Holiday Flashback

Hey there, Lil' Inker Fans!

I was just having a look some of the projects made with previously released Holiday and Winter goodies from Lil' Inker. I was inspired and I thought you might be too so I thought I'd stop by to share some things with you!

It's just a little something for your viewing pleasure :) There are SO MANY more fabulous projects made with these goodies. The projects you see below are what I had immediate access to on my computer.

All of the projects made here use goodies that are currently available in our store!

Arctic Friends 

Cocoa Bear

Snowflakes

Winter Greetings

Instant Camera: Christmas Stamps

Instant Camera Die

Gift Bow Topper Die

A Snowman's Soul

Dear Santa

No Peeking

Christmas Bits Die Set

Holly Jolly Dies

Holly Jolly Stamps

I think it's fun to take a look back at all these projects and goodies! I hope you think so too!

We'll see you early next week for our November Release Re-Cap and to announce our three $15 gift certificate prize winners! You still have time to comment on our new release posts to be eligible to win! Just leave comments through November 24th at 11:30 PM EST.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a great weekend!!!!

Goodbye, Hello and New Release Hop Day 3

Well, hi there!! Welcome to day 3 and the last day of our new release hop! Are you enjoying yourself so far?

I'm here to share the graphics of the new goodies we released this week and some new projects which will hopefully inspire you to create with YOUR new goodies as soon as they arrive to you!

Here is everything we've released this week.

I think that the new On the Diagonal Die could use a tutorial because it can do SO many COOL THINGS and I don't think you would know it just to look at it. I was hoping to get to do a video for you but it might not be until next week. So until then I have a pictured tutorial in this post HERE which I think will be very helpful.

Here are some new projects I made to share with you today.

Here is a very simple card using our new Cover Up Die: Swirls, On the Diagonal Die and Snarky Sentiment Stamp Set in grey and yellow tones with a pop of pink enamel dots. I love all the different uses I'm finding for our new On the Diagonal Die and how Cover Up: Swirls adds instant fanciness to my card!

Here I used our new Cover Up Die: Leaf Pattern. I first die cut my focal panel using white card stock and then I sprayed the heck out of it with some Angels Glimmer Mist making it more concentrated on the bottom and lighter on the top for an ombre feel.  This spray makes the paper very wet which make it curl. So, I did this part a few days in advance and I let it dry under a heavy stack of stamps to flatten it out! I added a coordinating bow and a silver heat embossed sentiment on vellum with a little glitter border. 

Here is the card that I used during our Pre-Release Sneak Week! Say THAT three times fast! I die cut my leaf pattern from kraft card stock. I laid it over a panel which I first colored with watercolor pencils and then wiped with a damp sponge for a blended look. This too have to dry over night under a stack of stamps before I could use it! The entire focal image was adhered to a pumpkin card base and accented with some felt leaf stickers which I have had FOREVER and never used. My sentiment is created from 2 Sentiment Flags; Stitched and Original. My sentiment is stamped in gold ink from our Thanksgiving Wishes Stamp Set. I then embellished with a leaf button and some twine. I love this card!

I have a gift card for our little friend next door and I wanted to make a cute package for it. Here I took two of these little baggies which I got from Paper Source and taped them together giving two pockets; one for a tag and one for the gift card. Here I used our gorgeous new Modern Mehndi Stamps and our On the Diagonal Die which I used for my sentiment panel across the front of my card holder. My flower and leaves are colored with Copics. These stamps are AWESOME for coloring and gave me a fresh new reason to whip out the markers which I haven't done for so long!!!

Here is a shot of the coordinating tag I made for the inside. The tag is the base from our Folding Tags - Original which will be restocking by this weekend. The sentiment is from our Sugar Kissed Cottage Surprise! Stamp Set. Isn't this a cute and easy way to give a gift card to a cute little 8 year old? I think so! I hope she loves it!

I showed you a portion of this card last week. Well here it is in full! I made sort of a funky layout here. The front panel consists of the blue and patterned paper. I cut that notch out using my Stitched Mats: Circles and of course had a blast stamping with my Modern Mehndi stamp set! Here is used card stock which complimented not only the patterned paper but the inks I picked out too for sort of a tone on tone look. Each flower's center is embellished with a little something and my sentiment is stamped in black ink.

Here are the other projects I previously shared with you this week.

Before, we continue let me just take a minute to say goodbye and THANK YOU to two fantastic ladies!

               &

Not only are these ladies FUN and kind and wonderful in every way they are both immensely talented and Lil' Inker has truly benefited by having them as part of our family! Isha has a way with products and especially bringing color to her creations and Taheerah has an unbelievable way to think outside the box and then execute these ideas in her designs terrifically!

I am going to really miss you both and the gorgeous personal styles you were able to share with your fans and readers using your LID goodies.  Thank you so much for making our goodies shine and thank you for everything you've done for me and LID during your time here. It has been more than a pleasure to be able to work with you and get to know you along the way!

Since we're having to say goodbye we'll soon be saying hello to new designers who will have some BIG shoes to fill! Our Design Team Call is going on now through November 25th to apply. If you'd like more information, please CLICK HERE and scroll down to the bottom of the post where the info appears.

Now, everything we've showed you here this week is currently available at the Lil' Inker Designs Store. We're already starting to run low on our On the Diagonal Dies which may sell out by the weekend so if you're thinking about that die don't wait too long! Also, hopefully by Friday night I will be restocking Stitched Stars Die Set, and both of our Folding Tags Dies: Original and Scalloped. As always, if you ever want to secure the in stock goodies now before they run out but only want to pay one shipping fee I can hold orders and combine orders together to spare you two shipping expenses. We do this a lot here! Please email me at lilinkerdesigns@gmail.com for more details.

Remember to leave your feedback for our amazing designers and guest designer, Tracey McNeely. Thank you Tracey for all of your wonderful projects this week! My fave fave fave is the Santa card seen here.

We'll be giving away three $15 gift certificates. The winners will be picked from one secret prize blog and can comment through 11/25 at 11:30 PM EST to be eligible to receive a prize.

Ok, head on over to visit Alicia Thelin!

Thank you so much for joining us this week!

We'll be seeing you in late December with a release all about Valentine's Day! 

New Release Hop Day 2!

Hello and welcome to day 2 of our November New Release Hop!

If you joined us yesterday you saw that we've just released two awesome Cover Up Dies: Leaf Pattern and Swirls.

They are definitely a unique take on the Cover Up Dies we've previously released. They each have more of an organic or flowing pattern and are not the geometric or textual designs we've previously done. I do know that they are both equally gorgeous and I love the instant beauty these can each add to my projects. Cover Up Die: Leaf Pattern even has an extra neat little feature! Some of the negative cut leaves have our signature stitching detail and can be used in a totally different way! Love that!

We also just released the next in our Stitched Mats Series - Ovals! This is something that so many of you have written to me to request. I'm so excited that we were finally able to get them to you!

These were made purposely to be the absolute perfect sizes for A2 cards laid out horizontally or vertically and feature stitching on both sides of the main cut line just like our Stitched Mats Circles and Stitched Stars. Seriously, these are the BEST! With only four dies in this set the price point is pretty awesome too!

Modern Mehndi is the name our new stamp and die set. You've GOT TO TRY IT!!!! It's simply funky and stunning all at the same time!! The designs are inspired by henna tattoo or Mehndi celebratory body art. It doesn't get better than a fresh new take on a traditional concept such as a flower stamp set! Combine these stamps with their coordinating dies to make perfectly cut flowers and leaves. Or use the die set alone for fantastic flower shapes! I love love love love love this new set and I know you will too!

This last die.......well.....it simply blows my mind! To look at it you would think it's a standard stitched strip but when you start to play with it you'll realize that it's a little die that does BIG things!!

Now, I planned on having a video for you demonstrating our new On the Diagonal Die but I'm having some technical difficulties. I'm still planning to get this to you before the end of our hop so stay tuned. In the meantime you will have to use a little imagination and tolerate my exploding enthusiasm for this by reading my words in black and white :)

When used for it's most basic function, which is to just simply run this through your die cutting machine with any paper you will yield an angled, stitched strip. Here are some pictures to demonstrate. Their not exactly "customer quality" and were taken quick for the DT when this die arrived to me but they'll do until our video is ready!

This panel can be place diagonally across an A2 card base and used as a sentiment panel or image focal point like in the example seen here.

If you made this basic cut on a pre-cut A2 card base or mat you are left with two interesting panels each with a stitched border as seen here.

And these panels can be used as a card front which leaves an opening for pattern paper to peek through or for sentiment placement.

Here's where I think this die really shines! Start with an A2 card base and die cut the base with the largest mat from your Stitched Mats: Rectangles collection.

Now, lay your On the Diagonal Die over your stitched card base and die cut.

Now you have two panels with stitching all the way around!! 

(Just snip off any connected strands with scissors.)

Now you've made two stitched panels which can be used for a funky and trendy card front layout!!! Look how I began creating with them here.

Before I adhered my two stitched layout panels to my pink card base with foam tape, I simply laid them over my card base and penciled where my sentiment would go so that I could stamp it perfectly. Once my stamping was complete I erased my pencil marks and then used foam tape to pop up the panels leaving this neat little recessed area for my sentiment to appear. Cool right?

Here is the finished card using the example above.

I just love the way this turned out and I'd like to create a whole set of these in different colors!

In yesterday's post, I featured projects using our new On the Diagonal Die as well as our new Stitched Ovals and Modern Mehndi made an appearance as well. Today, I think I'd like to share some projects using our new Cover Up Die: Swirls!

Seriously, this die makes me incredibly happy!!

Here is the project I used as our Pre-Release Sneak Peek.

Here I die cut this gorgeous panel from rose card stock and laid it over a lavender card base. I think heat embossed a sentiment from our Snarky Lady Stamp Set, which I LOVE, onto lavender vellum and wrapped it around my card base which I secured in the back using my tape runner. I think this is a rather perfect way to let this die do all the talking!

I was inspired to make this next card when I saw something that Jen Carter loaded into our private team gallery. I kind of slapped myself when I saw her card. I NEVER thought of "puzzle-ing-in" different colored swirls. Have a look...(thanks, Jen!!)

Here I used Swirls three times on three different colored card stock; grey, yellow and aqua. I removed some pieces from the main, grey panel and replaced those pieces with yellow and aqua so I'm sort of showcasing or hi-lighting different swirled areas!

My finished focal panel was adhered to a white card base and I guess I'm sort of obsessed with heat embossing.....I heat embossed the sentiment, "True Friends Don't Just Write On Walls" from our Snarky Sentiments Stamp Set in neon pink embossing powder. Side note, gel manicures and heat tools don't mix! Ask me how I know! 

Is this another cool way to use this die. Again, thanks to Jen Carter for inspiring me!

Okay, okay! You WIN! One more for today :)

Here I used our On the Diagonal Die to create two stitched layout panels which I laid over a kraft card base. But before I did any cutting, I stamped the largest leaf stamp from Modern Mehndi in several different colors to create a pattern. OH MY UH GOSH this stamp is my FAVORITE in the set!!!! I then heat embossed the "Celebrate" sentiment from our Spot On Stamp Set and added some enamel dots as embellishment.

Whoa, this is a long post so I'm going to wrap it up and remind you that we have the awesome Tracey McNeely with us this month as our Guest Designer and be sure to leave her some love and say hi as you hop today and leave some love for ALL of our designers as you hop as we're giving away three $15 gift certificates to Lil' Inker Designs from a secret prize blog which will be chosen at the end of our hop. You'll have until Sunday, November 24th at 11:30 PM, EST to comment to be eligible to win a prize.

Go now to Alicia Thelin's Blog for more inspiration using our new goodies. I'll see you tomorrow for the final day of our New Release Hop!

Thank you already for all of your orders, comments and enthusiastic feedback for our new goodies!!!

BEFORE I FORGET, read all about our Design Team Call going on now through November 25th!