Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge 93

Welcome back to the Friday Sketch challenge over at the Taylored Expressions blog!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and workweek. It's been extremely busy here (noticed by the lack of blog posts, lol) but I'm enjoying having my mom and Aunt in town while my mom begins the search for a home here. I'm really excited to have them here and we've been keeping busy all day! Ok, so on to the sketch!!


Looks like a fun one, eh?! I sure hope you can give it a try! Who knows? Maybe you will be selected as a Top Crop by Taylor herself!
So here is what I came up with.

And yes! I used Taylor's Wings of Joy set again!! I keep saying...there are soooo many cute images, I want to get to them all!! :) Plus this is only helping to increase my Christmas card stash.

I stamped out JOY and then colored them in with Copics and then cut them out individually and added little details to each!


I made this little bird's wing a little 3D simply by cutting along the wing with an Xacto knife and pulling it up a bit.


And the letter "O" got a felt snowflake and holly berry treatment.


And finally "Y" got the perfect little bow made with Baker's Twine.

Now, let's see what the rest of the sketch crew has done! I can't wait to see and I know it will be truly inspirational!

Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Jackie Pedro: The Scalloped Edge
Jami Sibley: More is More
Sherrie Siemens: Card Creme
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland

In Stamping Mode Supplies
Stamps: Wings of Joy
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Antique Linen Distress Ink Tim Holtz
Paper: Whisper White SU!, Good Cheer October Afternoon, Choice Snow White
Accessories: Holly punch Martha Stewart, Chunky glitter SU!, Baker's Twine Martha Stewart, Ivory organza SU!, button, Dazzling Diamonds SU!, Felt Snowflake Making Memories, Copics sketch (BG10, BG13, E07), Prima Flower, Pearls

Clean and Simple Redo

You will probably recall a Clean and Simple card I made using Circle Circus here. Well, the challenge this week over on Splitcoast was to do a make-over on a former CAS card. Since I wanted to keep this card SUO, I just changed up the colors and kept everything else the same. I used a retired in-color Cool Caribbean...oh how I wish they'd bring this one and Soft Sky back! Oh, and I coupled that with Always Artichoke. Since I didn't have a ribbon to match, I just used the current In-Color Bermuda Bay. I think it worked swell!

Off-topic, just had to take a snapshot of Catie's happiness seeing the tree decorated by her big brother Harrison. Just love it! I *ALMOST* cried. :P



Uggh, seeing these pictures makes me want to cry. I'm not posting again till I get my Photoshop!! See you in a day, LOL! :)

Christmas tag trio

Oh what fun it is...to use up what you've got and make tags! These Christmas tags were made using kraft cardstock coupled with the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses kit. I used various stamps from Stampin' Up!, Verve, and Papertrey and I just adore these cuties! Festive silver tinsel is used to hang these white gold glitter adds accent and sparkle. And guess what?!

I've opened up the In Stamping Mode Etsy store!! I have a few things in there to start so feel free to browse (and buy!) *giggle*
It's web address is http://instampingmode.etsy.com

I will be adding these tags shortly if you are interested. :)

And let me go ahead and apologize for the quality of these pics. :( I'm waiting for my new Photoshop to ship so I'm using Picasa. Uggh...amazing that I can figure out the more complicated software but not the easier one!

Hope you had a great weekend and....Happy Monday??! :)

Thankful for you!

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! Just wanted to say that I am so thankful for you for visiting my blog. I've only been around a year and I've just had the time of my life spending it with you! Thank you for your visits, support, and super-sweet comments. They make me who I am today. :)

This is a snapshot of the "homemade" apple pie from the Southern Comfort Bakery in Bandera. Hands down, the BEST apple pie EVER!

Now wish me luck as I venture out in the wee hours for some late night/early morning shopping! Lord help meeeee!

Happy Pre-Turkey day day!

Are you ready for tomorrow?! My goodness I've been anticipating every little yummy morsel for days now, lol! To keep my mind off of all the scrumptious food I just had to stamp. This latest card is....a Christmas card...I know, I know! I have to build up my stash! Either that or I put it up on an Etsy store...yes??





I used the latest CPS sketch challenge for inspiration and some new K & Company die-cut cardstock and acetate pieces for my card. Hard to believe, but no stamping on this one! That actually made this card very quick to put together. That fancy trim at the bottom and top is from Anitra's stash (thanks again girl!!)

Ok, I'm off to do some last minute shopping and food prep!

In Stamping Mode Supplies
Stamps: none
Ink: Vintage Photo Distress ink
Paper: Whisper White SU, Eskimo Kisses Basic Grey, Good Cheer October Afternoon, Santa K & Company
Accessories: Twill Tape, button from my stash, Baker's Twine Martha Stewart, Fine Cosmo glitter SU, green rhinestones

PS. Check out these mad awesome in-ear headphones from Lady Gaga. They look pretty flashy in your ear (score 1 for fashion) and the sound quality is supposed to be stellar! Now this is something that would TOTALLY put me in the gym more often!! ;)

Single Layer Christmas

Who doesn't love a single layer Christmas card, lol? Well, at least for those of us making our own cards. I CASEd this from the ever-FABULOUS Paper Crafts go to girl, Betsy Veldman. Now, her card is waaaay nicer...love that embossing at the top! I just wanted to make something quick to have an excuse to make a post and say hi. So...."hi!"

I also wanted to mention that because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge this Friday! Don't fret though! Taylor will be conducting her own Black Friday sale!!!!

In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the two biggest shopping days of the year!), Taylored Expressions is offering 15% off everything in the store! Just use the promotional code TEBlackFriday upon checkout to receive the discount. You don't want to miss up to 50% off all JustRite products, Buy 2 Get 1 Free on Tiny Twinkles, and the new TE Shirts & Aprons!

Man, oh man, things are about to get busy here! My in-laws are heading into town tomorrow and I'm so excited for them to be here! I'm also getting REAL antsy to eat some yummy Thanksgiving staples and the best apple pie you've ever seen. I'll try and take a pic before we dive in. :)

Maybe I'll be able to sneak another card in before the weekend too (crossing fingers!)

If not, hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday, and if it's not a holiday where you are, why not pretend it is one?! :)

This one's gonna be a long one

Bear with me folks, I have a lot to share! Let's start with my order of Thanksgiving cards for my jewelry-making guru friend, Kris. I shared with you one of the cards I had made for her a few days back and here are the rest.





The cards together, for a total of 6.


I packaged them carefully in those plastic containers that the stamps from Papertrey come in...GREAT use for them!

LOL, that sunflower is just over the top HUGE! I love it!

I was also busy making little Thanksgiving treats for Harrison's teacher, past teachers, and school Principal. I TOTALLY copied this fantastic idea for treats from Lynn's blog and the packaging for them from Melissa's blog. Thanks you two for such wonderful inspiration!

The wording about the contents and meaning of them were merely printed on a 2"x4" label and adhered to the back. It fit perfect! These are the smaller sized baker bags you can buy from Papertrey by the way!

And finally...last but certainly not least, my good friend Anitra surprised myself and Valeria with the most awesome gift!!! Check it oooooout!

More gorgeous trim and vintagy buttons! She even made that tag..which, was presented just immaculately in a pretty tissue paper-lined Janie and Jack box. How lucky am I?!?! Thanks so much Anitra!! I owe you! Well...actually, you owe me now for making me watch New Moon. :P

Thank you for enduring my super long post..WHEW!

Until next time.......