Emily Branch Designs | Branch Out.

A Ready Made Floral Card of Thanks

Hey friends! Popped in on a Sunday to share this fun and simple card that I made for the Moxie Fab World Ready Made Embellishments challenge. I've never played along with the challenges before, but I knew this card was perfect for it!

I love that the ready-made chipboard flower bunch from Crate Paper really pops out against the stamped banner and woodgrain background, which are from the Beautiful Banners set by Gina K Designs. I added a few pearls to draw the eye to the floral bunch as well as some texture in the ribbon. This card was fun and really simple to create and the ready-made embellishment takes center stage.

There's still time to play along in this challenge--Click here to get all the details!

Autumn Card with SEI

I am so ready for summer to be over. Don't get me wrong, I love the sunshine, but Autumn is such a colorful, warm and fun time of the year. I love picking out pumpkins, decorating for Halloween and Thanksgiving and spending time with the family! I was so excited to start fall off right, that during the first week of Septembe,r as we were going through a heat spell, I decided "enough of the heat" I am decorating for fall! I pulled down all my decor, set it up and even put my fall wreath on the front door, even though it was a 100 degrees. My poor husband came home from work, saw the wreath, and just shook his head smiling.

What better way to start off autumn, than by using SEI's new line, Yesteryear to create a beautiful card for a friend? Every release from SEI is beautifully designed with rich, deep colors; lovely textures and design elements and fun embellishments. I think this is why I have loved designing with SEI product--amazing quality products and rich design elements, perfectly combined to create quality projects. Yesteryear is no exception! The minute I saw this collection, I instantly was inspired to play with every product in the line.

My first bit of inspiration for this card came from the gorgeous frame cardstock stickers! I love how elegant they are, and knew they'd frame the embellishments perfectly. After I trimmed some background ppaer from the Yesteryear Creative pack, I then began embellishing the card. In one frame I added a leaf and acorn rub on, and then layered an acorn cardstock sticker above it. In the other frame, I layered a gold foil die cut leaf over a pin and ribbon. Since, I wanted each embellishment to shine and not have the frames looked cluttered, but balanced, I added two more spots of interest. I adhered a golden jewel from sundries to a leaf cardstock sticker in one corner, and then placed a beautiful foiled leaf over a button, both of which are available in sundries. To finish the card off, I stamped a sentiment on the banner cardstock sticker, which I am just ga ga over!

I loved this collection, and I think you will too! SEI's fall collections are always one of the most inspirational releases!

World Card Making Day 2013

Happy World Card Making Day! Making cards is one of the funnest things that I enjoy doing, and I absolutely love giving them to friends and family, as well as submitting for publication and playing with products I love! This happens to be a card that was featured in the the latest special issue Handmade Cards, published by Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking magazine.

In this issue, designers focused on creating cards using simple materials found at home, but also with the usual suspects found in your craft room, and even your kitchen! I used wax paper to stitch this adorable little envelope and filled with patterned paper and wood veneer confetti!

I stamped a swirl of ribbon and a sentiment, and affixed a ribbon treatment to the card with a gold star and polka dot sequin from the Studio Calico's Pop off the Page class.

Run, don't walk to your nearest craft and hobby store to pick up this super inspiring issue or purchase it here today--as a card maker, I know that you'll be so happy you did!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting today! Don't forget, you too can also submit to the current call for Paper Crafts Magazine by clicking here, or play along in their annual World Card Making contest here!

Baby Twig Layout: From the Beginning

With the arrival of Baby Twig, I have been so excited to finally start making layouts and a Project Life album for all the little daily events during pregnancy that don't really warrant a full spread. For this layout, I wanted to document the first time I saw my little "bean." Granted, at five weeks and six days there's not much to see, but we did see the heartbeat at this sonogram. It's amazing how much you love something, when it's so tiny.

I chose patterned paper from Crate’s Flea Market line that was gender neutral, since we don’t know the baby’s gender yet. I really love the gold trend right now, so I added a gold doily, and chipboard letters in which the negative is backed with patterned paper. I’m a big fan of combining patterned paper from multiple lines, so I also sprinkled in some Color Wash from Pink Paislee and Crate’s Close Knit.

I chose to build up layers of patterned paper that are distressed, and stitched around the edges of the paper blocks with my sewing machine. I also punched some patterned paper hearts, folding some hearts in half and adhered those to the background. I then notched a patterned paper strip and adhered it to the bottom of the photo, added some gold sparkly twine above it, and then layed the you and me title above the twine. For some more dimension, I added a chevron ribbon detail from a Studio Calico Valley High card kit.

materials: Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party Epoxy stickers | Maggie Holmes Flea Market 12" x 12" paper pad | Maggie Holmes Flea Market Chipboard stickers | Studio Calico Valley High card kit

So, I haven't really been a Project Life person. Not a lot goes on in my life....well, that is prior to little Twig. I must admit, I am super excited to have something to document my little one's time in my tummy. I think Project Life is the perfect format for documenting the everyday little moments of pregnancy that don't necessarily need to make up an entire layout.

My first spread showcases us finding out that we were expecting, I even included one of those little stick pregnancy tests (dry, of course). The journaling talks about how we told each of our families.

I used the Project Life Blush core kit, but also added in goodies from Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, Lucky Charm and 5th and Frolic collection as well as Crate's Close Knit and Flea Market line

materials: Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party die cuts | Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Thickers | Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic stickers | Project Life Blush core kit

Looking forward to sharing more with you!

Winner of the Handmade Cards Blog Hop

Thanks to everyone who hopped along during the Paper Crafts Blog Hop! Your comments were so sweet, and totally brightened my day. I would love to giveaway a free issue to everyone, but I only have one, so here's today's winner!

Birthday Fun with SEI

I love mixing patterned paper and embellishments together, especially when I can pull patterned papers from different collections together! This card uses two SEI collections, the newest Noteworthy memory system and one of my favorites, Vanilla Sunshine from the Winter 2012 release.

I love the cute little word bubble stickers that come in the Noteworthy memory system and embellished them with festive and playful birthday sentiments found in the Vanilla Sunshine perforated paper sheet along with a cute cupcake and star sticker that are found in the Noteworthy memory system. I added a punched heart and star with a brad from the Vanilla Sunshine embellishments. Even though the collections aren't the same, they had similar colors and coordinating patterns so they still work perfectly! All these pretty embellishments are layered on a patterned paper base from the Noteworthy memory system.

Paper Crafts Magazine Presents Handmade Cards Blog Hop

Hey there friends! Welcome to the Paper Crafts Handmade Cards Blog Hop. Special issues like this one are my favorite because they help me look at how to use my supplies in fun and creative new ways. This is an issue you just have to pick up, or win!!

My challenge was to create a card using only nine supplies! I know, I know....nine!! Some may think that's a lot, but for me, I never count how many embellishments I add to a card, so having to keep track of the amount of supplies was a bit difficult. I even had to make a check list to make sure I didn't go over the limit! In the end I ended up using cardstock, die cuts, patterned paper, ribbon, enamels, stickers, sequins, punches and my electronic die cut machine.

Being that I love mixing elements from various paper collections and all sorts of embellishments together, I chose nine supplies and created this lovely card in a new style that you may have seen in Paper Crafts magazine, called Freestyle/Collage. In this style, seemingly unrelated materials come together in a cohesive design, which worked perfectly for this challenge.

First, I created the die cut from a digital file. I then trimmed that die cut into a smaller strip and added paper to some of the openings to create some interest and dimension. Then, I trimmed a patterned paper strip and added it to the bottom of card right above some patterned paper peaking through the rounded corner.

I added a cluster of patterned paper that I trimmed with a decorative edge punch. I added the strip to a gold doily die cut, and then clustered some sequins, a die cut banner and enamel flower.

Near the focal point of my card and I layered a floral die cut, enamel bow and a sticker to a ribbon treatment.

I hope you enjoyed this blog hop and visiting all the creative designers blogs for your chance to win and be inspired. Make sure that you have left a comment on each blog by Tuesday, September 24th for your chance to win a copy of this issue. If you missed any blogs, here's the list.

Emily Branch (that's me)

Paper Crafts Connection

In the comment box below, tell me what your absolute go-to favorite supply is. I'll pick one winner on Wednesday, September 25th. Don't forget end today's blog hop with a stop back to Paper Crafts Connection for a fabulous giveaway!!