Have a Beary Speedy Recovery

Isn’t this bear the cutest?  He is a new set not even released yet by The Cat’s Pajamas called “A Beary Good Year” that has accessories for all the year’s holidays and more that I picked up at CHA last weekend.  I made this card for myself, mustering up the energy to stamp a little last night while I’m still recovering from the flu that’s kicked my butt since Weds. evening!  This was me Friday night with the cold compress on my head and a thermometer in my mouth about every 15 mins!

I used TCPTuesday94 sketch and have also emailed my entry to name this bear to win the whole year’s release!  How fun would that be?!?  I just love Ana Wohlfahrt who is on the TCP’s design team, and am always inspired by her clean, fun & fresh designs incorporating the perfect mix of pattern paper & embellishments to make her creations shine!

You have until Feb 8th to get in the name that bear contest! 

Shabby Cupcakes inspired by Laurie

One of my favorite stampers out there is fellow Baker’s Dozen design team member, Laurie Schmidlin.  Her creations are the perfect mix of shabby elegance that I love!  I was inspired by this card of hers to turn it into a cupcake birthday card using the January key ingredients by Taylored Expressions.  I used the new Sprinkled with Love set and covered my cupcakes with liquid pearl ‘frosting’ in petal pink and lemon yellow and cherries with ruby red.  I added some machine stitching and sponged the edges, added some ribbons & buttons from the kit and I was done.  See the green stems on the cherries?  They are made with colored wire I had in my stash – I like the fun look it adds to the cherries.

Be sure to read about the changes with the key ingredients Taylor posted on her blog, unfortunately you are not able to purchase this key ingredients kit separately anymore, but you can sign up for a subscription (3 or 6-month) and get these delivered directly to your door each month in addition to other benefits!

Hope you have a great weekend! 

Simple Valentine card & treat

Here is a VERY simple Valentine card & treat I made using Happy Hearts by Tami Mayberry for Gina K. Designs!  I used Basic Grey lemonade papers, romance ribbon assortment and a small pillow box to put a few york peppermint patties inside!  The cardstock I used for the project is Innocent Pink and base weight white. 

My posts have been so erratic lately; I’m sure I will get back into some sort of posting routine since getting back to school but Weds. night and Thursday morning I was sick (woke up with a fever!) and have an annoying dry cough.  I am looking forward to the weekend to say the least!  Mentally, this week has been exhausting learning a new job at work and learning about the inner workings of the body in my anatomy/physiology class.  Now it’s been physically exhausting with being sick too!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Mojo Monday – Heart’s Desire & a pic from CHA

It’s been **forever** since I’ve stamped at my desk!  I had to play along with the Mojo Monday {MOJO123}challenge this evening and managed to make this card as soon as I got home from school while John got dinner on the table!  I used my new Verve set Heart’s Desire I won at the last release!  I kept my card super simple since I was short on time but I like it!  I used Gina K. cardstock (Lipstick Red, Innocent Pink, Black Onyx, white) and Basic Grey Sugar Rush and Romance collection buttons.

Here is a close up of the shimmer from glitter pens on the heart and arrow. **It’s so great to stamp again – the most I did the past week was at CHA on Sat. morning -  I managed to do 3 make ‘n takes!

Here is a picture taken on Friday morning by the SCS booth before the madness started.  I’m with the Baker’s Dozen gals from left to right Karen G., Dawn Easton, Karen M., Jodi and Jami Sibley).  We had so much fun!  More gals arrived after the picture was taken Jackie and Sankari but we didn’t get any pictures with the WHOLE group that attended :-(   It was a LOT of work but more FUN than anything!  I loved meeting the gals and hanging out!  It was WAY more FUN than any SU! event I attended, in fact!  I wish I could have stayed longer but I had to go to work today and had school this evening.  Sigh…I plan to lift more pics when others share them.  I didn’t take a camera but I took a few pictures with my cell phone, just not much – it was way too busy! 

Bursting With Love for TE

I’m headed to CHA today to meet up with Taylor & nearly all of the design team!  I am so excited – ready to meet them all, work in the TE booth and have some
F-U-N!   Lord knows I need the little break – working full-time and with school starting back up this week – it’s the calm before the storm-ha!  Here is a card that made it from clean & simple to  SHABBY chic I made a while ago for the Fall-to-layout 69 sketch!  I used the TE set Love Everywhere heart cluster and sentiment.  I heat embossed the hearts and sponged red brick distress ink.  I also distressed the edges and sewed with brown thread.  Surprisingly, the card really didn’t take that long to make! 

Hope you stop by the TE booth if you are attending, if not – I’m sure you will see plenty of updates all over the internet, especially on FB (click for a link to my profile if you’d like to add me as a friend).  I don’t plan on bringing a camera since I still haven’t been able to locate it.  But, I will be bringing my phone and can upload some pictures that way.  I may not publish any posts while I’m gone - check back with me next week! 

Vase of pretty flowers

Here is a card I made using Theresa’s new set for GKD called Purrr-fectly Delightful.  What do flowers have to do with that set name?  Well, the main images are cat related (which I love), but when the release rolled around, I hadn’t gotten the chance to work with the cat images since I was still grieving over putting our cat to sleep on Dec. 18th.  I’m sure I will have something to share using them soon, since I love cats and we still have our precious Elsie (who happens to be sitting right next to me as I type this post and she has per paw touching my thigh – so cute).  So, I made this card with her pretty vase of flowers and it happened to be my favorite card I made for the previews!  I just adore the new pink pure luxury cardstock colors!  On here, I used Passionate Pink with Green Apple and Black Onyx which coordinates wonderfully with this Basic Grey Sultry paper!  If you look closely at the center of the flowers, you’ll see some crystal lacquer with some small black beads from my jewelry making supplies and created some fun dimension.  The card was finished with some mini black brads in the corners and gold-lined black organdy ribbon. 

If you’re interested in seeing more inspiration using this set, check out the STV inspiration gallery.

You Lift Me Up!

I’ve been hearing from a lot of stampers this is their favorite Cuppie set so far and that makes me smile!  Why you ask?  Because the concept for Cuppie Love Scenes was mine and John’s!  I just adore this image of the cuppies taking a romantic hot air balloon ride!  I kept my card super simple to keep the focus on the cuppies and just used prism cardstock (med. suede brown, frosted and intense teal) a Basic Grey urban prairie button.  I added some star dust stickles accents to the clouds and hot air balloon.  For a close-up look, click on the photo! 

I want to say a special thank you to all those who’ve lifted me up over this past week; whether you realized I needed it or not it helped!  My temporary assignment where I’ve been working the past 6 weeks was ending yesterday and there was an A/P position available in the dept so I applied for it.  They did not extend me a formal offer, but extended my contract with the temp. agency for 2-3 more months!  That is great!!  I also won some Verve stamps and found out at the release last night!  I’m so excited! 

CPS sketch – Bunny Face

I’m so late in sharing this card, but most things are better late than never, right?  Well, this was made using the sketch CPS 148 which was sponsored by Gina K. Designs!  

I used Melanie’s new set Square Pegs, which is a fun companion set to Hip to be Square with many images & sentiments for all year round fun!  On this card, I used the bear face with bunny years & whiskers, but instead of using it with a round face, I made a square one, I think it’s real fun!  Pattern paper is Basic Grey Sugar Rush and pure luxury cardstock (innocent pink & sweet corn) along with the new romance ribbon & buttons! 

I hope you have a fabulous weekend!! 

All Supplies Gina K. Designs unless otherwise noted! 

TE January Key Ingredients Subscription – Nook & Pantry!

This month we are showcasing our Taylored Expressions Monthly Key Ingredients Subscription challenge early (usually we show on the 20th but since most of the design team is heading to CHA next week, we are doing it early!) Plus, we have a few exciting things to share!   Our key ingredients are Basic Grey Nook & Pantry, coordinating Prism cardstock, Choice Buttercream cardstock, buttons & handmade crochet flowers made by Jodi’s mom!  Aren’t they sweet??

Taylor challenged us gals this month to make our creations ‘food’ themed because of the Nook & Pantry paper, it is just scrumptious!  So of course I had to use the new Cuppie Love Scenes set with the cuppies sharing a plate of spaghetti ‘Lade & the Tramp’ style!  My card is a CASE of this fabulous card made by BDDT member Alex Maldonado I fell in love with! 

Here is the inside of my recipe book, which I made using a Binder Box and downloadable recipe cards.  It’s nice to get organized, I am always finding recipes I like and just start stacking them in a cabinet, and it takes forever to find what I want!  Now I can put them in here!  With the downloads you don’t pay shipping and you save the file so you can print your own!  2 print on one sheet of cardstock.

* Brand New Key Ingredients Website where you will see a whole bunch of goodness, including creations made with past & present key ingredients!  

* Limited Time Subscription Special. Purchase (or renew) a 6 month subscription on or before January 17th and receive a FREE Key Ingredients kit upon the completion of your 6 month subscription. This kit (a $23.95 value including shipping) will be an exclusive kit that will never be available in the TE Store!

Be sure to check out all the wonderful creations the Baker’s Dozen have cooked up for you today!

Charmaine Ikach
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls
Jeanie Witmer (our Guest Designer)
Taylor VanBruggen (be sure to read her whole post, it’s always chock-full of important details!)

and these fantastic stampers have been invited to share their creations with us too!
Candace Mitchell
Kathie Bailey
Laura Leonard
Lisa Hjulberg
Lynn Mercurio
Randi Barrett
Sunghee Chon

I hope you have a sweet day!!

Sending You Love

Today I have a fun clean & simple card to share with you using the new Whimsical Wishes set, Love Everywhere!    I stamped a trio of the sweet heart balloons on my focal image with red and added some Christmas red stickles.  The prism cardstock and ribbon are from the Valentine key ingredients, which is still available;  if you like it, you better get it soon before it’s no longer available!! 

Hope you have a great day!!

Mojo Monday – Just for You

Here is my Mojo Monday {MOJO121} card this week – I’m so glad I got to play!  I am also happy that I got some Verve stamps to use for it!!  I just couldn’t pass up the great end of year sale they had – I got my sets 30-40% off that I have been eyeing for MONTHS.  I used Bountiful Backgrounds and Just For You on my card.  The cardstock is Innocent Pink & Wine with Everything, Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs and pattern paper is Eva by Basic Grey – perfect matches to the new GK cardstock colors!  I added some petal pink liquid pearls around my scallop sentiment and the new wine gold-lined organdy ribbon in the Romance collection (which I am in love with!)

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Hey there, Hot Rod!!

Here is a card I made using the new sets Heartily Yours & Heartily Yours Additions by Nina B. for Gina K. Designs!  I made this a non-traditional colored Valentine’s Day for the release challenge I am hosting at SCS.  Your challenge it to make a Valentine’s card and you can’t use any red or pink on it!    You have until 7:00 p.m. CST Mon Jan 11th to play along to win some FREE GKD stamps!  You don’t have to use GKD stamps, but if you do, you get your name entered twice in the drawing!

I made this little hot rod VW Bug a spinner card and plan to send this card to my 1 1/2 nephew – I bet he will get a kick out of the car spinning!! 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

TE Release Day: Cuppie Love Scenes!

This post is identical to what I posted earlier on the Stamp a Sweet Impression blog – for the new TE release.  I wanted to post it here as well because this stamp concept is all MINE and  John’s** – and I wanted to share it with y’all here too!  

~~~
I am so excited to share some samples using the new Cuppie Love Scenes set, illustrated by Jessie Olesen but INSPIRED by Me and my awesome DH!  One day when we were out and about, we started brainstorming about cuppie stamp set ideas and we came up with all 4 of the designs in this sweet set!  On my first card is the date night at home scene, with cuppies in love on the sofa!  Isn't it cute?!?  I used Valentine key ingredients on this card, as well as a few items included in the Valentine Accessory add-on that will be available for purchase (the cool nestability circle 'frame' which is mady by Jamie, and the heart trinket pin).  I covered my chipboard love with pattern paper in the key ingredients, Be Loved by My Mind's Eye. 

On my next card, I used the cuppie love scene inspired by Lady and the Tramp with the 2 dogs eating off the same spaghetti noodle - remember that?  Well here are the 2 cuppies in love doing just that!  In this image there are other stamps such as a napkin, bread with butter on a plate, wine glass and candle for ambiance!  Too cute, but because I was making my card based on Mercy's Tuesday sketch {MTSC55}, I couldn't use the whole image.  I just love this sentiment, because my DH and I love to eat out (although we don't get to indulge in it that often since we've been saving to build our house forever) but when we do, we surely like to share our meals with one another and that makes them better to me! 

Please check out what the other designers have to share with you so you can see MORE cuppie love scenes!  There are 2 cuppies riding in a hot air balloon (I THINK my fave although DH and I have never done that and probably never will because he is not particularly fond of heights) and 2 cuppies enjoying each other's company as well as some yummy movie theater popcorn) watching 2 cuppies lip locked in a movie love scene!  This is definitely one of our favorite things to do (watch movies at the theater AND at home) so it's PERFECT for us! 

Alex Maldonado
Charmaine Ikach
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor Van Bruggen
and also joining us today are:
Jeanie Witmer, our guest designer
Jamie Pyles (artist of our NEW cute clay buttons and frames)

and before I leave, I want you to be aware of the great new shipping policy at Taylored Expressions! All orders of $75.00 or more (in the U.S. only) will receive Free Shipping! Click here to read the shipping policy for international orders and those totaling less than $75.00.   NOW GO SHOP! 

**John – several of the gals told me to give you a high five for a great job with this set and someone said it’s their favorite cuppie set to date!  Thank you for your awesome – we do make a great team!!

Gina K Release Day: Heartily Yours and Love Notes

 
Tonight I have a sweet bee creation to share with you using Nina Brackett’s new sets, Heartily Yours and Heartily Yours Additions!    I made a cute little box using a perfect pattern created by Nina, heart favor box!  It is so cute and is the perfect size for my sculpey clay creation I made to match the image on my card!  
 
Here is a top view of my card, I stamped all over it with various heart images in both sets and sponged the edges with Ranger antique linen ink.  I cut the heart window and placed some clear film so the little bee can peek through! 

Here is a close up of the little bee I made out of clay to coordinate with the cute little bee Nina drew in the set – I even used red wire and formed it in the heart shape like in the image.  I totally adore this!  I made a 3” mini card, using the new Lipstick Red cardstock as well as Black Onyx and a little Basic Grey Sugar Rush designer paper which Gina will have in the store with this release. 

On my last card, I used the whimsical assorted flower image in Heartily Yours as well as a few images from Vintage Borders, in particular, the music notes which coordinates nicely with the sentiment ‘Love is friendship set to music’ which is in the new One Free with Three set called Love Notes!  It is a beautiful collection of script and print fonts in classic Gina K. style with sentiments for focal images and insides of your cards.  I used Wine with Everything and Innocent Pink on this card, and also sponged antique linen distress ink for a more vintage feel.  You’ll also see I added a strip of wine gold-lined organdy ribbon under the flourish vintage border.

For even more inspiration with our new stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out these GinaK Designers' links:

Nina Brackett {Illustrator of Heartily Yours}
Gina Krupsky {Illustrator of Love Notes}
Carolyn King
Cathy Tidwell
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Melanie Muenchinger
Theresa Momber
Tami Mayberry
Bev Gerard {Card Club Kit designer}
Colleen Schaan{Card Club Kit designer}
Valerie Stangle{Card Club Kit designer}
Jen Charboneau {CSS Designer}

Hope you will join us Thursday evening, January 7th in our SCS forum for our release party!  It will be jam-packed with samples by the designers, challenges (I am hosting the one posted at 7:30 p.m.), contests, chat and full stamp set reveals!   

TE Sneak Peek: Sprinkled With Love

Here we are again for Day 2 sneak peek, another sweet Whimsical Wishes set Sprinkled with Love, illustrated by Nancy for Taylored Expressions!    Read Nancy’s story about how the stamp set evolved.  Working with this set has made me crave donuts and we finally got a  few on Saturday when we were out running errands but they weren’t my favorite FAMOUS Round Rock Donuts (those are for special times since it’s about a 45 minute drive north to get those!)

For my first card, I used Mojo Monday sketch {MOJO120} with the fun ice cream cone and Basic Grey Sugar Rush paper (perfect, huh?)   I used Taylor’s Tiny Twinkle crystals as sprinkles and the cherry on top and accented the ice cream & cone with Copic Spica atyou glitter pens, which are on sale right now!!

On my next card, I used the cocoa mug with whipped cream and sprinkles and Basic Grey Bittersweet paper.  See the cute little mug with whipped cream and sprinkles I made?  I’ve been wanting to play around with polymer clay for years now and finally decided to just do it during my break from college.  It can be very addicting –and totally FUN! 

I even made a cute pink & white swirl button, here is a close up of that.  Fun, huh?? 

Now go check out the fabulous creations the design team have to share with us:

Alex Maldonado Charmaine Ikach
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman 
Nancy McKinney (illustrator)
Taylor Van Bruggen

3 stamp sets, Valentine’s key ingredients and Valentine’s accessory add-on will be available for purchase tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.!   I will be posting my release day projects on the SASI blog, so be sure to check it out there, along with a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT *wink*!

TE Sneak Peek: Love Everywhere Card & Treat

Isn’t Love Everywhere?  It should be!  That’s the name of one of the new Whimsical Wishes stamp set for Taylored Expressions, illustrated by Nancy (she has a project to share with us today too!) that will be released this Thursday, January 7th! 
For our projects today, Taylor challenged us to share a simple treat package and matching card.  The treat box is one I saw Danielle Lounds share on her blog back in February that I bookmarked for future use!  I love this box because all it uses is a square piece of pattern paper {My Mind’s Eye Be Loved} – mine is 6” piece from the Valentine Key ingredients but Danielle used a larger piece for her boxes.  You don’t even have to use adhesive on the box!  My card was CASED from this card of Laurie Schmidlin’s that I fell in love with last month!  I just adored the white on white layer on card base but I chose to use Choice Buttercream cardstock on my card.  See the small rhinestone heart in the center of the peach satin ribbon?  That is part of the Valentine accessory add-on {included will be velvet heart trim, heart trinket pins, heart rhinestones and handmade clay button}. 

Here is a close up of the box I made with a ribbon handle.  I put a chipboard heart colored with pattern paper and stardust stickles on the front.



Here is a close up of the other box I made with a colored wire handle. 

Be sure to check out all the sweet creations the Baker’s Dozen have to share with you today:

Alex Maldonado
Charmaine Ikach
Dawn Easton
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor Van Bruggen 
Be sure to join us again same time tomorrow for another sweet sneak peek! 

Butterfly Birthday & TE news!

Here is a card I made using this week’s Taylored Expressions Sketch challenge (TESC96).  I used last month’s charitable giving set, Discover Your Wings.  There are a lot of butterfly sets out there, and I honestly have to say it is one of my favorites, if only just for this one swirly butterfly!  

For my card I used the November key ingredients, pattern paper by Basic Grey, Indian Summer which is a gorgeous collection of rich fall colors, which is right up my alley!  I made this card to send to one of our cousins who is crazy about butterflies, I’m sure she will love it! 

Now onto the exciting TE News!  There is so much to mention! 

We have 2 new Baker’s Dozen design team members joining us, two of my favorite people: Melissa Sauls who is my friend IRL, a fantastic stamper and sweet gal and Alex Maldonado, who I chose to win my TE Birthday Bash paper-piecing challenge a few months ago who has such a great eye for sweet designs and is just an all around sweetheart I’ve been privileged to get to know recently.  Welcome ladies! 

Taylored Expressions store has a re-vamped look!  It is just too sweet – including important links to some favorite places like the SASI blog, the TE Gallery

Subscribe to the newsletter and follow TE on Facebook! 

As a registered member of TE, you can track your order history

Blog badge to show your love for TE is available on Taylor’s blog!

New Guest Designer opportunity!  It will be so fun to have our TE fans share their love of stamping with us on a two-month rotating basis and our first guest designer is Jeanie Witmer!  

I’ll be back at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow with day one sneak peek of this month’s SWEEET TE release!

GKD Preview Day 1: Happy Hearts and Sung from the Heart

I’m so in LOVE with all the new offerings with Gina K. Designs this month (well, I can honestly say that every month I am, but more so this month since it’s all about LOVE with Valentine’s Day on the horizon! 

My first card showcases Tami Mayberry’s new set, Happy Hearts, a fun collection of whimsical to elegant hearts in several sizes with a lot of words to customize your Valentine’s messages!   I used the new Lipstick red cardstock, which is a deep blue red and I happened to have a matching polymer clay color.  I recently started to play with it, and last night I made the clay heart I have as an embellishment on my ribbon.  Isn’t it pretty?  I just smashed my heart from the set to get the impression on it, baked it and glazed it with crystal lacquer and voila~a custom embellishment!  It was fun to make!  Be looking for more from me in the future!  I paired my lipstick red (new cardstock color) with Kraft and Black Onyx cardstock as well as the new beautiful black organdy gold-lined ribbon that’s available with this release!

On my next card, I used the new set illustrated by Rupa, called Sung from the Heart, a collection of pretty images with coordinating sentiments fashioned after some popular love songs.  On my first card, I used the whimsical bird carrying a delicate heart with ‘You are the wind beneath my wings’ what woman did not enjoy the movie Beaches?  It was such a touching tribute to true friendship.  On this card, I used the new Passionate Pink cardstock with Kraft and black onyx, isn’t it a wonderful combination??!  The pink stitched ribbon I used on this card is in the new Romance Ribbon collection.

On my last card, I used the row of hearts hanging from a rod, isn’t it precious?  I used another new color, Wine with Everything for my cardbase and Innocent Pink with Good as Gold here!  The wine with everything gold lined organdy is divine!!  Check out those pink buttons?  It’s pure bliss for pink lovers like me!!

Here is a picture of the cardstock colors Gina shared on her blog, click it to see all the ribbons and new buttons that will be released this Thursday, January 7 at 10 pm CST!   Mark your calendars for the release party on SCS 7-10:00 pm CST ~ hope you will join us!

For even more inspiration with our new stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out our other GinaK Designers' links:

Tami Mayberry {Illustrator of Happy Hearts}
Gina Krupsky
Carolyn King
Cathy Tidwell
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mercurio
Melanie Muenchinger
Nina Brackett
Theresa Momber
Colleen Schaan
Sankari Wegman
Valerie Stangle
Asela Hopkins

STV Book Readers Gift Exchange!

Do you love to stamp?  Do you love to read?  If you love to do BOTH of those, then you should think about joining in the chat at STV where we combine the love of both! 

Over the months we’ve been getting to know one another and have been sharing what books we’ve enjoyed reading!  It’s really opened up my repertoire of authors! 

We organized a little secret sister gift exchange among 6 of us – calling it a Tale of Two Hobbies: Stampin' Secret Sisters filled out a short questionnaire with info about us and my DH drew the names to keep it anonymous and fun for me as the organizer.  He sent out all the emails to the ladies with the secret sister they would send a gift to. 

Above is the gift I got from my secret sister who was Cat Tidwell!  She sent a fabulous card and matching box bag with my favorite snack (sunflower seeds), a dip mix, 3 books (I love James Patterson but have only read his romance novels and he writes a good mystery I’ve been told) so she sent me Sail and Cross Country to read as well as a book I already own Same Kind of Different As Me that she told me to pay forward.  Then she sent a little gift to John for being so sweet to help me with this exchange – a bag of pecan pralines made locally in Hooks, TX! and my favorite, 2 handmade bookmarks which are just FABULOUS!  wow!  Check out the personalized metal bookmark in front!  it’s just like what Tim Holtz made on Day 10 of his 12 Tags of Christmas!  I told her if that was the ONLY thing she had sent, I would have been just as HAPPY as I was with it all! 

Here is a sweet Thank You card I got from Tina Gilliland, who I was Secret Sister for – isn’t it so pretty??  Her favorite color is purple so I sent her the purple organdy swirl ribbon and purple rhinestones she put on the card.    I just love this card!

I hope you will consider joining our little discussion if you love to read over on STV!  In fact, after I finish this post, I do believe I will start reading one of those books Cat sent me – it’s been about a month since I’ve read a book! 

Congratulations to the new Gina K. CenterStage Spotlight team for January – check out Gina’s post for details & pictures of the ladies!

Today would have been my dad’s 76th birthday; I still miss him after all these years (he died when I was only 9 and it was one of the worst days of my life).  That hole in my heart will always be there.   I always reveled in the fact he was born on New Year’s Day and remember having so many celebrations around the holidays from Christmas to my sister’s birthday on the 26th and then my dad’s just 6 days later!   Donald (my namesake) was such a wonderful son, friend, uncle, brother, husband, and father - I look forward to the day we’re reunited in Heaven!

Ringing in the New Year Melanie Muenchinger style!

Today, 25 designers are helping celebrate Melanie’s 2nd Anniversary illustrating with Gina K. Designs!  I have been having so much fun designing with her stamps – from the very beginning!  She is one of the best illustrators out there, hand drawing most of her images, because she’s good like that!  Her sets are so versatile and they are very fun to mix & match too!  Here are a few of my favorite projects and a never before seen one at the end! 

First up is her 2nd Set, Just So Hoppy that I had so much fun with – I made a huge pop up card using all of the characters. For close up views of the hoppys please see my post The Gang’s All Here


I made this tin for Melanie’s 2nd contest using What’s in Your Tin 2  – What Cancer Cannot Do (click to read the post about the recipient). 







Here is a project I made last month, most of the gifts we give are handmade, it saves us money (since we’re building a house and have been on  a perpetual budget) and I love making things!  2 of my brother-in-laws in California are big Raider fans so I made them fleece scarves.


Here is a close up of the tag I made, using Just so Sporty and Sporty Accessories.  I LOVE having sets to make projects that appeal to the men in my life!



Can you tell he liked it?  He nearly always wears some form of silver (grey) & black, showing his team spirit, so as soon as he opened it, he modeled it for us! 
Next, be sure to hop through the following designers' blogs using every set she has created since January 2008, from the first to the 25th! Then go to Melanie's'
blog to leave a comment for a chance to win a number of different prizes! So let's get hopping!
Here we go!
Just So Hippy-Charmaine
Just So Hoppy- me!!
What's in Your Tin 1 & 2- me!!
Hip Hop Accessories-Bee
Jumping for Joy-Barb
Cuddles and Hugs-Jessie
Little Tees-Cat
Just So Sporty-Pam
A Year of Flowers-Theresa
Say it with Flowers-Selma
Have a Cookie-Carolina
Tee Talk-Gabby
Hand in Hand-Ally
The Best Things in Life-Shannon, Sankari
A Charmed Life-Cathy
Wee Tees-Libby, Laura Jean
Arranged with Love-Selma
Sporty Accessories-Tina
Inspiration Mosaic-Jennie
School Sports Spirit-Melissa
A Year of Leaves-Geri
Hip to Be Square-Karen
Festive Frame-Linda
Tech Talk- Lee

Finally, Nina and Jessica from the GinaK Senior Design Team have joined in, too!
You can also get in on the hop yourself and increase your chances of winning a prize by creating your own project with any one of Melanie's sets and linking it in the Mr. Linky in her post, see full details here.

Hope you can join the fun! Enjoy your first hop of the year!