I'm supposed to be ironing.......

......but when I saw the August Monthly Meetup challenge at the Lil' Inker blog was Anything Goes, I put that off for another day and pulled out my brand new (to me)  Circles & Diamonds Stitched Pattern die and had a play.  This is a different kind of die, in that it cuts the stitched pattern into paper, and then you use the Darling Diamonds stamp set to give it more detail and color.  I just got this die last week, haven't had the time until today to really experiment with it.  I paired it with my stamp set, and ended up with three four cards for this challenge, the first 3 based on various color schemes from past color challenges that I've played in.  ETA: after looking at all of these lined up, they kind of represent each season.  This first one would be summer:

This also uses Lil' Inker's Spring Flower die and a die-cut sentiment.  The colors come from this color challenge, and you can see that I was influenced by those sunflowers, too:

Card #2 is a Christmas design:

The khaki centers were stamped twice with the striped stamp, turning it 90 degrees to get this checked/plaid look.  I trimmed down the stamped panel for this one, framing it in kraft and placing it on a red card base.   I added a stamped sentiment and some sparkly snowflakes.  Here's the color challenge that inspired this card:

And I'm back to fall with my third entry:

Since the orange peel shapes were in different colors, they reminded me a bit of falling leaves, and I ran with that idea.  A happy coincidence is that this stitched frame works perfectly in size with this design, so I added it as an inner frame to bring in more of the aqua.  I also added a die-cut sentiment and some falling leaves to the mix.   These colors came from this challenge:

..............and then I read the fine print for the challenge: "Projects should exclusively feature LID goodies to be eligible to win but do not need to exclusively feature LID goodies to participate."  Okay, then, here's one more in spring colors using pinks and mints that follows the rules!

I love the center diamond with the heart, so that is featured on this card.  I didn't want to cover up anything, so I stamped my sentiment from Spot On on vellum and embossed it in silver, scored and folded my vellum strip so that it stood up above everything else,  then added some pink pearls on either side.

To say that I'm thrilled with this Circles and Diamonds die and stamp combo is an understatement - I love that you can use it with as little as 2 colors and as many as 4, and I'm sure more than that.  It lends itself to embellishing, yet it's interesting enough on it's own to stand by itself with just a sentiment.  The designers of the stamp set gave us some really fun patterns to fill in the stitched areas with.  Before I made cards I was a quilter, and I love that now I can make my own paper quilts whenever I'm in the mood.  I evidently miss making quilts, and could have gone on.......except for that darn ironing!!  Thanks for sticking with me for this long post!

 

Happy 5th Birthday, Lil' Inker!