Three New Cards to Share

I have finally had some time to get into my craft room this weekend! Yahoo! I managed to complete three cards, all for challenges over at Stamp TV.

The first is for the sketch challenge this week. I really like sketch challenges because they eliminate the step of trying to come up with the layout, which is often the hardest part for me. Sometimes I just like to have the idea already in front of me so I can concentrate on the colors and other elements.

This card turned out pretty wild! I'm not usually one to use a lot of bright colors and patterns but I kind of like this card. It seems springy and not dull and gloomy like our weather lately!

The card base, square layer, and ribbon are all SU Rich Razzleberry. The yellow layers are Crushed Curry from SU. The dp is from the Basic Grey Lemonade pack. The flower stamps are from Tropical Flowers by Gina K Designs and the birthday sentiment is from Friendship Blooms, also by Gina K Designs. I stamped the flowers in Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, and Rich Razzleberry inks from SU.

The next card was made for the inspiration challenge at Stamp TV this week. Gina had a gorgeous fall forest photo that was all shades of red. I knew immediately I had to use some paper from the Basic Grey Indian Summer pack for this card.

I started with come Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart paper from Gina K Designs and layered that with a piece of Pure Luxury Tan Leather. I used a fairly large piece of the dp from Basic Grey because I wanted it to be the focal point of the card since it reminded me so much of Gina's photo. I layered a small piece of Cranberry Tart, Pure Luxury Innocent Pink, and Ivory for the stamped image of the leaves. I stamped the Leaves from the Gina K Designs set, Botanical Dreams, with versamark and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I sponged over the leaves with Memento Rhubard Stalk and Angel Pink and Vivid Tuscan Tan. Then I stamped Friend at the bottom with Tuscan Tan. A piece of ribbon, which is actually pink even though it doesn't show up that way in the photo, and some nailheads complete the card.

Finally, I did a card for the color challenge at Stamp TV. I love these colors together -- red, brown and white. They are the predominant colors in my living room, dining area and kitchen so you know I had to do this color challenge!

For this one I started with Pure Luxury Rocket Red and then layered on a piece of SU Soft Suede that I embossed with the Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug folder. The piece of dp is from some SU specialty paper they had available at the holidays called Christmas Cocoa. It such pretty paper but it has a sheen to it and I find it hard to get a good, accurate photo of it. The scalloped oval is Rocket Red and the plain oval is Pure Luxury White; both cut out using nesties. The coffee mug and sentiment are both from the Gina K Design set called My Cuppa' Joe. The red ribbon is from Gina K and the brown polka dot is SU Soft Suede.

Those are my cards for tonight! Hope you had fun seeing them. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and be sure to include some creative time -- it's good for the soul!

Center Stage Spotlight Inspiration Blog Hop

It's time for another GinaK CenterStage Spotlight Team Blog Hop!

Each artist was asked to design their project by drawing inspiration from these photos of the AMAZING Christmas Cookie Bouquet the CSS Team sent to Gina's DT Coordinator Jessica Fick:

Aren't those cookies gorgeous! (and, of course, Jessica's kids are adorable, too!) The blog hop tonight is based on whatever inspiration the designers have drawn from these photos -- it could have been the colors, the winter theme, the kids, anything!


I have to admit that the colors along with the winter theme were what inspired me (not to mention that the photos inspired me to want to eat cookies but that's for another blog post isn't it? Hee-hee!) Here's the photo of my card.

The card base is made with Baja Breeze from Stampin' Up (a retired InColor; I'm trying to use up some of my old paper so I can add new stuff!) The red piece is also a retired SU InColor; Riding Hood Red. I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder and made some white "stitches" down the side. The dp is from Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding collection. I used my nesties to cut out the scalloped and plain circles and layered them together. The mug was stamped with white ink onto Baja Breeze paper and then cut out. I colored the marshmallows with a white pen and added some "cocoa" to the mug with a brown marker. The mug is popped up with a couple of pop dots. The sentiment is stamped on white with Baja Breeze ink and cut out with a Spellbinders tag. The ribbon is Baja Breeze from SU also. The mittens were stamped on red with Versamark and then embossed with white EP. I cut them out and adhered them with a glue dot. All of the stamps used on this card are from the Warm and Wonderful stamp set designed by Rupa Shevde for Gina K. Designs. Love that set! It is perfect for this time of year - wintery but not Christmasy. Pretty simple but a fun, wintery card to make.

Click on the following links to see what the participating Designers have prepared for us tonight:

Jessica Fick,
Betty Neville,

Jen Charboneau,
Joan Ervin,
Vicki Dutcher,
Lori McAree,
Cheri Weston,
Melissa Cash,
Carla Suto,
Giovana Smith,
JenMarie Taylor,
Sue Morris,
Carolina Buchting,
Sharri Seffens,
Brenda Turner,
Peggy Wainman,
Sue Van deVusse,
Shannon Bracken,
Tina Gilliland,
Deb Felts,
Jennie Harper,
Geri Utterback,
Selma Stevenson,
Melissa Shultz,
Linda Payne,
Joy Hadden,
Karen Knegten,
Melanie Muenchinger,
Nina Brackett

Everyone's projects will be added to the StampTV gallery and Idea Center over the next few days. You can search for them by using this tag: cssjf4

Have fun checking out all of the fun, inspired projects and don't look at those photos too long or you will be inspired to go find some cookies to go with all of these projects! LOL! Thanks for stopping by tonight! Happy stamping!

Getting My Creative Mojo Back with a Color Challenge

I often find that after the big holiday rush and making nothing but Christmas cards/projects for weeks on end that it is hard to shift gears and start making other things. This year seemed worse than most, probably because I was still making Christmas things right up until Christmas Eve day! Yes, I was a bit behind this Christmas! I think I've finally overcome my creative block and have moved on to making other things now. Today I'm sharing a card I made for a friend's birthday and also for the color challenge over at Stamp TV, which was to use pink, brown, and white for your card. I love those colors together so this was a fun one to make!

Here are the card details:

Paper:

White card base is Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight White from Gina K Designs

Pink, Tan, Dark Brown are all from Bazzill papers

Designer Paper is Basic Grey Bittersweet

The images and sentiment are stamped on Pure Luxury Layering Weight from Gina K Designs

Stamps:

Main focal image stamps are all from the Perfectly Polished stamp set by Rupa Shevde for Gina K Designs

Sentiment is from Hip to Be Square set by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs

I colored the images with Copics, added some sparkle to the nail polish bottles with some Spica pens and covered the entire image with crystal lacquer to make it look like a window. The circle is stamped with Memento Angel Pink and the sentiment is Memento Rich Cocoa.

Here is the inside of the card:

I rarely add anything but a sentiment on the inside of my cards but one the sheets of dp in the Bittersweet pad has different border strips and this one went so well with this card that I had to cut it out and use it on the card. The sentiment on the inside is from the Eclectic Summer Sayings stamp set by Gina K.

Don't you just love these colors together? I sure do! I hope you enjoyed seeing my card today and I hope your creative mojo is ready for a whole new year of creativity! Here's to lots of creative cards and projects in 2010! Thanks for stopping by!