Friday, April 30, 2010

Having a Whale of a Good Time!

One of my co-workers has a birthday this Saturday, so I baked a couple of cookies and created a mini pizza box to put them in. Then, I just needed someone cute to have the honor of wishing the lucky lady a very happy birthday.
And who cuter than Wally Whale! Of course, since he's in the ocean he needed some sparkling water to float in. So, I added a clear layer over my image and covered the lower part of it with Stickles. To cover the adhesive on the clear cardstock and to make it seem like we are looking at him out of a port hole, I cut a circle in my patterned paper before layering it over the image.
Now, Wally's all ready to deliver my birthday message (created with MicroSoft Word)! For only .99 you can create a whole lotta cuteness for very little money. Be sure to head to Sweet N Sassy Stamps to see all the new stamps including Wally.
Have a great crafting day!
Lisa

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Little Squirt

Happy Thursday to you! Leah here and I have a cute little baby card to share with you today. I make a lot of baby cards and love using all sorts of images for them. For this one I actually did some paper piecing for my whale image available at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. The sentiment I computer generated to be on the base of my image panel. We use to call my son "little squirt" and those of you that have boys know why! LOL The rest is pretty self-explanitory...I just love this color combo and I hope you do to! Thanks so much for dropping by!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Rainy Day Easel Card

Lately, I have been seeing some gorgeous easel cards out there in blog land so I decided that it was about time to give one a try myself. I was surprised at how easy they are to make actually. The size of my card is 5.5" square. You can find some great tutorials if you google easel card which is what I did. There are even some video tutorials. Here is an example of one tutorial.



I colored the image with copics and accented with stickles on the rain/puddle, spica glitter pen on the trim, and glimmer mist on the flowers but some got on the image too lol. The image is a real cutie designed by Deedee Anderson for Sweet N Sassy stamps and is called rainy day teddy.

here are some other views for you





Supplies:
digis- Sweet N Sassy stamps rainy day teddy, bear sentiments
CS- pink pirouette, Paper Temptress neenah white, blanc sparkle, noir sparkle, bo bunny dp
accessories- copics, rhinestones, satin ribbon, dazzling diamonds glimmer mist, spica glitter pen, stickles, oval nesties, Fiskars apron lace punch, pearls, buttons


Thanks for stopping in and have a blessed day!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Peek-a-Boo Sophie

This is my final week as a Guest Designer for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I just want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Korin, Kim, and the entire design team for so kindly welcoming me for the month of April.

Here is my final card for April...


Stamps: Peek-a-Boo Sophie (SNSS), All Holidays (SU!)
Paper: Cameo Corral and Garden Green (SU!), Twitterpated (Imaginisce)
Ink: In Jet Printer, Copics, Garden Green, Versamark
Accessories: Ribbon, Slot Punch, Spellbinders scalloped circle

My mom and dad are visiting, and before they leave tomorrow, I wanted to get a Mother's Day card done for my mom. So, I decided to incorporate a Mother's Day sentiment into my Peek-a-Boo Sophie card.


I colored Sophie with Copics. I just love this image. So springy and fun. I love how she makes the flower "come to life."

I hope you have a great day. Thanks again to the SNSS design team for all your help and support! You guys are the best.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Encouragement for the guys, too!


Who doesn't love to get a note of encouragement? We all know that our friends and family love us, but doesn't it feel extra special when someone takes the time to point it out in a tangible way? Most of us card makers are pretty good about sending the occasional "thinking of you" card (aka "RAK") to the special women in our lives, but what about the men?

When I was first married, I read a magazine article about little ways to show your spouse how much you love them. One of the suggestions in the article was writing them the occasional note of love or encouragement. So one day when I was packing my husband's lunch for work, I scribbled a little note for him on his napkin. Later that day, he called from work to tell me how touched he was to find that sweet surprise. Over the years I've made it a point to occasionally leave him a new note, and I tell you, every time he is surprised and warmed by the attention! When my son was old enough to read, I expanded the practice to include him, and he has kept most of the notes I've sent him over the years. Of course these days my notes take the form of handmade cards instead of napkins -- LOL -- but the effect is still the same.

My card today is one that I made for one of the special guys in my life. It uses the Howling Coyote digi along with one of the wonderful greetings from the Amazing Grace sentiment set. Though the image is meant to be a night scene, I decided it could just as easily be a daytime scene, so I sponged in a blue sky along with a few clouds, and colored the moon image to be a sun instead.

I encourage you today to think about the men in your life, and consider sending them a note of love and encouragement. I promise you they'll appreciate it! :-)

Hugs,
Deedee

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Customer Spotlight Sunday!


Good Morning! 
I hope your Sunday is a beautiful one!!!
Today is Customer Spotlight Sunday and our Customer Spotlight is...


Be sure to stop by Yvonne's blog and see her BEAUTIFUL work!

We love it when you let us know you are using our digis! Be sure to post a link to your card(s) by posting a link below. We are always looking for cards or projects to use on our Sunday Customer Spotlight posts :)!




Saturday, April 24, 2010

Thank You!

Greetings, all! I've had so much fun being a guest digi diva this month, that I decided I'd make a "thank you" card for Korin and Sandy and Kim and all the gals at Sweet 'n Sassy for being such a blessing to me. What a wonderful group they are!!

Putting together my card this week kind of went in stages. I knew I wanted to use Thankful Turtle for this card, so I went to my scrap piles and looked for some dp to catch my eye. This piece from a long ago K&Co Pack looked perfect, so I chose my Copic colors based on the colors in the paper. When I finished coloring Mr. Turtle, I looked for a sketch that would fit with the amount of dp I had, and with the shape of my main image. I used an older Taylored Expressions sketch (#42, I think) as my jumping off point, but you wouldn't really know it from the finished product!! LOL!! After embossing my little panel and making my layered image, I added some stitching, a little bow and a charm I found in my embellishment drawer. Ta-Da!!

Thanks so much for visiting !

Blessings!

Tricia


Friday, April 23, 2010

Thank You Dear Friend

Friends are so important in our lives. Not only do they cheer for you when things go right, but they are there for you when the low moments occur in your life. I am so blessed to have so many friends, and I am extremely thankful that God has given them to me. Korin and the Design Team are such fantastic ladies, and I'm honored to be a part of their creative spirit and enjoy the friendships I have made with them. Without further ado, my card today features the darling digi stamp "Helping Hand".


My card fits the sketch from the Sweet Stop featuring Buttons and Bows! Did I go overboard? I think I did!! God Bless and have a fabulous weekend!
Hugs, Darsie

Thursday, April 22, 2010

For the Beauty of the Earth

Today's Sweet n' Sassy digi day challenge was to make a card with the theme, "The Beauty of the Earth" & to use something recycled. I decided to use this sweet SNS Home Tweet Home birdhouse because birds and flowers are definitely things that make the earth more beautiful! My "recycled" part is questionable... since I forgot about it until after I made the card... but I did use a piece of cardstock as a mat that had a wrong sized digi printed on it -- instead of just throwing it away. That counts, don't you think?? :-)

I hope you'll join us for the challenge!! :-)

Blessings!

Tricia


Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

When I think of earth day I immediately think nature and recycle. My card uses both of these thoughts. I used the Digital stamp Enjoy The View, and paper pieced the trees and used a cardboard box lid as my background, I found this twine from a tag off of my husbands shorts and it made the perfect ribbon.

Enjoy The View happens to be today's early bird freebie in our SNR and PCP groups, so you will want to go and check out the fun and participate to be able to get this wonderful digital stamp free.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Gnome Sweet Gnome

Have I ever told you that I have a thing for gnomes? I think they're pretty darn cute and I really love them in stamp form. Turns out they live in pretty cute houses too! And did you know that Sweet 'n Sassy has not only a gnome house digi image but also has a cute little gnome and gnome sentiments too??! Here are the links to all three:

Gnome Home
Gnome Sentiments
Nathaniel Gnome
(of course we named him!)

For today's card I started with my sweet gnome house, which was colored with Copic markers. My chocolate brown card base is layered with this fabulous orange polka dot paper from Jillibean Soup along with a sweet woodsey scrap of paper I had hidden in my stash. I opted for cutting out my gnome home and then used foam tape to layer it onto a piece of embossed kraft cardstock. To finish off my card, I added some smoke in the chimney but using a piece of cotton, the sentiment, a bow, and a button.

And do you know where the layout came from? It's this week's Sweet Stop sketch challenge! This week The Sweet Stop is celebrating its one year anniversary! Check out the challenge details here...You could win 10 free digis!!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Purrfect Friend

My card today features Purrfect Friend. This is a long post because I actually have two cards to show. The story of how I came up with these two cards is tied together, and the rest of the story will be continued below.


Stamps: Purrfect Friend (SNSS)
Paper: DCWV, Chocolate Chip and Pacific Point (SU!)
Ink: Ink Jet, Copics (Ws)
Accessories: Ribbon, Prima's, Sizzix die, Spellbinders Scallop Circle, Curly Label Punch, Sewing Machine, paper piercing tool, flat-back pearls, Cuttlebug embossing folder


I had my first experience trying to stitch a circle. Not as easy as it would seem. I first try a zigzag stitch, but that did not work at all. I ended up pulling it out. Then I was left with a zigzag piercing pattern on my colored image. Always resourceful and hating to waste anything, I decided to go with it and textured the paper with my piercing tool. I went ahead and sewed it again with a straight stitch which worked better, though still tricky. I like the final effect. I also added some tiny flat-back pearls to make a collar for my kitty.


When I was working with the paper, I loved the dots down the side of the papers. I decided to punch out the holes and lace up the papers. I really love the effect.

To balance the card, I used my Sizzix die to cut a vine and added some Prima's and flat-back pearls. It provided a nice balance of white on the card.

I carried the lace-it-up idea to the inside of the card.

Now for the rest of the story...

This is the image I originally intended to use on my card...

...however, there was no way to place the image on the card without covering up the lace. I finally decided to redesign and came up with the card above. Then, I was left with this completed image. The idea was inspired by the Simon Says Challenge - Let's Go to the Movies. My idea was to create the Aristocats. I looked up pictures of the cats and colored mine based on the ones from the Disney movie. So, like I said, I started over, and here is what I came up with...

Stamps: Purrfect Friend
Paper: Chocolate Chip (SU!), DCWV
Ink: Ink jet, Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories: Sizzix die cut, DMC floss, Branch punch, Prima's flowers, Copics Airbrush System, Build-a-Brad, Vintage brads.

Since I had already completed my image, the card came together very quickly. The one challenge I had was finding the right flowers. I finally chose some white Prima's and colored them with my Copics Airbrush System. I finished off my flower with a Build-a-Brad and a piece of my DCWV paper that matched the frames.

The great thing is, this will be a perfect card for our friends' soon to be 7-year-old daughter who just LOVES kitties. I can't wait to send it to her.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you have a great day!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Cocoa Cards

I made a set of Cocoa cards for a gift set and I'm showing you a few of the cards today.  Cocoa is always peeking out of or from behind everything.  As cute as he is, I just thought these would be a great set of cards for a dear friend.  She loves to create and can't get her creative juices flowing.  She's a simple stamper so I felt these were easy enough that they would help her get to stamping again.





There's so many wonderful digi stamps in the Sweet 'n Sassy store that I hope you'll stop by and find something cute to be creative with!

I've wanted to try an easel card and saw a really cute one using our SNS Rainy Day Teddy on our own, Janette Olen's blog.  You need to check it out ---> HERE  I love being inspired by our DT! 

Have a wonderful day.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Customer Spotlight Sunday!


Good Morning!  Today is Customer Spotlight Sunday!

It's always fun to find someone using our Sweet 'n Sassy digi stamps and then be able to spotlight their beautiful creations!!!!  This week we have a pretty birthday card made by Donna Rinckel and you can find her personal blog ---> HERE

She participated with the Sweet Stop Sketch yesterday as well!  The Sweet Stop Sketch blog turned a year old, which is so hard to believe that it went that fast.  You'll want to stop by and see the amazing celebration that is planned.  One person will win 10 free digis!

We love it when you let us know you are using our digis! Be sure to post a link to your card(s) by posting a link below. We are always looking for cards or projects to use on our Sunday Customer Spotlight posts :)!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

For National Library Week!


My daughter informed me on Monday afternoon that this is National Library Week. SO... in honor of the Library, I made this card with Milton Reading under a flower. OK, so actually I made it because he was cute and I wanted to color him, but the other sounded better! LOL!! :-) As I mentioned last week, I really like to have cards that are easy to mail. I give a lot of them away to my Mom and it would be hard for her to have to figure extra postage. So today I thought I'd give you some ideas of ways to add some "punch" to your cards, without much weight or thickness...

1. Use lighter-weight cardstock or patterned paper if you're going to do lots of layering.
2. Add interest by embossing (heat embossing or dry!), sponging, stitching, and/or a clear Spica pen, rather than embellishing.
3. If you do embellish, think "flat & light". Some suggestions are lightweight ribbon tied in a knot, rather than bulky ribbon tied in a bow; mini or micro brads rather than buttons or flowers; and low profile half-pearls rather than dewdrops.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure to drop by the Sweet 'n Sassy digi-store to see what's new!!

See you next Saturday!

~ Tricia

Friday, April 16, 2010

Sweet Molly


Just a quick post today as I am heading out the door to run some errands.

I made this card to go along with our Digi Day challenge of purple and green and the Stamp Something challenge to use layers. This sweet image is called Molly's Flower. I think she would make the cutest Mother's Day cards, don't you?

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Blessings,
Korin

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Forget-me-nots for Mother's Day

Hello friends!

Today is Digi Day yet again in our PCP and SNR groups. We have another fun challenge planned for you as well as some fabulous freebies, so head on over to join the fun!

My card for today's challenge (can you guess what it might be?) features one of our older digis (which happened to be a popular clear stamp set, too) Forget-Me-Not. I thought it would be nice to bring it out again for Mother's Day---flowers are the perfect Mom image, don't you think? :)


I paired it up with some pretty new glittered papers from My Mind's Eye called Deena's Penny Lane. The pretty purple flower embellishments are from the bridal section at Michaels. They were white but I colored them with my Copics, added some Liquid Pearls to the centers (also white) and then colored the centers yellow with a Copic marker as well (once they were dry). The sentiment was stamped (from one of our retired sets called Special Women).

We made this card for one of my classes this week and ladies really liked it. I hope you do, too!

See you over at PCP and SNR!

Have a blessed day!
Korin

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Short & Stubby = Lovable

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I wanted to share another card I created with that adorable and lovable "Nathaniel Gnome".

Short n Stubby Gnome

My inspiration for creating this card came from The Sweet Stop's sketch SSS51. A great sketch, except that I got so 'into it' that I forgot my red ribbon which was to go across the card under the image. Regardless, I'm pretty happy with how the card turned out.

"Nathaniel Gnome" is printed on Neenah Super Smooth card stock and then colored with Copics. In my usual way, I colored him first and then paired him with the DP. I am rather happy to say that I did not agonize over the exact color match between his shirt and the designer paper. I tend to do that, lol and have been known to waste precious crafting time looking for just the right paper. My DP is from DCWV called Green Woodland Toadstools. The moment I saw it, I knew it would go perfectly with the adorable gnome.

The sentiment is from "Gnome Sentiments" and I just have to say how wonderful digital sentiments are. Although I have Photoshop, I tend to use MS Word for my digital stamps. I sized the sentiment to 1 inch, printed it out on white card stock and then used my circle punch to punch it out. So easy and so quick. I don't know about you, but there used to be so many times that I had a rubber stamp sentiment but it was the wrong size. I'm sure you can relate, right?

I hope you enjoyed my gnome card. The first thing my husband said when he saw the card (can you guess?) "Travelocity", lol.

And don't forget, tomorrow is Thursday which means it's Digi Day over at the Sweet 'n Sassy Group on SNR and PCP. Deedee will be your hostess at SNR and Kim will be hosting at PCP. Stop by to get all the details of the challenge, prizes and to participate in the friendly conversation.

Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Sweet 'n Sassy Campsite

My card today was made for a friend's teenage son. So, my normal flowery, foo foo card wouldn't work so well. I need to preface this with the fact that these are our camping buddies, so this card is perfect for their son...

Stamps: Campsite (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps), Upsy Daisy (SU!)
Paper: River Rock (Provo Craft), Always Artichoke, Basic Black
Ink: Ink jet printer, Copics
Accessories: Seed grass, Adhesive Bubble Icon (JoAnn)


I colored by image with copics, and added Copics gold Spica pen for the moon and the stars to make them shine. This digi makes me long for summer. We love to camp with our friends, and we can't wait for camping season again.


I normally like to use flowers, but for a teenage boy, flowers just would not do. However, I wanted some kind of embellishment. I had this seed grass in my stash, so I took a piece of the seed grass, cut it into approximately 1-1/2 inch pieces, and then glued them to the card, covering the glue with this acrylic bubble icon.


Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great Tuesday!


Monday, April 12, 2010

Hello Chicky!!

Hello, and welcome to the Sweet -n Sassy Stamps Digi Blog!  I'm Lorie, and today I'm thrilled to share a little bit of spring with you!  I used this adorable Spring Chicken digital image from Sweet -n Sassy Stamps for this card.  I just love this cute as can be image!!   This chicky looks like she's all set and ready for some heavy shopping, with her purse in tow under her wing, and be it sunshine, or rain, she's got it covered with this lovely yellow umbrella.  I decided to "wing it" (LOL, pardon the pun), with this sketch, because I love to color larger images, and when I printed this cutie off, I purposly made it larger.  That's the beauty of digital stamps, as you can adjust the size to your liking, and, I LOVE that versatility.

Have you stopped by the Sweet -n Sassy Stamps Store lately?   Do make it a point to check in often because new images can be released daily, and you won't want to miss a single one!!  Thank you so much for stopping by today.   Wishing you a glorious day filled with happy stamping!

Love ya,
Lorie 

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Customer Spotlight Sunday!




Where did this past week go??? Is it me, or did the week fly by way too fast?

Today is Customer Spotlight Sunday and we have a real treat for you! The customer we are spotlighting is, Claudine Poch. She has done a fabulous job on her cards that she's been doing for the challenges on SNR. I pulled 3 of her cards to share with you but you will want to be sure to check out her blog ---> HERE to see more of her beautiful work!

We love it when you let us know you are using our digis! Be sure to post a link to your card(s) by posting a link below. We are always looking for cards or projects to use on our Sunday Customer Spotlight posts :)!




Saturday, April 10, 2010

Feel Better Cocoa!


How are you feeling today? With all of the spring sicknesses going around, I'm sure that this card using Get Well Cocoa is probably for a lot of you from all of us here at Sweet 'n Sassy!

I printed out my little Cocoa Mouse and the sentiment on Georgia Pacific #110 cardstock from WalMart - and actually filled in the rest of the page with other images I'm going to use this month. :-) After I colored him with Copics... (E31, E33, E41, R20, BG10, YG91, YG95, W5, T3, Colorless Blender), I cut and embossed him with a Large Oval Nestibilities Die, and then sponged a bit of ink around him before I removed him from the frame. The brown mats are Soft Suede cardstock and the designer paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

With all the sketches and challenges and whatnot that are on the internet today, I think we sometimes forget that keeping our cards simple and mailable is OK. You can still add a few brads, some eyelets or some stitching, and even a piece of ribbon, but try making a card and actually *sending* it this week. You'll be glad you did, and so will the person who receives it!! :-)

See you next Saturday!

Blessings!

Tricia

Friday, April 9, 2010

Let the Sun Shine

If you joined SNS yesterday at the PCP or SNR Digi Day, you got to see some great rainy day projects. But, today the sun is gonna shine! I live in sunny South Texas, so when I saw one of the newest sets released by Sweet N Sassy called Sunshine, I immediately started envisioning warm, sunny days on the lake or at the beach. It may not quite be here yet, but summer is definitely shimmering on my horizon!
Sunshine features four fabulous sentiment in addition to the sun image. I thought the "You shine like the sun" sentiment  and a basket of summer fun goodies would be the perfect way to reward a hardworking student as the school year comes to an end. I placed the sentiment inside the sun image, printed it out, colored it with copics and stickles, and then cut the sun out so I could "pop" it out on the front of my basket. Cute, simple and quick gift giving. Be sure to head over to SNS to see this set and all the newest images. Make a little sunshine yourself today!
Lisa

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Shine


Leah here, and I am so excited to share this card with you today! When I first saw these two new digi sets, Fly a Kite and Sunshine this little scene popped into my head. I rarely make scene cards so I really enjoyed this one:) I colored all my images with Copics before trimming them out and for my hills I drew the curve I wanted on the back of my cardstock and tore it, embossed it and then distressed the edges a bit more once they were adhered. I hope this brightens your day a bit and don't forget that if you are looking to the SON you won't see the shadows. Blessings!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Some New digis

Hi there, I am Janette and this is my very first post on the SNSS digi blog. I have been a member of Sweet N Sassy's DT for 1.5yrs now but have just recently came over to the "digi" side lol. Today I would like to show you a couple of cards featuring some digis that have been released in the past week.

The first I have to show you uses my absolute favorite digi image- Cocoa! New to our line is Party Hat Cocoa which debuted on Monday in honor of Korin's birthday. Take a peek



I colored the image with copics, cut it out and adhered with popdots and accented the hat with some stickles. The layout is a sketch that I designed this week for mojo Monday.

Supplies:
digi- Party Hat Cocoa
CS- SU green galore, brilliant blue, Neenah white, Doodlebug dp
accessories- white satin ribbon, brads, oval nesties, white gel pen, stickles, copics


The second card uses our new make lemonade set in which the proceeds are being donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. You can get more info HERE.



I colored the pitcher with copics then added some crystal effects over the top so it would look "wet" like lemonade. The great thing about digi images is that you can rotate, resize, and copy images so easily which is how you make the lemon border on my card. It is just a simple copy and paste technique- cool huh?

Supplies-
digi- make lemonade
CS- Papertrey lemon tart and summer sunrise, Neenah white
accessories- cb embossing folder, copics, crystal effects, satin ribbon, circle nesties, white gel pen


So glad that you could stop by today. Have a blessed day!!