StampinB Spring Scene Challenge

Welcome to another rainy day on Bliss Road! The highlight of our rainy yesterday was more after-school puddle jumping. It keeps the cabin fever at bay! The kids are having a blast with their umbrellas and boots. I've gotta admit: it is pretty satisfying to walk across the mother of all puddles in a good pair of rubber boots and coming out the other side with feet still toasty and dry :). I imagine there will be no shortage of puddles this afternoon, too. Look out soggy world, here we come!!

Our Stampin' B's Challenge this week is to make a spring scene. And while my kids and I have been "making some {spring} scenes" of our own this week out there in our wellies (in full view of all the high school spring sports teams practicing--in the rain--on the HS practice fields we walk beside on our route home), it hasn't been the kind of spring scene I could easily capture in a card. So, I instead went with a "spring as the season of love" scene. Some cute paisley DP with spring colors immediately came to mind, and pretty soon, with the help of my Stampin' Up Two-Step Owl Punch, I had this card:
There's a whole lot of punchin' goin' on in this one!! But it was definitely a hoot to make. :)

Well, thanks for stopping by to check out today's little slice of bliss! If you'd like to try your hand at this week's Stampin' B's Challenge, post your project on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

See you soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Schlosser Designs Boughs
Solid Paper: snow storm CS; baja breeze, regal rose, close to cocoa, chocolate chip cardstock from Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Tiffany DP collection from We R Memory Keepers
Ink: Palette burnt umber, SU baja breeze
Accessories: SU two-step owl punch, SU small heart punch, dollar bin small blossom punch, Provocraft small leaf punch, SU word window punch, SU modern label punch, sponge dauber, sewing machine, Studio G Sparkle Writer
Techniques: machine stitching, punch art, sponging

Stampin' B's TGIF Challenge

A good and happy Thursday to you!! I'm so glad you dropped in. I hope you are ready for a new Stampin' B's DT Challenge, because I am the hostess this week, and I have a fun TGIF challenge for you.

"How exactly does one fit TGIF into a card or paper project?" you ask?? Well, that's an excellent question, and one that I plan to answer right about . . . NOW!!

I'm using TGIF as a little acronym for the project recipe I'm challenging everyone to use:

T = be sure to add some texture
G = we've gotta see some green
I = include something iridescent
F = use anything that begins with the letter "F"--your choice!
But be sure to tell us what "F" choice is!

So my sample card for this TGIF challenge is a little something I cooked up for the DeNami Design Girlie Girl Challenge. You'll see texture in my stitching and lace, green in lots of places, iridescence in the butterfly sticker, and flowers for my letter "F" choice!
I was a first-time participant in the DeNami Girlie Girl Blog Hop earlier in the week and had a fabulous time! When I was making my card for the blog hop, I was torn between going the sophisticated-girlie route or the frilly-girlie route. In the end, sophistication won out for the blog hop, but frilly has been on my mind ever since. Luckily, DeNami issued a girlie-girl challenge along with the blog hop, and I got to try out my frilly-girlie ideas after all! And all of my girlie ideas fit perfectly within my TGIF recipe. ;)

For this card, I concentrated on pink with green, another favorite combo! I stamped and colored the DeNami Rosebud Trio and punched it out with my decorative label punch from Stampin' Up. It was fun adding girlie decorative details: hot pink stitching, a short length of lace trim, a shiny dimensional butterfly sticker, a bit of sheer hot pink ribbon tied through a fancy paperclip (a birthday gift from my kids), some sparkly rhinestones, and a chipboard GROW sticker, which I thought was a particularly appropriate match to those pretty rosebuds!!
Well, thanks for stopping by to check out today's little slice of bliss! If you'd like to try your hand at this week's Stampin' B's Challenge, post your project on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

See you soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Rosebud Trio from DeNami Design
Solid Paper: kraft and snow storm smooth 100 lb. card stock from Mark's Finest Papers
Patterned Paper: Lemonade DP collection from BasicGrey
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: Decorative label punch from Stampin' Up, adhesive rhinestones from Q & Co., foam tape, markers, sewing machine, Sandylion dimensional butterfly sticker, K&Co chipboard GROW sticker, lace trim remnant, sheer ribbon remnant, triangle paper clip from Target

We have a WINNER!!!

(scroll down or click HERE for my Day 2 Blog Hop post for Mark's Finest Papers)

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my Mother's Day Blog Candy contest for 5 yards of pink & black striped grosgrain ribbon. I had such fun reading about which colors you like to pair with PINK!! This morning I used random.org to draw a winner:

And lucky commenter #2 is Annette Holleger of Feeding the Soul!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Annette, you have until noon EDT on Saturday, May 14, 2011, to email me with your full name and mailing address to claim your prize. (Click on "View my Complete Profile" under ABOUT ME in the right-hand sidebar. You'll find a link to my email address there.)

If I don't hear from Annette by the deadline, I will draw a new winner on Saturday afternoon. So stay tuned!

Have a day filled with bliss, everyone!
Emily

DeNami Girlie Girl Blog Hop

Welcome to the DeNami Design Girlie Girl Blog Hop!

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Debbie Marcinkiewicz's blog, Simple Treasures. 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.)

I am super excited to be participating in my very first DeNami Design blog hop today! I first discovered the ultra adorable DeNami stamps at the beginning of the year. (But DeNami Design is no new kid on the block. These delightful stamps have been around since 1989. I know, where have I been???) As soon as I discovered DeNami, I started hopping along with the monthly hops to check out the awesome eye candy DeNami customers and design team members create. Before long I had won a $20 gift voucher to put toward my first DeNami purchase (and, yes, I went *way* over $20 on that order. I couldn't help it! There are SO many fun stamps to choose from. It took forever for me to make up my mind.) And now, for the first time, here I am among the blog hop participants. Yay!

So, here's the deal. Today's blog hop is brimming with ideas for making Girlie Girl cards and projects using DeNami stamp images! Hop along for some great inspiration and comment along the way for a chance at some free DeNami products! Here are the details:

When: The blog hop starts on May 8 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until May 9, 2011, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by beautiful girlie creations featuring DeNami Design stamps and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: DeNami is giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to their website! They'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random blog hop participant (DT members not eligible) and then they'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

OK, enough of the chit-chat. Let's meet today's DeNami Girlie Girl card:

When I started thinking about my girlie-girl DeNami card for this hop, I couldn't decide whether to go sophisticated-girlie or frilly-girlie. In the end, I went "uptown" for some girlie sophistication. My focal point is the fabulous DeNami Solid Decorative Crest. Of course, my uptown girl theme dictated lots of sparkle and bling (supplied by stick-on rhinestones and Sparkle Writer glitter glue). And how much more girlie could I get with hot pink? (Balanced with the cool sophistication of lots of never-out-of-style black, naturally!) I have a {bad?} habit of saving ribbons and tags from product packaging to re-purpose in my paper projects, and this card is no exception. My pretty hot pink sheer ribbon was rescued from some luscious locally made whoopie pies. The color was perfect!

Well, I think that wraps up my girlie girl card. (Details may be found at the end of this post.) Be sure to comment here for a chance at some free DeNami products before you hop off to our next fabulous Girlie Girl Blog Hop participant:

Heidi Hurley

WAIT!!

One last thing before you go: Are you a girlie girl who just can't get enough of hot pink? Does your heart go pitty-pat at the thought of a classic black and pink color combo? Are you gaga over grosgrain? Then have I got a {slight} detour for you!! Be sure to check out my Pink and Black BLOG CANDY before you continue on with the DeNami Blog Hop. I think you'll be glad you did!
(Blog Candy drawing closes at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Winner will be announced on May 11.)

OK, what are you waiting for? NOW you can continue along on your hopping way!! Go visit Heidi.

Thanks for checking out my little slice of girlie girl bliss!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Solid Decorative Crest from DeNami Design
Solid Paper: snow storm smooth 100 lb. card stock from Mark's Finest Papers; basic black and rich razzleberry card stock from Stampin' Up; melon mambo textured card stock from Stampin' Up
Patterned Paper: Uptown Girl DP collection from The Angel Company
Ink: melon mambo from Stampin' Up
Accessories: 3" scallop circle punch from EK Success, 2.5" circle punch from Stampin' Up, 2.25" circle punch from EK Success, 2" circle punch from Fiskars, adhesive rhinestones and half pearls from Q & Co., Sparkle Writer glitter glue from Studio G, foam tape, BowEasy, rescued sheer ribbon from whoopie pie packaging

BLOG CANDY

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous mothers out there!!

To celebrate Mother's Day, I am offering a little bit of girlie girl BLOG CANDY. And here's the great thing: you don't have to be a mother to play along. All you need is to have, or have had, a mother. The way I see it, that includes pretty much EVERYONE, right? Right. :)

I have a stash of this lovely hot pink, black, and white striped 1.5"-wide grosgrain ribbon. Go ahead: take a closer look (just click on the photo to enlarge it). I'll wait.

I love it {a lot} but I have a ton of it, and today I'd like to share some with one of you, my lovely friends and readers, in honor of Mother's Day. So, up for grabs is 5 yards of this striped grosgrain ribbon. I'll send it to a randomly drawn winner anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. (Sorry for the restriction, folks. Having to feed my own two munchkins siphons off funds for shipping to a wider audience.) Here's what you need to do:

• If you aren't already a follower, I would love for you to become one! It's easy to "follow" using the button for Google Friend Connect on my right-hand side bar. Or consider subscribing to My Little Slice of Bliss posts via email. You'll find a "Subscribe via email" block on my right-hand side bar just under "Followers." Just type in your email address and you will be on your way to subscribing!! (Following is not required to enter the blog candy drawing.)
  
• Leave me a comment on this post answering this question: What color do you love to pair with PINK? (One comment per person please). Be sure to mention your favorite go-with-pink color in your comment or you will be ineligible for the prize.

Entries for the blog candy drawing close at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. I will announce the winner here on my blog on Wednesday, May 11, by noon EDT. The winner will have until noon EDT on Saturday, May 14, to contact me via email to claim her prize, or a new winner will be drawn.

I'll be back in a bit with a card that uses this oh, so girlie pink & black color combo as part of the DeNami Design Girlie Girl Blog Hop. I hope you can join me!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today, checking out my little slice of bliss, and helping me celebrate Mother's Day! I hope you'll come back to visit again soon!!

Have a terrific day!
Cheers,
Emily

Home Grown

My parents arrived this evening for a six-day visit. We are going to be super busy these coming days! But I had to squeeze in one more card:

I know there won't be much any time for posting tomorrow, so it has to be now, but I also don't have much time for details as it's awfully late and I really need to get my rest {soon}! Sorry!

Challenges:

• Flourishes: The Spring Has Sprung Challenge
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere
• Flourishes April Speed Challenge
• The Paper Variety: Flowers
• Tuesday Throwdown: Add sparkle and bling
• Crafty Creations: Paper piecing
• Color Throwdown: teal, summer sun, celery
• Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge: #42

Thanks for checking out my card!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Seeds of Friendship and Calendar Set 1
Paper: SU celery, MFP cream, The Paper Company yellow, and October Afternoon DP
Ink: Palette burnt umber, SU certainly celery, SU baja breeze
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, scissors, rhinestones, button from my stash, Caribbean baker's twine from The Twinery
Techniques: reverse spotlighting, paper piecing

DeNami Monochromatic

Hi, everybody! Today was a busy day--I've been getting the house ready for an almost week-long visit from my parents in Ohio. They arrive tomorrow! The kids are SO excited. We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. Next week the kids have their April Vacation, so we'll have several additional weekdays to go on some day-trip adventures with Mimi and Bunka.

I had some company here at home today, too. My son woke up with a fever this morning, so he stayed home from school sick. He rested on the sofa, did some computer programming, and then spent the afternoon working on the school assignments he was missing in the classroom. Thankfully, by lunchtime his fever was gone, and he was feeling much better. I'm hoping he's all set to go back to school tomorrow--they will be taking class pictures at school tomorrow, and we'd really like to see him in it when we receive our already-paid-for copy!! Anyway, it was fun having a date for lunch; we played Crazy Eights while we ate. :)

I have a project that I worked on today to share with you:
Don't you just love that adorable little DeNami Chickie???

Challenges:

• DeNami Design Monochromatic Challenge
• Wee Memories Challenge: Tangled Up, to use any kind of twine in your project
• Card Patterns: Sketch #110
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Card for a Child

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: DeNami Design Chickie
Paper: DCWV DP, Card stock from The Paper Company
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: SU scallop border punch, SU 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, EK 1.5" circle punch, SU 1" circle punch, colored pencils, white gel pen, foam tape, Lemondrop baker's twine from The Twinery, alphabet stickers
Techniques: faux stitching

Flashback Friday 10.0

I have been having so much fun playing along with Amy Tsuruta's Flashback Friday Challenges! I was thrilled to learn last weekend that I was selected as the winner of Flashback Friday 9.0, and part of my prize (in addition to some fantastic sewing-themed Stampin' Up goodies) was to be the Flashback Friday 10.0 Guest Designer AND pick the 10.0 challenge!!

Just in case you aren't familiar with Flashback Friday, here's the scoop: in this challenge Amy encourages players to re-post a papercrafting "first" and take ownership of the project in the present day. No newly made project required! It's fun to see where we started in our papercrafting journeys and how far we've come, even if it provides some cringeworthy viewing moments. Amy picks each Flashback Friday winner randomly, and she always has some awesome prizes to award to those brave enough to play along!

So, on to my pick for the Flashback Friday 10.0 Challenge:

re-post your
**first project with STITCHING
on it (real or faux)**

I love to sew and play with fabric almost as much as I like to play with paper, so this was an easy choice for me.

Oh, and you'd probably like to see my first stitching project. I made this in June 2009, well before I started my blog, so this came from my Splitcoaststampers gallery. Not only is it the first time I used stitching on a card, I used both machine stitching and faux ("pen") stitching here. Fancy me, right? You can see my original SCS upload for this card HERE.
I was rather proud of this creation back when I first made it and still feel pretty good about it today. And look at me--getting all impressive by making a full-front tri-shutter card. Of course, I can think of hundreds of ways I could improve this thing if I were to make it today, but it was definitely a start. :)

If you'd like to play along with Flashback Friday 10.0, head on over to the Flashback Friday blog to play along. For version 10.0, Amy has lined up a fantastic sponsor:

Jane's Doodles

Jane is being so kind as to give out Mr. Smiles and Party the Penguin . . . along with some of her signature buttons.

Please come join us for some Flashback fun! Flashback Friday 10.0 runs from today until Friday, April 29th @ 11:59 pm PST. Just re-post your first project that incorporated stitching on your blog and add it the inlinkz linky at Flashback Friday. I can't wait to see all of your stitching firsts!!

See you around!
Emily

StampinB Navy and Green Challenge

Howdy! Stampin' B's DT Challenge #105 is brought to us this week by Brenda, aka Benzi, who is challenging us to use the colors NAVY and GREEN plus either stripes, plaids, or dots. I think that navy and green make such a refreshing color combo. It's one of my favorite combinations, although I really need to use it in my card making more often. Anyway, this challenge was a lot of fun to play with--thanks, Benzi!
Somehow I had it stuck in my head that I had some navy and green plaid patterned paper tucked away in my paper collection somewhere. After spending more time than I care to admit searching for it to no avail, I decided to make my own plaid. Sure, I could have gone with navy dots (which I definitely have in my collection) or green stripes (which I also have plenty of), but once the plaid idea got stuck in my head, I just couldn't shake it! Anyway, I used an ancient plaid stripes rubber stamp from The Angel Company to build a green and navy background.

The green and navy colors were perfect for DeNami Theme Challenge #6: Boys. I was super excited to use my brand-new DeNami Friendly Robot rubber stamp and the Solid Scallop Dot Rectangle stamp I received free with my DeNami Designs order. I colored those absolutely adorable little robots with the Gamsol Magic technique, using Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, and a paper blending stump.

I like that I was able to leave this card rather open-ended. It could be a baby boy card. I could make it an "Oh, Boy! It's your birthday!" with the right sentiment inside. My son could use it to write a fun thank you note. I think it could even make a cute congratulations card--for a super report card, a sports win, or for any job well done. :)

Challenges:

• DeNami Theme Challenge #6: Boy
• Wee Memories #50: Color! Use the colors that inspire you or your favorite color palette. I just love navy and green together. :)
• CPS-Card Sketches: Sketch #212

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

Thanks for joining me today for my little slice of bliss. I'll see you again soon!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Plaid Stripes from The Angel Company; Friendly Robot and Solid Scallop Dot Rectangle from DeNami Designs
Paper: white storm CS, SU night of navy CS, SU wild wasabi CS
Ink: Palette noir black, SU night of navy, SU wild wasabi
Accessories: precision scissors, Prismacolor pencils, OMS, paper blending stump, white gel pen, foam tape, baker's twine
Techniques: Gamsol Magic, handstamped background

Easter Blessings

I can't tell you how hard and time-comsuming this card was to make. The idea for it came to me quite easily, but when it came time to put the details together, I spent waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much time just spinning my wheels. So frustrating. Ultimately I was quite pleased with it, but I nearly scrapped it I don't know how many times. I'm glad I stuck with it.

Detail of the embossing:

I love the look of hand-dyed crinkly seam binding, but I'm not lucky enough to have any. I approximated the look by ripping a narrow strip of fabric from some celery-colored duck cloth in my fabric collection. I frayed the edges and was good to go--the perfect nest for that perfect Prima rose.

Challenges:

• The Shabby Tea Room: Spring Color Challenge, to be inspired by the colors in this photo
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter creation
• Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes
• Tuesday Throwdown: Spring Theme
• Stamps R Us: Easter
• ABC DT Challenge: Easter card
• CARDS Challenge Gallery: Easter cards
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Tons of Texture (Three types of texture: embossing on the Easter eggs, stitching, and ripped fabric ribbon)
  

This should be the last Easter card that I need for sending out to my family. Whew. I was worried I wouldn't have enough!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Easter egg image from Michael's dollar bin
Paper: SU certainly celery CS, SU pink pirouette CS, Pink Paislee 365 Degrees DP, various scraps
Ink: Palette lavender sachet and toile pink, Ranger linen and tea dye distress inks, Versamark
Accessories: MS deco fan border and corner punches, SU tag corner punch, SU designer label punch, scissors, sponge dauber, foam tape, sewing machine, clear EP, heat tool, pearls, Prima rose, ripped strip of fabric
Techniques: ink distressing, heat embossing, machine stitching