Christmas Leslie

Happy Halloween - hope you all have/had a fun day! Since it's too late for anymore Halloween projects, I've got a Christmas card for you today:


I used the super cute Christmas Leslie and a sketch from Truly Scrumptious (the optional extra challenge is any or all: petals, pearls and pins - I could only fit petals on mine).

Leslie was colored mostly with Copics, but I did color her glasses with a red colored pencil (so I wouldn't have to worry about a red copic bleeding into her face) and I also did a bit of shading on her outfit with a black colored pencil. I added clear dimensional adhesive all over her glasses and a little white flocking on her hood trim then cut her out and popped her up with foam tape. You can see it better here:


The tree was paper pieced with green patterned paper and I added silver stickles to the star and bitty rhinestones for the ornaments. To finish it off, I added a bow of hand-dyed seam binding topped with a flower that I glittered up and a button with a twine bow. I also glittered the letter stickers. All the PP and the stickers are really old Basic Grey (Fruitcake line).

This is for the following challenges:

• Karber Christmas Challenge - Christmas card with a digi
• Papertake Weekly - Sparkly and Bright
• ABC Challenge - G is for Glitter
• Belli Challenge - Flocking or Flower Soft
• Delightful Sketches - Circles
• Bee Crafty - Christmas (& use a digi)
• Scrappy Saturday - Free for all

I hope you like it and TFL!

Trick or Treating with Tiddly Inks and Simply Betty Stamps

Whew! I barely finished this in time before the hop entries closed! Here's my card for the Simply Betty/Tiddly Inks joint blog hop:


I used the gorgeous Rio Digi image from Simply Betty and have her holding a pumpkin that was a freebie from the Tiddly Inks Paper Craft Planet group. I printed them using my laser printer and colored them with Copics. Although it looks like I just left her hair completely white, if you look very closely, you might be able to see that I actually colored/shaded it with my lightest Warm Grey copics (W00, W0 and W1). I cut them both out and used a craft knife to cut carefully around Rio's hand so I could slip the pumpkin underneath to look like she's actually holding it.

The bingo background paper is from the Lettering Delights Halloween Game Night graphic set and I made the medallion from some Halloween Bo Bunny paper cut into a scalloped strip using my long rectangle nesties. I topped it with a black button threaded with some fluffy black fibers. Lastly, I sewed all the way around the bingo card with a zigzag stitch.

This is also for the following challenges:

• Crazy 4 Challenges - Halloween
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - die cutting/punches
• Little Red Wagon - Halloween
• PaperPlay - "A haunting we will go"
• Pixie Dust Studio - Halloween with orange and black
• Daring Cardmakers - "Trick or treating"

Hope you like it and TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #28

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our theme was chosen by Chris and is to make a bookmark. I was pretty stumped on this one until one of my favorite quotes of all time popped into my head. I knew I had a stamp to match so I got to work and here's what I came up with:


Hee hee! Don't you just love that quote?! I used the Little Piggy font from Lettering Delights because I wanted something whimsical to go with the quote. After printing, I cut it out with a long rectangle Nestie and also cut the matching scalloped rectangle from 2 different patterned papers (The Pets Stack from DCWV). I sponged the white cardstock with Distress ink then sewed it onto one of the scalloped pieces. Then I colored a bit of grass with my Copics and set it aside to make my doggie.

I stamped Fhiona's Pet Dog (which is also available in the Fhiona's Pets and Fav Treats set), colored with Copics and cut out. Then I just glued him over the grass on the bookmark.

Next I glued the front panel to the other scalloped rectangle. For the top, I made my own reinforcement by first punching PP with a 1/4" hole punch, then punching around it with a 1/2" circle punch. I punched through the bookmark with a 1/4" hole punch, then glued the reinforcements around the holes on the front and back. I put a piece of brown twill through the hole and tied it off with some Cappuccino Baker's Twine.

Here's the back:


This is also for A Spoon Full of Sugar - die cutting/punches.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! 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!

Surprise Birthday Blog Hop!

Today we're having a Surprise Birthday Blog Hop for our super sweet Your Next Stamp "boss" Karen! If you've come from Simonne's blog, then you're on the right track, but if you've just happened upon my blog, you'll want to go back to her blog because Simonne has something just fabulous I know you'll want to see!

Here's my card:


I used the cute and fun Hula Hoop Fhiona and the Sketch For You To Try. I colored Fhiona with copics, then did just a bit of shading on her clothes with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

I wanted something special for this card, so I made my first accordion folded medallion. I used a piece of patterned paper 1/2" x 12" and folded every quarter inch. I glued glitter to all the tops of the folds, then added a button tied with embroidery floss.

I cut apart the "Have a Hoopy Birthday" sentiment and used my stamp positioner to get the 2 words lined up correctly, then cut them into a little flag and stuck it under the medallion. All the papers are from Echo Park.

Just a quick reminder - Karen's birthday sale is still going on, so don't forget to head over to the store after you're done hopping!

The next stop on the hop is Beth. When you've finished hopping, we'd love for you to stop by Karen's blog to wish her Happy Birthday! Thanks for joining us today!

Karen - Happy Birthday!! You are such a sweet and wonderful person and I'm so glad to know you!! I hope you have a most wonderful day!

Happy Haunting!

Today is my day to post over at our Paper Craft Planet group so I decided to keep going with the Halloween projects and came up with this card:


I used the Happy Haunting set and FTL #112 from Clean & Simple Stamping. I stamped the main image a few times and colored with a combo of Copics and Prismacolor colored pencils with odorless mineral spirits.

For the house, I played with Copic Creations' Colorless Blender Tricks challenge: first I colored the house with a couple of different cool grays, then I smushed my colorless blender all over to give the appearance of stones. Here's a close up of the house:


For the banner, I used Make the Cut to copy my MFT Banner Day Die, but altered the little topper to have a jagged edge instead of the scalloped edge of the Die. I also cut the letters with my Cricut and then sewed it all together.

This card is also for the following challenges:

• Stamp with Fun - Halloween
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Halloween
• Fab 'n' Funky - Halloween
• Creative Inspirations - Halloween/Fall
• Creative Inspirations (a different one!) - Spooky
• C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Spooky
• Dutch Dare - Halloween

I hope you like it!

In case you don't already know, Karen's birthday is coming up on Monday, so she's having a big sale to celebrate! You can check out the sale items HERE, and while you're in the store, check out the embellishments section to get some great items at 10% off! And last, but definitely not least, YNS now carries Twinkling H2o paints so be sure to check them out as well! Thanks for stopping by!

Trick or Treat!

I have another Halloween project for you today - I decided to make a little matchbox candy holder with a surprise! Here's the outside of the box, top view:


I used Send Me A Sign Bugg, altering her a bit for Halloween! Using Photoshop Elements 8, I erased out the solid white portion of her dress and layered a spider web design behind it (the web was a freebie from the Tiddly Paper Craft Planet group), then I added a sentiment with a little hanging spider. The font is SNF Goody and the spider is from DB Boo Ya.

I colored her with Copics, Stickled her wings, and added a few rhinestones also colored with Copics. Lastly she was cut out and mounted with foam boosters.

Down at the bottom you can see there's a handle to pull the drawer out, and here's what the front of the handle looks like:


I cut out a bone from DB Boo Ya 2 times with my Cricut and glued them together for strength. Then I fashioned a handle from a thin strip of black cardstock and glued the bone to the front.

And here's the surprise on the inside: a little ghost pops out when you open the drawer!

I have to admit that the idea wasn't mine - I came across a pop-up match box while blog surfing!

I cut out a ghost also from DB Boo Ya (love this font!) 3 times, putting 1 through the printer to get the "boo!" on the bottom (also using SNF Goody), then glued all 3 together. Since it's going to be repeatedly shoved into the box, I wanted it to be really strong. Next I cut a strip of acetate 5" x .5" and scored it every half inch. I accordian folded it to make the pop-up mechanism and glued it into the box bottom and to the back of the ghost.

The whole thing was designed in Make the Cut. I also designed the divider to hold the 2 pieces of candy away from the pop-up portion.

This project is for the following challenges:

• Tiddly Inks Challenge - Anything Halloween
• Digi Tuesday Challenge - Sew Special (stitching with a digi)
• Stampin' for the Weekend - Halloween/Fall
• Stamp Something - Halloween Somethings
• Bee Crafty - Halloween (and use a digi)
• One Stop Craft Challenge - Halloween
• Cupcake Inspiration - I was inspired by the Halloween theme and I used a ghost in my box)

I hope you like it and TFL!

October Friends of WMS Blog Waltz

Hey everybody! I'm so excited to be playing in my first Friends of Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz! This month the theme is Autumn/Harvest creations. If you'd like to check out all the participating blogs, you can find the links HERE.

For my project I decided to do another luminaria like the one I did last year.

The embellishing on the opposite sides is the same. Here's one design:


And the other design:


I redid the file with Make the Cut, adjusting the oval cut out to fit with the stamp I used from Very Vintage Labels No. 4. I stamped the image 4 times, cut them all out with the corresponding Nesties die, and hand cut out the insides of each. I inked all the inside and outside edges of each piece, glued a little leaf print vellum to the backs and added glitter over the thin outer line of the image.

I glued all the images to the box base and then did all the embellishing. The flowers are from Prima and I added a flattened bead cap sprayed with Memories Mist (so they wouldn't be so bright silver) and a 1/4" brown cardstock punch to each. The leaves are also Prima, the branch punch is McGill and the bitty rhinestones are from eBay. For the other side, I hand dyed seam binding with several colors of Distress reinkers and added a button tied with rustic twine.

I also changed the cutting file so that I could use 2 sheets of this 6x6 patterned paper I really like that I found in my stash. The final alteration was an insert I made to hold the votive candle in place. It keeps the candle right in the center of the box even if you move it around. You can see it here:



Here's how it looks with the candle turned on:


Other Challenges:

• Our Creative Corner - Use at least 3 different embellishments
• Crazy 4 Challenges - Fall/Autumn
• Allsorts - Bingo (I used buttons, flowers, mist/stickles)
• ABC Challenge - F is for Flowers
• Pixie Dust Studio - Fall into Fall
• Stampin' B's - Fall Colors
• Kaboodle Doodles - Fall colors

I hope you like it and have fun with the rest of the Waltz!

YNS Surprise Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Your Next Stamp SURPRISE BLOG HOP! If you didn't arrive here from Chris' blog, please CLICK HERE to go to Karen's blog and begin hopping! The hop starts today (Friday, October 15th at 9:00 EST) and ends on Sunday, October 17th at midnight (EST).

So what's this surprise hop about? Well....if you've popped by any of the YNS DT's blogs this week, you may have read our posts about today's very special hop showcasing a VERY special, NEW and EXCLUSIVE YNS stamp! The DT have been "in the know" about a secret project involving YNS and ScrapFest for a little while, and now the day has finally come when we can officially announce the proud news that Karen was approached by Lisa (owner of ScrapFest in Ontario) to design an exclusive YNS stamp for this autumn's ScrapFest (October 15-16, 2010) - YAY!!

Here's my project using this adorable stamp (a little sticky note holder):



This stamp will be available to buy from the Your Next Stamp booth at ScrapFest Ontario, but fear not if you can't get along to ScrapFest as Karen is also selling this fabulous stamp in the YNS online store!! IMPORTANT: This stamp will only be available to buy online for the duration of ScrapFest, so do not delay in placing your order! As it is only available for a very limited time, Karen is offering the stamp at a very special price of $6 with FREE SHIPPING*!! (* Free shipping only applies to the ScrapFest stamp. If you include other items in your order, you will be charged shipping accordingly).

If you are able to attend ScrapFest this weekend, don't forget to print out this voucher and take it along to the YNS booth to receive 10% off your purchase of YNS stamps:


(Click on the voucher to open it in new window ready for printing)

Now you can continue on by hopping to Beth's blog. Be sure to complete the hop as we have a prize draw at the end where you can enter to win one of these gorgeous and exclusive YNS ScrapFest stamps. [If you purchase one of these stamps and then find you are the lucky winner of the prize draw, you will be given a $6 gift certificate to spend at the store instead.] The lucky winner will be randomly chosen on Monday, October 18th.


Thanks for hopping with us today!

Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge

Your Next Stamp is sponsoring the Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge (create a Halloween themed card or treat bag) and I was lucky enough to get to play along with their DT! They generously sent me a whole package of different ribbons and I picked 3 to use with my treat bag. Here it is:


I know you can tell the jute string on the top is one of them, but what about the other 2? Of course the only other possibilities are the pumpkins and their leaves! I just cut 2 pumpkins off the string, colored the stems with a brown Copic marker, and glued a single leaf to the back of each. I think they're such cute little embellishments!!

BTW, did you also notice anything interesting about the stamp I used? Recognize it as another alteration of Easter Bunny Fhiona?


I altered her once before and had such fun that I knew I had to try it again! I stamped Fhiona, colored her with Copics and cut her out, leaving off the bunny ears and basket. Then I just drew a simple pair of cat ears, colored and cut them out and stuck them on the back of her head. To really make her into a cat, I cut little bits of black sewing thread and glued them to her face for whiskers.

Here's a close shot so you can see her a little better:


Final details - I created the bag with the Make the Cut software and the grass on the bottom was made with a Die-Namics die from My Favorite Things.

This is also for the following challenges:

• Cupcake Craft Challenges - "Scary Creatures" (cute or scary Halloween image)
• Tuesday Morning Sketches - treats and packaging
• Little Red Wagon - something old/something new (old - eyelets and Easter Fhiona stamp, new - treat bag file and all the ribbon!)
• Charisma Cardz - More than one fold (my bag has lots of folds!)

We'd love for you to play along! You could win a $10 gift certificate for YNS or Really Reasonable Ribbon! Please see their challenge post for all the details. TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #27

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! Before I get to it though, I wanted to make sure you all saw this post on Karen's blog - a very interesting read!

This time around, our challenge was chosen by Beth and is "Nicely Negative" - stamp your image using white ink on black or other dark cardstock. Check out the Challenge Blog for lots of awesome samples and ideas on different ways to get the look!

Here's my card outside:


I used the Happy Halloween Fhiona set and a sketch from Taylored Expressions.

I stamped the skull image with Papertrey's white ink on a piece of black patterned paper, let dry thoroughly and cut it out with a rectangle Nestie. All the paper edges were distressed with the edge of my scissors and I also sponged a little white ink on them as well. The spider strip was cut from another piece of PP and the border was done with a Martha Stewart punch. I cut the BOO letters with my Cricut and covered them all with black Stickles.

Here's the inside, part 1:


I got the idea for the framed pop up from an *awesome* blog I recently came across called Extreme Cards and Papercrafts. You all really need to check it out. Seriously.

The Haunted House is from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and the bats are from the Doodlebat font Boo Ya. I brought the house image into Make the Cut and did all my designing there (did I mention how much I LOVE this software?!). After I cut out the pop up piece, I stamped the sentiment from the same set in white ink and used a little bit of sponge to smear it around a little. I also smeared white ink all over the rest of the piece too to look like a cloudy, misty night. The hanging bat has yellow Stickled eyes and is hanging by a bit of black sewing thread.

And finally, the inside, part 2:


I just did a zig zag stitch all the way around, distressed the edges and stamped the little spider. The final touch was to add black brads in all the corners to hide the wonky stitching there.

Other challenges:

• Charisma Cardz - Autumn Colors
• Secret Crafter - distressing
• Scrappy Saturday - Halloween
• Bitten by the Bug 2 - 3D Haunted House from Happy Hauntings cart or other haunted house
• Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Make it 3D

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! 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!

Coffee Leslie

Hey all! I have a card featuring a company that I just recently found out about called Karber Digital Images. They have the cutest little girl digi stamps! My fave is definitely Leslie (I love that she wears glasses like me!), but I also heart Millie, Jenny and Layla too! I used to not be much of a digi stamp fan, but it's companies like this that are quickly converting me!

Since I'm using a Karber image, I decided to play in their Weekly Challenge, which is to Go Digital. Here's my card:


I printed Leslie out and colored her with Copics. Her mug is paper pieced with a little bit of scrap left over after I cut out the frame. I also cut out extra little steam puffs and hands to layer over the mug for realism. As you can see from the glare, I covered her glasses with clear dimensional adhesive.

For the frame, I imported the Snwflake design from the Lacy Labels cartridge into Make the Cut, and reconstructed the innermost frame so that it wouldn't have all the attached snowflakes (I just wanted a plain inner frame). Then I cut all the pieces with my Cricut and glittered the pink inner frame. You might not be able to tell, but I glued the piece that Leslie's on directly to the background paper, and then the frame is popped up with foam tape. Leslie is also attached to the background with a bit of foam tape.

Lastly, I cut out 3 snowflakes each from Doodlebug Sugar Coated cardstock and clear acetate. I layered them together, poked holes, and tied them together with a little Timeless Twine.

Here's a close shot so you can how nicely the Cricut cut out these delicate snowflakes (I was impressed that it handled the acetate so well!):



The patterned paper is really old Love, Elsie paper and the sentiment is from Papertrey.

This card is also for the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches - sketch
• Digital Tuesday - use any or all of ribbon, buttons, and bling (I chose bling in the form of glitter)
• A Spoon Full of Sugar - Sparkle and Shine
• Fab 'n' Funky - use a digi image
• Cute Card Thursday - Make Your Own (I made all the snowflake 'bellies)

I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS Christmas New Release Blog Hop!

Hello everybody! Thanks for joining us for another fun and fabulous Your Next Stamp Blog Hop! YNS just released over 25 new holiday images so the Starlets (and our awesome guest designers!) have whipped up some eye candy using many of the new images.

If you came here by way of Jenny's blog, then you're on the right track! If not, please go back and start at Crystal's blog because you won't want to miss a stop! Not only are there amazing projects for you to drool over, but there are also super prizes!! At the very end of the hop, there will be a chance to win the grand prize surprise new release package. BUT don't go directly there yet because there are also several stops on the hop with mini candy draws - you'll have to keep hopping to find them all!

By the way, there's also a 15% off sale during the duration of the hop so you'll be able to go shopping for all these new releases, and other stuff too if you'd like!

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

For my first project, I have a card using the adorable Merry Mouse Eve:


I stamped the image on white cardstock and colored with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits. Next I masked off the image and airbrushed the background with Copic markers. My last marker spit big spots in areas so I decided to cover them up by sewing on seed beads everywhere to represent falling snow.

The background was embossed with a Spellbinders snowflake plate and then I attached tiny snowflake punches with sewn seed bead centers. Finally I added some white satin ribbon and some hand dyed seam binding.

For my second project, as soon as I saw the little Christmas lights in the Light up the Holidays set from our new designer Heather, I had an idea to do a fireplace strung with a garland and lights and after many hours of designing with Make the Cut, I came up with this:


It's basically a box that opens at the top so you can stick a battery powered tea light candle in to light it up. There's an insert in there so that the light stays right behind the fire even if you move the fireplace. I also designed a stencil to sponge all the bricks on and I even designed the little fire!

For the garland, I just punched out the little fern from a few different shades of green cardstock, and then hit them with a little green ink on a stencil brush so they weren't so flat green. To get them in the garland shape, I actually stamped the larger light string from the set, then just cut around the "string" to get a base to glue on my fern branches. Then I stamped the little lights twice, colored eight of them with Copics, cut them out and covered just the bulb portions with clear dimensional adhesive. Finally I glued the lights behind the garland and added 2 little bows of red baker's twine.

Here's a shot so you can get an idea of what it looks like with the tea light on:


I hope you liked my projects and thanks for hopping along with us! Your next stop is our incredibly talented October Guest Designer Tori.

YNS Sneak Peek

Welcome to my installment of Day 2 of the sneak peeks leading up to our fabulous Holiday Release on October 7!

Here's my card:


I used the super cute Fhiona's Gingerbread House, stamped in white on kraft cardstock. Then I embellished the side with a bit of punched and machine stitched patterned paper and some hand dyed seam binding tied with a button and Timeless Twine. I also added on a gingerbread man charm with a bit more of the same twine. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

This card is also for Charisma Cardz - Christmas Crafting.

Don't forget to check out all of the sneak peek yumminess going on today:

Karen
Chris
Kerri
Linda

TFL and I hope to see you back on October 7!