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

A Happy Hello

Sending out a Happy Hello to all my blog friends this sunny May morning!

I hope you had a great weekend. It was a busy, busy one here at our house. On my personal agenda for the weekend was making a card to send to my aunt for Aunts' Week. She doesn't have any kids of her own, so when my sister and I were growing up, she and some of her fellow teachers declared the week before Mothers' Day as "Aunt's Week." All their nieces and nephews (which included my big sis and me!) were encouraged to send letters and cards that all the aunties could pin up and share on a bulletin board in the teachers' lounge. We still mark Aunt's Week each year! I wanted to make something really special for her, and I think I succeeded. But I'll tell ya, I kept getting interrupted by one or the other of my kids with questions and help requests in regards to special school projects they are both working on, so it took me all weekend just to make this card! But I guess the wait was worth it--I really like how it turned out. Plus, I'm so proud of myself for digging deep into my stash and finally using some trims and papers I bought from Webster's Pages a few years ago. Gotta stop hoarding all that and use it to spread some sunshine to the folks I love!! Anyway, here it is:

I love the fresh look of that red, bright blue, and chartreuse color combo! So cheery, don't you think? The sentiment and dotted circle are both stamps from the Medallion Motif stamp set by Flourishes. The papers and trims are from Webster's Pages All About Me collection.

I've got to run off now and tackle my monster to-do list, so I'll catch you later. Thanks for stopping by for a little slice of bliss with me today!
Emily

Some one-layer cards

Howdy, friends! I'm popping in to share a couple of one-layer thank you cards that I created last week. I love having cards like this in my stash for easy mailing!

I made both of these with some beautiful stamp sets from Flourishes (although, sadly, no longer available) and washi tape from DeNami Design. I had a lovely time coloring these with my Copics!

I have some very special houseguests this week--my parents are here to visit! We're going to have a busy week, so things may be a little quiet here on the blog.

Thanks for dropping by to see what I've been up to! Have a great week!
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

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

A New Fold

I nearly forgot to check for the Flourishes May Release challenge! How did that happen??? I guess I've been pretty distracted lately and not too interested in crafty pursuits. Anyway, I caught the Colorful Creations Challenge just in time to play along this morning before the challenge ends tomorrow. It's a challenge to use at least three colors from the combo shown in this graphic:

I used the brand-new, beautifully stippled Bees & Blooms stamp set from Flourishes. I won it last month from the super-sweet Silke Ledlow (thanks SO much, Silke!), and this is my first time inking it up. I'm not sure that linen-textured paper was the best choice for this image (I think I lost some of the stamp's fine detail), but I think this will pass if you look at it from the "worn, faded look" angle. The sentiment is from Flourishes' Tag Lines.

The fold style of this card is something new and different for me. My daughter received a thank you note yesterday from a friend that looked like this:

My inspiration!

We thought it looked pretty cool and sophisticated, so my daughter eagerly agreed to let me keep it for inspiration. I couldn't wait to try out a similar fold! I think this would work wonderfully as an all-occasion note card OR a gift card holder, don't you?

Thanks for sharing a little slice of bliss with me this morning!
Emily

More Summer Lovin'

I have another card to share for the Summer Lovin' release-week challenge over at Flourishes.

This one was inspired by the colors in the challenge graphic.

I used two Flourishes stamp sets for my creation: Strawberries and Tiny Flowers and Tags. That beautiful crocheted mat was handmade by my sweet friend Jessi. You can buy them from Jessi here. You'll love them--I know that I do :D.

It will be a busy day--I'm gearing up for the kids' Spring Break next week. Gotta run!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Summer Lovin'

It's time for another stamp release at Flourishes, and this time the release week challenge is called Summer Lovin'--a challenge to create with summer in mind. So how about this for summery?

I used a fun silhouette stamp set from Flourishes called Country Road, which was a birthday gift from a sweet friend. It was so much fun to ink up for the first time! I stamped the pasture scene on watercolor paper and then colored in the grass and sky with some of my new Gelatos, blending them with water and a paintbrush. I LOVE how this scene turned out! The patterned paper is from a new Dear Lizzy Neapolitan 6x6 pad that I just picked up on sale at ACMoore last week. So fun to use so many new items at once!

The last few weeks have been sooooooooooooooooo busy for me. I've spent a lot of time tackling long-overdue projects around the house, getting the house ready for company, and hosting my parents from Ohio for a visit over the weekend. Today was the first time in quite a while that I've been able to do some crafting!

Thanks for taking a peek and stopping by!
Emily

Easter Lily Greetings

Howdy! It's been a busy week here. Can you believe it? My kids had another snow day this week--8 inches mixed with sleet on the last day of winter! That means we have used up all five built-in calamity days this year. Please, Spring, be kind!

I've got to say that Easter has really been sneaking up on me this year. I had to jump start my Easter card stash last week when I realized that it was coming far sooner than I'd thought. And today it hit me that I'll need to start mailing out said Easter card stash on Monday or so. Yikes! So I kicked it in high gear today (in between other tasks) to put together this card:

That beautifully scripted Easter sentiment is from Flourishes' He is Risen set, that lovely Easter lily images is a digital element from the Beautiful Moments digital collection by Carta Bella, the baker's twine is from The Twinery, and the patterned papers are from the Lost & Found: Market Street collection by My Mind's Eye, which I found buried deep in my paper stash. In real-life, the punched label panel on this card coordinates beautifully with the coral colors of the patterned papers, but for some reason it looks all peachy (and clash-y!) in my photo. I'm not sure how that happened!

Well, regardless, I was inspired by a number of terrific challenges in the making of this card, including:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter/Spring
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #212: Bring On Spring
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #94: Easter or Spring
• Playing in Paradise #109: add some banners
• Tuesday Morning Sketches #190:                                                                    
• The Twinery Challenge: It's a Banner Day                                                               

I'm so glad you stopped by today! I hope you have great plans for the weekend. I can't wait to get mine started!

Oh, I have the March edition of my Ways With Washi feature going live on Monday. There will be another giveaway involved, so you just may want to plan to come back then ;).

Thanks for the visit!
Emily

Just Because

Happy Friday! I am so excited today. My dear friend who moved far away a year and a half ago is going to be back in town today–and we are planning to spend some time together here at my house this afternoon. Yay! I also got word yesterday that career day at my daughter's middle school–the one that was cancelled because of the snowstorm last week (read about that here), bumming us both out completely--has been rescheduled for the first week in May. Yay, again! So happiness is bustin' out all over around here today. :D

I have one more card–I promise that this is the last!!!!–to share for the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes (a color challenge to use shades of blue and yellow together). I have been totally obsessed with this awesome color combo! It's always been a favorite of mine. And it has been a great excuse to play with my Flourishes stamps, which is always welcome :).

Now before I get to my card, I need to explain a little something. I've had several projects published in various Northridge Publishing publications in recent months. (You can see my publication list here.) They "pay" their designers in papercrafting product, and my most recent product shipment contained a bunch of Maya Road chipboard pieces. Cool, but I've never really used them before and wasn't sure what to do with it. I also rec'd a couple of Faber-Castell Gelatos, which I've heard lots about but had never tried. I was excited to learn what I could do with them! Along the way, I discovered that Gelatos are awesome for--wait for it--coloring chipboard! Score! I couldn't wait to try that out, and as it turns out the two Gelatos I rec'd are yellow and blue. See? I was destined to play in the Flourishes challenge one more time :).

OK, thanks for bearing with me. Here's my card:

As you can see, I took a rather clean and simple approach, and used the very versatile Flourishes Inside & Out Just Because set for the sentiment. Love these!

I'm also playing along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge (CFC94) to use chipboard.

I have a new tutorial posting over on the DeNami blog later today, so this wraps things up for now.  I'll be back in a few hours. I hope you have a super weekend! Thanks for dropping by,
Emily

Anniversary Medallion

Okay, here I am playing with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes again. Yes, I know, it's my third time this week. I've got to admit – my first two attempts at this challenge were not my favorites. Since I just wasn't satisfied with my use of blues and yellow for this color challenge thus far, I had to give it one more shot. Here we are:

Deep sigh. Now, this one makes me happy! Plus, I have a much needed anniversary card for my stash. There will be lots coming up in the next few months!

I used two Flourishes stamps sets to create this card: Medallion Motif and Tag Lines.

Thanks for sharing my little slice of bliss today,
Emily

Easter Alleluia

Another Easter card for my stash:

I'm playing along again with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes for their March stamp release week and used their He is Risen set. It's a color challenge:

I'm not sure how I feel about the very traditional feel of this design, but I know one of my aunts will love it. I added a ruffle around the oval panel with washi tape. Talk about easy! Looks great but won't add much bulk when I stuff the envelope with this card. That diecut label I used for the sentiment came from my very dear and sweet friend Colleen. Thanks so much, Col!

I'm also playing along with the Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Wishing you a fabulous day,
Emily

Easter Greetings

A quick post to share a 10-minute, one-layer Easter creation I made with my Flourishes stamps (using the Paperwhites and He is Risen sets) and some washi tape:

I'm playing along with the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes for their March stamp release week. It's a color challenge:

Thanks for taking a peek!
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 

Moving on to St. Patrick's Day

I told you I would be back to play in Flourishes' February Release Week Challenge, the Pick 1 Challenge again! Now that Valentine's Day is over (here's hoping yours was a fabulous one!), I'm moving on to the next holiday. Here's today's creation:

Remember, we were to pick one of three sketches,

one of three color combinations,

and one of three embellishments.

This time around, I used sketch #2, color combo #3, and embellishments choice #2 – buttons.

I used the very awesome Irish Blessing stamp set from Flourishes.

Got any big plans for the weekend? My kids get all next week off from school for February vacation and my hubby has Monday off for President's Day. I think we will be getting in some awesome family time!!

See you again soon!
Emily 

A Floral Birthday

Just a quick post to share a card I made for Flourishes' February Release Week Challenge, the Pick 1 Challenge. We were to pick one of three sketches,

one of three color combinations,

and one of three embellishments.

For my creation, I used sketch #1, color combo #3, and embellishments choice #2 – buttons.

I used two different Flourishes stamps sets for this card: the image is from Bloomin' Aussie Florals and the sentiment is from Hollyhocks.

This was such a fun challenge! I just sailed right through it. It is kind of addictive, so don't be surprised if I trying to fit in another replay before the end of the week. :)

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

To Everything There Is a Season

Last fall I completely decimated my stash of sympathy cards. Replenishing my supply has been an ongoing line-item on my to-do list. I just haven't been able to find time or inspiration to work on these, though. As I  contemplated a project for the Stamp With a Homemade Stamp Challenge in the Moxie Fab World,  a plan for a sympathy card came together.

I created my own stamp by hand-trimming a scrap of craft foam into the shape of a long flower petal. Adhering it to an acrylic block with some transparent two-sided poster tape made it very easy to "stamp around the rosie" to create my large blossom.

The sentiment comes from the Life Lines stamp set from Flourishes.

I'm also playing along with the Papercraft Star Challenge--Buttons.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

More Love Letters

I did my civic duty yesterday and reported for jury duty. I arrived at the courthouse prepared for lots of sitting and waiting (no moss grows under me!), and, boy, it's a good thing I did. I stamped a stack of images to take along with me and spent five hours coloring in the jury pool (which sounds pretty splashy, tropical, and fun, doesn't it? I can assure you, however, that it is none of these!). I love it when I can turn potentially wasted time into productive time! (That's not to say that serving on jury duty is a waste of time--I'm happy to do my part, and I take pride in upholding my privileges and responsibilities as a U.S. citizen.)

Anyway, when I returned home, I put together this Valentine card with one of the images I worked on at the courthouse. It's perfect for this week's Flourishes new release challenge, Love Letters.

I used two Flourishes stamp sets: A Year in Flowers 2 and  Tag Lines. I was lucky to find a scrap of lace trim on my work table that was just the right length to add to this card :).

Even though I did a lot of sitting around, jury duty really exhausted me. I'm plum worn out today! I do believe there is a nap in my future ;). That sounds like a pretty big slice of bliss to me!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit! Have a super weekend,
Emily

From the Heart

Greetings and salutations, my friends! Today I am sharing a little Valentine's Day card that I cooked up for this month's Flourishes release week challenge. The theme is Love Letters.

I went with a pink and red "love colors" palette and focused on a sweet little sentiment that says "from the heart."


I used two Flourishes stamp sets: the retired Spring Botanicals (I used the bleeding heart silhouette to stamp my background and embossed as my focal image) and Tiny Flowers and Tags.

It's a busy week for us here on Bliss Road. The kids have lots going on after school this week. Our son just started two different after-school enrichment classes. One is Lego Robotics and the other is a cool course called Get Smarter, a look at how our minds make sense (and nonsense) of our world. Both courses  last for an hour, once per week, for six weeks and are taught by teachers at his school. He is so pumped to be taking them! And I'm happy that he can take advantage of these without my having to provide additional carting around. I show up to fetch him after school like normal, except a little over an hour later. A win-win all around! It's nice for him to have a little something extra to do during these dark winter months.

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