Thank You, Teacher

Still having trouble getting in the groove after a {meh} week last week. So this is just a quick card today to re-insert and play along with two challenges (both new to me) that are ending today: Go Fish! Challenge #3, a color challenge to use orange, yellow, and white, and Skipping Stones Sketch Challenge #99 I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, which is an "Anything Goes" challenge.

All stamps are from TradeFish Designs' Back 2 School set, which I was lucky enough to win earlier this month.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

An Original for FWF

Thank goodness it's Friday! This has been the week that would not end. If you visited me during last week's Friends with Flair hop, then you probably read that I was enjoying a visit with my sister. It's true! We had a great--and very productive--visit. Turns out that she needed to make 4-card sets for 15 people, not the originally thought 10. I do believe we worked our poor little fingers to the bone!! Yup, that's 60 cards in two-and-a-half days, and I'm not talking about a bunch of cookie-cutter, whip-them-out-assembly-line-style cards. Each set was tailored to the recipient! She loved how they turned out and will be so proud to give these thoughtful, personal gifts at Christmastime. But then she left on Sunday :( and my week has been spent catching up with the day-to-day stuff that slid while she was here, along with a bunch of other unpleasantness. I've gotta say, I'm wiped out physically, emotionally, and creatively.

But I realized early this morning that it is Friends with Flair day (hooray!) and I had nothing to share. This was the perfect opportunity to sit down for a few minutes and finally create something. I did mention that I'm wiped out creatively, right?? (See above, just in case you missed that.) So this is just a quick, easy card to reclaim just a tiny bit of time for me.

I used {ippity}'s Love in Return and {ippity}'s A Bit of Burlap along with some cute patterned paper from the Pumpkin Pie collection by K& Co.

I'm throwing this in a few challenges. Why not, right? It's for the Unity Stamp Company Challenge, which is to use an Autumn Harvest theme; the {ippity} Challenge, which is to make a mini card (4" x 4" or smaller)--mine is 3 1/2" x 4"; the Simon Says Stamp Challege, which is an "Anything Goes" challenge this week; and, finally, Chick Challenges with {ippity} #4, which is to use this sketch:

Be sure to check the Unity blog for a list of all of today's Friends with Flair blog hop participants!

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

Emily

A Shabby HI for FWF

I'm so happy it's Friday and time again for Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop! Check the Unity Stamp Co. blog for hop details and a full list of today's participants.

I'm also happy because my sister is visiting me from Ohio! She arrived Wednesday night and is here until Sunday. Today we are working on making some note card sets that she can give as gifts this Christmas. I am just thrilled that she asked me to help her make these :). So today we are up to our elbows in paper while we do two of my favorite things: catching up and papercrafting!

I know the FWF hop list is long, so I won't keep you. Here is my Unity creation for today:

That FABULOUS frame is from the Love in Return kit from {ippity} by Unity.

I'm playing along in these challenges:

• {ippity} Challenge: this time round the challenge is to choose and participate in a Hope You Can Cling To challenge over on SplitcoastStampers. I chose HYCCT1111, which is to create a card or project with some girlie embellishments on it. I used lace, a handmade pink ribbon rose, and a girlie hat pin.
• Textured to Perfection Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, to incorporate texture in an innovative way. I've combined textured cardstock, stitching, lace trim, sparkly (and textured!) chipboard letters. But what I hope will really catch Cath's eye is my overflowing-with-texture handmade wilted ribbon rose!
• All Things Unity: BINGO! 
  
    Play from this Bingo card
  
  I've got four in a row from lower left to upper right: Nesties (which I don't have, but substituted a stamped and hand-cut frame), use PINK, flower, and ribbon/bow.
• Clear It Out Challenge: Trims (I used some vintage yellow lace trim)

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

Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Love In Return from {ippity} by Unity 
Paper: DCWV textured cardstock, patterned paper from Sweetness Collection by Pink Paislee
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, Palette Burnt Umber

Accessories: hat pin, pink satin ribbon, vintage lace trim, DMC embroidery floss, glitter chipboard sticker letters from Pink Paislee, button, sewing machine
Techniques: handmade ribbon flower, machine stitching, shabby chic

StampinB Scoring Challenge

Every Thursday brings a new challenge from the Stampin' B's Design Team, and today is no different! Our new challenge this week is to use scoring on your project. Scoring is such an easy way to add texture and dimension to your card! There are lots of super tools out there for scoring--the Scor-Pal, Crafters Companion, Martha Stewart Scoring Board, Scor-It-All, and more--but you can score like a pro even if you don't have fancy (or costly!) tools like these. I do all of my scoring with a lowly embossing stylus (or burnisher) and the groove of my paper trimmer. Here's my card creation for this week's challenge:

I've also made this for the DeNami Color Challenge #8, which is to create a project featuring Golden Tangerine, Charcoal, Chocolate Brown, Lime and White/ Cream.

I've used the DeNami Design Rosebud Trio and the "cheers" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings set. I've also used DeNami Chocolate Brown and Charcoal cardstocks.

I'm also entering this card in the Textured to Perfection Challenge over in the Moxie Fab World, to incorporate texture in an innovative way. This is my second card for the challenge, and this time around I tried adding texture (two textured cardstocks, scoring, sheer ribbon, and hand-trimmed grass) in a clean way that doesn't overwhelm the design.

Thanks so much for dropping by today for a little slice of bliss with me. If you'd like to try your hand at this week's Stampin' B's Challenge, post your project 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!! :)

See you soon!

Emily

Card Recipe:Stamps: DeNami Design Rosebud Trio and Everyday Greetings
Cardstock: DeNami Chocolate Brown cardstock; DeNami Charcoal cardstock; cream, tangerine, and lime CS from The Paper Company 
Ink: Versafine vintage sepia
Accessories: embossing tool, colored pencils, SU scallop trim border punch, foam tape, cream sheer ribbon 
Techniques: scoring

Textured Halloween

Well, last week seemed like a long slog, but I think my mojo has found its way home again! Thanks to any and all of you who kindly pointed out the way. ;)

Today I'm sharing what is probably my last Halloween card for this year. I finally have enough to send out to everyone on my list! I never used to send out Halloween cards, but I enjoy mailing notes to my far-flung family and friends--usually every month or two--to say hi and keep everyone updated on what's up with us. I think it's fun to change things up a bit and make and send cards that match the season, so I started making Halloween cards (and Thanksgiving ones, too). Variety is the spice of life, right?

So, here we go:
Can you believe that I made this entire card {gasp!} without stamping a single thing? I know, shocking, right? Last fall I won a fabulous Halloween collection, the Esmerelda Collection by Anna Griffin, over at the Moxie Fab World. I've been having a blast pulling out various elements to use on my Halloween cards this fall. The fun spiderweb patterned paper and the layered Halloween sticker both come from this collection. The canvas scalloped border sticker is from Little Yellow Bicycle, and the black spider brad came from the Target Dollar Spot. I hand-rolled black canvas (after a liberal application of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz) into the black roses.

I'm playing along with three challenges:

• Textured to Perfection Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, to incorporate texture in an innovative way. I've got all kinds of layers of depth here: textured cardstock, embossed patterned paper, multi-dimensional sentiment sticker, canvas border sticker, and handmade rolled canvas flowers. How's that for a whole lot o' texture goin' on???
• City Crafter Challenge: "A Boo-tiful Color Challenge," to PRIMARILY use the colors BLACK and CREAM on your project. I've used lots of black and cream here, with a splash of muted orange.
• Paper Sundaes Challenge #91: Halloween or Fall

Now that I've completed my Halloween card construction, it's time to start getting them in the mail so they arrive before Halloween! That's one of my projects for this week. My other project is to get the house ready for company. My sister (sans children) is coming to visit me for several days at the end of the week! I haven't seen her since last Thanksgiving, so I'm really looking forward to this visit. She flies in Wednesday night and I'll have her to myself on Thursday and Friday while my kids are at school. This will be fun!! And the best part? We have plans to be crafty! She isn't terribly crafty herself, but asked if I could help her make some note cards to give as holiday gifts to her staff at work. She has 10 people on her list, so we have a lot to accomplish, but I really think we're going to have fun. I'm so glad she is interested in allowing me to share my paper passion with her!

That does it for now. Thanks so much for dropping by for a little slice o' bliss today!
Emily

Card Recipe:Stamps: none!
Paper: textured black CS; Esmerelda patterned paper from Anna Griffin
Ink: Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz
Accessories: black canvas, glue dots, Halloween canvas border stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle; Halloween 3-Dimensional Sticker (Esmerelda Collection) from Anna Griffin; black spider brad from TargetTechniques: handmade flowers

Pinecone Christmas Ornament

This past week when my mojo was severely lacking, I visited, revisited, and revisited some more an idea for a card I wanted to enter in Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday Challenge #139: to make a Christmas card that features an ornament. It took forever for this to come together--I couldn't decide which approach I liked better for several aspects of the design, so I tried them all! By the time I finalized everything, I had completed four versions of this card. My stack of Christmas cards that I can mail to friends and family in December is growing!!
Flourishes also sponsors a Christmas Spirit Challenge over at SplitcoastStampers. The October challenge is to make something on your card shine like fresh candy! I decided to make this vintage-style pinecone ornament from Flourishes' All That Glitters set look shiny just like a an old-fashioned mercury glass ornament. I figured some shiny pearlescent paper would be perfect, but didn't have any the color I wanted. Hmmm. I thought this over for a while and did some experimenting. I think I've come up with a way to make my own pearlescent paper!

All it takes is a piece of cardstock in the desired color and some white nail polish. To make my pearlescent paper, I simply painted on a somewhat uniform layer of polish on the cardstock and let it dry completely.
Then I was able to stamp directly on my pearly surface just as I would any other glossy surface, allowing plenty of time to dry. (**Because of the flammable nature of acetone, the active ingredient in nail polishes, do not attempt to use a heat tool with nail-polish-treated paper, neither for drying nor heat embossing.**)
Finally, I experimented with ways to add "snow" to my pinecone ornaments: coloring with a white gel pen or adhering glitter to carefully selected areas primed with glue.
Although it was a long process to finally complete these cards, I just love how they turned out! Kind of a clean and simple design meets shabbily vintage details. Yup, that's my little slice of happy for today!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe: 
Stamps: Flourishes All That Glitters, Flourishes O Christmas Tree 
Paper: K&Co Tim Coffey Fall Pad patterned paper, kraft CS, hazelnut tan CS
Ink: Versafine vintage sepia, Ranger tea dye distress
Accessories: white gel pen, Pink Paislee glitter, glue pen, sewing machine, foam tape, hemp twineTechniques: machine stitching, ink distressing

Friends with Flair

It's been a jam-packed day with unforeseen tasks needing attention, so I'm arriving rather late to the Friends with Flair party this week. But here I am {finally!} with another Unity creation to share:
This card was inspired by this week's Finesse the Dress Tuesday Trigger in the Moxie Fab World.
And I'm playing along with a great sketch from the new Chick Challenges {with ippity}:

A huge thanks to Noelle for some insight on an easy approach to making an oval-shaped card. Making this shaped card was trivial!! The heavy lifting in this design is being handled by some beautiful gold-glitter-embossed patterned paper from DCWV's Indian Summer stack. My sentiment and frame from Just Wanted to Say from {ippity} by Unity. And my gauzy flower? That's a Bloomer from Webster's Pages.

This card was so much fun to put together! I love how it turned out. I'm running low on get well cards, so this will be a great addition to my stash.

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Just Wanted to Say from {ippity} by Unity
Paper: SU basic gray CS, SU bermuda bay CS, patterned paper from DCWV Indian Summer stack
Ink: Versafine onyx black
Accessories: MS topiary border punch, Creative Memories oval cutting system, foam tape, Gold Lame Smooch, Webster's Pages Bloomers
Techniques: shaped card

Ooooooooo, I'm a Celebrity!

OK, well, probably not really, but maybe just a teensy famous. How, you may ask, did I claim my bit o' fame? Well, I just found out that I'm in the DeNami Design InTouch Spotlight! Here's the back story: on World Card Making Day, DeNami ran a fun WCMD challenge asking DeNami fans to create and submit a card inspired by this beautiful photo.
The prize? The chance to be featured in the October DeNami InTouch newsletter, which, as Paulina at DeNami describes, "is sent to thousands and thousands of people worldwide, so you have the opportunity to be famous!" Oh, and a $25 gift certificate to DeNami Design, too. {grin}

Um, I think I spoiled the punch line--you already know that one of my creations was chosen. (But if you want to pretend that you didn't already know, you can go check out the announcement of the winners HERE!) Anyway, here is the card that earned me a place in the spotlight:
A few details for inquiring minds:
For my pumpkin focal point, I stamped the Small Jack O' Lantern and masked out the face. I used the Gamsol Magic technique to color in the pumpkin (using colored pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits and a paper blending stump) and matted it on a circle of DeNami's Desert Orange cardstock. The design on the rest of my card was made using the recently released Wheat Stalks stamp. Using my Stamp-A-Majig, I stamped the wheat stalks in a fan shape around a white scalloped circle. Dots of Gold Lame Smooch alternate with the wheat in each scallop. And I did a little tone-on-tone stamping to create a wheat-stalk background on my DeNami Chocolate Brown card base. A little tag (created with the "Thanks" sentiment from the Everyday Greetings set), some twine, and a bit o' stitching round out this little card. Done!

Wouldn't this be the perfect note for thanking your Thanksgiving dinner hostess? (if, that is, you are lucky enough to snag an invitation elsewhere so that *you* aren't the one stuck with all of the cooking ;). )

I've listed all of my supplies below. But feel free to drop me a line if you have any other questions about making this!

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: from DeNami Design: Wheat Stalks, Small Jack O' Lantern, Everyday Greetings set
Paper: Chocolate Brown and Desert Orange cardstock from DeNami, white cardstock
Ink: Versafine vintage sepia, Stampin' Up! so saffron
Accessories: EK Success 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" circle punches, EK Success 3" scalloped circle punch, Stampin' Up! jewelry tag punch, Crayola colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, paper blending stumps, foam tape, Gold Lame Smooch, Stamp-A-Majig, hemp twine, sewing maching, thread
Techniques: machine stitching, Gamsol Magic, background stamping

O Christmas Tree!

Just a quick post--I'm playing along with another Flourishes Release Week challenge. Today's is the "Show Me" Challenge, to create a project using one of the techniques from the Flourishes Tutorial Library. I was inspired by this fantastic tutorial on paper piecing by Iwona Palmountain and used this fun technique to paper piece the tree skirt, ornaments, and sentiment label on this card:
The tree image, ornaments, and sentiment come from Flourishes' now-retired O Christmas Tree set. The pretty label is from Country Charm Labels. The patterned papers I used on today's card are digital papers from Echo Park Paper Co.'s Dots & Stripes Metropolitan hybrid paper pack.

I loved decorating this little tree. It kinda reminds me of the Charlie Brown tree! All it needed was a little love. :)

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes: Country Charm Labels, O Christmas Tree
Paper: PTI kraft CS, white CS, miscellaneous red CS, patterned digital papers from Dots & Stripes Metropolitan by Echo Park
Ink: Versafine onyx black, SU old olive, Ranger antique linen distress
Accessories: sponge dauber, precision scissors, StudioG Sparkle Writer glitter glue, colored pencils, red gel pen, sewing machine and thread
Techniques: machine stitching, paper piecing, digital papers

Season's Greetings

Just a quick post today to play along with the Flourishes Name Game Challenge. I think I mentioned earlier in the week that my mojo has gone missing. No status change. This card had many, many iterations before some of the elements finally gelled. Mojo, come home! You make things sooooooooo much easier. My struggles have colored my feelings about this card, but I think it finally turned out OK.
Anyway, the challenge is to use your monogram as the inspiration for your creation. My initials are EJK, so this creation incorporates:

E = embossing
J = jewels
K = kraft

I used elements from four different Flourishes sets: Country Charm Labels, Country Charm Borders, Warm Winter Wishes, and Paperwhites (sentiment).

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes: Country Charm Labels, Country Charm Borders, Warm Winter Wishes, and Paperwhites (sentiment)
Paper: white CS, kraft CS, red CS, BasicGrey patterned paper
Ink: Versafine satin red, metallic silver ink, ColorBox white pigment ink
Accessories: SU ornament punch, silver EP, heat tool, hemp twine, sewing machine, foam tape, rhinestones
Techniques: machine stitching, embossing

Birds, Birds, Birds for this week's StampinB Challenge

This week's challenge, hosted by Joanne, over at the Stampin' B's Design Team Challenge is Birds, Birds, Birds. I'm starting to look toward Christmas, so I came up with this card featuring a fancy bird Christmas tree ornament:
I hate to admit how much I struggled with this one! I'm afraid it shows. And do you know how hard it is to photograph sparkle, shimmer, and bling? But I sure had fun adding it!! :) The dotty border around my sentiment frame was made with a glue pen and then heat embossed with copper embossing powder along with the sentiment.

I'm playing in these challenges:

• Flourishes Release Week Heavy Metal Challenge: to use a little metal on your card
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #139: to make a Christmas card that either features an ornament, or create an ornament
• Ribbon Carousel Challenge #24: sparkle and bling
  

Thanks so much for dropping by today for a little slice of bliss with me. If you'd like to try your hand at this week's Stampin' B's Challenge, post your project 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!! :)

See you soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes O Christmas Tree (sentiment) and Flourishes All That Glitters
Cardstock: SU marina mist CS, SU wild wasabi CS, white CS from The Paper Company
Ink: SU wild wasabi, Versamark
Accessories: SU designer label punch, MS snow flurry edge punch, copper EP, glue pen, heat tool, Pink Paislee glitter, rhinestones, baker's twine
Techniques: heat embossing

Something my kids made

My mojo is MIA. I don't know where it's gone. I've tried several different projects over the past several days, and nothing is coming together as planned. Boo hoo. I've bagged my attempts (except for my StampinB post for tomorrow--but be prepared to be underwhelmed) and have decided to give it a rest for a few days.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a little something that my kids cooked up on their day off from school for Columbus Day on Monday. My daughter (who is 12) received a cool Halloween treats cookbook as a gift a number of years ago and looooooooooooooves looking through it when autumn rolls around. This year she flagged about 30 pages of themed treats to try. There's nowhere near enough time to make them all (for this year, at least), but I encouraged her to pick one or two to start with. She decided to try this cool Graveyard Treats dessert, and she and her little brother spent Monday afternoon concocting it.
We found the decorated sugar jack o' lanterns in the bakery at our local grocery store, a 6-pack for $1. So cute! The tombstones are just Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies (with some eerie green gel frosting inscriptions). There's a chocolate graham cracker crust, topped with a vanilla pudding mousse layer, topped with an orange Jell-o layer, topped with Cool Whip and decorations--complete with some graveyard dirt (chocolate graham cracker crumbs). They had a ball putting this all together. And it is SO delicious (pretty rich, too). I wasn't sure about the chocolate crust and orange Jell-o combo, but it is terrific and refreshing.

That's all I've got. If you find my roaming mojo, can you send it back home? I miss it.

Have a super day,
Emily

A Flashback

Today I'm playing along with Flashback Friday 16.0. My blogging friend Pam is the guest designer this go-round. She came up with an awesome challenge: to {re}post your VERY FIRST tag. Well, I came up with mine, and, boy, did they make me cringe:
For these, we're flashing back all the way to May 2009 (so these were first posted to my gallery on SplitcoastStampers, not here on my blog. And I think this was second-ever project I uploaded to my gallery). Guess I was using up some miscellaneous punches that day. :)

Thanks for bearing with me!
Emily

Chrysanthemums

This card has been in the works for more days now than I care to admit. I've had an aimless kind of weekend, and finally pushed myself to finish it--just to have it done.
It was inspired by these challenges:

• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #138: to be inspired by this autumn photo
• Bring Back Beautiful Challenge over at Flourishes to use a stamping technique (I used masking and watercolor painting to color my mums)
• Flourishes Release Week Heavy Metal Challenge: to use a little metal on your card
• Ribbon Carousel Challenge # 23: anything goes
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Sparkle and Bling (my little gold spiral clip adds some nice sparkle, don't you think?)
• Paper Sundaes Challenge: Favorite Color Combo (pumpkin, saffron, lavender, and kraft is definitely my fave color combo for fall right now!)
  

Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes: A Year in Flowers Calendar Set (#3), Tag Lines
Cardstock: kraft CS, watercolor paper, Stella & Rose Gertie papers from MME, DP from Indian Summer Stack by DCWV
Ink: Versafine vintage sepia, Ranger tea dye distress ink
Accessories: sponge, MS modern garland PATP set, watercolor brush, inks for watercolor painting, foam tape, sewing machine, sheer ribbon, spiral clip
Techniques: watercolor painting, machine stitching, masking, ink distressing

We have a WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who entered my World Card Making Day giveaway! I had so much fun reading your comments and finding out which of my Halloween cards you liked best :). I promised to post a winner on Friday, October 7, and here I am to do it. :)

Using random.org, I came up with my winner as:

And lucky #6 is Anne Tussing! Anne, I wasn't able to find an email address for you, so I couldn't contact you directly. Please email me to claim your prize! (You can find my email address through my blogger profile page. )

Thanks so much for dropping by!
Have a great weekend,
Emily

FALL for FWF

It's a Friday tradition: Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop! Check the Unity Stamp Co. blog for hop details and a full list of today's participants.

I'm playing along today with a versatile fall card: it could be for Halloween, Thanksgiving, or really most anything (thank you, thinking of you, birthday, etc.) the next couple of months.
I got all challenge-happy while planning out this card (I'm trying to keep up with you, Erin!). Here's what I rolled into it:

• Unity's WCMD3 challenge: to use this sketch
• Unity's WCMD4 challenge: to be inspired by this photo
• All Things Unity #41: feeling inspired? (see above photo!)
• Unity Stamp Company Challenge: Falling Leaves (any project, created with Unity/Ippity stamps, with leaves on it)
• the {ippity} challenge to tie it up with twine, ribbon, or string on your project
• Ribbon Carousel Challenge # 23: anything goes
• Dolce Stamps Challenge: fall colors
  

Got any good plans for the weekend? Wherever you are, I hope it's a good one! Thanks for swinging by for a little slice of bliss before you head off.

See you back here again soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: frame from Total Cuteness by Unity; leopard print banner from The Best from {ippity} by Unity
Paper: Circa 1934 digital paper by Cosmo Cricket, SU old olive CS, SU rich razzleberry CS, SU basic black CS, buff CS from The Paper Company, DP from Indian Summer Stack by DCWV, K&Co Tim Coffey Fall Pad patterned paper
Ink: Versafine onyx black, Ranger tea dye distress ink
Accessories: 1/2-inch circle punch, MS maple leaf punch, foam tape, sewing machine, sheer black ribbon
Techniques: digital papers, machine stitching

A {not white} One-Layer for the StampinBs

**Have you taken time to play in my WCMD Giveaway yet?**
Today is the last day! Entries close at 5 p.m. EDT. You can find all the details HERE!

Another Thursday brings us another challenge from the Stampin' B's Design Team! This week our hostess is Lois, who is challenging everyone to make a one-layer card that is not white. Shall we meet the card that stepped up to the plate?

I stamped this wonderful fall image and sentiment from my new A Season of Thanks stamp set, which I won last month from Flourishes, directly onto some yellow cardstock. I colored the Indian corn with colored pencils (no gamsol this time), added a few scored lines, rounded a single corner, and I was done! Clean and simple design, quick and easy production, light and flat for mailing. What more could a crafty gal want?

I'm also playing along with Flourishes' Wacky World Card Making Day Challenge, which was to be inspired by the colors of a favorite animated character. This time I picked up the orange, yellow, red, and (skin-tone)/tan of my favorite comic strip characters, Calvin and Hobbes.
Thanks so much for dropping by today for a little slice of bliss with me. If you'd like to try your hand at this week's Stampin' B's Challenge, post your project 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!! :)

See you soon!
Emily 

Card Recipe: 
Stamps: Flourishes A Season of Thanks
Cardstock: morning sun cardstock
 Ink: Versafine vintage sepia
Accessories: colored pencils, scoring tool, corner rounder 
Techniques: scoring

Thanks a Bunch!

I can't believe it's Monday already! Where did the weekend go? I suppose ours flew by so quickly because we were having so much fun ;) . I celebrated World Card Making Day on Saturday with some blog hopping and some card making. (Have you played in my WCMD Giveaway yet? It's going on through Thursday, October 6, at 5 p.m. EDT. You can find all the details HERE!) But the highlight of our weekend was a family trip to the nearby Topsfield Fair, America's oldest agricultural fair, founded in 1818. Our kids earned free admission tickets, a voucher for a free hot dog and drink, and tickets for two free carnival rides as part of our public library's summer reading program. Fabulous prizes, we thought!! We had a great time visiting the cattle, sheep, goat, horse, rabbit, and poultry barns; browsing the beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, and flower displays; taking in the baked goods, wood crafts, needle arts, fine arts, and photography exhibits; touring the fairground's permanent Grange Museum; watching the Great American Duck Race; and cheering on Robinson's Racing Pigs! And Mom and Dad had just as much fun watching the kids take their free rides on the Freak Out as they did riding it. Twice. :) We were exhausted but happy by the end of the afternoon.

I have another quick post to share another quick card, another result of some of my WCMD inky time.
I made this card for Flourishes' Wacky World Card Making Day Challenge, which was to be inspired by the colors of a favorite animated character. I've always been fascinated by the Disney Princesses, so when I found this picture of Sleeping Beauty (or Princess Aurora to all you royalty fans out there) in some online instructions on how to draw her, I latched on quickly. I picked up the rich razzleberry, melon mambo, pumpkin pie, and daffodil delight for my card creation.
I inked up and heat embossed the beautiful medallion from Flourishes' new Medallion Motif set, another one that I won last month. I sponged on pumpkin pie and melon mambo ink as part of the emboss resist technique to really make the patterns of the medallion stand out.

I'm also entering this in the Anything Goes Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and the Bring Back Beautiful Challenge over at Flourishes to use a stamping technique (I used the emboss resist technique).

Thanks so much for sharing my little slice of bliss today!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes: Medallion Motif and Peaches & Cherries (sentiment)
Cardstock: SU whisper white, SU pumpkin pie, SU textured rich razzleberry, yellow from The Paper Company
Ink: ColorBox frost white, SU pumpkin pie, SU rich razzleberry, SU melon mambo
Accessories: sponge, SU 1.25" circle punch, SU photo corners punch, foam tape, white EP, heat tool, Kaisercraft pearls
Techniques: embossing, sponging, emboss resist

Tailormade Friendship

**Have you taken time to play in my WCMD Giveaway yet?**
It's going on through Thursday, October 6, at 5 p.m. EDT. You can find all the details HERE!

I'm squeaking in under the wire on this one. Just a quick post to share a creation inspired by this Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo over at the Moxie Fab World.


I'd been thinking about this one all week and hoped to get time to actually put it together on World Card Making Day, but I didn't get very far. I was able to squeeze it in this afternoon, though. The dress form image and sentiment are from a new set by Flourishes called Feminine Charm, one of three September release stamp sets that I won from Flourishes last month. I was so excited to get these inked up!
I'm also playing in the Anything Goes Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and the Lots of Layers Challenge over at Paper Sundaes.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Feminine Charm 
Paper: mint sparkle finish CS, white CS from The Paper Company, various DP scraps from Stampin' Up! 
Ink: Versafine onyx black, Ranger tea dye distress ink 
Accessories: sponge, decorative and modern label punches from SU, paper doily, needle and thread, foam tape, sheer white ribbon from Michael's, SU vintage flower adornments
 Techniques: sponging

A Giveaway!!

Happy World Card Making Day!

I must admit that this is the first year that I've really paid attention to this papercrafting holiday, but it totally makes sense to me. I love the idea of devoting an entire day to something that makes so many people happy. Not only does the creating process give me a terrific sense of satisfaction (and most other cardmakers, as well!), but it also usually brightens the day of the person receiving one of my handmade creations. It's a two-fer!! And that makes me so very happy. :)

So in honor of WCMD and my 300th blog post (which went live earlier this week), I'd like to share my little slice of bliss with one of my readers by offering this blog candy as a giveaway:

Yes, it's a little Halloween-flavored kit of papercrafting supplies including a 12 pack of 12 x 12 specialty papers from K&Company's Spooktacular collection, a pair of Halloween paper punches from EK Success, and an adhesive gem spider web from Colorbok. All this Halloween goodness because I've had Halloween on the mind so much recently, having made six Halloween cards this week. In case you missed them, you can find links to all of them here:

Monday: Boo! to You (1 card)
Wednesday: Jack O' Lanterns (3 cards: orange, purple, and green)
Thursday: Halloween Bingo (1 card)
Friday: Spooky Chandeliers (1 card)

So here's how you can enter my random drawing for this Halloween prize package:

1. take a look at the Halloween cards that I made this week(the links are listed above),
   
2. and then come back here to leave me a comment on this post telling me which one was your favorite!!
   

That's it!! You don't have to be a follower or anything, just be sure that I have some way of contacting you (either through your blog or by including an email address in your comment). Only one comment per person--unless you are a follower (or become one!) and then you are welcome to leave a second comment telling me so for a second chance in the drawing.

Comments will be open until Thursday, October 6, at 5 p.m. EDT. I'll announce the winner here in a blog post on Friday, October 7, and will try to contact the winner directly as well so you don't have to remember to check back. ;)

Thanks for stopping in today. Have a terrific World Card Making Day!
Emily