Taylored Expressions April Key Ingredients

It's time for the April Key Ingredients subscription kit from Taylored Expressions. The monthly subscription kits are exclusive each month JUST for subscribers...you lucky ducks!!! Who wouldn't love to receive a perfectly coordinated package of crafting supplies each month?!? Seriously, the Key Ingredients kits are a fabulous value, full of fun embellishments and ribbons, and take all the guess-work out of pulling a look together.

This month Taylor challenged us to include stitching in our project. It makes sense...the patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl collection. If you follow my blog at all, you already know that I {heart} sewing on my cards...woo hooo!!! This challenge was totally made for me!!! Oh, and the second part of the challenge was to create a card other than the standard A2 size. I opted for square...and I used the Splitcoast sketch SC276 for the layout. (just between you and me...I was working on another shaped card but there's something wonky about it and I can't figure it out...but I'll persevere and maybe it'll show up in a future post)

I decided to work with Make the Grade...I think it goes nicely with the colours and embellishments in this kit. The entire school building is paper pieced using four of the five solid cardstocks in the April KI. I coated the windows with my clear Glaze pen and added a black Tiny Twinkle for the door handle. The buttercream main panel was cut out with rectangle Nestabilities and layered onto a blue piece cut out with my Big Scallop Rectangle Nesatabilities (love the big scallops!).

There are some fun sewing themed chipboard in the April KI but the scissors work well with my school themed card too. I coloured the scissors with my R29 copic marker then used the blue ric-rac from the kit to tie it onto one of the large buttons. If you look closely you'll see that I added some machine stitching on every layer.  :)

If you're already a Key Ingredients Subscriber then you already know about the benefits beyond just the monthly kit, like the store discount, the storage container, and the challenges and inspiration. Read more about all the benefits of being a Key Ingredients Subscriber on the Key Ingredients web page.

Now let's go see what the other Baker's Dozen gals cooked up with the April Key Ingredients.
Alex Maldonado
Carolina Butching
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Sankari Wegman
and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

A NEW Bella Rolled into my House!!!

That's right folks...I have a brand spankin' NEW Bella image to show off!!! Isn't she FABULOUS?!? She'll be available in the New Release that's happening at Stamping Bella on Friday...woo hooo!!!!

By the way, the new release coincides with Stamping Bella's booth at Scrapfest in Kitchener, Ontario this coming weekend. Oh my...I SO wish I could be there. BUT, if you're attending, Lindabella and Paulabella will be there on Saturday so please give everyone a hug for me!

Rollabella is on Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured with copics. I added a little sparkle to the orange parts with my orange Spica glitter pen. I cut her out with oval Nestabilities then used my Big Scallop Oval Nestabilities to cut out the teal mat.

The colours are all pulled directly from the bright and cheery patterned paper...it's the Jocelyn 6x6 pad from  SEI. I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge, MTSC69, for the layout. A pretty Bonbon adds shine to the punched flower and two more finish the green strip nicely.

Don't forget about this week's Bellarific Friday challenge...it's Free Form Friday!!!! Simply email your creation (using Stamping Bella images) to Em by Thursday evening to be included in the Friday round-up. Goodness, there will be so much to look at on Bloggabella on Friday between the Bellarific round-up and the New Release...I can't wait!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Birthday Coffee

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC64. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog The Sweetest thing.

I love my coffee and I'm lovin' the new Let's Do Coffee set from Taylored  Expressions. I decided to use the three mugs for today's sketch and I went bright and cheery with the colours. The fun patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary, the Jack & Jill collection. I know, I know...I'm seeing the Quite Contrary everywhere in blogland too, but it's a phenomenal line of papers and I'm definitely not even close to being tired of it yet! The sentiment is from Branching Out.

I stamped the three mugs with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then coloured them with copics. I added a little sparkle with two Spica glitter pens. The images are cut out and popped on foam tape for dimension.

I cut out a piece of Frosted Teal with my Labels Three Nestabilities then ran it through my swiss dots Cuttlebug folder. To create the Intense Kiwi mat I simply traced around the same Nestabilities shape then cut it out with scissors. Seriously Spellbinders...would you please come out with in-between sizes for the Labels line...PLEASE!!! I did a little stitching around the base layers the create the center strip with Frosted Kiwi and Sunflowers Medium, along with some green glimmer twill.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation over on Karen's blog. Now let's see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers came up with for today's sketch.
Jen Tapler
Joanne Basile
Laura Fredrickson
Lynn Put
Nancy Riley
Sarah-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

For an Awesome Teacher

I'm having SO much fun playing with the new teacher inspired sets from Taylored Expressions, Make the Grade and Extra Credit.

And you know what the funniest thing is???...we don't have any children, so no teachers to give these to!!! I find it incredibly ironic, but I've decided to keep creating with these sets and give the fruits of my labour to my friend, who does have school age children with teachers who'll appreciate the handmade creations.  :)

For my card today I inked just the desk from the desk/blackboard image in Make the Grade. The layout is this week's Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge, TESC108. The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then I cut it out with rectangle Nestabilities. The image is coloured with copics and layered onto some kiwi kiss that I cut out with my beloved Big Scallop Rectangle Nestabilities.

I wanted to stick with school themed papers so I hunted through my "far too large" stash of paper and found my Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend mini Deck which is absolutely perfect with the pencils and everything! I backed the patterned papers with a square of Prism Island Mist Dark then stitched around each of the panel. I adhered everything to the 5 inch square Buttercream card base and added two kiwi brads to finish it off.

Now my biggest decision is which image to use next!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Bellarific Soccer Birthday Card

Happy Bellarific Friday!!! This week's Bellarific Friday challenge was a sketch...my favourite kind of challenge!

I decided to use Jackson the Champion from the Green Bean Baby line at Stamping Bella. This weekend we're invited to a friend's son's birthday party and it's a total soccer theme, complete with an afternoon 'tournament'. The family is Brazilian so I used colours from the flag of Brazil. It was only after I was all done the card that I realized I should have googled the Brazilian soccer team to see what their uniforms looked like....I was close, but the shorts and socks should have been blue...sigh. Oh well, I'm sure the birthday boy will still love the card.

Jackson is stamped with Memento Tuxedo black onto Bella's Bestest Cream paper and coloured with copics. I chose darker shades for the skin than I would normally use because I was trying to make Jackson look like the birthday boy. The patterned paper is from my October Afternoon Farm Fresh 8x8 pad and I paired it with Prism sunflowers medium and nautical blue medium. I had to add some stars for the birthday boy, who is the star of the show...so I used my MS border punch and two SU star punches. A corduroy button and two star brads that I dug out from the bottom of my stash finished the details.

Next week's Bellarific Friday Challenge is "Freestyle Friday" because Stamping Bella is having a release!!! So all you need to do to participate is create a card/project using any Stamping Bella images and email it to Em by Thursday, April 15th. Oh, and be watching the Bella Babes blogs next week for a few sneak peeks.   :)

Don't forget to stop by Bloggabella to see this week's Bellarific Friday Round-up and leave some love while you're there for a chance to win some Bella Bucks!!! woo hooo!!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

It's Release Day at Taylored Expressions!

All the new stamps and card kits are now available at Taylored Expressions...woo hooo!!! But before you go fill your cart, the Baker's Dozen has one more new set to showcase today, Let's Do Coffee. I'm always up for coffee, either by myself or with a friend, and this new set fits the bill perfectly!!!

Oh, and Taylored Expressions is offering a coordinating card kit for this set too. You'll see samples of the Early Bird Card Kit on a few of the Baker's Dozen blogs today.

Now on to my card...I used a few of the images from Let's Do Coffee to create a little vignette of a coffee shop. The table, stool and coffee cup border are all separate images which I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream then coloured with copics. I drew in a wood floor to ground everything. I gave all the cups and the vase two coats with my clear Glaze pen for a little shine, then I added a few Tiny Twinkles for some sparkle. A sweet satin ribbon bow and brown button from my Savannah pack finished the card nicely.

Now let's see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has created with Let's Do Coffee.

Alex Maldonado

Amy Scheffer - our guest designer

Carolina Butching (featuring the Early Bird Card Kit)

Charmaine Ikach

Donna Baker (featuring the Early Bird Card Kit)

Jackie Pedro

Jami Sibley

Jeanie Witmer (featuring the Early Bird Card Kit)

Jodi Collins

Karen Giron (featuring the Early Bird Card Kit)

Melissa Sauls

Sankari Wegman

and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 2

It's time to show off more new stamp sets today from Taylored Expressions!!! And you only have one more sleep til they're available for sale in the TE Store!!

The sets the Baker's Dozen is showcasing today are perfect for teacher appreciation gifts and cards. Some of the Baker's Dozen are also sharing the Apple Jack Card Kit which coordinates with the teacher sets, but I'm using papers from my October Afternoon Report Card 8x8 pad.

I know that I can always use another notepad around the house so I figured a teacher could too! I started with a plastic note cube from the dollar store and jazzed it up all teacher-ish. My design definitely has a masculine feel which I'm attributing to the fact that when I think back to my school years I realize that my most favourite teachers were men.

I used three of the new sets on this notepad project, Make the Grade, Extra Credit and Blackboard Cuppie (which is one of three a-la-carte Cuppie images). The images are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Buttercream and coloured with copics but the chalkboard and Cuppie's liner are paper pieced.

I decorated the front of the cube too, but left the sides open so it's easier to get the papers out.

Then I made a fun card to go with the little gift. I love this globe and coordinating sentiment from Make the Grade!!! I used Mercy's Tuesday sketch, MTSC68 for the layout.

The globe and sentiment are separate stamps so I used my stamp positioner to line them up. The image is cut out with circle Nestabilities and layered onto red that I cut out with the Big Scallop Circle Nestabilities.

I know the rest of the Baker's Dozen will have more wonderful samples to share so let's not waste any more time...get hopping!!!
Alex Maldonado (featuring the Apple Jack Card Kit)
Carolina Butching
Charmaine Ikach (featuring the Apple Jack Card Kit)
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins (featuring the Apple Jack Card Kit)
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls
Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman (featuring the Apple Jack Card Kit)
and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 1

I can't believe it's already time for new stamps from Taylored Expressions!!! Wahooooo!!! The Baker's Dozen has three days of sneak peeks then the stamps will be available at Taylored Expressions on release day, Thursday, April 8th.

Today we're featuring two fabulous new sets that coordinate beautifully together, CreativiTEA and Miniature Motifs. You can probably guess that CreativiTEA is all about tea and Miniature Motifs is a set of four patterned blocks that can be used as backgrounds. I've used both sets on each of the three cards I have to show you today.

But before I get to the cards, Taylored Expressions is offering three card kits with this release and you'll see a new kit on each sneak peek day, featured on a few of the Baker's Dozen blogs. Today I get to share the Paper Girl Card Kit that coordinates with CreativiTEA. The card kit is packed with supplies to create 10 standard size cards, including patterned papers, solid cardstock, Choice cardstock for card bases and images, envelopes, ribbons and pearls, and a Perfect Package Card Box to hold all your creations!

Here's the first card I created (all supplies are included in the Paper Girl Card Kit). I used MTSC67 for the layout.

The flower is popped on foam tape for dimension and the image is coloured with copics.

Here's a close up of the background image from Miniature Motifs, stamped with Memento Angel Pink.

I couldn't resist pairing yellow and blue on this next card for a french provincial look. I love how the frame image coordinates with the Labels Nine Nestabilities. The layout is TESC107.

I used another of the patterned blocks from Miniature Motifs to paper piece the tea pot.

And I also used the same patterned block to create the flowers using the smallest size of my Blossom Nestabilities and a circle punch.

This last card started out using SSS50 but I ended up placing the ribbon vertically instead of horizontally.

The flower is popped for dimension again and I added a touch of sparkle to the center with dots of black Spica Glitter Pen.

I used another image from Miniature Motifs stamped with Memento Summer Sky to add a subtle detail along the left side of the blue panel.

And finally, here's the Perfect Package Card Box all decorated and ready to fill.

The Paper Girl Card Kit was super fun to work with and made creating these cards a snap with all the coordinating products. When you purchase one of the card kits you'll also receive a downloadable inspiration sheet to get your creative juices flowing. Please visit Taylor's Blog for a video featuring the card kit.

Now it's time for more eye candy using CreativiTEA and Miniature Motifs.
Alex Maldonado
Carolina Butching
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro (featuring the Paper Girl Card Kit)
Jami Sibley
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls (featuring the Paper Girl Card Kit)
Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman
and Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Snow Fight

Happy Easter everyone!!! It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch, SSSC63. You'll find the sketch on Karen Giron's blog The Sweetest Thing.

I know...I know...I'm completely featuring the wrong season today but I've been a slacker with my Christmas-card-a-week and I've moved on from Easter cards.

I have a funny story though...I made this card last night after dinner (and after two glasses of wine) so when I was all done I brought it downstairs to show hubby. I asked him to check that everything was glued on straight (I know...I'm a loser!). So he says, and I quote, "yeah, it's all straight but you're kinda doing the wrong season aren't you?". Bwah ha ha ha!!!! Then I had to explain my Christmas-card-a-week so he doesn't find me ripping my hair out in December to get handmade cards out to his family.  :)

The sweet image is Snow Fight from Stamping Bella. She's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Bella's Bestest Paper and coloured with copics. I gave her outfit some "fur" trim with my white liquid applique and a dusting of Glamour Dust before heating the liquid applique. The designer paper is Ski Slope from SU...I still love this wintery paper.

I hope you'll play along with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch and link your project on Karen's blog. Oh, and don't forget about this week's Bellarific Friday...it's also a sketch and you'll find all the details on Bloggabella.

Now let's pop over and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created with this week's sketch.
Jen Tapler
Joanne Basile
Laura Fredrickson
Lynn Put
Nancy Riley (welcome back!)
Sara-Jane Kale'
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Bellarific Bouquet

Happy Bellarific Friday!!! This week's challenge theme was Gettin' Hitched...FUN! At first I was a little stumped with what image to use but I love how my card turned out!!!

I decided to use Rose Bouquet from Stamping Bella. It's a nice simple image to colour with copics and I popped a couple of the buds for interest. A little Glamour Dust jazzes up the flower centers. Have I told you that I'm lovin' my new Big Scallop Nestabilities?!? Swoon!!!

I had Cinderella on the brain while making this card so I used the Fairy Tales sentiment and tied it together with a sweet shoe charm from my stash.

The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary (of course...have I used anything else lately? LOL!!)  Then I added three oyster baubles to help balance the image.

Don't forget to pop over to Bloggabella to see the Friday round up and leave some love while you're there, for a chance to win Bella Bucks. Next week we have another sketch and I hope you'll play along. Here it is so you can get started this weekend.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen