Hi there! Thanks for joining us today on the Taylored Expressions Holiday Hoopla Blog Hop! So many cool, crafty ladies have projects to inspire you for Christmas time! I hope you're having fun hopping around looking at everything! My choice for today was to make an invitation using the super swanky and cool Merry Little Cocktail stamp set! I love the cool vibe of it. (Click here to order the whole set) 

There are 22 designers today showcasing Christmas/Winter/Holiday stamp sets from TE with samples  that include all types of projects. We worked really hard to coordinate and bring you a good variety of things. We want to inspire you to get your holiday crafts done! Be sure to read the whole post…because there's a very good coupon waiting for you!  

You can see the whole list of hoppers by going to Taylor's Blog first. You should have arrived here from Corinna McGregor's Blog!

Here is my invite: The information is on the card that fits into the pocket on the front…I kept it relatively flat so it would be an easy card to mail out.

 

 

And here's the inside! Love that Christmas martini! Ack!

 

The small holly berry stamp is perfect for accents…  And I love the sentiments in this set!

The images were colored using this classically Christmas color palette of Copics. (Say that three times fast!)  

 

The red part of the card is an A2 standard size piece of paper. The bright green is folded in half to make the pocket for the invitation to slide into. This is a fun way to layer elements and would really work for any kind of card! The cool diamond paper can be found HERE!

 Don'tcha love the sparkly border!?

 

Are you getting in the mood to stamp? Be sure to check out Taylor's 12 Days of A Handmade Christmas Video Series for lots of easy gift ideas. CLICK HERE to check it out! 

Now, who loves a SALE? Use Coupon Code HOOPLA2011 to get 25% off the following holiday stamp sets (released in 2009 and 2010) at Taylored Expressions now through November 2: Christmas Blessings, Enjoy!, From the Heart, Hangin' Out – At the North Pole, Holiday Wonder, Home Sweet Home, Keeping Tabs, Merry Little Cocktail, Penguin Pals, Season's Sweetings, Sparkle & Cheer, Tag Treats , Tag You're It, Take Note – Holidays , Wings of Joy, Winter Wonderland.  

The coupon code is case sensitive. Follow these instructions to apply the discount to your order:

1. Add the desired stamp sets from the above list to your shopping cart.

2. Insert the coupon code into the Promotional Code box.

3. Click the Update Cart button. Your discount should now be applied.

4. Proceed to checkout to finalize and submit your order! Easy Peasy!

Now…You're ready to hop on over to the next crafty gal on our list for today….and that is the lovely and talented Cassie Trask! CLICK HERE to go to her blog! Have fun!

Hi there! Happy weekend! It's the weekend before Halloween…are you scurrying around trying to make costumes and decorate your house? Or are you just enjoying the smorgasbord of mini candy bars like me?! Hahaha. I love Halloween, but I don't really dress up or anything. How about you? Do you go all out? It's been hot here this week so it doesn't really feel like Fall. I'm hoping for some spooky fog for next week! We are off to a football game today (and the scrapbook store) but I wanted to share a card too.

I bought this stamp set last year from the most awesome Waltzingmouse Stamps Company! The set is called Wanda's Pantry! Can you believe that? A whole stamp set, just for ME!? Hahaha. I about fell out of my chair when I first saw it and ordered it right away! Claire makes the greatest stamps. You really need to check out her store. Love.

 

I mean, seriously, how cool is that stamp??? ACK! I cut it out using my Nestabilities (Labels Four) and then cut a layer of black to go around it. There's that neato argyle paper again…and some vintage ribbon. Kept is classic in orange and black. 

 

I took a bit of a darkish orange Copic (YR14) and colored just some parts of the label… 

 

 

 

Added some spooky spiders (from Martha of course) and some torn paper with a gothic font… 

 

Finished it off with some spritzes from my black blo-pen and a scary key (thanks again Martha)…. 

You'd better be nice to me or else I might have to give you some of my special brew next time you stop by my house! Mwah ha ha ha… Okay, I know you're not scared…but it was still fun! Have a fabbie weekend everyone! See ya soon! 

Hello! I'm temporarily interrupting the Halloween festivities to share a birthday card! I have lots of friends with October and November birthdays! You would think that I would plan ahead and have some ready…but nope! I made this fun card the other day using one of my favorite Taylored Expressions stamp and die combinations. I love how Taylor is making dies to match all the stamp sets – makes things so much more fun and versatile.

Here's my bird-day card!

 

I used the Birds of a Feather stamp set and the Medium Scallop die…

 

I also used the Birds and Branches Die set… My Paper choices are from the SUPER great Lost and Found 2 Collection! The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Embrace Beauty stamp set. I really love that font – it's so pretty.  

 

I tried to keep a Fall color palette since it's for a November birthday. I love that deep red with a pop of golden yellow. Those little red birdies make me smile. 🙂

Thank you so much for coming by today!

Greetings bloggy pals! Whooooooo is ready for more Halloween cards!? Har har har…I'm cracking myself up! Today's card is made with the really cute Owl Witch stamp and sentiment from Amuse! She is the most adorable little witch! I had fun with the coloring and the cool Halloween argyle paper. Take a look…

 

 

Here's my Copic color palette for this card…lots of browns and oranges…

 

Here's a neat trick for making a zig zag border from your argyle papers…Here's the before…

 

And the after! All I did was cut out along the edges of the diamonds…easy peasy no?

I love this sentiment stamp – use it a lot! Added some orange blings to the corners of my black square…

 

Hope the rest of your week goes by in a flash!

Hellllooooooo! I'm just home from spending the day with some crazy crafty gal pals! What a joy it is to spend time with girlfriends! We went to this cool craft fair/flea market sort of thing and I bought some old books, and then we had pizza and gabbed the afternoon away. What is more perfect than that? What a nice day. This weekend sure flew by didn't it? It's time for me and the hubs to go back to work… It's been a nice two weeks off of sleeping in and relaxing. It was good while it lasted! Haha.

Today I'm sharing a little set of cards I made with one of my all time favorite Stampin' Up Halloween sets. I got it out yesterday and inked it up. The images are retro and fun. I made a set of three minis – each card is 3.5 inches square. Hope you likey!

 

 

Here is the stamp set…isn't it super cute!? I love that face on the spider! Cracks me up every time I see it.

 

Colored them in with my trusty Copics…

 

Here is my color palette for this project…

 

I added some glitter glue to the stars on each one and then just an accent of glitter on the main images. I got out the cute twine and buttons to finish them off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week ahead! Come back lots this next couple of weeks because I have been cooking up lots of Halloween cards in my craft cauldron! 🙂

Hi friends! How are ya? I'm sitting in the craft room with my trusty sidekick Mr. Buddy, waiting for my new iPhone to arrive (I just may hug the UPS man when he gets here) and stamping and blogging. I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Today I'm sharing an old technique that I used to do all the time many years ago. I found these old stamps and thought they would make some nice Fall Birthday cards for my October friends. Do you guys remember Fred B. Mullett? About 10 years ago, I took a few super fun classes with him when he came to town. He makes these wonderful nature print stamps: fish, leaves, Asian chops… I love them all!

The technique is to color directly onto the stamps with water based markers, spritz the stamps with water, and then stamp onto watercolor paper. The results are different each time and so so pretty and elegant. Maybe you've tried this before? Maybe you'll try it now?!

Here are the two final cards I chose for my friends…Kept it simple with the sentiments and some kraft paper and a pretty cranberry red accent paper.  

Here is a close up of one of the prints…Isn't the watercolor paper texture just yummy?  

Here are my supplies for the project:  

 

I colored directly onto the stamp with my Marvy markers. I colored the leaves all over with the golden yellow color and then added some orange and finally some red just on the edges.  

Here is what it looks like after I spritzed the image with water. The trick here is to hold the stamp at arm's length away from the water so that you only get the finest mist. I pump six times usually. You want the stamp pretty wet so that the ink colors run together. This just takes practice and time to figure out how you like it best.

This picture shows two versions of the same thing. The one on the left had much more water on the stamp so it all bled together. The one on the right was not as wet, so the detail of the stamp was retained. It's really just a matter of preference.  

I found that I can usually stamp the image three times before having to re-ink… 

 

 

 

 

Happy weekend to you! I hope you do something fun! 
 

Yes, I'm back already with another card! I gotta keep things rolling along here! Hahaha. The DH and I are off to spend the day in Napa together…snapping pictures and having lunch and maybe a few wine tastings. Lucky for me the DH doesn't drink wine, so I don't have to worry about driving! My favorite winery is V. Sattui…been going there for years…ever since I turned 21…which was MANY years ago! hahaha. We are lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place. Hopefully, I'll have some fun pictures to share later in the week.

Today's card is a vintage creation made with some cool new supplies I got last weekend at Ben Franklin Crafts when we were out driving around. I found some neat vintage glass glitter, some banner chipboards and this new tool from Epiphany Crafts that makes bubble shapes. Yay! I took lots of pictures as I was making this card – hope you enjoy the process!

 

 

 

 

First I started with the neat-o chipboard banners….

 

I wanted them to be black, so I inked them up with an ink pad. This part was messy!!

 

A bead of glue and some cool sterling glitter around the edges of the banners…

 

My rosettes started with strips of paper 1/2 inch by 6.5 inches, scored every 1/4 inch. I cut one piece of paper, scored it, and then cut it into the 1/2 inch strips. I've never made rosettes this small, and it was a challenge! Be patient!

 

 

 

 

 

For the middle word bubbles, I stamped my letters with orange ink onto a piece of patterned paper first. Used my new distress inks again. LOVE this orange color. YUUUUMMMM.

 

Here's my new Epiphany Shape Studio Tool! AWESOME! It cuts the shape and adheres the bubble at the same time. You just line up what you want to be in the center and punch! This comes in several shapes and I will definitely get some more. I have a hundred ideas for this….

 

 

 

 

 

I stamped my sentiment and some cool bats on my background paper and layered my card…

 

Put the banners together….

 

ACK! Here's my desk! What a disaster area….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Hi friends! Well, my crafty cave is in full on Halloween mode now! I am whipping up lots of orange and black concoctions to share with you! Having fun too! Have you started your Halloween crafts yet? I have collected so much stuff over the years that now my Halloween stamping stuff takes up two giant plastic bins! Love that. Every year, there's more cute stuff. Today I'm posting a card I created using Taylored Expressions stamps for Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #138. The sketch just went up, so there's lots of time to play…care to join me?

First off, here's my card:

 
 

And here's the sketch image:

 

Great opportunity to use lots of cool patterned papers! I chose these papers from Echo Park and the Project Pantry Kit from Taylor!  The stamp set is the uber cute Moka Tabitha!

 
 

I wasn't really sure how to line up everything! I really just winged it with the diagonals. I cut a piece of white paper the size I wanted and then layered my pieces (cut to 1.5 inches wide) over that white piece and then trimmed the whole thing at once. I think it came out okay. I'm sure there's a good trick to this somewhere!

 

I cut a black scallop using this die and then layered a piece of ribbon tape on top…Stamped my sentiment and put the whole thing together!

 

I used a lot of markers on this one! Lots of cool grays instead of black, for her dress, hat and boots. The rest of the colors were oranges and browns.

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't she the cutest witch ever!?

 
Okay, that's it for me today! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend! See you soon!