DeNami Design Product Spotlight November Spotlight

It's the last Wednesday of the month and that means it is time to show off another awesome DeNami Design stamp with a blog hop! This month we are featuring the ultra versatile Leafy Squares Set.

Here's what I made:

I went very clean and simple with my design for this card. Quick to create and flat to mail is always my goal at this time of year when I've got a high volume of cards to send out! I needed only three stamps, two inks, and my scoring board to complete this in under 10 minutes. In addition to the Leafy Squares set, I used the Starry Burst stamp, Whimsical Merry Christmas stamp, Satin Red Versafine ink, and Olympia Green Versafine ink from the DeNami store. Unfortunately that pretty pine-green ink looks more black in my photo. Sorry about that! I really did go for a traditional red & green Christmas color palette here ;).

My very first thought about how to use this set was for a Christmas design, which I definitely ran with here, and I figured the entire rest of the team would go that route, too. Was I surprised to see the variety of ways and occasions that they used these stamps! You should definitely go and take a peek at the cool things they did with these leafy squares. And what better way than with a blog hop! If you hop along with us today, I'll have a chance to win your very own Leafy Squares stamp set, so be sure to leave comments along the way.


DeNami blog 
Lisa Petrella
Deb Wabbe
Wendy Elliot
Emily Keaton  <==== you are here!
Lisa Elton
Pattie Goldman
Dana Seymour
Tammy Hobbs

One commenter will be selected at random to win this month's prize! Just check out the DeNami blog for all the details.


Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

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

November Pinspired at DeNami Design

Hello, friends! Today I'm bringing you another Pinspired post along with a few of my other DeNami Design teammates. This month we were inspired by this photo:

Isn't that pretty? I'd love to have a front door that looked like that for autumn :). Those pretty colors make me happy! There's so much to see in this photo, but I think I was most inspired by that awesome wreath. Here's what I designed:

Look at what I used from the DeNami Design store to make my card:

Leafy Vine Wreath

Wheat Stalks

Berries from Classic Christmas stamp set

Pumpkin from Autumn stamp set

"Thinking of You" from Thoughtful Greetings stamp set

Rich Cocoa Memento ink

Habanero Versafine ink

Toffee Versafine ink

This round card is on the petite side: it measures just 3.25" in diameter. I used Copics to color in those wee bitty pumpkins and leaves. Each pumpkin is popped up on a tiny square of foam tape for dimension.

Be sure to check out what the other designers did with this inspiration photo on the DeNami blog today!

Thank you so much for dropping by!
Emily 

Winter Wonderland Notepad

Good Thursday morning to you, my friends! I'm so very pleased to be sharing my first holiday project as part of the Purple Onion Designs Holiday Design Team! This year I've vowed to make as many as the gifts that my family will be giving as possible. Today's project will be perfect for one of my son's fifth-grade teachers. It's a decorated note pad, created entirely with Purple Onion Designs stamps. Here's a look at the front cover I designed for it:

And now here are a few peeks at the pad I made to fit inside:

Yes, I made that little notepad inside myself! And it's actually super easy to do. First, I cut sheets of printer paper down to size (3" by 4") and then stamped each page with Carolyn Draws' Doodle Grid from Purple Onion in light pink ink. Next I went back and stamped each sheet with both snowflakes from POD's Snowflake Set in turquoise chalk ink.

When everything was dry, I simply stacked up the notepad pages, stacked them on a piece of tag board cut to size as a backing, and then applied four coats of PVA bookbinding glue along the top edge of the pad to adhere all the pages together. (Allow each coat of PVA glue to dry between applications.) All that was left to do at that point was create a cover and mount the pad inside. Done!! Additional Purple Onion stamps that I used for this project: Holiday Border Tape Set (on the front cover), Handwritten Holiday Set (inside), and the medium label from the Plain Jane Labels Set (inside).

Purple Onion Designs just released another collection of holiday stamps and stamp sets. And may I say that they are all fantastic! Here's a peek at one of my favorites, called This is December:



Awesome, right? And how about this cute set? This is Holiday Sweets:




You can see the entire release right HERE. You should go check them out!!

Oh, and Michele has also added a new mounting product called Tack 'n Peel to the Purple Onion Designs website. It's a cling sheet that is perfect for adhering to acrylic block handles for unmounted stamps. I've put this on my wishlist!! The link includes a video on how to use it, along with tips on other methods for stamping with unmounted rubber stamps. Lots of great information here!!

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look at my holiday project today!
Emily

Gobble, gobble

Happy good gobbling Wednesday to you! The DeNami Design team is bringing you a brand-new Product Spotlight today, and this time it's the sweetest little gobbler ever. Introducing . . .

See? Totally sweet! I think this little Turkey is a match made in heaven for DeNami's Give Thanks Circle stamp. So, that's obviously the way I had to roll with this one!

I created my background with the elegant and beautiful Solid Leaves Set cling stamps and some Toffee Versafine ink. I'm sure it won't surprise you that I incorporated some washi tape into my design ;). This time around it's from a roll of DeNami's Brown/White Dots washi.

It's always fun to see how others use the same stamp, so 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 Mr. Turkey--as our Spotlight Product, he's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

DeNami Touch of Twine Blog Hop

Good morning, friends! And welcome to the DeNami Design Touch of Twine Blog Hop! Today the DeNami Design Team and customers alike are showcasing projects that show off any kind of twine.

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Ruza Rebel's blog, Ruza's Craft Corner. 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 11, 2013, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize.

Have you seen the great selection of baker's twine 3-packs that DeNami Design carries in the store? That's where I went for my twine on this card for today's hop:

That harvest-y twine that I used to frame the center panel comes from the Autumn 3-pack. I also used these items from the DeNami Design store:

Happy Thanksgiving stamp
Cornucopia stamp
EK Success Deco Scallop border punch
Rich Cocoa Memento ink
Vintage Sepia Versafine ink
Metallic Color Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pens

I'm so pleased with how my design turned out for this card!

I'm the last stop on today's hop, so that wraps it up! Before you leave, be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the randomly drawn prizes.

Thanks for popping in today!
Emily

Photo Tutorial: Thanksgiving Napkin Rings

It's my turn to share another photo tutorial over on the DeNami Design blog today. This time around I'm showing an easy way to dress up your holiday table settings with handmade napkin rings! Be sure to check out the DeNami blog to learn how to make these little beauties:

And just think of the possibilities for creating similar napkin rings for other holidays!! DeNami offers a full line of incredibly versatile circle stamps as well as small images perfect for filling those circles.

Thanks for stopping by today for this little peek of my photo tutorial. I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Emily

Leafy Give Thanks

Howdy, DeNami friends! It's my turn to share a little DeNami inspiration over on the DeNami blog today, so I thought I'd give you a peek of it here as well. How about a Thanksgiving card?

This card is on the petite side; it's only 3.75" x 3.75". I created the background on my card base by stamping DeNami's Decorative Flourish repeatedly with watermark ink and heat embossing with clear embossing powder. Then I did some tone-on-tone stamping, still using the Decorative Flourish, on each of the colored squares. I added some subtle pattern to each of the leaves with DeNami's Medium Solid Filigree stamp. And finally, I built my focal point with the Give Thanks Circle and a little leaf from the Autumn Petit Fours stamp set. I just love these happy colors for fall!

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise) Papertrey Ink; (Candy Necklace) Bazzill Basics; (purple) DCWV; (red)
Rubber stamps: (Give Thanks Circle, Medium Solid Filigree, Decorative Flourish, leaf from Autumn stamp set) DeNami Design
Dye ink: (Pumpkin Pie) Stampin’ Up!
Pigment ink: (Satin Red) Tsukineko
Watermark ink: (clear) Tsukineko
Embossing powder: (clear) DeNami Design
Accent: (plum rhinestone) KaiserCraft
Tool: (corner rounder) Creative Memories; (square and circle punches) EK Success; (maple leaf punch) Martha Stewart Crafts

Craft Dash Autumn Greetings

Hello there, friends! Today DeNami Design Rubber Stamps is sponsoring this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash  Challenge! Sweet Paulina of Pretty Pink Posh invited the DeNami Design team to play along. Challenge #29 is all about buttons.

Ready to see my creation? I pulled out my Copic markers to make this autumn-y one-layer card:

Time to completion: 9:46

I used lots of goodies from the DeNami Design store:

Elegant Autumn Scene

Rich Cocoa Memento ink

Harvest Boutique Buttons

Sand Boutique Buttons

Metallic Colors Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pens

I just LOVE this pretty Elegant Autumn Scene stamp from DeNami! It's perfect for a quick card since all the leaves and the sentiment are already positioned in a single design. One stamping, and you are ready to go!

Are you inspired to play along with the 10-Minute Craft Dash Challenge? It starts today, November 6, and ends on November 16, 2013. Be sure to check out all the details on the Pretty Pink Posh blog. And just in case you need another reason to try this fun challenge, this week you'll be playing for an awesome prize: 

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!

Thanks for coming by for a visit today!
Emily

Purple Onion Designs to the Rescue!

Happy Friday to you! I hope you had a fun Halloween yesterday. We managed to sneak in trick-or-treat between the rain showers, so I'd say it was a successful evening!

Our freshman daughter threw me for a loop when she came home from school yesterday evening. She joined the high school's a cappella group this year and is having a blast. Tonight is their first performance, and she has been staying after school for extra practices all week long. So, yesterday she announces that, on Halloween when our family (and most likely many others just like ours) has plans for a busy evening, the director told them during practice, "By the way, you all need to bring baked goods with you tomorrow to sell during intermission at the performance." What?!?!? Who forgets to share this vital bit of participatory information until the night before the performance and then expects families to drop everything else--on Halloween!--to get ready for a bake sale? Well, apparently the high school music director!! Faced with the prospect of having no time to run out to the store for ingredients, I surveyed our meager stocks looking for inspiration for bake-sale ready goodies. Our prospects were not good. My daughter finally suggested caramel corn. Genius! A batch of caramel corn requires not much more than popping corn, butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup, which always seem to be in ready supply at our house. So while my husband and son headed out for trick-or-treat and my daughter costumed herself for treat distribution at our own front door, I slaved away in the kitchen doing my last-minute music-boostery duty of stirring oven-baked caramel corn.

My next dilemma was how to package all this crunchy goodness for the bake sale. All I had were some standard fold-over sandwich baggies. Not terribly attractive. But then my Purple Onion Designs stamps came to the rescue! I was able to use one of their Treat Logo stamps and accompanying Treat Words to create some fun tags to dress up these bags in no time at all. Nothing fancy here (these bake-sale treats will be purchased and gobbled down in a matter of minutes, after all), but it's often a little extra like this that will attract a customer, right? I just love the huge variety of mix-and-match treat descriptions in the Treat Words set--like "peanutbutter" and "pretzels" and "fudge" and "snickerdoodles" and "clusters" and "chocolate" and "kisses" and, well, it goes on and on with a ton of options for creating custom titles for whatever goodies you are making. Love, LOVE that!!

And speaking of Purple Onion Designs, the release of Stacey Yacula's adorable new holiday stamp collection Winter Wishes is live in the Purple Onion Designs store today! You can view the entire collection HERE. Purple Onion owner Michele is running a 25% off sale when you buy the entire collection. Sale ends November 7.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a terrific weekend!
Emily