"A" Game

I am thrilled to once again be featured on Melanie's blog using her new set School, Sports, Spirit. I also pulled out some stamps from Sporty Accessories and Just So Sporty. I used some cool sporty paper I found at Target in the Dollar Spot. Cool deal! Here is the final result.

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I colored the sweatshirt from Just So Sporty with a green Copic marker and the football with a brown Copic marker. I used my favorite cuttlebug folder, Diamond Plate, which you can now purchase in Gina's store. Card stock is Pure Luxury White & Chocolate Kiss from Gina K Designs and Garden Green from Stampin' Up.

I hope you have a chance to get some stamp time and have a super weekend.

School, Sports, Spirit Blog Hop Fun

Tonight I am excited to share with you a card I made using Melanie's newest stamp set called School, Sports, Spirit. If you don't have this set yet, you need to get over to Gina's store and pick one up.


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There are so many fun images in this set. The jacket and bag are great images to paper piece. That is what I did with this card using Basic Grey Boxer paper. Very classy looking prints and colors. I really had to resist not putting ribbon on this one. I tried to keep it more masculine. Boy is that ever a hard task for me. :o)

I created the swoopy looking bottom using the paisley nestabilities die. I really like that technique. I used my most favorite cuttlebug embossing folder for this one too. I just love how the Diamond Plate embossing folder goes so well with this set. It really adds a masculine feel to the card. You can click on the photo to get a closer look. I hope you are inspired to go stamp some fun sporty cards. Now check out the details below to find more inspiration using this fabulous set.

For even more samples of the School Sports Spirit stamp set, please visit the Illustrator of the set, Melanie Muenchinger's blog. Melanie will be offering her new stamp set as blog candy tonight too - so we hope you'll take the time to comment on her blog for your chance to win this spectacular stamp set!

After visiting Melanie, hop over to her guest designer Melissa Shultz's blog for a special card she'll be sharing with us tonight. <-- That's me! :o) Thanks for stopping by my blog
Melanie has also asked a few members from StampTV to join us in showcasing her new set, so please check out her friends' blogs here:

Mary Anne


Sharri Seffens

Then, stop by these GinaK Design Team Members' blogs participating in Melanie's blog hop tonight:

Gina Krupsky

Carolyn King

Donna Baker

Erika Martin

Jessica Fick

Lee Murphy

Theresa Momber

GinaK's CenterStage Design Team Member's blogs:

Geri Utterback

Tina Gilliland

Ice Ice Baby

I am so thrilled to be featured on Melanie's blog with cards I made using her fabulous new stamp set School, Sports, Spirit. I wanted to put all of the ice sport images together. I made this a few weeks ago when it was super hot and humid and I was longing for cold temperatures and snow. :o) I've been making larger and longer cards than usual. I read a thread over at splitcoaststampers.com a few months ago that somehow had shared the results of a survey they performed with non-stampers about the preferred size card. I can't remember who started the thread, but it really made me think. After that moment I decided to try to make more cards that are larger than the usual 4.25" x 5.5". This card is a rather long card (4" x 8", I believe). It worked out great to add the three ice themed images. I also used a color combination I don't think I've ever used before. The base is Pure Luxury White Base Weight. Love that stuff. Then I used some turquoise Bazzil and some So Saffron from SU. I masked the images and sponged with So Saffron ink. I hope you are inspired and find some time to stamp a few things today.


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If you did not find this post by clicking on a link from Melanie's post. Please check out this post on her blog. She is also featuring another amazing lady and super talented stamper, Geri Utterback.

Autumn Beauty Blog Hop

I am totally stoked to be participating with all of these super talented stampers in showcasing Theresa's Autumn Beauty stamp set. This stamp set has all the fall images that you need. My absolute favorites are the sunflower images. I love sunflowers. There is a farm near my apartment that has two fields full of these golden yellow beauties. They make me smile every time I drive by. And of course who doesn't like fall colored leaves and fun scarecrows. I was actually dozing off in my boyfriend's car yesterday on the way home from his birthday lunch when I dreamed this layout up. Crazy, huh? So here is my Autumn Beauty card.


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All stamped images are from Autumn Beauty sold at Gina K Designs. I used Pumpkin Spice, Soft Sand, & Vanilla Pure Luxury Card Stock. The pattern paper with the fall leaves is from Target Dollar Spot last year. I also pulled out my sewing machine for this one. I love the look of real stitches on hand stamped cards and wanted to make this card as special as possible for Theresa's blog hop. I hope my Autumn Beauty card inspires you to go stamp some beautiful fall cards.

For more inspiration, please check in on our Illustrator of Autumn Beauty, Theresa Momber. She has also designed a beautiful digital paper pack called All About Autumn that is available for purchase as well. Be sure to leave a comment on Theresa's blog for a chance to win this stamp set!
Theresa has asked five guest designers to join in on the blog hop tonight:
Pam Imholz
Melissa Shultz <--That's me :o) Karen Knegten
Jennie Harper
Brenda Turner
These Designers are also sharing projects tonight on their blogs:
Gina Krupsky
Carolyn King
Erika Martin
Jessica Fick
Kurtis Amundson
Lee Murphy
Lynn Mecurio
Melanie Muenchinger
We even have some of our CenterStage Spotlight Designers joining in tonight:
Geri Utterback
Shelly Wilson
Tina Gilliland

Go For the Goal

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday. I am looking forward to a 3 day weekend off of work. Working for a credit union has great advantages in that area. :o) So that means more stampin' time, right? I am headed off to pick up some stamps I ordered from my local stamp store, Stampede. But I wanted to share a card I made last night. I used Melanie's new School, Sports, Spirit set for this one. And I also used my new favorite embossing folder called Diamond Plate.



The center of the circle with the soccer ball is actually cute the whole way through the front. I used some embroidery floss to make it float and you can wind it and let it spin. Fun!

Enjoy your day and make it grand!

Stamps: School, Sports, Spirit
Paper: Pure Luxury In the Navy and White
Ink: Real Red and Night of Navy
Other: lots of ribbon, Diamond Plate embossing folder with my Big Kick, Colluzle with circle cutting templates.

All Star, All Laced Up

Here is another card I shared last week at Gina K Designs release party.


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This one was my boyfriend's favorite. He liked the lacing. The lacing was a little tricky to pull off, but I love the look with the sporty theme. And how about that star embossed background. Very fun. A few of you asked about the embossing in my card from yesterday. The embossing folder is called Diamond Plate. I picked it up the other week at my local stamp store.

I hope you have a super day.

Stamps: School, Sports, Spirit, Sporty Accessories, Just So Sporty
Paper: Pure Luxury Rocket Red and White, Black and Gray {SU}
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Other: eyelets, DMC black floss, mini brads, red & black thin ribbon, Cuttlebug folders

Guest Designer for Melanie Muenchinger

I am totally thrilled and extremely grateful that Melanie Muenchinger asked me to be the guest designer for her new set School, Sports and Spirit. This is such a fun set to play with. I am having a blast making scenes with this set and all of her other sets combined.

Last Friday I dropped my niece off at school in the morning. We got there a little early so we sat in the car waiting and watching as other kids were arriving at school. I noticed several boys coming to school on skateboards. I instantly had the idea to make a card with Melanie's new School, Sports and Spirit set and use this little skater dude. Here is what I came up with.

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He is heading to school and ready to play some basketball. He comes from the set Whatever Floats Your Boat designed by Rupa Shevde and the rest of the stamps are from Melanie's sets School, Sports and Spirit, Tee Talk and Sporty Accessories. Don't they all go so well together.

Now to talk about some details on the card. I made the fringe on the pennant by using some of the woven twine from the Signs of Autumn kit. I stamped the basket ball net onto a transparency sheet with chalk ink. I quickly ran a heat gun over it to set the ink. It worked perfectly without melting the plastic. Then I cut a slit and slipped the basketball into the hoop. I made a little backboard with some card stock that I ran through one of my new cuttlebug folders. I love those things. Since I used this little skater dude I decided to stamp "Skate" on the backboard. The pattern paper is Mr Campy: Nature Walk from Cosmo Cricket. The paper is double sided. Leaves on one side and wood grain on the other. They helped me make the perfect background for my back to school scene.

I hope you have an awesome day and please feel free to leave a comment telling me what you think. I love to hear from you.