Posted by: Julie Elak on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at 12:00 am
Today’s Throwback Thursday will make you think of a warm sunny beach, clear water, and fruity drink in hand with your toes in the sand!
I know it is summer in some parts of the world so these die sets are perfect for all those happy occasions you are celebrating in the sun. For the rest, those of us digging out from under piles of snow and weighed down by layers of clothes, are you like me and can’t wait for summer? If so then these sets will bring some sun in to your craft room and make it feel like summer will be here soon!
Posted by: Julie Elak on Monday, February 2, 2015 at 12:00 am
Hello and welcome to a new week! We are continuing our Q and A Design Team series which is a way for us to give you an introduction/reintroduction of the Design Team members. The fun twist is everyone is sharing their favorite color combo(s) to use when creating.
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Q1: Tell us more about you, your family and where you live.
A: I’m Julie and I’m the DT Challenge Coordinator for Your Next Stamp. I live in Connecticut, located in northeastern USA, where it is currently snowy and cold, the perfect weather for paper crafting! I am married and have 3 children. My daughter is 11 and my twin sons are 7. Frequently you will find one of the kids with me crafting away. One of my sons is an expert with the Cuttlebug. I can usually get him to help me whenever I am doing something that requires mass production. My project for today needed 48 die cuts and my assistant did a great job!!!
Q2: When did you join the Team at Your Next Stamp?
A: I was introduced to YNS by Kerri Michaud, who was on the design team for several years. I started off as a guest designer for YNS in August 2011. I then joined the Challenge Team in May 2012. In November 2014, I took on the role of coordinating the challenges. That means I am the one who picks the sketches and color combos. Be sure to let me know what you want to see in the challenges; sketches with more elements and layers? are there colors that motivate you? I would love to hear what you like best about sketch and color challenges!
Q3: What are your favorite Your Next Stamp images?
A: Can my answer be that I love all of the animals??? The Smiley Happy Critters make me happy! If I can only choose one set, then it has to be the Funny Farm Crew. I have created more cards with that set than any other YNS set. It may be because there is a pig in the set and I have a son obsessed with pigs :>)
Q4: What are your favorite color combos?
A: My old standby is light aqua. If I can’t think of what to do, I usually pull out the aqua paper. Did you know that light aqua is considered a neutral? I am only kidding, but if you play around with color combinations, light aqua works so well with tons of other colors. Aqua and red, aqua and pink, aqua and yellow, I could go on an on! My other favorite color is yellow because it is cheery and warm. For today’s project I decided to combine both light aqua and yellow which results in the best color combo (according to me!).
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I have 2 projects to share with you today. The first features 42 of the die cut balloons! It also features another thing I enjoy doing, baking. Today I needed to decorate a birthday cake and one of the easiest ways to do that is to pull out some paper!
The banner hanging over the cake was created with the YNS Balloon Trio Die Set. Each balloon was created with 6 die cuts that were folded and glued together resulting in a 3-D balloon.
Of course you can’t have cake without presents and so I also made a card for the Birthday girl. The balloon on the card is fuller, because instead of a full sphere, it was glued down so that it is only 1/2 of a sphere.
My card is based on the current sketch challenge – #6. You can play along with the sketch and color challenge HERE.
If you would like to make your own balloons or other 3-D shape using dies check out the picture tutorial at the end of this post. If you like the cake, HERE is a link to a good You Tube video on creating an ombre rosette cake.
Sue will be continuing the DT series next Monday so stop by to see what her favorite color combos are. Thanks for dropping by today. Smiles, Julie
Special thanks to my assistants for helping die cut the balloons and model the dies in the pictures throughout the tutorial!
Posted by: Julie Elak on Saturday, January 31, 2015 at 12:00 am
Spying time!
Have you ever wanted to be a spy?
Are you intrigued by the mystery? Tempted by the potential danger?
Well, our spying is pretty tame, but definitely fun. We have been out and about this week on the internet and the card we spied was found on Pinterest.
Posted by: Julie Elak on Friday, January 30, 2015 at 12:00 am
Happy Friday!
Since it is Friday, we are sharing more inspiration for the latest challenge. There is still plenty of time to play along, Your Next Stamp’s Color and Sketch Challenge #6 is open through February 5, 2015 midnight EST.
Which one will inspire you? You have the choice of a sketch or color combination OR you could be daring and combine both!
Feel free to swap out shapes – a circle in the place of a rectangle, etc. We just need to see the basic sketch layout as the inspiration for your creation.
If you choose the color combo, be sure to use at least 3 and feel free to add in neutrals. The names of the colors are based on Bazzill cardstock, but substitute whatever you have that is close to it.
Let’s check out how the rest of the DT and January’s guest, Peggy, interpreted this challenge:
Be sure to join in the fun and share your own creation inspired by either the sketch or the colors OR both! Link up your project through Inlinkz below.
YNS’ bi-weekly challenge #6 ends on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at midnight EST
One random participant will win a $15 gift certificate to the Your Next Stamp store. If YNS stamps or dies are the focal point then the winner receives an additional $5 gift certificate for a total of $20. The winner will be announced on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes.
The YNS Top Pick will receive the “YNS Top Pick” badge and their project will be featured on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes. To be considered for the Top Pick, YNS stamps/dies must be the focal point of your project.
Posted by: Julie Elak on Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 12:00 am
Today’s Throwback Thursday is one of my FAVORITE sets. Even the name of the set gets me with “smiley” and “happy” in it. Plus, there is a bunny in it, which happens to be my daughter’s favorite animal (her bunny is only 4 months old, grey and named Chloe, but I am starting to think it may just be a boy – shhhhh!).
So have you guessed which set we are putting in the spotlight today?
Posted by: Julie Elak on Sunday, January 25, 2015 at 12:00 am
Wooooo Hooooo, it is winner time! It is always so much fun to give away a prize!
The random winner of Challenge #5 is participant #9…Heather Mills of the blog Wire Wrapture. Congratulations!!! Heather wins a $15.00 gift certificate to the YNS Store AND because her creation featured YNS products she wins an additional $5.00 for a total of $20.00 – yay!!! Please contact Karen for your prize (see “contact us” at the bottom of the website).
The Top Pick for Challenge #5 is a CAS cutie from Cornelia Wenokor of the blog Stempel Spass. Her clean take on the sketch with the water colored mat grabbed our attention.
Congrats Cornelia, here is a badge for your blog! If you are a previous Top Pick please grab the badge too!
Posted by: Julie Elak on Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 12:00 am
Yep, there is a goat on the loose and it was spied in Lemonie’s gallery!
Today’s “I Spy” YNS Saturday is Lemonie’s card featuring the goat from the Funny Farm Crew stamp set. Lemonie created such a great scene with flower dotted rolling hills and a fence beneath the cloud filled sky.
We are always on the lookout for creations featuring YNS stamps and dies! Maybe your creation will be featured here next!
Posted by: Julie Elak on Friday, January 23, 2015 at 12:00 am
Hi Everyone!
Time for a new sketch, new color challenge and inspiration to go along with it! Today, challenge #6 starts and we can’t wait to see what you create!
Feel free to swap out shapes – a circle in the place of a rectangle, etc. We just need to see the basic sketch layout as the inspiration for your creation.
If you choose the color combo, be sure to use at least 3 and feel free to add in neutrals. The names of the colors are based on Bazzill cardstock, but substitute whatever you have that is close to it.
Your Next Stamp’s Color and Sketch Challenge #6 is open for the next 2 weeks through February 5, 2015 midnight EST.
Be sure to join in the fun and share your own creation inspired by either the sketch or the colors OR both! Link up your project through Inlinkz below.
YNS’ bi-weekly challenge #6 ends on Thursday, February 5, 2015 at midnight EST
One random participant will win a $15 gift certificate to the Your Next Stamp store. If YNS stamps or dies are the focal point then the winner receives an additional $5 gift certificate for a total of $20. The winner will be announced on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes.
The YNS Top Pick will receive the “YNS Top Pick” badge and their project will be featured on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes. To be considered for the Top Pick, YNS stamps/dies must be the focal point of your project.
Next is Ruby from the blog “Inspired Scrapper” with a snowflake filled card – the combination of patterned papers and all that snow is perfect for winter.
Posted by: Julie Elak on Friday, January 16, 2015 at 12:00 am
Hello Everyone! If you are looking for a challenge to get the mojo flowing then we have one for you! We are back with more inspiration for Challenge #5.
We like choices here at YNS, so there is a sketch and color challenge to choose from. Which one will you choose? Or will you use both?
Feel free to swap out shapes – a circle in the place of a rectangle, etc. We just need to see the basic sketch layout as the inspiration for your creation.
If you choose the color combo, be sure to use 3 and feel free to add in neutrals.
Your Next Stamp’s Color and Sketch Challenge #5 is open through January 22, 2015 midnight EST.
Be sure to join in the fun and share your own creation inspired by either the sketch or the colors OR both! Link up your project through Inlinkz below.
YNS’ bi-weekly challenge #5 ends on Thursday, January 22, 2015 at midnight EST
One random participant will win a $15 gift certificate to the Your Next Stamp store. If YNS stamps or dies are the focal point then the winner receives an additional $5 gift certificate for a total of $20. The winner will be announced on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes.
The YNS Top Pick will receive the “YNS Top Pick” badge and their project will be featured on the YNS Blog the Sunday after the challenge closes. To be considered for the Top Pick, YNS stamps/dies must be the focal point of your project.
