{Paper Smooches} Spookalicious

I have loads of Paper Smooches Halloween goodness to share with you today! These are the same cards Kim is sharing on the Paper Smooches Blog and of course it's the eve of the new release so you'll want to snatch up this super fun set at midnight tonight! ;)

This first card mixes the new Spookalicious with last year's Halloweenies. They go perfectly together! I was giggling the entire time I made this and my husband couldn't stop laughing when he saw it. I know, I say that about a lot of my Paper Smooches cards but Kim's illustrations are so cute and funny, I can't help it! I love the look on the vampire's face. LOL The sentiment is also from Spookalicious and the witch and spider are from Halloweenies.

I made this second card to show the versatility of Spookalicious. It's not only for Halloween cards! The pumpkin in this set could be dressed up in a million different ways but since it's hollow inside, you can stretch it out and make different pumpkin shapes or balloons as I've done here! Only the green chevron balloon is in the pumpkin's original shape. Isn't that chevron owl the cutest? I used pretty, summery papers to make this into an any-occasion celebration card with a sentiment from Simply Said.

The August release of Spookalicious, Graffiti and Daisies & Paisleys is tonight! Will you be shopping? :D I can't wait to see what you make with these wonderful stamps!

Sources for You're Bootiful: Gina K Designs pure luxury white & black cardstock; Echo Park Apothecary Emporium Collection; Paper Smooches Spookalicious & Halloweenies; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copic markers; 0.3mm black Copic liner; foam tape

Sources for Happy Everything: Gina K Designs pure luxury white cardstock; Echo Park Country Drive paper pad; Paper Smooches Spookalicious & Simply Said; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU More Mustard & Wild Wasabi inks; May Arts natural burlap string; foam tape; We R Memory Keepers corner chomper

Paper Smooches Winner Announced!

Good morning! I'm here to announce my winner from the July Paper Smooches Release Blog Hop on Thursday and that lucky lady is:

Congratulations, Kelly! Please email me with your mailing address so we can get Daisies & Paisleys sent out to you right away.

Thank you all for hopping along with the Paper Smooches design team for this release! See you on the Paper Smooches Blog for inspiration all month long. Have an amazing weekend!!

July Paper Smooches DT Blog Hop!

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the Paper Smooches August stamp release with you! The three NEW clear stamp sets will be available to purchase on August 1st. You will find them HERE. Follow the Paper Smooches blog for more sneak peeks.

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! Just leave a comment on any of the five design team blogs listed below for your chance to win one of the three new August stamp sets! (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify) You have until midnight MT on Friday, July 27th to leave a comment. Please check all five blogs on Saturday, July 28th to see if you are one of the five lucky winners.

• Emily Leiphart <--- You are here.
• Heidi Van Laar
• Kalyn Kepner
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Teri Anderson

To increase your chances of winning:

1. Leave a comment on this blog post

2. Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop

3. Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop

4. Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to four chances to win on each blog)

My card features all of the paisleys and a sentiment from one of the upcoming releases, Daisies & Paisleys. They are so beautiful and there are endless possibilities with this set. I chose to create a partial background around the sentiment and watercolour the paisleys with distress inks. This is still a clean and simple design and the watercolouring was the most time-consuming part of it but it was so much fun! Both the design and colour possibilities with this set are infinite. I added gems to the centres of the largest paisleys to finish the card and give it a bit of bling.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Remember to check back here on Saturday to see if you are the lucky winner of Daisies & Paisleys!

Sources: Hero Arts felt bright white watercolor cardstock; SU Natural White cardstock; Paper Smooches Daisies & Paisleys (available August 1st), Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Tim Holtz for Ranger Tumbled Glass, Milled Lavender, Scattered Straw & Frayed Burlap distress inks; watercolor brush; SU Basic Rhinestones

Join Us

My son's fourth birthday is in less than three weeks. For the longest time, he wanted an Octonauts party but changed his mind a couple weeks ago to a Lego City party. We found Lego plates and cups at the party store last week. There were even pre-printed invitations which would've made it so easy and less time-consuming but I wouldn't have had the satisfaction of making them myself. Of course, I don't have any Lego stamps so I improvised. He's into all the emergency and construction vehicles, not to mention the brand new mining series so it was easy to find stamps that fit any one of those themes.

I started by die cutting the skylines in two colours so I could layer them to create a dimensional scene. Then I stamped a whole bunch of tissue boxes from Healthy Vibes to serve as stacked Lego blocks. I adhered them in pairs and stamped the sentiment from Alfresco on the top block and the face from Healthy Vibes on the bottom. Next, I heat embossed all of the helicopters from Sunny Side Up and fussy cut them. Then I assembled the twine and attached the blocks to the helicopters. That was the most time-consuming part of these invitations and I was chuckling to myself the entire time. My son is going to squeal when he sees these and I know he'll tell me that's not where they attach cargo on helicopters! However, it was the most logical and easiest place for this purpose. ;) After I finished putting all the cards together, they seemed to need a bit more so I added some Lil' Inker Designs cloud dies, adhered flat to the card base.

My husband and I came up with the idea of Lego mini-build loot bags so we picked up all the pieces for the loot bags at the Lego Store. I'm going to do a step-by-step printout for the parents and package everything up in favour bags with the kids' names on them. I can't wait to share them with you when I'm done!

See you tomorrow for the Paper Smooches August release blog hop! :D

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury white cardstock; SU Real Red & Night of Navy cardstock; Paper Smooches Sunny Side Up, Healthy Vibes & Alfresco; Memento Tuxedo black ink; ColorBox Frost White pigment ink; Zing white embossing powder; Lil' Inker Designs Rainbows & Clouds dies; My Favorite Things Die-namics Skyline; The Twinery Stone baker's twine; foam tape

You're My Universe

Kim is sharing this card on the Paper Smooches Blog today. It features four stamps from one of the July releases, Space Cadet. I die cut the map paper in a circle to create the earth for the telescope to stand on. The telescope itself is coloured with Copic markers and the stars are embellished with Stickles.

I also wanted to share a card my son made with this set as soon as it arrived a month ago. Of course, he thought this stamp set was the best! He did all the stamping, glittering and adhering of the stickers as a tribute to his Dad, whom he calls Kwazii from the Octonauts. It makes sense, doesn't it? LOL

Sources: Currys Japanese Linen Avocado cardstock; Gina K Designs pure luxury white & black cardstock; October Afternoon Boarding Pass - Sydney; Paper Smooches Space Cadet; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Hero Arts Soft Stone shadow ink; Copic markers; Ranger Diamond Stickles; Spellbinders Standard Circles Large; foam tape

Celebrate You

Today, half of the Avocado Arts Pit Crew is sharing projects featuring the July release, Bold Celebrations. Mine is an any-occasion card. I curved the string with clips on my acrylic block and stamped it twice at two different lengths. Then I fussy cut a bunch of flags from patterned paper and randomly adhered them to the clips.

I created my own sentiment by stamping 'celebrate' and 'you' from 'a gift for you'. Then I added different sized rhinestones to various flags to finish the card.

If you'd like to purchase this fantastic set, just click on the graphic above! Avocado Arts would love to see you using their stamps. Remember, there's a publication incentive, too! ;) Don't forget to check out my super-talented team mates for more inspiration with Bold Celebrations.

Emily Branch
Julie Masse
Kelley Eubanks
Teri Anderson

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury wild dandelion cardstock; My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dilly Dally paper pad; Avocado Arts Bold Celebrations; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Real Red ink

A Beautiful Place

This card is on the Hero Arts Blog today and it's my last official card for my Hero Hostess term. These three months have really flown by and I am so grateful to Hero Arts for this amazing opportunity! I decided to combine the Hero Arts July Contest's Summer Adventures theme and technique challenge of Creating Paper Flowers.

I started this card by stamping the Designer Woodgrain on the card base. I used the two small flower dies from Bold Pop Designs to punch many layers of white and mauve Japanese rice paper that I had in my stash. I layered them in alternating colours, secured everything with a brad in the centre and embellished them with buttons threaded with baker's twine. Then I ruffled all the layers to give the flowers dimension. The sentiment frame is from Sending You Love and was die cut with the coordinating Small Tag Frame. The sentiment is from Wonderful World.

I'll be hosting a Hero Arts Scramble the first weekend in August so please mark your calendars! I will announce the exact date and time soon. There will be prizes!! ;)

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury white cardstock; Japanese white & mauve rice paper; DCWV glitter cardstock; Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain; Hero Arts+Sizzix Bold Pop Designs; Hero Arts Sending You Love; Hero Arts+Sizzix Small Tag Frame; Hero Arts+Studio Calico Wonderful World; VersaColor Sky Gray pigment ink; Hero Arts Soft Leaf shadow ink; Hero Arts Iris chalk ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Basic Grey buttons; The Twinery Honeydew baker's twine; foam tape

Miss You, Friend

It's hard for me to put away these Flip Flop Dies. They are so cute! I could make a card for every single friend with them. :)

This time, I used the neon colours from the Hero Arts July Contest colour challenge. The card base features the Plano stamp in Snow chalk ink. The month is half over and I haven't touched my Summer Stamp School set so I pulled it out and used the sentiment and arrows on this card. These stamps are made by Hero Arts and I love them so you'll be seeing more cards featuring them soon!

I have a couple of popped ribs and a swollen disc so I've been icing my back a lot. If I were outside, the ice would feel great but inside I have to wear a sweater and two fleeces to tolerate the huge ice pack. Brrr!

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft cardstock; SU Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight & Tangerine Tango; Hero Arts Plano; Studio Calico+Hero Arts Summer Stamp School; Hero Arts Snow chalk ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Lil' Inker Designs Flip Flop dies; Spellbinders Standard Circles Large; SU Basic Pearls; foam tape

OMG

Kim is sharing my professor card on the Paper Smooches Blog today so I thought I'd share this other one I made for the July release. It features the laundry basket and spritz bottle from Squeaky Clean! When I saw that spritz bottle, I immediately knew I wanted to pair it up with the baby from Pip Squeaks and the OMG sentiment from Qwick Qwips 'cause it's just something that should never happen. Hopefully it's just water in that bottle. LOL This is the little backyard scene that resulted. The baby is actually masked into the laundry basket so they are one piece. The clothes line, clothing and clips are also from Pip Squeaks and the speech bubble is from He Said, She Said. The post and grass stamps are from Hang Ups. Are you smiling? ;D

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury white cardstock; SU Crumb Cake cardstock; Echo Park Little Girl Collection; Paper Smooches Squeaky Clean, Pip Squeaks, Qwick Qwips, He Said, She Said & Hang Ups; Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa & Gray Flannel inks; SU Garden Green, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi & Island Indigo inks; Copic markers; Eclipse masking tape; foam tape

Dazzling Day

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It's been a crazy few weeks and I finally had a chance to relax a bit and stamp for fun. That doesn't happen to often. LOL I made today's card for the Hero Arts July Contest's Summer Adventures theme. It uses the Clouds background and a couple of new stamps. I finally got the Designer Woodgrain after drooling over it for which seems like an eternity, and I used it as water for my beach scene. I inked the sentiment from Many Birthday Messages in two colours. Of course, I couldn't help but include a pair of sparkly flip flops which were released by Lil' Inker Designs last week. :)

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous start to your week!

Sources: Bazzill kraft cardstock; Gina K Designs black & white cardstock; SU Real Red cardstock; DCWV glitter cardstock; Hero Arts Clouds, Designer Woodgrain & Many Birthday Messages; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Ranger Tumbled Glass & Broken China distress inks; SU Real Red ink; Lil' Inker Designs Flip Flop Dies; foam tape

Thanks for the Perfect Day

Today, the entire Avocado Arts Pit Crew has loads of inspiration to share with you! We've all made cards featuring the July release, Bold Celebrations, with sneak peeks of the upcoming August release, Perfectly Perfect Day.

I used the banner string and clips from Bold Celebrations as a fence to anchor my quick and easy little scene. The dragonfly, trail and sentiment are all from next month's release, Perfectly Perfect Day. If you love nature and the outdoors, even travel, you are going to love the August set!

Please visit these amazing blogs for more inspiration:

AJ Otto
Ashley Harris
Becky Oehlers
Cristal Hobbs
Emily Branch
---> Emily Leiphart <---
Julie Masse
Kelley Eubanks
Latisha Yoast
Teri Anderson
Vera Yates

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury white; SU Real Red; Bazzill kraft cardstock; Avocado Arts Bold Celebrations & Perfectly Perfect Day (available August 1st); Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Real Red & Old Olive inks; Ranger Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Shabby Shutters & Peeled Paint inks; Copic markers

Lil' Inker Designs July Release Blog Hop {Day 5}

Welcome to {Day 5} of the Lil' Inker Designs July Release! If you arrived from Teresa Kline's blog, you're on the right track. If you'd like to start at the beginning, please go to Laura Pryor's blog for all the details. Today, the entire design team is featuring projects that include one or both of the July releases!

My first card uses the Sunshine Dies & Stamp Set. I created a very simple card to show off the sun with the clouds from the Rainbows & Clouds Dies. I included three lines of whimsical stitching for a breeze. The vellum die cut is the oversized banner from the Flags & Tags Dies.

This second card features the Flip Flop Dies, this time with the bow embellishment. I used a sentiment from the Flags & Tags Stamp Set and everything sits inside the Texture Plate Collection - Frame 1.

Here's the blog hop order for today so you don't miss an ounce of inspiration! Leaving a comment on every hop stop this week will give you more chances to win one of $10 gift certificates to the Lil' Inker Store.

Laura Pryor

Amy Kolling

Jen Carter

Sarah Jay

Teresa Kline

---> Emily Leiphart <---

Debby Hughes

Alicia Thelin

Thank you so much for stopping by all week long to celebrate this release with us. I look forward to seeing what you do with these dies and stamps!

Sources for Shine On: Gina K Designs pure luxury white cardstock; SU So Saffron, Tangerine Tango & vellum cardstock; Lil' Inker Designs Sunshine Dies & Stamp Set; Lil' Inker Designs Rainbows & Clouds Dies; Lil' Inker Designs Flags & Tags Dies; Staz-On Jet Black ink; Gutermann white thread; foam tape

Sources for Birthday Wishes: SU Natural White & Real Red cardstock; Gina K Designs pure luxury kraft & black cardstock; Lil' Inker Designs Flip Flop Dies; Lil' Inker Designs Flags & Tags Stamp Set; Lil' Inker Designs Texture Plate Collection - Frame 1; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Ranger Frayed Burlap distress ink; SU Basic Rhinestones; foam tape

Lil' Inker Designs July Release Blog Hop {Day 4}

Welcome to {Day 4} of the Lil' Inker Designs July Release! If you arrived from Alicia Thelin's blog, you're on the right track. If you'd like to start at the beginning, please go to Laura Pryor's blog for all the details. Today's feature is all about the Flip Flop Dies & Stamp Set! This is a concept I brought to Laura's attention several months ago and I'm so excited that it's now a reality. I love that you can do so much with these little flip flops. There are thong and regular sandal tops that can be embellished. I even used the small flowers as centres and sole cushion/designer label as leaves on my {Day 2} card! I can imagine using the small bows to embellish people or animal stamps, too. How's that for versatility? A huge thank you to Laura and Ariana for bringing my vision to life!

On my shaped card, I used one of the floral backgrounds on the entire base and heat embossed it. Then I featured a pair of cute flip flops and sentiment in summery colours. I stamped the sentiment on the original Sentiment Flag die and the little circle is the same circle that is on the little flowers. So cute! I can see myself sending flip flop cards to all my girlfriends and I bet you can, too. ;)

Now it's time to send you over to Jen del Muro's blog! If you missed the Flip Flop hop on {Day 3}, here are the posts you'll want to leave comments on for your chance to win one of two $10 gift certificates to the Lil' Inker Store.

{Day 3}

Laura Pryor

Amy Kolling

Jen Carter

Sarah Jay

Teresa Kline

Debby Hughes

{Day 4} 

Laura Pryor

Alicia Thelin

---> Emily Leiphart <---

Jen del Muro

Debby Hughes

Here's what the dies and stamps look like in their entirety. If you'd like to purchase either of these now, just click on the graphics and you will be taken to the Lil' Inker Store!

See you again tomorrow when the entire design team showcases both products from this month's release!

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury white & kraft cardstock; SU Real Red & Daffodil Delight cardstock; Lil' Inker Designs Flip Flop Dies & Stamp Set; Lil' Inker Designs Sentiment Flag Die; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Color Box Frost White pigment ink; Zing! white embossing powder; Spellbinders Labels One; foam tape

You're One Cool Chick

Kim shared this card on the Paper Smooches Blog yesterday. It uses the iPod from this month's Teen Routine with a sentiment from My Peeps. I made the iPod pink by paper piecing with pink and grey papers from Echo Park's Be Mine Collection. Since the papers are slightly distressed, I sponged around the edges of the shaped-card for a grunge princess look. I have to admit, this set was a little hard for me to use 'cause I'm not into gadgets. I had to look up the terms and colours for all of these things. LOL! I am fairly decent with computers but I just don't have any desire to collect and use a lot of high-tech electronic gadgets. I don't feel a need for them or have the desire to spend money on them when there's tons of crafty things to be had. ;)

Sources: SU Natural White cardstock; Echo Park Be Mine Collection (Hot Pink/Light Grey); Paper Smooches Teen Routine and My Peeps; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Color Box Grey Whale pigment ink; Ranger Frayed Burlap distress ink; Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles

Lil' Inker Designs July Release Blog Hop {Day 2}

Welcome to {Day 2} of the Lil' Inker Designs July Release! If you arrived from Teresa Kline's blog, you're on the right track. If you'd like to start at the beginning, please go to Laura Pryor's blog for all the details. This month, Lil' Inker Designs is releasing two incredible sets of stamps and coordinating dies. The first one is Sunshine Dies and Sun Sentiments. There are two sizes of Sunshine Dies and they are sold together with the coordinating stamps or individually without the stamps. You choose! Here's the card I made using both Sunshine Dies as well as loads of other Lil' Inker Designs products.