Category: Taylored Expressions

Thank You for Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends and happy weekend to you!  As we inch closer and closer to Thanksgiving at the end of this month, I think this is a perfect time to create a few thank you style cards to use throughout the year!

This brings us to a new monthly challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “Thank you Card”  this month.  I look forward to seeing all of the projects in the gallery for this one.  Here’s what I came up with: 

I thought I’d try out a mini slim sized card for this one and the tall larger flower was a great fit for it!  I used the Taylored Expressions Natures Canvas Card kit (no longer available).

For the background panel, I embossed a kraft cardstock piece with the TE Sketched Plaid embossing folder and the went around the edges with the same color ink and then added some brown and white splatters before attaching it to a mini slim top folding card base.  I also die cut a frame from the TE Mini Slim Frame in Frame dies out of white cardstock to place over the embossed layer.

I stamped, hand colored and die cut the flower.  I used one of the greeting panels (from card kit) to gold foil and cut out the coordinating sentiment with it to pop up with foam tape over the flower stem.  It was then finished off with some gold gem/rhinestones.

  • I hope you’ve been inspired by my thank you card and will join in the fun with us this month for the challenge!  **NOTE**  This will be my final project for the Sparkles Monthly Challenge as a design team member.  I have enjoyed my time and wish Caz all of the best for the challenge blog in the coming year as well.  Thank you!

Challenges:

  1. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  2. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes with optional: Thank you
  3. Triple B – Birds, Blooms &/or Butterflies (bloom)
  4. Penny’s – Anything Goes using Paper
  5. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes/Thanksgiving/Thank you
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2545 Anything Goes
  7. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Thank you

O is for Oval with One Word

Hello friends!  Happy Friday and happy Halloween too!🎃  I might be having a few treats tonight, but hopefully without any tricks involved! 😉 

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “O”, and our hostess, Helen, has chosen “Oval with One Word Sentiment”   I hope you will join in the fun with us!  *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

I usually make cards with a specific theme, but I rarely make cards with just an “any occasion” involving a simple sentiment like “hello”, so I went with this in mind for the challenge.

I started with a Taylored Expressions Foil It-Framework panel (one of the panels had a nice oval shape), and foiled it with a gold foil.  While I was foiling, I also decided to foil the sentiment from the TE Foil It-Timeless Greetings and cut it out with the coordinating die.

After foiling, I pulled out the TE Masking Stencil-Framework (coordinates with the foil panel) and used it to stencil the center oval with the TE Mini Slim Stencil-Trellis in light blue ink.  I then took the left over ink from the blending brush and lightly went over the entire inside oval shape.  On a separate piece of white cardstock, I stenciled the TE Cottage Charm Stencil & Die Combo and attached the floral spray on each opposite ends of the foil oval.  I was trying to go for Autumn style colors for the flowers, but the red tone looks a bit more pink in the photo now that I’m looking at it.  I still like it though.

I attached this panel onto a light blue A2 side folding card base, popped up the gold foil sentiment in the center with foam tape and added a couple of gold gems.

  • I hope you like my card today and you will pop on over to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be back tomorrow with another post and challenge!

Challenges:

  1. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2543 Anything Goes
  2. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Anything Goes
  3. Krafty Chicks – Anything Goes
  4. Triple B – Birds, Butterflies, Blooms (must use at least 1)
  5. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes

October AJ Page-Magical Potion

Hello friends and happy weekend!  It’s the last Saturday for this month and next week will be November 1st!  Can you believe it?!  We’re nearing the end of the year, but I’d like to stop and enjoy the wonderful Autumn season right now while it’s here!

Last Saturday of October brings us to the monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month.  I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” OCTOBER prompt of “MAGICAL”: 

I couldn’t let this month go by without adding in a Halloween themed AJ page!  I love making them and getting out lots of dies from several different companies that made this one a fun project to pull together.

Background:  I used an 8.5″ x 5.5″ piece of Mixed Media cardstock and blended the background in various colors using a light yellow for the center where the window is open and the cauldron is brewing up something magical!

I then took a cogs and wheel stencil and sponged on some gold ink in various places.  I took a cool background stamp from Whimsy Stamps called Vintage Wallpaper and stamped it in random places.  I also cut a strip of wood plank background paper from my stash to add at the bottom of the page.  I then took my gold ink pad and swiped it around the edges of the page.

Die Cuts:  The large spider web cut from holographic paper, the witch, the fire, and cats all came from Whimsy Stamps.  The Cauldron and potion bottle came from Taylored Expressions, the window came from Simon Says Stamp and the wood under the cauldron came from Lawn Fawn.  For some of the pieces, I ink blended or added a gold highlight to the edges.  For the potion bottle, there is a tiny label on it that says “Moon Dust” with a moon on it.  (It’s hard to see in the photo.)  I added some glitter to the contents.  After ink blending the flames, I covered it with a glitter brush pen.

I took a marker to added some shadows under the witch, cat and cauldron.  I took some yellow sequins and added it under the potion bottle to make it look like she’s added it to the potion.  Lastly, I took a couple of Tim Holtz sentiment clippings to add to the scene.

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today!  I had fun with it!  Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Steampunk/Halloween or both
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – No Cards
  4. Penny’s – Anything Goes Using Paper
  5. Little Red Wagon – Not a Card

N is for Night

Hello friends!  Once again, it’s another Friday in October!  Two weeks from today will be Halloween!  I may have a few “goblins” showing up for some candy! 👻  This reminds me that I will be needing to make up a few treat bags!

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “N”, and our hostess, Pamela, has chosen “N is for NIGHT” (clouds, moon, sky, sleeping image, stars, etc.)   I think this will be a fun one for Halloween!  *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

Well, you know I had to do this challenge in the Halloween theme, right?!  I absolutely loved making this card!  I pulled out all of my Taylored Expressions Halloween items to play with!

I started with the background and created the moon with the Moonlight Layering Stencil.  I made sure to center it where I wanted the moon to be in placement on my background before I ink blended everything in.  I also used a very light hand when making the moon in greys and yellow tones.  This stencil also comes with a mask to cover the entire moon shape, so I used some Pixie Spray to tack it down to stay in place over my card before I began ink blending the blues in the background for the sky.  While leaving the moon mask in place, I also used some Copic opaque white watered down and splattered over the blue ink blended sky for “stars”.

I was then able to remove the moon mask to finish my card.  I layered this panel over an A2 side folding black card base.  I used the Taylored Expressions Trick or Treat Border die to cut out another black piece to fit over the moon.  I left some space at the bottom of the border to white heat emboss the sentiment from the TE Spooktacular Sentiments set.  I just attached this to the bottom of the moon sky panel and then I die cut some bats from the TE Little Bits-Bats die with the TE Black Glitter Cardstock and attached them to the sky.

  • I’m loving how the moon seems to be glowing over the trick or treaters!  I hope you like it too and will join in the fun with us!  Be sure to check out the challenge blog to see more inspiration!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR DROPPING IN TODAY!!  HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AHEAD!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Inspirations – Autumn/Something Spooky
  2. Craft Rocket – Autumn/Halloween
  3. Crafty Calendar – Halloween
  4. Let’s Craft & Create – Anything Goes with optional: Things with Wings (bats)
  5. Crazy is our Fame-Stencils are our Game! – Stencil(s) with optional: Halloween
  6. Two Old Bats – Anything Goes Halloween
  7. Unicorn – Autumn and/or Halloween
  8. Crafty Gals Corner – Fill in the Blank: “Spooky________”  – NIGHT!

M is for Mythical

Hello and happy Friday to you friends!  Welcome to the month of October!  We’re still having some unseasonably warm weather right now, but next week it’s supposed to cool down a bit along with maybe some rain which we really need right now.  Hope that wherever you are that things are going well for you!

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “M”, and our hostess, Tee, has chosen “M is for MYTHICAL CREATURE(s)” (fairies, gnomes, unicorns, dragons, vampires, zombies, etc.)   I think this will be a fun one for Halloween!  *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

These little grumpy guys from Taylored Expressions always make me giggle and I fell in love with this set a few years back and had to snatch it up!  I pull it out sometimes to make a funny card to send someone.  There are other characters from this set called “Mythical Grumplings” (looks to be a retired set) that are super cute!

Because he’s a grumpy dragon, I mainly used green colors to color him up and for the base/background design.  I used a heart stencil with green ink and overlayed some translucent sparkle paste over it.  I die cut a cloud for the dragon to stand on as well as die cut a heart from shimmer vellum for the dragon to stand out a bit over all of that green color.  I popped both the cloud and dragon up over the vellum heart and added to the background.

I layered it over a scallop white layer and a green A2 top folding card base.  I also white heat embossed the punny sentiment and die cut it out with a stitched banner die.  Sponged the edges with green ink and attached to the top right of the heart panel.

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my mythical creature card today and that you’ll consider hopping on over the to the challenge blog to see the inspiration from the rest of the team and join in the fun to play along too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Wishing you a happy weekend ahead!

Challenges:

  1. Try it On Tuesday – Animals (real or imaginary)
  2. The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Anything Goes
  3. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  4. CRAFT – Grandparents/Anything Goes
  5. As You Like It – Square card or Not & why?  (I most usually make A2 sized cards because it’s what fits best with my envelopes and I can get 2 card bases from one sheet of 8.5″11″ cardstock.  It makes crafting cards more simple with this size.)

L is for Love Letter

Happy Friday friends!  I hope that you’re having a great week and looking forward to the weekend ahead of us!  We’re planning on being outside and have fun with family!  It’s still warm, but hopefully we can get away from the 90 degree (F) weather!

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “L”, and our hostess, Veronika, has chosen “L is for LOVE LETTER” (include handwriting & hearts)   *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

I always think of handwriting as the most sincere form of a love letter for sure, but I do not like my handwriting at all….so I prefer the typewritten style! LOL  I thought the  Just Write card kit I got from Taylored Expressions would work great for this challenge.

I fell in love with Lori Craig’s card including the colors of it, so I wanted to duplicate it!  I didn’t have everything she used in hers, but I like how it turned out!  The background was done with a 3D Lots of Love embossing folder over a stamped cork background.  I swiped white ink over the popped up hearts to try and bring them out a bit more.  The lined notebook paper inside the typewriter came from the TE Love Letters Clear Stamp & Die combo which is also where I got the “XOXO” to stamp on the heart at the top.  I also used the hearts from this set to stamp on the notebook paper.

Here’s the inside of my card where I used one of the Just Write-Insiders panel for my card and included the stenciled pen and stamped an “ink spot” all included with the card kit.

I thought this would work for my “handwriting” portion of the challenge. *wink*  I could’ve signed it to be completely official, but I don’t know who will be receiving this card right now, but it will be ready to go when the time comes.

  • Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you will be joining in the challenge with us!  Thank you so much for stopping in today!  Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!

Challenges:

  1. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2537 Anything Goes
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  4. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes

K is for Keep It Simple (CAS)

Hello friends and happy Friday!  The weather has decided to cool down quite a bit over the last couple of days and it’s been very nice to have the windows open for a change!  I think we’re supposed to have another spell of warm weather, but I’ll take the cool down for now!

Today is a new challenge over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!  Our next letter is “K”, and the hostess has chosen “K is for KEEP IT SIMPLE” (CAS style)   *Please remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter.*  I hope you’ll join in the fun with us.  Here’s the project I’ve made for this challenge:

That cat is not a fan of winter! LOL  I do love me some snark for the Holidays, so I thought this stamp set called “Holiday Grumplings” (retired stamp set) from Taylored Expressions would be great for a simple Holiday card.

I also think that CAS style cards are great for pulling out those left over scraps from your papers for little strips to create a simple layout, so that’s what I did here.  I stamped, colored with Copics the kitty and popped him/her up with foam tape over the snowflake strip.

Lastly, I just added a light brush with pink ink to the left of the kitty and then gold heat embossed the sentiment over it.  Placed the white panel over a pink A2 sized top folding card base and done.

  • I’m happy to report that I’ve spent some time going through my stash of cards and realized that I have several already finished and ready for sending out Christmas cards!  So I’m basically DONE for Christmas cards!  Yay!  The first time ever that I’m ready ahead of time!  NOW…hopefully I’ll send them out on time too! LOL

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and helped to inspire you to “KEEP YOUR CRAFTING SIMPLE” and join us for the challenge!  Look forward to seeing what you make!  Thanks so much for stopping in today! 

Challenges:

  1. Critter Crazy – Anything Goes with Featured Critter
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes including Animal
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2535 Anything Goes
  4. Merry Little Christmas – Anything Christmas Goes
  5. Creative Inspirations – Christmas in September

August AJ Page-Good-bye Summer

Hello friends!  Here we are at the end of August already!  I’ve already been feeling the Autumn vibes, so I thought I’d create with Summer one more time.  There is still a few more weeks left of Summer, so let’s enjoy it!

Wanted to share a photo that hubby took a really good close-up shot of a bumble bee enjoying the last bit of summer blooms on one of our flowers in the back yard the other day.  He is covered in pollen!  I love the bright colors in the flower.

Speaking of bright colors, today starts another monthly AJ page with my crafty friend Carol (from Crafty-Stamper) who is collaborating with me to “SMASH OUR STASH”! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month.  I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” AUGUST prompt of “BRIGHT/HAPPY COLORS”: 

Bright and happy colors to me are those sunny yellows, citrus and basically a rainbow of bright colors.  I tried to reflect this with my page using mainly blended ink colors, but I also used some watercolor and paint too.

FOR THE BACKGROUND:  I used a 5.5″ x 8.5″ piece of Bristol Smooth Watercolor cardstock.  I covered the background with a light wash of blue watercolor and let it dry.  I took a stencil from My Favorite Things (closed) called “Sun Ray” and went over the background with yellow paint applying with a watered-down sponge.  Once that was dry, I splattered the entire background with some metallic gold watercolor.  I covered the bottom portion of the page with some wood plank background paper. (I like to make my own book to add my finished pages in.)

The “Summer” lettering was die cut with white cardstock and then ink blended with several different bright colors.  I stamped out the lettering above it.  Both the stamp and dies came from Lawn Fawn.

Here’s a closer view of the drink glass I created using some die sets from Taylored Expressions called Summertime Sips.  There was the glass that I lightly ink blended around the edges and then for the separate die for inside the glass, I ink blended a few different colors for that tropical drink look.  There are also ice cube dies that I cut from glitter cardstock to put in there.  I cut another glass from vellum and then cut the stem of it so that I could attach it to the front of the glass which is where I added all of the items inside to make it look see-though. 

The straw and the umbrella were cut in white and then ink blended and put together for the glass.  I also took the TE Fresh Squeezed die set to cut more pieces from white cardstock and then I ink blended some green and orange colors over them to arrange around my cup.  The green slice on the top of the cup was cut with scissors so that I could add it to the inside of the glass rim.  I covered the inside of these citruses with a glitter brush pen.

Lastly, I took a black detail pen to make lines around the edges of the page and also the stitch marks within the lettering and around the sentiment strip at the bottom.  This was printed from computer and ink blended with yellow ink.

  • Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope you’ve enjoyed my page!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – Hot Summer (Nights and Days)
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Anything Goes in a Card Free Zone – August -No Cards

And speaking of bright and happy, I know a few people have mentioned my new grandson and wondering if I get to see him.  My answer to that is every single chance I can get! LOL  He’s growing so very fast!  He came for a visit for lunch…well grandma fed him his bottle.

I will be getting to see him again VERY soon and I’m so excited!  How can you resist that face!?

Thought I’d share a little update to make you smile! 😉

Clean & Simple at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  We’re still having some very warm temperatures with humidity making it worse. With seeing the kids starting back up at school, I am so ready for Autumn weather to get here!  Notice I didn’t mention the “W” word…just Autumn! LOL  Hope your able to have stable conditions wherever you are.

Today is time to share a new challenge over at Sparkles Monthly and we have the theme of “CAS (Clean & Simple)”  this month.  I always find this theme great for making a quick card when you need one.  Here’s what I came up with: 

Although I’ve only used one flower image for my card, I’ve also added a few die cuts and simple foiling on the sentiment to elevate the design a bit.

The flower image is actually the July “freebie” from Taylored Expressions when you place any order with them.  I quickly colored it up with Copic markers and then die cut the panel out with the TE Petite Scallop Gallery Builder die set and cut out another panel for the scallop frame around it with TE Blueberry cardstock.

For the sentiment, I used the TE Foil-It Sundry Sentiment panels and used the coordinating die set to cut it out.  I then used some silver Deco Foil over it.

Here’s a closer view of the flower and foiled sentiment pieces.  I forgot to mention that I’ve also dotted the center of the flowers with a silver gel pen.

For the finished card design, I used a regular A2 sized top folding horizontal white card base and then I cut an additional white card front piece from the TE Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets dies.  I also used the TE Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Stacklets dies to make the slanted stitch marks on the inside of the scallop panel.  (this doesn’t cut anything out, it just makes those lines around the edge.)

I placed this panel along with the flower and sentiment pieces over top to finish the card.

  • Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you’ll stop by the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with.  You have a whole month to join in the fun with us!  Hope to see your creation in the gallery!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Challenges:

  1. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  2. We Love Stamping – Flowers
  3. A Cut Above – Anything Goes with Die Cut(s)
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2532 Anything Goes
  5. Penny’s – Anything Goes with Paper

 

H is for HOME

Hello friends!  This will be a pre-scheduled post as I’m away for a bit, so this is going to be a very short and sweet post from me.

There is a new challenge today over at the Alphabet Challenge Blog!   Our next letter is ‘H‘ and the hostess has chosen “H” is for HOME  *Remember that this is a bi-weekly challenge, so you have two weeks to enter*  I hope you will find some time to play along!  Here’s what I’ve created:

I have pulled out an older card kit from Simon Says Stamp called “Home Sweet Home” and used some of the cloud papers that came in the kit along with the stamp set to make my little square on the left.

This is a mini slimline sized easel calendar.  It folds flat for mailing and then sets up with a base at the bottom.  (I figured a message could go on the back.)  I got the Square Calendar Tear-Offs as well as the Landscape Calendar Table Tent Base from Taylored Expressions.  The “slash marks” on the home sweet home square also came from the TE Square Tear Off Calendar Stacklets Die Set which is how I was able to cut out the square to fit onto the design too.

Obviously, I have August 2025, but I also have 2026 calendars that I will have to replace for the new year.  I really love making these calendars every year to give as gifts and I thought it would be nice for someone moving into a new home as well.

  • Thanks so much for dropping in today!  I hope you will take a look at what the design team has for inspiration and join in the challenge with us!
  • I’ll have another scheduled post for tomorrow to share my monthly Art Journal Page.