Friday's Stop & Stamp Cards

Hi everyone!

I'm headed over the GinaK's Release party on SCS, but thought I'd send out a quick blog post about the cards we'll be making at tomorrow's Stop & Stamp Event at GinaK Designs store in McFarland. Come anytime between 12 (noon) and 7 and you have the opportunity to make these two cards.


Everyone who makes the cards, gets to pick 5 free sheets of Bazzil Cardstock! The event costs $5 or it's free with a $50 purchase. I'm sure after tonight's release with all the fabulous new stamps and products that will be added to the store, you'll have no problem getting to the $50 mark! heehee..

The first card is a little deceptive because we'll actually be using Gina's new Funky Christmas and Seasonal Sayings to make it instead of Rupa's The Magic of Christmas. Everyone always wants to use new stamps, right!?

The second card features Carolyn King's Whimsical Autumn and we'll be coloring and shading with OMS and Koh-i-noor pencils.

I hope to see you tomorrow if you're in the Madison area and have time to stop and make cards with us! Otherwise, maybe I'll 'see' you at the party!

Have a great night!
Jessica

Show and Tell!

Good evening!

Look! The ladies from Tuesday's Christmas Stamp a Stack were gracious enough to let me take photos of their beautiful cards to share on my blog tonight! I've been telling the ladies that I was going to start taking photos and sharing them on my blog and finally remembered my camera and had willing participants!

The first grouping of Christmas Tree cards are from Dayna - aren't they beautiful!? I love how she watercolored her Poinsettias. They are just stunning in person! She watercolored them with Peerless watercolors on Bazzil Textured paper.

This second grouping of Christmas trees are from Veronica. They were also colored with Peerless Watercolors and are so bright and cheerful! She put light green stickles on the garland and yellow stickles for the stars... beautiful!!

I only took one photo of Angie's Winter Church - but they all turned out beautifully! She stamped the church in Encore Silver ink and clear embossed it. Then, she used Copic Markers and stickles to decorate it - it's so soft and sparkly in person! Great job, Angie!

And, last but not least - here are Barb's Purple Dove cards. The doves are stamped in Black Memento ink and colored with Copics. Stickles are added to the lines for a subtle shimmer. That vellum embossed through the Snowflake cuttlebug folder is so amazing... love that look!

There you have it! My first show and tell! Didn't the ladies do a GREAT job!! They all worked hard making these 12 cards. Marianne was also there and made cards with us, but left before I thought to take photos of them! Sorry, Marianne! Next time I'll get photos of your cards to share!

Remember to stop by GinaK's forum tonight to party with us for the Land Cruise!

Jessica

Christmas Ornaments

Good evening!

I'm sorry I still haven't uploaded some of the new cards I've been working on... time hasn't been on my side this week - or even the past few weeks. But, the cruise work is done for me and I can breathe again and stamp for fun. I'm still not feeling well though - this cold is really hanging on and aggravating me. But, I'm looking forward to some fun stamping time tomorrow in my craft room.

Tonight's card is another one I made with Rupa's The Magic of Christmas set that I shared during the Release party. There is a lot going on with this card and I was so happy with how it all turned out. And I love how the elegance of Gina's White Satin ribbon adds so much to the card. It's one of the ribbons you receive with her Holiday Pure Luxury Ribbon Collection.

When I first saw Rupa's set, I thought immediately of those Outline Stickers that Stampendous and Magenta makes - do you know which ones I'm talking about? They are so elegant and were my first introduction to Sakura's Glaze & Souffle Pens (which are used to color inside the outline shapes). I wanted to simulate those stickers, so I stamped the ornaments on acetate in Versafine Black ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder.

To make the ornaments a little darker, I probably should have used Colored embossing powder, but I was afraid of all the stray speckles that might show up on the acetate. To color the ornaments, I got out my Sakura Glaze Pens and colored right over the embossing.

To frame the window, I used my favorite shape of Nestabilities: Rectangles. I cut the rectangle and the window at the same time - the easiest way to do it, I think. To highlight all the edges and embossing, I used the holiday Rub-on Embossing paste: Silver. It's a brighter silver than you find in the Original Metallic palette.

I cut a rectangle the same size as the window out of SU's whisper white cardstock and embossed with the Textile Embossing folder and then popped the whole thing onto the Swirls Embossed Cardfront. I used two of the new SU In Colors: Pacific Point & Red Ridinghood.

Boy, that took a long time to explain... but it didn't take long to make, I promise! heehee... It actually went together rather quickly once I figured out the window.

Judging by all the orders that have been shipped out since October's Release, many of you are loving this stamp set as much as I do! It's such a beautiful set that makes it so easy to create simple, but stunning Christmas cards.

Be sure to check in tomorrow as I'll be having some blog candy up for grabs! It's been a while since I had a giveaway and I've been saving some goodies to share here on my blog. I'll let you know all about it in tomorrow's post!

Have a great night!
Jessica

Let the Sneak Peeks begin!!

I'm so excited about these two sets that are being featured tonight! This release is focused on Christmas sets and there are so many awesome images in each stamp set along with great seasonal sayings and words. You're going to fall in love with them like I have, I'm sure.

First up is Rupa's beautiful set, The Magic of Christmas. I love all of Rupa's stamp sets and this one is no exception. When my husband saw these cards, he actually commented on how elegant this stamp set is - and he rarely ever comments on stamp designs! LOL! I usually show him my cards and he dutifully says that they look nice and such, but he hardly ever volunteers compliments without being prompted! heehee...


I'm excited to announce that Gina will be adding 3 different sizes of Clear Boxes to her Store on Thursday night. I used the large size for a gift card set of 4 cards and envelopes. To make the box a little more special, I stamped the snowflakes from her set in White Stazon before assembling it all together. Rupa has included 5 snowflake images in her set and I love them all! They are so beautiful and the details of each image is amazing.

I had such a hard time getting a good photo of my gift box. It was hard to get the camera to pick up the white stazon ink... but I think you can see at least a few of the snowflakes.


I love that Rupa included this beautiful dove in her set. I could totally see using this image for many other occasions. She has many beautiful words in her set - including the word 'Peace' - that are very lovely. I decided to keep my cards 'sentiment' free so the recipient could use them as she sees fit.

I'm so excited to show on my cards tonight a few new items that Gina will be carrying in her store beginning on Thursday, October 2nd! Along with the clear boxes, we'll also be carrying clear rhinestone stickers, these gorgeous flower, and Gina's own Pure Luxury ribbons!!!! Eeek!

Just wait until you see these ribbons! Organdy, polka dot, satin, grosgrain... ahhh - it's all so beautiful! I used the white satin ribbon with the gold trim on this notecard gift set. I doubled up my Sateen flowers to make white poinsettias and added a small rhinestone gem in each center.

I have to apologize again with the quality of my photos tonight. I'm so disappointed that they don't show the brightness and sparkle that is on each card. The white cardbase is Stampin Up's shimmery white cardstock, which I embossed with a Petite Oval nestability and then stamped with black ink and clear embossed the images. Then, I took some Stampin Up reinkers, my Niji watercolor brush and watercolored them with SU reinkers - with the exception of the dove image on the previous card which I colored with Copic markers.

Guess what else will be added to Gina's online store this Thursday night: Niji waterbrushes (my favorite and the ones I use for all the watercoloring classes at Gina's store) and Detail embossing powders in 4 colors: Clear, Black, Gold, and Silver. Plus, the best silver, gold, and white gel pens. I'm addicted to pens and these are my absolute favorite ones to use for my journaling in my scrapbooks and on my cards. More yummy things that I use all the time!

There are 4 cards in my card set, but I'm only sharing 2 of them tonight. I'll share the other 2 during Gina's Release Party in her Forum on Thursday night. I hope you'll join us! Gina's parties are always so fun and filled with lots more samples from her Design Team members.

Gina, Emily, Melanie, Carolyn, Lee, and Kurtis have all be working with Rupa's elegant set, The Magic of Christmas and have some awesome projects to share with us as well.

Next up, is Gina's super adorable set, Warm and Cozy Christmas....

Just look at that adorable little guy!! I'm a sucker for cute kid images and I fell head over heels for this stamp set. After cutting out a Nestability Circle on Stampin Up's Whisper White cardstock, I stamped the image in Momento ink and colored it in with Copic markers. Liquid applique sprinkled with clear glitter before heat embossing it added some cute little piles of snow that this little guy is trudging through with his Christmas tree on the sled.

I didn't take a photo of the markers I used, but I did jot down the numbers, if you're interested. I used BG75, BG72, BG10, BV23, B60, G24, G94, G99, YR65, R24, E00, E21, E49, 57, and the blender pen.

The blue paper is a sample that I received from the Coordinations Booth while I was at CHA this summer at Chicago. I sanded the swirls with a sanding block to bring out the light blue core of this amazing paper.

I used the large rhinestones on the edge of this card. Notice the greenish hue to them? I took a copic marker and colored over the gems. It's pretty light, but copic markers don't seem to make the gems very dark - they only seem to take the color a little bit, but it was enough for me.

In addition to Gina's blog, be sure to check in on what the other design team girls have been doing with this adorable set. Joanne, Emily, Melanie, and Lee also have some fabulous projects that I just know you're going to love.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back in tomorrow for more sneak peeks!!

Jessica

By the way, because I'm sharing so many cards tonight I don't think you'll be able to click on any of them to make them larger. It seems to always happen when I share multiple cards in one post. I will be sharing each of them at Gina's Release party and in the GinaK Gallery on Splitcoast, so hopefully you can get a closer look there if you're interested.