Ways With Washi: PLEATS + a Giveaway

Hello, hello, DeNami friends! Thanks for stopping by for another edition of Ways With Washi that I've created for the DeNami Design blog! Looking for more ways to use washi tape in your papercrafting and cardmaking? Today I'm sharing ways to add subtle dimension with pleated washi tape. I have four samples to illustrate how to incorporate pleats, so let's get started, shall we?

My first card is a rather simple and straightforward one. I used a single strip of pleated DeNami Black/White Dots washi tape as a design element right down the center of my card. Pleating washi tape is SO much easier than pleating ribbon! Plus, there's no need to consider how to adhere or attach it to your project as there would be with pleated ribbon. And while it adds more dimension to a card than flat washi tape, pleated washi tape is far flatter (and certainly more compressible!) than pleated ribbon.

DeNami Supplies: Small Happy Birthday, flower from Whimsical Flowers stamp set, Elegant Square Frame, Pearlescent Orchid Brilliance ink, Onyx Black Versafine ink, Iridescent Strawberry Freeze cardstock, and Black Rhinestones

Close-up of pleats

On my second card, I got a little more creative with the "single pleated strip" approach! After pleating a strip of DeNami Orange Stripes washi tape, I trimmed it into three long sections to create a wonderfully dimensional flame-tinged exhaust plume for the super fun DeNami Rocketship.

DeNami Supplies: Space Chickie, Rocketship, planet and moon from Outer Space stamp set, sentiment from Thoughtful Greetings stamp set, Teeny Star Background, Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Opaque Cotton White StazOn ink, Leaf Green Cardstock 

Now how about a girly card? Pleats are perfect for frilly, feminine designs, too. For my third card, I layered five different strips of narrowly pleated washi tape (DeNami Pink Stripes and Green Stripes washi tapes) as a base for my trio of DeNami Flower Blooms on this bright and happy Mother's Day card.

DeNami Supplies: Flower Bloom, Happy Mother's Day (cling), Tuxedo Black Memento ink, Leaf Green Cardstock, White Cardstock, Pink Rhinestones, Confetti Twine 3-pack 

Close-up of pleats

Pleating washi tape makes it oh-so-easy to adhere it along curves. So for my final card today, I'm showcasing pleated washi as a ruffled circular frame on my blue-ribbon card! For this card I used DeNami Blue/White Dots washi tape.

DeNami Supplies: You're the Best, Medium Thank You Circle, Sky Blue Cardstock, White Cardstock, Majestic Blue Versafine ink

Here's a hint for pleating washi tape: do your pleating while working on wax paper and then transfer it to your project. The tape will stick lightly to the wax paper while you work with it but will release easily (like removing a sticker's backing sheet) when you are ready to move it. If you'd like to trim a strip of pleated washi tape into long sections like I did on my rocket card, leave it adhered to the wax paper while you do your trimming with scissors.

I do believe that wraps up my April Ways With Washi!

GIVEAWAY

Interested in winning a roll of washi tape for yourself? And how about some baker's twine, too? I have a brand-new roll of Blue/White Dots washi tape from DeNami Design (the same tape that I used on my blue ribbon card) AND a Confetti Twine 3-pack (which I used on my Mother's Day card in this post) 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 "APRIL." 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, April 24, 2013, and will draw one commenter at random. The winner will be announced right here on my blog on Thursday, April 25, and if I'm able to find an email address, I'll be sure to contact the winner as well.

I'm so glad you dropped by for a little slice of bliss today!

Thanks for visiting!
Emily

Happy Birthday, Nami!!

Today is a special day at DeNami Design Rubber Stamps. It is the birthday of none other than Nami herself--the owner and stamp illustrator behind DeNami! Today DeNami friends are helping to celebrate this special day with a blog hop that's all about the birthday girl. Happy Birthday, Nami!!

I have the honor of being the first stop on today's blog hop! (If you get lost along the way, you can always head over to the DeNami blog to get pointed in the right direction.) I can't wait to show you the birthday card I made for Nami!

When I first stumbled across DeNami rubber stamps, I was immediately smitten with all of the adorable DeNami animals. I mean, who can resist, right? But it wasn't long before I discovered the full selection of Nami's elegant stamp designs, and I find myself reaching for these timeless (yet fresh!) classics--like this Decorative Crest Circle--again and again. And no one does hand-scripted sentiments (like this one from the All Occasion Sentiments set) better than Nami--no one!! It is an absolute delight to play work with Nami's fabulous designs as a member of the DeNami Design team. I'm wishing you a day filled with happiness today, Nami, and many, many more!

Your next stop on the "Happy Birthday to Nami" blog hop is the fantastic Amy Smidebush. Be sure to check out her creation celebrating Nami and then make your way through the hop back to the DeNami blog to leave your good wishes for Nami. :)

Thanks for stopping by today!
Emily

Emboss Resist Live in the Moment

I saw yesterday that Julie Koerber, of Out to Impress, is celebrating her fifth anniversary of blogging with a challenge. Her Celebrate Five challenge is to either make a 10-minute creation or a creation using a resist technique. Today I went with a emboss-resist technique because I had a bit of time to play. I'm hoping to play again with a 10-minute creation. I love those!

So here's my emboss-resist card:

I used three different Flourishes stamp sets to make this card: the medallion is from the Medallion Motif set, the trellis pattern on the paper medallions is from the Country Charm Borders set, and the sentiment is from the Life Lines set. I have to say that the pretty medallion from Medallion Motif is perfect for the emboss-resist technique. It really seems to bring out the details!

My colors come from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge:

A huge congratulations to Julie on five years of blogging! I always love seeing what she creates, and her work with Flourishes stamps is just outstanding.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at what made me happy today!

Emily

Stamps: Medallion Motif, Country Charm Borders, Life Lines from Flourishes

Paper: white, Melon Berry from Papertrey Ink; Marina Mist from Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Marina Mist from Stampin’ Up!; Onyx Black Versafine from Tsukineko; Versamark by Tsukineko; Water Lily Green Palette hybrid ink

Accessories: clear embossing powder, heat tool, sponge daubers, scoring board, We R Memory Keepers buttons, sewing machine

Techniques: heat embossing, emboss-resist

Masculine Valentine

I've had Moxie Fab World's The Map to Your Heart Challenge in the back of my mind ever since it was issued on January 4. I do indeed love maps, and I think that re-using them in fun ways is rather satisfying. I've been mulling over the best way(s) to approach this challenge, which is to incorporate maps with a papercrafted project in an innovative way, and today was the day to tackle it.

Behold, my entry for The Map to Your Heart Challenge:


(To give you a sense of scale, this circle card measures 4 1/8" in diameter.)

Every couple of months I get a solicitation mailing from Doctors Without Borders that contains a scaled-down fold-up world map. I keep every single one! For this card, I trimmed a section of the map between latitude 60N and 75N, from the Bering Strait to Finland, and turned it into a pleated paper medallion. I turned the resulting card into a clean & simple and nicely masculine Valentine for my husband by adding heart brads, a non-Valentine-colored heart, and the "You make my world go round" sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Admit One stamp set, stamped and embossed on a vellum banner. Why vellum? I didn't want to hide too much of the map!! Anyway, we took a fabulous camping trip of nearly 9000 miles last summer and used maps every day, so I know my hubby will "get" the connection and is sure to love it!

This card was a lot of fun! But I have a couple more map ideas kicking around in my head, so don't be surprised if this isn't the last Map to Your Heart entry you see from me ;).

Do a little something that makes you happy today--I'm glad I did!
Emily

You Make My World Go Round

I've been having SO much fun playing with my new Lawn Fawn stamps! And I've also been playing with one of my Christmas gifts from my hubby: a Martha Stewart scoring board. Yay!! Combining these two new toys lead to another entry for the Lawn Fawn CHA Winter 2012 Challenge:


After giving the carousel from Lawn Fawn's Admit One set a whirl yesterday, I just had to try out the darling Ferris Wheel and that fabulous "you make my world go round" sentiment! Once again, I embossed the images on watercolor paper and watercolor painted them using dye inks. I used my new scoring board to make a medallion from medium blue cardstock, and decided it would make a very cool background for my card--and tie in with the "go round" theme perfectly!

My colors were inspired by the CR84FN45 Challenge:

I may have gotten a little carried away with accent colors on this one--I couldn't keep my eyes off all those extra (and very pretty!) colors in the inspiration photos!!

And finally, I'm entering this in Paper Sundaes Challenge #101: Out with the Old, In with the New (I used my brand new Lawn Fawn stamp set and scoring board along with some in-my-stash-for-a-while baker's twine).

I'm thinking that this card has lots of possibilities--an "I love you" card for my husband, an "I think you're great" card for my kids, a friendship card for a girlfriend, a thank you note (especially for someone who's done me a favor!), and even a birthday card. Have I mentioned how much I love flexibility??

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily