Gina K Designs' Blast from the Past Hop

I'm slowly recovering from the busy-ness of CHA, but feel so inspired by all the new products and people I met while there. I can't wait to play with the new products. :-)

In the meantime, I am so excited to show off today's cards for the special Gina K Designs Blast from the Past Hop. I have two cards to show you using three sets that were released in 2009. It was so good to play with these again.

The first card follows the elegant and classy style (perfect for Moxie Fab's Elegant Style contest) uses my Lord of the Season and Elegant Verses sets. The flower topiary was colored with Copics and accented with pearls. The verse was heat embossed with white.

This card uses my first GinaK Designs set, Special Fathers. The background diagonals is a PP by The Paper Studio. Doesn't it look like wall paper? The white strip is scored with a ScorPal to create the baseboard look.

For even more samples of some of our favorite 'Blast from the Past' GinaK Designs stamp sets, check out these participating designers' blogs:

• GinaK
• Jessica
• Melanie
• Nina - you're here!
  
• Theresa
• Cathy
• Lee
• Lynn
• Donna
• Emily
• Erika

The entire GinaK Designs team would like to invite you to the virtual Release party we'll be having this Thursday, August 5th on StampTV. It will be a bit different than our usual release party, but we'll still have challenges, contest questions, and designer samples that you won't want to miss out on! More information on that event will be shared by GinaK soon, so stay tuned to her blog for all the details this week.

Some ruffled goodness...

Here are some cards with ruffles for the current Moxie Fab Challenge. I love this new challenge. I'm posting a quick one as I have to prepare for guests and lots of birthdays (3 to be exact) to celebrate this week in our family. I have the stamps used listed, but will post the rest of supplies later, if anybody's interested. Thank you and have a good day!

Stamps used: Garden Delights (Indinkado), Trendy Trees (SU)

Stamps used: A Very Merry Christmas and Holiday Cheer (GinaK Designs)

Stamps used: Lord of the Season, Elegant Verses (GinaK Designs)

Stamps used: Lord of the Season, Many Wishes (GinaK Designs)

Stamps used: Elegant Verses (GinaK Designs)

Ruffled lamps and a recipe

I have two things to show you today for Unity Friends with Flair Friday, but first, make sure you check out Unity's blog to get the list of participants this week. And find the flair for a chance to win a grab bag of stamps. Don't forget Unity is having a sale right now. Check out the Unity blog for more info.

My first card uses my favorite Unity stamp right now, this adorable little lamp from Shine On!. I love to paper piece the shade. I used only my paper scraps for this card. I ruffled the bottom (for the new Moxie Fab challenge) and covered the "mess" with a pretty ribbon. The sentiment is from my Elegant Verses set and I've always wanted to pair these two stamps together. A bow with a flower and button center finished the card.

The next one was my entry to Week 4 Bro Challenge. I used an oven mitt from an old set, Lovin' from the Oven (I think that's what it's called). Again, I used scraps for this project. This Rachael Ray recipe is soooo good and soooo easy to make. I change it a little by adding sauteed chicken (we're meat lovers in our house :-)) and mushrooms. You can go HERE to see the recipe in full. The sketch follows the Card Positioning System this week.

Some WCMD cards

My girls had a day off yesterday from school, so we hit the town shopping for birthday gifts. It was a great day to spend together as a family. I had some great finds, too. I get excited when I find something here that I can use on my cards. Paper crafting is still a novelty here, so craft stores are pretty much non-existent. I got a few ribbons and goodie bags to alter for Christmas.

I have a few cards to share with you today. The first two follow the Crazy4Challenges to use stitching on your card. First, CardPatterns has a neat sketch to use this week:

And here is my card, using an adorable snowman image from The Angel Company. The sentimentis from GinaK Designs, Warm Winter Wishes. I used Pink Pirouette and Certainly Celery CS, PP is from Rob&Bob Studios. I paper pieced the snowman's hat and scarf.

The sponsor this week is Chris Franco, an Independent Demonstrator with The Angel Company (TAC). TAC offers rubber stamps in a variety of styles, unique papers, fantastic tools and accessories. Chris will be giving away $15 Gift certificate from TAC. So, come join us!

Over the weekend, I was able to participate in a few SCS challenges in honor of World Cardmaking Day! Here are a couple of cards I made.

And here is a close up of the card. I had so much fun coloring these little flowers from my Lord of the Season set. The quote is from Elegant Verses and it fits perfectly with this image.

Other supplies used:
Paper: Chocolate Kiss, PL Ivory, Rich & Shabby digipapers
Ink: Copics, Memento Rich Cocoa
Others: lace and ribbon by Offray, pearls, MS butterfly punch

Here's a simple card highlighting one of the quotes from the Lord of the Season set. I stamped one of the topiaries in Creamy Caramel. That ribbon is from a local textile shop I found and it's a perfect match to GinaK's beautiful Soft Sand CS. I think it's supposed to be a trim for pants' hem, but I think it makes a perfect ribbon :-).

Stamps: Lord of the Season
Papers: Rocket Red, PL Ivory, Soft Sand
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Real Red
Others: MS punch, buttons, prima flower, Spellbinders Labels 1

Elegant Verses Blog Hop

ETA: Entering for the free ElegantVerses set is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly Sept 18, Friday morning. Thanks to those who participated.

Welcome to the ELEGANT VERSES blog hop! I have so much to share with you today. All supplies are by GinaK Designs, unless otherwise noted.

Card #1: I inverted the post from the Elegant Post set to make a stand for the birdcage, which was colored with Copics (E53, 55, 57).

Papers: Simple Elegance digipaper pack, SU Summer Sun, Chocolate Kiss
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, SU Summer Sun, Copics
Others: lace by Wrights, buttons by PTI


Card #2: I first ran a piece of paper through my Cuttlebug with SU's top note die. I trimmed it to 4" length, then stamped the sentiment. The patterned paper is from Emily's Rich and Shabby digipaper pack, which I printed on kraft paper. I swiped my inkpad on the edges with Memento Rich Cocoa to give it a more distressed look.

Paper: Soft Sand, Chocolate Kiss, Rich & Shabby digipapers, PL Ivory
Ink: SU Bravo Burgundy, Memento Rich Cocoa
Others: ribbon by Michael's, button by Buttons Galore, Mark Richards pearls, SU Top note die

Card #3: I stamped the post sideways. The DP is from Simple Elegance digipaper pack and the lamp was colored with Copics.

Paper: Chocolate Kiss, PL Ivory, Simple Elegance pack, SU So Saffron
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, SU Ruby Red, Copics
Others: ribbon by PTI, buttons by Buttons Galore, Prima flower, brown pearls by Basic Grey, SU Top note die

Card #4: I printed the patterned paper from Grungy Elegance digipaper pack on kraft carstock. The white curvy panel is the other half of the top note die cut from Card #2.

Papers: Green Apple, PL Ivory, Grungy Elegance digipapers, SU Summer Sun
Inks: SU Old Olive
Others: ribbon by Offray, button by PTI, MS butterfly punch, Pearl

Card #5: I printed out the digipaper on kraft cardstock. I die cut the bottom using Spellbinders Labels 4.

Papers: SU Bravo Burgundy, Simple Elegance digipapers, PL Ivory
Ink: SU Bravo Burgundy
Other: Pearls, Spellbinders Labels 4 dies, ribbon by Michael's

Finally, Card #6 is probably my favorite of all of them because of its simplicity and elegance woven into one card that's very easy to make (took no more than 5 minutes, plus 15 minutes drying time). I stamped the verse on Soft Sand with craft ink to create a pattern, waited 15 minutes for the ink to dry before the assembly of all the elements. The ribbon is actually satin bias tape that I picked up at our local textile shop. Doesn't it make a pretty, luscious ribbon? I also bought the buttons there.


I hope you've been inspired to create. Leave a comment for a chance to win this set. I will draw the winner this Friday. Please hop on over to my good friend Silke Ledlow's blog for some special projects she'll be sharing with us tonight. Then, stop by these GinaK Design Team Members' blogs participating in the blog hop tonight: Gina Krupsky, Carolyn King, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Lee Murphy, Melanie Muenchinger, Theresa Momber.

A CASE'd CAS card and another

Yay, I finally got some stamping done this weekend. These are two cards I made using Elegant Verses and Elegant Post stamp sets.

A CASE'd (copy and share everything from a card the current SU catalog) CAS (clean and simple). It took me no more than 10 minutes to make it. Ooh and I love that quote.


This one took more time and not really my usual style, but I'm glad with the results. I did handstitching on this one because I haven't had the time to take out my sewing machine and learn to sew on cards. I've had it for over a decade and maybe have used it three times. I'm really clumsy with it, but I love the stitching on cards, so I'm determined to learn.

Come again later this week as I share some Christmas cards I've been busy making as well.

Introducing Elegant Verses Set

I decided to take a break from cleaning and unpacking to introduce you to my newest GinaK stamp set, Elegant Verses. I designed them to coordinate with my previous set, Elegant Post. One advantage of being a stamp illustrator is I can design something I really want in rubber for my own personal use. I just love these quotes and verses that can also coordinate with other stamps you have. There is a quote that is appropriate for sympathy cards and encouragement, one for wedding/spring (the book of Songs is all about celebrating married life), and another Scripture verse, which happens to be one of my favorites.

And here is my 5-minute card. Believe me it was hard to stop creating, but duty called and I still had much to do around the house.

The papers I used are Ruby Red and PP is by K&Co. I hope to share more with you next week when my work load slows down. By the way, our luggage made it and my chocolate chips didn't melt.Yay! God is good! Oh, another thing, we sold our old van. We've been trying to sell it for awhile now. And it died while my hubby and the buyer were in the process of payment. The guy still wanted it. So, we are relieved. God is good indeed!

Have a good weekend, everyone. Now, I'm off to see my Croatian friends at church.

We're Home and Elegant Verses Previews

First, I just want to thank you all for praying for our trip back to Croatia. We are now here after an uneventful trip. We are missing a few of our luggages, but they should get here soon. One of them has my stash of chocolate chips, so I'm anxious to get that as I'm afraid they will melt in the heat :-). Thankfully, most of my stamp supplies are already here. Now, I just need to unpack and organize them, so I can start creating again.

Second, I am excited to share that GinaK is previewing my newest set to be released this month, Elegant Verses. This set coordinates with my Elegant Post set and many other stamps you have. Since I've been packing and traveling, I haven't had time to make some samples, but make sure you stop by Gina's blog to see her cards. She's also previewing Tropical Blooms (the new free with three) as well as Theresa Momber, the illustrator of Autumn Beauty.

For even more projects with tonight's two stamp sets, these Senior Design Team Members are participating in previews today: Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika Jessica, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn, and Melanie as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team members:Shelly Wilson and Charlene Merrick

Our Release Party starts Thursday night at 7 pm CST. Please join us for contests questions, challenges, lots of chatter as well as a ton more samples shared by the Senior Design team members and our CenterStage Spotlight team too. See you tomorrow night!