Discover Your Wings - SCS Color Challenge

Good morning! Well, I'm hoping it will still be 'morning' when I finish this post... where has the day gone!? But I did find some time to stamp this morning! I didn't have an agenda when I started and it was quite wonderful to sit down and play for a while. I checked out the SCS Color Challenge and I was feeling inspired. It has been ages since I participated so I thought I'd give it a go! I started by embossing the flowers from Discover Your Wings in white embossing powder. Then I trimmed the blue panel, popped up the green butterfly, and embellished the scene with Ice Blue and Split Pea rhinestones. I had a scrap of leftover patterned paper from the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection that seemed to fit the color challenge perfectly. These patterned papers are one of my all-time favorites and I'm still hoarding those last few scraps! Then I punched the open scallop border and added it along the patterned triangle piece. I finished the card with a sentiment from A Year of Sweet Sentiments and a bit of Celery Silk ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by today! Now I'm off to figure out what the rest of my day holds. I hope you have a fabulous day!

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #135

Good morning and Happy Friday! I'm so excited because today the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge is BACK!!! We'll be doing a new sketch challenge on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month and there will be a PRIZE DRAWING each time! You'll be able to get all the sketch info both in the SCS TE Forum and right here on my blog. I hope you'll join in the fun! Here's the sketch:

Just create a card using the above sketch as inspiration. You're not required to use TE stamps to play, but there's a bonus prize if you do! To be entered into the prize drawing you must upload your card to Splitcoaststampers using keyword TESC135 by Thursday, April 7th (that gives you two week to play along!). And here are the prizes we're offering:

1. I will randomly select one person from all of the challenge uploads to receive a $10 gift certificate to the TE Store!

2. If you used predominantly TE Stamps on your project you’ll receive an extra $10 bonus for a total $20 gift certificate!

3. And this week only!! I’m searching for one new designer to join our fabulous Sketch Crew and provide inspiration for the sketch challenge! I’ll choose the most clever and creative card and the marvelous maker will join the crew! Could it be you!? **If you'd like to be considered to join the Sketch Crew, please also enter keyword TESampler2011 (use a comma and a space between keywords. i.e. TESC135, TESampler2011)

You can also find all of these details right here in our Member Company Forum.

And just like always, the fabulous sketch crew is back at it again with beautiful samples to inspire you!

Created by Jami Sibley: More is More

Created by Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

Created by Lori Craig: Make a Difference

Created by Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode

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

 Created by Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gal

 Our special guest this week:

Created by Amber Hight: The Stamping Scrapbooker

Created by Taylor VanBruggen: Taylored Expressions

March Blast from the Past Blog Hop

It's time for another Blast from the Past Blog Hop! I always finish the hop feeling inspired to pull out some of my "old favorites" and I'm sure this month will be no different! If you haven't joined us for a Blast from the Past Blog Hop, then you're in for a treat from our fabulous customers! And if you'd like to join us on the hop next month you can find all of the details at the end of this post. As always, the wonderful Sankari Wegman has given us a jump start with another fun sketch. The sketch provides a great jumping off point, but it is optional for participants. I followed along with the majority of the sketch, but what I'm really most proud of is that I remembered to use an older stamp set (perhaps you remember my blunder last month!? *grin*). Our theme for the March blog hop is Spring...soft pastel plaids or bright happy florals... tulips breaking through the melting snow or a flirty new dress and sandals! We've been getting a lot of rain lately, so I figured that means the flowers are coming soon and I used the Friendship Blooms set for my project. Here it is!

I started off by cutting patterned paper strips from the Stella Rose Mabel 6x6 Pad by My Mind's Eye. Then I cut my image panel, stamped the stems in Olive Pastel Chalk, and began the flower arrangement. I used a combination of stamped flowers and centers from Friendship Blooms along with several die cut flowers using the coordinating Friendship Blooms dies. The ink colors I used are Pumpkin Spice & Deep Lagoon. I popped up several of the flowers and centers with foam tape and added a Split Pea rhinestone to each of the centers. I added a small scalloped border at the bottom to serve as whimsical grass and the sentiment is from A Year of Sweet Sentiments. And then I finished it off with some Caribbean Satin ribbon. 


The cardstock colors I used are Intense Teal, Papaya Puree Medium, Papaya Puree Dark, Hillary, and Choice Buttercream.


Thanks so much for stopping by for our Blast from the Past blog hop! I hope you'll click through the links below and check out what the rest of our hoppers have created! We'd love to have you join us for the blog hop next month too! You can find all the details here.

Showered with Love

Good morning! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! The weather was pretty nice here so we took several walks outside in between watching all the basketball games. I also finally had a chance to clean up my stamp room yesterday! It was a total disaster! I really should have taken before and after pictures, but I was a little embarrassed of the 'before'. *grin* I needed to make a baby shower card for a friend yesterday and it was so much fun stamping in a completely clean room! I wanted it to be a little bit different than the usual baby card and I thought the Elephants in Love stamp was perfect. I started by inking only one of the elephants and a portion of the hearts in Memento Rich Cocoa. I stamped the image onto Choice Buttercream cardstock and then colored it with Copics, paper pieced some of the hearts, and added the heart border along the bottom (stamped in Rose Coral chalk ink). I added glitter and glossy accents to the hearts and layered the image onto a Spellbinders Lacey Square die cut. The rest came together pretty quickly with some cute Alphabet Soup patterned paper from My Mind's Eye and one of my go-to layouts. The ribbon is Caribbean Satin and I pulled some flowers and a glitter brad from my stash.

I hope you all found some time to stamp this past weekend too! Maybe even for the Gallery Challenge we have going on over on our Splitcoast Forum!? You have until this evening to upload your creations at SCS using the keyword tayloredexpressions and we'll enter you to win one of three fabulous prizes! You can find all of the details here!

And if you're not currently a member at Splitcoast, it's easy to register and free! You'll have access to the best stamping resource on the web including picture & video tutorials, a gallery filled with card ideas, and chatting with fellow stampers! Here's how to register:

1. Go to www.splitcoaststampers.com
2. Click 'join the community' in the top right corner
3. Read the terms of use, click the check box, and select 'register'
4. Choose a username/password, fill in the remaining fields, and select 'complete registration'.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Exciting News!!!

Hey Everybody! I've been working a lot behind the scenes lately which is why I haven't been here on the blog much. But I've been busy preparing a surprise!! It's finally time to announce that Taylored Expressions is the newest Member Company at Splitcoaststampers!

I joined Splitcoast about 6 years ago... gosh, has it been that long? When I joined the community I remember being in complete awe of the incredible amount of information, beautiful gallery projects, and inspiration overflowing! I've met some of my best friends through Splitcoast gatherings and chatter and a lot of what I know about stamping was gained through SCS. It's such a great resource and such a welcoming community of the stamping obsessed! It has been a long-time dream to be among the fabulous Member Companies at Splitcoast and I'm so excited the day has arrived! We have lots of welcome festivities over at the TE Forum, a gallery challenge with prizes, and free digital images so I hope you'll stop by and say hello!

I was feeling inspired to create a little something today and the Cozy Cottages set seemed appropriate for our new digs at Splitcoast. I started by stamping the mushroom house in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored it with Copics (from the March 2011 Copic Kit). The tree was cut with the Whimsy Tree die and popped up on foam tape with rhinestone embellishments. I also added the picket fence border along the bottom of the image panel. The image panel was cut out with my fabulous Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine using the Labels 1 die. All of the patterned paper, cardstock, ribbon, rhinestones, and wooden buttons I used on the card are from our March Key Ingredients kit.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful day!

P.S. Guess what!? It's going to be 70 degrees here on Thursday! I can hardly wait...... come on SPRING!

Introducing the March Key Ingredients!

Earlier this week I introduced our latest Key Ingredients March kit for club subscribers! If you've been around Taylored Expressions for long, then you've probably heard of our kit club! I hear from new customers a lot how they've been thinking about joining and finally pulled the trigger and wish they would have done it sooner! The kits are a super value and there are many other subscriber benefits including a store-wide discount on all TE products! If you're not familiar with our kit club, let me explain...

Each month we take the guesswork out of your papercrafting by delivering perfectly coordinated embellishments, patterned papers, and cardstock packaged together in a perfect little storage case. The unique patterns and colors chosen each month will help you step outside your comfort zone. The kit is a huge time-saver and allows you to try the latest in papercrafting products while sticking to a budget! Our March kit includes fabulous patterned papers from the Stella & Rose Gertie Collection by My Mind's Eye along with coordinating cardstock, ribbon, rhinestone brads, and wooden buttons and mini spools! Super cuteness!

The Key Ingredients design team has been busy creating inspiration using the March kit and you can find our March inspiration sheets here and additional tips, tricks, and projects on the KI Blog for several more days!

If you're not yet a subscriber, I'd love to have you join us! Click here to learn more about subscribing!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

NEW at Taylored Expressions!

Hey Everybody!! It has been a super busy week already at TE as tons of new products are pouring in from the latest CHA! Here's a run-down of all the new items we've added in the last couple days. You can find them in the Fresh out of the Oven Department and I can hardly wait to see all of your projects using these yummy goodies (and I'm looking forward to having some time to play with them myself too!).



Jillibean Soup 6x6 Paper Pads - Spotted Owl, Blossom, and Dutch Mustard



Cosmo Cricket 6x6 Mini Decks: Social Club, Salt Air, UPcycle



Basic Grey 6x6 Pads: Hello Luscious, Life of the Party



Crate Paper 6x6 Pads: Emma's Shoppe, Neighborhood, Portrait, Toy Box

New 2011 Copic Colors... available individually or as a set of 12

March Release Roundup

It's time for our March Release Roundup! This is my favorite part of the release because I get to go through all the fabulous projects that the Baker's Dozen has created and pick out my favorites! The girls totally knocked it out of the park this time making the task of picking favorites even tougher! But here they are:

Karen G. was so clever to combine the Whimsy Tree and Cloud Duo with the Easter Joy set! I love the rolling hills too! Karen M. created her own rolling hills for the sheep as well and I love the rising sun in the background... so perfect!

Regina always creates the most amazing 3D projects and she did it again this release with an adorable pop-up card using Hello Spring! Love all of the fabulous detail! And Charmaine made the most adorable bookmarks for her Sunday School class using Easter Joy....super sweet, simple, and practical!


Both Tori and Danielle went the sweet treat route with these cute projects! Tori packaged her Easter sweets in a little basket made from patterned papers in the Spring Project Pantry kit... so cute and easy! And Danielle created the cutest treat bag shaker clips... such a fun way to use a clothespin to dress up a plain paper bag treat!

How cute is Melissa's little carrot garden!? And I think these "carrots" taste a lot better than the real thing too! I love how she combined so many different dies on this extra special project and of course I love the pennants at the bottom! Sankari also used the new Pennant A la Carte on her super cute Hello Spring card! Don't you love the pearly sheep and the crimped grass!?

Jackie made a super sweet set of notecards using images from both A Tweet for You and Hello Spring. I love her use of Kraft cardstock and the top rounded corner on each card! And Jodi's carrot car is simply adorable! Such fun paper piecing and I love the way she did the sentiment!

Both Jami and Cindy used the same image from Hello Spring to create completely different cards! I love Jami's bright colors and the way she highlighted her images with the cutout scalloped circle! And our Guest Designer Cindy's card is equally adorable in pastels! I love how she woolly-ed her sheep with the liquid applique!

Our special friend Iwona joined us again this month using the stamp set that she concepted, It's A Banner Day 2! I love her beautiful color combination she used for this sophisticated shabby creation! To round it out I thought I'd show you my favorite from the projects I created for the release. It uses the sweet Hello Spring set and the same Banner Day set and coordinating die that Iwona used on her project.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you all have a wonderful day!