You're Perfectly Polished!

Yesterday Joanne announced a new challenge in the Gina K forum on Splitcoast...to ink up stamps that haven't seen any love yet. Sadly...I have lots to choose from for this challenge cause I've neglected my latest purchase. But that's what a challenge is for, right? 

I knew exactly what set I wanted to use...Perfectly Polished. And I also knew I wanted to use the nail polish bottles and the coordinating sentiment cause it makes me think of my BFF...she got me hooked on doing my nails and now I have a wonderful polish collection.  :)

The image is stamped with Memento ink onto Gina K pure luxury and coloured with copics. I stamped one extra polish bottle, cut it out and place it too like like it had tipped over. I really wanted to leave the cap off and have some polish dripping out but I couldn't get it to look realistic enough. I added crystal effects to the bottles for some shine. The image is cut out with circle nesties (I love circles!) and I recalled seeing a great sketch with circles on the Our Creative Corner blog so I decided to use that layout. 

All the other papers on my card are from the Basic Grey Bittersweet 6x6 paper pad. I stitched around the main and background panels with my Janome Sew Mini. The sentiment is cut out using my new Lots of Tags sizzlet dies from Stampin' Up! Love Love LOVE that shape...I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing it again, and again, and again... {grin!}. 

This is another card that just makes me happy. Could be all the pink, might be the image, maybe the shape of the sentiment cut-out...don't really care why, it just makes me happy. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Bean Thinking About You...

My friend Joanne is running a 'Get Krafty' challenge on the Gina K. forum on Splitcoast...basically, use kraft paper on your creation. I love kraft paper too, so I figured this was a challenge I could definitely tackle. 

My original plan was to use kraft paper as my main panel, but the idea morphed into this instead. I stamped the coffee beans and bag from the Gina K Designs set My Cuppa Joe onto Gina K pure luxury cardstock then again onto kraft cardstock. I misted the kraft paper with water then crumpled it up into a little ball. I flattened it back out and set it aside to dry. Once it was dry I cut out the bag and added the word 'Beans' (and that's supposed to be a little coffee bean beside the word but it's kinda distorted cause I only thought to add it once the paper was all crumpled). I coloured the image with copics and drew in the counter line and the wall (like I've seen so many other people do). It's supposed to look like wide bead board...but it kinda looks like jail bars to me...hmph...I'll have to work on that technique. I layered lots of copic colours on the 'wall' to try and get shadows and depth. 

The patterned paper is from Collage Press, Jackson Lodge line. It's hard to see in the picture but I zig-zagged around the edge of the patterned panel, then straight stitched inside the zig-zag. It's subtle, but I like it. 

I picked up the ribbon yesterday at AC Moore and I think I'll go back for more...it was on sale and I really like it! I added a row of Marble Chocolate Bella Dots under the sentiment and pierced a photo corner in the top right. 

This is the last of the Valentine's cards for my brothers. Really, this one isn't Valentinish at all, but both he and his wife love coffee, and I've been thinking about them cause we'll see them at Easter when we're back home for the long weekend. I sent the Cookie Love card to my other brother, cause he loves cookies. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Good Coffee and Good Friends

I finally had some time today to play with Lauren's Saturday sketch. I must admit, this one stumped me a little so I thought long and hard before deciding which stamp set to use. I knew I wanted to use smaller images in the two small circles and not just embellishments, so I finally landed on using My Cuppa Joe from Gina K Designs. 

I stamped the two mugs and the coffee pot with Memento black onto Gina K pure luxury 80lb white. I coloured the images with copics then cut them out with either circle punches or circle nesties. I chose to go with pinks and browns because my Bittersweet paper was still out on my stamp table and I wanted to use it again.  :)

The card base is Gina K 120lb pure luxury, followed by some Chocolate Chip. I stamped the sentiment with versamark and embossed it with white EP so it would stand out against the chocolate background. I pierced along the top and left edges of the chocolate piece. I found it needed some bling to spice it up so I added a row of Cotton Candy Bella Bonbons beside the sentiment. Then I tied a little pink gingham bow onto a mini library clip and attached it to the coffee pot circle. The very last thing I did was coat the coffee pot with crystal effects so it would look glassy...then I set it aside in a safe place to dry. The layers are all popped on dimensionals so it adds a lot of height, which doesnt' really show in the photos. 

I love coffee and I love friends, and I love chatting with friends over coffee. It's such a good excuse to get together! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

A Clean Challenge

This card is for my friend Joanne's "keep it clean" challenge in the Gina K Designs forum on Splitcoast. The rules are only two layers on the card base and three embellishments. 

So I just HAD to pull out my brand new Gina K set 'Home Tweet Home'. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised to learn this was on my first stamp order from Gina K...I love birds and I have a bird house collection.  :)

I stamped the image with Memento black onto Sahara Sand cardstock...I really liked the look of pencils on kraft cardstock on my Blue Shoe Mojo card, so I was thinking of doing something along those lines. Next I decided on a patterned paper...I ended up with a piece from my Basic Grey Periphery 6x6 paper pad. I let the colours in the paper guide my colour choices for the image. 

I used my Lyra pencils, odourless mineral spirits and a stump to colour the image. I have to say, I'm not entirely thrilled with how bright the blue came out, but there isn't a nice light blue in my set of 72 pencils (really, there isn't)...hmmm...do I need more already?!?{grin!} Once it was all coloured I cut it out with a scallop nestie and sponged some Close to Cocoa around the edges. 

The card base is Always Artichoke. I also sponged around the edge of the card with Always Artichoke, to give it a bit of a shadow on the outer edges. Once I tore the patterned paper, I found the white core too bright so I sponged both Cocoa and Artichoke to tone it down, then I distressed the bottom edge of the card base for more texture. 

The ribbon is SU chocolate felt and I tied in the blue on the image with a blue button and some linen thread. Once it was all put together I pierced along the ribbon and around the image.

There you have it, one card base, two layers, three embellishments...a handmade card, priceless.  :) 

Hmph...I've just realized...this is one of only two cards I've made lately that doesn't use any Gina K pure luxury cardstock at all...not even as a card base. The ironic part is that this one is for a challenge in the Gina K forum. LOL! Hope they don't hold it against me!   :) 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Take Flight

Yesterday was a fabulous day. First of all, it was Friday and that just makes it great anyway. But, it was even better cause I received my Gina K order...yippee...AND my friend Joanne and I went on a road trip to Ink About It. They have lots of wonderful stamps and supplies that were screaming to come home with me. {wink!} I was on a bit of a mission though...my friend Nancy has started a fun challenge on her blog. It's a colour and texture challenge, she's calling it a CAT Challenge, so I was keeping my eyes peeled for products to use on a card for her challenge. 

This card came together in my mind over the past day, and it was really quick to make because I had all the ideas. I used my brand new Gina K set "Take Flight" (that was the free with three set...yippeee). I stamped the butterfly with versamark and embossed it with white powder onto black cardstock. Then I stamped the butterfly again with versamark and embossed it with iridescent ice powder onto an acetate sheet, then cut it out. I cut out the white butterfly with a rectangle nestie. It's layered onto a beautiful piece of metallic sparkly silver paper (which I picked up at Ink About It yesterday). I adhered the body of the clear butterfly onto the white one then bent the wings up for dimension. The sparkle of the iridescent ice powder over the white image is super pretty! The sentiment is stamped with Brilliance Moonlight White ink.

The card base is Gina K 120lb pure luxury white, then a layer of Basic Grey. The patterned black layer is another beautiful paper I picked up yesterday. The floral pattern is embossed and sparkly all over...sooooo pretty! I used my ticket corner punch on all four corners then added some small Hero Arts clear gemstones. I had also purchased a very pretty sheer silver ribbon with a black swirl in it, thinking I could work it into my project some how, but it didn't look right so I'll save that for another time. 

When I was all done and looking at the card, I thought it would be a perfect card for someone graduating from college or university...a completely unconventional graduation card.

This was a super fun challenge. Hope you'll pop over to Nancy's blog and play along.   :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Gina K. Card and a SALE

My boyish birthday card construction continues, but I switched gears to a manly card this time. The golf bag image and sentiment are from the "King of the Grill" set from Gina K. Designs. I stamped the golf bag with Memento black ink onto Gina K pure luxury white, then onto patterned paper from the Basic Grey Archaic line. I paper pieced the plaid and also the rusty colour onto the bag and coloured the brown accents with my E47 copic. I thought the plaid pattern was quite appropriate for a golf bag.  :)

The image is layered onto Always Artichoke, then Really Rust, then Chocolate Chip. I distressed the edges of all the solid layers. 

The card base is Gina K's 120lb Pure Luxury cardstock. It's the absolute best cardstock I've ever used both as a card base and also for colouring with copics. I can't rave about it enough...more about that in a minute though. I adhered a piece of Artichoke onto the white base, then layered more of the plaid paper. I accented the bottom with a piece of Chocolate (and pierced & distressed the top edge) then added another pattern from the Archaic pack. By the way, I used papers from the 6x6 paper pad. I like that the patterns are shrunk down for cards. 

The sentiment is stamped onto Really Rust then cut out with the Ribbon Tags Trio from Spellbinders. I attached it to the card with a piece of green twill and some aged copper brads. The top of the card was a little bare...I tried piercing the corners but that didn't seem like enough so I added the layered photo corners instead. Now my big decision is who to give this to, hubby, Dad, or one of my three brothers...hmmm. All I know is that's one manly card down, four more to go. 

Now, onto more important info...LOL!...Gina K. Designs is having a sale TODAY only. If you're on her mailing list then you probably already know about it...if not, read on. On Tuesday, January 6th, 2009, receive $10 off any purchase of $25 or more! Wowzers!!! That's A-mazing!!! Thanks Gina!!! Use coupon code JAN6SALE for online orders. So, back to my raving about her Pure Luxury cardstock...you REALLY need to try it and this is the perfect opportunity (along with all the other goodies in her store). No, I don't work for Gina, I'm just super happy with her stuff and when I find a good thing I like to pass along the love.  :)

So go fill your shopping cart!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Wedding Wishes

Today is my brother's wedding. Weddings are so much fun to begin with, but when it's a family member they're extra special. Of course, I HAD to make them a card. My family has pitched in on a gift and I got off easy, just sending along some money to help pay, so I volunteered to be in charge of the card. 

You know how it is, when an event comes along that you need to make a card for, usually I struggle with what stamp to choose, layouts, etc. Not this time! I could totally SEE this card in my mind. I knew I wanted to use the Gina K. Heartfelt Hits set 'cause the couple dancing is simply stunning. I also knew I wanted a vanilla and black card with a scalloped central image with tiny pearls all around it, and the Textile cuttlebug template inked with black.  

So here's how it all came together:

The card base is Vanilla, then I chose some patterned paper from October Afternoon as the background to add a bit of darkness, but not stark black. The cuttlebugged and inked Textile panels are mounted on Sahara Sand and I distressed the edges. I punched the top and bottom corners of the panels with the ticket corner punch and added tiny pearls. The dancing couple was stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black then cut out with oval nesties, but I wanted more of the black scallop to show so I combined the small and large sizes of oval nesties to get the effect I wanted. Then I placed tiny Hero Arts pearls all around the image...used up almost the entire pack on this card.  :)

The sentiment is stamped with versamark and embossed with Vanilla powder. It was cut out with my Spellbinder's Ribbon Tags Trio and attached to the card with SU Vanilla Taffeta ribbon. I debated using a 'congratulations' stamp, but the font just wasn't classy enough for this card.

The only part I didn't envision was the flower. Eventhough there are pearls on the card, it seemed to need a bit of a softer touch and a flower would be perfect. Well, I have tons of flowers but none of them fit the bill. They were either to bright, to big, the wrong shape...basically I wanted a very soft coloured rose-looking flower and I didn't have one. So I made one. The flower started as a vanilla scalloped circle and I sponged some blush blossom to give it a hint of colour. I krinkled it up, cut it in a spiral and glued it back together with a half-pearl in the centre. Ta dah! It was really quite easy. 

I just love how this card turned out and I know it will be appreciated because my bro is marrying a stamper.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Stella's Half Flower

I made this card as a thank you to one of my neighbours. Not sure I can give it away though, it's really pretty! Is she card-worthy? I did make it to coordinate with her home decor though. I guess I can always make another one, right?  :)

So it all started when I read the Thursday "ways to use it" challenge on Splitcoast...to use just half an image. My first thought was, that's bizarre, how will half an image look? So I decided on a flower, cause it's pretty symetrical and you can imagine what the other half of the image will look like. But, the half I do work on needs to be pretty nice to stand on it's own...right?

This beautiful flower is from the set "A Year of Flowers" from Gina K. I thought the detail and layers of the image were absolutely perfect for layers and layers of petals. 

I stamped the flower three times with Memento ink onto Gina K pure luxury cardstock. I imagined the layers going from darkest on the bottom to lightest on top. So I coloured the three images with various copic colours. Don't be scared away by all the colours I used...I just kept layering and blending until I got the shades I wanted but I'm sure you could get the same effect with far fewer colours. 

Once they were coloured, I cropped the darkest flower in half for my base. Then I cut out the petals on the other two flowers and layered them, bending the petals upward for dimension and to show the colours. I offset the petals of each layer too so it didn't just look like a stack. Oh, and I painted the middle layer with Angel Wings Shimmerz, so there's a little shimmer peeking between the top petals. 

The patterned paper is Basic Grey Stella Ruby, which I layered onto SU chocolate then pierced around the edges. The three panels are attached with dimensionals to Artichoke cardstock, then onto a Kraft card base. The ribbon is SU Kraft Taffeta and the pearls are from Stamping Bella, String of Pearls. LOVE those pearls!!!

This is one of my favourite 'grown up' cards in quite some time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Funky Lime Bag

I still had lots of paper from We R Memory Keepers 'White Out' line on my stamp table when I sat down to stamp again, so rather than clean it up I decided to use it again. I just LOVE all the bright colours and funky patterns...it makes me smile!

This layout was inspired by last week's card sketch on Splitcoast. I changed it up a bit, but it started with that layout. The image is from Gina K's adorable Retro Boutique set.

 

It's stamped with Memento black onto Pure Luxury cardstock and coloured with copics. I cut it out with the Labels One nesties and coloured around the edge of the nestie for a faux layer. 

This is a pretty simple and quick little card.

I jazzed up the paper (like it needed it!) by tracing the lines with my Stardust pen to add some shimmer. I did the same with the outline on the image too. 

I promise...tomorrow I'll move onto other colours.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Starbucks Inspiration

My friend Nancy had a wonderful idea to use the lovely Starbucks Holiday cups as inspiration for a card. She's issued an unofficial challenge to all the stampers out there so if you're interested, take a peek at her post. 

I'm a Starbucks fan, and I totally love the Holiday cups, so I don't even need to see one to be inspired. I did, however, make a HUGE sacrifice and pick up a peppermint latte today just so I'd have the cup to photograph for you.  big grin!!!

The red paper I used on yesterday's card was still out on my stamp desk and I thought it was perfect for this card. It's My Minds Eye Snowed In line. The card base is kraft, and I used my fabulous SU Top Note die on another piece of kraft for the main image. I turned to a classic set, Lovely as a Tree, for the tree image. First I stamped the tree with versamark and embossed it with white. Then I stamped some trees in the background with Always Artichoke. 

I sponged all the layers with white craft ink and tied a piece of SU Vanilla Taffeta ribbon (the white taffeta seemed too stark). It's finished of with a sentiment from SU Sincere Salutations...another of my fave sets. The sentiment is also stamped with Artichoke ink, although it looks much darker on the red paper. 

I like the quiet feel of this card. Best of all, it came together in only about 15 minutes. I think that may be a record for me!  :)

My Gina K order arrived Friday afternoon...yippeeee!!! 

I have Pure Luxury carstock again...I was literally down to little scraps of it and starting the get quite anxious about that! Seriously though, my mom always had a well stocked pantry...she could probably cook for a week without going to the store, and my stamp room is MY pantry...it's very well stocked.   :)

Anyway, I was so excited about having fabulous white cardstock again that I just HAD to make another card. Keeping with the latte theme, I used Gina's "My Cuppa Joe" stamp set. Isn't it just absolutely perfect for today's post!!! I'm so excited writing this...I feel like I've had a triple espresso or something. 

The white base is Pure Luxury 120lb cardstock, with a layer of chocolate chip then another design from the My Minds Eye Snowed In line. I sewed the layers together cause my Sew Mini was looking a little neglected. I stamped the cup once onto green, then onto white, then onto red and paper pieced them all together. I know...you'd think after yesterday's card that I'd be off paper piecing for a while, but this was super easy cutting. 

I cut the green piece out with a long rectangular nestie, and I put the paper in upside down so it ended up debossing instead of embossing, but I like it...a happy accident. The ribbon is SU chocolate felt ribbon. 

This card has a masculine feel to it so I didn't want to ruin that with glitter or bling. I think I'll save it to give to hubby when he does something nice. Hope I won't have it for too long! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen