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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