Sassy & Sweet Notes

Happy Halloween!

I had every intention of making a sppoookky halloween card for the blog, but just haven't gotten to it yet today. Sorry! My lunch break was spent putting together a roast for dinner, and hanging wet clothes on the line. (no, we don't have a dryer - yet) It's typically hot and dry enough here to dry a couple loads a day - but not lately. Time for a dryer! Dang it anyway!

I also made some deviled eggs for dinner - ya can't have halloween without some devilishly delicious deviled eggs! Mmmm.... eggs...

Alan and I won't get any trick-or-treaters tonight, so I guess all the chocolate is for us! Bwahahahahaaa!!!

Have a spoo-oo-oo-ooky hall-o-weeeeennn!!

Flowers for You

There's nothing really fancy about this card, but I think it's pretty fun! It is a standard A2 sized card folded on the left side, but I scored 1/2" in from the center fold and added some eyelets & ribbon so that the card opens at the inside fold, just to the right of the ribbon. The main stamped image is by Penny Black (they have the cutest kitty stamps), and the sentiment is by A Muse. It's only part of a sentiment though. I only inked "for you" prior to stamping the sentiment with a Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip marker. The flowers have a nice bit of sparkle to them, thanks to some Star Dust Stickles. (Which, by the way, I usually carry in the Sassy & Sweet Crafts shop, but I sold out! More is on order, and will be posted soon.)

I also finished another wooden project this weekend. This time, another bat! I used paper from one of my older paper stacks that was all about fall. It might be kind of hard to see, but the paper has orange dashed swirls all over it, along with some orange/yellow dots and stars. I added some wiggly eyes for character. On a twisted wire strand, black letter beads read "SPOOKY HALLOWEEN". Some festive ribbon in orange and black, along with a little jingle bell finish off the design.

I planned on mailing this just like a card, but realized that with the jingle bell attached to the hanger, I'll have to put it in a padded envelope. But still, what a fun way to send a holiday greeting! Hope the person that receives this little number has a Spooky Halloween!!

Pumpkin Notes

For much of the day today we were without power as a big wind storm came through. Brrr ... it even got chilly! Since it was stormy, and we had no power, seemed like the only thing I could do was some paper crafts and stamping! (Note to self: make a wish for more power-free days.)

These are made with the wooden shapes I've been playing with lately. I thought these pumpkins would be fun as desk post-it tablets, or would even be great on the fridge with a few magnets placed on the back so they hang evenly on the fridge door. Both sides of the pumpkins are covered with patterned paper, and there's plenty of room on the backside for me to include messages to the people I'm sending these little gifts to. This was an easy craft that has endless possibilities for altering. I'll have to check the store for more wooden shapes next time I'm in town!

PS: A friend just sent me a fun Pumpkin Carving website - check it out! What a way to pass the day...

We Have Winners!!

Thank you to everyone who commented on the Blog Candy post! You all had such wonderful things to say and I was thrilled with the overwhelming response! At 9:00pm I put every name in a box and had Alan draw six names randomly. He read every comment made and was amazed at how many people commented on the farm animals. Thanks for enjoying our farm life with us.

And now for the winners!!

   - Karen (Stampin3)
   - Charlotte (Charlee)
   - Cat
   - TwoBoysandaGirl
   - Patty Martin
   - Juanita (Toni173)

Congrats to all the winners!! Please email me (<< click that link and it will start a new email message for you, addressed to me) with your name and address, and I'll get your blog candy in the mail right away! Hope you like your packages!

Watch for more Blog Candy coming soon!

PS: You must check out Asela's blog as well... you'll like her current post!

Gone Batty

I had so much fun with the ghost so tonight I made this bat. The bat is a thin wood shape from the craft store that I thought would be fun to cover with paper, and send as a card. The back is covered with a rust colored CS that coordinates with the rust color on the patterned paper. This bat will fit in a 5x7 sized envelope if the wire hanger is tucked down to the back of the card. I twisted shiny beads in the wire hanger, just for a bit of sparkle. I used my pinking shears for the zagged edges on the paper layers. The moon/star charm is stuck on with small glue dots. I used my crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the wire hanger. Super easy!!

Tonight I baked my first (I think...I certainly don't remember making one before) home-made apple pie. I need to work on the edges of my crusts - this one is looking a little rough around the edges. I'm no Martha, but it was yummy regardless of how goofy it might look!

Mmmmm... pie....

Don't forget about the Blog Candy post I made yesterday! If you haven't left a comment on yesterday's post and would like to be in the running for FREE rubber, see the post below called Blog Candy! You have until 9pm Central time October 26th to post your comment to be considered for the drawings! Good luck!!

Blog Candy!

I've had several unsuccessful searches of the Michael's $1 stamp bins for the small Thanksgiving stamps (pilgrim, acorn, etc). On my last visit, even though I couldn't find the stamps I was looking for, I decided to pick up a few stamps for blog candy!

Thursday night, I'll be asking Alan to choose 6 random names from the comments made to this post - but you must comment by Thursday night (Oct 26) at 9pm Central. That's when the winning names will be selected.

If your name is one of the names he chooses, I'll send you one of the stamps shown here (my choice since I'm sure I won't be able to accomodate all of your first choice wishes), along with some "secret" goodies! In addition to the stamp, you might receive some ribbon, or brads, or buttons, or...  you get the idea.

So come on ladies! Post a comment! Let me know who you are! Six of you will be getting fun goodies in the mail soon!!

Trick or Treat!

I thought it would be fun to alter some of those wooden shapes available now in the craft stores -- typically, people paint them. Last time I was in town I put a few different shapes in my basket. This ghost is pretty simple. I covered both sides with Basic Grey paper, inked the edges, and added some stitching around the outside edge. I drew on eyes and a mouth with a black Sakura Glaze pen (so it looks embossed!). I punched holes in the hands and one in the head with my crop-a-dile -- it punched through the wood with no problems at all! I stuck the trick or treat charm on with glue dots, right over top of the twisted craft wire.

I left the back of the ghost free of embellishments so I could use it for my handwritten message. I'll pop this into a standard sized envelope and mail it just like a card.

I'm excited to finish more of the shapes I picked up!

Back in Town

Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog, but I have been out of town for a few days. On Wednesday I flew up to Eugene, Oregon so that I could take a couple days of training at the office there. I was able to enjoy a couple of nights with my friends, who I miss, miss, MISS! It was great to see them! Saturday morning, my travel back home started at 4:00am when I left for the airport. Whoa..early. I finally got home at 7:30pm Saturday night. What a  L O N G  day. It's so good to be home after all that travel time.

Hopefully I'll get some stampin' done tomorrow! Even if it's just one project. That's something!!

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet!

It's super hot here today - since we've had a few cooler days, today feels EXTRA hot. It was 91 degrees outside when I went to the post office. Phwewww-eeeee that seems hot. But a few minutes in the sun and heat was well worth the trip to the post office today!

I got a box from my mom and BATS in the BELFRY, look what she made me! This is a quilted wall hanging that is so Halloween-y fun! The fabrics are all so great! My favorite colors, my favorite themes!

I love all the fancy stitching! There's spooky fog lines in the night sky, stitches like grass in the lawn, and pebbles on the sidewalk. There is stitched siding on the house, swirly curls between the stars, and my favorite stitching - spazzed out hair standing up on the cat's back!

There are candy corn, pumpkin, leaf, ghost and BAT buttons sewn here and there -- so cute! (Now I know why you bought those buttons!)

I love fall AND Mom's quilts so this is a true gift. I love it! I can't believe I get to have so much of your fabric! What FUN! (and lots of Prairie Points, too!)

Thanks MOM!!

Sending You Sunshine

Another cute Penny Black stamp, along with an A Muse Artstamps sentiment (they're my favorite sentiments), and the Stampin' Up Flannel Plaid background stamp.

We've had a little bit of rain here and the wild flowers are starting to pop up here and there. Seems like they are all trying to take advantage of another opportunity to bloom and create seeds.

This image is stamped in black Stazon on Pearlized White cardstock by Paper Accents, and colored with Prismacolor pencils & Gamsol. I matted the image layer with Chocolate Chip, So Saffron and a piece of brick/rust colored paper from my stash. I like using the new Stampin' Up corner punch to get the snipped corners. I added silver brads for a bit of shine. This card measures 4.75 x 4.75.

I'm enjoying the recent rain - it could rain every day and I'd be a happy girl!

Enjoy Life

I ordered myself a few stamps for my birthday, and this was one of the ones I ordered. What's more delightful than enjoying delicious chocolates? One of the things I love about this stamp image is that the tag is blank, and you can add whatever you'd like to it as a sentiment. I happen to have some small Wordsworth sentiment stamps that will all work great in this space, although I think "enjoy life" is probably the most fitting for this image. Yum!

I bought this patterned paper at the beginning of the year right before Valentine's day with intensions of making chocolate-y valentine cards. Today was the first time I cut into the paper. So, either I'm way behind in my card creations, or I'm way ahead of the game! I think I'll grab a piece of chocolate, and start thinking about what to stamp next.

The main image is stamped on pearlized (shimmery) white paper by Paper Accents. I colored the image with prismacolor pencils and used a black Sakura glaze pen to accent the black lines. I added Star Dust Stickles to the bow, stripes on the box, and tops of the chocolates just for a bit of glitz. The image is matted with chocolate chip and creamy caramel paper, popped up on dimensionals. I added the primas, ribbon and brads using my Crop-o-dile to punch through the layers. It created a clean punch for the large tabs on the brad to act as the connecting hardware.

Morning Storm

Friday morning we had a big stormfront move in. I took a photo of it, but these photos from Alan's phone camera turned out better, I think. Just a bit down the road from the house on his way to work he stopped to take a few photos out his window. Not bad for a camera phone! I overlapped two of the photos he took to show the biggest part of the stormfront - that's why there's a funny line break down the image. It was pretty dark and impressive! I medicated Mister Farley so when the thunder and lightening started he wouldn't be in too much of a panic. Oddly enough, there was very little noise with this storm. It did keep the daily temperature to a nice high 60s though, which you know I loved!!

Busy week...

It's been a busy week, and tomorrow I'm setting some time aside for stamping. I've got to! I need to!

Tonight was homecoming for the highschool in our town. I'm not sure how many kids go to the school, but I'm pretty sure the entire town showed up for the football game (including us!) Here they play 6-man football on a slightly smaller field. It was fun - and chilly! I'll sleep good tonight!

Zzzzz.zz.zzzz.zz.z.zzzzzzz......

Pineapple Pineapple PINEAPPLE!!

This is a RIOT!!
Crockadile Hunter meets Ross, the intern.

Now, I have a code word for when I panic!
Pineapple Pineapple PINEAPPLE!!

Wild Asparagus and Primas - oh my!

I placed an order the other day from PaperAddict.com and when the box of paper came, it was like Christmas! So many wonderful colors and textures and patterns! This paper by Wild Asparagus was some that I ordered. I love the vintage fabric look to these papers, and the texture of the paper. Inking around the edges creates a warm, aged look that I really like. Another nice thing about this paper is that it's double sided, so it was easy to coordinate all of the papers into one design.

Have you seen these wonderful Prima flowers? I received this flower from a friend (thanks Viv!) and wanted to feature it with this paper. I like how the coppery-gold shimmery ribbon softens the line between the paper and the flower. I added some glass leaf beads to this card as well. They're tied to the birthday tag using the organza ribbon.

As I was making this card, I thought I'd put together a visual aid for those of you who've asked me how I sponge the edges of my cards. (Thanks for the emails, by the way!)

I start with my paper layer cut to size. With a wooden handled sponge dauber, I pick up color off my ink pad (don't over-do it - a little goes a long way). I usually use Walnut ink by Ranger, but most dye inks will work with this technique.

While holding the paper with my left hand (not seen in this photo cause it's holding the camera) I begin to pull ink across my scrap paper onto the paper's edge. Start a good distance from the edge of your paper layer to avoid hard-lined edges from the sponge. Starting at a distance also helps you pull the ink more smoothly. Continue to pull ink onto the paper around all the edges of the paper, until you've got a nice even layer of ink. I usually go around the paper layer two or three times for a really nice even edge.

Because these sponges are so inexpensive compared to SU daubers or other brands, I keep a small drawer just for inky daubers. I use one color with each dauber, and only toss them out when I've worn most of the sponge off of the wooden handle. They take a beating, that's for sure!

Fowl News

I didn't get much more than a minute of time today to do anything other than WORK - YUCK!

But, I was able to take this photo of the chicks. Posie is the nosey one looking at the camera. When I first saw them like this, they were all sleeping, but the beep of the camera popped Posie awake.

This is Posie, Two-Eyed-Jack (black one), and Scooter (smaller yellow one).

This is Scooters blog debut! ... clearly she's pretty excited about it.  Zzzz....

Full Moon Over Milford

Thought I'd share a quick photo from last night. How fun that we had this gorgeous moon out on the night of my birthday! Full Moon Over Milford is not only a TV show... it's what we had last night, since Alan and I live outside of Milford, Texas! Ha!

I aways get freaky on the full moon...this month was no different.

Bwahahaahahahaaa!!

Nighty-Night!

25.... again.

October 7, 1972 - my birthday.

While it might be nice to be 25 (again), I'm not.

More like thirty f-f-f-fo-fou-four.

Cheers to another year!

*tink*

Me Time is Good Time

I took the day off work today to enjoy some "me time". Time that I can spend doing anything I want! It's been great! I've been able to do some stamping, catch up with some friends via email, went to the post office and was thrilled to have mail!, and even went up to Dairy Queen and bought myself an ice cream treat! Mmmm...

I pulled out some stamps that I haven't had time to play with yet. One set was a Paper Salon autumn set that includes this cute scarecrow. Totally influenced by JulieHRR, I stamped him on Fabriano paper and watercolored him with an aquapainter and ink from my reinkers. The sentiment is stamped with Karen Foster Snap Stamps (which I keep trying to order for the store, but they continue to be out of stock at the warehouse). I wrapped the card with some fun Italian chocolate brown fiber.

Simple and cute. I love that kind of stamping.

I also wanted to catch up on some cards to send to friends. I made this dog and bee card using a Penny Black stamp and A Muse sentiment. The dog is stamped on Fabriano paper and watercolored with my aquapainter and ink from my reinkers. I used the new Stampin' Up Paisley background stamp on the base, and I added some Sakura Stardust glitter pen to the bee's wings and used the same pen to create his flight trail. There's also a bit on the flower petals for shimmer. I love how this pen adds just a hint of sparkle and shine to any card.

I think that's it for now ... I want to get back to stampin'!

Good for a Smile

This is Billy. Billy is our 2 year old donkey, and he's a pest. I'm pretty sure he thought my camera was a treat.

Yesterday was a busy day at the farm. We had the vet come out for all kinds of vet-duties. We got the dogs vaccinated, ears treated and nails trimmed. We had some blood taken from Jackie, the pregnant jenny. And we had the cows checked for pregnancy. *EW!* I didn't even take photos of that little event. *Gross!*

The turkey hen has hatched more chicks. She's mothering two, and Alan brough a third one to the house yesterday. It wasn't all dry yet, but he wasn't sure if it was one of the first two that had been stepped on, or if it was a new one that just couldn't stand yet. Turns out it was a new one. So, now we've got yet another chick in the house with us for a few days.

This one I've named Scooter, since it was pretty good about getting around the box, but it didn't stand up to do it. It just pushed itself around like it had wheels on its belly. It's a sweet little yellow chick with a big voice, and today is getting strength in its legs enough to stand. If you're curious about One-Eyed-Jack, turns out his eye was ok, but it's still healing and now shows half way. Posie is growing big and getting some of her feathers. She loves her chin and belly rubbed - a very sweet little chicken who puts up with a lot of pestering from Jack.

The Search for Creativity

I'm sure at some point everyone feels like their creativity and imagination have *poof* disappeared. I'm starting to feel this way, and I don't like it one bit! This card is how I feel. Brain-fried. Scattered. Fritzed.

But I know it's in me. I just have to find it. So, I'll tinker away with my stash of stuff until I come up with some stampin' mojo.

Maybe I need some coffee. Or booze.  Heheee... *off to the kitchen*

*#%!@$%&*

I'm having one of those days where I just want shout "Take this job and SHOVE IT!" I'm tired - and it is wearing me out. I want my brain to be able to think creatively, and not worry about all the mice-nut sized details I have to keep track of for 40 hours a week. It makes me cranky going from wanting to use the side of my brain that functions the best, to having to use the side that just wants to sit back and enjoy the colorful ride. So, since I can't *really* say those words to anyone I want to say them to, I'll put the words here - real quietly - and trust all of you to keep my secret!

On my lunch break today, to relax, I made this birthday cowgirl. She's being sent to someone special this week - someone who shares my birthday. There have been few bright spots in my day today. Creating this card was one of them. YeeeHaw for birthdays!