DeNami Design blog hop - July 2013

Ohh my goodness, are you all ready for another fun filled blog hop hosted by DeNami?!?!?! I know I am!!!

 

With summer in full gear, this is a perfect theme to cool us down! It gets mighty hot here in the Midwest!

 

When: The blog hop starts on July 14th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until July 15, 2013, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).
Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

 

You should have arrived here from the fabously talented Lisa Elton's blog. If not, that's okay, you can just head over to the DeNami blog for the full list of participants to get back on track :)

 

 

As usual, I have a lot to show you...why can't I ever decide on just one little thing???

 

We'll start with a pair of cards I made....

Isn't she cute and don't you just love all the little accessories for the Large Chickie stamp?? :) I love making scenes and since I hadn't made any in quite a while I thought this theme would be perfect!

 

For these little cuties I used the Large Chickie, Festive Hats stamp set, small cloud, small watering can, small spring flowers, grass border, Bitty Bugs stamp set, Playful Puppies stamp set, and the Cars & Trucks stamp set.

 

Notice that darling little wagon the chickies are pulling...here's a little hint, it has something to do with tomorrows guest on Tool Talk!!! She's talking about a little product that I use a lot and love! Also if I remember correctly, DeNami DT member, Emily, uses it quite often too, you won't want to miss this one!!!

 

For my next little item I created yet another scene...I was on a roll, lol!! Did you get a chance to see the little candle wrap tutorial that I did not so long ago? Well, I had some paper clay left over and thought I'd try my hand at making a little hanging tile of sorts...

 

I cut my square straight, but since paper clay is mostly paper, when it dries it kind of does it's own thing. However, you can easily trim it up with a nice pair of scissors and even sand it with a nail file. I opted to leave it as is...it added a little character. ;) I "stamped" my little scene into the wet paper clay, then after letting it dry for a couple of days I colored it in using my Copic and TomBow markers. Stamps used: small cloud, small spring flowers, curly butterfly, grass border and flower bloom.

 

 

That's all I have to share with you today, now off you go to visit with Katie Brooks!
 I can't wait to see what she has to bring us for eye candy and she's new to the DeNami hop so please give her a warm welcome :)

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for a visit with my surprise Tool Talk guest (and a special little give away surprise from her company) and don't forget to check out the DeNami Addict birthday giveaway! To enter all you need to do is make any type of birthday card and link it up (no DeNami products necessary) and I will pick a random winner for a DeNami gift certificate on August 1st!

 

Take it on the chin and keep going...never give up on YOU!

*Blogger Note: I wrote and scheduled this post before Friday's announcement by DeNami. I'd like to congratulate Pattie on  her new position as a DeNami Design Team member and am looking forward to seeing her beautiful creations!!!


Hello everyone!! Today's subject is one of mixed emotions for me. I'm still flying high over being chosen the June sketch challenge winner over at Paper Sweeties, but at the same time am a little bummed about receiving yet another "thanks but no thanks" letter for something else.We'll get to that letter in just a minute.

It's no secret that I love entering card challenges online whenever I get a chance and that I have branched out into submitting to magazines. Most of the time when it comes to challenges and being published I feel like I'm on the outside looking in. It's almost like being in High School again and I'm the nerdy little girl in the corner reading a Stephan King novel while all the "kool kids" are hanging out in the smoking area laughing and having a great time talking about last weekends party. I see the same names winning/published over and over again...it's almost like a private club and no one else is allowed in. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, I. Don't. Care.! Okay, I do, but just a little.  I may not be one of the Kool Kids and don't have the secret password to gain entrance to the "club", but I refuse to let that hold me back! That being said, even when you know going in that you don't stand a chance you'll be chosen you still feel deflated, that's only natural. Do I get a little down...yes. Do I shed a tear or two sometimes...yes. A sweet friend mentioned to me the other day..."you know how us girls are". Sometimes I'm all girl and my feelings get the best of me, I cry, pout and even get angry, then I work through my feelings to get over it. But nothing is going to stop me from applying to design teams or submitting to challenges and magazines. My son has a tattoo that reads "To move on is to grow". I LOVE that saying. I will move on, grow and keep trying! Yes, my feelings get hurt and deflated, but I pick myself up and keep trying! Someday this nerdy girl will break through the barrier and kool kids will notice me and ask me to join in the fun!!

For about a year and a half now I've been wanting to be on a design team. There are a small handful of blogs that I have my eye on. I'm sure that ya'll can easily figure out that one of them is DeNami. I'd give my left arm and lets be real here...I'd give a leg too, lol, to be on the DeNami team. However, DeNami doesn't do an open call for their design team members, it's just by special invitation...sigh. Luckily the others I have my eye on do an open call!

 I know my work is nothing special when compared to the gals that enter the challenge that runs on the particular blog I'm referring to, however, after talking with the blogs owner and her encouraging me, I decided to heed my own advice that sometimes in life you just have to take chances and frankly, it would be good to have one application under my belt. So, last month I applied for my very first design team position. My resume is pretty lacking and I have nothing big to bring to the table. With that being said, I like to think of myself as being friendly, out going, willing to learn and very dependable. Someday those attributes will out weigh my lack of challenge wins and overall popularity, until then, I'll take it on the chin and just keep plugging along. I can't let a rejection stop me from doing something that brings such joy to my life. I LOVE creating cards and being able to share them with you. I also LOVE getting to meet such wonderful people out here in bloggy land...you gals are amazing, an inspiration and just plain ole' rock!!

Many of you know Paulina from DeNami Design runs a personal blog called Pretty Pink Posh and hosts the fun 10 Minute Craft Dash. The entries for that challenge always blow me away...there are some amazingly talented people out there and they even come from all over the world!! She had a Design Team call and as part of the application we were to tell a little about ourselves and submit 4 pieces of work that we've created in under 10 minutes. I knew back on June 11th that I wasn't picked (received my thanks but no thanks e-mail) but didn't want to talk about it until after her new DT was announced. Not sure that it matters, but it felt wrong to talk about it until then.

My 10 Minute Craft Dash Design Team card entries:

Time: (can't remember the time but it was 8-something!)
Colors: blue, green & kraft



Time: 9min 40 sec
Colors: teal, orange, golden yellow



Time: 9min 03sec
Colors: green, orange, golden yellow, teal

Time: 9min 59sec (that was a close call!)
Colors: charcoal, light grey, pink

Well there you have it, my step outside of the box. But like I said, I WILL NOT give up. When I don't win a challenge or when I receive the "no thanks" e-mail from a magazine, I may have a moment of sadness, I am only human after all, but will chalk it up to a learning experience and keep going! Don't give up on your dreams and keep doing what makes YOU happy!! Winning or losing doesn't define you, it's how you react to that win or loss that does. Take the experience and learn from it and don't be scared to put yourself out there again.

HUGS to all of us nerdy girls!

Hello Friend....

I need to start this post out by apologizing to ya'll. I know I said I was getting back on track / schedule and then I go throwing everything off once again! For the May Tool Talk segment I have someone pretty awesome guest speaking and unfortunately I've had to delay her post. I went out of town unexpectedly so I couldn't post the segment last week, but promise that I will have it for you on Friday!! Wait until you see what she has to share with us...one of my favorite things ;)

Now then, let's get on with today's post, shall we???

I decided that I wanted to try to get one more entry in for the challenge over at Paper Sweeties. I recently purchased a few more stamps and couldn't wait to play with them. Paper Sweeties stamps are too adorable and they work so well with my DeNami stamps, how could I resist?

Here's the sketch we had to work with....

And here's my take on the sketch....

That's it for me today, I'm off to work on the Tool Talk post for Friday and Wednesday I will have a another fun card for you.

Whimsical summer flowers

Today I have a fun little card to share. I just love pairing DeNami's magenta and red cardstocks together, they really compliment each other nicely. I decided that since I wanted to use such a fun and bright color palette that I'd pull out a fun stamp to go with it...

I also broke out the new grass border stamp...LOVE it!! I was head over heels as soon as I saw it...it's perfect for little scenes like this one. I really wanted a whimsical look, so for my leaves I traced outside the lines with my green marker before coloring and added just a touch of Lime Sherbet and strawberry freeze glitter to finish off the flowers.

Spring Showers

If you follow the uber awesome Paulina on her personal blog, Pretty pink Posh, then you know of her puffy heart love for sequins. After seeing some amazing creations using her beloved sequins, I just had to have some of my own. She purchased her's from Ellen Hutson (link on bottom right of her blog) so that's where I went for some blingie goodness. Unfortunately they were sold out of several colors I wanted but I did manage to pick up a few beautiful colors. The pictures do not do the colors justice, they are sooo pretty!! I was talking to Paulina about buying some sequins but not being able to get all the colors I had wanted and true to her sweet self, Paulina shared some of hers with me! Isn't she awesome???

When I saw the blue sequins I instantly had a vision of what I wanted to do with them. It's not often that what I plan in my mind works so perfectly on paper, but this one sure did....

 I can certainly see why she's addicted and truth be told, I'm seriously addicted now too! ;)

That's it for me today, thanks for stopping by!!!

DeNami Sketch Challenge #13

Before I get to todays post I have something I'd like to talk to ya'll about. DeNami is currently holding a Facebook contest looking for their biggest fan. They asked for everyone to send in their entries by a certain date and I did along with 3 other gals. Now comes the voting part, it's done by fellow DeNami fans, YOU get to decide the winner! Ya'll already know how much of my life I devote to DeNami, this blog, Facebook page, items in my home, etc.. It can't be denied that I'm a HUGE fan! I would greatly appreciate you showing your support for what I do pretty much on a daily basis by voting for me. I not only run this blog to show my love and support for DeNami, I also do it for all of you. I take great joy in being able to bring you a little fun and hopefully a lot of inspiration.

 All you have to do to cast your vote is follow the link to the DeNami Facebook post and click on my photo submission then click the "like" button by 8/31/2012, that's all it takes. Thanks everyone...You gals are awesome!

 

Biggest Fan Contest

 



Now then, on with our regularly scheduled post, lol! I thought I'd try my hand at DeNami's current challenge...

 

Ohh my goodness, I'm gonna be up front and tell ya'll that this little sketch kicked my tushie! I've never met a sketch that didn't like me, but this little cutie certainly did not! I made several cards and they all looked the same and kinda, well...blah. I've finally came up with a little creation that made me smile. I hope it makes you smile too!

 

Did you notice the chickies hands?? I stamped him without hands, masked him off and made a "grassy" background using a couple different green inks. After I added the fence I placed his little hands back on so that it looks like he's holding onto it. I just love this little guy! :)  Also, since I don't own a speech bubble *gasp* I used the cloud stamp and a hole punch to make my own. To make the fence and grass, I free hand cut the angle at the bottom and I stamped the fence at the edge of the panel and cut parts of it out. Then tore strips of green cardstock, randomly stamped the mini grass image and layered them on top of the bottom portion of the panel. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have used chocolate or kraft cardstock for that panel and eliminated all the coloring...DUH! But, like I mentioned before, this sketch was the death of me and I feel very luck to have accomplished what I did, lol! This card also fits the current challenge right here on the Addict blog...buttons. Have you entered yet????

 

That's it for me today, thanks for stopping by and please don't forget to vote (for me hopefully, lol!) for who you think DeNami's biggest fan is!

King of the road...

Have you gotten any stamps from the new release yet? I just love love love Nami's new designs. And seriously, can you ever have enough chickies????

When I saw this little race car chickie, I just knew the first thing I'd create is a cute little scene.

I was going to stamp the sentiment over in the bottom right hand corner but then got to thinking how cute it would be trailing from the car itself. I just used a colored toothpick as a flag pole and attached it to the little banner and glued it to the car with a drop of Crystal Lacquer. I then attached the car using foam tape to give it a little dimension.

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Polka dot kite

When I recieved my new little kite stamp I though I'd make a card using the sketch for my current challenge right here on the Addict blog (click the link on the side bar for all the info - remember, you don't have to use a DeNami product), but then when I received the e-mail from the Lawnscaping blog announcing their   current challenge  I though it fit my new stamp perfectly so I did both!

Now don't go freaking out on me when you see this creation of mine...I know it will be a shock, but yes, I did use just a little patterned paper *gasp*! I'm still a little shocked myself  ;)  I love making my own patterned paper but for some reason I just reached for the red/yellow spotted and striped paper I had tucked away.

I stamped the kite and paper pieced two of the sections then masked it off and stamped the clouds. For the sentiment I cut out two of the flags from the Lawn Fawn Banerific set. I'm really surprised at myself when it comes to this card as it was outside of my little scalloped box for sure...I don't think I would have tried this color combo without Lawnscaping's pretty inspirational photo! New color palette and patterned papers all in one card...Ohh My!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Oops...I just notice that I have DeNami's chocolate cardstock lister, I actually used their kraft cardstock, sorry!

CAS-Friday...let's strip

Happy Monday everyone! :)  I hope you had a great weekend. I sure did, lunch with a friend then spent the rest of the weekend holed up in my crafty area making cards for next months challenge here on the Addict blog...I'm way ahead of the game for once!

Today I have a card that I made for the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. This weeks theme; Strips

Here's what I came up with...

I decided to go with something kinda bold and bright...I used 4 different colors of glitter on this little scene, now that's seriously glitter-ific!

Thanks for stopping by!

To keep or not to keep....

Does it get any better than pink glittery flowers and polka dots? If you say "no", then this is the card for you...

I added magenta glitter to the daises and strawberry freeze glitter to the butterflies. I'm tellin' y'all, it doesn't get any easier than using the quickie glue pen, it really helps with tiny lines since it's basically an ink pen...LOVE LOVE LOVE that glue pen!

I made this for my niece, Mandy's birthday and just love how it turned out! I have some french message boards hanging in my crafty area (Wendy's BRILLIANT idea) where I keep cards that I just can't bring myself to give away...thinking I want to add this little cutie. Poor Mandy, she's so mistreated! ;)  She knows her Auntie Tina loves her...even if she doesn't get this sparkle-riffic card!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Birdhouse Love

I just love this bird house stamp. Why on earth did it take me so long to buy it?!




I used ink and sponges to color white card stock for the sky. I also fussy cut the clouds and the birdhouses....add the little sentiment and throw in a little lady bug and....voila!

Stamps used in this card: PF26 Assorted Greeting Petit Four, E137 Small Cloud, D85 Birds, P54 Birdhouse Trio, A94 Mini Heart, A96 LadyBug


Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

I need some sun....

I don't know what the weather has been like in your neck of the woods, but all last week, it was gray and rainy and icky. Now don't get me wrong, I love a cool rainy DAY but a WEEK?!? I was jonesing for a little sun and came up with this....





Come take a closer peek:



And the inside...



My wishes were granted because after making this little cutie last week the sun has finally re-appeared - YAY!

Stamps used in making this card: E137 Small Cloud, F133 Small Sun Swirl, G145 Rosebud Trio, PF27 Whimsical Flowers, D85 Birds, and F152 Sending you Sunshine sentiment


Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

I'm a Fussy Cuttin' Mad Woman!

We interrupt this blog post with a special announcement - let me just take this moment to give a little "woot woot" to my girl Tina on winning the theme challenge yesterday. Oh you missed that? Well go take a peek at Denami's post Here. You go girl! Now on with your regularly scheduled post...


Soooo, I don't know about you but I can't think of a better way to spend a rainy afternoon than by playing in your woman cave (that is what my crafty room is called - The Woman Cave). And that is exactly what I did, and what was I doing? Fussy cuttin' my little hands off. Yep - every little thing on this card.




Take a closer peek:




And although my hands were not happy with me, I think I like the results of all that cutting almost as much as I like the smell of the Tiger balm I had to use on my hands at the end of the night - HA! Once again, the only enhancements I used was crystal laquer...no glitter (oh don't worry - the next couple of cards I made were full of glitter!). I also raised the chickie and the clouds with a few little pop dots.

Stamps used when making this card: E138 Chickie in Balloon, E137 Small Cloud, F133 Small Sun Swirl, A76 Ladybug, M32 Daisy Trio

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Farmer John

No, this post doesn't include goats or that fab Beekman Boys duo, but it does include an ADORABLE little farmer scarecrow!

And for the inside....

I didn't notice until I uploaded the picture to blogger that you can actually see thru the top panel of the card from the inside. That's because I didn't use DeNami card stock...I know, I know, I should be beat with a wet noodle. The thickness and colors of their card stocks are awesome! But in my defence, this started out as just a tester layout. It wasn't meant to be a finished card so I used just regular old card stock from a big box store...however, the layout was working so well for me that I just went with it. When I remake this (using good card stock) I think it would look better if I stamped the turkey, masked him off then stamped the corn over him so it looks like he's standing in front of the corn stalks.

Well, now that I'm done picking this card apart, it's your turn....

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Summer Hula

As we prepare for the Labor Day holiday weekend, I was thinking about how this weekend officially signifies the end of summer (unless of course you live in the south....which I do....but don't get me side tracked). With that I was inspired to do something a little beachy and fun.

(And let me introduce to you my Hula Flamingo...Kalani....Duuuuuuude check out that hula skirt...hehe)



Come a little closer (please disregard the close-up of Kalani's belly button.....)



Of course this card has to have a little bling to sparkle in the sun....And if you look closely you can see that added a little color in the background to give the appearance of the sky.

Stamps used in this card: PF04 Seashell Petit Four, F133 Small Sun Swirl, E137 Small Cloud, E99 Seashells, B97 Hula Chickie




Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Scary Halloween fun

Cheeky has me inspired with all of her wonderful halloween creations and wishes for cooler weather! Don't ya just LOVE these darling versitle stamps?!?!

And for a little closer look....

I only used ink to stamp with and a marker for the hill outline and ghostie, otherwise everything was done in chalks...I love the soft effect it gives.

Stamps:
H84 three houses
F207 three winter trees
E145 friendly ghost
E137 small cloud

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Tina M

Candles

Today I thought I would do a little something different. This technique has been out there for quite some time but I thought it would be cute to add a little DeNami flair to it :) Stamping on candles can be very addicting! I have another one in mind but I am waiting for my new order of stamps to come it before trying it. I think its really going to be cute and yes....I will share once I get it done - assuming it turns out the way I want it to HA!



Now for a little closer look:


For this little project I used: E138 Chickie in Balloon and E137 Small cloud.

Chickie & Balloon

Today's card features the reason I was originally drawn to Denami Stamps....the Chickie! I *heart* that little chickie. My first Denami stamp was a chickie (well a couple of chickies) that I purchased from a show in St. Paul, MN several years ago. Over the years, like any true addiction, I have expanded from just the chickies to the wide array of stamps they offer. But I do *heart* the chickies!




And now for a closer look:



I intentionally left quite a bit of white space on this card to keep the simplicity.

The stamps I used in this card: E138 Chickie in balloon, E137 Small Cloud, M65 Small Dot Swirls, F133 Small Sun Swirl.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!