If you've joined me on the journey of Taylored Expressions, you've likely heard me mention my husband, Jon. The word 'husband' just doesn't seem to be adequate for all the things he means to me... my best friend, confidant, love of my life, and amazing support. Over the years he has not only supported my creativity, but encouraged me to pursue my dreams.
I know many of your husbands would likely agree that the position of "Stamper's Spouse" can be a difficult one at times! So I asked Jon to write the Top Ten Things he's learned as a Stamper's Spouse. Hopefully these little tidbits will help your significant other become the best Stamper's Spouse he can be!
NOTE: While dripping with sarcasm, these are just a light-hearted look through the eyes of this Stamper's Spouse. *grin*
Things I’ve Learned as a Stamper's Spouse
By Jon Van Bruggen
My wife is a stamper. By stamper, I mean a paper-crafting, blog-hopping, creativity-oozing stamper. She’s not a crafter and she’s definitely not a scrapbooker. She’s a stamper.
Perhaps you’re also an involuntary member of this unique and growing collection of people I like to simply call Spouses of Stampers… or SSs.
Having been an SS for the past few years I’ve learned a thing or two about the stamping sub-culture. And even though I’m armed with this knowledge, the various quirks and expectations of stampers are still hard to manage at times. Perhaps you’re an SS and you think you’re the only one experiencing these things. Know that you’re not alone! We’re in this together! And so, for all of the SSs out there, I submit to you the top 10 things I’ve learned as an SS:
#10 – Delete “scrapbooker” from your vocabulary and then empty your recycle bin. Remember...she's a stamper!
#9 - The outside of a greeting card is one hundred times more meaningful to a recipient than the words written on the inside. Or at least the outside of the card takes one hundred times longer to complete.
#8 - Organza and Grosgrain have nothing to do with anything organic or wheat-based. They’re ribbons.
#7 - When your wife says “I just want to change one thing about this card,” you better cancel your dinner reservations because you’re not going anywhere for a very long time.
#6 - What looks like the aftermath of a tornado is really just a uniquely organized stamp room.
#5 – Never, ever, ever say “Don’t you already have paper like that?” Trust me. It’s not the same paper.
#4 - Redeeming the weekly 40% off coupon at Michaels trumps having milk in the refrigerator and clean socks to wear. Seriously, are your personal health and hygiene that important? I didn’t think so.
#3 - The primary purpose of making cards is not to send them to others. It's to create space for that new die-cut machine.
#2 - Much like the sun, you can’t turn off your wife’s creativity. As an SS, just give in already and prepare for many more dinner conversations about the latest blog-hop or stamp-a-thon.
#1 - Memorize this: “Wow honey! That’s really cute!!!” It’s pure gold if you can muster the enthusiasm to go with it. Use it as often as you can, especially when you’re in a jam. You won’t be disappointed.
Hope you've enjoyed the Stamper's Spouse Top 10 List! Jon writes his own blog "Becoming" on more serious topics if you'd like to check it out. Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Happy Monday! We went to the Des Moines Arts Festival over the weekend and feasted our eyes on some amazing artwork! Everything from kinetic sculpture and jewelry to painting and photography. Absolutely jaw-dropping! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well. Now it's time for Top Crops from more incredibly talented stampers! I always have a hard time choosing just five cards to feature, but here are the Top Crops from TESC117:
Congratulations (from left to right): Corinna, Kari, Andrea, Lea, and Liza!
You can click on each of the snippets above and you'll be taken to the designer's blog to see the full card and all the details! This week's Top Crops will soon receive a blog badge to display on your blog! There's also still time to participate in this week's TESC118 challenge for your chance to be featured as one of the TESC Top Crops next week. Our TESC118 sketch is also a BONUS sketch where the top three cards will win a free stamp set from Taylored Expressions! Check out the sketch and all the details HERE!
Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Happy Friday! As you've come to expect, Friday's are Sketch Challenge day at the Taylored Expressions Blog, but today we have something extra special...a fun added BONUS to playing the weekly TESC... PRIZES! Here's the sketch so you can get busy:
Just create a card using the above sketch as inspiration! You do not have to use TE Stamps to participate (but of course I love it when you do!). Then just come back here and link your creation using Mr. Linky below. You have until July 2nd at 8am PST to upload your creations. I will choose the Top 3 most cute and clever projects to win your choice of a FREE STAMP SET from the Taylored Expressions Store! Top Crops winners will be announced on July 3rd.
And now here's the inspiration from the sketch crew this week!
Whew... we made it to another Friday! I hope you had a wonderful week! It's been hot and humid here this week, but thankfully no thunderstorms! When I sat down in my stamp room yesterday, my only goal was to use the Hangin' Out At the Beach stamp set. There are so many possibilities for image combinations so I started with the waves. I embossed the wave image onto Frosted Teal cardstock with white embossing powder. Then I cut around the top, sponged the swirly parts with a darker ink, and popped up waves over the top of the surfboard patterned paper. Since I had the white embossing powder out I decided to continue by embossing the swim trunks and bathing suit onto Frosted Teal & Sunflowers Medium cardstock. I created my own clothesline with hemp, cut out the swimwear, and popped them up. The corners of the main panel were chomped with the Scallop side of a Corner Chomper. And I decided to make a last minute addition (see the flippers diving into the ocean?). What do you think... yay or nay on the flippers? I kinda liked 'em!
Hopefully you didn't miss the announcement above, but just in case you did...today's sketch is a Prize Sketch! I'll be checking out all of the links and choosing my top three favorites to win a FREE stamp set from the TE Store! Can't wait to see what you come up with!
Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Today the Baker's Dozen and I are excited to bring you a Product Spotlight featuring a product that I KNOW you all use...liquid adhesives! If you ask a dozen stampers about their favorite adhesive you'd likely get a dozen different opinions! We've asked each of the Baker's Dozen to take a liquid adhesive, test it, try it, and give you some valuable feedback that we hope will help you in deciding which you might like to try. The question of adhesives is often a matter of personal preference so I'd recommend that you try more than one. They're all good so you really can't lose - especially at the sale price. You never know, you just might find a new favorite!
I'm featuring the New Kid on the Block (in the adhesive world), the Best Glue Ever from ScrapPerfect! And for any other "New Kids" fans out there...this glue has got "The Right Stuff!" (oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh....oh oh oh oh oh... the right stuff!).
It shares many of the same features of my other favorite liquid adhesives including the fact that it dries clear, gives you a little wiggle time to get your layer into place, and it won't warp your paper (as long as you use an appropriate amount).
Some of the other features that set this glue apart from other liquid adhesives:
It doesn't clog! The cap has a special storage spot just for the tip and as long as you store it with the cap on, the glue won't clog.
Wet glue can be cleaned up with soap and water, but dry glue is permanent even on fabric! Just let the glue set at least 48 hours before washing your garment.
It adheres a variety of materials including paper, wood, metal, foam, fabric, and plastic.
If there is one drawback to this glue, it has a thinner formulation than the others and can come out of the bottle rather quickly even without squeezing, so you just need to be a little careful in your application.
And now I want to show you a fun trick I learned from Amy who owns Scrap Perfect and created this glue. Did you know you can make your own sticky dots with the Best Glue Ever!? Here's my short video to show you how (yes... I decided to go with the neon orange nail polish...it is summer after all! *grin*):
And now here's a little snippet from our other design team members who were assigned the following liquid adhesive for our product review:
This was definitely one of the favorites of the team! Here's a little bit of what Karen had to say about the Tombow Mono Multi:
"I love using Tombo Multi Adhesive for attaching cardstock to chipboard. The wide applicator makes it easy to apply glue over large areas quickly and allows for some wiggle room time. Once the paper is on the chipboard, it is one there for good. I also love the small applicator side for adding small embellishments, like Tiny Twinkles to my cards and projects. Just one little dot of glue will hold the embellishment in place."
Check out Karen's project using the Tombow Mono-Multi and read more of her review HERE!
This adhesive is quite different from the other adhesives in our product review. Here's a little bit of what Donna had to say about the Zip Dry:
"Zip Dry is fast drying for fast results on almost all paper types; it never wrinkles paper and dries crystal clear. What I liked about this adhesive is that you can use it to adhere wire to paper as well (and not a lot of adhesives do that). Zip Dry is different than what I normally use which is Tombow Mono Multi and I have to admit that Mono Multi will still be my favorite because I like the dual applicator feature of that glue and it is much easier to squeeze out. You have to squeeze harder to get the Zip Dry to flow so it wouldn't be the best choice for someone with gripping challenges. I also found out that Zip Dry is the WINNER of the Golden Glue Gun Award for Best Adhesive from customer votes on their website!"
Check out Donna's project using the Zip Dry glue and read more of her review HERE!
Scotch Quick Dry adhesive is similar to Tombow Mono Multi in its use. Here's a little bit of what Jodi had to say about the Scotch Quick Dry:
I used the Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive and I think I may have found a new go-to adhesive! I created a frame for one of my project and this is the only glue I have ever used that was able to adhere an element to a glittered base. It goes on smoothly and you can get a thin line, which I love. My cards always have quite a few layers, and the Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive keeps my cards together perfectly!
Check out Jodi's project using Scotch Quick Dry glue and read more of her review HERE!
This specialty glue dries perfectly clear, shiny, and dimensional so it looks great as a raised clear coat by itself or as a raised surface for glitter application. Here's a little bit of what Charmaine had to say about the Dimensional Glitter Glue:
I really enjoyed working with the Dimensional Glitter Glue. I had never used it before, but I will definitely use it a lot in the future. I found it to be very versatile. The first thing I tried with it was adhering some Taylor's Tiny Twinkles and it worked PERFECTLY. It holds them nice and strong and dries absolutely clear, so you don't see any glue around the edges of the bling. Since it dried clear, I decided to also try just putting it on top of a stamped image. It gave a nice, 3D effect to the image and added some shine and texture. It holds glitter very nicely. The applicator tip gives lots of control. I was able to write the word "love" and sprinkle glitter on it for a nice, handwritten sentiment. I highly recommend this glue!
Check out Charmaine's project using Dimensional Glitter Glue and read more of her review HERE!
This is simply a MUST HAVE for all cardmakers and papercrafters! It's two-way glue (both permanent and temporary) in a ballpoint pen style applicator! Here's a little bit of what Melissa had to say about the Quickie Glue Pen:
What I love about the Quickie Glue pen is its ability to be used for fine detail! There are, literally, no other glues out there that will allow you to apply a small amount of glue to a fine area…and I mean an area as small as the tip of a ballpoint pen! It works beautifully as an outline on an image paired with fine glitter AND for use with Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles (of course, used with the Embellie Gellie!) This product is a definite must-have in your adhesive arsenal. You just can’t go wrong with it!
Check out Melissa's project using the Quickie Glue Pen and read more of her review HERE!
As always, our Center of Attention product is 15% off through the weekend (June 24-27). It's time to stock up on those liquid adhesives! Click here to check out the selection in the TE Store!
Good morning! Well, it's true... I only clean up my stamp desk once every couple weeks so the June Key Ingredients kit contents are still spread out on my desktop! I'm so drawn to the summery colors in this paper and decided that this time I wanted to pair it with the Sweet Occasions stamp set. I started by stamping the image onto different piece of patterned paper and piecing the inside of the image as well as the frame. I colored the 'thanks' and the cupcake with with Copics and added Glossy Accents over the top of the letters and the cherry. I cut out the image and mounted it on a Spellbinders Big Scalloped Rectangle. With so many cute patterns in the October Afternoon Fly a Kite collection it's hard to choose just one! So I decided to use different patterns on each of the three strips at the bottom of the card. Then I finished it off with a little satin ribbon.
A BIG thank you to everyone who participated in the Blast from the Past Blog Hop yesterday! I had so much fun checking out all of your cards and I hope you had fun on joining in the hop too! We've already set our date for next month so I hope you'll join us. You can find all of the details here. And of course, there's another FREE stamp set up for grabs! Our winner from yesterday's blog hop is lucky #18...Jessica Willison! Congrats, Jessica! I'll be emailing you for your choice soon!
I'm so glad you stopped by today! I've been looking forward to this day since our last Blast from the Past Blog Hop! I had so much fun checking out all of the amazing creations from everyone who signed up and I'm excited to see what y'all created with our Blast from the Past challenge this month! The color inspiration challenge here was optional for our players and I'm looking forward to seeing who took the challenge! The only other stipulation was to use a TE Stamp set released March 2010 or before. If you missed out on signing up for this blog hop, don't worry! Our next blog hop is scheduled for Tuesday, July 20th. Click here to read all the details and find out how you can sign up to join us!
Not only does one lucky blog hopper win the TE Stamp set of their choice, but we're letting everyone else in on a great Blast from the Past deal too! For two days only (June 22nd & 23rd) all stamp sets released in June 2009 are 20% off at the TE Store! That's a great way to snag what are still some of our most popular stamp sets:
It had been a while since I inked my Beary Special set, but it still remains one of my favorites for sweet baby cards and birthday cards for teddy bear lovers of all ages! I started by stamping the backpack teddy onto a piece of patterned paper from the Earth Love collection and paper piecing the image. I colored the bear with Copics and highlighted the flowers in the patterned paper with Illuminate Glitter Top Coat. The image was cut out with Spellbinders Labels 8. A sweet and simple layout and a little bit of ribbon finished off the card!
I hope our Blast from the Past blog hop inspires you to take a look through your TE stamp collection and get creative with one of your well-loved sets! I know you're not going to want to miss the rest of these projects so keep right on hoppin' and follow the links below!
Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend enjoying, remembering, and giving thanks for the fathers in our lives! My grandpa was able to join our family along with several of my aunts and uncles for brunch yesterday. I made my mother-in-law's recipe for Slivered Almond Club Crackers which are becoming widely requested at our family gatherings (see recipe below)! My dad is a pastor at a church here in town and he's always excited when he has handmade cards to send to his members. So I grabbed my Summer Afternoon and Care & Comfort sets to make several 'Thinking of You' cards for my dad. I wanted the cards to be completely flat (for easy mailing) so I had to get creative with the embellishing. I inked the large swirly frame in Rose Coral Colorbox Chalk ink and then before stamping I inked only the edges of the stamp in Tangerine Chalk Ink and the butterflies/dragonfly in Deep Lagoon Chalk Ink. I love the variation that gives the image without any layering! For the poppies card, I stamped the image in Rose Coral ink and then used Carrot Smooch to highlight specific flowers in the bunch. Of course, the set of cards wouldn't be complete without a storage box. They'll look much prettier sitting on his office shelf this way! *grin* I decorated the Perfect Package Card Box pretty simply with a little patterned paper, a felt branch from my stash, and some Patchwork Thickers. If you ask my dad what his favorite part of this gift is, you know what he'd say? The free refills! I told him that I'd refill the box with whatever occasion he needs anytime. I'd better get started now! Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Place approximately 42 Club crackers in a single layer on a foil-lined 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan.
In a saucepan over medium heat melt 1/2 cup margarine. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour evenly over crackers. Sprinkle with 1 cup slivered almonds.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately remove from the pan, cutting between crackers if necessary, and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.
Happy Saturday! I don't usually post over the weekend, but I had some extra time in my stamp room today and I found myself playing with the June Key Ingredients kit again! Once I get out all of the coordinating ingredients I love the challenge of seeing how many cards I can create and which stamp sets work well with the patterned papers from the kit. Today I was inspired by the strawberries in the October Afternoon Fly a Kite patterned paper and grabbed my Berries and Cherries stamp set for the card. I stamped the image in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored the image with Copic markers (R27, R46, R89, YG95, YG95, Y35, YR23, W1, and W3). I cut the image with a Spellbinders circle die and layered it onto the Large Big Scalloped Circle. I added a few buttons and a strip of strawberries from the patterned paper. As I said above, the cardstock, patterned paper, and buttons are from the June Key Ingredients. We've had a whole bunch of new subscribers over the past several days! You can still receive the June Key Ingredients when you subscribe to our monthly kit club through the end of the month. But I want to make sure everyone knows that in order to qualify for the free stamp set offer you must subscribe before midnight TONIGHT!
Click here to read all of the details on our kits and this special offer! Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! We're in for another storm tonight so perhaps I'll have some more stormy sky pictures to share!
Happy Friday! You may have come here looking for the latest Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge, but the Sketch Crew and I are taking a little vacation this week. Summer is in full-swing and lots of us are traveling, vacationing, and just plain busier than usual! We'll be back with a new sketch next week!
It has been a busy (and exciting!) week at Taylored Expressions! We were privileged to welcome a fun group of gals at the TE Store earlier this week. Here's a picture of me and my mom (on the outside) and Harriet Skelly (in the middle). Yes... I'm probably a foot taller than Harriet and I wasn't allowed to bend down for the picture! *grin* I met Harriet at the Craft SuperShow in Anaheim and she told me that she and a group of friends meet up in Des Moines each year. They come from California, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, and Iowa to craft, shop, and chat! Harriet asked if it would be possible to come check out the TE Store along with her group. Well, of course! Now if you know me then you know that it wouldn't be a party without cupcakes so we made cupcakes, a pitcher of pink lemonade, and little goodie bags for each of the ladies. We also planned a make and take using the Garden Party Blooms set. Below you can see a photo of the entire group finishing up their make and take project. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. It was a pleasure having you here and I hope to see you again next time! And a big thank you to Lynette for sharing her photos with me.
In order to get ready for our guests, we also did some 'housekeeping' around the store. I discovered that I have way to many cards just sitting in a box! Many of you have written to inquire about our Greeting Card selection on the website so I finally took several hours yesterday to get a bunch of the cards loaded on the site. So if you're interested in purchasing my finished cards you can find them HERE!
And last but not least, we released our latest Key Ingredients kit this week! Just scroll down a bit to see some of my creations using the June Key Ingredients. You have through Saturday to purchase a 6-month subscription and earn a FREE and exclusive stamp set designed by me! Click HERE for all the details and a video of our June Key Ingredients!
OK... I better run for today! The tornado sirens are going off here and this lovely storm is brewing in our backyard. Assuming it doesn't produce any tornadoes, it should be a fun one to watch! Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a wonderful (and storm-free) weekend!
Hey Everybody! I had some time in my stamp room today so I decided to 'Hang Out' with the June Key Ingredients kit a little bit more. I love the October Afternoon Fly a Kite papers in this month's kit and I went a little embellishment crazy on this card! Just ask my friend Jami.... More is More! *wink* I started by paper piecing the dresses from the Hangin' Out stamp set. I added a little cream ruffled trim on the flowery dress and used my Embellie Gellie to place Crystal Twinkles inside the flower centers (you can see those details better on the closeup below). Then I added an extra piece of red trim along the bottom of the other dress to fancy it up. I trailed a bit of twine across the top of the card and adhered the ends with glue dots. Then I stamped the little bird on the twine along with the clothespins. The border punch I used is the open scallop. As I mentioned above, all of the patterned paper and cardstock is from the June Key Ingredients kit. We've had an amazing response to our special offer over the past few days, and there still time for you to get in on the Key Ingredients fun!
The coordinated elements in these kits will save you valuable crafting time and give you an opportunity to try a sampling of the latest papercrafting products at a very affordable price! Our 6 month subscription is just $23.95 per month (with shipping) and also includes 10% off everything in the TE Store during our monthly discount period. And there's a cherry on top this month... anyone who purchases a 6 month subscription through June 19th will receive a FREE stamp set (designed by me!) upon completion of your 6 month subscription. Click here to see all of the contents of our Jun kit and purchase your subscription today! I hope you'll join in the fun before our special offer runs out!
