A bit about me . . .

So today's post is a little different! My dear friend Colleen Dietrich, of Dietrich Designs, called me last week to ask if she could tag me as part of a blog hop she is participating in. It seems that the goal of the hop is to learn about other blogger/artists by sharing some details about one's self, one's work, and one's creative process in a fun "interview" style blog post. The posters were encouraged to tag one or two fellow bloggers to share the fun, and I'm so honored that Colleen chose me! Colleen asked me to share some details about myself in this post today, so here goes . . .

1) How do you know Colleen?

My friend and fellow stamper, Colleen Dietrich

I first "met" Colleen on Splitcoast Stampers sometime after I first joined that online community in 2009. She always made the most beautiful cards and left the most wonderful comments. Not much has changed in either area! Before long we were sending PMs (that is, private messages) through Splitcoast, then exchanging our email addresses for more direct access, then snail-mail addresses so we could mail cards to one another, and finally phone numbers so we could chat even more easily.

It has been a wonderful journey building this friendship of ours! To have someone to chat with about our shared papercrafting interests has been a godsend--someone who understands the drool-worthiness of a new stamp set or paper collection, the thrill of finding fun paper punches or dies on clearance at Michael's or A.C. Moore, the joy of being asked to join a design team, the frustration of losing one's creative mojo, the elation of having a papercrafted project accepted for publication, or more often: the dejection of not having a project accepted for publication. Colleen was the one who encouraged me to start this blog in 2010 shortly after she had established her own. And then we had yet another interest in common: the world of blogging! Even more to chat about ;). But we aren't just papercrafting/blogging friends. Over the years, we've discovered we have so much more in common than our shared hobbies. These days we call one another to chat about our families, our jobs, our health concerns, our vacations, our daily triumphs and aggravations, our joys (and frustrations) of motherhood, and more. I am so blessed to count Colleen among my very closest friends!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Colleen, for your gift of friendship!!!

2) What are you working on right now?

Well, as much as I'd like to say that I'm knee-deep in challenging, meangingful, and creative papercrafting projects right now, that would be the furthest from the truth. In fact, I just noticed that my last post on this blog o' mine was on June 26, over a month ago! I do believe that's the longest lapse in posts I've ever had on this blog. Yikes! I never intended for that to happen, but sometimes everyday life gets in the way of the best intentions, right?

So, since the end of my kids' school year the last week of June, my 11YO son went away to a week of arts camp sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; my 15YO daughter and I went away on a trip to Burlington, VT, with her Girl Scout troop; my hubby and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary; our family worked together to replace our disintegrating wooden deck with new Trex planks and vinyl-clad aluminum railing systems; AND our family went away for a week to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary! As our gift to them, my sister and I rented a Victorian house in Cape May, NJ, for her family, my family, and my parents to stay in while vacationing for the week. What a lovely time that was for the three generations to hang out together!

Our rental house in Cape May, NJ

That's me in the sunglasses posing in front of a shipwreck just off Sunset Beach. In the background, the cousins are folicking in the waves along this pebbly beach known for its superb beachcombing.

The Dr. Henry Hunt house in Cape May's historic district. We found it on one of our early morning walks and just had to take a photo. We found out later on a trolley tour of historic Cape May that it is one of the most-photographed examples of "drunken" Victorian architecture--known as such because it combines elements from multiple different Victorian styles all in a single "drunken" mish mash!

My hubby and I near Sunset Pavilion at the end of Cape May's Promenade just before sunset. See the Cape May Lighthouse in the distance?

My parents, the happy Golden Anniversary couple!

So I guess that's what I've been "working" on right now! I'm happy to report, though, that I'll have an all-crafting post to share with you soon as part of a guest-designing gig I'm really thrilled about! More on all that later. Stay tuned!!

3) What is your signature style?

I like to dabble in all sorts of different styles! I play around with clean and simple, shabby chic, vintage, bold and graphic, fun and cute, layered and frilly, elegant and classy, punch art, . . . you name it, I've probably done it. I generally use the projects I create for my own purposes (as gifts to give, or birthday cards to mail to friends and family, etc.), so I guess overall you might describe my signature style as "mailable!" I like to make relatively flat cards to make them as USPS-friendly (and low-postage!) as possible!

Here's an example:  the mailable golden anniversary card I made to send to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary:

Background stamp is from Hero Arts; flower is from Unity; sentiment is from Flourishes

4) What are your favorite types of projects to make?

I enjoy making all kinds of projects! Cards are easily what I make the most of, but I think my favorite projects to make are papercrafted gifts to give. This past spring my daughter and my nephew were both confirmed at their respective churches. I enjoyed making each of them some commemorative gifts to mark the occasion.

I created a framed and personalized piece of subway art for each confirmand using a variety of electronic brushes and fonts I've collected over time and my favorite (and free!) photo editing software, The GIMP

I made each confirmand a papercrafted bookmark perfect for use in their favorite Bibles. Each bookmark was personalized on the back with the occasion and date.

And here are the confirmation cards I made for these special young people:

For my daughter: because I could hand-deliver it, I added a less than "mailable" embellishment on the cross. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

For my nephew: an elegant, mailable card. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

If you are interested in seeing more of my papercrafted gift projects, please be sure to check out these "Gift Idea" posts!

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Well, readers, thank you so much for sticking with me through this long post! I think I'll wrap it up here. A huge THANK YOU to the fabulous Colleen for inviting me to post with her today. If you have arrived here outside of the blog hop, I'd love it if you popped over to meet Colleen and say HI! Her work is so beautiful and elegant--I know you'll love visiting with her!!

Thank you so much for visiting today!! I hope that your summers have been swell thus far and continue to be.
Be well!
Emily

May DeNami Inspired By

Greetings, blog friends! Welcome to the May edition of DeNami Design's Inspired By feature! Each month we feature one talented DeNami customer's work, and then honor that wonderful artist with a host of DeNami DT projects inspired by it! This month we were inspired by Tina M.

You can read all about Tina's inspiring design right HERE.

I was inspired by five aspects of Tina's creation:

1. the monochromatic color scheme
2. the two-tone stamping on the focal image
3. her use of an embossed background
4. the layout of her design
5. the little gemstones she used as an accent at the bottom right 

I tried to pick up all of these in my creation:

I went monochromatic, only with shades of blue {Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance ink} rather than black. I achieved her two-tone focal image by stamping off with the larger image in the Peacock Feathers stamp set.  I changed up the embossed background by using the funky Multi Circles embossing folder. I altered her sketch a bit by incorporating the sentiment (Medium Double Circle, Thank You Circle, and a heart from the Hearts stamp set) into the focal image panel. And finally, I riffed on Tina's trio of gemstones by embellishing the center of each circle in my embossed background with a pearl drawn on with a 3D Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pen.

Be sure to head over to the DeNami Design blog today to see how the rest of the team was inspired by Tina's lovely creation!

Thanks so much for visiting today. May your day be filled with bliss!
Emily

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top o' the mornin' to you, my friends! It's St. Patrick's Day! Today I'm sharing a St. Patrick's Day card that I made for a dear friend who also celebrates her birthday today. I had so much fun making a new-to-me Z-fold card last month that I just had to try another, and I thought it would be perfect for the elegant birthday/St.Patrick's Day card I had planned for my friend. Z-fold cards just seem so cool to me, but their one drawback is they are rather difficult to photograph, so I had to capture it with a series of shots. Anyway, here's how it turned out:

All of the stamps are from various Flourishes sets (including Irish Blessing, Hollyhocks, and Tag Lines). I used some Spellbinders (Beaded Ovals and Ovals) to die-cut the focal label, the St. Patrick's Day embossing folder from DeNami Design to emboss the background panels, and a green Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pen from DeNami to embellish the beaded oval frame. And that lovely green Prima flower has been hoarded in my stash forever--I'm so glad I finally had the perfect project to let it shine!

I love how the design for this Z-fold card leaves a little hidden panel inside for a message for the recipient!

Well, I hope the birthday girl is having a great day today, and that all of your are having a fabulous St. Patty's Day! Make sure to put on a little bit o' green to keep the pinches at bay today {wink!}.

Thanks for visiting!
Emily

An Irish Blessing

Just a quick post to share another St. Patrick's Day card that I made recently.

The stamps are all from Flourishes' Irish Blessing set. The St. Patrick's Day embossing folder and Green Stripes washi tape are from DeNami Design.

I'm entering this card in the current Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge: It's a Wash, to use washi tape.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

St. Patrick's Day Critters

It's time for another DeNami Design Product Spotlight! Today the DeNami design team is featuring a super cute stamp set called Cuddly Pals.

Aren't these little guys adorable? I'm still on a St. Patrick's Day kick, so I put my little menagerie to work on yet another St. Patrick's Day card :). Here's how that turned out:

I also used these items from the DeNami store:

Retro Borders 1 set

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Leaf Green cardstock

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's lovely creations today on the DeNami blog. Like what you see? Then you can score a great deal on the Cuddly Pals set--as our Spotlight Product, it's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

Embossed Elements: SHAMROCKS + a Giveaway!

Hello, hello, friends! I'm here today with the February edition of my new monthly Embossed Elements feature for the DeNami Design blog. Today I'm sharing with you two different projects featuring the very cool St. Patrick Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. My first project takes the obvious route, casting the St. Patrick embossing folder as the star of a St. Patrick's Day card:

For this project, I trimmed three identically sized panels of cardstock (1.75" x 4") in Leaf Green, White, and Desert Orange, then carefully lined them up side-by-side in the St. Patrick embossing folder before running the whole shebang through my diecutting machine. I adhered the panels to a white cardstock card base to form a beautifully textured version of the Irish flag.

Next I stamped a Stitched Rectangle in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on white cardstock and filled this frame with Happy St. Patrick's Day (don't you just LOVE how a shamrock is used as the apostrophe in this sentiment? I do!) in Fresh Green Versacolor ink. After trimming out the framed sentiment, I simply popped it up on foam tape, and my simple flag-waving card was complete!

My second card goes to show that this St. Patrick embossing folder isn't just for March 17! Here I've used it to create a clean and simple Good Luck card.

I used the St. Patrick embossing folder to deboss a panel of patterned paper for a bit of subtly lucky texture and then adhered it, along with a length of narrow celery green grosgrain ribbon, to a white card base. I stamped the brand-new Good Luck sentiment in Olympia Green Versafine ink on white cardstock before punching it out with a word label punch. I popped up the sentiment with foam tape and affixed a pair of green rhinestones. Finally, I stamped a Curly Shamrock in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on white cardstock, colored it with my Copic markers, trimmed it out, and adhered it with some foam tape. Done!

I hope that this installment of Embossed Elements has given you some useful ideas for using embossing in your papercrafting!

How would you like the chance to win this beautiful St. Patrick 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 "LUCKY." 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, February 26, 2014, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, February 27, 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

My Brand-New DeNami Feature: EMBOSSED ELEMENTS + a GIVEAWAY

Hi there, everyone! I'm here today with the very first installment of my new regular monthly feature for the DeNami Design blog. With today's post I'm starting a series called Embossed Elements that highlights all of the wonderful new embossing folders being carried in the DeNami Design store. If you haven't checked these out yet, you should! You won't believe all of the variety in this collection: the DeNami store carries an amazing 142 different embossing folder designs!!

Now, I do have a confession to make. While I've been papercrafting for nearly 10 years now, I've only just acquired my very first diecutting machine (thank you, Santa!!). So for the first time ever, I'm able to dabble with embossing folders! I wasn't completely sure that embossing folders would be for me, but in the short time that I've been playing with the embossing folders that DeNami carries, I've become completely addicted to them! I love the fabulous texture that they add to my creations--everything is so crisp, and the designs are deep. They really stand out! And I can't believe how much visitors to my blog comment on the embossing I've been featuring on projects I've posted there lately. It must be really noticeable!!

So whether you are brand new to embossing folders like me, or an old pro, I'm hoping that my Embossed Elements feature will help you learn your way around DeNami's new collection of embossing folders--and maybe even give you some new ways to use or think about embossing!

Today I'm sharing with you two different projects for Valentine's Day, and both feature the very festive Layered Hearts Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. One thing I really love about this embossing folder is that, while many of the embossing folders in DeNami's collection are clearly designed for the portrait orientation, this one is perfect for the the landscape orientation. Let's take a look:

For this first project, I started with a panel of red cardstock and punched the bottom edge using the EK Success Deco Scallop border punch and then ran it through my Big Shot in the Layered Hearts Embossing Folder. I matted this embossed layer with white cardstock and then mounted the whole enchilada on a pink card base.

Next I added a pink cardstock panel that I had embossed with another Valentine gem from the DeNami embossing folder collection: the Heart Embossing Folder. I really like the look of both of these embossed patterns layered on top of one another!

I stamped the Elegant Word Plate on white cardstock with Onyx Black Versafine Ink, and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to align the pretty Sending You Love sentiment, stamped in Satin Red Versafine Ink, right smack dab in the middle. I decided to glam up my focal point just a bit with some gorgeous Ruby Red Sparklets Glitter adhered inside the loops of the word plate with a Quickie Glue Pen. A quick fussy cut was all I needed to get this ready for attaching to my card. I finished off my design with a simple red grosgrain bow.

My second card is a reminder that embossing folders are perfect for adding texture not only to rectangular panels, but also any precut shape you care to pretty up!

For this card, I started with a pink heart diecut, embossed it with the Layered Hearts Embossing Folder, and layered it on a heart-shaped card base die cut from red cardstock with a larger nested heart die.

Next I built my very own cupid's arrow embellishment with a wooden craft stick, a wooden veneer heart shape, and some bits of chipboard. I colored the wood bits red using a Faber-Castell Gelato and rubbed the color into the woodgrain with my fingertips. I trimmed angled fringe into two bits of chipboard to make the arrow's feathery fletching and colored them with a white Gelato. After gluing all the bits together to form my arrow, I outlined the heart-shaped arrowhead with dimensional dots drawn on with a white Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pen. 

Finally, I stamped the Love Flourish sentiment on white cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, trimmed out the sentiment, colored in the heart-shaped O with a red Copic marker, and adhered it to the card with some foam tape. Done!

I hope that this opening installment of Embossed Elements has given you some ideas for using embossing on your Valentine cards!

How would you like the chance to win this beautiful Layered Hearts 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 "HEART." 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, January 29, 2014, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, January 30, 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

Count Your Rainbows

Before we head off for church and Sunday School this morning, I'm posting another card that I made during my marathon crafting session yesterday.

The latest stamp release from DeNami Design included some really awesome new sentiment stamps! I've been waiting for just the right time to try out this new Count Your Rainbows sentiment, and I found the perfect sketch for showing it off. I'm playing along with this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches, where my sweet friend Jessi is this week's sponsor with a prize of her awesome crocheted mats! The challenge's "twist" this week is to make a monochromatic card, in addition to following the sketch. Done!

All of my stamps come from DeNami Design: the aforementioned Count Your Rainbows sentiment, Rainbow, and Small Cloud. I kept my rainbow monochromatic by coloring it with Copic markers from the Red family: R20, R24, R27, and R29. The patterned paper comes from an old, old DCWV mat stack. I made the fishtail banner  by covering a long piece of white cardstock with strips of red chevron washi tape that I picked up in the Target One Spot a couple of weeks ago.

Well, that's all for now--gotta run to get breakfast and herd everyone out the door on time!

I hope you have a fantastic Sunday today. Thanks for dropping by for a little slice of bliss!
Emily

Friends Warm the Heart

It has been soooooooooo long since I've created anything with my Flourishes stamps. I love them so and have always enjoyed playing along with the Flourishes challenges, but life got to be too, too busy recently to do it all. I spotted the most recent Timeless Tuesday challenge, all about shaped cards, last week. I tucked it away in the back of my mind for a while and finally took a little time today to make a little something for it.

This is a very simple card, but it was lovely to be creative, even if for just a little while.

I used two nested heart-shaped cookie cutters as the pattern for my heart-shaped card and the nested white heart-shaped panel (and then cut them both out by hand). The image comes from the Flourishes set Joy is in the Air, and the sentiment is from the Flourishes set Warm Winter Wishes (which appears to now be retired?). I colored the image with my Copics and added a sweet little felt heart sticker that I picked up in a 10-pack at Target's One Spot last week. It will be perfect to send to a friend for Valentine's Day.

The kids will be home from school soon, so I've got to get this posted before I get completely distracted {in a good way, of course! ;) }.

Hope you've had a great start to this new week! Thanks for dropping by,
Emily

Thinking of You

Today I sat down and made a card to play in not one, but TWO challenges! Coulda knocked me over with a feather. It's been so long! Here's what I made:

And here's what it was for:

• My friend Pam's Just Punch It challenge, which is all about punch art. Her theme this time around is Winter Blues. I built up my blue winter wreath with punches from Martha Stewart's pine bough punch, with another MS punch--this time a snowflake--in the center.
• Simon Wednesday Challenge, which is Ice Inspiration this week. I thought the icy finish on these iridescent sequins was just perfect for this challenge!

I also used some of my beloved DeNami Design stamps to make this card: Medium Double Circle, Medium Thinking of You Circle, and a sweet little heart from the Whimsical Valentine stamp set.

Both of my kids will be off from school tomorrow for a teacher in-service day. Looks like I'll have company for lunch ;). We have plans for the library and just hanging out here at home. That will be nice!

Thanks for visiting!
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 

Snowflake Thank You Note Gift Set

Good Monday morning to you! We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning--our first tracking snow! Only about an inch or so, really, but everything is white and pretty. The snow is to turn to sleet and rain later in the day, so I know this won't last, but still--it makes me happy to see it!

I'm going to celebrate by sharing a little snow-themed gift this morning! I made this snowflake thank you note gift set for the Purple Onion Designs Holiday Design Team. It's a set of six one-layer thank you notes with three each of two different designs. I used both gorgeous snowflakes heat-embossed in white, from the Vintage Snowflakes Set, both embellishments from the Vintage Journaling Set, and a beautifully scripted Thank You sentiment, all from Purple Onion Designs.

I slipped the set of notes along with six envelopes into a clear note card box and set about prettying up my packaging. I used the smallest label from the Plain Jane Labels set to make a gift tag just the perfect size for the "let it snow" sentiment from the Handwritten Holiday set. I decorated my tag with a little blue rub-on snowflake embellished with a tiny pearl. Finally I stamped the Merry Christmas tape from the Holiday Border Tape Set on a cardstock band to wrap around the base of the box.

And there you have it:  a snowy little card set all ready for holiday giving!!

I hope you have a fabulous day in your neck of the woods today! Thanks for stopping by,
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

Thinking of You on Thanksgiving

OK, East Coast, are you bracing for Winter Storm Athena? Here we go again! It's likely to get frightful outside here later today, but it's cozy and warm inside for the moment. Once the kids were off to school this morning , I cranked some jazz, lit a spicy candle, and cranked out some more Thanksgiving cards. Here's one of them.

I reached for my DeNami stamps for this one: Small Jack O'Lantern (I masked out his sweet face for this Thanksgiving card--such an easy way to stretch your stamps!) and the "thinking of you" sentiment from the Thoughtful Greetings Petit Four stamp set. I love this little stamp set--such a great and useful collection of petite sentiments. One of my favorites! I had fun watercolor painting that little pumpkin. I stamped it in Vintage Sepia Versafine ink on watercolor paper and then heat embossed it with DeNami clear embossing powder.

I'm playing along with a few challenges with this card:

• CASology: Orange
• A Blog Named Hero: Punched/diecut elements (I think I have 5 on this CAS card!)
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Thinking of You/Sympathy

In case you haven't noticed, I'm just mad for DeNami Design products! Are you intrigued? Then you should give the DeNami Addict Challenge a try!! This month's challenge is a fun sketch, and it's open for three more days. You do not need to use DeNami stamps, but if you win (and there's a good chance that you could: right now there are only 5 entries!!) you could win a $15 gift certificate to the DeNami Design online store to start your DeNami addiction collection :).

Of course, if you already have some DeNami stamps, then you should also try the DeNami Design challenge hosted on the DeNami Design blog. This month's challenge is also a sketch and requires at least one DeNami stamp. The pay-off for winning on this challenge? How about a $20 shopping spree in the DeNami Design online store?

And what if you are more of an instant-gratification kinda craftista? Then DeNami has got you covered! This month DeNami has a great online store sale. Check this out!!

I did some stocking up at the DeNami store myself over the weekend and will share some photos of the new haul when my eagerly anticipated package arrives!!!

OK, friends, stay safe, warm, and dry wherever you are. And thanks so much for dropping by!
Emily

TCM October Previews, Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the October stamp release from The Craft's Meow! I'm back again today as the TCM October Guest Designer, and I'm sharing cards made using two more brand new sets. Today I'm previewing Winter Fibi & Lilly and Christmas Cheer along with the TCM design team.

Here's my card for Winter Fibi & Lilly:

This set has several delightful Christmas and winter images of Fibi and Lilly, but I thought the angel and coordinating sentiment could make a sweet thank you card for any time of the year! The label stamp I used comes from the TCM Timeless Tags set. (Cardstock: SU Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy; Ink: SU Not Quite Navy, Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Frost White)

And now for a clean and graphic card using Christmas Cheer:

Not much to explain here! But I love how it turned out. :D (Cardstock: PTI White; Ink: Versafine Satin Red, Spanish Moss, and Vintage Sepia)

Be sure to check out the fantastic creations that the rest of the TCM designers made for today's preview of Winter Fibi & Lilly and Christmas Cheer over on the The Craft's Meow blog. There's a giveaway going on, too, and you can find out all about that over there as well. :D

Well, tomorrow is the last day of previews before the big release party on Thursday. I'll be featuring projects made with my two favorite sets from the October release. I hope you'll join me!

Until then, I hope you'll make time for a little bliss in your day!
Emily

Hang in There

We are off to march in our town's Memorial Day parade this morning. Both our daughter and son will be marching with their scout groups; my husband and I will be marching along with the Cub Scouts to help with crowd boy control and to lug along the mini American flags that the boys will be passing out to spectators along the parade route. Luckily our burdens will lighten the further along the route we get! This parade is always such a fun time, and the weather appears to be cooperating. Yay!

I wanted to pop in quickly to share the card I made for Paper Crafts' Gallery Idol competition, season six. The theme for the open auditions round is encouragement, and I thought and thought about it and finally came up with this card:

I figured that a frilly pink polka-dotted brassiere shaped card with an accompanying "hang in there" sentiment would be the perfect encouragement card for a girlfriend who's going through rough times! My daughter (13) thought this was the cutest ever. My 9YO son's first reaction was "I think that's kind of . . . um, inappropriate." When my daughter explained that "she wouldn't send it to a man, silly," his attitude softened a bit. But his response pointed out that what I thought hilarious and fun might not be received similarly by everyone else. So I do apologize to any and all who share my son's views!!

A few program notes: I designed this bra-shaped card myself. It's hinged at the top of the straps so there's a bra-shaped inside as well for a handwritten note. The card base is solid pink cardstock (The Paper Company), and the polka-dotted bra cups were cut from patterned paper in the Handmade collection by Lily Bee Design.  I glued some lace trim from my sewing stash to the back of the patterned paper, and then stitched the whole thing down to the card base. Remember when lingerie always had a little pink rose stitched to the center? That was my inspiration for the placement of this sweet little satin ribbon rose (a gift from my friend Carol--thanks, sweetie!). I stamped the "hang in there" sentiment (a retired stamp from The Angel Company, which is sadly no longer in business) on a strung marking tag from Avery to tie around one of the straps. A little bling on the tag was all I needed to finish this up. I love how it turned out, and really, it was pretty easy to make. A win, win!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend, and if you are in the U.S., that you enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day holiday! Thanks for dropping in for a visit.

Emily

Pine Boughs at Night

The first noontime release-week challenge over at Flourishes is called Night & Day, and the challenge is to show a time of day in your creation. It gets dark so early around here at this time of year, so I was inspired to try to capture the look of snow-dusted pine boughs at dusk.
I used Meg's fabulous Poor Man's Spectrum Pad technique with a brayer to create my dusk sky, then stamped the pine branches from Flourishes' All That Glitters set in black to create a silhouette. I glittered up the boughs with some glitter glue and did some scoring on a panel of Marina Mist to give my scene a subtle background. The sentiment, from the Flourishes set Country Charm Labels, is stamped on a panel of vellum.

It's a simple card, but hopefully elegant--that's what I was going for, at least! It will do nicely as a post-Christmas thank-you card.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily