U Inspire Me

I have a U Inspire Me post up on the Cardmaker Blog today.  Check it out to see how a fun pair of shoes inspired this shaped Halloween card:

You can find the post HERE!
Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Dreams Cardmaker Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to the Cardmaker Blog team hop.  This month's theme is Summer Dreams: cards featuring ice cream treats reminiscent of the ice cream truck.
I totally loved this theme and totally went crazy trying to reproduce an ice cream truck just like the ones I remember from my youth.

I designed this card approaching the theme quite literally:

I used a truck Silhouette design by Hero arts to design the ice cream truck.  I played around with the file a bit and was able to make a flip over card design so I didn't have to mount the ice cream truck on a base.  (Yes, I was patting myself on the back for that one!)

I used some Echo Park: Sweet Day stickers and cardstock to cut the truck and to embellish.  I found one ice cream sticker to use from this collection but then the other two I added are Silhouette files (Silhouette Store: Ice Cream Treats by Sweet Afton) that I shrunk down to fit.  (Definitely needed an ice cream sandwich!)  I added a little touch of blossom baker's twine (The Twinery) to the sticker ice cream to finish off the truck.

This was so much fun to make -- I just cannot wait to see what the other gals came up with.  Here is the full list:

Cardmaker blog
Kimberly Crawford
Carolyn King (you are here!)
Colleen Schaan
Anya Schrier
Trudy Sjolander
Michelle Woerner

Why do I suddenly feel the urge to eat some ice cream?   Thanks for stopping by today! 
 

Card Creations, Volume 10

Paper Crafts magazine just released it's 10th Issue of Card Creations, one of my all-time favorite PC publications.  To celebrate 10 years of this magazine, editor Jennifer Schraerer walked down memory lane with with some interesting facts about this special issue.  You can see her post HERE.

Paper Crafts Card Creations, Volume 10 is on sale now in your local stores or online.

Here is a card that I have in this issue - page 141 of Card Creations, Volume 10.

 

This issue is so inspiring. So honored to be a part of it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Fishes

Happy Wednesday! I am spending the day cleaning --- which is not as bad as it sounds!

Just a reminder: You have until tomorrow night to enter the Shadowbox giveaway...you can find the details HERE!


Today I have a card featuring some of the new Paper Smooches stamps! In case you didn't know....the amazing Kim Hughes started her own line of stamps and they are whimsical, clever and so FUN!

I designed this card awhile ago for a call and forgot to post it. So here it is:
I cut the card shape from some patterned paper and inked the edges. The branch was die cut from some patterned paper. I stamped the fish on white cardstock, colored it with Copics and then added glitter all over the fins (kinda like rainbow fish!)

I used my Cropadile to punch some bubbles and added them to the card. A peice of hemp finishes it off!

Materials used: Stamps- Birthday Buddies (Paper Smooches); Memento tuxedo black ink; markers- pumpkin pie, black (Stampin' UP!); Copic markers; Designer paper- Monster Stew- Bunch of Monsters (Jillibean Soup), Little Boy: Rad Plaid (Echo Park); stickles (Ranger); Tea dye distress ink (Ranger); Sizzlits die- branch with leaves (Sizzix); Cropadile (We R Memory Keepers).

Thanks for stopping by today!

MFT Wednesday Stamp Challenge

Hello!! It is time for the weekly MFT Wednesday Stamp Challenge! This week the challenge is Creative Cooking. Create a project with a food theme.

Well, since I am a total slacker and ran out of time I am going to show you a "food related" card I recently created that features Die-namics dies:
My happy birthday cake card features the new Stacking Stars Die-namics die (which are becoming my favorite EVER cause I love the outline one sooo very much!) and the jumbo scallop die!

Designer paper and stickers are by Echo Park.

Wanna play along? Head on over to Kim's blog at 11 am EST (on Wednesday) for all the details on how you can be entered to win a $15 gift certificate. Kim will also have a a complete list of participating designers for this week's Wednesday Stamp Club so you can check out all the samples before you play!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some Day My Prince Will Come...

Hello! Welcome to the April Gina K Illustrator blog hop.

Challenge: Choose favorite children's book and make a project inspired by the book. Include a photo of the book along with why you chose it and how it inspired your project.

I chose:

Requirement: use any March Release stamp set: A Beautiful Life, By Your Side, Fairy Tales, Friends, Happy Spring, Nana's Needlework, Nana's Needlework Sentiments, Sending Sunshine, Spring Mix, Spring Has Sprung

Deadline: Monday, April 12th at 8 pm

Prize: CenterStage Spotlight Designer for April (receives entire April release!)

I chose Cinderella. It was always a favorite of mine and I read the book at least twice a week to my princess four year old. So I thought it was "fitting".

When I think of Cinderella I immediately think of the fateful glass slipper so I designed a wedding shoe card:

I used a plain chipboard shoe to help design a template for this card. I decided that I also wanted to make a strap for the shoe so that I could hang a sentiment. Once I figured out how I wanted the shoe to look, I covered most of the front of the shoe with designer paper, sanding the edges and leaving an edge of white to help make it more look realistic. I cut a thin strip (strap) from the same paper and adhered it to the shoe card, adding a pearl accent where it attached to the front.

I used the little butterfly and sentiment from A Beautiful Life to create the tag for this. I thought the whole "glass slipper" theme would create a magical wedding card.

To help dress up the shoe (it is a wedding shoe, after all), I created a soft flower to adhere to the front of the design. I can do a tutorial on this next week if there is interest. (It is EASY and super cheap!)

Materials used: Chipboard shoe (Creatology: Michaels); stamps-A Beautiful Life (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; soft sky ink (Stampin' Up); decorative pearls-pink (Recollections:Michaels), white (Want 2 Scrap); white cardstock (Gina K Designs); designer paper- Ellie's Day Out "Purse Shoppin'" (Nikki Sivils); Spellbinders square and scalloped square dies; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); silver cording (Gina K Designs).

For more inspiration, check out these Gina K Designer's joining in on the hop tonight:

• Jessica Fick
  
• Nina Brackett
  
• Tami Mayberry


• Melanie Muenchinger


• Theresa Momber


• Carolyn King <---You are here!


• Cathy Tidwell


• Lee Murphy


• Erika Martin


• Jennie Harper *March CSS Guest Designer Winner*
  

That is it for me for this week. I am heading to the airport in the wee hours of the morning for my annual sisters weekend in NJ. We are going to Atlantic City on Friday night and then to my parents house in N. Wildwood for the rest of the weekend. I cannot wait!!! See you next week---I have some FUN stuff to share!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cosmo Cricket Apron Card

Hello! Hope you had a great week. Ours was super busy and the weather was BEAUTIFUL! This is definitely my favorite time of year in the South.

I just got the Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety kit and couldn't wait to use some of it. The images, stickers and tags are so cute.

So, I created an apron card (fitting, ugh?)

Instead of creating a pocket in the front for a pull out, I designed this so that you just slide the ribbon up and the bottom section folds out to reveal what is inside.

This would be a great design for a recipe card or a cute/romantic card too but I went with "adorable" and used a picture of my youngest from years ago. I always think of her when I hear the word "pea" because she just LOVED them then. (Not so much now though.)

Ain't she cute??

Materials used: Designer paper/stickers-Garden Variety Complete Crafting Kit (Cosmo Cricket); ribbon- Stampin' Up!; buttons (Papertrey Ink); sewing machine.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will be spending some time at the ball field as baseball season is officially underway. I love it (especially with this weather!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hey, Hey....It's CCEE day!

It has been awhile....too long since I have participated in a CCEE challenge.

I LOVE these gals! Today--we did double duty!
You can check out the AWESOMENESS that my fellow CCEEers created HERE.

This week's (first) challenge was the CNFS challenge (Catchy Name Featured Stamper), this is where the hostess for the month picks someone over on SCS who has a catchy user name. We then have to create our card around that name and any instructions that the hostess has given us for that particular challenge. This month Tosh has selected Sparklegirl aka Silke Ledlow. I just adore Silke's beautiful clean designs. Tosh's instructions were to make a Square card, and include a girl, some sparkle, and true to Silke’s style, a lot of white space. There’s a twist too. Since her name has the word Silk in it, you must use the Faux Silk technique found on here on Splitcoast Stampers.

Here is my card-----
For this card I used Flopsey's Flowers (My Favorite Things) and the (cropped) sentiment from Snow Bunny Flopsey (MFT). I stamped the bunny twice and then stamped the flower section a few more times on designer paper. I cut out the flowers to layer them in the bunny's hands and then added some more of the flowers to the grass so it looks like she is in a field of flowers. I added some crystal stickles to each of the flowers so they really sparkle.

Rules I followed:
1. Make a Card for Silke with a girl on it. Yes...that rabbit is female!
2. Make a square card. Well....even though every rectangle is not a square-----every square is a rectangle. In geometry, a rectangle is defined as a quadrilateral where all four of its angles are right angles. So.....I am calling this a square card! (heehee!)
3. Add sparkle *check out the sparkle on all those flowers....!
4. Lots of white space. Yep!

Rule I didn't follow:
1. Oopsie---forgot the faux silk.

Everyone knows I can't follow that many rules.....but four out of five ain't bad! SNORT!

Materials used: Stamps-Flopsey's Flowers, Snow Bunny Flopsey (My Favorite Things); Memento black ink; Copic markers; designer paper- Jack's World; Strip Tease (Cosmo Cricket); cardstock-pure luxury white (Gina K Designs); ribbon-American Crafts; corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

Our second challenge: Today is Cindy Motherway's (Mothermark) birthday and we all wanted to do something special to celebrate the occasion!
As many of you may know, Cindy loves teapots and she also loves polka dots ..... so what better way to celebrate then to create a card with either or both of these items on it.
Here is my card:
Followed the rules on this one! Woohoo!
I drew a teapot and used it as a template to create this. After I cut out my design, I used Copic markers to add shading.
Then, I stamped a flower from A Year of Flowers (Gina K Designs) and colored it in...trying to mimic a decorative porcelain tea pot. I added a little tag with the sentiment from Tropical Windows (Gina K. Designs).
This card opens at the top. Happy Birthday sweet CINDY! xoxo

Materials used: teapot template (Carolyn King); stamps- A Year of Flowers, Tropical Windows (Gina K Designs); hemp; Memento black ink; white pure luxury cardstock (Gina K Designs); Copic markers; eyelet (Making Memories); Cropadile.

Thanks for stopping by!

Designer Gift Card holder

Hope you are having a GREAT weekend. We are (finally!) enjoying a rainy weekend here.

Today, I wanted to share one of my favorite 'shaped' creations with you:
I designed this to look pretty much like my Coach bag. I used some great leather paper from PaperTemptress to create the bag. I added some faux stitching (poking piercing holes and connecting the holes with a white gel pen). You can also sew the detail with a sewing maching (but mine doesn't like me so I did it the easy way!) I added some hardware and a little initial tag. Finally, I tucked a piece of tissue inside so you can see where the gift card would go.

Supplies List:
Paper: leather (PaperTemptress)
Ink: white gel pen (Ranger)
Accessories: silver eyelets (SU!); paper piercing tool and bazzill piercing mat; hardware (We R Memory Keepers); Cropadile; Martha Stewart rub on initial; Cuttlebug and tag die (Provocraft)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

If the Tiara fits......

Well......so far---no one else has gotten sick! (Crossing fingers that it stays that way!)
We had a great day today---had a picnic lunch in the park, fed some ducks and a goose and then headed to the pool! My husband has been off this week and it has been fun hanging out and just recovering from our hectic summer.

This afternoon my girls and I were getting crafty at the kitchen table. My oldest (Cara, 13) was making a Twilight collage and my youngest (Lauren, 4) and I were working on this: Ever since I created the other princess crown card (you can see it HERE), Lauren has been wanting to make one. So she helped me adhere all the bling! Once again---the crown is created using the Fleur de Lis Pendant die from Spellbinders. Very easy!
What fun this was to make.....and the awesome sentiment fits her (and this card) perfectly. "If the tiara fits..." is from Little Tees from Gina K Designs. Couldn't resist!

Materials used: Stamps- Little Tees (Gina K Designs); ink-Memento black; Fleur de Lis Pendant die (Spellbinders); Wizard (Spellbinders); Silver cardstock (Stampin' Up!); Designer paper--Sabrina (Making Memories, Norm's News (October Afternoon); assorted gemstones; label punch, circle punch (Stampin' Up!).

Hope you had a great day too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Punchy Snowman!

Happy Sunday! Today I wanted to share a fun snowman card I designed using punches!
This super easy snowman is easy to make and would be a great project to make with kids!

The punchy snowman is created using the 1 1/4" and 1 3/4" punches from Stampin' Up! (Any circle punches will do though.) I punched four of each shape and folded each in half. Then I adhered the circles together using the folded sides. (I can show pictures of this later if this is unclear.)

The eyes and mouth are created punching the tiny holes using a Cropadile. (I used the larger holes for the eyes and the smaller for the mouth.)
To make the snowman seem like it is together, I added the "ribbon" scarf. I used some liquid applique snow in the background of the scene and finished the card by adding some Cuttlebug swirl snow drifts!

Here is the snowman at a different angle. Isn't he cute? Even better...he is EASY to make!

Materials used: cardstock-bayau blue, soft sky, black, white, only orange, red (Stampin' Up!); ribbon (SU!); circle punches (Stampin' Up!); white eyelets (Paper Studio); Cropadile; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); Swirl Embossing folder (Provocraft); Liquid Applique (Marvy); dimensionals (SU!).

YES! You can mail him in a standard envelope -- the circles fold down so he can be mailed flat! SCORE!

Thanks for stopping by!

MFTeaser #1 and other fun things to share....

Hi Everyone! This will be a busy blogging week because both My Favorite Things AND Gina K Designs have their new releases this week! MFT release is on Wednesday and Gina K is on Thursday!

Today I want to share my first MFTeaser with you. This darling image is one from the MFT Presents line and it is called A Scarf for Three (by Stephanie Fizer). I just love this image.

I stamped the image three times (once on white cardstock for the base and two other times on the red and blue cardstock). I pieced different parts of the image and then used my Copics to color some areas.
The little charm and sentiment sticker is from an awesome embellishment kit called Boxes of Bling, which you can also find at My Favorite Things.



Here is a close up of the image. This is one of my favorite color combinations for holiday cards. I just love the red and blue together!




Materials used: Stamps-A Scarf for Three (MFT Presents-Stephanie Fizer); ink- Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic markers; cardstock-riding hood red, blue bayau, whisper white (Stampin' Up!); Boxes of Bling (Pine Cone Press); ribbon (Make it Christmas-Hobby Lobby); white gel pen (Stampin' Up!); paper piercing tool and mat pack (Stampin' Up!); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); Cuttlebug and Snowflake embossing folder (Provocraft); Corner punch (EK Success); dimensionals (SU!).

Join us HERE on Wednesday night, October 1 from 8-10 (Central time) for lots of MFTeasers, challenges and prizes. Come see all the fun new sets (and another MUST have product for all your MFT stamps!) Also, find out how you can become the next MFTGuest Designer. Hope to see you there!

Since it is Monday, it means that it is time for another CCEE challenge again. This week we had to Shape it Up, Baby! Since this was my month for assigning the challenges (insert evil laugh) I had everyone make one of my favorite types of cards---a shaped card. The catch was that we could not make a circle card...we had to get a bit more creative!
You can view all of the marvelous shaped cards on the CCEE Blog. Hope you will play along!

Here is a peek at my card:











Finally, if you get a chance, stop by the Craft Critique blog today. I wrote an article on Kodak EasyShare Software that should be posted at some point!

Ok...that is it! Whew! Stop back tomorrow for a sneak peek at a new set from Gina K Designs...(You're gonna love it!)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Short and Sweet!

I have a few cards to share with you this week before the packers come and take my computer away on Friday...but most of my free time will be spent packing all things I want to pack myself. So, this week---"Short and Sweet!" is the name of the game!

We just got back from my dh's graduation---that makes the THIRD graduation for our family this week....and my daughter, Lauren, is turning three tomorrow! Yep-----things are so busy around here!!!

Here is one of my favorite designs ever. I created this baby card in the fall. I designed the baby walker and created a card out of it. To give it a realistic look, I even stitched the edges and detail. This is one of my favorite designs.

Back to packing!

Thanks for stopping by!