Snowy Village

I finally was able to get started on some holiday cards this weekend. I'm having a hard time believing it is November already so it is hard to get in the groove to make Christmas/Winter/Holiday cards but I forced myself to start working on some. Listening to some holiday music seemed to help me get in the mood!

Tonight I'm sharing one card that I made using a non-holiday stamp set! I used the Gina K Designs stamp set called "Welcome Home"by Rupa Shevde. The little row of houses seemed to fit so well with the designer paper from the Basic Grey pad, "Eskimo Kisses" and I figured adding some snow and holiday decorations would make them look very festive and wintery.

The base is Gina K Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart and the dp is Basic Grey. I stamped the image onto Pure Luxury White and colored it with Copic markers. I added Stampendous Crystal Snow glitter to the trees, the rooftops and in front of the houses. I used green Stickles to add garland to the fences and porch post and added some holiday stick-on rhinestones for Christmas lights on the houses. I punched the bottom edge with a snowflake punch I picked up at Archivers a while back (can't recall the brand right now) and used the snowflakes that were punched out to decorate the top edge. I pressed each one into a glue pad and then into SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I sponged a bit of SU Blue Sky ink along the snowflakes to make them stand out and at the top for a touch of "sky" above the houses. The greeting is stamped in Memento Rhubarb Stalk and is from the Gina K Designs stamp set, "Holiday Hospitality."

I made a couple of other holiday cards and will share another one tomorrow night so check back! Hope you had a great weekend and that the upcoming week is a good one for you.

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!

I'm Baaack!

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last posted! Where does the time go? Getting the school year finished and moving on to all of our summer activities has kept me busy and without much time to make cards. I hate that! I really miss having my creative time. We made our annual trip to Florida last week (June 29-July3) and the much anticipated fun in the sun did not happen. It rained the entire week, and I don't mean just sprinkles. One of the days we were there Tampa broke their one-day rainfall record which was set back in 1953 or something like that! We have been going to Florida for a week in June for years and have never experienced weather like that. The boys were not too happy, although they did manage to get in a little bit of time in the ocean on a couple of the days. The rainy, stormy weather stirred up some great waves so they had a blast playing in those between the rain storms. Luckily I had taken some pre-stamped images and my watercolor supplies (Peerless watercolors, watercolor pencils and some of my Twinkling H2Os) so I had fun painting up some images that I can use on cards at some point. I had forgotten how much I enjoy using watercolors. My markers have taken over my cards, especially my Copics, so I don't use watercolors much. I think I might start using them more now that I have reminded myself of how much I like them!


Here is a card I made last night to send to a friend whose birthday is tomorrow. (Lucky for me she lives in town so she will get it by tomorrow!) The paper I used on this card is all from Stampin' Up. The base of the card is Close to Cocoa. The DP is from Stampin' Up and was one they discontinued recently; I don't recall the name of it right now. The pink label is SU Pirouette Pink from last year's In Color line and the red piece under the scallops is Riding Hood Red from SU's In Colors. The yummy cake stamp, candle and sentiment are all from the new 100% Sweet set by Rupa Shevde for Gina K. Designs. Love that set! There are so many yummy treats to stamp. A word of caution with that set -- don't stamp with it when you are hungry! LOL!

Do you see those little rhinestones on the four corners of the label? Those are the new rhinestones from Gina K Designs. I colored them with my Copic marker to make them that reddish-pink color so they would coordinate with the card. It works like a charm to color them with your Copics; no smearing or color coming off on your hands. How great is that??
I hope you are all having a wonderful summer! Enjoy the beautiful weather!