Sassy & Sweet Notes

Thirteen Favorites from 2013

I thought I'd wrap up 2013 by listing 13 favorites from the year... let's see how it goes!

January I started my term as a guest designer for Taylored Expressions. This was my favorite project.

February brought the first *but not only* babies to the farm! *swoon!*

March brought us two baby brown African goslings ... oh, how I love these birds!

April was filled with the wonderful smell and sight of wildflowers. Especially blue bonnets!

May light was amazing.

June was a good month for the garden. Early in the month we enjoyed our first harvests. It's amazing how good you feel when you grow a portion of your own food! We also welcomed Fidget (the duck) to the farm as a hatchling. Duck picture, garden picture... this was a difficult choice!

July was hot and Fidget just kept growing. I loved hand raising this little bird! I was her mama, and she wasn't shy about letting others know! Our daily walks down the driveway were certainly a highlight of the summer!

August always feels overwhelmed by weather. Hot weather, stormy weather. And the sunsets are always spectacular! August in 2013 was no different.

This card I made in September seemed to kind of wrap up lots of things I love: Fall, Gardening, Stamping, Illustration, Color, and Chickens...

October means the start of dress-up time for Twiggy! This little dog is so cute it should be illegal.

November was a good... no, GREAT! month for egg production!

December always seems rather short, since I travel to the northwest for Christmas and have to have my month of December wrapped up mid-month. But I created some of my favorite projects of the year in December this year.

And finally, but certainly not least, this photo of Alan. Life on a farm is a labor of love, and I feel so lucky to be able to share this experience with him every day. Here he is digging out the hole for the foundation of the new flagpole we added to the farm in 2013.

Alan and I want to wish you the VERY BEST in the new year! Thank you for sharing in our life on the farm adventures, and providing your friendship and encouragement. You make our day to day chores more enjoyable. Really, you do!! Happy New Year, friends!!

A Twiggy Valentine

Here's to the new year; may it bring you joy! Here's a sweet Valentine card I made, featuring Twiggy! The image is stamped on heavy watercolor paper in black StazOn ink and painted with various colors of Stampin' Up re-inkers. I added a bit of sparkle to the image with a 2-Way Glue Pen and ultra fine glitter.

What's not to love!?

Hope you have a fantastic new year's celebration! Onward to 2014!

Rosie the Love Angel

I have this beautiful card being shared on the Impression Obsession blog today, made with a couple of new Impression Obsession stamps. I stamped Rosie the Love Angel in black StazOn ink onto 140lb cotton watercolor paper and painted the image with various colors of Stampin' Up re-inkers. I love how rich the colors ended up being, and yet still have the look of a watercolor painting. I added a bit of glitter to her wings, shoes, and underneath the stamped sentiment for extra sparkle and shine.

I feel like I've been making Christmas cards for months! It feels good to use something different!

 

Supplies
Stamps: Impression Obsession G9188 Rosie the Love Angel and B14221 Let Me Count
Ink: Black StazOn, SU Dye Based Re-Inkers
Paper: Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press Watercolor paper, Neenah, American Craft
Other: SEI Brad, Ultra Fine Glitter

A Wonderful Gift

I wanted to share this most wonderful handmade card we received from friend, Troy Louise! She used a very detailed die to create this amazing card using cardstock and foiled paper! Look at the details!

No detail was over-looked. From the velum windows and headlight, steel accents everywhere, and even the dog's features! So fun!!

And just as amazing as the card is this gorgeous felt mitten ornament she made. Her beautiful handwork really shines on this piece! Sequins and beads add to the charm -- I love it so! Thank you, thank you!!

Primitive Cat Wool Felt Ornaments

We've made it tradition to do craft projects while I'm visiting Mom and Dad for Christmas. This year, Mom and I decided to make wool felt ornaments using various dies and hand drawn patterns. I made a couple of primitive cats, using wool felt, embroidery thread, rusty wire, bells, and some cute mother of pearl buttons.
Even their cat Streak got in on the action. Meow! *grin*

Merry Christmas!

Alan and I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas! Peace, love, and joy to you and your family!

Peace and Love to You and Yours

Merry Christmas, snowbird style!

Tags

Still working on wrapping gifts this fine Christmas Eve? Here are a few tags that perhaps will provide some inspiration!

Garden twine, a few pieces of card stock, and a wee jingle bell were used to make this tag.

I love using big gingham ribbon on packages! This tag is embellished with pine twig and pinecone die cuts from Impression Obsession, set on top of a few felt leaves. I used red glitter paper for the pinked circle layer for lots of sparkle and shine.

To dress up the bow, I added a pretty red Buttons Galore button that I topped with a snowflake gem.

This tag is dressed up with a silk poinsettia I plucked from a flower bunch. I set the flower on two felt leaves.

And finally, a simpler version using the Impression Obsession pinecone and twig dies. Quick and easy, and super cute! *grin*

Totally CUTE!

Ever have one of those gifts that's sooooo hard to part with you are actually just tempted to keep it for yourself? This was one of those gifts for me. But I knew he was going to a wonderful home, complete with a real life version of himself. So, I sent him on his way. Not before I gave him lots of squeezes, though!

Alan and I were doing a bit of shopping and came across him. I knew exactly who he needed to live with, so home with us he went. I dressed up his hat a bit with the button and holly for a little festive cheer!

Nothing like a cute pup to bring a little extra joy to a cold winter day!

Treats!

I love giving repackaged treats at Christmas. Whether homemade goodies, or store bought treats that get a little packaging facelift. This year I put together some cute packages of humorous goodies, too! Using "reindeer poop" as the inspiration, I made packages of Frosty Goat Poo. Life on the farm has lots of benefits. *grin* I chose to use cute little treat bags I picked up at Michael's that have little sheep faces printed on them. Close enough to what I needed! I added a farm fresh tag and on the backside I wrote the name of the treats.

Another style of treats I put together this year are packages of Hershey nuggets I wrapped with various printed papers, and packaged in long clear envelopes. I added tags to the top of the packages and cute bows embellished with buttons and snowflakes. I saw the idea for these treat packets on Pinterest, I believe.

I think packaging, or repackaging gifts is a fun gift to give for Christmas. Another gift I put together this year were pretty serving bowls filled with 2 dozen farm fresh eggs. I chose pretty bowls I thought our friends would like, filled them with fresh eggs, covered with clear wrap, added a pretty ribbon bow and tag, and delivered them to their homes. They were well received! This is an idea I will be tucking away for years to come.

Impression Obsession: Quick and Simple Cards

A new challenge is being shared today on the Impression Obsession Blog, and I hope you join the fun! The challenge topic is "Quick and Simple Cards".

I chose to use the Cover-A-Card-Music image on the background. I inked the stamp with various colors of brown ink and then misted the stamp with water before stamping on my paper. By misting with water, the inks are encouraged to blend into each other a bit, creating a nice blended stamped image. I used a sentiment from the clear Thanks Sentiments set on the banner. I hand cut the heart, rounded the corners of the card, and inked all edges. The little brown button threaded with hemp twine is the final detail.

Find all the details on how to enter the challenge on the Impression Obsession Blog. A random challenge entry will be selected to showcase on the IO blog and you can to enter to win a $25 gift certificate to IO just by playing!

Now, get ready for a wonderful dose of inspiration and check out what the other team members created for the challenge. Have fun!!

Anna Wight (that's me!)
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garret
Impression Obsession Blog

 

Supplies
Stamps: Impression Obsession
Ink: Ranger Distress Inks in brown, Memento Black
Paper: Neenah, Paper Accents
Other: Button, Hemp Twine, Tracing Wheel

Simple Christmas Card

Quick and easy! Santa's Helper is colored very simply with markers. For a bit more pizzazz, glitter could be added to the star, buckle, or maybe even the fur and ball of the hat!

Altered Clear Pail and Chocolates

I mentioned in my post yesterday that having fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year has put a wrinkle in my to-do list. I normally make lots of homemade treats to mail out to family and friends, but this year I wasn't really expecting to have so little extra time! So, some store-bought treats were assembled instead for packages that needed mailing. It's still all good, right!? *grin*

This is one of the containers I altered, and filled with individually wrapped chocolate nuggets. The pail is from Stampendous. I chose pretty papers from the Lost & Found Special Christmas Edition by My Minds Eye. I love that the reds on the paper are even glittered! I used a vintage red pipe cleaner, some pretty silver leaves, a holly leaf made with the Sizzix Embosslit, some cute little painted pinecones, and some red pip berries to decorate the top of the container. A pretty red gingham ribbon bow is tied to the handle.

I hope the jolly elf and his family who receive this enjoys a bit of chocolate!

A Few Holiday Cards

Sorry for the long delay in blog posts! I didn't realize it'd been so long! Sheesh! I'm up to my eyeballs in holiday projects, glue, glitter, wrapping, packaging, addressing, stamping, and trying to get things ready for the mail before I leave next week for the great, COLD, hopefully snowy, northwest. It's amazing how having 6 fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas puts a wrinkle in my project list!

So, how about a few holiday cards to make up for my absence...

I've gotten more use from the holly Embosslit from Sizzix this year. Such a great size, and I love that it cuts and embosses at the same time!

Peek-a-boo penguins. *grin*

Penguin greetings!

All stamps and dies from either The Stamps of Life or Sizzix.

Below Freezing Temps and More Ice!

Thought I would share a few more ice photos from around the farm. This is ice that has formed on a cactus that's growing in the pasture. It was a challenge getting into the pasture, since the latches on the gates are all iced over. But I was on a mission!

Everything has frozen icicles.

The trees rustle in the wind and it sounds like a soft chorus of wind chimes around the entire farm.

It was 23* today when I took these photos... and we might see a whoppin' 27* on the temp gauge for our high today! But things are supposed to warm up a smidge starting tomorrow with a high near 35*. I realize that for some of you, our weather seems almost tropical! But I assure you, it's COLD here! *grin*

A roll of wire, coated with hundreds of icicles.

And finally, the chicken house and part of the garden. Those trees hanging over the backside of the chicken house are the ones that concern me. They are still very full of leaves, and those leaves are all covered with ice, making it very heavy. If those trees snap, they could easily take out the back of the chicken house. Here's hoping they hold up. You can also see the netting around one of my garden beds... it looks like white cloth draped between two posts in this photo.

Here is a close-up of that same netting. Pretty neat!

More Ice!

A few more photos from today's little ice event... this is netting around one of my garden beds.

Pretty cool how there are little openings between each of the weaves!

Another garden trellis.

Tomato vine. This is one way to chill your veggies!

Fence rail.

And finally, the trees behind the garden. I hope they don't snap ... and I really hope the trees behind the chicken house don't snap -- they'd take down the covered chicken yard in a hurry! Ack!

Ice!

Winter weather in Texas! Fun!! Here are a couple of photos I took from underneath our back porch of the tree that's right next to the house. I'll be going out later, when it's safe to take the camera out and about (no way am I taking it out in the sleet that's coming down now!) to see what else there is to see! I imagine the ice is going to get a bit thicker with the moisture that's coming down now.

Next to the house there's not so much ice built up, but away from the warmth of the house, things are a lot icier! Cool!

Mix-Ability Challenge: Chalk It To Me

Happy Friday!! There's a new Mix-Ability Challenge posted today in the challenge forum at SplitCoastStampers! The challenge is called Chalk It To Me (MIX45), and you are to use VersaMark ink and chalks or pan pastels. VersaMark ink is a clear, sticky ink usually used for watermarking or for heat embossing. But as you can see, it also works great with chalks!

For my project, I chose to use my recently released Snowflake Background stamp for the background image on this card. I stamped the image in VersaMark ink on black cardstock. Then, using a pouncing motion, I applied silver and pale blue shimmery chalks to the stamped image. The powder of the chalks sticks to the VersaMark ink, revealing the design left by the stamp and clear ink. It's difficult to see the full shimmer in the photos -- trust me, this card has some serious sparkle and shine! Even the silver mat layer is CRAZY sparkly!!

The die cut I used is called Vintage Noel, from Sizzix. I adhered some vintage sheet music to some thin chipboard (for added strength and dimension) and die cut the word. I then inked the entire surface of the die cut with VersaMark ink and used various colors of chalk to add blended color to the letters. To dress up the word even more, I added a few pine sprigs that were die cut from super-sparkly silver paper. I added a little red button to the cluster for a pop of color.

The idea behind the Mix-Ability Challenge is to make mixed media simple and approachable, and to let you experiment using things you already have. Each Friday a new challenge is hosted, but there is no time limit, so you can participate whenever you'd like on each challenge. Join us, won't you!?

 

Supplies
Stamps: Snowflake Background (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Ink: VersaMark
Paper: Neenah, American Crafts, Vintage Sheet Music, Chipboard
Dies: Vintage Noel (Sizzix), Pine Sprig Cluster (Impression Obsession)
Other: Stamps of Life Button, Pebbles Shimmer Chalks, tracing wheel

Welcome to December -- Brrr!

It's about to get cold ... well, it already is cold so maybe I should say it's about to get REALLY cold! Temps in the teens!? Brrrr!!

Better pull out the woolies!

Impression Obsession: Let It Snow

A new challenge is being shared today on the Impression Obsession Blog, and I hope you join the fun! The challenge topic is "Let It Snow". I chose to use this darling little snowman image called Snow Baby 2 and the Merry Little Christmas sentiment stamp to create a rather clean and simple Christmas card.

The image is colored with ShinHan Touch Twin markers, and Studio G glitter was added for sparkle and shine. I used some fabulous silver glitter paper from American Crafts, along with a pretty blue paper from Bazzil for the die cut shapes. I added some pine sprig die cuts on either side of a pretty red button for a little extra embellishment to the baker's twine bow.

Find all the details on how to enter the challenge on the Impression Obsession Blog. A random challenge entry will be selected to showcase on the IO blog and you can to enter to win a $25 gift certificate to IO just by playing!

Now, get ready for a wonderful dose of inspiration and check out what the other team members created for the challenge. Have fun!!

Anna Wight (that's me!)
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garret
Impression Obsession Blog

 

Supplies
Stamps: Impression Obsession
Dies: Pine Sprig Cluster (Impression Obsession), Circle, Pinked Circle, and Scalloped Circle (Spellbinders)
Ink: Ranger Distress Inks in brown
ShinHan Touch Twin markers: CG1, PB144, YR21, R3, R2, R1, R136
Paper: Neenah, American Crafts, Bazzil, Paper Accents
Other: Studio G glitter glue, Buttons Galore Red Button, Baker's Twine

High Hopes Challenge: Santa!

The current High Hopes challenge is SANTA! I thought I would share several of my High Hopes Santa projects, to give you a HUGE dose of inspiration! The first card uses Woodland Santa, a rugged northernly fella if I ever saw one!

Here's Fishing Santa dressed in his weekend duds!

Tropical Santa, chillin' after he's done spreading all the Christmas cheer!

A happy go lucky, Santa Portrait card, dressed up with one of my glittered snowflakes!

Santa pulling one of the gang, in the Reindeer Games image.

Skiing Santa, clearly out on vacation!

Sm Stackable Santa on a gift card holder!

Moon Santa decorating a chipoard ornament.

Flyin' High Santa on a fancy fold card.

Father Christmas Block, on a cute square scalloped card.

Christmas Pals, lookin' all cheery and cute!

And finally Elegant Santa, wishing you a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Find all the details of this week's challenge on the High Hopes blog. I hope you join us!

The Challenge Chicks: Shed Winter Layers

If you're a stamper and you like challenges, or you're new to the idea of challenges and want to give one a whirl, I invite you to participate with The Challenge Chicks! We're a small group of friends and stampers hosting monthly challenges. Won't you join us?!

Our challenge for December 2013 is issued by Lydia! She asked us to shed winter layers by making a one layer card that has nothing to do with winter! The perfect time for clean and simple! For my project I used a 4x4 blue and white notecard from AMuse, a sentiment from AMuse, and my Birds on a Wire stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs. The image is stamped across the notecard and colored with markers. Underneath the card, you can see the envelope, on which I drew a chubby bird on a long branch, and colored it up with markers.

For a second project I used a cute Penny Black stamp that I stamped in black StazOn ink and watercolored. The sentiment is another oldie-but-goodie from AMuse.

Now, get yourself a good dose of inspiration and check out the rest of The Challenge Chicks projects:

Diane Zechman
Lydia Fiedler
Jeanne Streiff
Kelli Hull
Kelly Schirmer
Anna Wight (that's me!)

And finally, you'll find this month's challenge gallery on SplitCoastStampers using keyword CHXDEC13 . We invite you to play along! Upload your project to your SplitCoastStampers gallery, add the keyword above, and your project will be automatically added to the gallery. Or join us on Facebook!

We look forward to seeing your projects!