Let your #Cre8time Fly... Gina K. Designs and Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop

Greetings everyone! Today I am joining the creatives with the Designer Crafts Connection in getting inky for a new bloghop featuring projects made with Gina K. Designs stamps and die-cut ephemera.

Gina K. Designs carries the highest quality stamps, ink, cardstock, dies, stencils and more! Everything coordinates beautifully so you can start creating right away... inspiring with great ideas for paper crafting success!

I love to customize a plain composition book and collage with lovely papers, stamps and ephemera. I was provided with these beautiful Gina K. Designs ephemera watercolor floral die-cuts and butterfly "Never Lose Hope" stamps which are perfect to decorate a new inspiration journal.

Supplies: Blank composition book; scissors, glue stick, black Staz-On ink; misc patterned paper and ledger paper; vellum paper; coordinating lace and ribbon; paintbrush; Ranger Old Paper Distress Oxide; double sided adhesive tape; Gina K. Designs butterfly "Never Lose Hope" stamps and ephemera watercolor floral die cuts.

Using Staz-On black ink, stamp many butterflies onto vellum and ledger paper.

Look at all the flowery goodness here in the ephemera watercolor floral die-cut package!

Before gluing down floral pieces, I quickly antiqued with Ranger Old Paper Distress Oxide applied with a brush.

With just a quick brushing of ink, the die cut pieces look aged with bright colors and whites toned down.

Covering a journal is really straightforward. Trace around the cover onto the back of a patterned paper which is a nice cream with some sparkle detail (pretty sure this was leftover from something Christmas themed). I cut on the traced line and apply a liberal slathering of glue stick to the cover, then press paper onto the cover. Easy-peasy!

Fussy cut out all of the butterflies. I enjoy cutting out a pile of hand-stamped images.

Now I'm ready to grab the glue stick and apply things to the prepared journal.

The combination of the black ink on ledger paper with the antiqued florals give a shabby-chic feel.

I slightly overlap floral pieces and leaves to create depth.

I finish the edge of journal with a piece of lace layered with a tri-color ribbon adhered with double-sided adhesive. This ties everything together to complete my journal redux.

Shabby-Chic Journal takes flight!

With just a few supplies, I have transformed a plain composition book to something that looks like those sold at the bookstore.

The sparkle detail on the paper adds a bit of bling to the neutral colors.

I love the neutral colors with just a pop of color in the florals. This journal is ready to be filled with creative ideas and inspiration from my daily travels.

CLICK HERE to jump over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog to view more projects using Gina K. Designs Bloghop.

For more info on Gina K. Designs Products, project inspiration and to purchase visit Gina K. Designs website HERE.

Thanks so much for visiting! What would create with Gina K. Designs? Sb :)

** This is a sponsored post. Gina K. Designs, LLC provided products for use in this project in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions. My ideas and opinions are my own.

Sharing Art from the #Cre8time Heart...

Who doesn't love a brand new bottle of paint?!! Except when it bursts all over the place - YIKES! In an effort to clean up a bunch of spilled paint – I quickly grabbed a bunch of stuff to paint red in a hurry. This beautiful tag full of mixed-media LOVE is what became of my crafty accident... READ MORE  

Hello friends! Today I am sharing some TAG-a-licious inspiration filled with mixed-media LOVE. This tag was born from a Cre8time mess created when opening and testing a new RED distress paint dauber. With some quick thinking, I scooped what I could back into the bottle. Then I grabbed some unpainted goodies that were within reach -- a chipboard heart, a pair of grungeboard wings, recycled book paper and blank tags to quickly use and mop up the remaining spilled paint. I think I was painted more than the items, but it was all in good messy fun!

A few things I've used are leftovers from other projects or from artsy friends. The "beauty lies within" came from a supply box purchased from my creative friend Catherine. This corkscrew topped lady head is from a box of very special stamps from a dear friend from my local altered book group who is no longer with us. This stamp will be perfect to take flight as a mini art doll on this tag.

There was a heart already collaged in this bezel, but I tore it out so that I could add a chipboard piece that was part of my red paint frenzy. I brushed the metal frame with some tarnished brass and red distress paint, then lined the inner edge with some mini red sequin trim held in place with Diamond Glaze.

Everything gets a rubbing around the edges with tarnished brass. This chipboard heart gets a red bling heart before it's mounted into the pendant.

The rest of this came together rather organically -- things just layered up so beautifully as I added scraps and leftover bits from my stash. Layered on the painted tag: a torn scrap of an embossed painted paper, some mini rick-rack, sari ribbon, gold trim and painted lace.

I stamped grungeboard wings with script text. The lady is stamped onto gesso painted recycled book paper, with a touch of color from with distress markers. I add tiny piece of embroidered trim for a necklace... even the littlest scrap of the border trim is put to use!

I finished off bodice with some other goodies in my crafty stash: a beaded dangle; some sari ribbon; fun fiber; and green/red raffia. A work of mixed media love!!!

Have you seen her??

 

I participated in the "Sharing the Creative Heart" while at Creativation a week ago. This was a collaborative art abandonment project by the AFCI Designer Section, where we dropped our creations around Creativation in Phoenix, Arizona to be found on January 21st. While I was demonstrating, my friend Tracy and her hubs scoped out and planted my lovely lady to be found in the park area at the show entrance. We are all excited to hear where she has landed!

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you enjoy this Valentine's Inspiration! I would love your help in locating where this lovely tag has ended up in the Cre8time world by sharing. Hope you have a creative day!  :) Sb

Stamping a #Cre8time Storm

Hello Friends and Happy World Cardmaking Day! For today I am sharing one of my favorite cards and a fun technique that is one usually done with the Kiddos. Living in South Florida, I am in Hurricane alley and the past several weeks the storms have been relentless with Harvey, Irma, Maria and now Nate. There is a silver lining - storms are a perfect time to get crafty!

For today's project I am sharing a shaving cream technique to make a swirly background to go with this Hurricane Blowing Trees stamp. This technique is quick and easy and so much FUN!

I sprayed some shaving cream into a paper plate, spread around with a plastic knife, then dripped in three colors of Distress Ink re-inkers {peeled paint, old paper, and iced spruce}.

Drag the knife through the shaving cream to swirl colors around in patterns. If you do this too much, you will completely blend the ink into shaving cream.

Place your piece of cardstock into the shaving cream mixture and press flat to make sure entire paper has made contact. I'm using a smooth natural ivory colored cardstock as my base.

Gently remove the paper from the shaving cream and then scrape off the shaving cream with the plastic knife. Place paper onto a paper towel and wipe off the remaining shaving cream off using a soft towel. Finally I give the papers a zap with the heat gun to dry and to set color.

This technique is really easy and this project is great for kids, too. I colored several pieces of paper using the shaving cream mixture. When the color became too solid, I added a spray of fresh shaving cream and swirled it in. The white areas of shaving cream result in a color resist. My backgrounds are ready to get stamped.

I inked up my stamp with Versafine Black Ink and stamped onto the shaving cream painted paper. **PLEASE NOTE** The shaving cream leaves a film on the paper that makes the stamped image slightly distressed. I also tried stamping with dye ink on another paper and the image was blurred and resisted in areas. The Versafine ink version came out the best and I heat set this one to dry.

Now for assembly! I tore the edges away on each side of my stamped image. A SECRET... I layered this onto the unusable dye ink stamped image torn in the same fashion, leaving a larger border. For my card base I used a section of distressed corrugated mounted onto a Kraft card base using double sided tape. I adhered the base painted paper, then mounted a strip of burlap, and overlayed the stamped image. I finished off with two sea glass nuggets for a little bling.

Presenting my windblown Hurricane Card!!!

Thanks so much for dropping by and I hope you are having an inky day!! What cards are you making for World Cardmaking Day?  Sb :)

Summer #Cre8time Memories...

Hello friends! As summer comes to a close, one can't help but want to remember days adventuring at the beach. I love to create mini-books that house my photos and mementos from vacations... and I don't have to look far for finding something to create with – but for this keepsake... I've raided my pantry and refrigerator!

A set of vintage by the sea stamps by Rubber Dance Art Stamps are inspiration for the theme of my project which will be housed in a recycled cheese box that was in the refrigerator. I also raided my pantry for some paper boxes to serve as a sturdy base for pages.

I began by gently peeling off the package labeling to give me a blank slate to work with.

I measured a circle to fit inside the box and cut a template to trace out front and back pages from the recycled cookies/cracker boxes and from the corrugated packaging.

Then I distressed the outside of the box and both sides of the pages with an acrylic/gesso mix and also some spray mists – this gives a real white-washed beachy feel.

I also distressed some sheer organza ribbon and white cheesecloth with distress stains and spray mists... using them to mop up all the glittery goodness from the sprayed pages along the way.

I adhered some double-sided sheet adhesive cut to fit the pages and began to assemble my mini book. I sandwiched the ribbon and cheesecloth between the pages – adding some double-sided tape to the top of the ribbon to lock them in place when I adhere the top page.

Between the pages, I added some knotted natural green dyed raffia.

I even used a recycled envelope for ephemera... nothing goes to waste! I distressed in the same fashion as the pages and adhered using circle cut double-stick adhesive sheets. I'm normally a glue-stick girl, but after all the painting and distressing, the double-sided adhesive makes assembly quick and easy.

I stamped my images using brown dye ink onto creme cardstock primed with the same acrylic/gesso base as everything else; then tearing each image out and distressing edges with chalk inks to complete the vintage weathered feel.

I layered onto the corrogated pages a section of distressed cheesecloth and one image adhered with tacky glue.

I added some antique gold dewdrop ink to the inside of the box and layered one of the images to the base, and blending the hard edge of the envelope and white box with the corrugated border around the sides... WOW this is so lovely!

Now for some finishing touches! A resin cast sand dollar colored with spray mists and antique gold ink; a recycled dry cleaning tag; section of cheesecloth; raffia stands; and some real mini seashells to complete the scene.

I accordion fold the book into a stack and nestle it nicely into the box. It's all grungy and weathered and looks like it's just washed ashore!

Memories by the Sea...

This cheese box has been transformed completely – one would never guess what it was when I began. Keep a lookout in your pantry, the fridge and your recycling for amazing and interesting things to upcycle into something beautiful and useful! I even have space leftover to add some of my vacation photos from Jamaica last fall.

I hope you have enjoyed my recycled stamped creation – I truly enjoyed making this keepsake. What would you recycle for use as a summertime keepsake?

Thanks for visiting! :) Sb