Day 1: Gina K release inspiration hop

Welcome to our first day of inspiration hops for the Gina K release.  I hope you had fun if you came to the party.  They are always fast & furious and a lot of fun, huh? 

First up is my card for Melanie’s new Stately Flowers, the first in a series (can you say yea?!) Personally, I am very fond of the flowers she chose for the first series.  #1 I am a California Native #2 I call Texas home now #3 I want to live in Colorado someday and #4 I hope to visit Wisconsin some day so I can meet Gina!

I made this card to send to my oldest sister Val. I had a lot of fun coloring the poppies, which I think are very beautiful and of course, think Melanie did a fantastic job drawing (all of them!) I used White and Sweet Mango pure luxury cardstock, white gold lined organdy ribbon, textile cuttlebug embossing folder and labels.  The poppies were colored using Copic markers.  Here is a photo of the inside of the card.  My sister is always asking for prayers for California because of the bad economy and frequent earthquakes which scare her.  After living here 14 years, I am still trying to convince her to move to Texas where she wouldn’t have to worry about that! 

Melanie’s other set, Make a State-ment.  I made this card to send to my niece & nephew in CA…I’m sure they will love it.  Since they visited last year, I’m sure a visual of the distance between where they are and where we are, will be helpful to see!  I used kraft and black onyx pure luxury cardstock, Basic Grey Wander papers, distress tool and Distress Inks to sponge.

My next card uses the new Stamp Duo Close Knit Friends.  I love this quote, it’s so true!  I taught myself to knit a few years ago, but so far I have only made 1 scarf.  I have some new yarn to make my 2nd one but now I have to make the time to do it!  I used Sweet Mango, Chocolate and Turquoise Sea pure luxury cardstock, which coordinate nicely with the Basic Grey Indie Bloom papers I chose!  I also stamped Vintage Borders on the turquoise panel and sponged lightly with antique linen distress ink.  My embellishments are chocolate grosgrain ribbon and an orange button.  The image was colored with Copic markers.   

Last but not least is my card using Because of You stamp duo.  I used White, Black Onyx pure luxury cardstock and the pattern paper is from Echo Park - Victoria Garden.  I used gold lined white organdy ribbon again, with a pearl brad accent.  I love the look of stamping on pattern paper, don’t you, that is fun with solid stamps. 

Here is a list of all the designers participating in today’s inspiration hop, make sure you leave comments on each one for a chance to win a grab bag of 12 free stamps!! We will randomly choose two winners and Gina K will announce the winners on her blog.

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator Stately Flowers and Make a Statement
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

Thanks for stopping by – be sure to come back tomorrow for Day 2 Inspiration!!

You’re Invited to the Gina K release party tonight!!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs November Release Party. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!

If you came from Deb Felts’ blog, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Here's a photo of one of the cards I will be sharing at the party; I decided instead of a sneak peek this month, I would just show you the full card.  This is from one of Melanie’s new sets and just like all her others, know it will be a BIG hit!  I plan to send this card to my niece and nephew because just like the card says, I am missing them – ALWAYS.  They love getting my cards in the mail and need to do it more often and more randomly and out of the blue. 

Hope to see you at the party, here are all the details:

• When: Tonight Tuesday, November 29
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (Central Time)

Head on over to Cat Tidwell’s blog to see what she's sharing with you today and see you back here on tomorrow for the beginning of our three day Inspiration Blog Hop series for November!

Gina K Black Friday Special!

Are you a Black Friday early morning or all day shopper?  Not me.  The only time I ever went shopping was with my sister in CA for an early morning Michael’s sale.  But, I decided early on it just wasn’t worth it so I’ve never done it again!  I’d rather hand make as many of my gifts so I start earlier in the year so I am usually done with gifts by the first or second week in December.  This year, I am behind because I have a lot of gifts to sew still! 

But one thing I do like to do is shop online!  So, here is a great special for all you Gina K fans!  You can get 2 or all 5 of the new stamp duos that haven’t even been released yet!  The designers have them, we are working on samples we plan to show at the release party, which by the way is next Tuesday, Nov 29th!  Mark your calendars!  I will see you then – no more posting for me until that day because I will be busy making samples and working on sewing those Christmas gifts! 

Thanks for stopping by – hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend! 

Thanksgiving Blessings and Décor!

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers who are celebrating with yummy food, family & friends today!   First, I have to share a card I mass produced (just 4) to send to family I wish we were able to celebrate with and we miss.  It came together real quickly (even with all the coloring, which I did with prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits).  I just got the new cuttlebug embossing folder (Grace’s Frame) after seeing Melanie use it on several of her cards.  I think it lends a particular elegance to your cards which I like!  I combined Holiday Basket and Basket Additions for a Basket of Blessings on Thanksgiving.  The stamps are on pure luxury ivory and my card base is Pumpkin Spice.

Next up I have a few sewing shares for you.  I was so excited to find some dish towels at Wal-Mart for less than $6 I believe for 2.  They are a waffle weave and very soft.  I sewed a piece of fabric, folding over the edge 1/8” and topstitching.  EASY!  I love how they add a pop of color to the boring white dish towels.  I bought extra so I can make some for Christmas too.  These would make a great gift to wrap around a homemade loaf of bread or line a basket of home baked cookies as a gift too. 

Then I made a one yard table runner I got a pattern for during our quilt bus trip my friend Stephanie and I took back in July.  It was simple to make and I love that it is reversible.  The print fabric is on the other side.  This is what our Thanksgiving table will look like.  I finished these a few weeks ago.  Yea, another thing crossed off my ever growing  to do list!

I also made some matching napkins, using my rolled hem foot that came with my machine.  Here is a photo of what the hem looks like.  I tell you, it is FANCY and I am so glad I have it!  It was super easy to use and I have grand plans to make lots of napkins!  In fact, I already made a table runner from fabric I got in Santa Fe, NM for my sister and brother-in-law who have decorated their kitchen Southwestern.  I just have to make their napkins and will share in a future post. 

I hope you and your family have a Blessed Thanksgiving and enjoy all your time together with loved ones. 

I am Thankful for you, my readers!  Thank you for stopping by!  Check back tomorrow a.m. for details on the Gina K Black Friday Special! 

Friday Night Sew-In Results–NOT

***Disclaimer*** this is a previously sewn project I am sharing!! 

I was not able to participate in the last 2 Friday Night Sew Ins and I am disappointed.  I had grand plans (too ambitious if you ask me) because the holidays are fast approaching, we tend to put too much on our plates don’t we?  Well, I am guilty as charged.  This week was quite busy and emotional for me.**more on that later in the post.  So, after work I went to a local Indian grocery store and spent almost $85 on spices and foods to stock our pantry so I can do more Indian food cooking from scratch.  You may not realize, but Indian food is my favorite cuisine.  I love the flavors, smells and variety.  After I did that, John and I met at Costco to do some more shopping and we didn’t get home until almost 8:00.  Of course, there were a lot of groceries to put away and well, I still need to finish that and it’s Sat. morning already, and after I compose this post, we are headed for a hike at McKinney Roughs Nature Park.  John wants to get some geocaches and I want to get some exercise since it was on my to do list for today anyway.  Plus, it is literally down the street from where we live and we have not been there yet (what a shame).  I was just too exhausted last night to get out my sewing supplies and sew.  I was in bed by 9:30 and had a great night’s sleep!

So, here I am showing some pillow ornaments I made a while back since I have not shared them yet.  These were my winnings from a few months ago from the Friday Night Sew In I won from Heidi.  She also sent me a quilting ruler and some chocolate covered potato chips that melted from the Texas heat but they were still tasty!  The fabric is Kate Spain Flurry and I got the idea for these here.  If you’d like to follow me on Pinterest, here is the link to my boards.  It is addicting but I have made MANY projects and recipes I have pinned since I found it!  I just don’t pin and not produce. 

**About the emotional week I had.  My favorite cousin Andrea is in the hospital very ill but as of Thursday, she was doing somewhat better.  If you pray, will you please keep her in yours for a continued healing & recovery?** Thank you so much.

Thanks for stopping by & hope you have a great weekend!

Gratitude Blog Hop with Gina K Designs

Welcome to another Gina K. Design Team blog hop. Today we're featuring cards with a Gratitude theme to them. If you came from Cat’s blog Cat’s Creations, you're at the right place. If not, make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

This time of year especially, we may need more Thank You cards than usual with dinner parties, gifts and other acts of hospitality that may be extended to you or your family so we can show some gratitude with a handmade card.  So I made a set of Thank You cards to have on hand, actually I needed some to send out that are long overdue so this was the perfect theme for me this month!  I used the new Nature’s Greeting stamp kit which I love (especially this whimsical bloom). 

I thought it would be fun to make a set of cards using some Basic Grey Indie Bloom papers which I just got from the Gina K store! Believe it or not, these cards came together in about an hour because I kept them simple, using the same layout and putting them together mass production-style. Here is what I did: 1. picked out all my pure luxury cardstock colors (red hot, pumpkin spice, sweet corn and lovely lavender), cut them and scored them. 2. Picked out my matching ribbons, buttons and pattern papers. 3. Stamped all the flowers and greetings, colored them (prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits) and cut them out. 4. Cut all the layers at one time. 5. Assemble all layers (focal image is popped up with foam tape) 6. Placed liquid pearls in the flower centers.

I just love the centers of the flowers!
I want to extend a special thank you to everyone hopping with us today and for those who stop by my blog…I appreciate you!!  P.S. I apologize for the quality of my photos – I cannot find my camera so I had to use my phone. 

Please head on over to Giovana's blog to see what she's sharing with you today!

Vroom!! Vroom!! Vroom!!

Here is a little gift with matching card I made to give a friend who is having a little boy soon (her 2nd child).  I always love the blue brown & red combo so when I found this adorable little 3- piece outfit at Ross, I had to get it!  I adore the little blue & red star on the behind of the pants!  I knew I could use Melanie’s Wee Tees set to make a perfectly matched card to go with it. 

Here is a close up of the card.  I used the Traffic Jam (fitting) cuttlebug embossing folder on the Little Boy Blue layer.  This card came together within 10 minutes (love the quick ones!) The other cardstock colors I used are pure luxury white, red hot and chocolate brown, all colors I pulled from the outfit.  I used small silver brads to embellish and made the cars appear as if they are zooming across the cards in the circle punches. 

I gifted this to the mom this past week and she loved it!  In fact, she shared some pregnancy photos with me that featured her, her husband and little Jack’s (baby in the tummy) older sister Ella.  They were all precious! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I have to get back to my sewing and stamping projects for the weekend! 

Nature’s Greetings Stamp Kit available by Gina K Designs

I am happy to share with you a card I made using some of the supplies that come in the Nature’s Greetings stamp kit by Gina K!  I just love the whimsical images in this set and beautiful greetings!  I stamped a trio of blooms on my ivory cardstock and placed the greeting in the center with the lowered bloom.  In the far left corner, I put a copper brad (comes in the kit) and made a small triangle with my paper piercer for some added depth & interest.  I colored the blooms with prismacolor pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. 

Here is a picture of the stamp set you will get when you purchase your kit.  It is a great value at $39.95, in addition to the stamps, you will get many colors of pure luxury cardstock, beautiful pattern paper to coordinate, copper brads and ribbon plus a DVD with instructions to create at  6 cards! Be sure to click on this link to see a video with all the contents of the kit! 

Thanks for stopping by; I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  I will try to be back with more photos from our vacation last month and share what I have been working on. 

All pets go to Heaven–missing Shelby

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while; my evenings are filled with housework, cooking and relaxing lately so not much energy or time to stamp during the week.  By the time the weekend rolls around, there are more chores to do and more relaxing and of course socializing activities, before I know it, the time gets away from me – but I am still here! 

This is a card I made a few months ago to send to our former vet that we used to take Shelby to.  Shelby was our sweet dog who was 13+ years old and we had loved and enjoyed having around for 11 of those years!  She got a tumor in her mouth/throat back in May and we had to put her to sleep on my birthday this year (it happened so fast).  It was the worst birthday ever for me, from start to finish; so painful to say good bye to her but we knew it was the best decision to make, just the timing sucked.  I also put the picture of her inside the card to them.  Everyone at that vet office was always so caring and genuinely loves all the pets they care for!  I will never forget the first time I took Shelby there and Dr. Rafferty loved on her for a little while and got down on the floor with her before he examined her.  He never put her on that cold table top.  That made a lasting impression with me. 

I used Melanie’s Basket Buddies for my card and kept the card clean & simple.  The lined paper is Basic Grey Basics Manila and I just traced the inside of a nestability oval to put the dog silhouette inside.  The pure luxury cardstock I used is Kraft for the base and chocolate is layered behind the pattern paper.  I love the row of paw prints on the card and mimicked that on the envelope. 

I am sure they put the card & her picture in an album and have it displayed on their table; I always enjoyed looking through the albums and magazines while we waited in the office.  I will always think very fondly of everyone who worked at Circle C Animal Hospital and cared for our pets. 

I am also glad I have a stamp set geared toward sympathy for the loss of a pet; those who have pets and have experienced the loss knows how much it means to have someone care enough to send a card during a time like this.  In fact, I got a card from my middle sister Deana just a few days later that she handpicked at the store for me.  It touched my heart, she definitely knows how hard this was for me, as she was the first person I called to tell what happened that day, and we both cried on the phone together.   Shelby will always be in my heart, I am grateful she spent 8 months with us at the property, she enjoyed it a lot!! 

Thanks for stopping by today, promise to have something more cheerful to share next time.     

One Layer Christmas Cards–StampTV challenge

OLCC challenge–easy to mail! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

One thing I love about making cards is having the ability to make them easy to mail (that is, not bulky or heavy that requires more than one postage stamp).  Here are some cards I made this weekend with a few ladies who came over to stamp Christmas cards (I will share that in a future post). 

These cards are One Layer Christmas Cards for Giovana's Free For All Friday challenge at StampTV!   While the ladies were stamping, I decided to check out some of Gina K’s videos at StampTV to show them all the great things STV has to offer and they are thrilled about the videos!  We actually watched about 7 of them together.  I loved the simple one layer card she made just swiping a few distress inks on it and placing a Christmas image over it in black ink then placing a sentiment at the bottom.  I was able to whip up these cards in no time at all and the ladies enjoyed watching and even making one of their own! 

I used stamps from Blessed is the Season and Holiday Cheer for my cards.  Base weight white cardstock, Memento Tuxedo Black ink and the distress inks are: Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Fired Brick, Tumbled Glass.  I need to get Stormy Sky now so I can make a card EXACTLY like the one Gina did though!  I also blinged up my images with stickles, Inkssentials white opaque pen and gold smooch!  You can click on the collage of photos to see them bigger.

Hope you will play along in the challenge for your chance to win a free stamp set from Gina K valued up to $24.95!  The drawing is random, you have until Thursday evening to upload your creation and you have nothing to lose – in fact, you can knock out a few Christmas cards for your stash like I did!  Most importantly, you should have fun doing it!!