Another Name for Love ~

Hi there!  Thought I’d stop in with this little ditty.  This uses tons of Lil’ Inker goodies – Stitched Mats Rectangles and Circles, Connected Circles, and Dad word dies. The connected circles die is the large scallop that is peeking out from behind the Dad panel.  I felt it need a little extra something once the entire card was assembled – you must imagine it without the circle cut out, button and twine. Since the soft stone mat is up on foam tape, I was able to slip a brad setting mat beneath the panel, center the circle die where I wanted it and hammer on the back of the die to cut that part out.  Does that even make sense?  I hope so!  I was cringing the entire time that I wouldn’t ruin my die!  I would not recommend this course of action.  You should totally lay your card out before applying adhesive LOL! 

My mother gave this to my grandpa for Father’s Day this past year.  Yes, I’m way behind on sharing this!  Seems to be the story of my blog life lately.  I haven’t even had time to step into my craft room lately – I’ve been consumed with the store.  BUT, I am headed there right now, so wish me luck!  I need to clear some cobwebs out of the mojo bank I think!

Have a super duper Sunday!!

Alyssa

Lil’ Inker Designs New Member Reveal Hop ~

Hi there!  Welcome to the January Lil’ Inker Designs hop!  We’re here celebrating our new additions to the team – Heather Campbell, Kristin Foreman and Maureen Merritt!  WooHoo!  What an amazing group of talented, sweet ladies! 

 

So whilst trolling around Pinterest the other day for some inspiration, I came across a beautiful card and thought to myself, “Hmmm, I could use Lil’ Inkers Modern Mehndi stamps and dies to make a version of this card…”  Upon closer inspection, I realized that it’s my new teamies card!!  How fun!  So I thought I’d just go ahead and CASE her beautiful creation with an LID twist.

 

 

I used the negative pieces from the Stitches and Stripes cover up die over a piece of vellum to create the background.  The sentiment is from Rainbow and Clouds and was chosen to say Congrats to these ladies for joining the best design team on the planet!  

The flowers and leaves are stamped and clear embossed.  I chose a Copic to add a little extra shading inside some of the details.  Looking at it now, I wish I would’ve added some white gel accents, but I can always go back!  Haha! 

There you have it!  Congratulations!!  I’m excited to be on this wonderful team with all of you and can’t wait to get to know you better!  You should’ve arrived here from the wonderful Alicia’s blog, but you can head on back to the dynamic Laura’s blog to get started off right if not.  Your next stop on the hop is Amazing Amy!  Don’t forget to comment along the way and welcome the newbies for your chance at a gift certificate to the store.  Also in honor of this hop, Lil’ Inker Designs is having a sale  Gotta love that!

 

Alyssa

Birthday Train ~

Chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga, choo-choo!!  Nothing like a train stamp set to say happy birthday to a sweet little 1 year old boy.  More of those wood stars on the front.  I love these things!  I colored them up with the Copics used to color the train.  The smoke puffs are colored in with a white gel pen.

I had nowhere to add birthday on the front, so I used the CAS-ual Fridays Shenanigans set to add it and a little extra to the inside.  I figured, he’s 1 so he’ll be making a mess and need to lick the frosting off the plate!  ha!  He was just like my boy – never had cake or frosting so really wasn’t into it! 

Looking at this now, I wish I would’ve added ‘happy birthday’ along the train border punch, kinda make it look like the tracks or something.  This train set has been sitting unused ever since I bought it in June of 2011.  What?!?  That’s just plain crazy!  I always buy these sets thinking I’m going to scrapbook something cute and never do.  So pathetic!  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to craft a bit more once the store is up and running.  There will be lots to learn/re-learn and do but I’ll still need to get creative and crafty!  Maybe I’ll have better luck taking specific supplies for things I want to work on – like scrapbooking, or CAS cards to sell.  Only time will tell! 

Have a fantastic weekend, friends!  I’m off to get my hair dyed – it’s back to dark for this little lady! 

 

Alyssa

Birthday Star ~

Hello!  I can’t believe this week has gone by so fast!  Every day, I’m at my store entering each and every bottle on the shelf into the new point of sale system, figuring prices, writing descriptions, adding vendors and scanning codes in.  It’s a very lengthy process and one that I’m regretting at the moment!  We could have been open back in November if I hadn’t insisted upon this system…I know I’ll be happy to have it once it’s all complete though.

Since I haven’t had much creative mojo flowing, I thought I’d show the card I made for my dad’s birthday last month.  It also fits in with the current Moxie Fab Challenge: Trendy Star Power.

I love blending distress inks…so easy to do and neat to see the colors melt together when spritzed with a little water.  I embossed the star chart and sentiment on watercolor paper.  The star trail is actually pointing to Sagittarius, which is my dad’s zodiac sign.  One of those fun little details that you have to have a microscope to see.  I blended about 5 different inks here, spritzed it with water and sprinkled it with salt.  I haven’t had much luck with this technique, so if I try it again, I will use a rock salt instead of table salt.  A few wooden stars as a little accent and voila!  Hope you’re having a splendid day!

 

Alyssa

Watercolored Dahlias ~

You all know how much I love to color, flowers especially, but I adore this set from Papertrey Ink.  It’s so nice to be able to fill in the flower so quickly.  I’m hoping that PTI will come out with more fill in stamp sets for some of their other flowers.  {keeping my fingers crossed} 

I’ve used distress inks on watercolor paper for both of these and am enamored with the effect.

Because distress inks will pick up embossing powder, the sentiment and outlines of all the flowers and leaves had to be heat embossed first.  After everything was masked, embossed, masked and stamped, I misted the paper heavily with water.  So pretty watching the colors blend!  While the paper was wet, I brushed on some blues to make the flowers pop.  I really love this card!  So much so I had to make another version in other colors.

Same process here, though I kind of messed up the smaller flower and leaves.  Though, unless you’re a fellow stamper, you probably don’t notice.  I no longer have this in my stash, so maybe it’s time to give it a go again.  If you would like to know colors, just leave a comment or send me an email.  Have a fantastic weekend!  It’s snowing here, so time to go shovel the driveway and sidewalk.  Stay warm, my friends!

 

Alyssa

Favorites of ‘13 ~

I couldn’t decide whether or not to write this post this year.  Seems more and more people are picking out favorites of other crafters for their favorites.  I like to look back over my own work and see if I’ve grown or if my style remains the same – you know, all over the place.  Ha  I don’t have a distinct style.  I feel like I design around the stamp that I’m using or around a sketch.  It’s what seems to work for me.  I chose a favorite for each month and linked to the original post in the month title.

JANUARY 

I love this card for it’s simplicity and because I was able to find a use for the crazy make up I sometimes buy.

FEBRUARY

Well, I love flowers and this stamp in particular, I love coloring, I love this layout and I love LID’s Stitched Rectangles and Stitched flag dies.  That about sums this one up.

MARCH

Super cute kitty and fun fresh colors!

APRIL

What can I say about this except that it turned out exactly how I imagined it.  Love when that happens!

MAY

This is my only post for May, but I love this!  I have so much trouble making tags.  But I love how this turned out – so fun to use sun dies for a flower!

JUNE

A true labor of love!  I can envision it in so many colors, but I haven’t worked up the gumption to recreate it.

JULY

I adore these Fresh Cut Florals!  Not fully in love with the color scheme, but the layout is easy to recreate and packs a lot of punch.

AUGUST

 

I just like this one.  Super easy to change out the numbers for any recipient.

SEPTEMBER

Back to my love of coloring, cute animal stamps and lots of layers.

OCTOBER

More coloring and loads of layers, not to mention my go-to sketch for rectangular focal point images.

NOVEMBER

I had a hard time choosing a favorite this month!  I wanted to choose this card, but I already used that stamp on a favorite.  I also wanted to choose this card but thought I’d step outside of that coloring safety bubble.  This card is kind of shabby or vintagey or something.  I don’t know how to categorize it, except it’s completely out of my comfort zone, and I love it!

DECEMBER

I kept this card until a few days after Christmas, I love it so!  Hopefully, she’s gotten it by now

I have two crafty resolutions for this year:

1. Post to this blog twice a week.  No cheating here…if I have a Lil’ Inker Release week where I post 3-4 times, I’m not allowed to slack the next week.

2. Get all the hand made cards I’m sending for Christmas completed by Thanksgiving.  I’m going to need a lot of help doing this one! 

Thanks for tripping down memory lane with me!  Hope you’re having a wonderful Friday!  Guess that means I’ll be back tomorrow if I’m going to post twice a week…

 

Alyssa