October CSS Alumni Blog Hop

It's time for the October CSS Alumni Blog Hop! Hope you didn't get thrown off by the change in day and time; just trying to keep everyone on their toes! You should have arrived here from Joy's blog (I'm sure she had something spectacular for you!). If you didn't come from Joy's blog and would like to get in on the hop from the beginning, please jump back to Stamp TV where you will find the whole list for the hop.

We are doing a sketch challenge this time based on this sketch from Melissa C. I had fun playing with this sketch and created two very different cards using it.

The first card I made is a sympathy card and I flipped the sketch the other direction for this one.

I used some of the gorgeous Pure Luxury Blue Raspberry card stock from Gina K Designs as the base. The second layer is Pure Luxury White. I stamped the butterfly border from Gina K Designs A Year of Borders three times with Versamark ink. I embossed the butterflies with Stampendous Winter Wonderland EP, which is sparkly in real life, but I couldn't capture it in the photo. I then sponged that layer with Memento Bahama Blue. I stamped the flower from the Gina K Designs set Stately Flowers 1 and the greeting from Heartfelt (also GKD). I cut that out using the Spellbinders long ovals and I sponged the edges with Bahama Blue.  The flower was colored with Copics. The extra butterfly is from the GKD stamp set A Beautiful Life and was also embossed and then sponged. All of the Gina K Designs items for both cards can be found by clicking here.

The second card I made follows the sketch a bit more literally. Here is the Christmas card I made.

I started with Pure Luxury White base weight card stock and layered this fabulous patterned paper from the Gina K Designs Blizzard pack. Isn't it just perfect for making holiday cards? I stamped the ornaments from the GKD set Joyful Holiday onto PL White paper. I used Memento markers direct to the stamps to color the details on the ornaments and stamped the ribbons in silver ink. I cut that out with a Spellbinders oval and layered it onto a scalloped oval of PL Red Hot and then onto another white oval. The poinsettia was made using the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Layered Poinsettia and I added a glittery gold brad to the center. I think the ribbon I used is some old Stampin' Up stuff I had in my stash.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my cards. Be sure to leave a comment at each of the blogs you visit because on Tuesday morning (October 30), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps! Hop on over to Linda's blog now to see what she has waiting for you.

September CSS Blog Hop with Something Special

Hello, and welcome to a special hop  -- a color combination challenge blog hop hosted by members of the Gina K. CSS Alumni team, which is also featuring hand drawn sets designed by Melanie Muenchinger and Theresa Momber. As you hop along make sure to leave a comment because on Tuesday morning (September 25), we will randomly choose two comments from all the blogs and two lucky individuals will each receive a Gina K. Designs Stamp Set (the winners will receive either a set designed by Melanie Muenchinger or Theresa Momber).

I hope you arrived here from the blog of the very talented Joy. If you didn't and would like to start the hop from the beginning, you can go to Stamp TV for the full list of participants.

I have two cards to share with you and both are made using stamp sets that were drawn by Theresa Momber. I chose to use Fanciful Fall and Heartfelt, both of which include stamps that are perfect for fall cards. I love fall, especially the colors, so I was super excited to combine these fabulous stamp sets with Sharri's color challenge, which was to use the Gina K Designs Pure Luxury colors of Pumpkin Spice, Fresh Asparagus and Sweet Corn plus neutral colors (white, ivory, black, and brown).

Here is my first card using Fanciful Fall.

Now for the second card featuring Heartfelt

I adore all of Theresa's sets, but these two are definitely among my favorites. She creates such beautiful stamp sets and, if you haven't seen her gorgeous cards be sure to visit her blog to enjoy her works of art (and to learn from her fabulous tutorials!).

Now hop on along to see what the always inspiring and talented Linda has waiting for you. Enjoy!

Stamp TV CSS August Hop

Hello, and welcome to the August CSS blog hop! If you came here from Joy's blog you are on the right track, but if you didn't and would like to start the hop at the beginning, please jump back over to Stamp TV for the full list of participants.

Today's hop is an inspiration hop based on this beautiful photo that Geri provided for us. I love the colors and the fall theme. I wish someone would come and decorate my front porch like this!

Here is the card I was inspired to make. I don't always get quite a literal with my card, but this time I couldn't help but pull out this door stamp from the Gina K Designs set "The Journey" by Asela Hopkins. It just fit so perfectly with this inspiration photo that I had to use it.

Card materials:
Cardstock: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart, Soft Sage, Ivory
Stamps: Gina K Designs: The Journey by Asela Hopkins; Autumn Beauty and Country Roads by Theresa Momber
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Toffee Crunch and Espresso Truffle; Copic markers; Distress Ink Summer Sky
Other: Flower Soft - Autumn
(All Gina K Designs items are available here.)

I hope you enjoyed seeing my little fall scene and are inspired by the inspiration photo to make your fall cards. Now hop along to Linda's blog to see the gorgeous creation she has waiting for you. But, before you go be sure to add a comment here and at all the other blogs as you hop along, because on Tuesday morning (August 28), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!

August Blog Hop with Sean and Regina

WELCOME TO THE AUGUST BLOG HOP!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for playing along in our August blog hop!  The Blog Hop with Sean & Regina is featuring cards and sentiments celebrating the fall season this month! After a very hot and humid July, most of us are looking forward to a cool and colorful fall! When we think of fall, our minds swirl like we are surrounded by falling leaves and a crisp cool breeze in the air. Each host/hostess will have a card creation posted that is his/her representation of what fall means to them.

Scrapbook Stamp Society is our blog hop sponsor!  The overall winner will receive digi’s from our sponsor.  Please visit them at http://scrapbookstampsociety.com/index.php?! 

Also some of our blog hop host/hostess designers will be offering blog candy as prizes on their blog sites, so please do not forget to visit his/her blog (and leave a comment) to be eligible for bonus blog hop prizes!

Here is my fall card. I love fall, mostly because of the beautiful colors. I love seeing the gorgeous fall leaves and the pumpkins that start showing up everywhere. So, I had to incorporate both into my card.

My card is made using Gina K Designs Pure Luxury brand new Tomato Soup card stock as the base. (Love this new color!). The a layer of Pure Luxury Dusty Sage. The strip on the left side is PL Honey Mustard with a piece of patterned paper from the new Gina K Designs Sun-kissed Autumn patterned paper pack. I used stamps from the new Gina K Designs set by Theresa Momber called Country Roads and from her set called Autumn Beauty stamped on PL Ivory paper. Inks used were Memento Espresso Truffle,Toffee Crunch and Summer Sky. I colored the trees, grass and pumpkins with Copics. The ribbon and the nail heads are from Gina K Designs also.  I hope my card inspires you to think of your favorite fall things.

Now it is your turn to blog hop with all of our friends!  The rules are simple:

Leave a comment on Regina’s blog first (and become a follower to enter a chance to win the grand prize from Scrapbook Stamp Society)!  :) 

Go down the list of blogs visiting all of them (see below).  Leave comments on their blog pages to be eligible for bonus blog candy from select blog hosts. The blog hop host/hostee offering bonus blog candy will indicate that he/she has a bonus blog candy prize so read their blog post carefully.  Each blog will have the name and blog address for the next host/hostess in line for the blog hop.  

At the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop prize from our sponsor and select blog hop hosts for Bonus Blog Candy.  The deadline for leaving comments is Monday, August 20, 2012 at 8pm CST.   Winners of the Grand Prize and bonus Blog Candy will be announced Tuesday, August 21, 2012. 

The Blog Hop with Sean & Regina participants are as follows:

Sean Fetterman	http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com
Regina Hardy	http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com
Melissa Cash	http://INKclinations.blogspot.com
Linda Anderson	http://stamperstouch.blogspot.com
Kay Simmons ** You are here!	http://livinlifeinthecreativelane.blogspot.com
Donna Rinckel	http://indianainking.blogspot.com
Ina Grehan	http://littlebitsofcraft.blogspot.com
Roxie Nitti	http://rnittistamping.stampinup.blogspot.com
Aixa Mercado	http://www.cardjewels.com
Jennifer Restivo	http://craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
Tracy Palmer	http://craftymomfl.blogspot.com

 

Thanks for visiting and joining in on the hop! Now jump on over to Donna's blog to see what she has created.

Stamp TV CSS Sketch Hop

Time sure does fly! I can't believe it is almost the middle of July already, and I haven't had a blog post since early June! Yikes! Today's post is another fun blog hop from the Stamp TV Center Stage Spotlight Alumni bunch. If you didn't arrive here from Joy's lovely blog, jump back over to Stamp TV, so you can start hopping at the beginning and won't miss anything.

We are doing a sketch hop today using this fun sketch created by Melissa. I like working from sketches because I can focus on the fun stuff like the colors, images, and embellishments instead of fussing about the layout/design. LOL! I do plenty of that, so it is nice to use someone else's idea sometimes to create a card, especially when the mojo is lacking as mine has been lately. Must be the summer heat!

Here is my card made from this sketch.

My photo isn't the best because my good camera was not working, so I had to use my iPhone for this photo. I used two of the new June release Gina K Designs stamp sets for this card. The main image and the palm fronds that are on the background (they are a bit hard to see in the photo) are from Theresa Momber's new set, Tropical Nature. This set is fabulous for summer or vacation cards. The sentiment is from that set also. I used the Pretty Patterns set that Melanie Muenchinger created for the latest release. Such a fun set to play with, and I tried it in the clear stamps so I could easily line the patterns up. I've not been a fan of clear stamps until now. I really love the high quality of the new "Clearly Gina" stamps. Give them a try if you haven't already!

Other card ingredients:
Cardstock: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Lime, Wild Dandelion, and White
Ink: Memento Dandelion, New Sprout, Desert Sand, Tuxedo Black, Summer Sky, Toffee Crunch
Ribbon: Carnival Ribbon Assortment from Gina K Designs

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to leave a comment at each blog as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (July 17), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!


Now head on over to Linda's beautiful blog to see how the sketch inspired her.

Stamp TV CSS Color Inspiration Hop

Welcome to another Stamp TV CSS Hop. We are doing a color inspiration hop this time and I'm sure you will see many takes on the wonderful color combo we worked with for this hop. I hope you arrived from Joy's wonderful blog, but if you didn't you can head back over to Stamp TV and start the hop from the beginning.

Here is our inspiration photo. Aren't the colors gorgeous? We were to use pinks, purples, greens and neutrals (white, ivory, brown or black) for our cards and to be inspired by whatever else grabbed us from this beautiful collage of photos.

 I was, of course, inspired by the beautiful, rich color palette and by the flowers. Here is where that inspiration led me.

I used all Gina K Designs Pure Luxury cardstock in Bubblegum Pink, Fresh Asparagus, Wild Lilac, Lovely Lavender, and White. The patterned papers are also Gina K Designs from the Parisian Garden paper pack (one of my absolute favorites!) The image and sentiment are from the Gina K Celebrate in Style stamp duo, which I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and paper pieced. I cut the image out using the  Spellbinders Labels 11 dies.  I used the Stampin' Up Adorning Accents Edgelits die to create the scalloped edges and the coordinating Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing folder to add the matching embossed scallop.

I hope you are inspired by these lovely colors and the creative cards along the hop. Make sure to leave a comment as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (June 12), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!

Now hop on over to see the gorgeous creation Melissa has waiting for you.

Stamp TV CSS Inspiration Hop

Welcome to another Stamp TV CSS hop. If you arrived here from Joy's lovely blog, you are on the right track. If you need to start at the beginning of the hop, go to Stamp TV to see the full list of participants and start at the top of the hop.

This time we are doing an inspiration hop based on the fabulous photo below selected for us by Brenda.

Don't you love the colors, patterns and textures in this photo? I did, and I used them as my inspiration! Here is the card I made for today's hop.

Card elements:

Card base: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Cranberry Tart

Cardstock: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Ivory

Patterned Paper: From my stash!

Stamps: Gina K Designs Lovely Shelf

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Distress Ink Walnut Stain; Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride

Miscellaneous: Pearls, Copic markers, Nestabilities Labels 22

Want more inspiration? Hop along to see the gorgeous creation Linda has waiting for you. Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog as you hop along because on Tuesday morning (May 15), we will randomly choose one of the comments from all the blogs and that person will receive a huge grab bag of fabulous Gina K. Designs Stamps!

Thanks for hopping with us!