Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives---when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.

Monday, June 14, 2010

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:

14 comments:

Cat Tidwell said...

Both of these are just gorgeous Kay! Love that 2nd ones colors, so bright and 'summery', perfect!!

Lee said...

Beautiful cards.....I soooo adore that sweet little beach scene!!! Enjoying some time at a lake in summer sounds like heaven!!

Lorraine said...

Love your bright summery card and your gorgeous flowery one! Perfect for summer!

Lagene said...

Both of your cards are Beautiful!!!!

Tammy Q Howell said...

Fun and pretty cards! Love the lake scene and paper in the background. The flower card is so beautiful!

NinaB said...

So pretty, Kay. I love how you did the waves on the first and colors of the second.

Carolyn King said...

beautiful cards Kay! Love the fun beach and the flower card is lovely!

Theresa Momber said...

What beautiful cards, Kay! Love that beach scene and the gorgeous coloring on your flower card.

Carla S. said...

Both cards are beautiful, Kay! Love the fun beach scene you created! Wonderful coloring and DP on your flower card!

Unknown said...

Great cards, Kay! You've done such a great job with the stamp sets this month!! Thank you SO MUCH for all you've done for us as our guest designer!!!

Unknown said...

Awesome cards! asela

Missy said...

Great cards for the hop. I liked looking around your blog.

Becky said...

Wonderful cards.

Regina Mangum said...

Hi Kay! Your cards are fabulous! I love your happy colors. By the way, thank you so much for your incredibly sweet comment on my Gallery Idol card. You made my day, truly, and I appreciate your support. I'm especially glad you stopped by, though, so that I could discover you wonderful work! Have a terrific rest of your week and weekend!