DeNami Design Bright Blossoms blog hop 6/2014

Well hello everyone and welcome to another wonderful fun fill blog hop brought to you by DeNami Design!!! I have some sad news, due to everyone's busy summertime schedules / activities we won't be having any more blog hops until the fall. But rest assured we WILL be back and you can ALWAYS find a ton of DeNami inspiration on the DeNami Pinterest page :)

What a fun theme, right?? Let's get started!!

When: The blog hop starts on June 8th, 2014 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until June 9th, 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!

If you didn't arrive here from the MOST UBER talented Barb Murphy's blog don't worry, DeNami have the full list of hop participants on their blog. Just head on over there and you can get right back on track :)

As soon as I heard what the theme was I just knew that I had to break out my neon papers and inks...how could I resist a chance to play with them?? Ohh how I miss my teen years growing up in the 80's. I sported the Madonna look for the most part and could seriously ROCK my dad's dress shirt, a wrap around belt, leggings and  neon bobby socks with little black flats. And since I have natural curly hair it was never a problem going BIG, lol!! Those were the days....sigh. Well I guess my love of neon colors is a throw back to that by gone area. ;)

I pulled out my neon inks by Hero Arts and started stamping with some of my fave DeNami stamps to create this cute and bright one layer creation.  I scored a one inch section on the bottom 2/3's then masked it off before stamping my flowers and elements randomly. I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment then added a couple of fussy cut hibiscus flowers and some iridescent cupped flower sequins to finish it all off.

DeNami Stamps Used:
small solid hibiscus
medium solid hibiscus
solid leaf vine
garden accents stamp set
elegant floral stamp set
hello friend sentiment

This is what I love about DeNami. (besides the images being wonderful) all these images are from different times, some older some newer and look how perfect they all work together. You can never go wrong mixing and matching their images!

For my next card I pulled out a little neon 6X6 patterned paper pad by American Crafts (swoon) and chose some pretty bright pink/gold polka dot paper along with a navy/white polka dot paper.

 Since I was using such bold colors I decided to keep my design fairly simple. I added a piece of the pink to a kraft card base then I die cut 2 little flourish thingies and cut one in half to make my pattern. After making my "corner bracket" with the flourishes I added a flower using foam tape that I had stamped / colored & fussy cut. I added a small sentiment (pink neon ink) a little twine and some bling to finish it all off.

DeNami Stamps Used:
summer flowers set
thoughtful greetings set

Well that's all I have for ya, now hop on over to visit with another insanely talented person (how in the world did I get sandwiched between these two...what was Paulina thinking!?!?!?), Emily Keaton! Don't forget to leave comments to be placed into the random drawing for a DeNami gift certificate :)

Simple yet elegant "any occasion" card

Hi everyone and happy Wednesday! Lately I've felt myself struggling and don't seem to have any vision when I try to craft. Have you've ever felt that way? I sit at my desk surrounded by darling doo-dads, pretty papers and ribbons galore yet I can't seem to make anything I'm happy with. I think I have a form of writers block...card block perhaps? After 2 weeks of me sitting at my desk and shoving items from one side to another just to be left untouched and unappreciated, I decided to stop the madness and get back to the basics.

If you've followed me for very long, you know that most of the time I tend to not use patterned papers because I really do enjoy making my own. I recently made a Halloween card that reminded me of what I've not been doing and I've realized how much I miss it. That's not to say that I don't own any patterned papers, lol. I'm actually mortified when I look at my horded stacks (yes, there is an "s" on stacks!) of gorgeous papers. I have an severe addiction to those wonderful little 6X6 paper pads...sigh.

Well, as I stated, I wanted to get back to the basics to clear my mind and get myself out of my little slump. I started by pulling out some of my favorite DeNami Design stamps and doing what I do best...made me some yummy patterned paper! My patterned paper was way easy to create and it only used 2 stamps...large dot swirl & the little fern from the elegant floral petit four set.

I added a simple little (raised on foam tape) layered panel using one of the pretty images from  ornamental centerpiece set and a fun ribbon treatment on the thinking of you sentiment (raised on foam tape) to finish it all off. This card came together fairly fast and looks great for any occasion.

I'm starting to feel more like my old self already! :)  Have a great day and I'll see ya on Friday!

 

Wreaths Galore!!!



Hello everyone! Were you able to catch my photo tutorial using the Winter Wreath on Friday? Just to show you how versatile this little wreath can be, I made LOTS of more wreaths, lol!! I have so many ideas in my head and wanted to make a ton more but, I simply ran out of time!!  Hopefully I can revisit this little wreath soon :)

 

Let's get started...

 

First up is a little elegant summer wreath. I made the one on the left first but decided it was too "muddy" so I made the one on the right...I like it much better.

Stamps used:
winter wreath
solid rose accents set
sweet saying stamp set

This next card showcases a brand new leaf set for fall. Warm rich tones make this little card perfect for your Thanksgiving celebration.

Stamps Used:

Winter Wreath

Thankful For You

Solid Leaves Set

 

 

I couldn't stop at just one Fall themed card. The problem is is that I wanted to use the little acorn and I thought it would get lost on the card with the large leaves. I just had to give the darling acorn its own card, lol! 



Stamps used:
Winter Wreath
Autumn Stamp set
Elegant Floral stamp set
Garden Accent stamp set
Thankful for you

 

I have to admit that I'm pretty smitten with this next card. Y'all know that Halloween is my favorite holiday, so there was no way I could resist making a Halloween wreath!! I have several ideas for a Halloween wreath and wish I could have made them all for you, but don't worry, Halloween isn't that far off!! ;)

Stamps used:
Winter Wreath
Halloween stamp set
Solid Rose Accents stamp set

I wanted to do a winter theme that wasn't Christmas. I wish you could see this one in person, it had lots of pretty shimmer to it thanks to using Brillance inks. Unfortunately the camera can't capture just how pretty it is. The little "jingle bells" are double stamped - since the Brilliance Platinum doesn't really show up well on white cardstock, I stamped them in a light grey then stamped them over again using the Platinum so that they would have the same shimmer as the wreath itself.

Stamps used:
Winter Wreath
Garden Accents stamp set
Small Solid Snowflake Circle

 

Well, even though I did the tutorial on a Christmas card, I couldn't resist doing one more. This time I have it on a little panel that I poped up with foam tape.

 

Winter Wreath
Winter Pine set
Christmas Greeting set
Classic Christmas set


Well that's it for me today! I hope my ideas have started you thinking and that you've come up with a few ideas too.  Let me know if you make a little wreath, I'd LOVE to stop by for a visit to see it :)

I like graaaapes....

(hehehehehehe) One of my favorite lines out of the Willy Wonka re-make! It's become a family joke, anytime you want to say you like something, we say....I like graaaapes!! I know, dumb and corney, but hey, we amuse ourselves (rather easily, lol) and that's all that matters, right???

I wasn't going to enter another challenge this week, but I sat down at my crafty desk to unwind a bit Tuesday night and I made this little card. I was pretty sure it fit the current The Shabby Tea Room challenge (and it did indeed fit) so I decided I'd make a quick post for today since I promised y'all a start to finish card video for Friday.

We are to use fruit or veggies and text

I changed up a little card that I had made when I guest posted on the DeNami blog back in June. I've been wanting to do this card ever since I made that floral card but just never got around to it...

I started by cutting the center out of my panel then stamping the resulting frame. After LOTS of coloring I popped it upon my card base with foam tape (previously added a length of ribbon).  This time around I used the elegant word plate for my sentiment...so much prettier! Wish it was available when I made the first card...I may go back and change it. When I was all done putting it together I decided it still needed a little sumthin-sumthin' so I added a little purple Chrystal Lacquer and cream Pearl Pen along with just a touch of glitter.

I just love the shadowed effect lifting the fame up on the foam tape gives...what fun dimension! That's all for me today, I will see you back here tomorrow with my latest start to finish card video! :)

Blogger note: Today is a big day over at Paper Sweeties Stamp Company! You know, the darling paper dolls that I dress up and use on my cards?? Well, they've been celebrating their 1st birthday with LOADS of fun and today they are releasing not only new images, but launching a new product!! I've been keeping a HUGE secret and today i finally get to spill the beans :)  The Paper Sweeties dolls now have coordinating metal dies to cut them out with called, Sweet Cuts!! The dies will work in all the machines like Big Shot, Cuttlebug, etc. I'm so very proud of my friend for all that she's accomplished in this past year and wish her continued success and inky fun!

birthday monkeys

Heya everyone! Did you have a great weekend? Mine was pretty darn good. :) Hubby added to my charm bracelet and I had a girls day with my Mom and sister. Unfortunately I didn't get any crafting in, but crafty shopping more than made up for that, lol!

One of my nephews, well, great nephews (wow, I'm old!) was having a birthday and I wanted to create something as fun and silly as he is. I broke out the monkeys and got to stamping!

I started out making the little flags using the bunch of bananas, peeled banana, the little leaf from the elegant floral set and the happy birthday sentiment from the thoughtful greetings set. I stamped the  swinging monkeys on a white panel and added more leaves and dressed them up with fun party hats from the birthday celebration set. To finish it all off I added some fun scallops, a strip of yellow Washi and a little cupcake to my button. I'm feeling pretty darn proud...twine, button, glitter and yet it's still all boy...now that's a feat, lol!!

Sorry that the picture is a little crappy, I forgot to take one before I sent the card! That's what I get for being in a hurry! Not too bad for a picture that was texted to me, lol, but would have been better had I been on top of things ;) 

 That's it for me today! Don't forget about the birthday fun I have going on...there's less than a week left to enter for the random drawing for a $25.00 Denami Design gift certificate!

 All the info can be found here, you have until July 31st.

Pretty Paisley

Hello everyone and welcome to Wednesday...the work week is half over...woo-hoo!! I'm extra excited since it's my birthday weekend. No house cleaning, no dinner cooking and I get CAKE!!! I love cake...sigh. My big sissy, Denise is coming into the city so that's something to look forward to too, but if she tries to eat my cake I may stab her with my fork...just sayin' ;)  hehehehe

 

Growing up and even now, paisley has been a favorite pattern of mine. I was super excited when I saw the new DeNami images and there was some fun paisley! Paisley is so girly, sweet and fun, how can you not like it, right?!? For my first creation using they yummy paisley stamps, I decided to make a pretty patterned paper and let it take center stage....

 

I started out stamping the 3 paisleys randomly all over my white cardstock. Then I pulled out a few Petit Four sets: Elegant Floral stamp set, Whimsical Valentine stamp set, and the Garden Accents stamp set to fill all of the open areas. I really wanted to keep the card fairly pastel, but since my yellow ink pad is a little bright I added a bright blue to balance it out. I think this card would have looked extra cute if I really had sewn it vs. using the little zigzag stamp, but alas, I haven't sewn in years and my sewing machine is packed away in the bowels of the basement destined to never see the light of day again....sigh

 

That's it for me today! I'm so happy that some of you have entered the random birthday drawing here on the blog!! How fun...you guys are awesome :)  If you haven't entered yet, there's still time!

 

 All the info can be found here, you have until July 31st. I'll be picking a random entry to win a $25 DeNami Design gift certificate!

Cheery Cherries...

*Blogger Note: Have you just had one of those days when you realize your crafty time is a train wreak?? Today was that day for me! I made a card to enter in The Shabby Tea Room Challenge and when I went to link up this morning I noticed that not only did it call for the red, white, twine, & cherry pie theme, but it called for aqua too!! Crap...how did I not see that in the requirements before?? This little post had already published, I even had a comment or two. Nothing to do but scramble and do a little "nip & tuck" work to my little card! And of course it's stormy out this morning so after rushing and acting like a mad woman to re-do this card, I had to take pictures in a less than mediocre light...uggg! I think I'll leave the before picture up...just something to laugh about.

I'm also going to take Jo's (from Jo's Scrap Shack) advise and enter this in the Jo's Funday Friday challenge!

Hi all! Today is yet another challenge submission...I'm full of them this week, ;) there will be one tomorrow too!

 

This is the first time I've enter here at The Shabby Tea Room. I happen to puffy heart LUV shabby chic, but have a hard time pulling it off. I wasn't going to start entering challenges on this blog but was slightly sternly ;) told that it didn't matter if I "did shabby or not". So, lol, here it is, my first entry into their challenges! 

 

This weeks inspiration photo...

They've aptly named this little challenge, "cherry pie"...LOVE it! I'd love to have an old country kitchen just like this one...sigh.

This is also my first time entering the Funday Friday challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack:
This week's Challenge:

"Anything Goes"

Create a card, layout or project of your choice!

Starts: Friday, July 5th 12:00AM

Ends: Friday, July 12th 6:00PM

(central time)

 

Here's my original card before I had to take it to the "emergency room" for a serious nip & tuck procedure...

 

Now that I'm looking at it, it seems kinda blah...just too much red and white. I'm glad it HAD to have the little overhaul!

 

 

Here's what I'm submitting to the two challenges:

 

What a tremendous difference, right?!?! Now I'm really liking this little card!!! Sometimes a mistake can be a good thing!



 

I was giddy over finally getting to use my new stamp set from Hot Of The Press. It's a fairly large canning jar and comes with a TON of accessories! I love the little "material" lid covering and several different label options that let you build a perfect label for your creation...too darling!

I started out making my patterned paper stamping the large dot swirls in a light pink then filling it all in using the mini cherries and the double leaf from the elegant florals stamp set. I stamped out my jar, label and "material" then did a bunch of fussy cutting. I layered all of that over a die cut doily and a piece of edge punched lime cardstock from DeNami.

 Now the best part...did you notice the little cherries under the yummy bow? I made them!!! A dear sweet friend and I were talking about her making some fun clay doo-dads for her cards. She was using a little set of  molds from Martha S., and was telling me how adorable it was! I got to wondering if I could use the paper clay I had left over from my candle wrap tutorial in a mold like that so I pulled out a button mold from Mold Muse (on Etsy) and tried it out...it worked perfectly so I went out and got the cute little mold set my friend had. I liked using the paper clay because it lets me create things in a wide range of colors. After it was all dry I simply colored it in using my Copics and TomBow markers. I'm so happy with my little cherries...they make me smile ;)

 

Have you had a chance to read all about our birthday celebration here on at the Addict blog?? I'm giving away a yummy DeNami gift certificate to a random winner. All you have to do to enter is follow one little rule...make a birthday themed card of your choice! No DeNami products have to be used & no special color palettes. Link up to the birthday celebration and at the end of the month I'll be drawing a random name for the prize package!

 

That's it for me today, hope you like my little card and I will see you back here tomorrow with another challenge entry...this time for Paper Sweeties! If you'd like more info on my mold or the paper clay, just drop me an e-mail!

Project Corner - candle wrap

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I've done a tutorial! All of those theme weeks I did really kicked my tushie!! I just wish Mother's Day, Graduations, Weddings, Father's Day & Independence Day were a little further apart from each other!! ;) It's been a whirl wind for me behind the scenes, but ya'll are worth it!

A few years ago there was a crafty show on HGTV that I loved. A gal went around the US visiting crafters like you and I and filmed them doing what they do. One gal they showed used a medium called Paper Clay. This really intrigued me and I made a little mental note of it. Well, like most of my mental notes...I lost it, lol. I recently caught a re-run of the show and there it was...paper clay!! After a little research I found out that it is what it says it it. It's clay with paper fibers added. Now the strange part is, is that air dried paper clay is strong and if you fire it like traditional clay, it weakens. Weird hunh?? I also found out that paper clay is readily available at the big box craft stores and is fairly inexpensive. That's a win-win isn't it?? It cost me more for a little plastic rolling pin than it did for a package of clay....sigh.

 

While the paper clay can be made into just about anything you can imagine, I decided on a little fancy dressing for some dollar store candles....

Needed items:

1. paper clay
2. roller
3. copy paper (1 sheet)
4. waxed paper
5. knife
6. paper cutter
7. straw
8. ink pads
9. q-tips
10. ruler
11. rubber stamps (leaf accent set, elegant floral set, single pansy, pansy border, pansy sprig

Measure your candle and cut a piece of copy paper to the desired size making sure it's at least one inch shorter than your candles circumference (you don't want it meeting end to end). Stamping out your design on this template will give you a good idea as to how it will look on the candle.

 

Roll out some paper clay to your desired thickness and then using your template & knife, cut out the candle wrap

  

Using your template as your pattern, stamp your design into the paper clay. I found a medium pressure gave me the perfect impression depth. (The clay is very forgiving and can be re-rolled out if you make a mistake)

Using the straw, "punch" a hole in each end of the candle wrap for adding ribbon later. Using the q-tips and your ink pads, dab color on your pattern as desired.

Carefully pick up your finished clay and wrap around the candle for drying. (I learned by trial and error that as the clay dries it will slide down the candle, so it's safer to just place it at the bottom)

After drying for approximately 3 days you can remove it from the candle and add your ribbon.

 

By dabbing the ink on with the q-tips I achieved a soft / shadowed look that I was going for.

I've also made a little candle wrap using 2 alternate ways of coloring it...
 



For this one, after stamping my design I simply sponged on Tim Holts distressed Tea Dye ink (stamp: Solid Decorative Crest)

I just love how vibrant this one turned out!! After I stamped it I left it uncolored to dry. After it was fully dry (3 days) I simply colored it in using my normal markers. This cutie is totally my fave by far!! (Stamps: Small Daisy, Elegant Floral set, Garden Accent set, Mini Butterfly)

I hope you give this a try, it was fun and would make an awesome personalized gift....can't you picture a little frame with a monogram in it?? I can see the frame colored gold with black lettering or maybe just done in a classic black & white motif...Cute, cute cute!! And don't forget about your dry embossing folders...they could be easily pressed into the clay for some yummy teatures...ADORABLE! Hmmm, thinking I'm going to try these ideas out right away! Like I said, the possibilities are endless :)

Well that's it for me today. What a long post, thanks so much for sticking with me through all of that!! ;)

A sweet friend

Have you ever had a friend that goes out of their way to help you with things, let's you pick their brains, sends you surprises in the mail? I have a certain little someone that has done all of that. She's amazingly sweet and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I recently purchased her a cute little 6 X 6 patterned paper pad and made her this little card just to let her know how much I appreciate her.

I know, patterned paper again, can you believe it?? She loves patterned paper and is really rubbing off on me ;)

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

Hello Chickie...

Hi everyone! :)

Today I have one of the chickies that came out last summer to show you. I just LOVE this little cutie, he's definitely in my top 5 faves as far as chickies go!

 

This card is one of those magical creations that just makes themselves...you know what I mean? I don't think I've ever used 2 backgrounds on one panel like this and I normally don't use a partial panel like the magenta panel under the chickie. Also, if I have something like the tree and chickie, it would be my focal point, not the sentiment. Not a clue what I was thinking while making this card, but I'm really feeling it! It's a darn good layout and will prove to be pretty versatile I bet.

 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!



Some layouts are like an old friend...comfortable

I know, I know, I've used this layout several times already....but I just love it, I can't help using it over and over. It's easy, fun and let's me showcase several fun stamps at once. So really, what's not to love, right??

The possibilities with this layout is practically endless; change the color combo up to something fun and summery like maybe a hot pink, teal & celery combo or change the harlequin to a fun chevron image, change your focal image to an chickie or cute little critter and use fun little petit four images that match on your other panel. The sky's the limit....

 

 

Hope you give this fun layout a try! Thanks for stopping by!!