More is More

Happy Friday! Wow!  I completed my first week as the Office Manager at Bethel Grace Baptist Church.  The week absolutley flew by and somehow I feel exhausted and exhilarated all at the same time.  Friday is my day off and it’s time to catch up on some work for TE as well as laundry and all those tasks around the house I haven’t gotten to this week.  I think it may take me a few weeks to find the groove of getting everything done, but it will happen.  🙂

It’s time for another Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.  This sketch is provided by Jen Shults.  I am in need of a few belated birthday cards (shame on me!)  I love to send out birthday cards, but I never seem to get them in the mail on time.  Honestly, I should really just make all my birthdays cards with belated sentiments.  This is why I concepted the series of Belated Birthday A la Cartes (illustrated by Doug Applegate) awhile back.  For today’s card I chose Belated Birthday – Shooting Stars.

Patterned paper is MME 6×6 Miss Caroline Howdy Doody and those yummy flowers are Prima Laraine – new in the TE store.  They come in a bunch of different color packs.  I added sparkly fluff to the sheep’s body, so it has some sparkly and texture.  Kaisercraft Rhinestones are Lippy Red – one of my favorite colors.  And here’s the inside:

I hope you’ll play along with us.  You could win a gift certificate to the TE Store, or you could join us as a Guest on the Sketch Crew!  Speaking of the Sketch Crew, let’s see what they have created:

Lori Craig

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Happy Sunday! I held my monthly stamp class yesterday and I still need to photograph those cards so I can share them with you.  In the meantime, I thought I’d pop in to share just a little bit about what we did last weekend.  We took a 3 night trip in the 5th wheel trailer up to a beautiful RV park called Ocen Mesa.  It’s just about 20 minutes north of Santa Barbara.  This was Roger’s first road trip and he did great!  Tessa already loves the trailer and we were hoping he would follow suit.

Despite taking 2 cameras and a video camera with us, the few photos we got were snapped with our phones.

On the road:

Tessa and Roger each have their own carseat and they love them.  Tessa’s seat attaches to the console between us and Roger’s hooks into the middle of the backseat.  They are each latched into the seats with a strap that hooks to their harnesses.  If you have a small dog, I highly recommend getting a carseat for their safety.  If the airbag were to go off with your pup in your lap, they wouldn’t survive.  Plus it’s not safe for the driver to have a dog running around loose in the car.  OK, getting off my soapbox now.  LOL!  The Rocket Scientist thought I was crazy when I first proposed getting a car seat for Tessa.  He thought she would hate it, but he has since admitted that they are great!  Both dogs will run straight to the car and hop in their seats waiting to be hooked in!

Here’s the trailer all set up:

We are so thankful to my parents for this incredibly generous gift.  It’s so awesome to be able to drive less than 3 hours (we have lots of options in that range) and totally veg out for a few days.  Those of you who know me, know that I am not a “camper”.  I have never been tent camping and never intend to try it.  In fact, I even told Curt that on our 2nd date in case it was a deal-breaker for him.  LOL!  But this is home away from home!  The internet is often sketchy at these RV parks, but sometimes that’s not a bad thing.  😉

The dogs got on board with the program pretty quickly:

Then, of course, Curt had to join them:

We’re fans of the tv show Fringe, but we started watching toward the end of the 2nd season.  We wanted to go back and catch up so we bought the first season on dvd (it was pretty cheap on ebay) and we bought a $25 dvd player for the trailer (needed that anyway.)  So this trip we watched a bunch of episodes of Fringe in the evenings.  Have I mentioned that I’m NOT an ourdoor girl…at all?  *snort*

Ocean Mesa has an awesome huge dog run where the pups can be off leash.

Pretty awesome view, huh?  Would have been perfect if we had that view from our trailer, but we enjoyed bringing the dogs over here to frolick.  Here they come…can you see them?

Just before we left to come home on Sunday, we took them for a romp to expend some energy before the long car ride.  While the dog run had been perfectly dry the day before, everything was totally wet and muddy on Sunday.  When we got back to the trailer we realized a simple paw-wiping with a towel was not going to do the trick.  Fortunately the shower in the trailer includes a small tub and sprayer, so we just threw them in there and washed them up before we headed out.  I so wish I had gotten a photo of them in the tub.

On our next trip maybe I’ll try to get some more “people pictures” too.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you’re having a great weekend.  I’m off to church soon with a very full day ahead.  And tomorrow is the BIG DAY when I officially start my new job as Office Manager at Bethel Grace Baptist Church!  Say a prayer for me if you think of me tomorrow.  Thanks!

Happy Friday! It’s time for another Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.  This is a very fun and super versatile sketch.  I hope you’ll play along with us as there is a prize up for grabs.

It’s funny – I really have no idea why I made an Easter card, when I went in my stamp room with the intention of creating a birthday card!  The Petite Storage Case that holds some of my TE wreath stamp sets was on the floor and the next thing you know I had an Easter card started.  LOL!

I started with some Pretty in Pink cardstock.  I embossed a 4 x 5.25″ panel with the TE Musical Swirls Impressions Plate and then inked it with white craft ink.  Then I added the patterned paper strip and the sentiment strip before cutting the window with a circle die.

The Spring Wreath was colored with Copics and then I added Glossy Accents.  It was cut out with the Seasonal Wreath Die and then popped up on foam squares.  There is part of a white doily behind the wreath. Embellishments include Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Ice White, Baker’s Twine in 3 colors, Pebbles Button Candy Dots.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Sketch Crew has in store today.  I do hope you’ll come play along with us!  Get all the deets on Taylor’s blog.

Happy Thursday! I’m happy to be playing along with the monthly Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge.  You REALLY need to join us!  At the end of the year there is a prize package valued at over $150 up for grabs by random draw.  All you have to do is play in 10 out of 12 months…and the really cool thing is that you can go back and catch up on any month at any time.  The only requirement is that you use one of the Calendar Products offered in the TE Store.  TE stamps are not required – use whatever you like.  If you don’t have a blog, you can simply upload to an on-line gallery.  2013 products are now available, so this is a great way to get started on your holiday gifts.  Get all the details on Taylor’s blog (linked below.)

For my project today, I used the 2012 Desktop Calendar with Landscape Calendar Base because I will be starting my new job as Administrative Assistant to the Senior Pastor (Church Office Manager) soon and I’ll need a calendar for my desk.

My first official day is March 19th, so I marked that date with a Pebbles self-adhesive button heart candy dot.  I wanted to keep this fairly simple since I need to create pages for the remainder of the year as well.  {Just think about what great Christmas gifts you can make for only $4.45!  Wow!}

The bouquet image is from Rosy Posey and I stamped it on some shimmery white cardstock, colored it with Copics and punched it out with a 1 3/4″ circle punch.  It’s a layered onto black cardstock die cut with the TE small Layering Doily Die.  The whole things is popped up on some foam squares.  The verse is from Faith in Bloom. I finished off the project with some black KasierCraft rhinestones in the corners.

I’m super excited to get started in the job.  I’ve been going in two mornings a week for the last few weeks to get some training.  There is so much to learn!  And of course, being the total office supply nerd that I am, I can hardly wait to get my desk all set up.  This calendar will be a great start!

Now let’s check out what the rest of the girls have in store for us.  I know they have used a wide variety of products.  I’m sure you’ll find some wonderful inspiration!

TE Release Day!

• All of the new products are now available for purchase! Check out the Fresh Out of the Oven Department to see everything in one place!
• More projects from the Baker’s Dozen to inspire you.  Just follow the link list below.
• Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page for Release Weekend Specials and Bundle Deals! 
• Did you win one of the Mystery Baker’s Dozen Blog Giveaways? Find the list of winners on Taylor’s Blog.

I hope you’ve been following the peeks this week as they have really been fantastic.  I’m dying to ink up those two new adorable abodes by Doug!  I love them!  The whole team has more to share today and I’m jumping in with a set of cards made with some of the new Word A la Cartes.  You can purchase these images separately – so pick and choose the ones you want. Of course I think you might need them all.  LOL!

Each card in this set is 4.25″ square and uses papers from the MME 6×6 Miss Caroline Dilly Dally pad along with Sahara Sand and Basic Black cardstock.  I colored the images with Copics and then used various products to embellish: Ranger Crackle Accents on the letters, Glossy Accents and Stickles on the flowers.

I used the new Majestic Border Die on all of the cards. Above, I added red Liquid Pearls.  For the Grace card, below, I used the negative space left from the die.  I think it makes a really cool 2nd border option.

On the Faith card I also used the Jumbo Hearts Border die.  I filled in the hearts with Glossy Accents and used Platinum Liquid Pearls on the tiny circle openings.

Before you head off to shop, you might want to check out what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up.  It’s sure to be yummy!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Stephanie Kraft (Guest Designer)
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I’d love to hear what your favorite new stamp set or die is from this release!  Let me know in a comment.  Besides all the new stamp sets and dies, Taylor has gotten in lots of new products from CHA.  Be sure to scroll through everything in the Fresh Out of The Oven Department.  🙂 Happy shopping!