More is More

Happy Friday.  It’s time for another fun sketch from Taylor PLUS a very special opportunity for you to use your stamping to be a blessing to someone.  Today Taylor is kicking off a Dragonfly Card Drive to benefit the neo-natal unit at Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls SD.   Families who have suffered an infant loss are given a dragonfly card while they are in the hospital as something to hold on to, cherish, and comfort them after the quiet time spent with their son or daughter.  In addition to the cards, the parents receive a small ring with a poem, a prayer shawl for the mother (symbolizes God wrapping his loving arms around the patient to comfort her), baby footprints and baby molds (if the parents wish).

We’re asking you to help us by sending in your hand made cards featuring any dragonfly image.  You can use the dragonfly from the TE set Discover Your Wings or any dragonfly from any stamp company.  My sample today features one from Stampendous.  You can use today’s sketch to get you started or you may use any layout you’d like.  You have until March 25th to get your cards in.  As a special thank you, Taylor will be holding a drawing for a Gift Certificate to the TE Store.  Your name will be entered into the drawing once for every card you send in.  All the details are on Taylor’s blog today. 

Please also grab the badge and display it on your blog (and link it on your FB status as well) to help us get the word out!

Here’s my sample for TESC101 and my first card for the Dragonfly Card Drive.

I rummaged through my stamp collection until I came across this dragonfly and floral image from Stampendous and I was so excited at how the size of the images was just perfect for the sketch.  I wanted a soft vintage look so next I went looking for some designer paper and rediscovered a Basic Grey 6×6 pad called Perhaps that I got a few years ago.  The soft pretty colors were perfect.  I paired the papers with SU River Rock (dang I really really miss that color!) and Prism Razzleberry Md.  I just really had fun playing with this card.  The dragonfly was actually paper pieced with small pattern from Perhaps and then covered with Glossy Accents and a little glitter.  It was mounted with foam tape to the Nesties Label 5 frame that had first been embossed with a CB folder.  The floral image was colored with Copics and then the entire panel was covered with Versamark and clear ep and heat embossed.  The crochet trim is from TE.  The sweet little flowers are by Prima and were a gift from my wonderful friend (and fellow Sketch Crew member) Lori.  The started out ivory and I simply colored them a bit with a copic marker.  Sentiments are SU.

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

Wouldn’t it be fun to get some friends together to create some cards for this great cause?  Check your calendar and set aside some stampin’ time!  Have a great weekend!

Today we’re celebrating the 100th Sketch in the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge (formerly also known as the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge) and we really hope you’ll play along with us!  Not only is it a blast to create using Taylor’s sketches, but today there are prizes involved as well.  One lucky winner will get a $25 Gift Certificate to the TE Store just for displaying our Celebration graphic on your blog to help us spread the word and invite more people to the party.  AND the 5 Top Crops chosen by the Sketch Crew will also each receive a $25 GC!!!  How cool is that?  You’ll need to hop over to Taylor’s blog to get the sketch and the graphic and all the deets.  PLUS Taylor has an incredible gift for EVERYONE on her blog today!

But before you go, I have a sample for today’s fun sketch that I’m dying to share!  For this special celebration I wanted to use my all-time favorite TE sets Branching Out and Branching Coordinates.  To create a really bright and happy card I decided to use one of my favorite Key Ingredients kits – Berries and Cherries KI.  All the cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, and strawberry brad are from the KI.  I added some KaiserCraft red pearls and rhinestone flowers in light pink and hot pink, along with some Fruit Punch stickles.  Some faux stitching finished off this card.  (I really really need to make time to learn to use my new Janome Sew Mini – I so wanted to have real stitching on this card!)

This card is so much more sparkly IRL than the photo shows.  I had so much fun creating this card!  Now let’s check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has come up with:

I hope you have a great weekend and make some time to stamp!  I’m looking forward to teaching class tonight and going out to dinner with friends tomorrow night.  🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

I’ve been under the weather for a couple of days and didn’t think I’d have anything ready for this morning, but I just couldn’t stand to miss out on all the fun today.  All the new Taylored Expressions stamps are available in the TE store NOW!  We’re all so excited about the new line Apple Doodle Ink as well as the new Stamps A la Carte department starting with the Whimiscal Wishes Animals in Love.  And since it’s Friday, we of course have a new sketch from Taylor to play with – TESC99.  My take on the sketch features the Flamingos in Love A la Carte image along with a sentiment from Animal Love Sentiments.

Check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has cooked up:

Both of my cards today were made with the Spa Key Ingredients Kit (cardstock. patterned paper, Ribbon, fabric flowers) and images were colored with Copics.  My 2nd card features the new Apple Doodle Ink set Bakery Business.  I actually made this card a few days ago, but didn’t get it photographed until today.  I had to laugh when I saw Jodi’s sample on Wednesday where we had used the same small curved rectangle die and similar coloring for Tena.

I know you’ll want to see what the Baker’s Dozen girls have created for Release Day:

And of course you want to head over to Taylor’s blog to see her samples and get all the TE Release news along with the sketch for today!  TE has an awesome Special available for those of you who want to get all 8 A la Carte images along with the coordinating sentiment set – you’ll get $10 off your next order!

Thanks so much for all the warm and wonderful birthday wishes through blog comments, e-mails, and FaceBook messages.  Unfortunately I spent the day with a sore throat, body aches and feeling generally yucky.  Even so, I kept thinking about how thankful I am for all the love in my life from family and friends (and of course Tessa in my lap all day) and just how blessed I am. 🙂

Happy Friday and Happy Shopping!

ETA:  I apologize for the weird formatting – I can’t seem to fix it.

I can’t believe I’ve gone another whole week without blogging or even really stamping.  I didn’t get everything done that I had hoped/planned the week between Christmas and New Years so I kind of feel like I’ve started the new year already behind!  Aaaaaccckkkk! 

I doubt if I’ll be catching up any time soon.  LOL!   I’m super excited for CHA – both the SuperShow and the trade show…mostly because of all the friends from around the country that I’ll get to see.  I can hardly believe it’s onlly 2 weeks away!  Do you have your tickets??  If you come to the Super Show on Friday or Saturday please be sure to come by the Taylored Expressions booth and say hi.  I’ll be there helping out.  We’ll have make & takes and demos and prize drawings and you’ll get to meet several members of the Baker’s Dozen as well as Taylor of course!

And speaking of Taylor, it’s Friday so it’s time for another Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.  I flipped TESC97 to better fit my images from the newly released TE stamp set Love Everywhere.

I didn’t have a ton of time so I pulled out my Spa Key Ingredients so I would have cardstock, patterned paper and ribbon already coordinated and at my fingertips.  The cute puppy is my very favorite image from among a whole bunch of super cute images in this set because of course it reminds me of my sweet Tessa!  Curt got me several new Spellbinders Nesties for Christmas and I’ve been anxious to get them all out and play with them.  I knew Labels 9 would be perfect for this sketch.  I am loving that shape!  The little gems I used are by Darice and I picked them up at a local craft store.  The package had 3 or 4 sizes and shapes and they are fun because they sparkle in multi-colors.

Let’s check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has cooked up –

And now it’s time for me to head out for my pre-CHA hair appointment.  *grin*  I hope you have a great day and fantastic weekend!

Happy 2010!!!  Here’s a sample for the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge – TESC96!  What better way to kick off the new year than with some stamping??  I hope you’ll join us and play along!  Get all the details on Taylor’s blog.

I had so much fun just playing with stuff to come up with this card.  I knew I wanted a New Year’s card and when I saw the sketch I immediately thought of the clock from Sense of Time (SU) and I knew I wanted to die cut the numbers from one of my Cuttlebug alpha sets.  I went looking through my designer papers and found this retired SU package (not sure what it’s called) and coordinated it with Blush Blossom cardstock for the elegant vintage look I wanted.

The clock was stamped in Bravo Burgundy ink and die cut with my new Blossom nesties (thanks Honey – great Christmas gift!).  I sponged on some more burgundy ink, distressed the edges and sponged on some white shimmer paint. The sentiment was cut out with a deckle rectangle nestie and the entire panel was embossed with Versamark and clear ep.  I love doing that when a sentiment is the main focus – it makes it stand out and look more special.  White shimmer paint was added to the numbers before they were adhered to the dp.  The ribbon started out white (satin from SU) and I dyed it with an RV93 Copic marker.  I added some pink Zva crystals (attached together in lines), some Blush KaiserCraft pearls and that oh-so-yummy Maya Road velvet blossom.

Let’s check out what the rest of the Sketch Crew has cooked up today:

Now it’s time to watch the Rose Parade and eat pancakes!  Later today we plan to see Sherlock Holmes.  What are your holiday plans?  Whatever you’re up to I hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend and a Happy New Year!

Happy Friday! It’s time for another fun sketch from Taylor – TESC94 – and I encourage you to play along with us.  🙂

I have another penguin for today’s card.  This one is from the Our Craft Lounge Crafty Clear set Snow Place Like Home.  You know I LOVE cute penguins and I considered doing *a penguin a day*, but I’ve just got so much going on right now that I’m not sure I can commit to anything else right now – even if it’s just stamping a penguin card every day!  LOL!

I paired Snow Place Like Home with my TE Pretty Please Card Kit (ummm…it might have still been out on my table.)  First glance at that kit might not scream Christmas at you, but I think it works well with these cute images.  (I did add some SU Old Olive cardstock for the matting.)  I added some KaiserCraft rhinestones (along scallops created with a Crafter’s Workshop stencil) and some rose satin ribbon from my stash.

Image is colored with Copics and a Zig Painty Pen.  Sentiment is from Holiday Wonder and I used my new Martha Stewart icicle punch at the bottom.

Yesterday was my BFF Ruth’s birthday.  She’s been living up in Washington for the past few years and I love to send her something I’ve made.  I mailed out the Sweet Occasions card set I posted last week – click here to see it.  I wanted to show you what I did for the insides of the cards.  Rather than stamp sentiments in each card, I made an asssortment of sentiments that she can add in as she needs them.

All of those sentiments and little images are included in the Sweet Occasions stamp set.  Each sentiment is matted to coordinate with the cards and has Taylor’s sticky tape on the back so they are ready to be stuck in the cards as needed.  I think this will make the cards more versatile and more useful than if I had finished off the cards myself.

Tonight I’m having a special class just for my Club girls.  We’re meeting early for pizza and then making a card set using the Sunny Day Scrappin’ Kit.  I’ll share pictures of that project soon.  I’m looking forward to hanging out with the girls tonight.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

ETA:  Wow I was really tired when I wrote this post last night…I totally forgot to link the Sketch Crew Girls – D’oh!!!!!  Let’s see what everyone else has cooked up today:

Happy Friday!  Thank you for all the sweet comments on my very first video.  I hope to do a tutorial type video very soon.  I already have a couple of them in mind, it’s just a matter of having the time to play!

It’s time for another fun Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge (TESC92).  I realize that many of you have never played a sketch challenge of any kind before and I really hope you’ll give it a try.  Just use the sketch as your jumping off point.  It really makes stamping so much easier and sketches are always fun to play with!  If you upload your creation to your blog or SCS gallery, you can link it to Taylor’s sketch post anytime during the week.  Click here to go to Taylor’s blog for all the info. You might even get chosen to be featured in her Top Crops.

For my card today I wanted to use the TE November 20th Key Ingredients being released today.  This KI features some rich and beautiful Basic Grey papers and I’ve been dying to use them with Celebrate Life (released at TE earlier this month.)

All the paper, cardstock, ribbon, rhinestones are from the November 20th KI.  The image was stamped in white craft ink and embossed with white powder.  I added some Frosted Lace Stickles for sparkle and dimension.

So let’s see what the rest of the Sketch Crew has cooked up today:

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