A New Year & Two New Digis!

Happy New Year's Eve! It's so hard to believe that tomorrow is not only the the start of a new year, but of a totally new DECADE!! I hope you have fun and safe evening planned for tonight to celebrate!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps has a lot of fun in store for you all in the new year, starting with two new digis this week. One is the adorable "Baby New Year" that Korin shared with you on Tuesday. The other is "Love Birds", illustrated by Leah Cornelius, which I used on my card for today. Aren't these birds just the sweetest pair? The saying on my card is from the Valentine Sentiments set that was released last week. All of these new digis are available in the online store today.

To make my card, I used the sketch from this week's "Mojo Monday" challenge. I have to say that I love sketch challenges -- they make crafting so easy!! I colored the image with Prismacolor markers, and decorated the card with some cheery papers from the Green Stack by DCWV, a few punched leaves and Dew Drops, and this fun, red rosette I found in my embellishment stash. (For some reason the rosette looks a bit blob-ish in the photo, but it looks pretty in person -- honest -- LOL!)

Starting tomorrow, our new Digi DT members will be postinghere, as well as our January Guest Designers. I hope you will stop back frequently to see all the fun things they have to share with you. Happy New Year!!!

January Guest Designers!

We are so excited to introduce our January Guest Designers! Both are very creative and talented and you will love what they have to share with us this month.

Debi Southard will be posting on Saturdays! 

  

 I live outside of Syracuse, New York with my husband of 24 years (and yes I was a teenage bride) and our 5 children ranging in age from 20 to 6 years old as well as various cats, a dog, a bird and whatever else the kiddos drag home. I guess you could label me a Work-at-Home mom. I have been blessed to be able to stay home, raising my children as well babysitting and providing foster care for countless other children as well. My husband, Jeff and I felt the call to become foster parents over 12 years ago. We had two wonderful boys of our own and wanted to open up our home to maybe make some small difference in the lives of children in need. Since that time we have been blessed to have fostered many children, some only for a couple of day, some for years. Three we have adopted and a couple others still call me mom even though we never got to make it permanent.

To keep myself sane I craft. Since 2002 I have been scrapbooking and stamping. In 2005 I found SplitCoastStampers (where I am know as debils) there I lurked for a while, watching, learning and playing along with the challenges until I finally found the courage to start a gallery and later a blog. For the last year and a half I have enjoyed being a member of several design teams both as a guest and as a permanent member.

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Jennifer Scull will be posting on Tuesdays!

My name is Jennifer Scull, and I have been paper crafting for about 10 years. I started as a scrapbooker, but went to that ONE stamping party and have been making cards & altered projects ever since! :) In the past year I have found the wonderful world of digis. Love the versatility they bring!

Thankfully my family is supportive of my habit, um, my hobby. wink, wink! I have been married for 23 years to my college sweetheart and have 3 teenage boys. Hubby started his career as a golf professional, but left after 25 years to go into the ministry. He currently serves as the Director of a Christian camp as well as the Director of Youth Ministries for our Church District. Through the many valleys as well as mountain tops we have experienced in life, God has remained ever faithful, ever loving, and ever present. For that I give thanks EVERY single day!

Baby New Year-Get him FREE!

This little guy will be released this week, but our SNSS Digi Blog readers can get him FREE!! How??? When you place a $10 (or more) digi order today or tomorrow (the 29th or 30th), I will email him to you FREE :)!!

Please note: The "Let's celebrate!" sentiment is from one of our clear stamp sets (Birthday Buddies). The digi is just the baby image.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
~Korin

A Little Old, A Little New!

How many are still recovering from the Christmas holidays?? Don't get me wrong, I truly love this season, and celebrating the birth of Jesus! But, it is a busy time with all the baking, hosting, shopping...phew! I made my first turkey this year...a 25 lb beast it was! I am happy to report that it turned out pretty good. I have to admit though, I was nervous about it!

So, the title of my post talks about the old and the new. I thought that along with a card featuring the new digi release for this week, I would also post a card with an "older" image. First up, we'll have "Be Mine Cocoa". I get so excited each time I see a new Cocoa image! Please keep them coming Korin!!

Can you believe it's already time to start thinking about Valentine's Day? I decided to make a smaller card this week, and used my scalloped Nestabilities to make a shaped card. I paper pieced the envelope, which had to be done a little differently with a digital stamp! I printed out a copy of the image on plain paper and used it as a template to trace on the DP I planned to use. I popped up Cocoa's head, as well as the little heart on the envelope. The "XOXO" sentiment is part of the Valentine Sentiments, which was also released this week.

Up next, we have Feel Better Paulie. This digi was released back in November. I also used a sentiment from Get Well Wishes. I couldn't help myself...I HAD to use some real tissue in poor Paulie's box! I just poked a little hole, and pushed some tissue up from behind. I also coated his water bottle and thermometer with Glossy Accents.

Here's a closeup of Paulie (you can see the tissue better in this pic!):

You may have noticed that Sweet 'n Sassy announced their Digi DT last week. I would just like to say a big THANK YOU for the opportunity to be a part of this team. These ladies are all so very talented, and I feel honoured to work alongside them! Congrats to all the other DT members!

Have a blessed day!

Melanie

Sleepy Kitty with a Sketch to try!

Since Christmas is considered "over" (and I JUST got in from traveling) I thought I would show you a card that I made for this week's SWEET STOP SKETCH BLOG!  It isn't green and red or have an ornament or snowman on it, but it does reflect how most of us probably feel the following two days after Christmas!  I KNOW I have been napping like crazy!  So, in the spirit of Christmas-after, here's our Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' new SLEEPY KITTY!

As for my cutie of a card above, I used THE SWEET STOP's Sketch #SSS36 as inspiration for this sketch and I used this just released sleepy kitty digi that you can find HERE.  I used some Basic Grey Ambrosia papers to give it that warm feeling with yellows, golds and deep reds.  Even the gray, while still a 'cool' color, makes you feel all warm and snuggly like a good furry blanket!!  Flowers by Prima, rhinestones by Basic Grey in gray, gold and orange, nestibilities for scalloped shapes.

OH, the sentiment is from a different set that you can find HERE at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, too.  I like that saying, don't you?  It's a cute one!

I sincerely hope that while you celebrated Jesus' birthday, your Christmas brought you wonderful times and wonderful memories!  I know it did for me! 

NOW, go take a NAP!!

Winter Love

So did you all survive the Christmas Holiday? I survived mine and I must say that I really enjoyed kicking back and just enjoying friends and family even though the week before Christmas was all a frenzied blur. Today I heard that stores were going to be open at 6am for after Christmas sales! Really?! I looked at my loved ones all around me and just thought I have everything I need right in this room.

I can't believe that December is almost gone and I must give a BIG thanks to Sandy for posting for me in my frenzied state of mind last Saturday. The second card you see is what should have been posted last Saturday. It is called Gone Fishing and it along with the Be Mine Cocoa can be found in the SNS digi store. Which leads to the first card that uses the adorable Be Mine Cocoa. Valentine's Day will be here before we know it so let's get a head start. Both cards are colored with copic markers and I mostly pulled papers from my scrap bin...one of my New Year's resolutions.

I just want to take a minute to thank Korin and Sandy for having me as a Guest DT and congrats to the new upcoming DT. I really appreciate this opportunity and look forward to seeing the upcoming inspiration. It has been an absolute pleasure.

The Greatest Gift is Jesus!

Merry Christmas Eve!! Can you believe the special day for which we've all long been planning and waiting is just about here? I hope you've been able to get everything done you wanted to. I still have a few things to do today before my hubby's family joins us for dinner tonight, but for the most part I'm ready to just relax and enjoy the next couple of days!

We have two fun new digi releases for you today, both of which will be perfect for those Valentine's Day cards you'll no doubt be wanting to make in the near future -- Be Mine Cocoa (which Sandy shared a beautiful sneak peek of on Saturday!!) and Valentine's Sentiments. Both are available to purchase in the online store today. (NOTE: Although the main store is closed for the holidays until January 4th, digis can still be purchased and downloaded during this time.) While you're there, be sure to check out the new seasonal digi bundles that Korin has put together for you. There are three digi bundles available, each containing over a dozen different images/sets for a value price of just $25.

Now, because it's Christmas Eve, instead of sharing a project today made with this week's new releases, I'm instead sharing a card that celebrates the first and greatest Christmas gift ever given -- the birth of Jesus. Over 2000 years ago, God gifted us with His only son, to be a light in a dark world by which each and every person for ages to come might see and know His love for them. Talk about perfect gifts!!! Sometimes, in the craziness of holiday preparations, I think we forget that that was the gift that started it all -- the very reason we celebrate Christmas today. So, I just wanted to share something today, as we prepare to celebrate with our loved ones, to help us all remember. :-)

About the card: the layout is the sketch from this week's sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers (turned on it's side) . The image and greeting are from the lovely Greatest Gift digi set illustrated by Chris Dickinson. The designer papers are from the Wassail collection by Basic Grey (my all-time favorite Christmas papers!!) I colored the images with Copic (flesh tones) and Prismacolor markers, and added a couple of highlights with a white gel pen. The poinsettia is a premade flower by Petaloo.

I know I speak for the entire team here at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps in wishing you a very merry Christmas. I pray that your holiday is filled with love and happiness, that you are surrounded by family and friends, and that you enjoy every moment of this special day. God bless you!!!