Snowflake Peace and Shopping Day!

I hope you all had a great thanksgiving and wonderful time with your loved ones. We had a quiet one with non-traditional pork roast. I did manage to make roasted potatoes, creamed corn, apple crumble, and cranberry salad. Some of these were treats for us because the ingredients (pecans, cranberry sauce) were brought from America and took up precious space in our limited luggage this summer. Turkeys are still not that popular here, could be quite pricey and come in small sizes (think a big chicken). We'll cook it for Christmas, usually deep fried. Yum!

Today's card is for StampTV's Color Spotlight challenge. The snowflakes are from the Winter Mittens set. The background text (Merry Christmas in many languages) and sentiment are from Vintage Borders. The papers are Cosmo Cricket's Winter Mittens collection. The ribbon is my hand-dyed seam binding. It matches GinaK's Green Apple perfectly.

Here is the color combo this week. I hope you can play along with us.

Finally, GinaK Designs is offering a Thankful for you sale. Happy shopping!

Holiday Hoppin' with Spellbinders Paper Arts

Welcome to the second day of the Spellbinders™ Paper Arts Holiday Hoppin’ Blog Hop! Spellbinders, along with Gina K Designs are showcasing their newest products just in time for your Holiday crafting and gift giving. Lots of creative ideas are in store, as well as prizes galore! Each participating company has generously donated towards the prize package listed on the Spellbinders Blog. A total of two identical prize packages, one for each day, November 18 and 19 will be given away! To enter, just leave a comment on a participating blog! Comments in the first 48 hours of the post are eligible. One commenter each day will be randomly selected as the winner. Winners will be announced on November 22, on the Spellbinders Blog! Be sure to see all of yesterday’s Holiday Hoppin’ blogs for inspiring projects and another chance to win!

Visit all of today’s Holiday Hoppin’ blogs:

Mona Pendleton
Gina Hanson
Deborah Young
Becca Feeken
Julie Overby
Kimberly Crawford
AJ Otto
Margie Higuchi
Beth Pingry
Jennifer Holmes
Kerry Urbatch
Shona Erlenborn
Tammy Inman
Jessica Turner
Brenda Hurd
Julie Koerber
Rae Barthel
Rachel O’Crowley
Kellie Fortin
Kristen Cohen
Joy Dickson
Candy Rosenberg
Laura Craigie
Stephanie Hester
Leesa Crutcher
Nina Brackett <<--you are here!

I have lots to share with you today as I feature the following Spellbinder dies for my projects:

• S4-291 Labels 15
• S4-285 Nested Mittens
• S4-283 Heirloom Ornaments
• S4-293 Lacey Circles
• Nesties-005 Classic Circles
  

These dies coordinate with many Gina K Designs stamps, including:

• Lovely Labels 2
• Heirloom Ornaments
• Winter Mittens

This photo ornament was created using Lovely Labels 2 stamps, Labels 15 and Heirloom Ornaments dies. The papers are October Afternoon. Tutorial coming soon on this blog!
Here are some detailed shots.Here's another ornament or gift card holder using the Nested Mittens dies and felt. This is an easy project to do with your young kids. I handstitched the die cut felt together, along with the decorations.
This card uses the Heirloom Ornaments stamps, Classic Circles and Lacey Circles dies, which was stamped with the vintage ribbon image from Vintage Backgrounds stamp set. The papers are Graphic 45 Christmas Past. (This is a little preview of tomorrow's Card Patterns sketch).

Finally, another card using the Winter Mittens stamps and Nested Mittens dies. The papers are Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather.

Simply leave a comment on my blog to be eligible to win the Spellbinders Holiday Hoppin’ Prize Package, including some Gina K Designs stamps! One winner will be chosen from all the comments on all the blogs participating today. Comments made in the first 48 hours of this post will be eligible to win. Winner’s names will be published on the Spellbinders Blog on November 22, and they will have 48 hours to reply to Spellbinders to claim the prizes. Happy Hoppin'!

Hot Cocoa Weather

It's starting to get chilly here, but I'm so glad that we don't have snow yet. That didn't stop me from playing with my Winter Mittens set though :-). I used Cosmo Cricket's Jolly By Golly papers, which are perfect for this set. The mitten was colored with Memento markers and die cut with Spellbinders' Nested Mittens set.

Just a reminder that the Spellbinders blog is hosting the Holiday Hoppin' event. There are two huge giveaways from several companies and the winner will be picked from the comments in the participants' blogs. Make sure you stop by GinaK's blog where she'll be showcasing GinaK Designs stamps that coordinate with Spellbinder dies. I'll be back tomorrow with my projects for the Holiday Hoppin' Hop (that's a mouthful :-).

Hot cocoa, anyone?

I have something special to share with you today that my friend, Justine, made with the Winter Mittens stamp set. Look at all the details on these gift jars. I love the layered die cuts and those pretty bows on the side. And don't forget the buttons and twine with the mittens...just beautifully executed.

They would look pretty even just to put on a shelf for decoration. :-)

You will find the details on HER BLOG, including the recipe for this yummy concoction. Thank you, Justine, for sharing your talent with us. Your neighbors will surely be blessed by your work of love.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Introducing Winter Mittens and Heirloom Ornaments

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have a great weekend ahead. The sun is shining in Croatia and the weekend is off to a good start already.

I am excited to show my two latest stamp sets from GinaK Designs. First is one that is perfect for gift giving, Winter Mittens and it coordinates with the Spellbinders Nested Mittens die set. Here are some tips on how to best utilize this set:

The sentiments all fit inside the oval and rectangular frames. The oval can be die cut using the Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities. The rectangular frame can be used as a cuff for the largest die as seen on my tutorial for Christmas tags at the end of this post.
My second set, Heirloom Ornaments, coordinates with the Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments die set.
Here is a shabby vintage card I made with this set. The papers are Webster's Pages. The music background was made using the Vintage Borders stamp set.
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Quick Christmas Tags using the Winter Mittens and Spellbinders Nested Mittens die set:

I forgot to mention that I die cut two sheets of paper at a time and it cut without a problem.

Winter Mittens Previews

Welcome to the first day of the Gina K Designs' November release. I have two new sets this month and I'm excited to share one of them today. Do you know we have a little over 50 days until Christmas? That will come sooner than we realize. So, it's never too early to plan Christmas gifts, cards and such.

I designed Winter Mittens with gift-giving in mind. My first project shows you a simple tag that you can quickly make for a pretty addition to a homemade gift.
And yes, it coordinates with the Spellbinders Nested Mittens set.

Here's a short tutorial on how you can mass produce these tags.
You can also use the stamped text/label sentiments on Avery (#8460) labels for even quicker, mass produced tags for your handmade goodies.
Finally, I also want to show you that you can use these mitten images year-round. On this card, I used them as oven mitts for a homey card. The sentiment is from Asela's Sew Pretty set.

For more inspiration, make sure you check out GinaK's blog and this list of designers with more goodies to show, including projects using Melanie's A Year of Borders set:

Cathy Tidwell
Carolyn King
Emily Giovanni
Lee Murphy
Melanie Muenchinger
Nina Brackett - you are here!
Theresa Momber