Sassy & Sweet Notes

Fish Print and be HAPPY!

Two weekends ago we took a day trip down south of here to Salado, Texas. One of the shops we stopped in is a stamp shop called Stamp Salado.

I was OVERLY excited to see a poster in the shop featuring realistic nature prints (including fish!) by stamp artist Fred Mullett. The shop is hosting a few workshops with Fred in late August, but unfortunately didn't have any of this stamps in stock the day we were there. I had to have one of his fish stamps. At least one! Maybe MORE! So, when I got home I looked Fred up online and placed an order from his website right away!

I have wanted some fish prints like this for so LONG, but just hadn't found anything that caught my eye. Fred's images REALLY caught my eye! My order arrived earlier this week. The design above was my first attempt stamping with one of Fred's stamps. What FUN!

This design was created using a watercolor wash stamping technique, along with blending and spritzing, followed by detail popping over-stamping.

Color me HAPPY!

i don't do mornings.

In fact, I'm full-on grouchy in the morning. I have always been this way. Some people are morning people. They wake up easily, bright and cheerful. Not me. Ugh.

To make things worse, I like really nice quality sheets and I'm convinced nice sheets make NOT being a morning person worse. Good sheets are a good thing. Having to get out of good sheets in the morning ... well, that's not such a good thing.

Memory Box recently released 18 new penguin images, and being the crazy penguin lovin' morning grouch that I am, I had to have Curler Penguin and the supporting sentiment "i don't do mornings". It's so ME! I think this penguin looks a bit too cheerful to be me, though.... I'm grouchier than she is for sure!

Are you a morning grouch?

Is there a cure for the morning grouchies?

A New Chicken Placemat

Mom and I got crafty again last night and made this fun table chicken. Mom gave recommendations on assembly and I did all the sewing. We used various pieces of fabric from my stash and used a chicken placemat that my Mom made in the early 1980's as a pattern for the project.

I don't always use big table cloths that cover the entire table, but I do like having something in the center of my round table. Something roughly the size of a placemat works great, and it's a nice place to keep the salt and pepper.

My Mom thought it was funny that I use one of the original chickens on my table. While the original chicken is still in great shape and works well on the table, having an updated version is fun!

The hen is really meant to be a placemat at each table setting, but we only made one. For now. *grin*

I could have seasonal chickens! Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter .... Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter .... oooooh, FUN!

Cupcake Pincushions

Mom and I decided to be crafty this weekend. It was a way to beat the heat! We ended up making 22 cupcake pincushions! Mom saw a similar project in a magazine and thought it would be fun to whip up a few of our own. Of course, between the two of us we don't really "need" 22 cupcake pincushions, so I'm sure we'll be giving cupcake pincushions as gifts now and then. Aren't they fun!!

For the base of the cupcakes, we used silicone baking cups (found at Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Target, Michael's, etc). We cut 8" circles out of various fabrics and created little poly-fiber filled balls for the tops of the cupcakes.

We quickly learned that adhesives wouldn't stick to the baking cups. Not hot glue, not craft glue, not even E6000! We ended up using very small tack nails and pieces of round oak branches that Alan and my Dad cut for us to help with the assembly of the cupcakes. Each cupcake has one small nail that goes up through the bottom of the baking cup and into a piece of oak round. Once secured in place, the wood gave us something to adhere the poly-fiber filled tops to, and also added a bit of weight to the bottom of the baking cup so they weren't top heavy. Once we had the poly-fiber filled tops adhered to the baking cups, it was time to decorate! We used various ribbons, trims, buttons, and pom-poms to decorate each cupcake.

It was a very fun project and I think we've got some pretty cute little pincushions! Thanks for the fun, Mom! And thanks to Alan and Dad for being our woodshop boys!

Itty Bitty Vintage Postcard...Card.

I was in the mood for more Crafty Secrets vintage tonight, so I pulled out the Journaling, Mini Memories, and Journey Crafty Secrets stamp sets and created this little faux postcard themed card. I used some of my Ranger distress ink pads to age the papers. Seems I always reach for the same ink colors when I create cards in this style. Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Caramel and Black. Maybe I should try using blues, or greens, or even pinks for a change...

The patterned paper for the base of the card is from one of the Crafty Secrets paper tablets. I added some faux stitches around the edges for a bit more detail. The base of the card was cut out using an AccuCut die. While I would LOVE to have more of these cards to use, I only have a few more. A big thanks to Sandy from Crafty Secrets for sharing them with me when I was at CHA earlier this year! I must find a way to make MORE!

I'm so glad it's the weekend! Mom and Dad are still visiting, and since it's going to be nearly 100 degrees this weekend, I think we'll try and find things to do that allow us to stay out of the heat of the day. Maybe Mom and I will do some crafting... maybe we'll do some swimming... maybe we'll make some homemade ice cream! Regardless of what we do, I'm pretty sure we'll have some fun!

Hope you have a cool, fun weekend as well!

Don't MISS these!

Look at these AMAZING samples using the recent Whipper Snapper sets! I'm so TICKLED with the work all of our Featured Designers do!

Laurie
Michelle
Vivian
Karrie
Kittie

These ladies have been the Whipper Snapper Featured Designers for the months of May and June, and they've done such a wonderful job showcasing the stamps! THANKS ladies!!

Inspired by Inchies

One of the blogs I've been reading for a couple of months is the Hero Arts Club Blog. There have been a few cards shared there this week that really caught my eye. Big thanks to Shari Carroll for the inspiration provided for this card!

I hadn't jumped in on the "inchie" craze yet, but now that I've finished my first project using them, I might have to do a few more projects using these little 1" canvases! They're fun! I started out with six white 1" squares and temporarily adhered them edge-to-edge to a piece of scrap paper while I worked on them.

 I stamped various Crafty Secrets images using various inks, used Twinkling H2O's for a bit of gold on the cherub, inked the edges, spritzed them with water for some "age spots", added a sparkly crystal, inked the edges again, and then mounted them on cream and black mats to set them apart from each other. The base of the card is a subtle polka dot paper by Bo Bunny. The slight texture to the paper made stamping and inking the edges great fun! I bought the same paper in a variety of colors and can't WAIT to use more of these cute little dotted papers in my projects! You can expect to see a LOT more dots in future projects!

Shhh... a sneakie peekie!

Normally, I don't have a hard time keeping secrets - I keep my lips SEALED. But when it comes to soon-to-be-released Whipper Snapper stamps, I can BARELY contain myself! Sometimes, I'm just not able to contain myself at all! That's the case for this card!

Last night I was fiddling around with some of my yet-to-be-released Whipper Snapper images, and am just thrilled with the results of my painted poppy! To finish the card, I used the "thinking of you" sentiment and bird image from the set called Sweet Expressions, which was released mid June. The swirl is from Good Times, also released mid June. But the poppy?! Well, you'll just have to wait and see what we've got in store for July!

Ooooh, I can't WAIT!

Only Young Once...

I picked up a new Inkadinkado stamp set this week and thought I'd put it to use tonight. Seems I was in a very clean and simple mood when I created this card. I stamped the image in black StazOn ink and colored the image with Copic markers. I added a bit of Spica glitter pen to the lady's hair. I figure if I've got "sparkly" hair, she should have "sparkly" hair too!

I used a note card from Memory Box for the base of my card. The color is Key Lime, and it's one of my favorites!

Happy Wednesday!

Whip, Stir, Fold...

I am crazy tired right now, but wanted to share this little cutie I put the finishing touches on this evening. This adorable little piggy chef image is by High Hopes Stamps. The image is stamped in black StazOn ink and painted with a water brush and Stampin' Up reinkers. I added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the hat and to the cookies for lots and LOTS of sparkle!!

I was flipping through some of my old card galleries last night and noticed how little my "style" of stamping has changed over the years. I've always been a fan of clean and simple layouts that feature a larger, main image. I've used designer paper for as long as I've been stamping (it was an easy way to add detail and interest to my cards before I had a lot of stamps to use). And as for ribbon and sparkles .... they'll always be a staple supply on my craft table.

Has your stampin' or craftin' style changed much?