May New Release Blog Hop Day 1

Hellllooooooooo!!!!! Welcome to Day 1 of our May New Release Blog Hop!!!!!

I'm so excited to be here because it's been a little while since we've had a new release. This Month's release is loaded with stamps and dies with a Summer Vibe but so much more too!

Let's get right to looking at everything new in store today. Please keep in mind that I've had to change our product graphics again in another attempt at preventing the theft of my designs. Thank you for understanding.

First up is our new Cover Up Die: Butterfly. It features a gorgeous butterfly focal image that floats across your card front.  It also cuts out a surrounding frame so this can be cut and applied over a card front which makes for some excellent color combinations and use of techniques. Have a look!

The die is exactly 4.25" x 5.50" so it perfectly fits a pre-made A2 card base. The butterfly also features some lovely cut away accents within its wings which also makes for the inclusion of some fun shaker elements.

The butterfly is arranged in such a way so that I was sure there would be room for sentiments which brings me to our next new item, our Spread Your Wings Stamps.

Let's talk about the sentiments in this set first. They are all laid out so they either fill in the space to the bottom right of the butterfly in the die cut above or will beautifully stretch out over the butterfly without covering it up. The sentiments have themes of change, friendship, encouragement and more which means they can be used for lots of different occasions. Once I got our sentiments completed, the set just didn't feel complete without some butterfly images and I feel like I've given you some lovely but different image that you'll enjoy using and adding to your collection.

Next up are our Think Happy Thoughts Tropical Stamps which were designed exclusively and drawn by hand for Lil' Inker Designs. I am OBSESSED! I love them. Some things to note about this set - each of the hibiscus flowers have a coordinating, separate stamen or flower center. I really wanted to do these pieces separately because I think you'll be able to make some great color combos here even if you decide to stamp these in black and color them.

The sentiments are positive and pretty and can be used for retirement, encouragement and lots more. I especially love the tropical drinks that have been included here. They're so stinkin' cute!!

Here is a set of coordinating Think Happy Thoughts Tropical Dies. They will cut out the images in the stamp set with precision and ease. Also, I was thinking ahead here - the two smaller hibiscus flower dies include a space for the overhang of their center flower stamps. So, I recommend stamping your flower images first, then diecutting and then stamping in your centers because you'll see exactly where they need to go.

Here's a picture of what I mean...

Next up is our Pineapple Shaker Die Set and it's so so very cool and adorable all at the same time.

Just like with some of our other shaker die sets, I've built in some versatility here with this set too! This set can be used to make either a flat pineapple die cut OR a shaker. You'll see from the photo above that there's plenty of stitching on these elements and I've even included a texture die for the large pineapple. Definitely be sure to visit the project gallery for this die set so you can see all the different ways this set can be used.

 Our new Be Sweet Stamps were designed to coordinate with our Pineapple Shaker Die Set. Most, if not all of the images stamp to fit right on our Pineapple and have a tropical or "punny" pineapple theme.

Our Be Sweet Stamps and Pineapple Shaker Die Set really pair nicely with our new Think Happy Thoughts Stamps and Dies to create a suite of new products that are fun to use together and mix and match and the next new item is no exception either!

I really wanted an aloha and mahalo word dies to put with all of these lovely tropical new items. These Hawaiian Word Dies just didn't feel complete without a halo or back piece to highlight these pretty words. If you're going to purchase any of our new tropical-themed items, including these in your cart is a no brainer.

Would you like to see some of the things I made with our new stamps and dies? I'd love to show you. It felt so good to be creative!

Here I started with a stone card base and over it I layered a black frame made using the two largest dies from our Stitched Mats Dual Stitched Rectangles Die Set. Then, I started to get crafty! I started by stamping and die cutting my hibiscus flowers from the Think Happy Thoughts Tropical Stamps which I did very simply with my Copics and a little flicking technique - nothing fancy or perfect. Since I had already die cut the stamped images, I knew exactly where to stamp the centers of my flowers and I chose to go with black and I'm so glad I did. I think they look just right! Of course then I moved onto my leaves and created this grouping of tropical images.

I knew I wanted to incorporate my pineapple so I die cut the largest, main pineapple from yellow stock and then I die cut it again using the texture layer. Isn't that cute?? Then, I die cut a leaf and laid it over the top of my pineapple. I thought this would look great layered behind my tropical images and I was right! I really like the layout.

I was sure to leave enough space beneath my focal image for a sentiment which I used from our new Be Sweet Stamps.

This was the second creation I made and I used the remaining images from the stamping and die cutting I did above. This time I began with a white card base and did some simple black stamping of the leaves in the set all around the border of the base. I laid a pink piece of vellum over top and secured with a piece of washi for an added bit of fun. Once I die cut out my word and it's "halo" I assembled the layout and added in this piece of grass skirt I guess you could call it? I just used my scissors on a scrap piece of kraft card stock to make this and I really love how it turned out!

In this last project for today, I wanted to be sure I used my Pineapple Shaker Die Set as a shaker. I love how perfectly sized this is and I really do love the extra texture pattern die we gave you for this. I think it makes it!!!

Everything else here is pretty self-explanatory. I created a stamped background using the aloha and mahalo greeting stamps from the Be Sweet Stamps. I added in our mahalo word die from the Hawaiian Words Die Set and I rounded out the phrase using a stamp from our Cozy Plaid Stamp Set. The stitched border on the gold base is the largest die from our Silly Stitched Die Set.

I'm so happy with the way everything came together! I hope you do too!!

Would you be interested in learning how you can win a copy of each new product for your very own?? Of course, you would!!!

As you hop with me and our Design Team of the next couple of days, be sure to leave comments for all of us along the way because I will be picking our winner right from those comments. Just be sure to leave your comments by Sunday, May 19th, 11:30 PM to be eligible.

Here is a list of everyone participating in our hop today:

Laura Pryor/LID Store Blog <<------- You are here!

Amy Kolling

Chrissy Larson

Heather Hoffman

Karen Baker

Kimberly Rendino

Laura Williams

Lisa Henke

Do you notice anything different??? PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER because with this release we are welcoming back our pal Laura Williams!!!!!

Be sure to leave Laura some love with this release and if you don't already follow her blog, you can find it HERE.

Ok, everyone. That just about does it for me today!!! I hope you'll swing over to THE STORE after hopping with us today to read more about the products you liked most from today. I give a nice product write up and there is a project gallery for each of the new items which contain lots of inspiring photos of just what these new supplies can do!

Thank you so so much for spending part of your day with me today and I hope to see you tomorrow for Day 2 of our May New Release Blog Hop!!!!

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