Sweet as Pie

One of my favorite things about this time of year is getting to bake with my kids. They are always so excited to get to help, and I love knowing that I'm getting to spend fun time with them while also teaching them important skills they will need as adults. And of course, dessert always tastes sweeter with that kind of love baked into it, even if the occasional eggshell does make its way into the batter -- LOL!

Because I love baking this time of year, it's only natural that I'd also love stamping about baking, right? ;-) For my card today I used a fun image that one of the sweet gals from the Wish RAK forum at Splitcoast Stampers sent me. (If you're not familiar with the Wish RAK forum, it's a place where you can wish for stamped images and grant others' image wishes. It's a fun way to get a little extra use out of your stamps.) This cute bunny is called "Flopsey." He is the centerpiece of several stamp sets by My Favorite Things. The image and greeting on this card are from the Sweetie Pie Flopsy stamp set. I colored Flopsey with Prismacolor markers, and added a little Stickles glitter to the pie to resemble sugar. I cut out the image and layered it on a piece of solid-colored cardstock, and then added some accent dots and doodles to the image and accompanying greeting with a white gel pen.

Materials -- Stamps -- Sweetie Pie Flopsey by My Favorite Things. Inks -- Memento Tuxedo Black; Prismacolor markers; white gel pen. Papers -- Heritage papers by Creative Memories; Not Quite Navy, Creamy Caramel, Always Artichoke, and Bravo Burgundy cardstocks by Stampin' Up!; Georgia Pacific white cardstock. Accessories -- Brown buttons; dark blue Waxy Flax; burgundy satin ribbon; foam dimensionals.

Digi Day Fun -- Woo-hoo!!

Today is Digi Day at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. What does this mean exactly?

* There's a brand new digi image available to purchase at the store starting today. Deer Friends by Korin Sutherland and the coordinating Deer Sentiments are both SO sweet. They're perfect for this time of year, and I know you're going to love them!

* If you've been longing to try digi stamping, we have a new FREE digi available here (at the bottom of that site page) for you to download today only.

And that's not all! Today, for the first time ever, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is hosting a Digi Day Challenge at SNR Card Universe. AND...there are prizes for those who participate!!! This is an all-day, drop-in-and-have-fun kind of event, so if you have a few minutes, please do stop by. My card today is a sneak peek of one of next week's digi releases -- Winter Wishes -- and was made for this challenge, but you'll have to stop in at the challenge thread to find out the challenge details! ;-)

From here on out, we'll be hosting one of these challenges every first Thursday of the month on SNR, so be sure to mark your crafting calendars! By the by, if you've never heard of SNR Card Universe, it's an online forum hosted by Scrapbooking News & Review Magazine. It's a wonderful place for paper crafters to connect -- there you can see and post cards, join fan groups for your favorite stamp companies, chat with other crafters, and participate in challenges. I hope you'll take the time to check it out if you haven't already.

Materials: Stamps -- Winter Wishes digi set (sneak peek) and Holiday Cheer acrylic stamps by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Inks -- Black printer ink; Versafine black; Prismacolor markers. Papers -- Designer papers from unknown source; Gable Green, Glorious Green, and Really Red cardstocks by Stampin' Up!; Georgia Pacific white cardstock. Accessories -- White conches by Clsoe to My Heart; wide and narrow red satin ribbons; Rainbow glitter marker; foam dimensionals. Special Tools -- Martha Stewart edge and corner punches; Scallop Circle punch by Stampin' Up!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps turns 2!!

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is turning two years old this month! In celebration, Korin has designed a new line of acrylic stamps -- the Sunbeams! The Sunbeams are four adorable children: Emma, Caitlyn, Luke, and Owen. The Sunbeams were named after the song, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." It is our hope that these little children will remind you of the precious sunbeams in YOUR life!

Every few months, SNSS will be releasing a new series of these stamps with a different theme. The first series is called "Birthday Party", in honor of SNSS's 2nd birthday. This series is now available for pre-order, thru November 15th. The cost will be $20 for the Birthday Party bundle. Once the preorders ship in mid-November, SNSS will sell the images individually. However, when they are gone, they are gone, so get them while you can!!

For my card today, I used sweet little Caitlyn. Like all the Sunbeams, Korin created Caitlyn with a special personality of her own. "Caitlyn's favorite day of the week is Sunday because she gets to go to Sunday School. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up." Caitlyn reminds me of my own younger daughter, Jessie, who will be turning 8 later this month, so I colored her to look like Jessie, and in colors that Jessie loves. The greeting I used is from the Birthday Greetings stamp set, also by SNSS.

You can see all of the Sunbeams and pre-order your Birthday Party bundle here. To read about how you can enter to win a set of these little cuties, check out Korin's post here.

Materials: Stamps -- Sunbeams Birthday Party by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Inks -- Black; Copic (flesh tones) and Prismacolor markers; Cool Carribbean Classic ink (retired) by Stampin' Up!; white gel pen. Papers -- Lemonade designer papers by Basic Grey; Georgia Pacific white cardstock. Accessories -- Pink silk flowers; yellow corduroy brads; burgundy satin ribbon; yellow rick-rack; foam dimensionals. Special Tools -- Craft sponge; Ticket corner punch by Stampin' Up!

If Friends Were Pumpkins & A Free Digi!

Happy Thursday! I hope you are having a terrific week!

I wanted to remind everyone that it's Digi Day over at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. That means that the new Sweet Cocoa and Hot Cocoa Sentiments digi sets that I used on Tuesday's card are now available to purchase. It also means there's a FREE digi available for you to snag! You can find the free digi here, but remember, it's only available for free today!

For today's card, I used another digi from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. This image and the accompanying greeting are from the Hello Pumpkin digi set. The set also includes an image of a little boy pulling a pumpkin in his wagon. I know that some people associate pumpkins with Halloween, and that is just about passed, but for me pumpkins represent Autumn and harvest, so they still seem timely. :-)

Materials: Stamps -- Hello Pumpkin digital stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Inks -- Black printer ink; Copic (flesh tones) and Prismacolor markers; Chocolate Chip Stamp & Write marker by Stampin' Up!. Papers -- Designer papers from the 2008 Fall Stack by DCWV and the 2009 Harvest & Holidays stack by Debbie Mumm; Cool Carribbean (retired), Chocolate Chip, and Barely Banana cardstocks by Stampin' Up!; white cardstock by Georgia Pacific. Accessories -- Silk and paper flowers; Blue Dew Drops; yellow buttons; foam dimensionals. Special Tools -- Cuttlebug machine with Paisley embossing folder; Creative Memories Custom Cutting System with Circle cutting templates.

All kinds of news & a digi sneak peek!

Job Search Update
Thanks for your prayers and well wishes about my hubby's job interview last week. We haven't heard back about it yet, but were told they would call sometime this week. There's a catch, though -- he was told that if he did well, he would have to interview still one more time (yes, that would be the fourth interview). Talk about nerve-wracking -- LOL! And yet, we are confident in the Lord. If He wants this for us, it will happen. If not, He will provide something better. :-)

My own job search hasn't turned up anything new. However, I've already started training for that prospective position I mentioned last week. I admit I'm feeling a little out of my element with it, so we'll see where that goes.

Back on the (Hobby) Horse
Now, just so you can be sure that I am a complete and total flake -- LOL -- I want to let you know that I've decided to rejoin Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Seriously though, the last couple weeks of not having design responsibilities were a wonderful break during which I was able to get my head on straight about this. It isn't like me to change my mind back and forth like this, but what it comes down to is that I enjoy being part of the company too much to stay away, and my hubby supports me in this completely. However, I will be working in a more minimal capacity than before, showcasing only the digital stamp releases each week (versus the full line of acrylic stamps and digis). I do hope to get back to drawing digis eventually, but for now, I'm happy to just be able to do this much.

SNSS Digi Design Team Call!
Speaking of digis, I also want to tell you that Korin has decided to form a separate design team for the Sweet 'n Sassy digital stamps in order to bring you more inspiration each month. Some of the original DT members (including me) will be moving over to this new DT, BUT...Korin also just yesterday posted a call for some fresh faces to join the team! The first term for the new Digi Stamps DT will start January 1st and will run thru the end of March. DT members will work exclusively with the digi stamps, and will be expected to make 5 cards/projects per month, including one regular weekly post to their personal blogs and one monthly blog hop post. If this sounds interesting to you, please be sure to check out the announcement and application details here on the new digi stamps blog.

A Marshmallow-licious Sneak Peek!
And now for that promised digi sneak peek!

This sweet little mouse and his fun cup of cocoa, illustrated by Korin Sutherland, will be available to purchase from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps this Thursday. This would be a terrific image to use for Christmas cards or just for a happy winter hello. The greeting is part of a separate set of related greetings that will also be available this week.

Materials: Stamps -- Sweet Cocoa and Sweet Cocoa Sentiments digis by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Inks -- Black printer ink; Prismacolor markers. Papers -- Designer papers of unknown origin (2008 designs); textured turquoise cardstock by DCWV; Pretty in Pink and Really Red cardstock by Stampin' Up!; Georgia Pacific white cardstock. Accessories -- Snowflake brads by Making Memories; red eyelet; narrow pink satin ribbon; foam dimensionals.

Some hopeful news & a couple of cards

First, I want to thank everyone who left encouraging comments or emailed me in response to my post on Saturday. I really appreciate your kind words and prayers!!

Second, I want to share that my hubby has a very promising job interview on Thursday -- yeah!! This is actually the third interview with the same company, so we are praying hard that it goes well and that he gets the job. It may not be what God has planned for us, and we are prepared for that. But I still wanted to share this, as many of you have been praying on our behalves, and I want you to know what your prayers are helping us to achieve.

Along those same lines, I have a terrific job prospect myself! One of my hubby's childhood friends (who is also a former co-worker) now runs his own company here in town. They do a specific type of digital editing (called "rotoscoping") on commercials and films, and the process is very similar to part of the work that I've been doing with digi stamps. Today I was invited to meet some of the staff and get an overview of the company and what they do. They offered to train me in the use of their software and then, if I seem up to snuff, to hire me in a couple of months when they have an opening. Of course, this is all depending on them having an opening in a couple months, which they anticipate, but can't guarantee. Naturally, I can't jump into this with both feet yet, because we really need an income ASAP, but if my hubby were to get the job he's interviewing for on Thursday or another great job soon, then I could pursue this. Anyway, I just thought I'd share this fun possibility that the Lord has sent our way!

Finally, I want to tell you that I tried REALLY hard to avoid stamping for a couple of days. Honest!! I even packed away a lot of my supplies so as to avoid temptation -- like getting rid of all of the junk food in the house when going on a diet -- LOL! But it became clear to everyone in my house in pretty short order, especially my husband, that stamping helps to keep me centered, and is something I need to do. My hubby and I talked about this, and he has encouraged me to do a little here and there to keep myself sane while we both look for work. At this point, I'll take what I can get and feel doubly blessed by it! :-)

So, I managed to make a couple of cards! Oh it feels so good to say that, but it really felt terrific to do that -- LOL!

The images on both of these are digis by CC Designs that a friend purchased as a gift for me. How sweet was that??? Their names are Autumn Trevor and Pumpkin Emma, and I just can't get over how cute they are! The greeting on both cards is from the Happy Harvest set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, which is one of my all-time favorite stamp sets.

I colored both images with Copic (flesh tones) and Prismacolor markers. The papers on the boy card are by Debbie Mumm for Joanne's (the red is from last year's Harvest & Holidays stack, and the leaves are from this year's stack).

For the little girl card, I really wanted to use some gathered ribbon. I see it a lot on cards, and love the look of it, but didn't have time to stitch any. So intead I used a piece of designer paper by Basic Grey and folded it accordion style. The effect isn't obvious in the photo, but in "real life" it looks pretty. I also punched the leaves on this card from the same designer paper for the multi-colored fall effect.

OK, I've practically written a book, but I wanted to update everyone and to share what I was able to make. I thank you for taking the time to read this far, and pray that the Lord will bless you in every way that you need today!

Hugs,
Deedee

Some News...

If you've been following my blog for some time, you know that, about a month ago, my husband was laid off from his job. He had been with the same company for nearly 15 years, and we were both pretty stunned by the lay-off. We were not financially prepared, and thus this last month has been a tense one. Rest assured that the Lord has been seeing to our needs, and we are OK. However, my husband hasn't yet found replacement work, and after much discussion and prayer, we've decided that it is time for me to step up my own job search and get back into the work world. I have been blessed to be a stay-at-home mom for 10 years, and I am very, very scared about how me working is going to affect our family. But...I also believe that the Lord sees our need and will watch over and guide us as we make this transition. He is truly an awesome God, and has never, ever failed us!

Unfortunately, due to needing to work and help my family adjust to this change, I need to seriously scale back the time that I spend on stamping, drawing, and blogging. I pray that things will change for our family in such a positive way that I can come back to it all eventually, but for now I need to cut back, to the point where I don't expect to be posting here regularly. To that end, I have also resigned from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. The digis that I've already created will still be available to purchase at the store until such time as Korin decides to retire the images, but I won't be releasing any more new images. I am very grateful to Korin for the many opportunities she gave me in working for her, and to her and the rest of the Design Team for their loving support and sisterhood. They are an incredible group of ladies, and I'm really going to miss working with them.

I wanted to let you all know about these changes so you didn't wonder why I'd stopped posting regularly and am no longer participating at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I also want to thank you for the time you have given me in stopping by to see and leave kind words about my projects. It has meant a lot to me to have your support and encouragement. I thank those of you who have sent up prayers on our behalf -- we appreciate each and every one of them -- and I pray that the Lord will watch over and keep all of you!!!

Hugs,
Deedee