September Stamp Class
September 28th, 2013
Happy Weekend! After not teaching a stamp class since June, I finally got back in the saddle and held a class last night. It was so great to see my girls again! I always do 3 cards/projects in class, but I got a little carried away in my prep yesterday and we ended up with 4 cards. Three of them were related – as you’ll see below. I have to give a shout out to the Baker’s Dozen and the Taylored Expressions Gallery, because all of the ideas for these cards came from there.
First up is a card inspired by Shannon White. I loved her Easter card and just had to find a way to make it work for my class!
The general theme of the class last night was “birthday”. I just love how Shannon took two of these silhouette bloom die cuts and used them together. The next two cards were inspired by negative die cut examples created by Shelly Mercado and Tammie Edgerton. I started with this one. I used some piercing to create a little extra detail.
Then I realized that I would have a 2nd negative panel in making the first card and I just couldn’t let it go to waste, so I created the next one. This time I went for a 4.25″ square. I really really tried to go monochromatic with just the Melon Mambo and white, but you know me…I had to add the black! Just had to!
Both of the cards above cut the blooms from white 2.5″ x 3.5″ panels. I think it would be fun to just cut a bunch of those and then see how many different cards I could come up with to showcase them.
After these three were ready to go is when I found myself in trouble. I had printed out a bunch of ideas from the TE gallery and it was after 3:00 p.m. on Friday (when I start feeling the pressure!) I went through 3 different ideas before I settled on using the adorable Candy Monster set. I had 4 different samples that I loved and wanted to work from, but ultimately I went with one that Carole Burrage shared recently. Here’s my interpretation.
All of the patterned papers are from Stampin’ Up! Although I generally work from 6×6 pads for all my personal creating, I find that having packs of 12×12 SU paper is perfect for class. I can usually get enough of any one pattern for enough cards for class, plus I always know that I will have the perfect coordinating cardstock.
It was great to teach a class again and exciting to have a brand new stamper join us last night! TE Sneak Peeks start on Tuesday with lots of awesome holiday stuff! I have one project ready to go, and we’ll see if I have time to play some more. I know the Baker’s Dozen will knock your socks off!
Here are the supplies available at the TE Store:
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TE Share Joy Campaign: Color Challenge
September 16th, 2013
Happy Monday! I’m very happy to be here today to help kick off a new Share Joy Campaign with Taylored Expressions, benefitting the Union Rescue Mission of Los Angeles, Prodigal’s Home of Phoenix, and Iowa Homeless Youth Shelter of Des Moines. These wonderful charities work tirelessly to bring comfort and care to many homeless individuals and families throughout the year. One way they are sharing joy each and every day is by celebrating the birthdays of their participants, and you can help by sending in your handmade birthday cards!
Taylor’s husband, Jon, worked with the Union Rescue Mission when they lived out here in California. He has seen firsthand what a difference a simple birthday card can make in someone’s life. When he explained his experience to some of the TE staff, I was immediately excited to jump on board to get the word out!
This week, Taylored Expressions will help you to create with a different Birthday Inspiration Challenge each day. These charities need birthday cards of all kinds: child, adult, baby, so send in your funny, sweet, pretty, elegant, works of art and know that you will be brightening someone’s day in a way only a handmade card can do. To get all the details on how to participate, please hop over to the Taylored Expressions Blog.
Today’s inspiration is a color challenge presented by Baker’s Dozen member Joan Ervin.
As soon as I saw this color combo, I knew I had to play today. As most of you know, my own kitchen is red, yellow and black with a hint of light blue. In addition to that we are right in the midst of redecorating the kitchen in the church office where I work. The office is in a house that was built in the 40’s, so we decided to go with a mostly aqua and red combo with pale yellow walls. So, obviously I LOVE these colors!
Here is the card I created.
I grabbed the remains of an old Key Ingredients kit that held some of my favorite papers. I’ve forgotten the name of this line, but I think it was by Cosmo Cricket. Then I had a hard time deciding what stamps to use. It was so wide open – to just create a birthday card. Then I remembered the jars and vases, Curt had just helped me spray paint for the office kitchen. (Yes, you can spray paint glass – crazy, but that’s really another post.) So, I immediately wanted to use the mason jar from Love Bugs and pair with the some flowers and a sentiment from A Bushel & A Peck. I wanted the jar to be a solid color as though it had been painted, so I stamped it a second time on aqua cardstock and paper-pieced it.
I finished off the inside with a sentiment from Big Bold Birthdays. 
When you create your birthday cards for this Share Joy Campaign, it would be great if you would also decorate the inside. Just don’t sign them, as we are leaving that for the charity workers and volunteers to do.
To contribute cards to this campaign you do not need to use TE stamps and you don’t even need to play along with any of this week’s challenges. Go ahead and send stuff already in your stash or make some new cards, but please send something in! I do think you’ll want to play along with some of the challenges this week, though. We have lots of fun lined up! Hop over to Taylor’s blog for a link list of samples for today’s color challenge!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Card Recipe:
Stamps: (all Taylored Expressions) Love Bugs, A Bushel & A Peck, Big Bold Birthday (inside sentiment)
Dies: (all TE) Love Bugs, Tags Stacklets 1, Designer Mini Tags, Ric Rac Borders
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Antique Linen
Copics: R29, YG95, BG34, Y35, YR23
Other: Foam Tape, Doodlebug Sprinkles in Lady Bug and Swimming Pool
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Happy 5th Birthday Taylored Expressions!!
September 5th, 2013
It was 5 years ago today, that Taylor presented the first release of stamp sets from her new company Taylored Expressions. I was a member of the original Baker’s Dozen and above is the card I posted on my blog that day to showcase one of the new sets, Sweet Celebration.
Things have changed a bit since that first release of just 3 stamp sets. Today TE is releasing 21 new stamp sets and dies. I have to take a moment to say just how proud I am of Taylor and how far this little company has come! TE produces the highest quality rubber stamps you’ll find anywhere and, working with several illustrators, has a fabulous variety of ADORABLE images! They provide the highest standard of customer service and super fast shipping. All that and they are constantly striving to do things even better! Being behind the scenes at this company from the very beginning has been a privilege. Having some of my own concepts turned into stamp sets has been a dream come true! But the best part has been counting Taylor as a wonderful friend.
So….HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAYLORED EXPRESSIONS!!!!!
The new project I have to share with you today features a very special stamp set. The most special part is that you can get it for FREE! *GRIN*
FREE GIFT WITH PURCHASE – Your order of $50 or more (before tax and shipping) qualifies you to receive the petite stamp set and die combo From Me to You (a $17 value). This offer is good through September 15th while supplies last. One free set per customer.
One of my favorite stamping projects to create is a card set that can be given as a gift, so that’s what I decided to do today.
From Me to You is perfect for a set of cards because it has four different sentiments in really cute fonts along with a curly frame and matching die. I know you won’t want to miss out on getting this great little set!
I wanted to keep my card set fairly simple and flat for easy mailing, so I turned the Ray of Sunshine Cutting Plate and Basic Grey Kneehighs 6×6 papers. Here are a couple of close ups.
The sentiment is popped up on foam tape and I added various colors of pearls for a little accent on each card.
I think this set will make a great little gift. Now let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up for us today. Oh and don’t forget that TE has party games going all week where you can win PRIZES! Be sure to check out Taylor’s blog for all the game details!
Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Shopping!
P.S. I am crossing my fingers that this post actually appears in the morning as I am writing the night before. This is my 3rs attempt at this post, as my blog ATE the first two tries having something to do with InLinkz which I finally had to delete in hopes of getting to bed before midnight.
Taylored Expressions September Sneak Peeks: Happy Birthday TE
September 3rd, 2013
Happy Tuesday! I hope you enjoyed the long weekend and I hope you are ready for a fun-filled week! Taylored Expressions turns 5 this week and we have a new release coming on Thursday morning as well as party games for you to play all week long!
Today we have a game of Tic Tac Toe and you’ll want to head over to Taylor’s blog to get all the details the PRIZES up for grabs and how you can play along!
I have two quick birthday cards to share with you today to help kick off the festivities!
Both of my cards feature the new Party Banner Cutting Plate. The plate has a little frame already cut in and the frame coordinates with the new Labels Stacklets 6 which I used on my 2nd card. For my first card I paired the cutting plate with the new Party Banner Border Die and the new stamp set Totally Tags – Occasions.
The tag image was colored with copics and then I covered the balloons with Glossy Accents and the sentiment with Crackle Accents. The tag was cut out with the coordinating die and popped up on foam tape. The paper is Simple Stories – Vintage Bliss. I used Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles as the final accent.
The next card is actually the first thing I made when my TE box of goodies arrived. I was dying to play with that cutting plate so I grabbed a random piece of older 12×12 patterned paper, just to try it out. Well, it was so cute that I had to go ahead and make a card out of it! Here I used the new stamp set Big Bold Birthday stamped and embossed in white. I kept the embellishment super simple with some white liquid pearls.
Now let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up today!
Taylor VanBruggen <— Get all the party game info here!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!
Supplies from the TE Web Store:
