More is More

Happy Friday!  It’s time for another Sketch Challenge from Taylor – TESC113 – and boy did I ever have FUN with this one!  You know how sometimes you just get lost in the pure joy of stamping?  That’s how creating this card was! This was the perfect opportunity to ink up some Denami stamps I purchased way back in January at the CHA SuperShow.  I have always loved DeNami and just had to buy a few when I saw their booth at the show.  I have no idea why I am so drawn to farm related images…maybe it’s because our house used to be part of a dairy farm…I don’t know, but I love farm stamps!  Pretty funny considering what a total city girl I am!

I actually followed the sketch quite literally with just some added layering.  I used papers from both the Farm Fresh and Thrift Shop 8×8 pads (October Afternoon) along with SU cardstock in Summer Sun, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip.  Ribbon is left over from my kitchen curtains and buttons are from my stash.  The little scallop squares were punched with a Marvy punch and the circles and label are Spellbinders dies. Border is a SU punch.  Images are colored with Copics.

My friend Kathy’s birthday was yesterday.  I realize that nothing about this card screams *birthday*, but I just thought it was so FUN that I wanted to send it to her.  Trouble was I just didn’t have the right sentiment.  I finally decided to just create one on my computer.  Problem solved! *grin*  The little fame animals came in a set if four, so the inside of the card was the perfect place for the 4th image.

This card just makes me happy!  I hope it gives you a little grin too!  Now let’s see what inspiration the rest of the Sketch Crew has in store this week:

I’m looking forward to my stamp class tonight and going out for tea with my prayer group tomorrow afternoon.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Tuesday!  This past Saturday our church had a Mother/Daughter Tea and I was asked to head up the craft – a card.  I enlisted the help of my friend Lisa who has been bitten hard by the stamping bug in last year and we prepped projects for up to 60 girls and women of all ages.  For the girls under 12 we simply stamped an Elzybells image on a white card base and let them color.  Here are the two versions of the card for everyone else.

I had never done anything quite like this and it was definitely a challenge.  We purchased the value pack of ivory cards and envelopes on sale at Joann’s (not what I would usually prefer to use, but they worked out ok.) The designer paper is by BoBunny and it is GORGEOUS and glittery.  We got that and the American Crafts purple solid textured cardstock at the Cerritos Tall Mouse in the going out of business sale.  We purchased it before we knew how many people we would need to prep for so I had to make it work.  I used my standard *go to* layout and we cut the oval scallop or blossom purple layer from the main purple matting layer using Nesties…that was the only way we would have enough cardstock.  As it was we had to do a set of 12 with an Old Olive mat instead.

We ended up with something like 42 adults and they were split into 2 groups to come into the craft room.  Lisa and I each had a table set for up to 12 at a time.  Because we couldn’t have 24 people sharing the same ink and images we made 2 versions of the same card as you see.  The teapot and sentiment are from Taylored Expressions CreativiTEA and the Praying for You and flourish are Stampin’ Up! The ribbon is from Michael’s.  One card uses Artichoke ink and cardstock accent while the other uses Olive and Razzleberry.  We also had them stamp the flap of their envelope.

The ladies really seemed to enjoy making these cards.  It’s always fun to see someone who’s never stamped before marveling at what they’ve just created!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m off to work at the billing office.  Have a great day!

Happy Monday!  I have a Stamp Class coming up this Friday evening at 7 pm and the theme is Coffee, Tea and Flowers.  I want to share with you the coffee card we’ll be creating.

This card was inspired by a card I saw on my friend Dawn Easton’s blog – click here to see the inspiration – and it features the Taylored Expressions stamp set Let’s Do Coffee.  We’ll also decorate the inside of the card.  Isn’t this fun?

We’ll be making 3 projects Friday night – 2 cards (including this one) plus a 3D item.  Registration is $15.  You need to e-mail me by Wednesday night (and pay registration by Thursday noon) if you’d like to attend.  I have a few spots open at the moment.  I’d love to have you come!

Thanks for stopping by.  I plan to be back tomorrow morning with a couple of samples of the card we made at the church tea this past Saturday.

Happy Friday!  It’s a BIG day as Taylored Expressions now has the May Release available for purchase inclduing 4 new full size stamp sets, a Big Background (5.75 x 5.75), 2 A La Carte images with sentiments and two new Project Pantry kits!  Plus TE has a ton of other new products in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department.  On top of all that it’s time for the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge 112. 

I have 2 cards to share with you today – one for the sketch featuring Cuppie in the Kitchen and October Afternoon Cherry Hills papers and the other featuring the Apple Doodle Ink Classic Car A la Carte Image and the Garden Party Project Pantry.  I made both of these cards for birthdays.  The first is for a girlfriend and the second is for my Dad.  Enjoy!

TESC112 Cuppie in the Kitchen

Everyone is welcome to play along with the sketch challenge using any company’s stamps.  Check all the info on Taylor’s blog.  And here’s the Sketch Crew links for even more inspiration using this week’s sketch.

 A Real Classic

  This is a hinge card.  I kept it pretty simple on the embellishments since it’s for a guy and it’s already pretty wild with those bright colors!

And let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen has for Release Day!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I know you have a ton of hopping to do and shopping shopping shopping!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend.  Mine is booked solid!

Happy Thursday!  It’s another day of Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks and I get to play along once again. *happy dance* Tomorrow (Friday) morning at 8 am PST everything will be available for purchase in the TE Store.  Today the Baker’s Dozen have samples of two new sets, Cuppie in the Kitchen and Hangin’ Out, as well as another Project Pantry Kit!

The card I have for you today features Hangin’ Out!  The concept for this set came from Baker’s Dozen designer Sankari Wegman and as soon as I heard about it I knew it was going to be a winner! Sankari and Taylor made a great team along with our Whimsical Wishes illustrator Nancy McKinney to bring this clothesline set to life.  So so so many possibilities with this stamp set.  Oh and it also coordinates wonderfully with Taylor’s new Cloudy Days Big Background stamp as you can see on my card.

I started with a Cool Caribbean cardbase (I was surprised to discover that I had an entire unopened pack of that cardstock!) and I stamped it with the Cloudy Background in Cool Caribbean classic ink for a soft tone on tone effect.  Then I took a piece of white cardstock that had been die cut with Spellbinders Labels 1 and also stamped that with the background in Cool Caribbean.  That gave me a great base to create my simple little scene.  The pennants were stamped onto October Afternoon Farm Fresh paper and cut out and popped up on foam tape.  The actual clothesline was hand-drawn with a Copic Multi-liner.  The pole, tiny bows, bird and sentiment are all stamps in this darling set.  Embellishments include red kasiercraft rhinestones, pom pom trim, black polka dot ribbon and some alpha stickers I got a long time ago from a dollar spot somewhere.

I can hardly wait to see what the Baker’s Dozen girls have created – let’s go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today.  I plan/hope to be back tomorrow morning with a sample for Taylor’s sketch as well as another new release sample.  Are you signed up to receive the Taylored Expressions Newsletter (written by yours truly) in your e-mail in-box?  If not you can simply go to the TE Store and scroll down to the bottom of the left hand side bar and enter your e-mail address.  The Newsletter usually goes out twice a month and always has samples and links to all the newest products.  We’d love to have you on our mailing list!

Happy Wednesday!  I’m super excited to get to play along with the Baker’s Dozen girls in the first day of sneak peeks for the Taylored Expressions May release!!  I’m always excited when I get to play, but even more so this month as we help launch a brand new line of stamps to the Taylored Expressions rubber family.  As you probably know, Taylor works with several illustrators and designers on the various lines currently in the TE mix and she has always had a large part in the concept/design of each set, but this week we’re celebrating the introduction of the very first *te* stamps completely designed and illustrated by Taylor!  Garden Party Blooms, Garden Party Critters and the Cloudy Day Big Background all have Taylor’s cute and whimsical signature style and I just know you going to LOVE them!

The card I’m sharing today features Garden Party Blooms, a set of 20 deeply etched rubber images with almost endless possibilities for building your own garden!  Karen Giron’s Sweet Sunday Sketch  – SSSC67 – was the perfect jumping off point for getting my new stamps inky!

Another exciting new product being introduced this week are Project Pantry kits. When you are looking for just the right ingredients to create a new recipe where do you look? In the Pantry of course! Taylored Expressions is introducing a new line of kits called the Project Pantry with just the right ingredients for your cardmaking and paper crafting projects. These kits will be a variation on our Key Ingredients and our Taylored Card Kits. We will introduce them each month at Release time and you will have the option to purchase them with or without stamp sets included.  My card today was created with cardstock, patterned paper and a dimensional sticker (that big ol’ CUTE frog) from the Garden Party Project Pantry.  I added some Diamond Stickles and some Bright Smooth Bling (love love that stuff!) — uh oh that seems to be out of stock at the moment.  The blossoms were stamped a second time and cut out and popped up on foam tape.

I believe TE will have some chalk ink bundles to coordinate with the Project Pantry kits, but when I sat down to create with the Garden Party Project Pantry (featuring paper and stickers from the We R Memory Keepers 72 and Sunny collection) I had to figure out what ink colors would work from what I already had.  Usually I’m matching up Copics to patterned paper, but these sets have a bunch of fun solid stamps to work with.  For those of you who come from a SU background like I do, I thought you might appreciate seeing the ink chart I made for myself to put in my kit .

The ink colors I felt worked best with these papers are: More Mustard, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, and Bermuda Bay. There may be some others as well, but this is what I chose.  I know that sometimes stampers who mostly use SU are a little wary of purchasing papers from other companies for fear they won’t have any coordinating accessories.  The great thing about Project Pantry is that you will get ribbon and accessories in the kit…and you probably already have inks that will work great!

Remember all the stamp sets and products being previewed this week will be available in the TE Store on Friday morning at 8:00 PST.  Now let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen has created with Taylor’s new stamps!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!