Happy New Year!

From me, Tank and all the kitties :)!


To help ring in the New Year, we're giving away this cute digi of my kitty Tank on our Facebook page, but you need to hurry, because he'll only be available as a FREEBIE New Year's Day!

May the Lord richly bless you in 2012 and may you draw closer to Him than ever before!

Hugs!

Warmth & Blessings

I have a bittersweet announcement today....Roxie, the amazing sketch challenge hostess over at SCS, is stepping down after 6 years of fabulous sketches. She has asked Taylor, Holly and myself to fill her very big shoes and carry on the challenge. We are so sad to see Roxie go, but at the same time are excited, honored and humbled to have been asked to take her place.

Here is the link to this week's sketch challenge. I hope you will join me in playing as a tribute to Roxie.

On a different note, my hubby had surgery on his nose yesterday to help with his breathing. Praise the Lord the surgery went well, however he is suffering from some discomfort. We're hoping his recovery is quick and that the surgery will prove to be a help to him. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

Enjoy your day!!

Card Details....

Stamps: Snowflake Flourish & sentiment from Cozy Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: Snowfall (BoBunny)

Ink: CTMH-Moonstruck & Desert Sand, Versafine-vintage sepia

Accessories: ribbon, snowflake stickers, Stickles, Nestie oval die

It's Winter....I think???

So today is the first official day of Winter, but here in PA it's 58 degrees. Can you believe that one? We had a freak snowstorm on Halloween and on the first day of Winter we get Spring temps. Oh well, I am not complaining. It certainly could be worse ;).....although I must admit, I wouldn't mind a bit of snow for Christmas :).

Since we don't have snow but it is officially Winter, I thought a snowman card would be appropriate. The challenge over at Splitcoast today is to use a digital image, paper, or element so I used a digital stamp for my card.


I colored the image with Copics. I created a polka dot pattern on the snowman's scarf with my Copic blender by just adding little dots over the red. The blender "ink" pushes the red ink and leaves dots....I love using my blender to create patterns :).

The name of the ornament designer paper escapes me but it was a 12x12 sheet I had picked up at a local scrapbooking store (Joys of Life in Mechanicsburg, PA). The scallops were cut with the Sweet 'n Sassy Scallop Dies. The other DP's are various scraps I had stashed from previous cards.

Well, I don't know about you but I am counting down the days till Christmas. We have a large family brunch on Saturday and my hubby's parents and brother (and his dog) will be staying with us for a few days so I have sooooo much prepping still to be done.....oh and of course, I cannot forget, today is my middle son's 12th birthday :)!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week, despite all of the running here and there.......and be sure to have yourself a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Craziness

Do you ever feel like the holidays are more stressful than enjoyable? I am almost there myself so I decided it was time to take a moment......to just.......breath........and........focus.......on.......what it's REALLY all about.........Christmas isn't about Santa, elves, sweets, presents, trees, decorating, caroling, ornaments and parties......it's about something SO much bigger than all of that.......the greatest gift was given to all mankind.......the gift was Jesus.....the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He was born to die that we might live.....through Him. What an amazing thought to ponder. So during this extremely busy season, may I invite you to join me in stopping, even if just for a moment, to reflect on this most precious gift, the reason we celebrate.....and while you're at it, why not thank your Heavenly Father for that tremendous gift. :) He is so worthy of our praise and thanksgiving!

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!
Luke 2:10b-11

Crazy 4 Cocoa Blog Hop

Welcome to the second stop in today's Crazy 4 Cocoa Blog Hop :)! If you are just happening by you may want to stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog to get the scoop on this fun hop.


You may have heard we're going a bit bonkers for Cocoa Mouse this month. Over the past couple of years, that silly little squeaker has made his way into many a stampers' heart so we thought we'd celebrate him all month long. One way we're celebrating is with a Cocoa stamp and digi SALE! Through December 31st, all Cocoa stamps and digis are 10% off!

We're also celebrating with today's fabulous blog hop. The Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps DT has teamed up with some of our Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge gals to bring you nothing but Cocoa today......BUT, the best part is, YOU get to play along, too!! And if you do, we'll enter you into a drawing to win your choice of 1 free Cocoa stamp set or 4 free Cocoa digis :)!! You can find all the specifics on the SNSS Blog.

As we continue spreading the Cocoa love, I have this sweet Christmas card to share with you featuring Santa's Helper Cocoa. Our little friend is always getting into to something, but that's not a bad thing. He's a very helpful little mouse, you know! ;)


For this card, I dug out some scraps and kept it simple. My image was stamped on Neenah Solar White CS and colored with Copics. I then matted it with red CS and added a few layers with DP and CS. The sentiment is stamped directly on the card base. I added some ric-rac and pearls to finish it off. Overall, a pretty quick Christmas card and very easily reproducible. You can even use different DP's for the panel under the image :).

I hope you enjoyed my Cocoa CAS Christmas card (wow, now that's a lot of C's!). Your next stop in this Crazy 4 Cocoa Blog Hop is Bridget Finlay. I guarantee she's got something to share that will knock your socks off!

Just in case you get lost along the way, you can find the full list of blog hop participants HERE.

Enjoy the rest of the hop!!

C-ya next time!

Holiday Greetings Chickadee

Hello friends! It seems my crafty time is so limited anymore, so when I get the chance to play, I need to grab it! ;) Today I enjoyed playing in the color challenge over at SCS.

My card features the chickadee I illustrated for a new set we just released called God's Purpose. The sentiment I used is from Winter Friends.

I popped up the chickadee's wing to add a bit of dimension....although I think it's time for a new X-acto knife. Mine done a better job of chewing up the paper than slicing it ;). And look, Ma! I used my sewing machine!!.....for the first time in months!

Stamps: God's Purpose Winter Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: Season's Greetings (Echo Park)

Ink: Memento, Copics, Versafine

Accessories: machine stitching, ribbon, Nesties, Lacey Eyelet border die available at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Have you had the chance to hop in the SNSS Birthday Blog Hop yet? I squeezed it in yesterday between all my running here and there and WOW! Talk about being inspired!

If you haven't hopped yet, I invite you to head over to the SNSS blog and get started. You won't be sorry!

And to those of you who did hop and left such encouraging comments----THANK YOU! I cannot tell you how much you have blessed all of us with your sweet words.

Before I go, I thought I'd share a sweet pic of one of the kittens. They are 12 weeks old already.....and growing so fast. This if Fluff aka Fluff 'n Stuff aka Fluffer Nutter....she has a thing for snuggling ;).


Thanks for visiting me today! Don't forget to count your blessings!!

Love ya---bye!

SNSS Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome! I am so glad you are hopping along with Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps today. If you didn't come here from the SNSS Blog, I invite you to stop there and start the hop from the beginning. You haven't missed much yet, but you'll find all the hop details in the post on the SNSS Blog :).

Before I share what you came here to see, I wanted to take this opportunity to say....I am truly grateful and tremendously honored to have such a large group of participants in this hop and I would like to extend a HUGE public THANK YOU to each of you for joining in the fun today to celebrate with us! I am so blessed to know so many amazing stampers and even more so to call you friends. I love you all so much!!

Ok, now on with the show :)!

Just for fun, I thought I would share a card I made a long time ago with the image that started it all :).....this is that very first image I drew which became our very first stamp set....4 years ago....


This set has long since been retired....and I honestly get embarrassed when I look at it because of how far I've come artistically (praise the Lord!), but it's always nice to reminisce.....wouldn't you agree :)? And let's face it, without this little guy....we wouldn't be here today, so sharing this card with you today reminds me of the great warmth and appreciation I have for those who encouraged me and supported me when this sweet knight and 3 other sets were all I had to offer.

Now, how about something a little more recent ;).....


I honestly had a tough time coming up with something for today.....my stamping time has been so limited as of late, but I really love this sweet penguin from our new Cozy Friends set, so I decided instead of pondering and over-thinking it....I would just make whatever came to me. I did end up cheating a little ;)....I used this week's sketch from The Sweet Stop, but a good sketch is always just what I need when the mojo isn't there.

The designer papers are from Memory Box's new line called Yuletide and Echo Park's new Season's Greetings line. I really didn't go too crazy with this one....just added some fun Maraschino Baker's Twine, a black button and some Stickles to the snowflakes on the DP. I also doodled a black frame around the main DP panel. The sentiment is from our Winter Friends stamp set.

Your next stop in the hop is the super talented Holly aka Toy. I know she has something fabulous to share with you!

Don't forget as you are hopping to leave comments on as many blogs along the way as you can. At the end of the hop we will be drawing 4 random winners from 4 random blogs and those winners will receive a $40 prize pack of stamps, dies, paper and twine!!

Just in case you get lost along the way, here is the blog hop list again:

Korin Sutherland<----you're here

Holly McMillen

Taylor Usry

Kim Schofield

Monika Davis

Lydia Fiedler

Harriet Skelly

Makiko Jones

Jerusha Borden

Mary Marsh

Lori Craig

Kim O'Connell

Chris Dickinson

Stephanie Wright

Shannon White

Janette Olen

Katlyn Traxler

Deb Felts

Stephanie Serrano

Jessica Fick

Kim Singdahlsen

Mary Faus

Sandy Domelle

Bridget Finlay

Ceal Pritchett

Dina Kowal

Margo Smith

Shelby Goolsby

Tami Mayberry

Lorie Souther

Darsie Bruno

Cathy McCauley

Beate Johns

Janice Melton

Jacquie Peifer

Lisa Hjulberg

SNSS Blog Hop!

Hi there!!! I am the next to last stop in today's November Release Day DT Blog Hop. The Design Divas and some of the gals from the Digi Team are hopping together to celebrate our fabulous clear stamps, digis, and dies being released tonight!! If you've been hopping along with us today, you should have just come from Monika's amazing blog. If you didn't, I invite you to pop over to the SNSS blog to start this hop from the very beginning :). We have a HUGE prize up for grabs and I guarantee you won't want to miss out on your chance to win :).

I have a few samples to share with you today. This first sample was made using our new Lacey Eyelet Borders die set and a gorgeous new stamp set called Snowflake Flourish both designed by the talented Dina Kowal.


We introduced the Lacey Eyelet Borders die set at the York Heirloom Stamp Show a few weeks back and it was such a hit, it SOLD OUT the first day! I am thrilled to have it back in stock for this release :).

The bottom "ruffled" area on my card was created using tissue paper. I originally intended on doing what I found on this blog recently, where you cut out a bunch of layers from tissue paper with your die and create a "crochet" effect, but I had a bit of trouble getting it to work for me, so I decided to try something different and created a layered "ruffled" look instead. I think it turned out pretty cool despite it not being my intention. I hope to share a video of this technique soon over at The Sweet 'n Sassy Connection if you are interested.

The snowflakes from Dina's set were stamped first and second generation using the same ink (first being inked and stamped directly onto the card base, second being inked and stamped off onto scrap paper then stamped again onto the card base to create a lighter shade of the first ink color). The white border strip was cut from the second die in Dina's Lacey Eyelet Border dies set. Instead of weaving the twine through the die cut (which looks really cool, too) I just wrapped it around, added the snowflake ornament (found these at Michaels last year) and added the button with the twine bow. The sentiment is also from one of Dina's sets, Christmas Light, from our September release.

This next card features one of my new sets called Freezin' Season as well as Dina's Lacey Eyelet Borders die set AND my new Clouds & Raindrops die set.


I used the clouds as "snow mounds" by cutting off the bottom of each die cut. I outlined the mounds with Stickles to add more of a snowy feel. I added more Stickles over top the image to resemble falling snow, then added twine, a snowflake button and the tag sentiment which is also included the Freezin' Season stamp set. The designer paper is from Echo Park's Holly Jolly 6x6 pad.

Lastly, I'd like to share this card I made with on of our new digis, Rhubarb's Stocking...


Not too much to say about this one....I embossed a white panel with a Sizzix embossing folder and mounted in to the card base. The ribbon is Martha Stewart seam binding and the rhinestone heart border is something I picked up in the clearance section at Michaels a while back. The sentiment is from the Rhubarb's Christmas stamp set released back in September. The DP is from Echo Park's Holly Jolly 6x6 pad....and of course.....I used more twine :).

Ok, now that you've seen what I created, head over to the SNSS blog and leave a comment for a chance at that awesome prize!

And just in case you got lost somewhere along the way, here is the whole blog hop list again.....

SNSS Blog

Kim Schofield

Sandy Domelle

Ceal Pritchett

Mary Faus

Janette Olen

Makiko Jones

Kim Singdahlsen

Jessica Fick

Stephanie Wright

Dina Kowal

Holly McMillen

Carol Longacre

Taylor Usry

Cathy McCauley

Margo Smith

Bridget Finlay

Harriet Skelly

Monika Davis

Korin Sutherland<----you are here

SNSS Blog

One more thing.....Don't forget to join us tonight at 8:00PM EST in our member company forums over on Splitcoaststampers - we have a great release party planned! There will be full reveals of all of the stamp sets, digis and dies, plus challenges, more prizes plus a free birthday digi for all attendees :)!!!

See you tonight!!

Blog Hop Tomorrow!!!!

Just a quick post to remind you of the November Release Day Blog Hop the SNSS DT is hosting tomorrow.


We would LOVE to have you join us.....and we think since we're giving away the entire November release (6 stamp sets, 11 digis, & 3 die sets) you might not want to miss it ;).

See you then!!!

Let it....SNOW????

And it sure did!! I took these pics yesterday....the first pics when the snow started falling and the second less than 3 hours later.



It was crazy! I think we got a total of around 6 inches. Never thought I'd be singing "I'm dreaming of a white Halloween!" ;).

So in honor of our October snowstorm I thought I'd share a snowy card with you today....


We lost power for 6 hours yesterday, but so many others are still without, so I can't complain. Since there wasn't much I could do without electricity I decided to color some images (yay!!). This is one of the images I colored...a new digi being released this week illustrated by my dear friend Sandy Domelle.

She had sent me a couple images she doodled to give me some ideas for new digis but I liked hers so much I decided to use them instead of draw new ones. She didn't think they were worthy, but I sure do...don't you? :) I think she still can't believe I decided to use her images ;), but I just know you are going to love them as much as I do!

One more thing....be sure to stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog to check out the Sweet Peeks we've shared so far!

Blessings...

Go PINK!

Good morning, friends!

I am sure you have been seeing tons of stuff concerning breast cancer lately since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. SCS has been challenging us all month long through the Hope You Can Cling To event and although I have wanted to play in all of the challenges, I've only completed a few and since I have shared any of those cards with you yet, I am sharing them all today :).

Stamps: duck from Polka Dot Silhouettes & sentiment from Christmas Tags (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: Little Girl (Echo Park)

Ink: Baby Pink (CTMH), black (Versafine)

Accessories: Lacey Eyelet Border die-being released SOON (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps), ribbon (American Crafts)

Stamps: Patriotic Cocoa (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: white CS, Orchid Bouquet CS (CTMH)

Ink: Memento, Copics, Versafine

Accessories: cuttlebug embossing folder

Stamps: Polka Dot Silhouettes, Seeing Spots & Thinking of You-being released SOON (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: white CS

Ink: CTMH

Accessories: ribbon/fiber, Stickles

Be sure to stop by the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog today to check out our first Sweet Peek of our November Release :)!!!

Until next time....

SNSS is turning 4!!

I don't have any new creations to share with you today but I did want to be sure you knew about the exciting happenings at SNSS next month!

You may have heard that Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating our 4th birthday next month....we are SO excited and we have tons of fun in store for you all month long including 2 blog hops, 6 new stamp sets, 2 new die sets, 4 Birthday Specials (a different one each week in November), opportunities for tons of prizes and so much more....

We've come up with a schedule so you don't miss a thing! Mark your calendars and plan to join the fun!

October 28th through November 2nd @ 8am EST - Sweet Peeks begin here and on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog. Get a "sweet peek" at our newest sets being released in November!

November 1st-7th - Birthday Special #1 - 50% off all Digital Stamps!

November 3rd @ 8am EST - DT Blog Hop begins on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog featuring our November release

November 3rd @ 8pm EST - Release/Birthday Party in our SCS Release Party Forum - Full stamp set and die reveals, DT chatter and inspiration, challenges with prize opportunities, PLUS a FREE birthday digi for all who attend!!

November 7th @8am EST - 3-Day Birthday Bash Blog Hop begins on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog - Join us as DT Members past and present, along with some special friends, celebrate 4 years of Sweet 'n Sassy!! We'll be giving away 4 amazing prize packs valued at $40 each! Winners will be chosen at random from blog hop comments.

November 8th-14th - Birthday Special #2 - 25% off ALL Designer Paper!

November 12th @ 8am EST - Birthday Blog Hop winners announced on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog

November 15th-21st - Birthday Special #3 - Buy One Get One Gift Certificate Sale! (For every $25 gift certificate you purchase you'll receive a $5 gift certificate to spend on yourself!)

November 22nd-30th - Birthday Special #4 - 25% off ALL Clear Stamp Sets AND Dies! (excludes bundles)


We may add more so keep checking back for any updates .

Are YOU excited??? We sure are!!!

Chubby Cardinal & Life Update

I love chubby cardinals.....not sure why, maybe because they look more cuddly when they are fat :).....anyway, when I decided to design a cardinal stamp set, I knew the the bird would need to be chubby. I think this one fits the bill :).

I made this card for yesterday's SCS sketch challenge. I can't even remember the last time I played along with one of their sketches and my how I have missed them!! The sketch challenge has always been my favorite :). Since things have finally calmed down a bit for me I headed right to the sketch challenge for inspiration and this is what I came up with.


I've been saving up all my Christmas paper scraps so I found some really great papers for my card. It did take me a while to figure out how I was going to lay them all out, but I have been a tad out of practice so that's my excuse ;).

Here are the supplies I used:

Stamps: Christmas Joy (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)

Paper: misc. scraps

Ink: Memento, Copics, Versafine

Accessories: ribbon, Nesties, Lacey Eyelet border die available soon at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

On a different note, I thought I would fill you in on some of the reasons I haven't been around blogland much over the past month or so...

A couple weekends ago was the Heirloom Stamp Show in York, PA, one of the two shows we planned to do this year. We had a GREAT time and I can't wait until the next show. They are always a ton of work, but so worth it :). There is nothing like mingling with other stampers. Here are a few pics from the show....

This is Mary Faus, myself and Cathy McCauley. Mary helped at the Heartfelt Creations booth on Saturday and then came back to shop on Sunday. She also volunteered to take some pics for me since my camera batteries died! Can you tell we were having a good time? I can't remember why we were laughing but it was obviously very FUNNY :).

This is part of our display.....look at all those gorgeous creations!! THANK YOU to my amazing DT for sending in projects to help beautify our booth :).

Here I am with Dan and our son Aidan. He came along to help and proved to be a fantastic cashier :).

Just a fun shot of one of our make 'n takes for Sunday.

And another fun shot of part of our booth.

Show prep consumed much of my time in September, but in addition to that I have been having some health issues that have had me visiting different doctors and having various tests and things done. I am not going to go into a lot of details, but I will tell you that they still aren't sure of a diagnosis. I was tested for Lyme Disease, Lupus, and rheumatory issues, but my bloodwork all came back fine. My neurologist says it could be a number of things including MS, but without doing lots of further testing, there is no way to know. I am ok with that and will continue to wait on the Lord for strength and patience. The next step in the process of getting to the bottom of this is to have four MRI's and an EMG....I opted for just two MRI's for now plus the EMG, so once those are completed (hopefully within the next few weeks), I will post another update.

The busyness of life lately has lead Dan and I to the decision to send our boys back to school. Homeschooling was getting to be almost impossible for me. So they recently started attending a Christian school about 35-40 minutes away and I can tell already that things are much less stressful. I am so thankful for that and for the Lord's providence and guidance.

I am hoping once I get into a new routine that I can get back into creating and sharing. Until then, I will post when I can :).

Oh....one more thing.....in case you have been wondering how those little kitties are doing....

They are getting big :).....and they love sleeping....

....pretty much anywhere ;).....

Thank you for visiting!! Buh-bye!

SNSS & The Twinery Blog Hop

First of all.....oh my goodness, I cannot believe it's been a over a month since I posted on my blog!!! WOW!! I have been really busy but I had no idea I was THAT busy! I will be getting back into a more routine posting schedule soon and have lots to share so I hope you will continue to visit despite the long break.

I am, in the mean time, excited to be coming back with a bang :)...

AND

have teamed up for a fabulous blog hop with 24 amazingly talented stampers :)!

You have likely seen The Twinery's beautiful twine on many SNSS DT cards and projects because we sell it in our store :). If you haven't tried some yet, be sure to stop by our site after the hop and grab some :). You will LOVE it!!

If you've been hopping along already you would have come from Jenny Suchin's blog. If you are just starting here, I invite you to start back at the beginning and hop along with us!

Here's my card using The Twinery's Honeydew Baker's Twine and three new sets from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps: Comforting Pines (our newest Stamp for a Cause set which benefits the flood victims of my hometown of Pine Grove), Light of Christmas background stamp and a sentiment from Christmas Puppy.


To create this card, I first stamped the background image onto the top part of a piece of kraft cardstock. I then matted it with green cardstock. I added a strip of striped patterned paper from Echo Park's Season's Greetings 6x6 pad, wrapped the twine around a few time and fastened it with a button. I then adhered it to my white card base.

Next I stamped the tree image onto Neenah Classic Crest cardstock, colored it with my Copics, cut it out and attached it to the card front with foam tape.

Finally, I stamped the sentiment and added "Christmas ornaments" to the tree with red Stickles. I love that this tree image can be used for so many things, including Christmas cards :).

Your next stop on the hop is:
Monique Hansen

But before you go....

Here's the wonderful prize The Twinery has up for grabs with today's hop,
the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack valued at $25....

Doesn't that colorful image just make you smile :)??

And here's Sweet 'n Sassy's prize...
the super popular Season of Change Stamp Set & Die Bundle valued at $28....

For a chance to win these fabulous prizes you MUST comment on each blog in the hop.
Winners will be announced on Sunday, October 23rd on The Twinery Blog as well as on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog.

Thanks for hopping along today! I hope we've inspired you to create something beautiful!

Sketch Day!!

It's Saturday which means a new Sweet Stop sketch....you may not be aware of this but I stepped down from the Sugar Baby team a while back to ease up on some of my responsibilities....I can say, I sure do miss playing along with the sketches.

These past few weeks have been insanely busy with home stuff, business stuff and everything in between so my *stamping for fun time* as been majorly limited. Last night I had some free time so I decided to use it to make a card for today's sketch. It felt great to stamp just because :).


This week is the Sketch with a Spin and you know what that means.....there is a sweet prize up for grabs!! Head over to The Sweet Stop to check it out.

This week's spin is "Starstruck". You can interpret that any way you wish, but the most obvious way is to use stars somewhere on your card. I found these awesome metal stars at Michaels a year or two ago and have kept them in my "Christmas embellies" stash for such times as this.

My wonderful man in brown dropped off a box full of yummy new Echo Park Christmas papers yesterday, so you KNOW I just had to break some out for my card :). The paper I used is from their new Season's Greetings 6x6 pad. I think it's my favorite line of the 3 holiday lines they released this year.

I also used Dina Kowal's gorgeous new Christmas Light stamp set and die. I am telling you, dies for stamped images are the best thing since sliced bread :)!

Today I leave you with another funny kitteh pic....

Meet Tank....a basement cat in the making....hehe....


In case you are "unawarez"....basement cat (typically a black cat) is the arch nemesis of ceiling cat (often a white or light colored cat) in a fun online battle of the kittehs known as lolcat. Lydia knows exactly what I am referring to....and I have to say it's a pretty funny thing....you can find more amusing basement cat pics HERE.

Until next next time....

Christmas Sweet Peeks #8 & #9-Candle & Background

I have been dying to peek these two sets :).....Dina Kowal has done it again this time with a gorgeous image & amazing coordinating background and the best part is.....the candle image has a matching die!!! Squeeeee!! It is sooooo awesome!

Here's my card using all three new products which will be available tonight after our release party.


Look at that image!! No fussy cutting necessary! Just cut out the shape with your die and stamp the image inside it! A perfect cut every time!!

Don't miss our release party tonight in our SCS Member Company Forum. The fun starts at 8pm EST. A few of the DT will be hosting some great challenge and don't forget the FULL REVEALS :)!! See you there!!

Christmas Sweet Peek #7-Cocoa

Cocoa is back and he's celebrating Christmas with us! Today's Sweet Peek is of our new Cocoa's Christmas stamp set.

I have to admit I had a terrible time with this card.....I still don't care for it much, but oh well...such is life.

I wanted to use the brick embossed panel to give the idea of a fireplace since Cocoa is peeking out of a stocking. Not sure if it works together, but I tried ;).

Also, you won't want to miss our Christmas Release Party tomorrow night at 8pm EST in our Member Company Forum at SCS.

Stop by the SNSS blog to see the other DT peeks :)! They are super sweet!

Christmas Sweet Peek #6-Tags

Today's set was designed by Dina Kowal and it's super versatile. The set comes with a whole slew of interchangeable sentiments that can be stamped inside the beautiful tag or used alone.


Instead of making a card with this one, I decided to create a gift item. This little package would be so sweet filled with green and red M&Ms or Hershey Kisses :). Don't you agree?

I used the beautiful Blitzen papers by Bo Bunny, added some pretty Christmas embellies and tied the tag on with gold-trimmed ribbon. I love this set!!

And in case you were wondering how my trip to Pine Grove went yesterday....

It was bittersweet. The church I grew up in took an offering Sunday tofill 45 buckets with cleaning supplies, toothbrushes, etc...so a group of us got together to hand out the buckets to flood victims in town. It was a blessing to see and hear of some many people in the community coming together to help the flood victims, but it was hard to see all the damage. Thankfully, we missed the worst of it....Friday & Saturday the sidewalks up and down the streets were piled high with "trash".....people's belongings, furniture, clothing, books, toys, anything and everything you can imagine. The pictures I saw were just heart wrenching. Many homes are being condemned (some will condemned until repaired but some must be completely torn down). You just can't imagine it until you see it. Houses completely gutted out...some even abandoned by the owners because they just didn't know what to do. The town is really pushing through, though. School started back up today and many of the roads are open again (but still needing much repair).

One of the ladies who organized the community service project yesterday took pics of our group and posted the album on FB. I shared it on my wall if you want to see them.

Today it's back to the grind....but it will be a long time before the images from this last week fade.....never away....but into a distant memory. May the Lord bless the little town of Pine Grove and draw the people closer to himself through this tragedy.

Thanks for stopping by today! See you tomorrow with another Sweet Peek....

Christmas Sweet Peek #5-Cardinal

It's time for another sweet peek and this time we have a non-cutesy image for you :).

This is my 4 bird in a series I have been working on. I love cardinals...they are such beautiful birds. They also happen to be my high school mascot.... we were the Pine Grove Area Cardnials :).


For my card I used the Father Christmas paper by Bo Bunny. I am not a huge Santa person, but most of the paper in this pad is very pretty as you can see :).

On a different note, the boys and I are heading to Pine Grove this morning to see where we can lend a hand (8 hands to be exact). Please continue to pray for the flood victims. It's going to be a LONG road to recovery.

And one more thing....

I feel so burdened to help out my home town in any way that I can, so I have designed this stamp set in honor of Pine Grove. I drew the "pine grove" image in honor of the town's name and I came up with the sentiments as I pondered what I might say to the flood victims....many of whom are my friends and family. All proceeds from the sale of this set will be donated to the Pine Grove Disaster Relief Fund & the Operation Hugs & Kisses Organization to help the many, many flood victims of Pine Grove.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a PREORDER and stamps will begin shipping late September.

Comforting Pines

Until tomorrow....make it a great day!

Christmas Sweet Peek #4-Snowman

It's Sweet Peek day 4 and all you snowman lovers out there ought to enjoy this one :). The set is called Holly Jolly Christmas.

Isn't this smiley snowman adorable with his pile of presents :)? I am a huge fan of snowmen myself so I really enjoyed coloring this sweet image. The image itself only has the gift, so I stamped the separate candy cane and stocking (also included in the set), colored and fussy cut them and popped them up with foam tape.

Check out the rest of the amazing DT cards by visiting the SNSS blog.

On a more solemn note....I'd like to share something with you in honor of 9/11/01...

This is today's devotional from Daily Focus....it's too good not to share....

There are certain moments in time that people vividly remember in connection with a certain date in history. My mother can recall exactly where and what she was doing when Pearl Harbor was attacked in World War II. I can recall where and what I was doing when John F. Kennedy was shot. My daughter now recalls where and what she was doing the day the World Trade Center twin towers burned and crashed to the ground. For three days, homeschooling stopped, and we, along with millions of others, watched the awful events of those days. Her thoughts are forever recorded below in her poem written shortly after that tragic day:

September 11, 2001

Out of the clear blue sky,

I saw thousands die.

I saw people jump to their death.

I saw America hold its breath.

I saw the sadness of the world.

I saw the flag at half staff furled.

I saw the grief of a president.

I saw America lose its innocence.

I see the towers fall in my mind.

I think I've seen it a hundred times.

I saw America cry and pray.

I will never forget that horrible day.

I saw acts of the most evil kind.

I know we can never turn back time.

I'll remember those who fight to save

Freedom in the land of the brave.

Even in our darkest moments in time, we can know God is with us. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35, 38-39).

Dear God, thank You that even in tragic times when the world is falling down around us, we are conquerors through Him who loved us! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Christmas Sweet Peek #3-Rhubarb

I don't know about you, but I am loving sweet little Rhubarb the Teddy Bear so I just had to design a new Rhubarb Christmas set. :)

Here's my sweet peek for today....


I decided to go with a less traditional color scheme for this Christmas card. We just got in these adorable papers from Bo Bunny called Sweet Tooth, which will be added to the store with our release next week. It was perfect for this gingerbread image, don't you think?? ;)

Check out the other DT creations by visiting the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog.

See you tomorrow with another fun peek at one of our new Christmas sets :).

Back in Business! Christmas Sweet Peek #2

Sorry for the late post....my internet has been down since 11am. Thankfully my awesome hubby came home and fixed it. He rocks!!! Seriously....totally rocks :)!!

So without further ado, here is my card for today's adorable Sweet Peek, Christmas Puppy illustrated by Rachel Zimmerman.

I used up various scraps I had on my table from other recent card projects. I added some yummy twine and these fabulous glittery metal stars I got at Michaels last year.

Thanks for taking a peek today!

I leave you with a video I made last night of our adorable kittens....

Aren't they so sweeeeeeeet :)?

Blog Hop Winner

i am having technical difficulties with my internet so i am posting this from my phone...and for some reason i can't get the caps to work...anyway, the winner of the season of change bundle is wanda cullen!!! congrats wanda!

thanks for hopping along with us :)!

i will get my christmas puppy sweet peek up as soon as i can! sorry to make you wait :(.

Christmas Sweet Peeks #1

It's time for another round of Sweet Peeks....this time we're celebrating Christmas in September. Our first peek is of our September Stamp of the Month, Beary Christmas. This guy was super popular as a digi last year so we thought it would be fun to bring him to our clear stamp line as our Free w/ $50 Stamp of the Month :).


Paulie Polar Bear is decked out for Christmas, but he's feeling a tad self conscious ;)....do YOU think the wreath makes his butt look big? ;)


For my card I used the fun new Blitzen 6x6 pad by Bo Bunny. Love these fun papers :)! I used a Nestie die for the main image panel and popped Paulie up with foam tape. Then I added some pearl flourishes and glittery snow....overall a pretty easy card.

Be sure to check out the other Beary Christmas creations some of the DT are sharing today. You're going to love them!

And on a slightly (ok, make that VERY) different ans solemn note....

Please pray for my home town of Pine Grove, PA. The rain has been coming down for days and the whole town is flooded. The National Guard is assisting with evacuations, but the damage is horrific....and the rain isn't over yet. Here are some pics taken from some of the residents...









As you can see, this little town is in BIG trouble. Please pray!! Thank you!

Tomorrow I'll be sharing another Sweet Peek....so see ya then!