Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

GinaK Sneak Peek - Day 4 ('Tropical Windows')

Today is the last of the GinaK Designs sneak peeks. Don't forget that there's a Release Party going on over at the GinaK Forum on SCS tonight from 7-10 pm (CST). These parties are a blast and you'll want to put the time aside....there's challenges, chats, contests, sneak peeks and good times happening!

Today's sneak peek is using the new "One Free with Three" set. It's called, "Tropical Windows" and coordinates so well with Gina's Tropical Flowers set.  When you purchase three sets, you can get the "Tropical Windows" set for free. (The Stamp TV kit counts as one set.)

For my card, I stamped the large window and some of the ferns from the "Tropical Flowers" set onto glossy cardstock with Versamark ink and then embossed them with black powder. I then brayered over it with the Caribbean Sea Kaleidacolor pad. I went over this a few times to get my colors really dark and vibrant. I mounted this on a piece of black cardstock and then on top of a Tempting Turquoise card base.

The sentiment and the little frame that it's stamped in also come in the "Tropical Windows" set. The frame is separate and there are 7 sentiments to choose from (and two large flower windows). I embossed the frame and the sentiment on a piece of glossy cardstock and cut it out and then mounted it on top of my card with a pop-dot. So simple, but so vibrant and eye-catching.

For more projects made with the stamps previewed today, be sure to check out our other Senior Design Team Member's Blogs: Gina, Cindy, Cathy, Donna, Emily, Erika, Kurtis, Jessica, Joanne, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, and Theresa and, our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team member, Sue Morris is joining in on our previews today showing off a card she has made with the new Free with Three stamp set - Tropical Windows. Don't forget to join us at our Release Party tonight over on SCS starting at 7pm CST. There will be contests, challenges, lots of chatter as well as a ton more samples shared by the Senior Design team members and our CenterStage Spotlight team too! You won't want to miss it!

Tutorial CDs - Mix & Match and get a discount!

Mix & Match
and SAVE!

Get one, get some or get them ALL!

My monthly online classes have been a huge hit and people come back again and again to take them each month. If you've seen them advertised and wondered what they were all about....or if you missed a couple and want to take the ones you missed.....

then I'm pleased to announce.....

You can now get ALL of my classes in CD format!

One of the best things about the projects in these Tutorial CDs is that they can be made with most, if not ALL, of the supplies you already have in your papercrafting stash!

Mix & Match or Buy All 7 and SAVE!

Mix & Match 3 Tutorials CDs of your Choice and get a $12 discount!

3-Pack Tutorial CD Discount Bundle

$59.95 (includes FREE shipping)
(please specify which 3 Tutorial CDs you'd like in the comments section when making payment)

Purchase ALL 7 CDs and get a $25 discount!
That's like getting a CD for free!

7-Pack Tutorial CD Discount Bundle

$149.95 (includes FREE shipping)

Or purchase any of the classes by themselves...

The "Creative Photo Gifts" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Photo Gift projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• PDF printable files to help you customize your projects
• Photos of 6 sample gifts

Projects: Photo Blocks, Photo Wall Hanging, Altered Clipboard Frame

Creative Photo Gifts Tutorial CD:

$24.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Gifts from the Heart" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Heartfelt Gift projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• PDF printable files to help you customize your projects
• Photos of 6 sample gifts

Projects: Coaster Gift Box, Fold-Up Paper Bag Album, Stand-Up Coaster Photo Frame

Gifts from the Heart Tutorial CD:

$24.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Amazing Mini Albums" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Mini Album projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• PDF printable files to help you customize your projects
• Photos of 6 sample albums

Projects: Round Swivel Album, Tag Flag Album, Wrap-Around Portfolio Album

Amazing Mini Albums Tutorial CD:

$24.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Pretty & Practical Packaging" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Packaging projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• Photos of 6 sample albums

Projects: Beaded Origami Box, Box in Bag, Paper Bag Purse

Amazing Mini Albums Tutorial CD:

$22.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Recycled CD Gifts" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Recycled Gift projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• Photos of 6 sample albums
• PDF Bonus File

Projects: CD Coasters, CD Mini Book, CD Photo Mobile

Recycled CD Gifts Tutorial CD:

$22.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Paper Bag Mini Albums" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 3 Paper Bag Mini Album projects
• PDF tutorial files for all 3 projects
• Photos of 6 sample albums
• 2 PDF Bonus Files

Projects: Match Book Style Paper Bag Book, Stair-Step Style Paper Bag Book, Book Ring Style Paper Bag Book with hidden envelopes

Paper Bag Mini Albums Tutorial CD:

$24.95 (with FREE shipping)

The "Altered Books 101" Course Tutorial CD features:

• 5 PDF tutorial files highlighting every step of making your altered book with various creative techniques
• Photos of multiple sample books
• 1 PDF Bonus Files
• Full color, step-by-step photos
• Detailed instructional tutorials

Altered Books 101 Tutorial CD: $29.95

$29.95 (with FREE shipping)

• All Tutorial CDs will ship out within 24 hours
• FREE Shipping on all CDs
• International orders welcome! (free shipping included!)

Happy Creating!

GinaK Sneak Peek - Day 3 ('Signs of Autumn' StampTV Kit)

It's Day 3 of the GinaK Designs sneak peeks. It's so much fun to "blog hop" when all the posts of the Design Team go live. I love seeing what the others create with the same exact stamp sets...this is truly one of the most diverse and creative design teams I've ever seen! Make sure you keep clicking on the Design Team links on each of the blogs you go to to hop on over to the next one....each one is a surprise and the tips, techniques and layouts you'll gather are endless!

Gina has a new StampTV Showtime Kit coming out with this release and it's just in time for the upcoming fall season. It's called "Signs of Autumn" and as you look through the blogs of the Design team members, you'll see that the images and sentiments are extremely varied in content and style.

This kit comes with two stamp sets: "Signs of Autumn" and "Thanks a Million." The first set has 9 images and the second set has 10 sentiments. The kit also comes with two new colors of cardstock being released this month, as well as Chocolate Kiss cardstock, which was released a few months ago and Ivory Pure Luxury cardstock.

The first color is Green Apple, which I showed in Day 1 Sneak Peek post (on the lantern card) and Pumpkin Spice, which is the base of the card shown above. It reminds me of a cross between Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust cardstocks.

There's also all the goodies that come in the StampTV Kits, such as sateen flowers in white and ivory, mini brads and beautiful ribbons and fibers.

I did brayer and sponging  techniques for my "Signs of Autumn" card. Everything that I used to make this card (other than ink and tools) came from the StampTV kit. I used Pumpkin Spice as my card base and layered a piece of Chocolate Kiss on top.

I cut a piece of Pure Luxury Ivory and brayered Summer Sun ink on top. Next, I brayered Pumpkin Pie ink along the top and bottom of the cardstock to allow some of the Summer Sun peek through in the center. I went a bit closer to the edge with Really Rust ink and my brayer.

I sponged along the bottom edge with Kiwi Kiss and then Garden Green. I went around the outside edges with Close to Cocoa and then Basic Brown around the top to give some more depth.

I stamped the wheat image along the bottom and "stamped off" to create lighter shade images. I colored the wheat in with Copic markers.

I stamped the leaves with Handsome Hunter and "stamped off" with this image, as well, for the depth.

The sentiment was stamped with Basic Brown and comes from the "Thanks a Million" set (in the kit).

For more projects made with the stamps previewed today, be sure to check out our other Senior Design Team Member's Blogs: Gina, Asela,  Cathy, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Erika, Kurtis, Jessica, Joanne, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, and Theresa Our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team member, Dawn Lusk is joining in our previews today showing a card today too. Remember to check out StampTV for the new video today - Gina will be showing a project made with the new Signs of Autumn StampTV kit!

And make sure to checkout StampTV.com tomorrow, as Gina will have new video episodes up to show you some new techniques! On Thursday night, there will also be a Release Party from 7-10pm (CST) over on the GinaK Forum at SCS - good times, good fun, good chatter & Challenges, contests and lots of sneak peeks!

GinaK Sneak Peek - Day 2 ('Timeless Treasures' and 'Are we There Yet?')

 It's Day 2 of the GinaK Designs Sneak Peeks. We've got another 2 sets for you to peek at and they couldn't be more different from each other. That's one of the many things I love about working with stamps from GinaK. There's so much variety not only in subject of stamps but also in artistic style. The illustrators at GinaK bring so many wonderful styles and concepts to the stamping world. It's so much fun to see what comes out each month....and especially to ink them up and play with them. 

My first sneak peek is from Rupa Shevde's newest set, "Are we there yet?" As soon as I looked at the van image, the first thing that popped into my mind was a Volkswagen bus from the 1960s, covered in peace signs, smiley faces and flowers.

I borrowed some images from Melanie Muenchinger's set, Little Tees. I used the flower cluster, the smiley face and the butterfly. I used Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie cardstock.

The van and sentiment come from Rupa's set and were stamped with black and then I drew the designs onto the van with a fine point black marker and colored the image in with Copic markers. It's a little hard to tell from this photo, but I added some glitter to the windows for some sparkle. 

To finish the card off, I added some funky ribbon and glued some colorful beads to a length of Tacky Tape. I've had these beads in my crafting stash for ages and this is the perfect card for them.

For my second sneak peek, I used Theresa Momber's set, "Timeless Treasures." This is such a beautiful set for creating heritage scrapbook pages, along with old-fashioned looking projects and cards. 

I created a mini pizza box for my project. I used a piece of  Soft Sand cardstock, which I swiped with a Creamy Caramel ink pad for a soft suede look. I added layers of patterned paper on top that I distressed around the edges and then brushed over with the Creamy Caramel ink. I added some mini brads that are from the upcoming kit that GinaK is offering (and which we'll all be showing you later this week *hint hint*). The ribbon that I wrapped around the edge of the box is also from the upcoming kit.

I stamped the broach image onto Pure Luxury cardstock and cut off the chain from the top of the image. I colored it in with a combination of Copic markers and Koh-i-noor pencils that I blended with Odorless Mineral spirits and blending stumps. I swiped over this with Creamy Caramel ink, as well, for an aged look.

 Inside of the box, I placed an inked piece of tissue paper with the two keys that go to the china cabinet that used to belong to my great-grandmother, then eventually to my mother and now to me. The woman on the broach actually reminds me a lot of my great-grandmother, who passed away back in 1991. Now I have a beautiful and safe place to keep my keys.

For more projects made with the stamps previewed today, be sure to check out our other Senior Design Team Member's Blogs: Gina, Asela, Cathy, Cindy, Donna, Emily, Kurtis, Jessica, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, and Theresa and, be sure to check out our CenterStage Spotlight Design Team member's blogs for a card made with Timeless Treasures by Shannon Bracken and Brenda Turner has a card to show us that she made with the fun Are We There Yet stamp set too!

GinaK Sneak Peek - Day 1 (Elegant Post and Inspiration Mosaic)

 The Design Team over at GinaK Designs has been busy getting sneak peeks ready for you this month for July's Release. Just when we think that all the illustrators have out-done themselves, they do it again!

Today, I have two sneak peeks for you. The first one is from Melanie Muenchinger and is called, "Inspiration Mosaic."

This set is made to fit a variety of styles. If you like clean, geometric lines, this is perfect for you. If you like easy and fast creating over patterned paper, this set is perfect for you. If you're like me and you see quilt blocks, then this set is perfect for you. See a pattern here? No matter what your style is, this set will fit YOU!

I stamped the large mosaic grid with black ink on white Pure Luxury cardstock and then colored the blocks with my Koh-i-noor pencils and blended them with Odorless Mineral Spirits and blending stumps. I used a fine point black marker to draw the stitch lines on the blocks.

I mounted this on top of Soft Sand cardstock and then on top of a piece of Chocolate Kiss cardstock as my card base. 

The greetings also come from the "Inspiration Mosaic" set. You'll be surprised at how many elements come in this set and the versatility it provides.

My second sneak peek uses Nina Brackett's newest set, "Elegant Post." 

This set is made with all sorts of treasures to hang off the beautiful post and also comes with beautiful scripted sentiments.

I chose to use the lantern for my card I stamped the post and lantern onto Soft Sand cardstock with Versamark ink and then embossed them with black powder.

I used my Koh-i-noor pencils to color in the lantern and add some light outside the lantern. I also used one of the pencils to draw a vine crawling up the post.

The chain that the lantern is hanging from was hand drawn with a fine point black marker, but you can also stamp the lantern right up against the top of the post.

The sentiment is from the same set and was stamped with black.

I added some grass along the bottom using the grass image from the "The Journey" stamp set with Old Olive ink. I added some hand drawn grass to bring more color in with a Koh-i-noor pencil. The dark sky was sponged around the cardstock with Night of Navy ink.

I mounted all of this on top of a piece of GinaK's newest cardstock color called, "Green Apple." If you're a fan of the retired Kiwi Kiss cardstock that Stampin' UP carried last catalog year, you'll be thrilled to know that this Green Apple cardstock is a dead ringer for it! If you were sad, like I was, that I'd no longer be able to get Kiwi Kiss cardstock, you now have a new supplier for it!

For more projects made with the stamps previewed today, be sure to check out our other Senior Design Team Member's Blogs: Gina, Cathy, Donna, Emily, Erika, Kurtis, Jessica, Lee, Lynn, Melanie, and Theresa and, don't forget to check out our CenterStage Spotlight girls joining us in Previews today: Sue Walsh is showing an Elegant Post card today and JenMarie Taylor has a card made with the new Inspiration Mosaic stamp set.

Class starts Monday....will you be there?

ALl the students are getting excited about starting their canvases on Monday.....will you be in class?

There's still time to register or to purchase your Tutorial CD before class starts!

Would love to have you join us!

Click here for registration info or to purchase your Tutorial CD: "Creating wtih Canvas" Online Course or Tutorial CD

Please feel free to email me with any questions at: erikaerin2001@yahoo.com

"Whoooo loves you, baby?" - MyGrafico Stamp Challenge

We have a really fun challenge for you today -- it's a product challenge, sponsored by MyGrafico. To play along, create ANYTHING using one of the MyGrafico images -- they have a ton to choose from, but if you're trying to cut costs, here's  a link to some free images. 

Post your project in the Paper Craft Planet photo gallery, and use the tag "PCPgrafico". (Here is a tutorial on adding pictures to the gallery, if you need it.)  MyGrafico has generously offered a $10 gift certificate to the store to one of our lucky challenge players.
 
 

The Supernovas and I all used the Forest Friends digi stamp set for our cards.  I picked the owl image.  It looked like such a fun image to cut out and put against a blue sky. I printed the owl on ivory cardstock and colored it in with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended them with Odorless Mineral Spirits.  I used a piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock for my card base and then layered with a piece of Baja Breeze. The clouds were cut with my scalloped edge circle punch along edge of ivory cardstock. (I'm totally digging making clouds this way!) My owl was mounted on my card with pop-dots for some dimension. The sentiment was hand written and I drew a speech bubble around it with a black journaling marker.

Just a note about working with digital stamps:

• You do NOT have to have a photo editing software.  You can just open and print these jpg images.
• If you have a photo editing program, the images come in both jpg and png files.  You can resize the images and combine them into scenes with just a click of the mouse.
• Digital images last forever and require very little storage space!
• There are several great tutorial videos over on Paper Craft Planet that will show you how to use digital images, if you have any questions.

Here is what the rest of the Super Novas came up with:

Adela Rossol

Lynn Mercurio

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Tammy Hershberger

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Sankari Wegman

Susanna Boyd

Now, it's your turn!  Take the challenge and let's see what you make!

A winner....and other good stuff happening online

Thanks for the great quotes that were submitted during the Groovy Give-Away! I'm looking forward to using some of those on some upcoming canvases.

And speaking of canvases, we have a winner for the FREE "Creating with Canvas" Online Course coming up next week.

The winner is........

Pick me this would be a perfect course to get me back into the groove of doing what I love. I am remodeling my house so it would come in nice and handy too!

"Creative hands are rarely tidy."

Nettie   Posted by: nettie | July 18, 2009 at 06:42 AM

Congratulations, Nettie!

Even if you didn't win, I'd love to have you join the class and create along with me. Class starts this coming Monday (the 27th), so there's still time to register. Or, if you want to get the whole class on CD, the Tutorial CD option is always available. Click for registration info ---> "Creating with Canvas" Online Course

And there are other great things going on online right now. Check out:

 "Stamping Around Vermont"  is just a couple months away, but there are still spaces available. Julie and Kim (the creators of these amazing retreats) have wonderful things planned and a great roster of teachers lined up. I'll be teaching a class at the Vermont event and would love to have you join us! The only thing better about a weekend of crafting and creating is spending that weekend crafting and creating during Fall Foliage in Vermont!

Check out all the info here: "Stamping Around Vermont"

Space Monkey Art is a brand new site that provides quality art for children's spaces, whether it's a bedroom, playroom, nursery or art room.

The canvases that Space Monkey offers are high quality stretched canvas and come with the most colorful and engaging designs.
Check them out!

My newest Craft Critique Review just went up this morning. If you've ever wondered what you can do with that neglected bottle of ModPodge you have sitting on the shelf of your craft room, I've written a review that gives you all kinds of ideas, as well as photos to go along with them.

Make sure to also check out the interview that I did with Laura and Anna over at Mums the Wurd. For the past two Fridays, Mums has included part of a big interview I did. The next two Fridays will have the remaining two. If you've wondered more about how I got started, want some ideas for creative inspiration and more, check them out!
Stampin' Mama - week 1
Stampin' Mama - week 2

Groovy Give-Away Friday is BACK! Enter to WIN!

It's back! Are you ready for an awesome Give-Away??

I realized it's been a long time since Groovy Give-Away Friday was seen here on my blog, so I've decided to resurrect it! Keep your eye on my blog every Friday....you never what I'll be giving away here!

So, what's up for grabs this weekend?

The winner of this give-away will get a FREE tuition to the "Creating with Canvas" Online Course, which is coming up in just a little over a week's time!

If you've ever wanted to put your patterned paper to use in a whole new way AND create beautiful home decor, this course is a MUST!

*** This Give-Away is NOT limited to where you live.....so even if you are outside of the US or Canada, you can still participate.***

So......what do you need to do to enter this Groovy Give-Away?

I've got some new canvases that are just itching to see paint and paper. I also love to add quotes to my canvases. Leave a comment with one of your favorite inspirational quotes that I can include on a future canvas.

I'll pick the winner with the random number generator on Monday (7/20) at 11 am Eastern Time and announce the winner here!

Spread the groovy love and send your friends over to enter, too! And while you're at it, if you haven't already signed up for my mailing list (which is that little box ALL THE WAY at the top of my blog, right under my picture), pop your email address into that box so that you don't miss out on any of the fun stuff I have going on outside of this blog, along with newsletters and more!

Thanks for reading!
-Erika

Bombshell Stamps Challenge - Wine Bottle Gift Tag

OK, we have a really fun challenge for you today over at PaperCraft Planet -- it's an inspiration challenge, sponsored by Bombshell Stamps.  To play along, simply pick something that you think is "the bomb" and make something! 

Post your project in the Paper Craft Planet photo gallery, and use the tag "PCPBOMB". (Here is a tutorial on adding pictures to the gallery, if you need it.)  Shannon, at Bombshell Stamps has generously offered TWO stamps sets as a prize -- Pinstriping and Speed Shop.

My inspiration was a wine bottle that has been sitting on our counter for a LONG time.

I used the Man's Ruin stamp set for my project. This is such a different style for me, but it was a great way to stretch myself and use something I normally would never have thought to. And as I was creating this project, I realized that I have a lot of friends that would love this kind of art! (*thinks of ideas for gift projects to give my friends*)

I created a tag to hand off the neck of the wine bottle.

I stamped the main image and the words on a piece of white cardstock and colored it in with my Copic Markers. I went around the outside of the image with the Cool Shadow marker to add some depth to it.

I added some glitter to the bubbles, the rim of the martini glass and teeth on the skull. 

I mounted my tag onto a piece of Real Red cardstock and then onto Basic Black. I used a 1/4 inch hole punch to put a hole in the corner, then ran a red gingham ribbon through as a slip knot and tied it onto the bottle. So incredibly easy, but a fun way to present a gift bottle of wine when you're invited to someone's house for dinner.

Here is what the rest of the Super Novas came up with:

Adela Rossol

Lynn Mercurio

Melanie Muechinger

Kim Burmeister

Wendy Price

Jen Tapler

Diana Gibbs

Erika Martin

Lori Tecler

Jessica Fick

Sankari Wegman

Susanna Boyd

Now, it's your turn!  Take the challenge and let's see what you make!