Gina K Designs Inspirational Blog Hop

Welcome back!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend, and if you're Canadian or American, that you enjoyed some Happy Canada Day/Independence Day celebrations!

Our Gina K Design Team is sharing inspiration using two new releases today, Tami Mayberry's All Occasion Tags, and Melanie's The Vine.

My first card uses some scraps of Stamp TV's Vintage Chic paper along with red hot, black onyx, and white Pure Luxury card stock and some gingham ribbon for a clean and graphic design with Tami's All Occasion Tags.  I love that this set coordinates with my new Nestabilities Grommet Tags.  Using a scrap of card stock to cut a template makes it easy to line up and cut the shape with the stamp perfectly centered.  The little red outline, colored with a Copic marker, really makes the shape pop against the darker background.

Here's a simple but elegant design using Melanie's The Vine.  I started with a piece of ivory Pure Luxury, stamped the vine with Memento ink and colored it with Copics, then fussy-cut along the bottom edge. The sentiment was stamped and layered on Nestabilities classic circles with vine-like swirls from a Fancy Tag peeking from in between.  Before removing the die, I inked it with tea-dye distress ink, then added a few fussy-cut leaves to tie the design together.

Here's the list of today's blog hop participants.

• Gina K
• Melanie Muenchinger – Illustrator The Vine
• Tami Mayberry – Illustrator All Occasion Tags
• Michelle Woerner
• Sharon Harnist
• Theresa Momber
• Tina Gilliland
• Vicki Dutcher
• AJ Otto
• Carolina Buchting
• Cathy Tidwell
• Deb Felts
• Donna Baker
• Emily Giovanni
• Giovana Smith
• Janice Whiting
• Jennie Harper
• Jimmi Mayo
• Lee Murphy

Come back tomorrow for more inspiration with two more newly released sets!

New TSOL Club Set!

The beginning of a new month means a new club release from the {stamps} of Life.  This month's set is a really great summer set, island2visit, that coordinates fabulously with another wonderful summer set, summer4fun.  Here I used a sentiment from the new set with a paper-pieced, Copic-accented surfboard from the older one. The printed paper that sets the scene is from Fancy Pants, embellished with some flower soft polar white "seafoam" and a few dewdrops.   The ankle tether is made of twine from The Twinery.

I hope you'll join our Flower Soft design team for this week's "bright colors" challenge!  Flower Soft comes in all kinds of colors from the diamond range polar white that I used on my bright summer sunset background paper to bright, nearly florescent neons, so you have lots of options!  Visit our blogs for inspiration, and be sure to link your creation to the challenge thread!

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!