New Release Hop Day 1

Welcome to our new release hop!!! It's Monday and the first day of our new release hop and I'm so very excited to get right to the new goodies we're releasing today!!

Did everyone have a wonderful holiday and happy new year? I hope so!

I'm excited that it's the new year and I'm excited for our very first release of 2015! Let's get right to it!

Ok, this die is an absolute must have. This is our new Center Point Chevron Die! The background it creates is incredible!  This die creates a chevron background where all the points meet in the center. The pieces that cut away can totally be used for other projects. This die is so clean and stylish! Wait until you see the projects our designers have created with this die.

Here is our brand new Doodled Love Word Die! I have been doodling this word over and over again for what seems like years now. As I look back through my sketch journals this image appears everywhere. It was time to bring you this in die format. Hand drawn by myself and graphically perfected by Ariana this die is fun, whimsical and I think you'll love the size. I find it perfect for focal images. 

Squeee!!! Here is our new Hearts Banners Die Set. This set features two dies. One is slightly larger and features stitched hearts. The other is just a tad smaller and features solid hearts. The curve to these cuts allows these banners to perfect drape across your card bases, tags and more! 

This our new Lollipop and Pencil Treat Holder Die. This die is clever and fun and I think it's going to change how you make your Valentines this year. I designed it with classroom valentines in mind. I don't know about you but in our school we're not allowed to send in any food for the holidays to the school kids because of allergies but lollipops seem to be totally acceptable for special holidays. This die cuts a stitched, stampable notecard that features two holes where you can tuck in a lollipop of any kind or even a no. 2 pencil! The additional three dies included are decorative reinforcements.  

With this die you'll get a little bit of lifting of you paper with your lollies but you'll see that the lollipop sticks can be slightly manipulated to make your paper a little flatter. 

Pencils can be added in two ways: either thread through the holes or tied on using a decorative ribbon. If you thread through the pencil there will be some curling of your paper with traditional cardstock making the treat holder more like a flag which is cute! You'll get an even better effect with thinner paper. 

I envision you cutting enough of these for all the kids in class and letting your kids decorate them and then just pop in your lollies or pencils and Valentine's Day is super cute and complete! And by the way, this makes a totally acceptable card for an adult as well. I would seriously kiss the person who hand stamped a valentine and added a Tootsie Pop. Wouldn't you? :)

The following stamp sets were designed with our new treat holder die in mind but of course can be used for traditional Valentine's Day cards and tags.

This is our new Perfect Pairs Stamp Set. OMGEEEEE!!! How ADORABLE are these images??? Peas and Carrots, Donuts and Coffee, Eggs and Bacon, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Burgers and Fries, and Mac and Cheese! What do these guys have in common? Well, they're all perfect pairs, of course! Love love love love love these and we've added in a couple of little sentiments to make this an absolutely PERFECT stamp set! :) 

Our new Robot Builders Stamp Set. Yesssss!!!! These are so cute too!! Enjoy stamping these sweet little Robot Builders Stamps to create the perfect robot invention! All the pieces mix and match and we've added in some neat little sentiments to complete this set. Up to 2 robots can be stamped along with a greeting onto our Lollipop Treat Holder but of course you'll love using this set for so many more occasions. I have to be honest - I had a lot of fun creating with these so I know you will too!

Here are two examples of completed robots!

Our new Smooches Stamp Set is totally elegant and maybe even a little sexy all at the same time! I was inspired to create an oversized kiss stamp and I wanted to bring you sentiments that almost look like they could have been written in lipstick. The smooches stamps are all the same image but in three perfect sizes and they are Aaaahhh-MAZING when stamped and heat embossed but look like actually lipstick kisses when stamped in lipstick hues. I'm telling you - this is one for your collection! 

Ok - I'm super pumped about our brand new Side-Stitched Rectangles Die Set!!!!!!! I don't know if you know this but Lil' Inker Designs was the first small company of its kind to release dies with stitching which we did with the release of our clouds in our Rainbows & Clouds Die Set released back in 2010. We built our business on dies with stitching and NOW it's an industry wide trend! So, I went back to the drawing board and tried to come up with something new and fresh but that still rang true to our roots and here it is. Our new Side-Stitched Rectangles cut stitching that's been turned on its side and the result is trendy and super clean and eye-catching!

Just like our original Stitched Mats: Rectangles, the largest die in this set cuts ONLY a stitched border on a pre-made A2 card base - we LOVE that about our dies! The rest of the dies in the set cut a rectangle which also features side stitching. 

You're going to love seeing these dies in action! I know you're going to love having these in your collection.

All You Need Is Love is the only stamp set you'll need for Valentine's Day! Hummina hummina. Yes, please!! Put this in my shopping cart, LOL!!! Can I be perfectly honest? The two largest stamps in this set are my favorites and they inspired the set. I could have made them a little bit larger and made this a set of two or separated them and made them into single stamps but really and truly what I've done here is made them perfect and slightly oversized AND added in additional sentiments which are equally lovely if I do say so myself and we were able to bring you the entire set for one affordable price. Your welcome! LOL!!

And last but certainly not least is a follow up to our incredibly popular Quilted Stitched Pattern Die. Introducing our Quilted Swirl Stitched Pattern Die. This die creates one amazing and beautiful stitched background. It can cover an entire A2 card base and boy, does this pack a punch!! Love it! If you love our Quilted Stitched Pattern Die then you'll fall in love with this design too!

Soooooo....what do you think? What are your faves??? 

I had a great time creating for this release! I don't know about you but I SO needed some crafty time and I couldn't have enjoyed myself more! 

Here's a look at some of the things I created with our new release goodies.

This project was easily made using our new Quilted Swirl Stitched Pattern Die and our All You Need is Love Stamp Set which I heat embossed with coral embossing powder. This card was made quickly with only a few steps but it doesn't look like a fast card and I love that. How gorgeous is that sentiment, seriously?

Here I used pistachio paper. I made a card base and over it I added a panel cut with our new Center Point Chevron Die. Aaaaacccckkkk!!! I don't know how to express to you how much I love this die. There is just something about this done with monochromatic papers that I love love love! And how about our Doodled Love Word Die? Cute, right? I will say that this word die is thinner than we've done before but I didn't find it at all difficult to work with. To adhere this to my heart which was made using our Dual Stitched Hearts Die Set. I used a glue pen and it was easy peasy. It's definitely more glorious cut from glitter paper. 

One more thing for you today! I used our Smooches Stamp Set to create this home decor piece. I used gold embossing powder to heat emboss the largest smooch in the set onto aqua paper and mounted the whole thing in this shadow box frame. There is something about this color combo that is drool worthy. I am going to SO enjoy displaying this piece for Valentine's Day. I think the smooch alone stands on its own. I just love it! I hope you do too. It took me under 5 minutes to make this and the frame wasn't expensive. It makes a fab home made gift too don't you think??

I'm excited about this release! I hope you are too! I know you are going to love what our designers have in store for you today so get to hopping! Here is a list of everyone joining us today:

Laura/Shop - http://www.shoplilinker.blogspot.com/ <-------- you are here

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

Chrissy Larson - http://chrissycards.blogspot.com/

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

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

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

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

Laura Williams - http://lauralooloo.blogspot.com/

Lea Lawson - http://www.lealawsoncreates.com/

Lisa Henke - http://mylittlecreativeescape.blogspot.com/

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

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

Thank you for continually supporting our designers! I love reading your comments on their designs as well as on mine! If you do leave some love in the form of comments for our designers you will be in the running to win one of three $15 store credits we'll be giving away. All you have to do is leave comments along our hop today by Sunday, January 18th 11:30 PM EST to be eligible. We'll choose our winners at random from one designer's blog and we'll announce our winners in our hop re-cap post which will take place early in the week of January 19th. How does that sound?

Again, I hope you love everything and I hope you enjoy our hop today! Thank you so much for joining us! Tomorrow, I'm planning to focus on our new Lollipop and Pencil Treat Holder Die. Cross your fingers that I can get my video edited for you after experiencing some technical issues.

See you soon!