Your Next Stamp Challenge #26

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our host is Wendy and she wants us to "Grow Your Own" - make your own flowers! Here's what I came up with:


Yes, I used Fhiona's Squirrel Friend again - I just adore this cute little guy! I stamped him on kraft cardstock, did the slightest bit of shading with a Copic marker, then cut him out leaving out the acorn that was in his hand. I cut on his arm lines so that his arm could lift up and hold the little rose I made. The bud portion is made out of 2 tiny milk bottle Primas glued around a little seed bead for shape. Then I punched a little star flower out of green cardstock for the bottom of the flower, and a strip of the same cardstock for the stem. Lastly I punched and glued on a couple leaves. Here's a close shot:


I also punched out the little flowers all over the "field" and stuck them down by sewing on a seed bead in the center of each one. All of the papers are Echo Park (the sky one was printed with my inkjet printer from an Echo Park digi paper), as well as the little banner pieces, heart and alpha stickers. I used a little Timeless Twine on the banner.

This card is also for Charisma Cardz - anything goes, and Creative Card Crew - "Bloomin' Marvelous."

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! You don't have to use YNS images on your card, but if you do you'll get a double entry in the draw!

Also, the challenge hostess will choose her favorite card, and that winner will get the YNS Challenge "Top Pick" blinkie to proudly display on their blog PLUS $5 in YNS Stamp Bucks! You must use a YNS image to be eligible to be chosen for Top Pick.

Full details can be found at the YNS Challenge Blog. TFL!

"Tool" Cool

In case you don't already know, on the weeks in between when the new challenges are revealed, the YNS DT will be posting cards in our Paper Craft Planet group. So make sure to drop in for more YNS inspiration!

My day is Thursday, and here's the card I've posted:


I used the Little Helper Fhinn set and a computer generated sentiment using the LD Little Piggy font.

Fhinn and all the tools were stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance ink and colored with Copics. I cut Fhinn out with a circle Nestie and the tools were fussy cut with a thin white border and popped up on foam tape. The sketch is from Sunday Sketch and Stamp and the papers are from the really old What's New Club collection from A2Z.

Other challenges:

• Color Me Copic - use Amy's straight hair coloring technique
• Lollipop Crafts - All About Boys
• ABC Challenge - distressing

I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS Retiring Stamp Sets Super Sale!!

Your Next Stamp is retiring a number of its stamp sets and they are now listed at 60% off!! Eeeks - that's amazing!! But hurry - they'll only be available until September 30th! Why not treat yourself?

Retiring stamp sets

Halloween Cheers!

This week Your Next Stamp is sponsoring the Scrappy Saturday Challenge so I decided to play along! The theme is to pick 2 out of these 3: Scallops, Orange and String. Here's what I came up with:


I wanted to do a Halloween card, but it turns out I don't actually have any Halloween YNS stamps! So I had to do a little improvising and used the Cheers! set to make my spooky drink. If you look really closely, you can see that I turned the olive in the martini glass into an eyeball (you can click to enlarge the picture)! I also made the little spider hanging off the glass out of 1/4" hole punches, thread and 2 itty bitty olive green half pearls.

The papers are from Basic Grey (Eerie paper pad) and I printed the sentiment from my computer using a free font called PostCrypt. I sewed around the card with straight and zig-zag stitches, and then added a little bow of crochet thread to the bottom of the glass - hope those count as string!

My card is also for the following challenges:

• Clean & Simple Stamping - sketch
• Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes
• Stamp Something - digi (I used a digi sentiment)
• Paper Play Challenges - shaped card (no squares or rectangles)

I hope you like it and TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #25

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our challenge was set by Sylvia and is "Give Thanks" - make a Thank You or Thanksgiving project.

I had to stop myself from using Fhiona's Squirrel Friend again, but couldn't resist doing another clean and simple card after I saw the sketch at Card Positioning Systems:


I used Tree Trio and a whimsical font called SNF Marmalade.

I stamped the tree 3 times on green patterned paper, coloring the trunk of one and cutting up all the tops to make a layered tree. You can see the dimension here:


For each layer, I slightly curled the bottom portion up, and used scrap paper punches underneath to give support to the layers. The entire tree is popped up with foam boosters.

To finish off the card, I printed and cut out the sentiment, glued it to the kraft piece, and then hand-sewed a simple stitch on either side with 2 strands of embroidery floss.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! You don't have to use YNS images on your card, but if you do you'll get a double entry in the draw!

Also, the challenge hostess will choose her favorite card, and that winner will get the YNS Challenge "Top Pick" blinkie to proudly display on their blog PLUS $5 in YNS Stamp Bucks! You must use a YNS image to be eligible to be chosen for Top Pick.

Full details can be found at the YNS Challenge Blog. TFL!

Aww Nuts!

I'm still playing with the super cute and fun Fhiona's Squirrel Friend set so I have another squirrel card to share with you today:


First off, I've really been wanting some of the Kim Hughes' fonts from Scrap N Fonts, so when I heard they were having a dollar sale, I just couldn't resist! For this card, I used SNF Goody, which I just love (I SO wish I could write like Kim!! She's my handwriting hero!). I printed out the Aww Nuts! on the outside and then the part on the inside (which actually is the backside of the cardstock) before cutting my card down to 4.25" square.

I wanted to make a little scene for my squirrel, so I cut a tree and grass with my Cricut using the Wild Card Cartridge. I airbrushed the front with a light blue Copic, then stuck down all my elements.

And here's the inside:


As you can see I just stamped the acorn on either side of the sentiment, then stamped the squirrel again at the bottom and gave him a little shadow with my W00 and W1 Copics.

This card is for Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Clean and Simple, and A Spoon Full of Sugar - anything with an animal on it.

I really liked pre-printing the sentiments right on the card base, so I'll be trying it again in the future. And of course, I have to make sure I use all of my new fonts! TFL!