Thursday, February 10, 2011

It's been a While...

since I last posted. I have been working on my children's treat boxes for Valentines Day! Yes, I do realize most of them will be tossed away but a few will be treasured more a day or two! LOL! I will be sharing these soon. I was asked to create two Valentine cards for my husbands friend/coworker. 
Today I will share :


I combined two different stamp sets to create these heart flowers one from Close To My Heart
called Treasures of the Heart  (long since retired) and The other from See D's called Love Grow's. 
I wanted to put a love sentiment on the card but I couldn't find the right spot.
Well thanks for stopping by & have a great evening!
 
Challenges:
Cute Card Thursday  Hearts & Flowers
My Time to Craft  Hearts and Flowers
Woodware USA  Ribbon or Bows
Die Cut Dreams  Lots of Hearts, no Sentiment
Stampin Sisters  Love no Sentiment
Paper Sundaes   2 or more Images
Basic Grey  Hearts

Saturday, February 5, 2011

More "Love" To Share

It's Saturday and I'll bet you ten dollars I'm still sleeping...I love sleeping in! Today I have a special card to share, why you ask?  Well, it's not the 6 x 6 I've grown accustomed to it's the 4.25 x 5.5.  I  also used most of  base of the card with a few punchy additions.  This is a technique I rarely use but I admire those who follow this creative path, it's almost like Feng Shui of card making. Any how enough jibber-jabber, here is my card using Card Positioning Systems sketch. Here is the sketch:


Here is my card with TGF retired Fly Away:
(if you click the image it looks way better)


I really am pleased with how this turned out & I hope you are as well. 
Have a wonderful rest of the day!
 
Challenges:
Polka Doodles  Hearts
Card Makin Mommas  Valentine
Simply Create  Give You Heart Away
Stampin' for the Weekend  Valentine
Raise The Bar  Hearts
Delightful Challenges  Flies/ or has wings
Stamp & Doodle  Valentine
Dutch Dare  Buttons
Craft Purple Frog  Valentines Day
Paper Play  Stamp it Out
Little Red Wagon  Kraft
Simon Says  Love is In The Air

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Pink Cat Studio Release!!!!

Happy Thursday!!! I want to share for those of you who are wondering it has been 14 days since my last intake of caffeine and I am alive to tell the tale! It really was a treacherous journey but things are looking brighter every day. Do you want to know what I have noticed about myself? I have way more tolerant  and less apt to blow a gasket about trivial matters. This is a good thing!

Now lets talk about The Pink Cat Studio new release Itty Bitty Betty Love:


Aren't these so cute!!!
                                     I used the sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketches :


I pulled out my Basic Gray Sugar Rush which screams Valentine to me to create this card using 
                      Itty Bitty Betty Pulling Heart Wagon.
Here is my card:


Don't they look so happy with their love filled wagon? Using stickers is a rarity but those red swirls had a predestined place on this card! By stamping  the UR onto the sentiment I felt it added some dimension & brought out the black matting.  Thank you for stopping bye and remember you can only get that cute Teddy Freebie today with a purchase!
Challenges:
Cooking It Up With Kate  Metal, Brown & 2 DP
Creative Cowgirls  Valentines Day
Lexi's Creation  Valentines
Tuesday Taggers  Feel the Lurve
My Time To Craft  Flourishes
Speedy Cat  Valentine
Paper Sundaes  Valentine

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Show Us Your Pleating!

Happy Wednesday to you! My children are elated that they continue to avoid school due to inclement weather...I just wish we could go somewhere! 

 This weeks challenge at YNS Challenges is "Pleating", now don't laugh however I had never attempted this technique before. I get pretty anal at times and I think I was worried this would have been one of those times! I got over it, & here is my card featuring Fairy Fhiona I think this is the first card I have created with this stamp (gasp I know!) this sweetie got lost in the shuffle but happily we were reunited!


OK nix the whole first time ever because while I was pulling up this photo I came across one other card I made many moons ago, yeah I am not a total rubber neglecter! LOL!
This color scheme eludes to blue skies and sunny days all the way, I have all but forgotten what those are.
Sigh....
Well I do hope you'll share your technique of pleating with us & thanks for stopping by! 
Oh don't forget we still have a Blog Hop going on over here , you have until midnight EST tonight for your change to win a fun prize!

Challenges:
Crafty Catz  Flowers
CES  Bold & Bright
Oldie But A Goodie  Fairies or other magical creatures
Papertake Weekly  Anything Goes + flower option
Desert Island  Must use at least 3 of the itinerary


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tuesday Takes


Wow this past two week just flew bye! Well It's that time again at Sketches in Thyme yep  it's
Tuesday Takes # 11. I want to show you February's prize remember the more you play along the more chances to win!

Can you Fun Fun Fun!

This week we have a fun sketch from Mojo Moday oh so many moons ago:

This sketch is so open to interpretation that is why I really enjoyed this one! My card is rather simple and forthright, however in all it's simplicity, I was able to toss in a bit of whimsy here &  there.


I decided to use a Lori Boyd image Lollipop Dylan.
  I also played along again with  By Lori Designs Challenge in hopes to win a digi here are the colors:
 I never seem to have enough male cards, I just seem to gravitate towards girlie card. I have decided to try to create at least on male oriented creation a week...only time will tell! Speaking of time it's time for bed so until next time...
Challenges:
Paper Playtime  Digi & Anything Goes
Crazy Challenge  Happy Birthday
Crafty Pad  Something for the Boys
Aly's Sunday  Guy Card
Polka Doodles  Party
Alphabet Challenge  M is for Men
AI Factory  For The Boys


Friday, January 28, 2011

YNS World Kids CHA New Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the Your Next Stamp CHA Release BLOG HOP!

We are so excited here at YNS because Karen has taken YNS to CHA for the very first time! That's right, as you're reading this Karen will be at Winter 2011 CHA at booth #4518! WOO-HOO!!

So to celebrate this event, YNS is releasing some fab new YNS stamps just in time for CHA. You may have already caught a sneak peek of some of them last week over at the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, but today you get to see all 9 World Kids stamps plus a fabulous new Celebrate Collection from HR Designs and 7 new mini stamps.

These new stamps are available to buy right now from the Your Next Stamp store along with all your YNS favourites.

Of course we couldn't let this release pass by without having a fun blog hop! We also have 4 fabulous guests joining us for our hop - the amazing Tori Wild, Cindy Haffner, Carole Burrage and Maylee Pham!

If you would like to participate in the hop and you didn't arrive here from Kerri'ss blog, please CLICK HERE to return to the start of the hop at Kerri's blog, as you don't want to miss these fab new releases!

The hop starts today (28 January 2011 at 08:00 EST) and ends on 2 February 2011 at midnight EST.

As always here at Your Next Stamp, we have a wonderful prize for you to win! One lucky winner will be drawn at random from the links in the linky list to receive their choice of 3 of the new World Kids stamps!

You will see that every stop along the hop has a linky list - this is the SAME linky list posted on every blog, so that you can enter the prize draw from any stop (although we hope you will visit all the blogs on today's hop!). The linky will update itself on everyone's blog when a link is entered - how cool is that? Please remember to only enter your name ONCE into the linky list during the hop - you do NOT need to enter your name at every stop and multiple entries will be removed. It's not a requirement for you to comment at every stop along the hop to be eligible to be entered into the prize draw, but the DT would sure love to hear what you think of their new release creations!

Karen is also running some special bundle promotions, so be sure to hop on over to the YNS store once you've finished the hop. If you order all 9 World Kids stamps in one bundle, you will save 15% over the cost of buying them individually!

So onto my blog hop creation! I have used  Boris from Russia for this card .....  


I found this great picture of St.Basil's Cathedral and  by filtering it on My Adobe Photoshop it looks more like a painting. Don't you love the cute Matryoshkas? When I was a child I always wanted a set of these, I loved they way you'd find another in another and so on. The sentiment says Live To Inspire because cultures and traditions are very inspirational.

I decided to created a dimensional creation for my next project using the Heather Rollins designed   Fancy Cupcakes:


I forgot all about this fun template for a basket until I saw these sweet cupcakes that is! I stamped the cupcake on craft as well as two pieces of scrap dp for the paper piecing. I added a bit of glitter and white accent paint for that extra boost.  My daughter is going to a Birthday party next weekend so we'll slip the gift card in here and there you go.

Here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:

Cindy Haffner {Guest DT}
Maylee Pham {Guest DT}
Tori Wild {Guest DT}
Carole Burrage {Guest DT}

So now it's time for you to hop on over to Chris Olsen's blog as she is the next stop on our hop, but I'd love it if you left me a comment before you go!

Thanks so much for hopping with us today! I hope you enjoy our new release!


Challenges:
Card:
Woodware USA  Anything Goes
Totally Paper Crafts  One For The Kiddies

Basket:
Crafty Sentiments  Favorite Things Girl Friday by Cosmo Cricket is my favorite paper ever!!!
Everybody Art Challenge  Favorite Thing
Cupcake Craft  Food For Thought
Scrappy Frogs  Hey Cupcake!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Life is a wonderland to be sure...

Happy Thursday!  I am just giddy about this new release at The Pink Cat Studio, Melissa created some amazing Alice in Wonderland digis!


Aren't these funtastic??? Check out the freebie with today's purchase, I say it's a must have! I created two cards this week First showcases dear sweet Lily as Alice :


I finally used this amazing embossing folder, I love all the different cogs. I pulled out my metallic rub on paints to draw out the texture as well as a nice metallic effect. 

:My second card highlights that must have freebie with today's purchase only, Stacked Tea Cups:


Did I tell you or Did I Tell You! This could be used for so many reasons, the possibilities are endless. Thanks for stopping by today and happy Shopping!

Challenges:
Card 1 :
Alphabet Challenge  L is for Ladies
Fairy Fun Fridays  Happy Birthday
Wee Memories  Open Theme
Craft Your Passion  2 Pattern Papers
My Time To Craft  Embossing
OLLC  3 of a kind
Southern Girls  Dry Embossing



 Card 2:
Deliciuos Doodles  Cheer up/ Get Well
Paper Cutz  Open
Crafty Pad  Girlie
Kaboodle Doodles  Bling it Up
Fab'n'Funky  Use A Digi
Do You Stack Up  Patterns
Paper Play  Layer it Up

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

God help me!

It's been 5 days since my last caffeine intake...my body is trying to trick me into thinking it's dying...everything hurts! I never new what a junkie I was. If you don't believe me stop drinking anything with the C in it at let me know how you are felling especially around day 3.  I almost threw up several times! The good news after 9 days your body is no longer addicted. NINE DAYS! Isn't nicotine only Seven days? Why am I doing this? About every other year I try to cleanse myself of this chemical but I think this is the last time. I am going to do everything possible to never go back...

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday Monday....

Yes it's definitely Monday and brrry cold ta-boot! We got loads of snow Saturday night so it's blinding bright outside. Time to bust out those shades in the winter! I have a card using the YNS image Fetch, which so so happens to be a fun warm weather activity enjoyed by everyone around here, two & four legged alike.


Well this is going to be a short post I must go out onto the bright cold world! 
 As Always thanks for stopping by!
Challenges:
Aly's Sunday Sketch  One for the Guys
All Sorts  Male/Boy
Crafty Purple Frog  Distressing
I Did It Creations  Card for A Child
Let's Ink It Up!  Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes  Distressing
Res-Q Challenge  Dry Embossing 
Fab'n'Funky  Animals


Friday, January 21, 2011

Some exciting YNS news!!!!

The end of January is shaping up to be a busy and exciting time for YNS ...

 

The first piece of extremely exciting news is that Your Next Stamp is going to be at Winter 2011 CHA in LA! WOO-HOO! The event runs from January 29th to February 1st and Karen will be promoting YNS at Booth #4518.

 
 

So with CHA in mind, Your Next Stamp will soon be welcoming some new friends to its little family with a fabulous YNS CHA New Release BLOG HOP on January 28th, so be sure to mark your calendars as you really won't want to miss this! But if you'd like a small sneaky peek of who is joining us, hop on over to the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog right now... and while you're there, why not enter the super fun contest to WIN a $25 gift certificate to spend on stamps at the YNS store!
 
 

And that's not all... Your Next Stamp now has a Facebook page!

We would love to invite you all to LIKE our YNS FB page so you can be the first to know about promotions, new releases, sales, competitions ... and there may even be the odd quick giveaway! We'd also love to see all your YNS creations, old and new, so why not upload them to our YNS FB wall.

To celebrate our YNS Facebook launch we have 2 special promotions:
 
1. We have a special 20% off discount code - hop on over to our FB page to grab it (discount ends Jan 31st).
2. We are holding a prize draw just for those of you who LIKE our page. Come on over and sign up by February 1st to be entered into the draw to WIN a $25 gift certificate to spend on stamps at the YNS store!!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Blobby is in love...

Hello & good morning to you! The Pink Cat Studio has new digi release this week but I do have a card I held back from two weeks ago showcasing  Blobby In Love.


By the looks of him, I'd say he's in pretty deep.
Thanks For Stopping By...
Challenges:
Simon Says  Bingo Gems, Flowers, Die Cuts
Tuesday Throwdown  Valentine
Mark's Finest  Hearts
Secret Saturday  With Love
Fresh Brewed  Love or Valentine's
Die Cut Dreams Use a Digi (Blobby) and rubber stamps (swirls on heart & sentiment)
Paper Playtime  Use the word "Love"


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Creating a Winter Scene but definitely wishing for Spring!


 Brrr....baby it's cold outside! I realize we have months to go but I am officially done with the cold! Well be as that may Your Next Stamp Challenges is to create a Winter Scene. Ice... I mean nice! I chose to use  Ellie Building A Snowman I love children playing in the snow, they look so cute when they come in with pink cheeks! My kids play outside often because they know they get hot cocoa as soon as they get in....Mmmm!
 Here is my Card:


We sure hope you get a chance to play along! Remember there are prizes for playing, 
 
1. Winner – one lucky winner will be chosen by random.org to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks (to spend on YNS stamps) and the Winner Blinkie to proudly display on their blog!

2. Top Pick – one lucky entry, chosen by the YNS DT, will win $5 in YNS Stamp Bucks (to spend on YNS stamps) and the Top Pick Blinkie to proudly display on their blog! [NB You must use a YNS stamp on your creation to be eligible to win the Top Pick prize].
If you are adding to SCS use YNS34. Thanks for stopping bye and stay warm!

Challenges:
My Time To Craft Spots and Dots
Simon Says Stamp & Show  Polka Dots
The Stamp Man  Distressing 
Everybody Art Challenge  Snow   
Scrap Creations   Winter Blast
Sentimental Sundays   Winter & Sentiment
Creative Stamp Friends Winter

I Did It!  Use Blue 
Fun at Fairy Knoll  Thank You 
Crafty Catz  Thank You 
Crazy4 Challenges  Thank You 
Douch Dare  Stitching 
Raise The Bar  Child Image

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday Takes # 9



Happy Tuesday!!! Today things will seem more "normal" as the kids will be back in school and the hubby back to work...
I want to say thank you ever so much for such a positive response to the  Sassy Saturday Tips, tricks & Tutorials. I am delighted you found this to be a resourceful tidbit!
We have a great new sketch at Sketches In Thyme this week courtesy of  Card Patterns, remember the sketch is just a guideline. You can rotate it, switch shapes, or whatever just as long as we can "see" the underlying form underneath. I love the anything goes (Let's Ink it Up ), (Stamp Something) (Pile it On) ) ( Ai Factory) quality of this sketch and how open it is for interpretation.


I really need some Male (One Stop Craft) (Paper Romance) oriented Birthday (Totally Papercrafts) (Sisterhood of Crafters)cards, so I substituted the flowers for explosions and robots using two different stamp sets: one from Technique Tuesday called Rocket Man & Space Cadet by See D's:


I have some new (My Partner in Crafting Crime) (Crafty Pad)brads (Anything Goes)  and decided the reddish orange would be a great addition to this card. So there you have it.
Remember by participating you'll get a chance at this months fantastic prize.
The lucky winner will be receiving this Lucky Girl Crafts prize pack. 



 Thanks for stopping and I hope you day is a blast!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Happy Sunday!!!

Is it just me or was this weekend gone at the blink of an eye? Speaking of which I created this birthday card  (Totally Papercrafts) in a matter of minutes if you don't count the coloring of Warm & toasty colors (FabN' Funky) I did a while back. I got the sketch from Midnight Madness:


Here is my card using this fun digi Miss Music from the Jammin Out Collection:



I followed the sketch as close as possible, even went with the Tag (Paper Cutz) & (Pixie Dust Studio) allowing some of the elements to Hang off the edges (Stamp Insanity). I found this fun little Metal (Crafty Chicks)charm that I have had Forever (Sassy Studio). Well that about wraps it up for tonight!Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Give that button a boost!


 Hello, br-t here for the Sketches In Thyme Sassy Saturday's Tips Tricks & Tutorials. Today I am going  to share a fun technique of embossing buttons!  I love buttons but sometime I need  textural boost so here is a gallery of how I go about creating it:

The supplies needed are pretty straight forward. If you don't own VersaMark, any pigment based ink should do.


 Firmly press desired side of button down onto ink pad.


 Place the button into the Embossing Powder...


making sure it's well coated. Heat with craft gun.


This is what it looks like after one coat of melted Embossing Powder. Repeat process 2-3 times until the EP sort of makes waves while heated up.


You can see here how it's pretty thick.  Have your desired stamp ready to go laying stamp face up and begin your final heating...


 ...immediately press onto the stamp and hold for a few seconds, the EP will cool rather quickly. Don't fret if you didn't heat the EP enough or press onto stamp hard enough just reheat and try again. You can also add another layer of EP.

Here is the result, but we're not done just yet!

I wanted to give my buttons a sort of "Shabby" look so I rubbed some white Acrylic paint onto the button and carefully wiped off the excess. You could get about a bazillion results just by changing the EP color, the stamp or paint!!!

What do you think?


Here is a card I created using buttons that underwent this fun little transformation. Well I hope you found this little tutorial useful and fun, have a super Saturday!  


 
Challenges:
 Frosted Designs  Use Paint
Digi's With Attitude  Green &  Black
Moving Along With The Times  Make your Dreams Come True
Cute Card Thursday  Monochrome
Tuesday Throwdown  Back ground Stamping (on black Panel)
Stamp Fairy  Layers & Buttons
Color Chef  Monochrome
AI Factory  Anything Goes
Paper Craft Journey  Digital image