A Bright Day

Hi everyone!! I hope you are enjoying the Lil' Inker Designs blog hop so far!  If you haven't visited all of the blogs yet, be sure to start here and comment on the blogs along the way as there are several prizes up for grabs!!

Today is a VERY SPECIAL day as it is my son's 9th birthday! It is so hard to believe that he can be that old already!  He is such a great kid.  Sweet.  Tender-hearted.  Thoughtful.  He loves to tell stories and is SO CREATIVE!  Happy birthday kiddo!! I love you!!

Here's a picture of him that I recently took.

And just because I can't resist, here is one of both of the kids!

Today I wanted to share another card I made using Lil' Inker's Rainbows & Clouds set.  This is similar in style to the card I shared here.

Hopefully the message of the card speaks for itself!

I wanted to share a closeup of the fabulous clouds!  I just LOVE the detail on these dies!! LOVE!!  You could probably say that I'm a little addicted to clouds! I love to mix and match all kinds of clouds together and I think it is SO fun to mix patterns/colors of clouds too!

The font in this set is super fun!  I love how the sizes are mixed too!  I added a little bit of yellow "sunshine" peeking behind the clouds and also wrapped some Pink Sorbet twine from The Twinery around the card layers.  I love how it adds just a small accent but a nice punch of color!

If you haven't purchased this set yet, I would encourage you to do so!  The rainbows are SO versatile and so are the clouds. PLUS, they are all PERFECT for something us papercrafters are famous for...using up our scraps! 

Also, did you know that Lil' Inker Designs (LID) has a flickr gallery where you can see projects made using these stamps and dies?  We'd LOVE to see your creations too, so please upload them!  You can also see Lil' Inker projects on Splitcoast Stampers too!  If you upload, use keyword/tag "LID" so we can all easily find your projects! 

I hope you are all doing well!! Thank you so much for stopping by!! And, don't forget, if you haven't visited the Lil' Inker Blog Hop, you have a few more days to comment to be eligible for prizes!

Supplies
Stamps: Lil' Inker Designs Rainbows & Clouds, Hero Arts Cloud Background
Paper: PTI Hawaiian Shores, White, DCWV Glitter, Creative Imaginations, Martha Stewart
Ink: Charcoal Palette, PTI True Black
Other: Lil' Inker Designs Rainbows & Clouds Dies, Twinery Twine, Circle Punch, Pop Dots

Lil' Inker Designs Kick Off Hop: Rainbows & Clouds

Welcome to the very first Lil' Inker Designs blog hop!  I am so excited to share with you some of my creations made with these FUN products!! 

If you came here by way of my friend Amy Kolling's blog, you are on the right track!  If not, make sure you start at the beginning over at Laura's blog because there are terrific prizes for those who complete the hop by commenting on each blog. There are only 12 blogs and you have a week, so relax and enjoy!

During this blog hop the Lil' Inker Design Team is going to highlight the Rainbows & Clouds dies and sentiment stamp set.  Here is what the dies in this set look like:

Fun huh?!  I LOVE those perforated clouds and also how many combinations you can make with those rainbows.  Seriously.  Love!  I cannot put them down! I have a notebook with several pages full of ideas and even had a hard time narrowing down which cards to share with you today!  So with that said, I chose two of my favorites to share today and will save the rest for later!

So, here is card #1.

This card was created with a very special person in mind.  She was having a hard day and pretty discouraged.  That is what the outside of this card shows.  Gloominess.  Even the rainbow is without color.  I added just a slight bit of color with the Lemondrop twine and the flag from the Lil' Inker Sentiment Flags set. 

But, there is more to this card then meets the eye!  When the recipient opens the card, this is what she sees:

Sunshine.  Rainbows.  Color.  Hope.  Happiness.

How fun to be able to cheer up someone who is down by giving them a surprise like this!  This set is PERFECT for that!  It adds color and fun and happiness easily!  The fun thing is that the exact same elements that I used for the outside of the card are also the same elements on the inside of the card...only with a TOTALLY different look! 

Here's a view from the side so you can see the dimension!  Fun, fun!! 

For my second card, I wanted to share a very non-traditional use for the rainbow die.  If you have followed my blog for long, you know I like to find as many uses for a product as I can.  Well, this die is no exception!

I used the largest rainbow die to make a pea pod!  What a fun way to congratulate new or expecting parents (and you can easily make it in any color or pattern you want)!

In case you want to know how I did it, I shared the process below in photos.  Basically it is just layering one bow on top of the other.  It takes 2 rainbows to do this.

The last step is to trim off the "fish" tails.  :)

I used 1/16" pop dots on each end of the pea pod to make it shaped like a pea and to give it some dimension.

Your next stop on the hop is the talented Chan Vuong! Thank you so much for joining us today on this Lil' Inker Design blog hop! I hope you'll visit the other team member's blogs shared below!  I can't wait to see what everyone has created myself! 

BLOG HOP ORDER
Laura Pryor 

Julie Ranae

Teresa Kline 

Debby Hughes 

Sarah Jay

Emily Leiphart

Ariana Grant

Alicia Thelin

Amy Kolling

Jen Carter -- You are Here!

Chan Vuong --- Go here next!

Lil' Inker Shop

And, if you haven't purchased the Rainbow & Clouds Die & stamp set, be sure to stop by Lil' Inker Designs' shop to order yours today!  I hope you've been inspired during this hop!  Be sure to visit Chan's blog next!  Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog along the way to be eligible for the giveaways!  The deadline for commenting is 11:59pm EST, Sunday, August 14th.

Supplies

Smile Rainbow Card
Lil' Inker Designs:  Rainbows & Clouds Dies & Stamp Set and Sentiment Flags Die & Stamp Set
Other Stamps:  Hero Arts Clouds background
Paper:  PTI Smokey Shadow & Hawaiian Shores, Cherry Hill by October Afternoon (gray polka dots), Echo Park Summer Days, DCWV Glitter Paper
Ink: Palette Charcoal, VersaMark, PTI True Black
Other: Lemondrop twine from The Twinery, Pop Dots

Pea Pod Congratulations Card
Lil' Inker Designs: Rainbows & Clouds Dies & Stamp Set and Sentiment Flags Stamp Set
Paper:  Stella Rose Gertie by My Mind's Eye, PTI Scarlet Jewel, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Rustic White, Misc Green from stash (for pea pod)
Ink: Moulin Rouge Palette
Other:  Green Rhinestones, Scarlet Jewel Buttons PTI, Pop Dots, Scrappers Floss, Apron Lace Border Punch Fiskars, Cane Print Impression Plate PTI 

Hugs

I have a quick post to share today!

This was one I made on Amy, Laurie & my Stamping Away weekend!

I thought that those elephants would look so cute holding "hands" like you see them do at the zoo or at the circus! So cute!!

I paper pieced their ears with some fun paper and the grass is cut using a MFT grass die!!

Thank you for coming by! On Monday, August 8th come back for a blog hop with Lil' Inker Designs!  We're going to have a great time showing you projects using the Rainbows & Clouds dies and stamp set!

Hope you have a great week! 

Supplies (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Sweet Baby, Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler
Paper: Rustic White, Lost & Found, October Afternoon
 Ink: Sweet Blush, Charcoal Palette
Other: Rhinestones, Pop Dots, Sweet Baby Dies, My Favorite Things Grass Die

The Twinery...New Colors Alert!!

Hey everyone!! Have you heard the news?  The Twinery is releasing THREE new colors today and they are gorgeous!!  Gorgeous!!

See what I mean?!!  Yippee!!

Denim is a true blue...a nice, brilliant french blue hue.

Buttercream is a light, faint yellow - named after the color of the delicious frosting, of course!

Stone is a heather gray - a perfect color to round up this new color release!

Not only are these colors MUST HAVE'S but they work so well together!!  I put together a simple card using all three to share with you today!

Love, love, love these colors!! You should bring them home with you!! :) 

I used the Buttercream on the top bow and on the butterfly (thanks Amy for the cute butterfly idea with the twine!!).  I used Denim & Stone on the second bow...can you see that it is tied with 2 different colors?  Just shaking things up a little!

We all love a good deal right?  Well, for a LIMITED TIME, ALL SPOOLS of The Twinery's baker's twine through The Twinery's website store will be only $12 each!!! A great time to stock up!

Thanks for stopping by today!!  Oh, and don't forget to stop by The Twiney's blog to see what other design team members have made using these new colors too!

Supplies
Twine:  The Twinery:  Buttercream, Stone & Denim (you NEED these, LOL!!)
Stamps: PTI New Leaf, Verve Kind Words, My Favorite Things (frame)
Paper: Bo Bunny Back to Basics cardstock, PTI White
Ink: Amuse (yellow & blue), Charcoal Palette
Other: Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, MFT Frame Die, pop dots