TE Key Ingredient Subscription Challenge

I am so excited about how Taylored Expressions keeps branching out! Now Taylor is offering a Key Ingredients Kit Subscription and today I have a sample of the first kit being offered. To find out how you can subscribe and get this month’s kit (plus get future month’s kits before they're even available in the store) check out this post on Taylor’s blog!

One of the many things I adore about being on Taylor's Baker's Dozen Design Team is that with every stamp release there is a Key Ingredients package to coordinate with the stamps. You get so many elements in the set that I still have quite a bit from each still although I've made a lot of cards & projects with each one! The patterned paper she chooses are fresh & new and the ribbon colors & embellishments so fun!! Since the key ingredients has been such a big hit, she decided to offer this subscription kit separately from the regular key ingredients. When Taylor sent us these Key Ingredients she issued a little challenge to create anything but a card and to be sure to use one of the cute chipboard buckles in the kit. I was delighted to see the awesome colors in this kit from the Penny Lane Collection by My Mind's Eye; I thought they would go perfectly to scrapbook pictures from my last trip to CA from November.

The Best Things in life involve Your Family

I miss these wonderful people every day; ever since I decided to move to Texas nearly 12 years ago and make this my new home it makes missing the little things such as hanging out, sharing a meal & holidays with them so hard even after all this time. Good thing we invested in a webcam for us both - we are able to share more 'live' like watching Gabby open her Christmas presents - it's so fun! I love making gift scrapbooks so this is a perfect present for my sister Val (and Gabby loves looking at photos). She usually keeps these gift books in the living room and Gabby looks at them often, naming everyone in the photos & now she can remember all the fun we had on this trip!

2 Kitties and a Kiss

I was so happy to have shared my adorable nephew's 1st Halloween - isn't he the cutest as a Hershey's Kiss? My niece wanted to be a kitty for Halloween this year which I thought would be so fun to scrapbook and I found a quick cat outfit for me too so we could match. My BIL Frankie decorated our faces. I love this picture - not quite sure what was going on in Gabby's mind though. Hmmm...maybe she was annoyed that she wasn't the only kitty.

Trick or Treating

I just loved being able to spend Halloween with my niece & nephew! 2 years in a row I have visited the first weekend of November, always missing dress up but not this year! Here we are at Gramma Ama's house-we got candy in her neighborhood. The picture taken of all four of them was at their house before we left. I love how Joey is looking at his big sister with adoration! I used the Parisian Mist glitter that comes in the key ingredients subscription on the sticky dot stars.

Making Cupcakes with my sweet cupcake!

Gabby's mantra a few weeks before my trip was, "Auntie Donna's coming for Halloween, we're making cupcakes, trick or treat - that's what you say to get candy". It was late that night but as promised we made our cupcakes together! I have the sweetest video of Gabby putting the liners in the cupcake pan and at one point she looked up at me and realized she was being videotaped while she was stirring the chocolate and I was asking her what she was doing & without missing a beat she waved at the camera - it was totally cute! then she went on talking about what kind of cupcakes we were making. We put Halloween cuppie toppers that we colored on the cupcake with toothpicks using Trick or Sweet.

The Best Things in Life are Covered in Chocolate!

Ha! This photo cracks me up! Gabby had already had a LOT of chocolate that night and you know how 2 yr-olds are with their food (messy) well I couldn't resist having my camera ready as she was eating her cupcake - my sister and I were laughing SO hard when we saw how she looked like a cavegirl in this photo!

Priceless Memories - that's what you get when you have family & friends over your house. One thing I appreciate about them is the minute I say we'll be in town, they are there. This is my Godmother Pauline to the right in front of me and behind, her daughter Yolanda. Pauline was friends with my Nana (mom's mom) so many years ago {Nana died when I was 5} she befriended my mom and has always been FAMILY to us! When Pauline split from Yolanda's dad, they came to live with us for a while until they could get stuff sorted out & situated on their own. My mom always had an open door for family & friends! Pauline is a Breast Cancer Survivor of 20+ years & they are precious to me. That's my funny BIL in the background (Gabby & Joey's dad)-determined to get in the picture wearing Joey's Halloween Kiss hat and we didn't realize until after!

Happiness is Family & Friends

This page just makes me smile all over my face, like Gabby; can you tell she loves to cheese in front of the camera? Well, following in her daddy's footsteps-she shines in back of the camera too (she asked for a camera & pink camera bag for Christmas and her Auntie Donna & Nino John delivered! She was delighted about that!) I can just imagine her toting it around in her cute cupcake bag I got her snapping away. In this photo she is with her Nina Andrea and being hugged on by her buddy Jimmy - doesn't it look like he adores her? At one point that evening, they both were sitting in her pink chair (can you tell pink is her favorite color?) eating tortilla chips! too funny

Happiness is Being There.

My heart just swells and tears flow when I think of all the precious moments with my niece & nephew I miss out on. It makes the times that I'm there all the more special though. I love these 2 pictures of me with them. The one of Joey and me is perfect...I took it myself and am amazed he has a semi-smile for me! The picture with Gabby and me was taken after a little play time - I think that explains the big 'ol grin on her face!

Happiness is Making a New Friend!
One of the many highlights of my trip to CA in November was having the chance to meet Carolina and her nephew Gaven! This picture is so funny! I guess Gaven was not thrilled about taking this picture but when he was hugging on Gabby he was *wink* We had a fun time watching them play together (there was another little boy who was there too), we all made pizzas for lunch & I was sad when she had to go. It was so funny when Gabby kept asking about when she would see her friend Gaven and his mom again. HA--Carolina told me Gaven was asking too. sweet, huh?? I used the Gina K Bold Flowers set for this page.

Children are the Hands by Which We Take Hold of Heaven.
I thought this sentiment in Hand in Hand would be perfect for this picture! My sister was the only one who knew I was taking it as I was way across the room just taking random shots. I love Joey's face in this picture & Gabby looking at him is just precious. If my sister has not started crying at this point looking at this album she is now. If I know her well enough I believe she may have started the minute she looked at the cover. From a very early age all my sister wanted was to be a mommy and a wonderful one is she!! I'm so proud of her.

The Best Things in Life involve your Family. Isn't that wonderful and it sums up so many memories? I randomly stamped family roles on the square panel from Tee Talk, Just so Sporty and Hip Hop Accessories.

I wrote a special note on the last chipboard flower here on the other side. Recently I saw a quote that moved me to tears because it sums it up for me:

Where we love is home, Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Homesick in Heaven

If you stuck with me for this WHOLE post I thank you from the bottom of my heart, of which a lot of it went into to make this album! It literally took me all day to make last Saturday. The flower chipboard album I got at Michael's for 50 cents!! I used just about 1/4 of the papers in the key ingredients, one of the chipboard buckles (there are lots more), a little glitter & a smidgen of each ribbon! I also added a few other embellishments such as punches, rhinestones & button.

It's so hard to part with such a labor of love but for my big sister Val I would do it all over again and again and again and again - I love you, Val!!

Please scroll down to be sure to catch my regularly scheduled Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge for Friday!

The be sure to check out the projects the other Baker's Dozen Gals have baked up for you today featuring the key ingredients subscription:

Taylor VanBruggen

Ana Wohlfahrt

Charmaine Ikach

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laura Frederickson

Have a wonderful Friday & awesome stamping weekend - I know I will!!