DeNami Design Product Spotlight June Blog Hop

It's the fourth Wednesday of June and that means it is time to show off another awesome DeNami Design stamp with a blog hop! This month we are featuring the celebratory Balloon Trio stamp.

I was looking ahead to the Fourth of July when I designed this card:

In addition to the Balloon Trio stamp, I put the Starry Burst stamp and Stars Embossing Folder to use in this design. I rather like how this design turned out. My daughter says it reminds her of fireworks! It's a little something different, that's for sure ;) .

You can purchase the Balloon Trio stamp for 10% off the regular price for the next week. You also have the chance to WIN this fabulous product in today's spotlight blog hop! All you need to do is hop along to each stop in the lineup, leaving comments along the way. Here is the blog hop lineup:

DeNami blog 
Lisa Petrella
Deb Wabbe
Wendy Elliot
Emily Keaton  <==== you are here!
Lisa Elton
Pattie Goldman
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 today--have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

March DeNami Inspired By

Welcome back to the March edition of DeNami Design's Inspired By feature! Each month we feature one talented DeNami customer's work, and then honor that wonderful artist with a host of DeNami DT projects inspired by it! This month we were inspired by Kim S.

Isn't that the sweetest? You can read all about it right here on Kim's blog.

Kim used the delightful Woodland Friends stamp for her creation (and added in the new Balloon Trio stamp). I don't have that sweet scene {yet!}, but I do have most of the new individual Woodland Animals stamps, so I decided to recreate the scene with those. Here's how my card turned out:

I was inspired by Kim's lovely color palette and spare CAS design. Instead of replicate the design, I decided to do a riff on it: I incorporated the clean, uncolored aspect of Kim's background by keeping all of the stamped elements uncolored and incorporated her color scheme in the busy patterned paper that I used as the backdrop for my plain-brown-wrapper critters. I love how this "inverse" design approach really made those sweet critters pop!! Plus, this is a great way to use stamps that feature line art images quickly--no coloring required!

Here are the products that I used from the DeNami Design store:

Woodland Logs Set

Woodland Mushrooms

Little Fox

Little Beaver

Little Fawn

Little Hedgehog

Balloon Trio

Square Word Bubble

Thoughtful Greetings stamp set

Teal Chevron Washi Tape

White cardstock

Be sure to head over to the DeNami Design blog today to see how the rest of the team was inspired by Kim's sweet card!

Thanks so much for visiting today. May your day be filled with bliss!
Emily

Ways With Washi: BANNERS + a Giveaway

Hello and happy first Monday of summer to you, DeNami Friends! It's Emily here today with my June edition of Ways With Washi! Today we are going to take a look at making banners, flags, and pennants from washi tape as a fun accent for cards and other projects. And since America's Independence Day, July 4th, is just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to take a patriotic approach to today's samples.

For my first project, I've made a pennant banner, or pennant bunting as some folks like to call it, from washi tape (Red Stripes and Blue/White Dots washi tapes from DeNami). This is so easy to make! Simply wrap strips of washi tape around a length of baker's twine, allowing it to adhere to itself. Then use scissors to clip the end of each piece into a traditional triangular pennant shape or a swallowtail shape. So festive!

DeNami Supplies: Patriotic Chickie, Celebrate Circle, Red Cardstock, White Cardstock, baker's twine, Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Majestic Blue Versafine ink

On my second card,  I've created long swallowtail banners from a variety of DeNami washi tapes (Blue Stripes, Red Graph,  Blue/White Dots, and Red Stripes). When making long banners like these, I like to adhere strips of washi tape to wax paper before clipping out the V-shaped swallowtails. It makes handling the sticky strips while cutting so much easier. Then simply peel off the wax paper backing and affix the newly cut banners to your project!

DeNami Supplies: God Bless America, Red Cardstock, White Cardstock, baker's twine, Tuxedo Black Memento ink

And finally for my last project for today, I used my trusty DeNami Red Stripes and Blue/White Dots washi tapes to make toothpick flags and pennants that would be perfect as cupcake toppers at an Independence Day barbecue. Or how about for holding together sandwiches or spearing fruit? And how cute would one of these little flags look decorating the garnish of a fruity 4th of July drink?

There are SO many ways to use washi tape to create fun banners, pennants, and flags! I hope that today's samples will give you a jumping-off point for your own projects.

GIVEAWAY

How would you like to win a roll of washi tape to try making some pennants and banners for yourself? I have a brand-new roll of Red Stripes Washi Tape from DeNami Design--the same tape that I used on each of today's projects--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 "CELEBRATE." 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 Wednesday, June 26, 2013, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, June 27, and if I'm able to find an email address (SEE BELOW!!!), I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

I'm so glad you dropped by for a little slice of bliss today!
Emily

PS  Dear, dear readers: have you included a way to contact you by email on your Google Blogger profile page? If you don't have a blog of your own (where I could leave you a comment to alert you to your winnings) and haven't included an email contact on your profile page, I may not be able to contact you if you've won. Especially if you are a "No-Reply Blogger." Check HERE to find out if you are. Even though you enter your email address in order to leave a comment on my blog, Blogger will keep that private (in which case you become a "No-Reply Blogger") unless you've specifically chosen to share. You can read all about correcting this HERE. Of course, you can always just be sure to drop in here on my blog on winner day to find out if you've won ;) .

Greatest Dad on Earth – Unity FWF

TGIF! Just a quick post to share a little something I made for today's Friends With Flair hop for Unity Stamp Co. This card is already winging its way to my dad for Father's Day.

I took a clean and simple approach to this card featuring a fun stamp or two from Unity's Retro Road Trip stamp kit and lots of washi tape.

My 10-year-old son has been making lots of cards this week. Be looking for him (Legoboy) to link up to today's FWF list later on. He started a card using loads of Unity stamps before school this morning but didn't finish it in time. He will wrap it up after school and link up then.

I hope you have awesome plans for the upcoming weekend! My husband and son are attending an all-day Cub Scout camp on Saturday, and we have plans for some special Father's Day celebrating on Sunday. There may be some special desserts involved. Just sayin'. ;-)

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

Starry Thank You

Hello! The DeNami Design team has another Product Spotlight to share with you today: it's the cling-style Starry Burst stamp. I used it to take a clean and simple approach to a thank you card.

The only other items I needed for this card were the Brushed Thank You stamp, Tuxedo Black Memento ink, some Copic markers for coloring, white cardstock, and a corner rounder.

Looking for some more ideas for this unique starry stamp? 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 Starry Burst--as our Spotlight Product, it's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

Thanks for stopping by today!
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

God Bless America

Today I have a patriotic card to share with you, and boy, did I have fun making this card!

Isn't that God Bless America stamp fabulous? It's by DeNami Design, and it just happens to be our Product Spotlight stamp this week, which means it's also on sale.

I really like how fancy and star-studded this is! Wouldn't this stamp be fabulous for Operation Write Home creations? I also used the ultra-cute DeNami Sparkles stamp to add "fireworks" to my design and DeNami's Teeny Star Background on my blue stripes.

I think this stamp has soooooooooooooo many possibilities! Be sure to swing by the DeNami Design blog today to see what the rest of the design team has whipped up with this stamp!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today,

Emily

Stamps: God Bless America, Sparkles, and Teeny Star Background by DeNami Design

Cardstock: DeNami Red, PTI white, The Paper Company blue

Ink: Satin Red Versafine, Majestic Blue Versafine

Accessories: oval cutting system, Sakura Stardust pen, red rhinestones, red/white/blue grosgrain ribbon from Target's Dollar Spot

Super-Star Dad

It's time for another DeNami Product Spotlight! This week we are focusing on the new cling-style Happy Father's Day sentiment to celebrate super-star dads:

 

And because all of the dads I know couldn't get along without their computers, I just had to feature the new cling-style Computer Chickie, too. Isn't he the sweetest? I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils using the blending technique I showed in my last tutorial for DeNami. Because my design is so star-studded, I also absolutely had to use the DeNami Teeny Star Background for both my Desert Orange panel and Leaf Green card base. A few star punches and star rhinestones were all I needed to round out my design!

 Because that awesome Happy Father's Day sentiment (isn't the font fantastic?) is our Product Spotlight this week, it's on sale for 10% off. Be sure to drop by the DeNami Design store in the next week so you don't lose out on the savings--just add it to your cart to get the discounted price. No coupon code required!

Don't forget to drop by the DeNami Design blog today to see how the rest of the DeNami design team used this fabulous Father's Day stamp! I know you'll get some awesome masculine-card inspiration. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today!

Emily

Kid-Friendly Thanks for FWF

Time to share a little something for Unity's Friends With Flair blog hop. Be sure to check the Unity blog for a complete list of participants!

My baby turned 9 years old at the beginning of the month {sniff!} and he needed some fun cards for writing his thank you notes to our far-flung family. I came up with a couple of designs to keep things interesting. I'll share the other design in a few days, but here is the first one:
The letters spelling out THANKS come from {ippity}'s Alphabetically Adorable set. This was my first time inking it up, and I LOVED it!! What a fun set; the letters are just super sweet. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny's Blast Off! collection. (Thanks, Jessi!! And more thanks for the fantastic sparkly star diecuts.)

I used the new sketch from Chick Challenges {with Ippity}:
I'm also linking this up for the current {ippity} Challenge, which is a free-for-all one.

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

It's my BLOGOVERSARY!!

So, how about a little BLOG CANDY?? Keep reading for details . . .

Yes, it is official. Today is my first BLOGOVERSARY! Happy Blogoversary to me!! It was one year ago today that I made my very first blog post. I wasn't sure where I was heading with this blog, but I figured it would be a good place to write about the things that make me happy, thus my blog title "My Little Slice of Bliss" (which is also a play on where we live, as our address is Bliss Road!!). In my first post I mentioned that I love spending time with my family and that making things--all kinds of things, from sewing with fabric to preparing delicious food to creating art with paper to making memories with my family--truly makes me happy. And I thought those might be the kinds of things I'd write about on this blog, but I wasn't really positive at the time. Looking back over the past year, I notice that blogging about my adventures in papercrafting has been my most frequent topic, but there's been a nice smattering of reporting on my other sources of bliss, so I'd say that I was pretty much on target!

During this past year of blogging I've also re-discovered how happy writing can make me. Sure, it can be frustrating and time-consuming at times, but there's nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finally putting together just the right words in just the right order to say what I want to say. Writing is another creative medium, and being creative is what makes me tick.

I also can't tell you how happy it makes me to have met so many of you through my blog! I had no idea I'd find such a friendly and supportive community of like-minded crafty and blogging folks out there! Your comments, encouragement, and support truly make me happy, and I so enjoy having the opportunity to do the same for you. Thank you so very much for caring!
Now, let's celebrate! I have some BLOG CANDY I'd like to share to say thank you to all of you wonderful folks. I wish I had a little something to give to each of you, but that's just not feasible. So let's play a little party game to find a lucky winner!

First, here's what you'll be playing for:

a 6 x 6 petite paper pad (30 sheets total)
from the Sweetness collection by Pink Paislee

How to play? Just leave me a comment on this post using the word "BLISS" in some way, and you'll be entered in a random drawing for some Pink Paislee Sweetness. Only comments containing "bliss" will be considered for the drawing. So if you aren't interested in the blog candy but want to leave me a comment (you know, maybe wishing me a Happy Blogoversary???), go ahead and just avoid typing "bliss" like the plague!!

What's the catch? None, except let's keep this to one comment per person. You don't have to be a follower to play (although if you aren't and think you'd enjoy reading about my adventures, I'd love for you to become one. But there's no pressure!!). Comments/entries will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 10, 2011. I'll draw the winners on the 11th, and post them here on my blog. I'll try to contact the winners as well (I hate having to remember to check back for the winners after a contest, don't you?). If you don't have a blog (or don't post your email contact info on it), be sure to include your email address so I can reach you, 'K?

Oh, did you catch that I said "winnerS" in the paragraph just above? Well, I only have one Sweetness Petite Pad to give away, but I'll have a new Blogoversary party game--with a new blog candy prize--to debut on Wednesday, July 6, and on Friday, July 8. So if today's Pink Paislee prize just isn't your thing, check back for something completely different on those days. You can enter any and all of the drawings--that's fine with me!!

OK, any questions?? Just drop me a line!!

Thanks for stopping by on my Blogoversary!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Paper: Cherry Slush CS by Mark’s Finest Papers, white CS by The Paper Company, star DP from Target Dollar Spot
Stamps: Thank You Noteblock by Purple Onion Designs
Ink: Ranger Antique Linen distress ink, Versamark
Accessories: red embossing powder, metallic star brad, SU circle punch, SU large star punch, Fiskars medium star punch, small star punch (unknown)
Techniques: ink distressing, embossing

Red, White, and Blue Thank You

Still working on those thank-you gifts and cards. I needed one more small giftie for my kids' gymnastics coaches. All three coaches are teenage boys, so I figured what better way to say thank you for their hard work this year than with chocolate bars? I've already put aside these two bars for them, and added this one to the collection today:
I used the Flourishes Tag Lines set to stamp the sentiment for the little red, white, and blue tag. After wrapping a milk chocolate caramel bar with some patriotic patterned paper, I tied on my tag with red and white baker's twine. Done!! A quick and easy gift. :)

I'm playing along with the June Flourishes Release Week Challenge, the Star-Spangled Challenge, which is to let your patriotism shine and use red, white, and blue if you hail from the United States {check!}.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Tag Lines
Paper: MFP kraft CS, SU cherry cobbler CS, MFP snow storm CS, DP from the Target Dollar Spot
Ink: SU night of navy
Accessories: SU tag corner punch, SU oval/scallop oval punches, white eyelet, Crop-A-Dile, foam tape, red/white baker’s twine, chocolate bar

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

Treat Boxes

Just a quick post to share a project I've been working on this morning. Tomorrow is the kids' Christmas pageant at our church, and both DD and DS will be shepherds. (Threw together some quick shepherds' headdresses this morning and a tunic for DD to wear. Thank goodness for my huge fabric stash and my trusty pair of pinking shears!!) I wanted to make little Christmas gifts for the kids to give to their Sunday School teachers after the pageant tomorrow, thanking them for all of their dedication and hard work so far this program year.

There wasn't much time to do anything elaborate (I'm starting to feel the time crunch), but I was so pleased to {finally} ink up these adorable nativity stamps from The Angel Company that I've had for a while now.
These stamps were perfect for dressing up the white favor box totes from the Dollar Tree that I keep on hand for just such projects. A little silver stamping on blue for the fronts, a few images stamped in blue directly on the other sides of the boxes, acetate bags filled with holiday Hershey Kisses, some swirly blue and silver ribbon to tie up the treat bags, and DONE!

I made these with the Simon Says Stamp challenge (to use silver, blue, and white) in mind. I love these colors! I'm also entering this over at Cute Card Thursday, where the challenge is One for the Kids (my interpretation: "One for the Kids . . . to give to their Sunday School teachers.")

Thanks for checking in on my little slice of bliss for today!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Angel Company
Paper: The Paper Company
Ink: Encore metallic silver, Palette starry night
Accessories: MS loops punches, MS modern garland punch, ribbon