Sites of the week

***If you are looking for today’s SKETCH FOR YOU TRY post, please scroll down. This is the 2nd post for Saturday***

***If you a DFW local, today is Imprints last day of business. The entire store is 75% off. There is a farewell potluck beginning at 6:30pm***

So, this is the creation that I made for ABC Friday, but it turns out the 20th is TODAY…not yesterday. Sometimes I wonder how I make it from day to day! LOL! The requirements for the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients challenge this month are as follows…

Focus: June - create a card or gift item for a June event…wedding/graduation/Father’s Day/last day of school/etc….any June event you like.

Required - dimension - you can pop stuff up on Taylor’s foam tape, or do some paper tole, or use liquid pearls, or any other trick you can think of to create dimension

Restricted - no Copic markers. I know we’re all addicted to them, so let’s see what we can do without them…just this once! LOL!

This is how I dealt with these parameters…
I created a gift for a June birthday. Instead of doing a card and making it dimensional, I did an altered 3D project. No Copics…no problem!…I just won’t stamp anything that I have to color.

Here it is a bracelet in a tin…

The bracelet can be found HERE at Creative Imaginations. I used a 7/8″ circle punch to punch out the circles and then I adhered them to the bracelet with 3M glue. Here are a few more pics of the project…

Links to more projects featuring this Taylored Expression Kit of the Month COMING SOON!!

BTW…Did you know that Taylor is having a great moving sale in the TE store? Check it out!
Have a great weekend!

Ok, so a few weeks ago Taylor asks me if I was to try out one of the new alterable items that she is carrying…a wooden purse by Kaiser Craft. I first painted the purse with acrylic paint and then covered the large “oval” portions with DP from My Mind’s Eye. I added on some bling {Swarovski crystals} and a flower made from my Slice machine {topped with a Prima flower and a rhinestone}.

Detail shot…

The center of the purse is divided into 2 sections, making it a great pen/marker holder or a cute little treat container. The purse itself comes unassembled in 6 pieces: 2 sides, 2 scallop decorative pieces {I love how these were separate}, a bottom and a piece that needs to be divided to create the sections {these fit like a puzzle into the bottom piece}. Since there are no instructions in the packaging, I was a little intimidated at first, but it became pretty obvious that you had to break apart the pieces and assemble them to create the dividers. I used E6000 adhesive, but I am sure a strong glue such as Zip Dry or any wood glue would work like a charm.

I also have another card to show you using some of the new stamps that are being released today. This card is sweet and simple and I chose to eliminate a sentiment so that I could use this for any occasion. I rarely go without a sentiment, but I saw a cute package of blank notecards the other day that reminded me that I don’t always have to put one on a card. I have really been into “more is more” lately, so departing from that approach was a little difficult, but I do like the outcome.

You can see from this shot that I popped the flowers up on dimensionals…

Want more samples from the Taylored Expressions DT. Well, check ‘em out!
Ana, Charmaine, Denise, Jodi, Laura, Karen, Dawn, Donna, Karen, Laurie, Sankari and, of course, Taylor!

Wanna win $450 worth of stamping goodies? Click HERE to see how. HERE is the official entry post.

More blog tarts on this weeks Sketch For You To Try post HERE.

So, what the heck does that title mean? LOL!

Yesterday I started {fitness} boot camp. I was admittedly nervous about starting this program and it certainly didn’t help when the boot camp instructor said, “Pain is just weakness leaving your body.” I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Now that the first session is over, I can say that it wasn’t too bad. It was definitely work, but afterward I felt great and I am hitting the gym again today…to take one of her classes nonetheless! I signed up for this to help me reach my goal of losing these last 15 that are clinging on for dear life. I’m 27 down and I hope to get rid of those 15 by the end of March.

As this card says, Love Is In The Air. I just love all the Valentine’s cards that I have seen. This may be my favorite holiday to do cards and projects for!! However, I love seeing any holiday card done in non-holiday colors. So, being that I am the Hipster Hostess With The Mostess this week for the TCP Tuesday challenge, I am challenging you with colors that are anything but red and pink. That being said, you do not have to make a Valentine’s card; I just thought it would be fun to get outside the red and pink comfort zone with TEAL, PUMPKIN and OLIVE. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Here’s my card using images from the TCP Puppy Love {which is part of the Kitty Kat pack HERE}…

Detail shot…

The heart on the envelope has orange glitter on it! How fun is that!?! I am so not an orange person, but when I saw this glitter, I loved it. It is one of Pixie Stix from Pink Paislee that I picked up while shopping in San Diego.

So, wanna play along?…EVERYONE can! Here’s what you are gonna want to know…
1. Each a week one of the The Cat’s Pajamas DT Members will host a challenge.
2. The challenges will vary {stamp, color, theme/inspiration, sketch, etc.}
3. You will have until {this} Saturday night to complete the challenge.
4. Link your project on this week’s hostess’ challenge announcement. This week you will link your project on THIS post.
5. TCP stamps are not required, but of course, highly encouraged. {Unless it is a challenge calling for a specific stamp}
6. There will be one winner each month. They will be deemed that month’s Swankiest Stamper and get $25 in Cat’s Cash {money to spend on the TCP site!}.
7. When uploading to SCS, please use the keyword TCPTUES41 for this challenge.
8. Alma will post the entries from the week the following Monday on her blog.
9. The newly crowned Swanky Stamper will be announced on the First of the Month and have his/her winning entry posted on The Cat’s Pajamas website where he/she will reign for the entire month.
10. Oh yea…HAVE FUN!

If you are interested in the GIGANTIC blog tart giveaway, click HERE for all the info. {this line will remain at the top of my posts until the last day to enter, Jan. 31st}

Thank you all for your kind words about the new look. Sara has been keeping an eye on the comments and she is doing some little tweaks here and there as we polish up my site. You may see a few minor changes already, and there are a few more to come. Thanks for your patience and for bearing with us as I get used to this, too. Also, thank you for your suggestions.

Well, it’s Friday which means I get to show off an ABC project. Being that tonight is the Verve Stamps release party {in the SCS Verve Forum at 8 EST}, I thought that it would be fitting to show something from the upcoming release. This project uses mainly the Hundred Hearts set, but I also threw in a stamp {Happy Valentine’s Day} from Hearts on Fire. This book was so fun to make and I think that adding more personalized pages with pictures, memories, coupons, etc., would be super fun to do for a Valentine’s gift.

I suppose a good place to start would be with the cover. I used some SU! patterned paper along with a felt flower (Creative Cafe} and clear embossed the pink heart to give the cover some added dimension. The entire book is put together with a binder ring that I attached several pieces of ribbon to. Do you love the flourish or bracketed {not even sure if that’s a good word to describe it} ends? I found THIS Martha Stewart punch at Impress Rubber Stamps. Yes, it’s a must have!

Here are the following pages. As you can see, I tried to keep the same look going throughout the book. Clean lines, simple features. Who woulda thunk I would go for that?

The numbers are cut from the Basics 3 cartridge with the Slice…

This is my most favoritest lovey dovey sentiment EVER! Could it be any sweeter?…

Finally, a page for me to write in my own sentiment…

Just wanted to let you all know that I posted a HUGE list of Papertrey and SU! stuff that I am selling on the BST Forum on SCS. HERE is the direct link to my post.

Check out ABC Friday post below…