YNS' 2nd Birthday Blog Hop

Hey everyone and welcome to YNS' 2nd Birthday Blog Hop - we are so happy you are here celebrating with us and our wonderful guest designers! If you have been hopping along and are arriving from Diana's blog then you are right on track! But if you just happened across my blog and want to join in all the fun and games, then you can go to the start at Peggy's blog.

What is a birthday party without games and some AMAZING prizes? Well we have a fun little puzzle for you to solve along the hop and when you do you will be entered into the draw for one of TWO amazing YNS prizes:



Not everyone has a puzzle piece so you need to pay attention, and click on the puzzle pieces, and follow the directions as you find them along the way (3rd party cookies must be enabled to do the puzzle). When you are done put them all together at the end of the hop for your chance to win! You have until Monday, August 15th, at Midnight EST.

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

Today I have 2 projects (because it's YNS' 2nd birthday!) to share with you. The first uses the new set Yummy in My Tummy (isn't that such a fun name?):


I used the August Sketch For You To Try and some adorable papers from the My Mind's Eye Life of the Party 6x6 paper pad.

The image was stamped and colored with Copics, then I added an extra popped up spoon, clear dimensional adhesive all over the glass, and custom dyed bugle beads for the chocolate sprinkles (I just put them on a little disposable plate and dripped brown Copic reinker on them). The sentiment is cut from one of the papers in the pad.

My second project is just a bit more complicated. Here's the outside shot:


And here's the inside:


You can see that the candle flames' "halos" are attached to the front and back layers so they pop out when you open the card! I used the Make A Wish set (one of my fave YNS sets!), Eat Cake and Be Merry (inside sentiment), the MME True Blue 6x6 paper pad and Make the Cut. I can't take all the credit though - the idea came from an old book I was looking through called "Making Great Handmade Cards" from Hot Off the Press. The card in the book had hand-cut layers and I knew I could do it more easily with MTC and my Cricut!

The whole card is cut through MTC except for the individual candles. For those, I stamped the flames on white and colored with Copics, then paper pieced the bottoms. Even the sentiment banners were cut through MTC! Finally, I finished the card off with some pumpkin orange and white Timeless Twine.

There are also lots of amazing deals right now in the YNS store to celebrate and you don't need any code! The next stop on the hop is the totally fabulous Carole! Good luck and happy hopping! ~Maureen

YNS Birthday Puzzle Piece

Share the YNS Birthday Badge Contest!

Can you believe that YNS is turning 2?! We're going to celebrate on August 10th and would like as many of you to join us as possible!

Our talented DT member Jenny made this adorable birthday badge for us to post on our blogs so we're asking you to please grab this badge and post it on your blog plus tell all your friends to do the same!

Please check out Karen's Blog Post for all the details on how you can enter to win this adorable new release stamp:

TFL and I hope to see you all back for our big 2nd Birthday Celebration!

Happy Halloween!?

Yes, even though it's only the beginning of August, I have a couple of Halloween projects to share with you today! I wanted to play with the Orange Licorice Twist Timeless Twine from Stacy so I came up with a couple of fun pails using clear minis I got from my local craft store. The first one is meant to hold Halloween candy (I don't currently have any so I just stuffed some little bags of fruit snacks in there):


I designed the whole thing in Make the Cut and cut with my Cricut (in use only until I get my KNK Zing - I can't wait!!!).

For the bat, I used Lettering Delights' DB Boo Ya and the sentiment was done with LD Little Piggy.

For the candy pail, the bat is actually cut out of the black layer so you can see what's inside, and then the letters were cut out separately of orange patterned cardstock and glued on the black layer. I then tied 2 strands of twine on each side of the handle into bows:


My second project is meant to hold a battery powered tealight candle:


I used basically the same design as the candy pail, but this time I also cut out the letters from the black layer so the light would show through them. I glued a piece of orange vellum to the back of the black layer so you can't see the actual tealight candle through the bat cutout.

Here's a shot of what it looks like in MTC:


To finish it off, I glued twine all around the metal handle.

BTW, if you haven't already "liked" the Timeless Twine Facebook page, go ahead and do it now - ‎if Timeless Twine reaches 300 Page likes they will be giving away 3 Spools of Classic Timeless Twine colors! For extra entries, be sure to share and refer your friends and have them mention that you sent them.

I hope you like my projects and TFL!

Got Lunch?

I have completely lost my stamping mojo (hence the lack of posts on my blog lately), but I have felt like making something....

Today my hubby forgot to take his lunch to work with him. It happens so often that he asked me to make a little sign for him to leave on his wallet to remind him to grab his lunch from the fridge before he leaves. I played with a few ideas, then remembered a super cute SVG set from Lettering Delights that I bought a while ago, but haven't actually used yet and came up with this:



The set is called Stuck On You and has a bunch of peanut butter and jelly images/sentiments. One of hubby's fave foods is peanut butter sandwiches, so I knew this image would be perfect for his reminder!

And it was so easy - ALL done in Make The Cut! I'm using the new version 3.3.2 and was able to bring the SVG image right in through the program (LOVING this new feature!!). And since it came in colored, I didn't have to do anything, but add my sentiment using the font LD Little Piggy, a tag border and a tiny circle so I'd know where to punch a perfectly centered hole to add my Krazy for Kraft Timeless Twine (thanks Stacy!!).

Then instead of cutting everything out, I just printed it! I did this because I wanted it flat so I could cover the tag with clear Contact Paper to protect it. I punched the hole and tied 2 strands of twine into a bow at the top. Finally, I added a little piece of sheet magnet on the back so it can stick to the fridge when not in use.

I hope you like the project and the idea of a lunch reminder and don't mind non-stamping projects on my blog, because I have a couple more to share later! TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #45

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our theme is "B&W +1" - Use black and white plus one other color (skin and hair tones do not count).

Here's my card:


I picked Snorkel Fun Penguin and then realized his beak and feet should probably be orange, so my +1 color was chosen for me! I used FTL #145 from Clean & Simple Stamping and a computer generated sentiment using my fave font - SNF Goody.

Did you see that Bella Creationz released some fun new colors of Timeless Twine? Stacy sent me the new spools to play with and I *lovey* them all! Today I used Pumpkin Pie, which went perfectly with the oranges that I chose for my card!

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win the fun Celebrate set:


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!

New YNS Stamps Released Today!

Surprise! This is the first time Your Next Stamp has ever released new stamps without prewarning you with a blog post, new release blinkie or something that says new stamps are on the way!

11 new stamps were released today and they're all super fun! There are 6 new Fhiona Designs including a new mini - Fhiona and her Pony, 3 new Franfou Designs including a new jumbo stamp - Ginger the Giraffe and 2 new fabulous Dale Designs including a Cottage Box Scene! YAY!

Please stop by Karen's blog to see all the fabulous DT projects featuring some of the new stamps, and then run off to the YNS store to shop (there's a 10% sale right now with the code YNSJUNENR).

I got to play with the super fun and cute Runaway Cake. As soon as I saw the image I thought it would be perfect for last minute/late birthday cards so that's what I have for you today:


Because it's meant as a last minute card, I kept it super simple - it's just the card base with a computer generated sentiment printed right on it, and then the image stamped above that and colored really quickly with colored pencils. It doesn't get much easier than that! I hope you like it and all the rest of our new releases! TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #44

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time I'm your hostess and since I love shaped cards, that's our challenge - no plain square or rectangle shaped cards!

Here's mine:



I just love the Make a Wish set and have wanted to make a cupcake shaped card ever since I saw this post by Jin (one of my card making idols!!). I've had the Build a Cupcake graphic set for a long time and have been meaning to play with it, but couldn't think what I wanted to do. After I saw Jin's post, I found my inspiration!

I basically followed Jin's instructions and added one little twist: since I wanted to incorporate the Make a Wish stamp set, I traced the candle image into Make The Cut, set it the same size as the stamp, and made a shadow layer off of the traced image. I welded that onto the card base and that's how I got the candle shape to cut out on the top!

To finish off the card, I added the sentiment from the set on a tag, tied with some hand dyed seam binding. All the paper is from the old Basic Grey Two Scoops paper pad.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win this stamp: Rock Star Fhinn


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, I'll choose my 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!