More is More

Happy Friday!  It’s time for another fun sketch from Taylor – TESC118.  This week is extra FUN because there are prizes up for grabs!  You can check out Taylor’s blog for all the deets.  Everyone is welcome to play and TE stamps are NOT required.  This week we have another great and really versatile sketch to play with.  For some reason when I saw it, I immediately wanted to use a sentiment as the focal point.  So I dug through 2 drawers of sentiment sets and ended up with this 4.25″ square SUO card (it’s SUO except for the buttons).

I decided to use these felt flower elements for the little circle portion of the sketch and that’s what determined my color scheme.  Designer papers are from the Melon Mambo Designer Series pack and the Cottage Walls collection.  Cardstock is Old Olive and Chocolate Chip.  I don’t know about you, but I find felt embellishments can be difficult to adhere to projects and in this case I was attaching it on top of ribbon which is even worse.  I used Zip Dry and it worked like a charm, so I was really happy with that.  I decided to try it for the buttons as well and it worked great!

This card is really simple – in fact I had a little battle with myself over maybe adding some more *stuff* LOL! – but in the end I really like how it turned out.  🙂

Here’s a view of the inside.

I kind of flipped the sentiments and used what would traditionally be thought of as the *inside sentiment* on the front of the card.  I am NUTS about having inside and outside sentiments to coordinate with each other, so I’ve purchased a number of stamp sets over the years for that purpose.  I really believe you can’t have too many sentiment stamps.  😉

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Now it’s time to see what the rest of the sketch crew has cooked up for us today!

• Alice Wertz
• Lisa Hjulberg
• Lori Craig
• Monika Davis
• Sherrie Siemens
• Taylor Van Bruggen

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend.  I have what seems like a million errands to run today, but that will be punctuated by lunch with a wonderful friend.  Really it doesn’t get much better than lunch with a friend on a Summer afternoon, does it?

Happy Tuesday!  So where in the heck have I been for a week and a half???!!??  Well, we took a wonderful little vacation last week and the TESC crew also took a break last Friday.  I’ll share some vacation pics later in the week, but I got back to blogging just in time for the June edition of the Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop!  This is a time for all TE Lovers to play by creating a card with a much loved TE set that may not be getting it’s due because it’s not the very newest stamp set on the block.  There are over 50 people playing today!  How cool is that?!  Inspiration abounds and if you hop around, you might see a TE set you didn’t know about or haven’t seen for awhile.  And if you’re not playing today, then you need to make plans to play with us next month! Everyone is welcome.  🙂

The set I chose to showcase today is one of my favorites (*ahem* I admit I might be slightly biased on this one *wink*), but I hadn’t had it out in a little while – Sweet Ocassions.  If you’re like me, when you think about buying a stamp set you wonder what you might actually use it for and this is one of those sets that is truly versatile and easy to use – birthday, congrats, new home, friendship, thanks ALL IN ONE CUTE STAMP SET!  I was having so much fun that I actually made two cards!  (Of course not stamping for a week may have had something to do with it too! *grin*)

For today’s hop we were given an optional inspiration photo/color challenge.  I interpreted the color challenge as Real Red, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Baja Breeze and found that several sheets of patterned paper from October Afternoon (Cherry Hill, Farm Fresh and Thrift Shop) would work perfectly with this color combo. I LOVED this combo so much (it’s pretty much my kitchen colors) that I used it for both cards.  My images are colored with copic markers. 

On my first card (above) I colored over the word “friend” and the the little flower on the sugar cookie with a clear glaze pen.  The three little flower embellishments were created by first punching a 1/4″ circle from Baja carstock and then using the tiny flower punch over that circle.  That was applied with a Quickie Glue pen and then a green KaiserCraft rhinestone was adhered to the open center of each flower.

My 2nd card (below) is 5.25″ square – I have been loving that size lately!  I employed several nesties – rectangle, scallop rectangle, big scallop rectangle.  The image was stamped directly onto Baja cardstock and colored with copics.  The cupcake was paper-pieced.  Fire Engine Red loose glitter was applied to the border with a Quickie Glue pen.  Lime stickles were applied over the letters.  Glossy Accents was used to give dimension and shine to the cherry.  The Corner Chomper was used on the bottom corners of the card.

Here are the entries from the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop! Stay tuned for details on how you can sign up for the customer blog hop next month!

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!  I’m off to work so I’ll have to do most of my hopping later.  If you see something you like please leave some love along the way!!!!

We’re throwing a virtual birthday party for Taylor Van Bruggen today and everyone is welcome to join us!  You can simply hop on over to Taylor’s blog to wish her well or you can create a birthday card for her and post it on your blog and then hop over to her blog and give her the link to check it out.

Taylor, my friend, this card is in the mail to you across the miles and I’m hoping it arrives in your mail box today!

For Taylor’s birthday I was so excited to create a card using her very own first two sets – designed and illustrated start to finish by Taylor – Garden Party Critters and Garden Party Blooms!  This 5.25″ square card features October Afternoon papers from both Thrift Shop and Farm Fresh along with SU Real Red and Green Galore cardstock.  I paper-pieced the sign and the bee and I added stickles to the little stamped image of the bee’s flight trail.

And now it’s time to party hop and see all the wonderful birthday wishes for Taylor…c’mon along…I’ll be the designated driver!  *snort* 

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

 Taylor I hope you have an incredible birthday full of love and laughter!  I know the year ahead will be full of wonderful things!  I wish I could be there to celebrate with you in person.  Please eat a cupcake for me this weekend!  HUGS!!!   

Happy Friday!  It’s time for the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge (TESC117) and this week’s sketch is particularly easy and versatile I think!  It also works great no matter which way you turn it!  I flipped it over on it’s side so I could play with Hangin’ Out at the Beach some more.  I really love this set and I was super inspired by this card by Karen Motz.  I love her bright cheery colors and the way her sponged background so closely mimics her vacation photo!

So here’s my “wishing you white sandy beaches and the perfect swimsuit.”

I started out with the Basic Grey Green at Heart 6×6 pad.  First I chose 3 specific sheets of the paper that I thought I might work with for this card and then chose solid cardstock and ink colors from there.  I decided to use glossy cardstock for my main image panel since I love the way sponging and blending dye inks looks on glossy.  I sponged on Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose and Pumpkin Pie inks for that sunset/twilight feel.  I cut a little strip of Kraft cardstock using the cutting blade from the SU cutter kit for my beach.  That was covered with Brown Sugar Sparkly Fluff.  All of my swim suit pieces were stamped on Green at Heart papers and cut out.  The palm tree was stamped on TE Choice Snow White cs, colored with Copics, cut out and highlighted with stickles.  The clothesline is hand-drawn with a Copic multi-liner pen.  Card base is Regal Rose, layered with Rich Razzleberry, then Pumpkin Pie and then the sheet of Green at heart.

I have a friend preparing for a family vacation to Hawaii in just over a week and we were just talking about bathing suits – YUCK!  LOL!  So I thought this card would be the perfect bon voyage for  her.

I hope you’ll play along with us in this week’s sketch.  Let’s check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has created.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I have a fun post planned for tomorrow so please come back.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Card Recipe

Stamps: TE Hangin’ Out at the Beach

Paper: Regal Rose, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Kraft, Glossy White, TE Choice Snow White. Basic Grey Green at Heart 6×6 pad

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Elegant Eggplant, Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie

Other: Copic markers, Stickles (orange, lime), Sparkly Fluff (brown sugar),Kaisercraft rhinestones (champagne), Liquid Pearls (espresso), EK Success Dotted Wave border punch, corner rounder

Happy Thursday!  How on earth did it get to be Thursday already?  Wow!  Yesterday I spent the whole day out shopping (Chico’s, Kohls, Macy’s, Old Navy) plus had a wonderful lunch with a friend.  I bought a bunch of stuff – so FUN!  I can’t remember the last time I spent a day shopping like that.

Today I wanted to share some photos of the hummingbird nest we have right outside our bathroom window.  Awhile back I opened the window and saw a tiny nest with a mama hummingbird sitting on it.   We kept checking and she kept sitting…for what seemed like forever.  We tried not to open the window too often as it disturbed mama.  Finally one day when Curt was in the backyard and he could see mama was not in the nest, he got close and looked in and saw 2 teensy-tiny fuzzballs just barely wiggling in the nest. Again we were careful not to open the window too often and to mostly keep our distance when were outside…but we have managed to snap a couple of photos as the babies have gotten a little bigger.

This first photo was taken on June 5th. Curt took it with our little point and shoot camera.  Of course it’s hard to get the sense of just how small this nest is in a photo.  See the 2 little beaks popping up?

Then on June 9th I was able to get this photo with our Canon Rebel.  It’s amazing how much bigger the babies have grown in just a few days!  Where in the first photo there was still some space in the nest, they are now very much jammed in there.  So cozy!

I wonder how much longer it will be until they fly away.  We so want to watch them, but the nest is less than a foot from that window and we don’t want to startle them – especially at this crucial stage when they are so close to flying.  What a privilege, though, to witness this at such a short distance!

One more thing before I go.  I want to remind you to get signed up for the Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past Blog Hop.  If you have any TE stamp set released prior to March 2010 and if you have a blog, then you are eligible to play in the hop and be entered in a drawing to win the stamp set of your choice!  All you have to do is make a card and blog it according to the hop rules.  Here’s all the details:

Create a card featuring any Taylored Expressions stamps released through March 2010. We will provide a challenge to get you started, but
the challenge is optional. Then just post the card on your blog on June 22nd at 8am PST and include links to all participants in your blog post. Oh… and don’t worry! We’ll give you an easy stretch of code to
copy and paste into your blog post so you don’t have to spend hours linking to everyone! This will be a great reason to pull out your much loved TE stamp sets and get to know fellow TE lovers on the hop!

— Sign up to play by sending an e-mail to [email protected]  with the subject line “June 22 Hop”.
In your e-mail simply list the following info: your first and last
name, the name of your blog, your blog address.  By sending this e-mail
you are committing to posting a creation on your blog at 8am PST
on June 22nd according to the Hop Rules.

— You will receive an e-mail confirming your spot in the hop.  That e-mail will also include the optional challenge, a list of excluded
stamp sets (released after March 2010) and a recap of the Rules.

— You will receive another e-mail 2 days prior to the Hop with a list of all participants and links to include in your post along with the Hop
badge.

— One random participant will be selected to win the stamp set of your choice from Taylored Expressions!  And someone will be chosen to have
their card featured in an upcoming Newsletter.

The deadline to sign up for the hop is June 17th

If you’ve already signed up that’s awesome!  But if you are a procrastinator like me (I just signed up a couple of days ago!) then do it RIGHT NOW while you are thinking about it.  It’s easy.  It’s FUN. You get to stamp!  You might win a free stamp set!  Why in the world wouldn’t you play?????

Above is a Mother’s Day card I created using Berries & Cherries and Fresh Flowers along with a Key Ingredients kit from last Summer.  This card appeared in a TE Newsletter last month, but I forgot to post it here.  This is an example of a card that would fit the Blog Hop rules.  🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back tomorrow with my sample for the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.  Have a great day!

Happy Tuesday!  Just a quick post before I head out to the office.  The card I have to share with you today is a result of pure play…and those are always my favorites.  🙂  Y’all know that I am not a *clean and simple* (CAS) stamper…not because I don’t like or appreciate CAS cards, but rather because I just don’t usually have the knack for them.  That being said – let me tell you – I am absolutely tickled pink with this card!!!  I hope you like it too.

It’s a 5.25″ square white card base with a Spellbinders Labels Nine embossed into the center.  Flowers are from Taylor’s Garden Party Blooms set.  The blossoms were stamped a 2nd time on scrap cs and cut and popped up on foam tape.  I added some Diamond and yellow stickles to them and some kaiserCraft pearls on either side of the sentiment.  Ribbon is long retired Wild Wasabi from SU. Ink colors are Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, So Saffron, Regal Rose, Rose Red.  The card looks a little brighter IRL…I really should learn more about photo editing!

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

Happy Monday!  Did you have a good weekend?  I was missing the Rocket Scientist as he was up at the Air Force Base for a launch.  He’s on his way home now though and the launch was a success, so I’m a happy camper.  On Friday night (before he left) we attended a special graduation and party.  Deanna (you remember the girl who made my kitchen curtains) was homeschooled all 13 years (including kindergarten) by her mom Darla who is one of my very best friends.  They held her graduation at our church and it was followed by an ice cream sundae bar party.  Almost 100 people came and it was so heart-warming to feel the love in the room!

I made Deanna’s graduation card with Taylor’s sketch again (TESC116) using Flourishes Hats Off to You set.  Can you believe with all the stamps I own that I had to borrow that set from my friend Lisa to make this card?  Vine image is from SU Thoughts and Prayers.

I used the Paper Girl Taylored Card Kit from Taylored Expressions for the cardstock and patterned paper. Spellbinders: Circles, Blossom, Fancy Tags.

Sentiment on the inside says “Unlock Your Future”.  Of course I was photographing this as I was walking out the door to get to the ceremony, so I didn’t get a photo of the inside.

For those of you interested in the launch here’s a link to a brief article about it.  And here’s a photo.

Cool, huh?  🙂

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a fabulous week!