Saturday, October 6, 2012


Today I'm taking the Stamp n' Send Challenge #1: Sketch Some Sunshine and playing along with some of the TE team and friends celebrating Word Card Making Day. What's the Stamp n' Send Challenge? Well, I actually have to send a card! And this month's challenge encourages us to send some sunshine to a nursing home, hospital or someone in the armed services. To help out, I've used the fabulous sketch from our very own Baker's Dozen sketch-anista, Jen Schults!

Each week, there will be a new challenge in the Taylored Expressions Member Forum at Splitcoaststampers.com. For every card you make AND send you'll be entered into a prize drawing. Plus, for EVERY entry, you will be entered into a drawing for a Grand Prize package worth $100 to help you make more cards. Sounds good to me!

So here's my card for today. I love Jen's sketch the way it is, but for my project I left out a few layers. I made the sentiment from Peaceful Poinsettia my focal and had fun with the build-a-poinsettia images in the set and the coordinating dies. I created the mini tag using one of TE mini tag dies and stamped the 'Merry Christmas' sentiment from the new WW petite set, Poinsettia Bouquet




For more inspiration on WCM Day, be sure to visit these talented ladies...

Friday, October 5, 2012

TE October Release Spotlight Day


All of the new Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department and the TE Baker's Dozen has more to show you today. I'm so thrilled with the new quatrefoil cutting plate that I have three cards to show you...

I was inspired by Pamela's (of miao.a design blog) clean and graphic style and thought..."hmmm...wouldn't the new quatrefoil cutting plate make an awesome mask?!" so I ran to Staples to pick up full sheets of removable label paper! I cut the quatrefoil design from the label paper, adhered my removable mask on white card stock and went to town rubbing dye ink starting in the lower portion with yellow/gold and working my way out with green, blue and midnight. Then I carefully removed the mask and kept it on a piece of white card stock for my second project.



The nativity border die is one of my favourite items this release. The combination of detail and simplicity is truly lovely (I think). I've used a portion of a sentiment from Winter Wonderland and added a jewelled brad from my stash. I think I'll be making a set of these!

And here's the mask repurposed and flipped to create a sunny background for "life's better at the beach." 



I've combined the sentiment from the new WW Best Nests set with images from A Day in Paradise and cut out the scene and mat with the new stacklet labels. I've coloured the scene with copics and prismacolors and paperpieced the umbrella.

And finally, this is actually my first attempt at masking with the quatrefoil cutting plate BEFORE I ran to Staples for the label paper. 



I was using pieces of large labels, so the mask worked but you can see that the ink made its way into the white zone just a little. I kept the centre white for the sentiments from Very Merry and an adorable felt mitten cut with the Very Merry dies and a snowflake from the snowflake border die.

Whew! That's all from me right now. Here's what the rest of Taylor's BD has for you today...


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Taylored Expressions October Sneak Peek Day 1


It's sneak peek time at Taylored Expressions and I've got two cards using new Whimsical Wishes stamp sets, dies and goodies that will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 4th.

First up, I've used the 'summer house' from Best Nests. Yes, there's a home and a feathered friend for every occasion in this set! 




I didn't stamp a sentiment because I wanted this to be a card I could use anytime...happy birthday, thinking of you, miss you, let's get away...when I need a card. I think it's also suitable for either a guy or gal, which is a bonus. I've stamped the image with momento ink; coloured with copics and prismacolors; and popped up the seagull. I've also used one of the new TE Stacklets for my focal image and the TE Chevron Border dies.



For my next card, I've combined the new petite Poinsettia Bouquet set with the 'Happy Holidays' sentiment from Sparkle & CheerI stamped the bouquet image and cut it out with one of the larger stacklets and coloured with copics and prismacolors. I stamped a second and third image, coloured them, trimmed them and popped them up to add some dimension. I'm thrilled with how the new Quatrefoil Cutting Plate embossed when I used embossing mats instead of the cutting plate sandwich. I'll be using this plate a lot!!



Looking forward to seeing how the TE Baker's Dozen and friends have worked their magic today...
Thanks for stopping by...
~Nancy