Best Procrastinator Ever ~

Ever notice how phrases that people say all the time don’t really make sense?  I noticed it the other day when I was calling myself the worst procrastinator.  Doesn’t that imply that I am not any good at procrastinating at all??  Yeah, that’s what I figured.  I am no longer honoring myself with the World’s Worst Procrastinator badge…I have decided that I am the World’s BEST Procrastinator! 

Why?  Well, you see, on WCMD I was lucky enough to get to hang out with some super awesome crafty girls.  One in particular was kind enough to bring a bunch of stamps and papers that she no longer had use for and just gift them to anyone that wanted them. I told her that I would be sending along a little thank you card for her kindness and she.just.got.it.yesterday!  Nothing like taking 2 months to send a little thank you along!  lol

So, this is for you, Annette Allen!  Thank you for being so awesome!

 

And to all my other crafty, bloggy friends out there – thank you too!  I recently wrote on my facebook page that I make cards, think I’m good at it but am still sometimes embarrassed to admit it.  That’s my own crap – I just need to get over the idea in my head of innocent jumper wearing ladies lined up at a table and scrapping.  Most of us are not like that, and even if you are, you’re still cool in my book!  I’m super thankful to have this creative outlet and the wonderful community and friends that I have met through it!! 

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving and remember all that you are thankful for! 

 

Alyssa

Classic Christmas ~

I’m a huge fan of coloring – like you don’t already know that! – and of flowers.  Ok, I realize you probably know both of those things.  :)  A classic Christmas to me is the colors of red and green and poinsettias.  Here’s another card that was made last year.  I was experimenting with embossing in either white or clear and coloring. 

This is the PTI Year of Flowers Poinsettia die cut and clear embossed three times.  Unfortunately, red is my favorite color to use but it is also the most unforgiving.  To make the white really shine through, I could have gone over each and every individual line with the colorless blender but I just wasn’t feeling it.  Too much work! lol

 

I did cut the leaves apart to make them stick out farther and make the flower bigger.  Then everything was stacked together with dimensionals. 

The sentiment was also embossed to really pop off the patterned paper. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you’re having a wonderful day and gearing up for a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

 

Alyssa

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 3 ~

Hey there!  Welcome back to the last day of the Lil’ Inker Designs release hop for November!  As usual with a hop, you should've arrived here from the amazing Alicia’s blog.  If that’s not the case, bop on back to Laura’s for the correct starting point.  I have a couple last cards to show you using these super fun goodies.  The first uses the On the Diagonal die.  Laura has a wonderful little picture tutorial for it on her blog here.
 
I’m in a little crochet club…well, I attend but decided that I don’t need another hobby, so I color while they crochet.  Ha!  Our teacher is this fabulous gal that spins and dyes her own yarn.  {You can check out her shop here.}  She made me a little flower with her yarn to use on a card, so I decided to attach it to a barrette that could be used on a purse, headband, hair, you know, whatever.  I thought the best way to give this little ditty away is on the front of a handmade card.  Since this yarn is so multi colored, I chose a fun patterned paper that had a lot of the oranges and blue greens in it.  I added a couple of felt leaves and a gray button in the center to mimic the gray dots in the paper as well.

I cut the patterned paper with the second largest rectangle in the Stitched Mats Rectangles and then cut the On the Diagonal die.  The sentiment is from Mom & Dad Sentiments and is stamped repeatedly in ocean tides ink.  I highlighted the sentiment by stamping it with Versafine Onyx Black and embossing it.  Gift and card all in one!  :)
This second card I made the moment these stamps landed in my hot little inky hands!  I began by die cutting the Modern Mehndi flower dies in a thinner paper to use as a mask.  Now, to clarify, the die cuts have a bit of a border when stamped, so I merely lined them up as closely as I could to the edge and called it good. 

So the flowers were all stamped, masked and colored with a copious amount of Copics atop a stitched rectangle.  The sentiment is from Modern Mehndi as well and is embossed on the new Stitched Ovals.  Gotta love those babies!  They’re just like the circles and leave a stitched detail on the negative as well.  I’ll be using those more in the coming weeks! 
Thanks so much for sticking with me through this post!  Head on over to Amy's fantastic blog!  Don’t forget to comment along the way for your chance at one of three $15 gift certificates to Lil’ Inker Designs!!  Thanks for stopping by!

Alyssa
     

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 2 ~

Welcome to Day 2 of the November Release Hop for Lil’ Inker Designs!!  Hopefully you’ve found your way here from the amazing Alicia’s blog.  If not, comment here first, and then bop on back to Laura’s to get started off right!

Today I thought I’d show you the second Cover Up die that Lil’ Inkers is releasing.  This one is called Leaf Pattern and is just perfect for this time of year!  I started off by blending a bunch of Distress inks on a piece of white cardstock.  Once it was die cut, I saved the pieces for the second card. 

I stamped a banner with a sentiment from the new Modern Mehndi set in a dark brown ink and tied a terracotta button with brown twine around the edge.  I added a Rectangle Stitched mat to the inside of the card to help the colors pop.  Pretty easy and definitely eye catching! 

This second card uses the leaf pieces that popped out. So pretty and fun because some of the leaves have that signature Lil’ Inker Designs stitching detail!  I added the leaves to a branch die cut with a sweet little sentiment from the Sugar Kissed Cottage set Thanksgiving Wishes.

Pretty much all our leaves have fallen from our trees around here in Colorado, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!  lol  This is a one layer card though and could be used with a multitude of sentiments so I’m keeping the idea around.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that Lil’ Inker Designs is having a design team call for 2-3 new members!  Stop on back at Laura’s blog for all the details and get your application in!

Thanks again for dropping by!  I’ll have two more cards for you tomorrow – one using the new Modern Mehndi stamps with the much anticipated Stitched Ovals and one with the new On the Diagonal die.  Head on over to Amy’s blog now for some more fabulous works of art! 

 

Alyssa

     

Lil’ Inker Designs Release Hop Day 1 ~

Before I get to the fun of today, I must take a moment to say that I’m very sad to see two of my fabulous friends leave this design team – Isha Gupta and Taheerah Atchia.  Ladies, I love your blogs and your creativity!  Your bright, sunshiney personalities will be missed behind the scenes, but I’ll be stopping by to say hi and see what new and exciting things await you!

Welcome to Day 1 of the October Release Hop for Lil’ Inker Designs!!  We have a whole bunch of fabulous new products we’re introducing today!  If you follow the Lil’ Inker Designs blog, then you’ve been lucky enough to see some sneak peeks of these goodies!!  We also have a fabulous guest designer joining us for this release, the one and only Tracey McNeely!

This is a hop so hopefully you’ve found your way here from Alicia’s crafty cyberspace.  If not, comment here first, and then bop on back to Laura’s blog to get started off right!  I’m going to start off with my favorite card that I made for this release using one of the two new cover up dies: Swirls.

I started off with this gorgeous paper pack Blink of an Eye by My Mind’s Eye.  The swirl plate is cut out of cream cardstock and layered on a subtle star patterned paper.  I chose coordinating papers and cut banners, Stitched Flags, and the Mini Pinwheel.  I also got to add some new to me wooden satrs…love those things!!  So glad there are so many in a pack!  A big loopy twine bow finished this card off. 

What do you think?  Not my usual style, but I’m happy with how it turned out! Thanks for sticking with me through this post!  Head on over to Amy's fantastic blog!  Don’t forget to comment along the way for your chance at two $10 gift certificates to Lil’ Inker Designs!!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Alyssa

Latte Xmas Gift ~

With Christmas quickly approaching, I thought I’d show some cards this week that I made for the holidays last year.  I’m not as far along with my Xmas cards as I’d like to be, but maybe showing these will kick my booty into high gear!  {there’s always hope!}

For this first card I used a fun Lil’ Inker Designs set called Coffee Cozy along with the coordinating die.

A little strip of pattern paper that was jazzed up with some Stickles in the centers of the peppermint candies, some texty background stamping and inking of the edges and a little soft felt as the cozy on the latte.  Inside I tucked a Starbucks gift card.  Actually, that’s a lie.  I forgot to tuck the gift card inside and had to send it separately!  lol  What a nit wit!  In my quest to make things easier to mail, this year I’ll make a few of these sans the button and bow…maybe add a little Stitched Snowflake or a tiny bell?  Only time will tell…

Happy Hump day, my friends!  Thanks for popping by!

 

Alyssa

Moxie Fab Thanks ~

Welcome to the blog hop for the Moxie Fab goddess, Cath Edvalson!  What can I say?  The entire paper crafting community, myself included, is saddened by the loss of this amazing, inspirational woman.  Thank you, Cath, for always keeping me in the know of what’s trendy, what’s new, what’s inspiring and for posting some just beautiful, cute or funny photos!  It always let me know that you were thinking of us :)

The fabulous Stephanie Washburn should have sent you here, but if you’re just starting out or get lost along the way, you can always start back at the Moxie Fab blog for a full list of the participants.

This is a Stampendous image that I embossed, bleached and colored with Copics.  You can’t see it very well (I had the hardest time photographing this card!), but the background is stamped with Wplus9 Designs Defining Words thank you stamp in the script font.  It’s stamped in Antique Linen to be subtle, but it’s a bit too subtle.  Live and learn!  The ‘TY’ sentiment is from PTI and masked.  I wanted to make sure the N and the Y were perfectly stacked.  A bit OCD?  Why yes, yes I am!

I’ll send you along on the hop now to the amazing Niki G.  Thanks so much for bopping on by here today!

 

Alyssa

Caring Hearts Card Drive Blog Hop ~

Welcome to the Caring Hearts Card Drive blog hop!  This wonderful drive is about remembering all the elderly that live in nursing homes and don’t get to enjoy the holidays with their families.  All you have to do is make a holiday wishes type card, write or stamp something on the inside, sign it and send it in!  It will make someone’s holiday very special this year, and you’ll have a chance at grabbing some really great prizes along the way!  Head on over to this post for all the details.  But that’s not the only way to win!  You can also win some goodies from commenting on the blog hop participants posts.  The winners will be chosen randomly, so the more you comment, the better your chances!  Lil’ Inker Designs is one of the sponsors of this drive, so a few of the design team members have joined in on the hop.  You  should’ve arrived here from Alicia’s amazing blog.  If you’re lost or just starting, head on back to Vera’s blog to get started off right!

Even with Lil’ Inker Designs coming out with some fabulous Christmas dies last month, I chose to reach back a couple releases for my inspiration.  I chose the Circles and Diamonds Stitched Pattern die and the coordinating Darling Diamonds stamp set. 

I puffy heart rusty jingle bells!  They helped me choose the color palette, and though I’m not a gold kind of gal, I’m trying to be trendy!  I actually like the way the gold cord goes with all the rich brown and red.  The sentiment is from the Holly Jolly sentiment set and was just too perfect to not go with this those little bells! 

All righty!  I hope you enjoyed yourself here.  Now you’re headed to the fabulously talented Isha’s blog!  Have fun on the hop, and don’t forget to comment as well as send in a card or two!  It’s always nice to make people smile, and that’s just what this drive is all about!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Alyssa

Addy’s Birthday ~

My son has a girlfriend…at the ripe old age of 6!  They went to preschool together for 2 years and are now in kindergarten at different schools, and they both still carry a torch for each other.  It’s really pretty sweet.  One day picking Z up from preschool last year, he told me, “Mama, just so you know, you’re going to be a grandma.”  Ummm, excuse me?  “Yeah, Addy and I talked about it and we’re going to get married and have babies and stuff.  We talked about it today.”  He was 4.  After seeing them at her birthday party a couple weeks ago, her mom and I have decided that we are definitely in trouble!

I realized the morning of her party that I was a week behind and needed her card today!  At noon!  So I went super simple with the layout and chose a really cute Saturated Canary image to color called Ellie’s Birthday. 

I colored her all up with Copics, put a couple different birthday sentiments together and cut her out with my favorite Lil’ Inker Designs Stitched Rectangle die.  I thought she needed just a teensy bit of something more, so I added the natural twine and fun berry sorbet button.  The arrow on her shirt didn’t have enough shading for my liking (why are yellows so hard for me??), so I colored over it with a sparkly Atyou pen.  Really pretty IRL.  Her party hat also has a little dab of white fluff on the top.  I had Zane decorate the inside.  He needs serious work with writing, but he fights me tooth and nail on it, so I’m figuring he’ll just get there when he’s ready.  We’ll keep fighting for it though!  lol

 

I asked him to write her name and his.  You can see that he kind of jacked that up, but whatever.  It’s cute. 

For his birthday, a friend had drawn some stick figures of himself and Z inside the card he gave Z.  He stared at that card for like 5 minutes straight after we got home from his party.  I suggested that maybe Addy would like a picture drawn by him, so he drew two stick figures hugging.  His idea entirely!  Isn’t that just the sweetest?!

One last little story and I’ll let you go.  Addy got a diary for her birthday.  She’s obviously more advanced in her writing skills.  :)  Her first entry??

  and a pic of the lovebirds

Have a fantastic day friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Alyssa

Bombshell Birthday Hop ~

Welcome to the birthday hop for that beautiful Bombshell Boss babe, Shannon!  This hot little mama is the owner of Bombshell Stamps and isn’t bossy at all!  She’s just as sweet as can be.  So the current design team as well as some of us from days gone by have gotten together to show her some Bombshell love.  You should’ve arrived here from lovely Leslie’s blog.  If you get lost along the hop, you can always head on back to the Bombshell blog for the complete list of hoppers! 

I chose to work with the saucy little number from the Man’s Ruin set

She’s a bit of a party animal if you can’t tell ;)  She’s colored up with Copics with a lot of extra dimension added.  The leg that is swung out over the glass rim is a double that is glued down at the knee and up on a little dimensional at the ankle.  Her shoes are covered in fine black glitter.  The glass itself is covered in a thick coat of Glossy Accents.  Once it was all dry, I added another row along the rim and sprinkled it with glitter.  Here’s a little close up of the detail

It’s a little cheeky staring at her bum!  lol  The banner is from Calaveras Fiesta.  Initially I didn’t look too closely and thought is said ‘Life of the Party’  In reality, the translation is closer to ‘Come to the Party!’  So on the inside I stamped, Yay! It’s your birthday!  Let the shenanigans begin! 

Happy birthday, Shannon!  Hope your day is rockin’!  Your next stop on this talented hop is the mixed media queen Nicole.  Enjoy!!

 

Alyssa