Monday, April 6, 2015

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek 1: Babies and April Showers

It's day 1 of a spring release from Taylored Expressions!!  My cards today are about babies and watering cans(!), but also throughout this week you will see graduation, mother's day and spring showers.  Be sure to check all of the other designers starting on the Taylored Expressions blog because there is just too much for one designer to show off in just a few days.

All the products that I have used are linked at the bottom, but remember that new products aren't live until Thursday, April 9th, 7 a.m. PST.


Taylored Expressions is celebrating Release Week with some fabulous giveaways! Visit the TE Blog each Sneak Peek Day this week for details on how you can enter to win.








This release includes a variety of stamps and dies for babies.  One is Block Party - Baby which is a continuation of the dies that began with "love" last month.  I love the way they cut the big word out of the front of the card.

Block Party Baby from Taylored Expressions

The safety pin is from Baby Treat Toppers, a set of six baby-themed circles.  There are a number of themed treat topper sets already in the TE Store.  The banner is from Pocket & Pages - Stitched Essentials which will be officially "sneak peeked" tomorrow.  "Welcome" is from the new stamp set Little Bits of Baby which includes a variety of useful baby words and phrases in nice fonts. I am loving the new embossing folder on this card - it's called Cable Knit so I used it to give the feeling of soft little baby outfit.  I saw another designer use it to emboss a green panel as ground and it looks like growing plants and vines - LOVE flexibility in a product!

Block Party Close Up

The patterned paper and the sequins are from the new set Double the Joy.  TE's "double" sets are nice because not only do you get the boy-themed paper that I used, there's also feminine colors and themes.

For my second card, I chose to go with a "thinking of you" theme, with the idea that a watering can is helping and refreshing the flowers in the label.  The stamp set is Fancy Banner 2 Stamp and Die Combo and also comes with sentiments for  congratulations, celebrations, Mother's Day and many more.

Taylored Expressions Fancy Banner 2

The Dotted Lattice Embossing Folder is from a previous release.  It's become one of my favorite backgrounds because it adds so much interest with distracting from the main image.  I used Peapod, Salt Water Taffy, Sprinkles and Sugar Cube cardstock along with the silver from the Metallic Neutrals Cardstock Pack that was release last month.

This is Fancy Banners 2. The first banner was release last month.  Aren't these just the sweetest flowers?  

Taylored Expressions Fancy Banner 2 Close Up

I also used two other new products on this card - Little Bits Watering Can and Little Bits Weather Confetti (which also includes teeny tiny clouds and lightning bolts!)

Taylored Expressions Watering Can and Weather Confetti

I started with babies today and tomorrow I am jumping all the way to graduation!  Be sure to come back - but first be sure to head over to the TE blog and comment to win and prize, and to check out all of the other sneak peeks!


SUPPLY LIST

Remember, links to new products will not work until Thursday, April 9th, 7 a.m. PST.
Thinking of You Fancy Banner

Fancy Banner 2 Copics
Taylored Expressions carries Copics!

Welcome Baby

6 comments (add your comment here)
Posted by at 8:00 AM Labels: , ,

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Freshly Made Sketches: Shoot for the Stars

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


My graduation card needs this year rival my usual Christmas card needs.  My oldest is a high school senior, plus all of his friends.  My husband is heavily involved in youth ministry and in youth lacrosse and an amazing number of his "kids" are graduating.  So I'm not going into any challenge or cardmaking need without thinking about graduation.  I like to use school colors on graduation cards and I tend toward more formal cards, but I need to add a few brighter cards to my collection for those certain kids that are most definitely not formal!

Shoot for the Stars

This is a fun sketch and you definitely need to check out the FMS Blog to see the amazing variety of great cards that the design team put together.

SUPPLY LIST

I'm not doing a picture supply list on this one because there's not much product that I can link.  The stamp comes from a Simon Says kit from awhile back that does not seem to be available anymore - it's called Shoot for the Stars.  The patterned paper is Doodlebug Hip Hip Hooray.  The cardstock for the banners came from the scrap pile.  The stars are Lil' Inkers Stitched Stars die set.
12 comments (add your comment here)
Posted by at 6:00 AM Labels: ,

Friday, March 27, 2015

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.

ShareJoy Thinking of You

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.

SUPPLY LIST
(The pink cardstock is coming soon!)


7 comments (add your comment here)
Posted by at 7:47 AM Labels: ,

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

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!

Thanks Flower

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!

SUPPLY LIST


15 comments (add your comment here)
Posted by at 6:00 AM Labels: ,

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

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.

You Make Me Happy

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

You Make Me Happy Ladybug

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.

SUPPLY LIST


2 comments (add your comment here)
Posted by at 6:00 AM Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)