Sweet 'n Sassy Sneak Peek

How about one last sneak peek before the Sweet 'n Sassy February release tomorrow...This sweet little guy is part of the Benjamin Bunny stamp set, which also includes a number of sentiments (even a Happy Easter one!) I colored little Ben with Copics and keep my card design fairly simple, adding just a hint of designer paper (from Cosmo Cricket). Wouldn't this be a sweet Valentine's Day card for the little kiddies in your life? Be sure to check back to the Sweet 'n Sassy web site tomorrow to see the full release!!

The Long Lost Winner!

I think I might be the one who is long lost! My goodness I can't believe it's been four days since I last posted...that might be some kind of record! I guess life just got busy last week...hopefully I'll be in better shape this week! I do have some great class projects to share so I'll post those this week but in the meantime...I completely forgot to announce the winner of the blog candy that I posted about in my St. Jude card drive post. The winner is...

Sara

Sara, please contact me at ksdm@comcast.net with your shipping address and I'll get a box of goodies out to you next week!!

Thanks to everyone for their comments, they are always greatly appreciated!

Tiffany Doodles Sneak Peek

It is a week for sneak peeks and today is no excpetion!! For today's card, I'm excited to tell you about some new floral digi images that Tiffany created for the Tiffany Doodles web site...These new images will be available for download on January 28!

My card features the new Nicotiana image and the really fun thing about these new images is that they were made to perfectly fit a set of Nestibilities dies! The Nicotiana image fits the classic large oval die set. I also love the way Tiffany included a little frame around the image (you can download the image with or without the frame). I paired the image with shabby designer paper from Ruby Rock-it...six months in and I'm still in love with this paper! I colored the flowers with Copics (and I confess that I'm not entirely sure what color a Nicotiana flower is but I'm diggin the blue!!) and cut out one of the flowers to pop up with foam tape. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy. Be sure to check the sparkly new Tiffany Doodles site on January 28 to see all of the new digis! Enjoy!

Sweet 'n Sassy Sneak Peek

Whose itching for some new rubba? I am I'm always super excited when new stamp sets arrive in the mail and yesterday was no different when this darling stamp made an appearance in my mailbox! This sweet image is from the brand new "Let it Rain" set from Sweet 'n Sassy, which will be released on February 1! My image is colored with Copics (and I added some polka dots to the dress...just for fun!), the designer paper is from Bo Bunny, ribbon is from American Crafts, and my layout is loosely based on last weeks Sweet Stop sketch! Enjoy!

Keep it Simple Monday

Today's Tip: Create card with pre-colored digi images!

Have you checked out the new pre-colored digis from Sweet 'n Sassy? They are just wonderful and the perfect solution for quick and easy creating! This darling owl image is actually part of an image that includes two owls but for today's card...I wanted just the one, dressed in blue, which was a perfect match for my wintery-themed designer paper. The name of this image is Winter Love Owls and as I said it includes a girlie owl, who only has eyes for Mr. Handsome. This image is now available for download for only $4.00! Download, print, and finish a card in less than a half hour! How divine...

Tiffany Doodles Sneak Peek

Tiffany Doodles is planning to release some brand new, make you think of Spring, digi images on Friday, January 29!! Sneak Peeks will begin on Monday!!

SALT Challenge - The Valley of Death

It's time for another SALT Challenge! And I know...one heck of a title, huh? :-) Lythan, due to her work in the ministry and needing to deal with these weighty issues on a regular basis, suggested this week's topic. And even though death is a difficult topic to discuss, it is necessary from time to time, not only so we can minster to others in a time of grief but to also to consider our own mortality. (You can read Lythan's write up on the SALT blog but I also want to mention the Scripture verses she provided; Romans 8:38-38 and Psalm 23, since I used a different one on my layout).

What's that saying, "only two things are certain in life; death and taxes." No matter how healthy you are right now, how many vitamins you take, how much you exercise, or how much you try to avoid thinking about it...death is inevitable. The Bible clearly states that "it is appointed upon all men once to die." The London Baptist Confession of Faith has this to say about the state of man after death, "The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ." This is the glorious promise for those who are trusting in Christ and so while death is difficult for those left without their loved ones on earth, we can have a hope that we will be with them again one day. This can bring great comfort in times of grief. If you hold to the believe that there is no God, or that when we die our bodies simply go in to the ground, or that there is no such thing as heaven and hell, I encourage you to search the Bible to see what it has to say...even if you think the Bible is just another book or that it holds no truth that can make a difference in anyone's life...read anyway. A good place to start is The Shorter Catechism, which includes basic Biblical truths. The one that I've linked to also includes Scripture texts as proof of the statements made. Read through what it has to say and then pray that God might reveal the truth to you. Certainly, anyone would rather know the truth now, before it's too late. A family member once said, "if there is no God and no judgement what do I have to lose by trusting in Him? But if there is a God and a judgement, I lose everything by denying His existence."

As for my layout, it features a photo of my Mom when she was a teenager, taken just seven years before I was born. Fifteen years after my birth, my Mother passed away when she was just 37; my brother was barely 10. It is a difficult thing to lose a parent, maybe even more so when you are very young. And even though I miss her and so wish she was alive now to see her grandchildren and meet my wonderful hubby, I believe that my Mom was a Christian and I have great hope that I will see her again. Products used on my layout include new paper from Basic Gray, verse stamp by Verve, ribbon by American Crafts, Tissue Tape and Film Strip by Tim Holtz, rhinestones from Prima, and butterfly punch by Martha Stewart. I pray that today's challenge, even though it was on a difficult topic, was a blessing. If you're feeling inspired to create based on this week's challenge, please stop by the SALT blog and leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or online gallery. We'd love to see what you've made!

Sweet 'n Sassy Sponsored Sketch Challenge

I'm excited to share with you that Sweet 'n Sassy is sponsoring this week's sketch over at CPS (Card Positioning Systems)! That gave me a wonderful opportunity to ink up another of January's new stamp sets, Snow Special. I confess that I have a thing for snowmen, they are just so cute and the perfect image for winter. I colored my snowman with Copics (notice my shading? I followed some of Korin's videos!) and paired him with paper from a company whose name is completely escaping me right now! LOL! (I failed to save the manufacturer strip from the bottom of the paper!) Stop by the CPS site today, enter the sketch challenge, and you could win free stamps!! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy today's card!

St. Jude Valentine Day Card Drive

Happy Monday! Today I'm thrilled to tell you about a St. Jude Valentine Day Card Drive that is being sponsored by Winter Sims. I'm sure many of you are familiar with St. Judes Hospital but if not I'll provide you with a very quick overview (taken from their web site). St. Judes is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay. That makes me teary...What a blessing for those families who are in need of such treatment. While the hospital relies on donations, the children rely on cards and gifts from friends, family, and those who they don't even know to help cheer them up and put a smile on their face and that's the goal of the Valentine Day Card Drive!....To send a card to a sweet child who is currently receiving treatment at St. Judes. (A full list of rules can be found on Winter's blog and I've also listed them at the end of my post). I'm also excited to tell you that for donating a card, you'll be entered in to a drawing for free goodies!! And Tiffany Doodles is one of the prize sponsors! Be sure to visit Winter's page and/or the link below for full details on the prizes and rules.

Well...do you want to hear about today's card??!! I'm super excited about this sweet new image from Tiffany Doodles! It's screaming love! The image is called Umbrella with Hearts and it's available right now to download for only $2.50! (I paired the image with the Valentine's Sentiments set that includes four love-themed sentiments for only $1.00!) This sweet paper is brand new from Bo Bunny, called Crazy in Love. The ribbon is also from Bo Bunny and coordinates with the paper line. Nothing super tricky about this card...I did print out the image twice so I could cut out and pop up the umbrella. I also added a few white gel pen polka dots to the umbrella 'cause a girl can never have too many polka dots! But wait...there's more...A few of the other Tiffany Doodles DT members have also created cards for Card Drive and you can view their artwork at the links below. Stop by and give 'em some love! :-) And because I'm feeling the love, leave me a comment and I'll draw a prize winner on Tuesday, who will receive a little stamping blog candy! Enjoy! Tiffany Richards Collette Landwer

Jeannie DeGruccio Karen Baker - Thanks for Karen for letting us know about the event!! The Guidelines from St. Jude hospital. (St. Jude's has added a few new rules, so please read carefully.)

* Cards need to be a Valentine theme. * Cards can't have anything about 'Get Well Soon', 'Feel Better', or anything reminding them of being sick. (Only Valentine Cards) * Please make cards that can be used for any gender or age.

* Cards must be able to fit into a 4 1/2 X 5 3/4 envelope.

* You can include a message in the inside, but please remember, nothing reminding them of being sick. (Maybe just a Valentine sentiment.) You can also sign your first name but not your last name or where you are from. (St. Jude's rules state that they can't give out the givers info.) *Winter will be excepting cards for the whole month of January. ( Jan. 1 - Jan. 31) *At the end of the month, Winter will pick random winners for prizes. She will be adding more prizes, often. The more cards you send, the more times your name goes into the drawing.

*Please send a piece of paper with your name, address, email address, and the amount of cards you sent. (It will help when I have the drawings.) Please send cards to: Winter Sims Cards For St. Jude P.O. Box 754 Warren, TX 77664 *If you would like to donate to St. Jude's, go here. *If anyone wants to donate a prize for the drawings, please email Winter with the details at wintersims1@aol.com. *You are welcome to use the St. Jude logo on your blog to spread the word, just remember to save it to your computer first.

Go here for all the sponsors and prizes.

Pre-Colored Digis

Happy Friday! I'm so excited for the weekend! Tonight I have a class at Wholly Scrap!, where I get to enjoy the company of good friends, good pizza, and fun stamping! Tomorrow we're off to my brother-in-laws to enjoy the Christmas we missed because I had a sick kiddie on Christmas Eve. And then Sunday will be a blessed day at church with our dear friends. For this morning I just had to share this darling image that I just colored...doesn't my coloring look amazing. Man, I'm really getting the hang of these Copics...oh, wait a minute...I confess...I didn't color this image. It came this way!!! That's right, Sweet 'n Sassy is now offering pre-colored digi images! Isn't this the most amazing thing ever! I just about squealed with delight when Korin told the DT that she was offering these images. Talk about a way to create a card in under five minutes! Just print, cut, and attach to a card! Too much fun! The name of this sweet image is Timid Timothy and I love the sweet, shy face that he has, along with a lovely bunch of flowers. You can find Timothy here and all of the new colored images here. Oh, I should also mention that this image actually has the blue sky colored in a circle so it's a perfect fit for a Nestibilities die cut. I kept this card fairly simple (a style I think you'll be seeing a lot of in 2011...I'm really enjoying getting more cards done in an evening!), using a layout from an SU! catalog. Just some ribbon, a butterfly (because I love them!), and a sentiment. A perfectly quick and easy birthday card! Be sure to check out all of the new colored digis at Sweet 'n Sassy...along with the new January release! I'll be back over the weekend with a card and sketch challenge using one of the new stamp sets so check back on Sunday!! Enjoy!

Mini Card Box

Happy snow day! Oh, not snowing where you are (is there anywhere in the US that didn't get snow this week?); we're enjoying an up to 16" snowstorm...and I love it! Love it because I no longer have to worry about driving to a full-time job, love it because I'll get to play in the snow later with the kids, love it because we'll make chocolate chip cookies, and love it because it gives me an excuse to stay in my PJ's all day!! (Truth be told, that's the number one reason I love snow days!!) And just maybe...once schoolwork and cookies are out of the way, I'll get in some crafty time! My favorite bad weather activity! Today's project is one that I'll be demonstrating at an upcoming Wholly Scrap! class. It's a darling 3.25" square card holder that comes complete with three mini cards. Isn't it so cute? (I found the directions for making the box on Splitcoast). The box was super easy to make; just a few cuts and score lines. I had quite the time figuring out the handle because I was determined to use the Martha Stewart mini shell punch to make a lacey handle, which required punching on both sides of the paper to create a complete shell. It only took 575 tries to get it right! LOL!

I've been frequently using Sweet 'n Sassy stamp sets in my classes and the attendees love them! This is a favorite set that we've used a number of times called Serene Silhouettes and it was a perfect choice for the box and card set because no coloring was required, which can be perfect for a class where you're creating multiple projects. I love the look of the cards...so easy and I love the look of the one color silhouette image with the black sentiment. I'm looking forward to sharing this project with my crafty friends on Friday! You can visit Wholly Scrap!'s web site for more details on their classes... Enjoy!

Another KISS Card

Today's lesson...Make peace with the white space.

Being at peace with a lot of white space on a card is not easy to do! I struggle with it every time I create a KISS/CAS card. And the funny thing is that when I first started stamping I probably made most of my cards with a lot of white space but then...I discovered blogs, learned more techniques saw other's work and before you know it you've got a card that weighs five pounds and took you two hours to make! (You know what happens to those cards? I hoard them...I just can't bear to give them away! LOL!) Well not today!! Today I created with minimal layers and lots of white space! And it felt good....WooHoo!! Not only that but I created with a brand new Sweet 'n Sassy stamp set. Please tell me that you just adore this little guy? I've got a thing for turtles and this stamp set, Gifts from Turtle, fits the bill! This stamp set comes with three turtle images and six sentiments. This card was easy to create (as it should be for a KISS card!) and most of my work was focused on the coloring, which was done with Copics and I just need to point out that I'm finally getting the hang of shading!! I know...it's only been two years or something like that...I'm a slow learner! **chuckle** (You should also check out Korin's blog; she has some amazing videos on shading. I plan to practice her tips!) I layered my sweet turtle on some fun boyish paper from My Minds Eye, added some faux stitching, a tiny bit of scalloped paper and a button. I also stamped the balloons twice and popped them up with foam tape. And there you have it! So tell me...how do you feel about lots of white space?

Keep it Simple Monday

Today's Tip: Put away the stamps!

Hi all! Sorry for no KSS post last night, we've been fighting sickness in our household for the pats few days. Yesterday it was my turn and I spent the entire day either in bed or sacked out on the couch. Still not feeling 100% today but much better so I'm grateful!! Today's card is actually one that I created a few weeks ago but never got around to posting, due to the pre-holiday madness. :-) And this was created when I had a challenge due and very little time. When I was sitting in my craft room wondering how in the world I was going to find time to create something in a short amount of time, I remembered this tag that Tim created during his 12 tags of Christmas and thought...why not translate this same technique to a card! I used lovely vintage paper from Kaiser Craft and glued it directly to a card base. The paper included pictures of these fun hot air balloons so after attaching a piece to the card base, I simply cut two of them out from a second piece of paper and popped them up with foam tape. Then I added the rhinestone flourish (from Prima), a punched band, ribbon, and lovely glass button (from a dear friend who attends my classes at Wholly Scrap!), and ok...a stamped sentiment (from Verve) to finish the card. Start to finish - about 10 minutes! Now that's what I call simple!! So don't cover up those pretty decorative papers, use them as backgrounds on your cards! Enjoy!

Tiffany Doodles Challenge - TD07

It's the first Tiffany Doodles challenge of the New Year!! Woot Woot!! And this month I get to direct you back to Tiffany's brand new store! It's amazing, awesome, and fantastic for quick and easy shopping! Be sure to check it out!! So...have you been participating in the challenges? Did you know that you have an opportunity to win oodles of free digis if you play along with our monthly challenges? Fabulous!! Be sure to check out all the details here. This month we had a sketch challenge (the sketch is below) and I chose to use a Spring-time image because now that the holidays are over, shouldn't Spring be just around the corner? Ah...wishful thinking for those of us living in New England! You can find the Wildflowers in Pitcher digital image here and it's available for immediate download for only $2.00! But that's not the only digi image on my card...do you spot anything else? Nope, not the sentiment, which is from Sweet 'n Sassy. How about the designer paper? That's right, Tiffany is now offering digital paper!! Fantastic! You can purchase the Krafty Clouds digi paper pack for only $5.00 and it includes 28 paper designs! Now that's a bargain!

Now as for that sketch...I turned it on it's side so that my pitcher would fit...I just had to use this image, love it! I printed out the image twice so that I could color and cut out the pitcher and attach with foam tape for a little dimensions. My paper colors are taken from the colors used on the digi paper and the image was colored with Copics. I used the newsprint peeking through the designer paper a few days ago and loved it so I used it again on today's card. A piece of grosgrain ribbon and a button from Papertreyink provided the finishing touches! And now for the challenge details!! Here are the rules of the challenge: Start date: Today, January 7 End date: January 31, Midnight EST Winners Announced: February 1 Don't forget to add your card to the Tiffany Doodles Flickr Gallery! Tagged with: TD07 The Prizes! You have 4 chances to win up to 7 digis of your choice from Tiffany Doodles! 1st place - 7 digis 2nd place - 5 digis 3rd place - 3 digis 1 Random - 3 digis Want to see what the rest of the team came up with? You're in for a treat, their designs are amazing! For details on any of the team cards just click on their name to visit their blog! Tiffany Doodles Tiffany Richards Cammy Wall Collette Landwer Donna Mikasa Jeannie DeGruccio Jill Foster Jodi Ann Lee Joy Taylor Karen Baker Lindsay Amrhein Lisa Summerhays Pattie Goldman Peet Roeven Shannon Neparko Simone Naoum Sue McRae Willemien Katerberg

SALT Challenge - Pray for Holiness

This week it was my turn to give the challenge to the SALT DT and since New Years typically brings with it resolutions, such as losing weight or exercising (both good goals by the way!), I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to also meditate on spiritual matters. If we seek to first renew the inward man then we can be sure that the outward man will also improve. The Scripture verse for this week's challenge, Pray for Holiness, is from 1 John 5:15, "And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." I tend to have a "I can do it myself" kind of attitude when I approach challenges and while I don't think that's necessarily a sinful attitude to have I do think it can be a stumbling block to real practical and spiritual progress. I'll give you an example. I'm not a terribly patient person and I found out early on that having children is not for one who is lacking in patience. So...I prayed, I prayed and asked God to make me a patient person. Guess what? He didn't. You know why? I expected God to hit me on the head with some magical wand and turn me into a totally different person...pesto, chang-0...I'm now and forever more...patient. What I failed to realize is that God doesn't work that way. He works by us stepping out in faith, behaving in the way He's instructed us to behave in Scripture, and then relying on Him, through prayer, for the strength to do those things He called us to do. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had this to say on the challenge verse, "We can pray that all the precepts, all the promises, and all the prophecies in the Bible with respect to ourselves may be fulfilled in us. "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thess. 4:3). If you pray for sanctification, you can be sure that God will sanctify you. It is God's will that we may know His love; ask Him therefore to reveal His love to you by the Holy Spirit, and you can be certain He will do so. And it is the same with all the various other promises that are in the Scriptures. "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7). Are you concerned that you do not love as much as you ought? Tell Him about it; ask Him to shed His love abroad in your heart, and He will do so. Are you concerned about some sin that casts you down? Pray a confident prayer. It is the will of God that you should be delivered from sin; so pray for it. Are you concerned that your heart shall be clean? Offer David's prayer ("Create within me a clean heart, Oh God; and renew a right spirit within me, "Psalm 51:10) and I assure you, on the basis of the Word of God and His character, that He will answer you, and the blood of Christ will cleanse you from all sin and all unrighteousness. Go through your Bible, and make a list of the promises of God to you; then take them to God, use them in His presence, plead them, and you can be quite certain that you have your petitions. You already possess them, and in His own time and way God will give you a full realization of them and a full enjoyment of them." It's been almost seven years since I became a parent and I still struggle with patience from time to time but since I confessed that I couldn't "do it by myself" and began to "ask, seek, and knock" while simply exercising patience and praying for strength, I have seen an amazing transformation; not only in my own attitudes but more importantly in the behaviors of my children and in my general mood during the day. The bottom line is that God has called Christians to live differently. We are called to live a holy life; the Scriptures promise us that whatever His will is for our lives (live holy), He will enable us to do. We simply need to grab hold of God's promises and never let go...Not only is He able to grant us the strength to live as we ought but I suspect that He delights to hear and answer our prayers. If we would only ask... If you feel inspired to create a card, scrapbook page, or other project based on this week's challenge, please visit the SALT blog and leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery. We'd be delighted to share your artwork!! ATC Details: Stamps: Unity Stamp Co. & Tim Holtz Paper: Ruby Rock-It

Stamped Dominoes

I didn't give out many non-family gifts this year but I did want to give my boss lady (don't you like being called the boss lady, Denise?) a gift and since she owns the scrapbook store where I work, I had to give her something handmade! I saw this fabulous stamped domino project on the Hero Arts blog (PS - I adore Hero Arts stamps...hoping to use them more this year) and I knew I'd found the perfect project! This was a super easy to create; I only needed a box of ceramic (at least I think they're ceramic) dominoes, a shadow box frame, and permanent ink. I used Pallette ink from Papertryink but Staz-On would work as well. I first laid out all of the tiles in the pattern that would work for my frame and then selected my images. (I used many of the same or similar images that were used on the Hero Arts blog since I had them!) Once I stamped the images I hit the dominoes with a heat gun, just to make sure the ink was dry and set. I used a glue gun to attach the dominoes to a thin piece of cardboard. And that's it! Fun stuff, right? And I believe that the boss lady enjoyed her stamped gift... :-) Enjoy!! PS - Stamps used on the project are from Tim Holtz, Sweet 'n Sassy, and SU!

2010 Top Ten

I've seen a bunch of Top Ten blog posts this morning so I thought I'd follow suit and post 10 of my favorite projects from 2010...Here they are, in no particular order...

Created table centerpieces for a friend's wedding (these were for the rehearsal dinner). We used the new Tim Holtz tattered florals die cut to make the flowers and a bunch of SU! chipboard birds. Paper for the flowers is from Papertreyink.

I did more scrapbooking this year (having started a P/T job at a scrapbook store in January of 2010). I also created a custom baby scrapbook album for one of our customers. It took me about 40 hours to complete but I loved the end result and so did the customer! They had a baby girl just about a week after I finished the album. (All supplies for the album came from Wholly Scrap!)

I spent a few weeks participating in the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenges. This was the first card I submitted and it won the Top Mouse award. Wow!! That was really exciting and surprising! I need to get back to participating in these challenges this year, they have fantastic sketches.

Tired out some fun new techniques...This was creating paper flowers with punched scalloped circles. Very cool technique that I've used a few more times on other projects.

Resumed teaching monthly classes at Wholly Scrap!, which provided me with an opportunity to use stamps from companies such as Hero Arts and Our Craft Lounge. I also got to play with Flower Soft, a product I had never used, and really enjoyed!

A card I created for my friends who got married in August (the same ones who received the centerpieces). This card used great Graphic 45 paper and this designed was inspired by Amy Sheffer.

I joined the Tiffany Doodles design team and this was the first card I created with their digi images. Love their products!

I joined the Sweet 'n Sassy design team in January (it's been a whole year and I'm thrilled to be staying on in 2011) and fell in love with their digi designs and new acrylic stamp sets! Even started using them in my classes at Wholly Scrap!

One of my favorite SNSS cards, using my favorite SNSS stamp set, Everyday Miracles. And of course another year spent creating Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas and failing to feed my family for 12 days straight... :-) What were your favorite projects from 2010?

Keep it Simple Sunday

I've had this card for ages and have forgotten to post it! A few months ago, I attended a Stampin' Up! workshop (I have to tell you that attending a class where someone else teaches and I get to just stamp the evening away is fun!!) and purchased this fun set called Lots of Bots. This card couldn't have been easier to create...A scrap piece of designer paper layered on top of orange was all that was needed for the card base. I then stamped the robot three times on a piece of white cardstock and then one more time on some scrap white cardstock. The fourth image got colored with Copics. I then punched out the colored robot and layered the image on to a larger orange circle. The circle was attached with foam tape. And that...is it... :-) Wishing everyone a very happy new year!!