Drawn Together ~

Amber of Damask Love has started a fundraiser for the survivors of the school shooting in Newtown, CT.  She's asking for stamps, ink pads, markers, crayons, paper, etc. to help the children and families that have much too much grief to deal with.  If nothing at all, I'm sure that I can clean out some of the supplies that I don't use and donate to this amazing cause.  Please go to Amber's blog to find out more!

Pint of Interest #1 ~

Hey there!  About a week ago, my friend Wida and I decided to take an inspiration photo, make a card and share them on our blogs today.  I’m thinking we may continue this, so we’ve decided to give it a name – Pint of Interest.  This name stems from two things: 1. the first time I saw this pic was on Pinterest, and since that’s where we get a ton of inspiration from, it’s a play on words. 2. “Not really, but kinda” We’re not really, but kinda taking it seriously!  Fun, eh? 

I thought I’d be super crafty and make mine into a Christmas card…you know, kill two birds with one stone type of thing. Here’s our inspiration photo.  I just love these boot socks!  So stinking cute!  I have a similar pair on order – one for myself in aqua and one for my step-daughter in linen.

I took the texture and color of the sock, the buttons and lace as my inspiration.

The base and buttons are Smokey Shadow – a warm grey with lots of brown tones.  The buttons are turned so you can see the writing on them because I liked the extra texture it added.  The button with the bow is a slightly larger size just to draw even more attention to it.  It’s all pretty self explanatory, I think.  The funny thing is that I didn’t even notice all the colors in the quilt that I could have drawn inspiration from until I was typing up this post!  Too funny! 

Here’s where I think I’m really funny though…I made this for Wida and sent it so that she either got it yesterday or today! Ha!  (It’s really Wednesday as I’m typing this, so I don’t know when she got it.  Go me for actually scheduling a post early! lol)  I’m also going to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge to use your favorite – I love buttons!  I haven’t been using them a ton lately but they are my go to embellishment.

So here’s the fun part, go to Wida’s blog, Beachorado, and check out the fabulousness that she made!  Then stick around and see how fun and amazing her blog is!  Feel free to play along and link up a card you make with this inspiration photo in the comments.  All righty, off to finish a couple more Christmas cards!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  :o) lyss

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 3~

Welcome back to the Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop!  I have a couple more cards for you today using Stitched Squares, Winter Greetings & the Snowflake Dies.  I absolutely adore these new products!  I love to make square cards and can’t sew…I can’t even thread a needle!  So the stitched squares add just that little extra umph! that takes the card over the edge.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look-see

This card uses the second and third largest square dies on the red and birch wood layers.  I cut out a square in the rustic cream and lined up the stitches on the birch wood after stamping it with small polka dots.  These are the two smallest snowflakes – the first layer cut out of birch wood and the second in cupid’s bow.  The sentiment is from the Holly Jolly set.  A couple of cream flat backed pearls finish this traditional colored card off.
Now for one that’s a little more bright and fun!

Say hello to raspberry fizz, hawaiian shores and royal velvet all on a smokey shadow base.  Yum!  The focal layer is up on foam tape over the white background.  The darling sentiment is from Winter Greetings.  The embroidery floss is in coordinating colors and is tied in knots to go with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge #81.
Ok, this is a hop, so you should comment for your chance to win a gift certificate to the LID store.  You should have arrived from Jen del Muro’s fabulous blog.  If not, bop on back to Laura Pryor’s to start off in the right direction.  Your next stop on this hop in the incomparable Emily Leiphart!  Have fun!  Thanks for stopping by!  :o) lyss

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 2 ~

Hi there!  Hope you’ve arrived from Alicia’s blog which I’m sure was full of wonderful eye candy!  If not, you can bop back to Laura’s blog to get off on the right foot.  Don’t forget to comment here first though for your chance to win a gift certificate to the store!
Ok, so I must start with a disclaimer - I am a snowflake freak!  When Laura asked if the color team wanted to be included in the December release and showed us a preview of these dies, I was sitting at my computer waving my hands in the air.  Pick me!!  I absolutely adore these new dies and have currently made 10 cards with them in the past week.  Granted, some are the same design, but that’s a lot for me to crank out in a short amount of time!  This first one was inspired by a sketch challenge last week.  Just perfect for the fabulously amazing new stitched square dies!
 
I began by cutting a large square as the mat focal and then cutting the four squares out of the middle of it.  It’s backed with patterned paper and topped with a banner sentiment from the new Winter Greetings set.  Again, in love!  This font is fantabulous!!  The stitched snowflakes actually come on a wired die together and I cut them apart for the ease of using multiples of just one flake on a card.  I think this one is my favorite flake.  :o)
These next two are helping me to use up some of my ridiculously large pattern paper stash.  I always have about a two inch strip leftover of each design, so I came up with this little layout.

It’s a bit hard to see, but the pp has green dots in it.  I took that color and stamped some of the sweet little snowflakes from the Winter Greetings set all over the front.  Would you just look at that wonderful stitching in that gorgeous snowflake!?!  The sentiment is just too cute as well. 

Another color scheme here.  This stitched flake is a bit smaller than the one in the previous card.  I couldn’t get a good pic of the insides of the cards, but I added another sentiment from the set – May Your Holidays Sparkle & Shine – along with some more little stamped snowflakes. Here’s a look at all that I used
  
Ok, that’s all for today!  I’ll have a few more tomorrow.  It’s time for you to hop on over to the lovely Amy’s blog!  Have a fun hop!  :o) lyss

Classic ~

Hiya!  I don’t know about you, but I tend to make cards for fun and challenges and then have to make special cards for people as their birthdays come up, even though I have 20 or so birthday cards in my stash.  Such was the case this past weekend when I realized it was no longer November and my dad’s birthday was just a couple days away!  Ridiculous, I know, but I don’t think my dad wants a card with a little boy holding dinosaurs on it.  lol

I found this card on pinterest and knew I had to do my own version.  I used the new Instant Camera die from Lil’ Inker Designs to create a fun frame for the little slug bug.  My friend sent me a few of these little cars from PTI’s Enjoy the Ride a while back, and it fit perfectly!  I sliced out the windshield area and went to trace the line with a Memento marker (I think it looks better to have the outline), when I swiped it right up over the roof of the car.  Grrr!  But I didn’t have time to re-do it, so I had to go against my perfectionistic ways and just go with it.  Once it was all colored up, I stamped in the FATHER license plate (PTI Mixed Messages) and added glossy accents to the headlights and blinker lights. 

The sentiment is from PTI Mod Squad and is embossed.  The letters were cut with PTI alphabet dies.  I added them to the double twill ribbon with glossy accents as well.  I use that stuff for everything!  I fix all my kiddo’s toys with it even!  It’s awesome ;o)

My dad never wanted to get *over the hill*, so I still tease him that he’s 39.

I used the stamps that I cut from fun foam to add the age.  Super fun! 

I’ve changed some things and cleaned up the sidebars on the blog today.  Holy moly that took a long time!  I’m glad it’s done though…it doesn’t feel so cluttered now.  Hopefully, I will go through my stamps soon and add something to the For Sale page. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a super day!!  :o) lyss

Coming Soon ~

Oh boy, oh boy!  We have a super fun, little release beginning on Monday for Lil' Inker Designs!  I'll be on the hop Tuesday and Wednesday, but you won't want to miss this!

Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with a cute card I made for my dad's birthday!  Have a super day!  :o) lyss