Tuesday, June 22, 2010

TE Blast from the Past-June

I wasn't able to get stamping time in before today's TE Blast from the Past but I thought I'd repost two of my favourites from 2009 just in case I get a few visitors along the hop. First, here's a happy birthday card using Branching Out from back in May 2009:



I loved how the sentiment weaved through the tire punched out with circle punches in this one. The second is a cupcake tic-tac-toe card using For the Love of Cupcakes from June 2009:




I told all about it here.

I'm looking forward to what everyone participating has to show us today!



Thanks for visiting...
~Nancy

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Happy Birthday, Karen!!

It's a weekend of birthdays and today is Karen's! So some of her friends have gotten together to celebrate with a hop and the party starts over at Dana's blog. I was playing with my Silhouette this week and have something special just for Karen.

I created the image first in Illustrator and then converted it to cut. This may give a closer look:
The sentiment is printed on cardstock. I just love this American Crafts paper--it seemed perfect for my friends celebrating birthdays this weekend. I cut three of the gorgeous flowers out and adhered them to the SU melon mambo cardstock before stitching around the edge. I saw the button and half pearls treatment over on Dawn McVey's blog and thought it was perfect for Karen's swirly leafy flourish!

Next stop--Janet. If you didn't start out at Dana's, Karen's hop today goes something like this...

Dana & Leslie
Nancy<<--that's me
Karen the birthday girl :)
That's right...Karen has created something beautiful for herself too.

Have a fabulous day, Karen!
~Nancy

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Happy Birthday, Taylor!!

It's Taylor's birthday and I've got a blast from the past with a twist for her. Was your shiny new Silhouette a little treat for your birthday, Taylor? Well...I created a little something so Taylor can play with her new toy using her own TE images from For the Love of Cupcakes!!



The cupcake and its liner and frosting together with the stand were all cut using my Silhouette SD, which made paper piecing a breeze. The frosting is then coated generously with layers of crystal effects and topped with leaves also cut with my Silhouette and a lovely half pearl. 'Happy Birthday' is from Extra Credit inked in Adirondack espresso. The cupcake itself is in SU melon mambo cardstock then embossed. I sponged the nestie oval frame with SU pink pirouette and melon mambo. Mmmm...I like that colour and thought it paired nicely with the American Crafts Romaine a la Carte patterned paper.



A few of Taylor's friends have gotten together to throw a little blog hop party:

Have a fabulous day, Taylor, and everyone stopping by!
~Nancy

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hangin' Out at the Beach Sneaks

Today’s another exciting day of sneak peeks at Taylored Expressions! I’m joining the Baker’s Dozen to show you the newest Whimsical Wishes set I illustrated, Hangin’ Out at the Beach. Didn’t we just show you Hangin’ Out? That’s right, this is a summer set that coordinates.

My cards today are a complete departure from yesterday’s and what I usually create although they are square—I admit, I have a thing about square cards!

My first follows this week’s TE sketch challenge #115. I thought the Fancy Pants Summer Soiree Beach House paper was perfect for the palm tree in the set, which I coloured with copics and shaded with prismacolors and gamsol.

I kept the nestie circle and labels dies in place when sponging around the inner edge of the palm tree panel with Momento Dandelion ink and the Relax sentiment circle with Momento New Sprout ink. The half pearls were originally a light pink but I used Taylor’s trick and coloured them to coordinate with copics. One of my kids’ friends is going to love this card!


I think we may be seeing a few yellow polka-dot bikinis today. Well, mine is more tangerine and hung on a line with the towel and guy trunks in the set:

I stamped the images on TE choice snow white card stock and coloured with copics and prismacolors/gamsol. I embossed the border leading up to the sentiment “enjoy Life!” with one of the folders in the Cuttlebug Border Frills set, then added a half pearl to each centre to match the bikini bra. The pre-printed summer scene is part of the same Fancy Pants Summer Soiree paper—just perfect for drying my beachy, summer clotheline.


Looking forward to seeing what the talented Baker’s Dozen has done with Hangin’ Out at the Beach

Alex Maldonado; Carolina Butching; Charmaine Ikach; Donna Baker; Jackie Pedro; Jami Sibley; Jeanie Witmer; Jodi Collins; Karen Giron; Melissa Sauls; Sankari Wegman; and Taylor VanBruggen


Thanks for stopping by on your way!

~Nancy

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Summer Afternoon - Day 2 of TE Sneaks for June

Today I’m playing along with the TE Baker’s Dozen with some sneak peeks of the Whimsical Wishes set I illustrated, Summer Afternoon, which will be available at Taylored Expressions along with lots of new products on Friday, June 4th.


I hope my samples show you the simple beauty of the images. This whimsical frame is a favourite of mine:




I’ve inked it in black and highlighted the inner part of the frame, butterflies and dragonfly with versamarker then heat embossed with SU classy copper powder. I sponged Tim Holtz distressed ink in tea dye around the edges of the sentiment circle cut out with nesties. The Gibran quote is one of three separate sentiments sized to fit within the frame. I thought this bold image stood for itself with a simple layout framed with Bo Bunny Delilah You & Me patterned paper and layers of cardstock.


My second card highlights the poppies and bird silhouettes in the set with the sentiment “A life without love is like a year without summer.”


My layout reminds me of a book, so I’ll likely hand-write something like “…and what would summer be without a good read” on the inside to go along with a favourite book as a gift. I just finished People of the Book, which would definitely be one I’d recommend and give. I accented the poppies with versamarker and Stickles glitter in pink, which I heat set. The paper is also from the Bo Bunny Delilah collection but was part of a preprinted cutout sheet. I used my X-ACTO retractable pen knife (a knife I can actually say I'm happy with and looks like it's not going to break under pressure!) to cut around the curved edges of the border piece.

Looking forward to seeing what the talented Baker’s Dozen has done with Summer Afternoon…


Alex Maldonado; Carolina Butching; Charmaine Ikach; Donna Baker; Jackie Pedro; Jami Sibley; Jeanie Witmer; Jodi Collins; Karen Giron; Melissa Sauls; Sankari Wegman; and Taylor VanBruggen


Thanks for stopping by on your way!
~Nancy