CHRISTMAS/WINTER WISHES BLOG HOP

WELCOME TO THE NOVEMBER “CHRISTMAS/WINTER WISHES” 

BLOG HOP!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for popping in to check out our November blog hop!  

The Blog Hop with Sean & Regina is now featuring Gina K. Designs stamps only for our monthly blog hops. 

There are some amazing new stamp sets by Gina K. Designs that were released in October and I am  sure you will be inspired in the upcoming November release as well! I can't wait to see what's NEW!

I for one started making my holiday cards some time ago but the lure of great challenges saw me venture away from them for a while.

 I badly need more of Gina's great stamp sets as my collection just started this year and I have a long way to go.

The blog hop designers have been busy creating a card/cards that we hope will inspire you to create some beautiful Christmas and winter themed cards for your family and friends.  

Enjoy yourself as you venture through the holiday hop! 

OUR BLOG HOP SPONSOR IS!

This month, we are honoured to be joined by Rebecca Oehlers, a Gina K. Designs Illustrator who has created some beautiful stamp sets for Gina K. Designs available in the Stamp TV Store!

 Becky’s style is really fun, crisp and clean.They are used to make wonderful cards with just the right message or can be used to add some fun to your scrapbooking pages.  In addition, Becky is one of the best card designers and artists in the craft world

Becky is a member of the Gina K Designs Illustrator Team.Go to Becky’s blog to look at the great things she has been up to AND view the card samples she has created with her newest stamp set “Mistletoe Memories” that was released during the Stamp TV October Release Party.  Becky’s blog address is:  http://hemidemisemiquaverdesignblog.com/.  

So now here are a few of my Christmas cards I have been working on. As I said earlier my collection of Gina's stamp sets is in it's infant stage and Christmas ones (but I am working on adding more for sure) I have just a few  - but you don't need masses to create great things with what you have got - just imagination and I hope I have captured a little in what I have done.

 For my first card I started with basic white cs. I embossed the silver paper with Sizzix Holiday Frame. The heirloom ornament was heat embossed in purple by Zing glittered the middle and popped. You can see the glitter in the close up on the photo below. Added to the Heirloom Ornament is a small mauve bow to finish. No sentiment required. The Gina K stamp set I used for the ornament is Heirloom Ornament Set.

 Below is a simple card using the Cuttlebug embossing folder from Winter Wonderland. I have heat embossed the row of poinsettias and dotted the centres with yellow liquid pearls. Added a red frame behind so the flowers would stand out. This stamp is from Melanie Muenchinger's Holiday Basket. I added 2 different ribbons to the back. Sentiment is from Gina K's Fanciful Tags. 

 Another simple card also had an embossing folder from the Winter Wonderland Set. I cut 2 different Spellbinder dies - one for the backing and the front one has been heat embossed from the Gina K duo Merry & Bright. Sentiment is also from the duo. I popped both die cuts and added a little green ribbon which I gathered slightly for effect. Cut both coloured paper on the bottom corner.

This card is nearly the same as above only I changed the backing paper and embossed the stamp directly onto the paper. Added a little bit of gold bling here and there and a snowflake to the top of the baubles. I did spritz it in silver but has not shown up in the photo.

 So there you have it - My contribution to this great blog hop. 

If you came from the talented Penny's Blog you are going great. Your last stop on this amazing journey is to hop over to see what Sherian has been busy making for you. I am sure you will be pleased.

NEARLY DONE!

Hope you are enjoying the hopping with all of our friends!   

The rules are simple -  no change from my other design teams rules and they are - 

1. Visit each participating blog on the list below. 
2. Leave a comment for the blog host designer.
3. Become a follower of each participating blog.

If you follow rules 1 – 3, you will be eligible to win the grand prize of a Becky Oehlers stamp set from Gina K. Designs.

At the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop Grand Prize using comments and followers from each blog. We have decided to keep the hop open from Friday – Monday.  We do this because some people that want to participate need more time to get through the entire hop.

 The deadline for leaving comments is Monday, November 19 at 8pm CST.  The winner will be chosen and announced on Tuesday, November 20, 2012.

The blog hop designer team for this month are as follows:

Sean Fetterman	http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com/
Regina Hardy	http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com/
Lee Murphy	http://luvleestamper.blogspot.com
Becky Oehlers	http://hemidemisemiquaverdesignblog.com
Lori McAree	http://smilingwhilestamping.blogspot.com
Kyra Sanders (Ky)	http://bunnynest.blogspot.com
Kay Simmons	http://livinlifeinthecreativelane.blogspot.com
Penny O’Dell	http://pennyskrafts.blogspot.com/
Ina Grehanß YOU ARE HERE!	http://littlebitsofcraft.blogspot.com
Sherian Dixon	http://meemee48.blogspot.com

Giovana Smith

http://giovana-believe.blogspot.com/

Please leave a comment for the blog hop design and sign up/follow each hop designer to be eligible to win the grand prize stamp set!

Thank you so much for hopping with us!!! 

Have a great week end!

Hosting a Challenge over at StampTV

I was given the honor of hosting a challenge over at my favourite craft site http://stamptv.ning.com/ and would love you to go check out what it is. I had a lot of fun working out what my challenge would be.  

Free For All Friday - STV12FRI33 - A Few Of Your Favorite Things

stamptv.ning.com

 

This is one of the cards I made as an example for my challenge.

This is what I asked members to do.

For my challenge I would like you to use A FEW OF YOUR FAVORITE THINGS. We all love Gina's stamps our embossing folders and dies so these 3 things will be used on your card.

But there is a twist - can't make it too easy for you. Gina has some beautiful FREE paper here and you will need to tell us which one you chose and use it on your card. Also because you have used a machine to die cut you need to add something hand cut too.

And this is how I made my card.

 I used Gina's paper - The Great Outdoors Straw Burlap and embossed it with a Darice Embossing Folder. Spellbinders Labels 20 and Floral Ovals for my dies and also used MS punch. The stamp I used is from Whimsical Wishes and stamped onto Peachy Keen paper. Cit out several by hand and popped. Also used Peachy Keen for my Labels 20 cut out. The sentiment is from Springtime Silhouttes. Added pearls to the flowers and lace ribbon and a button to finish it off. 

I know it has been a long time since I posted but just getting back to normal after  my holiday break. 

Will be back soon as there is another blog hop I am involved with and will update you on this real soon .

I'm on Holidays

Just a quick update to let you know I will be away on holidays for a few weeks but will be back soon and keen to get back into card making again.
Catch you all again soon.

Blog Hop Winners

Hello my blogger friends. First of all I would like to thank you for taking the time to comment on my cards and all the other host/hostess blogs. I hope you picked up some inspiration from the lovely cards on show. I am splitting up my cards for 2 winners.

and the WINNERS OF MY BLOG CANDY are

Angie - you have won the first card you liked with the gold mist and the sentiment stamp.

Jennifer Restivo - my newest follower - you have won the gold embossed card you thought was stunning and the halloween embossing/die folder.

Please email me at imtoocrafty@gmail.com with your snail mail address so i can post out your prize.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Thanks again for checking out my blog.





Blog Hop Update

AUGUST BLOG HOP


Due to unforseen curcumstances Zenita Barnes Smith is unable to participate in this blog hop. http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com/ Thanks for your understanding. Ina.

Welcome to the August Blog Hop

WELCOME TO THE AUGUST BLOG HOP!

Hello Everybody!

   

 Last month we saw the first blog hop with Sean and Regina. There were some awsome prizes and I was lucky enough to receive one of them. 

Thanks for coming to play along with us in our August Blog Hop. This blog hop is featuring cards and sentiments celebrating FALL. 

OUR BLOG HOP SPONSOR



Scrapbook Stamp Society is our blog hop sponsor. The overall winner will receive digi's from our sponsor. Please visit them at http://scrapbookstampsociety.com/index.php? 

Some of our blog hop host/hostess designers will be offering blog candy on their blog sites so don't forget to visit his/her blog (and leave a comment) to be eligible for bonus blog hop prizes.

 As I live in Australia it is Winter here but I have made 2 cards which depicts the

As i live in Australia it is WINTER here but  I have made 2 cards that depicts FALL COLOURS as it would be here for our Autumn which has the falling leaves and crisp cool breeze in the air.

My first card has white base card and I stamped various leaves (from unknown stamp name sorry) with Tim Holtz distress inks. I used Victorian Velvet, Frayed Burlap and VersaColour Olive. The main image has been backed with popped brown cs The small orange dots are from SU Beyond the Basics. The sentiment is from a GinaK stamp.  I finished this card off by spraying the whole card with SU Champagne Mist to make it "glow"

I would like to thank Tanya Cordingly for the inspiration behind the making of this card. 

The second image (below) is a close up to try and show you the shimmer of the gold sprayed mist.

 

My second card has black card stock as the base. I topped it with a fawn mulberry paper which has gold swirls. The autumn leaves are cut out with a CB maple leaf die. The designer paper at the back is from the Fall Harvest Mat Pad from KCompany. The main focal image is a CB Fall embossing folder and the paper is burnished copper and backed again with black card stock.

*

Now it is your turn to blog hop with all of our friends!  The rules are simple:

1.     Leave a comment on Sean's blog first
http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com

(and become a follower to enter a chance to win the grand prize from Scrapbook Stamp Society)

2.     Go down the list of blogs visiting all of them (see below).  Leave comments on their blog pages to be eligible for bonus blog candy from select blog hosts. The blog hop host/hostee offering bonus blog candy will indicate that he/she has a bonus blog candy prize so read their blog post carefully. Each blog will have the name and blog address for the next host/hostess in line for the blog hop. Our Number 2 is Regina at
http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com

3.     At the end of the hop, a random winner will be chosen for the Blog Hop prize from our sponsor and select blog hop hosts for Bonus Blog Candy.  The deadline for leaving comments is Monday, August 20, 2012 at 8pm CST.   Winners of the Grand Prize and bonus Blog Candy will be announced Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

The Blog Hop participants are as follows:

Sean Fetterman	http://cardcraftyclub.blogspot.com
Regina Hardy	http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com
Zenita Smith	http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
Melissa Cash	http://INKclinations.blogspot.com
Sharri Seffens	http://istamp4u.blogspot.com
Linda Anderson	http://stamperstouch.blogspot.com
Kay Simmons	http://livinlifeinthecreativelane.blogspot.com
Donna Rinckel	http://indianainking.blogspot.com
Ina Grehan	http://littlebitsofcraft.blogspot.com
Roxie Nitti	http://roxiesstampingroom.blogspot.com/
Aixa Mercado	http://www.cardjewels.com
Jennifer Restivo	http://craftycardgallery.blogspot.com
Tracy Palmer	http://craftymomfl.blogspot.com

******** BONUS BLOG CANDY HERE ********

Please sign up and leave a comment to be eligible to win blog candy here!
I am giving away the 2 cards I made, the small sentiment stamp and also a CB embossing/die cut with Halloween on it.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Now go to Roxie's at

http://roxiesstampingroom.blogspot.com/

Next Blog Hop with Sean and Regina is on Aug 17th

Hi Everyone!

 

  Last month we saw the first blog hop with Sean and Regina. There were some awsome prizes and I was lucky enough to receive one of them. 

 I will be one of the Hostesses for this one & I hope you'll plan on joining us for this month's hop on Friday, August 17th, starting at 8am.  

The theme is going to be....  FALL.  You'll see beautiful cards made by the blog hop hosts using the Fall theme to inspire you. 

 Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you here later in the week.

New Blog in Town

There is a NEW BLOG HOP IN TOWN

Sean and Regina have been really busy organizing a new blog hop.

The first one of many starts this Friday 20th July and the Theme is Christmas/Winter so be sure to pop on over and check out all the fabulous cards that will be there. There is also Blog Candy to be won and you have 12 chances to win from the 12 participants. Seeing these lovely cards will make you want to get started on those Christmas cards that we all leave so late to start.

Add this to your calendar of Must Do's.

Be sure to keep up to date with each of the hops and the dates by visiting 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blog-Hop-with-Sean-and-Regina/341457002595022

and of course join up for all the fun.

Hoping my blogger friends will come visit and leave lovely comments.

I will be part of the Blog Hop in August and I will remind you of this at a later date.

Enjoy your crafting my Friends and don't be afraid to make a mess as you can't create without it - well at least I can't.

My Latest Challenge DCC74

This week over at The House that Stamps Build the Rock Star hostess, Lynette Neus, is challenging us to create a card using the colors greena and purple.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc74-color-challenge/

Here is my card.
Card base is white and covered with green paper which was embossed with cb leaf folder and edges punched with MS punch. The top layer has the Spellbinders Lotus die which I then popped the focal image of Waterlilies & Dragonflies from the Repeat Impressions Beautiful Days stamp set. This was stamped on mauve paper (same as lotus cutout) and heat embossed with Zing Metallic powder. Added purple and yellow flowers with liquid pearl drops in Avacado. Added liquid pearls to the centre of the waterlily to finish it off.

Challenges Challenges Challenges

I have been BUSY as a bee making cards for various challenges. The Outlawz  have had a 2000 Member's Party which I made cards for the different challenges there. It was based on Where in the World so being from AUSTRALIA that is what mine were based on but there was one where you could enter where you would like to visit etc so of course I had to make one from my homeland of SCOTLAND.http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/
Also over at StampTV their challenges are always fun and you get to win some of GinaK's fabulous grab bags of stamps. http://stamptv.ning.com/
Here are a couple of entries.

Tracy's Blog Candy

Please go over to Tracy's blog
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDeUJsg8x8dTxfQJkPhU72mljpFzGcUIdGVcu7SQCij5sR2yfCBD9_Q3Gg4G9fYsJDVNLeOF0b5uhde4LkSOEzzf7N38vDCyRksm56qOjROdS11e5GhV8QnV000qZRyr7YY6hnYgeWb0T/s1600/My+B-day+Candy.jpg
and check out her awsome gallery and while you are there become a follower and get a chance to win her BIRTHDAY CANDY.

Trying out my new Repeat Impressions Stamps

I received my new stamps yesterday from Repeat Impressions and had to try them out. I also received the stamp set Beautiful Days. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to win that set and also purchase a few of the lovely stamps as well. The quality is superb.

Here is one I made from the stamp Vase of Tulips 1317W
I am entering this card in the following challenge.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc66-2-images-1-sentiment-challenge/

Some more time to CRAFT

Another day and I got to play. This time I made a card for the What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-m3012/

It is so nice when a card comes together easily and this one did just that. I had already stamped the dp with butterflies as a background and my apricot poinsettia was cut and sitting on my desk (with a whole lot of other stuff - you know how it is) so put it all together and just added a few bits and bobs and there it was - all done.

My Latest Card Challenge.

I have at last found time to play in my craft room and make this card for the current Designers Choice Challenge over at The House that Stamps Built.

http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc523-three-elements-challenge/

My 3 Elements are

1 The Swiss Dots Embossing

2 The Stamped Image by Kaisercraft

3 Die Cut or Punch - The Die Cut Tag with Sentiment.

Thanks for looking. Ina.

A card I made for the What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge.

I have been MIA for a while now - Life seemed to get in the way of my hobby but now I have made time to make a card for one of my favourite web sites http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-m1612/

This is the sketch above and what I came up with.

This card was simple to make. White card stock was topped with swiss dots on white. I then added a small strip of floral dp and covered it with my new SU flower punch. The main focus was cut out with Spellbinders Labels 20, cuttlebugged and inked then added the smaller label stamped with SU Bliss in Rich Razzleberry inked around focal point and edges. Added pearls to the centre of the image and on each side. I finished it off with twine attached with a sinker.

Hope you like it and if so love to see your comment as it is appreciated. Thanks Ina.

Liebster Award.

"The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favorite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note."

 

I would like to thank my friend Regina Cooper Hardy for choosing me to receive the Liebster Award.  Regina has some fabulous creations and I urge you to go to her blog http://cardsbyregina.blogspot.com.au/ and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

This is  what you do as a presenter of this award!

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve it.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

So, now it's my turn and my picks for fellow bloggers with less than 200 followers are:
 

1. Cheri Weston. Her fabulous blog is http://stampnboomer.blogspot.com.au/

2. Joan LaBelle - http://joaniescraftycreations.blogspot.com/

3. Shirley and her blog is http://papercreationsbyshirley.blogspot.com/

4. Cindy's blog - http://toolsofacropingqueen.blogspot.com.au/

5. Darlene Lyons's blog http://scrappyduesbydarlene.blogspot.com.au/

 

I know the 5 ladies I chose all do fabulous work and I enjoy visiting them regularly.

Now,  the 5 people I have chosen need to choose 5 of their own! 

Thanks Regina for the Liebster Blog Award! 

Newest Challenge.

Over at The House that Stamps Built there is another
Designer’s Choice Challenge DCC425.. 
We have to create a card for a woman we love.
My card is for a dear lady who recently turned 90. She is what I call our adopted Mum as she took my husband under her wing with her own son when they went to school and played soccer together. She has been a part of our lives for such a long time and is such a precious person. We love her dearly.
http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/designers-choice-challenge/dcc425-card-for-a-woman-you-love/

My base card stock is irredescent silver topped in apricot embossed pearl paper, with scored lines in middle top and bottom. The Spellbinders Poinsettia Dies (flower and leaves) are popped on top of the Cherry Lynn Italian Flourish and finished with a pearl centre. Tagged with Spellbinders Fancy Tags, apricot ribbon and 90 cut out with Cuttlebug.

Hope you all have been able to spend some time doing what we love best - Crafting. Thanks for looking and do hope you like my card. Ina.

Repeat Impressions DC Challenge DCC411

I am entering this card in the Designer's Choice challenge at Repeat Impressions where the challenge is "Birds of a Feather". My good friend Cheri Weston is challenging us to use birds or a bird as our focal image. This is for her.

Repeat Impressions DCC411 Designer's Choice Challenge

This is how I made it

White card stock topped again with white cs which was inked with French Script and edges touched in red. I cut out the Spellbinders fleur de lis pendant and backed it with red and black cs. The bird image is from SU Garden Collage and heat embossed in black. Added MS punched sprigs and 3 little red flowers which had centres of white liquid pearls. The satin ribbon I heated embossed to crinkle it slightly. Added a simple Hi Friend sentiment on a cut out Spellbinders Labels 20 and added a spot of red liquid pearls each side.

I enjoyed making this card in honor of Cheri and hope you like it.

I know she would love you to check her blog out too. She is so very talented.

http://stampnboomer.blogspot.com/

Thank you for stopping by and hope you will leave a comment for me. They are so welcome and appreciated. Ina