Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks - Day 2





Hi Everyone,
Welcome to Day 2 of Sneak Peeks from Taylored Expressions, where today the Baker's Dozen DT are previewing 2 super cute stamp sets:

  1. Fashionista (regular sized stamp set) -a new Tena stamp set that is designed to coordinate with the Window Shopping stamp set (designed for the Apple Doodle Ink collection) 
  2. Wreath of Luck (which is part of the Petite series of stamps from Taylored Expressions) - This was designed by the awesome Nancy McKinney (for the the WHimsical Wishes collection) and this stamp set expands Jami Sibley's stamp concept of seasonal wreaths so it coordinates with the Seasonal Wreath die from Taylored Expressions - how awesome is that!!  

These two stamps will be available for purchase on Friday Feb 1 at 8am PST!!!

The Fashionista stamp set is a total must have for all the Fashion Divas out there - especially when you have Fashion Divas in your family! I love each of the stamps and the sentiments are awesome and hilarious!! One of my favorite sentiments is "if the shoe fits, buy one in every color!" (oh YES!). I decided to make a little Pedicure Caddy Giftset using this uber fab stamp set to get the wintery toes ready for spring! 

Here is a picture of the Pedicure Caddy Giftset using the lovely Be Mine papers from EP:





In the caddy, I filled it with a three fun colors (isn't that turquoise delish!), some pomegranate foot lotion with a scrub for callouses, some soft socks lined with aloe gel and of course one little part of the caddy reserved for chocolate (because chocolate makes pedicures so much better - actually, it makes everything so much better ;) I created this caddy using a tutorial from the fabulous Beate from SCS - you can check out all the details on how to make one here:

The front portion of the caddy has the circle stamp that says: "I Love Shoes" going around in a circle and then I stamped the shoe in the middle and colored it with the gray pink motif (Oh, how I would LOVE to wear a shoes like these!) I cut and layered this image with my nesties and put it on the front of the caddy:



And here is a picture of the card that I made with this super awesome stamp set. I used the frame from the Kid at Heart stamp set and popped up the shoes and shoe boxes int he middle. I layered the card with the Small Scallop die from Taylored Expressions and finished it off with a heart punched out in the middle of the "I Love Shoes" circle sentiment: 







Also being previewed today is the Wreath of Luck Stamp set (Petite size) and Taylor will be offering a Lucky Sampler Kit filled with all kinds of lovely embellishments (from green sparkle fluff, to green glitter, green candy dots, rain dots, green button mixtures, green favor assortments, green DP and more!) I used one of the favors and created a little St.Patrick's day giftset: 


For the card, I drew a shamrock in two sizes (I went with the four leaf clover) and then cut it out of green DP. On the smaller one I covered it with the green glitter that is in the Lucky Sampler Kit (will be released on Friday) and then in the center, I stamped the Wreath of Luck (filled with shamrocks) and using one of the green buttons in the kit, I tied the sentiment: "Kiss me, I'm Irish" on it and finished it off with some candy dots and a pink glittery heart for accent:


Here is a close up view of the favor that I am going to put around some St. Patty's day candy - I used the same Wreath of luck stamp, as well as a lucky Leprechaun hat and a matching pink glittery heart:




I loved creating these projects using these awesome stamp sets and can't wait to see what the Baker's Dozen girls have created using these fun stamps!!! Hop on over with me and check them out:




Thanks so much for stopping by today,
Please stop in tomorrow for Day 3 of Sneak peeks!!!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)

PS: Here is a picture of the Small Scallop border die and the Seasonal Wreath that coordinates with the Wreath of Luck stamp set: 


Small Scallop Border Die

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks - Day 1


Hi Everyone!



Hope you had a wonderful weekend! This weekend was filled with birthday parties, baby showers and all kinds of celebrations! I was so glad to get home at the end of the weekend and just relax doing nothing! There is no place like home and that brings me to today's sneak peeks for Day 1 of Release week excitement over at Taylored Expressions, where today, the Baker's Dozen DT will be previewing the cutest brand-new stamp set called: Cozy Cottages that was designed by the awesome Nancy McKinney along with three brand new dies: 


1. Cloud Duo dies 
2. Whimsey Tree die
3.  Picket Fence Die


Here is a picture of the three new dies:






All of these dies and the new stamp sets that will be shown this week will all be available for purchase this Friday (Feb. 4th at 8am PST!)  - so stay tuned this week for sneak peeks every day for all the stamps and dies that will be released in February! 



The stamp set that we are previewing today is called Cozy Cottages and is the next stamp set that is part of Taylor's Giving Tree program, where every quarter a different charity is from a portion of the purchase of a stamp set that honors that charity. During the months of February, March and April - when you purchase this stamp set - you will be supporting the wonderful organization: Habitat for Humanity! 


In college we were able to volunteer with this great organization that allows thousands of low-income families to have affordable housing. Habitat for Humanity is a true world leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing and have built more than 350,000 houses and sheltering more than 1.75 million people in more than 3,000 communities world wide! Please visit www.habitat.org for more information on this wonderful and amazing charity


Taylored Expressions will be donating $7.00 to Habitat for Humanity for each Cozy Cottage stamp sold int he next three months!!!!! *** Because a portion of the sales of this stamp set will be going towards charity - this stamp set will come as a sheet of rubber that will need to be trimmed - so that more can be able to be donated towards charity. 


I loved working with this organization, I know people who are able to live in proper housing because of this organization and I feel so happy to be able to support this organization through this stamp set! I was so excited to create some projects for this super cute stamp set and as soon as I saw one of the sentiments in this set, I knew I wanted to create a little something for one of my BFF's who has moved away :( I immediately thought of creating this for her with this sentiment: "the road to a friend's house is never long" How true! I thought I would create a little frame for her to have in her new house and since the sentiment is all about journey - I thought I would use the super cute papers from Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride to decorate the frame and paper piece the super cute houses in this set! I love these papers and thought that they were perfect for a sentiment about journeys :)






I stamped the houses onto different DP's from this paper pack and arranged in a row and created some clouds using the sweet Cloud Duo's dies :) I finished the frame off by putting it in a 4x6 frame and then used some Mod Podge over the DP that I used to cover part of the frame and also over the picket fence that I created using the Picket Fence die (also to be released on Friday). I love how this turned out and can't wait to send it to her (or maybe I should wait and bring it to her on our next road trip to visit her!)


For my next project using this super cute stamp set - I used a totally fun new product that Taylor will be carrying at the store called Darcie's Acrylic Frames that you can use to create shadowboxes. These frames come in different sizes and make super cute gifts or home decor! I can't wait to make more :) I used the Large Raine Frame shape with the Echo Park Walk in the Park papers and the Cozy Cottage stamp. I wanted to create something that we can hang on the door (we finally took our Christmas jingley wreath down!) and so after covering the chipboard, I punched some holes to tie a ribbon to hang it up on the door.






The hills were halved scalloped nesties dotted with liquid pearls and I used the new Whimsey die for the trees (I created mirror images by flipping the die over) and added leaves with some Lettuce Liquid Pearls. After paper piecing and coloring in the house, I adhered it to the top of the hill and added a picket fence and some clouds using the Picket Fence Die and the Clouds Duo die :) I love how it turned out and love that it can be hung on the door or hung inside the house somewhere.



There are so many possibilities for this wonderful set - from creating welcome to the neighborhood cards, to moving cards, from home sweet home cards, to thank you cards for hostesses! This stamp set is simply more than adorable and better than anything - purchasing it also helps to support an amazing organization!


And speaking of helping the organization: Habitat for Humanity, Taylor has also created a coloring book for both kids and kids at heart, where a portion from the sales of this book will help to support this wonderful organization! This coloring book is filled with wonderful TE images and Taylor has enlisted the help from the Tiny Chef Design Team to showcase this super sweet product!



Here is a picture of my 6 year old Tiny Chef holding his very own TE coloring book and coloring his very own TE images:

And here is a picture of him coloring and his final work of art - he loves coloring and loved coloring this sweet page in :) ( I love that he wanted to put "sunshine" all over the card :)
I love that this stamp set and this sweet TE coloring book all help this wonderful organization! And I can't wait to see all the gorgeous creations that everyone has created using the stamp sets and dies today - so hop on over with me and check out these amazing ladies!!!
Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Please stop by tomorrow to see Day 2 of sneak peeks!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)
  

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Verve Stamps: Sometimes the Smallest Things....

Hi Everyone,

Have you ever had a kind of day where you woke up and were already behind? Yep, it was that kind of day that I woke up to yesterday - the whole day was a blur of running late to everything - I can't even tell you how nice ti was to go home, kick off my snow boots (sooo looking forward to spring!) and steal a few minutes in my craft corner :) 

And then I saw this gorgeous card that the fabu Ms. Amber Hight created for the Verve Diva Dare and I instantly said: "aaawwwwwww - how cute is that??!" and I wanted to try to make a Hight creation too!!! But, as I sat down to CASE Amber's gorgeous card, I just couldn't get mine to be "Amber-pretty" - so after wrestling with different layouts (phew! am I tired!) I settled on something simple. 

I LOVE how Amber created this card using the super cute combo of the the To The Moon stamp set along with the Smallest Things Plain Jane stamp set from Verve Stamps. I adored her little trio of animals and so I started off with a similar trio and created a little baby girl card with some sweet pinks and greens from the MME alphabet soup collection:


Card Ingredients:
Paper: Alphabet Soup MME and PTI cardstock
Stamps: To the Moon stamp set, Smallest Things Plain Jane from Verve Stamps
Ink: RoseRed ink and Tuxedo Black ink from Memento 
Accessories: Heart punch from MS, ribbon from stash, liquid pearls, spellbinders nesties, corner chomper, twine, safety pin and dimensionals. 

I stamped the sentiment onto the Classy Label die from Verve stamps and then surrounded it with this super cute trio of fluffy adorableness :) I popped them up with some dimensionals and attached them to the nesties and then swirled a ribbon about and bowed it up above the trio (that sentence has so many grammatical errors!) I was feeling like it needed a little something and so added a little heart that I tired about the little Ellie's hand :)

I have to say that it was so much fun to make this card and I totally dedicate this card to Ms. Awesome Amber! Check out all the happenings going on over at the Verve Blog where this month the Diva Dare theme is Baby Love - and you have a chance to win some yummy Verve goodness!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in today!
Big hugs and hope you have a most excellent Thursday :)
Sankari :)

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

JustRite Stamps Blog Hop - Birthday Celebrations


HI Everyone,
Tonight, we are showing samples from a super sweet birthday stamp set from JustRite Stamps called: Birthday Celebrations. This stamp set fits the 3-1/4" stampers and has 4 extra wide borders and comes with four 2" centers ( these extra wide borders are designed to be interchangeable with all of the 2" centers!). I loved the border with the flower-y looking petals, so I stamped that twice on the pink and yellow dp from DeLovely and cut them out and layered them ontop of each other. For the center sentiment I stamped "Let's Celebrate" and cut it out with my nesties and popped it up onto the center. I layered the little flower ontop the blue DP and yellow scallops that I cut out with my nesties. I love the sweet little swirls alongside the sentiment and dotted it up with some liquid pearls. 

I added some little butterflies along one side of the card and blinged up their centers and added a little scallop to the bottom edge.  It was so much fun to create this card and make it bright and happy :) What is a celebration without some bright happiness :) 


Card Ingredients:
Papers; DeLovely and PTI
Inks: Rosebud from Memento and Tuxedo Black from Memento Inks
Accessories: scalloped and circle nesties, EK success scalloped punch, liquid pearls, butterfly punch from MS, ribbon from stash, bling and dimensionals. 

It was so much fun to create this card and add all the little layers. I can't wait to see all the gorgeous creations from the JustRite DT - hop on over with me and check out all the gorgeous creations with this fun stamp set:


Thanks so much for stopping y m  blog today!
Hope that you are having a fabulous day!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

JustRite Stamps: BirdHouses stamp set

Hi Everyone,

This evening JustRite stamps is showing samples from one of their new ribbed stamps: 3 1/4" Birdhouses (Interlocking). This stamp set features three sweet images of birdhouses and lovely circular sentiments. My favorite was this image of the stamp set that I colored with copics and adorned with some  twine at the top and a dot of liquid pearls in the centers of the flowers. I chose one of my favorite sentiment: "A bird does not sing because it has an answer, It sings because it has a song." I love that sweet sentiment.

I edged the circles with some liquid pearls and then matted it onto a scalloped nestie and popped it up onto one the DP. I finished it off with a little bling on the bottom corner:



Card Ingredients:
Papers: Crate Paper Restoration and PTI
Stamps: 3  1/4" Birdhouses from JustRite stamps
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black ink and copics
Accessories: liquid pearls, dimensionals, ribbon from stash, EK success scallop punch, nesties

I had so much fun coloring in the birdhouse image (coloring is such therapy!) and putting this card together!! Check out all the wonderful creations with this lovely stamp set from some of the amazing DT from JustRite stamps:


***** Also a huge head's up!

JustRite stamps is having a HUGE RETIREMENT SALE of selected stamps to make room for their 2011 collection !! There are some amazing stamps that are on sale - some of my favorite JustRite Stamps which are in limited supply - and when they are gone - they are gone forever! So go grab them while they are still available!!!You can check out all the retired stamps set for sale here:  http://www.justritestampers.com/category.aspx?categoryID=157

Thanks so much for stopping in today!and I hope you will stop by tomorrow for the preview of JustRite's new Birthday Celebrations stamp set!

Big hugs,
Sankari :)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Love Birds in a Wreath of Love

HI Everyone, 

I had a chance this morning to play - just for fun - in my craft area :) I love when that happens and I have to say that it was such a great form of therapy!

 I created this card using one of the sweetest little Petite Stamps called: Wreath of Love from Taylored Expressions that was released in January. I adore these two little love birds in the nest and the sentiment : "You're Welcome in my Nest Anytime" totally cracks me up! ha!  I paired the sentiments and image with the large frame from the New Beginnings stamp set. I used all the accessories and papers from the January Key Ingredients kit (you can see more projects with this kit on the KI blog). The colors in this kit are so happy and bright and makes me yearn for spring! :)

It was fun to add some sparkle to the hearts and pop the birds in the nest on top of the wreath. I added a little trio of buttons to the bottom and a line of the ribbon on the edges of the image panel. 

 Card ingredients:
Paper: All papers are from the Key Ingredients kit from January from Taylored Expressions
Stamps: Wreath of Love and New Beginnings from Taylored Expressions
Ink: RoseRed and Bamboo Leaves and Tuxedo black from Memento
Accessories: heart punch from MS,EK success punch, liquid pearls, dimensionals, stickles and copics


I popped up the center of the frame and finished it off with some sponging and liquid pearls. It was so much fun to make this card - and I love getting some stamping in the early hours of the morning! what a great way to start the day :) Well, I am off to an exciting day filled with laundry, dishes and vacuuming ( I know I know, its so exciting around here)!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hope that you have a wonderful rest of your weekend and a great start to your week tomorrow!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)