Sassy & Sweet Notes

Spring Lamb

Earlier this month, Crissy Armstrong was chosen on SplitCoastStampers as a Featured Stamper. Crissy is an illustrator for High Hopes Rubber Stamps, and an amazing artist and paper crafter. This is the card I made using a card from her gallery for inspiration.

I chose this cute little lamb image from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. I used a scrap of green paper I had on my table for the base of the card and chose various shades of purple and blue to compliment the green. I stamped the lamb with black Stazon ink and colored her with Copic markers. I think she's pretty cute in lavender wool.

I couldn't decide on a sentiment at the time, so when I decide what I want the card to say, I'll add a sentiment either at the bottom or on a little tab under the image. Maybe something like "Baa-aaa-aaa-ppy Birthday!"

Snowy Christmas

Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday in Mom and Dad's front yard. My parents live in the country, in the mountains of northeastern Washington. They live in a small valley that is home to lots of wildlife. We counted 50 wild turkeys and 11 whitetail deer in the yard yesterday. There are a couple of yearlings that were born near the house earlier this year. Cute as can be!

My Dad keeps a small stock tank filled with water back in the trees for the deer, and sprinkles a small can of corn out for the turkeys. The deer seem to enjoy the corn too!

A Cowboy's Sweetheart

Howdy, howdy! Hope you enjoyed your holiday. My flight up to northeastern Washington on Christmas day was uneventful, and Christmas night was fun-filled with family. I'm still trying to kick this tummy bug (seems it might not have been the Airborne, since Alan got sick Christmas evening). UGH!

There's lots of powdery white snow here and it's just perfect for a wintery vacation. I've got some photos of wild turkeys and whitetail deer in the yard, and will try to get one or two posted soon. It's so quiet up here in the mountains - very peaceful.

Happy, healthy wishes to you!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I'm catching a flight to Washington today to visit my family for the rest of the week. I'm looking forward to a few days in the snow! Hopefully there won't be any delays at the airports.

I was supposed to fly yesterday afternoon. BUT... Sunday evening I decided to take an Airborne tablet, because I always get sicky when I fly. I thought it would help deflect the airplane cooties I seem to pick up. Well, within the hour I was SICK SICK SICK!!! So sick, that aside from a 10 minute sit-down at the table last night with Alan for some chicken soup broth, this is my first venture out of the bedroom/bathroom since about 8:00pm Sunday evening. Ugh... I will never EVER take Airborne again. I'd rather chance catching a cold than what I've been through. YUCKY!

Thankfully for just a bit of cash, Alan was able to have my flight reservation changed to this morning. My hero...

Big happy, HEALTHY, holiday wishes to you all!

Sneaky Peeky!

Here's just a little glimpse of something fun to come! The January Whipper Snapper release is just around the corner... Oooooh, I can't WAIT!

Cluckity-Cluck!

Mooo-y Christmas!

Alan and I wish each and every one of you the happiest of holidays!

I want to sincerely thank you for your heartfelt support and continued interest over this past year. You are a blessing. I started this blog as a way to stay in touch with friends and family, which is why my blog is a mix of life here on the farm, and an outlet for my creative endeavors. I never expected to make so many new friends in the process! Thank you for being a part of this with me!

About the image: This is the custom printed holiday card I designed this year for Alan and I to send to a few close friends and family. The photo is of Ribeye, our bull-calf. He's lookin' cute dressed in Santa's hat, ready for his holiday treats!

Mooo-y Christmas to all!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Motion Cards

This week's Blogger's Challenge Friday them is MOTION! We were to make a card that moves, or shakes, or slides, etc. I don't make motion cards very often, so this was a good challenge for me.

It also worked out well because I needed to make something to sort of "package" a gift card, and this card has plenty of room on the back of the main image to easily adhere a gift card.

I spied this sliding pop-up card template on my friend Diane's blog (CookieStamper). She did an adorable version of the card using a frog theme - VERY cute! She has excellent directions, so please refer to her blog for details on putting this kind of card together. She even altered the template a bit so the card fits in a standard A2 envelope! THANKS, Diane!

This was my first attempt at making this kind of card, and it was quite easy! I think the biggest challenge was getting the red backing off of the sticky tape I used to adhere the ends of the "box" together.

The main image on this card as well as the little yellow bows is Hanna, from Hanna Stamps. I used a new pencil eraser to make the polka dots. The lightly stamped flower pattern on the front of the slider is a new background image from Cornish Heritage Farms. The Holiday Sparkle sentiment is by A Muse.

....time for dinner!....

Penguin Holiday

The SplitCoastStampers Dirty Dozen girls have decided to do some monthly challenges. Last month we had the Elzybells challenge, and this month it was Penguins!

In addition to having to use a penguin, we couldn't use the color blue anywhere on our project, and we had to include something icy, and since ice sparkles, and glitter sparkles, glitter = icy!

This is my card for the challenge. I used my own Cozy Penguin by Whipper Snapper, and painted him with a water brush and Stampin' Up reinkers. Instead of using blue, I went with Almost Amethyst ink for the cold ground and subtle shadow around him. I used a snowflake and flourish stamp by Stampin' UP for the background, and the sentiment is by A Muse.

If you want to see all of the Dirty Dozen penguin cards, here's the gallery where they're posted with keyword DCP1207. Enjoy!

A Christmas Quickie

*snicker* ...not THAT kind of quickie!

Here's a quick holiday greeting card I finished up last night as I was addressing the last of my holiday cards. (Yes, I'm a bit slow getting them out this year...)

I stamped the sentiment and sheep in black Stazon ink and watercolored it with reinkers. A cute holiday greeting finished in a matter of minutes!

Tell me, have you mailed all of your holiday greetings yet?!

Crafty Secrets Blog Candy - WINNER!

Congratulations to Jeanne in Idaho! You were randomly selected from 345 comments! WOW! Way to go, Jeanne! (By the way, you were comment #99)!

Here's what Jeanne had to say about her favorite holiday treat:

Wow, Anna - this is a sweet and wonderful card....I LOVE those birds!! I think my favorite Christmas treat is microwave Peanut Brittle - takes 6 minutes in the microwave and is excellent!! Ran across the recipe in my first microwave cookbook (the one that came with my oven) and I have been making it every year since (27 years!). It's the perfect gift to give away in pretty little tins, too...just very festive!! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!!! Jeanne in (snowy!) Idaho

Posted by: JeanneinIdaho | December 14, 2007 at 07:46 AM

Jeanne, get in touch with me with your address and Sandy will get your goodies out to you right away!

A Row of Posies

Not only have I been busy getting ready for Christmas, but I've been getting ready for the January Whipper Snapper release too! It's getting sooooo close! And I'm sooooo excited!

Image releases are really fun. Months of work is suddenly out on display, and I can share every bit of it instead of just bits and pieces of it in sneak peeks.

But since sneak peeks are so FUN, here's another one for you! I don't know about you, but I'm ready to break out the flowers and stamp spring designs. It was fun to create this simple card using a couple of my new pre-release stamps!

Gnome Happy Winter

First of all, THANK you for all of your kind congrats on our engagement. We really are quite overwhelmed by all of your comments and happy wishes. Thank you!

I have been very busy with all kinds of secret things ('tis the season...), so I pulled this little cutie from my project stash to share today.

I participated in a little secret holiday gift giving fun recently, and this was one of the items I packaged up and sent to my friend. I found really small composition books at Target, perfect for tossing in a purse. I think this one is about 3x4 inches, or so.

I covered the cover with K&Company paper and stamped the flourish from the Stampin' Up set called Priceless in the corner. The gnome is from Stampendous, and Happy Winter is from A Muse. I colored the gnome with markers and added some Stardust Stickles for sparkle.

I think projects like this are fun to make and fun to receive. Good thing I picked up a few "extra" note books for future use!

love is in the air...

Yesterday evening, Alan asked me to marry him...
...and I said YES!
This is something to write home about!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Sympathy

This week's Blogger's Challenge Friday theme was Sympathy. While sympathy cards aren't always "fun" to make, they are certainly appreciated by those who receive them. I chose to do a pet themed card and unfortunately, this was a fitting card for us here on the farm this week. Last Friday night, one of our wild farm kitties was hit by a car. She was a solitary little long haired yellow miss named Curly Two. She spent most of her time in or around the pastures, or around the big hay bales. She didn't usually come near the house or the road, so Alan fed her daily out at the hay. I made this card in honor of miss Curly Two.

The kitty stamp is by Claudia Rose and is watercolored, and then over-painted with Twinkling H2Os. She really shimmers. The paper is a Fabriano note card and envelope (from DickBlick), which I also stamped with a flower from the main image. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

I poked around the other Blogger's Challenge Friday sites today and there are some really wonderful ideas being shared. If you'd like to visit them as well, you'll find a complete list of participants and their blogs here.

Have a peaceful weekend!

PS: Edited to add photo of Curly Two. You can see Curly on her firetruck, here. (See why we had to call them Curly and Curly Two? Spittin' image...)

Crafty Secrets Blog Candy!!

I'm super excited about this blog candy! Sandy at Crafty Secrets has offered each of the Crafty Secrets designers a BIG holiday blog candy package, and we each got to choose the goodies! One lucky winner, who will be randomly selected, will receive this package of just a few of my favorite things.

1 Bird Notes stamp set
1 Cherubs stamp set
1 Feathered Friends Cotton Scrap
1 Wacky & Wonderful Vintage Booklet

To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this post. I'd love to know your favorite holiday treat. Be sure to leave your name so I know who you are! One winner will be chosen on Wednesday December 19th at NOON Central Time! I'll post the winners name very shortly after that, so be sure to check back in.

About the card above, I used the Bird Notes and Cherubs sets to create this Christmas card. What I love about these stamps (besides how FUN the images are, and how well they stamp) is that they're so versatile. Even though they're not really "holiday" themed stamps, they make what I think is a nice holiday greeting.

I stamped the birds on a cream colored cardstock in Timber Brown Stazon ink. I watercolored them with various shades of brown, and added some olive green to the leaves on the branch. I inked the edges with various Distress Inks by Ranger, and added some faux stitching. The ribbon is by Martha Stewart and can be found at Michael's. I *love* Martha ribbons... The Merry Christmas sentiment is by Memory Box, another favorite of mine. Joy to the World music paper is from last year's Flair Designs holiday line, and of course I had to wiggle in some BasicGrey Figgy Pudding paper. Yum!

Can't wait to hear about your favorite holiday treats! Good luck, and a big THANKS to Sandy & Crafty Secrets!!

Meowy Christmas

Early this morning I posted a sketch challenge using the same layout that I used on this card (see my previous post for more details on SMDSC01). I have a feeling I'll be using this layout frequently for a while!

The kitty image on this card is one of Shelly Comisky's designs at Whipper Snapper. I watercolored her with reinkers and added Stardust Stickles to the fur on her hat for sparkle. I wanted this kitty to be colored like a torty kitty, with dabs of orange and yellow mixed into her brown fur. It turned out kind of crazy, which is kind of appropriate since torty's are pretty crazy anyway...

The jingle bells sentiment is by Stampendous, and the kitty paw print (nope, not real) might just be the oldest stamp I own! The sticker on the side says Hero Arts © 1985 and I think it's been kicking around my craft supplies for about that long. The stamp and the block is slightly stained from a dark blueish-purple ink that I remember using with my Mom when I was in high school.
I wonder if I'll ever be done making Christmas cards...

A "Cappy" Challenge With Sharon! ...and a challenge for you!

A couple of weeks ago I sent Sharon Harnist (StamperSharon) a card to thank her for something she did for me recently. I included a couple images of my snowman Cappy in her Nordic tassel hat, just for fun. (Cappy will be part of the new image release in January at Whipper Snapper.)

I was delighted when Sharon later asked me if I would like to do a blog challenge with her using Cappy as our challenge. I love to do challenges with my stampin' friends, so of course I accepted! This is my card.

When I think of Sharon and her design work I think of beautiful flowers, so I wanted to somehow incorporate flowers into my design. I chose a bright and cheery floral designer paper by Amy Butler. The paper is actually a fairly heavy double-sided SUNblooms correspondence card that I cut down to the size I needed. One side is the lovely floral print with a visual linen texture, and the other side is a soft blue and white paisley print which you can barely see on this card as the light colored mat under the snowman.

Cappy is on shimmery white cardstock, colored with Copic markers and Stardust Stickles added for sparkle. I used the small snowflake stamp from the Stampin' Up set Merry & Bright on the background paper and around Cappy. I added faux stitches to various layers, inked the edges, and finished it off with some of my favorite black and white gingham ribbon from Michael's. Which reminds me, I'm almost out! It's never a good thing to see the center cardboard on your favorite spool of ribbon!

Be sure to check out Sharon's blog, Paper Fections, to see her Cappy challenge card! Knowing Sharon, it's sure to be fantastic! Thanks for the fun, Sharon!

And now for a challenge for you! I really like this layout with the rounded corners, layers, and ribbon. I challenge you to play along with me and create your own card using this sketch! Feel free to use any subject and colors - whatever inspires you.

Post your card to your own blog or gallery, and come back here to provide a link so we can all check out your designs! Use keyword SMDSC01 if you upload to your SplitCoast gallery! (for SweetMissDaisy Sketch Challenge 01) If you don't have an online gallery yet, you should start one! It's free, and easy at SplitCoastStampers.

Can't wait to see your cards!

 

YeeHaw-Snowman!

Last week's cowboy snowman card just wasn't enough cowboy snowman for me. I had to do another! This time he's dressed in his finest red vest and blue bandanna. There's glitter on his star and the jewels on his hat for extra sparkle.

I deviated from my usual black Stazon ink for the main image. This time I stamped the snowman in timber brown Stazon on a cream colored shimmery cardstock. I colored the image with Copic markers. I used a light pink colored pencil for his cheeks.

The red paper on the background is by Flair Designs. The blue paisley paper is by Daisy D's. I used hemp twine instead of ribbon, and added some faux stitching around the edges of the layers.

JEEZ!! I was just poking around my blog to find the link to my first cowboy snowman card and realized that I haven't shared the card I made last week on my blog yet! So if you're not familiar with my SplitCoastStampers gallery, you're probably wondering what I'm talking about! Well! Here he is! He's watercolored, and his bandanna is popped up on a foam dot in the center to give it some height from the rest of him. I used the sheriff badge stamp, also from High Hopes Rubber Stamps, on the background paper. He's just the cutest guy!

Starry Angel

Today I had time to put together a couple of cards. I wanted the cards to feature these little angels by Stampendous. I received a small order of stamps this week for the Sassy & Sweet Shop and I couldn't keep myself from using this cute little angel.

By the way, I'm offering free US/Canada shipping on all store orders over $10 December 10th through December 14th. Just drop me a note before you pay and I'll waive your shipping fees. If you're looking for a gift idea for a crafty friend, I offer gift certificates to the shop (and special order items). Get in touch with me and I'll get a festive holiday gift certificate out to you right away.

For these two cards I stamped the angels in black Stazon ink and painted them with watercolors. I added some Stardust Stickles to their hats for sparkle.

The green paper on the first card is from the Figgy Pudding paper pad by BasicGrey. I have got to order more of that paper! It's divine...

The red paper on the second card is from this season's holiday line by Anna Griffin. I liked the rosey red color with the crisp white linen paper I used on the background. I decided to sew around all of the layers on these cards. Just a simple straight stitch. I'm still lovin' my Janome Sew Mini! If you're new to sewing but want to add some fun stitching to your cards, I recommend this machine. It's very small, weighs less than 5 pounds, and is very easy to use. It only has various straight and zig zag stitches, but that's OK by me! And it's only about $50, so it's affordable. Add it to your Christmas wish list -- Santa might surprise you! I ordered mine from Hancock Fabrics.

We've had some wild weather this week. It was a bit over 80 degrees here yesterday and we had all the windows open. This afternoon the temperature dropped and dropped! It's a bone chilling 36 right now (feels like 25). Brrr! Time for some woolly socks!

Hope you've enjoyed your weekend!

Challenge with Julia: Goody Wrap

It was late October when my friend Julia and I decided to occasionally challenge each other to various themed projects. For this challenge we chose the idea of a goody wrap - some kind of a treat that could be given as a gift.

The idea of wrapping up chocolates is very popular this season, but I wanted to do something different than chocolates (although this jar could easily be filled with dark delectables!) I've had the idea of giving Friendship Tea to some of my friends, so this was the perfect excuse to get started with my gifts!

Friendship Tea (sometimes called Russian Tea or Spiced Tea) is a nice combination of tea, citrus and spice. It makes me think of cozy nights by a fireplace. Of course, I'll drink it day or night - yumm! This recipe is the closest to mine I've seen.

I used paper from the relatively new series of Cosmo Cricket paper called Gretel. I liked the warm colors of the paper combined with the colors of the tea. The snowman stamp on the front is from a Stampin' Up set called Merry & Bright. I stamped him on the backside of the designer paper and colored him with colored pencils. I inked the edges a bit with Close to Cocoa ink to warm them up a bit.

I chose to use hemp cording and rustic colored buttons for accents. I think they work well with the warm, homemade look of this project.

Once I decided what I wanted to do, this project came together fairly quickly. Now I just need to get busy and finish all of the other jars!

Be sure to check out Julia's challenge project on her blog Belle Papier. If you missed my first challenge with Julia, you can see it here: Rust & Sage

Thanks for the fun Julia! Can't wait to see what our next challenge will be!

Blogger's Challenge Friday: Watercolor

This week's Blogger's Challenge Friday challenge is watercoloring. This is a technique I do on almost all of my projects, so for this challenge I thought I'd try something a little different than my usual watercolor process.

My friend Crissy is an artist for High Hopes Rubber Stamps. She's an outstanding illustrator, and she's also amazing when it comes to giving her illustrations life through color.

I recently asked her about the technique she uses to watercolor her images using water-based markers. I encourage you to visit her gallery on SplitCoastStampers to really see just how wonderful the results of this technique can be.

I stamped the snowman and sentiment images in Timber Brown Stazon ink on cream cardstock. I watercolored the snowman with Crissy's technique using water-based markers. I used markers by Stampin' Up and Tombow.

Once the image was dry, I added a bit of additional color and shimmer to the image by watercoloring some areas with Twinkling H2O's. If you're not familiar with Twinkling H2O's, they are a hard caked pigment color infused with itty bitty shimmery particles. Ooooh sparkles... In the close-up of the snowman you can see the watercolor detail, and the sparkles. (Click the image for a larger view.)

Big thanks to Crissy for recently sharing this technique with me! Perfect timing for this week's Blogger's Challenge Friday topic!

Stamps on this card by Stampin' Up (Wishing You Cheer); Designer paper by BasicGrey (Figgy Pudding).

Just for FUN...

Earlier this week I was working on some penguin note cards (seen here). Alan had all kinds of suggestions for design ideas when he looked at my cards. Today he surprised me with a drawing he did in his engineering illustration program (AutoCAD). This drawing is one of the design ideas he had after seeing my note cards. I thought I'd share it here with you, since it's pretty stinkin' funny!

Alan drew the penguin by looking at the penguin in the My Favorite Things stamp set called Winter Blast, which I'd used on my cards. But the snowman and the concept is all his. Once I saw his drawing, I just had to see it in color! I pulled his illustration file into Photoshop, filled in the colors, and added the greeting. Hahaa!! This just cracks me UP!

Finally!

Finally, Eddie is able to reach the cubes in the feed trough! He's still not sure what the cubes are for, but at least he can belly up to the bar like the big donkeys!

He has also learned some new "tricks". Every time Alan goes out into the pasture, Eddie grabs Alan's pant leg between his teeth and pulls. Once he's done tugging on Alan's pants a few times, he bites on the toe of Alan's boot.

His hair is lookin' a little crazy and wild in this photo. It'd been raining and Eddie decided it was a good time to roll around in the dirt. Filthy boy... He's still pretty darn cute, though!

Insight... (and a sneak peek?)

The Ranunculus is one of my favorite flowers, with all of it's delicate petals unfolding from a tight little knot. They are available in so many colors too! This is a photo I took of a yellow Ranunculus when I lived in Oregon. In the very early spring, I used to visit the local greenhouses and catch the blooms at their best. (But don't tell anyone...this is a secret!)

A few years ago I did some international travel for the company I work for. I was able to do a bit of poking around Dublin, London, Paris, Taipei, and Sydney during off-hours, mainly on Saturday mornings. One of the things I think about when I think of these cities is flowers. They all had unique displays and variety.

I'm glad I have photographs of places I've been and things I've seen to inspire my illustrations. It was in Dublin that I took this photo of a street vendor selling flowers during Saturday market. I really like seeing all of the blooms tucked into buckets, just waiting. I have been asked many times about what inspires me and where I get ideas for my illustrations. It's true when I say life's experiences - they are what inspire me.

Today you're getting a sneak peek of what some of that inspiration brought me! Why? Because I have the toughest time keeping secrets like this, and because I was given permission! So Sneak Peek away!

The image is on shimmery white paper and colored with Copic markers. I bet you can't guess what this image is for! Or can you?!

Hope you have a lovely Tuesday.
Isn't it Friday YET!?

Penguin FUN!

This weekend I got to play a bit with some new digital papers from My Favorite Things. They're available in various colors and patterns. I chose this retro looking star burst design for most of what I did this weekend. I like the clean design and clear colors. I used one of the snowflake paper files as well - the card below is an example of the pink/white snowflake paper.

Digital papers are fun. Once you pay for the digital files, you save the files to your own computer and use your own printer and blank paper to actually print the files, creating patterned paper that you can use for anything! What I like is that you can scale the design of the pattern just by setting the file to print at different sizes. These files are 8.5x11 when printed full size, but I liked the prints a bit smaller, so I printed my paper only about 5 inches wide. When you do this, it reduces the overall size of the paper design (the star bursts and snowflakes are smaller than if the paper was printed at full size).

The inspiration for these two little 4 inch note cards are of course the 4 inch note cards by A Muse that are half white and half color or print. I've never had any A Muse note cards to use, but I was able to create my own using the digital paper files and my printer. The sentiments on both of these cards are from A Muse.

A 4 inch note card is just about perfect for this little penguin image, also by My Favorite Things. I first made the top card of him zipping down the hill, and then with some help from Alan decided to make the second card of the penguin launching himself off of a jump. I think his landing is going to hurt... (I know from experience!)

These cards were easy and fun to make. I see myself making lots more!

Lucy, miss Lucy...

I thought I'd share a photo of miss Lucy. She's been on the farm for a week now and is settling in just fine. She is brave enough to take cubes right out of our hand now, and I'd say in a week she'll be sniffing around in our pockets for them like Ribeye does. He's such a pest.

Speaking of Ribeye, here he is! He's been out in the bushes getting prickly things caught in his hair. There must have been something worth eating out there, because that's all he's ever concerned about. Mmmm cookies. Mmmm hay. Mmmm chicken food. Mmmm... He loves to eat.

For those of you who might be concerned about Ribeye's fate - don't worry! With a name like Ribeye you'd think he'd be dinner, but he will live out his years happily on the farm as a bull. We will eventually breed him with Lucy and Chick. I think they'll make cute babies! The only thing on our farm that gets eaten by people are chicken eggs. Mmmm farm fresh eggs.

Happy Birthday, Crafty Secrets style!

I made this card last weekend for my friend Lisa who is celebrating a special birthday today. She likes vintage and she likes Crafty Secrets, so I thought it would be appropriate to use some of the new Crafty Secrets stamps on a card for her.

The butterfly wings, star wand, music notes, and written music are from the new Crafty Secrets mini set called Altered Art. It's a set made with Artist Trading Cards in mind, but the images are versatile enough for all kinds of projects. The gold flourish behind the music notes is from another new mini set called Memories. The Happy Birthday sentiment is by Stampin' Up.

I stamped the wings on shimmery white paper and colored them with markers. I like that the shimmer of the paper shows though the marker color. But even with the shimmery paper, I still added some Stardust Stickles to the wings and the star wand for lots of sparkle. The brad in the center of the butterfly wings is by Making Memories.

The wand, music and flourish are also stamped on shimmery white paper, and the edges inked. The blue patterned paper is also by Crafty Secrets (I think from the Radiant paper pad). I added some faux stitches for a little added detail.

Happy Birthday, miss Lisa! I hope you had a stellar birthday!