Hey, are you still there? Just checkin’! *wink* I must admit that my poor blog has been neglected lately as we’ve been spending the last couple weeks getting settled into our new warehouse space and putting the finishing touches on another awesome Taylored Expressions release. The Baker’s Dozen and I are kicking off sneak peeks today with all of the new products available for purchase on Thursday morning at 8am PST!

If you’ve checked your 2013 holiday calendar then you probably noticed that Easter is really early this year, March 31st to be exact. So even though the snow is still flying around these parts, we’re moving toward spring with some cute, cuddly images and beautiful Easter stamps.

My first project today features two beautiful Silhouette Stems Dies, Elegant Butterflies Overlays, and the He is Risen stamp set. I’m always looking for beautiful ways to send a handmade religious card for Easter and so I designed the sentiments in the He is Risen stamp set. There are lots of choose from and when paired with the gorgeous silhouette stems there are endless possibilities for cards both detailed and simple to suit your taste! I wanted these beautiful stems to take center stage so I tried out a few different techniques to let them shine:

For my first card I started by arranging the two silhouette stems onto a piece of red patterned paper and die cutting. Then I used the reverse die cut piece as my image panel and put a piece of text patterned paper behind it to make the flowers ‘pop’. I stamped the sentiment over the top of the image panel and I’ll admit it was a little problematic. Because of the dip in the level of the papers the full sentiment didn’t stamp and I did have to go back and fill in a few places with a thin line black marker. If I were mass-producing this design I would do the sentiment differently but it was do-able for one card and I love the look with the sentiment stamped directly onto the patterned paper.

I cut one of the new Elegant Butterflies Overlays (designed to layer perfectly with our previously released Elegant Butterflies) out of vellum and airbrushed it with Copics. Then to finish it off I had to add some natural twine, my latest addiction.

For my second card I decided to try reverse masking. Again, I arranged the two stems and die cut them in order to use the reverse cutout as a mask. With the mask in place I stamped the dandelion image (from a set I’ll show you tomorrow) inside the flowers in Warm Red ink. Then with the mask still in place I used a sponge dauber to sponge Yellow Ochre and Tangerine ink inside the flowers. Then I continued sponging the stems with Olive Pastel ink leaving a space within the stem for the sentiment.

I also added a vellum Elegant Butterfly Overlay and natural twine to this card. The patterned paper is from the Echo Park For the Record II Tailored collection.

For my second project I’m getting an early start on my Easter basket cards with the new Easter Doodles stamp set. These little scalloped notecards can easily sneak into an Easter basket stuffed with sweets (like Peeps and jelly beans…two of my favorites!).

I started by stamping the images in Memento Espresso Truffle ink and coloring them with Copics to match the Doodlebug Hello Spring patterned paper. I hand cut each of the frames and popped them in the center of each notecard. The scalloped notecards were cut using the TE scalloped notecard die. The Easter Doodles stamp set is a continuation of the doodlicious series by Nancy McKinney and joins the previously released Doodle Notes and Valentine Doodles. These put a smile on my face!

Thanks so much for stopping by for our first day of sneak peeks! I hope you see something you like! Make sure you hippity hop along to the rest of these blogs ‘cuz they’ve got some fabulous eye candy to share!

• Carole Burrage
• Charmaine Ikach
• Jen Shults
• Kerri Michaud
• Lynnette Kauffman
• Sankari Wegman
• Shannon White
• Shelly Mercado
• Stephanie Kraft
• Tammie Edgerton
• Taylor VanBruggen
• Wanda Guess
• Anna Wight (Guest Designer)
• Nancy McKinney (Illustrator)

He is Risen Card Set Ingredients

Easter Doodles Notecards Ingredients
Stamps: Easter Doodles (TE)
Paper: Choice Snow White CS (TE), Frosted Amethyst, Sunflowers Medium, Apricot, Razzleberry Light, Frosted Teal (Bazzill)
Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Copic markers (BV01, YG11, YG13, YR12, BG53, R81, R83, Y21, N1, N3), foam tape, scalloped square notecard die (TE)