Mirror, Mirror on the wall....

Good morning!

Today's card is one that I made with a fun girly-girl stamp set called Perfectly Polished. Lots of fun images to color and use to make cards for girls of all ages!

I used decided to pop the mirror up a little to help give it a little more dimension. I colored the mirror in with Sakura's glitter pens using my Niji waterbrush. I've shared a little tutorial on this technique HERE on my blog.

Here's a little closer look so you can see the popped up mirror and the glazed brads I used to embellish it too.

Thanks for checking in with me today! The previews for new GinaK Designs stamps begin on Sunday night at 10 pm. I can't wait to share my projects with you and to see what GinaK's other Senior Design Team members have in store for us during our preview week!

Have a great weekend - I'll see you Sunday night!
Jessica

Card Supplies
Stamps: Perfectly Polished (GinaK)
Cardstock: SU, watercolor, Basic Grey Euphoria
Ink: Versafine
Other: Detail clear embossing powder, Basic Grey Euphoria glazed brads, flowers, nestabilities, Sakura glitter pens, Niji Waterbrush, SU ribbons, metallic rub-on paste, pearls

Polished...

Good morning!

I'm sorry I've been MIA this weekend. GinaK's Open House was an awesome event, filled with lots of friends stopping by to do the free make-n-take and filling their shopping baskets with all sorts of fun things. If you were one of the many who took the time to stop in - thank you! What a fun day we had together!

But, while we were having fun and keeping busy, Gina and her family were preparing for her Father's last day with them. Shelly, Karen and I knew this so while we were enjoying the time at work, our hearts were heavy knowing that Gina was having a very hard day. We found out later that her dad passed away at 5:00 Saturday evening. If you haven't had the chance to read Gina's account of the day or leave her a note of condolence, please take the time to see her post here.

In light of that, I didn't have the heart to announce my blog candy winner over the weekend. But, I'm printing out all the comments right now and will be announcing the winner on the actual blog candy post - so be sure to check out my Birthday Blog candy winner here.

And, now on to today's card that I made using Rupa's new Perfectly Polished stamp set....


Rupa was able to join us for a few hours at Saturday's Open House. It's always fun having her around. Her stamp sets are so elegant and this one is no exception. I colored the images in with my Sakura Glitter pens and then using my Aqua painter, spread the glitter and color around. I call this Watercoloring Sakura Style. It's a great technique to use when you want lots of bling.

I have a few classes this week at Gina's store: Heat Embossing tomorrow, Feb. 3 and Love Notes Box Thursday, Feb. 5. Check out the class calendar for more information. January classes may still be listed so scroll down a bit and look for February's dates.

* One last thing...

PaperCraft Planet is offering an awesome digital Valentine Kit that some of the Design Team have been working on over the weekend. The kit is available here and is only $5. Here's the links of the gals who have been busy playing with all the downloads to show you what is possible with the kit...

Kim Burmeister
Jen Tapler
Wendy Price
Adela Rossol
Susanna Boyd
Melanie Muenchinger
Tammy Hershberger
Lynn Mercurio


Thanks for stopping by -
Jessica

You're a Rock Star!

**** Birthday Blog Candy Information****

Good morning!

I know you're probably tired of seeing my use this orange Doodlebug cardstock, but today's card is the last of it for now. "Orange" you glad? *wink* Sorry, I couldn't resist... I do have a few more cards to share made with this paper, but haven't taken photos of them yet - so watch for them next week.

Anyway, here's another card based on my PaperCraftPlanet sketch for this week. You'll see that I took some liberties with it, but that's what sketches are for, right?


Using GinaK's 120lb. cardstock as the base, I embossed with the Swirls Cuttlebug embossing die and then trimmed off 1/4" so that the inside layer could peek out. The ribbon is some retired Stampin Up ribbon and the stars are Nestability dies. I cut the large orange star from DCWV paper which has a white core - so I sanded it lightly with my sanding block to highlight the edges.

EK Success' Flourish punch added a pop of color and swirls for the stars. I added a black Kaiser Kraft pearl to each of the swirl dots but it's a little hard to see in the photo. The sentiment from Rupa's Perfectly Polished set and is cut with a tag Nestability die.

Here's the inside view..


I cut a few more star nestability dies out of Doodlebug's specialty cardstock orange pack and a scrap piece of DCWV orange paper. You know how much I love using up my scraps! The sentiment is from Gina's Tag Lines stamp set and is cut with a nestability die too.

Have a great rest of your day!
Jessica

You Light Up my Life...

******* Don't forget to check out my Birthday Blog Candy*********

Good morning!

Today's card is another one for my PaperCraftPlanet sketch this week. This beautiful plate of candles stamp set comes from Rupa's new Perfectly Polished stamp set. The images in this collection are beautifully elegant - true to Rupa's style!

I stamped the images on Gina's 80lb. Pure Luxury cardstock in Memento ink and then colored them in with Copic markers. Then, I took Sakura's Clear Stardust glitter pen and traced a few lines of the image and then moved the glitter around with my Niji waterbrush. To highlight the entire image, I put a layer of Clear Crystal Lacquer over it. I love using Crystal lacquer over the glitter because it really makes the glitter pop!

Here's a full view of the card...

The card base is GinaK's 120lb. Pure Luxury cardstock - the stiffest paper you'll find for your white card bases. It embosses beautifully too. The decorative papers are from Doodlebug's Orange collection which I've been using a lot lately, but don't worry - I've almost used my entire pack up!

For the inside of the card, I wanted to go clean and simple...

So, I stamped the image in Black Memento ink again and then used my favorite sentiment nestability die to pop up the sentiment. Super easy and elegant - just the look I was going for.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Jessica

Relax...

*******My birthday blog candy is still going on - check out the details here.*******

Good morning!

Was your weekend a relaxing one? One of my favorite ways to relax is to take a nice long shower - there's just something about the steam and heat that help wash away my tension. After I finish, I love to wrap myself in this big white fluffy robe my husband got for me several Christmases ago. Ahh...

When I saw the folded robe in Rupa's new Perfectly Polished stamp set, I wanted to flock it to make it all fluffy. Doodlebug's white and orange flocks along with Sakura's Quickie Glue pen worked perfectly and I was so happy with how it worked. I hope you can see the texture in my first photo. Using my sketch challenge going on over at PaperCraft Planet this week I made this card last night.

To help with the application of the flock, I stamped the robe - and the towels that you see in the photo below - in Black versafine ink and embossed with Detail Clear Embossing powder. I think the ridges of the embossing powder helped to keep the flock in place. I colored the orange section with a Copic marker before I applied the flock just incase it went on a little spotty - I didn't want any white showing through.

I didn't stamp a sentiment on the inside of the card, but I did put this little stack of towels in the bottom right hand corner...

I popped them up to help them stand out a little bit. I colored with a light yellow and orange Copic marker before applying the flock here as well.

Have a great RELAXING day!

Jessica

Gifts From God...

Good morning!


Welcome to the first night previews of two of the new GinaK Designs stamps that will be available for purchase this Thursday, January 22nd! Tonight we're showing off Melanie's new stamp set called "The Best Things in Life..." and Rupa's new stamp set called "Perfectly Polished." They were both a lot of fun playing with this weekend - I know you're going to love them as much as I do!


The first project I'm sharing is a 12x12 layout that I made with Melanie's "The Best Things in Life.." set. She designed this set specifically for us scrapbookers in mind and when you see all the components of the stamp set, I know it will get your mind going into all the directions you can take them in! At least it did for me...



Project Details: The Best Things in Life, Star Nestabilities, SU Designer papers, GinaK Silver Cording, CraftT Holiday Rub-on Paste, SU black brads


This summer, we took a family trip to Prairie du Chien and rode on a Mississippi River Boat tour together as one of activities together. While I was looking through my photos on the computer recently, I fell in love with these two photos from our trip and had to get them developed for a scrapbook page.


This photo of Ashley looking into the sky for eagles through her binoculars really touches me. Seeing her look intently upward brings a lot of different thoughts to my mind. I wanted to express to both her and Isaiah through this page some of my thoughts of my faith. We as people are always looking, searching, grasping for things and often forget Who to go to first... Who gives us everything good... Who never changes... and Who never tires of us...


As I was thinking these thoughts, this verse came to my mind...


I decided to handwrite the verse and include this photo of Ashley and I together on the page because even though my handwriting isn't perfectly neat I know my kids will like seeing it years from now recognizing mom's writing. Some of my favorite things from my grandparents and parents are those handwritten notes and ordinary snapshots of them- you know what I mean?


I have made another scrapbook page with Melanie's set that I'll be sharing during the Release Party Thursday night in GinaK's forum on SCS. I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with while creating with her stamp set! It has a lot of versatility for both cardmakers and scrapbookers. But, that's one of the things Melanie is known for, isn't it? lol!


Here's the other links to the projects being shown tonight with "The Best things in Life..."


Gina, Melanie, Cammie, Theresa, Kurtis, Erika, Donna, and Emily



Next up, is Rupa's "Perfectly Polished" stamp set....


Project Details: Perfectly Polished, Euphoria 6x6 paper & buttons, GinaK Silver cording, Labels 1 Nestabilities, CraftT Holiday Rub-on Paste, Sakura Glitter Pens, Niji Waterbrush, Watercolor paper, Versafine Black ink, Detail Embossing powder

Look at how fun this is! This stamp set is perfectly for girls of any age - just look at those bottles lined up in front of that adorable mirror! Rupa designed this set to be a perfect companion to two of her other GinaK stamp sets - Thinking of You and Retro Boutique. I can't wait to use them all together!


I stamped all of the images on watercolor paper that I picked up at Archivers and watercolored the images in with my Sakura Glitter Pens. I have a little tutorial on my blog that explains the technique. The camera doesn't like to pick up the shimmer on the images very well, but they positively sparkle in person, I promise!

Here's a closer view. Click on the photo to see the some of the shimmer...


I've made a couple of other cards with Rupa's adorable stamp set that I'll be sharing Thursday night. I'm really excited to see what everyone has made for the "Perfectly Polished" sneak peeks! Here's the links for our blog hopping pleasure...


Gina, Joanne, Kurtis, Erika, Mary, Cindy, and Melanie


Thanks for stopping by this morning - there are more previews scheduled for tomorrow. We'll be showing two adorable stamp sets - one by Asela Hopkins and the other by our very own GinaK. I can't wait to show you what I've been working on with those two fun stamp sets!


Jessica