A Little Message for You . . .

Greetings, my friends! Today the DeNami Design Team is sharing designs over on the DeNami Design blog that show off the stamp in this week's Product Spotlight: Little Fawn. And boy, what a cutie this one is!

I pulled out an old Basic Grey 6x6 pad of patterned paper (PB&J collection) and picked out a bunch of fun patterns to use together. With all that pattern and color going on, I figured it would be best to leave my stamped images uncolored, so I stamped Little Fawn and the log from Woodland Logs Set on kraft cardstock and then fussy cut each for my design. Here's what I came up with:

My sentiment is DeNami's A Little Message for You stamp. I added a boutique button and some orange rhinestones, along with a chevron arrow trimmed from one of my selected sheets of patterned paper.

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 this sweet woodland critter--as our Spotlight Product, it's on sale at 10% off for the next week!!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top o' the mornin' to you, my friends! It's St. Patrick's Day! Today I'm sharing a St. Patrick's Day card that I made for a dear friend who also celebrates her birthday today. I had so much fun making a new-to-me Z-fold card last month that I just had to try another, and I thought it would be perfect for the elegant birthday/St.Patrick's Day card I had planned for my friend. Z-fold cards just seem so cool to me, but their one drawback is they are rather difficult to photograph, so I had to capture it with a series of shots. Anyway, here's how it turned out:

All of the stamps are from various Flourishes sets (including Irish Blessing, Hollyhocks, and Tag Lines). I used some Spellbinders (Beaded Ovals and Ovals) to die-cut the focal label, the St. Patrick's Day embossing folder from DeNami Design to emboss the background panels, and a green Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pen from DeNami to embellish the beaded oval frame. And that lovely green Prima flower has been hoarded in my stash forever--I'm so glad I finally had the perfect project to let it shine!

I love how the design for this Z-fold card leaves a little hidden panel inside for a message for the recipient!

Well, I hope the birthday girl is having a great day today, and that all of your are having a fabulous St. Patty's Day! Make sure to put on a little bit o' green to keep the pinches at bay today {wink!}.

Thanks for visiting!
Emily

My Sweet Friend + a WINNER!

Hello and Happy Friday to you! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We certainly did, and now we're having a lovely time just being home together. That's the best!

I have a little DeNami project to share with you today. This was part of one of the last gifts I put together this year. It was for a dear friend of mine whom I was thrilled to see for a while on Christmas Eve.

Now, here's the story:  my husband and I both grew up in Ohio, the Buckeye State. We both remember our families making these partially chocolate-dipped peanut butter candies at Christmas time when we were growing up. They are called Buckeyes for their resemblance to the nut of the Ohio Buckeye tree (the state tree of Ohio, of course!). Here's a photo for comparison:

Can you kind of see the resemblance?

Anyway, a few years ago my friend discovered a boxed candy mix from Betty Crocker for Peanut Butter BonBons. She bought the mix to make up for a party we were both attending, and the entire platter disappeared within 10 minutes!! When I gave one to my husband to try, he remarked about how similar the Betty Crocker BonBons were to the Buckeyes we ate as kids.

I made up a big batch of Buckeyes this year as a surprise treat for my family on Christmas Day, and as I was packing them up to keep them out of sight, I remembered how much my friend had liked the BC BonBons. So I whipped up a special little box to package a quartet of Buckeyes to include in her present. I really hope she was surprised and pleased (and "got" the connection!!)

I decorated a DeNami 3x3 Boutique Box using Staz-On inks (Jet Black and Cotton White) to stamp on a Leafy Vine Wreath and an Arched Sweet Friend sentiment. I glued on a few red sequins to decorate my wreath and sealed up the box with some White/Red Dots washi tape. So quick and cute!

And now it's time to announce the winner of my washi tape giveaway! I used Random.org to select a winner. It was lucky number 18, which was

 Sue D! 

Congratulations, Sue! I've emailed you.

Well, thanks so much for dropping by today. Enjoy your last weekend of 2013!!

Hope your day is filled with bliss,
Emily

Christmas Stamped Gifts

Happy December 1st, my friends! It's time to start those Advent calendars--what a happy time!

Today I'm bringing you a few more holiday gift projects as part of the Purple Onion Designs Holiday Design Team. Today the team is focusing on stamped gifts. I think I've mentioned before that I'm trying to make as many of the gifts my family will give this year as possible. First I have another item that will make a perfect teacher gift--what elementary school teacher ever has enough thank you notes?

I started by making a set of six one-layer thank-you notes, two each of three different designs using the super sweet Laurel, Filbert, and Elm characters from Stacey Yacula's holiday rubber stamp collection and a whimsical Thanks sentiment (#PF01), all from Purple Onion Designs, of course. Stamped on linen-textured cardstock and colored with Copic markers, these simple notes will be easy for a teacher to use and mail (with lumps, bumps, or extra postage!).

Next up--some packaging to make this gift extra special! I slid the notes and six envelopes into a cellophane treat bag and stapled on a hand-stamped bag topper created with a variety of Purple Onion Designs rubber stamps: an oval frame from the Vintage Journaling Set, the smaller flake from the Snowflake Set, a fantastic sentiment from the Handwritten Holiday Set, a pair of To/From sentiments for the back of the topper, and, of course, another sweet Filbert the Penguin!

 

Here's a little peek at the back of the package. You can see the tone-on-tone snowflake stamping a little better here, and there's the To/From sentiments that make this packaging gift-ready!

My fifth-grader is already excited to give this gift to one of his teachers!

For my second project, I'm sharing a snowflake Christmas ornament. I started by stamping the six-pointed snowflake from Purple Onion Designs' Vintage Snowflake Set and heat-embossing it in silver. After trimming it out, I mounted it on a snowflake diecut and blinged it up with silver Stickles and rhinestones.

I wanted to make my snowflake commemorative, so I stamped the date (using a retired mini alphabet/number set from POD) and a "Merry Christmas" sentiment from the Handwritten Holiday set on the back of the ornament.

Be sure to swing by the Purple Onion Designs blog today for lots more ideas for stamped holiday gifts from the POD Holiday Design Team!

Enabler alert!! Purple Onion Designs is running a Holiday Sale right now, with 25% off ALL STAMPS in the store! The sale runs through Tuesday, December 10, 2013. So be sure to check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

Photo Tutorial: Pencil Toppers

It's my turn to share another tutorial over on the DeNami Design blog today! This time around I'm showing how to create fun little pencil toppers, perfect for back to school or as kid-friendly (non-candy!) favors for birthdays or holidays. Be sure to check out the DeNami blog to see how to create these:

Have a fabulous weekend, and thanks so much for dropping by!
Emily 

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

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

A New Fold

I nearly forgot to check for the Flourishes May Release challenge! How did that happen??? I guess I've been pretty distracted lately and not too interested in crafty pursuits. Anyway, I caught the Colorful Creations Challenge just in time to play along this morning before the challenge ends tomorrow. It's a challenge to use at least three colors from the combo shown in this graphic:

I used the brand-new, beautifully stippled Bees & Blooms stamp set from Flourishes. I won it last month from the super-sweet Silke Ledlow (thanks SO much, Silke!), and this is my first time inking it up. I'm not sure that linen-textured paper was the best choice for this image (I think I lost some of the stamp's fine detail), but I think this will pass if you look at it from the "worn, faded look" angle. The sentiment is from Flourishes' Tag Lines.

The fold style of this card is something new and different for me. My daughter received a thank you note yesterday from a friend that looked like this:

My inspiration!

We thought it looked pretty cool and sophisticated, so my daughter eagerly agreed to let me keep it for inspiration. I couldn't wait to try out a similar fold! I think this would work wonderfully as an all-occasion note card OR a gift card holder, don't you?

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

DeNami Fancy Favors Blog Hop

Hello and welcome, friends! I am so excited to be a part of today's DeNami Design blog hop! Today the DeNami Design team and DeNami Design customers are featuring awesome ideas for some fancy favors. Get ready for lots of amazing inspiration!

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Stacy M.'s blog, Sweethearts and Sweet Tarts. 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 amazing 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, April 15, 2013, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize.

Now, how about taking a look at the favors I cooked up for today's hop?

I created these little treats--perfect for party favors or last-minute thank you gifts--using the fabulous downloadable DeNami Gift Bag template. So easy to use! The template fits on a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper or cardstock, so you can print it out directly on any colored or patterned paper--as many times as you'd like! Then you need only trim, score, adhere, and PRESTO! You've got an adorable little favor box. 

I prettied up my first fancy favor with stamps from the Solid Flower Accents cling stamp set, the Garden Accents Petit Four stamp set, and the Everyday Greetings stamp set. 

For this second favor box, I used these DeNami rubber stamps: Medium Thank You Circle, Medium Dot Circle Frame, and Cherry Blossom.

I hope you have collected tons of great ideas for making favors! I am the last stop on today's hop. Be sure to leave a comment before you go to be in a drawing for a Denami Design gift certificate.

Thanks for hopping along today!
Emily

Just Because

Happy Friday! I am so excited today. My dear friend who moved far away a year and a half ago is going to be back in town today–and we are planning to spend some time together here at my house this afternoon. Yay! I also got word yesterday that career day at my daughter's middle school–the one that was cancelled because of the snowstorm last week (read about that here), bumming us both out completely--has been rescheduled for the first week in May. Yay, again! So happiness is bustin' out all over around here today. :D

I have one more card–I promise that this is the last!!!!–to share for the Colorful Creations challenge over at Flourishes (a color challenge to use shades of blue and yellow together). I have been totally obsessed with this awesome color combo! It's always been a favorite of mine. And it has been a great excuse to play with my Flourishes stamps, which is always welcome :).

Now before I get to my card, I need to explain a little something. I've had several projects published in various Northridge Publishing publications in recent months. (You can see my publication list here.) They "pay" their designers in papercrafting product, and my most recent product shipment contained a bunch of Maya Road chipboard pieces. Cool, but I've never really used them before and wasn't sure what to do with it. I also rec'd a couple of Faber-Castell Gelatos, which I've heard lots about but had never tried. I was excited to learn what I could do with them! Along the way, I discovered that Gelatos are awesome for--wait for it--coloring chipboard! Score! I couldn't wait to try that out, and as it turns out the two Gelatos I rec'd are yellow and blue. See? I was destined to play in the Flourishes challenge one more time :).

OK, thanks for bearing with me. Here's my card:

As you can see, I took a rather clean and simple approach, and used the very versatile Flourishes Inside & Out Just Because set for the sentiment. Love these!

I'm also playing along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge (CFC94) to use chipboard.

I have a new tutorial posting over on the DeNami blog later today, so this wraps things up for now.  I'll be back in a few hours. I hope you have a super weekend! Thanks for dropping by,
Emily

DeNami Sneak Peeks: CHICKIES

Welcome to Day 2 of the DeNami Design Spring/Summer Release Sneak Peeks!! Today DT Member Tammy Hobbs 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.

If you are a DeNami chickie lover, you will positively swoon over the chick-tastic new release! There are new chickies for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and some fun new chickies for spring and summer. I had SO much fun with my new chickie stamps getting ready for this release! It was hard to decide where to start. Well, let's dive right in, shall we?

Valentine's Day

That adorable Cupid Chickie stamp is brand-new, but that's not the only new stamp I used on this card. You can also drool over the new Love Flourish stamp, the Houndstooth Background stamp, and the Elegant Oval Frame stamp.  Aren't these awesome? I also used some petal pink card stock from DeNami Design,  Satin Red ink, and some red baker's twine from the DeNami Design store as well.

St. Patrick's Day

I don't know what you look for in the pot at the end of the rainbow on St. Patrick's Day, but I am only too happy to find chocolate in that pot ;-). My next project is a little St. Patrick's Day goodie bag. I started with a clear gusseted bag from the DeNami Design store and filled it with green wrapped chocolates. After tying the bag shut with some emerald grosgrain ribbon from DeNami Design, I tied on a Leprechaun chickie "for you" tag with more baker's twine. The chickie comes from the new Shamrock Chickies stamp which is a large scene; I just clipped out the single chickie that I wanted for my small tag. Doesn't he look sweet surrounded by the For You Circle stamp and the Medium Dot Circle stamp? I also used DeNami Design's desert orange card stock and iridescent emerald green card stock, along with Habanero ink and Olympia Green ink.

And what if you would rather give a card for St. Patrick's Day instead? Well, I've got that covered too. ;-)

This is a small card, only 3.25" x 4.25". I clipped another leprechaun chickie from the new Shamrock Chickies stamp to layer over a shamrock that I created using the new Solid Flower Accents cling set. That sweet sentiment also comes from the new Shamrock Chickie stamp; I just masked it out to create a banner.

Sweet, Fruity Summer

We write a lot of notes and letters at my house, so I like to have some stationery on hand and as well as note cards. For my last project I made a stationery set featuring the brand new Fruit Chickies stamp set. So perfect for a fruity summer!

I simply cut 8.5" x 11" sheets of printer paper in half to make the sheets of stationery.

That "Thanks chickie" sentiment is another new stamp in this release.

To contain and protect all of my new sheets of stationery, I decorated a 6" x 9" manila envelope. I stamped a background using that adorable pineapple chickie and the orange slice stamp from DeNami Design's Tropical Fruit stamp set. The circle frame stamps are also from DeNami Design, as well as the emerald grosgrain ribbon.

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 multiple gift certificates today. Be sure to leave a comment here on my blog post and on Tammy's chickie sneak peek blog post, too. Then head over to the DeNami design blog to find out the other ways you can win today!


I'm so glad that you dropped in to check out some of the new chickie stamps in the DeNami Design Spring/Summer 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

R U ready for a Challenge?

Are you ready for a challenge? Today is the first day of the DeNami Design October challenge, and this month it's a color challenge!

Here's the direction I took these colors.

It's a matchbox-style box perfect for filling with Hershey's Nuggets chocolates {*wink*}.

I just love creating packaging for treats for family and friends! All of my supplies for this project come from the DeNami Design store. Can you spot all three DeNami stamps that I used? If you said the Small Jack O'Lantern, Polka Dot Background, and Everyday Greetings stamp set, then you are bang on!

Are you ready to take on this fun color challenge? All you need to do is use this lovely fall color combo and at least one DeNami Design stamp, and you are golden! Be sure to check out today's post on the DeNami blog for more inspiration for this color challenge from the design team and for all the details about this month's challenge.

Thanks for dropping by today. I hope your day is filled with bliss!
Emily

PS Want to make your own Nugget box? You can find templates and directions for all sizes of boxes like these right here.

Polka Dots for CAS-ual Fridays

This week DeNami Design is proud to sponsor the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge. The new theme? The Girl Fridays are calling it the "Sweet Spot," and it's all about polka dots.

Some of the DeNami DT gals are playing along with the challenge to show off our CAS polka dot creations featuring none other than DeNami stamps! I made two cards with the same design but different color schemes. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I'll share them both!

I recently realized that I didn't have *any* "thinking of you" cards left in my stash. Because those are the most versatile (you can make them fit for get well, sympathy, birthday, tough times, anniversary), I made a note to make more really soon. And I love having one-layer cards in my stash, too. So easy to write in and mail! Those were the two main criteria that guided my creating, along with the polka dot requirement, of course. I used just two DeNami stamps (Medium Polka Dots and the "thinking of you" stamp from the All Occasion Sentiments set) and a single sheet of cardstock to make both one-layer cards. Well, and some ink, too!

This challenge runs through Thursday, June 14, until noon EDT. The prize is a $25 DeNami Design gift certificate! I hope you'll play along. Just remember to use polka dots and keep it clean and simple. :)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you find a little slice of bliss somewhere in your day today, too.

Emily

Stamps: Medium Polka Dots background and All Occasion Sentiments set by DeNami Design

Cardstock: PTI white

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Kaleidacolor Caribbean Sea spectrum ink pad, Versacolor Wild Berries spectrum ink pad

The Twinery/DeNami Design Blog Hop

A hearty "Happy Friday" to you and WELCOME to The Twinery and DeNami Design Blog Hop: showcasing the BEST in twine and rubber stamps! Today the design teams of both of these fabulous companies are sharing projects that show how well DeNami Design and The Twinery products complement one another, and I'm tickled pink to be a part of it all as a DeNami designer.

If you are hopping along (and you should: there's a PRIZE involved!), you should have arrived here from the blog of the talented Monika Wright. If not, you can start the blog hop from the beginning at The Twinery blog.

I know you have lots of stops to make on today's hop, so I'll get right down to business. When DeNami Design first started carrying baker's twine from The Twinery earlier this year, I was so impressed with how well the twine colors coordinate with DeNami cardstock colors. That was my jumping-off point for today's project! To show off that fantastic color coordination, I designed a small petal box that I could decorate elegantly with DeNami stamps and tie up perfectly with The Twinery's baker's twine.

 

Just look at how well DeNami's Magenta cardstock matches The Twinery's Pink Sorbet baker's twine! DeNami's Iridescent Aquamarine cardstock (so shimmery!) is a dead ringer for The Twinery's Caribbean baker's twine, and DeNami's Petal Pink cardstock harmonizes perfectly with The Twinery's Blossom baker's twine.  

I knew I wanted to use a variety of cardstock colors for this collection of petal boxes, so I stamped the oh-so-chic DeNami Elegant Floral Vine in black on each petal to maintain a cohesive look. The beautiful Ornamental Vine stamp was perfect for some subtle background stamping on each tag, and the sentiments--like this "for you"--in the Everyday Greetings stamp set are the ideal size for tags.

These elegant little petal boxes are just the right size (2" square at the base) for filling with a truffle or other sweet treat (like the Ferrero Rocher chocolate I tucked inside mine). And wouldn't they make perfect favors for a wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, or Mother's Day tea? So easy to coordinate with a bride's colors or the color scheme of a new baby's nursery.

  

I had fun making up my own design for these tiny petal boxes, but you don't have to.  I'm happy to share a template for making them. Simply print this petal box pattern (in pdf form) on cardstock and trim for a template you can trace around on any cardstock or patterned paper. Once your petal box has been cut out, simply score where indicated by the dotted lines on the template and punch holes where indicated. To complete, thread with baker's twine, pull to close petals (overlap as shown below), and tie shut. But don't forget to tuck a treat inside first!

That wraps up my project for today, but before you go, I'm sure you'd like to know more about that prize I mentioned earlier! Here's a little peek at what's up for grabs:

And guess what? There's not just one prize to be given away, but TWO! So be sure to leave a comment here before you go, as well as on each participating blog on the hop for your best chance of winning, before 11:59 pm EDT on Saturday, May 12, 2012, to be eligible for the product giveaways. :)

Now it's time to head off to visit the next designer on today's blog hop:

Jamie Cripps

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Emily