Share Joy with Taylored Expressions

There is an amazing outreach going on over at Taylored Expressions - it's the start of their annual Share Joy campaign.  Since 2013, they have collected over 2000 handmade cards to donate to various organizations. This year, they are collecting cards to support grieving families.  All the details are at the above link, including prizes you can win for participating.

I already talked about Share Joy on this post from last week, but what I didn't include was a special sketch created by the incredible Jen (deconstructing jen) of deconstructed sketch fame!  Using the sketch is optional to participate, but it was too good to pass up so I created a second card.


Here's the sketch.

Be sure to check out the link.  I know that I have a tendency to create stashes of cards for no purpose other than the joy of creating them.  This campaign gives us a purpose.

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(The pink cardstock is coming soon!)

Care & Comfort	Flutter-bys	Leafy Branch	Cupid's Arrows Dies
Banner Stacklets 1	Embossing Folder - Dotted Lattice	TE Sequins - Build a Scene	Premium Cardstock - Salt Water Taffy
Pebbles 6x6 Pad - Garden Party

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Freshly Made Sketches: Thanks Flower

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

I'm pretty sure that I use pennants/flags on every other card - maybe even more.  But for some reason, I got it in my head that I wanted to use a word die on this card.  I found this die in my die folder - and I don't even remember owning it - so it seemed like a good time to use it!

I tried making my own background with a rainbow of flowers and I tried a rainbow of hearts, but then I saw one of my favorite flower sets from the same company as the die - and then it came together quickly!!
Not too many words today.  I'm actually writing this on Sunday morning as we are preparing to leave for a 550 mile drive for a college visit for my high school senior.  We are driving to Creighton today, visiting tomorrow, driving back Tuesday.  It's spring break so it would have been nice to extend the visit a little.  But some clueless parents insisted that their son get a job - he just started and he's scheduled on Tuesday night.  Thus - a very long drive in a very short period of time!
I hope to see you playing along - I absolutely love browsing the gallery each week!
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SSS Flower Friend	SSS Thanks on a Line Die	SSS Fog Gray CS	SSS Slate Gray CS
SSS Beanstalk Green Ink	SSS Coral Reef Ink	MFT Lemon Drop Buttons	Hemp Cord - Natural

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Taylored Expressions: Shaped Buckle Die

Taylored Expressions has a fun series of "buckle" dies - they have fancy buckles, shaped buckles and basic buckles.  I was drawn to the Shaped Buckles because I thought the ladybug would be a fun touch on cheerful cards!!  I paired it with the Think Happy Thoughts Stamp and Die Combo on this simple card.


Isn't it cute? (If you ignore my globs of glue in the center!)

If you haven't discovered Stick It Adhesive sheets - you have to try them.  There's been product like it before but I've never been totally happy.  These sheets are super thin so die cut well.  You just stick a piece on the paper that you are cutting, then die cut, then you just peel the back off and adhere.  There are two things that make this stand out for me.  First, with other adhesives, I've often gotten strings of adhesive when I pull it off - no strings on this one.  Second, I can never adhere correctly the first time.  That's why I'm a liquid glue person - I need to be able to move things around.  The Stick it sheets start out repositionable!!  So when I put it down crooked to begin with, I can adjust it.  You can see that my "happy" is straight and is firmly adhered!  I think I have to order these things in bulk.
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Think Happy Thoughts stamp & die combo	Shaped Buckles	Premium Cardstock - Lollipop	Premium Cardstock - Poppy Seed
Premium Cardstock - Sugar Cube	Stick It Adhesive - Handy Pack	Hemp Cord - Black (68 yards)	TE Sequins - Formula for Love

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Taylored Expressions: Inspired by Pinterest

Taylored Expressions maintains a fabulous array of Pinterest Boards sorted by product and some by theme.  It's a fabulous source of inspiration and the Baker's Dozen design team is tasked with showing you how we were inspired by a card.  I fell in love with Shelly's card found here.

I also wanted to make a "thinking of you" card.  Taylored Expressions has a fabulous tradition of sharing the joy.  Each year they launch a "Share Joy" campaign during which they give to various organizations.  The first year they created a special stamp set and the proceeds went to Giving Tree. The next year, cards were sent to an organization helping homeless youth that they could send to those youth for birthdays or with words of encouragement.  The Share Joy campaign for this year is being officially launched on March 23, but I can tell you that TE is working with a bereavement team who has found that a note from them to a family dealing with grief greatly helps the healing process.  Check out a better description here.  The campaign is a wonderful thing for TE to do, and they have also made sure we all enjoy it with sketches and giveaways.

From the Pinterest card, I was clearly inspired by the neutral scheme with a pop of color.  I originally started out using exactly the same colors.  I thought I'd change things up a little bit by putting the blue in the background as the sky and do a toffee frame, but it was just wrong.  What truly inspired me in Shelly's card was the hint of color on the neutrals.  I moved away from the blue because I wanted a sympathy style card and I thought lavenders were a beautiful, soft color that fit the occasion (plus I LOVED the sequins!)


The tree die is the Taylored Expressions Shade Tree Cutting Plate which is a fantastic tool for a quick but very eye-catching card.

I've seen the die used so many ways.  I've seen it colored in rich fall colors; I've seen the leaves bent up for dimension; and so much more.  There are also lots of add-on stamps that I'm slowly collecting. There are two sentiment sets that fit into the open space (I have both!).  There are also scenes that you can stamp behind it.  And I'm quite certain there's more to come!
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The lavender cardstock is from my scrap bin.

Shade Tree Sentiments	Shade Tree Cutting Plate	Frame in Frame Cutting Plate	Cupid's Arrows Dies
TE Sequins - Double the Fun Girl	Hemp Cord - Natural (68 yards)	Premium Cardstock - Toffee	Premium Cardstock - Sugar Cube

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Freshly Made Sketches: Enjoy

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

I picked up some older Papertrey Ink stash during their anniversary sale a few weeks back.  I've loved the fun petals of this flower from Oopsie Daisy, and I thought making it the centerpiece of this sketch would show off its details.   Then I thought a sentiment across the top would be a fun touch.  What I really needed was a card to send to a friend heading out on a trip so I thought "enjoy" would be right. It's killing me though because I'm a very literal sketch follower and and the sketch says that something is supposed to stick out on both sides of the center circle - not just one side like my "enjoy" does!

Have fun with this one!  I hope to see you playing along.
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PTI Oopsie Daisy	PTI Oopsie Daisy die	PTI Wet Paint die	Mama Elephant Boutique Borders
PTI Melon Berry Ink	PTI Simply Chartreuse Ink	PTI Summer Sunrise Ink	PTI Orange Zest Ink

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