StampTV / Center Stage Spotlight DT Blog Hop!

Welcome to our first Center Stage Spotlight Design Team Blog Hop!

Blog Hop begins November 4th 10pm CST / 11pm EST

Jessica Fick, the Design Team Coordinator for GinaK Designs has issued a challenge to all of the past and present CSS team members to make a Christmas card with one of these sketches:

   

I used Magic of Christmas Stamp Set for my card.

You can view the a photo of the stamp set and project details at the bottom of the post.

Here is another card I designed using this set.

We know you're going to LOVE what everyone has designed for us tonight!  So check out some of the other blogs listed below!

Gina Krupsky - Owner

First, here are the links for GinaK's Current CSS Team Members:

 Deb Felts

Diana S. Queen

Karen Knegten

Melissa Cash

Sharri Seffens

Sue VanDeVusse

and the links for all of the past CSS Design Team members participating:

Brenda Turner

Carla Suto,

Carolina Buchting,

Charlene Merrick,

Dawn Lusk,

DeeMarie Kelemen, 

Geri Utterback ,

Giovanna Smith, 

Janice Melton,

JenMarie Taylor,

Jennie Harper,

Joy Hadden,

Kay Simmons, 

Linda Payne,

Lori McAree,

Melisa Waldorf, 

Pam Imholz,

Selma Stevenson,

Shannon Bracken,

Shelly Wilson,

Sue Walsh,

Tina Gilliland

Some of GinaK's Senior Design Team Members and Illustrators wanted to get in on the fun tonight too:

 Asela Hopkins

Carolyn King

Cindy Lawrence

Jessica Fick

Lee Murphy

Lynn Mercurio

Nina Brackett

Melanie Muenchinger

along with Nina Brackett's Guest Designer: Lisa Hjulberg

All of these gorgeous cards from the entire team will be added to the StampTV gallery throughout the next few days with the tag cssjf1 (which stands for center stage spotlight jessica fick 1)

These sketches are also our sketch challenge for this week, so be sure to check out all the information in the discussion in our Challenge group over on StampTV Thursday morning.  We'd love to see your cards with the sketch too!

Project Details :

Stamp Set : Magic of Christmas - GinaK Designs

Card #1

Paper : embossed cardstock Bazzill, Snowflake DP - Reminisce

Other : Spellbinders Die, Silver Stickles

Colorization : Prismascolor Pencils with OMS

Card #2

Paper : K&Company (gold text paper), Red and Gold glossy paper - stock

Other : Spellbinders Die, EK Success Border Punch, Gold Stickles

Ribbon : Offray

Technique : Stamp and emboss images on red glossy paper and cut ornaments.  Stamp ornaments again onto gold glossy paper, then glue red ornaments over stamped image.

Wanna see a few more idea's using this set and some of the images I didn't use?  I found some inspiration over in the StampTV Gallery!

Diana S. Queen

Jen Marie

Joy Hadden

Judy Covey

Moving on to Christmas!

Hi ladies.  I hope everyone had a safe and fun weekend.  I got busy designing some Christmas Cards for some challenges.  I have 3 more almost completed for other activities coming up this week.  Impression Obsession is doing their DT blog hop on Thursday (I will have to post mine on tuesday).  There is a StampTV Blog Hop on Thursday I'm participating in and I will be posting my weekly FCD project saturday.  I created Christmas Cards for all of these!  I can't wait to share them with you and I hope you have started yours, if not, then maybe you will be inspired to get started this week!

 I'm going to start out just listing the challenges and photo.  I will post details at the bottom.  So here we go!

 "Oohlala" wanted to see a Victorian Christmas Card for Challenge #39

 "Ready Set Stamp" had a long list of "ingredients" required for Challenge #8 : Christmas, use colors lilac, black, & silver, snowflakes, a 2" x 4", & crackle.

Victorian Angel Card

Inspirational Card Sketches (icsketches) - I used sketch #40

Cooking it up with Katie Challenge #4 required the following recipe :

Christmas, sparkle, and a border!

The Magic of Christmas

I found all of these challenges through "The Daily Dare" Challenge Blog.

Deb Felts is so awesome to keep up with all of this and provide this service for us!

Thanks Deb!

Project Details

Victorian Christmas Card

I think this is the first time I've done a non-traditional color Christmas card.  I really like how it turned out!  Using the 2"x 4" panel  made it a little trickier for me, I ended up with an over all card size of 6 1/4" x 4 1/4".  I had a lot of fun using UTEE to create the crackle!
Stamp Set : Inkadinkado
Paper : Vellum snowflake paper by Making Memories, purple and silver glitter paper not labeled (I picked it up at Joann's this past week), black shiney cardstock not labeled (I found it in my stash).
Ribbon: I found the really cool snowflake garland at a local stamp store - A Small Cleverness.  It's made by May Arts.  The purple sheer ribbon was purchased a local craft store.
Embellishments : Purple floral is by offray (I found it in the ribbon dept. at Joanns)
Border Punch : Martha Stewart
Title : rub-on by "royalbrush.com"

The Magic of Christmas

I decided I wanted to "get warmed up" for the StampTV Center Stage DT Blog Hop on Thursday, so I used a couple of images from "The Magic of Christmas".   I will be posting another card using this set on  Thursday.  Isn't this a beautiful stamp set!

I started with the gold blingy paper by K&Company.  I loved all the Christmas sentiments on it.  The sketched used a circle.  But never be afraid to think out of the box and substitute a different shape for a sketch.  I used one of my Spellbinders Labels Sets.  I love Spellbinders!

Stamp Set : GinaK Designs

Paper : K&Company and EK Success (gold and red)

Ribbon : unknown

Ribbon Charm : unknown

Border Punch : EK Success

Gold Stickles

Just Breathe Week 4

This is my last project using Just Breathe.  I hope you have been inspired to use this set this month.  I was trying to think out of the box again and design something with this set you might not expect.  In addition, if you haven't started making your Christmas cards yet, I hope this one will inspire you to get started!!  This card was so quick to put together and I really like how it turned out.

Stamp Set : Just Breathe by FCD

Ink : Palette Noir

Paper : Green - My Minds Eye, Red - Prima, Black CS

Tools - Spellbinders

Sticker Jewels - Stampendous

Ribbon - Unknown

This one is so simple I don't think you even need instructions!

See you next month with 4 more projects using one of Pamela's awesome stamp set!!

Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge!

Good Morning Ladies.

I'm very excited this morning to be participating in the Crafty Secrets DT Challenge as a Guest DT Member!  The challenge was to create something using birds.  Well the hardest part was trying to decide WHAT to use, because Crafty Secrets has lots of products with birds included.  I narrowed it down to 3 stamp sets!  teehee.   I know this post is way tooooo long and I probably should have just used one project, but I couldn't help it.  I figured you are only a Crafty Secrets Guest DT member once!!  Right!  


Make sure you check out the other DT Member links at the bottom of the post and the Crafty Secrets Blog.  I heard there was some yummy blog candy being given away at 1 of the DT blogs and by Sandy on the Crafty Secrets Blog!! 

I used the Christmas Joy stamp set on this card.  I also used paper from one of Crafty Secrets Paper Pads.

Check out the photo of the stamp set below to see how I layered the images.   I used Eclipse masking to build this scene.  You stamp the image that will be in the for-front first - bow, stamp it again on the tape, cut it out, and then cover the bow on your card before stamping the next layer.  Continue building in this manner.  I also used the holly to create a border.  Isn't this set awesome with so many possibilities.  I used it to create a layout in an early post.  If you want to see that, you can go HERE.

You can view more of my Cardboard Art HERE.

You can view more of my Collage / Mixed Media projects HERE.

I used Bird Notes on this friendship hanging decor project.  I used a swirly for the wings from the Mini Memories stamp set.  I used a swirly from the Flourishes stamp set on the corner of the bird house.  I started out with corrugated cardboard to create the bird house.  Tear off part of the surface paper to reveal the waves below, layer on acrylic paint, and glimmer mist to get the distress look.  I sprayed some white lace with glimmer mist as well and adhered to the base.  The bird dies are Spellbinders.  I have created a layout using this set in an earlier post that you can see HERE.

I used the Thanksgiving stamp set on this 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" Artist Trading Card.  I love using my stamps to create all kinds of projects, including ATC's.  I just thought this turkey and the sentiment were too cute.  The background is crackle paint distressed with some brown ink.   You could easily put this one a card as well.  To see a layout using this set go HERE.

Thanks soooo much for taking time to check out all my Crafty Secrets Projects.

To see more awesome projects in this Crafty Secrets Blog Hop and to qualify for some Blog Candy, make sure you check out the rest of the DT's Blogs.  These girls are awesome and it was so much fun to have the opportunity to play along with them!

Vicki Chrisman

Pam Hooten

Heidi Blankenship

Marisa Grosson

Michele Kovak

Linda Duke

Michelle Van Etten

Florence Teixeira

Crafty Secrets Blog

Crafty Secrets Online Store

Tune in tomorrow for my next FCD project!!

Have a great day!

Crafty Secrets Baby Girl Card and Layout

Hi ladies.  Today I'm posting a  Layout I created using one of my Crafty Secrets Stamp Sets - Baby Girl Clear Art Stamp Set.  Check out the actually stamp set at the bottom of the post, so you can see how I used it.

Frame and Masking Tutorial

I began with my photo and matted it.  Next I had to determine the width of the frame around the photo.  The sides had to match the width of a series of the scallops if I wanted to finish the corners nicely.  If you take a look at the photo of the stamps for this set, you will see that the scalloped image as 6 scallops.  I stamped the image twice on a piece of scrap paper, end to end to help figure the measurements of the frame. 

I liked 7 scallops across by 10 scallops vertically.  So I measured across from edge to edge for 7 scallops, that equaled just short of 4", and again from edge to edge for 10 scallops - 5 5/8".  So now I had my measurement for my guidelines of the frame.  I cut a piece of white cardstock 6" x 7.5"  and penciled in my guidelines, creating a 4 x 5 5/8" rectangle (I used a pen on mine so it would show up for the photo).  You want the pencil lines light enough so that you can go back later and erase it.  When I am drawing squares or rectangles I use a tool called a t-square.  It is a drafting tool that allows you to have perfectly aligned edges.  And you can read more about how to use it HERE. 

So now I'm ready to stamp the scalloped border. 
In order to stamp the image along the penciled line, you need to mount your stamp on an acrylic block with lines on it.

You will line the white line on the block with the penciled line on the paper.  You might want to practice a couple of times before stamping on your project.  Practice by drawing a pencil line on a scrap piece of paper and see if you can stamp your image along that line.  Standing up over the stamp/block, helps you to be able to line it up.  Once you are confident you have that skill down, you are ready to stamp around your guidelines. Start in the left lower corner and stamp the first 6 scallops. 

In order to stamp just one more scallop, you have to mask off the 2 ends as shown below.  I know mines a little messy, but I was in a hurry to finish these tutorial photo's.

Take the post-it note mask off and stamp up the right side 6 more scallops.

Mask off 2 ends so that you can stamp 4 scallops to equal 10 up the right side.

Remove the mask and stamp 6 scallops along the top.

You will continue masking and stamping around the frame until you finish down the left side.

Here are some more details.  I love using stamped images to create my own little embellishments!

Patterned Paper : Crafty Secrets, Daisy D, Flower Bazzill

Ribbon Hobby Lobby, Spellbinders scalloped dies, Deckeled sissors

Just Breathe Week 3

Hello and welcome back for another project using Just Breathe by FireCracker Designs by Pamela.

If you missed last weeks project, check it out HERE.

So for project #3 I built another scene.  This time I imagined sitting on the rock and gazing out into a field of wild flowers.  I love the sentiment this set comes with.  And the "blossom and grow" part seemed to fit for a field of wild flowers. 

Supply List:

Stamp Set : Just Breathe by FCD

Ink : Momento Sky Blue and Momento Bamboo Leaves.  Palette Noir.  Brilliance Hint of Pesto.

Colorization : Prismacolor Pencils with OMS and Shimmerz

Tools : Brayer, Dove Blender Pen, Liquid Pearls, Pop Dots.

I brayered top 1/2 of the card with Sky Blue and lower 1/2 with Bamboo Leaves onto glossy paper.  Honestly the green was a little to bright and I was afraid you wouldn't be able to see the flower stems since they would be green as well.  So to tone it down, I used a sponge and smeared on white and a tad of brown.  I used Brilliance Hint of Pesto and stamped the stems.  I added clouds using the cloud stamp.  I stamped the girl/rock on white cardstock and colorized with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS.  Added Shimmerz.  I adhered the bottom part of the image flat and used some pop dots at the head and shoulders.  Stamped sentiment and distressed edges and adhere with pop dots.  I stamped butterfly with Palette Noir and colored in with Dove Blender and pink ink.  Last but not least, I added my wild flowers.  The stamp set doesn't come with a flower stamp, so I used Liquid Pearls. 

Have a great Thursday and I'll be back Saturday with another Crafty Secrets Layout!

FCD BLOG HOP!! - Just Breathe Week 2

Good Morning and welcome to FireCracker Designs by Pamela's Monthly Blog Hop!

(The official start time of the FCD Blog Hop is Friday at 8:00am (EST). If you have arrived early, please be patient, as all the links may not be live until 8:00am (EST).)

The October DT assignment was to use mesh.  See my book mark below for my "mesh" project.  All 9 of us will be sharing projects created with this theme in mind. And the best part for you is Pamela will be giving away some awesome blog candy. But to qualify for the drawing you have to post comments. She will randomly pick one of our blogs, and then randomly pick from all the comments posted on that blog. So you will want to read ALL the BLOG HOP details at the bottom of my post and leave comments on each of the blogs to qualify for the drawing. Make sure you leave your email address in your comment!
Pamela is offering a coupon code today.
code :  hopidays
Use this code at check out to recieve a 15% off discount thru Monday at 8pm!  This discount does not apply to magazines.
With the release of Pamela's New Christmas sets it couldn't be a better time to place and order!

I like to show how versatile a set can be, when I can.  So, I try to create projects using my stamps on projects beyond cardmaking.  So for this weeks "Just Breathe" project, I decided to design some manly gifts.

I purchased a wood plaque for .99cents at Hobby Lobby for this great desk top decor.  The sentiment is NOT part of the set.  I picked that up at Hobby Lobby as well.  I loved the play on words for the trees, tree branches provide shelter and the tree cast a shadow.  I used Spellbinders die to cut that shape.  I used dusters to apply green and brown ink around the edges.

I also thought a book mark would make a nice manly gift.

I found some sticky mesh in my husband's workshop.  Apparently it's used to for dry wall.  It worked perfect as a mask for this project.  I placed it over some green cardstock and sprayed with glimmer mist.  I peeled it off and I got this cool mesh looking background. I know I will be trying this again!!  Funny though, I designed this for a guy, and my daughter seen it and wants it.  So, I promised it to her!

I have 2 more projects coming up for you using this set this month, so stay tuned!
If you like this set, check it out HERE!  This set is $8.99, untrimmed/unmounted!
Check out all Pamela's products and great prices.  It's so easy to order from her online and she ships fast!

I know this is a long post.  But I'm excited about another stamp set of Pamela's that I've been designing with.  It's a fruit set, FRUIT CUP,  and so far I have designed 5 cards with it.  I will be revealing all my projects for this set Saturday.  So please stop by and see me again.  This is such a great set with fun sentiments to go along with the different peices of fruit.  If you want to take a sneak peak at the stamp set you can see it HERE.  This set with 29 images is $12.99 untrimmed/unmounted!!  Awesome deals ladies!

Blog Hop Details ...
The official start time of the FCD Blog Hop is Friday at 8:00am (EST). If you have arrived early, please be patient, as all the links may not be live until 8:00am (EST).
This is a "circular blog hop" where the only beginning is wherever you start. You will know you are at the end of your blog hop when you have arrived back on the blog you started with. (There are only 9 of us, so you should be able to remember where you started)
THE WINNER ... will be chosen by our mystery blog hostess. Who is she ? We want know until after the blog hop. So make sure you leave a comment (with your emial address included in that comment) on EVERY blog to qualify!!
Pamela will contact the winner via email (don't forget to leave your email address with your comment) and post the winner on her blog on Monday 8pm(EST).

Next Blogger to check out is Michelle !