Kindness matters~

It's time for another Gina K Designs blog hop! Tonight the sets previewing are:

Seeds of Kindness - July Card Kit set
and
Hugs and Prayers by Nina

Recently I read a thread on SCS and someone was asking if you could watercolor on Gina K Pure Luxury White paper. I was curious, I knew Copics worked really, really well. Same with Prismacolors. But watercoloring, well, I hadn't tried that on Gina's paper yet.

Both of my cards use the July Card Kit set, Seeds of Kindness.

I chose to try watercoloring with Memento markers that I scribbled on a piece of plastic. After scribbling, I picked up color with a waterbrush. Since this isn't traditional watercolor paper one needs to be gentle in the water application and ensure that color isn't scrubbed into the paper, but rather gently applied. As you can see, a watercolor effect can be achieved when using GKPL paper.

A couple other tidbits about the cards:

• Simple card color schemes with stark black mats allow the watercolored images to pop
• Select flowers are popped up with dimensional foam
• Ivy leaves and pot are popped up with dimensional foam
• Silver brads add "just" the right accent

For even more samples with the stamp sets being previewed tonight, check out these designer's links:

Gina
Jessica
Nina
Theresa
Melanie
Cathy
Lee
Carolyn
Donna
Kurtis
Bev
Colleen
Valerie (that's me, of course~)
Emily
Erika
Janice
Sankari
Asela


We'd also like to invite you to attend our Release Party this Thursday, July 1st starting at 7 pm central on StampTV! There will be challenges, contest questions, and more samples from our designers on all the new stamp sets being released this month! We'd love to have you join in on the fun!

V.~

Supplies:
Stamps: Seeds of Kindness
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Charcoal
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, Lovely Lavender, Vibrant Violet, Creme de Menthe
Patterned Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Other: Memento markers, Waterbrush, Silver mini brads, Corner rounder, Dimensional foam

Along the same lines....

a thank you card for Brett's teacher made at the same time as the grad cards below. School colors are purple and yellow, I used a subtle yellow as to not hurt the eyes! LOL Gift card enclosure on the inside holds a card to a nice restaurant so that she may enjoy an evening out to celebrate the end of the year.

On to 7th grade!

V.~

Stamp credits: Unity Stamp Co and Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Color Box Fluid Chalk Yellow Ochre, Memento Grape Jelly
Paper: Gina K Black Onyx, Vibrant Violet, Sweet Corn, White
Other: Nestabilities Circle die, Large embossed scallop punch, Corner rounder, Clip, Grosgrain ribbon, Dimensional foam

Graphic Guy Grads~

Three simple graphic graduation cards for 3 guy grads this year -
UCLA, SFSU and WHHS colors were chosen as the color inspirations for each card.
Many similar elements, slightly different layouts.

Finished cards are 4.5" x 6.25"

School is almost out for summer around here, one more day for my youngest~

V.~

Stamps are from the following companies:
Unity Stamp Company, Cornish Heritage Farms, Stamps of Life and Stampin' Up!
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Danube Blue, Grape Jelly, London Fog and ColorBox Fluid Chalk Yellow Ochre
Paper: Gina K Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx, Sweet Corn, Vibrant Violet
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny (Blue dots)
Other: Nestabilities Circle Dies, Spiral punch, Gingham ribbon, Clips, Brads, Square punch (banner ends), Corner Rounder, Piercing tool, template, and mat, Dimensional foam

In Deepest Sympathy~

For a dear friend who recently lost his mother.

Finished card measures 5.5" square.



V.~

Stamp credits: Gina K Designs flower from Botanicals, Unity Stamp Company scalloped oval from A Noteworthy Occasion, and Stamps of Life sentiment from TinyAnd2Cute
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand
Paper: GK Ivory, Onyx Black, Chocolate Kiss
Patterned Paper: Graphic 45
Other: Black grosgrain, Clip, Corner rounder, Embossed Scallop punch, Oval dies, Distressing tool, Sanding block, Dimensional foam

Thanks OCL ~

for the opportunity to play on your design team for the past year, it's been such a pleasure.

Best of everything, my friends!

V.~

p.s. for those who may think I am moving on to other things, that is not the case, I am merely downsizing design team work for now. What the future holds remains to be seen~

Kite, Kite, Kite....Boat~

It's the first of the month and a brand new gallery of cards is open, made with a cute new release from The {stamps} of Life called kites2Fly! This is such a fun and whimsical set!

I made a series of 4 cards using similar colors and papers to unite them. The card sizes are all very different from each other; the largest card is 4-1/2" x 6-1/4", the smallest 4-7/8" x 3-1/4", and the ones in the middle are 3-1/2" x 6-1/2" and 4-1/4" square. The lone "goose" is a sailboat made from 2 kite sections and a half circle punch which I saw that immediately when I was looking at the set the day it came in the mail.


This month also marks my departure as a Guest Designer. It's been a blast working with Stephanie and the gang!

• Beverly Sizemore
• Deb Felts
• Jeanne Streiff
• Jennifer Buck
• Joana Studer
• Laura Williams
• The {Stamps} of Life
• Vicki Garrett

Here's each card up close





V.~