Sunday, October 30, 2011

Let it....SNOW????

And it sure did!! I took these pics yesterday....the first pics when the snow started falling and the second less than 3 hours later.



It was crazy! I think we got a total of around 6 inches. Never thought I'd be singing "I'm dreaming of a white Halloween!" ;).

So in honor of our October snowstorm I thought I'd share a snowy card with you today....


We lost power for 6 hours yesterday, but so many others are still without, so I can't complain. Since there wasn't much I could do without electricity I decided to color some images (yay!!). This is one of the images I colored...a new digi being released this week illustrated by my dear friend Sandy Domelle.

She had sent me a couple images she doodled to give me some ideas for new digis but I liked hers so much I decided to use them instead of draw new ones. She didn't think they were worthy, but I sure do...don't you? :) I think she still can't believe I decided to use her images ;), but I just know you are going to love them as much as I do!

One more thing....be sure to stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog to check out the Sweet Peeks we've shared so far!

Blessings...

Friday, October 28, 2011

Go PINK!

Good morning, friends!

I am sure you have been seeing tons of stuff concerning breast cancer lately since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. SCS has been challenging us all month long through the Hope You Can Cling To event and although I have wanted to play in all of the challenges, I've only completed a few and since I have shared any of those cards with you yet, I am sharing them all today :).

Stamps: duck from Polka Dot Silhouettes & sentiment from Christmas Tags (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: Little Girl (Echo Park)
Ink: Baby Pink (CTMH), black (Versafine)
Accessories: Lacey Eyelet Border die-being released SOON (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps), ribbon (American Crafts)

Stamps: Patriotic Cocoa (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: white CS, Orchid Bouquet CS (CTMH)
Ink: Memento, Copics, Versafine
Accessories: cuttlebug embossing folder



Stamps: Polka Dot Silhouettes, Seeing Spots & Thinking of You-being released SOON (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: white CS
Ink: CTMH
Accessories: ribbon/fiber, Stickles


Be sure to stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog today to check out our first Sweet Peek of our November Release :)!!!

Until next time....

Monday, October 24, 2011

SNSS is turning 4!!

I don't have any new creations to share with you today but I did want to be sure you knew about the exciting happenings at SNSS next month!



You may have heard that Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating our 4th birthday next month....we are SO excited and we have tons of fun in store for you all month long including 2 blog hops, 6 new stamp sets, 2 new die sets, 4 Birthday Specials (a different one each week in November), opportunities for tons of prizes and so much more....

We've come up with a schedule so you don't miss a thing! Mark your calendars and plan to join the fun!

October 28th through November 2nd @ 8am EST - Sweet Peeks begin here and on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog. Get a "sweet peek" at our newest sets being released in November!

November 1st-7th - Birthday Special #1 - 50% off all Digital Stamps!

November 3rd @ 8am EST - DT Blog Hop begins on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog featuring our November release

November 3rd @ 8pm EST - Release/Birthday Party in our SCS Release Party Forum - Full stamp set and die reveals, DT chatter and inspiration, challenges with prize opportunities, PLUS a FREE birthday digi for all who attend!!

November 7th @8am EST - 3-Day Birthday Bash Blog Hop begins on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog - Join us as DT Members past and present, along with some special friends, celebrate 4 years of Sweet 'n Sassy!! We'll be giving away 4 amazing prize packs valued at $40 each! Winners will be chosen at random from blog hop comments.

November 8th-14th - Birthday Special #2 - 25% off ALL Designer Paper!

November 12th @ 8am EST - Birthday Blog Hop winners announced on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

November 15th-21st - Birthday Special #3 - Buy One Get One Gift Certificate Sale! (For every $25 gift certificate you purchase you'll receive a $5 gift certificate to spend on yourself!)

November 22nd-30th - Birthday Special #4 - 25% off ALL Clear Stamp Sets AND Dies! (excludes bundles)


We may add more so keep checking back for any updates .

Are YOU excited??? We sure are!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Chubby Cardinal & Life Update

I love chubby cardinals.....not sure why, maybe because they look more cuddly when they are fat :).....anyway, when I decided to design a cardinal stamp set, I knew the the bird would need to be chubby. I think this one fits the bill :).

I made this card for yesterday's SCS sketch challenge. I can't even remember the last time I played along with one of their sketches and my how I have missed them!! The sketch challenge has always been my favorite :). Since things have finally calmed down a bit for me I headed right to the sketch challenge for inspiration and this is what I came up with.


I've been saving up all my Christmas paper scraps so I found some really great papers for my card. It did take me a while to figure out how I was going to lay them all out, but I have been a tad out of practice so that's my excuse ;).

Here are the supplies I used:

Stamps: Christmas Joy (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: misc. scraps
Ink: Memento, Copics, Versafine
Accessories: ribbon, Nesties, Lacey Eyelet border die available soon at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps


On a different note, I thought I would fill you in on some of the reasons I haven't been around blogland much over the past month or so...

A couple weekends ago was the Heirloom Stamp Show in York, PA, one of the two shows we planned to do this year. We had a GREAT time and I can't wait until the next show. They are always a ton of work, but so worth it :). There is nothing like mingling with other stampers. Here are a few pics from the show....

This is Mary Faus, myself and Cathy McCauley. Mary helped at the Heartfelt Creations booth on Saturday and then came back to shop on Sunday. She also volunteered to take some pics for me since my camera batteries died! Can you tell we were having a good time? I can't remember why we were laughing but it was obviously very FUNNY :).


This is part of our display.....look at all those gorgeous creations!! THANK YOU to my amazing DT for sending in projects to help beautify our booth :).


Here I am with Dan and our son Aidan. He came along to help and proved to be a fantastic cashier :).


Just a fun shot of one of our make 'n takes for Sunday.


And another fun shot of part of our booth.

Show prep consumed much of my time in September, but in addition to that I have been having some health issues that have had me visiting different doctors and having various tests and things done. I am not going to go into a lot of details, but I will tell you that they still aren't sure of a diagnosis. I was tested for Lyme Disease, Lupus, and rheumatory issues, but my bloodwork all came back fine. My neurologist says it could be a number of things including MS, but without doing lots of further testing, there is no way to know. I am ok with that and will continue to wait on the Lord for strength and patience. The next step in the process of getting to the bottom of this is to have four MRI's and an EMG....I opted for just two MRI's for now plus the EMG, so once those are completed (hopefully within the next few weeks), I will post another update.

The busyness of life lately has lead Dan and I to the decision to send our boys back to school. Homeschooling was getting to be almost impossible for me. So they recently started attending a Christian school about 35-40 minutes away and I can tell already that things are much less stressful. I am so thankful for that and for the Lord's providence and guidance.

I am hoping once I get into a new routine that I can get back into creating and sharing. Until then, I will post when I can :).

Oh....one more thing.....in case you have been wondering how those little kitties are doing....

They are getting big :).....and they love sleeping....

....pretty much anywhere ;).....


Thank you for visiting!! Buh-bye!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

SNSS & The Twinery Blog Hop

First of all.....oh my goodness, I cannot believe it's been a over a month since I posted on my blog!!! WOW!! I have been really busy but I had no idea I was THAT busy! I will be getting back into a more routine posting schedule soon and have lots to share so I hope you will continue to visit despite the long break.

I am, in the mean time, excited to be coming back with a bang :)...

AND

have teamed up for a fabulous blog hop with 24 amazingly talented stampers :)!

You have likely seen The Twinery's beautiful twine on many SNSS DT cards and projects because we sell it in our store :). If you haven't tried some yet, be sure to stop by our site after the hop and grab some :). You will LOVE it!!

If you've been hopping along already you would have come from Jenny Suchin's blog. If you are just starting here, I invite you to start back at the beginning and hop along with us!

Here's my card using The Twinery's Honeydew Baker's Twine and three new sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps: Comforting Pines (our newest Stamp for a Cause set which benefits the flood victims of my hometown of Pine Grove), Light of Christmas background stamp and a sentiment from Christmas Puppy.


To create this card, I first stamped the background image onto the top part of a piece of kraft cardstock. I then matted it with green cardstock. I added a strip of striped patterned paper from Echo Park's Season's Greetings 6x6 pad, wrapped the twine around a few time and fastened it with a button. I then adhered it to my white card base.

Next I stamped the tree image onto Neenah Classic Crest cardstock, colored it with my Copics, cut it out and attached it to the card front with foam tape.

Finally, I stamped the sentiment and added "Christmas ornaments" to the tree with red Stickles. I love that this tree image can be used for so many things, including Christmas cards :).

Your next stop on the hop is:
Monique Hansen

But before you go....

Here's the wonderful prize The Twinery has up for grabs with today's hop,
the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack valued at $25....

Doesn't that colorful image just make you smile :)??

And here's Sweet 'n Sassy's prize...
the super popular Season of Change Stamp Set & Die Bundle valued at $28....


For a chance to win these fabulous prizes you MUST comment on each blog in the hop.
Winners will be announced on Sunday, October 23rd on The Twinery Blog as well as on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog.

Thanks for hopping along today! I hope we've inspired you to create something beautiful!