If you are spending time outside and gardening then we have the indoor challenge for you. For Challenge #142 we want you to answer the question “How does your garden grow?”

Challenge #142 – How Does Your Garden Grow?

Play along with the challenge for the chance to win a YNS e-gift card! Link up your creation at the bottom of this post by July 9, 2020 at midnight est to be entered in the random drawing to win a $15.00 YNS gift certificate. If your creation contains YNS products and you are the random winner then you receive an extra $5.00.

Before we get to more inspiration, we have a winner to announce. When we kicked off the challenge last week we did a comment to win contest with the prize a stamp set of your choice. The randomly selected winning comment comes from Cathy Fochler @cathyfochler who left a comment on IG! Congrats Cathy, please use the contact us link at the bottom of the site to claim your prize.

Kerri

Challenge Details:

• YNS’ Challenge #142 ends on Thursday, July 9, 2020 at midnight EST.
• Only new creations please.
• Limit of 3 entries per challenge, per person, each entry must be different.
• Be sure to link back to our challenge in your blog post or gallery entry.
• Entries not meeting the challenge guidelines will be removed.
• All stamps are welcome, although we love to see YNS stamps and dies on your projects.
• 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.

Happy Stamping!

Normally I would be sharing a farewell post for our June guest, Samantha Olden, but not this month! Sam is not going anywhere! Join us in welcoming Sam to the YNS Design Team!

We are starting off with a few questions and answers so we can all learn more about Sam. Then, Sam has a colorful card to share.

Samantha Olden

• Who inspires you?
  This crafty community that we all enjoy. Everyone is always so encouraging, which motivates me to strive to grow my skills and learn new things. 

• Favorite papercrafting technique?
  There is nothing quite like the thrill of masking and ink blending.  First I love seeing how the colours blend together to create those amazing blended and bold colour backgrounds. Second when you peel off all the masking paper and you can see the wonderful little scenes created it’s like Christmas. 

• What do you enjoy most about papercrafting?
  I love the idea of creating something that is not only creative, but also very practical and something we use in our day to day life. Initially this hobby started with finding fun, pretty ways to wrap and give presents. Then came the enjoyment from creating tags and cards. I soon realized that this hobby was a way for me to relax and de-stress. As the hobby grew, so did my experiences with crafty people and crafty friends. I like to think that what I enjoy most about the hobby now is not only the relaxing qualities but also all the amazing people I get to chat and share ideas with on my papercrafting journey.

• What’s your claim to fame?
  This is one I asked my 12 year old son. Without hesitation his response was my claim to fame is for my crafty skills and the many yummy cookies I bake. (Figure he was buttering me up in hopes that I would bake up a batch of cookies). I do have an affinity for a freshly baked chewy chocolate chip cookie, so we always have a batch of homemade rolled cookies waiting in the freezer for when company shows up or simply when the mood strikes.

• What can’t you live without?
  Hands down this is the easiest question to answer. A really good cup of tea. For me tea is comfort, a little bit of happiness in a mug and can also solve many little problems. (Oh by the way cookies go really well with a cup of tea).

Are you ready for Sam’s first official design team card? It doesn’t feature cookies, but it does feature a unicorn!

Sam die cut a circle, then die cut the circle with the Wave Panel Die. It creates a colorful backdrop for the colorful unicorn. Just one more great way to get more from your die sets!

We are looking forward to seeing more of Sam’s creations this month and in the future!

Happy Stamping!

It’s July 1st, Happy Canada Day!

In celebration of Canada Day, Your Next Stamp is excited to be a sponsor of the inaugural Canada Day Video Hop! Thank you Emily Leiphart for organizing the event and inviting Your Next Stamp to join in the fun!

There are over $1,000 in prizes up for grabs, to go along with inspiring projects! Plus, our very own Karen Aicken is taking part in the hop, sharing a project featuring YNS dies.

Here is the full list of stops on the hop, starting off with Emily! Comments for prizes closes at 11:59pm EST on Friday, July 17, 2020, so get hopping!

Happy Stamping!

Guest Samantha Olden is sharing a technique that doubles your stamps, mirror stamping!

Sam shares helpful tips if you want to give mirror stamping a try. Head on over to Sam’s blog for all the details.

From Sam…a few things I learned that I recommend to make mirror stamping nice and easy.

1. -Use a stamp positioner tool like the Misti. It makes it easy to go over anything you are not happy with. 
2. -You will need a mirror stamp or any stamp that has a large surface area. (You need the stamp to be larger than what you are stamping).
3. – Use a piece of acetate to adhere stamp on. This makes it quick and easy to move or hold down with magnets.
4. -Use a slower drying ink, like black Versamark. I found the copic friendly inks tended to dry too fast to get a good print. 
5. -Stamp and die cut or fussy cut out the image rather than stamping direct onto card. It is so much easier if you don’t get the print you like, simply do another print.
6. -Don’t expect it to turn out as dark as a regular stamped image. It may need a second stamping (great thing about a stamp positioner) or simply just filling in a line with a pen. 
7. -If I’m being honest, I find this is a technique that requires a little bit of playing around until you get a feel for what works for you. (But it’s fun playing around and you will have lots of images to colour at the end of it).

Happy Mirror Stamping!

We have a winner! Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun and shook it up!

The randomly selected winning participant from Challenge #141 – Shake It Up! is participant #2, Suzanne Reynolds! Congratulations Suzanne, you receive a $15.00 egift card to the YNS store. Please use the contact us link at the bottom of the site to claim your prize!

Now on to the Top Pick from the challenge. There was one card that stood out, with happy colors, and lots of happy Hammies! Cindy Beland’s card has us all smiling.

Cindy’s card features sprinkles in the shaker, along with lots of sprinkles from the Hammie Sweetness Overload stamp set. What a party in a card!

Challenge #142 is going on right now with more chances to win. Join in and answer the question…’How does your garden grow?’

Happy Stamping!

Hello Stamping Friends!

Kendra Sands here with a super fun project to share with you that my daughter, Ava, created using her favorite stamp set from Your Next Stamp!!

For the end of the school year my daughter had to create a board game for Math class! There was no hesitation!  She instantly went to grab the sweet Cool Tees stamp set and coordinating Cool Tees Die Set! (She loves YNS products, but this one is currently her favorite!!)

She used the cute images in the stamp set to create her ‘pawns’ for her game:

Aren’t they sweet?! The color you land on determines what you have to do.  Pink you get a division problem, Blue is multiplication, Orange is addition and Green is subtraction! When you land on pink, blue or orange you have to solve the problem, if you get it right you get those points!  If you get it wrong, you subtract the points from your total.  If you land on green you subtract those points from your total and if you get the answer wrong you lose double the points!

Ava created such a fun and colorful board!! Like other popular games, there are lose a turn spots and go back so many spaces. She also has ‘Free Hug’ cards!  When you land on a certain spot on the board you can get a ‘Free Hug’ card!  Each card has a different story!  Depending on the card you either lose points from your total or gain points!

The person with the most points at the end of the game, WINS!

She designed such a fun game!  She’s so proud of it!  I love how she incorporated the Cool Tees stamp set!!

Have a lovely day!

-Kendra

Sue Taylor-Hill is sharing a card meant to inspire. It is a crafting inspiration, but the message it sends is also an inspiration.

White embossed hearts and ink sponging create the perfect backdrop for a sentiment from the newly released Positive Affirmations stamp set.

Positive Affirmations

Painted Shapes

Happy Stamping!

Karen Aicken shares a thank you card today. It is not just a simple card of thanks though. It is a shaker card with a surprise inside!

Let’s start with the shaker front which features a double scallop frame.

Then, let’s move on to the surprise! Karen adds a pocket on the inside to hold a gift card.

Finally, once the gift card is removed, the thanks is revealed…

YNS Supplies: Scalloped Frames with Piercing Marks
Positive Affirmations
Cool Tag 6
Stitched Rectangle Die Set
Retro Gumdrops 
Black Olive Ink 

Make someone’s day and send a thank you card! Thank you for being YOU!

Happy Stamping!

Kulbir Kirkland is sharing a quartet of pets today! Kulbir’s card features four of the cute animals from the Peeking Pets set.

Kulbir added inking to the card base to act as a backdrop for each pet perched inside a die cutout shape. Clean, cute and clever!

Peeking Pets stamp set and coordinating die set

Happy Stamping!