Celebrate

Today I made a sweet card for a very sweet person, Taylor vanBruggen, because it's her birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!!

I used Sweet Occasions from Taylored Expressions. The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured with copic markers. I use a pink Spica glitter pen on the letters, and a clear glaze pen on the cherry. Then for the chocolate sauce I applied some Ranger espresso dimensional pearls (which is no longer available). Doesn't it look yummy!!!

The patterned paper is from the Bo Bunny Sweet Tooth Collection and I used my medium scallop border die to cut out some pink felt for the scalloped accent. Some brown satin ribbon and clear rhinestones finished off the front of this card.

On the inside I stamped another sentiment from the set along with a tiny cupcake to jazz it up just a little.

Be sure to hop over to Taylor's Blog and wish her a big happy birthday!!!

Here's the die I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek - Moka Karen

June Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, June 7th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store. 
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.

I'm honoured to have been asked to play along with the Baker's Dozen design team to help showcase a sweet new stamp set, Moka Karen. She's an adorable Canadian Mountie and I'm sure you'll recognize her iconic red coat uniform. Moka Karen is part of the Whimsical Wishes line from Taylored Expressions and Nancy McKinney, the illustrator, is Canadian, so it's fitting to add a Canadian counterpart to Moka Betsy. I'm also Canadian and you'll notice there are a few other Canadian guest designers sharing Moka Karen creations today.

It's not always snowing in Canada (well, I guess that depends where you are in Canada...LOL!) so I thought I'd have her outside on a beautiful summer day. Maybe she's getting ready for a July 1st Canada Day parade. No matter what she's doing, I can't help feeling a sense of pride when I look at her. She's kinda special to me because I was a police officer when we lived in Canada. I wasn't a Mountie, so I didn't get to wear the red coat, but we did have similar hats (which I hated wearing!).

She's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured with copic markers. I added a little whimsy to the Canadian flag by paper piecing it with red polka dot paper from the My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side One paper pad. I used the Cloud Duo dies to cut out the white felt clouds and used the Picket Fence Border die to cut out the brown fence. To finish the card I stamped two of the sentiments from the set along the bottom.

Moka Karen is a Petite set of 6 images and sentiments made of deeply etched rubber. The set comes on a full colour 3" x 5" panel which stores perfectly in the Petite Storage Case.

Be sure to hop around and see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen and Guests have to share today.

Charmaine Ikach

Christine Okken - Special Guest

Jen Shults

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Karen Motz - Special Guest  <----- you're here

Kerry Johnson - Special Guest

Melissa Sauls

Melody Rupple

Michele Boyer - Guest Designer

Nancy McKinney - Illustrator

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Sherie Siemens - Special Guest

Stephanie Kraft

Taylor VanBruggen

Wanda Guess

Here are the dies I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Congrats

I needed a "new house" card for a friend so I dusted off Cozy Cottages from Taylored Expressions. Gosh, it's been waaaaay too long since the last time I inked up my TE stamps.

I love the scalloped tile roof on this sweet image and the rounded windows and shutters. The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copic markers. I coated the windows with clear glaze pen for a shiny look. The layout is Splitcoast sketch challenge, SC384, flipped on it's side.

The Picket Fence Border die was a perfect accent for the horizontal strip and I cut the Clouds from puff cloud white felt for added texture. The patterned paper is new My Mind's Eye Indie Chic Nutmeg.

Here's the inside with the sentiment "Congrats on your new digs".

Here are the dies I used:

Have a great weekend!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Warm Winter Wishes

You know how much I love a sketch challenge and I couldn't let Taylor's first sketch of the year, TESC151, slip by without playing along. I'm really squeaking in under the wire though because the next sketch goes up tomorrow!

Pin It

This is card #7 for Project Christmas 2012. I used Winter Wonderland from Taylored Expressions. I think I should have let the blue and brown ink dry a little longer before embossing the vanilla snowflakes though, because the powder stuck a little to the other snowflakes despite using my embossing buddy first...sigh. Could have something to do with the fact that I think this was the quickest card I've ever created though, and it would be an easy one to make multiples of (but of course I didn't think of that). The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Signature Christmas paper pad. Oh, and this card is nice and flat for easy mailing too!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Season

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC143.

This is yet another fabulous and versatile sketch that I'll be reaching for again and again.

I used Hangin' Out at the North Pole from Taylored Expressions. This is card #36 for Project Christmas 2011...I'm getting there...little by little!

The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copics. The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye Be Merry 6x6 pad. I used my MFT first place award ribbon die-namic for the sentiment then added two rhinestones for just a little bling.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what that rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created.
Dana White
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kalé
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Little Onesie

Today I have an adorable little baby girl card that I made with my favourite onesie stamp from the Hangin' Out set, available at Taylored Expressions.

I love paper piecing this little onesie so that's exactly what I did. The patterned paper is from the Dwell 6x6 paper pad by My Mind's Eye. I added in some choice buttercream and kraft card stock to round out the colour palette. I used my medium scallop border die to cut the cream strip then crinkled up some light pink seam binding for a girlie accent. Clear Twinkles add just the right amount of sparkle around the image and the petite roses finish off the girlie accents nicely.

I added a sweet little sentiment from the set to the inside:

Here's the die I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Snow

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC139.

After last week's sketch, this one seemed like a complete breeze! I got back on the Christmas card wagon for this week's sketch and pulled out my new Snow à la carte stamp from Taylored Expressions. This is definitely a perfect stamp for whipping up quick and easy cards. This is card #24 for Project Christmas 2011.

The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured with copics. I added sparkle to the letters with my red Spica glitter pen.

The patterned paper is from the Season's Greetings 6x6 pad by Echo Park. I used my medium scallop border die to cut out the red strip and used some red patterned paper and the pennant die to create the corner detail.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created.
Dana White
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kalé
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Here are the dies I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 2!

October Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 6th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the OvenDepartment at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments close Wednesday 10/5 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Today I have a fun project using Totally Tags Holiday that will help wrap up all your gifting needs! I created an adorable set of gift tags and decorated a little tin to house them all.

Totally Tags Holiday is illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line and is a full sized set on a sturdy colour storage panel. There are nine tags for just $21.95.  There is also a set of coordinating dies, Totally Tags Taylored Die Set, to make cutting out these tags a snap! All TE stamps are made from top-quality deeply etched rubber in a cute shade of pink and come on EZ Mount already trimmed and ready to use with your acrylic blocks.

I wanted my tags to be a little bigger than the size of the stamps so I used the Frame It Up 1 die as the base. The tags are cute on their own, but this adds just a little more oomph for larger packages.

All the papers and some of the ribbons are from the 12 Days Project Pantry. When you want to bake up a yummy dessert you head to your pantry for the ingredients.  When you want to create a sweet papercrafting project, you can head to our Project Pantry for all the coordinating elements.  We've found that some of the best cake and cookie recipes are the ones based around a basic batter or dough recipe with lots of options to spice it up according to your tastes.  Taylored Expressions is offering our Basic Recipe Kit along with optional Spice It Up Ingredients that you can pick and choose from to build the kit just the way you want it.

The 12 Days Project Pantry Basic Recipe Kit is $11.95 and includes:

My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas 6x6 pad

12 sheets of 8.5" x 11" cardstock in coordinating colors

6 yards of ribbon (2 yards each of 3 different styles)

Optional Spice it Up Ingredients (choose any or all) are:

• Christmas Button Mix
• Doodlebug Holiday Brads
• Rockin' Pink Sparkly Fluff
• Rhinestones (Red, Split Pea, Island Lagoon)
• Coordinating Copic Markers
• Additional Cardstock Pack
• Additional Ribbon Bundle

For the tin I simply created a belly band. The window in the lid allows the tags to show through so the tin really doesn't need a lot of embellishment. I used the fun Trim the Tree Taylored Die Set to create the layered tree.

Here are the dies I used:

Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen created.

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 1!

October Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 6th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the OvenDepartment at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments close Wednesday 10/5 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Today we have lots of new stampy goodness to share from Taylored Expressions. I'll start with the adorable Woodland Winter set, illustrated by Doug Applegate for the Apple Doodle Ink Collection. This is a full size set on a 5.75" x 8.5" full colour sturdy storage panel and includes 21 images and sentiments for just $21.95. You'll fall in love with these cute little critters!

I used Taylor's current sketch challenge for the layout, TESC147, and supplies from the 12 Days Project Pantry. I started by stamping the little mouse then I masked him and stamped the fox, to create this adorable duo. The image is coloured with copics and I added some rhinestones (which I coloured with R29) to their hats. Do you see the subtle tree background paper? I repeatedly stamped the tree image with old paper distress ink to create this look.

Next up is Snow à la carte, another fun image illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Word à la carte Collection. This single stamp is just $5.95, perfect for quick cards and projects.

I took my own advice on this one and created a clean and simple single layer card. I know...freaky for me, eh? :-)

First I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White then I coloured it with copics. Next I ran it through my swiss dots cuttlebug folder to add the snow. Then the snowgirl looked a little sickly with bumps all over her body so I stamped her again, coloured her and popped her on foam tape. Love how this little bit of dimension adds so much detail to this simple card.

I have another very special stamp set to tell you about, and I know you'll see fabulous samples with it on some of the other Baker's Dozen blogs: Moka Hope. As you probably know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Taylored Expressions will donate $1 from the sale of each Moka Hope set to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

TE is also a proud sponsor of the Hope You Can Cling To card drive over on Splitcoast and we encourage everyone to participate in the challenges during October and donate their cards to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

This little set is perfect for all types of encouragement cards and while it was designed with breast cancer in mind, her ribbon can be customized to any colour for any cause or disease.

Now it's time to hop around to the rest of the Baker's Dozen blogs and see what everyone else created.

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

See you tomorrow for more stampy goodness!!!
Oh, and by the way, these two cards are numbers 20 & 21 for my Project Christmas 2011.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen