Taylored Expressions Sneak Peek | Day 1

Good morning and happy Monday! We all have baby on the brain today with Taylor's recent announcement and thought we'd kick off this week's Taylored Expressions sneak peeks with a fun baby set called Welcome Little One - another fantastic set designed by Taylor for the TE line of stamps.  This set is made of deeply etched cling mount rubber and is exploding with darling images for all sorts of baby projects and to add a little extra punch, there is a coordinating Bracket Die too!  Other member of the Baker's Dozen are showcasing 3 new A la Carte stamps - Announcement A la Carte, Heart Frame A la Carte {and coordinating die!}, and Welcome Baby A la Carte.  All of the sets you'll be seeing this week will be available for purchase on Thursday, May 5th.

Welcome Little One is the next charity set in our Giving Tree series - $7 from each set sold during May, June, and July will be donated to Bethany Christian Services.  This beautiful organization provides adoption and orphan care services, as well as care for women who are facing unplanned pregnancies not only here in the US, but on 5 continents! 

In order to keep manufacturing costs at a minimum, the Giving Tree sets are not die cut and will need to be hand trimmed before you stamp.  This allows Taylored Expressions to donate more to each charity.

For my card today, I stamped the Sweet Baby sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and then used my stamp positioner to add 'boy' underneath.  I cut out the image with a Wonky Rectangles Nestabilities die and then used the outside of that same die to trace a cutting line so that it created a 1/8" border.  The blocks are stamped in Colorbox Yellow Ochre Fluid Chalk Ink and cut out with Nestabilities.  I added some chocolate stitched ribbon and of course, a Bow Easy bow and finished the card with a Medium Scallop Border and some Chocolate Pearls.  The layout is Sweet Stop's SSS106.

Would you like to get an early peek at the stamp sets releasing on Thursday?  Just hop on over to the Taylored Expressions Facebook page on Wednesday night and check them out!

Stop on over to see what the rest of the Baker's Dozen have created for you today -

• Charmaine Ikach
• Danielle Lounds
• Jackie Pedro
• Jami Sibley
• Jodi Collins
• Karen Motz
• Melissa Sauls
• Regina Mangum
• Sankari Wegman
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Tori Wild
• Wanda Guess
• illustrator, Nancy McKinney

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karen


recipe -
stamps: welcome little one (taylored expressions)
paper: aqua mist (pti), chocolate chip (su!), kraft, choice snow white (taylored expressions), fine & dandy true blue (my mind's eye)
ink: memento tuxedo black, colorbox yellow ochre fluid chalk
accessories: copic markers, chocolate pearls (kaisercraft), chocolate stitched ribbon, scallop border die (taylored expressions), square/large scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), wonky rectangles die (spellbinders)

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 115

Good morning - It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! Here is the deal: make a card with this layout and use the InLinkz button down at the very end of this post to enter your card. The links will close on Friday at 10 PM (Mountain Time), and I'll randomly select one card to feature on my blog on Saturday. So, as long as your card is linked by 10 PM Friday, your card will be in the drawing. Be sure to link directly to the blog post or gallery image which features your card. You may post a picture of the sketch on your blog, but please save the image to your computer first. Use the keyword SSSC115 if you plan to post your card in an online gallery.

I got a little creative and made a sketch badge for you all to use on your blog if you'd like.  Now, I'm not computer literate and so I have NO idea how to make this a blinkie and have all the HTML code here for you just to copy.  So you have to do this old school and save the image to your computer first and then upload it to your blog and then if you wouldn't mind linking the photo to my blog, that would be fantastic!

Hey, guess what??  I sewed!  I KNOW!  I treated myself to a Jenome Sew Mini and I've been practicing and practicing getting that stitching in a straght line.  You'll see some of my goof-ups later this week, haha!  I actually managed to sew all right on this card, so it's a happy day.  The set I used today is Treasure Life from Taylored Expressions and I stamped the little jar in Memento Tuxedo Black and then using my stamp positioner, I stamped the apples inside.  I colored them in with copics and then added a little glaze over the top with my new glaze pen.  I used the Gift Card Frame die for the main panel and then added the Leafy Branch underneath as well as a Spellbinder's oval underneath the Apothecary Jar Die to make it stand out from the background a bit more. 

The Sweet Sunday Stampers have amazing sketch samples to show you today, so stop on by to see:

• Dana White 
• Jennifer Tapler
• Karen Motz 
• Lynn Put 
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick

Thanks for taking on the challenge this week! 
Karen

recipe -
stamps: treasure life (taylored expressions)
paper: chocolate chip (su!), kraft, choice snow white (taylored expressions), the thrift shop (october afternoon)
ink: memento tuxedo black
accessories: island lagoon rhinestones (kaisercraft), scalloped eyelet border die (taylored expressions), gift card holder die (taylored expressions), leafy branch die (taylored expressions), apothecary jars dies (taylored expressions), oval nestabilities (spellbinders), glaze pen, sewing machine/white thread

Sweet Sunday Sketch Winner

Hello!  It's time to announce this week's SSSC winner!  Random.org has chosen.....

#21 - Donna Wilson!

Congrats, Donna!  I love your layered flowers and ribbon and this image is just the sweetest!  You can see more of Donna's cute projects over at her blog, Daily Grace Creations - stop over and say hey!

See you back soon for our next challenge!
Karen

There She Goes Preview | Day THREE

Howdy!  It's an exciting week here for There She Goes and the Trendsetters have a fun little blog hop to kick off the new release - PLUS you have a chance to win some goodies, so keep reading and find out the details.  The hop started off at There She Goes, but if you came to my blog from Julie's, then you're at the right stop.

Are you ready for another Torico-illustrated character set? I hope so, because we are in love with her latest release that showcases sweet little
ladies enjoying the pleasures of spring along with some of their favorite spring creatures and blooms.

Blossom By Blossom is a 4X8 stamp set that includes a total of 22 stamps and will sell for $18.

I'm just in love with this set - so many sweet little images and the combinations are endless!  I started by stamping this image in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored it with Copic Markers.  The papers are Togetherness by Cosmo Cricket.  Add some fun stitched grosgrain ribbon and a Bow Easy bow, and voila! 

Would you like a chance to win the Blossom By Blossom stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Blossom By Blossom Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Blossom By Blossom stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Apr. 30th) during the Release Party Chat.

Next on the blog hop is the super fabulous Kim!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karen

recipe -
stamps: blossom by blossom (there she goes)
paper: blossom & flamingo (bazzill), choice snow white (taylored expressions) cardstock, togetherness (cosmo cricket)
ink: memento tuxedo black
accessories: yellow pearls (kaisercraft), white/black stitched grosgrain ribbon, square/large scallop nestabilities (spellbinders), copic markers, bow easy

There She Goes Preview | Day TWO

Welcome back to day 2 for the little sneaky peeks for the upcoming There She Goes release!  We're celebrating with a blog hop challenge for you and there is chance to win some goodies, so be sure to read along to the end of my post to find out how.  The hop started off at There She Goes, but if you came to my blog from Julie's, then you're at the right stop.

Know someone who takes everything too seriously?  Or maybe you know someone who needs a little pick-me-up?  This set illustrated by our fabulous Torico will “brighten” anyone’s day!  There are not only a variety of lamp bases and shades, but there are also some heartfelt and humorous sentiments to coordinate perfectly with the images.

Lighten Up is a 4X6 stamp set that includes a total of 20 stamps and will sell for $15.

How adorable are these teeny tiny lamps?!!  I just love the silhouette of these particular images from Lighten Up.  I thought it would be fun to have the light kind of illuminating around the lamps, so I stamped the images in black Staz-On ink and then reverse masked over the images in order to sponge the inside of the oval as a template.  The layout is Sweet Stop's SSS105.
 
Would you like a chance to win the Lighten Up stamp set?  Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Lighten Up Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post.  A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Lighten Up stamp set.  The winner will be announced Saturday (Apr. 30th) during the Release Party Chat.

Next on the blog hop is the super fabulous Kim!


Thanks so much for stopping by!
Karen


recipe -
stamps: lighten up (there she goes)
paper: so saffron (su!), blossom (bazzill), kraft, choice snow white (taylored expressions), stella & rose gertie (my mind's eye)
ink: staz-on black, memento canteloupe
accessories: brights buttons (su!), black nail heads (mark richards), white organdy ribbon, labels 8 & oval nestabilities (spellbinders), linen thread