Art Defined

Dear Ones~
Here is another little card I did for the Mod Squad Challenge this week, which was to make our own background paper.

This time I used various Tim Holtz Distress Inks, tapped them on my craft sheet, spritzed them with water and then used watercolor paper to transfer the color. It's really fun to do this technique because you never know what kind of pattern you will be gifted with.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Sweet Mango Card Stock
Various Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Inkadinkado Stamp for Greeting
Flower Die by Papertrey Ink
Martha Stewart Scallop Punch
Spellbinders Labels 4 Die
Gina K Designs Fresh Asparagus Ink

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!

Serendipity

Dear Ones~
The sun is shining today - glory be!!!! Had snow on the sidewalk this morning, but what's new? However the birds are singing their spring songs and we have seen robins over the past few days. It's the most we can hope for - we are at the mercy of Ma Nature.
One of today's cards is for two challenges. The Mod Squad Challenge, where we were asked to create our own background paper, and the Poppy Sketches Challenge, where we have a sketch to follow, and we were asked to use peony pink, blush, and tangerine.

Here's the sketch for the Poppy Sketches Challenge:

And here's my card:

I named this card Serendipity for a specific reason. The challenge at Mod Squad was to create our own background paper, so I was playing around with some GKD inks with water on watercolor paper. I used a paper towel to wipe off my work surface whenever I changed the color, and all of a sudden I looked at the paper towel and it had all these beautiful colors on it. Kinda like a tie dye. So I decided I would glue the paper towel to a piece of cardstock using my Xyron. Then I used Versamark, heat set some Heat and Stick powder on there, and then covered it with glitter. It came out just gorgeous. You can't really see the glitter, but it's beautiful IRL.


Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Innocent Pink Card Stock
Heat and Stick Powder
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
DCWV Pastels Card Stack
DCWV Shimmer Card Stack
Hot off the Press Serendipity Flowers Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Bubblegum Pink Ink
Gina K Designs Wild Lilac Ink
Gina K Designs Sweet Mango Ink
Martha Stewart Art Deco Border Punch

I will have another card for you today. Until then, thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!!

Yippee!!!!

 Dear Ones~
I have some fabulous news to finally be able to share with you. Last Monday I found out that I was chosen, along with 2 other AMAZING and TALENTED women, to be Guest Designer for the month of April over at StampTV.  I had to enter two challenges and the competition was tough. There are some VERY talented paper crafting artists out there.

Here are the creations that helped me to win:

These cards were for Challenge 1

This was for Challenge 2
 

I, along with my fellow Guest Designers Karen Hightower &  Nancy Leppek, and the rest of the Gina K Designs Team, will be showcasing new stamps from Gina K Designs which will be released later in the month of April.  I feel extremely honored, and am beyond excited to be a part of this amazing group of people. I look forward to showing you what wonderful things Gina K Designs has to offer. Stay tuned to see what we have in store for you.

Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for all your well wishes - it means the world to me!!!

Chocolate Rose

Dear Ones~

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Mine has been relaxing and happy. My card for today was made for the Mod Squad Challenge. We were asked to use red and brown.

Here's my card:

This was a fun card to do. I stamped the rose image from the GKD Stately Flowers 6 stamp set by Melanie Muenchinger onto GKD Dark Chocolate card stock with Versamark, and heat embossed it with black powder. Then I used the bleach technique to lighten the image and colored it with my Copics. It came up a nice light gold color with the bleach, so the Copics worked great.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Dark Chocolate and Cherry Red Card Stock
Hot Off the Press Red Velvet Paper Stack
Gina K Designs Stately Flowers 6 Stamp Set
Die-namics Mini Delicate Doilies Die
Spellbinders Ovals and Scallop Ovals Die
Copic Markers
Judy's Enamel Dots

Guess that's it. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

Black Magic

Dear Ones~

Another card to share with you. This time it's for the MIUM Challenge over at StampTV. The challenge is to use some kind of knot on your card.

Here's my card:

I used a technique called Black Magic for this card. You can see how to do this technique HERE. I saw it over at Split Coast Stampers on a video by Wendy Weixler. It's pretty fun to do. You stamp a solid image on dark card stock, in this case GKD Dark Chocolate, with white ink. Then you color it in with colored pencils or watercolor pencils. Adding the white dots gives it dimension. My knots were made with pink ribbon and were used to hold the fancy tag onto the front.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Dark Chocolate and White Card Stock
Patterned Paper from my Stash
EK Success Corner Punch
Spellbinders Labels 4 and Fancy Labels 2 Dies
Gina K Designs Springtime Silhouettes Stamp Set
Gina K Designs White Pigment Ink
Prismacolor Pencils
Uniball White Pigment Ink Pen

That's it for me, thanks for stopping by again - and think spring by friends.

Feathers

Dear Ones~

Well, I really haven't much to say today. I refuse to post yet another comment on the $%^& weather. Many schools in our area were closed this morning due to icing on the side roads. Geesh!!!

So, today's card is for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge, where we were to do a cover plate. See the link for details.
Here's my card:

I used the stamp set and the die set by Papertrey Ink called Feather Finery, and a Paper Studio wood grain embossing folder. I had a difficult time photographing this card, but there are embossed gold dots on top of the feathers. It's really quite pretty IRL.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Lipstick Red Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Kraft Card Stock
The Paper Studio Wood Grain Embossing Folder
Papertrey Ink Feather Finery Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fanciful Tags Stamp Set
Papertrey Ink Button Die
Gina K Designs Cherry Red Ink
Ranger Super Fine Gold Embossing Powder

That's it for me, I will probably be back later to do another post. I'm looking forward to the weekend so I will have some time to get inky. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!

Sprocket

Dear Ones~
I'm about to leave to meet up with some gal pals for Girls' Night. Love my BFFs so much!! There are 7 of us and we meet once a month for some frivolity. And of course there is NEVER any gossiping or joke telling - lol!!

But enough about me. Today's card is for the sketch challenge over at My Favorite Things.
Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

This was a fun sketch. Something a little different. The patterned paper reminds me of sprockets, hence the name.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Tourquoise Sea Card Stock
My Mind's Eye Remarkable Paper Stack
The Craft's Meow Typically Teen Stamp Set for the Greeting
Spellbinders Die - Sorry, I Don't Know the Name
Homemade Enamel Dots
Gold Thread from my Stash

That's it for me today. I'm off for some fun and frolic. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

Lunch!!!

Dear Ones~

Another Sunday come and gone, and tomorrow is a new week again! What will it bring? Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Today's card was made for the Mod Squad Challenge. We were challenged to do some hand cutting - and boy have I done that. My hands are tired!!! It took me many tries before I finally got something I liked. I hand cut the two orange flowers, the frog, and the butterfly.

Here's my card:

As you can tell, it's tongue-in-cheek. I thought it was kinda funny.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory Card Stock for the Base
Gina K Designs Black Onyx & Sweet Mango Card Stocks
My Mind's Eye Deena's Penny Lane Stack
Gina K Designs Dogwood and Butterfly Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Pressed Flowers Stamp Set
Inkadinkado Patterned Frogs Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fresh Asparagus & Sweet Mango Inks
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and Copic Markers
Ribbon from my Stash
Greeting Computer Generated
Homemade Enamel Dots
Stickles

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

It's So Easy Being Green

Dear Ones~

Today's card was made for the MIUM Challenge over at StampTV.

Here's my card:

Now I KNOW you're saying, "What's she doing coloring a rose green?" Well, the challenge was to use only  green on the card. And I felt like coloring this rose image from Stately Flowers 6. So, I colored it green. Besides, the author of the challenge this week (Lee Murphy) likes to color everything pink. So I figure, if the Lovely Lee can color everything pink, I can color a rose green. So that's the scoop. And I think it looks kinda cool. The background was made with watercolor paper and Distress Inks. I love the effect. The focal image was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Distress Markers.

Here are the supplies I used for this card:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Fresh Asparagus Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Jelly Bean Green Card Stock
Strathmore Watercolor Paper
Recollections Habitat Card Stock Stack
Gina K Designs Stately Flowers 6 Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Stamper's Favorites Stamp Set for the Greeting
Spellbinders Floral Flourishes Die
Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Distress Markers in:
     Peeled Paint
     Shabby Shudders
     Crushed Olive
     Forest Moss

That's it for me today. It has been raining here all day. Maybe it will wash away all this snow. Sure do hope so!! Thanks for stopping by! Make a great day - and think spring my friends.

Best Wishes

Dear Ones~
Hope you had a lovely weekend. Can't believe it's Monday again and we have another week before us. What will it bring? Here's hoping only good things. Oh, and happy St. Paddy's Day!

My card for today was created for the Wednesday Sketch over at My Favorite Things.
Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I love this bright little card. It was just fun to make and I think it came together pretty well. I colored the image with Copics.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Blue Raspberry Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory Card Stock
Recollections Fleurs deJardin Paper Stack
Flourishes Lots of Thoughts Stamp Set
Clear Arts Stamp Set for the Greeting
         - it's a really old set and I couldn't find the name
Some of my Homemade Enamel Dots
MFT Die-namics Stitched Circle Stax
Copic Markers
Stickles

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

Smile Daily

Dear Ones~

Another card for the Mod Squad Challenge - Tag-Your It. This time I decided to make a fancy, frilly tag. Why not - tags come in all different shapes and sizes, right?

Here it is:

I love this sentiment and need to use it more. It says it all really. And I also love making those flowers, they seem to really add something to a card. Oh, and I just want to say that the colors are a little bright in the photo. They are much softer IRL. Don't know what's up with my camera.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory Card Stock
Colorbok Textured Soft Pastels Card Stock
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Embossing Folder
Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8
My Favorite Things Die-namics Delicate Doilies
Gina K Designs Warm Cocoa and Passionate Pink Ink
Hot Off The Press (Paper Wishes) Simply Susan Stamp Set
McGill Petite Petals Punch
Martha Stewart Leaf
Butterfly Punch from my Stash
Stickles (of course)

That's it for now. It's bright and sunny here this morning, albeit a little cold. Make a great day - and think spring my friends.

Midnight Butterflies

Dear Ones~
Happy Saturday to you all. Don't ya just love the weekend? I mostly do because I'm pretty sure I will be in my craft room. Oh who am I kidding? I'm in my craft room most days....lol.

My friend Donna is hosting the Mod Squad Challenge this week. She is the tag queen, loves tags. So she has challenged us to make a card with a tag on it. What fun!!!

Here is my card:

This card was made by stamping the image on the card, then masking that image, placing the tag where I wanted it, and stamping the butterflies on the tag with the part on the card front masked off. It took a bit of fussing with it to get it right. I love this kind of spotlighting - I think it is a cool effect. And of course I HAD to add some Stickles to the wings.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Vibrant Violet Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory Card Stock
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Gina K Designs Stamper's Favorites Stamp Set
Copic Markers
Stickles
Black Enamel Accents for the Antenna

Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

Simply Fabulous

Dear Ones~
Well, it's raining - yay!!! Hope it rains for a week and washes all the snow away. Not raining hard enough though. This morning it was sunny - go figure!!

Today's card is for the MIUM Challenge over at StampTV. The challenge is color blocking. Hope this qualifies, there are blocks of color, so I guess it's okay.

Here's my card:

This image was so much fun to do. With Versamark I stamped the grapes from the GKD duo set called Better With Age on the green card stock, and heat embossed it with black powder. Then I brushed bleach on the image and it came out that nice golden yellow color. I used my Copics to add the tones of color. It was very interesting, because as I colored, the bleach would lighten the ink. I had to go over it several times. I love how the image has just a hint of each hue, and even though I only used one purple ink, the bleach created different shades. Oh, and I also love those buttons cut with the Papertrey Ink Button Stax Die Set. They are paper, so mailing them will be a breeze.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Black Onyx Card Stock
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Fresh Asparagus Card Stock
Core'dinations Card Stock from the Tim Holtz Nostalgic     Collection
Gina K Designs Better With Age Duo Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fanciful Tags Stamp Set
Papertrey Ink Button Stax Die Set
Darice Embossing Folder
Gold Mirror Card Stock and Gold Thread from my Stash

That's it for me. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!!

Treasure Box

Dear Ones~
Today's creation is not a card. I made it for the StampTV Guest Designer Challenge. This is the challenge:

Make anything BUT a regular, flat greeting card.  It can be a unique card....like a pop up card, a gift card holder, a tent topper....or it can be an altered item....let your creativity flow!!!!   

 So I decided to go outside the box, or rather, to go inside the box. Last fall I made a really cute Advent Box that contained 24 drawers for each day of advent. I thought, wouldn't it be fun to make that again, only just do 8 drawers that could hold earrings or other treasures.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's a view of the top:

And here's a view of the box with some of the drawers open:

The drawers are staggered, so each one is in a different position. I made my own patterned paper with stamps from the Gina K Designs stamp set Hello Sunshine and Simple Flowers. It took me FOREVER to pick the color combination, I think that was the hardest part. I finally settled on Gina K Designs Bubble Gum Pink, Passionate Pink, Sweet Mango and Memento New Sprout. I just stamped the images all over an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Pure Luxury Card Stock with no particular pattern. Just wanted to completely fill in all the spaces. What fun!!!

The flower on top was cut with my Cricut using the Art Philosophy cartridge, and I used the Spellbinders Lotus die for underneath the flower.

Here are the supplies I used:
Strathmore Bristol Board for the drawers
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Card Stock in White
Recollections Pink Buttons Card Stock
Gina K Designs Dye Ink in:
     Bubble Gum Pink
     Passionate Pink
     Sweet Mango
Memento Dye Ink in New Sprout
Gina K Designs Hello Sunshine Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Simple Flowers Stamp Set
Spellbinders Lotus Die
Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge
Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch
White Brads from my Stash

This was rather labor intensive and took a couple of days, but it was so much fun to make. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!!!
 

Donna and Me

Dear Ones~

Didn't think I would make a card today, but I just couldn't resist, so I thought I would enter the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge. It was a pretty simple one this week. This card makes me think of my friend Donna. She and I have never met, but we are the best of friends because of the internet, and our love of card making. I have made so many wonderful friends that way, and you know who you are *wink wink*.

So here is the sketch:

And Here is my card:

I love this stamp set, it's full of little sweet images of kids. They just make me smile. I colored the image with Copics, and the greeting is heat embossed with black powder on vellum. I love the look!

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Card Stock in Innocent Pink
Colorbok Light Bright Designer Paper
My Favorite Things Die-namics Stitched Circle Stax
Janie's Friends Stamp Set by Hot off the Press (Paper Wishes)
Vellum
Copics
Stickles

That's it for me. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends!!

Spring Tulips

Dear Ones~

Just got back yesterday from visiting our daughter and her family. Our two grandsons never stop - always exhausted when I get back, but we had so much fun.

Today's card is for the Mod Squad Challenge. It seems there are a lot of challenges out there that are focusing on spring cards, and this one was no exception. Guess we are all tired of the white stuff and want to see some spring color.

Here's my card:

For this card I used one of my new Flourishes stamp sets and colored it with Copics. I have recently begun investing in those wonderful markers and can't get enough of coloring with them.

Here are the supplies I used for this card:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Heavy Weight Card Stock in White
Colorbok Crown Jewels Textured Card Stock
DCWV Bouquet De Fleur Card Stock
My Favorite Things Stitched Circles Di Namics
Flourishes Thank You Stamp Set for Focal Image and Greeting
Enamel Accents
Homemade enamel Dots

That's it for me today. Just trying to re-group after a very wonderful but tiring weekend. Thanks for stopping by - and think spring my friends.

Bold Bloom

 Hello Again Dear Ones~

This is another entry for the StampTV Guest Designer Challenge. You can see the challenge HERE. This time I chose this video: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/bold-blooms. The technique was a lot of fun, and very easy to do. And Gina is right, it's very soothing. I could have done it all day!

Here's my card:

I stamped this huge, beautiful zinnia image ( think it's a zinnia) from the GKD Bold Blooms Stamp Set with Versamark on yellow card stock, and heat embossed with white. Then I used one of my Copic Markers to outline each petal.

Here are the supplies I used to make this card:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb Heavy Weight Card Stock in White
Gina K Designs Bold Blooms Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fanciful Tags Stamp Set for the Greeting
Recollections The Sweetest Thing Patterned Paper Stack
Recollections Garden Florals Patterned Paper Stack
Cheery Lynn Flourishes Die
Martha Stewart Border Punch
Various Card Stock from my Stash

Oh, and see those cute enamel dots in the upper right? I made 'em myself! I know you're impressed, right? I used mini acrylic pony beads and baked them in the oven!!!! Super fun to do, and you get  TONS of different colors. If you want to see how it's done, click HERE. Try it, you'll like it!!! The only thing I would caution you to do is make sure that each bead is spaced out from the next one, or you will get a lump of unsightly beads all melted together.

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends!

Spring Blossoms

Dear Ones~

What a beautiful, sunny day here in the Great White North. They are even promising warmer weather for tomorrow - it's supposed to get into the 30s!!! WOW!
This card has been created for the Guest Designer Challenge over at StampTV. You can see the challenge HERE. The challenge was to find a technique video on StampTV, and use that technique to make a spring card. This is the video that I chose to use: http://stamptv.ning.com/video/coloring-with-colored-pencils

Here's my card:

As you can see, I used my Prismacolor Pencils and odorless mineral spirits to color in the beautiful blossoms inside the oval. I used the GKD Dogwood and Blossoms stamp set, but cut the oval that was part of the image away from the flowers, and then adhered that to the green Spellbinders Floral Oval die cut.

Here are the supplies I used to make this card:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb Heavy Weight Card Stock in White
Gina K Designs Patterned Paper Pack Petals and Wings
Gina K Designs Dogwood and Butterfly Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Dreams Take Flight Mini Stamp Set for the Greeting
Spellbinders Floral Ovals Die
Various Circle Punches and Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch
Stickles
Pearls and Various Colors of Card Stock from my Stash

I'm not even going to mention the fact that we are all waiting for spring, that's a given *wink wink*. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Icelandic Poppies

Dear Ones~
Such a sunny day, too bad it's freezing outside. I'm just happy as a clam to stay inside and play in my craft room. Today's card is another one for the Mod Squad Challenge. Creating spring cards makes me happy! And after all, it IS the first day of March. We're getting there my friends!!!

Here's my card:

Don't you just love sunny, yellow flowers? They just make me smile. We have Icelandic Poppies that bloom every spring in our gardens. They are one of the first to show their sweet yellow faces. These poppies were colored with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. The button is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. I have been using this instead of a real button lately because they go through the mail better.

Here are the supplies I used for this card:
Gina K Designs 120 lb Heavy Weight Card Stock in White
Gina K Designs Black Onyx Card Stock
DCWV Bouquet deFleur Paper Stack
Recollections Garden Florals Paper Stack
Sweet and Sassy Poppies and Greetings Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fanciful Tags Stamp Set
Prismacolor Pencils used with Odorless Mineral Spirits
Martha Stewart Border Punch and Button Punch
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder
Spellbinders Classic Circles and Lacy Circles Dies
Black Enamel Accents

Guess that's it for me, thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Lavender Botanicals

Dear Ones~
Just another quick post for today. This card has been created for 2 challenges. The Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink, to use watercolor and heat embossing. Click on the link to watch the video showing this technique. It's really fun! I also created it for the Timeless Tuesday Challenge over at Flourishes. This challenge was to stamp an image and not color it in.

Here's my card:

This card was really simple to do. I used the Papertrey Ink Stamp Set Botanical Silhouettes, stamped the image on watercolor paper with Versamark and heat embossed with white powder. At first I used clear embossing powder, but the image didn't show up very well when I watercolored over it, so I tried on another piece of paper with white. After the image was heat embossed I just went to town with my watercolors. First I wet the paper and then used the water colors. It's really cool how the embossed image resists the color and just pops.

Here are the supplies I used, which weren't many:
Gina K Designs 120 lb Heavy Weight Card Stock in White
Other Card Stock from my Stash
Ribbon from my Stash
Water Colors from my Stash
White Enamel Accents for Little Dots Interest.

Okay, that's it for me. Thanks for stopping by - and once again, stay warm my friends.

Spring Bouquet

Dear Ones~
I am not feeling my best today. I have come down with a lovely head cold. However, that does NOT stop me from playing in my craft room. This card was made for the Mod Squad Challenge this week. All we had to do was create a spring card. Easy peasy.

Here's my card:

I had so much fun coloring this image. It's from Melanie Muenchinger's Spring Basket stamp set. She designs for Gina K Designs and her illustrations are just beautiful. I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored it with Copics. The basket was a challenge, but I think it came out pretty well. I saw a photo recently of some tulips in the most beautiful colors, so I kept the photo and tried to use the colors here. I wanted the card to be simple, with not much else as far as patterned paper, so the basket full of spring flowers would be in the spotlight.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs 120 lb Heavy Weight Card Stock in Ivory
Gina K Designs Card Stock in Vibrant Violet
Spellbinders Splendid Circles Die
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Emossing Folder
Gina K Designs Spring Basket Stamp Set
Gina K Designs Fanciful Tags Stamp Set for Greeting
Ribbon from My Stash

That's it for me. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends. It got down to minus 18 last night. Hope the spring in my basket gives Mother Nature a hint!!!!

Holey Flowers

Dear Ones~
It's been a couple of days since I have been able to get inky in my craft room. Yesterday I traveled to Midland to visit with my Mom & Dad, and my sister. Each visit with them is a treasure. I am so blessed to have my mom and dad still with me.
Today's card will be entered in the Mix It Up Monday Challenge over at StampTV. Click on the link to see what the challenge is.

Here's my card:

I wanted to do something bright and cheery since it so cold and blustery outside. When will it ever end? I had no ribbon that was the right color, so I hand dyed some seam binding with GKD Passionate Pink and Sweet Mango ink. Love how it turned out. For the stamped images I used the rock and roll technique to get some interest in the flowers. The butterfly was sponged with Sweet Mango and Passionate Pink ink.

Here are the supplies I used:
Gina K Designs 120 lb Card Stock in White
Gina K Designs Card Stock in Sweet Mango
Gina K Designs Card Stock in Blue Raspberry
Gina K Designs Stamp Set Simple Flowers
Gina K Designs Stamp Set Stamper's Favorites
Darice Embossing Folder Circle Interlock
Gina K Designs Dye Ink in Passionate Pink & Sweet Mango
                                          Sweet Corn & Sweet Mango
                                          Turquoise Sea & Blue Raspberry
Butterfly is a Martha Stewart Punch

That's it for me today. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Tie Dye Hearts

Dear Ones~
Here I am again. I just cleaned up my craft room after the Wild Thangs had a go in there. They are just amazed at all the stuff I have and want to try everything. I let them, with supervision and within reason. The good news is that they lose interest in a hurry and really don't do too much damage. My hope is that, as they get older, they may want to at least attempt to make a card. At this point, not so much....lol. Both are quite creative, so there's hope.
This last card for today was created for the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink. It's a very intriguing challenge, and quite fun. Take a look at the link and see what the technique was.

Here's my card:

I saw a very fun video the other day over at Simon Says Stamp. Jennifer McGuire showed us how to do two toned stamping. It can create some awesome effects. See the YouTube video HERE. It was fascinating to see how the stamping worked. I love it and will do it more - I think it's really striking.

Here are the supplies I used for this card:
*Gina K Designs 120 lb heavy weight card stock in Ivory
*Cardmaking and Papercraft Background Stamp Fleur
      Botanique, stamped with GKD Ivory Pigment Ink
*Papertrey Ink Stamp Set Heart Prints
*Papertrey Ink Stamp Set Botanical Silhouettes
*DCWV The Haute Pink Stack
*Colorbok Textured Card Stock Stack in Teail
*Pink Heart stamped in GKD Passion Pink and Wild Lilac
*Blue Heart stamped in GKD Grass Green and Tourquoise
*Gold Heart stamped in GKD Sweet Corn and Sweet Mango
*A little Wink of Stella on the hearts for sparkle

The boys are chillin' right now - the next round will begin soon. Oh, how I love my grandboys! That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends!!

Lots 'O Dots

Dear Ones~
The boys are busy eating breakfast, so thought I would take this time for my next post. This one is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, to use polka dots, and for the Sweet and Sassy Friday Challenge to make a background.

Here's my card:

I used a Flourishes dot border stamp to make a pattern on one side of the paper, and then put the greeting on the blank side. I drew a line with a pencil to be sure my stamping was straight. It was so much fun to pick out and use the different colors of ink. This card came together really fast, not much to it, really. Used the flowers from my stash and colored a button brad for the middle. Then I just stuck some various sized enamel dots randomly on top of the stamped image.


Here are my supplies:
Flourishes  So Distressed Stamp Set
Flourishes Friendship and Flowers Stamp Set
Bo Bunny Very Vintage Double Dots Designs Paper Stack
Gina K Designs 120 lb Card Stock in Sweet Mango
Gina K Designs Dye Ink in Sweet Mango, Grass Green, Turquoise Sea
Flowers, Brad and Enamel Dots from my Stash

Time to play a game with the Wild Thangs. Thanks for stopping by -and stay warm my friends!!

My Style

Dear Ones~
Yippee, the Wild Thangs and their mother are finally here - the roads were good today. Their dad stayed home to keep the home fires burning. Now Grampa has taken them sledding, so I have a minute to do this post. It's another one for the Shabby Chic Mix It Up Monday Challenge over at StampTV.

Here's my card:

This time I used the Gina K Designs stamp set Friendship Like Ours. I paper pieced the dress forms with some papers from the Forget Me Not 8x8 Stack by Kaiser Craft. Actually all the papers are from that stack. They are so pretty and feminine. The base is Gina K Designs 120 lb card stock in Ivory, and I distressed everything with Vintage Photo and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. The little doily is a Spellbinders Die D-Lites Medallion 1.

That's it for me today - gotta go play with my boys. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends!!

Shabby Chic

Dear Ones~
This is my second post for today. This time my card was made for the Mix It Up Monday Challenge over at StampTV. This challenge was put up by my very dear friend Donna, who was chosen to be one of the Guest Designers at StampTV for the month of February. She is over-the-top talented and makes AMAZING cards. I was so happy that she was chosen as Guest Designer. Check out her BLOG.

Her challenge to us was to make a Shabby Chic card with a matching envelope. And we get extra points if we finish the inside, something that many of us neglect to do. I know I do!! I often make the front and don't want to bother to finish the inside at the time, only to kick myself later when I want to send the card and it's not done. Pffft!!!! Silly me!

I am also entering this card in the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge.  This week we are to use polka dots on our card, so I guess this qualifies.


Here's my card:

Here I used the Nature's Greeting stamp set from Gina K Designs. It was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Tim Holtz Distress Markers. The greeting is from the GKD stamp set called Stamper's Favorites. The base is GKD Dark Chocolate 120lb card stock, and the patterned papers are from the Red Velvet stack by Hot off the Press. I cut the doily from a die by Spellbinders Die D-Lites called Medallion 1, and used the Martha Stewart Button Punch with kraft card stock for the button and topped it with a little circle from the patterned papers. And, of course, some Stickles in the center of the flower. Everything was distressed with GKD Warm Cocoa ink. Love that color!!! Oh, and I made my own envelope.

So that's it for me today, thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends!

Golden Feather

Dear Ones~
Another blowy snowy day. Our daughter and 2 grandsons, ages 6 and 8, were supposed to come up for a weekend visit today, but they had to drive from Lansing. 127 was closed because of a 40-car accident, and the roads were terrible. Needless to say, they are staying home until tomorrow. So - that gave me some time to play in my craft room. But I would rather have been hugging my babies.

This card was made for the Mod Squad Challenge, which was to use gold on your card in honor of the Olympics.

Here's my card:

I used the stamping with bleach technique, really fun to do. I took a whole bunch or paper towels, folded them to make a stamp pad, placed them on a plate and saturated them with bleach. Then all you have to do is dip the stamp in the "pad" and stamp. Each color of card stock will bleach out differently, and it's best to use dark colors. Here I used Gina K Designs Black Onyx, and it came out this pretty gold color.

The feather is from  the Papertrey Ink stamp set, Feather Finery. After stamping with the bleach, I used the dot overlay stamp that comes in the set to gold heat emboss. The greeting is a stamp I got in a grab bag over at StampTV, so I do not know which set it's from. The gold paper I used for the matting is Mercury Glass, by Recollections. I love this stack, it really looks like old fashioned mercury glass and comes in several colors.

That's it for now, thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends!!

Butterfly Wood

Dear Ones~
I am down to the wire with this one. This is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, and the deadline for uploading my card is 6 pm today. I better hustle.
I am CASEing a card today that was created by Lee Ann Barrett. You can see her design HERE. She designed it for Sweet N Sassy Stamps, and I just loved it, so thought the design would be perfect to use for this challenge, which was to use some wood somewhere on the card.
Here's my creation:

Card base is Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb card stock in Black Onyx. The greeting is from the Flourishes Friendship & Flowers stamp set, stamped in GKD Dark Chocolate ink. Patterned papers are from Colorbok in the Natural Expressions collection. I found some little wooden butterflies in my stash - so happy to found them, as I didn't know what I would use for wood. I was going to use a wooden button, but I thought the butterfly was so much cuter. That corner punch is from EK Success, and I don't know what it's called. It's old, and might be retired, but I just love it.
That's it for today. I'm going over to StampTV now and participate in the blog hop there. So exciting - check it out if you get the chance HERE.
Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

For Collin

Dear Ones~
Not sure if any of you have read a post on Face Book about this sweet little boy, Colin, who turns 11 on March 9th. 

This is what his Mom has said about creating the Page, Happy Birthday Colin:

  I am Colin's mom, I created this page for my amazing, wonderful, challenging son who is about to turn 11 on March 9th. Because of Colin's disabilities, social skills are not easy for him, and he often acts out in school, and the other kids don't like him. So when I asked him if he wanted a party for his birthday, he said there wasn't a point because he has no friends. He eats lunch alone in the office everyday because no one will let him sit with them, and rather than force someone to be unhappy with his presence, he sits alone in the office. So I thought, if I could create a page where people could send him positive thoughts and encouraging words, that would be better than any birthday party. Please join me in making my very original son feel special on his day.

 

As card makers I know you will all want to join in on Colin's special day and pop a card in the mail for him.  You could also 'like' his page on Face Book if you have an account.  His parents are trying to keep this all hush hush until the big reveal on his birthday. 

 

For those of you without a Face Book Page, here is his address:

 

Happy Birthday Colin
PO Box 756
Richland, MI 49083-0756

 

Here's my card:

I used a cute stamp set from Technique Tuesday called Monsters Ink for the image and greeting. Love this set - so appropriate for boys. The letters are stickers from a paper pack called Robots by Best Creations. Background paper is called Artist from Paper House, and the balloons were punched from the DCWV Glitter Stack.  I used a little Glossy Accents on his eyes and teeth for pop.

Give some thought to sending a card out to Collin. He is gonna be blown away with all the heartfelt wishes. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm, my friends.

Dahlia

Dear Ones~
Another post for today. This time, my creation is for the following challenges:
My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge
The Mod Squad Challenge
StampTV Release Party Challenge

Here's the sketch for the MFT challenge:

And here's my card:

I love making cards from a sketch - easy peasy. All the work is done for you, and you can just have the fun of picking out the papers and images.

Here's the details for this card:
Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb card base in white
Gina K Designs Stamp Set Stamper's Favorites for the flower
Gina K Designs Stamp Set Beyond Baskets for the greeting
Patterned Papers from My Minds Eye - Oliver
Teal Card Stock from Colorbok
Border from Martha Stewart Border Punch - punched on both sides of a strip of paper
Flower was stamped on watercolor paper with Archival ink and colored with Tim Holtz Distress Markers and a water brush.

Thanks for stopping by again - and stay warm my friends.

Zentangle Buzz

Dear Ones~
It's a sunny Saturday, and my spirits are lifted because of it. I had a great time playing in my craft room - something I haven't done for a couple of days.
My creation today is for the StampTV Mix It Up Monday Challenge. The challenge is to do some doodling on your card. Well HOT DOG - that means Zentangling, and I LOVE to Zentangle.
Here's my card:

I had Zentangled this bee while I was up on Lake Superior last summer. He's somewhat bigger in real life, but I shrank him with my photocopier to fit on my card, and then fussy cut him out. He took awhile to draw, but I find it so relaxing.

Here's the details of the card:
Gina K Designs Black Onyx card stock.
Background paper by My Mind's Eye - Oliver
Papertrey Ink Hexagon Cover Plate
My Favorite Things Hexagon Die Stax
Greeting from GKD Stamp Set Stamper's Favorites
GKD Ink in Sweet Corn for a little distressing on the greeting
Some Stickles on the bee's wings and body here and there

Hope you are doing something wonderful this weekend, and thanks for stopping by. Stay warm my friends!!

Water Lily

Dear Ones~
I sit here this evening, with my computer on my lap, trying to think of something interesting to write about. It appears that my life is rather predictable and somewhat boring. Having said that, let me just add that I like it just fine that way. Living in a small town (well, out in the country, really) in Northern Michigan is my version of paradise. I am a lucky woman.
And now to my card:

I have to admit that my Mojo was being elusive today, so this card is what came of that. The base is, as always, Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb card stock, this time in white. The red card stock is GKD Cranberry Tart. The image is from GKD A Year of Flowers. It is my attempt at trying to make a waterlily appear to be floating on water. The jury is still out on how well I achieved that, but I added a little Stickles for shimmer. I stamped the flower in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it with my Prismacolor pencils and used odorless mineral spirits to shade. The background was distressed with Memento Blue Sky, and GKD Baby Blue and In the Navy. I used Spellbinders Classic Ovals and Floral Oval dies to cut out the image. The greeting is from the GKD Fanciful Tags stamp set. Patterned papers are from DCWV Summer Dream, and DCWV Bouquet deFleur.
This card will be entered in the challenge over at StampTV, and the Mod Squad Challenge.
Tomorrow Himself and I are going to Traverse City to celebrate Valentine's Day, even though it's a day early. The hope is that we will avoid all the crowds in the restaurants. Yep.....we have officially become Senior Citizens.

Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Hearts and Feathers

Dear Ones~
This is another card for the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink, and also the Mod Squad Challenge.
Here's my card:

This is a card that I made for my mom to give to my dad for Valentine's Day. The hearts were cut on my Cricut with glitter paper from Recollections, and with black card stock. Background papers are from the Colorbok Soft Pastels Textured stack, and I used a Darice embossing folder called Crackle for texture. I love that folder!

The feathers are from a stamp set by Papertrey Ink called Feather Finery. They were stamped on vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. The stamp set has companion dies, so it makes it easy to cut out the image. The greeting is from the Gina K Designs stamp set By the Sea 2. I just popped the feathers on the heart with a black gem to hold it on, so they are really  3-D.

Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Purple Shadow

Dear Ones~

Today's little 3 3/4" square card is for the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink. The challenge was to use the technique called Shadow Die Cuts. Click on the link to see more.

Here's my card:

I used a Papertrey Ink stamp set called The Sweet Life. It's a multiple stamp design where you have two or three stamps that are stamped over each other with different colors for a 3-D effect. Here I used Memento Lulu Lavender and GKD Wild Lilac for the roses, and Memento Pistachio and GKD Fresh Asparagus for the leaves. The greeting is from the GKD stamp set Simple Hearts. I also have dies to go along with the stamps, so I was able to do the Shadow Die Cut technique. The patterned paper is by Graphic 45 in the Secret Garden design. I used Spellbinder Lacy Labels and Classic Circle dies, as well as some Enamel Accents for the black dots on the white circle.
Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Love in Bloom

Dear Ones~
Today's card is being entered in the following challenges:
http://www.mftstamps.com/blog/category/wednesday-stamp-club/
http://flourishes.org/category/timeless-tuesday/
http://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.com/
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-have-a-heart/

Here's the sketch for the My Favorite Things Challenge:

And here's my card:

I used the Flourishes stamp set called Summer Blossoms and colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. A little Stickles was added in the center of the flowers. It's difficult to see in the photo, but 3 embossing folders were used. The background was made with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots EF, the white banner was embossed with Cuttlebug's Tiny Bubbles EF, and the black banner was embossed with a folder by Darice, I don't have the name. Patterned paper is from the Colorbok Neutrals stack, glitter paper is from Recollections. The beautiful red glitter love script and the heart frame were cut with the Paper Artist Cutting Dies by Hot Off The Press called 5 Hearts.
This is a Valentine for my folks, hope they like it. Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

Catherine Elizabeth

Dear Ones~

This card has been made for the StampTV MIUM Challenge, It Ain't Easy to be Cheesy, and the Mod Squad Challenge to make a card with a heart and some glitter. Verna Angerhofer gave me the idea to use an old photo to make a card - thanks, Verna!!!
Here's my card:

This card is very special to me. It's a photo of my beautiful grandmother, Catherine Elizabeth, on the occasion of her high school graduation. Isn't she lovely? I am so partial to this picture of her. She was always lovely like that, and I have so many wonderful memories of her, as well as my Grandfather.
I used Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb. card stock in Ivory for the base. The patterned papers are from Kaiser Craft's Tea Break Stack, and Graphic 45's In the Garden Stack. The papers are a perfect reflection of my Grammie's taste. She loved all things pink and flowery. The gold foil card stock is from the Textures and Finishes Stack by DCWV.  The oval frame is from The Paper Artist Cutting Dies by Hot off the Press, and the sprigs are a die I had in my stash. The tag is from Spellbinders Grommet Tags, and the greeting is from the GKD Forever in my Heart duo stamp set. Of course I HAD to add some Stickles for sparkle, and the little pink pearls, because she would love them.

Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm my friends.

For Himself

Dear Ones~

Today's card was made for 3 challenges this week. The StampTV Make It Monday Challenge It Ain't Easy to be Cheesy, where Guest Designer Allie Gower challenges us to use something related to photography on our card. My take on this was to use a wood background paper which was a real photograph. Another challenge is the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Love Letters. Self explanatory with that one I think. And then the third one is the Love To Scrap Challenge, to include the word "love" somewhere on the card.
Here's my card:

As you can probably tell by the title, this is a Valentine for my hubby. Shhhh.....don't tell him, I want it to be a surprise. I'm pretty sure he won't be looking here on my blog....haha. If he does - hi honey! Here's your card!!

For this card I used Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb. card stock in white for the base. Also used were GKD Pure Luxury Cherry Red and Black Onyx card stocks. Other papers were from the DCWV stack called Textures and Finishes. I used the wood grain and gold foil. The greeting (which looks crooked in the photo for some reason, but really isn't) is from the GKD stamp set True Love. And I love the beautiful die set I used! It's 5 Hearts by Paper Artist Cutting Dies, from Hot off the Press. Just look how delicate that LOVE word is. Their dies are awesome!! They cut through pretty thick card stock, and release easily for the most part. I highly recommend them.

I think this is a pretty good rendition of a Masculine Valentine Card. And we all know how hard that can be to produce.
Thanks for stopping by - and stay warm, my friends.

Pantone Radiant Orchid

This card was created for the Timeless Tuesday Challenge #256 over at Flourishes. We were invited to use the Pantone Color of the Year, which is Radiant Orchid. To learn more about the Pantone Colors click on the Timeless Tuesday link.
Here's my card:

For this card I used the Flourishes stamp set, Letters in Bloom. I embossed the letters with Versamark on vellum, and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The letters were colored on the back using Copic Markers. I used the Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8 dies to cut the beautiful filigree shapes, which were mounted on Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb weight card stock in white. The background paper is from the Graphic 45 8x8 pack, Secret Garden. In retrospect I wish I would have cut the vellum with the Spellbinder's die, stamped the image on that, and backed it with the same die cut in white. I think it would have looked much neater.  As it was, I just cut the vellum in a strip and mounted it on the die cut.

I love the look of the gold on vellum - reminds me of cloisonne. Thanks for stopping by, and stay warm my friends.