CTS #172

Good morning!!  I think the sun might actually shine here today.  Too bad I'll be in the car for most of the day.  Ha ha!  We are going to head down to my nephew's All State Band concert this afternoon.  I'm very excited to go watch him perform.  He's a senior (can't believe that) and this will be the last time we'll get to watch him before he heads off to college.  He's quite the musician and it's always great to watch a kid in their element. 

Speaking of being in your element, this week's sketch is right up my alley!  :)  Make sure you go check it out on CAS(E) this Sketch.  I know you will love what the design team came up with this week.  I sure do!  Here's my take on the sketch:

I started with a watercolor panel that I cut with Stitched Mats: Side-Stitched Rectangles.  Next, I swiped some pinky watercolor on my panel and stamped some envelopes from Simon Says Sending Happy Thoughts randomly in my watercolor splotch.  Next, I cut some Of the Heart Dies from vellum and added them to my background.  I cut my Sending twice from black cardstock and layered my vellum banner stamped with a sentiment from The Big, The Bold, And Party from Winnie & Walter in between the two cuts.  This allowed me to attach my banner to the card without being able to see the adhesive I used through the vellum.  I added my finished card front to a card base of black and white stripes.  I finished the card off with some heart stickers and hexagon confetti from Target.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the sketch and will join us today at CAS(E) this Sketch!  Oh, and if you are interested in any of the Lil' Inker Designs products I used today, Laura is planning a great sale starting tomorrow!  You can read all about it on the Lil' Inker Designs blog.  Have a great day!

  

Happy Birthday From the Pachyderms

Good morning!  I have been busy busy busy but I think the planting season is finally wrapping up.  I'm hoping that means more time for creating!  I had a little fun this week creating some birthday cards and I'm excited to share this cute one with you today.

I started this card with a fun chevron paper in a mint color.  Next I cut my center rectangle with a Stitched Mats: Side-Stitched Rectangle from stone colored cardstock.  I stamped some images from Party Pachyderms Stamps with Versamark along the bottom of my rectangle.  Next, I cut some Speech Bubbles from a mint cardstock and popped them up in between the sentiments I stamped with the I'm All You're All Stamp Set.  I finished the card off with a Party Pachyderm and bird cut with the Party Pachyderms Die Set.

I hope you enjoyed my cute little birthday card today!  I love sharing my creations with you guys.  Here are the items I used:

CTS #109

Today is a big day in this house!  Not only is it CAS(E) this Sketch day and throw back Thursday, it's my hubby's birthday!  I decided to combine all of those awesome things into one post.  So, in honor of my husband's birthday, here's a TBT picture that reminds me of just how amazing he is. 

This was taken in the NICU a couple days after our oldest was born.  To say the birth was stressful, is an understatement.  I was restricted to bed for 24 hours after the c-section and Isaac was in the NICU, so I only had a short glimpse of him right after he was born.  Brent made sure to bring me videos and pictures so I wasn't missing out on all that was going on with me little guy.  He was my rock and helped me when I was scared and emotional.  I will never forget how he was and still is everything I need in a partner.  I love him SO much and I look forward to many many years with this amazing husband, father, and friend.  Love you, sweetie!

Now for my card!

I had a great time with Sketch #109 and I hope you guys will too.  I used the Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mats:  Side-Stitched Rectangles to make a fun edge on this card and then die cut some vellum with the Cover Up Die:  Center Point Chevron.  I added this to the edge and filled in the spaces with some gold chevrons.  I stamped my two Smooches and an awesome sentiment from the Smooches stamp set which I embossed in gold and outlined with a Copic multi liner.  I hope you like my take on the sketch and will join us over at CAS(E) this Sketch for some fun this week. 

Here are the products I used for this card.  Have a great day!!

 

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!

Did everyone enjoy the Super Bowl?  I used the time while my men were distracted to play in my crafty space.  It was blissfully quiet downstairs and I even got to play in some challenges!  I feel like it has been FOREVER since I've done that.  It was awesome!  Today I'm going to share with you the card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:  Anything Goes.  I must say that I'm totally gaga for this card and I hope you'll like it also.  ;)

It just so happens that the design team for the challenge is showing off Lil' Inker Designs products with this challenge.  I figured I'd join them in that by sharing this card I made using Stitched Mats:  Side-Stitched Rectangles, All About Ampersands Die Set, and the Perfect Pairs Stamp Set.  I diecut my smaller Side-Stitched Rectangle and then masked the edges over the stitching before stamping my Perfect Pairs background.  I colored all my pairs in black & white except for my adorable PB & J.  I wanted them to be the highlight of the card along with my sentiment made using some cork alphabet stickers and the All About Ampersands Die Set which I cut in black and then layered over some vellum.  I then stamped and embossed a sentiment from Perfect Pairs under my ampersand and layered all of that on a purple card base that I added some detail to with the large rectangle from the Side-Stitched Rectangles.  Totally fun!

I hope you enjoyed my card and you'll join in the fun over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  Here are the stamps and dies I used for this card:

Lil' Inker Designs January Release Blog Hop Day 1

It's finally that time!!!  I get to share the January Lil' Inker Designs' new release with you.  I couldn't be more excited and I just know you are going to want it all.  Lucky for you, the whole release is available right now in the Lil' Inker Store.  Amy is first on this awesome hop and, hopefully, you got here via her blog.  If not, head on over to the the Lil' Inker Blog so you don't miss a thing.  You will want to see all the amazing creations for this release.

My first card was already shown off a little by Laura on the Facebook page.  I just LOVE this one!  It uses two of my favorite new products:  Cover Up Die: Center Point Chevron and the All You Need is Love Stamp set.

It was all about the gold for this card!  ;)  I cut this gorgeous Cover Up Die in a textured gold cardstock and layered it on some peach/blush colored cardstock.  I'm loving the peach, pink, and gold color combo lately.  I knew I wanted my sentiment to be gold but I didn't want it to get lost in all the other gold so, I stamped the sentiment from All You Need is Love on vellum first with black Archival Ink.  I stamped and embossed the sentiment on another piece of vellum and then I glued the gold sentiment slightly offset on top of the black sentiment.  Next, I cut around the layered image to create my shadowed sentiment vellum piece.  It worked out perfectly and I will be doing this layering again!  Especially with these amazing sentiments!  I used All You Need is Love on my next card as well!

You may notice that I stamped this sentiment on a super cool new rectangle die with a super cool new stitched look.  You aren't crazy, that's the new Stitched Mats:  Side-Stitched Rectangles.  Isn't it the coolest?  I just love the angled stitching.  It really makes your eye focus on what's in that rectangle.  In this case, it's a gorgeous sentiment from All You Need is Love stamped in Versamark.  This card didn't need much to be amazing.  My card base is patterned using the Quilted Stitched Pattern Die and I tossed on a few enamel dots but the rectangle and sentiment totally carry this card.  

Here's a quick summary of the products I used today:

I hope you enjoyed my creations and will join the rest of the team on the hop.  You'll want to leave comments along the way because Laura gives out a $15 Lil' Inker Designs store credit to a lucky commenter each day of the hop.  It could be you.  I'm sure I'll see you on the hop and tomorrow for another fun day of release projects.  See you then!

Laura/Shop

Amy Kolling

Chrissy Larson <---Yup, that's me!!!

Erin Lee Schreiner 

Jen Carter

Karen Baker

Kristen Foreman

Laura Williams

Lea Lawson

Lisa Henke

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Maureen Merritt

Sarah Jay

Don't forget you can get the new release right now in the Lil' Inker Store!