Just swimming by…

Hi all!  I have another card for you today!  I really wanted to play along with the Some Odd Girl Gatefold challenge and it’s due today so that’s why I have another post:

And the inside:

I used the adorable MerMae and sentiments from Just Swimming By Mermaid and Happy Days Mermaid (happy fishy wishes) from Your Next Stamp.  MerMae was colored with Copics and I did just a touch of shading with a dark gray Prismacolor pencil.  The papers are from Echo Park’s For the Record 2 Documented paper pad and the twine is Denim from The Twinery.

This is also for the following challenges:

• Challenge Up Your Life – fantasy
• Allsorts – inspired by a song (I was inspired by “Under the Sea” from Disney’s Little Mermaid)
• MarkerPop – color something
• Stampin' for the Weekend – Feeling Floral

I hope you like it and TFL!

Fairy Chloe

Today I actually have a non-Valentine's card for you! lol!


This was made for the Farm Fresh challenge - have some dimension in your project. I used Fairy Chloe (I used the old rubber version, but now she's available in the Fairy Princess clear set from The Greeting Farm.

I stamped her on acetate for her wings and Stickled the back. The next layer is Chloe without her wings, then extra hair on top of her head and a paper pieced dress that is popped up on the bottom. Here's a shot to show all that dimension:


This is also for the Day 3 sketch at Card Positioning Systems and Charisma Cardz - Things with Wings. I hope you like it and TFL!

With Love Sprinkled on Top

Can you believe I have another card for you today? :)


I used Send Me a Sign Bugg along with a cupcake and sentiment from the Happy Bugg and Extras set, both from Tiddly Inks and a sketch from Card Positioning Systems.

I colored the Bugg with Copics, paper pieced her sign, hat and dress, and Stickled her wings. The twill is from my stash and the baker's twine is from Timeless Twine (which I tea-dyed). Finally, I added a little pearl heart to the top of the cupcake on her dress. Here's a close shot of one of my fave Buggs:



This is also for:

• Tiddly Inks - Valentine's
• Divas by Design - Anything Goes
• Daring Cardmakers - Pink and Red
• Allsorts - One or more hearts (I have the heart pearl on the cupcake)
• Creative Card Crew - Fantasy Creatures
• My Time to Craft - A is for Adorable

I hope you like it and TFL!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #41

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Crystal and our challenge is "So Charming" - use a charm on your creation.

Here's my card:


This card may look a little familiar because I did one very similar using the same rose and sentiment from the Garden Greetings set, and also using Copics on Kraft cardstock. I really loved that look so I decided to try it again using a range of 4 pink and 4 green markers. The charm is one I got a while back from eBay and I tied a tiny silk ribbon bow for the top.

The sketch is from Card Positioning Systems.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win this fun rubber stamp: Skateboard Dude


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!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #40

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Chris and she wants to see texture on our projects - "Use at least 1 texture (eg stitching / dry embossing / heat embossing / ribbon / raffia / hemp / felt etc.)." Here's what I came up with:


I used the new A Good Friend set and FTL #135 from Clean & Simple Stamping. I didn't realize these colors would be so hard to photograph - please excuse how weird they look!

I tried to use a bunch of different textures: heat embossing for the bag, dry embossing on the pink background cardstock, Strawberry Cupcake Trendy Twine for the bag handles, tissue paper in the bag, a rose I handmade from Prima flowers and a pearl on the bag center, distressing on the piece edges, and a bunch of machine stitching. Whew! That's a lot of texture!

And because the sentiment has a second part, I had to decorate the inside as well:


We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will win this fun set: Football Dude

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!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #38

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Wendy and she has challenged us to "Make It Sparkle" - use anything to add some sparkle to your project. One of my favorite images to sparkle up is Fairy Fhiona and I decided to use the mini version this time:


I got the idea for my project from this week's C.R.A.F.T. Challenge, which is to make a doorhanger. I wanted a fun shape for my hanger, so I used the Heart and Scalloped Heart Nestabilities. Mini Fairy Fhi was colored with Copics and her wings Stickled, then she was cut out and popped up on foam boosters.

The letter diecuts are Quickutz and the twine is from Timeless Twine. The colors (Lemony Yellow and Plum Purple) were just a bit too bright for my papers so I just sponged the twine with some Distress Ink and it toned them down perfectly! I twisted the two colors together to form the hanger and then also used them both to tie a bow through the button. Here's a close shot:


This is also for the following challenges:

• Cupcake Craft - anything you'd find up in the air (like a fairy)
• Wild Orchid - die cuts and/or punches
• Going Grey - anything goes
• KB Cute Monday - fantasy

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!

Be Happy

Today is my day to post on the YNS Facebook page so I have some YNS fun for you!

This week YNS is sponsoring the Etsy Inspired Challenge and have chosen the Etsy shop Claylicious. I had so much fun looking through all the fabulous clay creations and knew right away that I had to take inspiration from one of the fun plates. I picked this cute Be Happy plate:


You can see that I did a pretty literal take on it:


I used Asha from India and a sketch from Mojo Monday (I took out the 3 round elements on the top right because my patterned paper is so busy). Asha's dress was paper pieced and the rest of her was colored with Copics, then cut out and popped up on foam boosters. I added a Prima flower with a brad over the stamped flower in her hair and a tiny red rhinestone for her bindi. The butterfly is also paper pieced and I added a bit of wire for its antennae.

The ribbon is hand dyed seam binding that I hand pleated and stuck down with double sided tape. Finally, the sentiment was done with Just Rite alpha stamps.

I hope you like it and that you'll come by our FB page to see what other eye candy has been posted by the DT! TFL!

Some Odd Elements

I found a little mojo to play along with another Some Odd Girl anniversary challenge - yay! This time I chose the Some Odd Elements challenge where you have to pick at least 3 things from the list to incorporate into your card. I chose Shaped card, Embossing, and Orange and came up with this:


I used the super cute Tiny Tia Bow and a computer generated sentiment using the LD Little Piggy font. After printing, I taped down the Nestabilities die where I wanted it and ran it through my machine. Then I embossed it with the Swiss Dots folder.

Tia was printed at about 3" tall and colored with Copics and colored pencils/odorless mineral spirits. Finally she was attached with foam boosters.

This card is also for the following challenges:

• My Time to Craft - Spots and Dots
• Stamp Something - Cute Somethings
• Scrappy Saturday - Anything goes

I hope you like it and TFL!

Penguin Buds

Today is my day to post on the YNS Paper Craft Planet group and here's what I came up with:


I used the super cute Penguin Buds stamp and FTL#118 from Clean & Simple Stamping.

The buds were colored with Copics and colored pencils, cut out and popped up on foam boosters. For the sentiment, I diecut the COOL letters out of the same snowflake paper as the background and covered them with glitter. The rest of the letters were stamped with a JustRite alpha set and cut out freehand.

This card is also for Top Tip Tuesday - Anything goes. I hope you like it and that you'll come by the PCP group to see what other eye candy has been posted by the DT! TFL!

Cold Kaylee Tent Card

I have a non-DT card to share today! I used a super cute image called Cold Kaylee from Some Odd Girl:


(Sorry for the poor lighting - I had to position my light funny so all the glitter and snowflakes would show up!)

I made a tent card for the Some Odd Challenge - Window Cards. I used a Just Rite border stamp to make the snowflakes on the scalloped piece (embossed with holographic powder), and then sewed a white seed bead to the center of each. The centers of all the layers were cut out with a circle Nestie and the snowflake hanging in the center is an old Sizzix die. I stamped the JOY with a Just Rite alpha set and cut them each out individually before gluing them to the snowflake.

Here's an angled shot of the card so you can see the tent part and how the snowflake is suspended in the opening:


And here's a close shot of Kaylee:


This is also for Copic Creations - Shading your paper pieced pieces. I do this a lot so it was a fun challenge for me! You can see that I paper pieced her hat, scarf, jacket and shoes and did some shading on all the pieces with my Copics.

To finish her off, I made a tiny felt rosette for her hat, flocked her jacket cuffs and tops of her boots, and added fringe to her scarf with some of the new Olive Green Timeless Twine. You know I already love using Timeless Twine and the owner, Stacy, sent me spools of her gorgeous new holiday colors to make things to share with you! So be on the lookout for lots more twine!

This card is also for Stampin' for the Weekend - Winter, and One Stop - Christmas Cuties. I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS November New Release Hop!

Welcome to the Your Next Stamp November New Release BLOG HOP! We've got some fabulous new YNS stamps to showcase today! These new stamps are available to buy right now from the Your Next Stamp store along with all your YNS favourites. We also have 2 wonderful guests joining us for our hop - the amazing Jen del Muro, and our November YNS Guest Designer Kerry Urbatch. Welcome girls!

I'm the first stop on the hop so I'd like to invite you to please take some time to join us as you don't want to miss these fab new releases!

The hop starts today (Thursday, November 18, at 03:00 EST) and ends on Saturday, November 20, 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 comments at Karen's blog to receive a new release stamp package. It's not a requirement for you to comment at every stop along the hop to be eligible, but the DT would sure love to hear what you think of their new release creations!

Not only is Karen offering an amazing hop prize, she's also holding a special 20% OFF YOUR ORDER sale which is running for an entire week (from today until November 25 at midnight EST)! Be sure to enter the code YNSNOV when checking out at Your Next Stamp to receive your 20% discount!

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

For my first project, I have a card:


I used the new stamp Football Dude (it comes with the sentiment!) and Jen's Sketch For You To Try. I wanted to base him on the University of Hawaii home uniforms (black and green) and I was lucky enough to find this green star paper in my stash! When I looked at pics of the uniforms online, they had a lot more black, so I took some creative license and gave him a little more green.

I paper pieced his helmet and jersey with the green star paper and colored the stripes with a black Copic. I added an extra faceguard to the helmet for dimension, and also an extra ball (paper pieced on brown cardstock) and gloves. You can see the dimension better in this pic:


Final touches: I cut a star out of acetate using a Nesties die, edged it with black Stickles, and tied a black button in the center. All the PP edges were distressed and I freehand cut the sentiment pieces and their black cardstock mats.

For my second project, I have a little altered clothespin magnet:


I stamped Mini Snowman (which also comes full sized), colored with Copics, shaded with colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits, then cut out with a circle Nestie. I did a spotted background with Copics, and sewed bitty seed beads all around the circle using a strand of iridescent tinsel as thread. For the base, I cut 1 scalloped circle from patterned paper and 2 from white cardstock and glued them all together to make it stronger.

For the clothespin, I used pliers to take it apart and painted the wood with white acrylic paint. I glued strips of patterned paper to both sides and sanded down the edges flush with the wood. I then put the pin back together and glued the snowman to the front and a magnet to the back.

Here's the back (I like it with the PP, but of course you could just leave it painted white):


So now it's time for you to hop on over to our totally awesome guest, Jen del Muro, as she is the next stop on our hop, but I'd love it if you left me a comment before you go!

Also, I'd just like to remind you all about our current YNS Challenge chosen by the wonderful Crystal! It ends on Tuesday, November 23, so you still have plenty of time to join in! The challenge is extra special as we are being co-sponsored by Really Reasonable Ribbon, so why not stop in at the YNS Challenge blog and join in!

Thanks so much for hopping with us today! We hope you enjoy all of our creations!

Your Next Stamp Challenge #29

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! Before I get to the theme, I have a bit of news: we're being co-sponsored by Really Reasonable Ribbon!! They have an awesome selection, so please do check them out! They're also giving away a $10 gift certificate to a random winner, so there's extra incentive to play along with us!

This time our theme was chosen by Crystal and she wants us to "YNS it!" Choose at least two of the following - Yellow, Nesties, and/or Stickles.

I wanted to do a Christmas card so I chose Nesties and Stickles and here's what I came up with:


I used the fun Holiday Stockings set and a sketch from Waltzingmouse. I stamped all the stockings on a piece of patterned paper and also on white cardstock. I cut the accent pieces from the cardstock and glued them over the PP versions and flocked them. The green parts were colored with colored pencils and I Stickled the trees and snowflake.

Since not everyone has a fireplace, I wanted to show some other way to hang stockings in your house. While browsing around the 'net, I found these cute star wall pegs and thought they'd be cute for hanging my little stockings:


I cut the stars out with my star Nesties (the smaller ones were actually cut with the dies and I traced and hand cut the larger size), then inked and Stickled the edges and "hung" the stockings with mini brads for the pegs.

To finish the card, I cut a card base with my Nesties and added a bow of hand-dyed seam binding and a Making Memories rub on.

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks and one other will win $10 from Really Reasonable Ribbon!! 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, Karen will choose one 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!

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!

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!

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.

"Tool" Cool

In case you don't already know, on the weeks in between when the new challenges are revealed, the YNS DT will be posting cards in our Paper Craft Planet group. So make sure to drop in for more YNS inspiration!

My day is Thursday, and here's the card I've posted:


I used the Little Helper Fhinn set and a computer generated sentiment using the LD Little Piggy font.

Fhinn and all the tools were stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance ink and colored with Copics. I cut Fhinn out with a circle Nestie and the tools were fussy cut with a thin white border and popped up on foam tape. The sketch is from Sunday Sketch and Stamp and the papers are from the really old What's New Club collection from A2Z.

Other challenges:

• Color Me Copic - use Amy's straight hair coloring technique
• Lollipop Crafts - All About Boys
• ABC Challenge - distressing

I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS Fall into Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to the Your Next Stamp "Fall into Halloween" BLOG HOP! I'm sure you've guessed from the title that we're showcasing some fabulous new YNS Fall and Halloween stamps today! These new stamps are available to buy right now from the Your Next Stamp store along with all your YNS favorites.

Not only do we have a fantastic blog hop for you, but today is also the official start of the new YNS DT term! AND it's also a YNS Challenge day too, so we've combined our hop creations with our YNS Challenge #24 creations! Although the DT have used Fall and Halloween stamps, the theme for this challenge is "Anything Goes!"

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

The hop starts today (Wednesday, September 1st at 03:00 EST) and ends on Monday, September 6th at midnight EST.

As always, here at Your Next Stamp, we have some wonderful prizes for you to win! Two lucky winners will be drawn at random to each receive a new release stamp package, but please make sure you comment at every stop along the hop to be eligible to be entered into the draw. We'd love you to join us over at our new Paper Craft Planet (PCP) Group, and so as an added incentive, anyone that becomes a member of our YNS PCP Group will automatically receive a second entry into the blog hop grand prize draw! How great is that? (It's free and easy to join PCP by the way!)

Not only is Karen offering two amazing prizes, she's also going to include a free surprise gift with every order placed at Your Next Stamp during the hop! And that's not all! If you join our YNS Group over at PCP, you'll also be personally emailed an exclusive PCP-YNS-Group-only YNS store discount code! Whew! That was a lot of info - I hope you got it all!

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

I got to work with the super cute Fhiona's Squirrel Friend set. It comes with an adorable squirrel holding an acorn, a separate acorn, and 3 different leaves!

I went a little nuts (hardy har!) with the set and made 3 different cards! The first idea that popped into my head when I saw the set was to make a wreath out of the leaves:


I stamped the leaves a bunch of times on a few different patterned papers and cut them out. I then crumpled up all the leaves and then opened them up without smoothing them too much for texture. I also stamped the acorn a few times on brown cardstock and colored the tops with a brown Copic marker. I then used 2 circle Nesties to cut a ring of kraft cardstock to give me a base for the wreath and then glued the leaves and acorns on. I added a little bow of rustic twine, then stuck the wreath to the kraft base with foam boosters. Finally I stamped a sentiment from Papertrey Ink and added a couple little gemstones.

For my second card, I just had to use the squirrel:



I stamped him right on the kraft base and gave him a little shadow with a W-1 Copic marker. For the leaf border, I masked the area with sticky notes then stamped the leaves and acorn all across. Next I punched holes and hand sewed the rustic twine on either side, knotting the ends on the front for fun. I added two super skinny scalloped strips on either side and a rub on sentiment.

I loved the look of my second card so much, I did another project with all the same materials, but this time I made a gift holder card shaped like a tote bag:


A little shot of the inside to show it really does hold a gift card:


I designed the card myself with my new favorite Make the Cut software and cut it out with my Cricut. The little tag is a Quickutz die and I did the sentiment with a little alpha set from Papertrey.

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

So Sweets!

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! This time our hostess is Kerri and she challenged us to use "Bold, bright Summery colours."

Here's my card:


One of the boldest, brightest paper pads I have is this one from K&Co. I thought the papers went perfectly with the candy images from Hula Hoop Fhiona. I paper pieced the 3 candies with 3 different patterns and cut them out, popping them up with punches of scrap cardstock. I also did a tiny bit of coloring on them with Copics and a white colored pencil. I glittered all the edges of the focal panel and popped it up with foam boosters, then did a straight stitch 2 times around the patterned paper.

The sketch is from Get Sketchy. I wrapped pink and green Timeless Twine around the card and placed a bow where the sentiment was supposed to be (my sentiment just wouldn't fit there!). I then placed my sentiment at the bottom. It's from the Ellie's Berry Basket set.

Other challenges:

• Allsorts - paper piercing or paper piecing
• My Time to Craft - Glitter & Glitz

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!

What did Lala take to the beach?

Welcome to my stop on the mini hop for Day 6 of La-La's Birthday Beach Bash! I hope you're having fun hopping along with us every day! If you came here from 1LuvnMama's blog, then you're on the right track. But if you just happened across my blog, you'll want to start at the La-La Land Crafts blog because there's a great prize to be won for playing our game! We also have mystery party favors to give away so be sure to comment on all the hop posts to increase your chances of winning!

Here's my card for you today:


As you already know, today we're playing "What did Lala take to the beach?" Although I do have a Lala card for you, it's not the right Lala!! You'll just have to keep hopping to find her and see what she took to the beach!

In case you'd like to know more about my card, here you go: I stamped Mermaid Lala, colored most of her with Copics, then cut her out. I paper pieced the shell in her hair, her top and her tail. Next I shaded her tail with a combo of Copics and colored pencil (I used the pencil to make the thin shading lines on her tail - it's way easier than trying to make really thin lines with my Copics). I then glued all the pieces on Lala and Stickled them all as well. Lastly I glued on micro half pearls for her necklace.

The sun was cut out with a Nesties die and the waves with a die from The Cat's Pajamas. I sanded the edges of the sun and waves and also ran my scissors along the straight edges of the wave pieces. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and was curved on the acrylic block to fit around the sun.

This week's CAS-Tastic challenge is to CASE one of the DT member's cards. I picked Maylee's card and followed it pretty closely except for flipping it and my sentiment only goes part way around the circle (you can see Maylee's card at the above link).

This card is also for the following challenges:

• Stamptacular - "Out of this world" (something you wouldn't really see here on Earth - like a mermaid!)
• Cupcake Craft - distressing
• Delightful Challenges - distressing
• Dutch Dare - anything goes
• Creative Card Crew - Cute and Girly

Your next stop is Sue's blog. Thanks for hopping with me!

La-La Land's Beach Ball Game

Hi everybody! Welcome to my stop on the mini hop for today! If you came here from 1LuvnMama's blog, then you're on the right track. But if you just happened across my blog, then you'll want to go back and start at the La-La Land Crafts blog because there are fab prizes to be won!

Today we're playing the Beach Ball Game: Count the number of beach balls on each card (watermarks or other beach balls, if in the stamp itself) and leave your answer (total of all beach balls that you found) back at the La-La Land Crafts blog. Here's my card:


I used Sitting Pretty Rosie and a sketch from Crazy 4 Challenges. Rosie's dress was paper pieced with a cool bit of tropical print paper (it was actually a tag that matched the paper line) and the rest of her was colored with Copics. I actually made those little paper roses with an EK success punch and the sentiment (Papertrey Ink) was stamped on another little tag, and then cut out with a Spellbinders die.

This card is also for:

• Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Summer Days
• Crafty Creations - Summer Lovin'
• One Stop Craft Challenge - Patterns (I used stripes)

And just a quick reminder that Birthday Marci is available in digi form this week only!!

Your next stop is Eva's blog. Thanks for looking!