TE @ CHA Craft SuperShow!

Yep...that's right! I have an exciting announcement today! Taylored Expressions will be exhibiting at the CHA Craft SuperShow in Anaheim! We're busy making arrangements for an amazing booth and we hope to see many of you at the event!

You've probably heard of CHA before... the manufacturer trade show where new products are revealed and retail stores have an opportunity to place their initial orders. Well, the Craft SuperShow is a little different and it's JUST FOR YOU!

What is the CHA Craft SuperShow?
January 22-23, 2010

The CHA Craft SuperShow is open to the public and will be filled with shopping and hands-on educational experiences with many craft mediums represented (stamping, scrapbooking, beading, knitting, etc). Booths at this show are designed for educational opportunities through make & takes and shopping experiences. Whether you are a beginner or interested in learning advanced techniques, this is the show for you! It'll be open from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.

This is where Taylored Expressions will be exhibiting! We have lots of fun stuff planned for the show including:

• An opportunity to shop the TE Store We'll be selling our stamps and many of the coordinating products that we currently offer only through our online store.
  
• Make & Takes all day at the TE booth We'll have a different make and take each day and you won't want to miss either one!
  
• SplitcoastStampers Make & Take We're sponsoring a Make & Take at the SplitcoastStampers booth on Friday. Make sure you stop by for a special deal!
  
• Meet some of your favorite members of the Baker's Dozen We'll be accompanied at the show by some true stamping royalty...stop by to see Jodi Collins, Jackie Pedro, Jami Sibley, Sankari Wegman, Karen Motz, Karen Giron, Donna Baker, Sharon Harnist, and Dawn Easton! Of course, I'll be there too!

For more information on the event, click here! Discounted tickets are available for all Taylored Expressions customers and friends! Just click on the image to the left to purchase your tickets and be sure to enter the promo code CRAFT15 to receive the discount!

Hope to see you at the show! You won't want to miss it!

Reminder: Last Chance CYBER MONDAY Sale!

Today is the last day to receive 15% off the entire TE Store with promotional code TEBlackFriday!

And the best news....our popular Perfect Package Card Box will be arriving back in stock on Wednesday, December 2nd. We've added additional stock to the website so that you're able to purchase these amazing boxes with the Black Friday discount. And you won't have to wait long before they ship...orders including the Perfect Package Card Box will ship on Thursday!

Taylored Expressions Shipping Policy

As many of you are doing your Christmas shopping this weekend, I know shipping costs are an important consideration in your online purchasing decisions.

If you haven't previously ordered from Taylored Expressions you may not be aware of our shipping policy so now seems like the perfect time to make another announcement.

In an effort to get our products in your hands as quickly as possible we use USPS Priority Mail for all domestic orders.

The shipping you are charged upon checkout is an estimate based on the weight and size of the products you ordered. Because we can't predict what combinations of items you will purchase, we've found the estimated shipping to be the best option. However, we always want to provide you with fair shipping costs and we will refund any shipping differential once your order is packaged and weighed for shipping.* The refund will come to you by the same method you used to pay for your order (i.e. If you paid using PayPal, your refund will return to your PayPal account).

*Because of associated fees with your transaction, we do not refund shipping differences under $1.00.

Black Friday Blog Hop & SALE!

Happy Black Friday! Today is the biggest shopping day of the year! Are you an "in store" shopper or a "pajama" shopper? I'm more of a pajama shopper myself, but I know a lot of people who will be banging down the doors of the mall at 3am! Yes....3AM!

For those of you who are "pajama" shoppers, we've got a bunch of great deals at the TE Store starting today as well as a Black Friday Blog Hop with many of our talented friends! But if you're one of those people who was banging down the doors of the mall this morning, don't worry because our sale goes through Monday, November 3oth! Of course, the earlier you shop, the better the selection!

Before we get to the sale, I want to tell you about our Black Friday Blog Hop! I'm so excited to be doing a blog hop with such an amazing group of talent! Today several TE friends are showcasing projects using the Perfect Package Card Box. The Perfect Package is an exclusive TE product designed specifically to fit a set of A2 cards and envelopes. In addition to storing a set of cards, these make great gift boxes, storage for small embellishments, ink pads, and much more! They're made from sturdy covered chipboard with a white matte finish. The box has a magnetic closure and it easily folds flat for storage with a tug on the ribbon tab. You can check out my how-to video on the Perfect Package HERE. I challenged all of the blog hop participants to decorate the Perfect Package to hold a set of cards or use it to wrap a holiday gift. I used my Perfect Package as gift wrap for something I'll be giving this year...one of the new TE shirts! I love these shirts and I know lots of friends and family who will be excited to receive one. And there's nothing I love more than unique wrapping. The Perfect Package was quick and easy to decorate with Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses patterned paper and some stitched ribbon. You can see the folded shirt fits perfectly inside. I also decorated the inside of the box with the same Basic Grey patterned paper, a Making Memories rubon and metal embellishment. And you can see in the closeup picture that I added red Tiny Twinkles to the berries in the paper and on the metal square. For the tag on the front of the package I used a sentiment from the Tag Treats set and then masked the words and stamped the snowman from Holiday Wonder onto the tag. I used some DMC Memory thread to tie the tag onto the package with a small silver bow. I can hardly wait to start hopping around to see what the rest of these amazing ladies have come up with! I know you won't want to miss one of them!

Alex Maldonado, Amy Rohl, Beate Johns, Bev Gerard, Charmaine Ikach, Cindy Haffner, Debbie Olson, Donna Baker, Jami Sibley, Jen del Muro, Jen Tapler, Jenn Balcer, Jennifer Buck, Jessica Diedrich, Joan Ervin, Joanne Basile, Linda Duke, Lori Craig, Rose Anne Reynolds, Sankari Wegman, Sharon Harnist, Sherry Cheever

And now for the Black Friday sale details!

EVERYTHING at the TE Store is 15% off through Monday, November 30th with coupon code TEBlackFriday!

It's the perfect time to start your Christmas shopping or treat yourself with a little pre-Christmas present just for you! Let me tell you more about what you'll find when you head to the store:

1. JustRite Stampers Blowout: 50% off all JustRite products!

2. Tiny Twinkle Deal: Buy 2 Get 1 Free!

3. Patterned Paper Grab Bag only $1.00

4. Great Christmas Gifts: TE Apparel, Gift Certificates, Chenille Gel Neck Wrap, KI Subscription

5. New Products: October Afternoon 8x8 Pads, Prism Swatchbook, Tim Holtz Design Ruler, Fingertip Swivel Knife, Fingertip Tweezers, Stampendous Mini & Short Pails, and more in the Fresh Out of the Oven category!

6. Back in Stock: Chillax, Doctor's Orders, Clear Circle Party Favors

TE Apparel... NEW @ Taylored Expressions!

We have an exciting announcement just in time for your Christmas shopping! The Taylored Expressions mascot of sweetness, our beloved Cuppie, is making his latest appearance on several new TE Apparel items!

The Brown Sleeve TE-shirt is a super soft 3/4 length sleeve crewneck shirt with brown stitching on all seams. The shirt is 100% cotton (not pre-shrunk). Machine wash cold, inside out. Line dry or tumble dry low.

The Brown Sleeve Shirt is available only in Junior sizing and you can find the size measurements here.

Retail Price: $24.95

The Pink Sleeve TE-shirt is a 3/4 length sleeve crewneck shirt. The shirt is 100% pre-shrunk cotton. Machine wash cold, inside out.

The Pink Sleeve Shirt is available in Women's Sizing and you can find the size measurements here.

Retail Price: $22.95

The White Sleeve TE-shirt is a short sleeve crewneck shirt. The shirt is 100% pre-shrunk cotton. Machine wash cold, inside out.

The White Sleeve Shirt is available in Women's Sizing and you can find the size measurements here.

Retail Price: $19.95

And last, but certainly not least, the adorable TE Apron! This sweet apron was hand-made just for you! Whether whipping up a yummy batch of cupcakes or a sweet batch of cupcake cards, you'll do it in style wearing this apron!

The apron straps tie around the waist and neck making this a one size fits all apron. You can find the measurements here.

Retail Price: $32.95

*Enabler Alert*: Make sure you're signed up to receive the TE newsletter! It will be going out tonight and filled to the brim with new product news and Black Friday sales & events!

Click here to join our mailing list (in the left sidebar)!

TESC91 Top Crops

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I made a trip to the grocery store yesterday to prepare for Thanksgiving and I could barely get my cart through the baking aisle! Lots and lots of people doing lots and lots of baking this time of year! I can hardly wait for our family favorites on Thursday...scalloped corn, sweet potato pie, turkey, stuffing, pecan pie....YUM!

But before that, it's time for the TESC91 Top Crops! There were so many amazing entries using this sketch! I'm having a harder time each week making the Top Crop selections!

Just click on each individual picture below and you'll be taken to the blog of the talented gal who created the card. A picture of the full card along with all of the card details will be posted there! Don't forget to give 'em a big congrats on being featured in the Top Crops!







There's still time to participate in this week's TESC92 Sketch Challenge and maybe you'll find your card among the next Top Crops!

FYI: The Sketch Crew will be on Thanksgiving Break this Friday, but you'll definitely still want to tune in here for all the details on the Black Friday sale at the Taylored Expressions store!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #92

Good morning! It has been a busy week at Taylored Expressions! If you missed out on anything, make sure you scroll down to see the Baker's Dozen Binder Box product focus, the release of our four Fabulous Fall key ingredients kits, as well as our November Kit of the Month release today! And now we're ringing in the weekend with the TESC! Here's your sketch for the weekend:

Just create a card using the above sketch as inspiration! Link your creation using Mr. Linky below by Friday, November 27th at 8am PST. I'll be choosing the most clever and creative cards to be included in the TESC Top Crops on my blog! And you definitely don't want to miss the Sketch Crew inspiration below...you can click on any of these cards to read more about the details of these creations!

Created by Taylor VanBruggen: Taylored Expressions

Created by Rachel Sztonyk: The Gingerbread Gallery

Created by Sherrie Siemens: Card Creme

Created by Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode

Created by Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity

Created by Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper

Created by Jami Sibley: More is More

Created by Alice Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland

Created by Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

Created by Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge

November Key Ingredients Now Available!

I've been looking forward to the release of the November Key Ingredients for a long time! I love the rich colors and designs in the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection and we had lots of fun pairing embellishments with this kit! If you’re one of our Key Ingredients subscribers then you’ve probably already received your kit…just one of the benefits of becoming a subscriber! I issued a challenge to the Baker's Dozen girls and today we're sharing our creations using the November 20th Key Ingredients kit, available at the TE Store today! Once you receive your Key Ingredients kit, we'd love to have you play right along with us so here's the challenge:

Focus: With Thanksgiving right around the corner, we'd love to see your Thanksgiving themed creations. Do you have a favorite recipe or tradition? Do you plan to create a special setting for your Thanksgiving table? Do you send cards to friends and family to let them know you're thankful?

Required Element: Skeleton Leaves...these leaves are super cool, but you may not be familiar with them. So here's your challenge to get them out and use them!

This year we're sharing Thanksgiving with lots of family! We'll have the Cook's (my parents & 2 sisters), the VanBruggen's (Jon & I), the Sheffield's (my mom's sister, husband, 2 kids), and the Brett's (another of my mom's sisters and her husband). So we're trying out something new this year. Each family was challenged to create a "Blessing Bowl"...a place where family members could write what they're thankful for and drop it in the bowl to be read around the dinner table on Thanksgiving. So today I'm sharing the Blessing Bowl that I made for Jon and I to use. I used an acrylic paint can along with Mod Podge to cover it with skeleton leaves. The Mod Podge dries clear so it was perfect for this project! I stamped the word Blessings onto a Spellbinders tag and tied it around the pail to finish it off. I also made a matching card to give to Jon on Thanksgiving. I'm always telling him how thankful I am for him, but there's just something to be said about receiving a hand-written note with those words inside! I used a cloud template and So Saffron ink to create the background and then I stamped the silhouette image from Celebrate Life over the top. I wanted to use today's TESC92 sketch for the card so I cut the stamped panel into three parts and adhered them onto the Birchtone layer.

And here’s a picture of all of the contents included in the November 20th Key Ingredients Kit! We’re excited to offer the Basic Grey Indian Summer collection of patterned paper along with coordinating cardstock, ribbon, Kaisercraft rhinestones, and an assortment of skeleton leaves! If you’re not currently one of our kit subscribers, this kit is available for purchase today for $16.95. But you might want to consider joining our hundreds of satisfied subscribers by purchasing a 3 month or 6 month subscription. As a subscriber you'll receive a ton of great benefits in addition to your monthly kit shipment! You can read all about the subscriber benefits HERE. And the best part is that your credit card will be charged each month instead of paying for the entire subscription upfront. We're making it easy to get crafty on a budget!

º Key Ingredients savings
- 3 Month Subscription price = $15.95 per kit + shipping ($22.95 charged to your credit card on the 14th of each month for 3 months)
- 6 Month Subscription best value price = $14.95 per kit + shipping ($21.95 charged to your credit card on the 14th of each month for 6 months).

If you haven’t enrolled in our Key Ingredients Subscription Service, you can do so at any time! If you purchase your subscription on or before November 25th, you'll receive the November 20th Key Ingredients kit featured today as the first KI in your series. If you purchase your subscription after the 25th your first shipment will be for the December 20th KI.

Don't forget to check out the November 2oth Key Ingredients inspiration from the Baker's Dozen: Laura Fredrickson, Sharon Harnist, Charmaine Ikach, Karen Giron, Jodi Collins, Donna Baker

Fabulous Fall Event & Blog Hop

Many of you may remember our Spring Spectacular event earlier this year! Well, this special Key Ingredients release was so popular that we decided to bring you more of what you love with our FABULOUS FALL EVENT! Available today at the TE Store are four NEW limited edition Key Ingredients kits each at the spectacularly discounted price of $12.95 . The four Fabulous Fall kits are Penelope's Potpourri, Winnie's Walls, Morning Meadow, and Petals & Paisley. Whether you're brand new to our Key Ingredients Kits or already love them, this is a fantastic opportunity to feed your creative sweet tooth and get an awesome deal at the same time! Each of the Fabulous Fall kits features a different line of SEI patterned papers (20 sheets of 6x6 patterned paper...4 each of 5 different patterns) as well as coordinating rub-ons or stickers, 5 yards of ribbon, and 12 sheets of coordinating solid cardstock (2 sheets each of 5 colors plus a coordinating neutral). You'll also receive a full-color inspiration sheet with samples created by the Baker's Dozen! We have limited quantities of each kit and these will not be re-stocked when we run out, so get 'em while you can! Today my cards feature Penelope's Potpourri Key Ingredients. I decided to challenge myself to see how many cards I could make using all of the rub-ons in the kit. I picked out three of my favorites (such a tough choice since I really like all of them!) to share here today. But if you purchase Penelope's Potpourri Key Ingredients I'll send you instructions to download my free inspiration sheet with all 10 of the cards I created using elements from this kit! The best part is that there are still plenty of supplies to make more cards if I pair the pretty patterns with stamps already in my collection. As you can see, these cards came together really quickly with the help of the KI kit. All of the rub-ons, cardstock, patterned paper, and ribbon were hand-selected to coordinate and make your crafting easy! All I had to do was pick out an image and lay out the design. Some of the ladies from the Baker's Dozen are also showcasing the Fabulous Fall Key Ingredients kits today! Check out what they've created using each of these four kits:

Penelope's Potpourri: Karen Giron

Morning Meadow: Denise Marzec, Charmaine Ikach

Winnie's Walls: Karen Motz, Jodi Collins

Petals & Paisley: Sankari Wegman, Donna Baker

Click here to purchase all of the new Fabulous Fall Key Ingredients! Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

TESC90 Top Crops

It's time for the TESC90 Top Crops! It's so fun to see all the different takes on the sketches each week! I hope you're all having fun participating!

Just click on each individual picture below and you'll be taken to the blog of the talented gal who created the card. A picture of the full card along with all of the card details will be posted there! Don't forget to give 'em a big congrats on being featured in the Top Crops!







There's still time to participate in this week's TESC91 Sketch Challenge and maybe you'll find your card among the next Top Crops!

Center of Attention Product Spotlight - Mini Binder Box

Today the Baker's Dozen and I have a very exciting Center of Attention Product Spotlight! If you've been a fan of Taylored Expressions during the past year, then you probably already know about our Mini Binder Box. It's the perfect storage solution for your TE stamps, but I bet you didn't know about all of the other uses for this amazing box!

This month I've challenged the Baker's Dozen to share about the Mini Binder Box... how it works, what they love, and the versatility that makes it a must-have for any stamper! But first, I have a few announcements that I think you'll be very excited about! We're always looking for ways to enhance the value of our products and we're now excited to offer three options for our Binder Box cover & spine! Previously, when you purchased a Mini Binder Box it came with a Cuppie cover and spine insert. In an effort to accomodate our new collections we've designed three downloadable options for the cover and spine of your Binder Box! Now you can purchase each download only once and print it as many times as you want! And better yet, now that you'll be printing your own inserts, we've lowered the price of our Mini Binder Box to just $9.95!

You can find all three of our new downloads along with our Mini Binder Box storage HERE. And in honor of our Center of Attention product spotlight, the Mini Binder Box is an additional 15% off today and tomorrow (November 16-17) so don't delay and pick yours up for just $8.46 each!

You know what? I'm a sucker for just about anything that will help keep me organized! My craft room is overflowing and each little organizational project I finish is another victory! So today I'm celebrating a victory and I'm so excited to share my project with you! As Taylored Expressions introduces new stamp sets each month I found myself becoming more and more disorganized. I'd often come across an image or sentiment that I didn't remember having! So I decided to create a Binder Box specifically for storing all of my TE images and sentiments. I started by creating my own panels from Choice Snow White cardstock (sized 5.5" x 8.5"). I rounded the corners of each insert using my Corner Chomper which was really quick because it can round up to 5 sheets of cardstock with one easy grip of the handle. Then I stamped all of the images from each of the stamp sets onto separate panels. Since I was starting from scratch this was quite an undertaking, but the end result was so worth it! If this is something you decide to do with your stamps, I have a few tips:

1. Use a juicy ink pad so you don't wear out your hand pressing ink onto your stamps.

2. Keep baby wipes close by to quickly wipe off the stamp before the ink dries.

3. Use a large acrylic block and arrange several images on the same block so you only have to stamp it once.

After stamping out all of the sets onto separate cardstock panels I used the Binder Box Cover & Spine downloads along with matching patterned paper to create the tab for each collection.

And last but not least, I created a punch page to keep inside the front of the binder. Now when I want to know if an image or sentiment fits inside a certain punch I can just take out the punch page and flip through all of the images in my binder. Now I couldn't leave the front undecorated so I used some MME patterned paper and a bit of brown double-edge polka dot ribbon.

That's all I've got for today, but I know you'll want to check out the rest of the Binder Box inspiration from the Baker's Dozen: Dawn Easton, Laurie Schmidlin, Jackie Pedro, Karen Motz, Denise Marzec, Sankari Wegman, Jami Sibley

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #91

Good morning! It's been a busy week here so my blog has been pretty quiet, but now it's time to ring in the weekend with another TESC! Here's this week's sketch:

Just create a card using the above sketch as inspiration! Link your creation using Mr. Linky below by Friday, November 20th at 8am PST. I'll be choosing the most clever and creative cards to be included in the TESC Top Crops on my blog! And you definitely don't want to miss the Sketch Crew inspiration below...you can click on any of these cards to read more about the details of these creations!

Created By Alice Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland

Created By Jami Sibley: More is More

Created By Taylor VanBruggen: Taylored Expressions

Created By Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity

Created By Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

Created By Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode

Created By Rachel Sztonyk: The Gingerbread Gallery

Created By Sherrie Siemens: Card Creme

Created By Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper

Created By Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge