Oh, Baby!

Hello! Today I wanted to share another baby card with you.  I used the new release, type4background from The Stamps Of Life for this one.  I have loved  creating some baby items using that type alphabet background.  I also love dying seam binding.  My stash is dwindling, so I need to make some more!

It is another HOT, HOT day here in Southwest Ohio.  My parents are taking the boys to the fair today.  It is a tradition, and the boys are super excited!  I am hoping to get caught up on some household chores while they are out.  Maybe I can fit in some cardmaking, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Tradefish Designs Summer Fun Contest!

I wanted to let you all know about the Tradefish Designs Summer Fun Contest.  There are some great prizes up for grabs. Check it out!


1. TradeFish will host a contest that will give one lucky crafter a $20 gift certificate to TradeFish Designs once we reach the 10,000 visits mark. Details on how to win coming soon...so get everyone you know to come visit TFD!!!

2. TradeFish will host a contest that will give one lucky crafter the latest and greatest issue of Cricut Magazine when we reach 200 followers. The most recent magazine issued around the time we reach the milestone will be awarded. More details on how to win coming soon...so get everyone you know to come visit and then follow TFD!!!

3. Finally, I know a lot of TradeFish followers and customers are also HUGE Cricut fans. I try to make sure that each stamp set released by TFD has some fun sentiments included that work well with Cricut cuts because I understand that not everyone likes to use stamped images but they love fun sentiments to add to their cards and scrapbook pages. Sooooo, the final contest will award one lucky customer the Creative Memories exclusive Reminisce Accents Cartridge! This cartridge has a retail value of $55. Between now (July 24th) and August 31st, for every purchase you make from TradeFish Designs, you will get your name in the hat (yes, I will actually use a real hat) for the drawing to win! The winner will be announced here on the blog on Friday, September 2nd....so start placing those orders HERE!

Tuesday Trigger-Little Yellow Dress

Well darn!!! I missed the deadline for the Tuesday Trigger, but that fabulous yellow jacket has been in my mind for two weeks! I just couldn't find my Crescendoh "Dresses With Sashes" set to make the card that was floating in my mind.  Of course, I found it today while cleaning!!! Better late than never, right?
I also made this for today's CAS challenge over on SCS-to make a CAS card with a tag.  The sentiment is from Mark's Finest Papers set, Poppies, poppies poppies.  I pieced the dress with white cardstock and DP from Sasafrass Lass.

Below you will find the Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo:

Thanks for stopping by today!

Emily

Kayaking with my boys!

Kayaking with Luke and Max!

Luke was a bit nervous but warmed up to it pretty quickly.

Kayaking with Will was so much fun! He acted as if he had been kayaking his entire life. A real pro!

Hubby and Will kayaking. The maiden voyage!

So...we took our maiden voyage on the new kayak today and had so much fun! We woke up super early to try and beat the heat and play in the water.  I was so impressed at how friendly other kayakers were.  Everyone came to check out our tandem kayak and offer their advice and well wishes.  The boys decided we needed a name for our new toy, and the majority vote was, "Orange Crush".  I think it is pretty cute!  I will have to go buy some letter decals to stick on the side.  I would love to have a custom vinyl decal made, but not sure if it would hold up well.  What do you think?

I am now off to my crafty cave.  If I am not back with a card later on, definitely tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Emily

Thank You Posies....

Hi! Today I have a card using the set, swirls4words from The Stamps Of Life.  I stamped the large and small solid flower in red and so saffron to create the background panel.  I then stamped it in red once and layered it on red and yellow punched circles.  The sentiment is also from this set.  I really like the way this card turned out. Clean and crisp!

We recently bought a kayak, so we are headed out to buy life vests and accessories for it.  We had so much fun on the two-person kayak we rented in Florida recently, that we have been looking on Craig's list for a good deal.   We found one Thursday night before I headed off to work, and when I got home from work at 1:00 am and opened the garage...there it was!  Bill and the boys had wanted to surprise me when I got home!  We may try to get it in the water later on, so hopefully I will have some photos for you tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Emily

Welcome Little One!!!!

Stamps:  The Stamps Of Life sets type4backgrounds, banners4all and sweet4babies sets

paper:  kraft and white cardstock

ink:  so saffron and baja breeze

accessories:  baker's twine from The Twinery

Hello!  Today I have a card using the new release, type4backgrounds along with an older sets, sweet4babies and banners4all from The Stamps Of Life.  I stamped the alphabet background in yellow and blue and then stamped the banners in black and cut them out.  I glued them down along with the twine to make my pennant banner.  The sentiment is stamped in black in the lower corner.  I plan on sending this to a friend who is on maternity leave with her baby boy.

I have another baby card to share with you tomorrow using some of these same sets!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Eat more cake!

Hi there!  Today's card features stamps from Tradefish Designs, Another Year stamp set, .  I pieced the cake with My Mind's Eye Lime Twist DP, and then added some "frosting" to the cake with a snow marker.  I layered it onto the pink polka dot patterned paper and then stamped the sentiment directly on the DP.  I love to stamp sentiments onto DP as long as it is light enough to read and not to busy.  I added some baker's twine to the bottom to tie it all together.  This is such a fun birthday set.  Lot's of fun birthday sentiments, a balloon, a party hat and a pennant to create banners.  Paper piecing is one of my favorite techniques!  Love stamping on my patterned papers.  The 6x6 pads are perfect for cards since the patterns are on a smaller scale.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Life is Good...

Hi there! I made this card for yesterday's CAS challenge over on SCS.  We were to find inspiration from the photo below:

I used the July club set from The Stamps Of Life called island2visit for this card.  I stamped and then cut out the trunk and the palm leaves.  The palm leaves are popped with pop dots.  I ran the pink panel through the cuttlebug with a Tim Holtz embossing folder and then added some tan burlap twine.

I had said I would share some photos from our weekend camping trip but I forgot my camera :( So not happy about that.  We had a great time, and the boys were enthralled with all of the raccoons that would walk right up to us around the campfire at night.  They were too cute.  We had to be careful about what we left out, including the cooler.  We found that they would work together in groups of 3 or 4 to try to get it open EVEN with logs on top of it.  We saved a little baby raccoon from a fiery death more than once.  He kept trying to climb right into the campfire!!!  I worried all night that I was going to wake up and find him roasted! I kept looking out the camper window to make sure. Not something you would want your kids to see, but he obviously found a bite to eat and wandered back into the woods.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Simple I Love You...

Hello! Today's card features that wonderful The Stamps Of Life set, standup4sentiments.  I stamped the "I Love You" in red once, and then stamped it around the red sentiment, in black.  I added some layered, red, felt hearts with a button in the corner. Quick and Easy!
This week The Stamps Of Life is sponsoring the challenge over on Wee Memories.  The challenge is to make a CAS card, so I thought this one was perfect!  There are so many wonderful vertical sentiments in this set.  You could make this very same card with several different sentiments.  The possibilities are endless with this set!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

When you don't know what to say....

Hello! Today I am sharing a card using stamps from The Stamps Of Life new release, type4background set.  I LOVE this set.  It has a wonderful type font alphabet background (I used this for the circles behind the buttons).  It is large enough to cover an entire A2 size card!  The sentiments that go along with it are perfect for those difficult times.  Sometimes you need a card for someone going through a really rough time, and sympathy sayings just don't get it.  This set is perfect. 
I actually mailed this card to a friend recently who has had some terrible things happen in her life.  I wrote her a nice note on the inside, but sometimes it is hard to know what to say when someone is going through a rough time that you can not personally relate to. KWIM?  This sentiment is brutally honest when there isn't anything you can think of to say to make it all better.
I always have the toughest time sending a card to someone who is going through a rough time.  You don't want it to be too cheery or sickening sweet, because sometimes that just makes it worse.  I really struggle with homemade cards for those occasions.
Stay tuned for more cards using this set for happier occasions! LOL!
Have a great day, and hopefully I will have some camping photos to share with you tomorrow!

Emily

A summery card and pool pics!

Hello! Today I have a card using a new release from The Stamps Of Life called, swirls4words.  I used one of the sentiments and one of the flowers for the orange panel.  The designer paper is Sasafrass Lass.  The butterflies are die cuts from Cosmo Cricket's Salt Air collection.  I thought these colors were fun for summertime.
It is amazing to me how fast the summer has gone.  We have been busy, busy doing a bit of traveling and hanging out in our little backyard pool.  We bought this pool last summer, and  never imagined it would last for another!  It's one of those soft sided pools that you hook up to a filter, but easy to put up and take down.  It is perfect for the boys (for now).  We would like to put in an in-ground pool when all of the boys are a bit older and stronger swimmers!  For now, this little pool works beautifully!
Below you will find some fun summer photos I took of them the other day.  Will is showing off his new Lego freighter.  We had to get that set since it reminds us of the lake freighters that go by my parents cottage in Michigan!  Max and Luke are goofing around with the pool noodles.  Good times...

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

HELLO

  I wanted to share this card I made using the new release from The Stamps Of Life, standup4sentiments.  I love all of the wonderful vertical sentiments in this set.  This card fit the "collage" challenge over on SCS today, too.  I used several die cut elements and papers from echo park's For The Record collection along with a die from Basic Grey's Saltwater collection.  I added some staples for effect and the baker's twine is from The Twinery.

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

TFD-Whatcha' Got Cookin'? (second post for today)

Hello! Today I made a card using the Tradefish Design set, Grill Master.  I stamped, colored and cut out the chef's hat and spatula. The chef's hat is popped up with foam adhesives.  I wanted to keep this clean and simple, as I may give it to my hubby just for the heck of it!  This set is great for making cards for all of the "grill masters" in your life!  In fact, a lot of Tradefish Design stamps are perfect for masculine cards of all types.  Stay tuned for more cards using Tradefish Design stamps!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Vote for MEG!

Hi there!  I am asking you to please vote for a fellow blogging friend, Meg in the Gallery Idol competition.  Meg made an AMAZING card for the top twenty. Check out the incredible house above.  I was completely blown away by the design and details of this card.  Below you will find her most recent card for the second part of the competition, do it yourself embellishments.  Isn't she FABULOUS?  Please vote for Meg!!!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Hello! Today I have a beachy card for you using the new island2visit set from The Stamps Of Life.  I used a sentiment and the palm tree from this set.  I created a mask to sponge my sun, and then sponged a light blue for the sky.  The water is a layer of Pacific Point paper and the sand is kraft paper that I stamped the "sand" on with brown ink.  The sand stamp is also from this set.  I used a white gel pen for my waves.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

Exciting Announcement!!!

Hello! Today I have an exciting announcement to make.  I am now a member of the Tradefish Design Team!  Tradefish is a company that is new to me, but one that I quickly fell in love with.  Their stamps are clean, fun and perfect for CAS cards!  I made the card above using stamps from two different sets.  The banner is from the set, Independence Day and the sentiment is from the set, Missing You.  There are two different sized banners perfect for sentiments and words of all sizes.  The stamps are awesome to use...they stamp perfectly the first time. Very high quality clear stamps.

I made this card for the accordian flower challenge over on the CREATE blog.  It is featured HERE on their blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I can't wait to show you more projects using Tradefish Designs stamps!

Emily

A couple more CAS cards

Hello!  Today I am sharing a couple of cards I made for the Holiday CAS challenge event on SCS.  You can participate all week and two people will be randomly chosen to be guest designers on the CAS design team.

My first card features part of a die cut border from K&Company.  The sentiment is from TSOL set, daisies2garden.
The second card features stamps from ippity's How You Doin' set.  I love the fun whimsical images and cute matching sentiments in this set.  If you are wanting any ippity stamps, I highly recommend Noelle.  She ships for free and gives you free baker's twine with every order!

Hope you get a chance to participate in some of the CAS challenges on SCS.  My challenge is #12-To use stars on your CAS card!

Thanks for stopping by,

Emily

Day full of CAS challenges!

Stamps:  island2vist-The Stamps Of Life

paper:  winter storm white; pumpkin pie (SU)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; SU pumpkin pie and baja breeze

Accessories:  baker's twine-The Twinery

Hello, and Happy Fourth Of July!  Today I am sharing a card with you that I made for the holiday CAS challenges over on SCS.  If you are a lover of CAS design, then you will want to check out all of the fabulous challenges running all day long.  There will be 22 challenges in all, but you don't have to do all of them. You can pick and choose which you do and create at your own pace!

My challenge goes live at 2:00 PM.  It is a "Star Spangled Banner" theme.  My challenge is to use stars in a CAS design, so I decided to think out of the box.  Instead of using regular stars, I used starfish stamps from the new TSOL release, island2visit set!

I hope all of you CAS lovers can play along in some of the challenges today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

TSOL July Club Set-Island2visit

Hello!  Can you believe I have two post in one day!!!!????? WOW!  This card was featured on the CREATE blog yesterday.  I used some fab DP from echo park's Splash collection. I punched an orange circle and yellow circle from DP from this same collection, added rhinestones and adhered to the middle of the sunburst.  The sentiment is from the new July club release from The Stamps Of Life.  This set is super fun for summer.  You will be seeing more cards with that set!

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily

FWF-Beyond Happy For You!

Hello! Happy Friday.  Today I have a card using my brand new ippity stamps.  LOVE this set, The Best.  It has so many fun banners and a large tag that can be used for many occasions.  If you are wanting some ippity, make sure you go and check out Noelle's ippity site.  She has every single ippity set in stock, she mails you some baker's twine with every order and she ships for FREE!  How awesome is that?
This card is also for the "bling" challenge over on the ippity blog.  I used some My Mind's Eye, "Lime Twist" patterned paper for this card.  Love the bright colors against the kraft base.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Emily