Card Patterns and Glitter

This past weekend was a new Ginak release which means lots of challenges. Challenges with prizes. I'm highly motivated to stamp when there are free stamps on the line. ;) I didn't win, but I still had fun and got some cards made. So it's kind of like I won. :)

My awesome friend Lee (no, really, she's been to my house!) issued the challenge to completely cover your main image with something - microbeads, glitter, diamond glaze, whatever. Lee loves glitter so I had to go with that. I could have made it uber-Lee, and gone with pink glitter, but that would have been weird.


The sketch is from Card Patterns. Isn't it pretty? This is my first time to do one of their sketches, but it definitely won't be the last! The design team has gorgeous samples! You should check it out.

The yummy paper is from Basic Grey's Origins 6x6. I love it! I hope they come out with fabric from this line. It would make all kinds of awesome tote bags, aprons, pillows, etc. Ooh, and Origins skirt. Love it! The pretty ribbon is some that I scavenged from a wedding (thanks Andrea!). The butterfly is colored with Copics and glittered all up with Martha Stewart glitter. My mom got me the sampler pack a couple of years ago, glitter city! Tons of colors! This is good old clear, but not because I didn't have the choice. I stamped a few leaves on vanilla cardstock, die cut it with a blossom nestability, and sponged it with yellow ink. The sentiment is stamped on vanilla cardstock and sponged with SU Old Olive ink. The notch is cut with a square punch. Got that tip from Nichole Heady's blog. Oh, the pearl is a white pearl colored with Copics. Cool, huh? I think Tina Gilliland posted that tip on StampTV. Never have the wrong color pearls again. :)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Take Flight, Masculine Messages, A Year of Flowers
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Barely Banana
Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, Georgia-Pacific White, Basic Grey Origins
Accessories - Copics, sponge daubers, Kaisercraft pearl, sheer ribbon, Blossom Nestabilities, cuttlebug, square punch, pop dots, Martha Stewart crystal glitter, Martha Stewart glittering glue

Tuesday Trigger and a GinaK Release Challenge

I *finally* got to do the Tuesday Trigger challenge on Moxie Fab World! Yay! I've only been trying to play along for months. I loved Jessica Witty's trigger card. It's so soft and pretty. My take was bright and boyish. :) This also qualifies for the GinaK release color challenge on StampTV to use yellow, blue, and red. The adorable toys are from the GinaK Wee Tees set and the sentiment is from the GinaK Oh Boy! set. LOVE these! Of course, I have two little boys so there ya go. :) The toys are all colored with Copic markers, cut out and popped up.


Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Designs Wee Tees, Oh Boy!
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red
Paper - Stampin' Up! Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Georgia-Pacific White cardstock
Accessories - Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy buttons, Stampin' Up Linen Thread, Copic markers, pop dots, Marvy yellow square punch

Casing Melanie

Melanie Muenchinger has a challenge on her blog to case one of her cards. I love Melanie's GinaK Designs stamps so I had to play along! I chose her Love Bird card. Isn't it cute? Love it! Here's my take on it.

First, it is important to note, I cannot draw hearts to save my life. I had a cut out from another project that I had to try and alter to fit this card. I traced it out and cut it with an exacto knife. I cut the heart last night and my finger is still sore! I adhered the Basic Grey Lime Rickey paper to the cardstock so I'd only have to cut once. There are some imperfections. My exacto skills are not that impressive. I think it turned out okay. Imperfections are what make it one of a kind, right? The paper was a little roughed up so I ran a dark blue marker around the cut edge and then sponged over it with white ink.

The super cute onesie is from Wee Tees. I stamped it onto the dark blue solid in the Lime Rickey collection. I love these papers. The print reminds me of waves so I had to use it here. I stamped a starfish from Gifts of the Sea onto scratch paper, colored it with Copics and glued it on. The little coat hanger is made out of jewelry wire. I used the one in Little Tees as a guideline. I stamped a second onesie on the backside of the paper, cut it out, and sandwiched the coat hanger in the middle with some scor-tape. I stamped and cut out a second starfish so it looks cute in the back too. ;) I used a paper piercer to make the hole in the top and added the jump ring. All that was left is to stamp that fabulous quote in white pigment ink. To make it stand out more you could emboss it, but my embossing gun and I aren't getting along right now. This is so not my usual card, but I love it! Thanks for the great challenge, Mel!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Wee Tees, Gifts of the Sea

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Basic Grey Lime Rickey

Accessories - Copics (B26, Y21, Y26, Y28), 24 gauge jewelry wire, round nose pliers, jump ring, exacto knife, sponge

Movie Inspired GinaK challenge

GinaK's CenterStage Spotlight Design Team challenge this month is to make a card using one of the new April release stamp sets inspired by your favorite movie. (The CenterStage person gets ALL of the May releases and gets to post with the regular design team that month. How cool is that?!) You can check out all the awesomeness here on Gina's blog. So I am KICKING myself for not getting Quite a Catch because the very first thing that popped into my head was a Sebastian the Crab Kiss the Girl card from one of my all-time faves, The Little Mermaid. But, I digress. I made myself a list of my top 15 or so favorite movies to see what else I could come up with. It's an eclectic list, lemme tell ya! Maybe one day I'll make a card for all of them. :)

I chose Roman Holiday. One of the best movies ever, in my humble opinion. Everytime I start it I think it won't be as good as I remember it and it always is. And really, what's not to love? Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder directing in glorious black and white, shot on location in Italy. It's pretty fabulous.

My card uses this vintage beauty from Asela Hopkin's Sew Pretty set. I love her! Her hairdo reminds me a little bit of the cut Audrey gets in the movie. Her outfit is even similar. (I see looking at the poster that her skirt is red, but I always watch it in B&W and I always think of it as khaki.) The Labels 4 Nestabilities look kind of cinematic to me. The lady is colored softly with Copics. I used R00 to barely shade her white top. I quickly colored a background for her with BG10 with the image still in the die. I usually sponge for something like that, but I liked this better since I didn't have to make a mask for the girl. :) A little distress ink gave the die cut some definition without me having to add another layer.

The herringbone is from Nina Brackett's awesome Vintage Backgrounds set. This set is so versatile, but it really pairs well with Sew Pretty. I love this stamp. It reminds me of tire tracks. Audrey and Gregory ride around on a cute little scooter in the movie so it seemed to fit. The sentiment is also perfect since Audrey gets this fabulous hair cut in the beginning (that always makes me want to cut mine off even though I would look ridiculous). The ribbon is from a past StampTV kit and I love it. So there ya go. A clean, simple, and, I hope, elegant but fun card. Just like the movie.

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Sew Pretty, Vintage Backgrounds

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Ink Walnut Stain

Cardstock - Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, Georia-Pacific white

Accessories - Copic markers, Nestabilities Labels 4, pop dots, sponge, cuttlebug, brown ribbon, glue dot, Scor-pal

Whoo hoo!

I won a free GinaK stamp set today! Hooray!!! How you ask? I made this card for one of the April Release Party challenges on StampTV and this morning I found out I won! Awe. Some. While I am pleased with how this card turned out, I must confess it was a random drawing. ;) Love GinaK stamps. Love free stamps. Love, love, love free GinaK stamps!

This cute little pumpkin is from Carolyn King's set, Whimsical Autumn. The layout is a sketch by Theresa Momber that was the basis of the challenge. I colored with Copics. This is my favorite pumpkin color combo so far. I like pumpkin stamps so I keep trying them out. Nestabilities, a PTI button, OLD patterned paper, and some distress ink and it's a card! :)

Completely changing the topic now, but Target has some cute purses clearanced at really great prices. I got 3 yesterday for $11. Yeah, $11. You might want to check it out.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Whimsical Autumn

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Paper: Papertrey Ink kraft and Dark Chocolate, Georgia-Pacific White, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie, DCWV patterned paper from at least 5 years ago

Accessories: Pure Poppy Papertrey Ink button, Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities, Stampin' Up! Linen Thread, Copics (YR14, YR16, YR18, YG93, YG95, E11, E13, E15), sponge, Scor-tape

Well, It Was a Little Chilly Today...

So, yes, this is a snowman card, in April. Maybe I want to be early for once. Maybe I was stamping for magazine publication calls. Maybe he's just darn cute! ;)

This is a triple challenge card. His glittery heart, snowy landscape, and stickly thoughts qualify him for the StampTV challenge (last week) to add glitter and the Paper Crafts Connection Shimmer and Shine challenge and this card also is for the Moxie Fab World Get Sketchy challenge which used this awesome sketch from Paper Crafts Go-To Sketches special issue. So worth the money! Everytime I see it on the stands I want to buy it even though I already have it. :)

Carolyn King illustrated this for GinaK designs and she donates her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association in memory of her grandmother. My grandmother recently passed away from Alzheimer's and I bought and use this set in memory of her. It makes me smile.

Supplies -

Stamps: GinaK Warm Winter Wishes

Paper: PTI Hawaiian Shores, Stampers Select White, Stampin' Up! Real Red

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Real Red

Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities Label On, Snowflake embossing folder, Cuttlebug, pop dots, Martha Stewart Garnet glitter, Snow glitter, Frosted Lace Stickles, Mono Multi glue, Scor-Tape

Been Awhile

Hey there! Long time no see. We've been busy. Lots of coming and going and trips to the park and not sleeping at night and planting flowers and learning to crawl busy! :) I'm going to work on updating more often!

Here's a card I made for the inspiration challenge this week on StampTV. (If you haven't joined, do it now! It's free!) This card uses the super cute Tech Talk set by Melanie Muenchinger that I got from my super awesome mom who gives me GinaK stamps at the holidays! Thanks Mom! Add in some lemon tart cardstock, probably one of my favorite colors ever, from Papertrey, cardstock rickrack, and some My Minds Eye paper I've had forever and it's a card!

I hear someone fussing so I should go. I'll try not to be a stranger. :)

Supplies -
Stamps: GinaK Tech Talk
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Papertrey Lemon Tart, Stampin' Up! Riding Hood Red, Georgia-Pacific White, My Minds Eye paper Wild Asparagus stack
Accessories: Papertrey rickrack die, copics, pop dots