CHA Bound!

Well, my friend Deb made it here and we are getting ready to head to California for CHA! I have a few posts all set to go while I am away and I will *try* to check in while I am there. You can count on lots of photos when I return.

If you happen to be going to CHA, be sure to stop at the My Favorite Things booth on Monday and say hello!

Gina K Preview Day 3: Sweetest Blessings

Today I get to share with you the new set, Sweetest Blessings, that will be released TONIGHT at Gina K Designs.

It is an adorable set filled with classic desserts and fun sentiments. Here is my card:

Materials used: Stamps- Sweetest Blessings (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; white cs-Pure Luxury (Gina K Designs); Designer paper- Bittersweet (Basic Grey); jumbo eyelet; Cropadile (We R Memory Keepers); tulle; dimensionals; slit punch (SU!); Copic markers; paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!)

This card is pretty self-explanatory. I popped those little pies up on dimensionals and added a tulle bow and some paper piercings!

Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:
Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Melanie Muenchinger , Theresa Momber and Mary Anderson *In the Spotlight Designer and, of course, Gina K!

Don't forget: Gina K will be holding her new release party TONIGHT in the Gina K forum on Splitcoaststampers from 7-10 p.m. CENTRAL time. Join in the fun, games and contests HERE!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gina K Preview Day 2 : Warm & Fuzzy

Running short on time today so without further ado---here is a peek at the new set from Asela that will be released through Gina K Designs on Thursday! The set is called Warm & Fuzzy. Here is my card:



I colored and cut out the adorable bird image before layering it over the heart (that i punched and sponged the edges of). I added some rhinestones for the chain and a tiny sheer bow at the top.

Shhh! The sentiment on this card is from an adorable set that will be peeked tomorrow called Tag Lines!

Materials used: Stamps: Warm & Fuzzy, Tag Lines(Gina K Designs); ink-Memento tuxedo, bashful blue (SU!); Gina K Pure Luxury Cardstock; Marvy heart punch; rhinestones; designer paper (My Mind's Eye); ribbon (May Arts); Copic markers; dimensionals (SU!).

Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:

Asela Hopkins, Cindy Lawrence, Donna Baker, Emily Giovanni, Erika Martin, Jessica Fick, Joanne Basile, Kurtis Amundson, Melanie Muenchinger , Theresa Momber and Mary Anderson *In the Spotlight Designer and, of course, Gina K!
See you tomorrow for another peek!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gina K Preview Day #1-Best Things in Life

Welcome to the first night of Gina K previews. Yeah, I know I peeked a stamp yesterday but this is the first *official* preview!

Tonight I am showing you a glimpse of Melanie's new sentiment set called The Best Things in Life. This set is wonderful because it works so well with so many stamps you already have!

I created the card using my favorite designer paper EVER---Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl. (I literally bought 6 packs the first time I saw it and have had to replenish!) It is beautiful.

I paired the sentiment from Melanie's set with the ice cream in the How Sweet It Is! set.

I added some tulle (I seem to be on a bit of a tulle kick right now--which is a good thing because I have TONS of it!)

Finally, I painted a medium sized clay pot red and added some m&m gravel and lollipop plants.

Check out all the amazing creations by the other design team members:
Cindy Lawrence

Donna Baker

Emily Giovanni

Erika Martin

Jessica Fick
Joanne Basile
Kurtis Amundson
Melanie Muenchinger

Theresa Momber
Mary Anderson *In the Spotlight Designer
and, of course, Gina K!

See you tomorrow for another peek!

Thanks for stopping by!

Winner!

Congratulations to lucky poster # 274---

Tina said...
Great card, thanks for sharing the tutorial! Also, congrats on making the Dirty Dozen, what an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for the chance to win!!

Tina, please email me your mailing address so I can ship this Scor-mat out to you! You are gonna love it!

Thanks for playing!!!

IS it a Fish??

It is Monday and time for another CCEE challenge. This week it is the "Catchy Name Featured Stamper" challenge (CNFS). This is one of our favorite challenges that we do each month ... basically one of our members picks someone who has a catchy user name on SCS and then we create a card around that name. This week, Cindy Motherway picked the CNFS and she picked 'Fishlips'! Cindy instructed us that when we created our card it had to have fish/fish lips on it, or fish of some sort (preferably the kind that swim!)

My dilemma---I received my new Gina K stamps that will be released this week (on Thursday!) and fell in love with this seahorse image (from the Best Fishes set). So, I created this card and my husband said, "I don't think seahorses are fish. You might want to look that up!"

Ekkk! I did not have time to make another card and I knew that no one else would use a seahorse for their fish image. So I did a bit of research and found that a seahorse IS a bony fish. They don't have scales but they have a thin layer of skin over plates that are arranged in a circular pattern throughout their body. They swim upright and during times of social interaction, they turn a bright color.

Score.

So, I am proud to present my FISH card (giggle!):
I love this seahorse. It was the first new Gina K stamp I have played with and I know I will use it lots. I painted the seahorse with reinkers and then applied a layer of Shimmerz (olive and December sky) over him. Then, to add even more sparkle, I added some crystal Stickles to some of the sections.

In this picture you can see more of the shimmer. This seahorse really sparkles!!!

Materials used: Stamps- Best Fishes (Gina K Designs); chocolate chip cardstock, Watercolor paper (SU!); Designer paper-My Mind's Eye; Memento black ink; bashful blue, old olive, certainly celery, brilliant blue reinkers (Stampin' Up!); Close to cocoa Classic Stamp pad (SU!); sponge; paper piercing tool and mat pack (SU!); Shimmerz-December sky, olive, blue; Stickles- crystal (Ranger); jumbo eyelet (SU!); Cropadile; hemp (Hobby Lobby); spellbinders dies; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); dimensional (SU).

You can check out all the other FISHY CCEE creations here. Hope you will play along!

Stay tuned: Gina K previews begin tomorrow! I cannot wait to share some more of the newest sets that will be released on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Too Nice...

to be inside today....so we took the kiddos to the Austin Zoo! This is my oldest daughter, Cara (12). She looks taller than me but that is just because she was standing on an incline---won't be long though!

This is my son Ben (6)...my little bugger. I don't think I have any pictures where he is making a normal face. I think I was telling him to smile or stand still in this picture:

And this is Lauren (3.5). She was so happy to see all the animals. Check out that HUGE turtle behind us!

Hope you all had a great weekend. I will be back tomorrow morning with my CCEE challenge card (and a Gina K sneak peek!).

The winner of the Scor-mat will be announced tomorrow. (There is still time left to enter below!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks and a Quick Card

First of all, thank you so very much for all the congratulations---I am trying to catch up but I just wanted to let you know that you all really touched my heart. I am amazed at all the people who took the time to welcome me on the DD thread, send emails, leave comments here...etc. Thank you so much!

Since I only had a little bit of time this morning (my kids are home from school!)....I thought I would make a quick card. I pulled out one of my all-time favorite My Favorite Things sets called Boho Blossoms and created this:
It just took a few moments. I embossed the large heart with red embossing powder (Ranger) and cut it out. Then, I embossed the smaller heart with black detail embossing powder (Ranger) and cut it out and popped it on top. I added some rhinestones stickers and layered the heart over the cool swirl (Prima) crystal design.
I embossed the sentiment in black and added a few more rhinestones and done!

Even when you don't have much time--you have time for a quick card!

Don't forget to enter to win the blog candy here.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Dirty little Secret.....

Well......it is about time. I can finally tell you about a DIRTY little secret I have been keeping for the past two months. I was asked to become a member of the Splitcoaststampers Dirty Dozen design team! The January gallery ---MAKING A HOUSE A HOME......is now open....you can check it out HERE!

If you are not a FAN CLUB member....what are you waiting for? It is a great way to support the #1 Stamping site on the Internet and you will get to see all the amazing dirty dozen galleries.

This month's theme is Making House a Home--We created projects, cards and scrapbook pages that are inspired by the rooms or things in our own homes. So, not only did we have to create lovely things---we had to clean our homes this month! Whew--I am tired!

I can share a tiny piece of one of my projects with you---but to see the whole thing and all the details---you have to check out the gallery!


This project was inspired by the colors of my living room/kitchen nook (below) and


my dining room (below)

Here is a little peek at what I came up with:

Thanks for letting me share my exciting news!!!!

Go check out the Dirty Dozen gallery---you won't believe all of the awesome creations all those dirty girls created.

Finally, I want to give a special shout out to the ultra-talented Becca, who joins me this month in the pile! I am so thrilled to be on this journey with her. She is an AMAZING stamper and a great person (as are all the dirties!!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Fold Over Flap Card Tutorial and BLOG CANDY!

Contest is now closed. Winner is # 274---
Tina said... Great card, thanks for sharing the tutorial! Also, congrats on making the Dirty Dozen, what an amazing accomplishment. Thanks for the chance to win!!

Finally...here is an easy tutorial for the Fold Over Flap Card I designed a few months ago. Here is the card I originally posted. Today, I will show you step-by-step how to create this easy design.

What you will need:
Folded over piece of cardstock (This will be your card base. Mine is 5" by 5" but you can make it any size you want.)
Two pieces of decorative paper (cut to the same size as your card. Mine are 5")
One long oval, scalloped oval, rectangle or scalloped rectangle. (This can be cut with dies or simply cut with a paper cutter. For this sample, I used a long scalloped rectangle.)
Another shape of your choice (I used a scalloped oval.)
An image, stamped and colored.
Scor-Pal (optional but recommended)
Scor-Mat (optional but recommended)
Adhesive
Ribbon
Eyelet
Cropadile


Here are my paper supplies. I actually changed the image I used a bit (I thought it was too dark for the other colors I used) but that will not affect the directions:



Score the long piece so that there is a small flap that will adhere to the inside of the card. (Since I used a rectangle shape and so that is what is pictured below--you see the reverse side!)
Tip: Hold your long piece up to the card to determine how much you want to overlap on the front side. Keep in mind that there will be an image that will be placed on top so leave space for it!


Next, open up your card. Find the center of the inside. This is one of the fabulous uses of the Scor-Mat. I easily can find the center of the card by lining up the card on the grid lines and counting the blocks......I know exactly where to adhere the flap this way.


Tape the flap to the center of the inside. Note: You will be placing adhesive on the top side of the cardstock because it will fold over the front and the top side will be showing on front too. (This will make sense when you see the next picture.)

Here is the adhered flap. Note that this is the inside of the card. You see the back of the flap because when you close the front of the card, the flap will fold over and it will show the "right" side of the designer paper.

Here is the flap folded over the front:

Next, open up the card and adhere one of the designer papers that you have cut out to the inside of the card (to cover up the adhered flap!)

Tip: Cut the width of this designer paper a tad thinner to allow the card to fold easily.

Then, attach the other piece of designer paper to the front of the card. (I added some scored grid lines created with the Scor-Pal to mine.)

Attach an eyelet to the edge of the flap and thread a ribbon through the eyelet. Wrap the ribbon around the back of the card and tie.

Adhere whatever shape you want over the flap (on the right side)....take care to only adhere the piece to the flap and not to the front of the card so that the flap will open.

Attach whatever image you want to use over the oval (or whatever shape you chose.) I used a Magnolia stamp. I kept this card design very basic so that you can see the design very clearly.

Here is a picture of the card when it is open. You can see the image still because the flap unwraps when you untie the ribbon!

Thanks for your patience---I know I took a long time to get this posted!

BLOG CANDY: So....how about a Scor-Mat to one lucky person, courtesy of the wonderful Diana (the Scor-Pal lady!) You are gonna love this valuable tool that allows you to leave your Scor-Pal out on your desk as the ultimate work station.

You have until Monday, January 19, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. CST to post a comment on this entry. Random.Cara will select a winner! (As always, subscribers are welcome to post two times. Be honest and only post once if you do not subscribe!) Thank you so much to all of you who faithfully read My Blog!

Thanks for stopping by!