Growing In Unity ~ Day 1: It's All About YOU

Happy Monday! I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted here on my blog last. I feel like I've been incredibly busy recently, but sitting here thinking things through, I can't quite figure out what exactly has been taking up so much of my time. All I know is that I've been away from my computer quite a lot! But, no matter. Now I'm making up for lost time, posting every day this week as the Growing In Unity gal. Each day I'll be sharing a brand-new creation featuring Unity and/or {ippity} stamps, and you, my dear readers, may comment for a chance to win some brand-new Unity rubber! At the end of the week, I'll be drawing a winner at random from the comments left on my GIU posts from Monday through Friday--feel free to comment each day. The winner gets to pick two Unity Itty Bitty stamps. Check out the vast selection here.

OK, now that we've covered the GIU week details, let's move on to today's card!

Ta-da! It's a window card :). Perfect for a guy, right? But fine for a gal, too. I'm envisioning this as a birthday card, with an inside message that reads "Happy Birthday to you," where the "you" is the same one that shows through the window. Squeal! My day was complete when I thought up that one :D. (And the window makes this card perfect for the March Unity Challenge, to make a card with an opening/flap/window of some sort.)

Here are the Unity stamps that inked their way into the spotlight on this card: {ippity} A Bit of Burlap background, All About Today (thanks, Glenda!!), and some random stamps ("you" on the inside and the ornamental flower bit there, too) from a Unity grab bag.

And now I have a little confession to make. As I brainstormed card ideas to showcase for my GIU week, I realized that I've been neglecting my beloved patterned papers over the past few months. For shame! And even more so because I've collected several lovely mini pads from My Mind's Eye recently, and most have sat untouched on my shelf. To rectify that situation, I've challenged myself to not only use patterned papers for each of my GIU creations this week, but to also use a different collection each day. Today's card features the My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy--True Blue 6x6 paper pad (which may be hard to find online but can still be found in brick & mortar A.C. Moore stores). Stay tuned for more fun patterned papers as my GIU week progresses!!

Playing with my stamps, inks, and papers again sure has made me happy! Thanks for dropping by to check out my latest creation.
See you tomorrow!
Emily

Squeal!

A few weeks ago, I was very lucky to win the absolutely adorable Party Posse stamp set in a Paper Smooches challenge. {Squeal!} is exactly what I did when I first spotted that too-cute-for-words hamster in this set! It looks just like the little hamster Japanese erasers that my kids adore--my son has a golden one that he named Nibbles and is as cute as can be :).


I couldn't resist using this sweet hamster in a Valentine card for a dear friend. She is a huge animal lover, and her family is currently hosting a cat and several guinea pigs and hamsters. I'm pretty sure she will {squeal!} over this little cutie, too! (In case you can't tell from my photo, there is a heart-shaped window in the front of the card--the hamster is stamped on the card's inside and viewed through the window. The "squeal" sentiments are stamped along the edge of the card inside--the right edge of the card front was cut away so the sentiments show when the card is closed.) The little hearts come from the Paper Smooches Vegtastic set.


I was inspired by the inspiration photo from the current Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge. I tried to capture the colors with my choice of kraft cardstock and Palette Boudoir Blush ink, the fabric texture in the hamster's face paper-pieced from a "woven" print, and the stitches on the felt heart with my machine stitching around the perimeter of the card as well as around the heart-shaped window.


I'm also playing in the Love is in the Air Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the Clean and Simple Paper Piecing Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays--my little hamster was paper-pieced from a stamped woven print and some older patterned paper from the BasicGrey Nook & Pantry collection.

I hope your weekend was a fantastic one! Ours was good, but super busy. Friday night was my son's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Not only did he build a car for the race, so did my husband and daughter. Plenty of exciting racing action for this family! They all had very respectable finishes, and my son brought home the second place trophy for his den of third-grade Bear Cub Scouts. The rest of the weekend was spent on a home plumbing project, getting my Valentines ready to go postal, errands, and DT assignments. I did get to catch a movie with a friend Saturday night, which was just what I needed! Luckily, the snow that had been predicted for us completely fizzled, but it sure was cold on Sunday!

I hope there's a little something in your day today that makes you {squeal!} with delight!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

My First Window Card

***Have you checked out my Blog Candy in celebration
of my 200th blog post this week?
If not, you can find it HERE. The drawing is
open until Thursday, March 24, 2011.***

I have been having a blast playing along with Amy Tsuruta's Flashback Friday Challenges. I love the idea of looking back to find my "first" of something (like last month's challenge to post your 3D project) and re-posting it in the present day. It's a wonderful affirmation of how far I've come as a papercrafter and a chance to reminisce about past projects (even if my "first" of something means reminiscing about a project I made only 8 months ago lol!!).

Flashback Friday 9.0 challenges us to re-post our very first window card. I didn't have to go back very far to find the first time I tackled one of these--just last June. An SCS friend had recently sent me a fun barn window stamp and I was itching to make a card for my horse-loving daughter. Here's what I came up with:

I was so very proud of it at the time, but cringed a bit when I looked at it with fresh eyes just now. Does that window look a little crooked to you? And how about those cheap dollar-store raffle tickets I used. Doncha think I should have trimmed those down a bit? I mean, they are totally printed off center. Yikes! But you know what? Even with all of these cringe-worthy details, my daughter loved it and still has it hanging on the bulletin board in her bedroom. :)

Thanks for taking a peek at a little piece o' my cardmaking history today!!
Emily

Enclosure Cards

Welcome! So sorry it's been a while since I've been able to post anything here. We had a great weekend, and I even had some time play in my stamping area today, so life is good! :)

We had hoped to go camping Saturday night, but the nearby state park campground that we like is already closed for the season!! Just before loading up all of the camping gear after lunch on Saturday, I called the campground to make sure they still had spots available and got a recording announcing that they had closed on Labor Day. Oops!! I suppose we could have headed out to a different state park, but this one is close enough that we could camp overnight Saturday and still get back Sunday morning with enough time to clean up and make it to church and Sunday School. So we did a little geocaching Saturday afternoon instead, and after supper we played one of our favorite board games (a family favorite from my childhood, Bonkers!) a few times. After the kids were in bed, DH and I caught an on-demand movie along with some popcorn. A fun day!!

So here's what I was up to in my stamping area this afternoon. I'm still working on 3 x 3 enclosure cards (see this post for background).
This one is for:

• The Play Date Cafe: use the colors in this photo
• Delightful Challenges: make it sparkle.
  

This is the first time I've used ultra-fine glitter, and now I can completely relate when other crafters say what a mess they've made!! It really does get everywhere. It would have been wise to use my Embossing Buddy first--next time for sure!!


This second little CAS enclosure card is for:

• Off the Wall Craftiness: be inspired by these colors
• Caardvarks: clean and simple stamped card
• Tuesday Taggers: it takes all sorts
  

And finally, I'd like to share this little owl card. I had fun using my newest paper punch for the first time--it's a Martha Stewart branch punch that I found on clearance at Wal-Mart last week. Fun, fun!! I'm entering this card in:

• ABC Inspiration Challenge: be inspired by this photo
• Paper Sundaes: things with wings
  
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: animal magic
  

Thanks so much for dropping by and checking out my little slice of bliss today!!!

Sparkly For You Card Recipe:
Stamps: SU Vintage Labels
Paper: studio g mini cards & envelopes
Ink: Palette starry night
Accessories: Scor-Tape, ultra-fine glitter, gems, studio g sparkle writer (silver)

Congrats Card Recipe:
Stamps: MFP Autumn Fun, MFP Tweet Blessings (sentiment)
Paper: studio g mini cards & envelopes
Ink: Marvy LePlume II black and blue markers
Accessories: pink felt flower (Making Memories), yellow brad

Card Recipe:
Stamps: MFP Owl Be Here
Paper: studio g mini cards & envelopes, Paper Company scraps (white, pink, blue)
Ink: Marvy LePlume II black marker, Palette belle rose
Accessories: MS branch punch, glue pen, Prismacolor pencils, OMS, paper blending stump, dimensionals
Techniques: Gamsol Magic

Stampin' B's Piercing Challenge

Hi, all!! It's Thursday, and that means another challenge from the Stampin' B's DT. This week Vicki Dutcher is challenging us to use piercing on our cards. How fun!! I think that piercing is such an easy way to add subtle design and texture to paper projects.

I am hosting the September Gallery Comment Contest over on Splitcoast Stampers this month. At the end of the month, I'll be awarding prizes and mailing them out to randomly drawn contestants. And, of course, I'll need enclosure cards to send along with the prizes!! So, I'm getting a start on my stash of tiny cards. I bought a couple of packs of studio g mini cards and envelopes at A.C. Moore recently during a Midnight Madness sale. They were already die cut; all I had to do was decorate them! I loved the scalloped edge on these green mini cards and thought the scallops would be perfect for piercing. I think I was right!!

I had such fun finding just the right images to feature in the circle windows of these cards. My Button Bits sets from PapertreyInk were perfect! The flower was inked in Versamark and daubed with Cameo Coral chalk. The strip of striped DP is paper pleated. Both sentiments come from Mark's Finest Papers stamp sets.
Challenges for this project:

• Stampin' B's DT Challenge 76, piercing,
• Tuesday Taggers, It takes all sorts,
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday FTTC85, celebration cards (if a congrats card for winning a prize isn't a celebration card, I don't know what is!!),
• Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #18, paper pleating,
• A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 122, anything goes.
  

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 dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss today!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits (apple), PTI Blooming Button Bits (flower), MFP Tweet Blessings (sentiment), MFP Regal & Proud (sentiment)
Paper: studio g mini cards & envelopes, SU DP scrap, SU rose red CS
Ink: Marvy LePlume II brown marker, SU certainly celery, Versamark
Accessories: SU word window punch, SU modern label punch, piercing tool, Stampin' Pastels, sponge dauber, buttons, scoring tool (for paper pleats), dimensionals, alphabet spiral clip
Techniques: piercing, Poppin' Pastels

Sweet Lamb Congratulations

We have been having the most awful heat this past week and have spent a lot of time hiding indoors in the air-conditioning. It's been too hot for the kids to play outside, and I know they've missed it. They were asking all week if we could go to a nearby park that we haven't visited in quite a while. It was supposed to be cooler today, so I took them to their requested park right after breakfast. We had it almost to ourselves for a while, and it was great to see them run and play after being cooped up for so long. Arriving early has its benefits; the park was nearly completely shaded and there was a light breeze. It felt so good to be outside without melting! I was able to sit on a bench in the shade--feeling the breeze, smelling the pine trees, and reading a magazine--while the kids had a ball. Heavenly!

For my creating fun yesterday, I had a go at combining several challenges in one card. One challenge was to make an aperture, or window, card. I also used the colors for the 100th Color Throwdown Challenge:
and the sketch from Limelight Papercrafts Challenge #51:

I had fun coming up with this card using a new lamb rubber stamp from Repeat Impressions and a previously unused double sunflower punch from EK Success. On the way to the park this morning, we swung by the post office and sent this card off to congratulate a friend whose first granddaughter was born earlier this week. I know she is on Cloud 9!

For the supplies used in this card project, please click here.