Glittery Snowflake Tag

I can't believe that Christmas is just two days away! I'm so glad that we wrapped up our preparations early this year because I've spent much of the the past two days fighting off a bug. My energy has been sapped, so I've been getting lots of rest. This afternoon I started feeling more normal. Hopefully I'll be all healthy again by Christmas!

The kids delivered the last of our gifts for our neighbors yesterday afternoon. This tag was attached to one of the gift bags.

I used two Lawn Fawn stamp sets to make this tag: Ornate Ornaments and Chevron Backdrops. That big sparkly snowflake is a package tie-on I bought on clearance after Christmas last year. Doesn't it make a super focal point?

I'm linking this up to:

• Lawnscaping Challenge, Make It Shine!
  
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Merry Christmas
• Sunny Challenge: Seasons Greetings 

We have a busy day ahead of us, so I've got to run. Wishing you the best with your holiday preparations!

Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

Masculine Valentine

I've had Moxie Fab World's The Map to Your Heart Challenge in the back of my mind ever since it was issued on January 4. I do indeed love maps, and I think that re-using them in fun ways is rather satisfying. I've been mulling over the best way(s) to approach this challenge, which is to incorporate maps with a papercrafted project in an innovative way, and today was the day to tackle it.

Behold, my entry for The Map to Your Heart Challenge:


(To give you a sense of scale, this circle card measures 4 1/8" in diameter.)

Every couple of months I get a solicitation mailing from Doctors Without Borders that contains a scaled-down fold-up world map. I keep every single one! For this card, I trimmed a section of the map between latitude 60N and 75N, from the Bering Strait to Finland, and turned it into a pleated paper medallion. I turned the resulting card into a clean & simple and nicely masculine Valentine for my husband by adding heart brads, a non-Valentine-colored heart, and the "You make my world go round" sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Admit One stamp set, stamped and embossed on a vellum banner. Why vellum? I didn't want to hide too much of the map!! Anyway, we took a fabulous camping trip of nearly 9000 miles last summer and used maps every day, so I know my hubby will "get" the connection and is sure to love it!

This card was a lot of fun! But I have a couple more map ideas kicking around in my head, so don't be surprised if this isn't the last Map to Your Heart entry you see from me ;).

Do a little something that makes you happy today--I'm glad I did!
Emily

You Make My World Go Round

I've been having SO much fun playing with my new Lawn Fawn stamps! And I've also been playing with one of my Christmas gifts from my hubby: a Martha Stewart scoring board. Yay!! Combining these two new toys lead to another entry for the Lawn Fawn CHA Winter 2012 Challenge:


After giving the carousel from Lawn Fawn's Admit One set a whirl yesterday, I just had to try out the darling Ferris Wheel and that fabulous "you make my world go round" sentiment! Once again, I embossed the images on watercolor paper and watercolor painted them using dye inks. I used my new scoring board to make a medallion from medium blue cardstock, and decided it would make a very cool background for my card--and tie in with the "go round" theme perfectly!

My colors were inspired by the CR84FN45 Challenge:

I may have gotten a little carried away with accent colors on this one--I couldn't keep my eyes off all those extra (and very pretty!) colors in the inspiration photos!!

And finally, I'm entering this in Paper Sundaes Challenge #101: Out with the Old, In with the New (I used my brand new Lawn Fawn stamp set and scoring board along with some in-my-stash-for-a-while baker's twine).

I'm thinking that this card has lots of possibilities--an "I love you" card for my husband, an "I think you're great" card for my kids, a friendship card for a girlfriend, a thank you note (especially for someone who's done me a favor!), and even a birthday card. Have I mentioned how much I love flexibility??

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Watercolored Carousel

So funny to read so many bloggers saying today that they were taking down Christmas decorations, catching up on laundry, and tidying/organizing. That's just what we've been doing here on Bliss Road today, too! We were relatively efficient with our chores, though, so I was able to get in a little paper therapy this afternoon.

I used some of my Christmas money last week and took advantage of a fantastic year-end sale at I {heart} Papers, treating myself to my very first Lawn Fawn, Paper Smooches, and Market Street Stamps. Finally! I've been waiting months {and months} to add some of these to my stamp collection. Now that my new goodies have arrived, the big question was where to start? I got some much-needed direction after reading about the Lawn Fawn CHA Winter 2012 Challenge. Without further ado, here is my card:

All images plus sentiment come from Lawn Fawn's Admit One stamp set. I embossed the images on watercolor paper and watercolor painted them using dye inks. There was a restriction for this challenge to use no patterned paper, so I kept it simple by sponging on some white pigment ink to make my own subtle cloudy sky background. The "sun" is part of the award ribbon image from the set. And the grass? So easy to make with some embroidery floss. (You can find instructions HERE.) I love that "Enjoy the ride" sentiment--it's so flexible. I could send this for a birthday, anniversary, even as a congrats card or just because!

I'm also playing along with Paper Sundaes Challenge #101: Out with the Old, In with the New (I used my brand new Lawn Fawn stamp set and some very, VERY old embroidery floss for my grass), The Kraft Outlet's Anything Goes Challenge (using kraft cardstock), and the Simon Says Anything Goes Challenge.

We really had a fabulous holiday this year. My hubby had a three-day weekend for Christmas and a four-day weekend for New Year's. He heads back to work tomorrow (boo-hoo!), but I have the kids with me for another day: their first day back won't be until Wednesday. They've been keeping busy building with Legos and K'nex, playing new Wii games, reading new books, and writing their thank you notes. And we have seen so many movies (here at home) together as family during their vacation! At last count, I believe it was nine: A Christmas Story, Judy Moody and the Not-Bummer Summer, The Santa Clause, Santa Clause 2, Santa Clause 3, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Gnomeo and Juliet, National Treasure, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Needless to say, we've been plowing our way through lots of popcorn, too. Fun!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss!
Emily