Melanie Muechinger's 2 Year Anniversay Blog Hop

Happy 2010!  Can't believe Y2K happened a decade ago.  Time flies!

Well, Melanie Muenchinger has invited several designers to participate in a blog hop to celebrate her TWO year anniversary of designing stamps for Gina K Designs.  She is an amazing artist and paper crafter. A true genius!  The set I've been asked to used in my project is School, Sports, Spirit.  This is the set for which I was a guest designer when it was released a few months ago. I thought since we are having ice and snow type weather in Pennsylvania this New Year's Eve, I would make a card with an icy theme.  I used the pair of ice skates and the Perfect Match sentiment to make an icy romatic card.  I made my own glitter card stock with the Baja Breeze using VersaMark ink and some glitter embossing powder.  It really looks "cool" in real life.  I also decorated the inside.  The silver ribbon with X's came from the packaging my boss gave my Christmas present in. The box was gorgeous and I knew I just had to re-purpose the packaging somehow. LOL!  Here are the photos of my card. You can click on the photos for a larger view.  The rest of the blog hop details are listed below the photos.

Melanie Muenchinger is celebrating two years of blogging and illustrating for Gina K Designs, and today she has invited 25 designers and YOU to join the party! First hop through the following designers' blogs using every set she has created since January 2008, from the first to the 25th! Then go to Melanie's blog to leave a comment for a chance to win a number of different prizes! So let's get hopping! 

Here we go!

Just So Hippy - Charmaine

Just So Hoppy - Donna

What's in Your Tin 1 & 2 - Donna

Hip Hop Accessories - Bee

Jumping for Joy - Barb

Cuddles and Hugs - Jessie

Little Tees - Cat

Just So Sporty-Pam

A Year of Flowers-Theresa

Say it with Flowers-Selma

Have a Cookie - Carolina

Tee Talk - Gabby

Hand in Hand - Ally

The Best Things in Life - Shannon, Sankari

A Charmed Life - Cathy

Wee Tees - Libby, Laura Jean

Arranged with Love - Selma

Sporty Accessories - Tina

Inspiration Mosaic - Jennie

School Sports Spirit - Melissa

A Year of Leaves - Geri

Hip to Be Square - Karen

Festive Frame - Linda

Tech Talk - Lee


Finally,
Nina and Jessica from the GinaK Senior Design Team have joined in, too!

You can also get in on the hop yourself and increase your chances of
winning a prize by creating your own project with any one of Melanie's sets and linking it in the Mr. Linky in her post, see full details here.

Hope you can join the fun! Enjoy your first hop of the year!

"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.

{click on image for larger view}

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.


{click the photo for a larger view}

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.


{Click image for larger view}

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.

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.


{click the photo to see an enlarged version}

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.

{You can click on the photo to view a larger photo}

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.