More is More

The Taylored Expressions October Release is now available!  Before you head over to shop the Creative Team has some more inspiration for you!

When I opened my TE box of October goodies, the very first thing I grabbed to play with were If Snowmen Could Talk and the Snowed in Background!

I just had to make it a shaker!!  I stamped the new Snowed in Background in Sugar Cube and embossed with white powder.  Then I sponged on several colors of ink.  The background stamp has a circle in the design – perfect place to put a sentiment.  I die cut it out to make the shaker.  It was fun choosing a face for the Snowman – so many cute choices!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and Happy Shopping!

Hello Stampy Friends!  Long time, no see!  I’m so excited to have some creations to share with you this week for the Taylored Expressions March Release.  All the new products will be available Thursday morning.

Today we are showcasing some awesome new dies and embossing folders, including Garden Arbor & Gate, Arbor Fence, Arbor Accessories, Wispy Grass Border, Frame in Frame Cutting Plate, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Floral Vine Embossing Folder.  I LOVE creating scenes with stamps and dies – I always have.  These new Arbor dies are so much fun to play with!  Wanna see?

ACK!  How fun is that?  I die cut the Garden Arbor & Gate and the Arbor Fence from white cardstock and covered them in Crackle Accents.  While the Crackle was still wet, I attached the vine (Arbor Accessories).  After I die cut the flowers, I used the tip of a dry embossing tool to give them dimension, then I attached them with drops of Crackle and added Liquid Pearl centers.  The gate was popped up on foam tape. The Wispy Grass Border was die cute twice and placed both behind and in front of the fence.  I added the previously released Little Bits – Fawn and Little Bits – Flowers & Stems, as well as the Little Bits Sun & Clouds (clouds cut from Heidi Swap glitter tape.)  The cloud background paper is from the TE 6×6 paper pack – Build a Scene. The red frame was die cut with the new Frame in Frame Cutting Plate which gives you a ton of framing options.

The sentiment from Fancy Banners 1 (introduced yesterday) was a happy afterthought.  I actually had stamped another sentiment directly on to to the scene up in that corner and I hated it.  Then I looked over at my pile of new stuff and saw this beautiful little set and it rescued me!

I had so much fun with this card, that I couldn’t resist making another one!

I used many of the same elements as the card above.  This time I left off the gate, fo a more simple look and so the rolling hills (Created with Build-a-Scene Rolling Hills Dies) could show through.  I added the bunnies from the Hippity Hop die set and the sun from the Little Bits Sun & Clouds.  This time  my cloudy background was created with sponging and a stencil made with the Cloud Border Die.  Keeping this card a little more simple, I used just a sentiment (without the banner) from Fancy Banners 1.  The curve seemed just right over the Arbor.

Taylored Expressions is celebrating Release Week with some fabulous giveaways! Visit the TE Blog each Sneak Peek Day this week for details on how you can enter to win.

NOTE:  I also used the little clouds from Little Bits Sun & Clouds in a unique way here – I made them into shrubbery.   The hills, grass, and clouds were die cute from paper in the TE Build a Scene paper pack.  I sponged ink in the clouds and used them to fill in the scene as little bushes.

I just love how this bright, happy card turned out. 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you’d like to see more projects and new product information, please head over to the TE Blog for a complete blog roll of our participating designers!  I know I always want to see what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up!

We spent 5 nights last week on a beautiful bluff in Malibu.  We took the 5th wheel, the dogs, lots of food, and a bunch of stamping supplies!  It was awesome!  Here’s a look at my RV stamping desk.

It’s a tight space, but works great!  The hardest part is always deciding what to bring.  I have a class coming up this Friday and we’ll be focusing on Stampin’ Up! this month so I brought a lot of SU stuff including the new Gingham Garden dsp which I am in love with!  When I started to stamp, the first thing I looked for was a good sketch to play with and I was immediately drawn to Jen’s DS105.

I hate to say this, but I bought this stamp set  – SU For the Birds – last year and never inked it up.  I played with it quite a bit last week and hope to play with it even more.  It’s darling!  The scallop border, fishtale banner and tiny tag are all TE dies.  The little rhinestones started out clear and I colored them with a Copic marker.  I have more cards to share, but for now I will leave you with the view we had out of our window last week.

Can you feel the ocean breeze?  Ahhh!  I’m back to work this week and scrambling to get my head back in the game. It always takes me several days to recover from vacation!  HA!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hey!  Did you know that this is Administrative Professionals Week and yesterday was officially Administrative Professionals Day?  (I don’t usually go for new PC names for things, but boy-oh-boy am I ever glad the word “secretary” has gone away!  I’m more than happy to be an Office Manager, but I don’t think I could handle being a secretary!  Silly, huh?)  Shortly after I got to work yesterday, Pastor Jeff came bounding in with a huge smile on his face and 3 bouquets of roses along with cards for me and my two friends/aides.

They are my favorite hot pink color.  🙂  And the roses for Lisa and Darla are beautiful multi-colors.  I should have taken a pic of those as well.  WOW!  Talk about putting smiles on our faces and feeling appreciated!  Inside the card was a wonderful message of appreciation and encouragement AND a gift card to Outback Steak so the three of us can go to lunch together.  OH MY!  We certainly do LOVE going to lunch together!  We were all blown away!  Thanks Jeff and also thanks to Jeff’s wife, Kristy, who I’m sure was the one who knew hot pink roses are my fave!

Before I head off to work this morning, I do have a card to share.  This is another one inspired by Heather Telford’s awesome blog.  I’m running late, so I won’t go into much detail except to say that I used Shimmery White cardstock again and the TE stamp set Make It Amazing along with my very old SU French Script BG stamp.  I sponged several different shades of SU green inks and added some KaiserCraft pearls.

I hope you have an amazing day!

Happy Friday the 13th!  Thanks for all the wonderful words of encouragement on my last post.  The next few months promise to be an adventure!  I’m off to downtown L.A. thsi morning with a couple of good friends to order floral arrangements for a party we have in the works.  Never a dull moment around here!  😉

Before I go I wanted to share a sweet card that is a little outside my usual style.

The cupcake was created with Dies from TE: Trwat Builder and Tiny Toppers.  I had some fun with glitter on this card!  I created the stripes of glitter with sticky tape. This is an easy and fun technique that really packs a fun punch!  I used Raspberry Soda glitter for the stripes and for the cupcake topper.  The heart os covered in red glitter.  For the cupcake topper and the heart I used a liquid adhesive..  I kept the card simple and graphic with just balck and white cardstock.  The sentiment is from an old SU set.  It was impossible to capture the real sparkle of this card in a photo.  I just love how this turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ve got to run!

Merry Christmas!

The Rocket Scientist and I are both under the weather, but happy to have been able to celebrate Christmas the past two days with friends and family as well as this morning with our church family.  We are joyful as we reflect on the birth of Jesus and His transformation of our lives.

Wishing you and yours a Joyous Christmas!

And special wishes from Santa and Mrs. Claus!

(outfits courtesy of Auntie Taylor.)

The Rocket Scientist and I were married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, at half past four o’clock,

November 30th, 1991.

It was one of the very happiest days of my life!  We were surrounded by wonderful friends and family and it was just the perfect day!

I really can’t believe it’s been 20 years!  It’s been quite a ride!

I’m looking forward to the next 20 years!

Happy Anniversary, Sweetie!  I love you!