Stamp a Sweet Impression

The SASI blog is moving!

2011-01-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for being a follower of the Stamp A Sweet Impression blog! I have greatly enjoyed having you along for the ride and I hope your creative sweet tooth has been satisfied here!

Over the last several months our team has been working hard to get to a place where we can share our work and inspiration more effectively with as many people as possible. After today there will no longer be posts on this blog. We will continue sharing TE inspiration at tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com. If you are not already a follower of that blog, I encourage you to subscribe!

Hope to see you there!
Taylor

Pursue Happiness...through Coffee

2010-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

If you are not a coffee lover, I'm betting that you know someone who is! If you aren't though, you can just pretend this is hot chocolate and EVERYBODY loves hot chocolate, right?! :) I hadn't used the coffee/hot chocolate image from Sprinkled with Love, so I made it a goal to stamp a sweet impression...that hasn't seen ink yet! You get soooo many wonderful images in a Taylored Expressions stamp set, so make sure you use them all!! This was a pretty cool challenge I set for myself, actually. There was also a sentiment from Discover Your Wings, that I found hadn't been inked up either. I paired the two, sad, uninked stamps together and found they made magic! Lookee!

What do you think?! Magic folks? I know happiness can be found in a cup of coffee on a daily basis, so these paired perfectly! I'm still patting myself on the back over here for coming up with this, LOL! Well, you know I just can't make a card by itself. How about a little gift card holder to go with??

Everyone has a huge stash of glassine bags, right? So all I did was cut up a piece of element cards from the Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket) crafting kit and stamped another image of my coffee/chocolate milk and popped it up right on top! This is perfect for sliding in a gift card to...Starbuck's yes?? That store must make a killing on gift cards!

If you look closely, you can see little coffee remnants inside my glassine bag. I poured a bit of coffee in there and then dumped it back in my container. My glassine bag now has a coffee scent to it. Ta Da!!! So easy and I just loooove the smell of coffee!

One thing I did want to point out was that I used a Clear Spica glitter pen on my coffee, and it looks soooo cool in person! Click on the pic for a better image. Also, I just noticed that the glitter pens are on sale in the TE Store HERE for only $2.49! Big bang for your buck, I'm tellin' ya folks!

I hope you got a little inspiration today...or a little dose of e-coffee to bring happiness to your day? :) Thanks so much for stopping by and I challenge you to Stamp a Sweet *uninked* Impression today!

Recipe
Stamps: Sprinkled with Love, Discover Your Wings
Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento, Antique Linen Distress Ink Tim Holtz, Real Red Stampin' Up!
Paper: Choice Buttercream, Real Red Stampin' Up!, Early Bird Craft Kit Cosmo Cricket
Accessories: Ribbon Tags Trio Spellbinders, Corner Rounder and Large Scallop edge punch EK Success, buttons, Baker's Twine, Copics, White Satin and Red Grosgrain ribbon Stampin' Up!, Glassine bag

Summer Sunrise by Karen Giron

2010-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning and happy Wednesday! The week is half over and I'm ready for the weekend! Today I'm so excited to show you a card I made using the brayered sky technique - I have never tried this technique until today, I know - crazy! In fact, I don't think I've ever even inked up my brayer! To make a brayered sky really pop, you need to use a silhouette stamp and Discover Your Wings is the perfect set for that. For my sky, I chose Barely Banana, Apricot Appeal, and Pumpkin Pie inks, which are similar enough in color, yet have enough difference to see layers on the cardstock. After I brayered my Choice Snow White cardstock, I stamped the flower image over it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I reached for my favorite summertime color combo - orange, light blue, and red - LOVE IT! I added a little blue butterfly accented it with Tiny Twinkles - the edges of the wings are inked with Bashful Blue ink and the layout is Mercy's MTSC62.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Don't forget to sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter and keep up with all the latest news and specials in the TE store. You can find the link right over there ----> in the right sidebar.

Karen

recipe -

Stamps: Discover Your Wings

Paper: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!), Choice Snow White cardstock, Pumpkin Pie Patterns (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bashful Blue

Accessories: Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, Nestabilities, Real Red wide grosgrain ribbon, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), dimensionals

Fun With Favors

2010-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone!

I love all the favor boxes, bags and more that Taylor has in her store and for today's project -loved creating some goodies with the clear favors(there are both the circle shaped favors and the heart shaped favorsavailable) and I couldn't wait to use these favors into my cards :) I love using an item for more than one function - and love that you can use it for giving treats to friends to using it on your card for a fun look. I used the clear circle favor that looks like this <--

And created a little goldfishy bowl card with the sweet little fishes from from the Fish In Love A-La-Carte stamps along with the scalloped lid favor box for a little extra sweet holder :)

Here is a picture of the individual card with the clear favor box as the center piece:

And here is a side view of the "goldfish bowl effect":

I love all the favor boxes - its nice to have so many options and I love being able to pull out a favor box when I need something and its already scored and ready to go. I used thescalloped lid favor box to create this:

Project Ingredients:

Paper: Prism Papaya Puree (medium and dark) and Prism frosted Teal and Cosmo Cricket

Inks: Memento Ladybug red/copics

Stamps: Fish-In-Love a-la-carte stamp set and Animal Love sentiments

Accessories: spellbinders (circles and labesls), adirondack liquid pearls (stream), kaiser bling, MS heart punch, white gel pen, glue dots, orange and eucalyptus stickles, sponger and dimensionals

Check out all of the variety of favors that Taylor has in the store! And also make sure you hit the subscribe button at the top of the blog, so you can stay up to date on all of the happenings atTaylored Expressions and be in the "know" for all the deals and steals that Taylor has in her store!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sending you happy "fishes" for a great day ;)

(i just couldn't resist :)))

Sankari :)

Pocket Planner by Jodi!

2010-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday!!
Just the other day, I realized that I never purchased a planner for 2010 (yes...I realized this in February...you can laugh now! lol!!).

I knew I wanted a planner that was a bit fancier than the ones available in the store, so I decided to alter one!!

You can see the first picture of the planner with the super cute kitty (I felt bad covering this little sweetie up!!!). It was SUPER simple to alter my planner to be a bit more "me".

I knew I wanted to use Discover Your Wings. I just LOVE this set...it is SO elegant and yet so fun!

I first used a brayer and a Kaleidacolor ink pad and brayered a piece of Choice Snow White in these beautiful hues of blue. I then stamped the flowers in Versamark and heat embossed them with Black Embossing Powder. The butterfly was stamped, embossed and then popped up for a bit of dimension.

I LOVE the sentiment, "Pursue Happiness", which is also from Discover Your Wings. After stamping and embossing the sentiment, I added Taylor's Tiny Twinkles to each side, and then added three Taylor's Tiny Twinkles to two opposite corners.

I just LOVE how this came out and the best part...it was SO easy to do!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Discover Your Wings by Taylored Expressions
Paper: Black & Choice Snow White
Ink: Versamark & Kaleidacolor
Accessories: Pocket Planner, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, Black Embossing Powder and Foam Tape

Jodi

Puppy Love

2010-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everybody!!

I am SOO excited to be posting here for my very first time since becoming a member of the Baker's Dozen! somebody pinch me!!

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am just thrilled with this month's new stamps.! (especially the new Stamps A La Carte!!)
I still can't get over the versatility these individual stamps offer, not to mention, they are budget friendly too!

For me, the best way to determine if I truly want to purchase a stamp or stamp set, is figuring out the number of ways I can use it. (without looking repetitive of course!)
So today I am going to show you a way you can use your stamps, and card-making "scraps" to make a super-cute scrapbook page!

This little brat is my baby Tyson. I haven't scrapped too many pictures of him because he has kept me busy for the past 8 months! He is just a handful, and people tell me Boxers are such calm and sweet dogs, but goodness he must not have gotten the memo because all he does is drive me nuts!! It doesn't help, that at 10 months old, he is well over 60lbs., so that means when he's tearing down the street I am usually flapping in the wind behind him!!! Then again, one look at that face, and it's all over - could you resist?? :)

Anyway, onto my page! As soon as I saw the Big Love stamp in the Animal Love stamp set I thought it would be just perfect for a scrapbook page, and you can literally use it for anything!! Of course the "It's a love Thing" is just as perfect and all I did was stamp it onto my Choice Buttercream Cardstock, and cut out each word individually. All of the patterned papers I used on my layout are from the October Afternoon Cherry Hill Collection. I cannot tell you how utterly divine these papers are, and if you're into retro/vintage looking prints, you will pass out from sheer excitement, trust me. I did., and I liked it.

Now seriously, the trick to doing a layout like this, is use your scraps! no measuring, no worries, just layer some patterns you like and voila! I have to say, the inspiration behind this page was the little dog house from my Scotties in Love stamp, so I had to use it for my page!! I stamped it onto my Choice Buttercream cardstock, and colored it using Copic markers. I then cut out the doggies, since I only need the house, and adhered it to my page using dimensionals. I also cut out an additional heart from my patterned paper and mounted it onto the little house, for some extra pop! I could not resist adding one more little embellishment, and what could be better than this ultra Adorable polymer clay cupcake button tied up with some fun (and matching!!) Farmers Market lime twine!

I absolutely loved how this page tuned out, but what I loved most was using my stamps to make it! Thank you for letting me share my "scrappy" look at our TE stamps, I hope you'll be inspired to ink up your stamps on some layouts too!!

Big Love to you all!!

Alex

Our Friday Friend Beate AND TESC Celebrates 100!

2010-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! It's a BIG day here at Stamp a Sweet Impression! Taylor is presenting her 100th Sketch for you to play along with over on her blog (head over there for all the info including PRIZES!) and Our Friday Friend is helping us celebrate with a sample for the TESC100 sketch. This week Our Friday Friend probably needs no introduction - certainly not to those of you who participate at Splitcoaststampers - Beate Johns is the Creative Director at SCS and brings us incredible tutorials week after week! In fact when we saw this amazing card created for this week's SCS tutorial we rushed to ask her to join us here at SASI today.

We asked Beate a few questions so you can get to know her better.

--What city/state so you live in?

I currently live on Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio.

--How did you get addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?

After moving from a Nato bade in Germany to Scott AFB, Illinois, I couldn't find a quilting group on base. Everyone seemed to be talking about stamping. So I went to a Stampin' Up! workshop. I was hooked immediately. It was in January and I got FREE stamps for ordering. How cool is that? I have been stamping ever since.

--How would you describe your style? What are your favorite projects to create?

I love to sponge, distress, and sew and on my cards. It seems I can't create a card without several layers and lately, without using Nestabilities. My favorite projects are still cards. Coming from quilting, I love how fast a card somes together.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?

I can't narrow it down to one image. My favorite three sets are the new Animal Love Sentiments (with all those cute matching animal images), Discover Your Wings (featured here) and Christmas Blessings.

--What is your favorite sweet treat?

My favorite candy bar is Milky Way. My favorite cake is Donauwelle and my favorite cookie is Spritzgebaeck.

Beate's beautfiul card features Discover Your Wings. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this set through the end of February are donated to the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation.

See more of Beate's work at her blog Fresh and Fun.

Thank you Beate for being Our Friday Friend!!!

We hope all of our readers will make some time to stamp this weekend and play in Taylor's 100th Sketch Challenge!

-Jami

Your Sweet New Place by Charmaine Ikach

2010-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do with my stamps is to find other ways to use them, or to use them "out of the box". When I was playing with the new Window Shopping set from Taylored Expressions, I discovered something interesting that I wanted to share! I had stamped the one window on a smaller piece of paper in order to layer onto a card. I went on to pick out paper and when I went to look for my stamped window, the paper had been turned upside down on my desk and I looked at it and thought "Hey, that looks like an aquarium!" And so this idea was born! So, I colored the "aquarium" and the "gravel" on the bottom. Then I inked and stamped the fish from the Fish in Love stamp. None of the sentiments from the Animals in Love Sentiments set conveyed the message I wanted to get across with my discovery, so I started looking at all of my Taylored Expressions stamp sets and came across Sweet Occasions. How perfect would "Congrats on your sweet new place" be for two fish who bought a new aquarium! LOL Anyway, I thought it was a cute new way to congratulate someone on a new house. . .and another way you can use your windows in the Window Shopping set! Hope you enjoyed my tip!

Cookie Treats by Karen Motz

2010-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have a quick little treat to share with you today and it was inspired by the fantastic new Bakery Business set.

I baked some cookies yesterday and was thinking of my Bakery Business set as I was mixing the batter. Then once the cookies were baked and cool I thought it would be fun to package up a few to give to my friends. I used the diaper fold pouch tutorial on Splitcoast for the cookie holder.

The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and cut out with circle Nestabilities. I coloured it with copics and added fun details like a glossy cherry on the cupcake and pink Tiny Twinkles for the earrings and necklace.

The patterned papers I chose for the pouches are all from the My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grow collection. To fit my cookies I started with a 7 inch square of patterned paper. The "Diet starts tomorrow..." sentiment cracks me up and it seemed like the perfect sentiment for a little cookie treat!

Do you get the latest news from Taylored Expressions? If not, be sure to sign up for the TE Newsletter (on the sidebar) so you're always "in the know" about new products, tips and specials.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Turtally In Love Anniversary Card by Jackie Pedro

2010-02-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

Hi there! It's Jackie here to show you that the ADORABLE new Animals in Love stamps from Taylored Expressions aren't just for Valentine's Day!

My husband is probably like most husbands...he TOLERATES my stamping addiction! Yes, he complains that I spend too much time in my craft area and on the computer, but he LOVES to critique my cards! LOL! AND whenever he needs a card he always turns to my stash! He won't admit it, but I know he loves that I have hobby that I truly enjoy.

My husband and I will be celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary in the next few months so I decided to make him an anniversary card using some of HIS favorite things!

So I bet you're wondering what his favorites might be? Well, you're looking at it! He loves whimsical animal stamps. He'd take that over a flower ANY day! He loves Kraft cardstock, the color green, buttons and he especially loves when I sew on my cards! (he really wishes I'd using the sewing machine for something useful, like hemming and such, but he settles for cards! LOL!) He could probably do without the bow, but I couldn't resist!

I stamped the turtles in Memento Tuxedo Black in onto Choice Buttercream, colored them in with Copic markers and while the die was still in place I sponged some Spring Moss ink (PTI) around the edges. The DP is the new Garden Variety from Cosmo Cricket.

Here is a view of the inside of the card. I continued with some more of the dp and added the "I'm TURTALLY in love with you" sentiment (from Animal Love Sentiments). I know he's going to love it!

Cupcakes Make Life Sweet-wall hanging

2010-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun cupcake wall hanging I made for my sweet niece Gabby (she was 3 yrs old in the photos). I used pictures from our trip last May when we went to her favorite cake shop - every Wednesday, kids get to decorate their own cupcakes with sprinkles. That's the photo on the bottom left. She had SO much fun doing it! I wanted to commemorate the sweet occasion with a hanging wall decoration so she can be reminded about our trip to visit her. After I gave it to her, her mommy hung it up on the wall next to her bed.

The wall hanging was purchased at the dollar store and was real easy to decoraite! I used pattern papers from by Doodlebug Designs and Cupcake key ingredients released last year with the set For the Love of Cupcakes.

And here is a picture of the sweet human cupcake herself, taken last October when I gave her the wall hanging. In this picture she's 3 1/2! Time flies! Check out my blog for an additional picture of her wearing a cute as a cupcake t-shirt!

It's so easy to use your rubber stamps to make home decor, either for yourself or others - get inspiration from when you visit your loved ones or use photos to make a collage from a special event - the memories will last longer in their heart with a tangible gift!

Be sure to sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter if you haven't already, you can sign up by placing your email address in the box on the right of this blog where it says "JOIN OUR MAILING LIST"

Thanks for stopping by - hope you have a 'sweet' day!!

Cherry On Top by Laurie Schmidlin

2010-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning! It's Laurie, and I'm so excited to share something creative with you here! :-)

Ok...it's confession time for me! I "may" have a slight issue (read: major problem) with hoarding! I know, I know...it's such an unheard of problem in the stamping community right? LOL! Come on, I KNOW I can't be alone!!

Well, I decided that my wonderful and much loved supplies aren't doing me any good sitting in drawers! So, today I decided that not only am I going to actually USE them (GASP! :-), but I was going to use my most favorite ones first!

October Afternoon patterned paper (Cherry Hill), Cupcake chipboard, sparkle, rhinestones...these are all very high on my most treasured list! :-) I even used my favorite Taylored Expressions stamp set - Sprinkled With Love!

Here's a close-up of the chipboard cupcake and tag! I have to to tell you...when I first "discovered" chipboard I was so excited about it! I bought lots of it...then it sat in my craft room collecting dust because I wasn't sure what to do with it! LOL! Now that I know how EASY it is to use, I can't get enough of it! :-) You can paint it with acrylic paint (like I did with the cupcake top), cover it with solid or patterned paper (like I did on the cherry, heart, and cupcake bottom), or you can even leave it plain! Anyway you decide to use it, chipboard is fun way to add that "special something" to your projects!

I hope I have inspired you to not just "hoard" your favorite papercrafting goodies...but to use them, and have fun doing it! :-) ~Laurie

Stamps: Sprinkled With Love (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Choice Buttercream c.s., October Afternoon patterned paper (Cherry Hill), Kraft c.s., Berry Sorbet c.s.
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Antique Linen Distress Ink
Other: Velvet Heart Trim, Berry Sorbet satin ribbon, Dew Drops, Cupcake Chipboard (Maya Road), Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, Sewing Machine, Acrylic paint, Paper piercer

Carton of Love by Karen Giron

2010-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

I am a huge sucker for anything in cute packaging - doesn't matter what it is: gum, creamer, tissues - I'll buy it if I like how it is packaged together. This is why I am so excited to show you this little milk carton box! This little bundle of goodness is filled to the top with chocolate and it will be a wonderful little gift for Valentine's Day - my daughter is already eyeballing it! It would be really fun to make one for each of the kids - or maybe just for me, hehe! Actually, I plan to make one for each of the women in my group at MOPS - wouldn't a table full of these be the cutest ever?!!

Before folding the box, I randomly stamped the hearts from Love Everywhere in Riding Hood Red ink. I loved the Bursting with Love sentiment and thought it was perfect to use with this box full of delicious treats. After assembling the box, I added the paper band, complete with the yummy apron lace trim, and then tied a little bow with the heart pin in it.

Is anyone planning on heading to Anaheim tomorrow or Saturday for CHA? I'd like to invite you to stop by the Taylored Expressions booth for a day filled with make & takes, shopping, demonstrations, and not to mention meeting many of the Baker's Dozen!

recipe -

stamps: love everywhere

paper: pink pirouette, riding hood red, very vanilla cardstock, candy lane dsp

ink: riding hood red

accessories: riding hood red satin ribbon, apron lace punch, nestabilities, heart pin, dimensionals

A Coupon Book for a "Man's" Man!

2010-01-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Happy Tuesday!!

I have a fun little project to share with you today! I made this super cute coupon book for my husband for his Birthday, which happens to Valentine's Day!!!

Our brother in law calls Chris a "Man's Man", so I decided to make him some "Man" coupons to add to his gift!

For my coupon book, I used the brand new Coupon Book Download from Taylored Expressions which totally ROCKS!! It's super easy to use...download and print...it doesn't get easier!

I printed out the sheet of coupons (they come three to a page...one each of three different designs but I only used two of the designs in my book) onto Choice Buttercream Cardstock.

I created three of each of the coupons for my coupon book, so I have a total of 9 coupons for my hubby! For my first coupon, I stamped this SUPER adorable new scene from Cuppie Love Scenes in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored the entire in Copic Markers. This coupon is for "a delicious meal made by me (or a restaurant)". I crack myself up!!

For my second card, I thought I would give Chris coupons for "a night out with the boys"...perhaps I should have just put one of these in the coupon book huh? For this coupon I used this darling mug from Chillax.

I colored the mug and the hearts with Copic Markers and I also stamped "Cheers", also from Chillax, next to the mug!

For my final coupon, I stamped this FABULOUS tool belt from Boys Will Be Boys and colored it with Copic Markers. I used my Clear Spica Glitter Pen to add some accents to the hammer, screwdrivers and pliers. This coupon is for "one (1) afternoon of uninterrupted 'guy' time (grrr)". Chris can spend HOURS in the garage putzing around, so I thought I would make it a luxury...not a necessity, to be able to do so! (cracking myself up again over here!).

The patterned paper that I used on the cover of my coupon book is from Lil' Man Collection by Cosmo Cricket, and the sentiment on the front, "Just For You" is from Beary Special. I attached the coupon book together with three screw brads, and I LOVE how they tie into my Man's Man theme!!

This was a SUPER fun and SUPER easy project! I hope I have inspired you to create your own coupon book!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Recipe:

Stamps: Cuppie Love Scenes, Chillax, Boys Will Be Boys & Beary Special

Paper: Suede Brown Dark, Intense Teal, Island Mist Medium, Choice Buttercream & Lil' Man Collection by Cosmo Cricket

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Coupon Book Download, Screw Brads, Copic Markers, Apron Lace Punch, Ribbon from the TE Store and Foam Tape

Jodi

Movie Night Box by Karen Motz

2010-01-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I are big movie watchers...the stay at home and rent 'em kinda movie watchers though. A regular weekend usually includes two movies (and they're not always great so sometimes I bail and head to my stamp room...LOL!). One thing hubby loves when watching a movie is a little popcorn to munch on, so I decided to make him a Movie Night Box.

I had this red metal container in my stash (it originally held peppermint bark, which mysteriously disappeared!) and I thought it would work perfectly with Cuppie Love Scenes and my Valentine Key Ingredients.

I started by stamping the movie image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream, then onto the heart patterned paper from my Valentine Key Ingredients. I coloured part of the image with copics and paper pieced the chairs and curtains. Then I ran my black ink pad around all the edges to give the image a little definition. I think my favourite part of this image is the little cuppie on the right...he looks so annoyed shushing the lovey couple. That would be hubby...he has a no-talking-except-during-commercials rule when he's really into a show (which means we watch movies in silence). I layered up a few papers and stitched them together then finished my panel with a sweet bow. I know I know...this box is supposed to be masculine, but really, who can resist a cute bow!

I stuffed the inside of the box with some individual packs of microwave popcorn, but of course I had to decorate them just a smidge. This was super quick and easy too...I simply wrapped each pack with one of the patterned papers, added a center strip and topped it with a covered chipboard heart (also from my Valentine Key Ingredients).

So look around your house for cute containers you can re-use in your crafting projects. I'm tickled that this red box worked out so perfectly for my vision!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

This Way to Love

2010-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!!! This is my first post to the SASI blog and I am absolutely thrilled to be here! I've been having soooo much fun with this latest release of stamps, that I thought I'd continue on and make a little card and gift package for the home.

This gift box (which was originally from a Valentine box from Ghirardelli) got converted into a hanging heart box. I love it simply as a piece of wall decor to hang, stuffed with vintage music sheets! It's just so functional...you could use it for so many purposes, including gift giving. It is topped with the sweet house from the new set, Love Everywhere...which I just LOVE!

And of course, I had to make a sweet card to go with it.

Notice how the roof has a little added dimension?? Well, while looking at the set, I thought to myself, hmm...that roof kind of has the same shape as a photo corner. So I pulled out my photo corner punch and had a total, "AHA!" moment! Here's a visual of that moment.

Can you hear that "AHA!" through your monitor?? :) So what I did was to punch the larger of the 2 photo corners from a piece of doily...distressed and sugared it up and that's how I got my house roof! The corners matched PERFECTLY! Needless to say, I was just thrilled....sorry, it doesn't take much for me! LOL!

I hope I was able to successfully show you another way to make a "Valentine" set not so Valentine-y! Thanks for stopping in!

TE Release Day: Cuppie Love Scenes

2010-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to share some samples using the new Cuppie Love Scenes set, illustrated by Jessie Olesen but INSPIRED by Me and my awesome DH! One day when we were out and about, we started brainstorming about cuppie stamp set ideas and we came up with all 4 of the designs in this sweet set! On my first card is the date night at home scene, with cuppies in love on the sofa! Isn't it cute?!? I used Valentine key ingredients on this card, as well as a few items included in the Valentine Accessory add-on that will be available for purchase (the cool nestability circle 'frame' which is mady by Jamie, and the heart trinket pin). I covered my chipboard love with pattern paper in the key ingredients, Be Loved by My Mind's Eye.

On my next card, I used the cuppie love scene inspired by Lady and the Tramp with the 2 dogs eating off the same spaghetti noodle - remember that? Well here are the 2 cuppies in love doing just that! In this image there are other stamps such as a napkin, bread with butter on a plate, wine glass and candle for ambiance! Too cute, but because I was making my card based on Mercy's Tuesday sketch {MTSC55}, I couldn't use the whole image. I just love this sentiment, because my DH and I love to eat out (although we don't get to indulge in it that often since we've been saving to build our house forever) but when we do, we surely like to share our meals with one another and that makes them better to me!

Please check out what the other designers have to share with you so you can see MORE cuppie love scenes! There are 2 cuppies riding in a hot air balloon (I THINK my fave although DH and I have never done that and probably never will because he is not particularly fond of heights) and 2 cuppies enjoying each other's company as well as some yummy movie theater popcorn) watching 2 cuppies lip locked in a movie love scene! This is definitely one of our favorite things to do (watch movies at the theater AND at home) so it's PERFECT for us!

Alex Maldonado
Charmaine Ikach
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor Van Bruggen

and also joining us today are:
Jeanie Witmer, our guest designer
Jamie Pyles (artist of our NEW cute clay buttons and frames)

and before I leave, I want you to be aware of the great new shipping policy at Taylored Expressions! All orders of $75.00 or more (in the U.S. only) will receive Free Shipping! Click here to read the shipping policy for international orders and those totaling less than $75.00.
NOW GO SHOP!

A Frame for the Fridge

2009-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Hope that everyone had a lovely holiday and that you are rested and geared up to start the New Year (and New Decade!! WOW!) Today, I am excited to share with you something that I made to use all year long ... a little something for our fridge :)

I don't know about your fridge - but ours always looks full and cluttered and is such a mess - everything always ends up on the fridge, artwork, appointments, notes of numbers without names :) and so this year- one of my New Year's Resolutions is to de-clutter our house - so I thought I would start with our fridge. I saw this frame (it holds 3 photos that are 4x6) and thought that it would be something nice to have up on our fridge - where I could change up the monthly calendars and photos for each month:

All of this is from the August 20th Key Ingredients kit and to adhere it to the fridge - I just added some magnets to the back of the frame and then attached it to the fridge:

The top photo area has a place for holding the awesome Mini-Calendars that you can download right away from Taylored Expressions. I thought that each month to create a little mini calendar/affirmation site that could be the focus of that month - here is the one for January:

And then the second photo area I thought could be a place to display a picture of that month of my two wee children :) and in this way at the end of the year, I can put together some scrapbook pages of all 12 months worth of pictures of them. Here they are from a couple of weeks ago :) with one of my most favorite sentiments from the stamp set: Discover Your Wings.

And the the last photo area could be a place for some stamped creations: The sentiment (dream), the embossed butterfly and the silhouette scene is from the beautiful and inspiring newly released stamp set: Discover Your Wings:

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Stay tuned for next week where we start to show you some awesome peeks of the stamps that Taylor will be releasing in January!

Wishing You a New Year full of fulfilled dreams and all joys and happiness!!!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

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Card Ingredients:

Paper: August 20th Key Ingredients

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Expresso

Stamps: Celebrate Life and Discover Your Wings from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Bling it On, corner rounder, EP bridal, EK sucess punch, Sakura gel pens & magnets

Snowman Soup by Charmaine Ikach

2009-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Each year at this time, I try to come up with some type of holiday treat I can mass produce for my girls to take to school for their classmates. Each year I try to keep it cute but very simple! I never seem to have the time I expected to have to create the treats! As I went shopping to look for candy that looked festive, I couldn't find anything that I liked or if I liked it, it wasn't safe for Savannah's allergies. We were on our way to the cashier when I saw it and decided on the treat. . .a box of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate packets! I picked up some mini marshmallows and mini candy canes, and I was all set to make some SNOWMAN SOUP!

The most time consuming part of assembling the treats was the coloring, and that didn't take all that long! I put both the image and sentiment on one block, so I only had to stamp each piece once. I used the Snowman Cuppie from the Home Sweet Home set, and the sentiment is from the old Tag Treats set.

First I filled resealable treat bags with a packet of hot chocolate, a handful of mini marshallows and two mini candy canes.

Next I stamped, punched and colored all of the images, cut the belly bands and added foam dimensional adhesive to the backs of the scallop circles and Scor-Tape to the end of the belly bands.

Finally, I wrapped the belly bands around the packets and attached the snowman to the front! Easy peasy! The kids just loved them. . .and that's the important thing, right? SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Home Sweet Home, Tag Treats (Taylored Expressions); Ink- Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Paper- Pure Poppy, True Black (PTI), Choice Snow White (Taylored Expressions); Accessories- treat bags, Jumbo and Mega circle and scallop circle punches (Marvy Uchida), Copic markers

Springy Card Box Set by Jackie Pedro

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi there! It's Jackie here with a fun project to show you today! I know it's a few days before Christmas, but it's been so dreary around here the last few days that I was really yearning to make something springy!! I LOVE the new December Key Ingredients Kit from Taylored Expressions and thought they would make a great springboard for my project! Get it? SPRINGboard..................... I'll be here all week......LOL!

Anywho...let's get on to my project...

I used this tutorial by our own Laurie Schmidlin to make this adorable 3x3 card box with the coordinating 3x3 cards! It was so easy! All of the cardstock, designer papers, ribbon and candy dots are from the December Key Ingredients Kit. I used the newest Taylored Expressions Giving Tree Charitable Sets, Discover Your Wings. I ADORE this set and for every set sold, Taylored Expressions is donating 7.00 to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, a beautiful charity to help grieving parents.

Here's the box top in all it's glory! The "thank you" sentiment is from another TE set, Branching Out. The circles were cut with Classic Circle Nestabilities. I used a paper piercer to make the butterfly trail.

One last look at the box. I made four cards to go in the box, but it could have EASILY fit at least six. I hope I inspired you to get crafty!

Don't forget to sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter! Just head on over to the Taylored Expressions Website and enter your name under the "join our mailing list" icon! You will be informed of any new releases and all the new "Fresh from the Oven" items in the store!

Neighbor treat by Donna Baker

2009-12-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Although Christmas is right around the corner, I have a neighbor treat to share with you using Celebrate Life, Luxurious Labels, Justrite stamps and a kraft bakery bag. You can easily change up your gift giving with these fun bakery bags by changing your stamps, colors and goodies!
I love packaging goodies in these kraft bakery bags to give to neighbors, you get a set of 10 for $5 and are the perfect packaging for your special baked goods, coffee beans, and other gift items. I made some pumpkin muffins to give to our new neighbors shortly after they moved in. I love that whatever you put inside the bag can peek through the window. If you have StazOn ink, you can stamp directly on the window too. I chose to use one of the fancy labels from Luxurious Labels and used some JustRite alphabet fonts for my greeting inside. The little card I stamped on the right is business card size and on the back has all our contact info just in case the neighbors need anything. They loved the muffins, by the way!
Did you know that Taylored Expressions has a monthly newsletter? It's so easy to sign up! Just head on over to the Taylored Expressions website and enter your email under the "join our mailing list" icon and that's it! You will be informed of any new releases and and all of the new "Fresh From the Oven" products in the store as well as enjoy getting to know the Baker’s Dozen Design Team!
Thanks for stopping by today!

Recipe Cards by Karen Giron

2009-12-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning! With the holiday season quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to make a little recipe book with a few of my all time favorite dishes and to get started, I downloaded these fantastic recipe cards from the TE Store and they are the perfect size to slip into the Mini Binder Box!

After I printed the recipe cards on Choice Snow White card stock, I cut them to size and added a little colored card stock matte behind it. I stamped the vine image from Celebrate Life in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and then added a few flowers and rhinestones to dress it up a bit.

The Mini Binder Box is decorated with a sheet of Sweet Pea paper along with a felt flower and the binding title is made from some glitter stickers. I hope you enjoyed my little recipe box and I'll leave you with all 3 recipes that are sure to bring smiles!

Spicy Bean Salsa

1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes. Season with Italian-style salad dressing and garlic salt; mix well. Cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend flavors.

Zucchini Alfredo

1 (12 ounce) package uncooked egg noodles
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic, and cook 2 minutes. Mix in zucchini, and cook 10 minutes, until some of the moisture has evaporated.
Pour the milk into the skillet, and stir in cream cheese until melted. Mix in basil. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve over the cooked pasta.

Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen strawberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Stir together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 tablespoons sugar; mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl cream together cream cheese and 1 cup sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture onto cooled crust.
Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in still frozen strawberries and allow to set briefly. When mixture is about the consistency of egg whites, pour and spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until set.

~Karen

recipe -
stamps: celebrate life
paper: taken with teal (SU), choice snow white card stock, sweet pea paper stack (SU)
ink: memento rich cocoa
accessories: mini twinkle dots (amuse), flower punch (ek success), glitter stickers (making memories), te download - vertical recipe card

Our Friday Friend Kathie!

2009-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! Can you believe it's just TWO WEEKS till Christmas? Are you ready? Our Friday Friend Kathie Bailey has a sweet card today just perfect for this holiday season. She's playing along with the TESC94 sketch today and her card features Home Sweet Home. You might know Kathie as kassieb on SCS or from her blog Just an Inkling. Her darling Bowl of Cherries card caught our attention awhile back, but Kathie has been out of commission from ankle surgery for a few weeks. We're very excited that she was able to get back to stamping and join us today. We asked Kathie to share a little bit about herself with us...

--What city/state do you live in?

I live in a small town in Washington State called Hoquiam, which is just minutes from the ocean. If you are a fan of the "Twilight" series, you'll find my hometown mentioned there.

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?

I discovered scrapbooking, or more precisely, scrapbooking supplies about 7 years ago. I spent the next two years or so collecting every paper, ribbon and embellishment I could get my hands on. Then, in 2005, I stumbled across the Splitcoast Stampers website and was blown away by the talent and cards that were displayed there. I began buying stamps and making cards then and there and continue to be inspired by this hobby daily.

--How would you describe your style? What are you favorite projects to create?

I would describe my style as clean, colorful and ever changing. It's a rare card that does not contain patterned paper and ribbon somewhere. My favorite projects are definitely cards! I love the quick gratification you receive from creating a little work of art!

--Do you have a favorite TE image?

My favorite TE image is the bowl of cherries from the "Berries and Cherries" set followed closely by the adorable Cupid Cuppie from "Love is Sweet".

--What is your favorite sweet treat? (feel free to share the recipe if you have one!)

My guilty pleasure of choice is cheesecake! In fact, I've never met a cheesecake I didn't like. I make the following recipe several times a year and it is my family's favorite!

Company Cheesecake

CRUST:

1 3/4 c. fine graham cracker crumbs

1/2 c. melted butter

FILLING:

3 eggs, well beaten

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese (softened)

1 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

3 c. sour cream

Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press on bottom and up 1" of the side of a 9 inch spring form pan.Combine eggs, cream cheese, sugar, salt, vanilla and almond extract; beat until smooth.Blend in sour cream. Pour into crumb crust. Bake at 375 degrees 35 to 40 minutes or just until set. Cool. Chill well, about 4 or 5 hours (filling will be soft). Serves 10.

Thank you Kathie for being Our Friday Friend!!!

How about you? Would you like to be Our Friday Friend? Simply remember to use keyword tayloredexpressions (NO SPACE) when uploading your TE creations to the gallery at SCS in order to be considered.

And if you's like to play along with Taylor's sketch today just hop on over to her blog for details.

Have a sweet weekend.

-Jami

Crafty Cuppie by Sharon Harnist

2009-12-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Are you all loving the new Crafty Cuppie stamp set?!! I thought she would be adorable on a door hanger for my craft room, so here she is!

I covered a MDF board door hanger I got from Michael’s $1 bin (for a package of 3; measures 3.25” x 8”) with patterned paper from the September Key Ingredients Kit, using ModPodge.

I also used Crafty Expressions to stamp “I’d rather be” on the bottom of the hanger and then I stamped different expressions onto tags that could be changed out with this cute mini clothespin! I might have to make myself a “sleeping” tag next, LOL!

The Cuppie collage was stamped onto some of the solid patterned paper from the kit and then colored with these Copic markers:

The image was die cut with Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Oval Nestabilities and the edges sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink. The sentiments and X-stitches were stamped onto the papers and then the papers were decoupaged onto the door hanger.
I wanted the clothespin to match the papers a little more, so I colored it with Copic E25 marker. I hope this project will inspire you to “Do something creative everyday!”.

Sharon

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Crafty Cuppie & Crafty Expressions
Paper: TE September Key Ingredients Kit
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink, Copic markers
Accessories: Ribbon from TE September Key Ingredients Kit, Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Oval Nestabilities & Tags Trio dies, door hanger (Michael’s), ModPodge, EK Success Zig Zag Stitch edger punch, mini wooden clothespin

TE Sneak Peek: Discover Your Wings by Donna Baker

2009-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm so happy to share a wiper card I made using the new TE Charitable giving set, Discover Your Wings, illustrated by the very talented Nancy McKinney. Every quarter, Taylored Expressions takes part in a charitable giving program where she chooses a charity to donate $7 from the sale of a special set designed around the charity. Each month since its inception,

the charity has had a special meaning and this month is no exception.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS) is the charity organization this time. The organization offers professional photography services to families dealing with infant death. The Foundation is made up of a network of almost 7,000 volunteer photographers in the United States and twenty-five countries. At a family's request, an affiliated photographer will come to the family's hospital or hospice location and conduct a sensitive and private portrait session to preserve beautiful memories of their precious child.

When Taylor first shared this charity with the team, my thoughts naturally brought to mind my husband's step-sister who delivered her first child who was a preemie (who weighed 1 1/2 lbs and a very healthy 16 yr old today) and then a second baby who was also a preemie who only lived about 4 days. It was so difficult to see Paige so helpless in her incubator and equally hard not to touch her as we prayed over her (she would have been 10 yrs old this year had she lived). Her funeral was a very sad one, and had we known about this organization, I'm sure Missy would have loved to have had them donate their services to provide beautiful lasting memories of their baby in photographs. I'm sure there are countless others who have either experienced a baby's death or know someone who has so this charity is going to benefit. How great would it be to purchase this set for someone you know who lost a baby and make them handmade cards and sign the backs handmade in honor of the baby?

Now some info about my card. It was my first time to make a wiper card and it was pretty easy, thanks to Beate's great tutorial. I used some Basic Grey Urban Prairie with some prism cardstock to match Frosted Teal and Sunflowers Medium. I used one of my favorite ribbons in the TE store, Caribbean satin 3/8" and something new to me I had to try out, the pearl flowers in cream cheese but I colored them yellow to match my project with a copic marker. Isn't it pretty?

In this set there are several winged insects as well as lots of encouraging sentiments. Several I put on the skinny panel under the butterfly that peeks out when the wiper is open. Isn't the sparkly butterfly beautiful? After I cut it out and lightly colored it, I added crystal lacquer on the wings and sprinkled star dust glitter on it and let it dry overnight - I wanted the glitter to be thick & really stick!

Come blog hoppin' with me to see what the Baker's Dozen girls have cooked up
with Discover Your Wings today.

Charmaine
Dawn
Jackie
Jami
Jodi
Karen G.
Karen M.
Laurie
Nancy McKinney
Sankari
Sharon
Taylor

Be sure to leave some love along the way because one lucky commenter will win a
Discover Your Wings stamp set! How cool is that?

All you have to do is leave a comment on each Baker's Dozen blog today for the best chance to win! One lucky winner will be chosen at random from all of the comments on one of the blogs, but the trick is that nobody knows which blog it will be! You have until 6am PST on Thursday to enter. The winner will be announced Friday morning on Taylor's blog.

Card Purse & Cards by Jodi

2009-12-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!! Happy Tuesday!!

I have a fun and easy project to share with you today! Perhaps you saw my Card Purse Tutorial on SplitcoastStampers (grin!)? I knew I wanted to create a Card Purse and matching cards using the newly released Celebrate Life set from Taylored Expressions!!!

ALL the cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, rhinestones
and skeleton leaves are from the November Key Ingredients, which I just cannot stop using!!)

For my focal panels, I began by cutting Choice Snow White Cardstock (which is part of the November Key Ingredients) with Classic Oval Nestabilities. I embossed them as well.

Keeping the cardstock in the Classic Oval Nestabilities, I stamped the GORGEOUS silhouette flower in Memento Rose Bud. For the focal panel of the card purse, I used the "Celebrate Life" sentiment in Memento Rich Cocoa.

For the cards, I kept just the flower image in the focal ovals. While continuing the keep the cardstock in the Classic Oval Nestabilities, I sponged Memento Rose Bud around the edge of each one.

The cards are SUPER simple...I find myself really enjoying the "clean and simple" look lately!! I used the Choice Snow White Cardstock as my card base and after adhering my strip of patterned paper (Indian Summer by Basic Grey), I used my Scor-Pal to create some score lines. I finished off each card with two Kaiser Rhinestones in Wine!

I hope you enjoy my set and make one for yourself! It's really easy and fun to make!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by!!

Jodi

Recipe:
Stamps: Celebrate Life by Taylored Expressions
Paper: Birchtone Dark, Rose Dark, Choice Snow White & Indian Summer by Basic Grey, all from the November Key Ingredients by Taylored Expressions
Ink: Memento Rose Bud & Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Classic Oval Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, Wine Kasier Rhinestones, Ribbon & Skeleton Leaves all from the November Key Ingredients and Foam Tape

NOEL by Karen Motz

2009-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all the US readers!!! Today is a day to spend with family and friends enjoying a wonderful meal, but tomorrow marks the official start of the Christmas Shopping season with Black Friday. So I created a project to help you get in the Christmas spirit.

I picked up these wood letters at my local craft store and I love that they stand up on their own. I gave them a few coats of white paint and once that was dry I misted each letter with Iridescent Pearls Maya Mist for a little sparkle and shimmer. To decorate the letters I used images from Wings of Joy and Holiday Wonder, both available at Taylored Expressions. I love how these two sets can mix and match.

I started by stamping the images with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White then I coloured them with copics. Then I started adding the little touches to really jazz up each image. The tree was decorated with Tiny Twinkles.

I coated the lights on the bird house with two layers of clear Glaze pen and added some sparkly snow to the bird house (white Liquid Applique topped with glitter before I puffed it).

The chipboard snowflake was coloured with a blue copic then I coated it with Waterfall Stickles and topped it with a button from my Whirligig pack.

The snowman received a hint of bling with a red Tiny Twinkle on his scarf.

I also made some quick paper trees to accent my word art. They were super simple...cut two triangles of the same size for each tree (my trees are 6, 5, and 4 inches tall). On one of the triangles, cut along the center line from the bottom to the mid-point. On the other triangle cut along the center line from the top to the mid-point. Then just slip them together...voila! No adhesive required and they'll fold flat for storage.

SALE ALERT!!!

Taylored Expressions is having a big sale this weekend in honour of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days of the year! The entire store is 15% off!!!! Just use the promotional code TEBlackFriday upon checkout to receive the discount. Also, Tiny Twinkles are buy 2 get 1 FREE, JustRite products are 50% off, and there are the sweetest new TE shirts and aprons!!!

So skip the lineups and save some time, money and gas by shopping at Taylored Expressions from the comfort of your own home this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

2-4-6-8 Gift bag

2009-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, it's Laura, and I wanted to share with you a little gift idea I came up with for some of my friends and coworkers. It's quick and easy (my signature style LOL!), and really fun!

I love the idea of giving gourmet gifts to friends, but the problem is I don't do gourmet. Honestly, I can barely cook and baking...well let's not go there. So here's my solution for a fabulous "gourmet" gift. I purchased a large can of Tim Horton's French Vanilla Cappuccino, and I divided it into 6 Spa Bottles from Taylored Expressions. I added my own little touches for packaging it all up nice and pretty, and now I can give a little gourmet gift to each of them!

The bottle and bag were very simple. I used the stamp set Sweet Indulgence on both; the little coffee cup was just so perfect for this! For the bottle, I stamped the little coffee cup inside the round sentiment, and punched it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch. I coloured it with Copic markers and adhered it to the bottle. I added some ribbon around the neck and that's all.

The gift bag was super easy too! I modelled it after the wine bottle gift bags...because, don't the Spa Bottles remind you of little wine bottles? It's really a 2-4-6-8 box that is quite long! I measured a square that was 8 1/2" square, and scored a 2", 4", 6" & 8". The you turn it once and score at 2". Cut out the little 2"x 1/2" piece in the corner, then cut along the scoring lines up 2" to meet the horizontal score. I used red line tape to adhere it, and decorated it with snow flakes from Wings of Joy, and a strip of designer paper from the Christmas Key Ingredients kit. I added a little tag with the instructions to the little bag, so my recipent can start enjoying their little gift right away!

Of course I had to make a Christmas card to go with the set. I had started with the intention of working with Taylor's Sketch Challenge #92, but ended up centering "Joy" because I couldn't make it work since the image was quite large. The stamp set is Wings of Joy again, and it's stamped on Choice Buttercream and coloured with Copic markers. All the paper is from the Christmas Key Ingredients along with the satin ribbon. The image was cut to an oval with the large oval Nestability, and popped up on dimensionals. Quick and easy!

How fun is that? I love the little gift bag, it's so perfect for the potion bottle, and just makes it totally fun to give.

Pamper Yourself Gift Set by Dawn

2009-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today I have a wonderful little gift set to share with you! Taylored Expressions came out with a gorgeous new set called Luxurious Labels that I know everyone is going to ♥love♥! Gift giving is so much better when there are homemade touches. Like this gift tag for example ;)
This bath set had a crummy little tag on it that I quickly snipped off as soon as I got home. Adding a handmade tag using the Luxurious Labels makes this boring set spring to life!
The tag was created but layering several Spellbinder Nesties. First I stamped the image in Memento Black ink onto some Choice Snow White cardstock. The image was coloured with Copics and some Stickles were added to the bubbles. Organdy ribbon and paper piercing were added as final touches. To attach the tag I used an eyelet...I know...do people still use these things? LOL...well it worked well for my tag ;)
Thanks for taking a peek at my little gift set! I can't wait to give this away :)

Altered Date Stand by Sankari

2009-11-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone,

I am so excited to share a little project with you that I created for a special friend of mine who will be celebrating her birthday soon :) I have been eyeing this awesome alterable date stand that is in the Taylored Expressions store and couldn't wait to decorate it up!! I thought that it would make the perfect birthday gift for my friend - she is a busy girl these days trying to get some special projects done and I wanted to give her something inspiring that she could look at on her desk.

This little date stand comes packaged with two cubes of numbers so that you can always know what the date is and also with three longer rectangles with the names of the months.I gave the blocks of numbers and names a light wash of gold paint and then went ahead with painting the date stand red (with some acrylic paint from the craft section).

After painting the blocks - I went over it with a glaze black gel pen and attached faux stitching (I know that stitching on wooden blocks is impossible but I had to add some because I am totally addicted to dots!! LOL!) . I wanted the front panel to have an inspiring quote to start the day - and since she is working on something very special - I wanted her to have faith in her project and to know that it will happen - and so I used the very beautiful sentiment that says : "Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark -Tagore" which is from the Lasting Impressions stamp line: Faith & Hope.

I cut this out with Fancy Tags Label from Spellbinders and then sponged the edges with Memento Ink: (Rich Cocoa) before adhering it to the date stand. On either side, I stamped the tree branch image from the Branching Out stamp set on Choice Buttercream cardstock and then used the Chipboard birds from Maya Road (that comes with the October 20th Key Ingredients Kit). And you know me and liquid pearls- those are my FAVORITE embellishments!!! - I used these Adirondack dimensional pearls (these two colors are Lettuce and Bottle) for some fun accents on the altered date stand:

I wanted her to have notepaper handy that had an inspirational sentiment at the top - and so, I cut out some different colors with the Long Scalloped Rectangles (Large) Spellbinders and then stamped these three sentiments onto the different colors: Along with the Tagore sentiment - I also added the sentiments: "And will you succeed, Yes, Indeed, Yes, Indeed" and the sentiment: "Congratulations, today is your today, You're Off to Great Places - You're off and away"...( both of which are from the Places You will Go stamp set).

I tied some Double Edged Polka Dot Ribbon onto the pens and as the last touch - I added some Dimensional Pearls from Adirondack onto the sides of the date stand and also to the leaves... (they make it soooooo easy to create leaves - just a few dots is all you need and voila: leaves!

I hope that she enjoys using this date stand and that she feels inspired every day as she works on her projects :) I had so much fun altering this date stand - and can't wait to get some more to make some Christmas presents. This whole project took about an hour and a half (drying time included) and I was thinking, that if I got a few more, I could just crank it out in an assembly style fashion :)

Hope you enjoyed this little birthday present!

And hope you are having a wonderful day!!!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

Our Friday Friend Pam

2009-11-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

It's been so fun lately searching the SCS gallery for Our Friday Friends. So many cute creations and we just love seeing what each of you make with your TE stamps and Key Ingredients kits! Please remember to use keyword tayloredexpressions (NO SPACE) whenever you upload so we can find you!

This week two Wings of Joy creations by the same stamper jumped out at us and we're excited to have Pam Varnell as Our Friday Friend today. You might know her as stampingpam on SCS. You can see her Wings of Joy cards here and here. Super cute, huh? We asked Pam to sample Taylor's sketch today and here it is. Click on the photo to see it larger and visit Pam's blog The Stamping Addict for more details.

Let's get to know a little bit about Pam:

--What city/state do you live in?
Ringgold, GA

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?
I got addicted to papercrafts when I was asked by a cousin to go to a local scrapbooking store for a crop. Crop, what was a Crop. It took me just one night to get hooked. That was in 2001. I started stamping after going to my first SU party 2 years later in 2003. Been addicted to stamping ever since.

--How would you describe your style? What are you favorite projects to create?
I love bright, bold colors and I would describe my style as "funky". I love to make cards more than any project I know.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?
My favorite TE image is the "Joy" image from the set Wings of Joy.

--What is your favorite sweet treat?
Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, particularly ice cream.

Thank you Pam for being Our Friday Friend!

I hope you all have a sweet weekend! Be sure to hop over to Taylor's blog to see the sketch and play along!

-Jami

Minestrone Recipe Card by Denise

2009-11-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hey all! It's Denise here. Today I want to show you a 4x6 recipe card I made for some Minestrone soup. It's a REALLY yummy recipe from Rachel Ray (I love her show!). In the fall and winter, soup just tastes better and this one has a great crunchy topping that you can add...a topping of crumbled up bread, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese toasted with butter. Oh yum!! It takes minestrone soup to a whole new level, let me tell ya!

Oh, and go ahead and laugh at me for the *who* grain penne, LOL! Oops! Oh well, gives it character, right?? {wink}

I typed up the recipe on my computer and printed it out on Choice Buttercream CS, stamped some images from my Celebrate Life set over the text in Memento Cocoa and So Saffron, and added little dots of Platinum Stickles to the centers of the saffron silhouettes. The rust-colored DP and twill ribbon (the reverse side of the alphabet twill) is from the Places You'll Go Key Ingredients Kit.

I put my recipe cards in a binder with clear card protectors (two recipes per sheet) so they don't get messy when I'm cooking, and because I can see both sides through the clear protectors, I make my cards two-sided. I put the title and ingredients on the front of the card, and here's the back with the cooking instructions and calorie info.

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: TE Celebrate Life
Paper: Kraft, Prism Suede Brown Dark, DP from Places You'll Go Key Ingredients
Ink: Memento Cocoa, So Saffron
Accessories: Platinum Stickles, Twill Ribbon from Places You'll Go Key Ingredients, Corner Rounder Punch

Have an awesome day!
Denise

Holiday Luminary by Charmaine

2009-11-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

When I was thinking of what to create for my post today, I remembered something I wanted to do when I created this project a month ago. I wanted to create a luminary using this house image.

When I was a little girl, I remember many Christmas Eves at my grandparent's house. My grandma had this church that used to sit on the mantle. It was a wind-up musical church. There was a light inside that glowed through the faux stained glass windows. It played Christmas carols like Silent Night and Away in a Manger and I spent many Christmas Eves winding it up and listening as I watched the glow through the windows and imagined a little village with little people. . .I had quite an imagination growing up! :) Anyway, when I created my little box last month, I knew I wanted to re-vamp it and create a luminary box!

The first thing I did was cut all of the windows from the image using a craft knife.

The next thing I did was stamp the house image from Holiday Wonder on a piece of vellum.

I cut the window sections from the vellum.

Then I adhered the vellum windows behind the cut out windows.

I didn't have another of the tall gable favor boxes, so I opened up and traced the one I had onto brown cardstock. I cut off the top tabs so that the box would be flat on top. Before assembling the box I cut out the front portion that would be hidden behind the house image.

I assembled the box and inserted my battery-operated tea light.

I attached the house image to the front of the box and there you have it! A cute little luminary that hopefully will give my girls lots of the special memories that I have! Can't you just imagine little Cuppie and family inside all toasty in front of the fire opening presents? LOL The tea light flickers, so it really does look like a fire is going inside! Hope you enjoyed my project and try one yourself!

2009-10-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Do you have big plans for Halloween? It's a big holiday at Taylored Expressions, you know? The sweets, the decorations, the cats in costumes... *grin* Today Taylor has another sketch challenge for you over on her blog and we have a sample of it right here brought to you by Our Friday Friend. Please welcome Regina Mangum - you may know her as *thestampinbean*. Her Merry Little House card caught our attention last week, so we thought it would be nice to get to know her a bit better. Regina is making all pink cards this week in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today's card features Wings of Joy, For the Love of Cupcakes and A Year of Sweet Sentiments. Do you see all three sets in there? You can hop over to Regina's blog The Stampin' Bean for more details.

--What city/state do you live in?
I just moved to New York, NY in August. I'm originally from Los Angeles.

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?
I've enjoyed craftmaking and papercrafts ever since I was a little girl, but it was only since the beginning of 2009 that I started stamping. My wonderful mom-in-law, an avid and talented stamper, got me hooked (much to the chagrin of her son!)

--How would you describe your style? What are you favorite projects to create?
I've been told that my style is a bit of everything. It depends on my mood, which means anything from clean and simple to bright and fun. I do admire all styles very much, so I think that's what makes mine a bit of a mish-mash. Though I also scrapbook, I love card-making most of all. I think it's so gratifying to make a hand-made card to send to someone I love. I'll make a card for no special reason and I know that the person that receives it gets a little bit of sunshine in their day. I also really enjoy making cards/scrapbook pages where I can use photographs or images that I've created myself.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?
That's a question with a near-impossible answer! What I love about Taylor's sets is that when you see one of her images, you know it's a TE stamp. Every time I get a new set, it becomes a favorite.

--What is your favorite sweet treat?
I am definitely an ice cream fan. I could eat it any time, any place. My poor husband is allergic to milk, but my son and I aren't, and we don't have any guilt about eating it in front of him!

THANKS REGINA FOR BEING OUR FRIDAY FRIEND!!!

How about you? Would you like to be considered for a spot as Our Friday Friend? Simply remember to use Keyword tayloredexpressions (no space) when uploading your TE creations to the gallery at SCS. We love to see what you make!

Have a sweet weekend!

-Jami

Merry Christmas Notepad by Jackie Pedro

2009-10-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's Jackie here with a fun project to get you a little organized for the holidays! I don't know about you, but I make a Christmas list every year but never seem to have it on hand when I need it most! Well, this year, I decided to make myself a little notepad that I can carry in my purse and pull it out whenever I need it!

I recently ordered some long notebooks and couldn't wait to make this project! The notebooks measure 2 1/2" x 8". For the notebook I cut a piece of cardstock 6 1/4"x8 1/4, scoring along the 6 1/4" side at 3" & 3 1/4". I used the darling whimsical tree from the new Taylored Expressions set Wings of Joy. It was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, colored in with Copic markers and cut out with Rectangle Nestabilities. I sponged some Pretty in Pink (SU!) ink on around the edges of the image before removing it from the die. Love the look of the white edge! The quilted block background was made with the new Eskimo Kisses DP from Basic Grey and a 1 1/4" square punch. I adhered them to a piece of Pretty In Pink cardstock and then used my sewing machine to give it a quilted look! The sentiment was masked and then cut out with the Tag Trio dies from Spellbinders. Again, I sponged a little bit of Pretty in Pink ink around the image before removing from the die. A little bling, ribbon and button and I was done! I just love this little notepad!

Here is a little bit different view!

Here is a picture of the notepad itself! The notebook was adhered to the inside with some red line tape. I can't wait to put this to good use! I hope I gave you some inspriration to make one of these yourself! They really are so easy!

Did you know that Taylored Expressions has a monthly newsletter? It's so easy to sign up! Just head on over to the Taylored Expressions Website and enter your email under the "join our mailing list" icon and that's it! You will be informed of any new releases and and all of the new "Fresh From the Oven" products in the store!

Halloween Co-Worker Treats by Donna Baker

2009-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know Halloween is literally around the corner and you may have already planned your treats, but I have a fun basket of goodies to share with you!

While out shopping at Target a few weeks ago, I found some cute candy corn cello bags, perfect to make some co-worker gifts for my husband to pass out at work with some candy corn & salted peanut mix. If you like sweet & salty, this is perfect for you! It tastes like a payday candy bar. Last year I introduced this treat to some of his co-workers and one guy, every time I see him reminds me of it & asks when I'm going to bring some more - lol.
Here are the treats close up. I made these treats in less than an hour - stamping the circle stamps from Spooky Expressions with several greetings like sweet treats and boo bites. Then, punched holes in them. I used the twist ties that came in the package to tie them. The one potion bottle was given to the co-worker who loves the mix - he was so excited! I stamped on sticker paper and topped with orange and black polka dot ribbon.

I hope this inspires you to brighten someone's day with some easy and fun treats; remember it doesn't have to be a special occasion - sometimes the best treats are the unexpected ones. My husband passed these out 3 weeks before Halloween, so it was surely unexpected!

Don't forget to sign up for the TE Newsletter-link is on the sidebar. You don't want to miss out on any specials, samples and design team member features!

Webby Treat Bag by Sharon Harnist

2009-10-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone -- I have Halloween treat bag to share with you today! With Halloween just a little over a week away, you still have time to package up some treats with this sweet bag and maybe give them to co-workers, neighbors, teachers, or your children’s classmates!

When I first saw this spider web in the Spooky Expressions stamp set, I knew I wanted to try sewing it! To accomplish a realistic look, I stamped the web with white ink onto vellum cardstock (I have a piece of black cardstock underneath the vellum so the web will show up for you).

Then I carefully stitched along the white lines with white thread. I found it easiest to stitch around the curved outer lines, working my way inward, saving the straight lines for last. Next, I die cut my bag (a variety package of 3 bright colors found at Target in the gift bag section) with Spellbinders Classic Inverted Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. The bag measures 3.5” x 6.5” – the perfect size for this web, I think!

To make the cut, just slip the die into the bag while it’s still folded, cutting edge up – position it low into the bag, about 1-inch from the bottom:

Apply adhesive either on the inside of the bag, near the die opening or if it is too difficult to get your hand and adhesive on the inside of the bag, apply adhesive to the front side of the vellum web cardstock and then slip it into the bag, pressing the vellum web in place. While the bag is still folded, stamp the spider.

I topped the bag with some Basic Grey Eerie patterned paper (from the Halloween ‘09 Key Ingredients Kit) that was punched with Martha Stewart’s Picket Fence edge punch. I stamped and colored the cute witch legs and die cut the image with the same Classic Inverted Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. It is popped up on foam tape.

To finish the bag, I added orange chipboard letters (from the Halloween ‘09 Bundle) to the bottom of the bag and filled it with candy corn. I think this bag will definitely make a smile on Halloween! Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies --
Stamps: Spooky Expressions Paper: Basic Grey Eerie (from TE Halloween Key Ingredients ‘09 Kit), TE Choice Snow White, black, vellum cardstock Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette New Canvas; Copic markers V15, YG23, YR12 Accessories: Orange sparkly chipboard letters (from TE Halloween ‘09 Bundle), Spellbinders Classic Inverted Scalloped Circle-Sm Nestabilities dies, foam tape, Target treat bag (3.5” x 6.5”), sewing machine & white thread

~Sharon

Halloween Smoothie - by Karen Giron

2009-10-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Can you believe Halloween is right around the corner? Time to get ready, and I have the perfect little decoration AND treat for your office or stamping space and it is SO super easy to do. Whether you eat the treat or not, you can't deny how DE-lish all those yummy goodies look in the little jar, now can you? I think this cute little "smoothie" looks so cute sitting on my desk and boy are my kids going to be begging for all this sugar all day, every day. Hopefully my friendly little spider will keep them away, ha!

I'm using paper, ribbon, and brads from the Halloween Key Ingredients Kit as well as the set, Spooky Expressions. I stamped the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Copic Markers. Next, I used circle and circle scallop Nestabilities to cut the images out and layered them on coordinating card stock. I dabbed some Stardust Stickles on the witch's boots because I thought she would like to have some sparkly shoes, since Dorothy ran off with the red ones... Putting the jar items together is a snap - just find fun candies to layer on top of each other in the jar and add the Pixie Stick "straw" to finish the look.

Taylor is hosting the October 20th Key Ingredients Challenge at her blog along with some of the Baker's Dozen. Hop on over to Taylor's blog to see all the details, to play along, and catch a peek of this month's KI kit.

Have you signed up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter? You'll get the latest specials, news, and ideas delivered right into your inbox. Head on over to the Taylored Expressions homepage and sign up on the left sidebar.

Just a reminder, please "drink" your Halloween Smoothie responsibly so you don't go into a sugar coma - LOL! Have a wonderful day.

Karen

recipe -
stamps: spooky expressions
ink: memento tuxedo black
paper: prism intense kiwi, choice snow white card stock
accessories: copic markers, green glimmer ribbon, orange & black polkadot ribbon, spider brads, stardust stickles, circle & circle scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), mini glue dots

Altered Christmas Notebooks by Jodi!

2009-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Happy Thursday!!

Today I have a super fun and super simple project to share with you!! Altered composition notebooks!!

Now, I don't consider myself an altering type of gal, but I find that I am really LOVING altering things lately!!

These were SUPER simple to make! I took six plain mini composition notebooks that I have had FOREVER, and using the delicious cardstock and patterned papers from the Christmas Key Ingredients, I simply covered each of the books using a different pattern from the Holly by Golly patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket!

I then stamped six different cuppies, four from Season's Sweetings from Taylored Expressions, and two from Home Sweet Home by Taylored Expressions, all in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream cardstock.

ALL of the cuppies were colored with Copic Markers, and then cut and layered with Circle Nestabilities and Scallop Circle Nestabilities. All the sentiments were either punched out or cut out and then layered with cardstock from the Christmas Key Ingredients.

All the Cuppie panels were popped up with Foam Tape!

This close up is my favorite book that I made! I LOVE the sweet (giggle!) expression of this Cuppie and I LOVE how the holly bow on her head matches this yummy Jolly by Golly paper!!

Again, these were SUPER simple to make, and I think I am going to hand these out to all the kids for Christmas in my daughter's nursery school class!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by!!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Seasons Sweetings & Home Sweet Home by Taylored Expressions
Paper: Choice Buttercream, Blush Red Dark, Island Mist Light & Jolly by Golly from Cosmo Cricket, all from the Christmas Key Ingredients
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic Markers, White Gel Pen, Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Small & Large Oval Punches, Word Window Punch and Foam Tape

Jodi

Joy Christmas Planner - by Laurie Schmidlin

2009-10-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I need all the help I can get when it comes to staying organized...especially around the Holidays!! I kid you not, last year I had over 15 different lists in my purse...which I couldn't always find when I needed them! LOL! I decided that this year I would do things differently! So, when I saw these CUUUUUTE stamps in the new Wings of Joy set, I knew I wanted to make some kind of book/planner especially for all my Holiday "lists"!

I wanted to use some lined 3 x 5 index cards as my filler pages, so I created a cover and back slightly larger than those cards ( 3 1/4" x 5 1/4").

Here's a close up shot of the focal image on my book. I stamped the "Joy" image (from the Wings of Joy set) onto Choice Snow White cardstock using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then colored the images in with my Copics. For some extra sparkle, I added some Stickles to the bird's hat (Frosted Lace) and some to the Holly berries (Christmas Red). The chipboard snowflakes (included in the Christmas Key Ingredients kit) are painted with white acrylic paint and then covered in glitter. If there ever was time to add tons of bling to your projects, then Christmas is the time!! :-)

I added three "dividers" to the inside of my book (just read pieces of Prism c.s. that I cut to the same size as the index cards (3 x 5) and added oval "tabs" to.

I labeled my dividers family, friends, & home. That way, not only are my lists all contained in one place but they are even organized by section! Woohoo!!

Another way to get some wonderful ideas (both for gift giving and organization) is to sign up for the Taylored Expressions Newsletter! It's completely free and full of inspiring ideas!! Just enter your email address in the sign up box on the Taylored Expressions home page!

Stamps: Wings of Joy (Taylored Expressions)
Paper: Choice Snow White c.s., Patterned paper (S.E.I.), Prims c.s.
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink
Accessories: Copic marker, Nestabilities, Fiskars punch, Sewing Machine, Stickles, Chipboard snowflakes, Oval punch, Ribbon

Our Friday Friend Sunghee

2009-10-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Have you seen the news on Taylor's Blog about the search for some new members of the Sketch Crew? If you're interested in being considered be sure to check out the deets and get a card submitted!

It's time to introduce you to Our Friday Friend. When we saw her pirate ship creation, we were blown away so we asked her to create a sample for today's TESC86 also. Please welcome Sunghee! You can see more views of her cuppie pirate ship in her blog post as well as get info on how she created it. In the meantime, let's learn a little about Sunghee.

--What city/state do you live in?

McLean, VA. It's very close to Washington D.C.

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?

I’ve always adored paper crafting, but the real addiction started in spring2008. I attended a Stampin’ Up! make-n-take for the first time, and I was hooked. I’ve been stamping about a year and a half.

--How would you describe your style? What are you favorite projects to create?

Silly and colorful. I do a lot of Mini albums, and 3-D projects like favorboxes. But I LOVE working with my kids’ goofy, I mean cute photos the most.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?
I love all Cuppies! They are so addictive!

--What is your favorite sweet treat?
I put 3-4 scoops of Vanilla ice cream AND chocolate syrup in my coffeeevery morning. No wonder my coffee is always cold, hmmm. But, it’s sooooyummy~!

Learn more about Sunghee's sketch sample on her blog Creativity in Progress.

Thank you Sunghee for being Our Friday Friend!

What about you? Would you like to be Our Friday Friend? All you have to do is upload your creations featuring Taylored Expressions stamps to your gallery at SplitCoastStampers and remember to use our keyword tayloredexpressions (NO SPACE) to be considered.

Have a sweet weekend!

Popping in with a Yummy Treat! - by Karen Motz

2009-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I thought about what to do for my project today I knew I wanted to do something with a Christmas theme. I thought back to my childhood and remembered sitting in the family room stringing popcorn with my brothers while my dad set up the tree. Half the popcorn ended up in our tummies instead of on the tree, but we sure had a great time!

So I decided to do a popcorn themed project. It started out in my mind as a "Tree Trimming Kit" (just add needle and thread) but it evolved more as a wonderful hostess gift. You could easily personalize this by replacing the 'JOY' with a specific person's name. Wouldn't it be fun to start a family tradition by giving each child their own bag of popcorn to string?!?

I started with a plain Kraft Bakery Bag as my base. I wanted it to be bright and cheery so I pulled out my Christmas Key Ingredients. I cut the pink cardstock to the size of the bag but I didn't want to fiddle with cutting out the window exactly as it is on the bag so I used my Labels 3 Nestabilities to create the opening in the pink cardstock.

The images are from Wings of Joy...I just love this set! I stamped them with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured them with copics.

The chipboard snowflakes were fun to alter. First I coloured the red one with a red copic then I covered it with Rockstar Red Sparkly Fluff (from the Christmas Key Ingredients). For the blue one, I coloured it with a blue copic then covered it with Waterfall Stickles. I layered them together and added a pink button from my Rhonna Christmas pack.

Of course you could use these bags for cookies, chocolates, even a small gift! How would you embellish a Kraft Bakery Bag? I'm sure we can brainstorm plenty of fabulous ideas. :)

Don't forget to sign up for the TE Newsletter if you aren't already a subscriber.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

WCMD Challenge Winner

2009-10-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of our World Card Making Day Challenge.

The Random Number Generator chose #4 - that's Leenda!!!

Here's her Spooky Witch Card.

Leenda please contact Taylor with your choice of any Taylored Expressions Stamp Set!

Thank you to everyone for playing!

Christmas Gift Tags

2009-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have a quick little project to share with you, using both Wings of Joy and Holiday Wonder and the Cosmo Cricket "Jolly by Golly" papers, which are available as part of the Christmas Key Ingredients kit and the Very Merry Christmas Bundle.

Now if you know me, you know I prefer quick projects. It can take me hours just to decide what I'm going to do, so once the decision has been made, I avoid adding even more hours in production. So these little gift tags are perfect and you can "code" them by image or colour to the gift recipient.

Christmas gift tags are one of my favorite projects, and I even love to do with my kids, because they are small and don't require a lot of design work, and my kids love to colour! They like to make their own tags that will go on the gifts to them...it makes keeping track much easiere LOL! Gift tags are also a fabulous way to use up those scraps, because let's face it, you are just not going to want to use this year's designer paper next year. And while I do love to design and embellish, I try to hold back with gift tags, because they are just going to get ripped off and tossed without a second look.

For this group I used an old punch by Emaginations, that I'm pretty sure is no longer available. However, there's good news! Taylored Expressions has gift tags available, only 10 for $1.00. That's a pretty easy add on when you pick up one of these fabulous stamp sets.

All of the tags use the "Jolly by Golly" designer paper, and all images were coloured with the Copic Marker Christmas Kit To embellish I simply added some detailing with Sakura Glaze and metallic gel pens. The images were cut out and popped up with pop dots. The "to - from" stamp I borrowed from a retired SU set.

The string is embroidery floss from my stash and that's all there is to them!

You know, if you haven't already signed up to receive Taylored Expressions newsletter, you can easily do so by adding your email addy to the link on the upper right. Then you'll know when all the cool new items that arrive in the store!

Thanks for letting me share these little tags! The images from Holiday Wonder and Wings of Joy work perfectly on these small tags as well as on a card or scrapbook page. They are a quick fun project and a great way to get in some quality Mom and me time!

World Card Making Day

2009-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

Happy World Card Making Day from all of us here at Taylored Expressions! We want to help you celebrate with a challenge, some gifts and our latest release!

The Taylored Expressions WCMD Challenge - Create at least one card today featuring TE stamps and mail it out to someone - not for any particular ocassion, but just to make them smile! Post a photo of your creation on your blog or to an online gallery and come back to this post and leave a comment that includes a link to your card. Your comment (only one per person please) will enter you into a drawing for any one Taylored Expressions Stamp Set of your choice! How cool is that?! You have until Sunday night October 4th at 11 pm PST to enter. The winner will be announced sometime Monday right here on the SASI Blog.

Free Digi-stamp from TE - Head over to Taylor's blog anytime after 8am PST today to access a free downloadable image for the back of your holiday cards.

Gift with Purchase - today only when you place an order in the TE Store by 11pm PST tonight you'll receive a FREE kit to create a card like the one pictured below (ribbon and stamped image not included). Just add your own ribbon and any stamp for a totally cute and super quick card! Sample below features Fresh Flowers.

Holiday Stamp Set Release - at 8am PST today TE will release our 3 new holiday stamp sets along with our Christmas Key Ingredients and MORE! You can get all the details on Taylor's blog and in our Newsletter. If you're not subscribed yet to receive our newsletter, you can sign up over in the sidebar to the right.

Stamping, shopping, stamping! We hope you enjoy World Card Making Day!

Our Friday Friend Jen

2009-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday. We are excited to introduce you to Our Friday Friend Jen Tapler. We saw this yummy Chill-ax card in her SCS Gallery and just had to ask her to create something special for you here at the SASI Blog. She used Taylor's sketch today, TESC84, and gave it a little flip to feature the current TE charity set, The Places You'll Go. You can click on the card to see it larger and you get all the details on Jen's blog today - JenTapler Designs. But first let's learn a little about Jen.

--What city/state do you live in?
I live in Kahului - the heart of the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii with my husband Joel and my 2 1/2 year-old son, Dean.

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?
I've been scrapbooking since before it was cool!! Then about 2 years ago I was at a local Holiday Craft Fair and saw some really cute hand-stamped cards and other little gifty items. I thought "hey, I could do that", went home and did some research online and in January 2008 I stamped my first image and created my first card!! I've been hooked ever since!

--How would you describe your style? What are you favorite projects to create?
I'm definitely a clean and simple kinda girl and I do love me some Kraft!! I love seeing how other stampers experiment with new techniques and glitzy products, but I find I get overwhelmed with all of that. I do my best work when I just stick with the basics. I'm still an avid scrapbooker, although now I mostly digi-scrap, but I love fusing these 2 hobbies and creating fun keepsake hybrid gifts and altered projects in addition to cards.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?
Gosh, that's a tough one. I think my favorite SET has to be the new The Places You'll Go set. My father is in the late stages of Alzheimer's Disease and some of my fondest early childhood memories are of our nightly ritual of picking out a Dr. Seuss book and curling up together in bed and him reading me to sleep. My Mom saved my entire collection of Dr. Seuss books (from the late 70s!!) and I now read those same exact books to my son each night before bed. So yeah, those images and sentiments are pretty special to me!

--What is your favorite sweet treat?
Skittles. (original red bag). And a fountain Dr. Pepper

Thank you Jen for being Our Friday Friend!!!

If you'd like to be considered for a feature spot here as Our Friday Friend simply upload your Taylored Expressions creations to the gallery at SCS using Keyword tayloredexpressions (all one word with no space.) We're always looking for our next Friday Friend.

Have a sweet weekend!

-Jami

Witchy Wiper Card

2009-09-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I wanted to try making one of these wiper cards that I saw on Renee Van Stralen's blog. Beate put together a great tutorial on SCS on how to make these. Here's the link if you want to check it out.

I used two stamp sets for my card, Spooky Expressions and Punchy Potions. The green sparkly ribbon is from the Halloween Key Ingredients, and the black scallop oval is up on 1/16" foam tape. I added Eucalyptus Stickles to the witches brew. All images and the sentiment were stamped in black craft ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

Here's a close-up:

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: TE Spooky Expressions, TE Punchy Potions
Paper: Prism Intense Amethyst, White, Black
Ink: Black Craft
Accessories: Prisma Pencils, Gamsol, Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Taylor's Glimmer Ribbon, Black Polka Dot Ribbon (a gift from Jami Bova), Clear Embossing Powder, Martha Stewart Spider Web Punch, Scor Pal
Technique: Wiper Card, Heat Embossing, Gamsol Magic

Don't forget to add yourself on the newsletter distribution if you haven't already done so. The sign-up is over there in the sidebar right here on the SASI blog, or from the Taylored Expressions web site.

Have an awesome day!
Denise

Halloween Teacher Gift

2009-09-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there! When Halloween rolls around each year it seems I am always struggling to make something last minute for the teachers! Well, not this year! I'm starting with the teachers first! My daughters are at the age where they don't want me to make something for everyone in their classes, just their close friends and teachers! Whew.....

This year they wanted me to make Hershey Pull Treats! Easy peasy and since I don't have to make too many, Mom is happy, too! For the teachers I am also including a card! My daughter, Lauren, loves the new Witch stamps from Taylored Expressions, so that is what I used here!

Here is a close up of the card! I stamped the witch shoes (LOVE!) from Spooky Expressions in Memento Tuxedo Black on Choice Snow White, colored it in with Copic Markers, and cut out with Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities. The web stamp is also from Spooky Expressions and was stamped in Versamark on Wizard Medium. The patterned paper is Basic Grey Eerie. All of the cardstock and patterned paper comes from the Halloween Key Ingredients Kit. The black adhesive gems and ribbon are from my stash.

For the pull treat, I used the witch legs from Punchy Potions. It was stamped on Choice Snow White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with Copic markers. I love that these stamps were made to fit in the Classic Large Oval Nestabilities! I used the same cardstock and patterned paper as on the card above! You can find directions for these easy and cute pull treats here! I'll be making a few more of these this Halloween season!

Did you know that Taylored Expressions has a monthly newsletter? It's how I kept up on everything TE before I became a part of the Baker's Dozen Design Team!! It's so easy to sign up! Just head on over to the Taylored Expressions Website and enter your email address under the "join our mailing list" icon and that's it!! You will be informed of any new releases and all of the new "fresh from the oven" products in the store!!

Witches Brew Treat

2009-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

For my project today, using the new Punchy Potions stamp set, I made a Broom Treat by Martha Stewart. It was incredibly easy & fun to make and I had all the supplies on-hand. You will need 2 lunch sacks, some twigs from the yard (lol) and some candy to fill the bag!

First, in the bag I wanted to fill with candy, you cut strips 1" from the top of the bag with scissors. Then on the other 'outer' bag, you cut all the way down to the base (more tricky). Then, you put the treat filled bag on top of the strip cut bag and bring up the sides and secure with twigs inside and tie your ribbon. Click on Martha Stewart link for more photo instructions. Then you decorate your bag with whatever you'd like.

Here is a close up of the treat tag. I combined Punchy Potions Witches Brew with the Trick or Sweet witch, cute huh? I paper-pieced my witch with the Halloween Key Ingredients and colored with prismacolor pencils and copic & atyou spica markers for glittery shine. Easy & fun! If you venture to make some of these, please leave a link so we can see your creation! I bet these would be real cute made with the smaller lunch bags too.

Don't forget, if you are not signed up for the TE Newsletter, be sure you go to the website and fill in your email address so you don't miss out on any TE goodness updates! It's on the left hand column (join our mailing list - you don't have to worry about getting weekly or daily emails, it's usually just once a month).

Also - we have a new TE Gallery so you can check out all the work in one place by the design team!

Birthday Bash Challenge Winners!

2009-09-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Cuppie's 1st birthday at our Birthday Bash last weekend! We enjoyed looking at the many submissions to our challenges! Each of the Baker's Dozen challenge hostesses selected their favorite creation from among all the submissions. Here are those winners:

Karen Motz Sketch Challenge Winner - Julie Smith

Denise Marzec Inspiration Challenge Winner - Lynn Miller

Donna Baker Paper Piecing Challenge Winner - Alex Maldonado

Charmaine Ikach Color Challenge Winner - Jessica Diedrich

Taylor VanBruggen Inspiration Challenge Winner - Ann Kranitz

Laurie Schmidlin Distressed Challenge Winner - Ryann Salamon

Jackie Pedro Stitching Challenge - Kelly

Jodi Collins Color Challenge - Nina B

Laura Fredrickson Sketch Challenge - Dana White

Dawn Easton Paper Tole Challenge - Monika Davis

Karen Giron Sketch Challenge - Heather Lee-Reppen

Sankari Wegman Button Challenge - Sunghee Chon

Sharon Harnist Inspiration Challenge - Gwen Snater

And the GRAND PRIZE winner of a custom watercolor Cuppie painting and $50 gift certificate to the TE Store selected at random from among everyone who participated in all 13 of our birthday bash challenges is.........

GWEN SNATER!

The Baker's Dozen will be mailing out their challenge sample and your gift certificate so we will need your snail mail address. You can email it to me at tayloredexpressions@gmail.com and we'll get your prize winnings in the mail soon! Thanks again to all who participated!

Trick or Sweet by Sharon Harnist

2009-09-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

I love that all the elements in Taylored Expressions’ Key Ingredient Kits coordinate so well together. This makes fast scrapbooking super easy! Everything you see on this Halloween scrapbook page (except for the button) is included in the current Halloween Key Ingredients Kit.

I combined the kit with the new Trick or Sweet II stamp set (also available as a Trick or Sweet II Bundle which includes the Halloween Key Ingredients Kit AND the Trick or Sweet II stamp set) – I thought this sweet girly little ballerina/princess with her wand would accent my girls dressed up in their Halloween costumes well. Printing the photo in black & white also makes scrapbooking fast/easy – no worries about conflicting colors. While my daughter on the left was dressed in the perfect purple compliment to these papers, my other daughter’s costume was bright red!

I stamped sweet Cuppie with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto TE Choice Snow White cardstock (also included in the Halloween Key Ingredient Kit) and colored her with Copic markers YG23, YG17, BV11, YR12 & C5 to match the colors in the Basic Grey Eerie patterned paper (also included in the KI Kit). Her “cherry” & wand are accented with Star Dust Stickles.

I die cut Cuppie with Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities and layered her onto green Prism cardstock from the KI Kit, die cut with Pinking Circle Nestabilities. She’s popped up on foam tape.

The purple mat behind the photo is also from the KI Kit and cut with SU’s Top Note die. A custom date from my label maker complete this quick 6-inch scrapbook page.

Thanks for stopping by today! ~ Sharon

Potion Bottle Gift Box & Tutorial

2009-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there! It's Laurie here, & I'm back to share with you a project complete with tutorial! I created a potion box holder for this past release (you can see the photo below) and I've received several requests for the template. Well, instead of a template I thought I would share with you a mini-tutorial! :-)

This was the gift set that I shared last Saturday for the release. I used the goodies included in the Punchy Potion Bundle.

I'm going to share directions on how to make the potion bottle box.

You'll need a piece of card stock measuring 5" x 11", two pieces of patterned paper measuring 3 1/4" x 3", two pieces of patterned paper measuring 1 1/2" x 3", a piece of c.s. cut out with a shaped die, a piece of patterned paper cut out using that same die (or a smaller version of the die), a decorative brad, & some 1/4" Sticky Tape. *Note: I used a Sizzix die for this box and just trimmed the patterned paper piece a bit smaller than the black one, but any of the Nestabilities Label dies would work wonderfully (with no need for trimming :-)!

With your card stock placed horizontally (as pictured above), score at 1 3/4", 5 1/4", 7", & 10 1/2". Turn card stock 90 degrees and score at 1 3/4". I made my score lines white only so they would show up in the photo. :-)

Using a bone folder (or something similar) crease each score line well. Then, holding your card stock horizontally (as pictured above) make vertical cuts along each score line on the bottom section (see photo above). The 1/2" little flap on the right side is not needed and I just cut mine off. Next, apply sticky tape to the 1/2" flap on the right side and one of the bottom flaps as pictured above.

After assembling your box, add the patterned paper pieces, die cuts to the top, and decorative brad. I used items from the Halloween Key Ingredients kit (Basic Grey Eerie patterned paper and Halloween brad)!

For added "spookiness", I ink distressed all of my patterned paper pieces using some dark gray ink.

Don't forget to check out all of the FANTASTIC Birthday Bash Challenges still going on (scroll down to see them all)!! Each of the Baker's Dozen DT girls have hostessed a challenge and there are FAB*U*LOUS prizes being give away!!

Thanks for stopping by today! ~Laurie

TEBB Challenge #13 Hosted by Jackie

2009-09-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's Jackie here with your FINAL challenge for today! Haven't all of the challenges been fantastic today? I hope you'll try to play in some of them because there are some FABULOUS prizes up for grabs!

Challenge: I LOVE to add stitching to my projects! I love how it finishes off a card with just that little something extra. My challenge to you is to add some stitching to your card or project! Don't own a sewing machine? That's okay....faux stitching is fine, too! Just add stitching!!

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBJP. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the cards I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

I combined my challenge with Karen Giron's sketch challenge, TEBBKG! I also used the Beary Special set from Taylor's Whimsical Wishes Line. I am in love with this Teddy in the backpack!! Can you see all of my stitching? I was dying to add some brads or ribbon, but I really wanted to showcase all of the stitching!! Hope you like it!

TEBB Challenge #12 Hosted by Sankari

2009-09-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Sankari here to bring you another challenge!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Today has been a nonstop birthday bash PAR-TAAY! One of my favorite things to do for birthdays is to decorate - I love making crowns for the bday girl/boy, balloons, streamers, treatbags - the works! So how about a little decoration with embellishment challenge - specifically buttons!

CHALLENGE: Get out your buttons!!! Decorate your creation with buttons as the main embellishment - they can be BIG, small, colorful, different shapes, sizes, etc. - whatever you would like! The main thing is to have buttons (more than one) as the main embellishment - let's see the most creative button usage you've got!!! woo-hoo!!

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBSW. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the button box that I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

MY BUTTON PROJECT:

I love all the yummy buttons in the Taylored Expressions store - especially the Clear Buttons - because you can make SO many fun buttons by combining them with different Designer Papers!!!

Here is what I made using the Clear Buttons, with the August Key Ingredients (which I think is one of my FAVE Key Ingredients and the Perfect Package Card Box (specifically designed to hold A2 cards! :

Here is a closer peek:

Card Details:

All of the papers, ribbon, bling, rub ons and cardstock are from the August Key Ingredients. The rest of the project is made up using the Clear Buttons from TE, Perfect Package card box from TE, spellbinders, and adhesive!

Can't wait to see how you ROCK the BUTTONS!!!!

Have Fun!!!!

Sankari :)

And stay tuned for Jackie who is going to be next with the last challenge!

TEBB Challenge # 11 Hosted by Laurie Schmidlin

2009-09-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

Good Evening! Are you enjoying all of the Birthday Bash challenges so far? If you are just now joining us, make sure to scroll down and check out all of the challenges, as there are some AMAZING prizes being given away! :-)

The challenge I have for you is a technique challenge. I would not normally classify myself as a "technique stamper" so to speak, but the one I am sharing with you today is one that I use on a constant basis!

CHALLENGE: Create a card or project using some form of Paper Distressing! Don't know what paper distressing is? Well, I have detailed instructions (with photos) below, so keep on reading! :-)

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both) and come back here and leave a direct link to your creation in the comments section on this post. If you upload to an online gallery please use the keyword TEBBLS.

PRIZE: Oh YEAH, there's prizes!!! Woohooo!! Upload your creation (with the link entered here on this post) before Midnight PST on September 9th. I will choose my favorite creation and the lucky winner will receive the card I created for this challenge along with a $10 gift certificate to the Taylored Expressions store!!!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

Below is the card I created for my "paper distressing" challenge!

I just adore the paper distressed look...it has such a warm and cozy feel! So...what is paper distressing? Well here is the dictionary definition of distress (well, the part that would apply to how it is used here): to dent, scratch, or stain (furniture, lumber, or the like) so as to give an appearance of age. So, what does this mean for paper crafters? That is where your creativity comes into play!!

One of the more popular forms of achieving the distressed look is ink distressing. Ink distressing is simply applying ink to your project to give it an aged appearance. I like to use sponges (such as the ones pictured above) but you can also apply it directly to your project from the ink pad.

To give you a visual picture of the warmth that ink distressing adds I've taken a picture of a few of the elements that I used on my card before I ink distressed them.

Here is the "after" photo"! I used a combination of Antique Linen Distress ink and Vintage Photo Distress ink.

Ink distressing in not just for cards!! I often like to add warmth to my ribbons, flowers, or other embellishments. I use the same technique as I do for paper...a good sponge and some ink! :-) I love that it gives it a "tea dyed" appearance...but without all of the work! :-)

Another way I like to distress my cards is to rough them up - make them look worn! There are so many ways to achieve this, but some of my favorites are: using sandpaper on patterned paper (wear down some of the patter), tear up the edges a bit, rub the edges with the edge of a bone folder, or use a paper distressing tool to shave off part of the edges.

Really, when it comes to paper distressing there is no wrong way! I hope that I've given you a few ideas and that you will play along! I can't wait to see your creations!! :-) ~Laurie

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories

Paper: Choice Buttercream c.s., Prism Tawny c.s., K & Co. Patterned Paper

Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, Anna Griffin Brown Pigment ink, Antique Linen Distress Ink, Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Accessories: Copic markers (for shading on bear), Heart Nestabilities, Lace Trim ribbon, Vanilla Taffeta ribbon, Rhinestones, Charm, Prima Flower, Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug Script embossing folder

TEBB Challenge #10 Hosted by Karen G

2009-09-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Karen Giron here. Can you believe it's already time for the 10th challenge of the day? I'm so excited to bring you our next challenge, and I do hope you'll join me! Time to get those creative juices flowing once more with a sketch!

What do you need to do to participate?

CHALLENGE: Make a card or scrapbook page with this sketch and let your creativity flow!

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBKG. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store! Woohoo!!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

For my card, I stamped the little Cuppie and cake image in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored it with Copic Markers. I used my square Nestabilities to cut out the image and scallops and then added some fun ribbon to dress up the card just a bit. It is a very simple, yet fun card!

Have fun with this layout - I can't wait to see your creations this week!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: sweet celebration
ink: memento rich cocoa
paper: tempting turquoise, pretty in pink, choice bright white cardstock; east coast prep patterned paper (stampin' up!)
accessories: square & square scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), regal rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon (stampin' up!), stampin' dimensionals (stampin' up!)

TEBB Challenge #9 Hosted by Sharon Harnist

2009-09-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon -- we're excited you've been here today helping us celebrate Cuppie's 1st birthday!

I have an inspiration challenge for you this hour -- just about the polar opposite from Taylor's bold, bright and graphic one ... mine is shabby/chic & distressed!

This is one of my favorite styles , so I hope you'll join me and give it a try! Think soft, muted colors accented with brown for an aging effect, distressed & shabby!

CHALLENGE: Get inspired by the photo -- Pull out a color combination, single image or element, theme, or maybe even a layout and use it to create anything your heart desires! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBSH. Then come back to this challenge thread and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge, along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson -- WOW!

Here's the card I created for my inspiration challenge, using For The Love of Cupcakes set. I drew my color choice from the inspiration photo, as well as using a grouping of three cupcakes on a hanging plaque. It's 5.50" square.

Thanks so much for play along -- I can't wait to see how YOU are inspired! Don't forget to check back for four more challenges today!

Happy Stamping! ~ Sharon

Stamps: For The Love of Cupcakes.

Paper: TE Choice Buttercream, October Afternoon, Teal patterned paper from TE The Paces You'll Go Key Ingredients Kit.
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Antique Linen Distress, Copic Markers: BG11, BG72, R83, R85, E33, E57, W2.
Accessories: Spellbinders Fancy Tags & Mega Rectangles-Sm dies, Star Dust Stickles, Petal Pink Liquid Pearls, transparent glitter, foam tape, aqua satin ribbon, corner rounder

TEBB Challenge #8 Hosted by Jodi

2009-09-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Happy Saturday and Happy Birthday to Taylored Expressions and Cuppie!!!

My challenge today is one of my favorite kinds of challenges...a COLOR challenge! I LOVE this combo and I hope you all do as well! The colors are listed in both Prism Cardstock and the comparable SU! Cardstock colors!!

Prism Colors:
Intense Teal, Rose Medium & Sunflowers Medium (You can get these colors right HERE in one FABULOSO bundle!!)

SU! Colors:
Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo & Crushed Curry

So what do YOU need to do to participate?

CHALLENGE: Create a card using this color combination! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBJC. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the cards I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

I have two samples to share with you using this color combo! I made both of my cards holiday cards...I just love to use non-traditional colors on holiday cards!!

For my first card, I stamped this SUPER sweet tree decorating cuppie from Seasons Sweetings in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream Cardstock and colored him with Copic Markers.

The patterned paper is a mix of Sweater Weather and Smitten Mitten, both from the new Jolly By Golly collection from Cosmo Cricket.

I framed Cuppie in Rectangle Nestabilities and added piercing ALL over the card!! The ribbon is white satin ribbon that I colored with a Copic Marker and also some yummy Raspberry Twill Ribbon!!

I finished this one off with some Vanilla Brads!! Easy Peasy!

For my second card, I used this uber adorable cuppie from Home Sweet Home, and once again I stamped him in Memento Tu xedo Black onto Choice Buttercream Cardstock and colored him with Copic Markers.

For this card, I used another Jolly By Golly pattern, Play Day. I framed Cuppies in Circle and Scallop Circle Nestabilities and added TONS of piercing again!!

I finished this card off with three sugar coated brads by Doodlebug.

I cannot WAIT to see what you all do with this color combo!!! Again, make sure you use the Keyword, TEBBJC when you upload!!

Have fun and good luck!!!

Jodi

TEBB Challenge #7 Hosted by Dawn

2009-09-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are enjoying all of the challenges!?! We are only at the half way mark and you still have plenty of time to catch up or join in on the fun! You won't want to miss out :) Remember you have 5 days to complete the challenges and upload your creations to be eligible to win some FANTASTIC prizes!

I'm so excited to be hosting a challenge for you today. Since this is a challenge I've decided to challenge myself too! I've never been a fan of scissors as I'm sort of accident prone...lol BUT like I said it's a challenge right?

So how about a little paper tole? Not sure what that is? It's when you stamp your image at least three times, cut it out, pop it up with dimensionals. Here I have stamped the bear from Beary Specia l but only the bear paws are popped three times. The bear and present(from the Beary Special Accessories) has been popped twice.
Here is a close up of the layers.
Ready to play along?

CHALLENGE: Get out your scissors and layer up some fabulous stamped images! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBDE. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the cards I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

TEBB Challenge #6 Hosted by Laura

2009-09-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Are you keeping up with all the challenges? Don't worry, you have plenty of time so have fun! It's Laura here, and I have a sketch challenge for you! I don't often make up sketches, but I sure do love to work with them, and I hope you do too!

Here's my sketch. And here's my take on it!

So here's what do you need to do:

CHALLENGE: Create a card using the sketch! So simple! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBLF. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

That's it...so simple! Have fun creating and make sure you come back and share it with us all!

TEBB Challenge #5 Hosted by Denise

2009-09-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Welcome to the Birthday Bash and my Inspiration Challenge!!

CHALLENGE: Get inspired by the photo. Pull out a color combination, image, or theme. Create anything your heart desires! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBDM. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation!

In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of the Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

Okay, so here's the inspiration photo...

I think there are so many great elements in this photo to work from and I hope you like it too....the polka dots in the costume, the Halloween theme with the grouping of pumpkins and the ghost, the colors, the outdoor feel, and hey...there's a cupcake in it!

Here's the card I came up with from the photo:

I went with the polka dot and pumpkin theme for my card. The grouping of pumpkins in the photo totally reminded me of this pumpkin cuppie stamp from Year of Sweets III ...I love pumpkin stamps! Don't know what it is about them, but I love them! The punched sentiment and orange deckled rectangle behind the main image are both up on Taylor's foam tape. The square button and Intense Orange card base are from the newest Bundle & Key Ingredients that were just released in the TE Store today! The layout is Jen del Muro's sketch from Aug, 29th.

Here's the inside of the card too, in case you'd like to see:

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: TE Year of Sweets III
Paper: Prism Intense Orange, PTI Dark Chocolate, SU Sweet Always DP, White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, White Craft
Copics: G40, G21, 0, E41, E42, E43, R00, R11, RV21, YR15, YR04
Accessories: Deckled Rectangles, Circle Nestabilities, SU Word Window Punch, Square Button, Brown String, Brown Gingham Ribbon, PTI Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Foam Tape, Leafy Cuttlebug Folder
Card Size: 5" Square

I can't wait to see your cards, and good luck in the drawings!!
Denise

TEBB Challenge #4 - Hosted by Charmaine

2009-09-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Are you having fun with the challenges yet? I hope so! I'm bringing you challenge #4 in the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash (TEBB). . .a color challenge! It's no surprise that I LOVE bright, happy, fun colors that make me smile!

The colors for my color challenge are (in Prism colors) Intense Kiwi, Nautical Blue Light, Sunflowers Medium. You can find this color pick HERE in the store! Of course, if you don't have Prism papers, use like colors in the brand that you do have!

So how do you participate?

CHALLENGE: Use Intense Kiwi, Nautical Blue Light and Sunflowers Medium (or like colors) on your creation. You can find the Prism Color Pick HERE.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBCI. Come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!”

I can't wait to see what you create! For my card, I used the Season's Sweetings and Home Sweet Home sets from Taylored Expressions. I'm not a big fan of winter and the cold weather that comes along with it, but I just LOVE sunny days in the winter and how the sun sparkles off of the snow! These colors remind me of that and would bring warmth and cheer to anyone during those cold months, or it would just be a perfect Christmas card for someone on your list who lives in a warm, sunny place!

Enjoy the Birthday Bash and I look forward to seeing your creations!

TEBB Challenge #3 Hosted by Donna

2009-09-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning Taylored Expressions/Cuppie Fans!! We’re so excited you’re joining us for the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash! We’ve got so many fun challenges planned for you today and lots of SWEET prizes to celebrate Cuppie’s 1st Birthday!

A new challenge will be posted each hour by our fabulous Baker’s Dozen design team! We’ll have a variety of challenges including sketch, technique, color, and inspiration. You’ll have 5 days to complete these challenges and be eligible for the prizes. It's also o.k. to combine a few of the challenges so you don't have to make 13 cards (unless you really want to!) *wink*

My challenge is the first TECHNIQUE challenge of the day; I am a HUGE fan of the of paper-piecing your line art images, it gives you a FUN, easy option in lieu of coloring. All you do is pick out your patterned papers to coordinate with the rest of your supplies for your card or project. Then, you will stamp your image on your card layer directly, then stamp your image directly on the patterned paper and cut out on the line or just inside the line for a perfect fit, because then you glue your pattern piece onto your stamped layer.

So what do you need to do to participate?

CHALLENGE: Pick out your stamp set and pattern papers and follow the directions above if you've never tried this technique before. You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges, but if you got 'em, you may as well use 'em!

Here is the card I made for this challenge - I brought out one of my favorite Cuppies from last year's Trick or Sweet set illustrated by Jessie Oleson, dracula and he is standing in front of his spooky house from Frightful Night, also a release from a year ago. What I love about these sets is they never get old - they were JUST as FUN to use this week as they were LAST YEAR! That speaks VOLUMES to me as a consumer!

FUN PAPER-PIECING TIP: Since I planned on using the technique so it became a purple spider-web house compliments of the Basic Grey Eerie designer paper in the Halloween Key Ingredients! I did not have to mask the house after I stamped it so I could sponge in the spooky night sky, isn't that great? What I did do, though was make a few extra stars & a moon by using a watermark pen on the paper and embossed with clear embossing powder, the ink would 'resist' those areas and stay white.

Now you see how the house fit in perfectly on the background and it looks great, huh? I also want to point out to you the attic window on the house. You will notice it is not cut out and colored in with light in the windows like the others. That is because no one was hanging out in the attic that night. That's a place strictly for storage of non-Halloween decorations, like Christmas decorations. (that's my truthful explanation for having not realized I forgot to cut out the window until AFTER I had already made & photographed my card-HA!) Now you know I'm not perfect, nor do I ever claim to be. This card was a lot of work and I put my heart into it and did not have time to make another one. I hope you still like it & would be proud to own it if you win!

ANOTHER PAPER-PIECING TIP: In order to make dracula's cape look like it was really OVER his cupcake liner, I paper-pieced both with the purple designer paper. Then, I paper-pieced the cape with the polka dot paper so it was on top. It creates a more fluid and realistic effect.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBDB. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolor Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 13 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize! Just include your name and “I completed all 13 challenges!” HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

HAVE FUN & GOOD LUCK!

TEBB Challenge #2 Hosted by Karen M.

2009-09-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Challenge #2 for the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash! There are lots of fun challenges and fabulous prizes to celebrate Cuppie's 1st Birthday! We hope you'll play along in as many challenges as you can. Did you already start working on Taylor's challenge? Isn't her inspiration piece just yummy!

A new challenge will be posted each hour by our fabulous Baker's Dozen design team. We'll have a variety of challenges including sketch, technique, colour and inspiration. You'll have 5 days to complete these challenges and be eligible for the prizes.

My challenge is the first sketch challenge of the day and I've kept it clean and simple.

So what do you need to do to participate?

CHALLENGE: Create a card, scrapbook page or 3D item using the sketch. You're not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you're uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBKM. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favourite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

GRAND PRIZE: One random person who participates in ALL 13 of our Birthday Bash challenges will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to the TE Store in addition to an 8x10 custom watercolour Cuppie painting by our very own Jessie Oleson! Click here to check out all of Jessie's adorable artwork at her Etsy Shop. Once you complete and link all 12 challenges, send an email to tayloredexpressions@gmail.com to be eligible for our grand prize. Just include your name and "I completed all 13 challenges".

Here's the sample I created using Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates.

I stuck with the simple layout but added plenty of detail and texture. The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream. The tire is paper pieced, the branch is covered with Espresso Dimensional Pearls, the leaves are popped for dimension and I added a swipe of Green Apple Smooch to each one after colouring them with copics. I pleated some paper and stitched the pleats down so they'd lie flat then added some ribbon. Lastly I added some Multicolour Twinkles for a little sparkle.

Thanks so much for playing along! I can't wait to see what you bake up with the sketch! Don't forget to check back every hour for a day full of the fun challenges!

Happy stamping!

Karen

Stamps: Branching Out, Branching Out Coordinates

Paper: Choice Buttercream, Prism Blush Red Medium, Prism Frosted Yellow, Prism Suede Brown Dark, My Mind's Eye PP

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: copics, circle Nestabilities, Espresso Dimensional Pearls, Green Apple Smooch, Multicolour Twinkles, foam tape, ribbon, sewing, scallop border punch.

TEBB Challenge #1 Hosted by Taylor

2009-09-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning! We’re so excited you’re joining us for the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash! We’ve got tons of fun challenges and tons of great prizes to celebrate Cuppie’s 1st Birthday!

I’m starting the day off with our first challenge, an inspiration challenge. I picked this piece because it’s bright, fun, and it puts a smile on my face! Oh… and it’s packed with inspiration!
So what do you need to do to participate?

CHALLENGE: Get inspired by the photo! Pull out a color combination, image, theme, or maybe even a layout and use it to create anything your heart desires! You’re not required to use Taylored Expressions images for our challenges.

KEYWORD: Upload your creation to your blog or online gallery (or both). If you’re uploading to online galleries, use the keyword TEBBTV. Then come back to this challenge and leave a comment with a direct link to your creation! In order to be eligible for the prizes, you must leave a comment with a link to your card by midnight PST Wednesday, September 9th.

PRIZE: I will choose my favorite creation from among all the participants and mail you the card I created for this challenge along with a $10.00 gift certificate to the TE Store!

Here's the card I created for my inspiration challenge! It's also doubling as my TE Sketch Challenge card this week. The inspiration photo put me in the mood for a birthday party so I grabbed my Sweet Celebration stamp set (currently available at the TE Store for 40% off!) and I also drew my color inspiration from the above photo. I enjoyed working with this color combination so much that I wanted to give all of you the opportunity to try it as well. You can purchase two sheets of each of these colors as part of our new TE Color Pick Cardstock!

The next challenge will be posted one hour from now so what are you waiting for.... it's time to get stamping! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Make It Yourself Gift

2009-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Did you ever need a gift for someone who's crafty and likes to create things themselves? When I'm thinking about gifts for someone who makes cards themselves or likes to do crafts, I feel like a pre-made card set is boring. I'm sure they'd appreciate it anyway, but I like to change things up a bit.

The project I have to share with you today has all the pieces for the recipient to put together their own card set! I've started off with one of the Perfect Package Card Boxes from Taylored Expressions. These make the packaging so easy! All I did was add some patterned paper to the top and sides of the box and wrap it with a BIG bow!

The inside of the box contains all of the pieces for someone to put together their own cards. There are:

-six 4.25" square card bases

- six 4 1/8"x 2 1/8" pieces of cardstock and patterned paper for a layer

- six image/sentiment pieces

- six scallop circles to matte the image/sentiment pieces

- foam dimensional adhesive

-Tombow adhesive

-six envelopes.

Here's what a finished card looks like. Of course, the recipient can make it "their" way and even add things (like ribbon or other embellishments) that weren't included in the package. If not, the cards are simple and cute as is.

The envelopes didn't fit in the bottom of the box because of the little "divider" I created, so I made a little pocket on the lid to hold them!

For the divider, I took an 8"x 4 1/2" piece of white cardstock and scored the 8" side at 4 1/2", 5 5/8" and 6 7/8". "Mountain and valley" the folds and add some adhesive to the inside of the "mountain" to make the divider and insert into the box.

For the envelope pocket I took a 10 3/4" x 3" piece of cardstock and scored the 10 3/4" side at 2" and 2 1/2" from each end, then score one end of the 3" side at 1/2". Fold on all score lines, cut tabs and remove end squares from 1/2" section and adhere pocket to lid.

Insert all of the pieces into the box and affix ribbon and tag and you've got a gift that anyone would love! I hope you've enjoyed my project today! Thanks for stopping to see it! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Berries & Cherries (Taylored Expressions); Ink- Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Paper- Berries & Cherries Key Ingredients (Taylored Expressions); Accessories- Copic markers, Perfect Package Card Box (Taylored Expressions), circle and scallop circle punches (Marvy Uchida), Ticket Corner punch (SU)

You're Invited to a Birthday Party!

2009-08-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yep - it's been almost a whole year since TE debuted the first 3 stamp sets. On Saturday, September 5th Taylored Expressions will be celebrating Cuppie's 1st Birthday with the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash and it wouldn't be a party without you! We have an exciting day planned, so I hope you can join us!

At 8 AM PST we'll release four new stamp sets along with two new Key Ingredients Kits. Minutes after that, we'll begin a day of TEBB Challenges to be posted every hour throughout the day, hosted by our Baker's Dozen Design Team.

***Prizes, prizes and more prizes - one lucky winner will be selected for each challenge to receive a $10 Gift Certificate from Taylored Expressions as well as the sample created by your Challenge Hostess.
***Grand Prize - as if that weren't enough - anyone ambitious and creative enough to play in ALL 13 Challenges will be entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize of a $25 TE Gift Certificate along with...are you ready for this?...seriously I hope you are sitting down...along with a custom painting by our favorite Cuppie artist Jessie Olsen!!! WOW!
***Time limit - we want to give you plenty of time to play. What a great way to spend a 3 day holiday weekend huh? All entries will be due by Wednesday September 9th at midnight PST. Winners will be announced on Friday, September 11th.
***You may combine challenges any way you like and you will NOT be required to use Taylored Expressions stamps in your creations.

We just can't wait to get started with the prizes, so we have an opportunity for you to enter a drawing this week by helping us to invite more party guests. Simply post our Birthday Bash Blinkie on your blog (either in the sidebar or in a post) anytime this week inviting your readers to the SASI blog to play in the Bash. Once you've posted our blinkie, come back here and leave a comment on this post with a link back to your blog. Your comment here will enter you into a drawing for ONE of our four new release stamp sets - your choice! The winner will be announced right here on Saturday morning shortly after the release at 8:00 AM.

So what are you waiting for? Right click and copy and you should be good to go!

Create avatar

And don't forget - New Release Sneak Peeks start on Thursday! WooHoo! It's a big week here at Taylored Expressions and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride!!!

-Jami

Our Friday Friend Lisa

2009-08-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Here at Taylored Expressions we're gearing up for the next big release in just over a week, with sneak peeks beginning next Thursday. Saturday, September 5th is Release Day and you'll want to tune in right here to the SASI Blog where we have a huge party planned to celebrate the 1st Birthday of Cuppie and TE Stamps. We'll have lots of fun challenges and prizes galore, so mark your calendars and plan to play!

Today we want to introduce you to Our Friday Friend Lisa Hjulberg (known on SCS as TheCraft’sMeow). Lisa's yummy cherry card jumped out of the gallery at us and we're excited to have her play along in Taylor's Sketch Challenge this week. We asked Lisa a few questions to get to know her better. Lisa's card today features Beary Special (partial proceeds from this set will be donated to the Sick Kids Foundation if purchased by August 31st) and you can read more about this card on Lisa's blog The Craft's Meow. If you'd like to play along with today's sketch challenge you can get all the details on Taylor's blog.

--What city/state do you live in?

Riverside, California (our city’s claim to fame is that we are an hour from the beach, the mountains and the desert; Riverside is about 60 miles east of Los Angeles and 60 miles west of Palm Springs)

--How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?

I first became addicted to scrapbooking when a friend asked me to host a Creative Memories workshop about 10 years ago. I was immediately smitten. Not long afterwards, my nail lady had a Stampin’ Up catalog at her station one day when I was getting my nails done. The moment I started flipping through that book, I was hooked without ever having inked up a stamp! I became a Stampin Up Demonstrator 6 years ago, mainly as a hobbiest. My passion for stamping has grown stronger every year. I still scrapbook, but I spend most of my crafting time stamping.

--How would you describe your style? What are your favorite projects to create?

I’m not sure how to describe my style. I gravitate mainly towards whimsical outline images that I can color, and I tend to use lots of color. I love colors, especially deep or vibrant colors, and a clean look. My favorite stamped projects are cards.

--Do you have a favorite TE image?

That’s a hard one because I truly love them all! But if I had to narrow it down, I’d have to say the Whimsical Wishes line has got me hooked, especially Berries & Cherries and Branching Out (and Coordinates). I have nearly all of the sets in this stamp line. I’m also totally hooked on the Key Ingredients Kits. They make it so easy to create a beautiful card in no time, and the value is awesome!

--What is your favorite sweet treat?

My favorite sweet treat is ice cream… usually a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate. Yum

Thank you Lisa for being Our Friday Friend!

What about you? Would you like to be featured here as Our Friday Friend? To be considered simply upload your TE creations to your gallery at SplitCoastStampers using the keyword tayloredexpressions (no spaces). We check the gallery often and we're looking for you! For more sweet inspiration click here to go to the Taylored Expressions Gallery on SCS.

Have a sweet weekend!

-Jami

Celebrating...with Root Beer Floats!

2009-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!! It's Laurie here, and I've got a fun party/gift idea to share with you! Every year before school starts up again, we have a family "Back to School" party! It started as something to divert the kids from being upset about summer ending to having something to look forward to. It now has become a tradition for us and our whole family looks forward to it!

Each family member is responsible for one part of the party (drinks, food, decorations, games, etc.) and we usually choose something that our family has enjoyed throughout the summer. One thing in particular that our kids have loved this summer is root beer floats! So, when it came time to choose what I would be bringing it was a no-brainer...root beer floats! Woohooo!

Then, when I saw the overflowing mug from Taylor's new Chillax set I was beyond excited!! I got right to work altering this six pack root beer set!

(Click on the picture for a larger view)

I measured the front of the root beer carrying case and cut some Choice Buttercream c.s. and patterned paper accordingly. I added a chipboard frame (that is painted with Ivory acrylic paint), some coordinating papers, ribbon, a button, and a tag (the Celebrate stamp is from the A Year of Sweet Sentiments set).

I then created matching tags for all six bottles. I made the tag by stamping the mug image onto Choice Buttercream c.s. and coloring in with Copic markers. I used my Circle Nestabilities to cut out the circles and then added some ribbon and string on top. One last thing...they were just begging for some sparkle...so I added some Stickles to the top of the image and one red rhinestone for a little pop of color.

Taylor is always adding fun new stuff to her store and subscribing to the Taylored Expressions Newsletter is a great way to stay up to date on all of those new additions! Just add your email address under the "mailing list" section on the home page of the Taylored Expressions store!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! ~Laurie

Recipe
Stamps: Chillax, A Year of Sweet Sentiments
Paper: Choice Buttercream c.s., Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper
Ink: Rich Cocoa Memento Ink, Chamomile Vintage ink
Accessories: Copic markers, Nestabilities, Maya Road chipboard frame, Ribbon, Red Ri-Rac, String, Stardust Stickles, Red Rhinestones

Little Notes

2009-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone - it's Karen here. Back to school is BIG news here in the Giron house and my oldest just started her first day of first grade yesterday {sniff}. She is SO excited to eat at school everyday and so I thought I would make some fun little notes to stick in her lunch box on days she needs a little encouragement, or just to let her know I'm thinking about her. She's my little stamping buddy and every time I get new stamps, she is just as excited as I am to ink them up, so I'm taking her favorite Cuppie images and putting them on 3x3 note cards.

I stamped each image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them in with Copic Markers - I chose bold, bright colors because those tend to be the colors she chooses to make cards with and I know she'll love them. I added some Christmas Red Stickles to the tops of each cuppie to add some sparkly fun. I cut out the images with Circle Nestabilities and added the Scallop accent and then popped them up with dimensionals. I love this simple way to make my daughter's day special!

Here are some of the things I'm planning writing notes for:

Her birthday

Completing a difficult assignment

I'm proud of you {you float my boat}

Class party

Rewarded for good behavior {you're a good egg}

Want to keep up with the latest news from Taylored Expressions and the latest projects from the Baker's Dozen? Sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter - just add your email address to the sidebar of the Taylored Expressions homepage.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: sweet spring, beach bum, doctor's orders, sweet celebration
ink: memento tuxedo black, copic markers
paper: (all stampin' up!) tempting turquoise, yoyo yellow, real red, pink passion, whipser white card stock
accessories: circle & circle scallop nestabilities; white, yoyo yellow, red gingham grosgrain ribbon, christmas red stickles, stampin' dimensionals

A Magnetic Cuppie Frame!!

2009-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Happy Tuesday! I have a cuppie project to share with you all today!!

It's not secret that I LOVE cuppie (grin!), and I really wanted to make a new frame for my desk at work. In cubicle land, there isn't too much room for decor, so I came up with an easily alterable frame so I can put pictures of my sweet daughter and just change up the occassion!!

I started with a super cute little frame that I picked up at my local craft store. I painted the edges with some acrylic paint (Eggshell by Americana) and then, using Zip Dry (a totally FABULOUS glue!), I adhered this super fun Cosmo Cricket patterned paper to my frame!

I punched out six self-adhesive business card magnets (I got mine from Staples) with my 1 1/4 Circle Punch, one to adhere to my frame, the other five to adhere to my cuppies!! I sponged all around my frame to soften it up with some Creamy Caramel ink and a sponge dauber, and I added Taylor's Tiny Twinkles all around the frame opening! I LOVE the pop of bling that these bring to any project!!

Now, the REALLY fun part started!! I stamped five different cuppie images in Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream Cardstock and colored them all with Copic Markers. The are all cut out and layered with Circle Nestabilities, and just like the frame, I sponged each one to soften them up. They each have a magnet adhered to the back so I can just switch em' out! Easy peasy!!

For my birthday frame, I used the Cuppie with balloons from the Doctor's Orders set, but I masked out the "Get Well Soon" sentiment to make it a birthday Cuppie!! The sentiment, "Happy Birthday", is from Fresh Flowers!

My little one is starting nursery school in September, so I HAD to use this super sweet Cuppie from A Year of Sweets 3, and the sentiment, "You Did It", is from A Year of Sweet Sentiments!!

I LOVE to shop with my little sweetie, so I stamped these shopping Cuppies from Downtown Diva for my next frame accent! The sentiment, "Friends Like You Are Priceless", is also from this set!!

Although we live on Long Island, we NEVER go the beach...so my daughter thinks that the ocean is in Maine where we go on vacation!! I had to make a beach frame accent, so I stamped this sand castle building Cuppie from Beach Bum, and the sentiment, "Beach Bum" is from the same set!!

Lastly, I knew I wanted a Christmas Frame, so I stamped this ADORABLE reindeer Cuppie from Season's Sweetings for this frame, and the sentiment, "Merry Christmas" is also from the same set!!

This frame has limitless options!! I plan on adding more accents to my frame with more Cuppies!! I hope I have inspired you to make your own magnetic frame!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Make sure to sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter so you can keep up to date on all the exciting happenings at Taylored Expressions!!!

Recipe:

Stamps: Doctor's Orders, Fresh Flowers, A Year of Sweets 3, A Year of Sweet Sentiments, Downtown Diva, Beach Bum & Season's Sweetings all from Taylored Expressions

Paper: Choice Buttercream Cardstock, Intense Kiwi, Sunflowers Medium & Frosted Teal by Prism and Early Bird from Cosmo Cricket

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Creamy Caramel

Accessories: Acrylic Paint (Eggshell from Americana), Magentic Business Cards, Frame, Zip Dry Glue, Foam Tape, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, Sponge Dauber, Copic Markers and Circle Nestabilities

Jodi

Our Friday Friend Melissa

2009-08-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's time to introduce you to another one of Our Friday Friends! As I was surfing through the Taylored Expressions Gallery at SCS admiring all of the beautiful creations I came across a cupcake card (featuring For the Love of Cupcakes) that wowed me with it's Shimmerz frosting (you can view it by clicking here and while you're there you might want to leave a little love!) That card was created by Melissa Sauls (Melissa_Aggie on SCS.) We are excited to have Melissa as our Friday Friend and she has another super yummy creation to share with us today. This card features Berries & Cherries and uses the sketch challenge Taylor has posted on her blog today - TESC78. We also thought you'd enjoy getting to know a little about Melissa so we asked her a few questions.

What city/state do you live in?
A suburb of Austin, TX called Round Rock (home of Dell Computers!)

How did you become addicted to papercrafts? How long have you been stamping?
I first became addicted to papercrafts when I attended my first “stamping” party about this time 5 years ago. My friend that had invited me told me we’d be going to a “stamp party” (and in my mind, I’m thinking postage stamps) and she went on and on about how great it was and how we could put stamps on the walls, etc. She really had to talk me into going because I just wasn’t sold on putting postage stamps on my walls! LOL! Needless to say, I was sold after that first party….and pleasantly surprised to not see any fun things to do with postage stamps!

How would you describe your style? What are your favorite projects to create?

I swear, my style changes from week to week! I peruse sooo many blogs of all you wonderful ladies out there and I’ll get an idea and go with it. Most of the time though, my style is pretty clean with a lot of straight lines. I guess that’s the Engineer in me, haha!
My favorite projects to create are 3D items that are created from a simple piece of cardstock. I always find it so amazing that something so cute and fabulous can be made from a simple piece of cardstock. No matter what it makes, I’m always thrilled with the results!

Do you have a favorite TE image?
Such a hard question because this changes with every release! I absolutely adore the new Berries & Cherries stamp set, but I also just love the super cute images from Beary Special.

What is your favorite sweet treat?
Anything with chocolate and peanut butter. Like, peanut butter cups…cookies…ice cream...mmmMMMMm!

Melissa has also created another card for today's sketch and you can see that one of her blog In Stamping Mode.

Thank you Melissa for being Our Friday Friend!!

How about you? Would you like to be Our Friday Friend? We'd love to have you and to be considered all you have to do is upload your creations featuring TE stamps to the SCS gallery and use keyword tayloredexpressions (all one word, no space.) We'll be watching for you!

Have a sweet weekend!

-Jami