Sunday, April 28, 2013

You're Out of Sight!

Hi Everyone,

How has the start to your week been? Things here are starting to heat up as spring starts to flower all around us and the sunshine streams in earlier through the windows. I was happy to be able to sit down and get my craft on and crack open a stamp set that I hadn't inked yet - the truly spectacular Spectacular stamp set with the Spectacles dies from Taylored Expressions.

I love the Spectacles dies - they make it so easy to create these perfectly crisp glasses dies and I love how you can die cut the glasses from patterned paper too - so much variety and possibilities!! I layered the glasses over some vellum paper and then added some glaze over the "lenses" for that spectacle look :)
Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Spectacular stamp set from Taylored Expressions
Inks: Memento Bahama Blue
Paper: My Mind's Eye
Accessories: Spectacles dies from TE,  Banner Stacklets, corner chomper, satin ribbon, EK success scalloped punch, glaze, dimensionals, square block bling, Best Glue Ever.

I kept the layout kind of simple and layered the glasses over the Banner Stacklets dies that I die cut over some patterned paper. I had some pearled tiles that have an adhesive back that I have had for a couple of years (always happy when I get to use supplies that I have had for years! :) 


It was so much fun to make this card - love all the fun sentiments in this set and I really loved getting to use the new  - it makes it so much fun to embellish or accessorize a card!

Hope that spring is springing wherever you are - or if it isn't yet - hope that the sunshine is warm and that your are in a happy and cozy place :)

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


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Taylored Expressions April Studio Challenge





Hi Everyone, 


I's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge.  Every month the Taylored Expressions team comes together to share what makes our stamping studios hum.  We have a monthly challenge of creating a project by answering a crafty question which allows us to share our favorite stamp sets, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more. So without further ado - here is the question for April:



The theme for April is:
Mix and Match!  TE stamp sets are designed with plenty of images and sentiments so they are "self-contained" for lots of creativity, but sometimes it's fun to mix and match several different sets for even more possibilities.
Your challenge is to create a project using three or more TE stamp sets.  


I love this challenge! It is so much fun to mix all the stamp sets together and create a card by using some elements from one stamp set, sentiments from another and other images from another! So for my project today, I created a little happy summery scene from a few different stamp sets:


I thought I would share a little bit about why I picked the stamp sets that I did for this card:

1. The trees are from the  Falling for You stamp set which is a set available to members of the Key Ingredient Kit and Deluxe Kit Clubs (you can click here for more info about these subscriptions) I stamped the trunk of the trees on a white piece of paper and then attached the trunk over the tree that was created by paper piecing it with different shades of green. I love this tree - it is so fun for fall, for spring - pretty much any season :)

2. The hot air balloon is from the Sky's the Limit stamp set (comes with coordinating dies!!) There is nothing more summery to me than lying down on a picnic blanket and watching a hot air ballon up in the sky :) This stamp set has lots of cute versions of hot air gallons and dies to cut them out too!!

3. The sentiment is from the Vintage Dreamer  stamp set - I used this sentiment because then this card could be for anyone who is celebrating anything :) ANd I love the fonts in this stamp set - soooo lovely!!

4. I used dies for the clouds and sun from the Sunny Days stamp set that comes with coordinating dies - which I love!!! Makes it really easy to create a sunny and happy sun! I die cut it using some gold paper and added some liquid pearls and a bling bling in the middle ;)

5. The little green hill mounds is from the Love Grows Here stamp set - The large hill I created from a circle punch that is cut in half and the smaller mound from this stamp set I felt added a little bit more fun and whimsy. I dotted the hills with some liquid pearls - kind felt like some flowers on the hill and added some grass with my punch to create a perfect place for a summery picnic 

There are so many stamp sets from Taylored Expressions that are designed to go with each other and coordinate perfectly - but sometimes its fun to mix and match different sets together :) 

One tip on how to mix and match stamp sets: I like to take different elements that make up a scene from different stamp sets and see how they go together (a tree from this set, a sun from another and so on) and I love when things come together so perfectly even though they might not have been specifically designed like that :)



Card Ingredients:
Stamp set: (trees) Falling for You, (hot air ballon) Sky's the Limit, (sentiment) Vintage Dreamer, (little green hill mound) is from the Love Grows Here
Inks: Memento Rose Ink, Memento Rich Cocoa (and copics)
Paper: Vintage Bliss from Simple Stories
Accessories: The sun and clouds are dies from Sunny Days stamp set that comes with coordinating dies, corner chomper, dimensionals, Flower Box Sprigs and Dies, Liquid Pearls, bling, Best Glue Ever

I can't wait to check out what lovely creations my fellow design teammates have created by mixing up the different stamp sets from TE - please hop with me and check them out!


Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Hope your week is off to a great start!
Ciao or now,
Sankari :)

Friday, April 19, 2013

Congratulations on the Journey!

Hi Everyone!

I think Spring is right around the corner... not really sure as there is so much rain, flooding and possibly snow even! Ay Caramba! Even though I can't wait for spring.... I really can't wait for summer :D and so for my card today, I used the summer scene of the lighthouse using the From My Window stamp set. This stamp set has so many awesome scenes that can be used on its own - or paired up with the window dies to create a scene of what you see from your window :) 





Card Ingredients:
Stamps: From My Window stamp set from Taylored Expressions
Inks: copics, Memento Bahama Blue and Tuxedo Black
Paper: Oh Snap! Simple Stories from Taylored Expressions
Accessories: corner chomper, Mint Cooler collection turquoise button, Banner Stacklets 2, twine,  Arched Window die, linen ribbon and dimensionals.

Okay - so I DON"T see a lighthouse from my window right now - what I actually see are flooded cornfields - BUT, I do hope to see one this summer and made this card with the sentiment: "Congratulations on the Journey" for one of my friends who will be graduating in June. 

I stamped the summer scene and colored it with copics and then popped the Arched Window die over the scene. I thought the arch of the window matched well with the arch of the Banner Stacklets 2 - so I paired them together. I tied some twine behind the image and then added a little ribbon flag with a twine bow on a button (from the Mint Cooler collection) to one side of the card.

Have you ever felt giddy with excitement when you imagine all the different things you can do with a stamp set?! I totally do with this stamp set - there are so SO so many cute scenes that you can use and combine in so many ways to create some super cute cards - so many possibilities that I am almost dizzy! LOL!!

Hope that your friday is a relaxing one and that we all get some crafty time this weekend to create something crafty!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Ciao for now!
Sankari :)   





Monday, April 15, 2013

Iron Craft Challenge # 7 - You're Tea-riffic!


Hi Everyone!

A while ago, I got an awesome email from Chaitali who asked if I would like to participate in a weekly Monday challenge that she had created called Iron Craft - which is based on the same idea as the Food Network show: Iron Chef - where a newbie chef cooks against a celebrity chef with the same ingredients. Chaitali is hardly a newbie! She is an amazing crafter and blogger and I love her work! And I am totally not a celebrity - that is too kind sweet Chaitali!


For our challenge this week, we both agreed on the same stamp set and the same sketch for our creation. The stamp set that we chose was the Tea-riffic stamp set from Taylored Expressions and the skech was SC425 from Splitcoaststampers: Here is a picture of the stamp set and the sketch:




I love this Tea-rrific sweet petite stamp set and love the fact that it comes WITH coordinating dies! Awesome! It makes it really easy to cut out those cup handles! And I have always been a tea drinker at heart - its more a comfort drink. One of my favorite memories is drinking tea with my mother on a rainy afternoon - both of our chairs by the window watching the heavy dark clouds pour buckets of rain over the houses and the trees in our neighborhood. I moved onto coffee in college, but a there is nothing more soothing than curling up on a rainy afternoon with a  good book, a blanket and a hot cup of tea!

I had some extra tea tins from making some presents for my family and friends this Christmas and so I thought I would create a little gift set with this stamp set and sketch for the challenge today:


 

 I love making things for my friends - little keepsakes that I hope that will make them smile when they see it in their house :) Here is closer look at the tea tin - I added the stacked tea cups onto a yellow DP cut using the Labels Stacklets 2 dies:


On each side of the tea tin, I die cut the My Mind's Eye DP with the Gift Card Frame Die - which makes it much easier to decorate each side of the tin. I tied a natural linen ribbon around the tin and then tied a little bit of twine around the ribbon. The top of the tin is also cut out using the Gift Card Frame Die and then I cut it into a square shape and corner rounded the edges. I added the sentiment "You're Tea-riffic" with a line of pearls and then added a little Prima rose with leaves cut from the Twiggy Branch die:

I used the same rose and Twiggy Branch die to decorate the card and for the steam from the tea cup, I cut out some vellum and adhered it to the back of the tea cup before popping it up on the mat:



Here is another view of the card - I added some liquid pearls around the circle that the tea cups sit on :



Project Ingredients:
Stamps: Tea-riffic stamp set with coordinating die from Tayored Expressions
Papers: My Mind's Eye
Inks: Nautical Blue and Tuxedo Black 
AccessoriesGift Card Frame DieTwiggy Branch die,  Labels Stacklets 2, circle and pearled scalloped nesties, corner chopper, dimensionals, pearls, copics, twine, linen ribbon, swiss dots folder Cuttlebug, tea tin, liquid pearls, prima roses and vellum.

Thank you so much Chaitali for inviting me to the Iron Craft challenge - I had so much fun creating this project! Please hop over with me and check out Chaitali's project with the same set and sketch!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Ciao for now!
Sankari :)

Friday, April 12, 2013

Authentique/Taylored Expressions Project Inspiration Blog Hop - Day 2


Hi Everyone!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Authentique-Taylored Expressions Blog Hop! Woohoo! If you are coming here from Kay Fatula's wonderful blog then you are in the right place, or you can start at the beginning of today's hop at Taylor's blog! I am so excited that the Baker's Dozen DT is teaming up with the Authentique DT to showcase the wonderful papers from Aunthentique and its perfect fit with all of the awesome TE stamps and dies!

Some of you might know that I love to check out garage sales on the weekend - there is something so exciting about seeing possibilities in pieces and then transforming them into something else. Recently, I found this cork board piece for a $1 at a garage sale - HOW could I pass that deal up?! I love all the fun designs and colors from Authentique - so much fun - I love that they have both 12x12 paper sizes for projects like this one as well as 6x6 paper pads for smaller projects like cards. For this project I thought it would be fun to use the large 12x12 gorgeous papers with some Mod Podge to cover up this cork board:

I saw so much possibility of altering this with all the lovely papers of the Strong Collection from Aunthentique and decided to make it for a very special friend of mine to keep near her desk so she can stay organized with her to-do list :) Here is what my finished project looks like:


I love this sentiment from Henry David Thoreau from the New Beginnings stamp set: "Go Confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the Life you've imagined." It always breathes new life into me when I read this sentiment - there are so many things that I want to do in this precious life and reading this quote always makes me feel like there is no place for self-doubt or fear - sometimes you've just got to move forward (however small the step) towards your dreams, your big goals and your passion. I cut out this lovely sentiment and created a mat using the Labels Stacklets 3 and then added some pearls to the side of the sentiment:

I love the hints of blue in this collection (from navy to this beautiful turquoise color) and so I primed the entire piece and then painted it bluish turquoise with some craft acrylic paint. I measured out the arc area and then cut that out with some Choice Buttercream cardstock. On to this I sponged some clouds using the Cloud Border Die and then using the Birds and Branch Dies (set of 5) I die cut the branches from Authentique's Strong collection and then die cut it again with some different DP from the same collection for the leaves. 

I love these papers in this collection - they are so versatile - which makes it fun to use with all of Taylor's dies to create this project! The sun and clouds were also die cut from the same collection using the Sunny Days with Coordinating Dies and the butterfly is a die cut using the Flutter-bys die set. I added sweet little bird on the branch from the Tweet Hearts stamp set - here is a closer picture of the image part of cork board:

Project Ingredients:
Stamps: New Beginnings stamp set for the sentiment and bird on the branch is from the  Tweet Hearts stamp set from Taylored Expressions
Papers: Strong Collection from Authentique
Accessories: Corkboard, liquid pearls, Best Glue Ever, Mod Podge, bling, pearls, and dimensionals

The original cork board had a lots of holes in it - so I decided to take a larger section form the 12x12 papers in this collection and then adhered it to the cork board - great fun way to cover up some broken cork :)  Just for fun, I wrote a note to remind me to " Buy some stamps" :) HAHAHA - never need a reminder for that though!

I had lots of fun creating this project and the only hard part was deciding which of these beautiful papers and stamps to choose from :) Speaking of fun, Taylored Expressions is offering a 10% coupon code (TENOFFDIES) for dies during the hop that is good for ALL of the dies in the TE store that is good from now through April 19!

AND there is also an
Authentique/Taylored Expressions prize pack GIVEAWAY for one lucky commentator from ALL the blogs on the hop yesterday and today! Here is the blog roll from yesterday and today to check out and leave comments - please hop along with me and check out these amazing designers and their gorgeous creations!

Day 1- April 11th

Day 1- April 12th


Thank you so much for stopping by today!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)

Friday, April 5, 2013

Taylored Expressions April Spotlights: Shady Tree Mother's Day Cardset

Hi Everyone!

There were a ton of new stamps released just yesterday from Taylored Expressions plus a ton of new awesome dies - you have to check out the Fresh Out of the Oven section of the Taylored Expressions store for all the newly added items to the store!

For today's Spotlight hop, I decided to create a set of Mother's Day cards to give to our parents as well as the children's god-mothers using the awesome new Shady Tree die and the sentiment: "Happy Mother's Day" from the A Glimpse Inside stamp set. I love making monochromatic cards and decided to go cream and white with a little pop of pink:
Card Ingredients:
Stamps: A Glimpse Inside from Taylored Expressions
Paper: Choice Buttercream card stock and Choice Snow white card stock
Inks: Rose Red from Memento
Accessories: Shady Tree die from TE, MS grass punch, bling, Flower Box Sprigs & Flowers dies, pink grosgrain ribbon from stash, corner chomper and dimensionals

I cut out the Shady Tree Die in Choice Buttercream card stock 4 times and then adhered it to the same card base and then cut out the flowers out from the Flower Box Sprigs & Flowers dies in Choice Snow white card stock and adhered a few on the tree with some bling in the center. On the bottom, I cut out some grass and then on top of it added the sentiment with the edges rounded, a bit of ribbon and some dimensionals:

It was really hard to take a picture of this project, I tried three days in a row, but each day was cloudy in the morning and not very good at showing any contrast - but I finally got a day that was kinda of sunny and was able to get a picture - still hard to see when its  cream on cream :) I love how it turned out - it has such a soft feel and although I love love love me some layers and bright colors, it was really nice to work with creams and whites and pinks :)))


I feel lucky to be blessed with a wonderful mother and mother-in-law, as well as wonderful god-mothers to our children, wonderful mother inspirations in all my friends. I am looking forward to filling these cards with my thanks to these amazing mothers for always giving the hearts! 

I can't wait to see all the spotlight creations from the Baker's Dozen! Please hop along with me and check them out!!

Broni Holcombe

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful weekend!
Ciao for now!
Sankari :)

Verve Inspiration Hop: April - Altered Jewelry Box

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to our Verve Diva Inspirations Hop! It's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Verve Inspirations Team to breathe new life into some much-loved stamps and dies. And there's a PRIZE up for grabs! So be sure to leave a little shout out in the comment section of each blog as you hop about to be entered in a drawing for a $30 gift certificate to Verve Stamps! Check out all the details and prize info over at the Verve Blog.

This month we're also saying a fond farewell to Jen del Muro, as this is her last hop as a Verve Diva. She's been a part of the Verve team almost from the very beginning and although we're sad to see her go, we're so excited to see the things she has up her sleeve for the stamping world!

I know that usually we use previously released stamps, but for my project today, I HAD to use a couple of different stamps and dies from the newest Verve release (omgosh!! what an amazing release!!!)  to alter a jewelry box that I found at a garage sale. This one measured quite tall almost 18 to 20 inches tall and the only thing that was little off was that it was a little scruffy on the outside and some of the felt on the inside was a bit broken up (but I just added some new felt :) Here is a picture of the jewelry box before I altered it:


I did a little sanding (not too much) and then painted the jewelry box green by mixing three different shades of green. I started with the lighter color green as a primer and then went to the darker color and while the darker color was still wet, I added the bright green color ontop of the dark color and blended it together so that there could be some streaks of all three colors coming through. I love how it turned out! And the best part was making it for a dear friend of mine for her birthday :)

I created a scalloped border using the flower from the Surely Goodness stamp set that has the sweetest flowers both block and open. I stamped the small open flower in Bamboo Green and then cut it out and then cut them in half and layered them in a scalloped way on the borders of the box:

Project Ingredients:
Stamps: Surely Goodness for the flowers (cut in half into scallop shapes), Remember This for the "Breathe Deeply" and "Shine Brightly" sentiments and Beautiful Plain Jane for the sentiment on the top of the dresser.
Paper: some scraps that I mod podged onto the dresser
Inks: Bamboo Leaves
Accessories: Green Acrylic craft paint (3 different shades of green), Mod Podge, some felt for the inside of the cover, roses and Verve's Banner Bundle Set

Here is a look at the jewelry box when it is opened. I added some new felt to the back of the jewelry box and also to the drawers:


When you open up the box, I added some sentiments to either "wing" of the door from the Remember This  stamp set. This stamp set is seriously amazing - SO many awesome sentiments two of my favorite from this set are the "Breathe Deeply" and "Shine Brightly" sentiments. I love that each time she opens the box, she can see these two sentiments and remember to take a deep breath and shine on :) 


For each of these sentiments , I cut it out with the Verve's Banner Bundle Set and created a little banner and added a little prima rose to the top and a heart to the side :


Here is a closer peek at the scallops made from the Surely Goodness stamp set. Each of the flowers was stamped in green and then cut out and then adhered in a row:


Here is a side view - I tried to let the different colors of the green (3 shades) shine through and adhered the scallops on the edges of the box:


On the top of the jewelry box, I stamped the sentiment "Beautiful {just the way you are}" front the Beautiful Plain Jane  for the sentiment on the top of the jewelry dresser. I cut it out and layered it with some nestabilities and then layered it onto some DP:


Here is another view of the top of the jewelry box opened and a view of the new felt that lines the drawers of the box :


After I was finished painting the jewelry box, I added some Mod Podge over the papers and sentiments on top of the dresser and on the sides of the inside of the jewelry box and then added a sealant to the whole piece.

The best part of making this gift was adding a little necklace in the box and then giving it to my friend for her birthday :) The sentiments that Julee creates are so sweet and so full of heart and all the fonts are so awesome!!! Please hop around with me and check out all the amazing projects created by the wonderful Verve Divas!!

1. Julee7. Sankari
2. Amy8. Sarah
3. Anya9. Sony
4. Jen d.10. Susan
5. Jessica11. Tiffany
6. Karen

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