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...

Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley

Lori Craig

Michele Boyer

Nancy McKinney  <<--you're here

Jen Shults

Sankari Wegman

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Have a good one!

~Nancy

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...

Charmaine Ikach
Jami Sibley - DT Coordinator
Jen Shults
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melody Rupple
Nancy McKinney - you're here
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess 

Thanks for stopping by...
~Nancy

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 & Cheer. I 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...

• Carolyn King - Guest Designer
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley - DT Coordinator
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess 

Thanks for stopping by...
~Nancy

Happy Birthday, TE!

Happy Birthday, Taylored Expressions and taylor's special girl, Madelyn! My notecard today features Moka Madelyn in her honour and the new Bake Me a Cake die set. I used felt for the frosting and a modest amount of Sankari's favourite embellishment...liquid pearls. The wee tag is cut from Mini Tags die set and I used the "Happy Birthday" sentiment from the Daisy Bouquet petite set. Here's Moka Madelyn inside the notecard...

This fancy cake just fits inside the pocket I cut with the TE Library Pocket Die...

Can't wait to see what inspiration Taylor's Baker's Dozen has to celebrate TE's 4th birthday!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

TE Halloween Sneak Peeks

It's birthday week at Taylored Expressions and I'm playing along using new Whimsical Wishes stamps and dies. Actually I haven't used birthday stamps on my cards—it's a Halloween theme today!

First up, I've loosely followed sketch SC385 and revisited Toil and Trouble paired with the new Totally Tags-Halloween set and spider web die. Love this spider web die! Stamped in black with a little copic and distressed ink, this card was a quick one.

Since I used Tabitha's witchy hat on the Witching You Spooky Fun tag in the set, I couldn't leave her out! I coloured Moka Tabitha with copics and prismacolours and paper-pieced her dress. To get her hat to peek above the die cut frame, I trimmed around the tip first using the Out of the Box technique.

Looking forward to the seeing what the Baker's Dozen have spooked up for today...

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

 

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

BIG Birthday Fishes-More TE Inspiration Today

I hope you saw Shannon's take on Moka Pearl and Karen's muscled Moka merman Dylan yesterday! I was thrilled to see what Taylor and her Baker's Dozen created with the Whimsical Wishes set Under the Sea too. Here's another simple card using this week's MOJO Monday sketch (flipped vertically) and the whale and BIG Birthday Fishes sentiment from Under the Sea.

I've carried the bubble theme throughout in the background paper, half pearl air bubbles and in the cream panel using the new waves and bubbles impression plate.

Have a fabulous week and amazing holiday weekend!

~Nancy

Put some mussel into it!-TE Sneaks for July

I love mermaids, dolphins, turtles, whales and quirky puns, so I'm very excited about the Whimsical WIshes sets Taylor and her Baker's Dozen are showcasing this week. I can't wait to read what Stephanie Meyer does with her mermaids in upcoming books and what the Baker's Dozen does with Pearl and Dylan, two new Moka mermaids! 


I've got a quick card today using a few images from the 27 image set, Under the Sea. 

I've combined the sentiments "you can do it!" and "just put some mussel into it" with my little mussel coloured with copics and prismacolors. I added crystal effects to the outer shell and bubbles and flipped my 'go-to' layout to go with the 'under the sea' theme.

Can't wait to see the inspiration from the Baker's Dozen this week! 

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

Release Day at TE-Luggage Tag

It's release day at Taylored Expressions so Taylor and her team will have lots of inspiring projects today. I've created a simple luggage tag using several images from the Moka Karen petite set to show its versatility. Canadians might not seem to be outwardly patriotic at home but when travelling abroad they proudly wear their Canadian flag on their backpacks and luggage!

I stamped and masked Moka Karen and repeated the solid maple leaf as a border on one side, then used the CANADA stamp and outlined maple leaf on the other side together with lines and labels (name, address,...) I created on the computer. I cut the shape with my silhouette and adhered the two sides back to back to make a thicker tag. Here's the back...

Have a fabulous day!
~Nancy

More Sneaks for TE Today-Hydrangeas

Today Taylor and her talented Baker's Dozen are showcasing the full-sized Whimsical Wishes set, Forever in Bloom, and the petite set, Hydrangea Bouquet. I absolutely LOVE hydrangeas and have since they were my wedding flowers almost 18 years ago. Trying to find a digital picture to share was a bit tricky, but I did locate this simple scrapbook spread I created about 7 years ago...

And since I look so incredibly young I thought I'd show this one too even though it's in black and white:

Now on to my the card for today... I stamped the leaves and stem on the inside in distressed shabby shutters ink, then stamped the large bloom image several times and coloured with copics. I also stamped the smaller bloom image so I would have smaller flowers to pop up to create a more 3-D result. I cut the centre of the white card base on purple card stock panel with oval nest abilities.

Here's a closeup of the bloom to show the effect:

Can't wait to see what the Baker's Dozen has cooked up today. Thanks so much for stopping by...

~Nancy

Sneaks for June-Meet Moka Karen, eh?

Today Taylor and her Baker's Dozen are starting sneak peeks for June and introducing Moka Betsy and Moka Karen. As a Canadian girl, I've created a card with Karen, a proud Kanuk/Canuck wearing her Mountie uniform. She's named after my good friend Karen Motz, who is also playing along today. 

Moka Karen is coloured with copics and prismacolors and surprisingly easy to trim around and pop up with her large proud Canadian flag. I created the background maple leaf paper by repeating one of the coordinating images in the petite Moka set. 'eh?' is of course from the Moka Karen set, but I combined it with 'Celebrate' from the Moka Betsy petite set. It's time to celebrate, eh?! Now go check out the Baker's Dozen's eye candy staring at Taylor's blog.

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

Daisies make me happy!

I managed to get to my stamping space at 10:30 last night (nothing unusual about that though) and the happiest part of about the two cards I'm posting today is that I was done in just over an hour! I'm into the healing power of crystals lately and with some amazonite and serpentine in my pocket, I had none of that creative constipation that often strikes. I think I've revealed that I have 13-year-old twins before...need I say more about WHY I need more healing power?!


But I digress...it's release day at Taylored Expressions! I've used Oops-A-Daisy for both of my cards and kept each fairly simple. The first is the single solid flower that I inked in various tones of yellow, orange, brown and green by dabbing and smearing the ink pad on the rubber. I've used the coordinating dies to cut out the bloom and the leaf.

My second card combines the large bloom masked and stamped three times on the yellow background and the small daisy and sentiment on the focal panel. I coloured the daisy with copics and prismacolors and 'glamour-dusted' the centre. Inside I've stamped the sentiment "sorry I missed your birthday" although I was thinking a lot about my friend on her day even though I forgot.

I'm sure you'll see something that makes you smile today as you check out Taylor and her Baker's Dozen's creations!


Thanks for stopping by...
~Nancy

More fun TE peeks today

I'm looking forward to seeing what Taylor and her design team have created today using the new Whimsical Wishes sets Oops a Daisy and Daisy Bouquet and the coordinating dies. I hoped to have something to show you but life and work is busy and I haven't had any crafting time. How did you like Moka Tim and Bobby and all of yesterday's sneaks? Tonight I will stamp!!


Thanks for the visit!
~Nancy

Release Day for April at Taylored Expressions!

It's release day at Taylored Expressions and I've got a few more sneak peeks using Whimsical Wishes stamps and dies.

Here's a card using the newest addition to my Moka Collection, Moka Margo. I drew the frame and masked off the lower portion of the image to create Margo and baby's portrait. I coloured Margo with copics and prismacolors and paper-pieced her dress. I'm so pleased with how this one turned out!

Next up, I wanted to show how you can use any favourite stamp with the new onesie notecard die. 

I've stamped Animals in Love - Giraffes on the front portion of the onesie in momento ink, coloured the image with copics and prismacolors and added eyelets to the onesie flap. Love these giraffes with this Basic Grey Lime Rickey paper I had in my stash! To create a slightly funky border I used the TE cloud border die to cut clouds in both new leaf and hawaiian shores cardstock and placed the borders in opposite directions so they didn't line up.

And finally, I've used one of the new fancy buckles to decorate the little shopping bag cut with my TE shopping bag die for this money card. I stamped the tissue and handle from It's in the Bag on the cream panel and coloured the tissue with copics and prismacolors. I created the money card using a full sheet of card stock and some extra cuts and folds--nothing too complicated. Check out the new Canadian $50. Sure wish I had more of these!!

Looking forward to seeing what the Baker's Dozen cooked up for today...

• Jodi Collins
• Charmaine Ikach
• Karen Giron
• Wanda Guess
• Regina Mangum
• Melody Rupple
• Melissa Sauls
• Jen Shults
• Jami Sibley
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Sankari Wegman
• Tori Wild

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

Onesie Heat Transfer Winner!

Congratulations, Larissa! 

Larissa won the set of Silhouette images to make her own adorable onesies and other fun projects. Larissa, please contact me with your email and mailing address so I can get these images to you and the truck and red fish onesies I created too! ;)

My set of four heat transfer images are now available in my Etsy shop, CheekyDIGs.

More TE Sneaks-Wonderful Onesies and a Chance to Win!

I'm playing along with Taylor and her Baker's Dozen again today! I'm always excited when Taylor releases a new Moka and I'll have a card with sweet Mommy Margo and her little bundle tomorrow. Today I've focused on the new Whimsical Wishes set Onesie Twosie and the coordinating onesie die and large note card die. Too cute! My post might seem a little long but it's worth it to read to the end...I'm giving away a freebie!!

First up, for all mommies of twins who know "twins are the double the fun"...twins are referred to as Twin A and Twin B when they are first born. I'm not sure what happens when there are more multiples (C, D,...)?? Using my stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the onesie, A and B images in Staz On ink on felt shapes cut with the new onesie die. A little stitching and inking on the back panels and I was done.

Next, I played with the new onesie note card die, which is absolutely adorable on its own. The Onesie Twosie set includes "CONGRATULATIONS" and "on your sweet little cupcake"...so what a great time to bring out the Build a Treat Tops & Bottoms die set! I created the pocket with my Silhouette and nested the onesie note inside. Otherwise the layout and layers are simple and clean with some stitching and a few precious half pearls. Can't wait for someone I know to have a girl!!

When I was working on this week's sneak peeks, I couldn't resist creating heat transfers using some of the same images with my Silhouette and some inexpensive onesie's I picked up at Winners.

Here's the dino image enlarged and wrapped around to the back of the onesie...

And here's the full set of heat transfers...

The dino and truck are from Onesie Twosie and I dug up the sheep and fish from Bringing Home Baby! Of course, I like to share so I'm giving you a chance to win today. Just leave a quick comment and your email address before 10am (EST/EDT) tomorrow. I'll use the random integer thingy to determine our winner and send the full set of four images formatted to cut on a Silhouette. 

Have fun checking out this line up of talent today...

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

Thanks for stopping by!

~Nancy