Camera Craze

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Light and Airy Birthday Card

When I saw the current Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo (Sweet Dreams) over in the Moxie Fab World, I was struck by how light and airy the pictured bedroom was. I thought it would be fun to try to translate that feel into a birthday card (since I am running low on birthday cards in my stash).

Here's my card

and here's the photo that inspired it.

I used background stamps, heat-embossed in white, from three different companies: Sweet Lace from Market Street Stamps, Gingham Background from DeNami Design, and Quatrefoil Background from Unity Stamp Company. I thought these designs were good matches for the patterns on the bedspread, bench, and rug. I took my colors for this card from these items, too. The sentiment is from Unity's How YOU Doin' set, and the resin flower is from Stampin' Up!

I really enjoyed the creative process involved in making this card, and I am quite satisfied with how it turned out. I'm also happy to have a Unity creation to share with my Friends With Flair today!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Emily

I {heart} Nature

Just a quick post here to play along with Market Street Stamps' November Block Party!

I had so much fun making this card! I used stamps from the oh-so-adorable MSS Woodland set. I paper-pieced the sweet little birdie with papers from the BasicGrey Nook and Pantry collection, and I colored the whimsical MSS branches with markers.

I'm also playing along with the Do You Stack Up? Challenge, to use a Leaves/Trees theme.

Thanks so much for taking a look! I hope you are having a great weekend. Come back soon!
Emily

Houndstooth Greetings

I'm waiting for the call that my daughter is on the way home from her Girl Scout camping trip so I can go to pick her (and her gear) up. I've been working on a card (for fun!) while I wait. Here it is:

I really wanted to play in this month's Market Street Stamps Block Party, so I inked up my MSS Houndstooth background stamp so I could make a graphic design with a girl's best friend! Here's a closeup of all that fabulous houndstooth goodness.

My card base is also stamped with the houndstooth background. The (partially inked) sentiment comes from MSS Prancer.

I took my colors from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge.

I also finally had time to play with some new products today. A while back I was contacted by Bazzill Basics Paper to see if I'd like to try out their brand new line of Card Shoppe cardstock, a collection of smooth heavy-weight cardstock developed specifically for cardmakers. They sent me a sample pack of 56 sheets of gorgeous cardstock (2 sheets each of 28 different colors with fun candy-themed color names). I have been soooooooo busy with so many things recently that I haven't had time to try them--until today! Today's creation features Candy Necklace (a beautiful aquamarine color) and Whirlypop (a deep blue color). They both took ink and punched beautifully! My Candy Necklace card base also scored and creased perfectly. I'm looking forward to playing with more colors from this pack throughout the week and will definitely report back on my findings. Bazzill was kind enough to send along a second sample pack of Card Shoppe cardstock, so look for a giveaway here on my blog soon!!

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

Emily

Stamps: Houndstooth and Prancer from Market Street Stamps

Paper: Candy Necklace and Whirlypop cardstock from the Bazzill Card Shoppe line; white and Melon Berry from Papertrey Ink

Ink: Versamark and Onyx Black Versafine

Accessories: diamond punch, sewing machine

Techniques: machine stitching

Happy Circles

Well, folks, it's been a whirlwind week here at our house. My kids have been home all week on their February school vacation week. (Yes, for some odd reason, public schoolkids here in Massachusetts get a week of vacation in February and another week off in April. Add that to a week plus off between Christmas and New Year's and a first day of school that's after Labor Day, and that puts my kids' last day of school in late June!) In addition to our day trip to Rockport midweek, we took advantage of a 50% off sale at the used book store, stocked up on scrapbook supplies, ordered photo developing on a year-and-a-half's worth of pictures, bought penny-candy at the local corner store, and watched a few movies here at home. The kids made lots of progress on their scrapbooks while I tried to tame the mess in my stamping corner.

Which brings us to another busy day here today! In between trying to get caught up on household chores, I made a card for the February Market Street Stamps Block Party.

I created the lower panel of the card by punching circles from various stampings of the MSS Sweet Lace background. The sentiment is from MSS Happy Pumpkin.

Time to go tuck in a couple of tired kiddos! I'll see you back here tomorrow for some DeNami sneak peeks!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Hey

This evening I had the itch to make a little something, so I put together this all-occasion "hey" card for the Market Street Stamps January Block Party:

I used the MSS Sweet Lace background, stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. With pretty background stamp patterns like these, who needs patterned paper??? I did some creative inking on the MSS Happy Pumpkin set to obtain my "hey" sentiment. Perfect for checking in on a friend!

I'll also enter this over in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

See you back here soon--thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Happy

Yes, yesterday was a happy kind of day at our house. It was cold and snowy--we got about 2.5" of snow, which made the kids happy. They played outside in it all afternoon. Meanwhile, it was nice and cozy inside the house. Supper was a pot of homemade chicken and wild rice soup (perfect for a nippy winter evening!), sliced fresh strawberries, and a warm chocolate cake for dessert. We tried this Dr. Oetker cake mix for the first time, and found it to be delicious! Baking it in the oven made the entire house smell so good, and a warm dessert on a cold night? Well, just like the soup--perfect. :) After supper we watched a family movie while tucked under blankets, all warm and snug. A little popcorn midway through the movie made everything complete!

And I got a little happy me time in, too, creating a little something for the January Paint the Town Color Challenge at Market Street Stamps. Here's the palette to be used:

Love these colors! I interpreted these as Stampin' Up's Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze, and Melon Mambo. My Market Street Stamps? The Sweet Lace background (a RAK from Jessi when I was feeling blue!!! Thanks, Jess!) and sentiment from Happy Pumpkin. And since it was a happy kind of day, I made this a "happy" card. I can stamp "birthday" or "anniversary" inside for whichever occasion I need this for. :)
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've had a little bit of happy in your day, too. :)
Emily