Birthday BLog Hop for Nancy!!!

Good Morning Everyone!!!

Hope you had a fantabulous weekend! There are a few posts going up this morning - the first one is a special one - this morning, there is a very special birthday blog hop in honor of the one and only amazing designer, mom, card maker, person: Nancy McKinney! Taylor asked Nancy to design for Taylored Expressions earlier this year - and Nancy has just spun out the most amazing magic with her beautiful designs - simply perfect! You can check out all of her beautiful stamp sets that she has designed for Taylored Expressions under the stamp line called: Whimsical Wishes (you can check them out here - the Whimsical Wishes stamp set are all have a burgundy strip running on the bottom of the stamp set.). So today in honor of Nancy's birthday, we are doing a bday blog hop!

Happy Birthday Dear Nancy!!!! Happy Happy Birthday Happy Happy Happy Birthday Nancy!!!

Nancy has created soooo many beautiful images that it is hard to know which one to pick to created her brithday card - but I had to go with the stamp set entitled Beary Special (and also used the Beary Special Accessories set) because these sets are very special to Nancy's heart. When Taylor released this stamp set earlier this year in June - these two stamp all the proceeds of this set went to help the organization that is very dear to Nancy's heart called: The Hospital for Sick Children (also known as Sick Kids). On Nancy's blog - there is a link to how this hospital helped her son Henri. I adore these beautiful and adorable teddy bears and so I used this set and its accessories along with Taylor's sketch challenge for Friday (can't believe we are already on sketch 91!). I used the papers from the Sept. 20th Key Ingredients for this birthday card :)

I loved coloring in this sweet bear with my copics and then paper piecing his paws and the hat and the ballons (which were also touched with a little liquid glaze.

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Sept 20th Key Ingredients

Ink: Memento Expresso

Stamps: Beary Special (and also used the Beary Special Accessories set)

Accessories: corner chomper, liquid glaze, dimensionals, spellbinders, ribbon, glaze, sponge dauber, button, ribbon from stash.

Nancy, Thank you so much for being an amazing designer and creating such fabulousness in your beautiful designs and for everything that you do! Wishing you a birthday full of surprise, wonder, laughter, giggles, fulfillment, peace, deep contentment and all your dreams come true!!!! YOU are AMAZING!!! Sending you and your beautiful family all love and happy wishes!!!!!!

Please check out all the beautiful creations and birthday wishes for Nancy:

Karen Motz: Paper Playhouse

Dana White: Dana's House of Cards

Michelle Leishman: Miche L. Designs

Janet Rossi: Corrosive Creations by Janet

Wendy Bond: Bond Girl Bliss

Jodi Collins: Stamping A Latte

Donna Baker: Serenity in Stamping

Karen Giron: The Sweetest Thing

Charmaine Ikach: Oodabug Alley

Laura Fredrickson: Scrapnextras

Thanks so much for stopping by this morning! Will be back soon with more!!!

Big hugs to all!!!!

Sankari :)

A Bevy of Challenge Cards - well - okay just 4 :)

Good Morning Everyone,

This week has been flying by - I can't even handle it! And speaking of "handling this" - I love the slogan from the Color Throwdown  ladies: Can You Handle this!?! I loved these soft colors that we have for this week's  color challenge- aren't these colors just so sweet! I immediately thought of a baby card ....

and so I made two - one for a boy and one for a girl - one of each just in case I need a quick card - and these were super quick cards - literally 7 minutes each - crazy! I used the sketch that PaperCraftPlanet is featuring this week.

Card Details:

Paper: cardstock from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Bordering Blue from SU! and I forgot what kind of pink from SU!

Stamps: Year of Sweet Sentiments from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: booties from stash, spellbinders, cuttlebug embossing folder, corner rounder, Kaiser,  ribbon from stash

THanks ladies for the fun colors!!! The next color challenge that I did was one that my good friend Diana Gibbs created this week - she has her own color challenge! So I had to play along to support my chickie!!! Here are her fun colors for her Color Challenge #1: 

And here is my card for her challenge - I made this card using one of my new fave sets from Taylored Expressions: Chillax :) This is made for a good friend of mine who just started a new job and I wanted to give it to her on Friday (today :) - so that she good have a Chillaxin TGIF :)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: cardstock from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Old Olive from SU!

Stamps: Chillax from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: liquid glaze, stickles, Kaiser rhinestones, circle cutter from CM, copics

Okay and one more challenge (actually two) - this is for Julee's awesome Mojo Monday sketch 101 and  I also used the Limited Supplies challenge this week over at SCS which was: chocolate paper of some sort, a butterfly, a birthday type card and it was to be a money holder as well - so here is everything:

and here is my card using the Beary Special Stamp set and sentiment from Taylored Expressions - it has a pocket for some moola in the inside (what is so sad is that when I went to take a pic of the card and was looking for some moola - all I could find was a dollar bill! okay - need to go to the bank!)

Card Details:

Paper: SEI papers

Ink: Stazon Black

Stamps: Beary Special Stamp set from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Spellbinders, martha punch, corner rounder, white gel pen, Medows punch from CM, ribbon from stash, stickles

I had so much fun making these cards - the colors and images were so fun to work with and more than anything - I loved having some time to create something - this week has been so hectic and I really am always amazed at how therapeutic it is to craft! (the more stress - the more cards!!! ha!)

Thanks so much for visiting my corner :) Have a go at all these challenges out there! 

Big hugs to all!!!

Sankari :)

PS- Have a chillaxin friday ya'll!!!!

A Beary Special Gift Set

Good Morning Everyone!

Good Morning! 

So do you remember when I mentioned that I no longer have a craft corner. Its true -I had to take it down because we have some family visiting and there is no room! So instead I am crafting out of boxes and doing it in my closet! LOL!!! (the new name of this blog is Sankari's Sunshine Closet :) 

I had alot of fun creating this fun little gift set in my closet last and here is a sneak peek of a part of a gift set that I made for the Stamp a Sweet Impression blog.

Please hop on over to The Stamp a Sweet Impression blog and check out a few pictures of this fun little gift set - would love to hear what you think :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

You guys are the real sunshine!

Hugs!

Sankari :)

Holiday Mondays - Eyelet Challenge

Good Monday Morning Everyone,

Its Monday and that means its time for another holiday card challenge from the Christmas Stampin All Year Long Blog and the challenge today comes from Debbie who challenged us to use our eyelets! I always forget what a fun embellishment eyelets are - and I wanted to share that ALL the eyelets on my card were hammered in by my son who is four (I thought for sure he was going to hammer my fingers - but he did a good job with them eyelets! ! He calls them eyeballs though :) (my favorite thing he said was - "I think we need to put more eyeballs on your card"  :) ha!

I had a lot of fun making this card and feel so happy to be part of this awesome blog where we knock one more holiday card off our "to-do" list so that we can enjoy the holidays without the pressure to make a zillion christmas cards two days before the 25th - (yes - that is what happened to me this year - and I am psyched that halfway through this year - I have a nice stack of holiday cards ready! yay!) I am never this organized!

Card Details: 

Paper: K&Company, Martha Stewart and stash

Ink: MOre Mustard from SU!

Stamps: Beary Special from Taylored Expressions

Accessories: Ribbon from K & Company, eyelets from stash, spellbinders dies, corner rounder, sponger, dimensionals, vellum, gold stickles for halo and platinum stickles for ears, Kaiser Rhinestones, Crystal Effects.

Technique - Paper Piecing and sponging'

Show watched while crafting: The Agatha Christie Hour on Youtube - I am HOOKED!

This is one of my favorite images from Taylor's new stamp release Beary Special from Taylored Expressions - and I have to say - that I have been itching to make a holiday bear card as soon as I saw this set. I paper pieced his little teddy pear paws and after adding some stickles to ear and halo  - I also added some crystal effects to nose and eyes and couldn't help adding some to the paws - man that stuff is addictive!!

If you have a chance to play along with us that would be awesome!! Its really a great motivating factor every week to be part of a holiday stamping group through the year! Check out the rest of the awesome merry and bright  creations at the Christmas Stampin All Year Long blog!!

Thank you all for visiting my blog!!! Stop by later as I have another post with some special treats coming up later!

Happy Monday!

Hugs! Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions - Day One of Sneak Peeks!!!

Good Morning Everyone!

I got a makeover! Well, my blog got a makeover :) Thanks to the creative genius of Nancy McKinney!! Nancy is also the designer artiste for the stamps that the Taylored Expressions Design Team will be previewing sneak peeks for today!

Today starts the first of the three days of sneak peeks! Can I tell HOW excited I am to be able to show you Taylor's newest stamp sets that will released this Friday, June 5th at 8am PST and will be available at the Taylored Expressions Store!!! Seriously - all of these June release stamp sets are beautiful and adorable!!!

Okay - so this is going to be a long post - so grab a cup of chai and a cupcake!

The set that we are previewing today is called Beary Special and the Beary Special Accessories stamp sets. These two sets are part of the charitable program called the Taylored Expressions Giving Tree. A portion of the proceeds from each stamp set will be donated to the Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) - which is a health care community dedicated to improving the health of children. You can check out more details on Taylor's blog post today - and also stop by our stamp designer (and blog makeover artiste extraordinaire!!) Nancy McKinny's blog today as well - and read how her family was directly helped by this amazing organization!

I absolutely ADORE this stamp set - seriously - I couldn't stop using it in projects... they are beary stinkin' cute!!!! These sets are so versatile - you can use them in every project :) and as you can see - I couldn't resist with just one sneak peek sample :)

1. Baby Shower Teddy Bear Gift bag with card:

This is made for a dear friend of mine who is expecting a wee little boy wonder soon! It was so nice to know that it is a boy (I could actually throw a little blue in the mix and not just the neutral green and yellow :)

Below is a sneak peek of the bag (a regular brown bag from the craft section). I love all these beautiful images of the different teddy bears and stuffed animals that are available as part of this stamp set - they are so cute!!

Here is a closer sneak peek at the card for the baby shower - It shows one of the bears from the set - holding a little sign from the set that says "sweet little one" - I love this jolly little teddy bear guy - so cute!! I used a layout that I saw on the lovely Jodi's blog for this card to make my card - but instead of Jodi's awesome piercings - I went with my addiction with liquid pearls :) lol!

Here is a closer sneak peek at my sneak peek :) I added some crystal effects to his nose and to the sign.

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Ink: Stazon Black, Adirondack Expresso

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Kaiser Rhinestones, Buttons, Star punch, liquid pearls, circle cutters, Prisma Color Pencils, Crystal Effects, Crystal Stickles.

2. In Honor of Harold our Teddy Bear :)

Ever since our son was 2 days old - Harold has been there for him :). Harold is the cutest little bear that was given to us by Caty - one of our dearest family friends. My son adores Harold - he comes with us on all of our travels and has a special place on the bed. Here is a little layout of Harold and my son at 4 months and then at 4 years old. This is a 6x6 layout and fits perfectly into the Calendar stand that you can then display around the house:

I made this page using the March Key Ingredients set - which already comes with papers, buckles, ribbon, cardstock with coordinating design papers. The chipboard is from American Crafts.

I love this little bear and I love that the Beary Accessories Stamp set comes with a scarf!!! How perfect because it totally looks like Harold now with a matching scarf :)

Card Details:

Paper: March Key Ingredients

Ink: Stazon Black, Adirondack Expresso

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, white gel pen, silver marker, everything else comes with March Key Ingredients kit.

3. Birthday Bear Card:

I simply love the versatility of this set. By pairing it with different papers - there are so many different looks that you can create :) Here is a little birthday card for a little boy using the Beary Special and Beary Special Accessories stamp set. I used the TECC69 sketch from Taylor - but kinda got carried away with adorning all the corners instead of one :) - couldn't help it - I had such a ball making this card and adding the glitter and crystal effects to the ballon :)

Everything in this card is paper pieced. The bear, the presents, the bows on the presents. The present is part of the Beary Special Accessories stamp set. All of it was paper pieced :)

4. Keep Truckin :

This week the 3D challenge at Paper Craft Planet was to create a truck - and I couldn't think of anything cuter than a little bear in a truck - (love the bow tie and hat that the Beary Special Accessories stamp set has!). You can check out all the details here about how to create this fun truck. You can attach a little gift card on the back of this truck - so its a little truck bringing a little present :)

5. Believe Bear Card:

Okay - really - how could I not create one more card when there is this sweeeeeet image of wings and wand - I couldn't resist!!! And when I saw that there was a sentiment that read: Believe - I knew that I had to use it with my winged bear - there are so many kinds of cards that you can make with this - something for a child, something for someone who is going through a rough time - something just to lift the spirits:

Card Details:

Paper: Martha Stewart

Ink: Adirondack Expresso, SU! Caramel

Stamps: Beary Special, Beary Special Accessories (available June 5th)

Accessories: Corner Rounder, rhinestones, glitter, crystal effects, liquid pearls, ribbon.

Wow - that was one long post!! Hope you enjoyed these peeks of this awesome stamp set! Because the purchase of this stamp set goes to help this awesome Organization - in order to save costs on manufacturing and to be able to donate even more to this foundation, these sets will have to be trimmed from the sheet of rubber.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Beary Awesome ;) creations from my fellow Design Team members:


Donna Baker
Jodi Collins
Jen del Muro
Dawn Easton
Laura Fredrickson
Karen Giron
Charmaine Ikach
Denise Marzec
Karen Motz
Laurie Schmidlin
Ana Wohlfahrt

and of course: Taylor VanBruggen

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for some more sneak peeks!! And tomorrow's are extra sweeeeeeeeeet!

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