Lil' Inker Designs Honors Layton's Legacy

I feel very honored to be a part of the Layton's Legacy Blog Hop with Lil' Inker Designs. The sweet Leah Lawson has organized this card drive and fundraiser for NICU parents. I have barrowed her words to give you a bit of insight into her story. 

From Lea, "Today a dream of mine is coming true, as this Card Drive & Fundraiser goes live in honor of my sweet little bear, Layton Caleb. Hi friends! In case you don't know me, my name is Lea Lawson & I've been part of this wonderful papercrafting industry since 2002. Today is extremely special to me, and let me introduce the baby behind the blog hop!

Meet Layton - our little fighter and hero for 5 months & 7 days. Layton came into this world 11 weeks

early on June 9th, 2016 with 2 serious health conditions.

He endured more medically on a daily basis than most adults face in an entire lifetime.

And on November 17, 2016 he joined his big sister in Heaven.

We were given those 5 months with Layton thanks to the level 4 NICU & amazing medical staff at

The University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital. There are 50 beds in that NICU,

and it is ALWAYS full. In honor of Layton's birthday,

I am raising money to purchase substantial Starbucks gift cards that can be given to these

parents as they find themselves thrust into NICU life.

Why Starbucks? There is one just across the street from the hospital,

and I can attest that some days you just need to step out of the hospital for a moment.

Get a breath of fresh air, see some natural light & regroup.

I was given a $20 Starbucks card that had been

donated to the NICU during the time Layton was a patient,

and I cried when I opened it. My son was getting million dollar care,

and I was there day in & day out doing everything I could for him.

It was stressful, scary, and one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

Getting that gift card felt like someone was also thinking about us,

and trying to help take care of us too."

 I just knew these sweet bears from the Rustic Christmas stamp set would be perfect for the theme of this hop. I inked up with black ink and then colored them with my Copic markers and then cut them out with the matching Rustic Christmas dies. 

I used the tree images and stamped them in the background. I added a sentiment from the I'll Be Brief stamp set along the bottom of the kraft card stock panel.  The finishing touch was the Stitched Stars I cut out at the top of the panel, and the sweet little red enamel heart. 

Check out the sponsors! 

Here's what you can do.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

1. DONATE! - directly to Layton's Legacy YouCaring Fundraiser. For every $5 donated,

you will be entered into the drawing for one of the prizes above!!

All winners will be drawn from donations made thru the YouCaring Site.

**Prizes will be drawn and announced here on my blog on Saturday, May 19th.**

2. SHOP!

-Pinkfresh Studio will be donating 10% of their sales for the week.

-CAS-ual Fridays Stamps will be donating 15% of their sales thru May 19th.

-My affiliate linking dollars will be donated thru May 19th.

3. CREATE! -  this is also a card drive,

and if you'd like to create a card using the theme/moodboard below,

I would love that! I will be including these handmade treasures with the giftcards when

I hand them over to the NICU social worker, and my dream is that the NICU will be covered in

beautiful creations inspired by Layton!!

Link them up HERE, and then please email me (lea@lealawsoncreates.com)

to get the address for sending - and note that I will need them to arrive by May 31st.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are inspired in some way today. I am proud and honored to support Lea and this mission. Love, Prayers, and Hugs to her and her husband.

Hugs, Lisa