a closeup of the bookmark, which will be very durable since it’s laminated.  I used natural hemp cord & tied a lighthouse charm on the end.   I know my friend is going to love this since not only does she adore lighthouses, she also loves to read! 

 

This next sweet set illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger is called Wee Tees.  We all know and love her Little Tees set, and now we have one for the babies & kids with so many adorable images & sentiments for countless combinations for cards, projects and scrapbook pages which is what I am sharing with you.  This is a 6 x 6 inch page I made for my nephew’s arrival last May.  Since he will be one year next month, it was about time I got started on his first year!  I used a simply scrapping kit by SU! Rock-a-Bye Boy, so I paper-pieced the onesie with paper from it. 

On this next page, I did the same, but since it wasn’t a busy onesie, I was able to stamp one of the many sentiments in the set!  We were so blessed to arrive in CA on the day he was born (but it was too late in the evening to see him so we had to wait until the next day).  It is hard to believe this baby, so small & tiny looks like this now!  Isn’t he adorable?  I love his curly top hair!   Only 4 1/2 weeks and we will get to love & hug on him!  Can’t wait!!

 

Be sure to check out sneak peeks from Gina K. and the design team through Thursday and join us for our new release party in the evening, April 23 7:00-10:00 p.m. CST. 

Gina, Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Joanne, Kurtis
Melanie, Theresa and our In the Spotlight Designer Beverly Cole.

Special Guest Designers for Wee Tees: Libby Hickson and Laura Jean Nygard

TECC64: A Pretty Bouquet & Sweet Shoppe

How about another pretty bouquet from the new Whimsical Wishes set Fresh Flowers for Cupcake Friday?! Seems like most people liked my bright busy floral card from last week like I did. So here is another, paired with Basic Grey Ambrosia papers. The choice buttercream cardstock & orange Cha Cha Felt Button is from Taylored Expressions, which coordinated so nicely with these papers.

Here is another card I made since I wasn’t completely satisfied with just sharing one card for the 2nd week in a row! On my Sweet Shoppe card, I used all supplies from the March 20th Key ingredient subscription. Here is all the info you need on the key ingredients subscription for purchase on Taylor’s Blog. With inspiration from the gorgeous, sweet & colorful creator Sankari, I combined the Whimsical Wishes Branching Out tree next to my sweet shoppe and added some small flower punches to the trees with the leaf ribbon in the key ingredients kit. Speaking of the Key Ingredients Subscription, on Monday Taylor & some of the Baker’s Dozen Design team will have some projects to share using the kit for April!

How about a sweet Spring Treat? Taylor is giving away a FREE Tiny Twinkles to one random winner from among all the people who upload their sketch challenge cards to Paper Craft Planet using the same TECC64 keyword. So hop on over and upload your card there and you could be the winner of some cute twinkle bling! It’s as easy as that!!! Be sure to leave a comment on Taylor’s blog and leave a link to your blog post or gallery upload using the Mr. Linky service so she can check it out! You must have your creation uploaded by Monday, April 20 at 10:00 a.m. CST to be eligible for the featured cupcake sampler honors. Lastly, be sure to have FUN creating!

Be sure to check out the other Cupcake Crew’s Creations:

Taylor Van Bruggen
Ana Wohlfahrt
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Lynn Mercurio
Monika Davis
Sherrie Siemens
Stephanie Hargis
Vicki Chrisman

Be sure to check out the sweet creation our Featured Sampler has for us today - Sandra MacLean!

Hope y’all have a wonderful Friday & weekend!

PERSONAL NEWS to share

• John’s lower back steroid shots seemed to have worked the first few days but he’s back in pain again (mainly when he lays down for bed)
  
• Our sick cat Chica was diagnosed with Toxoplasmosis, a parasite that we are treating with antibiotics.  She seemed to be doing well for about a week and then had a few incidences since Wednesday that the vet said can be expected.  We need to continue to watch and if it doesn’t get better we may need to alter her medications.
  
• Something happened on Wednesday {re: employment} that may affect the consistency of postings I’ve had on my blog.  Rest assured I will still be creating and sharing but some of my focus may shift slightly due to not having a set schedule that I’m used to.  I hope you will continue to look forward to my sharing! 
  
• I’m currently working on the Gina K. new release scheduled for Thursday, April 23 {sneak peeks start on Monday midnight CST}.  It’s HUGE and you will be so excited about it!!!

New Baby – Pretty Mama!

 

I got my new Doodlefactory Collection stamps Oh Baby!  I just love these new stamps; happy Tracey asked Irene to draw some people stamps, including a baby!   She did a great job, but she said it was a little challenging for her since she was used to drawing creatures/animals only.  On my first card I used the rocking horse for the SCS color challenge CC214: Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette & Optional Chocolate Chip.  My coloring was done with peerless watercolors and my white is Gina K. pure luxury layering weight.

On my Pretty Mama card, I used the neighborhood stamp and Heidi & baby in the foreground.  I adore the houses, all the cute details, especially the clothesline from the blue house to the orange house.  I used a copic grey marker to make asphalt but peerless watercolors were used on everything else.  I finagled Heidi’s left arm to hold the baby by piecing it under & gluing it down under the baby, otherwise it wouldn’t be a perfect fit. 

The sentiments in the Baby! set are so fun, I used them on both cards. 

If you’re interested in purchasing any of the new Doodlefactory sets or Starving Artistamps, don’t forget you can use my discount code for 10% off: SAVETENDB at checkout at the Starving Artistamps store. 

A Cool Chick, Diva Beach Bunny & Pretty Blooms

Here’s a fun card I put together for this week’s sketch challenge at StampTV, hosted by Cat!  To my pretty paper-pieced floral tee, I added a chick from Just so Hoppy & topped her off with some cool sunglasses from Little tees.  The SU! dp Pink Flamingo has such fun colors in it, I thought it would be perfect for this sunshiny card!!  I used my justrite small letters set on a wooden stamper to make a perfect sentiment for my card. 

Here is a card I had a ton of fun making this weekend, Diva Beach Bunny for the stampTV potluck Friday challenge to paper-piece!  I used 5 Gina K sets for this card, Just so Hoppy (bunny), You are My Sunshine (beach chair, umbrella), Little Tees (bunny top-sunglasses and tiara), Perfectly Polished (beach towel), Just Be-Claws (sun).  I drew on her flip flops (you see her pink toenail polish? you have to click on the photo to see more detail).  She has bling on her flip flops & bathing suit.  

The other card I put together is for 2 challenges; one is my spin on the emboss resist technique that Gina shared on stampTV last week. I stamped the big flower from A Year of Flowers with VersaMark ink on Baja Breeze cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then, I used a sponge dauber and rubbed on Pacific Point ink.  I LOVE how this turned out!!  I then stamped a tag with a sentiment from Say it With Flowers, which happened to match up perfectly with the upper right flower (it’s lined up just right, but looks off center since I photographed the card at an angle).  The other challenge for this card was for the Clean and Simple [CAS10] for a monochromatic card - I love making these! definitely takes your guesswork out of coordinating colors!

Thanks for visiting today! 

FCCC38: Courtney’s Playdate

Libby has recently made a few fun changes to her From Courtney’s Closet challenges, you can read about them here.  She, along with Allison has arranged a playdate with baby Avery and Avery’s cute outfit is featured this week.

I used my Whimsical Wishes Branching Out & Branching Out coordinates sets by Taylored Expressions.  I just adore this set, there are so many fun possibilities and each time I bring it out, I realize there are so many more things I can make with it!  

TECC63: Marrakech Blooms

Happy Good Friday y’all – here I am with another installment of Taylor’s Cupcake Challenge; I have to admit I struggled with this one, but I’m not blaming her sketch-it’s a great one!  I think it was my choice of papers/embellishments.  My first idea was to make a floral ground cover scene with flowers from the Fresh Flowers by Taylored Expressions, my next idea was to use my new Basic Grey Marrakech paper I got from Limelight Papercrafts which are gorgeous, rich Morrocan-inspired papers!  But I believe my choice of paper was a little too busy for my floral scene and big prima layered flowers.  But on second thought, I do think it still works!  But I didn’t think that until I made a 2nd card…

 

This one is a little more muted, I just stamped a few flowers from the set on my main panel, put the Masala Bella paper on the center panel, which is less prominent.  Then, I replaced the big bloom with a matching big button.  For some reason after I made this card, I liked the first one better but now I have 2 cards instead of one – a happy accident! 

How about a sweet Spring Treat? Taylor is giving away a FREE Tiny Twinkles to one random winner from among all the people who upload their sketch challenge cards to Paper CraftPlanet using the same TECC63 keyword. So hop on over and upload your card at PaperCraftPlanet and you could be the winner of some cute twinkle bling! Its as easy as that!!!   Be sure to leave a comment on Taylor’s blog and leave a link to your blog post or gallery upload using the Mr. Linky service so she can check it out!  You must have your creation uploaded by Monday, April 13 at 10:00 a.m. CST to be eligible for the featured cupcake sampler honors. Lastly, be sure to have FUN creating!

Be sure to check out the other Cupcake Crew’s Creations:

Taylor Van Bruggen
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Lynn Mercurio
Monika Davis
Sherrie Siemens
Stephanie Hargis
Vicki Chrisman

Today we have Joan Ervin as our Featured Cupcake Sampler!! Hope y’all have a fantastic Friday! 

Easter Blessings, Gina K. & personal news

Here is an Easter card I made for the Gina K March release using Easter Blessings; a set not only used for this time of year, you will see in this sample Melanie used it for Communion and so many others have been using it for Spring with the beautiful lilies Rupa drew in the set.    I sent the above card to our grandparents in Waco and got a sweet email from Mamaw saying, 

“Thanks for the beautiful Easter card. It is simple but very elegant!
Indeed we are so grateful for our Rock, our Savior. He is indeed risen and ever lives for us!  I am not the thoughtful and creative person but indeed all of you are so special in my heart!!!” 

This is the stuff that makes me appreciate my gifting. 

On my card, I used a Chocolate Kiss base weight card base (so happy this cardstock will be released by Gina!) and layered brushed gold metallic cardstock by SU!on top.  The crown of thorns is tamped in chocolate ink on the Pure Luxury Ivory layering weight cardstock and the sentiment embossed with chocolate chip craft ink & clear embossing powder on vellum cardstock. 

Lots of Exciting Things Coming from Gina K! 

• Stamping Lifestyle Magazine (coming May 2009)Welcome Lynn Mercurio as our Editor-in-Chief of Gina K’s FREE Magazine for YOU with product and tool reviews, great places on the web, featured artists, saving time and money, getting organized and more!
• Online Classes at StampTV - our education director, Jessica Fick posted her first online class at StampTV – Fun with Flowers.  These classes are based on the technique episodes at StampTV so you can watch the technique first, then use your class kit to make 12 projects!  See here for details.
• Center Stage!  Each month, 10 featured stampers will be showcased in our Gallery at StampTV to strut their stamping stuff (and each are awarded $10 credit to the Gina K store). 
• April Release – Scheduled for Thursday, April 23 and it’s going to be HUGE!  I’m so excited about the surprises in store!!

Don’t forget the daily (weekly) and monthly (3D) challenges in our forums and tutorials, videos we have!  So much fun there!  Come join us! 

On a personal note (some of my readers actually look forward to hearing personal stuff).  I’ll be taking John to the Dr. tomorrow – he is having some shots in his lower back as a result of the pain from his rear-end accident on Jan 16.  Then on May 1st his mid-back.  If he responds well to the treatments, he will go for a 3rd in his neck.  If you are a praying person, please pray he gets some relief & these treatments work.  Also, please say a prayer for our cat Chica (she has a bacterial infection and we’re not exactly sure where) we are treating her with antibiotics orally (twice a day-it’s interesting) as a result of her losing about 4 lbs since last July.  I want hem BOTH to get better!  Thanks!

CAS09 Be Still and Oh Baby!

 

Here is my card for the Clean & Simple challenge on SCS this week (CAS09) Distressing!  I made my focal image ticket with 54.01 large solid ticket by Starving Artistamps, stamped in Creamy Caramel ink on kraft cardstock, then the outline number ticket stamped in Vintage Photo distress ink.  Then, I used my Kraft Magic technique by stamping my FS-5 Asters large silhouette flowers in white craft ink.  I colored over the image with prismacolor pencils.  The card base was stamped with SU! weathered background in creamy caramel ink on kraft cardstock, then both sponged with vintage photo ink.  The sentiment is in the Timeless set.  

And now for the Oh Baby! news!  Here are pictures of the new Doodlefactory sets released and ready for ordering – look, we have DF People and a neighborhood!!!  It is so awesome!!  So many more possibilities!!  I’ll have samples to show possibly next week, maybe sooner!  If you’d like to enter the blog candy to win it all – enter here!  You have until April 12 Midnight (EST) to enter and specific guidelines-be sure to read it all!  If you don’t want to wait to see if you’re the winner – you can always purchase them now and if you win, you can choose something else for free! 

But before you leave, I want to remind you that any time you want to purchase Starving Artistamps or Doodlefactory stamps, you can get 10% off your order with this discount code at checkout: SAVETENDB!  It’s that simple! 

 

What do YOU think?!?  Aren’t they awesome??!