Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Birthday Blog Hop!!

Good morning folks! Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being on the design team for Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with that wonderful group of ladies, and I certainly have missed them. I was absolutely thrilled when Korin, the owner of Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, rallied up a bunch of us "alumni" and invited us to participate along with her current DT members in a Blog Hop to celebrate Sweet 'n Sassy's 3rd birthday!!

Here's a word from Korin about her wonderful company:

It's hard to believe that 3 years ago today Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps "opened for business" with just 4 clear stamp sets being sold on a simple blog. Since then SNSS has grown to over 100 clear stamp sets and hundreds of digital stamps! God has been so good to us!

Our images, sentiments and scripture stamps are sweet 'n sassy and everything in between. We're sure you'll find something you love. We hope you enjoy hopping along to see all the fun things we've created for your viewing pleasure. May you be inspired to create something truly amazing......something from your heart!

Today's huge Birthday Blog Hop includes the work of several Sweet 'n Sassy past and present design team members!! You will not want to miss a single participant's blog, as each and every one of us has BLOG CANDY to give away...so make sure to leave comments as you hop along!

The hop begins over at the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Blog, where you will also find a complete list of links to the hop participants. You should have arrived here after visiting with the very lovely and very talented Lisa...if not, just start the hop at the beginning, and you'll soon find your way back here. :)

For my card today, I used the festive digital stamp "Cocoa's Ornament". I adore this cute little mouse! Both the first and last projects I made during my term with Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps featured a Cocoa image, so I thought it fitting that I use him again for this celebration blog hop. One of the best features of digital stamps is the ability to re-size and flip them according to your specific project. Before printing the Cocoa stamp, I measured the Spellbinders die that I planned to use on my card, and adjusted the size of the image on my computer before printing. Before removing the image from the die, I used my Inkssentials Blending Tool to apply Distress Ink in Milled Lavender. The gorgeous Christmas paper is from Bo Bunny...I LOVE the colours in this paper line! The bow was tied with my Bow Easy. I added some machine stitching, rhinestones, pearls and a Spellbinders lace border as finishing touches.


"Cocoa's Ornament" was printed on Neenah smooth cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. Stardust Stickles were added to the bow and to the teal stripes on the ornament.

Copics: Cocoa: W00, W1, W3, W5, E50, R11, RV000, R83, R83 Ornament: YG00, YG11, YG20, YG67, G99, BG0000, BG000, BG11, BG72, BG75, BG78, RV000, V00, V01, V12, V15, V09, C00, C01, C03, E50, Y21, Y26, Y17, E33

BLOG CANDY TIME!!! Do you adore "Cocoa's Ornament" as much as I do??? Guess what...I get to give this digital image away to one lucky hop participant. :) Just imagine how many great projects he would be perfect for in the upcoming weeks!! Make sure to leave a comment on this post by Wednesday November 10 at 10:00 pm EST, and I'll announce the winner on Thursday November 11th! (Make sure to check back on my blog to see if you are the lucky winner!!)

When you are finished with the hop, make sure to visit the Sweet 'n Sassy Store to browse through the wonderful selection of stamps available for purchase!

Time for me to send you off to visit the next lovely gal on the hop...the very sweet and talented Joni!

Thanks again Korin for the invitation to join in the Sweet 'n Sassy birthday bash! It has been so much fun to reconnect with everybody and to have the chance to create with Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps again.

Happy hopping friends...and don't forget to leave those comments for your chance to win some great Sweet 'n Sassy prizes!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Digital Stamp "Cocoa with Ornament"
Ink: Copic markers, Milled Lavender Distress Ink
Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Bo Bunny
Embellishments: Ribbon, Stickles, rhinestones, pearls, machine stitching
Tools: Spellbinders, Bow Easy

Monday Morning News

Well, good morning Sunshine!! lol I hope everybody enjoyed their weekend...ours was great, but it was over way too fast. We sat down last night to watch Toy Story 3...oh my goodness!! It was a such a great movie! I had hoped to squeeze in some crafty time over the weekend, but it just didn't happen. Sooo...I'll be colouring and assembling each evening as I've got a busy few days fast approaching on my blog! :)



I don't have a card to share with you today, but thought I'd tell you about a couple of fun news tidbits!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating their 3rd birthday tomorrow....and Korin has put together a fantastic blog hop to celebrate!! I had the privilege of being on her DT earlier this year...she has so many great stamps to suit every occasion (both clear sets and digital images)! Korin invited a bunch of "alumni" to participate in the birthday bash hop along with her current DT, so I'll be back tomorrow as one of the stops on the hop with card featuring one of her sweet digital stamps! (Oh, and there are a ton of prizes being given away tomorrow, so make sure to join in the fun!!)



For those of you living in the London area, I wanted to let you know that my good friend Krista VanTol will be teaching her first class at Scrappin' Great Deals this Saturday!! Krista is such a sweetheart...and SO very talented!! She has a wonderful style, and her colouring with Copic markers is absolutely gorgeous. She is a wonderful teacher, and I know that those attending will thoroughly enjoy themselves...and be able to pick up some of her tips and tricks for working magic with those markers!! (you can check out the cards Krista has planned for the class on her blog post HERE.)

That's about it from me this morning...I have a jam packed day ahead!! I hope to see you back tomorrow morning for the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog Hop...and stay tuned later in the week for a ton of Kraftin' Kimmie fun!! ;)

Blessings,

Melanie

How Distressing!!

Can you believe it's already November 6th??? Have you all started your Christmas shopping yet? I say this every year, but honestly my goal is to be done by the end of November. I almost met that goal last year. I only had a couple of things left to get in December. I would prefer to avoid the chaotic stores as much as possible in December...and to get in a little Christmas crafting with Ainsleigh. Dean and I actually went to a Christmas party last night...crazy, huh?? LOL, friends of ours always hold theirs the first week in November in order to beat the upcoming rush of get-togethers. Their house was decorated, carols were playing and we even had a few snowflakes falling outside to boot! We had a great time. :)

Our new challenge over at the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog is courtesy of our lovely Krafty hostess this week, the very talented Tara!! Her challenge is called "How Distressing"...I love to add distressing to my cards, whether by ink or by physically distressing the edges of the paper...it really adds such a nice finishing touch to your project.

For this week's card, I inked up "Willard" who was just released a couple of weeks ago...what a cutie! When I saw him all bundled up like that, he made me think of the little brother Randy from the movie The Christmas Story. Remember when his mom had layered him up in all his winter outerwear??...and then he fell out in the snow, and couldn't get up?? LOL...."Ralphie...I can't get up. Raaaalphieeeeee....!!!" (You know, that's a movie that I both love and hate at the same time. We used to watch it EVERY year in elementary school. I can remember piling into the library with the other classes to watch Ralphie on his quest to acquire a Red Ryder BB Gun. His mother didn't want him to have one of course...she just told him "you'll shoot your eye out", hehe. I still giggle about the hideous leg lamp from "Fragile"!! Halmark actually made that into an ornament...complete in it's crate marked "Fragile"...almost bought that one! lol)

Anyways, lol, back to stamping!! I used some great Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye (Holly Jolly) and distressed all the edges with a pair of dull scissors. I also sponged around the paper edges with Bundled Sage Distress Ink. The snowflakes were cut with Spellbinders, sponged with the white ink and given a coat of Stardust Stickles. (um, in real life the red snowflake really does match the papers!) The "Warm Wishes" sentiment comes with Willard...he also has a little Christmas Tree accessory stamp.

Willard was stamped on Neenah smooth paper with Memento Ink and coloured with my Copic markers. I used some fun Perfect Puff on the trim of his hat...Krista and I both picked up a bottle of this fun product while shopping at Scrapfest a few weeks ago. I've been itching to play around with it, especially since I've already seen some great samples by Krista!! (she totally beat me to playing with our new "toy", lol) I love the texture it creates when heated, and it's quite fun to watch it "puff" up! (yup...doesn't take much to amuse me I guess, lol) I just used my hairdryer as I don't even own a heat tool.


Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37 Clothes: R20, R27, R46, R59, G20, YG91, YG93, G99, BG0000, BG000, BG11, BG72, BG75, BG78 Mug: C9, C5, C3, C1 Hot Chocolate: E25, E50

Have you visited the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog today to check out the amazing distressed projects by the rest of the lovely Krafty Girls and our November Krafty Guests?? Make sure to take note of the stamp that Tara used on her card this week, because that's the stamp you could win if you play along with our challenge...but only if you make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your submission! In need of some new Kraftin' Kimmie rubber? Well then, head on over to the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Online Store to do some Krafty shopping!

Have a wonderful Saturday friends!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps: "Willard" and coordinating sentiment "Warm Wishes"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, My Mind's Eye

Ink: Memento, Copics, Bundled Sage Distress Ink

Embellishments: Dollar store pearls, Stickles

Tools: Spellbinders

Sister Act

Happy Friday folks! We have a brand new challenge over at Wags 'n Whiskers today...Barbara would like to see projects celebrating Sisters or Friendship. I am very happy to be back playing alongside the rest of the WnW Divas this month...October ended up being so busy at our house, that I had to take a few weeks off. I'm hoping November is a little less hectic!

Have you heard that there is a big change to the Wags 'n Whiskers challenges?? You are now welcome to play along using any stamp you wish...all entries will be eligible to win the WnW stamp being offered as a prize! However, if you do chose to use a WnW image on your entry then you will also be eligible to win a bonus digital stamp!!

I had yet to ink up "Rosalie" from the second fairy release. I decided to stamp her twice (after masking the first) to create a little pair of dancing sisters. The design paper is from both Cloud 9 Designs and Basic Grey. The little metal "Girlfriends" tag is from the dollar store, the white ribbon is from Walmart and that gorgeous pink silk ribbon is May Arts Silk Ribbon from Lacey's store Stamp and Create...honestly, if you've never tried working with this ribbon you must purchase some. It is absolutely divine for tying beautiful bows!



The "sisters" were stamped on Neenah smooth paper with Memento Ink and coloured with Copic makers. I was quite generous with the Stardust Stickles on their cute fairy outfits.

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59/E50, Y21, Y23, Y26, E31, E33, E37 Clothes: RV000, R83, R85, R89, G20, G82, G85 Wings: RV000, R83, G20, Y00, colourless blender

Need a little inspiration? Well, hop on over to the Wags 'n Whiskers Blog to see what the rest of the very talented Divas have created this week! Remember that the weekly prize draw will now include entries featuring any stamp...but there will be a bonus prize offered for those who use a WnW stamp! (You can find Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps HERE.)

Have a wonderful day friends and thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Wags 'n Whiskers "Rosalie"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Basic Grey, Cloud 9 Designs

Ink: Memento, Copics

Embellishments: Machine stitching, Stardust Stickles, metal dollar store embellishment, ribbon

Primarily Purple...and a little stamp altering!

Good morning folks! There's a brand new challenge today on the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Blog. Our fantabulous hostess this week is the one and only Andrea Murdock!!! Andrea's challenge is called "Primarily Purple"....um, guess that one is pretty self-explanatory!

(Fair warning....this is a LONG post today!! So if you plan to stick around until the very end, you may wish to get comfy with a cup of your favourite bevy. Not only do I have my Kraftin' Kimmie card to share, but I also have some pics of the Halloween costumes that my mom and I have been busy sewing!)

Now, when I first saw Andrea's challenge topic I knew I would have to do a little paper shopping as I really didn't have much purple in my paper collection. Lucky for me, some of the Krafty Gals met up in early September at Scrappin' Great Deals to work on preparations for Krafty Day...we also managed to squeeze in a little retail therapy! lol I found this awesome paper from Graphic 45...it's from the "Halloween in Wonderland" collection. I'm quite fond of Alice in Wonderland, and I absolutely loved Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Mad Hatter...he's one of my favourite actors! Well, as soon as I saw this paper, the wheels started turning. I thought to myself that I knew of a particular Kraftin' Kimmie stamp that featured a gent just perfect for this paper...well, he would need a little "tweaking" first. :)

Soooo, I soon set to work on transforming"Chester" into my Mad Hatter. When I inked him up, I used a wipe to remove the ink from his hair. I stamped him onto Neenah smooth paper, and then started drawing him a new "do" a la Mad Hatter-style with my Copic multiliner. I drew in the little tag tucked into the band around his top hat, a few hat pins (the gems were coated in Stardust Stickles) and the iris around his eye. (gotta love the vivid green of those Mad Hatter eyes!!) Oh, and have you ever wondered what the 10/6 meant on the Hatter's tag? Curious and curiouser I was :)....so I googled it, and found out that it denotes the price of 10 shillings and a sixpence. Huh. Learn something new every day.




I also wanted to attempt to re-create the amazing make-up job that Johnny Depp sported in the movie, so I pulled out the DVD case for a bit of inspiration. I was a little annoyed with myself at one point...I wanted to add in some eyelashes, so I pulled out my white gel pen. Now, I'm not sure why I went ahead with this, because as I sat with pen in hand I questioned whether it was a good idea. (I actually do no like my white gel pen...I am NEVER happy with the results when I try to use it.) But, proceed I did and then immediately regretted it. The nib on the pen is way to thick...I really need something with an ultra-fine tip. Well, his eyelashes were now concealing a lot of that eye-makeup I had spent a while on, but I was certainly not about to start over after all that work! I also added a little Sakura glitter pen....should have probably left that out too, lol. Lesson learned??? Not everything is going to work out perfectly, but sometimes you just have to "go with the flow"...never be afraid to experiment!! (Alice says to believe in impossible things, right?? So go ahead, and try something new...sometimes it may be successful, and other times you can chalk it up to a learning experience. However, you never know what the outcome may be unless you try!) I also experimented a bit with some hat pins for the first time...I thought they were quite fitting for the Mad Hatter (I was inspired by my very talented friend Maria who has used some gorgeous hat pins on her cards. She was also kind enough to give me some advice on where to go shopping for them!). After printing out my Alice-inspired sentiment..."Never lose your "muchness"!... I used my oval Spellbinders for cutting and matting.

Copics: Skin: E0000, E000, E00, E11, RV000, RV21, RV23, RV95 Hair: Suit and Hat: V000, V01, V12, V15, V09, C5, RV000 Vest: RV000, RV34, C1, C3

Ok...so admittedly, "Chester" is not a bang-on replication of the Mad Hatter, but I think he's passable. lol Sometimes it's kind of fun to stretch the possibilities of your stamps. :)

You must go visit the Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps Challenge Blog...the Krafty Girls and Krafty Guests have made some incredible purple creations to help get you inspired! Make sure to take note of Andrea's awesome card this week, because that's the stamp you could win if you play along with our "Primarily Purple" challenge...just make sure to use a Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp on your project and you'll be eligible to win!! (you can link up your project at the Challenge Blog)

Well, one more day until Halloween...I've been super busy sewing up costumes these past couple of weeks. Interested in seeing some pics?? Today I'll show you the costumes my wonderful mom and I made for my son Nathan and his three friends. I had hoped to have some of Ainsleigh in her costume to share as well, but we will have to snap some pictures of her tomorrow...I'll post them later in the week.

Some of you might remember that I shared on a past post how my 17 year old son decided that he and his friends should be the Teletubbies for Halloween. LOL...my mom and I actually had quite a bit of fun making their costumes. The boys look ridiculous...but I think it's so fun!! Although, I told Nathan that he really should shave because Tinky Winky did NOT have facial hair, lol. He refused. :) We had to get a little creative for some of their costume...I cut their "antennae" out of thick upholstery foam to make sure they would stand up. We had such a riot when the boys all came over to put their costumes on...they totally got into character! We even put on Teletubbies videos from Youtube because they actually wanted to learn the dance...kinda creepy, but oh so funny!

From left to right we have Dipsy (Trevor), Po (Nathan M....not my Nathan), LaLa (Nick) and Tinky Winky (my Nathan...what a proud moment. haha)

Here's their attempt at being "cute" and innocent...right. lol

And this is just classic Nathan...total goof.

Oh, and the boys won by a landslide for favourite costumes at school. I'm sure it's the highlight of their high school years, lol. Do you think they know that these pictures will definitely be making appearances at all their weddings??? mwahahaha (poor future wives)

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday, and a very safe Halloween tomorrow! Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Chester"

Ink: Memento, Copics, Distress Inks (Black Soot, Antique Linen, Bundled Sage)

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Graphic 45 "Halloween in Wonderland"

Embellishments: Ribbon, hat pins, beads, Stardust Stickles

Tools: Spellbinders Ovals

Jack-O-Lantern Mini Note Cards

It's time for a brand new challenge over at The Town Scrapper, and this week our theme is "Buttons"!! As always, if you participate in our challenge you will have the chance to win a great stamp from The Town Scrapper.

My little note cards today feature a trio of fun Jack-O-Lanterns from The Town Scrapper's Humble Pie line. I'll let you in on a little secret...these are images that I coloured up last Halloween, but never got around to putting on a card. What a blessing it was to find these little guys just waiting to be put to use, as my crafting time this week has been extremely tight...I've been a busy bee sewing up Halloween costumes. (I'll be sharing pics on my post tomorrow!) I think I need to start a little collection of coloured images, as they come in so handy for making up quick cards! The design paper is from Graphic 45. I used some little snippets of ribbon and tied my buttons with a bit of twine. The fun sentiments are from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Halloween Sentiments".

The Jack-O-Lanterns were stamped on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. I must apologize for not having a colour list for you today...there's no way my brain can remember colours from last year! lol

Hop on over to The Town Scrapper Challenge Blog to check out the projects by the rest of the Scrapettes, then grab those buttons and go get inky! Just link up your project on the Town Scrapper Blog for your chance to win a great prize.

To arrange a visit to the Town Scrapper, or to place an order you can contact Phebe by phone at 519-882-0623 or by email at info@townscrapper.com.

Have a wonderful Friday friends, and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Humble Pie Jack-O-Lanters, Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Halloween Sentiments"

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Graphic 45

Ink: Memento, Copics, Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Embellishments: Ribbon, buttons, twine

Buttons and Bows at Sundays With Crissy

Good morning friends, and happy Friday to you all! It's my turn to share a card with you for Sundays With Crissy. Our current challenge is "Buttons and Bows"...have you been keeping up with the posts by my fellow Crissy's Crew members? Each lovely gal has a designated day to post each month...that way, we hope to keep the inspiration flowing throughout the entire month!

This month, our wonderful sponsor is Stitchy Bear Stamps and they have very generously offered five digital images as a prize...this is in combination with Crissy's prize of three of her digital images! Somebody is going to be a very happy digital stamper this month. :)

For my card this month, I chose to work with two of Crissy's newest digital images available from Whimsy Stamps. These two adorable little tykes are "Anna's Halloween" and " Bobby's Halloween". Crissy captures kids so beautifully...I just adore her artwork. These two remind me of my kids in their Halloween costumes when they were little. Nathan was a big orange dragon Pokemon (Charzard) when he was in grade one, and Ainsleigh was several different princesses over the years when she was younger. Since I wanted these images to reflect my own kids, I resized "Anna" to be much smaller than "Bobby"...Nathan is almost seven years older than Ainsleigh. The design paper is from Graphic 45 (love this paper). To fit in with our challenge, I added some black satin ribbon and tied two layered buttons to the middle of the bow with twine. The little "Trick or Treat" sentiment is from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps "Halloween Sentiments".

Anna and Bobby (or Ainsleigh and Nathan, lol) were printed on Neenah cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. Before printing them, I measured the Spellbinders die that I wanted to use and tweaked the size of the images until they would fit nicely inside the die. This ability to resize and flip your images to suit your specific project is one of the best things about digital stamps! While the image was still in the die, I used my Inkssentials Blending Tool to apply Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Bundled Sage. Finally, I added some Stardust Stickles to parts of the image.

Copics: Skin: E000, E00, E11, R20 Hair: E50, E31, E33, E37, E59 Orange Dragon: E50, YR00, YR02, YR07, E08, E59, Y21, Y23, Y26, E33, E37 Princess Dress: BG75, BG72, BG11, Bg10, BG000, BG0000, B60, C00, C1, C3, R30, R32, R37 Hair: E50, E30, E31, E33, E37, E59 Pumpkins: E50, YR31, YR07, YR16, Y17, E33, E37, E99

We'd love to have you join in with our Buttons and Bows challenge this month. You can link up your project on Crissy's post from October 1...you can find that HERE (just look for the little blue froggy at the end of her post).If you would like the chance to win the fantastic prize this month, then please make sure that your project features a digital stamp from either Crissy Armstrong (available at Whimsy Stamps, Squigglefly or Wags 'n Whiskers) or from our sponsor Stitchy Bear. You have until midnight on October 30, 2010 to play along!

If you have not yet become a follower over at Sundays With Crissy, then make sure to sign up! That way, you can keep up to date with the posts by each member of Crissy's Crew...these ladies are so talented and I know that you will not want to miss a single project.

I thought I would share a few pics of the kids from past Halloweens (back when I used to have time to make more elaborate costumes!). Here's Ainsleigh as Belle...I think she was about four years old.

Next we have Nathan in the Pokemon costume that inspired me to colour the dragon orange on my card today...oh, and the cute little Pikachu is my cousin Derek..who I'm sure is thrilled that I'm sharing this pic. :) Nathan was about six in this picture:

And how about one more from two years ago (when costumes were not quite so "home-made", lol)...

(hmmm...Ainsleigh had a cute little black beret she wore with her mime costume, but I think it had fallen off during some pics where Nathan, with his "Superman" strength, was picking her up over his head, lol. My kids are goofs when they see a camera...this is actually a very rare picture where they are both smiling nicely!)

Have a wonderful day, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps (digital) "Anna's Halloween" and "Bobby's Halloween" by artist Crissy Armstrong, "Halloween Sentiments" from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps
Paper:Neenah, Bazzill, Graphic 45
Ink: Copic markers, Distress Ink (Bundled Sage and Antique Linen)
Embellishments: Ribbon, buttons, twine, Stardust Stickles
Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8, Bow Easy