Simple Grad card

I was asked if I had a graduation card in my stash for a friend who buys my cards and I didn’t *gasp* so I made a real quick one to give her and share with you.  It’s been a while since I’ve known someone who graduated from high school, got married or had a baby so I don’t always have these types of cards sitting in my boxes!  Maybe I should change that soon!  Since I didn’t know the school colors, I went with the traditional yet classic black & white theme, I like the simplicity of the card and hope she will too.  I made some simple score lines with my scor-pal for some added interest on the left side and bottom.

I want to share that I have taken a break from sewing lately too, just haven’t felt in the mood and I was thoroughly distracted for the past 3+ weeks reading The Hunger Games trilogy.  Those books were riveting, so exciting that I wanted to stay up all night to read! I ended up reading at work during my lunch, taking them with me in case I was somewhere I could read a few lines, read at home including nearly every night before going to bed.  Sewing will resume real soon because I have to get working back on my quilt in my Quilt Class and I have the Friday Night Sew in scheduled for this Friday evening.  Yea!!  I am super excited mostly because I will be using my new sewing machine I bought a few weeks ago!  I have used it once and that thing sews like a dream, I’m so excited!  So far there are 103 of us sewing crazies signed up!  Won’t you join us??  We will share on our blogs on Saturday what we worked on and there’s always a fun giveaway for a random participant! 

Card details:
Stamps: School, Sports, Spirit!
Cardstock: White & Black Onyx Pure Luxury cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: 1 1/4” and 1 3/8” square punches, foam tape

Mix It Up Monday–Wear your White!

Hi there!   Here is a card I made using this week’s Mix It Up Monday challenge at StampTV!  Cat is hosting this challenge, and it’s a great one – to use white embellishments!  I used a white card base, white pearls, white ribbon and a white flower!  I used the new set by Theresa called Vogue Vases – isn’t it a pretty set?  I wanted to use some of my new pattern paper, Basic Grey Lauderdale and chose this fun print for a decorative vase with orange, yellow and white.  There are some great masculine papers in there (*hint hint* will show you more of that on Thursday with our monthly GKD blog hop!) 

Hope you will play along – you don’t have to have Gina K stamps to do so, but if you have them you may as well use them because your name will be entered in the drawing twice for it!!  Then you can win a stamp set of your choice valued up to $24.95!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Card details:
Stamps: Vogue Vases
Cardstock: White, Sweet Mango pure luxury, Basic Grey Lauderdale
ink: Butterscotch Vivid, Cantaloupe Memento
Accessories:  white flower, orange button, white organdy ribbon, open scallop punch (EK Success)

I’m back but with a Heavy Heart

Shelby Baker
1996-June 3, 2011

This is my reason for my recent absence from blogging.  We had to put our sweet dog Shelby, who had brought so much happiness to our family for the past 12 years, to sleep on my birthday. This picture was taken in April, isn’t she so cute?   Now that I look at the picture, she seemed to not be her happy self, since she usually always appeared to be smiling for the camera! 

We got Shelby in 1999 to be a companion for our lab Jazz who was just a year old.  They became fast buddies until one night Jazz got out of the back fence and we woke the next morning to just find Shelby back there.  We never found Jazz, and although I think Shelby missed her, she was perfectly content to be the only animal in our family!  But she went on having to deal with the 2 cats we still had so she ended up just being the only dog in our family!  Shelby never liked to play with toys, although one day last year when we weren’t paying that much attention to her, picked up one of Elsie’s toys and threw it in the air and it knocked down a few things on the TV and fell behind it.  It was pretty funny! 

Shelby was a Daddy’s girl…whenever John was at home, she plopped herself down on the floor right next to him. Whenever he wasn’t at home, she would lay in those same spots, waiting for him.  She was always so happy when he came home!  She also LOVED living at the property!  We were blessed to have her for as long as we did, especially because she was diagnosed with a tumor on her lung Nov 6 ‘09 that I shared here.  Over the 19 months we still had her around, we enjoyed each day she would greet us with a wag of her tail in the mornings and evenings.  We listened to her cough change a lot over the months, seeming to get better & worse at times.  But when we took her to the vet last Summer, the vet was inclined to say it didn’t appear that her tumor was cancerous and was perhaps a fatty tumor like she had in other parts of her body, a result of her aging.  But when we stopped eating her crunchy food a few weeks ago and had a sore on the bottom of her mouth on the right, we knew something was wrong.  The vet ended up finding a tumor in her mouth from her molars to her esophagus which explained a lot.  Our difficult decision was not that hard to make considering her age, the fact that she was not taking her medicine, eating or drinking much and the fact that we just could not put her through more suffering, we knew it was the right thing to do.  However, it was still so hard to endure but we had to be the ones she would see when she took her last breaths.  I take comfort in the fact she is no longer suffering and we will see her again in Heaven but it hurts my heart so much to have this emptiness in the house and in our hearts.

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 4: Vintage Chic StampTV kit

I hope you have enjoyed our past few days of inspiration hops with the Gina K designers!!  Our last share is using the new Vintage Chic StampTV kit and I have to tell you (and I know we say this a lot but we’re not lying) this is my FAVORITE kit of all time (since Gina has been doing them!)   The kit is jam packed full of awesome goodness pure luxury cardstock (24 sheets), black & white ribbon, brads and pattern papers created by Gina herself!  There are 11 images in the kit and 11 sentiments to mix & match to create stunning cards & projects!  On my first card, I paper-pieced some cranberry tart balloons that the silhouette lady is holding, and stamped directly on one of the pattern sheets.  How fun is that? I love the various widths and types of ribbon in this kit too!
My second card is also pretty straight-forward using all the supplies from the kit (but added a border bling for the sentiment focal point, cut out with a labels 9 die).   
Lastly, I have a card I shared on my blog earlier in the week, but I don’t want anyone to miss out on it so I am posting it again, since it was one of my favorites for this release!  It also uses all supplies from the kit!  I wanted to do a little something different with my sentiment, so after I stamped and punched it out with a circle punch, I also punched a black onyx circle (including the inside) and offset it and added a brad to the top.  You can click on the photo for a close up. 
As you hop through the blogs, make sure you leave comments along the way for a chance to win a free stamp set of your choice valued up to $24.95! We will randomly choose two winners so the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win.  Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out StampTV each week Monday and Friday we have challenges posted where you can win MORE free stamps!!

• Gina K
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Donna Baker (you’re here!)
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Tami Mayberry
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Valerie Stangle
• Vicki Dutcher

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 3: Elegant Elements & By the Sea

Thanks for stopping by for our Day 3 hop for Gina K!  Up for today are 2 more fabulous stamp sets that I’m sure you will like!  The first one is Elegant Elements, our One Free with 3 stamp set.  That means when you purchase 3 stamp sets, you can add this set for FREE to your cart!  I made a very clean & simple card, staying with a black & white theme to match the little pleated zippered pouch I made a few weeks ago (during the Friday Night Sew In).  I love how those circles somewhat mimic the fabric I used on the bottom of the pouch.  I made a quick ribbon rose and glued it to the middle of the pouch.  Here is a tutorial I found for the ribbon I made (I learned it by Martha Stewart, but I could not find her tutorial.  I used  sentiment for the card from the Vintage Chic StampTV set since Elegant Elements does not have sentiments in it. 

This card is one I shared during the release party, I wanted to use a sentiment from the Vintage Chic StampTV kit and just one element from this set to ‘stand out’ – this stamp was real easy to line up and stamp pretty evenly without using a stamp positioner.  I like how this card turned out!  I used white, Black Onyx and Turquoise Sea pure luxury cardstock.

Here is the Elegant Elements set in its entirety –awesome huh??




Next up is another set by the very talented Theresa Momber. By the Sea is a set that will be great to make all those masculine cards with!  I made a Father’s Day card using the lighthouse, birds and sentiment.  It was real easy to make this scene, just adding some soft blue clouds, a shoreline in the distance and some sponged water.    I used White &  Smoky Slate pure luxury cardstock on this card.

Here is a picture of all the stamps that come in the set which costs $23.95.
Here is a list of designers participating in today’s hop- make sure you leave a comment on each of the blogs because tomorrow we will choose two random winners from all of the comments who will each get a free stamp set of their choice valued at up to $24.95! The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win!

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Colleen Schaan
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker (you’re here!)
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 2: Dreams & Birthday Bash

So glad you’ve joined us for the 2nd day of inspiration from the Gina K May release! 
First up is a set by Tami Mayberry called Dreams.  It is a beautiful collection of frames (square, rectangle, oval) and sentiments to be placed inside along with a few smaller accent images.  I’m sure you’ll find endless ways to use this set.  I have made a card to highlight our new Just Peachy pure luxury cardstock, pairing it with one of my favorite cuttlebug embossing folders, Leafy Branches. 

Here is a close up of the coloring of the branches the little bird is perched on.  I stamped the image with London fog memento ink and used a copic marker for the blooms and put star dust stickles on them for some sparkle.  I finished off the card with some white organdy ribbon.

Here is a picture of the whole set so you can see what you get for $23.95.  The set is made of high quality rubber, die cut and already mounted on cling foam.  It also comes on a storage sheet and has an image sheet for your reference. All you have to do is put it on an acrylic block and you’re ready to stamp away! 

Next up is an adorable set by Rupa called Birthday Bash with the cutest puppy, bears, bunny, turtle and mouse just begging to celebrate a birthday with you!  I used the cute puppy on my card and colored him with copic markers.  I used the Happy Birthday cuttlebug embossing folder and Echo Park papers A Walk in the Park.  I thought it would be fun to punch various circles from coordinating cardstock and frame the corner of the focal image.  I embellished with an orange button with pink cotton thread and a smidgeon of brown stitched ribbon. 
To the right is the full set for you to see what you will get for $23.95. 
Be sure to hop around all the blogs of the designers sharing creations with us today and leave a comment for your chance to win a stamp set valued $24.95 or less!  Winners will be announced on Gina's blog – see you tomorrow for Day 3!!

• Gina K (her post will be up a little later so check back!)
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Suzanne Dean
• Tami Mayberry
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker (that’s me!)

You’ve Got Moxie SFYTT!

This is one of the BEST EVER StampTV kits just released by Gina K!  It is called Vintage Chic and wait until you see all the awesome cardstock, black & white pattern papers (used on my card), black & white brads and various black & white ribbons!  All this to create tons of cards, that comes in a sturdy plastic storage case!  I made this card using Jen’s May sketch for you to try, which is a lot of fun!  This card came together so quickly and I really adore it! 

Here is a picture of the whole set you get, check out all those fabulous images and sentiments! 

Have you ever checked out CPS card sketches?? Well, Gina K is this week’s sponsor – go check it out here & play along to win some free stamps!!!

Hope you have a great week!  Thanks for stopping by.

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 1: Vogue Vases & Border Bling

Welcome to our 1st day of inspiration hops for the May release!  Hope you made it to the party last night – it’s always a blast!  If not, you can always peruse the thread to see what you missed and hopefully you will make it next time!!
First up is a set by Theresa Momber called Vogue Vases.  I just love that she has a solid vase to use with an ink pad and an outline vase you can also paper-piece with, which is what I did on my card.  I used some Echo Park Be Mine papers, which coordinates so nicely with the Bubblegum Pink, Smoky Slate and White pure luxury cardstock I used. I thought the flowers went nicely with the Victoria cuttlebug folder which is one of my favorite ones!  I sponged around the Labels 14 die with Angel Pink memento ink.  The ribbon is Light Pink Gingham.

Next up is a set by Melanie called Border Bling, which will coordinate perfectly with her Bring the Bling set!  I chose to make a clean & simple one layer card because it is for the release party challenge I am hosting, One Love.  Make a one layer card, use one image stamp, one sentiment stamp, and only one embellishment!  You can stamp your image or sentiment as many times as you wish though!  Liquid pearls, stickles, glitter pens, etc do not count as an embellishment (I used liquid pearls here), they count as an ‘accent’.  Hope you will play along!  You have until Monday, Apr. 25 at 7 pm CDT and a winner will be chosen at random and announced at STV to choose a set for free valued up to $24.95!  You don’t have to use GKD stamps, but if you do, your name gets entered twice in the drawing!!

Here is another card I made, adding a flower & circle stamp from Bring the Bling!  See how fun they are together?  I stamped my oval bling border onto a Labels 10 die and sponged around the border to show you that you don’t have to have the exact size oval in order to use this set.  I think it looks nice like this!  What do you think of my cool ribbon rose?  I actually made it with wrapping the ribbon around a length of tin foil!  Here is the tutorial for it.  I used Turquoise Sea cardstock, buttons, ribbon and some white ribbon, Aqua vivid ink.  All supplies except white ribbon can be found in the GKD store.

Now be sure to hop around ALL the blogs listed below and leave a comment on each one so you have a chance at winning some stamps from Gina K!  The winners will be announced on Gina’s blog!

• Gina K
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Donna Baker (you’re here!)
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher

Thanks for stopping by – see ya on Tuesday May 31st when our inspiration hop will continue!  Have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Gina K Release Party Tonight! You’re invited!!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs May 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 for everything you can’t live without!
If you came from Giovana’s 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 peek of one of the cards I will be sharing tonight in full!  This set is by Melanie (Gina is revealing the artists during her sneak peeks before the releases now!)

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

• When: Tonight, Thurs. May 26
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CDT)

***Edited to Add*** Blogger is having fits yet again and some blogs are not up so here is a list of all those participating if you want to check them out!  Head on over to Deb’s blog next to see what sneak peek she's sharing with you today and see you back here tomorrow for the beginning of our four day Inspiration Blog Hop series for May!

Mix It Up Monday Challenge at StampTV!

I am excited to bring you today’s challenge at StampTV!  My challenge is for your creation to be Shabby Chic!  My card uses the current StampTV kit called Springtime Silhouettes, which lends itself to this style of stamping with its various vintage images.  I chose to use the swirl medallion type image on the ivory cardstock then I sponged various distress inks on it, then used a distress tool to rough up the edges and then sewed on it!  Those all qualify as shabby techniques!  I even sponged ink on my ivory ribbon to match. 
I’d love it if you joined in the challenge this week!  You have until Sunday evening, May 29th to upload your creation and a winner will be drawn and announced at StampTV on Monday.  Click here for all the details!!
Card supplies
Stamps: Springtime Silhouettes
Cardstock: Pure Luxury Ivory, Sweet Corn, Chocolate
Inks: Distress Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo; Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Ivory grosgrain ribbon, buttons, CB folder Victoria

Friday Night Sew In results

So last night I had my first ‘official’ Friday Night Sew In along with 175 other ladies and here I am to share what I made!   I wish I had been more productive, but as soon as I got home I got a itch to clean the house before I started so I wouldn’t have to worry about it today and then I wore myself out a little, I took a nap but that also allowed me to stay up several hours PAST my bedtime so that was good!  We had a pretty good rain late last night with some pea-sized hail, lightning and thunder.  I am happy today because John gets back from a geocaching trip (he’s been gone since Weds night).  I will be happy to not sleep alone for the 4th night in a row! 
A week or so ago I found a new blog with tutorials, this for a Pleated Zippered Pouch from Skiptomylou so I tried it and it was a FUN, quick project!  So easy to follow and she has the PDF which includes the pattern template!  This is a cute little pouch you can put anything that will fit in, like your personal hygiene products, your keys, cell phone, driver’s license, credit cards to carry instead of a bulky purse!  Anything you can think of!  So I ended up making 2 of these but I can’t show you the other one for about a week because it will coordinate with one of the new GKD stamp sets so I have to save it for then to share.


Since I can’t share you the other one, I will show you 2 others I made last week, one similar to last night and another with Riley Blake Sugar & Spice fabrics.  The floral one is Sandi Henderson’s Meadowsweet 2 Daisy Path in Robin’s Egg.  I look forward to sharing more sewing projects with you, hope you’re not getting bored since my blog is supposed to be about stamping!

I plan to share this post at Made by You Mondays at Skip To My Lou!; Flamingo Toes Think Pink Sundays; Sunday Scoop Link Party; Saturday is Crafty Day; Hazel and Honeysuckle Scrapbox Sunday; Sew Darn Crafty

Thanks for stopping by today!  I am off to stamp my heart out for the upcoming Gina K Designs release!  Party on Thursday at StampTV!!

Free for all Friday–Get Krafty!

Happy Friday!!  I am so glad it’s finally here!  Seems the week went by a tad slow.  I am excited because tonight is the Friday Night Sew In so I plan to hunker down and sew as much as I can as soon as I get home from work,  I plan to share with you what I make tomorrow so I hope you will be back to see!

Cat is today’s challenge hostess on StampTV and you know she loves kraft cardstock so her challenge is for us to use it on our project.  I love kraft too, especially to stamp on it with white craft ink and color with colored pencils (my ‘krafty’ version of ‘Black Magic’ technique where you do the same but use black cardstock).  That is super fun too!  I used the new StampTV kit Springtime Silhouettes, white, key lime and kraft pure luxury cardstock.  I finished off my card with a small embellishment of a white button with a little green cotton thread.  This card came together pretty quickly since I kept it clean & simple – don’t ya just love that sometimes? 

I will be the hostess for Monday’s challenge; hope you will play along then too!  You really should if you are not, because we draw a random winner of each challenge to get a FREE GKD stamp set valued up to $24.95!  You don’t have to have GKD stamps to play either, but if you do you get your name in the drawing twice!!

‘See’ ya tomorrow!!

Many Thanks

Here is a a pretty busy card I made using the most recent GKD stamps, Timeless Textures and the one free with 3, Garden Silhouettes.  I wanted to make a card to get the thanks message across and I think I did!  Cardstock is White Passionate Pink, Key Lime accent and Black Onyx pure luxury!  Inks used are all Vivid: Raspberry, Aqua, Wild Lime, Straw.  Finished it off with some black stitched ribbon and a few green brads. 

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Sugar & Spice Gathered Clutch

I am so excited when I stumble upon super crafty blogs, in particular ones that showcase free sewing tutorials!  Anna’s blog Noodlehead has this awesome tutorial for a gathered clutch.  You know I have a very big weakness for purses and now when I find some fabulous fabric, I can make my own!!  When I got my sewing machine serviced a few months ago, I perused the fabrics and found these fun red, turquoise, pink & white fabrics called Sugar & Spice by Riley Blake.  Once I made the clutch, I felt like it needed something more, so I grabbed some of my turquoise mix buttons by Gina K and added 3 to the front, I think it makes all the difference in the world!  So much that a few weeks ago when we went to our friend’s 85th birthday and I was using it for my essentials, several of the ladies there fell in love with it and asked if I would be willing to make some to sell them.  So now I have bought more fabrics (not the same though) and I am working on getting a stash together to sell. 
Here is a picture of the inside, where you can see 2 more of the fabrics I used for the lining, card holders and divider pocket.  I will share more that I made real soon. 
Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous week! 
I am linking up to these crafty parties to share what I made! 

Gina K Sew Fun Blog Hop!

Thanks for joining Gina K's Design Team today for our monthly hop!  Our theme is SEWING, where along the way you will find a variety of sewing techniques from hand sewing to faux sewing and lots of inspiration!  If you are here after visiting Deb Felt’s blog, then you are in the right place but if not, please start at Gina K’s blog  so you don’t miss any inspiration along the way!!

I couldn’t have been more thrilled about this month’s theme because I have been occupying a big chunk of my time with sewing and thoughts of sewing!  Since I brought my sewing machine out of storage and got it services, I have been perusing many inspirational blogs out there gathering tons of ideas, going fabric shopping, making projects and planning more!  One of the things I’ve wanted to do lately was replace my extremely dated  pin cushion (see picture at left, you know the one!)  So I made a cute one out of a tuna can following this tutorial with a few tweaks!   I wanted to have a little weight to my tuna can so it didn’t easily move from my work surface, so before I glued my cushion to the can, I added some World’s Best Cat Litter to the bottom!

 

 

I also wanted to add some ribbon and a button to the cushion area since I kept the can a blank chocolate spray paint canvas (John said it looks like a cupcake!)

For my card, I used Nana’s Needlework and made a paper-pieced quilt!  It’s so fun that I actually ‘get’ how a quilt comes together since I am taking an on-line quilt class!  I also used the woodgrain technique to make the quilt hanger shelf and ‘frame’ for my sentiment.  And of course, I had to add some stitching to my card to finish it off!

Now you’re headed to Emily’s blog to continue on with the Sew Fun inspiration! 

Card Supplies
Stamps: Nana’s Needlework
Cardstock: White, Sweet Corn, Crème de Menthe, Chocolate pure luxury, Basic Grey Hopscotch
Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento, Wild Honey & Vintage Photo distress, White Craft
Accessories: Chocolate Mix buttons, double-stitch chocolate ribbon, brown cotton thread