Restoration Birthday

Hi there! I have another quick birthday card to share with you today using some of that FABULOUS Restoration paper from the September Key Ingredients kit. I can't seem to stop using this kit and I'm amazed at how many projects I've already been able to create with the kit and I still haven't even used half of it!!


I kept this card pretty simple - I was literally finished in about 15 minutes!! - my favorite kind of card!! I used a Kraft cardstock base, but all of the other supplies on this card are included in the kit (well, besides the stamp set and cut file for the layered flower). I picked out 3 of my favorites from the patterned paper and cut some strips, adhering them to that beautifully textured coordinating plum cardstock with some zigzag stitching. I used my Silhouette to cut the layered flower from some more of the textured cardstock from the kit and added one of the large brads from the kit to the center. The stamped sentiment is from the In The Park stamp set from Taylored Expressions.

That's it. Like I said - nice and simple! The rest of the Key Ingredients Design Team has been sharing projects using the September Key Ingredients the past several weeks, so be sure to stop by their blogs to see what they've done with the kit:
Jessica Diedrich
Lisa Hjulberg
Lynn Put
Melody Rupple
Rosie Hughes
and of course Taylor VanBruggen

For those of you who may not already be familiar, Each month, Taylored Expressions mails out a new Key Ingredients Kit to subscribers. When you subscribe, not only do you receive your kit on your doorstep each month, you also get a 10% off coupon delivered to your inbox - good for anything in the TE store! We also have a special Key Ingredients Gallery full of fun project ideas using the kit.

OK, that's it from me today! Happy End of September!! (Wow - can that really be true!?)

Sweet Sunday Sketch - Favorite

It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, but we're doing things a little different this week. The challenge this week is to look back through all the sketches and pick you favorite and create a new card! I think the hardest part is picking a favorite!! I decided to work with Sketch # 39:
And take a look at my creation this time:


I pulled out my September Key Ingredients kit from Taylored Expressions - I thought that clear acrylic doily was perfect in place of the oval image panel! I off-set the doily thing and stamped the flower image from Fresh Flowers on watercolor paper and colored them in with a watercolor brush and ink pads. I added some zig-zag stitching with my sewing machine and the little Happy Birthday sentiment (also from Fresh Flowers) and called it good! I'm having so much fun playing with this month's Key Ingredients kit! So much coordinating stuff in one kit - I love it! You can suscribe to the monthly Key Ingredients kits HERE. (Don't forget subscribers receive a monthly coupon code good for 10% off everything in the Taylored Expressions store and free shipping along with their kit!).

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with their favorite sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile

Then play along with us and post your own creation using InLinkz over on today's post on Karen's Blog!

MoJo Monday #157

Gosh, it seems like FOREVER since I had a chance to play along with a MoJo Monday Sketch Challenge! I have what seems like a million of the sketches printed off and in my pile of "can't-wait-to-play-with-these", but finding the time is my problem lately. Somehow this week I've been able to squeeze in a little extra stamping time and was able to create something with Sketch #157 - and it's a fun one!!


I used Verve's Framed Wishes stamp set on my card - clear embossing the frame on some More Mustard CS and stamping the sentiment on a little flagged strip of Crumb Cake. (after I finished my card Wednesday morning I was doing some blog browsing and noticed how similar my card was to Amy's MoJo creation this week! Well, not THAT similar - hers is WAY more awesome! It's funny how sometimes a particular stamp set just works almost too perfectly for a sketch. I have to say I felt pretty good that I had an idea so similar to THE Amy Sheffer! LOL). The rest of the paper is printed digi paper from Libby Weifenbach's beautiful kit Aquiver with Ebullience (Sweet Shoppe). I added a bunch of crumpled up, layered Prima flowers, some pearly stamens and some seam binding ribbon as embellishments. Overall, it was a surprisingly quick and easy card!

That's it for me! My weekend has officially started and I'm spending my Friday morning at the beach!! The rest of the weekend will be not so much fun - filled with cleaning out closets and the garage to prepare for our neighborhood-wide garage sale the following weekend. Perfect timing though as we will be leaving on October 8 for 3 weeks on the mainland!! I can't wait!! I'll actually get to go to a Micheal's and Hobby Lobby and a REAL mall and Target and my favorite LSS in my old college town (Norman, OK). We'll be spending a couple of weeks with my in-laws in Wichita, KS, then it's off to Norman to visit college friends and take my son to his first Sooners football game and show him where Mom and Dad met (aka the smelly Oklahoma Sooners Wrestling room), then a week in New Jersey visiting Joel's grandparents. So apparently the answer to the common question "Where do you go on vacation when you live in paradise??" is Kansas, Oklahoma and New Jersey - yes, those tourist meccas of the mainland U.S. ;-)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #15

I found some time today to play along with the Waltzingmouse Stamps Sketch Challenge #15. I got my new stamps earlier this week and couldn't wait to get them inky, especially that adorable Half Pint Heroes set!! I had so much fun creating this card for my Space-Obsessed 3-yr-old Dean using the sketch:


Cute, yeah? I even gave the little Space Cadet inside the rocket tousled blonde hair just like Dean! He's gonna love it. And how about that paper? Pretty perfect, right? It's printed digi paper from the Another Galaxy kit by Traci Reed & Julie Billingsley (Sweet Shoppe). I colored the spaceship image with Copics and cut out the inner part of the ship and popped it up on dimensionals to give it a little more depth. I just love that little rocket!! And I can't wait to use all the other adorable images in the Half Pint Heroes set!

That's it. You can check out the sketch and play along HERE on the WMS sketch blog. I'll be back tomorrow with a MoJo Monday card!!

Perfect Pair Blog Hop

Hey there! Today is the 2nd day of the Perfect Pair Blog Hop! Clear and Simple Stamps and Creative Cuts & More have teamed up for this amazing hop and you won't want to miss all of the fabulous inspiration along the way! Oh, and did I mention there are PRIZES? Creative Cuts & More and Clear & Simple Stamps are both giving away two sets of prizes - all you have to do to be entered is stop by and leave a comment on each of the Blog Hop Participants' posts!

So, if you're following the hop from the beginning you should have made your way here from Steph's Blog. If not, head on back to the Creative Cuts & More Blog to start at the beginning!

I have some super fun Baby themed projects to share with you today featuring the Little One stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps!


For the card, I used the Circle Window A2 Card with Mat from Creative Cuts & More and stamping only part of a larger sentiment from the Little One stamp set onto a flagged strip on the front so that it says "Cute as a Button". I then added LOTS of CSS buttons (A Blank Check, I'm a Princess Pink, Simply Blue-tiful, & You're a Natural Darling) inside the window of the card.


And how about those shoes? Pretty adorable huh? Those are the Baby Shoe die cuts from Creative Cuts & More. I lined the inside of the sole with some October Afternoon DP and added a little ribbon tab to the back.


I stamped a cute little Welcome Baby gift tag (from the Little One stamp set) and attached it to the shoes. Don't they look like the real deal? Love them!


Well, that's it from me! Head on over to Melissa's Blog for some more yumminess! Believe me, you won't be disappointed!

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Well, here we are - time for another Blast from the Past Blog Hop with Taylored Expressions and friends! I'm having so much fun with these hops each month and just love seeing what everyone creates with those stamp sets from the past!

The Amazing Sankari designed another fun sketch for the hoppers to play with again this month and I decided to use it for my card, making a few changes here and there of course! Take a look at the sketch:


And with that sketch, I decided to play with a new-to-me TE stamp set, Sprinkled with Love, getting it inky for the first time!


That yummy DP is actually printed digi paper from the Alphabet Soup for Girls collection by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe). I paper pieced the ice cream cone image from the Sprinkled with Love set from some of the solid papers from the same digi kit - I just love how that image turned out! I added some chocolate sprinkles to the top with Espresso Dimensional Pearls - they look so real! I also opted to add a little bit of Brown Pom Pom Trim for added embellishment. I'm really lovin' how this one turned out!!

Now, be sure to stop by all the other Hoppers' blogs to see what they've created this month. There's some amazing talent on that list so you're sure to find some inspiration!!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #86

Well, here we are - Sunday again already! You know what that means - it's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! This week we have another awesome sketch designed by the fabulous Nancy McKinney, who is playing along with us again this week:


I went hybrid with my sample card - I couldn't wait to print out some of this yummy new goodness from Zoe Pearn that showed up a few weeks ago at the Sweet Shoppe! Take a look:


All of that DP is printed digi paper from the new School Days kit by Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe). The apple and star are also printed digi embellishments from the same kit. The little "for a special teacher" stamped sentiment is from the Year of Sweet Sentiments stamp set from Taylored Expressions. One of the most versatile stamp sets in my collection! I added a scalloped border and some machine stitching as finishing touches. I'm really happy with how this one turned out and am sure Dean's preschool teacher will love it!

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
• Nancy McKinney

Then play along with us and post your own creation using InLinkz over on today's post on Karen's Blog!

Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz

This is my first time participating in a Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog Waltz. I BARELY got signed up in time and am just getting this post finished up before the posting deadline, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet! I hope I'm doing everything right! LOL.


I created this fun card using the Midnight Feast stamp set and some Halloween papers from Echo Park. I cut out that fabulous scrolly frame thing with my Silhouette, added some stitched black ribbon and tucked the sentiment tag under the bow. Nice and simple - just how I like 'em!! I wanted to create some fun matching treat bags, but I just ran out of time this week. Oh well!

Well, that's it from me (I told you - Short and Sweet!). You can find a list of all the Waltzers HERE in the WMS forum. I can't wait to see what everyone created!!

TE Key Ingredients Challenge - September

I'm so excited about this post today - my first official project as part of the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Design Team! The September Key Ingredients kit is AMAZING - so much matchy-match yumminess bundled into one kit (including Crate Paper Restoration papers)!! You can see a photo of the kit contents and read more details about the kit on the Key Ingredients Blog.

In keeping with the name of the Crate Paper Collection included in the kit, the September Key Ingredients Challenge is Restoration...Making the Old New Again! Recycle, Re-use, Re-purpose when creating a project with the September KI kit - the possibilities are endless! Here's a look at the simple little card and gift set I made for a friend using a recycled baby food jar as gift packaging and a small strip of corrugated cardboard cut from a packaging envelope as embellishment on my card:


When my son Dean was a baby, we didn't use much store-bought baby food (we made our own), but every now and then it was just more convenient. And I saved every single empty jar! It's now kind of almost my go-to gift packaging for small "thinking of you" or "just because" gifts. Those baby food jars are the perfect size to add a strip of paper around the middle, some embellishment to the top of the lid, maybe a pretty ribbon/bow, then fill it up with some candies and you've got a really cute heartfelt gift ready for just about any occasion! They're always a big hit (especially with other Moms)!

I was at the mall the other day and stopped in the Crackseed store for a treat. I was there for Li Hing Arare, but this Coconut flavored Rock Candy caught my eye. It sounded pretty yummy and I thought it would look nice inside my "Trash to Treasure" gift jar! (ETA: It's been brought to my attention that people on the mainland don't know what a Crackseed store is. HERE is an online example. Basically, this place is *almost* as good as Santa in the bribery bag of tricks for getting my 3-yr-old to behave! LOL).


The flower on the lid of the jar was created using a cut file for my Silhouette with some of the Crate Paper double-sided paper in the KI kit. I just love how that layered flower looks with that double-sided paper! The sentiments on both the jar and the card are from the Branching Out stamp set. All of the other supplies are from the September Key Ingredients Kit.



Each month, Taylored Expressions mails out a new Key Ingredients Kit to subscribers. When you subscribe, not only do you receive your kit on your doorstep each month, you also get a 10% off coupon delivered to your inbox - good for anything in the TE store! We also have a special Key Ingredients Gallery full of fun project ideas using the kit.

Be sure to stop by the other Key Ingredients Design Team blogs to see what they've created with the kit - believe me, you won't be disappointed!
Jessica Diedrich
Lisa Hjulberg
Lynn Put
Melody Rupple
Rosie Hughes
and of course Taylor VanBruggen

OK, that's it from me! I think I've rambled enough!! I can't wait to see what everyone starts creating with their kits!!

Yeah, I'm pretty cool.

So did you see the Big News posted over on Taylor's Blog today? No? Well, head on over there and check it out!! Then come back here and go ahead and tell me how cool I am!! ;-) Then, when you're done with all that, head on over to these girls' blogs and congratulate them too for being pretty awesome right along with me:

Jessica Diedrich
Lisa Hjulberg
Lynn Put
Melody Rupple
Rosie Hughes

The 6 of us, along with Taylor herself, are the new Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Design Team!! I'm so excited about this and have been dying to spill the beans! I've been a big fan of Taylor's stamps and accessories for quite some time now and was a loyal Key Ingredients subscriber for many, many months.

Are you all familiar with the Key Ingredients kits? They are AMAZING! Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients is a monthly kit club dedicated to bringing you the latest coordinating products for papercrafting. Each month you'll receive enough coordinating patterned paper (20 sheets of 6" x 6"), cardstock (12 sheets of 8.5" x 11"), 5 yards of ribbon, and various embellishments to create at least 16 cards. The kits coordinate well with Taylored Expressions stamps, but you can also use them with the many other stamp sets already in your collection. Simply add the image, ink, and adhesive to cook up a batch of coordinating cards and other projects! All of the elements are hand-selected to make your crafting easy, fun, and stress free! You can find subscription information HERE.

I'll be back tomorrow with my first official post as part of the team as the rest of the girls and I share our Key Ingredients Challenge posts with you - I hope you'll stop back by and join in on the challenge!

Sweet Sunday Sketch #85

It's time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge! This week, some of The Sweet Sunday Stampers are using the sketch to create cards for a very special cause, Operation Write Home, and encourage all of you to do the same! In a nutshell, OWH is a volunteer organization that collects blank handmade cards and sends them to U.S. troops deployed overseas for them to use to write home. Pretty cool, huh? There are a few "guidelines" to follow if you'd like to participate in this cause and you can read those HERE. Karen has more information posted on her blog too. Of course, it's not a requirement to play along with this week's sketch - just a suggestion and it will give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling, not to mention the good karma you'll be generating. ;-)

Here's a look at this week's sketch - another fun one designed by Nancy McKinney!


I created a simple girly birthday card I thought would work for either a male soldier's wife or a teen/tween daughter, niece or other female relative of either a male or female soldier:


I know I've used this combo before, but I just love how fun Verve's new Dream Big stamp set looks with the Twitterpated Collection from Pebbles. The small happy birthday sentiment is from Verve's Big Wish. It wasn't until I already had everything cut out, stamped and was in the process of assembling the card that I realized I had totally forgot that scalloped border! I decided to just leave well enough alone. I think it works just fine without it, right? ;-)

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• Lynn Put
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
• Nancy McKinney

We're super sad to be saying good-bye to Nancy Riley as she takes a break to take care of her family. We'll miss you Nancy!!

Then play along with us and post your own creation using InLinkz over on today's post on Karen's Blog!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #13

I wanted to play along again this week with the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge because I knew this one was going to truly be a CHALLENGE for me and man, I was right about that! I really struggled with this one. I have to admit that I normally avoid those diamond shaped panels (along with tilted panels - I loathe tilted panels!), but I had an idea in my head that I thought would work with this sketch so I wanted to give it a go.


It didn't really turn out quite like I had hoped, mostly because that layered frame I cut with my Silhouette ended up being much larger than I thought in order to fit that awesome {embossed} Trick or Treat circle stamped image from the WMS Midnight Feast set inside. So I ended up having to make the card a whopping 5.5-inch square - much larger than I wanted with what I had planned. I do like how my little ribbon / embellishment cluster thingy turned out, but think it kind of loses it's effect with the ginormous-ness of the card. I think it would have looked much better on a scaled-down version of the same card.


I'm pretty sure I can find a different circle frame to use that would work better and not need to be so large to fit the stamp. Like maybe the one I used on this card? But I liked the layered look of the one I used today. Oh well! I don't hate the card and I'm happy that I forced myself to create outside my comfort zone!!

Totally Rad

Happy Labor Day! What does everyone have planned today? We spent yesterday Upcountry hiking and exploring Poli Poli State Park. It was fun, but I forget how COLD it is at 6200 ft elevation!! Well, for us weather weenies it was cold anyway! We hiked part of the Redwood-Plum-Tie loop (a 5.8 mile loop), making it probably about 3 miles total - which is pretty darn good if you ask me when you have a 3-yr-old tagging along!! Dean is a great hiker - just sloooooow - he wanted to stop and "pet" every bit of moss he saw, pick up every stick that looked better than the one he had (which was almost EVERY stick in the stinkin' forest!), and CONSTANTLY ask questions about the craziest things ("Mommy, why don't trees poop?"). So we definitely don't hike for exercise when he hike with Dean, although it is an act of endurance (and patience)!!

Anyway, I have this fun Verve card that I created over a month ago but never had a chance to share on the blog. A sweet friend sent me these AWESOME papers for my birthday and I couldn't wait to cut into them!!


That fun DP goes perfect with the circle wave/frame image from Verve's Happy Days, which I used to frame the Totally Rad Plain Jane. I added some hemp twine and woodgrain texture as finishing touches.

Well, that's it from me today! We're headed to the beach this morning to enjoy the end of our holiday weekend! Then I'm hoping to get several hours of crafty time this afternoon during one of Dean's epic post-beach naps!! (the BEST naps!).

Sweet Sunday Sketch #84

Time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!! It's still Saturday night here and we're headed out to Poli Poli State Park super early tomorrow morning for a full day of hiking and exploring, so I'm going to keep this short and sweet. Here's a look at this week's sketch:


For my hybrid creation, I rotated the sketch 90 degrees to create a vertical card:


I used Verve's Carpe Cupcake set, masking and stamping the cupcake image 3 times to make that fun stack of 3 cupcakes! The sentiment is from Birthday Bash. The papers are printed digi papers from the Celebrate Him kit by Traci Reed and Eva Kipler (Sweet Shoppe). I colored the cupcake bottoms with Copics and paper pieced the tops with white CS.

Be sure to check out the other Sweet Sunday Stampers' blogs and see what they've done with the sketch.

• Karen Motz
• Karen Giron
  
• Laura Fredrickson
  
• Lynn Put
• Nancy Riley
  
• Sarah-Jane Kale'
• Vicki Burdick
• Joanne Basile
• Nancy McKinney

Then play along with us and post your own creation using InLinkz over on today's post on Karen's Blog!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!!