February 1, 2011

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek | Day 1

Hello and good morning!  I hope you are keeping warm because right now, it's -8F degrees outside my door and the kids' schools were canceled because of the cold.  Yikes!  So we're chillin' in our jammies today, keeping warm and cozy.  Speaking of cozy, it's Taylored Expressions release week and our first preview set is Cozy Cottages - ooooh, these are SO cute!  Each cottage is unique and brings it's own personality to the set - a cupcake, a shoe, a mushroom, a little country cottage - and the sentiments can be used for congratulating a new home, or thanking a hostess as well.  Nancy McKinney illustrated this set as part of the Whimsical Wishes line and it is our next in the TE Giving Tree series.  For the months of February, March and April when you purchase this set you'll be helping to support Habitat for Humanity.

Through the work of Habitat, thousands of low-income families have found new hope in the form of affordable housing. Churches, community groups and others have joined together to successfully tackle a significant social problem – decent housing for all.  Habitat for Humanity is a true world leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing, having  built more than 350,000 houses, sheltering more than 1.75 million people in more than 3,000 communities worldwide.  Please visit http://www.habitat.org/ for more information on this incredible charity. Taylored Expressions will donate $7.00 to Habitat for Humanity for each Cozy Cottages stamp set sold in the next 3 months.

All of the TE Giving Tree series stamp sets come in one sheet of rubber, so the images need to be cut out by hand before you stamp.  Manufacturing these sets this way allows TE to donate more to the given charity and cutting the rubber is a cinch when you use good non-stick scissors.

Taylor has found the CUTEST little acrylic frames that are so much fun to put together.  New to the TE store this month are Darcie's Acrylic Frames and they come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.  I'm using the Chloe Small Frame (4-1/4" x 3-7/8") with my Cozy Cottage today - it creates a small shadow box and you can sit it on your desk or hang it on a wall with fancy ribbon.  They are darling!  One thing to note is you will definitely want to follow the directions in the packaging and wipe the chipboard clean before handling your papers because the the laser-cut chipboard has a little residue on it.  I started by gluing some Hopscotch papers by Basic Grey to the chipboard frame and backing and used my hobby knife to cut out the shape.  I also used a Precision File Set to smooth out the edges of the paper against the edge of the chipboard to give it a smooth and even finish.  I stamped the cottage in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored it with Copics and then layered it over some Hopscotch hills - too cute!  I stamped the Home Sweet Home sentiment right on the acrylic with Staz-On ink.  I really like how the words float over the images.

Also, we are introducing 3 new Taylored Dies this month - Picket Fence Border, Cloud Duo, and Whimsy Tree - I used the Cloud Duo and Picket Fence Border dies in my project.   The Picket Fence Border Die is approximately 6" long, just like the other TE border dies and the Whimsy Tree Die coordinates with the tree in Cozy Cottages - no need to cut it out by hand!

Avery is part of the Taylored Expressions Tiny Chef team again this month by coloring a page out of this absolutely adorable Cozy Cottages Coloring Book - the images from the stamp set are enlarged so your little one can color right along with you!  I know when I'm coloring and stamping, my kids are always wanting to copy me.  Each coloring book is $2.99 and the large images are perfect for even the tiniest of crafters.  She was so funny coloring this shoe cottage - she was using different shades of brown and shading the shingles like she was using Copics.  It made me giggle - and she told me she made the shoe pink for Taylor, haha!

The Baker's Dozen have much more to show you this morning, so please stop by and see:
See you back tomorrow for another sneak -
Karen

recipe -
stamps: cozy cottages (taylored expressions)
paper: choice snow white cardstock (taylored expressions), hopscotch (basic grey)
ink: memento rich cocoa, colorbox aquamarine fluid chalk
accessories: chloe small acrylic frame (darcie's), copic markers

15 comments:

  1. Avery is SOOOOO cute! I love her sweet smile and I LOVE her pink and purple shoe that she created and love her focused look coloring! SO CUTE! Please tell Avery that she is a wonderful artist!!
    And your project is simply FABU! I love your sweet frame and the papers that you used are SO cute! Awww! Love it allllllllllllllll!!! you so rock KG!
    Big hugs,
    Sankari :)

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  2. Okay-- the tongue out while coloring for Avery is so adorable... we noticed my five year old looked like a little lizard sticking his tongue out while coloring the other day--I had never noticed it before. So cute and your frame is just amazing-- the patterned paper hill and fun warm colors look fabulous!!

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  3. What a beautiful frame, Karen! Love all the little details! And Avery did such a great job too... of course I LOVE the pink shoe! :) And I love that she's sticking her tongue out while she colors... that is so ME! I do that same thing. lol

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  4. What an awesome frame and cutie with her coloring book page!

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  5. Your project is absolutely DARLING! Love the wrods stamped right on the acrylic! And Avery's pink shoe is great! She's a cutie!

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  6. LOVE your cottage frame! stamping on the acrylic is an awesome idea - great picture colored by Avery, she's such a doll (in a good way)!

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  7. i love, love, LOVE this karen!!! gorgeous frame, scene, and colors...beautifully done!

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  8. LOOOOOOOOVE this Karen! Your frame is AMAZING and Avery is GORGEOUS!!!

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  9. Awww what a beautiful little girl! I loved your post today and as always you project was stunning. Thanks again Karen for the blog in the box tip. I have my new look up and running on my blog. Forever grateful :)

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  10. Your frame is GORGEOUS, Karen! I LOVE the depth in the shingles! And Avery is just beautiful! Look at that sweet little smile! She did a fabulous job coloring!

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  11. Wow. Gorgeous. perfect little gift. super sweet.

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  12. Look at sweet Avery!! So cute!

    Don't you LOVE these frames? I was so afraid of them and now I can't wait to order some!! LOVE the scene you created in yours!!

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  13. Look at your sweet Avery! So sweet! And, your frame is really beautiful. I love the colors and the patterned paper on the front is just brilliant. XOXO

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  14. BEAUTIFUL frame - love the color scheme you used! And your little girl is just the sweetest!

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  15. Cute cute CUTE!!! Avery's colouring is perfect, and Karen, your frame is magnificent!!!!

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