Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Winter Fun Hop & YNSC #57


Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us for another fun and fabulous Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! YNS just released a whole slew of awesome new stamps and dies so the DT (and our awesome guest designer!) have whipped up some eye candy using many of the new images and dies.

We are also combining this hop with our latest YNS Challenge, which is to make a holiday/winter themed project.

If you came here by way of Dana's blog, then you're on the right track! If not, please go back and start at Kerri's blog because you won't want to miss a stop!

Because of this new release, Karen will have some bundle packs available plus an awesome variety of stamps in the YNS Bargain Bin and YNS Deal of the week so be sure to check out the store to take advantage of all the awesome deals! PLUS she’ll include a little something extra in every order from now until December 25th!!

Last, but certainly not least, there are 3 prizes hidden among all the DT blogs so the more you comment, the better your chance of winning. Karen will draw the winners' names from the comments on the secret prize bloggers posts and announce the prize winners and let people know who the secret bloggers are on the YNS Blog on Tuesday, December 13th

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

First up, I have a little tag meant to be tied to a Christmas present. I used the new Fancy Frame and Die set, and the To and From are both from the Holiday Snow Globe set.

FancyFrame1a
The die in this set is super cool because it leaves a little bit of the center portion attached to make a little peek-a-boo door! Here's the view of the inside:

FancyFrame1b
Isn't that fun?! I just hand cut another piece of white cardstock to serve as the backing for the tag and stamped the sentiment from the same set in the center. Lastly, I colored the little leaves with a green colored pencil.

For my next project, I have a shaker card (love making these!):

HolidaySnowGlobe1
I used the super adorable Holiday Snow Globe set again, paper piecing the base from some wood-grained Basic Grey paper. The reindeer was colored with Copics and the shaker filling is faux Flower Soft and a little glitter. The sketch is from Sunday Sketch and Stamp.

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

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Your Next Stamp Challenge #56

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Jenny P. and our theme is to use die cuts somewhere on your project. I made a little tag this time:

SpreadCheer1
I used the Happy Holidays Stamp and Die set to make gingerbread trees! I die cut the trees twice from kraft cardstock, then stamped the tree image twice on white cardstock. I cut just the tree tops out inside of the stamped lines to show more of the kraft around the outside of the "frosting." Then I layered the little tree over the first die cut with foam boosters and attached it to the tag with foam also. The little red dots are confetti.

The tag base is from the Delilah Tags SVG set cut with my new ZING!!!!!


This machine is awesome and cuts SO much better than my old machine! I'm still testing it out, but I'm sure you'll see lots more Zing cuts on this blog!

We hope you'll play along with us and don't forget that you MUST use a YNS rubber or digi image on your card!

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

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Winter Scene Coaster Frame


I have another non-card project for you today - a coaster picture frame using the new Winter Scene stamp from YNS.

Here's the outside front of the coaster - I cut the words using my Cricut and Make the Cut software:

WinterScene1a
And here's the inside:
WinterScene1b
The scene was watercolored with Tombows and the picture can actually be changed out (it's not glued in there).

Please stop by the YNS blog for more new release awesomeness and info! TFL!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

YNS New Happy Holidays Stamp and Die Set!


Hey everybody! Today I have a lot of stuff all rolled up into one post! First off is our current YNS Challenge #54 - ABC (Anything But a Card). Next is our new Happy Holidays Stamp and Die set release! I used 2 different stamps with matching dies on Part 4 of my little 3 chocolate challenge (here's Part 3 in case you missed it!).

Front:
WinterWarmUp1a
Back:
WinterWarmUp1b
And just to prove it really holds 3 Dove chocolates:
WinterWarmUp1c
It's a little round top box (inspired by a template sold by Papertrey) that I shrunk down to just fit the 3 chocolates.

And finally, today is a prize day in our YNS 14 Day Release party - one lucky winner will get the new stamp and die set!! Please visit the YNS Blog for all the details. You only have 24 hours to enter, so hurry over now! :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Your Next Stamp Challenge #53

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Amy and the theme is "Trick or Treat" (Halloween themed projects).

Here's my card:

Poof1
I used the new Poof! set and a sketch from Unscripted Sketches.

The little witch was watercolored with my Tombows, and then fussy cut. I added 2 different colors of Stickles for the sparks shooting from her wand and also yellow Stickles to all the moons and stars on her dress.

Since I don't have any purple and black twine, I hand dyed my own! I just added some purple ink and water to a length of black and white twine and got what you see here!

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 this fabulous stamp:


You MUST use a YNS rubber or digi image on your card! But if you don't have one, Karen is generously offering a free YNS Halloween digi to everyone who would like to participate in this week's challenge! All you need to do is email her [karen (at) yournextstamp (dot) com] to let her know you would like to participate in challenge #53 and she will send out the digi!! How awesome is that?!

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

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Pumpkin Emma

Today's card was made for Show & Tell with C.C. Designs - use a C.C. Designs image with the colors black, burnt orange and tan:

PumpkinEmma1
I used Pumpkin Emma and this month's Sketch For You To Try. Emma was colored with Copics and the sentiment is from PTI.

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

Thursday, October 6, 2011

CAS Holiday Lights

Today's card was made for the Copic Creations - Saturated Colors challenge:

LightUpHolidays4
I used the Light Up the Holidays Die and Stamp set. I colored all the lights with Copics (12 different markers in all!) and then covered just the bulb portions with clear dimensional adhesive for shine. I added 2 tiny bows made of Twisted Lime Trendy Twine and then mounted the string onto the card with foam tape.

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

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Birthday Bunny

Today I have a card made for TCP Tuesday #179 - "Hype the Type" using FTL #160 from Clean & Simple Stamping stretched vertically to fit my idea:

BirthdayBunny1
I don't have any big sentiments from The Cat's Pajamas, so I got creative and combined 2 sentiments from 2 different sets, plus a frame, line and die from My Favorite Things to make my focal sentiment. The Happy Birthday and bunny are from the Birthday Bunny set, the other part of the sentiment is from Forget About the Cake and the rest of it is all from the Die-namics Framed Greetings Die and Stamp set.

Even though we were supposed to focus on the sentiment, I just had to add the adorable bunny in so I stamped him in the same shade of green as the background paper, cut him out and stuck him on. He's there, but doesn't draw too much attention away from the bright pink sentiment label.

The button is from SEI and the twine is Strawberry Cupcake Trendy Twine.

This is also for the ABC Challenge - A is for Anything Goes. I hope you like it and TFL!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Tiny Tia

Today I have a card made for the Some Odd Girl Inspiration Challenge using a sketch from Mojo Monday:

TinyTia1
I used Tiny Tia and some really old paper from Fancy Pants that matched the colors in the inspiration photo almost exactly!

Tia was colored with Copics, I did a bunch of stitching all over the card and the seam binding was tea-dyed. The sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages set from Papertrey. I hope you like it and TFL!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Vintage Circles Tag

I made this little tag for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:

VintageCirclesSmall1
I used a circle and the leaves from the Vintage Circles, Small set, and the "to:" and "from:" are from the Fancy Phrases set.

I die cut a Cuttlebug flower from felt and added a button with a twine bow. I also used twine for the hanging string at the top. The leaves were stamped, cut out, and then just the outer ends popped up with little bits of foam tape. The patterned papers are all from the Basic Grey Lily Kate collection.

This is also for Wee Memories - your fave technique (I love stitching on my projects!). I hope you like it and TFL!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Pressie Mae

Today I've got a card that I did for the Some Odd Girl Flickr 12 Weeks of Christmas Holiday Challenge - Week 2 - non-traditional colors. I dug through my stash and came across these really old papers from KI Memories that were perfect:

PressieMae1
I used Pressie Mae and a sketch from Sketchy Thursday.

This is also for Fab 'n' Funky - recipe (1 ribbon, 2 patterned papers and 3 brads, buttons or gems). I hope you like it and TFL!

Tombows used:
Hair: 977, 969
Skin: 942, 850, 772
Dress and shoes: 723
Present: 673, 679
Eyes and shadow around Mae: 312

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Fairy Tink

Today I have a card made for the iCopic Weekly Challenge - red hair. I've never done red hair with Copics before, so this really was a challenge for me. Luckily I got a nice color combo off the internet and was able to do my first auburn/red hair coloring:

FairyTink1
I used Fairy Tink from The Greeting Farm. I bought her as a rubber single, but it appears she's now only available as part of the Fairy Princess clear set. The sketch is from Sketch Saturday and the patterned papers are all from the Cosmo Cricket Odds & Ends Mini Deck.

I paper pieced her dress and used some old Stickles on her wings. The sentiment is from a·muse|studio and the bracket edger and doily dies are from My Favorite Things.

The colors I used for her hair were E13, E17, E18 and E19.

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

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

YNS Challenge #52

Your Next Stamp Challenge

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time we have a fun sketch challenge from Kerri:


And here's my card:

FallFunBear1a
I used Fall Fun Bear and some old Basic Grey Mellow papers. As you can see, I didn't do any coloring on this card except for a light copic shadow under the bear. The falling leaf is paper pieced and all the leaves for the garland were punched out. For a bit of fun and texture, I did a tea-dyed twill ruffle for the scallop border part of the sketch.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win the Light Up the Holidays Die and Stamp Set!!:


**Please don't forget our new rule: You MUST use a YNS rubber or digi image on your card!**

Full details can be found at the YNS Challenge Blog.

This is also for PaperPlay - Autumn Leaves, and Ribbon Carousel - Alter your spooled item (I dyed my twill and made it into a ruffle). I hope you like it and TFL!

More a|s

I decided to take another stab at the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 6 and here's what I came up with:

SamplerSetOneThree1
Instead of a flat background, I made a medallion to represent the sky and grass. I added a paper pieced tree and sentiment from Sampler Set One and a little bird from Sampler Set Three. BTW - the tree can be found in the "woodland friends" set, the sentiment is from "vintage a muse" and the bird is from "avian notes."

This is also for Simon Says Stamp - use dies and/or punches (I used a Fiskars punch to make my medallion), and Pile It On - Fancy Folds. I hope you like it and TFL!

a|s!!


It's official! I am now a consultant for a·muse|studio!! If you're not familiar with a·muse|studio, you can check out the regular 2011 catty and the Holiday 2011 catty online!

Here's my first card made almost entirely with my starter kit:

SamplerSetOne1
The only things I added were thread for machine stitching and a few foam boosters. The clouds, kite and sentiment are all from the Sample Set One and all the cardstock, ink and ribbon came from my deluxe kit.

I made this for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 6: Fun with paper! We're supposed to use paper in a new or unexpected way. Hmmm... I think I've seen just about everything that can be done with paper, so I just did my best here! I paper pieced *everything* on this card (even those itty bitty kite tails) and I fringed and smushed up the gingham paper to make the grass.

This is also for Truly Scrumptious - Clean and Simple. I hope you like it and TFL!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Thanks to You

Today I have a card done for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge:

FancyPhrases2
I printed out 2 Iralamija papers from the Chic Backgrounds Collage and cut them using a circle Nestie. I stamped it with the largest dotted circle from the Vintage Circles, Small set and pierced every dot. Next, I did a zigzag stitch where the 2 papers met. Then I stamped a small design from Fancy Phrases all over the edges of the scalloped green piece and stamped a sentiment from the same set onto a scrap of the polka dot paper and cut one end to make a flag.

I finished the whole thing off with some tea dyed twill, pink baker's twine (also tea dyed) and a pink button.

This is also for Stamp with Fun - Anything Goes. I hope you like it and TFL!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Go Forth & Eat Cake!

Today I have a card made for TCP Tuesday - make a seam binding rose and put it on your project. Here's what I came up with:

ForgetAboutCake1
I used the adorable set Forget About the Cake and a sketch from Dutch Dare (turned from a square into a rectangle to fit my image).

I watercolored the image with my Tombows and hand dyed my own seam binding. After I made the rose, I stitched a pearl in the center to hopefully hold it together a little better!

This is also for The Pink Elephant and Cupcake Inspiration - both had inspiration pics with pink and green and the cuppy had roses on it too! I hope you like it and TFL!

Tombows used:
Plate and shadows: N95
Candle flames: 55
Candles and middle frosting layers: 158
Pink frosting and bunny nose: 703
Cake layers: 020

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Surprise! YNS Dies!!


Yes, that's right - YNS now has its own custom dies available!! Our first die matches the large string of lights in the Light Up the Holidays set and it's so cool!! For all the details about the product, please visit the YNS Blog.

Many of the DT have made projects using the new die, so if you'd like a chance to win the fabulous prize pictured below (the stamp set and matching die), please visit and comment on all the participating blogs (the full list is on the YNS Blog).


For my project, I decided to continue on with my 3 Chocolate Challenge (in case you missed them, here are Part 1 and Part 2).


For this box, I simply took the bag from Part 2, and extended the ends to turn it from a bag into a box. Of course I did this in Make the Cut. After cutting, I printed the sentiment on both sides of the box, then folded it up and stuck in the 3 chocolates.

I stamped the holiday lights, colored them with Copics (I hope you get that I was trying to simulate white lights - I didn't just forget to color the bottoms!) and then die cut the string. Since I only needed 4 lights, I simply snipped the fifth light off then I attached the string with foam tape. I hope you like my project and TFL!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Birgitta Bookmark

Today I have a simple little bookmark made for the All That Scraps Fall challenge:


I watercolored Birgitta with my Tombows and used some Basic Grey paper to make the base of the bookmark.

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

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

YNS Blog Hop & Challenge #51

Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us for another fun and fabulous Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! YNS just released a whole bunch of new stamps so the DT (and our awesome guest designers!) have whipped up some eye candy using many of the new images. Plus, since it's also a challenge week, we've combined our current challenge of "paper piecing" with some of our Hop projects.

If you came here by way of Jen R.'s blog, then you're on the right track! If not, please go back and start at Kerri's blog because you won't want to miss a stop! This Hop starts on Wednesday, September 14th at 3:00AM (EST), and ends on Saturday, September 17th at midnight (EST).

And of course it just wouldn't be a YNS Hop without some specials and a prize, right?! Well, here's the awesome prize for one lucky winner - some of the brand new release stamps!



For the Specials part, Karen has some stamp bundles plus a free YNS stamp (of her choice) will be included for every $30 spent – so if you spend $30, you’ll get 1 free stamp, $60 you'll get 2 free stamps, etc… What an awesome deal!!

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


I had hoped to have more than 1 project to share with you today but I've been sick for a very loooong time now and it's been difficult to get too much done. I do hope the one project I made is to your liking though - it's a super fun spinner card using the new set Spooktacular:

Spooktacular1a
You can see that I paper pieced the ghost and I even decorated the inside with the matching sentiment:

Spooktacular1b
But that's not so impressive so I put together a little animated gif to give you an idea of how much fun this card is to play with!!

Photobucket

I hope you liked my project and thanks for hopping along with us! Your next stop is the incredibly talented and super awesome Carole.




Sunday, September 11, 2011

Just For You!

Today I have another Sugar Bowl card for you:

BumbleBee1
I have a lot of Sugar Nellie stamps that have never seen ink so I'm trying to use them and what better way than to play in the Sugar Bowl? :)

I used Bumble Bee and paper from Iralamija's Elegance Papers Collage. She was watercolored with my Tombows and the ticket die from MFT was printed with a computer generated sentiment.

Tombows used:
Hair - N25
Skin - 990, 850, 772
Wings - 772
Dress - 91, 373, 772, 856

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

Saturday, September 10, 2011

TSGBDAY5

For Day 5, There She Goes wanted to see our paper dolls partying. I was pretty stumped for a while, but then as I watched my 2 young boys playing with their plastic food and dishes, I was struck by inspiration!

They had laid out a whole bunch of food on a box like a big buffet, so I managed to get penguin an invitation and he had a blast!


I hope you've enjoyed these past few days of puppet fun as much as I have and tomorrow we'll be back to our regularly scheduled stamping program! TFL!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

TSGBDAY2, 3 & 4

Today I'm combining several days' worth of TSG birthday puppet posts:

Day 2's assignment was take our paper dolls out on the town. It was actually my birthday, so I took little penguin with me to eat sushi for my birthday lunch!

Here he is perusing the menu:


Grabbing some wasabi from the conveyor belt:


And finally chowing down on his fresh salmon sushi:


BTW - I know we were only supposed to take one picture, but I was having too much fun to stop at just one! :)

On Day 3, they wanted us to take our dolls into the Great Outdoors. Here's Penguin with our newest plant called "Hearts and Flowers":


He had to put on his shades because it was really sunny out there!

And finally, for Day 4 they wanted to see our dolls "in the spotlight." The interpretation of what that means is up to us and I went pretty literal - Penguin starring in his own puppet theater play!


The little theater is from Lettering Delights and instead of cutting out and assembling all the pieces, I just printed the whole theater (after adding the Penguin title) and then cut it out by hand.

Isn't this fun?! I'm going to try really hard to play in all the challenges this week! TFL!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

TSGBDAY1

There She Goes is celebrating their third birthday with a week full of challenges and the first one from Monday was a Paper Doll Challenge. I went through all my sets and came across Penguin Love, which is one of my faves so I decided to use it. Here's my paper doll and I also made a tree to shade him from the hot Hawaii sun :)


The next challenge is to photograph your paper doll out on the town so I hope to get some good shots of him tomorrow! TFL!

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Mini Dry Erase Boards

Today I have a fun little altered project for you - Mini Dry Erase Boards that you can sit on your desk to take down notes:

DryErase1

DryErase2
If you don't like the dry erase aspect, you can easily stick a Post-It pad on the bottom instead!

I used 2 acrylic 4x6" picture frames and added Iralamija papers and some stash trims to make them both - super easy!!

These are also for the following challenges: I hope you like them and TFL!