Altered Date Stand by Sankari

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 :)

Tri-fold Love Note...

Good morning! I'm not sure what it is about the love not sized card (3" x 3"), but I just LOVE them! They are large enough to be a "card", but small enough to hidden in a loved one's bag, briefcase, or purse (for them to find later)!


Instead of the regular card, I decided to make a Tri-Fold card...but trimmed it down to the love note size.


I stamped this wonderful quote from Hellen Keller (from the Lasting Impressions set Faith & Hope) in Rich Cocoa Memento ink onto Choice Buttercream card stock. I just love the flourishes that Taylor included in the Faith & Hope set...and had to add one to my card (I embossed it so it would show up better on the patterned paper)! :-)

Did you all read Taylor's post yesterday? The Taylored Expressions store is now back to their regular shipping schedule!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful and creative day! ~Laurie

It's what sunflowers do.

It's finally Friday and I'm so happy it's my day to post something fun for you!

I've been hoarding this unfinished frame I bought from Michael's quite a while ago and I thought it would be perfect to fix-up and stamp on and embellish, and... well, you get the idea. I've wanted to make a framed sentiment for quite some time and the new set, Faith & Hope, is perfect!

I traced the frame onto a piece of Bloom & Grow paper from My Mind's Eye and then used ModPodge to glue it to the frame; I sanded the edges of the paper after gluing it so the edges would be smooth and even. The stamped images are from Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates - I paper pieced the flowers and used Copic Markers to color the other images, and no flower is complete without a Tiny Twinkle! The sentiment says "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do." - Hellen Keller. Isn't that fantastic?!

This has to be one of the easiest ways to spice up an otherwise ordinary frame. I love altering houshold items, and this one is relatively quick and easy.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and please be sure to sign up for the Taylored Expressions newsletter so you don't miss a beat! You can sign up on the Taylored Expressions homepage.

Karen


recipe -
stamps: branching out, branching out coordinates, faith & hope
ink: memento rich cocoa, copic markers
paper: choice buttercream cardstock, bloom & grow (my mind's eye)
accessories: unfinished wooden frame, blue satin ribbon, tiny twinkles, labels 1 nestabilities (spellbinders), modpodge glue, stampin' dimensionals

Gift Box and Cards

Good Morning!
I'm so excited to share a little gift I've made for a close friend! When Taylored Expressions came out with the Faith & Hope set I knew my friend would love some cards made with the sentiments! Card sets are something she loves to receive from me but I didn't just want to hand her a bunch of cards ;) I wanted to put them IN something. So I created this little gift box. This holds 4 cards and envelopes but I'm sure you could squeeze six in there!
For the front of my box I used the flower from the Beary Special Accessories and also a sentiment from A Year of Sweet Sentiments.
I hope that she will use the gift box for something else someday and that is why I went with a simple sentiment....which I happen to love!
I am going to try to explain how I created this.
To create the box I used:
5 x 11 cardstock scored at 2.5 and 9
5 x 8.5 cardstock scored at 2
Tape the two pieces together on the 2" sides(bottom of box)
For the inside holders you will need two of the following:
3.5 x 7.5 scored at 1/2, 1 1/2, 6, 7.
Tape the small 1/2" sides to the inside of the box.
I scalloped the flap edge but you can decorate it however you like.
Here is a side view which you can click to enlarge. Sorry I didn't get an inside shot before giving it away :(
I've made four simple cards using the Faith & Hope Stamp set.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Beary Special Accessories, Faith & Hope, A Year of Sweet Sentiments
Cardstock: Choc chip, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, October Afternoon DP
Inks: Memento Black, Choc Chip
Accessories: Copics, Nesties, Rhinestones, Primas, Flower Punches, Silver Brads, Scalloped Edge Punch, Ribbon, Dimensionals
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Faith Bookmark

As soon as I saw the new Faith & Hope set, I knew I wanted to make my daughter a bookmark for her Bible. I paired the sentiment from the Faith & Hope set with the branch and bird from Branching Out as well as some of Taylor's gorgeous Ivory Satin Ribbon.

The main panel was stamped in black craft ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. You can also get the Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles and the Prism Herbal Garden Medium CS in the TE Store.

Here's a close-up:



The bow was tied separately and then added to the front of the strip of ribbon with a glue dot. I made a loop with the extra strip of ribbon above the bow and tucked it underneath. Here's the back view so you can see the loop:



SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Branching Out, Faith & Hope
Paper: Watercolor Paper, Prism Herbal Green Light, Prism Herbal Green Medium
Ink: Black Craft, Soft Sky, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Basic Brown
Accessories: Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles, 1" Ivory Satin Ribbon, Glue Dots, Clear Embossing Powder
Technique: Watercoloring, Heat Embossing, Dry Embossing

Thanks for stopping by!
Denise

A Little Sunshine

When I was thinking about what to create for today's blog post, I thought it would be nice to make something simple and inexpensive, but that could be HUGE for the recipient. Back when the Target $1 spot had these little planters, I bought a bunch of the Sunflower pots because that is my favorite flower. When Taylored Expressions came out with the Faith & Hope set, I immediately fell in love with this particular sentiment. I thought it would be perfect for a little gift of encouragement or just to say "I'm thinking about you!" It was especially perfect for this little sunflower pot. I used the Flowers Cuttlebug die to create the sunflower embellishment and covered it with Sunshine Yellow Flower Soft. The ribbon and papers are all from the Beach Bum Key Ingredients. Perfectly packaged in a small cello bag, this little gift is ready to bring some sunshine to somebody special! Thanks for dropping by! SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Faith & Hope (Taylored Expressions); Ink- Dark Brown Chalk Ink (Colorbox), Burnt Umber (Palette); Paper- Beach Bum Key Ingredients (Taylored Expressions); Accessories- cello bag (Darice), Plain and Scallop Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Flower Cuttlebug die (Provocraft), ribbon from Beach Bum Key Ingredients (Taylored Expressions), Sunshine Yellow Flower Soft (Flower Soft)