April's Guest Designer



I am so lucky to have Asela Hopkins as the Gina K. Design's guest designer for this month!  Asela's talent blows me away! Her style is fresh, fun and totally unique!

Here are some things you might not know about Asela. She holds a degree in Fine Arts and she worked for seven years as a graphic designer. She left that position to be a Stay-at-home Mom and has been in that role for 15 years. She heard about stamping but never really worked with it until the summer of 2004 when a friend introduced her to Stampin' Up!. Now, she's discovered a whole big world of stamps and stamp companies that she really likes. Over the past year, she has begun to submit her work to publications and recently became a stamp designer for Cornish Heritage Farms. To read more about Asela, click here for her about me page.

As a guest designer for Gina K. Designs, Asela had the opportunity to choose the stamps that she wanted to use for her guest spot projects.


For this card, Asela chose our Flower Trio stamp from our new spring line. She added a greeting from Stampin' Up.  You can really see the kind of detail she puts into her projects. I love the touch of vellum she used across the center of the card under the brads!


I love the unique way she used our Bunny Friends stamp. She actually stamped it twice and cut out one of the bunnies. Then, she attached it using dimensional foam mounting squares so one bunny protrudes out from the other bunny giving the whole card more depth. The Hoppy Easter greeting fits perfectly!



This card is so sweet and Asela made some great color choices for this design. She used our Honey Bee and our Honey, Bee Mine stamps. She creatively stamped part of the saying on the top circle and the rest of the saying on the bottom circle. Even though these stamps make a great Valentine's Day card, by using these warm colors, Asela has taken it outside the box and made these stamps much more versatile.


I love this card! You can really see Asela's ability to draw in this card sample. She played off of the Squiggle Present and added her own squiggle lines around the inside of her scalloped boxes. She creatively used half of the It's your birthday, give a cheer stamp. The stamp actually says, "It's your birthday, give a cheer, you made it through another year!"

Although it was terribly hard to choose a favorite, this last sample has some really interesting elements that gives it a gold medal.



I was floored when I opened her package of samples and saw what she did with this little honey bee. She used shrink plastic and shrunk him down to fit perfectly with the Flower Wagon stamp. Her little dotted lines makes him appear as if he's flying around and because he's plastic, he pops right off the card! I also loved the way she stamped the word "Love," from Love was born in a  garden, in red and hand drew some flowers and grass to match the wagon. You can hardly tell that it all wasn't part of the stamp. (Now that I've seen it, I really wish it was!)

I was so excited to receive a submission from Asela. She is one of the "rockstars" of the stamping world in so many ways. Yes, she's one of the most well-known. True, her talent is supersonic, but even more than that, she is kind, humble, open to new friendships and willing to always share.

Check out Asela's blog and read her entry about rejection. It's awesome!  She serves up some great food for thought. She also shares a list of publications that accept submissions. What a fabulous resource that is!

For Asela, stamping is not just stamps, paper and ink. It's creativity, friendship and a willingness to share. Now that's what I call a real "rockstar!"

Go to the Gina K. Designs Home Page
Go to Gina K's Blog
Purchase Gina K. Designs Stamps

 

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Comments

  • 3/31/2007 6:28 AM doverdi wrote:
    Love your cards Asela, they are beautiful. I'm a regular visitor to your blog & I enjoy it as well as all your great cards. Thanks for sharing.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 6:31 AM Melissa Banian wrote:
    Wow, what gorgeous projects! Great choice for your first guest designer!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 6:52 AM jeanne n. wrote:
    Love, love, love!!! the honey bee cards! I can't get enough of the shrink plastic honey bee! Too clever! She does beautiful work!!!! jeanne
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:20 AM Sarah wrote:
    Congratulations,Asela,on being Gina's first guest designer. What an honor! Your work is so crisp and clean. Thank you and Gina for sharing such talent.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:30 AM KathyC wrote:
    Asela is so talented and does such beautiful work! She actually was my secret sister in one of the SCS DDSS and I had to make goodies to send to her. Thank goodness I didn't have a clue at the time just how talented she is or I would certainly have been even more nervous than I was to send things to her. I can't wait to see the big announcement tomorrow on this blog and on SCS :o)
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:32 AM Michelle (MilwaukeeMommy) wrote:
    Congrats, Asela, on being Gina's first guest designer!!! You are extremely talented, & I love looking at your designs!! Keep up the great work, & congrats on your new position as designer for CHF!!!!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:33 AM Jackie wrote:
    Hi Asela,
    I am a big fan of yours and visit your blog often. I am so happy to see your work here, too, you are SO talented!!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:56 AM Melissa wrote:
    Congrats Asela!! You're work is awesome!!
    ~Melissa
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:01 AM Mary Campbell wrote:
    Checked out the blog. Great cards with great ideas. Thanks for sharing the guest designer.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:18 AM Joyce Traub wrote:
    Great News! You're work is always just fabulous. Always great and unique ideas. Look forward to many more great tips and ideas.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:41 AM Samantha wrote:
    Beautiful cards!!! I love them all. You have a great talent. Congratulations!!!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:55 AM jane gallegos wrote:
    love the bees and the other cards are great colorful but not over done
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:56 AM Allison wrote:
    Asela, these are wonderful...I love the vase of flowers (I am really hankering for that stamp!) and your one with the bee and wagon are too cute!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:58 AM Pam Hricenak wrote:
    Gina, you have chosen the ultimate for your first guest designer. Congratulations Asela! I enjoy your blog and still, I'm blown away by these BEEutiful cards. Thank you for sharing your talent.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 9:24 AM Ida wrote:
    Gina, I love the idea of a Guest Artist each month. - Congratulations Asela on being the 1st Guest Artist. I loved all the cards but for me the 1st card is my personal favorite. It's so striking and appealing and your watercoloring is wonderful. Ida
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 9:43 AM Cookie wrote:
    I posted a comment but I didnt see where it showed up so I am posting again...Love the Designer Showcase. Great Idea!! Cookie
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 10:17 AM Pam Speidel wrote:
    The idea of spotlighting an artist of the month is wonderful Gina! Congratulations Asela on being the 1st Guest Artist! Your creations are outstanding and I'm so thankful you are willing to share them with us all. You inspire me! Smiles, Pam
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 12:25 PM janice wrote:
    i love that ASELA is the guest designer! i read her blog daily and i love her creativity and insight to design and colors! she is fun and interesting and such a pleasure to read! she is very thoughtful and her points on many topics are so interesting! i love all her cards that she sent, and CONGRATS to her! HOORAY for guest designers!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 2:52 PM Peggy F wrote:
    Congrats on the Guest designer spot. I like the layouts and the color combos. Great job I will have to check out your blog!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 3:41 PM Sandra T. wrote:
    Honeybees are my favorite bug! My oldest daughter is named Melissa which means honeybee... I really like your "Bee mine" card. Very pretty. Thank you for sharing a little bit about yourself and your talents with us.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 3:49 PM Beth wrote:
    I love the card with the vase. So very elegant. I have really fallen in love with the cards where the fold is at the top.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 6:40 PM Mary Mansfield wrote:
    Your " A Day in My life Blog" has become a daily "must see" for me. Love looking at all of the great samples.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:12 PM Joanne wrote:
    I love your work, Asela.
    Congratulations on being chosen as artist of the month!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 7:42 PM asela wrote:
    Hugs to each and everyone of you. I'm overwhelmed by all the sweet comments. Gina thank you so very much for chosing me as your guest designer. I'm more than honored.
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 8:48 PM snarflemarfle wrote:
    Beautiful work, Asela! You have quite the eye for detail!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 9:05 PM lynne wrote:
    Beautiful, beautiful work. Thanks for the great inspiration!
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 9:20 PM Sarah Vrolyk wrote:
    Oh, Asela! Wonderful work as always. You are such a sweetheart and I am so glad that you are the guest designer this month! {{{HUGS}}}
    Reply to this
  • 3/31/2007 10:44 PM Sarah wrote:
    It is wonderful to see Asela and her work here. These cards are all so fresh and have such a "happy" feeling about them! It is hard to pick a favorite, but I think I like the Flower Trio the most.
    Reply to this
  • 6/18/2008 7:11 PM Dee wrote:
    I love all your Beautiful cards Asela.
    Always very Outstanding!!
    Reply to this
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