A bit about me . . .

So today's post is a little different! My dear friend Colleen Dietrich, of Dietrich Designs, called me last week to ask if she could tag me as part of a blog hop she is participating in. It seems that the goal of the hop is to learn about other blogger/artists by sharing some details about one's self, one's work, and one's creative process in a fun "interview" style blog post. The posters were encouraged to tag one or two fellow bloggers to share the fun, and I'm so honored that Colleen chose me! Colleen asked me to share some details about myself in this post today, so here goes . . .

1) How do you know Colleen?

My friend and fellow stamper, Colleen Dietrich

I first "met" Colleen on Splitcoast Stampers sometime after I first joined that online community in 2009. She always made the most beautiful cards and left the most wonderful comments. Not much has changed in either area! Before long we were sending PMs (that is, private messages) through Splitcoast, then exchanging our email addresses for more direct access, then snail-mail addresses so we could mail cards to one another, and finally phone numbers so we could chat even more easily.

It has been a wonderful journey building this friendship of ours! To have someone to chat with about our shared papercrafting interests has been a godsend--someone who understands the drool-worthiness of a new stamp set or paper collection, the thrill of finding fun paper punches or dies on clearance at Michael's or A.C. Moore, the joy of being asked to join a design team, the frustration of losing one's creative mojo, the elation of having a papercrafted project accepted for publication, or more often: the dejection of not having a project accepted for publication. Colleen was the one who encouraged me to start this blog in 2010 shortly after she had established her own. And then we had yet another interest in common: the world of blogging! Even more to chat about ;). But we aren't just papercrafting/blogging friends. Over the years, we've discovered we have so much more in common than our shared hobbies. These days we call one another to chat about our families, our jobs, our health concerns, our vacations, our daily triumphs and aggravations, our joys (and frustrations) of motherhood, and more. I am so blessed to count Colleen among my very closest friends!!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Colleen, for your gift of friendship!!!

2) What are you working on right now?

Well, as much as I'd like to say that I'm knee-deep in challenging, meangingful, and creative papercrafting projects right now, that would be the furthest from the truth. In fact, I just noticed that my last post on this blog o' mine was on June 26, over a month ago! I do believe that's the longest lapse in posts I've ever had on this blog. Yikes! I never intended for that to happen, but sometimes everyday life gets in the way of the best intentions, right?

So, since the end of my kids' school year the last week of June, my 11YO son went away to a week of arts camp sponsored by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; my 15YO daughter and I went away on a trip to Burlington, VT, with her Girl Scout troop; my hubby and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary; our family worked together to replace our disintegrating wooden deck with new Trex planks and vinyl-clad aluminum railing systems; AND our family went away for a week to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary! As our gift to them, my sister and I rented a Victorian house in Cape May, NJ, for her family, my family, and my parents to stay in while vacationing for the week. What a lovely time that was for the three generations to hang out together!

Our rental house in Cape May, NJ

That's me in the sunglasses posing in front of a shipwreck just off Sunset Beach. In the background, the cousins are folicking in the waves along this pebbly beach known for its superb beachcombing.

The Dr. Henry Hunt house in Cape May's historic district. We found it on one of our early morning walks and just had to take a photo. We found out later on a trolley tour of historic Cape May that it is one of the most-photographed examples of "drunken" Victorian architecture--known as such because it combines elements from multiple different Victorian styles all in a single "drunken" mish mash!

My hubby and I near Sunset Pavilion at the end of Cape May's Promenade just before sunset. See the Cape May Lighthouse in the distance?

My parents, the happy Golden Anniversary couple!

So I guess that's what I've been "working" on right now! I'm happy to report, though, that I'll have an all-crafting post to share with you soon as part of a guest-designing gig I'm really thrilled about! More on all that later. Stay tuned!!

3) What is your signature style?

I like to dabble in all sorts of different styles! I play around with clean and simple, shabby chic, vintage, bold and graphic, fun and cute, layered and frilly, elegant and classy, punch art, . . . you name it, I've probably done it. I generally use the projects I create for my own purposes (as gifts to give, or birthday cards to mail to friends and family, etc.), so I guess overall you might describe my signature style as "mailable!" I like to make relatively flat cards to make them as USPS-friendly (and low-postage!) as possible!

Here's an example:  the mailable golden anniversary card I made to send to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary:

Background stamp is from Hero Arts; flower is from Unity; sentiment is from Flourishes

4) What are your favorite types of projects to make?

I enjoy making all kinds of projects! Cards are easily what I make the most of, but I think my favorite projects to make are papercrafted gifts to give. This past spring my daughter and my nephew were both confirmed at their respective churches. I enjoyed making each of them some commemorative gifts to mark the occasion.

I created a framed and personalized piece of subway art for each confirmand using a variety of electronic brushes and fonts I've collected over time and my favorite (and free!) photo editing software, The GIMP

I made each confirmand a papercrafted bookmark perfect for use in their favorite Bibles. Each bookmark was personalized on the back with the occasion and date.

And here are the confirmation cards I made for these special young people:

For my daughter: because I could hand-deliver it, I added a less than "mailable" embellishment on the cross. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

For my nephew: an elegant, mailable card. Stamps are from The Craft's Meow

If you are interested in seeing more of my papercrafted gift projects, please be sure to check out these "Gift Idea" posts!

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Well, readers, thank you so much for sticking with me through this long post! I think I'll wrap it up here. A huge THANK YOU to the fabulous Colleen for inviting me to post with her today. If you have arrived here outside of the blog hop, I'd love it if you popped over to meet Colleen and say HI! Her work is so beautiful and elegant--I know you'll love visiting with her!!

Thank you so much for visiting today!! I hope that your summers have been swell thus far and continue to be.
Be well!
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 

Harvest Time

I'm plugging away on making easily mailed Thanksgiving cards. When I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel idea-wise when faced with the need to create {now!}, I turn to challenges. I wrapped several into this creation.

• The Craft's Meow November Sketch Challenge 
  
• Do You Stack Up? to use brads (two big fuzzy yellow ones!)
• The Kraft Journal Challenge: Happy Harvest
• A Blog Named Hero: use a punched or die cut element--I've got a diecut circle and a punched border

The sentiments are from a great stamp set from The Craft's Meow called Season's Greetings. The patterned paper is from an old Tim Coffey K & Co. pad, and the flocked brads are from We R Memory Keepers.

Thanks for taking a look!
Emily

The Craft's Meow October Release Blog Hop

Happy Thursday, friends, and welcome to The Craft's Meow October New Release Blog Hop!!

I've been honored to have the opportunity to guest design this month along with the fabulously talented TCM design team. These ladies rock! After previewing the new release Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we've finally come to the release day for all six brand-new TCM stamp sets:

Christmas Angel
Hearth and Home

Winter Fibi & Lilly
Christmas Cheer

Holiday Foundations

O Christmas Tree -- free gift with a $50 purchase

Be sure to check out images of the full sets over on the TCM blog today!

OK, let's get down to business. If you are hopping along, you should have arrived here from the blog of Jennifer Cuthbertson. (If not, you can start the blog hop from the beginning over on the TCM blog.) And if you get lost along the way, the TCM blog has the complete blog hop listing.

Want to win all 6 new sets from TCM? To be eligible, you will need to visit and comment on each blog on the hop. The deadline to comment is 9:00pm PDT, Saturday, October 27, 2012. One lucky commenter will be chosen at random to win the entire October release!!

Now, here's my card for today's blog hop. I used images and a sentiment from the new stamp set, Christmas Cheer.

The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye. Of course, I just had to add lots of stitching, and it was so fun to top my trees with little star-shaped rhinestones. The blue patterned paper I used for the middle panel has a subtle snowflake pattern, so I decided to play that up with tiny rhinestone centers on a smattering of flakes.

Thanks so much for dropping by today. And a HUGE THANK YOU to Lisa Hjulberg for the chance to be this month's guest designer for The Craft's Meow. I've had a blast!!!

Now, leave a comment before you go for a chance at that fantastic prize, and then head off to the blog of Jessica Fick next. :D

Have fun!
Emily

TCM October Previews, Day 3

This is my second post for the day.

For my DeNami Design Product Spotlight post,

please scroll down or click HERE. Thanks! 

Welcome to Day 3 of the October stamp release from The Craft's Meow! I'm back again today as the TCM October Guest Designer, and I'm sharing cards made with the last two sets of the six-set October release. Today I'm previewing Holiday Foundations and O Christmas Tree along with the TCM design team. I've gotta tell you, folks, the entire October release is fantastic, but I think that The Craft's Meow owner Lisa Hjulberg saved the best for last. These two sets are my favorites!

Let's start with Holiday Foundations. First, you need to know that this is a big 8" x 6" set. Second, it is filled with six fabulous 6-inch-long borders that may be used singly as bold borders or stamped repeatedly for easy-to-make backgrounds. There's also two over-sized holiday sentiments and four smaller companion sentiments. All of the graphic elements have a fun distressed feel to them. I can't tell you how excited I am about this set--it will be perfect for making quick and easy cards with maximum impact. Like this one:

When mass-producing holiday cards, I always love a great one-layer design, don't you? And pink and green are so fun for Christmas; I love the preppy feel. (For ink I used SU Pretty in Pink and VersaMagic Aloe Vera. The cardstock is Rustic White from PTI--a great match for the distressed look of this set, I thought.)

And now for the O Christmas Tree set, which is this month's free gift with a $50 TCM purchase. I've gotta tell you, this is one versatile (and super fun!) stamp set! Filled with all kinds of mix-and-match elements, plus lots of great words and sentiments, too. Here's what I made with it:

I love these colors for Christmas! And it was so much fun dressing up those trees for the holidays. :D (Ink: SU Pretty in Pink, VersaMagic Aloe Vera, VersaMagic Sea Breeze, Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Antique Linen Distress; Paper: PTI Vintage Cream CS, SU Pretty in Pink CS, PTI kraft, My Mind's Eye patterned paper)

Be sure to check out the delightful creations that the rest of the TCM designers made for today's preview of Holiday Foundations and O Christmas Tree over on the The Craft's Meow blog. TCM is giving away a free copy of each of these sets today only over on the TCM blog. You won't want to miss this! For a chance to win, just head over to the TCM blog and leave a comment on today's TCM post by 9:00 pm Pacific tonight. Two winners will be randomly drawn and announced in tomorrow's TCM blog post. Good luck!

That's it for this month's release previews, but be sure to come back tomorrow for the October Release Blog Hop! You'll see lots of inspiration for this month's new stamp sets and can comment for your chance to win all six sets!

Have a great day--see you tomorrow!
Emily

TCM October Previews, Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the October stamp release from The Craft's Meow! I'm back again today as the TCM October Guest Designer, and I'm sharing cards made using two more brand new sets. Today I'm previewing Winter Fibi & Lilly and Christmas Cheer along with the TCM design team.

Here's my card for Winter Fibi & Lilly:

This set has several delightful Christmas and winter images of Fibi and Lilly, but I thought the angel and coordinating sentiment could make a sweet thank you card for any time of the year! The label stamp I used comes from the TCM Timeless Tags set. (Cardstock: SU Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy; Ink: SU Not Quite Navy, Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Frost White)

And now for a clean and graphic card using Christmas Cheer:

Not much to explain here! But I love how it turned out. :D (Cardstock: PTI White; Ink: Versafine Satin Red, Spanish Moss, and Vintage Sepia)

Be sure to check out the fantastic creations that the rest of the TCM designers made for today's preview of Winter Fibi & Lilly and Christmas Cheer over on the The Craft's Meow blog. There's a giveaway going on, too, and you can find out all about that over there as well. :D

Well, tomorrow is the last day of previews before the big release party on Thursday. I'll be featuring projects made with my two favorite sets from the October release. I hope you'll join me!

Until then, I hope you'll make time for a little bliss in your day!
Emily

Good News: I'm Guest Designing with TCM this month!

I'm SO happy to share that I'm guest designing for The Craft's Meow this month!! Somebody pinch me!! You can read all about it here. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

And today is the first day of previews for the TCM October stamp release. The TCM design team members (and that includes me!) are sharing creations made with two new fabulous stamp sets for Christmas:  Christmas Angel and Hearth & Home.

Let's take a look at what I made with the Christmas Angel set:

I took an understated approach with this set to let that beautifully detailed Christmas angel really shine! I embossed her in gold on a Night of Navy SU cardstock base. The "Glory to God" sentiment also comes from this Christmas Angel set. I stamped it in Night of Navy ink on Vintage Cream PTI cardstock and embossed a beautiful label (from TCM's Season's Greetings set ) around it in gold.

My second card for today comes from the Hearth & Home set:

There's a great selection of images and sentiments in this new set! I chose to focus on the parts that "jingle" ;). I colored the jingle bells image with my colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits and paper blending stumps. I just had to add some silver glitter for a bit of pizzazz!! The musical score background is digital paper that I recolored (it was originally black and white) and printed out from the Echo Park Hybrid Mini-Theme kit called Melody of Life. I would have loved to tie on some silver jingle bells with my button and bow treatment but discovered that all I had were gold!! Gotta put some silver ones on my shopping list . . .

Be sure to check out the fantastic creations that the rest of the TCM designers made for today's preview of Christmas Angel and Hearth & Home over on the The Craft's Meow blog. There's a giveaway going on, too, and you can find out all about that over there as well. :D

I hope you'll join me tomorrow for some more previews of new TCM stamp sets!

Until then, have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

Make a Splash!

I was so inspired by Amy Tsuruta's post yesterday about a little boy named Sebastian (and Yvonne's post, too) that I just had to make a card to send to him. He will be having surgery soon and his wonderful elementary school teacher, Ms. Brown, would like to fill his hospital room with handmade cards that surround him with love. I hope that this card will make him smile:

I based my design on the current Jan/Feb Sketch Challenge at The Craft's Meow. All of the stamps I used are TCM and come from: Just Sayin' (speech bubble), It's a Shore Thing (whale, sentiment, droplets, waves), and Sending You Sunshine (sun).

The patterned papers are some {very} old DCWV and something I picked up at Target's Dollar Spot several summers ago. They may not be terribly current, but they certainly are cheery, and that's what I was going for! Those sparkly star diecuts are from Jessi, bless her heart!!!

To encourage crafty gals to brighten Sebastian's day, Amy has very generously offered the chance for a prize to those who promise to send him a card that they make and link it up to Cards for Sebastian on her blog. I would have done this without such an enticement. Thanks for championing Sebastian's cause, Amy!! This world needs more Amys and Ms. Browns. :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Sending You Sunshine

We are having a cold and extremely blustery winter day here today. It's the perfect day to be sending a little sunshine your way--wherever you live! And I hope a little bounces back to us here, too. :)

Today I'm playing along with Barbles Challenge #2 (a big thanks to Jessi for pointing out the way to this one!). The sweet and talented Barb Murphy has offered a collection of five beautiful photos from which players may take inspiration. I was inspired by this gorgeous, sunshiny yellow daylily which I tried to capture with the primary color and sunshiny theme of my card!

I'm also playing with the sketch challenge over at The Craft's Meow using stamps from the Sending You Sunshine set.

I stamped and heat embossed the image on watercolor paper and watercolor painted it with various inks. The patterned paper is from Stampin' Up! (thanks, Colleen! And for the scraps of Bashful Blue cardstock, too.). See that pretty sparkly twill tape? That was a gift (along with four other colors of similar twill tape) from my dear daughter. It was perfect for this card!

And speaking of The Craft's Meow stamps, I wanted to share a card (using the TCM set Just Sayin') that I had published in the January/February 2012 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine.

You can find this card, and all the details for how I made it, in the Quick and Easy Valentines section on page 63. {grin!} I hope you'll come visit me in print. :D

That's it for today. I hope you are having a great weekend! And thanks so much for dropping by.
Emily

Masculine Thank You

A quick post to share a masculine thank you card. I'm playing along with the November/December sketch challenge over at The Craft's Meow. I used stamps from the TCM set Timeless Tags. The sheet music is from an old hymnal I acquired for just such a use!
That gorgeous picot-edge diecut was a gift from the ever-so-sweet Pam Loris. Thanks, my friend! It was just perfect for this sketch. Can't wait to use the rest!

Last one for Thanksgiving

With this card, I've achieved my goal for Thanksgiving cards. Now I just need to get them ready to mail out to friends and family this week!

I've been eyeing the sketch at The Craft's Meow challenge the past month, and I was finally able to put it to use yesterday. I used the Celebrating You and Timeless Tags sets by The Craft's Meow. The paper is from K&Co.'s Pumpkin Pie collection.

Over the past several weeks, I've been having some carpal tunnel issues in my right wrist. That's my mouse-clicking hand, and I suspect that I've been doing just way too much clicking, scrolling, typing, etc. Yesterday I had wake-up call, though, and felt pins and needles at random moments up and down my right arm. I'm taking that for the red flag that it is and will be cutting waaaaaaaaaaay back on my computer usage to see if I can rest it up and reverse some of the damage I've done. So this may be my last post for a while, and I don't know that I'll be able to handle much blog surfing either. Sorry!

I hope you have a terrific week!
Emily

Thankful for You

(with apologies to Emma Lazarus)

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses of used dryer sheets,
The wretched refuse of your laundry room.
Send these, the crumpled, tempest-tost to me,
I'll upcycle and rescue them from doom!

More recycled dryer sheet blooms today! (You can find a tutorial HERE.) This time I'm taking them for a spin on an autumn card, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Smooch Spritz (or any kind of glimmer mist) is wonderful for coloring the dryer sheet circles for these blossoms, but what's a gal to do when the Smooch Spritz colors in her {very} limited collection don't match the earthy, autumn-tone colors she's leaning toward? Break out the brush-tipped markers, that's what!! I simply laid a dryer sheet circle over a scrap piece of paper and scribbled over the face of the dryer sheet. (Holding the marker at an angle to cover a wider swath is most efficient). The fibers soaked up the color beautifully. The top flower was colored with Golden Glow Smooch Spritz, and the bottom flower was colored with an SU Dusty Durango marker. And I think they both look pretty good.

I'm on a recycling roll, so this is yet another entry for Lynn's Recycling Challenge over at Do More With Less. I'm also very pleased to be entering The Craft's Meow September Card Sketch Challenge using this sketch: This challenge requires TCM stamps. The leaves and sentiment come from The Craft's Meow: Celebrating You , and the frame comes from Timeless Tags.

Thanks for stopping by for a little slice of bliss!
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Celebrating You and Timeless Tags, both from The Craft's Meow
Paper: natural vanilla bean fleck CS, K&Co Tim Coffey Fall Pad patterned paper, misc scrap of mustard CS
Ink: SU crumb cake, Ranger tea dye distress ink, Versamark
Accessories: gold EP, heat tool, sponge dauber, foam tape, sewing machine, rhinestones, gold button, gold brad, Gold Lame Smooch, gold glitter glue, Golden Glow Smooch Spritz, SU dusty durango marker
Techniques: sponging, machine stitching, heat embossing, handmade flowers

A Sand-sational StampinB Challenge

We've been working on getting ready for weekend company (arriving tonight), so it's been a jam-packed week so far. The kids have been a huge help with the housecleaning. It's above and beyond what they are normally expected to do, so I told them I'd contribute to their vacation souvenir funds if they pitched in with the extra. It's amazing what a little incentive will do!! I'm actually hearing things like "Mom, can I clean the little windows around the front door?" and "Is it OK if we scrub the toilets?" How can you turn down offers like those? I'm teaching our 8YO to vacuum (not that it's a tricky job or anything, but his 8YO mind doesn't find it intuitive to move the vacuum in an overlapping stripe pattern to cover the entire floor!). So far he is super enthusiastic about vacuuming, and the fact that we have a cool, kinda techie Dyson vac (with some definite 8YO appeal!) doesn't hurt. ;)

I've still got lots to do to get the house ready, and I'm trying to get ready for next week's July Stamp Release for Mark's Finest Papers, too. So this will be short!

Today I'm sharing my card for the new Stampin' B's DT Challenge hosted this week by Anne. Her challenge is to make a beach scene that includes sand, either real or stamped. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to use the new It's a Shore Thing stamp set that I won from The Craft's Meow last month. I stamped the sand hill images directly onto a sheet of cheap sandpaper from a pack that I picked up from Dollar Tree. So, there's my real sand, Anne!! And I'll warn you now, go get your sunglasses. This is a bright one!

I thought I'd enter this over at Moxie Fab World for the Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge--to create a card in which stamping is the predominant element. I'm also entering this in the The Craft's Meow July Card Sketch Challenge. Here's the sketch:
Thanks for dropping by today! Be sure to stop back in tomorrow for my last Blogoversary Celebration post for another chance at some blog candy. (Be sure to check out the Day 1 and Day 2 celebrations for additional chances. You can enter all three drawings through Sunday, July 10.)
Emily

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Craft's Meow "It's a Shore Thing" set
Paper: various cardstock from The Paper Company, DP from the Target Dollar Spot, sandpaper from Dollar Tree
Ink: Palette L'Amore Red, Versafine Onyx, Palette Reflection Blue
Accessories: SU 3" scalloped circle punch, SU 2.5" circle punch, SU scalloped border punch, CM corner rounder, Prismacolor pencils, brads, baker's twine from The Twinery

All-New Stampin' B's DT Challenge!

What happened to June?!? I swear, we just started this month, and here we are ending it already. Yikes! Time flies when you're having fun!! Or when you are super busy with end-of-school-year activities and lots of otherwise-too-hard-to-schedule doctor/dentist/orthodontist appointments. Yup, you read that right--orthodontist. Our 12YO daughter just started orthodontic treatment and her braces were installed(??? applied? riveted on?) on Monday. We have many recurring adjustment appointments in our future!

Well, today's card is courtesy the latest Stampin' B's DT challenge, this week provided by Faith. Her challenge to anyone wishing to accept it is to use two different dies and piercing on your project. Can you dig it? Here's how I tackled it:
Today I'm using two new June release stamp sets that I won from The Craft's Meow: Celebrating You and Timeless Tags. Love that solid-image fuchsia. It's perfect for paper piecing! I went with the traditional fuchsia colors, which immediately made the BasicGrey Green at Heart collection pop into my head. And thus, my color and paper choices were sealed. :)

My two different dies? (Well, if you've followed my blog for a while, you already know that I don't "do" die-cutting/embossing machine-y kinds of stuff. I do what I can with my paper punches and just boogie on down the road.) So my "dies," by which I mean punches, of course, are the 2.5" circle and the 3" scalloped circle. And I'm pretty sure you can spy my piercing. I just love how the fuchsia image's lines are all kind of dotty--a perfect tie-in with my piercing. And edge stitching, for that matter!

I thought I'd also throw this little ditty into the mix over at Moxie Fab World for the Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge--to create a card in which stamping is the predominant element. Check!

Well, th-th-th-that's all, folks! Thanks for dropping by 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: Celebrating You and Timeless Tags, both from The Craft's Meow
Paper: SU whisper white CS, SU razzleberry textured CS, hot pink CS from The Paper Company, BasicGrey Green at Heart DP
Ink: SU melon mambo, Palette chartreuse, Palette bourdeaux
Accessories: EK Success 3" scallop circle punch, SU 2.5" circle punch, sponge dauber, foam tape, sewing machine, rhinestones, hot pink twill tape
Techniques: paper piecing, sponging, machine stitching, paper piercing

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