Taylored Expressions 10th Birthday Mega Party!

Back in 2014, I was asked to join the Taylored Expressions Bakers Dozen Team and I had the pleasure of working on that team for 3 years.  Today I am thrilled to be part of the Designer Reunion 10th Birthday Celebration Blog Hop along with over 40 other past & present designers.  WOW ~ that's a lot of awesomeness right there! You can find a complete list of the designers over on the Taylored Expressions Blog! Taylor has tons of fun things in store for you this week, so make sure you check out all the details.

This week Taylored Expressions is releasing lots of fun new products and you can find them all in the store under the NEW Category. However, TE also has tons of wonderful previously released products, and for my birthday card today, I used the Tropical Trio Stamp & Die Combo set. I also used some of the beautiful new cardstock colors ~ Blue Raspberry, Pineapple, and Lime Zest. {I have a full list of supplies with links listed below}

I took a little trip down memory lane and looked at my TE Gallery... WOW ~ lots of my favorite projects are in there!  Click HERE to take a peek at my past TE projects.

Share Joy Campaign

At the heart of Taylored Expressions is a mission to share joy through the gift of handmade cards. As part of their 10th birthday, TE is continuing that mission with the launch of a special Share Joy campaign focused on providing birthday cards to those in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities across the U.S. To make as deep an impact as possible, TE is inviting card makers everywhere to join the campaign. Will you join us? Find out how to participate by viewing their Share Joy Page.

Happy 10th Birthday Taylored Expressions!
Enjoy this amazing Birthday Blog Hop!

TE Supplies ~
Stamp Set: Tropical Trio Stamp & Die Combo Set
Cardstock: Blue Raspberry, Pineapple, Lime Zest, Toffee, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Oreo, Blue Raspberry
Dies: Frame in Frame 2, Bloomers Greenery, Label Stacklet 8
Embossing Folders: Streamers, Leafy Vine
Other: Zig Clean Color Water Brush Markers

New Years Eve ~ Happy Birthday!

Earlier this month I sat down and made some birthday cards which I hadn't done in almost a year!  Considering that I used to make an average of 10 cards per week for design teams prior to this year, that was a pretty big drop off for me. However, I still can't bring myself to buy cards at the store, so I sat down and created a few. 

For these two happy cards, I used some of the Taylored Expressions watercolor panels & colored them with my Zig Clean Color Waterbrush Markers.  

Wishing You a Very Happy New Year!

Gina K Inspiration Hop ~ Day 2

The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp release for December by our illustrator team! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by Beth Silaika and Claire Brennan.

These stamp sets are so fun and versatile! You will be able to create amazing card projects using each individual set or by combining the images and sentiments from multiple sets from this release. Have fun and be creative!

Enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration?

I made this colorful card using the adorable Xavier Zebra set by Beth Silaika ~ as you can see, it also has this fabulous toucan.

Step 1: Stamp the image in black ink on watercolor paper.
Step 2: Color the majority of the bird's body with the Light Blue Zig Clean Color Waterbrush marker.

Step 3: Add streaks of Cobalt Blue directly from the marker.

Step 4: Use a waterbrush to blend the colors.  Add more ink from the marker as desired.

Step 5: Add Yellow Green ink to the top of the bird.

Step 6: Add streaks of Light Green to the bird & blend with a waterbrush.

Step 7: Add Yellow ink to the eye & bottom of the beak.

Step 8: Add Orange & Bright Yellow to the top of the beak.  Blend with a waterbrush & add more ink as desired.

Step 9: Next color the leaves on the vine with Yellow Green & Light Green markers.  Blend with a waterbrush.

Step 10: Repeat with the same colors on the leaves.

Finished close up ~ I kind of like the messy watercolor look of this.

and a chart of the colors I used

Ready for more awesome creations? Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika
Claire Brennan
Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Donna Idlet
Karen Hightower
Kendra Wietstock ~ you are here!
Laurie Schmidlin
Melanie Muenchinger
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore
Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section.

Thank you for stopping by!

Gina K Inspiration Hop ~ Day #1

The Cast and Crew for Gina K Designs welcomes you to another fabulous blog hop celebrating the new stamp release for December by our illustrator team! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs! Today, we are featuring the stamp sets by Melanie Muenchinger and Theresa Momber.

These stamp sets are so fun and versatile! You will be able to create amazing card projects using each individual set or by combining the images and sentiments from multiple sets from this release. Have fun and be creative!

Enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop. Ready for some inspiration? 

Here's the project I made with Theresa's set called Winter Trees.  I also included a tutorial for coloring my image with the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

Step 1: Stamp image with white pigment ink and heat emboss with white embossing powder on watercolor paper.

Step 2: Using the Zig marker in Haze Blue, apply ink from the marker to the sky.

Step 3: Using a waterbrush, blend the ink color.

Here's what mine looked like after I did the blending.

Step 4: Add a darker blue (Shadow Mauve) to the corners and edges of the trees.

Step 5: Once again, blend with a water brush.  Add more ink if needed.

Step 6: Add Emerald Green and Green ink to a palette, and use a waterbrush to apply to the trees and ground.

Step 7: Using a water brush, add just a little bit of English Lavender to the sky.

Here's a close up of the watercoloring and I added a touch of Stickles to it.

The colors I used and a close up.

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika
Cathy Tidwell

Chris Dayton
Claire Brennan
Donna Idlet
Karen Hightower
Kendra Wietstock
Laurie Schmidlin
Melanie Muenchinger
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore
Theresa Momber

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section.

Thank you for stopping by!

Tea Party Invitation

It's time for a tea party!  One of my sweet friends asked me to make her daughter's birthday invitations for her 5th birthday.  They were having a pretty shabby chic party and wanted to coordinate the colors and look on the invite.

I pulled out my sweet little Stacked Teacup die from Taylored Expressions along with the Some Like it Hot stamp set for the sentiment.  I love how the invite turned out!

For the inside of the invitation, I used the Little Bits Teacup & Teapot along with the RSVP stamp set & the Eventful - Holidays stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Gina K ~ Festive Foliage Tutorial

Welcome to Monday and the start of the Christmas cardmaking season.  This pretty Christmas set from Gina K Designs is called Festive Foliage by illustrator Claire Brennan.  Below is a tutorial on how I stamped the background with Spectrum Aqua Markers.

Step 1: Using the holly leaf image, color the entire image with the Spectrum Aqua Olive marker.

Step 2: Using the Moss marker, dot the edges of the image.

Step 3: Spray the inked image with a fine mist of water ~ you don't need much.

Step 4: Stamp on watercolor paper.

Step 5: Using a waterbrush, blend the ink colors.

Step 6: Using the Crimson Spectrum Aqua marker, color the berry image.  Then add Wine Red (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker) to the edge of each berry.

Step 7: Spritz with water & stamp on the holly leaves.

Repeat around the entire card panel for the background & add a stamped sentiment.

Have a wonderful day!

Stamp TV ~ Friday Funday Watercolor Marker Tutorial!

Welcome to the Friday Funday Tutorial this week for Gina K Designs & the Stamp TV Kit Addicts Group!  Today I'm not only sharing a fun watercolor background technique, but also a great way to get more mileage out of your Christmas stamps.    I'm using the Home for the Holidays Stamp TV Kit that comes with this awesome Music Background stamp and the sweet little fairy that is part of the Christmas Magic stamps and dies.  Rather than make a Christmas card, I decided to switch up the sentiment and make it a birthday card while still using the cardstock colors that came with the Stamp TV Kit ~ Turquoise Sea & Jelly Bean Green.

Step 1: Stamp & heat emboss the Music Background Stamp on watercolor cardstock with white ink and white embossing powder.

Step 2: Select a watercolor palette to work with.  I selected several colors of my Spectrum Aqua markers ~ Bud Green, Aquamarine, Kingfisher, Peacock Blue, and Navy.  I added ink from the marker to my watercolor tray.

Step 3: Using a waterbrush, I added a drop of water to each color so it was nice and wet and began adding color to the music background. {sorry about the lighting on the following pictures... didn't notice it until after the card was done.}

Step 4: Keep adding color to the background until you have the desired look.  Then let it air dry, or use a heat gun to speed up the process.

Here's a close up!

Come play along on the Friday Funday Challenge in the Stamp TV Kit Addicts Group!

Have a great weekend!!

Gina K Christmas Set

Good Monday Morning Friends!  Last week the Gina K Designs team members had an awesome blog hop with the a bunch of fun new Christmas sets.   This new set is called Nordic Winter and it's perfect for Clean & Simple (CAS) cards, tags and gift wrap!

Here is the matching tag and gift package that I shared last week.

Have a lovely Monday!

Gina K Christmas Inspiration Day #3 & Festive Coloring Tutorial

Here we are with Day #3 of our Gina K Designs Inspirational blog hop!  I hope you'll continue to celebrate the season with us as we introduce the new Home for the Holidays StampTV Kit and a number of gorgeous stamp sets by our illustrator team! We hope to inspire you with some beautiful card projects as you hop along to each of the designer’s blogs!

Today, we are featuring Beth Silaika’s new Ian Moose stamp set and Claire Brennan’s new stamp sets: Nordic Winter, ‘Tis the Season, Festive Foliage and Compliments of the Season.   

Enjoy the gorgeous inspiration samples from the team and then comment on each blog for your chance to win a $20 Gina K Designs gift certificate! To see who won, check the Big News Forum at StampTV a few days after the hop.

My first sample today is a tag using the Nordic Winter stamp set.  I simply stamped the top and bottom border in white ink and heat embossed them with white embossing powder.  Then I added the center image stamped in Red Velvet ink.  I also added the heart border in Red Velvet Ink on the Kraft package.  I love Kraft paper for any occasion because it matches pretty much everything, but Christmas time is my favorite.

My next sample uses the Ian Moose stamp set and I colored this sweet little moose with my Spectrum Noir Markers.   Super simple design on my card and I just trimmed out Ian and popped him on the card with some foam dots.

My final card today uses the Festive Foliage stamp set and I have a tutorial as well.

Step 1: Using the Spectrum Aqua Moss Marker, add ink directly from the marker to the inside of the pine images.

Step 2: Add Spectrum Aqua Evergreen ink to the rest of the pine image.

Step 3: Add Spectrum Aqua Tan ink to the pine cones.

Step 4: Tab Spectrum Aqua Chocolate ink all over the pine cone and to the stem.

Step 5: Spritz the inked stamp with water and stamp on watercolor paper.

Here is the completed image.

And here it is a bit closer with some glitter dots & a sentiment from the set added.

Ready for more awesome creations?! Just click on the links below for more from Gina and the Cast & Crew:

Gina K

Beth Silaika – Illustrator for Ian Moose

Claire Brennan - Nordic Winter, ‘Tis the Season, Festive Foliage and Compliments of the Season
Cathy Tidwell

Donna Idlet
Karen Hightower
Kendra Wietstock ~ you are here!
Laurie Schmidlin
Melanie Muenchinger
Sean Fetterman
Sheri Gilson
Silke Ledlow
Susie Moore
Theresa Momber
Chris Dayton

Don’t forget to pop over to the Gina K Designs Store and check out all of the new products available this month in the “What’s New” section at Gina K Designs.

Thank you for stopping by!