Hello Adventure!

 **This is my second post for the day.  To see my Lil' Inker Designs post, please scroll down.  Thanks for visiting!**


I know some of you are probably heading out for some last minute vacations before school starts again.  With that in mind, I created this card using dies & stamps from Whimsy Stamps.

I love the sunglasses die that coordinates with the Smarty Pants stamp set. It has so many uses!  For this card I decided to go with a travel theme.

I first die cut the sunglasses out of black cardstock and then to make them shiny covered them with glossy accents.  Then, I die cut the Bokeh paper and added them inside the frames of the sunglasses.  I love how this turned out!  They were a cinch to line up too!  The sentiment, from the Happy Hello stamp set, is a perfect match for the theme!

I am entering this in the Catered Crop challenge which is to use vellum on your project &amp.  

Thank you for stopping by today!! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies not listed above:

Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants As You Wish, Echo Park Capture Life

Vellum: PTI

Embossing Powder: Ranger Super Fine Detail Black 

Lil' Inker Designs: Seriously Awesome

Hello!  I am so excited to share this next post for Lil' Inker Designs release week with you!  Have you enjoyed what you've seen so far this week?  I sure do think it is a fabulous line up of new products!  If you are following along in the blog hop you should have come from Heather Campbell's blog and if you'd like to start at the beginning, visit Laura's blog! There are three $15 gift certificates to the LID store up for grabs, so the more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!

I have two cards to share with you using a lot of new Lil' Inker products!

This is my favorite card that I made for this release!  Who would have thought that a card that I actually colored on would end up being my favorite?  That is so unlike me!  I just love this new Sketched Floral set!

I pulled out my watercolors to color the flower.  I then used my old yellow Sakura Glaze to color in the anthers on the flower.  Isn't it cool how the die stitches the outline of the flower on the negative part of the cardstock?  I think it adds such a cool detail!  And that seriously die...how fun is that?  The Happy Birthday sentiment comes from the Sketched Floral set as well and I embossed it in white on black cardstock.

When you open the card you get...

...this.  That is the flower that was showing through the front of the card.  I stamped the stem, used watercolors to make a little shadow of sorts and then die cut the stem from the Sketched Floral dies and adhered it.  I stamped another sentiment on the curve that is also included in the set.

Here I used the new Seriously die and Seriously Awesome stamp set in a more elegant way.  

I die cut the feathers with watercolor paper and then stamped the coordinating feather image with three dye ink colors in an ombre look.  Then, I took my water brush and blended the colors together.  I used a white gel pen to add dots to the centers after the ink was dry.  I embossed the sentiment onto the new Pinked Edge flag and then attached the seriously die cut.

This is such a little thing but another detail that I really like about the seriously die is that the dot of the "i" is attached to the word so you don't have to worry about trying to keep track of and then adhering that tiny little dot!

Another product that released this week is a set of Angel Policy stamps.  These are nice to add to the back of your cards.  Here I stamped one of the feather images above it to draw your eye to the back.

Well, that's all for me today!  Don't forget to leave a comment to win!  The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!  There's plenty more inspiration to see using these sets today!  Your next stop on the hop is over to Karen's blog!

Thanks again for stopping by and for leaving your sweet comments the last few days!

Laura Pryor

Amy Kolling

Erin Lee Schreiner

Heather Campbell

Jen Carter -- You are here

Karen Baker

Kristen Foreman

Lea Lawson

Lisa Henke

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Maureen Merritt

Sarah Jay

Lil' Inker Store

Lil' Inker Designs Release Day 2: YOU Make Me Happy

Welcome back to day 2 of the Lil' Inker Designs release!  If you are following along in the blog hop you should have come from Heather Campbell's blog and if you'd like to start at the beginning, visit Laura's blog! There are three $15 gift certificates to the LID store up for grabs, so the more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!

Today I am showcasing the new Cut it Out Clouds & Accessories dies and the new Dance in the Rain stamps.

The new dies are so fun!  I love how they cut out slits in the clouds!  What a fun pattern!  I layered the new clouds from the Cut it Out Clouds & Accessories dies over the previously released Stitched Clouds from the Rainbows & Clouds die set.  They work so well together!  I used the large sunshine die to peek out from behind the clouds and stamped a smiley face from the Pieces of Me stamp set.

That super fun sentiment is from the new Dance in the Rain stamp set.  It includes 3 sentiments perfect to pair up with your clouds, sunshine, rainbows stamps and dies!  The die set also includes lightning bolts! FUN!

Don't forget to comment to win!  The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!  There's plenty more inspiration to see using these sets and we'll be showcasing more projects tomorrow!  Your next stop on the hop is over to Karen's blog!

Laura Pryor

Amy Kolling

Erin Lee Schreiner

Heather Campbell

Jen Carter -- You are here

Karen Baker

Kristen Foreman

Lea Lawson

Lisa Henke

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Maureen Merritt

Sarah Jay

Lil' Inker Store

Supplies
Stamps: LID Dance in the Rain, Pieces of Me
Dies: Cut it Out Clouds & Accessories, Large Sunshine, Rainbows & Clouds, Stitched Mats: Rectangles
Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee Hello Sunshine
Embossing Powder: Zing Rouge

Lil' Inker Designs Release: Fancy Feathers

Hello everyone!!  It's time again for the Lil' Inker Designs Release festivities! All of the products being shown are currently available in the Lil' Inker Designs store already!  If you are following along in the blog hop you should have come from Heather Campbell's blog and if you'd like to start at the beginning, visit Laura's blog! There are three $15 gift certificates to the LID store up for grabs, so the more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!

I love the new Fancy Feathers stamp & die set that came out with this release!  I wanted to try to do something elegant with the set first.  I started with the Cover Up Die: Pieced Chevron.  I put a piece of scotch tape down the back of each strip and then poked out the pieces that I wanted to replace with the gold glitter paper.  This made it super easy to only take out the pieces I wanted to.  Tip:  I marked an "x" on each piece I wanted to replace so that I could see my pattern before I removed the pieces.

I die cut the feathers out of vellum and then embossed them in white & gold.  I embossed the sentiment (don't you just love that font!?) in black (and added some glitter embossing powder on top too!) onto another piece of vellum that had been die cut using the new Pinking Edge Sentiment Flag Set dies.  I attached the feathers to the flag and then added black enamel dots.

I love that this feather set gives you both solid feathers and outline feathers in a variety of different sizes and shapes!

I'll have more to share with you tomorrow & Wednesday so be sure to stop back by!  

Don't forget to comment to win!  The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances are of winning!  There's plenty more inspiration to see using these sets and we'll be showcasing projects through Wednesday!  Your next stop on the hop is over to Karen's blog!  You can see the entire blog list below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Laura Pryor

Amy Kolling

Erin Lee Schreiner

Heather Campbell

Jen Carter -- You are here!

Karen Baker

Kristen Foreman

Lea Lawson

Lisa Henke

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Maureen Merritt

Sarah Jay

Lil' Inker Store

I'm entering this in this weeks Pink Elephant Anything Goes challenge & in the Catered Crop Vellum Recipe Swap!

Supplies

Stamps: Lil' Inker Designs Fancy Feathers

Dies: Lil' Inker Designs Fancy Feathers & Cover Up: Pieced Chevrons

Paper: PTI White, DCWV Gold Glitz

Embossing Powder: Ranger Gold Super Fine Detail, Superior Filigree Fine White

A Bright Hello!

Hello! Remember how I said how beautiful it's been here in Kansas this past week?  Well...not so much anymore!  It was 100 yesterday, a far cry from the 70's last week.  After last week yesterday felt suffocating!  I know Fall is coming faster than I'd like now because the countdown has me at less than a week before I start back to work at the school.  Summer has flown by!

For today's card I was still stuck on the Clean & Simple Challenge Sketch for this week.  I am so drawn by the flowing circles!

I started with black cardstock and pulled out several bright embossing powders.  Starting with one color at a time, I stamped the circles with VersaMark from the Whimsy stamp set Happy Hello and then embossed to form my pattern.  I love how the colors pop on the black!

I stamped a shadow for each circle after I embossed to create a little shadow.  It's very hard to see in the photo but you can make them out if you look hard.  I like the depth that doing that added.  I used the "Hello Word Die" from Whimsy for the sentiment.  I love this die!!  I cut the hello from four different pieces of paper.  One layer is the blue that is peaking out underneath.  Then, I cut two out of red cardstock that I attached to the red glitter paper for added dimension.  

I'm linking this up to three challenges today.  The Clean & Simple #299 Sketch Challenge, the Curtain Call Challenge Anything Goes & Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Spots & Dots.  

Thank you for stopping by today!

Supplies

Stamps: Whimsy Happy Hello

Dies: Whimsy Hello Word Die, Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mats Rectangles

Embossing Powder:  Zing Rouge, Aqua, Apricot, Mustard, Cricket

Paper: PTI True Black, DCWV Glitter

Happy Wedding Day!

**Check out my stamps for sale listed in the tab at the top!**

Today I get to go to a wedding...in a barn!  I'm so excited!  Here it is July, usually scorching hot and the temps for the wedding tonight are going to be in the lower 80's to mid 70's!  Couldn't have asked for a better evening for a July wedding in Kansas!

This is the card I made for the wedding.  Her main color is aqua/turquoise (according to my husband who is officiating, so we'll see how close he was)!  I couldn't wait to put the little "bubble" stamps to use from the new PTI Make it Market kit.  I found someone who was willing to part with just the little $5 set and dies from the kit!  Win, win!!

I used the Simon Says Stamp "happy" die and cut it out of gold cardstock.  The sentiment is from PTI's Embellished Elegance stamp set.

I am entering this over at the Curtain Call Anything Goes Challenge to celebrate their one year birthday!

And I'm also entering this at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Spots & Dots!

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies not listed above: 
Inks: Avery Elle: Raspberry, Mimosa, Aquamarine, Fresh Ink Harvest, Amuse Mermaid, PTI True Black
Patterned Paper:  Heidi Swapp Favorite Things

Teacher Thanks...A Little Early!

It is so hard to believe that my summer break is almost over!! In less than 2 weeks I go back to work! AHHHH!  I'm not ready yet!!  But I am thankful for my job and I really do enjoy it, so that helps!

With school on my mind, I made a card for my daughter's teacher in anticipation for needing one this coming school year.

I was inspired by a sketch from the Clean & Simple challenge blog.  I used several Whimsy stamp sets that work so well together!  I started with my sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps School Spirit stamp set.  Then, I used various stamps from Whimsy's School Spirit, Smarty Pants & Happy Everything sets. 

My daughter's teacher is a big K-State fan so I went with a purple theme for the card.  That was kind of hard for me being a Jayhawk fan!  The rest of the color scheme was built around the purple.  I find it very difficult for some reason to photograph this particular color of purple, so the colors are a little off in the photo.





This is the sketch that inspired me from the Clean & Simple Stamping challenge blog.

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Whimsy Happy Hello, School Spirit, Smarty Pants
Dies: Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mats: Rectangles
Ink: Amuse Grape, Lime & Bubblegum, Avery Elle Orchid, Mimosa & Aquamarine
Twine: Purple Shimmer Twinery
Sequins: Pretty Pink Posh 4 mm clear

Butterfly Love

Hey everyone!  We are a little over halfway done with a busy week of Vacation Bible School!  We are having a great time but boy do I go home tired!  LOL!  I'm out of my routine and feeling it!  I am in charge of the KidVid Cinema for our Weird Animals VBS theme.  It's been a lot of fun seeing all of the kids this week and teaching them about Jesus!

I wanted to stop in and share a card I made way back for the Lil' Inker Designs March release!  I know...March, and can you believe that this isn't the only one I haven't shared with you yet? :)  I think that this was actually the first card I made for that release.

I love, love the Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Butterflies dies!  For this card I used all FIVE dies included in this set.  The sentiment is from Spring Sentiments and I embossed it in white.

I started the butterflies by cutting out the largest butterfly from my Echo Park Splendid Sunshine patterned paper pack.  Then, I die cut the three smaller butterflies from the same paper pack.  I used my sewing machine to stitch them together and make a butterfly body.  I left short tails for the butterfly antennas.  I also used the butterfly trail die that is included as well.  Don't you just love how these dies cut the stitching into both sides of the image!  Such a great detail!  

Well, time to get on to my next project for the day!  Hope you have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Exciting News!!

Hello everyone!! I have some fun news to share today!

After this last Whimsy release that I was a Guest Designer for, I was so excited to receive an email from Denise asking me to stay on! Yes! I am joining the Clearly Whimsy Stamps Design Team for the next term!  I'm so excited!  

In celebration, I created a card today using stamps from the latest Whimsy release.

I LOVE the school/teacher sets that were released last week!  I am always looking for good images to use for my kids' teachers!  But I also love how these same sets are perfect for office cards too, for co-workers! I love all of the options included in these sets!  They are packed FULL!

The pencil, sentiment & paper clip are all from the Smarty Pants set and there are little arrows that are hard to see in the photo (next to the eraser) that are from the coordinating set School Spirit.  I used a Wink of Stella glitter pen on top of the paper clip to give it a little sparkle.

I am entering this in the Poppy Sketches #7 challenge which is to use the provided sketch and to use polka dots on your card.  

Thank you so much for stopping by today and letting me share my news with you!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Smarty Pants & School Spirit

Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants Designs Off to School

Ink: Avery Elle Mimosa, Sea Glass & Aquamarine, Fresh Ink Tomato Red & Provincial Gray, Palette Charcoal

We Just Fit!

Happy July!  As I'm typing this post we are heading in to another stormy night in Kansas!  The farmers are frantically trying to finish up wheat harvest before this one arrives.  They just can't catch a break this past week!  It just keeps raining and raining it seems.  I know in July we'll be waiting for the rain to come, praying it'll come quickly.  So the rain, even the puddle that comes with each drop in the corner of the basement, is a blessing.  The sky is constantly lit up with lightening.  We are getting quite a show!

So, on to the crafting!

I had some fun playing around with these Puzzle Pieces dies from Lil' Inker Designs.  This is the card with the puzzle dies stuck through the windows in the card front.  It'll make more sense when you see the next photo.

Without the puzzle pieces sticking through, this is what the front of the card would look like.  The pieces are made to fit exactly through the hole on the front.  Make sense?  The sentiment if a cute one from the Pieces of Me Stamp set.

The inside of the card looks like this. I added another sentiment from the Pieces of Me stamp set.  

I am entering this card in the Pink Elephant #257 Anything Goes Challenge & also to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Thanks for visiting!  Happy July 1st!