My Embossed Elements Winner for June

Hello and Happy Thursday! I'm announcing my Embossed Elements giveaway winner today. The brand-new Cloudy Sky Embossing Folder goes to lucky #23, which is Nikki C.! Congratulations, Nikki! Please email me (you'll find my email address on my "Complete Profile" page--see the right-hand sidebar under my picture) with your snail mail mailing address so I can get this embossing folder sent out to you ;).

My newest embossing folder from the DeNami Design store is the Butterflies in Corner embossing folder. My 15YO daughter ooooo-ed and aaaaaah-ed over this one, so I just had to use it to make her a card. It's a birthday card; well, actually it is her half-birthday card. My sweet thing was born on Christmas Eve. The first few years we celebrated her big day on the actual day, but it was so hard to make it special with Christmas just right around the corner. So starting around her sixth birthday, we asked her if she'd like to celebrate with cake and presents on her half-birthday, so she could spread out the celebrating more. And we've been doing it ever since! So this is the card she'll get from us when we celebrate her half birthday this weekend. My kids' last day of school was Tuesday--June 24!! So celebrating her half birthday is a great way to kick off the summer :) Here's how her half-birthday card turned out:

I used a sweet stamp from the Fancy Flutters set, a sentiment from the Thoughtful Greetings set, a Crystal Lacquer Pearl Pen, and some pink baker's twine.

I think my daughter will love how it turned out!!

Thanks so much for dropping by for a visit today!
Emily

My Embossed Elements Winner for May

Hey there, everyone! It's time to announce the winner of my embossing folder giveaway from earlier this week. So sorry I'm posting this a bit later than usual. It's been one of those kind of days!

This time around the lucky number via random.org was #13, which corresponds to the lovely Colleen Dietrich!! Congratulations, Colleen! I've emailed you :D.

Have a great rest of your Thursday, everyone!
Emily

My Embossed Elements Winner!

Hello and Happy Thursday! I'm announcing my Embossed Elements giveaway winner today. The brand-new Graduation Hat Embossing Folder goes to lucky #21, which is Carol Hartery! Congratulations, Carol! I've emailed you to get your mailing information ;).

I had so much fun playing with this grad embossing folder! I wanted to share one more creation I made with it:

For this card, I created a chevron pattern with Black Curly Loops washi tape and Yellow/White Dots washi tape (in the school colors of the recipient!) on a cardstock panel before embossing the taped panel with the Graduation Hat embossing folder. Then I stamped and fussy cut a Diploma to use as my focal point! A fun design with lots of impact, I thought.

Thanks so much for dropping by for a little slice of bliss with me today!
Emily

My Embossed Elements Winner!

Happy day to all of you! And welcome to another wonderful Thursday. I'm announcing my Embossed Elements giveaway winner today. The brand-new Basket Weave embossing folder goes to lucky #10, which is Roey!! Congratulations, Roey! I couldn't find any way to contact you directly, so please email me (you can find my email address on my Profile page) with your mailing address so I can get your new embossing folder sent out to you right away. :)

I wish I could give all of my fabulous readers one of these lovely embossing folders. You are all so sweet! But that's just not possible, so I'm hoping a little eye candy will help soothe any disappointment ;) . I want to share another card that features the beautiful Basket Weave embossing folder, something perfect for spring:

I can't wait to see all the daffodils and tulips blooming this year! How about you? I am craving color in our dull and (still) frozen landscape. So I figured making a card featuring tulips and daffodils that I could color myself would be just what the doctor ordered. Here are the fantastic products from the DeNami Design store that I used for this card:

Large Spring Basket

Spring Flowers Cling Set

Spring Greetings

Yellow/White Dots Washi Tape

Pastel Baker's Twine

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink

I love how this card turned out!

Thanks so much for dropping by for a little slice of bliss with me today!
Emily

My Embossed Elements winner!

Top o' the mornin' to you! I'm so happy to announce the winner of my St. Patrick embossing folder giveaway from Monday, so we'll get to that straightaway--then I'll give a little eye candy as a consolation prize ;) .

Here we go: Random.org chose #22 as our lucky number, and that commenter was Amy C.! Congratulations, Amy! I'll be emailing you shortly to get your information.

And now, a little extra embossing inspiration with that fabulous St. Patrick embossing folder that Amy C. has won. I was so impressed recently with a beautiful card that the lovely Greta Hess made that used some partial embossing. I just had to try it out! And this is what I ended up with:

I love how it looks just like someone has just tossed out a hand full of shamrocks that scattered part way across the card. Thanks for the inspiration, Greta!

And isn't that scene full of leprechaun chickies adorable? It was a blast to color with my Copic markers :). Here's a full list of the DeNami Design products that I used to create this card:

Shamrock Chickies stamp

St. Patrick embossing folder

Tuxedo Black Memento ink

Green Stripes Washi tape

White cardstock

Leaf Green cardstock

Well, thanks for joining me on yet another chilly morning (such that it is here in New England). Fingers crossed that spring arrives soon! We need to melt some of this frozen-solid snow of ours!!

Have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

My first Embossed Elements winner!

Greetings, friends! I hope you are keeping toasty wherever you are. We woke to yet another frosty morning here, and while it certainly hasn't been as cold here as elsewhere in North America these days, I'm pretty sure I'm done with the cold. Between the low temps and the wind chills, it just hasn't been safe for our regular to/from-school walks with my youngest each day. I miss them!

And speaking of warm, thank you so much for your very warm reception of my new monthly Embossed Elements feature for the DeNami Design blog! I loved reading all of your comments :D.

On my Monday Embossed Elements post I promised to return today with a winner of my embossing folder giveaway, and here I am to do it! I used random.org to pull a winning commenter:

That corresponds to commenter #8, which was Brenda in IN!! Congratulations, Brenda!! I'll be in contact with you shortly to get your mailing information :)

I've got a long to-do list today, but before I rush off, I'll leave you with a little more Embossed Elements inspiration featuring the lovely Layered Hearts embossing folder that Brenda has won:

I almost always reach for reds and pinks when making a Valentine card, so I challenged myself to do something a little different. It's clean and simple for the most part, but I loved letting the heart texture take center stage. And using lavender and celery together makes my heart happy (and hopeful for spring!!!). The stamps I used are from DeNami Design: Love Script and this teeny floral heart from the Whimsical Valentine stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Keep warm!
Emily

My Sweet Friend + a WINNER!

Hello and Happy Friday to you! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your families. We certainly did, and now we're having a lovely time just being home together. That's the best!

I have a little DeNami project to share with you today. This was part of one of the last gifts I put together this year. It was for a dear friend of mine whom I was thrilled to see for a while on Christmas Eve.

Now, here's the story:  my husband and I both grew up in Ohio, the Buckeye State. We both remember our families making these partially chocolate-dipped peanut butter candies at Christmas time when we were growing up. They are called Buckeyes for their resemblance to the nut of the Ohio Buckeye tree (the state tree of Ohio, of course!). Here's a photo for comparison:

Can you kind of see the resemblance?

Anyway, a few years ago my friend discovered a boxed candy mix from Betty Crocker for Peanut Butter BonBons. She bought the mix to make up for a party we were both attending, and the entire platter disappeared within 10 minutes!! When I gave one to my husband to try, he remarked about how similar the Betty Crocker BonBons were to the Buckeyes we ate as kids.

I made up a big batch of Buckeyes this year as a surprise treat for my family on Christmas Day, and as I was packing them up to keep them out of sight, I remembered how much my friend had liked the BC BonBons. So I whipped up a special little box to package a quartet of Buckeyes to include in her present. I really hope she was surprised and pleased (and "got" the connection!!)

I decorated a DeNami 3x3 Boutique Box using Staz-On inks (Jet Black and Cotton White) to stamp on a Leafy Vine Wreath and an Arched Sweet Friend sentiment. I glued on a few red sequins to decorate my wreath and sealed up the box with some White/Red Dots washi tape. So quick and cute!

And now it's time to announce the winner of my washi tape giveaway! I used Random.org to select a winner. It was lucky number 18, which was

 Sue D! 

Congratulations, Sue! I've emailed you.

Well, thanks so much for dropping by today. Enjoy your last weekend of 2013!!

Hope your day is filled with bliss,
Emily

A Winner and a Cyber Monday Sale

Hi, everyone! It's Monday and I promised the announcement of my washi tape winner today. I used random.org to pick a lucky number. Today that's #19, which is cghundley, or also known as Carla from Utah!

Congratulations, Carla! I've sent you an email :).

I also wanted to a little shopping enabling: there's a Cyber Monday sale going on today at the DeNami Design store. Be sure to check out the details!

Happy Cyber Shopping today!
Emily

Eeek! and a WINNER!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Just popping in to share a card for Halloween! I've got lots of fun goodies on this one: chipboard cat from Maya Road (inked with black pigment ink), washi-tape-covered tags and punched scalloped borders (orange stripes washi tape from DeNami Design), black May Arts corduroy ribbon, black Paper Smooches twine, alphabet stickers from Lily Bee, and a fancy background stamp (Looped Flower) from Hero Arts. I sent this one to a very dear, cat-loving friend. I hope it brought a smile to her face!!

I'm also sharing the winner of my washi tape giveaway from Monday. I used Random.org to select a winner. It was lucky #12, which was

terriavidreader (IN-USA) !!!

Congratulations, Terri! I've emailed you :D Thanks to everyone who entered!

I hope you have a fun Halloween wherever you are! My oldest is now a freshman in high school. She decided that she's too old for trick-or-treat, so she will be manning the door at our house tonight to hand out treats (most likely in her mad scientist costume). My fifth grader is very much looking forward to trick-or-treating tonight. He was very happy to recycle his Apple iPhone costume from last year, which made me very happy. I'm glad that last year's hard work lives on!

Hope your day is filled with more treats than tricks! Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

WINNER!

Sorry for the late winner's post. What a busy day--and it isn't even close to being done yet!!

The winner of my washi tape giveaway from Monday is Sue D! Congratulations! I've emailed you.

Thanks for playing along, everyone!
Emily

Winner!

Hi, folks! I'm dropping in ever-so-quickly to announce the WINNER of my August washi tape giveaway! I used random.org to pick my lucky winner.

And #18 is Ange!

Congratulations, Ange! I've just emailed you. Be sure to respond with your mailing address, and I'll get your new roll of washi tape out to you as soon as I can.

Have a super day everyone!
Emily

A winner!!

(This is my second post for today. Please scroll down or click HERE for my DeNami Design Product Spotlight Blog Hop post.)

Just popping in to announce the winner of my washi tape giveaway from my Ways With Washi post on Monday! I used random.org to draw my lucky winner:

And that is the very sweet Greta of GG Creations!!

Greta, please email me with your address so I can mail out your new roll of washi tape to you!! (You'll find my email address by clicking on the "View my Complete Profile" link just under the "About Me" section in the right-hand sidebar of my blog; look for the "Contact Me" section.)

Have a great day!
Emily

Birthday Tag + a WINNER!

Hello and welcome! I have a winner to announce from my washi tape giveaway, but first I have a birthday tag to share! It's being featured over on the DeNami Design blog today, too. :)

I had fun picking the very trendy color combo of mint, coral, and navy for this design! I used all DeNami stamps: Polka Dot Background (heat embossed in white), Small Dot Circle Frame, and the "Happy Birthday" sentiment from the Thoughtful Greetings stamp set. I constructed the star shape by adhering six diamonds (cut using a diamond-shaped paper punch) to a circle diecut. So easy! I love the homey quilt-star look.

OK, now it's time for the moment you've all been waiting for: my washi tape winner! I used random.org to choose:

lucky #16, which is Laura Turcotte!

Laura, I couldn't find a way to contact you via email, so please drop me an email (you'll find my email address by clicking on the "View my Complete Profile" link just under the "About Me" section in the right-hand sidebar of my blog; look for the "Contact Me" section) with your mailing address so I can mail off your washi tape prize to you!! I can't wait to hear from you!! Congratulations, Laura!! :D

Thanks to everyone who played along in my Ways With Washi giveaway! As always, I had so much fun reading your comments. :)

Have a super Thursday, everyone!
Emily

Feel Better Soon + my GIU WINNER!

Happy, happy Monday to you! I hope you had a great weekend. We were busy, busy little beavers here at my house, so the weekend just flew. We made a special trip to the Museum of Science in Boston to take in the special Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit on Saturday morning. It was absolutely fascinating!! We really learned sooooooooooo much.

Well, I'm here today to announce the winner from my week of posts as Growing In Unity gal last week! I had a total of 269 entries--WOW!! Thanks to everyone who came by last week. I really appreciate ALL of your comments! It was the best fun reading through every single one of them. I wish I could have given ALL of you a prize!! But, since I can't, I'll leave you with one last bit of Unity inspiration:  a little Feel Better Soon card made with a clear acrylic card base and LOTS of buttons. I think this will be perfect for someone who's feeling under the weather!

The sunshine image is from Unity's Quotes a'la HAPPY, and the sentiment is from the amazingly useful Just Wanted to Say kit. That fun cloud background is a digital paper printed out from the ultra sweet Baby Safari collection by Carina Gardner (available from JessicaSprague.com).

Allrighty then, enough stalling! On with the GIU winner:

I used Random.org to draw the lucky number.

That points to Carla from Utah!!!!

Now, Carla, I couldn't find any way to contact you directly*, so it is up to you to email me to claim your prize!! You'll find my email address by clicking on the "View my Complete Profile" link just under the "About Me" section in the right-hand sidebar of my blog; look for the "Contact Me" section. In your email, please include your choice of two Itty Bitty stamp sets from Unity (you may browse the selection HERE) as well as your shipping address, and I'll get that info sent off to Unity pronto.

Carla, if I don't hear from you by 10 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 12, I'll have to draw another winner so I can get my GIU week all wrapped up with Unity in a timely fashion.

Another huge thanks to everyone who participated in this awesome Unity giveaway! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by,
Emily

* Carla, normally I'd reply to the email address associated with your comments, but you are a "noreply-comment" commenter on blogger! Click HERE to find out what that is and how to fix it. And you haven't included an email address as a way to contact you on your Blogger Profile page. My next step would be to leave a comment on your blog, but you don't have one!!! So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you come back to check for my winner post, find your name lit up in lights, and drop me an email ASAP!! Unfortunately, so many "noreply" bloggers don't realize they can't be contacted in the event of a win and never check back for winners' posts because they think "of course I can be contacted!" I hope you aren't one of those folks, Carla!!! Waiting eagerly to hear from you!!!!

A Love-y Anniversary Card + a WINNER!

Good morning! Today is shaping up to be a fine early-summer day with temperatures predicted to hit 89F this afternoon. I think it's time for us to put in our window a/c units!

Wonder of wonders: I have a card to share with you this morning! My dear friend Colleen was recently honored as Featured Stamper over on Splitcoast Stampers. I'm SO happy for her!!!! I've had so very little time to stamp for fun recently, but I desperately wanted to play along with her Featured Stamper challenge. It's taken far too long to find time to do this, but I finally have a card I created in your honor, Colleen! After perusing Colleen's extensive and impressive Splitcoast gallery, I decided to CASE this beautiful card. Here's what I came up with:

I kept Colleen's elegant layout, including the fancy Martha Stewart punch-around-the page frame, but changed the color scheme. I also substituted a similar oval frame and love flourish sentiment from my collection of DeNami Design stamps. The patterned papers are from the New Beginnings collection by Webster's Pages. I always admire how artfully Colleen uses pearls in her creations, so I just had to follow her lead on pearl placement for this card! This card will make a perfect anniversary card for all of those June wedding anniversaries that I like to remember. :)

OK, thanks for indulging my need for card sharing. I know that you are eager to get on to the "winner" portion of this post! I owe you a winner for my washi tape giveaway from my May Ways With Washi feature. And here she is . . .

 Commenter #31, Amy McCue!

Amy, I couldn't find a way to contact you via email, so please drop me an email (you'll find my email address by clicking on the "View my Complete Profile" link just under the "About Me" section in the right-hand sidebar of my blog; look for the "Contact Me" section) with your mailing address so I can mail off your washi tape prize to you!! I can't wait to hear from you!! Congratulations!! :D

Thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who drops by for my Ways With Washi features and graciously comments! I always have the best time reading what you write.

Have an awesome day, everyone!
Emily

Thinking of You + a WINNER!

Hello, hello, and a huge hello! I'm here on this bright and sunny and--dare I say spring-like?--Thursday to share a card and the winner of my washi tape and baker's twine giveaway from my April Ways With Washi!

First, I'd like to introduce you to today's card:

Diecuts are by K & Co. (thanks to my sweet friend Jessi!), and the stamps (Decorative Butterflies stamp set and Thinking of You Script cling stamp), brown/white dots washi tape, and baker's twine are all from DeNami Design

It's been a strange and emotional couple of weeks around the Boston area with the Marathon bombings and aftermath, followed by the tense manhunt at the end of the week. Many thanks to my sweet blogging friends who emailed me directly to check up on our status. Your concern touched me deeply! We quite thankfully were safe throughout. And aside from being glued to various media outlets for developments (which sucks up sooooooooooooo much of one's time and energy), we were largely unaffected, except for the day of Friday's manhunt. My husband, who works in one of the communities that was told to "shelter in place," headed out for work completely unaware of the overnight developments. He ended up turning around to come home again (all before sunrise!) once he heard the news on the radio. He wound up working remotely from home that day. Luckily, the kids were already home with me because of their spring break last week. It was good to be all together as events unfolded.

Anyway, now that things are starting to get back to normal, I'm just now hearing the stories of how some of our friends and acquaintances were affected. It's time to mail out cards! Having not nearly enough "thinking of you" cards in my arsenal, that has been my task this week. I made this particular card for a friend whom I've just learned had a harrowing Marathon Monday. I just want to let her know that she and her family are on my heart. More such cards are being added to my stash daily.

OK, now let's move on to finding a winner!

I used Random.org to draw a winner from all the comments left on my giveaway post and came up with lucky number . . .

. . . 42--and that was SHartl!!

Congratulations! I'm off to email you next so I can get your new goodies mailed out to you. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who played along in my giveaway! I always love reading your comments. You warm my heart!!!!

I hope you'll plan to tune in for another Ways With Washi feature in May--I'll be posting on Memorial Day. :) We'll definitely have another giveaway then!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Emily

We have a WINNER!

Howdy, everybody! I have a super busy day ahead of me, so I'll keep this short. I just used random.org to draw a winner in my washi tape giveaway.

The lucky winner is #4, and that is the very sweet BENZI!!

Benzi, I've just emailed you :D.

Thanks to everyone who played along in my Ways With Washi giveaway! I always have so much fun reading your comments.

Have a super Thursday!
Emily

An Alien + a WINNER!

Greetings, Earthlings--and a happy Thursday to you! I'm here with a quick post to share a card and a winner!

First, my card (I know--I'm prolonging the agony and anticipation!):

Yes, kind of goofy, I know. It's an alien wishing the birthday boy a happy birthday! I made this a while ago for the tweenaged son of a very dear friend. Goofy is good for a tween, don't you think? I patterned it after some little clay alien figurines that my kids made for fun last year, and then gave him a Sing-A-Majig kind of mouth made from punches (yes, that's a heart punch that I used for his tongue!). Nearly all of the stamps (including the flourish I used for his skin texture) come from various The Craft's Meow sets (Just Sayin', Season's Greetings, and Timeless Tags), except for the dotted circle around his eye, which comes from a Flourishes set, I believe. Just for kicks, I'm linking this up to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Now, I've promised you a winner for my washi tape giveaway earlier this week. I used Random.org to draw a winner from all the comments left on my giveaway post and came up with lucky number . . .

. . . 14--and that was Denise Bryant!!

Congratulations, Denise! I'm off to email you next so I can get your new roll of Green Graph Washi Tape from DeNami Design mailed out to you. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who played along in my giveaway! As always, I had a ton o' fun reading all of your comments :). Be sure to check out my next Ways With Washi feature in March--it will be on the 4th Monday of the month (that will be March 25). Giveaways are so much fun--let's do another one then!!

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

You stole my heart + a WINNER!

Happy Tuesday! I am sharing another Valentine card that I mailed out yesterday. This one is all about the stitching. The stamps are from Unity's Straight from the Heart set. To make this card, I used a twist on the regular stamp masking technique. I stamped a heart {mask} on a sticky note, trimmed it, and placed it on my design as a mask where I wanted to stitch around my "stolen" heart. After stitching, I simply removed {stole} my heart mask, resulting in an "empty" heart roughly the same size and shape as the two "filled" stitched hearts.

I am playing along with:

• "Just Us Girls" #175: use any masking technique
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Have a Heart
• Stampendous February Challenge--Love is in the Air
• Playing in Paradise--A Loved One 
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #207: Put Your Heart on It  

OK, so now on to some fun stuff! I had a little giveaway to celebrate my win in the Moxie Fab world last week. The comment period ended last night and I used random.org to draw a winner this morning.

Lucky #10 means our winner is ERIN!!

Congratulations, Erin!! I've emailed you. :)

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to offer her congratulations on my Moxie Fab win! I was tickled to read your comments and had so much fun seeing how creative you were in fitting the word "blizzard" into your responses. :-) You guys are always so much fun!

The kids are back in school today after an unscheduled four-day weekend. They had Friday off for the blizzard, and Monday off to allow time for snow removal at their schools. Even though they had a super time playing in all of our snow, it's nice to be back into our routine again.

Thanks for dropping by to share a little slice of bliss with me. :-)
Emily

Valentine Love + a WINNER

Greetings and happy Thursday to you! I'm here with a quick card to show off a few more washi stripes along with some fun DeNami Design stamps. (Need some more ideas on incorporating washi tape stripes into your crafting? Be sure to see my Ways With Washi: STRIPES post from earlier this week.)

DeNami Design stamps: Love Flourish, Stitched Border, Small Swirl Corner, Hearts stamp set

I stamped on a journaling card from a digital collection by Carina Gardner and dressed up the background with some Smooch Spritz and Musical Notes Washi Tape from DeNami. I'm adding this to the stack of Valentine cards I'm collecting for sending out to family and friends.

Now, I've promised you a winner for my washi tape giveaway earlier this week. I used Random.org to draw a winner from all the comments left on my giveaway post and came up with lucky number . . .

. . . 3--and that was PAM!!

Congratulations, Pam! I'm off to email you next so I can get your new roll of DeNami pink chevrons washi tape mailed out to you. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who played along in my giveaway! I had so much fun reading all of your comments :). Be sure to check out my next Ways With Washi feature in February--it will be on the 4th Monday of the month (that will be Feb. 25). We'll do another giveaway then!!

Oh, before I go, I just wanted to mention that with today's card I was playing along with my friend Jessi's challenge to use MISTS over at Playing in Paradise Challenge #101! I love how the misting in my background turned out. Thanks for the inspiring challenge, Jessi!! I'm also playing along with the Anything Goes Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp!

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