SSW #213 - Clearly Digi Stamps

Happy Wednesday friends!!  It's Sally hosting from Massachusetts, adjusting to the fact that it is July!!  This year is just racing by...  My daughter is getting married in just a little over a month from now, that means BuSy TiMeS AhEaD!!  Her Bridal Shower was held Sunday and reality is setting in.  My little girl is all grown up =)  The Shower was held at our Beach House on the Cape...  I must say, the weather kept us all wondering how we could possibly have a Shower in our yard...  There was a freak storm Saturday morning, a tree came down and took the power with it...  The "girls" had brought Laura to the Cape for a surprise "Bachelorette" weekend, they certainly had some surprises!!

Saturday morning was stormy, but Sunday, though the skies were gray, the rain held off and it was a wonderful afternoon!!
   

I'd like to announce the Grand Prize Winner of  Sketch #212....

GOLDIE #14

Congratulations!

Please email Arlana at

sweetberrydesigns@hotmail.com

for your gift code.

Subject: Bugaboo and SSW June 2013 Winner

Be sure to Grab your Winner's Badge from the Sidebar to display on your Blog!!

AND, our Top Three...
1.  Henriette #1

2.  Pat (msfd) #16

3. Karine #22

Please Grab our Top Three Badge and post it to your Blog!!

Congratulations ladies!!

On to our Challenge...


This week our Sponsor is Clearly Digi Stamps (Clear Dollar Stamps).  They have recently opened a new "shop" and their stamps are wonderful.

Clearly Digi Stamps (Clear Dollar Stamps) is a home-based business run by moms!  Located in Pleasant Hope, Missouri, we run the main operations out of Lori's (my) basement.  We have illustrators from all over the United States and join forces to bring you the a variety of styles and images at incredibly affordable prices.  We believe that the value we put in our Digi sets are above and beyond what you will find at many other stores....and we want it to be that way.  As moms, budgets are many times very limited, but we still need our creative outlet too!  Enjoy!
Clearly Digi Stamps has 6 artists that illustrate for us:  Laurie Wilson, Lisa Lara, Deedee Anderson, Austin Owens, Patrick Dunnegan and myself, Lori McCroskey.  We love what we do and love to create digis for you to play with!
If you have suggestions for Digi Sets, we would love to hear your suggestions....just send us an email at Lori@cleardollarstamps.com !
The parent company of Clearly Digi Stamps is Clear Dollar Stamps LLC.  You can learn how Clear Dollar Stamps got started below.

How Clear Dollar Stamps got started:
Motto: Where value and creativity meet!
Hi!  My name is Lori McCroskey and I am the founder and owner of Clear Dollar Stamps, LLC.  I started stamping in the summer of 2000 while I was pregnant with my first little girl.  I had a friend from church that kept asking me to go to stamping parties, and I just thought stamping party, how silly is that?  Finally, I relented.  I went to a stamping party, got hooked on scrapbooking AND found out there were inks that I could stamp on clothing!  I have a fashion design minor so I was hooked from that moment on!  Can you imagine?  Matching clothes and scrapbook pages?  I was in heaven.
After having my first child, my ideas of spare time quickly vanished.  There weren't many stamped dresses, but I found time to do some scrapbook pages, cards and gifts!  As my passion for stamping grew faster than the money in my billfold, I decided to start selling one of the lines of stamps, for an existing stamp company, shortly after my second little girl was born.  I would throw food on her high chair and run to my stamping table in the same room to see how much I could get done while she ate!  LOL, We've all been there!   As time went on, it became harder and harder to leave my little girlies crying in the hallway as mommy went off to do a stamp party.  It just broke my heart.  Thus, the dream of Clear Dollar Stamps began.
Why did I start my own stamp company?  Most stamp companies, at that time, would not let you sell their products on the internet, which is what I wanted to do..I wanted to be at home.   I also found it very hard to find unique Christian stamps.  I really wanted something that would convey my love for God in a whimsical, out of the ordinary sort of way.  As a stay at home mom, I wanted to create a line of stamps that other stay at home moms could afford to create beautiful cards, crafts, and scrapbook pages.  Why did I name my company Clear Dollar Stamps?  I wanted people to know they were affordable!  Why do I have a cross in the middle of my company name?  I want people to know that Christ is the center of my business and the center of my life!
I come from a very crafty and artistic family, and believe it or not, I have the least talent of them all!  My sister is the trained artist of our family, not me, so I decided to teach myself to draw.  I invested in a drawing program, enrolled in an online tutorial service, and prayed for the girls to take LONG NAPS!  After much internet cruising for suppliers and manufacturers, Clear Dollar Stamps introduced our first set of stamps on eBay in October of 2004.  The learning curve was huge and at times very painful, but God always blessed my brain at just the right time with the ability to take the next step.
I give God all the glory for the very existence of this company and thank everyone who has prayed for me along the way!

I encourage you to head on over to CDS and check out their stamps, there truly is a stamp for every occasion!!  AND this week's PrIzE is...

             $25 Gift Certificate to the store for the Digi Section

Here is this week's Sketch and DT inspiration...
                                                          

We are so excited to Welcome back...

Arlana  - Sweetberry Designs

Nancy - Mulberry Station

Linda - The Stampers Touch

Jeannie - Dragonfly Journeys

Heide - Heide D's Paperie


Holly - Fairy Elephants


Kathie - Kathie'z Kardz


Joanna - Sitting on Pens & Needles


Sharon - Inklined to Stamp


Sally - Sally's Window of Papercrafting

We hope these samples inspire you to create and join in our challenge this week.

Here are the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge rules for playing along:

1.      Create a card using the sketch of the week.  If you have Clearly Digi Stamps images, we’d love to see what you can do with them.  However, you may use any stamp or element you have to create your card.

2.     If you are posting to an online gallery, please use Sweet Sketch Wednesday #213 as your label or tag.

3.     Add the sketch of the week to your blog and include a link back to Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

4.    Post your card on your blog along with the link to SSW.

5.     Sign in to InLinkz and add a direct link back to your card on your site.

6.     Be sure to leave a comment here on this site and please remember that this is one of the rules to be considered for the Grand Prize.

Have a Blessed week creating!!