Taylored Expressions January Studio Challenge

  

I'm really excited about today's post. This is my first time participating in the Baker's Dozen Studio Challenge. This is a monthly opportunity for us to share what makes our stamping studios hum. Each month, we have a fun, crafty question, so we can share our favorites, some tips and tricks, stamping advice and more.

This month's question is....

Helpin' out a newbie!! It's so exciting when a friend discovers the joys of stamping. But do you remember how overwhelming it was to decide what to get when you were new to the craft?

You have a {hypothetical} friend who started stamping less than a year ago and she is loving it! She some Christmas money burning a hole in her pocket, and she has seen your fabulous TE creations, so she is asking for your advice on what stamping supplies to purchase. So let's hear your sage advice!

I just love this challenge.  I mean how many of us wish we had a guiding hand when we started?  When I thought of this challenge, I thought of my best friend, Kris, who loves the hand made cards. So I am more than happy to help her spend some of her Christmas money in the Taylored Expressions store. 

Kris is active in her church, and she loves to send cards to friends for all occasions.  Thus, I thought that the Faith in Bloom set would be perfect for her. It's one of my favorite "go-to" sets. I just love it and so would she.

For those of you who have visited my blog, you might expect me to recommend that she invest in some Copics. As tempting as this is, I also remember how overwhelming that was, and decided to hold off on advising her to go that route.  Copics are wonderful, awesome, and I love LOVE coloring.  It's a great stress reliever, but I'm not going to suggest Kris invest in these yet until she's ready. Plus, I think it's nice to see that you can make some really nice cards without all the fancy markers (as awesome as those are...)

I'm going to suggest that Kris invest in some pretty patterned paper, like say the fun Dear Lizzy Fifth and Frolic

And I am going to recommend she get the versatile Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

I'm also going to suggest that she get some Choice White card stock, some Want 2 Scrap White pearls

Mini Glossy Accents

I am going to suggest that she get one Copic marker, YG03

In the meantime, I know that Kris has a variety of colored card stock to get started with.  So now where do we go? 

Well, the reason I suggested these items to her, I wanted to suggest that she do some paper-piecing. It's such an easy technique (stamp, cut and adhere to card).  And it creates an impressive looking card, especially when you add some fun embellishments, like pearls and glossy accents.  Here are some ideas:

Here's a little close up of some of the flowers which I crinkled up to add some texture. Then added some Glossy Accents and pearls.  (I love texture on cards, I think it's such a nice touch)

I hope you can see how easy it is to make a variety of cards with just a few key supplies.  I think that clean and simple cards are really suitable for beginners (and for people like me who've been doing it for awhile--wink).  

There are some great blogs that have sketches to help with ideas for lay-outs.  I love going to those to get a jumping off point.  Some that I really like are OWH, Clean & Simple, and Retro Sketches are just three that come to mind. But there are tons of challenge blogs to get inspiration.. .color challenges, inspiration challenges, all sorts of ways to get inspired (and win some fun prizes).

Let's just see how much money I had Kris spend to get her started on her card-making path... 

I had Kris buy the following items:

Faith in Bloom                      $23.95

Dear Lizzy Fifth and Frolic     $5.95

Memento Ink                         $5.19

Choice White Card stock       $4.50

Meant 2 scrap pearls              $1.50

Mini Glossy Accents               $2.49

Copic YG03                          $5.95

Total                                   $49.53

(Not too shabby, I don't think)

Be sure to check out the other design team member's blogs to see their creative ideas for this studio challenge, I am sure you are going to be inspired.

• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Lynnette Kauffman (you are here)
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous day

Hugs and blessings
Nette