Merry Christmas

   Wishing you all a Merry Christmas! Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement this year. It's been my great pleasure to share my work with you.
    I'm looking forward to a great 2014! I have a children's picture book coming out soon. I'll update you when I have a release date. And, of course, there will be more cards! I am also hoping to have some very talented, fellow crafters do a bit of guest posting here. Can't wait for you to see some of their work.
     May I pray with you today? Our dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for each person who has visited my blog this year. I seek Your blessings on each one. Grant them peace and love and lots of laughter as we celebrate the birth of the Messiah. I know some who come here find themselves far away from family and other loved ones. May they and their loved ones never be far from You. In the blessed name of Jesus, Amen.
   

Our 35th Wedding Anniversary

     My husband, Jeff, and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary last week. Hard to believe that much time has passed since we found each other. I wanted to share a card I made to mark the day and add to a scrapbook page.

      All the cardstock I used here comes from DCWV's The Summer Solstice Stack.  Thanks for popping in and sharing our day!

DCWV November Stack-a-holic Challenge

    UPDATE: I'm so excited to learn my gift tag made the TOP-10 winners list at DCWV! You can check out the other winners here: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/12/november-stack-holic-challenge-top-10s.html

 Thanks for popping in today. Hope you are enjoying your winter. Mine has been really busy, but not too busy for another Stack-a-holic challenge from DCWV. Instead of a card challenge this month, we have an ornament challenge, or a gift-tag if we prefer.

     This is my year for gift-tags, I guess. I've had several challenges asking for gift-tags recently. I made this tag as a Christmas tag, but I could easily use it for a number of occasions.

     Here's how I made this one. I cut a light minty-green tag shape (2.5" x 7") from DCWV's Homespun Cardstock Stack - my absolute favorite stack of all time. All other paper for this tag comes from DCWV's Handy-Dandy Stack. I punched a double-loop edge (Martha Stewart) on the bottom end of the tag. I cut a smaller panel from a coordinating patterned paper and adhered it along the side. I ran a small strip of light red/dark rosy patterned paper through my crimper (Fiskars) and matted it with a white panel that was also trimmed with the double loops.

     To make my medallion, I punched a 12" length of a lattice chain edge (EK Success) from the same paper as the side panel. I scored it every 1/2" and fan-folded it into a medallion. It is so pretty and lacey in person. I adhered the snowflake brad (the Paper Studio) with hot-glue in the center.

     I heat-embossed the to-from tag (Fiskars)  in white ink and white embossing powder on the back of a scrap left over from the minty green tag. Then, I punched two holes and laced a length of white, satin ribbon between them. I also added a ribbon to the back so I can tie the tag to a present.

     There is still plenty of time to play along with us. Here's a copy of the sketch we had to work with and a link to all the rules. http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-stack-holic-challenge.html

Handmade Elements Challenge

    Thanks for stopping by today. Always love your visits. I'm playing along this week in Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock online crop and getting a head start on my Christmas cards.

     The challenge here was to make a card using handmade elements. I made my Christmas tree with two sizes of heart punches (Fiskars). I used two shades of olive and dark rosy red from Core'dinations Nostalgia collection.
     First, with the lighter olive, I embossed - well actually I debossed because I got the paper against the plate (Spellbinders) upside down. But, I liked it so I went with it. I sanded the cardstock and punched four large and one small heart, turned them so the pointy end was up, and glued them together to make a tree. I decorated with pearls and a star which began life as a flower. I adhered the tree with foam tape to the rosy red panel.
     I cut a same-size panel of darker olive and embossed it with a folder (Sizzix) and fussy-cut the center out. I added thicker foam tape to adhere the top panel.
     You still have time to play along. Check the Master Challenge list here: http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2013/10/31/master-challenge-list/

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CAS Christmas Card - Snowstar

     I'm playing along this weekend in Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock online crop and getting a head start on my Christmas cards.

      Those who know me would tell you that I almost always use non-traditional colors for my Christmas cards - like this purple, blue and white card. The object of this challenge is to create a clean-and-simple card with a sentiment and two or less embellishments. As you see, I only used one which I call a snowstar.
     To get the snowflake brad (the Paper Studio) to shine, I laid it on the back side of a 5 x 7" grape panel from Core'dinations' Nostalgia collection. I marked the arms of the snowflake and then scored from the back along those lines. I did a little sanding and my snowflake, I mean snowstar, shines!
     I heat-embossed the sentiment (Fiskars) with white pigment and white embossing powder. I lightly sanded the edges of the tag to make it stand out against the same color background. To finish, I adhered the panel to a white card base.
     Thanks so much for stopping in today. There is still lots of time left if you want to play along with us. See the Master Challenge List here: http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2013/10/31/master-challenge-list/

Christmas Tags

UPDATE:   I'm excited to learn my tags won in their category! You can check out all the other winners here:    http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2013/11/12/hard-core-crop-winnners-in-here/

  I'm playing along this weekend in Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock online crop and getting a head start on my Christmas tags.

     The object of this challenge was to create at least two tags and to stamp on the tags. I used an olive green and three shades of rosy red from Core'dinations Nostalgia collection to make my tags. I used embossing folders(the Paper Studio) to create the quatrefoil and dotted textures. I used a combination of dies(Spellbinders)  and punches (Fiskars) to make the embellishments. I heat-embossed the sentiment (Cosmo Cricket) with white pigment and white embossing powder. Added a giant diamond (real, of course) and some ribbons. Two tags down and lots more to go.
     There is lots of time left to get your projects in if you want to play along with us. The Challenge Master List is here:  http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2013/10/31/master-challenge-list/

A Great Big Thanks

 

     If you popped in today expecting to see a card, you might get one later today. But first, I owe you all a big thanks! You guys are buying so many e-book copies of my book, A Deliberate Life: A Journey into the Alaskan Wilderness, that you have brought new life to it. And, the price is super - less than $4 at bn.com and amazon.com. I know you have been buying copies since it was first published, but once my publisher made it an e-book, sales have really taken off again. Thank you so much to each one of you.

     I'm currently working on the illustrations for a children's picture book I wrote. It will be out before long. I'll keep you posted about the release date and other info.

     You guys really are the greatest!

 

    You can see my book at Barnes & Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-deliberate-life-pamela-haskin/1115393435?ean=9780595281640

 

     You can see my book at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Deliberate-Life-Journey-Alaskan-Wilderness-ebook/dp/B007H3T0QI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383327604&sr=8-1&keywords=Pamela+Haskin#

 

 

 

Core'dinations Online Crop

 

There is a fun online crop going on at Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock this weekend. And, we have until Nov 10th to get our projects in. Yay! I love having extra time. Thanks, Core'!

 

You can check out the Master Challenge list here:

http://www.coredinations.com/index.php/2013/10/31/master-challenge-list/comment-page-1/#comment-64127

Check out all the fun on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/475922629187858/477463629033758/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

DCWV October Stack-a-holic Card Color Challenge

  Update: So excited! Just found out this card made it into the Top-10 at DCWV! Check out the other winners here: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/10/top-10-october-stack-holic-challenge.html

   Thanks for popping in! I always love your visits. Today, I have a card for DCWV's Card Color Challenge for October.

 

     Green, purple, orange, and brown are the colors-of-the-month. I used DCWV's The Home Spun Stack, one of my favs, to create my card. I love this stack for the ridged texture it brings. The small glittery orange strip of cardstock under the purple is from DCWV's The Halloween Stack. One piece of advice I might offer is if you are using a trimmer to cut the glitter papers, put your paper into the trimmer upside down. It will help keep your blade from getting dull so quickly.

     To make the textured wreath, I used Sizzix's Wreath folder. Then, ran my boysenberry pigment pad from ColorBox over the top to make the wreath stand out more. I added a few leaves, buttons, feathers, gems and autumn leaves. I got the leaves from a sprig of flowers in the floral dept. They peel off nicely and will stick well with glue dots.

     There's still plenty of time to enter your own card. Check out the details here: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-stack-holic-challenge.html

* * * World Cardmaking Day * * *

     I hosted four of the 12 challenges last weekend on the Fiskateer blog for World Cardmaking Day. I want to share my cards with you all here as well.

Cheers to You

 

     For this challenge, I required everyone to make a bright, cheery card to have on hand for the next time someone needs cheering up.
     I love the look of fussy-cutting! I usually save up my cutting projects and cut them out while I watch TV in the evening. That works okay as long as I'm not watching a scary show. I've ruined a few things because I have jumped when the little people who live in the TV try to get out. LOL
     I also love heat-embossing and use it on at least 3/4 of my cards. For this card, I heat-embossed two images of the bird and apple blossoms from Stampabilities. I used boysenberry pigment and clear fine-detail-embossing powder. I matted one copy and then fussy-cut the bird and flowers. Using foam tape, I layered the bird and some of the blossoms. The two blossoms at the bottom were not a part of the original image. I added them at the bottom with flat glue-dots to add balance. And, since I've been so into pearls lately, I added two sizes of tiny white pearls to the flower centers and three larger ones to add balance. The sentiment is from Fiskars' Friends Forever collection.    

Kickin' It Old School

     For this card, the challenge was to use only those older supplies, tools and papers we found in our stash of supplies. I had so much fun digging through my stash! I found some great stuff in there I didn't know I had. Guess I should go through it a little more often. I got to use some old alphabet stickers and diamonds - real of course, or at least that is what I tell people. And, the cardstock panel was one I saved because I couldn't bear to cut it. Well, it's done now and I have some great scraps left over too. This is all too much fun!

Noteworthy

     The challenge here was to make a card with the word 'NOTE' on it, plus use any cardmaking tool in a new way.
     I created the trim on my card using Fiskars' pinwheel punch! I picked two different colors of cardstock (patterned paper works well too). I found it was easier to see the pattern I created by using two different colors of the same pattern. I tried a lot of different papers and most worked great.
     I punched my pinwheels and tucked them into each other making sure I had all the tabs in place to create the pattern I wanted. I ran narrow tape across the back of the pinwheels once they were arranged and adhered them to my card. And, don't you love the white flower with burlap leaves and orange button? I won a set of them from Little Yellow Bicycle on a prior challenge on our great Fiskateer blog!

Closed for Business

Closed for Business - Back Side


     The challenge here was to make a card that did not open (i.e. postcard, oversized gift tag). 
     I'm getting a start with my Christmas post-cards with this one.
     I stamped the banners with olive green and pink sky chalks using a masking technique. If you want to try it too, stamp our image on a piece of copy paper or other very thin paper. Cut it out. When you are ready to stamp, position the mask in the spot where the image that appears to be on top. Then, stamp the back image. Remove the mask and stamp the near image. Easy once you get the hang of it.
     Both sentiments are from Fiskars' Season's Greetings collection. I stamped the snowflakes (from various Fiskars holiday collections) very lightly with Robins' Egg blue.

     Thanks so much for spending time with me today. I'll be back in a day or two with my DCWV Stack-a-holic card challenge. Hope you have a really fun day! And, if you want to join in the fun, check out the details here: www.fiskateers.com 

* * * World Cardmaking Day * * *

What are you doing this weekend? Come make cards with us on the Fiskateers blog. There will be fun challenges and prizes and a great time. I'll be hosting a couple of the challenges and a game. I think the challenges go up on Saturday morning and we usually get a day or two to finish up the projects we are working on. Check out the blog here: www.fiskateers.com .

DCWV August Stack-a-holic Template Challenge

Update: Just found out my card made it to the Top-10 this month at DCWV. Yay! You can see all the other Top-10 here: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/08/august-stack-holic-top-10s.html 

     Thanks so much for popping in today. Always so nice to hear from you all. My card today is for DCWV's August Card Sketch Challenge. I used The Home Spun Cardstock Stack for this card. I'm really excited about how the top purple panel turned out. To begin with, some of the cardstock in this stack has a scored texture. I embossed the pre-scored purple panel using Spellbinders M-bossabilities folder EL-009. Then I ran a pigment pad (ColorBox -boysenberry) across the top of the embossed panel. In person it looks just like hand-tooled leather!
     Then, for the fun part. I gathered up a bunch of my punches and started punching and stacking. I used a Hero Arts stamp (CL342) for the sentiment.
     I made a card last week with an offset top panel and got so many comments about it, I wanted to use that technique again. Don't you think it adds a lot interest to the card? I love the polka-dot buttons too (Studio G ).
     Hope you get to do something fun today. Maybe you want to make a card too. There's still time to join in the fun at DCWV. Here's the link for all the details and below is a copy of the sketch we had to work with: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/08/august-stack-holic-template-challenge.html


 

DCWV July Stack-a-holic Template Challenge

     Hard to believe that July is almost gone! Time to get another DCWV challenge card submitted before time runs out. There's still enough time if you want to join in on the fun. I'll put the link and the sketch below.

 

     I used DCWV’s Chickadee Mésange Pájaro stack for this card. I say this card would work equally well for a woman or a man. I often need a masculine card - lots of men in my family. I will be sending this card to one of them.

     I used Spellbinders Labels Eighteen dies for my sentiment tags. I brushed the edges with brown ink to make them stand out. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is stamped with the same brown ink.

     Come and join in the fun with us! Check out all the details here:  http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/07/july-stack-holic-template-challenge.html

     And, here's a copy of the sketch to get you started:

 

 

Tuesday Trigger - A Painterly Palette Challenge

 

 

        I created this card for the Tuesday Trigger- A Painterly Palette challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

        Using the heat-resist technique to make the circles, I stamped different doily images with Versamark watermark ink and then heat-embossed with white embossing powder onto white cardstock. Then I rubbed pigment ink pads over the top of the heat-resist doilies. I gently rubbed the ink off the embossing leaving behind my white embossing lines. I only used three colors of ink but applied more or less ink to some of the circles to create different shades. Next, I punched 1.25" and 1.50" centers from the doilies. Adhering a few circles with foam tape, I used the darker doilies at the bottom and the smaller circles in the back to give depth and movement to the card.

       I also used heat-resist on the sentiment tag. I stamped on white cardstock here as well. Then, I applied the ink, trimmed and matted the sentiment tag with white cardstock.

       That gorgeous background cardstock comes from the Chickadee Mesange Pajaro stack from DCWV.

       There is still a little time left  if you want to come play with us. Check out the details here: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2013/07/tuesday-trigger-painterly-palette.html

        And, here's the great inspiration photo we had to work with:

 

 

 



DCWV June Stack-a-holic Card Sketch Challenge

    Update: My card made the TOP-10 List again at DCWV! Check out all the winners here: http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/07/june-stack-holic-template-challenge-top.html

 It is already time for another monthly challenge with DCWV! I don't know where the time goes.

          I used DCWV's Homespun Cardstock Stack for this card. I love this stack and the texture of the cardstock. I cut cupcake liners from five different colors. Don't they look just like real cupcake liners!?! Using Fiskars' cloud punch, I punched 'icing' out of the white in the stack. I added sprinkles with markers of the same colors and dotted them here and there and also sprinkled the sentiment panel. I cut the candles at an angle across the yellow cardstock that matches the card base. I added a little shiny gold to light the candle. The individual glitter squares are in this same stack too! It's a great stack!
     There is still plenty of time if you want to answer DCWV's challenge this month. Here's the template and address to get all the details http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-stack-holic-template-challenge.html

     Thanks so much for stopping by. I love sharing my cards with you.

CAS-ual Fridays' Red, White and Blue Challenge CFC102

     Thanks so much for stopping by this weekend. Hope you are all getting a long weekend and spending time with family and friends.

      In honor of Memorial Day, CAS-ual Fridays issued a challenge for a card using red, white & blue. Beginning with a white card-base (4.25x5.5), I trimmed 1/8" red and blue strips from cardstock. Then, I stamped 'Hello' in red and punched the petal shape using Fiskars extra large Petal by Petal punch. I also punched a petal in red and another in blue. As you can see, I glued them together with just a sliver of each color showing from behind the sentiment. I adhered the finished petal with foam tape and rounded the bottom corners of the card.   

     There is still plenty of time to play along with us. You can find all details here: http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/2013/05/cfc102.html