Day 1 Previews: Leaves and Fruit!

Good evening!

Welcome to my blog - we're showcasing two new GinaK Designs stamp sets tonight that will be available this Thursday, August 27th beginning at 10pm CST. First up, is Melanie Muenchinger's Year of Leaves stamp set.

I colored the leaves in both of my samples tonight with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended the colors together with Odorless Mineral Spirits and Blending stumps. I stamped the images in Rich Cocoa Memento ink onto GinaK's Ivory cardstock.

I used Vivid's Tuscan Tan ink along with the Memento Cocoa ink and some sponge daubers to edge the cardstocks for an aged look. The speckles on the focal image are from Memento's Desert Sand marker and my marker spritzer.

And, here's one more card with Melanie's Year of Leaves stamp set...

After embossing the Sizzix embossing folder onto GinaK's Chocolate Kiss cardstock, I used some gold Metallic Rub-on paste to highlight the embossing. Here's a close-up of two of the focal point squares so you can see the sponging and coloring a little better - check out that adorable caterpillar!

and the inside view...

I'm so excited to see this new stamp set collection from Melanie and can't wait to pair them with her Year of Flowers stamp images!

The next new stamp set we're previewing tonight is from Asela Hopkins and is called Fruitful Harvest. The set is filled with gorgeous large fruit images that are so much fun to color! I've made a card with each of the images she has included in the set and ended up using a different coloring medium on each one! I've decided to share two of those cards tonight and will be showing the other two cards at the Release Party on Thursday night!

I stamped this pear image onto watercolor paper with Black Versafine ink and clear embossed the image. Then, using a variety of Stampin Up dye inks and my waterbrush, I watercolored the pears. Then, taking a Nestability die, I cut out the focal image and sponged Vivid's Tuscan Tan ink around the die.

I made the bow with some retired Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon from Stampin up - and my card was finished! These images stand alone so well and are great for making quick cards!

Here's the inside view of this card - just more of the patterned papers from the K&Co. pack I used for the front of the card...

My last card tonight is also made from the Fruitful Harvest stamp set - it's a grouping of apples, so, of course I HAD to use it! (Remember, I used to be an elementary teacher and have my kitchen decorated in apples!)

I paper pieced the apple images with GinaK's Soft Sand & Green Apple cardstocks, using a red Copic marker for the skin and a warm grey Copic marker for some subtle shading on the apples. Tuscan Tan was used again to shade the Nestability die (can you tell how much I love that ink!!).

another quick and simple card! I decorated the inside of this card a little more since there really wasn't room on the outside of the card for this lovely sentiment...

For more inspiration with the stamps previewed today, visit Gina's blog as well as Melanie Muenchinger, the illustrator of Year of Leaves and Asela Hopkins, the illustrator of Fruitful Harvest.

For even more projects with tonight's two stamp sets, these Senior Design Team Members are participating in previews today: Carolyn, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika, Kurtis, Lee, Lynn, and Theresa as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team members: Denise Kelemen and Geri Utterback

Our Release Party will be held once again over on SCS starting at 7pm CST on Thursday, August 27th. There will be contests, challenges, lots of chatter as well as a ton more samples shared by the Senior Design team members and our CenterStage Spotlight team too! You won't want to miss it!

See you tomorrow night with two more new stamp sets and several projects that I have planned to share with you!
Jessica