Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Your Next Stamp Blog Hop!

Come and join the YNS Blog Hop!

Hi everybody! Thanks so much for joining us for the very first Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! Your Next Stamp has a whole bunch of Fall, Halloween and Christmas stamps that were just released so the Starlets have whipped up some yummy eye candy for you using many of the new stamps!

If you didn't start at Karen's blog and work your way here, you'll definitely want to go back: If you comment at every stop on the hop, you'll be entered to win the grand prize of $50 of stamps - winner's choice, along with free shipping! We also have a "mystery" blog where one commenter will win a stamp set of their choice (with free shipping), but we're not telling you which blog it is! And, if that's not enough yet, each of the Starlets will be giving away one of their hop projects to a random commenter at their blog!

Here's the hop order again in case you missed it:


The hop will run through midnight EST Sunday, September 27 and then all the winners will be drawn on Monday, September 28. ***The giveaways are now closed. Thank you!***

One last thing to mention before I get to my cards: Karen is offering FREE shipping until Thursday, September 24 at midnight EST so you can go shopping for the new releases (which are all available now), as well as any previous stamps that you can’t live without and/or other products carried in the store! The coupon code is PARTY.

And now, without any further ado, on to the show!

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I’m a big fan of the reality show "Top Chef" and love it when the chefs prepare things three ways, so I decided to do my new release cards three ways! [All pictures can be clicked to enlarge.]

My first card is a clean and simple card done with colored pencils:

YummyPie1

I used the set Yummy Pie which came with the pie image and the Thanksgiving sentiment. Both were stamped in Dark Chocolate ink and then I did some very simple coloring with Prismacolor colored pencils. Blending was just done with the pencils themselves, no odorless mineral spirits! I added a bit of patterned paper from the DCWV Rustic stack punched with a Martha Stewart border punch, and then a piece of ribbon.

My second card is a little more complicated and was done with watercolors:

IsabelFriendSnowman1a

I used Little Isabel with her Friend Snowman, which also comes with a really cute snowflake border stamp that I didn't use on my card. I colored with Peerless watercolors and added some flocking to her coat trims and the snowman’s hat top, and also glitter to the snow line. You can see those better in this close shot:

IsabelFriendSnowman1b

I did some crazy straight stitching all around the outside, then added a little trim and foam Thickers letters that I covered with Stickles. I added more Stickles to the snowflakes in the patterned paper, which is from Imaginisce (I used one sheet of double-sided paper called Comfy Cozy), and finally I added the focal panel with foam boosters.

My final card is the most complicated - it has lots of layers and 3-D cut out parts and was colored with Copics:

WindsweptFhiona1a

I used the set Windswept Fhiona which comes with a sentiment and a bunch of little images like the mushrooms. I used a sketch from Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge (yes, I just finished this card today!) and 5 different papers from Basic Grey's Mellow line.

Fhiona was stamped multiple times and colored with Copics. Then I cut out different parts and popped them up with scrap cardstock. I also popped up the mushroom caps and the leaves were stamped on patterned paper and cut out. (A little note - the leaves came attached to the Fhiona image, but I cut them off so they could be stamped separately. Of course I can still stamp them all together like the original just by sticking them all together on the acrylic block before inking.) The finished Fhiona was stuck on with foam boosters. You can see all the layers of Fhiona here:

WindsweptFhiona1b

I added a torn piece of patterned paper for the ground, some Prima bling for the wind and a piece of ribbon.

I seem to be a little obsessed with distressing lately - almost all my cards have at least one piece where I roughed up the edges with my scissors and these three cards are no different! All of them have distressed edges on at least one layer; the third card has distressing on every layer! So they all qualify for the Cupcake Craft Challenge which is distressing. The third card also qualifies for the My Time To Craft Challenge which is Autumn Fest.

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Some final info before you go: If you join our Yahoo Group before October 1st, you'll be entered to win a $20 stamp shopping spree at Your Next Stamp!

Our challenges will be starting on October 7 on the new YNS Challenge Blog. There are a couple stamp sets you can win and you'll find all the details here-> YNS Challenge Blog.

Whew! That’s all for now - I hope you liked my cards and thanks for visiting!

Your next stop on the hop is the amazingly talented Stephanie!

58 comments:

  1. Love how you used the crystals to simulate the wind! Nice job!

    Jenny
    crazyforpaper.blogspot.com

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  2. Maureen you have done such a wonderful job with the new stamps and i love the touch of bling ;0)
    Hugs
    Lana x

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  3. OMG, maureen...these cards are wonderful. i must admit that the sketch card is my fave {but i may be a little biased! LOL!} love the colors, the dp, your coloring, and the way you layered the focal image...so cute!

    thanks for playing along with my sketch for this week!

    {{{hugs}}}
    mercy

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  4. WOW WOW WOW!!! LOVE all your cards!! that pie looks scrumptious! and the 3-d on Fhiona ia amazing!!!!

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  5. great cards .. I love the added bling!

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  6. Great job on these cards. They are all fabulous!

    Melanie

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  7. All of these cards are fabulous Maureen - great work!

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  8. I suspect Windswept Fhiona is going to be the star of your blog hop.... but I also wanted to mention how beautiful your coloring is on your Little Isabel with Snowman card. Such basic colors, but so gently colored.... I love it!

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  9. they're beautiful - all of them! that Fhiona card is a stunner though, with all the layers and paper piecing! and your paper selection was PERFECT. wonderful job!

    thanks for the bloghop fun!

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  10. I love them all, Maureen! Your Fhiona card is absolutely stunning with the layers!!! I'm a big Top Chef fan too, although I hate to cook lol!

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  11. love the cleanness of your thanksgiving card........ how elegant..

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  12. Great Lineup!
    Love that you paper pieced on the Fhiona card.
    She is fantastic.

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  13. Maureen, your coloring rocks! Love what you've done with Fhiona, all those layers and the layout is beautiful!

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  14. lots of gorgeous cards - thanks for joining the MTTC challenge this week xx

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  15. I LOVE your Fhiona card! All the colors and dimensions are awesome!

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  16. Fabulous cards! Wow Fhiona card is awesome and just love the colors and all the details and layering on this one.

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  17. You always amaze me Maureen! Your cards are just stunning and all those layers on the Windswept is just so creative - great idea to cut off the leaves! Now you can use them in so many differnet ways! COOL! I love them all!!!

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  18. Beautiful cards!! I especially love the Windswept Fhiona...the bling, colors, layers, etc., etc.!!!!

    ~Terry

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  19. Love this Fhiona she is definately my favourite!! Gorgeous cards,
    hugs Angela x

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  20. Really love the Fhiona card - you are just so talented, dont know where you get the inspiration from!

    Rx

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  21. Great cards! Thanks for taking part in the MTTC challenge xx

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  22. LOVE the cards especially the girl w/ snowman. Now I want pie!

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  23. What a wonderful way to showcase the stamps by showing different levels of stamping with them. Each card was really cute and fun.

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  24. SOoooo cute! I love how you made her 3-D, very cute =)

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  25. SOoooo cute! I love how you made her 3-D, very cute =)

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  26. Lovely cards...Fhiona is adorable. Love those leaves!

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  27. Wow your windswept Fhiona is amazing!!

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  28. These are all great cards! I love the simplicity of the first, the amazing watercoloring on the second, and the dimension, layout and bling on the third.

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  29. Love your 1st card it's that darn pie making me hungry though lol
    Fhiona is just colored so great

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  30. Goodness your wind swept Fhiona is just gorgeous!
    Thank you so much for all the work that went into her and then for sharing!

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  31. I just happened to come across your next stamp while doing a random google search and I was SO excited to see all of the UBER cute stamps!!! They are SO cute that I was doing my little happy dance and MUST own at least one of each set! I love the new Fiona sets that were just released!!! Thanks for the chance to win some of these MEGA cute stamps!!!!!!

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  32. Wow! These cards are fabulous! I love the cute little pie card! Very cute Christmas card! Love Fhiona card too! It is stunning!

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  33. Lovely coloring of the Little Isabel With Her Friend Snowman stamp!

    Barbara Diane

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  34. Oh Maureen, you have done a fabulous job with these stamps! I love the beautiful simplicity of the thanksgiving pie card - it really showcases the stamp (...it even makes me think I can smell it, LOL!). Beautiful colouring on the snowman card, and a wonderful job done on the Fhiona card (love the leaves and gem wind - it gives it so much movement!). Stunning! Hugs, Simonne x

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  35. Fabulous job Maureen! I really love coloring and choice of layouts.

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  36. great job , love the layering. love the colors

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  37. love your cards 3 ways the blingy wind is fabulous!!!!

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  38. loved all of your cards! especially windswept fiona and how she looks like she's about to fall over!

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  39. Fantastic card, love the distressing you have done and such a lovely layout too! Thanks for playing along with us this week at CCC :) Donna x

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  40. I absolutly LOVE your 3D art work! I am a huige fan of popping images off of the cards! You have a winderful way of designing and pulling off this effect! Thank you for the tips! I have become one of your followers and added you to my favorite Blog list on my new Blog page that I am creating at www.queenlarubb.blogspot.com

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  41. all of your cards are amazing. I love the simplicity of the thanksgiving card, but I am partial to the Fhionas...super fab!

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  42. Love the Thanksgiving card..it is simple but elegant

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  43. Hi Maureen, what stunning cards....they are all brilliantly coloured. Love the third card as the image is so cute. Great distressing and layouts. Thanks for joining us at CCC this week. Hugs, Denise x

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  44. I love all the cards - especially Isabel and the snowman - so cute!

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  45. Very nice work, they are all great. The windswept Fhiona one is adorable.

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  46. Fabulous cards, I love your distressing. Thanks for joining us at CCC.

    Liza x

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  47. I love to watch Top Chef too and love the Thanksgiving card but impressed with the Fiona. That is a lot of work but came out so cool! Thanks for letting me stop by! Carol M in TX / carolswingster77@aol.com

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  48. Your Autumn Fest card is awesome! Thanks for joining the MTTC Challenge this week!

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  49. Fab cards. I like the detailing on them.

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  50. Your card are fabulous! Beth aka BR-T

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  51. Great cards Maureen! Love the colorings you did on all these images. The Fhiona card rocks!
    Hugs all the way from California,
    Cabio

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  52. Your samples are wonderful! I love your pie card ;D

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  53. I love the details on the last card with Fhiona! You have done a really great work Maureen!

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  54. Wow, these are fantastic!
    My fav is the snowman card!

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  55. Beautiful Job...I just love Fhiona :)

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Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a comment!