Good morning! Thanks for joining us for the first day of sneak peeks for the June stamp release at Taylored Expressions! The Baker’s Dozen and I will be sharing our sneak peek projects over the next several days with all of the new products being released on Friday, June 4th at 8am PST.

Today we’re sneaking peeks at the latest stamp set in our charitable Giving Tree Program. If you’re not familiar with our Giving Tree Program, each quarter we introduce a new stamp set to support a different charity. I’m proud to introduce Pet’s Place, the newest set in the Apple Doodle Ink collection, to support the Humane Society of the United States! The Humane Society is the nation’s largest and most effective animal protection organization. The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals – a world that will also benefit people. They are America’s mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation, and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond. HSUS is also the lead disaster relief agency for animals, and they provide direct care for thousands of animals at sanctuaries and rescue facilities, wildlife rehabilitation centers, and mobile veterinary clinics. You can read more about the Humane Society HERE!

For each Pet’s Place stamp set sold, we will donate $7.00 to the Humane Society of the United States. It is important to note that sets in the Giving Tree Program are the same high quality deeply etched pink rubber on EZ Mount (just like your other TE stamps), however, unlike our other sets you will need to trim these images from a sheet of rubber. This allows us to cut manufacturing costs and donate even more to our charities. If you’ve never trimmed a stamp set before (or maybe you just need a refresher), I created this video to share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way. Trimming your stamps is quick and easy with a few simple tools and we hope you’ll agree the extra effort is worth it to support a great cause!

On a personal note, I’ve been to the Humane Society shelter many, many times. For as long as I can remember, my family has chosen our pets from among those at the shelter. Our two current cats, Morris and Skitters (who make occasional appearances on my blog) were given to us by a previous landlord who was no longer able to care for them. I still consider them rescue cats! I know how much our pets enrich my life and I’m sure the same is true for many of you who own a pet as well. In fact, as I’m typing this Skitters is curled up by my feet keeping them warm. I’m thankful to know there’s an organization that supports the wellness of our nation’s pets and I’m excited to be able to support their mission with this stamp set!

So are you ready to see my sneak peek project!? The Pet’s Place stamp set features Tena surrounded by her favorite animals. There’s something for every animal lover in the this set…cat, dog, bird, fish, snail, but sorry, no snake! The set was designed to coordinate with our previously released Window Shopping set so I decided to create a store window scene for my first project. I created the scene with a little masking and colored the images with Copic markers, hung the Pet Shop sign with a glittered brad, and used the Paw Print border punch on the side. I don’t always decorate the inside of my cards, but there were still more images and sentiments that I wanted to use from this set so kept going and finished off the inside too! There have beeen lots of times that I’ve searched for a “Happy Birthday from all of us” sentiment and it fits perfectly with this set! Wouldn’t this set and sentiment be great for office birthdays!?

The rest of the ingredients on this card are from the Pet’s Place Project Pantry! I’ve fallen in love with the Basic Grey Max and Whiskers patterned paper which is the cornerstone of this kit along with lots of fun coordinating embellishments.

For $22.95 you’ll receive all of the pictured supplies:

• 12 sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock (10 colored, 2 Choice Snow White)
• 20 sheets of 6×6 double-sided Basic Grey Max & Whiskers patterned paper
• 5 yards of ribbon (1 yard each of 5 different styles)
• 1 jar of Sparkling Coffee flock
• 1 12 x 12 sheet of coordinating cardstock stickers
• 6 Dog Bone Clips
• Coordinating Button Mix
• Paw, fish, dog bone brads
• Kaisercraft Silver Rhinestones
• 60 Basic Grey Max & Whiskers Brads (assorted colors and sizes)

We’ve done all of the coordinating work for you so when you receive the Project Pantry kit you’ll have everything you need to create lots of perfectly coordinated projects! Each of our Project Pantry kits comes with the option of purchasing with or without stamps and will be available on Friday, June 4th at 8am PST!

So I know this has been a marathon blog post, but you won’t want to miss what the rest of the Baker’s Dozen has created using the Pet’s Place stamp set! Thanks for stopping by today! Hope to see you back here tomorrow!

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

Stamps: Pet’s Place, Window Shopping (Taylored Expressions)
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Max & Whiskers (Pet’s Place Project Pantry)
Cardstock: Pet’s Place Project Pantry
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Ribbon, paw print brad (Pet’s Place Project Pantry), 3/4″ circle punch, 1″ circle punch, foam tape, glittered brad, wire, Copic Markers, Paw Print border punch