Year of Leaves Blog Hop

Good evening!

Tonight we're showing Melanie's beautiful new stamp set called Year of Leaves. The two cards I'm sharing tonight both have heat embossing with Versamark and clear Embossing powder on them. Do you do that sometimes too - get in a certain mood to stamp with specific products and end up using them on several cards at once? I had decided to play with my Versamark ink and clear embossing powder - so these are the end results of that playtime! lol!

My first card shows embossing with clear embossing powder & Versamark two different ways. The first is the traditional stamping with the ink & embossing. I used the polka dot image from Gina's Ribbon Stripes stamp set for the background on this Chocolate Kiss mat. Then, I rubbed my Versamark ink directly over the Nestability circle die cut & colored leaves and embossed them with the clear embossing powder. The shine on this card is really cool in person...

The leaves were colored with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended with blending stumps & odorless mineral spirits. Then, I stamped the polka dots on the leaves too - why, I'm not sure... lol! Then, I embossed them as I mentioned above.

My next card is super simple - the only ink used on the outside of this card is Versamark! I love that ink pad and highly recommend it. Again, I embossed all the stamped images with Clear embossing powder for some added shine and elegance.

This photo may show the shine a little better...

Even though the insides of these cards tonight are super simple, I wanted to show them to you to show how quick and easy it can be to finish off the insides and make them all ready to be sent out!

For even more inspiration, please visit our Illustrator of the Year of Leaves stamp set, Melanie Muenchinger's blog. You'll want to leave a comment on her blog because she is hosting a drawing for her gorgeous stamp set there tonight!

Melanie has asked her two guest designers to join in on her blog hop too:
Selma Stevenson
Karen Knegten

Also showcasing Year of Leaves stamp set samples tonight are these GinaK Designers:
Gina Krupsky
Carolyn King
Donna Baker
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Theresa Momber

as well as our CenterStage Spotlight Designers:
Geri Utterback
Shelly Wilson
Tina Gilliland

I hope you'll be able to check back in with me tomorrow night, because the Design Team from PaperCraft Planet will be hosting a special blog hop featuring both of Melanie's new stamp sets that she released this month. I have two more Year of Leaves cards to show as well as a card from her School Sports Spirit! stamp set.

Hope to see you then!
Jessica

Your Love Keeps Lifting me....

Good morning!

Isn't this little lady cute with her pet bunny? I bought this image along with most of my other Magnolia images from 7Kid's College Fund online store.

My daughter Ashley is nuts for animals and has been asking for ages to have a pet bunny... however, my husband isn't a big - or even a little fan of pets. So, poor Ash is going to have to wait until she's all grown up and has her own house to have pets! Don't feel too badly for her, she has GOBS of stuffed animals to keep her company until then! lol!

I was using some Stampin Up scrap textured papers on my card and felt like it needed something on the edge of the card, so I pulled out Gina's new Ribbon Stripes stamp set and stamped the diamond strip along the edge in Rose Red ink on Rose Red cardstock.

I used the new tiny Rhinestones that Gina has recently added to her online store to highlight the diamonds-they are the perfect size for this! They were actually clear, but I colored them in with a Dark Grey copic marker, so they ended up being nearly black - I love how Copics can do this! It really extends the use of the neutral accents we have in our stash!

Here's the inside view (the sentiment is from Fiskar's Cloud Nine clear Baby stamp collection)...

Have an awesome rest of your day!
Jessica

Day 4: Ribbons and Free Stamp of the Month!

Welcome to the final day of previews for GinaK's May release! Rest up - the party is tonight over in her Forum on Splitcoast Stampers. Unfortunately I won't be able to be there as my kids have their end of the year school program, but I know there will be lots of fun chatter and card samples to see! I've made several more cards that I was going to share during the release party, but I'll probably end up saving them and sharing them over the next week on my blog and over at StampTV.

My first couple of cards today are showing off Gina's new Free with Three stamp set called Lazy Days of Summer. I LOVE each of the images in this set and know you will too! I couldn't stop playing with this set... and can't wait to get it inky again soon! lol!


I used some Basic Grey Bittersweet papers and embellishments for this card along with a couple of Petaloo flowers. The images were stamped on White linen cardstock and embossed with clear embossing powder and then colored with Copic markers. I added some Crystal Lacquer and Diamond stickles to the ice cream for some added sparkle.

Here's the inside view...

Next up is an adorable sand bucket that is begged to be colored and blinged up a little...

Here's a close up view of the sparkle the image has because after coloring it with Copic markers, I highlighted the image with some Sakura Glitter pens and Crystal Lacquer...

Isn't that fun? I used Basic Grey's Lime Rickey patterned papers - which Gina will be adding to her online store later tonight. She has included some of these fun papers in her new StampTV Eclectic Summer kit too! The cardbase is her new In the Navy cardstock... I LOVE it!

Next up is another card showing off another few images from the Lazy Days of Summer stamp set along with another new GinaK stamp set called Ribbon Stripes. The sentiments are from Nina's new Special Father stamp set...

I stamped the little stars from the Ribbon Stripes set on a sheet of Summer Fabrics digital paper printed out an GinaK Pure Luxury 80lb. white cardstock in Red Ladybug Memento ink. Then, using my dauber and the Antique Linen Distress ink, I shabbied it up.

The stars (from the Lazy Days of Summer) were stamped in the same red ink and punched out with the Blue and Yellow Marvy star punches. Then, I shaded them with the distress ink too. For an even more home-made feel, I took my Rich Cocoa Memento marker and traced along the outer edge of the star and added a few dots and stitch marks here and there all around the stars.

The red cardstock is Gina's gorgeous new Rocket Red paper and I paired it with her Chocolate Kiss cardstock - I love this color scheme!

Here's the links to everyone who is showing off projects with these two stamp sets this morning...

Gina, Theresa, Carolyn, Erika, Joanne, Melissa, Cindy, Melanie, Emily,
and Donna

Have a great rest of your day and enjoy all the eyecandy this morning!

Jessica