Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek Day 1-You're My Hero

Let the sneak peeks begin!!! I'm super excited about the new set, You're My Hero, the Baker's Dozen is showcasing today. I think it'll Rock Your World!!! It's fresh & fun and it's also the new charitable set for the TE Giving Tree Program. The new products will be available at Taylored Expressions from 8am Friday, March 5th.

You're My Hero was inspired by and designed in honour of Taylor's 10 year old neighbour, Darrin Zimmerman, who passed away last fall from cancer. Please visit Taylor's blog for the full story. $7 from the sale of each You're My Hero set will be donated to CureSearch. CureSearch unites the world's largest childhood cancer research organization, the Children's Oncology Group, and the National Childhood Cancer Foundation through their mission to cure childhood cancer. Research is the key to the cure.

The possibilities are endless for this set. Next week I'll be in Calgary visiting my BFF (5 more sleeps!) and I have a nephew there who's birthday is next week, so I used You're My Hero and the Rock Star Key Ingredients to create his birthday card and a fun altered composition book. I used sketch SC269 from Splitcoast for the layout on my card.

The guitar is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White and coloured it with copics. I used my orange Spica glitter pen to add a smidge of sparkle to the flames, which ties in nicely with the orange glitter brads from the Rock Star Key Ingredients. I used my stamp positioner to line up the handle and the guitar head. There are actually four different guitar heads included in You're My Hero, but I thought Carter would get a kick out of the flames. He's turning 12 and actually appreciates hand-made cards, so I know he'll love this one.

The patterned papers in the Rock Star Key Ingredients are from the We R Memory Keepers Teen Angst collection and they're so cool! The piece I used on my card has a silver foil line running through it. I also love how the sentiments in You're My Hero have a bit of a grunge feel with letters that have a scratched up look.

Next I decided to alter a composition book using the Rock Star Key Ingredients and You're My Hero. I stamped the three guitars with Memento Cantaloupe, Bamboo Leaves and Summer Sky then added the rock star shadow with Memento Tuxedo Black. The image is cut out with Labels One Nestabilities and for the black mat I simply traced around the outside of the same nestie then cut it out with scissors.

I love the tone on tone effect of stamping the circle splatter and the star with Versamark onto the green and yellow papers. The star border punch was a logical choice for this project then I stitched everything together before adhering it to the book. I think the edges of the ribbon will look even more cool once they fray a little and the stitching will stop it from going too far.

To personalize the book even more I used chipboard letters from my stash. I used the funky Glazed Glitter technique that Jen del Muro shared in this post on her blog. I used Black Diamond Stickles but then to keep with the grunge feel of the stamped words, I covered the letters with Ranger Crackle Accents. It's a little difficult to see the crackle because of the black background but trust me...they look cool and sparkly in a "guy" kinda way!

You're My Hero is the same deeply etched rubber as all the Taylored Expressions sets but it will need to be trimmed when you receive it. This is to keep manufacturing costs as low as possible to maximize the amount donated to CureSearch. The set was designed with teens and tweens in mind, but I see myself using it for both masculine and feminine cards for my brothers, sisters-in-law, and friends. It would be perfect for a scrapbook page too or to wrap up a pair of concert tickets or an iTunes gift card! This set just makes me want to go play Rock Band!!!

I know the rest of the Baker's Dozen will have many more ideas with You're My Hero and the Rock Star Key Ingredients so let's hop over and take a look.
Alex Maldonado
Carolina Butching
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls
Nancy McKinney (stamp designer extraordinaire!)
Sankari Wegman
and Taylor Van Bruggen

I'll be back tomorrow with sneak peeks of two more egg-cellent sets!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen