STV Challenges–Mrs. Snowman

Here is a card I made using this week’s challenges at STV!  Monday’s sketch {STVSKSP6} and Friday’s color challenge {STVCSP6} which is Bubblegum Pink, Black Onyx and White pure luxury cardstock!  I thought it was a fun combo to make a Christmas card for one of our little cousins who loves pink!

Here is the sketch so you can see how I pretty much stuck to it – ha!  I rarely deviate *snicker* although I finagled the placement of my sentiment because Mrs. Snowman took up most of the room on the oval nestability I cut!  I used a stamp set from last year’s Christmas release illustrated by Rupa called Winter Friends.  I used the snowflake cuttlebug embossing folder.  The snowflakes I used around her in Angel Pink ink are from the Funky Christmas set.

I hope y’all are enjoying time with your family & friends during this time and you take some time for yourself and try not to stress. Take one day at a time and remember to count your blessings!

Merry Christmas Snowman

Hi there – I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, needless to say it’s just a busy time of year and on top of that, our office building is getting ready to move!!  It has been SO hectic there, it’s crazy but once we move and get settled, it’s going to be SO awesome!  I will share more soon about that. 

In the meantime, here is a fun one-layer card I made using Hangin’ Out - at the Northpole (Whimsical Wishes line) for Taylored Expressions.   This would be a great card for mass producing, as the snowman was quick & easy to color and the glitter from the stardust stickles really packs a big holiday punch, don’t ya think? I also used the smaller snowflakes from Winter Wonderland to make it look like the snowman threw them in the air!  I colored the snowman with copic markers.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

MFT Fab Friend!!

I am so honored today to be featured on the MFT Blog as their Fab Friend!  I was so excited to have finally met Kim 11 months ago at CHA in Anaheim, she is so nice!  I have been a fan of MFT for about 2 1/2 years now, and continue to adore their stuff!  I would love it if you would go check it out! 

So in honor of this, I made a scrapbook page to send to my niece (*to go along with what I am sharing on the MFT blog*).  This picture was taken last month during their visit to Texas one night.  After we got back from the zoo and running around and having dinner, Gabby & Joey changed into their pajamas and brought out ALL the books they travelled with for me to read them!  As you can see, Gabby was paying full attention to my reading and Joey, well he wanted to ‘read’ all on his (aka look at all the pictures!) Shortly after I read about 5 books and Joey left to do something else, Gabby laid out across my legs and fell asleep.  I just wished this moment lasted forever-sniff.  That’s why I chose this sentiment for my pages – it brought tears to my eyes since I miss them so much and wish I was there to read to them every night!

Thanks for stopping by today and sharing in my fun news!!

Supplies
Stamps: MFT Wendy alpha
Cardstock: GKD Pure Luxury White, Grass Green, Wild Dandelion, Passionate Pink, Cosmo Cricket De—Lovely
Accessories: Hearts a Plenty Die-namics, Bling

MFT Flurry of Love

I had a great time yesterday stamping ALL day so I have some things to share with you!  Here is one, using Flurry of Love Pure Innocence set for the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club – Winter Wonderland!   I loved using Xmas Red stickles for her clothes, and paper-piecing them with Girls Paperie Tinsel & Twig papers.  You should play along – you can win $15 gc for the MFT store and/or be featured in the MFT favorite finds for the week! 

Hope you have a great week!!  Thanks for stopping by!

**Be sure to stop back tomorrow for a fun announcement!

FTL90 Blooms

I just love the clean & simple style especially when I am on a time crunch and the mojo may be lacking a little!  I always love a good sketch too, so for my card today I went to the Fall-to-Layout blog and grabbed my TE stamps Garden Party Blooms and made this card using the FTL90. 

Supplies: Garden Party Blooms; Cardstock: Parakeet & Lagoon (Bazzill Basics); Inks: Palette; Accessories: Caribbean Swirl organdy; Moonlight, Siren, Gold Lame, Green Apple,  and Taffy Smooch

Gina K sketch challenge& picture share!

Here is a card I whipped up as a thank you for those who came to our holiday/housewarming party on Saturday that gave us gifts (although John told them not to).  We had John’s co-workers over to see the house – expected up to 22 and 12 came, but we had a great time!  Easier to visit with everyone when there’s less people. 

Here is a copy of the sketch and link to the challenge if you’d like to play along this week for your chance to win some free GKD stamps!  You get your name in the drawing 2 times if you use GKD stamps, but you don’t have to!  I flipped the sketch to accommodate my labels 10 die, with the poinsettia border from A Year of Borders and instead of putting the sentiment on the side, I put it directly on the focal image and used my ribbon in place of it on the sketch.  I really love how the card turned out and hope the recipients enjoy it too!  They will understand more of what I do now that they saw my craft room in person! 

Supplies:
Stamps: A Year of Borders, A Beautiful Life (sentiment); Cardstock: Lipstick Red, Fresh Asparagus, Good as Gold, White
Accessories: Labels 10, White organdy ribbon,  Leafy Branches cuttlebug folder, metallic rub on paste, copic markers.

Personal Stuff:
Here are a few pictures from the party – I wish I had more but you know it’s hard when you’re the hostess and the host (John) was not very cooperative with taking pictures!!  But I guess 4 pictures are better than none…

Holiday House-warming Party VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Gearing up for our holiday party!!

I am busy preparing for a house full of up to 25 guests – combined holiday party/housewarming since we have not had time to do a housewarming party since we moved in!  This is just for John’s co-workers who are like family; we always do stuff together like go to the movies, celebrate birthdays, watch the fights, etc but I realized we never get together during Christmas outside of their work shindig (which I haven’t been able to go to since I went back to work) so we are having them over here!  I am so excited (but already exhausted since we entertained at the house last weekend too!) oh well…it will just make this year that much more memorable.  Here is a picture of our decorated tree and hearth.  This is my first time to get a Noble Fir tree, I just LOVE it.  Decorated in red, white & silver with white lights.  The poinsettias are real.  I just noticed I had moved the little chest and reindeer from the right side because we took a picture and I forgot to move them back.  duh. 

I will be back in a few days after I recover from the madness and have some pictures to share.  Hope you have a great weekend! 

TE Release Day! Time to Dig In!!

So today is the day – all the fabulous sets (full and petites), dies and impression plate are available for purchase!  I hope you have had fun hopping around all the designer’s blogs for all the eye candy & fabulous ideas using the offerings!


For my project today, I have a card to share with you using one of the Crafty Petites sets, Sew Happy illustrated by Nancy McKinney!  I used almost all the same supplies as I did yesterday for my mini sewing kit: Crate Paper Restoration pattern paper, Choice Buttercream and grey cardstock.  I die cut a large scallop border from the pattern paper then layered some Ivory crochet trim and red ric rac over that.  Then added a Jenni Bowlin vintage cream button with ivory thread to make my card vintage, a style I love and aspire to do well!  I used 3 of the small images and they are all punched out with a 1” square punch so they are perfect for inchies!!  Since I used the sentiment ‘sewing mends the soul’, I decided to sew with some ivory thread and sewed crooked (a little hard to do since it's more natural to sew straight!)  Makes me realize I want to branch out and sew more than just on my cards *wink*  I colored the images with copic markers and added some silver half back pearls to the straight pins on the pin cushion. 
So now be sure to hop around the rest of the Baker’s Dozen designer’s blogs to be inspired and then have fun shopping!  Be sure to check out the Fresh Out of the Oven catergory where you will see all the new stuff added in one area so you don't miss anything!
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen *she will have full color photos of all the sets as well as the bundles available this release*
Tori Wild
Jami Sibley
Nancy McKinney (our Whimsical Wishes line illustrator!)
Mona Pendleton (our guest designer!)

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

TE Sneak Peek Day 2: Crafty Petites

We have a new offering at Taylored Expressions called Crafty Petites illustrated by the talented Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line of stamps!   They come with a full color panel like our larger sets {3” x 5.5”}  but with smaller images that are too cute to believe!  There are 7-8 per images per set complete with coordinating sentiments!  You may just have to pick up a set or two for yourself and a crafty friend too (makes great stocking stuffer for just $7.95!)

For my first card, I used the Kitschy Kitchen set with the little toaster and toast poppin’ up!  I used Prism cardstock in Baby Pink Medium, red cardstock from Cottage Christmas, Choice Snow White and Walk in the Park pattern paper by Echo Park.  Ribbon is Carnation Pink Poly Twill, cotton thread from my stash and Basic Grey button.

My next project is a little cover for a portable emergency sewing kit!  I used the Sew Happy craft petite set which is so fun for anyone who loves to sew!  I used Crate Paper Restoration pattern paper and,Choice Snow White and Classic Red Prism paper.  I cut the thread image out with my 1 1/4” to give you an idea of the size of the image.  I made a belly band to keep the kit closed.  

Here is a picture of the contents of the sewing kit with the belly band pulled off.  This would make a cute little gift for any gal who always wants to be prepared!!
Here is a list of all the blogs to go check out now for crafty petite goodness! Hope to see you back tomorrow when all 4 petites, full size set and 5 dies and 1 impression plate will be available for purchase – set your reminder for Friday, Dec 3 at 10:00 a.m. CST!



Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Nancy McKinney
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen (*Click to see a comparison in size with the other sets we sell*)
Tori Wild

TE Sneak Peek Day 1: Friendship Blooms

Welcome to our first day of sneak peeks for Taylored Expressions!  Today we have Friendship Blooms, a pretty all-occasion set illustrated by Nancy McKinney as part of the Whimsical Wishes line of stamps.  We also have 2 sets of Taylored Dies to coordinate with this set to make the versatility even greater!
For my card, I used Basic Grey Curio paper, Sunflowers Medium Prism and Choice Snow White cardstock.  I stamped and die cut the leafy branch (pictured below) and put the bloom in the center over a Labels 10. I also used one of our other new Taylored Dies, the large scallop (pictured below).  I couldn’t help but make this a shabby chic card by adding some white crochet trim, Sunshine Yellow silk ribbon and in the center is a Webster’s Pages scalloped clear sparkler. 

Be sure to check out all the wonderful inspiration by The Baker’s Dozen & our fabulous illustrator and hope to see you back tomorrow for Day 2! 
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Nancy McKinney