...Gina K Designs Stitched Leaves Mini Inspiration Blog Hop - Back in Stock TODAY!

 

The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new Gina K Designs Stitched Leaves mini kit which will be back in stock TODAY! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs!
These stamp sets are so fun, versatile and you can make a variety of different cards and projects with or without dies! You will be creating with this stamp set and dies all fall long! Have fun and be creative!

 

I used that glorious maple leaf stamp for todays card - I inked up the solid shape in Sweet Mango and Cherry red (both Gina K Inks) using the rock and roll technique. Then I over-stamped the line image in brown. The leaves were then trimmed out with the matching dies! lastly I set them down on a piece of foam and rubbed over them with the rounded bottom end of a pen to make them curl before adhering them to my card base. I used a piece of patterned paper from my stash (it's from the Gina K Autumn wishes paper pack) The thankful die used to create the sentiment panel is also in this kit!

Enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $50 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration?

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K. https://ginakdesigns.blogspot.com
Beth Silaika https://silaika.blogspot.com
Cathy Tidwell https://catdidit.blogspot.com
Chris Dayton http://www.cattalesandpapertrails.com
Claire Brennan https://waltzingmouse.blogspot.com
Donna Idlet http://myblogidlet.blogspot.com/search/…/Gina%20K%20designs…
Juliana Michaels http://www.17turtles.com/search/label/Gina%20K%20Designs
Karen Hightower https://karenscreativemess.blogspot.com
Laurie Schmidlin http://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/
Melanie Muenchinger https://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com
Rema Deleeuw https://paperpanacherd.blogspot.com
Sean Fetterman http://fettermandesigns.blogspot.com/
Sheri Gilson http://papercraftyscreations.blogspot.com/…/Gina%20K.%20Des…
Silke Ledlow http://silkeledlow.blogspot.com/
Susie Moore http://www.thedieshaveit.com/
Theresa Momber http://craftingtheweb.blogspot.com/

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out the entire stamp and die set as well as all of the new stamp sets by the illustrators from this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

...Simple Lilies

Morning folks and a very Happy 4th July to all my USA buddies! 

A wee simple set of cards today for you, using just the solid stamps from the Lovely Lilies stamp set this time, I left off the outlines and I love how this looks. Been playing with my Gina K Inks, layering them up and there are some fab combos to use, I have used:

Cherry Red, red Hot and Innocent Pink - the stamen is stamped in black and then clear embossed.

The Blue Lily uses Blue Lagoon and Ocean Mist, I only stamped two layers on this flower, Stamen was in Christmas Pine.

 

 

The Yellow Lily is stamped in Sweet Mango, Wild Dandelion and Lemon Drop. This time the Stamen was stamped in Cherry Red. All sentiments were stamped in Black ink and co-ordinating cards from Gina K were used, I love matching inks and cardstock! :)

Here's the complete set and a wee graphic to show how you can layer the stamps to get the look you like.

...Gina K December release Inspiration Blog Hop Day 1

The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp release for December by our illustrator team! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by Melanie Muenchinger and Theresa Momber. 

 Holiday Frame Filers by Melanie

Framescape - Winter Trees by Theresa

These stamp sets are extremely versatile! You will be able to create amazing card projects using each individual set or by combining the images and sentiments from multiple sets from this release.

Be sure to visit each team member to see the fabby samples and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration? Here are a few of the projects I have created for today’s hop:

I couldn't resist adding a little red nose to my Rudolph - this is the stag from Theresa's gorgeous Framescape - winter trees set. I applied a speck of white acrylic paint o the end of his nose - a good tip is to use the point of a pin - so that the dollop of paint is not too large. Once it dried I coloured it red with a copic, - Of course if you have red paint....
The pattern paper here is from Gina's Winter Cheer paper pack. The sentiment is from Melanie's Holiday Frame - Clear set.

 I like to make tall cards as well as landscape layout cards and so I just inked up the trees for this card and left off the frame. I popped in a few mountains, also from the set ,and added my traveller silhouette down beside the sentiment. I think this works a treat. I love the simplicity of the black ink on kraft cardstock, I think this makes a great masculine card.

I used the whole framed image for this card - it's the same image as the card above, but doesn't it look so different! I created a Northern Lights background before stamping the scene in Versamark and then adding white embossing powder. I added a Christmas sentiment from Melanie's Holiday Frame - Clear set because I thought the snowy scene really lent itself to the season!

Melanie has just released Holiday Frame Fillers which is a follow up to her
Holiday Frame - Clear set. The images are perfect for extending your use of that original set, or for creating stand alone cards using just this new set. I used the snowman form Holiday Frame on this card, I thought he would look sweet in a shower of sequin snowballs! The sequin stamps are such fun and I can see those being pulled out for a multitude of cards - here I have white embossed them and then smooched a little colour behind them to make them pop.

One of the other stamps in the fillers set is a banner stamp - I used it to create criss-crossing banners on this Welcome home card (you might have spotted this card at the release party), it's a great celebratory image. You can fill the banners in with flat colour using the co-ordinating solid stamp, or you can customise them with a little chevron stripe stamp, or even add patterns. Make yourself a little mask as shown in this wee pic and place it directly over the flag you want to fill. You can then use larger stamps to add pattern to the flag without getting it all over the surrounding area.

This card also uses an image from Melanie's new set, you might have seen this card at the party. It features a charming little trio of pumpkins. I paired the image with some pattern papers from The Simple Things paper pack.

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more
from Gina and the Cast &Crew:

Gina K
Beth Silaika
Cathy Tidwell
Chris Dayton
Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet
Karen Hightower
Kendra Wietstock
Laurie Schmidlin
Melanie Muenchinger
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore
Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at http://www.ginakdesigns.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

...oldie but goodie

Found this while sorting through some old stuff on the 'puter - it's from '09... but I still think it looks fresh - hands up who remembers it from the first time around? :) The set was Blessed By You - have you used yours recently? Now's the time!

Good grief - remember the old brown paper backdrops?...lol!! Still, I somehow managed to get better lighting in those days....

...paper pieced punkin

Afternoon folks! I've been playing with the new Hello, happy, Thanks stamps and I'm finding these very versatile - been doing a spot of doodling. Well the wee folks were at school, I was squared up at the store, what's a body to do!

There's a big trend for CAS style cards at the moment and while I do like a good CAS card, I am rather drawn by the layered and sponged look so keeping it to a minimum can be a little hard for me... went a wee bit over board on the pumpkin....It's an image from an older set - Peace and Plenty - it's one of those timeless sets that fits a multitude of styles. I chose to paper piece the pumpkin and then I added a little shading with copics. Next I stamped the sentiment in two colors, which is easy as the sentiments are separate words (quick link to the set). I felt a little doodling could be excused and so I dotted the larger green word, I quite like this look. Added a few dots to the punkin also, because more is more, even on a CAS card sometimes...

I just needed a little something along the bottom edge of the card and the plaid maker stamp from Pic Nic Patterns was perfect - stamped it in green and then masked off a wee stripe with post it notes and stamped it again in orange. Twined it. Spent longer tying that footery wee bow than I did making the rest of the card...nearly.

I'm writing up info for the next PJ party at the moment, it'll be happening on the 14th of Sept, so pop us in your diary before you get Sept all booked up!

Hope it tickles!

...good morning!

So I'm wading through 'oldie but goodie' projects, thinking about my first year in business, the set above was from the September '09 release. I really feel like I'm just getting into the swing of things now and my ideas books are full to bursting with all sorts of notions I'd love to roll out!!!!

I am particularly excited by one product that I'm hoping to bring out in June, the timing is tight, but I might just make it!!! It's some thing I have wanted FOREVER!! I may be the only person on the planet who see's the value in it, and I must admit my DH is scratching his head over it, lol! but you never know, it might catch on...LOL!

If you've been around the old blog at all this last week or two, you'll know that our first anniversary May release was huge. So huge that I had to push the June sets back to July! Still that's no bad thing, it gives me a chance to think about the business and really concentrate on a few things that otherwise might get delayed, such as the...well, Lisa will tell you more about it at some point! lol (wink Lisa!)

I'm hoping you'll pop back for our June release anyway though, even though there will be no stamps for June, there are a couple of other things going on....



Today's blast from the not too distant past is the Peace and Plenty set, I wheeled out the little thanksgiving ensemble I made for its release, I love the vibrant blue with the tan! you can read all about it here if you missed it and look at other samples here in the store.

I paired it up with Blessed by You, ideal for thank you projects.

...Happy Valentines harvest!!

ED - I cut the stamped image and not the actual stamp Angela!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I know, it's Valentines Day and you were expecting maybe pink fluff or something!! lol. sorry!

I've had this card in my head ever since I drew up the designs for the Faux Fun circles, I had to let it out so's I can move on! lol.

I started by making some pattern paper using the small knitted circle from Faux Fun circles, I stamped them repeatedly and then stamped the little bar of stitches once in each circle, I think these make very nice corn stalks, and I've been itching to make a harvest card with them! lol

I made my focal point by stamping the bar of stitches 3 times in complimentary inks above a sentiment from Peace and Plenty. I then stamped the stitched circle, also from Faux Fun circles around the image and used a slightly smaller die (from Spellbinders classic circles-Large) than the stamp so that it would crop into the circle and the colour would bleed off the edge, I think it makes a nice frame to do it this way.



I used Versacolour Khaki ink and Memento Desert sand (think that's it) and Memento Rich Cocoa. The rich Cocoa I used in full strength for the sentiment but I used the second impression for the corn stalk on the focal point.

To get the thinner knitted border I stamped the full size knitted stamp in Vintage Cream (PTI) on Kraft cardstock and then cut a chunk out of the middle before fitting them back together, a bit of twine hides the join and if you cut it neatly it's hard to spot anyway.



Hope it tickles!!

Store News

I will be taking the store off-line for an hour or two later while I finalize the shipping details to allow for the digi products!!!!!!!

Any probs pop me an email;

claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com

back soon!!!!

..thank crunchie...

...it's friday.

Today has gone the completely opposite direction from the one I intended for it, and I found myself wanting to make a bright card to cheer myself up!

Had 10 mins to spare, really, and so coloured a pre-stamped image from the Peace and Plenty set with whacky colours, I might try this again sometime when I have longer LOL.

Literally threw a stitched border around it using the stitch border from Off Beat Backgrounds, normally I'd have made an effort to get the ends to match up, today I don't have time!! lol

Stamped sentiment in black and trimmed out as a sort of flaggy/bannery thingy.

out the door, kids to collect!! lol

Oh and I'm taking names for a waiting list for Very Vintage Labels No. 4, it was in stock and sold out again almost immediately!!

ED - if you could email me on claire.brennan1@ntlworld.com I will add you to my list! Much appreciated!!!

hope it tickles

...Old fashioned Thanksgiving? sept new stamps Day 5

I used stamps from the soon to be released Peace and Plenty and Blessed by You stamp sets (clear stamps releasing here, on this blog, on the 29th, and yep, I ship everywhere!) to create a couple of items for Thanksgiving. We don't really celebrate thanksgiving here in Ireland but I have been thinking that it was something we should probably adopt, in as much as it wouldn't do us any harm to celebrate everything we have to be thankful for at least once a year.

So I got to thinking about a nice big family dinner, maybe a few friends, table set with white linen and those blue and white antique plates that used to sit on the dresser at my grandfathers house. I used to love those old delft plates painted in a fairly naive style, they were ancient and sadly I have no idea where they went after the farm was sold.

Also, I wanted to show you that the simple linear stamps from Peace and Plenty fit easily into any style you care to use. Yesterday i made a couple of 'fresh' cards and today I am showing you a linear image of a pumpkin and some fruit, used in a vintage style. I used the cracked glass technique - I see this all over the place but most recently at Heather Nichols blog.

I stamped the image in a dark blue ink (Enchanted Evening, Palette) and watercoloured it in a fairly loose style, using only blue paint, to emulate the style of old dutch plates and tiles.

I was pleased with how the cracked glass effect really suited this colouring. I made a multi layered card to show it off, I don't usually do this sort of card (been dying to do one for ages tho') and I felt it was appropriate here. I coloured a bit of ribbon with a copic pen(Cosmo Cricket Everafter, grey filigree swirl ribbon) to match the ginger card and added a few wee page pebbles, courtesy of Beverly at Precious Scraps.


Inside, you can see the simple linear pumpkin stamp (Peace and Plenty) - there is a single pumpkin stamp and stamp with a pumpkin as part of a harvest group of fruit.



I made up a place card in the same style, I so love these colours together. As you can see I have loads of wee helper hands always wanting in on the act!

A quick tip here for when you want a small tight mat for a shape you have cut out with a nestability die (Spellbinders), emboss the shape on the card of your choice and then cut it out with scissors around the OUTERMOST embossed line. See pic below.


In the top photo you can see a little cutlery pouch I made to co-ordinate with the place cards etc. If I'm having a huge dinner party, I just know I'm not going to have enough cutlery in the same pattern so if I make up a pouch for each person, it means that the table will appear nice and uniform when set, and the difference in cutlery won't be noticeable! Did somebody say OCD...?

I so love that oak leaf and acorn stamp from Blessed by You! I think stamping on the blue with versamark makes it look almost like velvet!!!


Hope this tickles and there's still time to enter the copmpetition from yesterdays post! Scroll down!

Sept 09 New Stamps, Day 3 Peace and Plenty

I had hoped to have a stack to post today but today didn't exactly turn out as planned...so it's a shortie tonight!

Anyhow, I wanted to show you this card made with a wreath image from the soon to be released Peace and Plenty stamp set!!

I used the wreath as the focal point, coloured it with copics - you folks with more than a couple of copics will have fun doing diffrerent versions of this!! I stamped the sentiment inside the wreath, there are a couple from the set that fit in the wreath.

Stamped a cross band with the chequerboard stamp in versamark and distressed the edges. Faux stitching, brown pen snaffled from child's schoolbag! lol

Stamped the card base with chequerboard at the top and the plaid-maker border stamp. Added a few outline oak leaves, also from the Peace and Plenty stamp set.

I painted the little acorns with some candle light shimmerz that I got from Beverly at Precious Scraps! they are so pretty in real life but i didn't manage to capture the sparkle on camera! sorry.

So, I gotta run clean up the decorating debris, what fun!

...Sept 09 New stamps release Day 2. Blessed by You

Today's first card features a willow tree from the soon to be released Blessed by You clear stamp set. I love the simple folk art style of the stamps in this set and the 15 heartfelt sentiments.

Whereas the Peace and Plenty stamp set contains general sentiments such as 'Happy Thanksgiving' and 'Fall Blessings' etc, the Blessed by You set is altogether more personal and covers a wide range of expressions that I have been looking for and not found. Other sentiments in the set such as 'Humbled by your generosity' and 'Comforted by your prayers' I could have used a hundred times over just this year alone!!!

I used the Mindful of your troubles sentiment for the willow tree card and reinforced the sentiment with a tiny little heart fixed to the tree trunk.

I chose to clear emboss the card on chocolate cardstock, and kept it fresh with white and green accents. Love that white gel pen for the wee dots!!

Incidentaly, the willow tree is easily inked up with two colours of inks for folks who like their trunks brown and their leaves green!! lol


The second card features a cracking oak leaf and acorn motif stamp (a solid stamp from Blessed by You), stamped 8 times to make a wee frame. I simply mounted a cream rectangle in the centre, stamped with a large single oak leaf (also a solid stamp from Blessed by You) and a sentiment from Peace and Plenty.

You might have noticed the colour combo before, I'm partial to Palette Cognac, Sienna and Pure poppy! I might have used it once or twice...maybe three...

What else do you notice?....nothing - that's right - just ink and card. No buttons, no ribbon, no bling, this card costs pence, looks rich and would be a dawdle to mass produce!



Hope they tickle!

ps, if you're new to the old blog here, I will be releasing 6 new clear stamp sets here on the 29th, That's a load of images, which is why I have started early...there's only me!! lol, so, check back often for plenty of inspiration, templates, and bring buddies, there'll be a competition or two!!!

...September 09 release Day 1. Peace and Plenty

I'm kicking off the samples for this September release with a couple of cards made with the set Peace and Plenty.

This set features drawings suitable for colouring, paper piecing or even just stamping! The images are Harvest/Fall inspired but a I could see a couple of them turning up in Spring and Masculine cards as well. A sprinkling of sentiments thrown in, my favourite of which is "Wishing you Peace and Plenty".

The top card features a simple pear outline stamp. The pear was stamped with Palette Cognac ink onto cream cardstock. Just to show you that you don't have to colour realistically, I coloured my pear with copics to match the colour scheme I wanted to use with my card -I am drawn to rusty shades of orange at this time of year, a strong blue is the perfect complement. I stamped the sentiment in the same blue. The panel was trimmed out with a cookie cutter quickcutz die. Label shape. Sponged around the edges and did a little crazy stitching.

I love how the simple outline to some of the stamps in this set means that I can overlap the sentiment on the image - something I like to do occasionally. The simple outline also means this shape is easy to cut out, for paper piecing or just for making a focal point for a card.

I made the background pattern by first stamping a grid onto some rust coloured cardstock. To stamp the grid I used one of the background making stamps from the set Off Beat Backgrounds, also new for this release. (The same set that contains the plaid maker stamp)

Then I stamped two leaf outlines, oak leaf and maple leaf, from Peace and Plenty on top of the grid and colored these with copics. I used this for the top background panel.

I used a piece of rust card stamped with the grid as the bottom panel. I finished it off with a bit of zig zag stitching and a piece of matching ribbon. A few buttons continues the line of the ribbon across the cream space. Popped one of the buttons up on a circle of rust gridded card.

Second card

The second card shows that you don't always have to colour in outline images. I stamped the apple outline in Cognac ink with a little pure poppy rubbed on at the bottom. I stamped the sentiment in blue across the image. Cut it out with a nestie circle and matted it on a nestabilities pinked circle of blue. A wee bit of ribbon and a couple of buttons helps to provide a horizontal emphasis across the sentiment. I love that apple, itching to paper piece it!! lol

I wanted some sort of background pattern on my card base and so I took a zig zag background stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds and stamped it twice, once above the other, to give a nice thick border across the card. I inked the edges of the card in the same blue.

Hope these tickle.

The September release

I have tentatively set a date of the 29th September for this release, I know - you feel like it's ages away but nope, it'll go in a flash. It is due to be a monster release with a total of SIX SETS!!! and I need a couple of days per set to show you all of the things I need to tell you so bear with me! there will be lots of samples, a couple of free templates, fun things to make and a competition or two. I love to hear comments as we go along if you are so inclined. I should be posting at least once a day, so call back and bring buddies!

Big deep breath, here we go!!