A Blog Called Wanda

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek Day #1 - Beach Day!

JUNE RELEASE AT A GLANCE:

*   We have sneak peeks to share Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Friday, June 3rd at 8am PST.  You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven department in the Taylored Expressions Store.

*   Join us as a fan on  Facebook  for an early peek at the stamp sets on Thursday night beginning at approximately 6pm PST.

*   Special Early Bird Offer on Release day for the first 15 orders over $100. It's TOTALLY SWEET!

*   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 all 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 blog for more chances to win! Limit one comment per blog per day please.  Comments close Thursday 6/2 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Today is Beach Day for our sneak peeks! TOO much fun! I have two sets to introduce to you! This first set is maybe my favorite TE set ever! I could have made 20 cards with it! It's called "A Day in Paradise" and it was illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes Line. The set is a full-size TE set and has 21 images. It is very versatile and the sentiments are great.  I love it because it has a Cape Cod feel to it...and I love all things Cape Cod! That's where the DH and I were married! 

Here's my first card with this awesome set! I wanted a soft beachy vibe to go with this gorgeous beach house image. Don't you love it? I chose a color palette that reminded me of sand, sky and shells... I used some thick twine to mimic rope or nets.

 

Here is my Copic Color Palette for this project! YUM!

 

I used the small starfish image to create my own background paper using krat paper and versamark ink.

 

Here is everything colored in and ready to cut out!   

 

I added some tiny bits of fine glitter to the windows and the shells to make it look as if they are catching the light of the sun!  

 

I wish I could go to this pretty beach house right now! You are seriously going to love this set!  

 

Here's my second card made with "A Day in Paradise" set. This time I kept it really clean and simple. I have been seeing a lot of cards out there in blog-land that have a lot of white space. I wanted to give it a try. This card reminds me of a spa day!  

 

 

 

 

 

The second set I'm introducing to you today is called "Surf's Up!" And, you can see why! This is a Penguin Petites set illustrated by Doug Applegate for the Apple Doodle Ink line for TE. Each set had five images. I love the sentiments with this one!  He was very fun to color!

 
 

Here is my Copic Palette for this card...bright and cheery!  

 

Taylor is introducing a new wave die this month too. LOVE it! It cuts such a nice crisp image and is the perfect size for cards. I will use it again on my last project for the week! For this card I cut out two waves to add some depth. You can see below how it turned out. Taylor also sells the Nestabilities die I used for my main image!  

 

See how my little wave came out!? The font for this set is really adorable. The paper I used is a new pack from Echo Park called Splash! The little fishies were my favorite.   

 

This little guy is so cute...and there is another stamp set this month with his little surfer penguin girlfriend! She's called Beach Belle!  

 
Each of Taylor's stamp sets are made from very high quality deeply etched pink rubber and they all come trimmed and ready to use with your acrylic blocks. They come on a hard plastic index sheet that has binder holes for easy storage.

Okay, I've given you lots to look at today! The new sets are great and perfect for Summer. Tomorrow's theme is Wedding Day and I'll be back with more projects. 

As with every day...please go and check out what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has for you! There are other cool stamp sets that I did not use today.

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess

Nancy McKinney - Guest Designer

 

Land of the FREE, home of the BRAVE!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Let's not forget what that means to us as Americans! The true meaning of the day...to honor our heroes. I am the daughter of a Navy man myself. My husband is the son of an Army man. We definitely look up to our military heroes past and present at our house. In honor of the day I'm posting a card made with an adorable stamp image from Eat Cake Graphics. I had so much fun coloring this one.

Best wishes for a great Memorial Day and thank you to those in your family who are serving, or who have served our country. God Bless the USA!

 

 
Don't they look so cute, like they're all lined up and ready for a parade?

 

I used my Copics of course in just a few shades or red, white, blue, gray and yellow. Kept the color scheme simple and clean. I put some diamond glaze on the wagon to make it shiny. Popped a few stars on there for good measure...

 

 

 
 
Thank you for coming by this weekend!

 

Purple Passion!

Hello! How are you? What do you have in store for the long Memorial Day weekend coming up? It's really almost Summer now. You wouldn't know it here. Yesterday it poured rain for a good part of the day. Then, I came home and was watching TV when they interrupted to say there was a TORNADO warning for a county not too far from us! WH-AT? That does not happen very often - thank goodness. What a wacky season this has been. I'll be ready for some sunny skies and long days. We don't really have solid plans for the weekend...we'll see what develops.

I have a card "project" to share today. It's two projects in one. A card, with a pin attached! I'm not normally into purple but I love this royal velvet shade from PTI. It's yummmmy. Dark blue purple. I was inspired by our hydrangeas out front!

 

 

Here's how I made the pin... I cut four flower shapes from the purple felt with my Cuttlebug. I cut circles out of paper for the backing.  Chose a pretty pearlescent brad for the center and some leaves...

 

 

 

Layer the four flowers by folding them in half and then putting them over/under each other like how you would close a box. I used hot glue to hold everything in place. Be careful not to glue to the edge of the petals...you want them to stay fluffy.  

 

Here is one layer of the backing. I put the brad through the whole thing and then covered it up with the green circles you see below. Again...used the hot glue.  

 

 

 
 

Voila! Here is my finished flower pin! Now, to put it on the card... 

 

I layered my patterned paper pieces and then made two holes for the pin back to go through. Do you like the impression plate? It's new from PTI and looks like rattan or cane. Love. The sentiment was stamped onto a strip of vellum and then wrapped around the card. I mounted the green/cream piece with foam tape to allow room for the pin the be on the card.  

 

Here you can see the finished project from the side.  

 

At the last minute I decided to add a pop of matching ribbon!  

 

My inspiration from the garden... 

Okee Dokee...that's what I got for ya today! I hope your week has been good and that your weekend is even better! Don't forget that Taylored Expression June Sneak Peeks start May 31st. I've been working hard on my cards. I think you're gonna like these stamps! Hugs.    

Clean and Simple for today...

Hi there bloggy friends! How are ya? How's your week going so far? I hope good! I want to start today by saying a giant thank you to everyone who left a sweet comment on Mark's guest blog! WOW. He was so thrilled to get all that blog love! That is exactly why I blog right there. It's ALL positive. We share our creations with each other, put them out there into the universe, and look what happens. Friends we know and friends we've never met say nice things to us. It's absolutely wonderful and uplifting and encouraging. Thank you. Hug.

Do you ever see a card that someone has made and it just sticks in your head? You think, I need to copy that! Or you just love it? Well...I've had a card rolling around in my head just like that and today I'm going to share my take on it! The card I've been thinking of is THIS ONE from Her Royal Rubberness...Julie Ebersole.  I love the clean design, the pop of color and just all of it. It's back to the roots of stamping...stamps, ink, paper and ribbon. Today I'm sharing a trio of cards I made along the same lines. The layout is going to be one I come back to over and over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stamps, polka dot paper, and ribbon are all from Papertrey Ink. I chose three different bright, pretty colors for Spring! I love to use Versamagic Inks with these solid image clear stamps...they just seem to cover so nicely and they come in a million colors.  I could see making a bunch of these to give to someone as a card set. Do you like?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for popping by today! See you soon!

 
  

It's a first! I have a Guest Blogger today!

Hi there! The hubs is my #1 fan and supporter here at my bloggy blog...he has always encouraged me to blog away and never complains about all that time I spend in the craft cave. For some time, we've been talking about having him be a guest blogger to talk about his favorite place (Yosemite) and share his favorite pasttime (hiking). So...without further ado...my first guest blog! Have a great week!

Greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying the last bit of the weekend. I am fortunate to be the first guest blogger ever here at A Blog Called Wanda! For those that do not know me, I am Wanda's husband Mark, aka "DH." Some of my interests are nature, hiking (especially in Yosemite), collecting Silver Age Marvel Comics, making videos/slideshows....and I share Wanda's passion for Photography. Today I am going to share some Yosemite hiking photos and a video...I hope you enjoy them!

First up, here's a collage I made in Picasa of some of my favorite photos of the Valley floor.

 
 

These next three photos were taken on the Mist Trail along the Merced River on the way to Vernal Fall. It's called Vernal Fall (not Falls) because it only falls one time...straight down. Yosemite Falls, on the other hand, has three separate drops, so it's called Falls. Just a little trivia. Back in the 1800's the Mist Trail had wooden ladders to go all the way up. Now the steps are carved from the granite. Wanda has done this hike with me before. It's on the way to Half Dome.

 

This is the amazing view as you round the corner and see the first full view of the Fall. The trail is on the right side and you can see why it's called the MIST trail. There is a famous photo of John Muir taken on this exact spot.

 

The View looking down on the Fall. Can you see the people looking over the edge? 

 

One year my friend Randy and I hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls in the SNOW. Here is a sign we passed on the way down. The hike is about 4 miles from the Valley floor. I'm not a small guy and I kept falling through the snow. This trip will not be repeated in the snow. We made it to the top though!  

 

Here is a view of Yosemite Falls I took from Glacier Point. Glacier Point is at about 3200 feet up from the Valley floor. I have hiked up the Four Mile Trail which brings you to this amazing view. If you look closely, you can see the switchbacks in the trail on the left side of the Falls.

 

Half Dome is the most challenging hike in the park...and you can see why when you look at these cables. The cables come at the end of an 8 mile hike! There's only one way to the top! For added fun, go on Youtube and search for Half Dome Cable videos. Before I hiked Half Dome I had heard that it would change my life. After I hiked Half Dome, I found that to be true. It's a milestone for me.

 

Here is a photo of me at the TOP looking out over the edge of Half Dome! I'm not the Gilligan dude in the red shirt. I'm the guy in the blue shirt! This is over 4000 feet above the Valley floor. I love this picture. This gave me the priviledge of going to the Yosemite store and buying the shirt that says "I made it to the Top" and I wear it proudly.

 

Winter in Yosemite is a whole different place. No crowds. Different vistas and everything covered in snow and ice. Here is a cool shot of some frozen leaves, and below that another collage, this time of Winter scenes. 

 

 

 
 

The famous Tunnel View! It's named after the tunnel right before it that was carved out of the granite in 1933. This view never gets old. The waterfall you see is Bridal Veil Fall. You can see Half Dome in the middle and El Capitan to the left. El Capitan is the largest piece of granite in the world. People come from all over the world to climb it.  

 

I wanted to share one of my short videos too. This is the first video on Wanda's blog. Let's see if it works like it's supposed to!

 

 

Every blog post needs a picture of BUDDY! Here is my shot of him lounging on the back of Wanda's chair in the family room.  Looking quite debonair.


Thank you so much for letting me bust in on all the stamping and crafting activities and share with you. Wanda will be back soon with more cards. Have a great week. Mark.  

Mojo Monday...on a Friday!

Greetings and Salutations! Happy Friday! (even though it is Thursday night...technicalities never stopped me). Today I'm posting a card I made for the Mojo Monday blog and sketch for this week! I don't recall that I have ever entered their sketch challenge! FUN! They have really cool sketches. I had a custom card order from a sweet chick at work who needed a Congratulations card... I turned to my PTI supplies for inspiration and then found the sketch over at Mojo Monday. Check it out!

 

 

 Here's the sketch - I flipped it you see...

 

 

 

All of the supplies for this card are from Papertrey Ink! Love. The Pearls and button are the only things I got from my stash. The felt flower was cut from the PTI felt using one of their dies. The ribbon is my favorite color of theirs....it's called Hawaiian Shores...

 

I saw this neat ribbon trick on someone else's blog...really easy too! Just fold the ribbon over and tack it down with adhesive. It looks pretty when you put something over the top. You could also just put a bow there too.

 

I was very honored and surprised to be selected as a Fab Five Winner again this week over at the Hero Arts Blog with the card below. YAY! I get to pick out more free stuff! THANK YOU HERO ARTS! Please pop over to their blog and check out the other winners. There are some neat cards to look at. I love seeing everyone's interpretation of the same "rules."

 
 Have a wonderful weekend everyone! Hugs!  

Time for a Blog Hop! Taylored Expressions May Blast from the Past!

 
Another month gone by already? Yup...and that means time for the monthly Blast from the Past Blog Hop from Taylored Expressions! The theme this month was to use an older TE stamp set and make a project that was masculine. That is HARD for me! All my stuff is so girly and fru fru! I decided to make a birthday card for a guy using the "Make a Wish" stamp set!

 

I used a 'masculine' color scheme of gold, teal blue and black as my foundation. Found my Copic markers to match my paper and started coloring!  

 

Here is the awesome stamp set. You can see I combined two sentiment stamps to make my focal image and then added a bunch of extra stars to it. I stamped extra stars to color and put on the card later.  

 

 

 

 

 

I consulted with the DH to make sure it was okay to add some glitter to the stars! My resident male opinion said it would be fine. Not too much though... 

 

I used this sketch for my layout. I was having a block on how to do my card design. Did you know that on Taylor's Blog she has a link to all of her sketches? I use them all the time. If you click on her blog   and look on the right side bar you'll see the links. I thought this one below was great!

 

 

This Blog Hop is a customer Blog Hop and I hope you will join in one of these times if you haven't already! So much fun to see what everyone comes up with. See below for the list of projects this time around. Have a fab day!   
 

Hello! Sketch card for a Monday...

Have you all been to visit the blog called Deconstructing Jen?  I have been a big fan of Jen's for a long time. Her pencil coloring is OFF THE HOOK! She is an amazing artist! I've emailed back and forth with her a couple of times and I can tell you that she is also a very sweet person. Well, she announced that she is going to start doing a sketch challenge and I knew I wanted to be a part of her first "Deconstructed Sketch!" My card for today is for just that. It's a complicated sketch, which I like a lot. Check it out!

 

 

Here is the sketch image...I flipped it on it's side... 

 

 

 

I used papers from October Afternoon's Farm Fresh collection and a cute image from Penny Black. The solid papers are from Bazzill. Of course I used my Copics!  

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you will pop over and visit Jen's blog and...maybe even enter your own card for her very first sketch? It would be fun to give her a lot of support! Have a great week everybody! I'll be back on Wednesday with a card for the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop...it has a masculine theme this month.

Scenes from a weekend...

Hello everyone! Are you having a lazy-around-the-house kind of Sunday or a run-errands-til-you're-crazy kind of Sunday? We are having the lazy variety... Some laundry is in the dryer and I'm in the craft room mostly cleaning, but hopefully creating soon. I've had a nice weekend so far and thought I would just share some pictures with you today.

Yesterday one of my gal pals hosted us at her house for a girl day. It was fabulous! Relaxing and silly and just a plain old good time! We started out by having a make your own pizza bar. Isn't that the most fab idea ever? We started with Boboli pizza breads and then piled on the goodies. You know I love to take pictures of food - so I couldn't resist. And, trust me, it was just as good as it looks! :-)

 

 

Here's mine before it went into the oven....LOTS of veggies!  

 

And when it came out...

 

Are you hungry yet? I could eat this every single day I think...

 

 

 
 

After pizza we did a little bit of easy stamping and chatting...made some cheery Spring cards with this nice color palette and some favorite Amuse stamps. 

 

 

 

After stamping we had desserts and played Scrabble (otherwise known as the game I lose every time) and had some champagne! Perfection if you ask me! I really must get better at Scrabble. I think I am improving from playing Words with Friends on my iphone. I have some friends who are killers! (You know who you are)!  

 

 

 
 

The next set of pictures are from today in my front yard. This morning we had a full on thunder storm...which is extremeley rare here in Northern California. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever heard thunder that loud around our house. The lights flickered a bit and then it blew through in about an hour. As soon as it stopped raining I grabbed my camera to capture the just-after-the-storm light. It did not disappoint.

 

The hydrangeas are growing like crazy. I think there are probably about 200 blooms on two plants! The blooms are all in various stages. Some are completely green, some are all blue...and most of them are in between.  

 

See what I mean about that glorious light!? I did not photoshop the color on these at all! When the sky is cloudy there are no shadows and no glare...just soft even light...mmmmm.

 

 

 

 

 

This is our front flower bed with all the pretty impatiens the DH planted last weekend. By then end of the Summer they will fill the entire bed and be about a foot tall!  

 

I think maybe the thunder scared Mr. Buddy! He is in his cat camo tent with those giant eyes looking at me...am I okay??  

 

Thanks for popping by today! Have a blessed day.  

 

Bye Bye Butterflies....

Happy Friday everybody! We made it! Doesn't it just seem like some weeks are forever? That was this week for me. Glad to be home and done with my work week. Looking forward to some R & R with the DH and Mr. Buddy. Hopefully some stamping time too. What are your plans for the weekend? Our weather is gorgeous...85 degrees today. But, I hear it's supposed to be raining by Sunday. Spring! Whatever you're doing, I hope you enjoy the weekend!

A lot of peeps have emailed me asking about the new photo in my blog banner/header. I took that photo back in March on my work trip to Florida. CLICK HERE to see the rest of my photos from that trip. That is Miami Beach in all its glory. Isn't it splendid? My favorite is that cruise ship off in the distance. And, I love that blue color. When I took that photo I took it intending it to be a blog banner! I'm trying to think of that when I'm out and about...what shots would look good long and narrow?

Today I'm posting the last card of "Butterfly Week!" I hope you've had fun seeing all my butterfly projects. Today's card is back to the clean and simple style...with a pop of red! Take a gander...

 

The entire background is one stamp...from Hero Arts! It's so pretty. It has that text and then the pretty insects mixed in. Yum. I used a swirl stamp from Judikins to pop some red in the corners. The butterflies are stickers I got at Michael's. Really simple... I had the sewing machine out for another card so I decided to sew this one too. That's it!

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the entire "Butterfly Week" collection! TOO fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs!  

 
  

More butterflies? Yup!

"Butterfly Week" continues here on the blog! I hope you have enjoyed my cards...I have had fun doing a theme and making things to share with you! It's Thursday already which means this long week will be over soon. I'm ready. Now. Anyhoo...we won't go there. Let's just share stamping and happy thoughts! Thanks for coming by today and I hope you are having a wonderful day.

I have two more butterfly cards to share...one today and one more for tomorrow. Today's card is back to the "more is more" kind of project! It's another shabby chic creation jam packed with all kinds of doo dads and things. Heck, I even got out the sewing machine! I had fun making some butterfly banners and then used this yummy paper from Bo Bunny. The paper gave me the idea for a color palette I probably would not have chosen...but I like it!

 

 

Here is the inspiration for my color paletter - this yummy orangey-peach color and a beautiful greenish aqua. The paper also has a mint green in it - isn't it delish?

 

Here's a close up of the top of my card. You can see I sewed my kraft layer right onto my aqua Bazzill card base. I tore the edges and added some distress ink. I put a small butterfly stamp in brown in the corner...again...more is more! The little doily is from Martha. The fleur de lis is part of that same Bo Bunny collection.

 

Here is the aftermath of making those banners! More layers = more yumminess! I enjoyed making them... Would I make 20? I don't think so! hahahaha.

 

 

 

You know I always have to add some pearl swirlys...I am in love with those! They just add a feminine touch to any project.

 

 

 
There's still time if you would like to join me for Butterfly Week by posting a card link in the comments! I know there are a lot of you who love them too and I would love to see your cards! Bye for now!  

 

Butterfly Week continues...

Hi peeps! It's day two of my self declared "Butterfly Week" here on the old bloggy blog! If you read my post yesterday you know that this week I'm making all Buttefly projects! I'm trying to make cards of different styles and color schemes to keep it interesting. Today's card is made with one of my favorite color palettes: Light Blue, Pink and Red. I combined it with Kraft for a clean and simple design. I hope you likey! This card layout would work with flowers, circles, anything really....

 

 

I used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch to punch out different butterflies. I used the amazingly cute, fresh and pretty paper collection from Girls Paperie called Kitch. Love.

 

I first stamped the large Hero Arts Friends text in light brown onto one side of my Kraft card base. After punching out my butterflies I put three little pearls down the center of each one. When I mounted them to my card I used foam tape.

 

You can barely see the text. I wish I would have used a slightly darker color...or maybe white? I'll try it differently to see what happens next time. The words are stickers from that same paper collection. LOVE.  

 

 

 
Are any of you making butterfly cards this week too? One person left a link to hers already! Play along wtih me. C'mon...it'll be fun! You know you want to. Well, you know I want you to! Have a fabulous day all! Thanks for stopping by today!  

Butterflies Flutter By...

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? I had a nice weekend...weather was good, got in some crafty time... On Saturday some of my friends and I held a Crafty Garage Sale! It was a pretty good sale and I got rid of some old stamps and stuff and made a little cashola...to buy more! We had fun hanging out together and seeing our friends come by. The weekend went by in a nano-second. Do you guys watch Amazing Race? Finale was great last night!! Love that show...we never miss it at our house.

So yesterday I was rummaging around the craft room trying to decide what to make and generally picking up stuff. The card I posted last had some pretty butterflies on it... I started to see a theme emerge... I have TONS of butterly crafty goods! So...I am declaring this week "Butterfly Week" here at A Blog Called Wanda! All my projects this week have a butterfly theme. I had soooo much fun creating these projects! Butterflies are a sure sign of Spring and flowers. I thought it appropriate!

Here is some of my butterfly stash!!!!  

 

Here's my first card for the week. It's a shabby chic confection full of frilly, girly things. That gorgeous patterned paper is actually the packaging from some butterfly charms I bought! I opened the package and there it was...so nice!

 

 

 

 

 
 

Just a little bit of stamping...this card is mostly just paper crafting and combining elements together. That's one of my favorite things to do!

 

 

 
Do you feel like joining me for "Butterfly Week?" If so...put a link to your butterfly project in the comments section. I'd love to see what you're making too!  See you soon!  
 

Hero Arts ATC - and some flower pix!

Helllloooooo! Wow, this was a whirlwind week! Lots of activity on the bloggy blog with all the Taylored Expressions projects! Wasn't that fun? I sure enjoyed my first month on the Design Team. Thank you for all the kind comments and emails! It means so much to me...I read every comment and appreciate them all. Today I have some stuff to share...this n that. A card for a contest, some pictures...ya know.

Before I go on I have to share a milestone with you, my bloggy friends. On Wednesday I got my 100,000th blog hit! OMG. Really? How fantastic! Thank you for stopping by and visiting me! I feel the love! I would never have dreamed this. Thank you!

I won a Hero Arts contest a couple of months ago and I got to choose $50 worth of free stamps! WOOT! So, I decided to use my new stamps to enter the May Hero Arts contest. The themes for May are to make an ATC, use flowers or use colored pencils techniques. I decided to use ALL THREE! I made an ATC with flowers and used my colored pencils! Sometimes I get so stuck with my Copics that I forget to get out the pencils. It was nice to do something different. Sit back and spend a bit of time with me!

Here is my finished ATC. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card and is a little piece of art that is 2.5 by 3.5 inches. The trick is to see how much yumminess you can fit on that tiny size! People make them and then trade them with their friends like baseball cards. Here is my ATC!

 

Here is a close up of the card. I used a big text background stamp in a very light brown first, on cream paper. You can barely see the text. Then I stamped the pretty bird collage stamp off to the side. Lastly I stamped the word "friends" on the right. All stamped in dark brown ink - not black.

 

I stamped the collage again and cut out the main flower and some of the leaves to add later. The flower is popped up with foam tape. The extra leaves are on the left side with the clip. I added a sweet butterfly to finish it off!

 

Here is the collage stamp. One of my fav things to do is to just stamp part of these cool stamps. You don't necessarily have to use the entire image. Isn't this stamp cool??

 

 

 

 

After I made my ATC...I was like...What do I do with it?? I know! I'll make a card for it to fit on! I stamped the same text image onto the mustard paper. You can barely see it. Then I added another sentiment and some twine...kept it simple.

 

 

 

 My finished card!

 

 Here are the stamps I used...all from Hero Arts!

 

 

 

Tuesday night the DH and I met up downtown to have a frappuccino and take some pics! The light finally got nice at about 7:00. Until then it was too bright. There were some gorgeous flowers in a big circle in front of the state Capitol building. I wanted to share the pictures with you before it got to be too long... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally...Mr. Buddy! What do you suppose he sees out of the craft room window? I think I'm pretty sure it was a squirrel! He's on the hunt!

 
Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous Moms out there! Thanks for visiting today. Hugs!

 
 

Taylored Expressions May Release Day!

It's finally here! RELEASE DAY at the Taylored Expressions Store! All new items now available in the TE Store.  Click here to go straight to the Fresh Out of the Oven section to see all the new goodies!  I hope you have had fun here with me this week! It has been wonderful working with Taylor and the gang doing these posts. It's been very busy - but the best kind of busy! 

I have one last Taylored Expressions card for you this week...and it's my favorite one! I'm using Moka Jenn again and you'll find the stamp set illustration below. She's so adorable! You can order her now too!

 

 

 

I LOVE this paper combination - from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose - Mabel! It's so yummy and Autumn-y! I knew I wanted her to be a boho chic mom-to-be! I gave her some faded jeans and a pretty paper-pieced top...put some pearls on her cute little flats! Isn't she cute?? 

 

 

Here is the stamp set image for Moka Jenn!

 

One final thing I want to talk about is the Taylored Expressions Project Pantry Papercrafting Kits!  They are a great value at $9.95 each. They are available in limited quantities, so scoop them up while you can! These kits are perfect for card makers since the papers come in a 4x6 size....and everything matches perfectly. You will LOVE Taylor's eye for putting these together. LOVE. You'll find those in the Fresh out of the Oven page too!

Please check out what the rest of the Design Team has for you on this release day!

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess

Amber Hight - Guest Designer

Nancy McKinney - Guest Designer

Okay...it's been a really fun week full of baby cards and projects! Now...what to make next? Have a great day everyone! Hope to see you soon!  

 
  

Taylored Expressions May Previews - Day Three!

  
Hello! Today is Sneak Peek Day #3 for the May Taylored Expressions release! All of these sets will be available for purchase on Thursday morning at 8am PST. You can get the full stamp set reveal on the TE facebook page Wednesday night: https://www.facebook.com/#!/tayloredexpressions. I hope you have been having fun here with me on this new Design Team adventure! Thanks for tuning in!

Today's release features the stamp sets "It's in the Bag" and "Moka Jenn."  My third post for the week has two projects, using both of these cute sets as well as some neat dies. Are you enjoying seeing me make some baby cards? Something I haven't done a lot of here on the bloggy blog! All my friends are in between having kids and having grand kids...so I don't make many baby cards right now.

Here is my first project - a baby shower card. I thought I would use some different colors - for that modern mom. Nothing says that you have to use pastels...right? I love the pop of red with the baby blue. This card could be for a shower for a girl or a boy. This is the SUPER cute Moka Jenn stamp! I'll be using her for tomorrow's card too...in a totally different way.

 

 

She is colored with my Copic Markers and the paper is from the Jillibean Soup Blossom Collection. I used my Nestabilities for the circles and popped the sentiments up with some foam tape.

 

 

 

Here is my second project for today...and this time I used the traditional pastel colors to make some baby shower place cards with ADORABLE gift bags attached! These are SOOOO fun to make! EEEEK! I can think of a billion things to do with these shopping bags! The stamp set is called "It's in the Bag" and there is a matching die to cut out the bags and tags. Trust me, you'll love this one. It's not specifically baby related either - very versatile! Can't wait for you to see the whole set tomorrow.

 

I used the Heart Frame a la Carte stamp with the Frame it Up 2 matching die to make the outer portion of the front. The frame/die perfectly fits a 2x3 photo if you want to use it for pictures. You know I had to get out some glitter and pearls! Jazz it up a bit! I cut some vellum and folded it to look like tissue paper!

 

 

 
"It's in the Bag" stamp set was concepted and illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line. It is a full-sized stamp set on a 5.75" x 8.5" full color sturdy storage panel and has 27 images (yay!). The Brand new MOKA Petite Collection was also illustrated by Nancy McKinney - these darling little girls will steal your heart.  The first two in the collection are: Moka Jenn and Moka Olivia and each has  5 images. Both of these sets come on a 3" x 5.5" full color sturdy storage panel, and they both coordinate perfectly with It's in the Bag. There will be more of these to come! Can't wait!

Check out what the other ladies are up to!

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess

Nancy McKinney - Guest Designer

 

Taylored Expressions May Previews - Day Two!

 
Hi! Today is Sneak Peek Day #2 for the May Taylored Expressions release! All of these sets will be available for purchase on Thursday morning at 8am PST. You can get the full stamp set reveal on the TE facebook page Wednesday night: https://www.facebook.com/#!/tayloredexpressions. 

In keeping with our baby theme for May, today's release features the stamp set "Bringing Home Baby" which is full of nursery items. Here is my second card for the week, using this cute set. As soon as I saw the stamps, the first idea that "popped" into my head was...pop-up card! All these images just made for the sweetest nursery scene! I had so much fun making this one. Haven't made a pop up card in years. I had fun cutting, coloring, stamping and creating! That little window is just the most fun thing ever!

 

 
 

Here is the card when it is closed. It is a 5 1/2 inch square. The paper collection is My Mind's Eye Stella Rose Hazel Collection.   These paper collections I'm using this week are divine...and they come in 6x6 packs which are perfect for us card makers. Everything was colored with my Copics (of course)!

 

Here is the card 1/2 way open so you can see the inner structure of it. For the window, I mounted it on foam tape to stand up off the "wall" a bit. This card is THICK and juicy!

 

Here is the top view so you can see my little oval area "rug" with the sentiment! Also, you can see how the pop-up mechanics work. Super simple...just cut out a slit from the middle of the fold (or two as I did here) and voila...pop-up!

Here are some easy directions: http://www.ehow.com/video_4971702_make-popup-card.html

 

 
Taylor's stamp sets come on a 5.75" x 8.5" full color sturdy storage panel that fit into a binder. They are super easy to store and I love the colored images on the storage panels.  They are deeply etched red rubber on EZ Mount - already trimmed and ready to use! 

"Bringing Home Baby" was illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line -  it has  23 images  - so many possibilities for building your own nursery scene like I did! The other sneak peek set for today is called "Baby Cakes" and features baby images with our favorite Cuppie!! hee hee.

As with every day...please go and check out what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has for you!

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess

Nancy McKinney - Guest Designer

 

Taylored Expressions May Previews - Day One!

 
Hi Everyone! Today is Sneak Peek Day #1 for the May Taylored Expressions release! All of these sets will be available for purchase on Thursday morning at 8am PST. You can get the full stamp set reveal on the TE facebook page Wednesday night: https://www.facebook.com/#!/tayloredexpressions. 

This month's release is all about babies! Did you see Taylor's exciting announcement on Friday? She is expecting her first baby in September. I think you will see that she had babies on the brain when designing this release! All kinds of cute stuff in store for you this week. Here is my first card for the week, using the set called "Welcome Little One" and the super cool matching Bracket Die.

 

 

 

This adorable bracket stamp is part of the set, and has it's own matching Bracket Die to make it easier to mass produce and the get the images just perfectly cut out! I really recommend it! Cuts so nice and crisp!  

 

 

I used a very soft Copic color palette for this card...and matched the colors exactly to my patterned papers! The Paper Collections are: Jillibean Soup Blossom, and My Minds Eye Stella Rose Gertie!

 
  

 

 

 

"Welcome Little One" is the next set in the TE Giving Tree series of special stamp sets that help support various charities. For the months of May, June and July when you purchase this set you'll be helping to support Bethany Christian Services, the nation's largest adoption agency. Their services include adoption, foster care, counseling, and family support. Taylored Expressions will donate $7.00 to Bethany Christian Services for each Welcome Little One stamp set sold in the next 3 months. If you would like to learn more, here is the website link:  http://www.bethany.org/ 

 
"Welcome Little One" was designed and illustrated by Taylor VanBruggen as part of the *te* Collection of stamps. The set includes 26 images in high quality deeply-etched rubber on EZ-Mount.  This set is perfect for birth announcements, baby shower invitations, and baby congrats! Since it is part of the giving tree program, the stamps are not cut...this saves more money - to give to the charity. All of the other stamp sets come with the images already cut out!  

I hope you will take a look at what all the other DT members have for you today! I'll see you tomorrow!

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess

Nancy McKinney - Guest Designer

 
 

This is BIG! So excited to announce I'm joining the Baker's Dozen!

I've been keeping a crafty secret...and today I can finally tell everyone! Starting with the May stamp release tomorrow...I am officially a member of the Taylored Expressions Baker's Dozen Design Team!

 
I am very excited to announce this big news! Not just excited, thrilled would be a better word. I have admired Taylor and her crew for a long time, and now I get to play with them every month! Taylor's stamps are so fun and such great quality. Her taste in embellishments is perfection. Don't even get me started about the other DT members...people I have blog stalked followed with admiration. Thanks, Taylor, for the opportunity to be a part of your great company! And, thanks to the other design team members who have welcomed me into their club! I am already impressed by the kindness and generosity shown to me!

In honor of this announcement, I thought a card would be in order! I got out one of my favorite Taylored Expressions stamp sets: Crafty Cuppie! Cuppie is the most darling cupcake, who gets into all kinds of situations! SO adorable! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next four days in a row I will be posting cards for the Taylored Expressions May stamp release! I hope you will come back and see what I've been working on behind the scenes!