Guest Designer for Top Dog Dies

Hello, friends! On my last post, "A little about me . . . ", I mentioned that I'd be back soon with an all-crafting post for a guest designer gig that I was super excited about. Well, the time has come!! I was absolutely thrilled when I was contacted a few months ago by Top Dog Dies, asking me if I'd be interested in guest designing for them. Boy, was I!!! Not familiar with Top Dog? Here's a little about them:

Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including Little B, Lawn Fawn, Taylored Expressions, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by British designer Stephanie Weightman.

The wonderful folks at Top Dog Dies sent me three fantastic die sets to play with--Top Dog Dies Birds & Nest, Top Dog Dies Vintage Alphabet, and Top Dog Dies Tag Album--and I couldn’t wait to get started with them.

I made three Top Dog Dies projects in all, and you'll find the first two over on the Top Dog blog today. One is a set of note cards and the other is a masculine birthday card. I hope you'll go and check them out!

My third project is a gift tag that I made to coordinate with a lovely box I picked up (on clearance!) at IKEA recently. I thought it would make the perfect gift box! I used the smaller tag from the Top Dog Dies Tag Album set and diecut letters from the Top Dog Dies Vintage Alphabet set to personalize it. The apple stamp and sentiment come from Unity's to the core! Itty Bitty stamp set.

Perfect for Mom's next birthday, don't you think?

And now, how about a giveaway?

Top Dog Dies is doing a guest designer giveaway for the whole month of August! The winner will receive $50 worth of exclusive wafer-thin dies of their choice from Top Dog Dies.  Enter HERE! Deadline to enter will be Sunday, August 31, 2014, at midnight Central Standard Time.

Thank you so much for dropping by to visit me today. Don't forget to visit the Top Dog Dies blog today to see my other Top Dog projects AND enter the Guest Designer Giveaway!!

Have a day filled with bliss!
Emily

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

Winter Forest Birthday

I'm just sharing a little something for Unity's Friends With Flair today.

Stamps are from Unity Stamp Co.: sentiment is from How YOU Doin' and bird is from a Unity grab bag--sorry, I don't know which set exactly!

My daughter turns 15 next week, so this card will be for her. She loves these birch trees, so I think she'll love this card! Simple, but unfussy and elegant. Perfect for the grown-up gal she's turning into!

This is my last day with the kids out of the house before Christmas, and I'm off to make the most of it.

Have a great weekend!
Emily

Gingham Noel Gift Bag

Welcome to Friday!

Today is the first day of the Girl Scout Cookie sale in our regional Girl Scout council! Tomorrow morning and Sunday afternoon my 14YO daughter will be out selling cookies in her senior troop's first booth sales of the season. Both sales will be held outside the front entrance of our local WalMart, which is always a good place to sell during the holiday shopping season ;). Snagging booth sale time slots on the first weekend of the cookie sale will also bolster business (just think of all the hoards of Thin Mint lovers who've been drooling in anticipation of the return of the Thin Mint for all these months!). The only problem is the weather forecast!! I'm in charge of the 3-hour time slot on Saturday morning, and the forecast is for single digit temperatures overnight. Did I mention that we'll be setting up our pyramid of Girl Scout Cookies on a table outside?? I'm a little concerned about the potential for frostbite, quite frankly. None of that on my watch! I just picked up a 20-pack of handwarmers so we can stick them in our boots and mittens. I think that dressing in layers (upon layers upon layers) will be the order of the day!

Next thing on my agenda for this morning is picking up all those packages of glorious cookies to sell. I've got 41 cases of Girl Scout Cookies on order from our council. That's 492 packages of cookies, folks! I think that lugging those around will count as my workout for today. Anyway, wish us luck this weekend!!

Well, but that's probably not what you came to my blog for today! How about a little Christmas papercrafting cheer? I wanted to share a gingham gift bag (from JoAnn Fabrics that I picked up on clearance after Christmas last year) I gussied up with Unity stamps for today's Friends With Flair hop.

I used the frame from the Just a Note itty bitty and a sentiment from Gingham Christmas Greetings. The chipboard trees and felt rick-rack are from My Mind's Eye.

Well, that'll do it for now. Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!
Emily

You'd Better Not Pout . . .

. . . I'm tellin' you why: Santa Claus is comin' to town!!

I've got a super-busy day ahead, but I just had to share this fun card for today's Friends With Flair hop over on the Unity Stamp Co. blog today. I used two different Unity stamp sets: the scallped circle and arrow are from All About Today and the background is Gurnsey Gingham.

I've got a parent-teacher conference this afternoon and then a whole list of errands to run, so I really must scoot. I hope you have a super weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Pure Poppy, white) Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper:  (Fat Quarter, Running Stitch from Handmade collection) Lily Bee Design
Rubber stamps:  (scalloped circle, arrow from All About Today set) Unity Stamp Co.; (Gurnsey Gingham background) {ippity} by Unity
Pigment ink: (white) Clearsnap; (red) Tsukineko
Accents:  (red buttons)
Fibers:  (red/white baker’s twine)
Font:  (Sketch Block) dafont.com
Tools:  (circle punch) EK Success

Embracing Hope with FWF

Just a quick post this morning. A dear friend from church had breast cancer surgery earlier this week, a bilateral mastectomy. It sounds like the surgery was successful (so far, so good), which is such a relief. I've been mailing her a handmade card each day this week, just to let her know that she's on my heart and in my prayers. This is one of them.

Simple but heartfelt. Both stamps were from a Unity grab bag (good stuff in those!), but I don't know what stamp sets they were from originally. I'm linking up with today's Unity Friends With Flair.

I have much to accomplish both today and over the weekend, so I can't stay to chat. I hope that you have something good planned!

Thanks for dropping by,
Emily

Happy Birthday, Mom!

(Spoiler Alert:  MOM! If you haven't yet opened that package I sent you, do NOT read any further or you will spoil the surprise!!! OK?)

TGIF, my friends! This is the first time in what seems like eons that I've had any time at all to do (and then post about) even a little bit of recreational crafting all for my own personal purposes. Life on Bliss Road has been all kinds of crazy busy the past several months. Half the time I don't know if I'm coming or going! It's all good, but I miss creating regularly. So I positively welcomed the chance to do some personal crafting as my mom's birthday approached. I sent a package off to her earlier in the week (fingers crossed that it arrived in time!!), and I couldn't wait to share the fun birthday card I made for her. Without further ado, here it is:

and now for the punch line inside:

I hope this makes her laugh out loud!!! The image and sentiment stamps come from a hilarious stamp set called Gossip, Hot Flashes, and Crazy that I earned from Unity Stamp Co. back in June for being the Growing In Unity gal of the week. It's such a snarky collection! When I first saw this set, I started reading some of the sentiments to my husband and he told me that I absolutely needed to get this one. It kind of reminded me of Emerson Quillin's snarky "Listen Honey" cartoons, of which my mom has always been a fan, so my Gossip set was the first thing I reached for when it was time to make her birthday card. Those elegant retro ladies' dresses are such fun to paper-piece!

I also used a label frame from Unity's Season of Joy set, and the "happy birthday" sentiment is from How YOU Doin'? And a little red polka-dotted washi tape was just the ticket for dressing up the inside of this card.

Well, my To-Do list beckons and we have {yet another} busy weekend ahead of us, so I really must run. I'm linking up with Unity's Friends With Flair party today.

And, Mom, I hope you are having a FABULOUS birthday today! Is there a decorated birthday cake (or some other sinfully good yummy) in your plans for the day? If not, there should be!! Get out there and celebrate like you mean it!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

Thanks for dropping by!
Emily

A Blue Ribbon Birthday for FWF

Just a quick post to share a card I made for an aunt's 80th birthday tomorrow. Her family is having a card shower for her, so this card is already in the mail and on its way to her.

I used a pair of great Unity rubberstamp sets for this card: Summer's Best and Just Wanted to Say. I'm linking up to today's Friends With Flair hop.

I printed up a custom sentiment for the inside of the card:

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!
Emily

Greatest Dad on Earth – Unity FWF

TGIF! Just a quick post to share a little something I made for today's Friends With Flair hop for Unity Stamp Co. This card is already winging its way to my dad for Father's Day.

I took a clean and simple approach to this card featuring a fun stamp or two from Unity's Retro Road Trip stamp kit and lots of washi tape.

My 10-year-old son has been making lots of cards this week. Be looking for him (Legoboy) to link up to today's FWF list later on. He started a card using loads of Unity stamps before school this morning but didn't finish it in time. He will wrap it up after school and link up then.

I hope you have awesome plans for the upcoming weekend! My husband and son are attending an all-day Cub Scout camp on Saturday, and we have plans for some special Father's Day celebrating on Sunday. There may be some special desserts involved. Just sayin'. ;-)

Thanks for sharing a little slice of bliss with me today!
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!!!!

Growing In Unity~Day 5

Well, this is it:  the last day of my Growing In Unity posts. Boo hoo. Time definitely flies when you are having fun!

Today for my last GIU project I am sharing a colorful and festive birthday card. I had the best time coloring those lanterns and banners!

The image and sentiment stamps come from Unity's July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun, which I seem to have used a lot this week. There's just so many fun images and sentiments to play with in this KOM! I kept this pretty simple design-wise with such a busy image, adding just a single panel of patterned paper (from SEI's Vanilla Sunshine collection) and nothing else.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and this seems to be it for my GIU week. I've posted every day this week for Growing In Unity, and if you've missed any posts, feel free to go back and comment on them now. I will be randomly drawing a commenter from all of my Growing In Unity posts from this week to WIN two free Itty Bitty stamp kits, winner's choice! So be sure to leave a comment on this post, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

So THANK YOU for visiting me this week! I've had a blast Growing In Unity with all of you and have had the best time reading your comments. Thanks for sharing this little slice of bliss with me!
Emily 

PS Today I'm also linking up with Unity's Friends With Flair. Welcome, friends! It's good to have you here today!

Growing In Unity~Day 4

 Thanks for coming back for Day 4 of my week as Growing in Unity gal!

Today is a two-fer day! I've got two little Unity projects that I've been just itching to share with you. Let's get started!

The sentiment is from Unity's {my thoughts are with you} kit. Definitely a must-have! It is loaded with a great variety of "thinking of you" types of sentiments that are perfect for cardmakers. I love how this one in particular fits perfectly in my Stampin' Up! modern label punch.

The patterned paper is a digital print from the Beautiful Moments collection by Carta Bella (available from JessicaSprague.com).  I built the gilt frame around the portion I printed out using some really cool gold washi tape. It totally looks like a fancy picture frame, right? I think the effect is awesome.

Now, switching gears a bit.

This card pulls together two different Unity Stamp kits. The doily stamped in the background in white on kraft and the fancy label are from the Generations kit, and the fantastic "You are fabulous" sentiment is from the Where You Should Be kit. Quick and easy and perfect for dropping in the mail to a fabulous friend!

And I think that does it for today!

Please leave a comment on this post to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my last GIU post. If you haven't already commented on my GIU Days 1, 2, and 3 posts, you should check out and comment on those as well to maximize your chances of winning in the random drawing. I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

I'm so happy that you stopped by to visit today!
Emily 

Growing In Unity~Day 3

Greetings! Thanks for joining me for Day 3 in my week as Growing In Unity gal!

Today's project is a birthday gift card holder!

I revisited the paper bag image from the card I shared on Monday.  It's included in the July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun. It was so easy to form a little pocket for slipping in a gift card! I simply stamped the paper bag image on kraft cardstock, cut it out, adhered the bag cutout to another piece of kraft cardstock along three edges, and trimmed off the excess. Done!

The blue banner and flag are digital elements that I printed out from the Falala collection by Design by Dani (available from JessicaSprague.com).

Did you spy a little washi tape? If so, good for you! I used a little of my now-signature embellishment to adhere my sentiment flag to a pearl-topped stickpin. Both sentiments also come from the July 2012 KOM, Ol' Bag of Fun.

Gee, it can't possibly be true that my GIU week is now half over! Please leave a comment on this post to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back tomorrow and Friday for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! If you missed my GIU Days 1 and 2 posts, you should check out and comment on those as well to maximize your chances of winning ;). I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

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

Growing In Unity~Day 2

Welcome back to Day 2 of my week as Growing In Unity gal!

Today I'm sharing a little clean and simple number. It measures 6" x 3 1/2", so it fits perfectly in a #6-3/4 size envelope. I love how this card turned out!
 

The sentiment comes from Unity's Quote Bundle Pack.  Perfect for an encouragement card, or even a graduation card! I stamped the quote over top of some paint strokes digital elements from the Gouache Painte Strokes kit by Nancie Rowe Janitz (available from JessicaSprague.com). I simply recolored the paint strokes in image editing software and printed it out on cardstock. I'd originally intended this to be a one layer card, but in the end I decided to cut out around the paint strokes and mounting this free-form panel with foam tape. I love the extra dimension that gives the card!

So, part of the deal with being GIU gal is that I get to randomly select someone to receive some free stamps from Unity Stamp Co.!  To be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, be sure to leave a comment on this post, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back the rest of the week for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! And if you missed my post on Monday, be sure to go back on comment there, too. I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

Thanks for stopping by today! Wishing you a day filled with bliss,
Emily

Growing In Unity~Day 1

Happy Monday morning to all of you! I am bursting with excitement today because this Monday morning kicks off my week as Growing In Unity gal for Unity Stamp Co. Yay!!

Not familiar with Growing In Unity? Well, it's simple. Each week Unity has lined up a different Unity stamp fan to share projects and inspiration all week long. At the end of the week, the GIU gal has the honor of randomly selecting one of the commenters from her week of projects to receive two free Unity Itty Bitty stamp kits of her choice. Is that awesome, or what? And with over 400 Itty Bitties to choose from, there is truly something for everyone.

So, let's get on with the show! I'm kicking off my GIU week with a kinda sassy birthday card.

Hilarious, right? I just LOVE that paper bag image. I think it is so very versatile (and just to prove it, I'll be using it again later this week). It's from the July 2012 Kit of the Month, Ol' Bag of Fun. Lots of fun accompanying sentiments to choose from, too. I've just got to think of exactly the right person to send this birthday card to, 'cause I'm not sure that everyone would appreciate it! ;)

The patterned paper is a digital paper from the Georgia Rose collection by Jodie Lee Designs, available from JessicaSprague.com. I love the vintage look of the paper to go along with the "vintage" bag!!

OK, to be in the running for two free Unity Itty Bitty kits, be sure to leave a comment on this post, one comment per person please. But if you are a follower of my blog (or become a new follower), you can leave a second comment--for a second chance to win--on today's post:  just let me know that you are a follower and how you follow my blog!

And then come back the rest of the week for more Unity inspiration and more chances to win in the random drawing! I will leave commenting open through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 9, 2013, and will come back on June 10 to announce the winner here on my blog. If I can find a way to contact the winner via email, I'll be sure to do that, too. :)

Thanks for dropping by My Little Slice of Bliss today and sharing a little happy with me! See you back right here tomorrow,
Emily

Purple Anniversary Wishes

Thank goodness it's Friday! I'm ready to relax this weekend--who's with me? I'm also looking forward to Unity's Friends With Flair, a linky hop that is the highlight of many a Unity Stamp Co. fan's Fridays. I've got a special anniversary card to share for FWF today. Here goes:

I made this card in tribute to my dear friend Colleen who was recently honored as Featured Stamper over on Splitcoast Stampers. I couldn't be more thrilled for her! Today I'm playing along with her SCS Featured Stamper challenge (for a second time! Here's the first time. I just couldn't easily narrow down my list of Colleen's cards that I wanted to CASE).

For today's entry, I was inspired by this beautiful hydrangea wedding card of hers. I loved her gorgeous purple color scheme, so I kept that but went with purple patterned papers instead of embossed ones and pulled out my Unity stamps (of course!) to recreate the look of her card. I also kept her awesome sketch! I know I couldn't surpass the beauty of her stunning punched hydrangea, but I thought I might be able to get a somewhat similar look with the beautiful solid flower from one of my favorite Unity sets, Now & Always. The anniversary sentiment comes from Unity's Just Wanted to Say kit.

Thanks for dropping by for today's Friends With Flair for a little Unity inspiration! I hope you'll try to come back next week when I'll be serving up some more Unity inspiration each day, Monday through Friday, as Unity's Growing in Unity gal!! I'm so excited to share some of my Unity creations next week that I can hardly stand it ;). Be sure to comment on any or all of my GIU posts next week to be entered for a chance to win two free Unity Itty Bitty stamps of your choice! Unity rocks!!

I've got a busy day ahead of me today, and then we all are heading out to an art exhibit tonight. And not just any art exhibit! Our 4th grader had a painting accepted to our school district's juried art show, and tonight is his night to shine. We have no idea what to expect of this K-12 exhibit, but we can't wait to see the creation that landed him this honor. Should be fun!

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

Best Mom(s) in the World

[Edited to add: I originally posted these cards on Friday, May 10, right before Mother's Day when they were nice and timely--but there was no Friends With Flair that day!! So, I'm linking them up to this week's Unity linky party a week later instead, knowing full well that Mother's Day has already passed. I still wanted to share them because I just looooooooooove these Unity stamps, so I'm very, very sorry about that "stale" subject matter! Please forgive me!]

I made a couple of Mother's Day cards to mail to a few faraway friends this week, nothing too fancy--just quick, easy, and colorful.

Inside I wrote "Happy Mother's Day to one of my favorite moms!"

Some Road Washi Tape was the perfect accent for these cards!

I just LOVE the signs and fun motifs in Unity Stamp Co.'s Retro Road Trip stamp set! Doesn't that Best Mom sign remind you of a vintage Holiday Inn sign?

Or maybe the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign?

I know, maybe a bit tacky and not for everyone. But one of my card recipients shares my passion for all things road-trippy (and the other at least gets it!!), so I think these will do the trick. :)

It's been sooooooooooooooo very long since I've been able to play with some of my beloved Unity stamps. I'm so happy to be linking up with today's Unity Friends With Flair hop! (Hi, everybody!!)

I hope that you have a fabulous weekend celebrating all of the special moms in your life.
Cheers!
Emily

Spring Hyacinth

I made this card thinking that it would be one more Easter card, but I also wanted to play along in this month's Unity challenge--and I don't have any appropriate Unity sentiments for Easter! I thought that the hyacinth would help communicate the theme, but I think the colors are all wrong for it. Oh, well! I still love how it turned out :). If I added an Easter sentiment to the inside, do you think it will be OK for Easter?

I used the sketch portion of the Unity challenge, turning it on its side:

I used Unity's Best Wishes & Blooms for the background stamping, and a sentiment from Unity's { . . . my thoughts are with you}. The hyacinth image is a journaling card from the digital Modern Romance kit from Webster's Pages. I think it is SO pretty! And I dug deeeeeeeeep into my stash of vintage trims to come up with that pretty green rick-rack from my grandma's sewing notions. It still had a price sticker from the 1960s on the package!

I'm also linking up to today's Friends with Flair blog hop. It feels like it's been EONS since I was able to join the hop, and I've really missed it!!

I'm also playing along with these fine challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Easter/Spring
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #212: Bring On Spring
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #94: Easter or Spring

Time for family movie night, so I've got to run!! We're in the middle of watching the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series on Blu-Ray. Awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!
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

I'm Nuts for You

Hey there, everybody! We survived the blizzard :). It was hard to tell exactly how much snow we got in all, what with all the blowing and drifting. We tried to take some snow depth measurements and ended up taking an average. Our best guess is that we received about 18 inches of snow in our town. Boston, just 15 miles to our south, received 24.9 inches of snow. So, who knows? We'll get the official scoop in our hometown weekly newspaper on Thursday.

I took a whole stack of Valentines to be mailed at the post office today, and this was one of them. I made it for my aunt and uncle. My uncle had a long career as a shop teacher before he retired--I think they will get a kick out of this ;). Huge thanks to my sweet hubby for supplying me with some nuts from his garage stash! The letter stamps are from Alphabetically Adorable by Unity, and the patterned paper is a digital print from the Echo Park Paper Hybrid Note to Self collection. Those are some big letters, so this card measures 5" x 7".

I'm playing along with a few challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Have a Heart
• PaperCraft Star--Love
• Stampendous February Challenge--Love is in the Air
• Playing in Paradise--A Loved One 

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of my blog candy.
Emily