VIDEO | Taylored Expressions | Happy Hex Monogram Kit Exclusives Available Now

Hello, friends! I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far. I'm personally looking forward to the Easter long weekend. Taylored Expressions has just released exclusives from their Happy Hex Monogram Kit, previously released in January 2021 and shared HERE. If you missed out on the original kit, the individual items are now available for purchase.

I've created a trio of cards using the same four products, including the Happy Hex Mini Slim Background, Happy Hex Mini Slim Stencil, Happy Hex Add-Ons Stamp Set and Happy Hex Dies.

My first card uses the Happy Hex Mini Slim Background, Happy Hex Mini Slim Stencil and Happy Hex Add-Ons Stamp Set in a straight forward way. I stamped the Happy Hex Mini Slim Background with Versamark watermark ink and heat embossed it with gold tinsel embossing powder. 

Then I used blender brushes and Gumball, Blueberry and Blue Corn mini ink pads to blend ombre hexagons over the the Happy Hex Mini Slim Stencil. I stamped hearts and a sentiment using the Happy Hex Add-Ons Stamp Set in coordinating colours.

My second card uses the same heat embossed background cut from a top-folding mini slim card base in Sugar Cube. This time, I used my blender brushes and Gumball, Blueberry and Blue Corn inks to add ink over the entire card base. 

To finish this card, I used liquid glue to adhere Happy Hex Dies cut from Sugar Cube cardstock and used the coordinating inks to stamp striped patterns and a sentiment from the Happy Hex Add-Ons Stamp Set.

My final card uses the same colours as the two previous cards but in the form of cardstock instead of ink. The card base is cut from Blue Corn cardstock and I used the Happy Hex Dies, as well as the Mini Slim Belly Band, to create the clusters of hexagons from Gumball, Blueberry, gold glitter and Sugar Cube cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment from the Happy Hex Add-Ons Stamp Set using Sugar Cube pigment ink directly on to the card base and finished with gold drip drops embellishments.

I hope you're inspired to create with this kit, whether you have the original kit or you plan to purchase some of the individual items. For more inspiration, you can find my original video below:

Please let me know in the comments below, which card is your favourite. Don't forget to take advantage of the exclusive gift with purchase of $100+ every month in the Taylored Expressions webstore.

Happy shopping and thanks so much for watching!

Supplies: 

VIDEO | Taylored Expressions | Social Butterflies Trio

Hello, friends! I hope you're enjoying this lovely week. The weather here has been so beautiful, sunny and warm. It's the perfect intro for this pastel trio featuring the Social Butterflies Cling & Clear Combo, previously an exclusive of Stamp Joy. As always, you can find a full visual list of all the supplies I used to create these cards in the supply links at the bottom of this post.

The colour palette I chose includes Pink Champagne, Potato Chip, Salt Water Taffy and Lavender Glaze. The butterfly outlines and sentiments for the first two cards were stamped with Earl Grey on Sugar Cube cardstock, and the sentiment for the third card was stamped with Sugar Cube on Oreo cardstock.

I used the sketchy lines background image from the Social Butterflies Cling set to create the background. Using the MISTI stamping tool, I positioned it on the panel and turned it 180 degrees so I could get the exact same stamping in two different directions. Then I used liquid glue to adhere small strips of coordinating Pink Champagne, Potato Chip, Salt Water Taffy and Lavender Glaze cardstock on the sizes of the card base to complete the visual rotation of colours.

I used the mini slimline format for my second card and turned it into a shaker by using the Mini Slim Square Window Cutting Plate as the top panel. I cut a panel of the same size to place behind it, where I stamped the same sketchy lines background behind each window in Pink Champagne.

I secured a sheet of acetate to the back of the window panel using Scor-Tape, then built walls with foam tape to house the sequins. To finish, I added the shaker element to a card base cut from Earl Grey cardstock. I added five butterflies across the slimline card, leaving out the Pink Champagne butterflies since that colour is represented in the background.

My last card features the fewest colours of the three but it still makes an impact. I used silver glitter cardstock to create a frame around the top panel. I also used the dies to create offset Pink Champagne 'shadows' for the stamped butterflies.

The butterflies are adhered flat to the panel on the right side, but scored for lift and popped up with foam tape on the left side. I stamped the sentiment with Sugar Cube on Oreo cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.

I loved making these cards and it was so fun to play with the sketched lines background image in different ways. That was the image that drove the designs for these three cards, believe it or not! The perfectly imperfect style of the butterflies makes them so easy to create with. This is an incredibly versatile stamp set and would be a great starter set for new cardmakers!

Be sure to check out all the other Stamp Joy Exclusives, available now at Taylored Expressions.

Thanks so much for watching!

Supplies: 

My Anniversary Card from Chris

My husband and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary this weekend! Where does the time go?? I was so excited to get this card though. It's quite possibly the cutest card Chris has ever made for me and he's made so many over the years. I think he may have realized that he really likes Taylored Expressions products, too! This is the second card in a row where he's used Taylored Expressions and a unicorn (see previous card HERE). When he gave me this card, he said, “I’ve decided that I really like colouring unicorns. They’re so punk rock.” LOL

Chris centred his whole design around the Little Critters stamp set so he stamped them with Oreo ink, coloured them with Copic Markers and fussy cut each one. He said he originally wanted them peeking out from the On the Block - Love word but he needed to hide the fact that they didn't have bodies.

He sifted through my dies and found the perfect size from the Stitched Mini Slim Stacklets. He was going to create his own box using the Wood Plank Background but found the perfect paper from Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods 6x6 Paper Pack. He finished the card using some leftover Building Blocks - Happy Additions from my stash.

This card makes me think that Chris is catching up to me in card design! It's so cute and creative! If you're inspired by Chris' card - I know that I am - you can find all the supplies at both Taylored Expressions and Scrap 'n Stamp Canada.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Catherine Pooler Designs | You Are My Happy Place

Hello, friends! I'm back with the anniversary card I'll be giving to my husband this weekend. We're celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary and it's sad that we won't be able to do much since restaurants are still closed and we can't travel. We'll just have to make up for it next year!

I used the Best Place stamp set and coordinating dies, with Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned paper from the Best Place Bundle. All of the ink colours can be found in the supply links below and they were inspired by the Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned papers.

From Best Place, I used the picnic basket filled with daffodils, baguettes and wine. The tufts of grass and birds are also from this set. Of course, I threw in a bunch of other stamp sets because I just can't help it!

We love the mountains and enjoy travelling to places that offer grand views so I created my scene with Mountain of Thanks. I used the rock-n-roll technique to stamp the ombre mountains with combinations of Seafoam and Skylight, Skylight and Daydream, and Daydream and Juniper Mist.

The sun, which is from a widely-released Club Sursee set called Summer Lovin', was rock-n-rolled in Shea Butter and Polished. The tiny hearts above the birds are from Hey There Dumpling and the sentiment is from One Liners Sentiments. I used various adhesives to assemble the different elements for dimension and visual interest.

All stamps are 20% off at Ellen Hutson and, yes, that includes all the Catherine Pooler stamp sets featured here! The sale runs through March 17, 2021 so definitely check 'em out. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

'Supplies: 

Spellbinders | March 2021 Large Die of the Month

When I shared last month's Large Die of the Month, I created a birthday card for my niece and this month, I borrowed the number dies from last month's kit to turn the March 2021 Large Die of the Month into a birthday card for one of my son's friends who celebrated his birthday yesterday.

All of the coloured cardstock featured here is Simon Says Stamp branded cardstock and you can find all of the colours listed in the supply links below. The quality is heavyweight and the colours are so saturated and vibrant. I absolutely love the quality and texture of their cardstock.

I created the background by cutting a 4" x 5.25" panel from Island Blue cardstock and setting it aside. Using the March 2021 Large Die of the Month, I die cut the grass panels from Green Apple and Green Leaf cardstock at different heights to build depth. Then I die cut the layered flowers from Lipstick Red and Sunshine cardstock, and the stems from Midnight Green cardstock. I alternated the petal colours in the front and back rows for visual interest. I die cut the larger clouds right out of the main panel to create shakers and I die cut the smaller clouds from Sea Glass cardstock.

The grass panels were attached to the panel with Scor-Tape and all the other elements were adhered using mini glue dots. Then I used the February 2021 Large Die of the Month to die cut and layer the numbers and superscript ordinals with Green Apple and Midnight Green cardstock. To finish, I heat embossed Happy Birthday using the February 2021 Clear Stamp of the Month and die cut it using the Mini Everyday Sentiments Die Set. Then I added acetate and foam tape to the back of the panel and secured it to the white linen card base with majestic glitter behind the clouds.

You can subscribe any time during the month of March to receive these specific products:

Clear Stamp of the Month 

Small Die of the Month 

Large Die of the Month

Die Hard Value Club

Die & Stamp Addict Club

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders March 2021 Clubs Inspiration Blog Hop + Giveaways

I'm thrilled to be part of the Spellbinders March 2021 Clubs Inspiration Blog Hop! You should've arrived from Virginia Lu's blog and I have the full list of participants below. There are also details on the generous giveaway so be sure to read 'til the end. For this hop, I've used the Large Die of the Month which is quite possibly the most creative and outstanding one of its kind yet!

With 23 dies cutting a total of 31 individual pieces, the March 2021 Large Die of the Month is a fully-emcompassed interactive set but you can use easily them without the interactive pieces to create the most beautiful scenes. I've already featured the cloud and grass dies on my Clear Stamp of the Month card HERE.

Lately, my son keeps talking about sheep, probably because we've been playing a lot of Catan and it's fun to collect sheep so I decided to make him a card featuring a lamb trio. The Large Die of the Month includes elements to make bunnies, chicks and sheep, which is a lot of fun!

Much like my first inspiration card using this month's kits, I used cardstock from Concord & 9th and you can find all those colours listed in the supply links below. I just love the mixability of their colour collection. While spring is usually brighter and lighter colours, I love the vibrancy and richness of this combination.

As I've said before, it's rare that I don't stamp on a card but this kit made it easy to create a combination of sentiments with their three scripted word dies. You can also mix and match these word dies with both the die cut sentiments and stamped sentiments from the other March 2021 kits, just like I did HERE. If you missed any of my posts for the March Club Kits, I've included them at the end of the supply links below.

HOP ALONG!

Spellbinders Blog
Tina Smith
Becca Feeken
Becky Roberts
Carrie Rhoades
Bibi Cameron
Sandra Nagel
Sandi MacIver
Jill Hilliard
Marie Heiderscheit
Jennifer Snyder
Kathy Clement
Jean Manis
Annie Williams
Yasmin Diaz
Betty Wright
Jenny Colacicco
Hussena Calcuttawala
Virginia Lu
You are -->  Emily Leiphart  <-- HERE!
Joy Baldwin
Ilina Crouse
Desiree Kuemmerle
Ilda Dias
Henriëtte van Mierlo
Zsoka Marko

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate this release, we are giving away a $50 gift certificate to 3 lucky blog readers – selected from the comments on our blog. Giveaway closes on Sunday, March 14th, 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be announced in this blog hop post the following Tuesday. The winner is responsible for shipping cost, duties and taxes.

Please note, store credit (gift certificate) cannot be applied to Club Subscriptions. Store credit can be applied to shop past Club products, Club extras and regular releases.

Your next stop is Joy Baldwin and, if you wish, please head to the Spellbinders Blog to begin the hop. Thanks so much for hopping along with us!

Supplies: 

Catherine Pooler Designs | Spring Garden Release Day!

It's always a good day when there's a new release at Catherine Pooler Designs! The Spring Garden Release is so much fun and it will definitely be hard to choose so I know many of you are opting to buy it all. LOL I'm using the Best Place Bundle and I'm featuring the Best Place Stamp Set, Best Place Dies and Salt Lake City Sequin Mix. My colour choices were inspired by the Zen Garden Ink Collection (now available in Minis) and the , along with a few extra colours and you can find the full list in the supply links below.

I started by stamping all of the different images from the Best Place Stamp Set in Zen Garden Ink Collection colours, along with Pink Champagne, Over Coffee and Icing on the Cake. The nest and the birds were rock-n-rolled in two colours each to create an ombre effect and add dimension.

Next, I cut the Circle Stripe Die and used blending brushes to create a complementary background, one that I could 'grow' a garden from. From top to bottom, I used Sugared Lavender, Rose Petals, Pink Champagne, Shea Butter, Seafoam and Skylight.

To create the sentiment piece, I layered a piece of vellum over a heavyweight Neenah solar white cardstock. I stamped the sentiment on the vellum using Stone Blue and Spruce inks to create a dual-tone effect. Then heat embossed clear sparkle embossing powder over top. I shaped the sentiment panel using the second-smallest Layered Tag Dies and the Party Print Circle Die.

[Shop the entire Spring Garden Release HERE]

Be sure to check out the ink sale. This doesn't happen very often! Catherine Pooler is clearing out ink pads without the new labels and they feature some of my favourite colours. Click on the image below to shop!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: