Taylored Expressions October Sneak Peek Day 1

Good morning! Can you believe it's October already? I've been looking forward to this day for months and it's finally here! I'm so excited to get started on Christmas projects and if you're anything like me, then you probably have a bazillion ideas pinned on Pinterest just waiting to be created! I used a few pieces of Pinterest inspiration to create some of my projects along with the 22 new TE stamps and dies we're releasing this month! All of the new products will be available on Thursday, October 4th at 8am PST. And since there's so much to share I better stop with the chatter and get on with the show! *grin*


Today the Baker's Dozen and I are showcasing 5 stamp sets and 6 new dies! Here's the complete list: Rejoice, A Bushel & A Peck, Best Nests, Poinsettia Bouquet, Many Minis Holiday, Nativity Border Die, Holly Cutting Plate, Quatrefoil Cutting Plate, Label Stacklets 1, Make a Snowflake, and Snowflake Border Die! Whew... that's a lot! I used most of this list on my sneak peeks today, but you'll definitely want to check out the rest of the Baker's Dozen projects to see more ideas for all of these new products (see link list below).

My first project uses the Best Nests stamp set illustrated by Nancy McKinney and the new Label Stacklets 1 dies:

This set includes a darling bird house for every season! I'm showcasing the Halloween house, but there's also winter, spring, summer, and fall themed houses in the set! It's super fun to color with Copics and it'll be a great year-round stamp set with lots of versatility! I started with Jen's Deconstructed Sketch #71 and papers from the Tricks & Treats Project Pantry kit. I cut the image out with our Label Stacklets 1 die and trimmed the left side off to fit the sketch. The image was colored with Copics and I sponged around it with Antique Linen Distress ink.

My second project uses Rejoice, Holly Cutting Plate, and Label Stacklets 1:

I started with our new Holly Cutting Plate. Our new Cutting Plate designs are sized at 4" x 5.25" in order to layer perfectly onto a card front and the dainty holly design is absolutely gorgeous! I've recently been inspired by burlap in home decor so after cutting the holly design I layered it on top of a piece of burlap. I love the texture it give behind the design! I highlight the holly leaves with YG95 Copic and added red pearls as the berries. Then I stamped the sentiment from Rejoice onto Choice Buttercream cardstock. I airbrushed inside the die line and as I was about to adhere it to my card I saw an ornament shape. So I decorated the top and bottom of the "ornament" with red cardstock and patterned paper, added a brushed silver snap at the top, and tied it with some natural burlap twine.

My next projects use A Bushel & A Peck illustrated by Doug Applegate, Many Minis Holiday by Nancy McKinney, and our new Handmade Holiday Project Pantry kit:

A Bushel & A Peck was designed as an extension of the All Aboard and Loads of Love stamp sets. I love being able to create my own custom train cars with different loads depending on the recipient I have in mind. And that just the idea with this set! There are so many different combinations including wagon, wheelbarrow, buckets, baskets, and tons of fillers! And all of the fillers from Loads of Love will also work with the images in A Bushel & A Peck!

I started with Jen's Deconstructed Sketch #69 and the Handmade Holiday Project Pantry Kit. I love the rustic look of the patterned paper from Simple Stories! I stamped the image in Memento Espresso Truffle (a new fav for images!) and colored it with Copics. Then I cut it out with circle Spellbinders and layered it over the scalloped circle. I added red burlap twine at the top and used a sentiment from the new Many Minis Holiday set which includes sentiments for holidays throughout the year that are designed to fit within our Mini Tags dies. Then I finished off the tag sentiment with a red button candy dot.

I've seen these loopy Christmas trees all over lately and when I saw the cone at Michael's the other day I snatched it up! I cut 3/4" strips of patterned paper, glued them into loops, and then started at the bottom and adhered them to the top of the cone. It was really pretty simple... just time consuming.

My last project for today uses my personal favorite of the new products, the Nativity Border Die and the Rejoice stamp set:

I started with this inspiration that I found on Pinterest and put my own spin on it using the Nativity Border die. I cut out the die with Suede Brown Dark cardstock and adhered it to Choice Buttercream. I stamped the sentiment at the top in Memento Love Letter & Rich Cocoa. The bottom piece of Kraft cardstock was impressed with the swirly pattern from the Musical Swirls Impression Plate. Then I added the trip of May Arts ribbon and tied it with natural burlap twine. This card would be super easy to mass produce!

That's all for me today, but make sure you check out what the rest of the Baker's Dozen has to share today. There are lots of new things to check out and everybody is showcasing a little something different!

Carolyn King - Guest Designer
Charmaine Ikach
Jami Sibley - DT Coordinator
Jen Shults
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melody Rupple
Nancy McKinney - Illustrator
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Shannon White
Shelly Mercado
Stephanie Kraft
Taylor VanBruggen
Wanda Guess