It's a party and you're invited!!!

Come celebrate with Taylored Expressions for Cuppie's 1st birthday on September 5th!

Yep - it's been almost a whole year since TE debuted the first three stamp sets. On Saturday, September 5th, Taylored Expressions will be celebrating Cuppie's 1st birthday with the Taylored Expressions Birthday Bash and it wouldn't be a party without you! We have an exciting day planned so I hope you can join us!

At 8am PST Taylored Expressions will release four new stamp sets along with two new Key Ingredients. Minutes after that we'll begin a day of TEBB Challenges to be posted on the Stamp A Sweet Impression Blog every hour throughout the day, hosted by the Baker's Dozen Design Team.

Prizes, prizes and more prizes: one lucky winner will be selected for each challenge to receive a $10 Gift Certificate from Taylored Expressions as well as the sample created by your Challenge Hostess.

Grand Prize: as if that weren't enough - anyone ambitious and creative enough to play in ALL 13 Challenges will be entered into a drawing for the Grand Prize of a $25 TE Gift Certificate along with...are you ready for this?...seriously I hope you're sitting down...along with a custom painting by our favourite Cuppie artist Jessie Olsen!!! Wow!!!

Time Limit: we want to give you plenty of time to play. What a great way to spend a 3 day holiday weekend, right? All entries will be due by Wednesday, September 9th at midnight PST. Winners will be announced on Friday, September 11th.

You may combine challenges any way you like and you are NOT required to use Taylored Expressions stamps in your creations.

We want to get started with prizes right away, so we have an opportunity for you to enter a drawing this week by helping us to invite more party guests. Simply post our Birthday Bash Blinkie on your blog (either on the sidebar or in a post) anytime this week inviting your readers to the SASI blog to play in the Birthday Bash. Once you've posted the Blinkie, head over to the SASI blog and leave a comment on this post with a link back to your blog. Your comment on the SASI blog post will enter you into a drawing for ONE of the four new release stamp sets - your choice! The winner will be announced on the SASI blog on Saturday morning shortly after the release at 8am PST.

To celebrate I just HAD to create a Cuppie card and decided to squeeze in one last summer sail in the few remaining hours of August.

I used Beach Bum and the Mojo Monday sketch #102 for the layout. The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and coloured with copics. I added turquoise Stickles to the water and layered it onto Prism Classic Purple. Then I ran some Prism Baby Blue Medium through my D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and layered a strip of Intense Kiwi with yellow ribbon. A little red and purple Bling finished it off!

Sneak peeks of the new release sets start on Thursday, September 3rd, then I'll see you at the Birthday Bash on Saturday!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Season's Greetings Bella Style

I'm kicking off the week with a Christmas card and it's a Stamping Bella Christmas.

Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for birds...I love love LOVE them! Put a bird on it, in it, or with it and I'll buy it! LOL!!! Seriously, I'm almost that bad. grin! So when I saw the new Birds Decorating Trees image from Stamping Bella I absolutely had to have it! The layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #33.

I really love this layout...it's simple and easy to work with so my card came together really quickly. I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured it with copics. It's cut out with circle Nestabilities and layered onto a scallop circle of close to cocoa.

The patterned paper is SU Ski Slope. I layered it onto old olive then stitched around the edges. The sentiment is also stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. I added some baja blue ribbon and tied the bow with my Bow Easy. I {heart} my Bow Easy and it's getting easier to use...I'm really getting the knack of how to wind the ribbon. I finished the card with two pomagranate Baubles then added some red Stickles to the string of lights.

Stamping Bella has a new shipping policy...FREE for orders over a certain amount. Click here for all the details! Thanks Em!!!

Oh, and don't forget to play along with this week's Bellarific Friday Challenge. You'll find the sketch on Bloggabella.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Memories of the green vacuum...

Happy Bellarific Friday!

I regressed a little to my childhood on this card. I can remember my mom's vacuum...an olive green Electrolux canister vacuum that she'd trail around the house. That thing seemed to run for-EVER. Needless to say, when I decided to use Suck It Up Stella from Stamping Bella I knew I'd be colouring the vacuum green! :)

This week's sketch was brought to us by Meahni...our South African Bella Babe...and what a fun sketch it was!

I stamped Stella with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured her with copics. I cut her out with long rectangle Nestabilities then drew in the wood floor to occupy the white space under the image.

The sentiment totally cracks me up, and it's included with the image. I stamped it onto old olive and cut it out with a Spellbinder ribbon tag. The rest of the card is super simple...no complicated stitching or piercing on this one. The patterned papers are Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday and I layered them onto Prism Island Mist Dark. I added some blue bayou ribbon and finished it with some layered Primas and a red Bella bonbon.

Don't forget to pop over to Bloggabella and check out this week's submissions. If you leave a comment while you're there you'll have a chance to win some Bella Bucks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Easy Noel

Here's my Christmas card for this week and it's a quick and easy one too!

When I was tidying my desk I found Splitcoast Sketch #239 sitting there, all printed out but never used. I thought it would be a great layout for a quick and easy card and I didn't have a ton of time to stamp so I ran with it. I was looking through my stamps, trying to decide what image to use, when I saw my Big On Christmas set from SU. Perfect!!!

Next I pulled out some Cosmo Cricket Christmas paper for my colour scheme and went to work on the image. It's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured with copics. I stamped the ornament a second time so I could pop it for dimension. The image is quite plain and simple but I jazzed it up with a layer of clear Glaze pen on the letters and a little red Spica glitter pen on the ornament. Then I cut it out with long rectangle Nestabilities and doodled around the edge with my copic multiliner.

I had actually intended to use one of the more colourful papers in the collection but this one suited the image better once it was all coloured. I ran some Prism Island Mist Light through my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder before stitching it to a layer of Prism Blush Red Dark and adhering it to the Choice Buttercream card base. I fished through my button jar for the perfect trio and voila...one quick and easy Christmas card to add to my ever-growing stash!

I tell you...I'm going to be SO happy come December and all my cards are made...no mass-production for me this year...yippeee!!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Mojo Cupcake

Here's a card I made using this weeks Mojo Monday sketch, Mojo101. The cupcake and sentiment are from For The Love Of Cupcakes at Taylored Expressions. I paper pieced the cupcake...no colouring this time. ;)

The Choice Snow White card base is 5 inches square. I layered some My Mind's Eye patterned paper and used plenty of wonderful Prism colours on this card. Here's the list: Papaya Puree Medium, Blush Red Medium, Frosted Pink and Frosted Kiwi. I stitched around the base for a little interest then ran the pink panel through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I added three white candy dots beside the sentiment to help it stand out a little.

This card came together sooooo quickly! I really love paper piecing and forget how quick and easy it is to do.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Sketchy Addy-Tude

We had friends visiting this past weekend and had a wonderful time with them. Of course we did the tourist things in Boston (because they'd never been to Boston) and we did a lot of visiting and catching up. I didn't stamp all weekend though so yesterday, after reclaiming the house (you know, the laundry, the tidying up, the errands/groceries...) I spent the evening in my stamp room getting inky.

I decided to use this fun Addy-tude Loves to Sparkle image from Stamping Bella and I paired her with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #35 from last week.

I started by stamping Addy-tude with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper then I coloured her with copics. I chose to use paper from the Basic Grey Wisteria collection and I paper pieced her dress with one of the patterns. You can't really see the shimmery details in the photo, but I added moonlight and sugarberry Smooch to her diamond, earrings and bag, then used my clear Glaze pen on her glasses.

I used an EK border punch on some eggplant then layered it onto Prism suede brown medium. I used my new Bow Easy tool to tie that cute little bow...man that thing is a gem of a tool! I can tie bows without it, but it makes it so perfect each time! I added a button (threaded with a paper strip) to the bow and some Bella marble dots to the corners.

Don't forget about this week's Bellarific Friday challenge. You can win $20 Bella Bucks just for participating. Find the sketch and all the details here, on Bloggabella.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Mmmmm...pie!

Who doesn't love to chat and who wouldn't love to chat over a piece of yummy pie?!?

This pie image from the Taylored Expressions set Berries and Cherries totally reminds me of my Mom. She's a fabulous cook and an awesome baker too, and she's more than happy to fulfill any requests we have when we go home. When we were home recently I indulged her her super-yummy-made-from-scratch-extra-thick lemon pie (my absolute favourite) and hubby requested pecan pie. She also whipped up a couple of apple pies and a cherry one too (my dad even pitted the cherries for her). Ooooh, I'm getting hungry just typing this! I'm going to send her this card, just because I can! :)

I used the Mojo 100 sketch for the layout. I stamped the pie with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White then cut it out with rectangle Nestabilities. I stamped it a second time, coloured it with copics, cut it out and popped it for dimension. I added some sparkle to the steam with my Stardust Gelly Roll pen but it doesn't show up in the photo.

All the supplies I used are from the Berries and Cherries Key Ingredients, with the exception of the metal frame which is SU. I ran the brown scallopped circle through my D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder before adhering it to the sparkly paper. The sentiment is from A Year of Sweet Sentiments and I secured it in place with one of my favourite ribbon and two strawberry brads.

I suddenly have the urge to bake...Hmmm...

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Let's Chill Out and Hang...

Happy Bellarific Friday!

Today's sketch was provided by the talented Bella Babe Meahni. I must be honest, I wasn't so sure about this sketch when I first saw it, I thought I'd have trouble with the little elements on the side. But, once I started my card everything fell into place perfectly. Isn't that often the case...the sketches that look most challenging work out the best. This is also my Christmas card for the week.

I inked up the Winter Clothes image from Stamping Bella with Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped it onto Bella's Bestest Paper. After choosing the patterned paper I wanted to work with, I coloured the image to coordinate using copic markers. I added a little sparkle to the mitts and scarf with a red Spica glitter pen then gave the toque a fluffy/sparkly pompom with liquid applique and some glitter.

The white card base is 5.25 inches square. I layered some Pink Pirouette then stitched the My Mind's Eye patterned paper to the base (it's still one of my favourite Christmas collections...I just love the colours in this MME line). There are two ribbons layered onto another strip of Pink Pirouette across the center and the image is layered onto Riding Hood Red. The sentiment was punched out with my SU oval then I added some green and red buttons (threaded with paper strips) and a ghost snowflake to the top left corner.

So are you ready to pop over to Bloggabella and see what everyone created? Let's go then! Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment on the post while you're there, you could win $10 Bella Bucks!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

August 20th Key Ingredients

It's that time of the month...time to showcase the monthly Key Ingredients from Taylored Expressions. This kit was really fun to work with...the colours, the rubons, the ribbon and bling...YUM! I just LOVE how everything coordinates perfectly...Taylor's got such a good eye and she really makes it easy to be creative with every Key Ingredients kit! You can see how the kit is packaged for subscribers here in Taylor's fab video.

Taylor challenged us to use the kit and create quick and simple 10 minute cards, and we also had to incorporate the rubons. Helloooooooooooo....the rubons are so pretty that I decided they should take center stage. All supplies used are from the August 20th Key Ingredients.

On the first two cards I incorporated sayings from Faith & Hope to complement the tree and flower rubons.

This next card needs a little explanation. I placed the gorgeous rubon onto acetate (which doesn't show up in the photo) then adhered the acetate to the card front so the entire card is really glossy and super pretty IRL. The sentiment, from Branching Out, is stamped directly onto the red card base under the acetate.

This last card is my fave! I used the branch and sentiment from Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates then added the owl and flower rubons.

I was so pleased that I literally whipped these cards up in no time flat! Aren't the patterned papers just gorgeous?!? Well, I had plenty of supplies left after creating these four cards so I decided to decorate a Perfect Package Card Box to house my cards. Again I kept the design really simple. This may have taken fifteen minutes instead of ten and it coordinates beautifully!

EXTRA, EXTRA...Read All About It!!!

Have you heard the news about the 3 month and 6 month subscription programs? Taylored Expressions is offering both of these on a monthly charge basis rather than having to pay for it all up front. So now you can craft on a budget with fabulously coordinated supplies! How cool is that?!? Sign up for the subscription service to receive the Key Ingredients kits released the 20th of each month for just $15.95 a month plush shipping for the 3 month subscription. Or for the best value, purchase the 6 month subscription for just $14.95 a month plus shipping and as a BONUS Taylor will include 2 Perfect Package Card Boxes ($5.95 value) FREE if you order by August 25th! Of course all of the Key Ingredients kits are also available for individual purchase ($16.95 each) while they last. Click here to read all about the benefits for Key Ingredients Subscribers.

I know some of the other Baker's Dozen have cooked up wonderful samples too so let's go check them out!

Dawn Easton

Denise Marzec

Jen del Muro

Laurie Schmidlin

Sankari Wegman

and Taylor Van Bruggen

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Thinking of You, SU only...

Well, just about SU only, aside from the Nestabilities and the Cuttlebug folder. But this is about as SUO as I get nowadays.

I think this is the first time ever that I've completed the weekly Splitcoast Sketch Challenge on the day it's issued. This layout is SC242. When I saw the sketch I thought it would be perfect for Trendy Trees. The tree is inked with chocolate chip and kiwi kiss then I stamped the sentiment in riding hood red. I just can't seem to give up these colours...yum!

The patterned paper is Bella Rose. I ran some pink pirouette through my birds and swirls Cuttlebug folder before layering it onto the white card base. Everything is layered on chocolate chip and I did my fun loopy ribbon treatment with the riding hood red ribbon then attached a kiwi corduroy button. Two chocolate brads finished it off nicely.

I have lots to do today (running around and stamping), getting ready for friends to arrive for a weekend visit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

I Need More Memory...

This week's challenge in the MFT forum on Splitcoast is to create something with a back-to-school theme. Instead of making a card I decided to alter a mini composition book.

When I was flipping through my pile of MFT stamps searching for just the right one, Digital Girl from the Who's That Girl line jumped out at me, especially the "I need more memory" sentiment. After all, schools are about more than just books these days, the kids all use computers too, but I chuckled to myself at just how funny it would be to use Digital Girl and the sentiment to alter a paper book...it still makes me chuckle! Although, I'm a paper-lovin' girl...up until just a few months ago I was still using a paper planner for my appointments and stuff...hubby laughs at how long it takes me to embrace a new gadget, then I plow ahead full steam commenting on how much I love my new 21st century gadget! LOL!

This book is little, only 3.25 x 4.5 inches big so I chopped the image at the bottom of the desk to fit better. Digital girl is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and coloured with copics. I can colour so much faster with copics than I can with pencils, so I still tend to reach for my copics first. The desk is paper pieced.

The patterned papers are from Jillibean Soup, the Minestrone line. I adhered them directly to the composition book then added some orange ribbon. I used an EK border punch on some chocolate chip to create the spine piece and attached it with Score Tape so it's very secure. The only embellishment I added was a small ghost flower and an orange bonbon.

Since we don't have kids and I'm not going to school any time soon, I think I'll tuck this into my purse for when I need to make a note, or maybe jot down a sketch or idea that comes to mind when I'm out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Bright and Happy #1

It's been quite a while since I played with one of my friend Janet's Corrosive Challenges so when I saw this week is a sketch challenge I just had to play along.

And the best part...I was planning on using You're my number one-abella from Stamping Bella and the sketch worked beautifully with the image. I love it when a plan comes together! :)

I started by stamping #1-aBella with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Bella's Bestest Paper then cut her out with rectangle Nestabilities. Then I coloured the image with copics and added some shimmer with both pink and yellow Spica glitter pens.

This is my first card using the new in-colours from SU...they're preeeeetty bright! I do really like how happy this card is though. I ran some Melon Mambo through my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder then layered it onto the white card base. The patterned paper is from Razzleberry Lemonade and I added Razzleberry polka dot ribbon. The image is layered onto Razzleberry and so is the "you're". I finished the card with some purple Primas and a Fuschia Bella Bonbon in the center.

Don't forget to check Bloggabella for this week's Bellarific sketch challenge and play along for a chance to win Bella bucks!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Whimsical Birthday Wishes

I {heart} this adorable floppy dog from the Beary Special set at Taylored Expressions and I thought he'd be perfect for Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge, TESC78.

I started by stamping the hat then masked it and stamped the dog, all with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White. Then I stamped the hat and present (both from Beary Special Accessories) onto a scrap of Choice Snow White because I knew I'd be cutting them out. I was about to reach for my copics and then I saw my Lyra pencils (because they're out on display on my desk now, thanks to the sweet handbag tidy I altered...you can see it here) and decided to colour everything with my pencils, OMS and a stump. The hat is popped on foam tape for dimension and I added liquid applique for the pompom. The image is cut out with deckle rectangle Nestabilities.

I layered Prism Suede Brown Dark and Frosted Teal onto the white card base then added some polka dot paper from the My Mind's Eye Delighted line. Next I wrapped some orange polytwill and tied a bow then secured the present to the bow with a white jump ring. I finised the card with three Multicolour Twinkles on the left side.

I'd like to remind you that Beary Special and Beary Special Accessories are the charitable sets for this quarter's TE Giving Tree. Proceeds from the sale of these two sets until August 31st will benefit Sick Kids Hospital. You'll still be able to purchase the sets after August 31st, but then the TE Giving Tree will be focussing on another charitable organization, so if you want to help benefit a wonderful children's hospital, pick up your sets before the end of August.

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Up, Up and Away...

I finally cracked into my other new-to-me Verve set Up, Up and Away. I've loved this set since it was released and it's the reason I'm no longer Verve-less. :)

The Weekend Sketch Challenge, hosted by Beate, seemed like a fabulous layout to use with this set. I also dug into my SU Thoroughly Modern PP. I stamped the balloon with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White then stamped it again onto one of the patterned papers so I could paper piece the circle. The rest of the image is coloured with copics and I added a blue background with my copics to make it look like it was in the sky. I ran my clear Glaze pen over the balloon to make it shiny.

The white card base is 5 inches square. I layered rose red then sahara sand and stamped the clouds in sahara sand. I backed the scallop border with bermuda bay to make it pop. I saw this fun ribbon treatment on Paula's card and tucked it away in my memory to use on my own cards. I just love her idea of wrapping it back onto the image and securing with a button. I was lucky enough to find a button in my stash that coordinates perfectly with bermuda bay! Thanks for the idea Paula!

The weather is soooooooo beautiful here this weekend...finally! Hot and humid...just the way I like it so you won't hear me complaining...perfect convertible weather (with sunscreen and a hat of course!).

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen