Color Throwdown Wednesday & Lil' Inker Designs Sponsorship

Well, hi there!!!! Today is a very special Color Throwdown Wednesday. Not only is this week's challenge sponsored by my little company, Lil' Inker Designs, but all my bestest stampy friends are here to introduce the newest release...the Pinwheel Die and Pinwheel Sentiments stamp set!!!!

There will also be a prize this week! Read on!

This week, Tammy is our hostess and she chose a surprise palette for us today. Our colors are Navy, White and YOU PICK one single color of your choice! I decided to go with yellow. Interestingly enough, when I decided this I was wearing dark jeans with a yellow cardigan over a white top. Hmmmm......

Anywhoo, before I get to my project let me tell you a little bit about the pinwheels! The Pinwheel die is a steel rule, laser cut die made in the USA and will cut a variety of mediums (card stock, cork, felt, etc...). One die, will cut one pinwheel *petal* with one pass through your die cutting machine and six petals make a full pinwheel. It's easy and F.U.N. to play with! In fact, I have a tutorial HERE that will show you exactly how fun and easy it is! This die was made possible because of my partnership with Ariana Grant of ag designs who takes my ideas and turns them into computerized graphics ready for manufacturing. The coordinating pinwheel stamp set is a variety of sentiments with a pinwheel theme which can be used for lots of different occasions. The stamps are made of clear photo polymer and also manufactured in the USA. I use the BEST and most reputable companies to manufacture both of these products because we all deserve only the best, right? Right!

One stamp set and one die retail for $17.00 plus s & h, but there are other purchase options available. Actually, the 2 die bundle (with one stamp set) retails for $20 plus s & h and it seems to be the most popular option. You will only have to make three passes through your machine with two dies which is nice!

Here's a peek at what I did with this week's colors and the pinwheel die and stamps. I used the "You mean the whirl to me" sentiment which will be a card for mom for Mother's Day! I also made this for the SCS Fan Club interactive CT0411!



My pinwheel is a combo of papers from two different packs. I really wanted to use the floral from Thrift Shop (OA). Being that it's not double-sided paper (which I find the most fun to use for pinwheels) I cut another set of six petals from this herringbone pattern from the Hattie paper pad collection from My Mind's Eye. I love how these came together. To make this work, I glued the two papers together after cutting them out. Having a long stemmed brad really helped when working with the extra thickness of having twice as many pinwheel petals. Super EASY just a tad more work, but worth it. I think it's fun to mix and match papers from different collections! You likey? I just loved the addition of the satin navy bow to this project!

As I mentioned, almost all of the Color Throwdown designers are all working with their pinwheel dies and stamp sets today. Feel free to head on over to each of their blogs and leave them some love!

Tammy Hershberger
Leanne Pugliese
Kristin Bueter
Broni Holcombe
Barbara Anders
Danielle Kennedy
Cathy Indelicato
Carole Burrage April Guestie!

Also this week, I will be giving away a die and stamp set of your choice (Sentiment Flags or Pinwheels)to one lucky CTD participant. You can head on over to my shop to see the Sentiment Flags set which was my first release.

How can you be in the running? Well, make a card or paper crafted project with this week's colors. Upload it to an online gallery (using keyword CTD138) or to your blog and then provide a direct link to your project using the linky tool service we provide at the Color Throwdown blog. The prize winner will be announced with next week's Featured Stamper post on Tuesday, April 26th.

I really hope you love the pinwheel die and stamps. I love them so much!! They're just so fun to play with. I literally have a stock pile of fun pinwheels because I just can't stop!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Ingredients:
Stamps: Pinwheel Sentiments(Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper: So Saffron(SU!), Hattie(My Mind's Eye), Thrift Shop(October Afternoon)
Ink: Not Quite Navy(SU!)
Accessories: Pinwheel die(Lil' Inker Designs), twine(The Twinery & I Heart Papers), buttons(PTI), polkadots embossing folder(Cuttlebug), navy ribbon, silver pearls(AC Moore),

CTD Wednesday & The Pinwheel Die Tutorial

Well, hello there! Fancy meeting you here! I have a pretty lengthy post for you today as I'm here to share my Color Throwdown card but to also share with you a photo tutorial on how to use your Pinwheel die from Lil' Inker Designs. First, let's have a look at this week's challenge colors. I'm your hostess this week and I chose this fun palette based on the new Stella and Rose papers from My Mind's Eye that I just can't seem to put down. These colors are from the Mabel collection. Have a peek......

And here's what I created.... I started out knowing I wanted to use my Pinwheel Die and Pinwheel Sentiments stamp set because I wanted to share the tutorial with you today, but I needed a layout and it didn't take me long to realize that I hadn't used an MFT sketch for a little bit so I decided to use MFTWSC13 because I knew I could incorporate my Sentiment Flags die and stamp set too. Everything just sort of fell into place! I love it when that happens! I was BEYOND THRILLED to see that the *Blowing You Kisses* sentiment from the Pinwheels Sentiment stamp set fit right onto my Sentiment Flag die cut! I had NO IDEA! I love a happy surprise! Keith and I went to the most wonderful dinner party at our friends' house Saturday night. My friend Holly made the most out of this world fillet Mignon in a Merlot sauce and it literally melted in my mouth. It was better than anything I've ever had even from the Capitol Grill! I knew I wanted to send her a thank you right away so I thought this would be a fun way to do so by blowing her kisses! I hope she likes it! I hope you do too!

Make sure to stop by the Color Throwdown Challenge blog and read up on how to participate in this week's challenge and of course don't forget to stop and say hello to our fabulous design team. Here are the links to their blogs: Tammy Hershberger Kristin Bueter Broni Holcombe Barbara Anders Danielle Kennedy Cathy Indelicato And please help me welcome the amazing Carole Burrage as this month's guestie! Yay!

Still with me? GREAT! Now, how 'bout that tutorial? As I've been promising, here is a photo tutorial of how to use the new Pinwheel Die from Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs which is super easy and FUN!

Tools you will need: Pinwheel Die, die cutting machine, one brad (the longer the *stem* the better) Optional: glue dots, lollipop stick, embellishments

Meet the Pinwheel Die. Somewhere along the lines I've mentioned in my posting that it looks more like a worm than a pinwheel. With some easy assembly it will be a beautiful, 3-D pinwheel. Six die cuts will form your final or full pinwheel, so this is what one looks like.

This is 6 pinwheel petals all cut and waiting for assembly. I knew I wanted this fun orange dot pattern to be my *inside* pattern or the prominent pattern on my pinwheel so I placed my paper facing up and my die on top of it cut side down. So, choose your *inside* pattern (which is what I've been referring to it as), then inside pattern side up and die on top of it cutting side down.

After all your petals are cut, stack them all on top of each other and insert your brad into the hole on the longer, straighter edge of the die cut so that the *head* is on the opposite side and the *stem* is poking up through the stack and facing you.

Then, in order one by one start bringing over the opposite sides of the petals and secure onto your brad. We are basically working backwards, so you will be seeing your pinwheel from the back at this point. When each petal has been folded over, secure your brad closed. You may see something that looks like this:

or this after you've fanned everything out Flip it over and you're done! Ta-daaaaa! Isn't it so pretty and cute? You can use your pinwheel exactly like this, but I like to add a *stem* and some embellishments. Also, sometimes I lightly press my finger over the folds of the pinwheel to flatten them ever so slightly, but it's really not necessary.

I like to add a stem 2 different ways. A strip of paper works great, but here I'll show you how a lollipop stick is really fun! These are just the Wilton's lillipop sticks that are 2.5 in long. I think I got them on sale for $1.39 for 150 of them! I also like to add buttons and twine. I find all of these embellishments are easily secured with craft size glue dots.

I added coordinating buttons in a stack and tied with some hemp twine and then plopped it (technical term, ha) right onto my roll or glue dots.

Then, pull off the button embellie and add it right to the center of your pinwheel!

I add the stick by rolling one end of it in a glue dot

and then sticking it to the back of the pinwheel. And just for a bit of added, extra hold you can now add a piece of small tape over the stick. This method will even still allow you to adjust your petals afterwards if you do it carefully.

That's all there is to it, my friends! Here is your completed and embellished pinwheel! From here you can add it to a card or gift packaging or even a home decor project! And paired with the coordinating Pinwheel Sentiments stamp set it's at its cutest! So, it's pretty simple don't you think? I think so! There's no fumbling around and I find working with the brad the way I've shown you is very easy as well.

Now, admittedly, I tend to over complicate things. I've done this all my life.There could be an obvious and more simple way to do something, but I always over think it! This is the way that the pinwheels die works for me. You might even find something simpler that works for you!

The Pinwheel Die and coordinating Pinwheels Sentiments stamp set can be purchased from my shop blog HERE. One die and one stamp set retails for $17.00 plus s & h! Or you can opt to purchase 2 dies and one stamp set for $20.00 plus s & h. These items are also available individually.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing how easily this comes together! I just know you are going to love having these goodies in your collection to create fun cards, home decor and more!

Ingredients: Stamps: Pinwheel Sentiments, Sentiment Flags(Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs) Paper: kraft, aqua mist(PTI), Mabel Collection from Stella and Rose(My Mind's Eye) Ink: aqua mist(PTI), dusty durango(SU!), Accessories: Pinwheel die, Sentiment Flags die(Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs), small scallop border die(MFT), felt, buttons(PTI), hemp twine, brad, notebook edge punch, slot punch(SU!), baker's twine(Paper Treats on Etsy), lollipop stick(Wilton's)

Tonight's THE Night!

I am so happy to be here and FINALLY posting that the Pinwheels die and stamps are now, this very minute available for purchase! Somewhere very far away I hear Keva Brown jumping up and down! I hope a lot more of you are too! I am!!

Head on over to Shop Lil' Inker Designs to read all the juicy details!

A Little Something for Baby, Two Challenges & An Update!

So I'm here to share a little something I made for baby using the soon to be released Pinwheel die and stamp set from Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs!
I also wanted to participate in the March Gallery Challenge at Paper Crafts Connection as well as this week's That's Krafty Thursday #49. Have a look....


I think the pinwheel makes an UBER trendy card for baby! I hope you think so too!

I reached again for the My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose papers which I got at I Heart Papers and of course I used my new polkadots embossing folder from Cuttlebug which I also can't seem to put away! And here's a preview of another sentiment.....*Happy Baby Boy* is just another one of the fun sentiments that are in the Pinwheel Sentiments stamp set AND.....the stamps are currently in production as we speak! I should have them by the end of the week making this weekend the big release from Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs!

On a side note, my sewing machine has bit the big one! I could cry! I do think I can fix it with help from my Grandmother. So in place of stitching on this card I used my stapler instead to add texture. .....It's growing on me :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: Pinwheel Sentiments(Lil' Inker with ag designs)
Paper: So Saffron(SU!), kraft(PTI), Hattie(MME)
Ink: Not Quite Navy(SU!)
Accessories: Pinwheel die(Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs), button(PTI), toothpicks, button twine(7kidscollegefund), scallop border punch(SU!), stapler(my desk), Cuttlebug embossing folder

Color Throwdown Wednesday & Sneak Peek 3

(This is my second post for today. Please scroll down to see my card made using Chicken Girl Designs)

Helloooo!! Today is Color Throwdown Wednesday! Today Kristin is our hostess and she chose a challenging set of colors for us to work with today.

I basically saw that there was purple and then ran with it..... in a completely different direction. I opted for a more pastel version of our colors this week and chose not to use the optional mustard. In my defense :) I made an entirely different pinwheel using darker colors more like our swatch and it just wouldn't come together. I think I'm in such a Spring mode all of a sudden that pastel just felt better and lemme tell ya....it was no easy change as I'm STILL cutting pinwheels by hand! More on that in a min. Here's my design...



Again, I ran with the purple and fit in just a tad of green in my embellishments. I found this decorative purple dotted paper from American Crafts and I knew I had to use it, but the other side was PINK! I'm finding I really like using double sided paper when making pinwheels. So what I did to change the pink was glue a piece of lilac card stock to the other side and then cut everything out.

Yes, I'm still cutting. Apparently there was a mix up at the manufacturers. Good thing I checked in with them. I've been waiting a week for them to call me for payment and they haven't even begun to make them yet! Whoopps! So a slight delay to my dismay, but I'm hoping to have them SOON!

Check out my layout! I managed to squeeze in this month's SFYTT from Jen del Muro. WOW!!


This was a toughie! Wooo doggie! But I did it!! I'm so proud!

Today's card features another sentiment from the Pinwheel Sentiments stamp set (also coming soon). I think this one might be my favorite, "Your generosity blows me away." I'm liking it I tell ya!

So a little more about the pinwheel die..... by itself it cuts a piece of paper or a shape that more resembles a worm than anything close to a pinwheel. But in each end there is a hole and when you cut six of these worm shapes and assemble the ends together they make your whole pinwheel. I love that this is a three dimensional pinwheel instead of something that is flat and one dimensional. But I have to say I'm finding it very mailable which is a great thing!

Enough blah blah...As soon as I get my hands on a die I will be making a pictured tutorial on how to make and assemble a pinwheel for yourself. It's super easy, but I'd still love to show you how. (note to self, manicure!)

In the meantime, I'd love to see you play along with us this week at the Color Throwdown Challenge! Visit the challenge blog to read up on all details and don't forget to stop by the blogs of my fellow design team members for loads of inspiration (actually) using the colors for this week!

Tammy Hershberger
Kristin Bueter
Broni Holcombe
Barbara Anders
Danielle Kennedy
Cathy Indelicato
LeAnne Pugliese
Keva Brown, March Guest Designer.

Have a great day!

Questions or comments on my new pinwheel die and stamp set? I'd love to hear from you!

Ingredients:
Stamps: Pinwheel Sentiments(Lil' Inker Designs), egg hunt(PTI)
Paper: kraft(PTI), Orchid Opulence, Lovely Lilac, vellum, Cottage Garden(SU!), purple polkadot(American Crafts)
Ink: ink jet printer
Accessories: Pinwheel die(currently in digi form)(Lil' Inker Designs), polkadot embossing folder(Cuttlebug), green twine(I Heart Papers), button(SU!)

CTD Day & Sneaky Peek #2

Hieeee!!!! I'm very excited about today's Color Throwdown Challenge. I always am, but today is extra special as I'm doing another sneak peek at the second release from Lil' Inker Designs, Pinwheels Die and Stamp Set!!!!

Today the incredibly talented and inspiring Broni is our hostess and I squealed with delight when I saw what she chose for us to play with today. I had just received the new Stella and Rose papers from My Mind's Eye in the mail before I got crafting. There is NOTHING better than getting you new papers AND seeing that they match for the upcoming CTD. This color palette is awesome and I don't know if I will be able to stop using it! Have a look...


And here's what I created......


I started out knowing I wanted to make another pinwheel to share with you today. For those of you who saw my first sneaky peek HERE you know that I've been planning this pinwheel release for months and imagine my surprise when pinwheels started popping up in certain places! So I contacted Ariana my graphics designer and said "We've really got to get back to the drawing board!" All I can say is great minds really do think alike!

I flipped flopped so much back and forth on the design of this die. This is a single die that cuts one pinwheel *petal*. You will run this through your machine 4-6 times depending on the size you want your final pinwheel to be. My original design was a die that cut three at a time. As it turned out I thought the end product would be far too expensive so I opted for a much more affordable option which just a little more work. Lemme tell ya, I've been cutting these by hand because I don't even have a die yet. So if I can cut them by hand it will be EASY to run it through my Big Kick six times!



The Pinwheels coordinating stamp set I think you're going to love. It's loaded with sentiments with a pinwheel theme as well as some others that can can be used for different occasions for babies and more!! For this card I used the phrase "You Mean the Whirl to Me". Isn't that cute? You can use that for an anniversary or even a birthday! You know I love me some versatility!

The die and stamp set are not yet in my store but will be very soon! I invite you to follow my design blog here or the shop blog HERE so you can stay on top of all the upcoming release details. I hope you like this set as much as I already do!



Come on over to the Color Throwdown blog and find out all the deets on participating in our challenge! And please stop by the blogs of the CTD Design Team members for some amazing inspiration using today's colors.

Tammy Hershberger
Kristin Bueter
Broni Holcombe
Barbara Anders
Danielle Kennedy
Cathy Indelicato
LeAnne Pugliese
Keva Brown, March Guest Designer.

Thanks for stopping by! We'd love to have you play along!

Stamps: Pinwheel Sentiments(Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper: kraft, lemon tart, aqua mist(PTI), Hattie, Gertie(My Mind's Eye, Stella & Rose), vellum
Ink: ink jet printer
Accessories: Pinwheel die(Lil' Inker Designs), buttons(PTI), twine(I Heart Papers), rhinestones(my stash), sewing machine, texture plate(SU!)

New Release SNEAK PEEK! And a Giveaway!

Ok, I'm sorry. I made this tonight and I am so excited about sneaking you a peek at the new release from Lil' Inker Designs with ag designs that I ABSOLUTELY had to share this with you NOW!

Let me just back petal for a minute.....this is an idea that popped into my head MONTHS AND MONTHS MONTHS ago. Ariana and I have been volleying this idea back and forth for a while. I had a couple of different designs for this very die and this is the third which I was satisfied with. I started out with a flat, pointed ended die and I was calling it the quilt and pinwheel die (I love me some versatility). But I decided I wanted something different and with dimension and thus I'm sneaking you a peek at Pinwheels die and stamp set!!!!!







Now, I know, I know, I know what you must be thinking. All of a sudden pinwheels are popping up everywhere. I don't know how this happens. All I can say is great minds think alike. Amen. Funny enough, I actually got this idea from watching the Sprout channel with my son as their on screen logo is a tiny pinwheel.

We've been on a bit of a hiatus from designing so Miss Ariana could welcome baby boy Grant #2, Logan. Yaaaaayyyyyy But I'm happy to say we are back at it and have a laundry list of things coming for you this year!
(fingers crossed)

This die and stamp set are so new that I haven't even had a chance to add it to my store yet. All I can say is that it is awesome and fun and the coordinating stamp set has a BUNCH of versatile, fun and fresh sentiments that you will love using again and again!

If you're intrigued, I invite you to follow my design blog here or the Shop blog HERE so you can stay on top of all new release information. I should be doing a presale in the coming week or so! Very exciting stuff!

I hope you like it! I would love your feedback! If I receive over 25 comments and feedback about the new release I will give away a die and stamp set to one lucky person! I can't wait to hear what you have to say!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:
Stamps: Pinwheel Sayings(Lil Inker Designs)
Paper: Stella & Rose(My Mind's Eye), Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, Kraft(PTI)
Ink: inkjet printer
Accessories: Pinwheel die(Lil' Inker Designs), polka dot texture plate(SU!), buttons(PTI), rhinestone swirl(Queen & Co)