March Release Hop Day 1

Hi there! If you're here, you're awesome!!! It's a very exciting day for our team! Not only is it the beginning of a terrific new release but we've just launched our new look. Do you like?

I feel like this is the perfect representation of our little company. I ended up designing a rough draft of this final logo which initially included the script L, which is how I actually sign my name, inside the Sentiment Flag which has been part of our logo since the beginning. Initially our colors wayyyy back in 2010/2011 were orange and pink and somehow throughout some redesigns we ended up going mostly teal. So we went back to our roots a little and did a fresh updated teal and I am just loving everything about this! Of course, I couldn't have done ANY OF THIS REBRANDING without the help of the super awesome and fun to work with and yet still so professional while being fun - Angelica Suarez of AngSuarez Creative. What an amazing experience and lots of laughs were had too! Everything about our new look was finalized by Angelica and I couldn't be happier with how everything looks! Thanks, Angelica! :)

Now, would you like to have a look at some of the new goodies were releasing this week? Let's get right to it!

This die set is quite possibly my favorite of the bunch. Bunnies & Bows Dies Set features two stitched bunny dies in different sizes and a bow to dress up each bunny. The nice thing about this set too is that the bunnies face each other so they can be used as a pair on your paper crafting projects. Love love love love these dies and I have a feeling that I should have stocked more of them in our store. If this is the one you love, don't wait!

The above two dies sets really make me squeal in a big way! We finally have a set of stitched letters, numbers and symbols dies for you! We call these Mixed & Stitched: Alphabet & Numbers Dies Sets. Stitched, well, because they have our terrific, signature stitching detail. Mixed because the alphabet includes lower and upper case letters which can be mixed and matched throughout the set and your projects for a quirky, fun and unique look. We'll show you this a little more in just a bit with some projects from our designers.

Rat Race is a cute little set featuring a maze focal image and fun supporting sentiments and images. This set makes great love themed cards and are perfect for every recipient but especially men and children, don't you think? So sweet and cute!

You asked and we listened! Spot On Spring is a follow up to our wildly popular Spot On stamp set featuring more of our oversized, individual greetings and new and trendy spots done in a floral theme. You'll have fun mixing and matching these sets together to create fun new greetings. This set also coordinates with our Connected Circles Die and Darling Diamonds Stamp Set! It's SUCH an awesome collection! It's a must have! Seriously, the font of these greetings makes me drool a little and I never tire of it!

A beautiful set of flower dies especially designed for Spring. They have a bit of a jonquil look, don't you think? Spring Flowers Die Set contains a set of two flowers, two flower centers and two leaves WHICH can also double as stitched Easter eggs. We designed them that way adding lots of versatility and more bang for your buck! The unique stitching make these just awesome!

You will never need another Spring themed sentiment stamp set! Karen Baker did an amazing job with our brand new Spring Sentiments Stamp Set! While it's primary purpose is Spring greetings there are sentiments in there with a love theme, inspiration and MORE! This is a MUST HAVE set!

And last but certainly not least is our brand new set of Stitched Butterflies featuring Lil' Inker Designs' invention, our EXCLUSIVE Dual Stitching Design. It's like getting two die sets in one! So, not only will this set cut our gorgeous stitched butterflies but the negative cut will have a stitching detail around it as well giving a decorative use and additional function to your negative cuts! We think it's pretty awesome and we've been designing dies like this since the Summer of 2013 when we first launched our Stitched Mats: Circles Die Set featuring this clever idea.

If you look closely toward the bottom of the graphic you will notice that we've included a stitched butterfly trail. It's a die that will make your butterflies look like they're in flight! BUT, we've designed this in such a way that it can also be used as the "hop" of your bunnies in our Bunnies & Bows Die Set. How cool is that?

Would you like to see some projects?? I made what feels like a ton of things so it's going to be hard for me to pick and choose which to share with you for today. Let's see............

Here's a little something I made with our adorable new Rat Race Stamp Set! Notice how I was inspired by our new logo colors when I made this card? I love the playful fonts in this set! Also featured here is a heart from our Of the Heart Die.

This might be my favorite of the projects I made for this release! It features our brand new Bunnies & Bows Die Set and Spring Sentiments Stamp Set as well as our previously released Anytime Tags Die Set. It was super easy to make and I got out my Grammy's vintage pinking shears to make the grass. 

Another favorite of mine is this card featuring our new Spring Flowers Die Set and Spring Sentiments Stamp Set. Here I just cut these cute little flowers from yellow cardstock and the centers from white cardstock. I embellished the centers by coloring them with a Copic marker and adding white dots. I then added in my stems and petals with this awesome light green vellum and gave the project a little more visual interest by folding up the petals of my smaller flower. 

Soooooo - what do you think of our new goodies??

I am loving everything!! I know. I know. I'm supposed to say that, right? HA! But I think it's obvious how much I really DO love these goodies because I just couldn't stop crafting!!! And I still have more ideas that I'd like to try and am sketching out so I've found myself super inspired by these. I wouldn't have anything to do with this loooooooog New England Winter and playing with warmer weather goodies! Seriously, I'm over Winter and ready for WARMTH!! As I'm typing this, we're facing record breaking cold temps for today in Massachusetts and possibly 12 inches of snow tomorrow. Bunnies and flowers. Bunnies and flowers. Bunnies and flowers!!! :)

So, before I let you go we ended up saying goodbye to a long time Design Team Member last month's who's work I truly admired. Alicia Thelin had been part of our team since the very beginning in 2011. She is already missed! I enjoyed having Alicia on our team so very much and it's left a spot open for someone who has some PREEETY BIG SHOES TO FILL! So while I am sad to say goodbye and thanks a million to Alicia I am delighted as well to say we do have a new member joining us and today begins her first release with Lil' Inker Designs.

Not that very long ago I posted a wee little blurb on our Facebook page about looking for a Director of Social Media. Believe it or not Erin was the first to apply and I was instantly impressed as I was with almost ALL of the applicants that applied. Holy MOLY! Thank you for the outpouring of emails!! It's been a pleasure working with Erin so far and we are delighted to have her on our team as a Designer as well as having her run the social media show! WELCOME, ERIN!! Make sure you head over and check out her newly redesigned and gorgeous blog HERE!

Ok, so before I send you on your way, here is a list of everyone participating in our hop today.

Laura/The Shop Blog - you are here 

Alyssa Scritchfield - http://critterlyss.blogspot.com/

Amy Kolling - http://stamp-n-paradise.blogspot.com/

Erin Lee Schreiner - http://www.erinleecreative.com/

Heather Campbell - http://parkermolly.blogspot.com/

Jen Carter - http://jensinkspot.blogspot.com/

Karen Baker - http://thebalddragonfly.blogspot.com/

Kristen Foreman - http://kristenforemandesigns.blogspot.com/

Maureen Merritt - http://www.mamamostamps.com/

Sarah Jay - http://www.criminalgrace.com/

Suzanne Dahlberg - http://freshlynoted.com/

Be sure to leave as much love for our designers as you can. We'll be picking one of their blogs as our secret prize blog and all of our winners will be chosen from that one blog's comments. What do you win? We're giving away three $15 store credits to three lucky individuals!

Thank you so much for joining us today. We'll be seeing you tomorrow with more projects to inspire you to use your new Spring goodies from Lil' Inker Designs.

OH and how can I forget????? we just restocked three stamp sets from our 2 Cute Ink line that you have been emailing me about. Funny Bunnies, Sweet Bee and Birthday Owl. I'm so happy that Funny Bunnies is back and just in time for Easter and in a brand new 4x6 set size. Sweet Bee has been changed to a 3x4 and Birthday Owl features an additional sentiment!

See you tomorrow!