LID: January Release:: Day 2

Welcome back to the second day of the Lil' Inker Designs January Release! As usual, we have a fabulous hop for you featuring innovative stamps and dies! You should have arrived from Jen's Blog!

Ooh, I think today's card is so cute! I started with a white card base and then used the new Cover Up Die: Center Point Chevron to create some cool chevrons and then die cut a flag from the Pinking Edge Sentiment Flag Die Set. (I also added an extra orange detail on the bottom of the flag from the same set!) The chevrons lead to a cute little sentiment and picture from the new Perfect Pairs Stamp Set. I wanted to change this from a Valentine's card to an anniversary, engagement or wedding card so I added the die cut word "you" from Mini Envelopes and Accessories Die Set. Love that this set can extend beyond Valentine's Day!

Your next stop today is Laura!!

Don't forget to comment along the hops, as there are three $15 gift certificates up for grabs to the Lil' Inker Designs Store!

LID:: January Release:: Day 1

It's the first day of the Lil' Inker Designs January Release and I'm positive you will love it! As usual, we have a fabulous hop for you featuring innovative stamps and dies! You should have arrived from Jen's Blog!

I have two projects to show you today! I started by creating a custom, patterned background with the new Quilted Swirl Stitch Pattern Die. I then trimmed a bit off the bottom before mounting it to a white card base that was stamped with a sentiment from the new Smooches Stamp Set. I finished the card with a die cut heart and the lovely, swirly and dainty new Doodled Love Word Die!

My next card features a kraft card base that has the added detail of a slanted stitch from the new Stitched Mats: Side-Stitched Rectangles. I then cut a sentiment panel with a smaller die from the Side-Stitched Rectangles set and stamped it with a sentiment from the lovely Love is All You Need Stamp Set. I finished the card with two cute banners from the new Hearts Banners Die! I colored the hearts in with markers and added a black drawn line.

Your next stop is Kristen!

Don't forget to comment along the hops, as there are three $15 gift certificates up for grabs to the Lil' Inker Designs Store!

May Arts:: Unique Christmas Gift Wrap

I grabbed a few rolls of ribbon in my stash that looked like Holiday Ribbon and laid them out on the table for my boys to choose which ones they liked. Of course, they they chose the unconventional wrapping trim: May Arts Wired Gold Metallic Ribbon (KS30) and Wired Gold Pearls (FY30)! Now, I had to create some perfectly unique gift wrapping ideas with those skinny ribbons for the May Arts Unique Gift Wrapping Ideas Blog Hop! I hope that I fufilled the challenge, as it was so much fun to come up with different ideas using just one or two ribbons.

My first idea (above) showcases a cosmic twist...I made a simple bow with the wired metallic and then added in a few loops of the wired gold pearls. I love how the wire lets me transform the bow into how poofy or small I'd like, and in this case, I went for poof!

The second idea is to write the name of your recipient with the gold wire (thanks to my sister Heather for the idea-she did this with regular wire a few years back!)! So simple and easy to do with the KS30, as it is nice and thin, but the wire is really strong! I attached it behind a ribbon tag made of moss satin scalloped edge ribbon (EN16).

Lastly, I decided to showcase a bit of quirkiness. I made a pom-pom out of the gold metallic wire and attached it over a few loose loops of the same wire. Fun!

Of course, as with any May Arts Ribbon Hop, there are prizes up for grabs by commenting! Two amazing prize packs: Your choice of 1 roll of Christmas ribbon (including the new releases!) and one of the new Artful Accents.

Here's the line up, and complete details can be found over on the May Arts Blog:

Monday

Virginia Fynes

Tracy McLennon

Rhea Weigand

Mary Brockway

Mallika Kejriwal

Lalo IK

Karen Hanson

Tuesday

Karen Baker

Jennifer Davey

Jenifer Cowles

Jen Shears

Gini Williams Cagle

Emily Lanham

Charlene Driggs

LID::December Release:: Day 3

It's the last day of the Lil' Inker Designs December Release-and if I may just say...the release is awesome! As usual, we have a fabulous hop for you featuring innovative stamps and dies! You should have arrived from Jen's Blog!

My project today features two new products, plus a previously release favorite die of mine. I started by die cutting two tags with the Anytime Tags 2-one in teal cardstock and the other in aluminum foil. Then I diecut the word thanks (from the Thanks Word Die) from just the teal tag as well as black cardstock. I layered the thanks and then finished the sentiment with a few select words from Girl's Best Friend. For an awesome focal point, I used the Girl's Best Friend Diamond Die, a teal die cut backed with aluminum foil.

Your next stop is Kristen!

Don't forget to comment along the hops, as there are three $15 gift certificates up for grabs to the Lil' Inker Designs Store!

LID:: December Release:: Day 2

It's the second day of the Lil' Inker Designs December Release-and do you agree?..the release is awesome! As usual, we have a fabulous hop for you featuring innovative stamps and dies! You should have arrived from Jen's Blog!

My clean and simple, and if I may say...classy, project today features THREE new products! I created some interest in the card base by arranging the thin die strip from Long & Skinny Rectangles Die Set in a fanned array and embossing a number of times. I then used the next smallest rectangle and die cut a piece of aluminum foil and tied that with May Arts Gold String. I finished the card with a hand-crafted sentiment using letters from Alphabet Gems and completed the sentiment from Girl's Best Friend.

Your next stop is Kristen!

Don't forget to comment along the hops, as there are three $15 gift certificates up for grabs to the Lil' Inker Designs Store!

LID:: December Release:: Day 1

It's the first day of the Lil' Inker Designs December Release and what an awesome release it is! As usual, we have a fabulous hop for you featuring innovative stamps and dies! You should have arrived from Jen's Blog!

I have two projects to show you today and the first uses some of my favorite products from this release. I started by creating a custom, and entirely way too fun, background using the Cover Up Die: Faceted. I die cut this from black cardstock, removed some areas and filled some areas in with purple cardstock pieces (that had also been cut from the Faceted Die.) I topped the background with a die cut rectangle from the really cool Long & Skinny Rectangles Set, then used a sentiment from Hello, Awesome and finished the sentiment block with a die cut word from the Awesome Word Die.

My last project for this release features yet again the Awesome Word Die plus a sentiment from Girl's Best Friend and a die cut ampersand from All About Ampersands Die Set. Love that fancy ampersand!

Your next stop is Kristen!

Don't forget to comment along the hops, as there are three $15 gift certificates up for grabs to the Lil' Inker Designs Store!

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine:: A Fond Farewell

Welcome to the heartfelt farewell Blog Hop honoring the dedication and remembering the inspiration of Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine. If you are following the hop order, you should have arrived from Tessa Wise's Blog.

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine...gosh, you were such a big part of my life these past few years. I remember the joy of receiving an email that one of my cards...one of my creations...was going to be published for the world to see! Then came the time where I saw a stamp design that I created being used in a published card as well! Thank you for that amazing feeling of being one of the elite to be selected for publication. Thank you for producing amazing inspiration year after year. Thank you, Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine and the amazing people behind the publication, for all you did!

Even though I don't craft as much as I used to and may not be up on all the current trends, I still enjoy the process of creating! My card today features some water-coloring and heat embossing, as well as some trendy gold. I used a nice, large sentiment from Lil' Inker Designs Darling Diamonds Stamp Set and heat embossed it in gold, then splashed some ink on the top as well as some water to mix all the colors together. I then cut the sentiment out using Lil' Inker Designs Pinking Edge Sentiment Flag Die Set and mounted that over two strips of gold washi tape onto a peach card base.

Thanks again, PC & S and the grand people behind the scenes, good luck in all your new adventures!

Your next stop on the blog hop is Tiffany DeGough!

May Arts:: Kid's Crafts:: Glittered Wired Icicles

The holiday season is upon us and the boys and I are decorating up a storm! Today and tomorrow, the May Arts Ribbon Blog is hosting a Holiday Kids Crafts Blog Hop, where you can find a ton of cute ideas to make with or for the little ones! The boys and I made some really elegant and super easy Glittered Wired Icicles featuring May Arts Wired Twist Tie Ribbon. I really like the idea of using my May Arts utilitarian ribbon stash for other fun stuff!

We started by running a length of the May Arts 3/16" metallic twist tie in clear (GF-216-01) through some white, washable, non-toxic school glue, wiping off the excess between our fingers. This particular product is normally used to adhere the loops of bows together or to tie a bow onto a package, but I took advantage of the unlimited length of the twist tie! The boys loved this part, getting all gooey and sticky on purpose!

Then we wrapped the glue soaked wire around a small cone and pulled the wire apart, creating our spiraled icicle shapes. You could also wrap the wire around fingers too, watching carefully that it isn't wrapped too tight!

Finally, we coated our icicles in various glitter (microfine, regular and extra chunky) and added a tie using May Arts Wired Colored Ribbon in Metallic Silver (KS-31) after the glue and glitter was nice and dry.

These icicles are gorgeous and sparkly when hung next to a Christmas light bulb!

As usual, May Arts is offering up some fabulous prizes for this hop! Head on over to the May Arts Blog for complete details and hop stops!

Here's the lineup:

Thursday

Charlene Driggs

Emily Lanham

Gini Williams Cagle

Jen Shears

Jenifer Cowles

Jennifer Davey

Karen Baker

Friday

Karen Hanson

Lalo IK

Mallika Kejriwal

Mary Brockway

Tracy McLennon

Virginia Fynes

May Arts:: Coredinations

All this week, May Arts has teamed up with Core'dinations for one fabulous blog hop! There is fun, inspiration and prizes!

I chose to work with the fabulous Chalk Core A2 Cards. I love the fact that these cards have a black base, but a white core. And...the inside of the card is white so it is perfect for a handwritten greeting. The above card features a wood grain and a few snippets of May Arts ribbon in the form of tabs along with a sticker greeting. Perfect for a guy! (Satin Grosgrain Edge in light green HN-18, and Twill Strips in Black 382-34-10).

This next card features some white embossed dots, along with a Core'dinations tag with a sticker greeting, some bling and a gorgeous bow from May Arts Sheer Silk Ribbon in Silver (C31).

And lastly, a clean and simple engagement, wedding or anniversary card featuring the classic Tiffany Blue (SK94)! I love silk ribbon and so happy that May Arts carries this color in their silk line.

Here's the hop order, and stop by the May Arts Blog for hop details and prize information!!

Monday

Virginia Fynes

Tracy McLennon

Rhea Weigand

Tuesday

Mary Brockway

Mallika Kejriwal

Lalo IK

Wednesday

Karen Hanson

Karen Baker

Thursday

Jennifer Davey

Jenifer Cowles

Jen Shears

Friday

Gini Williams Cagle

Emily Lanham

Charlene Driggs

May Arts:: New Product Line:: Artful Accents

May Arts has expanded their product line to include accents, Artful Accents! I made a set of gift tags using May Arts ribbon and trims, along with the Artful Accents Kraft Tags. Look at all the amazing new products from this line!

The May Arts Blog is featuring projects made from this line and of course, there is a giveaway involved! Stop on over and leave a comment for your chance to win one choice of one Artful Accent!