Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 2

We have another full day of fun sneak peeks from Taylored Expressions. All the new products will be available in the TE Store starting Thursday, March 3rd from 8am PST.

The Baker's Dozen is sharing samples using two new sets, Hello Spring and Easter Joy. You'll also see the Spring Project Pantry which if chock full of colourful goodness...you may recognize it in some of yesterday's sneak peeks.

I'll start with Hello Spring. This is a full sized stamp set from the Apple Doodle Ink line. It has 20 images consisting of an adorable mix of spring and Easter images and sentiments. All Taylored Expressions stamps are deeply etched red rubber on EZ mount foam and come already trimmed...sweet!

I adore birds and when I saw this set I knew the first images I wanted to use were the little chicks...they crack me up! Then I saw SC321 and knew it was the perfect layout for my idea.

The chicks are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copics. I stamped them a second time so I could cut out and pop the egg shells. It's really difficult to see in the photo, but the shells are all sparkly because I coloured them with my clear Spica pen. The little scallop strip is thanks to my small scallop border die. All the supplies on this card are from the Spring Project Pantry.

Next up is my Easter Joy card. This is a mini set from the Lasting Impressions line and has 10 images, including two bible verses. The images are cute, and designed to coordinate with the images from Hello Spring.

My vision for this card was a sunrise over rolling hills...and it turned out just how I imagined! Gotta love it when that happens. The larger lamb (on the left) is from Hello Spring and the rest of the images are from Easter Joy.

I created the pretty floral accent with patterned papers from my My Mind's Eye Stella Rose Mabel patterned paper and the friendship blooms dies. A little sewing, some ribbon and twine, and this one was done!

Have fun hopping around to check out the rest of the fab sneak peeks!
Charmaine Ikach 
Danielle Lounds
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild

See you here again tomorrow for even more sneak peeks!!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

It's Release Day at Taylored Expressions!

Finally all the sets the Baker's Dozen has been previewing this week are now available at Taylored Expressions. Today you'll see a recap of the sets as you hop along from blog to blog because frankly, there was just sooooo much to share that we want to remind you of everything! :)

Today I have two cards for you. This first card uses the new Summer Afternoon set.

I love the solid images in this set and the wonderful sayings...it makes it pretty easy to whip up quick cards. I paired the stamps with patterned paper from My Mind's Eye So Sophie Clever collection and used sage shadow for the solid. The images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then cut out with rectangle Nestabilities. I coloured over the poppies with my red Spica glitter pen and it didn't turn them red as I'd hoped, but it did give then a pretty shimmer. I made the paper flower from sage shadow cardstock following this tutorial.

This next card pairs one of the beautiful sympathy sentiments from Care & Comfort with the gorgeous frame image from Summer Afternoon.

I stamped the frame image with sage shadow craft ink onto Choice Buttercream and embossed it with clear powder. Then I cut it out with Labels 3 Nestabilities and layered it onto sage shadow (I hand cut the mat by tracing the outside of the same Nestabilities shape) and used the inner edge of the Nestability as a guide to pierce around the edges. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and punched out with my 1 3/4" circle punch. Then I added a border of black Tiny Twinkles. The luscious black silk ribbon is so soft and pliable...just gorgeous to work with. The patterned paper is another in the So Sophie Clever collection and I added a pop of black to separate the layers.

I hope you'll pop over to the rest of the Baker's Dozen blogs to see more inspiration before heading to the TE Store to fill up your cart. Happy hopping and shopping!

• Alex Maldonado
• Carolina Butching
• Charmaine Ikach
• Donna Baker
• Jackie Pedro
• Jami Sibley
• Jeanie Witmer
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Nancy McKinney
• Sandra MacLean-Guest designer for May-June
• Sankari Wegman
• and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Center of Attention Product Spotlight - Metal Squares

It's time for this month's product focus from Taylored Expressions. Today some of the Baker's Dozen will be sharing projects created using metal squares in copper and/or aluminum. I decided to work with the copper squares and wanted to give it a verdigris-ish look but I don't have any alcohol inks...hmmmm. Oh  wait...I have Copic markers which are alcohol based...and I have colourless blending solution (the 0 blending marker by Copic) so I decided to play.

This card is the end result of my aged copper look and I love how it turned out. I took step-by-step photos along the way and I'll share a mini tutorial with you later in this post. I wanted to keep the focus on the metal so I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch, MTSC66, a nice clean layout and paired it with one of the lovely crosses from Easter Blessings. By not adding a sentiment this card can be used for a baptism or first communion instead of just for Easter.

These metal squares are super fun to work with and would be perfect for guy cards too. They're the thickness of heavy cardstock which makes them easy to cut with scissors or Spellbinders Nestabilities, and they emboss beautifully, as you can see from my card. I used my altered copper square as a layer on my card and backed it with some suede brown dark that I cut out with my Big Scallop Squares, but you could also use it with shaped dies to create gorgeous embellishments like butterflies and flowers. I used my corner chomper to round the corners of the copper square and soften the lines just a little. The shine is what really sets the metal squares apart, in my opinion, and you can see the shine even shows through the altering I did on my copper square. The metal pieces are 4" square so after a little trimming it fit perfectly on my 4.25" square Choice Buttercream card base.

Here's how I achieved the verdigris-ish look. I chose four shades of green copic markers ranging from light to dark in both the Green colour family and the Yellow Green colour family.

Using the wide end of the marker and starting with the lightest colour, scribble YG25 all over the copper square.

Next scribble YG67. With each colour I added to the copper square I covered less and less of the surface.

Next scribble G28. And yes, as you can see, I do mean scribble. This entire process shouldn't take more than a minute...seriously...it's that quick!

Finally scribble G99.

Next I filled a Mini Mister bottle with Copic colourless blender from the refill bottle for my marker.

Then mist the copper square with the blending solution and you'll immediately see the greens start to move around and mingle. And look, all those scribble lines are gone!

Finally I blotted the surface with a clean, dry cotton ball just to help blend the colours a little. I don't like to get my fingers inky so I hold the cotton ball with a clothes peg.  :)

Voila...the finished copper verdigris-ish square just waiting to be cut out and embossed!!!

Metal squares are on sale at Taylored Expressions for 15% off until March 28th so I hope you'll give them a try. They're available in packs of aluminum, copper, and a combo pack of both.

Now let's go see what the other gals have come up with using Metal Squares.
Alex Maldonado
Carolina Butching
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Sankari Wegman
and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek Day 2-Easter EGGstravaganza

In case you didn't figure it out from my post title, today the Baker's Dozen is sharing samples using two new Easter sets and an Easter digital download. First up I'd like to share the card I made with Easter Blessings and the Easter Key Ingredients.

Easter Blessings is the newest set in the Lasting Impressions line from Taylored Expressions. This set is full of wonderful Easter sentiments, quotes and bible verses along with a beautiful selection of images. I used this week's Splitcoast sketch, SC270, for the layout. Although I realized as I was photographing my card that I didn't exactly follow the sketch for the bottom part...oh well...I still like how it turned out. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and the cross is stamped with Memento Lulu Lavender.  I ran the patterned papers (Basic Grey Kioshi from the Easter Key Ingredients) through my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder then sanded them lightly to add textures. A few embellishements from the Easter Key Ingredients finish the card nicely.

Next up I have a card using the adorably sweet Favourite Peeps set. I had such trouble deciding which image and sentiment to use...they're all so wonderful! And as you can see from my card, Favourite Peeps  can be used for "other-than-Easter" cards.

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black  and coloured it with copics. I added a little glitter to the black lines for sparkle and sponged Memento Desert Sand around the image (I left my circle Nestabilitie in place while sponging to conserve the white border). I paired the circles with Labels Three for an eye pleasing layer. The lavender ribbon from the Easter Key Ingredients has a sparkle to it...I hope you can see it in the photo...it's sooooo pretty! The pink rhinestones I used as "O's" in the sentiment are from the Spring Sampler...it's chock full of fabulous supplies to coordinate with the Easter Key Ingredients.

The flower embellishment was completely inspired by one of the papers from the Kioshi line. I looked at the paper and saw layers cut out and popped on foam tape to create a gorgeous floral embellishment. It was super easy to do and I topped it with one of the mini flowers from the Easter Key Ingredients.

Last but not least I want to share a tea light holder I created using the Eggstra Special Image Sheet Download and the Easter Key Ingredients (along with some vellum from my stash).

When I saw all the gorgeous patterned eggs in this download I immediately thought of light glowing through the patterns. I used my laser printer to print the download sheet onto vellum cardstock (I printed it using my ink jet first but the ink bled on the vellum paper). Then I simply constructed a box for the base, added the punched corner strips and adhered the vellum eggs to the insides of the corners. I jazzed up the bottom of the box with striped "grass" and a pretty bow. Finally I added a battery operated tea light, took it into a dark room (my washroom...LOL!) and ooohed and aaaaahed.

There's so much you can do with the Eggstra Special Image Sheet Download and the eggs are sized to work with the Limited edition nested Egg Dies from Spellbinders.

It's time to hop over to the rest of the Baker's Dozen to see what egg-citing creations they have to share today!   :)

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

Tomorrow is release day and I'll have something else new to share so be sure to check back!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Reflect

I have another Christmas card for you today. This one came together quickly because there isn't any colouring. I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #42 for the layout.

The sentiment and image are both from Christmas Blessings, available at Taylored Expressions. I stamped the sentiment with artichoke ink onto Choice Buttercream and cut it out with long rectangle Nestabilities. Then I stamped the bird with burgundy ink onto Choice Buttercream and cut it out with scissors. The patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy Mitten Mitten and I used the reverse side for the circular panel, which I ran through my D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder. Everything is layered onto artichoke cardstock. I added some stitching, Gold Stickles, and three gold brads to finish is off.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian friends and happy Columbus Day weekend to my US friends. Regardless of the reason, it's a looooong weekend...wooo hooo!!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek-Day 1

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas time, of course, or at least time to start on your Christmas creations if you haven't already done so!

I absolutely adore Christmas...it's my very favourite holiday of the year. Today I'm happy to be showing you a Christmas card made with the brand new Christmas Blessings set from Taylored Expressions. This is the second set in the 'Lasting Impressions' line and it will be available in the TE Store on Saturday, October 3rd from 8am PST.

There are gorgeous shadow images in this set along with wonderful sentiments for both the card front and the inside of your card. Taylored Expressions will be selling the elegant SEI Christmas Mint patterned paper (also available on October 3rd) to coordinate with the Christmas Blessings set. My SEI paper didn't arrive on time for me to use on my card but I did use some of the coordinating colours of Prism cardstock: Suede Brown Dark, Suede Brown Medium, and Classic Red, along with Choice Buttercream. You'll see samples of the gorgeous SEI papers on the other sneak peeks today.

On my card I stamped the image with chocolate pigment ink then embossed it with clear powder so it's shiny IRL. I created my own patterned paper by repeatedly stamping the leaf image with Memento Rich Cocoa then I added Christmas Red Stickles to the berries. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark then embossed it with vanilla powder. I added some Vintage Trim to the left of the red strip to help balance the light coloured sentiment. I used Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #84 for the layout but I realized after I finished the card that I forgot the panel under the image...doh! :)

Let's go see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has created with the gorgeous Christmas Blessings set. Laura Fredrickson and Dawn Easton won't have a sample with this set because their packages were delayed crossing the border, but they'll be back in the line-up for tomorrow and Saturday.

Charmaine Ikach

Denise Marzec

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley (pinch hitting)

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laurie Schmidlin

Sankari Wegman

Sharon Harnist

and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Taylored Expressions Release Day!!!

A shopping we will go... A shopping we will go...Hi Ho the derio... A shopping we will go!!! Because all five new sets are now available at Taylored Expressions! Woo hoo!!! Can you believe it...FIVE brand new sets and coordinating Key Ingredients! 

So today I have an adorable Cuppie card to share using images from the Beach Bum set. 

I had a tough time deciding which papers to use because the Beach Bum Key Ingredients are full of amazing patterned papers. The colours in this KI scream summer fun! Then I had to decide on an image...

I wish I was there on the beach building that sand castle with Cuppie! In fact, dare I say he builds a pretty mean sand castle...LOL! The image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream (included in the Beach Bum KI) and coloured with copics. I stamped the palm tree twice on a separate piece of paper, coloured it then cut out the entire tree and just the leaves, which I popped for dimension. 

The layout for this card is from Jen's Sketch For You To Try. I ran the piece of yellow through my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder then adhered one of the cool stickers from the Beach Bum KI. The sunglasses are one of the fun brads that's included in the Beach Bum Bundle. 

Today also marks the debut of a new Lasting Impressions collection with Faith & Hope. This is a collection of inspirational quotes and Bible verses for encouragement. The quotes and verses are quite touching. I chose to work with a quote by Helen Keller, "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows. It's what sunflowers do." Have you ever watched a field of sunflowers as they turn throughout the day with the sun? It's REALLY cool and always amazes me!

I paired the quote with one of the flowers from Fresh Flowers, which I coloured with copics and added black Flower Soft to the center for dimension. The black velvet patterned paper is by 7 Gypsies and I've been hoarding it since my trip to Calgary in March, but I thought this was the perfect application for it. I did some paper piercing 'a la Jodi' and finished the corners with some pink Tiny Twinkles. 

If you love everything you saw these last three days then the Stamp Lovers Bundle is the one for you. But be sure to check out the Fresh Out of the Oven section at Taylored Expressions for all the new releases and new products.

And don't forget to visit the rest of the Baker's Dozen for another day of fabulous creations!

Ana Wohlfahrt

Charmaine Ikach

Dawn Easton

Denise Marzec

Donna Baker

Jen del Muro

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron

Laura Fredrickson

Laurie Schmidlin

Sankari Wegman

and Taylor Van Bruggen

Thanks for stopping by, and happy shopping!

Karen