A Craft Dash Hello

Hello there, friends! Today DeNami Design Rubber Stamps is sponsoring this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge! Sweet Paulina invited the DeNami Design team to play along. Challenge #20 features the colors hot pink, tangerine, and gray. Such an interesting and unique color combo!

Is the idea of completing a {usable} card in under 10 minutes as frightening to you as it is to me??? This is the third time that I've played along with 10 Minute Craft Dash as a DeNami Design team member, and I must say that it hasn't gotten any easier. But it's still fun to try!! Here's what i made this time around:

My hot pink comes in the form of Cherry Pink Impress ink from DeNami. I used it to stamp flower petals from the Solid Flower Accents cling stamp set. My tangerine shows up as the DeNami Golden Tangerine cardstock that I used for my card base and the tangerine flower center, stamped with the circular grid from the Whimsical Garden cling stamp set and colored with a Copic marker. My gray elements include the punched frame I used to mat my focal image, the gray background polka dots on the card base (DeNami Polka Dot Background stamped in Smokey Gray Versafine ink), and the perfectly scripted "Hello" found in the Assorted Greetings petit four stamp set.

My time for this overly ambitious design? I just squeaked in under the wire at 9:58. Whew! I was really sweating it as I tried to quickly peel off the foam-tape backing while completing the final step of mounting the focal panel ;) .

Want to give this challenge a go? I think you ought to – there is an awesome prize at stake! Check it out:

If you don't already have any DeNami Design stamps, then this is a great way to start your collection with no risk ;-). And if you do? Then you have the chance to feed your addiction! The challenge runs from June 19, 2013, through June 29, 2013.


Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have an awesome Wednesday!
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

A New Fold

I nearly forgot to check for the Flourishes May Release challenge! How did that happen??? I guess I've been pretty distracted lately and not too interested in crafty pursuits. Anyway, I caught the Colorful Creations Challenge just in time to play along this morning before the challenge ends tomorrow. It's a challenge to use at least three colors from the combo shown in this graphic:

I used the brand-new, beautifully stippled Bees & Blooms stamp set from Flourishes. I won it last month from the super-sweet Silke Ledlow (thanks SO much, Silke!), and this is my first time inking it up. I'm not sure that linen-textured paper was the best choice for this image (I think I lost some of the stamp's fine detail), but I think this will pass if you look at it from the "worn, faded look" angle. The sentiment is from Flourishes' Tag Lines.

The fold style of this card is something new and different for me. My daughter received a thank you note yesterday from a friend that looked like this:

My inspiration!

We thought it looked pretty cool and sophisticated, so my daughter eagerly agreed to let me keep it for inspiration. I couldn't wait to try out a similar fold! I think this would work wonderfully as an all-occasion note card OR a gift card holder, don't you?

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

Coral, Yellow, and Turquoise Challenge

Today a new CARDS Blog Color Challenge goes live over on the CREATE blog. The whole DeNami Design team is pretty excited about it because DeNami Design is sponsoring the challenge! It is all about coral, yellow, and turquoise--such a fun color combo for spring!

Here's how I combined these pretty colors with my DeNami stamps {Happy Mother's Day (cling), Sending You Love, Open Box, Whimsical Valentine stamp set} to create a Mother's Day card.

Want to play along with these fun colors for a chance to win a FABULOUS prize from DeNami Design? Be sure to check out all the challenge details in the challenge post on the CARDS blog.

Thanks for dropping in! Have a day filled with bliss,
Emily

More Summer Lovin'

I have another card to share for the Summer Lovin' release-week challenge over at Flourishes.

This one was inspired by the colors in the challenge graphic.

I used two Flourishes stamp sets for my creation: Strawberries and Tiny Flowers and Tags. That beautiful crocheted mat was handmade by my sweet friend Jessi. You can buy them from Jessi here. You'll love them--I know that I do :D.

It will be a busy day--I'm gearing up for the kids' Spring Break next week. Gotta run!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Anniversary Medallion

Okay, here I am playing with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes again. Yes, I know, it's my third time this week. I've got to admit – my first two attempts at this challenge were not my favorites. Since I just wasn't satisfied with my use of blues and yellow for this color challenge thus far, I had to give it one more shot. Here we are:

Deep sigh. Now, this one makes me happy! Plus, I have a much needed anniversary card for my stash. There will be lots coming up in the next few months!

I used two Flourishes stamps sets to create this card: Medallion Motif and Tag Lines.

Thanks for sharing my little slice of bliss today,
Emily

Easter Alleluia

Another Easter card for my stash:

I'm playing along again with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes for their March stamp release week and used their He is Risen set. It's a color challenge:

I'm not sure how I feel about the very traditional feel of this design, but I know one of my aunts will love it. I added a ruffle around the oval panel with washi tape. Talk about easy! Looks great but won't add much bulk when I stuff the envelope with this card. That diecut label I used for the sentiment came from my very dear and sweet friend Colleen. Thanks so much, Col!

I'm also playing along with the Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Wishing you a fabulous day,
Emily

Easter Greetings

A quick post to share a 10-minute, one-layer Easter creation I made with my Flourishes stamps (using the Paperwhites and He is Risen sets) and some washi tape:

I'm playing along with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes for their March stamp release week. It's a color challenge:

Thanks for taking a peek!
Emily

Happy St. Patty's Day

I know that many folks don't bother with cards for St. Patrick's Day, but I really like making and sending them. It's fun to celebrate a bit o' green to get in the mood for impending spring! Sending out these cards is a great way for me to stay in contact with my folks and aunts, too.

After filling my crafty time with design team assignments this week, it was fun to create just for the sake of creating. So here's what I ended up with.

I'm test-driving some brand-new New Leaf cardstock that I purchased from Papertrey Ink with the $60 gift certificate I won in PTI's 6th anniversary celebration last month. I adore this shade of green! And it was perfect for a St. Patrick's Day card. I dug deep into my hoard collection of Basic Grey 6" x 6" patterned paper pads to find this awesome green and white chevron print. And that fun gray shamrock background paper? A digital patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket. I love my digital elements!

I think this DeNami Design Happy St. Patrick's Day sentiment is the best! So whimsical and perfectly scripted. And how genius is that shamrock as an apostrophe? I also used a chevron border from the DeNami Modern Borders set for the center of my handmade twine-y flower embellishment featuring Peapod baker's twine from The Twinery.

I'm playing along with a few challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp challenge: A Bit o' Green 
• Inkspirational: Shades of Green                                                                         
• The Chevron & Green challenge at The Twinery                        

In addition to a bit of recreational crafting yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time getting ready for Career Day at my daughter's middle school today. It's an early release day, so the guidance team invited parents and friends to come in for the morning to talk with the kids about what they do in their jobs. Each Career Day guest has been assigned to a classroom teacher and will talk to each of that teacher's classes on an abbreviated schedule (after all, it is a half day!). I've been assigned to my daughter's math teacher, and she couldn't be more excited that I will be there! I'll be presenting my 28-minute-or-less spiel to each of Mr. Coger's five eighth grade math classes. And to tell the truth, I'm pretty excited to be doing this--I have so much I want to tell these students and can't wait to share how I use real-live math every day!! I just hope I can make my daughter proud :). Fingers crossed!!

Once the kids are out early, they are each bringing a friend home to our house for lunch before we head out to the Museum of Science in Boston to take advantage of their free IMAX movies every Friday in March. Woo-hoo! LOVE free! We're going to see Africa: The Serengeti. Should be fascinating!

EDITED TO ADD: Well, we've been torpedoed by Winter Storm Saturn. School has been cancelled for today!!! So, no Career Day after all. We have two very sad faces here this morning. No word yet on whether or not it will be re-scheduled; I don't have high hopes. Darn! It looks like we could still get 3 to 5 inches of snow before noontime, so our trip to MoS for the IMAX movie hangs in the balance, too. Such is life in New England, I guess!! We drowned our sorrows in French toast, a treat that's usually not possible on weekdays. So, at least there's that. :)

I hope you have a fabulous weekend--don't forget about the time change on Saturday before you go to bed! I'll be back on Sunday with my post for the DeNami Birthday Bonanza Blog Hop. There are going to be some AWESOME prizes, so be sure to hop along with us!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Moving on to St. Patrick's Day

I told you I would be back to play in Flourishes' February Release Week Challenge, the Pick 1 Challenge again! Now that Valentine's Day is over (here's hoping yours was a fabulous one!), I'm moving on to the next holiday. Here's today's creation:

Remember, we were to pick one of three sketches,

one of three color combinations,

and one of three embellishments.

This time around, I used sketch #2, color combo #3, and embellishments choice #2 – buttons.

I used the very awesome Irish Blessing stamp set from Flourishes.

Got any big plans for the weekend? My kids get all next week off from school for February vacation and my hubby has Monday off for President's Day. I think we will be getting in some awesome family time!!

See you again soon!
Emily 

A Floral Birthday

Just a quick post to share a card I made for Flourishes' February Release Week Challenge, the Pick 1 Challenge. We were to pick one of three sketches,

one of three color combinations,

and one of three embellishments.

For my creation, I used sketch #1, color combo #3, and embellishments choice #2 – buttons.

I used two different Flourishes stamps sets for this card: the image is from Bloomin' Aussie Florals and the sentiment is from Hollyhocks.

This was such a fun challenge! I just sailed right through it. It is kind of addictive, so don't be surprised if I trying to fit in another replay before the end of the week. :)

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

A few nontraditional tags for FWF

Happy New Year to all my Friends With Flair! Today I am sharing a few tags made with non-traditional holiday colors to link up with the current Unity Stamp Company Challenge.

How about blue and red for nontraditional?

And hot pink with lime green?

I used the awesome Greetings of Christmas stamp set from Unity Stamp Company and some fun papers from My Mind's Eye.

Have an awesome Friday! Thanks so much for stopping by,
Emily

Christmas Treat Boxes

A few days ago I mailed off a trio of treats as a Christmas gift to my aunt and uncle.

Just click on the photo for a larger version

I dressed up three 1/2-pound treat boxes from Make'n Mold with some fun patterned paper from Graphic 45's Nutcracker Sweet collection. The treat labels are stamps from Unity's Home Baked stamp kit by Samantha Walker.

Want a peek at what I packed inside?

Homemade peanut clusters

Homemade peppermint bark

Homemade chocolate fudge

Mouth watering? Sorry 'bout that ;). I have a feeling that this will be a well-received gift :D.

Today I am linking up to:

• Unity's Friends With Flair. Hello, my FWF friends! It's been far too long since I've been able to join you all, but I'm thrilled to be here today.
• Unity Stamp Company Challenge: use non-traditional Christmas colors
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Merry Christmas

Today is the last day of school in the calendar year for my kids. They can hardly wait to start celebrating!

Thanks so much for checking out my little slice of bliss today,
Emily 

More Holiday Thank Yous

I'm still working on my stockpile of thank-you notes for my family to use after the holidays. I love how these turned out!

Aren't these stamp images elegant? I just love them! Both are from DeNami Design: Berry Vine and Thank You Script.

I used the colors from the latest Play Date Cafe Challenge #161, using red berries with a pink border on one and pink berries with a red border on the other:

I'm also playing along with CASology. The cue card this week is "Gift." I figured that my card is the perfect response to a gift!! ;)

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Gift Thank Yous

I'm trying to add to my stash of thank-you cards for my family to use after the holidays. We'll need relatively flat designs (i.e., easy to mail), so I took a clean and simple approach for this design.

I used some super versatile stamps from DeNami Design: Small Solid Square, Small Solid Rectangle, and Ribbon Topper. Perfect for build-your-own presents! You can also find the inks and cardstock I used in the DeNami store: Satin Red Versafine ink, Olympia Green Versafine ink, Lime Versacolor ink, and Sage cardstock.

I was inspired by a few challenges:

• ColourQ Challenge #167: (my artichoke is the sentiment; unfortunately, it almost looks black in my photo!)
  
• CASology Week #23: Gift (be inspired by a "gift" theme)
• CAS-ual Fridays CFC82: Even the Score (to use scoring somewhere in your design)

What a bunch of great challenges!

Have you got any good plans for the weekend? I'm taking the kids Christmas shopping for their dad after school today. Tomorrow it will be his turn to take them Christmas shopping for me ;). We're also hoping to do a lot of cookie baking and candy making! Tomorrow morning we're helping sort food donations at church. All during November folks have been contributing non-perishable ingredients for a Christmas feast. On Sunday during the Sunday School hour, families will work together to assemble 50 Christmas food baskets from the donations to deliver to the local food pantry. The food donations have been collecting around the altar for weeks now, so our job tomorrow is to help carry everything into the fellowship hall where the assembly will take place and sort and stack it to streamline the basket assembly on Sunday. It's always fun (and amazing how quickly the work goes when folks work together!) and you just can't beat the feeling you get after helping with something like that. Our kids always want to be involved!

Thanks for taking a peek at what made me happy today!
Emily

Non-Traditional Holiday Colors

Just a quick post to share a card I made for the new Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, to make a holiday card with non-traditional festive colors.

I used icy blue, pink, and brown. The stamps are from two retired Flourishes stamp sets, All that Glitters and O Christmas Tree.

I'd love to stay and chat a bit, but I developed a splitting headache a few minutes ago and all I can think of now is going to lie down. I'm so sorry!

Thanks for dropping in,
Emily

Keen on Neon

Hello! It's been super busy here since Thanksgiving, and I've been away from my blog much more than I've wanted to be. One of the reasons for my busy-ness is that my son celebrated his 10th birthday over the weekend. We had a bunch of celebrating to do!! (And oh my goodness, where has the last 10 years gone? It seems like he was born just last week!) I'm also still struggling with some carpal tunnel issues, which become aggravated by all that pointing and clicking with the mouse. So many of you have been so sweet to come visit me here on my blog and it kills me not to be able to return the favor for right now. But I've got to get healed up first!! So please, bear with me. I'll try to get around to visit soon!!

Well, now that my son's birthday is over, he needs thank you cards to write notes for his birthday gifts. He has early-release days for parent-teacher conferences the rest of the week, so it's the perfect time for him to tackle his note-writing list! I wanted to make up a stack of fun note cards for him to use, so that was at the top of my list yesterday.

I haven't been able to play along with any of the challenges over at the Moxie Fab World in a very looooooooooooong time, but I was so very intrigued by Cath's latest challenge, Keen on Neon. I've seen a whole lotta neon out there in the world recently, and I thought it might be fun to see how to incorporate some in a card design. When I think of neon, the very first thing that comes to mind is highlighters!! Neon is always "in" where highlighters are concerned, and that's one of the very few neon items, crafting or otherwise, that we have in the house. I tried to think of how to keep the neons from overpowering a card design and decided that the best way to do that is to balance them out with a bunch of white space. Here's what I came up with.

Yes, I used a neon yellow highlighter to color in the chickie on this card! I also thought it would be fun to use the same neon yellow to highlight the punny part of the card ;). I used two rubber stamps from DeNami Design, Race Car Chickie and You're "Wheel" Nice, along with some markers and scored lines to make a simple flat design that will be super simple to mail.

My son loves how it turned out, and so do I! I ended up making a set of four duplicates. I'm also linking up to the Playing In Paradise challenge which has the theme of Mr. Masculine this week. I think these "wheel nice" cards I made for my son to use should qualify ;)!!

Well, I've gotta keep moving here or I'm not going to finish my to-do list for today. Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss!!
Emily

10 Minute Craft Dash

Good morning, friends! Today DeNami Design Rubber Stamps is sponsoring a super fun challenge. Have you heard of the 10 Minute Craft Dash? Well, each dash features a lovely color palette and a challenge to make a card using the featured color combo in . . . wait for it . . . 10 minutes or less!! The entire DeNami Design team was invited to play along, and I, for one, had a blast.

So, here is the color palette for the new Craft Dash:

That's kraft, navy blue, and sky blue. So pretty!

Now, don't let that 10-minute time limit scare you! You are definitely allowed to gather up your supplies before you start creating. Here are a few tips that Paulina, co-creator of 10 Minute Craft Dash, suggests: "1) Pull out the cardstocks/embellishments/markers you have in the color palette featured so you're able to see what you have to work with. 2) Create a sketch beforehand so you know the direction you want for your project." Need more tips? Then you should definitely check out the 10 Minute Craft Dash Tips & Tricks page.

Well, you probably want to know how I fared on this challenge! I started by gathering up my tools and supplies, including some DeNami cardstock (sky blue and a scrap of kraft) as well as three different DeNami stamps (Three Line Border, Polka Dot Background, and Brushed Thank You)--all while forming a "sketch" of sorts in my head.

Now, I am a slow crafter. It can take forever to create a card and tweak it until I like it. I wasn't sure how this would go, but I gave it my best shot. Here's what I ended up with:

Time to completion:    8:46

I was pretty surprised by what I was able to accomplish in such a short time! Normally, I probably would have fussed a bit trying out different embellishments or maybe seeing if some twine or ribbon would add anything. But I found it to be rather freeing to say to myself, "Nope! This card is done," because there just wasn't any more time to add anything :D.

Want to give it a try? I think you should! There's a great prize involved {wink}.

Be sure to check out all the details over at 10 Minute Craft Dash!!

Thanks so much for checking out today's little slice of bliss in my corner of the world!
Emily

A Sunshiny Birthday Card

Greetings! It's a gloomy, rainy, and cold day here so I thought I'd share a sunshiny card to help brighten things up.

This is for the Progressive Challenge over at Flourishes. The idea is to use the sketch, a monochromatic color scheme, patterned paper, and/or some sparkle in any or all combinations in order to play along.

I definitely did all four. (Sketch? Check! Plus, I've got my yellow/gold monochromatic scheme, my patterned paper is from the Handmade collection by Lily Bee Design, and I've got sparkle in the form of glittery gold Stickles and sunshiny yellow rhinestones.)

I used three different Flourishes stamp sets to make this sunny birthday card:

Hollyhocks

Honeycomb

Spring Botanicals

See that beautiful crocheted mat? That was handmade for me by my sweet friend Jessi. I just LOVE how it looks on this card--so elegant!! Thanks, Jessi!!!

I've got dinner bubbling in the crockpot, making the whole house smell delicious! I'm so glad that we don't have any after-school running around to do today. With the rain and cold out there, it's a good day to be inside for the rest of the day.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

DeNami Thoughtful Thank Yous Blog Hop

Good morning, friends! And welcome to the DeNami Design Thoughtful Thank Yous Blog Hop! Today the DeNami Design Team and customers alike are showcasing projects that show off "thanks" in any way.

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Andrea Fisher's blog, Five Pines Designs. If so, you are on the right track! If not, you'll want to head over to the DeNami blog to start the blog hop at the beginning. (And remember, if you get lost along the way, you can always head over to the DeNami blog to get pointed in the right direction.)

Don't forget, there are some super-fun DeNami prizes to be won! Two lucky commenters will be drawn at random from among the comments left along the blog hop to win a $20 DeNami Design gift certificate! You have until Monday, November 12, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize.

So, I chose to focus on a "give thanks" theme for my thoughtful thank you. Here's what I came up with:

I recently stocked up on some awesome DeNami circle frames, so I combined three terrific stamps to create my focal point: Turkey, Give Thanks Circle, and Medium Dot Circle Frame.

And did you hear the news? The DeNami Design store now sells washi tape!! That's right, you can shop for cutie patootie rolls of washi tape while you shop for your favorite stamps. I couldn't wait to get my hands on these. Aren't they yummy? I used some of the yellow/white dots washi tape on this card.

That wraps it up for me! Before you leave, be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the randomly drawn prizes and then you can be on your way to the next stop on the hop, the blog of Jennifer Harris, Jen & Paper. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Enjoy the blog hop,

Emily

PS I derived inspiration for this card from a few challenges:

• ColourQ challenge: Cherry Cobbler, Kraft, Daffodil Delight, Soft Suede, and White.
• CAS(E) this Sketch #5:
  
• The Kraft Journal Challenge: Happy Harvest 
• A Blog Named Hero: Punched/diecut elements