Card Worthy: April 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Babies and Bears-TE Customer Hop for April

I'm excited to be your next stop after Dawn Barghorn's Paper Paradise along the Taylored Expressions customer blog hop for April. I actually have two cards I made with today's challenge in mind. We were asked to keep it 'clean & simple' and use one of Sankari's fabulous sketches if we wanted inspiration. So this is what I've got...

I've used the onesie, star and CONGRATS sentiment from Hangin' Out and tried my first air-brushing. I found Leigh O'Brien's cloud backgound tutorial helpful and her creations totally inspiring as you'll see in my second card below. This actually is close to Sankari's sketch but rotated to the left 45°. Since I was going with 'clean & simple' I worked with last week's splitcoast CAS114 inspiration challenge too.

To make my cloud pattern I just created ovals and circles in various sizes in my Silhouette software and welded them together then cut on cheap cardstock (the stuff I give my kids). I added a little white flock to the stars, which might be tricky to see in the photo. To create my own custom blue cardstock, I coloured a white scrap with the same copic marker I used for the blue onesie and then stamped the sentiment. The clothesline is a great use for all of the divine twine I now have in assorted colours!!

Why did I create two cards for today? I thought this next one was more a CASE than a CAS card. I loved Leigh O'Brien's baby bear, and well, you know I have bears and balloons of my own! The balloons are cut with the Make a Wish Balloons dies and this sweet bear is from Hangin' Out too. The sentiment is from In the Park. I used a slightly different cloud template and shade of blue copic but the same technique. Thanks Leigh!

Next stop...Jess Willison's Farm Fresh Designs! And I think those farm fresh designs are from Ontario too. ;)

~Nancy

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Release Day for April at Taylored Expressions!

Today everything the Baker's Dozen has shown you this week is available for purchase! I have one more card to share using images from Dream Big and one of my favourite bears from Beary Special. I've also used the whimsical side of the new Stars Impression Plate, which is now in store too!

I coloured my bear with copics and prismacolors and teamed him with softly stamped stars and the sentiment "Dream" from Dream Big. Thought I'd get right to April's SFYTT since I missed the cut off for March and I've followed the sketch for my layout fairly closely with one exception. Since the embossing plate embosses an area of 4.5" x 5.75" and I wanted to emboss a 5.25" square panel I've tucked the open seam behind the dotted patterned paper panel. A little sponging with distress ink in Frayed Burlap, stitching, buttons and clouds cut with my TE cloud duo dies.

Here are the Taylored impression plates and dies I've used on my card today:

Can't wait to see more gorgeous creations from Taylor and her team...

Tori Wild,

Cindy Lawrence, and

Jami Sibley

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Day 2 of TE Sneak Peeks for April

Today is the second day of sneak peeks for Taylored Expressions and the Baker's Dozen has lots to showcase. I'm sharing the à la carte image I illustrated for the Whimsical Wishes line in time for Mother's Day:

Inspired by the colours in this basic grey june bug paper, I coloured the image with copics and prismacolors and popped up and paper-pieced the cup and saucer. A little sponging, stitching and glitter....and I'm ready for Mother's Day!

Can't wait to see what these talented gals have cooked up...

Tori Wild, and friends

Iwona Palamountain

Jami Sibley.

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Day 1 of TE Sneak Peeks for April!

It's that exciting time for me again...sneak peeks of new additions to the Whimsical Wishes line: Treasure Life, Dream Big and an Apothecary Shelf à la carte stamp that works with Treasure Life and so many other TE stamps. Treasure Life, a collection of jars and fillers also has coordinating dies. Dream Big, a versatile set for the graduate, has a coordinating Taylored Impression plate with two different star patterns. All of the goodies Taylor and the Baker's Dozen are showing today and in the next few days will be available for purchase on Thursday morning at 8am PST.

I seemed to be on a roll as I worked with Treasure Life so I've got three cards to show you. First, I thought I'd play along with a few challenges so I used Jen's SFYTT sketch for March and the bell jar, nest and TREASURE life sentiment from the set:

I coloured the image with copics and prismacolors with gamsol then applied Flower Soft to soften the treasure. I followed the sketch but angled the background panel instead of my focal image—just seemed to work for me. Love this Little Yellow Bicycle paper (TWIG)!

Next up, I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch—just look how closely I followed your sketch, eh Karen?!

I also played with Melissa's signature shabby chic style with a doily and distress ink. The Free 4 All Friday challenge this week is Home Sweet Home, so I also had that challenge in mind when I used the conch and Enjoy your new home sentiment from the Treasure Life set.

And one more for Treasure Life today...

I masked two jars, the shell filler and the conch to decorate the apothecary shelf stamped on Basic Grey Olivia paper. The card is intended to be a birthday gift in itself—I created a pull out drawer for a tiny treasure (hope you can see that) and now I just have to find the perfect little thing for a special someone. The jars and conch are coloured with copics and prismacolors, then glazed with crystal effects.

I kept my card featuring Dream Big simple today:

Although the set has 26 images I've used only two and repeated the cap on the background panel and then on the focal image with the sentiment Hats off to you! Very simple; very quick; good for guys and gals!

Can't wait to see what Taylor's talented team has created for today...

Tori Wild, and