Sassy & Sweet Notes

This cracks me up!

it's almost halloweeeeen!

I have always liked Halloween... mostly because I just love this season. I love cooler weather during the day, much cooler weather at night, pumpkins, fall colors, and all the smells that go with this season.

In honor of Hallow's eve, I made this card using the Ollie Scarecrows image by Stampendous, and the three bats image by Memory Box. I like how spooooooky the background turned out! Bats creep me out.... but these bats are cool!

Hope you and your family have a spooky Halloween!

a cute birdie...

I had a fun weekend! Saturday I met up with a few stampin' friends at a shop in Salado, Texas. We went shopping, enjoyed lunch at a local cafe, and popped into some nearby shops afterwards. (Hi girls! What a fun day!!)

I found all kinds of stamps that needed to be added to my collection! This little bird by Stamps by Judith was one of the stamps I picked up. So cute! This little bird reminds me of our bird Huey Hotfoot. The wild hairdo, the empty-headed gaze... it's Huey for sure.

I put together a few of these cards tonight. They came together fairly quickly once I got the images painted. The designer paper I used is a single sheet I picked up when I was in Oregon earlier this summer. It's one of those sheets that now that I've used it, I wish I had more! The only problem is that I have NO IDEA who makes it, what it's called, or anything! The back of the sheet was totally blank! Cripes...how am I supposed to find more!? Ahh well... not like I don't have 100's of other sheets of paper I could use instead.  *pout*

Hope you had a great weekend, too!

Happy Fall Scarecrow

My Blogger's Challenge Friday card was so fun to do, I decided to make another!

This time I used a different image from Whipper Snapper (artist Shelly Comisky), some fun fall leaf paper (unknown company), and some FAT chocolate May Arts grosgrain ribbon.

I also used a scalloped rectangle Spellbinder's die to create the olive green layer under the image. The image is stamped on white cardstock and colored with markers.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend...and Happy Fall!

And a Happy, HAPPY Birthday to my friend Vivian!!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Designer Paper

This week's Blogger's Challenge Friday theme was Designer Paper. We were to make designer paper a main focus on our project. I use designer paper a LOT, a LOT, a LOT... but still found this challenge to be fun!

I chose this holiday paper by Scenic Route for my project and chose to combine it with this cute snowman image by Whipper Snapper (artist Shelly Comisky). I wanted the squares of the paper to be repeated in my image, and found that the squares on the snowman's hat and scarf were a similar repeating pattern. The card and all the layers on the card are also square, repeating the design element.

The image is stamped on white cardstock and colored with markers. I used a scalloped square Spellbinders die for the green layer and adhered it to the card base with 3D foam adhesive squares. Snowmen make me happy...

Wicked Witch Winner!

I received an email from my Aunt Patty earlier this week that had some cute Halloween funnies in it. This was one of them ... too funny! Thanks for the giggles, Patty!

Wow!! 266 comments for the Whipper Snapper Wicked Witch stamp! You girls were serious about wanting to win, and serious about your favorite treats, too! Hands down, Candy Corn was the favorite treat, and my guess would be that "anything chocolate" was the second favorite. My MY, you all know how to make a girl CRAVE sweets!

There were a couple of people who mentioned my favorite Halloween treat, which is fresh roasted pumpkin seeds. YUM! They're worth the pumpkin carving mess! Rinse them and clean them up, then soak them in a bit of salted water over night. Place them on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with some good salt and a bit of butter and roast them in the oven until they're nice and toasty brown! Mmmm... I'm adding a pumpkin to my shopping list!

Thank you for all of your comments -- they were so fun to read! I loved the little Halloween rhymes a couple of you left too! So clever... But only one person could win today. (Dang it, anyway!) I randomly chose one name from all of the comments -- congrats to Beth M! Here's what Beth had to share: Isn't she cute!?! I would love to add her to my collection so feel free to pick me! My favorite halloween treat is Monster Fingers. Add some green dye to almond bark, melt, break pretzel rods in half and dip in the almond bark. Add a slivered almond to the end as a fingernail and some red gel to the broken end of the pretzel as blood and you have Monster fingers. Beth M (scs ematson)

Beth, Monster Fingers sound GREAT! I love making chocolate covered pretzels at Christmas, and they'll be fun at Halloween too! So clever! Drop me a note and I'll get your wicked witch out to you as soon as possible!

Whipper Snapper has been offering weekend specials to mailing list subscribers the entire month of October. Earlier this morning I received the 4th and final October special via email. It's so good, I've got to share! 

The Offer: With any purchase of $60 or more (before shipping), you get ONE FREE STAMP of your choice! Offer is valid through Sunday, October 28th. To receive your free stamp, type FREE STAMP OFFER in the comments section on your order and include the Stamp Number and Description. (Example: FREE STAMP OFFER #LY828 All Tangled Up Reindeer) Be sure you don't include the free stamp in your list of purchased items -- you'll be charged. Shop online at Whipper Snapper Designs. If you're not on the Whipper Snapper mailing list but would like to be, you can sign up on their website HERE.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Edited to Add: Nope, Wicked Witch is not one of my illustrations. She's a creation of Shelly Comisky, another Whipper Snapper artist. In addition to seeing Shelly's work at Whipper Snapper, you can also see her work at Simply Shelly Designs.

Cackle Cackle Cackle!!

Hellooooo my pretties! Do I have a TREAT for yooooou! This Whipper Snapper beauty has a twin in my stamp drawer, so one of the lovely ladies needs a new home!

If you would like to be entered into the drawing for this brand spankin' new Wicked Witch stamp, leave a comment on this blog post! But don't be slow! I'll be drawing one lucky name from all of the comments at NOON Central time on THURSDAY, October 25th so I can get the stamp to the winner before spooky Halloweeeeen! If you leave your comment after Noon on Thursday, you might turn into a TOAD!

Now scoot... leave me a note! Tell me your favorite Halloween treat, and don't forget to include your name so I can identify you!

One entry per person, please.

Hanna Stamps Sneak Peek!

One of my co-workers lives either in or near Denver. We were on a conference call last night and he said that he was watching his kids build a snowman in the yard. WHAT?! Yeah, no kidding! He said they got at least 6 inches of snow in and around Denver Sunday night and it was still hangin' around on Monday. Wow!! There's all kinds of crazy weather happening these days!

So, what better time for Hanna to start some holiday planning than today! This is a sneak peek of a new set called Tis the Season being released by Hanna Stamps! this coming Friday. Like many popular clear art stamps, Hanna Stamps! are made of wonderful high quality photopolymer. They work perfectly with all kinds of inks - even Stampin' Up dye inks.

Here I stamped Hanna and her tree on white cardstock and painted them with a water brush and reinkers. I added some quick faux stitching, some Daisy D's buttons, May Arts ribbon, and finally some Stardust Stickles for sparkle and shine. Hanna is certainly lovely, and will be so fun to dress in all kinds of fun holiday outfits! Check out Hanna Stamps! for more details on this set.

PS: This card measures 5.5 x 5.5, if you're wondering how tall Hanna actually is. Oh, and the designer paper is by Amy Butler for K&Company. Love it!

Rain...a simple pleasure.

We're pushin' towards the end of October, and it has been HOT HOT HOT here in Texas for too long. It has still been in the high 80's to low 90's during the day, but it chilled out last night! Today the high was 62!

Thankfully, cooler temperatures are here! It even rained most of the morning today, and was windy and blustery. A season change! YEAH!

In the spirit of today's rain, I decided to make this card using some of my Rosie's Roadshow stamps. Lena looks like she's enjoying her shower. She is, after all, a duck. I also used Cloud and Shower to create this scene. I drew in the puddle, giving Lena a place to sit. The sentiment on this card is by A Muse, and all paper is by Memory Box.

Here's hoping you're seeing a change in the seasons as well!

A Challenge With Julia!

My friend Julia Stainton and I have decided to start challenging each other with a themed project now and then which we'll reveal to each other, and you, on our blogs. The idea is similar to my monthly Western Showdown challenges with Lindsey (Jacksonbelle), only Julia and I have decided to challenge each other with all kinds of various themes.

Julia and I may challenge each other to a layout, a specific product, something seasonal, or like with this challenge we chose a color challenge using Sage, Rust and a Neutral color palette. I chose the colors for this challenge. I wanted to use Rust as one of the primary colors because I have this really pretty rust colored ribbon and couldn't remember using it on a project. Now I have!

Be sure to check out Julia's Sage and Rust challenge project on her blog Belle Papier. It's gorgeous!!

Rust and Sage are really hot colors with the western themed papers and products, so it was a natural choice for me to do a western themed project for this challenge. I chose papers by Cosmo Cricket that have a base color of Rust and Sage. I chose Chocolate Chip brown as my neutral color, using brown for my matting layers, the second flourish die cut, ink, and thread.

I stamped the cowboy from the Wanted Stampin' Up set onto the rust colored floral Cosmo Cricket patterned paper.  I matted the layer, sponged, distressed and stitched around the edges. I added a Stampin Up Jumbo Eyelet to the top corner, and tied on my rust colored ribbon.

The flourish die cut is from a die I bought recently for my Big Shot die cut machine. The die is by Sizzix. I cut two dies for this project - one from rust cardstock and the other from chocolate cardstock. The rust colored die is stamped with the new Cornish Heritage Farms background stamp called Woodgrain. It's a wonderful background stamp and will come in so handy!

I used thick foam adhesive to mount the die cuts and stamped image onto the base of the card. I like the really thick foam adhesive for projects like this -- the extra height really adds a lot to the finished project.

I also used a fine spritzing of "Coffee Shop" Glimmer Mist on this card, which added a nice rich coppery brown shimmer. I wanted it to have some shimmer and shine, but glitter or Stickles wouldn't have worked well (too glitzy-girly). Glimmer Mist turned out to be perfect! My trick to the darker colored Glimmer Mist sprays is to use the spray outside. I've found that a light spray is my favorite way to apply the color, so I mist the air and then pull my card through the mist-filled air. You do have to be careful not to get Glimmer SPITS on your projects. Sometimes, the spray bottle will "spit" large amounts of the product onto your project...this isn't a look I like. But I noticed that if I spray a couple of times into the air, it tends to clear out any large clogs, and the mist turns into a fine spray. This is a good thing.

Julia, thank you for a great challenge! Can't wait for the next one!

New MEMORY BOX stamps!

I received a new order of Memory Box stamps today for the shop - the latest release for the holidays! New penguins, new bears, and new holiday sentiments, oh MY!

Here's a quick card using Skating Bear and Winter Wonder. The snowflake background stamp I used on the base of the note card is by A Muse, and is a couple of years old (if not older).

I love using images that make a card come together really quickly. Memory Box stamps are that way for me. Simple cuteness. Works for me!

I stamped the bear on white cardstock and painted him very lightly with various shades of blue and purple. It's hard to tell, but he has a light blue color wash around him too. I added a quick skate line and added some Stardust Stickles for sparkle. I drew in some quick snowflakes, making his world all frosty.

Speaking of frosty, thankfully the weather here is supposed to start cooling down. It was still WAY too warm here today. Cooler temps make me happy!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Inspired By

This week's Blogger's Challenge Friday theme is Inspired By. The idea is to find inspiration from something, or someone, and use that inspiration as a starting point for your own project. This is one of my favorite challenge themes because there is just so MUCH that can be used for inspiration!

Earlier this week I received the latest Pottery Barn catalog. On the cover is a delightful pillow and a couple holiday items wrapped up for the season. The pillow is covered with a fun house and leaf print fabric, done in cream, leafy greens and cranberry colors. I really love the overall design of the printed fabric, and thought I'd create my own little holiday scene using their fabric as my inspiration.

I sketched a little snowy house scene on white cardstock and painted it with Ranger reinkers. I think I've found a new favorite watercolor color! Ranger's LETTUCE is the color of green I used on the house and MY O MY, is it a GREAT color! It's fresh and chic!

Be sure to check out the other Blogger's Challenge Friday posts today as well! There's a list on the right -- scroll down a bit to find it. You might be amazed at some of the places people find inspiration! You might even find some inspiration for your own projects!

Have a beautiful Friday ... Yay! It's FRIDAY!!

Clucky Christmas...

Is it ever too early to start making holiday cards? I don't think so! A couple friends of mine mentioned holiday cards to me this week, and just their mentioning it brought this card design to mind.

One friend asked about making holiday cards using a non-traditional image (like a rabbit). Her question made me realize that we don't always have to use traditional images during the holidays! Standing Chicken came in handy for this idea, and so did Santa's Hat!

Both of these images are from my Whipper Snapper series, and while they weren't drawn specifically to be used together, they make kind of a fun image! I like how the hat is clearly too large for the chicken, and his eyes kind of peer around the fluff of the hat. I also like how the shape of the hat pops up and out of the rectangle shape.

I chose to layer the hat over the chicken rather than stamping the hat on the same paper layer as the chicken so that there was a bit of depth to the design. I used dimensionals to adhere the hat to the chicken. There are also dimensionals between the white stamped layer and the black scalloped layer, and the black scalloped layer and the base of the card. I went dimensional crazy!

The white rectangle and black scalloped layers were cut using my Big Shot and Spellbinder die cuts. Oooh ahhh, funnn... And of course a chicken wouldn't be complete without some glitz and glamor, so I added some Stardust Stickles for sparkle. The Merry Christmas sentiment is by AMuse. (Is it A Muse, AMuse, Amuse, A*Muse...I never know...)

The patterned paper I used is from the holiday Imaginisce line of papers. They're a nice double-sided paper, and one side is embossed with glittery accents. Very fun! The paper I used on this card is the backside of 12 Penguins Chillin'.

Have you started on your holiday cards yet?!

Crafty Secrets Stamps: Special for Blog Readers!

I'm offering FREE Standard US/Canadian Shipping on all Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps purchased from October 17 through Saturday October 20th. Place your order for the stamps on the Sassy & Sweet Shop, request an invoice before you pay and tell me you're a blog reader & I'll ship your stamps for free! Free standard shipping on in-stock Crafty Secrets Clear Arts Stamps only. Regular shipping charges apply to all other items.

Ornament Chipboard Winner!

Thank you to all who left a comment for the dozen plain chipboard ornament die cuts blog candy! So many of you haven't tried projects using chipboard yet -- you should!! It's great fun!

If you don't have a cutting system to cut your own chipboard shapes, you can get all kinds of chipboard cutouts at your local scrap and hobby store, online retailers, or even Stampin' Up!. Designer paper is easily added with any kind of adhesive. I like Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue in the white and green bottle. Once your paper is adhered, a quick trim with scissors and a quick sanding to tidy up the edges and you're good to go with all kinds of other embellishments! I use a nail emery board to sand the edges if I haven't cut the patterned paper with a die cut machine. Works like a charm!

I chose a comment randomly from all that were posted, and congrats to Troy Louise! Her comment includes great ideas, and in case you missed it here's what she had to say:

Anna: Love your ornament. These would be fun to send to newlyweds or college students even elderly people who don't want to bother with too many decorations. Thanks for the chance to win them and the inspiration to make a few of my own. Your kitties are too cute. Posted by: Troy Louise

Troy, drop me a note with your mailing address and I'll get the dozen chipboard cuts out to you! I'm also sending along some ribbon, so you have a good starting point for your finished projects!

Happy Wednesday!

Chicken Peeps!

It seemed kind of fitting this week to make a card using my own Whipper Snapper Standing Chicken stamp, considering all of the newly hatched chicks we have on the farm. I wanted to create a thank you card for a friend of mine - this one will be perfect!

I used two of my new Spellbinder dies, the scalloped and regular rectangle. I put the layers through the die cut machine twice, so it embossed the edges after the shapes were cut. Pretty cool gadgets if you ask me! (Happy Birthday to me...)

I pulled some fun patterned paper out of my stash that coordinated with my painted chicken (how *lucky* I was to have paper that matched), and some polka dot brown organza. Dreamy...

As a final touch, I added some Stardust Stickles for a bit of glitz. Shouldn't all chickens wear sparkles? I think so...

Oh and by the way, the sentiment is by AMuse. Ooooh, one more thing... if you could see the stash of patterned paper I have, you'd realize that *LUCK* really had nothing to do with the making of this card.

Baby Chickens!

I can't even begin to tell you just how CUTE new baby chickens are! This morning I went out to feed, and Little Brown Hen had two new little babies with her!

She's been sitting on three eggs for a while now - long enough to hatch them, I would suppose!

She's sitting on one more egg and it's a BIG egg, so there's no tellin' what kind of giant baby will hatch from it!

I also took my little camera out to take a couple photos of N'Friend's six babies. They're all about the same age and size, except for one big gray one (farthest one back) that's quite a bit larger than all the others. I guess that's what you can expect with different breeds of chickens all sharing nests. Let's hope they're all hens. We have PLENTY of roosters.

Curly... & Junior

I took this photo of Curly today after the rain stopped. She was in her usual spot ... in the back of the fire truck. I'm pretty sure she thinks Alan brought the fire truck to the farm JUST for her.

I thought she looked pretty against the red of the truck. Kitty kitty... she's a very sweet kitty.

I think the animals are all getting camera shy. They all seem to look away now when I've got the camera out.

I was trying to take photos of Junior today too, and he was being a PEST! You should have seen the looks he was (and wasn't) giving me! He's SO rotten.

In this photo, Junior looks anything BUT sweet.

But eventually I'll win and get a photo that makes him at least appear to be sweet... some day.

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Ornament + Blog Candy!

I'm a few days late for this post, but I wanted to get this posted before I got even MORE behind! (I'm busy working through my project list after being gone for a week!)

Last Friday's Blogger's Challenge theme was Ornament. A fun theme, and I didn't want to miss out! For my project I created this chipboard holiday ornament. It's kind of retro looking with the colors being red and turquoise. I have a die cut of the ornament shape that works GREAT for cutting out chipboard shapes and I used some of my other die cuts for the flower shapes to give the ornament some design and dimension.

I've had my Big Shot for almost a year, but because it's something I have to get out to use (it's not just out all of the time) I don't find myself reaching for it very often. I'm always thrilled with the results of my projects when I do use it, so I'm going to TRY and use it more often.

I've found that I really like the process of die cutting when I have patterned paper adhered to the chipboard before it's die cut. I like how the cutting process presses the patterned paper onto the chipboard, making it look like it's actually part of the chipboard. It slightly rounds the edges, and I like that finished look.

For this project, I adhered red designer paper to my chipboard, placed the covered chipboard into the machine with the die and cut out the red ornament shape. Then I adhered some blue designer paper to a scrap piece of chipboard, and cutout just the top portion of the ornament so I could layer the two together on my finished project. I did the same technique for the flower shapes -- adhering the paper to the chipboard before the cuts where made. Once I had all of my shapes cut, I inked the edges with coordinating inks and glued them to the ornament. I applied a layer of Glossy Accents to the large red area to make the ornament shine like glass. The blue topper and flowers are covered with a layer of Crackle Accents which makes the ornament look like cracked aged glass. While the clear layers were still wet, I sprinkled on some ultra fine glitter for lots of sparkle!

This would be a fun project to turn into a greeting card gift. The ornament could be added to the front of a card and then removed and hung on a tree. Or, it would make a great gift tag too!

Blog Candy: Sooo... how would you like to receive a dozen plain chipboard ornament cutouts from me? You'll be able to cover them with patterned paper, paint them, or alter them in any way. Use them for gift tags, cards, or ornaments for your own tree. I've cut a dozen plain chipboard ornament shapes for one lucky person! If you'd like to be considered for the drawing, leave me a comment on this post. Be sure you leave your name! On WEDNESDAY at NOON Central time I'll randomly select one lucky person to send the chipboard shapes to! And you never know... you might get a little something EXTRA from me in your package, too!

After you leave your comment, don't forget to check out the other Blogger's Challenge Friday posts! I already know there are AMAZING projects to be seen!! You'll find a list to all of the Blogger's Challenge sits on the right side of my blog -- scroll down. You'll see it!

Edited to Add: The ornament die I used is an Ellison Thick Cuts die called Christmas Ornament.

Fall Rain

It was stormy and rainy this morning, and Eddie went from his usual cute cuddly fuzzy self to a crazy haired wet mud ball! The ground here turns to mud quickly and is super sticky, so it looked like he was wearing platform shoes on his little white hooves. Very funny!

Alan and I stayed out of the pasture this morning, knowing full well that as soon as we stepped into the field Eddie would have rubbed his wet dirty donkey self all over us. What a pest! We'll let him dry off a bit before we go love on him for the day.

He has grown so much! Tomorrow he'll be two weeks old. Haaa! What a mess he is!

Perk Up! and get BUSY!

I was away from home all week, and this weekend I've been trying to catch up on things. Ooooh boy, is there a lot to catch up on! It's all fun stuff, but even the "fun" can really pile up to a daunting heap o' tasks!

While I was gone, I received some VERY fun birthday cards and packages! It was great to come home to so many happy wishes. Thank you to those who sent cards, goodies, and left emails and notes here on my blog.

I also came home to 6 new baby chickens! Our hen, N'Friend, has been sitting on some eggs for a while now, and wouldn't you know she's hatched six babies! (Like we need any more chickens...) They're cute little yellow and brown fuzz balls! She's got about 15 more eggs under her, so no telling just how many babies she'll end up with. It's so nice to be home!

Card details: Coffee Pot stamp & sentiment by Crafty Secrets; patterned paper by Crafty Secrets; red & yellow cardstock by Paper Accents; Ribbon from my stash; Making Memories brads; Prismacolor colored pencils.

For You...

I'm away from home for the week traveling for work, so I'll be posting a couple of things this week that I created a while ago, but haven't shared yet.

This image is one of the fall Whipper Snapper images. The image is colored with markers (shocker, it's not painted!) and I added Stardust Stickles for sparkle. The sentiment on the card was just quickly handwritten with a fine tip marker. Off hand I don't recall the line of patterned paper I used on this card, but I thought it was fun! Dots and daisies!

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Skater's Pond

How exciting it is to share another one of my recent Thomas Kinkade Cornish Heritage Farms projects using an image from their upcoming release! I created this gift box using the soon-to-be-released Skater's Pond Vignette image.

I stamped the image with Black Stazon on white cardstock and colored the image with alcohol markers. I used a black marker to deepen the areas I wanted really black. I added some Stardust Stickles for lots of sparkle!

I mounted the colored image on a chipboard tag that I covered with a rich cranberry colored cardstock stamped with Leaves #3 background stamp (also from CHF).

The woodenbox is from one of the local craft stores. I covered it with some chocolate colored cardstock stamped with the same background stamp. I added faux stitching around the edges of the box and tag, and tied some chunky May Arts brown grosgrain ribbon & cranberry colored organza around the box.

This will be the perfect gift box for a friend this holiday season. I should make more of them!

What a fun day!

Thank you to EVERYONE who sent me emails and left comments here and on SplitCoast wishing me a happy birthday! It was a fun day! From this photo you might have guessed that I drove a tractor today! And you'd be RIGHT! I took this photo as I drove around the farm.

Last week, Alan bought a tractor (on ebay...grin), and today we went to pick it up. We drove a couple of hours south of where we live to get it. For those of you who know a little something about tractors, it's a 420 John Deere that was built in something like 1955 or so (Alan would know). That's all I know. Oh, and I know how to drive it.

When we got home late this afternoon, I got to back it off the trailer (WHOA, FUN!) and took it for a spin around the back yard.  It's very cute, and very fun, and I know my friends and family are going to be envious.

it's my BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to ME! Yippeee!!
Happy Birthday to my friend Beth! Yeah!!
And if today's YOUR birthday too, happy birthday to YOU! Wahoo!!

Oh, and check it out! I'm the Featured Stamper today on SplitCoastStampers! How FUN! I am totally tickled by all the fun! You can read about my Featured Stamper day HERE.

If you're not familiar with the Featured Stamper Challenge, each week one stamper on SplitCoast is chosen to be the Featured Stamper. People are invited to browse through the gallery of the Featured Stamper (this week, my gallery) and choose a card to use as inspiration for a card of their own. 

Once they have their card created, they then upload an image of the card to their own SplitCoast gallery, along with a keyword (today's is FS35) that allows all of the cards created for the challenge to be viewed by others. It's very fun, and quite the honor to be chosen! And how funny that I was chosen for Featured Stamper 35 - that's the birthday I'm celebrating today!

Click HERE to view the cards being created using something from my gallery as inspiration.

Ooooh, this is a happy HAPPY day!

Light of Peace...

Cornish Heritage Farms is getting ready for a second release of Thomas Kinkade images -- ooooh, they're FUN!

This image is called Light of Peace, and is part of the upcoming image release. I really wanted to work the inks on this stamp to get it to really pop like a nice black and white photo, or like something you'd see on an old travel postcard that hasn't yellowed over time. I found that Black Stazon was my favorite ink for this look - it had the crispest lay down of color.

With a somewhat dry ink pad (one that's almost ready for re-inking) I applied a light application of ink to areas I wanted to recede. Then with an inkier pad, I added a heavier application of ink only to areas I wanted to be really pronounced. I stamped the image on white cardstock, and then used a small black alcohol marker to further enhance the darkest areas of the image. I matted the image with black cardstock, and then a layer of white cardstock, and then matted it with scalloped black cardstock by Bazzill. The card base is a Neenah paper in white linen. The black and white ribbon is from Michael's.

What I love most about the Thomas Kinkade images is how great they look stamped very simply, in solid colors. They don't need a lot of extra coloring or enhancing to create a "wow" card.

I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of info about this release on the Cornish Heritage Farms site soon... stay tuned!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Orange & Black

Yes, yes I know it's not Friday any longer... BUT, I've been busy with all kinds of fun things! And actually, I did get this card at least started yesterday, but didn't get to finish it until earlier today.

This week's Blogger's Challenge was to use Orange & Black. I chose a couple of my Rosie's Roadshow stamps and created this festive scene. Instead of "happy halloween", I think this card should say "Tip Toe Through the Pumpkins". Ah well... next time.

The paper I used on the background of this card is from a Junkitz line from last fall. I liked this paper so much that this is the only small piece I had left! I stamped the pumpkins and duck on white cardstock and painted them with a waterbrush and re-inkers. The sentiment is by Memory Box. I stamped it on white cardstock and punched it out with one of my Uchida Scalloped Rectangles. I slid it WAY up under the image, to hide most of the punch shape.

If you haven't done it already, be sure to check out the other Blogger's Challenge Friday blogs as well! You're SURE to find lots of amazing orange and black projects...maybe even some spooooky ones!

It's getting close to pumpkin carving time! Yahoo!

There's a Sale!

There's a sale on the Sassy & Sweet Crafts Shop right now ... whoohoo!!
(Sale limited to in-stock, listed products.)

All listed Stampendous stamps!
All listed Inkadinkado stamps!
All listed Patterned Paper!
Includes papers by Crafty Secrets, Memory Box, Daisy D's, and MORE!

Get it while you can!

Hanna Loves Chocolate...

I had a scrap of blue polka dot paper on my desk next to a piece of chocolate chip cardstock, and it gave me an idea!

Two of life's simple pleasures: Chocolate & Shopping!

I actually prefer online shopping, but chocolate is good pretty much any way it comes.

Hanna Stamps! releases their first set of stamps today! More info HERE. It's pretty exciting!

About the card: I stamped Hanna on white cardstock and painted her with a water brush and re-inkers. I cut her dress and handbag out of the same designer paper that I used on the background. The sentiment is by A Muse. A little bit of faux stitching and my favorite ribbon by May Arts, and she's ready to hit the snail mail trail.

Attention in the Pasture

Yesterday late afternoon Alan and I went out to visit Eddie in the pasture and I took a few photos. He's such a friendly, curious baby! It's really amazing to me just how much he looks like Hillary. The brown patches around his eyes, the spots on his rump, and his pretty black-lined eyes... she couldn't deny he's hers, that's for sure.

I'm also really surprised at how soft his coat is. He's as soft as the best fed house cat, but his hair is longer. Of course, since he lives in the pasture he collects the occasional burr and bits of hay, but that's to be expected.

I'm probably going to gush about him for a while... he's just so flippin' cute. I posted a few more photos in my Farm Animal photo gallery.

Alan was out with them this morning and Eddie just loved all over Alan for the longest time! Neck and side rubs seem to be his favorite! He just keeps comin' back for more!

Hanna Stamps!

I was shopping at Target a few weekends ago when I received an email on my phone. The message was from Kristi Ferro. Kristi is the owner of Hanna Stamps!, a new company just launching it's first set of stamps. I was thrilled as I continued to read as Kristi so kindly asked if I would join her design team. What a TREAT! I stopped right in the middle of the isle I was shopping in (laundry detergent) and immediately replied with my response of YES!

A few days later, I received a package from Kristi. It contained the first set of stamps, featuring Hanna and her much needed shopping accessories and goods. This gal is just so fun! She's sassy and chic, and has so much character! Kristi, along with her illustrator, have done a fantastic job of creating a very hip set. I've had a peek at the next set to be released, and ooooh what FUN!
You will find LOTS more information about Hanna Stamps! on Kristi's blog Kreations by Krissy, and the soon to be published site Hanna Stamps!.

I created this card using some designer paper by K&Company. I used the colors in the paper to help me choose colors for Hanna and her shopping bags. Her dress is paper pieced from one of the papers in the K&Company series, so it coordinates perfectly with the background. I stamped Hanna on white cardstock and painted her with a water brush and re-inkers. I added a bit of sparkle to this card using a Sakura Stardust pen -- ooooo, the sparkles! I distressed all of the paper layer edges with the inside of my scissors, and stitched the layers together with my sewing machine.

The sentiment along the side reads "have the funnest birthday ever!" and is by A Muse. I bought that stamp last year after I received a birthday card from my friend Vivian. She used that same sentiment on the card she made for me, and it just seemed like the perfect expression for so many birthday cards. Thanks for the enabling, Vivian! *grin*

ok... one more!

Alright ... I have to share ONE more photo of Eddie, just because it's just so FUN!

Donkey's stomp their feet to get the flies off of their legs... Eddie was practicing his stomping this morning. It was so funny to watch... the little guy hasn't even mastered his directional controls yet (forward is sometimes sideways, and backwards is sometimes forward), and already he's trying out some donkey tricks.

He loves to wag his tail too. Makes me giggle!

Meet Eddie!

First thing this morning Alan and I went out to check on Hillary and her baby. The baby was up and having some breakfast, and everyone seemed to be adjusting well. I was so excited to take more photos! I can't believe just how CUTE this baby is! Hillary is very calm with Alan and me in the pasture with them. She's letting the other lady donkey's get a bit closer than she did last night, but just not TOO close. Hillary doesn't seem to mind Alan and me touching the baby at all. And what an excited little FELLA he is! (I've got photos to prove it!) Very curious and friendly. He really seems to like Alan.

Alan's parents were over last night to see the baby, and as we sat around on the porch, Alan's mom suggested the name Eddie (this was before we knew it was a boy). I think Eddie is a sweet name, perfectly suited for a donkey as cute as this. Eddie it is (after Senator Edward Kennedy to keep up with our Democratic theme).

Eddie is quite a bit smaller than Fitz was when he was born. Fitz had much longer legs, and his ears were MUCH longer! I'm sure Eddie will be just as fun to have around as Fitz is.

There are many other photos I could share with you here, but instead I've uploaded them to my Farm Animal photo gallery. Have a look! It is possible to share comments in the photo gallery, so feel free to leave us a note if you'd like! We'd love to hear from you!

Donkey Jogging...

As I was going through the photos I took earlier this evening of Hillary and her baby, I came across these and had to laugh!

This is what you get when you have VERY little light, a hand-held camera with big long lens, a very slow shutter speed, and randomly moving objects. And while these aren't fantastic photos, they're just perfect in my eyes. It's so fun to capture life like this.

After all of this activity, I think it was snack time.

I'm so excited for tomorrow morning when there will be light! Alan and I went out just a bit ago to check on them, and the little one was having a good time going backwards and forwards, forwards and backwards, grabbin' a snack, walking under Hillary, and just havin' a ball.

A New Baby!

It was a wonderful thing this evening after dinner when Alan and I went out to the barn to feed. When we got out to the barn, Alan noticed that Hillary wasn't there with all the other cows and donkeys. Hillary was expecting, but we didn't expect her to have her baby for about another week. We've been watching her for the past couple of weeks, just waiting. Since she wasn't at the barn for feeding time, I decided to walk through the pastures to see if she was bed down some place away from all the others. That's a sure sign of an expecting mother about to give birth.

I saw Hillary in the farthest pasture from the barn, standing, facing away from me. As I got closer, I could see the little baby standing in front of her. I shouted back towards the barn to Alan so he'd come with me. As we got closer, it looked like the baby was on the other side of the fence from Hillary in the empty pasture. Sure enough it was, just on the other side of the wire from Hillary!

Alan went through the gate into the pasture to get the baby. It took a couple of wabbley steps toward Alan and he was able to easily pick it up and carry it around through the gate to Hillary. She was a happy mama! The baby sniffed Hillary, and then walked up to Alan and nuzzled his hands, and then walked right up to me and put it's head in my hands. Soooo cute, and SOOOO soft! Then, she went off to be with her mama. It was the sweetest thing -- like she was thanking us for saving her.

Alan walked down the fence line to see if he could see where the birth happened, and to see if he could figure out how the baby got on the other side of the fencing. We could see that the birth spot was right next to the wire, and either the baby wiggled it's way under the fence before it could get to it's feet, or (since there was birth stuff still hanging over the lower wire) it might be that Hillary was backed up against the wire when the baby was born. Either way, we are VERY lucky we decided to go feed when we did, and that Alan noticed Hillary missing, AND that we went to look for her. We could have woken up tomorrow to a very sad situation here on the farm. We're so thankful...

It was getting late in the evening when we found them and the sun had just set, so there wasn't much light left for photos. But I was able to catch a few, even if most of them are dark and a bit blurry.

Such a CUTE little baby! It's really amazing how lucky we can be in life. 

I can't wait until morning, so I can go out and take more photos!! =)

Blogger's Challenge Friday Players

Each week a new challenge is issued to Blogger's Challenge Friday participants. We take the challenge and create unique projects using the guidelines of the challenge as our direction. Here is a list of all the marvelous women participating in Blogger's Challenge Friday. Check out their sites for oodles of inspiration!

Amanda Sewell
Amber Porter
Amy Caraluzzi
Anita Van Hal
Anna Wight
Barbara Dondero
Beckie Carlson
Carole Burrage
Charlotte Brown
Claudia Perry
Connie Babbert
Gerrie Johnnic
Ida Krause
Jane Bosi
Jeannette Swain
Julie Campbell
Karen Foltz
Kim Howard
Lauren Meader
Leigh O'Brien
Lila Holgate
Lisa Bohler
Lisa Somerville
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mercurio
Maggie Fellow
Marilyn San Clemente
Mary Jo Price-Williams
Meilssa Tootle
Nikki Bond
Pat Huntoon
Regina Cornelius
Sheryl Dickinson
Stefanie Summerer
Sue Davis
Susie Moore
Toni Tessler
Vicki Garrett

Halloween Treats

Not too long ago, the gals at Crafty Scrapper (my "local" scrap shop) asked me to make some cards using some of the new Halloween papers they ordered for the store. This is one of the cards I made using this fun, sparkly Halloween treat paper by K&Company.

The paper is so cute on it's own, I couldn't bring myself to cut it up any smaller, or cover the fun images. So I simply embellished it with a scalloped edge, polka dot ribbon, a lime green button & tag, and some faux stitches. The paper comes pre-sparkled, so I didn't even have to add my own glitter!

The Happy Halloween stamp is by Memory Box.