Some Technique Tuesday goodies

Hey everyone! I'm excited to share with you a few projects that I made for Technique Tuesday for their booth at CHA.


This first little lovely uses my faaaaavorite Ali Edwards set, Loving Words. My heart is also stamped with some hearts from the gorgeous paisley set, Paisely Park and the chipboard heart came from the Classic Tile Toppers. I do just loooove this card. :)

I also participated in the all Tech challenge over on the Technique Tuesday Splitcoast Forum to get inspiration from a card in the Technique Tuesday gallery and make another new card! I loooove this card by Charlene Austin that actually was on the cover of Card Creations, and created this little shabby mom card number.


Just nevermind the fact that I spelled my own name wrong when I made my watermark on this one, LOL!

This was a 3D project that I made that didn't make to CHA, but was still fun!

This is a little matchbox make from kraft cardstock and the glittered piece is actually a piece of chipboard from the Baseboards Variety pack cut to fit the top of my box. The sentiment is stamped from the Little Sentiments set and this makes a quick, cute, and easy little gift box for a special small treat!

So have you been following the thread of sneak peaks of newly released stamps and papers!!!! that Technique Tuesday is releasing in February? You can see the thread HERE and I'm excited as all get out to get my hands on them!!!

Seriously...seeing all the sneaks this past week has got me saving up to get my hands on sooo many goodies! Can't wait!!!!

Have a great day!

Will You Be Mine??

I've been on quite the roll making cute little Valentine projects and I couldn't resist buying this latest set from Taylored Expressions called Will You Be Mine to make for my special honey. It's just soooo cute and these little penguins are absolutely adorable!!! I always need some kind of sounding board to create, so I used two challenges from Splitcoast to begin my card-making journey. :) First off was the Free For All Challenge to use at least one warm color and something fuzzy.

So my warm color was brown to "ground" the sweet couple and my fuzzies are the pink sparkly fluff bow and necklace that was provided in the Valentine Project Pantry. As a matter of fact...all my supplies came from the Project Pantry because it's just so darned cute!


The card sketch here came from the latest Sketch Challenge #317. It's kind of hard to see, but my red cardstock panel was dry embossed with the new Hearts Impressions Plate and it looks soo lovely and adds some gorgeous texture to an otherwise plain piece of cardstock! I used the Scalloped Eyelet Border Die at the bottom of the same panel. I colored entirely with Copics and used the airbrush system for the background sky.

Here are some better views of the products that I used!



And that is all she wrote for today! I'll be busy for the next while preparing for the Taylored Expressions February release starting next Tuesday....can you believe February is already almost here?!?!?!

Have a great one and thanks so much for your visit!

Valentine gift packaging

First of all, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! I had a GREAT birthday evening which ended up being a surprise girl's night out...filled with stories worthy of their own blog post, LOL!

Anyway, I was just itching to getting back to creating so I grabbed TE's latest Valentine Project Pantry...some bits of odds and ends here and there, and got to work!


So I started with papers from the kit and added some heart doilies and tags....


Made a handful of these (totally inspired from Michelle Wooderson's blog)! Gathered all of my supplies together in the kitchen like this...

And made a tag to put on a cello bag (the completed tag is on the bottom right of the picture above.


And then just started cranking out tags from there...all quick and easy to put together with the all of the trimmings from the Valentine Project Pantry....and a few other goodies available in the store.

I used the set A Little Love, to make my tags and the coordinating Favor Frame Die of course!


And my first prototype here. I used the Small Scallop Border die on the colored cardstock...and with all the tags actually!


I couldn't resist using my Scalloped Sparklers in the centers of all of the yo-yo flowers...just adds the right amount of sparkle!


They all turned out so fun and unique...each made with a special person in mind...


I can't wait to get to shopping to fill those bags with special treats for the ones I adore.


Really easy peasy!! The longest part was making the fabric yo-yo's....and I actually am inspired to make some more. What about you? How are you coming along on your Valentine projects? Hope you got some little nifty ideas here. :)

Thanks so much for your visit and I truly appreciate all your sweet comments! Have a great one!

One year wiser?

Yep, it's that time of year again. I'm "excitedly" turning 37 today. This time last year I was moping around the house half-depressed thinking that I was 37 until I spoke with my dad late that afternoon and he informed me that I was really only turning 36! Wow, that totally turned my frown upside down and I got an entire year to prepare for 37 again!! I know...I'm kind of strange that way....

Now, I don't have any crafty fun things to share, but I thought, since this is supposed to be MY day, I'd share some fun things about me!

A couple of days ago I received this in the mail...

This was my complimentary issue as I am no longer a one-hit-wonder!! I'm published again and you can see my creation on page 70. This issue is positively gorgeous and, after thumbing through it, I was totally inspired to get to creating....sooo many lovely samples and GREAT techniques!! And yes, I have been very busy lately creating, however unable to share as I've been diligently creating samples for CHA! I'm pretty excited about that and I can't wait to show you what I have created when I get the green light. :) (So that's my excuse for my lack of posts lately!) :) I hope to get to spend tomorrow creating something I can actually share with you here, lol!

Overall, this past year has really been good to me. We've had our good family friends move to another city (bad), yet still come back to visit regularly (good!)...which I love. Finding out I have contact allergies to just about...everything, was kind of a bummer, but I still wear perfume daily! Having a cracked tooth (welcome to the late 30s???), or was this just a side-effect of living in Texas and munching on tortilla chips at every Mexican restaurant I visit...which is OFTEN! :) Meeting a wonderful new friend (who's name she happens to share with me) and having the kids get along so wonderfully. Did I also mention that they moved right down the street?! Yeah, I have quite a bit to be thankful for!

My birthday present so proudly displayed above. :) I {heart} these so much! I've been wanting a nice pair for a while and I finally got my wish! Yes, that's pink stitching on the sides. :)

Another thing I LOVE to do is dance. I probably look absolutely horrid doing it, but I love it and I sweat like a man doing it, LOL!!! So a surprise gift I received this morning was...


Now, I have Just Dance 2 for the Wii, but was dying to try this one out. We have a Wii and a PS3, but not the XBox 360 with Kinect. Do you know a 37 yr old crafty lady who gets an XBOX 360 with Kinect for her birthday? You do now!!! The kids love it and I love it! I've been sweating all afternoon. :)

So finally, I have some fun things to look forward to in the near future. My darling husband has planned a fun event this evening which I currently know nothing about! He arranged a sitter (all on his own, lol!) and just told me to look nice and be ready by 7 PM. I'm excited. :)

Remember this movie back in the 80s??


I lived, ate, and breathed Pretty in Pink way back when. I even listened to the soundtrack repeatedly when I wasn't able to watch it! So it's girl's night at the local Alamo Draft House next Tuesday, and myself and a big group of friends are getting together to go and see it. I. Can't. Wait!!!

And finally, another date/girl's night out the following weekend at a good 'ole country & western dance bar to kick off my new boots. Life is good. :)

So I hope you don't mind me sharing a little piece of me today. I hope to have something crafty to show you soon!! In the meantime, hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!!!

Go Confidently...

Hello everyone and a happy Friday it is!! This week seemed to go painfully slow so I'm soooo looking forward to decompressing this weekend. I have fun plans this weekend...to include a good 'ole 10 hour crop with complete strangers Saturday, LOL! I think it's going to be tons of fun, and it's at someone else's house, so that's already a huge bonus right there. :)

I've been a busy bee, chugging away on projects that you will see...eventually! In the mean time, did you see Taylor's post HERE?? I seriously can not contain my excitement!! I love Spellbinders and I love Taylored Expressions, so this is just a perfect combo! To celebrate, I made a card with color inspiration from the latest Playdate Cafe Challenge #64. A sweet friend that you probably know, Libby, is celebrating her debut on their design team for this challenge and I'm so excited to play along with her!


Aren't those colors so soothing and lovely? I used the newly release set, New Beginnings, all throughout my card and I absolutely loooove this set!


I used Kraft as a card base and patterned paper from Webster's Pages Wonderfall & Hollywood Vogue. It had that nice soft blue hue that I thought matched perfectly with the challenge. I stamped the outline of the rose image in Silver ink randomly on a panel of white cardstock and it turned out sooo pretty...I just hated covering it up, so I didn't....not entirely, that is. :) Oh! My layout came from the latest Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoast. The butterflies were stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with Heat and Stick powder and then smothered with some White Gold glitter from Martha Stewart. I used the coordinating Butterflies die to cut them out....ahh, I love not having to fussy cut as much anymore. :) My frame is actually a stamp that comes right out of the set...stamped in white craft ink on Kraft cardstock and then fussy cut out...there's a die to match this one too though! I added a few little pearls here and there and then called it a done deal.


Thanks so much for your visit and I hope you are off to a great start to the weekend as well!

Taylored Expressions January Release!

Hello again!! It's the first Friday of the month and that means that the January release of stamps and accessories at Taylored Expressions are now live and available for purchase!!! For a quick link to see all of the new items available, just visit the Fresh Out of the Oven tab.

I thoroughly hope you enjoyed yesterday's post and were able to visit the rest of the Bakers blogs for more inspiration and the introduction to more Tiny Chefs! I know I got a huge kick out of seeing all of the beautiful creations and all of those beaming children's faces....so proud of their crafty accomplishments!

But if you're in need of a little more inspiration, we have a little more to show you today....all of the design team have taken on different sets to showcase today so you just don't know what you're going to see.


As you can see, I am showcasing the gorgeous mini-set, Wreath of Love. I paired it with the new larger frame die Frame It Up 1, and don't forget, this also comes with a coordinating Seasonal Wreath die! For this entire project, I used all papers and accessories (minus my own stash of pearls) from the super adorable Valentine Project Pantry Kit. I'm totally smitten with this entire release....definitely one of my top faves!!


And I am just spent, LOL! What a way to start a new year with such fun projects to share!! Have fun shopping in the store and I hope you can make your way to the rest of the Bakers Dozens to see what they have in store for you!

Oh!!! And Taylor actually will be featuring a limited time special!!!

How would you like to receive the Love Everywhere stamp set for FREE?!


This is actually the project I made with it last year....a little vellum box for treats and matching card...
Well, you can receive it FREE with the purchase of the Valentine Bundle!!

The bundle includes almost the entire release and will have EVERYTHING you need to make all your Valentine goodies!!

Thanks so much for your visit this week and now I'm off to visit the rest of the Baker's Blogs and our Guest Designer for the month, the very talented, Lea Lawson!!

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Donna Baker
• Jackie Pedro
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Karen Motz
• Lea Lawson - Guest Designer
• Melissa Sauls
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild

Have a wonderful weekend and happy shopping!!

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek - Day 3

Welcome back everyone!! I'm sooo glad you are here today because this is just going to be a monster of a post!!!! Today we are sneaking 3 new sets...1 full-sized set called Kid at Heart, a mini-set called A Little Love, and finally, a full-sized set of Cuppie's friends called Sweet Friends. So...we also have a "little" addition to the Design team today that I am just THRILLED to announce as members!!! My 6-year old son is a proud card-carrying member of the....

Tiny Chef Design team!!!

Taylor had the BRILLIANT idea of having some of our children make Valentine's for their classmates using the new Kid at Heart stamp set...and get this...coupled with the Kid's Valentine Card Kit!!!

And well...I also have a 3 year old daughter, Catie, who just couldn't resist "assisting" her older brother with his projects...

She seriously spent probably 10-15 minutes so meticulously coloring her project with my Spica Glitter pens. And let me tell you, she loved every single minute! Just goes to show...even your 3 year old can complete this project!!!

And here they are so proudly showing off their Valentine projects...which they LOVED!! I have to tell you this too....Harrison completed his project from start to finish ALL ON HIS OWN!!! All I did was pick the color scheme and he did the stamping, die-cutting, adhering...everything! I'm such a proud momma! :)



Catie's completed project...do you think she colored enough of the gumball machine? She must have been bound and determined to not have one square inch exposed!

Harrison just loved the greetings to match those images. He kept giggling about it and was already picking out which friends should get which Valentines. :)

What an absolutely FUN project!!! If you have kids or grandkids or even friends with kids, this is such a WONDERFUL craft to do together...both of you will have such a grand time making them!

Now...let me continue with MY design team commitments! So, I chose one of the images from the Kid at Heart stamp set that the kiddos got to play with and that was the Cupcake image. This release I've been completely into doing more 3D projects so I created a cupcake topper for my Cupcake image!


I stamped the frame from the set in Warm Red Colorbox Chalk ink and then die cut it out with the coordinating Take Note #3 die. I then cut out some patterned paper from the Valentine's Project Pantry kit for an inside background for my frame. I stamped my cupcake with Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copic markers in R32, R35, and R37. I wanted my topper to match my yummy Red Velvet Cupcake so I left the top white and glittered it up for funsies. :)

Since I couldn't resist buying just one cupcake, I wanted to show how you could also make another simple topper with the set, A Little Love.


Another super adorable topper made to match that yummy Strawberry Lemon swirl cupcake. I stamped one of the frames from the set (there are 3!!) in Yellow Ochre Colorbox Chalk and then stamped my sentiment with Pixie Pink ink. I also stamped the hearts from the set and fussy cut those out and then added some dimension with some Crystal Effects. I glittered up the border hearts for fun as well. :)

And finally I wanted to make one last project just to show how well these two sets work together!


A matching card to go with the cupcake!! I actually used the frame from the From the Heart set with coordinating From the Heart Frame die as a border for my main image. The border was stamped in Warm Red Colorbox Chalk and I stamped the leaf stems with Sage Shadow ink. The hearts were stamped with Warm Red Colorbox again and then I topped it with some fluffy glitter that was included in the Valentine's Project Pantry. All my paper and ribbon were also from the Valentine's Project Pantry and that yummy hearts impression you see is from the new Hearts Impression Plate! The heart behind my frame is actually from the Classic Hearts Nestabilities.

So what do you think?!?! A lot to take in today, I know!!! Well, the Bakers have so much more to share and you will get to meet more Tiny Chefs!!! Please be sure to visit:

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Donna Baker
• Jackie Pedro
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Karen Motz
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild

Finally, tomorrow morning is the big release and one last roundup from the team on all the new sets and accessories that will be for sale! See you back here tomorrow and thanks sooo much for looking and hanging in there with me. :)

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek - Day 2

Hello again everyone and welcome back to Day 2 of sneaks for Taylored Expressions! There are just a ton of items to show and so, once again, the Bakers and I are all splitting up and showing you bits and pieces so be sure and hop on over to everyone's blog to get a taste of everything. :)

Today I get to share with you a Petite set called Wreath of Love. Not only that, this set features a coordinating Wreath Die AND Basic Bow Die!!! For being a smaller set, it sure does pack a big punch. I just loooove the images and sentiments in this one and you are going to love it for making adorable Valentine's or your general "love" themed projects!


For my project, I added a little homemade plushy heart pushpin to coordinate with my card. I'd been wanting to incorporate some muslin fabric into a project and this was just a perfect opportunity to! I think they really do make a gorgeous pair. :)


For my card, I started with using some Choice Snow White cardstock for my base and the new Echo Park Valentine Be Mine papers (that will be available in the store on Friday!) I took a piece of Muslin fabric and then die cut that out with the new die, Frame it Up. I stamped the pink hearts from the set in Memento's Angel Pink right onto the fabric and it made the perfect image...I just love the way rubber stamps perfectly onto fabric! I then stamped my wreath from the set and easily die cut it out with its coordinating Wreath die. Now, I gotta mention, this lovely little wreath set was concepted by our very own Jami Sibley and joined Nancy in her Whimsical Wishes line of stamps. :) The wreath was then quickly colored in with my Copic markers and I added some Stardust Stickles to the hearts for sparkle. And that cute little paper bow was also cut with the new Basic Bow die that cut AND embossed! You may not see it as well here on my card because I smothered it in glitter too, lol. :) Oh! And those pretty pink flowers are available in the store... Pink Mini Rose trim...thank me later!


And my little pretty Valentine pushpin was sooo easily made! I took two pieces of muslin and die cut those out with the Classic Scalloped Heart Nestabilities and then I stamped the heart images from the set randomly all over. After that, I just stitched by hand all around the border leaving a small section open to stuff in some Polyfill and done!

Now, it's time to check out what the rest of the Bakers have cooked up for you! I hope to see you back tomorrow with a VERY FUN post of more sneaks!!

Charmaine Ikach

Danielle Lounds

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Karen Motz

Melissa Sauls

Nancy McKinney

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Taylor VanBruggen

Tori Wild

Thanks so much for looking and hope to see you tomorrow!

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek - Rest & Renewal

Woohooo!! I'm sooo excited to be back into the swing of things and starting a new month with Day 1 of Sneak Peeks for Taylored Expressions. Now all of the Baker's Dozens are split up and previewing 1 of 2 sets for the big release Friday, January 7th at 8 AM PST! You never know what you're gonna see, so be sure and check out what all of us have to show you.

As for me, I get to showcase a beautiful addition to the Lasting Impressions line of stamps entitled Rest & Renewal, which features 6 Bible verses as well as 5 coordinating sentiments. And all of these sentiments fit perfectly into a new frame die called Frame it Up 1. I looooove that this die is large enough to fit those larger sentiments that you just can't quite squeeze into smaller dies. :)


Now, since I used a smaller of one of the sentiments, I decided to couple the larger die with one of the smaller Take Note 2 dies and it worked beautifully! I just love this sentiment...perfect for someone in a rough patch or also applicable to the welcoming of a new year! :) I stamped the border from the oldie but goodie, Take Note and then easily die cut it out. I used papers on my card from the gorgeous set from Webster's Pages, Wonderfall & Hollywood Vogue.

Now let's check out what the rest of the crew has to share...I know it will be just beautiful! You may also see a sneak at some new butterfly dies!!! :)

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Donna Baker
• Jackie Pedro
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Karen Motz
• Melissa Sauls
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Tori Wild

And be sure to tune back for the next few days to the big release Friday. I can't WAIT to share the upcoming projects with you because they are loads of "lovey" fun!! :)

Thanks for looking!!

Welcome 2011!!

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful beginning to the New Year! We actually packed up the entire family...kids and all, and spent the evening, into the wee hours, with some dear friends. Absolute fun was had by all and we welcomed the new year with plenty of hugs and kisses...as it should be! :) I'm looking forward to new wonderful memories to be made, but for my near future, I'm looking forward to a calm week ahead, LOL! This past month of December has just been a non-stop whirlwind of going, going, going and I'm actually surprised that I had ANY posts on my poorly neglected blog. I've missed my papercrafting time dearly and I'm jumping back into it like a kid jumps into a pool at the first inkling of summer sun...gigantic smile and all. :)


So before we welcome some new (and I loooove welcoming new goodies!!!), we must also say goodbye to oldies (but goodies!) Technique Tuesday will be welcoming some new images soon so I just HAD to pay a little homage to a set that will be leaving...Va Va Va Bloom. This set features absolutely gorgeous bold flowers and you can see that I stamped them, tone on tone, directly to my card front and then embossed. And not only is this set saying bye-bye soon, so is the Technique Tile I used here from Buckles & Tags. These tiles (which are a light colored chipboard) are absolutely wonderful to stamp directly to! Not only do I NOT have to alter the color of the chipboard (don't you find you always change the color??), but it absorbs the ink beautifully for a perfect image. Just a simple perfect greeting from the Mama=Love set and I called it done! What do you think? Pretty clean and simple?

Now head on over to the Technique Tuesday forum and check out samples of other sets that are retiring HERE.

And there's also a special deal you can take advantage of and today is the last day!!!! 50% off retiring stamps!!! Check out more of the details on THIS forum post!

Happy shopping guys....thank me later. :)