Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Make a Wish

Today is my day to post on the YNS Blog and here's what I came up with:

MakeAWish2
I used the Make A Wish set again (I just love the fun handwritten sentiment and paper piecing the candles!) and a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping. This also qualifies for our YNS Challenge #39 - use stitching on your creation.

I hope you like it and TFL!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Your Next Stamp Challenge #39

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Beth and she'd like us to "Stitch it up!" - use real or faux stitching somewhere on your creation. I stitch on almost every card I make so I loved this challenge! Here's my card:

MakeAWish1a
I used the Make a Wish set and a sketch from Paper Crafts magazine. I paper pieced the candles and added yellow Stickles to the flames. I did straight and zigzag machine stitching and added some Timeless Twine to help finish it off.

We've changed things up starting with this challenge - you now have the chance to win a stamp set! This time it's the super fun Bad Hair Day Fhiona:


We hope you'll play along with us! 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!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

YNS Surprise Giveaway


Karen's having a Surprise Giveaway over at the YNS blog! It's only open for 4 days so hurry over for your chance to win!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Flower Bouquet 4u

Today is my day to post on the YNS Blog and here's what I came up with:

FhionaFlowerBouquet2
I used Flower Bouquet Fhiona and some REALLY old papers from Heidi Grace. Fhi's headband and dress were paper pieced and the rest was colored with Copics (yes, even those really thin and tiny bits in the bouquet - just go really slowly and carefully!) and cut out with a Nesties die. The "4u" were cut with Quickutz dies and I did the lattice scoring on the background with my Martha score board.

This card is for the following challenges: I hope you like it and TFL!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Your Next Stamp Challenge #38

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Wendy and she has challenged us to "Make It Sparkle" - use anything to add some sparkle to your project. One of my favorite images to sparkle up is Fairy Fhiona and I decided to use the mini version this time:

MiniFairyFhiona1a
I got the idea for my project from this week's C.R.A.F.T. Challenge, which is to make a doorhanger. I wanted a fun shape for my hanger, so I used the Heart and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities. Mini Fairy Fhi was colored with Copics and her wings Stickled, then she was cut out and popped up on foam boosters.

The letter diecuts are Quickutz and the twine is from Timeless Twine. The colors (Lemony Yellow and Plum Purple) were just a bit too bright for my papers so I just sponged the twine with some Distress Ink and it toned them down perfectly! I twisted the two colors together to form the hanger and then also used them both to tie a bow through the button. Here's a close shot:

MiniFairyFhiona1b
This is also for the following challenges: 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!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

YNS March New Release Blog Hop!


Welcome to the Your Next Stamp March New Release BLOG HOP!

We have some amazing new YNS stamps to show you today! These new stamps are available to buy right now from the Your Next Stamp store along with all your YNS favorites.

If you would like to participate in the hop and you didn't arrive here from Crystal's blog, please return to the start of the hop at Simonne’s blog, as you don't want to miss these fab new releases!

The hop starts today (March 8, 2011 at 08:00 EST) and ends on March 11, 2011 at midnight EST.

As always here at Your Next Stamp, we have a wonderful prize for you to win! One lucky winner will be drawn at random from the links in the linky list to receive a surprise package of new release stamps!

You will see that every stop along the hop has a linky list - this is the SAME linky list posted on every blog, so that you can enter the prize draw from any stop along the hop (although we hope you will visit every blog!). The linky will update itself on everyone's blog when a link is entered - how cool is that? Please remember to only enter your name ONCE into the linky list during the hop - you do NOT need to enter your name at every stop and multiple entries will be removed. It's not a requirement for you to comment at every stop along the hop to be eligible to be entered into the prize draw, but the DT would sure love to hear what you think of our new release creations!

Karen is also running a special 10% off promotion from today until 14 March 2011. Just enter the code YNSMARCH when checking out to apply your 10% discount. There are also some FANTASTIC special offers and promotions running over at the YNS store at the moment, so once you've finished the hop be sure to hop on over and check out the clearance sections: 35% off selected stamps - 50% off selected stamps - 60% off selected bare rubber stamps - 35% off selected embellishments - 35% off selected DP sampler packs. WOW! What a great time to grab a bargain!

Here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:

*****And now on to the show!*****

I only have 1 project to share with you today, but I do have a lot of photos, so get comfy as this might take a little while! I had such a blast playing with Dixie Daisy and a sketch from Sketchy Thursday:

DixieDaisy1a
The sentiment in the pic looks a bit fuzzy because the camera was focusing on Daisy, who is floating way above the card as you can see here:

DixieDaisy1b
Yes, I did my little acetate spring trick and when you move the card or flick Daisy with your finger, she springs around! (Get it?! hee hee!)

I also did a bunch of paper piecing and paper tole because this image just begged for it (and also because the Moxie Fab blog is having a Paper Piecing challenge right now)!

I stamped on 3 different patterned papers and 3 times on plain white cardstock for a base, a full face and just the eyes, which were covered with clear dimensional glaze for shine. Here you can see all the pieces (except the plain white base) cut out, shaped and shaded with colored pencils/odorless mineral spirits (all pics can be enlarged):

DixieDaisy1c
After applying scrap bits of cardstock or foam boosters to all the pieces for dimension and sticking them together, this is what I had:

DixieDaisy1d
And finally, here's a shot of the back showing the acetate spring:

DixieDaisy1e
It's just a piece of acetate scored and folded into a sort of Z shape. One end was glued and taped to the back of Dixie, and the other end was fed through a slit in the vanilla oval and taped to the back so all the glue/tape mess wouldn't show behind Daisy (as you can see in the second pic above).

So now it's time for you to hop on over to Kerri's blog as she is the next stop on our hop, but I'd love it if you left me a comment before you go!

Thanks so much for hopping with us today! I hope you enjoy our new release!

Hugs,
Maureen =)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Mini Ellie with Pressies

Thursday is my day to post on the YNS Blog and here's what I came up with:

MiniElliePressies1a
I used Mini Ellie with Pressies and some Echo Park paper to make a little decoration you can hang on a gift. I cut a strip off the 12x12 sheet, punched 1 edge with a Fiskars punch, and accordion folded to make a medallion. Ellie was colored with Copics and cut out with a Nesties circle. I matted it with the next larger Nesties circle and glued them to the front of the tag. Then I also decorated the back:

MiniElliePressies1b
The sentiment was cut with a Quickutz die. Finally, the hanging ribbon is some hand-dyed seam binding.

This is also for ABC Challenge - P is for Pink. I hope you like it and TFL!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Your Next Stamp Challenge #37

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our theme is "Feeling Blue" - use the color blue anywhere on your creation. Here's what I came up with:

YippeeFhiona5
I used my old fave Yippee Fhiona and a sketch from Friday Sketchers. I just got some gorgeous new twine from Trendy Twine and had to use it right away. So going with our blue theme, I matched some light and dark blue Bazzill cardstock to the colors in the Blue Berry twine and went with a monochromatic card.

If you look closely, you'll see that the light blue cardstock is embossed with the Cuttlebug Argyle folder to match the design on her shirt. To finish the whole thing off, I used the Martha Loops punch on the dark cardstock, did some straight machine stitching, and added a sentiment from the Mini Greetings set.

This card is also for:
  • Stampin' for the Weekend - Monochrome
  • Top Tip Tuesday - fave technique and/or embellishment (my fave technique is fussy cutting images and popping them up on foam boosters)
  • Papertake Weekly - Anything goes, and optional something old (everything on this card, except the twine, is pretty old!)
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!