Hapy Autumn with SNSS!

I am still enjoying my time as a Guest Designer over at the Sweet N Sassy Stamps blog. For today I have created the adorable card you see pictured below that uses the digital stamp set from SNSS called "Leave Me Smiling."

This card uses a technique that I have never used before so if you want to find out what that is, and want more information about this card and the stamp set used, please stop by the SNSS blog for all the details!

Click HERE to go to my post at the SNSS blog!

I am excited to be Growing in Unity also this week, so I will be back

soon with a post using some Unity Stamps!

Happy Harvest Challenge Card

For the month of October I have the pleasure of being one of the Guest Designers for Sweet N Sassy stamps and today I have a great little card to share with you that uses the stamp set designed by Korin called Happy Harvest!

This card meets a couple of challenges. I was able to play along in my first Dirty Dozen challenge at SCS this month! The challenge is called "You want a {Paper} Piece Me?" and it is to use paper piecing on our card and to incorporate Fall (or Christmas) colors as well. The other challenge is a sketch challenge and I based my card's layout off of this week's Mojo Monday sketch which you can find HERE! I didn't follow it exactly, but I definitely let my design flow from that one so I wanted to give Julee the credit!

Here is a picture of the Mojo Monday sketch 109...

And here is my card based (slightly) on the sketch...

When I knew I was going to use the scarecrow image from the Happy Harvest stamp set sometime during this month as SNSS GD, and I saw this DP, I knew I had to incorporate it into the design. I felt like the DP compliments the feel that I was going for on this card. The DP is from K & Co. I paper pieced the scarecrow's face, shirt and the patches on his overalls. The rest of the images were colored with my Copic markers.

Obviously this card is a fall-themed card that is designed to give to some one over the Thanksgiving holidays. So it was important to me that through this card I could elicit feelings of a farm, raggedy fabrics and warmth.

I want to share with you the ways that I tried to accomplish those things...

To create the feel of a farm, I simply used the masking technique and created the scene that you see here. I stamped the scarecrow on the image panel and again on a piece of scratch paper. I placed the scratch paper over the stamped image and then created the cornfield by repeatedly stamping the cornstalks to make the scarecrow to appear that he is in the middle of a cornfield. I colored the ground to look like dirt.

To add to the feel of a farm, I chose to use Burlap which I frayed on all edges and placed under the image panel. Certainly a burlap sack makes you think of a bag of potatoes or vegetables that are harvested from a farm.


Raffia is another accent that can be used to add to projects that are rustic, or country-like. I added the orange button and the orange ribbon to add flair and whimsy to the otherwise muted colors on the card!

To continue on with the rugged feel, I also added staples to attach my image panel to the card base.

I hope you like it and maybe even got some ideas from me on how to carry out your card's themes as far as you can on your projects. Try to think things through and see what you can do to improve upon the theme of your card by adding extra touches!

Don't forget to stop over at Sweet N Sassy stamps! Korin has some wonderful Fall and Thanksgiving stamp sets that are perfect for your projects for this time of the year! And to see some more of the cards that were created for this month's Dirty Dozen challenge by some of the other DD or DDAlumni, enter DCPOM1009 into the SCS Galleries search bar.

Please have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with your own happy harvest in your heart!

Sweet Sketch meets Birthday Buddies!

Well it is Wednesday again and that means it is time for another Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch! I am interrupting the Whimsie Doodles Sneak Peek to show you my sketch card for this week! As you know I have been one of the Guest Designer's for Sweet N Sassy Stamps this month, so I chose to use one of their images for today's card. You can visit the SNSS blog today and for the next two days where you can see some of their Christmas images on display in a Blog Hop!

Here is Sketch 19 that Arlana created for us to use...








I decided to make a birthday card using one of the images from the Birthday Buddies stamp set at SNSS. You can purchase that set HERE.

And here is what I came up with! It took a little finagling to get the multiple prints to work well with each other. But after some creative rearranging I was pleased enough with how it turned out. I like how the light blue and red contrast with the each other and the white so well! The DP is from the Shabby Princess. The blue and red CS is from the Paper Co.

In addition to the adorable SNSS mouse image, I also used a a new sentiment stamp (Happy Birthday) that I got from a new stamp company called The Stamps of Life. These are wonderful little stamp sets that are reasonably priced and stamp beautifully!

The mouse and balloons were colored with my Copic markers. I stamped the balloons twice and then after coloring them I popped the red one up on itself to add some depth to the card.

Be sure to visit the rest of the SSW DT's blogs (which you can click on from my side bar) or head to the SSW Blog where you can see all of our creations in one place. If you see something you like, please leave a little love!! The girls always put their hearts into their creations and we all love to hear when you like what you see!

Have a Sweet day!! I need to have my bucket be overflowing with enough time to complete the projects with deadlines ending today! I hope your bucket overflows with what you need the most today too!! :-)

It's Wednesday....and it's Sweet!!

It's time for another Sweet Sketch Wednesday sketch challenge this week! We are happy to announce that we have a sponsor for this week and there are prizes to be won!!

Our great sponsor this week is Jen from Say it With Stamps. She makes incredible sentiments and word art that are created digitally and perfect to use with your stamped creations! Here is a closeup of one of her button sentiments that I used on today's project. You can purchase this and other stamps of hers HERE!

She has graciously offered the winner of this challenge to choose 2 months of her releases to receive for FREE. That lucky winner can choose from Aug & Sept, Sept & Oct, etc. OR pick and choose up to $10 worth of digistamps from her store.

Here is the sketch that we were given this week...

And here is the card that I created based on the sketch...

Because Jen's digistamps contain only words and sentiments, we had the liberty of using any other image stamps that we chose to. The stamp set that I used to create this scene is from Sweet N Sassy Stamps' Happy Harvest set. It is an acrylic stamp set that comes with multiple fall-themed stamps. Please visit the SNSS blog for today's post where you will see more details about this card including how I used the masking technique to create this scene.

To create the sign you see for the scene, I made my own sign base from a scrap of paper and distressed and inked the edges to give it a worn look. I stamped the sign lettering from the Happy Harvest set. To make the post that the sign is on, I used part of the fence post as my piece of wood. The papers I used are from the Recollections Autumn Paper pad. The images were all colored using Copic Markers.

The stitches that I put on each side of the main image panel are cross-stitches. They are very easy to do, but in case you don't know how to do it, I wanted to share it with you.

I have created a tutorial in pdf form that you can download from here...

Cross-Stitch Tutorial

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Now, please go over to the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog so you can visit the rest of the DT's submissions. And then, be sure to create a card of your own using today's sketch and then enter it onto the SSW blog with Mr. Linky so you can be eligible to win this week's prizes!

Have a great day and may your bucket be overflowing with all the sweet things that Wednesday's bring!

Having a Blast with SNSS!!

I am having a lot of fun using Sweet N Sassy stamps this month and I have so many great ideas floating around in my head that I can't wait to share with you! Today's project was a BLAST to do! I never have enough boy cards in my birthday card stash, so I decided to use SNSS's Blast Off digistamp set to create one.

After printing the images onto GP cardstock and heat setting them, I used my Copic markers to color in the Rocket! I used Bazzill CS for the card base, moon and mats. The dotted DP was chosen to simulate a starry sky and is from Graphic 45. The striped paper is from Heidi Grace Designs. And I am pleased as punch to tell you that ALL these papers were taken from my scraps stack. Don't you just love it when you can economize???

Another way that you can economize is by buying this stamp set from SNSS!! This set and ALL the sets at SNSS have recently been discounted by 25%!! The stamp set I used for this card is called Blast Off and it comes with all the images and sentiments needed to make an adorable birthday card, or scrapbook layout for your fun loving boy!

Here is a view of the inside of the card! I still had some scraps left, so why not decorate the inside too!

To create the moon, I used my largest EK Success circle punch that I have and then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Quickutz embossing folder called Polka Dots. It was important that I turned the circle upside down so that I was actually DEbossing and not EMbossing. I was trying to create the craters that are on the moon. I did shim my folder to get extra depth with the debossing. To emphasize the debossed areas I took my C1 Copic marker and ran it around the edges of each debossed circle and then blended it in with my colorless blender. Can you see how it defined the edges of the "craters" a bit?

For added dimension, I popped up the rocket on top of the moon. I am not sure the picture shows it well, but I also added liquid glaze with Inkessentials Glossy Accents to give the effect of glass for the windshield. The finished card size is an A2.

If you want to see my post for today on the Sweet N Sassy blog, click HERE!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day and may your bucket overflow with enough paper scraps to make your next project!!

Squirrels Make me Smile!

Today is the first day that I posted a project over at the Sweet N Sassy Stamps blog. I am so excited about being their Guest Designer and I think you guys will be thrilled to see more of their stamps being shown on my blog too! If you want to take a quick peek at my first post, just visit the SNSS blog HERE! I will be posting over there on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays but I will still be posting here as well! Be sure to visit on the other days of the week though too because you won't want to miss Betty Wright's posts... that girl has some real talent!!

Now, onto what I have made for SNSS today!

I chose to use the latest sketch released at the Sweet Stop Sketch blog on Saturday...

And this is the card that I made...

You might remember me telling you about how my daughter Leah enjoys raising squirrels. In fact, she is in the process of raising one right now that she will be releasing into the wild soon. I even made her a mini album as a tribute to the first squirrel that she ever raised. (To see the album click on the mini album link above and then "next" in the upper right hand corner to see the rest of the pages.) So, of course, I am like the "Granny" to these little creatures when she comes home from school for the weekend, and subsequently I have grown very fond of squirrels too! Squirrels make me smile!! :-)

When Sandy (the DT coordinator for SNSS) sent me this digistamp to use this month, I thought I would flip!! I had been eyeing it all along in the store and it was like an answered prayer that she actually sent it to me!! I love this little guy. He is called Sunny Squirrel and can be purchased at the SNSS store.

The Sunny Squirrel set comes with three sentiments designed to encourage others and they are sure to bring a smile to the recipient's face! The DP's I used for this project come from The Greeting Farm paper pack called Sunny Glen. I also used some Bazzill Kraft paper. I colored the image using my Copic markers. Machine stitching was added around the main panel and the sentiment panel. The grosgrain ribbon was purchased on Ebay in a collection of SU colors. The brads are from Basic Grey.

I have a tip that I want to share with you concerning how I made this card.

Did you notice that the sunflower portion of the main image extends beyond the base that was cut with a nestie? This is not something original that I created, but it is a really cool effect that I am sure you have seen elsewhere. My friend Vianna recently shared with me a link showing how to do this trick and I wanted to share it with you, but unfortunately, I can't find it right now! I will try and find it so I can give her the credit, but in the meantime I have created a tutorial for you!

Tutorial: Extending a Cut Beyond the Borders of a Nestie

For starters, print your image onto your cardstock. Do not color it yet since you want to make sure the cutting comes out perfectly before you spend the time coloring it.

Choose the Nestie that you are going to use and place it die side down over the image. Center it as you choose leaving a portion of your stamped image extending beyond the edges of the Nestie. Mark your corners for ease of replacing the die later.

This is what it will look like when you remove the Nestie revealing the reference marks in the corners. Keep in mind that these marks aren't the cutting lines. The cutting lines are a little further in.

With a pencil, make a mark where you believe the Nestie will cut. I have made a pencil mark denoting this. The red lines indicate where you will be cutting next to the image.

Cut away at the red marks and up to and then slightly beyond the pencil marks you made. You must cut beyond the marks so that the Nestie can fit back into this slot.

Replace your Nestie with the die side DOWN. Position it so that it lines up with your corner reference marks. Be sure that the piece you just cut away is ON TOP of the Nestie so it won't get cut when you run it through the die cut machine. Tape it to keep it securely in place.

This is what the back view looks like if you have placed the Nestie properly. The exposed die means that it won't be cutting any paper at the point.

Run the image and Nestie through your die cutting machine. Emboss it also if desired.

This is the finished product ready for coloring!! Easy peezy! Now how about you try it!

Welcome to any of the new SNSS bloggers that have visited my blog today. I hope that you will become a Follower of this blog too and be back for more SNSS projects for the month of October!

My World Card Making Day cards and ornament were posted late last night so if you want to take a look at them scroll down to the previous post!! I hope you had a fun celebration for WCMD! Did you get lots of cards made this weekend??

I hope you have a great Monday and may your bucket overflow with things that make you smile!

Feeling Sweet and Sassy today!!

Remember that I told you I had some good news to share with you today? Well. I have been chosen to be October's Guest Designer for...

Sweet N Sassy Stamps!!

About a month ago I received a really sweet letter from Sandy Komelle who is the DT coordinator for SNS stamps. She and Korin Sutherland, the owner of SNS stamps, were inviting me to be the guest designer for this month! I have been so excited to share this news with you guys, but I had to keep it a secret until they posted it on their blog! You can see the sweet introduction that they gave me on the SNS blog HERE!

I am a co-designer this month with the amazingly talented Betty Wright, her introduction on the SNS blog can be found HERE! You guys are in for some great projects! Between the two of us we hope to fill the blog with some awfully cute, Sweet N Sassy style cards and projects.

I would love it if you would follow me over there and give me some support. I will be posting my projects on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on the SNS Blog.

One of the first times that I used Sweet N Sassy stamps was during a SheetLoad assignment for the August 09 eZine. I was an extra in that issue but decided to play along because I just love their stamps!

Here is one of the cards that I made for that issue...

Remember this one? You might recall that this digistamp set called Forget-Me-Not was initally a freebie that was given out during the challenges at the Stamping Out Alzheimer's event this year.


Well, due to its overwhelming popularity it has just been released as an acrylic stamp set with some extras that weren't in the digistamp set. You can see this new set HERE! New SNS stamps have just been released so please go visit the their store today and snag some up!!

Have a great Sunday and I will be back with some cards from my World Card Making Day celebration yesterday!!

Show Us Your SheetLoad! And Another SheetLoad to Share!

This is the second post for today, please scroll down to see the

Whimsie Doodles New Releases!

It is time once again to show us what you have created with the latest issue of SheetLoad of Cards; August 2009.



All you have to do is create one (1) card and enter it in the August '09 Show Us Your SheetLoad Challenge for a chance to win Two (2) FREE Stamp Sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps!

I was able to be an extra for this month's issue and I had so much fun creating things using the sketch and the SNS stamps! I have shared with you already two of the projects I made and I still have two more to share with you.

The next project I want to share with you using the August SL sketch and Sweet N Sassy stamps is this card...

The digistamp you see used here is the Sweet N Sassy's stamp called Love Struck which can be purchased HERE.

The DP is from K&Co Wild Raspberry collection. I altered the sketch slightly by turning the center oval image upright to better fit my stamp selection.

The ribbon comes from the Dollar Spot at Target and the Lace is from JoAnn's. I used my Martha Stewart border punch and my oval nestie too. I added machine stitching because I felt it went well with the Shabby Chic look I was going for with this card.

Here is a closeup showing the Sakura Gelly Roll glimmer that I added to the bugs wings...

I masked the bug and sponged the background using some of my SU blues! Who couldn't love this little Love Bug??

Now don't delay in heading over to SheetLoad of Cards and downloading August's issue so that you can create your own card (or cards) and share them with us for a chance to win some FREE stamps!

Have a great weekend and may your bucket overflow with lots of bugs! (The kind you get love struck by of course! LOL!)

Shout Out to SheetLoad!

It's time for the monthly "Shout Out to SheetLoad" Challenge over at the SheetLoad of Cards blog!!



Head over there today to find out how you can win...



Two (2) FREE Digital Stamps from - Whimsie Doodles!!

You know how much I love my Whimsie Doodles stamps!! I hope that you will play along for a chance to win two of your own!! And, beginning next week we will be starting some more sneak peeks for the upcoming release of new Whimsie Doodles stamps on August 15th!! You are going to love these (Think Halloween and Birthday!!)

Since we are talking SheetLoad today I thought I would share with you another one of my SheetLoad submissions for the August sketch! Don't you think that Liz Weber did a phenomenal job on this sketch? She has designed a sketch that can be used over and over again. I hope that you are saving your SheetLoad issues for future reference. They are always great to refer back to!

Sweet N Sassy Stamps is the sponsor of this month's issue and I was able to get this digistamp for FREE for participating in the challenges at the Stampin Out Alzheimer's event that was recently held. The stamp isn't for free anymore, but for a reasonable price, you can purchase it at the SNS store HERE! It just so happens to be on sale too!!

The awesome card base is from ShortCuts. It is called the Clear Card Base and can be purchased from HERE! If you visit the Whimsie Doodles website post HERE, you can find a coupon code to get this at a discount price until September 1st!)The scalloped frame, the four squares and the digistamped images are all on the card front. Then on the inside is the DP from Cosmo Cricket! I love how the clear card bases make everything look like they are floating in thin air!!

Here is a closeup of the stamped images. I printed them out onto 110lb Georgia Pacific CS and then colored them in with my Copics.

I hope that you will head over to the SheetLoad website and get your copy of this month's issue. Remember if you give SheetLoad a Shout Out, you could be the happy winner of two free Whimsie Doodles digistamps!!

Until next time, have a great day and may your bucket overflow with the warmth of a sunny day!!

Happy Birthday Mom and a SheetLoad Share!!

Today is a very special day because it is my wonderful mother's birthday!! My mom is such an incredible person! I don't know anyone who doesn't love and respect her once they know her. She is the epitomy of sweetness yet has the strongest inner strength you can imagine! I am so happy that we have a relationship that is close. Not only are we mother and daughter, we are friends. There isn't anything that I can't tell my mother... and best of all she still loves me unconditionally and encourages me with her wonderful wisdom.

My niece Lindsay, my mom and my daughter Michelle with me in the back on the 4th of July!

My sister Michelle and I are taking her out to lunch for sushi for her birthday today! It will be a treat to spend part of my day with two of my favorite people in the world! I love my mom and my sister!!

Me, my mom and my sister, Michelle

I love you mom! Happy Birthday!!!

So now I have a SheetLoad card to share with you! This month was the first time that I was a featured Designer for the eZine. I actually was an extra for this month and so I have the pleasure of being featured again next month too! It is so fun coming up with neat ways to use the great sketches that are provided by SheetLoad! I hope that you have snagged your FREE copy and are planning to create some cards with this month's sketch too!

Click HERE to get your FREE copy of the August eZine!

This month's eZine is sponsored by Sweet N Sassy Stamps. They have some adorable stamps both in acrylic and digital form. Click HERE to visit the Sweet N Sassy Store!

Since we are celebrating my mom's birthday today, It thought it was a great idea to share with you a birthday card I made with this month's sketch! This isn't her card, because I can't post it here until I give it to her because she is one of my faithful blog Followers!!

I can't find this cute stamp when I look through their site, so I don't know if it was discontinued, but I was sent it when I won a challenge at the Cutting Cafe. It is really cute and I hope that they will start selling it again! Edited to Add: My good friend Gigi gave me a link where this stamp is still available in acrylic form so I wanted to share that with you. Click HERE to see the set this stamp comes from, it is designed by Korin Sutherland. Thanks Gigi!! For all the details of what materials were used, please refer to the eZine where it is all posted for you!

Here is a picture of just the card...

I used my Copics to color the image and made it coordinate with this adorable We R Memory Keeper's DP. The sentiment is a BG rub on!

Here is a close up of the coloring...

I have three more projects to share with you this month, but I will spread them out over the next few weeks! Be sure to get your SheetLoad copy and make sure that you share with us what you create and also give SheetLoad a Shout Out on your blog, because there are prizes to be won from SNS stamps this month!!

Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with special plans with special people!!

I haven't forgotten!!

Sorry for the delay in blogging!! It was a busy weekend and now a very special Aunt of mine is in town and I rarely get to see her. So I have had very limited time on the computer.

With the little bit of time that I have had in my scraproom, I have been working on something that I can't quite share yet. But I can tell you that I am trying out for a DT and will let you know more about that here soon!

I do have a card that I made a while back and haven't shared yet. It is using an adorable image from Sweet N Sassy stamps! It is a digital stamp. You can purchase it here. The digi stamp printed really nicely and my Copics worked great on it too! Digital stamps can be an economical way to stamp, but I think I would miss using red rubber and would not be able to go all digital ever!

Here is a closeup view showing some of the Sakura Gelly Stardust pen I used on the wings!

These are the Copics that Iused to color the image with! I think it is a darling image!!

Gotta run for now... I have a delivery still tonight ! I promise some more in the near future! And some sneakpeeks at my DT work!

Have a great night and may your bucket overflow with happiness!!