Welcome back! It’s the second day of sneak peeks for the latest release at Taylored Expressions! If you missed our sneak peeks yesterday you’ll want to scroll down and check it out. But first, we have an even more jam-packed peek for you today! With Teacher Appreciation Week approaching (May 2-8) I’m super excited to introduce new stamps that will help you show your appreciation for the teachers in your life. Make the Grade is a whimsical set of school themed stamps designed by Nancy McKinney. And when paired with the mini companion set, Extra Credit, you’ll have even more options for image and sentiment combinations! And that’s not all… I’m excited to welcome Cuppie back into the mix this month with three Cuppie A La Carte stamps!

It’s also time to introduce another one of our new card kits! Today I’m using the Apple Jack Card Kit featuring patterned paper from the Apple Jack collection by Sassafras Lass. These bright, fun papers are right up my alley and I had so much fun making these cards! The first card uses the globe image from Make the Grade and says ‘Thanks for opening up the world to me.” A perfect sentiment from your student to his/her teacher. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with Copic markers. I cut out the image with Spellbinders Labels 8, trimmed off one side of the label, and then punched it with my spiral border punch. Then I just added a little bit of ribbon at the top and a few pearls at the bottom. For my next project I set out to create a gift that any teacher would love… a set of “From the Desk of” notecards. I started by stamping the owl and masking it with Eclipse Masking Tape. Then I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position and stamp the desk and blackboard. After coloring the image with Copic markers, I decided to personalize the card by hand-writing the teacher’s name onto the blackboard. I made a set of notecards for my friend’s mom for Christmas and she was so appreciative of them that I thought I’d make her a few more! So…Mrs. Crocker, these are coming your way! 🙂

And of course I couldn’t forget about Cuppie! These teacher themed Cuppie images from illustrator Jessie Oleson are just too sweet! I love how she adds special touches to her drawings like on this Cuppie Report Card image. Did you notice that the teacher is giving an A+ for Spice and an A for sugar! Ha…of course! What other subjects would a cupcake be studying!? I colored the image with Copics, faux stitched with white gel pen, and added some ribbon and pearl details. And last, but certainly not least, I have one more Cuppie card to show you. I had such fun paper piecing Cuppie’s desk and it’s the perfect spot for another “From the desk of” sentiment. I decided to stamp the sentiment onto a scrap of patterned paper and pop it up over the front of the desk. After coloring the image with Copics I rounded the corners with my Corner Chomper (another tool you won’t regret buying!) and layered it onto a Spellbinders Big Scalloped Rectangle die cut. After a few pearl accents and a red rhinestone cherry I called it quits! That’s it for my projects today! I hope I’ve showed you again how quick and easy it can be to create several unique cards using the Taylored Card Kits! You’ve seen previews of the Apple Jack Card Kit today and the Paper Girl Card Kit yesterday and we have one more fun stamp set and card kit to show you tomorrow so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I know the Baker’s Dozen has even more teacher-themed projects to show you. I hope you’ll click around and check ’em out!

Alex Maldonado
Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jami Sibley
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Nancy McKinney
Sankari Wegman

Thanks for stopping by today! All of our new stamps and accessories will be available for purchase at the TE Store on Thursday, April 8th at 8am PST! Hope to see you back here tomorrow for release day!