Your Next Stamp Sketch/Colour Challenge 64 - Teacher Thank you!

Hello and welcome to another week of the Your Next Stamp sketch/colour challenge #63. 

Every two weeks, there is a new challenge that features a sketch and colour inspiration. Pick the one that inspires you most, or try both for an added challenge. The best part of these challenges is you could win a gift certificate to the YNS store!

 When using the colour inspiration, you must use at least 3 colours. You may also add neutrals 

Today I used the colours for my inspiration to create a Teacher thank you card. We are nearing the end of the school year, so this will come in handy.

Supplies on this card include:

• Little Notes
• Spectacular Teacher stamp/Die
• Apple Die
• Stitched Rectangle Die
• Paint Swooshes and Splatters
• Sunset Sparkly Gumdrops
• Various YNS Inks

For the sketch/colour challenge #64, you will have until Thursday May 25th (midnight EST) to play along. Head over to the Your Next Stamp blog for more inspiration and to link up your creation.

One random participant will win a $15 gift card to the YNS store. If you feature YNS products (it must be the main focus of your project), you will receive an additional $5. When you use a YNS stamp/die, there is a chance of being selected as the YNS top pick. The winner and top pick are announced on the YNS blog, the Sunday after the close of the challenge.

If you use YNS products on your project, you can also take part in the YNS Social Media challenge. Simply showcase your YNS sketch/colour challenge #64 project on Instagram, Splitcoast Stampers or Facebook. Check out the currently challenge post at the YNS blog for more details on the social media challenge.

Have a wonderful and crafty day!

Your Next Stamp Sketch/Colour Challenge # 42 (Thanks Note Card)

Hello and welcome to another week of the Your Next Stamp sketch/colour challenge # 42.

Every two weeks there is a new challenge that features a sketch and colour inspiration. Pick the one that inspires you most, or try both for an added challenge. The best part of these challenges is you could WIN a gift certificate to the YNS store!

When using the colour inspiration, be sure to use at least 3 colours. You may also add neutrals

For this week's challenge, I found inspiration in the colours. I decided to get a little inky and create a fun set of thank you note cards for one of my daughter's teachers.

To make the card with the inky background, I started by applying my four distress ink colours (Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, and Picked Raspberry) to my craft mat and spritzed them with water. I placed my water colour paper on top of the ink and removed it right away. Using paper towel I soaked up any spots that had an excess of water, then applied heat from my heat gun to dry. I repeated this step 5 more times on each of my backgrounds.

After all of the inked backgrounds were dry, I used my Fancy Thanks die and ran this through my die cut machine. With distress cards I matted them with black so the negative space for the thanks stood out.

To make use of the pretty ink coloured thanks, I used those along with the Apple die to create an additional 5 thank you cards.

For the sketch/colour challenge # 42, you will have until Thursday July 7th (midnight EST) to play along. Head over to the Your Next Stamp blog for more inspiration and to link up your creation.

One random participant will WIN at $15 gift card to the YNS store. If you feature a YNS stamp or die (it must be the main focus of your project), you will receive an additional $5. When you use a YNS stamp/die, there is also a chance of being selected as the YNS top pick! The winner and "top pick" are announced on the YNS blog, the Sunday after the close of the challenge.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a fabulous and crafty day!

Supplies Used
YNS Die: Fancy Thanks, Apple Die
Distress Ink: Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, and Picked Raspberry

Your Next Stamp June Feature + Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Welcome to the June YOUR NEXT STAMP feature post. Each month the design team uses specific stamps, dies or follows a theme to create a project that will hopefully inspire you!

This month our theme is.......Yellow!

As we are nearing the end of the school year, I thought I would work on a few more thank you cards. I am sure all of the teachers are ready for summer. I used fun yellow paper to brighten the card, adding my Java Geek, Mini Ink Splatter and Overdue Library Card stamps, as well as the Fancy Thanks and Apple die.

YNS Supplies: Java Geek, Overdue Library Card, Mini Ink Splatter, Apple Die, Fancy thanks, Retro Gumdrops. Other Supplies: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Meadow

Head over to the YNS blog to see all of the Design Team member sharing projects for this month's feature. Leave a comment on the blog post for the June Feature and you will have a chance to win a prize. One lucky stamper will WIN a YNS stamp set of their choice!

I am also excited to include this card as part of the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop. Did you know that Your Next Stamp is one of the sponsors for this amazing hop.  You can check out Karen's fabulous summer coffee card (here) and see how you could win some YNS blog candy.

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a wonderful and crafty day!

Your Next Stamp - Teacher Appreciation (Birthday Phoebe)

Did you know that Teacher Appreciation weeks is coming up in May?

This week over on the Your Next Stamp blog, we are celebrating teachers and sharing gift giving ideas all week long!

For one of my daughter's teachers, I created a easel style note pad holder. The  holder fits 3x3 notes.

I sued the cute Birthday Phoebe on her lovely stack of books. I added the glasses to Phoebe using the Spectacular Teacher die set.

Here is the notepad holder when it's closed. The base of the note holders is 4.5 x 10.5 inches (scoring at 5, 5.5 and 8 inches). The holder for the actual notepad is 4 1/8 inches squared with scoring at 1/2 inch on each side),

If this little note holder is lucky enough to sit on the teacher desk, I have decorated the back using the Letter Board dies and the notebook from the Spectacular Teacher stamp set.

If you missed yesterday's projects from Holly and Anita, check it out here.

Head over to the Your Next Stamp blog to see more ideas on how you can created cards and gifts to say thanks to a teacher. There will be more features all week long and on Friday we will have a new Sketch/Colour challenge for your to play along with.

Your Next Stamp Supplies Used:
Stamps: Birthday Phoebe, Spectacular Teach
Dies: Letter Board, Spectacular Teacher, Apple, Stitched Square

Other Supplies:
Paper: Echo Park Teacher's Pet
Ink: Copic Markers, Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Lady Bug, Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Other: Tim Holtz Mini Paper clips

Your Next Stamp April Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the April release blog hop for Your Next Stamp!

I have to tell you I am super excited about this month's release. There are so many cute stamps and dies that will surely get your creative juices flowing. As we are entering April, the end of school is not too far off. This is a great time of year to get a jump start on thank you cards and other gifts that you may want to give to a teacher. This release is also filled with so much cuteness you may (like me) have a hard time deciding on a favourite.

I love using my stamps to create gifts. I used the LEARNING IS FUN STAMP and a few of my favourite school related dies (APPLE and LETTER BOARD dies) to create a box with a complete set of notecards.

Here is a look at the back of the box, which I decorated using the STRIPE-TASTIC STAR die.

For a thank you gift to my kids teacher at the end of the school year, I like to give a set of 'thank you' note cards. These cards are simple and created using the super fun SCRIBBLE FUN ONE background stamp, the APPLE  die and the NOTEBOOK EDGE border die.

YNS Supplies: Learning is fun, Scribble Fun One, Stripe-tastic Stars, Apple die, Letter Board die, Notebook Edge die

My second project is a card which features the super sweet HONEY BEAR, the PUFFY CLOUD boarder die and few RETRO GUMDROPS.

Here is a look at the inside of the card.

YNS Supplies: Honey Bear, Puffy Clouds Boarder die

In celebration of this month's release, Karen has a fabulous deal for you!

Thank you for hopping along with us today. I hope you will find a little inspiration and maybe a few stamps and dies that you'd like to add to your YNS collection. As you are hopping along today, remember to leave a little comments for each of the designers. We love to hear from you, and there is a fabulous prize available for a lucky stamps ($25 YNS gift certificate). All of the blogs on the hop are listed below. The hop continues until April 5th at midnight (EST).

Don't forget to come back and join us on March 6th to see the winner from the blog hop comments, and to check out the latest Design Team Dare.

Have a great day and happy hopping!

An InLinkz Link-up

Your Next Stamp - September Feature

Welcome to the September YOUR NEXT STAMP feature post. Each month the design team posts creations to inspire you, using specific themes or stamps. This month our feature theme is SCHOOL IS COOL!

When I think of projects for school my first thoughts go to teacher gifts or holiday creations for classmates. One of my go to projects for my kids teachers is to create a set of thank you note cards. This year I also added a decorate box to hold the notes. 

This box was used for a set of 12 note cards (with envelopes) and the box measures 6 x 4 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches.

I created a fun chalkboard effect on my box using the A'DORK'ABLE stamp set. To create this effect you stamp your image on black cardstock using Versamark ink, sprinkle white embossing powder and heat set. Using white pigment ink and a sponge whip around the outside of the image for a "chalk" effect.

Simple Stories Smarty Pants paper was perfect for this box. I decorated the box using a number of YNS dies including the APPLE DIE, LETTERBOARD, NOTEBOOK EDGE and FILE TAB. 

Box Measurements:

The base of the box will be cut at 9 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches. Score your box at 1 3/4 inches, rotate the paper and repeat on all sides.

For the lid just add between 1/16 inches to 1/8 of an inch to size of base measurement. Again score at 1 3/4 inches on all sides.

The set of thank you cards inside the box are a simply designed card measuring 4.25 x 5.5.
I again used the APPLE die, along with the CIRCLE, STITCHING MARK CIRCLE and FANCY THANKS dies.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: A'dork'able (Your Next Stamp)
Dies: Apple, Letter Board, Notebook Edge, File Tab, Fancy Thanks, Circle and Stitching Mark Circle (Your Next Stamp), MFT scallop die
Paper: Simple Stories Smarty Pants
Other: Copic Markers, Versamark Ink, Recollections White embossing powder, Black Soot Distress Ink

PRIZE ALERT!!!!

Head over to to the YNS blog to see all of the DT members sharing projects for today's feature. Leave a comment on the blog post for the September feature and you will have a chance to win a prize. One lucky stamper will win a YNS stamp set of their choice!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a super crafty day!

Your Next Stamp Sketch/Colour Challenge # 16

Welcome to our sketch and colour challenge #16 at Your Next Stamp. Each challenge includes a sketch and colour options to inspire you.

Create a project based on the sketch and/or the colour combination. If you are working with the colours use at least 3 of the colours and you can add only neutrals.

For this challenge I had a little fun with the sketch. I love the getting creative and putting my own spin on sketches. For the spin on this sketch I turned the sketch on it's side and used three grouped items (letters, apple and gumdrops) instead of circles. I used the following dies:

• Fancy Thanks
• Apple Die
• Stitched Rectangles
• Letter Board

The Doodlebug paper and olive green Gumdrops were perfect for this teacher thank you card.

Inside the card I used the Heartfelt sentiments and the 'teacher' stamp is from the A'dork'able set.

For our sketch and colour challenge # 16 you have until June 25th (midnight) to play along. You can see more inspiration and link up your projects over at Your Next Stamp.

One random participant will WIN a $15 gift card to the YNS store. If you feature a YNS stamp or die (must be the main focal point) you will receive and additional $5. When you use a YNS image there is also a chance of being selected as a YNS Top Pick. That's right, bragging rights for you and a fabulous badge to show off on your blog! Sounds exciting right? Ink up your stamps and show us your crafty stuff!

Have a fabulous and crafty Friday friends!

Your Next Stamp Sketch/Colour Challenge #11

Welcome sketch and colour challenge #11 at Your Next Stamp. Twice each month there will be a new sketch or colour inspiration for you to play along with.

I love this sketch and took a break from coloured images to play along with a few dies. Well that would be 5 YNS dies to be exact. The dies include:

• Apple Die
• Stitching Marks Die Set - Circles
• Circle Die Set
• Chevrons Die
• Tiny Stitches - Stitched Line Die

The "Thank You" sentiment is from the A'dork'able stamp set.

Inside, I used the Smarty Pants stamp set.

For our sketch and colour challenge # 11 you have until April 16th (midnight) to play along. You can see more inspiration and link up your projects over at Your Next Stamp.

One random participant will WIN a $15 gift card to the YNS store. However, if you feature a YNS stamp or die (must be the main focal point) you will receive and additional $5. Oh yeah! When you use a YNS image there is also a chance of being selected as a YNS Top Pick. That's right, bragging rights for you and a fabulous badge to show off on your blog! Sounds exciting right? Ink up your stamps and show us your crafty stuff!

Have a fabulous and crafty Friday friends!

Tracy