Fabulous Lanterns

Happy Saturday! I had a lot of fun with my kids this week, who were off for February Vacation Week. We had some fun adventures (including a morning at the arcade on Thursday and a trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop yesterday to redeem their coupons for a free bear accessory) and had a fabulous time perfecting our recipe for fruit and yogurt smoothies. Delicious!

I was having some serious mojo issues last weekend and at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week I was getting ideas for creations left and right! Now my problem is finding time to make cards for all of the ideas I have. Yikes! Not enough time! Regardless, I was excited to check out yesterday's Free for All challenge on SCS. The theme was Aloha Friday, to make anything tropical, Polynesian, Asian … in a tribute to all of our island friends.

This had me stumped at first, but not for long. I remembered that not long ago I bought some great Jillibean Soup DP with images of paper lanterns. Lightbulb! I cut out three lanterns from the pattern and strung them on some razzleberry-esque baker's twine. A "May your day be Fabulous!" sentiment was a perfect match for these fabulous lanterns. And then I remembered that I have a few little Asian coins from an old collection of scrapbook embellishments. Voila!! Done. :)
I took my colors from this week's ColourQ Challenge #73: pear pizzazz, brocade blue, brilliant blue, razzleberry, and white. Aren't they pretty?
Well, thanks for tuning in for this little slice of bliss. I'll see around again soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Paper: snow storm CS, Jillibean Soup DP (Summer Squash Soup Collection)
Ink: Palette bourdeaux
Accessories: Baker's twine, scissors, dimensionals, SU decorative label punch, Asian coins from Treasured Memories Vintage Accent Kit by Nicole

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

I'm thrilled to be taking part in my very first Papertrey Ink customer blog hop today! This month's theme is "Scallops." So fun! Here's my take on the challenge (which you can read all about here).
I made my scalloped frame by punching 1/2" circles and individually adhering them to the back of my main panel. I also used a scalloped border punch along the bottom of my long panel. My birthday wishes sentiment (from the Papertrey Ink set Everyday Button Bits) is stamped on an adorable blank ticket that I won in some blog candy from Paper Crafts Go-To Gal Teri Anderson. How cute is that?? And that yummy layered flower? It's a Frosty Pink Lollipop by Prima. I thought it might make a fantastic focal point.

I'm also playing along with Papertrey's Make It Monday Challenge #3: Glitter Strips with Scor-Tape. Such a cool idea! I laid down two strips of 1/4" Scor-Tape side-by-side and piled on some Pink Paislee Chocolate Pixie Stix glitter. Love how this turned out!

I incorporated these additional challenges into the making of this card.

• Mojo Monday: Sketch #179 (My first Mojo sketch. I've always been too intimidated to try, but finally screwed up my courage and dove right in!)
• Simon Says Stamp: Coffee and Cream, to add the colors brown and cream to your creation.
• The Shabby Tea Room: Buttons and Bows
  
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Birthday Wishes
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Birthday Card
• Delightful Challenges: Use scraps (except for my background DP, all other paper portions were created from scraps!)
• Stamptacular Sunday: #99, S.O.S., to make a card for SomeOne Special. This birthday card will go to one of the special gals in my book group who will be celebrating her birthday next week!
• Tuesday Throwdown: 3D, pull out your 3-D tape/supplies and pop it up. (I used foam tape to pop up my main panel.)

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog today! I appreciate your visit. :)

Have a super weekend!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Everyday Button Bits
Paper: BasicGrey Kraft DP, SU chocolate chip CS, We R Memory Keepers Tiffany's DP, various unknown scraps, book page ripped from a vintage history book
Ink: Marvy LePlume II black marker, Ranger tea dye distress ink
Accessories: SU 1/2" circle punch, SU scallop border punch, foam tape, Scor-Tape, Pink Paislee Chocolate Pixie Stix glitter, sponge dauber, buttons from my stash, brown burlap string, Prima Frosty Pink Lollipops flower, ticket, sewing machine, salvaged ribbon from whoopie pie packaging
Techniques: machine stitching, ink distressing

Stampin' B's Challenge: Flowers

Subtitle: Inspired by Our New Shower Curtain

Wishing a Happy Thursday to you!! Thursdays are the days that a new Stampin' B's DT challenge is posted, and this week we have a springy one. Our hostess, Vicki, says that all you have to do is use a flower on your card. Easy, right?

My flower project (that's a hint that today I have a non-card to show you) has a little bit of history to it. About a month ago, my hubby and I repainted our master bathroom. And along with that came new throw rugs, curtains, mirror, storage cabinet, and shower curtain. It took a looooooooooong time to find just the right shower curtain, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect.

Our new shower curtain.

Now every time I'm in the bathroom and see my lovely new shower curtain, I can't help but think of my {ippity} Now & Always stamp set!

See what I mean?

I just knew that at some point I would have to make a project that captured our shower curtain with my {ippity} set, and that time has arrived. Without further ado, let's meet the result.
This altered canister started life as a Viactiv calcium chews container. I think that my altered version will make fabulous gift packaging for a girlfriend's birthday. I also think that the DP I created echoes our shower curtain nicely. I made it by white embossing the open-pattern chrysanthemums and stamping the closed mum image in Versamark and applying pink chalk with a sponge applicator.

I also incorporated these challenges:

• Wee Memories: Source of Inspiration Challenge. My inspiration for this week's project was our new shower curtain!
• All Things Unity: Alter It. Alter anything (I chose an empty Viactiv container) using Unity or {ippity} stamps.
• Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge: MMSC92

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

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

Recipe:
Stamps: {ippity} Now & Always, {ippity} Moonbeams and Heartstrings
Paper: SU chocolate chip, SU pink pirouette
Ink: SU chocolate chip, Palette toile pink, Versamark
Accessories: MS chrysanthemum punch, MS modern garland PATP, SU boho blossoms punch, Stampin Pastels, sponge applicator, dotted grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone, foam tape, button from my stash, pink burlap string, white EP, heat tool
Techniques: Poppin' Pastels, altered container

A CAS Birthday

Here's a quick and easy birthday card I made for Splitcoaststampers' CAS (Clean and Simple) Challenge to make your own background:

Card measures 4.25" x 4.25". I made my own background by scoring a grid pattern on a 60 mm x 60 mm white panel and stamping a small fleur de lis element in each square.

This card is also my entry for City Crafter Challenge Week 45 "Nothing To It," to make a creation with nothing on it: no bows, no lace, no flowers, no buttons. I think it's easy to see that I've added nothing to this card!

Finally, I took my colors from this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge (OTWC46):

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Paper: snowstorm CS, various CS from The Paper Company
Ink: Palette: l'amore red, paris lights, reflection blue
Accessories: scoring tool, SU small oval punch, dimensionals
Techniques: scoring

Stampin' B's Challenge: Monochromatic

This week Lois is our hostess for the new Stampin' B's DT Challenge. Her challenge is to make a monochromatic card. Here is mine:
I used one of my favorite techniques for making a monochromatic card: the Poppin' Pastels technique. I stamped this gorgeous bouquet of shamrocks from Flourishes in Versamark ink and then applied SU garden green chalk with a sponge applicator. Usually I apply the chalk all the way to the edge of the card stock, but this time I stopped at the edges of the image. That left a blurry halo of sorts around the image, but I kind of like it!

I tried my hand at another ribbon rose, and I feel like I'm getting a better feel for it. Practice makes perfect, right?

I incorporated these challenges into the making of this card:

• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge: FTTC105, use three patterned papers
• Card Positioning Systems: CPS205
• Wee Memories: Live, Laugh, Love (my card celebrates LIFE with its "Cheers!" sentiment)
• Challenge Up Your Life: Monochrome
• EtsyInspired Challenge #126: to be inspired by the wares of the Etsy shop Glow Girl. I was inspired by the colors and pattern of the fabric used in this coupon holder.
• Simon Says Stamp: make your own embellishment. My ribbon rose definitely qualifies here!

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Irish Blessing
Paper: MFP lily pad CS, SU garden green textured CS, SU garden green DSP, MFP snowstorm CS
Ink: Palette jardin moss, Versamark
Accessories: SU five-petal flower punch, SU decorative label punch, Stampin Pastels, sponge applicator, gingham ribbon, rhinestones, foam tape, The Twinery peapod baker's twine
Techniques: Poppin' Pastels, handmade ribbon rose

The Apple of My Eye

And this was the other card I worked on today--a nice clean and simple creation to soothe the soul after the turmoil of my previous creation!
I started this card wanting to make something for the Stamping with Markers Challenge over at the Moxie Fab World. I have no Copics and am truly uninitiated in the art of coloring with markers, so I fell back on my favorite stamping-with-markers technique: "coloring" directly on the rubber of the stamp before making an impression. When I was first introduced to stamping back in 2004, this is the technique that gave me my "aha!" moment and made me fall in love with the versatility of stamping. It is especially good, I think, on an image with solid regions, like this apple from Stampin' Up's Tart & Tangy stamp set. The sentiment is a clear stamp from We R Memory Keepers.

I'm also playing along with these challenges:

• One Stop Craft Challenge: Love is in the Air
• Wee Memories: Live, Laugh, Love (my card celebrates LOVE with its sentiment)
• Stamptacular Sunday: Food

Thank you so much for checking out my little slice of bliss for today. :)

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Stampin' Up! Tart & Tangy, We R Memory Keepers (sentiment)
Paper: Mark's Finest Papers snowstorm card stock, DCWV red card stock
Ink: Various markers
Accessories: SU scallop trim corner punch, dimensionals, scoring tool, The Twinery maraschino baker's twine, brass apple charm from Mark's Finest Papers
Techniques: scoring, stamping with markers

And now for something completely different . . .

Well, I had an idea for a card in my head today that I just couldn't get rid of, so I spent some time this afternoon experimenting with several different techniques and just playing around. It was fun and insightful, but the card I ended up with was completely different from what I'd envisioned and kind of "out there." Not the kind of thing I usually make (even though I'd be hard pressed to describe a "style" for my cards) and I wasn't really happy with it. I was ready to chuck the whole thing in the trash can, but my 12YO daughter convinced me not only to finish it but to post it on my blog, too. So here it is, for better or for worse. It was just one of those kind of days.
This card measures 5" x 7" in real life. Sorry for the odd perspective in the photo. I was trying to catch the shimmer of the Smooch Spritz I was playing with. The ruffled ribbon treatment is actually a strip of calico torn from a scrap in my sewing room. And the subtle hearts at the bottom of the layout were stamped in Versamark ink and clear embossed. I was hoping that the Smooch Spritz and clear embossing would give that vast expanse of yellow card stock (such a big card!) some texture and interest, but I'm really not sure it helped that much.

I had several different challenges in mind while playing around with this today, so since I'm taking the time to post this thing, I'm entering it, too. May as well, right? Not that I'm expecting much from it. Anyway, these are the challenges that contributed to this card:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge: WMSC34
• CR84FN15:
• Paper Sundaes: Pick two or more of these sundae toppings: flowers, lace, distressing, or the color pink. I went with flowers and distressing.
• Cupcake Craft Challenge: at least one heart
• Stamping with Shimmer Sprays Challenge in the Moxie Fab World
• Unity Challenge: Heart theme
• Little Red Wagon: Misting

I promise that my next project will be a bit less experimental. Thanks for stopping by!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: all Unity: Sentiments O'Simple, Lovely Bits & Baubles, unknown wood-mounted flower
Paper: Mark's Finest Papers snowstorm card stock, DCWV yellow card stock
Ink: Palette reflection blue, Palette chartreuse, Versamark
Accessories: sewing machine, paper distresser, clear embossing powder, heat tool, fabric scrap from my stash, rhinestone, dimensional, Golden Glow Smooch Spritz
Techniques: machine stitching, distressing, misting, clear embossing

Heart Day, Subscription News + Flashback Friday

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you've had a fantastic Heart Day with those you love! We keep things pretty low key for Valentine's Day here, preferring to stick close to home; however, we did celebrate with a highbrow, home-cooked, eat-in supper tonight. This was the menu for our "feast of love:"

Sweet bourbon marinated steak tips
Ginger-glazed baby carrots
Baby spinach and baby romaine tossed salad
Fresh Anjou pears
Heart-sprinkled dark chocolate brownies

My 8YO son helped me make the brownies after school today and was thrilled to be involved. Of course, licking the spoon was definitely the highlight for him! Everyone--even the kids!--loved the steak tips, the specialty of a local butcher shop. Pricey, but worth it for a once-in-a-while treat. :)

After supper, the four of us exchanged Valentines, and I had some chocolaty treats for DH, DD, and DS, which they all loved. All weekend I have been enjoying a lovely bouquet of flowers that my dear hubby brought home for me on Friday. And don't tell, but I'm thinking that perhaps tomorrow I'll sneak out in search of a little half-price post-Valentine's Day chocolate decadence to squirrel away for myself!

In other news, over the weekend I set up a subscription to FeedBurner, so if you would prefer to subscribe to My Little Slice of Bliss posts via email, that option is now available. You'll find a "Subscribe via email" block on my right-hand side bar just under "Followers." Just type in your email address and you will be on your way to subscribing!!

Finally, I wanted to play along with Flashback Friday 8.0. The latest challenge is to post/re-post your very first 3D project. How fun! And here we have mine:
I made these little note card totes filled with matching 3" x 6" notes to give as end-of-year gifts for scout leaders, gymnastics coaches, and teachers' aides and uploaded them to my Splitcoaststampers Gallery on June 6, 2009--13 months before I started my blog! I was keen to use my newly acquired Crop-A-Dile to attach the satin ribbon handles to the totes with eyelets, and that SU scallop punch was my one and only border punch. Wow, how my punch collection has grown since then. :)

That's it from me for today. I'd love to hear about how your Valentine's Day went. If you'd like to share any of your Heart Day doings, please leave me a comment!!

Well, thanks for stopping by and sharing my little slice of bliss for today. Hope to see you again soon!

Stampin' B's Challenge: Birds

Thursday means it's time for a new challenge from the Stampin' B's DT! This week Brenda, aka Benzi on SCS, is our hostess. Being the bird lover that she is, Brenda is challenging us to use birds on our projects. Let's meet my happy little card for today:
That cute little bird stamp comes from the {ippity} set Just Wanted to Say, and the sweet bird charm is from Mark's Finest Papers.

I am playing in a ton of challenges with this card, so let's get cracking on that list.

• CR84FN14:
• Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge: MMSC90
• All Things Unity #24: Use your favorite Unity/{ippity} stamp set. I adore the sayings and frames in {ippity}'s Just Wanted to Say!
• Stamptacular Sunday: Hearts Gone Wild
  
• Paper Sundaes: Use at least two images
• Bring Back Beautiful: With Love
• City Crafter Challenge: All That Glitters (use silver and gold together in a project. I used a gold charm and silver heart button.)
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Love
• Tuesday Throwdown: Buttons
• Papertake Weekly: Have a Heart

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say
Paper: SU chocolate chip CS, SU pink pirouette CS, MFP pink freeze sparkle CS, SU DSP
Ink: Palette burnt umber
Accessories: MS french scroll border and corner punches, EK chain of hearts punch, deckle edge rotary cutter, sewing machine, satin ribbon from MFP, satin-edged sheer ribbon from my stash, pink pearls, buttons from my stash, burlap string, brass bird charm from MFP, scissors, dimensionals, silver heart button
Techniques: machine stitching

My Favorite PTI Project

Papertrey Ink is celebrating its fourth anniversary with a huge giveaway! To enter, all you need to do is post your own very favorite PTI project from the past year. Here is my own very favorite from July 2010, using PTI's Everyday Button Bits:

Details about the card may be found here.

You may enter the giveaway drawing by checking out this blog post.

Thanks for taking a look--and thanks to Nichole Heady for the chance to win!!

Sweets for the Sweet

Just a quick post this morning to share a Valentine I made for this Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger: Sweets for the Sweet.

Sweets for the Sweet

Here is my interpretation:
That DP and the soft colors make me so happy! The background and sentiment images I used on the tag are from Flourishes.
I also incorporated these challenges:

• Wee Memories Challenge: Get Sketchy
• Off the Wall Craftiness: #44
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: FTTC103 Valentines
• Stamptacular Sunday: Whateva!
• Try It On Tuesday: Feel the lurve, which is sponsored this week by One Stop Card Crafts
• City Crafter Challenge: CCCB42 All You Need is Love (include the word "love" or a heart or both)
• Papertake Weekly: Anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp: LOVE is in the Air
• Paper Sundaes: Valentines
• Tuesday Throwdown: Stitching

I am starting a new freelance project today. Luckily, it's a small one as these things go. However, that means I'm all done playing with paper for the day. Time to get to work!

Have a super weekend! Thanks for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Let Them Eat Cake
Paper: Card stock from Mark's Finest Papers, DP from BasicGrey Lemonade
Ink: Palette haystack, Palette toile pink, Palette belle rose
Accessories: SU scallop border punch, CM 1.5" heart punch, SU jewelry tag punch, sponger dauber, sewing machine, dimensionals, pink satin ribbon from MFP, pink grosgrain ribbon from my stash, pink brad, flattened paper truffle cup
Techniques: sponging, machine stitching

Get Well Soon

Today's Ways to Use It challenge WT308 over on Splitcoast is "i HEART you," to use hearts anywhere on your project. Well, hearts aren't just for Valentine's Day! I decided to play along with this challenge by sending some love on a get well card.
I started by spraying some "Pink Sprinkles" Smooch Spritz onto snowstorm card stock to make a shimmery punched-out heart.

I added three scored lines beneath my sentiment & heart and called it a day. Quick and easy but, judging from the nearly 1000 views this card received on SCS today alone, effective. Clean and simple for sure!

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

• Stamptacular Sunday: Whateva!
• Try It On Tuesday: Feel the lurve, which is sponsored this week by One Stop Card Crafts
• City Crafter Challenge: CCCB42 All You Need is Love (include the word "love" or a heart or both)
• Papertake Weekly: Anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp: LOVE is in the Air
• Wee Memories: Get Sketchy

Thanks for taking a peek!

Card Recipe:
Paper: snowstorm CS
Ink: Marvy LePlume II black marker
Accessories: SU wide heart punch, scoring tool, Smooch Spritz (Pink Sprinkles), dimensionals
Techniques: scoring

Meant to be in Love

I was finally able to make the Valentine I'll be giving my husband on February 14!
I pieced together several sentiments from Unity's Bits & Baubles stamp set so that my card reads "meant to be in Love." Perfect for my best friend and life partner!
I combined a boatload of challenges in the making of this card. Here goes:

• my colors came from CR84FN13:
• my layout came from the CPS203 sketch:
• Stamptacular Sunday: Whateva!
• Paper Sundaes: Valentines
• Try It On Tuesday: Feel the lurve, which is sponsored this week by One Stop Card Crafts
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: FTTC103 Valentines
• City Crafter Challenge: CCCB42 All You Need is Love (include the word "love" or a heart or both)
• Tuesday Throwdown: Stitching
• Papertake Weekly: Anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp: LOVE is in the Air

It was so nice to be able to play with paper again this morning after dealing with snow for two days! Thanks for taking a moment to share my little slice of bliss. :)

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Unity Lovely Bits & Baubles
Paper: MFP chip board CS, My Mind's Eye Magnolia DP, The Paper Company turquoise CS
Ink: Marvy LePlume II cherry marker, Palette haystack
Accessories: CM scallop corner punch, SU 1/2" circle punch, SU decorative label punch, CM corner rounder punch, sponger dauber, sewing machine, dimensionals, patterned satin ribbon, red fuzzy heart brad, turquoise rhinestones
Techniques: sponging, machine stitching

More Snow and a Flashback

Well, when last I posted on Tuesday, I mentioned that we were in the midst of a two-day winter storm. (I'm sure you've heard all about this historic monster of a storm by now.) Later that day we discovered that our snowblower was out of commission and we were facing the storm armed only with the shovels that DH, DD, DS, and I could wield. Luckily our snowfall totals were lower overall than expected, but the four of us tackled the snow removal task three times over the course of the two-day storm. We ended up dealing with about 12 inches of snow and an inch of sleet. While it could have been SO much worse (and we are so thankful that it wasn't!), removing all of it was a considerable effort, especially on the second day when the snow was so heavy. We have so much snow already on the ground along our considerable driveway that each shovel full of snow had to be lifted 4 or 5 (or in places 6) feet off the ground to remove. Today I'm feeling like I've been run over by a truck!

Here are a few photos from yesterday.

This is along our driveway where we have a short rock wall. My husband is 6 feet tall.

DH demonstrates the proper technique for chucking snow to the top of the pile.

DD and DS are not being swallowed up by the snow but are standing on our front sidewalk, which is totally obscured by all of the snow that has piled up in our front yard. Notice that the snow on our porch roof masks the bottom half of our second-story windows.

We haven't heard the official storm totals for our town yet, but I'm guessing that this storm has brought our snow accumulation total to about 80" since Christmas. Amazing! And so much of that is still in our yard . . .

In other news, I recently came across Amy Tsuruta's Flashback Friday Challenge, a new challenge in which Amy encourages players to re-post a papermaking "first" and taking ownership of the project in the present day. No newly made project required! Sounded like fun to me, so I'm giving it a shot. I'm playing along with Flashback Friday 7.0 which requires us to re-post our very first glitter card or project. OK, here goes:

I made this card and posted it to my Splitcoaststampers Gallery on June 29, 2009--over a year before I started my blog! I made it for the CAS21 challenge to "make it sparkle." The challenge was to add glitter, Stickles, or Iridescent Ice (or similar) to your card. Unfortunately, I didn't have *any* of these products, so the only way I could play along was to use some DCWV designer paper that was already glittered. And that, my friends, was my very first glitter project! Luckily, there's very little that's cringe-worthy here. Hallelujah for that!

Thanks for checking out the happenings here on Bliss Road. I have a few card projects that I've been working on today that I'm hoping to share with you here later. See you again soon!