Mitten Weather Penguin

Here is a card I made last week using the new Penguin Pals Apple Doodle Ink stamp set for Taylored Expressions. Isn’t this little guy the cutest donned in his santa hat ready to give his gift to you?  I used Jen’s Sketch For You to Try which is always a super sketch!  It showcases my Cosmo Cricket mitten weather pattern papers well.  I also used the Winter Wonderland snowflake Taylored Dies on my card for a fun embellishment. All the coloring was done using copic markers – fun to color!  I used stardust stickles on the trim & pom pom. 

Update: I will be back on Mon-Thu for the Taylored Expressions sneak peeks and then my family from CA visits and I will not post until I rest a little from all the fun and cry a lot from all the sadness after they leave. I will be back to share some pictures of our fun with you!   Thanks for stopping by! 

It’s in the bag – Have a Cool Yule

I made some time to stamp for fun this weekend so I played in the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club challenge {It’s in the bag!} again.  This was my 2nd week in a row to play.  This challenge was to decorate a bag or box so I made a 2,4,6,8 box which is SO easy & fun to do.  I brought out my cute Cool Yule set – I just adore this polar bear.  I also used supplies from my Snow Day Project Pantry which I also adore! 

Here is a picture of my sweet 4 1/2 yr old niece Gabriella at her dance recital she had yesterday!  I’m sad I couldn’t be there to watch her this year, but her Auntie Misti snuck a picture for me & posted it on Facebook today!  Isn’t she precious?  EEEEKS!  I can’t wait to see her, her little brother, her mommy & her daddy in just 11 days!  We are going to have SO much fun!!!  We’re in the midst of planning all the fun right now.  She wants to make cupcakes, go see ‘dinosaurs’ and do ‘crafts’ (a girl after my own heart!)   Promise to share pics after all our fun as soon as I recuperate from the little ‘vacation’ ha!!

Thanks for stopping by – hope you have a great week! 

Thank You hop for STV challenge hostesses!

Hi there!  Thanks for joining us tonight for our special blog hop to thank our recently retired StampTV Challenge Hostess Team members:
Carla Suto Melissa Shultz Brenda Turner Linda Payne Giovana Smith
These 5 designers have provided StampTV with a challenge each week during the months of June, July and August and they all did a wonderful job!
My first card is for the sweet Giovanna Smith and her challenge was for Dry/heat embossing + pink!  Of course my favorite color is pink so this was not hard for me!  I used Buds and Vases by Melanie for my card and kept it clean & simple with some pretty score lines for background.  Cardstock colors are Bubblegum pink, Passionate Pink & White layering Pure Luxury.  The roses were colored with copic markers.

My 2nd card is for the lovely Carla Suto who came up with a beautiful color combination of purple, green and one neutral and I chose kraft cardstock.  I used Lovely Labels 2 for my focal image that coordinates with Labels Fourteen Spellbinder dies. I used the Victoria cuttlebug folder on my card  in addition to Autumn ribbon and buttons.

For my 3rd card, I used Buds and Vases again for the wonderfully talented Linda Payne  and her spotlighting challenge!  I just love this technique which I knew would be perfect for this set!  I kept my design clean & simple again, using Wine with Everything, Black Onyx and white pure luxury cardstock. My simple embellishment is gold lined black organdy ribbon.

On my next card I used the super cute Funny Farm set, which I thought would be perfect for Melissa Shultz who is such a thoughtful & caring friend who came up with some fabulous sketch challenges during her time as challenge hostess!  I picked this fun sketch and pretty much kept to it to the T-because of all the fun shapes!  what a great use for your scraps!  I used White, Chocolate, Little Boy Blue, Green Apple and Sweet Corn pure luxury cardstock as well as GKD buttons and jute ribbon!
and last but certainly not least because this is my FAVORITE card, is an inspiration challenge by the rockin’ stamper Brenda!   I just had to use Buds and Vases (the set is SO versatile) again because it was perfect for my interpretation of the lovely purse in the photo!

I wanted to create the black background just like on the purse for my card so I cut out a frame for the sentiment with a Labels Fourteen die.  I stamped and colored all the blooms on pure luxury cardstock (Sweet Corn, Sweet Mango and Green Apple), just highlighting it with copics, cut them out & layered them around my frame.  I placed small pearls for the flower centers. 

Next up on the hop is the wildly talented Jennie Harper – I’m sure she will dazzle us with her beautiful creations!
We have a special StampTV Challenge Magazine Volume 3* located on the Freebie Tab, where all of their challenges are shared in a download PDF that you can save to your computer and print out at your leisure!
Please join in our Thank You Discussion on Stamp TV and feel free to play along and say thank you with your own take on one of their challenges!!!  Thanks for stopping by!!

TSG challenge & fun news!

Here is a card I made for this week’s challenge {TSG77} on the TSG blog which is a color challenge: use orange, green & black.  I used my new stamp set called The Journey and colored my orchid orange.  My cardstock is Gina K. pure luxury Sweet Mango, Black Onyx and Fresh Asparagus.  My ribbon is black silk from the TE Store.  i made a window on my Victoria cuttlebugged asparagus layer with Spellbinders Nestability Labels 14 and sponged on the white layer with dandelion and potter’s clay memento inks.  The orchid was colored with copic markers.

I love the sentiment I used on this card: “When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft and strong like an orchid’s perfume”

My fun news is that I am featured on the There She Goes Trendsetter blog today!  I hope you can check it out!!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I will be back Thu evening at 10:00 pm for a Gina K. hop!

Fun News to share!!!

I totally goofed with my blog post date/time so the There She Goes card I had to share with you is sitting out there in Microsoft Live Writer blog land waiting to be uploaded!

I wanted to share with y'all that I am featured on the There She Goes Blog today on the Trendsetter Spotlight! I'd love it if you went to check it out and later I will have the blog post I intended to share uploaded.  My bad! 

Count Cuppula

Ha Ha!  Here is Dracula Cuppie (Cuppula) from Taylored Expressions Trick or Sweet set!  I just had to pair him with some Basic Grey Eerie & Prism papers for a fun Halloween card (having way too much fun paper-piecing his cape & cupcake liner)!

I stamped cuppula on Choice Buttercream cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink (my favorite ink for line art images!) and sponged on some purple clouds and dark ground.  Then I cut out cuppula and put him over the clouds & ground so there was no masking involved!  The bats I stamped in the corner are from the Frightful Night set and I colored them with copic atyou spica glitter pens.

I can’t believe Halloween is right around the corner, which means that the rest of the holidays are!  Are you ready for them?  Be sure to take a look at the 12 Days of Handmade Christmas gifts on Taylor’s blog – such fun ideas she has to make unique gifts for your family & friends!!  She is also giving away a cute apron she wears in the video to a lucky random winner-go get your name in the drawing!! 

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Mojo Onesie for Avery

Here is a card I made for Mojo Monday 159 to go along with some onesies I mailed to my fellow Bakers Dozen design team member Jodi for her sweet baby Avery (click on Jodi’s name to see her sweet girls) who was born a few weeks ago.  I wanted to wait until she received the gift before I shared it on my blog so I didn’t spoil her surprise.  I loved getting her sweet Thank You email – especially when she thanked me for remembering Avery’s big sister too (I sent her a little card & a Halloween ring pop which Jodi said she snatched right up to enjoy!) 

I used the TE set Tweet Hearts. I took my cardstock & stamp inspiration from the onesie: GKD Passionate Pink, Sweet Mango and Chocolate Brown pure luxury cardstock; Choice Snow White from TE; inks are Vivid raspberry and straw and Memento Rich Cocoa.  Embellishments are Brown with cream dot polka dot ribbon and pink pom pom trim, I even added some glittery accents on the birds with copic atyou spica pens.

Are you looking for great gift ideas for Christmas you can hand make??  Well Taylor is doing a special 12 Days of Handcrafted Christmas videos on her blog (started last week) posted Mon-Thurs for the next few weeks!  Check it out!  I know I am getting some great ideas! 

Hope you’re having a great day so far – thanks for stopping by! 

Let’s Cuddle Up!

Here’s a card I made using this week’s MFT challenge in the forum on SCS!  It is All about the Boys! - make a masculine-themed card!  I grabbed my Cuddle Up Carter set (looks to be out of stock though) and it was the first time I got it inky (felt good!)

I used some Basic Grey Oliver papers (perfect for masculine theme!) and Jen’s sketch for you to try from yesterday (always awesome!).  I made this card to send to my nephew Joey because in less than 3 weeks from now he is going to visit with his big sister Gabby, their mommy & daddy!  I am SO EXCITED about it!  They will be our first house guests!!  I can’t wait for them to see the house in person!

Have had another full weekend but the highlight of it so far was bringing our Shelby back home (she was hanging out for more than 2 weeks at her Nana’s house because she was having a difficult time with the concrete floor & getting her the right dog boots to wear so she could get around).  It broke my heart to drop her off there and we ‘think’ we have the solution but these boots seem to be a little too big.  I hate that she looks so sad but we know it’s for the best and it’s what we have to do.  When she hangs out outside, we can take them off. 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have an awesome week!

GKD designer monthly blog hop!

Welcome to our monthly designer blog hop!  Gina challenged us to use our favorite background technique but I have to admit I spaced out on this tidbit of important info and I made a card using paper-piecing (the vase) and metallic rub on paste around the perimeter of my new Lacey Circles nestabilities die (technically that’s what I used for the background right?).  I really feel silly about this but hope you like my card anyway! 

The stamp set I used is Buds & Vases by Melanie.  I kept my card base clean & simple because I have my beautifully ornate paper Basic Grey Olivia for the vase and wanted the flowers to be the focal image.  I drew inspiration for my card from the paper: bubblegum pink, turquoise sea and moonlit fog. I used the pink stitched ribbon in the romance ribbon assortment and tiny rhinestones on the die.

To see the rest of the designer’s favorite background techniques, please visit their blogs:

• GinaK
• Jessica
• Melanie
• Nina
• Theresa
• Tami
• Lee
• Cathy
• Tera - our guest designer this month!

Thanks for stopping by – hope you have a fabulous Friday & weekend!!

Friends Furever

I was so excited yesterday to get my first There She Goes stamps order; they have been on my wish list forever but I knew I just didn’t have any time to play with them until we moved so I finally took the plunge!  One of the sets I fell head over heals for is Puppy Love illustrated by Torico.  So as soon as I came home and put leftovers on the table and cleaned up, I stamped this card using this week’s recipe challenge at the TSG blog which was not a stretch for me at all but still so fun:
-Kraft card base
-Black, White and a splash of color
-Dry Embossing (Spots & Dots Cuttlebug folder)

so I used Turquoise Sea pure luxury as my splash of color – isn’t it great?  I love stamping on kraft cardstock and coloring with colored pencils (used Koh-i-noor and prismacolor) and used an inkssentials white pen to make their eyes stand out.   I had to give the pups some bling on their collars (it was cute, showed the card to John after I made it and he said, “oh I like the bling” – he does pay attention!  ha!  I went to the 2 Sketches 4 You blog for my sketch {2S4Y63} because I definitely needed a starting point for my card! I miss playing in the challenges in blog land and am so happy I can make the time now since I don’t need to pack for the move!  Instead, I need to get out in the storage shed and find things to bring IN the house but whatever – there’s plenty of time for that!  Besides, I’m enjoying the house being ‘simple’ and I am enjoying my stamping therapy!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

MTSC94: '”I didn’t forget your birthday…

 

…I just wanted my card to stand out” is what it says on the inside.  Isn’t this such a cute image and sentiment for a belated birthday wish?  This a la carte image, called Stand Out, is one of 7 Belated Birthday a la carte images, a concept by Jami Sibley illustrated by our Apple Doodle Ink artist for Taylored Expressions.  If you’re like me, you may be of the opinion you are a ‘card maker’ and not a ‘card sender’ sometimes!!  I need to get better at mailing them, I always have the best intentions to!!

I used Mercy’s Tuesday sketch {MTSC94} from last week for this card – in fact I made it on Friday night but I am just getting the opportunity to share it because we’ve been pretty busy!  On Friday night we went to see the movie, “Let Me In” which we both liked, it was pretty suspenseful and had a good vampire story line.  We went with part of the movie bunch (aka John’s co-workers) and had a good time!  I’m pretty sure the next movie we will go see will be the new Harry Potter (we’ve gone to see the last few with them).  They already deemed our house as the new ‘scary movie house’ and want us to host them, Tina (John’s co-worker who picked us up for the movie), was the first outside of family to see our new house and she concurred it would be perfect and it’s scary enough at night making the drive from the road to the house.  HA!  and she’s right, being out in the country, it is DARK out here!!

I used the Make a Wish project pantry for my card, in addition to some distress ink sponging and glossy accents for the red balloon, keeping my design ready to mail with just one stamp! I made this card for our cousin who likes birds. 

Hope your week is off to a good start!  Mine is, perhaps we will finally close on our house this week (it’s been delayed for weeks because the lender was bought out by another company-long story- so glad that did not stop us from moving in!!)  We are thoroughly enjoying our new home and I promise to share some pictures soon of my sanctuary (aka craft room) and some of the decorations.

Funny Farm GKD Blog Hop

Hello out there in blogland!  I’m thrilled to be {mostly} settled in our new home so that I can start participating in challenges and blog hops on a more consistent basis! 

Tonight some of the Gina K. designers are sharing creations using the new cute release Funny Farm!  I just adore these adorable little farm animals and kids that Gina drew!!  I used Jen’s sketch for you to try too – she always has the most fun sketches!!  I used soft sand, bubblegum, white & black onyx pure luxury cardstock.  I also used the spots & dots cuttlebug embossing folder and Gina K buttons!  I colored the animals with koh-i-noor pencils.

For even more samples with the Funny Farm stamp set prepared for tonight's hop, please visit these designer's blog links:

• Jessica
• Sharri
• Colleen
• Sankari
• Karen
• Peggy
• Tera

Then, check out the StampTV gallery using this link: funnyfarm to see all the projects added there from our entire GinaK community.  It will continue to be filled with even more samples as new projects are being added!

For a limited time, the coordinating card kit designed by Jessica Fick is included for free with the purchase of the Funny Farm stamp set.  To view the full card kit, visit Jessica's blog post here for all the details.

TE Release Day!

Welltoday’s the day stampers!  All the new fabulous release products are available in the Fresh Out of the Oven category in the TE Store!  But before you go ahead & shop – I hope you will check out what me & the rest of the Baker’s Dozen Design team has to share with you one last time!  I used Winter Wonderland and Tag You’re It {Happy Holidays} on my small treat box. The supplies I used are all in the Snow Day Project Pantry, it is SO fun, I just adore all the non-traditional colors in it.  In fact, I chose to use the purple & red combination for this card & treat and LOVE it {it almost reminds me of the red hatters-ha!}

Here’s an inside view of the Peek-a-Boo box I made & put some mints inside.   Here are links to the creations all the talented gals have to share with you-be sure to check them all out and then have fun shopping!
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Jami Sibley
Nancy McKinney
Barbara Anders – our guest designer!!

TE Sneak Peek: Tag You’re It!

Have you been enjoying all the holiday sweetness sneak peeks by Taylor & the design team?  It’s so fun to see all the different styles and wonderful creations each day!
Today I am sharing the set Tag You’re It – a super cute set of tag stamps to compliment your special holiday packaging!!  I created a set of tags and some packaging for them and I chose to make an envelope tag booklet! 

I used supplies from the new Snow Day Project Pantry which will be available for purchase, along with everything else we’ve shared with you tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CDT!  I love the non-traditional fun patters in this Crate Paper Snow Day collection!  I haven’t made one of these little booklets in years and was reminded how  easy they are to make and come out so cute.  I made a tag on the front of my tag booklet because I plan to give this as a gift to a dear friend as a surprise!  I hope she will enjoy using her tags as she decorates her Christmas gifts! 
I die cut all my tags from the set using the Favor Frame Taylored Die (colored cardstock from the kit) and just hand cut all the stamped dies – I wanted them to have a colored background.




I colored directly on the stamp with markers to create different colored outlines and variation on my tags (click the photo on the right to see a close up of the tags and a view of the inside of the booklet when you untie the purple ribbon to reveal the tag booklet’s contents!
Here is a picture of how I put the envelopes together.  Maybe you can try one some time! 
Now it’s time to check out what the rest of the team has to share with you today:
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Jami Sibley
Nancy McKinney - Whimsical Wishes illustrator!

See ya again tomorrow with more to share before you shop in the TE Store!

TE Sneak Peek: Winter Wonderland

Welcome to Day 2 of Taylored Expressions huge Holiday release!  Today we are sharing 2 beautiful holiday sets, a new Taylored Die and 2 awesome holiday Project Pantry kits!!   Mark your calendar because all these products will be available to purchase in the TE store on Thu Oct 7 at 10 a.m. CDT!

Here is a trio of cards I made using the new Whimsical Wishes line of stamps called Winter Wonderland, paired with the new Taylored Die Winter Wonderland Snowflakes!  The Project Pantry kit I used on my cards is a fun collection of classic Christmas colors with pattern paper by Girls Paperie called Tinsel & Twig.  I had fun making red & green snowflakes!  I only added a few tools to make my cards like a corner rounder punch and my Fiskars open scallop border punch.

The new Taylored Die I used is so fun!!  Although it rarely snows in Central Texas (it did one day this year!), I do like the snow but who says you have to have snow to appreciate it on a card, huh?  The snowflakes in the Winter Wonderland set fit wonderfully with the dies (at least 2 unique snowflake sizes per die!)

 When you purchase one of the Project Pantry kits, you will have access to download full color inspiration sheets with instructions by the design team to create your holiday cards when you purchase one (or both!) of the holiday project pantry kits, how awesome is that?! The cards I made in my trio are basically the same layout but with different card orientations, pattern paper and variations on embellishment placements.  That is a quick way to make a few cards but because you’re using the same elements, it’s goes together nicely and you are less likely to be bored making the same card!

I want to remind you, just in case you’ve never ventured into stamping with acrylic mounted stamps.  Taylored Expressions stamps are deeply etched die cut stamps that come on a full-color image binder sheet EZ mounted, ready to be placed on an acrylic block to stamp with the minute you rip open your happy mail!  I love that about them!   Because they come on a binder sheet, they also store 4 sets to a storage binder!  

Be sure to check out what the rest of the talented ladies have cooked up to share with you today using Winter Wonderland and Sparkle & Cheer:
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Nancy McKinney (illustrator of both sets!) is playing along with us today!
and be sure to come back tomorrow for even more stamping goodness!

TE Sneak Peek: Gobble Gobble

I’m so glad you’ve joined Taylor & the Baker’s Dozen design team bringing you 4 days of stamping goodness to inspire you to start creating your holiday projects!  You are going to adore this release, it will appeal to all the tastes in stamping from cute & whimsical to elegant and pretty – Taylor does a great job covering it all!

First up for me to share with you is the new Stamp a Sweet Impression Cuppie for Thanksgiving called Gobble Gobble!  When I saw cuppie dressed like a turkey, I cracked up!  I had fun making this interactive card, they’re easy and fun to make since the step-by-step instructions are there for you on the resources page at Splitcoaststampers!  My card is the Hidden Message Slider.  I used the new Pyrus paper  by Basic Grey, a very Fall-ish colored pad!  My cardstock is prism and couture.  I also used some gold brads for the top corners and some mocha crinkled crepe satin ribbon that’s new in the store!  Cuppie was colored with copics.

Here’s a picture showing you the rest of the greeting when you pull on the ribbon tab – fun huh? 

So be sure to check out what the other gals have to share with us today, some of them are showing you other sneak peeks like Penguin Pals, Merry Little Cocktail and Hangin’ Out at the Northpole:

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Jackie Pedro

Jodi Collins 

Karen Giron

Karen Motz

Melissa Sauls

Regina Mangum 

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Jami Sibley and Nancy McKinney are joining us today too!

Hope to see you tomorrow for more exciting sneak peeks! 

Thank Ewe Friend (I’m back!)

Here is a card I made using the new Funny Farm set by Gina K. Designs-it is SO cute {when you buy it, you also get a free card kit with enough supplies to make at least 6 cards!)  I just love all the animals and little farmer girl/boy in this set.  Did you make it to the release party at Stamptv on Thursday night?  It was sure fun. 

I chose Vicki’s sketch challenge at STV for my card; what’s so cool about her sketch is that she gives you an option of a CAS (clean & simple) sketch and an intermediate one with more layers.  I chose to do something middle of the road on mine!  The card base Innocent Pink, scallop nestability is Moonlit fog and the pattern paper is also new in the store, Olivia by Basic Grey. You have until Wed Oct 6 8:00 pm to upload your creation and have your chance at winning a free stamp set of your choice (you get 2 entries if you use GKD stamps, but you certainly are not required to!)

Did you know Gina K. is featured every month on the local Wisconsin news station?  There is a video on the main page you can see where Gina shares an easy way to get your pictures out of the shoebox and organized with one sheet of cardstock! 

Sorry it’s taken me so long to update since the move – I just needed some time to get settled so this felt like ‘home’ plus we had about a day & a half with our dog & cat adjusting to the change which was/is unsettling to us too.  In fact we’re still wondering how to get our dog Shelby around the concrete floors without having to wear paw booties which I know she hates :-(   Here is a quick photo we took before after we got cleaned up and headed back to Austin to treat our friends who helped us move to dinner and pick up the animals.  I am thrilled about our new home, relishing every moment with all the hard work to get here the past almost 4 years!  However the work is not completely done, we threw out some grass seed last night so Shelby doesn’t have to walk in the dirt (and God forbid mud when it rains!) 

Here is a picture of our wonderful friends James & Stephanie at dinner (we went to one of my favorite S. Austin joints Hill’s Cafe) and listened to some live music after dinner.  If I am correct, we met in 2004 and love them so much (and always have a lot of fun together) – it’s amazing the similarities between John and Stephanie and between James and myself – we always laugh when more and more pop up after all these years!  I made this card to send to them, by the way *smile)

I’m hosting my first dinner guests for lunch today so I better get going on some preparations – dad & stepmom Shirley (belated birthday dinner for her since it was last Sat -the day we moved). 

Thanks for stopping by!  Tomorrow Taylor & the design team will be starting sneak peeks for the huge holiday release so be sure to come back!