StampinB Border Punch Challenge

Welcome to a new Thursday! We are in the home stretch now: after today, my kids have just 3 more full days and one half day of school and then SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!! I'm not sure who is more excited about that: them or me. I'm SO looking forward to sleeping in, not having to pack lunches, no after-school activities, no monitoring homework progress. And I'm also looking forward to being able to do fun stuff with my kids!! With no school to get in the way, we can go on picnics, take hikes, craft, explore, play games, learn new stuff. The possibilities are endless!

BUT, we aren't there quite yet and I'm still cranking out the year-end thank yous. This week Vicki Dutcher is challenging us to use a border punch, so I broke out one of my favorite border punches (Martha Steward Modern Garland) and a detailed fleur de lis stamp to make a thank-you card for my son's Cub Scout den leader. (Incidentally, the fleur de lis is the symbol of the Boy Scouts of America and, thus, perfect for a scout leader! And the Cub Scout colors are blue and gold.)
My layout was inspired by the Splitcoast CAS challenge for this week, which is a sketch incorporating a 3 x 3 grid.

Well, thanks for checking out my little slice of bliss for today. 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: SU Perfect Punches
Paper: snow storm CS; DCWV textured CS, SU night of navy CS
Ink: SU night of navy, Palette sunflower
Accessories: MS modern garland border punch, SU scalloped oval punch, SU small oval punch, scoring tool, dimensionals, twine

Thanks Sew Much

Have I mentioned before that I like love to sew? It's absolutely true: I do, I do. I've been hand sewing since I was a child and machine sewing since seventh grade when I took my first home ec. class. I ran a successful home-based business making and selling handmade fabric bags (handbags, purses, tote bags, drawstring backpacks, eyeglasses cases, wristlets, coin purses, and such) for six years before I realized that I had hit the wall. Yup, I overdosed on my first crafting love. By then the economy had hit the skids, so that decline, coupled with my burnout, made my decision to fold up shop a relatively easy one. I don't sew nearly as often these days (aside from the sewing that I love to do on my papercrafting projects), but rather than viewing it as a breakup with my first love, I prefer to consider the current state of affairs as just "being on a break."

I know I'll delve head-first into my love affair with fabric and thread again sometime, but in the meantime I am so enjoying the wonderful sewing notions papercrafting trend we are seeing right now. I love spotting retro-chic sewing machines, pins and needles, dress forms, pincushions, spools of thread, thimbles, sewing scissors, patterns, tape measures, button cards, zippers, and more just about everywhere! And plus, you just can't beat the puns in the world of the seamstress--sew funny, right?

So (or perhaps I should say "Sew"), it was with great interest that I read about the I'm Sew Excited! Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I knew I could have a lot of fun with this one!! But because of my great love of sewing, I also knew that this couldn't be just a casual fling of a card. It had to be something really amazing, if only I could pull it off. So I put a lot of thought into my creation. And when I was done, I had something that I really, truly loved. Loved! Loved so much, in fact, that I was feeling a little overprotective--at first, I wasn't sure that I wanted to share it! Is that so weird?? My much-more-rational hubby talked me down, though, convincing me that I have nothing to lose by linking this up. So, here goes:

There! I did it!

Did you catch the vintage straight pins? The hand stitching and machine stitching? How about that retro sewing machine and the vintage buttons? Yup, I've fallen in love with sewing all over again. This one makes my heart so happy.

Thanks for dropping in today. May your day be filled with bliss!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Thankful Mums and Pumpkins (Thanks sentiment) by Mark’s Finest Papers; Taglines (Much sentiment) by Flourishes; Total Cuteness (frame) by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Kraft CS from Papertrey Ink, Natural CS from Neenah, Gertie Papers from Stella and Rose Collection by My Mind’s Eye
Ink: Old Olive dye ink by Stampin’ Up!
Accessories: vintage straight pins, vintage buttons, SU Sweet Stitches rub on, flower stickers by Sandylion Essentials, foam tape, sewing machine, thread, CK Monogram font (www.creatingkeepsakes.com)
Techniques: hand stitching, machine stitching

Playing with my new {ippity}

I won a $20 {ippity} gift certificate last week as part of the {ippity} June release party, and I was psyched to be able to get an awesome new set called The Best with it. It arrived yesterday (thanks, Noelle!), and I couldn't wait to start playing with it!! I needed a birthday gift bag in a hurry, so this evening I used the very cool EVENT tag from my new set to dress up a patterned paper bag I've had in my stash since, oh, I don't know, 1986? 'Bout time I used that bugger, eh? This is what I came up with:
I thought I'd enter this in the {ippity} challenge to make anything but a card. It's also perfect for the new All Things Unity challenge to Get Manly.

Thanks for taking a look!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Best, Regal Greetings, Just Wanted to Say by {ippity}
Paper: PTI kraft CS, SU whisper white CS
Ink: Versafine onyx, Palette l'amore red
Accessories: scalloped decorative scissors, printed paper bag, silver brad, decorative paper clip, rustic string

Tuesday Throwdown Anniversary Celebration

I'm back again this week wearing my Guest Designer hat for the Tuesday Throwdown. This is challenge #53, so TT is celebrating one year of fun weekly challenges with a weeklong celebration! Be sure to check back on the Tuesday Throwdown blog for the anniversary blog hop's daily schedule. Each day you'll be directed to hop to Tuesday Throwdown DT members' blogs for some eye candy and the chance to win some prizes from the fabulous sponsors Kim has lined up. All the details may be found at Tuesday Throwdown.

This week's challenge is to pick any three previous Tuesday Throwdown challenges to incorporate into your card creation. Be sure to list which three you chose!

We have six--count 'em, SIX!--sponsors this week: Paper Pretties, Heart Song Designs, K 'n K Designs, Digital Delights by Louby Loo, The Stamping Boutique, and Whimsie Doodles. Each sponsor generously provided the entire design team with beautiful digi images to play with.

Today I'm featuring an adorable digi from K 'n K Designs.
The image I used, Little Sheep, was perfect for this birthday card I made for the June birthday of a sweet sheep-loving blog buddy of mine.
Hopefully she has already received her card!!

Oh, I nearly forgot to list which three previous Tuesday Throwdown Challenges I used in the making of this card!! (OK, I actually used four. Couldn't help it!) Here they are:

#8 Stitching
#27 Embellish It
#44 Sparkles & Bling
#52 Animal Image

I'll be back again on Sunday, June 19, for my post in the week-long anniversary celebration blog hop.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Little Sheep digital stamp from K 'n K Designs; frame from Autumn Blessings by Schlosser Designs
Paper: SU pacific point CS, SU whisper white CS, SU Ice Cream Parlor DSP
Ink: SU pacific point
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, SU word window punch, ribbon from Target Dollar Spot, adhesive embellishments from SU Ice Cream Parlor collection, foam tape, rhinestones

Berry Notes for Mrs. Berry

I was hoping to make a little thank-you gift for my son's second grade teacher to go along with the card we made for her, but I didn't think I'd have time and made sure I had a Staples gift card at the ready. Last Friday morning I found a few bonus hours (woohoo!) and decided to play along with several of the Flourishes Release Week challenges. These were just what I needed to put together a sweet little set of note cards designed just for Mrs. Berry, who likes to sign her notes to the kids as "Mrs." followed by a sketched strawberry!

My first card was inspired by a red, white, and blue challenge. (The "from Mrs." portion was computer generated.)
My second card was inspired by a color challenge to use light, medium, and dark pinks.
And finally, my third card was created for a sketch challenge. The berries were watercolor painted, and the leaves/stems were colored with Prismacolor pencils.
Clean and simple? Yes. Quick and easy? Yes. But with a set of strawberry decorated envelopes and some spiffy packaging (see below), I think this will make a nice gift that will hopefully let Mrs. Berry know how much we appreciated all of her wonderful work this past year. :)



That snazzy label and sentiment on the bag topper came from the Timeless Tags set by The Craft's Meow. This is one of five sets that I won last week in The Craft's Meow June release blog hop. Awesome sets! I can't wait to play with them some more. I know for certain that this Timeless Tags set will be a go-to set for me. Just the kind of thing I needed!

Thanks for dropping by today!
Emily

Card #1:
Stamps: Flourishes Strawberries, Flourishes Taglines
Paper: MFP snow storm CS
Ink: SU pacific point, Palette l'amore red
Accessories: scoring tool
Techniques: one-layer card, scoring

Card #2:
Stamps: Flourishes Strawberries, Flourishes Taglines
Paper: MFP snow storm CS, SU pink pirouette, SU pretty in pink
Ink: SU melon mambo
Accessories: MS topiary corner and border punches, foam tape, Pink Sorbet baker's twine from The Twinery

Card #3:
Stamps: Flourishes Strawberries, Flourishes Taglines
Paper: MFP snow storm CS, SU wild wasabi CS, Canson watercolor paper, BasicGrey Nook & Pantry DP
Ink: Versafine onyx
Accessories: watercolor brushes, Prismacolor pencils, foam tape, white grosgrain ribbon, Prima flowers, brad
Techniques: watercolor painting

Bag Topper:
Stamps: Timeless Tags by The Craft's Meow; Love in Return (dots pattern on berry) by {ippity}
Paper: red, white CS by The Paper Company, SU pretty in pink CS, SU wild wasabi CS, SU whisper white CS
Ink: ColorBox frost white, Palette l'amore red, Versafine onyx
Accessories: SU wide heart punch, SU two-step bird punch, Marvy LePlume II marker for pen stitching, rhinestones
Techniques: pen stitching

DeNami Fabulous Frames Blog Hop

Welcome to the DeNami Design Fabulous Frames Blog Hop!

Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Ruza Rebel's blog, Ruza's Craft Corner. 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.)

This month's blog hop is packed with ideas for making or using frames, all in conjunction with fabulous DeNami stamp images, of course ;) !! 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 June 12 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until June 12, 2011, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by beautiful frame 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!

Ready to get going? Then check out my 4.25" x 4.25" DeNami Fabulous Frame card:
Thanks to winning a DeNami challenge in May, I recently acquired the fabulous and, as Paulina tells me, very popular Decorative Crest Circle stamp. This frame stamp is SO versatile! Pair it with some pretty patterned paper, pop in just about any sentiment in the center, and you've got a quick and easy card for almost any occasion! Dress it up, dress it down. Make it fun, make it serious. Doesn't matter!! This frame stamp can handle it.

Are you drooling over my background paper? Yeah, I was too when I won this as part of a Webster's Pages 4" x 4" vellum sampler pack on the Simon Says Stamp Blog last month. So pretty and detailed, it's a shame to cover it up! Webster's Pages designs are an easy way to get a collage-y, vintage-y, layered feel without a lot of work or a lot of layers. The perfect lazy crafter's product!

Let's see . . . details? I kept it to a minimum (see paragraph above.) Of note: the ruffled ribbon rosette I made. So easy! I basically followed this tutorial. The ribbon I used wasn't stitched ribbon, so my first step was to add a running stitch along one edge with my sewing machine. My ribbon is narrower than the ribbon in the tutorial, so my flower is flatter. But I love it just the same!

OK, I'm scanning my checklist . . . and that looks like everything I wanted to cover!! Be sure to comment here for a chance at some free DeNami products before you hop off to our next Fabulous Frames Blog Hop participant:

Andrea Matthews

A member of the DeNami design team, she always has some creative DeNami goodness to share! Go give her some love. :)

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

Card Recipe:
Stamps: DeNami Decorative Crest Circle
Paper: cream CS, Webster's Pages Vellum Fun Pack, SU baja breeze CS, Neenah natural CS
Ink: SU baja breeze, Versafine vintage sepia
Accessories: 2.25" and 2.5" circle punches, sewing machine, grosgrain ribbon, foam tape, mulberry paper roses
Techniques: machine stitching, handmade ribbon rosette

Exciting News!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!!


I have some exciting news to share: I am a Guest Designer for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge for the month of June!! I was beside-myself-thrilled when Kim Sherrod, the challenge organizer, contacted me earlier in the spring to see if I'd like to take a GD turn. Completely flattered, I said, "Of course!!"

So today is my first Tuesday Throwdown as Guest Designer. Let's get down to business, shall we?

This week's challenge is to use an animal image. This week's sponsor is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, created and owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion.

Robyn generously supplied each of the Tuesday Throwdown designers with digi stamp of our choice. I chose this delightful A Little Birdie Told Me digital image.

I've been having fun playing with digital images and elements over the past year. Previously I've printed black and white digis and colored them with colored pencils, odorless mineral spirits, and a paper blending stump. This time I wanted to do a little something different and tried my hand at coloring this Robyn's Fetish image digitally using The GIMP. It took some trial and error, but this is what I ended up with:
Not only does this card feature a digital image that was colored digitally, it incorporates some digital Cosmo Cricket papers and scrapbook elements from their Wanted collection as well! Yup, I went whole-hog digital with this one, using Microsoft Publisher to lay out the whole card, just to see how it would turn out. I'm pretty pleased with the results!

I hope you'll consider playing along with the Tuesday Throwdown animal image challenge this week. The randomly selected winner will get to bring home some free digis from Robyn's Fetish!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss!
See you soon,
Emily

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Digital Image: A Little Birdie Told Me from Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More
Digital Papers and Embellishments: Cosmo Cricket Wanted Collection digital papers
Font: CK Brownie from www.creatingkeepsakes.com
Tools: SU large oval punch, SU scalloped oval punch
Accessories: scissors, foam tape, buttons from my stash, embroidery floss, sheer ribbon
Technique: digital papers, digital layout, digi stamp, fussy cutting

Red, White, and Blue Thank You

Still working on those thank-you gifts and cards. I needed one more small giftie for my kids' gymnastics coaches. All three coaches are teenage boys, so I figured what better way to say thank you for their hard work this year than with chocolate bars? I've already put aside these two bars for them, and added this one to the collection today:
I used the Flourishes Tag Lines set to stamp the sentiment for the little red, white, and blue tag. After wrapping a milk chocolate caramel bar with some patriotic patterned paper, I tied on my tag with red and white baker's twine. Done!! A quick and easy gift. :)

I'm playing along with the June Flourishes Release Week Challenge, the Star-Spangled Challenge, which is to let your patriotism shine and use red, white, and blue if you hail from the United States {check!}.

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

Recipe:
Stamps: Flourishes Tag Lines
Paper: MFP kraft CS, SU cherry cobbler CS, MFP snow storm CS, DP from the Target Dollar Spot
Ink: SU night of navy
Accessories: SU tag corner punch, SU oval/scallop oval punches, white eyelet, Crop-A-Dile, foam tape, red/white baker’s twine, chocolate bar

Chit-Chat and a Flashback

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to catch up!

Yesterday morning we sat for our first family portrait in five-and-a-half years. How could you have possibly let so much time go by, you ask?? I'm certainly wondering that myself. Our 12YO was in first grade (and had a broken arm!) for our last one.

Anyway, wanting a unified look for our portrait, we decided that we should all wear the same color. I suppose I could have simplified things by buying new matching polo shirts at Lands End for everyone, but oh, no. I was too cheap to do that. I figured that I could find solid shirts in similar colors for everyone with what we already have in our wardrobes. So much harder than I thought! We started with red: the guys both have solid red sweaters (long sleeves), DD has a solid red long-sleeve T-shirt. And I have red short-sleeve T-shirt. Which of these things is not like the other?? So I tried again with black, except all of DD's black shirts have big graphics on them. Not the look we wanted. We got close, but no cigar, with orange, lime green, yellow, white, and turquoise. There was always one of us missing a shirt to complete the set. Finally, after a lot of digging through drawers and closets, I realized that we all had a short-sleeve T-shirt or polo shirt that is approximately baby blue. Nevermind the fact that DS's baby blue shirt is a hand-me-down complete with hand-me-down stains. We hoped decided that they would be faint enough to escape notice by the camera. Fingers crossed!

After all that scrambling, our sitting went even better than we dared hope and in a few weeks we'll be all set to pick up our packet of priceless keepsakes. After getting some wonderful group shots, the photographer took an adorable shot of just the kids standing back-to-back and grinning over their shoulders at one another. So cute! And my hubby and I had our first portrait of just the two of us since, well, our wedding nearly 18 years ago!! We are over-the-moon thrilled with how everything turned out and can't wait to share them with our extended family.

And now I'd like to share a project for the Flashback Friday 12.0 challenge. Kathleen, of the Daisy Chain, is the guest designer for this go-round, and she is challenging everyone to re-post her very first card using summer colors. Going all the way back to May 2009, I have this note card set to share:

I wish I would have ditched the flash for this photo, but otherwise I'm still pretty happy with these, even through the lens of time and experience. Simple but cute, fun patterns, graphic sentiments. I could totally use that layout again--in fact, perhaps I will very soon!!

Thanks to Amy and Kathleen for the opportunity for this trip down memory lane!!

Thanks for dropping by. Have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

Unity FWF~~Teacher Thanks

Today I'm playing along with Unity's
Friends with Flair!

You can find out all of the details over on the Unity Stamp Company blog. (You should check it out--there are prizes involved!)

First, you should know that I am a thank-you kind of gal. I thank people for holding the door, for bagging my groceries, for stopping to let us cross the street. I thank my kids for emptying the dishwasher, my husband for mowing the grass, my neighbor for taking my son to school. I say thank you, I write thank you, I sing thank you. I'm teaching my kids to do the same. I'm a big believer in "Thank You" and its power!!

That said, I think June is the "Thank You" season! My kids' last day of school (June 22) is fast approaching, and we have a long list of people to thank for their leadership and service this year: teachers, helpers, coaches, scout leaders, youth advisers. The list could go on and on! So I'm trying to kick the end-of-year thank-you-gift-and-card-making into high gear!! And today I'm sharing a thank-you project that I collaborated on with my 8YO son for his second-grade teacher.
I stamped the adorable books image from {ippity}'s Books a'Flutter kit on a piece of notebook paper, and my son colored it in with crayons. The sentiment is a digital one that I downloaded from Paper Crafts magazine (here). I sorted through my kids' crayon boxes to find four that were still in decent shape (quite the task, I tell ya!) and used them to frame our notebook panel. Glossy Accents was perfect for gluing on the crayons!!

The background paper is actually a page from the 1964 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary. I bought it at a used bookstore last year for $3, specifically to cut up in paper projects. A great investment! (And in the long run, so much cheaper than buying text patterned paper by the sheet.) Anyway, I used the "T" dictionary page that included "teacher" and cut up the page so that the "teacher" entry would peek out strategically at the bottom of the panel. Fortunately, that approach to cutting also ensured that the entry for "teat," just one line down from "teacher" in the next column, was eliminated from the layout. Whew! As wonderful and fun-loving as Mrs. Berry is, I doubt that she would have found that amusing.

So, there you have it!! My son will write a thank you note inside following his patented thank-you-note-writing formula (which is suspiciously similar to the paragraph-writing recipe he learned from Mrs. Berry this year. See? They do pay attention! And won't that make Mrs. Berry proud?): greeting, opening sentence, 2-3 details, wrap-up sentence, "love."

I know it makes me proud.

Thanks for joining me for my little slice of bliss for today!!
Emily

5.5" x 5.5" Card Recipe:
Stamps: Books a'Flutter from {ippity} by Unity Stamp Co.
Paper: Wild Wasabi CS from Stampin' Up!, red CS from The Paper Company, notebook paper, page from vintage dictionary
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: crayons, Glossy Accents, craft foam sheets, Martha Stewart loops punch-around-the-page set