Category: Blog

Hi! How is your week going so far? Welcome back to Day 2 of Sneak Peeks for Taylored Expressions' February Release! Glad you joined the party! Today I am featuring more great new stuff from TE. I used the same set of products to make two birthday cards to share with you on this fine day. I am IN LOVE with this new paper pack from Pebbles, called Seen and Noted, so I used it for both cards.

I'm featuring the new stamp set called Milestone Markers, along with an AWESOME new alphabet and numbers dies set called Whimsy. These dies are going to be favorites of mine, I can already tell. The stamp set is perfect for milestone occasions….you'll see!

First up is a HAPPY birthday card…literally! I used the Whimsy Alpha dies to spell out the word "happy" and then used the Milestone Markers stamp for the "birthday." I used the fab Banners dies to make fun flags for the top of my card.

 

 

 

 

How fabulous is this alphabet??? And this paper???

 

 

 

Here you can see my layers, and my pretty flags! They're easy to make, using pins from the sewing section of the craft store, and some tape!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This really does make me happy!

 

 

 

For my second card, I used the Milestone Markers stamp set along with the Whimsy #'s dies. Seems like everyone I know is turning 50! (Luckily I am still two years away…whew…) The stamp set is great for anniversaries or birthdays. LOVE the font, too. I made my little banners by cutting half circles with my Nesties and then putting them on some Doodle Twine. 

 

 

 

 

I thought maybe this card needed a cute little ice cream cone accent! See the cool "th" stamp? LOVE that for using numbers on cards! Perfect idea for a stamp!

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my circle banners!

 

 

 

And here's a shot of my layers…

 

 

Just a reminder that everything new is going to be available TOMORROW!! Yippeeeee!! Come back on Thursday and Friday for more projects and to see the rest of the new stuff on the Baker's Dozen blogs.

SUPPLY LIST – Both Cards: Milestone Markers Stamp Set (new), Whimsy Numbers Dies (new), Whimsy Alpha Dies (new), Banner Stacklets 1 dies, Large Scallop Border die, Notepaper die, Build a Treat dies, Circle Nestabilities, Pebbles Seen and Noted Papers, Memento Inks.

Here's your linky list for today!

• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Lynnette Kauffman
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess 

Hi blog friends! Greetings for the end of the year! I wanted to take some time today to have you help me celebrate my THREE YEAR BLOGAVERSARY! Wooo Wooo! It's been such a fun ride, and it's been more interesting and rewarding than I would have ever imagined! Here is the link to my very first blog post. I had no idea where this would lead. I'm happy that I embarked on this wonderful journey – and here we are – all this time later. Blogging has been such a joy in my life. It would take me forever to write it all down. I have met the kindest people from all over the world and have been given so many great opportunities to work with the best crafters and companies out there. In a couple of weeks I will go to my second CHA Convention. Who would have thought all this would happen? I'm so grateful it did!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has made my life richer by following along with me at A Blog Called Wanda. I read every single comment and every email I get from you. The support is overwhelming. I am uplifted daily by the kindness of other people I've never even met! Blogging restores my faith in the world. It makes me happy to share with you! THANK YOU for being there for me!

Here are some fun stats… I like to put them here to share, and also so I can come back and read later too! Last year, I ended the year with 387 total blog posts, 3104 total comments and 221,000 blog hits. This year, I will end the year with 560 total blog posts (now I know why I feel like I'm always busy!), 5413 total comments and 362,000 lifetime blog hits! Also, I now have 365 email subscribers (Yeah!) and have had 104,000 unique visitors to my site (that's more than my entire city I live in!) SO MUCH FUN!

I have some New Year's cards to share with you on the 1st! Today I'm sharing (some of) my favorite projects from the past year. I saw this on someone else's blog, and loved the idea of doing a recap. It was hard to choose my favs! But here goes…. 

January's card was made with fun new products from October Afternoon in bright, happy colors. 2012 was definitely a year for butterflies…as you'll see…

 

 

 

February's card was full-on classic and vintage-y Valentine yumminess with a more is more attitude!

 

 

 

March's card had some Lawn Fawn cuteness…

 

 

 

In April I was starting to think about Spring time!

 

 

 

May's card is classic stamping, and I tried out my new Distress Markers!

 

 

 

June's card was one of my Summer projects for Taylored Expressions!

 

 

 

This July card may be my favorite for the whole year?? I love green, and I just adore how clean and simple this card came out. Yummies from Memory Box.

 

 

 

August's card was my entry for the Hero Arts Card Contest…

 

 

 

In September I had fun making this one with the new Latte Anya!

 

 

 

October's card was made with the amazing pumpkin dies from Papertrey Ink and my favorite gingham paper.

 

 

 

November's card was my entry for the Moxie Fab World contest. I really loved making this distressed leaves and then adding the yummy glitter.  

 

 

 

December's favorite was made with the super cute Swanky Snowdudes from Paper Smooches. These were really fun to make!

 

 

And, finally, a few of my favorite pics from the year. You might remember when I went bonkers over Washi tape?

 

 

And our mini vacay to Palm Springs in April….

 

 

 

And the foothills in Autumn…. 

 

 

 

One of our many trips to the City by the Bay…this particular day in March had the most spectacular clouds I've ever seen. Magical day.

 

That's it for today. Please, again, accept my humble thanks and my gratitude to you all for making my blogging journey so much fun. I hope you and your families had a great 2012!! Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for all of us!  XOXO 

 

  A CHRISTMAS PRAYER

Loving Father, 
  help us to remember the birth of Jesus, 
  that we may share in the song of the angels, 
  the gladness of the shepherds, 
  and the worship of the wise men.

  Close the door of hate and 
  open the door of love all over the world. 
  Let kindness come with every gift and 
  good desires with every greeting.

  Deliver us from evil by the blessing 
  which Christ brings, and teach us to 
  be merry with clear hearts.

  May the Christmas morning make us happy 
to be Thy children, and the Christmas evening
  bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, 
  forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

 

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

Wanda, Mark and Buddy

Hi friends! Wow, the days are winding down and Christmas is right around the corner! Are you ready!? I think I've given up. I am definitely NOT ready! The important things are done, the presents are mailed and the cards are sent. I guess everything else will have to wait until next year! It's time to enjoy the season before it gets away. This morning when I left for work it was 26 degrees!!! In Sacramento? Brrrrr. We are wimps, and lemme tell ya, it was COLD! That puts me in the mood for Christmas! I hope you are having a great week!

Tonight I'm sharing a card I made with the SUPER cute special edition stamp set from Simon Says Stamp…and it's called Furry Friends! Love that! I got out the Copics and had fun coloring this adorable image. Of course, I had to make the kitty orange like Buddy! Here's my card:

 

 

 

 

Turns out my Buddy is Copic color YR14 – Caramel! LOL. I added some stripes in a darker color. He even has a white tummy just like Buddy, and pink ears!

 

 

 

I added a green pom pom to the doggie's hat and a little heart to the sentiment word bubble. Just a few touches of Stickles to complete it… 

 

 

 

Here are my supplies:  

 

 

 

And my Copic palette:

 

Buddy and I wish you joy and love to you and your furry friends this Christmas!

 

Tonight after work we went out to scope out some lights… Here is an instagram shot done with my iPhone of the CA state Capitol building and tree. It's so beautiful!

 

 

 

Here's a gorgeous house we saw on our travels… 

And here's me being silly with my iPhone apps! Adding hearts and sparkles and words to a bokeh shot of the lights from the Capitol tree. Can't get enough of those cool apps…

 

 

 

 

Remember that all the products are now available in the TE STORE!  Today's spotlight day features stamp sets from Emily Burger's stamp line called Embracing Grace.

Today I'm using a new Petite set called Hoot Hoot Hooray and matching dies! I also used the new Stacklets 3 dies to make my background for my little owlies! I made a clean and simple card design that would be perfect for a friend…

 

 

Can you see how perfectly the matching dies cut out the owls? Love that. For my branches, I cut them from kraft paper and then edged them in brown ink.

 

 

For my feature panel, I used the new Stacklets 3 die and then embossed my blue paper with the Clouds Impression Plate!

 

 

 

  

 

 

Sadly, tomorrow is the last day of release week for December 2012…. I hope you come back one last time to check out the new Petite stamp sets! Until then, here's your linky list for today!  

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

 

Hi my bloggy friends! Whassssssup?! Happy Friday to you! Where did this week go? I can't believe I didn't blog all week. I have been busy at work and then at night, I have to be honest, I've really just felt like putting my feet up and relaxing. I'm am not motivated right now! I meant to stamp every night, but it just did not happen. Do you have weeks like that? Are you ready for December to start tomorrow? I have a fun event to go to tomorrow night – the Paper Garden Christmas party! I'll see all the lovely ladies there at the store and all our crafty buds will be there too! If it's not raining, the hubs and I will go out and look at Christmas lights afterwards. I'll let you know….

Today I have a CAS Christmas card to share. It's made with brand new Memory Box products from this season. We made this card in my August classes….thought you might like to check it out. Classic, clean, red, white and green.

 

 

 

This cute stocking die is the perfect size for cards – yup, Memory Box! So love the details on the top part – really makes it special. Can you see the damask pattern on the red part of the stocking? I took the large Memory Box Damask Heart Stamp and stamped it with Versamark ink. It looks nicer in person – hard to get a good picture of it!

 

 

I always love red, white and kraft together…. I like to keep most of my Christmas cards flat for mailing – like this one.  This is a brand new sentiment from Memory Box too…

 

 

Some foam tape for my layers…and there you have it!

Do you hand make all your Christmas cards? Have you started yet? I'm about half way done with mine. I hope to finish next week and then start addressing them. I always say I'm going to start early…but I never do! I hope you have a most wonderful weekend!

 

 

It's Taylored Expressions November 2012 Release Day! Yippppeeeeee! This week has already been so much fun…and it's not over yet!

All of the new Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department. Everything is just so cute and happy this month!

Be sure to check the TE Current Specials page to find out how you can get your very own  Crafty Expressions stamp set for FREE! 

 

I have the most adorable set to share with you today…it's called 'Welcome Gnome!' LOL! Love it! This set is from the Apple Doodle Ink Collection from Doug Applegate and features funny sayings and adorable gnomes. The Baker's Dozen had a good time trading emails coming up with silly sayings for this one!

 

 

 

This is the GORGEOUS new border die out this month – The Lace Chain Border Die. Oh man! This is fabulous! You can also see a close up of the leaves made with the new Mega Leaves Dies. Just as awesome. You guys know I use the mini leaves all the time…now I have big ones too!

 

 

 

The paper that matches exactly is from MME and is called Gnome Sweet Gnome and it's available in the TE Store. If you buy this set, you have to get this paper too! I colored my little gnome couple with my trusty Copics.

 

 

 

Here is my Copic palette….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used some of the matching paper to do my Signature on the back of the card. Yup, that's from Signature Style too!

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun looking at everyone's blogs today! It's officially RELEASE DAY so everything is out now! Yay! Here's your link list:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Kerri Michaud (Guest Designer)
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

 

Hi friends! SO, I don't really ever do this, but today has TWO blog posts! It was the scheduled day for our fun Calendar Challenge at Taylored Expressions today…but then I also had something else to share. My wonderful, crazy stamping friend Corky celebrates Dia de los Muertos each year (which is today) and I always have fun trying to make something colorful and funky to send her on this holiday. This year Paper Source had all kinds of cool stuff for Dia…including this awesome sugar skull stamp. I bought each of us a stamp and then had fun playing with color! What do you think?

 

 

After I made my rosette and layers, I sprayed the whole thing with glimmer mist pearl paint! Oooooh! I stamped the background paper myself with some pretty, bright inks.

 

And, you know the whole thing just needed some bling!!!  

 

The best thing about alphabet dies and stamps is that you can make a custom card for ANY occasion…see! So much fun to make things personal for my friends. Hope you've enjoyed this one.   

 

Look out…here it is November already! I am finally feeling like I'm getting over my cold…just in time for my birthday on Saturday. Not sure what we're doing that day…but it will involve food and shopping in some form! I'm just looking forward to spending the day with hubs and hanging out. Have a wonderful day!  

 

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 4th Birthday and you’re invited to our Birthday Bash! I'm kind of sad that this week is over! I hope you've had just as much fun as I have with all the great new items from TE.
• All of the new products are NOW available for purchase. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department.
• Lots of inspiration from the Baker's Dozen – just follow the link list at the end of this post.
• Check out the Current Specials to find out how you can earn a FREE Belated Birthday A la Carte Stamp or a FREE You Take the Cake Full-size Stamp Set.   Birthday Bash Specials will award you FREE stamps with purchases over $50 and over $150.

I have been dying all week to share this last card with you! I think it's my favorite for the week! I've used a new stamp from the *te* by Taylor VanBruggen line. It's called Graphic Greetings A la Carte – Halloween! We are kicking off a new line of on-trend A la Carte stamps.  The graphic subway-style art will make for some quick and easy cards, treats and wraps, as well as scrap pages. The Birthday one is awesome too! Oh, and a perfect new Halloween die set!

 

 

 

 

 

The main white part has the stamp/graphic. It's all ONE stamp! Isn't it great? I stamped on white paper, embossed in black, and then distressed my edges with some grey ink…sppooookkky!

 

 

 

I made some cool graphic black-on-black spiderwebs for my background paper. I love how this came out. I also added some spiders and some black gems.

 

 

 

Here's the die, and my black cut outs…

 

 

 

I put versamark ink on them and then dunked them into my cauldron of clear embossing powder…

 

 

The end result is glossy black spiderwebs! EEEK! (Oh and there are my turquoise fingernails again!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry to see this week come to a close! You can now see and buy everything that's new for the month of September. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say there is something for everyone this time around! It's been really fun sharing with you this week! Have a wonderful weekend!  

Links list for today:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT      Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

 

 

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 4th Birthday and you’re invited to our Birthday Bash! Have you been having fun all week seeing the new items?
• All of the new products are NOW available for purchase. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department.
• Lots of inspiration from the Baker's Dozen – just follow the link list at the end of this post.
• Check out the Current Specials to find out how you can earn a FREE Belated Birthday A la Carte Stamp or a FREE You Take the Cake Full-size Stamp Set.   Birthday Bash Specials will award you FREE stamps with purchases over $50 and over $150.

Today I'm featuring the new stamp set from the Embracing Grace line by Emily Burger – Let's Chat! It's a full size set of 14 – Jami presented this concept all about keeping in touch and Emily executed in her signature adorable style. These stamps have a set of coordinating telephone dies as well.  We introduced this set as part of a promo at the stamp convention in Cincinnati and it was a hit, so we're looking forward to it going out in wide release. 

 

 

 

 

These stamps and dies are really cute! I love the old fashioned phone, and the perfect sentiment, for a nice card for a friend.

 

 

 

Today I'm using new papers from MME called The Sweetest Thing – Lavender. So pretty and feminine!

 

 

 

This little pink phone gets the perfect cut out using the new dies….Look at the awesome edges…LOVE this.

 

Each phone in the stamp set has it's own die! Nice!

 

It's totally time to shop!  But first, we have more new stamps and dies to show you.  We are featuring Let's Chat, Up a Tree, Mixed Blooms, Dial in Style Dies, Let's Chat Telephone Dies today. Here are the links for today's fun projects:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT      Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Carolyn King (Guest Designer)

 

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 4th Birthday and you’re invited to our Birthday Bash! This party just keeps going on and on!!
• All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, September 6th at 8am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department.
• Sneak peeks Monday through Wednesday and the party continues with spotlights Thursday and Friday – lots of inspiration!
• Check the Current Specials on Thursday morning to find out how you can earn a FREE Belated Birthday A la Carte stamp or a FREE You Take the Cake full-size stamp set. Birthday Bash Specials will award you FREE stamps with purchases over $50 and over $150.
• 2 WAYS TO WIN!

1. You Take the Cake Contest  Go to Taylor's blog to get all the details on how you can win two stamp sets of your choice by guessing which illustrator contributed each image in our You Take the Cake Sampler Set.

2.  Join us on Facebook for an early reveal of all the new stamp sets Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST. Leave comments during the party for a chance to win one of the gift certificates we’ll be giving away!

I'm soooooo excited to share today's fun project! It's the start of Halloween stamping! This new *te* stamp set by Taylor VanBruggen is called Fa-BOO-lous! It's a full size set of 13 – if you know me, you know how much I LOVE Halloween.  I had so much fun designing this witchy set!  I hope you have as much fun playing with it!

I made these fun giant sized tags – which I made the perfect size for the top of a candy bar…. You could also use them to glue on a package or onto a card front! TOOOOO FUN, especially when combined with the awesome new Spider Web Die that gets released this month! Squeeeee!

 

 

 

 

Here the are on top of some Hershey bars…. who wouldn't want to get this little treat?

 

 

 

I chose some really fun colors for this project – lime green and purple and orange….with hot sunny yellow. Really festive. And…is that the most awesome font ever on the sentiment??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my Spider web die cuts. OOOOOOOOOH!

 

 

 

Here is my Copic color palette for today:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we introduce Totally Tags Halloween, Fa-BOO-lous, Graphic Greetings Halloween ALC, Trick or Treat Word ALC, Spider & Spiderweb Dies, Spiderweb Border Die, plus Project Pantry…so make sure to click around and look at all the other Baker's Dozen Design Team posts!  

 

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

 

 

 

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 4th Birthday and you’re invited to our Birthday Bash! It's an entire week of crafty fun for you!
• All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, September 6th at 8am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department.
• Sneak peeks Monday through Wednesday and the party continues with spotlights Thursday and Friday – lots of inspiration!
• Check the Current Specials on Thursday morning to find out how you can earn a FREE Belated Birthday A la Carte stamp or a FREE You Take the Cake full-size stamp set. Birthday Bash Specials will award you FREE stamps with purchases over $50 and over $150.
• 2 WAYS TO WIN!

1. You Take the Cake Contest  Go to Taylor's blog to get all the details on how you can win two stamp sets of your choice by guessing which illustrator contributed each image in our You Take the Cake Sampler Set!!!

2.  Join us on Facebook for an early reveal of all the new stamp sets Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST. Leave comments during the party for a chance to win one of the gift certificates we’ll be giving away!

Today my card is featuring the new *te* by Taylor VanBruggen stamp: Word A la Carte – It's a Party – our Word A la carte series continues to be a best-seller.  We think you'll love the 2 newest words!! I used some bright happy colors and the new Curly Border Die too!

 

 

 

 

How totally adorable is this stamp? I added some blings in my pink, yellow and blue color scheme and colored the image in with my Copic markers… That pretty curly border is a new die for this month!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My papers for today are from the new MME Happy Day 6×6 Paper Pack. So fresh and perfect for lots of birthday and other cards!

 

 

That's what I have for you today! The Birthday Celebrating continues as we introduce Party Monsters, Moka Madelyn, It's a Party Word ALC, Graphic Greetings Birthday ALC, Bake Me a Cake Die Set and Dial in Style Die Set. Whew. See, I told you there was a lot going on!

Be sure to check out all the other designers' work today too:  

• Jami Sibley (DT      Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

 

 

• At Taylored Expressions we are celebrating our 4th Birthday and you’re invited to our Birthday Bash! Lots of fun in store for you this release week! This is our BIGGEST release ever and you are sure to find something you like!
• All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, September 6th at 8am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department.
• Sneak peeks Monday through Wednesday and the party continues with spotlights Thursday and Friday – lots of inspiration!
• Check the Current Specials on Thursday morning to find out how you can earn a FREE Belated Birthday A la Carte stamp or a FREE You Take the Cake full-size stamp set. Birthday Bash Specials will award you FREE stamps with purchases over $50 and over $150.
• 2 WAYS TO WIN!

1. You Take the Cake Contest  Go to Taylor's blog {insert link to Taylor's Monday post} to get all the details on how you can win two stamp sets of your choice by guessing which illustrator contributed each image in our You Take the Cake Sampler Set.

2.  Join us on Facebook for an early reveal of all the new stamp sets Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST. Leave comments during the party for a chance to win one of the gift certificates we’ll be giving away!

Today I'm featuring two cards that would be great for birthday celebrations! The first card was made using the adorable Belated Birthday a la carte stamps. Mine for today is "Oh Carp!" These little fishies are too adorable! What a fun card this was to make.

The Belated Birthday a la Cartes are from the Apple Doodle Ink line drawn by Doug Applegate. The newest Belated Birthday A la Cartes are as follows: A Little Slow, Elephants Never Forget, Oh Carp!, and Oh Rats! -   Jami first presented this concept back in 2010 and we released  7 of these A la Cartes during our September Birthday Bash that year.  (Gallery here) Each one includes a large image plus a pair of punny sentiments all for belated birthday wishes.  Now we are adding 4 more to the collection.  These will also be featured for one of our special Birthday Bash promotions!!

 

 

 

 

I told you they were cute! I added some tiny Stickles bubbles on the front of my card…

 

 

 

Here is a close up of a BRAND NEW Circles Big Background stamp from TE. LOVE this one! I thought it looked nice in aqua for a watery feeling! You can also see a peek at the inside of my card!

 

 

 

These gorgeous background stamps easily cover an A2 card front….so pretty and easy…

 

 

 

My bright and cheery Copic palette for this project:

 

 

 

And, here's the inside of my card! Used the always favorite TE Wave Border Die and a touch of Stickles. Each of the Belated Birthday a la Carte stamps comes with a perfect saying for the inside of your card.

 

 

 

Oh Carp! Hee hee. Now I need to forget someone's birthday so I can send out this card! LOL!

 

 

 Here's the entire line-up of the Belated Birthday a la Cartes:  

BIG NOTE:  Customers will be able to get one of these stamps FREE with a $50 purchase through Monday 9/10- details will be posted on the current specials page on the TE Storefront! WOOOOO!

 

Okay, now for my second project for today I'm using the Brand New "You take the Cake" stamp set. This is our first ever sampler set showcasing the designs of all of our illustrators. Also – this set will not be available for sale until after the October release- for now it will be free with any purchase of $150 or more. This is THE must-have birthday set! Taylor's blog post will have some contest details – guess which designer contributed which image to be entered into a drawing for two stamp sets of their choice  

You Take the Cake  is a set of 15 stamps!  - this is a first for TE – each of our illustrators has contributed images to this special celebration sampler set.  It's perfect for our Birthday Bash!  It will be featured in our free stamps promo AND we'll have a contest for customers to guess which illustrator drew each of the images.  Fun, huh?   

 

 

 

 

I used the Balloons image from the stamp set and combined it with some beautiful Cakewalk Designer Paper from October Afternoon. I also used the TE Reach for the Stars Border Die to jazz it up some!

 

 

 

 

Here's a fun trick to make a nice scallop border on a card layer….Just tape your Nestie to the front of the paper and then only run it HALF way through your cutting machine!  

 

 

Voila!

 

 

 

I always like layers on my cards…oh, and foam tape! LOL!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My goodness! Thanks for coming by today. Trust me, there is so much going on this week and so many fun projects to see. I hope you will pop over to everyone else's blogs too!  Here's the link list for today:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Jami Sibley (DT      Coordinator)
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Carolyn King (Guest Designer)

 

Hi everyone! I know the title of my blog post isn't very descriptive….but I didn't know what to say. I just have a bunch of stuff to share, on a Monday. So there you have it! I got some time in my crafty cave yesterday and made some more cards for the Hero Arts August Contest. I'm posting two cards today and they are both very different… I did keep one thing in common, though, the color red. Hmmmm. Are you intrigued yet?

Did you have a nice weekend? Mine was very lovely. Friday night I worked late, and then we went and did our errands (shopping, gas, Walmart, etc) which I hate, but we got it over with so we didn't have to do all that on Saturday. Saturday morning DH helped me pick out my new eyeglasses! WOOO WOOOO! I got some pretty Kate Spade tortoise shell numbers, and with my insurance, they really weren't too much. I can't wait for them to come. After that we went for a long drive and out for some pizza. Very nice day.

Okay, I'm sure you've heard enough rambling, so I'll get on with the cards! One thing I love about the Hero Arts Contests each month is that they give you options and sketches. This first card was for a sketch image. I put the sketch farther down in the post so you can see it.

 

 

 

 

 

I really like this warm color scheme as we move from Summer into Fall…

 

 

 

This was me trying to figure out what colors to use. At first I thought I was going to use blues and greens, but I'm happy I went with the oranges and red instead.

 

 

 

 

YUM!

 

 

 

These are the three colors I ended up with:

 

 

 

Here is my panel of butterflies. I stamped and cut out one of each color also, to put on later for some dimension and overlap.

 

 

 

You can see the extra butterflies popped up on some foam tape…

 

 

 

Too many blings? I'm not sure! LOVE this sketch and I'm keeping this one handy.  

 

 

 

 

My second card for today is for the CAS Stamping part of the Hero Arts contest! And, boy, did I keep it clean.and.simple. That's hard! :-) 

 

 

 

How cute is that little toaster!? I spent, like, an hour coloring in that toaster JUST SO. Well…as soon as I put glossy accents on it, you can't even tell! LOL.

 

 

 

Totally fun, don't ya think?

 

 

Here are my favorite Instagrams from this weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 HAVE A GREAT WEEK! XOXOXO

Hi peeps! Did you see the giant full moon tonight? WOW! Here in California it is very low to the ground and huge! Driving home from stamp club, when it's 9pm and still 90 degrees out…I saw that big moon and thought…that explains this week! I always notice a weird vibe in the air when it's super hot and there's a full moon. Hope there aren't any werewolves out! LOL. Here we are almost the end of the week already. I hope you've had a good one. I've been working with the new Taylored Expressions stuff for August getting ready for release week next week. What have you been working on?

I have a fresh summery card to post today. It was made with the gorgeous new Memory Box Hibiscus die. YUM. Seriously! So crisp and perfect. I kept it clean and simple and used some tropical colors. Have a looky!

 

 

 

 

Lately I have to add blings to everything! This time I picked out some sunny yellow blings to match my flower parts! Don't you love that die? Dave hit this one outta the park.

 

 

 

The sentiment is from PTI and I'm sorry I can't remember what set it's from. I love their sentiment stamps. And they're clear, so you can get them in just the right spot. I popped up the flowers on foam tape, of course!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well…that's it for me tonight! Take good care and thanks for coming by! 🙂 I'm off to watch the Olympics with DH and Mr. Buddy!

 

 

Today it's time again for our cool new calendar projects from Taylored Expressions and I am having such a good time making my pages each month! The Baker's Dozen Design Team will be sharing calendar goodies and ideas with you throughout the entire year, so be sure to check out everyone else's projects too.

Refer over to Taylor's blog to get all the info to play along with us each month. There will be a linky at the bottom of Taylor's post and it will remain open all year, so you have the option to go back and catch up if you start playing late. For everyone who plays in 10 or more of these monthly calendar challenges in 2012, there will be a random draw for a TE prize pack valued at over $150!!! Click here to go to the TE Calendar Department and see all the goodies.

I chose to make the "Frame Your Imagination" calendar and use Cuppie as my theme! The stand for the calendar comes in raw wood and then you can paint it whatever color you choose. I painted mine kind of an antique white and then speckled some brown onto it to give it some character.

CLICK here for the calendar stand…CLICK here for the page protectors and CLICK here for the page inserts. I like this a lot because the finished pages are 6×6 and that gives a lot of room to stamp!

Here is my July Calendar page….Cuppie is enjoying the Summer!

 

 

 

 

 

This image is just perfect for July! Mr. Cuppie is quite patriotic you know! I added some glitter to the fireworks and some bright yellow stars!

 

 

 

I used the Cuppie image from A Year of Sweets 2 and the sentiment from Life is a Circus…both great sets. I used the awesome Star Border Die for my accents….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a linky list of the other Baker's Dozen Design Team Members who have projects to share today!  

Charmaine Ikach

Jodi Collins

Melody Rupple

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

 

 

 

Release week continues! Did you see all the great new things in the TE Store yet? Come join the party!  Please hop around to find more inspiration presented by the Baker's Dozen featuring everything that is Fresh Out of the Oven from Taylored Expressions! Everything I'm showing is now available for purchase! 

Today is my day to feature the Adventure Land stamp set from the Apple Doodle Ink line by Doug Applegate. This one was concepted by Sankari Wegman! Everyone wants to visit a fair or amusement park during the Summer!  Doug's Adventure Land promises all-day FUN!  This set coordinates great with the Star Impression Plate and all of the Star TE Dies…and I think it works with the Life is a Circus stamp set too!

For my card, I wanted a girly, retro look using my favorite image from the set – the ferris wheel. I was inspired by the Simple Stories "Fabulous" papers (see photo below) and used the TE Cloud Border die to add some interest at the top of my card.

 

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my clouds… I made two layers of them to make it pop! My color scheme is cream with a shabby pink and a pretty blue. I used brown ink for my image and sentiment.

 

 

 

Here are my Copic color choices for this project.

 

 

 

I added just some tiny bits of glitter….

 

 

Here is the paper pack I used…

 

 

 

One last view. I added a pretty pink button and some twine to add some extra vintage touches. Reminds me of an old time summer fair….ahhhh…Now I just need some cotton candy!

 

 

 

Here's the link list for today!

Charmaine Ikach

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

 

 

 

 

It's officially release day! ALL of the new  Taylored Expressions products are now available in the Fresh Out of the Oven Department. Release week continues, but we're showing you all the great new stuff today! Don't you love that? Yay!

Today I'm showcasing TWO projects made with TWO new stamp sets! The first one is called Under the Sea, and it's from the Whimsical Wishes by Nancy McKinney line of TE stamps. Super adorable undersea creatures and punny sentiments.  Nancy worked her magic on this fun set and I can hardly wait to see all the underwater scenes everyone comes up with.  This set coordinates with the Life Saver Petite set and can also be combined with several other sets from this release. I combined it with a saying from the Moka Pearl set!

Here's my fun little underwater scene…

 

 

 

 

 

I used a clear acetate card base and then added my blue sea and waves. Then I stamped a bunch of my little sea creatures onto white paper, colored them with Copics, and cut them out…. The fun part was putting them all together!  

 

 

 

I used only bright, vivid, fun colors!

 

 

 

 

Here's how I made my waves…by using the Scallop Border Die!

 

 

 

Here's a cute little pink seahorse swimming by, and don't those fish look exactly like goldfish crackers? I had to make them orange! The seahorse and the little yellow blowfish are mounted on top of the card. The rest of the pieces are attached to the blue ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My second card for today features the Bon Voyage stamp set, from the Embracing Grace collection by Emily Burger.  Nancy's stamp set went under the sea and now Emily has us sailing on the sea!  I'm just loving all the ships and boats she's created and I know you will too! I used the adorable little sailboat and the anchor image.  I made a CAS graphic card using two of my favorite colors….

 

 

 

 

I kept the lines really clean and crisp on this one. I tried at first mounting my images onto a white card base but it seemed too much. I think the kraft base grounds the rest of the color.  

 

 

 

I made my own background paper by stamping the anchor image onto white cardstock using, what else, Nautical Blue ink! This is another one of the brand new Memento colors. It's the absolute perfect shade of navy. Ahoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn't you like to go sailing today? Let's go!  

 

 

 

 

Here's your list of links for this fun release day!

 

Charmaine Ikach

Courtney Kelley – Guest Designer

Jami Sibley – DT Coordinator

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Melody Rupple

Nancy McKinney – Illustrator

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shannon White

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

 

 

 

    

Hi everyone! Just a quick post here on a busy Saturday to let you know that I'm going to be teaching classes at The Paper Garden Boutique in August! Paper Garden is my friend Stephanie's awesome stamp store here in Sacramento. It's a happy place, where all the very cool girls go to stamp and hang out.

Here is the LINK TO THE CLASS NEWSLETTER for all the details!

Call the store at (916)48-PAPER to sign up!

I'll be teaching over a weekend. Two classes on each day. One class is Halloween and Fall and one class is Winter and Christmas projects. I'm hoping to use brand new 2012 Memory Box stamps and Dies if they're ready in time. One thing for sure, we will have a good time! Hope you can make it!

 

WHEN: SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AUGUST 11 – 12

WHERE: PAPER GARDEN BOUTIQUE – SACRAMENTO

WHO: YOU AND ME!