Wednesday, January 23, 2013

More GKD January release cards

Hi everyone!  I have a couple more cards to share using the new Gina K Designs January release sets.  In case you missed it, this month was a big release for Gina.  Not only did we see the new Design Team for 2013, but Gina released Color Companions which are coordinating inks, buttons and ribbon offered in 8 colors! 

First up is a sweet baby girl card I made with the Lovely Ladybug set.  I used some cute baby paper from Doodlebug Designs and stamped the ladybug to match in green.  That large label shape in the background is my favie, Labels Eighteen.
 Next is a card using the set Stamp it BIG!.  I wanted to go big and bold with this one, to match the scale of the sentiment.  I accented the card with some of my vintage black buttons from my granny's tin and used some 1.5" striped grosgrain ribbon.  The glitter strip above the sentiment is 1/4" piece of Scor-tape covered with green glitter.  Very sparkly!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here are a couple close up pictures.
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CHA goodies winner

Hi everyone!  Thank you for all your wonderful comments about my CHA pictures and giveaway.  Random.org helped me pick a winner of the CHA "swag".

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:
6 
Timestamp: 2013-01-23 17:11:07 UTC


Hello, What a great experience CHA must be! New friends,
new products, etc. Your giveaways are so fun and I would
certainly enjoy creating with the goodies...
Many thanks, Cindi
jchoppes[at]hotmail[dot]com

Congrats Cindi!  I will email you today for your info!

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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Spellbinders die organization

Hi everyone!  I spent the greater part of yesterday cleaning out and organizing my craft area.  Whew, it was quite a job.  Since I often get asked how I store my Spellbinder dies and my craft area was relatively clean, I thought today would be a good day to do this post.
Being on the Spellbinders team for 2 years (and having a slight addiction before hand) I have a crazy amount of dies and have to be creative on how I store them.  I have many systems as I have too many dies for any one way to store them.  

First, I keep my basic "go-to" shapes and favorite "labels" shapes in CD cases in my stamp area at my fingertips.  Because I use these the most, I give them prime real estate.  I used my new Brother P-Touch label maker to do the labels for my CDs (now they are all nice and pretty).  I keep the CDs with my copic markers and overflow ink pads.
The majority of my dies are kept in 11x6" baskets I got at the Dollar Tree.  These are to my immediate left and I keep the dies organized by category.  Basic Shapes are the sets that coordinate with squares, circles, etc like Splendid Circles.  I also separate out my Flower and Butterfly sets, Banner and Tags, Accent and Motifs, Multiple Image sets (these would be sets like French Frills and Home Sweet Home), A2 sets and Favorites which would be Bitty Blossoms, Rose Creations, Lacey Pennants and others.  These baskets are kind of a hodge podge of stuff and things are rotating in and out all the time, so they are not pretty!
If I have the original packing, I try to keep my dies with it.  Here I have added adhesive backed magnet business cards right over the sticky tape the dies came on.  I fold over the cover and adhere it closed to make it nice and sturdy.
 I don't always have the packaging with my sets, so I came up with this system.  I take cardboard, trim it to the size of the Spellbinders packaging.  I glue white cardstock over one side and add the business card magnets across it.  Most of the time I can fit 2 die sets on it. 
Tip: stick the die to the magnet with a small piece hanging over, that way it's easy to lift off.
On the back I keep a little baggie with the shapes cut out.  I like this because it's helpful to take the shapes and play around with them on your project.
Here is a birds eye view of the baskets (yes, that's washi tape spools on the left)
 Here is how I store my Edgeabilities dies.  You can get these basic trays 9.5 x 3" in any office supplies store.  I keep the dies with the coordinating Want2Scrap Say it with Bling rhinestone borders.
Storing the Grand Nestabilities was a challenge at first, but I saw someone post using the big 10 1/2 x 11 1/2 binders (I buy mine and the plastic inserts from Univenture).  I like these binders because they close completely and things won't fall out.  I also use the same binders in the 8.5 x 5 size to store my Gina K and JustRite stamps.
At first I was using a full 5x8 adhesive backed magnet sheet per set and adhered the packaging to the back of the previous page so everything would be complete.  But I quickly ran low on magnet sheets...
 ...so I took to cutting them in smaller pieces and using them this way.  This also worked better for sets with multiple images...
...then I ran out of those and found some adhesive backed magnet strips at Office Depot and did this.  Then I ran out of the hard plastic inserts, so I started putting the sets into plastic sheets and using a glue dot at the top (shown on the left).  I have to say these binders sure hold a lot of die sets!
So there you have it.  It's not always pretty, but it does the job and keeps me organized.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

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Friday, January 18, 2013

CHA photos and a little giveaway

Hi everyone!  I have some fun photos to share from CHA.  I didn't take many of product, there are a ton of product photos out there.  Facebook and the manufacturers blogs have a ton.  So I will stick to posting pictures of my crafty peeps.

Here is me and my roomie Glenda Wyatt on our first day at the show.  I met Glenda a few years back when she came to Portland with her husband on business.  We hit it off right away and I was thrilled to share a room with her!
My fellow GKD DT teammate, Carolyn King in the SRM Stickers booth
 Julie Ebersole at dinner at PF Changs
 Ken Oliver in the Spellbinders booth
 Kimber Gray in the JilliBean Soup booth (a rare picture of me with my glasses on)
 And last but not least Glenda and I with Michele Gross of CAS-ual Friday Stamps
So while I was walking the floor, I picked up a couple goodies from the various booths and thought I would offer them as a little giveaway.  It's kinda fun to have a piece of CHA.
Here is what I have to give away:
Tote bag and catalog from Simple Stories
Flair button from Lawn Fawn
Flair button from Paper Crafts magazine
Spellbinders Nestabilities lapel pin
Crafts 'n Things magazine, February 2013
Scrapbooking & Beyond magazine, Winter 2013
Sheet of rose foil stickers
Make and Take bracelet from Queen & Co booth
Ribbon samples from Offray
Adhesive rhinestone samples

Here are the goodies
Here is the Simple Stories SNAP tote bag and catty
...and here's the back, isn't it super cute?
 If you are interested in these just leave me a comment and I will pick a winner on Tuesday, January 22nd evening.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Trio of note cards

Hi everyone!  I am back from CHA and getting back into the swing of things (photos and a little CHA swag giveaway coming soon).  While I was gone, we had our release for Gina K Designs.  Thankfully, my pre-scheduled blog posts went off without a hitch.  
Now that I am back, I had a chance to use the NEW COLOR COMPANION INKS!  Woohoo!  And I am happy to report that they are amazing!  They have really great coverage and because they are dye inks, you can use your Copic markers with them.

Today, while avoiding the rather large pile of laundry, I made some time to craft and made a trio of note cards using the new Simple Hearts set.  The elements in this set are SO cool.  I could make a dozen more of these little guys!
Each one is slightly different.  I used a couple pattern papers and changed up the sentiment and center piece.
Here are individual pictures:
Mrs. Cherry Red
Mrs. Turquoise Sea
and Mrs. Passionate Pink
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here is a close up picture of the Mrs. Turquoise Sea.
Card Deets:
Stamps - Simple Hearts
Ink - Ocean Mist and Cherry Red (GKD); black
Cardstock - Pure Luxury White, Turquoise Sea and Passionate Pink
Pattern paper -GKD Smitten
Accessories - Spellbinders Circles LG and SM and Scallop Circles LG, Button from Ocean Mix bag, rhinestones, silver cord, Swiss Dots embossing folder, 15mm mulberry flower

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Gina K January release inspiration blog hop: Day 3

*this is a pre-scheduled post, I am currently at CHA*
Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 3 of the Gina K Designs DT Inspiration Blog Hop were we hope to inspire you with many beautiful ideas for the sets released in January! As you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each because we will choose a few random commenters and they will win a grab bag that could have anything from stamps to paper to embellishments!! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

Today we are spotlighting 1 set and 3 minis:
Balanced Diva, illustrated by Debbie
 Scooter Diva, illustrated by Debbie
 Skater Diva, illustrated by Debbie
 Sweet Tweets, One Free with 3 set
Today I have a card using Sweet Tweets.  I couldn't resist this darling little bird carrying a present.  The buttons in the photo are from the Bowl of Cherries bag.
Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:
 Thanks for stopping by, here is a close up picture.  Enjoy the hop!
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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Gina K January release inspiration blog hop: Day 2

*this is a pre-scheduled post, I am currently at CHA*
Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 2 of the Gina K Designs DT Inspiration Blog Hop were we hope to inspire you with many beautiful ideas for the sets released in January! As you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each because we will choose a few random commenters and they will win a grab bag that could have anything from stamps to paper to embellishments!! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

Today we are spotlighting 3 sets:
Birds and Blossoms, illustrated by Theresa
Spoon Me, illustrated by Becky
and Simple Hearts, illustrated by Tami
Today I have a card using Simple Hearts.  I totally and completely LOVE this set!  Tami has the knack of designing from inside my brain -lol!  I made a very clean and simple card using Cherry Red grosgrain ribbon and a button from the Ocean Mix bag.  There is even a strip of washi tape in there.  I love how this turned out.
Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:
 Thanks for stopping by, here is a couple close up picture.  Enjoy the hop!
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Monday, January 14, 2013

Gina K January release inspiration blog hop: Day 1

*this is a pre-scheduled post, I am currently at CHA*
Hi everyone! Welcome to Day 1 of the Gina K Designs DT Inspiration Blog Hop were we hope to inspire you with many beautiful ideas for the sets released in January! As you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each because we will choose a few random commenters and they will win a grab bag that could have anything from stamps to paper to embellishments!! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

Today we are spotlighting 3 sets:
Stately Flowers 6, illustrated by Melanie
Lovely Ladybug, illustrated by Beth
and Stamp it Big, illustrated by Carolyn
Those of you who have been following StampTV know that this month Gina launched several new products within the Color Companions Collection!  Here is a picture of the Cherry Red Collection.  How fabulous are these?  I am so excited for these!
Each Color Companions Collection includes the ink pad, reinker, buttons, ribbons and card stock. All items are sold separately. They will also be offering a Color Companions Card Stock collection that includes 3 sheets each of all eight Companion Colors so you can have a taste of the entire line.

I have samples today using the sets Lovely Ladybug and Stamp it Big.  First up is Lovely Ladybug.  What a darling little set, these ladybugs are SO versatile! I made this little guy into a love bug on this card.  I also used some of the Cherry Red grosgrain ribbon.
Next I have a CAS card using Stamp it Big.  I kept this monochromatic using some of the new Red Hot double stitched ribbon and pattern paper from the Hello Sunshine pack.  I wish I had more time, I would love to make these in a rainbow of colors, how cool would that be?
Ready for the hop?  Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration:
 Thanks for stopping by, here are a couple close up pictures.  Enjoy the hop!

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