Love You

Hi all!  It’s time for another (and the last!) Tasty Tuesday from Your Next Stamp.  In case you haven’t seen it, our inspiration pic this month is this one:

 

I drew inspiration from the rainbows and white color of the clouds and came up with this:

I used the newly released Awesome Arrows die set, cutting some of my fave shapes from a rainbow of cardstock scraps.  The sentiment is actually made from 2 different sentiments, which are from 2 different clear sets!  The “love” is from Awesome Journal Words (Love This) and the “you” is from Celebration Circles (It’s all about YOU today!).  I just cut the sentiments apart to make it easier to stamp my custom sentiment.  Don’t worry – they fit back together easily to stamp as they were intended. :)

We hope you’ll play along!  All of the details can be found on the YNS Blog.  TFL!

Say Cheese!

Hi all!  Today I have a card for a couple of challenges:

All stamps are from Lawn Fawn’s Say Cheese set.  This is for Lawnscaping – Clean & Simple and Simon Says Stamp – Take a Picture.  I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS After Release Party!

Hi all!  I hope you enjoyed the May New Release Blog Hop and are ready for a little more fun!  Today I made a card using the cute stamp Birds On A Wire:

The image was stamped on a piece of patterned paper and watercolored with Inktense Pencils.  I love coloring images on patterned paper – it’s fun and a little unexpected.

Please stop by the YNS Blog to see all the designers that are playing in the After Release Party today.  TFL!

What’s the Buzz?

If you're looking for the YNS New Release Hop, it's the post right below this one. Thanks!

Hi all!  We have a new challenge over at the All That Scraps challenge blog – it’s Anything Goes!  Here’s my card for this week:

The image is Josie's and Jilly's Chat – isn’t is adorable?!  The sentiment is from Cyber Cafe and the papers are MME.

We hope you’ll play along with us!  Just remember that you must use a C.C. Designs stamp, including - AmyR, Drozy's Darlings, Mashi's Muffins, Sweet November, Lil Lads & Lolitas & Webbie's Words.   TFL!

May YNS New Release Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the May Your Next Stamp New Release Blog Hop!  We have several new stamps sets from a variety of artists being released TODAY, as well as several new dies!  You can find all of the new goodies HERE at the Your Next Stamp Store!

If you came here from Julie's blog, then you’re on the right track.  If you just happened across my blog, then you’ll want to go all the way back to the start at Susan's blog.

Make sure you hop around to all of the blogs featured in the link list below for lots of inspiration using the new products!  If you leave a comment on all of the blogs, you will be entered to win a $20.00 YNS gift certificate!  The lucky winner will be announced on the Your Next Stamp Blog May 25th.

And now on to the show!  Here’s what I came up with:

My first card uses the adorable Phoebe with a partial sentiment from Awesome Journal Words:

Phoebe was colored with Inktense pencils and the layout used Blueprints 1.

My second card uses the cute Dynamic Duo with matching sentiment:

The duo was colored with Prismacolor pencils and OMS and I added a couple of little Puffy Clouds on foam tape.  Hope you like them!

Karen is also offering up some awesome hop specials so make sure you take advantage of these great deals!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and happy hopping and shopping!  The next (and last) stop on the Hop is our awesome “boss” Karen!  TFL!

Stamps for Sale

Just an FYI – I’m selling off a ton of old Stampin’ Up! sets on Etsy.  Almost all will be brand new, unmounted and never used, still in perfect condition in the original plastic boxes with all of the wood blocks included.  Shipping is included in all prices!  I’ll keep listing sets whenever I have time, so check back often if there’s a specific set you’re looking for.  I hope you find something you like!

Here’s my store: Stamps by the Ton.  TFL!!

Enjoy this day

Hi all!  I have a card for the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This week was a sketch.  Here’s what I came up with:

I used Flap Happy and the matching dies - Butterflies 1 and Butterflies 3.  The papers are from an old MME paper pad.  I hope you like it and TFL!

I’m no Odd Idol

Hi all!  I just wanted to pop in and show you my losing :( entry for the Odd Idol Competition Round 2:

It uses my fave quote, but I guess it’s not technically about friendship, so maybe that’s why people didn’t vote for me?  Anyway, I’m not upset.  I’m actually kind of relieved that I don’t have to stress out for 3 more rounds! 

Here’s a closer shot of Bookworm Tia (can’t link it up as I can’t find her in the Some Odd Girl store) that I didn’t get to show off during the competition:

She’s made up of 4 layers, all colored with Copics.  The layout behind her was done with Blueprints 1.  And here’s Tobie and his Dog (which I also can’t find in the store) who has 3 layers, all colored with Copics.  His layout used Blueprints 2.

Thank you to whoever did vote for me!!  I hope you appreciated the humor of the quote!  TFL!

Thanks a Latte

Hi all!  This is a reminder that you still have 1 week to play in the current All That Scraps challenge – Shaped Cards.  Here’s what I came up with this week:

I used the super adorable Latte Monkey stamp and the Love You a Latte cutting set from Lettering Delights.  The image was colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and OMS and fussy cut out.  The card was cut with my Zing using Make-The-Cut.  The font is LD Little Piggy, the twine is from Papertrey Ink and the papers are from a My Mind’s Eye paper pad.

We hope you’ll play along!  Just remember that must use a C.C. Designs stamp, including - AmyR, Drozy's Darlings, Mashi's Muffins, Sweet November, Lil Lads & Lolitas & Webbie's Words.  TFL!

Happy Everything

Hi all!  It’s time for another Tasty Tuesday over at the YNS Blog.  Here’s our inspiration photo for this month:

I was inspired by the colors blue and pink, the clouds and the circles.  Here’s what I came up with:

 

I used the Happy Day Sentiment Set, the snowflake, sun and leaf dies from the Whatnot Die Set – Seasons and a flower die from the Spring Garden Die Set.  I cut the circles from the pink panel with my Zing using Make-The-Cut and finished the card off with some sewing and sequins.

We hope you’ll play along!  All the details can be found on the YNS Blog.  TFL!

Vote Now and Fun Friday

Just a reminder that the voting for the Odd Idol competition starts today!  It goes from May 10 – May 15.  I can’t tell you which project is mine, but here’s a hint – it’s awesome!!  Hee hee!  You can get there by clicking the image above.  Thanks for taking the time to vote!

*****

And now for my Your Next Stamp Fun Friday project: Our theme this month is Summer Fun and here’s what I came up with:

 

A fun little sun-shaped card using the new clear Happy Day Sentiments set.  The two circle shapes are nestabilities, the button is from a muse|studio and the twine is Timeless Twine. We hope you’ll play along!  All the details are on the YNS Blog

Sunny Summer

Hi all!  It’s time for a new challenge over at the All That Scraps Challenge Blog!  For the next 2 weeks our theme is “Shaped Card.”  I love making shaped cards!  Here’s what I came up with:

I used the new Mia's Kite and a cutting file that I created in Make-The-Cut.  The papers are MME and Mia was watercolored with Distress Inks and Inktense pencils.

We hope you’ll play along!  Just remember that you must use a C.C. Designs stamp, including - AmyR, Drozy's Darlings, Mashi's Muffins, Sweet November, Lil Lads & Lolitas & Webbie's Words.  TFL!

Some Odd Idol!

Big news to share!  I made the Top 20 in the Some Odd Idol challenge!  I’m so excited to be advancing to the next round!!

Here’s the card I made for the initial open round using Angel Kaylee that was based on the Odd Idol sketch:

Voting for the next round will be from May 10-15 and we’d love for you to come and vote!  I can’t post my project until after the round is done so that it’s not a popularity contest, but people really voting for whichever project is their fave!  I *love* this format and I hope you’ll love my project!!  TFL!

YNS New Release Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a special Your Next Stamp New Release Blog Hop!  Today we are introducing you to something that is Clearly awesome and so much fun which is Clearly what YNS is all about!  So have you figured it out yet???  Yes, Your Next Stamp is introducing a new collection called 'Clearly Your Next Stamp'. These crystal clear stamp sets are made with High Quality Photopolymer!  They are non yellowing and provide a clean and crisp stamped image just like the current YNS purple rubber! It's so easy to get a perfect sentiment and image placement with these fabulous new sets! We're introducing 6 fabulous and fun new clear stamp sets today and they are available NOW in the YNS store!

The hop starts on Wendy M’s blog, and if you’ve been hopping along, then you should have arrived from Kerri’s blog.  The hop will run through Sunday, May 5th at 12 midnight (EST).

Here’s what I came up with today: first up is this card using the new Happy Days Sentiments Set (that I helped design!!):

I used the kite dies from the Cute Bike and Kite die set (which are also part of the Spring Fling die bundle) and the Puffy Cloud die set, plus some papers from Echo Park.

Next up is a card using the Skinny Font Alphabet set (*love* this font!):

I used some old Basic Grey papers and a sketch from Mojo Monday.

Finally, anytime we have a small circular image, I have to try and cover a K-Cup with it, so here’s a simple one using Celebrate Circles:

 

As always we have a fabulous prize hidden along the hop!  Just leave comments on all of the DT blogs for your chance to win this awesome prize pack:

Winners will be announced on the Your Next Stamp Blog on Monday, May 6th.

Karen is also offering an amazing hop special!  All Clearly Your Next Stamp Sets are 20% Off as a special intro price!!! No Online Coupon Code Required.

Now it’s time to hop on over to Suzanne’s blog, but don’t forget to leave a comment before you go for your chance to win!  Thank you so much for stopping by and as always, happy hopping!

Inktense Pencils… Finally!

Ok, here’s the post I’ve been promising for a while about my new Inktense pencils.  I bought them from Scrappy Craft because they were the cheapest I could find.  The transaction went great – quick shipping and the product was packed nicely and got to me in perfect condition.  This is how I have them out, sitting right next to my work area on top of an Iris cart:

One of the first things I did when I got the pencils was to make a color chart:

So far I’m in love!  They blend out with water so easily and can be really nice and soft looking or super strong and vibrant, depending how much pencil you put down.  So far I’ve mostly been just playing with the softer look (kind of like Distress Inks), but I’ve seen some really neat stuff online with the stronger colors (like this post from Jennifer McGuire, who did such beautiful Inktense art that I just had to buy a set for myself!).

Here’s the latest card I’ve made using the Inktense pencils in the softer range:

I did her face with Distress inks because I still haven’t found the right shades of pencil for the skin tones I like to do.  All the rest was done with the Inktense pencils.  You can also see other images I’ve colored with the Inktense pencils here.  This card is also for the Sugar Bowl challenge – Anything Goes with a Sugar Nellie Image (I used Blossom).  The sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches and the sentiment is from the Talk Bubbles 2 stamp set.

One of the things I like best about the Inktense is that once you hit all the pigment with water and it fully dries, it’s permanent.  What that means is that if I accidentally paint over an already colored section, it won’t mix with the previous color and ruin it!  I can just wipe off the second color and the first color stays as pristine as it started – perfect for me since I tend to make this mistake a little too often!

One other thing is that you don’t really *need* to use watercolor paper.  I’ve done some of my simpler coloring on just plain old Georgia Pacific cardstock from Walmart!  The colors also show up really nicely on colored cardstocks, like my favorite Kraft from Papertrey Ink!

Of course you don’t need to buy the full set, but I fully recommend these pencils if you like to watercolor – they’re just so much fun!  TFL!

Way to Go

Hi all!  This is a reminder that you still have 1 more week to play in the current All That Scraps Challenge – Anything Goes!  Here’s what I came up with:

I used the new Meoples Beep Beep – isn’t it adorbs?  I paper pieced the car and watercolored the rest with a combo of Distress Inks for the skin and Inktense pencils for all the rest, including the shading on the car.  The “road” is washi tape, the flags at the top are from Blueprints 2, the sentiment is from Sentiment Sampler and the car exhaust is from Cyber Cafe.

We hope you’ll play along!  Just remember that you must use a C.C. Designs stamp, including - AmyR, Drozy's Darlings, Mashi's Muffins, Sweet November, Lil Lads & Lolitas & Webbie's Words.  TFL!