A Very Special Post

Have you seen the Paper Crafts Connection Blog today? I am so delighted and thankful to the kind PC Editors for the opportunity to share with their readers the amazing things God has blessed me with through this papercrafting hobby that we all love. I hope that it's evident from that post my love for, first and foremost, Christ who is the giver of all good things (James 1:17); and for papercrafting that has been an instrument God has used to show His goodness to me.

And if I may, I would like to dedicate the PC Connections article and this post to my wonderful Mom, whose love, encouragement and generosity have fueled my love for both Christ and papercrafting. I love you, Mom, and everything that I am and have accomplished today is because of you. Yours and Dad's sacrifices will not go unnoticed by our Lord and I am thankful that you seek His glory in all things. I miss you both so much.

The card above uses my Lovely Shelf set. The cardstocks are GinaK Green Apple and Innocent Pink. It's a variation of a card I have published in the Paper Crafts Card Styles magazine under the Elegant category.

The PC blog is also offering a BIG giveaway from companies whose products I used in the card below. GinaK Designs (the cardstocks and button), Layers of Color (the sponged stencil background), Spellbinders (the scallop circle die to make the flower), SRM Stickers (sentiment) are all offering a generous giveaway on the Paper Crafts Connection blog today, so make sure you stop by there and enter.
The background was achieved by embossing (using a Cuttlebug) and sponging Layers of Color's Medallion stencil (it's on sale right now!). The flowers were punched sheets of an old hymnal. The cardstocks are GinaK Innocent Pink and Ivory. The leaves are by Prima. The lace is local (but Wright's makes something almost identical) and the ribbon is by American Crafts.

Finally, if you are curious to know more about the Christ I mentioned above, please email me. You can read more about Him --->> HERE. Or you can click on the tab above, "Who Do You Think Jesus Is." He is the Ruler of my life, the source of all joy and hope that make my life as blessed as it is. To Him be the glory alone!

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
~Jude 1:24-25~

A Pretty Savannah card and sneak peeks...

Look at what my beautiful friend, Savannah, has made with Vintage Backgrounds and Lovely Shelf. Don't you just love those blocks and her color combo?

Second, I have some cards over on the Layers of Color blog as their Guest DT for May. Here are some sneak peeks:

Finally, I have a tutorial for this little photo display over at the SRM Blog today. This is the only way I usually scrap. 12 x 12 layouts still intimidate me :-).

My Challenge Winners!

First, I just want to let you know how blown away I was with your beautiful creations. There were so many fantastic cards and each one was a feast for the eyes. Just in case you missed them, here are some of my favorites from the challenge participants.

Lynn - I love that ribbon rose.


Justine - another fabulous handmade embellishment flower.


Jennie - all the different elements just come together so well here and she used several of my Gina K stamp sets, Nana's Needlework and Vintage Backgrounds.


Amy - her color combo is one of my favorite and who wouldn't love a blinged out butterfly trail?


Janice M - I love the trail, too, but even more, I love the crocheted butterfly!

Janice W - another beautiful handmade flower and it's so clever how she did her ribbon. She used two of my Gina K sets, Lovely Shelf and Nana's Needlework.


Heather - I love her stitching, subtle backgrounds, fantastic color combo and lovely design. She used my GinaK sets Nana's Needlework, Vintage Borders, Lovely Shelf.


Last, but certainly not the least...Carla with this beautiful vintage card. I love her muted color combo, and the simple elegance of it all. She used my Lovely Labels set.


I am so glad I am picking the winner by random, or I wouldn't be able to choose one favorite. The winner of the $20 gift certificate from Lisa Walsh (Stampin' Up! demo) is...#4 Janice Whiting.

And before I give you the winner from the commenters and followers, I have to explain how I pick my winner. There were almost 400 comments and over 300 followers, so it's a little daunting to count them. What I do is I assign a number per day and the followers get two days:
#1 Followers
#2 Day 1 comments,
... Days 2 - 15
#17 Followers again

I picked a random number 1-17 (via random.org)...I got #7, so the winner will be picked from Day 6 comments. Using the random.org site again, from the comments the winner of some paper crafting goodies from me is... #17 Lynn! I will be in contact soon, ladies, to get your goodies out to you.

Just for You

My next designing friend is one who's been working with my Squigglefly digis for awhile now. She is one exciting, talented, prolific and beautiful person. Let me re-introduce you to...Savannah!

Look at what she made with my Vintage Backgrounds and Lovely Shelf sets? She thinks so out of the box and the results are beautiful. I never thought of going rustic with a teapot image, but she does it well here:

I did a little interview with Savannah when I introduced her as my Designing Friend with my Squigglefly images. Go HERE to read it again :-).

And I have to share this beautiful card made by one of GinaK Designs' finest, Lynn Mercurio, with Vintage Backgrounds. Isn't this stunning? You can find more info HERE.

Only ONE more day left for my challenge. I hope to see you submit your work. One random winner will get a $20 gift certificate from Stampin' Up demo, Lisa.

Introducing Vintage Backgrounds

Here is my latest Gina K Designs stamp set, Vintage Backgrounds. It's something I've been wanting to have for a long time and I'm glad I get to share it with you all.

Here are the latest digital paper packs: Bright and Grungy Dots, which were designed to coordinate with GinaK's Green Apple, Little Boy Blue, Red Hot, Sweet Corn and Passionate Pink. Due to the differences in toner ink, printers and other factors, the exact color match to the GKD papers is not guaranteed. They will, however, coordinate very well with them.

And Bright and Grungy Argyle - these papers coordinate with GinaK's Green Apple, Little Boy Blue, Lipstick Red, Sweet Corn and Passionate Pink.

And here's a card I made with Vintage Backgrounds, Lovely Shelf (sentiment) and Asela's Sew Pretty (apron) sets.

And don't forget the challenge I have going on now. A $20 Stampin' Up! Gift Certificate is the prize!

Shabby Butterfly Card and Another Challenge

Thanks for the comment on my hand made flower yesterday. It was easy. I found the tutorial HERE.

My card today uses several GinaK Designs stamps. The doily is from my Nana's Needlework, the beautiful sentiment is from the Elegant Flowers set. The word "you" is from Lovely Shelf. This flower here uses a strip of fabric.

You can click on the photo for a larger view.

My anniversary was last month, but I got a great response from the last challenge that I thought I'd do another one.

The Challenge: Create a card that uses my card as an inspiration. You can follow the layout or the color combo, or you can create one of these flowers, whatever inspires you.

The Prize: I will pick a winner from among the participants and from a commenter and followers. One random participant will win this:
FYI, my generous friend and SU Demo, Lisa, always has a great monthly special. For April, you need to check it out HERE. It's the perfect time to stock up.

One random commenter will receive some paper crafting goodies, including some stamps from me. I will gather up some goodies and post here later.

The Details:

• Create a new project using my card as the inspiration.
• Post it on your blog, forum gallery or flickr making sure you provide a link to this challenge post, so others can join too.
• Enter the direct link to your card via inlinkz below. You can enter as many projects as you want.
  
• The deadline is April 29 at midnight.
  

Blog Anniversary Challenge and Giveaways!

Now how about some giveaways to celebrate my first blog anniversary. There will be two chances to win and two prizes up for grabs.

I thought I'd make it interesting by offering a sketch. I've been using the same sketch for some of my CAS cards lately.

The Sketch:
Here's a sample card. I made a couple more HERE. The sentiment on my card below is from the Lovely Shelf set.

The Deets:

• Leave a comment on this and every post I have until the deadline (April 10th at midnight). One comment a day please.
• Followers will be automatically entered twice.
  
• Make as many cards as you want based on the sketch above and leave a direct link to every card on the list below. One link per card please. If you include more than one card based on the sketch in your post, re-enter the same link to better your chances of winning.
• I ask that when posting your card on your blog, please provide a direct link to this post so that others can join, too.
  
• The link will remain active until the deadline, April 10 at midnight.
• I will announce the winners on Sunday, April 11th.
  

The Prizes:
From the commenters, I will be giving away Stampin' Up!'s Country Morning set to one random winner. This is a hostess only set, so it's hard to come by.
From the sketch participants, I will be giving away my Lovely Labels set.

If you already have this set, I will give another prize package that will include another stamp set and other goodies. I am also on a lookout for a Guest DT for my next release. (Hint: I tend to ask those who come to my blog regularly because I feel like they know my design style :-).

I hope you can play along!

Want to win my Lovely Shelf set?

Then, you need to head over to the Card Patterns blog and make a card following this sketch:

and enter your project via Mr. Linky at the end of the post. I am hosting it this week and I'm giving away a copy of my Lovely Shelf set to one random winner.

Here is my card using one of the vases and sentiments from the set up for grabs.

All supplies by GinaK Designs, unless noted otherwise.
Papers: Lipstick Red, Ivory, October Afternoon Farm Fresh
Ink: Memento Black, Vivid Straw, Copics
Others: Autumn Button Asst, ribbon from stash

Sweetest Memories

It's been a very busy time here with ministry, entertaining, and other fun family stuff. We had a great Christmas. We hosted some friends for Christmas dinner, then celebrated again with more dear friends at their home the next day. While we were there, we got to try Wii for the first time and I can't believe how much fun we had! My girls were clueless what it was just a few days ago. We were sweating and sore by the time we finished, but we had a blast. Video games have come a long way since Pacman ;-).

I have two cards to share with you that I made a couple of weeks ago that I haven't shared here. The first one uses Signed With Love, the new free with 3 (you get the set free when you purchase 3 sets). The card base is GKD Kraft, the DPs are Pink Paislee Mistletoe Collection.

The next card is a clean and simple design using Lovely Shelf. The card base is GKD Kraft.

Make sure you check out my blog candy on my previous post for a chance to win Lovely Shelf set. You have until tonight to enter. I'll announce the winner tomorrow. And have you seen the snippets on Gina's blog? Can you guess which one is mine? It's going to be a HUGE January release with lots of new stamps, new Perfect patterns, and new cardstock colors!

StampTV and GinaK Designs Dec Blog Hop

Welcome to StampTV's December Blog hop featuring GinaK Designs' December release. Make sure you stop by Gina's blog to find out details on how to win a stamp set valued at $24.95 or less.

Here are a few cards I made last week that I never posted here. The first one uses Theresa's new set, Life is Good, and my Special Fathers set. Aren't they perfect together? The card base is Green Apple. The DPs are from SEI.

These next two are very similar to the two I already shared on my Lovely Shelf blog hop, but uses the other two flower images from the set. The card base is Soft Sand and the flowers are colored with Copics.

This one uses a sentiment from my Elegant Post set.

I have a BLOG CANDY on the previous post, so make sure you go there to be entered to win a copy of my Lovely Shelf set and a sampler pack of GKD's awesome cardstocks.

My Guest DT and Inspiration from Stockings

I've been honored to have my good friend from Germany, Vanessa Menhorn, as my Guest DT this month. Did you see her beautiful card from the Lovely Shelf Blog Hop? She is an amazing artist and I'm not the only one who has noticed! Check out her blog to find out all the numerous awards and recognitions she's received. I'm so thankful to her for designing with my Lovely Shelf set amidst her busy schedule. Thanks, Vanessa!

I asked her a few questions, so you can get to know her better.

1. How long have you been paper crafting and how did you get
started?
* I started making cards about 10 months ago - I thought it would be nice to make my own birthday cards and saw the beautiful creations on some company and challenge blogs, so I joined a flickr group and started taking part in their challenges

2. What are your current favorite:
* Techniques : distressing, layering, stamping

* Tools: die-cutting machine, sewing machine, border punches
* embellishments: pearls, gems, buttons, ribbon
* coloring mediums: distress ink, colored pencils

3. What inspires you to create? Define your crafting style.
* other designer, challenges, images in magazines
* my style is changing, I love trying new techniques and prefer the vintage/shabby chic/elegant style. My crafting is chaotic and not organized...

4. Tell us something about your family. Where are you from? Other
interests besides paper crafting.
* I am married and have a 16 months old sweet daughter. I live in Germany and I am half Italian. Besides paper crafting I don`t have much time for other hobbies - but I love cooking, baking, sewing (cute stuffed animals for my daughter), reading and gardening. I used to do a lot of sports before I had my girl.

-------------------------
I also want to encourage you to check out and participate in Cath's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger uses my inspiration from Arts and Soul:

Aren't these stockings so soft and pretty? My girls would love them! And here's my card:

Stamps: Lovely Shelf, Warm and Wonderful (GinaK)
Paper: GKD Creme de Menthe, DCWV La Creme, Basic Grey Eva, GKD Vintage Holly digipapers
Accents: ribbon by Michael's, lace from a local store here, buttons from my stash

Come back tonight (or tomorrow morning for me) for the Life is Good blog hop.

GinaK Designs' Lovely Shelf Blog Hop

ETA: For another inspiration using Lovely Shelf and Rupa's Warm and Wonderful set, make sure you stop by Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger post today!

Welcome to the Lovely Shelf Blog Hop. Thank you for joining us today, amidst your busy holiday schedule. I hope you will find inspiration in the cards you will see during this hop that will motivate you to create during the Christmas break.

I wanted to show the versatility of Lovely Shelf by creating 2 types of cards. The first two are CAS (clean and simple) cards that took no more than 15 minutes to make. Here is one of them with the rose image. I stamped it on Ivory cardstock, then colored with Copics. I embossed the sentiment from the Elegant Post set and drew the lines with my Inkssentials white pen. The card base is Soft Sand. A little pearl is the only accent right where the lines intersect.

This one uses another flower image, as well as the sentiment, from the Lovely Shelf set.

The other style of cards that I've been trying to get better at making is the shabby chic style. I just love lace, ribbons, pearls and buttons that I'm naturally drawn to this style. My first card follows the colors from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry paper pack.

The card base is Ocean Mist. I sponged all my panels and card base, as inspired by the sponging-extraordinaire, Theresa Momber. It just adds softness to your card. The yellow flower was stamped with the quote from Theresa's Life is Good set. The swirly chipboard is by Tim Holtz. This may be the very first time I've ever used a chipboard on my card. It's sponged with Vintage Green Vivid ink.

I wanted to make another card with the same layout using softer colors. Here I used K&Co Madeline paper pack. The card base is Soft Sand and the pink panel is SU's Regal Rose.

For more inspiration, make sure you visit these GinaK Designs DT blogs:

Jessica Fick

Donna Baker

Emily Giovanni

Lee Murphy

Melanie Muenchinger

Theresa Momber

Peggy Wainman {CSS designer}

Cheri Weston {CSS Designer}

And last, but certainly not the least, is my Guest DT:
Vanessa Menhorn

The StampTV Idea Center is also a valuable resource for tips, samples, and tutorials on how to use all of GinaK's stamp sets. Check out the Lovely Shelf stamp set discussion HERE. The Lovely Shelf Card Kit information can be found there as well.

And, finally remember to check in on GinaK's blog tonight to leave your comment on her Lovely Shelf post so that you can be entered to win Lovely Shelf or any of my stamp sets valued at $23.95 or less!