Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve 2013. The last day of 2013! I can't believe that we start a brand-new year tomorrow--but it's that time again!

I thought I'd share a few Happy New Year cards that I made this year. Here goes:

All four of these cards were made using digital papers and elements in the Time Flies digital kit from Design by Dani (available through Jessica Sprague). I love how realistic the glittery numbers and metallic confetti garland look! I used no fancy embellishments or alpha packs. That's all printed paper, folks!

Well, no matter how you plan to celebrate the New Year, I hope you have a fabulous time. Stay safe, everyone!

Happy New Year!
Emily

Good News!

Greetings, friends! I'm popping in here quickly to share a bit of good news: I just got word that I've been selected to be a member of this year's holiday design team for Purple Onion Designs! Over the next two months I'll be sharing holiday projects featuring Purple Onion Designs' fabulous rubber stamps. I have some fun decorations, gifts, and packaging all planned out and I can't wait to share them with all of you. I'm so excited to be part of it all!

Not familiar with Purple Onion Designs? I first discovered POD's unmounted rubber stamps a few years ago and have loved working with them. In fact, I've been published several times with POD stamps. Here are two projects featuring POD stamps that I had published in Northridge Publishing's Simply Handmade: Holidays 2012 issue last year:

Stamps:  USA map, star circle, and airplane from Road Trippin’ set by Purple Onion Designs

Stamps:  Vintage Journal Label by Purple Onion Designs

Purple Onion has tons of fabulous alphabet stamp sets, trendy subway-style noteblock stamps, cool vintage elements, and ultra-handy scrapbooking-themed stamps. Lots of variety! Sound intriguing? Be sure to head over to the POD website to take a look.

Right now Purple Onion Designs is promoting the release of a new line of holiday stamps from the very talented illustrator Stacey Yacula. Between them, Purple Onion Designs and Stacey Yacula are giving away two sets of her Winter Wishes collection and you can be a part of it! Check out the details on the Purple Onion Designs blog and Stacey's blog. The giveaway ends tomorrow (that's October 31, 2013) at midnight EDT. Be sure to swing by for your chances to win, and if you do, let them know that I sent you {wink}.

It's time for me to get back to work, so that's it for now. I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!
Emily

Owl Always Be Your Friend

Good morning! It's my turn to share a fun DeNami project with readers over on the DeNami blog today, and I couldn't resist giving you all a peek of it here ;).

I love to experiment with all sorts of design styles using my DeNami stamps. Recently I tried a little something new--I took a stab at pairing up themes and motifs in fun patterned papers with images and sentiments in my collection of DeNami stamps. This was the result:

I love how this owl gift set turned out! It includes a notebook with attached decorated pencil, a decorative clothespin magnet, and a customized Post-It notepad. I think that DeNami's Owls stamp set perfectly complements the owl motifs in the Birds of a Feather digital paper collection I used! I customized the Post-It pad with a different DeNami owl and the Owl Always Be Your Friend stamp on every page and wrapped it up for gift-giving with aquamarine baker's twine from DeNami's Summer Twine 3-pack. I took the owl puns one step further on my notebook with DeNami's You're A Hoot and Square Word Bubble stamps. And there you have it: a gift set that was as much fun (if not more!) to make as it will be for my recipient to receive! So perfect for autumn. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

DeNami Design Chickies Sneak Peeks

Welcome to Day 1 of the DeNami Design Fall/Winter Release Sneak Peeks!! Today brand-new DT Member Pattie Goldman, veteran DeNami DT member Lisa Petrella, and I are giving you sneak peeks of brand-new DeNami stamps about to be released in the always-fun CHICKIES category! Be sure to read all the way to the end of this post for details on a great giveaway :D.

Do the sweet DeNami chickies totally tickle your fancy? If so, you are positively in luck! The new release includes brand-new chickie stamps for summer activities, various sports, girlfriends, camping, gardening, Halloween, and Christmas. Whew!! That's quite a few! 

Are you ready to take a peek at what's in store for the chickie category? Let's get started!

The new chickie stamps I was most excited about are the camping ones! Not only do I have my very own Girl Scout and Cub Scout in my family, but our family loves to go on camping road trips. This card uses the brand-new Campfire Chickies stamp and Chickie in Tent stamp. I thought this would make a perfect thank-you card for my daughter to give to her Girl Scout leader! Her troop LOVES to go camping. :) I also used the ultra versatile Small Cloud and Thanks A Bunch sentiment, and threw in a couple of Sand Boutique Buttons. (All of the patterned papers are digital prints from the digital Campout collection by Design by Dani, available from JessicaSprague.com.)

Now how about taking a gander at a pair of stamps that are perfect for the rockers in your life?

This card shows off the new Rock Band Chickies stamp and the fun You Rock! sentiment. I added some chipboard alphabet stickers to spell out "dude," the perfect touch for a teenager-bound card. A bit of Black Curly Loops washi tape and some red DeNami cardstock round out my design.

Next I'm shifting gears to autumn and Halloween!

For this creation, I paired the brand-new Pumpkin Patch Chickies stamp with the cling-style Trick or Treat sentiment stamp. Aren't those chickies sweet? I made my background from an assortment of DeNami washi tapes: Lime/White Dots, Black Curly Loops, and Orange Stripes. I also used some Desert Orange cardstock and black baker's twine from the DeNami store.

And finally, let's have a little Christmas in July!

Don't you just love those sweet little Caroling Chickies? And I am completely captivated by the tiny sentiments in the brand-new Christmas Greetings petit four stamp sets!!! This is a set that I have been waiting ever so patiently for :D. They are just the perfect size for Christmas tags, and that's exactly how I put them to use.

The DeNami To and From stamps are perfect for completing these festive tags. I also used some red DeNami cardstock and red baker's twine from the DeNami store. 

All of the new stamps I used today in my sneak peek projects will go live in the DeNami online store on July 10 at 9am PST.

OK, are you still with me? Thanks for hanging in there through this long post. :-) I mentioned a giveaway way back at the beginning of this post.

DeNami Design is giving away two gift certificates today! Be sure to leave a comment here on my blog post, Pattie's chickie sneak peek blog post, and Lisa's sneak peek blog post, too. Then head over to the DeNami Design blog and leave a comment there, too, for another way to win today!

I'm so glad that you dropped in to check out some of the new chickie stamps in the DeNami Design Fall/Winter Release! Be sure to tune into the DeNami blog tomorrow for more sneak peeks and giveaways.

Until then, have a day filled with bliss,
Emily 

A Western HOWDY for Independence Day

Happy Birthday, USA!! I hope that my American friends are enjoying a safe and festive Independence Day today, wherever you may be!

I'm popping in very quickly to share a card appearing over on the DeNami Design blog today.

I made this for my horse-loving daughter's half birthday recently. She is a Christmas-season baby, so for years now we've celebrated her half birthday in the summer with cake and presents (rather than on her actual birthday in December) to avoid overload at an already tending-toward-excess time of year. I teamed up the ultra-adorable Cowboy Chickie, Howdy sentiment, and a Ruby Red Boutique Button with some delightful digital elements from the Giddy Up {Boy} collection from Carta Bella (available at JessicaSprague.com).

Thanks for dropping by today!
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 ;) .

Strawberry Magnets for a Sweet Friend

I'm popping in with a quick post to share a project that's being featured over on the DeNami blog today.

I made this set of strawberry magnets as a gift for a very dear friend of mine. When I was growing up in Ohio, June was the month of pick-your-own strawberries, so this little gift is perfect for this time of year in my mind!

I used the little strawberry stamp from DeNami's Tropical Fruit stamp set and the Arched Sweet Friend stamp. The patterned paper is a digital print from the Sweet Strawberry collection by Shery K Designs. I adhered a circle of the printed patterned paper to the metal lid of a depleted Yankee Candle. It's perfect for attaching, presenting, and gifting magnets!

Have a fabulous day today, friends!
Emily

Feel Better Soon + my GIU WINNER!

Happy, happy Monday to you! I hope you had a great weekend. We were busy, busy little beavers here at my house, so the weekend just flew. We made a special trip to the Museum of Science in Boston to take in the special Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit on Saturday morning. It was absolutely fascinating!! We really learned sooooooooooo much.

Well, I'm here today to announce the winner from my week of posts as Growing In Unity gal last week! I had a total of 269 entries--WOW!! Thanks to everyone who came by last week. I really appreciate ALL of your comments! It was the best fun reading through every single one of them. I wish I could have given ALL of you a prize!! But, since I can't, I'll leave you with one last bit of Unity inspiration:  a little Feel Better Soon card made with a clear acrylic card base and LOTS of buttons. I think this will be perfect for someone who's feeling under the weather!

The sunshine image is from Unity's Quotes a'la HAPPY, and the sentiment is from the amazingly useful Just Wanted to Say kit. That fun cloud background is a digital paper printed out from the ultra sweet Baby Safari collection by Carina Gardner (available from JessicaSprague.com).

Allrighty then, enough stalling! On with the GIU winner:

I used Random.org to draw the lucky number.

That points to Carla from Utah!!!!

Now, Carla, I couldn't find any way to contact you directly*, so it is up to you to email me to claim your prize!! You'll find my email address by clicking on the "View my Complete Profile" link just under the "About Me" section in the right-hand sidebar of my blog; look for the "Contact Me" section. In your email, please include your choice of two Itty Bitty stamp sets from Unity (you may browse the selection HERE) as well as your shipping address, and I'll get that info sent off to Unity pronto.

Carla, if I don't hear from you by 10 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 12, I'll have to draw another winner so I can get my GIU week all wrapped up with Unity in a timely fashion.

Another huge thanks to everyone who participated in this awesome Unity giveaway! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

* Carla, normally I'd reply to the email address associated with your comments, but you are a "noreply-comment" commenter on blogger! Click HERE to find out what that is and how to fix it. And you haven't included an email address as a way to contact you on your Blogger Profile page. My next step would be to leave a comment on your blog, but you don't have one!!! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you come back to check for my winner post, find your name lit up in lights, and drop me an email ASAP!! Unfortunately, so many "noreply" bloggers don't realize they can't be contacted in the event of a win and never check back for winners' posts because they think "of course I can be contacted!" I hope you aren't one of those folks, Carla!!! Waiting eagerly to hear from you!!!!

Growing In Unity~Day 4

 Thanks for coming back for Day 4 of my week as Growing in Unity gal!

Today is a two-fer day! I've got two little Unity projects that I've been just itching to share with you. Let's get started!

The sentiment is from Unity's {my thoughts are with you} kit. Definitely a must-have! It is loaded with a great variety of "thinking of you" types of sentiments that are perfect for cardmakers. I love how this one in particular fits perfectly in my Stampin' Up! modern label punch.

The patterned paper is a digital print from the Beautiful Moments collection by Carta Bella (available from JessicaSprague.com).  I built the gilt frame around the portion I printed out using some really cool gold washi tape. It totally looks like a fancy picture frame, right? I think the effect is awesome.

Now, switching gears a bit.

This card pulls together two different Unity Stamp kits. The doily stamped in the background in white on kraft and the fancy label are from the Generations kit, and the fantastic "You are fabulous" sentiment is from the Where You Should Be kit. Quick and easy and perfect for dropping in the mail to a fabulous friend!

And I think that does it for today!

Please leave a comment on this post to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my last GIU post. If you haven't already commented on my GIU Days 1, 2, and 3 posts, you should check out and comment on those as well to maximize your chances of winning in the random drawing. I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

I'm so happy that you stopped by to visit today!
Emily 

Growing In Unity~Day 3

Greetings! Thanks for joining me for Day 3 in my week as Growing In Unity gal!

Today's project is a birthday gift card holder!

I revisited the paper bag image from the card I shared on Monday.  It's included in the July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun. It was so easy to form a little pocket for slipping in a gift card! I simply stamped the paper bag image on kraft cardstock, cut it out, adhered the bag cutout to another piece of kraft cardstock along three edges, and trimmed off the excess. Done!

The blue banner and flag are digital elements that I printed out from the Falala collection by Design by Dani (available from JessicaSprague.com).

Did you spy a little washi tape? If so, good for you! I used a little of my now-signature embellishment to adhere my sentiment flag to a pearl-topped stickpin. Both sentiments also come from the July 2012 KOM, Ol' Bag of Fun.

Gee, it can't possibly be true that my GIU week is now half over! Please leave a comment on this post to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back tomorrow and Friday for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! If you missed my GIU Days 1 and 2 posts, you should check out and comment on those as well to maximize your chances of winning ;). I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

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

Growing In Unity~Day 1

Happy Monday morning to all of you! I am bursting with excitement today because this Monday morning kicks off my week as Growing In Unity gal for Unity Stamp Co. Yay!!

Not familiar with Growing In Unity? Well, it's simple. Each week Unity has lined up a different Unity stamp fan to share projects and inspiration all week long. At the end of the week, the GIU gal has the honor of randomly selecting one of the commenters from her week of projects to receive two free Unity Itty Bitty stamp kits of her choice. Is that awesome, or what? And with over 400 Itty Bitties to choose from, there is truly something for everyone.

So, let's get on with the show! I'm kicking off my GIU week with a kinda sassy birthday card.

Hilarious, right? I just LOVE that paper bag image. I think it is so very versatile (and just to prove it, I'll be using it again later this week). It's from the July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun. Lots of fun accompanying sentiments to choose from, too. I've just got to think of exactly the right person to send this birthday card to, 'cause I'm not sure that everyone would appreciate it! ;)

The patterned paper is a digital paper from the Georgia Rose collection by Jodie Lee Designs, available from JessicaSprague.com. I love the vintage look of the paper to go along with the "vintage" bag!!

OK, to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, be sure to leave a comment on this post, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back the rest of the week for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

Thanks for dropping by My Little Slice of Bliss today and sharing a little happy with me! See you back right here tomorrow,
Emily

Spring Hyacinth

I made this card thinking that it would be one more Easter card, but I also wanted to play along in this month's Unity challenge--and I don't have any appropriate Unity sentiments for Easter! I thought that the hyacinth would help communicate the theme, but I think the colors are all wrong for it. Oh, well! I still love how it turned out :). If I added an Easter sentiment to the inside, do you think it will be OK for Easter?

I used the sketch portion of the Unity challenge, turning it on its side:

I used Unity's Best Wishes & Blooms for the background stamping, and a sentiment from Unity's { . . . my thoughts are with you}. The hyacinth image is a journaling card from the digital Modern Romance kit from Webster's Pages. I think it is SO pretty! And I dug deeeeeeeeep into my stash of vintage trims to come up with that pretty green rick-rack from my grandma's sewing notions. It still had a price sticker from the 1960s on the package!

I'm also linking up to today's Friends with Flair blog hop. It feels like it's been EONS since I was able to join the hop, and I've really missed it!!

I'm also playing along with these fine challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter/Spring
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #212: Bring On Spring
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #94: Easter or Spring

Time for family movie night, so I've got to run!! We're in the middle of watching the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series on Blu-Ray. Awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Happy St. Patty's Day

I know that many folks don't bother with cards for St. Patrick's Day, but I really like making and sending them. It's fun to celebrate a bit o' green to get in the mood for impending spring! Sending out these cards is a great way for me to stay in contact with my folks and aunts, too.

After filling my crafty time with design team assignments this week, it was fun to create just for the sake of creating. So here's what I ended up with.

I'm test-driving some brand-new New Leaf cardstock that I purchased from Papertrey Ink with the $60 gift certificate I won in PTI's 6th anniversary celebration last month. I adore this shade of green! And it was perfect for a St. Patrick's Day card. I dug deep into my hoard collection of Basic Grey 6" x 6" patterned paper pads to find this awesome green and white chevron print. And that fun gray shamrock background paper? A digital patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket. I love my digital elements!

I think this DeNami Design Happy St. Patrick's Day sentiment is the best! So whimsical and perfectly scripted. And how genius is that shamrock as an apostrophe? I also used a chevron border from the DeNami Modern Borders set for the center of my handmade twine-y flower embellishment featuring Peapod baker's twine from The Twinery.

I'm playing along with a few challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp challenge: A Bit o' Green 
• Inkspirational: Shades of Green                                                                         
• The Chevron & Green challenge at The Twinery                        

In addition to a bit of recreational crafting yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time getting ready for Career Day at my daughter's middle school today. It's an early release day, so the guidance team invited parents and friends to come in for the morning to talk with the kids about what they do in their jobs. Each Career Day guest has been assigned to a classroom teacher and will talk to each of that teacher's classes on an abbreviated schedule (after all, it is a half day!). I've been assigned to my daughter's math teacher, and she couldn't be more excited that I will be there! I'll be presenting my 28-minute-or-less spiel to each of Mr. Coger's five eighth grade math classes. And to tell the truth, I'm pretty excited to be doing this--I have so much I want to tell these students and can't wait to share how I use real-live math every day!! I just hope I can make my daughter proud :). Fingers crossed!!

Once the kids are out early, they are each bringing a friend home to our house for lunch before we head out to the Museum of Science in Boston to take advantage of their free IMAX movies every Friday in March. Woo-hoo! LOVE free! We're going to see Africa: The Serengeti. Should be fascinating!

EDITED TO ADD: Well, we've been torpedoed by Winter Storm Saturn. School has been cancelled for today!!! So, no Career Day after all. We have two very sad faces here this morning. No word yet on whether or not it will be re-scheduled; I don't have high hopes. Darn! It looks like we could still get 3 to 5 inches of snow before noontime, so our trip to MoS for the IMAX movie hangs in the balance, too. Such is life in New England, I guess!! We drowned our sorrows in French toast, a treat that's usually not possible on weekdays. So, at least there's that. :)

I hope you have a fabulous weekend--don't forget about the time change on Saturday before you go to bed! I'll be back on Sunday with my post for the DeNami Birthday Bonanza Blog Hop. There are going to be some AWESOME prizes, so be sure to hop along with us!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Happy Valentine's Day!

Good morning and happy Valentine's Day! I hope your day is filled with fun, love, and hopefully some delicious treats :-). Chocolate, anyone?

Today I thought you might like to see this little creation that I made for a very dear friend for Valentine's Day.

It was fun to make because it is a bit different from many of the cards I usually make. Everything, except for the stitching and pearls, is a digital element from the Affectionate digital collection by Carina Gardener. That rectangular panel is a ready-made digital journaling card. Pretty cute, huh? I just love how this turned out.

I am playing along with a few challenges:

• Stampendous February Challenge--Love is in the Air
• Playing in Paradise--A Loved One 
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #207: Put Your Heart on It  

Got any last-minute Valentine preparations? Later this morning I will be working on getting Valentine's Day treats ready for the loves of my life. Some yummy treat bags for the kids {plus a Lego surprise for each of them--shh! Don't tell!!}, and a homemade cherry pie for my honey. That is his favorite dessert!

Have a fun one! And thanks so much for dropping by for a Valentine's Day visit :-).
Emily

I'm Nuts for You

Hey there, everybody! We survived the blizzard :). It was hard to tell exactly how much snow we got in all, what with all the blowing and drifting. We tried to take some snow depth measurements and ended up taking an average. Our best guess is that we received about 18 inches of snow in our town. Boston, just 15 miles to our south, received 24.9 inches of snow. So, who knows? We'll get the official scoop in our hometown weekly newspaper on Thursday.

I took a whole stack of Valentines to be mailed at the post office today, and this was one of them. I made it for my aunt and uncle. My uncle had a long career as a shop teacher before he retired--I think they will get a kick out of this ;). Huge thanks to my sweet hubby for supplying me with some nuts from his garage stash! The letter stamps are from Alphabetically Adorable by Unity, and the patterned paper is a digital print from the Echo Park Paper Hybrid Note to Self collection. Those are some big letters, so this card measures 5" x 7".

I'm playing along with a few challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Have a Heart
• PaperCraft Star--Love
• Stampendous February Challenge--Love is in the Air
• Playing in Paradise--A Loved One 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of my blog candy.
Emily

Valentine Love + a WINNER

Greetings and happy Thursday to you! I'm here with a quick card to show off a few more washi stripes along with some fun DeNami Design stamps. (Need some more ideas on incorporating washi tape stripes into your crafting? Be sure to see my Ways With Washi: STRIPES post from earlier this week.)

DeNami Design stamps: Love Flourish, Stitched Border, Small Swirl Corner, Hearts stamp set

I stamped on a journaling card from a digital collection by Carina Gardner and dressed up the background with some Smooch Spritz and Musical Notes Washi Tape from DeNami. I'm adding this to the stack of Valentine cards I'm collecting for sending out to family and friends.

Now, I've promised you a winner for my washi tape giveaway earlier this week. I used Random.org to draw a winner from all the comments left on my giveaway post and came up with lucky number . . .

. . . 3--and that was PAM!!

Congratulations, Pam! I'm off to email you next so I can get your new roll of DeNami pink chevrons washi tape mailed out to you. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who played along in my giveaway! I had so much fun reading all of your comments :). Be sure to check out my next Ways With Washi feature in February--it will be on the 4th Monday of the month (that will be Feb. 25). We'll do another giveaway then!!

Oh, before I go, I just wanted to mention that with today's card I was playing along with my friend Jessi's challenge to use MISTS over at Playing in Paradise Challenge #101! I love how the misting in my background turned out. Thanks for the inspiring challenge, Jessi!! I'm also playing along with the Anything Goes Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp!

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

Give Thanks

Hey, there! I hope that your Wednesday is off to a terrific start! Today I'm sharing a card that I had so much fun making for Thanksgiving.

I had the best time dressing up this card with buttons from DeNami's Sand Boutique Buttons collection. My card also features two terrific stamps from DeNami Design: Wheat Stalks and Give Thanks Circle, which just happens to be our Product Spotlight stamp this week!

That's right--you can snag this versatile stamp all week at 10% off, no coupon needed! Need some other great ideas for using this stamp? Be sure to swing by the DeNami Design blog today to see what the rest of the DeNami DT cooked up with it!

One more thing before you go--see those two fantastic patterned papers? They are digital papers (from the Thanksgiving collection and the Autumn Mega collection) from Shery K Designs that I printed out on matte presentation/brochure paper! Can you believe it? They are so vivid and crisp. Really, the paper makes all the difference. My husband could hardly believe that I'd printed them myself. He thought that I'd used commercially printed patterned paper. I'm just over the moon about this discovery! (A huge thanks to the lovely and talented Jocelyn Olsen for the presentation paper tip!!)

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

Good News: I'm Guest Designing with TCM this month!

I'm SO happy to share that I'm guest designing for The Craft's Meow this month!! Somebody pinch me!! You can read all about it here. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

And today is the first day of previews for the TCM October stamp release. The TCM design team members (and that includes me!) are sharing creations made with two new fabulous stamp sets for Christmas:  Christmas Angel and Hearth & Home.

Let's take a look at what I made with the Christmas Angel set:

I took an understated approach with this set to let that beautifully detailed Christmas angel really shine! I embossed her in gold on a Night of Navy SU cardstock base. The "Glory to God" sentiment also comes from this Christmas Angel set. I stamped it in Night of Navy ink on Vintage Cream PTI cardstock and embossed a beautiful label (from TCM's Season's Greetings set ) around it in gold.

My second card for today comes from the Hearth & Home set:

There's a great selection of images and sentiments in this new set! I chose to focus on the parts that "jingle" ;). I colored the jingle bells image with my colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits and paper blending stumps. I just had to add some silver glitter for a bit of pizzazz!! The musical score background is digital paper that I recolored (it was originally black and white) and printed out from the Echo Park Hybrid Mini-Theme kit called Melody of Life. I would have loved to tie on some silver jingle bells with my button and bow treatment but discovered that all I had were gold!! Gotta put some silver ones on my shopping list . . .

Be sure to check out the fantastic creations that the rest of the TCM designers made for today's preview of Christmas Angel and Hearth & Home over on the The Craft's Meow blog. There's a giveaway going on, too, and you can find out all about that over there as well. :D

I hope you'll join me tomorrow for some more previews of new TCM stamp sets!

Until then, have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

DeNami Halloween Blog Hop

Good morning, friends! And welcome to the last stop on today's DeNami Design Halloween Blog Hop! Today the DeNami Design Team and customers alike are showcasing Halloween projects made with DeNami stamps!

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Lani M.'s blog, Keep Your Eyes Open. If so, you are on the right track! If not, you'll want to head over to the DeNami blog to start the blog hop at the beginning. (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, October 15, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize.

Well, on to my Halloween project! After we featured the DeNami Fuzzy Ball stamp last month as a product spotlight, my head was brimming with more ideas for this versatile little stamp. I couldn't resist trying out my idea for a Fuzzy Ball bat on this adorably batty Halloween card.

Making my bat was as easy as (pumpkin) pie! I simply stamped the Fuzzy Ball on some DeNami charcoal cardstock and added a face from the Animal Faces stamp set. After drawing on two cute little fangs with a black pen, I cut out the body and added some wings. The wings started life as two ovals punched from DeNami lavender cardstock, but quickly took on their characteristically webbed look after cutting each oval in half lengthwise with scalloped scissors. Quick and easy! That beautifully lettered sentiment may be found here.

That does it for me today! Thanks so much for hopping along with this month's DeNami hop. I hope you got tons of great ideas for Halloween! Be sure to leave a comment before you go to be eligible for the prize drawing.

Have a great day!
Emily 

PS In case you are wondering, the background paper I used for this card is a digital paper from Shery K Designs. It's part of a great Halloween digital collection called Boo. 

We have a WINNER!

First, I wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who entered my giveaway for the Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock! I had so much fun reading everyone's comments--you got so creative using the secret ;) password!! You kept me in stitches. :D I wish I had enough blog candy to share with ALL of you!!

And the time has come to draw a winner. Using random.org, we have

commenter #23 as our winner, and that person was Mary-Anne V! Congratulations, Mary-Anne! I wasn't able to find a way to contact you via email, so please contact me (you'll find my email address on my Complete Profile page) with your shipping address by 10 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 30, 2012, and I'll get that sent right out to you!!

Before I go, I wanted to share another recent pub card.

This card appeared in the digital/hybrid category of the March 2012 issue of CARDS magazine. 

Still lots to do before our company arrives tonight. A big grocery-shopping expedition is in the works for this afternoon! Which means I've got to start on my list.

Thanks for dropping by!

Emily