I'm finally organized...

With so much going on here on the DeNami Addict blog and the various challenges that I enter, I have to keep a calendar hung up near my desk where I can write down my ideas and deadlines. As I was making my Back to School hop project, I decided to finally take the time and make a little organizer for myself so that I can easily keep tabs on everything going on here on the blog.

Here's a little close up of the center...

It's all sparkly and girly...it's so me! I love the pastel colors and I used a lot of my favorite stamps. Now I have a place for calendar pages, my challenge line up, color palettes, sketches, themes and misc other things. I just love my little creation and know that I'm going to get a lot of use from it.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

10 minutes of flamingo fun

My gosh, I'm having one heck of a time getting in sync with Bloggers new interface! It's driving me insane :(  I want my old one back (insert hands on hips and stomping of one foot)! Glad I'm not alone in this boat...it made me feel soooo much better the other day reading your sweet comments! Thank you!!

 

I wanted to pop in today with a special little post. Have you heard of the wonderful little challenge our very own sweet Paulina and her friend have created for her blog? She calls it the 10 minute craft dash, but I loving refer to it as 10 minutes of panic (hehehe). Had I not made a few, I would have NEVER believed it could be done...but yes, you CAN create a lovely little card in 10 minutes! Now, if only I cold apply this in other areas of my life....

 

My creations for this challenge have thus so far been fairly CAS. This time around I wanted to try for something a little more fussy and "my style". As usual, I came up with a plan / doodled drawing of what I wanted. I made sure to pull out all of my supplies (unlike last time :S) so they would be handy. My cardstock wasn't precut with the exception to the dry embossed piece of pink. It was cut a little larger than what you see here and already embossed but not edge punched yet (left over in my scrap pile). I had a plain sheet of pink out also...just wasn't sure which I was going to like better.  In my first picture my clouds almost have a little bluish tint, however, I stamped them in white ink then using my Quickie Glue pen, added X-fine iridescent glitter. I also wanted to add a button with a little twine knot but spent so much time fussing with my bow  I knew I wouldn't have time to thread the twine, tie it and attach the whole thing properly. Now that the challenge is complete I'm going to go back and add my little yellow button. I will say that I did panic just a little and am REALLY surprised at my coloring job cause boy did I just throw that color on, lol!

My ending time: 9 minutes 15 seconds (Whew, that was pretty close!). I'm pretty dang proud of myself :)

Can you EVER go wrong with a flamingo!?!?!?!

Did you get a chance to watch the haul video from yesterday? It's so fun seeing what DeNami stamps ya'll have bought. We'd love to see you link up your collection! Well that's it for me today...Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya back here tomorrow with a little project that I've done!

 

How big is your DeNami collection??

Hi everyone and happy Wednesday! The week is officially half over..can I have a WOO-HOO?? As promised, I made another haul video for you guys. Did any of you take advantage of the September coupon? I did and then some! I actually placed 2 orders...good thing I have an understanding hubby that gives into my obsession :)  I'm a lucky gal!

I couldn't remember off the top of my head where I saw certain stamps, I kinda put myself on the spot and then went brain dead, lol. And of course after finishing the video I realized I saw the butterfly in Stacy's collection and the leafy tree & leafy vine are in Greta's collection...go figure! I hope you enjoyed the video and like I said, I'd love to see your collection. I got a lot of inspiration from seeing yours! Here's the link to the magnetic board that I mentioned in my video.

I've added a couple of more pictures (my September haul) to my collection photos. There is also one little stamp that I didn't show in the video. I found this little guy on the Internet for $2.50...It's an oldie from 1990! I just love that DeNami dates their stamps. I'm also adding the link for your collections to this post in case someone would like to join us for a little show and tell fun! Feel free to link up your collection and visit everyone that has already linked. I just love seeing what stamps you've purchased, some of you will recognize a few of my new stamps...I made my purchase decisions because I fell in love with yours!

As of today I have 323 random/single stamps, 38 Petit four sets, & 4 trifle sets which is a grand total of...487 stamps!! Some day I may get everything on my wish list, but it's still fairly long. To see my full collection, click here.

Well, that's it for me today. I hope you liked the video...there was a lot to show! Thanks so much for stopping by and hope to see you back here real soon!!

Halloween fun

Blogger Note: I was in such a hurry to write this post and to publish it, I totally forgot to tell ya'll that I was going to enter this card into the "anything goes" challenge! Yup...it's Monday alright, hope the rest of my week goes better, lol!!

So, like, I'm having a slight meltdown. I am not one of those people that deal with change very well. I get used to something and I'm comfortable and tend to go into panic mode when it gets messed with. Dang blogger! Quite some time back blogger changed it's interface. :(  Not happy. It let me revert back to the old interface with a warning that it will revert totally soon...I thought I'd keep what I was used to until I was forced to change. Well, that day has come...it's all different and scary and I'm not a happy camper. I want my old interface back!!! Sigh....

 

Well, now that I've moaned and complained about things this morning, let's move onto something fun shall we. I'm running a little late posting today do to a change in the line up. I have a little Halloween card that I have entered into the upcoming "personal Style" challenge over on DeNami's Facebook page. This is actually my 2nd entry...I definitely have multiple personalities with my crafting. I love glitter, bows, buttons, layers, lots of colors...Ohh how I love it all! The cards I make tend to be elegant or girly or even fun, like this one. I'm glad I don't limit myself and craft inside a little box...style freedom is such a joy!

It's never too early to profess your love for your favorite holiday is it??

Thanks for stopping by and I will see you Wednesday with a special post (that may or may not contain a little video) you are sure to like!!

 



A special birthday celebration

Hello everyone - today is a very special day and cause for a celebration!! Today the world was bettered by welcoming Nami Nakamura into it. That's right, the amazing person behind DeNami Design!

 

Nami's uber sweet and talented daughter, Paulina, has planned a little impromptu blog hop just for fun so that everyone can join in on the celebration! I hope you are able to hop along and join the celebration! You should have arrived here from Dana's blog. If you didn't and want to start from the begining, just head on over to the DeNami blog.

For me it was love at first sight with DeNami Design and my passion has done nothing but grow and grow and grow...and yes, it has grown a little out of control! ;)   Whatcha gonna do, right?!?!? Well, I have always wanted to meet the faces behind DeNami and recently I had a chance to. I was soooooo nervous that my excitement over it slowly started turning into dread. Random thoughts from the Nakamuras thinking I was some kind of insane stalker to the awkwardness of me introducing myself and them giving me a blank vacant stare because they have no idea who the heck I even was...I was a nervous wreak and didn't even get an ounce of sleep the night before. I felt like I was going to meet royalty and in a way, I was, well in my book anyway, lol!! I had myself all worked up for nothing! I walked up to the booth and Nami recognized me instantly...how, I have NO idea, but she did and was so welcoming and amazingly sweet!! First thing she did was run around the counter to give me a big welcoming hug! I was ready to cry at her sweetness and because I was so relieved! How can someone with so much on their plate know who I am and welcome me so beautifully...I'm still amazed! She graciously told me to hang out in the booth to watch, follow and absorb...it was a day that I will never forget! She does have a little habit of embarrassing the heck out of me though, lol! She made sure to tell everyone that happened by the booth who I was and about the Addict blog. Her excitement over the blog just filled my heart with joy and love. She has no clue what that ment to me!! I could have stood there all day and watched her create. Her creative process is something I hope everyone gets to experience at one point. You mention one little thing and her mind is off like a race horse in the Kentucky derby! She had idea after idea that played off one little thing I had said...I was dizzy with all of the ideas and the speed in which she came up with them! WOW, She is brilliant and loving person and I hope to be able to spend time with her again. Fingers are crossed that I can work in the booth with the Nakamuras if they come back to this area! I feel so honored to be able to participate in this hop to help celebrate Nami's birthday!

 

Here's a little card and candy box that I created in honor of Nami...

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but I embossed the sentiment and Hydrangea Border in silver onto vellum then overlaid it onto the white cardcstock that I had previously stamped with the Hydrangea Background and colored in. I finished it all off with some Amethyst grosgrain ribbon. For the little box, I stamped the Hydrangea with black Staz-On the "colored" it in using purple 3-D Crystal lacquer and regular Crystal Lacquer with various colors of glitter. I wanted the candy to match the box so I had to pick out the red ones, lol. I placed the candy in a little baggie with a wire tie to ensure that no stray glitter touched it.

Nami, I hope you have a fan-tab-ulous birthday and I am so honored to have gotten to meet you and to be able to participate in your birthday celebration! Big {{HUGS}}!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I've rattled on and kept ya'll here long enough so off you go to the next person that is helping celebrate Nami's birthday...Laurie Wilson.

 

CAS-ual Fridays - B&W + 1 & Addict color challenges

Wow, it feels like forever since I've entered a challenge...I'm having withdrawals! The arthritis in my neck that's causing a bulging  disc has been a real pain in the butt neck lately so I've been limiting my crafty time...sigh. Why can't I limit house cleaning, cooking,  laundry or even my day job...sigh, anything but crafty time! ;)

When I saw the theme for the current CAS-ual Friday challenge, I knew I just had to enter no matter what...I LOVE using black &  white. I also wanted to make another card for my color challenge right here on the Addict blog so I combined them!

It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but after I colored in the kitty's collar, I filled it in with magenta glitter. You know me and glitter...I just couldn't resist! This is a prime example as to why the quickie glue pen is a favorite tool of mine, tiny little areas and lines are no challenge at all! Do you recognize that little kitty?? Yes, it IS a DeNami stamp...I turned it into a silhouette!

Well that's it for me today, thanks so much for stopping by! I hope your able to enter a challenge or two yourself! Remember, you don't have to use a DeNami stamp/product to enter my challenge. It runs through October 6th...hope to see your entry!

 

Tips & Tricks - September 2012

Hi everyone and welcome to the September edition of Tips & Tricks! This month I have a real fun post...I made a video! Did you know I started a DeNami Addict Youtube channel? I hope to be able to bring you lots more videos :)

Let's get on with the post! Todays topic is "coordination". DeNami has done all of the hard work for us in this category. From the stamps, to the papers to the ribbons...everything in the DeNami line works together and mixes and matches perfectly. The thing that pops into my mind is "Garanimals". Some of you gals may know what I'm referring to...do they still even make those? Anyway, for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a line of children's clothing where everything matches. No matter what shirt or pant you child pulled out of his closet, it matched! Well, that's pretty much what DeNami has done for us. I show you a few examples in this video...

Here's a little card I made using some of the products I've just showed you...

There are so many more examples of stamps and products that all work perfectly with each other, just way too many to show! I hope I've given you a little inspiration to mix and match some of your different stamps.

One last thing...I'm going to enter this card into the current challenge on the DeNami blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

10 minutes of panic

Hi everyone! Today I have a little challenge card I made to show you. To go along with the card, I have a before and after picture of my desk, lol...it's amazing what a mess I made!

Let me introduce you to Paulina Nakamura's 10 minute craft dash. It's exactly what it sounds like...you have 10 minutes to create a finished project. It sure gets your heart racing right along with the clock! As a funny little side note, it just dawned on me that my card matches the graphic! My circle is the clock and I have the same little green flag...how silly!

Here's my "before" picture...

Now mind you, I started off with a great plan...or so I thought. As you can see from this picture, I had doodled out a design and gathered my supplies. I have no clue what I was thinking because I was missing half of  the stuff that I needed! You can see from that picture that there's a lot of stuff missing!

Here's my "after" picture...

HA! I'm usually a "neat" crafter, I even clean my stamps as I go normally. This is just sad!! As I started making my card I realized in a panic that I didn't have several items pulled out that I needed;

• circle punches
• scrap white cardstock
• sentiment
• bone folder
• atg 
• foam tape 
• rhinestones

So as I was making the card, I was frantically pulling things out of drawers and storage places all willy-nilly and throwing things around. Even with all of that I managed to make this creation in 9 minutes and 96 seconds! I wonder what my time would have been had I had everything within easy reach....

Here's my finished card...

I started off scoring to lines at the bottom of the card (they didn't show up very well in the picture) then eyeballed/measured a piece of green cardstock to make the little flag. I added the twine and attached it with foam tape. Next I punched (twice because I punched the wrong cardstock with the wrong size punch) and stamped my circles then attached them to each other with my atg and attached them to the card with foam tape. To finish it all off I added a little bling to the lower right corner to balance out the whole card.

Well that's it for me today...thanks for stopping by!

National Stamping Month

Hi everyone, I just wanted to do a quick little post to remind ya'll that in honor of National Stamping Month, DeNami is holding 4 weekly challenges on their Facebook page. You as fellow DeNami fans get to vote for the winner, how fun is that?!?! Here's the link to the current photos being voted on.  To vote all you have to do is click on the picture of the card you'd like to vote for and click on the "like" button. I really would greatly appreciate your votes on my little card.

My entry...

Also, did you see that I announced my new challenge right here on the Addict blog this past Monday? This months theme is a pretty color palette...hope to see your creation using it!!

Thanks so much everyone!!

DeNami Theme Challenge #11 - cherries

When I saw the latest DeNami challenge announced I went into panic mode...how could I make something with no direction? What colors should I choose, what stamps should I choose, what embellishments should I choose? The possibilities are endless...sigh. 

 

Well, in the end I went to a favorite color palette then picked images that fit that the colors and lastly decided on a layout. Hope you like it :)

I stamped the cherries then stamped the jar over them. The whole image is fussy cut and placed onto the white panel. The set of cherries are fussy cut and popped up on foam tape. Can you tell what the cherries in the jar were before they were cherries?? I'm going to let you think on it just a little.  ;)    The answer is in my supply listing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

DeNami Addict Challenge #5

Blogger note: if you are looking for the DeNami hop post, it's two down...thanks!

Hello everyone, can you believe that our button challenge is already over? Where did the time go? August just flew right by didn't it?

This month we have a really fun color palette for you to work with...

We are once again pleased to be able to bring you another challenge and it's being sponsored by DeNami Design. They are offering up a gift certificate to one lucky winner!

Here are a few cards that I hope will spark a little insperation for you...

DeNami stamps: Ornamental Flowers stamp set, Elegant Floral Leaf Sprig, medium Double Circle & meduim Thinking Of You

DeNami stamps: Rosevine Flowers stamp set, Classic Leaves stamp set, Teeny Swiss Dot, Polka Dot Background



DeNami stamps: Sweetheart Mimi, Teeny Heart Background, Small Heart Outline

Stamps used: Tulips, Thinking Of You, Polka Dot Background

DeNami stamps: rosevine heart, Heartfelt Greetings stamp set

For this challenge, there is only two requirements:

1) Create a new card/project based off of the theme/palette/sketch.
You don't have to use  DeNami stamps or other DeNami products, but if you have some, we'd sure love to see them!! You may enter up to 3 projects and please link this challenge along  in your post.

2) Upload a photo of your card or project to your blog OR if you don't have a blog, you can upload your card to an online gallery (i.e. www.splitcoaststampers.com, www.flickr.com, etc.) then come post the direct link / url to your photo in the link widget box below. Please do not leave your links in the comments section.

After the challenge ends, we will select one person who created an honor worthy creation to be featured as a "Top Chick ". In addition, one of these lucky people will win a $15 DeNami Design online gift certificate!

Challenge ends Saturday, October 6th at 11:59 PM central time.

Button challenge winner...

If you're looking for Wendy's hop card, please click here!

Wow, I am just over the top about all the wonderful entries we received on our button challenge! Wasn't that a fun theme? Who doesn't love a pretty little button and did you ever imagine that they could be used in so many different ways?

Our button challenge winner is....

Stacy

Don't you just love how creatively she used her buttons? Congratulations, Stacy and don't forget to grab your adorable chickie badge! You can either send an e-mail to me or DeNami and we will get you hooked up on your prize.

Again, you ladies make it so hard to choose! All of you are so talented and I just love your creations. I wish I could just pick all of you!

I'll be back shortly with the announcement for the new challenge that starts today! Thanks for playing along with us here on DeNami Addict!