Taylored Expressions {NEW} Designer Dangles

It's always a good day when you get a chance to help Taylored Expressions with the new Designer Dangles launch and release! I've had a ball creating 7 pairs of earrings to share with you today using the three new Designer Dangles series! If you stop by regularly, then you know how much I love these! I'm beyond thrilled with these 3 new die collections! This is perfect timing for you to make earrings for Christmas gifts!

I'm pretty sure Taylor read my mind when she created these Pinch Me Designer Dangles! Back when I helped with her last launch, I desperately tried to create these trendy earrings by flipping the The Bigger the Better shape upside down and cutting the holes myself. Let's just say it didn't work and I ended up throwing in the towel! I was delighted to see that I could create these "on-trend" earrings  with these new dies!

These earrings are a bit trickier than the other ones to assemble, but let me share some tips for make it easier! For these particular earrings, I die cut the Silver faux leather from the larger of the two dies and the pink is from the new Trendy Colorful leather collection.Once I had them cut, I took a long straight pin from my pin cushion and threaded it through the holes exactly as they are pinched in this picture. Once that was done, I used my needle nose pliers to open the jump rings and thread it through the holes, exactly where the pin is. The pin holds everything in place while you are threading so you don't end up losing your "place" so to speak!

This pair is made from the same set of dies, but used the mustard color from the same collection as the first pair {linked above} and the gorgeous cork from the Craft Leather-Metallic Basics . 

Let's talk about the earring presentation for a moment, shall we? Once again, Taylor read my mind! I've been making my own backers to attach the earrings, but now....professional presentation! This new die is called Designer Dangles Earring Card and is amazing! If you are planning on gifting the earrings you create, then this is an absolute must-have!

Next up is a SUPER fun new set of dies called Designer Dangles Modern Mix and Match. This one has SO MANY possibilities; the sky is the limit! I made two pair of earrings using these dies, but honestly, I could have just kept going! If I'm really being truthful, I could have just kept going with ALL of them! They are so much fun to make and so addicting. They work up so quickly and the different combinations of leather make it so much fun!

You'll want to be thoughtful about which pieces you use where, for instance, you'll need to connect the ones with two holes, and some only have one hole, like the pink circles at the bottom. Starting out with a plan with these is definitely recommended! ha ha!

I had a ton of fun deciding which color of cardstock to use for the earring cards as well to really complement the earrings!

Here is another pair using these same dies. These use the new mustard color leather and some of that beautiful cork.

You'll notice on this pair that the triangle pieces only have one hole so they need to be thoughtfully placed. The half circles and small cirlces have two, so they can be placed in the middle of your design.

These last three pairs that I am sharing with you today use one of the easiest of the three die collections to use and they are called Designer Dangles Go Round. These worked up so fast, it was amazing! This first pair uses the new 100 % Wool Designer Felt Leopard and it is amazing! It is so lightweight, but looks so luxe paired with the gold flecked cork!

This next pair uses three sizes for added texture and color. I just love how these turned out!

This final pair uses three sizes as well and uses the grey color of the Leopard leather. I didn't get a chance to use ALL of  the new leather, so make sure to check it out;

Rainbow

Camouflage

Buffalo Plaid

I'll be sharing even more earrings in the coming days/weeks as I prepare Christmas gifts! Thanks for fluttering by!

Halloween Wishes

You probably all knew I was lying when I said that the Halloween projects I posted recently were my last for the season! LOL! I am notorious for creating projects all the way up to whatever holiday or occasion is coming up, and this case, Halloween! I've been slowly but surely getting things ready for the teachers and secretaries at my boys' school and these were so fun to make!

I can't seem to stop making the Taylored Expressions Designer Dangles! I bought quite a bit of new faux leather during the summer and it's been waiting for me to put it to use. You might remember THIS post where I put a small dent in it,but this smaller gingham check was calling my name! I knew it would make some great earrings that would present well for Halloween, but get year round use!

I chose some gold flecked cork, black and white striped, and some black textured leather to add in as well. 

My go-to stamp set this year has been the classic Spooky Sweets II stamp set, which seems to make its appearance EVERY  year! ha ha! I couldn't resist making these earring tags a little more playful by adding this vintage witch image from a Tim Holtz cling rubber stamp set that my cute sister gave me!

I thought it would be super fun to have these witches be sporting these cute earrings made with the Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better mixed media dies. I found some boxes at the Dollar Tree that look like Halloween spell books and such that were the perfect size to put these in! The book boxes are perfect for teachers, too, I think!

I also needed a few tags to package these goodies up! I've become a lazy mom and I like to just send my kids into the school with the teachers' gifts, so I bought some HUGE cellophane bags from Amazon so that I can put the gifts inside and just tie them up with pretty ribbons and tags. It's much less fuss for my kids and I know things won't get lost or damaged before it arrives in the classroom.

To begin these tags, I die cut 5 of the Basic Bookmark Die 3 out of True Black cardstock and then heat embossed the sentiment in silver using the Spooky Sweets II stamp set at the bottom. I set those aside and got to work on the rest of the design elements. I die cut the witch using the Spooky Sweets II die collection and then used my mini MISTI to stamp them all. The "halloween wishes" sentiment is stamped in black onto a strip of Canyon Clay cardstock. I used foam squares to pop everything up for some fun dimension! I had so much fun working on these! Thanks for fluttering by!

Taylored Expressions NEW Designer Dangles!!

 Welcome friends, old and new! I am beyond thrilled to be here today sharing some fun and exciting projects! I had the AMAZING opportunity to meet THE Taylor VanBruggen from Taylored Expressions at Stamping Away last September! Not only did we get to meet, but we were seated across from each other so the talking and laughing was incessant and we bonded pretty quickly! She is absolutely amazing and I am so happy to know her! We have "known" each other for about 100 years back in the Splitcoast days, but to actually meet her was so fabulous! I bought a bunch of her fabulous products, including the Designer Dangles Kit after I got home! I had so much fun making a ton of earrings, so when she asked if I'd like to help launch her new set of earring dies, I didn't hesitate and said YES!!!! A million times, YES!!! I have 10 pair of earrings to share with you today, using a mix of all of the fabulous new dies, which you can see HERE! There are 3 new sets of dies, in addition to the ones that have been previously released! I had a ball creating all of these earrings that I am sharing today! These dies are called "Mixed Media" dies and are stronger than other types of dies that are most commonly purchased, which makes them perfect to cut through all of the different types of Craft Leather.

To begin, ALL of these earrings work up SO QUICKLY!!! You all know how much I love to papercraft, but these earrings are super addictive and you will make 100 pair before you know it! LOL! In addition to the new dies, there are new leathers to choose from as well!  I used the Craft Leather-Burnished for these earrings, in addition to the previously released Craft Leather Metallic Basics. They all mix and match so well!

This particular pair was created using the new Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter. This set includes quite a few shapes for ENDLESS possibilities. I am showing a very basic, but fun way to use them. The jump rings and Earring Wire are all available as well so that you can create every look that I am sharing today! 

This next pair is also from the Shape Shifter collection and used two of the different shapes that are included in the set. To create the folded piece, I simply ran it through my machine twice, once in once direction and then switched the ends and ran it through again so that I could get a hole on each end to create the loop!

I love how nicely these two leathers look together; you could dress these up or down, depending on your needs!

This next pair is an evolution of the previous pair! Let me tell you , your mind will start wanting to experiment with all the pieces. The top two pieces are pretty much the earring from the photo above, with the addition of the blue piece which if from the new  Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better set die cut from the new Craft Leather-Colorful.

I just love the pop of color mixed with the two different metallics! As I was choosing different combinations of the Craft Leather, I tried to keep the scale of texture in check so that I didn't use too many of the same intensity or look.

This pair is also a combination of the Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter and Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better. I used some of the extra pieces that I had left over from the first pair I shared to give these pink and white earrings a little something unexpected!

The pink is from the new Craft Leather-Colorful, and the white is from the previously released Craft Leather-Black and White. I ended up buying extra of all of these after I made my first run of earrings because they are so much fun and you will definitely want it! I don't know why I didn't think of it, but it has been popular to purchase two sets of the dies so you can make one pair of earrings at the same time rather than running it through your machine twice! Smart idea!

This particular pair used just the Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better set and is pretty basic, but some of my favorites! These actually headed out the door the other day as they were tucked into a birthday gift for a deserving lady!

 This is a great example of what I meant when I said that you want to keep your textures balanced. This gives you three different scales and intensities to keep the earrings appealing!

I got a little crazy with this next pair and I wanted to experiment actually shifting the shapes, literally! LOL! This pair was created by smooshing and gluing one of the pieces from the Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better. I simply used Scrappy glue to secure it and used clothespins while it was drying.

I thought hot glue would be the winner, but it didn't end up by holding, so I tried the Scrappy Glue and it worked perfectly! 

This next pair isn't winning any awards for creativity, but for style, I think they get an A plus! My daughter wore them to a function the other night and they looked ADORABLE!! So simple, yet sophisticated. These are created with the Designer Dangles-Shape Shifter set. This is also what the piece looks like that I used in the 2nd and third pair, just looped on those.

This pair is created using the 3rd and final kit being released today; the Designer Dangles-Free Flow! These are pretty straightforward as well and I didn't experiment with these as much as I'd like, but I love how easy they are and how they turned out!

I chose to bring in the bold stripes from the Craft Leather-Black and White mixed with some of the metallic leather. These could be dressed up or down!

These are another one of my favorite pairs. This particular design uses both the new Designer Dangles-The Bigger the Better as well the previously released Designer Dangles kit. The smaller cork piece is die cut using one of the pieces from the older set. It works perfectly to cut out the shape from the larger portion.

This is the final pair that I am sharing today, but I have plans to share a lot of other fun new designs as well. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I made quite a few earrings to give out at Valentine's Day; the entire school staff that works with my kids got a pair! I sent a few for my daughter to give to some of her favorite teachers at High School. I've been gifting them all over the place! 

They are the perfect thing to have on hand to give to family and friends! I'll share how I package them up in a future post if anyone is interested. This pair uses the new Designer Dangles-Free Flow and a mixture of the previously released leather as well as the new Craft Leather-Colorful. I had such a great time creating all of these earrings! Do you like what you have seen today?  Head to Instagram @kellylunceford to win a pair or two (or three) of your own! Thanks for fluttering by!