The little things that make me happy here on Bliss Road~~Emily Keaton

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Holly Lantern

Good morning, my friends! I hope that my American friends had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. We certainly did! We traveled to visit family and had a terrific holiday. But you know how it goes--getting ready to travel, traveling, and then unpacking (and more!) upon returning all take time. I can't believe it's already been a week since I posted here last!

To make up for a bit of lost time, I'm sharing two cards today, both made with a terrific new stamp from DeNami Design, the cling-style Holly Lantern. It's so versatile! And it's the DeNami Product Spotlight stamp this week, so be sure to check out what the rest of the DeNami DT cooked up with this stamp over on the DeNami blog today. The Holly Lantern is on sale over in the DeNami store for the next week!
I don't know about you, but my family goes through a ton of thank you notes after the holidays. So my first card is a little something to add to my supply. (Card size: 4 1/4" x 4 1/4")


My next card is a more traditional Christmas card. I took a stab at coloring the lantern image with markers and glitter pens. (Card size: 4 1/4" x 4 1/4")


Both cards also use one of my new fave DeNami stamps, the Medium Double Line Square. I just LOVE how it can be used to frame so many different DeNami images. Adds instant class!! I also used Christmas Wishes and the "thanks" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings stamp set.

Thanks so much for taking time during your busy day to stop by. I'm so happy you're here!
Emily

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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

Friday, November 16, 2012

Guest Designing for Playing In Paradise #93


I'm thrilled to be the Guest Designer today for Playing In Paradise Challenge #93! The new challenge is to "CASE Yourself!"
Here's my card for today's challenge:


Sentiment stamp is from DeNami Design; toile cardstock is from Recollections

And here's my card from January 29, 2012, that I decided to CASE:



Sometimes simple is best, right?

This was a really fun challenge for me--I enjoyed looking back through my card posts to find something to CASE! I hope you'll try to play along--everyone is invited to play! There are no requirements or restrictions on what products you can use to create your challenge entry. Just check out the Scrapbooker's Paradise blog to link up. Challenge #93 is open until noon on Thursday next week.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Nautical Birthday

Popping in for a super-quick post here. It was a whirlwind day and I'd hoped to get this up earlier, but some days you hafta take what you can get!


I'm playing along with this week's Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, FTTC195, which is to be inspired by this inspiration board:


I thought it was the perfect opportunity to add to my stash of masculine birthday cards with an ultra CAS card sporting lots of neutrals. I used stamps from A Guiding Light and Taglines from Flourishes and, really, not a whole lot else.

I hope you are gearing up for a great weekend. Thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss today!
Emily

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

An Elegant Thank You

Howdy-hi, my friends! Today the DeNami Design Team is spotlighting a terrific stamp from the latest DeNami release. Introducing: the Berry Vine!



I paired it with the beautifully scripted Brushed Thank You stamp to create an elegant thank you note, suitable for any time of year. I stamped the thank you and vines in Versafine inks (oynx and red satin), and heat embossed both with clear embossing powder from DeNami. The berries were colored in with a red Sakura Stardust pen. I gave the background some subtle detail by stamping some tone-on-tone dots with the Polka Dot Background on some gorgeous DeNami Red cardstock.



Need some more ideas for this elegant stamp? Be sure to check out the rest of the team's lovely designs today on the DeNami blog. Like what you see? Then you can score a great deal on this pretty stamp--as our Spotlight Product, it's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

OK, I know that some of you may be surprised by the top note "die cut" on my card today. Those of you who know me know that I don't "do" die cuts, having no Big Shot/Cuttlebug/whatever machine. So, what's that thing doing on my card, and how did it come to be? Well, my dear friend Colleen sent me a fabulous collection of SU scraps that she picked up from her SU demo and amongst them was a lovely top note die cut. Notice how I called it my "die cut" earlier? That's because I used my actual top note die cut as a template: tracing it with a pencil, trimming it out by hand, and adding the stitch marks with a pen. Yup, I'm that low-tech ;). But it tickles me that I can have the high-end look of a fancy die cut for the low price of a pencil and pair of scissors.

That's my little slice of bliss for today, friends. Thanks so much for dropping by!!
Emily

PS This week's CASology cue card is THANKS. I'm playing along! I'm also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Challenge, where the theme this week is Thanksgiving/Thank You, and Papercraft Star, where the new theme is "thank you."

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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:
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

Monday, November 12, 2012

Autumn Thinking of You

OK, I've counted my Thanksgiving cards, and I think this one is the last one I need to make my quota! Huzzah!!


Still trying to keep things flat here for the sake of mailability. {Now that the creating task is done, next on my list will be signing, stuffing, and addressing for mailing.}

I'm linking up with the Stampendous November Challenge, which is to use any of the Stampendous Essentials products in your project. I heat-embossed leaves from the Stampendous Summer Leaves clear stamp set with Stampendous Aged Copper Embossing Enamel. (And the "thinking of you" sentiment is from DeNami Design.)



I'm also playing along with Do You Stack Up? (use a Leaves/Trees theme) and Simon Says Stamp Challenge (Thinking of You/Sympathy).

So, we had a great weekend and managed to show those leaves in our yard who's boss. The kids were a huge help (and they're pretty happy to have had the chance to earn some cash to use toward Christmas shopping). On Saturday we all worked together and made quite a lot of headway before having to take a break midday to go for a family portrait photography sitting. Last week I was working hard at my computer to meet a work deadline and managed to overwork my wrists with repetitive mouse tasks, making the ol' carpal tunnels flare up. So I started the day on Saturday feeling rather tender. Boy, you just don't realize how much you use your wrists for everyday tasks until they hurt!! I found out the hard way just how much wrist-twisting is involved in leaf raking. Who knew?? So after our portrait session, I was just limping along wrist-wise. To save me from further injury, the rest of the family pitched in to finish up the yard work without me on Sunday. Troopers!! It looks great out there. I just love the look of a freshly raked lawn--it looks like it's just had its hair brushed out and styled, you know? Nicely coiffed and polished :). 

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Sunday, November 11, 2012

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:

I {heart} Nature

Just a quick post here to play along with Market Street Stamps' November Block Party!



I had so much fun making this card! I used stamps from the oh-so-adorable MSS Woodland set. I paper-pieced the sweet little birdie with papers from the BasicGrey Nook and Pantry collection, and I colored the whimsical MSS branches with markers.

I'm also playing along with the Do You Stack Up? Challenge, to use a Leaves/Trees theme.

Thanks so much for taking a look! I hope you are having a great weekend. Come back soon!
Emily

Friday, November 9, 2012

thanks*giving

Happy TGIF, friends! I'm slowly closing in on my Thanksgiving card quota. Woo-hoo! Just in time to start jotting notes and stuffing envelopes next week so the cards arrive in time. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is now less than two weeks away!

Because Friday is Friends With Flair day over on the Unity blog, I pulled out lots of Unity goodness to put together today's card. And, without further ado, here it is!



Want a Unity accounting? Let's see . . . I've got leaves and berries from two {ippity} sets:  Where You Should Be (which is on sale right now!!) and The Simple Things. Words from Thank You Words (kinda makes sense, right?). And the background is the supremely elegant Quatrefoil Background.

Challenges have been my m.o. this week, so here's what inspired me:

On Monday my kids will have the day off from school for Veterans Day, but sadly, my hubby does not. I'm sure we'll find something fun to occupy us on Monday. But in the meantime, the whole family needs to tackle the leaf raking. With the crazy weather and our crazy schedules, we haven't had any time to devote to this huge task yet!! Hurricane Sandy and Winter Storm Athena managed to knock down most of the leaves (all except the oak leaves, which will hang on for dear life until March and then drop once the grass starts turning green. What's up with that anyway?), so hopefully we'll only have to do this once. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss! Have a great weekend!
Emily

We have a WINNER!

I had SO much fun doing the Bazzill Beach House and Card Shoppe giveaway this week! You guys always keep me entertained with your giveaway entries :D. As always, I wish I had enough to give away to all of you, but alas, there can be only one winner this time.

I've consulted random.org to draw a winner at random, and we have
commenter #2 as the lucky ducky. Guess what? That is the ultra sweet and super supportive Pam Loris!! 

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Pam, I've sent you an email so we can work out the details.

Thank you to everyone who played along this week!! Stay tuned for more giveaways. You never know when blog candy goodies will need a good home!!!

Have a great weekend!
Emily


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Pilgrim Chicks

Well, Winter Storm Athena didn't thrash us or anything here in New England, but she did give us our first snow of the season! Not a lot, but this morning it covered the grass, leaves, and sidewalks--although it's sure to melt by lunchtime.

I'm still working on mailable Thanksgiving cards for my far-flung family and friends. Here is today's card.



These adorable pilgrim chicks are from Stampendous, and the sentiment is from DeNami. I did some watermark stamping in the background using a stamp from the Stampendous Summer Leaves set. The Stampendous November Challenge is to use any of the Stampendous Essentials products in your project. I flocked the pilgrim chicks using Stampendous Fun Flock.


I'm also playing along in these challenges:
Don't forget that today is the last day to enter my Bazzill Paper GIVEAWAY. Check out this post for details! You can enter up until 11:59 EST tonight. :D

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

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:
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

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Don't Forget to Vote!

OK, my American friends, it's the first Tuesday in November, and you know what that means: it's Election Day! So I made this card as a little reminder:


That old-fashioned pointing hand is a stamp from Purple Onion Designs, and the sentiment is computer-generated. I layered lots of punched borders in red and blue, stamped with white stars, for a little patriotic flair.

I'm playing along with a few challenges with this card:
Because it's a presidential year, I know that polls are going to be busy, folks, but please, PLEASE: don't forget to get out there and vote!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

PS  You all know about the little GIVEAWAY I have going on until Thursday night (11/8/12), right? If not, you can check it out HERE.

Cardstock:  (white) Papertrey Ink; (red, blue, white) The Paper Company
Rubber stamp: (Pointing Finger) Purple Onion Designs
Clear stamp: (star from Boughs) Schlosser Designs
Pigment ink: (Frost White) Clearsnap
Specialty ink: (Noir hybrid) Stewart Superior Corp.
Fibers: (red/white string) The Twinery
Tools:  (border punch, decorative label punch) Stampin’ Up!
Font:  (Latin Wide) www.fonts.com
 

Harvest Time


I'm plugging away on making easily mailed Thanksgiving cards. When I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel idea-wise when faced with the need to create {now!}, I turn to challenges. I wrapped several into this creation.
The sentiments are from a great stamp set from The Craft's Meow called Season's Greetings. The patterned paper is from an old Tim Coffey K & Co. pad, and the flocked brads are from We R Memory Keepers.

Thanks for taking a look!
Emily

Monday, November 5, 2012

Flocked Autumn Leaves

For today's DeNami Sketch Challenge post, click HERE.

Hey, everyone! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I loved getting that extra hour due to the time change, but, man, it's sure to throw me off for the rest of the week!

I realized over the weekend that I am short on Thanksgiving cards, so I've really got to get myself in gear. Here's a quick one that I made this morning:



My goal is to make these cards as flat and easily mailed as possible! So there's nothing too elaborate here. I found some direction for my card with these challenges:
The patterned paper is from an old Tim Coffey K & Co. pad; the Happy Thanksgiving sentiment stamp is from DeNami Design; the lace is from May Arts; and the glittery mini brads are from We R Memory Keepers.

My daughter joined the newly formed photography club at her middle school this year. Their assignment has been to take lots of photos capturing "fall." I noticed last week in the woods by our house that a tree choked with bittersweet vines had been toppled by Hurricane Sandy. We both grabbed our cameras to take a few photos of the now-accessible bright red and orange berries. Here's one that I took:



Well, I've got several tasks to tackle for work, but be prepared to see more Thanksgiving cards sprinkled over the next few days. I've got to get these done!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Emily

Thanksgiving Wreath


A new DeNami challenge starts up today, and this time 'round it's a sketch challenge. Here's the sketch:


Cool, right?

Get some more inspiration, along with all the challenge details, over on the DeNami blog. There are prizes up for grabs, so I hope you'll try to play along!

I used all kinds o' DeNami goodies for this card: Leafy Vine Wreath, Happy Thanksgiving, Chocolate Brown cardstock, Brown Kraft cardstock, Golden Tangerine cardstock, Rich Cocoa Memento ink, and Autumn Twine 3-pack.

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

PS Have you checked out my GIVEAWAY yet? If not, be sure to check it out HERE.

Friday, November 2, 2012

It doesn't suck to be Friday

(This is my second post for today.
Be sure to scroll down to check out my 
Bazzill Basics Paper GIVEAWAY in this post.)

Hello, friends, and Happy Friday! I needed to make a few birthday cards and got stuck on what direction to take. What's a gal to do? Dive into some challenges for direction, of course! This is what I ended up with, making two copies of this same design.


I used the {ippity} Itty Bitty Sucks to Get Old and a rick-rack stamp from Unity's Homemade 6-Bean Soup kit. I stamped and heat embossed the lollipop head on watercolor paper so I could paint the image in just the right colors. Then I paper-pieced that portion, as well as the bow.

These are the challenges that helped my card take shape:
  • I took my layout from one of the two sketches featured over at Chick Challenges with Ippity this week, taking a CAS tack with it by doing all the layers in white.
  • I took my color scheme from this week's ColourQ challenge: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, and White.
  • I took the theme of my creation from this week's CASology challenge cue.

And finally, because it's FRIDAY and I'm showing off my {ippity}/Unity stamps, I'm linking up with Friends With Flair over on the Unity blog.

Well, it's been a busy morning, but it's time to take stock and move on. Can't wait to be inspired when I make my rounds on the Friends With Flair lineup. I hope that all of you have a fabulous weekend!!
Emily

Bazzill Beach House Giveaway

Happy Friday! Can you believe it's already November? I must admit that I've really let the time get away from me. Over the summer, Bazzill Basics Paper asked if I would like to try their new Beach House patterned paper collection and offered to send me two Beach House collection 6x6 pads, one for me to keep and use for myself and one to give away to one of my blog readers. Of course, I said I'd love to!! But the new papers arrived while I was away on our month-long vacation in August, and once we returned I was too overwhelmed to even crack open the new papers. But I'm finally caught up and was able to take time this week to play with them, and I loved what I saw!!

The 6x6 sheets in this mini pack are double-sided. There are a total of 12 different prints, with four sheets of each double-sided combo, for a total of 24 sheets in the pack. And guess what? These sheets are textured!! I LOVE that!! They have a lovely pebbly feel to them and add wonderfully subtle dimension to a card. I also love that the colors used in these patterned papers coordinate with the cardstock colors in Bazzill's Card Shoppe collection.

The prints in the Beach House collection are rather eclectic, I think. And that's a good thing!! They have a fun nautical feel to them, especially color-wise, but aren't overly beachy. There are some nice classics small-scale prints that would be perfect for paper-piecing, as well as some collage-type prints incorporating both ocean-life motifs (think whale, crab, coral, shells) and less obvious ones (such as bicycles, playing cards, cafe receipts, alphabet typography, manilla tags, vintage card game score sheets). I happened to use some sea shell stamps in the card I made with my Beach House papers, but you could easily use them with so many other themes!!

The card I made today is an anniversary card for my in-laws:



I used four different prints from the Beach House collection (House Tags, Weathered Wood, Receipt Dots, and Nautical Stripes), plus two coordinating cardstocks from the Card Shoppe collection: Whirlypop and Peanut Clusters. The shell images are stamps in the Beach Cottage Collection from Unity Stamp Co., and the sentiment is from another Unity set, It's All About Love.

 
My card design was inspired by one of the two sketches featured over at Chick Challenges with Ippity this week.






I'm also linking this up with my friend Jessi's challenge over at Playing in Paradise to make an anniversary project. 

OK, now for the fun part--the part you've all been waiting for: the GIVEAWAY!! Bazzill Basics sent not only a Beach House Collection 6x6 paper pack



but also a 56-sheet multipack of their Card Shoppe cardstock



to give away to one of my readers. Want a chance to win? All you need to do to be in the running is leave me a comment on this post using the word "OCEAN" before 11:59 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 8, 2012. I'll draw one "ocean"-using commenter at random to win  both the patterned paper and cardstock, then post the winner here on my blog on November 9. If I can find the winner's email address, I'll email her as well!

Questions? Feel free to ask! You don't need to be a follower of my blog to enter the giveaway, but I'd love it if you do become one!


A huge thanks goes to Bazzill Basics for letting me try out their amazing patterned papers and cardstocks! And thanks so much for dropping by.

May you find a little slice of bliss in your day today!
Emily