My Embossed Elements winner!

Top o' the mornin' to you! I'm so happy to announce the winner of my St. Patrick embossing folder giveaway from Monday, so we'll get to that straightaway--then I'll give a little eye candy as a consolation prize ;) .

Here we go: Random.org chose #22 as our lucky number, and that commenter was Amy C.! Congratulations, Amy! I'll be emailing you shortly to get your information.

And now, a little extra embossing inspiration with that fabulous St. Patrick embossing folder that Amy C. has won. I was so impressed recently with a beautiful card that the lovely Greta Hess made that used some partial embossing. I just had to try it out! And this is what I ended up with:

I love how it looks just like someone has just tossed out a hand full of shamrocks that scattered part way across the card. Thanks for the inspiration, Greta!

And isn't that scene full of leprechaun chickies adorable? It was a blast to color with my Copic markers :). Here's a full list of the DeNami Design products that I used to create this card:

Shamrock Chickies stamp

St. Patrick embossing folder

Tuxedo Black Memento ink

Green Stripes Washi tape

White cardstock

Leaf Green cardstock

Well, thanks for joining me on yet another chilly morning (such that it is here in New England). Fingers crossed that spring arrives soon! We need to melt some of this frozen-solid snow of ours!!

Have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

DeNami Design Product Spotlight February Blog Hop

DON"T FORGET!!

My giveaway for a 

St. Patrick's Day embossing folder from DeNami Design

 ends tonight. 

Be sure to check out the details HERE to enter!!

****

It's the last Wednesday of the month and that means it is time to show off another awesome DeNami Design stamp with a blog hop! This month we are featuring the off-the-charts adorable Irish Chickies stamp!

These little guys are so fun to color! And this trio is just perfect for sending a little luck o' the Irish to someone special  :) . Here's how I put them to use:

In addition to the sweet Irish Chickies stamp, I used these fabulous products from the DeNami Design store:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Tuxedo Black Memento ink

White cardstock

Green stripes washi tape 

Lime/white dots washi tape

Green graph washi tape

White boutique buttons

You can purchase this adorable 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
Dana Seymour
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 super day!
Emily

Embossed Elements: SHAMROCKS + a Giveaway!

Hello, hello, friends! I'm here today with the February edition of my new monthly Embossed Elements feature for the DeNami Design blog. Today I'm sharing with you two different projects featuring the very cool St. Patrick Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. My first project takes the obvious route, casting the St. Patrick embossing folder as the star of a St. Patrick's Day card:

For this project, I trimmed three identically sized panels of cardstock (1.75" x 4") in Leaf Green, White, and Desert Orange, then carefully lined them up side-by-side in the St. Patrick embossing folder before running the whole shebang through my diecutting machine. I adhered the panels to a white cardstock card base to form a beautifully textured version of the Irish flag.

Next I stamped a Stitched Rectangle in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on white cardstock and filled this frame with Happy St. Patrick's Day (don't you just LOVE how a shamrock is used as the apostrophe in this sentiment? I do!) in Fresh Green Versacolor ink. After trimming out the framed sentiment, I simply popped it up on foam tape, and my simple flag-waving card was complete!

My second card goes to show that this St. Patrick embossing folder isn't just for March 17! Here I've used it to create a clean and simple Good Luck card.

I used the St. Patrick embossing folder to deboss a panel of patterned paper for a bit of subtly lucky texture and then adhered it, along with a length of narrow celery green grosgrain ribbon, to a white card base. I stamped the brand-new Good Luck sentiment in Olympia Green Versafine ink on white cardstock before punching it out with a word label punch. I popped up the sentiment with foam tape and affixed a pair of green rhinestones. Finally, I stamped a Curly Shamrock in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on white cardstock, colored it with my Copic markers, trimmed it out, and adhered it with some foam tape. Done!

I hope that this installment of Embossed Elements has given you some useful ideas for using embossing in your papercrafting!

How would you like the chance to win this beautiful St. Patrick Embossing Folder? I have one up for grabs in an Embossed Elements giveaway! Want to be in the running? Just leave me a comment on this post using the word "LUCKY." 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, February 26, 2014, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, February 27, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

Thanks for joining me today!
Emily

Shamrock

Happy Friday! Now that Valentine's Day is over, I've been making lots of green cards prepping for St. Patrick's Day, and I'm sharing this one to lead off that parade o' green!

I made this card as an entry in my friend Pam's Just Punch It Challenge. For this edition of her fun punch art challenge, she's asking players to follow this sketch:

As you can see, I took the liberty of stretching the sketch to give my card a landscape, rather than portrait, orientation. I used a simple heart punch to create my green shamrock (and the stem comes from Stampin' Up!'s bird builder punch), and that pretty Happy St. Patrick's Day sentiment comes from DeNami Design.

Well, I hope you have a great weekend! We don't have much planned, just a few family movies and time to relax here at home. My kids have been home from school this whole week on February Vacation, so we've just been taking it easy around here ;).

Thanks for visiting!
Emily

DeNami Inspired By

Today kicks off a new feature over on the DeNami Design blog. It's called "Inspired By" and the goal is to highlight the work of our wonderful DeNami customers! Each month we will feature one talented 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 Stacy:

Isn't that a beautiful creation? You can read all about it right here on Stacy's blog.

I was completely intrigued by her use of a z-fold for card. I had to go and Google it right away! And this what I came up with:

As you can see, not only was I inspired by her card fold, I was also inspired by her color scheme. That lavender and celery combo is SO pretty!

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

Summer Flowers Set

Solid Flower Accents Set

Small Happy Birthday

Garden Accents Stamp Set

Wire Fence Embossing Folder

Celery Cardstock

Lavender Cardstock

White Cardstock

I really love how this card turned out. The z-fold is so cool! It looks awesome standing up for display--but boy, was it hard to photograph so you could really see what it's like! Here's another view of it completely flat so it's just like it would look sliding out of the envelope:

And here's an "aerial" view so you can see its z-shaped fold:

The blank celery panel inside would be perfect for a hand-written note or a stamped sentiment!

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

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

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello and Happy Valentine's Day! I'd really hoped to write up this post yesterday (at the latest) and schedule it to go live much earlier today, but between having a husband home sick for two days this week and another Nor'easter winter storm that cancelled school yesterday, I didn't have much alone time to finish my top-secret Valentine's Day projects or get them photographed for a blog post. So, finally, everything is pretty much back to normal at my house, and I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on some Valentines and gifts for my family. It will be fun to surprise everyone at suppertime tonight!

I know that some folks pan Valentine's Day as an overly romantic, Hallmark-fueled holiday, but I really and truly love it! It gives me an event-kind-of-something to look forward to in the otherwise dreary, cold, and frozen month of February. The pretty colors (reds! pinks! lavenders!) are such bright spots in the colorless winter landscape, and the fun shapes/motifs (hearts! cupids! doilies! arrows!) and loving sentiments are true pick-me-ups. And how can you go wrong with a holiday that is rooted largely in chocolate? I say bring it on!!

I love giving Valentines! I give them to my husband and kids, but also send them to my parents, sister's family, in-laws, aunts and uncles, and friends all over the country. For me, Valentines are just such a fun way of sending a little love and letting the folks I care about know that I've been thinking of them. I spent a large chunk of my day on Monday getting my Valentines ready to mail: signing, stuffing and sealing envelopes, addressing, weighing and attaching proper postage, and then heading off to the post office to get them in the mail system before the end of the day. My fingers are crossed that everything will be delivered in time! Yes, it is a labor of love, but it makes me feel good, and I hope that a little something that I took the time to make and send will brighten the day of those I care about.

Over the years I've collected a number of small empty heart-shaped candy boxes, and I decided that instead of buying treats to give for Valentine's Day, I'd upcycle a few of my heart-shaped boxes and fill them with some homemade chocolate candies. Here are the boxes I decorated:

For my dad:

From DeNami Design: Dad stamp, Elegant Oval Frame stamp, heart from Whimsical Valentine stamp set, Chevron embossing folder, and Black Chevron washi tape

What's inside? Some hand-dipped Dark Chocolate Vanilla Creams!

I based these on this recipe from Land O Lakes.

For my mom:

From DeNami Design: Small Valentines Script stamp, Solid Rose Accents stamp set, and Red Heart Lace washi tape.

Wanna peek at what she'll be biting into? Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls!

I based these on this recipe from Parents Magazine (February 2011).

I have a punch art penguin-themed box for my hubby:
 

From DeNami Design: Square Word Bubble stamp, Love Sentiments stamp set, and heart from Whimsical Valentine stamp set.

a punch art owl-themed box for my 15YO daughter (to go with this card for her):

From DeNami Design: Square Word Bubble stamp

and a Despicable Me minion-themed box for my 11YO son:

The patterned paper is from Target's One Spot, and I printed the sentiment with my computer.

to go with the minion Valentine I made for him (I was inspired by this minion Valentine):

From DeNami Design: Small Valentines Script stamp, Love Sentiments stamp set, Small Heart Outline stamp, Small Scallop Heart stamp, chevron border from Modern Borders Set, and two white Boutique Buttons.

I can't wait to see everyone's reactions!!

Thanks for bearing with me through this long and photo-heavy post :D! I hope that you have a lovely day today.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Emily

Rosy Thanks a Bunch

A very happy Wednesday to you! Are you surviving the cold? We've had two straight mornings with single digit (F) temperatures here. Yikes! Arctic vortex, go away!!

Well, the DeNami Design team is doing another DeNami Product Spotlight today, and this time around we are featuring what very well may be my favorite DeNami stamp set of all time, the Solid Rose Accents set:

I've found myself reaching for this solid stamp set time and time again ever since I first acquired it! I think that rose image is just oh, so sweet, and the foliage complements it perfectly.

For today's card, I stamped and fussy-cut a quartet of roses to make a colorful thank-you card:

I used the rose and frond images from the Solid Rose Accents set, Thanks a Bunch, Onyx Black Versafine ink, and Spanish Moss Versafine ink. And can you see the subtle texture on the lined patterned paper? I added that with a Chevron Embossing Folder from the DeNami store. I LOVE how that turned out. The zigzag pattern really adds a lot of pizzazz :). I added a band of bright fuchsia color with a narrow strip of crepe paper. I love how it packs a punch but still allows a bit of the underlying striped patterned paper to peek through.

It's always fun to see how others use the same stamp set, so 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 Solid Rose Accents set--as our Spotlight Product, it's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

DeNami Design Polka Dots Blog Hop

Welcome to the February DeNami Design Blog Hop! This month's hop is all about POLKA DOTS!!

I am the first stop on today's hop! Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of the DeNami blog. If so, you are on the right track! If not, you'll want to head over to leave a comment on the DeNami blog. (And remember, if you get lost along the way, you can always head over to the DeNami blog to get pointed in the right direction.)

Don't forget, there are some super-fun DeNami prizes to be won! Two lucky commenters will be drawn at random from among the comments left along the blog hop to win a $20 DeNami Design gift certificate! You have until Monday, February 10, 2014, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize. 

OK, on to my project! I really wanted my polka dots to stand out on my creation for today's hop, so I kept my design clean and simple. Here's what I created:

I used a few fun dotty products from DeNami Design: Polka Dot Circle stamp, Polka Dot Background stamp, Happy Birthday Script stamp, and Lime/White Dots washi tape. I also used white cardstock and Onyx Black Versafine ink from the DeNami store.

To make my design, I simply stamped the Polka Dot circle on white cardstock in several fresh colors then punched out each circle with a 1" circle punch. I adhered dotted lime washi tape along the bottom edge of the card base and lined up the punched circles along the top edge of the washi tape. It was so quick to make!
 
It's time for me to send you along on your way. But before you leave for more DeNami polka dot inspiration, be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the randomly drawn prizes.  Then you can head out to see the next blog hop participant on today's list: Linda Carpenter. 
 
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Enjoy the blog hop,
Emily 

Owl Be Your Valentine

Hello there! Today I have a little owl-themed Valentine to share:

Time is running out on my friend Pam's Just Punch It Challenge. Valentine punch art is this edition's theme. I'm still working on my Valentines and had a bit of time to play with paper today, so I dove right in. The patterned paper is from Target's One Spot. The Teeny Heart Background stamp and Rectangle Word Bubble stamp are both from DeNami Design. The branch stamp is from Schlosser Designs.

I created that cute little owl by starting with a rectangle of red cardstock and then punching part of an oval to create his tufted head and using corner rounder to shape his base. I used various sizes of heart punches to make his tummy, beak, and feet. His eyes are, of course, layered circle punches, and his wings are two halves of a small scalloped circle punch. He was so easy to make!

I simply used my computer to print the sentiment on cardstock and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the word bubble around it.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Photo Tutorial: Shaped Cards

It's my turn to share another photo tutorial over on the DeNami Design blog today. This time I'm giving tips on making shaped cards--you know, anything besides a square or rectangular card base! Because it's February and Valentine's Day is right around the corner, I'm showing how to make a heart-shaped card. Be sure to check out the DeNami blog for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by today for this little peek of my photo tutorial. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Emily

DeNami Design ~ Clean and Simple Valentine

Hello there, friends! It's my turn to share a project over on the DeNami Design blog today. I made a quick and easy, clean and simple Valentine featuring a fabulous embossing folder from the DeNami Design store. I hope you'll swing by to take a peek and tell me what you think! Here's a little preview:

Thanks for stopping by! Have a day filled with bliss,
Emily