Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Taylored Expressions August Studio Challenge




Hi Everyone,
Guess what time it is? It's time for the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge, which 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 or theme so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more. The question for August is:

The Sky's the Limit! There are so many ways to create sky backgrounds for our cards and projects.  Often times, our blog readers are left staring at a beautiful sky and asking "How'd she do that?"
Show us one of your favorite ways to create a pretty sky background and make sure we know how to re-create it!

Well! This is one of my favorite topics because one of my favorite things to do is to create scenes and I love sponging up some sky! There are different ways to create skies - the one that I find the easiest is to sponge the sky using a sponger, some inks and the Cloud Border die. I was going to create a little video, but it would take hours to watch because usually it takes me all evening to figure out what I am doing :D

To start out with, I usually try to figure out what I am using and create a scene with some of the pieces of the card and try to figure out if I like it like that or if I have to move some of the pieces - for this card, I thought I would create a little scene using the 
sets Sky's The Limit and the mountains from the Happy Trails Stamp set:


 
1. After picking out which part of the stamp sets I wanted to use, I stamped them and cut them out and placed them around the card panel
2. I used the Cloud Border die with different inks - in this case - Memento Teal Zeal and Distress Broken China
3. Start of by sponging the ink on a dauber over the Cloud Border die to create the first layer of clouds
 4. Keeping adding Cloud Layers - I like to move the Cloud Border die around to create "white spaces" for the clouds that have different sizes - so for one line the die would be more in the middle of the line above it - its fun to experiment with this die and see what kinds of clouds you can make!
5. Sometimes, I like to use a darker color right on the edge of the die - to give contrast to the lighter color that I started with
6. After finishing the sky scene, then I like the start layering, coloring and adding the rest of the components for the card before I start gluing it down. Here I could have colored the mountains from the Happy Trails stamp set- but I thought that I would paper piece them (because I am that cray!) so I used some DP from the paper pack to create some paper pieced mountains after crumbling the paper a little bit for texture.
7. Not pictured here - but an option is to add a little more cloud using any of the clouds dies from Taylored Expression - I chose to used the new Build A Scene - Swirly Clouds dies which I cut out using vellum and then layered into the sun rays from the Build A Scene - Sunshine dies.

And here is the card after I finished: I used the Circle Number dies to cut out the #29 for my friend's 14 time celebrating her 29th birthday ;) and used the sentiment from the Happy Trails stamp set to create the birthday sentiment that I created a little flag for.

Card Ingredients:
Stamps: Sky's the Limit and Happy Trails from Taylored Expressions
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Teal Zeal and Distress Broken China
Papers: Simple Stories - i heart summer
TE Dies: Build A Scene (Sunshine dies, Rolling Hills dies and Swirly Clouds die), Cloud Border die
Accessories: Foam Tape from TE, Swiss dots embossing folder, Stickles, copics

I can't wait for to see all the different skies that these amazing artists have created - please hop with me and check them out!!!

Thanks so much for looking!
Big hugs,
Sankari :)



Saturday, August 17, 2013

Miss You!! - August Stamp of the Month


Hi Everyone,


I love the Stamp of the Month addition to the Taylored Expressions store - especially this month's stamp set called S:more's Fun! This set is perfect paired with the August Key Ingredients Kit: -  check out the Taylored Expressions Deluxe Subscription Kit here for more details. Today I used the August Stamp set and created a little night scene with the sweet trees in this set - I just love this set paired up with stars in this set with the Build A Scene - Rolling Hills dies :) Can I just say, that I LOVED making this card!!! I started out by embossing the stars in this set with white embossing powder and then sponged over them with some blue inks with the Cloud Border die and then layered the hills with different colors of green papers - so much fun to create this little evening scene!

with different colors of green papers - so much fun to create this little evening scene! Here is a close up of the card - I created some pennants using the DP from the August KI kit along with some cardstock from the kit. The trees were colored in with copics and then glazed and popped up over the hills. I stamped the sentiment and then cut it in a curve and "hung" it over the pennants:

Card Ingredients:
Stamp set: August Stamp of the Month - S'mores Fun from Taylored Expressions
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Danube Blue, Teal Zeal, Bahama Blue, Copics
Papers: Green cardstock, Choice Snow White cardstock, blue cardstock
 TE dies: Cloud Border Die Build A Scene dies - Rolling Hills dies from Taylored Expressions
Accessories: VersaMark, White Embossing powder, liquid pearls, corner chomper, linen ribbon, foam tape and bling

I love stamp sets that have a ton of possiblities!!! Seriously! This stamp set is so cute - it is perfect for all your camping cards, to miss you cards, to summer fun! So many cards to make!!! 

Speaking of which, I cant' wait to make more cards!!
Thanks so much for stopping by today!!
Big hugs,
Sankari :) 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

August Stamp of the Month from Taylored Expressions



Hi Everyone,

I love the Stamp of the Month addition to the Taylored Expressions store where every month there is a new stamp set and you can also get the Key Ingredients Kit that will coordinate with the kit or you can just get the kit - or you can get the Stamp of the Month just by itself! Soooo many different options!!!! Seems like a perfect way to create cards that are "taylor" made to perfection! Check out the Taylored Expressions Deluxe Subscription Kit here for more details. Today for the August Stamp of the Month from TE, I am showing it paired with the August Key Ingredients Kit:

I love this sweet sweet stamp set - I love this sweet image of the camper in this set - adorable. I knew I wanted to use this image but I also wanted to use the image of the cute tent in this image - what to do? which one to choose? So I used both on my card!! 
I created a little scene for my camper and tent and sponged a little scene with clouds and cut out the sentiment "The Great Outdoors" from the image in the paper pack from the KI kit and used it with the dies that also coordinate with this set - I loved making this card!
Stamp set: S'more Fun by Taylored Expressions
Paper: August Key Ingredients by Taylored Expressions
Dies: S'more Fun coordinating die set, Build A Scene Sunshine, Cloud Border die
Ink: Tuxedo Black and LadyBug Red (Memento), Distress Broken Glass
Other: twine, circle punch, Foam and Best Glue Ever


And are you ready to see all the amazing samples created with this set - seriously - pure amazingness!!! Please hop over with me and check these amazing artists out!!!


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

Friday, August 9, 2013

Taylored Expressions August Spotlights: Build A Scene

Hi Everyone!!

Did you get to check out the awesome August Release yesterday from Taylored Expressions!! I love the gorgeous and beautiful samples that all of the design team members have created this week - there are just so so so many possibilities of what you can do to with this release! Today on our Spotlight Hop, I decided to make a creation with one of my favorite parts of the release - the 4 Build A Scene dies!! I created a little card with all of them - I used the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Say What? stamp set - I love how this turned out, it was so much fun to make! 




Here is a closer look at the card - I love all the different things you can do with the BAS (Build A Scene) - Sunshine dies - I had the ray go through the cloud (the bottom of which was sponged up a little). I used the 
Band-It die to create the sentiment holder - this was an attempt at creating a masculine card - I figure there are mountains on it and no ribbons - boom, instant masculine card in my definition :) haha! 
Card Ingredients:Stamps: Say What? Stamp set from Taylored Expressions
Paper: Bazzill CS, Choice Snow White CS (TE) and green and yellow Dp from Stash
Ink: Memento Ladybug Red
TE Dies: Build A Scene Mountains, Build A Scene Rolling Hills, Build A Scene Sunshine, Build A Scene Swiry Clouds and Band It Dies
Other: Foam Tape, corner chomper, sponger, grass punch from MS


I can't wait to see what the rest of the lovely artistes from the Baker's Dozen have created for the Spotlight hop! Please hop along with me and check their awesome creations out!!

Carole Burrage
Charmaine Ikach
Jami Sibley
Jen Shults
Joan Ervin
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 :)