Center Stage Spotlight DT & Alumni Challenge #2

It's time for another CenterStage Spotlight Challenge Blog hop!

Hostess: Jessica Fick {Design Team Coordinator} Theme: Stamp and color the image on Patterned Paper { any occasion card acceptable, it doesn't have to be Christmas themed} { image may be cut out and layered, but must be stamped and colored on patterned paper} Requirement: any GinaK Designs stamp set & Glitter Bonus Challenge: decorate the inside of your card to coordinate

What a fun challenge! As soon as I knew what this challenge was going to be about I knew I wanted to use some vintage K & Co paper that I had in my stash. I ended up using four different sets of stamps from Gina K. Designs for this challenge. I used Take Flight for the butterflies, Vintage Borders for the scalloped edging, Leaf frond from Whimsical Autumn and on the inside I used a sentiment from Thanks a Million.

First, I choose to use Mercy's sketch challenge this week (MTSC49) and then I embossed the butterflies with Egyptian Gold EP on the print paper (this EP is really glittery IRL) and then colored them a bit with Copic markers E04 and RV000 for a bit of shading. Because the ink in the copics is transparent, you can still see the pretty print of the paper showing through. Ya gotta love that!

The leaf frond was stamped in Adirondack Latte ink onto the Chiffon Double Dot base card. I embossed the scallop border onto Wine Double Dot cs using the same Egyptian Gold EP. The wine panel and the butterfly panel are layered onto some Tan Leather cs from GKD. On the inside I layered some print paper onto Wine Double Dot and then stamped my sentiment in Adirondack Cranberry ink onto Chiffon Double Dot that was layered to another piece of Tan Leather cardstock.

I gave this card to my Mom for Thanksgiving. I know it's not your traditional Thanksgiving card, but she loves butterflies and it was the perfect card for her.

For more challenge inspiration take a moment to visit and leave some love for the awesome designers listed below:

Participating Designer's links:

Brenda Turner Carla Suto, Carolina Buchting,

Cheri Weston Deb Felts Geri Utterback , Giovana Smith, Gina Krupsky Janice Melton, JenMarie Taylor, Jennie Harper,

Jessica Fick Joy Hadden, Karen Knegten Kay Simmons, Linda Payne, Melisa Waldorf, Melissa Cash, Melissa Shultz, Nina Brackett, Pam Imholz, Peggy Wainman, Selma Stevenson, Shannon Bracken, Sharri Seffens

Sue Morris Sue VanDeVusse Sue Walsh, Tina Gilliland

Got Cocoa?

Hi there! Just a short post for you today. I have a bit of a cold and have been laying down most of the day. I created these fun cocoa tins for my class last weekend. All of the stamps are from the Stampendous set called Stretchy Snowman. This set has both a large and small stretchy snowman in it. I used the large one for both Mr. and Mrs Snow above. There are several accessories in the set to decorate your snowies with. I decided to make a simple band out of Colorful Christmas cardstock from My Mind's Eye to go around the tin. Mr. and Mrs. were stamped on the fold of some Neenah CC Solor White cardstock and then cut out to create little cards. I paper pieced their hats with some more Colorful Christmas cardstock and finsihed off with some Copic coloring. Both tins are tied with swirl organdy ribbon. A knot for him and a pretty bow for her. All supplies can be found here.

I hope you all enjoy a fabulous Thanksgiving day! I am so thankful for my family, my friends and the many blessings in my life. What are you thankful for this year?

hugs,

Calendar Grid and Calendar Bits and Pieces Blog Hop

Tonight we are sharing the uber cool Calender Grid and Calendar Bits and Pieces sets with you.

These sets are very versatile and tonight I am sharing 6 notecards that I have created using several of the elements from the Calendar Bits and Pieces set. There are a bazillion little words and icons in this set and that made it easy to pair up perfect words to go with the icons.

I used the same simple layout for all of the cards. The cards either have a base of PL Ivory or PL White cardstock. I used print papers/cardstocks from my scrap stash for the rest. What a fun way to use up those scraps that we all have!

First is a birthday card using the cute little cupcake and the words Happy Birthday.

Next is a fun little Valentine card using the little heart and the words Love You.

Next is a 4th of July card using the star from CB & P and the words Happy 4th from Melanie’s Hip to be Square set

Next is a fun little Halloween card using the fun little bat and the words Happy Halloween

Next is a fun little Happy Autumn card using the cute little maple leaf and words from CB & P. Note: We need a cute little oak leaf for us west coasters…..LOL

Finally I have a fun little Christmas card using the tree and the words Merry Christmas.

On one final note, tonight is my final night as part of the October CSS Design Team, it has been a blast. I‘m not going anywhere though, you’ll still find me and the rest of the CSSDT Alumni hanging out over at StampTV. Come on by and visit us. The November CSS team will be announced soon, be sure to come and give them a warm welcome.

For more inspiration, please visit Calendar Bits and Pieces' illustrator, Tami Mayberry, then to the following Blog Hop Participants from the GinaK Designs team:

Carolyn, Erika, Donna, Jessica, Lee, Theresa and Nina

{the GinaK Designs CSS team} Deb, Sharri, Sue, Melissa {me}. {Tami's Guest designer} Jennie Harper

Make sure you stop by Gina's blog to leave your comment for a chance to win this amazing stamp set for free! Remember to check our Idea Center for even more samples, tutorials, and links!

Stuff for Sale and my Green Cup/Saucer

First, I would like to thank everyone for your great comments about my Vintage Tags and the staging of that photo from this post. A few people asked about the green cup/saucer in the picture. I don't think it is any special brand, I picked it up at the thrift store for less than a buck and thought I might create a little gifty w/some tea and goodies for a friend. I have a couple more that I picked up too! I will share them with you when I get them fixed up pretty!

Next, is a list of the goodies that were in the "It's Gotta Go" box from this post. If you are interested in any of it, please leave me a comment with a way to get ahold of you. Thanks for looking.

For Sale Shipping is not included, but I will do my best to ship the easiest/least expensive way. Stampin Up Classic Ink Pads $3.00 Bliss Blue Going Gray Brilliant Blue More Mustard Brocade Blue Gable Green Pretty in Pink Soft Subtles Stampin Spots (set of 12) $10.00

Stampin Up Re-Inker $2.00 Pretty in Pink

Stampin Up Markers $1.00 Night of Navy Rose Romance Summer Sun

Stampin Up Extras Stampin Pastels (nearly new) $15.00 Elements Buttons $2.00 Rich Regals Buttons $2.00

Stampin Up Stamps Warm Wishes $5.00 2 step Brushstroke Blossoms $5.00 2 step Petal Prints $10.00 All Natural $7.00 Fun Faces $ 7.00 Simple Sayings II $5.00 Paint Prints $7.00 Collage Alphabet (NIB) $25.00 Little Hellos $7.00 2 step Roses in Winter $15.00 Definitely Decorative Mixed Bouquet $ 15.00 Cheery Chat $12.00 Definitely Decorative Fresh Fruits (7 stamps) 10.00 Sweet of You (6 stamps NIB) $5.00

Other Stuff ColorBox Inks w/Re-inker $4.00 (Mica Magic Bronze or Mica Magic Red) My Favorite Things: Boho Blossoms (some staining) $5.00 Stampendous: Paisley clear set SSC068 $3.00 Hero Arts: Cupcakes clear set CL158 (some staining) $5.00 Verve: Asian Flair $6.00 TAC: Swirly w/hearts TG139 (new, unopened) $1.00 TAC: Snowflakes T443 (new, unopened) $5.00

Going Green

Hi there! Yep, I've gone green! Green is my favorite color, so when Cindy gave us a color challenge on StampTV of green/ivory I was in frog heaven (get it, frog--green) LOL. It must be the coffee kickin' in! This card also is part of the StampTV Member Blog Event. We were asked to use one of the new sets from the last release. If you are a member, and have one of the sets listed here you can upload a card and then go to Gina's blog and add a link to your STV Member Blog card using Mr. Linky at the bottom of her post. If you are not a member and want to be, go here to sign up. It's free and heck, we're just alot of fun to hang out with! :) The card details are listed below.

This card also covers a couple of other challenges going on this week in blogland. Over on the Lord Have Mercy blog, there is a sketch challenge on Tuesdays. I always check out the challenge, but never seem to get anything made, well by golly this week was the week to get 'er done! This week is #48, so you can see I am waaaay behind!

The next challenge is for the Just Us Girls blog. Each Saturday they have something new and exciting they want us to do. This week it is to use dry embossing. That's an easy one for me because almost every card I make I used my beloved Cuttlebug and embossing folders. For this card I used Divine Swirls and Swiss Dots. Need these folders, you can get them at The Cat's Meow. Just e-mail Sharon and tell her I sent ya!

Here's the deets:

Stamps: Vintage Borders (Gina K Designs)

Paper: PL Ivory, PL Fresh Asparagus and PL Green Apple

Ink: Adirondack Lettuce

Extras: MS Branch punch, MS Snowflake punch, button,pearl, gems, G99 Copic for coloring gems and pearl, Cuttlebug Textile Texture and Divine Swirls EF

I've also had a few questions about the bin full of "It's Gotta Go" stuff from this post and the adorable little green (we've got a theme here) cup/saucer from this post. I will post about them on Sunday, so stay tuned.

Vintage Borders Blog Hop

How about some more inspiration with the Vintage Borders stamp set?

Tonight, I have some fun little tags that I made using one of my favorite borders from this set. I embbosed the ornament border in gold ep on PL Ivory cs and cropped the images down to fit on the tags. The image is mounted on a PL Rocket Red layer and this is popped up with foam tape onto the print layer. I colored one of the ornaments with my red Spica glitter pen and added three teeny tiny rhinestones to give it a little flair! For the tags, I took regular shipping tags and inked them up with Gold Colorbox ink (just smooshed it around on both sides), wrote "To" and "From" on the inside and then folded them to just under the hole. I cut around the reinforced hole with my craft knife (didn't think to use one of the many tools I have) and slipped the top edge of the folded tag under to hold it closed. This was mounted onto some PL Rocket Red cs and then I trimmed the corners to match the shape of the tag. I tied bows through the hole with some pretty red ribbon I had in my stash.

First, check in with the Illustrator of this versatile stamp set, our Senior Designer Nina Bracket and her friend Lisa Hjulberg joining in the blog hop tonight.

Now, stop by these GinaK Designer's & Center Stage Spotlight blogs for even more fabulous samples:

Asela, Carolyn, Cindy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn,Theresa, Tami and Melanie

Deb, Melissa {me}, Karen, Sharri, and Sue

Before you finish hopping, be sure to check in on GinaK's blog to enter your comment for a chance to win Nina's Vintage Borders stamp set. If you already have purchased Nina's set, you can substitute any GinaK Designs stamp set valued at $23.95 or less.

For those of you are who looking for a quick and easy Christmas card idea, check out the Vintage Borders Card Kit available online in GinaK's store tonight. The Kit includes the step by step tutorial as well as all the card stock cut to the exact measurements needed to make 4 cards. For more details and photos of this card kit, see Jessica Fick's blog link as well as this Class Kit link.

happy hopping,

Split Negative Trees

Hi there! I hope you are all having a happy Monday. We had a pretty quite weekend around here. I had a nice visit with my Mom and Sister on Saturday and that is always fun. Yesterday I hung out at home. Sunday is turning into baking day around here. First I made my MIL's Peanut Butter popcorn and then a little later I make an apple cobbler with apples from my inlaws tree. The cobbler recipe I use is EASY PEASY and can be found here.

The card I have to share with you today is one that I made for last Tuesday's technique challenge over at StampTV. The technique is called Split Negative and it was as easy as the cobbler I made yesterday! I inked up the trees from Gina K's Tree Silhouettes set with Top Boss ink and embossed them with Detail White EP (The Cat's Meow) on PL Fresh Asparagus cardstock and Malachite EP (Judi-Kins) on PL White cardstock. I cut them both out with my Labels 2 Nesties and then cut them in half. I then matched up one half from each color combo to create the Split Negative. The image layers were attached to a piece of PL Black Onyx cs that had been run through the Cuttlebug with the Diamonds (?) embossing folder. The card was finished off with some ribbon, brads and some crystal glitter.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

New and Improved Studio-Lots of pics

Wow, I can't believe it has been two years ago today since I last blogged about my studio. You can read that post here. Well, I am here to show you the new and improved room! First, I moved out of the room that I was in (David's Man Cave) a few months ago and into the spare bedroom. The room was neutral in color, so I painted the window wall with a light aqua color (matched from some My Mind's Eye paper). Well, today I am ready to share pictures. It is not perfect, but I love working in this room now.

This is the view from the doorway looking to the right, there are no stamping supplies in the closet, except for some ribbon that is hanging on hangers. The brown antique dresser has "stuff" in the top three drawers and keepsakes from when my boys were little in the bottom two.

This is my new desk, I have been dreaming about storage like this for awhile now. I just put it together yesterday, so I haven't quite figured out what is going to go where in the drawers. See that little sewing machine? I have never used it. I might now!

This is the left wall of the room. See those pretty shelves? My dear BIL made them. One actually belongs to my sister, but when they moved she didn't have room for it. Lucky me! See the little white desk/chair under the shelves.......those were my sister's also. It is perfect for my Cuttlebug station.

This is the right side of my desk, David made this for me several years ago for a Christmas present. It is 8' long. Mr. Lappy sits on this end when I take him in there. One of these days, I will hang the memo board on the wall, for now, it is just resting on the top shelf of the desk.

This is the left side of the desk. Copics at my fingertips, it doesn't get much better than that! The top shelf is home to my clear and cling mounted stamps (in the white bins). My trusty old Fiskars cutter stays here all of the time. The little white bin to the right of the cutter has scraps of paper in it.

Here is the best part, a place for my shoes! As soon as I come in the door I kick them off. Most people would keep them in their bedroom, but I never make it that far with my shoes on!

And this sad pile of stuff, IT HAS TO GO! Ya see something ya want, just holler! If you've stayed with me this long, thanks for touring my room with me!

See ya soon,

Calendar Grid and Calendar Bits and Pieces Blog Hop

Can you believe it, two more great sets from Tami Mayberry for Gina K. Designs? I am going to keep my description brief as there are several of us who are previewing this set tonight and you won't want to miss a thing! I stamped my Calendar Grid/Month and numbers in Adirondack Espresso ink on PL Ivory cardstock. I also stamped the Christmas Topiary from Nina's Lord of the Season set in the lower corner of the grid with Adirondack Espresso ink. All coloring is with Copic markers, the little swirlies and the star on the tree were colored with Gold Spica glitter pen. I added some gem and pearls (that were colored w/Copics) to the tree for a finishing touch. The cardstock, ribbon and hardware are all from my stash! Yeah! The finished size of this calendar page is 8 x 8.

For some helpful tips on how to use the Calendar Bits & Pieces and Calendar Grid stamp sets, please be sure to check out Gina's blog and StampTV for a helpful video on just how quick and easy it can be to use! Both of these sets as well as the PDF version of the Calendar Grid image will be available for purchase tonight over on our online store.

After that, stop by our Illustrator's blog - Tami Mayberry for some projects with her timely stamp sets.

Here are the GinaK Designer Member's links who are joining us in the preview tonight:

Carolyn, Donna, Erika,Cathy, Jessica, Lee, Lynn, Melanie,Nina and Theresa

You'll also want to check in on these CenterStage Spotlight Designer's blogs for more ideas:

Melissa {you are here }, Sharri, and Sue

Come on a Festive hop with me!

Tonight we are sharing cards/projects using the Festive Frame set from Gina K. Designs. I embossed my image with Hematite (black pearl) embossing powder on white shimmer cardstock. The flower image was colored with R20, R29, R35 and a touch of R59 Copic markers. I punched the corners of the PL Black Onyx cardstock with an Iron Eagle punch and attached it to a white shimmer panel that I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Divine Swirls EF. I added some red Midori ribbon tied up in a big bow and layered to a 5" x 7" PL Black Onyx card. Melanie Muenchinger, the Illustrator of Festive Frame has invited a couple of her friends to join in on the blog hop tonight, so click on their blog links to see the projects they've created for us:

Joan Ervin

Linda Payne

Wendy Price

Melanie is going to be giving away a Bow Easy and some ribbon to one lucky person. All you have to do is visit our blogs and leave us some love. Melanie will be randomly picking one of our blogs and then randomly picking a comment for the prize winner.

Then, check in on these GinaK Designer's participating in the Blog Hop tonight:

Carolyn King Donna Baker Erika Martin Jessica Fick Lee Murphy Melanie Muenchinger Theresa Momber

And our fabulous Center Stage Spotlight Team:

Deb Felts Diana S. Queen Melissa Cash {me} Sharri Seffens

After you're done hopping to all the Designer's blogs stop by GinaK's Idea Center here: Festive Frame for lots more ideas on how to use Melanie's stamp set. And, don't forget to check in on GinaK's blog so you can leave your comment to be entered as a chance to win this stamp set, too!

Peace

I created this card for my sketch challenge at StampTV last week. I totally forgot to upload it here on the blog. I used the new Vintage Borders set from Gina K Designs for this card. The red layer was embossed with the Victorian CB EF. For the print background I stamped the border several times with Adirondack Espresso ink. The ornaments and "peace" were embossed with detail gold ep. The ribbon is two ribbons layered together. I used a button and some MS branch punchies for the spray accross the round panels.

Stamps:Vintage Borders (gkd) Cardstock: Chocolate Kiss, Rocket Red, Ivory (gkd) Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Top Boss Extras: MS branch punch, Button, twine, ribbon, nesties, cuttlebug, Victorian EF

Thanks for stopping by,

Gina K. Designs CSS Challenge Blog Hop

Welcome to our first Center Stage Spotlight Design Team Blog Hop! Jessica Fick, the Design Team Coordinator for GinaK Designs has issued a challenge to all of the past and present team CSS team members to make a Christmas card with one of these sketches:

We know you're going to LOVE what everyone has designed for us tonight!

The card I have created for you uses the Festive Frame set that was illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K. Designs. I started my card with a base of PL White Base weight cardstock and rounded the right corners. I then ran a piece of In The Navy PL through the Cuttlebug with my Victorian embossing folder and rounded the right corners and adhered that to the card. I cut strips of light blue and PL White and layered them to the blue panel. With my Nestabilities dies I cut and embossed a circle of PL White cardstock and stamped the sentiment and floral image in Adirondack Denim ink using a stamp positioner to get them right where I wanted them. I layered this to a light blue panel that was cut with my Nestabilities Blossom die and attached to my cardfront with some foam tape. I finished off the card with lots of little white pearls and a big white bow that I created using the Bow Easy. You can click on the photos below to enlarge if you would like to see all of the details.

First, here are the links for GinaK's Current CSS Team Members: Deb Felts Diana S. Queen Karen Knegten Melissa Cash {that's me} Sharri Seffens Sue VanDeVusse and the links for all of the past CSS Design Team members participating:

Brenda Turner, Carla Suto, Carolina Buchting, Charlene Merrick, Dawn Lusk, DeeMarie Kelemen, Geri Utterback , Giovanna Smith, Janice Melton, JenMarie Taylor, Jennie Harper, Joy Hadden, Kay Simmons, Linda Payne, Lori McAree, Melisa Waldorf, Pam Imholz, Selma Stevenson, Shannon Bracken, Shelly Wilson, Sue Walsh, Tina Gilliland Some of GinaK's Senior Design Team Members and Illustrators wanted to get in on the fun tonight too: Gina Krupsky

Asela Hopkins Carolyn King Cindy Lawrence Jessica Fick Lee Murphy Lynn Mercurio Nina Brackett Melanie Muenchinger along with Nina Brackett's Guest Designer: Lisa Hjulberg All of these gorgeous cards from the entire team will be added to the StampTV gallery throughout the next few days with the tag cssjf1 (which stands for center stage spotlight jessica fick 1) These sketches are also our sketch challenge for this week, so be sure to check out all the information in the discussion in our Challenge group over on StampTV Thursday morning. We'd love to see your cards with the sketch too!

Prayer Request

Hi all, I would'nt normally ask this of you, but I am not sure what more I can do right now for my neighbor. A little over a year ago her husband passed away and she has been doing pretty well, she finally decided to take a big trip with our local Chamber of Commerce to Greece on a river cruise. She asked her step-son to come and stay at her house and watch her animals. He passed away on Friday (they believe of a heart attack). There is no other family in town, I have been feeding the animals and watching over things. Melva was notified, but can't get home until Saturday. She will then go up north for Michael's service. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks so much,

Somer's Flowers

Hi there!

The card I have for you today is for last week's Potluck Friday challenge over at StampTV. My fellow Center Stage Spotlight Design Team member Deb Felts challenged us to create a soft and femine card. There was a special reason for this challenge, Deb lives in Florida near where Somer Thompson and her family live. This card will be sent to Deb and she is going to give all of the cards to Somer's Mom so that she will know how much people are thinking about her during this terrible time. If you would like to create a card and send it on, you can find the information in the challenge thread here.

I stamped the iris in Black Stazon ink onto Arches 140# cold press watercolor paper and used my Tombow markers to watercolor with. The image was cut/embossed with the Nestabilities Classic Octagon die. I turned it a bit and layered to a light pink octagon and then popped that up with a little foam tape to the print cardstock. Some lavender satin ribbon and clear gems (that I colored with Copic marker BV11 were added to finish off the card.

Stamps: Elegant Flowers (GKD) Paper: purple (Bazzill), print (PTI), pink (Worldwin), Arches 14# watercolor paper Ink: Stazon Black Extras: Ribbon , Gems, Nesties, Copic BV11

P.S. Notice something new? I'll post more about the change later.

Hugs,

Celebrate the Beauty

I created this card for Cindy's sketch challenge for Gina K Designs release party over at SCS. There is still time to play, you can find all of the details here. I used two of the new sets that were just released, they were Festive Frame (for the sentiment) and Vintage Borders (ornament image). The snowflake is from the Special Delivery set. I love sketch challenges and this one was alot of fun. You have until Monday Nov 2 @ 7:00 CST to upload your card over at SCS. Please be sure to use the keyword: GKDOCTCL so that Cindy will be able to find your card.

****The winner of this challenge will receive any stamp set they choose from Gina K Designs valued at $24.95 or less!*****

Stamps: Festive Frame, Vintage Borders, Special Delivery (GKD) Paper: Kraft, Rocket Red (GKD), White (Neenah), Aqua Print (stash) Inks: Rocket Red Brilliance, White VersaMagic Extras: Ribbon (stash), Pearl (Kaisercraft), R29 Copic (to color the pearl), MS Snowflake punch, Fiskars Apron Lace border punch, buttons (Autumn Leaves), Nesties

Hugs,