A Blog Called Wanda

Taylored Expressions May Sneak Peeks - Day 3!

 May 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, May 3rd 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 5/2 at 7pm PST.

 

For today's card I'm featuring our Father's Day Digi Image! The Father's Day Digi is FREE with the purchase of any May Release Bundle and there are several to choose from. The Digi is not being offered for sale. You will download both an open line image and a 2nd pre-colored image for super fun, quick cards and projects. You will also be able to download an inspiration sheet showing all of the projects created by the Baker's Dozen this week. Be sure to check out the Bundle Options on the Specials page on Release Day, Thursday.

 

Have you ever used a Digi image before? It's so easy! Taylor will email you the file and you print it out on your computer printer and then color it. So simple! You can print it onto whatever paper you choose, and it comes out nice and crisp.

 

 

Here are my Copic colors...they perfectly match that awesome patterned paper. All of the papers and ribbon are from the Project Pantry Kit for this month - lots more information listed below. Such a great kit for this image and for Father's Day. I love this paisley!!

 

 

 

Here's the 4-1-1 on the Loyal Project Pantry -

When you want to bake up a yummy dessert you head to your pantry for the ingredients. When you want to create a sweet papercrafting project, you can head to a Taylored Expressions Project Pantry for all the coordinating elements. We've found that some of the best cake and cookie recipes are the ones based around a basic batter or dough recipe with lots of options to spice it up according to your tastes. Taylored Expressions is offering the Loyal Basic Recipe Kit along with optional Spice It Up Ingredients that you can pick and choose from to build the kit just the way you want it.

The Loyal Project Pantry Basic Recipe Kit is $13.95 and includes:

Authentique Loyal 6x6 pad of 36 of sheets

12 sheets of coordinating solid cardstock

5 yards of ribbon (1 yard each of 5 different styles)

 

Here are the linkys for today!  

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Nancy McKinney - Illustrator

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

 

Taylored Expressions May Sneak Peeks - Day 2!

 

May 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, May 3rd 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 5/2 at 7pm PST.

 

Today I made a fun and fancy Stair Step card featuring another new set - called Lakeside Lodge! This set is from the Apple Doodle Ink by Doug Applegate collection and has an adorable lake house and dock! Lakeside Lodge - Doug's Adorable Abodes #5 - was concepted by Jami Sibley - Ahhhh - kick back at the Lake! Designed with Father's Day, retirement, and relaxation in mind. 

Here are the step by step (pun intended) for this card fold. It looks hard, but it's really not. I hope you will give it a try!

 

 

 

 

Here's the side view, so you can see why it's called a stair step card! I had so much fun adding layers and layers of pretty waves using the TE Wave border die! This is a really fun stamp set.

 

 

Buddy was extremely interested in what was going on at this point... 

 

 

Here's a pic of the process of adding my waves...

 

 

When the card is all folded up, it's actually quite small, and fits into an A2 envelope! Who would have thought? The blue and green papers are from this month's Project Pantry Kit that you'll be seeing more of during the week.

 

 

This was a really fun set of images to color. I tried to make my house look like a wood shingle house. The roof is just colored in different shades of brown and grey.  

 

 

A good sentiment for us all to remember.... 

 

 

Here's a side view to show my coloring... 

How fun is this set??? VERY!!! Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to go and hop around and check out everyone else's projects for today. Happy Release Week!  I so love being a part of this team! :-)

 

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Michele Boyer - Guest Designer

Nancy McKinney - Illustrator

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess 

 

Taylored Expressions May Sneak Peeks - Day 1!

 

May 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, May 3rd 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 5/2 at 7pm PST.

 

This set I'm using today is over the top adorable cuteness!!! It's called FAR OUT! It is part of the Embracing Grace collection by Emily Burger (she drew Fruity Friends too!). Far Out is a full size set of 21 images and sentiments and is a cute and quirky take on robots and space! The sentiments are really fun in this set. The image and sentiment I chose remind me of "Lost in Space!" 

 

 

 

 

I thought this set called for super bright and happy colors so I chose turquoise and lime green! I colored in the space ship and then added some glitter for a bit of pop. There are two different sizes of stars that come in the set so you can embellish away...

 

 

 

I used my circle and scallop circle Nestabilities to make a frame for my space ship...

 

 

Here are my Copic colors...

 

 

I would say this is Far Out! hee hee.

Please remember the following about all of our stamps:

• TE stamps are RUBBER - not clear - for a wonderful impression
• All sets come on a full color panel and store perfectly in our Mini Binder Boxes (4 sets to a box). Full size set panels are 5.75" x 8.5" and jam packed with images. Mini set panels are 4.75" square (CD size). Petite panels are 3" x 5" for $7.95. (6 Petite sets fit into a Petite Storage case)
• Awesome value for you - we offer more rubber images in a set than most companies at a comparable price!

 

I cannot even tell you how fun everyone's projects are for today! Please take time to look at everyone's blogs today and have a Happy Release Week!  Thank you for visiting!  

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Michele Boyer - Guest Designer

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

 

Yellow!

Hi friends! Happy weekend to you! What's up? Whatcha doing this weekend? I am going to stamp the weekend away. Monday starts Taylored Expressions sneak peeks and I need to get all my projects done, photo'd and blogged before then. I'm almost done with all my cards, but there's lots left to do! Hopefully I'll get in some quality time with the hubs too. I hope you have a fantastic weekend planned.

Lately I am obsessed with YELLOW! I am drawn to it for my projects and it lightens my mood and cheers me up. It seems like yellow is everywhere! Whenever I hear the word yellow, I think of that Coldplay song of that title. The DH sings that to me and I like it when he does! One of my favorite Pinterest boards lately is my friend Lynn's board called Sunshiny Yellow. You really MUST check it out. I promise it will make you happy! Then, while blog surfing this week, I came across this post on the Moxie Fab World Blog. All about coral and yellow. YUM. I was inspired to say the least!

So to make a long story short...I was inspired by all of these things and came home tonight to get my craft on, and this is what I made!

 

 

 

 

I had a lot of fun combining all these elements based on coral, yellow and a little pop of turquoise. The butterflies are Martha Stewart punches. The background impression plate is from PTI and I'm sorry that I don't recall where the rosettes came from. The papers are from the Tropical paper collection from American Crafts.

 

 

 

 I added the buttons to the rosettes, from my stash, and then added some pearls to the big butterfly.

 

 

 

It's easy to make your own stick pins! I bought a big batch of pearl pins from the sewing section of the craft store, and for this project I glued two butterfly punches onto one. Easy peasy.

 

 

 

***SMILE***

 

 

 

So now Mr. Buddy decided that no one was paying attention to him, so he had to get into this blog post somehow! He wishes you a nice weekend too!

Take good care everyone! Have a super weekend and don't forget to smile.... 

Tuscan Sun...

Hi peeps! Today's card was made to brighten the day...because it's raining here again! Last week we had one day where it was 94 degrees out...now it's raining. Must be Spring! So, I came home tonight and made a sunny Tuscan scene card. I love these scenery stamps from Stampendous. I have three or four of them. They are really fun to color. The one I used tonight is called 'Sunflower Scene.' I have American Idol on in the craft room, and kitty by my side. I hope you're having a great week so far!

 

 

After I colored the image, I cut out around it to pop it up off the page and add some interest. It was hard to match papers to this one, so I kept it kind of simple.

 

Here are my Copic colors for this project! The blue is B12.

 

Here's a quick trick for your sentiment - try scoring it and folding it! The sentiment stamp is from Amuse and it's a fav.

 

Have a beautiful day! :-)

Thank you for coming by today!

Sweet Strawberries for a Monday!

Hi Peeps! It's 10:00 and I'm finally getting a blog post ready! I got home from work with every intention of heading straight to the craft room, but then I decided I had to watch last night's episode of Mad Men first. Okay, that was weird! Not sure where that episode was going. Not one of my favorites. Do you watch? I've never missed an episode and have all the seasons on DVD too. Love me some Mad Men! So, then I had to open my box of new PTI goodies that arrived today! I decided to use the new PTI Strawberry Patch stamp set and dies for tonight's card. Yay!

Before I go on, if you leave a comment, you might notice that now you have to do an authentication code. I apologize for this! I never wanted to put that on my blog...but...over the weekend and today I received 127 SPAM blog comments! Yikes! I had to manually mark them and delete all of them. So, that's the story behind that. Who does that? RUDE!

Here's my card for today - sweet strawberries with a little shabby chic flavor!

 

 

 

 

Love the fonts in this set!

 

 

 

I got the matching dies and it all works so perfectly together...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I distressed the edges of all the papers to give it some character. Added a little butterfly. Thought about adding some pearls too, but stopped myself!

 

 

 

As you might recall, Dave Brethauer from Memory Box was here this past weekend and I took a watercolor class on Saturday morning. TOO MUCH FUN! Here's a picture of Dave and Teadub and Teadub's newest addition, baby Elvis! (his name's not really Elvis but you can see that beautiful head of hair he has!) He is TOOOOO cute, and such a sweet baby. He took stamp class and went out to lunch, and was good the entire time.

 

 

Here are some of the cards we made in Dave's class. It was such a nice morning. Lots of friends in stamp class, a good vibe, calm and relaxing. And, cute cards too. Perfect.

 

 

This one was my favorite. I never would have thought to add that pop of red....but I like it.

 

 

 

At CHA in January I saw these amazing new colored pencils imported from Japan by Tombow. Well...I made the 'mistake' of telling Stephanie about them and she got them in the store last week. I jokingly say 'mistake' only because of the cost! They are super beautiful and super expensive! There are three sets of three boxes of pencils. I only bought one set, and I totally love it. They come in these pretty boxes too.

 

 

The lavender box has the floursescent colors! Check out the names of the colors....too cool. Doesn't that make it more fun? I think so.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, so I hope you didn't leave to go get a snack. I know this is a long post! One more tidbit. Dave usually comes out from Seattle to teach Christmas in July classes with his new holiday collection every year. He can't come this July, so I will be teaching the Memory Box Holiday classes at Paper Garden this year!! Woot!! I will post more details and Stephanie will put all the 411 in the upcoming newsletter too. I hope you Sac-town gals will come! XOXOXO Have a great week!  

Catching up...

Hi friends! WOOT WOOT! It's Friday night! Yippeeeeee! I have some fun stamping things going on this weekend! My friend Stephanie is celebrating the grand re-opening of her stamp store in it's new location, so it's gonna be a party over at Paper Garden tomorrow! There will be free make-n-takes and the entire store is 20% off! Also, Dave Brethauer from Memory Box   and Poppystamps is going to be teaching classes at the store. Lots of fun, friends and stamping...and probably some snacks too. Perfect day if you ask me.

It's always nice to see Dave in person and learn some of his awesome tricks. Lots of you know that I help Dave out with the Poppystamps and Memory Box blogs, Twitter and Facebook. I really enjoy being a part of his creative team. SOOO many wonderful products! I thought in honor of Dave coming to visit us in Sac-town this weekend, that I would share some of my Memory Box and Poppystamps projects that haven't been posted here on my blog yet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a super fun fantabulous weekend! I hope to see some (or lots) of you at Paper Garden tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by today! XO

Slow Mojo Wednesday...

Well hello there! It's Wednesday already! How the heck did that happen? Dang it this week is flying by! My  new job is great and I'm tired from learning and meeting people and having a new routine. But it's not a bad tired. Just an overwhelmed tired. It's all good!  I came home from work tonight thinking "I need/want to make a card and get a post up before American Idol." Well...I sat in the craft room and stared at the wall. Then I emptied the trash. Then I put away some stuff. And no idea came to me. Then I went on Pinterest. Then I started blog hopping. And no idea came. Then I made a card. I totally didn't like it. I put it aside. Then kitty came in and sat on my table and said "Momma Idol's on now!" But I perservered....and came up with a creation using a new Lawn Fawn set that hasn't been inky yet. I rather like this one! Hee hee. So I thought I was going to have NO mojo, but it just turned out to be SLOW mojo. Hope you are having a great week!! Thanks so much for coming by to see me today. I'm sending a little love your way...

 

 

I made a bunch of little letters to come spilling out of the mailbox. Easy-peasy to cut them out. I stamped them all and then put little hearts on them with my Copic marker.

 

Here are my supplies:

 

My Copics - just three this time around...

 

My little letters all ready to cut out.

 

This is where Mr. Buddy came in and plopped himself right into the middle of the mess!! You can see Ryan Seacrest in the background! Buddy likes me to sit on the couch so he can sit on me...didn't want me to stamp any more tonight! What a character.

 

I popped some of the letters up on foam tape and put others directly onto the paper. I cut a slit in the mailbox with my exacto knife and put the two letters in the top part.

 

There you have it....sending love your way tonight!

It's been a circus around here!

Hi everybody! It truly has been a circus around here the past couple of weeks, so today's card is perfect! It's my day to post for Taylored Expressions! I'm using the super cute stamp set called Life is a Circus. Did you have a great weekend? Mine was busy busy busy and now it's off to work again on Monday. The Rubber Stamp Convention was Saturday all day and I love working the show. For the past few years I have been at the front table doing admissions and it's the perfect way to see EVERYONE and say hi! There were over 700 people there on Saturday! It was so great to see so many of you. The mood was happy and it was a beautiful day outside too. It's also time for me to visit with my friends from A Stamp in the Hand - they put on the RSC... LOVE those gals!!! XOXO.

My card for today also uses TESC #156. There's still lots of time to join in on the fun. CLICK HERE for deets. I combined the stamp set with some of my favorite border dies. Hope you like it.

 

 

 

Here's this week's sketch:

 

 

I adore this Reach for the Stars Border Die and combined it with the Medium Scallop Die... And, then I had to add some bling! This paper collection is from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Collection.

 

 

 Here are my supplies...

 

 

And my Copic color palette...

 

 

I cut the circus tent and the seal out separately to add dimension to my project. I thought about paper piecing the tent, but decided to color it instead. It looks great either way! Please CLICK HERE to go to the TE Gallery for this stamp set!  

 

 

 

Hope you've enjoyed this crazy little project! Best wishes for a great week ahead. Thank you for coming by to say hello!  

 

Rain or Shine!

Hi Friends!! Happpppyyyyyy Fridaaaayyyyyy! We made it to the weekend! Yay! In Sac-town this weekend, we are having our annual Rubber Stamp Convention and I'll be working all day on Saturday there. Maybe taking tickets, maybe demo'ing. Not sure yet. If you're local, please come by - all day at the Scottish Rite Center by Sac-State! I'd love to see you there!

This week was a whirlwind - the first week at my new job. It was awesome! I'm so happy and excited to be getting back in the swing of things. My commute is much better and it's been so wonderful to see old friends. I am tired though, from all the excitement and major allergies this week.

When I sat down to make a card last night, I didn't have a whole lot of time and I knew I wanted to make a CAS card. It was POURING rain and hail when I jumped in the craft room and that inspired my card. I wanted to make something before the power went out! We don't really get hail and thunder like that here in my neck of the woods. So, here's my card...

 

 

I absolutely adore this cute rain boots image from Savvy Stamps!! It's super adorable, and perfect for Spring cards! The rain shower stamp is from Amuse and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

 

I made the rain boots glossy by heat embossing them with clear embossing powder. I used two coats of embossing and then cut the image out and popped it up on some foam tape.

 

 

 

 

There you have it! I hope that your weekend is fun filled and happy. Thanks for coming by! Also, thank you for all the very nice comments about my Palm Springs photos! Love ya rain or shine....

 

Palm Springs Getaway Photos!

Hi there! What's new? How are ya? Hope that your week is going along nicely. We are having rain...again...but I guess it gets the pollen out of the air so I'll take it! I started my new job this week and so far it's going really well. It was nice to have those couple of weeks off, but it also feels nice to be back into a routine. My new commute is wonderful too. It's all good. As promised, I'm here today to share some (well, a lot) of pictures from our vacation in Palm Springs last week.

The hubs and I have never gone on a vacation that wasn't at the ocean! It was weird, to be honest, to be in the desert and no where near the sea. I kinda liked it though. It felt so good to be warm and to be outside at night in just a t-shirt and dipping our toes in the pool at midnight. I got myself a weentsy bit of a tan...but alas that's already gone and I'm back to E000 (a little Copic humor).

The desert has it's own kind of beauty, especially Palm Springs. The variety and sheer volume of plants was staggering and so pretty. Lots of cactus and palm trees and tons of flowers. It's very dry, so you don't feel as warm as if it were humid. There are giant mountains right next to the valley floor with snow on them! There are a bazillion golf courses. All in all a really neat place. We are already talking about returning one day. It is almost exactly 500 miles from our house and the drive took 9 hours including stops. Okay, so enough yammering...here are the pix.

First up - FLOWERS, PLANTS and BUGS:

These photos were taken at our hotel, at the Sunnylands Visitor Center, or at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Enjoy!  

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't it weird that this soft pretty flower grows out of that hard prickly cactus? It's magical!

 

 

I have no idea what these are, but they were the softest shade of green....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the reflecting pools at Sunnylands...

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUCH!

 

 

Next up - ARCHITECTURE:

Palm Springs has the coolest vibe. There are no tall buildings, no skyscrapers. Everything is low and mod and interesting. Mid Century Modern is the style. Mostly built during the 1950's and early 1960's. Some of the landscapes made me thing of the Flintstones! I wonder if the creater of the cartoon came here and was inspired? We drove all around taking pictures of houses one day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Sunnylands Visitors Center. It's new, but was built in that Mid-Century style... 

 

 

 

 

Next - BIRDS and ANIMALS:

These little doves were at our hotel just hanging out. The rest of the pictures were taken at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.

 

 

This picture came out cool! That little tiny hummingbird stopped to rest and I was able to capture him quickly before he flew away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One unhappy Mountain Lion. Yikes.  

 

 

Two Cheetahs chillin' on a hot day. Aren't they gorgeous!?  

 

And Finally - EVERYTHING ELSE!

These first few pics are our hotel! The Miramonte Resort and Spa. OMG. We scored an amazing deal through the website called Snique Away! We never would have been able to afford to stay here in a million years. The place was practically empty! It was absolutely beautiful. Just like a roman villa plopped down in the middle of the desert.

 

 

 

The hotel at night.... 

 

 

 

 

This is the entrance to one of the golf courses... 

 

 

 

 

Shopping on El Paseo. My favorite store was Kate Spade!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the freeway on the way into Palm Springs there are thousands of wind turbines! They are interesting and actually kind of pretty, especially when they are all turning at the same time. It's sort of mesmerizing. Hard to get a good picture of them though...

 

Taking pictures in the desert in the very bright and very harsh light presented a whole new photography challenge for me. There was never a good time to take pictures...it's always full on sun with no clouds there! Normally I would not even try to take pix in this light. But, it tells the story of the place and I tried to test out different things to get the best images. I hope you've enjoyed my photo show! Thanks for looking! Have a fabulous day. XO 

You Lift Me Up!

Hi everybody! How are you today? How was your weekend? I hope you had a nice time with your family and friends. We had a very nice Easter weekend. Today is one of my days to post for Taylored Expressions and I have a bright, happy card to share with you. It's because all of you lift me up! So, this one's for you!

 

 

 

I used the current TESC #155 - isn't this an awesome sketch? Love it! Click here for details on how to enter your card into the challenge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my Copic colors for this project...they just scream SPRING!!

 

 

 

I used this paper pack for my project:

 

 

Here is the image of the stamp set I used! CLICK here to see it in the store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today to see what I'm up to! Have a great day!  

 

Happy Easter!

 HAPPY EASTER TO YOUR FAMILY

FROM OUR FAMILY!

Happy Easter! He is Risen! What a glorious day! I love Easter and love to celebrate all that Easter means. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. I have an Easter card to share today and I hope it brings you cheer and happiness. Thank you for coming by my blog today - have a blessed day.

My card today features pretty, soft spring colors. I chose a mid level pink and then paired it with a light aqua and some softer brown. I was inspired by the patterned paper. SO pretty. That is from the London Market Collection from Pink Paislee...one of the things I was drooling over at CHA!

 

 

The felt and the die for the flower are from Papertrey Ink (PTI). The letter dies are also from PTI. Those letters are the perfect size for cards.

 

 

This cross stamp I've had forever, and it's from Anna Griffin. I stamped it in distress ink and then used more of the ink around the edges of all the papers.

 

 

Lots and lots of layers on this one!!

 

 

 

Have a great week!

My favorite peeps!

Hi peeps! If you're reading this, you are one of my favorite peeps, so this card today is for YOU! Hee hee. We are back from a super relaxing road trip to Palm Springs and ready for Good Friday and Easter now. Then, I start my new job on Monday. I will get my photos together from Palm Springs and share them soon!

My card today is super silly and happy and cheerful! I saw this little peep die at Paper Garden and had to have it and then I just made a super clean and simple design/card to go with it. Lots of color - perfect for Spring. I didn't really get around to making too many Easter projects this year...the time sort of got away from me.

 

 

 

I cut one inch strips of the jelly bean paper (Doodlebug) and then added a bright green grassy border (grass border from Taylored Expressions). Three little peeps poking out of the grass! Makes me smile. The sentiment I've had for years, and that's from Amuse.

 

 

Here are my supplies...that was a whole mess o' peeps to cut out!  

 

 

 

 

 

The bright yellow and pink papers are from American Crafts' Primary paper collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by! I hope your Easter preparations are coming along well,  and that you have some fun time with family. We will go to church tonight and again on Sunday. Maybe some brunch too. Enjoy!

  

Taylored Expressions April Release Day!

 
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.
• FREE A la Carte Stamp - Order the London Market Project Pantry and any Full-size stamp set and you will receive the Mom A la Carte stamp absolutely FREE. Please note that the stamp will not show up in your cart, but we will be sure to include it with your order.
• Did you win one of the Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaways? Find the list of winners on Taylor's Blog.

Today I'm sharing another project made with "my" stamp set - Fruity Friends!! I can't stop stamping with these fun little guys! As a reminder, Fruity Friends is part of the Embracing Grace Collection by Emily Burger, and is a full size set of 20 images and sentiments) You can't help but grin when you look at these darling little fruity faces! And the sweet punny sentiments just push this set over the top!

My project for today is a note card set I made and then put in one of the Perfect Package Card Boxes available in the TE Store.  These boxes are really sturdy and they are fun to decorate and give as a gift! You'll see.... 

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the top of my card box! I used the TE Medium Scallop die to make that pretty scallop on the bottom.

 

 

When you open it up, there are five mini notes inside! I kept it really clean and simple and graphic with these. I think these notes would be fun to tuck into lunch boxes or just to give a friend for a quick note.

 

 

 

 

 

My finished notes are 3.5 inches square...

 

 

 

 

 

I think this is my favorite sentiment from all of them...Which one do you like best? Tooooo much fun, seriously!

 

Well...that's is for yet another amazing release week for Taylored Expressions! I sure do have so much fun working with this team and sharing with all of you. I hope you have found something to tickle your fancy and now it's time to get over to the store and START SHOPPING!!! Thank you for all the nice comments all week - I hope your week has been wonderful.

Here's one last link list for the week:  

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

 

 

 

 

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks - Day 3!

April 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, April 5th 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 4/4 at 7pm PST.

 

Hello again! Day three of Sneak Peeks is here! Today's card features a cute new baby set of stamps and coordinating dies! Onesie Twosie is  from the Whimsical Wishes Collection by Nancy McKinney.  Onesie Twosie is a Mini set of 19 images and sentiments. You can use this set with the coordinating Onesie Die to create adorable baby cards and shower decorations. This is the perfect little baby set for
everyone to have in their stamping arsenal with plenty of variety for girls. boys and even twins!

I kept my card for today clean and simple. I used the TE Clouds Impression Plate to make s blue sky background for that adorable onesie stamp!  

 

 

 

If you use the impression plate on cardstock that has a white center, you can gently sand the blue away to make the clouds pop! I love this technique! I used some Doodlebug Twine and a cute little clothespin. The stamp set comes with all kinds of fun images to put on the front of the onesie!

 

 

 

 

That's it for me today....Please check out the other designers' projects...and tomorrow is RELEASE DAY!!! Be sure to "Like" Taylored Expressions on Facebook so you can see the stamp set reveal early! Have a wonderful day!

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

 

Taylored Expressions April Sneak Peeks - Day 2!

April 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, April 5th 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 4/4 at 7pm PST.

 

Hello again friends! Welcome back to day two of TE Sneak Peeks! So glad you popped in to see what's going on! Today I'm sharing a card made with a cute new stamp set from the penguin series. I know lots of you love this little guy! Congrats Grad penguin is from the Apple Doodle Ink Collection by Doug Applegate. Congrats Grad Penguin is a Petite set of 7 images and sentiments - our popular Penguin is back as a graduate! This little guy will be great for graduations from kindergarten all the way through college! He coordinates with the new Reach for the Stars Border Die (which I must say is AWESOME!)  

 

 

 

I always love bright royal blue with bright orange! This is a great color scheme for kids or for summer projects. That border die is crazy fun!!! This paper collection is from the TE Store - It's called Boys Only and it's from Doodlebug. Love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping in! Here are the links to see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen cooked up today! Have a fantastic day and I hope we see you tomorrow too!

 

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

 

Taylored Expressions April Sneak Peeks - Day 1!

  April 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, April 5th 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate. Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day! Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please. Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 4/4 at 7pm PST.

Today's release is showcasing TWO new stamp sets! I am especially excited because I came up with the concept for one of them! Yay! One of the (many) awesome things about working for Taylor is that she encourages us to give her stamp set ideas! Many of us have concepted stamp sets and it is super super fun to see my idea come to life this month with Fruity Friends! I came up with the idea after making THIS project last year! Emily Burger brought it to life to share with you for April's release!

Fruity Friends is a full size set of 20 images and sentiments! It's part of the Embracing Grace collection. I know you're going to have tons of fun with this one! I have been dying to see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen did with this set! Here's my first card:

 

 

 

This little citrus slices make me smile! It was a lot of fun to color them in and then make them sparkly and fresh. Made me want some lemonaid...or a margarita! I used the uber cute Picket Fence Die from TE, the Medium Scallop Border Punch from TE and the Leaf Sprig Die, also from TE! Taylor really does have one of the best die collections in the business!  

 

 

 Here is my Copic Color Palette for this cheery card:  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 I added dimension by popping some of the fruity slices up on some foam tape.

 

 

Now, in a completely different direction from the first stamp set for today...we are introducing Make it Amazing...a brand new beautiful and elegant set from the Whimsical Wishes collection by Nancy McKinney. Make it Amazing is a full size set of 19 images and sentiments - Beautiful botanicals and butterflies! This set has so many possibilities, and we have 3 sets of coordinating dies to match with it!  Here's my second card for today:  

 

 

For this card, I paired the stamp set, the new dies, and this month's Project Pantry kit! Everything coordinates so perfectly. This month's Project Pantry Kit is to die for!!!

 

 

What a nice sentiment...for so many different occasions....

 

 

That butterfly stamp and die is wonderful! I know I will be using this a lot!

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by today to join in on the release week fun! LOTS more projects to come this week! Please take some time to hop around and see what the rest of the team made!

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

Happy....

Hi everyone! How was your week? I hope it was a good one for you! My week went by in a flash, as weeks off work usually do, but it was a fun and productive week for me. I still have one more week until I start my new job so the hubs and I are going on a road trip to Palm Springs! It is about a nine hour drive from our house so we'll load up the car and head out early on Sunday morning. I can't wait to be warm and to relax and do nothing. This makes me happy...

Today's card is inspired by Palm Springs (at least in my own interpretation!) I always think Frank Sinatra, mid century vibe, lounging around the pool, cool furniture, bright colors, etc. So that's what got this card idea flowing. First I picked out a bright coral paper and then matched it with crisp white and turquoise! Lots of color coming your way right now! :-)

 

 

 

That quatrefoil patter again....I love it! So graphic and crisp. The die cuts for the quatrefoil, the letters and the frame are all from Papertrey Ink (PTI) and the butterfly die is from Memory Box. The paper is from American Crafts' Tropical collection.

 

 

I added some turquoise blings to make it spark-alay!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some other things that made me happy this week! On Wednesday I got to have a nice four hour lunch with my friend Jane and meet her new puppy. This picture makes me happy.

 

 

The tulips and daffodils are blooming in our front yard...this makes me happy....

 

 

 

 

 

A sweet orange kitty on my stamping table makes me happy....

I hope you have a marvelous weekend! Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks start on Monday next week. Lots of goodies for you, including a stamp set that I designed! (YAY!) Hopefully I will get some cool photos to share next week too, of our road trip. Thank you for stopping by my blog and take care!

 

A San Francisco Getaway...

Hi bloggy friends! I've been away for a long time it seems! It's only been four days but it feels like I haven't blogged in forever! Thanks for waiting for me... The hubs and I had a very nice romantic getaway to San Francisco the past couple of days and I am rested and restored. It was just so great to be away from our cares and to spend time talking and walking and shooting (pictures that is!). I had some free hotel points and the hotel wasn't crowded, so they gave us a HUGE suite and it felt all so decadent. We were really lucky! So, I haven't had time to make a card but I wanted to share some of my favorite photos with you. After I write this post, I'm off to get inky. XOXO

This is the view from Baker Beach and it's one of the iconic shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. I never tire of this... Lots of people will come down here to have their wedding pictures taken, and you can see why!

 

 

 

I thought this shot might look cool in old-fashioned sepia tone....

 

 

This is the view of the City from Dolores Park. It's one of the best vantage points in the entire City. I took a close up of the church with the amazing clouds in the background. I think it looks like a painting. It had stormed the day before we got there and the clouds were magnificent and the City was clean and glowing!

 

 

Also from Dolores Park. I think this picture looks fake!

 

 

 

 

 

The street going down the middle of the shot is the famous Market Street, and if you look closely you can see the Ferry Building at the very end.

 

 

Another great view is from Twin Peaks, the highest point in the City. You can see the windy road you take to get to the top. You can see for miles from up here.

 

 

 

A GIANT billboard in Union Square of my FAVORITE band!!! Are you kidding me with this??!!

 

 

The night street view from our hotel room....I love the contrast of the blue dusk sky with the warm lights of the street.

 

 

Yummy breakfast in our room....

 

 

The famous Bank Of America HQ building on California Street.

 

 

The flags in front of the BofA building looking up California Street towards Chinatown...

 

 

The beloved cable cars!

 

 

Chinatown - Grant Street...

 

 

 

I collect Good Luck cats and I love these little cuties. I bought the red one!

 

 

And a real shop cat!

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was a cool contrast of architecture styles...the Chintown Lantern, Old St. Mary's Church and a modern office building.

 

 

Bubble Tea! Honeydew is my favorite.

 

 

You can always find lots of flowers in the City...flower stands, shops, and lots of flowers planted in front of the buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

These tulips were breathtaking! Three HUGE circular planters in front of an office building - so much color.

 

 

This is the view looking back at the City from Sausalito. Another beautiful sky - took this one on our way home.

 

 

PHOTOBOMB!!!! hee hee.

 

I want to say thank you to everyone who left a nice comment on my last post about transitions. All your comments helped encourage me! Friday was a difficult and odd sort of day. I am SO blessed that I have two weeks off before starting my new job adventure. I am trying to slow down and enjoy the time off.  I hope you've enjoyed my San Francisco photos! I need to go now, and get my craft on! I hope you have a wonderful week everybody.

 

Transitions...

Hi everybody! Happy Friday! Another weekend is upon us. I have loads of fun things to do this weekend and I'll be sharing pictures next week. The hubs and I are going on a short romantic getaway and I can't wait. Also...Spring Fling Stamp Camp is tomorrow - hosted by my awesome Stampin' Up friends! YAY!

But first, I have to get through this day. Today is a transition day for me...for it is the last day at my job, where I've worked for the past four years. I have to say good-bye to people I really like, and a job that was interesting and challenging and fun. I hate good-byes and packing and leaving. All of that. Don't like it. However, I am going to a new job that I know will be great for me. It's a good news/bad news sort of thing. I am returning to a company where I worked before and I have lots of friends waiting for me, and I am really excited about that part! As you can tell, I'm just a big jumble right now. Don't mind me. You can skip right to the card if you want! LOL.

I do have a card to share... One of my absolute favorite things from CHA was a paper collection called Prairie Hill by Pink Paislee. I LOVE the colors in the papers and love the cool designs. I wanted it right away! I finally got my mitts on some of it this past weekend at Scrapbook Territory. I used just a little bit of it in my card, but a little goes a long way. I used a layout from one of the cards in my Card Inspirations Pinterest Board and went to town... Made a homemade flower and had me some fun.

 

 

 

I made this flower using my PTI flower dies and some yellow polka dot paper. I sprayed the petals with water and crumpled them up so the flower would be shabby chic. I had this cute corduroy button in my stash.

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't this patterned paper the prettiest thing?  All those diamonds in different patterns... I'm really into graphic designs and shapes lately.

 

 

This wood banner is from Prima - they're called Wood Tickets.  Neato - bizeato!  

 

 

 

Thanks for spending part of your day here with me. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Take a little time to enjoy the view...

 

 

Fresh!

Hi! I was trying to think of what to title today's blog post...and I looked at my photos and the words that came to mind were crisp and fresh. Interesting, but I decided to go with it. My card is crisp blue and white and I'm sharing some fresh lemon cupcakes I made too. Crisp. Fresh. There ya have it! Thanks for coming by to see me today.

I was super tired last night and felt that the most I could muster was a CAS card... Not too much coloring or layering. I just didn't have the energy. What I did have was this adorable stamp set from Paper Smooches, so I inked it up!

 

 

I love this camera and that cute sentiment! I used a bright blue paper and the hearts are kind of a watermelon color just to add a punch of a different color.

 

How freaking adorable is that stamp set?? Very!

 

 

 

We had a birthday in my office this week, so you know I had to make cupcakes! I never miss a chance to make treats! These are lemon cake with lemon frosting. So fresh! For the frosting I used a plain white frosting recipe then added a teaspoon of lemon extract and some fresh lemon zest. Then I added some more lemon zest on top for garnish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for today! Have a wonderful day everyone!  

My newest obsession - hexagons!

Helloooooo! Did you have a great weekend!? I sure hope so. I had a really nice weekend with just the right amount of business and quiet. The hubs and I went to Berkeley on Saturday and spent a very nice day together. I was volunteering - reading scholarship applications - on campus and the DH was nice enough to drop me off where I needed to be (in the rain) and then pick me up later. We also went to Scrapbook Territory and Paper Source, where I got some new crafty goodies. On the way home, we stopped in Davis and had a most lovely Italian dinner - really just such a nice day together. Sunday was spent in the craft cave making some projects for Poppystamps and to post here. A fine rainy day at home...perfect.

My newest crafty obsession is hexagons! Have you noticed? They're everywhere! Such a cool shape and they have an old fashioned vibe. I even started a hexagon Pinterest Board!  People are making the cutest things! I was very inspired and today I'm sharing my first project - I'm sure there will be more to come! I have a million ideas in my head right now...

 

 

 

I went for the shabby-chic-grandmas-quilt look for this card. I picked colors I like for Spring - happy, cheery colors. It's really easy to form the hexagons together - just like quilting - into flowers.

 

 

I sewed around the edges of the cream base to add more home-spun feel. I distressed the edges and also sanded the yellow paper...

 

 

Here is the die set I used to make this card. I found this on eBay - fifteen different sizes in one kit! Perfect! The biggest one is huge - probably won't use that one! I like that there are teeny tiny ones too.

 

 

Here are a couple of the other hexagon things I have on my desk right now....

 

 

So, yeah, I had to cut out each hexagon one at a time...took a while!

 

 

Ready for assembly!

 

 

I used some of my favorite embellies - ribbon, buttons, and pearls, to make a finishing touch on my sentiment.

 

 

 

 

 

I have some Instagram photos to share today too. CLICK here if you want to follow me on Instagram! It's one of my favorite iPhone apps and I use it all the time. If you have an Instagram account let me know, so I can check out your photos too! All these photos were taken and 'processed' directly from my phone. LOVE.  The past two weeks I was on the road for work in the Central Valley and managed to get a few good snaps...

This first one is Lake Kaweah, near where I was working - the rain clouds were rolling in....

 

My co-workers and I had a really nice dinner one evening....

 

This was one of the trees out in front of our work site...with a beautiful blue sky.  

 

 

This next one was taken on campus on Saturday...

 

This was my favorite photo of the day on Saturday - looking back at the main library and the Campanile Tower which is the center of campus... I really like the Instagram effect on this one.

 

 

More beautiful blosssoms we found in Davis...

 

Whew...okay...that was a lot of info for a Monday! I hope you found something you liked here today. I appreciate you stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic week! XOXO 

 

Top O' the day to you, my bloggy pals!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but that isn't gonna stop me from celebrating a holiday! Especially since I love green so much! It's a good excuse to wear green, make cool green projects and generally be happy...so why not!? Are you doing anything special for St. Patty's Day? 

I promise after today I will retire my new favorite stamping/card making technique! I've been using this one to death lately. Time to move on! Hahahah. I LOVE using dies to make cut outs on cards. Can't.get.enough. But, I realized when I did it again for my St. Patrick's Day cards...that maybe it's time to put it away for just a minute. LOL. Do you get like that? Obsessed with one technique? Okay, and don't say it, but I used gingham too! ACK!

 

 

 

This pretty four leaf clover die is from Memory Box!

 

 

Here are all my cards finished and read to mail. I put yellow blings on some of them...can't decide if I like green or yellow better!

 

 

 

Have a happy celebration!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

Happy Retirement Card!

Greetings! Today is one of my days to post for Taylored Expressions! Welcome! Today's card was made with one of my favorite TE Stamp Sets - Love Grows Here. I adore this set! I used it to make a masculine card today for my boss' retirement. I have a couple of tips for making this set look masculine. This idea for a layout has been in my head since this set was released. Hope you like it!

This was one of those cards I didn't want to make. My boss is awesome...caring and fair and kind. He is the rock of our department and he will be missed. He was in my original panel interview and then hired me. I wish him nothing but the best as he enters this new chapter of his life... I wanted to make him a special card.

I thought a "four seasons" them would be nice for a retirement. I stamped four of the tree images onto the same size cream cardstock base and then colored them with my Copics.  

 

 

Masculine colors of olive green and brown... You might notice that the tree trunks are all colored the exact same way with the same colors. This unifies the images. I also used the same greens on both of the green trees, for the same reason. I didn't get too crazy with the colors.

 

 

The "Happy Retirement" sentiment is from THIS SET...another one of my TE Favorites! I stamped it onto an oval and created my own embellishment. I curved the tips of the brown part up for some dimension. Copper brads also add a masculine touch.

 

 

 

 

 

This is how I color!

 

 

 

 

 

This card has LOADS of layers on it. Went through a lot of foam tape! LOL.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a nice retirement luncheon for him and by next week, he'll be relaxing with his grandkids and doing good works in the world! I mailed the card to him because I knew if I gave it to him in person I would start crying. Best of luck to you CD! 

Thank you for coming by today! Be sure to scope out this stamp set in the TE Store!  

Sending love your way!

Hellllloooooooo! How are ya? I'm happy to share this card with you today! While I was away last week, my new Lawn Fawn goodies arrived in the mail! WOOT WOOT! I had all day Saturday to stamp and blog (and laundry) and I really wanted to ink up these little stamp sets.  My favorite one is called Critters in the Forest, and I like it the best because it has a hedgehog stamp....and those little mushroom stamps! EEEK! So cute. So I made this card:

 

 

 

How cute is that hedgie? TOO cute! I inked up the mushrooms, colored them, and cut them out. Two of them are popped up on foam tape for dimension. I added the grass with my Copics. Lawn Fawn also makes that awesome twine. It's not furry...love that.

 

 

I met Kelly and the gang from Lawn Fawn at CHA. They are all just as sweet and adorable as these stamp sets! I couldn't wait for the new ones to come out.  

 

 

Here is my Copic palette for this project: Turns out that E81 is the color of mushrooms! LOL.

 

 

I used warm greys for the hedgie and three shades of brown for the tree trunk. I thought about adding some clear glaze to the mushrooms, but left them as is.

 

 

 

 

This also came in the mail last week...this fun date stamp from Dear Lizzy!

 

 

While I was stamping and blogging, Mr. Buddy was chillaxing on the sofa... Don't you feel sorry for him, like his life is SO hard?

Carry on! Have a wonderful week. See ya soon!  

Shabby Blue Birthday!

Happy Weekend! YAY! Whew, this week was a hard one for me! I was out of town for work all week, with a nasty allergies-sinuses-cough thing going. Man, was I happy to get home last night and see my guys and sleep in my own bed. There's really nothing like that is there? This morning I got up early to take care of the laundry and unpacking and now it's crafty-bloggy time! How are you? Hope you all had a nice week.  

I can finally share this birthday card, now that it has reached it's recipient! I made this shabby chic birthday card for my wonderful pen pal Holly, who lives in the Netherlands. Her favorite color is light blue and so that was my starting point for her card. I have been saving that pretty Webster's Pages Cameo just for her! The sentiment and frame is from the new PTI Anniversary set for this year.

 

 

 

Shabby chic is alllllll about layers and lace and pearls! I adore all this blue together....it's so soft and sweet.

 

 

The blue flower is from my Prima stash. I am not sure, but I believe the patterned paper is also from Prima.

 

 

Machine stitching on a card, to me, always feels more home-made and nostalgic. Here you can see I distressed the corners and also crumpled some of the top layer of paper.

 

 

 

 

Holly's birthday was earlier this week, and she let me know that her card arrived safely, so many miles away... It was full of hugs and good wishes too. Happy Birthday Holly!

Thanks for stopping by here today - enjoy your weekend! XOXOXO 

Taylored Expressions Calendar Challenge - March!

Today it's time again for our cool new calendar projects from Taylored Expressions and I am having such a good time making my pages each month!  The Baker's Dozen Design Team will be sharing calendar goodies and ideas with you throughout the entire year, so be sure to check out everyone else's projects too.

Refer over to Taylor's blog to get all the info to play along with us each month. There will be a linky at the bottom of Taylor's post and it will remain open all year, so you have the option to go back and catch up if you start playing late. For everyone who plays in 10 or more of these monthly calendar challenges in 2012, there will be a random draw for a TE prize pack valued at over $150!!! Click here to go to the TE Calendar Department and see all the goodies.

I chose to make the "Frame Your Imagination" calendar and use Cuppie as my theme! The stand for the calendar comes in raw wood and then you can paint it whatever color you choose. I painted mine kind of an antique white and then speckled some brown onto it to give it some character.

CLICK here for the calendar stand...CLICK here for the page protectors and CLICK here for the page inserts. I like this a lot because the finished pages are 6x6 and that gives a lot of room to stamp!

Here's my page for March:

 

 

 

Isn't cuppie just too too adorable in his little green leprechaun tuxedo? You have to giggle at this! I added lots of ultra fine glitter to the rainbow!  

 

 

Here is my Copic Palette for this project:

 

 

 

 

Here is the image of this stamp set...I had to share, because I really love it so much! I used it for my January calendar page too.

We have been having loads of fun getting projects ready for our monthly calendar event. Please take some time and hop around to see what the rest of the Design Team has for you today!  

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley )

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

Moxie Fab - Cure for the Winter Blues - Challenge!

Hi peeps! Today I'm posting a card I made for the Moxie Fab World Blog! I love their challenges, and it's been too long since I entered one. This month's challenge is Cure for the Winter Blues... The challenge was to make a project using navy blue as the predominant element. Right up my alley!

When I think of navy blue, I automatically thing navy and white, nautical, crisp colors, pops of yellow or red... I adore navy and white together. So that's what I knew I wanted to use. Next to decide what images and embellies. I was having such a hard time deciding....so I went with whatever was sitting on my desk! I rather like the result.

 

 

I had this brand new San Francisco Stamp from Penny Black on my desk and it called to me! I stamped it in navy blue ink and didn't color it. That was hard - to resist the urge to color! The fence die is new from Memory Box and that was sitting on my desk too. In the back of my head was a photograph I took last year in San Francisco....you can see the photo at the end of my post.

 

I wanted a sentiment that referred to leaving my heart in San Francisco. I had this stamp in my stash. I use it all the time. I got out my stamp-a-ma-jig to line up my words. I blocked off part of the stamp and inked it and then blocked off the other parts that I didn't want. Voila...this saying in a line!

 

 

Here's a close up of that teeny tiny fence!

 

 

I popped a bright red heart on the top using my Epiphany Shape Studio Heart 25 tool and some red paper. Added some grey clouds (a Memory Box die) to look like foggy San Francisco clouds and that finished it off!

 

Here is the photo I was referring to! Cool, huh? I took this from the top of Lombard Street looking out at the Bay Bridge and Coit Tower to the East.

Thanks for coming by my blog today! You have until the 11th if you want to enter the Cure for the Winter Blues Challenge! Join me? CLICK here for the deets. Have a wonderful day. 

 

A Simple Thank You...

Hi Friends! Whew....what an interesting week I had and so full! Today I believe I am what you call... exhausted! Yeah, I'm pretty sure that is what this is called. It was certainly a busy week here on the bloggy blog with all the wonderful new things from Taylored Expressions! Did you end up getting anything? Also, for work I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Two days at one location, one day in the office, one day flying to Los Angeles and back (in the same day!). Yup, I'm a tired girl. My boss is retiring and we had a really nice luncheon for him on Wednesday and emotionally that was hard. He is the heart of our department and we'll miss him. I made him a nice Retirement card that I'll share with ya next week sometime.

Today I'm sharing some CAS (Clean And Simple) Thank You cards made with Memory Box and Poppystamps dies and papers. I used two of my favorite colors too. It's nice to have the need for Thank You cards! I'm thinking of making more of these as a set for a present! 

 

 

I used cold-press watercolor paper for both my background and my word cut out. It's not stark white - but creamy white and has a wonderful weight and texture. I thought it was nice with this natural image cut out.

 

I made the cards so that they could face either way....with the 'thanks' going either vertical or horizontal. I can't decide which way I like it best. I added just one little bling to each, in the matching shade to that great Memory Box gingham paper....

 

 

 

 

My little craft room assistant is patiently waiting for me to go back out in the family room and serve as his human couch. Until then...he's perusing the new Cards magazine and scoping out my new Distress Markers! Hee hee. What a good boy!  

Thank you so much for coming by today! I hope your weekend is fantastic! Are you feeling creative today? What are you working on? I would love to know. XOXO

Taylored Expressions March Release Day!

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! WOOOOO WOOOOO!
• 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.

 

Today I am featuring the Grace A La Carte stamp and also I added a sentiment from the Faith in Bloom set! Embracing Grace is by Emily Burger, and Emily has lent her unique fun style to these Bible verses and words of encouragement and combined them with lots of cute and quirky blooms.

There are three new A la Cartes from the *te* Collection also, and I'm using Grace a la Carte. These all nicely coordinate with Faith in Bloom.

 

 

 

Today I went full-on shabby chic! I got out the flowers from the KI Kit from February (awesome) and some pretty lace and some favorite papers from My Mind's Eye! Used the color palette taken straight from the paper. I adore aqua and red together!

 

Here is my Copic palette....

 

I used my wonderful small doily die from TE!!! I distressed everything with a little amount of Fine Linen distress ink.

 

 

The papers are My Mind's Eye Lost and Found - Rosy 6x6 collection pack. I also used the KI February Kit for the flowers. MMMMMMM.  

 

 

Thank you for playing along with us this week!! Be sure to see if you won anything by going to Taylor's Blog. Have a wonderful day! Happy Shopping in the TE Store!  

Here are your links to the projects for Release Day!

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Nancy McKinney

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft (guest...woot!)

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks - Day 3!

March 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, March 1st 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

 

I am sharing two projects today for Spring - an Easter Card and some St. Patrick's Day treat packages! Top o' the morning to you! Today we are introducing 2 new full sized sets (Faith in Bloom, Totally Tags Spring), plus the 4 new A la Cartes (Faith, Grace, Hope, Lucky). 

 

 

 

This fun Easter card was made with the Totally Tags - Spring Stamp Set and was designed for Apple Doodle Ink by Doug Applegate! It's a new set of tags to coordinate with the Totally Tags dies…great for all sorts of cards and treats for Easter and Spring!  It Coordinates with Hello Spring and Easter Joy. 

I used the Happe Easter tag image to create a "belly band" card! Have you ever made one of these? You just make a simple background card, and then jazz it up with a pretty wrap around band. You should definitely try it. I used the new Jumbo Flower Die to make my band pop! Here it is all disassembled...

 

That sweet striped paper is from the new My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody 6x6 paper pack. I think I could use gobs of those pastel stripes - for every project.

 

My second project to share today is made using the Lucky A la Carte stamp, which is from the Whimsical Wishes by Nancy McKinney collection! It's great for St. Patty's Day as well as telling someone how much they mean to you! I decided to make some fun little treat bag toppers for St. Patty's!

 

I found some fancy gold coins at Michael's to put inside! I colored my image with some olive green Copics and then made a gold horseshoe - and added some clear glaze to it.  

Here are my Copic color choices.... 

 

Here are my supplies! The paper is from the My Mind's Eye Vanity Fair 6x6 paper pack.

 

 

Okay....that's it for today! Tomorrow is Release and Reveal Day! Be sure to come back and see all the sets and dies in their entirety...and SHOP!  Here's the blog link list for today!

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft (guest...woot!)

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess 

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks - Day 2!

March 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, March 1st 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

 

 

Today we are introducing THREE new Mokas and a beautiful Whimsical Wishes set, all from Nancy McKinney! I'm using the Spring Tulips Stamp Set - which is a lovely petite set. It's so soft and pretty and I adore this main image. The sentiments are very nice also.

Here is my Spring Copic palette...who wouldn't love a bunch of pretty yellow tulips right about now?

Grey and Yellow as a color combo was HOT last year and I love it! I found these two pretty papers in the My Mind's Eye Be Amazing 6x6 paper collection. Maybe my favorite new papers for the season?? I cut out a window for my focal image and at the last minute added some pearls. Although I made mine a birthday card...dontcha think this would be a lovely Mother's Day card?

Even though I am not using a Moka today - I want to fill you in on a cool new addition to our Copic Coloring Chart for hair and skin... We have added the skin colors to the chart this month.  The Coloring Chart was designed by our very own (amazing) Jen Shults and it's a  FREE DOWNLOAD! Check it out!

Here are the links to everyone else's projects!

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Nancy McKinney

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Wanda Guess 

 

Taylored Expressions March Sneak Peeks - Day 1!

March 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, March 1st 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.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments for the drawings close Wednesday 2/29 at 7pm PST.

Sooo, without further ado....here's my first card for Release Week!  

Today we are introducing  two new Adorable Abodes - Royal Digs and Spring Cottage along with NEW DIES! I'm using the Spring Cottage Stamp Set from Apple Doodle Ink! This is Doug's Adorable Abodes #3 - a sweet little cottage with a wishing well and bunnies celebrates Springtime and the new beginnings of a new home! This would be perfect for March or April for calendars if you're doing a calendar project with us.

 

I used my Copic Markers for the cottage and then paper pieced the roof out of some great wood-grain paper! There really is no place like home! I used some brown/white twine and a matching button. I kept this card towards the masculine side. Love this color palette - all inspired by the pretty patterned paper collection from My Mind's Eye.

The paper is the "Away We Go" Collection 6x6 paper pack from My Mind's Eye. LOVE. Also, I pulled out an old favorite from TE - The Medium Scallop Die - to make my border.  As you know, I use this one all the time!  

 

Always remember that TE stamps are high quality red RUBBER mounted on foam. All you do is stick them on your favorite blocks and you're good to go. All the sets come on a full color panel and store perfectly in our Mini Binder Boxes (4 sets to a box). Full size set panels are 5.75" x 8.5" and jam packed with images for $21.95.  Mini set panels are 4.75" square (CD size) for $12.95.  Petite panels are  3" x 5" for $7.95. (6 Petite sets fit into a Petite Storage case) Have fun looking at all the other projects from the rest of the Design Team! XO

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

It's a hodge podge blog!

Say that three times fast...hodge podge blog! Haha! Today I'm trying to get organized and get my craft studio into some semblance of order...which seems to be a major task right now! I wanted to do a blog post and share some things, though. These are just some random cards and photos that never got posted for one reason or another...so I'm lumping them all together. A little of this and a little of that! I hope you are having a great weekend so far. Thanks for stopping by!

First up I'll share a little organizing I did a few weeks ago. I am just a wee bit OCD...okay a lot OCD. Organizing makes me happy and relaxes me when I'm stressed. I know I'm not the only one out there right? I love The Container Store... All my photos are in matching bins organized by year... All my stamps are categorized by theme... You get the drift! One thing that has always escaped me was a good way to organize my Cricut stuff. Well, recently I found these Iris containers at Joann's Crafts and they did just the trick!

Here is the empty container: 

 

Here is my stash of Cricut cartridges:

 

Here is the final result! I have found that I am using my Cricut a lot more now that I can easily access my cartridges and booklets. Love it!

 

 

Next up a couple of cards that I hadn't shared yet! I made this Hello Kitty creation to send to sweet GG who had mailed me some awesome Hello Kitty swag! Thanks again Rachel! We have bonded over HK! I used my Cricut to make it...and some cheery gingham paper.

 

 

You might remember this next card...I did THIS version in red a while back. I made another version in purple for a friend's birthday this week. I adore this layout and that Darla Butterfly die from Memory Box!

 

 

Next up is just a fun story to share... Our local Shopping Mall had a big fire in October of 2010. A good portion of the mall was closed for over a year and it kinda sucked! The mall had a huge re-opening party late last year and Stacy London was there! I LOVE 'What Not to Wear' - mostly because of Stacy. Love her exhuberance and her happy demeanor! Well...the hubs heard on the morning news that she was speaking in about an hour!!! I hurried up and got dressed and dashed over to the mall just in time to see her. SHUT UP!!!  

 

She said "SHUT UP" about 100 times...and she really is exactly like she appears on the show. Very funny and helpful and VERY pretty.

 

I took about 50 pictures...and there is not one picture in which she is not making some silly face! I think this one is my favorite. You want to talk about being animated!!

 

 

 

Or maybe this one is my favorite?

 

 

Lastly, I took a picture of some yummy treats the hubs sent me for my birthday in November - from Sucre in New Orleans! MMMMMMMMM! I wish I had some right now!

Well...I promised you a hodge podge! I hope you had fun sharing all these things with me and that you found something you liked! Please be sure to come back on Monday for the start of Taylored Expressions March sneak peeks. Toodles!  

 

An old fashioned hello!

Let's talk! Today I'm sharing a card I made this weekend using a fun stamp set from Hero Arts! I only had a few more days to get an entry into the February contest! I love entering their blog contests. There's a lot of competition and it's fun to join in the mix. You don't have to have a blog to enter - they do their contests on Flickr - which is free - so I really encourage you to enter! CLICK HERE for the details on the challenge for this month.  This month's theme is Friendship or Hello cards.

 

 

I love this vintage stamp set - cool old phones and a neat font...Just begs for some retro colors and buttons and such. I like combining a bunch of 'stuff' on my shabby chic cards. Here I used a scrap of the patterned paper (Picadilly by Basic Grey) and a pearl pin to make a flag. One trick for putting light colored buttons onto dark cardstock is to put the button on a tiny piece of white paper. That way the color can come through.

 

 

Here are my supplies...The pretty red toile looking paper is the back side of the stripes...perfection! I found just the right shade of aqua blue Bazzil paper to match. These colors make me think of the 50's!

 

Let's talk!  The stamp set is called "Just Saying Hi." I love the sayings in it.

 

 

 

So there you have it for today! Thank you, as always, for coming by to see me! I hope you have a great day! See you soon.

 

A good deed story and a card...

Hi friends! How are you? I'm hunkered down in my craft studio for the next two days...I gotta get some stuff done! That's okay with me though. Kitty is in here with me and I have some tunes going on my iPad and it's all good. The hubs is relaxing in the family room. A perfect day. I made today's card as a thank you card for a good deed that someone did for me last week. It's a nice story.

I'm sitting at my desk at work last Thursday afternoon and feeling sort of sleepy due to Excel spreadsheet overload...so I got on my iPhone and wrote a facebook post saying "I wish Starbucks delivered." That's it, forgot about it, and kept going. Well...down the hall in another department a sweet co-worker read my post on her phone and wrote me back that she would go and get us Starbucks and deliver it!!! There's a Starbucks about 3 blocks away from our office...and she needed some fresh air... SO how great is that? Technology + facebook + sweet co-worker = Starbucks delivery! What did we ever do before iPhones? Don't answer that...don't speak of it...LOL.

So here's the card I made her to say "thanks a latte" to her for going and bringing me a much needed Venti Soy Caramel Macchiato! Her favorite color is pink...

 

 

This trellis (called Tessatina) die is a brand new die from Memory Box for Spring...I am in love! It looks very nice and crisp against this pink. This quatrefoil pattern is without a doubt my favorite new stamping 'thing' and it's popping up everywhere. Hero Arts has a new stamp (Studio Calico) with this pattern coming out soon. I saw it at CHA. YUM.

 

Here are my supplies...The stamp set is from Amuse Studio and I cannot remember (sorry) where I got this pretty washi tape. I put a touch of Stickles on the little steam clouds. Two Copics is all. R81 was a perfect match for this Bazzill paper.

 

This is what I put on the inside of the card....

 

 

This past week I got five new email subscribers! That puts me at 225 peeps who are kind enough to let me pop them an email when I post something new! This is very very touching to me and I'm really glad you're here sharing with me. Thank you! Have a great day everybody. :-)

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Sunflower Happy Birthday! TESC #152!

WOOO HOOO! It's Friday! Hope it was a great week for all of you and that fun times are ahead for the weekend! I have Monday off for President's Day so it's a three day weekend for me. I have plans for brunch with a gal pal tomorrow and then I need to stamp like a crazy woman to get my projects all done! Thanks for coming by today. It's my day to post for Taylored Expressions so I used the awesome sketch from TESC #152! You still have time to enter your card for the sketch challenge....and you could win a prize! CLICK HERE for details!

I made sort of a shabby-country-chic sort of creation! I used new papers from My Mind's Eye and a Fall stamp set and a pretty shade of golden yellow. I'll put my supply list at the bottom of the post.

 

 

 

 

Here is the sketch image. I flipped it up on it's side since I wanted to use the oval the long way to fit my image better. COOOOOL sketch...it's a keeper!

Here is a photo of my supplies...I used the "Thankful" set - which is traditionally for Fall! You can get more use out of your sets if you try to see them in a different light. The apples could be for a teacher card too and I love the sentiments with that set. I used the Happy Birthday words from the "Embrace Beauty" set because I like that font.  

 

Here is my card before the focal image. I sanded the brown paper and the gold paper to make it softer and more shabby-licious! hee hee.

 

 

 

 

Here is my Copic Palette...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Supplies - all from Taylored Expressions:  

Thankful Stamp Set

Embrace Beauty Stamp Set

Medium scallop die

Copic Markers

MME  - Be Amazing 6x6 paper pad

I hope you have a most fabulous day friends!  

 

Happy Valentine's Day 2012! XOXOXO!

Whew....I have a lot to share today! I had a super fun, busy weekend full of friends and laughter and food and crafting and pictures and oooh boy. I needed to go back to work to rest up! Hahaha. Happy Heart Day to you and your family. It's Valentine's Day! I'm sorry it's here because I feel like I was just getting in my crafty groove with hearts and stuff. I put all the Valentine crafty things away last night...until next year. I have one last card to share with you for the holiday.

As you probably know...I love banners! I'm crazy about 'em actually. Love them on cakes, and cards and hanging up for a party and all that. I even have a Pinterest Board called Banner Madness (click here). I wanted to make a pretty red and cream banner card so I got out some supplies and went to town with it! This card is definitely "more is more!"

 

 

Each little banner is different, but they are all unified by using the same papers, hearts, and butterflies. I adore crisp, bright red with cream.

 

Before I started, I went around the craft room and got out all kinds of yummy things I thought would go together. The pennants were cut from a Papertrey Ink die set and the hearts are also a Papertrey Ink die set. The butterflies were punched from Martha Stewart punches. The beautiful lace ribbon is from my sweet pen pal Holly in The Netherlands! I had to pretty much tear the whole room apart to find those teeny tiny clothespins!!!

 

This is the process of laying everything out first to see what looked best...before gluing it all together. I decided to layer two colors on each pennant.

 

 

Here they are all strung on a pretty piece of lace. I inked the edges of everything with linen distress ink just to make it look more vintage.

 

 

I busted out the sewing machine and made a free form edge around the cream paper. The message was stamped in brown ink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, somewhere along in the process, Mr. Buddy decided to hop onto my stamping table and have a look...and he liked this one the best! Bad kitty!

 

Friday night my friend CJ met me at Paper Garden to take a class from the fabulous Ms. Julie Ebersole! CJ is an amazing baker/cake decorator. She brought me the most adorable (and delicious) little box of truffles she made! Aren't the pretty? They tasted so goooooooood!

 

 

In class, we made five fun fold cards. I think this idea was my favorite. The card lays flat for mailing but then pops up into a little diorama. SO cute! I will be making some more of these - I have some ideas in my head already. Thanks for a great class Julie!

 

Saturday I spent the day with some of my stamping gal pals....all day....eating yummy food and stamping and laughing and being silly and carefree! Sunday the hubs and I decided to do our Valentine's Day celebrating. It's too hard to go out on a Tuesday night with the crowds and such...so we just did it a little early. First we went for a nice long drive in the car just to relax and snap some pics. Then we went for a tasty dinner at PF Chang's! Had great service and a wonderful time. Made it home in time to watch the Grammys. It was a perfect weekend!

Some of you might know that I LOVE my iPhone. No, I mean like I REALLY love my iPhone! hahaha. I have about 20 photography apps and like to try different things with my phone photos. One of my favorite apps is Instagram. I like the different filters and effects and I like the fact that you can "follow" people's feeds and and share your pix. You can CLICK HERE to see my Instagram stuff. I thought I would share some of my favorite photos from Sunday's drive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last picture...our daffodils have started blooming in our front yard! They are so fresh and bright and perfect right when they bloom. Makes me happy!!! Okay, that's enough of my yammering on for one day.

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

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Taylored Expressions February Release week - Key Ingredients Part Two!

More fun today and more projects using the brand new Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Kit and exclusive Vintage Dreamer stamp set! Here's a photo of the kit in case you missed it on Friday...lots and lots of goodies in there! If you subscribe you get a box full of matching card coordinates every month!

Here is my project for today - again featuring the KI kit, the new stamp set, and the new impression plate! Yeah! I truly love all this new stuff! I used the damask side of the impression plate for the top of my card and then sponged a tiny bit of distress ink to make the detail stand out more. That seam binding ribbon is so yummy....

 

The birdie image was cut from one of the pieces of the patterned papers and then layered over some other matching papers. Taylor really did such an exquisite job matching everything...

 

This is one of the stamp images and I stamped in brown directly onto the patterned paper.

 

 

 

Just so you can have another look...here is the stamp set image and the impression plate image!

 

Thank you for stopping by today! Here are your links for the day:

Key Ingredients Blog: http://www.thekeyingredients-blog.blogspot.com/

Projects for today:

• Melissa Sauls
• Debbie Carriere
• Wanda Guess 

Taylored Expressions February Release week - Key Ingredients!

 

TE February Mid Month Key Ingredients Release!

 

• Key Ingredients Info and Inspiration - From February 10-15  you can learn all about this fantastic kit club and see samples from the Key Ingredients Design Team and the Baker's Dozen! Click here for all the info and start at Taylor's blog each day for all the inspiration.
• February Key Ingredients featuring My Mind's Eye Lost & Found - Rosy begins shipping February 15th. Enroll now!
• Exclusive Vintage Dreamer Stamp Set - find out how you can get your crafty little hands on this stylish new set at 50% off for a limited time!
• Win a Key Ingredients Kit - you can win the March Kit to try out, or have a month added on to your current subscription. See Taylor's blog for all the details and to enter to win! It's easy! 

 

 

The quality and value of the Key Ingredients kits is amazing!  - each month you will get enough coordinating product to make 16 or more cards! They are fun, pretty and easy to use.  I am in love with the Vintage Dreamer Stamp Set and that it is exclusive to KI Subscribers! Enroll in the Key Ingredients Subscription program and take advantage of the opportunity to purchase Vintage Dreamer at 50% off!

Many more details will be posted on Taylor's blog. The Vintage Dreamer Stamp Set will be available to KI Subscribers ONLY. It will be available throughout 2012, but it will be at 50% OFF only through 3/10/12. On 3/11/12 the price will return to regular retail of $21.95. 

Okay, now I am really excited to share my projects with you! This month's kit and stamp set ROCK! It's a different look for us at Taylored Expressions and it's wonderful! kind of shabby chic and vintage! I hope you like it too!  My first card is a criss-cross card. I love this card design and I use it when I really want to show off lots of patterned papers. It's easy to make, but looks impressive when it's done!

 

 

This photo shows the part that you write on that goes inside the folded piece. I lstamped one of the images onto the cream card base in a light distress ink and then scalloped my bottom edge.

 

To make the card base, score an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock in half the short direction and then cut it in half the long direction. Then, on your paper cutter, cut a triangle out of each piece so that they cross when you adhere the two pieces together!

 

Now the fun part! Putting on matching patterned papers. So great to mix and match patterns and this kit is perfect for it. I use the triangles left over from my cardstock to make a template for my layers.

 

 

Here it is all decorated with that beautiful typewriter image and some ribbon and roses... 

 

 

 

Well...after I made that first card, I couldn't stop myself! I had to make more! I used the same soft color palette of peach and mint green and made two more thank you cards for some special ladies. I stamped on watercolor paper which makes it seem even more vintage-y. Look at the bottom of the cards...houndstooth! This was made with the brand new Impression Plate! LOVE it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the 4-1-1! Please check out the images below of the KI kit, the stamp set and the new impression plate!  Paper, Ribbon, Flowers, pearls...oh my!  

 

 

Here is the Linky List for today...spend some time with us looking at everyone else's great projects! SO much fun because the Baker's Dozen has teamed up with the Key Ingredients Team this week! YAY!  

• Debbie Carriere
• Jessica Diedrich
• Jessie Rone
• Lea Lawson
• Monika Davis
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

Be Mine...

Hi friends! I hope you're having a great week so far! I'm popping in today with TWO cards to share! I feel the need to keep making Valentines, but then there's other stuff to post too! This week I found the time to make a card for PTI's Make it Monday and I wanted to get that posted tonight to share with you. Later in the week is some shabby chic goodness from Taylored Expressions!

My first card for tonight is a happy Valentine. I got this idea from some fun stickers I saw at Michael's. They were little birdies holding love notes. I decided to re-create the idea using my big birdie Sizzix die and then I hand made a love letter for him to carry!

 

 

 

The sentiment is from Paper Source. I love that font and have it in many sayings!

 

 

Here are my pieces. I cut a small piece of white paper and then scored it with my bone folder to look like an envelope. Then I put a nice red heart on it. I inked around the edges of the blue parts with some light blue chalk ink.

 

 

I had to add some glitter! His eye is a black gem from my stash. the red hearts above are part of a Martha Stewart edger punch.

 

 

 

 

 

My second card for today is a cheery birthday card with a cupcake! This week's Make it Monday Challenge #52 at PTI was to stamp both sides of a die cut and use both sides in your project. There are some really clever people out there - the other entries are awesome! CLICK here to take a peek... And, you still have the rest of the week to get your card in!

 

 

I cut out the die cut shape for the top and bottom of the cupcake and then stamped both sides in pink and brown and attached them. In order for you to see both sides of it, I used a jump ring to attach it to my circle cut out! It kind of swings around in there!

 

 

The impression plate, the polka dot paper and the stamps/sentiment are all from various PTI supplies. I adore this cane impression plate. I used white core paper and then sanded it to make the design stand out more.

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by today! Big hugs from me and Buddy!  

L-O-V-E Foldout card!

Monday? Already? Truly, how is that possible? I guess there's nothing we can do about it, but boy this weekend went by fast! Saturday we hung out with family all day (after getting our taxes done in the morning) and then yesterday was a Super Bowl pizza festivus at our house! I did get in some crafty time to make another Valentine to share on the bloggy blog. I got the idea from this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. It's a fold-out card - and I don't believe I've ever made one before! 

 

 

Here is the inside of the finished card. By the way, it's hard to take a photo of a fold-out card! LOL. I used some adorable paper from Amuse Studio, sent to me by my friend Teadub!

 

Here is the image from the magazine...and the papers....

 

I printed the template right onto my cardstock and cut it out, instead of making a template first and then tracing. Either way works. Here is the link for the template:  CLICK HERE!

 

 

 

I made a red card base - it's 5x5 inches square - and then lined it with the white paper.

I added some Doodlebug rub-on letters to say I LOVE YOU.....

Here's how I decorated the front of the card - very classic Valentine-y don't ya think? Didn't go too crazy with it. That bright red with white is so crisp and fresh.

 

 

Here's one last view of the inside. You should definitely try this one! It wasn't too hard at all, and you could really have fun with paper choices on this.

As always, thanks for spending a bit of your day with me! Have a great week! More Valentine's to come...my craft room looks like a cupid expolosion right now! XO. 

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A cheery cherry valentine...and a CHA video!

Hello! I'm so excited to actually be home and posting from my computer and hanging out in my craft room tonight! Whew...what a week! It was so great...all of it. I'm still trying to process and remember everything. I had more fun than a girl should be allowed to have at the CHA convention! Thanks for all the nice comments on my posts from my iPhone. It was great to share with you! Now, it's back to reality for me and lots of stamping assignments to get done! Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away! ACK! I need to get busy in that department.

I have a valentine card to share with you, but first, I have a video to share! You know how the DH is really into making videos? Well...I gave him my CHA photos and he made one for me! I hope you will watch it!

 

 

 

What did you think of the video!? TOOOO much fun! I love that he knows how to do that stuff. You might say he's the audio/video department here at A Blog Called Wanda! Okay...now on to my Valentine for the day... One trend I absolutely notice lately is CAS cards. Everyone's going there! I have a new board on my Pinterest just for CAS beauties. Being inspired,  I decided to keep it clean and simple today...and use one of my favorite tools. 

 

 

 

 

I am in love with my Epiphany shape studio tools!! This one is a small heart. At CHA they premiered two new shapes - a flower and a tiny banner! Yipppppeeeee! Those on on my list for sure. Here is my stash of supplies for this project.

 

 

 

This stamp is an old favorite from Hero Arts. I inked up just the stems, and not the cherries. The scale was perfect for those hearts!  

 

I colored the leaves in with my Copics (YG23, YG25 and YG17). The large heart shape is cut from a new die from Memory Box called Cupid Heart. The sentiment is a new one this season from Savvy Stamps. I stamped it on a strip of vellum.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for coming by today! The Taylored Expressions release for February was pushed back a couple of week since Taylor was at CHA. So, be on the lookout for new yummies from Taylor at the end of next week. You will love a new style she's trying out this month.  Have a fantastic weekend!

CHA Goodie Boxes!

Hi peeps! Today I'm posting a super fun project that I've been saving to show you! I'm typing this before leaving for the convention...and when you read this, I will most likely be in my car somewhere on I-5 on the way home from LA. Since I was going to meet the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen crew I wanted to make them something special. I made cute goodie boxes to leave at their hotels as a little check-in surprise! I was cooking up this idea for weeks and it was hard to keep a secret.

I used tons of my favorite Taylored Expressions Cuppie stamp sets and lots of sparkly glitter. I hope you enjoy looking at this project. There are lots of pictures in this post!

Here they are all ready to get loaded into the car:  

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my coloring before I put any glittery parts on....

 

I used images and saying from all of these stamp sets. I kept the palette simple - pink, aqua and black. This let me play with a lot of images but still have a clean look.

 

 

 

Look at all those little candies....so cute!

 

Here they are all spark-a-lay!

 

I made little matching notecards to go inside the boxes. To make my mini cards (about 3.5 inch square) I used my Cuttlebug and a large scallop square Nestie. I love making little scallop cards like this. Somehow they seem more fun!?  

 

Here is my little stack of cards ready to go!

 

 

This is what I put inside for the gals....

 

 

Okay, these little cupcakes are the cutest thing ever! I found them at Bed, Bath and Beyond! They are meant to be little single cupcake holders....but I filled them with candy. Then the gals can use them later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I printed the names out on my computer onto thick cardstock....

 

 

This is the back and side view.... 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by today to check out my project! I hope you do something creative every day! Have a wonderful day....see you soon!

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CHA Day Two!

Hi everyone! Day two of CHA was just as much fun as day one! Today was full of celebrity sightings and good stuff. What a complete blast this experience has been. I am going to need at least a week to process all of this! Tomorrow is the last day of the show, and then I will drive home on Wednesday. I hope you are all having a good week too. I have some more pix to share.

First up this morning we saw David Tutera talking about his new wedding crafty stuff. Jami got her picture taken with him!

I really want this punch!

The Anna Griffin booth was to die for! That's her sitting at the table. The samples were truly works of art.

Here's a good shot of the floor.

 

Brand new Epiphany tool - banner shape. Have to have this!

I won a giant pink tape gun in the 3M raffle!

 

Amy Tangerine!

The crew from Papercrafts! They were so nice! Regina won a copy of their brand new book.

Tori Spelling talking about her new jewelry crafting line. She was so sweet in person. I got some better pictures on my camera. She's adorable.

Taylor took us out for a nice team dinner in Downtown Disney and we got to share thoughts on the day. That's it for tonight! I probably won't blog tomorrow night. I have a fun post already scheduled for Wednesday. Thanks for all the nice comments! It's been so fun to share with all of you. Hugs.

Greetings from CHA!

Hi Everyone! Whew, I'm so exhausted and happy and overwhelmed all at the same time tonight. Day one of the giant CHA convention was amazing! I'm trying out the whole blogging from my iPhone thing tonight. Let me know how it goes.

I met Taylor, Jami, Melody, and Regina from the Baker's Dozen team and everyone is so great. We had the best time walking the show today. I saw lots of friends and lots of bloggers I admire. Truly a crafty girl heaven.

Last night we had dinner in Newport Beach right on the water.

Then this morning we were off to the show!

Woohoooooo!

Here are pix of some of my favorite things from the day. First up, the Pebbles booth.

 

Crate Paper is always great!

Awesome new polka dots from Doodlebug.

Twelve new colors of Memento ink!

Regina, Jami and Melody at the Tombo make n take!

I am in love with this new paper from October Afternoon. It's called Cakewalk.

Gorgeous new line from Websters Pages called Palm Beach.

Prima!

Want these!!

I am where exactly???

 

Love the new Jillibean Soup stamps and paper.

New Basic Grey Konnichiwa collection is so pretty.

Yumminess inside!

Martha is everywhere!

I want alllllll of this!

Cute stuff!

Twelve new Copic colors!

All the new stuff from MME was beautiful!

I adore this!

Can you say 'crafty overload?!' what a fabulous day! Tomorrow I want to take some pictures of all the wonderful projects on display. I hope you have a great day! Let me know what you think!

Sweet Baby!

Hi friends! Happy Friday! Whew...it's been a week, lemme tell ya! I was in LA for two days for work and generally running around like a crazy person. Today is all about preparing for CHA! WAHOOOOOO! The CHA bus (my car) leaves tomorrow and I cannot wait! I am going to finally meet some of the amazing ladies of the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen and also hook up with lots of my crafty friends from all over the country. Right now I'm in panic mode...what to pack? How much stuff to bring? What do I wear? Did I remember the gazillion chargers for everything? Do I have a big enough memory card for my camera? Tomorrow morning I'll be on the road and leaving my cares behind and heading towards crafty adventures.

I am going to try to blog post via my iPhone from the convention. I'm not really sure how that's going to go! You can't format pictures or text...and you send your posts via an email! I will try it and I would be grateful if you guys would give me feedback along the way. Also, I'm going to post pictures from the floor onto my 'A Blog Called Wanda' facebook page. So, if you want to "like" me then you can follow along with me that way. This is all new!

I can't believe I'm finally going to a CHA Convention! I want to say a big giant thank you to Taylor for inviting me as her guest. I am truly grateful to be a part of her team.

Okay...I do have a card to share today too! My sweet friend Teadub had a baby two weeks ago! This is her third little bundle of joy and he is super cute! She is such a cool mom - so mellow and patient with her kids. They are a bunch of cuties! So I made her a baby card and got that off in the mail to her last week.

 

 

All the patterned papers are from the My Mind's Eye True Blue paper collection. I love it because it's cute but not cutesy. Nice warm, happy colors, just right for a baby boy! That bear stamp is one of the first stamps I ever bought! The sentiment is from PTI.

 

I layered my strips (1 inch wide) onto another sheet of paper. I love all the patterns together like that.

 

Don't you love orange  and aqua together? I do! I used white core papers so I could sand the edges to make the color a bit softer.

 

Here are my Copic colors - just a few.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please check back in with me over the next few days to see what happens! I hope that you all have a most wonderful weekend! Thank you for stopping by! Big hugs.  

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You & Me

Hi friends! All month, I've wanted to get an entry together for the Hero Arts January Contest! I finally made my card this weekend and got it posted over on the Flickr group! Yay! I love doing this contest and seeing everyone else's entries. The themes this month were either 1) a color challenge or 2) Anything about LOVE! I chose the LOVE category, and used the super cool new cityscape stamp that's been sitting on my desk waiting to get inky! There is still one more day to get your entry in!

 

 

I inked the large cityscape first in light gray ink directly onto the paper. Then, I inked it a second and third time in darker gray ink and cut the buildings out.  

 

Here are the supplies...Isn't that the coolest stamp?

 

The sentiment is also from Hero Arts, but I forgot to take a picture of it! I used a border punch that had tiny hearts in it to get those little red hearts for the card. I popped it on some nice, bright red and then on gray Bazzill paper.

 

 

I think the card ended up having a "Sex and the City" vibe or "When Harry Met Sally" vibe! What do you think? This card would be good for a far away friend or love.

Thank you for stopping by here to spend a part of your day! I appreciate it! Have a great week and I'll see you soon.

Year of the Dragon - Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy New Year! It's the Year of the Dragon...and guess what, I'm a Dragon! So...it must be my lucky year! I think that 2012 is going to bring good things. Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. Every year I like to make Chinese New Year cards for my friends. Click here for my 2010 Year of the Tiger card and click here for my 2011 Year of the Rabbit card. Do you know what year you are?  

 

For this year's cards I went back to traditional red, black and gold. It was hard to find a Dragon stamp! The one I used is from Judikins. Here is the finished card:

 

 

 

The gold embossed characters are for double happiness. The dragon was stamped in vivid red ink onto a sheet of vellum and layered over another piece of paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this photo you can see the white paper underneath the vellum. On that paper, I stamped a large Chinese character background and then some green bamboo. Both of those stamps are from Hero Arts. It was hard to get it to really show in the photo. But, you get the idea!

 

 

Here is the inside of the card. I wanted to carry the bamboo and green over into the inside to bring it all together. This symbol is for good luck.

 

 

Here are my envelopes....

 

 

I am a complete Starbucks groupie! I couldn't believe it when I found these SUPER cool Starbucks cards and sleeves last month! They were gone so fast! I must have timed it just right to get some. I actually collect Starbucks cards....I need to do a post on that one of these days....I have some good ones! And, these are a great addition to the collection.

 

 

The DH ordered me this amazing Starbucks Bearista bear on eBay from Taiwan! I have a Year of the Tiger one too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this photo in San Francisco's Chinatown last year,  and I love the color, the movement, and the drama of all those flags and lanterns. It really captures the essence of the place.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's a good one, and best wishes for Health, Happiness and Prosperity in the Year of the Dragon!

Wanda!