It's RELEASE DAY at Taylored Expressions! All the new products for June are now available in the "Fresh out of the Oven" Department at the TE Store! Now you can see ALL the new items in one place and find something to inspire you for Summer!

Today I'm featuring the Beach Border Die….and this one was my idea! Taylor brought it to life and now I can play with it. So awesome! I love the little surfboard leaning against the tree…and the tiki hut all cozy on the beach…

I had so many ideas for this one, and I decided to go with a twilight scene with a big full moon, and puffy clouds like you would see in Hawaii. I used several shades of blue ink to create my background and then cut the border out of nice, crisp black.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's how I made my background….I cut a circle and a Clouds Border Die out of paper. Got out my favorite shades of blue distress inks…. I set my silhouette on the paper to see where I wanted the moon to go, and then tacked it down.

 

 

 

I used the clouds border as my stencil and started sponging on color!

 

 

 

Here it is after two layers of clouds….

 

 

 

Almost done….

 

 

 

Here is the final background piece, ready for my beachy scene!

 

 

 

 

 

The Baker's Dozen gals have made some super cool projects with this die. I hope you will check out the TE Gallery to see more!   Have a FABULOUS day everyone!  

SUPPLIES: Beach Border Die (new), Clouds Border Die, Distress Inks

Here are your release day links!!!  

Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach

Jami Sibley
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
Kerri Michaud

Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Tammie Edgerton
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess

 

Welcome back for day two of Taylored Expressions June Release Week! Tomorrow is the big release day! It's always so fun to share all the new stuff with you. Today I have two cards to share! One is a get well card and one is a silly Moka card.

My first card was made using the new Graphic Greetings – Get Well stamp. Don't you love these Graphic Greetings? I do! They make great backgrounds and look just as good as the focal point of a card. This one is going out to a sweet friend who just had surgery. I made it nice and bright!

 

 

 

 

A fun trick with this big graphic stamps is to take part of the stamp and ink it in a different color. This adds some visual interest. I also popped it up on some foam tape.

 

 

 

Here's a pretty polka dot butterfly….

 

 

 

This picture shows my layers…lots of layers!

 

 

 

Next up is a card featuring a new Moka girl….Moka Sunshine! She's too adorable! She looks nothing like me in the morning! LOL. She looks all sweet and happy… I like the sentiments that come with this set. I paired it with some super bright Doodlebug paper and colored her with my Copics.

 

 

 

I added a touch of twine and a pink pearl…

 

 

 

I cut Moka Sunshine out and placed her on a turquoise background…can never have toooo much color!

 

Thanks for popping by to see what's up for release week! See you tomorrow! XO 

SUPPLIES – GET WELL: Graphic Greetings Get Well Stamp (new), Flutter-bys Dies, Echo Park Sweet Girl paper, Memento Ink.

SUPPLIES – MORNING CARD: Moka Sunshine (new), Banner Stacklets 1 dies, Clouds Impression Plate, Doodlebug Fruit Stand paper, twine and pearls, Copic Markers, Memento Ink.  

Here are your super awesome links for today:

Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
Kerri Michaud
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Tammie Edgerton
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess

Hi stamping friends! I have some cool, fun, exciting, happy, awesome news! I was so very kindly invited to be the June Guest Designer over at the Color Throwdown Blog! Yippeeeeee! I love this blog, and I really love this talented group of crafty bloggers, and so it is my honor to stamp with them all month. Each week, on Wednesday, there is a new color challenge to play. I hope you will play along with us and enter your cards!

Here is the challenge image and the color scheme for this week:

 

 

I was having a hard time coming up with an idea… I was thinking flowers at first, but nothing grabbed me. Then I was thinking butterflies…. Then it hit me! I'll do circles! LOL. I interpreted the challenge image quite literally! Here is my card –

 

 

 

 

I embossed a bright white background with a pretty pattern… Then I found some papers in the challenge colors and made these rosettes! After messing up a bunch of them I got out the hot glue gun to adhere them together. Fabulous! No more holding them together until they dry. Why didn't I think of that sooner?

 

 

 

I decided to add some buttons and pearls to make it more feminine…

 

 

 

Here is a side view of my layering….

 

I'm so happy to be joining this group for June! Here are the links to the Color Throwdown team blogs. They are wonderful…just sayin'! 

Barbara Anders – Paper Pursuits

Tammy Hershberger – Stamp Happy
Broni Holcombe – Splashes of Watercolor
Denise Marzec – The Paper Landscaper
Lynn Put – The Queens Scene

Hi there bloggy peeps and friends of Taylored Expressions! It's that time again…time for another wonderful product release! June will not dissapoint – I guarantee it! Release week goes for four days, so make sure to come by each day and see what's new from Taylored Expressions! On Thursday I'm sharing a cool new border die designed by….ME! Yup! It's an idea I've had for a long time, and it's finally come to be. I can't wait to share it! Thursday is also the day everything will be available in the store. This release is all about Summer. LOVE it!

I'm sharing two cards today. First up is a card featuring the AMAZING new Ray of Sunshine Cutting Plate. Can I even tell you how many times I have tried to make a card like this – freehand? Oy. Well, now, with this new die, it's easy-peasy! So cool. Take a look…. 

 

 

 

 

How fun is this? The rays are PERFECT! I have thrown away lots of paper trying to do this. LOL. I know this is going to be a favorite from now on. Also, the center was made using the new Pinking Circles dies. They match so great with the rays. I used my favorite paper right now – Vintage Bliss….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is a super gnarly rad surfing birthday card made using the new Ride the Wave stamp set and surfboard die! I love anything vintage Hawaii and this set is perfect for that type of project. I used some retro 70's colors to give my card a masculine touch.

 

 

 

These palm tree silhouetts are going to get a lot of use…. Cowabunga!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by! LOTS in store for you this week!  

SUPPLIES – SUNSHINE CARD: Ray of Sunshine Cutting Plate (new), Pinking Circles Stacklets (new), Vintage Bliss collection from Simple Stories.

SUPPLIES – RIDE THE WAVE CARD:  Ride the Wave Stamp Set (new), Surfboard Die (new), MME Notable paper collection, Distress Inks, Memento Inks, Copic Markers.  

Here are the links to the lovely Bakers Dozen Design Team ladies!  

Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach
Jami Sibley
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
Kerri Michaud
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Tammie Edgerton
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess

Hello lovely peeps in blogland! How are you? The hubs and I are just back from our delightful ocean vacation to Carmel-by-the-Sea, and I'm still relaxed and moving slow. Ahhhh. Five days with no television, no laptop and no phone calls. It was nice to 'check out' for a minute. We had a romantic time talking and just being together. We were celebrating being a couple for 20 years. He's still the person I want to hang out with the most! I'm very lucky. I also took some pix with my new camera, did some shopping, had dinner with my fav aunt and uncle and mostly,  breathed the ocean air. I'll try to get busy and post some photos here to share.

Today I'm sharing some Summer cards I made a week or so ago. Again, with the orange and yellow! Must be ready to switch color palettes! Both cards are light hearted and CAS in design. Hope you like 'em! After I post this I need to get in gear and start working on my June Taylored Expressions cards. Thank you for coming by today!

First up a sweet bicycle card I made using stamps from Printworks. I bought these stamps at the RSC in April and finally got 'em inky!

 

 

 

 

The card base and the stamped layer are both watercolor paper. I colored the images with watercolor pencils. The saying is stamped on vellum with stayz-on ink. Super sweet and simple.

 

 

 

The flowers are a separate stamp, so I popped them up on some foam tape for dimention. My coloring is loose and flowy, not in the lines. This makes the project more casual.

 

 

 

My second card is made with a cute stamp set from Unity! I thought it was really fun and happy! Orange is perfect for Summer projects. And, I paired it with some lime green, and just a wee touch of prisma glitter!

 

 

 

 

 

Orange you glad you stopped by?? Snicker! I know I am. Have a great day and a lovely weekend to come! Are you making Summery projects yet? 🙂

 

Hi everyone! Happy Memorial Day weekend! Summer is here, and  I'm declaring it the 'Summer of Shabby Chic!'  Or, should I say, Modern Shabby Chic? Are you out having a grand old time this weekend? BBQ? Swimming? Graduation parties?  I hope you are outside and having fun! The hubs and I are on a romantic getaway to the ocean right now to celebrate 20 years together. I am proud of us. It's a big milestone and I'm so happy to share my life with a great man. I'll fill you in more when we get home (and I'm sure I'll have some photos to share too!)

I sat down last weekend to make cards and every single card ended up having yellow or orange, or both. I must be in that Summer sunshine frame of mind. Today's card is one of the ones I made with this bold and happy color combo.

 

 

 

 

All of these products are from the Prima collection called Lady Bird! OMG OMG OMG. Seriously!! And, I bought everything at Scrapbook Territory! This actually has a fun story attached….. At CHA in January I was standing in the Prima booth with my mouth wide open staring at this gorgeous collection, and up walks Diane from Scrapbook Territory! I think she had something else going on, so she was like – 'order whatever you want!'  Um, yeah, so I did! Didn't have to tell me twice!  I love every single piece in this collection – from the pearls to the flowers to the cool paper pads.

 

 

 

I distressed all the paper layers in this card and really just had fun putting all this color together. I added the glitter to the flowers with some Stickles after I had the whole card together… Oh, and I had to add a butterfly too!

 

 

 

Here's a look at my paper layers….

 

 

 

And a close up of the pretty flowers….

 

THANK YOU for coming by to see what I'm up to. It means the world to me. Happy Weekend everyone! Happy Memorial Day to you also! If you have loved ones who serve or who have served – thank you to them from our house to yours. XOXO 

Hi bloggy pals! How is your week going? My week needs to hurry on up because I'm off work next week! Yippeeee! Haven't had a week off in almost a year and a half and it's (long) overdue. More about that later… I've been dying to share today's card with you! Last Saturday I was invited to a delightful tea party to celebrate my crafty friend May's birthday (May's awesome blog here) and I knew I had to make her a super cool card. It all started with the Tim Holtz Tattered Flower die…and just flowed from there.

I knew that I wanted to use the die in a new way. Usually I cut out the flowers and layer them and distress and grunge 'em up. So, I decided to cut them out of watercolor paper and watercolor them in soft colors! I must say that I am really happy with how they came out! I used a Spring color palette of yellow, orange and purple. I made all the flowers first, and then they sat on my table for a while. Bam! The inspiration hit me – make a teacup to put them in! To make the teacup I printed out a template from Google and hand cut it out of watercolor paper. I added some pearls to the front to make it fancy. Voila!

 

 

 

 

I love how dimensional this card is…I just kept building layers and layers of flowers….and foam tape! The pearls with these colors is so fresh!

 

 

 

Here's a side view of the finished card. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and it was stamped on vellum and folded to go over the bottom of the tea cup.

 

 

 

 

Here are my die cuts made from watercolor paper…

 

 

 

I wasn't really careful with coloring them – It's okay to be messy! You can see my water pen and my ink pads. That's all you need!

 

 

 

All my finished pieces after they were dry…

 

 

 

The finished flowers! I cupped them in my hand and gently turned the petals upwards so that they weren't completely flat.  

 

 

 

Hmmmm….This took me a while….to figure out exactly how to place them for the best look!

 

 

 

I started with the green leaves around the top edge of the tea cup. Then I just worked with it until I liked it all. I placed the centerpiece on a white doily and some pretty gingham paper.

 

 

 

Construction….

 

 

 

Yay! It looks done now! 

 

 

 

 

And one last close up of the flowers!

 

This was such a fun and creative journey for me! I hope you have enjoyed looking at this card here today, and I hope it inspires you in some way! Have a most fabulous day everyone!  

 

 

Hi there! Yup, another month has gone by and it's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge again! This is a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions Design Team to share what makes our studios tick…and a time to share ideas and tips. Each month Taylor and Jami think up a fun, crafty question for us to answer!

The question for May is: "What is your favorite time of year? Some of us love the sunshine and the heat of Summer, while some of us long for the crisp cool air of Fall. Do Spring flowers make your heart sing or is it snow and the scent of pine that makes you jolly? Tell us about your favorite Season and your favorite time to stamp and make a caledar project to showcase your Season!"

I have two favorite seasons! I love Fall because of leaves and football and cozy evenings. But, I love Spring because of all the color, and the poofy clouds after a Spring rain, butterflies, and flowers… So those are my two favorite times of year to stamp. (And frankly, Christmas stamping kinda stresses me out!) 

I decided to make a Spring themed card and calendar gift set to share with you today. I often will use a tiny calendar page to make a card. It is fun to showcase a significant date for the recipient – a birthday, or anniversary, or retirement date…

Here's my calendar, framed and ready to gift! I think this would be pretty sitting on someone's desk at work on home… 

 

 

This elegant butterfly die is a total favorite of mine! And, oh, that paper….. 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a matching card to go with my calendar gift! I have a friend whose birthday is January 17th, so I marked the date with a teeny butterfly! To keep the gift matchy matchy I used all the same papers and the same stamp set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calendars make great gifts, especially for gal pals and co-workers. I love to make calendars every year for my closest friends. They make nice New Year presents! All of the 2014 (ack!) calendar products are in the TE store for those of you who like to get a jump on things.  

SUPPLY LIST: Happy Heart Stamp Set, Bikes and Trikes Stamp Set, Elegant Butterflies Dies, Label Stacklets 2 Dies, Petal Pop Ups 2 Dies, Whimsy #'s Dies, Simple Stories Vintage Bliss Paper, Pearls.

Here are the links to the Baker's Dozen Design Team! Have fun looking at all the cool calendar projects posted today:

Carole Burrage

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Kerri Mchaud

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess 

 

Hello bloggy friends! Did you see my last blog post? Oy. Well, the new A/C unit is installed and the cool air is blowing again…and my crabbiness is waning… Yesterday I went to  a lovely tea party birthday party for one very cool artsy chick I know! I'll be sharing her birthday card soon – been dying to show everyone! Today is my day to post over at A Blog Named Hero, and I'm sharing the same card here. This card was inspired by a gorgeous pink dogwood tree I found a few weeks ago while out taking pictures. The Hero Arts Dogwood stamp was the perfect stamp! I don't know why, but dogwood trees always remind me of antiques and old times? Is that weird? They are so beautiful and elegant. I decided to make sort of an Antiquey/Victorian card.  

 

 

 

I stamped my image twice onto watercolor paper, in brown ink. I stamped two, since I knew I would want to layer at least part of the image later. Turns out that Victorian Velvet Distress Ink is the EXACT color of those blooms! I watercolored with my water pen and my ink pads…. You can see I added a touch of Spruce ink as a shadow around parts of the image.

 

 

 

 

I really love the sentiment stamps with this new font from Hero Arts! I added some text in the corner using just part of a large background stamp. (You can see my full supply list on the ABNH blog!)

 

 

 

Thanks for coming by to check out what I'm up to! Have a fantastic weekend! XO

 

 

And here is a photo of the inspiring tree!

Hello friends! How are you this fine day? Hope you are having a good week! It's been hot here in these parts and on Saturday the air conditioner broke at our house. The new one is installed today and I'm pretty sure I'm still having a heart attack about how much it's all going to cost. OMG. Trying to find the opportunity to be grateful!  So, we've been without A/C all week and I've been a little 'rough around the edges' shall we say. I do not like to be hot when I'm sleeping!

Since I'm feeling a wee bit crabby, I decided to go with it and make a funny crabby card to share with you! It's one of my days to post a Taylored Expressions project and I adore this Under the Sea stamp set….and this little crabby guy. (Although he doesn't really seem crabby) LOL. I hope this makes you smile and laugh at me!

 

 

 

I used my circle nestabilities to cut out three circles on my white panel. Then I lightly drew the outlines of the circles with a pencil on another piece of paper – to get my images all lined up where I wanted them. I like the first one – upside down. Makes me giggle. I colored them with my Copics in R24, R27 and a bit of R20.

 

 

You know that no project is complete unless it has half a roll of foam tape on it! I mounted my 'circle' panel with foam tape to pop it off the page. At the last minute I added some red gems. I resisted the urge to glitter….

Here's to cooler days ahead and a great weekend! Thanks for coming by – hope ya didn't get pinched!