Taylored Expressions 2nd Anniversary Blog Hop!!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Hello sweet peeps and welcome to the 2nd anniversary blog hop for Taylored Expressions!!

I'm SO thrilled to be a part of this momentous occasion and I hope you can all play along with us today! If you've stopped here from fellow New Englander Joanne Basile's blog, then you're on the right track, but if you haven't and would like to play along with us, then pop on over to Taylor's blog to start the fun there!

A birthday bash wouldn't be complete without some SWEET DEALS now would it?! Well, hold onto your hats peeps because Taylor has some sweet ones for you:

*-Purchase ANY 4 full-size stamp sets and receive a free Binder Box
*-Purchase ANY 8 A la Carte stamps and receive a free set of Stamp Storage Panels
*-4 orders will be selected at random (one each day from Friday - Monday) to win a $25 TE gift certificate

And the best part?! All of the stamps you've seen this morning are available RIGHT NOW from the Taylored Expressions store! Saweeet! :)

I jumped at the chance to ink up Miss Fashionably Late! She's big and round and perfect for coloring and paper piecing! She reminds me of Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances; all prim and proper! That's why I created a perfectly proper card for her Fashionable Highness! :) I used some paper from MME's So Sophie collection then sponged and machine stitched each panel with cream thread. After coloring Miss FL with my reinkers and aquapainter brush, I cut her out using the large oval Nestibilties, matted her with Bitter Chocolate Bazzil paper then matted her again to a piece of scrap base cardstock cut using the Labels Ten Nestibility and machine stitched them together. Then I added the finishing touches; a frilly border, adhesive pearls, ribbon, a button center and the sentiment - that comes with this A-La-Carte stamp!! If you haven't guessed already, I used this week's Mojo Sketch challenge (MOJO154) for my layout.



Here's a close up of the paper piecing I did on her dress and hat. I layered her sleeve and flower because they were in front of the rest of the image. I popped up the feather in her hat. If you click on the image, you can see that I added some Glossy Accents to her eyes and Stickles to her pearls and feather.

If you haven't guessed already, this A-La-Carte stamp comes with TWO sentiments - one for the outside of the card and one for the inside! A complete stamp set for only $6.95!! I tell ya, that Taylor thinks of everything! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Your next stop is Monika Davis!

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Fashionably Late'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen and Tea Dye'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - My Minds Eye 'So Sophie'
Access: May Arts Wrinkled Ribbon, PTI Button, Spellbinders 'Labels Ten, Large Oval and Tags Trio', PTI Rustic Button Thread, Kaiser Crafts Adhesive Pearls-Chocolate, Martha Stewart Edge Punch, Rangers Stickles - Diamond, Rangers Glossy Accents, Sponges, Dimensionals

From All Of Us!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Good Morning sweet friends!

Yes, it is Monday again, but for us in the USA it's a public holiday! :) Unless ofcourse you work in the retail or service industries, like my hubby, and you're at work today. :( He was not a happy camper this morning! Syd and I however, are going to be ladies of lesiure today. We've have a big day planned full of painting, card making, coloring and lazing by the pool. I hope all my American amigos are doing something similar today! But if you're like my husband and have to work today...my condolences. Hehehehe!

In between doing the laundry and waiting until it was time to go to the July 4th party we were invited to, I made this quick card!

I just had to color those cute little dogs again from the Pet's Place set by Taylored Expressions! Their expressions are just too funny! This stamp set is the latest in the TE Giving Tree program where Taylor will donate $7.00 for each Pet's Place stamp set sold to the Humane Society. This stamp set is part of the TE Giving Tree during the months of June, July, and August 2010. Just so you all know, the set arrives on cling mount but in order to save on manufacturing costs and donate more to charity, you'll need to trim you stamp set when it arrives. That was fine with me, because cutting rubber means you have new stamps to play with, and that's never a bad thing! :)

Coloring those doggies reminded me of how we ended up spending our Saturday evening. We were at my brother in law's house out in the sticks and the guys had lit a couple of fireworks when their 10mth old chocolate lab freaked out and bolted into the woods! No one thought he would react that way because he's so placid. Well, the sun was about to set and there was no sign of him in those woods - not even a peep! So everyone got in the cars and circled the roads around the area looking for him and after an hour we had to give up. It was pitch black and trying to find a chocolate lab in the dark is HARD! We thought we'd take one last lap around before heading home and just as we were going to call it a night, we saw a shadow running across the road ahead of us! It was Grizzly, the friendly lab! He was still shaken up and weary of us, but we got him in the car and home in one piece! Phew! It was a good thing too, since my BIL lives in the sticks, we knew his chances of surviving out in the woods overnight were slim.

Back to the card! :) I colored up the doggies with my reinkers and aquapainter brush and cut them out. I then used Taylor's TESC119 sketch for the layout and some of the Basic Grey paper from her awesome matching Project Pantry Kit! Each panel was sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and the base was machine stitched just to pull it all together. The felt flower is from a package of Max and Whiskers Bloomers and the sentiment was embossed with Versamark in and heat set with clear embossing powder.

Unfortunately, I think this card will be my last card during my term as a guest designer for Taylor and her Baker's Dozen team. :( I've had such a fun time creating cards with her adorable stamps! However, I will still be playing along with Taylor's sketches each week because I LOVE them! I also think there is a release happening this week, so we'll all get to see some amazing sneak peeks, introduced to a new guest designer and Friday will be the big release unveiling!! Woohooo! I know I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a good one!

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'A Pet's Place'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Versamark, Soft Suede, Morning Marigold, Going Gray, Ruby Red, Buckaroo Blue, Old Olive, Distress Inks 'Vintage Photo and Black Soot'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Basic Grey 'Max and Whiskers'
Access: BG Max and Whiskers Bloomers, Stampendous Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Surprise!! It's Taylor Van Bruggen's birthday today and some of her friends thought we would throw together a virtual birthday party in honor of her special day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!
I wish you a VERY happy day and lots of laughs, love and great memories!

Nothing is better then a great big ole' hug from a cuddly bear on your birthday, so I created this sweet card using the TE Beary Special set for Taylor. It also has LOTS of fun stuff on it from her store!

First, I colored the sweet bear with my reinkers and aquapainter brush. Then I sponged around him with Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks. Then the piece was matted with some Georgia Pacific white and Bitter Chocolate Bazzil cardstock and paper pierced around its edges. The patterned paper is from a 6x6 sample pack of Crate Paper's Blue Hill Collection and after sponging the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I stitched it to another piece of Bitter Chocolate. I added some cream ruffle trim under the horizontal panel and some Crystal Twinkles to the scallops that were created with my corner punch (with the guard removed). Lastly, I added some glitter to the star wand with my Quickie Glue Pen and popped the sentiment (also from the Beary Special set) off the main panel with some dimensionals. Does the sketch look familiar?? It should! It's this week's TESC117 challenge!

Here's a list of all the girls helping celebrate Taylor's birthday with me!

Alex Maldonado
Alice Wertz
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jenn Balcer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Lisa Hjulberg
Lori Craig
Melissa Sauls
Monika Davis
Nancy McKinney
Rachel Sztonyk
Sandra MacLean - that's me!
Sankari Wegman
Sharon Harnist
Sherrie Siemens

Taylor, enjoy your day and your card is on it's way to you!

Thanks so much for popping in today!


Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Beary Special'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Morning Marigold, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Crate Paper 'Blue Hill Collection'
Access: Ruffled Trim - Cream, TE Crystal Twinkles, Stampendous Snow Crystal Glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, EK Success Corner Punch, Sponges, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals

Sweet Summer Afternoon

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Good Morning Lovelies!

I was planning on posting this card yesterday, but I was so exhausted from spending all day Monday outside measuring pot holes (Yes, pot holes. Ahhh, such is my glamorous life!), I couldn't muster the energy to write up a post that night. Why is it that plenty of fresh air tires us?! It's almost an oxymoron isn't it?

When I saw Taylor's TESC116 sketch for this week, I immediately thought of the other floral silhouette from the TE Summer Afternoon set that was released last week. It looks like it was made for this sketch doesn't it?

It's a pity the rest of the card didn't come together as easily. Anything that could go wrong, SO did! The first edge I machine stitched produced awful stitching where the bottom thread was pulling up through the holes. So I then removed the thread to start again and stitched part of the edge again only to find that I ran out of thread on the bobbin! Ahh! So I unpicked the stitching once again and added thread to the bobbin, but before I could resew that edge again I realized that I had emptied the spool of all it's thread! Doh! So then I changed over to my white thread and proceeded to brake a needle while stitching! *sob sob* But wait: there's more! Even though I clear embossed the red flowers, the red ink started to smudge as I sponged around it with my Distress Inks! And I had to redo my sentiment banner because I the red ink that was on my fingers left fingerprints all over the first one! Oi vey! Talk about a very frustrating evening of stamping! Mental note to self: BE CAREFUL WHEN USING RED INK!

Regardless of the trouble I had making this card, I'm still happy with how it turned out. As I mentioned before, I clear embossed the image and sponged around it with a combination of Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks. I stitched around the main panel and added some of Taylor's Multi Twinkles (love these things!) to the sentiment banner. I also used a scalloped border punch to add some interest to the vertical panel. I was SO in love with the ribbon and button detail that Alice Wertz did on her card, I had to CASE them! Thank you Alice for a great embellishment!

I should probably finish up this post before Blogger decides it should give me grief too! lol Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Summer Afternoon' and 'Garden Party Blooms'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Real Red, Distress Inks - Antique Linen and Tea Dye
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - October Afternoon 'Thrift Shop'
Access: Buttons, Ribbon, DMC Thread, EK Success Open Scallop Edge Punch, Multi Twinkles, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals

Taylored Expressions Release!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Happy release day to you all!

It's finally here; release day for all six of the Taylored Expressions sets being released this month! Woohoooo!

All week, Taylor and the Baker's Dozen have been showing you all sneak peeks from the release, and today I'm sooo excited to be showing you all a couple of cards I made using two of those sets.

This first card uses the set called Pet's Place and it's perfect for all us animal lovers! The set contains 21 images and sentiments and on this card I used 7 of them. Can you find them all??

Taylored Expressions supports various charities through the TE Giving Tree Program. There is a new stamp set introduced every 3 months to support a new charity. This quarter they're introducing Pet's Place, the newest set in the Apple Doodle Ink line, to support The Humane Society of the United States.

The Humane Society is the nation's largest and most effective animal protection organization. The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals—a world that will also benefit people. They are America's mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond. HSUS is also the lead disaster relief agency for animals, and they provide direct care for thousands of animals at sanctuaries and rescue facilities, wildlife rehabilitation centers, and mobile veterinary clinics. Read more about HSUS....HERE.

Pet's Place is now available in the TE Store and $7 from the sale of each set will be donated to HSUS. Please remember that sets in the Giving Tree Program are the same high quality deeply etched pink rubber on EZ Mount as all other TE stamp sets, however unlike TE's other sets, you will need to trim these images yourself. This allows TE to cut production costs and donate more to the charities.

I stamped out the images individually and colored each of them with my trusty reinkers and aquapainter brush. Then I cut them out and mounted them on a panel cut with a Big Scalloped Circle nestie die (which was sponged with Antique Linen Distress Ink). The paper I used is from Basic Grey and Taylored Expressions has put together a fantastic Project Pantry Kit that's full of cardstock, ribbon and embellishments that coordinate with Basic Grey's Max & Whiskers collection! All the other panels were sponged with DI's Vintage Photo ink and machine stitched to brown cardstock. I used this week's Sketch For You To Try for my layout.

For my second project, I used the beauuuuuuutiful Summer Afternoon set!

As soon as I saw this set, I knew I had to play with it! I love silhouettes stamps as much as I love line art stamps, mainly because I love getting inky and breaking out my sponges! :)

To create this card I first stamped the gorgeous vine medalion on some of Basic Grey's (appropriately named) Indian Summer paper with Versamark ink then SU's Chocolate Chip. Then I sprinkled some clear embossing powder over it and heat set the whole thing. Then I cut the image out using the Labels One nestie. The edges of the panel were then sponged lightly with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I then matted it with some of my favorite specialty paper - black glitter cardstock! Love this stuff! (I think I got it at Michaels last October.)

I then stamped and heat embossed the beautiful sentiment, also from the set, onto a circle panel and sponged around that with a combination of Distress Inks. The base panel was also sponged, distressed and machine stitched to a piece of Creamy Caramel cardstock. Then I adhered all the panels together with dimensionals. I got a little carried away with the inks and even sponged the Prima flowers! :) I tell ya; can't help myself once I start! As a finishing touch, I added some Diamond Stickles to the tips of the flowers and sprayed the whole card with some Pearl Glimmer Mist. Oh, you should see the sparkle IRL! :)

Want to see more of the Pet's Place, Summer Afternoon sets as well as the other sets, Hanging Out At The Beach, Udderly Sweet and Care & Comfort? Then check out what the Baker's Dozen have been cooking up!

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls

Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend and get to ink some stamps up too! :)

Supplies
"Sorry I'm Late..."
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Pet's Place'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Creamy Caramel, Pretty In Pink, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, More Mustard, Really Rust, Cool Caribbean, Pumpkin Pie, Going Gray, Not Quite Navy, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Vintage Photo'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Georgia Pacific, Kraft, Bazzil Basics, PP - TE Project Pantry 'Pet's Place' Kit
Access: Spellbinders Large Scalloped Circle Nestibilities, EK Success Edge Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals

"Summer Afternoon"
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Summer Afternoon'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Versamark Ink, Chocolate Chip, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Georgia Pacific, Black Glitter Specialty Cardstock, PP - Basic Grey's 'Indian Summer Collection'
Access: Prima Flowers, Button, DMC Thread - Ecru and Black, Spellbinders Labels One and Small Circle Nestibilities, Machine Stitching, Rangers Stickles - Diamond, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Pearl, Sponges, Dimensionals

Sending You Sunshine

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Good Morning!

Long weekends and short work weeks are fabulous aren't they? *sigh* Wish every week was like this. I'd be a more relaxed person if it were! Just saying.... ;)

Going on right now are sneak peeks of the June releases for Taylored Expressions, and before I help the Taylor and the Bakers Dozen lasses launch the huge release on Friday morning, I wanted to show you one more card using the Garden Party Blooms set.

I couldn't resist purchasing May's Project Pantry Garden Party Kit since the colors were so vibrant and fun and go together with this set like bugs on a plant! hehehe Having never bought one of these kits before, I was amazed at how much was actually in these kits! There's enough stuff crammed in that set to make anywhere between 8-12 cards (depending on how much you like your layers - hehe)! That's less than $2 a card at that price! :)

I chose to stamp the tulip this time with my Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Warm Red, then the stem with Moss Green. Being a novice stamper, I don't always get a clean and crisp stamped image, so I will often go back and color over my stamped image with my ink and aquapainter. It covers those small areas with ink and leaves my image looking much more solid. Then I added just a wee bit of Diamond Stickles to the flower for just a touch of sparkle. Gotta have some sparkle right?

If you haven't guessed by now, I borrowed Taylor's TESC115 sketch for my layout and used some black adhesive pearls for the details at the top and bottom of the card. It worked out perfectly for this stamp set!

Ok, so as I said, sneak peeks of the June releases are flying all over TE-land, so if you want to see what's being released, then I highly suggest you get your skates on and roll on over to the blogs of the Baker's Dozen to see what they've cooked up!

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen

I'll be joining the girls on Friday, the official day of the release. I can't WAIT to show you girls what I've created!! :D

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Garden Party Blooms'
Inks: Colorbox Chalk Inks - Moss Green, Warm Red, Tangerine, Distress Inks - Antique Linen
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Georgia Pacific, PP - Taylored Expressions Pantry Kit
Access: Kaisercraft Adhesive Pearls, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, EK Success Circle Punches, Sponges, Dimensionals

Thanks A Bunch!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Good Morning!

Hope you're having a great week so far. I've been building a 3D computer model of a building at work all week (actually, I'm building 4 of them, but after the first one, the others just started blending together!) and if I never do another one, it'll be ok with me! lol I've been looking at nothing but imaginary walls and windows all day long! Argh. Tomorrow I'll start creating the birds eye camera shots of the buildings, so that will break the monotony of it all. :)

I have a Taylored Expressions card to show you all today! And guess what? I didn't use my aquapainter at all!


That's the super nice thing about the TE Garden Party Blooms set - you don't have to be a great colorer (is that a word?) to make fabbie cards! I own very few SU ink pads because I color mostly with reinkers, but I do own quite a few Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks, so I used those to stamp out the stem and flower image. Then I added a cute little button to the center of the flower for a bit of detail. The designer paper is from Die Cuts With A View's Song Bird stack and it's all layered on a piece of kraft cardstock.

It's a very natural looking card. So if you're afraid of bright, bold color, then fear not - you don't have to make bold colored cards if you don't want to! :)

I have a confession to make: Stamping doesn't come naturally for me. I don't have to think twice about coloring, but stamping....oi vey! This was actually my fourth attempt at making a card with just stamped images on it. Pretty bad hey? I kept trying to overdo it and then I had an epiphany - mental note to self: K.I.S.S! ;)

Have a good one!


Supplies

Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Garden Party Blooms'
Inks: Colorbox Chalk Inks - Line Green, Tangerine, Distress Inks - Antique Linen
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - DCWV Song Bird
Access: Ribbon, Button, DMC Thread, Sponges, Dimensionals

Miss Hanging Out

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Good Morning!

I'm so happy it's Thursday....because that means we're one day closer to Friday, and the end of another work week! :) And tomorrow The Man and I have a date planned. We're going out for dinner and then catching the new Russell Crowe flick, Robin Hood. :) Should be a great night! Syd is heading to her Narnie's for the evening. She'll have a great night too, I'm sure. :)

I couldn't wait to play Taylor's TESC112 sketch challenge this week - especially since I have her newest releases sitting right here on my craft desk!


Since I made a baby card with the new Hanging Out set last week, I thought I'd show you how versatile this set is by making a 'missing you' card using another image from the same set! The dress was begging to be paper pieced (as are most of the stamps in the set) so I used some of my favorite designer paper at the moment - October Afternoon's Fly A Kite collection. (The striped paper is from Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry collection.)

Here's a trick I like to do when paper piecing: I will cut around it the image, leaving a buffer of about 1/16". This is because I run a black marker around the edge of all my images to hide the white edges. Sometimes the ink from the marker will bleed a little, so if I leave a buffer edge, the ink will only bleed to the image line and not any further. The black ink also hides any imperfections in my cutting, so you'll never see where I messed up! ;)

Thanks so much for dropping by today! Hope you have a good one!

Supplies

Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Hanging Out'

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Distress Inks 'Antique Linen'

Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - October Afternoon 'Fly A Kite' and Basic Grey 'Nook And Pantry'

Access: Spellbinders 'Large Scalloped Circle Nesties, Basic Grey Adhesive Pearls, Machine Stitching, Micron Pen, Sponges, Dimensionals

Release Day At Taylored Expressions!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Hello everyone!

(This is my second post for today, please scroll down and take a peek!)

It's finally release day over at Taylored Expressions and have we got some goodies to share with you!! I am still just so thrilled to be joining the fabulous Baker's Dozen today (In fact, if you picture that girl from the Flashdance movie doing that running-on-the-spot thing she does - that's pretty close to what I feel like doing right now! LOL

If you've seen all the yummy sneak peeks over at the TE blog all week, then you've definitely seen this fabulous and versatile set I used to create this dreamy card!

Doesn't it just make you sigh? Ok, maybe not my card but definitely the idea behind it - baby clothes hanging out in the breeze - so sweet and calming! I used the brand new set aptly named Hanging Out, which happened to be designed and illustrated by two of the Baker's Dozen girls - Sankari Wegman and Nancy McKinney! There are lots of different clothing pieces to choose from in this set, but I went with a baby card for today.

I stamped the onsie, the pacifier and the clothes pegs on a scrap piece of paper, then I watercolored it with my reinkers and aquapainter brush. I then cut out the onsie, popped it on dimensionals and then adhered it to the sponged cloud background with the clothesline that I drew in with a .5 Micron pen. Then I added some buttons to hide the ends of the clothes line, stamped out the sentiment and layered the panel on sparkly cardstock (machine stitched around it of course) and fun kraft designer paper. And voila - a clean and simple card!!

The cloud background is really easy to create. All you need is a Post-It note, a corner punch, a sponge and a blue ink pad. Cut an arc or soft curve along the top of your Post-It note. Remove the guard from your corner punch, then, with the punch turned up side down, punch along the arc carefully lining up the scallops at the corners.

Lay your Post-It note template near the top of your piece of cardstock. Apply some ink to your sponge and before you apply it to your cardstock, wipe the sponge on some scrap cardboard or paper so you don't smear a big glob of ink on your project. You can't remove excess ink from your panel, but you can always add more! Start with your sponge on the template and push it off and onto your panel. Do this as many times as you need to until you have enough ink on the panel.

Repeat step two as many times as you need to, working your way down the panel, remembering to change the angle of your template around slightly to create more interest. Easy peesy right?! Want to know something that's even easier than this technique? Taylor is releasing a cloudy day background stamp today!! Woot! Woot! Now that would have come in handy for this card! hahaha

Now, along with that adorable set, there are a few others being released today too. They are the the Garden Party Blooms and matching Garden Party Critters sets, along with Cuppie In The Kitchen and 2 Father's Day A-La-Carte stamps! And if that wasn't enough, there are two Project Pantry Kits, which are fabulous card kits!

Here's what I created using one of the A-La-Carte Father's Day stamps! It's perfect for the car buffs in our lives! It colored up like a dream with my reinkers and aquapainter! I used SU's Regal Rose for the body, and put a second coat of Ruby Red over the top of it. Then I used Cranberry Crisp for the shadows. To give it some real punch, I added some Ranger's Glossy Accents on the headlights and windows. Something had to be sleek and glossy on this card! hahaha

Phew! Was that a long post or what?! But I'm not quite finished yet! hehe Well, almost. I just want to pass along links to the blogs of the Baker's Dozen girls so you can see what they've created to show you today and what they've been up to all week!

Alex Maldonado * Carolina Buchting * Charmaine Ikach

Donna Baker * Jackie Pedro * Jami Sibley
Jeanie Witmer * Jodi Collins * Karen Giron

Karen Motz * Melissa Sauls * Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman * Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you SO much for stopping by today and helping me celebrate my first release with Taylored Expressions!! :) Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Supplies
Welcome Little One
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Hanging Out'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Old Olive, Ruby Red, Almost Apricot, Cool Caribbean
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Georgia Pacific, Bazzil bling, PP - Jillibean Soup 'Jibber Jabber'
Accessories: Buttons, DMC Thread, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals

You're A Classic
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Father's Day A-La-Carte'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Cranberry Crisp, Going Gray, Sahara Sand, Cool Caribbean, Distress Inks 'Black Soot'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Basic Grey 'Offbeat Collection'
Accessories: Ribbon, Spellbinders Labels Eight, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals

I've Got A Secret I Need To Share!!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A very happy Tuesday to you everyone!

Tuesday's are normally a pretty uneventful, and almost 'blah' day for me,...except today is a very special Tuesday! I've kept a BIG secret for the last two weeks and now I can do a little jig and tell you all about it! *cheesy grin*

For the next two months I'll be designing along side the FABULOUS Taylored Expression's Baker's Dozen and the top baker herself, Taylor Van Bruggen!!

I'm soooo excited (and petrified at the same time!) to be designing along side these ladies that I've admired for such a long time. I feel like the little kid playing in the big kid's playground! :D Shhhhh! Don't tell them! LOL

In honor of this fabulous opportunity, I created this card for my dad for Father's Day. The only two pairs of shoes you'll ever see my dad wearing are flip flops or his Blundstones. You see, he's an auto body technician, or a panelbeater as it's known in Australia, and steel toed Blundstones are mandatory. So when I spied this Boys Will Be Boys set in Taylor's store, I knew it was the perfect set for making some Father's day cards. (My FIL is in local government, so the ties in this set will make a great card for him too!)

I colored the boots with reinkers and my trusty aquapainter. I used SU's In Color Soft Suede for the boots and Chocolate Chip for the soles. Then cut the image out with the Labels One nestibilties, then sponged around the edges with a combination of Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. The designer papers are from my much treasured Mr Campy collection from Cosmo Cricket. I just love that paper!! I machine stitched around the edges of the card for a more 'taylored' look. Yes, that was a pun! lol You might recognize the layout too - it's Taylor's TESC111 sketch for this week! I kept the scalloped edge to a minimum (using my small scalloped Fiskar's decorative scissors) since it is supposed to be a very manly card after all! :)

While making this card, I had a bit of a Doh! moment. I was so proud of myself for making a Father's day card ahead of schedule, but then I remembered that I actually made this card WAYYYY ahead of schedule. You see, Father's Day in Australia, is in September!! Bugger. lol

Mark your calendars my peeps: This Friday is release day at Taylored Expressions and Taylor has a couple of SUPER CUTE sets that you have to check out! Ahhh! I'm soooo excited to be hanging out with the cool kids this month!! hahaha

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Supplies
Stamps: Taylored Expressions 'Boys Will Be Boys'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Soft Suede, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics, PP - Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy Collection
Access: Buttons, DMC Thread, Spellbinders Label One Nestibilities, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, EK Success Corner Punch, Machine Stitching, Sponges