New Year's Eve Gratitude

Hello, friends!

How can it be that an entire year has passed without any blog posts? I must admit that my daily life has moved away from time online and more to being present with my family and enjoying crafty time when I can sneak it in. However, I did want to post before 2025 comes to a conclusion!

I am always in need of thank you notes after the holidays so I made a bunch that I'd like to share here. Most of the supplies are from Taylored Expressions -- in particular the Foil It backgrounds as well as the sentiment strips. The "thanks" dies are older, from a variety of companies in my stash. 

Another card set I made features a Snoopy classic image...this one was fun to make!

And so, my friends, I don't know what 2026 will hold for my blog...time will tell! It has been a source of joy for many years and I appreciate all those who have followed my journey thus far. Best wishes to all of you for a very Happy New Year...peace, love, and joy to all.

With love,

Judy 

Paper Players #676 and TE February Maker Challenge

Hello, friends! It has been quite a while since I have been by the blog...a lot has happened in the past few months that has taken me away from crafting for a bit, but I am happy to be back.

Today I'm sharing a card made for two challenges:

(1) The Paper Players PP676: A Color Challenge from LeAnne using pinks, gray and white.

(2) Taylored Expressions #TEMakerChallenge for February featuring two shades of pink (Bubblegum and Dragon Fruit) plus one color of choice. I choose to use Oyster as my gray option.

My card features the Taylored Expressions Mandala Layering Stencil paired with the Foil It: Mandala Layering card foiled in silver. I CASED a card made by Jen Shults (at Deconstructing Jen) but used the challenge colors and a different sentiment.

Here is the mini slim card I made for my husband for Valentine's Day:

Taylored Expressions Supplies Used:

Stamps: All Together Occasions 2

Stencils: Mandala Layering Stencil set

Inks: Bubblegum, Dragon Fruit, Oyster, Oreo

Dies: All Together Occasions 2, Stitched Mini Slim Stacklets, Petite Scallop Mini Slim Stacklets

Other: Silver Deco Foil, black foam backer (sentiment) 

Thank you, as always, for stopping by!

Take good care,

Judy

Taylored Expressions - Coneflower Birthday

Hello, friends! I am stopping by to share a card I made for the monthy maker challenge (at Taylored Expressions Facebook fan group). This month, Taylor challenged us to use "splatter" in some way on our cards.

I inked the die cut coneflowers using my ink blender brushes, then splattered with watered-down white acrylic paint.

I mounted the flowers on top of a dry-embossed birthday sentiment panel, then topped with a foiled TE birthday sentiment strip.  The kraft frame is TE's "Frame in Frame 2."

Such a quick and easy card!

Thanks for stopping by!

Judy

Post-Christmas Card Share - Taylored Expressions

Hello, friends, and Happy New Year!

The Christmas holidays flew by, but I was happy to be able to make a few cards with the gifts I received.  I bought myself a mini Minc machine last fall, so this Christmas I received a bunch of Foil It card bases by Taylored Expressions. I also received several difficent colors/styles of Deco Foil...so I made a bunch of cards!

First up...a set of holiday thank you cards featuring the Foil It - Beautiful Blizzards paired with the Foil It - On Occasion sentiments and dies. The Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stacklets add some interest around the borders, and the embossed (not die cut) stitched circles helped provide a way to add some dimension using Masking Stencils - Circles and darker inks to set off the sentiments. The card bases were inked using Tim Holtz distress inks (Tumbled Glass and Broken China).

This first set features the snowflakes and far right sentiment foiled with Lapis Watercolor Deco Foil, one of the sentiments (center) foiled with Silver Shattered Glass Deco Foil, and one sentiment (left) is regular Silver Deco Foil.

The next set features the snowflakes foiled with Silver, while two of the sentiments (center and right) are Silver Shattered Glass.

My next set of cards were mini slim Christmas cards featuring the Foil It - Seasonal Sprig card bases along with the stamp set, layering stencil, and cutting plate.  Both sprigs are foiled with Gold Deco Foil.

  

I made other cards using Foil It panels and Deco Foil that I will share soon.  In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and Happy New year!

Judy

Taylored Expressions - A Thrill of Hope

Hello! I can't believe that we are days away from Christmas...it is sneaking up on me this year!  At some point during the craziness, I did get a chance to play with a Taylored Expressions stamp set called "A Thrill of Hope." (It was gifted to me by a generous TE online friend and I am so grateful!)

For my first card, I stamped the sentiment in Cherry Pop ink and the branches in Cilantro ink on kraft card stock. I added some extra dimension by die cutting some "Pine Clippings" as well as some glitter stars using the "Little Bits - Stars" die. The base image was die cut using the Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets and after adding white splatters I adhered it to a dark red card. 

The next two cards I made using the same inks (as well as some other green inks for shading and interest) but these were stamped directly onto the card base for a one-layer card.

Here they are all together:

Thanks, as always, for stopping by the blog. I appreciate your visit!

Tahe good care,

Judy

The Paper Players #620: A Santa Card!

Hello, friends! I'm here today with a card I'm entering in the current challenge at The Paper Players -- a theme challenge by LeAnne to feature Santa on a card.

Full discosure -- this card is new and has never been shared before, but I actually made it after Christmas last year (after I got the goodies to play with to make the card), and then I put it away to use this season. Does anyone else do that...make Christmas cards after Chritsmas and stash them away for the next year?

This card departs from my typical clean and simple style, but it was a ton of fun to make! It features a Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection stamp and stencil set called "Vintage Holidays."  I think I used almost every bit of this set on one card!

I can't wait to see the other Santa card submissions for this challenge...the design team knocked it out of the park!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

Take good care,

Judy

Taylored Expressions - Happy Birthday (Times Two!)

Hello, friends! Just stopping in quickly to share two cards I made using some pretty Taylored Expressions supplies. 

I have had this "Birds and Blooms" stencil in my stash and figured it was a good time to ink it up! I made two backrounds, one with a white background and another with tone-on-tone inking. I honestly like them both!

For both cards, I stamped, embossed, die cut, and layered the birthday sentiment (from the "On Occasion" stamp set) atop a purple vellum die-cut oval. Once done stenciling the background, I die cut the panels using a stitched rectangle die, added some glitter Stickles on some of the dots, and mounted them onto black card bases.

Thank you for stopping by...I always appreciate your visits!

Judy