Spellbinders design team finalist!

Hi everyone!  "We interrupt this packing and preparation for CHA frenzy to bring you some totally fun news!"  I made it as a finalist for the Spellbinders DT!  Check out this fabulous list of talent.  Once again, happy to see my fellow Gina K Designs designers, AJ and Carolina made the cut!

Lindsay Amrhein
Carolina Buchting
Melyssa Connolly
Kimberly Crawford
Tonya Dirk
Christine Emberson
Allie Gower
Judy Hayes
Lesley Langdon
Lori Leng
Kristina Markford
Mary Marsh
Tina McDonald
Julianne McKenna-DeLumen
AJ Otto
Windy Robinson
Gloria Stengel
Kim Teasdale
Shanna Vineyard
Michelle Woerner
Latisha Yoast
Deborah Young

In the final round we will all be sent the same Spellbinders™ Paper Arts product and asked to create an assignment.  Pretty exciting stuff, huh?  Wish me luck!! 

Now back to packing!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Baby boy

Hi everyone!  I am preparing to leave for CHA, so this blog post will be short.  My card today uses the cutie new Verve set, To the Moon.  I absolutely LOVE the whimsical Verve-y style to this baby set.  Seriously, an instant FAVORITE of mine! 

I totally fell in love with how Amy made the elephant hanging out of the window and had to do the same thing with this card!  The strip of horizontal stars is actually made from an accent stamp of 3 stars.  I added a small silver pearl to the larger stars.  Happy sigh...

The sketch is last week's Card Pattern's sketch 98.  Yeah, a week late -that's how I roll lately.  lol!

I leave for CHA Friday morning and won't be home until late Tuesday, so things will be quiet around here.  There will be one pre-posted special blog hop on Feb 1st, so keep an eye out for that.  Thanks for stopping by!

Card Deets:

Stamps - To the Moon
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock - Pure Luxury White
Pattern Paper -Marjoriane 6x6 pad (Basic Grey)
Accessories - scallop trim and word window punch (SU!), square nesties (Spellbinders), silver pearls Reflections for Michael's, copic markers, silver cord

Love is in the Air -JustRite challenge

Hi everyone!  Welcome to this week’s JustRite Challenge.  All of the Stamp Simply girls are playing today and we hope you can play along with us!  There is a wonderful prize package being offered with a value of $100, partially sponsored by The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store for one lucky player.  This week’s challenge is Love is in the Air, which is to create a project reflecting love.  Check out the full details and post your entries at the JustRite Blog.

My card uses the JR cling set, Garden Fairy Wishes.  I just love this precious fairy image!  AND she is sitting on a mushroom, how way cute is that?!?  The paper and flowers I used on the card are found in the Stamp Simply English Rose Kit (which is part of the FABU prize!).  I colored the fairy with copic markers and added some stickles accents to the circle and the dots on the paper.  The strips of paper are part of the "strips" paper in the pad and are EMBOSSED!  I love that about these Kaiser pads -the papers are embossed, glittered and flocked -oh my!  The sentiment is actually much longer, but I inked up only the middle part with a brown marker to fit on my card.

The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store carries the full JustRite line and is fully stocked with all new product in both the original ribbed and cling versions as well as dies.  To order from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store just send Sharon an email at ssj@up.net, along with your state/zip or country, and she'll get an invoice out to you.

Here is the hop list!  Be sure to check them all out and see what Love projects they have made for you!

JustRite Stampers Blog
Sharon Johnson (Stamp Simply Ribbon Store)
Linda Duke
Holly McMillen
Barb Schram
Michelle Woerner -You are here!
Deb Saaranen
Jerri Jimenez
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the hop!  I'll leave you with a close up picture.

Card Deets:

Stamps - Garden Fairy Wishes (JustRite Stampers)
Ink -Memento Rich Cocoa
Cardstock - Vintage Cream
Pattern Paper - English Rose 6x6 paper pad (Kaisercraft)
Accessories - Fairytale roses in Orchid, 1/4" silk burgundy ribbon, circle nestabilities (all from Stamp Simply Ribbon Store), Stardust stickles, word window and scallop trim punch (SU!), Memory Thread in Dark Ecru (DMC), copic markers, branch punch (Martha)

My cousin, my hero

Hi everyone!  I'm not sure if you saw the announcement on the Verve blog, but Julee has created a new Diva Inspiration team!  This team is to focus on using the lovely older Verve sets.  Let me tell you, this has caused some GREAT excitement among the Verve fans who expressed they LOVE seeing some of the older sets showcased! 

Today I am excited to share a couple projects that use the fabulous set, American Hero.  These cards were inspired by my cousin who has FINALLY come home after serving our country with 4 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.  You can see my older blog post about Kyle here.

This first circle card celebrates his homecoming with a celebration!  I stamped the Celebrate sentiment, colored it and cut out each letter so it would fit on the square panel.  The stars are colored and cut out as well.  The stripes along the bottom are from Bountiful Backgrounds and the cake and celebrate sentiment are from Birthday Bash.

This next card is a simple card that says it all.

So, let me know what you think about our new team that focuses on older Verve sets!  Are there any sets in particular you would like me to use?  I welcome all suggestions!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Card Deets:

Stamps - American Hero, Bountiful Backgrounds, Birthday Bash (Verve Stamps)
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - White and Kraft CS
Accessories - Classic and Scalloped circle and classic square Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Burlap string (May Arts), Sketch Copic markers, Stickles in yellow, red and blue rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

Quick and easy!

Hi everyone!  I have some quick and easy cards to share today using the PTI's Color Couture, Volume 10 and 12.

My first 2 cards were inspired by this week's CAS102 challenge -to use the sketch by cindybstampin's card. These are all pretty simple -I seriously made all 4 in about 3 hours, which TRUST me is fast for me!!

These next 2 cards use an old layout I used from the last time I made some Color Couture cards (yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it I say!!).  Both of these cards use Verve's new Classy Label Die from the new A Cut Above die line.  The second card uses a tiny cupcake from the set, Birthday Bash.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Birthday basics (PTI), birthday bash (for cupcake) (Verve Stamps)
Ink - Black
Cardstock - white
Accessories - Color Couture kit, pearls and rhinestones, buttons, baker's twine, stickles, copic markers, Classy Label Die, liquid applique

For those of you interested, I have listed this set of cards in my Etsy Store, CardsbyMichelle. 

Random Amusing Challenge #100 blog hop

Hi everyone!  I have a special card for you all today.  I was asked by Glenda, from Papers, Scissors & Rocks, to play along in her 100th challenge celebration blog hop and I was happy to say YES!  Glenda has a weekly challenge on her blog and she is at her 100th challenge!  Congrats Glenda, that's quite an accomplishment.

Glenda's Random Amusing Challenge #100 is to use red on your card or project.  That's it!  Use as much or as little as you like.  Incorporate it by using paper, ink, ribbon, embellishments, whatever you want!

The Stamp Simply Ribbon store just received all the newest Kaisercraft paper pads in stock and after seeing the amazing After Five pad I was TOTALLY inspired to make this wedding card. This card is different from what I usually make.  I am more inclined to use a premade embellishment rather than making one of my own -uhhhh... can you say PRIMA?!?.  But I saw this simple tutorial on Kim's blog yesterday and really wanted to try it myself.

I made my flower using a couple sizes of Blossom Nestabilities and a Circle.  Before I did anything, I inked the edges up with Lipstick Red copic marker.  The paper pad also has some shiny silver patterns in it and I used them to make the double scalloped layers and a tiny piece on the sentiment tag.

Soooooo, be sure check out all the fabulous stampers who are playing along today!  They all will dazzle you with their red creations.  Everyone who plays along in the challenge will be eligible to win a fabulous prize (pictured on Glenda's Blog)!  If you play along, please link up your entry on Glenda's blog.  If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword GRAC100.  You have until midnight Pacific Time on January 23rd to play along AND you can play along as many times as you like.  The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on January 24th.

Glenda!!

Allison Fillo
Allison Miles
Beate Johns
Belinda Chang Langner
Carly Robertson
Cheiron Brandon
Chris Sather
Dawn Stein
Donna Hitz
Elena Shacochis
Geeta Suggs
Jenn Shurkus
Jennie Moczan 
Jill Grace
Joan Jeffery
June Gibbons
Kamila Younkman
Krystie Lee Hersch
Meghan Fahey
Michelle Clark
Michelle Mathey
Michelle Woerner -YOU ARE HERE!
Nance Lempinen-Leedy
Sherry Czarnecki
Silke Ledlow
Teresa Kline 

Thanks for stopping by and I'll leave you with a close up picture as you scroll on down!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Lovely Labels 2 for sentiment (Gina K Designs)
Ink - black
Cardstock - white
Pattern Paper - After Five 6x6 pad (Kaisercraft)
Accessories - Satin edged grosgrain in red and green, red pearls (Stamp Simply Ribbon Store), Blossom and Circle Nestabilities (Gina K Designs), Copic Marker (Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts)

Verve Love Note cards

Hi everyone!!  I have a couple cards to share today using the totally cute new Verve stamps set, Love Notes and matching Jotted Heart Die!  Totally. Love. This set. And die!  Yep, Julee designed an amazing release this month, be sure to check them all out here!

My cards follow the same layout and use the new Bo Bunny 6x6 pad, Crush.  I love the traditional colors in this pad - pinks, red, white and black.  SO CRISP!  I have had the Large scalloped square Nestabilities for some time now and I finally got around to making these cutie scalloped shaped cards.  Just love.

And here is the second card.  Confession: I have an aversion to black ribbon.  There.  I said it.  Black ribbon makes me think of sympathy cards and I have such trouble using it on other type cards.  But, it's soooo pretty, I forced myself to use it here and I think it works with the bright pink button in the center!!

Sigh, aren't the sentiments in this set totally CUTE?!?  I mean HUGS?  Yippeee!  Oh, and you may have noticed that the heart image has both red and black ink on it.  I wanted the black for the outline (to tie in with the black card base), but wanted something softer for the inner lines.  Here is how I did it: 

First, I inked the entire stamp in red.  Next I took a baby wipe and carefully wiped off the red ink from the heart outline.

Then I took my black ink spot (this size is easier to handle), and inked the heart border.  I wasn't concerned if a bit of the inner dotted lines got some black on it, I thought looked cool that way.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  I will leave you with some close up pictures.

Card Deets:

Stamps - Love Notes (Verve Stamps)
Ink - Black, Real Red, Regal Rose (SU!)
Cardstock - Pure Luxury Black and White (Gina K Designs)
Pattern Paper -  Bo Bunny Crush 6x6 pad (Stamp Simply Ribbon Store)
Accessories - A Cut Above Jotted heart die (Verve Stamps), Large scalloped and classic square nesties (Gina K Designs), black wrinkled ribbon (Stamp Simply Ribbon Store), buttons and black Kaiser pearls (Pink hedgehog Papercrafts), Swiss Dots EF, White floss (DMC), stick pins from craft supply

Sent with Love cards

Hi everyone!  I sat down last night to make a card using this ADORABLE cuckoo clock image from the new StampTV Kit set, Sent with Love.  Then with the supplies I still had on my desk, I made another card!  Love when this happens!

This cuckoo card uses the adorable pattern paper from Bo Bunny's Crazy Love 6x6 pad.  I colored the image with copic markers and added a touch of shimmer with my Sakura Stardust pen in pink.  The ribbon is the pink wrinkled ribbon and I added a punched heart with a button.  Cutie!!!

My next card uses my FAV image in the set, the heart tree -I HEART this tree!  heehee!  I used the same Small Long Rectangle nestie, pattern paper, pink cardstock, glitter pen, copic markers, button and string.  The ribbon is again the wrinkled ribbon in brown and tied into a double bow.  This ribbon makes such lovely double bows!!  Kinda cool how different they look, but they use almost the exact same products!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!  I will leave you with a couple close up pictures.

Card Deets:

Stamps - Sent with Love (Stamp TV Kit by Gina K)
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa
Cardstock - Kraft, pretty in pink, dark chocolate, vintage cream
Pattern Paper - Crazy Love 6x6 pad (Bo Bunny from the Stamp Simply Ribbon store)
Accessories - buttons from Fuchsia collection and copic markers (Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts), linen thread and scallop trim punch (SU!), Sakura stardust pen, score pal

See this?

Woohoo!  I made it to the Round One of the Spellbinders Design Team search!  Wish me luck!  I am happy to say my fellow GKD DT girls Carolina and AJ made it as well!  Check out the link below to see what other lovely talented ladies made it.

2011 Spellbinders Design Team Finalists - Round One!

Gina K Previews Day 4 and RELEASE DAY

Hi everyone!  Welcome to the final day of previews for the Gina K Designs January release.  Tonight is the release party and the fun starts tonight at 7 pm central on StampTV. There will be challenges, contest questions, and more samples from our designers on all the new stamp sets being released this month! All the new sets will be available to everyone at 10pm central.

Today we are sharing sneak peeks of Gleefully Yours and Smile, which is the Free with 3 set.  My first card uses Gleefully Yours -this classy set was designed by Nina Brackett and is SO on trend right now!  Are you a Glee fan?  Either way you will LOVE this set!  It has 7 images and 5 sentiments.

My next card uses Smile.  Oh this little set is SO CUTE!  I was completely smitten by the trees image (which I am sure someone else used, so you can see what I mean), but strangely they didn't make it to this card.  Funny how that happens.  This set has 1 frame, 2 images and 3 sentiments.  I embossed the frame and added a tiny bit of green to it with a copic marker. 

P.S. See how I sewed around those corners?  Man, I need some tips on how to do this because I about broke my machine with all the stopping, turning, you should see the mess on the underside -yikes!

Once again, Gina is giving away TWO of EACH set to lucky commenters!  The winners will be announced tomorrow on THIS blog entry just before the Release Party starts.  So, be sure to leave a comment on each blog along the hop for more chances to win!

EDITED to answer some questions:

1. The flower on my Class Act card was purchased from Wild Orchid Crafts
2. On my You brighten my Day card, I embossed the dotted frame image by using orange pigment ink and embossing it with clear powder

Here are the GKD girls who have previews for you today.  Check them out!!

• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Colleen Schaan
• Deb Felts
• Emily Giovanni
• Gina K
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner
• Nina Brackett -designer for Gleefully Yours
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you at the release party!!  Oh and I will be hosting a Release Party Challenge which will be announced at the party tonight.  My "Class Act" card is for my challenge, I wonder if you can guess what it is?  lol!! 

I'll leave you with some closeups as you scroll your way through Google Reader!

Gina K Design Preview Day 3

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Day 3 of the Gina K Designs January release previews!  Today we are previewing the Sent With Love StampTV Kit!!  This stamp set is fabulous and has a little bit of something for everyone.  There are 11 images and 7 sentiments that will carry you throughout the year of occasions.

I bought a pack of 6 mini cards (2 of each color) W/envies from Craft Warehouse on sale for 50 cents, cause they were from a spring collection!  Oh, I LOVES me a good sale!  I made a trio of mini cards using these adorable images.  I will show 2 today and save the 3rd for the Release party tomorrow night!  Here are the blank note cards:

And here is what I made with them.

The red heart border actually is a sticker from Doodlebug Designs.  I thought it matched the hearts on the tree perfectly!!

On the next one, I stamped the lovely blossom image with a pale green ink and highlighted it a tiny bit with copic markers.  Then, I die cut image using the Nestabilities Label 16.  The sentiment is the same as above, but here I just inked the word love.

Like the first 2 days, Gina is giving away TWO kits to lucky commenters!  The winners will be announced tomorrow on THIS blog entry just before preview Day 4.  So, be sure to leave a comment on each blog along the hop for more chances to win!

Here are the GKD girls who have previews for you today.  Check them out!!

• AJ Otto
• Asela Hopkins
• Carolina Buchting
• Carolyn King
• Cathy Tidwell
• Colleen Schaan
• Deb Felts
• Emily Giovanni
• Gina K
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner -YOU ARE HERE!
• Tami Mayberry
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Valerie Stangle
• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow.  I will back for the final day of previews and the release party which will be Thursday evening (7-10 pm CST), over at StampTV.  See ya there!

Gina K Designs Preview Day 2

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Day 2 of the January release for Gina K Designs.  We will be sharing sneak peeks all week and hope you'll be able to join us Thursday evening (7-10 pm CST), for the release party over at StampTV.

Today we will sharing some sneak peeks of Dino-Mite and Hopeful Hearts.  Be sure to leave a comment on each blog along the hop as Gina is giving away TWO of EACH set to lucky commenters!  The winners will be announced tomorrow on THIS blog entry just before preview day 3.

Today, I have 2 samples using the cute, MUST have set for moms of little boys, Dino-Mite illustrated by Theresa Momber!  My first card uses the totally cute Brontosaurus (I think that's what it is, I should ask Daniel -ha!) and some of the Basic Grey, Granola paper that I keep around JUST for little boy cards like this.  If you are a bit intimated on how to color dinosaur images (like me), you can do a little bit of shading and call it good.  The shading pattern is already on the stamp, so you don't have to figure that part out.  Yeah, I tend to get confused with the whole, "which way the sun is falling onto your image" thing -lol!  Hey, we all can't color like the amazing Theresa!!

My next card uses this week's StampTV Sketch Spotlight challenge (STVSKSP7)!  It's a fun sketch and perfect for this T-Rex image.  This time I paper pieced the dinosaur, which is another cute way to get around coloring the image.  The pattern paper is from MME, Fine and Dandy, True Blue. 

Here is the list of the GKD designers who have samples to share today.  Check them out!

• AJ Otto
• Asela Hopkins
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Colleen Schaan
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Emily Giovanni
• Gina K
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Lee Murphy
• Melanie Muenchinger
• Michelle Woerner -you are here!
• Tami Mayberry -illustrator of Hopeful Hearts
• Theresa Momber -illustrator of Dino-mite
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

 Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for tomorrow's peeks!!

Christmas thank yous and a special Featured Stamper

Hi everyone!  Well, it's the new year, tomorrow starts school for the kiddos and life goes back to normal (whatever that means, ha).  So, now is the time for us to send out all those Christmas Thank you cards!  I just wasn't ready to put away all that gorgeous Christmas paper I barely made a dent in, so I used some on my cards.

These were fast and super easy to make.  I used the SU! 1 1/4" square punch and punched out 4 pattern paper squares and then 2 squares of a solid paper in the pack.  I then cut the 2 solid squares in 1/2 and glued them to the bottom with a little peeking out.  I punched the snowflake with the coordinating solid paper, added the twine and some bling -done! 

These first 2 cards use the Echo Park papers, Merry Christmas.  The sentiment is from GKD, Seeds of Kindness.  (hummm, the picture is awfully dark, sorry)

My next cards use the KaiserCraft, Be Merry 6x6 pad.  These papers were one of my favorites this year because I am a sucker for traditional green and red!  Don't worry, there are also some splashes of brown in this collection too. 

Next I want to share a card I made for the SCS Featured Stamper challenge.  I haven't played along in this challenge in awhile, but since it honors one of the sweetest and supportive online friends I know, Marisa -I HAD to!!   I cased this cutie circle card! I just loves me some circle cards, right Marisa? I used the GKD set, Bug Me Anytime and the sentiment is from Seeds of Kindness. The small piece of PP is from Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely! Such happy colors!

This card is also for the CopicOZ challenge (hosted by my Aussie BFF, Kathy), to make a summertime card that use yellow and green copic markers!  I used Y11, Y15, Y17, G40 and G82.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!