Good morning! It’s Day 3 of sneak peeks for our August release and we’re one step closer to the big release on Thursday at 8am PST! BUT… if you join us Facebook tonight you’re in for a treat! We’ll be revealing all of the new stamp sets and giving away one of each to our lucky fans starting at 6pm PST! But first we’re sharing our sneak peek projects using one more full-size stamp set, three petite Moka sets, and a new a la carte stamp! And if you haven’t already checked out our Release At a Glance, make sure you read below for all the important info. You wouldn’t want to miss a chance to win a prize, would you!?

• We have sneak peeks to share Monday through Wednesday.  All of the new products will be available for purchase on Thursday, August 4th at 8am PST. You’ll find it all in the Fresh out of the Oven Department at the Taylored Expressions Store.
• Join us as a fan on Facebook for an early peek at the stamp sets, as well as a SPECIAL Facebook GIVEAWAY, on Wednesday night beginning at approximately 6 pm PST.
• Angel Bundle Prize Drawing: We’re very excited to be supporting The Angel Tree with Joy to the World, the newest set in the TE Giving Tree Program.  If you’d like to be entered to win our Angel Bundle Prize Pack (Joy to the World Stamp Set, Angel Kisses Taylored Card Kit, and the Musical Swirls Impression Plate) simply click over to the Angel Tree website and find the answer to this question: “Name the founder of Angel Tree.” (You’ll want to read the touching story of how Angel Tree got started while you’re there!)  E-mail Taylored Expressions with the answer in the subject line of your e-mail by Wednesday at 6pm PST.  The winner will be announced on Taylor’s blog at approximately 10 pm PST Wednesday night.

We’re heading to the Wild Wild West with our sneak peeks today! Nancy McKinney has illustrated the most fabulous full-size stamp set, Wild West, that’s filled with 16 western accessories and sentiments. I’ve paired the Wild West stamp set with two coordinating Moka’s for my projects. First, meet Jane! I love her adorable cow print skirt, cowgirl boots, and braids! I stamped the image in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored her with Copics to match the Stella Rose Gertie patterned paper. And I paper pieced her hat with polka dot patterned paper. What girl doesn’t need pink boots and a polka dot hat!? I cut out the image panel with Spellbinders Labels 4 and airbrushed the inside with yellow Copic. Then I cut out Jane, the guitar, and the wanted poster and popped them up on the image panel with foam tape. I added a little crochet trim, some roses (airbrushed with Copic to change the color), glossy accents on the guitar, and a sentiment to finish it off. Jane makes me happy, but Jesse makes this cowgirl even happier! How cute is he with his 10-gallon hat, vest, and chaps? The cactus and barbed wire border are from the Wild West set and Jesse and the sentiment are from the Moka petite set. After stamping the image in Memento Rich Cocoa, I used patterned paper from the Cosmo Cricket Wanted collection to paper piece parts of his outfit. The rest is colored with Copics and then cut out with Spellbinders Labels 4. I sponged around the outside to dirty it up just a bit and also distressed the patterned paper with a file and a little crumpling. The striped ribbon is from my stash and I finished it off with a sentiment punched out using a 1 1/4″ circle punch.

Now moving on to something completely different, but equally sweet! I’m super excited for you to meet Angel, another adorable character illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Moka collection. She symbolizes memories, hope, and peace with her sweet angel wings and beautiful flowing gown! I started by stamping her in Memento Rich Cocoa and then paper pieced her dress with patterned paper from the Stella Rose Hazel collection. I colored her wings with Copics and then accented them with swirly bits of glitter by using a Quickie Glue Pen for the detailed lines. I cut her out with Spellbinders Classic Circles and mounted her onto a Spellbinders Blossom die cut. I added a cloud border along the bottom, cream rose trim, and small pearls in each scallop of the image panel.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the School A la Carte stamp for all of you preparing for your kiddos to head back to school! This image was illustrated by Nancy McKinney for the Whimsical Wishes collection and it’s perfect for a back to school card for your child’s new teacher or maybe even a scrapbook page or altered photo frame using their first day of school pictures! I decided to combine the School A la Carte with the You’re My Type Upper alphabet set and create a pennant to spell out “Back to”. I cut the triangle pennants from various patterned papers in the Echo Park Little Boy collection, stamped the letters onto scraps of white paper, and punched them out using a 1/2″ circle punch. I popped the letters up on each pennant with foam tape and then strung the pennants together with red baker’s twine. The image was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics and I added glossy accents to the apple. I just love how this one turned out!

That’s it for today… thanks for stopping by! I hope you see something you like! The rest of our fabulous team has amazing projects to share today so make sure you stop over to their blogs! And I hope to see you over on our Facebook page tonight for the big reveal and giveaway!

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Jami Sibley
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Melissa Sauls
Melody Rupple
Nancy McKinney
Regina Mangum
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen
Tori Wild
Wanda Guess