Stamper's Dream sponsors JustRite challenge!

Hello! This week, Stamper's Dream is sponsoring the JustRite challenge! The winner will receive a $50 Gift Certificate to Stamper's Dream . There will also be three honorable mention winners who will win a JustRite stamp set of their choice. Yipee!!!! Lots of chances to win just for playing along! Here is what you need to do to enter: You will need to make a card using the sketch:
...and JustRite stamps. Then, post your entry to your blog or an online gallery, and link using the new linking system on the JustRite Inspiration Blog challenge post. All the details can be found there as well. You will have until next Thursday, May 6th at 9am central to make your project and enter a link to it on the JustRite blog post. Then the winner will be chosen and announced a little later that day on the JustRite Inspiration Blog, as well as on the Stamper's Dream blog. So...get busy making those cards! We would love to have you play along!

Here is what I came up with:

I flipped the sketch to create this card. The waves are reversed though (I should have put the smaller one on the bottom to strictly adhere to the sketch--oopsie!) Otherwise, the elements are there.

I used the new JustRite By the Sea Borders & Centers Oval set to create this. Instead of using the sentiment in the oval shape, I cut out the words and added them into the waves. I paper pieced the boat and clouds and just used those portions of the main image since I wanted to create my own waves for the sketch elements. I added some piercing holes for the wind.

Materials used: Stamps-By the Sea Borders & Centers Oval (JustRite Stampers); Memento tuxedo black ink; Designer paper-The Boyfriend: tube socks (Cosmo Cricket), Fly a Kite 8 By 8 pad (October Afternoon); Creative Memories cutting system; fibers; slit punch (SU!); adhesive dots (Recollections, Michael's); corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

Head on over to these wonderful blogs to see more sketch-y cards:

Amy

Tosh

Michelle

Stayed tuned: Next week is JustRite week at Stamper's Dream. All week the design team will be showing you the newest stamps that just arrived in the store. You won't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Just playing....

.............with some October Afternoon paper. I LOVE the 8 by 8 pads.

I took a literal approach to the Fly a Kite line and came up with this: I cut out the triangular shapes and cut some in half vertically and horizontally and then glued the pieces onto the solid ones to form the kites. I poked a hole under the kite to add the embroidery floss that goes down under the sentiment. I added some black dots around the main panel and around the cloud.
Easy and fun!

You can find this October Afternoon paper pad at:
Stamper's Dream store .

Materials used: white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Designer paper- Fly a Kite 8 by 8 pad (October Afternoon); Farm Fresh word sticker (October Afternoon); embroidery floss.

Have a great day!

I'm Speechless....

I am doing a bit of solo parenting again this week and so far....it has been an adventure. (No, it is not an exciting experience, but rather an undertaking involving unknown risks.) Warning: If you have a weak stomach, you might want to skip reading this post.

For those of you who can hack it...I just had to share what my youngest child did last night. I *think* I am finally over the shock of it.
I was double bathing the youngest two. Had my seven year old son in one bath and my 4.5 year old daughter in my bedroom bath.
I left her to go wash my son's hair (I know, not really supposed to do that but I feel they are both old enough to handle a few minutes alone....)
After washing his hair, I returned to do the same for her. She had a strange look on her face... One I have seen too many times.

Me: Lauren, what did you do?
Lauren: Nothing.
Me: Lauren, I KNOW that face. You know I will find out so you should just tell me.
Lauren: Promise you won't get mad?
Me: (internally groaning knowing this will be good) Yes, I promise.
Lauren: I am sorry, I had an accident.
Me: (Frantically looking around the tub for anything) You did? Where...I don't see anything. Maybe you just thought you did. (Please. Please)
Lauren: No I did.
Me: Where?
Lauren: I put it in there (Pointing to the jets in the tub.)
Me: (Oh Crap! Literally. Counting backward from 10.) Ok honey. Next time don't do that. It is fine to have an accident now and then but it is not ok to "hide" the evidence.

That.....was not fun. Luckily, only 1 jet was involved.

Ok....if I made you cringe at that. This will make you laugh. I found this in my son's folder today. If you are not familiar with the Black Eyed Peas it might not make sense. If you are...it appears that he was trying to write some of the lyrics to their songs but got sidetracked a few times with some popular first grade rhymes: Just thankful the teacher didn't find it.....or maybe she did?!

..................And the week has only JUST begun!
Thanks for stopping by!

My Sweet Cute Chick

Hello!!! Yep---it was a great birthday weekend. Still recovering :)

Today, I wanted to share a recent scrapbook page I made. I purchased a huge kit of Cosmo Cricket (Garden Variety, Material Girl, tiny letters, etc.) during a HSN special and had to play with it. So I chose a picture of my youngest when she was 2 (probably my favorite age ever!) and came up with this: And a few detail shots:

Materials used: Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety Collection Borders; Material Girl Paper Crafting kit; Material Girl Ready Set Chipboard; Garden Variety Ready Set Chipboard.

Still learning how to use my birthday presents but having fun trying!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks and Blog Candy Winner!

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes!!! I am having a wonderful day with my family!!!

My husband got me a Cannon Rebel camera and a Kodak photo printer. (*I know. I am spoiled!) Now I have to figure out how to use it all!

Just wanted to pop in and announce the winner of the Crafts 'n Things magazine. Random.Cara picked number 37 (my age today!). Congrats to Diane who said...
"I am also a subscriber...thanks for the chance!!" Diane, please email me your address so I can send that out to you!

Thanks for playing along!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sew Fun!

Hello!!! Happy Friday! Whooohooo...this week seemed long. Glad to see the weekend finally here.
We have lots planned this weekend....going to a local festival, baseball games, dinner with friends and celebrating my birthday! Cannot wait for the fun to begin.

Today, Lauren and I are making a cake (she insisted!) It is a fun thing for us to do together. (I think she just wants to lick the bowl when we are done!)

All of the new stamps from Gina K designs are now available in the store! Here is a card I snuck in this week. Couldn't resist Asela's new set Sew Pretty--- I coupled the retro girl image with some October Afternoon designer paper, wild card and sticker! Here is a peek at the dimension of the dress:

Materials used: Stamps-Sew Pretty (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; Copic markers; Designer paper- 8 by 8 pad Thrift Shop, Fly a Kite (October Afternoon); Farm Fresh wild card (October Afternoon); Farm Fresh word sticker (October Afternoon); ribbon (Michael's); hardware (SU!); corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!! I will be popping back in sometime tomorrow to announce the blog candy winner!!

Thanks for stopping by!

What's Up? and blog candy

Hi There--
I am MIA a bit this week because I have undertaken the HUGE task of moving my craft space back down to my craft room (from my bedroom.)
I moved it upstairs when my husband was deployed and now that he has been home a few months....he thinks it is best that it moves back to the cave :)

The good news---I will have TONS of good things to share soon. I NEED to purge in order to make room for the new!

In the meantime, how would you like to win the new issue (May/June) of Crafts 'n Things Magazine? I love this magazine for the variety of projects they offer. It is fun to see so many other craft ideas and figure out how i can relate them to paper: Here is a card I have in the current issue:

And this card was in the March/April issue:

If you would like to be entered to win the May issue, just leave a comment on this post and let me know your favorite crafty projects besides cards! You have until Friday, April 23 at 8 p.m. central time to enter. Random.Cara will pick a winner and you will have four days to contact me after that. (Subscribers can enter twice!)

Thanks for stopping by! Back to work!

Gina K Preview Day 1 and a Farewell

Hello! Welcome to the first night of Gina K Previews. Tonight the design team is showing you their creations with Gifts from the Sea and Oh Boy!

But first, I want to let you all know that I have stepped down from the Gina K design team. Last month was my last "official" month on the team. This decision was very tough for me and I assure you it was for one reason ONLY -----> to lessen my mandatory work load at this time. My baby starts kindergarten in the fall and I really want to cherish these last few months of having a little one home. Gina is absolutely amazing and I have no doubt that we will still be working together a lot! I am so grateful for her friendship and I will still be around peeking some sets here and there (like today!) and posting lots of Gina K goodness on my blog. Thank you, Gina! LOVE you lots!

Now...onto the stampy stuff! Here are two creations I made with Oh Boy! The first is a nursery wall decor piece. I love all the transportation images in this set and think it would be so cute to put each one in a frame for a collection of wall art. I created one with the sailboat:
I painted the wood frame with some white paint. Then, I created the scene with lots of paper piecing----I paper pieced the sailboat with some paper and did the same with the clouds and sun. I layered the sail and sun for some dimension. I popped up a few layers and added some (wonky) stitching and a little button.
You can see some of the dimension/detail in this picture:

Materials used: Stamps-Oh Boy! (Gina K Designs); Memento tuxedo black ink; designer paper-Baby boy mat pad (Martha Stewart); slit punch (SU!); hemp; cloud stickers (Martha Stewart); button; white paint; unfinished frame; sewing machine.

Next, I created a birthday card using the truck image in the set. This truck can be used for TONS of cards just by filling the back with different things (ie. hearts for an anniversary card or furniture for a moving card.) I love that it has so many possibilities!

I paired this image with some Joy Ride dp and chipboard. I free hand cut the clouds and added some tiny dots for fun. The truck is colored with Copic markers.

Materials used: Stamps- Oh Boy! (Gina K Designs); white cardstock (Gina K Designs); Copic markers; Memento tuxedo black ink; ribbon (SU!); designer paper- Joy Ride (Cosmo Cricket); Ready Set Chip-JoyRide (Cosmo Cricket); black pen.

Designers Participating in previewing tonight:

Melanie Muenchinger - Gifts from the Sea illustrator

Tami Mayberry - Oh Boy! illustrator

Gina Krupsky

Jessica Fick

Carolyn King

Cathy Tidwell

Donna Baker

Emily Giovanni

Erika Martin

Kurtis Amundson

Lee Murphy

Lynn Mercurio

Nina Brackett

Theresa Momber

Valerie Stangle

Geri Utterback - our Center Stage Spotlight Designer!

The Release Party is this Thursday, April 22 on StampTV. There will be challenges, contest questions, chatter, as well as tons of samples from the Design Team members from 7-10 (central time) all leading to the new products being available in GinaK's online store at 10pm.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Streamer Flower Tutorial

Member this? ------->
I promised to come back and explain that little fluffy flower...so here it is....the secret to that little flower embellishment is .................................................................................................
STREAMERS. (Also known as crepe paper but waaayyyy cheaper when you buy it like this!)

You can find rolls of this in the Dollar store in many colors. I chose white because I like the idea of dying it to make different colored flowers or adding ink to the edges with Copic markers. Imagine the possibilities!


All you have to do is unroll a section and pull the strand to remove a lot of the crinkle (but not all of it.) I used a Spellbinder blossom die to cut the flower shape (I cut about 6 layers at a time.)

After I had the amount of layers I wanted (this is about 10 layers) I inserted a paper piercing tool through the center and moved it around to make a larger hole.


Then I inserted a brad through the center:

Next, just crumple in each layer toward the center one layer at a time. Crepe paper is VERY easy to manipulate so this is simple and you can move quickly. After you crumple the layers in, just start to separate each layer starting with the last layer you crumpled in. As you work the layers just seem to fall into place:

I used a little green floral wire to create the leaves just to show you another option:

Here are some other ideas:

1. Ink the edges of the petals before you assemble.

2. Dye the flowers with reinkers. You can dye them to match the cardstock you will be using.

3. Create leaves from wire, designer paper or dyed crepe paper to embellish the flower.

4. Add to pots to make a floral arrangement.

5. Add to cards for a fun embellishment.

6. Experiment with different dies to create lots of flower shapes.

HAVE FUN! I cannot wait to play with these some more. If you design a project with a streamer flower, let me know. I would love to check it out!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thoughts

Hello!!! Good news--My blackberry is sorta working again. It went from not turning on---to turning on and trying to call the same person over and over---to working most of the day today. We will see. I am hopeful that I will get a few more weeks out of it!

I am sad to report that my son's team was demolished last night. It was the first game in a triple elimination tournament. They lost by......a lot :(

The game started out well...they made a great out and then....they didn't do much on the field. My son is a slugger...he was first up on his team and hit a triple. (It easily would have been a home run but he stopped for a bit to admire his hit to deep center field!) Nice!

Sorry...I am just proud of him and hard he works. He has a lot of strength and athletic ability but mostly he plays ALL the time. He gets home from school and he says, "Mom, wanna have a catch?" EVERY DAY. So he is good....but he also works for it.

He didn't cry after the game last night. Instead, he optimistically said before going to bed, "I think we are gonna be third in the tournament." I doubt it...but I LOVE his attitude!

Another game tonight.....:)

Here is a card I made a few weeks ago and never posted. Life got busy I guess.
I used Jillibean paper and stamps for this. I stamped the flower and stitched along the stamp lines with some dark embroidery floss. I added a bit of machine stitching along the edges and on the side of the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitched with Love

Hello!!! I am slowly getting back to reality!!
Things are busy---it is tournament week for my son's baseball team..which means lots of extra games; my oldest started taking piano lessons and LIKES them! (woohooo!); and last night I dropped my blackberry into the hopper (nice, eh?) I should clarify that it was a clean toilet :) In my defense, I keep it in my back pocket at all times in case school calls, etc. and the jeans I was wearing were loose so it just jumped right out. Sigh!

Last night, while I was watching TV I was playing around with the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl papers and came up with this: I love how easy it was....and how fun it was to actually stitch the squares to make them look more quilt-like!
I used a sentiment from Stitched with Love Borders & Centers by JustRite Stampers. and paired it with some Cosmo Cricket Material Girl adhesive Chipboard stickers and twill ribbon.

Did you know that you can find JustRite stamps and Cosmo Cricket paper at Stamper's Dream store?

Materials used: Stamps- (JustRite); Memento tuxedo back ink; Cardstock-ivory (Gina K Designs); designer paper-Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket); Material girl adhesive chipboard (Cosmo Cricket); twill ribbon (SU!); sewing machine; corner punch (Fiskars).

Thanks for stopping by!

Sister Love

Hi everyone!!! Hope you had a great weekend! I did. I returned from my sister's weekend trip last night and was exhausted!
We had a blast at Atlantic City on Friday night and then on Saturday went to my parent's beach house in N. Wildwood.
Although one of my sisters couldn't make it this year---it was great to see the rest of them and have time to catch up and have FUN!

To fill you in: I am one of eight children. The oldest is a boy and the rest are all girls. About fifteen years ago a few of us decided to head to the shore to clean my parents shore house to get ready for the summer season and we had such a fabulous time. After that....more joined in until it became an annual event in the spring. Each year we set the date around Christmas and everyone tries their hardest to get there. This year all but one could make it. (Yes, we invite my brother. He came one year but I think it freaked him out a bit!!)

Here are the sisters that made it:
L to R: Clare (youngest: eighth child); Kate (third child); Biz (fifth child); Jeanne (sixth child); Re (second child; oldest girl); Cam (seventh child: gifted and exceptional :) Of course I had to get a beach picture. My sister Re and I spent Sunday afternoon reading on the beach (heaven!)

The weekend was gorgeous so we took lots of walks. This is L to R: Biz, Me, Lindsay (my cousin who often comes to sister's weekend too since she is like our adopted sister), Re.

Be back tomorrow with something crafty! 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!

PC Sketchy Hop

Hello! I am sooo very honored to have been asked by my sweet stamping friend Maren to join in on the Paper Crafts Go-To Sketches blog hop today!!! Maren and I met in person for the first time a little over year ago and I consider her one of my closest stamping buddies . I just *adore* her.

Today, you will see some fresh new cards created with some of the amazing sketches the fabulous Go-To Girls created for Go-To Sketches. In addition, you will be entered to win it by commenting on each of the participating blogs listed below!!!!!!!!! (Leave a comment on each blog to increase your chances of winning!) Three winners will be selected from all the entries!!!

The comments will close at midnight on Thursday, April 8.

Here is one of Maren's awesome sketches from the book:
Here are my takes on the sketch--

For this card, I created the card base and then cut another white mat slightly smaller than the card and embossed it with the textile embossing folder. I inked the edges with Sahara sand ink and attached it to the base.

I cut a small rectangle of designer paper and stamped the foliage stamp from Signs of Autumn (Gina K Designs) all over it in the same sand ink. I stitched the edges and attached it to the die cut designer paper shape.

Then, I stamped the sentiment with pumpkin and black ink. I added a strip of designer paper along the bottom and a piece of ruffled ribbon along the side. I adhered the sentiment on the panel with foam mounting tape.

I punched the butterfly out of the same orange designer paper and added some adhesive pearls.

Finally, I attached the panel to the card base.

Materials used: Stamps- Friends, Signs of Autumn (Gina K Designs); cardstock-white (Gina K Designs); ink- Sahara Sand, Pumpkin pie (SU!), Memento tuxedo black; Butterfly punch (Martha Stewart); Designer paper- Everafter: Something blue, Something old, Something new (Cosmo Cricket); adhesive pearls (Prima); ribbon (May Arts); Spellbinder labels four die; Cuttlebug (Provocraft); textile embossing folder (Provocraft); sewing machine.

and another...

I cut the card base from blue cardstock. I used a die to cut the curved rectangle from some October Afternoon designer paper.

I applied the rub on to the white mat. Then I die cut some felt to apply over the flower shapes for more texture. I tied a ribbon around the panel and added the sentiment sticker over the ribbon. Finally I added a button with a hemp tie and some rhinestones. Then I assembled the card, putting the section at a slight tilt for fun!

Materials used: Rub on-Farm Fresh (October Afternoon); sentiment sticker - Farm Fresh shape stickers (October Afternoon); Designer paper- Farm Fresh 8 By 8 paper pad (October Afternoon); felt (Papertrey Ink); flower blossom dies (Papertrey)Cardstock- white (Gina K Designs), Hawaiian shores (Papertrey); gemstones (The Paper Studio); ribbon-(Papertrey); button-)Papertrey); Spellbinders die-Curved Rectangle; Cuttlebug (Provocraft).

I know you want to win this beautiful issue from Paper Crafts. So don't forget to leave a comment!!!

....And then head on over to these inspiring blogs and leave a comment to increase your chance to WIN!
Amy Sheffer http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/

Carolyn King http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ (You are here!)

Joclyn Nielson http://www.hereiswhatido.blogspot.com/

Julie Campbell http://stampedinhisimage.blogspot.com/

Lisa Johnson http://www.poppypaperie.typepad.com/

Maren Benedict http://www.zanynotcrazy.blogspot.com/
Paper Crafts Connection http://papercraftsconnection.com/

Betsy Veldman: http://www.scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/paper_scissors_and_superh/

Kim Hughes: http://paperhugs.typepad.com/

Kim Kesti: http://kimberlykesti.typepad.com/

Jessica Witty: http://jesswitty.blogspot.com/

Teri Anderson: http://terisplace.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much, Maren, for the amazing chance to play along with your sketch! Love ya!

Thanks for stopping by!

Finally got that nose piercing.....

Just kidding!!!

Just found another creative use for my rhinestone stickers....something to think about next time your teenage daughter wants to run out and get one. (hee!)

<------Here is how the adhesive rhinestones are sold so you can choose a small earring or a larger one! They actually stick very well!

(PS--Yes, I know I have a dot in my eye. There is actually two in my left eye. Born that way!)

Hope you enjoyed this little tip!

Thanks for stopping by! Yes, I will actually post some cards tomorrow!