Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year

Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a healthy and happy 2010!

Also, I wanted to fill you in on a few holiday sales:

Stamper's Dream is having a sale on all Prism Paper and Spellbinder's dies. The new JustRite release is also on sale. Check it out HERE.

My Favorite Things is having a Countdown to Savings sale. You can find all the details and specials HERE.

Gina K Designs has been having a Christmas sale that runs through this evening. Get a FREE stamp set ($20.95 value) with any $35 purchase. More details HERE.

Gina K New release sneak peeks begin on SUNDAY!!! See you then!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas! All stamps from Holiday Cheer Stamp TV Kit (Gina K Designs).
See you in 2010!
xo

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Clarification...

I am so sorry. I didn't mean for so many of you to come to the wrong conclusion on that last post. We are all fine.

1. My husband hurt his back last week. His injury has caused intense leg pain and nerve weakness in his foot. We are unsure if he will be transported to another "undisclosed" location or be sent to Germany for surgery. It has been a week full of ups and downs with this as it looked like he was possibly going to come home....and now...no clue???? He is trying to do everything he can to stay and fulfil his commitment and the good news is that the steroids and injections are giving him some relief. It's a waiting game.

2. My son's birthday is this week. He is the one most affected by his father being gone. He is doing well but is, once again, being riddled with some irritable bowel (type) issues. (NOT fun with a first grader who is in school all day.)

3. I usually take time off for Christmas break. I am just taking a bit of extra time with all the added responsibilities I have this year. I find that if I am busy thinking about other things....I cannot make anything nice anyway!

So, I am just trying to lighten my load so that I can handle everything around here...

Thank you so much for all the emails/calls. We are good.

Merry Christmas y'all and SEE you in the new year!

HUGS and xo

Happy Holidays!

Some things have come up that have made an already hectic/busy time even more so. I am taking off from blogging for a bit as my kids need me more than ever and my heart is just not into stamping right now.

I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season........See you in 2010!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Blog Candy Winner

Hi everyone! Today was a busy day. I was at my son's school volunteering for most of it and then had to take my daughter to the dentist.

Sorry for the delay in posting the Milestone Blog Candy winner. Random.Cara chose #119. Congratulations to Marsha who said "I enjoy looking at your blog everyday. You are an incredible artist and I love seeing what you post for the day.(Have even CASED some of your cards) Congratulations!"

Marsha, please email your address in the next few days to claim your prize.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to all of YOU for all the wonderful comments you left on the blog candy post. :)

HUGS!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Inspiration on a Platter

Yippee!!

Check it out HERE! Hope you will play along.....I would love to see what you create!! Thanks Cath!

Happy Tuesday y'all!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Old Country Christmas

Happy Monday!
Today I have a quick card to share. When I am thinking of some ideas for cards or just have a creative block, I often check out some of my favorite sites for a good challenge to get the juices flowing. I came across the Christmas in the Old Country challenge on the Moxie Fab blog and just had to give it a try. Here is what I came up with:I created a traditional old country "charm" card...using colors that I thought evoked a feeling of earlier times (cranberry tart, fresh asparagus) . I kept the design very simple because, to me, old country=simplicity.
I cut the tree shapes out of cardstock and inked the edges before attaching them to the card. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the heart and added a button with a hemp bow. The sentiment (from Warm & Cozy Christmas) is embossed on the red cardstock. A strip of Basic Grey doilies cardstock and some machine stitching complete the design.

Sometimes the perfect start to the week is a GREAT challenge!

Materials used: Stamps-sentiment-Warm & Cozy Christmas (Gina K Designs); white embossing powder, versamark, heat tool; cardstock-cranberry tart, fresh asparagus, kraft, white (Gina K Designs); button (Gina K Designs); hemp; heart punch (Martha Stewart); sewing machine.

Don't forget to enter to win my "Two Years of Blogging" Candy below! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Milestone Blog Candy

EDIT: This contest is now closed. The winner is posted above!
Thank YOU so much for your comments, readership and friendship over the past two years. This has been such an amazing adventure.

Here is the blog candy package I put together for one lucky winner:










Contents include:

Basic Grey Nook and Pantry Collection Do Me a favor pack (6 boxes and 20 tags)

JustRite Stampers What's Cooking Stamp set

JustRite Stampers Special Occasions Font (Uppercase 296 character font set in three sizes)

Cornish Heritage Farms Shiver Me Timbers stamp set

Gina K Designs "Just So Hoppy" stamp set

Fiskars Texture Plate Assortment Pack

Cosmo Cricket Jack's World Blackboard chipboard pack

Karen Foster Design medium casual snap stamps

My Sentiments Exactly Casual/Multi upper/lower numbers

Basic Grey rub-on pack

Fancypants Simply Stated stamp set

Stampin' Up! A Wish for You stamp set

Making Memories Metallic paint effects kit

Studio 18 Flocked note cards & envelopes

American Crafts Baby double sided ribbon

Robin's Nest - peony - embellishment jar

Stampin' Up! classic stampin' spots- rose red, certainly celery, tempting turquoise

Over twenty different chipboard shapes/tags/ assortment

The fine print: You have from now until Tuesday night at 8: 00 p.m. central time to leave a comment on this post. In your comment, I would LOVE to hear what you favorite thing about my blog is or what makes you keep coming back to your favorite blog. I will announce the winner on Wednesday. The winner will have four days to email me with his/her address. If the winner fails to email me by the deadline, I will pick a new winner. You may only post one comment. (However, my wonderful subscribers can post two times, as always!)

Thank YOU so much for stopping by!!

Friday, December 4, 2009

JustRite Week at Stamper's Dream

Happy Friday!!! (At last!) I am so excited because my sister is coming to visit me and the kids this weekend!! Yipeee!

This week it is JustRite week at Stamper's Dream. Today, I am sharing a card created with the new release from JustRite stampers. Stamper's Dream has all of the new releases in stock (and lots of other JustRite favorites too!) Here is my card:

REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION
I used the "Celebrate" (from Just a Note Borders & Centers) star and stamped it on the cardstock to make the topper for the chipboard tree.

I created the fun design underneath the tree panel by taking one of the beautiful 2" Square Decorative Frames and stamping it on cardstock. Then I cut off each side to layer it underneath the image.

Materials used: Stamps-Just a Note Borders & Centers, 2" Square Decorative Frames (JustRite Stampers); cardstock-white (Gina K Designs), red (SU!); ink-red, olive (SU!); Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder (Provocraft); red adhesive dots; chipboard tree (Making Memories); rhinestone star stickers (Recollections); ribbon-Hobby Lobby.

Be sure to check out the awesome creations the "Dream" Team posted this week. Here is the schedule in case you missed any. (They are amazing so you WILL want to check them out!)
Monday - Michelle, Denise , and Laurie
Tuesday - Denise , Amy , Tosh and Michelle
Wednesday - Silke , Denise and Michelle
Thursday - Silke , Laurie , and Michelle
Friday - Tosh , Amy , Michelle and me

Pssttt!......I finally got it together! Blog Candy will be posted this weekend (and it includes JustRite stamps!). Thanks for your patience and thanks for coming along for the ride! It has been an AWESOME two years! HUGS!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Gina K Preview Day 3

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great sympathetic comments on yesterday's spill. Today has been MUCH better. I noticed that my purse had some sticky stuff all along the side of it today (?)....which got me thinking how old it was and that I am sure my kids would LOVE to buy me a new purse for Christmas....so they did. They just don't know it yet! (I can make lemonade outta anything!)

Tonight, the Gina K Design team is previewing the new set Sweetest Memories (the new one FREE with three). I came up with a SIMPLE design to showcase one of my favorite quotes ever (that just happens to be in this set!)

This is literally a five minute card! Gotta love that. For some reason--I DO love it...all that white space and the color blocking---yum! I paired this set with the boat from Lazy Days of Summer. I stamped the boat image on three pieces of cardstock (two are the new colors that Gina K will be releasing Thursday night--Ocean Mist and Crème de Menthe!) and I added some orange. Simple!

Materials used: Stamps-Sweetest Memories, Lazy Days of Summer (Gina K Designs); Memento black ink; cardstock-white, ocean mist, Creme de Menthe (Gina K Designs); dandelion (American Crafts); ribbon striped pumpkin pie (American Crafts); corner rounder punch (Creative Memories).


AND......................

The next thing I want to share with you is a new addition to Gina K Designs....Perfect Patterns. A few months ago I posted a gift card (money) purse on my blog and was inundated with emails from people wanting the template. So, the first template being offered through Perfect Patterns is my Purse Gift Card Holder.


Here is a gift card holder I created with the template:

I used some tan leather cardstock, some neutral buttons, some chocolate kiss cardstock and the stamp set-Signed with Love! (for the tag!)

This was easy to create with the template and it will be the perfect way to present gift cards and money to all the ladies/girls on my list.

You can now purchase the pattern HERE!


Materials used: Perfect Pattern-Gift Card Purse Perfect Pattern template (Gina K Designs); stamps-Signed with Love (Gina K Designs); caramel ink (SU!); neutral buttons (Gina K Designs); cardstock-tan leather, chocolate kiss (Gina K Designs);eyelets; Cropadile; paper piercing tool.

Now head on over to Gina's blog to check out more designs with her set-Sweetest Memories:


GinaK {Sweetest Memories}

Then, visit the designers participating in the previews tonight:


Cathy, Emily, Erika, Jessica, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, Nina, Tami, Theresa

****Our Release party will be held tomorrow night (Thursday!) over on SCS in GinaK's Forum from 7-10 pm CST. We'd love to have you join in the fun! There will be contest questions, challenges, chatter, and lots more samples from our designers throughout the party!

Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Sticky Situation and Gina K Preview Day 2

Hello everyone!

Today started with a bang. I was at the grocery store and dropped a syrup bottle on the ground when trying to transfer it from my cart to the check out counter. Even though it was a plastic bottle, it did break and syrup splattered everywhere. So, I asked the lady behind the counter for some paper towels...(she was not happy). She handed me some paper towels and a spray cleaner. I turned to go clean up the mess (don't they have someone there who does that?) and............yep, dropped the cleaner bottle.....it cracked. (giggle!) WHAT is that floor made of anyway???

That was pretty much how my day way today...... FYI: Syrup is very sticky, just so you know!


Today the Gina K Design team is previewing another two sets that will be released Thursday night! First, here is a card I created with Rupa's new set- Warm and Wonderful:
I LOVE the sled in this set and the sentiment is just perfect. So I combined them and added a bit of heart (love) and this makes a sweet card for someone who is far away during the holidays. The sentiment reads:


Love
is missing someone
whenever you're apart,
but somehow feeling warm inside
because you're close in heart.

The sled was stamped on white pure luxury with Copic markers and then adhered to the main panel.

Materials used: Stamps-Warm and Wonderful (Gina k Designs); Memento black ink; Ranger tea dye distress ink; sponge; Copic markers; cardstock-kraft, ivory (Gina K Designs); designer paper-Grandma's Christmas Soup (jillibean soup); Norm's News (October Afternoon); metallic dots (Jo Ann's); hemp; bells; ribbon (The Paper Studio); small heart punch.

Next, here is what I created with Theresa's set Life is Good :

There was something about that buck.....I knew I wanted to make a card with him and ended up making a more masculine design. I used some dp and the Calendar Grid stamp for the background and then added a sentiment inside the sun.

Materials used: Stamps-Life is Good, Calendar Grid (Gina K Designs); ink-Vintage Photo distress ink (Ranger); summer sun, more mustard (SU!); sponge; circle punch (SU!) ;designer paper-Autumn stack (Recollections); Ribbon-FV Trims Lizzie (Making Memories); hemp (SU!); small circle punch; brads; stapler.


For even more ways to use these fabulous stamp sets, please check tonight's featured Illustrator's blog:


Theresa Momber {Life is Good}


Then, visit our Designer's blogs participating in the previews tonight:
GinaK,
Carolyn <--You are here
Cathy,
Cindy,
Donna,
Emily,
Erika,
Jessica,
Lee,
Lynn,
Melanie,
Nina

We also have one of our special Center Stage Spotlight Designer joining tonight:
Peggy Wainman


Thanks for stopping by!