FLAT is in!

I have been trying to create some designs that would be very simple to mail and require no additional postage.

Today, I made this card, which features Polar Love by My Favorite Things.The only touch of texture on this is the fringe ribbon....but it is very thin and does not bulk up a card for mailing. (I am thinking about this a lot these days as I am currently sending a TON of mail out!)

This set is so sweet--I just LOVE the bears holding onto the heart. I colored the scarf and then added the extra lines to make it striped. I added a bit of crystal stickles to it to give it a bit of sparkle. I stamped the sentiment and then cut it up to add along the designer paper.

Materials used: Polar Love (My Favorite Things); Memento black ink; Copic markers; stickles-crystal (Ranger); cardstock-white, ivory (Gina K Designs); designer paper-Cosmo Cricket, The Paper Studio; corner rounder punch; fringe ribbon (Hobby Lobby).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Baby Bear

Whew! What a weekend......great weather and we were running all around....

We got the neatest package from my husband....he sent my daughter a children's book. In the back of the book is a DVD of him reading the book to her so that she could read the book along with him. It was the greatest thing and she LOVES it. This is a service of the USO and it is just an amazing gift. The other two kids cannot wait to get theirs.

Ok......I finally finished this card that I alluded to on Friday. This card was completed 10 minutes at a time (literally!)
The idea for this card popped into my head when I was working on the card in the post below. This design works for a new baby--boy OR girl!

I thought this sweet bear from First Christmas (Gina K Designs by Asela Hopkins) would look so cute sitting in the moon with some sparkly stars all around:

See....the Santa hat looks like a cute little baby hat when you use it in this way. This stamp will get a lot of mileage from me that is for sure!

I paired it with a sentiment from Tag Lines! (Gina K Designs).

More details: The little adhesive stitching is from Cloud 9, something I have had in my stash for awhile and have never used. I covered the sticky stars (I got from Jody Morrow HERE) with doodlebug glitter so the stars really sparkle. I created the moon by cutting a circle with a Nestability die (Spellbinders) and then cutting it into a crescent. I just added some sponging around the edges.

Materials used: Stamps-First Christmas, Tag Lines (Gina K Designs); cardstock-white (Gina K Designs); blue (SU!); designer paper- Lime Green Linen (The Paper Studio); Memento black ink; ink- barely banana, bashful blue (SU!); sponge; Copic markers; redline star shapes; doodlebug glitter-yellow; 3D Gel stickers, Travel (Cloud9 Design); brads (SU!).

Hope you all had a great weekend! I did!

Thanks for stopping by!

Warm Winter Wishes Hop!

Hi Everyone! Tonight is the Gina K Designs Blog Hop for my new set- Warm Winter Wishes.

It has been a really busy week here....but I managed to finish this little box pretty quickly:I picked up the box at Hobby Lobby and just covered it with some designer paper and ribbon. I thought the window at the top was the perfect place for the little snowman. Once again, I masked off the hat on the snowman before stamping.

I added some rhinestones all around the window and added a ribbon bow. This really took no time to create. And it makes a nice presentation for a special Christmas gift.

Materials used: Stamps-Warm Winter Wishes (Gina K Designs); Copic markers; memento black ink; cardstock-white (Gina K Designs); designer paper-Perfectly Posh (Imaginisce); rhinestones (The Paper Studio); ribbon: red- Gina K Designs Holidaycollection, small box (Hobby Lobby); stripes-May Arts.

For even more inspiration visit the Idea Center gallery HERE.

Then, check in with my special guest designers:

Charlene Merrick

Tina Gilliland

Deb Anton

And, finally stop by these GinaK Designer's blog participating in the hop tonight:

Cathy Tidwell
Cindy Lawrence
Emily Giovanni
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Nina Brackett
Melanie Muenchinger
Tami Mayberry
Theresa Momber

and our CenterStage Spotlight Team:

Joy Hadden
Kay Simmons
Linda Payne
Lori McAree

GinaK will be giving away a copy of Warm Winter Wishes on her blog tonight - so pop over there to leave your comment on her blog for your chance to win the set for free! (If you've already purchased the stamp set, we can swap it out for another GinaK stamp set valued at $19.95 or less.)

Blog Candy--Want another chance to win this set? Just leave a comment on this post by Friday night at 8 p.m. central and Random. Cara will select a winner. Subscribers can enter twice. Winner must contact me within four days to claim prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dream BIG and share the love

Happy Friday!

First---I want to pass on a request from a fellow stamping friend. Erin Bailey asked me to help spread the word about a card drive she is organizing for her next door neighbor, Paige, who is 12 and recently had her arm amputated after a boating accident. I cannot even imagine what this family is going through. Please Click here for her post with a direct link to the most recent newspaper article.

Next--a card....
I stamped the main image twice on watercolor paper and then clear embossed it. I water colored the images with SU reinkers and a paint brush. One image is cut and layered on top of the other image.I added some crystal stickles over the flowers and butterfly.The sentiment is from Botanical Dreams from Gina K Designs .I used my Spellbinders circle, scalloped circle and oval dies to cut out the image and sentiment.

Materials used: Stamps: Inkadinkado, sentiment-Botanical Dreams (Gina K Designs); Paper: white-Pure Luxury (Gina K Designs); designer paper-Black &Cream Script (The Paper Studio), Blue Paisley (Out & About) ; Ink: Memento Tuxedo black ; Accessories: paper piercing tool, clear ep, SU reinkers, paint brush, heart charm, tulle, Spellbinders dies, Cuttlebug, silver cord, crystal stickles (Ranger)

Finally---wishes for a great (labor day-US) weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Grandma OVER Board

It's Monday and time for another CCEE Challenge. This week is the CNFS (Catchy Name Featured Stamper) where we feature someone who has a catchy user name over on SCS.

This week Cindy chose Grandma Overboard. Here are Cindy's instructions: Your card must have a Grandma Overboard on it. She could have fallen out of a boat, off the stage, out of the tree, off of a flower, into the pool, off your card, into an oval, off of a building, off of a horse, out of a sleigh, out of an airplane, etc. etc. etc. She just has to be overboard!! Cindy also warned us that if we were thinking of cheating and just putting the words Grandma Overboard on our card, then those words have to be falling off/out of something!

No problem!

Grandma

OVER

Board

I decided to put the fun grandma driving stamp from You Know You're Old When (Gina K Designs) over a board. The board is just a piece of cut designer paper that has some wood grain on it. I sponged a bit of Tea Dye (Ranger) ink around the edges of it before adhering it to the card. The sentiment is from Tropical Windows (Gina K Designs).

You can check out all the other interpretations of this challenge HERE!

Tonight: Gina K Designs PREVIEWS begin!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vacation: All I ever wanted

My two littlest and I are heading to PA today to collect my oldest daughter (who has been visiting her father), visit my family---head to the beach (NJ!) and then go to Corolla, NC for a trip with ALL of my brothers and sisters (yep....all 8 of us AND our kids) and my parents! My husband will be joining us when we get to North Carolina.

I cannot wait!

I have scheduled some posts....but I will mostly be away from my computer for the next three weeks! I will have email access so if you email me, I will return your message.

[YES...I will be posting the blog candy winner tomorrow morning too!]

But mostly......I am taking the time to just ENJOY.....REST.....and be with family!

Have a great few weeks!

Thought I should have a nice beachy card to accompany this post!

Materials used: Stamps-Inkadinkado; Memento tuxedo black ink; Cardstock-white (Gina K Designs), Island Mist Medium (Prism); Copic markers; designer paper-Everafter (Cosmo Cricket), Black and Cream Script (The Paper Studio); Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies; Charm-(K& Company); Tulle.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Gina K Preview Day 1

Hello Everyone! Happy Monday!!!
Get ready for a week full of fantabulous previews of all the new sets that will be released at Gina K Designs on Thursday night!
Today I am peeking Wee Tees, the newest set by Melanie Muenchinger. This set is the cutest baby set filled with lots of sentiments and tiny images to fit on the onesie: I think this will be a definite "go-to" set for baby showers and new baby cards...wait till you see all the cute images for the onesie.....and they are even adorable just on their own (think inchies!).

I will have more to share from this set soon....until then, you can check out more previews on the design team's blogs:
Asela, Erika, Jessica, Donna, Cindy, Joanne, Melanie, Theresa, Emily, Kurtis and Beverly (In the Spotlight designer) and, of course, Gina!
Melanie also has two guest designers this month--Libby and Laura.

Hope you will join us for lots of challenges, prizes and fun at the Gina K Designs release party on Splitcoaststampers on Thursday, April 23 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Central time!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Very Special MFT-easer

Today, I am so excited to share a special peek with you. The two cards on this post are created with the soon-to-be released set Cuddle Up Carter by My Favorite Things.

This set has a special place in my heart because the proceeds benefit Euro-Peds, an intensive physical therapy program for children and young adults who have neuromuscular disorders, such as Cerebral Palsy. On of my dearest buddies, Carole Burrage, has a four year old son (Carter) who has mild-moderate CP so she selected Euro-Peds to be the beneficiary for this set. So, when you purchase this adorable set--you not only get some fabulous stamps--you also help this amazing non-profit organization. A percentage of the purchase price of each set will go to Euro-Peds in honor of Carter. It will be available on Wednesday night along with the other newest releases from MFT!

The first card I created is a fun birthday card for a special "little prince":
Materials used: Stamps-Cuddle Up, Carter (My Favorite Things); Memento tuxedo black ink; Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger); sponge; Copic markers; Versamark; clear embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); heat tool; Designer paper-Pen Pals: Grandma's Kitchen (We R Memory Keepers); Jumbo brads (Oriental Trading co.); ribbon (Offray); circle punch/tab punch (Stampin' Up!); Cuttlekids die cut number (Provocraft); Spellbinders circle die; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); stapler; corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

And, I also wanted to show you this adorable train image from the set because I am lovin' it so much:

Materials used: Stamps-Cuddle Up, Carter ; Dinomite (sentiment)(My Favorite Things); Memento tuxedo black ink; Real red classic stamp pad (Stampin' Up!); Copic markers; buttons (The Paper Studio); white cardstock (Gina K Designs); notebook punch (Stampin' Up!); Designer paper-graph (The Paper Studio); Playtime stripe: Playtime (Three Bugs in a Rug); staples; corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

Yep--I TOLD you all the new sets are awesome. I cannot stamp fast enough. Tomorrow is release day and the MFT design team blog hop!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy for a Friend

As most of you may know, Gina K's father passed away last weekend. You can read about it HERE.

Although most people find it difficult to express themselves through words when there is a death--I think that cardmakers have a wonderful gift to show that person that they are thinking of them and that they are loved...

I created this card for Gina using her beautiful set called He is Risen. The sentiment is from Framed Flowers:

I kept the design pretty simple, as I do on most sympathy cards. I really wanted the cross to be the prominent message.

Here is a close up of the card. You can see the pearl accents a bit better at this angle.

The designer paper is from the Paper Studio. I used Gina K's pure Luxury for the mat and the card base. The gorgeous gold cardstock is from CutCardStock.com. They have an amazing variety of the most luxurious cardstock. (I seriously have some beautiful croygen white that I am gonna have to make myself use--it is that beautiful! Check out the curious metallic cardstock-OMW!) The beautiful ribbon is from May Arts--you can find a huge selection of May Arts at Stamper's Dream store.

Materials used: Stamps-He is Risen, Framed Flowers (Gina K Designs); Gold embossing powder; Versamark; Heat tool; Cardstock- white (Pure Luxury-Gina K Designs), dp (The Paper Studio); gold leaf (CutCardStock.com); adhesive pearls (K & Company); ribbon -May Arts; Lace corner punch (Fiskars); Scotch foam tape.

Hugs and Love to you Gina....

Thanks for stopping by!

My STAMP room and a CCEE challenge

Here is a picture of my stamp room! (Well, this box IS in my stamp room) This is just one example of how my son has chosen to entertain himself while I have been unpacking boxes. UGH! Lucky for him MOST of them peeled off the box.

And I DID manage to get some stamping done this weekend (even though my stamp room is not fully functional yet!)

Each Monday, a group of friends and I do challenges and post them on Splitcoaststampers and on our CCEE blog. With the move and vacations, I have missed the past few challenges and will miss the ones in July (insert sad face). So I wanted to participate in this week's one. The challenge was to "Make a card using black and brown. You may use other colors in your image, but I want the card to read mostly black and brown." You can check out the other cards and play along HERE. (If you are reading this on Sunday, it will be posted on Monday!)

Not wanted to get the "BUZZER" by my friend Cindy for not following the directions--I created this:

It definitely reads mostly BLACK and BROWN! Despite being a joke, I love the general concept of the card and I think I will be making another one like it (that doesn't read black and brown) soon!

I cut the flower out of dp from the Paper Studio. I framed the flower using lines created by my Scor-Pal. The words along the border were created on my computer.

Here is a close up of the dimension on the main flower.

Materials used: Cardstock-very vanilla, black, caramel; black brads (The Paper Studio); Designer paper (The Paper Studio); Scor-Pal; computer (generated words); button (The Paper Studio); tab punch (Stampin' Up!); dimensionals (SU!).

Here is the other card I created for the challenge. It features a new stamp that will be available from My Favorite Things on Wednesday night! I used most of the stamp (I opted not to use the "Peppermint" that appears at the bottom of the container.)

The main image is colored with Prismacolor pencils and Copic markers. I added some purple stickles to the flowers.
The background sentiments are from another My Favorite Things set called "Behind the Scenes."

Here is a close-up view of the main image. TIP: I threaded the ribbon around the pot by poking two small holes on either side of the pot and pulling the ribbon through.


Materials used: Stamps: Pepermint (Annie La Point for My Favorite Things Presents), Behind the Scenes (My Favorite Things); cardstock-white, caramel, brown, black (Stampin' Up!); ribbon (May Arts); brads (Bazzill collection); white gel pen (SU!); purple stickles (Ranger); Spellbinders nestability dies and Cuttlebug (Provocraft); Oval punch (SU!); dimensionals (SU!); brillance black ink; brown and caramel inks (Stampin' Up!).

FUN NEWS:

My Favorite Things is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, July 2 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. July marks MFT's 2nd birthday, and Kim's 40th, so we'll be celebrating all over the place!

*$2.00 US shipping for orders under $40, and for Intl orders and US orders over $40, they'll receive the same $2.75 discount until July 15th.

*FIRST 50 orders will receive a full sized stickles glitter glue!

*The Girl Who Wants It All special for the July Collection is $49.95.

Head over to the MFT forum on to find out all the details and to find out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. We hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

Thanks for stopping by!