You're #1, Dad!

Just posting a card that I made weeks ago for the current (and about-to-end) Power Poppy Challenge: Pencil Me In (to use colored pencils as your coloring medium). I kept forgetting to post this so I could link it up! But, finally, here it is:

Before investing in my Copic markers, I used colored pencils with blending stumps and gamsol all the time. I was happy to pull them out to play with again, but was completely sad when I found that all of my gamsol had dried up in the meantime!!! So, no blending on this card, just very elementary-school-style coloring with pencils. But I had fun and loved the way it turned out. I used Power Poppy stamps from the Play Ball stamp set.

Gotta run--I need to go get this linked up before time runs out!

Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

Embossed Elements: Father's Day + a Giveaway

Greetings, friends! I'm here today with the May edition of my monthly Embossed Elements feature on the DeNami Design blog. Today I'm preparing for Father's Day with a pair of cards featuring the very cool Diamond Plate Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. It's perfect for those sometimes hard-to-create masculine cards!

My first card is a clean and simple one for Dad's Day. It uses just two DeNami stamps (Dad and Solid Block Border), two colors of ink (Habanero and Deep Lagoon), and two colors of cardstock. I used the Diamond Plate EF to emboss punched squares of cardstock. I love the bold, graphic look of this design. So easy to put together, too!

My second card is a little more involved, but really not too much more. And oddly enough, it has basically the same sketch as the first one! That was totally unplanned, but there you have it ;). For this one I used the Diamond Plate EF to emboss a panel of vellum as a background for my card. I diecut a few gear shapes (perfect for a guy card, right?) that go with that diamond plate background perfectly. Once again I used just two DeNami stamps in my design (Happy Father's Day and Stitched Rectangle) and two ink colors (Satin Red and Onyx Black). This design is perfect for any mechanically inclined dads!!

Thanks for taking a peek at my embossed Father's Day cards today. Be sure to take a peek below at my giveaway!

How would you like the chance to win this Diamond Plate Embossing Folder? I have one up for grabs in an Embossed Elements giveaway! Want to be in the running? Just leave me a comment on this post using the word "GUYS." There's no need to be a follower of my blog to enter, but if you are a follower (or become a new follower!), you can have a second entry in the drawing--just leave me a second comment telling me that you are a follower and how you follow. :)

I'll leave commenting open until 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 28, 2014, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, May 29, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

Thanks for joining me today!
Emily

DeNami Design Happy Monsters Sneak Peeks

Welcome to Day 3 of the DeNami Design Spring/Summer 2014 Release Sneak Peeks!! Today DeNami DT Member Tammy Hobbs and I are giving you sneak peeks of brand-new DeNami stamps about to be released on January 10!! Today's sneak peeks are in a brand-new category of DeNami stamps: it's the HAPPY MONSTERS! Be sure to read all the way to the end of this post for details on a great giveaway :D.

These little monsters definitely aren't the spooky kind {wink}. Let's see what kinds of projects you can make with them:

1) My first project is a Father's Day card! I used two cute little happy monsters from two new stamps, E173 Happy Monster w/Balloons and N146 Happy Monster Party. I stamped and fussy cut a large monster from the Happy Monster Party (leaving off his party hat). I also fussy cut the smaller monster, leaving off his party hat and balloon so the daddy monster and kid monster could hold hands! I also used the DeNami Happy Father's Day sentiment, Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Teal Chevron Washi Tape, and one of the new Chevron Embossing folders carried in the DeNami store.

2) My second project is a perfect card for saying hello to a far-off friend! It features the new I69 Happy Monsters in Car stamp, as well as the new E175 Balloon Trio. My card design was perfect for pairing up with the Sending You Smiles sentiment. And doesn't the Cloudy Sky embossing folder make a great background for my road-trip scene?

3) And finally, for my third project, I turned the new N146 Happy Monster Party stamp into a Valentine's Day card! I also used the brand-new F240 You Make Me Feel sentiment and some hearts from the Whimsical Valentine stamp set. Isn't it perfect? And so is the Layered Hearts embossing folder that I used as my on-theme background.

Are you still with me? I mentioned a giveaway way back at the beginning of this post. DeNami is giving away multiple gift certificates today, so be sure to leave a comment here on my post and then check out the DeNami blog for all of the different ways you can win today. :)

I'm so glad that you dropped in to check out some of the new Happy Monster stamps in the DeNami Design Spring/Summer Release! Be sure to tune into the DeNami blog tomorrow for giveaway winners and release full reveal.

Until then, have a day filled with bliss,
Emily 

Greatest Dad on Earth – Unity FWF

TGIF! Just a quick post to share a little something I made for today's Friends With Flair hop for Unity Stamp Co. This card is already winging its way to my dad for Father's Day.

I took a clean and simple approach to this card featuring a fun stamp or two from Unity's Retro Road Trip stamp kit and lots of washi tape.

My 10-year-old son has been making lots of cards this week. Be looking for him (Legoboy) to link up to today's FWF list later on. He started a card using loads of Unity stamps before school this morning but didn't finish it in time. He will wrap it up after school and link up then.

I hope you have awesome plans for the upcoming weekend! My husband and son are attending an all-day Cub Scout camp on Saturday, and we have plans for some special Father's Day celebrating on Sunday. There may be some special desserts involved. Just sayin'. ;-)

Thanks for sharing a little slice of bliss with me today!
Emily

My son has been busy . . .

So, our 14YO daughter is away this week on her 8th-grade class trip to Washington, D.C. She left early Monday morning and returns late Friday night. Our 10YO son has been kind of lost without her, so he's been asking to make cards with me. I'm tickled pink! It's keeping him busy (and taking his mind off his sister's absence) and giving us some fun stuff to do together.

We've been checking the daily challenge at SplitcoastStampers each morning and talking about what he'd like to make for it while we eat breakfast. And then if there's time, we'll start pulling out supplies before he heads off to school, and then he finishes up his project after school. He's doing a great job with everything! I have him cut and score his card bases (great math practice, as he needs to figure out where the halfway point is). And he's cut his panels and mats, too, figuring out the right sizes and margins along the way. He's a pro at stamping and punching, too!

I also showed him how to color with my Copic markers, which he loves! I'm not setting him loose on his own, mind you (they are just too expensive for that!), but sitting with him and giving him guidance on where to color light and dark, and showing him how to blend. The tendency of alcohol inks to bleed throws him off a bit, but he's doing a fabulous job.

He has been having soooooooooo much fun stamping with my DeNami stamps this week. I thought you might enjoy seeing what he's made so far:

A thank-you note for his band teacher (their last band practice will be tomorrow, so he'll hand-deliver his card with his hand-written message inside.) He made this for the SCS color challenge to use Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, and Daffodil Delight. The band stamp is an old one from Inkadinkadoo, and the rest are from DeNami Design: Just a Note from All Occasion Sentiments set and Mini Music Notes. We also used some Musical Notes Washi Tape from DeNami.
 

A Father's Day card for his daddy! He made this for this week's SCS sketch challenge.  He used Business Chickie, Computer Chickie, and Happy Father's Day cling stamp from DeNami.

This morning he made a thank-you card for one of his teachers (his regular 4th grade teacher is out on maternity leave right now, so this one is for his long-term substitute that his class is finishing out the year with.) He made this for this week's SCS ways to use it challenge, which is to make a one-layer card. My son LOVES using my Stamp-a-majig! The frame is from an old Stampin' Up set (Sweet Dreams). He also used Back to School Chickie and Brushed Thank You stamps from DeNami.

For my son, part of the fun of making these cards has been uploading them to his account on Splitcoast and seeing if anyone makes any comments. He's having a blast being part of the stamping community there!

Well, that's all for now--thanks so much for stopping by today and sharing a little bit of my proud-mama bliss!
Emily

Cool Dad

Today I'm sharing one last Father's Day card. This is the one that my kids and I will sign for my husband. We think he's pretty cool!

This is another hybrid card that I made completely from digital elements. All of the elements--patterned background paper, man, letters of "cool," and orange border--are digital components from Cosmo Cricket's Social Club collection that I printed on white cardstock, trimmed, and layered to create this card. One of the things that I love about working with digital elements (besides the facts that I can print my favorite elements again and again without fear of "using them up!" and can recolor elements easily) is that you can print elements in any size. To create my line of men, I simply resized the same man digital element several times and then printed and cut them out. I like how it looks like they are receding into the distance!

I made this card for a couple of Father's Day challenges: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #173 and Papercraft Star's Challenge #101. 

I hope you are having a good weekend! School is finally out (so there's no homework to wrangle with this weekend), and we are ready to have some fun.

Thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss today!

Emily

Paper:  PTI white; Blue Eyes digital paper; man, cool, border digital elements from Social Club Collection by Cosmo Cricket

Accessories:  Doodlebug brads

Neckties for Dad on FWF day

Are you here for Friends With Flair? I'm so glad you stopped by!

The kids and I are gearing up to celebrate Dad on Sunday. They have plans to make him a pitcher of hand-squeezed lemonade, and we'll end one of his favorite home-cooked meals with a layer cake for him. I thought it would be fun to make a trio of cake toppers so the kids can decorate it up a little bit:

Go ahead and click on the photo for a better, up-close view!

These would also be fun decorations on cupcakes!

I used a bunch of {ippity} stamps: sentiments from The Best, ties from Authentic Man, background from A Bit of Burlap. I upcycled some natural tissue paper from somewhere to make pleated medallion backing for each topper. Otherwise these are pretty straightforward!

Don't forget to see the list of all of today's FWF participants over on the Unity blog. I'm also linking this up to a couple of Father's Day challenges: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #173 and Papercraft Star's Challenge #101.

Thanks for checking out today's little slice of bliss!

Emily

Stamps: The Best, Authentic Man, A Bit of Burlap from {ippity} by Unity

Paper: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, Marina Mist cardstock from Stampin' Up!

Ink: Vintage Sepia Versafine

Accessories: circle punches, tissue paper, craft sticks

Hip Card for Dad

Just a quick post to share the card I made for my hubby to send to his dad for Father's Day:

No stamps were harmed in the making of this card! All of the patterned paper and elements came from the digital Social Club collection by Cosmo Cricket. Even though I didn't use any stamps, I did use some ink to distress the edges :).

I made this card for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #173, to make a Father's Day card. I would have used Flourishes stamps for it if I could--but I don't own any masculine Flourishes stamps! I'm also entering this in Papercraft Star's Challenge #101, Father's Day.

Thanks for dropping in!

Emily

Paper: Whisper White CS Stampin’ Up!, natural CS; Digital elements: Swingin’ digital paper; letters, hat, sunglasses digital elements from Social Club collection by Cosmo Cricket

Ink: Tea Dye Distress by Ranger Industries

Accessories: circle punch, sewing machine

Super-Star Dad

It's time for another DeNami Product Spotlight! This week we are focusing on the new cling-style Happy Father's Day sentiment to celebrate super-star dads:

 

And because all of the dads I know couldn't get along without their computers, I just had to feature the new cling-style Computer Chickie, too. Isn't he the sweetest? I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils using the blending technique I showed in my last tutorial for DeNami. Because my design is so star-studded, I also absolutely had to use the DeNami Teeny Star Background for both my Desert Orange panel and Leaf Green card base. A few star punches and star rhinestones were all I needed to round out my design!

 Because that awesome Happy Father's Day sentiment (isn't the font fantastic?) is our Product Spotlight this week, it's on sale for 10% off. Be sure to drop by the DeNami Design store in the next week so you don't lose out on the savings--just add it to your cart to get the discounted price. No coupon code required!

Don't forget to drop by the DeNami Design blog today to see how the rest of the DeNami design team used this fabulous Father's Day stamp! I know you'll get some awesome masculine-card inspiration. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today!

Emily

You're Special (and a photo tutorial)

A very happy Friday to all of you! Thanks so much for dropping by.

As some of you may know, I tend to take a budget-minded approach to my papercrafting. Rather than invest in pricey alcohol-based markers for coloring stamped images, I've had a lot of fun exploring cheaper options for coloring, including watercolor painting with dye inks (you can find my photo tutorial here) and coloring with colored pencils. When I first started using colored pencils, I was disappointed by how you could see pencil lines in the colored areas, often with white areas showing through. It wasn't long, though, before I discovered "Gamsol magic," a method of blending colored pencil coloring with odorless mineral spirits (OMS) and paper blending stumps. ("Gamsol" is an OMS brand name, just like "Band-Aid" is an adhesive bandage brand name.) OMS is a painting solvent that evaporates completely and leaves behind no residues. It dissolves the wax in colored pencil lines so that the pigment may be lifted and spread. OMS blending of colored pencil coloring allows nearly effortless shading and results in a beautiful, smooth finish.

For the sake of comparison, the chickie on the left (below) was colored with colored pencils only, but the chickie on the right was colored similarly then blended using OMS and a paper stump. See how much smoother and more even the coloring is? The colors even seem more vivid!

The new cling-style Computer Chickie stamp from DeNami

Anyway, the reason I'm sharing all of this information about colored pencils and the OMS blending technique is because I have a new photo tutorial on this technique debuting over on the DeNami Design blog today. In it I show how I did the coloring to make this card:

Isn't that DeNami Armchair Chickie the cutest? I thought this would make a cute card for Father's Day! I stamped the "You're special" sentiment from the Thoughtful Greetings stamp set on the outside and the new cling-style Happy Father's Day stamp on the inside. The patterned paper is from the new Handmade collection by Lily Bee Designs.

Now before I go, I wanted to share a few more tips on materials for this technique that I wasn't able to include in my tutorial on the DeNami blog.

• Look for odorless mineral spirits in the oil painting supply section of your favorite craft and hobby store. You can look for Gamsol or any odorless paint thinner containing 100% odorless mineral spirits. I was able to get Mona Lisa brand for an awesome price at my local A.C. Moore store.                  
• Rather than juggle a huge container of OMS in my crafting space, I pour a more manageable ounce or two into a small lidded glass moisturizer container to keep handy on my work table. OMS is flammable, so be sure to keep it covered tightly.
• You can find paper blending stumps in most arts/crafts stores; look in the fine arts supplies with the graphite pencils, charcoal, and pastels. They look something like this:
  
• The paper stumps are pretty cheap, and the double-ended stumps give me even more bang for my buck. So I dedicate one stump tip per color to avoid unintended color mixing. What happens if the tip wears down? You can sharpen it again quite simply with a sanding block or emery board.

I hope that I've been able to take some of the mystery out of the so-called "Gamsol magic" technique in today's post and that you'll take a peek at my tutorial on the DeNami blog.

Thanks for taking a look. Have a great weekend!

Emily

Friends with Flair: Father's Day Pillow Box

Today I'm sharing a project I made for Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop. Anyone with a project made with Unity stamps can join in! You can find details, prize information, and a full list of players on the Unity Stamp Company blog.

I'm still having fun with my new {ippity} by Unity stamp set called The Best, purchased with my recently won $20 {ippity} gift certificate and delivered with lightning speed by {ippity} chick Noelle Reese. I wanted a little treat to mail off to my dad with his Father's Day card, and this set was perfect for decorating a quick and easy little pillow box for him. I filled it with his fave candy bars--Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate, which I was thrilled to discover are now being sold in Pack-A-Snack size. Perfect!!
A pillow box cutting file from The Cutting Cafe made this treat box project quick and easy, and a sheet of patterned paper from BasicGrey's Wander collection kept it fun yet masculine.

I'm entering this project in the {ippity} challenge to make anything but a card, as well as the All Things Unity challenge to Get Manly.

Thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss today. Making the perfect treat for someone special definitely makes me happy!
Emily
Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Best by {ippity}
Paper: MFP natural vanilla bean CS, BasicGrey Wander collection DP, SU scraps: wild wasabi, so saffron, cherry cobbler
Ink: Versafine onyx, Palette l'amore red
Accessories: scissors, gold eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, SU 1" circle punch, hemp twine, pillow box cutting file from The Cutting Cafe