PaperFections

2012 Calendar Tray

I had a new calendar idea for 2012 and decided to utilize my 7 Gypsies Photo Tray for it. I'll be showing you these quarterly next year over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, showcasing different stamping techniques each time! The first quarter for 2012 highlights watercoloring two different ways -- one using Copic Various Ink Refills and the other utilizes the more traditional dye ink pads. I hope you'll join me HERE for all the details of this quarter. You'll be able to follow along and create your own calendars each quarter -- I'll post them at least one full month (4-6 weeks) in advance! Read more →

Gina K Designs November Release Inspiration Hop 1!

Welcome to Gina K Designs’ November stamp set release inspiration blog hops! We hope you enjoyed the Release Party last night -- Remember, all of the new October release stamp sets are now available in Gina’s store! Our first stamp set being featured today is: Stately Flowers 1 by Melanie Muenchinger -- aren't these flowers gorgeous?!! I adore flowers (and I'm sure glad Melanie knows that, too!) . . . this is a fabulous concept Melanie came up with! Here’s my sample -- the rest of the sneak peak I showed you yesterday: For this birthday card, I stamped the beautiful poppies with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic's X-Press It Blending Card and then selected my Copic colors to coordinate with the patterned papers I chose, using my Copic color chart: I used Copic's Pitch Black Atyou Spica Glitter Pen to accent the center of the flower, and I also went over the "Happy Birthday" stamped sentiment (from Pleasant Plurals) with the glitter pen, to give it a little more emphasis and sparkle! An orange dotted paper die cut was added on the inside of the card and Gina's Sweet Mango Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight cardstock, die cut... Read more →

Gina K Designs November Release Party Invite!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to the Gina K Designs November Release Party tonight. We have a fun evening planned for you -- chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly (we’ve changed it this month, going forward) at the BEGINNING of the party (7pm Central) November products will be available for you to go shopping! If you came from Suzanne Dean’s blog, you're at the right place. If not, you can head over to StampTV, where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop. Here's a sneak peek of one of the projects I will be sharing at the party tonight: Hope to see you at the party -- here are all the details: When: Today, Tuesday, November 29 Where: StampTV Release Party Forum Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST) Next, head on over to Michelle Woerner’s blog to see what she's sharing with you today and I will see you back here on tomorrow for the beginning of our three day Inspiration Blog Hop series for November! Read more →

The Gifted Stamper Giveaway!

Do you love the idea of creating beautiful handmade, heart-felt gifts for the men, women, family and friends in your life? If this sounds wonderful and you don't know where to start, we have a solution! Please join long-time instructor and my dear sweet friend, Julie Ebersole, in her class The Gifted Stamper: One Dozen Easy-to-Make Gifts For All Occasions. Julie will guide you through 12 beautiful, easy-to-make gift ideas and projects suitable for any occasion. This interactive online class will feature a work-at-your-own pace schedule, supported with video tutorials and detailed downloadable PDF instruction sheets. Participate in a dedicated forum and gallery during class. This fantastic class is only $36 and will run from December 1st through December 12th, but all content will always remain available to students. During class there will be fun prizes and a special discount code for all students. For complete details please visit HOWnow School of Creative Arts, Ellen Hutson’s new online workshop site! Whether it's for the upcoming holidays, a birthday, or "just because," nothing conveys heart-felt like handmade . . . click here to register now. Would you like a chance to WIN a spot in this class? I will choose a... Read more →

Ellen Hutson 5th Anniversary Celebration!

All weekend long, we are celebrating Ellen Hutson LLC's store 5th anniversary over in the CLASSroom! You don't want to miss all the giveaways, challenges, and prizes, so I hope you'll hop on over and read all the recent blog posts there! Starting today thru Sunday there will be a new challenge posted each day -- play along and you could win each of the different prizes! Here's the sample for my challenge today (you can find all the instructions and prize info here): We hope you'll play along and visit us this weekend! Read more →

Christmas Challenge!

Today's JustRite Friday Challenge will help you finish (or get started!) on your holiday cards and tags . . . it will be time to start using and sending them out before you know it! Here's my sample for the challenge: You can find all the challenge details (and prize info!) and how I made my tag over at the JustRite Inspiration blog today. Happy Friday! Read more →

Holiday Snowglobe Shaker Art

Today over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I show you how to make this 4" x 6" framed snowglobe shaker artwork . . . I hope you'll join me! That sweet snowglobe is this year's Lockhart 2011 Limited Edition stamp, Nicholas Sings Carols, colored with my Copic markers of course! Read more →

Gina K Gratitude November Design Team Hop

Welcome to another Gina K design team blog hop. In honor of the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, today we're featuring cards with a Gratitude theme to them. If you came from Melanie Muenchinger’s blog, you're at the right place. If not, you can head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop. Here's the thank you card I came up with today, using the brand new StampTV kit, Nature’s Greetings: I ADORE poppies and these are ruffled gorgeous-ness! This “mini kit” was a little extra “all occasion” bonus for the year -- normally the StampTV kits come out every 2 months. I know I’ll be using this one a LOT, since I adore botanical themed sets! I stamped a quarter sheet of Copic’s X-Press It Blending Card with the poppies and started coloring with my favorite red Copic maker combo: Here are all of the Copic colors I used: The “thanks a bunch” sentiment is from Garden Fresh. After die cutting it with Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities, I used the R24 Copic marker to color around the embossed edge of the sentiment. It is popped up over two die cut Spellbinders Peony... Read more →

11.11.11 Veteran's Day

Hello on Veterans Day! I'm so very grateful to all those who have served, in every generation -- especially my own deceased father and 87-year old father-in-law, who both served in the Army. So I had them and those who are currently serving in mind when I designed these cards for Copic Marker's participation in the Operation Write Home blog hop today: Some of you may have heard of Operation Write Home (OWH). If not -- in short, the operation helps organize and provide handmade greeting cards for deployed military heros so they in turn, can write home to their families and friends. It's just one small way we can serve them as they serve us! The OWH organization has sent over one million handmade cards overseas to our service members and if you would like to participate in the operation, you can find the guidelines for making cards here. To find a list of the 11 invited papercrafting companies participating in today's 11.11.11 Veteran's Day blog hop, please visit the OWH-Stars and Stamps blog. You can find all the details about how I made my cards today over on the Copic Marker blog. These cards use the Strength and... Read more →

JustRite Stampers November Release #2: Winter Words

JustRite Stampers' final day of November release stamp sets brings you this wonderful Winter Words clear stamp set: Fabulous set of full of great words you'll use for the winter months ahead! So I thought ahead to Valentine's Day and came up with this heart shaped box of chocolates card: I used Cricut's Everyday Pop-Up Cards cartridge to create the card -- the chocolates are frosted with coarse crystal glitter (hopefully you can see that by clicking on the photos for a larger view). I stamped the "Happy Valentines Day" sentiment from JustRite's stamp set with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink and hand cut the banner shape. I used several other words from this set on the inside of the card: These are my kind of chocolates . . . pretty, easy to make, and no calories! Happy early Valentine's Day! Here are the other JustRite designers that have projects to share today: JustRite Inspiration Blog Michele Kovack Angela Barkhouse Sharon Harnist < == You are here! Kellie Fortin Eva Dobilas Heidi Blankenship Kathy Jones Barb Schram Products used: Read more →

Copic Christmas Card

Today over on the Copic blog, I have a tutorial on how to create this Christmas card using quite a few Copic products, along with this darling Lockhart Wagon of Toys stamp -- including the background stamped with Copics! I hope you'll join me there for all the details! The holidays are right around the corner -- it's never too early to start creating your cards! Supplies used: Read more →

JustRite Stampers November Release #2: Backgrounds!

This week JustRite Stampers is bringing you the 2nd installment of its November stamp set release and today’s stamps being featured are a brand new line for JustRite -- background stamps! These background stamps are made of deeply etched red cling rubber and measure a generous 4.50” x 5.75”. Here’s the first one -- Scrolled Vine: Isn’t it gorgeous?!! The void in the center is intentional and designed to hold any of JustRite’s Nested Sentiments . . . or anything else you’d like to do with that blank space! I stamped the background with Dazzle Champagne VersaMark onto a #8 Kraft Tag. I accented the tag with this gorgeous vintage ornament stamp from JustRite’s Cling set, Deck The Halls, die cut with Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments die. I filled in the blank center of the Scrolled Vine background with some pretty Prima Jaqueline lace trim and stamped a “Noel” sentiment from Deck The Halls. The Champagne Dazzle Versamark is gorgeous stamped on this kraft tag -- hopefully you can see all the sparkle in this close-up (click on photos for a larger view): To finish the tag, I added a red button and hand stitched metallic gold cord accents by... Read more →

JustRite Christmas Linky Party

Welcome to JustRite Stampers first Linky Party! This is a great opportunity to share your JustRite Christmas projects with JustRite’s blog readers and find new places for inspiration. The Linky Party lasts until tomorrow, so you still have time to participate and share your JustRite Christmas projects on THIS blog post. For the party, JustRite is celebrating with a JustRite Christmas Stamp Sale -- 25% off every JustRite Christmas stamps, JustRite Original Christmas sets, JustRite Cling Christmas sets and JustRite Clear Christmas sets! These are some of JustRite’s most popular stamp sets ever! Christmas stamp sale ends November 17, so shop early for the best selection! I used one of my favorite holiday/winter sets, Blizzard Bunch, to create this mini framed home decor piece: This little frame measures approximately 3.50" x 4.50" and is one I picked up from Michael's dollar bin a few months back. It was the perfect size and shape to fit this JustRite Original large oval stamp set! I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and colored it with these Copic markers and Black, Olive & Red Atyou Spica Glitter Pens: I added Polar White Flower Soft to... Read more →

Give Thanks

A new JustRite Friday Challenge was posted today -- to make and actually send (or GIVE!) a thank you card or gift to someone. Here's my sample, using JustRite's Clear Autumn Words set, introduced last month: I love those leaves! This is a card, constructed with two #8 manila tags. You can find all the details on how to create it over at the JustRite Inspiration blog today. Thanks for stopping by -- I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Stamps: JustRite Clear Autumn Words, JustRite Cling Signs of Life, Paper: #8 manila tags; My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found-Sunshine 6x6 Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Potter’s Clay, Bamboo Leaves Accessories: Seam binding, 3D foam tape, Read more →