You're Amazing - Surprise Box

      I made this surprise box for a very dear and special lady. I had so much fun designing and creating this card for her.
     Yes, it's a card! If you have not seen these surprise boxes before, I'll tell you that they fold flat for mailing. Well, they usually do. I got a little carried away with filling it up with flowers and pearls and other things. I plan to give this to her in person so it doesn't really matter. It does fold enough to get it in an envelope but certainly not flat enough to mail without ruining it.
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     I heat embossed and die cut the flowers in three sizes. I adhered the layers with foam tape between each and finished them with a pearl center. I stamped the leaves with a watermark ink to keep them more subtle.
     I made two sizes of medallions by cutting 1" x 11.5" and .75" x 11.5" cardstock strips. I scored them every .25".
     Here's a different look that shows the layers better.

 

 

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    I'm going to post this card on Simon Says Challenge Blog for WORLD CARD MAKING DAY. Want to play along? Here's a link to the challenge. http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/happy-world-card-making-day-from-simon-says-stamp/

    Thanks so much for stopping in today. May the Lord be glorified by the work of my hands, and may my friend know how much she is loved,
          Pamela
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Materials List
   cardstock-  wild wisteria, grass green (Gina K Designs)
                        white, pink, purple, yellow (the Paper Studio)
   stamps-      flowers & leaves (Bold & Blooming, Gina K Designs)
                        sentiment (Mon Ami, Cas-ual Fridays)
   dies-            surprise box (Our Daily Bread Designs)
                        flourish (Fantastic Flourish One, Spellbinders)
                     flowers & leaves (Bold & Blooming, Gina K Designs)
   punches-   corner rounder (EK Success)
   inks-           violet, orchid, canary, black (ColorBox)
                      watermark (VersaMark)
   pearls, bird- Recollections
   adhesives-  glitter tape, double-stick tape, foam tape (3M)
                      blue gel school glue (Elmer's)
  

Fiskafriends The Power of Community Blog Hop and Giveaway

       Welcome to our blog hop!

     We are celebrating our First Anniversary with a Fiskafriend Blog Hop.  You do not have to be a Fiskafriend to visit and comment on our bloggers' posts. This hop is open to everyone! International visitors included! The theme of the hop is Anything Goes, so be prepared to find a variety of creative projects and ideas. 
     Giveaway prizes?  Of course! Everyone loves a giveaway! We will have an end of the hop giveaway with fabulous prizes. In addition to the end of the hop giveaway, some of our bloggers are offering giveaway prizes of their own on their posts.    For the complete blog hop list and to be entered in the Fiskafriends' sponsored giveaways, leave a comment on any of the listed blogs and follow the sponsor giveaway entry directions at: http://fiskafriends.blogspot.com/ 

     I am having my own giveaway too! Instructions to enter my separate giveaway are at the bottom of this post.

     I  have Easter cards to share with you on my hop stop.

     I've been playing around lately with the idea of what impact color and simple patterns can have in card design. I used a fairly bright pink on my first card. The gingham gives it a sort of country look, even with the fancy, white, die-cut overlay.

     I used the exact same design on my second card changing only the color and using a solid instead of a printed, oval layer. The second card is certainly more elegant than the first.

     I had a heck of a time photographing this second card. Something about the flowers is reading wrong through my camera. I'm sharing it here anyway, so you can at least get a better idea of what I'm talking about. The flowers in 'real life' are a much better match with this light peach background.  

     >>>DESIGNER TIP<<< To get my heat-embossed sentiment to match the curve of my oval panel, I curved the clear stamp as I placed it on an acrylic block. Kind of gives an extra life to a lot of my stamps.

 

      I want to show you the inside of my cards as well. I often don't put as much effort on the inside of the card, but I'm changing that. I like bringing a little something from the front to the inside - color and theme in this instance. I wish I had thought to put a piece of the die-cut vine on the inside to peak out from under the sentiment tag. Too late, the cards are already in the mail headed to their recipients.

   For the complete blog hop list and to be entered in the Fiskafriends' sponsored giveaways, leave a comment on any of the listed blogs and follow the sponsor giveaway entry directions at: http://fiskafriends.blogspot.com/ 

     Now, for my own giveaway. I have an e-book copy of my latest children's book, "Max, the Boy Raindrop" in which I created all the illustrations using only paper/cardstock and scrapbooking tools. I will also include a fun border punch from EK Success to send to one of my followers (US residents only). Join my blog and your name will go in the drawing. Let me know in your comment that you joined. If you are already a member of my blog,  tell me so and your name will go in as well. I will draw a name for my personal giveaway on Wednesday, April 1st.  Check back in to see if you are the winner. You'll have two weeks to contact me with mailing info.

 

Stacia #9314 is up next:   http://www.stampzone.blogspot.com

Start here: http://fiskafriends.blogspot.com/ 

1. Jean Bullock, #8889,  http://ez3dpopups.blogspot.com 
2. Susan Slomski, #6150,  http://sueinct.blogspot.com 
3. Cindy deRosier, #4113, http://www.cindyderosier.com
4. Tifany DeGough, #5942, http://inkblotsbytrd.blogspot.com 
5. Cheryl Waters, #002, http://blog.artsyfindings.com
6. Jean Marmo, #7358, http://pagesintime.blogspot.com/
7. Teresa Godines #6857 http://purplebunnypapercrafts.blogspot.com/
8. Michelle O'Driscoll #7586 http://scrapbookingsos.blogspot.ca/
9. Nancy Carroll  #11488  http://nancecarroll.blogspot.com
10. Maya Oren-Dahan #351  http://mayadahan.blogspot.com
11. Amy Martin Jones #8546 http://thetigershaven.blogspot.com/
12. Karen Poirier-Brode (Ladydoc) #2858 http://www.karenscorneroftheweb.blogspot.com
13. Tanya Napier #5407  http://mamabirdy-happinessishomemade.blogspot.com/
14. Pamela Haskin #8040 www.cottagebelow.com  (You are here.)
15. Stasia Sloma #9314 http://www.stampzone.blogspot.com
16. Tracy Moloney  #6773 http://tracyscraftyadventures.blogspot.com.au/
17. Kim Chenez #5612 http://scrapbooknstampingfun.blogspot.com/

 

       Here's what I used to make my cards:

          cardstock: white, pink, green the Paper Studio

          patterned paper: pink gingham, the Paper Studio

          die-cuts: overlay and oval layer, Spellbinders 5x7 Heirloom Legacy

                            vine, Our Daily Bread Designs Fancy Foliage

          punches: EK Success lattice chain and corner rounder

          stamps: Paper Smooches Easter Blessings

                          Our Daily Bread Designs Earth Verses

          flowers: Prima Marketing

          brads: Recollections

          ink: black pigment, ColorBox

          embossing powder: clear, Ranger

May the Lord be glorified by the work of my hands, 

                             Pamela

                

Sketch Challenge ODBDSLC230

     Thanks so much for stopping by. Today, I have an Easter card for the Sketch Challenge over at Our Daily Bread Designs.

     Yes, I know pastels are the traditional color for Easter cards. But, the rebel in me came out to play today. So, here is a teal and cranberry Easter card. Please note that the pink diamonds are pastel-ish. LOL        

     I used a stamp from the Earth Verses (F494) collection from ODBD to make my card.

     Now, here's the sketch we had to work with this week and the link to play along with us. http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/odbdslc230-sketch-challenge.html

 

       I pray that you and your family have a wonderful Easter season as we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior.  

    May the Lord be glorified by the work of my hands,

Pamela



White on White Challenge ODBDSLC205

     I love working with tone-on-tone and monochromatic colors like this white-on-white card for the weekly challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs.
     I used Our Daily Bread Designs Friendship stamp collection to heat-emboss my sentiment. I also used Our Daily Bread Designs Fancy Foliage die. The other die cuts are Spellbinders Persian Motifs, Card Creator and EK Success Lattice Chain. There is still time if you want to join in the fun. Check out all the details here:  http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.com/2014/06/odbdslc205-white-on-white.html
     Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hope you have a wonderful 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

Punches Challenge

Punches! Punches! Punches!

I love punches! They make cardmaking so much easier. I like using them in different ways than they were intended. In this card that I'm entering in the Punches Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I used Fiskars' tree punch. As you can see in the squares (an EK Success punch) that run along the left side of the card, I used the same tree punch. It's not noticable right away but if you keep looking you will see them as a part of the same punch. I reversed the order of the layering of the teal and purple colors on the tree and the squares and offset them a smidge to create depth. This card was a lot of fun and super quick to create.

You can submit your own card here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/01/cool-tools-week-punches-challenge.html