Bonjour

My kids' last day of school is June 15. I've known this for quite some time. So why is it always a shock when I get this close to the end of the school year and realize that we need thank you cards and gifts for teachers and scout leaders and such? Yikes! My daughter wants to give each of her 7th grade academic teachers a thank you note (and "maybe a little treat, too?" she asks with big puppy dog eyes). Fortunately I've created some teacher thanks cards throughout the year, and set them aside in my stash, so there shouldn't be too many more that we need. {The gifts may be another story! I'll have to take stock and report back.}

But we wanted a special card for my daughter's French teacher. You know, something kind of, well, . . . French! So today I worked on this card, which should fit the bill:

I was inspired by the Doilies & Lace Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I just LOVE how the doily ties in with the lacy doily-like design filling the Eiffel Tower, a stamp from the fabulously French-themed Ooh La La kit from Unity. The patterned papers are from a new digital paper kit that I am totally in love with. It's called Love in Paris by Shery K. Designs. See? I totally ran with the French theme. :D

OK, I'm off to get this linked up before the MFW challenge closes tonight!

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Emily

PS I'm also entering this in Chick Challenges #33 and the Unity challenge to use stripes.

Stamps: Ooh La La kit by Unity Stamp Co.

Paper: Basic Gray cardstock by Stampin' Up!, white cardstock by Papertrey Ink, Love in Paris Mega Digital Paper Pack by Shery K. Designs

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black

Accessories: doily, sewing machine, foam tape, sheer white ribbon, pearls, SU border punch

Techniques: machine stitching, fussy cutting

Elegant Congratulations

Happy Monday! I'm so glad you've dropped by. Today a new monthly challenge starts up over on the DeNami Design blog, and it's a color challenge, chosen by our fabulous DT member Wendy.

Aren't these colors lovely and elegant? Perfect for a congratulations card for a wedding or anniversary. In fact, that's the direction I took with my sample card, and I can't wait to show it to you:

I interpreted that second color as "cream" for my card and incorporated it through the cream background of my patterned paper panel and the cream sheer ribbon flower embellishment I used.

I hope you'll try to play along with this fun DeNami color challenge! It will run through June 25, and the winner will get a $20 DeNami gift certificate! All you need to do is create a project using this color combo and at least one DeNami stamp, and you are in!

See you again soon!

Emily

Stamps: Small Congratulations and Polka Dot Background by DeNami Design

Cardstock: Charcoal by DeNami, PTI white, SU black

Patterned Paper: Black & Ivory Damask by Canvas Corp.

Ink: Smoky Grey Versafine, Oynx Black Versafine

Accessories: DeNami's Classic Twine 3-pack, ivory ribbon flower by Offray, stickpin

Calls for a Toast

It's been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long since I've been able to play with my Paper Smooches stamps. I needed to make a congratulations card (for our pastor, who has just become a published author! The book he co-authored came out in May, so I'm a bit late. Oops!), and I knew I wanted to use the "this calls for a toast" sentiment from Wake Up. So I peeked at this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge for some inspiration, and found it in spades.

I was inspired by that pretty piano to feature a turquoise toaster on my card. I went with lots of blank space in my design to honor the blank wall in the photo. I tied the color of my toast to the color of the floor in the photo, and the patterned paper strip under the toaster was selected because its polka dots reminded me of that wall of plates in the photo!

All of my patterned papers in this card are digital papers. The cork pattern for the toast comes from the Note to Self collection by Echo Park, the turquoise chevron print for the toaster comes from the Splash collection by Echo Park, and the dotted pattern comes from the Chit Chat collection by Betsy Tuma (a part of the free October 2010 Crop Collab available at Two Peas).

I hope you are having a good weekend! It's rainy here, so we're trying to get caught up on indoor stuff. 

Thanks for swinging by!

Emily

Stamps: Paper Smooches Wake Up

Cardstock: Rustic Cream by PTI

Patterned Paper: (all digital) Note to Self collection by Echo Park, Splash collection by Echo Park, Chit Chat collection by Betsy Tuma

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine

Accessories: Corner Chomper, sewing machine

With Sympathy

Just a quick post to share a sympathy card I made this evening. I had many cards to send out this past week, and I completely depleted my sympathy card supply. Time to replenish!

This is definitely a straightforward, clean and simple card, as I always think sympathy cards should be. I used the new sketch from Chick Challenges {with Ippity}, rotated on its side:

I'm also entering this in the {ippity} challenge to stamp on designer paper and the Unity Challenge to use stripes.

Both of my patterned papers are digital papers. The floral digital paper is from the free Echoes of Asia digital collection by Jessica Sprague, and the striped digital paper is from the Brown Damask digital paper pack by Shery K. Designs (I recolored the pattern to match the floral paper). And I used only {ippity}/Unity stamps, as required by all of these challenges.

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Emily

Stamps: Regal Greetings by {ippity}, All About Today by Unity

Cardstock:  Ripe Avocado, white by PTI

Patterned paper:  Echoes of Asia digital collection by Jessica Sprague, Brown Damask digital paper pack by Shery K. Designs

Ink: Spanish Moss Versafine, Deep Lagoon Versafine

Accessories: scoring board, sewing machine, border punch, foam tape

Mi Amor

OK, I'm on a roll! Two Friends With Flair hops in a row. Woo hoo! Yay for Friday! (You'll find a list of all of today's blog hop participants on the Unity blog.)

Just sharing a little card I made the {ippity} set Faith Blooms:

I had fun with the stitching :). The sentiment bit is a chipboard sticker from the We R Memory Keepers Fiesta collection.

I'm playing along with Get Hippity With Ippity #21, Flowers and Leaves.

I hope you have a super weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Emily

Hang in There

We are off to march in our town's Memorial Day parade this morning. Both our daughter and son will be marching with their scout groups; my husband and I will be marching along with the Cub Scouts to help with crowd boy control and to lug along the mini American flags that the boys will be passing out to spectators along the parade route. Luckily our burdens will lighten the further along the route we get! This parade is always such a fun time, and the weather appears to be cooperating. Yay!

I wanted to pop in quickly to share the card I made for Paper Crafts' Gallery Idol competition, season six. The theme for the open auditions round is encouragement, and I thought and thought about it and finally came up with this card:

I figured that a frilly pink polka-dotted brassiere shaped card with an accompanying "hang in there" sentiment would be the perfect encouragement card for a girlfriend who's going through rough times! My daughter (13) thought this was the cutest ever. My 9YO son's first reaction was "I think that's kind of . . . um, inappropriate." When my daughter explained that "she wouldn't send it to a man, silly," his attitude softened a bit. But his response pointed out that what I thought hilarious and fun might not be received similarly by everyone else. So I do apologize to any and all who share my son's views!!

A few program notes: I designed this bra-shaped card myself. It's hinged at the top of the straps so there's a bra-shaped inside as well for a handwritten note. The card base is solid pink cardstock (The Paper Company), and the polka-dotted bra cups were cut from patterned paper in the Handmade collection by Lily Bee Design.  I glued some lace trim from my sewing stash to the back of the patterned paper, and then stitched the whole thing down to the card base. Remember when lingerie always had a little pink rose stitched to the center? That was my inspiration for the placement of this sweet little satin ribbon rose (a gift from my friend Carol--thanks, sweetie!). I stamped the "hang in there" sentiment (a retired stamp from The Angel Company, which is sadly no longer in business) on a strung marking tag from Avery to tie around one of the straps. A little bling on the tag was all I needed to finish this up. I love how it turned out, and really, it was pretty easy to make. A win, win!

I hope you had a fabulous weekend, and if you are in the U.S., that you enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day holiday! Thanks for dropping in for a visit.

Emily

What's Shakin' for FWF

Hello and Happy Friday!

I am super excited today to be posting a pair of projects for Unity's Friends With Flair blog hop. (Check the Unity Stamp Co. website HERE for a full list of this week's participants.)  I loooooooooove me some Unity and always enjoy linking up with FWF. But not only has life been a whirlwind recently, I've started working on a new freelance project, so my stamping time has been at a premium, to say the least. Almost all of what little time I've had has been devoted to design team assignments. That may explain why my last FWF post was March 30, nearly--eek!--two months ago!!

I'm here to remedy that today, though. But I'll forewarn you: I'm a bit rusty, so don't expect anything earth-shattering! I'll start with a clean and simple and definitely mailable card I sent recently to a dear friend, just to say hi:

Featuring the Unity Itty Bitty stamp, What's Shakin'

And another CAS creation, just in time for graduation season:

This quote is all about following your heart. What better image to use than this heart-bedecked tree from Unity's Lovely Bits & Baubles kit?

For this card, I decided to go in a direction completely different from the standard mortarboards and diplomas. I typeset this inspiring quote from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (part of the address he delivered to grads at Stanford University's commencement exercises in 2005) with enough room to stamp a tree that ties in perfectly with the quote. The number tiles turn this into a keepsake!

Time to get to work for the day! But I'm looking forward to the long weekend {grin}. We'll be hanging out here at home. It's time to tackle some major repairs on our little pop-up camper! Memorial Day weekend means that summer is just around the corner, and we can't wait to get on the road again. :D

If you are in the U.S., be sure to tell me what your plans are for the holiday weekend! Be safe!

Thanks for dropping by,

Emily

Super-Star Dad

It's time for another DeNami Product Spotlight! This week we are focusing on the new cling-style Happy Father's Day sentiment to celebrate super-star dads:

 

And because all of the dads I know couldn't get along without their computers, I just had to feature the new cling-style Computer Chickie, too. Isn't he the sweetest? I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils using the blending technique I showed in my last tutorial for DeNami. Because my design is so star-studded, I also absolutely had to use the DeNami Teeny Star Background for both my Desert Orange panel and Leaf Green card base. A few star punches and star rhinestones were all I needed to round out my design!

 Because that awesome Happy Father's Day sentiment (isn't the font fantastic?) is our Product Spotlight this week, it's on sale for 10% off. Be sure to drop by the DeNami Design store in the next week so you don't lose out on the savings--just add it to your cart to get the discounted price. No coupon code required!

Don't forget to drop by the DeNami Design blog today to see how the rest of the DeNami design team used this fabulous Father's Day stamp! I know you'll get some awesome masculine-card inspiration. :)

Thanks for stopping by to check out my little slice of bliss for today!

Emily

DeNami Pretty Pastels Blog Hop

Welcome to the DeNami Design Pretty Pastels Blog Hop! Today the DeNami Design Team and customers alike are showing off creations made with DeNami stamps that incorporate pretty pastel colors.

 
Hopefully, you've arrived here by way of Stacy M.'s blog, Sweethearts & 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 delightful DeNami prizes to be won! Two lucky duckies 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, May 21, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize. 

Getting projects ready for DeNami Blog Hops is always a blast, but this one was especially fun because I just love pastels! Here's what I came up with:

I did some tone-on-tone background stamping using the scalloped border stamp from the cling-style DeNami Spring Garden 1 Set to frame some pastel polka-dotted ribbon from my stash. The "thinking of you" sentiment comes from the DeNami Thoughtful Greetings stamp set.  

I made that layered fabric flower myself from pink cotton fabric I had on hand, and hand-trimmed some DeNami celery cardstock into a leaf shape for my sentiment. Perfectly pastel embellishments, don't you agree?

 

Well, I do believe that I am the last stop on today's blog hop. I hope that you've been overwhelmed with DeNami inspiration in all shades of pastels today! Before you leave, be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the randomly drawn prizes.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my pretty pastels creation!
Emily

Garden-Themed Congratulations

Today I'm sharing a garden-themed anniversary card I created for a two-fold purpose. It's not just for any anniversary, but for my sister and her husband's 14th anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Amy and Mike!

So that was purpose #1. Not long ago I was asked if I'd like to make a sample card for an exciting, brand-new card challenge. Of course, I said I'd love to, and that was purpose #2 for this card! That new challenge? It's called the DeNami Addict Challenge and it debuts today. The first challenge is to create a project with a garden theme.

How easy is that? Lots of room for interpretation I'd say, right? It was definitely the perfect theme for creating an elegant card to congratulate my sister and brother-in-law. And I'm betting there are plenty of upcoming occasions that you could make a garden-themed card for, too. I hope you'll try to play along! The requirements are easy--just make something with a garden theme and enter it over at the Confessions of a DeNami Addict blog. That's it! You can use any stamps and products you'd like, too. No restrictions! The prize is a $15 DeNami gift certificate. Isn't that awesome? So if you love the look of DeNami Design stamps, but don't have any yet, this is the perfect opportunity to win some and finally start your collection! Of course, if you are already addicted to DeNami stamps, then this is a wonderful way to continue to feed that addiction!

DeNami Addict Challenges will run monthly, starting on the second Monday each month. This first challenge will end on June 11 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. You can find all the details about this new challenge, and see some more great garden-themed cards contributed by some of the other DeNami DT gals, over on the DeNami Addict blog. I know you'll love playing along!

Thanks for dropping by!

Emily

Card Details:

Stamps: all from DeNami Design: Elegant Floral Vine, Ornamental Vine, Small Congratulations
Paper: all from DeNami Design: Lavender, Celery
Ink: Palette noir black, Versafine onyx black, Versamagic aloe vera
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, Doodlebug lilac boutique trims, Martha Stewart Cherish PATP set,
Techniques: Gamsol magic