Your Next Stamp - Fun Friday!

Hi all!  We're back with a NEW sketch and color challenge for you at YNS!  For my card, I used the beautiful Winter Wishes set and matching dies.  Love, LOVE this set!  The sentiment is stamped in nightshift blue, then I added some snowflakes in jellybean green and Sno cone.  Maybe a bit of an interesting combo for snowflakes, but it's also for a color challenge on SCS ;)  The card base is Sno Cone and the dark layer is nightshift blue.  A few blue sapphire, white and silver gumdrops add the right touch (and also match the sketch, hehe!)!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Your Next Stamp - New Release After Party

Hi all!  I sure hope y'all enjoyed this month's YNS new release blog hop!  Lots of gorgeousness!  How about our new website, huh?!  So prettttyyyyy!!!  Go HERE to check it out!  And we're back today with more eye candy for ya using the newly released goodies!  My card features the Waddles - Snow Fun set and dies.  Hehe, love them!  I paper pieced the ornaments and added glossy accents to them and also his beak.  I love using non-traditional designer papers and colors for Christmas cards.  ;)  The sketch is from the monthly Dirty Girl theme on SCS. I colored the twine with a matching Copic and added some new blue sapphire glittered gumdrops (yep, those are a pretty navy blue, not black) and pink lemonade glittered gumdrops!  I just love the new sizes!  And did I mention they're GLITTERED!?!?!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Your Next Stamp - October New Release Blog Hop!

Hi all!!!  Happy Sunday and Welcome to the YNS October Release Blog Hop!  Whoop! Whoop!!!

I am SO excited for this release!!!  LOTS of FUN new sets and Gumdrops!  I have so many favorites, one of which is the set that I'm featuring today, Winter Home.  B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!  Such a sweet little scene with fabulous sentiments!  What more do you need?!!!  I've made two very different cards using this set, so let's get started.

For my first card, I paper pieced every. single. element. of this image.  It took a bit of time, but oh, how I love the end result!  I used Copics to add shading, to create the sky (how do you like the 'smoke' out of the chimney?  hehe!  I just used my colorless blender to create it!) and also to color in the warm glow in the windows.  All of the snow, yes, ALL of it, was Stickled then cut out and adhered where needed per the image.  The sentiment is also from this set.  Told you it included fabulous sentiments!

Now, for the second card...  I've been wanting to make a card without coloring the main image.  I've seen that technique around blog land and decided to give it a go!  I used 7 different DP sheets (all from one pack) for this card!  The scallop opening was created using the larger die from the Open Scallop Die Set.  A few other dies, a button and some twine, along with silver glittered gumdrops add extra interest.  Oh, and of course, the sentiment is from this set ;)

Here's a little bit more info for ya - 5 random winners will receive $20 to spend in the YNS store!  Prizes are randomly placed amongst all the blogs so the more you comment, the better chance you have to WIN!!!  And check THIS OUT ~ ~ ~

Alright, I won't keep you any longer!  Enjoy the rest of the hop - check it out that line up!!!!

Your Next Stamp - NEW Release SNEAK PEEK!

Hi all!!!  I'm SO excited because we get to show our SNEAK PEEKS from the YNS New Release happening TOMORROW!!!  Be sure to stop by the YNS BLOG so that you don't miss a thing!  This cutie pie is called Darling Deer (well, of course that's what it's called!).  It's a nice size stamp.  SO nice that this card is a square 5x5 card to give the image lots of room to shine!  I colored everything with Copics and used the pointillism technique for the background.  The sentiment is from another NEW set, Winter Home, that I'll be featuring tomorrow.  :D  The sketch is the SSSC239.

Thanks SO much for stopping by!  Remember, check out the YNS Blog to see the rest of the peeks!  And you won't want to miss the FABULOUS blog hop we have in store for you on Sunday!!!!

YNS Fun Friday - Coffee + Friends

Hi all!  Here's my card using this month's Inspiration Photo on the Your Next Stamp challenge blog.  Again, I used the Thanks a Latte set - it's just so FUN and has matching dies, what's not to love?!  I stamped one of the cute little faces from the set on the belly band that was cut out with some DP.  I layered the cup onto a tag, added some thread, buttons and other dies for interest.  Even the little heart over the plus sign is from this set!  So sweet.  :)  The sketch is the retro sketches rs136.

Thanks for stopping by!  We have some EXCITING NEW goodies coming this weekend from Your Next Stamp!!!!  Stop by tomorrow to see a PEAK!

Have a lovely day

Hi all!  Here's a card I made for the CTD313.  I just bought this Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds set and love it just as much as I thought I would.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and embossed it with black EP.  I used lemon drop, orange fizz, grape jelly and jellybean green inks, which I stamped directly onto my acrylic block then used my aqua painter to pick up the color and fill in the image.  I then fussy cut it and adhered it over these die-namics: dizzy doily, Blueprints 3, and Blueprints 12.  The card base is grout gray, one of my favorite neutrals!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Foxy

Hi all!  Here's my take on the CTS95 sketch.  Such a cool sketch, I couldn't resist playing along!  I finally got ink up this sly little fox from the Cute Critters set.  I fussy cut her then popped her up on pop dots.  The little arrow is from one of my Blueprints and the sentiment is also from the Cute Critters set, which I also cut out with one of my Blueprints.  Easy schtuff!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Masculine Happy Birthday and a mini modeling paste tutorial

Hi all!  Here's my card for the MFTWSC196 and the CPC40 challenges.  I used a few stamps from the MPD Timeless set along with the matching die-namics.  The card base is safety orange, the main panel is olive and I used brick red for the layering.  The sentiment is from Celebrate Big.  I lightly stamped "Celebrate" with versarmark ink, then "happy birthday" with hot fudge ink.  I used a few of my STAX and Blueprints for extra details.

Now, for the mini tutorial!  I'm sure you've seen lots of people using modeling paste and stencils to get all of these cool designs on their cards.  I've seen a couple people use reindeers to COLOR the modeling paste but I don't have ANY reindeers (except for my Memento black), so I thought I would try it using my ink pads themselves.  In the first pic, you see where I stamped my ink pad directly onto my craft mat and a {not so attractive looking} dob of modeling paste.

Then I used my butter knife {yes, my GOOD butter knife} to mix the paste and ink.  Be careful to mix it completely so you're not surprised with a lump of white paste when you start spreading it on your card stock.

And here it is right after I removed my stencil.  At this point, I quickly go wash off my stencil, spreader (a.k.a. butter knife) then wipe my craft mat before anything has time to dry.  While you're doing all that, your card stock has time to dry.  Be sure to apply a thin layer of paste so it dries faster. I'm sure you would get a richer color by using the reinker, and maybe you also can by stamping ink on the mat more than once, but I still like that you get a cool tone on tone look.  Hope you give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by!

Deck the Halls

Hi again!  So...  did I mention it's World Card Making Day?  Lol!  Here's another card I made today featuring the wreath from the YNS Christmas tree and Wreath die set and using the Butterfly Reflections, Ink sketch.  The wreath was done by stamping sour apple, olive and jellybean green inks onto my craft mat, misting with water and then smushing (my technical term, ha!)  The bow, also from this die set, was cut out then embossed with silver EP.  The sentiment is from the Cheerful Christmas Greetings set.  The card base is electric red and the large layer on top of it is insulation pink.  The insulation pink layer and white strips were cut out with my Blueprints.

Thanks for stopping by... again!

Merry Christmas

Hi all!  Happy World Card Making Day!  Yes, it's a REAL thing!  :D   Lots of companies are hosting challenges and having sales to celebrate this FUN day!  

I made this card which features the Christmas tree from the YNS Christmas tree and Wreath die set.  I cut the tree out of sweet tooth card stock then embossed the star with gold EP and colored in the pot with Copics.  To create the red layer I used Razzle Berry and Electric Red inks.  I stamped them directly onto my craft mat, misted with water then smushed watercolor paper directly onto the ink.  I love how the simple white Christmas tree POPS against that red!  Perfect for the Catered Crop Red challenge.  The card base is grout gray.  The sentiment is from Cheerful Christmas Greetings and is stamped in steel blue ink.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you find some time to get crafty today ;)

YNSFF17 - You paint my heart happy

Hi all!  Happy Friday!  Time for another Your Next Stamp Fun Friday challenge!  This cute image is a digital stamp called Love Painting.  Don't forget!!! You only have a little more time to get our SUPER CUTE digital stamps because once they're gone, they're GONE!  I colored him with my Copics, of course, and used the pointillism technique on the fur.  I had the idea to color the heart in rainbow colors and am tickled with how it turned out!  And then this sentiment just helped it all came together.  And yea, I'm totally loving this month's sketch!  I wanted the image to really grab be the focal point, so I kept a lot of white space with pops of black.

Thanks for stopping by!  As always, play along for your chance to WIN!

Thanks

Hi all!  Here's a card I made using the colors from CTD312 and the sketch from the Splitcoaststampers challenge SC508.  The leaves, sentiment and script (on the orange fizz layer that's mostly covered, ha!) is all from the Thankful Leaves set.  I used orange fizz, tangy orange and kraft inks.  The stamping off technique on a few of the leaves gives extra dimension.  The layer behind the 3 panels and the bottom part of the larger panel are grout gray card stock.  That bottom layer, by the way, was stamped using plaid background builder with grout gray ink.  A trio of kraft buttons and hemp thread add a finishing touch.

Thanks for stopping by!