The TE Giving Tree Continues

Three months ago we introduced our very first quarterly stamp set designed for the purpose of stamping for a charitable cause. We want to thank each of you who purchased Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates to help support Eden Projects. With your help we were able to donate enough money to plant over 13,000 trees across the world! While the Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates stamp sets will continue to be available for purchase in the store, the TE Giving Tree Program is moving on to a brand new stamp set supporting another worthy cause.

We are so excited to introduce Beary Special and Beary Special Accessories to raise funds for Sick Kids! These adorable teddy bear sets were designed by Nancy McKinney for a charity very close to her heart. Please go to Nancy’s blog Card Worthy to read the story of her son Henri and how he and their family were helped by Sick Kids. The Hospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids) is a health-care community dedicated to improving the health of children. Their mission is to provide the best in family-centered, compassionate care, to lead in scientific and clinical advancement, and to prepare the next generation of leaders in child health. The hospital is located in Canada, but is known around the world for its innovation and leadership in research.
Here is some more information from Nancy, in her own words, about how Sick Kids helped her son Henri and their whole family:

“Learning that your child has a serious, life-threatening disease is a mother’s worst nightmare. Having Sick Kids; the medical expertise and research it attracts; and the caring, compassionate nurses, volunteers and staff who embraced Henri made our difficult and lengthy journey one worth remembering and sharing. Our lives have changed; our child is cured; our hearts are healing… Why support Sick Kids, a hospital for children located in Toronto, Canada?

Although children’s health care SHOULD differ greatly from adult health care, groundbreaking lab research and treatment at Sick Kids benefits all ages worldwide not just children in Ontario and Canada:

· Patients travel from around the world to be treated by Sick Kids specialists.

· The teaching and approach used at Sick Kids reaches out to medical professionals across the world. HealthyKids International (HKI), an international initiative of SickKids Foundation, addresses the shortage of paediatric specialists working in countries where a lack of resources has created gaps in health care. HKI works to offer the same quality of care to children around the world as they would receive as SickKids patients. HKI brings fellows to Toronto to train side-by-side with SickKids specialists. Currently fellows from India, China and sub-Saharan Africa have been accepted into the program. At SickKids, they sharpen their skills through specialized training that can then be applied back home. They also take part in leadership training so they can impart their newly learned knowledge and expertise into their own practice and onto other doctors.”

These two stamp sets will be released on Friday, June 5th at 8:00 am PST at the TE Store. For each Beary Special stamp set sold during June, July, and August, Taylored Expressions will donate $7.00 to Sick Kids and $4.00 will be donated for each Beary Special Accessories mini set sold. Note: These sets are the same deeply etched rubber you have come to love! However, in order to cut down on manufacturing costs and donate more to charity, they come as one sheet of rubber and will need to be trimmed when you receive them.

When I pulled out these two sets to start stamping, I knew the first card I wanted to make would be for my new little nephew! Yep, I’m a proud new auntie! My sister-in-law had her first child, a sweet little boy, on May 28th! I started by stamping the teddy bear in Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Choice Buttercream cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. I stamped the ‘sweet little one’ sentiment inside the heart, cut it out, and popped it up in the bear’s lap. I also paper pieced the feet and ears of the bear to match the patterned paper I used on the rest of the card. The image was cut out using a Classic circle Spellbinders die and layered onto the scalloped circle version. I added three panels of Bo Bunny patterned paper to the bottom of the square card. I finished the card off with some double-edge brown polka dot ribbon, and some buttons from my stash. After finishing this baby card I decided to try something a little different. I was going for a vintage teddy bear, but I think I ended up with something more shabby chic than vintage. Either way, I like how it turned out! I started by stamping the image in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I colored the handles and the teddy bear with Copics. Then I paper pieced the backpack with the polka dot patterned paper and coral cardstock. The sparkly polka dot patterned paper is from the My Mind’s Eye Laundry Line collection. I cut the image out with the Spellbinders Labels 4 die, sponged around it with brown ink, and popped it up with foam tape. To finish it off I added a little stitching with my sewing machine and some Vintage Flower Lace Trim.

I know the Baker’s Dozen has some darling sneak peeks featuring the Beary Special sets today! Stop by their blogs and check ’em out:

Ana Wohlfahrt, Charmaine Ikach, Dawn Easton, Denise Marzec, Donna Baker, Jen del Muro, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Laura Fredrickson, Laurie Schmidlin, Sankari Wegman

Thanks for stopping by on our first day of sneak peeks! We hope you’ll tune in tomorrow for even more!