Verve Sneak Peeks are here!: Happy Days!

Good Morning Everyone,

The Verve sneak peeks have begun and Julee has done it again! This month's stamp release is just fabulous - beautiful designs, sentiments, fonts for every occasion! After surviving another cold and long Iowa winter, it was a huge joy to play with awesome and gorgeous images that made me dream of sunny weather! I created this card using the Happy Days stamp set and used the funtastic sketch from the Verve Beach Party Release Sketch challenge (VSAPRBP3). I am a huge fan of swirls and LOVE this swirly design that Julee has designed that you can stamp inside of among other things. I stamped the swirly shape in shades of red, orange and pink and then the sentiment: "You're so Awesome" in the same color shades.

I had to add some liquid pearls and finished it off by adhering the stamped flower onto the ribbon with glue dots. You are gonna love every single stamp in this set and in all the sets this release! I really don't know how Julee creates these amazing designs each month!

The release party is this Friday over here! But in the meantime check out the Verve Blog everyday for new samples of sneak peeks and play along with all of the Verve Beach Party challenges and you could win the whole release!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

New Crafter's Workshop at Taylored Expressions

Good Morning Everyone,

Taylored Expressions is hosting a blog hop today to showcase the new Crafter's Workshop Stencils now available at the Taylored Expressions store. Taylor has over 25 different stencils in the store (check them all out here) and there is such a different variety in how you can use these stencils - whether you chalk them up, emboss it, use it with the Copic Airbrushing system, use Maya Mist, sponge it, doodle with it, paper pierce them - there are so many different ways to use them!

I was so excited to play with the Sunburst Stencil (6x6). It is just such a cool stencil if you want it for a background. I decided to color it up on Taylor's Choice Buttercream paper with different copics and gel pens and then cut it out with different sized circle shapes using punches and nesties. I used Taylor's awesome fun sketch from Taylor's Friday Sketch #109 for this card and paired it with the sentiment "Thank You" from the CreativiTEA stamp set (i am seriously loving' the font on this sentiment :)

I loved coloring in the stencils and then cutting out all the different sizes out - its such a fun and easy way to give your cards a fun new look :)

Today the Baker's Dozen is previewing the newly released stencils from CHA that are available in the Taylored Expressions store. Check out all the different ways to use these awesome stencils:

Alex Maldonado - used the Star Shower stencil

Carolina Buchting - used the Mums Stencil

Charmaine Ikach- used the Kasbah stencil

Donna Baker

Jackie Pedro - used the Star Shower stencil

Jeanie Witmer - used the Kasbah stencil

Jodi Collins - used the Cherry Blossoms stencil

Karen Giron- used the Tree of Life stencil

Karen Motz - used the Flurries stencil

Melissa Sauls- - used the Gathered Flowers stencil

Jami Sibley - used the Daisy Doodle stencil

and of course Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hope you are having a fabulous day!!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

JustRite Stampers Blog Hop!

Good Morning Everyone,

Have you peeked at all of the new yummy JustRite goodness that is being released today? JustRite stamps this morning is releasing its new stamps and this morning we are doing a little blog hop to celebrate by peeking these new and gorgeous stamps!

One of my favorite new stamp sets is called "By the Sea" and has just lovely images and sentiments that you can interchange with each other. These oval stamps can either create an oval image in your card/creation - or you can cut out the stamped image and then place it in your card in any way you'd like.

For my card today, I used the super sweet sketch from the lovely ladies over at 2 Sketches 4 You (flipped over Laura's Sketch #50). I love that little shape on the side and decided to stamp this super sweet image of these lovely seashells and create a CAS card that would have the a clean crisp lines of a walk on the beach at sunrise (oh, how I LONG for that!).

The seashells were stamped, colored and cutout and then popped up on the the nestie shape and then I wanted to create a little feeling of the beach with some ripped golden and blue paper:

I love this sentiment: "If you want to know how much I love you , count the waves."

I loved creating this card and love all the variety of the new stamps frim JustRute! Hop along with us and check out the creations of these amazing ladies from JustRite:

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Debbie Olson
Becca Feeken
Michele Kovack
Kazan Clark
Heidi Blankenship
Michelle Wooderson
Kellie Fortin
Sharon Harnist
Sankari Wegman (that's me :))
Kathy Jones
Angela Barkhouse

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

PS - Did you know that JustRite also has a new policy for easy Pre-Ordering

· If any of your items are not in stock we will create a backorder. We will only bill you for items as they ship.

· We will bill you your entire shipping charge on your first order and we will pay all the additional shipping charges on any backorders.

· If you would like your order held until it can ship complete, Please write “Ship Complete” in order Special Instructions.

· PayPal orders require immediate billing (This is a Pay Pal Business Policy, not a JustRite Policy).

Gina K Previews and Blog Hop!

Hi Everyone!

If you stopped by Gina's blog yesterday, you might have seen a sweeeeet peek of her adorable sample using the Oh Boy stamps set designed by Tami Mayberry. This set is totally adorable, filled with all sorts of fun images and sentiments for boys of all ages (and girls too - helicopters can be pink too as my daughter has drawn for us :). Here is a sample that I made using this sweet stamp set with the rocket stamp and some "Boyfriend" paper from Cosmo Cricket :)

Also tonight, we are showing some samples from the new stamp set that is this month's card kit from Gina K. called Quite the Catch. This stamps set is beyond cute and adorable! the images are so squeezable (even the crab :) and the sentiments are both fun and whimsy :) Here is a the card that I made using Red Hot Cardstock as my base (wow! love the sturdiness of this cardstock, esp. scoring and folding it :) Isn't this little guy adorable :)

This is such a great stamp set - and by getting this stamp set - you also get the card kit for this month, which will include:

• the Quite the Catch stamp set
• Cardstock: Layering White, Red Hot, Turquoise Sea and Green Apple
• Quarter Sheet Patterned paper sheet
• 10 silver brads
• A Print out with supplies and measurements

I absolutely loved working with these darling stamp sets and can't wait to ink up all the images! They are so sweet! Tonight, we are having a blog hop which is featuring creations from among these stamp sets and I know that these ladies are going to blow you away with their gorgeous creations!!!

Theresa Momber (Gone Fishing Illustrator)

Jessica Fick (Quite the Catch Card Kit Designer)

Gina Krupsky

Cathy Tidwell

Donna Baker

Nina Brackett

Emily Giovanni

Erika Martin

Kurtis Amundson

Lee Murphy

Melanie Muenchinger

Bev Gerard

Colleen Schaan

Sankari Wegman (that's me!)

Suzanne Dean

Valerie Stangle

Gerri Utterback (Center Stage Spotlight Designer)

The Release Party is this Thursday, April 22 on StampTV. There will be challenges, contest questions, chatter, as well as tons of samples from the Design Team members from 7-10 (central time) all leading to the new products being available in GinaK's online store at 10pm. We'd love to have you join us for our monthly party!

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

CSAYL#47 - Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today is friday and every friday over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog, we have a different challenge ready to keep your holiday mojo going on all year long. Today's challenge is to create cards that have die cuts on them (either from a kit or you can create your own die cuts with your cutting machine).

I cut out circle in the center of my card with my nesties, so that my ornament could hang out in the center. I cut out a scallop shape with the center cut out to fit over the cut out circle and then adorned it with holly that I stamped, copified and cut out. I used the beautiful stamp set: Holly Jolly by Verve Stamps.

I loved making this card, it was quick and simple. Usually when it gets closer to the holidays, I always start to panic - wondering how I am going to send cards to everyone and so its been really nice to be able to get some holly jolly mojo going :)

If you have a chance to play along, we would love to see your "to die for creations" - you can check out all the deets and all of the DT's creations over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope your friday is off to a great start!!!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions April Key Ingredients are Here!

Good Morning Everyone!

Its been a busy week over here - my parents are visiting and every day seems like it is jammed packed with oodles of family outings, meal and fun :) And speaking of fun - today, half of the Baker's Dozen and myself are showing some samples using the brand new April Key Ingredients which features the yummiest paper from Cosmo Cricket: Material Girl (with a name like that, I had to get out my 80's music mix to make these cards :) If you aren't familliar with Taylor's Key Ingredients' you can read more about it here. The reason that I can't get enough of them is because everything is already coordinated for you (ribbons, embellishments, cardstock, etc.) and so you don't even have to think about finding and matching all of the coordinating accessories! This month Taylor has included coordinating buttons, super cute (I mean SUPER cute chipboard, coordinating cardstock, and an amazing variety of ribbon to get your mojo going!)

In this month's Key Ingredients challenge - we wanted to do something other than A2 cards - any other shape and to also use any kind of sewing in our cards! Well, as soon as I saw these papers and the sewing challenge, I decided to make an early Mother's Day gift for my dear MIL who is an amazing amazing amazing seamstress (Its the sweetest thing to see the kidlets wearing Grandmas' creations :) So I decided to use this circular tin can to hold some cards that she can give away to people.

Here is the gift card holder: the circular tin can with the sentiment: "You warm my heart" from the Year of Sweet Sentiments stamp set from Taylored Expressions.

Here is a picture of the tin opened (I created three circle cards (they are 4" circle cards and so will fit into an A2 size envelope).

One of my FAVORITE ingredients in this month's kit is the sewing/themed chipboard! From needles, to thread, to dress holding mannequins - the chipboard in this set is BEYOND cute! I decided to keep the layout the same using the different Designer Papers for each of the cards. Here is a picture of all the cards. I used a safetey pin chipboard on the tin holder, a dress holder mannequin chipboard piece, a spool of thread/needle chipboard piece and a hanger chipboard piece.

Here are some pictures of each card. This first card has a dress holder mannequinwith the yummiest ribbon - isn't that meausrement tape for ribbon SO cute?! Love it! I added the sentiment: "Thank You" from the CreativiTEA stamp set from Taylored Expressions.

Here us a picture of the second card: I colored this little hanger and used some thread to "hang" the sentiment Missing You (from the Let's Do Coffee stamp set from Taylored Expressions.) off of the hanger.

Here is the last card using a the chipboard spool of thread that comes with the Key Ingredients, around which I wound some embroidery thread and then I sewed a little bit and attached the sentiment: "You're Sew Sweet" from the Crafty Cuppie stamp set from Taylored Expressions.

I loved these papers and I love all variety of the ingredients in this kit that really make it fun and easy to create cards. I can't wait to give this to my MIL and I can't wait to see all of the beautiful and amazing creations that my fellow Baker's Dozen Design Team Members have sewn up! Hop along with me!!

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Jackie Pedro

Jeanie Witmer
Karen Motz

and of course Taylor VanBruggen

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hope your day is sew sweet! (sorry, couldn't help it :)))

Hugs,

Sankari :)

Cinema Saturday #74 - UP!!

Every Saturday, over at the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge blog, we feature a different movie from which we create a card, layout etc. inspired by some element in the movie. This week we are featuring the 2 time Oscar winning and "UPlifting" 2009 Pixar movie called UP. This movie also won 38 other awards (check out all of the wins and nominations here)!!! The beauty of this movie is that its not just for children, but really in a way - its for everyone. Children love this movie and the adults really embrace the heartfelt themes of life and love that are beautifully brought out in this movie! If you haven't seen it yet - you must - the animation, humor and sweetness will touch your hearts! This week's challenge requirement is to use balloons in a way that was inspired by the movie.

When I was making the challenge banner for this movie - my son was sitting next to me and was so excited as to what card I was going to make - so I made this card for him - in the spirit of adventure. I used Taylor's Friday Sketch challenge #108 to make this card, which I absolutely had so much fun creating! One of my favorite parts of the movie is when the house takes off - WOW! How beautifully they animated that part and the music to that part is just perfect! It gives me a thrill every time I watch it! My other favorite part is when Mr. Fredrickson puts the special pin on Russell at the end - what a sweet moment (and can I just say, that Russell is one of the CUTEST little boys! I LOVE his spirit of adventure and his sweetness! and his slight lisp :)))
I used 5 different stamps from Taylored Expressions to create this card:

• The house is from the Frightful Night stamp set
• The clouds are from the Branching Out Coordinates stamp set
• The birds are from the Wings of Joy stamp set
• The balloons are from the Beary Special Accessories stamp set
• The sentiment is from the Places You'll Go stamp set

It was so much fun combining all of these stamp sets to create this card:

Here is a close up of the sentiment. I love this sentiment by Dr. Seus! It has so much spiriti of adventure in it!

And I loved making this card with all the ballooons carrying the house, just like he wanted :) I attached some embroidery floss to the balloons and attached them to the house.Here is a close up of the balloons and string:
I wanted to give some whimsy to the card (because a house being carried off by balloons wasn't whimsy enough :) lol!!) So I added some birdies to the mix, here is a close up of a birdie flying by :)

I LOVE how this card came out - I added a little glaze and some stickles to the card and called it a late late night...errr.. day :) Hop on over to the Taylored Expressions blog to see more details of this beautiful sketch and also hop on over to the Cinema Saturday Blog - we have three wonderful guest designers joining us this week, and you can see their gorgeous and inspiring samples and play along with us!!!

I promise it will be fun to play along - putting balloons on anything makes it fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!
Hope you have a beautiful weekend!!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)

CSAYL#46 - O, Christmas Tree....

Happy Friday Everyone,

Are you doing a TGIF dance? Cause I definitely am!!! Today over at the Christmas Stamping All Year Long blog, we had the challenge to create a holiday card that has violet, ivory, white and gold in it! Just the combo of purple and gold together seems so royal and elegant! I realize that I don't use purple that often - but it felt so good to use it yesterday - its so deep and rich and lovely :)

I knew that I wanted to use the "O, Christmas Tree" stamp set from Verve stamps - which has so many lovely sentiments and images - I especially love this elegant wreath that Julee designed. I embossed it in gold and then cut it out with my nesties. I know I didn't exactly follow the color combo because I have some lighter purple in their too - but I felt I had to soften the dark purple somehow :) Here is the Merry Christmas card that I made from this color combo for the challenge today using the super sweet sketch by Janette Olson for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch #133:

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Prism cardstock

Stamps: O Christmas Tree from Verve Stamps

Inks: Grape Jelly from Memento

Accessories: EK sucess swirl punch, liquid pearls, spellbinders, gold EP, bling, twine and tag punch from Fiskars, corner rounder and dimensionals

I am so glad to be part of this group of crafters and its been so much fun to create a little holiday magic all year long! Check out the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog for more details of this challenge and to see all the yummy cards made for this challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hope your Friday gets sweeter by the minute!

Big hugs :)

Sankari :)

RELEASE DAY -at Taylored Expressions!!!!!!!

Good Morning Everyone,

Today is Release Day over at Taylored Expressions and it is HUGE!!! Today Taylor is releasing 4 full stamp sets, 1 mini set, 3 A La Carte Cuppie stamps and 3 new Card Kits!!! Getting inky just got more fun!! Today I am So excited to peek a new set from the Apple Doodle Ink Collection from Taylored Expressions featuring the super sweet cutie: Tena :) who is visiting a coffee shop in this stamp set called: Let's Do Coffee!

I wanted to show the versatility of these stamps and how you can add an element and change the sentiment for a different feel of the card. So I pulled out my stamp-a-majig and created this series of adding a stool and Tena with different sentiments and used the awnings from the Window Shopping stamp set:

BUILD A CARD SERIES:

To keep it simple, I kept the layout and colors all the same (the papers are from Cosmo Cricket and Martha Stewart). I love sweet Tena (her name is pronounced Tina, its just spelled TEna for TE or Taylored Expressions ;) isn't she cute!

Card #1 - One Table and Two Stools :)

I started out with some Buttercream Choice cardstock and stamped a table and then with my stamp-a-majig, I spaced out and stamped two stools - after coloring it - I added the sentiment: "Missing You" :

Card #2 - One Table, One Stool and Tena:

I stamped the table and then used a stamp-a-majig to stamp Tena so that her elbow rested on the table and then paired it up with the sentiment: "What's brewin?"

Card #3 - One Table and Two Stools and Tena:

I stamped the table and then used a stamp-a-majig for Tena and to stamp another stool and paired it up with the sentiment: "Let's do Coffee" (I am so excited to give this card to one of my dear friends with whom I used to have regular coffee dates - but recently we have been a bit busy so we haven't had our coffee dates... Love this sentiment!

It was so much fun to create this series :) I love the versatility of this set (there are so many different things that you can do with all the super cute coffee images and sentiments that it makes my head dizzy!) In case you missed all the different things that Taylor is releasing today here are some links to all the new stamp sets in the store today:

Miniature Motifs

CreativiTEA

Make the Grade

Extra Credit

Let's Do Coffee

A La Carte Teacher Cuppie

Paper Girl Card Kit

Apple Jack Card Kit

Early Bird Card Kit

Tea Tin

That is a whole lot of stamping goodness and therapy right there!! Check out more stamping goodness with all the beautiful creations that the Baker's Dozen has created using the Let's Do Coffee Stamp set! I am getting my java on and then hopping along:

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Jami Sibley

Amy Sheffer ** our amazing Guest Designer

and of course Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!

I can't wait to do some shopping!

Stop by Taylored Expressions Store to see all the new items!!!

Big hugs,

Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions Sneak Peeks - Day 2

Good Morning Everyone!

Today I am SOOO excited to show you sneak peeks from what are my favorite sets and favorite Key Ingredients (of course I say that about each one, because really - they are all so yummy!) Today, we are sneaking peeks from the most adorable school stamp sets: Making the Grade and Extra Credit (designed by Nancy McKinney) and there are also adorable A La Carte images of Cuppie doing all kinds of scholary things (designed by Jessie Olson) which are beyond cute!! These sets are simply must haves!!! Teacher Appreciation week is coming up on May 2-8th and I can't wait to give these cards to my kids teachers (who are saints!) and also have them stamp and color them to make cards to give to their teachers :)

For this release, Taylor has coordinated 3 card kits for the stamps that are releasing this month. You might have seen the card kit that coordinates with the CreativiTEA stamp set yesterday that was featured by Jackie, Melissa and Karen. Well, today Jodi, Charmaine, Alex and I are showing you the Card Kit that Taylor has put together for these super sweet stamps called the Apple Jack Card Kit. Can I just tell you HOW much I love love love this card kit and all the papers and ribbon... SOO much! Each card kit comes with a TON of stuff and will be available tomorrow at the Taylored Expressions store:

10 Choice Cardstock A2 card bases

10 A2 envelopes

15 sheets of patterned paper sized for cardmaking at 4" x 6" (3 sheets each of 5 double-sided patterns)

20 sheets of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cardstock (4 sheets each of 5 colors)

1 package of Kaisercraft Pearls

8 panels of Choice Cardstock sized 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" (for images and layering)

5 yards of ribbon (2.5 yards each of 2 different styles)

1 Perfect Package Card Box

That is a TON of ingredients and I couldn't wait to get started! I decorated the perfect package box to give to a special teacher who inspires and I made the cards to give to my children's teachers. Here is the perfect package and coordinated cards that I made from this card kit:

Here is another picture of the Perfect Package that you can decorate in anyway. I couldn't wait to use this super cute Teacher Cuppie making notes on a Report Card (HOW cute is Cuppie with GLASSES!!!! LOL!! I love it!!!) And I love the sentiment too:

and a picture of it opened and closed (holds 10 cards and envelopes (even with dimensionals and layers - it holds a lot!!) You can put other things in the Perfect Package too - like little notebooks, or pencils, or snacks and treats. I put the cards I made as a way to show how much it can hold (this box also contains the envelopes and rest of the card kit:

I created 4 cards using the different stamp sets (Making the Grade and the Extra Credit set) I love all the different fonts in this set. For this card, I stamped the book image three times and then stacked them up on each other and popped up the little graduate owlie on top :) I am planning to write in the name of the teacher who we are giving it to with a little note of thanks:

I LOVE this blackboard (you can make it a white board, or a green board) and add a little message to it to (this Thanks was embossed in white ink to give it a chalk-y feel and uses the sketch from Taylor's Friday Sketch challenge #107:

I heart this sweet globe image! LOVE it and the sentiment - I created the Thanks in a little flag kind of way and embellished with the Kaiser pearls from the Card Kit:

Do you remember watching SchoolHouse Rocks?! Well, this super sweet schoolhouse makes me want to sing :) I love this school house and this card also uses the sketch from Taylor's Friday Sketch challenge #107

These stamps are really just the cutest school/teacher images and I can't wait to give it to all of the special teachers and helpers who have made school such a wonderful and fun experience for my wee ones :) Speaking of not being able to wait! I can't wait to see the A++++++ creations of the design team for these stamp sets!!! Come on over and hop with me!!!

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro

Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Jami Sibley

Nancy McKinney ** our wonderful Illustrator

and of course Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!

Please stop by tomorrow for RELEASE DAY!!!! YAY!

Big hugs,
Sankari :)