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

How to survive those college football bowl games . . .

My brother-in-law is one difficult guy to shop for. So this year instead of shopping for him, I decided to craft instead and came up with the idea of putting together a College Bowl Game Survival Kit.

I gathered up some of this favorite snacks (a big bag of Skittles and some smaller bags of barbecue and salt & vinegar potato chips) and packaged them in an upcycled acrylic box that formerly housed a pound of fancy salad greens.

Decorating the kit's lid was super easy with some fun sports-themed stamps from DeNami Design. I used stamps from both the Sports Balls stamp set and the All-Star Greetings stamp set. The stitched letters are digital elements from Design by Dani's I Like Love You digital kit, and that fun font that I used on the label is a Creating Keepsakes font called CK Sports Football. Perfect for this project! And I just happened to have that gridiron patterned paper in my stash.

I completed the collection of bowl-game goodies with a score card pad I designed myself in MS Word and printed out, four to a sheet. Then I simply cut the score cards into quarter sheets and bound them together into a rip-off pad with some PVA bookbinding glue. Now he'll have a way to keep up with all the scoring action with each college bowl game he watches!

Well, whether you are planning to spend your day firmly planted in front of a TV to catch your New Year's Day college bowl games or penning your new year's resolutions, I hope you have a fabulous day today!

Thanks for dropping by! Happy New Year!
Emily

Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve 2013. The last day of 2013! I can't believe that we start a brand-new year tomorrow--but it's that time again!

I thought I'd share a few Happy New Year cards that I made this year. Here goes:

All four of these cards were made using digital papers and elements in the Time Flies digital kit from Design by Dani (available through Jessica Sprague). I love how realistic the glittery numbers and metallic confetti garland look! I used no fancy embellishments or alpha packs. That's all printed paper, folks!

Well, no matter how you plan to celebrate the New Year, I hope you have a fabulous time. Stay safe, everyone!

Happy New Year!
Emily

Growing In Unity~Day 3

Greetings! Thanks for joining me for Day 3 in my week as Growing In Unity gal!

Today's project is a birthday gift card holder!

I revisited the paper bag image from the card I shared on Monday.  It's included in the July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun. It was so easy to form a little pocket for slipping in a gift card! I simply stamped the paper bag image on kraft cardstock, cut it out, adhered the bag cutout to another piece of kraft cardstock along three edges, and trimmed off the excess. Done!

The blue banner and flag are digital elements that I printed out from the Falala collection by Design by Dani (available from JessicaSprague.com).

Did you spy a little washi tape? If so, good for you! I used a little of my now-signature embellishment to adhere my sentiment flag to a pearl-topped stickpin. Both sentiments also come from the July 2012 KOM, Ol' Bag of Fun.

Gee, it can't possibly be true that my GIU week is now half over! Please leave a comment on this post to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back tomorrow and Friday for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! If you missed my GIU Days 1 and 2 posts, you should check out and comment on those as well to maximize your chances of winning ;). I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

Thanks so much for sharing a little slice of bliss with me today!
Emily

Growing In Unity~Day 2

Welcome back to Day 2 of my week as Growing In Unity gal!

Today I'm sharing a little clean and simple number. It measures 6" x 3 1/2", so it fits perfectly in a #6-3/4 size envelope. I love how this card turned out!
 

The sentiment comes from Unity's Quote Bundle Pack.  Perfect for an encouragement card, or even a graduation card! I stamped the quote over top of some paint strokes digital elements from the Gouache Painte Strokes kit by Nancie Rowe Janitz (available from JessicaSprague.com). I simply recolored the paint strokes in image editing software and printed it out on cardstock. I'd originally intended this to be a one layer card, but in the end I decided to cut out around the paint strokes and mounting this free-form panel with foam tape. I love the extra dimension that gives the card!

So, part of the deal with being GIU gal is that I get to randomly select someone to receive some free stamps from Unity Stamp Co.!  To be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, be sure to leave a comment on this post, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back the rest of the week for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! And if you missed my post on Monday, be sure to go back on comment there, too. I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

Thanks for stopping by today! Wishing you a day filled with bliss,
Emily

Spring Hyacinth

I made this card thinking that it would be one more Easter card, but I also wanted to play along in this month's Unity challenge--and I don't have any appropriate Unity sentiments for Easter! I thought that the hyacinth would help communicate the theme, but I think the colors are all wrong for it. Oh, well! I still love how it turned out :). If I added an Easter sentiment to the inside, do you think it will be OK for Easter?

I used the sketch portion of the Unity challenge, turning it on its side:

I used Unity's Best Wishes & Blooms for the background stamping, and a sentiment from Unity's { . . . my thoughts are with you}. The hyacinth image is a journaling card from the digital Modern Romance kit from Webster's Pages. I think it is SO pretty! And I dug deeeeeeeeep into my stash of vintage trims to come up with that pretty green rick-rack from my grandma's sewing notions. It still had a price sticker from the 1960s on the package!

I'm also linking up to today's Friends with Flair blog hop. It feels like it's been EONS since I was able to join the hop, and I've really missed it!!

I'm also playing along with these fine challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter/Spring
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #212: Bring On Spring
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #94: Easter or Spring

Time for family movie night, so I've got to run!! We're in the middle of watching the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series on Blu-Ray. Awesome!

Thanks for 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

Camera Craze

I *do* like the camera trend that is so hot in papercrafting (and elsewhere!) right now, but I hadn't yet jumped on the bandwagon. Then Cath issued the Camera Craze challenge in the Moxie Fab World and I knew I had to give it a shot. I don't have anything camera-related in my physical papercrafting stash, so I dove into my ever-expanding digital collection and came up with some fabulous elements that just clicked into place for this card:

The vintage camera and yellow flower are elements from Echo Park Hybrid's For The Record 2: Documented collection. The panel behind them is a journaling card from the Everyday Out Loud collection from Design by Dani.

It almost looked like there would be no room for stamping on this card, but my card base begged for some! I used the on-the-bias border from Great Big Greetings by Market Street Stamps to patch together a background that echoes the chevron-y arrow on the Polaroid frame journaling card.

After a busy week, yesterday's disappointments (see this post), and plenty of hard work dedicated to snow removal, I enjoyed some "me" time today making this card! I'm so very pleased with how it turned out. :)

See you here tomorrow for the DeNami Birthday Bonanza Blog Hop? There will be special prizes this month!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Happy Valentine's Day!

Good morning and happy Valentine's Day! I hope your day is filled with fun, love, and hopefully some delicious treats :-). Chocolate, anyone?

Today I thought you might like to see this little creation that I made for a very dear friend for Valentine's Day.

It was fun to make because it is a bit different from many of the cards I usually make. Everything, except for the stitching and pearls, is a digital element from the Affectionate digital collection by Carina Gardener. That rectangular panel is a ready-made digital journaling card. Pretty cute, huh? I just love how this turned out.

I am playing along with a few challenges:

• Stampendous February Challenge--Love is in the Air
• Playing in Paradise--A Loved One 
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #207: Put Your Heart on It  

Got any last-minute Valentine preparations? Later this morning I will be working on getting Valentine's Day treats ready for the loves of my life. Some yummy treat bags for the kids {plus a Lego surprise for each of them--shh! Don't tell!!}, and a homemade cherry pie for my honey. That is his favorite dessert!

Have a fun one! And thanks so much for dropping by for a Valentine's Day visit :-).
Emily

Juggling Too Much?

Recently I've been busy, crafty-wise, with design assignments. But once the kids were back in school again after their long weekend, I was finally able to turn my attention to a project I've had simmering on the back burner for a while now. Here's my result:

Does this feel like you, too? Well, except for the stylish pencil skirt and those high-heeled shoes, this card pretty much sums up my life these days. Juggling a million details that keep my family running smoothly without any major train wrecks.

This card was inspired by the Use 10 Embellishments Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, in honor of the release of the new Paper Crafts special issue, 75 Creative Card Challenges.

Yes, indeedy, you guessed it--the idea here is to use 10 different embellishments all on the same card in an innovative way. That last part had me stymied for a while. I mean any old fool (this one included!) can slap a bunch of googaws on a card and call it a day. But I wanted mine to mean something, to really tell a story, and not just look like some useless afterthoughts (which is what usually happens if I try to add more than one or two embellies)! Ten? I had my work cut out for me!

My very wise hubby is a big fan of consigning the solution of vexing problems to the subconscious. Can't see how to tackle something right away? Familiarize yourself with the problem and just walk away from it, sleep on it, do something completely different for a while. And that ol' subconscious just plugs away on it, chews it over, and pretty soon smacks you up side the head--completely out of the blue--with just the insight, answer, approach, or solution method that you need. That's just how it happened for me:  in the middle of brushing my teeth while thinking about something completely different.

I selected my embellishments very carefully, picking them for the kinds of tasks that we modern women must juggle.  I had to increase my card size to a mega 5" x 7" to get them to all fit comfortably! Anyway, starting with that ribbon rose on the bottom left, and then going clockwise, we have :

1. The red ribbon rose symbolizes time spent bringing happiness, thoughtfulness, and our thankfulness to others in the form of gifts, cards, phone calls, emails, and favors.
2. The paperclip symbolizes time spent at work.
3. The baseball brad symbolizes time spent managing (and chauffeuring!) kid activities.
4. The wooden clock face symbolizes time spent managing and planning the family calendar.
5. The sparkly apple cabochon symbolizes time spent on planning, shopping, and preparing tasks that keep the family well-nourished.
6. The mini wooden clothespin symbolizes time spent on housekeeping chores.
7. The shiny star brad symbolizes time spent overseeing and helping with the kids' schoolwork.
8. The Asian coin symbolizes time spent on all the myriad financial management tasks.
9. The wooden Bingo number symbolizes time spent on family fun activities and "me" time.
10. The shiny little key symbolizes time spent on home and auto maintenance.

Whew! I'm tired now just thinking of it all! But this little exercise has also been a great reminder of all the many blessings we enjoy. Life may be busy, but it's also quite good!

So, if you feel like you are juggling too much, too, I do believe I know how you feel. And hopefully knowing that will lift you up and make the juggling just a tiny bit easier to manage. :)

Thank you so much for joining me for a little slice of bliss today! It's always a joy to have you drop by!
Emily

Red, White, and Blue for Tuesday Throwdown

I can't believe how fast June has flown by! My month as June Guest Designer for Tuesday Throwdown has come to a close. Yes, this is my last TT post! But I'm going out with a bang--perhaps for the 4th of July? You'd think so with a challenge like the one we have for you this week: make a project using RED, WHITE, and BLUE!!


This week Tuesday Throwdown is sponsored by MYGRAFICO, a one-stop source design shop for all, offering a large variety of commercial cliparts, stamps, scrapbook items, stationery, and print supplies in digital forms. Be sure to stop by the Tuesday Throwdown blog to check out the awesome prize supplied by MYGRAFICO this week!

MYGRAFICO supplied all of the Tuesday Throwdown designers with the awesome Spotsy Dotsy Floral Collection by Cheri Wenger. I had a blast using all of these fun elements to make my last year-end thank you projects. Yes, I finally finished! My 12YO daughter wanted to give each of her sixth-grade teachers a thank you note and small gift. I made and decorated these pillow boxes, and my daughter wrapped Hershey Nuggets with coordinating wrappers to fill the boxes. She gave these to her teachers on the last day of school (last Wednesday), and she said they all adored their gifts!


Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today! I hope you'll give this week's Tuesday Throwdown a try. :)

Emily

Recipe:
Stamps: Hodgepodge Happiness by Stampin' Up!
Paper: white CS from The Paper Company
Ink: Palette l'amore red
Digital Elements: Spotsy Dotsy Floral Collection by Cheri Wenger from MYGRAFICO
Accessories: scissors, SU designer label punch, circle punches, baker's twine, dimensionals, pillow box cutting file from The Cutting Cafe, Hershey Nuggets

Go Bucks! for Tuesday Throwdown

Greetings, folks, and happy first day of summer! This is my third week posting as June Guest Designer for the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge. This week's challenge is Masculine Cards, and our sponsor is Dude Time Doodles, a Bonibleaux Designs company.

About Dude Time Doodles

Dude Time Doodles carries all of your crazy "Dude" card needs. We work exclusively with the artists at Bonibleaux Designs to bring you guy images and ideas for those hard to make cards for the "Dudes" in your life. Guys aren't about flowers and fluff. Guys are our heroes, our fighters, our beer chuggers and bug squashers.

Dude Time Doodles and Bonibleaux Designs have paired together to bring you Manly Man cards and gift ideas. We'll throw the gals an occasional froufrou image but we are really all about the "Dudes" here.

Boni of Dude Time Doodles generously supplied each TT DT member with a digital image of our choice. I was drawn to the Youth Football digi stamp (it reminded me of Schoolhouse Rock so much! Maybe the "Interjection" episode??), and Boni threw in this fun coordinating Football digi, too.

I'm originally from Ohio (yup, that makes me a Buckeye). My sister and her family still live in O-H-I-O and are HUGE Ohio State Buckeyes fans. They often have season tickets to OSU football games and try to go to season-ending Bowl games if possible. Yes, Buckeye-mania reigns at their house (the rec room is completely decorated in OSU colors and with tons of OSU memorabilia). So I colored my youth football dude in OSU colors and decided this card would be perfect for either my brother-in-law or 11YO nephew. :)
Thanks for dropping in to take a peek at my masculine card for this week's Tuesday Throwdown. I hope you'll play along this week for a fun prize from Dude Time Doodles!

Until next time,
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Youth Football and Football digi stamps from Dude Time Doodles; sentiment from Enjoy the Ride by Flourishes
Paper: CS from The Paper Company; Miss Elizabeth's DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, paper blending stump, foam tape, brads
Techniques: Gamsol magic

Tuesday Throwdown Blog Hop

Welcome to the final day of the Tuesday Throwdown Anniversary Blog Hop! You can find details on the hop at the Tuesday Throwdown blog.

We've had some amazing sponsors so far this week, and today is no different. Please welcome Whimsie Doodles!

Whimsie Doodles is so excited to be sponsoring the TT Anniversary Blog Hop! In March of 2009 Melyssa Connolly, artist and owner, began turning her whimsical hand-drawn images into digital files for sale online. Whimsie Doodles' digital stamp line features images that range from cute little boys and girls, to punny stuff, and everything in-between. We enjoy sharing lots of samples on our company blog, where we also post weekly challenges and tutorials.

Special Offer:
A special offer for Tuesday Throwdown Fans - use the discount code Throdown10 at the Whimsie Doodles online store and receive 10% off your next order! Code expires July 14, 2011.

Whimsie Doodles generously supplied the TT DT with two fun digital stamp sets, Shell-a-bration and Have a Seat. (Both sets may be viewed here.) I was completely taken with the comfy armchair in Have a Seat and used it to make a pair of CAS cards:


These images are perfect for paper piecing! I loved the thick lines, so forgiving for cutting. And my job of paper piecing was made even easier by using some fun dotted digital papers from the Springtime Hybrids collection by Echo Park Paper Co.

These cards are pretty versatile. I can complete the sentiment "just sittin' here" on the inside with "thinkin' of you," OR "thankin' you," OR "wishin' you a Happy Birthday," OR any number of other wishes perfect for the occasion at hand! This would also make a super quick and fun set of note cards to give as a gift. :)

In keeping with this week's anniversary Tuesday Throwdown challenge to combine any three or more past TT challenges into your project, I incorporated:

#9 Paper Piecing
#15 Ribbon with a Twist
#28 CAS (clean and simple)
#45 Polka Dots

OK, enough of the chit-chat. Let's talk prizes, shall we? How would you like to win some Whimsie Doodles goodness of your very own? For your chance to win a $10 Whimsie Doodles gift certificate, please be sure to leave a comment for me here on this post. To increase your chances of winning, be sure to also visit the blog of DeeDee Anderson, the other TT blog hop poster for today. You have until 6 pm EDT on June 20, 2011, to comment. Winners will be announced on the Tuesday Throwdown blog on June 21.

Thanks for dropping in to see what's making me happy today!
Emily

PS This card is also for this week's Clear It Out Challenge: Paper Piecing.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Have a Seat digital stamps by Whimsie Doodles
Paper: Mark's Finest Papers 100 lb and 80 lb white CS, patterned digital paper from Echo Park's hybrid Springtime collection
Ink: none
Accessories: scissors, Prismacolor pencils, ribbon, brads
Techniques: paper piecing

Tuesday Throwdown Anniversary Celebration

I'm back again this week wearing my Guest Designer hat for the Tuesday Throwdown. This is challenge #53, so TT is celebrating one year of fun weekly challenges with a weeklong celebration! Be sure to check back on the Tuesday Throwdown blog for the anniversary blog hop's daily schedule. Each day you'll be directed to hop to Tuesday Throwdown DT members' blogs for some eye candy and the chance to win some prizes from the fabulous sponsors Kim has lined up. All the details may be found at Tuesday Throwdown.

This week's challenge is to pick any three previous Tuesday Throwdown challenges to incorporate into your card creation. Be sure to list which three you chose!

We have six--count 'em, SIX!--sponsors this week: Paper Pretties, Heart Song Designs, K 'n K Designs, Digital Delights by Louby Loo, The Stamping Boutique, and Whimsie Doodles. Each sponsor generously provided the entire design team with beautiful digi images to play with.

Today I'm featuring an adorable digi from K 'n K Designs.
The image I used, Little Sheep, was perfect for this birthday card I made for the June birthday of a sweet sheep-loving blog buddy of mine.
Hopefully she has already received her card!!

Oh, I nearly forgot to list which three previous Tuesday Throwdown Challenges I used in the making of this card!! (OK, I actually used four. Couldn't help it!) Here they are:

#8 Stitching
#27 Embellish It
#44 Sparkles & Bling
#52 Animal Image

I'll be back again on Sunday, June 19, for my post in the week-long anniversary celebration blog hop.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Little Sheep digital stamp from K 'n K Designs; frame from Autumn Blessings by Schlosser Designs
Paper: SU pacific point CS, SU whisper white CS, SU Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Ink: SU pacific point
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, SU word window punch, ribbon from Target Dollar Spot, adhesive embellishments from SU Ice Cream Parlor collection, foam tape, rhinestones

Exciting News!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!!


I have some exciting news to share: I am a Guest Designer for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge for the month of June!! I was beside-myself-thrilled when Kim Sherrod, the challenge organizer, contacted me earlier in the spring to see if I'd like to take a GD turn. Completely flattered, I said, "Of course!!"

So today is my first Tuesday Throwdown as Guest Designer. Let's get down to business, shall we?

This week's challenge is to use an animal image. This week's sponsor is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, created and owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion.

Robyn generously supplied each of the Tuesday Throwdown designers with digi stamp of our choice. I chose this delightful A Little Birdie Told Me digital image.

I've been having fun playing with digital images and elements over the past year. Previously I've printed black and white digis and colored them with colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, and a paper blending stump. This time I wanted to do a little something different and tried my hand at coloring this Robyn's Fetish image digitally using The GIMP. It took some trial and error, but this is what I ended up with:
Not only does this card feature a digital image that was colored digitally, it incorporates some digital Cosmo Cricket papers and scrapbook elements from their Wanted collection as well! Yup, I went whole-hog digital with this one, using Microsoft Publisher to lay out the whole card, just to see how it would turn out. I'm pretty pleased with the results!

I hope you'll consider playing along with the Tuesday Throwdown animal image challenge this week. The randomly selected winner will get to bring home some free digis from Robyn's Fetish!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss!
See you soon,
Emily

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Digital Image: A Little Birdie Told Me from Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More
Digital Papers and Embellishments: Cosmo Cricket Wanted Collection digital papers
Font: CK Brownie from www.creatingkeepsakes.com
Tools: SU large oval punch, SU scalloped oval punch
Accessories: scissors, foam tape, buttons from my stash, embroidery floss, sheer ribbon
Technique: digital papers, digital layout, digi stamp, fussy cutting

Unity FWF~~Teacher Thanks

Today I'm playing along with Unity's
Friends with Flair!

You can find out all of the details over on the Unity Stamp Company blog. (You should check it out--there are prizes involved!)

First, you should know that I am a thank-you kind of gal. I thank people for holding the door, for bagging my groceries, for stopping to let us cross the street. I thank my kids for emptying the dishwasher, my husband for mowing the grass, my neighbor for taking my son to school. I say thank you, I write thank you, I sing thank you. I'm teaching my kids to do the same. I'm a big believer in "Thank You" and its power!!

That said, I think June is the "Thank You" season! My kids' last day of school (June 22) is fast approaching, and we have a long list of people to thank for their leadership and service this year: teachers, helpers, coaches, scout leaders, youth advisers. The list could go on and on! So I'm trying to kick the end-of-year thank-you-gift-and-card-making into high gear!! And today I'm sharing a thank-you project that I collaborated on with my 8YO son for his second-grade teacher.
I stamped the adorable books image from {ippity}'s Books a'Flutter kit on a piece of notebook paper, and my son colored it in with crayons. The sentiment is a digital one that I downloaded from Paper Crafts magazine (here). I sorted through my kids' crayon boxes to find four that were still in decent shape (quite the task, I tell ya!) and used them to frame our notebook panel. Glossy Accents was perfect for gluing on the crayons!!

The background paper is actually a page from the 1964 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary. I bought it at a used bookstore last year for $3, specifically to cut up in paper projects. A great investment! (And in the long run, so much cheaper than buying text patterned paper by the sheet.) Anyway, I used the "T" dictionary page that included "teacher" and cut up the page so that the "teacher" entry would peek out strategically at the bottom of the panel. Fortunately, that approach to cutting also ensured that the entry for "teat," just one line down from "teacher" in the next column, was eliminated from the layout. Whew! As wonderful and fun-loving as Mrs. Berry is, I doubt that she would have found that amusing.

So, there you have it!! My son will write a thank you note inside following his patented thank-you-note-writing formula (which is suspiciously similar to the paragraph-writing recipe he learned from Mrs. Berry this year. See? They do pay attention! And won't that make Mrs. Berry proud?): greeting, opening sentence, 2-3 details, wrap-up sentence, "love."

I know it makes me proud.

Thanks for joining me for my little slice of bliss for today!!
Emily

5.5" x 5.5" Card Recipe:
Stamps: Books a'Flutter from {ippity} by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Wild Wasabi CS from Stampin' Up!, red CS from The Paper Company, notebook paper, page from vintage dictionary
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: crayons, Glossy Accents, craft foam sheets, Martha Stewart loops punch-around-the-page set

Good Grief!

Yup. We all do it (or at least I think we do). Even with every birthday and other special date listed on our calendars and/or electronic planners, these special days still manage to slip by us. And by "us," I mean "me." I always have the best of intentions to get cards (especially birthday) signed, sealed, addressed, and out the door to the mailbox on time. Lots of times, I'm able to mail cards to arrive just in time. Sometimes, I'm a bit early. But more often than I would like, my cards (even special ones I've made waaaaaaay in advance) are rather tardy in making it into the mailbox. Which makes them even tardier in arriving. It's not that we (I) forget, it's just that time gets away from us (me). I know it's going to happen, so I may as well be prepared:

Inside reads:
"I'm late. I'm sorry. I hope your birthday was happy!"

This card was totally inspired by the Chevron Chic Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Cath Edvalson challenged us to create a paper-crafted project that incorporates chevron stripes in an innovative way. Well, I must admit that when I hear "chevron," I immediately think of Charlie Brown and his yellow and black striped sweater. I can't help it!

Click here to getImages &
Charlie Brown Pictures - Pictures

And thinking of Charlie Brown leads to his trademark phrase, "Good Grief!" The two had to appear together on this card, but why on earth would a card say "good grief?" Well, to poke fun at the sender being late (again?), of course! And thus, this card was born. :)

Years ago I downloaded an awesome TrueType font called Peanuts which looks just like the handwriting Charles Schulz used to letter the speech bubbles in his Peanuts comic strips. To make my card, I created some chevrons in Microsoft Publisher, added my sentiment in this authentic-looking font, and printed out the yellow panel all ready for mounting on a black card base. No stamps were harmed in the creation of this card!

I'm not sure where I picked up the Peanuts font originally, but I did a quick search and found something comparable HERE for you to check out if you are interested.

I did a little bit of horn-tooting for my daughter over the weekend (see this post), so before I go, I wanted toot my horn for my 8YO son. On Sunday his Cub Scout pack threw its annual Blue and Gold Banquet during which he advanced from Wolf Cub Scout to Bear Cub Scout. We couldn't be more proud!! Not only did he earn his Wolf Badge for his hard work this past year, he also earned a gold arrow point and four silver arrow points for completing 50 electives during the course of the year. Yay!! He was beaming with pride. Now I just need to get the new badges sewn on his uniform shirt so he can proudly wear his new awards for our Memorial Day Parade on Monday. He'll be marching with his pack--while his sister marches with her Girl Scout troop. It will be quite a day. Fingers crossed for no rain!!!

Thanks so much for dropping by to share in my little slice of bliss for this beautiful, warm, and sunny Tuesday!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Font: Peanuts (www.searchfreefonts.com)
Software: Microsoft Publisher
Paper: SU basic black, gold from The Paper Company

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

You Take the Cake

(This is my second post for today. Please scroll down for more.)

After several days filled with errands, work, and those must-be-attended-to life tasks, I finally have some time for creating. Yay!
All week I've been wanting to play along with the new EtsyInspired challenge, which is to be inspired by the wares of the Etsy shop Dollbirdies. I just love the fantastic variety of fabrics used in the purses, wallets, and passport covers found here. I was particularly taken with this adorable passport cover. I found a decent match for it with some papers from my BasicGrey Green at Heart pad.

The sentiment is a computer-printable "Simple Sentiments" from Paper Crafts magazine. You can find it, along with nine more from the March/April 2011 issue, HERE. The "You take the Cake" sentiment I used is actually a bright, pretty fuchsia color in the file, but there must be something wrong with my new ink cartridge, because when I printed it out (unaltered by me!), it came out much darker. Which turned out to be just fine--looks kinda razzleberry to me and suits my color palette for this card just perfectly! I'm entering this card in the Paper Crafts Simple Sentiments Gallery Challenge.

I'm also playing in these two challenges:

• All Things Unity #27: Bling, which I used to turn the sentiment into a thought bubble. (My Unity stamps are from the Total Cuteness kit.)
• 4 Crafty Chicks: eyelets. I used some green eyelets from my stash to anchor the corners of my DP panel.
• Crafty Creations: in stitches
  

And that wraps up my first card {of probably several} today. Just wanted to leave you with this thought, something I spied on a bumper sticker earlier this week:

Nothing is foolproof
to a sufficiently talented fool.

Now, isn't that the truth??? I had a good chuckle in the car after spotting that one.

I'll probably be back later. See you!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Unity Total Cuteness
Paper: SU rich razzleberry CS, white CS from The Paper Company, SU pumpkin pie CS, BasicGrey Green at Heart DP
Ink: Palette bourdeaux
Accessories: EK circle and scalloped circle punches, foam tape, scissors, computer printer, sewing machine, googly eyes, Crop-A-Dile, eyelets, Peapod baker's twine from The Twinery, rhinestones
Techniques: machine stitching, paper piecing