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

Holly Jolly Christmas

If you came by my blog on Friday, you will recognize the gingham gift bag in today's project. Yes, it's true--I got a super deal on those kraft/gingham gift bags after Christmas last year at JoAnn Fabrics!! I'm having a blast finding different ways to dress them up. :)

So today's gift bag is brought to you by Purple Onion Design Rubber Stamps! I made this bag for my stint on the the P.O.D. 2013 Holiday Design Team. Sadly, it is my last official project for the holiday DT, but you can count on seeing many of the P.O.D. stamps I acquired again and again! Anyway, let's take a look at the gift bag:

I am so in love with Purple Onion's noteblock stamps! These subway art-style sentiment panels are very cool, and have been around long before they became "in" recently. The one I used on this bag is the Happy Holidays Noteblock. I also used the sweet snowman from the Hanging with Pete set, a sentiment from Handwritten Holiday, and the smaller frame from the Deluxe Labels set as my gift tag.

I stamped the noteblock and label with Crimson Red Versafine ink and colored Snowman Pete with Copic markers. A few red rhinestones and Martha Stewart holly leaf punches were the perfect embellishments!

I can't believe that we have just one week of school left before Christmas! I've got a lot to accomplish this week. Here's to being a merry and productive little elf!!

Thanks for stopping for a little slice of bliss!
Emily

The Snow-la-bration continues . . .

We've got more snow on the docket for today, so I've still got snow on the brain! Recently my son celebrated his 11th birthday (how could that be?? He was a toddler just only yesterday--I'm sure of it!!), and it's time for him to write his thank-you notes. Today I'm sharing one of the six that I made for him to use for that task. Who wouldn't love to write  a note of thanks on a sweet snowman note like this one?

I used a bunch of fine products from the DeNami Design store for this creation: the snowman's face comes from the Seasonal Faces stamp set, You're the Best sentiment stamp, Snowflake Swirl embossing folder, and some pretty blue baker's twine.

My sweet blogging friend Pam started a fun new papercrafting challenge last month. It's called Just Punch It and the challenges are all about punch art! I was so bummed that I was never able to find time to play along with her first challenge (the timing lined up with my crazy run to get ready for Thanksgiving), but I was hoping, hoping, hoping that I'd be able to play along with the next one. The latest challenge is an easy one: Christmas! I'm so glad that I was able to join in!

Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

Snowy Christmas Wishes

Greetings and salutations! It's my turn to share a little somethin' somethin' over on the DeNami blog today. A few years ago I picked up a sweet dimensional snowman sticker at our A.C. Moore store on clearance after Christmas. He definitely takes center stage on this project, but I used my DeNami stamps (Christmas Wishes, Medium Polka Dots) to dress up this holiday card and bring an appropriately whimsical feel to the design. I love how the Medium Polka Dots stamped in white really stand out against the turquoise card base. Those sweet dots look like snow falling! And speaking of turquoise--red, turquoise, and white make such a fun combo for Christmas, don’t they?

Thanks so much for stopping for a visit today!
Emily

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (white, Hawaiian Shores) Papertrey Ink
Rubber stamps:  (Christmas Wishes, Medium Polka Dots) DeNami Design Rubber Stamps
Pigment ink:  (red) Tsukineko; (white) Clearsnap
Stickers:  (layered snowman) A.C. Moore
Fibers:  (red/white baker’s twine)
Tools:  (snowflake border punch) Martha Stewart Crafts

Ways With Washi: GIFT TAGS + a Giveaway!

Hello and welcome, DeNami friends! It's time for my November edition of Ways With Washi! Today we're taking a look at a few ways to use washi tape on holiday gift tags.

For my first project, I used DeNami Red Chevron washi tape to "color in"  a stamped ornament image from DeNami. I completely covered the circle portion with strips of washi tape, being careful to line up the pattern. Then I simply used an X-acto knife to trim away the excess washi tape, following the lines of the image. I used a silver Sharpie marker to color in the cap, and glued one end of a paperclip to the back for the ornament's loop. A bit of baker's twine was all I needed to prep this tag for hanging!

Next up is a little tag that uses washi tape in two ways. I started by adhering a strip of Red Chevron washi tape on a piece of cardstock and then punched out a tag shape so that the washi tape was aligned with the bottom of the tag. Then I created a loop for hanging by folding over a strip of Red Stripes washi tape lengthwise and stapling it to the top of the tag. A simple embellishment, built from holly leaves and a red DeNami button, and a stamped sentiment complete this quick and simple tag!

For my final tag, I pressed five different patterns of DeNami washi tape into service to create a diagonal stripy background for a punch art snowman! I used Red Stripes, Green Graph, Red Chevron, Green Stripes, and Red Graph washi tapes--all from the DeNami Design store. Don't they make a festive backdrop for this jolly snow fella?

Additional DeNami Design supplies: Seasonal Faces stamp set, Christmas Greetings stamp set, Large Winter Tree, Ruby Red Boutique Buttons, Classic Twine 3-pack

That wraps things up for today! I hope you've been inspired to pull out your washi tape to try making a few tags for your holiday gift-giving.

GIVEAWAY

How would you like to win a roll of washi tape of your very own? I have a brand-new roll of Red Chevron washi tape from DeNami Design that I'd love to give away to a reader of this post. Want to be in the running? Just leave me a comment on this post using the word "GIFT." 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 Sunday, December 1, 2013, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Monday, December 2, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

Thanks for stopping by for my Ways With Washi today!
Emily

Let It Snow!

Here's a quick card I made this morning to play along with Flourishes' release week challenge: Snowy Delights, to use glitter, Flower Soft, or any kind of bling that offers up a snowy feel.

I used white Fun Flock and a glue pen to add some fluffy snow at the base of my snowman. And then, by happy accident, I noticed that the flocking was stuck to the ink, too, so I ended up with a softly flocked snowman as well!
The stamps (snowman, snowflakes, and sentiment) are all from Flourishes' Warm Winter Wishes set. The patterned papers are all from The Merry Days of Christmas collection by My Mind's Eye.

Today was a big day in our house. My third-grade son was master of ceremonies at his school's Veteran's Day program. Parents were invited to today's performance (there will be an all-school performance tomorrow), so I got to see him in action. I am SO very, very proud of him. He did awesome!! Not at all bad for a kid who needed five years of speech therapy. It was a beautiful moment seeing him shine.

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

Stampin' B's Holiday Card Challenge

For this week's Stampin' B's DT challenge, Faith is our hostess. Her challenge to us was to make a holiday card. I decided to go with a snowy CAS Christmas card. I love these sweet snowmen and this awesome maraschino baker's twine from The Twinery!

I used the following challenges in the making of this card.

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:
• EtsyInspired Challenge: to be inspired by the wares of the Queen of Tarts Cakes Etsy store. I was inspired by these delicious snowmen cookies.
• Crafty Creations: Christmas is Coming
• Papertake Weekly: Cut It Out (punches, etc.)
• One Stop Craft Challenge: Snow People
• Simon Says Challenge: Let It Snow
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: anything goes
  

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. (Because of Thanksgiving, I posted a bit early this week. The official post on the Stampin' B's DT blog will be up and running at 12:01 AM EST on November 25.) We'd love to see what you create!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: SU So Many Scallops
Paper: various card stock, Echo Park Everyone Loves Christmas DP
Ink: SU baja breeze, Palette toile pink, Marvy LePlume II cherry marker
Accessories: CM corner rounder punch, EK 1.25" circle punch, SU scallop circle punch, SU decorative label punch, dimensionals, white grosgrain ribbon, red rhinestone, maraschino baker's twine from The Twinery

Autumn Snowman

So, I have an SCS friend whose birthday is coming up at the beginning of November. I know she loves snowmen so I wanted to make her a snowman birthday card. But because her birthday is smackdab in the middle of autumn, I couldn't bring myself to make a card that is too winter-y (or worse, Christmas-y). The new Color Throwdown colors for this week are dusty durango, perfect plum, and so saffron, so I thought I'd give them a whirl for a snowman card. Here is the result of my big experiment! It's certainly not something you see everyday.
Having no actual dusty durango or perfect plum, I had to substitute colors, but I think these are reasonably close. I stamped the snowman in burnt umber and colored him using a blender pen with Stampin' Pastels and SU inks. The sky and snow are sponged in with some strategic masking. My original thought was to stamp two snow people (and make one a woman) and have them hold a little birthday banner strung between them, but the sketch didn't really allow for two. So that's when I thought of making a little message flag instead. I'm sure you can see that my flag pole is a colored party toothpick!

I just received my very first Smooch (Gold Lame) from Mark's Finest Papers. I wasn't sure how best to use it, so I tried it out for the first time by "gilding" the edges of some of my shapes. I still have to get used to applying it evenly (try really hard not to look at the gloppy boo-boo at the bottom of the oval--HEY, I said don't look!), but I like the overall result. Next time it should go more smoothly. Fingers crossed! Then I need to look into other Smooch applications.

Here are the challenges that went into the making of this card:

• SCS sketch challenge 303:
• Color Throwdown 115:
• Caardvarks: create a new stamped card that is decorated inside and out! Here is a peek at the inside of my card:

Well, thanks for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss!! Have a super weekend. :)

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Snowman Country, Mark's Finest Papers Owl Be Here (flourish), SU Lots of Thoughts (sentiment)
Paper: SU so saffron CS, SU tangerine tango CS, DCWV textured CS, MFP natural CS, DCWV Indian Summer Stack DP
Ink: Palette burnt umber & violette, SU so saffron, Versamark
Accessories: CM oval cutting system, sponge, Gold Lame Smooch (from Mark's Finest Papers), Stampin' Pastels, blender pen, dimensionals, toothpick, American Crafts felt flowers, brads
Techniques: sponging