2011 Favorite Projects- Happy New Years Eve

I love the idea of sharing your favorite projects from the year passing. There have been so many precious moments this year and I have been blessed with them. With precious moments comes a fair share of hardships as well and I'm looking forward to a new year, a fresh beginning and a road not traveled.

So here are my projects to share today, showcasing some of my favorite products as well.A new way for me to ring in the new year creatively. Thanks to all my friends that do this already. You have giving me a new tradition...

This was one of my first canvases of the year and now that I've tried it, I'm in love with canvas!!!
Using my Favorite Tattered Angels colors to date...

In February, I tried my hand at making a braided headband for our little monkey Morgan. I used some wonderful ribbons from Really Reasonable Ribbon. Just a little shout out to Bonnie for having me be a part of your design team for the time I was on. I so enjoyed being a part of RRR.

March was a tough month for me and I did what I could to keep afloat. So having to create a project about your favorite feature for TAAFOMFT challenge blog was a perfect little pick me up. (Thank you Julie for being a friend and for having me be a part of your baby)

April finally brought my husband to us. Being apart was really hard for so many reasons. I thank God every day for having my husband, even on those days that were so so difficult. April also was my husbands birthday month and I created a card for him using one of my favorite paper collections to date from Paper Trunk.

May...So nice to be close to my mom for Mothers Day. So to honor my Mommy, I created this layout using Bo Bunny papers. I think it is my favorite layout of the YEAR!!!

June is when I finally got diagnosed with depression and I'm so so grateful that I'm on medication and can now see the forest through the trees. What a difference a few changes can make in ones life.So for June I couldn't help but pick this card. The message is clear and Nikki Sivils always makes me smile with her collections, her smile and her kindness.

July brought a guest designer spot with Donna Salazar and talk about excited!!! I love Donnas Girlie Grunge collections and had a tonne of fun with this one. My favorite was this card with a butterfly. I love butterflies!!!

But wait!!!! I also got to be a guest designer with Darkroom Door and LLLLLLOOOOVVVVEEEEE their stamps so July is a two-fer. Ain't this one purdy!!!

August brought a little accident to the family. My wonderful Mom broke her hip and although that was horrible, something wonderful came out of it. I started spending more time with mom and our relationship changed. She is one of my best friends now and I Love her to pieces. This project was my favorite for August. A beautiful stamp from I Brake for Stamps. I paired it with some great papers from Lily Bee Designs.

September was back to school month and both our monkeys were excited about it. They are growing up a little more every day ~sigh~. I started to think about doing a Life List Journal thanks to a great friend Tracy. This is the front cover of the journal and my favorite project for September. All put together with my love an Helmar love too!

October brings Halloween hehehe. I love Halloween and created a neat little tag using some Glimmer Mist and some Fancy Pants. I think every time I say the word Fancy Pants, I grin ear to ear. Love this company.

November already??? Christmas is right around the corner but I'm still stuck on Halloween.I love autumn colors and decided to create a large canvas piece using some of my favorite pieces from Basically Bare. This piece is proudly displayed on the main level of our home for everyone to see.

The end of the year is here and with that brings December, snow and family. Christmas was simply perfect and I'm so blessed to have my health, my loving family, and a new appreciation for my husband.

December brings out the kid in me and I so enjoyed this 1st little piece using purdy glitter and Helmar. The second little ornament is made from those super sweet little Dew Drops from The Robins Nest. Man am I excited to be a part of this team now.

Well there ya have it, My ode to 2011. I truly am blessed to have each of you in my life and along for the journey. We have many things in common even though we may not think so. Thank you for being there, for giving me a reason to get up and go some mornings and for sharing your lives with me. Until next year...

Toodles

A Little Christmas Collage Art

Can you believe that Christmas is only 6 weeks away? AHHHHHH, time to buckle down and get things started for the season. What better way to gain some motivation and mojo, than to create a Holiday Card!

Hi everyone,I'm here today to share with you a card I created using my absolute favorite Christmas Stamp from I Brake for Stamps.The moment I saw this beautiful stamp in the store, I knew I needed to have it. The perfect image for anyone at Christmas.

To create this card, I used the Fancy Pants Christmas Magic papers, gold ribbon, Champagne glitter from Sparkle N Sprinkle and Distress Inks to paint the Reindeer Collage Stamped image. A little Creative Charms bling and it was finished. The Reindeer Collage Stamp is truly magnificent to stamp and I hope that you take a few moments to grab it from the store.

To put this card together, I then used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive and Zapdots. 450 Quick Dry is absolutely perfect for ribbons and trims.

Hope you enjoy it

When it comes to Collage Images, I love adding just that little bit of color. It really makes the image come alive. Try your hand at adding a little color and have fun. Make sure to use my design team code SAVE10ERIKA when you make a purchase at I Brake for Stamps to save yourself 10% Until next time

Toodles
Erika Taylor

A Tag a Day

Seems that every fall since I started paper crafting, I get into the spirit of tags. I think its the desire to personalize gifts that really drives me and Fall is the start of busy season for celebrations.

Hi everyone, I'm here today with another tag using a very whimsical stamp from I Brake for Stamps. As you all know, I love fairies. I actually collect them and they always move me. Call it the child in me or the believer of magical things, but I adore them and this stamp is no exception.It is an elf fairy and I love love love it.

For this tag, I used 3 different colors of embossing powders from Sparkle n Sprinkle, as well as a few Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists In Cornflower Daze and Turquoise Blue. The sprigs are from Petaloo as is the flower. I also used the Tree Background and this amazingly beautiful sentiment stamp Create Something. 

I love how Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive works with ribbons and flowers. Holds perfectly. I hope you like it

That's it for me today. I hope all of the Canadian readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and Happy Columbus Day to all my friends stateside. When you purchase from I Brake for Stamps, make sure to use my Design Team code to receive 10% off your order. The code is SAVE10ERIKA.

Until next time.

Toodles

Enchanted Wolf Love

Yup, it is true, I'm a Twilight fan. Whether it is team Edward or team Jacob, it really doesn't matter to me. With the countdown started for the new Breaking Dawn film, I thought it was the perfect time to create a card using this amazing Silhouette Coyote stamp from I Brake for Stamps, which I interpreted as a wolf.

Hello everyone, I'm here today to share with you an embossed card I created using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and 2 colors of embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I love this image and the crispness of the silhouette is wonderful. I hope you enjoy it too. So without further adieu...

Here is a close up snot of the image for you to see. The papers, rub-on and chipboard tag are from the new Oct 31st line from Fancy Pants Designs

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I sure appreciate your comments, so don't be afraid to leave one. Also I have a little blog candy going on at this post, so stop there and leave a comment too.

When you go to I Brake for Stamps, make sure to use my discount code for 10% off your order. The code is SAVE10ERIKA. Until next time

Toodles

Fall is in the Air

I love Maple Leaves! Maybe it is the Canadian in me, but those colors as fall comes into play, are truly breathtaking. Every autumn color can be found on that one special leaf. I'm here today to share with you a fall card I created using the beautiful Bold Maple Leaf stamp from I Brake for Stamps.

This image is absolutely stunning and perfect for both feature images and backgrounds on projects. The card has both of those and I hope that you can truly appreciate the beautiful image this stamp creates. I paired this beauty up with some sweet Nikki Sivils papers and my favorite Helmar Adhesives.

First off I used Versamark and a little glitter to create the background. Then I stamped the Bold Maple Leaf 3 times on different paper and used some wonderful embossing powder  from Sparkle N Sprinkle to create these autumn leaves. After they were heat embossed, I fussy cut them and using Helmar Liquid Scrapdots, created a wonderful dimensional pile of leaves.

I think this stamp is my favorite so far. The versatility is simply AMAZING!!!! Here is a close up shot of the leaves themselves. I hope you can see the amazing detail the Bold Maple Leaf stamp creates when you emboss it.

Try you hand at some of the amazing bold images at I Brake for Stamps. There are so many to choose from and with Autumn right around the corner, make sure you look at the Fall and Halloween stamps too.

Don't forget to use my code to get yourself a 10% discount. Who doesn't want to save a bit of money right??? The code is SAVE10ERIKA

Until next time
Toodles

A little Glitter for the Soul

I love glitter. There is no denying it. I wake up with glitter on my face and I'm sure my husband has glitter on him when off to work he goes. The stuff just creeps everywhere and it makes me happy.

Today I have my last projects I created for Sparkle N Sprinkle. Their glitter is beautiful and comes in so many colors and shades. So here we go with a little glitter to make your day

I wanted to thank Margaret and Donna from Sparkle N Sprinkle for letting me be a part of their fantastic team. Thank you sooooooo much

Toodles

TAAFOMFT June 30th Challenge

Hello Everyone and happy Tuesday. I hope that all of you had a fantastic long weekend.

This week marks the last challenge over at the TAAFOMFT blog and the challenge is "favorite collection" So as an ode to the wonderful Miss Julie, I decided to create a favorite collection of favorite things for the challenge. That was a mouth full wasn't it lol.

I decided to created a layout that does not include a photo. Instead, I used the lyrics from the wonderful Sound of Music song instead as the focal point. I'm so loving all the little embellishments I created to go with the beautiful papers from Pink Paislee. Anything with butterflies (like the Butterfly Garden collection) are a love of mine for certain.From the brown paper package tied up in string, to the white dress with blue satin sash. For the dress, I used the Dress me Up dress form from Basically Bare and added a good helping of both Bridal Glitter and Moonrise Glitter Tinsel .

I love the richness that these glitters have added to the dress form. I also used some Organic Garden Glimmer Glam on the Cosmo Cricket mittens to tie in with the colors. All that dimension on the layout is created using Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. Positively the best dimensional adhesive out there.

So if you haven't made your project for the new challenge at TAAFOMFT, take a few moments today and create about your favorite collection. And Julie, I just want to take a moment to tell you that I'm beyond honored to have been a part of your challenge site. I've been blessed to create for you. Thank you again *hugs*

Until next time
Toodles

May Not so Macho Masculine Blog Hop by Sparkle N Sprinkle

Hi Everyone and welcome to this months Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog Hop. We are all about the Masculine cards today and there are some fantastic projects along the way. If you have been following along, you should have hopped here from Julie's blog. She always has something imaginative up her sparkly sleeve doesn't she!!! If you just started out, please hop back to the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog so you can see all the inspiration and possibly win an amazing prize pack!!!


Important things first: The Grand Prize is a stamp set of the winner's choice AND as you visit each designer's blog, she will not only tell you about her cards, but donate a product toward the grand prize! Some of the products are brand new - not even on the website yet! So the Grand Prize will consist of the stamp set PLUS 13 products! A lucky second winner will win a stamp set of her choice! To become eligible to win the prizes, please leave a comment on each blog.

That is reason enough for sure to follow along hehe.

My card today is created using the Motorcycles Stamp Set and some of my favorite glitters. I used Fire Engine Red, Embers, Burnt Orange and Sunset to create my hand drawn flames for the background and I'm beyond stinkin excited about how they turned out. I love drawing but haven't done any for a while, so it was a wonderful treat to try a background technique with my drawing skills.

For the stamped image, I used Black Detail embossing powder so that I could really see and glitter the flames on the bike. If you would like to see a closer view of the card, just click on the image.

For my part of the give away, I'm donating a jar of the Fire Engine Red Glitter. You are going to absolutely love the richness of this red. Truly stunning!!!.

Now hop on over to Linda Loew's blog so you can see her wonderful creations. Don't forget to leave a comment on every Sparkle N Sprinkle team member, so your name can go into the draw!!!

Save the Date and a little giveaway...

Wedding season is upon us and I so adore the color palettes that are trending for this season. Honeysuckle and Teal with a splash of green is a favorite of mine and today I'm sharing with you a card I created for Sparkle N Sprinkle for May. The Today's Wedding stamp set is so sweet. With it's perfect sentiments and whimsical swirls, I just had to create a Save the Date card. For this card I used the Midnight Madness Embossing Powder as well as the Shell Pink Glitter. I love how these look with the Once upon a Springtime papers from Graphic 45. A few Maya Road stickpins to finish this card and VOILA!!!! A sweet springtime Wedding card.

Aren't those colors perfect for a whimsical wedding? Today I'm doing a little giveaway. Tell me the favorite thing about your wedding to win a few wonderful jars of Sparkle N Sprinkle Glitter.

My favorite moment of our wedding was seeing the love in my husbands eyes as he said his vows. That look melted my heart to the core. I love you sweetheart!!!

Mojo Monday and Sparkle N Sprinkle

Just a few more hours and Mark will be here full time. I'm so excited I can hardly stand still!!!! Family dinners at the table, walks outside, and all those things that we love to do as a family are going to happen again really soon.

Today I've got a card to share that I created using the Sketch from Mojo Monday this week. I really love this sketch and it always feels good to be able to participate in a challenge or two.I've used some beautiful Really Reasonable Ribbon to highlight the Floral Champagne stamp from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I really like how this turned out and I thing that honeysuckle and navy is my new favorite color combo. What do you think???

Now off to take the kidlets to Grammas for a bit. This girl is off to work and when I get home, my loving husband will be here EEEEEEEK!!!!!

Toodles

It's All Rock N Roll to Me!!!!

There is something so liberating about embracing change. It allows you to grow in ways you never imagined. Although that change can add to stress and difficulties, it is how you come out of it that truly matters.

Tomorrow my husband will finally arrive here to live. It has been 2+ months and I am beyond thrilled that we will be a family under one roof again. It is the little things I've missed the most and I know the children feel the same. So I think it is a time to celebrate. Celebrate the goodness in our lives and enjoy those little things.

Today I've got a few sparkly creations to share with you, using Sparkle N Sprinkle products. I am falling in love all over again with stamping and I wonder why I ever let it slide away. These stamps from SNS are truly beautiful to create with. I love the crisp images and the designs are vast!!!

First off a little Rock and Roll card for you using Paper Trunk papers and the Rock On Collage stamp. I've used Oriental Fire embossing powder and Black Ice Glitter to create a hopping card. Love that Oriental Fire Embossing Powder!!!

Now how about a Mardi Gras inspired card? Filled with purples, greens and silvers. YUMMO! The stamp is one of the beautiful Art Deco stamps from Sparkle N Sprinkle. These images are absolutely stunning and I love the feel and movement they have. This stamp is called Mon Amis Umbrella and can be found in the Mon Ami stamp set. I've paired the image up with Peacock Embossing Powder,  Purple Fusion and Sassy Silver Glitter to create that perfect Fat Tuesday card.

So if you love embossing powders, glitter and great stamp images, take a look over at the Sparkle N Sprinkle store. There is so much to feast your eyes on and you'll want to grab a few jars for sure.

Well, I'm off to do a little laundry before I start creating again. The children are both getting better, thanks to amoxicillin YEAH!!! Until next time

Toodles

Sparkle N Sprinkle Untraditional Mothers Day Hop

Welcome to the Sparkle N Sprinkle Untraditional Mother's Day Blog Hop, which begins at the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog. This is my first blog hop as a member of the Sparkle N Sprinkle Design Team and I'm so stinkin excited to be stamping again. This hop is all about celebrating the women in our lives and I hope that you have been following along

There have been so many amazing projects from the SNS design team and I hope that you take a moment to start from the beginning. If you have been following along, you should have hopped here from Eleanor Jenkins blog. This girl sure knows how to make things sparkly and stunning.

Today I've got a little card to share. For this card I've used the Dark Tulip Stamp from Stamp Set 327 . I've used a few different embossing powders for the outline. The first tulip uses Gala Pink and the second uses Indian Spark. Now what is a card without a little glitter right? This card has Neon Flamingo, Carnation , Parisian Mist and Black Ice Glitter as well as the coolest glitter tinsel ever called Moon Rise!!!

The silk had dyed ribbon is China Doll (available at Really Reasonable Ribbon) and I've created a folded pleat for some added dimension. Here is a close up of the details in the stamped image and the beautiful ribbon.

Now it is time to hop on over to Judy's blog to see a wonderful project. Thanks for leaving a comment before hopping along. Make sure you leave a comment at every stop for a chance to win. Good Luck and thank you so much for stopping by today

Until next time
Toodles