Gina's Little Corner of StampinHeaven

Next month is National Scrapbooking Month and Close To My Heart always has an AWESOME paper pack to celebrate.  Close To My Heart consultants get a one month preview BEFORE the paper is released. (Just one of the perks to being a consultant!) I absolutely LOVE this paper!  The colors are vibrant and right on trend.   I couldn't wait to play with it.  But, I had to wait a bit due to a busy softball schedule. I spent Thursday through VERY late last night at a softball tournament.  I'm happy to say, my daughter's team won the Championship!  It took me a while to get going today.  (I'm still feeling effects of the windy weather and loud screaming that I did! I nearly lost my voice!) I combined the colors from Playdate Cafe with Sketch #98 from Deconstructed Sketches for this card -  Hopefully this large picture shows the resist that is on the cardstock included in this paper pack.  There are 6 different colors (2 each) of cardstock e...

Here is a quick card I made last night.  I'm still working on getting the hang of 'clean and simple'.  I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the colors from Playdate Cafe .  When I saw both challenges I just knew they had to go together!  I used In the Background (D1540)  stamp because I can't get enough of the chevrons! My tropical flowers are from another new set - Tropical Paradise (C1531) .  For a little pizzazz to the card I added Glitz Glitter Gel - Stardust (Z1313) so I'm also entering this card into CAS-ual Friday's Challenge. I used Close To My Heart's colors of Sunset, Outdoor Denim and Crystal Blue. Challenges:                                                        

Yesterday I held an all day crop for my StampinHeaven Hostess Club Members.  Just another benefit I provide to my hostess clubs!  I appreciate my Hostess Clubs and like to provide a space and free lunch for my Hostess Club Members to catch up on projects.   We had a wonderful day yesterday and I used the time to work on upcoming projects.  I took a break after a while to do something for fun.  I had brought along some challenges in case I got a chance to try one out.   This card was fun and a bit different from my usual 'style'. I used the colors from The Playdate Cafe and the sketch from Unscripted Sketches to create my card.                                 Here is my card: I used Ruby, Cocoa and Goldrush cardstock.  Usually I have some type of pattern paper on my cards. I didn't like the plain cardstock so I added 5/8" punched circles to the card. ...

NOTE:  Looking for the September Stamp of the Month Blog Hop?  Find it HERE It's been a while since I've participated in any challenges.  I've been so busy with other projects at the top of my list, I haven't had time to just 'play'.   I've been keeping up with all the challenges though.  Everyday I check my favorites and hope that someday I'll get a chance to participate.   In fact, I was supposed to be working on designing my cards for my Annual Christmas Card workshop yesterday.  When I saw Playdate Cafe's color challenge this week, Avonlea immediately came to mind.  Three of the colors featured in one of our newest paper packs, Avonlea (X1755B) , are in Playdate Cafe's colors.  Avonlea has three trendy colors - Avonlea Teal, Avonlea Green and Avonlea Off-White.   I used the Avonlea Green and Teal cardstocks along with Slate Cardstock The Playdate Cafe                       ...

I spent literally ALL weekend pulling my tax information together for my Close To My Heart Business. Last year I waited until the last minute and I had promised myself I wouldn't do that again.  I told myself that I would not do any creating until I finished.  I expected to spend most of Saturday on this task but it ended up taking me 2 days!  I don't know why I can't record everything monthly! If I did, I wouldn't have to spend an entire weekend doing it!  But every year it is the same thing and every year I say I'm going to be better.  Maybe this year....... The first thing I did Saturday morning was to printed out a page of challenges that I wanted to try.  I set them aside until I was free to play!  Finally, I was able to step into my craft room tonight.  Armed with two color challenges I begin pulling inks and cardstock.  The first color challenge I decided to do was from The Play Date Cafe .   I also decided to combine this with ...

I took a break from all the Christmas colors to create one more Thanksgiving card before the Holiday was over.   Gee!  How did we even get this far into the year already?  My family has been planning our Thanksgiving meal for about 2 weeks now.  Not really planning though.  It's more of confirming who is bringing which dish, although, every year we bring the same ones!  Hard to break tradition! Ok - Back to my card.  I loved the colors over at The Play Date Cafe and couldn't help doing one more card.  Besides, I'm in love with our Dreamin' papers and they are perfect for the color inspiration.   I paired them up with The Friday Mashup !                           Here is the Friday Mashup Challenge: 1. Make a project using Paper Rosettes 2. Make a project using the sketch 3.  Mash it up and make a project using the sketch and use paper ros...

I couldn't resist Play Date Cafe's  colors.                                                            I searched around for a stamp that would remind me of fall but I didn't want leaves.  I came across  Joyful Jar .  It had candy corn on it!  Candy Corn means FALL to me!  I have this rule.... never buy Candy Corn before October 1.  Well, I've already broke that rule.   Actually twice already .  Really not sure why I have that rule - I never abide by it.   I played around with the base of the card switching out colors. I really had a difficult time.   Even set it aside and left the room.  Thought a break might do me good.  Maybe even eat a little candy corn.  I wasn't sure that I would ever come back to it.  But, I did come back today and deci...

Challenge #2 for me this week!   I went to the Play Date Cafe today to see what I'd been missing!  Their challenge was to use BLACK & WHITE with a Splash of color!    I've been working with my August Stamp of the Month so I just added another card to use for the Play Date Cafe Challenge.   This card could be a congratulatory card - which means you don't have to use this set ONLY for Halloween!  Since I was already using the color Sunset I used that as my Splash of color! Here is my card! I used the 'honeycomb' stamp to stamp directly on the card with black ink.   Then I stamped on another piece of cardstock with Sunset ink.  I cut out each honeycomb and used 3D foam tape to pop it up off the black honeycomb. This stamp is called "Wicked" and it is "wickedly cute"!   It will be available August 1st.   Come back to my blog on August 1 to see more artwork with this stamp set!

This weeks colors at The Playdate Cafe are fun.                                   Black and White gives the feeling of a sleek look and with a splash of green thrown in, that makes it fun!   I had a new stamp set that I've been wanting to use and thought this challenge would be a great time to get creative with it.    I've been trying to use more of my scraps for making cards so I rummaged around awhile in my scraps until I found two pieces of pattern paper that were perfect for this card I had in mind.  The black pattern piece is from Close To My Heart's Hooligans paper pack and the green/white polka dot if from our Spring collection - Sophia.   Who would have thought - Halloween and Spring could go together so well! PDCC83 Recipe: Fill In The Blank stamp (D1465) Hooligans Paper (X7129B) Sophia Paper  (X7131B) Black Cardstock (1386) White Daisy Cardstock (1385) B...

For the last several month's my husband and I have taken on a couple of remodeling projects.  One project is a bonus room remodel.  We spent one entire Saturday prepping and painting.    Much to our disappointment, the room needed a second coat because it didn't cover well.     The thought of doing this all over again loomed over me like a big dark cloud.   We planned to get back to it the following Saturday with the help of my mom & dad. They are the best non-paid paint professionals around!  Will usually work for pizza.   On Friday, I came home at lunch to start painting the small bathroom.   When Jeff came home early too, I decided to give my Mom & Dad a call and see if they wanted to come a day early.   They were there within the hour, paint brush in hand.   What a HUGE help they were.   Thank goodness they love to paint, it was pretty big job.    I wanted to make a Thank You card so I decided t...

I LOVE the colors at Play Date Cafe this week!  I couldn't wait to create something with them.  Here are the Play Date colors:                                        I wanted to do something a little different with this card.  I have lots of irresistible chip board die cuts and I forget to use them.  I love how these look when you add ink to them.   I chose to use a simple pattern for a small card from Originals .   The Pattern is called Little Squares.   The square in the middle is cut out and the sentiment on the inside shows through the front of the card.    Here is my card: Recipe: Originals (9032) White Daisy Cardstock (1385) Honey Cardstock (X5668) Smoothie Ink (Z2196) Irresistibles Villa ChipboardDie-Cuts (Z1390) White Organdy Ribbon Stamp - Unity (C1422) Sponge (Z697) All products are Close To My Heart I've got 2 m...

It's been more than a week since I've sat down in my craft room!  Last week was a busy week for me between my daughter's softball games, my monthly club workshops and for good measure I threw in a private workshop on Friday night! It was busy but I still had fun!   I did miss a few challenges that I would have loved participating in. Tonight's ballgame was cancelled and as soon as I got that message I knew exactly what I'd be doing tonight.    I really planned on creating several cards tonight but I was really having a difficult time getting my creative mojo going.   It took me a while to get started. I chose the Playdate Cafe Challenge first.   This is an interesting color combination.  It's not one that I'd ever think of myself but when I saw the colors, I almost immediately knew which stampset I'd reach for first.     Here are the PlayDate Cafe Colors: PDCC79 Here is my card.   I chose to use the Close To My Heart colors of...

One more card to show before I am banned to the bleachers at the softball fields for the next three nights! This is for the Play Date Cafe Challenge.   This one is a color challenge.  Here are the colors we were supposed to use:                                 BEAUTIFUL!  I love them!  SO I just had to create something with these colors.    The Close To My Heart colors that I felt were close to these colors are: Pacifica, Dutch Blue and Topiary.    I chose "Bless This Nest" stamp to use for my card.   It's a favorite of mine and I have made several other cards with this set but have not used this particular stamp from the set! Here is my card: I used the "Gallery" pattern from Originals . Cardstock:  Pacifica, Dutch Blue and White Daisey Stamp: Bless This Nest (C1445) and Eclectic Edges (C1450) Ink : Topiary Accents:  Sparkles - Blue ...