Blog Hop Winner!!!!

The winner of my blog hop giveaway is:

Sharon Estes!

Congratulations!

Sharon, to claim your prize I need you to:
Email Contest@ginasdesigns.net  
In the subject line put "Birthday Blog Hop Winner - The Craft Hoarder"
Give your complete mailing address
Please mention that you have won the Music Symbol Shape Set

If we do not receive your email by Friday, June 5, 2015 at 5PM  CST,  a new winner will be picked.

 

To see the winner of the grand prize, please go to Gina's Designs Blog.

 

Thank you everyone for hopping! 

 

Gina's Designs Birthday Blog Hop!!! (Closed)

Welcome to Gina’s Designs 3^rd Birthday Blog Hop!

The Birthday Blog Hop will run from today, May 22, until May 29 at 8pm CST.  You should have just come from Deann's blog - CraftDee1. If you didn't, don't worry! Just pop over to Gina's Designs Birthday Blog Hop post and follow all the blogs in order.

We are having two great giveaways associated with this blog hop.

The first one is the Birthday Prize Giveaway!

The Birthday Prize package includes:

Filigree Frames Shape Set , Dressforms 1 Shape Set, Butterflies & Dragonflies, Grape Vines, Feathers Shape Set, Dressforms & Wings Shape Set, Steampunk 2 Shape Set, Clockwork Penny Farthing, Garden Fairies Medium, Garden Fairies Large, Damask Singles, Button Shape Set, Skylines, Landmarks, Collage Border Splash, Mermaids Shape Set, Stackable Labels Shape Set, Steampunk Shape Set, Vintage Ladies Silhouette, Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape Set, Candelabra Set, Dressforms 1 Miniature Shape Set, Barbed Wire Deco Frame Square, Barbed Wire Deco Frame Rectangle, Alarm Clock, Layered Border Victoria Small, Flourish Frame Sienna, Flourish Set Amanda, Wishing Well, Butterfly of Gears, Longstem Rose, Grape Vine Frame, Barbed Wire Frame Circle, and a Brush Caddy !!!!!

To be entered into the Birthday Prize giveaway, you need to:

1. Stop at all 15 designers’ blogs for a secret word.

2. After you collect all of the 15 words, create a sentence.   

3. Email your answer to Contest@ginasdesigns.net for a chance to win the

 Birthday Prize!

 This is why you will want to make sure you stop at each blog. That prize package is fantastic! 

Now the second giveaway will be done on EACH of the designers blogs. The shape set I am giving away is the Music Symbols Shape Set!

This is such a great set! They are the perfect size for any project. I needed a music note/symbol set for a special project for my niece's recital. 

Gina was kind enough to make one and she then listed it in the store. As you can see, you will be able to get a lot of use out of this set!

To be entered into my blog's giveaway, 
1.  Subscribe to my blog. 
2.  Leave a comment on this blog post.

THAT’S IT! So easy!

So many great ways to win some fabulous chipboard pieces! My word for the Birthday Prize giveaway is chipboard.

I am the last stop on the blog hop. If you do not have all 15 words, the blogs that you should have visited are listed below. Make sure you submit your sentence to contest@ginasdesigns.net by
May 29, 2015 - 8PM CST
Good luck!

Kim - AngelDream Crafts

Angela - A Crafty Blether

Barb - In the Studio With Barb

Melissa - Ribbons, Lace, and Good Intentions

Mary B - The Damsel of Distress

Shanna - Shanna's Designs

Kathi - Kathi's Creations

Amy - Amylove Crafty Kingdom

Kim C - Kreations by Kimber

Lynne - Scrappy Squirrel's Nest

Dianna - Diana's Crafts Blog

Nichola - Pixie Hill

Carla - Carla's Creations

Deann - CraftDee1

Mary - The Craft Hoarder

 

Gina's Designs DT Project - Steampunk Chest

Happy Friday! I hope you are all well and have some great plans for this weekend. What I have for you today is what I call my yearly steampunk project!  This chest was in my stash and is going to a friend who likes steampunk ( I hope she does!).

 The drawers have one of the plates from the Keys and Plates Set, several gears, and gears that were part of the Steampunk Frame.  The flat metal key from my stash as well as the purple bling on the key plate.

 On the top, I used the medium dressform from the Dressform and Wings Shape Set. The set come with three different sizes!  By the bottom of the dressform is one of the clock hands from the Clock Hands Shapes Set. The Heart with Gears is coming soon to the store. You can substitute with one of the hearts from the Steampunk Hearts set. Also on the front are flowers from my stash, a domino, and Tim Holtz's gear, pen nib and word plate.

 

 Above you can see the smallest size dressform and wings! The stamp in the right corner was actually found in the bead section at Hobby Lobby. The paper on the entire project is from Recollections - Regent Street.

This air balloon was part of the Steampunk Frame with the gear on the left added from the Gears Shape Set.

 On this side,  you can see I attached part of the Texture Plate - Gears to it.

This is a close-up. I applied different colors of inks to the raw chipboard. In the picture below, you can see that I used the same texture sheet with texture paste. Once the texture paste was dry, I applied different purple inks and Lindy's Sprays over the top of it.

There are several different texture sheets in Gina's Store. Stop by and check them out! Also used on the back was a spring, a plastic light bulb from a key chain, a mini card, metal gear from ButterBeeScraps and flowers from my stash.

Don't forget Gina's Designs is celebrating three years of being in business so you will get a
Free Birthday Shape Set with all orders over $20.00 during the month of May! 

If you are not already a member of Gina's Designs Craft Group on Facebook, get over there and join! We will be announcing other fun birthday activities there!

Gina's Designs Products

Clock Hands Shape Set

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set

Steampunk Frame

Texture Sheet Gears

Gears Shape Set

Keys & Plates Shape Set

Heart of Gears (Coming Soon!!) - you could substitute with Steampunk Hearts

Gina's Designs DT Tutorial - Should I Gesso?

Hello fellow chipboard lovers! I know many times you have read on this blog that I started my project out by using gesso. Gesso (which is pounced jesso) is primer. It gives your paint or glue something to hang onto as well as giving a tone that will allow the true color of your paint to be seen. 

In the picture below, the vintage lady on the right is how Gina's Designs chipboard will look when you receive your order. The lovely lady on the left has a coat of gesso applied to her.

 The ladies from above have invited a few of their friends to help show the effects of using gesso on Gina's chipboard pieces.

 

 First up are the sprayed ladies! I used the same amount and the same color of Lindy's spray on them, but the outcome was very different. The lady on the right has the gesso applied to her.

Next we have the painted stripe girls. I hope you are able to tell from the picture the differences. Starting from the top, I used a heavy body paint (Titanium White) and you can see the head on the left still is showing some of the brown undertone from the chipboard. The next three colors are your basic acrylic paint. You can tell the yellow and pink on the left have soaked into the chipboard. Since the lady on the right had a layer of gesso first applied, the brightness of the colors can be seen. While it is true the black paint looks good on either piece, my preference is to still gesso!

I embossed both sets of wings from the Dressforms and Wings Shape Set and a key plate for a project I am working on. I used gesso on the bottom piece, but not on the top nor on the key plate.  You can definitely see the difference! 

 Here is another shot of them on a different background. The wings on the right has gesso applied to it.

Again, the same amount and the same color of embossing powder was used on the items.

Gesso is available at art supply stores as well as your big box craft stores. There are so many brands of gesso out there for you to chose from. My recommendation, start with a small, cheap jar and experiment!  If you are looking for that true color, use gesso. If you don't want to give your pieces several coats of paint, use gesso. Looking for the darker color to come through like the embossed pieces above? No gesso!

So it is up to you, to gesso or not to gesso....only you can answer that question!

If you do have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section!

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set

 Keys & Plates Shape Set
Vintage Ladies Silhouettes Set

Other Products Used:.

Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powder - Magic Moon Pearls

Hampton Art Stamps Embossing Stamp Pad - Emboss!

Studio 71 - Gesso
Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray - Blue Hawaiian Blue
Americana Paint - Lamp Black & Poodleskirt Pink
Liquitex Heavy Body Paint - Titanium White
FolkArt Paint - Daffodil Yellow

Gina's Designs DT Project - Art Journal Page

 WOW! March 31. Where did this month go? I hope this post finds you all well and ready for some wonderful spring (or fall for some of you) days! I know I am ready for windows to be open. Today I have another art journal page. Yes, I do believe these are my new addiction. I call this one "Bloom Where You R Planted."

For this one I took a couple of sheets out of a large dictionary that was going to hit the trash.  I cut the pages into strips of different sizes and adhered them to the page with a glue/water mix. Gesso was lightly brushed over the top and allowed to dry before I played around with watercolors. The Prima doll was stamped directly to the page and was colored in with watercolor crayons, paint and marker. Instead of legs, I gave her a stem.

The dragonflies were embossed with Orbit Olive Gold. I used a combination of paint, ink and marker on the flowers and planter. The letters were put on white card stock and I used ink and chalk to define them. 

Gina's Designs Items Used

Spring Shape Set

Other Items Used:

Gesso

Page from a dictionary

Watered down Glue

Crayola watercolor paints

Stampin' Up watercolor crayons

Distress Inks: Bundled Sage, Broken China, Milled Lavender

Alpha stickers from stash

Prima doll stamp
Rubbermoon Art Stamp

Pretty Blooms Stamp Set by Scrappy Cat

Markers

Chalk

Acrylic Paint:Lemon Yellow, Deep Yellow, Medium Yellow, Violet, Portrait Pink, Leaf Green, Dark Green, Limonaide

Orbit Olive Gold by Lindy's Stamp Gang

Bling from stash

Gina's Deisgns DT Project - Inspire Planner

Check out How to Make Gina's Designs Four Tabbed Mini Album by Mary Melsheimer on Snapguide.

The pictures below are how I decorated my journal. The paper is Graphic 45 - Couture.  The frame and the word inspire were both embossed. I then cut out a black oval to go behind the frame and attache the word to it. Pop dots were used to attach it to the book.

On the side I used one of Gina's dangle and created this fun charm.

The corset was painted black and the "lace" painted white.

The sewing machine is embossed with black and silver.

The next three pictures are the tabbed pages. The chipboard was painted black.

The hanger and the dressform were embossed with black. I attached these two piece as well as the corset towards the edge of the covers so I would still have the flat surface for writing.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Tabbed Mini Album
Flourished Frames Evie
Dangles
Miniatures Shape Set - Ladies Choice
Vintage Seamstress Shape Set 
Words & Phrases 1

Gina's Designs DT Project - "Bee..." Art Journal Page

Hello fellow crafters. Today I want to share with you my very first art journal page! I had so much fun making this. I learned two things while doing this: there is no wrong way to create and I love making a mess!

I started with page with a coat of gesso. From there, I used all the paint colors listed below to create the background. I just kept adding layers. If I didn't like how the color turned out, I applied more gesso to that area and started again. Once dried, I sprayed Lindy's at the top of the page and let it run down. While the page was still wet I took a paper towel and pressed to absorb the excess. In some places, it lifted the color which added depth. After that I used stamps in select spots across the page.  The brown spots were created by watering down brown paint and using a fan brush to splatter it across the page. The edges of page were inked with Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Black Soot.

The honeycomb was first cut a part and then painted brown. Once it was attached to the page, I used my finger to apply gesso in random spots. The bees were first painted yellow and when that was dry, I used black gesso for the markings. The Prima stamp was used on the wings.

 

There were several hexagons pieces that I was able to pop from the honeycomb to use. After the yellow paint was dry, I used some rub-on alpha's and edged the tiles with Walnut Stain and Black Soot.
For the words, I rubbed the letters onto white card stock and then used Walnut Stain along the edges. Once they were adhered to the page, I used a charcoal pencil to create the dark frame around each of them. For a softer look, I used my finger to smudge the lines.

 Gina's Designs Products Used

Honeycomb & Bee Large

Other Products Used:

Paint: Daler Rowney: Medium Yellow, Cream, Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow, Brilliant Red, Orange

Folk Art: Daffodil Yellow

Liquitex: Burnt Umber

Gesso

Rub-on Alpha Stamps from my stash

Stamps: RubberMoon - Mixed media 

Prima - #96081

White cardstock

Ink: Tim Holtz Distressed: Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Black Soot

Lindy's Stamp Gang - Summer Lovin' Sun

Black Charcoal

Thank you to all the wonderful artists/crafters that shared their art journals on various social media forums. You have all inspired me to make the leap!

Gina's Designs DT Project - Standard Clock

Hello fellow crafters! I have a brand new product for Gina's Designs - the Standard Clock. It will be available in the store soon! This clock has so many possibilities! I kept it simple. I plan on using it in my bedroom and haven't really decided on the decor in there yet.

The clock comes with the base, the clock face (back circle and numbers), brace to hold the clockworks and the clockworks. It all comes in separate pieces for easy altering! As always, I put a layer of gesso on all the chipboard pieces. The paper I used was Paris & Co. by My Minds Eye. The numbers where embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang. Sorry, I forgot to write down the color. The clock face numbers were attached with Scotch quick dry glue. 

The back of the face plate was textured using Gina's Texture Sheet - Swirled Hearts. When the texture paste was dry, I dusted some perfect pearls over it for color.  The brace and all the edges were painted brown.

Gina's Designs Product Used

Clock Standard (Coming Soon!!)

Texture Sheet Swirled Hearts

Gina Designs DT Project - The Moon Sees Me Tag

Happy Sunday, folks! I have a cute tag for my Gina's Designs DT project featuring stamps by RubberMoon! When I saw the "See the Moon Words" stamp, I thought of the Celestial Shape Set from Gina's!

I started by using one of Gina's x large chipboard tag and applied gesso to it. After the gesso was dried, I used various sprays, drying between different colors. Once I achieved a color, I used the inksplat stamp

All the chipboard pieces had a layer of gesso applied to them. After that I painted the shapes with appropriate colors. On the cloud I used RubberMoon's "See the Moon Words" stamp.

Gina's Designs Products Used:

Chipboard Decorative Tags X Large

Celestial Shape Set

RubberMoon

mixed media inksplat -art stamp

see the moon words

Other Products Used:

Paint: Medium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Deep Yellow, Brilliant Blue, Lamp Blue, Butter Milk

Gesso

Lindy's Stamp Gang: Danny Zuko's Denim, Whale Water Blue, Ocean Blue, Tiffany Lou Blue, Bachelor Button Blue

Ribbon from my stash

glitter