Sweet Little Onesie

Today I have an adorable little baby girl card that I made with my favourite onesie stamp from the Hangin' Out set, available at Taylored Expressions.

I love paper piecing this little onesie so that's exactly what I did. The patterned paper is from the Dwell 6x6 paper pad by My Mind's Eye. I added in some choice buttercream and kraft card stock to round out the colour palette. I used my medium scallop border die to cut the cream strip then crinkled up some light pink seam binding for a girlie accent. Clear Twinkles add just the right amount of sparkle around the image and the petite roses finish off the girlie accents nicely.

I added a sweet little sentiment from the set to the inside:

Here's the die I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 1!

October Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, October 6th at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the OvenDepartment at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments close Wednesday 10/5 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Today we have lots of new stampy goodness to share from Taylored Expressions. I'll start with the adorable Woodland Winter set, illustrated by Doug Applegate for the Apple Doodle Ink Collection. This is a full size set on a 5.75" x 8.5" full colour sturdy storage panel and includes 21 images and sentiments for just $21.95. You'll fall in love with these cute little critters!

I used Taylor's current sketch challenge for the layout, TESC147, and supplies from the 12 Days Project Pantry. I started by stamping the little mouse then I masked him and stamped the fox, to create this adorable duo. The image is coloured with copics and I added some rhinestones (which I coloured with R29) to their hats. Do you see the subtle tree background paper? I repeatedly stamped the tree image with old paper distress ink to create this look.

Next up is Snow à la carte, another fun image illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Word à la carte Collection. This single stamp is just $5.95, perfect for quick cards and projects.

I took my own advice on this one and created a clean and simple single layer card. I know...freaky for me, eh? :-)

First I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Choice Snow White then I coloured it with copics. Next I ran it through my swiss dots cuttlebug folder to add the snow. Then the snowgirl looked a little sickly with bumps all over her body so I stamped her again, coloured her and popped her on foam tape. Love how this little bit of dimension adds so much detail to this simple card.

I have another very special stamp set to tell you about, and I know you'll see fabulous samples with it on some of the other Baker's Dozen blogs: Moka Hope. As you probably know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Taylored Expressions will donate $1 from the sale of each Moka Hope set to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

TE is also a proud sponsor of the Hope You Can Cling To card drive over on Splitcoast and we encourage everyone to participate in the challenges during October and donate their cards to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

This little set is perfect for all types of encouragement cards and while it was designed with breast cancer in mind, her ribbon can be customized to any colour for any cause or disease.

Now it's time to hop around to the rest of the Baker's Dozen blogs and see what everyone else created.

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jami Sibley
• Jen Shults
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Giron
• Melissa Sauls
• Melody Rupple
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess

See you tomorrow for more stampy goodness!!!
Oh, and by the way, these two cards are numbers 20 & 21 for my Project Christmas 2011.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Sweet Sunday Angel

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC134.

I've completely fallen behind in my Christmas card making for this year, and I know I'm going to have a tough time catching up, but there's no time like the present to start, right? With that said, this is Project Christmas 2011, card #16.

I used one of the beautiful angels from Joy to the World, available at Taylored Expressions. This is the current TE Giving Tree set and $5 from the sale of each set will be donated to The Angel Tree.

She's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto choice buttercream and coloured with copics. I paper pieced her dress using My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas paper, and the music paper is from the same pack. I cut out the image with rectangle nestabilities and then in order to fit the red layer underneath, I simply chopped off the embossed edge of the cream layer and cut the red layer using the exact same size rectangle nestie. That ensured the brown scallop rectangle would fit perfectly. I used the scalloped eyelet border die then created the mini roses using the heart border die. I saw this on Charmaine's blog a few days ago and she did a great video tutorial showing how to make the flowers. Thanks for this fabulous idea Charmaine!

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created.
Dana White
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kalé
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

MFTeaser - Tweet Birthday

Welcome back for day four of seven days of fabulous MFT previews, culminating with the release on Tuesday, September 6th at 10pm.

Today I'm sharing a card created with the fabulous Homespun Birdhouse stamp and die-namics set. Can I just say...LOVE it!!! I'm a sucker for all things "bird" and this set just makes me smile, plus it has a wide range of the most wonderful sentiments in a chunky font!!!

This card is also playing double duty as my sample for the Guest Designer contest, on now!! Are you playing along? Well you should be...you could win a pile of great MFT sets and stamp along with the design team for next month's release!!! The theme is rip and roll, so I've ripped and rolled a piece of Hot Fudge cardstock to create the branch, then I rolled down the top corner of the patterned paper, which is from the Blissful collection by Authentique.

The bird was cut using one of the Homespun Birdhouse dies and I stamped the nest with Memento Rich Cocoa onto Whip Cream then shaded it with two copics. I couldn't resist using the amazing Fence die-namic, both on the front of the card and again on the inside. Can you see the embossed wood grain on the fence? It cuts and embosses in one single pass! And I paired it with the fresh cut grass die-namic on the inside to show how the scale of each die works so well together.

Here are the details about the upcoming release on September 6 at 10 PM EST:

• The MFT release is on September 6 at 10 PM EST. You can attend the release party from 8-10 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available September 6 at 10 PM EST.
• The guest designer contest is ON! Check out the forum for details on how YOU can win over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the DT for a month.
• If you'd like to see all the teasers for today, please click on over to Kim's blog NOW! We're offering you the chance at Teaser Time prizes every day during our new release preparations! Each day, two prize vouchers are held by members of our Design Team. Starting this month, you'll have all week to comment on each of the posts - all the winners will be posted on Tuesday, September 6th around 7:30pm. Be sure to check the MFT Blog to see if you were one of our lucky fourteen winners! Remember to leave a method of contact in your comment, because if you're selected as a prize winner  but we can't reach you, then we can't get you your prize.

Here are the dies I used today:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks Day 1

July Release At a Glance

• We have sneak peeks to share Wednesday and Thursday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Friday, July 1st at 8 am PST. You'll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL GIVEAWAY, on Thursday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Mystery Baker's Dozen Blog Giveaway: Each day, one lucky blog commenter will be chosen by random draw to win a $10 TE Gift Certificate.  Winners will be chosen from a different Baker's Dozen blog each day and will be announced on Taylor's blog on Release Day!  Be sure to hop around to see all the sneak peeks and leave comments on each and every blog for more chances to win. Limit one comment per blog per day, please.  Comments close Thursday 7/30 at 7pm PST for the drawings.

Let's start with In The Clouds, illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes line. This is a full sized stamp set on a 5.75" x 8.5" full colour sturdy storage panel and includes 25 images and sentiments. 

I didn't have a chance to play along with this week's Sweet Sunday sketch, SSSC123, on the actual sketch day, so I used it for my card today. There are plenty of different blimps in this set but I chose one that I could colour with copics, and I really wanted to highlight it and make it the focal point. It was super quick to cut out using the coordinating Blimps and Banners set of 4 dies. The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Fly a Kite pad.

Notice the cloud background paper? It's not patterned paper, but rather the awesome new Clouds Impression Plate. It impresses not just the outline of the clouds but the entire solid cloud shape...swoon!!! After I had impressed the clouds on the light blue paper I sanded the shapes to highlight them a little more. The best part about the Clouds Impression Plate is that it's one plate with a different cloud pattern on each side. You'll want to use the embossing pad kit with all the Taylored Impression Plates. 

Next up is Life Is A Circus, illustrated by Doug Applegate for the Apple Doodle Ink line. This is also a full sized stamp set and includes 17 images and sentiments. 

I can hear the circus music now...and doesn't that bring back fun memories? The images in this set are perfect for either stand-alone focal points or for building little scenes like my "Under the Big Top" scene with the tent and the seal. 

I used fun papers from October Afternoon's Campfire collection and popped the seal and the stand on foam tape so they'd stand out from the tent and look like they're in the foreground. 

The blue strip with the circles and stars is the new Star Border Die. I cut it out once from blue cardstock, then again from yellow, and used the yellow stars to fill in the negative space on the blue strip. 

Now you're off to hop around and see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen created today!

Charmaine Ikach 
Danielle Lounds 
Jami Sibley 
Jodi Collins 
Karen Giron 
Melissa Sauls 
Melody Rupple 
Nancy McKinney 
Regina Mangum 
Sankari Wegman 
Taylor VanBruggen 
Tori Wild

Wanda Guess

See you tomorrow with another day of fun sneak peeks!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

We're Blast From The Past Hopping with Taylored Expressions

This month's theme for the Blast From The Past customer blog hop with Taylored Expressions is "old Glory"...use red, white and blue. Now, nobody said we had to create a patriotic card so I went totally into left field and used these fab colours to create Project Christmas 2011 card #15!!

I used the fun sketch that Sankari provided for inspiration but I flipped it to fit the image I wanted to use from Wings of Joy.

The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto choice snow white and coloured with copics. I added some clear rhinestones to the berries then coloured them with a red copic marker. The patterned papers are from Echo Park's Wintertime collection and I added some red baker's twine for the vertical element. I cut a strip of blue with my scalloped eyelet border die and added even more bling.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Hi, Sweetness

Card Positioning Systems has great weekly sketches and MFT is sponsoring this week's sketch, CPS222. 

I used Pure Innocence-Lily of the Valley for my card today. I remember growing up we had a BIG patch of lily of the valley flowers in our front yard and I would always pick a giant bouquet for my mom. The delicate little bell flowers are so small in comparison to the huge leaves, and they have such a wonderful fragrance.

I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured her with copic markers. I did a "Jodi" frame around the image and added three purple Twinkles for a little bling. 

The patterned paper is all from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Happy Go Lucky paper pad and I paired it with rich razzleberry from SU. I used my scallop ribbon border die-namic for the center strip but it wasn't quite as wide as I wanted so I cut it in half lengthwise then adhered it to the top and bottom edges of the striped paper. 

I hope you'll find some time to play along this week...you know whenever MFT is involved there's a fabulous prize!!! You'll find all the details over on the CPS blog. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Sweet Sunday Popping By

It's time for this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, SSSC120.

As promised just a couple of hours ago, my card today uses one of the brand new Pure Innocence Images that will be released in the MFT Boutique on Tuesday evening at 10pm EST.

I realize I kinda stretched the sketch a little so I could use a PI image, but hey, that's the fun part, right? This little cutie is Pure Innocence - Popping By. I had lots of fun paper piecing her little outfit with patterns from the My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Life of the Party collection.

I used the simply scallops large die-namic to cut out the red strip and paired it with some brown ribbon and Caribbean Teal Twine.

On the inside I used the fun new mini film strip die-namic, in keeping with the movie theme of this set!

I hope you'll play along this week and link your creation on Karen's blog. Now it's time to hop around and see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Stampers created.
Dana White
Jen Tapler
Lynn Put
Sarah-Jane Kalé
Vicki Burdick
and Karen Giron

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen