January 2025 Release from Gina K Designs

I’m so excited that I was invited to be a guest designer for Gina K Designs! Today I have cards to share that feature a new stamp and die bundle – The Greatest Gift.

My favorite stamp in the bundle is the main image that looks like a brushstrokes square, with a negative space heart in the middle. For these cards, I played with that primary stamp and some ways to use it with layers of colors.

To see the whole new release, take a look at this link here. (At Simon Says Stamp. My Gina K Designs link will be coming soon.)

Techniques:

• I overlapped the painted heart three times. Be sure to consider how the colors with mix together when you do this with dye inks, which have some transparency to them. Using analogous (adjacent) colors from the color wheel or in a rainbow helps be sure they will work well together.

• Since of the sentiments is the right size to fit within the heart, I wanted to create a peek-through window for it. Make sure if you do this that the opening isn’t too close to the edge.

• I cut two extra lilac hearts, stamped those with some of the leaf images in the stamp set, and attached those with foam squares. This adds dimensional interest as well as contrast of the crisp black ink against the cool painterly stamp images.

• To repeat the leaf detail on the inside, I stamped a series of those along the bottom edge in soft lilac to match the front of the card. Stamping the greeting in the same crisp black ink provides contrast and continues that color balance from the hearts on the front of the card.

• Adding an extra layer of lilac heart outline around the window helps frame the greeting, and provides a distinct edge between the patterns on the front and on the inside panel.

Colors:

(It would have been great to use Gina K Designs inks and cardstock for these cards, but so far I only have a few ink cubes of hers. I’m going to need to expand my collection! In the meantime, I used what I have.)

• cardstock: Concord & 9th Lilac.

• ink: Concord & 9th Tidepool, Harbor, Lilac. Versafine Onyx Black.

Techniques:

• I pulled out ink cubes for this one, and used my MISTI for lots of repeat stamping, inking up with different layers of color each time.

  • I first stamped the whole image in the center of my paper. I layered on the lighter of the three middle colors first, and then added in the middle color. Each time I inked the stamp, I varied the edge of the color so it would overlap and blend, and not have a harsh edge between colors.

  • I also used a blending brush to soften the edges and saturation of the ink on the stamp before I stamped it on the paper.

  • After stamping three colors on that stamp, I shifted the paper over and restamped it with a combination of that outer color and the one used at the edge of the center stamp, blending the colors and layers like I had before.

• Once again, I picked analogous colors that would work well together as I layered them.

• After they were all stamped, I trimmed off the sides so the only visible heart shapes were in the main center heart.

• After getting that part completed, I added a few small stamped hearts. (That stamp is also in the bundle.)

  • I did a few in the colors I used for the main heart stamp, and also added a few in the crisp black, which tie in with the black sentiment.

Colors:

• cardstock: Concord & 9th Creamsicle.

• ink: Concord & 9th Carnation, Pink Lemonade, Grapefruit, Nectar, and Creamsicle.. Versafine Onyx Black.

I usually say I’m going to start earlier next year. This time I really need to. December got VERY busy and I really pushed this to the last minute this time, but I got them done!

Thank you for visiting! I hope you get some time to create something soon.

Links are below if you’re interested in any of the products I used.

(Listed by company, with links to Simon Says Stamp and others. Simon Says Stamp links are affiliate links*.)

*Affiliate links do not cost you any more when you shop, but it is beneficial to creators when you use them, so thanks in advance!