Hey there, everyone!  Welcome to another day of the July release for Lil' Inker Designs!!  I hope you've enjoyed my cards so far!

For today's card I went super clean & simple and created this one layer card using one of the newest stamp sets.  I also created this using the CAS-ual Fridays challenge #134.  I chose the elements of sequins/white/dots from the bingo card!

I used the new Fancy Feathers stamps set, and masked off the word sorry to create the sentiment.  I combined the stamps with just some gold mist, gold sequins & enamel dots.
There is also a coordinating Fancy Feathers die set for the stamps...I didn't use it for this card, but will definitely be doing so in the near future!  My card was really easy to whip together, and can easily slip into an envelope to send out to someone either as a sympathy or apology card.

Do you want a chance to win 1 of 3 $15 gift certificates to Lil Inker?  Well, today is a blog hop...and all you have to do is hop along and leave a comment on each designer's post!  Winners will be picked from all of the comments!  Here is the link list:



That is everything I have for you today!

Until later,
~L.

Hey there, everyone!!  Welcome to the second day of the Lil' Inker Designs July release!!  Thank you for all of the sweet comments on my card from day 1...I truly appreciate it!

For today's card I combined a word die, stamped sentiment & alpha stickers to create a super sweet "missing you" sentiment.  I also created this for The Cuttinge Edge challenge #5....check it out!



I used the new Seriously Awesome stamp set & Seriously word die, and combined them with Glitz Design "Felicity" & "Brightside" collections.

Do you want a chance to win 1 of 3 $15 gift certificates to Lil Inker?  Well, today is a blog hop...and all you have to do is hop along and leave a comment on each designer's post!  Winners will be picked from all of the comments!  Here is the link list:


That is everything I have for you today!

Until later,
~L.

Hey there, everyone!  First off....please pardon my delay in getting this post up.  It's just been one of those days (months rather), and I was having some Blogger issues as well.  Sorry about that!

Today is the start of the July release for Lil' Inker Designs, and we have lots of amazing new stamps & dies in store for you!!  Here is my card for today:

I used the new Dance in the Rain stamp set, and Cut It Out Clouds & Accessories die set from the latest Lil' Inker Designs release:

Aren't those SO cute!  I paired them with some My Mind's Eye papers & enamel dots....and they were the perfect fit!

Do you want a chance to win 1 of 3 $15 gift certificates to Lil Inker?  Well, today is a blog hop...and all you have to do is hop along and leave a comment on each designer's post!  Winners will be picked from all of the comments!  Here is the link list:


That is everything I have for you today!

Until later,
~L.

Hey there, everyone!!  Dropping in really quickly from our vacation in Montana to wish Julie Mogford a very special happy birthday!!


A few of us from the card making world have banded together to celebrate Julie, and created a blog hope in her honor!  Here is the card I made for her!!

I hope that you are having a wonderful birthday, Julie!!  And I hope you get something sparkley & shiney...lol!!

Here is the rest of the blog hop, so you can see everyone else's fun cards!


Thanks for checking out my card today! Happy birthday, Julie!!

Until later,
~L.

Hey blog friends!!  How are you doing today?  I'm doing great....it is FINALLY starting to get sunshiney & warm here in Fargo.  We have had days here & there that have been really nice, but more than anything...we've had rain (like, LOTS of it), wind & then humidity.  I think we are finally supposed to be getting out of our rainy season, and into just a nice summer.  Here is hoping, my friends....here is hoping.  Lol.

Jocelyn & I are issuing the first Thursday challenge for July on the Scraptastic blog, and we decided to challenge you to create with natural elements!!  Jocelyn chose to use burlap, and I went with woodgrain...you can see both of our projects HERE, and also link up a project if you want to participate!

I am using the Summer Nights kit & add-on this month, and and I had to jump right in with the rainbow goodness that is such a big part of this kit!! (If you have frequented my blog over the years...you know I love a good rainbow themed project!!)  All of those colors are amazing, but they definitely need something to help ground them....which is where the deep brown woodgrain paper came in. It is the perfect neutral to compliment this smattering of bold colors on the rest of the card.
 Instructions:
1. Make A2 card from mint cardstock.
2. Cut woodgrain paper slightly smaller, distress the edges & adhere.
3. Round the bottom corners of a 3x4 card, distress the edges & adhere to the middle.
4. Distress the edges of the stickers, and layer to the upper left corner of the card.
5. Add a piece of flair in the same area.
6. Adhere a sunburst wood veneer to the lower right corner of the card.
7. Distress the edges of the diecut strips & sticker, and adhere together with a heart brad.
8. Adhere the entire sentiment piece to the top of the wood veneer sunburst to finish.

Card Challenges:
-My Favorite Things sketch #183
-Little Red Wagon #244 - summer
-Word Art Wednesday #139 - anything goes



I hope that you will participate with us at the Scraptastic blog in our challenge to use natural elements!  You can use any product that you want to participate!  Have a happy Thursday!

Until later,
~L.

Hey there, blog friends!  Today I am joining in with Winnie & Walter's "Share the Love" week, featuring Distress Inks by Ranger.  Now...this might seem crazy to you, but this is my first time using distress inks for anything other than just inking the edges of papers when I was in my shabby chic phase. (And even then I had one color...antique linen.)

I received a few packages of the cube distress inks so I could participate this week, and have been practicing with them.  I'm so glad I bought the less expensive watercolor paper, because I have pracitce samples all over the place....lol!  When I finally felt like I had a good grasp on using them with water, I tried using them with stencils...and didn't really love the result.  Maybe I don't have the right type of stencils for it, or maybe it was just a look that is not my favorite.  Not sure...but I knew that I had signed up for the stencils/masks day during this week.

So, what I did was a watercolor background, then used my stencil & gesso to add textured hearts to the top of it!  Here is what I came up with:
Instructions to Recreate:
1. Make A2 card from white cardstock.
2. Cut a block of watercolor paper slightly smaller.
3. Add three streaks of distress ink across the top of the watercolor paper.
4. Spritz it with water to let the inks blend into each other a bit, then wipe off any excess.
5. Let it dry, then add the gesso hearts to the front using a stencil.
6. Let that dry, then stamp the sentiment to the front.
7. Accent with sequins & white glitter enamel dots to finish.



Be sure to head on over to the Winnie & Walter blog, and check out all the posts from this week!  Ranger has generously offered up an amazing prize, and there are two ways you can win!  First you can leave comments on each blog post from this "Share the Love" week, and you can also participate!  There are link-up lists at the bottom of each technique day, and all you have to do is create a card using distress inks & at least ONE Winnie & Walter item (there are freebies on the website if you don't have any W&W in your stash yet!!).

We hope you will join in with us, and I hope that you enjoyed my first time using a watercolor technique on my cards.  It was quite fun...I foresee myself doing it more in the future!  Have an awesome day!

Until later,
~L.

Hey there, blog friends!!  Today I have some exciting news to share...Mama Elephant has started a new challenge blog called ME & Me!  (How fun is THAT name, BTW?!)  What's the difference from the past challenges?  Well, they will be MONTHLY for one...which means more inspiration & more chances to win ME stamps!  And the challenge has a it's own blog, so no searching for challenges, etc.  Pretty cool, huh?

Here is our challenge for you this month:

I chose to use the three main colors from this magazine cover as my inspiration, along with the wedding theme, of course!  I also used The Challenge #10 sketch as inspiration for the design layout.  I paired my Mama Elephant "Water Blooms" stamp set with the My Mind's Eye Now & Then "Izzy" collection....and this is how it turned out!
Instructions to recreate:
1. Make A2 card from dotted patterned paper.
2. Cut triangle block and adhere to the front.
3. Add green trim over top of the seam.
4. Stamp the sentiment to the top of the card.
5. Cut a banner edge to floral paper, then adhere to the left with foam adhesive.
6. Cluster flowers to the top left corner & bottom right corner.
7. Add the "Best Day Ever" banner to the stamped sentiment with a brad.
8. Add enamel dots to the smaller flower cluster to finish.


**Just an FYI - all the flowers are from Prima Marketing, but I don't know the names of them.  Sorry I couldn't link them up for you!!**

Here are the rules for playing along with us in this month's challenge:

• Your entry must use at least one Mama Elephant stamp
• Your entry must be based on the challenge/nspiration source provided
• Your entry must link back to this blog post along with the graphic image
• Winner gets featured here and a stamp set of choice
• Deadline is July 28th
• Link up using the Inlinkz on the bottom of the July challenge post
• Have fun, stamp, stamp, stamp!!!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the challenge team has created for this month's challenge!