Gina K Designer Challenge

Tonight's design team challenge is to think of a favorite summer time memory and use it as your inspiration for creating a card made with one (or several) of the stamp sets released in May. For all the specific details on how to enter your card in Gina's Design Team challenge, please visit GinaK's blog.

I made two cards for tonight's challenge. The first card was based on all of my childhood memories of going to the lake when I was a kid. There was nothing better than having long, sweet summer days to dig in the sand and swim. We did a lot of camping and visiting my grandparents' cottage when I was growing up and that was the epitome of summer for me, especially since I endured the long winters of northern Wisconsin! While I don't camp anymore, I still love the beach and I still feel like that is the height of summer when I can sit in the sun at the beach (not to mention it makes a pretty good respite in the middle of winter when I can get away to warm, sunny beaches!).

I made this card with Pure Luxury Red Hot paper as the base. The fun patterned paper came from the April card kit that came with the Gina K Designs stamp set Quite a Catch. I used a piece of the new Pure Luxury Grass Green paper and another piece of the Red Hot paper under the focal images. I stamped the pail with the shovels and the beach ball, colored them with Copics, and popped them up on dimensionals. The waves are pieces of designer paper that also came with the April card kit onto which  I put some Frosted Lace Stickles to give the waves some sparkle. The "sand" is Flower Soft. It is called sand and it definitely looks like sand. I colored the sky with pencils and OMS. The sentiment is stamped on Pure Luxury Wild Dandelion and cut out with a nestability scalloped circle.

The second card I made is a simple, sunny and summery card. Flowers and bright sunshiny colors have always meant summer to me. My grandmothers and my mother always had a lot of flowers in their yards in the summertime. I suppose since we lived in northern Wisconsin they filled their gardens with as many flowers and colors as they could since the summers were short and they wanted to cram as much brightness as possible into the brief warm months we had! So, my card is based on the memory and joy of summer flower gardens, which I still love!

The card is made with Pure Luxury Sweet Mango paper and then layered with a really yummy, sparkly patterned paper from the DCWV mat stack, Citrus. If you haven't looked at the mat stacks from DCWV, take a peek; you will love them! This one has some papers that are glittery and, oh, they are gorgeous! The flowers and the sentiment are from the Stamp TV Kit - Enjoy the Sunshine. I used Twinkling H20s to color the flowers. It doesn't show up on the photo but the flowers have some shimmer to them from the H20s. I don't use them very often but when I do I always like the results and wonder why I don't pull them out more often! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by my blog tonight. Now stop by these participating GinaK Design Team member's blogs for their projects for tonight's hop:

• Jessica Fick
• Nina Brackett
• Theresa Momber
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Tami Mayberry
• Cathy Tidwell
• Lee Murphy
• Donna Baker
• Kurtis Amundson
• Carolyn King
• Emily Giovanni
• Erika Martin

Botanicals Blog Hop

Tonight we are featuring the new Botanicals stamp set with a special technique themed blog hop event!
All of the designer's participating in tonight's hop were asked to choose a technique or techniques to use with cards made using the Botanicals set.

I have two cards to share tonight. The first was made using the "thumping" technique, which is simply taking several colors of markers and tapping or bouncing them on your stamp to get a mix of the colors. It gives things a unique look and each time you do it the colors/design come out differently. Here is my card:

The flowers were made by thumping the stamp with three different colors of marker: SU Coral Cameo, Memento Canteloupe, and SU So Saffron. The card base is Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss with Pure Luxury Creme de Menthe (love that color) layered on top. The designer paper is from Cosmo Cricket Earth Love. The other colors used are SU Groovy Guava and Pure Luxury Sweet Corn.

The second card I made for tonight features heat embossing for the flowers. I made this as a sympathy card for a dear friend of ours whose mother passed away this weekend.

                                       

                                     

I used SU Going Gray as the base for this card and layered that with SU Apricot Appeal. I brayered the background with Going Gray, Barely Blue, Apricot Appeal and Pretty in Pink inks (all from SU). The flowers were stamped with Versamark and embossed with black embossing powder. It is different from some of my cards but I like the way it turned out.

Please visit these designer's blogs for their project using a variety of techniques all made with the Botanicals stamp set:

• Jessica Fick
• Suzanne Dean
• Colleen Schaan
• Bev Gerard
• Jennie Harper
• Sharri Seffens
• Donna Baker
• Lee Murphy
• Nina Brackett
• Erika Martin
• Brenda Turner
• Giovana Smith
• Tina Gilliland
• Carla Suto
• Linda Payne
• Kay Simmons
• Vicki Dutcher
• Karen Knegten

Then, for even more samples with the Botanicals stamp set, visit the StampTV gallery here: botanicals.  To view more information about the free card kit that is included with the purchase of the Botanicals stamp set, click here.

Anniversary Card, Cabin Card, and Graduation Gift Card

I have a rather eclectic group of cards to share tonight for different occasions and from different stamp companies.

The first card is for my parents for their 62nd wedding anniversary. Isn't that amazing!! I hope and pray they will celebrate their 65th or even their 70th anniversaries! I don't very often take time to stamp or embellish the inside of my cards but this one I did and I really like how it turned out.

I made the card with Pure Luxury White base weight and layered it with the new Pure Luxury Wild Dandelion (love that color!). I embossed it with a Texturz plate in the Big Shot. I used various nestabilities ovals and labels to create the focal image and the sentiment. The gingham ribbon is also the new Wild Dandelion and comes in the Stamp TV kit "Enjoy the Sunshine."

The second card tonight was made a while back using a stamp set I received from my friend, Kim, over at RaisinBoat stamps. Have you seen their stamps?? Fun, fun, fun! And, if you don't want to commit to your stamp sets for the long haul or don't have storage space for them, Raisin Boat is the answer for you! Their whole concept is built around the "Netflix" idea where you rent stamp sets, use them as much and for as long as you like, and then return them. Or if you rent a set and really love it, you can buy it. There is a monthly low rental fee and you make your list just like you do with your movies so they can send your picks out to you. If this sounds like something you'd like to try, head on over to Raisin Boat and please mention that you heard about them on my blog (it won't get you a discount or any freebies but I'd like them to know that you heard about them from me). 

This card was made with one of their popular sets called, "Pier Happiness."

 And, finally, I have a cute little graduation gift card holder I made for my dearest friend's daughter who graduated from high school this past Friday night. I learned how to make these from a Stampin' Up demo, who got the pattern from someone but I don't have the proper reference to give that person credit. Sorry about that! Please forgive me for not having your information if you are the person who came up with this clever card!

This was a bit hard to photograph because I embossed the sentiment onto the shimmery paper so I kept getting glare from both of them! The mortar board pulls up (it is velcroed shut) and the gift card or money slips into an opening inside. The image is from a Stampin' Up set called "Go, Graduate." 

That's all for tonight! Thanks for stopping by!