Boo! & Dies Storage Tip

Hi all!  I have another Fun Friday with Your Next Stamp post today!  Our theme all month has been Trick or Treat and again, I have both for you today!  My treat is up first:

I used Cute Ghost and the Jam Jar Globe stamp and also the matching Jam Jar Globe dies.  I was inspired by this FF post by fellow DT member Veronica where she did a Halloween card with the Jam Jar Globe set.  I stamped the jar on acetate and cut it out with the die.  It’s got a tiny bit of adhesive on the bottom where the lines are and a little on the top right under the jar lid.

The sketch is  FTL #209 from Clean & Simple Stamping and the 4 different polka dot papers are from the Doodlebug Haunted Manor paper pad.  I hand drew the line and the boo! stamps are from Close To My Heart.

And now here’s a little trick for storing your YNS dies: I keep mine in baseball card sheet protectors and keep them in the binder with my stamps.  [Sorry, forgot to take a pic of my stamps – they’re stored on hard plastic panels sold specially for storing cling stamps and they go into a 3 ring binder)]

Here’s what one page looks like:

As you can see, most dies just go straight into the pockets, but for the smaller ones, I use a business card size magnet to keep them from sliding around in the pockets and so I can grab them more easily.  You can also store your homemade die templates in the pocket with the die if it’s small enough (that’s the red bit behind the trees die), and finally, you can even stick your cling stamps right to the sheet in front of the matching die!  Very handy little trick that I hope will help you with your die storage.  TFL and don’t forget to check out the YNS Blog too see which other DT members are playing Fun Friday with me today!

WMS August Blog Party

Hi all!  Today I have a special project that I made for the Walzingmouse Stamps Blog Party:

I altered a step card so that the center section would be a platform for a little tealight cake!  One great thing about this card is that it can fold relatively flat for storage (after taking the cake out, of course!).  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Frame-It set and the flowers are Prima with some glitter and half pearls in the centers.

Each high step has a hole punched in with a bamboo skewer topped with a large pinwheel from the Playful Pinwheels set:

I added some Stickles to each pinwheel and  yes, they both spin! 

Then in the middle is a banner made with the Bitty Banners set and an alphabet from Close to My Heart:

I cut the scalloped circle top for the tealight cake with my Zing using Make-The-Cut and a file I created myself.  The bottom of the cake is just covered with a plain strip of patterned paper.  Finally I added some Stickles and teeny half pearls to the top.  I hope you like it and have fun on the rest of the hop!  TFL!

YNS June New Release Blog Hop

Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us for another fun and fabulous Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! Besides the Fhiona Singles and Elegance Series, YNS also just released a whole bunch of other stamps so the Starlets (and our awesome guest designers!) have whipped up some eye candy using many of the new images. (You can see all of the June releases here.)

And if that's not enough yet, we also have Mystery Stamp Packages in the store! How fun!

If you came here by way of Jen's blog, then you're on the right track! If not, please go back and start at Cabio's blog because you won't want to miss a stop! There is a prize up for grabs of $50 of new release stamps (winner's choice)!! The winner will be randomly drawn from one of the Starlet's blog hop comments, but you won't know which one so make sure to comment at every stop! This hop will run until Sunday, June 13 at midnight EST.

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

For my first card, I used the adorable Isabella the Ostrich:


First off, I just want to say that I'm not normally a fan of ostriches, but this one was just too cute to resist! I stamped her 3 times - twice on white cardstock, and once on the dark brown patterned paper. One cardstock version is the base and I just colored her legs and the ground. With the second cardstock version, I colored and cut out her head and neck (I didn't bother with the eyelashes since they were on the base version). I cut out the body and part of the neck from the PP version and glued the cardstock head and neck to it. Then I stuck the whole thing to the base, gluing the head down flat, but using a foam booster under the body for dimension.

The sentiment is my own creation using a Close To My Heart alphabet set and the sketch is from Just Us Girls.

For my second card I got to use the super cute Rainbow Swing Fhiona set:


I made a tent card which is perfect for Fhiona to swing in! I paper pieced Fhiona's dress and the flower on her headband, as well as the flowers and leaves on the rainbow. The rest was colored with Copics and I sponged the clouds with a homemade cloud template. To get Fhiona swinging, I used 2 pieces of crochet thread glued to the back of the swing seat (I even knotted the ends just to look more like a rope swing), then glued right over the rope lines of the image, and then taped inside the card.

The finishing touches are a sentiment from the set all cut up into individual words, and a die cut felt heart with white embroidery thread stitching and a little silver bow. It's so fun to watch her swinging in the breeze made by our ceiling fan!

I tried to use Jen's Sketch for you to try, but then I couldn't figure out how to make all the elements fit over the sky background, so I left out a couple parts!

I hope you liked my projects and thanks for hopping along with us! Your next stop is the incredibly talented Amy.

Your Next Stamp Blog Hop

Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us for another fun and fabulous Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! YNS just released a new Fhiona set (Fitness Fhiona) and a bunch of Cute Little Buggies and Animals so the Starlets (and 2 awesome guest designers!) have whipped up some eye candy using many of the new images.

If you came here by way of Lana's blog, then you're on the right track! If not, please go back and start at Karen's blog because you won't want to miss a stop - one grand prize winner will be randomly drawn to win 6 of the new releases of their choice!! To qualify, you need to comment at all the blogs on the hop with the answer to this question: Which new release stamp/set is your favorite?

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

Karen
Lana
Maureen (you're here!)
Maylee
Jen del Muro (joining us for FUN - yay!)
Simonne
Amy
Angela - Guest DT for December
Kerri
Cabio

One last thing before I get to my projects for today - Karen is offering a super special while the Hop is on (Dec. 10 - 14 at midnight EST) - a FREE stamp or stamp set of your choice from the YNS store with a purchase of $55 or more!!

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

For my first project, I have a clean and simple card using one of the new animals, the adorable Sammy Squirrl:


I colored Sammy with Copics, then cut him and the mat out with Nestabilities. The tree paper is from Upsy Daisy Designs and I made the sentiment myself using 2 different alphabet sets (the smaller one is from Papertrey Ink and the larger is Close To My Heart). I finished it off with some sponging, light distressing, and a couple buttons tied with twine.

For my second project, Karen challenged us to make some form of gift wrap, box or bag. I was inspired by projects from Cindy Lyles and Val Stangle to make a gift box of notecards:


I used the new super cute Bee Stings and some really old Imaginisce paper. On the box, I popped up an extra head for the bee for dimension, but I left all the notecard images flat for easy mailing.

Here's a shot of all the notecards and a matching envelope:


I computer generated a sheet with the sayings placed so that they would end up where I wanted them (it took me many tries to get it right, but now I have a template I can use whenever I want!). After printing, I just had to do a little trimming to get them down to the correct size. If you're interested, the sayings are Don't worry, bee happy!, Buzzing by to say hi!, What's the buzz?, and Just bee-cause!

The bees were all colored with Copics and I added Stardust glitter pen on the wings. I embossed the yellow strips with the Birds and Swirls Cuttlebug folder and stitched buttons to the box. Thanks so much to Cindy and Val for the inspiration and especially to Val for the great project and tutorial!

Just a quick reminder - there's still time to enter the YNS Challenge #5 - make a birthday project with hearts. The deadline is December 15 and all the details can be found on the YNS Challenge Blog.

I hope you liked my projects and thanks for hopping along with us! Your next stop is the incredibly talented Maylee.

Pile It On Flutter Birthday

Today's card was made for several challenges, including Pile It On's Challenge #6, which is a super fun sketch created by Dalis:


And here's my take on it:


For the sentiment, I followed this tutorial by Debbie Olson. I stamped the letters at different heights to mimic the look of those cute little letter stickers that everyone's using but I'm too cheap to buy! I colored Flutter Anya with Copics and glittered her wings with my usual Stardust/water brush method, then cut her out and popped her up on foam tape. She's got tiny heart rhinestones on her wings, and a little Prima flower with a homemade flocked brad in her hair. I also glittered the little flower.

Here's a closer shot of her:


And now for the challenges:

• Pile It On - Challenge #6 Sketch #1.
• 365 Cards - Challenge #132 Picture This. I was inspired to make a birthday card and I think the sentiment looks like candles on a cake.
• Belli Challenge - Challenge #69 Texture. I used a piece of velvet ric rac and I also flocked the brad in her hair.
• Stamp Simply - Challenge #95 Let the Sparks Fly. I glittered the flower and her wings.

Only 4 challenges today, but that's fine with me! I hope you like it and TFL!

Other materials used: white cardstock - Georgia Pacific; patterned paper - Basic Grey (Urban Prairie 6x6 paper pad); alphabet stamps - CTMH; Spring Moss ink - Papertrey Ink; velvet ric rac - May Arts; D'Vine Swirls embossing folder - Provo Craft; Petite Oval Nestabilities.

More Lucky Bunnies

After I noticed that 2 of the bunnies in the Lucky Bunnies set were facing in opposite directions with one hand up in the air, I thought of making them do a high five and here it is! I'm not sure that everybody will get it, but it's still a cute card anyway, right?

I used another Splendid Sketch for this card and more of the Nana's Nursery Baby Boy paper pad. The sentiment was done using the Close To My Heart Tiny Typewriter Alphabet stamped onto a Cuttlebug tag.

I tied the organdy ribbon in a loose knot in the middle and then tied the silver cord with the sentiment tag through the knot. Those little orange dots are Bella's Baubles from Stamping Bella.

One last note: if the green bunny looks a tad different than the one pictured in the stamp set, it's because I cut off his head and repositioned it to the left side so that they wouldn't be bonking heads while doing their high five. TFL!

Yapples Says Happy Birthday!

Today's card is another male birthday card, this time for my father-in-law. I thought he might get a kick out of the DoodleFactory creatures so I thought up this design.

I wanted to have Yapples yelling the sentiment but when I looked at him, he was facing left, and I really wanted him yelling to the right (somehow that just makes more sense to me). So I used the MirrorIt! Medium mirror stamp to reverse the direction he's facing.

Hope you like this one as much as I do! TFL!

Other materials used: sentiment - Close To My Heart (A Birthday Wish set); party hat - Papertrey Ink (It's A Celebration set); white cardstock - Georgia Pacific; red cardstock - Stampin' Up!; patterned paper - Daisy Bucket Designs; black and red Brilliance ink - Tsukineko; Copic markers; rectangle Nesties; Fiskars tiny flower hand punch.

Birthday Dog

I wanted to make a really simple card for a 2 year-old birthday boy, and here's what I came up with -->

As soon as I saw this Close To My Heart set called A Birthday Wish, I knew I wanted it! The animals have giant heads and I think they're so cute!

I stamped the dog on white and airbrushed him for a pretty uniform color. Looking back, I should have just stamped him on caramel cardstock and saved myself the trouble. Oh well, next time....

Not much else to say except the paper is from Imaginisce and the sentiment and hat are also from the same CTMH set. TFL!

Dream Big!

I got the idea for this card from a t-shirt I had when I was little. It had a couple rabbits next to a carrot top with a ginormous carrot underground and the saying "May all your wildest dreams come true." As soon as I saw this Flopsey set called I'm Pullin' for You!, I knew I wanted to try that same idea on a card and here it is--->

I wanted to piece his clothing with some of this dark blue Bazzill cardstock, but didn't want all that bulk, so I took a tip from this post by Lauren Meader and ran a scrap of the cardstock through my crimper over and over until I could peel it in half. I then smoothed it out and stamped the overalls and hat portions of the stamp onto it. I really like not only that it's thinner than cardstock, but also that it's a little soft and textured, almost like fabric. Thanks for the tip Lauren!

I cut him and the carrot top out completely after coloring them in with Copics, and then drew my own carrot freehand on orange cardstock. I cut it out and then sponged a bit of distress ink all around and over the wavy lines.

The background is done with the Copic airbrush system. First I tore a post-it note to make an uneven edged mask and sprayed the sky using the chisel end. Then I used the other part of the mask and sprayed the ground, again with the chisel end. Next I took a tip from this post by Cambria Turnbow and sprayed again with the same brown marker, but this time with the brush tip, to create the speckles in the dirt. I think this is a genious idea - thanks Cami!

To finish off the card, I punched out 2 word windows and used the Papertrey Ink Simple Alphabet for the word "dream" and the Close To My Heart Sans Alphabet for the "big!"

This card will fit into a regular bill envelope, even with his ears sticking off the edge like that. Hope you like it!