Taylored Expressions May Studio Challenge - Happy New Year (just kidding - not yet!)

Hi Everyone!

It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  This is a monthly opportunity for the Taylored Expressions team to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  Each month we  have a fun, crafty question so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

The question for May is:

What is your favorite time of the year?  Some of us love the sunshine and heat and summer, while some of us long for the crisp cool air of fall.  Do spring flowers make your heart sing or is it snow and the smell of pine needles that makes you jolly?

Tell us about your favorite month or season and also tell us about your favorite time of year to stamp.

One of my favorite times of the year is ringing in the new year - there is something fun about writing down your new year resolutions (I don't know about you - but I have broken all of my new year resolutions by now!!! ha!!) There is something magical about turning over a new leaf and starting a new year - a fresh, clean slate of new beginnings. 

Even though fall is my favorite season (there is something about the changing colors of the leaves, the cool crispness of the fall air, the smell of newly sharpened pencils as the kids get ready to go back to school and holding some hot apple cider while wearing sweaters at soccer games just makes me so happy :) - and -  its also the season that my birthday is in so that could be why I really like fall as well ;)  --- So even though, I love fall - there is just something wonderful about spring that makes my heart rejoice that the frostiness of winter is over!! One of my favorite times is Spring Break where we as a family can go somewhere together and just be together. This year we were able to take a trip down to Florida for spring break and just to be in the same van, in the same place where no body was running to meetings, or work, or coordinating schedules as to who will pick up the kids after their games was SO lovely. There is something just wonderful about Spring Break - it gives me hope that warm weather is on the way!

For my projects today reflect my favorite times of the year. For both of my projects today, I used the Frame Your Imagination Vertical stand - which is stand that holds 6x6 creations - and can perfectly coordinate with the 6x6 Calendar Downloads. I used the Taylored Expressions January 2014 downloads to get ready for the new year! Creating a whole year like this would be the perfect gift to give at Christmas or to keep for yourself by your desk. I love the new year so I used one of my favorite stamp sets from the New Beginnings stamp set for it:

 

Project Ingredients:

Stamps:New Beginnings stamp set 

Paper: May 2014 Key Ingredients Kit

Inks: Love Letter, Cantaloupe, Rose Red, Sky Blue inks from Memento

Accessories: Frame Your Imagination stand (vertical), 2014 6x6 Dated Calendar Download, small scalloped punch EK success,  1/4" sticky tape, bling and dimensionals.

The 6x6 page that you create can easily be inserted into the page protector like shown below and then displayed wherever you would like in your home:

 I stamped the rose with solid inks in two different colors and then added it to the Frame It die shaped stamp in the set with the sentiment: "A New Year is unfolding like a rose, with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within" - SUCH a lovely sentiment!!!... And it feels like only by the next year do you see all the beauty of what happened in this year - every year, every day is such a beautiful precious present.

The little butterflies are from this stamp set and were just stamped onto different card stocks in matching color and then cut out and a little bling was added to the middle. All the papers are from this month's May Key Ingredients kit. All in all - a very quick and simple project.

QUICK TIP: If you are planning to create calendar pages for the whole year - you can follow the same layout on all the pages which allows you to quickly prep all 12 pages by pre-cutting everything and then arranging everything for each month. 

I made a second project using the  Frame Your Imagination Vertical stand to create a 6x6 scrapbook page of our time in Florida for Spring Break this year. I used papers from the Simple Stories Vintage Bliss to create this:

 You can paint the stand to whatever color matches your home decor - I liked mine just plain and maybe I will stain it a darker color of wood later - but I love the natural look of the wood! I used the sentiment: Home Is Wherever You Are - from the stamp set: From My Window from Taylored Expressions. I love this sentiment on this page - my home is wherever my family might be :)

 Here is another look at the page - I had fun inserting the picture of my DH and inside one of the polaroids that come in this DP pack that said: Laugh Lots.... I love that!! I cut out the picture of my children using the Label Stacklets 2 dies from TE:

Project Ingredients:

Stamps:From My Window from Taylored Expressions

Paper: Simple Stories Vintage Bliss and kraft and baby blue medium card stock

Inks: Teal Zeal and Rich Cocoa from Memento

Accessories: Frame Your Imagination stand (vertical), Label Stacklets 2, bling and dimensionals

 There are so many fun possibilities with the Frame Your Imagination stand - from stamped art creations, to layouts to calendar projects. I am excited to see how the lovely Baker's Dozen DT responded to today's question and to see their amazing creations! Please hop with me and check them out:

• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Hugs,
Sankari :)