You’re Unique

Hi all!  I have another page (not a full layout this time) from my fun journal for today.  I made it for the Mama Elephant Challenge – Anything Goes:

Heh heh.  I used Arctic Penguins and the matching Creative Cuts from Mama Elephant.  I got the quote off the internet and printed it on my laser printer so it wouldn’t smear when I went over it with gel medium.  Next I stamped, colored and die cut a whole bunch of the different penguins from the set. 

I gessoed the book page, then covered it with blue watercolors (note to self – don’t use watercolors as a base – they smear!).  I arranged the quote and all the penguins then glued them down with gel medium.  I also went over all of them to make sure they were all stuck down really well.  I hope you like it and TFL!

Be A Unicorn!

Hi all!  Today I have another new (to me) stamp company called Ppinky Dolls.  I instantly fell in love with the images and especially loved this one when it came out!  It’s called Unicorn Ppinky and it’s just too adorable!  I had the perfect saying to go with it too!

I saw that saying on the internet somewhere and thought it was so funny, so I stored it away in my brain to use later.  And I guess now is later!

Here’s a close up of Ppinky:

Unfortunately the colors came out all weird in my pictures – the purple paint is much nicer in real life and the grey specks all over are actually silver glitter.  I colored Ppinky with colored pencils because I still haven’t got the hang of coloring her with Copics – I need more practice.  You can see in the close shot that I added embossing paste stars all over the top of the page to give it texture.

This is for Ppinky Dolls Challenge – Anything Goes or Halloween, and also SSS Monday Challenge – Anything Goes.  I hope you like it and TFL!

YNS Special Event Day!

Hi all!  Today is this month’s Special Event Day over at the Your Next Stamp Blog.  We’ve decided to highlight the Little Darlings series of stamps from Macy Wong!!  I decided to make a Fun Journal layout using Brittney:

I gessoed over the pages then stamped Brittney with black Staz On ink and colored with Inktense Pencils and water.  I cut 3 banners using the Fishtail/Banner Die Set and adhered them to the pages.  I did the sentiment and then covered both pages with butterflies cut using a Martha punch.

Here’s just the left page:

And just the right page:

I stamped a sentiment from Whatnot Sentiments Set Two and cut out all the words separately.  Then instead of using the AMAZING from the sentiment, I spelled it out with alpha stickers so it would be a little bigger for emphasis. 

Just to remind you – the storewide sale will be ending soon.  Don’t miss out!

Also, we’re still trying to get to 3,000 fans on our Facebook Page.  Please check it out and like and share if you haven’t already!

Finally, to bring this Special Event Day post to an end, please go over to the YNS Blog and comment for a chance to win a stamp of your choice! 

This is also for Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes. Thanks very much for joining me today!

Video – Fun Journal

Hi all!  I thought it might be fun to do a video explaining a little more about my fun journal and showing some pages that I didn’t share on my blog.  Hope you like it!

January YNS New Release Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Your Next Stamp January New Release Blog Hop!  Love is in the air this month with some fabulous new Valentine stamps and dies!  The hop begins on Kerri's Blog, and if you've been hopping along you should have arrived from Thanh's blog.

You have until Tuesday, January 7th at midnight (EST) to hop and leave comments for your chance to win some awesome prizes!  As an added bonus, every stop along the hop has a secret prize!   It could be gumdrops, a YNS stamp of choice, a YNS die of choice or a YNS gift certificate!!!! WOW!!!

For my project today I have another layout from my Fun Journal:

I used the new image from Omnia Designs called Jessica.  She has a couple of matching sentiments, but I decided to hand write my own words for this spread.  I gessoed the pages, then colored them with Distress reinkers.  I stamped Jessica right over the pink ink and colored her with InkTense pencils.  I drew the sentiment with pencil, then traced over it with a black pen and colored with InkTense pencils.   Here’s a closer look at that adorable image:

I love that you can’t even tell she was entirely pink before I colored her!

As always, Karen is offering an amazing hop special!  You will receive 15% off your entire order including sale items through January 10th!

Now it's time to hop on over to Julie's blog, but don't forget to leave a comment before you go!  Happy hopping and shopping!

An InLinkz Link-up

YNS Holiday Hop

Hello and welcome to a special Your Next Stamp Holiday Hop! We are sharing projects made with YNS Holiday Stamps and Dies to wish our fabulous YNS customers a very happy holiday season! You are sure to find lots of inspiration and some great gift ideas along the way! The hop begins on Laura's Blog, and if you've been hopping along, then you should have arrived from Peggy's blog.

You have from today until Saturday, December 21st at midnight (EST) to hop with us! If you leave a comment on all of the blogs along the hop, you could win a $25 YNS Gift Certificate!!! Karen will announce the winners on the YNS Blog on Sunday, December 22nd.

For my project today I made another Fun Journal spread:

The beautiful image is Brandi and the sentiment is from the Holly set. 

First I painted with white gesso, then stamped Brandi with black StazOn ink and colored her with a combo of Distress reinkers and InkTense Pencils.  The tree was cut out from a piece of Webster’s Pages patterned paper and glued into the book in 2 pieces.  I cut the Insta Love Polaroid die cut out of matching paper, and flipped the inside piece over and stamped the sentiment on the back.  I rubbed a blue pastel over the edges of the book and glued down the Merry Christmas strip from the same paper as the tree.  I added modeling paste with a polka dot stencil and a bit of bling from Prima.  Finally, I painted some chipboard letters with gold paint and glued them onto 1 side.  I just love how this spread came out and hope you like it too!

Karen is having the biggest Your Next Stamp sale of the year with up to 30% off your order! She needs to blow out some inventory to make room for new stamps and dies!

Make sure you take advantage of these amazing deals! Now it's time to hop on over to our fabulous guest Laura's blog, but don't forget to leave a comment before you go! As always, happy hopping and shopping, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Dreams Do Come True

Hi all!  Today I’m going to show you something a little different – I’ve been playing around with an old book and am calling it my Fun Journal.  It’s not an Art Journal because not everything I do in it is art, but I definitely have fun with it all, hence the name!

Today’s spread was made for the Little Tangles challenge – White and Gold.  I got all the gold things together in my craft room and went to town!

I painted the whole spread with white gesso, then sprayed it with gold Memories Mist.  I added some modeling paste with a harlequin stencil and then cut some wings with my Sizzix wings die.  The wings were painted with gold paint and glued into the book.  Then I embossed the Dreams sentiment in gold tinsel embossing powder and folded it to make a pop-up element in the middle of the book over the wings.  Finally I added the vellum tag with Believer from Santa's Tags and some white twill ribbon with gold baker’s twine.  The very last step was to stamp the little snowflake from the Santa’s Tags set all over with Champagne Encore metallic ink.

I had so much fun making this!!  Hopefully I’ll be showing more fun journal pages in the future!  I hope you like it and TFL!