More is More

What a week it’s been!  I’m so glad to be back here with all of you!  I’ve been sick with a bad cold/flu type thing – finally on the upswing and feeling better.  Then Wednesday it seemed our computer had died.  Fortunately it turned out to just be the monitor.  We now have the hugest flat screen monitor I’ve ever seen – 23.6″ of viewing space.  And it was cheaper than the still-large-but-but-slightly-smaller monitor we had planned to purchase.  Gotta love Costco!

Anyway – I haven’t stamped much in the past week or so.  I didn’t even really feel like stamping last night, but I’m so glad I had Taylor’s sketch and the need for a belated birthday card for a sweet friend to motivate me.  I had such fun with this card.  The TECC this week is such an easy sketch to work with – I hope you’ll play along with us!

Ever since I got the SU Hostess set Goody Goody Gumdrops I’ve been wanting to make a card with this ice cream sundae image.  I just think it’s so cute!  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white Shimmer cardstock and colored it with Copics.  Then I covered the ice cream with white Liquid Applique and puffed it up with my heat gun.  Once it was puffy and cool, I colored it with pink shimmery chalk.  The cherry was stamped a second time and cut out and raised up on double thick foam tape and covered with Crystal Effects.

The dp is SU Raspberry Tart.  I’ve been using it a ton lately – it’s so fun!  Cardstock colors are Rose Red and Kiwi Kiss.  Sentiment is from the Taylored Expressions SASI set A Year of Sweet Sentiments.  It’s a tiny bit crooked, but I thought it looked pretty good considering the sentiment was a total afterthought – after the Crystal Effects, Liquid Applique, brads and everything!  I added some hand drawn doodles and some white faux stitching and the dark pink brads that coordinate with the dp perfectly are from TE.  I love those brads – nice glossy finish and so many pretty colors!

 And now it’s time to see what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up this week.

And this week’s Featured Sampler is Dana White at Dana’s House of Cards.  Of course you need to hop over to Taylor’s blog to see her sample and the sketch and get all the deets to play along!

I never got around to sharing my class samples with you so I hope to have some time over the weekend to do that.  I’m coordinating a wedding reception at church tomorrow though (my first one!) – so it will be a pretty full weekend!  I’ll be back when I can.  Don’t forget that next week is an exciting week with a Taylored Expressions release scheduled for the 5th and lots of sneak peeks leading up to that all week.  Lots of big news so you’ll want to stay tuned!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Phew I made it!  Definitely not feeling well today – cold or mild flu or something, but I got my DDA card done!  Heck – I’m the hostess and I’ve had the idea all week – I couldn’t NOT play!

This month’s DDA Gallery Reunion is Know When to Fold’em!

Challenge Focus: Cards/Poker/Games/Gambling/Luck – anything loosely related – just tell us how it relates.

Required Element: A card made with other than a standard fold

Restricted Element: No buttons.

I’ve been dying to ink up this little Lucky Cuppie from A Year of Sweets 1 and I paired him with a sentiment from A Year of Sweet Sentiments both from Taylored Expressions.  The dp is Basic Gray Two Scoops and I thought it would be fun to paper piece the rainbow in polka dots rather than color it in.  The image was stamped onto Confetti White cs and watercolored.  Plus I used a black glaze pen and a gold Zig Painty Pen.  It was cut and embossed with a Labels 2 nestie.  This is a hinge fold card – I love making these.  The big green crystals are Kaiser Craft and have been in my stash for awhile.  Cardstock is Certainly Celery and Taken with Teal.

You should be able to find all the cards for this challenge by going to the SCS gallery and typing in Keyword: DCKW209  , but I know there was a problem with this earlier today.

If you are looking for my TECC sample just scroll down one post.  Thanks for stopping by.  I’m off to lie down for a bit.

-Jami

Happy Friday – time again for another fun sketch with the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge!

The focal image on my card is from SU Crazy for Cupcakes.  It was stamped on Shimmer White cardstock and colored with Copics and a silver gel pen. Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles were added to the cherries.  Image was punched with a Marvy Oval punch a layered onto a scalloped oval embellished with Frosted Lace Stickles.  Designer Paper is SU Raspberry Tart along with Rose Red and Kiwi Kiss cardstock and Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon.  Unfortunately the green rhinestone brads turned out a little dark in the photo.

Time to see what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up:

and this week’s Featured Sampler is Pam Varnell.  Congrats Pam!  Of course you need to check out Taylor’s blog for her cute sample and all the details to play along with us!

Also be sure to check out the SASI Blog as Our Friday Friend is back!  While you’re there be sure to sign up for the Taylored Expressions Newsletter (edited by yours truly) if you’re not already subscribed.  You’ll get the latest news on new products and special offers at the TE Store!

I hope to be back a little later with a card for the monthly DDA Challenge.  I’ve got a sore throat and body aches so I hope I’m not going down for the count!  Wish me luck and be sure to check back.  Thanks for stopping by!

I hope you have a wonderful day! 

The card I’m sharing with you today was pulled out of *the vault*.  It’s one I made for the SCS Dirty Dozen gallery back in November ’06.  I actually just mailed it out this week to a very special friend.  When I made it I thought it would make a beautiful Valentine and I put it away.  I’ve run across it many times, but forgot about it two years in a row as Valentine’s Day approached.  I was so happy to finally get it in the mail.  I’ve always loved this card!

Finished card size is 5 x 7 made to fit an envelope I had on hand.  Looking at this makes me want to dig out some stamp sets I haven’t used in awhile!

If the rain stays away we’re headed over to a favorite area filled with antique stores and cafes for some browsing and lunch.  I’m looking forward to us just having a day together without anything much to accomplish.  Thanks for stopping by!

Jami

A couple of days ago I came home to an awesome surprise box on my porch.  I had no idea what it was but thought it might be a birthday present.  I opened the box to find an adorable Vera Bradley bag.  But here’s the REALY WEIRD and super neat part…

Just last week I was in a little nearby boutique looking for a Valentine gift for a friend and they had a beautiful display of Vera Bradley items.  I looked for a long time, finally deciding that my favorite fabric was Mod Floral Pink.  Then I looked at (ok actually I touched) all the different styles of bags until I chose the Little Betsy.  After all that I decided I wasn’t ready to commit and I left without my chosen bag.  How weird is this?  It was exactly that bag in the surprise box!  I was giddy with excitement!

Thanks Friend!  It’s PERFECT!  

When I looked at this week’s sketch I thought it would be fun to make a card inspired by my new Vera Bradley bag.  What do you think?

The elements of the card are quite simple since the sketch is fairly complicated.  Card base is Chocolate Chip with layers of Tempting Turquoise and Tangerine Tango.  The dp is Junkitz Salsa.  The stamped flower is from SU Petal Pizzazz.  I stamped it in Pink Passion ink, adding some So Saffron with a marker and some doodles with a red marker and cut it out.  Embellishments are SU rub-ons, a clear button and a variety of rhinestones from Zva Creative and Kaiser Craft.

Let’s check out what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up!  (Big HUGS to Ana and Sherrie who are both under the weather!)

This week’s Featured Sampler is the oh-so-talented and oh-so-sweet Jodi Collins at Stamping A Latte.  And of course check out Taylor’s blog for her sample and all the deets on how you can play along with us!  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Oh my goodness – I am so sorry I didn’t get back here to announce the winner of my birthday drawing!  I had such a wonderful birthday week and then this week has just been incredibly busy!  And I’ve had absolutely no stamping mojo this week at all.  My monthly Stampin’ Up! Class is tomorrow night and it’s taken all I have to get some cute samples made up for that.  I’m excited though because my Friday class completely filled and I am holding another class next Wednesday afternoon for a bunch of girls from church who also wanted to come!

Thank you everyone for all the fabulous birthday wishes!  I went to Random.org and the winner is comment #2!

Lori in KS said

“happy birthday! I’m usually an early bird. But, when it comes to my 2 teenage daughters they usually make us late.”

Lori – you’ll be getting your $10 Taylored Expressions gift certificate via e-mail within the next few days.

I’ll be back tomorrow morning with my sample for the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge.  Thanks for hanging in with me even through the busy times!

-Jami

It’s a rainy Friday here in SoCal.  It almost always rains the week of my birthday and this might sound weird, but the rain always made me feel special.  I guess it’s because it doesn’t rain all that much here and I’ve loved rain ever since I was a little girl.  I know a lot of you are snowed under and enduring freezing temps, so how about a bright summery card to warm us all up?  Taylor’s sketch today is an easy with with lots and lots of possibilities.  I hope you’ll play!  You can get all the TECC details on her blog by clicking here.

Once I had the sketch in hand I found this striped satin ribbon in my stash and the card came together very easily from there.  I knew I wanted to use Trendy Trees – another one of my new SU sets I hadn’t played with yet.  Cheep Talk was still sitting on my table and of course they coordinate perfectly.  Colors used here are Pink Passion, Green Galore and Taken with Teal along with Whisper White.  It’s funny – the first few years of my stamping the Bold Brights were by far my favorite and most used colors and now they are probably my least used.  But I have to say that a bright card like this still brings a big smile to my face!

The Green Galore panel was embossed with the CB folder Floral Fantasy.  The 3 teal rhinestones are Kaiser Craft (oh my heavens I got the eP newsletter this week saying they are clearing out their KC rhinestones and won’t be carrying them or the pearls anymore.  I almost had heart failure!  I cannot live with KC!  TE has the pearls, but if you have a good source for the rhinestones please let me know!)  The tiny pink passion rhinestones around the scallop are Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles.  I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the birdie’s wing.

Now it’s time to see what the rest of the Cupcake Crew has cooked up:

And this week’s Featured Sampler is Wendy Bond at Bond Girl Bliss.

If you haven’t already entered my drawing for the $10 gift certificate to the Taylored Expressions Store, then be sure to scroll down to the next post and enter!  You have until 11 pm tonight.

Also – are you signed up to receive the TE Newsletter?  If not, you can sign up in the sidebar of Taylor’s blog.  We sent one out this morning.  It’s the best way to keep up with all the news, sales,  and latest products at TE.  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a fantastic weekend!