Taylored Expressions – My Crafts are Like a Box of Chocolates

Bright Summer Fun!

August 7, 2017 beccreates1

Before I get started with my card, I wanted to mention why I’ve been behind with my promised increase in posts. We were all sick for a couple weeks. Then last Monday, we took my little 5 year old son Teddy to get some fillings done at the dentist. He isn’t able to hold still enough (has ADHD) so we opted to have general anesthetic. After 45 minutes we were surprised to have the anesthetist come out and talk to us. Teddy’s throat closed so badly that he was too unstable to take the breathing tube out. They had to transport him to hospital but we expected once there they would stabilize him quickly and he’d be fine. Nope, they had to get a specialized transport team in from the local children’s hospital and take him to yet another children’s hospital over 2.5 hours away. Turns out his lung collapsed and he ended up in ICU for a day and a half, on antibiotics and in an induced coma to allow the swelling to go down. It was terrifying. Fortunately he is better now and home but it’s been a crazy week. Hopefully I can get caught up on cards I posted to SCS and some book reviews this week!

So, on to the card. Our challenge this week was to make a bright and happy summer card! No problem. As you probably know, summer cards, especially beach ones, are my absolute favourite. I love that we have such a variety of challenges at Crazy 4 Challenges!

I used papers from a past Simon Card Kit to create this cute night beach scene. I was trying to make the scene appear as if lanterns were being floated through the sky while a couple relaxed on their balcony after a fun day on the water. The images were all pieced from an old Taylored Expressions set called Hanging Out Beach. The flippers and goggles were coated in Glossy Accents to make them appear like shiny, rubbery plastic. The towel stripes, bathing suit stripes and surfboards were all blinged up with a Wink of Stella pen. The sandy layer is real sand paper while the tree trunk, coconuts and sentiment were stamped on real wood veneer paper. A few touches of Copic marker gave the items colour and shading.

One fun touch I added was to carefully bend the blue-green towel using my bone folder until the fibres were softened. That way I could fold it up as if it was tossed aside casually in a lump. If I had folded it, it wouldn’t look as natural or casual. I added foam tape underneath to help support the ‘towel’ when the card is in the mail.

Come on over to our blog to be inspired by our challenge. Then pop back in after you’ve made your project so you can link it up!

Enjoy, Rebecca

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The Shabby Tea Room Design Team Application 1

June 29, 2015 beccreates1

I have loved this challenge blog for years now. I’m so excited to see if I am chosen as a Design Team member!

The inspiration photo is below.

I love the tea theme and colour combination found in the inspiration photo. I paper-pieced and Copic-coloured the tea pot and cups.

Isn’t this gorgeous? I had such fun working on cards for this DT call. I am posting 4, yes four! cards tonight so please forgive me for not posting a RECIPE like I normally do. Feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding the supplies I used.

Enjoy, Rebecca

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Asian Lady Card for Unscripted Sketches

January 4, 2014 beccreates1

So this week I actually made something for Unscripted Sketches that has a full, proper name!! hee hee!! I got a gorgeous embossing folder but it was hard to use until I got some Asian paper to go along with it.

As you can see, this embossing folder wouldn’t suit a lot of designs as it is very Asian. But also very lovely! I needed a couple of get well cards for some classy ladies so this was a perfect design. The gold accents are just an ink pad swiped across the edges of the paper and over the embossing.

Here’s a tip for you. I didn’t want to raise the sentiment panel on two layers of foam dots. But the embossing underneath raised the lady panel up on one side so she would sit lopsided if adhered flat on the left. So I added scraps of the embossed panel under the lady panel on the left so it was balanced but still not higher than the foam raised panel above it.

I also used the WRMK envelope maker to make a matching envelope out of one of the busier patterns I’m less likely to use. I’m like most and have way too much paper so I’ve got to use it up! There’s always another new gorgeous paper pack on the horizon!

Please come on out and create something lovely with our super talented team this week at Unscripted Sketches! You can create anything your crafty heart desires from any type of artistic or creative endeavour! Just make sure we can still ‘see’ your use of our sketch. You can rotate, flip, turn and change proportions in any way you see fit and also change one shape for another. Have fun with it, take a pic and link it up! You don’t have to have a blog to play!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Ink: Encore gold pigment, rose shadow ink-HA
Paper: G45 Bird Song, Blushing Bride CS-SU!
Accessories: ribbon-American crafts, lace-vintage, Embossing folder-Spellbinders, rhinestones-TE, corner chomper, envelope maker-WRMK, foam dots-Jody Morrow

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Baby Boy Bundle of Joy Card

September 8, 2013 beccreates1

I am NOT a quick card maker. I could be but I just don’t like to be. I always want to add one more thing or colour something instead of just solid stamp. So when I tried to make it under 10 minutes for the latest Craft Dash challenge… well, they don’t call it a challenge for nothing!

I used the latest Mojo Monday sketch for the basic bones of the card. And I rushed, or tried to. I’d never used this solid stamp before and did I remember to try it out first or condition it? Of course not. So when the Memento ink I’d set out didn’t seem to give good coverage, I pulled out my brown Archival ink and inked up the stamp, d’uh, I wiped it off because I planned to Copic colour it. More wasted time.

So I finally chose my new, never tried but much touted (by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner) Hero Arts Shadow ink in Cup o Joe. It still didn’t stamp cleanly! Ugh! I will give the ink another chance with a better conditioned stamp. I wasted like 4 minutes on that fiasco though and fixing the bad stamping with a marker. Overall, took me at least 25 minutes to make this card. I’ll still link it up because the rules say you can anyways and I loved the colour combo. You’ll see in my next post, I tried again and got closer but still didn’t make it. UGH!

My other challenge was the placement of the little mobile hanging things. I thought the stamp was designed so that you could stamp them in one shot. But when I went to stamp them, they just didn’t look right. So I test stamped them. This was well after the I shut the timer off in frustration. I realized I’d have to cut them apart to stamp them and match the hanging strings exactly. Sure look cute though don’t they? 🙂

Click on either photo to visit the challenges.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: crib, sentiment-PTI
Ink: cup o joe (crib)-HA, blueberry sky-PTI
Paper: saffron, natural white CS-SU!, simple stories DP
Accessories: baby outfit button-Jesse James buttons, ribbon-May Arts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, labels 1 Nesties, Copics

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Modern Hospitality Card for Mojo Monday

April 7, 2013 beccreates1

I think this is the last in a series of cards I’ve been making for my sister. She likes much more modern cards than I do so, once again, I made this set to her tastes. I promise, there are much more girlie and shabby designs to come!

These were part of a wine gift set I gave her. I made or personalized most of what was in there: a wine tote made of oatmeal and black Paris-themed fabric with a handmade beaded rose and insulated sleeve to keep white wine cold (I even created my own design/pattern for the entire thing from a photo!), an engraved wine stopper with their last name and wedding date, hand stencilled wine glasses with their monogram, wine tags to go on bottles they may give as gifts when invited out somewhere, wine aerators, hand-beaded wine charms, some nice wine themed tea towels and these cards and of course a nice big bottle of wine. They loved everything, yeah!

I used this week’s Mojo Sketch and I’m pretty sure that for once I finally managed to get it up in time! Yeah again! Click on the sketch below to visit the blog.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Ink: spring moss-PTI, London fog-Memento, Antique Linen Distress
Paper: aqua mist, white CS-PTI, DP-Basic Grey Upcycle
Accessories: rhinestones-Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles-TE, foam dots-Jody Morrow, ribbon-stash, doily die-MFT, angled labels die-PTI

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Scrapbook Steals August Blog Hop–Mr. Huey’s Mists

August 10, 2012 beccreates1

I am thrilled to be participating in my first (and hopefully not last) blog hop for Scrapbook Steals! If you aren’t familiar with Scrapbook Steals, it is my Number 1 FAVOURITE place to buy scrapbook supplies at a HUGE discount! And they often have products I’ve not even heard of or used before. Plus their sister sites for Kids, Babies and She for women are just as AWESOME! Their blog is amazing too so if you haven’t been there, be sure to start the blog hop there! I have a card and a scrapbook page for you today!

I received Taxi, a bright yellow Studio Calico Mr. Huey’s Mist to work with. Now if you know my blog, you know I am not so into bright yellow so the challenge was on. I used it to mist a sunset scene that this bright yellow was practically made for!

I started by masking off the bottom portion of the card. Then I mixed the mist with a bit of water to dilute it in a spray bottle and misted the top portion. Then I masked off the sun area as well, added some pumpkin reinker and misted again. Then I misted a third and fourth time adding a few drops of rust red reinker each time until I was happy with the look.

Absolutely lovely coverage and it mixed very well with the reinker. I reversed the masks covering my sky and added a second torn mask to make the shoreline. I sponged in aqua ink for the ocean. Then I tore another mask similar to but not the same as the first. I applied this mask over the ocean leaving a small section to look like the froth of the waves breaking against the shore. Then I used several brown inks to sponge in the sand.

For the palm tree, I stamped it on very dark grey card stock and cut it out. Then I added ink direct to paper from the ink pad so it became a solid black silhouette. I added a sympathy sentiment and I was done! I think a sympathy sentiment was very appropriate as the sunset can symbolize the end of a life. Sad but sympathy cards are very needed and appreciated.

I have several other brands of mists and this is by far the easiest to mix. Thank heavens. Some of the other ones need several minutes of shaking before they are ready to use. And with Mr. Huey’s the colour you see is the colour you get. The others separate and become a gross colour so you have to shake it in order to see the real colour if you forget what it looks like. Not very convenient if you ask me!

For my next project, I used a mask to create an interesting scrapbook page background. As I usually only create cards, I only bought a 6×6 mask. So I added it to opposing corners to add interest to the ‘white’ space I planned to leave on my layout. I added some water and white reinker to soften the colour somewhat. I also added some touches of a pink mist. I love how many ways you can use these mists!

I was inspired by a layout by Maggie Holmes to use a banner across the page but I don’t have a banner die. Helloooo ingenuity! I looked at my dies to try and decide if I could cut down a square or a rectangle or… when my eyes settled on an ice cream die. Yeah! The cone makes a PERFECT banner! That was the most fun especially since I used up lots of scraps!

I added the date ‘wheel’ to the top right but felt I needed to add some more round elements to the page. So I added the medallion stamped once on the right side of the larger photo and again in white on acetate under it. Made a nice triangle I thought. I try to keep design principles in mind more so when I scrapbook because it doesn’t come as naturally to me as card making. But I keep at it because I love the results!

Adding things in odd numbers and in triangles tend to keep your layout more balanced. So I have three photos, pointy shapes in three places (stars in each corner and the banner), orange in three places: one photo, the title/banner and the date wheel; three circle elements and words in three places: the title, date wheel and journaling.

I hope you enjoyed my project. If you’d like to visit my blog again, please sign up for updates by email or RSS feed; links are on my sidebar. Now, you are off to visit Julie Odil! Have fun on the rest of the hop! And be sure to sign up for emails from Scrapbook Steals while you are there. If you get lost, the whole line up is below!

Thanks for visiting, Rebecca

1. Scrapbook Steals

2. Rebecca Keppel http://www.myclutteredcorner.com/

3. Joan Borgelt http
://thegovsplace.blogspot.com/

4. Dana Tatar http://datatar.blogspot.com/

5. Laurel Geisbush http://laurelz75.wordpress.com/

6. Rebecca Ednie http://www.eclecticendeavours.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE!

7. Julie Odil http://muddypawsinkyfingers.blogspot.com/

8. Patricia Flores http://harmonyhealthandfaith.blogspot.com/

RECIPE

Sunset Sympathy
Stamps: tree-Taylored Expressions, sentiment-PTI
Ink: Mr. Huey’s Taxi spray mist, pumpkin pie, ruby red reinker, baja ink pad -SU!, Old Paper and Vintage Photo Distress, archival black ink-Ranger
Paper: grey cardstock-PTI, white cardstock-TE, Accessories: mask cut with circle Nestabilities, foam dots-Jody Morrow

Swim Day Page
Stamps: Label Basics-PTI, date wheel-CTMH, Medallion-Clear Dollar Stamps, Smash adjustable date wheel (year)-K&Co
Ink: Mr.. Huey’s Taxi spray mist, Bermuda bay-SU!, black archival, Staz-On white, October Afternoon mist, white dye ink reinker
Paper: DP-Splash by Echo Park, white CS-Taylored Expressions and Bazzil, clear cardstock-PTI, Doublemates aqua matting cardstock, Epson photo paper
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, Letter stickers-Making Memories, Divine Twine, Staedler journaling pen, label die-PTI, circle Nesties, ice cream cone die-PTI, mask-Crafter’s Workshop, Copics (highlighting the date wheel), foam dots

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Mojo and Make It Monday Challenge Card

January 25, 2012 beccreates1

THIS A SPOILER ALERT! REBECCA, DO NOT READ THIS POST!

I am going to type everything at the top of this post so my BFF Rebecca (yeah, same name, I know!) doesn’t see it before she closes this page.

This card uses the Mojo sketch for this week and also meets the requirements for this week’s PTI Make It Monday to make a shaker card using dies. I hadn’t thought to use dies before and I really had a fun time with it. I think this also qualifies for the JustRite colour challenge if I still have time to enter. ETA Darn, missed it, again!!!

I used Labels 1 Nesties for the outer frame and PTI’s heart die for the inside. I had a sheet of foam dimensional material that I cut instead of fun foam. The acetate sheet comes from stamp packaging. Way to recycle right?

Hopefully this is down far enough on the page that she won’t see it!

Isn’t that ice cream paper the cutest?? I made the heart button with another PTI heart die. The little words inside the shaker box are from Mega Mixed Messages and I hand cut them. Also in the box is clear micro beads and some glitter, a mix of white and gold I think, I bought it like that. The bear is paper pieced and shaded with Copic markers. Actually, I though the paper needed muting so I coloured the whole image with E71.

My girlfriends threw me the best Teddy Bear themed baby shower in honour of my new baby, Theodore, Teddy for short. I love it! Rebecca even bought honey bears for everyone and HANDCUT 30 or 40 bear shaped tags! WOW! So the shaker words say ‘wish’, ‘friend’, ‘merci’ and ‘thanks’. I took a photo of how I layered the shaker box so if you’d like to see, just let me know.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: flourish under shaker box and Mon Amie-SU!, bear-TE, mini words-PTI
Ink: Chocolate, ivory-SU!, memento black, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo Distress
Paper: dark brown-stash, probably Bazzil, kraft-SU!, DP-MME
Accessories: heart dies, square pinked die, button-PTI, black liquid enamel-Ranger, foam dots and dimensionals sheet- Jody Morrow, Nesties labels 1, silk ribbon-May Arts, lace-vintage, EK Success Mini scalloped punch, MS micro beads, Art Institute Glitter, Copic E71,74,77

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Baby Onesie Favour for Taylored Expression Blast from the Past Blog Hop

October 19, 2011 beccreates1

The theme this month is Trick or Sweet. Since I don’t celebrate Halloween I decided to go with Sweet. I’ve got baby on the brain of course, being almost 7 months pregnant, so a baby shower favour seemed like a no brainer. And I won a TE baby set a couple months ago making it even easier!

If you don’t visit my blog on a regular basis you may want to subscribe or visit again as I will be doing a tutorial on how to make this favour. It’s pretty easy but I’ll list the sizes of circles to use and the measurements of the sleeves etc. You can get two from each sheet of 8.5×11” cardstock.

I would have used blue and white jelly beans but I didn’t have any so this is filled with a roll of unwrapped Sweet Tarts minus the pink and orange ones. You could use any candy you want of course. Blue and white M&Ms could be cool too. Or blue FIZZY BATH SALTS would be a calorie-conscious option. They are easy and pretty cheap to make, just click on the highlighted text above.

If you are very observant, you may have noticed a little blue paperclip sticking out from the side of the sleeve. I wanted to be able to undo the favour and allow it to lay flat to make a template later so I used paperclips to hold it together temporarily while I photographed it.

I used stars from two different sets, Hanging Out and Bringing Home baby, cut them away from the other stamps they were attached to and used them to background stamp the onesie. The sheep and turtle were cut apart from their stamps too.

I hope if you enjoyed this project you will visit again!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: TE Bringing Home Baby, Hanging Out
Ink: Bashful blue, navy-SU!, Memento black
Paper: bashful, brocade blue CS-SU!
Accessories: blue brads, circle, label 1 Nesties, 1 1/4” circle punch-SU!, Copics W3,5, Y21,35,YG63, G21,24, foam dots-Jody Morrow

http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=92786

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Another Baby Card-Girlie Version

October 17, 2011 beccreates1

I posted a boy baby thank you card last month for the TE Blog Hop here and I decided to just make a girl version when I needed a congrats card last week.

Everything is pretty close to the same in terms of how it was made except this card isn’t square and I trimmed down the mats so there was a bit more space between each square. The sentiment looks a bit blurry because I stamped it in pretty in pink then decided it was too soft so I tried over stamping with regal rose. Let’s just say it didn’t line up perfectly. OOPS!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions, sentiment-PTI
Ink: Memento black, rose-SU!
Paper: rose, pink CS-SU!, white CS-X-Press It, DP-DCWV
Accessories: seam binding ribbon-Hug Snug, button-PTI, Divine Twine, Copic Markers-V00,02, R81,83,85,59 YR30,Y21,Y35, YG63,67, G21,24, , E31,33,35, W1,3,5,7, 100, Square Nesties

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Back to School Cards

September 20, 2011 beccreates1

I can’t believe my little one is already in school. He’s only 4, still says his ‘L’s like ‘Y’s, as in yunch instead of lunch, and still seems like a baby in some ways. One of my favourite things he said was when he talked about the ‘yady in the yine’ at a store. So cute!

He was totally fine on the first day of school, so confident, never looked back! I did OK, I made it through the drop off, stayed to help the teacher with a kid who was practically hysterical after her mother left (the teacher was directing parents to their kid’s teachers so was busy) and made it to the car before I started to cry. Even then it wasn’t too bad. I think it is because he really isn’t my youngest child anymore. When the baby I’m pregnant with goes to school, that will be really hard.

Anyway, I made the kids each a card for the first day of school. I also made the older one a bookmark. Apparently I did OK, this one was a hit. Hard to make something cool for a 10 year old boy!

I cut apart the sentiment that said Hope your Birthday Rocks and removed the ‘birth’. Then I wrote in ‘first’ with and embossing ink pen. The embossing is a cool colour called Medieval Metals. It is a mix of gold, bronze, copper and silver. Very masculine. The star is made from a coaster cut with a Sizzix die which is also covered in the same EP. The main image is black embossed. I sure gave my heat gun a workout on this card.

This card is for the little one. He doesn’t really care much about what I make him and he will probably trash it first chance he gets so I didn’t spend too much time on it. The image was coloured with Copics and raised up on foam dots. Except the little lines joining the balloon and basket. They were stamped on the background. I threaded the buttons with Divine Twine. The right one looks like plain white twine but it is really yellow twist.

I know, why on earth did I photograph a black bookmark on a black background? Even brunettes have blonde moments is my only excuse! I had placed the bookmark on the back of the matching card and just photographed it there. This time I used silver EP since the bookmark will usually not be near the card. I used the rock n roll technique for the coloured area on the guitar. The neck of the guitar was coloured with Copics and I darkened the middle with a Copic multiliner. It is a very simple design, just a folded over piece of CS, like a long, skinny card. Inside, on each side, are magnets to help the bookmark stay in the book.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
ROCK Card and Bookmark
Stamps: Taylored Expressions
Ink: Versamark, not quite navy, banana, orange, red-SU!, embossing pen
Paper: black, white CS-SU!, DP-Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend
Accessories: foam dots- Jody Morrow, Sizzix die, coaster board, ticket corner punch-SU!, Copic R29, C5, Black, silver EP-SU!, Medieval Metals-Sweet Stamps, magnet tape-Michaels

BALLOON Card
Stamps: Taylored Expressions
Ink: Memento black
Paper: red CS-CDS, blue CS-SU!, white CS-X-Press It
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, EK Success punch, buttons-stash, Divine Twine, Copics (sorry, I forget the numbers especially since I rarely use these bright colours)