You're Invited!

We are very excited to extend an invitation to Gina K. Designs June Release Party. We have a fun evening planned for you - chatting, prizes, challenges, stamp sets reveal, design team shares, and most importantly, at the end of the party you will be able to go shopping!

If you came from Donna's, you're at the right place. If not make sure to head over to StampTV where you will find a list of all those participating in today's hop.

Here's a peek at one of the cards I will be sharing at the party.   It's a stars and stripes, grand ole flag kinda card to kick off the fourth of July holiday for my American friends!

Hope to see you there:

• When: Today, Thursday, June 30
• Where: StampTV Release Party Forum
• Time: 7 PM to 9 PM (CST)

Head on over to Cat's to see what sneak peek she's sharing with you today and see you back here on July 5th for the beginning of our three day Inspiration Blog Hop series.

CPS 224

Hello friends!

We finally made it back from our mission trip to Costa Rica late Saturday night...the return trip was a nightmare because our flight, originally painful enough as it was scheduled for 1:30 a.m., was cancelled, so we spent the night in the airport and eventually booked a one-way flight home with a different airline.  Cha-ching!  :(  Hopefully we will be reimbursed by our original carrier for not only the original ticket but the flight home as well!

Let me introduce you to precious Brittany from Costa Rica, who came up to me and gave me the sweetest, longest hug!  We could not speak each other's language, but the love we shared was obvious!  I am not sure why she chose to bless me so, but she certainly stole my heart and made me feel as though it is stretched between here and Costa Rica from now on!  What a little sweetie!

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Sparkle Creations.  I love adorable Cocktail Emily!  So darling, and so much fun to color!


Notes:
Sparkle Creations Cocktail Emily
Kaiser Craft designer paper
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic Markers, Spica glitter pens
Zva dimensional adhesive, Glue Dots
The Twinery twine

Gina K button

Hi!

Here's another card with kids2love and its companion set,  extras4kids, from the {stamps} of Life!  I was hoping that her dress would look little screen-printed swimsuit cover-up when stamped with waves and fishes that were intended for the fishbowl.  She's ready to hit the beach for some summer fun!

It's so fun playing with these cute kids and giving them different hair-dos and clothing, whether stamped or paper-pieced!  I was playing with them and thought I'd try the guy's crewcut as a mustache to see whether it would work for a Father's Day card.  I think it came out kinda cute, although with all of the distraction of preparing for Costa Rica, this is as far as I got.  I'll have to use it to make a masculine birthday or thank you when I get back home.    

Notes:

kids2love and extras4kids

Memento ink

Copic markers, multiliner

twine

SEI buttons
corner rounder

S.O.S.

The recently released Lizzie Anne Designs summer mix is full of adorable images!  I couldn't resist making a patriotic card with this cruise ship, a cuttlebug stars embossing folder, and a heart-shaped button.  The gold ribbon emphasizes the stars and stripes theme.

Notes:
Lizzie Anne Designs Summertime Celebration
stars embossing folder
Memento ink
Copic markers
gold crinkle ribbon
heart-shaped button

ihp Design Team Challenge!

It's time for another i {heart} papers design team challenge!  This month's theme is Sensational Summer!

My son and I are definitely enjoying a sensational summer so far!  We spent over a week in May visiting my parents and brother in Louisiana (bummed to miss seeing my older brother though!).   Matthew was at Ichthus in Kentucky from Wednesday through Saturday when he and Jeremy (our youth pastor) flew from Kentucky to meet the rest of our church's mission team (16 of us) in San Jose for our trip in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica!  We'll there for the week, working on the medical clinic adjacent to the church that we helped build last summer.  I'm hoping to post some pictures soon.  (The 26 of us who went last year pooled our pictures on Shutterfly, and there are over a thousand!)

My project for today, using June's Sketch for You to Try, is inspired by a beautiful tree that is right next to the mission property.  Last year it was full of toucans (this one is from Our Craft Lounge's new set, Shout it Out!) but I never managed to get a photo of one, so I'm hoping they'll be there again and that I can get a great shot this time around!  I wanted to include lots of green along with some of the bright colors of the flowers and frogs of the rainforest, and also a bit of black "wrought iron" since many of the homes and businesses in Costa Rica have both decorative and security wrought iron over their windows and doors.

Notes:

Our Craft Lounge's Shout it Out

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Copic markers, Copic multiliner

Basic Grey Lauderdale designer paper (green background print, "wild" print)

Echo Park A Walk in the Park designer paper (orange background print)

Nestabilities labels 3, classic circles, fleur de lis doily motifs

KaiserCraft rhinestones

Here are the links to the creations of my amazing, beloved design team mates!  Can't wait to see them at CHA...most of us are planning to go!  :)  We will sorely miss those who won't be there.

• Carolyn
• Gretchen
• Kendra
• Loretta
• Lori
• Lynn
• Megan
• Tracy
• Kate

CPS 223

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps! For my card, a portrait orientation of the sketch made with Echo Park's Be Mine designer paper, I stamped Patsy with Memento ink, then colored her with Copic markers and fussy cut the shape so that more of the music paper background would be visible behind her.

To emphasize the lines of the sketch, I lined each element with a Copic multiliner.  For the sentiment, I layered two shapes from Spellbinders' grommet tags set, then added adhesive metal brads which repeat the polka dot and music notes patterns.

Notes:
Patsy from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps
Echo Park Be Mine designer paper
Memento ink
Copic markers, Copic multiliner
tattered rose distress ink
Nestabilities grommet tags
adhesive metal brads
Zva adhesive foam dots (1mm, 2mm depths)

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Are you singing the song from Mary Poppins now?  :)  Here is a paper-pieced cutie using kids2love and kites2fly from the {stamps} of Life, made with Echo Park's Summer Days, Memento ink and Copic markers.  The kite tail is made with twine from The Twinery.  

We're Off!

I'm so excited that our long-awaited second trip to Costa Rica is finally here!  We will be leaving for Orlando this evening, flying to San Jose early in the morning, then taking a bus to Sarapiqui.  I will be happy to be reunited with 17 yo ds Matthew, who has been in Kentucky at Ichthus these last few days.  

Last summer we were filled with anxiety and even a little fear as we prepared to leave, but this time there is only joy!  We'll be working on the medical clinic adjacent to the sanctuary that we helped finish last year,  and I am expecting that I'll again spend several days on hands and knees grouting tile!  It will be such a profound experience to worship with our team and the people of Costa Rica at the altar that I helped spackle last summer!

I love this verse from II Corinthians, which is one of the images from Nina's Gina K set, Christ is Risen! These rich colors of the damask designer paper on this scalloped round card provide a simple but elegant setting for these words of gratitude for the gift of Christ.  The sentiment is bordered by a row of piercing, some gorgeous velvet ric rac and a bouquet of hand-rolled roses which were softly inked with old paper distress ink.

I hope you'll pray for our team as we go to share the love and light of Christ!  May He help us to be a blessing, to accomplish much, and then bring us safely home to our loved ones!  If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation to help cover the costs of our trip, you may mail a check payable to Fleming Island United Methodist Church.  Include Felts' Costa Rica Mission in the memo of your check.  Thanks!  Your gifts and support are very much appreciated!

New Lizzie Anne Summer Mix!

I'm so excited to introduce to you the brand new Lizzie Anne Summer Mix, Summertime Celebration!   What a fun mix it is! Since I've been learning to play the ukulele I was very excited to see one in rubber and couldn't resist inking that image up first!  I love the way it looks on this wood-grained paper!  (Here's a link to a photo of my Kamaka, just in case you're interested!)

The really great thing about the new mix set is that it coordinates with the darling Surfer Dude and Hula Girl singles that were recently released!  Not only are there are several Hawaiian, island-style images...along with the ukulele there's a hibiscus, a yummy tropical drink, a tapa cloth border, and more...this mix is actually multi-cultural with lots of cool Summer images!  It will be great for all kinds of occasions!

Notes:
Memento Rich Cocoa ink
Copic markers (shading of the ukulele)
white Stazon (sentiment)
Basic Grey Life of the Party designer paper (wood grain)
Basic Grey Lauderdale designer paper (floral)
Nestabilities reverse wonky rectangles
May Arts satin-edged grosgrain ribbon
Zva dimensional adhesive dots
music stickers


Be sure to visit the Lizzie Anne website for more information about our mix club membership.  Check out the Lizzie Anne blog for all kinds of fabulous inspiration from my amazing design team mates!

CPS 222

Here's this week's CPS sketch using a cute bee stamp and flower die-namic from My Favorite Things, this week's sponsor.  Such a darling image, so fun to color!  I hope you'll play along!     

Notes:

MFT Stamp Just Bee Yourself

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Copic markers

Copic Spica mint glitter pen

MFT Rolled Daisy Die-namics

Echo Park For the Record designer paper

Nestabilities classic rectangle

stitched ribbon (white stitching colored with a yellow Copic marker)

Best Occasions adhesive metal dots

Flower Soft and Really Reasonable Ribbon!

Are you ready for some fun?

Join us in a special blog hop with The Flower Soft and Really Reasonable Ribbon Design Teams! You should have arrived here from Crystal's blog.  If you've jumped into the middle, head to the Flower Soft blog to start at the beginning!

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 4 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs.

Flower Soft and Really Reasonable Ribbon will each be selecting two winners (one person randomly from the entire blog hop and one each from someone who comments on their teams blogs) to win prize packages!  

The blog hop ends on June 19^th. The prize winners will be announced on The Flower Soft blog and Really Reasonable Ribbon's  "Ramblings" blog on Monday June 20th.

This month's RRR club assortment brings patriotic images to mind...what could be more American than apple pie?  Some Best Creations stars and stripes designer paper combined with Really Reasonable Ribbon's lustrous red ribbon and a Flower Soft Yummy Recipes topper made for a really quick card.  After adding some "crumbs" with toffee ultrafine Flower Soft and some Flower Soft glue, it took just a few clicks with a corner punch and a few pearl accents and my card was finished!  As much as I absolutely LOVE to color, a beautifully printed topper provides a nice head start when there's not enough time to invest in a completely hand-stamped, hand-colored image.

Thank you for visiting my blog!  I hope you will visit again soon, and often!  From here you will be visiting the incomparable Jeanne Streiff!  Enjoy the hop!

CSS Blog Hop!

This month the CSS team from Gina K Designs was given a great inspiration photo collage by our fabulous coordinator, Carolina!  The colors of these photos from The Party Dress sure do scream Summer, don't they?  Bold yellow sunflowers alongside black and white polka dots and traditional picnic plaid were what captured my eye.

You should have arrived here from Cheri's blog...if you missed the beginning, be sure to start at the Stamp TV forum so you won't miss anything!

For my focal image,  I chose some sunflowers from Nina's set, Lovely Shelf, stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers.  I used a new Spellbinders die to cut and emboss both focal image and the yellow Pure Luxury card stock mat underneath it, sponging the mat with distress ink before removing it from the die.

Hopefully the layout, with its layered rectangular shapes, plaid paper and black ribbon, reminds you of a Summer picnic table dressed in black and white polka dots, a picnic plaid table runner, and yellow place mats with a fresh vase of cheerful sunflowers!  Special thanks to my friend Connie's sweet young daughter for recommending the trio of black rhinestones for the corner!  Perfect, my wee girlfriend!  :)

Notes:
Pure Luxury card stock
Nina's Lovely Shelf
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copic markers
Vintage Chic (polka dot) designer paper
stitched ribbon
Nestabilities reverse wonky rectangles
Tim Holtz tea dye distress ink
Scrap of red picnic plaid designer paper
scallop edge punch
yellow button
twine
black rhinestones

From here, youre headed for Giovana's!  Enjoy the hop, and have a fabulous weekend!

Gone Fishin'!

I am very honored that Tiffany Richards of Tiffany Doodles is an admirer of my work!  She invited me to play with a few of her digital images as a guest designer, and when she sent these fishing digis it made me giggle...if you've known me very long, you might remember my fishing tale which ended in ER getting stitches!  The lure I got hooked with was similar to this one, but it had three hooks on each end instead of two.  Ouuwieee!

My in-laws live on a lake which is right on the Wisconsin border with Upper Michigan, and each summer we go to visit and spend some time enjoying the water, fishing, boating and tubing.  My husband really loves it there, and when he goes fishing he's always after "the big one"...I, on the other hand, am happy to catch even a small fish and prefer more frequent small catches rather than the occasional large one.  We each have managed to land a couple of whoppers, and I'm sure they grow larger every time we tell the tale!  That's why I wanted to use this particular print from Basic Grey's Life of the Party designer paper!

I printed the greeting in a simple font, positioning the lure alongside the sentiment to the left of the rod and reel.  The other images were printed on the other half of the 8.5 x 11 inch sheet so that they could be colored with Copic markers, cut out, and positioned on dimensional foam dots.  I printed a second rod and reel so that the handle portion could be pieced atop the designer paper.  The only additional embellishment is a strand of knotted jute.

Patrick will get a kick out of this whimsical, colorful Father's Day card, and I'm glad to have gotten it done so early!  Matthew and I will be on mission in Costa Rica on Father's Day Sunday and Matthew will be going to Ichthus before that, so we'll present it to his dad before he leaves!  

Enjoy your weekend!  I've got a lot to do to prep for our trip!  It's just a little more than a week away!

My Next Classes

I will be teaching a Copic coloring class tonight and tomorrow morning at A Small Cleverness in Orange Park.  The girls really wanted some images that would allow them to focus on shading, so I chose these two hilarious Girlfriend images from Art Impressions. Round balls and round bodies will give us lots of opportunities to practice blending techniques and using color to create the illusion of depth!

These images fill a standard card front.  The layouts I chose are simple and relatively unadorned, so that their coloring takes front stage center.

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

CPS Sketch 221

This week's CPS sketch is sponsored by Christian Paper Crafts.  The lighthouse has long been a symbol of the guidance of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, so I chose this image from Gina K's recently released set By the Sea, along with an image from Elegant Elements to symbolize the light of Christ.

The focal image was stamped with Memento ink, colored with Copic markers, then cut and embossed with Nestabilities classic circles.  I used my favorite cloud-making technique to sponge in the sky using a scalloped circle as a mask, and several colors of ink.

The elements of the layout were sponged with distress ink to soften the colors.  The decorative fiber was actually recycled from a couple of Life is Good tee shirt tags that I saved (along with the cool safety pins that come with them) to repurpose on cards.

Notes:
Gina K Designs By the Sea, Elegant Elements

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Tim Holtz distress ink
Copic markers

Spellbinders classic circle dies, large and small
corner punch

SEI buttons

Recycled fiber

OCL Blog Hop, Day 2!

If you have been around for very long, you know that I love Granny!  Some of my most favorite cards of all of the time I've been a card-maker were made with Granny!  I was tickled to see that this OCL mini-release includes Growin' with Granny!  You already knew that she LOVES the beach, but now you can find her in the garden!  She's got a green thumb!  LOL!  This sentiment is one I can relate to lately!

You should have arrived here from OCL owner and cardmaker extraordinaire Cambria Turnbow's blog!  What an honor and privilege to be her blog hop neighbor today!

This fun fold was the perfect layout to showcase Granny in her garden glory!  I used Copic blending paper, coloring and shading my focal image with Copic markers.  I chose this Echo Park Summer Days designer paper because the flowers mimic the blossoms on Granny's gardening dress.  I cut the strips to fit within the framework of the card design, adding a sentiment on a Spellbinders grommet tag accented with Copic-colored-to-match pearls.  Using a multi-liner to outline the edges draws attention to the geometric design of the layout and tag.  A big button tied with jute adds some simple interest.


Notes:
Our Craft Lounge Growin' with Granny!  (available soon at i {heart} papers!)
Echo Park designer paper
Copic blending paper
Memento ink
Copic markers
Copic multiliner
Spellbinders Grommet Tags
Zva pearls
Zva dimensional adhesive squares
jute thread


Remember, we're giving away four sets!  Here's a pic of the entire set, Growin' with Granny!   You'll increase your chances of winning her or one of the three other sets we're releasing if you comment on every single blog in the hop!  Start and finish at the OCL blog so you don't miss anything!

From here, you're visiting Heather!  She is our hop coordinator, so give her some extra sweet love!  We wanna make sure she knows how much we appreciate all that she does, right?!  :)  Have fun hopping and good luck on the win!

OCL Sneak Peek!

Hello, and welcome to Our Craft Lounge's sneak peek of our upcoming mini-release!  You should have arrived from the blog of awesome Amber Hillman!

To complete the entire hop, you will start and end at the Our Craft Lounge blog, hopping from one blog to another and leaving comments at every stop along the way...be sure to comment, because we'll be giving away some stamp sets!  Four random winners will be chosen from the comments left for our sneak peek today and second hop tomorrow...they could be from ANY of the blogs participating!  Winners will be announced on the OCL blog on Monday morning.  (Just do your best to leave a comment here!  Blogger has been having troubles for a while, and my blog still isn't totally back to normal!)

My card features a cute little elephant from a new set called Shout it Out!  This set includes lots of darling little animals along with sentiments for various occasions and coordinating comment bubbles.  Since my mom LOVES elephants and has a birthday this month, this little cutie was my first choice!  (Second choice will be the gator, a representative of my current home state of Florida and childhood home state, Louisiana!)  

I chose this particular designer paper because I wanted to color the elephant a life-like natural gray.  I love that the striped design is reminiscent of circus popcorn boxes in shades of pink and gray instead of red and yellow!  For embellishments I added a blingy spray of water from the elephant's trunk, and a bright pink silk bow.

I know my mom is gonna love this bright, simple birthday card!  I hope you like it too!

Notes:

Our Craft Lounge Shout it Out!  (available soon at i {heart} papers!)

Echo Park Be Mine designer paper

Copic blending paper

Memento ink

Copic markers

Nestabilities Labels 18

silk ribbon (the pink is sold out but here's ivory)

swirly bling

Zva dimensional adhesive squares

From here you'll be visiting the awesome Peanutbee, aka the Paperlandscaper, Denise Marzec!  

New LAD Singles!

I actually squealed out loud the first time I saw the adorable Lizzie Anne Designs singles being released today!  They are cute as can be!  Since we used to live in Hawaii and now live in Florida, they could not be more perfect!  They remind me of some of my favorite Christmas ornaments, made with Fimo clay and purchased back in the late 80's when I was working as a young physical therapist at Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu.

KaiserCraft's Seaside designer paper works great with these little darlings!  I used two punch out borders and a tag sentiment that are part of this 6 x 6 pad to make my Surfer Dude card, which follows last week's LAD sketch.  The focal image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink on Copic blending paper and colored with Copic markers.  I used a yellow-red Copic marker to add a border around the oval to match the pre-printed tag (Life is a Beach!), then drew a "skippy" line made with a brown fine-tipped pen around both to tie the designs together and accent the lines of the layout.  Everything was softly inked with tea dye distress ink.  Of course, anything Hawaiian needs a flower, even a boy card!  This one was cut with a Spellbinders Rose Creations die and given a KaiserCraft pearl center.

Hula girl is every bit as adorable as Surfer Dude!  She makes me smile as I remember the little girls' hula classes at Halau Hula O Maiki where I took hula for four years!  How precious they were!   I love the music and culture of Hawaii and I'm so glad to have gotten to experience life there!  I am finally learning to play the ukulele I bought right before we moved!  :)

You can be sure there will be more Hawaiian cards from this hanai Hawaiian girl!