Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

Here's my card for Claire's sketch challenge over at Waltzing Mouse. The prize is huge--one of each of the 8 sets being released this Saturday! Who wouldn't want to win this and good luck to everyone.

My card was a quickie because I used one of Claire's digi images, changed the colour of the shamrock in my software and added a fine border before printing on TE choice snow white cardstock and going to town with layers of circles cut out with nestie circles. I trimmed around the inner edge of the shamrock to exclude it when cutting the circle. The 'IRISH Blessings' sentiment is printed on the inside of the card and shows through the window. Some stitching, jillibean soup paper (coordinating white bean paper) and Papertrey Ink buttons...that's it!

Times up, so please forgive my photography. I may get a better picture in daylight.

Thanks so much for the sketch and opportunity, Claire!

~Nancy

a rainy day

I created both this umbrella image and card last week when it was rainy and overcast.

I printed my umbrella image on SU very vanilla and PTI lemon tart cardstock, coloured the handle and raindrops with copics and prismacolors and cut out the lemon umbrella before embossing with my cuttlebug. Just a simple layout, dotted edge with a Martha Stewart edge punch and some sewing. I'm considering offering digital images on Etsy...would anyone be intersted in this umbrella and sentiment (sorry to have to ruin it with a watermark)?

I'd love to hear what you have to say about buying and using digi images because I have lots of them to share with you!!!

~Nancy

Bellarific Valentina

I'm finding time to stamp these days, so here's my take on today's Friday bellarific sketch challenge using Valentina from Stamping Bella.

It's not quite the style I'm trying to achieve these days but I think it works for Henri's next birthday party for one of the girls in his Kindergarten class. I rotated the sketch and layered it up like a birthday cake. Since my colouring with copics and prismacolors was a little dark, the Spica glitter pens helped. I wish my picture captured the sparkle and contrast a little better.

Thanks for looking!

~Nancy

More CreativiTEA

Although I'm not part of sneak peeks today, I do have two cards using CreativiTEA and Miniature Motifs, new Whimsical Wishes sets now available at Taylored Expressions. My first card is quite simple and uses one of the patterns from Miniature Motifs to create the pink patterned paper for the border and teapot. My layout and use of buttons was inspired by Becky Oehler's Compose a Card inspiration. For fun, I threaded rustic thread through the sentiment and nestie frame to create the look of a tea bag.



My second card is my favourite. Love the Eleanor Roosevelt quote "a woman is like a tea bag...you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water," which I actually just created for the card and printed it before stamping the teacup image twice (once on the sentiment panel and then on textured cardstock) for paper piecing. The teabag is coloured with copics and prismacolors. Sorry to tease, but don't you love that sentiment?! The polka dotted paper is once again from We R Memory Keepers.



Thanks for looking!
~Nancy

Day 2 Peeks at Taylored Expressions!

Back in January, Taylor asked me if I had any ideas about what types of gifts/cards a teacher would want to receive. I wound back time a few years and thought about when I taught Grade 7 and 8. Sure, apples are certainly the traditional symbol for teacher appreciation, and so we’ve included a whimsical apple in these two sets. But as a teacher, I really appreciated thoughtful notes from students and gift cards for things like books and Starbucks. (Isn’t that what everyone wants?!) ...Anything that told me the kids realized I was a REAL person with a REAL life outside of school and perhaps in need of restorative down time. I really feel any image is appropriate for teacher cards—one of my favourites is Branching Out and the swing…it’s all about the sentiments!

So here are my peeks today—a mix of cards fresh from the new Whimsical Wishes release Make the Grade and some favourites from throughout the year paired with Extra Credit, just the perfect sentiment collection for teachers, instructors, parents, grandparents, coaches and role models of any kind…

First, this one could be for my son's fabulous Grade 6 teacher, but in my mind, it's really for my dad who taught geography through his entire teaching career and showed us a lot of the world. I finally got a chance to use one of Karen's sweet Sunday sketches (SSSC63)! I adhered the paper layers together before running the card front through my cuttlebug and nestie pinking circle die. The sentiment "for opening up the world for me" fits perfectly around the globe, which I stamped twice, coloured with copics and popped up. The inside is a happy accident—I ran out of black thread so cut another pinked circle to cover up the unstitched edge.

My next three cards use sentiments from both of today's new sets. I mentioned that one of my favourites for teachers is Branching Out. "You helped me" fits with several different sentiment options in the Extra Credit sentiment set and I've chosen "Grow and Learn" to work with the symbolic tree of learning and life.

"Thanks" and "for believing in me" are two different stamps from the Make the Grade set. Together I think they work well with my favourite backpack bear from Beary Special, which I've paper pieced and coloured with copics. I've used Mojo Monday sketch 133 (MOJO133) for this one and lots of layers! Again I've used paper from the We R Memory Keepers vintage blue collection (peachy keen) and also from the Basic Grey green at heart 6x6 paper pad.

And finally, here's a quick one using "You're Appreciated" from the Extra Credit set and the wild flower background stamp from Discover Your Wings, which I stamped in PTI melon berry and highlighted with vintage photo stickles. The scalloped upper edge and ribbon treatment is an idea from Lisa Johnson's Depth of Life card featured in Stamp It! Cards magazine. Easy, simple and ready for one of my daughter's dance teachers or the many people in our lives who always seem to be there to help.

Can’t wait to see what the Baker’s Dozen has for the teacher's in their lives today… Alex Maldonado, Carolina Butching, Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jeanie Witmer, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Melissa Sauls, Jami Sibley, Sankari Wegman and Taylor VanBruggen.

Have a good one!

~Nancy

Day 1 of April Sneaks at Taylored Expressions!

Today Taylor and her Baker’s Dozen are showing peeks of two of the newest Whimsical Wishes releases, CreativiTEA and Miniature Motifs. The images are perfect for Mother’s Day, but I think this is a set I’ll use frequently throughout the year for friends and encouragement. I’ve got THREE cards to show you today!

All three cards use papers from the We R Memory Keepers Vintage Blue collection and textured cardstock pad. I coloured the delicate flower image from CreativiTEA with copics and then prismacolors and gamsol. For a change, I put the image on the inside and cut a frame in the card front with my Labels Two nesties.

My next card shows you the outline teapot image (coloured with copics), the nestie-friendly (Labels Nine) frame and punny “Oh my Darjeeling” sentiment.

Finally, keeping the layout simple, here’s a combination of masked images from the 19 image set, coloured with copics and prismacolors. I hope this inspires your “creativiTEA!”

Can’t wait to see what the Baker’s Dozen has cooked up today…

Alex Maldonado

Carolina Butching

Charmaine Ikach

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jeanie Witmer

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Karen Motz

Melissa Sauls

Jami Sibley

Sankari Wegman, and

Taylor VanBruggen

Just a little late with the polka-dotted theme

Last week's Bellarific Friday theme was polka dots, but I was so busy with the Whimsical Wishes release for Taylored Expressions that I just didn't get a chance until this week. Here's Gertie lulu coloured with copics then with prismacolors and gamsol.

Thanks for looking.

~Nancy

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to play along and leave a message this weekend. It's been a wonderful year for me illustrating the Whimsical Wishes stamp line for Taylored Expressions and working with Taylor. I'd love to hear what your favourite set is so far and what you'd like to see more of in the future.

Mainly I'm on tonight to send congratulations out to Laura! You've won a Wimsical Wishes set of your choice. Laura guessed all 10 of the sets correctly as did almost everyone else who played along. What a clever bunch!! Taylor will also be in touch with you.

Have a great evening everyone!
~Nancy

Contest Continues

I've had lots of responses to the Whimsical Wishes 'guess the set' challenge, but I've got them in hiding so don't worry if you don't see the comment you posted. So far, everyone who has guessed has a chance to win--you're all so clever!! Remember you still have until Sunday at 7pm to tell me the 10 sets that match the closeup images. If you're just learning about this chance to win a free Whimsical Wishes set of your choice, please comment on yesterday's post so I'm drawing from one list of names. Have fun and good luck!!
~Nancy

Whimsical Wishes Celebrates One Year!!

Well, today is a very exciting day…it’s release day when all of the stamp sets and products you’ve seen this week are available in the Taylored Expressions store. But it’s also because I’m celebrating a year of illustrating the Whimsical Wishes line and working with Taylor! We started with Branching Out, which is still one of my favourites. I thought I’d post a challenge today with a terrific prize, which you can read about at the end of this post.

First, here are a few projects showcasing a new download you can purchase and one very special limited-edition digital set you can earn free with purchase this weekend. I printed the Eggstra Special Image Sheet on transparency for the window in my Easter Egg Hunt box and included the sentiment from Favorite Peeps. We love our Cadbury mini eggs in our house—I can’t tell you how many we’ve already eaten and it’s not even Easter! I used PTI’s timeless template For Keepsake but resized it 110% before printing, then cut the egg opening in both the lemon tart and hibiscus cardstock pieces. The butterfly is cut from the same Basic Grey urban prairie / patchwork quilt patterned paper I used for the lid and the lower trim.

My next project turned out just the way I imagined. A box of fresh note cards for each season. You’ll notice I added one of my favourite images from Favorite Peeps by masking in my Spring card. The box is a Silhouette download (horizontal heart gift box by Loni Stevens) but I removed the heart in the template before cutting with my silhouette. Then, I cut the window with my nesties (Labels 1) instead to coordinate with the note cards, stitched around the outside and inserted a transparency panel that I printed for the occasion.

I coloured all of the images with prismacolors and gamsol to coordinate with the Prima Marketing Just Corina / Dude Collection / playful paper I used. Paula, how did I do? I feel much more confident laying on the colour after taking Paula’s class on last Sunday at Stamping Bella.

With any purchase in the TE Store through Monday, March 8th, you'll receive a FREE Whimsical Wishes Image Sheet - Whimsical Wishes Throughout the Year that includes these 4 never-before-seen seasonal images and 4 coordinating sentiments. But wait, there’s more… the first two sets released in the Whimsical Wishes family last year were Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates. For the Anniversary Sale, these 2 sets are on sale for 25% off only through Monday, March 8th. Since these two sets were originally part of the TE Giving Tree charitable program, they come in sheet form attached to EZ Mount. You will need to trim them out when you receive them.

Are you ready for some fun? In a year’s time, I’ve illustrated 22 sets. I have little teasers for 10 of these sets but not necessarily shown at exact size—that would be too easy! Can you guess which ones? Do you own them? I’ll either use the random integer thing or I’ll draw out of a hat or something allowing a chance to win for anyone who correctly matches each picture with its name (you’ll find the names at Taylored Expressions). Taylor is giving a free Whimsical Wishes set of their choice to the winner!! You might not see your comment appear--don't worry, I had to moderate comments today because some of you are just too smart (or have all of the Whimsical Wishes sets!). Please check back on Sunday when I close the contest at 7pm. Here goes…

If you haven't already seen what the TE Baker's Dozen has cooked up today, you don't want to miss them: Alex Maldonado, Carolina Buchting, Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jeanie Witmer, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Melissa Sauls, Sankari Wegman, guest designer Amy Sheffer and Taylor Van Bruggen

Thanks so much for spending time and celebrating with me today!
~Nancy

Day 2 of Sneak Peeps!

We're getting closer to the March release being available at Taylored Expressions and one year of Whimsical Wishes!! You'll be seeing a few of our favourite 'peeps' today if you hop along with the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen. It's Day 2 of sneaks and I'm showing you some of the sweet images from the newest Whimsical Wishes set, which is called Favorite Peeps.



I've used the nestie-friendly egg image stamped on PTI's lemon tart cardstock and highlighted with copics, half pearls and liquid pearl. My little guy (who started out as a duck in this set) is coloured with copics, trimmed and popped up higher than the egg frame, which is also popped up. Lots of layers! I picked up this dotted EK Success edge punch at Michael's this week and layered the black over coordinating patterned paper. Although it's not new, I love this Basic Grey urban prairie paper. Hoping it's fresh and fun.

But I didn't stop there. I love Easter images so I have two more cards for you. This adorable little bunny went through quite the transformation to become who he/she is today. What's better than one bunny--two!

Actually as a mother of twins, I find myself purchasing things in twos and I think this card would be perfect for spring babies. The bunny twins are stamped on white along with the sentiment and then on three different patterned papers for the paper pieced layers. I created the grass using my new Silhouette SD and a download shape (Grass by Silhouette). Love the Silhouette and its possibilities!!!!! Although I couldn't get enough of certainly celery when Karen Motz first introduced me to Stampin' UP!, I haven't used it for a very long time but I think it works here.

And finally, a wee birdie for bird lovers out there (Jami, Karen, Char,....).

The birdie and branch are one image and then there are three tiny eggs to play with. I've used both copics and prismacolors on this image after my weekend classes at Stamping Bella with Linda and Paula. Amazing talent!! I smudged the pink egg outside of the lines but now I feel so relieved to 'get' that shading and outer glow using prismas can salvage almost anything. The card background is another Silhoutte download (bubble card by Valerie Foster). I punched different sized circles from s.e.i. ally's wonderland poppy parade patterned paper and adhered them behind some of the holes in the pattern.

Thanks for looking! Let's go see what the rest of the TE team is showcasing today...

Alex Maldonado, Carolina Buchting, Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jeanie Witmer, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Melissa Sauls, Sankari Wegman and Taylor Van Bruggen

Day 1 of TE Sneaks for March

Today the Taylored Expressions Baker’s Dozen is showing sneak peeks for March. I’m not part of the design team but today’s set, You're My Hero, is one of two of my Whimsical Wishes sets being released this week. It’s also coming up to one year of Whimsical Wishes so make sure you check out Taylor’s blog later this week for something special! All sets you see today and tomorrow will be available in the TE Store on Friday at 8am PST.

You’re My Hero is the newest set in the TE Giving Tree Program, which donates partial proceeds from sales of a special stamp set to a different charity each quarter. Taylor wanted a “rock star” set in memory of her neighbour Darrin Zimmerman who bravely fought cancer but passed away last fall. You can read more about Darrin on Taylor's blog today. We designed this set with tweens and teens in mind (I have two of them myself)…and the Rock Star in all of us. I expect my 11-year-old twins will get their hands all over this set. It’s perfect for their occasions and projects. I’ve used black and grey ink and masked two of the images from the set in my You Rock in PINK! Card with copic highlights, stitching, sponging and Kaiser pearls.

Please keep in mind that Giving Tree sets (unlike other TE sets) need to be trimmed when you get them. They are the same deeply etched rubber on EZ Mount. Taylored Expressions will donate $7 from the sale of each set to CureSearch: "CureSearch unites the world's largest childhood cancer research organization, the Children's Oncology Group, and the National Childhood Cancer Foundation through their mission to cure childhood cancer. Research is the key to the cure."

Thanks for stopping by! Now go and see how the Baker's Dozen rocked this set...

Alex Maldonado, Carolina Buchting, Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jeanie Witmer, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Melissa Sauls, Sankari Wegman and Taylor Van Bruggen

Go Canada!

It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of these Winter Games and Canada's success. I created more images yesterday to celebrate and you'll see some of them on Dana's and Karen's blogs hopefully today.

I'm heading to Bellaland for Linda's copics class and Paula's prismacolours tomorrow and I thought I'd create a patriotic cup sleeve for the trip.

My Henri loves the card...I joked with Karen that this little guy seems to prefer his Tim's (Tim Hortons for anyone who doesn't have one on every corner in town) over Beaver Tails (which is a fried dough pastry hand stretched to resemble a beaver’s tail...and is so delicious!)

I was asked about the numbered kraft patterned paper I've used again for my card today. It's jillibean SOUP Soup Staples white stock. Enjoy your day and cheer on your team (even if its not Canada)!!

~Nancy

Strong and Free

This will be quick...got to get back to watching figure skating! So here's my card using my freebie set:

I didn't want it just to be an Olympics-style card...I have so many Canadian friends and family living outside of the country who may just need something from home, BUT I purposely chose the kraft patterned paper with the numbers for standings and created a type of podium layout. I hope you have fun with these digi stamps...cut them out, use them as borders, punch out shapes (I've used cute little QuickKutz tags), play with the sentiments...

Most of all, enjoy! And PLEASE show me your stuff...

~Nancy

With Glowing Hearts!

Hey, Canadians and anyone who is loving the 2010 Olympics! I created these images for myself today with hopes to get time to create a few cards to celebrate the 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver, being Canadian...and thought I'd share it with you too. Help yourself and show me what you can do...

To download the pdf file, which should give you the best results, click on the maple leaf I've added to my sidebar. You'll be taken to Scribd, the site I used to upload the file. Click Download and Download Now. I hope this screen capture helps:

Enjoy!

Simple joy

I'm finally getting time to create. Actually, I'm creating lots for Taylored Expressions but I don't get to share until release day...which is going to be amazing in March. Whimsical Wishes, the stamp line I illustrate, is celebrating one year!!! I'd love to know which is your favourite set or image so far. I check Splitcoast for what people are doing with my images, but I'd love to see more!

Today my card is a simple layout I tend to fall back on. Just simple. A small joy...

DETAILS

Stamps: PTI Turning a New Leaf and Handwritten Notes; Paper: My Mind's Eye just Dreamy2 Dazzling "Girls Only" Girly Girl/Lipstick Paper (now that's a mouthful!), PTI berry sorbet and rustic white cardstock, SU really red cardstock distressed with Cranberry Crisp ink; Ink: PTI berry sorbet, chamomile and spring moss, SU Cranberry Crisp; Accessories: PTI cream fine ribbon, buttons and rustic thread.

Irish Inspiration!

I was so inspired by yesterday's Waltzing Mouse customer blog hop that I made my way back to my little happy stamping zone. I loved Julie Masse's 'got green?' card and this is my take on it using a Martha Stewart heart punch, Julie's colour combo, the dotted label from the WM Very Vintage Labels No. 4 (Nestie friendly) stamp set and Jen's Sweet Sunday sketch. Can I really call it my own? I used the Martha Stewart hydrangea edge punch to create a shamrock look for the lower strip of old olive cardstock. The stem for my main shamrock is stamped using the bottom portion of the dandelion stem from my TE Celebrate Life set. Love this sketch, Jen! To tie in the black from my sentiment "Wishing you the luck of the Irish," created using Echelon font, I embossed the same size spellbinder label in black and cut around the outside edge (I found this easier than tracing), added checked ribbon and stitched around the card edge in black.



And while I was at it, I created another quick card using sticker elements from the Basic Grey sugar rush/candy hearts patterned paper I still had out. You may have seen my turtles in Taylor's most recent release over at Taylored Expressions. I didn't even know I had these cuties in my stash. I arranged them in a similar way...ready to kiss as turtles do (don't they?) and gushing with love.




Thanks for looking!
~Nancy

Waltzing Mouse Blog Hop

Wow, I haven't posted anything since January, so thanks so much for dropping by today...I'm sure any followers have given up. I love Waltzing Mouse stamps, Claire and everything she creates and shares on her blog. That's your first stop this morning on the Waltzing Mouse Blog Hop or if you've just come from Anya's gorgeous blog, you're on the right track.

I fell in love with Earth Angel immediately. What a gorgeous set with so many possibilities.

Since today's theme is spring, I've paper pieced my angel's dress and sachel and paired her with Basic Grey sugar rush/candy hearts patterned paper; Papertrey Ink spring moss cardstock and grosgrain ribbon; and retired SU pink pirouette cardstock. No wings, you're wondering? I have so many angels in my life and they've never let me see them. ;)

I was heavily inspired by Claire's use of Large pinking circle nestabilities (see her Yummies card) and framed a combination of sentiments, which I curved on my acrylic block before stamping. My sewing is a mess tonight...but I went around the edge of the pinked circle and zig-zagged around the outer edge.

Now I just need to learn how to use my new camera! Yes, I got a Rebel!!

Next stop, Loryanna's blog. Enjoy!!

with Love and Sprinkles

Today Taylor and the Taylored Expressions design team are showcasing Sprinkled with Love. Although I can’t really remember the day that I created the first image in this set, I posted my card back in April and shared a little bit of my day. I guess Henri had a meltdown and I fixed it with a trip through the Tim Horton’s drive thru for a sprinkled doughnut. Isn’t everything better with love and sprinkles?! On the inside of the card I wrote:


Henri,
When you’re feeling sad
or down don’t worry—
just ask for a sprinkle doughnut!
I love you always!
Mommy


By April I had already illustrated several stamp sets in the Whimsical Wishes line—Branching Out, Branching Out Coordinates, Fresh Flowers and Boys Will Be Boys—so I smiled when Daniela Hendea {PurpleD} wrote her comment: Adorable card! You should start designing your own stamps! :-) Taylor visited my blog too and emailed me about it: I just loved that cute donut you did with the "everything is better with sprinkles" sentiment. I thought it would make an adorable stamp set …Maybe it could be a mini set?

The mini set became a full set and here it is…14 fun images including sweet treats and sentiments and lots of sprinkles!! You can stamp the sprinkles or get creative. For my peek today I used assorted glass beads to sprinkle my non-fat latte and added some to the strip of patterned paper too.






After yesterday's peeks, can't wait to see what the Baker's Dozen—Taylor VanBruggen, Alex Maldonado, Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Laurie Schmidlin, Melissa Sauls, Sankari Wegman and Guest Designer Jeanie Witmer—have to share with us today.

Thanks so much for visiting! I'd love to hear from you...
~Nancy

You'll LOVE this release!

Check out the sneak peeks today for Love Everywhere, the newest addition to the Whimsical Wishes line at Taylored Expressions. I had a lot of fun illustrating this one and was able to make a card fairly quickly this morning using three of the images from the set and this week's Mojo Monday sketch flipped vertically. All 19 images are solids so they're super easy to ink up and use for cards, tags, packaging, love notes,...The hearts are actually the leaves designed to fit the sweet tree in the set.

I wish I had a better picture to share but I'm still debating over cameras, the Nikon or the Canon Rebel. Any more thoughts???

This is a little thank you for my friend who took our Phoenix over the holidays...I'm on the run to pick her up now!!

Thanks for looking...
~Nancy