Ways With Washi: PLEATS + a Giveaway

Hello, hello, DeNami friends! Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Ways With Washi that I've created for the DeNami Design blog! Looking for more ways to use washi tape in your papercrafting and cardmaking? Today I'm sharing ways to add subtle dimension with pleated washi tape. I have four samples to illustrate how to incorporate pleats, so let's get started, shall we?

My first card is a rather simple and straightforward one. I used a single strip of pleated DeNami Black/White Dots washi tape as a design element right down the center of my card. Pleating washi tape is SO much easier than pleating ribbon! Plus, there's no need to consider how to adhere or attach it to your project as there would be with pleated ribbon. And while it adds more dimension to a card than flat washi tape, pleated washi tape is far flatter (and certainly more compressible!) than pleated ribbon.

DeNami Supplies: Small Happy Birthday, flower from Whimsical Flowers stamp set, Elegant Square Frame, Pearlescent Orchid Brilliance ink, Onyx Black Versafine ink, Iridescent Strawberry Freeze cardstock, and Black Rhinestones

Close-up of pleats

On my second card, I got a little more creative with the "single pleated strip" approach! After pleating a strip of DeNami Orange Stripes washi tape, I trimmed it into three long sections to create a wonderfully dimensional flame-tinged exhaust plume for the super fun DeNami Rocketship.

DeNami Supplies: Space Chickie, Rocketship, planet and moon from Outer Space stamp set, sentiment from Thoughtful Greetings stamp set, Teeny Star Background, Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Opaque Cotton White StazOn ink, Leaf Green Cardstock 

Now how about a girly card? Pleats are perfect for frilly, feminine designs, too. For my third card, I layered five different strips of narrowly pleated washi tape (DeNami Pink Stripes and Green Stripes washi tapes) as a base for my trio of DeNami Flower Blooms on this bright and happy Mother's Day card.

DeNami Supplies: Flower Bloom, Happy Mother's Day (cling), Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Leaf Green Cardstock, White Cardstock, Pink Rhinestones, Confetti Twine 3-pack 

Close-up of pleats

Pleating washi tape makes it oh-so-easy to adhere it along curves. So for my final card today, I'm showcasing pleated washi as a ruffled circular frame on my blue-ribbon card! For this card I used DeNami Blue/White Dots washi tape.

DeNami Supplies: You're the Best, Medium Thank You Circle, Sky Blue Cardstock, White Cardstock, Majestic Blue Versafine ink

Here's a hint for pleating washi tape: do your pleating while working on wax paper and then transfer it to your project. The tape will stick lightly to the wax paper while you work with it but will release easily (like removing a sticker's backing sheet) when you are ready to move it. If you'd like to trim a strip of pleated washi tape into long sections like I did on my rocket card, leave it adhered to the wax paper while you do your trimming with scissors.

I do believe that wraps up my April Ways With Washi!

GIVEAWAY

Interested in winning a roll of washi tape for yourself? And how about some baker's twine, too? I have a brand-new roll of Blue/White Dots washi tape from DeNami Design (the same tape that I used on my blue ribbon card) AND a Confetti Twine 3-pack (which I used on my Mother's Day card in this post) 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 "APRIL." 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, April 24, 2013, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, April 25, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

I'm so glad you dropped by for a little slice of bliss today!

Thanks for visiting!
Emily

An Alien + a WINNER!

Greetings, Earthlings--and a happy Thursday to you! I'm here with a quick post to share a card and a winner!

First, my card (I know--I'm prolonging the agony and anticipation!):

Yes, kind of goofy, I know. It's an alien wishing the birthday boy a happy birthday! I made this a while ago for the tweenaged son of a very dear friend. Goofy is good for a tween, don't you think? I patterned it after some little clay alien figurines that my kids made for fun last year, and then gave him a Sing-A-Majig kind of mouth made from punches (yes, that's a heart punch that I used for his tongue!). Nearly all of the stamps (including the flourish I used for his skin texture) come from various The Craft's Meow sets (Just Sayin', Season's Greetings, and Timeless Tags), except for the dotted circle around his eye, which comes from a Flourishes set, I believe. Just for kicks, I'm linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Now, I've promised you a winner for my washi tape giveaway earlier this week. I used Random.org to draw a winner from all the comments left on my giveaway post and came up with lucky number . . .

. . . 14--and that was Denise Bryant!!

Congratulations, Denise! I'm off to email you next so I can get your new roll of Green Graph Washi Tape from DeNami Design mailed out to you. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who played along in my giveaway! As always, I had a ton o' fun reading all of your comments :). Be sure to check out my next Ways With Washi feature in March--it will be on the 4th Monday of the month (that will be March 25). Giveaways are so much fun--let's do another one then!!

Thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss today!
Emily 

A Valentine for my boy

He's nine, a third grader. He's sweet: loves his mom, dad, and sister, snuggles with his stuffed animals, thinks baby chicks and puppies are soooooooo cute, likes being hugged and kissed, thinks pink is fun. But he's definitely got his hard-core boy side, too: loves getting sweaty, playing computer and video games, exploring science, being sporty, taking pratfalls, telling jokes, making rude noises. He'll love getting a Valentine (and a handmade one, at that!) from his mom, but this year I thought it's probably time to move away from the cutesy and lean more toward something "cool," something that says "boy."

I saw my DeNami Rocketship rubber stamp and thought that would be a fun angle to take, especially because he studied our solar system in school earlier this year. I started thinking "moon," headed off to look at some photos for inspiration, and stumbled across this stunning photo:

I had exactly the inspiration I needed to make a Valentine for my boy:

As I mentioned before, the rocket is DeNami--and so is the Solid Decorative Crest that I used as the rocket's blast-off flames. The sentiment, "You're out of this world, Valentine!," was computer generated, trimmed into a flag, and adhered to a stickpin from Maya Road. I think this moon was claimed in the name of love!

I'm entering this card in two challenges over at the Moxie Fab World. This is my third entry in The Map to Your Heart Challenge, to incorporate maps in innovative ways. What can I say? I just can't get maps off my mind :). I'm getting lots of use out of that freebie world map from Doctors Without Borders. This time I circle-punched the tip of South America to play the role of Earth in my Earthrise scene. I did some trimming and shading to give it the correct perspective.

I'm also entering this in the Around the House Challenge, to incorporate an element that was created from a "tool" that you have around your house in an innovative way. My household "tool?" Buttons! I used rimmed buttons to "stamp" the craters on my lunar surface. I simply adhered a button to my finger with a glue dot, inked the button with some charcoal gray ink, and went to town "stamping" moon craters!
This one was a fun one to make! I'm hoping that my son will like it as much as I liked making it. :)

Thanks for spending some time with me for a wee slice o' bliss on this snowy Saturday morning!
Emily

Kid-Friendly Thanks for FWF

Time to share a little something for Unity's Friends With Flair blog hop. Be sure to check the Unity blog for a complete list of participants!

My baby turned 9 years old at the beginning of the month {sniff!} and he needed some fun cards for writing his thank you notes to our far-flung family. I came up with a couple of designs to keep things interesting. I'll share the other design in a few days, but here is the first one:
The letters spelling out THANKS come from {ippity}'s Alphabetically Adorable set. This was my first time inking it up, and I LOVED it!! What a fun set; the letters are just super sweet. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny's Blast Off! collection. (Thanks, Jessi!! And more thanks for the fantastic sparkly star diecuts.)

I used the new sketch from Chick Challenges {with Ippity}:
I'm also linking this up for the current {ippity} Challenge, which is a free-for-all one.

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

You're Out of This World

This week's Free for All challenge on Splitcoast was to create a card using colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel. What a fun one! I got side-tracked by many things today, but finally had a small block of time (while DH was reading to DS) to finish up this card using these color-wheel-opposites: bright blue and orange.
Isn't this a fun card?? It's also for the current DeNami Design Product Challenge to use Patterned Paper. Easy peasy!! I didn't have to look any further than an old DCWV Mat Stack for this absolutely-perfect-for-my-outer-space-scene star patterned paper. That cute rocketship and the rocket exhaust "flames" are both stamps from DeNami Design. Surprised? The flames are actually a decorative crest that I turned upside down! I thought the crest would be just perfect for getting my point across (and I always get a kick out of using stamps in unintended ways.)

To create the craters on my lunar surface, I stuck a button (well, three different sizes in turn) to my finger with a glue dot and stamped crater-like rings from the inked rim of the buttons. Loved how this turned out!

The sentiment is computer-printed from a Chickengirl Design "You're Out of this World" digi stamp. A couple of loop punch strips along the sides and a bit of Mandarin baker's twine from The Twinery and this cute boy card is DONE!

This card is also for Wee Memories Challenge #57, creations using stamps. As you can see, I used two awesome DeNami rubber stamps for this creation. :)

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today! I have another card to share with you soon, hopefully tomorrow. So I'll see you back here then!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: DeNami Design Rocketship, DeNami Design Solid Decorative Crest, sentiment from Chickengirl Design "You're Out of this World" digi
Paper: SU tangerine tango, SU whisper white, DCWV star DP, MFP pale yellow
Ink: Palette noir black, SU tangerine tango
Accessories: MS loops border punch, EK moon punch, SU large oval punch, SU scallop oval punch, buttons, colored pencils, OMS, paper blending stump, foam tape, baker's twine from The Twinery
Techniques: gamsol magic

Out of this World

Well, we're off to a great Saturday here! We all went geocaching early this morning. It rained overnight so it was a bit foggy out and drippy in the forest, but it was much cooler than it will be later in the day. Today's geocache was hidden in an awesome glacial boulder deposit. So cool! DS came away with a neat little dice game (we'll figure it out this afternoon) and DD with a little Lego dude--both in exchange for swag from their own collections, of course.

So today I'm sharing a card I started last night and finished after geocaching this morning. This cute little astroboy and space alien duo is a digital image from Chickengirl Design that I won last week. I colored the images with colored pencils (but couldn't use my favorite Gamsol technique--boo hoo--because the solvent kept smearing the LaserJet toner). I also clear embossed the "glass" visors of their space helmets. So they could float against my deep blue, deep space background, I did some fussy cutting around both images and then adhered them down on a second image which I had already sponged with starry night ink.

Of course, I used several challenges in the making of this card!! Here goes:

• Simon Says Sketch Challenge:
  
• Just For Fun Friday - Color Challenge #21:
• Stampin' B's Challenge #68, to use a background stamp. I used the SU Linen background stamp on my bottom blue layer.
  
• Delightful Challenge: "It's So Simple." This is a challenge to use no designer paper or embellishments. This was definitely a challenge because I kept wanting to add brads or some such, and had to stop myself each time! I have some cool designer paper that would have been perfect with this card, but I had to settle for making my own. The background stamp was a help with the blue layer. I wanted something "cratery" for the gray layer. Having nothing that would fit the bill, I ended up sticking a button (well, two different sizes in turn) to my finger with a glue dot and stamping "craters" from the inked rim of the buttons. I love how it turned out!! Next time I use this image, I'll make a lunar surface for these dudes to spacewalk on using the same method.

Well, my kids are hovering now, so it's time to go squeeze lemons for the lemonade I promised we'd make for lunch!! Thanks so much for dropping by today and checking out my little slice of bliss.

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Chickengirl Design "You're Out of this World" digi, SU Linen background stamp, SU Oval All
Paper: handmade yellow paper, assorted CS from the Paper Company
Ink: Palette starry night, Palette charcoal, Versamark
Accessories: CM corner rounder punch, SU large oval punch, SU scallop oval punch, small star punch, scissors, dimensionals, colored pencils, sponge, clear embossing powder, buttons (for "stamping" the rings on the gray layer)