More is More

With the coming September Release, Taylored Expressions will turn 3!  I’ve been along for the whole ride and I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since that initial release of three Cuppie stamp sets! We want you to celebrate with us!  Here’s a run-down of what we have going on this week.

September Birthday Bash and Release

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 3rd Birthday and you are invited to our Birthday Bash!
• Sneak peeks Monday through Wednesday – lots of fun eye candy and inspiration!
• All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, September 1st at 8 am PST. You’ll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Every order placed Thursday – Monday will include a FREE Party Favor.  Details coming Thursday morning..
• To celebrate our 3rd Birthday, you have 3 WAYS TO WIN!

      1. Help Spread the Word! Grab our Birthday Badge from Taylor’s blog and post it on your blog for the week.  Then come back and    leave a comment with a link to your blog to let us know you’re spreading the word. You will be entered into a drawing for a $25 TE gift certificate. 

      2.  Join us on Facebook for an early reveal of all the new stamp sets Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.  You will have until 8 pm PST that night to comment to enter to win each new set.

      3.  Join us in our SCS Forum for a contest that will begin Thursday morning.  In the meantime you can see Baker’s Dozen sneak peeks there and chat with us!

Today the Baker’s Dozen will be sharing peeks of two new full sized sets, Build a Treat and Buikd a Treat Borders, both concepted by the fabulous Sankari Wegman and illustrated by Nancy McKinney.  These two sets have coordinating die sets that you are going to love as well!  Plus we have a Birthday A la Carte stamp and a Petite Cuppie set on the menu.  Lots to see!

My sample features Build a Treat plus the Build a Treat Tops & Bottoms Taylored Die set and the Tiny Toppers Taylored Die Set.  Build a Treat allows you to create an almost endless combination of cupcake and ice cream treats with 30 images for options for solid stamping, coloring and paper piecing.

The cupcake on my card was created with separate top and bottom images from the stamp set which were stamped onto patterned paper and then die cute with the coordinating dies.  The little cherry on top is from the Tiny Topper Die set.  Isn’t that so fun?  I used papers from the MME Lost and Found Two Blush 6×6 pad.  I <3 this pad – it’s so yummy!  The Eiffel Tower and French sentiment are printed on one of the papers and I thought they would be wonderful with a paper-pieced confection!  I covered the frosting with clear glaze pen and added Baby Bling pearls  The focal panel was cut and layered with Spellbinders Labels Four and Labels Four Small.  I added a Want2Scrap pearl flourish as well as Liquid Pearls in Flamingo.  The crocheted trim is from the batch I picked up at an antique store on our vacation and the ribbon is SU.  A Webster’s Pages Little Whimsy finishes it off.

And here’s the inside of the card.

I layered Spellbinders Double Ended Tags over Fancy Tags for the sentiment. Th ecardstock sI used are Pool party and Basic Gray from SU.

And now let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jen Shults – welcome to our Guest Desisgner!
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen – get all the info from our Founder
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

I’ll be back tomorrow as we switch gears into Halloween.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Friday!  It’s time for another Taylored Expresison Sketch Challenge and I hope you’ll play along.  TE stamps are not required. You have two weeks to play and one lucky player will be drawn to win a gift certificate to the TE Store!

Today’s sketch came from Crew Member Rachel Sztonyk.

I pulled out Green Acres and the August Key Ingredients featuring Echo Park Country Drive.  When Green Acres was in development, I remember being excited to stack the animals on top of each other.  But then when the set came I had so many ideas for it, I just never got around to doing that.  So this card is a long time coming.

Images are colored with copics and I sponged some Baja Breeze ink around them.  I used the Picket Fence Taylored Die for the element on the right side of the sketch.  Spellbinders used are Labels 4 and Wonky Rectangles.  I just wasn’t happy with the card and kept staring at it until I realized it needed a very narrow black layer to make it pop.  Yep, that did the trick.  Embellishments are Stickles (yellow and fruit punch), KaiserCraft black pearls, and a couple of buttons from my stash.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Sketch Crew has in store:

• Cassie Trask
• Jami Sibley <– you are here
• Lisa Hjulberg
• Lori Craig
• Margie Cortina
• Monika Davis
• Rachel Sztonyk
• Taylor VanBruggen <– get all the deets to play along here
• Tracy Clemente
• Guest Stamper:  Kelly

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

TE Release Day!

• All of the new products are now available for purchase! Check out the Fresh Out of the Oven Department and Taylor’s Blog for all the deets!
• More projects from the Baker’s Dozen to inspire you.  Just follow the link list below.
• Another chance to win… head on over tothe TE Forum and tell us your favorite stamp set from this release. We’ll be choosing one person to win their favorite set FREE!  You have until Saturday August 6th at 6 pm PST to enter to win.

I’m back with a couple more Embrace Beauty projects and everything is now available for purchase in the TE Store!  I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the ideas I have for creating with this stamp set!  And I so so so loved seeing the samples created by Taylor and the Baker’s Dozen girls!

First up today I have a CAS card –

I started by making a sponging template from a Nesties circle cut out of a square piece of copy paper.  I sponged regal Rose and So Saffron ink within the circle on Naturals White cardstock.  Then I removed the template and stamped the silhouette image in Not Quite Navy ink over the top.  I added some piercing (for my friend Bev’s DTGD Challenge), Kaisercraft pearls, and used some rose grosgrain ribbon for texture and interest.  Super simple.

My next card shows how Embrace Beauty also coordinates with Summer Afternoon.

For this card I pulled out an old favorite Kaleidacolor pad (do they even sell those anymore?) and I brayered it onto some glossy white cardstock.  I stamped the leafy round frame image from Summer Afternoon in black ink.  Then I heat embossed the circular butterfly image from EB with black ink and clear powder twice – once on Limeade cardstock and again on Bermuda Bay.  I punched out the limeade circle with a 1 3/4″ punch.  Then I cut out the butterfly and popped it up on foam dots.  The sentiment is also embossed and popped up.  I added some Want2Scrap black rhinestone swirls to finish it off.

So there you have two very different looks from the same stamp set.  Be sure to check out all the release details on Taylor’s blog.  There are some fun bundle options.  Also be sure to hop over to SCS to enter the release prize drawing!  Now let’s see what the Baker’s Dozen had cooked up for Release Day!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney

Tomorrow is my day to host one of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges, so I’ll be back in the morning with my sample for that.  I hope you’ll stop by!

Happy Tuesday!  I’m super excited to jump in on the TE sneaks today!  I hope you’ll love what you see when you hop around today!

August Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, August 4th at 8 am PST. You’ll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Angel Bundle Prize Drawing: We’re very excited to be supporting the Angel Tree with Joy to the World, the newest set in the TE Giving Tree Program.  If you’d like to be entered to win our Angel Bundle Prize Pack (Joy to the World Full Sized Stamp Set, Angel Kisses Taylored Card Kit, and the Musical Swirls Taylored Impression Plate) simply click over to the Angel Tree website and find the answer to this question: “Name the founder of Angel Tree.” (You’ll want to read the touching story of how Angel Tree got started while you’re there!)  E-mail Taylored Expressions with the answer in the subject line of your e-mail by Wednesday at 6pm PST.  The winner will be announced on Taylor’s blog at approximately 10 pm PST Wednesday night.

Today we are showcasing two new full sized stamp sets along with lots of Taylored Dies and a new Impression plate.  First up on the menu is a set presented by yours truly *GRIN* and expertly and beautifully illustrated by Nancy McKinney!  I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have this set in actual rubber, as it’s a concept I presented quite awhile ago based on some home decor pieces in our living room.  The set is called Embrace Beauty and it features a total of 9 imags and sentiments.  You’ll see that there are two sizes of circular silhouette images that work with a 1 3/4″ punch, Spellbinders Classic Circles (both small and large depending on your preference) and Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Dies (all available in the TE Store.)

I’ve had so many ideas floating around in my head for this set that I really didn’t know where to start.  (I’ll have some more samples with Embrace Beauty on Thursday.)  For this 5.25″ square card I started with patterned paper from the Authentique Uncoomon 6×6 pad and added Basic Gray and Basic Black cardstocks.  Both the focal image and the sentiment are heat embossed on Gray cardstock using white craft ink and white embossing powder.  (Of course this bird image is my very favorite in the set – no surprise there – but there are also gorgeous butterflies and a dragonfly.)  This was die cut with Standard Circles Small and layered onto Standard Circles large and Fleur de Lis Doily Motifs.  The sentiment was die cut with Ribbon Tags Trio 3.  KaiserCraft pearls in two colors were added around and on the image.

Embrace Beuaty was designed to also coordinate with Summer Afternoon, Care & Comfort, and Discover Your Wings.

Next up is Bugabee which was the concept of Baker’s Dozen designer Charmaine Ikach.  It was illustrated by Taylor for the *TE* Collection.  I’m so excited for Charmaine, as this is her first stamp set for Taylored Expressions!  Bugabee includes 27 images to combine and layer to create flowers, lady bugs, bees, butterflies and more!  It’s a super fun bold and graphic set that includes several large sentiments.  And there are two sets of dies to coordinate with it as well.

For my sample I used a color bright color palette of Melon Mambo, Peach Parfait and Black.  Wow – no patterned paper here – just some good old fashioned stamping!  LOL!  I stamped the flowers on the white panel and then embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder.  The butterfly was created with an image in the set that can be bug wings, a flower, or leaves.   I saw a butterfly with it.  I wonder what you’ll see? (Notice how the butterfly wings are a larger version of the same shape I used for the flower leaves?)  I used the rock’n’roll inking technique on my butterfly wings and added some sparkly clear rhinestones. You are going to love playing with this oh-so-clever set!

Now it’s time to see what the rest of the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up with these two new sets!

• Charmaine Ikach
  Danielle Lounds
  Jami Sibley  <– you are here!
  Jodi Collins
  Karen Giron
  Melissa Sauls
  Melody Rupple
  Nancy McKinney
  Regina Mangum
  Sankari Wegman
  Taylor VanBruggen
  Tori Wild
  Wanda Guess

• Don’t forget to enter the drawing for the Angel Prize Package Giveway – info on that is at the top of my post.  It’s easy to enter!  Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a Western peek.  😉  I’d LOVE to hear what you think of what you’ve seen so far!

Happy Monday!  Before I get started on what promises to be a busy day, I wanted to share a card I created around a couple of elements that were sitting on my table.

I started out with just the Olive Fleur de Lis die cut medallion with the circle die cut from MME paper.  I had cut those two pieces a couple of week earlier for a project that ended up going a different direction.  They were sitting on my stamp table taunting me to make something with them.  (Am I the only one sometimes taunted by her stamping supplies??)  I took up the challenge and created this 5.25″ square card.  To be honest I struggled with it over a couple of days, but I think it was worth it.  🙂  What do you think?

Here’s the inside:

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Birds of a Feather, It’s a Banner Day 3, It’s a Banner Day 1

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Basic Black, TE Choice Snow White, MME Lime Wtist Happy Go Lucky

Dies:  Banner Day 1, Banner Day 2, Birds and Branch (all TE), Fleur de Lisa Doily Motifs Spellbinders die

Other: Want2Scrap Green Pearls, Want2Scrap Cream Baby Pearls, EK Success Parisian Edger Punch

Almost all supplies available at Taylored Expressions.  I’m having a little blog glitch at the moment and am unable to insert links.  I’ll try to come back and edit them in later.

I just love those tiny die cut birdies.  I’m sure I’m going to be using those on lots of things!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great week!

Happy Thursday!  I printed out the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge over the weekend and sat down to play with it on Monday.  I have a basket of newer stamp sets and sets I’ve come across recently that I want front and center so I’ll use them.  As I flipped through the sets in the basket with sketch in hand I found the perfect set to use – Rescue Remedies from Waltzing Mouse.  I recently purchased the 6×6 pack of Hometown Summer paper by Pink Paislee and thought they would be fun with this stamp set.  As I got everything out to make choices, I couldn’t make just one card, so I made a set of 4 instead.  I just love how they turned out and it was so much fun mixing colors and patterns and finding ribbons and such!

Here’s the full set –

It’s funny because when we saw this line of paper of CHA, Taylor fell in love with it, but it didn’t do much for me.  Then several of the Baker’s Dozen used it in samples for Green Acres during the May release and I decided I needed it.  Well now I absolutley LOVE it!  I embossed the images with black craft/pgment ink (didn’t I mention recently that I hate using that stuff?) and clear embossing powder.  Such a bold look!  The black decorative strip is from a TCP border die – I used the die cut piece on 2 cards and the left over piece on the other 2.  I recnely purchased Spellbinders Labels Four Small dies to go  with the the Labels Four that I already had.  I’m so glad that Spellbinder finally has started to make “small” versions of some of the poplular lables dies.  I wish they would have named them 4 1/2, etc. because I think the word small might confuse some people.  It just means that the new sets layer in between the original sets – something so many of us have wanted for so long!  Here are individual photos of each card.  Click on any photo to see it larger.

I put them all on kraft card bases and used black cardstock matting and black rhinestones to tie in with the black embossing and make everything pop!  Aren’t they cute?  I think they’ll make a great gift!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll be back tomorrow with a new Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.

Happy Wednesday!  Did you have a good 4th of July weekend?  We sure did!  This is the first chance I’ve had to post even though I did get some good stampng time in.  The card I have today is for a high school graduation for a guy, so I kept it simple in his school colors.

I used TE Dream Big to create a tent topper card.   Patterned paper is from the MME 6×6 Stella and Rose – Hattie pad.  I’ve found that paper collection great for masculine cards as well as other things.  I actually bought it because it was somewhat out of my norm.  I wasn’t sure how much I would use it, but it’s been great to have!  The little stars are from the TE Star Border Die.  I was originally going to use a star border, but it didn’t quite work.  The little stars were the perfect little touch though.  Each one has a tiny red rhinestone on it too.  I used the silver end of a Zig Painty Pen to line the edges of the card and the edges of the red cardstock strip under the numbers.  It gives a really nice finished look.  Now I just need to get this in the mail – it’s already quite late.

Since the Rocket Scientist works a 9/80 and has every other Friday off work, we were very fortunate to have a 4 day weekend.  We started it off by going out to dinner and to see Super 8 Thursday night.  I didn’t know much about the movie before seeing it ( I like it that way) and I really really loved it!  Two thumbs way up!

Friday we did something different and fun.  We drove a half hour to have lunch at a food truck!  It wasn’t just any truck though, it was Nom Nom – the truck that came in 2nd place (should have won) the Food Network Truck Wars last year.  We’ve wanted to track them down ever since the show and we finally did.  OH.MY.HEAVENS. Best sandwich EVER.  The Banh Mi was like nothing I had ever tasted before.  YUM!   We’ll be tracking them down again for sure.    Then Friday afternoon and evening I went through the very painful process of cleaning up my stamp room so I could have a friend over to stamp on Saturday.  UGH!  I got a lot accomplished and it looks and feels so much better in there…for now…you know how that goes!

I got to stamp with my friend Lisa all afternoon Saturday and then Curt and I went to an art show Saturday night.  My brother-in-law had some pieces on display which was really cool.  And we discovered an artist that we were unaware of (but many of our friends already knew about), Shag.  We loved that show so much we almost bought a piece…we just couldn’t figure out anywhere to put it.  Oh and just by coincidence that night we happened on yet another food truck from the Food Network contest – Crepes Bonaparte – so we had a little dessert there.

Sunday was a wonderful day at church and visiting with some friends.  We decided to stay home for 4th of July this year and my wonderful hubby went to the store and got everything to make us a yummy steak dinner.  That was topped off by a trip to Baskin Robbins.  OH MY!  GREAT weekend and time to get back on that Weight Watchers bandwagon for sure!

I have more projects to share – just need to find the time to sit down and blog them!  I’ll try to get back tomorrow.  I hope you’re having a good week!  Thanks for stopping by!